This is interesting, yes? makes me wish I had a TiVo instead of my Dish DVR, actually. There's some funny stuff on YouTube.

TiVo to put bring YouTube videos to TV screens

NEW YORK (Reuters) - TiVo Inc said on Wednesday that it would deliver videos from Google Inc's popular Web site YouTube directly to television screens via its digital video recorders.
TiVo said the service would be available later this year for high-speed Internet subscribers who have TiVo Series3 DVRs. It said that users would be able to log onto their YouTube accounts directly from their TiVo boxes.

From ZDNet:

Microsoft is planning to add a new, opt-in "super standards" mode to Internet Explorer (IE) 8 - a move of which some developers are critical.

IE Platform Architect Chris Wilson shared the details of how Microsoft plans to provide the greater standards compatibility, which it has promised for its next browser release via a January 21 posting to the IE Team Blog.

Wilson said Microsoft is planning to offer developers three modes in IE 8: the existing quirks mode, which will be compatible with current IE pages and applications; a "standards" mode, which will be the same as what's offered by IE 7 and "compatible with current content"; and a third, super standards mode that will require the insertion of a element to guarantee the highest level of standards compatibility.

More on this from Chris Wilson, IE Platform Architect

and Aaron Gustafson, member of the WaSP-Microsoft Task Force.

OK. I can see the writing on the wall. Can you?

From ZDNET

Reminder: Microsoft to push Silverlight to business users this week

"...but this week - specifically on January 22 - Microsoft will make its Adobe-Flash-alternative Silverlight available via WSUS, as well as via Microsoft Update (MU). In order to have Silverlight 1.0 pushed to users, admins will need to select it; it will be an optional, not automatic, download."

From the Silverlight Home Page

Microsoft(r) Silverlight(tm) is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing Web applications. Silverlight supports fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality video to all major browsers running on the Mac OS or Windows.

Some of that writing we were talking about, over at WikiPedia.

California and several other U.S. States have asked a District Judge to extend Microsoft's antitrust case settlement for another five years,[35] citing "a number of concerns, including the fear that Microsoft could use the next version of Windows [expected in approximately 2010] to 'tilt the playing field' toward Silverlight, its new Adobe Flash competitor", says a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article.

I have long thought Opera was a great browser, but I never really used it outside of web development (compatibility testing) because the free downloadable version was supported by ads.

Well, that sun has set.

Opera is now adless.

I'm going to go try it out.

Google has released its latest Beta Product, Google Maps.

Give it a look; even in its early form it is very easy to use, very fast.

Google Maps is an online service that allows users in the U.S. to find location information, navigate through maps, and get directions quickly and easily. Google Maps has several unique features:

Draggable maps – you can click and drag Google maps to view adjacent sections; no more long waits while new areas download.

Integrated Local search results – Google Maps integrates local search results from Google Local. So to find a pizza place, simply type in "pizza in San Jose", and pizza places appear at various locations on your map, with phone numbers for each location on the right side of the page.

Turn-by-turn directions – Type in an address and Google Maps plots the route for you, displaying it visually on the map itself, together with step-by-step directions for getting there (or back from there). When you click on one of these steps (say, "turn left"), you see a floating bubble with a magnified view of the area mentioned in the directions.

Keyboard shortcuts – You can use arrow keys to pan left, right, up and down. The Page Up, Page Down, Home and End keys let you pan out even wider. And you can zoom in with the plus (+) key and zoom out with the minus (-) key.

To learn more about these and other cool features, try the Google Maps tour.

Today Microsoft disclosed that it planned to acquire Sybian Software, adding a second anti-virus software company to its list of assets.

The New York Times reports:

Microsoft said on Tuesday that it planned to acquire Sybari Software, which makes programs aimed at protecting business computer networks from viruses, worms and other threats.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Sybari, which is privately held, had been scheduled to make an initial public offering this week. The offering, which has been called off, valued Sybari at up to $186 million.

In 2003, Microsoft acquired Romanian anti-virus firm GeCad, but has yet to release a commercial product based on it. Still, Microsoft has leveraged their technology into protecting their customers.

Markezich: For example, our acquisition of GeCAD helped us to deliver cleaner tools to help customers recover after the Blaster, MyDoom, Sasser and Download.Ject infections. It also helped us to provide the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool to more than 133 million PCs.

8 months ago, Microsoft began testing the Sybian solutions internally. They were so impressed, they purchased the company.

PressPass: How did these factors lead you to Sybari?

Markezich: About a year ago we conducted a major analysis of leading gateway antivirus products. We set up a controlled lab environment that fully matched the Microsoft production environment in number of servers, simulated traffic and so on. We tested on the basis of both performance and functionality. Could a product maintain its virus-catching performance even under the most stressful loads? Could it perform under unexpected conditions, such as when a computer reboots because of maintenance updates? Did the solution support all the messaging encoding it was likely to encounter? Did it integrate natively with Exchange Server, eliminating the need for dedicated virus scanning computers?

Perhaps the key issue from a management perspective was, did the solution support multiple scanning engines? That's absolutely crucial because, if you depend on a single scanning engine and it misses the infection or is taken down by it, you're sunk. With multiple engines all working through a single scanning solution, you get faster response, more certain response, and more reliable operation during an actual threat.

PressPass: And how did Sybari measure up?

Markezich: On all of these measures, Sybari was far and away above anything else we looked at. We went into production with Sybari on our communication and collaboration environment in May 2004 and it immediately became an integral part of our messaging hygiene defense. We have better protection at lower cost than we had before. We strip harmful attachments without losing mail. We scan Zip files. We consolidated the number of our Internet gateways from 18 to 10 for a tremendous reduction in TCO. We have full protection even during peak traffic.

PressPass: Your bottom-line evaluation of Sybari?

Markezich: We haven't had a single e-mail related infection since adopting Sybari. Our vision for security in workplace collaboration is that it requires layered defenses, tight integration with the rest of the infrastructure, and protection from the latest threats. Sybari met our needs on all of these criteria.

AOL is nearly finished testing its VoIP service, already offered to consumers in Canada. Operating over Level 3 networks, it allows the Internet Divisino of Time Warner, inc. to take on recent VoIP success stories like Vonage, Lingo and Skype.

One source familiar with the company's plans says the targeted launch date is March 16. Another source, though he couldn't confirm the date, notes that there has been an upturn in softswitch deployment activity at AOL recently, which suggests AOL is very close to a launch.

AOL, naturally, is tight-lipped as to the specifics of its VOIP service. "We are currently in beta testing of a consumer VOIP offering," says AOL spokesperson Anne Benteley, who wouldn't confirm a launch date.

Take a look at AOL Canada's Total Talk

America Online, already the owner of the famous Netscape Browser, is also developing a new Internet Explorer based browser. The Beta product has now been released and is available for AOL and AIM users to trial.

AOL Browser takes many features from current browsers, but also includes some innovations of its own, such as "tear-off tabs." Tear-off tabs can be rearranged or pulled away from their original window and spun off into a new window. Additionally, AOL has added thumbnail preview images of Web pages that pop-up when the mouse cursor hovers over a tab, or the Back and Forward buttons.

Part of its "Power Browsing" feature, AOL includes added privacy options to remove any "footprints" left while browsing the Web, including cookies and cached files. Page zooming, high contrast viewing and enhanced information tools are also included in the Power Browsing menu.

AOL has not offered a final release timeframe for AOL Browser or Desktop Search. However, a company spokesperson told BetaNews last year, "This beta test is part of our continual efforts to test concepts and technologies."

Here are some product screenshots

You can download the Beta here

If you are not already familiar with Skype, the free Instant Messenger / Internet Telephony product that allows users to talk over the Internet for free... or to pay to use the additional Internet to Telephone add-on called Skype Out... This article would be a good place to begin.

Since its formation in 2003, London-headquartered Skype has recorded over 54 million downloads of its VoIP software.

The application is best known for its ability to let users within the Skype network make voice phone calls for free, and offers ruthlessly aggressive rates on calls from computers or handhelds to phone numbers across the world.

The service also offers presence awareness, instant messaging and file transfer. vnunet.com spoke with the company's 38 year-old chief executive and co-founder Niklas Zennstrom.

Aiming to take Google down a peg, Microsoft unveiled its new search engine today. It features natural search language, like "what is the capital of Peru" and also taps the power of the Encarta Encyclopedia. Additionally, it integrates music, news and image search features, as well as "Search Near Me"

Click here to learn more about the capabilities of the new search.msn.com

Click here to use search.msn.com

New viruses, worms, trojans, adware and spyware are published almost every day. Phishing schemes became more prevalent in 2004 and more profitable for the criminals behind them. If you had an e-mail address, then you bore witness to the Bagel-Netsky-MyDoom dominance war, the latest Phishing forgeries asking you to update your bank account records or eBay profiles, and your computer is likely now running some sort of AdWare program.

Here is something to assuage your suffering.

From the Earth Times

On Friday Judge Pechman sentenced Parson to 18 months in jail and 10 months of community service for propagating the crippling MS Blaster Internet worm in 2003 that wrought havoc on up to 50000 computers around the world with both personal and business pc's affected.

It's not a huge victory ("Citing parental neglect and psychological problems" the Judge offered a leniant sentance) but any small victory against these criminals is a step forward.

Add this to the roll of the recently convicted black hats, such as the Lowe's Hardware hacker who recently received a nine year sentence, or the AOL spammers that also received a nine year sentence.

On January 24th, top Firefox programmer Ben Goodger announced on his blog that he had taken a job offer from Google.

(See "Google snaps up top Firefox programmer")

Now a second top gun from the Firefox team, Darin Fisher, has announced that he is also going to be working at Google.

(See "More Mozilla talent Google's way")

The speculation that Google is going to be developing a browser that will compete directly with Internet Explorer...

...is rampant.

Google adds another aspect to their online searches: search through the thousands of television programs that air daily. Based on the Closed Captions that accompany the programs that air and paired with screen captures from the show, if you need to research something that aired on TV, this is the place to do it!

Their initial offering has a limited scope, but you can see where this is going... Google Video Beta promises to be a useful tool indeed.

From the About Google Video page:

Our mission is to organize the world's information, and that includes the thousands of programs that play on our TVs every day. Google Video enables you to search a growing archive of televised content - everything from sports to dinosaur documentaries to news shows.