Truth be told, you weren’t supposed to see me for another couple years or so. Brit was gonna do the comeback thing, and depending on album sales, we were gonna negotiate an appearance fee with the Maloof Brothers for the next time they needed a pub jump for one of their casino clubs.

AP - The maker of software to thwart unauthorized online file-sharing has obtained technology that can scan video files and block computer users from making copies.

Cash, credit or text? Cell phone payments are coming to the U.S. as companies like Feed Tribes launch new services.

PC World - User criticism sparks new tweaks to Windows Genuine Advantage checks.

AP - Houghton Mifflin Co. on Wednesday agreed to a nearly $1.8 billion buyout that will pair a venerable name in educational textbook publishing with Riverdeep Inc., a smaller firm whose complementary strength is in educational software.

The new version of Windows is about to make its debut for businesses. Here’s what you can expect.

Reuters - Textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin
will be acquired by Riverdeep, an Irish educational software
publisher, for $1.75 billion, the companies said on Wednesday.

Founder of open-source e-mail and calendaring software project decides to move on while calling on community to continue.

NewsFactor - This week, Symantec released public betas of Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus for Windows Vista. The betas work on both 32- and 64-bit versions of Vista, itself in beta until Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, formally unveils Vista on Thursday at an invitation-only event in New York.

Reuters - Microsoft Corp. Chief
Financial Officer Chris Liddell on Wednesday said the world’s
largest software company still expected revenue to grow 13
percent to 15 percent for the current fiscal year.

After U.K. teacher says network gave him flushes and burning sensations, parliament member calls for government inquiry.

Reuters - Riverdeep Inc., an Irish educational
software publisher, is close to a deal to buy U.S. textbook
publisher Houghton Mifflin for about $3.5 billion including
debt, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on
Wednesday.

Mobile e-mail and messaging from Yahoo are set to become the norm for owners of Nokia phones.

PC World - Software update patches bug in wireless drivers that left systems vulnerable.

Maker of the WordPerfect word processor and productivity suite will support Microsoft’s Office Open XML, OpenDocument format.

PC Magazine - McAfee researchers predict that password theft, malware delivered via video-sharing technologies and attacks aimed at mobile devices will be among the most significant problems tackled by IT administrators over the next 12 months.

Reuters - Software maker Oracle Corp. said on
Wednesday that it is developing a group of standards that
businesses can use to help control and monitor the flow of
sensitive personal data within corporate computer systems.

Plaintiffs’ group says MetaSolv directors neglected fidiciary duties to shareholders by agreeing to merger.

Network equipment maker plans to acquire the rest of H-3C, based in China, from Huawei Technologies for $882 million.

Partnership promoting homegrown broadcast standard for mobile TV in Japan; mobile-specific content, ads on the way.

AFP - Microsoft will announce availability of business versions of its long-awaited Vista operating system on Thursday, according to analysts invited to a release event in New York City.

TechWeb - CA enhances the integration between Wily Introscope, software for managing application performance, and the Unicenter Network and Systems Management framework.

IDC study of mobile phone habits from major world markets finds, among other things, that applications drive competition.

AP - Opera Software ASA released a new version of its mini browser for mobile phones Tuesday.

Reuters - Canadian university researchers have
developed software that will let users hop over governments’
Internet firewalls, raising the prospect of unfettered Internet
access in countries that have long tried to control how
residents use the Web.

TechWeb - Microsoft is adding a revamped wizard to provide users with more information on validation results and new tools to troubleshoot the problem when the anti-counterfeit software can’t make up its mind whether the copy of Windows is legitimate or not.

TechWeb - Vallent specializes in developing software that operators of wireless telecommunications networks can use to monitor network traffic, identify bottlenecks, and guard against service interruptions.

“Sex sells,” so adult content on mobile devices will be a multibillion-dollar market in five years, a research firm predicts.

TechWeb - The bot, dubbed "Spybot.acyr," includes exploits for seven different vulnerabilities, including five already-patched flaws in Microsoft Windows and one within Symantec’s enterprise anti-virus products.

NewsFactor - The French parliament has said au revoir to Microsoft. Starting in June of next year, French deputies will use desktops and servers running Linux, Mozilla’s Firefox Web browser, and OpenOffice.org, a free open-source alternative to Microsoft’s Office software.