AOL’s free Internet client software has earned the company a slap on the wrist from StopBadware.org, a consortium set up to combat malicious software. In a report released Monday, the group advises users to steer clear of the software because of its "badware behavior." The report blasts the free version of AOL 9.0 because it "interferes with computer use," and because of the way it meddles with components such as the Internet Explorer browser and the Windows taskbar. The suite is also criticized for engaging in "deceptive installation" and faulted because some components fail to uninstall.

Students losing study notes, final papers, and essays have almost become a cliche; and as Professors won’t accept excuses, it’s up to each student to back up their work and prepare for the worst. As such, student’s need a back-up system in place at all times to save their hard work and Data Deposit Box is a comprehensive online PC backup solution enabling everyday PC users to easily backup, restore, and share information online–because it isn’t a matter of IF students will lose their files, but WHEN. "Data Deposit Box will ensure the safety of the files on your child’s computer. Whether they use a laptop or desktop, in a dorm room or at home, they won’t have to do a thing–this is an automatic system," explained Peter Carroll, CTO, Data Deposit Box.

Talking about Lotusphere 2007, in August? Yep. Registrations for Sphere 2007 are now open. In this kick-off article, Senior Technical Editor Mick Moignard tells you what you need to know to plan your winter vacation, er, important trip to Disneyworld, uh, you know, to learn about hot tubs, well, um, Notes and Domino and all that. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Read this DominoPower article.

Cellular telephones and wireless BlackBerry email devices may be addictive, but most business executives insist that mobile technology has improved the balance between their work and home, a study said Thursday. The study, by executive recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International, found that four out of five executives globally are always connected to work through mobile devices, such as cell phones, PDAs, laptops or pagers. More than a third of 2,300 executives surveyed in 75 countries believed that they spent too much time connected to communications devices.

A man was sentenced to three years in prison Friday for launching a computer attack that hit tens of thousands of computers, including some belonging to the Department of Defense, a Seattle hospital and a California school district. Christopher Maxwell, 21, of Vacaville, CA, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in May to federal charges of conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer and conspiracy to commit computer fraud.

A Florida man who pleaded guilty to copyright charges in connection with multimillion-dollar sales of pirated Autodesk, Adobe Systems and Macromedia software was sentenced Friday to six years in prison. Danny Ferrer, 37, of Lakeland, FL, offered CD copies of the products, packaged with a serial number necessary for activation, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday. He did this through a Web site called BuysUSA.com, from late 2002 until it was shut down by the FBI in October 2005.

Despite much handwringing and political posturing, the surge of job outsourcing, by increasing productivity, has actually helped raise real wages for low-skilled U.S. workers, according to two Princeton University economists. Taking a swing at conventional wisdom, Princeton professors Gene Grossman and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg argued that wages for the least-skilled blue collar jobs had been rising since 1997 as outsourcing boosted productivity. The Princeton economists contend that many observers tended to gloss over the productivity benefits involved in the offshoring of labor.

Called everything from the MyPods to the Baby Boomlets to the Boomerang Generation, they’re quickly filling the department ranks. eWEEK investigates why these employees are different and why you should care. Generation Y workers have a reputation for experiencing boredom and frustration with slow-paced environments, traditional hierarchies and even slightly outdated technologies–that is, almost everything common in most workplaces.

Gone are the days when hackers would attack networks and Web sites simply to make a name for themselves. These days, it’s all about hacking for profit. The U.S. government has mandated that companies protect themselves from attacks by implementing stronger security measures in their network infrastructure as well as in applications. But in many cases, the bad guys are one step ahead of the game. Here are five issues at the forefront of the ever-changing information security landscape.

Oracle quietly announced that it acquired the intellectual property assets of Sigma Dynamics, a company that develops predictive analytics technology. The terms of the deal were undisclosed. Sigma Dynamics, based in San Mateo, has software that combines customer insight and business requirements in real time to make recommendations regarding customer interactions. Applications include real-time offer management, field service optimization, predictive call routing and fraud detection.