The Chrome 4.1 BETA for Windows comes with a new feature that automatically translates the language of a website.

The new features for Chrome 4.1.249.1021 are:

• Automatic translation of web pages
• More content settings to let you control whether web sites can store cookies, load images, use plug-ins, run JavaScript or show pop-ups. You can find these new settings in under Options > Under the hood > Privacy.

Microsoft issued a letter to Cryptome.org essentially ending the battle regarding Cryptome’s publication of a confidential document regarding how Microsoft can provide user information to the Government in the case of possible criminal activity. Cryptome is a watchdog site that publishes sensitive corporate and government documents. Microsoft had issued a complaint against the website and website owner for it’s publication of the “Microsoft Global Criminal Compliance Handbook.” Network Solutions the domain registrar had taken the website cryptome.org offline following Microsoft’s complaint.

An executive vice president of digital for Interscop, Geffen, a music label owned by Universal Music Group, stated in a press conference that Lady Gaga accounts for about one quarter of the website traffic for Vevo–a web service created by three of the largest record companies.

Comscore reported that Vevo had 35 million unique visitors last month. The service has not yet become profitable, but owners express optimism and a vital interest in the service.

A new service called Business Productivity Online Suite Federal was implemented for the Federal Government by Microsoft. The goal of the project was to achieve better security than the traditional cloud infrastructure by Microsoft such as fingerprinting as part of background checks and biometric access control. This cloud service by Microsoft is becoming an attractive product for local and state governments alike. Additional security controls are required for agencies like Defense Department and NASA however. The service includes email, calendar, collaboration and communication software. The software is already in use ( excluding the specialized physical server environment and security additions ) by companies like McDonald’s and Coca Cola. Google is one of the rising competitors to Microsoft in this arena. We may see contracts being awarded to Google and other rising competitors in the near future.

The National Ignition Facility in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory performed a successful test of the controlled fusion experiments using all 192 lasers. This test did not utilize the full power of the system. Higher power tests will begin in May.

One of the concerns that this test alleviated was that the plasma produced by lasers would disrupt the ignition. These tests suggested that this would not be as much of a problem as Scientists feared.

The controlled fusion of atoms has long been viewed as a potential answer for our current, depleting, energy resources.

Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have filed plans with the SEC to sell a portion of their stock, which would reduce their combined share to just below majority. After the deal, their ownership total would fall below 48%.

Many are not worried however about the loss of majority control by the founders, since they would still maintain control when combined with CEO Eric Schmidt’s 10%.

(Notes: Google has a dual-class stock structure. Executives are awarded 10 votes per share of Class B stock. When the stock is sold, it becomes Class A stock with just one vote per share.)

The NY Times will begin charging for online content. This plan has been long in the making for the Times, and it will certainly set a new trend if even moderately successful.

A formal letter was sent out to NY Times print customers along with a full page ad on the back of the business section announced the coming pay for content plan. Print customers will not need to pay for Times content–it will come free with a print subscription.

The metered model will begin in 2011.

The AMD Radeon HD 5670 will be the first graphics card to support Direct X for under 100 dollars–essentially allowing “next generation” graphics for nearly any budget.

The graphics card will be smaller than previous models, and yet it will still support features like DirectCompute 5.0, Eyefinity multi-monitor gaming and DX11, such as tessellation, in soon to arrive Windows games.

TSA served a subpoena to bloggers Steve Frischling and Chris Elliott for leaking the screening guidelines. The bloggers stated that they were unaware of the identity of the source of the material–as it was sent to them anonymously. The TSA special agents seized Frischling’s laptop.

A major attack on Twitter brought the social networking website down for about two hours on Friday night. The attackers redirected Twitter’s domains to an alternate website that displayed a graphic image of a group called the “Iranian Cyber Army.” The attackers had managed to steal the passwords of Twitter’s master domain account, which allowed them to carry out the attack.

Source: Cyber Attack On Social Networking Website, Twitter