Technology

A new study from two academics at BYU tracking the sales of printed books following free ebook releases found that generally, a free ebook release is correlated with increased sales. Interestingly, the exception is for a group of ebooks that were released for a week and then withdrawn — part of Tor.com’s launch strategy, and a success in getting large number of people signed up to the site. Very nice to see some crunchy data in the mix — via Boing Boing

Another week day, another Google acquisition. This time, Google bought DocVerse, a company founded by two former Microsoft employees which built a plug-in for Microsoft Office that lets you collaborate with other people in real-time

A new type of solder can be melted and shaped in three dimensions under the force of a weak magnetic field. Using a magnet to pull the solder up through narrow holes makes it possible to create electrical connections between stacked silicon chips, for example. These three-dimensional chips pack more computing power in a given area, but making connections between them is expensive, a problem that the new solder might address. The solder also contains no lead, and it is stronger than other lead-free solders

Google is developing a system that will enable web publishers of any size to automatically submit new content to Google for indexing within seconds of that content being published

The leader of a UK-based gang who made millions selling counterfeit luxury golf kit and other knock-off goods through auction site eBay has been jailed for four years. Gary Bellchambers and six others ran what is reckoned to be the biggest ever such scam between June 2003 and March 2008. Their fraud was eventually rumbled by a trading standards team at Havering Council, who were put on the trail of the fraudsters by pensioner Christine Manz

This is freaky future stuff, where you’re the interface. That’s where electronics are heading, apparently. Researchers have developed a way for people to use their own skin as a keypad or pull down menu to control MP3 devices, make phone calls or play games. It’s called Skinput, and here’s how it works: The user wears an armband, which contains a very small projector that projects a menu or keypad onto a person’s hand or forearm. The armband also contains an acoustic sensor. Why? Because when you tap different parts of your body, it makes unique sounds based on the area’s bone density, soft tissue, joints and other factors. The software in Skinput is able to analyse the sound frequencies picked up by the acoustic sensor and then determine which button the user has just tapped

Edmunds Auto has announced that it will be offering a $1 million prize to anyone who can find the cause of unintended acceleration. As Wikipedia notes, this is a problem that has plagued not only Toyota, but also Audi and other manufacturers. Consumer Reports has some suggestions all automakers can implement to solve this problem, including requiring brakes to be strong enough to stop the car even when the accelerator is floored — via Slashdot

After making the totality of public tweets available to search giants Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, Twitter is now cutting similar deals with smaller players. The partnerships generate revenue for Twitter, which also stands to benefit from new tools that could help users and companies manage the torrent of Twitter messages posted every day. Ellerdale, Collecta, Kosmix, Scoopler, twazzup, CrowdEye and Chainn Search all have licensed the Twitter firehose of tweets, moves that Twitter expects will lead to a rush of innovation in the area of real-time search and discovery

Spanish police have arrested three men accused of masterminding one of the biggest computer crimes to date — infecting more than 13 million PCs with a virus that stole credit card numbers and other data. The men were suspected of running the Mariposa botnet, named after the Spanish word for butterfly

Following a DMCA takedown request from Fox regarding an Avatar torrent, Google has removed the BTJunkie homepage from its search results. A few months ago Google erroneously banned The Pirate Bay homepage for which it later apologized. Whether or not the BTJunkie ban is also a mistake is unclear

A classified review of the United States Secret Service’s computer technology found that the agency’s computers were fully operational only 60 percent of the time because of outdated systems and a reliance on a computer mainframe that dates to the 1980s

Microsoft has given up its battle with anti-secrecy website Cryptome.org, after the controversy over publication of Redmond’s internal surveillance guide for law enforcement agencies threatened to turn into a publicity own-goal

Security experts are split over the effectiveness of Microsoft’s efforts to shut down a network of PCs that could send 1.5 billion spam messages a day

Jim Keyzer, a police IT forensics specialist who was leading the Pirate Bay investigation while he was also working for Warner Bros is back in action. Despite all the controversy he is now leading the IT Crime Unit which is tasked with various anti-piracy efforts

Microsoft has won court approval to shut down a global network of computers which it says is responsible for more than 1.5bn spam messages every day. A US judge granted the firm’s request to shut down 277 internet domains, which it said were used to command and control the so-called Waledac botnet