John Lister

Apple has admitted that problems with its MobileMe service may mean 10% of emails have been lost for good. The service, aimed at users of mobile devices such as the new iPhone, gives access to features such as online data storage, an address book ... and calendar, and email, with data and setting accessible from all the user's devices. While the launch last month at first appeared to have gone without a hitch, some customers soon after reported problems accessing their emails (both new and old). According to a company blog, this issue only affected 1% of users -- however, Apple now says, "We ... (view more)

After making intense efforts to re-secure the city's computer network after a disgruntled employee took control of the system, San Francisco officials have made a big mistake by putting around 150 passwords into the public record. The blunder comes ... as part of an ongoing criminal action against Terry Childs, a system administrator who, apparently infuriated by the work practices of his colleagues, put a series of passwords on the entire system to stop anyone else getting access. He then refused to hand over the details even under threat of imprisonment; after being placed on remand with bail ... (view more)

It appears increasingly likely that Comcast will face a formal rebuke from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over its 'throttling' policy in which Internet access was deliberately slowed for those using peer-to-peer download services. The ... FCC won't announce any decision until its monthly meeting on Friday, but Reuters reports five of the nine commissioners have already agreed to uphold a complaint of throttling. (Source: guardian.co.uk ) That won't come as a major surprise, since FCC chairman Kevin Martin had already announced he considered Comcast's actions wrong and that he'd be ... (view more)

There are now more than a trillion web pages...and those are just the ones Google knows about. Google's index of web pages has grown from 26 million in 1998 to a billion (one thousand million) in 2000 and now to a trillion (one million million) in ... 2008. The search engine firm announced the statistic as a way of publicizing its position as the market leader (ahem, gloating). Writing in a post on the company's blog, software engineers Jesse Alpert said that the Google system reprocesses the entire index several times a day, each of which is equivalent to checking every road intersection in a ... (view more)

Microsoft is funding one of the biggest open-source organisations to the tune of $100,000. But it's not an out-and-out backing of the open-source concept. The software giant is giving the cash to the Apache Foundation, a non-profit group designed to ... co-ordinate several projects including the Apache web server, software that physically handles requests for web pages and the files involved. Apache's web server arguably made the World Wide Web what it is today. At one point, the majority of sites used it and even today it's still the most popular with a 49% market share. Major sites such as ... (view more)

Businesses' internal networks are becoming increasingly less secure, a new study shows. A scan of 100,000 corporate PCs and servers found that every single organisation was facing some form of security threat. The industries studied included ... healthcare, insurance, finance and manufacturing, with Promises Inc warning that the risk might extend outside the networks and out into the public domain among customers and clients. Security firm Promises Inc carried out the study between January and June this year. The research found even the most secure networks had at least three threats: the two ... (view more)

Tivo has made a deal with Amazon that could genuinely revolutionize how TV advertising works. Viewers will now be able to order products mentioned in shows with a click of their remote. The system will initially involve chat shows such as Oprah, ... Ellen DeGeneres and the Colbert Report. Whenever a guest talks about a product, such as an author publicising a book, viewers will see a link in the corner of their screens. Clicking on it will either allow them to order it instantly by typing in a PIN code, or to put the item in their Amazon shopping basket to examine on a computer later on. At first ... (view more)

A new industry agreement could eventually mean an end to choosing between lower quality TV pictures and a house full of messy cabling. Major audio-visual manufacturers including Sony, Sharp, Hitachi, Samsung, and Motorola have agreed to back an ... industry standard for wireless signals to carry high-definition video. Wireless Home Digital Interface will transmit on the 5GHz band, which means it doesn't need licensing. The system can carry up to 3bBits per second, which means it can cope with the top-end 1080p video format without having to compress the signal. It should also be able to transmit ... (view more)

Apple claims to have sold a million of its new iPhones in three days, but that doesn't mean a million people now have one. The company recently put out a press release saying it had sold the millionth iPhone 3G. Noting the phone is on sale in 21 ... countries, CEO Steve Jobs said "It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world." (Source: apple.com ) However, that figure is somewhat misleading. Fortune magazine reports that Apple only counts its own sales when somebody hands over the money in an Apple store. But ... (view more)

The video games industry has been holding its major trade show, E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo) this week. We've been reporting in-depth on some of the newsworthy events , but here's a summary of the biggest announcements from the big three ... major console manufacturers, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Microsoft is revamping the user interface of its Xbox 360, specifically the way they interact with other players around the world. There'll be a customisable avatar of the type seen in virtual world games such as Second Life. The firm is also ditching its 20GB hard drive for a 60GB version ... (view more)