While most would agree that Google has set the current standard for Web search, some technologists say even better tools are on the horizon thanks to advances in artificial intelligence. Search is like oxygen for many people now, and considering Google’s breakthroughs in Web document analysis, supercomputing and Internet advertising, it can be easy to think this is as good as it gets. But some entrepreneurs in artificial intelligence (AI) say that Google is not the end of history. Rather, its techniques are a baseline of where we’re headed next.

Microsoft has released two patches for its Vista operating system, saying that it too is affected by flaws that were disclosed during the company’s Aug. 8 security updates. The patches, which were released earlier this week, fix critical flaws described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS06-042 and MS06-051. They fix bugs in Internet Explorer and the Windows kernel, and were described Tuesday in a blog posting by Vista Product Manager Alex Heaton.

New air travel safety concerns have made it more likely that you’ll have to send your laptop as checked luggage. The threat was terrorism, so it’s understandable why passengers on some trans-Atlantic flights suddenly found themselves trying to find a way to stash their electronics, including their laptop computers, iPods, cell phones and BlackBerry devices, into their checked luggage. Some of those items, such as cell phones, will travel fine there, but others, notably your laptop computer, aren’t designed to handle the stress of luggage handlers and baggage sorting machines. Your chances of getting your laptop back intact aren’t exactly great. eWeek’s Wayne Rash offers his tips and suggestions for laptop luggage survival.

When Joe Stewart spotted a variant of the Mocbot Trojan hijacking unpatched Windows machines for use in IRC-controlled botnets, he immediately went to work trying to pinpoint the motive for the attacks. Stewart, a senior security researcher with LURHQ’s Threat Intelligence Group, set up a way to silently spy on the botnet’s command-and-control infrastructure, and his findings suggest that for-profit spammers are clearly winning the cat-and-mouse game against entrenched anti-virus providers.

4Team Corp has released a new version 2.40 of ShareO for Microsoft Outlook. Share and synchronize Microsoft Outlook calendar, contacts, journal, email, tasks and notes folders with other Outlook users without a server with this easy-to-use utility. Share any documents and files.

Veteran virus-hunter Vincent Gullotto has joined Microsoft to head its Security Research and Response team, a move that adds instant credibility to the software maker’s push into the Internet security market. Gullotto, an anti-virus ace who served stints at McAfee and Symantec, will be general manager of the team, which handles all aspects of malware research and response.

Microsoft has begun making good on its commitment to extend its Genuine Advantage anti-piracy program to the PC maker channel. Microsoft has started distributing "Get Genuine" kits to its channel partners, providing "a cost-effective solution to help them get legal, deepen your customer relationship, and be there as a trusted advisor," according to the Softies. The kits are designed to enable OEMs to convert users running pirated software to legal copies of Windows XP.

Microsoft will update a patch by next Tuesday that’s causing a version of Internet Explorer to suddenly crash. The patch, MS06-042, fixed several security vulnerabilities, Microsoft said on Tuesday. The trouble affects users running IE 6 with Service Pack 1 on the Windows XP OS running Service Pack 1 or the Windows 2000 OS with Service Pack 4. The problem occurs when visiting a Web site that uses a Web coding standard, HTTP 1.1, and compression, Microsoft said.

U.S. consumer safety officials said on Tuesday that they are reviewing all Sony-made lithium ion batteries in laptop computers for fire hazards after Dell announced the largest electronics recall in the United States. Dell, the No. 1 maker of personal computers, on Monday said it is recalling 4.1 million notebook batteries made by Sony because they could overheat and catch fire. A battery of the type involved in the recall was in a Dell laptop that erupted in flames in Japan earlier this year. The Sony batteries are also used in laptops from Hewlett-Packard, Apple Computer and Lenovo.

Solid Documents announced the release of Solid Converter PDF version 3.1. The new version features additional capabilities that allow users to convert virtually any PDF into a Word document regardless of its layout or text orientation, while maintaining a straightforward, easy-to-use interface.