British and German scientists have created six healthy mice pups (a seventh died before adulthood) by using sperm made from embryonic stem cells. The researchers, who published their work in Developmental Cell say the work could lead to a better understanding of male infertility.

Source: Wired

A hotel tycoon’s dream of building an inflatable commercial space station is taking a step toward reality - or a reality check - with the launch of a satellite that will test the technology behind the orbital outpost.

The fact-finding mission scheduled for this week will explore the feasibility of Robert Bigelow’s planned commercial space complex. When finished by 2015, he said, it will consist of balloon-like modules strung together like sausage links and serve as a hotel, laboratory, college or entertainment venue.

The planned liftoff from Russia of Bigelow Aerospace’s privately funded Genesis I spacecraft will mark the beginning of the startup’s attempt to break into the fledging manned commercial spaceflight business.

Source: AP

Mortgage Consumers Beware! Think twice before filling out that on-line mortgage application offering multiple quotes from multiple lenders. You may get more than you asked for. In fact, many popular mortgage web sites are nothing more than flashy fronts for lead generation companies — lead companies who sell your personal information to others, sometimes to anyone who is willing to pay for it.

Submit an online application at the wrong mortgage website and BAM! — your personal information is now in the hands of a company who makes their money by selling it. Obviously, the more times they sell your information the more money they make. It’s a smart idea for them, but it’s not so good for you. The calls immediately start coming in and sometimes seem like they’ll never stop. By about the tenth call on the first day you start seriously contemplating changing your phone number.

In some cases it gets even worse. Your personal information can be resold to hundreds of different companies over several years. It’s like a virtual ongoing selling of your information from one company who uses it, then resells to another company who uses it, then resells it to another company and so forth. It can be an ongoing nightmare of phone calls and solicitations. Worse yet, reports of identity thefts are common among some of the less reputable lead generation web sites requiring you to fill out an online application for “free” service and quotes.

An alternative does exist for mortgage consumers looking to shop rates or those who just have general questions about purchasing a home or refinancing. LAL Enterprises, Inc. offers mortgage consumers a “Safe, Free & Live” online “shopping mall” of real licensed mortgage companies and lenders in every state.

Consumers can visit the site at http://www.LoanAgentsLive.com anytime day or night for free live mortgage home loan and refinance consultations with any listed mortgage company they choose. The system is 100 percent chat-based and doesn’t require the consumer to fill out any online applications or download any software. Best of all, the consumer remains virtually anonymous, just providing their first name to be connected directly to a live licensed loan officer.

The House passed legislation Tuesday that would prevent gamblers from using credit cards to bet online and could block access to gambling Web sites.

The legislation would clarify and update current law to spell out that most gambling is illegal online. But there would be exceptions - for state-run lotteries and horse racing - and passage isn’t a safe bet in the Senate, where Republican leaders have not considered the measure a high priority.

The House voted 317-93 for the bill, which would allow authorities to work with Internet providers to block access to gambling Web sites.

Source: AP

Cheap Internet access will be a reality within five to 10 years, computer billionaire Bill Gates told African leaders in South Africa, saying the necessary technology was being invented.

The astronomical cost of connecting computers with the World Wide Web was often cited as the biggest factor inhibiting more access to the information superhighway, specifically in Africa, Gates said.

Source: AFP

A ruling against four companies that edit Hollywood movies to remove the dirty bits, without the studios’ permission, could be trouble for mash-ups and parodies and the sites, like Google Video, and YouTube, that host them.

Last week, four companies that rent and sell Hollywood films stripped of their original sex, violence, and profanity were found to be violating copyright law.

A ruling issued July 6 by a federal judge in Colorado finds that CleanFlicks, ASR Management Corp., Family Flix USA, and Play It Clean Video are infringing copyrights by offering motion pictures that have been sanitized without consent of the copyright holder and must cease doing so.

Source: InformationWeek

Microsoft released the July 2006 updates for windows and Office.

This month there are 5 critical updates

• Vulnerability in Server Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (917159) - This update resolves two vulnerabilities in the Server service, the most serious of which could allow remote code execution. (Windows)
• Vulnerability in DHCP Client Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (914388) - This update resolves a vulnerability in the DHCP Client service that could allow remote code execution. (Windows)
• Vulnerability in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (917285) - This update resolves several vulnerabilities in Excel, the most serious of which could allow remote code execution. (Office, Excel)
• Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (915384) - This update resolves two vulnerabilities in Office, the most serious of which could allow remote code execution. (Office, Project, Visio, Works, Visual Studio)
• Vulnerability in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (915384) - This update resolves two vulnerabilities in Office, the most serious of which could allow remote code execution. (Office, Project, Works).

and two important

• Vulnerability in ASP.NET Could Allow Information Disclosure (917283) - This vulnerability could allow an attacker to bypass ASP.Net security and gain unauthorized access to objects in the Application folder explicitly by name. Note that this vulnerability would not allow an attacker to execute code or to elevate their user rights directly, but it could be used to produce useful information that could be used to try to further compromise the affected system. (Windows, .NET Framework)
• Vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Information Services using Active Server Pages Could Allow Remote Code Execution (917537) - This vulnerability could allow an attacker to take complete control of an affected system. Note that the attacker must have valid logon credentials, but if a server has been purposely configured to allow users, either anonymous or authenticated, to upload web content such as .ASP pages to web sites, the server could be exploited by this vulnerability. (Windows, IIS)

Sony Electronics is taking the notion of compact to the next level with its “byte-sized” Micro Vault Tiny drive. Measuring roughly 1/2 inch wide and just over one inch long, the stylish unit comes in striking designs and colors with storage capacities ranging from 256MB to 4GB.

About the thickness of a quarter, Tiny differs from its peers on several fronts, the most obvious being its tiny size, and five color-coded capacities — 256MB (orange), 512MB (violet), 1GB (blue), 2GB (green) and 4GB (purple) — which provide flexible data storage options. Tiny comes packaged in a versatile clip-on carry case that can be worn as an accessory, easily attaching to a cell phone case, purse strap, key chain, or clipped onto a notebook cover. Tiny is preloaded with Virtual Expander, which expands the capacity to virtually store up to three times as much data by automatically compressing and decompressing files.

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), announced EverQuest The Serpent’s Spine, a new expansion for the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), EverQuest. EverQuest The Serpent’s Spine will only be available via digital download beginning in September for the suggested price of U.S. $29.99.

“In an ongoing commitment to introducing new features into EverQuest, The Serpent’s Spine introduces the Drakkin, the first new player race since the Frogloks were added to the game seven expansions ago,” said Chris Sturr, Senior Brand Manager, Sony Online Entertainment. “In addition to the new race, players of all levels will benefit from this expansion, as we are including content for levels 1 to 75.”

Players will also be able to explore a new starting city, Crescent Reach, which contains merchants, quests and combat. As in the last expansion, there will be new dynamic features such as auras, traps and destructible terrain. Players will be able to reach level 75 with new spells, raids and abilities.

About EverQuest The Serpent’s Spine
Nestled in a great ravine in the Serpent Spine Mountains is an ancient abandoned ogre city now called Crescent Reach, which is home to a new race born to protect the future of dragon kind, the Drakkin. Six dragons defied the council of the ancient dragons of the Nest and chose to create a new race to protect their future. The Drakkin are borne of humans touched by a dragon’s blood and their colors and appearance represent the dragon that created them. Rapidly aging and reaching maturity in only months, the Drakkin forget their human beginnings and make their pilgrimage to Crescent Reach, the home of their dragon creators and the rest of their kind.

Mozilla’s Firefox browser continues to post gains in market share, according to Web analytics firm OneStat.com, while usage of Internet Explorer has fallen more than 2 percent since May. Opera, meanwhile, has surpassed 1 percent market share worldwide.

Worldwide, Firefox now holds 12.93 percent of the market, up from 11.79 percent in May. The open source browser commands a 15.82 percent usage share in the United States, and a whopping 39.02 percent in Germany. Australians are also big Firefox users, with the browser holding 24.23 percent of the market down under.

Source: BetaNews

The industry bodies of cell phone service providers and makers have informed the Japanese industry ministry of plans to unify specifications of cell phone sockets and battery charger plugs around 2010, when the use of fourth-generation phones will likely become full-fledged, ministry officials said Tuesday.

Source: Crisscross

There’s an 80 percent chance that Windows Vista, Microsoft’s next generation operating system, will be ready for its scheduled release in January, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said.

According to a Dow Jones Newswires report, Gates told Microsoft software partners in South Africa this week that the operating system could be delayed yet again if beta testers turn up problems.

Source: News.com