Israeli researchers have created a topographical map of the Internet by enlisting more than 5,600 volunteers across 97 countries who agreed to download a program that tracks how Internet nodes interact with each other.

The result is “the most complete picture of the Internet available today,” Bar Ilan University researcher Shai Carmi told the MIT Technology Review.

“A better understanding of the Internet’s structure is vital for integration of voice, data and video streams, point-to-point and point-to-many distribution of information, and assembling and searching all of the world’s information,” Carmi and fellow researchers state in a new report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “It may reveal evolutionary processes that control the growth of the Internet.”

Carmi’s research uses a program called the DIMES agent, which is downloaded onto volunteers’ computers and performs Internet measurements such as traceroute and ping. The project’s Web site promises volunteers that, along with providing a “good feeling,” using the DIMES agent will provide maps to users showing how the Internet looks from their homes

Microsoft Corp. introduced two new online services to its Windows Live line-up on Tuesday and said it plans to release more Web offerings this year to beef up its Internet strategy.

Microsoft plans to take on Web competitors Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. with its “software plus services” strategy, that aims to leverage its dominant market position for software running on the computer to a new suite of services delivered over the Internet.

Windows Live Photo Gallery is a new version of the photo application found on Microsoft’s two most recent operating systems, Windows XP and Windows Vista. It simplifies how people can share photos on their Windows Live Spaces site, Microsoft’s social networking platform.

The sharing feature of Microsoft’s new Photo Gallery is similar to how users can publish pictures from Apple Inc.’s iPhoto application to the company’s .Mac online service.

Windows Live Folders will provide up to 500 megabytes of online storage in the United States in a limited test release. Microsoft said it will gauge usage during the test release and possibly add more capacity if needed.

Microsoft sees Windows Live Folders as a way people can share documents, but not necessarily a place where users can back up all the files on a computer hard drive.

Hacking group warez has released a patch allowing gamers to run Halo 2 and Shadowrun, both released by Microsoft as Windows Vista-only titles, on the firm’s older Windows XP operating system.

ImageIt had been claimed that neither title would be able to run successfully using the older DirectX 9 graphics engine, with Microsoft urging gamers to take the plunge and switch to the Vista.

The news is sure to irk Microsoft who may now face an increased delay in some consumers adopting Vista at this early stage. However, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Earlier this month Falling Leaf Systems said in a press release that it believed Microsoft was deceiving consumers by stating that the titles would only work on Vista, and announced its intentions to release compatability software to disprove the claim.

Microsoft will work with 3D design and visualization software developer Dassault Systèmes, to add a new dimension to its Virtual Earth mapping and satellite imagery service, the companies announced Tuesday.

Through this partnership, Microsoft will be able to invite users of Virtual Earth to contribute their own 3D models of buildings featured on the maps, much as Google already does with the “3D Warehouse” layer in its Google Earth software and the free modeling tool Google SketchUp, now at version 6.

To encourage development of models for inclusion in Virtual Earth, Dassault Systèmes has built an online community, 3dvia.com, around consumer uses of its and other companies’ 3D modeling tools. The community began life as Teapotters.com, a creative project set up by a group of Dassault employees, but opened its doors as 3Dvia.com

AT&T Inc. and Apple Inc. on Tuesday said wireless service for the iPhone will range from $59.99 per month to $99.99 per month.

The highly anticipated gadget retails for $499 for a model with 4 gigabytes of storage and $599 for one with 8 gigabytes. It’s slated to go on sale at 6 p.m. local time Friday at Apple and AT&T retail stores as well as Apple’s Web site.

The $59.99 monthly plan includes 450 minutes of voice time; a $79.99 plan includes 900 minutes; and a $99.99 plan includes 1,350 minutes. All three offer 200 text messages, unlimited data services, minutes that roll over month-to-month and mobile-to-mobile calls. There also is a $36 activation fee.

Apple claims the iPhone - which combines the functions of a cell phone, iPod media player and Web-surfing device - will be easier to use than other smart phones because of its unique touch-screen display and intuitive software that allows for easy access to voice mail messages, the Internet, and video and music libraries.

Digital entertainment services company RealNetworks, announced that the much anticipated new RealPlayer is now available for consumers to download.

For the first time, consumers can use one application to record and download videos from tens-of-thousands of Web sites with a single click, bringing the digital video recorder (DVR) experience to the Web and ushering in a new era in Internet video.

Google is close to buying phone management company GrandCentral which provides one number for life which can be routed to various actual numbers.

Neither company is commenting but blog speculation puts a $50m value on the deal. GrandCentral offers one central number and voicemail for a variety of phones. You can change how your phone reacts to incoming calls on different numbers, with different voicemail messages or ringtones.

Disk drive maker Seagate Technology on June 25 introduced what it calls “the first second-generation” 1TB storage hard drives for a variety of enterprise and desktop uses.

The Barracuda 7200.11 for desktops and Barracuda ES.2 enterprise PMR (perpendicular magnetic recording) hard drives deliver 1TB of capacity on a four-disk platform, 7,200-rpm spin speeds, and caches up to 32MB, Willis Whittington, Seagate product marketing manager, told eWEEK.

The new drives will be marketed both as branded items to the public and as OEM components to Seagate computer-making partners, Whittington said.

Both drives will begin shipping in volume during the third quarter of this year. Pricing for each is set at $399.99.

TorrentSpy, the torrent-file search engine accused by Hollywood of aiding copyright violators, plans to remove links from its search results to pirated content using a new filtering system.

FileRights is an automated filtering system created by some of TorrentSpy’s founders, including Justin Bunnell, according to a statement released Monday. The technology uses “hash” values to automatically remove links to infringing works from search engines that subscribe to the service.

The move comes as TorrentSpy fights a lawsuit brought against it last year by the major film studios. TorrentSpy suffered a legal blow earlier this month when the judge hearing the case ordered the company to begin tracking user activity.

The privately held company has appealed the decision. Should it lose, Ira Rothken, TorrentSpy’s attorney, has said the company would likely shut down access in the U.S. before giving up information about users.

Dell is allowing its customers to decline the unwanted software applications loaded on new PCs, after hundreds of users complained about such “bloatware” on a company blog.

Many software companies pay PC vendors to install their applications on new computers, hoping to gain new customers or persuade users to upgrade to a new version. But customers say it can take a savvy user hours to remove unwanted programs, and those who are less sophisticated may never be able to reclaim the wasted memory.

On Monday, Dell agreed to give buyers of certain models the option to avoid what the company calls “preinstalled software.” Buyers of Dimension desktops, Inspiron notebooks, and XPS PCs can now click a field in Dell’s online order form that will block the installation of software for productivity, ISPs, and photo and music.

More than a month after Symantec Corp. knocked out 50,000 Chinese PCs with a bad software update, the company is ready to offer compensation. But Chinese users eligible for the offer have to act fast; it’s only good for a couple of weeks.

Symantec’s problems in China began on May 18, when it released a bad software update that caused its Norton antivirus software to wrongly identify two system files in the Simplified Chinese version of Windows XP as malware and quarantine them. That mistake, which Symantec blamed on “an automated process,” left tens of thousands of PCs crippled and Internet bulletin boards full of angry posts.

Chinese users who lost data because of Symantec’s faulty update demanded compensation, and at least two lawsuits were filed against the company. But Symantec was slow to respond, saying earlier this month it was considering requests for compensation.

After five weeks, Symantec is ready to make amends. The company is offering affected Chinese consumers a 12-month Norton license extension and a copy of Norton Save & Restore 2.0. Corporate customers are being offered Symantec Ghost Solution Suite licenses, depending on the number of PCs affected. Symantec is not offering to extend Norton licenses for corporate customers affected by the bad update.

Symantec described its offer as “a gesture of our goodwill.”

New drive uses 64 flash memory chips, aimed at the ultra-portable notebook PC market but expect to see them in other devices too.

Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics today announced that it had begun production of the first 64GB flash memory-based hard drive in a 1.8-inch form factor.

The drives are being targeted at the high-end ultra-portable notebook computer market according to Samsung director of flash marketing, Jim Elliott.

Solid-State Drives (SSDs) offer faster application start times, greater reliability and faster boot times. In notebook applications, they can improve battery life by as much as 20 percent.