John Lister

Google has apologized for an ongoing quirk by which searching for racist terms in Google Maps brings up the White House. It's the latest in a string of embarrassing problems with the site. The precise results users get on Google Maps depends on what ... they type into the search query, where they are currently located, and which location they are looking at on the map. At the time of writing, searching for an offensive term beginning with 'N' brought up the White House if you were already viewing a location in the Washington DC area. (Source: washingtonpost.com ) Several other reports ... (view more)

Some of the largest tech firms are urging President Obama to drop plans to make it easier for law enforcement and security agencies to access Internet communications. They say the President should resist any idea for such firms to implement ... mandatory "backdoors." The proposal means that firms are only allowed to use encryption if they also build in a way that makes it possible for law enforcement groups to access the data in an unencrypted form. The "key" to unlock the data would effectively be split into two parts: one held by the Internet firm, and the other by the ... (view more)

Candy Crush Saga will come pre-installed for Windows 10. It's not yet clear how in-game purchases will work in the Windows edition. The game will be one of four pre-installed games in Windows 10, alongside long-time classics Solitaire Hearts, and ... Minesweeper. Those three were all made optional downloads in Windows 8 after years of shipping as part of Windows systems, but have now returned as part of the main package. Candy Crush Saga was already a hit online through Facebook and in Apple and Android apps, with a reported 500 million downloads, before being added to Windows Phone last year ... (view more)

Google has revealed that it rejects the majority of complaints it gets from users asking for embarrassing or false content to be removed from its search results. It seems to be getting most decisions "right," but there's still concern about the ... process. The issue involves a ruling by the European Union of Justice, which handles those laws that apply across 28 countries in Europe. It affects any search engine that offers results to European users, even if the search engine or the sites it lists are based elsewhere. The "right to be forgotten" ruling involves cases where ... (view more)

Scientists have designed a simple computer circuit to successfully recognize three different letters. It sounds unimpressive, but it's actually a huge step towards replicating and learning more about the human brain. One of the curious things about ... a computer is that although it is considerably faster than a human at basic calculations (which are what its operations boil down to), there are certain tasks at which it is far inferior. Most of these tasks involve 'human' abilities, such as judgment and making snap decisions. A good example is situations which involve a large number ... (view more)

Microsoft has confirmed Windows 10 will be the last ever version of Windows. But it says that by no means is it the end for the system. The company plans to completely ditch the idea of releasing a new version of Windows every two or three years. ... Instead it's going to issue more frequent updates to Windows 10 . At the moment, the updates to Windows are relatively minor. Besides the important security fixes, most updates tend to be minor fixes for usability, with very occasional new features and improvements. Any major rethinks are generally saved for a new version. In the future, ... (view more)

Lenovo computer users have been warned to immediately check that they have installed a security patch to plug a significant risk of malware. Ironically, the risk is related to the way that Lenovo's automated software update system is updated. ... Independent security researchers discovered a flaw in the protection that is meant to ensure that Lenovo computers only automatically download and install genuine updates. The flaw means that a hacker can remotely install malicious software on a Lenovo computer simply by being on the same unsecured wireless network. Within the security community, ... (view more)

Tech giant Cisco has warned that a new strain of malware is designed to render a Windows computer virtually useless if it's discovered by security software - effectively executing a boobytrap payload that eventually destroys all user data on the ... hard drive. Cisco says that Rombertik has "multiple layers of obfuscation and anti-analysis functionality" meaning that it is hard to discover and hard to examine. It's able to hide itself from both static and dynamic analysis, which respectively scan a computer's files and its currently active applications. (Source: cisco.com ) ... (view more)

One of the key figures in the creation of the Internet has warned that adding billions of gadgets with online connections could mean a slower Internet for many users. Vint Cerf said users need to enable a newer Internet addressing system to get the ... best results. Cerf is sometimes referred to as one of the "fathers of the Internet." He played a key role in the creation of ARPANET , the military network that established many of the technologies that were later at the heart of the Internet. Cerf also helped design the basic system by which Internet data is broken into small pieces, ... (view more)

Microsoft has made the announcement that Windows 10 will be able to run many iPhone, iPad and Android applications natively. That's just one of several revelations made about the new system this week, including the new name for Internet Explorer's ... successor. The announcements came at Microsoft's annual Build conference for software developers, which shows off new ways that the upcoming operating system will work with software. The real shocker, however, is the fact that rival operating systems will be supported in Windows 10. Microsoft is releasing toolkits for developers that ... (view more)