January’s Consumer Electronics Show brought the industry’s top movers and shakers to Las Vegas, including, of course, Microsoft. In Bill Gates’ annual address, he spoke of plans for a home server, code-named “Quattro”. The server will target mainstream consumer households with two or more PCs. The software functions include linking up information stored on devices (such as PCs, Xboxes and Zune); remote access; the ability to stream video and music to devices; information backup and recovery; and the ability to add and remove disk drives as you please. The software is based on Windows Server 2003, but Microsoft says the interface will be much more user friendly.

Learn more about Microsoft Home Server plans at Microsoft.com.

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Several lawsuits, child molestations and loads of criticism later, MySpace is finally making a move toward better security for its underage users. The company will provide parents with a notification software, code named “Zephyr”. It will allow parents to see the name, age, and location their children are using, and warn of any changes made to this data. It will not allow them to read their child’s e-mail or see their profile page. Some call MySpace’s recent efforts minor, and further legal action is being investigated if they refuse to raise the age limit from 14 to 16. Currently 22% of MySpace users are under 18. MySpace’s reaction to the legal threats?

They say it’s better to have the limit at 14 than have them lie about their age, an act typically done by those assuming other identities. Currently 14-15 years olds are given a private profile that cannot be viewed by members over 18. Users under 18 can’t access “mature” groups and can block contact from unknown adults. Zephyr will put some of the security burden back on parents, though some are skeptical parents will actually use the software. Another recommended step is that the company finds a way to verify member ages against public databases. Click here for MySpace safety tips.

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A Los Angeles man was convicted of spam e-mailing, the first such case in the United States. Jeffery Goodin was found guilty of running a scam that fooled users into giving out personal information, believing they were working with a legitimate business. Goodin compromised AOL accounts to send out e-mails appearing to be from AOL’s billing department. He sent millions of e-mails during the course of his career as a spammer. He is convicted of spam and ten other counts, and will be sentenced in June 2007 to a maximum of 101 years in prison.

Are you concerned about spam and other internet security issues? Try the new Internet Security Suite 2007 by Computer Associates.

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With the help of companies like IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard, Linux has gone from an experimental idea to an almost-mainstream operating system. Those same companies have joined forces to support the free OS collaboratively, forming the Linux Foundation. Their mission: to help Linux compete more effectively against Microsoft. Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, says “I work on the technology itself, not any of the other issues,” and he willingly accepts the partnership with the Linux Foundation. The Linux Foundation hopes to improve in areas where Microsoft does well, such as the promotion, protection, and standardization of the OS.

Technorati Tags: Linux Foundation, Linus Torvalds