Microsoft will "Soon" Offer Beta Antivirus App

Antivirus app is codenamed Morro and will be free

Microsoft is the largest software company on the planet with applications ranging from office productivity to the operating systems the vast majority of consumer computers run on. Microsoft has also offered protection suits to help keep computers running its software operating efficiently.

Reuters reports that Microsoft is getting ready to unveil a free antivirus service for computers to compete with the many retail antivirus offerings on the market. Microsoft first made plans for its free antivirus offering codenamed "Morro" in November of 2008. At the time, Microsoft said that the service would be launching in the second half of 2009.

The exact launch date of the new free anti-virus service has yet to be announced, but Reuters reports that Microsoft will "soon" make a beta version of the free protection available for users. Investors in security software firms like McAfee and Symantec are worried that a free offering from Microsoft could potentially harm revenue for the companies.

Analyst Daniel Ives said, "It's a long-term competitive threat." However, Ives said that the short-term impact of the free Microsoft offering would be minimal. Not much is known about Morro at this point other than it will offer free basic protection against different virus types and is comparable to low-end software from rival firms selling in the $40 price range.

Morro came out of an unsuccessful offering from Microsoft called Live OneCare that never proved popular among users. Microsoft said in November when it announced the free antivirus offering that Live OneCare would be phased out.

Symantec's Janice Chaffin said, "Microsoft's free product is basically a stripped down version of the OneCare product Microsoft pulled from the shelves. A full internet security suite is what consumers require today to stay fully protected."

A McAfee spokesman said that his company is already working well and competing against free antivirus offerings already on the market.

DailyTech - Microsoft will "Soon" Offer Beta Antivirus App

Mozilla Updates Firefox Add-Ons Site with Collections

Wouldn't it be nice if you could click one link and have all your favorite add-ons automatically installed on a new copy of Firefox? Mozilla makes it so with Collections, the newest feature of a revamped add-on site.

We'd seen beta previews of the new add-on site, but as of this morning, the redesign has gone live. The new skin and organization make it more apparent how to search, sort, and install add-ons, but Collections, and the Add-On Collector extension, are the real new hotness.

Put simply, Collections are just a pre-packaged set of add-ons, themes, dictionaries, and language packs that are given a name, a description, and a unique URL, like addons.mozilla.org/collections/davesawesomecollection (Note: Not a real collection, at least until someone spoofs it). So it's kind of convenient if you happen to know of or find a great collection set, but the real power comes in creating your own collections, either by typing and selecting add-ons on the site, or automatically culled from your current extensions with the Add-On Collector. As you can see in the screenshot at right, Subscriptions becomes a part of your Add-Ons options when you install the Collector, and the extension itself gives you some control over what gets published to your private or public collections, along with allowing you to subscribe to mulptiple collections if you'd like.

By creating a new collection, which you can make private or public, you basically create an up-to-date backup of your must-have Firefox extensions. For frequent Firefox re-installers, a good collection is going to be a must. For those looking to help out Firefox newcomer friends or keep a group of workers updated, it seems like a pretty nifty tool. The Add-On Collector was having some problems connecting to my Mozilla account this morning, but that is, hopefully, just launch morning bugs.

The Add-On Collector is a free download for Firefox, while the Collections site works on the web. Both require a Mozilla account to save and synchronize collections.

Collections

Lifehacker - Mozilla Updates Firefox Add-Ons Site with Collections - Firefox

The Google Wave Highlight Reel - Google Wave

We haven't been invited to try out Google Wave (yet? pretty please Mister Google?), but based on the 80-minute demonstration video, we're jazzed about it. Don't have 80 minutes? These eight 30-60 second clips highlight the best parts of Google Wave.

Inline Replies

First the simple stuff. Google says Wave is what email would be if it were invented today, so it looks a whole lot like Gmail. But all editing and commenting happen on a single copy of a given wave (that is, message or document). You can comment on a wave below it, or inline. Check it out:

Lifehacker - The Google Wave Highlight Reel - Google Wave

Google Offers App to Sync Outlook with Gmail

New app lets users check email with Outlook or Gmail

Google is looking to best Microsoft on many levels. Google already rules the search market leaving Microsoft scrambling to find ways to compete. However, on other fronts, it is Google scrambling to compete with Microsoft.

One of the fronts that Google finds it hard to compete against Microsoft on is in office productivity. By far the most popular productivity suite is Microsoft Office. Google offers a full spectrum of online offerings that are free or cost much less than Microsoft's software, but the search giant is still struggling to get users to make the change from Microsoft software to its online only applications.

This year Google has been working to remove some of the barriers that are preventing many enterprise users from using Google applications like Gmail. In January, Google announced offline Gmail -- the lack of offline availability was one of the major reasons many users cited for not using Gmail instead of Outlook from Microsoft.

Google has announced this week that it has removed another barrier that prevents some users from taking advantage of Google emails service. Some users like the Gmail interface, others want to use Outlook to get email.

Google has announced a new feature called Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook that lets users continue using Outlook to manage their email and other functions like calendars and still take advantage of Google's cloud-based email service.

The application lets Outlook users connect to Google Apps for business email, contacts, and calendar on their computers and when away from the office the same data can be accessed via the Google web interface.

Key features of the new offering include email, calendar, and contacts synchronization. The plug-in uses the Gmail offline protocol, which Google says is much faster than other methods like IMAP. A data migration tool is also built in that allows users to migrate their data form Exchange or Outlook into Google Apps with two clicks. Users can also schedule meetings with coworkers using Outlook Calendar or Google Calendar.

DailyTech - Google Offers App to Sync Outlook with Gmail

America's Army 3 Arriving June 17

"The only action game that delivers an authentic and entertaining Army experience by reflecting the training, technology, actions, and career advancement of a Soldier within an exciting free game experience" will arrive on June 17, distributor Valve said today.

 

America's Army 3 updates the popular free-to-play series with Epic's Unreal Engine 3, bringing new missions, features and gameplay tweaks alongside the new tech.

In addition, the game will sport several enhancements for those that download and play through Valve's Steam platform, including achievements and server-stored settings.

America's Army 3 Arriving June 17 - Shacknews

NASA Targets June 13 Launch for Shuttle Endeavour

NASA's space shuttle Endeavour is officially set to blast off toward the International Space Station on June 13 to finish work on the $100 billion outpost's massive Japanese lab.

Shuttle mission managers on Wednesday approved plans to launch Endeavour on a marathon

station construction flight at 7:17 a.m. EDT (1117 GMT) on June 13, nearly three weeks after the successful return of its sister ship Atlantis from the Hubble Space Telescope.

"We're getting pretty darn close to kicking this mission off next Saturday," Endeavour's commander Mark Polansky told reporters today at the shuttle's launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Fla. "We're excited about the work we're going to do."

Finishing Japan's space "hope"

Polansky's six-man, one-woman crew is poised to lift off from a seaside launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center to deliver a porch-like external platform for the space station's massive Japanese laboratory Kibo, which means "Hope" in English. 

The $1 billion Kibo lab is the space station's largest room, about the size of a tour bus, and currently sports an attic-like storage module, small airlock and robotic arm. The new platform will be attached to the lab's exterior to expose experiments and materials to space for long duration studies.

Five intricate spacewalks and complicated maneuvers with three different robotic arms are planned during the 16-day mission, which will tie the record for the longest station-bound mission to date.

"This mission is unbelievably complex," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's space operations chief, in a televised briefing late Wednesday. "It'll be a very challenging mission for the team."

The spaceflight, NASA's third shuttle mission of the year, is also the first to send seven astronauts to the space station since the outpost doubled its permanent crew size to six people last week. When Endeavour arrives, 13 people will live and work aboard the station - the most ever aboard the orbital outpost.

"It's just a really good mix of folks and I think we're going to work well together as a team," said Endeavour astronaut Tim Kopra from the launch pad.

Kopra will replace Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata as a member of the space station's six-man crew after Endeavour arrives. Wakata, who has lived aboard the station since March, is Japan's first long-term resident of the orbital laboratory and due to return home in late June aboard Endeavour.

Endeavour's STS-127 astronaut crew will climb aboard the shuttle on Thursday for a launch dress rehearsal at the Kennedy Space Center. They will cap the launch simulation with an emergency escape drill before returning home to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Tight schedule

NASA has a slim three-day window in which to launch Endeavour to the station before standing down to allow an unmanned moon probe, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the attached LCROSS impactor, to blast off on June 17 from the nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

If the shuttle does not launch by June 15, it could try again four of five days later, but only of the moon-bound mission lifts off on time. If Endeavour is unable to fly in June, it would have to wait until July 11 when sun angles at the space station are more favorable, mission managers said.

Pete Nickolenko, launch director for Endeavour's flight, said the schedule is tight, with no reserve days to deal with unexpected glitches. On Sunday, the shuttle moved to its current seaside Launch Pad 39A from the nearby Pad 39B, where it had been on standby to fly a rescue mission for Atlantis' Hubble telescope service call in case of an emergency.

While no space rescue was required, the effort to prime Endeavour for flight streamlined the work required for its current mission to the station, said Nickolenko. As long as the Florida weather cooperates, the shuttle should be ready for its June 13 launch, he added.

"I think we're running on all cylinders, in my mind ... we're hitting our strides," Nickolenko said. "It's all rapid-paced, but it's all doable, manageable. The teams are seasoned, but I believe that they're focused."

SPACE.com -- NASA Targets June 13 Launch for Shuttle Endeavour

Dungeons & Dragons Online Becoming Free-to-play

Turbine today announced that it will relaunch its MMO Dungeons & Dragons Online this summer as Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, a free-to-play version of the massive online game.

Players will be able to download and play the game at no cost, with a new DDO Store providing revenue in the form of content and item sales. Dungeon packs, character slots, potions, character customization, and hired goons will all be available for purchase with Turbine Points.

 

Turbine will also launch a "DDO VIP" program that will grant access to all premium content for a monthly price. Benefits include priority server access, 10 character slots, a shared bank, and a monthly pack of 500 Turbine Points to spent at the DDO Store.

Dungeons & Dragons Online was launched in February 2006. Turbine has since updated the title with eight modules.

Dungeons & Dragons Online Becoming Free-to-play - Shacknews