Neuros Technology has called on Apple TV hackers to join it and develop a next-generation open source set-top box to prevent IPTV falling into the hands of the Man.

Neuros launched its Linux-based OSD last autumn. It’s a media centre that can digitise video content to connected storage - either a locally fitted USB drive or memory card; via the unit’s LAN port to a networked computer or NAS box; or to an iPod, PSP or other portable media player.

Like other Neuros hardware, the OSD is largley based on open source software - though some elements, thanks to the need to use third-party components, remain closed - and the company encourages its customers to hack the code and share their work with other owners. The upshot, it reckons, is improved functionality and support for more digital content formats.

Which is, of course, one reason why so many folk are hacking Apple’s Apple TV, for example adding new codecs to allow the $299 ‘Mac Nano’ to play DivX files.

Security software developer Exploit Prevention Labs released a video documenting how cyber criminals are using Google’s popular AdWords advertising system to infect unsuspecting users with malware.

The video shows, cyber criminals ran Google ads for legitimate, trusted organizations like The Better Business Bureau. When users clicked on the ads, they were redirected to a malicious web site that attempted to exploit a common security vulnerability in Internet Explorer.

Users who hadn’t installed Microsoft’s latest security patches were infected with a so-called postlogger - malware that’s designed to steal confidential account access information, in this case from customers of 100 different banks. “The Google attack signals an escalation in the tactics used by the bad guys to take advantage of unpatched vulnerabilities in common software programs,” said Roger Thompson, CTO of Exploit Prevention Labs. “Exploits are threatening to undermine users’ trust in even the most widely used websites like Google, Yahoo and MSN.”

After almost seven years of harnessing volunteers’ unused CPU cycles to find a cure for cancer, Grid.org is shutting down operations. The organization said today it has completed its mission to demonstrate the viability and benefits of large-scale internet-based grid computing and will retire from service. Grid.org was the largest public interest grid venture ever attempted and has spawned dozens of similar projects.

Each member ran software that sorted through data generated by Department of Chemistry at the University of Oxford and the National Foundation for Cancer Research for the massive task of screening molecules to find potential cancer drugs.

Grid.org is succeeded by similar projects such as World Community Grid, Compute Against Cancer and Folding@Home.

Looking for the perfect watch? The Internet has a wealth of resources to find just the right accessory for your wrist — new, gently used, antique, or custom-made.

With the variety and vintages of watches available and the intense interest shown by watch collectors and enthusiasts, finding an ideal timepiece on the Web has never been easier at well-known sites like Amazon.com or eBay.

But smaller watchmakers are tapping into the Web with a novel proposition for buyers: a custom-designed watch, built-to-order and delivered in 10 days.

Operating without retail outlets in a town on the outskirts of the Swiss watch making city of Geneva, 121TIME has built an online store — www.121time.com — offering customized and personalized certified Swiss watches.

Apple Inc. said on Friday some batteries in its MacBook and MacBook Pro notebook computers may have performance problems, but they do not pose a safety risk.

Apple said problems with affected batteries include not charging when the computer is plugged into an outlet.

“The issues are not a safety risk, so consumers can continue using their batteries,” the company said in a statement.

The affected batteries are in MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks sold worldwide from February 2006 and April 2007, Apple said.

The European Parliament has voted for the new report submitted by Italian parliament member Nicola Zingaretti that criminalize even attempts to infringe on copyrights. Even if the new directive excludes end-users from the law it will still criminalize sites like YouTube and practically all P2P services, and even the developers of these services. The exceptions beside the end-users’ personal use, includes studies and research.

How would you like to watch a television screen that is also soft and pleasant to the touch? Welcome to Furry TV. It’s no joke: consumer electronics company Philips says a single pixel can be made out of a piece of fabric covered with hair-like strands.

Here’s how it works: imagine the fabric is red and the hair is blue. With the hairs lying flat obscuring the fabric beneath, the pixel looks blue. But applying an electrostatic charge causes the hairs to repel each other and stand on end.

This reveals the fabric underneath and changes the pixel from blue to red. With an array of pixels, Philips says it should be possible to build a furry display that can show complete images. The company hopes to build furry displays into outfits. But does that mean we would all have to dress like Teletubbies?

Britain’s slave trading past gets a human face on Friday as an ancestry-tracing Web site starts putting the personal histories of the victims online for the first time.

The Web site, posted 100,000 names of Barbados slaves registered in 1834 in the colony.

By December the site will contain the names of three million slaves from 700 registers in 23 British colonies, from South Africa to Sri Lanka between 1812-1834.

Members of the site can search free for ancestors by entering their relatives’ first and last names and place of enslavement during that period.

Microsoft plans to make some of the security improvements and features it built into Office 2007 available for Office 2003, a company representative said Thursday.

Service Pack 3 for Office 2003 will be focused on security, said Joshua Edwards, a technical product manager for Office at Microsoft. “We’re trying to take what we learned from building Office 2007 and bring as much as we can to Office 2003,” Edwards said in an interview with CNET News.com.

Microsoft hasn’t yet set a release date for the Office 2003 update, which like other service packs will be available as a free upgrade. Also, there are no details of what will be in the update, other than that Microsoft is “backporting” work it did for Office 2007.

Banning baseball caps during tests was obvious — students were writing the answers under the brim. Then, schools started banning cell phones, realizing students could text message the answers to each other. Now, schools across the country are targeting digital media players as a potential cheating device.

Devices including iPods and Zunes can be hidden under clothing, with just an earbud and a wire snaking behind an ear and into a shirt collar to give them away, school officials say.

“It doesn’t take long to get out of the loop with teenagers,” said Mountain View High School Principal Aaron Maybon. “They come up with new and creative ways to cheat pretty fast.”

Mountain View recently enacted a ban on digital media players after school officials realized some students were downloading formulas and other material onto the players.

Virus writers have been gaming Google’s “sponsored links” — the paid ads shown alongside search engine results. They are aiming to get their malicious software installed on computers whose users click onto ad links after searching for legitimate sites such as BBBonline.org, the official Web site of the Better Business Bureau.

The inventor of Sony Corp.’s PlayStation video game consoles, Ken Kutaragi, will retire as chief executive of the Japanese company’s game division on June 19, Sony said on Thursday.

Kutaragi, 56, known as the “Father of PlayStation,” steps down at a time when the new PlayStation 3 has made a weaker-than-expected showing against Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s Wii console.

He will become honorary chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and act as a senior technology adviser to parent Sony Corp.