A new IM worm discovered recently takes the novel step of installing its own web browser onto the victims PC. Ironically titled “The Safety Browser”, its default settings actually make your PC less secure - switching on pop-ups, changing your home page and hijacking your desktop with a looped music track that plays every time you switch your computer on.

Source: Slashdot

It’s only natural for companies large and small to want to capture some of the social-networking magic of MySpace.com, a Web site that has risen out of nowhere to become the Internet’s second busiest by successfully figuring out what teens and young adults want.

AOL joined the pack this month with its own take on social networking, a loose term for services that help users expand their circles of friends by exploiting existing connections, rather than meeting randomly or by keyword matches alone.

Source: AP

A robot surgeon has for the first time carried out a long-distance heart operation completely by itself .

The 50-minute surgery, which took place in a Milanese hospital was initiated and monitored on a PC in Boston, USA.

The novelty of this latest experience is that the robot was able to conduct the entire procedure by itself. In the past it needed specific orders from its operator along the way .

It has learned to do the job thanks to experience gathered from operations on 10,000 patients. The robot can now recognise the type of patient and the required method of operating.

Source: ansa.it

IBM and Research In Motion (RIM) have agreed to undertake initiatives designed to drive growth in the mobile industry by providing customers with the benefits of tighter integration between IBM Lotus Domino and the Blackberry Enterprise Solution.

Initial areas of focus include helping mobile workers by extending Lotus Domino applications through web services directly to Blackberry.

Source: tmcnet

A Civil War-era fort is for sale on eBay. Fort Montgomery, built in 1844, was manned during the war but never saw any action.

“This is the first time it’s been formally for sale,” said Victor Podd of Boca Raton, Fla., whose family has owned the fort for 23 years.

The limestone fort sits on a Lake Champlain island in northern New York and is connected to the mainland by a 700-foot causeway. The full package offered on the auction Web site includes 6,900 feet of lake frontage and 279 acres on the adjacent mainland.

As of Saturday, the top bid for the property was $1 million.

Source: AP