Ed Sutherland

Microsoft released five patches today, three of which it deemed critical, including a highly exploited hole in Internet Explorer. Thanking more than a half-dozen security researchers for pointing out a hole in its Internet Explorer application, Microsoft released a cumulative patch it said fixes the CreateTextRange vulnerability. First reported by Copenhangen, Denmark-based Secunia Research, said […]

Skype beefed up its VoIP talent pool today, acquiring Sonorit Holding and its U.S. subsidiary startup Camino Networks for $27 million in stock. Experts believe the purchase indicates that Skype, which eBay purchased for $2.5 billion in 2005, is evolving beyond a free PC-based phone application to a business-class telephone company. Sonorit, based in San […]

Can cable companies use wireless to stem the advances of telephone competitors? Four of them will try, as they launch seven pilot programs to test subscriber interest in wireless services. The companies are fighting the encroachment of telcos on traditional territory by adding wireless service to their existing voice, video, broadband Internet triple-plays. In November, […]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wants AT&T to show its face. The watchdog group this week followed up on a lawsuit it filed in February against AT&T claiming the company provided the National Security Agency (NSA) access to its caller database, as well as facilitated surveillance of customers. This week’s filing by the EFF references […]

A fix for a widely exploited flaw in Internet Explorer is among five security patches Microsoft told users to expect next week. Following weeks of speculation whether the CreateTextRange vulnerability would force the software giant to break from tradition and release a special patch, Microsoft said Thursday the patch is among four others slated for […]

The U.S. government plans to arm 500,000 census workers with smartphones based on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0, a spokesperson for the software giant confirmed to internetnews.com. While Microsoft wouldn’t comment on how much its portion of a larger five-year $600 million Field Data Collection Automation contract to update the census taking process is worth, the […]

Apple raised a few eyebrows with its news that enthusiasts can now use Microsoft Windows on Intel-based Mac computers. Beta software dubbed “Boot Camp” gives Apple fans a choice between Mac OS X or Windows XP. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said last month that 50 percent of the Mac line has transitioned to Intel processors. […]

Microsoft today released a free upgrade to Windows CE 5.0 aimed at luring media device developers away from Linux and to Redmond’s vision of the digital home. The company made the announcement during the same week of LinuxWorld. The Networked Media Device Feature Pack, free optional software aimed at OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) of IPTV […]

Next week’s batch of Microsoft patches will do more than update security for Internet Explorer (IE). Patch Tuesday will include a 60-day reprieve for developers still adapting to a February upgrade of Internet Explorer 6. This may be an admission that changes made to the way the browser handles ActiveX controls created some problems for […]

News of the proposed $13.4 billion merger with Alcatel sent some at the U.S.-based Lucent Technologies polishing up their French while others updated resumes. The new joint company worth $25 billion plans a European headquarters and an 8,000-person job cut. While CEOs of the two companies focused on the synergistic benefits of a “merger of […]

As many as 34 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and technology companies have been subpoenaed by the U.S. Justice Department in its continuing attempt to gather data to support a federal Internet child protection law, internetnews.com has learned. Until now, Google has been the best-known recipient of DoJ subpoenas requesting information. That demand was recently settled […]

By the end of the second day of Microsoft’s hearings before the European Commission, there was an air of finality. “The impression is a decision has already been made,” one source who attended the closed-door meeting and who has been involved in the antitrust case since the beginning, told internetnews.com. Meanwhile, Brussels officials did not […]