Forrester: consumers go for digital DIY

European consumers are going in for content creation in a big way. That's the conclusion of a Forrester report into buying trends across Europe. The report 'Technology Devices Europeans Want' asked European consumers which devices they already own and which ones are they likely to want this year. ...more

VML zero-day attack targets Windows

Security specialist Internet Security Systems (ISS) has issued an alert for a zero-day attack targeting an unpatched vulnerability within all service pack versions of Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003. The problem is a stack overflow when handling Virtual Markup Language (VML) files - an application of XML that includes vector data and information on how to display it. Successful exploitation of the vulnerability would allow an attacker to gain access to the target system with the same privileges as the user - usually admin level for Windows users - and includes the potential to remotely run code. ...more

Euro police raid 80 homes in crack down on child pornography

An alleged child pornography ring has been smashed according to Europol. A combined operation involving six EU member states searched around 80 house and made a number of arrests. The operation, called 'Icebreaker II' carried out raids in France, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK following investigation and surveilliance of chat rooms and bulletin boards led by Italy's Carabinieri police. ...more

AOL to 'open up exclusive content' - WSJ

AOL is considering throwing open the doors to all of its services to anyone who has broadband access according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The move would represent a serious turn around for the ISP which has for many years defended its 'walled garden' approach to providing exclusive services only to its subscribers. However, with the number of subscribers falling steeply - a 30 per cent drop over the past four years - the board at Time Warner are pondering whether such a strategy is still valid at a time when almost anything held inside AOL is available for free on the Internet at large. ...more

Toshiba docks into new Multimedia Center for notebooks

We are all familiar with racks of separates in a Hi-Fi system and Toshiba is borrowing the concept to help expand the capabilities of notebooks running Windows XP or 2000. The Multimedia Center for notebooks comprises four stackable modules: an audio/USB hub, Giga Store mass storage, analogue/digital TV and radio tuner and wireless home hot spot. Apart from the audio/USB 'base station', different modules can be added to the stack according to needs and budget. ...more