Topic: COMPUTER - on June 5, 2004 at 11:42:00 AM CEST
BugMeNot - Firefox Extensions
Bypass compulsory web registration via Firefox's right-click context menu. Compatibile with Mozilla, current Firefox releases, and the upcoming 0.9 Firefox release that will use a new extension manager. Visit bugmenot.com for full details of their service.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 4, 2004 at 8:42:00 PM CEST
Microsoft Wins Patent for Handheld Computer Click
Computer users with itchy trigger fingers take note: The next time you open a software program with two quick clicks on a handheld computer you may be engaging in a process patented by Microsoft Corp MSFT.O .
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on April 27 granted a patent for a "time based hardware button for application launch" in which a click of a button can start different programs if it is clicked once, twice or held down for several seconds.
That's a process familiar to countless computer users who have double-clicked their way through Microsoft's Windows operating system, as well as anyone who's tried to set the time on a digital watch.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 4, 2004 at 5:20:00 PM CEST
Toxic dust found lurking in tech kit
A study conducted by environmental groups in the US has found yet another way our computers are trying to kill us.
The research found that dust on computer processors and monitors contains several chemicals that have been linked to neurological and reproductive disorders. The source? Brominated fire retardants, such as polybrominated diphenyl (PBDEs).
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 4, 2004 at 2:53:00 PM CEST
Microsoft bars Windows pirates
Many people using pirated copies of Windows XP will get no help from Microsoft to make their PC safer.
The software giant has decided that a forthcoming update to XP will not work with the most widely pirated versions of its operating system.
The upgrade, called Service Pack 2, closes security loopholes in XP and adds features that make it easier to keep machines safer from viruses.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 4, 2004 at 2:51:00 PM CEST
Worm steals credit card details
Windows users are being warned about a virus that is "aggressively stealing" credit card numbers and passwords.
The Korgo virus debuted on 22 May and since then has been steadily racking up victims.
Although the virus is not widespread, security firms are issuing warnings because it is proving so effective at stealing confidential data.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 2, 2004 at 2:31:00 AM CEST
Seven tricks that Web users don't know
They may seem obvious to you, but less-technical users are frequently stymied by issues like these
Web developers have all sorts of browsing tricks that they have gained from years of experience, to the point where they can't even imagine not knowing them -- right-clicking to open a new browser window, for instance, or using the arrow keys to navigate a list. To Web veterans, these things are so familiar that they seem obvious. The fact that many people don't know these tricks -- and can get completely stuck as a result -- comes as a shock. This article describes seven Web site features that typical non-technical users aren't familiar with, based on data collected from the author's own usability studies.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 2, 2004 at 1:28:00 AM CEST
The Freenet Project
"I worry about my child and the Internet all the time, even though she's too young to have logged on yet. Here's what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 years from now, she will come to me and say 'Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?'" --Mike Godwin, Electronic Frontier Foundation
What is Freenet? Freenet is free software which lets you publish and obtain information on the Internet without fear of censorship. To achieve this freedom, the network is entirely decentralized and publishers and consumers of information are anonymous. Without anonymity there can never be true freedom of speech, and without decentralization the network will be vulnerable to attack.Communications by Freenet nodes are encrypted and are "routed-through" other nodes to make it extremely difficult to determine who is requesting the information and what its content is.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 1, 2004 at 3:19:00 PM CEST
Europe sticks up two fingers at ICANN budget
The proposed 2004-5 budget for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has hit a snag - the rest of the world is refusing to pay its share of the bill.
ICANN last week proposed a budget of $15.8m for next year, nearly twice as much as its current annual expenditure. However, the Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries (CENTR) - an organisation which represents the Internet registries of 39 countries - is refusing to play ball.
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 1, 2004 at 3:04:00 PM CEST
Touchscreen BoomboxPC
Functional as both PC and boombox. radio works, but the indicator had to be removed. the built-in mics will feed into the tablet, along with line-in and possibly radio so i can record radio to the harddrive, if i ever wanted to. the line-out of the tablet goes to the line-in of the boombox. the headphone jack on the boombox is unchanged, and the amplified external speaker jacks on the boombox had to be removed to make room for the power switch, standby and restart switches.
¬> gutterslide
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 1, 2004 at 2:40:00 PM CEST
New self-destructing DVD launched
Suicidal after eight hours
A French company has developed a disposable DVD or DVD-D, that self destructs after a few hours. Like the classic DVD, DVD-D is made of polycarbonate, but it contains an extra layer of coating that reacts to an oxidisation process which begins as soon as the disc is exposed to air. The self-destruct process can be pre-set to occur between eight and 24 hours.
¬> dvd-d.com
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Topic: COMPUTER - on May 29, 2004 at 10:42:00 AM CEST
Online dating firm patents cupid's arrow
The US patent office has outdone itself this week, awarding dating company eHarmony a patent covering online matchmaking.
In patentese, US patent no. 6,735,568 describes a computer implemented method for "identifying people who are likely to have a successful relationship".
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Topic: COMPUTER - on May 28, 2004 at 3:16:00 PM CEST
First 64-bit Windows virus
Anti-virus researchers at Symantec yesterday spotted the first virus capable of infecting 64-bit Windows systems.
Rugrat was created to prove a point rather than to be released into the wild. The proof-of-concept virus poses no immediate risk to Itanic users, but as the population of IA64 systems grows that risk of 64-bit worms will also increase. The virus is also capable of infecting 32-bit computers running 64-bit emulation software.
¬> The Register
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