Business

When's the last time you found a new Apple MacBook for less than $1,000? Never? Base pricing is the focus of Microsoft's recent ad campaign, which launches a frontal assault on its competitor's alleged "Apple tax". Although the last time Microsoft ... worked with popular ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, it ended in Costanza-esque disaster -- however, this time the two are taking a different tact. Rather than prance in a fantasy world where comedians and geeky tech moguls journey across the United States , this new series of ads follows everyday computer buyers in their quest to purchase an ... (view more)

It's been almost one week since users have been able to experience Internet Explorer 8 , Microsoft's latest weapon in the browser war against rivals Firefox, Safari and Chrome. Unfortunately, fanfare doesn't appear to be overwhelming, and now there ... are reports that some users might actually be reverting to IE7 -- or even opting for competitor browsers. Early Highs, Later Lows It was reported that as much as 2.61% of all web surfers were using IE8 just three days after the release date. While some assume that these numbers would have doubled or tripled by now, the figures have barely improved ... (view more)

Have you considered making a video for YouTube? Do you think it would be cool to add in some hard-driving rock music for that drag racing video, or pump hip hop into a skateboarding demo? You may want to think twice, as music studios continue their ... crusade to rip copyrighted tunes off YouTube. The latest engagement between YouTube's amateur video content producers and the music industry involves Warner Music Group. According to reports, Warner Music is currently crawling the popular Google-owned video site for any of its songs and zapping those it finds. What could it mean for the average Joe ... (view more)

The debut of Google's Street View technology in the United Kingdom has not gone smoothly. Besides general privacy complaints and claims of hypocrisy, there have been some embarrassing images taken of British society. The service goes one step beyond ... the aerial views which were recently praised for saving lives in Australia. Street View uses millions of images to display a picture somewhat similar to what users would see if they stood in the relevant street. Already popular in other countries, it launched in the UK last week covering 25 major cities. The idea is that all faces, along with car ... (view more)

According to reports emerging this weekend, users have been slow to adopt Microsoft's new Internet Explorer (IE) 8 Release Candidate 1 (RC1), rumored to be the company's last version of the iconic web browser. Internet Explorer 8 RC1 was released ... late last week, and met with general satisfaction from security and usability experts. Although the new IE has the ability to blacklist known malware web sites and prevent phishing scams, it's been demonstrated already that it can be hacked . Reaction to IE8 "Underwhelming" Despite all the hacking, speed, and usability tests buzzing about ... (view more)

A recent study conducted by NSS Labs revealed that of the six most-used browsers, Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) RC1 is "head and shoulders" above Firefox, Safari and Chrome in its ability to detect and block socially-engineered malware. ... Socially-engineered malware is considered to be among the most prevalent computer viruses in existence. The infection process becomes a very familiar scenario: a user is enticed to visit an external website and agrees to the malware download under false pretences. NSS reported on the dangers of these attacks many times in the last year, urging users to constantly ... (view more)

When the leader of a nation makes an important change, the belief is that most citizens will support and echo their decision. Microsoft is hoping that won't be the case in Asia, after the Prime Minister of India abandoned his Microsoft Outlook ... account in favor of open-source email. The Indian leader voiced his concern over the vulnerabilities of his Outlook account following a nasty computer virus that caused massive disruptions when sending/receiving emails containing important (and at times, crucial) information. The Indian Central Information Commission admitted to the change, stating that ... (view more)

Just in case you aren't satisfied with downloading regular old standard definition movies from Apple's iTunes, keep your chin up: the Cupertino-based company is now offering HD flicks through its popular online store, and for pretty reasonable ... prices, too. For most of us eyeing Sony, Samsung, or Magnavox Blu-ray players, the problem thus far has been price. Most of those players range from $200 to $500 -- too much for the average movie fan even though the price has come down significantly since HD-DVD dropped off the face of the earth . In addition, Blu-ray movies are pretty steep themselves ... (view more)

Netbooks are one of the few bright spots in a weakened economy. Surging sales of these devices have resulted in computer makers like Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Acer, and Asus scurrying to rush out new models. And computer makers aren't alone. Mobile ... phone manufacturers like Samsung and LG Electronics view netbooks as extensions of the smartphone. Nokia has also confirmed that it is considering entering the netbook market with a version of its own. (Source: iht.com ) Snagging Control of the Netbook Market Another competition between computer and mobile phone manufacturers is raging behind the ... (view more)

A computer running Windows 7 stayed secure for longer than a Mac in the "PWN2OWN" hacking contest this week. But the challenge showed that Internet Explorer 8 -- just released today -- is still vulnerable. The contest, dubbed PWN2OWN, takes place at ... the annual CanSecWest security conference. Participants have to find a way to breach security on one of several computers, each running a different browser and operating system which have been fully patched with all currently available security updates. The winner this year took just 10 seconds to compromise a MacBook. It's bad news for ... (view more)