Microsoft offers first Google Android mobile phone app

 
Microsoft has made an application that works with Google's Android phone.
Called Tag, the free software uses a handset's camera to turn it into a mobile barcode reader.
It is the first application Microsoft has made for the Android operating system - one of the key rivals to Windows Mobile.
Android is among the last to get the Tag application which is available on Windows phones, the iPhone, Blackberry and Symbian handsets.
Using Tag and similar programs, barcodes can become coupons that link people to websites, pass on information or give visitors a discount in an online store.
Releasing the application for Android continues Microsoft's program of making software for rival phone firm. In December 2008 it produced its first iPhone app, called Seadragon, and followed it up in early 2009 by releasing Tag for the Apple handset

Microsoft: Don't press F1 Key in Windows XP

 Microsoft told Windows XP users today not to press the F1 key when prompted by a Web site, as part of its reaction to an unpatched vulnerability that hackers could exploit to hijack PCs running Internet Explorer (IE).In a security advisory issued late Monday, Microsoft confirmed the unpatched bug in VBScript that Polish researcher Maurycy Prodeus had revealed Friday, offered more information on the flaw and provided some advice on how to protect PCs until a patch shipped."The vulnerability exists in the way that VBScript interacts with Windows Help files when using Internet Explorer," read the advisory. "If a malicious Web site displayed a specially crafted dialog box and a user pressed the F1 key, arbitrary code could be executed in the security context of the currently logged-on user."

IBM Nanophotonic Switch Promises Faster Energy-Efficient Computing

IBM researchers have created an ultrafast avalanche photodetector that uses light for communication between computer chips, which could be powered by a regular AA battery
Scientists at IBM Research (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) have taken a significant step toward replacing electrical signals that communicate via copper wires between computer chips with silicon circuits that communicate using pulses of light.
The device, called a nanophotonic avalanche photodetector (NAP), is the fastest and smallest switch for directing traffic in on-chip optical communications, ensuring that optical messages are efficiently routed. It could enable breakthroughs in energy-efficient computing with significant implications for the future of electronics.