PayPal does not have authorisation in India to provide cross-border money transfers, a spokeswoman for the country’s central bank said on Thursday. PayPal needs authorization to operate a cross-border money transfer service, under the country’s Payment and Settlement Systems Act, Alpana Killawala, spokeswoman of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said Thursday. In a Tuesday blog post PayPal said that the suspension of personal payments to and from India would continue for at least a few months until it resolves questions from Indian regulators
Google says it will not voluntarily
comply with the government’s request that it censor YouTube videos in accordance with broad refused classification
(RC) content rules. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy referred to Google’s censorship on behalf of the Chinese and Thai governments in making his case for the company to impose censorship locally. Google warns this would lead to the removal of many politically controversial, but harmless, YouTube clips
The Iranian government plans to permanently suspend Google’s email service in the country, the Wall Street Journal reported on its web site on Wednesday
Google announced plans to build a high-speed fibre-optics network. The move is limited to small communities for now, but could eventually bring Internet prices down and transform the broadband industry
The famous chain renting out DVD, Blu-ray, and video games discs worldwide has announced it has gone bust in Portugal. Of course, it blames piracy
An internet group has taken down the Australian Parliament House web site and hacked into Kevin Rudd’s web site in a series of coordinated protests against plans to filter the internet. The government’s recently-commissioned Cyber Security Operations Centre discovered Wednesday’s attack was coming on February 5 but still couldn’t stop it entirely. Anonymous, the group responsible, is known for its many attacks against Scientology websites and has recently turned its attention to Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and his plan to filter the internet. The attack came in the form of what is known as a denial of service — sites are bombarded with millions more communication requests than can possibly be handled
Following iiNet’s huge win over anti-piracy group AFACT, Aussie ISP Exetel has taken steps to soften its copyright infringement notice procedures and will no longer suspend accounts on mere accusations. Optus said today that although it planned to work with other internet service providers and the government on preventing internet piracy, it did not believe in sending alleged infringement notices to users
Google announced on Tuesday that it was immediately rolling out Google Buzz, a location-aware social networking tool highly integrated with its Gmail client, Google Maps and a new Android app
Scientists from the University College London in the UK have found that living a life of boredom can kill you
Australia’s drive to protect its own population from the horrors of the internet may be starting to have knock-on effects on the surfing habits of its neighbour, New Zealand — some web sites are no longer accessible in NZ via Aussie ISPs
Google has managed to get some decent press by announcing that, in a few years, it might be able to translate speech — something iPhone owners can already do. The Times picked up the story, and breathlessly reports that such a development could transform communications among speakers of the world’s 6,000-plus languages
— nice to know that those sticking to the medium of mime will be unaffected. Anyone unwilling to wait the couple of years
for Google’s solution will just have to download the Jibbigo iPhone application, or join the US army. Comparisons to Douglas Adams’ creation the Babel Fish are inevitable, though The Times credits Google with creating a text translation tool while neglecting to mention the rather-earlier version from AltaVista named after the unfortunate fish (unfortunate
as it was forced to live in the user’s ear)
Hand-held devices could soon have pressure-sensitive touch-screens and keys, thanks to a UK firm’s material that exploits a quantum physics trick. The technology allows, for example, scrolling down a long list or webpage faster as more pressure is applied. A division of Samsung that distributes mobile phone components to several handset manufacturers has now licensed the Quantum Tunnelling Composite
. The approach could find use in devices from phones to games to GPS handsets
Tired of waiting for the randomness of natural evolutionary advancement,
the Pentagon has decided to take matters into its own hands: military scientists will create synthetic organisms
that can live forever. But don’t fear — they can be killed with a molecular kill-switch. What could go wrong?
Beer is a rich source of a nutrient that can help prevent weak bones — but it depends what type you drink, claim researchers at University of California, Davis, today. As one of the nation’s favourite tipples, beer is a rich source of dietary silicon, which can help cut the chance of developing diseases like osteoporosis, they conclude. However, not all beers are the same, with those containing malted barley and hops having higher silicon content than beers made from wheat
A new study shows that bacteria-killing jets of plasma could soon replace the drills used to treat cavities in our teeth, making visits to the dentist’s office a bit less nerve-racking. Plasma is the fourth state of matter, after solids, liquids and gases. It is formed when gases are energised to the point where electrons fly off some or all of their atoms. Researchers recently demonstrated that a small, blowtorch-like device emitting a relatively cool beam of purple plasma can eliminate oral bacteria in cavities, leaving more tooth structure intact than a drill does
Online payments service PayPal says its suspension of certain transactions in India could last months. In a post on PayPal’s blog Tuesday, spokesman Anuj Nayar wrote that the company will keep blocking personal payments to and from India as it works out questions that Indian regulators have posed. The payments were initially suspended 28 January, after regulators questioned whether PayPal payments should be regulated like wire transfers of cash. However, local bank withdrawals, which had also been suspended, should be available within a few days, Nayar said
Google has a problem in China. But it may have bigger headaches in Europe. On issues as varied as privacy, copyright protection and the dominance of Google’s Internet search engine, the company is clashing with lawmakers, regulators and consumer advocates. And the fights are escalating across Western Europe. The stakes are high — potentially higher for Google than anything that happens in China — because Google’s operations in Europe are so much larger and more lucrative. In Britain alone, Google has roughly 10 times its estimated sales in China. Across most of the Continent, Google is by far the most popular search engine, with a substantially larger market share over its rivals than it has over those in the United States. Google’s border-straddling scale and its brash ambitions raise alarms with some European politicians
Sure, the screen is nice. But the iPad’s most important component, at least for Apple’s future, may be the A4, the fingernail-size chip at the tablet’s heart. With the A4, Apple has taken another step toward challenging the norms of the mobile device industry. Device makers typically buy their primary chips from specialised microprocessor companies. But for the iPad, Apple chose to design its own — creating unique bonds between the chip and Apple’s software. The do-it-yourself approach gives Apple the chance to build faster, more battery-friendly products than rivals and helps the company to keep product development secret. But designing its own processors burdens Apple with additional engineering costs and potential product delays. It also forces the company to hire — and retain — experienced chip designers. Several who joined the company in 2008 after an acquisition have already left for a secretive start-up. Though chip industry experts have yet to put the iPad through their customary rigorous tests, Apple’s demonstrations left them underwhelmed
Google’s decision to enlist the help of the National Security Agency in tackling cyber attacks has caused alarm among internet groups and bloggers, who fear that users’ personal information could be accessed by the US government. The Washington Post reported yesterday that the internet giant had turned to the NSA, which conducts surveillance and codebreaking for the federal government, in the wake of a cyber attack it believes came from China. The agency is responsible for securing the US administration’s computer networks against similar breaches, and is said to be helping Google to understand and analyse the attacks. Sources say that the agreement will not allow the NSA to view users’ searches or access email accounts, but the deal has angered some members of the online community
A 17-year-old bug in Windows will be patched by Microsoft in its latest security update. The February update for Windows will close the loophole that dates from the time of the DOS operating system. First appearing in Windows NT 3.1, the vulnerability has been carried over into almost every version of Windows that has appeared since. The monthly security update will also tackle a further 25 holes in Windows, five of which are rated as critical
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