A Google engineer today published attack code that exploits a zero-day vulnerability in Windows XP, giving hackers a new way to hijack and infect systems with malware.

But other security experts objected to the way the engineer disclosed the bug -- just five days after it was reported to Microsoft -- and said the move is more evidence of the ongoing, and increasingly public, war between the two giants.

Microsoft said it is investigating the vulnerability and would have more information on its next steps later today.

Google is phasing out the internal use of Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows operating system because of security concerns, according to several Google employees.

The directive to move to other operating systems began in earnest in January, after Google’s Chinese operations were hacked, and could effectively end the use of Windows at Google, which employs more than 10,000 workers internationally.“We’re not doing any more Windows. It is a security effort,” said one Google employee.

Google has released a Web browser add-on that will stop the browser from sending information to the Google Analytics service, which Web sites can use to collect data about their visitors.

Google said it developed the tool "to provide website visitors with more choice about how their data is collected."

Web site owners can incorporate Google's Analytics JavaScript code on their site to collect data such as when a person visited a Web site, if the person has been there before and the search terms a person used to find the Web site.

With set-top TV boxes connected to the internet, search engine providers like Google and Microsoft are looking to deploy targeted ads, much like targeted ads seen online when browsing. Back in 2007 Google signed a deal with DISH network to provide targeted ad services.

After a dispute about inventory, Google reportedly almost walked away from DISH, according to the Business Insider. Then Microsoft showed some interest.

Overnight Google began looking for ways to renew the contract and avoid getting outmaneuvered by its smaller rival.

Yahoo has always seemed like such a nice place. The sort of place where, if you happened upon it by chance, the inhabitants would sit you down, give you a cup of tea and a cookie, and ask you what brought you to its parts. They'd even ask you how to pronounce your name.

So how odd and strangely refreshing to see Yahoo roll up a little ball of competitive spit and blow it in the direction of Google.

Google wants to bring your digital book reader into the cloud.

The company has just announced plans to launch its own digital bookstore, a Web-based effort called Google Editions. The store will open sometime toward the middle of the year, a Google spokesperson confirmed to me, possibly as early as late June or July. And unlike many of the current e-book options on the market, Google Editions will let you buy and use its books wherever you want.
Google Editions: Google's Digital Bookstore

Google just landed some impressive 3D desktop software in its purchase of Bump Technologies, but a looming patent battle with Apple suggests that Google also had BumpTop's multi-touch technology on the brain when it gobbled up the company.

The hacking attacks on Google earlier this year were much worse than previously believed, according to a report in The New York Times.

The paper quotes "someone with direct knowledge of the investigation" as saying that the hackers managed to steal Google's Gaia password system, described as one of the company's "crown jewels".
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The system controls access to all Google log-in accounts, including webmail and the firm's business applications.

Google will soon make its VP8 video codec open source, we’ve learned from multiple sources. The company is scheduled to officially announce the release at its Google I/O developers conference next month, a source with knowledge of the announcement said. And with that release, Mozilla — maker of the Firefox browser — and Google Chrome are expected to also announce support for HTML5 video playback using the new open codec.

"A trio of Google engineers have ported id Software's gib-filled first-person shooter Quake II to browsers — you know, for kicks — as a way to show just what HTML5-compatible web browsers are capable of. According to the developers, 'We started with the existing Jake2 Java port of the Quake II engine, then used the Google Web Toolkit (along with WebGL, WebSockets, and a lot of refactoring) to cross-compile it into JavaScript.' More details are available on one developer's blog, and installation instructions have been posted as well."