Microsoft's Google Scholar rival set to go Live

Microsoft's Google Scholar rival set to go Live

Microsoft plans to release a new search tool this week that will go head to head with the Google Scholar service, sources familiar with the company's plans say. The new Windows Live Academic Search service, which will be available in beta form sometime in the next several days, will allow users to search academic journals and other scholarly publications, according to information posted on the Liveside.net blog, which isn't affiliated with Microsoft.

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-read full story from infoworld.com, April 11 2006


Europe's domain registry hijacked

The registry for the new .eu domain has grown to 1.4 million Web addresses since Friday morning -- but one registrar has accused the group that runs it of inept organization, allowing companies to cheat the system by setting up bogus registrars to work on their behalf.

For more on this:
-read full story from infoworld.com, April 11 2006


Skype to buy voice start-up Sonorit

eBay's Skype unit said Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire a San Francisco-based speech-processing start-up for roughly $27 million in stock.eBay will issue 700,000 shares of stock to buy Sonorit and its subsidiary, Camino Networks. Skype said it bought the company for its engineering team, which should help Skype build new voice products for the future.

For more on this:
-read full story from ZDNet Technology News, April 11 2006


Google buys search technology from Australian university
Google Inc. said Tuesday that it has acquired search engine technology from an Australian university that the institution described last year as potentially revolutionary.

For more on this:
-read full story from infoworld.com, April 11 2006


Blogosphere suffers spam explosion

Boing Boing would allow its readers to leave comments and engage in a discussion on the wildly popular blog, if it weren't for spam. The editors of the technology and pop culture blog took down the comment option about two years ago. Back then, they wanted to put an end to abusive comments, personal attacks on the Boing Boing crew and some spam. Today, their reason for not bringing it back is simpler: an explosion in junk comment posts on blogs.

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-read full story from ZDNet Technology News, April 11 2006


MySpace.com hires online safety chief

MySpace.com on Tuesday said it had tapped a former federal prosecutor and Microsoft executive to be its online safety chief, the latest move by the social networking site to shore up security. The announcement comes one day after MySpace began running public service ads warning its users about the dangers posed by sexual predators on the Internet.

For more on this:
-read full story from SCMP.com, April 12 2006


Now starring on the internet: YouTube.com

Internet video sensation YouTube.com seems like a startup straight out of Silicon Valley central casting. A year ago, co-founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen were in between jobs, a pair of twentysomething geeks running up big credit card debts as they tooled around a garage trying to develop an easy way for people to share homemade videos on the Web.

For more on this:
-read full story from SCMP.com, April 12 2006

Microsoft Releases Three Windows Patches

Microsoft Corp. released three critical patches Tuesday for its Windows operating system, including one to fix an Internet Explorer browser flaw that had already been exploited in some Internet attacks. The critical patches — deemed by Microsoft to address the highest threats — fix flaws that could allow an attacker to take control of another person's computer without permission.

For more on this:-read full story from Yahoo! News, April 11 2006