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ICT in the news - w/c 4th February 2008

Chips pass two billion milestone The first chip to pack more than two billion transistors has been launched by silicon giant Intel. The quad-core chip, known as Tukwila, is designed for high-end servers rather than personal computers. Read here for more.....
Providing a safety net for the web The internet has caused children's leisure time to go through quite a revolution in recent years. This has prompted the Council of Europe, which seems to be cornering the market in fighting internet nastiness at a legal level, to release a video game warning kids of online dangers. Read here for more.....
Bluetooth posters target visitors Stirling's train station has become the first in the country to communicate with commuters through Bluetooth.Visitors to the station will be given information about the city via Bluetooth posters which activate a text message to phones. Read here for more.....
Malicious programs hit new high The number of malicious programs found online has reached an unprecedented high, say security firms. Reports vary but some estimates suggest there were five times as many variants of malicious programs in circulation in 2007 compared to 2006. Read here for more.....
Password pain looks set to ease Using your favourite websites and services could soon mean memorising far fewer passwords. Tech giants Microsoft, IBM, Google and Yahoo have joined the board of the Open ID Foundation which aims to streamline login systems across the web. Read here for more.....
Sat-navs 'harm railway bridges' Millions of pounds worth of damage is being caused to Britain's railway infrastructure by lorry drivers following satellite navigation devices. Read here for more.....
Holographic displays step closer Holograms could soon be helping monitor surgical procedures after a faster way to make the 3D images is discovered. The journal Nature reports the breakthrough by US researchers who developed a novel material in which holographs can be created in minutes. Read here for more.....
Overhaul of net addresses begins The first big steps on the road to overhauling the net's core addressing system have been taken. On Monday the master address books for the net are being updated to include records prepared in a new format known as IP version 6. Read here for more.....
BBC iPlayer to hit Macs in 2008 The BBC will launch a download version of its iPlayer online video service for Apple Mac users by the end of 2008. Read here for more.....
Who watches the watchers? The recent spate of reports on bugging and intercepting communications has revealed how little people really know about the level of surveillance they are under. Read here for more.....
Clegg attacks 'surveillance' UK Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has accused Gordon Brown of turning Britain into a "surveillance state" during prime minister's questions in the Commons. Read here for more.....
Bug row raises 'Big Brother' questions The bugging of a government whip as he visited a prisoner has caused much offence in Westminster and sparked a major political row. questions have been raised over whether long-standing conventions banning the covert surveillance of MPs have been breached. Read here for more.....
Mobile CCTV cameras tackle crime Police in Angus are turning to new technology in the fight against crime. Two CCTV cameras, which can be moved almost anywhere in the county, have been introduced. Read here for more.....
UK government acts on hoax e-mail The UK government is taking the unprecedented step of writing to every embassy to stop a false e-mail rumour about Holocaust teaching being banned. A widely-circulated e-mail has falsely claimed that schools in the UK will stop teaching the Holocaust because it might cause offence to Muslims. Read here for more.....
Plan to detect rogue exam results England's exam regulator is investigating the possibility of having an automatic alert system to detect anomalies in schools' exam results. It would be similar to the way credit card companies' anti-fraud systems pick up unusual spending patterns. Read here for more.....
Nokia takes second bite at gaming Mobile giant Nokia has begun a second assault on handheld gaming, with the launch of the N-Gage platform. Read here for more.....
Robot glider harvests ocean heat A sea-going robotic glider that harvests heat energy from the ocean has been tested by US scientists. The yellow, torpedo-shaped machine has been combing the depths of seas around the Caribbean since December 2007. Read here for more.....
Makeover for Europe's Mars robot The boss of the European Space Agency has asked his officials to find a new name for the flagship ExoMars mission. The robot rover - whatever its name - should launch for Mars in 2013. Read here for more.....
Polarioid snaps out of making film Polaroid, the company behind the instant camera, is to stop making the film used in its iconic technology. The firm is to close factories in Massachusetts in the US, Mexico and the Netherlands after the digital age left almost no market for the film. Read here for more.....
Knee dynamo taps 'people power' A stroll around the park may soon be enough to charge the raft of batteries needed in today's power-hungry gadgets. US and Canadian scientists have built a novel device that effortlessly harvests energy from human movements. Read here for more.....
Switchover lessons to be learned The government doesn't have too many good news stories when it comes to technology but in Whitehaven, the town that shot to fame for being the first to complete digital switchover in the UK, it seems to have found one. Read here for more.....
Mobiles 'not brain cancer risk' Mobile phone use does not raise the risk of brain tumours, a Japanese study suggests. The research is the first to look at the effects of hand set radiation levels on different parts of the brain. Read here for more.....
Mobiles narrow digital divisions Mobile phones and net access are helping narrow the gulf between rich and poor nations, says a UN report. The efficiencies these technologies bring has boosted development in poorer countries, said the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Read here for more.....
China sued over web music piracy The trade body representing the global record industry has launched piracy lawsuits against China's biggest internet companies. It estimates that 99% of all music files in China are pirated. Read here for more.....
Google troubled by Microsoft move Google has said it finds Microsoft's $44.6bn (£22.65bn) bid to buy rival Yahoo "troubling" and wants regulators to scrutinise the proposed deal. Read here for more.....
North Korea lures online shoppers North Korea is offering shoppers the chance to buy goods made in the secretive communist state. It has launched an e-commerce website in Korean, English, Chinese, Russian and Japanese that could help the country earn foreign currency. Read here for more.....
New cable cut compounds net woes A submarine cable in the Middle East has been snapped, adding to global net problems caused by breaks in two lines under the Mediterranean on Wednesday. Read here for more.....
Smart tags hail the web of things The humble radio tag is growing up. So say researchers and developers who are finding ways to make the tiny devices much more than just a hi-tech price tag that can help shops and supermarkets track cans of beans from warehouse to store shelf. Read here for more.....
Ebay to ban negative seller views Online auction site eBay has said it plans to overhaul its feedback system and will ban sellers from leaving negative comments about buyers. Read here for more.....
Why Americans are shunning e-voting The BBC World Service's technology programme, Digital Planet has been looking at how many US states are going back to traditional voting methods after serious problems with electronic voting machines. Read here for more.....
Robot boosts hip surgery success Researchers say that a surgical robot developed by UK scientists makes hip operations so simple that even students can get good results. Read here for more.....
Q&A: IP Version 6 On 4 February a milestone was reached in the net's move to a new addressing system based on a technology known as IP Version 6 (IPv6). Here the BBC attempt to explain what it is and why it is important. Read here for more.....