Yahoo tests 360 successor

According to IT World, Yahoo is testing a social-network component for its search engine, Yahoo Answers, in which users post questions and answers.

The network is designed to allow its 90 million users of the question-and-answer search engine create "personal networks" with each other, and invite acquaintances who are not currently using Yahoo Answers to join their network.

In adding this feature to Yahoo Answers, the company aims to improve its standing in social networking. The company's Yahoo 360 blogging and social networking-site introduced two years ago failed to live up to its expectations.

News.com today reported that Sony plans to lower the production cost of its PS3 consoles by using cheaper chips. Initially, the company loses money on each PS3 sale as production costs are very high.

Sony plans to use a chip that can handle only the graphics of predecessor PlayStation 2 as an alternative to existing chips that cope with both the computing and graphics functions.

Sony Computer Entertainment says it will have compatibility software available over the Internet to enable users to play PS2 games on the PS3.

Although at least five zero-day vulnerabilities are waiting to be fixed, Microsoft has no new security updates planned for this month, says ZD Net.

The company reported through a note on its Web site that no security bulletins will be released in March, although it will release several unrelated updates.

Microsoft also plans to release its updated Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. This programme detects and removes common malicious code placed on computers and is pushed out monthly.

Internet radio stations have been warned that they could be forced off the air by a big increase in the royalties they pay to play music, reports BBC News. Online stations could now be paying double for any track that they play to audiences.

The ruling, made by the US Copyright Royalty Board, says that royalty payments should be increased from 8c per track to 19c by 2010.

Last.fm, an interactive music service, based in London, that has 15 million users worldwide, is also worried by the American ruling. It says that the US is its strongest market and the increase could make the site "commercially unworkable."

Adobe plans to introduce two new versions of its flagship image editing software Photoshop on 27 March, says TG Daily.

The company says a "CS3 Extended" package will be added to integrate animation and rendering capabilities. These will enable film, video and multimedia professionals perform 3D model visualisation and texture editing, as well as paint and clone over multiple video frames.

Adobe says some animation features will also be added, to render 3D content into 2D images. Adobe says designers can now create an animation from a series of images, and export it to a wide variety of formats.