Windows 7 student edition fails

For some of those who ordered Microsoft's Windows 7 student edition for $29.99, the low price is coming with a heap of download issues, reports eWeek.

A number of customers have experienced installation failure with the upgrade, which comes through e-commerce company Digital River. As the installation reaches the "Unloading the Box" phase, various error messages pop up, including: "We are unable to create or save new files in the folder in which this application was downloaded" and "This version of the file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running."

According to a message posted by Microsoft on the Microsoft Answers forum, that particular error message hits users attempting to download and install the 64-bit version of Windows 7 onto a machine running a 32-bit version of Windows such as XP or Vista 32-bit.

Google is ready to show off its concept for social search, while it figures out what to do with Twitter's fire hose of data, says CNET.

At the Web 2.0 conference, Google's Marissa Mayer demonstrated the service, which will go live as a Google Labs project. Google Social Search links the concepts of so-called "real-time" search with Google Profiles and custom search results, allowing searchers to find content created by friends or contacts with Google Profiles.

Google Social Search was developed separately, without the Twitter deal in mind, says Amit Singal, a Google fellow. The opt-in service provides Gmail contacts and friends on public social networking services with the content linked to a Google Profile, such as blogs, Twitter or Friendfeed accounts, or any number of published materials.

Facebook has a new service for the friends and family of dead people, states The Register.

After some public pressure from Canada's privacy czar, Mark Zuckerberg, the company told the world it is now "memorialising" the Facebook profiles of those who have passed away.

"When someone leaves us, they don't leave our memories or our social network," Facebook spokesperson Max Kelly wrote on the official Facebook blog. "To reflect that reality, we created the idea of 'memorialised' profiles as a place where people can save and share their memories of those who've passed."

The Internet is on the brink of the "biggest change" to its working "since it was invented 40 years ago", says Internet regulator Icann, reports BBC.

The body said it is finalising plans to introduce Web addresses using non-Latin characters. The proposal, initially approved in 2008, would allow domain names written in Asian, Arabic or other scripts.

The body said if the final plans were approved on 30 October, it would accept the first applications by 16 November.