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iPhone apps help track criminals

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Dell brings wireless recharging to laptops

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Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 attack code released

iPhone apps help track criminals
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Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 attack code released

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Will your privacy be compromised online?

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Can tech personalities break into politics?

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The gleaming white Soyuz rocket and capsule moved at a walking pace across the Kazakh steppe aboard a train taking it from its assembly building to the launch pad known as Gagarin's Start.

Googlle: Google releases missspelt logo to mark 11th anniversary

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Site picks worst movies of the decade

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Site picks worst movies of the decade

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NASA: There is water in lunar soil

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On Monday, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said the agency would write rules requiring Internet providers to do something many of them already say they do: deliver online content without discrimination. So why were there so many long faces in telecom afterward?
Lily Allen file-sharing scandal spirals out of control

SINGER Lily Allen says she intends to quit music and has deleted her blog created to protest illegal file-sharing.

Since Allen was caught plagiarising other people’s work on the blog earlier this week, the whole thing has spiralled out of control.

Read on for a full recap.

British singer Lily Allen watches the cricket as fans download unauthorised music from her official website / Getty Pictures

Here’s the story in easy-to-follow point form. The events are spread across a week or so:

1) Allen starts blog to protest illegal sharing of music. The issue is a hot topic in the UK at the moment thanks to proposed laws that would see the internet connections of offenders temporarily suspended.

2) Allen gets caught nicking other people’s words for said blog, prompting claims she’s a hypocrite from other bloggers and tech journalists.

3) Allen apologises for the infringement and gets flamed by hundreds of people in the comments.

4) To make matters worse, bloggers discover Allen is hosting unauthorised mixtapes on her official website, featuring songs by dozens of other artists including Jay-Z, Jefferson Airplane and The Kinks. This is where it all starts falling apart.

5) Allen offers a second apology: “i made those mixtapes 5 years ago, i didn’t have a knowledge of the workings of the music industry back then...”

6) Allen says she has “no plans to make another record” and isn’t supporting tough new sanctions against file-sharers out of personal interest.

“The days of me making money from recording music has been and gone as far as I’m concerned, so I don’t stand to profit from legislation,” she says.

7) Allen deletes the blog. She says on Twitter: “i’m proud of the fact that i’ve been involved with this debate but i’m passing the baton on to other artists.”

Well, that was a bit of fun, eh?

Microchip + video glasses = sight for blind?

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It's not lunacy, probes find water in moon dirt

Nintendo cuts price of Wii for first time
Read full story for latest details.
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Firm to Acquire SkyTerra, Take It Private
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Microsoft's Courier Booklet PC Revealed
Many have been waited with bated breath for an upcoming Apple tablet that been strongly rumored for early in 2010. Of course, we haven't even seen that device. On the other hand, we've now seen images and video of a Microsoft tablet-style PC called the Microsoft Courier that might actually excite people (I know that's hard to believe).

Movie androids aren't that far-fetched

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AT&T Says Keep Net Neutrality Rules Off Wireless
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Lily Allen shares words for anti-sharing blog post

CHEEKY pop star Lily Allen has become the face of the music industry’s battle against piracy after starting a blog attacking illegal file-sharers.

There’s just one problem. While Allen’s down on sharing music, she seems to be pretty comfortable with sharing words.

A post made under Allen’s name on the weekend was a direct copy of an article written by journalist Michael Masnick a few days earlier on Techdirt, with no attribution.

The headline, sub-headline and first 135 words of the post are identical to Masnick’s. At the bottom, Allen appended three sentences of her own.

You can compare the original and Allen’s post here.

Pic: British singer Lily Allen performing during a show in Buenos Aires last week /

The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on Masnick.

“I think it’s wonderful that Lily Allen found so much value in our Techdirt post that she decided to copy â€" or should I say pirate? â€" the entire post,” he told TorrentFreak.

“The fact that she is trying to claim that such copying is bad, while doing it herself suggests something of a double standard.”

Debates over illegal file-sharing have been reignited in Britain after proposed laws that would see offenders have their internet connections cut.

PS: Thanks to reader “diss” for the tip.

More reading:

“British pop stars are divided over proposed laws to tackle illegal file-sharing by cutting the internet access of repeat offenders.” â€" Correspondents on news.com.au

“Lily, here is our take on the whole situation. In isolation we don’t think your copyright infringement is a big deal at all and neither does Mike, but in the arena of this debate it’s still quite important.” â€" enigmax on TorrentFreak

Update (12.32pm)

Quite a few readers have argued in the comments that Allen was simply “quoting” Masnick â€" without quotation marks or attribution â€" and not plagiarising.

Quoting someone without using quote marks is the definition of plagiarism.

From Merriam-Webster: “To steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own or use (another’s production) without crediting the source.”

Mysterious Google UFO Doodles Explained: Happy Birthday, H.G. Wells
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How to delete your Facebook profile in five minutes

DOES Facebook make it unnecessarily hard to delete your profile?

An article on The Punch today details how difficult it has been in the past to delete your profile from the social networking site.

“I set about looking for the Delete button. Ever seen that option? I’ll save you the hassle. There isn’t one,” wrote contributor Lachlan Hardy.

In the end, Hardy was forced to delete each bit of information â€" such as who his friends were, who he was in a relationship with and so on â€" individually.

That was about 18 months ago. Since then Facebook has copped more than a few criticisms over the way it handles user data â€" including a report by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada that found some of its practices may be illegal â€" and has announced some measures to address them.

So, I figured it was time for another test with a dummy account under the name “Andy Ramadge” â€" complete with silly photo.

The quick version

If you’re reading this article because you want a quick way to delete your account, log in to your Facebook profile and then follow this link. It should take you straight to the “Delete my account” form.

Read on for how to get to that page within Facebook.

Deleting your profile

The first place most people would look for a delete option is on the Account Settings page. And they’d be out of luck. From there you can only deactivate your profile.

Deactivating your profile is like putting it on ice. Facebook will keep all of your information, but won’t use it or display it to anyone else. This is so you can take a break for a while and come back to it later.

However, I want to delete my profile â€" so that all my data is removed from Facebook’s servers.

The next thing I did was search for a help page. There’s a button called About at the bottom of each page that will take you to Facebook’s profile, where you can read product announcements and so on.

On the left-hand side, there’s a link to the Help Center (sic). It’s not particularly prominent, but it is there.

The Help Center contains links to question and answer pieces on things to do with Facebook, grouped by topic. Except there’s no topic for either deleting or deactivating your profile.

Thankfully, there’s a list of the most popular search terms on the right. The third and fourth terms, when I checked, were about deleting your profile.

Clicking on one of the relevant search terms will, finally, take you the question and answer page titled “Deactivating, Deleting, and Memorializing Accounts”.

One of the questions is “How do I permanently delete my account?” The answer will try to talk you into deactivating your account instead of deleting it, before eventually offering a link to the page you want.

The last step, a form titled “Delete my account”, is pretty simple. It gives you a warning and asks you to provide your password and fill in one of those visual word tests to make sure you’re not a robot.

And that’s it, sort of. After filling in the form, Facebook will deactivate your account immediately and schedule it for deletion in 14 days, giving you a window of time to change your mind.

“Andy Ramadge” immediately disappeared from search and other people’s news feeds.

Conclusion

Facebook certainly doesn’t make it easy to delete your account. There is no obvious link to the right form, so you have to go searching for it.

Along the way you will be bombarded left and right with information about deactivating your account instead of deleting it.

However it still only took me five minutes to find the right form and fill it out, wiping poor old “Andy Ramadge” off the social networking site for good.

More reading:

“I killed myself on Facebook, and lived to tell the tale.” â€" Lachlan Hardy on The Punch

“Facebook has responded to a year-long investigation by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada that revealed ‘serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates’.” â€" Andrew Ramadge on news.com.au

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Google lets you custom-print millions of books

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What's hot off the presses this week?

3-D TV expected to come to homes in 2010

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Why Verizon's phones aren't more exciting

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Videogeist: September 18 2009

THERE were two videos in the race to lead this week’s Videogeist. Thankfully, someone smooshed them together for me.

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The outburst led to a wave of “oooh"s and “aaah"s in Congress, an avalanche of news stories and — of course — spoof videos.

Then came Kanye. The rest is history:

Jackass carousel

Meanwhile, the aftermath of Mr Wilson’s interruption was a merry-go-round of calls for apologies. The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart follows the “sorry” trail:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMonThurs 11p / 10c

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Microsoft, Google expand search-engine tools

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China breaks ground on space launch center

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No danger of power cutsMiliband

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Calif. lawmakers pass tougher clean energy goals

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Around the World in Four Easy Lessons
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Space shuttle Discovery set to land Friday

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Digital contacts could give you cyborg eyes

Digital contacts could give you cyborg eyes
Forget about 20/20. "Perfect" vision could be redefined by gadgets that give you the eyes of a cyborg.

Segway inventor takes aim at thirst with Slingshot

Segway inventor takes aim at thirst with Slingshot
If you listen to inventor Dean Kamen, the biggest health problem facing the world today is not AIDS, obesity or malnutrition. It's a shortage of water. So the man who designed the Segway has invented a device called the Slingshot, a portable, low-energy machine designed to purify water in remote villages.

New generation of small, light submarines

New generation of small, light submarines
A new generation of deep-sea submarines light enough to launch from a yacht could open up the ocean's depths to amateur explorers.
Space tourist uses $35M trip to back water issues

The next paying traveler to the international space station wants to use his $35 million trip to highlight concerns about the world's water supply.

Pre-Paid Wireless-Data Contracts Can Make Sense
Prepaid wireless-phone service looks better than it used to, and that's not just because of the lousy economy.
Videogeist: September 11 2009

AUTOCUE stuff-ups and cute cats make the world go round.

Here are our picks for web video of the week. You can submit your own favourites to technology@news.com.au.

BBC World News blooper

Here at news.com.au we love nothing more than laughing, ever so nervously, at media blooper reels.

This one from the BBC is a corker:

Strangely, it wasn’t posted to YouTube by a viewer — but by BBC’s economics and business editor Jeremy Hillman.

Hillman wrote in the video caption: “A lesson for Jonathan Charles of BBC World News on the importance of punctuation on the autocue and breathing.”

The world’s most patient cat

The only thing on the internet better than funny cat pictures is funny cat videos.

Thanks to Neatorama for bringing us this one:

Also a special mention to the Wall Of Fluff, as seen on Boing Boing. It’s a collection of fluffy animal videos you can play simultaneously for cuteness overload.

Ten nails trick

I’m not sure how often this will happen, but if you’re at a party and some dude asks you to balance ten nails on the head of another one, don’t say you weren’t taught:

Nail Magic TrickBalance 10 Nails On 1 Nail Head!Click here for more free videos

See, you do learn something new every day.

Space madness

Finally, let me introduce you to the trailer for the new film Moon â€" if you haven’t already seen it.

The film was released in the US earlier this year and features the creepiest computer ever voiced by Kevin Spacey (there may only be one).

It’s set to hit our screens on October 8:

Over and out.

'Butterfly Nebula' catches Hubble's attention

'Butterfly Nebula' catches Hubble's attention
Forget Hollywood special effects or Impressionist paintings -- some of the most stunning images are created by the mysterious and often violent forces in the universe. Witness the handful of new snapshots taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, which is back in business after being equipped with a new imaging camera.
Google Voice Message Playback Now Available Directly in Gmail
Google continues to try to make Gmail its centralized location for all things Google. The latest addition to Gmail, via Google Labs, is Google Voice integration into Gmail.

AT&T to Add Unlimited Calling to Your "A-List"

Why the iPod Nano gets a video camera
Wednesday's Apple announcements surprised observers who expected to see a video camera added to the upgraded iPod Touch. So why didn't Apple take that step? The answer may lie with the newly invigorated iPod Nano, which is now poised to challenge Flip's cheap, tiny camcorders.
AT&T to Add Unlimited Calling to Your "A-List"
Don't tell Kathy Griffin about this, since she's a D-lister, but on Sept. 20th, AT&T is adding a new feature, called AT&T A-List with Rollover to qualifying plans. Depending on the service, you can add up to 10 "VIP or A-List" domestic phone numbers which you can then call or receive calls from without affecting your Anytime minutes.

Space Shuttle Aims for Homecoming, but Storms Loom

This image provided by NASA shows Space Shuttle Discovery as seen from the International Space... This image provided by NASA shows Space Shuttle Discovery as seen from the International Space Station as the two spacecraft begin their relative separation Tuesday Sept.

Security Fix Live

Heckle raises hackles on Facebook, Twitter
Two words, delivered with index finger punctuating the air and directed at the president of the United States, made a little-known South Carolina congressman one of the most reviled men on the Internet -- at least Wednesday heading into Thursday.
RealNetworks' Rhapsody on-demand music streaming service headed to Apple Inc.'s app store

RealNetworks Inc.'s subscription music service Rhapsody has been approved for use on iPhones and iPod Touches, the first time Apple Inc.

Security Fix Live
Security Fix blogger Brian Krebs answers your technology questions and offers ways to protect yourself from online security threats.

Web goes nuts for 'Crasher Squirrel'

Web goes nuts for 'Crasher Squirrel'
Melissa and Jackson Brandts knew right away that the photo from their recent trip to Canada was a good one.
Palm's New Pixi Now Official
On Wednesday, Palm announced what had been rumored for months, since before the Palm Pre even launched: a second webOS based device that was cheaper and with a non-slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The Pixi (nee Eos or even Pixie) had been rumored to be announced this week, and here we are.

Infomercial king Kevin Harrington 'thinks bigger' as he...

What news to expect from Apple today
If there's anything the tech community likes more than a special media event from Apple, it's the chance to speculate about one.
Infomercial king Kevin Harrington 'thinks bigger' as he...

In a sprawling studio, Kevin Harrington is watching a TV pitchman put a shapely model through her paces on a new exercise contraption soon to be featured in a half-hour infomercial.

Game, music industries seek 'Help!'

Game, music industries seek 'Help!'
The fourth quarter of 2009 for the music and video game industries is shaping up to be all about the Beatles. And both could use some "Help!"
Johnson urged to block extradition

Home Secretary Alan Johnson is due to face calls from three senior MPs not to extradite computer hacker Gary McKinnon.

Packaging the News as Tweets
Chris McGill, founder of the McLean-based Web start-up Mixx, isn't much of a fan of Twitter, but his company's latest venture is banking on the microblogging site's widespread appeal.
MacChat: Spot the difference in Snow Leopard

IT’S one small step for a Leopard, but one giant leap for Mac-kind.

It’s not often an operating system upgrade runs faster and more efficiently than the one before, but that’s what Mac OS X Snow Leopard achieves. Apple has built a better Leopard: sleeker, faster and with a smaller footprint.

But while the focus has been on fine-tuning performance, it has been at the expense of new features. You won’t find any major new additions such as Expose, Dashboard, Spotlight or Time Machine in this operating system.

Snow Leopard has achieved its new efficiencies in several ways. Ninety per cent of Leopard’s code base has been refined, and Snow Leopard is now a 64-bit operating system (though it will run 32-bit applications, which still make up the majority). This means it can use more than 4GB of RAM, up to a theoretical maximum of 16 billion gigabytes.

Importantly, it has jettisoned support for PowerPC Macs, taking OS X back to its Intel-only NEXTStep roots. This means about 20 per cent of the system’s user base just became obsolete.

But while it won’t run on PowerPC Macs, it will still run PowerPC applications via an optional install of Mac OS X’s Rosetta emulation layer. Upon installation, Snow Leopard will file any incompatible applications into a folder of their own.

It also no longer installs unneeded code such as printer drivers. These are downloaded as required, and only for the printer model you use.

Apple says Snow Leopard will give you back 6GB of hard disk space. Real-world experiences show this can be even higher.

Will you notice the speed difference? It depends on the age of your hardware. Leopard was already fast enough on the latest Macs, but if your Mac was a couple of years old you might get a speed boost.

Where Snow Leopard will come into its own is when developers start writing applications to take advantage of its new, more effective use of processing power. New technologies such as Grand Central Dispatch and OpenCL make it trivially easy for developers to use 64-bit multicore processors and powerful GPU cards.

The Finder is one of the main beneficiaries of Snow Leopard’s code overhaul. The venerable Mac file browser, which users have loved to hate because of usability and performance issues, still looks the same but has been totally rewritten in 64-bit Cocoa, making it much more responsive.

It is also said to be more reliable at ejecting CDs and DVDs. This might seem a basic function, but with Mac OS X it has always been hit-and-miss for some reason.

Leopard introduced 512-pixel icons in CoverFlow view, and Snow Leopard extends this to normal icon view. You can browse your apps and files in high resolution, and even preview documents from icon view.

In a nod to Windows 7, the Expose windowing function is now accessible from the Dock as well as a hot key or hot corner: click and hold an application icon in the Dock and its window previews spring up. Expose now also sports a tidier, more uniform grid view.

Snow Leopard now boasts Microsoft compatibility not even Windows can match out-of-the-box: system-level support for Microsoft Exchange servers, meaning Apple’s Mail, Address Book and iCal can seamlessly integrate with a corporate mail and collaboration environment.

The catch is that it supports only Exchange 2007. Users of Exchange 2003 need not apply.

On the server side, this newfound Exchange support makes Apple’s Xserve running Snow Leopard Server a compelling alternative for corporations, regardless of which platform they operate.

Some of Snow Leopard’s enhancements are ones you’ll hopefully never need to use. If your installation is interrupted, say, by a power outage, it will pick up where it left off.

While there’s a scarcity of new user features, the new QuickTime X throws in a few of its own. As well as enjoying an interface overhaul and hardware acceleration, it offers such nifty new features as screen recording, basic editing and exporting to iTunes, MobileMe and YouTube.

But the best part about Snow Leopard might be its price. As it seems like a modest update on the surface, it will set Leopard users back only $39, or $69 for a Family Pack for up to five Macs. Tiger users can buy the box set, also including iLife ‘09 and iWork ‘09, for $299.

Snow Leopard is a no-brainer for Leopard users, and for Tiger users who skipped Leopard, it’s now well worth making the leap.

In Twitterville, the details of your life do matter

In Twitterville, the details of your life do matter
Shel Israel is not the kind of person you'd expect to find on Twitter all day -- he's 65. But Israel says Twitter has changed his life. The author of "Twitterville," a new book about social media, explains how Twitter's exchange of mundane life details can actually build meaningful relationships.

She's huge on Twitter, and she's 104

She's huge on Twitter, and she's 104
Tuesday is her 104th birthday, but that hasn't stopped Britain's Ivy Bean from being an avid Twitter user and possibly the oldest person on the social networking site.

Active Twitter user turns 104

Active Twitter user turns 104
Tuesday is her 104th birthday, but that hasn't stopped Britain's Ivy Bean from being an avid Twitter user and possibly the oldest person on the social networking site.
Russia drops XP investigation

The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service has dropped its investigation into Microsoft's decision to stop selling Windows XP in favor of Windows Vista.

Video Game Review: 'Beatles: Rock Band' Comes to Xbox, PlayStation 3, Wii

New 'Windows phones' coming in October
Microsoft is hoping that a new crop of phones will help the company in its quest to stay relevant in the cell phone market. The first phones running Windows Mobile 6.5 will launch worldwide October 6 and will include phones running on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless.
Intel's Core i5-750 and Core i7-870 processors

For the right sort of jobs, such as 3D rendering or scientific computing applications, the Core i7 delivered a performance leap beyond its precursors that was nearly unprecedented.

Video Game Review: 'Beatles: Rock Band' Comes to Xbox, PlayStation 3, Wii
The Beatles haven't exactly led the charge into the digital era -- the Fab Four's music still isn't available on iTunes, for example. But the history-making band gets the deluxe treatment in a new video game set for release on Wednesday.

Microsoft IIS flaw being exploited in attacks

Review: No booing in Beatles 'Rock Band'
There I was, trying to wedge a microphone under my arm while simultaneously pressing colored buttons on a plastic guitar with my left hand, strumming it with my right hand and crooning, "I want to hold your hand ..."
Microsoft IIS flaw being exploited in attacks

A vulnerability in Microsoft's software for housing websites is now being used for "limited attacks" on the servers it's running on, the company said on Friday.

Lee quits as president of Google China

Google Inc, owner of the most used Internet search engine in the world, said on Friday its China president Kai-Fu Lee will leave the company to start his own business in Beijing.

Howard, Virginia Tech Join Program Preparing Students for U.S. Intelligence Jobs
Howard University and Virginia Tech have joined forces in a $2.5 million academic program funded by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence designed to teach undergraduates skills that are critically needed by the nation's intelligence agencies.

Barnidge: Law enforcement needs better communication

THE SORDID TALE of Jaycee Dugard's kidnapping, rape and imprisonment for 18 years is the story that launched a thousand newscasts.

NMSU Astronomers To Predict Weather In Space

Beatles coming to iTunes, iPods Wednesday?
"Number nine. Number nine. Number nine."
NMSU Astronomers To Predict Weather In Space

You could say New Mexico State University is going space age. Astronomers at NMSU have received a grant from the National Science Foundation and NASA to study space weather.

Computer System That Failed in Pr. George's Has Faltered at Schools Across U.S.
The new multimillion-dollar computer system that left thousands of Prince George's County students without class schedules last week has faltered in districts across the nation, forcing some to pay more than they had expected and others to scrap it altogether.

Fast Forward: With Snow Leopard, Apple Changes Few of Its Spots

Heist empties Apple store in just 31 seconds
Apple's carefully thought-out notebook designs, as well as the clean lines of the iconic Apple Stores, make things very easy for smash-and-grab thieves.
Fla. boaters urged to look out for missing robot

Scientists on Florida's Gulf Coast are trying to find an underwater robot that has mysteriously vanished.The robot from the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota has been missing since Monday.It cost about $100,000. It also was equipped with a detector to find red tide, a toxic algae bloom.

Fast Forward: With Snow Leopard, Apple Changes Few of Its Spots
It's no insult to call Apple's new Mac OS X Snow Leopard the company's least exciting operating-system update in years.

The Oldest Surviving Web Pages

Some of these ghosts of the internet date right back to the very early 1990salongside today's flash and multimedia-rich extravaganzas, they may look creakingly dated but, amazingly, they still work.

Sony Walkman overtakes iPod in Japan

Beatles coming to iTunes, iPods Wednesday?
"Number nine. Number nine. Number nine."
Sony Walkman overtakes iPod in Japan

Sony's Walkman digital music player outsold Apple's iPod in Japan last week for the first time in more than four years, according to electronics research firm BCN.

Fast Forward: With Snow Leopard, Apple Changes Few of its Spots
It's no insult to call Apple's new Mac OS X Snow Leopard the company's least exciting operating-system update in years.

Astronauts complete second spacewalk

Astronauts complete second spacewalk
The space shuttle Discovery crew completed the second of three spacewalks scheduled for their 13-day mission to the international space station, NASA officials said Friday.
U.S. appeals court stays Microsoft Word injunction

The U.S. Court of Appeals has granted Microsoft Corp's request to stay an injunction imposed by a federal court that would have halted sales of some versions of its popular Word application.

Videogeist: September 04 2009

SOME of you may remember we used to run a blog featuring the latest web videos doing the rounds on email and social networking sites.

Well, welcome to the revived Videogeist.

Each Friday we’ll post the most amusing, bizarre and occasionally informative videos to pass through our Inbox.

If you want to submit your own suggestions, feel free to email us at technology@news.com.au.

Disturbing Strokes

Remember the person who recut The Shining trailer to make it look like a romantic comedy? Well, that trick can go both ways.

See below for a truly disturbing take on the intro from ‘80s sitcom Diff’rent Strokes:

For comparison, a real intro (from one of the later seasons) is here.

Armadillo Cam

Ever wondered what it’s like to be an armadillo? Well, no, me either. But the little snuffling sound they make while running around is priceless. Check it out:

Says my editor: “I feel like I’m watching a Bjork film clip.”

The Museum of Animal Perspectives photostream on Flickr has heaps of others as well — from Cow Cam to Wolf Cam to Scorpion Cam. The latter two are a bit creepy.

High-Speed Robot Hand

Does this one really require much explanation? Watch the video first, then read on for some more info. The action begins about a minute in:

LET THE SKYNET JOKES BEGIN.

Seriously though, the robot hand is being developed at the Ishikawa Komoru Lab at the University of Tokyo. Visit their website here.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Regular readers should know by now that I’m just a little bit in love with the game Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Anyway, the sequel’s due in November and here’s a taste of what it will look like:

WARNING: SIMULATED VIOLENCE

Damn.

Total Eclipse Of The Heart (Literal Version)

Okay, many of you will have already seen this one — but it’s worth a second (or third, or fourth) view anyway.

For those who haven’t, prepare to have your sides suitably split:

Have a good weekend and watch out for pervy angels.

Outlook "poor" for Great Barrier Reef: study
Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest living organism, is under grave threat from climate warming and coastal development, and its prospects of survival are "poor," a major new report found on Wednesday.

Viral Web site mocks Wal-Mart customers

Viral Web site mocks Wal-Mart customers
It's a blog where people post, and make fun of, pictures of out-of-shape, poorly dressed and otherwise awkward people shopping at Wal-Mart.

Debris moving toward shuttle, space station

Debris moving toward shuttle, space station
NASA is monitoring debris in space moving in the vicinity of the international space station and the Shuttle Discovery docked with it, officials said late Wednesday.
China tries to calm unease over rare earths curbs

A Chinese official tried to calm unease about curbs on exports of rare earths used in clean energy products and superconductors, saying Thursday that sales will continue but must be limited to reduce damage to China's environment.

MacChat: Don’t panic over Snow Leopard’s virus scanner

THE Mac is still virus-free, right? If that’s so, why does the new Mac OS X Snow Leopard come with a built-in virus scanner?

It all depends on your definition of a virus.

It’s true that on the Mac there are still no self-installing, self-propagating viruses “in the wild” – the type that cause the most grief for Windows users. The Mac’s security protocol requires that any software installed is authenticated by the user.

But this makes the user the weakest link, meaning a Mac, like any PC, is vulnerable to malware that the user is tricked into installing.

These trojans are hidden within, or disguised as, legitimate downloads and once installed can wreak havoc on the system like any other virus.

Security software maker Intego last week revealed that Snow Leopard, released on Friday, had a built-in scanner that checked downloaded software for any signs of malware such as Trojans.

When installing downloaded software in Mac OS X Leopard, the user is reminded of the potential security threat of internet downloads and asked if they want to proceed.

Snow Leopard goes a step further, checking the download for any known Mac malware. Presumably Snow Leopard updates will now carry the latest Mac malware definitions.

Intego said that with the growing popularity of Macs, malware was increasing, prompting Snow Leopard’s added security measures.

Critics have seized on the virus scanner as an admission that the Mac isn’t as secure as Apple makes out, and trotted out the “security through obscurity” myth; that virus writers haven’t bothered with the Mac because of its small market share.

But there are millions more Mac users today than there were in the days of the classic Mac OS and much less Mac malware due to the secure Unix-based OS X.

Macs still ship with their firewall turned off by default, because the Mac is still safe from viruses that attempt to install themselves.

As always, the best defence for any Mac user is common sense. If you avoid dodgy file-sharing sites and refuse to install any old package that’s sent to you, you’ll be reasonably safe and can probably continue to get away without any additional anti-virus software.

Sun Microsystems' share of the server market slips as rivals exploit fears about Oracle deal

Uncertainty about Sun Microsystems Inc.'s future appears to have contributed to serious erosion in the company's market share for computer servers in the latest quarter, according to new data being released Wednesday.

Google apologizes, explains Gmail outage

Google apologizes, explains Gmail outage
Gmail, Google's popular free e-mail service, was inaccessible to many of its 36 million users Tuesday afternoon, causing widespread chatter on Twitter and other social networks.

A cordless future for electricity?

A cordless future for electricity?
Electronics such as phones and laptops may start shedding their power cords within a year. That's the prediction of the CEO of WiTricity, a company that can send electricity through the air using magnetic fields. The technology has the potential to get rid of many power cords, chargers and throw-away batteries.

Gmail outage deprives millions of e-mail

Gmail outage deprives millions of e-mail
Gmail, Google's popular free e-mail service, was inaccessible to many of its 36 million users Tuesday afternoon, causing widespread chatter on Twitter and other social networks.
Gmail knocked offline for `majority' of users

The disruption, which lasted under two hours, was a reminder of the growing dependence on Google's technology.

Personal Tech: Gadget News and Reviews
The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro discusses recent reviews and answers your personal tech questions.

eBay to Sell 65% of Skype to Private Investors

eBay to Sell 65% of Skype to Private Investors
eBay on Tuesday announced the sale of 65% its Skype Internet calling division to a group of private investors. The price: $1.9 billion.
EBay to Sell Majority of Stake in Skype
EBay announced on Tuesday that it will sell most of its stake in the Internet phone service Skype in a deal that prices the service at $2.75 billion.

EBay to sell Skype for $2 billion?

Is AT&T losing its grip on the iPhone?
Apple's exclusive deal with AT&T to offer the iPhone may end within the year, according to a prediction from a research analyst. Opening up the iPhone to other carriers in the U.S. could be a boon for Apple but would likely mean very bad news for AT&T.
EBay to sell Skype for $2 billion?

EBay is considering selling off Skype, its $3.1billion VoIP acquisition from 2005 and a deal that the New York Times has called "one of the worst technology transactions of the decade". The newspaper is quoting two sources "briefed on the company's plans" who say that EBay will be announcing a sale on Tuesday to a couple of private investment ...

Woman unfairly sacked over ‘confrontational’ emails

10 job tweeters you should be following
When microblogging and social networking site Twitter debuted three years ago, plenty of people wrote it off as yet another pointless addition in the overcrowded networking world.
Huge chest of drawers hoisted aboard space station

The astronauts aboard the linked shuttle and station moved a giant chest of drawers from one spacecraft to the other Monday, and hitched it to the orbiting outpost.

Getting Friended By Koobface
You know you've attracted the attention of online troublemakers when they start using their malicious software to taunt you by name. Such is apparently the case with the latest version of Koobface, a worm that spreads on Facebook, Twitter and other Web 2.0 sites and turns infected systems into bots...
Woman unfairly sacked over ‘confrontational’ emails

DOES THE FORMATTING OF THIS SENTENCE OFFEND YOU?

According to a report from the Department of Massive Overreactions, a New Zealand woman was fired for “confrontational” word-formatting.

Vicki Walker, a financial controller for ProCare health, was accused of being confrontational in her use of red, bold and capital letters in emails.

She was sacked in 2007. The country’s employment authority this week found her dismissal was unfair and awarded her $NZ17,000 ($13,825).

Pic: Charlie Brewer

According to a copy of the email submitted as evidence, shown on nzherald.co.nz, the text in question had a date â€" “4.30pm on Tuesday, 25 September 2007” â€" in red and bold text.

It also had a reminder to follow the guidelines when filling out claim forms in bold and capital letters. Screenshot:

Ms Walker said she planned to lodge an appeal for further compensation.

“They nearly ruined my life,” Ms Walker told the Herald.

“I am a single woman with a mortgage, and I had to re-mortgage my home and borrow money from my sister to make it through.”

More reading:

“The email, which advises her team how to fill out staff claim forms, specifies a time and date highlighted in bold red, and a sentence written in capitals and highlighted in bold blue.” â€" Rebecca Lewis at nzherald.co.nz