An Internet Explorer update released earlier this week can interfere with some applications, including Google’s Toolbar, according to PatchLink, a maker of patch management software.

Other applications affected by the Web browser patch include business software from Oracle’s Siebel customer relationship management unit and certain Web applications that use specific versions of Java, PatchLink said Friday.

The problems arise because of changes Microsoft made to how the Web browser handles Web programs called ActiveX controls. The modifications are designed to shield Microsoft from liability in a high-profile patent dispute with Eolas Technologies and the University of California.

Source: News.com

Spurred by the risks from roadside bombs and terrorist ambushes, the military is aggressively seeking to replace troops with battlefield robots, including new versions armed with machine guns.

Although the Pentagon initially focused on aircraft, such as the Predator drone, now new ground- and sea-based robots are being developed and tested, military records show.

While in-ear hearing aids usually work well for conversation in quiet surroundings, many people who wear them face problems in more lively environments. Since all incoming sounds are amplified, background noises easily take over, cause discomfort and make conversations difficult.

This problem can make people withdraw from parties and public places, cut down on socializing and even retire earlier than they wish. Varibel says its glasses can detect which direction sounds come from, amplifying words spoken directly to the wearer while dampening background noise.

The company’s hearing glasses have four interconnected microphones embedded along both arms of the frame, each taking in sound. Signals are sent along the frame to a built-in processor, which localizes sounds by calculating the time it takes the signals to reach the different microphones. All sounds coming from the front of the carrier are intensified, while noise from other directions is dampened. This means that a person speaking to the carrier’s face would be clearly heard even in noisy environments.

Source: News.com

The credit card details of thousands of Britons are being sold on the Internet by hackers intent on committing identity fraud.

At least 400 credit card numbers are sold per day, along with other personal information such as dates of birth and mothers’ maiden names, The Times said.

A credit card number fetches one dollar (0.83 euros) in Internet chatrooms, whereas a card with a three-digit code is traded for five dollars.

Additional security information can add 10 dollars to the asking price and a working personal identification number can raise the cost to 100 pounds (175 dollars, 145 euros), the newspaper said Saturday.

Source: AFP

Microsoft will try to make the search process more social, Business Week reports, by creating a question-and-answer Web site. They certainly are entering a quite crowded niche.” From the article: “It’s one of the many ways that Web companies, including Yahoo and Google, are trying to set themselves apart with social search, a targeted pursuit of information that’s influenced by the preferences of a person’s peer group. Social search is a method whose time has come, Osmer says. Microsoft research shows that generic search engines can’t answer 50% of queries asked, he says. The new tool, whose name he didn’t disclose, will be ‘one of the larger projects for us’ this year, Osmer says.”

Source: slashdot

A British man accused of hacking into high-level U.S. government computers is afraid he will end up in the U.S. Naval prison at Guantanamo Bay if the U.K. turns him over to American authorities.

Gary McKinnon, who is charged with breaking into military computer systems among others and leaving messages equating the U.S. government’s foreign policy with terrorism, argued in a British court Thursday that he should be tried in the U.K.

Source: informationweek

On May 4, the French Senate will debate a copyright bill that is widely expected to have a chilling effect on the development and distribution of open-source software for digital rights management (DRM) or P-to-P (peer-to-peer) file sharing. That’s because the bill’s provisions include a penalty of up to three years in prison and a fine of €300,000 (US$363,171) for publishing, distributing or promoting software in France that is “manifestly intended�? for the unauthorized distribution of copyright works.

The developers of the open-source multimedia player VLC, which can read DRM-protected DVDs, consider themselves targeted. But the legal uncertainty over the term “manifestly intended�? makes the bill’s coverage so broad that it could even cover the open-source Web server Apache, which hosts over 60 percent of Web sites, opponents of the bill say. Open-source projects are thought to be more vulnerable than commercial operations because they typically have few resources at their disposal to defend legal actions.

Source: Yahoo

You pass an accident on a lonely stretch of highway at night. You call 911 on your cell phone to report it but don’t know exactly where you are. Soon that won’t be a problem in Cambria County, where emergency officials said they plan to install technology allowing county 911 dispatchers to track where emergency calls are placed.

Source: AP

The Kentucky Legislature on Tuesday voted to outlaw the practice of using the Internet to fire remote-controlled rifles at live animals.

No such facilities exist in the state, but all Kentuckians would be banned from hunting on such sites, even if the target is in another state or country. At least 10 other states have passed similar measures.

The flurry stems from a Texas Web site that let users fire at animals from the privacy of their homes. At the urging of sportsmen’s groups, Texas banned such operations last year.

Source: seattlepi