Mozilla Corp. Thursday outlined a new support policy that includes a “sunset” provision which will quash any further security updates to the Firefox 1.0.x, Thunderbird 1.0.x, and Mozilla Suite 1.7.x product lines.

“[Firefox 1.0.8] marks the end-of-life of the 1.0.x product line,” Mozilla said in an online statement.

Mozilla defined its new support policy by saying that it would, of course, continue to roll out security updates for the current version — which in Firefox’s case is the 1.5 family — but that all support for prior versions would end 6 months after the introduction of the most current edition.

Source: informationweek

Kyle MacDonald is on the verge of successfully completing a project that on its surface sounds nothing less than absurd: Trading–with the help of a blog–a single red paper clip for a house.

Since embarking on his house hunt last year, MacDonald has traded with people from across Canada and the United States and is now sitting on a year’s free rent for an apartment in Phoenix.

MacDonald’s trades have gone as follows:

• Paper clip for a fish-shaped pen
• Fish-shaped pen for a clay doorknob with a funny face on it
• Clay doorknob for a camping stove
• Stove for a generator
• Generator for an “instant party”
• Instant party for a snowmobile
• Snowmobile for an all-expenses-paid trip to Yahk, British Columbia
• Yahk trip for a panel van
• Van for a recording contract
• Recording contract for the year of free rent in Phoenix

Source: news.com

Microsoft this week revealed that it is at work on a way to search the Internet using photos captured by cell phone cameras.

So rather than typing in an Internet search query, someone can e-mail Microsoft a photo of what they’re searching for. Photo2Search, as Microsoft calls the nascent feature, returns Web pages either with information about the objects in the photo, or sites that contain similar images.

Source: eWeek

Both Netgear and D-Link have announced their first pre-802.11n routers, although both Belkin and Linksys have remained mum for now.

In addition to the routers announced by Netgear last week, its new offerings include the WNR834B RangeMax NEXT wireless router with a 10/100-Mbit Ethernet switch and a WN511B wireless notebook adapter for $180 and $130, respectively. The products are currently shipping, according to Netgear.

D-Link announced the RangeBooster N 650 line on April 5, which includes the DIR-635 router, DWA-645 notebook adapter, and the DWA-547 desktop adapter, for $159.99, $99.99, and $119.99, respectively. The company chose the AR5008 chipset from Atheros. The routers include an SPI firewall in addition to the NAT protection that generally ships as a standard feature.

Source: extremetech

“The iProspect Search Engine User Behavior Study�? revealed that 62 percent of search engine users habitually click on a search result within the first page of results, and 90 percent of users click on a result within the first three pages of search results. In other words, if your company shows up beyond page three on the major search engines, you are losing nine out of ten potential customers to the great wilderness that is search results beyond page three.

Source: tmcnet.com

Reaching out and touching someone used to be as simple as dialing a string of numbers. But now there are home, cell and work phone numbers from which to choose, and sometimes work extensions to remember.

There are also e-mail addresses — at home and at work — and instant messaging handles, perhaps separate ones for the various services, some of which now do voice and video besides text. Some people even have Web pages — through their employer or Internet service provider, or perhaps a profile or two on MySpace.

To help people manage all their contact information online, the Internet’s key oversight agency is considering a “.tel” domain name. If approved, the domain could be available this year.

As proposed, individuals could use a “.tel” Web site to provide the latest contact information and perhaps even let friends initiate a call or send a text message directly from the site. Businesses could use a “.tel” site to determine customers’ locations and route them automatically to the correct call center.

Source: AP

Kaspersky Lab has released a beta version of mobile antivirus software for smart phones using the Symbian OS, it announced this week.

The product, called Kaspersky Anti-Virus Mobile 2.0, can stop suspicious programs before they infect the phone and scan devices for malicious software, the company said.

Anti-Virus Mobile is compatible with phones using the Symbian 6.1, 7.0s, 8.0 or 8.1 OS versions and the Series 60 user interface.

The second beta version will support Symbian Series UIQ and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile versions 2003 and 5.0, Kaspersky said.

Source: PCWorld

Intel Corp. and Baidu, China’s leading Internet search engine, said Thursday they have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on search applications for handsets, laptops and personal computers in the home.

Source: InformationWeek

That new Janet Jackson music making the rounds on the Internet is apparently not as new as you might think.

The pop superstar, who is working on a new album, says someone has leaked songs she recorded at least two years ago when working with hitmaking producer Rich Harrison. At least one song has already made the rounds, titled “Put It On Me.”

Source: AP

Shea O’Gorman, a South Bay third-grader, received an unwelcome reply to her hand-written letter to Steve Jobs suggesting improvements to the iPod nano.

She wrote the letter as a school project and received an unpleasant response from Apple’s legal department noting the company does not accept unsolicited product ideas.

Apple’s legal department apologized to the girl and is contemplating a different policy in its responses to letters from children.

Source: Wired

A coalition fighting AOL’s upcoming pay-to-send email service claimed Thursday that the company was blocking delivery of emails that included a link to the group’s Web site.

The DearAOL.com Coalition, which is circulating online petitions to gather signatures for an open letter to AOL, said emails with the link www.DearAOL.com were bounced back to the sender with a message saying, “failed permanently.”

AOL, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., denied it was blocking email, blaming the snafu on a “technical glitch.”

Source: InformationWeek

Vivendi Universal Games Mobile (”VUG Mobile”) today announced its second and third quarter mobile game titles for 2006. Among the highly anticipated games will be SWAT Force, Empire Earth, After Dark: Flying Toaster, Red Baron, Navy Challenge and Black Hawk Down: Team Sabre.