Half a Million Mac Computers ‘Infected with Malware’
BBC: More than half a million Apple computers have been infected with the Flashback Trojan, according to a Russian anti-virus firm.

Its report claims that about 600,000 Macs have installed the malware - potentially allowing them to be hijacked and used as a "botnet".

The firm, Dr Web, says that more than half that number are based in the US.

Apple has released a security update, but users who have not installed the patch remain exposed.

Flashback was first detected last September when anti-virus researchers flagged up software masquerading itself as a Flash Player update. Once downloaded it deactivated some of the computer's security software.

Later versions of the malware exploited weaknesses in the Java programming language to allow the code to be installed from bogus sites without the user's permission. » | Thursday, April 05, 2012

Laptops Reduce Male Fertility Say Researchers
According to researchers in Argentina, man's supposed new best friend, the innocuous laptop, could seriously affect male fertility. In simulated tests, the sperm of 33 volunteer were all negatively affected. The mobility of the semen diminished and the breakdown of its DNA increased. While tests have yet to be conducted on female subjects, the discovery suggests the devices potentially reduces a man's fertility and increases the danger of genetic deformities in children who are born. Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman reports from Buenos Aires.

Steve Jobs Predicts Tablets to Replace Personal Computers
TIMES ONLINE: The era of the personal computer is coming to an end and the tablet will take its place, Steve Jobs predicted yesterday.

As Apple’s iPad racked up sales for more than two million since launch two months ago, the company’s chief executive said the transition was inevitable.

In a 90-minute performance on stage at the All Things D Conference near Los Angeles, Mr Jobs trashed Adobe over its Flash technology, spoke of his concern at the spate of suicides at the Foxconn factory in China and deflected questions about his rivalry with Google by talking about his sex life.

Mr Jobs, dressed in his trademark black polo necked top and jeans, said the iPad and other tablet-style computing devices would not completely replace laptops and desktop computers in the “post-PC era” but they would consign them to a smaller niche market.

“The transformation of the PC to new form factors like the tablet is going to make some people uneasy because the PC has taken us a long ways,” he said.

He revealed that he had started working on a tablet long before the iPhone - launched in 2007 - but switched to making a phone when he saw the possibilities of the touchscreen. Handsets are a much bigger market than personal computers. Apple has now sold more than 50 million iPhones worldwide in three years.

Worries that tablet computers were not suitable for word processing and other complex types of content creation such as photo-editing would be solved in time, Mr Jobs said, standing by his description of the iPad as a “magical” device. Tablets provided a more direct and intimate computing experience, he said. Read on and comment >>> Mike Harvey, Rancho Palos Verdes, Los Angeles | Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Cuba Lifts Ban on Home Computers
BBC: The first legalised home computers have gone on sale in Cuba, but a ban remains on internet access.

This is the latest in a series of restrictions on daily life which President Raul Castro has lifted in recent weeks.

Crowds formed at the Carlos III shopping centre in Havana, though most had come just to look.

The desktop computers cost almost $800 (£400), in a country where the average wage is under $20 (£10) a month.

But some Cubans do have access to extra income, much of it from money sent by relatives living abroad.

Since taking over the presidency in February, Raul Castro has ended a range of restrictions and allowed Cubans access to previously banned consumer goods.

In recent weeks thousands of Cubans have snapped up mobile phones and DVD players.

But only now have the first computer stocks arrived.
Internet access remains restricted to certain workplaces, schools and universities on the island.

The government says it is unable to connect to the giant undersea fibre-optic cables because of the US trade embargo.

All online connections today are via satellite which has limited bandwidth and is expensive to use.

Cuba's anti-American ally, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, is laying a new cable under the Caribbean.

It remains unclear whether, once the connection is completed, the authorities will then allow unrestricted access to the world wide web. [Source: Cuba Lifts Ban on Home Computers >>> By Michael Voss, Havana | May 3, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)