Toshiba issues a recall for a series of Satellite notebooks after receiving reports of the notebooks overheating and deforming the plastic casing area around the AC adapter plug. - Technology giant Toshiba, along with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, announced a voluntary recall of its Satellite T135, Satellite T135D and Satellite ProT130 notebooks due to overheating that could cause damage to the notebooks and burn the users. It is estimate...

Skype 5.0 for Windows lets users make group video conference calls for up to 10 users. The service comes one week after Google introduced Call Phones from Gmail. - Skype's second beta for Skype 5.0 for Windows allows users to make group video conference calls for up to 10 people. The leading provider of PC-to-PC VOIP calls released the update Sept. 2, more than a week after Google launched a Call Phones from Gmail service to compete with Skype's calling se...

Research from the University of California at Berkeley shows age is a factor in earnings: As you get older in your technology job, your rate of earning becomes more stagnant. So what's a technologist to do? Climb the ladder or shift career paths as you go along. Programmers take heed. - The older you get in technology, the harder it is to maintain a salary that grows, discovered economists Clair Brown and Dr. Greg Linden of the University of California, Berkeley, who have been studying the subject in research about offshoring and the semiconductor industry since 2006. These aca...

Samsung Galaxy Tab, an upcoming 7-inch slate running Google Android 2.2, will be the next big challenger to take a run at the Apple iPad's dominance of the tablet PC category. - Samsung's Galaxy Tab will be one of the first tablets to try to wrest market share from the Apple iPad. Unveiled at the IFA 2010 consumer electronics show in Berlin, the device features a TFT-LCD 7-inch screen and a Cortex A8 1GHz processor, and it runs Google Android 2.2. Along with Dell's rece...

Twitter Sept. 1 launched its official Twitter for iPad application, allowing users to tweet all sorts of content through a touch-screen. The app is available free from Apple's App Store. - On Sept . 1, Twitter launched its official Twitter for iPad application, bringing tweeting and other content sharing to Apple's popular tablet computer. Many of Twitter's 100 million-plus users are calling out Web pages, photos, videos, hashtags, people, check-ins and other objects with their...

Google and AOL refresh and extend their search deal to cover mobile search and video for the next five years. Google beat Bing, Yahoo and others for AOL's hand. - Google and AOL Sept. 2 inked a fresh five-year deal in which Google will power the search results on AOL's Websites accessed from computers and mobile devices. Financial terms were not disclosed for the global deal, which includes a revenue-sharing arrangement per each search. Some analysts bel...

Microsoft updates its EMET tool kit, designed to help developers thwart attacks against their applications. - Microsoft released an updated version of a tool kit Sept. 2 to help developers make their applications more secure. With the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit 2, Microsoft said, developers can bring technologies such as dynamic data execution prevention to bear to improve security, parti...

IBM's predictive analytics has proven to be not only a way for enterprises to make better business decisions, but to give fantasy football players a leg up in their leagues. - If you are one of the 21 million people who will sign up for fantasy football this year, IBM's predictive analytics could be the secret weapon you need to win in your league. According to Hetal Thaker, a product manager at IBM and long-suffering fan of the Detroit Lions, using IBM's predict...

A small delegation from Seattle knocks VMware's view of the cloud world and talks up Azure as the better way to go. - SAN FRANCISCO Microsoft as alternative. This is certainly not a typical notion, but in the context of VMworld 2010, it absolutely fit. The world's largest application and operating system software maker is not nearly in as familiar waters when it comes to data center middleware, although it has...

News flash: Summer's over. Yes, the sun still may be out and the weather is warm, but there is a distinct smell in the air, which is telling you the lazy long weekends and beach days are fast approaching their end for the year. Now it's back to work and buckling down for autumn and then winter. It's not all bad, of course, and thanks to technologies such as Apple iPhone apps (and the enterprising and creative developers behind them) there are plenty of ways to ease out of the long hot summer and into the long, dark, cold winter. We kid, we kid! Here's a compilation of apps to get you back into the work spirit and embrace the golden hues of autumn. - ...

The technology hiring picture shows tiny growth as companies patiently await skilled job candidates. The operative word in ‘cautious optimism is still caution when it comes to filling IT positions. - There are some unfortunate facts about the technology jobs picture right now, and while technology opportunities do exist, headcounts for IT in 2010 are not growing appreciably, according to research from technology analysts at Gartner. The Stamford, Conn.-based researchers found the rate of in...

Facebook is rolling out a security control that enables users to remotely log out of an active session from a different machine. The feature extends controls added in May to prevent unauthorized activity. - Facebook is updating security on its site to bolster protections added in May relating to user log-ins. This time, Facebook is giving users the ability to log out of any Facebook session they may have left active on another computer or device. For example, if a user logs into Facebook on a frien...

Gartner analysts predict that the boffo semiconductor sales of the first half of the year will not continue in the second half, as they fall in line with softening demand for desktops and notebooks. - The worldwide semiconductor market is poised to have a strong year in 2010, but there are some dark clouds on the horizon, according to Gartner's market research. Gartner analysts in a Sept. 1 report said they expect global semiconductor revenue to hit $300 billion, a 31.5 percent jump over rec...

Plenty of IT events during the last two years have been "ghost towns," in the words of at least one respected IT analyst, Charles King, and he's right. However, this year's seventh annual VMworld conference and expo at San Francisco's Moscone Center belied that image. More than 17,000 people roamed the show floor, crowded technical meetings, and heard VMware executives and their industry partners talk about their technology "road maps" in general sessions. Virtualization continues to be a huge topic of discussion. Following are some snapshots of various parts of the show. (All photos by Chris Preimesberger, eWEEK) - ...

The FCC is postponing its net neutrality ruling while it seeks additional public feedback. The move follows an August net neutrality deal between Google and Verizon. - The Federal Communications Commission has begun a public inquiry (PDF) to get additional feedback on rules governing network neutrality, delaying a decision on how to regulate wireless providers' ability to curb activity on their networks. While the FCC's decision to hold additional hearings has ...

Intel announces Intel Parallel Studio 2011, a new version of its tool set for building applications for parallel systems. - Intel has announced a new version of its tool set for developers working to create applications for parallel systems, Intel Parallel Studio 2011. Bill Savage, vice president and general manager of the Developer Products Division of Intel's Software and Services Group, told eWEEK Intel Paralle...

Apple's Sept. 1 event in San Francisco unveiled a new line of iPods, a revamped Apple TV, a music-oriented social network called Ping, and two upcoming revisions to its iOS mobile operating system. Together, these updates offer a fairly detailed picture of Apple's short-term mobile strategy: Extend its strength in multitouch, as well as features such as multitasking, to devices beyond the iPhone 4. Apple TV and Ping also hint at Apple's interests in both cloud-based services and social connectivity. In addition, these advances place Apple in fiercer competition against Google, which is developing a Google TV; Microsoft, which plans on launching its own consumer-oriented mobile platform, Windows Phone 7; and Facebook, which might take issue with Apple starting a social network, music-centric or not. Trust that those companies are already busy analyzing the following Apple products-and judging how to best respond. - ...

Samsung Electronics Co. Sept. 2 introduced Galaxy Tab computer to challenge Apple's iPad. The 7-inch-screen tablet machine will be available in Europe in two weeks, but U.S. and Asia will have to wait months for it. - Samsung Electronics Sept. 2 launched the widely anticipated Galaxy Tab computer to challenge Apple's iPad in a tablet market set to burst with Android devices. The tablet, unveiled at the IFA 2010 consumer electronics show in Berlin, sports a TFT-LCD 7-inch screen and runs Google's Android ...

Google said Sept. 1 Gmail users made more than 10 million calls through its new Call Phones from Gmail feature. The company provided tips on how to use the service with Google Voice. - Google said Sept. 1 Gmail users made more than 10 million calls through its new Call Phones from Gmail feature since it launched a week ago. Launched Aug. 25, Call Phones from Gmail lets users place calls to contacts directly from Gmail. Calls placed from Gmail in the United States and Canada ar...

Over two days, Cisco Systems bolstered its smart grid efforts by partnering with Itron and buying Arch Networks. - Cisco Systems is ramping up its push into the smart grid space, bolstering its efforts with a partnership and an acquisition. A day after Cisco unveiled a partnership with Itron to create an IP-based communications network for the smart grid market, the networking giant announced Sept. 2 that it ...

UPDATED: Hewlett-Packard wins out with an unsolicited, all-cash bid of $33 per share over Dell, ending the 10-day-long bidding war. - Minutes after being rebuffed by yet another higher offer for 3PAR from Hewlett-Packard, Dell decided on Sept. 2 to drop out of the high-stakes bidding process for the utility storage provider. Thus, with its final $33-per-share, all-cash bid, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based IT superpower will gain t...

Check Point Software Technologies added to its virtual security lineup with new integration with VMware technology. - Check Point Software Technologies is expanding its virtual security offerings with an eye toward protecting VMware environments. With Security Gateway Virtual Edition (VE), Check Point has added integration with VMwares VMsafe technology in a bid to bring the same level of firewall and intrusi...

As students across the United States head back to classrooms and campuses, the allure of shiny new electronic devices is felt as strongly as the desire to skip Economics 101 every morning. The overwhelming selection of mobile computing devices, wireless connectors, digital cameras, multifunction printers and various gadgets may seem daunting, not to mention expensive. With that in mind, eWEEK is here to help you sort out the fast, functional and affordable pieces of hardware that you will need for the coming school year. While we can't guarantee any of these will boost your test scores (or get you to that economics class with greater regularity), they'll certainly make you think twice about spending your money on another keg of cheap, ill-tasting beer instead. - ...

Sony follows HP and Lenovo into the 3D notebook space with an announcement of a 3D capable Vaio notebook come spring 2010, according to reports from the IFA consumer electronics trade show. - At the IFA electronics show in Berlin, Sony showed off a prototype of a notebook computer that can display 3D video and games at 1080p resolution, according to a CNET report. Company CEO Howard Stringer confirmed during a press conference that 3D Sony Vaio laptops would be available next spring,...

Hewlett-Packard takes only minutes to snap back with a higher offer after Dell takes three full days to tender its offer. Bidding now up to about $2.07 billion. - The 10-day-old bidding war between two stubborn IT superpowers over a relatively small storage company went up another level Sept. 2 when Dell increased its standing offer for 3PAR from $27 to $32 per share, with Hewlett-Packard subsequently upping its own to $33 from $30 a few minutes later. Del...

Google celebrated the second birthday of its Chrome Web browser Sept. 2 by launching Chrome 6 into the stable channel. Chrome has proven a viable alternative to Internet Explorer, Mozilla and Safari. - Google celebrated the second birthday of its Chrome Web browser Sept. 2 by launching Chrome 6 into the stable channel with autofill capability and other user interface perks. Google shocked the computing world Sept 2, 2008 when it unveiled Chrome as an alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer,...

Adults are texting more than ever before, but not nearly as much as teenagers, and more people are getting annoyed with the frequency of it, a report from the Pew Research Center finds. - The Pew Research Centers Internet amp; American Life Projects quot;Cell Phones and American Adults quot; report found that grownups are catching up with the tech-savvy younger generation when it comes to text messaging: Some 72 percent of adult cell phone users send and receive text messages n...

Security specialist Trend Micro and Dell teamed up to help cost-conscious businesses keep their data safe with the Worry-Free Business Security Services solution. - Technology giant Dell announced the expansion of its relationship with Internet content security specialist Trend Micro to enhance its security solutions portfolio and bring Trend Micro Worry-Free Business Security Services to small and midsize businesses. The two companies worked together to ...

An AMI-Partners report finds small businesses are increasingly employing Web conferencing technology--and sticking to low-quality but free services. - A report from IT research firm AMI-Partners found small businesses (firms with less than 100 employees) in the United States are increasingly using Web conferencing solutions like GoToMeeting, LiveMeeting and WebEx. According to the report, nearly half of U.S. small businesses are using Web co...

Foursquare teams up with MTV to use the popular mobile social network application to reduce the spread of STDs and lessen the stigma of testing. - Foursquare, the location-based social network for mobile device users, and MTV are working together to reduce the spread of STDs by encouraging people to visit clinics, get tested and display an quot;STD-free quot; electronic badge in their Foursquare accounts. quot;The badge can be unlocked b...

Archos said it is launching five Android-based tablets priced from $99 to $349 to challenge Apple's iPad and other Android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab. - Samsung has nothing on rival gadget maker Archos when it comes to building Android tablets to challenge Apple's popular iPad. While Samsung has captured headlines with its Galaxy Tab Android tablet, Archos said Aug. 31 it is launching five Android-based tablets priced from $99 to $349. The devi...

Sony is rolling out revamped versions of its three e-readers and selling its Pocket Edition at a higher price in a bid to compete against the cheaper Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook. - Amazon.com and Barnes amp; Nobles strategies for conquering the e-reader market? Cut the prices of their respective Kindle and Nook devices. Sonys strategy for boosting its sales numbers in that same market? Raise the price of its refreshed Reader Pocket Edition and justify it with additional...

Apple's Sept. 1 event saw the debut of new iPods, a revamped Apple TV and a music-centric social service, pushing the company toward greater conflict with Microsoft, Facebook and Google. - Apples Sept. 1 event in San Francisco saw the debut of new iPods, a revamped Apple TV and several new services, including a social network devoted to music. Those items are virtually guaranteed to give Apple buzz heading into the holiday shopping season, but they could also bring the company in...

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 smartphone platform reached its release-to-manufacturing milestone on Sept. 1. Microsoft hopes to take mobile market share from Google and Apple. - Microsofts Windows Phone 7 reached its release-to-manufacturing milestone Sept. 1. From here, the smartphone operating system will be released to Microsofts partners, who will integrate the software with their devices. Microsoft plans to release Windows Phone 7 devices in time for the 2010 hol...

News Analysis: Sprint directors are mulling an offer by Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile USA to invest in the Clearwire network owned by Sprint. - A growing coziness between T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel has been rumored for months. At one point there were rumors that T-Mobile's parent company, European communications goliath Deutsche Telekom, was preparing to buy Sprint and make it part of T-Mobile. So far, nothing had come of it until n...

Amazon.com is getting ready to offer a video streaming service and when it does a major market battle may develop between it and Google. - Amazon.com is making plans to add a subscription-based video streaming service to its list of offerings and is trying to drum up support for it among media companies, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. The publication said that the service would compete quite well with Netflixs Instant Stream...

The disruption of the Pushdo botnet has not stopped spammers, despite nearly two-thirds of the botnet's command and control servers being taken out of commission. - From the shutdown of McColo to last week's disruption of the Pushdo botnet, spammers have continually found ways to stay in business. Nearly 20 of the 30 command and control (CnC) servers associated with Pushdo were taken offline last week due to efforts by security vendor LastLine. The servers...

T-Mobile says it will ramp up HSPA+ speeds to 42M bps in 2011 and reach 200 million people in 2010. - T-Mobile plans to increase theoretical peak speeds of its HSPA+ (High-Speed Packet Access) to 42M bps in 2011, according to an Aug. 31 statement from Neville Ray, the company's chief network officer. Currently, the carrier offers quot;theoretical quot; peak speeds of 21M bps. HSPA+ will all...

Security researchers at Zscaler say many organizations are leaving themselves open to corporate espionage via the WebScan feature included in HP's all-in-one printers. - Research from Zscaler has exposed how a feature in Hewlett-Packard's all-in-one printers can be abused remotely to steal scanned documents. The feature, WebScan, allows users to remotely scan a document and have an image of the document sent from the scanner to their Web browser. Unfortunate...

NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup combines Syncsort backup management software, NetApp snapshot, clone and replication, and NetApp disk storage in a turnkey package. - SAN FRANCISCO Storage maker NetApp and data integration/protection software provider Syncsort announced Sept. 1 at VMworld 2010 here that they have combined to market a new data protection package for mixed-bag data centers which means just about all data centers. Called NetApp Syncsort Inte...

Google Chrome has teamed with a director and the band Arcade Fire to create "The Wilderness Downtown," a wistful, HTML5-intensive trip down memory lane to the band's song "We Used to Wait." - In one of the more bizarre mash-ups involving Web-based maps, browsers and indie rock music, Google has teamed with a director and the band Arcade Fire to create a sort of do-it-yourself movie that takes a wistful look at childhood. Where REM's quot;Stand quot; provided an upbeat soundtrack for...

Having direct Web access is less important these days, as people are spending less time inside traditional Web browsers and more time accessing e-mail, social media sites and games from their mobile phones and smartphones. Here, Knowledge Center mobile and wireless analyst J. Gerry Purdy explains in more detail about why direct Web access no longer matters. - I'm sure this week's column title caught your attention. You might have even asked yourself, quot;Is this guy losing it or what? quot; While my family figured that out a long time ago, there's a very important message in the title, but it needs some explanation. The fact that the Web no longer m...

At the VMworld show, Wanova unveils Mirage 1.5, the latest version of its desktop virtualization software, which now supports Microsoft's Windows 7. - Wanova is bringing support for Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system and other new features to its Mirage desktop virtualization software. At the VMworld show in San Francisco Aug. 31, Wanova officials announced that the company has begun shipping Mirage 1.5, which now supports endpoints that a...

Hewlett-Packard and Hynix will work to bring memristor products to market. Memristors could eventually replace not only traditional memory technologies such as Flash and hard drives, but also CPUs. - Hewlett-Packard is about three years away from taking its memristor technology from the research lab to the marketplace. HP officials announced Aug. 31 that the company has entered into a joint development agreement with memory supplier Hynix Semiconductor to develop and bring the technology to ...

In apparent anticipation of the 3PAR merger, HP Enterprise Services announced new services around storage tiering and thin provisioning. - SAN FRANCISCO -- Hewlett-Packard apparently is setting the table for its presumed incorporation of scale-out virtualized storage maker 3PAR, which could happen as soon as today. Although its bidding war with Dell was not a done deal by midday Pacific time on Sept. 1, HP held the upper hand with...

One core tenet of demilitarized zone (DMZ) design is to segregate network devices, systems, services and applications based on risk. Because of this, it's crucial to carefully plan and design a DMZ because it may not be easy to fix major flaws in the DMZ's design once it's live. Here, Knowledge Center contributor Michael Hamelin explains how to design a secure DMZ for your enterprise. - We have come a long way when it comes to DMZs (demilitarized zones). It's no longer a question of if your organization needs a DMZ, but rather, it's now a question of how you should design one. In computer security, a DMZ is a physical or logical subnetwork that contains and exposes an organiz...

The tablet market is heating up. With the iPad continuing to sell well, Google's Android platform starting to make some inroads and talk of a deluge of products hitting store shelves in the coming months, it won't be long before the vast majority of customers have at least one tablet in their homes and office. But that doesn't mean that all tablets are viable. And it certainly doesn't mean that the products coming out in the coming months and years will be as commercially attractive as Apple's iPad. After all, there are some issues with tablets that, going forward, cannot be repeated. Read on to find out what all future tablets, regardless of whether they come from Apple or another company, just cannot have. - ...

ViewSonic will show a 7-inch multitouch ViewPad tablet at the IFA 2010 show in Berlin. The tablet is expected to be available in October. - ViewSonic is ready to roll out its Android-based, 7-inch mini-tablet multitouch device, called the ViewPad, at the IFA 2010 show in Berlin, which begins Sept. 3. This tablet is expected to compete against better-known offerings from Apple and Samsung. In addition to using Android 2.2, the ViewS...

For the first time in 18 years, AutoCAD will be available for Apple's Mac platforms; Autodesk raises the ante by jumping on the iPad bandwagon. - Autodesk announced on Aug. 31 the planned release of AutoCAD for Mac, a native version of the company's professional design and engineering software built to run natively on Mac OS X, and the first version of AutoCAD for an Apple platform since George H.W. Bush was in the White House. The company...

AOL acquired mobile app maker Rally Up, the company's latest move to fortify its "mobile first" strategy as it seeks to challenge Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Twitter on the Web. - AOL is betting big on mobile, in case the company's July revamp of its mobile platform around Google's Android operating system wasn't a clue. The company has purchased mobile application provider Rally Up for an undisclosed sum. TechCrunch said the deal was worth $10 million. Rally Up makes two...