Viruses prefer IRC

A spate of four new viruses identified by Sophos around last weekend show chat app IRC the preferred means of pulling your computer's strings. Using IRC channels to gain remote access to a computer is not new, but these days its becoming a uniform component. Senior security consultant at Sophos, Carole Theriault, told us: 'The exploitation of chat systems such as IRC has grown in the last few years. ...more

Intel says no plans for NAND flash market

Intel's Taiwan office on Wednesday denied reports that the company has plans to move into the NAND flash memory market and could release new NAND flash products as early as the second half of this year. 'We have always been a NOR flash supplier. We do not have any plans for the NAND flash market,' a company official told DigiTimes. ...more

Software makes 2D into 3D

A UK-based company has released a software package that can generate 3D models straight from photographs. D-Vision Works has announced its D Sculptor package, which can make photo realistic 3D models of a range of objects using a set of photographs. The user needs to take between 10 and 25 photos of the object they want to model and scan each photo into the software. ...more

Analysis: People power still rules in the ISP world

If you bought a new car and, on taking charge of the keys, found that it only had one seat and three wheels, you'd be more than a little miffed. Without a doubt, you'd have words with the dealer about the fact that you clearly hadn't received what you paid for and that one seat is of no use unless the vehicle was purchased with the sole intention of very bumpy lonely drives for one. Internet service provider (ISP) Pipex recently found itself in a similar situation when it paid ?12. ...more

Report: Beyond the Backlash - Part 1

Yesterday saw a meeting of representatives from industry, NGOs and government bodies to discuss the state of technology, the Internet and society, and how to innovate it in what is something of a hiatus following dot-com collapse and the worst of the tech recession. In a series of plenary sessions and workshops, a range of issues came up for hotly-contested debate, from how the Web should be governed and crime dealt with, to how best we can assimilate this new space into our culture. High on the list was perennial thorn of broadband. ...more