Daily Digest 15 October

15-10-2008

by Emmet Cole

Microsoft issues security update | Novell to acquire Managed Objects

Havok, the Irish company that develops physics engines for the global game and movie entertainment industry, is the secret behind many of the visual effects in the forthcoming James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace", according to the wholly-owned Intel subsidiary. The latest Bond movie is due for general release in Ireland on 31 October. Havok technology has also been used to create visual effects in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", "The Matrix", and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

Microsoft has released the October installment of its monthly 'Patch Tuesday' security update. The latest release addresses 20 security vulnerabilities in all. Among the 'critical patches' is a fix for a remote code execution flaw in Excel which could allow an attacker to perform a remote malware installation. Another fix addresses a remote code flaw in Microsoft's Host Integration Server product, while yet another addresses a problem in the Active Directory component for Windows Server 2000. The final critical bulletin is a cumulative update for Internet Explorer which includes remote code execution fixes for IE 5, 6 and 7.

News from the If-I-Said-You-Had-A-Beautiful-Unibody department on Wednesday, with an announcement from Apple that the company is set to release a new range of MacBook laptops. The new laptops -- which the company claims will cost as much as EUR600 less than previous MacBooks -- feature a "unibody" enclosure made from a single block of aluminum. The new MacBook series includes NVIDIA graphics, LED-backlit displays and large, glass trackpads.

Irish mobile firm ChangingWorlds has been awarded the Engineers Ireland Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Company of the Year Award 2008. ChangingWorlds used the Engineers Ireland CPD framework in its ChangingWorlds Innovation Centre (CIC) at Nova UCD. ChangingWorlds developed the ClixSmart mobile phone software.

Meanwhile, North American telecommunications company BTI Systems is to establish a STG6 million European headquarters in Belfast, according to an announcement from Northern Ireland's Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster, on Wednesday. The investment will create 60 jobs over the next three years.

The general public will be given an opportunity to nominate (and vote for) their favourite social networking and community website as part of this year's Golden Spider Awards, which are sponsored by Eircom. The general public is invited to make their nominations by Thursday, 23 October. Once the shortlist has been announced, the public will vote again to have the final say on who wins "Best Social Networking and Community Website". The winner will be announced at the Golden Spider awards ceremony in November.

Finally, Novell has announced an agreement to acquire the business service management firm Managed Objects. The acquisition is expected to extend Novell's portfolio of data centre solutions by adding tools to provide a unified view of information and workloads. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.