News
IT News: Spyware Gears Up for the Holidays
Plus, VMworld debuts new products from Chip PC, Symantec and others.
- By Gladys Rama
- November 17, 2006
It's been a big week for spyware. First, it trumped "poker" as the
most popular Internet search of the week, according to the LYCOS 50 Daily Report.
http://50.lycos.com
Then, ScanSafe's recent Global Threat Report announced a 15 percent jump in
spyware and adware instances during October, which the company says is par for
the course during the holiday season. Increases in spyware attacks usually correspond
to online shopping trends, making the holidays an especially vulnerable time
for consumers -- and their employers, too, since according to the report, more
than a third of employees do their holiday shopping from their office computers.
http://www.scansafe.com
For Home Tech Pros, a New Cert in the Works
CompTIA and the Consumer Electronic Association are teaming up to form a certification
for professionals in the field of home technology integration. The credential,
which will bear the sprawling moniker of CEA-CompTIA Digital Home Technology
Integrator+ certification, will target those with at least 18 months of experience
in home integration technology, though neither a launch date nor a hard list
of prerequisites has been announced yet. http://www.comptia.org
Got a Big Idea for a Small Business?
If you're an entrepreneur at heart, you might want to check out Microsoft's
just-launched Ultimate Challenge, a contest for the most innovative small-business
idea in the country. Participants have until Jan. 31, 2007 to submit their business
proposals either online or at a local Ultimate Challenge event. The winner,
to be announced in March, will be awarded $100,000 to start their business and
a year-long lease for a Manhattan-area storefront. According to Microsoft, Ultimate
Challenge was timed to coincide with the company's launch of Office Accounting
Express 2007, now available as a free download. http://www.ideawins.com
Dispatch from VMworld
This year's VMworld, held in the Los Angeles Convention Center from Nov. 7 to
9, attracted nearly 7,000 attendees and featured 89 exhibitors, according to
the event's Web site. Chip PC, for one, had several of its newest products on
display, including the new Jack-PC, which it calls a "computer in the wall"
-- a thin client computer that's integrated into an existing wall LAN jack.
That means you can convert existing LAN jacks into a Windows XP-compatible computer
without having to install more cables; it just mounts onto any standard wall
socket, with the computer module hidden behind the faceplate. http://www.jack-pc.net/
Also debuted in VMworld was Vizioncore Inc.'s esxRanger Professional 3.0, which
works with VMware Infrastructure 3 and VMware Consolidated Backup, and promises
to deliver LAN-free backups as well as speed up the backup process by as much
as 300 percent. Users have the option of restoring either their entire virtual
machine or just selected files. The Professional 3.0 is available now for $500
per CPU socket. http://www.vizioncore.com
Symantec was also on hand to unveil version 5.0 of its Veritas Cluster Server
for VMware ESX. Designed to bring disaster recovery to both physical and virtual
servers, Symantec says the VCS simplifies and automates remote failover for
VMware virtual server environments. It comes with several failure-prevention
features like centralized cluster management, server monitoring and automatic
recovery. Starting at $1,995 per server, the VCS for VMware ESX is due for general
release in the first quarter of 2007. http://www.symantec.com
And now available exclusively through the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace
is the Zeus Extensible Traffic Manager Virtual Appliance, a traffic-monitoring
product that runs on the VMware ESX Server 3. The ZXTM VA reroutes incoming
network traffic so it lands on the most available machines. Organizations that
have access to the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace can now download a trial
version of the VMware-certified ZXTM VA for evaluation. http://www.zeus.com/products/zxtmva
More New Products: Compression Tools and Anti-Virus for
Gamers
The next generation of WinZip, the compression tool from Corel, is here. WinZip
11.0, available in Standard ($29.95) or Pro ($49.95), comes chock-full with
new features like support for .BZ2 and .RAR files; a "loss-less compression
method" that lets you compress .WAV files without compromising sound quality;
a "best compression feature" that automatically chooses the best way
to compress individual files; and better image-handling features that let you
view images as thumbnails without having to extract them. http://www.winzip.com
Another compression tool, this time for digital video aficionados, is now available
for purchase. The Sorenson Squeeze 4.5 Compression Suite, designed to help users
compress and share digital videos through CDs, DVDs or the Internet, retails
for $499 new (owners of previous versions can purchase upgrades at lower prices).
The tool's latest incarnation comes with presets for cell phones, Sony PlayStation
Portable and HD-DVD, and has compression rates that are as much as three times
faster than its predecessors', the company said. A new feature lets you burn
DVDs complete with chapter menus. http://www.sorensonmedia.com
Finally, if you're a gamer who also happens to be among the 65 percent of North
American computer users who don't use any kind of anti-virus solution because
it slows down their systems, take note: Security software company ESET and game
publishing company Tri Synergy have co-sponsored a special offer to encourage
gamers to protect themselves against malware. Those who own, or plan to own,
a Tri Synergy game will be eligible for a free 30-day trial of ESET's NOD32
anti-virus software, which promises to protect gamers against most online threats
without compromising speed. http://www.eset.com