John Lister

Microsoft's Hotmail email service was unavailable earlier this week. The company says an overheated server was responsible for the service being out-of-action for many users. The problems affected Hotmail and its successor, Outlook. Microsoft says ... the problem could be linked to a firmware issue. Firmware is software built into a specific device; in this case, a part of the equipment at a Microsoft data center. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) Software Bug Causes Overheating According to Microsoft, an attempt to update the firmware went awry and resulted in the temperature in the data center spiking in a ... (view more)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has revised its rules about online advertising to better account for new trends in social media. The FTC warns that the short format of ads on Facebook and Twitter is no excuse for misleading customers. The warning ... comes in a document called ".Com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising." It's an update to an original set of guidelines called "Dot Com Disclosures," which was published in 2000. This is the first time the rules have been updated, even though the Internet has changed dramatically since that time. The key to the ... (view more)

Microsoft says students can try the online edition of Office 365 free of charge for up to six months. It's also offering a one month trial to people who aren't students. The student offer is for a three-month subscription to Office 365 University ... that allows students to install copies of Office software on two different computers (including PCs or Macs). The University edition includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, and Access. The subscription also means you can use online editions of this software on any computer with an Internet connection. Although the standard ... (view more)

The Authors Guild has formally objected to Amazon's plans to take control of a new website domain dedicated to books. They say it is inappropriate for a private company to control such an important (and generic) domain name. The dispute centers on ... the new top level domain system. Until this year, all website addresses had to have an ending (or top level domain) that was either '.com' or '.org,' or a specific country code, such as '.ca' for Canada. Under the new system, organizations can apply to take control of virtually any term. For example, a technology site could move to a ".site" address ... (view more)

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has charged 29 people suspected of sending more than 180 million spammy text messages. An FTC spokesman said he had a simple message for anyone who receives unsolicited offers through a text message: ... "Delete them, immediately. The offers are, in a word, garbage." (Source: pcmag.com ) According to the FTC, the accused sent messages falsely claiming the recipient had won a prize, such as a $1,000 gift card from a major retailer. If a recipient followed a link placed in the message, they would be asked to supply personal information -- including ... (view more)

Microsoft has agreed to drop a rule forcing Office 2013 buyers to re-purchase the software if they bought a new computer. The change follows a hostile response from Microsoft customers. The controversy arose because of the way Microsoft's Office ... 2013 software licensing works. Microsoft has always taken the approach that you don't buy software outright but pay for the right to use it under specified conditions. In the past, most Microsoft licenses were transferrable. This meant that as long as you only ran the software on one machine at a time, you could reinstall the software if you changed ... (view more)

Microsoft's failure to offer European Windows users a clear choice of Internet browser has proven very costly. The European Union has fined the company a shocking 561 million euros, equivalent to US $732.2 million. Microsoft had agreed to provide ... new Window users with a browser choice screen (or "browser ballot" as it was popularly known). The deal was designed to settle claims that Microsoft's own browser, Internet Explorer, had an unfair advantage over other browsers because it came pre-installed on all Windows machines. Under the agreement, Microsoft began adding the choice ... (view more)

The days of repeatedly sliding or tapping your thumb to read longer web pages on a smartphone could be coming to an end. Samsung is reportedly getting ready to debut a phone that you navigate with your eyes. According to a New York Times report, the ... feature will debut on Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S IV smartphone, which is expected to become Samsung's highest-profile handset. (Source: nytimes.com ) The feature will reportedly track a user's eyes as they read a lengthy page. Once the phone detects the user is looking at the bottom of the screen, it will automatically scroll the page down to ... (view more)

A recently-discovered browser flaw could allow hackers to manipulate a site visitor's physical hard drive. At the moment, Mozilla's Firefox is the only browser not affected by the problem. The technology involved is HTML5, the latest edition of the ... standard code used to produce websites. One of the key features of HTML5 allows web developers to include code for showing multimedia -- such as animations and videos -- without the website visitor having to install special plug-in software. Web browsers have always had the ability to write some data to a computer's hard drive, usually on a ... (view more)

Fujitsu has revealed a special, high-tech walking cane with built-in satellite navigation features. The firm has also unveiled a smartphone specially designed for elderly users. Fujitsu's 'Next Generation Cane' allows users to set a route and get ... directions through an LED display positioned at the top of the handle. That display provides directions in the form of a a large yellow arrow; if the user turns the wrong way, the handle vibrates to alert them. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) The device also allows friends and family to track a user's location. It's possible to set the cane to send an email ... (view more)