Google Android Mobile Phone Unveiled

The first mobile phone powered by Google has launched, ready to do battle with Apple’s iPhone for the top spot on tech addicts’ Christmas gift lists. It goes on sale in the US next month, and is expected to arrive in British stores by early November. The arrival of Android signals the opening round of a battle between Google and rivals including Apple, Microsoft and Nokia to create the software that powers the next generation of internet-enabled mobile phones

US Responsible for the Majority of Cyber Attacks

SecureWorks published the locations of the computers, from which the greatest number of cyber attacks were attempted against its clients in 2008. The United States topped the list with 20.6 million attempted attacks originating from computers within the country and China ran second with 7.7 million attempted attacks emanating from computers within its borders. This was followed by Brazil with over 166,987 attempted attacks, South Korea with 162,289, Poland with 153,205, Japan with 142,346, Russia with 130,572, Taiwan with 124,997, Germany with 110,493, and Canada with 107,483

Scam-Linked ISP Intercage / Atrivo Gets Shut Out

The lifeline linking notorious service provider Intercage to the rest of the Internet has been severed. Intercage, which has also done business under the name Atrivo, was knocked offline late Saturday night when the last upstream provider connecting it to the Internet’s backbone, Pacific Internet Exchange, terminated Intercage’s service. Intercage president Emil Kacperski said Pacific did not tell him why his company had been knocked offline, but he believes it was in response to pressure from Spamhaus, a volunteer-run antispam group, which has been highly critical of Intercage’s business practices — via Slashdot

Virginia Court Strikes Down Anti-Spam Law

The Virginia Supreme Court declared the state’s anti-spam law unconstitutional Friday and reversed the conviction of a man once considered one of the world’s most prolific spammers. The court unanimously agreed with Jeremy Jaynes’ argument that the law violates the free-speech protections of the First Amendment because it does not just restrict commercial e-mails. Most other states also have anti-spam laws, and there is a federal CAN-SPAM Act as well. The Virginia law is unconstitutionally overbroad on its face because it prohibits the anonymous transmission of all unsolicited bulk e-mails, including those containing political, religious or other speech protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution, Justice G Steven Agee wrote

E-mail, Photo Programs Stripped from Windows 7

Microsoft has decided that Windows 7 won’t include built-in programs for e-mail, photo editing, and movie making, as was done with Windows Vista. The software maker included Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Mail, and Windows Movie Maker as part of Vista, but later chose to offer separate downloadable Windows Live programs that essentially replaced those components with versions that could connect to online services from Microsoft and others. Microsoft told CNET News late Monday that it has decided to remove those features entirely from Windows 7 and instead offer only the service-connected Windows Live versions as optional free downloads

Other Webmail Services Share Password Reset Flaw

Yahoo Mail isn’t the only Web-based mail service that could be duped into giving up someone else’s account password, the tactic that some have argued was used to break into Governor Sarah Palin’s e-mail earlier this week. Google’s Gmail, Microsoft’s Windows Live Hotmail and Yahoo’s Mail all rely on automated password reset mechanisms that can be abused by knowing a username associated with an account and an Computerworld reporters and editors were able to break into their own and colleagues’ accounts on all three services, then reset passwords armed only with the account’s username and the correct response to one of a limited number of common security questions, such as mother’s maiden name, the name of a favorite pet or the make of a first car

Burmese Dissident Web Sites Shut Down

Two leading dissident Burmese websites have been shut down by a sophisticated cyber attack believed to have been initiated by the military junta a day before the first anniversary of Burma’s so-called Saffron Revolution. The web sites, run by the Democratic Voice of Burma and The Irrawaddy news magazine, are operated by exiles in Norway and Thailand respectively. Both were disabled on Wednesday. Inside Burma, internet services were reportedly running slowly, suggesting an attempt by the regime to stem the flow of information in and out of the country at such a sensitive time

Google Fixes Spam Bug in Gmail

Gmail users may have noticed a recent spike in spam clogging their inbox, but Google says it has fixed the problem. For the second time in as many months Gmail users saw a sudden increase in spam, and they reported the issue in the webmail service’s official discussion forum in recent days. On Thursday, a Google employee named Sarah chimed in by posting to the main thread devoted to this topic to say that the complaints were well-founded and had pointed Google toward a solution

EFF, Public Knowledge Sue US Government Over Secret IP Pact

Two digital rights advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against the Office of the US Trade Representative in an attempt to get the office to turn over information about a secret international treaty being negotiated to step up cross-border enforcement of copyright and piracy laws. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge filed the lawsuit Wednesday after USTR ignored their repeated requests to turn over information about the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

Large Hadron Collider Forced to Halt

Plans to begin smashing particles at the Large Hadron Collider may be delayed after a magnet failure forced engineers to halt work. The failure, known as a quench, caused some of the LHC’s super-cooled magnets to heat up by as much as 100 degrees. The fire brigade were called out after a tonne of liquid helium leaked into the tunnel at Cern, near Geneva

Google and General Electric Team Up on Energy Initiatives

Google and General Electric said on Wednesday that they would work together on technology and policy initiatives to promote the development of additional capacity in the electricity grid and of smart grid technologies to enable plug-in hybrids and to manage energy more efficiently. The companies said their goal was to make renewable energy more accessible and useful

Faulty Transformer Shuts Down Large Hadron Collider

Researchers at Cern have confirmed that the Large Hadron Collider managed only a few hours of operation before being shut down. The multi-billion dollar apparatus went live on 10 September and beams were sent around the 27km underground acceleration ring successfully. However, a large transformer failed a few hours into testing and has had to be replaced

EFF Sues NSA, President Bush, and Vice President Cheney to Stop Illegal Surveillance

The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency and other government agencies today on behalf of AT&T customers to stop the illegal, unconstitutional and ongoing dragnet surveillance of their communications and communications records. The five individual plaintiffs are also suing President George W Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney’s chief of staff David Addington, former Attorney General and White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and other individuals who ordered or participated in the warrantless domestic surveillance

Breakthrough In Energy Storage: New Carbon Material Shows Promise Of Storing Large Quantities Of Renewable Electrical Energy

Engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have achieved a breakthrough in the use of a one-atom thick structure called graphene as a new carbon-based material for storing electrical charge in ultracapacitor devices, perhaps paving the way for the massive installation of renewable energies such as wind and solar power

I Get Mail: does not apply… again

For some odd reason, Bill felt the need to spam this twice:

May I contact,by email, and discuss my ideas with Red Wolf as I have some rather unique, perhaps unheard of, ideas that warrant some professional respect and feedback? Before I take more time and space that this little,amateurish site provides? If not Red Wolf,whom may I contact inre to The X Files Thank You for your attention; I earnestly desire some feedback

I have repeatedly attempted to explain to Bill, using really small words, that I have no connection to Chris Carter, The X-Files or anything else he seems obsessed with. I have had no luck explaining that I’m not even in the same country he is, but it all seems to fall on deaf ears.

Oh well, I figure he’ll be back again next week.