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July |
Newsletter |
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Issue
68 |
Included in this months issue:
Sophos warns spammers are sending out fake Google+ invites
Mobile phones 'unlikely to cause brain tumours'
Four in five parents worry about social network addiction
Cutting Room: BlackBerry being squeezed out
Government claims threat from cyber attacks 'equal' to that of nuclear bombs
Minister reveals Government's plans to militarise internet defence measures in UK, calls on tech community for help
The UK's cyber-security minister Francis Maude has claimed that in terms of UK security, online attacks are on par with the threat posed by nuclear weapons.
He also admitted the Government cannot tackle the problem of cyber-security alone, and will need 'considerable help and guidance' from the technology industry.
By Andrew Wooden
A Cambridge University study finds a third of people want to escape the chains of modern communications technology.
One in three people feel “overwhelmed” by modern communications technology, according to a study from the University of Cambridge.
Texting, email and social networking is just too much for that third, who feel the need to escape such technologies, the BT-sponsored survey found.
The research uncovered little disparity between different age groups, as 38 per cent of 10-18 year olds said they were overwhelmed, compared to 34 per cent of the 25-34 age bracket.
By Tom Brewster
Fox News hacker tweets Obama dead
Hackers have taken over a Twitter account belonging to US broadcaster Fox News and declared President Obama dead.
The @foxnewspolitics feed stated: "BREAKING NEWS: @BarackObama assassinated, 2 gunshot wounds have proved too much."
More than two hours after the malicious postings appeared, they had still not been removed.
From BBC News Technology
Cutting Room: BlackBerry being squeezed out
Paul Withers reckons RIM needs to speed up the release of handsets and evolve current form factors to get itself back into a market dominating position again
Boring handsets. Lack of change. A brand losing its identity. Amazingly, we’re not referring to Nokia this time.
Perhaps Research In Motion (RIM) isn’t quite in the pickle that Nokia finds itself in. But, as RIM is based in Waterloo, Ontario, we wonder if the manufacturer of the famous BlackBerry may be heading towards its own Waterloo. And not necessarily on the Duke of Wellington’s side.
by Paul WithersToshiba's glasses-free 3D laptop review: first look
Toshiba first showed off its glasses-free 3D laptop as a concept back in February – and the company has now put flesh on those bones, giving it a name, launch date and a price. At a press launch in central London, Toshiba announced it would be shipping the Qosmio F750 to UK retail outlets in August.
3D laptops are nothing new – we’ve seen quite a few in the past couple of years – but the difference with the Qosmio F750 is that it features a lenticular 3D display, which means you benefit from the full 3D effect without having to don a pair of uncomfortable specs.
Although a little on the grainy side, the demo videos Toshiba showed us exhibited an appreciable degree of depth. You can view both 2D and 3D material onscreen simultaneously plus, in a clever twist, you don’t have to be facing the dead centre of the screen to see perfect 3D.
By Jonathan Bray
Sophos warns spammers are sending out fake Google+ invites
Only a week since it went live, spammers have already begun to hijack Google's new social networking platform, by sending out fake invites.
Google+ is still in the trial phase and participation is by invite only at the moment. The invites are rare, which has led to people begging on sites such as Twitter for someone to send them an invite. This has played straight into the criminals' hands.
The fake invites to join Google+ look very like the genuine invitations, clicking on the links in the email will take the victim to Canadian Family Pharmacy, not Google+.
By Dinah Greek
Google disables Realtime to add Google+
INTERNET GIANT Google has disabled the Google Realtime feature on its search engine after a Twitter deal expired, and will add Google+ feeds instead.
The Realtime team announced the change on its Twitter feed: "We've temporarily disabled google.com/realtime. We're exploring how to incorporate Google+ into this functionality, so stay tuned."
The reason for the downtime is because a deal with Twitter from October 2009 expired on 2 July, which means Google no longer has access to a "special feed" that allows it to show up to date tweets in its search engine, according to Searchengineland.
By Dean Wilson
Mobile phones 'unlikely to cause brain tumours'
Scientists have concluded that using mobile phones does not lead to cancer as the incidence of brain tumours have not risen in the last two decades. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA
Mobile phones almost certainly do not lead to brain cancer in adults, scientists on the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection committee have concluded.
The incidence of brain tumours was not increasing, even though mobiles were introduced 20 years ago and have been popular for a decade, the committee found.By Danis Campbell
Four in five parents worry about social network addiction
A third think the web is a danger to their child
Four in five (80 percent) of parents believe it is possible to become addicted to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, says the Nominet Trust.
Research by the internet charity revealed a third of parents believe their child is in danger from the web, while 61 percent claim positive stories about the web are funded by organisations with a vested interest in the net.
Furthermore, one in three reckon the net can "rewire" a person's brain, despite the fact there is no scientific evidence to support these theories.
By Carrie-Ann Skinner
Computers With "Human-Like" Interaction Not Far Off
Computer systems capable of conversing with their users with human-like voices and intelligence that can argue back, might become a reality in a few years time.
Researchers at the Universities of Edinburgh, Cambridge and Sheffield have embarked on a five year, £6.2million project, which could result in the creation of voice activated machines which will be capable of interacting with humans.
The devices will be fitted with Artificial Intelligence technology that will help the devices become familiar with a human voice and interact with them naturally.
Taken from ITProPortal
EU upset by Microsoft warning about US access to EU cloud
Members of the European Parliament have demanded to know what lawmakers intend to do about the conflict between the European Union's Data Protection Directive and the U.S. Patriot Act.
The issue has been raised following Microsoft's admission last week that it may have to hand over European customers' data on a new cloud service to U.S. authorities. The company may also be compelled by the Patriot Act to keep details of any such data transfer secret. This is directly contrary to the European directive, which states that organizations must inform users when they disclose personal information.
"Does the Commission consider that the U.S. Patriot Act thus effectively overrules the E.U. Directive on Data Protection? What will the Commission do to remedy this situation, and ensure that E.U. data protection rules can be effectively enforced and that third country legislation does not take precedence over E.U. legislation?" asked Sophia In't Veld, a member of the Parliament's civil liberties committee.
By Jennifer Baker
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