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The passwords are stored in a secret location in the Registry known as the Protected Storagey�.
The base key of the Protected Storage is located under the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System Provider�.
You can browse the above key in the Registry Editor (RegEdit), but you won't be able to watch the passwords, because they are encrypted.
Also, this key cannot easily moved from one computer to another, like you do with regular Registry keys.


* The new versions of Internet Explorer stores the passwords in 2 different locations.
AutoComplete passwords are stored in the Registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\IntelliForms\Storage2.
HTTP Authentication passwords are stored in the Credentials file under Documents and Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Credentials , together with login passwords of LAN computers and other passwords.


* The passwords are stored in one of the following filenames: signons.txt, signons2.txt, and signons3.txt (depends on Firefox version)
These password files are located inside the profile folder of Firefox, in [Windows Profile]\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\[Profile Name]
Also, key3.db, located in the same folder, is used for encryption/decription of the passwords.


*
The passwords are stored in [Windows Profile]\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Web Data
(This filename is SQLite database which contains encrypted passwords and other stuff)


* The passwords are stored in wand.dat filename, located under [Windows Profile]\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile


*
The POP3/SMTP/IMAP passwords Outlook Express are also stored in the Protected Storage, like the passwords of old versions of Internet Explorer.


*
Old versions of Outlook stored the POP3/SMTP/IMAP passwords in the Protected Storage, like the passwords of old versions of Internet Explorer.


*
All new versions of Outlook store the passwords in the same Registry key of the account settings.The accounts are stored in the Registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\[Profile Name]\9375CFF0413111d3B88A00104B2A6676\[Account Index]
If you use Outlook to connect an account on Exchange server, the password is stored in the Credentials file, together with login passwords of LAN computers.


*
All account settings, including the encrypted passwords, are stored in [Windows Profile]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\[Account Name]
The account filename is an xml file with .oeaccount extension.


* The password file is located under [Windows Profile]\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\[Profile Name]
You should search a filename with .s extension.


* All account settings, including the encrypted passwords, are stored in the Registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Talk\Accounts\[Account Name]


* Email passwords are stored in the Registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Google Desktop\Mailboxes\[Account Name]


* The passwords are stored in one of the following locations:
1. Registry Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MSNMessenger
2. Registry Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MessengerServ ice
3. In the Credentials file, with entry named as “Passport.Net\\*�. (Only when the OS is XP or more)


*
The passwords are stored under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\IdentityCRL\C reds\[Account Name]


*
The passwords are stored in the Credentials file, with entry name begins with WindowsLive:name=.


* The password is stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Yahoo\Pager
(�EOptions string value)


* The password is stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Yahoo\Pager ETS� value.
The value stored in ETS value cannot be recovered back to the original password.


* The passwords are stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\AIM\AIMPRO\[Account Name]


* The passwords are stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\America Online\AIM6\Passwords.


* The passwords are stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mirabilis\ICQ\NewOwners \[ICQ Number]
(MainLocation value)


* The password hash is stored in [Windows Profile]\Application Data\ICQ\[User Name]\Owner.mdb (Access Database)
(The password hash cannot be recovered back to the original password)


*

* The passwords are stored in the Registry, under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Paltalk\[Account Name]

A couple of months ago, I downloaded a beta version of Firefox 3 just to look at the new ideas Mozilla was working on. My intention was to try it for a couple days, then switch back to Firefox 2. I wasn't worried about stability (it's a browser after all -- what's the worst that can happen?). But the beta wasn't compatible with lots of my favorite extensions and who wants to live without them?
As it turns out, I'm still using a prerelease version of Firefox (they're at Release Candidate 1 now) and loving it, even without my beloved add-ons. The improvements Mozilla has made to the browser, while subtle, are so helpful that I didn't want to give them up. Here are five of my favorites.
1. Much Better Performance

If you've used previous versions of Firefox you've likely had this experience, perhaps frequently: you're working away, but gradually become aware that something is horribly wrong with your PC. It's sluggish and apps take forever to load. You open up Task Manager and find that Firefox is chewing up 95 percent of your CPU cycles. Once you kill the browser and start over, you're running fine again.
I can't remember the last time I've had that experience with the Firefox 3 betas. Mozilla developers borrowed some memory management tricks from the Free BSD operating system for the Windows and Linux versions of Firefox. (They say memory management on Macs already worked pretty well.) The effect is clear. The browser is much less likely to commandeer too many system resources. And Firefox's developers worked to make sure that add-ons, notorious memory thieves, don't cause problems either. They've rolled in cycle collectors that help prevent extensions from locking up RAM and not giving it back. They're also distributing tools to third-party developers that will help them build more abstemious add-ons.
2. The "Awesome Bar"

Okay, so the official name is the Location Bar, the field where you enter URLs you want to visit. But beta testers have nicknamed it the Awesome Bar and it is, well, pretty awesome. Enter text in the Location Bar and a dropdown list appears of pages from your browsing history that include that text, not just in the URL, but in the page title or the page's tag (see #4 below). The list even includes Gmail messages that include that word in the subject line. If you've already visited a Web page, there's a good chance it's useful to you. The Location Bar lets you very quickly search that useful subset of the Web.

Apple has revised the way it sends software updates to Windows PCs via its Software Update service in response to charges that it was sneaking its Safari Web browser onto users' desktops without their permission or knowledge.

The latest version of the Software Update tool for Windows, version 2.1.0.110, now clearly lists software that can be downloaded via the service and groups the updates into those for applications already on the user's computer and updates for new software.

The new version of Software Update also gives users the ability to turn off the service.

In modifying Software Update, Apple was clearly responding to widespread criticism that the service downloaded Safari 3.1 onto users' systems surreptitiously.

The company included the browser as a stealth update for users of the Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Windows versions of its iTunes and QuickTime software. Mozilla CEO John Lilly likened the strategy to tactics used by hackers to insert malicious code into downloads.

"Apple has made it incredibly easy -- the default, even -- for users to install ride along software that they didn't ask for, and maybe didn't want," said Lilly, in a recent blog post. "This is wrong, and borders on malware distribution practices."

Safari competes with Mozilla's Firefox product in the Web browser market.

Safari 3.1 has been hit with other problems since it launched in March.

Researchers at software security firm Secunia last month reported finding two "highly critical" vulnerabilities in the browser.

In one instance, files with long names downloaded via the browser "can be exploited to cause memory corruption," according to Secunia. That could result in the host computer becoming vulnerable to arbitrary code execution -- a situation where intruders can remotely execute commands on the targeted machine.

The other vulnerability lets hackers display their own content in pages loaded into Safari 3.1 without changing what's displayed in the browser's URL address bar.

There's also been reports that Safari 3.1 tends to crash on computers running Windows XP .

Microsoft said Friday that it was going to start testing a subscription service that combines its OneCare anti-virus package, the home version of its Office suite, and some other features in one package, called Albany, to be sold by subscription.

Microsoft already sells OneCare in the form of annual subscriptions, but it represents the first time it will sell Office that way.

This seems like a useful experiment, but dreadfully late. And I’m not sure it confronts the major questions of value in the marketplace. Consumers are used to getting so much free these days that I wonder what they will be willing to pay for.

Microsoft won’t answer the biggest question about the bundle: how much it will cost? So let’s think about the options.

Right now OneCare has a list price of $50 a year, and Microsoft Office Home and Student lists for $150 in the version you can use forever. (Amazon is currently selling a one-year OneCare subscription for $30 and the home Office version for $120.)

The Microsoft news release also says that Albany also includes Microsoft Live Mail, Messenger and Photo Gallery, services that are already free. (Am I the only one who gets annoyed when companies breathlessly tell me they are giving me something that they had already been giving me? It’s almost as annoying as a company offering a service, but not saying how much it will cost.)

In any case, how much would this package be worth? Assume that Microsoft upgrades Office every three years. So for people who wanted the most up-to-date version, the list price of $150 for the home edition of Office would come to $50 a year. So the combination of Office and OneCare, at $50 a year, assuming you wanted it, would bring the price to $100 a year, list, or $80 a year, based on the Amazon discounts.

Since typically you pay more for things on a month-to-month basis than if you pay all at once, that might imply a fair price of $10 or $12 a month for the Microsoft bundle. Microsoft could try to throw in some other features and raise the monthly price to $15, but I suspect that won’t work. The “Ultimate extras” that are bundled with Windows Vista Ultimate, for example, have underwhelmed even the biggest Microsoft fans.

On the other hand, Microsoft could get aggressive and charge say, $80 or $90 for a one-year subscription ($6.66 or $7.50 a month). I suspect that would be a smart move. Over the next few years, Microsoft has to be prepared for the potential that Google’s free Web-based applications will be very competitive in the home market. So getting customers used to the idea of paying something, but not much, for Microsoft software may wise.

More interesting, of course, would be if Microsoft found a way to offer a version free with advertising. That wouldn’t be for everyone, but it is a fine option. One hint that Microsoft is thinking in that direction is the fact the Albany package will include a “Microsoft Office toolbar, so users can save documents to their own dedicated online workspace and invite friends and classmates to collaborate and share.” Whatever features they may promote, toolbars are really about one thing: Getting users to use a certain search service.

If Microsoft can get people who take its bundle to switch from Google to Live search, it may well be worth giving away the home version of Office.

Macgamestore and Gogii Games have announced the release of The Hidden Object Show, a new visual puzzle game. It costs US$19.95 and a demo is available for download.

The Hidden Object Show is set up like a game show, on the set of an abandoned movie studio. You're tasked with finding a list of items in each scene. You can win virtual prizes and virtual money as you play through 11 different game modes. The game comprises 330 object-finding rounds, 30 different scenes, and includes 30 unique prizes to collect.

System requirements all for Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later.

Apple's Safari, Mozilla's Firefox 3, and Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 duke it out to be the program you use most on your PC.

Back when the earliest programs for viewing Web content simply browsed flat pages of images and text, the name browser truly fit the software.

But yesterday's amateur pages have evolved into dynamic, content-rich portals and powerful online programs. For many online habitués, the do-it-all browser has become a PC's single most important program.

Recognizing that fact, Apple's Safari, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and Mozilla's Firefox are battling to win the nod as your browser of choice. So which one should you use--Safari 3.1, Firefox 3, or Internet Explorer 8?

Apple's latest offering, Safari 3.1, preserves the company's signature focus on clean design and smooth usability, but it lacks any phishing or malware filters.

For its part, Mozilla should have applied the finishing touches to Firefox 3 by the time you read this (I tested the feature-complete beta 5 release). From under-the-hood memory improvements to a major reworking for bookmarks, version 3 represents a big step forward.

Whereas the new Firefox and Safari browsers are ready to roll, Microsoft's early beta of Internet Explorer 8 remains a work in progress. Bugs and rough edges are to be expected in a first beta intended for developers and testers. But IE 8 beta 1 provides a glimpse of new features such as WebSlices (which let sites create widgety snippets of information that you can view by clicking a bookmark button) and Activities (which add right-click menu options for looking up selected text and pages on map, translation and other sites) that will distinguish the browser Microsoft eventually releases.

Firefox, IE, and Safari are the three most popular browsers, according to Internet usage statistics, but they aren't the only ones available. So I also took a separate look at two worthwhile, free programs--Flock and Opera.

Workloads running on Linux servers are shifting to become more business oriented, including databases and line-of-business applications, and the operating system appears headed for measurable growth over the next three years, according to a white paper released Tuesday by IDC.

The report entitled "The Role of Linux Servers and Commercial Workloads" was sponsored by the Linux Foundation, which opened its second annual summit Tuesday. The nonprofit Linux Foundation is a consortium of open source developers and companies.

The IDC paper found that total Linux spending -- including customer acquisitions of hardware, software and related services -- totaled US$21 billion in 2007 and is expected to grow past $50 billion in 2011.

IDC says the jump will be fueled by the continued growth of the installed base of Linux server operating systems into enterprise deployments.

"The data is not stunning to me," says Al Gillen, an analyst with IDC who co-authored the white paper. "I have been watching it evolve over the past several years. The biggest story is that the ecosystem is now real."

He says Linux spending surpassing the $20 billion mark is an important milestone. "But this does not put Microsoft on the ropes from a revenue perspective."

Gillen points out that the Linux business model differs substantially from the one that Microsoft has constructed. "So Linux is unlikely to ever get to the size of total revenue that the Microsoft market enjoys," he says.

Regardless, Linux is enjoying growth.

IDC's forecast for Linux server operating environments calls for 8.2% of compound annual growth from 2007 to 2012 for both new paid subscriptions and non-paid deployments.

IDC says the growth will be driven by paid subscriptions of commercial Linux distributions that are deployed on physical servers, virtual servers and other hardware types including redeployed server hardware and PCs and workstations that are used as servers.

But the future is not without potential roadblocks.

The white paper points out that Linux could face challenges from OpenSolaris if that alternative open source operating system begins to find favor on x86 platforms. In addition, the market dominating position of Windows also presents a challenge to long-term Linux success, especially as Microsoft competes to win Unix migrations.

But the changing nature of Linux deployments should give the open-source operating system a new avenue to seek prosperity.

The IDC study found that in addition to traditional infrastructure workloads handled by Linux server operating systems, such as DNS, DHCP and Web serving, that deployments for such applications as ERP and CRM are beginning to take hold.

For example, Novell and SAP extended a partnership in March that will have Novell supplying Linux-based platform, virtualization and identity support to SAP's small and mid-sized customers.

IDC found that Linux servers deployed for business and commercially oriented workloads, including business processing and decision support, will grow from 2001 through 2011 from 9% to 17.7%.

The IDC white paper showed that business processing deployments grew from 6.7% of Linux server operating system deployments in 2003 to 8.2% in 2007. Decision support workloads were up from 7.3% to 9.1% over the same time period.

IDC found that spending on software related to Linux server platforms is on a compounded annual grow rate of 35.7% from 2006 to 2011.

The IDC paper showed that software on the Linux platform holds about 4% of the current overall market, which represents $10 billion of a $242 billion total. The Linux share is expected to grow to more than 9% by 2011, which will represent $31 billion in software revenue in a $330 billion market.

The Linux Foundation Summit, which is an invite-only meeting, runs through Thursday with an agenda that focuses discussion around on-going development areas including desktop architecture, printing, virtualization, mobile/embedded, power management, the Linux Standards Base OS and legal issues.

You may be intrigued by the idea of switching to Linux. But how will you get your job done without your favorite Windows programs? These 18 great open-source apps make life with Linux easier.

For many users, getting started with Linux is surprisingly easy. New, friendlier versions of the free operating system, such as Fedora and Ubuntu, feature straightforward menus and automated installations that make switching from Windows to Linux a relatively simple process.

But a lot of people who try Linux dump it and switch back to Windows the instant they want to get some work done, mostly because they don't know which Linux programs to use in lieu of their old Windows standbys. Fortunately, such confusion need last only a moment.

Linux offers equivalents to many Windows applications that are often as good as--or even better than--the programs you're used to. In some cases the apps are also available in Windows and Mac OS versions, allowing dual-booters to stay with the same set of free programs regardless of the operating system in use.

For your convenience, we've provided download links to as many of these applications as possible. The majority of them, however, come preinstalled in the most popular Linux distributions, or are available through online software installers such as Fedora's YUM or Ubuntu's Synaptic Package Manager. Installing new software through your Linux distribution's package management system is generally better than installing programs manually, so check your OS's software repositories before downloading any of the apps from our links.

Scam artists exploiting tax season have devised a range of new online cons: fake tax documents that contain malicious surprises; mass distribution of keyloggers aimed at snatching the identity of PC-based tax filers; and e-mail messages containing links to Web sites that promise new tax code information but instead push malware onto your PC.

That's not all, according to the Internal Revenue Service. This year, identity thieves are not just trying to gain access to your bank account or to open lines of credit in your name. Scammers are on the prowl for ordinary citizens' identities that they can they can use in filing phony tax returns and fraudulently claiming refunds, as well as to swipe rebates associated with the 2008 federal economic stimulus package.
Tax Scam 2.0

Security experts at Webroot Software report seeing a new wave of keyloggers (programs that secretly record every character you type), system monitors, and viruses leading up to prime tax filing season. Webroot's Threat Research Team says that more than 1200 new key-logging programs and 336 versions of system monitoring spyware have been found and defined in the past month alone.

Why the increase? Fewer taxpayers are using old-fashioned paper forms for preparing and submitting their taxes. According to Webroot's figures, a record 22 million taxpayers filed their taxes from a home computer last year, up 11 percent from the previous year. Scammers know this and figure that your identity is especially vulnerable to theft when you're filling out your tax documents with a software program or filing them over the Internet.
Stimulus Package Stimulates Scammers

Several states are warning that con artists are using thehighly publicized rebate checks associated with the 2008 federal economic stimulus package as a ploy to get you to divulge personal financial information.

Massachusetts attorney general Martha Coakley says that some state residents have received bogus e-mail messages that purport to be from a government agency such as the IRS or Social Security Administration. The messages request personal information that supposedly would expedite the turnaround time of either a tax refund or a stimulus rebate check.

For the record, the federal government expects to issue economic stimulus rebate checks sometime in May or June. IRS refund checks typically arrive within three weeks of the date when you e-file your return.

Coakley warns that some fraudulent e-mail messages contain links to fake government Web sites that request your Social Security number and bank account numbers so that the IRS can process a rebate check. If you resist disclosing the information, the site informs you that you won't be able to receive your rebate.

New and creative malware will push the total number of viruses to one million by year's end, Sophos security experts say.

The total number of viruses will reach one million by year's end, according to security experts.

Malware writers have been forced to create new types of viruses and exploits more regularly as businesses and individuals improve security practices, the experts said.

Sophos chief technology officer Paul Ducklin said about 25 percent of unique malware has been created in the last six months of its 20 year history.

"About 85 to 90 percent of malware families have a fix created for them almost immediately," Ducklin said.

"Malware writers aren't getting the same bang for buck as they used to because businesses and consumers have become much more diligent with security over the last five years.

"The number of infectious e-mail attachments getting through are down from about one in 40 [about five years ago] to one in 1000."

He said the decline in infections are due to better gateway filters, more relevant corporate policies and user education, and dilution from a rise in legitimate e-mail traffic.

While the security industry is on top of conventional spam and phishing attacks, more effort needs to be put into preventing and eliminating so-called drive-by-downloads, according to Ducklin.

The attacks allow hackers to redirect mass amounts of traffic by inserting malicious iframes into legitimate Web sites. The hacks are usually invisible to Web site visitors and do not often draw attention from security personnel because they only require a single line of code to be manipulated.

He said it is essential that the exploit is patched because hackers search for compromised sites for follow-up attacks.

F-Secure Asia Pacific vise president Jari Heinonen said it logs about 25,000 malware samples each day, the highest on record.

"The total number of viruses and Trojans will pass the one million mark by the end of 2008 if this trend continues," Heinonen said.

"While there are more viruses than ever before, people report seeing less of them [because] malware authors are changing their tactics.

"Drive-by downloads are the preferred way of spreading malware [because] they happen automatically by visiting a Web site, unless users have a fully patched operating system, browser and plug-ins."

Heinonen said malware will increasing target the kernel sector through rootkits such as Mebroot, which attacks the bootstrap sector.

A resurgent Mebroot was detected last month, some 15 years after the DOS-based malware was created.

Microsoft hints that the next version of its Windows operating system will arrive in 2009.

Microsoft has dropped two strong hints in the past two days that the next version of its Windows operating system will arrive in 2009, shaving up to a year off previous expectations.

It could also be a signal that Microsoft intends to cut its losses with Windows Vista, which has been poorly received or shunned by customers, especially large companies.

Microsoft has long said it wants to release Windows 7 about three years after Vista, which was released to manufacturing in November 2006 but not officially launched until January 2007. Given Microsoft's recent track record - Vista arrived more than five years after XP - most outsiders had pegged some time in 2010 as a safe bet for Windows 7's arrival.

But News.com reported Friday that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates answered a question at a business meeting in Miami about Windows Vista by saying "Sometime in the next year or so we will have a new version."

And during its announcement Thursday that it would extend the availability of Windows XP Home for low-cost laptops, Microsoft said it would retire the operating system only after June 30, 2010, or one year after the release of Windows 7, whichever comes later.

That implies that Microsoft is targeting the middle of next year for some sort of release milestone for Windows 7 - the only codename known at the moment - though whether that would be a final release to consumers or an RTM, which allows businesses and OEMs to start installing it, is unknown.

A Microsoft spokeswoman, in an e-mail, said the company "is in the planning stages for Windows 7 and development is scoped to three years from Windows Vista Consumer GA." She said the company was providing early builds of the new operating system to gain user feedback, but otherwise was not providing further information.

Gates also said that he was "super-enthused about what [Windows 7] will do in lots of ways" but didn't elaborate.

What could those be? Microsoft has divulged a few things. Responding to criticism that Windows has become unnecessarily bloated, the company has 200 engineers developing a slimmed-down kernel called MinWin that uses 100 files and 25MB, compared to Vista's 5,000 files and 4GB core and is so small it lacks a graphical subsystem.

Microsoft has also confirmed that the operating system will come in consumer and business versions and in 32-bit and 64-bit editions.

Screenshots of early betas of Windows 7 are also appearing. Blogger Paul Thurrott yesterday put up screenshots from build 6519 of Windows 7 released in December, which he said looks like "a slightly enhanced version of Windows Vista."

Microsoft needs to start generating excitement about its software months or years in advance in order to prepare its millions of reselling partners.

But if it talks up Windows 7 too much, it runs the risk that large companies -- Microsoft's most profitable customer segment -- will hold on to their Windows XP machines and skip Vista entirely in favor of Windows 7.

That appears to be happening. A recent enterprise survey by Forrester Research Inc. showed that only 6.3% of enterprises were running Vista at the end of December, with most of the upgrades coming at the expense of aging machines running Windows 2000, not XP.

The vast majority of the 100 million copies of Vista that Microsoft has sold so far have gone to individuals and small businesses purchasing new PCs.

The least-loved version of Windows has long been Windows Millennium Edition (ME), a buggy minor upgrade that was superseded by XP within a year of its release. Despite its far greater - some would say, too great - technical ambition, Vista may end up lumped together with ME as one of the blips on Windows' long-term roadmap.

The offer price could drop if Yahoo doesn't cooperate soon, Microsoft CEO Ballmer warns.

Microsoft on Saturday threatened Yahoo's board of directors with a proxy battle if it won't agree to a buy-out in the next three weeks.

Breaking nearly two months of silence since Yahoo's board rejected Microsoft's US$44.6 billion bid, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer sent an open letter Saturday to Yahoo saying it is prepared to take its offer directly to shareholders.
Wants Fast Answer

In blunt and harsh language, Ballmer reiterated Microsoft's opinion that its offer was "generous" and said the company had expected that a deal would be struck swiftly. "Despite this, the pace of the last two months has been anything but speedy," he wrote.

Ballmer also threatened to lower the price of Microsoft's offer if it is forced to mount a proxy battle.

"If we are forced to take an offer directly to your shareholders, that action will have an undesirable impact on the value of your company from our perspective which will be reflected in the terms of our proposal," he wrote.
Buyout the 'Only Alternative'

Since it rejected Microsoft's offer Feb. 11, claiming it was too low, Yahoo has been holding out for a better offer from another company or the opportunity to strike up a partnership that would save it from agreeing to Microsoft's bid. However, Yahoo has so far been unable to negotiate another deal.

Ballmer used this leverage in the letter, telling Yahoo that Microsoft's offer is "the only alternative" to give its shareholders a fair return on their investment and input into the future of the company.

"By any fair measure, the large premium we offered in January is even more significant today," Ballmer said. "We believe that the majority of your shareholders share this assessment, even after reviewing your public disclosures relating to your future prospects."

He also accused Yahoo's executives of being unwilling to negotiate with Microsoft, and said Yahoo's stalling is wasting valuable time the combined company could be using to be more competitive in the Internet business.

AMD introduces new Phenom chips

Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday announced new Phenom chips, including quad-core chips and its first triple-core processors for desktop PCs.
The company's triple-core Phenom X3 8000 series processors provide an option to mainstream PC buyers who don't want to spend on a quad-core processor but are looking for more performance than a dual-core processor, said Pat Moorhead, vice president of advanced marketing at AMD.

The chips could be used for high-definition video playback, casual mainstream gaming and productivity applications, Moorhead said.

[ InfoWorld chief technologist Tom Yager believes that AMD is ready to scale you up. ]

The company's first triple-core processors include the Phenom X3 8400, which runs at 2.1GHz, and the Phenom X3 8600, which runs at 2.3GHz. Both will come with 1.5MB of L2 cache and 2MB of L3 cache.

AMD also launched three Phenom quad-core processors on Thursday: the Phenom X4 9750, which runs at 2.4Ghz; the Phenom X4 9850, which runs at 2.5GHz; and the Phenom 9100e, a low-voltage quad-core processor that runs at 1.8GHz and has a 65-watt power envelope during maximum usage. All the processors contain 2MB of L2 cache and 2MB of L3 cache.

PC makers will ship products with the quad-core processors in the second quarter, AMD said.

The triple-core processors are already shipping in volume to PC makers, AMD said. U.S. vendor ZT Systems will list PCs with the new triple-core Phenoms on Monday, with other "major OEMs" and system vendors shipping products next quarter, AMD said. Many major vendors, including Dell and Hewlett-Packard, have already hinted at including the processors in desktops.

Dell has listed plans to use the chip in its OptiPlex 740 business desktop systems. It will ship the triple-core OptiPlex in the second quarter, a company spokeswoman recently said, but she declined to specify which processor will run the desktop. Hewlett-Packard has also listed a desktop on its Bulgarian-language Web site with AMD's Phenom Triple-Core 8600B processor.

Mesh Computer, a PC vendor in the United Kingdom, is offering the Matrix XXX Plus desktop with the Phenom X3 8400 processor and the Matrix XXX Pro desktop with the Phenom 8600 processor.

Because the triple-core chip is a new concept -- set between the widely accepted dual- and quad-cores -- it's unclear how it will fit in the market, said Dean McCarron, founder and principal at Mercury Research.

"You're going to get a performance enhancement with the extra core above and beyond a dual-core," McCarron said. But it also falls shy of a quad-core.

AMD designed the triple-core as a way to produce a cheaper chip. The triple-core processor is built on a quad-core CPU, with one core nonfunctional, McCarron said.

The triple-core chip gives AMD a tactical advantage over Intel, McCarron said. Intel will need to answer the triple-core chip with a product priced in the same range while delivering similar performance. Intel can take a dual-core or quad-core processor, adjust features like cache, and price it similar to AMD's triple-core processor, McCarron said.

Apple releases iPhone SDK beta 2

Apple released on Thursday a new version of its iPhone SDK for developers. iPhone SDK beta 2 includes Interface Builder, a component of Apple's development tools that lets developers create the interface for their applications.

That seems to be the only major change in the latest build, according to the SDK's read me, which continues to list some known issues. Apple says "this second beta is known to be incompatible with installation folders other than the default /Developer."

Given the importance of UI on the Mac, Interface Builder is a pretty critical tool in the development process, and some developers had chosen to hold off on their efforts until the SDK was revised.

Apple unveiled the iPhone SDK at a special event earlier this month, allowing developers to begin building applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. Several high-profile companies have already jumped onboard, demoing their applications at the event.

Highlighting the demos was AOL with a native AIM client; other applications from Electronic Arts, Salesforce, and Apple were also shown.


Gone in 2 minutes: Mac gets hacked first in contest

It may be the quickest $10,000 Charlie Miller ever earned. He took the first of three laptop computers -- and a $10,000 cash prize -- Thursday after breaking into a MacBook Air at the CanSecWest security conference's PWN 2 OWN hacking contest.

Show organizers offered a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810, and the MacBook as prizes, saying that they could be won by anybody at the show who could find a way to hack into each of them and read the contents of a file on the system using a previously undisclosed "0day" attack.

Nobody was able to hack into the systems on the first day of the contest when contestants were only allowed to attack the computers over the network, but on Thursday, the rules were relaxed so that attackers could direct contest organizers using the computers to do things like visit Web sites or open e-mail messages.

Miller, best known as one of the researchers who first hacked Apple's iPhone last year, didn't take much time. Within 2 minutes, he directed the contest's organizers to visit a Web site that contained his exploit code, which then allowed him to seize control of the computer, as about 20 onlookers cheered him on.

He was the first contestant to attempt an attack on any of the systems.

Miller was quickly given a nondisclosure agreement to sign, and he's not allowed to discuss particulars of his bug until the contest's sponsor, TippingPoint, can notify the vendor.

Contest rules state that Miller could only take advantage of software that was preinstalled on the Mac, so the flaw he exploited must have been accessible by, or possibly inside, Apple's Safari browser.

Last year's contest winner, Dino Dai Zovi, exploited a vulnerability in QuickTime to take home the prize.

Dai Zovi, who congratulated Miller after his hack, didn't participate in this year's contest, saying it was time for someone else to win.

Multi-core to leave developers in dust?

Multi-core chip rivals AMD and Intel have been beating their chests as of late, but to what end, I wonder, as developers labor to keep up.

AMD, for one, has fixed the embarrassing flaw that delayed the quad-core Barcelona chip. As Terry Malloy put it in On the Waterfront, so what?

Meanwhile, Intel and Microsoft pat themselves on the back because they've donated $20 million to UC Berkley and the University of Illinois to found the Universal Parallel Computing Research Centers. Well, it's about time.

Why so negative? The dirty little secret (and it's not all that secret) is that the gap between hardware and software has never been greater. Today's software can barely (if at all) take advantage of quad-core processors, but Intel and AMD seem to be giddy with rivalry, rushing to push out chips with even more cores. Intel has already demonstrated an 80-core processor, and you can expect x86 servers with as many as 64 processor cores in 2009 and desktops with that many by 2012, says Forrester analyst James Staten.

That's not to say that the IT industry is scoffing at the potential benefits of multi-core processing. But the mountain between IT and some future multi-core promise land -- namely, the task of developing parallelized apps that keep pace with continual core advances -- is huge, says David Patterson, the Pardee Professor of Computing Science at UC Berkeley and director of the parallel computing lab. "It's the biggest challenge in 50 years of computing. If we do this, it's a chance to reset the foundation of computing."

In the short run, Patterson says, we can parallelize legacy software and gamble on getting value out of eight cores. But that would be only an interim solution, as such apps would not scale to 32 or 64 cores, he adds.

What is frustrating is that this problem didn't exactly sneak up on the industry. Chip development cycles are very long, and key software developers are well aware of what's moving through the pipeline. Sure, software always lags hardware. Many of us complained that we didn't have software that would take advantage of 500MHz back in the '90s. But what Patterson and others call the multi-core revolution poses problems for developers that are qualitatively different than the problems of the past. Why wait so long to get serious about solving them?

Making sense of the multi-core muddle

The cynical explanation for this growing gap is that Intel and AMD are running on a treadmill that requires selling more and more transistors to support the cost of developing and building fabs. As long as buyers are willing to spend the money for cool new hardware, who cares if they don't really need it?

Ray DePaul, president and CEO of RapidMind, which sells a multi-core software development platform, has a different take.

"The first multi-core chips were dual core, and that lulled everyone into thinking this is OK," DePaul says.

Taking advantage of the second core was relatively easy with existing software. But four cores is another story.

"It's the classic disruptive technology," DePaul says. "If the Microsofts and the Intels always got it right, you'd never see a Google or an AMD."

RapidMind hopes to avoid following in the wake of companies such as Thinking Machines and nCUBE, which attempted to build businesses around solving the parallel computing problem without success. I'm not qualified to say whether the RapidMind solution, which includes an embedded API to allow legacy software to take advantage of multiple cores, is viable. But I agree with DePaul when he says, "The business opportunity is far more mainstream than it was because every desktop is shipped with a multi-core processor."

RapidMind spun out of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, where co-founder Michael McCool studied the problems of parallel computing for years. A one-time competitor called PeakStream was purchased by Google last year. It's unclear what the search giant intends to do with the technology, though it may well use it internally to bolster its already enormous computing resources.

In addition to the business opportunity, there's an employment opportunity here as well. Developers who can handle parallel processing or concurrent processing are going to be in great demand. Indeed, UC's Patterson says: "We feel a sense of allegiance to our undergrads but don't know what to teach them. Course work is all focused on sequential [programming] problems."

I don't feel like doing the math, but I'll bet Intel and Microsoft earn $20 million in a matter of hours. So, yeah, I congratulate them for funding some research, but they and other industry heavyweights need to do a lot more. If not, maybe we'll wise up and stop buying what they're selling.

The death of the silicon computer chip

The reign of the silicon chip is over, according to physicists who predict that the conventional silicon chip has no longer than four years left to run.

Meeting at the Institute of Physics’ Condensed Matter and Material Physics conference this week, researchers speculate that the silicon chip will be unable to sustain the same pace of increase in computing power and speed as it has in previous years.

Just as Gordon Moore predicted in 2005, physical limitations of the miniaturised electronic devices of today will eventually lead to silicon chips that are saturated with transistors and incapable of holding any more digital information.

Scientists are now investigating alternative components that may pave the way to faster, more powerful computers of the future and potentially extend Moore’s Law of technological advancement.

One team of researchers at the Leeds University in the UK have proposed to replace silicon chips with carbon nanotubes, which are electrically-conducive tubes of pure carbon that are tens of times thinner than a human hair.

Already, some elements of computer circuits such as transistors have been constructed from individual carbon nanotubes. However, scientists have been as yet unable to precisely arrange nanotubes into circuit patterns, which is necessary to determine how each tube conducts electricity.

In a development that is expected to bring carbon nanotubes one step closer to commercial use, the Leeds University researchers have developed a technique of growing nanotubes on a perforated ceramic grid.

The technique allows the research team to determine the electrical propesrties of individual nanotubes, after which the tubes are accurately positioned on a surface using a tweezer-like device.

“With this technique we can make carbon nanotube devices of a complexity that is not achievable by most other means,” said Chris Allen, of the Quantum Information Group at the University of Leeds.

Meanwhile, other groups of scientists claim that superconductors are key to future computing, as they may be able to harness the power of quantum physics to boost computer power tremendously.

Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with zero electrical resistance, which effectively means that an electric current can circulate around a superconducting loop for an indefinite period of time.

By linking the electric current in a loop to a quantum superposition state, superconductors may act as quantum bits, or qubits, in quantum computing.

Qubits are able to exist in multiple states at any one time, which massively increases the amount of information that can be encoded in a quantum computer’s memory.

According to physicist Hans Mooij, one of the biggest challenges in making quantum computers this way is to progress from two to three qubits that communicate with each other.

To maintain future developments in quantum computing, Mooij and his team of researchers at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have developed a particular approach that supports future transitions from three working, communicating qubits, to larger groups of superconductors.

“With our qubit, once we have three set up we can move on to twenty or fifty,” he said.