Charity warns over growing online abuse of children

Barnardo's has published a report today detailing the extent to which children are suffering abuse which is made available through the Internet and mobile phones. It is calling on the Government to set up a Centre of Excellence to find and help the victims of these crimes and provide levels of funding to enable international cooperation because, despite thousands of images of child abuse being posted online every day, very few victims have been identified. Detective Inspector Terry Jones, Internet paedophilia consultant and former Head of Greater Manchester Police Abusive Images Unit, said: 'Law enforcement worldwide has only traced approximately 250 children - this is totally inadequate. ...more

More Brits look for love online

In the run up to next Monday's annual Valentine's Day lovefest, British singletons are flocking to dating sites according to online monitor Hitwise. Over the last year, the number of dating websites in the UK has grown from 708 to 821, a growth of 16 per cent. Whether there are more potential mates to choose from or simply that the sites are harder to navigate is hard to say, although Hitwise says that love seekers are spending more time on the sites - now almost 17 minutes, up from 13 minutes 16 seconds last year. ...more

Half of Europe's networks compromised by mobile devices

Fifty per cent of businesses have had their networks infected via mobile devices. Yet, according to research by Datamonitor, fewer than one in five European businesses have any plans to tackle this security hole Most businesses contacted knew of the dangers of allowing devices such as laptops, PDAs, phones, USB memory keys and even iPods onto networks without first validating their security status. The UK topped the pro-active list, with 36 per cent of businesses putting in processes to stop these devices being allowed to connect ad hoc. ...more

Toshiba puts its money on notebook reliability

Toshiba is putting its latest laptops through an independent testing process in which it is so confident it is offering a repair or replacement, plus a full (ex VAT) refund on any that go wrong in the first year. The first models to undergo the new testing procedure and thus available under the offer are the Satellite Pro A120 and Tecra A8. The new notebook design is tested using a HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) procedure by German company TUV, Toshiba's Product Marketing Manager Ken Chan said. ...more

Pogo to deliver techno joy

There's been a heck of a lot of material written about the up-and-coming 3G mobile phone network, but one piece of technology that has been designed to get the best from the GSM/GPRS network is the Pogo Technology Terminal. The device has been designed with the 21st century in mind and looks like a misshapen credit card with a 3.8in colour LCD touch sensitive screen. ...more