Lifeboat thrown to notebook users

The Chief Technology Officer of IBM's PC Division, Brian Connors, was in London today briefing journalists on IBM's vision for the PC (see IBM lays out the future for idle computers). Also at the event, Michael Vanover demoed forthcoming IBM emergency recovery software for ThinkPads. (Vanover was the architect of IBM recent work on embedded security - IBM aims to reduce lifetime cost of PC. ...more

US Senator bids to outlaw phishing and pharming attacks

A US Senator is to introduce a bill to specifically outlaw the practice of 'phishing'. Similar to the controversial CAN-SPAM law which was signed into law at the beginning of last year the Bill, if passed, will allow for a five year jail term and a fine of up to $250,000 for anyone convicted of phishing or the related practice of 'pharming'. Phishing is the practice of sending emails to someone purporting to represent of a company with which that person does business. ...more

Music publishers are restricting online growth - DiMA

The head of the body that represents online music services has said that music publishers' demands are restricting the growth of the industry. Jonathan Potter, director of DiMA, the Digital Media Association, said that unless publishers accept a smaller share of the digital music pie for songwriters, the online services will not be able to cut prices in order to better compete with the 'free' music available on p2p file sharing networks. Publishers receive about nine per cent of each track sold. ...more

Crucial lights up memory usage

Still looking for that must have present for the modder in your life (like you!)? Then how about some Crucial Ballistix Tracer memory? The memory modules feature two rows of activity-indicating LEDs and blue ground-effects LEDs - all custom integrated directly into the PCB and cooled with a jet-black heatspreader. Drooling yet? The LEDS are fitted as two rows of eight red and green lights atop the module, circulating at varying speeds proportional to usage. In addition, there are eight blue ground effects LEDs which emit a constant glow near the pins. ...more

Court seeks 'unbiased' jury for first anti-spam trial

Potential jurors in an anti-spam case have been grilled by the defence on whether they used AOL and their feelings about spam. The defence was concerned that AOL users would not be sufficiently objective to be to serve on the jury deciding the guilt of alleged spammers. However, Judge Thomas D. ...more