engine

Reports out of a Google developer conference in India indicated that Google was primed to add support for Java programs running on its presently Python-only Google App Engine. Java support is a top request for the Web application hosting site, but fans would be better off holding their horses for now.

The reports based the Java-on-GAE conclusion on remarks from a speech by Prasad Ram, director of Google research and development in Bangalore. Google, though, said nothing is happening soon.

"While we don't have any immediate plans or announcements, we are working on other languages for App Engine. … Read more

If you think there are a lot of phishing scams cramming your e-mail in-box now, just wait--fraudsters have more tricks up their sleeve.

That's the message from McAfee Security Journal, due out Monday. Most of the articles deal with ways in which scammers use social engineering --not hacking--to dupe people into downloading malicious software to their computers or giving out their personal information, passwords, and bank account details to malicious Web sites.

One of the more interesting articles is titled "Vulnerabilities in the Equities Markets."

There have been headlines about people scamming the equities market by circulating … Read more

In the past few years, as companies like Dell and Sony have been making a big deal about releasing laptops in a rainbow of colors, Fujitsu has seemed content to stick with the traditional black, white, or silver. That all changed on Wednesday, when the company released the LifeBook A1110, a 15.4-inch laptop with a distinct, eye-catching patterned lid.

Even better, the lid incorporates a swappable exterior panel, so if you become bored with the default green pattern, $20 buys you pink butterflies, or an ornate blue pattern, and potentially other colors in the future. Fujitsu has engineered the … Read more

Around four years ago, I got a call from some of the original founders of a small network identity and authentication company that eventually evolved to become Identity Engines. In simple terms, the company built an enterprise-class Radius server that greatly enhanced the intersection between networking, identity, and security.

From my first meeting with two or three people, ID Engines raised a few rounds of financing, hired some really smart folks, and developed a product. The company also was able to ride the momentum of an IEEE protocol named 802.1x for authentication. Geeky? Yes, but 802.1x is slowly … Read more

When I was at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York last week, many of the panelists and speakers invited the audience to ask them questions by submitting Twitter messages. A Google engineer named Taliver Heath has gone one step further by creating Google Moderator, an application that lets the audiences at lectures and discussions submit questions and vote on the ones they'd like to hear answered.

Google Moderator, earlier named "Dory" after the inquisitive fish from Finding Nemo, started out as an internal tool. It was originally intended for the audiences at Google's "… Read more

The source code underlying Google's Chrome Web browser suggests that Google used a reverse-engineering technique called disassembly to figure out how to employ a useful Windows Vista security feature, but the company said it didn't, in fact, do so.

The Chrome source code said a particular security feature available on Vista, Data Execution Prevention, can be used on Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 SP1, though it's not documented for the older operating systems. The source code also said the feature can be understood with a disassembler, a method of reverse-engineering that deconstructs a binary file--such … Read more

User privacy concerns on Chinese social-networking sites have led the biggest players to block indexing by Baidu, China's leading search engine, according to Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting.

The blogging site of Sohu.com, China's leading portal, as well as social networking sites including 51.com, Xiaonei, and Hainei have blocked Baidu's spiders from indexing the sites, Marbridge reported. Other search engines may also be blocked.

The reasoning behind this move may reveal a pragmatic commitment to security by obscurity for people who post under their real names and may want to avoid attention from employers, acquaintances, and government … Read more

Even though Mazda is working on an electric vehicle a la Chevy's Volt, if the barrage of e-mails in our inbox is any indicator, its engineers have been hard at work developing other green tech,too. Green tech such as a spin on start-stop engine tech, a new clean diesel, and a new plastic-molding technology that will make the manufacturing of vehicles greener.

First up is Mazda's new Smart Idle Stop System (SISS), which at first seems like the same system everyone else is already using that stops the engine at idle. Looking deeper into Mazda's specs, … Read more

Microsoft is launching its Windows 7 blog, but it still doesn't have much to say.

On the plus side, Windows engineering boss Steven Sinofsky did at least put a date to when he would share some more details.

"The Professional Developers Conference (PDC) on October 27 and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) the following week both represent the first venues where we will provide in-depth technical information about Windows 7," Sinofsky and Windows Core operating system head Jon Devaan wrote in a posting on Thursday. "This blog will provide context over the next 2+ months … Read more