Google apologizes to Chinese authors

In today's podcast: Google apologizes to Chinese authors; Microsoft removes XML feature from Word for Mac; and Oracle patches 24 security flaws.

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Oracle is readying 24 security fixes for its database, application server and other products in a patch to be issued tomorrow. Ten of the fixes affect Oracle's database, and two of the vulnerabilities addressed can be remotely exploited over a network without the need for a username and password. Affected components in Oracle's 10g and 11g databases include Application Express Application Builder, Listener, Data Pump, OLAP, Secure Backup, Spatial and Universal Installer. The update also includes three fixes for Oracle's application server, patching vulnerabilities that can be exploited without a username or password.

Google support forums are awash with people looking for help for problems with their Nexus One phones -- and unable to find it. Most people today buy subsidized phones from a mobile operator, turning to the operator when they have problems. But the volume of complaints about the Nexus One points to a problem that Google faces in selling the Nexus One direct to consumers in the U.S.: it doesn’t have the kind of customer support that mobile-phone users are accustomed to. Google appears to be accepting customer queries only by e-mail, pledging to reply in one to two days. That's far too long, say most people who are complaining online. HTC, the device's manufacturer, is referring queries to T-Mobile, Google's network operator partner, while T-Mobile is passing the buck both ways, to Google and HTC, according to forum postings.

Google has apologized to the Chinese Writers’ Association over its scanning of books by local writers into an online search system, moving to defuse copyright concerns around the project in China. On Sunday Erik Hartmann, an Asia-Pacific representative of Google Books, delivered the apology in a news program aired by China's state broadcaster. Google is scanning hundreds of thousands of works for its Book Search service, often without prior permission from their rights holders. However, the company will no longer scan Chinese books without the authors' permission, it said.

Microsoft will patch Word on the Mac to comply with a federal court's ruling requiring it to remove custom XML technology from its popular word processing software in settlement of a patent lawsuit. On Saturday, Microsoft issued an update for Word 2003 for Windows to abide by the same ruling.

And those are the top stories from the IDG Global IT News Update, brought to you by the IDG News Service. I’m Peter Sayer in Paris. Join us again later for more news from the world of technology.