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Submission + - Man sues to have 'Google' declared a generic word (paidcontent.org)

Submitted by
vu1986
vu1986 writes: ""Arizona man David Elliott wants a court to declare that “google” is a word that means “search on the internet” and to cancel Google’s trademarks for the term.

Elliott filed the complaint after Google won a ruling this month that forced him to hand over more than 750 website names such as “googlegaycruises.com” and “googledonaldtrump.com.” He claims he needs the names to start a business based on “commerce.. charity, and more.”""
Software

Submission + - Augmented reality: Window to what is lost! (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Imagine a 65 million year old dinosaur coming to life. You might ask if I am kidding. A Canadian museum has come up with an app that uses augmented reality to bring back these extinct species of animals to life. Through the app, ROM Ultimate Dinosaurs, Canada based Royal Ontario Museum is giving a virtual view of dinosaur. Visitors can point their smartphones at select markers spread across the museum and they can see the dinosaur come to life in flesh and bones. Visitors can also use iPads that point towards skeletons and are mounted across the museum. Augmented reality is coming of age and is exceedingly being utilized in museums, exhibitions and art galleries across the globe to deliver different experiences to their visitors.

Submission + - Australian consumer group wants geo-IP blocking banned (delimiter.com.au)

Submitted by daria42
daria42 writes: Live outside the US? Then you're probably used to being blocked from watching Hulu, frustrated by not being able to buy the eBooks you want from Amazon and most of all, annoyed about paying significantly higher prices than Americans for exactly the same software, games and content online, all based on your IP address. This week Australian consumer group Choice called for an Australian ban on geo-IP-blocking, saying it created significant barriers to the free flow of goods and services. Maybe other countries' consumer groups should follow suit, in the quest for a fair go?

Submission + - Thailand begins One Tablet Per Child (bangkokpost.com)

Submitted by societyofrobots
societyofrobots writes: Thailand has now put the first 50,000 of a planned 800,000 tablets into the hands of elementary students. Each tablet costs only $80/unit, runs Android ICS, and was manufactured in China. Opponents claim it to be a very expensive populist policy to 'buy votes', while proponents argue it could bypass the root causes of poor education in the country: outdated books and unskilled teachers. Is this the future of education in developing nations?
Government

Submission + - UK's ICO Struggling Against Anonymous Splinter Group (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes: "A rogue splinter group from Anonymous is repeatedly knocking offline the web site of Britain's Information Commissionor's Office (ICO). The ICO is the watchdog for corporate data breaches, and the so-called ATeam said it is attacking it over its weakness in dealing with privacy breaches by media organisation News Corporation. The same rogue group also attacked the web site of Home Secretary Theresa May. Other hackers have poured scorn on the Ateam, and it defends itself by saying that "Anonymous is falling apart", riven by internal division."
Security

Submission + - Fearmongering About Cyberwar And Cybersecurity Is Working: American Public Very, (techdirt.com)

Submitted by
TheGift73
TheGift73 writes: "Well, it looks like all the fearmongering about hackers shutting down electrical grids and making planes fall from the sky is working. No matter that there's no evidence of any actual risk, or that the only real issue is if anyone is stupid enough to actually connect such critical infrastructure to the internet (the proper response to which is: take it off the internet), fear is spreading. Of course, this is mostly due to the work of a neat combination of ex-politicians/now lobbyists working for defense contractors who stand to make a ton of money from the panic — enabled by politicians who seem to have no shame in telling scary bedtime stories that have no basis in reality.

But it's all working. And, by working, I mean scaring the public unnecessarily. As reported by Wired, a new survey from Unisys finds that Americans are more worried about cybersecurity threats than terrorism, and they seem pretty worried about those threats. When asked about which security issues were the highest priority, survey respondents noted:"
Windows

Submission + - Avira Update kills millions of computors (heise.de)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A problematic update from Avira is bringing computers to a halt across the world. All users of
Avira Antivirus Premium 2012 and Business customers that use the 32-bit version of Avira's software

According to the German report on heise.de over 70 million downloads has already been made.The update causes Avira to block critical system services like iexplorer.exe, regedit.exe and may more.

The update has been stopped, so a representative said from Avira, and they are working on a solution.
Science

Submission + - Fungi Discovered In The Amazon Will Eat Your Plastic

Submitted by DaneM
DaneM writes: Recently, a group of student researchers from Yale University brought home a previously-undiscovered fungus that has a voracious appetite for polyurethane. For those not aware, polyurethane comprises many garden hoses, truck seats, shoes, and other durable plastic items--and will be around for your great-grandchildren to watch decompose if you throw it in the dump today. Depending on further study, this new organism may prove to be a solution to a significant part of our slow-decomposing waste problem.
Microsoft

Submission + - Xbox will get Skype app (pcadvisor.co.uk)

Submitted by blusquid
blusquid writes: The firm which bought Skype for more than $8m has accidentally made the announcement by way of a job listing.

The software development engineer position is within a new Xbox Skype team suggesting development will be underway soon.

The job listing said: "We’re building the next generations of our products and technology right here in London and Skype is looking to hire a Software Development Engineer to contribute to the development of our experiences on Xbox."
"You will be designing and developing next generation scalable services for millions of end users." it added.
Security

Submission + - Student hacks school computer and changes grades (whdh.com)

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "Bueller changed the number of absences he had, but investigators say a Pelham High School student allegedly changed his grades.

School officials aren’t saying how the student got access or if any other students are involved. The superintendent is only saying the student was disciplined, but declined to elaborate."
Privacy

Submission + - Berners-Lee: You've Got Our Data, Show Restraint (itworld.com)

Submitted by
itwbennett
itwbennett writes: "Your browsing behavior may reveal more personal information than you'd tell your own mother. Which is why Tim Berners-Lee is urging technology companies to 'show more restraint' in how they use the information they hoover up. 'We're moving towards a world in which people agree not to use information for particular purposes. It's not whether you can get my information, it's when you've got it, what you promise not to do with it,' said Berners-Lee, speaking out against the U.K.'s proposal to allow government intelligence to monitor digital communications."

Submission + - Can Beetroots Make Burgers Healthier? (medindia.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers from University of Aberdeen are currently conducting a new study to test whether adding beetroot could make burgers healthier.
Security

Submission + - Tech experts rubbish UK gov't web snooping tactics (techworld.com)

Submitted by sweetpea86
sweetpea86 writes: The UK government's proposal to separate communications data from content, as part of new plans to allow intelligence services to monitor all internet activity, is infeasible according to a panel of technology experts.

Speaking at the 'Scrambling for Safety' conference in London, Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, said that the distinction between traffic data as being harmless and content as being sensitive is becoming less and less relevant.

“Now that people are living more and more of their lives online, the pattern of who you communicate with and in what order gives away pretty well everything,” he said. “This means that, in data protection terms, traffic data is now very often going to be specially sensitive data.”

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