If you’re a computer company, what on earth do you add to the sixth annual version of your operating system?

It’s not as though there are any glaring holes left. Nobody is still crying out for a better way to organize photos.

That’s the challenge that Apple faced in developing Mac OS X 10.5, code-named Leopard, which goes on sale after a four-month delay. Price: $110 online, $190 for a family pack, or free on a new Mac. As Steve Jobs points out, for that money, “everyone gets the Ultimate version.” (That’s a swipe at Microsoft, which sells Windows Vista in at least five versions costing as much as $330 for the Ultimate).

Microsoft had it a little easier with Vista, because everybody knew what Windows needed: better security. Maybe Mac OS X is harder to hack, or maybe the virus writers consider the Mac’s 8 percent market share too piddling to bother with. But in its six years, Mac OS X hasn’t experienced a single virus outbreak or spyware infestation. Read the rest of this entry »

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FAST food is a slow sell for new technologies.

It took four years, for instance, for HyperActive Technologies, which makes a system that uses artificial intelligence to predict customer order flow, to have a restaurant chain buy the product. And it took three years for Exit 41, a developer of call-center software, to make its first significant corporate sale. HyperActive Technologies started selling its system, HyperActive Bob, in 2003 and had a few sales here and there. But not until January this year did it land a corporate customer, when Zaxby’s Franchising, a chain of 400 restaurants based in Athens, Ga., approved the system for use in all its franchises.

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Users of peer-to-peer platforms, also known as P2P networks, may be under attack from entertainment lawyers policing copyright violations, but they can also be an easy target for identity thieves. And they may never know about it if it’s their kids who load the software.

Take the Olsons, a typical Indiana family: Christopher and Tami have three daughters, as well as a family dog.

The dog’s name can’t yet be found online, but everyone else’s can, thanks to security holes in popular P2P music downloading software. So can their birthdates and the family’s income and banking information.

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U.S. sales of video game hardware and software jumped 75 percent in September, driven by Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT.O) “Halo 3″ and Nintendo Co Ltd’s (7974.OS) Wii console.

Total sales in September, a 5-week retail period, soared to $1.36 billion, up from $779 million a year earlier, according to market research firm NPD.

“Halo 3,” the latest installment of Microsoft’s flagship franchise, sold 3.3 million copies, more than twice as many as the next nine games combined, the data showed. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tripit, is an extremely useful application for frequent travelers.

It’s dead simple to use and it keeps you organized - all you have to do is forward confirmation emails to them when you purchase airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, etc. Tripit pulls the relevant information out of the emails and builds an organized itinerary for you. You can send emails in any order, for multiple trips, whatever. It just figures everything out and organizes it. Read the rest of this entry »

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In a deal that will connect two of the largest Internet services, MySpace, the social network owned by the News Corporation, will announce on Wednesday that it is teaming up with Skype, the Internet telephone service owned by eBay. Read the rest of this entry »

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