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Other technology news in brief

IBM, software firms in bid to test Microsoft

IBM has joined with Linux software providers Novell, Red Hat and Canonical in an attempt to challenge the dominance of Microsoft's Windows and Office software on PC desktops.

In an effort to "deliver Microsoft-free personal computing choices", the four firms will provide a combination of Linux operating systems, IBM's Lotus productivity software and applications from third party open source developers. They are also signing up PC manufacturers who will pre-load the software on systems.

Lenovo is latest to produce netbook

Chinese PC maker Lenovo is the latest manufacturer to produce a netbook - the new category of light and small notebook computers popularised by the Asus Eee.

The IdeaPad S9 and S10 netbooks are designed to complement a main PC or act as a first-time, introductory PC purchase.

The 8.9 inch screen IdeaPad S9 and 10.2 inch S10 netbooks come in a range of colours, have keyboards that are 85 per cent of the size of a full- function notebook and use energy-efficient Led displays.

SQL server 2008 database released

Microsoft has released the latest version of its enterprise database, SQL Server 2008, to manufacturing.

This effectively means it is available to Microsoft partners and large corporate customers.

The world's largest software maker says the new database adds capabilities such as support for policy-based management, auditing, large data warehouses and geospatial data.

Dell carbon neutral 'ahead of schedule'

PC maker Dell, which employs 4,300 staff in Dublin and Limerick, says it has achieved its goal of becoming carbon neutral ahead of schedule.

This was done in part by purchasing "green power" from electricity suppliers. The firm now buys 116 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of renewable energy annually and its headquarters in Texas is powered totally by green energy.

Dell also says it is saving over $3 million a year and avoids nearly 20,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions through better management of its facilities and careful power management.

Cyber criminals targeting Twitter

Twitter, the micro blogging site which has proven so popular with techies, has become the latest social networking site to be targeted by cyber criminals.

Just a week after it revealed that there were computer worms targeting Facebook and MySpace, anti-virus firm Kaspersky has found a malicious Twitter profile.

With a name that means "pretty rabbit" in Portuguese, the profile announces a link to a pornographic video but instead installs a fake version of Adobe Flash which installs software that can steal data from an infected PC.

Apple says service launch not the best

In an internal Apple memo that was leaked this week, chief executive Steve Jobs admitted the launch of the iPod maker's MobileMe service was not the company's "finest hour" and there were "several things we could have done better".

The data synchronisation service, which allows files to be synced between Apple Macs, Windows PCs, iPhones and certain iPods, has been beset by problems since it was launched last month.

In the memo, which most internet commentators feel was deliberately made public by Apple, Jobs says: "MobileMe was simply not up to Apples standards - it clearly needed more time and testing."