Opera Software, maker of the Opera Web browser, on Monday released the most recent update to the software, dubbed Opera 9.1, and it includes a new phishing filter. The browser’s phishing filter displays small warnings whenever users visit suspect sites that it thinks may attempt to steal a password or other confidential information.

Sereniti announced the release of NetTrooper, an affordable and dynamic solution in safe home networking. Regularly priced at $29.99, NetTrooper has a special limited-time introductory offer of $19.99 and offers: the ability to create and map home networks effortlessly, simple tools to manage the digital home safely and securely, an ideal solution for anyone, from the novice home computer user to the savviest of technology ambassadors, $25,000 in AIG Identity Theft Insurance and $1,000 anti-virus protection to cover lost wages resulting from missed workdays, identity restoration costs and other identity theft expenses that result from using a home computer or peripheral protected by Sereniti’s NetTrooper.

BadVista.org, a Web site run by the Free Software Foundation, is devoted to the mission of exposing the harms inflicted on computer users by Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system and promoting free software alternatives that respect users’ security and privacy rights. BadVista.org, launched by the FSF Dec. 18, is a blog that expresses both the FSF’s opinions and links to Vista-related selected news stories and reviews. According to John Sullivan, the FSF’s program administrator, "Vista is an upsell masquerading as an upgrade. It is an overall regression when you look at the most important aspect of owning and using a computer: your control over what it does."

The Software Freedom Law Center, a nonprofit organization that provides pro-bono legal services to protect and advance open-source software, filed a brief Dec. 15 with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Microsoft’s appeal of a software patent decision. In the case of "Microsoft v. AT&T," the SFLC is asking the Supreme Court to decide against U.S. patents applying to software that is copied and distributed overseas. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, a specialized patent court known for allowing patents on software and business methods, originally decided in favor of AT&T.

Microsoft has stopped a U.K. man from selling lists of email addresses that were then being used by spammers. The technology giant took to court Paul Martin McDonald, who through his company Bizads sold email addresses that were then used as spam lists. Microsoft sought and was granted a summary judgment against McDonald, arguing that his actions had caused Microsoft to suffer loss and damage to the goodwill it enjoyed as owner of the Web-based email service Hotmail. The judge agreed with Microsoft that Bizads had breached the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, a U.K. law that includes regulations designed to halt the sending of unsolicited email.

Google and NASA Ames Research Center said they have finalized an agreement to deliver more of the space agency’s imagery and information through the Internet’s leading search engine. The collaboration marks another step in a partnership announced 15 months ago when Google unveiled plans to build a 1 million-square-foot campus at the NASA center, located a few miles south of the company’s Mountain View headquarters.

Scalix and SugarCRM have teamed up to offer integration that allows their mutual Linux customers to move between their primary Microsoft Outlook desktop email client, SugarCRM software and Scalix’s Linux-based Mail Server. Customers will now be able to integrate their Linux-based messaging from Scalix with their CRM system from SugarCRM, using multiple versions of Microsoft Outlook, giving them an integrated, server-to-server CRM and messaging solution.

A new worm that uses a known security hole in Symantec’s corporate antivirus tools to spread has hit the Net, experts warned Friday. The worm, dubbed Big Yellow by eEye Digital Security, turns vulnerable computers into remote-controlled zombies. It is the second such malicious code in as many months that exploits a 6-month-old security flaw in Symantec Client Security and Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition. A fix for the flaw has been available since May.

Underground hackers are hawking zero-day exploits for Microsoft’s new Windows Vista operating system at $50,000 a pop, according to computer security researchers at Trend Micro. The Windows Vista exploit–which has not been independently verified–was just one of many zero-days available for sale at an auction-style marketplace infiltrated by the Tokyo-based anti-virus vendor. In an interview with eWEEK, Trend Micro’s chief technology officer, Raimund Genes, said prices for exploits for unpatched code execution flaws are in the $20,000 to $30,000 range, depending on the popularity of the software and the reliability of the attack code.

Could blogging be near the peak of its popularity? The technology gurus at Gartner believe so. One of the research company’s top 10 predictions for 2007 is that the number of bloggers will level off in the first half of next year at roughly 100 million worldwide. The reason: most people who would ever dabble with Web journals already have. Those who love it are committed to keeping it up, while others have gotten bored and moved on, said Daryl Plummer, chief Gartner fellow.