John Lister

Members of the hacking group Anonymous have apparently been duped into installing malware on their own machines. The malicious software was disguised as an update to one of the main tools used by the group. Anonymous has little or no formal ... structure; it's often described as an idea rather than an organization. Members generally take action as a form of protest rather than in pursuit of financial gain, portraying most of their victims as opponents of Internet freedoms. The most common tactic used by Anonymous is the distributed denial of service attack. This involves using a network of ... (view more)

The company behind a service that allows access to Windows 7 on an iPad has run into a major problem: Microsoft says the service isn't properly licensed. The service is from a company named OnLive and works in a slightly complex manner. The user ... doesn't actually have Windows on their portable device, but rather uses the Internet to access a copy running on a remote computer operated by the company. (Source: infopackets.com ) iPad Users Access Microsoft Office, Adobe Flash Users of the basic service are able to access Microsoft Office to create documents and can save up to 2GB of documents to ... (view more)

Members of the international hacking group LulzSec ("Lulz Security") have discovered their worst nightmare may have come true. It appears that one of the group's leading figures was working as an undercover FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) ... informer for the past nine months. The news emerged this week with the arrest of five suspects in the United States, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. All those arrested are said to be members of the LulzSec group, which emerged last summer and quickly made a name for itself as a leading organization of highly proficient hackers ... (view more)

A new generation of Volvo electric vehicles will allow users to recharge from any power outlet and pay for it through their home electricity bills. Among other advantages, this new system will make it easier to take advantage of off-peak discounts. ... The new billing system, called Electric Vehicle Intelligent Infra Structure, or ELVIIS, is the work of Volvo and mobile electronics firm Ericsson. Unlike some older electric vehicles, newer models can recharge from any power outlet, even those at home. Charging is controlled from a touchscreen built into the vehicle, or through a smartphone or ... (view more)

One of the most ambitious computing projects of recent years has now become a reality. The Raspberry Pi, a computer that costs just $35, has been manufactured by a British organization and is now on sale. As reported last May , the aim of this new ... device is to make a computer affordable enough that schools and parents can buy them for children to learn programming and other computing skills. The device is roughly the size of a credit card and, to save money, has no external casing -- which means its circuit board is exposed. Mini PC as Powerful as Desktop PCs 10 Years Ago Despite the small ... (view more)

Two Japanese scientists have designed a device that can disorient a talking person powerfully enough to make them stop. The technique is based on the "echo" feedback we sometimes get when using a telephone. Kazutaka Kurihara and Koji Tsukada created ... the SpeechJammer while investigating the characteristics of speech control. They were particularly interested in "problem" scenarios where loud talkers annoyed unwilling listeners, and where conversations hit a snag because both speakers continued to talk at the same time. For example, if somebody is speaking in a way that ... (view more)

Microsoft is reporting success in its campaign to reduce graymail, which are defined as email messages that fall short of being labeled as 'spam'. Though definitions vary, most sources agree that true spam messages are sent without any permission ... from the recipient. Happily, spam filtering is now keeping spam to only three percent of the messages reaching an average user's inbox, Microsoft reports. (Source: liveside.net ) Legitimate Messages May Be Unwanted However, a lot of other emails, like promotional mailings, still get through. Often, the recipient has either lost interest in the ... (view more)

Facebook has announced it will step up the amount of advertising displayed to users. It plans to include ads within news feeds and, for the first time, on mobile devices. Advertising makes up the vast majority of Facebook's revenue, the remainder ... coming from revenue associated with applications, like Farmville. However, to date Facebook has not followed the traditional model of offering advertisers a variety of different ad sizes and spaces at different prices. Instead, it has concentrated on its ability to target ads at users who meet a specific description set by the advertiser. That's ... (view more)

A British newspaper has accused Facebook of reading its members' text messages. In response, Facebook says the article is misinformed and "completely wrong." Google Android Security Permissions Scrutinized The dispute involves a Sunday Times report ... based on an investigation into Android-based handsets, the results of which may also apply to Apple iPhones. The investigation scrutinized the security permissions system within Android, which breaks into several different categories the information an application may use. For each category, the application must ask for and receive permission from ... (view more)

Microsoft has accused Google of ignoring the privacy settings on browsers. Google says it's all a misunderstanding, but politicians have suggested there could be legal consequences. The dispute centers on web browser cookies, which are small text ... files a website sends to a user's computer, intended to provide information to various sites for customizing the user's online experiences. However, cookies can also be used to track a web user's online activity. To prevent this, most browsers allow users to limit the acceptance of cookies. For Apple's Safari, the default setting accepts cookies only ... (view more)