Spam, spam, spam!!!

Spam outsmarts Gmail filters:
Spam originating from Gmail accounts has doubled from 1.3 to 2.6 percent in February and not even the CAPTCHA technique is able to catch these 'creative' spammers. Google is the latest free Web mail provider to be victimized by spammers' efforts to create software to solve the codes, or at times, also employ people to solve the codes en masse. It is only a matter of time before CAPTCHA is removed from major web servers. Last month, security vendor Websense ascertained that spammers were using two hosts to crack Gmail's CAPTCHAs. The method appeared to be successful only 20 percent of the time. But if the procedure is repeated thousands of times, many new accounts can be generated and used to send spam.

Google is not alone. The CAPTCHAs of Microsoft's Windows Live Mail Service have been cracked too. Spammers use messages and links to advertise adult entertainment sites. So, next time you see a mail sent by a stranger having the message subject that arouses you, DON'T CLICK IT!!! If you do, then you can definitely say bye-bye to your email account.

CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.

IBM and Hitachi team on chip research:
IBM and Hitachi, the giants of the chip business have decided to team up and share development efforts which will focus on making chip circuits even smaller that may extend to the atomic level. This will be a two-year agreement and the financial details were not enclosed. Researchers from the companies will try to accelerate the miniaturization of chip circuitry by researching at the atomic level for 32-nanometer and 22-nm semiconductors. Making chip circuits smaller should allow computing devices to deliver power savings and performance gains. By teaming up together, the companies hope to reduce the costs of developing advanced chip technologies.

Chip makers such as IBM, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are constantly upgrading their chip technologies. IBM has achieved a 45-nm chips last year and AMD is expected to make such an announcement soon. IBM already has a strong profile in advancing technology and it has ties with several US universities to develop carbon nanotubes, smaller transistors that could deliver better performance than current transistors.

Apple and MS may have Blu-Ray soon:
Sony is talking with software giants Apple and Microsoft about offering Blu-Ray disc drives for their systems. A Blu-Ray disc has the same dimensions as a standard CD or DVD and can have a storage capacity of 25GB (single layer) or 50GB(double layer). It is mainly used for data storage, high definition video and to play PS3 games. Although many companies have already incorporated such drives in their systems, Apple and Microsoft preferred to stay on the sidelines till now. Microsoft can accept this offer considering that the rivals to XBox 360, namely Sony's Play Station 3 has included this feature. Apple generally doesn't comment about the features prior to their products' release. So, we will know whether Apple included the Blu-Ray disc readers, only after Apple releases a product that contains them.

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