Column of the Wolf

Apple to Sell Unlocked iPhone 3GS

2009-06-26T15:48:01+09:00

Apple Australia today confirmed it was directly selling unlocked iPhone 3GS devices in both the 16GB and 32GB models from its own outlets. The unlocked 16GB device will be sold at Apple stores for $879 while the 32GB model's price tag has been at $1040

Pirate Bay Retrial Denied; Judge Declared 'Unbiased'

2009-06-26T15:37:46+09:00

After The Pirate Bay defendants lost a high-profile copyright infringement trial in Sweden, they charged that the judge belonged to pro-copyright groups and was therefore biased against them. A Court of Appeals ruling today disagrees; there will be no retrial

Web Filters to Censor Video Games

2009-06-26T15:27:27+09:00

The Federal Government has now set its sights on gamers, promising to use its internet censorship regime to block web sites hosting and selling video games that are not suitable for 15 year olds. Separately, the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has been nominated by the British ISP industry for its annual internet villain award, competing alongside the European Parliament and French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Local Scientists' Quantum Leap

2009-06-26T15:17:05+09:00

Two major Australian university research units working independently said they were preparing to publish important quantum computing breakthroughs. Quantum computing is a field in its infancy, which promises incredibly quick calculations of momentous problems such as cracking every encryption system in use today. Research groups around the world are racing to produce practical quantum computing designs. A University of NSW senior scientist said the institution was close to publicising a major breakthrough involving a quantum computer that relied on atoms suspended in silicon. Another research group, at the University of Queensland, said it had become the first in the world to use a prototype quantum computer to calculate the energy of an atom

Google Clamps Down on 'Malvertising'

2009-06-25T15:30:55+09:00

Google has made several enhancements to its anti-malvertising site to help its ad network customers prevent attempts to distribute malware through advertising. The web giant launched an initial custom search engine at the beginning of the year, which is designed to allow ad networks to perform quick background checks on prospective advertisers to minimise the risk of malware

Village Develops Street Lights-on-Demand System

2009-06-25T15:20:36+09:00

In an effort to save money, a village in central Germany has opted to turn off its street lights. But residents have no need to be in the dark: Using a mobile phone and code, they can order lighting for up to 15 minutes

Hitler's Stealth Fighter

2009-06-25T15:10:18+09:00

Aviation Week reports on a television special from the National Geographic Channel on what may have been the world's first true stealth fighter, the Horten Ho 229, a wooden design that was to include a layer of carbon material sandwiched in the leading edge to defeat radar. Northrop Grumman, experts at stealth technology from their Tacit Blue and B-2 programs, have built a full-size replica of the airframe and tested it at their desert facilities where they determined that the design was indeed stealthy, and would have been practically invisible to Britain's Chain Home radar system of WWII — via Slashdot

ZeniMax Media Acquires id Software

2009-06-24T15:39:58+09:00

The company who also own's Bethesda's stable of powerhouse franchises now includes Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, and RAGE. In a move that few, if any, saw coming, Zenimax Media today announced the acquisition of id Software, the legendary creator of the DOOM, Wolfenstein, and Quake

Court Orders Rapidshare To Proactively Filter Content

2009-06-24T15:22:35+09:00

The Regional Court in Hamburg, Germany, has ruled that file-hosting service Rapidshare must proactively filter certain content. Music industry outfit GEMA asked the court to ban Rapidshare from making 5,000 tracks from its catalogue available on the Internet. The court estimated the value of the tracks at $34 million

Will Convicting Five Major Spammers Put an End to Spam?

2009-06-24T15:16:54+09:00

Sadly not — but the news that the US department of justice has secured guilty pleas from five prolific spammers, including Alan Ralsky, might make other US-based spammers pause for thought. And many of the most troublesome spammers are based in the US, although they use servers in China and other countries to serve their wares. Ralsky, 64, and his son-in-law, Scott Bradley, 38, face maximum sentences of six years in prison and $1m fines for breaking the CAN-SPAM act and additional charges of wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The latter activities will have attracted rather more law enforcement efforts than the first: the CAN-SPAM act, which became law in 2003, has been widely derided by anti-spam activists, partly because it gives spammers virtual carte blanche to spew out unwanted marketing messages without the receiver's permission, and bans individuals from suing the spammers — which could otherwise have shut many down

Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology

2009-06-23T15:39:31+09:00

The Iranian regime has developed, with the assistance of European telecommunications companies, one of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet, allowing it to examine the content of individual online communications on a massive scale. Interviews with technology experts in Iran and outside the country say Iranian efforts at monitoring Internet information go well beyond blocking access to Web sites or severing Internet connections. Instead, in confronting the political turmoil that has consumed the country this past week, the Iranian government appears to be engaging in a practice often called deep packet inspection, which enables authorities to not only block communication but to monitor it to gather information about individuals, as well as alter it for disinformation purposes, according to these experts. The monitoring capability was provided, at least in part, by a joint venture of Siemens AG, the German conglomerate, and Nokia, the Finnish cellphone company, in the second half of 2008, Ben Roome, a spokesman for the joint venture, confirmed

Google Starts Including Wikipedia on Its News Site

2009-06-23T15:29:16+09:00

Recognising that the online encyclopedia Wikipedia is increasingly used by the public as a news source, Google News began this month to include Wikipedia among the stable of publications it trawls to create the site

Internet Marketing: Is Regulation Coming?

2009-06-23T15:18:58+09:00

The impetus to regulate online marketing may be gathering steam. On 18 June a House of Representatives subcommittee held a hearing to take a closer look at how advertisers gather and use information on consumers' Web-surfing habits. Up to now the government has had a hands-off policy toward online marketing, giving companies relatively free rein in how they use tools that track what people do online and then use that data to deliver tailored marketing messages. Although regulation is likely to be far off, it would surely rewrite how Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, and a wide range of other Internet companies grapple for share in the $25.7 billion online ad market

iPhone Tetherers Bypass Optus Charge

2009-06-22T15:24:10+09:00

Australian iPhone users have started downloading widely available configuration files to activate the device's tethering feature and bypass Optus' planned $10 monthly fee

Pirate Party Enters the German Parliament

2009-06-22T15:13:44+09:00

Just two weeks after the Swedish Pirate Party won a seat in the European Parliament, the German PiratenPartei has gained a seat in the German government. Jörg Tauss has left the Social Democrats Party (SPD) and has joined the Pirate Party