Craig Newell

America Online last week made its AOL 9.0 client available to beta testers. The software, code-named Blue Hawaii, is a marked departure from the last release, AOL 8.0, in offering a skinnable, or changeable, user interface code-named Prescott. With it, AOL members will have many more opportunities to customize the navigation and design of the […]

As the hubbub of alternative Web browsers keeps growing—from speculation over a so-called “Gbrowser” from search-engine leader Google Inc. to the many advances in the open-source Mozilla project—in the background, America Online Inc. has been quietly testing its own Web browser, dubbed “AOL Browser,” for more than a month. Departing from its past embedded strategy, […]

Microsoft is continuing to flesh out the services it is offering via its SPOT (Smart Personal Object Technology) “smart” watches. On Monday, Microsoft released a minor update to its MSN Direct service that delivers personalized content to watches over FM-radio frequencies. The new services add NFL and college football to the list of sports users […]

A handful of corporate customers were left without e-mail and Internet access Monday after the theft of networking equipment from a New York City office late Sunday. Law enforcement officials said four DS-3 cards were reported missing from a Manhattan co-location facility owned by Verizon Communications Inc. The theft at 240 E. 38th St. occurred […]

Microsoft Corp.s MSN Direct service is only a few months old, but the company already is expanding rapidly the content available via the SPOT smart watches. The next MSN Direct channels Microsoft is slated to add include “daily diversions” (horoscopes, lottery results, etc.), local traffic conditions, dining information and movie times, sources said. Microsoft launched […]

According to sources, Time Warner Inc. is in discussions with Microsoft Corp. regarding a potential acquisition by the Redmond software company of America Online (AOL). New York-based Time Warner on Friday denied the account. And a Microsoft spokeswoman said the company will not comment on rumors or speculation. Time Warner spokesperson Tricia Primrose Wallace called […]

Customers of Microsoft Corp.s new MSN Direct service experienced a major service interruption on Thursday, as the services Web site displayed error messages and many users watches received no new data. Users attempting to make changes to their personalization settings received error messages and were unable to synchronize their watchs calendar with their desktop. Postings […]

Microsoft Corp. executives have kicked off the campaign for the companys next big Windows push: Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). In a Webcast Tuesday morning, Microsoft Security Business Unit Vice President Mike Nash said to expect the service pack—a major release—to enhance security in four ways. It will remedy open ports, malicious e-mail attachments, […]

Linux creator Linus Torvalds may be the main mouthpiece for open source, but another open-source evangelist—John “Maddog” Hall—is working hard behind the scenes to spread adoption of Linux. If you were at this weeks LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco, you likely ran across Hall, who is executive director of Linux International—a nonprofit organization that disseminates […]

OTTAWA—IT professionals may soon have a do-it-yourself alternative to commercial network-attached-storage products, according to a presentation by self-described Linux “kernel hacker” Ben LaHaise at the Ottawa Linux Symposium. LaHaise revealed his vision to create a reliable storage solution using “commodity,” or off-the-shelf hardware, therefore dramatically reducing costs. The core of the project was to support […]