John Lister

Hackers have posted a list of some 453,000 Yahoo user names and their passwords. Although those responsible say they are merely trying to highlight weak security, observers say that some users could indeed be at risk. The log-in details that were ... stolen appear to come from Yahoo Voices, a site that is set up so users can post their own blogs and articles. Some of these posts earn their authors a small up-front payment, while those that attract a lot of visitors can earn the writer significant bonus payments. The hackers apparently gained access to the site's log-in database by means of a ... (view more)

Microsoft has acquired a firm that produces massive computer touchscreen displays. According to reports, the company plans to reduce the price of those screens, making them far more affordable for both businesses and home consumers. Perceptive ... Pixel, which was founded in 2006, specializes in designing and manufacturing giant, wall-mounted, touchscreen displays as large as 80 inches across. The screens have advanced capabilities that allow multiple users to operate them at the same time. The company received a major boost four years ago, when CNN used its touchscreens during broadcasts ... (view more)

Facebook may begin snooping on smartphone users in order to target them with more relevant advertisements. The strategy could prove a huge money-maker, but may be a step too far for some of the social network's users. The massive social network ... currently makes most of its revenue from advertising. However, it has struggled to cash in when people visit the site using a smartphone. In recent financial filings, Facebook admitted this could become a serious handicap as more and more people choose to access the social media site from their phones instead of their computers. Facebook had already ... (view more)

Twitter has released new figures showing government requests for information about its users. It's a report similar to the one produced by Google, though with some notable differences. For the past three years, Google has produced these kinds of ... statistics every six months. The idea is to show changes in government demands for specific user information. Twitter openly acknowledges it has copied Google's idea. It says releasing the figures will force governments to be more accountable about the information they demand. (Source: twitter.com ) Twitter's newly-published data covers all government ... (view more)

People whose computers are infected with the ' DNS Changer ' virus will lose access to the Internet on Monday, July 9, 2012, unless they take steps to remedy the situation. Right now the Federal Bureau of Investigation is wrapping up an operation ... designed to help such victims maintain their online connections. DNS Changer is named after the domain name system that helps translate website addresses (such as www.infopackets.com ) into a string of numbers known as an IP address, which is the way computers actually identify the machine where a particular website is physically stored. 'DNS Changer ... (view more)

Google has announced it will finally close its original video hosting service, Google Video, and will keep both YouTube and its video search site running. The decision, along with the closure of four other services, is part of Google's ongoing ... program to ditch ideas that didn't work out. The search giant says it has abandoned more than thirty programs since fall, 2011. Google Video was first unveiled in 2005. It was originally designed to host videos for users who didn't have their own web servers or couldn't cope with the traffic, if a lot of people watched their clips. After buying the ... (view more)

Several major websites were briefly knocked offline this past weekend by a quirk in the calendar: a 'leap second' -- the rare additional tick added worldwide to clocks that fixes a natural flaw in our time-keeping systems. The 'leap second' is used ... around the world on computerized time systems because a year on our clocks is slightly shorter than the actual the time it takes the Earth to go once around the sun. Nowadays, we take most of our time signals from an atomic clock, which measures the vibrations of atoms in a metal called cesium so accurately that a one second error is nearly as ... (view more)

Microsoft will permit upgrades to Windows 8 Pro from any previous version of Windows for just $40. However, it's a limited-time offer and the price is good only for those downloading the new software from Microsoft's official site. Those who don't ... want to download the upgrade will be able to buy an upgrade DVD from stores for $69.99. There are only two versions of Windows 8 that can be bought outright: the basic Windows 8 and the more advanced Windows 8 Pro. Naturally, the 'Pro' version has features not found in the basic edition, including enhanced security. It's also better equipped for ... (view more)

British researchers are working on an alternative to Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation that will function when GPS fails. They say the GPS satellite system might not last forever, and could be damaged by a freak space incident or even a ... military conflict. The new system comes from BAE systems, a defense company in the United Kingdom. BAE has for some time been trying to find alternatives to GPS, which works by comparing a device's location to multiple satellites in space. Solar Flare Could Destroy GPS Satellites While GPS functions well for now, it is vulnerable to satellite ... (view more)

A series of security breaches has exposed the credit card details of Wyndham hotel customers. As a result, the company must face the ire of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Hackers apparently breached the hotel chain's secured data networks on ... three separate occasions, starting in April 2008. The first attack was the largest and gave the hackers access to hotel guest data stored on the system. Because the data wasn't encrypted, the attackers were able to utilize information associated with an estimated 500,000 credit cards, which they relayed to a Russian-based site. Wyndam came under ... (view more)