Made available this week, the second release candidate for Microsoft’s scripting technology, Windows PowerShell allows IT managers to simplify changes across the system by automating certain administrative tasks.

Code-named Monad before April of this year, Windows PowerShell RC2 allows IT administrators to carry out tasks by writing a command script instead of the graphical user interface that Windows usually uses.

Source: techtarget

Yahoo Inc. said Thursday it has struck a deal with Hewlett-Packard Co. to plant its Internet search engine on millions of computers, the latest volley in a high-stakes battle with Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

The alliance unites two companies trying to catch up to the longtime leaders in their respective fields.

Source: AP

Some 526,000 batteries used in ThinkPad notebook computers worldwide are being recalled in the latest problem with batteries made by Sony Corp ., the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.

IBM Corp., based in Armonk, N.Y., and Lenovo Inc. of Research Triangle Park, N.C., recalled the rechargeable, lithium-ion batteries used in ThinkPad computers because they may pose a fire hazard. About 168,500 of the batteries were sold in the U.S., while the rest were distributed worldwide, the CPSC said.

Source: AP

In a victory for the entertainment industry, a federal judge has ruled that the Morpheus file-sharing software encourages millions of users to share music, movies and other works without authorization.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson ruled on Wednesday that StreamCast Networks Inc., the distributor of Morpheus, had contributed to massive copyright infringement because it had constructed a business model that relied on massive copyright infringement and did not attempt to block the trading of copyrighted materials.

Last year, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision, ruling that some technology firms could be held liable for distributing software used to violate copyrights.

StreamCast, based in Woodland Hills, California, said it was considering an appeal and maintained that it did not encourage users to infringe on copyrighted works and never intended to do so.

StreamCast was the only file-sharing company that continued fighting after the Supreme Court ruling.

Source: Reuters

A federal judge in Delaware has scheduled an April 27, 2009 trial for Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s antitrust case against Intel Corp., an Intel spokesman said on Wednesday.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Joseph Farnan during a Wednesday hearing came one day after the judge gave Intel a victory by dismissing much of AMD’s lawsuit, saying that U.S. law does not cover many of AMD’s claims.

Shares of Intel rose more than 2 percent on the news, while AMD shares fell more than 2 percent. Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, is the largest maker of chips used in personal computers. Sunnyvale, California-based AMD ranks second.

Chuck Mulloy, an Intel spokesman, said that at Wednesday’s hearing, Intel argued that AMD should now be precluded from obtaining discovery outside the United States.

Source: eWeek

In an effort to find more ways to plant itself in multimedia PCs that can serve as entertainment fixtures, Intel on Tuesday launched a developers contest with a booty worth up to $1 million.
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Under the Intel Core Processor Challenge, Intel is asking developers to design a small, sleek multimedia PC powered with Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors. Intel plans to judge the systems on style, acoustics, functionality and features.

Source: techrepublic

IBM, Intel and others Wednesday (Sept. 27) said that they have devised a proposal to enhance PCI Express technology to address the performance requirements of new usage models, such as visualization and the extensible markup language (XML).

The proposal, codenamed “Geneseo,” outlines enhancements that are said to enable faster connectivity in a system. Applications that could benefit from the technology include visualization, data intensive financial applications and content processing, according to the companies.

Source: EETimes.com

Will Intel get back into the business of selling computer memory? It might, if one of the ideas in a recent chip prototype moves into manufacturing.

On Tuesday, Intel showed off an 80-core processor at its developer forum taking place in San Francisco this week and one of the prominent features of the chip is that each core is connected directly to a 256MB memory chip through a technology called Through Silicon Vias, or TSV.

The memory wedded to the processor cores could constitute the entire memory needed for a computer, Intel CTO Justin Rattner told News.com in an interview during the Intel Developer Forum. TSV could be used in a variety of chips, not just the 80-core monster. As a result, computer makers, when building a system, would get their memory when they bought their processors from Intel. They would not have to obtain memory chips separately from other companies like they do now.

Source: News.com

Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday its new Zune music player will be sold at a price matching Apple Computer Inc.’s market-leading iPod and, as a result, lose money this holiday season.

Microsoft’s 30-gigabyte Zune will retail for $249.99 — 99 cents higher than the iPod with the same amount of storage — when it goes on sale November 14. Songs available for download at the Zune Marketplace service will cost about 99 cents a song, on par with prices at Apple’s iTunes, Microsoft said.

Source: Reuters

Symantec and Microsoft have always had an uneasy relationship: the former depends on the latter for a platform for its products, yet often finds itself in direct competition with the software giant. Now, with Microsoft’s new operating system Vista still on pace for release in January 2007, Symantec is warning that the OS may harm it and other security software companies. In a statement released today, Symantec communications director Chris Paden said that Vista will “reduce consumer choice” when it comes to computer security.

Paden’s beef is with the new Windows Security Center, an update to the control panel that made its first appearance with Windows XP’s Service Pack 2. He claims that the interface comes with default programs to handle virus protection, a software firewall, and a spyware scanner, and that the user can install replacements for these applications but not access them through the security center program.

Source: arstechnica

Microsoft insists that its Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy program is nearly flawless. But that’s not the impression you get when you visit the company’s WGA Validation Problems forum. Ed Bott at ZDNet went through 137 problem reports submitted there during a two-week period, each one accompanied by the output from the official Microsoft diagnostic utility, and found that 42% of the people reporting problems were actually running Genuine software.

Source: Slashdot

Lirix Inc. launched a software platform that inserts ads into downloadable music to make content free for consumers, but the tunes won’t come without a price.

The product unveiled this week at DEMOfall 2006 in San Diego can link advertisements to key lyrics and words in songs.

Lirix Media System, the advertising-supported download service, mixes music with audio advertisements and inserts the ads between music tracks. The music, ads and control instructions are all separate files all saved on the device. This allows the platform to play ads at unpredictable intervals during playback.

Source: InformationWeek