John Lister

Microsoft has denied suggestions that it has paid to use an explicit term (synonymous with film making) to promote its search engine Bing. Microsoft claims the pay-per-click (PPC) link to the site must have been triggered by another phrase. The ... controversy over the illicit keyword began when a writer at TechCrunch.com -- who asked to remain anonymous -- somehow wound up searching for the 'nasty' word in Google. The writer was surprised to find that the number one listed item in the sponsored pay-per-click results section was for Microsoft's search engine Bing. (Source: techcrunch.com ) How ... (view more)

Asus is working on an electronic reading device that could change the digital book industry. Not only is the product expected to be much cheaper than those already on the market, but it will include two screens -- allowing books to be read in ... traditional two-page format. The firm is reportedly planning two editions of the reader. First, a budget version featuring two fixed screens, allowing users to see a left-hand and right-hand page. It might not sound like a big deal, but the idea could have a strong psychological effect by making the experience of reading on a machine closer to reading a ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed a serious security issue affecting Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) -- the version that was made available to the public prior to the full release of Windows 7. The problem also currently affects Windows Vista and Server ... 2008, but not Windows XP or Server 2008 R2. The issue involves the Server Message Block (SMB) system which is a part of Windows itself and is used for sharing files over a network. A bug in the system means anyone could take advantage of the exploit and use SMB to gain remote access to (and take control of) a remote computer. Temporary Solution: Block ... (view more)

British computer researchers have produced a tiny microchip capable of using light rather than electricity to carry out calculations. It employs quantum mechanics to drastically cut the time taken for computations and could one day mean a ... substantially more secure Internet. University of Bristol researchers say the small size of the chip is the easiest change to demonstrate, but that this isn't its real innovation. And they are open about the fact that it won't replace standard computer processors. But the principle of what it does do is a genuine breakthrough. Exponentially Faster than ... (view more)

Microsoft wants more iPhone applications to use Bing as their default search tools. While not developing apps itself, Microsoft has released a toolkit to allow independent firms to power their apps' searching with Bing. At the moment, Google is the ... default search engine on the iPhone, with Yahoo the alternative option. Anyone wanting to use Bing must use the web browser to type in the site's address rather than using search bars. That's not easy with smartphones such as the iPhone where small and fiddly keyboards make manual searches inconvenient. Many users prefer to use dedicated ... (view more)

Here's the good and bad news on the upcoming Microsoft's monthly Windows Update: the good news is that Microsoft only has five security problems to fix. The bad news is that they are all marked critical. Patch is Due Next Tuesday, but Few Details In ... an unusual move, the company isn't releasing any details about the problems which are being fixed in the next Patch Tuesday update, scheduled for release next week. It's possible the firm doesn't want to tip off hackers who might try to exploit the problems before the fixes are released, but it's unusual that Microsoft wouldn't at least outline ... (view more)

Microsoft and Intel have teamed up to promote Windows 7, both claiming that the new operating system (OS) is faster, more energy efficient, and that it takes advantage of Intel-based computers. Energy Savings for Multi-Processor Systems The new ... features relate to the way both the Windows system itself and individual applications draw on the processors at the heart of a computer. Previously, Windows would make regular automated demands on the processor as a matter of course. This automatically 'woke up' any processor that the application had allowed to become idle because it wasn't needed at ... (view more)

A major newspaper has recently questioned how much AT ... (view more)

Wikipedia.com is planning to introduce a feature which will color-code parts of its articles in order to show how reliable the information is likely to be. It's a solution to an ongoing problem that has led to a planned freeze on edits to entries ... about living individuals. The WikiTrust feature analyzes the text on a page and ranks each piece of text based on how recently it was edited. This is based on the idea that the longer a piece remains unchanged, the more likely it is that it is trustworthy -- otherwise (it is reasoned), Wikipedia's users would have overturned the edit. The feature ... (view more)

A campaign group known as The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has accused Microsoft and its upcoming Windows 7 operating system of seven sins against freedom. The freedom in this case does not pertain to whether or not companies charge for their ... software, but rather the way it affects the user's rights to control their software. The group has written an open letter and sent it to CEOs of 499 of the leading 500 corporations asking them to consider carefully whether or not to upgrade to Windows 7. Of course, the FSF didn't think it was worth sending the copy to Microsoft, though oddly enough, a ... (view more)