[tag]IronPort[/tag] Systems, an e-mail [tag]security[/tag] firm, was bought by [tag]Cisco Systems[/tag] for $830 million in cash and stock. IronPort’s recent innovation in e-mail security consists of a tool that analyzes the links of your mail, to classify [tag]SPAM[/tag] more accurately.

The company, based in San Bruno, CA, was leader in anti-SPAM systems and sold its products to larger companies such as the very same Cisco. This last acquisition of Cisco Systems is strongly important because it expands their role in the detection and removal of Junk mail, something of major importance on the internet nowadays.

“This was a very strategic purchase for us,” said Richard Palmer, senior vice president of the Cisco Security Technology Group. “If you think of the vision of the self-defending network, it’s important to protect whatever is coming in and out of the network. And that is what IronPort does.”

The deal will be finally closed within the next three months, and IronPort’s 400 employees will work under the Security division of Cisco Systems, which already has 900 people.

[Source: ZDNet]

New [tag]Microsoft[/tag]’s [tag]Windows Vista[/tag] is coming in a bit more than two months. In the Windows Vista Team Blog, Microsoft has put a countdown for all Vista enthusiasts.

Actually, I registered into the RC2 beta, I downloaded it, I installed it in my PC and it worked perfectly. It worked faster than Windows XP, the interface was easier, and the amazing thing is the Voice Recognition engine. You can practically surf the internet without using the keyboard or the mouse.

For those of you who buy a Windows Vista Capable PC between October 26 and March 15, you may benefit from the Windows Vista Express Upgrade program, that is, free Windows Vista upgrade.

[Source: Windows Vista Team Blog]

The new RTX Telecom [tag]DUALphone[/tag] 3088 is the first cordless telephone for Skype that does not require direct PC connection and lets you choose between normal telephone line and your [tag]Skype[/tag] line.

The $200 (159 euro) DUALphone contains built-in Skype software.

The cordless capability is provided by [tag]DECT[/tag] wireless technology, and the base station connects to the broadband router and the phone line. It features a color display and 10 hours of talk time as well as up to 140 hours in standby mode.

It is one of the best choices I have seen in a long time. Usually, they lack of something, but in this case, everything seems to be perfect.

I have the previous version of DUALphone, the 3055, which also supports both lines at the sime time (your Skype and the normal telephone line), but needs connection to your PC.

If you still want to get the old version, buy it now!

[Source: Yahoo News]

Robots are no longer sci-fi. Movies like Star Wars, I Robot, and Matrix show us a perspective from future in which humans and robots live together (though sometimes with not very happy endings). Nowadays, robots are a reality. Robots exist, and we are just a step away from talking with them, playing football with them… but also getting replace by them in society.

In a recent Popular Science article, there are the latest robots in industry and several interviews. The funny thing about these articles is not only that I love them, but also that every time I read them, my mind starts to imagine how the world will be in… let’s say… 50 years.

Will Isaac Asimov’s novels come true and we will leave in a society of spaceships, galactic empires, robots and artificial planets? Or maybe we will become primitives, and we will end up living in the trees, like koalas?

I believe in fate. Yes. Me. I am a person of science, of evidence, and definitely a person that doesn’t get fooled by “divine inspiritation”. However, as I said before, I truly believe that there are some things we can’t change. We have free will, yes, but some events escape our own decisitions.

And there, my dear readers, science doesn’t play a very important role.

[Source: PopSci]