ActiveX controls accounted for an overwhelming majority of all browser plug-in vulnerabilities in the second half of 2007, Symantec said this week in its semi-annual Web security report. Microsoft's technology, primarily used to create add-ins for Internet Explorer, accounted for 79 percent of the 239 plug-in bugs discovered between July and December 2007, Symantec said. The plug-in with the next-highest number of flaws was Apple's QuickTime, which had just 8 percent of the six-month's total. Only one vulnerability in a plug-in for Mozilla's Firefox browser was detected in the same period, meaning Firefox's extensions -- the moniker Mozilla uses for plug-ins -- accounted for only 0.4 percent of all found flaws.

via infoworld.com

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) on Tuesday unveiled the latest version of Internet Explorer Mobile and pledged that the software would bring "desktop grade" Web browsing to mobile devices. With added support for industry standards like Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) Flash, the updated version of Explorer Mobile lets users view full-screen Web pages and multimedia on their smartphones just as they would on a PC, Microsoft said. It also supports Microsoft's nascent Silverlight Web-display technology. "People want a single phone that's flexible enough to meet their needs throughout their day," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, in a statement.

via informationweek.com

The winner of a recent hacking contest is offering the computer he broke into for sale on eBay, possibly with the Microsoft Vista attack code he used intact. In a Monday listing, Shane Macaulay is selling the Fujitsu U810 laptop he won last Friday during the CanSecWest PWN 2 OWN contest. His listing claims that exploit code could probably still be extracted from the machine. Although he make no guarantees, he wrote, "My successfull [sic] exploitation of Vista SP1 remotely, is most likely still present." "This laptop is a good case study for any forensics group/company/individual that wants to prove how cool they are, and a live example, not canned of what a typical incident responce sitchiation [sic] would look like."

via computerworld.com

AMD today announced the availability of its Phenom quad-core microprocessors, consumer-oriented desktop processors that the company had originally expected to ship in January. The company also announced the release of a new line of triple-core processors and an energy-efficient quad core chip. AMD's quad-core Phenom microprocessors are technically superior to Intel's quad-core designs in that they are "true" quad-core CPU packages; Intel, meanwhile, essentially stitches two dual-core chips together, a process that introduces performance inefficiencies. But AMD's more elegant design has had a rockier release schedule. After announcing the chips in November, AMD delayed the broad release of Phenom from January because a design flaw.

via windowsitpro.com

If a buyer is most familiar with XP, purchasing a Mac may not always be the best course of action when picking out a new computer. If you've grown comfortable with XP, rather than learn a whole new operating system, why not just get a new computer running XP? Of course, that won't be possible starting soon, when Microsoft will stop licensing new PCs to run XP.

via macnewsworld.com

Dell (Dell) on Tuesday launched migration services for organizations planning to switch to Windows Vista on 2,500 or more client computers. Dell's Client Migration Solution helps customers determine hardware and application compatibility, and then helps them plan, deploy, and manage the migration. The package includes software tools to help automate the transition. "Customers are migrating to Windows Vista, and they've asked Dell to provide services to simplify the process for them," Steve Meyer, VP of Global Services for Dell, said in a statement. "In response, Dell is delivering a new integrated solution that combines focused.

via informationweek.com

Intel (NSDQ: INTC) on Tuesday introduced two 45-nanometer processors that the company claims are low-voltage chips that work as much as 25% faster than Intel's previous generation products for servers and workstations. The quad-core Xeon L5420 and L5410 processors run at 2.5 GHz and 2.33 GHz, respectively; and use 12.5 watts per core, or a total of 50 watts. Both feature 12 MB of on-die cache and dedicated 1333 MHz front-side busses. System vendors supporting the latest server processors include Asus, Dell (Dell), Fujitsu, Fujitsu-Siemens, Gigabyte, HP (NYSE: HPQ), Hitachi, IBM (NYSE: IBM), Microstar, NEC, Quanta, Rackable, Supermicro, Tyan, and Verari.

via informationweek.com

In a sign that it's not prepared to bet its mobile business on its unproven Silverlight Web presentation technology, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has agreed to license rival Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE)'s Flash Lite graphics software for use on cell phones, PDAs, and other portable devices powered by the Windows Mobile operating system. Microsoft has also licensed Adobe Reader LE software for use with Windows Mobile, Adobe said Monday. Reader LE will allow Windows Mobile users to open and view documents and e-mails stored in Adobe's Portable Document Format.

via informationweek.com

Now that Windows Vista service pack 1 has been released, all eyes have shifted to Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)'s plans for Windows XP service pack 3, the final package of updates for the trusty OS. And, according to at least one source, Microsoft will roll out XP SP3 next Monday. As of Wednesday afternoon Pacific time, the BitTorrent search engine Mininova listed a 568.73 MB Windows XP Professional SP3 5503 file available for download. The file, which had 112 seeds and 417 leeches, had been downloaded 2083 times since it was posted Tuesday, according to the listing.

via keznews.com

“Adobe's leadership in the industry puts us in a unique position to deliver a completely new product, targeted squarely at technical communicators and instructional designers”

Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced Adobe Technical Communication Suite software, a first-of-a-kind, integrated solution for authoring, managing, and publishing technical information and training content ... via Monitor Today

via monitortoday.com