The desire for greater control over how search engines index Web sites is driving an effort by publishers to revise a 13-year-old technology for restricting access
A massive SEO poisoning
attack was directed at Google in particular and resulted in tens of thousands of Web pages hosting exploits showing up on the first page of Google searches for thousands of common terms [PDF]. Sunbelt Software blogged about the attack on Monday after investigating it for months. By Wednesday Google had removed tens of thousands of malware-hosting pages from its index — via Slashdot
The ability to create flexible, transparent electronics could lead to a host of novel applications, such as e-paper and electronic car windshields. Now, scientists have constructed a transistor made of a network of nanotubes that may serve as an essential component in a trans-flex device. Such devices require two main components: light displays and current-controlling transistors. While scientists have found that OLEDs and LCDs work well as light displays, finding a truly transparent and flexible transistor material is still an open area. Usually, these transistors consist of metallic nanowires
HP and Crospon have developed a skin patch employing microneedles that barely penetrate the skin. The microneedles can replace conventional injections and deliver drugs through the skin without causing any pain. The skin patch technology also enables delivery of several drugs by one patch and the control of dosage and of administration time for each drug. It has the potential to be safer and more efficient than injections
A new version of Google Maps introduced this week includes a beta feature dubbed My Location that was designed to simulate the GPS experience on mobile phones and handheld devices that do not include GPS hardware, like Apple’s iPhone. Essentially, the My Location feature takes information broadcast from mobile towers near non-GPS equipped mobile phones to approximate the device’s current location on the map down to about ten city blocks. The My Location feature is currently available for most web-enabled mobile phones, including Java, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia/Symbian devices — via Slashdot
Scientists conducting tests on two tasmanian devils have found one from Tasmania’s west coast resistant to the devil facial tumour disease. The facial tumour disease is found across about 60 per cent of the state, and has killed up to 90 per cent of some populations. The devil is now listed as an endangered species
Owners of Apple’s 13-inch notebooks are reporting that their Wi-Fi access is much less reliable after installing Mac OSX Leopard or more recent updates to Mac OSX Tiger, especially when the systems switch to battery power. System users in Apple’s discussion forums say the problem first surfaced after the appearance of the Mac OSX 10.4.10 update this summer and so far is known to affect most models, though reports are currently scarce from buyers of Apple’s fall 2007 units
Yahoo has reached a deal to start running advertisements in Adobe’s popular PDF document-reading format. The service will allow publishers to make money by including adverts linked to the content of a PDF document in a panel at the side of the page. It is Yahoo’s latest way of expanding the places it can advertise online following deals with the auction site Ebay and the cable TV group Comcast. The advertisements will not appear if the PDF document is printed
Google is preparing a service that would let users store on its computers essentially all of the files they might keep on their personal-computer hard drives — such as word-processing documents, digital music, video clips and images, say people familiar with the matter. The service could let users access their files via the Internet from different computers and mobile devices when they sign on with a password and share them online with friends. It could be released as early as a few months from now
Google today announced a new strategic initiative to develop electricity from renewable energy sources that will be cheaper than electricity produced from coal. The newly created initiative, known as RE<C, will focus initially on advanced solar thermal power, wind power technologies, enhanced geothermal systems and other potential breakthrough technologies. In 2008, Google expects to spend tens of millions on research and development and related investments in renewable energy
Google Israel gave up the IP address of a Blogger user without being compelled to do so by a court. A preliminary ruling was issued in which a court indicated that the slander the blogger was accused of probably rose to the level of a criminal violation. Google Israel then made a deal with the plaintiffs, local city councilmen whom the blogger had been attacking for a year. Google disclosed the IP address only to the court, which posted a message (Google says the anonymous blogger got it) inviting him/her to contest the ruling anonymously. When no response was received within three days, Google turned over the IP address to the plaintiffs’ lawyers — via Slashdot
Federal prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to force Amazon.com to identify thousands of innocent customers who bought books online, then abandoned the idea after a judge rebuked them. In an order that was sealed but has now become public, US District Judge Stephen Crocker rejected the Justice Department’s subpoena for details on Amazon’s customers and their purchasing habits. Prosecutors had claimed the details would help them prove their case against a former Madison, Wisconsin, city official charged with tax evasion related to selling used books through Amazon
Solving the last mile
problem is a goal both the telecommunication and cable industries have pursued for years without discovering a single, easily implementable solution. Now, researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology think they have developed a new type of plastic optical fibre that could potentially be used to provide low-cost fibre connectivity from the consumer to the provider
A team of clockmakers broke into the Pantheon in Paris in September 2005 and spent a year fixing the historic and neglected clock, which had been abandoned by the authorities. They were prosecuted for breaking in, but have just been cleared of the charges in court. The group, Untergunther
have a catalogue of subterranean lo-jinks to their name
The Court has ordered UMG Recordings, Warner Bros Records, Interscope Records, Motown, and Sony BMG to disclose their expenses-per-download to the defendant’s lawyers, in UMG v Lindor, a case pending in Brooklyn. The Court held that the expense figures are relevant to the issue of whether the RIAA’s attempt to recover damages of $750 or more per 99-cent song file, is an unconstitutional violation of due process — via Slashdot
Staying in touch via phone or web could soon get easier as work starts on a way to unite the internet and the telephone network. When finished the UK’s national Enum directory will make looking up net phone numbers like finding a web site. Initially the directory will target the UK’s net telephony networks so calls can cross between them more easily. But the directories are expected to one day hold details of the many different ways almost anyone can be contacted
The controversial Google Street View project has arrived in Australia taking snaps in our major cities and towns. The project has already captured images at street level in 17 US cities and attached them to the highly popular Google Maps online application. It was launched in the US in May, and quickly attracted controversy after claims several images breached privacy
Once again, Monster.com has been hit by hackers. The job search site was hit by an IFRAME that linked to a malicious site. The attack took advantage of a cross-site scripting vulnerability and was most likely created using Neosploit
Facebook users are complaining over ads where their shopping habits are shared with their friends as if they are endorsing products. The best part is that you can opt out — if you click a box that disappears after 20 seconds… wait too long, and they assume you are totally fine with it
Rupert Murdoch-owned British ISP Sky is migrating their customers to the Google Apps platform, and the customer experience is terrible. Their 1 million customers were told that they need to change their client settings to enable SMTP Authentication and other settings on a certain date — but not to do it before then or their e-mail would break; but if you don’t do it on the date your e-mail will also break. Oh, and if you’re a POP user you also need to enable that manually in the Skoogle
interface, as seemingly they chose not to run a system-wide command to allow it for all users. In addition, if you want help then you’re pretty much on your own. One user has made seven support calls and still not been able to access his e-mail since the migration. Hardly surprising that the story has made the papers with their help-desk in meltdown — via Slashdot
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