MSN Messenger upgrade blocks Trillian

(I'm posting this because Trillian's released "Patch F" which appears to work fine with MSN)
Microsoft is forcing people to upgrade to newer versions of its instant messenger application and is shutting its doors to third-party IM products such as Trillian.
As of Oct. 15, users of Microsoft's free Web-based MSN Messenger and its Windows XP-based Windows Messenger will need to upgrade their software to a newer version or be shut out of the service, the software giant said Wednesday. MSN Messenger users will need to upgrade to version 5.0 of higher; Windows Messengers customers will need to upgrade to version 4.7.2009 or higher; and consumers with MSN Messenger for Mac OS X will have to use version 3.5 or higher. The last MSN Messenger to be released was version 6.

Novell buys SuSE Linux

The balance of Linux power shifted Tuesday, with Novell announcing an IBM-assisted plan to acquire SuSE Linux.
Longtime Microsoft foe Novell has signed an agreement to acquire SuSE Linux for $210 million in cash, while IBM, the most powerful backer of the Linux operating system, will make a $50 million investment in Novell.
The moves, announced Tuesday, could boost the fortunes of SuSE, the No. 2 seller of Linux, increase the competitive pressure on No. 1 Red Hat and provide a new direction for Novell's rivalry with Microsoft.

Tech Support, Revisited

Countless information technology workers started out in technical-support jobs, moving on to careers as network administrators and programmers. However, current trends are complicating the prospects for support professionals at every level. Is this a career still worth pursuing?

Better than WarDriving

Cable ties were cut across a large, four-kilometre swath of the region around University Avenue yesterday.
But there wasn't any disconnection.
It was a ceremonial "cutting of the cable" to launch Canada's largest coherent wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) zone.
The connection will be free until January, run as a pilot project by FibreTech Telecommunications Inc., a firm owned by the public utility companies in the region.
The wireless signal covers a four kilometre radius, in and out of all the cafes, restaurants, businesses, apartments, homes, parks and other spaces around 140 to 170 University Avenue, and up as far as Columbia Street, an area where a huge number of students live, eat and do their work.

Who Controls Your Computer?

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) yesterday published a landmark report on trusted computing, a technology designed to improve security through hardware changes to the personal computer.
The report, entitled "Trusted Computing: Promise and Risk," maintains that computer owners themselves, rather than the companies that provide software and data for use on the computer, should retain control over the security measures installed on their computers. Any other approach, says the report's author Seth Schoen, carries the risk of anticompetitive behavior by which software providers may enforce "security measures" that prevent interoperability when using a competitor's software.

Don’t dare smile on your passport photo

Don't smile -- you're Canadian.
The days of grinning from ear to ear for your passport photo are over. The Canadian Passport Office has issued new guidelines to photographers across the country saying smiling is out. Neutral, Politburo-style expressions are in.

Opinions Clash in Debate About Science Literacy

Scientists consistently worry that the public just doesn't know enough about science, and that this general lack of public understanding carries with it dreadful consequences, jeopardizing everything from government financing of research to social progress. Recent controversies in the U.S. and Europe over therapeutic cloning and agricultural biotechnology have brought fresh concerns from the scientific community. Many scientists assume, for example, that if the public knew more about human genetic engineering, then any moral or religious reservations about cloning-for-medical-research might be tempered. Or, if the public better understood the science behind the genetic modification of crops, then few would take seriously the hyperbolized risks associated with the technology.

A DIY Cruise Missile

Nope. No terrorists here.
"[T]here have also been a number of people who claim I'm overstating the case and that it's not possible to build a real cruise missile without access to sophisticated gear, specialist tools and information not readily available outside the military.
"So, in order to prove my case, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and build a cruise missile in my own garage, on a budget of just US$5,000.
"I like to think of this project as the military version of 'Junkyard Wars'.
"Obviously the goal of this website is not to provide terrorists or other nefarious types with the plans for a working cruise missile but to prove the point that nations need to be prepared for this type of sophisticated attack from within their own borders."
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Why Centrino and VPNs Don’t Mix

Intel has a problem on its hands with its new chipset for wireless laptops: The Centrino chipset can freeze laptops trying to run software for creating Virtual Private Networks.
Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are widely used "tunnels" that allow a user to connect to internal computer networks at businesses, schools and governments through the Internet.

RIM to pay more in patent damages

A U.S. court has ordered Research In Motion to pay $8.87 million in enhanced damages in its ongoing patent-infringement suit with NTP Software, according to statement from NTP and its attorneys.
The statement said the U.S. Federal District Court in Richmond, Va., also awarded privately held NTP 80 percent of its legal fees. But it said the court had not yet ruled on NTP's request for an injunction to stop RIM from selling the popular BlackBerry e-mail device.
Officials with Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM could not immediately be reached for comment.