Google unveiled a major upgrade to their search engine today. Codenamed "Caffeine", the new search engine improves the index size, the speed of the queries and most importantly, changes the value of search engine rankings.

What happened? It's a new week and suddenly the whole world hates Apple (AAPL), and wants to kick Steve Jobs in the goolies. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers dissect the anti-fanboi sentiment, and ponder thoughts of anti-trust investigations.

By Richi Jennings. Your humble blogwatcher has selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention a brand new Simon's Cat...

After last week's near-collapse of the social networks due to a Windows-based, botnet DDoS attack, it's time to get rid of Windows, or at least regulate its use, on the Internet. Here's how it can be done.

This big medical outfit is rolling out an online scheduling application to manage patient flow at the company's service centers. Patients are supposed to receive a confirming e-mail -- but some of those messages never arrive.

Another Mac security update hits less than a week after a major update. Are you at risk?

Are all of us who use some form of social networking websites doomed to living through DoS after DoS because of political battles across the world? I really hope not, but I fear the reality.

GIS tools are providing visual representations of where federal stimulus dollars are going. With need-based overlays the public can see whether those dollars are going where they're needed most.

Steve Ballmer has all but admitted that Windows 7 Starter Edition, to be sold on netbooks, is little more than a way to get people to upgrade to higher-priced versions of Windows 7. Is this the latest version of the time-honored strategy of bait and switch?

I propose a new practice to fight spammers at Twitter: #BlockMonday.

read more | 10 comments

An entry in Lifehacker entitled Digsby Joins the Dark Side, Uses Your PC to Make Money has ignited a small storm among Digsby users -- and probably within the dotSyntax offices as well.

Palm cornered the mobile market, only to become conservative and be overthrown by the more innovative Research In Motion. How long before Apple's iPhone does the same to RIM's BlackBerry?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock lately, you’ve heard that Twitter was the victim of a cyberattack causing the popular social media to shut down for two hours last week. Well, if you live in the Land of Twitter you would have thought that it was 9/11 all over again. CNN.com quoted one Twitter user as saying, “I was pretty upset, actually. It feels like a lifeline for me." " It's like my heart was gone" and "I felt so empty inside," came from several other Tweeters. “Naked” and “jittery” were also used to describe how Tweeters felt during the blackout.

Virus Bulletin, an independent testing organization, made news recently when they reported that 12 out of 35 anti-malware products failed their latest round of tests. Who passed? Who failed?

Want to get your hands on Microsoft's new Zune HD? You may soon be able to pre-order the device from Amazon, and it could cost significantly less than the iPod Touch.

In today's podcast: Toshiba to release Blu-ray players; China arrests 13 in death of Net addict; and BMC buys MQSoftware; and Microsoft changes default browser install process.