News in Brief

TidByte

Trillian Rising: Instant messaging fans want interoperability, and they're willing to forgo a brand name to get it. Cerulean Studios' Trillian lets you connect to multiple instant messaging services--including America Online's Instant Messenger--and its popularity is growing rapidly, according to a recent study from Jupiter Media Metrix. The service leapt from 344,000 users in February to about 610,000 by April--a jump of 77 percent. Trillian's success is also notable because users must endure occasional outages caused when major services cut off its unlicensed access to their networks.

Did You Know?

The persistent Klez.H worm has overtaken the SirCam virus as the most prolific PC virus of all time, according to antivirus firm MessageLabs; it says it spotted 825,000 copies between April 15 and May 30. By late May it was finding the worm in 1 of 300 e-mail messages scanned, or about 20,000 copies a day. Klez.H is a variant of Klez, which first appeared late last year.

Product Pipeline

Gimme Five: Forget the mouse--Essential Reality's P5 glove controller promises a true grip on PC games. The glove communicates with an infrared USB-connected base that tracks your hand movements in six directions. The $150 device should hit stores later this month along with three P5-optimized PC games.

TidByte

Privacy Concerns: Now Microsoft Hotmail's estimated 110 million active users can more easily check their Microsoft and .Net passport privacy settings, thanks to a recent upgrade that more prominently displays their checked options. Some users, however, claim that the settings don't reflect what they agreed to at sign-up. Concerned Hotmail users can check their settings under the Personal Profile heading.

Product Pipeline

PC In Your Pocket: Some devices may brandish the Pocket PC label, but Tiqit Computers' Eightythree is the real deal. Just 5.9 inches tall by 4 inches wide and 1.1 inches thick, the 20-ounce device is an honest-to-goodness PC with Microsoft's Windows XP, a 300-MHz CPU, 256MB of RAM, and a 10GB hard drive. Tiqit executives hope to find a hardware maker that will put units in stores by the holidays. Estimated price: $1000.

Downloads

Click here for the TOP 5 downloads.

1. Clean System Directory, 70KB. Remove all those stray DLLs from your system.
   
   
2. Bill's Pie Toss Screen Saver, 1384KB. Toss pies at the wealthiest man in the world.
   
   
3. Netscape 7, 30872KB. Netscape's latest browser features multiple windows, tabs, and AOL Instant Messenger.
   
   
4. Kazaa, 2000KB. Download MP3s and videos with this tool, but be aware of its advertising component.
   
   
5. Hmonitor, 670KB. Monitor your CPU temperature, voltage, and fan speed.