Review and Comment Articles

· Stinky the Robot, Four Kids And a Brief Whiff of Success - Stinky is one ugly robot, a raggedy contraption constructed of crudely painted, cheap plastic pipes pasted together with gobs of the foul-smelling glue that gave the monstrosity its name.
· Wireless World: Smart-cards vs. RFID tags - Very soon, international travelers will be able to breeze through customs checkpoints using passports outfitted with contactless smart-cards, experts told UPI's Wireless World.
· Dialing up to do business - Big money is changing hands every day in South Korea, and a large percentage of it is happening at the touch of a cellphone button.
· Top 25: Technological breakthroughs - Advances that transformed how the world communicates are among the top 25 technological breakthroughs of the past quarter century, according to a panel of experts assembled by CNN.
· Wireless device can monitor patients - Nordic telecommunications operator TeliaSonera said Wednesday it is launching a new product that lets doctors monitor their patients through a wireless device. The new system, called BodyKom, connects wirelessly to sensors on the patient.
· Internet report finally arrives seven years later - Talk about turning in your homework late: The government just finished a report on Internet traffic that Congress requested seven years ago.
· Sony wants an 'iTunes for movies' - Michael Arrieta, senior vice president of Sony Pictures, said at a US Digital Hollywood conference that it wanted to create an "iTunes" for films. Films will be put onto flash memory for mobiles over the next year.
· It's Not Just a Phone, It's an Adventure - Larry Azlin, a software engineer in El Cerrito, Calif., considers himself one of the lucky ones. His aging clamshell cellphone, a Motorola V60, seems to work just fine. But once he gives it some thought, it occurs to him that he does have a few complaints.
· In the Competition for DVD Rentals by Mail, Two Empires Strike Back - Seven years ago, Netflix invented the category, the business model and the prepaid two-way shipping envelope. Now, as three million subscribers are helping Netflix hit its profitable stride, Blockbuster and Wal-Mart have entered the market, taking a page from the Netflix playbook.
· Thwack! Whir!... Whir? Segway Polo Is Born - "It's similar to real polo," Mr. Ko said, "but without the manure."
· BigBelly Has Appetite for Trash - A new trash-compacting invention has garnered raves from resort owners, quizzical looks from city dwellers and the cold shoulder from big waste-management companies. BigBelly, a somewhat insatiable 4-foot-tall trash container, doubles as a trash compactor that can flatten and hold up to 300 gallons of garbage. The average capacity of a garbage bin, by comparison, is 30 gallons.
· Phishing Attack Targets Yahoo Messenger - Yahoo Messenger is the target of a phishing attack in which victims receive messages that appear to come from people on their buddy lists. When they click on a link in a message, they're transported to what they believe is a Yahoo Web site, where their login information is taken down by perpetrators. A Yahoo spokesperson confirmed the attack Friday.
· Spam Ain't Dead Yet - In the past few weeks, I have heard reports that spam is finally dying. But to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.
· March's Bug Story: Old Worms Maintain Grip, Work Phishing Up - Older worms and viruses continued to dominate March's list of Top 10 baddest apples, said security firms Thursday, in part because users don't update their anti-virus defenses, but also because 2005's entries have been too weak to unseat the old guard.
· Microsoft sues site operators - Microsoft, stepping up its war against online fraud, filed 117 lawsuits Thursday against operators of ``phishing'' sites that try to trick unsuspecting Internet users into handing over personal financial information.

Technology and the Family Articles

· Internet travel swaps save cash on lodging - Digsville is just one Internet-based travel operation that's exploded in the past few years, catering to budget-conscious globe-trotters who aren't interested in the typical tourist traps.
· Electronic world swallows up kids' time, study finds - The USA's children live in an increasingly heavy stew of media, spending about 6 hours a day mostly watching TV, using computers and enjoying other electronic activities. And they are spending relatively little time reading or doing homework, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey reported Wednesday.
· Power-hungry PCs cost users dear - People who cannot be bothered to turn off their computers properly are costing both the environment and their own pockets dear, a study has concluded.
· Brain chip reads man's thoughts - A paralysed man in the US has become the first person to benefit from a brain chip that reads his mind.

Business and Security Articles

· AMD Unveils Virtualization Platform; AMD To Deliver ``Pacifica'' Specification to AMD64 Technology Product Family, Further Advan - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today for the first time publicly disclosed key elements of its "Pacifica" virtualization technology, at the AMD Reviewer's Day in Austin, Texas. "Pacifica" will help extend AMD's technology leadership when it brings to market technology that is designed to enhance 64-bit server virtualization technologies for x86-based servers, desktops and mobile computers.
· NEW BIG BORE ENGINE UNVEILED AT MID AMERICA TRUCKING SHOW - The new International ฎ brand big bore diesel engine was introduced at the Mid-America Trucking Show, marking the premier of a new line of big bore diesels designed to give more choices to owners and operators of Class 8 highway tractors and severe service trucks.
· Critical flaws in IE and Outlook discovered - A new set of highly critical flaws has been discovered in Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Outlook programs, according to research company eEye Digital Security.
· GM, DaimlerChrysler get $88M for fuel-cell work - General Motors (GM) and DaimlerChrysler (DCX) said Wednesday that they will split federal grants totaling $88 million to put a few dozen more hydrogen-power vehicles into service by the end of the decade.
· Web-ready cellphones, PDAs are next frontier for hackers, virus writers - Hackers and virus writers can spot vulnerability a mile away. So it's no wonder their latest targets are Internet-enabled cellphones, PDAs and smart phones.
· Slew Of Mytob Worms Strike - Eight variations of the Mytob worm have appeared in the last five days, said Symantec Monday, all of them able to plant a backdoor on infected machines and prevent them from updating security software.
· LogicLibrary Uncovers Security Gap in Trillian - LogicLibrary Friday announced it has uncovered a potential security vulnerability in the Trillian instant-messaging client, produced by Cerulean Studios. The consequences of this vulnerability could range from an inconvenient program shut-down to a malicious hacker being able to gain control of a computer's operating system.
· PC Tools Upgrades Anti-Spyware With Improved Keylogger Protection - PC Tools plans on Tuesday to upgrade its anti-spyware software with improved protection against keyloggers.
· ISPs Join to Fingerprint Internet Attacks - Leading global telecommunications companies, Internet service providers, and network operators will begin sharing information on Internet attacks as members of a new group called the Fingerprint Sharing Alliance, according to a published statement from the new group.
· Macs More Vulnerable, Spyware A Danger - Enterprises using Apple's Macintosh shouldn't smirk too much over their perceived immunity to the kind of security problems that plague Windows users, a research analyst said.
· Symantec Acknowledges Two Holes in Antivirus Products - Security software company Symantec has acknowledged that software flaws in some of its antivirus products could allow malicious hackers to use denial of service (DOS) attacks to crash systems running the software, disrupting automatic protection features.
· CoolWebSearch, Dubbed Adware's "Ebola," Tops Spyware Threat List - CoolWebSearch, adware that generates more than $300 million a year for its maker, is the "Ebola" of adware, and easily the most significant spyware threat on the Internet, an anti-spyware security firm said Wednesday.
· The Chaotic World of Defining Spyware - Earlier this week, when anti-spyware vendor eTrust PestPatrol temporarily removed detections for eight adware applications marketed by Claria, the move caused many a raised eyebrow among anti-spyware advocates.
· Big Lesson for I.T. Hackers - Companies are beginning to realize that there may be internal security threats from their employees, but what about the workers that are sent packing?