Symantec Corp. is laying off approximately 80 workers and giving up on some of its security appliances, the company confirmed Monday.

In a statement to TechWeb Monday, a Symantec spokesperson said that the Cupertino, Calif. security developer would reduce its investment in the Gateway Security (SGS) line as well as the Network Security (SNS) 7100 and SGS Advanced Manager 3.0 appliances.

Source: InformationWeek

Warner Bros. began selling its movies and TV shows over the Internet video site Guba.com Monday, marking the second deal the studio has made to distribute content over Web sites that have offered pirated video in the past.

Guba.com has featured mainly user-generated video clips for free or as part of a subscription, some of which were unauthorized clips from TV shows or movies.

Source: AP

Intel today delivered the first of its next-generation, dual-core chips that promise to strike a balance between higher processing speed and better energy efficiency in applications ranging from mobile hardware to server systems.

The new Xeon 5100 series chips, previously codenamed Woodcrest, are designed primarily for servers and high-end workstations and are based on Intel’s new Core microarchitecture design.

Source: NewsFactor

Apple Computer sent a special team overseas to investigate claims of unfair work environments within the Chinese manufacturing facilities that build its iPod digital music players but has found no problems, says Foxconn, the owner of facilities.

According to a report by China CSR, Foxconn spokesperson Li Zong said the original equipment manufacturer’s (OEM) complicated salary structure has caused misunderstanding among the media.

The spokesperson said the company has paid its workers according to the minimum salary standards of the Shenzhen local government.

At the same time, the China CSR report — which is unclear in some of its source attributions — said the Taiwanese manufacturer is now admitting that its employees work about 80 extra hours each month, which would place it in violation of Chinese labor laws.

Source: appleinsider

Netgear on Monday began shipping a new powerline router designed to distribute information around the home at speeds up to 200-Mbits per second over ordinary power lines.

Netgear’s 200-Mbps Powerline HD Adapter (model HDX101) and an associated kit (the HDXB101) both are based on the Design of Systems on Silicon (DS2) chipset, which provides the underlying hardware. The HDX101 adapter will be priced at $129.99, while the kit — which provides two adapters, to convert Ethernet to powerline technology and back again — will cost $249.99, according to Netgear.

Source: PCMaga

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take up a case involving one of the thornier questions in patent law: What makes an invention “obvious”–and therefore unworthy of a patent?

Source: News.com

If you haven’t downloaded Office 2007 but still want to try it out Microsoft made the new 2007 Microsoft Office available online, ready for anyone who wants to test out the new features and the new user interface.

The real-time test drive does not require product installation or download—it’s the fastest way to try out 2007 Microsoft Office system programs.

With the test drive you can try out the latest improvements to familiar Microsoft Office applications and use sample data that you can edit, send by e-mail, and post to Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies sites in real time.

Included in the test drive:

• Microsoft Office Access 2007
• Microsoft Office Excel 2007
• Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007
• Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager
• Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access
• Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
• Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007
• Microsoft Office Publisher 2007
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007
• Microsoft Office Visio 2007
• Microsoft Office Word 2007
• Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
• Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 (coming soon)
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Here are some screen shots

Symantec said today it will release in September a beta version of a security software product that hardens a computer’s defenses against e-commerce and banking fraud.

The software, Norton Confidential, will detect when a Web site or malicious program is trying to swipe a user name or password, a rising form of Internet crime called phishing, Symantec said.

Source: pcworld

Microsoft will unveil its plans to merge telephone and computer systems under the “unified communications” banner, in San Francisco later today.

The software giant is launching Communications Server, an extension to Exchange, which will connect Exchange server email to office telephone systems.

Source: TheRegister

A French alternative to Google Earth - offering hi-res coverage of the entire country - went into meltdown last Friday shortly after its launch and is still unavailable due to a stampede of punters eager to avail themselves of the free service.

Geoportail cost the French taxpayer a cool €6m which the National Geographic Institute used to collate 400,000 aerial photos and 3,700 maps. It reportedly allows users to “zoom in to within 50 centimetres of the ground” and to “switch from aerial views of a site, to detailed maps, charts and geological data”.

Source: TheRegister

British consumers are set to be the first in the world able to buy songs instantly as they listen to them on digital radio, using a download service announced on Monday by UBC Media.

The London-based radio programming producer said it would begin testing the technology on Chrysalis Group’s Heart station, with plans for a full roll-out by December.

It added that digital-radio-enabled mobile phones would be available later this year.

Source: Reuters

IBM will announce Monday that Lotus Sametime, version 7.5, the company’s instant messaging and collaboration tool, will integrate with Microsoft Outlook, Office, and SharePoint applications.

The company also said Sametime 7.5 will directly connect to mobile Research in Motion (RIM),
Nokia, and Windows Mobile devices.

Source: InfoWorld