Animal rights group condemns 'rampant' eBay ivory trade

The elephant, the world's largest land mammal, is being threatened with global extinction by a 'rampant trade' in ivory on the eBay online auction site, animal welfare campaigners said on Tuesday. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said it had conducted a survey in the UK, Australia, China, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Canada and the US and tracked more than 2,200 elephant ivory items listed on eBay websites. It found more than 90 per cent of the listings breached even eBay's own wildlife policies. ...more

MTV to launch DIY music video site

MTV, the groundbreaking cable TV channel which is credited/blamed with popularising the pop video, is to take on the challenge of MySpace and the like. The brand is about to make its first foray into the social networking phenomenon that has become this year's biggest talking point on the Internet. Combining what it sees as the best of MTV, YouTube and MySpace, Flux will be both a website and a TV channel. ...more

Vantage stripped of PC Pro Labs award

PC Pro has decided to strip Vantage Computers of its recommended award from this month's Labs, after the company was expelled from the Professional Computing Association (PCA). Kent-based Vantage Computers, which trades as Vantage Direct, is accused of repeatedly failing to respond to the Association's attempts to solve customer disputes. It has also reportedly failed to refund at least one customer's pre-payment. ...more

Call centres pinpointed for ID theft

Employees at Indian call centres routinely sell personal financial information that is being used to conduct fraudulent Internet transactions, according to a report by Australia's national broadcaster. An investigation by ABC Television's Four Corners programme saw reporters offered PINs, passport numbers and credit card details. It also found that people were asked for information - notably passport numbers - that they were not required to provide. ...more

Donate to Google

Charitable Google users have a new way to donate their spare computing time. By installing Google Compute on their Google toolbar, users can donate their idle computer cycles to a good cause. Google's first good cause is folding@home, a non-profit academic research project at Stanford University that is trying to understand the structure of proteins so they can develop better treatments for a number of illnesses. ...more