Microsoft dug deeper into computer security on Wednesday, purchasing FrontBridge Technologies to help customers reach regulatory compliance, while also signing an investment and patent licensing deal with Finjan Software.

The FrontBridge acquisition will see Microsoft deliver a set of services to enforce compliance through archiving of e-mail and ensure system availability by blocking spam and viruses.

Microsoft has invested in security company Finjan Software and licensed its patents that cover ways to protect systems against previously unknown security threats.

The deal, announced Wednesday, gives Microsoft a minority share in the privately held, San Jose, Calif.-based company. It enables the software giant to use ideas developed by Finjan in future products, said Nick Sears, president of Finjan in the United States.

“It covers a broad range of patents that Finjan has developed and acquired in the last nine years in the security space,” Sears said. Financial details of the deal are not being disclosed.

Scientists are questioning the safety of a “Star Wars”-style ray gun due to be deployed in Iraq for riot control next year.

The Active Denial System weapon, classified as “less lethal�? by the Pentagon, fires a 95-gigahertz microwave beam at rioters to cause heating and intolerable pain in less than five seconds.

A demonstration model of the Active Denial System is shown mounted on a military vehicle. (Source)

The idea is that people caught in the beam will rapidly try to move out of it and therefore break up the crowd.

Source: MSNBC

Federal regulators accused seven companies Wednesday of hiring others to send illegal e-mails with pornographic messages to tempt consumers to visit adult Internet sites.

The government said four of the firms already agreed to pay nearly $1.2 million to settle the charges, making it among the most aggressive government crackdowns on pornographic e-mail operations.

The Federal Trade Commission described the practice as “electronic flashing” and said at least some of the unwanted e-mails were sent to children. The threat of children unwittingly receiving smut in their inboxes helped drive the U.S. government to impose restrictions on sending commercial e-mails last year.

The FTC said the messages were not prominently marked “sexually explicit,” did not include instructions for consumers to block future e-mails and did not include a postal address, all required under federal law.

Source: AP

America Online has released the final version of AOL Explorer, an alternative Internet Explorer based Web browser that the company has been beta testing since last October.

The browser is a standalone application that features tabbed browsing, Web thumbnails and a built-in RSS feed aggregator. A customizable side panel enables users to load third-party add-ons into the browser, such as a calendar or panel that displays incoming mail. AOL has also included its desktop search product as an optional download.

Download AOL Explorer

Source: BetaNews

Search company Blinkx launched a free service on Tuesday that scans radio and television programs available on the Internet and automatically delivers the shows to a user’s computer.

The SmartFeed service allows a user to search program content from more than 30 video and audio content providers including BBC News, CNN, NBC, and ESPN.

Users specify the information they want to find by visiting the Blinkx.tv Web site and registering it.

San Francisco-based Blinkx then scours the online video or audio sources by using voice-recognition and transcription software. When the information sought is found, a link to the desired material is created and shipped to a user’s PC.

Source: AP

eBay has tightened rules governing credit card acceptance and clarified its prohibition of a type of fraud known as shill bidding.

eBay said Monday that sellers could no longer accept PayPal payments from buyers without accepting credit card transactions, thereby avoiding PayPal fees. eBay acquired PayPal in 2002.

Source: News.com