Japan is set to launch one of the world’s largest geostationary satellites in a bid to improve mobile telephone reception in remote areas, the country’s space agency said.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans the launch between 3:32 pm and 3:44 pm (0632 and 0644 GMT). It was postponed Saturday due to cloudy weather at the launch site at Tanegashima in southern Japan.

The 5.8-ton, 40-meter (131-foot) long experimental satellite, known as Kiku Number 8, has some of the world’s longest antennas, an agency statement said.

“This function is expected to be very useful in our daily lives, for example in some mountainous areas and at sea where no ground stations are available,” the statement said.

The satellite is also aimed at helping communication between emergency vehicles and rescue workers after natural disasters.

Source: AFP

Google Inc. and NASA Ames Research Center said Monday that they have finalized an agreement to deliver more of the space agency’s imagery and information through the Internet’s leading search engine.

The collaboration marks another step in a partnership announced 15 months ago when Google unveiled plans to build a 1 million-square-foot campus at the NASA center, located a few miles south of the company’s Mountain View headquarters.

Under the arrangement, Ames will feed Google with its weather forecasting information, three-dimensional maps of the moon and Mars, and real-time tracking of the International Space Station and space shuttle flights so the pictures and data are available to anyone with an Internet connection.

“This agreement between NASA and Google will soon allow every American to experience a virtual flight over the surface of the moon or through the canyons of Mars,” NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said in a statement.

Source: AP

Yahoo! Messenger users have been warned to update their IM software following the discovery of a serious security bug.

The vulnerability - which involves an unspecified buffer overflow bug in the IM client’s YMailAttach ActiveX control - creates a potential means for hackers to take control of Windows (and only Windows) PCs.

Users running Yahoo! Messenger clients released before 2 November are advised to update to the latest version of the software via the Yahoo! download site here. Unless they apply the update, users of Yahoo! Messenger 5,6,7 and are all at risk from attack in cases where they are tricked into visiting maliciously constructed websites that take advantage of the vulnerability.

Source: The Register

The latest version of the Opera Web browser incorporates a technology that warns users when they visit a fraudulent site.

Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox both included such a feature - called a phishing filter - in their new releases in October.

Like the others, Opera Software ASA’s free Opera 9.1 browser displays a warning when visitors go to a site that may trick them into revealing passwords and other sensitive information. Opera’s update was released Monday.

Source: AP

Japanese electronics maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said Monday it will begin mass production of a new lithium-ion battery that is safe from the overheating problems that prompted a massive recall of Sony Corp. batteries this year.

Matsushita, known globally for its Panasonic brand products, said it began producing the new batteries in April and will ship them in large quantities by the end of this year.

Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries have gained popularity over alternatives such as nickel-cadmium batteries, as they can be smaller and lighter as well as hold charges for longer periods of time, making them ideal for portable applications such as laptop computers and digital cameras.

Source: AP

Ladies and gentlemen, will you please welcome the iPhone from… er… Linksys. Yes, the iPhone has indeed been launched today, as forecast, but it’s not the device so many people were expecting. Instead, it’s Linksys’ new brand name for its range of VoIP handsets.

Source: Reg Hardware