Microsoft enables SP2 blocking

Microsoft recommends that Windows users turn on Automatic Update to get the latest version of the operating system. However, ZDNet reports that the company is offering to enable companies to block such upgrades temporarily.

Microsoft says on its Web site that some organisations have requested the ability to disable delivery of Service Pack 2 (SP2) and has provided a tool to enable them to do so. Microsoft says the blocking tool will give companies up to four months to perform the upgrade before installing SP2 automatically.

Sony`s next-generation console, PlayStation 3 (PS3), will incorporate a next-generation optical disc format, Blu-ray Disc technology, reports SA Computer Magazine.

The report says the move was announced at a Blu-ray Disc Founders (BDF) press conference in Tokyo, Japan, and is similar to Sony`s adoption of DVD technology in its PlayStation 2 video-game console.

The PS3 announcement coincides with BDF declaring that the physical format for the read-only version of Blu-ray Discs is complete, so manufacturers can begin preparing to produce disks.

America Online (AOL) and Yahoo are planning to use technology that verifies the source of e-mail messages as they step up efforts to stop spam, reports PC World.

The report says in September, AOL will begin verifying the source of incoming e-mail using a component of Microsoft`s Sender ID authentication architecture. By the end of 2004, Yahoo will use its DomainKeys authentication technology to sign all e-mail coming out of the company`s mail servers.

The decisions are part of an industry-wide push to thwart spam and online scams known as phishing attacks.

The US Federal Communications Commission has certified Freescale Semiconductor`s ultra-wideband technology, reports ZDNet.

Freescale, a Motorola spin-off, expects the XS110 chip to be integrated into consumer electronics products such as large-screen displays by late 2005. Ultra-wideband chips and technology will allow consumers to connect devices wirelessly so they can transmit music from a stereo to speakers or transfer images from a digital camera to a PC without wires.

Vienna is the latest European city to announce its intention to switch to the Linux open source operating system, reports Computerworld.

However, unlike Munich, which plans to replace all Microsoft operating systems with Linux, Vienna has decided on a slow transformation and no new hardware purchases are planned. Next year, users of 7 500 of the 16 000 desktop workstations in the municipality of Vienna will have the choice of moving to Linux.