For a limited time, Sun is offering a free DVD media kit which includes the Solaris 10 Operating System for both SPARC and x86 platforms as well as Sun Studio 11 software.

Americans spent over 100 billion dollars shopping on the Internet in 2006, and growth in e-commerce is likely to extend its strong pace in the coming years, analysts say.

A report by research firm comScore Networks said online retail spending excluding travel reached 102.1 billion dollars last year, a 24 percent increase over 2005.

A large chunk of that came in the holiday season of November and December — 24.6 billion dollars, up 26 percent versus last year.

“E-commerce is becoming more mainstream,” said Jeffrey Grau, senior analyst at the research firm eMarketer.

“A larger segment of the population is buying online, and people are buying more things than they have in the past.”

Source: Yahoo

Online payment service PayPal is preparing to offer its users a new security weapon to help ward off data thieves and phishing scams with a password-generated key fob.

Aimed at protecting consumers and members from fraud, the two-factor authentication tool will display a new one-time password in the form of a six-digit code every 30 seconds. Users will enter their password along with their usual credentials when signing on.

This type of security is already common in many financial firms for high net worth clients throughout the United States.

Using VeriSign technology, the device will be free for eBay customers with a business account, but will cost approximately $5 for personal PayPal account holders. If the key is lost or unavailable, users will still be able to login, but only once they have verified their account.

Source: Yahoo