Google's uber search engine

Google said on Wednesday it was changing its approach to Internet searches, by combining results from its established Web search service with offerings that help users find videos, images, maps and other content, reports the New York Times.

The new service, which Google is calling universal search, was introduced on Wednesday and will gradually become evident to users.

It underscores the continual efforts by major search engines like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask.com to spruce up their offerings to draw users to their services.

The significant hardware trends driving IT industry today have resulted in a "perfect storm," a time of great change and opportunity for the industry, Bill Laing, general manager for Microsoft's Windows Server division, told attendees at WinHEC, on 16 May.

eWeek reports that Microsoft is gung-ho about the transition to 64-bit computing for both the industry and customers.

Chairman Bill Gates told attendees at WinHEC 2005: "The 64-bit generation has moved the bar higher and brought performance benefits, large memory support and an enhanced layer of hardware protection, especially the no-execute bit, which defeats a large class of exploits."

Experts say that virus writers may be able to smuggle malicious files onto a computer using Microsoft's security patch updates, reports BBC News.

At least one program is in circulation that can hijack a key component of Windows Update to introduce malicious software that could be used to hijack a computer.

The method bypasses users' firewall, allowing files to download undetected. Microsoft said it was aware of reports of the attack.

Ubisoft's chief executive said Sony risks losing its iron grip on the video game console market with its new PlayStation 3 and needs to significantly lower the price on its high-end machine to woo buyers, reports News.com.

"For sure, Sony will have a different market share... lower than before," said Yves Guillemot, chief executive of Ubisoft, Europe's second-largest game publisher, at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit, in New York.

Guillemot expects the extent of the decline to be linked to pricing on the PS3. The high-end unit sells for $600 in the US, $200 higher than the top-end Xbox 360 from Microsoft and $350 above Nintendo's Wii.