internet

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Google Earth Adds 'Depth,' Tackling World's Oceans

Underwater volcanoes, shipwrecks now available to program's users

(Newser) - Google has added a new feature to its Google Earth software, which now enables users to explore the world’s oceans and access information from scientists and explorers, AFP reports. “Google Earth is equipping itself with a new dimension: depth,” an engineer said. Surfers can “dive beneath...

911 Centers Easy Targets for Pranksters
 911 Centers
 Easy Targets
 for Pranksters
analysis
Feb 2, 2009 2:58 PM CST

911 Centers Easy Targets for Pranksters

Services not updated to handle fake caller ID

(Newser) - Using VoIP Internet-calling services, pranksters are easily duping outdated 911 call centers to disastrous consequences, Ars Technica reports. Using easy-access online services, callers can cover up their real locations, make up stories, and mobilize emergency teams anywhere. Updating call-center systems could fix the problem, but most such places can’t...

India to Unveil $10 Laptop
 India to Unveil $10 Laptop 
Feb 2, 2009 2:06 PM CST

India to Unveil $10 Laptop

Low-cost computer is part of plan to update nation's colleges

(Newser) - India’s government will launch an ultra-cheap laptop computer tomorrow as part of a new initiative to update the nation’s educational system, the Guardian reports. The Sakshat will sell for $10 (500 rupees), a price India hopes will be accessible for most students. The laptop is the centerpiece of...

In Tough Times, People Dust Off the Library Card

Even amid budget cuts, the institutions are expanding offerings

(Newser) - As the economy lightened wallets last year, people in search of jobs and entertainment turned to a long-lost concept called a library, reports the Washington Post, spiking DC-area circulation by 23% in the last half of 2008. And although budget cuts are hitting libraries hard, they're still finding ways to...

Facebook Looking to Cash In on Its Friends

Wants info of 150M members to be market research gold mine

(Newser) - Facebook will create one of the world’s largest market research databases in an attempt to profit from the personal information it collects from its 150 million members, the Telegraph reports. The social networking site’s new instant polling tool, which will enable companies to target specially selected users, was...

Google Flags Entire Internet as Malware

Oops.

(Newser) - Anyone searching on Google for a short stretch early this morning got a rude awakening. Every result on the search giant turned up the warning, "This site may harm your computer,” ZDNet reports, and firewalls on personal PCs blocked them accordingly. Google blames the glitch—from 6:30am...

Computer Virus Targets Gullible Lovebirds

Clicking on heart images in email could turn your machine into spambot

(Newser) - A Valentine-themed spam campaign is underway, with a side dish of coercion and extortion, Computer Weekly reports. Users receive an email, ostensibly from a secret admirer, with a link to a website that downloads a bot called Waledec. Not only does Waledec co-opt the user’s address list and start...

Guys, PMS Alerts Just a Click Away

Web site tracks 100K women's menstrual cycles

(Newser) - Some 100,000 men bewildered and berated by wives and girlfriends with pre-menstrual syndrome have visited PMSbuddy.com, which sends out reminders when partners may be touchy, Australia’s News Network reports. Messages like “She’s on yellow—tread carefully, fella” keep men up to date on the cycles...

Snarling Putin Smacks Down Dell's Net Offer

Russia's Putin tells off Michael Dell

(Newser) - Russian leader Vladimir Putin fired a withering public broadside at computer tycoon Michael Dell at the World Economic Forum. When Dell offered to help expand the Internet in Russia, Putin snapped: "We don't need help. We are not invalids. We don't have limited mental capacity."

Phony Ad Clicks at Record High
 Phony Ad Clicks at Record High 
Jan 28, 2009 4:07 PM CST

Phony Ad Clicks at Record High

Click fraud rate climbs to 17.1% in fourth quarter of 2008

(Newser) - Fraudulent attempts to deceive web advertisers into paying for phony clicks reached an all-time high in the last quarter of 2008, CNET reports. The rate of phony to genuine clicks climbed to 17.1% in the fourth quarter, increasing 1.1% from the third quarter and 0.5% from the...

Hackers Zap Kyrgyz Internet
 Hackers Zap Kyrgyz Internet 
Jan 28, 2009 5:21 AM CST

Hackers Zap Kyrgyz Internet

Latest Russian assault in cyber warfare

(Newser) - A Russian "cyber-militia" has shut down access to the Internet in Kyrgyzstan, the Wall Street Journal reports. Service providers in the former Soviet republic have been swamped with traffic during the past several days, in a denial of service attack that has downed websites and crippled email delivery. Motivations...

SnorgTees Girl Says It's All in the Smile

'Genuine smile' behind sales success, her popularity, Auburn student says

(Newser) - Alice Fraasa—better known as the SnorgTees girl—rejects the label of professional model even though her image hawking the shirts is ubiquitous on high-traffic websites. The Auburn senior tells BrandFreak she does the gig for fun and because she gets all the free T-shirts—with slogans such as "...

Fake Deaths May Force Changes in Wikipedia

Site considers blocking users from direct edits

(Newser) - The greatly exaggerated deaths of Sens. Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy last week on Wikipedia has sparked a push for a radical change in how the site's information is edited, Wired reports. The edits, traditionally open to all users, gave the false impression that both lawmakers had died. Founder Jimmy...

Obama Tries to Re-Plant Netroots

(Newser) - Barack Obama is determined to turn the legions of Facebook friends and Twitter subscribers that got him elected into an effective force for his administration, the New York Times  reports. He’s already begun issuing his weekly addresses via YouTube video, rather than radio, and crafted a new group called...

Downey: Googling Myself 'A Hoot'

Hathaway, too, cops to habit; Pitt not so much

(Newser) - Celebrities really are just like us: They Google themselves, too, reports Perez Hilton. At an Oscars celebrity panel this week, Robert Downey Jr. admitted it: “I love all that shit, personally. Because it’s a hoot.” Anne Hathaway then reversed course: “I lied before when you asked...

To Challenge Wiki, Britannica Will Let Users Edit

But edits still have to be vetted by encyclopedia's staff

(Newser) - The 241-year-old Encyclopedia Britannica is tired of being overshadowed on the web by Wikipedia, so it’s decided to start copying the competition’s defining feature: allowing users to edit and create content. Britannica will not be as laissez-faire as Wikipedia, the Sydney Morning Herald reports, as alterations to online...

Supreme Court Strikes Down Web Porn Law

Overturns Child Online Protection Act on 1st Amendment grounds

(Newser) - The US Supreme Court closed the door today on legislation designed to protect children from Internet pornography, the New York Times reports. The legislation, which was signed into law in 1998 but never took effect, was repeatedly struck down on First Amendment grounds. It set strict fines and jail time...

Plane Crash Tweets Help Twitter Overtake Digg

Microblogging site gets the edge in market share for first time since launch

(Newser) - Twitter traffic has overtaken Digg for the first time since the microblogging site's launch, Hitwise reports. The newcomer edged up to #84 last week—one spot above Digg—after the US Airways crash spawned a huge number of updates. A photo of the scene taken by a Twitter user on...

Credit Card Processor Bares Massive Hacker Breach

Sophisticated hackers nab vast amounts credit card data

(Newser) - A credit card payment processor has disclosed a data breach that experts believe could be the biggest ever and may be putting millions of consumers at risk of ripoffs, the Washington Post reports. Heartland Payment Systems, which handles 100 million transactions from 250,000 businesses every month, believes malicious software...

Why This Recession Won't Be Another Dot-Com Bust

Despite layoffs, companies are better prepared

(Newser) - The tech industry is going through tough times, including widespread layoffs, but it's not going to be another dot-com bust, predicts the Economist, laying out the differences between 2001 and 2009. In 2000, technology companies grew nearly 16%, only to contract by 6% a year later. “The IT industry...

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