BBC undertakes climate change experiment

The BBC is asking the public to help with the biggest ever experiment on climate change ever undertaken. The Corporation is asking people to donate their idle computer time to model the effects of global warming on the world's weather. As anyone who has been caught in the rain after being told by the weather centre to expect sunshine will tell you, predicting the future weather is an unpredictable business. ...more

A second Excel flaw emerges

Another 'zero day' security flaw has emerged with Excel just as Microsoft is scrambling to fix the vulnerability that appeared last week. The new vulnerability could be exploited by convincing a user to click on a link on a specially crafted Excel spreadsheet, meaning a criminal hacker could gain control of the computer. According to an alert sent to customers by security firm Symantec, the security breach occurs when Excel fails to check user-supplied input properly before copying it to an insufficiently sized memory buffer. ...more

Google defends data policy after EU warning

Google is defending its storing of user's search data for up to two years for security and commercial reasons. It had been warned by Brussels that it could be violating European privacy laws by doing so. Google has said it will respond by 19 June to a letter from a European Union data protection advisory group expressing concern it was keeping information on users' searches for too long. ...more

PC Pro: Change of specification to JAL Recommended PC

JAL has been forced to replace the monitor included with its Monarch XP3000 PC, which has won a Recommended award in the January 2004 issue of PC Pro. JAL has been forced to replace the monitor included with its Monarch XP3000 PC, which has won a Recommended award in the January 2004 issue of PC Pro. Instead of the Sharp LL-T17D4-B monitor, which won't be available until January due to shortages, JAL will ship the PC with the Iiyama ProLite E431B. ...more

Oftel sets prices for access to local loop

Oftel has released its guidelines to the prices BT will charge other ISPs for access to the local loop. Annual rental for a loop will be ?118 with a ?95 connection charge, while an internal tie cable connecting 100 loops to an operator's equipment will be ?21 annual rental with a ?1,433 connection charge. Both BT and ISPs wanting to take advantage of the unbundling of the local loop, due in January next year, have until 4 December to raise objections. ...more