Microsoft said it plans next week to start pushing its Internet Explorer 8 browser to consumers who have Windows’ automatic-update feature turned on. The software maker released the browser for download at last month’s Mix conference and had said it planned to start pushing the browser out in the coming days. Continue reading Microsoft to start pushing IE 8 browser →

The Conficker botnet has stirred to life, using its peer-to-peer communication system to update itself and download scareware (fake anti-virus programs) to millions of infected Windows PC’s.Which means that millions of Conficker-infected machines will start getting pop-ups pushing a fake $49.95 security scanner.

The tweens taking up the seventh floor are instant-messaging while listening to Internet radio and downloading a pirated version of “Twilight” to watch later. The 200-person meeting in the ballroom has a full interactive multimedia presentation going for the next hour. And you do not want to know what the businessman in room 1208 is streaming on BitTorrent, but it is probably not a productivity booster.

These are just a few of the guests eating bandwidth at hotels today, and it is enough to break the average network backbone, or at least create bottlenecks. And no one—not those multitasking kids, not the conference attendees and certainly not the businessman on the top floor—is happy when that happens. Continue reading Heavy Users Tax Hotel Systems →