John Lister

Security researchers believe they have found a problem with Windows 7 that cannot be fixed. Thankfully, it can only be exploited by people with physical access to a computer. Vipin Kumar and Nitin Kumar demonstrated how to attack a machine using the ... security gap at a conference in Dubai known as Hack In The Box. They've created an application named VBootKit 2.0 which takes up just 3KB of space. Once installed on a machine, the application can temporarily remove the user's password, then give anyone connected to the machine (through a local area network or the Internet) the ability to remotely ... (view more)

Researchers have developed a system that adapts a Windows-based smartphone to act as an ultrasound scanner. The device could be revolutionary in developing nations and might also have military uses. The system is based on existing portable ... ultrasound wands, which scan using soundwaves to produce an image of the inside of a body. The technique is best known for scanning images of fetuses, but has a wide range of medical uses. The problem with the existing system is that the wands then had to be plugged into an Internet-connected computer via a USB cable in order to share the results instantly ... (view more)

It's estimated that publicity on the Oprah Winfrey show may have brought more than a million new users to Twitter. The site's sometimes-shaky servers survived the invasion, though some feel its 'trendy' and 'cool' status took a hit from a show ... associated with middle-aged ladies. Winfrey joined the micro-blogging site last Friday and posted her first message (known as a tweet) during the show. It capped a week of celebrity-led publicity about the site as Ashton Kutcher beat CNN in the race to be the first users on Twitter with more than one million followers. There's no way of telling exactly ... (view more)

U.S. soldiers are being issued iPod touches; however, it's not a morale-boosting exercise or a way to combat boredom, but a low-cost way to give them access to important portable tools. In the past, the Army gave soldiers dedicated electronic ... devices for key tasks such as on-the-spot translation. However, officials found this proved expensive, particularly when they had to issue different devices for different tasks. This approach also meant the military bore the costs of researching and developing the hardware and didn't get as many economies of scale as with consumer devices. (Source: cnet. ... (view more)

Apple recently made its first public comment on ads from Microsoft depicting shoppers that reject Mac computers in favor of PCs . Surprisingly, Apple agrees with some of the ads' conclusions. Bill Evans, a spokesman for the company, told ... BusinessWeek that "The one thing that both Apple and Microsoft can agree on is that everyone thinks the Mac is cool." However, he rejects the implication that PCs are better value, arguing "A PC is no bargain when it doesn't do what you want." (Source: businessweek.com ) The PC Price Is Right The Microsoft campaign involves 'ordinary shoppers' who are tasked ... (view more)

The next edition of Microsoft's Office software will include an online version which doesn't need to be installed on computers. It's a clear rival to other cloud services , such as Google Docs. There aren't many official details available on the ... online version yet, but it appears the system will work on several browsers: not just Internet Explorer but also Firefox, Safari and the iPhone browser. Users who want to do more than simply edit a simple document at once will likely have to install Silverlight, Microsoft's take on Adobe's Flash. This will allow users to upload and collaborate on ... (view more)

YouTube has blocked user uploads and comments in South Korea: the result of a new law which bars anonymous posting. However, there is an easy way around the ban, which makes the rules virtually worthless and could even help YouTube's business. Since ... April 1st, 2009, Korea's Cyber Defamation Law means any firm with more than 100,000 different daily users must verify their identity and receive an identification number. They must then post their name and number when uploading video clips or posting comments. Google Follows Letter, but not Spirit, of Law YouTube's owner Google has complied with ... (view more)

A professor specializing in copyright law says that the justice system devised for prosecuting illegal file-sharers is out of control. She argues that it "has evolved in a manner that results in too many arbitrary, inconsistent, unprincipled, and ... grossly excessive awards and that reform is needed." The comments came in a paper by Professor Pam Samuelson of the University of California, Berkeley, along with co-writer Tara Wheatland. (Source: publicknowledge.org ) The authors say the biggest problem with the system is that the range of damages which can be awarded for copyright ... (view more)

Microsoft has cut the price of Windows by almost 80% for the special netbook edition. However, the price is for manufacturers, meaning consumers won't necessarily see all of the savings. Until now, computer makers normally had to pay around $70 to ... include Windows on their machines. Microsoft has now started offering Windows for just $15 to firms making netbooks. Of course, there's no guarantee manufacturers will pass all of those savings on; depending on how competitive the market is, they may attempt to keep back some of the $55 reduction for themselves. Microsoft feels the price cut is ... (view more)

A federal court has fined Microsoft $388 million for breaching the copyright of a rival software company. Ironically, the firm concerned was a producer of anti-piracy products. The court found Microsoft breached a patent belonging to Uniloc and ... involved the copy protection used on Windows XP and some parts of the Microsoft Office suite. Microsoft had not licensed the technology used in the activation process by which a product can be installed repeatedly on a single machine but can't be shared with other people or copied to another computer. Award Among All-Time Highs The sum is believed to ... (view more)