The British government this week revealed plans aimed at putting broadband Internet connections in every home in the country by 2012. That goal was first enunciated in the Digital Britain Interim Report, released last fall by UK Communications, Technology and Broadcasting Minister, Lord Carter. Only about four per cent of British households are currently out [...]

Call it a ‘Web 2.Oh, no…’ application. PMSBuddy.com is a Web site where men can register to have reminder e-mails sent to them, warning of the onset of their beloved partner’s monthly difficult days. The site was created by 28-year-old Jordan Eisenberg, an Aussie who got tired of his married and attached buddies complaining about [...]

Search giant Google this week launched a new service for Internet users and researchers, designed to detect moves by Internet service providers (ISPs) to filter or throttle their subscribers’ Internet connections. The Measurement Lab (MLab) is described as an early warning system which can flag possible Net neutrality offenders for closer attention by free speech [...]

This past Wednesday was international Data Privacy Day, with privacy and civil rights groups as well as corporations in The U.S., Canada and more than two dozen European nations holding special events and releasing statements in honour of the occasion. Their comments and suggestions were largely targeted on the Obama administration, which — initially, at [...]

Independent security researchers have disclosed a vulnerability in current versions of the Google Chrome Web browser (versions 1.0.154.43 and earlier) and Mozilla’s popular Firefox (version 3.05) which could allow cyber crooks to ‘clickjack’ unwitting surfers. Clickjacking, in essence, redirects clicks a visitor makes on one Web site (usually a legitimate one that has been hacked [...]

Internet security leader McAfee Inc. has released what it describes as, “a wake-up call for businesses and governments worldwide,” highlighting the vulnerability of much of the world’s intellectual property and sensitive information. Overall, the study reveals that cyber crime could currently be costing businesses worldwide more than (US)$ 1 trillion annually. The global estimate is [...]

Update: The U.S. House of Representatives has killed a proposal from  the U.S. Senate to delay the switch from analogue to digital TV broadcasting there. The Senate measure called for a four month postponement in the switchover date, from February 17 to June 12 of this year, to allow Americans not yet prepared for the [...]

As counter-intuitive as it may sound, Google — and legions of mobile mail users — are excited about a new feature being tested by GMail Labs: offline e-mail. Offline GMail doesn’t let you send or receive mail when you can’t get an Internet connection, of course. But it does let you work with downloaded mail [...]

The European Commission (EC) met earlier this week to discuss troubling findings in a report released last October, warning of a possible hearing loss epidemic due to listening to portable music players at high sound levels. The study, by the EC’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks, titled “Potential health risks of [...]

After 11 days of online visitor voting and more than 300,000 ballots cast, CNBC.com has declared a winner in its competition to determine the most popular ‘As Seen On TV’ product of all time. Starting with a field of 64 products advertised in pitch-man style TV commercials, divided into four tech categories, CNBC gradually closed [...]

Following the lead of some other countries where camera phones are even more popular than they are in North America, the U.S. Congress is considering a bill which would make it mandatory for all phone cams to make a clearly audible clicking sound when capturing an image. It’s a measure designed to ensure that people [...]

A New Zealand man who bought a second-hand MP3 player in a thrift shop while visiting Oklahoma got more than he bargained for. It seems the player’s onboard memory contained personal information on U.S. military personal including names, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, notes from mission briefings in Afghanistan and even information on pregnant U.S. [...]