John Lister

Amazon's experiment with on-screen advertising for the Kindle e-Reader appears to have paid off. The cut-price edition of the device is now the best-selling product in the company's entire electronics range. Kindle with 'Special Offers' Saves $25 ... The model, known as Kindle with Special Offers, retails for $114, which is $25 off the standard price. As far as the hardware goes, it's exactly the same as the standard WiFi edition, which was previously the cheapest in the Kindle range. (Source: pcworld.com ) The big difference is two sets of advertising. The first is that when the device isn't in ... (view more)

Microsoft has revealed that the infection rate for Windows 7 computers has increased. But the Windows 7 operating system still remains considerably more secure than its predecessors. The most talked-about figure in the newly-published statistics is ... a 33 per cent hike in the proportion of Windows 7 computers suffering from a malware infection. That's a potentially misleading oversimplification, though. The actual rate increased during 2010 from three PCs per thousand to four per thousand, figures that could easily be distorted by rounding errors. Windows XP Still Riskiest for Malware ... (view more)

Until recently, courts of law have had the power to force Internet Service Providers to hand over customer details based on IP (Internet Protocol) address information, which is used to identify a user connected to the Internet. But now one judge has ... refused to make such an order, questioning the accuracy of the method. An IP is a number that identifies a particular device such as a computer or a router connected to a network. In theory, there is a straight correlation between one device and one IP address. In practice, though, a single IP address does not necessarily mean one computer or one ... (view more)

Online phone service Skype is preparing to fix a bug in the Mac edition of the system that could allow hackers to take control of a computer remotely. The site that discovered the bug has accused Skype of dragging its heels on the issue. Gordon ... Maddern of purehacking.com says he discovered the bug entirely by mistake. He was talking to a colleague on a Skype connection about some code written for a client. To his surprise he was able to make the code run on his colleague's computer. Upon closer examination, Maddern discovered that the hack only worked where the recipient's computer was a Mac ... (view more)

The Department of Justice has agreed to end its legal oversight of Microsoft. It follows a 10 year period during which the Redmond-based software company had to make itself open to examination by U.S. officials. Basis: Microsoft Unfairly Promotes ... Internet Explorer The Department of Justice has agreed to officially end the oversight on May 12, 2011. The case brings to a conclusion a process that began way back in 1998, when the department filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, accusing it of unfairly promoting its own Internet Explorer (IE) browser by including it in Windows at the expense of ... (view more)

A British organization has produced what appears to be the cheapest fully-functional computer ever made. The device, made by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, is the size of a USB stick and costs just $25. The computer, which runs the open source Linux ... system, has a particularly creative design. In effect it's a silicon chip attached to three sockets: an HDMI socket to connect to a monitor or TV screen, a USB slot to plug in a keyboard, and a memory card slot for storage. While it's small enough to carry anywhere, it carries out the same functions as a full-fledged desktop PC. $25 Pocket PC ... (view more)

A district court in Massachusetts plans to use social media to improve public understanding of the legal process. The experiment will take place in Quincy District Court, to the south of Boston. Unlike many courts where filming is allowed for use in ... news broadcasts, the plan here is to have a live Internet video broadcast whenever the court is in session. Not only is the court going to allow court visitors to blog, update Facebook and post to Twitter during cases, but it's providing a WiFi connection and even setting up a special seating area for "citizen journalists." Lawyers Fear Privacy ... (view more)

Microsoft has announced an overhaul of the way it assess and publicizes the risk security problems pose to users of its products. The new technique will give added detail as well as highlighting the benefits of upgrading to the latest version of ... Windows. The changes will affect Microsoft's monthly security update, which includes ratings for the potential damage that could be caused by a particular security flaw if the relevant patch is not applied. As well as giving an overall idea of the range and scale of problems, the ratings are also aimed at business users for whom applying updates ... (view more)

In one of the more embarrassing security breaches of all time, a major government laboratory has fallen victim to a phishing scam . Fortunately, the stolen data wasn't among the most confidential information in the centre's database. The scammers ... struck at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a town known for its role in the Manhattan Project. The laboratory works with the Department of Energy on subjects that require intense computing power to help simulate millions of possible outcomes to particular scenarios. The lab is host to Jaguar, the world's second-fastest ... (view more)

Government officials say they'll need more time to tackle a major network of infected Windows computers. The request comes as more details emerge about just how widely affected major organizations were by the Coreflood botnet . Zombie Windows PCs ... Steal Over $100 Million Those responsible had used a Windows-based virus to seize remote control of more than two million machines , most of which were located in the US. The machines were then ordered to collect and transmit confidential data, with one independent estimate suggesting more than $100 million may have been stolen as a result. The FBI ... (view more)