Peter Sayer

Alexa Internet Inc. is offering online computing capacity for US$1 an hour -- and throwing in access to the database of millions of Web pages that lurk behind its Alexa toolbar search service. Following in the footsteps of Google Inc., Alexa is opening up the API (application programming interface) to parts of its search engine, but going one better by offering to host applications that build on its database -- for a fee.

The French competition regulator has fined the country's three mobile network operators a total of

Microsoft Corp. has invited consumers to test the latest beta version of its Windows OneCare Live security service. OneCare Live is intended to protect PCs running Windows XP from viruses and hackers, and to keep important documents backed up. The software client which runs the service will automatically download updates to deal with new Internet threats, Microsoft said.

The chief scientist of supercomputer manufacturer Cray Inc. is leaving to take a job at Microsoft Corp. Burton Smith will leave the company on Dec. 7 to take the Microsoft job, he informed Cray last Sunday. He will also cease to be a director of Cray on Dec. 7, the company said

America Online Inc. (AOL) has updated its instant messaging service with an online address book and the ability to send text messages direct to mobile phones. The move intensifies the competition between instant messaging service providers, among them Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., to multiply the communication technologies and information services supported by their software.

Hewlett Packard Co. is refreshing its portfolio of application modernization services, putting more emphasis on the incorporation or replacement of legacy applications within a service-oriented architecture (SOA), it announced.

Oracle Corp. released a bundle of critical security patches for its software on Tuesday, fixing 88 vulnerabilities in products including its database and application servers and in some PeopleSoft and JD Edwards applications. A work-around exists for just one of the vulnerabilties, according to Oracle. It recommends applying the patches as soon as possible.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) introduced two new low-power-consumption 64-bit microprocessors, the MT-37 and the MT-40, to its Turion mobile range on Monday. The model names identify two aspects of the processors' performance. The T signifies that they are part of the low power-consumption range of Turion mobile processors (components from the ML series consume more power), while the numbers signify that the processors' computing power is at the top of the range currently on offer.