Computer giant IBM Corp. has raised its annual forecast for this year as the technology sector batted for bigger sales in the coming months.

The company made the announcement despite shaky market conditions in the technology sector, saying that the worst is finally over for the sector and bigger sales will be at hand in the comings months.

IBM also reported that its net income for the second quarter of this year has spiked up by nine percent ($3.39) billion, or roughly $2.65 per share. The figures have topped earlier analysts’ projection of $2.58 per share.

But the company said that its Q2 revenue has slipped by two percent to $23.7 billion, below the $24.2 billion analysts predicted.

The computer giant blamed the currency changes over the past three months, which cost at least $500 million worth of losses to the company. IBM said that experts, who have estimated the revenue projection, have failed to include the data in their calculations.

The currency value is important for IBM since most of its businesses were outside the United States, particularly Europe.

With the dollar-euro rate at its lowest, the computer giant gained less possible revenue when the euros were converted to greenbacks.

Also, despite the consistent positive forecasting by Wall Street, IBM also disclosed that the company shares dropped by four percent on Monday due to reductions in its services contract value.

IBM announced a 12 percent slip in the value of services contracts signed during the second quarter of 2010, costing to about $12.3 billion.

Meanwhile, other major players in the technology sector expressed belief that the economy will soon pick and more corporations will start to replace their old computer systems, which in turn could bring higher revenue for the tech firms.

Other Internet companies such as Google also shared the same view, citing the continued increase in the advertising revenue online.

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Computer giant Microsoft Corp. and the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) have teamed up to produce the most detailed 3-D images of space and the planets through the so-called “WorldWide Telescope.”
Microsoft’s “WorldWide Telescope,” which has been steadily increased viewership on the Internet, is the galactic version of Google Earth.

With the help of NASA, Microsoft was now able to produce high-definition 3-D images of objects and planets that can be found in the Milky Way and other galaxies.

One of the highly talked about image was the true color map of the entire Mars surface, taking online users to a “Total Recall” experience.

Microsoft also launched the first of its kind, high-resolution spherical sky map called the “TeraPixel,” which users can view using a virtual telescope.

TeraPixel, which is also under the WorldWide Telescope program, is the largest and clearest spherical image of the sky.

The image was made possible through Digitized Sky Survey, which is a collection of hundreds of thousands of images that were taken in a 50-year period by two survey telescopes on Earth.

The combination of the collected images gives users the spherical and panoramic view of the night skies, which would require 50,000 HD televisions to view.

Scientists at NASA expressed surprise to the outcome of the project, saying that they can now navigate through space using TeraPixel and make their own discoveries.

NASA’s chief technology officer for IT, Chris Kemp, said that the release of the two programs, Microsoft and the space agency have lowered the barrier in accessing the thrill of space.

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A human rights group on Wednesday cried foul over recent moves of the Chinese Internet regulators, who want to reduce the anonymity among online users in mainland China.

State Council Information Office director Wang Chen, in his address to the national legislature in April, has called for the extensive system that would require all Internet users to use their real names when going online or buying a mobile phone.

Chen said that the new registration system will allow the Chinese government to better manage the Internet and the content being provided by its users.

The Chinese government tried to remove the full context of Chen’s speech from its websites to avoid the watchful eyes of its critics. The media’s reporting on the issue was abruptly cut by the government.

However, a New York-based human rights group in China, which managed to obtain the original copy of the speech, expressed fear that the new proposal would make another row of human rights violations in the country, saying that they have found “an unexpurgated text and discrepancies” in the documents.

“This only shows that Beijing is wary that its push for tighter information control to its people,” the group said in its China Rights Forum magazine.

China’s move, according to the group, will plug all the loopholes in its existing Internet control called “The Great Firewall” by limiting anonymous access to contents or comments online.

It will be recalled that the tight Internet control by the Chinese government led to row with online giant Google.

But the due to the large consumer and advertising potential of the country, Google was forced to vow down to the Chinese, allowing it to resume operations in the mainland after months of absence.

Despite the pervasive censorship and stricter controls online, China’s online population continued to grow with over 400 million active users, the largest in the world. Also, China has over 233 million mobile Internet users.

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A group technology experts and volunteers has released on Thursday a new version of the popular open-source blogging website WordPress.

Dubbed as WordPress version 3.0, the new software hosts more than 2, 700 upgrades, which include 1, 217 bugs fix. At least 218 volunteers have provided the software upgrades for the 13th version of the software.

Research and consulting firm Real Story Group analyst Adriaan Bloem said that WordPress has now become the “most capable” blogging platform on the Internet, citing the most notable upgrade in the website’s feature – the multi-task blogging capability.

Real Story group, a company that specializes in content management software, said that with the addition of the WordPress MU, administrators can now run multiple blogs simultaneously.

“MU has been integrated into the main version of WordPress ensures that it should be easier to deploy,” Bloem noted.

Bloem believe that the addition of the MU capability to the main WordPress website has now put it directly ahead of its rival MovableType, which has long offered the multiple blogs.

“Despite MovableType’s long history of running multiple blogs, many of the online users still prefer WordPress because of its user-friendly interface. And with the addition of the MU, WordPress has overtaken MovableType in the race for blogging supremacy,” Bloem added.

It was learned that WordPress run on PHP platform, which is much easier to use than the Perl Language platform of MovableType.

WordPress users can now define whether their articles will go to certain categories such as products, models, and other specification they will require – through the website’s custom post capability.

Prior to the implementation of the custom post, WordPress user content were often limited to just blogs.

“The custom post types will further help establish WordPress as a good candidate for managing an entire Web site’s content, in addition to just the blogs,” Bloem added.

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In a bid to attract more consumers to its doors, the world’s largest coffee chain Starbucks Corp. announced on Monday that it will be offering unlimited use of wireless internet access (Wi-Fi) in all company-operated stores starting July 1.

Starbucks hopes to take back lucrative share of the restaurant business from its rivals like McDonald’s Corp. and other coffee chains that have long used free Wi-Fi connection to attract customers.

This time, Starbucks takes one step further by giving customers free Wi-Fi access, which will include special news networks and entertainment contents.

The Starbucks Digital Network was done in partnership with Yahoo, giving customers free access to online news websites like the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Patch and USA Today as well as free music downloads on Apple iTune Stores.

Previously, Starbucks offered only two hours of free Internet access to each user everyday.

The company started implementing the earlier Wi-Fi scheme based on its study, which showed that customers login on the Internet in an average of one hour on each visit to Starbucks stores. Meanwhile, Smartphone users use Wi-Fi access on an average of 15 minutes.

The coffee giant hopes to extend its quarterly gains, which has been slumped for the past 13 quarters due to the recession and rapid expansion plans.

Starbucks also hopes to take back major market shares from McDonald’s, which has offered unlimited Wi-Fi access to some 11, 5000 stores. The coffee giant lost major clientele to McDonald’s due to its McCafe chain.

Following the announcement, Starbucks shares jumped by 1.5 percent or 41 cents ($27.56) during midday trading on Monday.

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A mobile phone security firm on Monday revealed that hackers have developed new types of computer virus that can be planted in Smartphones running on Microsoft Windows operating system.

In a statement, San Francisco-based security firm Lookout said that the viruswas planted in video games designed for Smartphones such as “3D Anti-Terrorist” and “PDA Poker Art.”

“The worst part is that these games were available on websites that provides legitimate software for cell phones and Smartphones,” Lookout chief executive John Hering said.

Hering, citing the results of their investigations, said that the mobile video games are usually bundled with malicious software (malwares), which are designed to automatically dial premium rate telephone services in different countries like Italy, Somalia, and Spain.

“Our investigations also showed that many of the unwitting victims were charged hundred or sometimes thousands of dollars in a month,” he said.

“Most of them did not even have a clue that their phones were infected by the virus. Not until they receive their phone bills with hundreds of dollars worth of premium-rate services,” he added.

Hering also disclosed the identity of the virus developers, saying that they were also the programmers of the telephone services.

With the boom in the use of the Apple iPhone, Google Android, and Research in Motion Blackberry, the official said that Smartphone users have become the favorite target of these hackers because the technology was relatively new and still has several loopholes in the software design.

Sought for comment, Microsoft Corp said that they were unaware of the new viruses that have been plaguing its clients.

“As always, Microsoft continues to encourage customers to follow all of the steps of the ‘Protect Your Computer’ guidance of enabling a firewall, applying all software updates and installing anti-virus and anti-spyware software,” the company added.

Microsoft said customers should visit http://www.microsoft.com/protect/ for guidance on protection from viruses.

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Skype Limited on Sunday launched a new Apple Application, which allows iPhone users to call other Skype users over 3G networks.

The company said that the new Apple App will be offered to millions of iPhone users for free only until the end of the year.

“Skype-to-Skype calls over Wi-Fi networks will be free of charge while Skype-to-Skype calls over 3G will be offered for free until the end of the year,” the company said in a statement.

However, the company said that it is yet to study the amount of charging to Skype users.

“Apple iPhone users may be charged additional fees by their wireless operators for the use of 3G networks and data traffic. So they’ll have to make sure that they discuss their mobile phone plan, the terms and conditions, with their operators to be allowed to use IP telephony,” Skype added in the statement.

The company said that the new Skype App will allow iPhone, iPod Touch (3rd generation), and iPad users to make calls to other users using Skype technology.

But the company said that iPod users may have to buy the compatible headset and microphone to be able to talk with the person on the other line. It is also limited to Wi-Fi Skype calls since it is no 3G-capable.

Other Symbian-based Smartphones can also download the free Skype App. The company also said that they are now working on Android version of the application.

The Skype software application works by allowing users to make voice calls over the Internet.

Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system.

Skype has also become popular for its additional features which include instant messaging, file transfer, and video conferencing.

Skype Limited, the company that operates Skype, was founded in 2003 by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis with headquarters in Luxembourg.

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The United States, European Union and the rest of the global community have asked China to drop or temporarily suspend the deadline to technology companies to enable them to finish computer encryption and other security programs that will be used in country’s “Green Dam” policy.

The US and EU has condemned the pressure by the Chinese government to technology companies, saying that it is an act of protectionism.

Earlier, China has warned computer suppliers and manufacturers to immediately comply with the deadline set this Saturday or face sanction. The Chinese government also said that it will not hesitate to shut out the companies that will fail to comply for billions of dollars in computer purchases.

Many of the suppliers of smart cards, anti-spam software, and security routers were also asked by China to bare the encryption codes and other trade secrets during a government panel meeting.

But the technology firms expressed fear from the deadline imposed by the government, saying that the information they will reveal in the panel discussion might leak out to Chinese rivals.

Meanwhile, the US and EU accused China of using its Internet regulation program as an excuse to gain grounds over its foreign rivals.

“No other nation imposes such high demand from foreign companies. China should scrap the policy, or at least, suspend its implementation,” the group said in a statement.

Some of the companies believe that the Chinese government is helping its own companies at the expense of other countries’ technology, citing the recent dispute between Europe, America, and China.

The Chinese people have scaled back a technological plan to favor its companies’ technology products in US and European government procurement.

But this time, Washington stood pat, saying that China should now follow global norms in dealing with other countries.

“China is bullying the other companies by imposing a deadline that has no real base in reality,” a company spokesperson said.

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A United States District Court sentenced a 28-year-old computer hacker to 20 years in prison after pleading “guilty” to charges of orchestrating one of the largest credit and debit card data theft in history.

US District Judge Patti Saris, in his order, said that Albert Gonzalez will spend 15 to 25 years in prison after he confessed of the crime and reached for an agreement with the government prosecutors.

The judge rendered the decision after the convicted hacker asked for an apology to his family and the companies that were affected by his wrong doings. The firms, banks, and insurers said that they have lost more than $200 million due to the scheme.

Earlier, Gonzalez, who is a former federal informant, said that he masterminded the scheme to break into the networks of major companies including BJ’s Wholesale Club, Barnes & Noble, TJX Cos., and Office Max.

“I did not do it out of greed. I did it because I can’t stop myself from my pursuit and my addiction to the Internet. I blame nobody but myself,” Gonzalez said during the promulgation of the case.

According to court documents, Gonzalez was able to steal around $2.8 million after he stole several account numbers of credit and debit card owners. He said that he used the money to buy a condominium unit in Miami, Rolex watches, and a Tiffany ring for his girlfriend.

With the help of their laptops, Gozalez and two other foreigners, tapped into the wireless signals of the retailers before installing “sniffer programs” that would help them gather credit card numbers.

The trio would then sell the stolen account numbers to other people overseas.

Gonzalez, also known as “soupnazi” in the online community, started hacking computers since 2003 where he was first arrested. He then became an informant to the Secret Service and help them trace other hackers trying to push through their network.

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World’s largest online search engine Google Inc has ended four years of censoring to China’s Internet searches when it finally pulled the plug to the mainland on Monday.

But despite the parting of ways with the Chinese government, Google said that it will still maintain other operations in the country.

Many of the experts said that the company’s move to maintain operations in China is part of a maneuver that would balance the effect of the removal of the search engine blockade. They added that maintaining balance would help Google to hold ground in the fastest growing online market in the world.

It will be recalled that Google and the Chinese government engaged in a heated argument over the decision of the online giant to pull out from the mainland. Up to now, no clear indications were being presented by both sides whether the issue has already been resolved.

Google said that it will no longer block Internet searches in China. But the government retaliated by threatening the online giant that it would face sanction if it will not adhere the country’s Internet rules.

As of Monday, online users of the old Google service in China (Google.cn) are now being redirected to the Chinese-based online service in Hong Kong where China has no control over the online search results.

Users were greeted by the Google HK homepage with an announcement “Welcome to Google Search in China’s new home.” Millions of users were also surprised when they can now view otherwise limited searches.

However, many of the users still can’t view blocked search results inside mainland China after a massive filtering campaign of the Chinese government in line with Google’s pull out.

In a related development, Google said that it is keeping its engineering and sales offices in the country to gather technological advancements, adding that it will continue to sell advertisements to its Chinese version of its search engine in the US.

Google also said that it will maintain its mapping and music services in the country.

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