Internet users

While the world waits to see if Microsoft will take Yahoo up on its invitation to make another acquisition bid, Redmond on Monday announced another search deal with a different rival: Sun Microsystems.

Microsoft is chasing both Google and Yahoo on the search front. According to comScore, Google owned 63 percent of the U.S. Web search market in August. Yahoo grabbed 19.6 percent, leaving Microsoft with a mere 8.3 percent.

Security research firm Sophos on Wednesday discovered attackers have launched their own presidential campaign. Attempting to exploit President-elect Barack Obama's historic victory, the spam attack sends e-mails with the subject line "Obama win preferred in world poll" and a return address of news@president.com.

Clicking a link in the e-mail takes victims to a Web page that insists on downloading Adobe Flash 9 to view a video of the first African-American president's "amazing speech." The scam is this: It's not really Flash. It's dangerous malware.

The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to allow long-range Wi-Fi service using white space, the unused portions of the electromagnetic spectrum between television signals.

Internet users in the Northeast who have a need for speed will soon be able to get their fix from Comcast. The cable and Internet service provider said it will soon roll out its Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification, or DOCSIS 3.0, making customers' Internet speeds faster.

Comcast's service will be up and running in the next few weeks, according to the company, and will be available to millions of residential homes and businesses in parts of New England, including Boston and southern New Hampshire, plus Philadelphia and New Jersey.

'Just the Beginning'

For more than a year, European data privacy officials have been battling with U.S.-based Internet search engines, trying to get them to conform to European restrictions on the storage of personal information gleaned from the Web.

Now, as the U.S. titans Google, Microsoft and Yahoo continue to retain personal data beyond the six-month time limit established this year by the European Commission, regulators say their patience is running thin.

Savvy Internet users know that downloading unsolicited computer programs is one of the most dangerous things you can do online. It puts you at great risk for a virus or another time bomb from a hacker.

But even some sophisticated surfers could get taken in by a sneaky new attack in which criminals create fake YouTube pages -- dead-on replicas of the real site -- to push their malicious software and make it look like it's safe stuff coming from a trusted source.

After approval by the U.S. House and now a nod from the Senate, the Webcaster Settlement Bill is headed to President George W. Bush's desk for his signature.

The bipartisan bill will allow copyright owners and artists, on behalf of SoundExchange, to negotiate with Internet radio services. The bill is expected to benefit all Webcasters, including National Public Radio, small Webcasters, and college Webcasters, who put their stations on the Internet.

The House passed the bill Sunday.

Movie fans who love to search what leading man Brad Pitt is up to need to beware of malware. Pitt's name is being used to lure Web surfers to malware-hosting sites, according to McAfee. Web surfers looking for wallpaper, ring tones, photos and screensavers are the main targets.

Typing Pitt's name in a search engine produces a one in five chance of hitting a malware site, according to McAfee. Other top search names used as lures include Angelina Jolie, Beyonce, Maria Carey, Jessica Alba, and George Clooney.

TNC, a Korea-based software company also known as Tatter and Company, has been Googled, according to Chang Won-Kim, TNC's cochief executive.

Chang announced Google's acquisition of TNC, which occurred Friday, in his personal blog.

Chang, who shares the CEO title with TNC's founder, Chester Roh, said he believes the reason for the acquisition is because Google has very little market presence in Korea and Asia.

"We will commit ourselves to increasing Google's market share in Korea," Chang wrote.

Though it has only been available since the start of September, the new beta version of Google Chrome is already attracting a following. As of Wednesday evening, about one percent of Internet surfers were using Google's open-source browser, according to Net Applications. By comparison, the longtime Opera browser had a 0.74 percent share of the global browser market in August.