Hackers are taking advantage of a newly discovered vulnerability in Internet Explorer to install spyware on PCs that visit any of a number of Russian porn sites. The malware, first reported yesterday by researchers at Sunbelt Software, takes advantage of an unpatched flaw in the way IE processes Vector Markup Language (VML) code. VML is a language used to display graphic information on the Web. The attack appears to work on all versions of Windows running the IE 6 browser
Hackers using computer worms sneakily implanted via AOL instant messages were building a potentially evil botnet
, a Silicon Valley Internet security firm said on Tuesday
A burning laptop that frightened passengers at Los Angeles International Airport over the weekend was a ThinkPad, Lenovo confirmed Wednesday, and that notebook ships with Sony’s battery technology
All Scotland’s electricity needs could be met from renewable energy sources by 2050 under a bold vision for a greener future unveiled yesterday by Nicol Stephen, the deputy first minister. In an hugely ambitious pledge, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats vowed to go further than the Executive’s existing commitment to meet 40 per cent of the country’s electricity requirements through renewable sources by 2020
Yahoo’s gotten Hollywood Records, owned by Disney, to release the new Jesse McCartney’s album Right Where You Want Me
, as unrestricted MP3 files. Apparently hell has frozen over — via Boing Boing
Researchers from Intel and the University of California at Santa Barbara have found a way to build low-cost laser chips that could eventually shuttle data around PCs at much higher speeds than today’s copper wire interconnects. The researchers combined the properties of a compound semiconductor material called indium phosphide, which emits light constantly, and silicon, which can be used to amplify and direct that light. They sandwiched the materials together to create a single device that can be manufactured using standard chip-making techniques
UK-based online trading site Betfair was granted a licence to operate in Australia this January; it built a new data centre and flew the whole thing from the UK to Tasmania on two chartered aeroplanes; in the first three weeks of going live, the company has achieved 100 percent uptime
An MIT researcher has a vision: Four hundred huge offshore wind turbines are providing onshore customers with enough electricity to power several hundred thousand homes, and nobody standing onshore can see them. The trick? The wind turbines are floating on platforms a hundred miles out to sea, where the winds are strong and steady
BAE Systems, one of the world’s biggest arms manufacturers, is designing a new generation of green
munitions, including lead-free
bullets and rockets with reduced toxins. It also wants to cut the dangerous compounds in its jets, fighting vehicles and artillery, which it warns can harm the environment and pose a risk to people
Toshiba will replace about 340,000 laptop computer batteries made by Sony worldwide, the latest in a string of Sony battery woes. The batteries, used in Dynabook and Dynabook Satellite laptops manufactured between March and May this year, could fail on the road because of problems with storing and transmitting power
Most studios have already picked a side in the HD-DVD / Blu-ray war, but for the few still contemplating a near suicidal attempt at a simultaneous DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-ray release, there’s help on the way. A pair of Warner engineers have been working on a way to get all three formats to hold hands on a single disc, and have recently filed a patent to that effect
The access panel door on a Diebold AccuVote-TS voting machine — the door that protects the memory card that stores the votes, and is the main barrier to the injection of a virus — can be opened with a standard key that is widely available on the Internet
The airline has become the third to impose restrictions on laptops, following the recall of millions of exploding
batteries. The airline has banned the in-flight use of most Dell and Apple laptops, following recalls of thousands of batteries by both computer makers. The decision follows similar moves by Qantas and Korean Air
A Taiwan-based maker of DVDs and CDs for major studios is about to begin putting RFID chips in disks. The eventual aim is for DVD and CD players equipped with an RFID reader to prevent copied or out-of-region disks from being played
Users of modchipped gaming consoles could face fines of thousands of dollars when new copyright protection laws are introduced this year by the Federal Government. Until now, it has only been illegal to distribute or sell services or devices seeking to disable or override copy control technologies, but now users of such tools will also fall foul of the law once the legislation is introduced later this year
A Florida appeals court ruled that Fox and the media in general have no obligation to tell the truth after Fox fired members of its investigative journalist team for exposing the truth
Engineers at Brown University have built a prototype of a hybrid plastic battery that uses a conductive polymer. The system, which marries the power of a capacitor with the storage capacity of a battery, can store and deliver power efficiently. For example, during performance testing, it delivered more than 100 times the power of a standard alkaline battery. Still, it’s unlikely that such a device can appear on the market before several years
By studying how beetles can trap air to keep from drowning, researchers suggest artificial gills that mimic such a trick could help people breathe underwater
In his latest newsletter, security author Bruce Schneier delivered a scathing critique of politicians and the media for promoting fear and ultimately doing exactly what the terrorists want. Citing several cases of false alarms, Schneier writes: Our politicians help the terrorists every time they use fear as a campaign tactic. The press helps every time it writes scare stories about the plot and the threat… Our job is to think critically and rationally, and to ignore the cacophony of other interests trying to use terrorism to advance political careers or increase a television show’s viewership
Zune’s highly touted wireless file sharing will infect otherwise unprotected audio files with proprietary DRM. In cases where users are sharing songs covered by any of the Creative Commons licenses, this would be a clear violation of those license. From the CC FAQ: If a person uses DRM tools to restrict any of the rights granted in the license, that person violates the license
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