Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft has released Security Essentials which is its free anti-virus software for your home PCs.

System requirements are:

• Operating System: Genuine Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or Service Pack 3); Windows Vista (Gold, Service Pack 1, or Service Pack 2); Windows 7
• For Windows XP, a PC with a CPU clock speed of 500 MHz or higher, and 1 GB RAM or higher.
• For Windows Vista and Windows 7, a PC with a CPU clock speed of 1.0 GHz or higher, and 1 GB RAM or higher. VGA display of 800 × 600 or higher.
• 140 MB of available hard disk space.
• An Internet connection is required for installation and to download the latest virus and spyware definitions for Microsoft Security Essentials.
• Internet Browser: Windows Internet Explorer 6.0 or later.Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or later.
• Microsoft Security Essentials also supports Windows XP Mode in Windows 7.

Can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Founders of Skype File Copyright Suit Against Company

Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, who became billionaires after selling Skype to eBay in 2005, filed a copyright lawsuit against Skype in the United States District Court of Northern California. The suit comes a little more than two weeks after eBay announced it would sell most of Skype for $1.9 billion to a consortium of investors led by the private equity firm Silver Lake Partners.

Read the article: The New York Times

The U.S. Still Trails in Broadband Speeds: Survey

A new nationwide study release by Speed Matters shows what many Americans already know: the U.S. lags behind many other countries in terms of broadband speeds.

You read that right, the country that first developed the Internet trails many other countries.

The Speed Matters Speed Test, which is a project of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), measures the speed of a user’s Internet connection. The 2009 report, based on aggregated data from more than 413,000 Internet users who took the online test between May 2008 and May 2009, shows that the average Internet download speed in the U.S. has increased by only 1.6 megabits per second (mbps), from 3.5 mbps in 2007 to 5.1 mbps in 2009.

That might sound good, but compare that to South Korea: 20.4 mbps, or four times faster than the U.S. The United States ranks 28th in the world in average Internet connection speeds, in fact.

The negative of faster U.S. speeds would be that, if you give the U.S. faster speeds, people on capped broadband plans, which are becoming pretty popular among ISP, would simply reach their caps faster.

The five fastest states are: Delaware (9.9 mbps), Rhode Island (9.8 mbps), New Jersey (8.9 mbps), Massachusetts (8.6 mbps) and New York (8.4 mbps), all in the NE. I'll bet there's see some Verizon FIOS impact there, both for Verizon customers and competitors trying to keep up.

Mississippi (3.7 mbps), South Carolina (3.6 mbps), Arkansas (3.1 mbps), Idaho (2.6 mbps) and Alaska (2.3 mbps) have some of the slowest Internet connect! ion spee ds, according to the study.

As the CWA notes in a press release, the U.S. is still the only industrialized country without a national policy to promote high-speed Internet access. However, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that was signed into law earlier this year included a provision calling for a national broadband plan by spring 2010 and $7.2 billion in broadband grants for unserved and underserved areas.

The full report (.PDF) is available online, for those in states not listed above. It could either depress, or elate you.

I guess elate is a little strong, as only if we were seeing South Korean speeds (without a cap) would I be elated.

Nikon Compact Camera Features Built In Projector

Nikon has announced the COOLPIX S1000pj, the first compact digital camera in the world to feature a built-in projector.

Read the full story here, from iClarified - Apple News

Microsoft, Yahoo reach search deal

"After years of courting, Microsoft Corp. has reached a deal with Yahoo Inc. to pool their resources on internet search, the lucrative business technology rival Google Inc. dominates. Under terms of the agreement announced Wednesday, the two companies will pool their relative strengths in the search business, with Microsoft using its technology to power Yahoo searches while Yahoo puts its sales force to work to attract premium search advertisers. The two companies said in a joint news release they hope the deal will help lead to faster, better and more relevant results for web users and advertisers when conducting online searches." - CBC

Palm Pre 1.1 ROM Upgrade Released, Restores iTunes Sync

On Friday, Palm released an update to the ROM for the Palm Pre, bringing it to version 1.1, adding some missing ActiveSync functionality, to better align the Palm Pre with business. More importantly for some, it also restored the ability of the Palm Pre to sync with iTunes.

Earlier, Apple released iTunes 8.2.1 which blocked the Palm Pre from being recognized by the software. As I noted then, this is likely to turn into a back-and-forth battle between the two companies.

Last month, Apple warned that future updates to iTunes might affect the ability of third-party MP3 players to use the software. They didn't specifically mention the Pre, but what else could they have been talking about?

"Apple designs the hardware and software to provide seamless integration of the iPhone and iPod with iTunes, the iTunes Store, and tens of thousands of apps on the App Store. Apple is aware that some third-parties claim that their digital media players are able to sync with Apple software. However, Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players."

Palm has emphasized sync with iTunes as one of the selling points of the Pre.

At the same time, Palm added some missing ActiveSync functionality to their implementation of Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), including:

• remote wipe
• PI! N/passwo rd requirements
• inactivity timeout
• improved certificate handling

These were all missing from their initial implementation of EAS, and actually caused issues with people trying to provision their Pres with EAS.

They also added support for emoticons in the messaging app, and something called "person reminders." You add these in the contacts app, and the next time you get a message or phone call from that person, a message box pops up showing you a reminder of some sort. They also added NFL Mobile Live (from Sprint).

You can see the full list of changes here.

Did The Twitter Effect Kill 'Brüno'?

Patrick Goldstein of the LA Times' recently pondered the unprecedented drop off that Sasha Baron Cohen's latest attempt to expose the absurd behavior in everyday American life, "Brüno" experienced during its second week at the box-office. Its 73% fall in its second week is the steepest drop for a movie this year, and certainly something the suits over at Universal were not expecting from one of their more heavily marketed features.

One hypothesis' Goldstein mentioned that is being thrown around the Internets to explain the steep drop-off was the influence on the "Twitter-Effect," which appears to be the accelerated spread of negative word-of-mouth about the overt gayness and a multitude of other homosexual related situations that make red-blooded Americans toss and turn at night, which were reported in real-time by the social-networking device.

If Universal, which is still considering its$43 million purchasing of "Bruno" a financially smart move, needs someone to blame for the fact that their recycled material didn't sell well, then Twitter seems like as good any outlet for their disappointment, because without Twitter, god, there is no possible way those mindless audiences could have figured out this thing was a second-rate, re-packaged "Borat," right?

Case-c losed. Thanks internets!

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