Cisco unifies communications

Cisco is aiming to bring together the worlds of voice, data, video and mobile communications in a new architecture called the Cisco Unified Communications system, reports ZD Net UK. The architecture is based around three new products and over 30 new versions of existing products.

A key part of the architecture is the Cisco Unified Personal Communicator, which is a new product for combining different communications media. Unlike previous Cisco products in this area, the Communicator is available in two versions, one based on Microsoft Communicator and the other based on Linux.

It uses a graphical interface and "dynamic presence" information that lets staff search existing internal directories to locate contacts. With the integration of "click to call" features, using voice and video, staff can exchange ideas face-to-face.

Half of all malfunctioning products returned to stores by consumers are in full working order, but customers can`t figure out how to operate the devices, says Netherlands scientist Elke den Ouden.

Product complaints and returns are often caused by poor design, but companies frequently dismiss them as "nuisance calls", Den Ouden found in her thesis at the Technical University of Eindhoven, reports Reuters.

The average consumer in the US will struggle for 20 minutes to get a device working, before giving up, the study found. Product developers, brought in to witness the struggles of average consumers, were astounded by the havoc they created. Most of the flaws found their origin in the first phase of the design process: product definition, Den Ouden found.

Microsoft is defending its decision to turn on its ClearType font rendering technology in Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) even if users have switched it off system-wide, reports Information Week. ClearType, which debuted with Windows XP, is designed to make text more readable on LCD screens.

By default, it`s disabled in Windows, but Microsoft`s IE 7 team has decided to enable it for the browser, even if the user has not turned on the feature Windows-wide. "The decision to turn ClearType on by default in IE is unusual," acknowledged Bill Hill, a Microsoft researcher. "But [it] was made because solid research over the past few years has shown conclusively that it improves reading, the task at which IE users spend most of their time."

Hill cited studies that claimed ClearType improved word recognition, reading speed and reading comprehension, and defended the decision to enable ClearType by saying users didn`t know how to turn it on themselves.

The latest version of the Bagle mass mailer worm attempts to threaten potential victims by posing as a lawsuit against the recipient. Bagle-DO spreads in e-mails featuring subject lines such as "Pay your debts before we come to you", "Call to your lawyer immediately", "Lawsuit against you" and "We wait your response", reports The Register.

Users are prompted to open an infectious attachment, which installs malware on compromised PCs. The body text of infected messages vary, but all claim to refer to supposedly pending legal action against the recipient.

Although the legal threat angle is a slight spin on well-established social engineering tricks, the tactic has proved to be largely ineffective. Bagle-DO is spreading, but only to a limited extent. Anti-virus firms rate it as a low-risk nuisance.