Tell your kids not to open any attachment or go to any Web site that's supposed to show pictures of Osama bin Laden. It's just another attempt by some malicious hacker to take control of your family PC. Reuters cites computer security experts saying that the virus was written by someone who runs a "zombie network" - a huge network of PCs that have been infected by a "trojan" virus that allows its … [Read more...] about Bin Laden virus
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Games & girls
Not film, not digital music, but - at $7 billion in sales last year - video games are "the world's fastest-growing entertainment industry," the Washington Post reports in a thoughtfully researched update. Women make up 39% of gamers, a significant proportion, but that large industry - with all its male game designers - has a long way to go before it figures out how best to appeal to that large … [Read more...] about Games & girls
Free iPods for students
Every single one of the 1,650 freshmen arriving at Duke University for the new school year next month will receive a brand-new 20GB iPod. "The North Carolina university said the iPods will be pre-loaded with information for new students, as well as a copy of the academic calendar," the BBC reports. "They will also hold course material such as lecture notes and audio books." Then there's music. … [Read more...] about Free iPods for students
For families seeking safer surfing
Mozilla's Firefox is great, but there are other very viable options if you're disenchanted with Internet Explorer, Wired News reports. The article reviews iRider ($30), Deepnet Explorer (free), and Opera (free with ads or $39 ad-free). On the Mac side, there's also a quick mention of Apple's admirable Safari, "lest [Wired News] gets pelted with emails from disgruntled Mac fans." For more on this, … [Read more...] about For families seeking safer surfing
BT’s scary child-porn data
British Telecom's new Net-filtering tool is blocking more than 20,000 attempts to access child pornography a day, Reuters reports. BT said there is no way to tell how many users are going to such sites by accident. The filtering technology, which only blocks illegal child porn sites (not adult content in general), is called "Cleanfeed." BT uses it for its 2.5 million retail (non-business) … [Read more...] about BT’s scary child-porn data