Until new professors can build a reputation, they typically struggle to secure adequate funding for their research work. It’s a problem faced across the academic world as public funding agencies find their budgets stretched thin. Recognizing this broad challenge for academia, Microsoft’s External Research & Programs group established the Microsoft Research New Faculty Fellowship program in 2005 to identify and support the best and brightest minds working to solve complex challenges in computer science, engineering and applied sciences at universities throughout North America. The objective is to stimulate and support creative research by promising researchers who have the potential to make a profound impact in the "state of the art" in their respective disciplines.

According to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Windows Live, 43 percent of adults in the United States somewhat or strongly agree that they are knowledgeable about the latest tech buzzwords and their meanings. One in three respondents (32 percent) indicated they are not sure how best to describe VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), 71 percent have never heard of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and 46 percent indicated they aren’t clear on the definition of Internet tagging (a simple way to categorize and bookmark favorite Web pages so they can be quickly accessed from any PC)–three common services that are quickly gaining acceptance and popularity with Americans who use the Internet.

Clearwire, a provider of broadband Internet access based on WiMax-like technology, announced on Thursday that it has teamed up with AOL to offer co-branded broadband services, called AOL High Speed-Powered by Clearwire. Clearwire, which is backed by wireless entrepreneur Craig McCaw, competes with providers of traditional DSL and cable Internet, however, its service is different because users can access it wirelessly via a small modem wherever a signal is detected.

ReadPal’s AutoSkim removes unnecessary words so you can skim much faster. Many words are unnecessary, they only serve to slow you down. The Chinese language does not use "the" or "a." These words are redundant and can be removed without any loss of meaning. ReadPal software takes this to its logical conclusion and simply eliminates "lay-about" words from your digital documents. It works with emails, Web pages, text and MS Word documents.

OutlookPower reader Colin Evans moved his Personal Folder file to a new system and, when he did, the email account information was blank. He wants to know: it possible the email account information is not held in the PST file?

Read this OutlookPower article.

The Federal Trade Commission has wrapped up its first major spyware lawsuit with a $4 million judgment against spam king-turned-spyware master Sanford Wallace. A judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire has ordered Wallace and his company, Smartbot.net, to give up $4,089,500 in ill-gotten gains, the agency said Thursday.

Silicon Valley, Boston, and New York top the list of highest-paying metropolitan areas for technology professionals, according findings of a report issued May 3 by Dice, an online resource for technology professionals. Taking in factors including geography, skills, job demand and salaries, the Dice Report finds that the tech job market "continues to thrive" as job postings to Dice.com rose 31.1 percent over the past year to 89,286 postings. Salaries in Silicon Valley topped other metropolitan areas, followed by Boston, New York, Baltimore/Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.

As part of its monthly patching cycle, Microsoft plans on Tuesday to release three security bulletins with fixes for flaws in Windows and Exchange. The Exchange email server and at least one of the Windows alerts is deemed "critical," Microsoft’s highest risk rating, the software maker said in a notice posted on its Web site on Thursday. Such flaws typically allow a full compromise of a vulnerable system without any, or minimal, user interaction. Microsoft did not specify how many flaws the updates will tackle, or say which components of Windows and Exchange are being repaired. Security researchers over the past weeks have reported several unpatched flaws in Internet Explorer.

They may’ve signed up for the service to stay free of unsolicited email, but people in Blue Security’s "Do Not Intrude Registry" are getting spammed, the company said Wednesday. What’s more, a spammer is attempting to intimidate the Blue Security customers by sending them threatening messages, according to the Israeli company, which launched its spam-fighting service in July last year.

A year after first announcing plans for a homegrown ad engine, Microsoft is now using the tool for all its U.S.-based search queries. Microsoft is banking on AdCenter as the lynchpin of its efforts to increase advertising as a source of revenue across the company.