Army commander-in-chief Gen Anupong Paojinda reaffirmed on Thursday that he, navy chief Adm Kamthorn Phumhiran, air force chief ACM Itthaporn Supphawong and all their subordinates will not stage a military coup. He called on the people not to worry themselves about it and said that the armed forces will try their best to ensure law and order. He also warned civilians not to wear military uniform or military-like clothing, It was not lawful and offenders could be arrested.

Microsoft's update to its anti-piracy tool is now available via Windows Update, the company has confirmed. Called Windows Activation Technologies, or WAT, the update adds technology to detect some 70 activation exploits that pirates have come up with to bypass Windows 7's activation protections, according to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT).

"This update for Windows Activation Technologies helps detect validation errors and activation exploits. This update also detects any tampering attempts made to important Windows 7 system files," Microsoft said in a Knowledge Base article describing the update.

The article adds that many hacked copies of Windows 7 are also infected with malware -- malicious code meant to violate the user's computer security, steal information or hold the PC hostage, for instance.
source : internetnews

The decision by Google Inc to join battle with the Chinese government censors and hackers adds huge drama and immediacy to a long-running story. This interesting battle features two very different but hard-nosed protagonists. It is difficult to imagine either side emerging with glory, but in Thailand and most other countries, Google has already taken the high ground. China has the means to win this conflict. But Beijing risks alienating huge numbers of its own citizens as well as much of the world if it simply escalates its disagreeable positions over freedom and crime on the internet. read more...

Fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra Wednesday said he wanted to send flowers rather than bombs to the Privy Council president as a New Year present.

In his Twitter message, Thaksin said: "If I can make an order, I will send a bomb that is full of flowers and has the scent of tea rose to his home so that HE Prem has some sympathy for me."

The ex-leader was responding to messages from "followers" of his Thaksinlive account in the Twitter social-networking website.

One of the followers said: "I hope there is no bomb during the New Year celebrations. I'd like you to please order your men about this."

The Nation

Google gave the first public look at its Chrome OS four months after declaring its intention of developing the PC's main software, a move that pits it directly against Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc. True to Google's Internet-pedigree, the Chrome OS resembles a Web browser more than it does a traditional computer operating system like Microsoft Windows, matching Google's ambition to drive people to the Web -- where they can see Google ads. Google said the software will initially be available by the holiday season of 2010 on low-cost netbooks that meet Google's hardware specifications, such as using only memory chips to store data instead of slower hard drives, the current standard. Netbooks running Chrome OS will only be able to run Web applications and the user's data will automatically be stored on the Web in the so-called cloud of Internet servers, Google executives said at an event at the company's Mountain View, California headquarters on Thursday. "It's basically a Web browsing machine," said Altimeter Group analyst Charlene Li, referring to the netbooks powered by Chrome OS. read more...