Virus writers exploit Katrina disaster

Virus writers and spammers are taking advantage of the hunger for news about the Katrina hurricane and its aftermath by sending out spoof emails purporting to be news reports on the disaster. However, anyone clicking on links to read more is taken to a malicious website that will download Trojans onto the visitor's machine. The emails arrive with a variety of subject lines intended to bypass simpler spam blockers such as 'Re: g8 Tropical storm flooded New Or leans', 'Re: g7 80 percent of our city underwater' and 'Re: q1 Katrina killed as many as 80 people'. ...more

Apple updates MacBook firmware, Logic, Xsan

Apple has released a firmware update for its MacBook portables as well as software updates for both the Pro and Express versions of Logic and for Xsan. The SMC Firmware Update adjusts fan behaviour and includes specific installation instructions. No reason has been given for this release although it may complement the recent System Management Control update which addressed power management issues related to overheating problems. ...more

Four new security threats in the wild

Sophos is reporting yet more variants of the Sober, Bagle and NetSky viruses, as well as Lovegate worms - all of which are already infecting Internet users. Sober-E is the most profligate of the weekend's virus haul, according to the UK security company. The mass-mailing worm uses short texts in the message, subject and attachment filenames. ...more

The father of Fortran dies

John Backus, the man who led the IBM team that created Fortran - the first widely-used computer language - has died. He was 82 and passed away at his home in Oregon. In 1953, Backus proposed to IBM a more efficient alternative to assembly language for programming mainframe computers. ...more

UK games chart: Pro Evolution Soccer 4 shoots to the top of the league

Football fans are known as a fickle crowd, and affiliations have flipped for this week's games chart: Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 4 nutmegs FIFA 2005 to go top of the rankings. With EA Sports's FIFA 2005 slipping to number two, the top five is completed by Activision's Tony Hawk's Underground 2, climbing from seven to three, Microsoft's role-playing Fable stumbles from two to four, and EA's Burnout 3: Takedown has burnt out and broken down and remains at number five. Notable climbers this week include the DreamWorks spin-off Shark Tale (which climbs into the top twenty at number twelve in its second week), Crash Twinsanity (up to 14 from 25, also in its second week) and the venerable Sonic Heroes (up to 16 from 26 in its 36th week in the charts). ...more