New Zealand Geek - news page 41

LOS ANGELES - A blogger suspected of streaming songs from the unreleased Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy on his website was arrested and appeared in court, where his bail was set at US$10,000 ($14,000).

FBI agents arrested 27-year-old Kevin Cogill on Wednesday morning (US time) on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws. Cogill appeared in court Wednesday afternoon.
August 28, 2008

HONG KONG - Who is the 'iPhone Girl'?

Pictures of an Asian factory worker found on a new iPhone sold to a British customer have generated keen discussion on the internet about her identity - and her fate.
August 28, 2008

A leading printer maker wants to help you do less printing.

Printing an article off the web often produces several pages of waste, including ads, links and boxes for entering text. So the latest version of a web toolbar from Lexmark International gives people more ways to block such images from coming out of the printer, saving ink and paper.
August 28, 2008

SEATTLE - The next version of Microsoft web browser makes it easier for people to surf the internet without leaving a trace.

Companies that sell advertisements online - including Microsoft - can electronically gather tidbits about web surfers' habits, and then use that information to help decide what kinds of ads to show.
August 28, 2008

JERUSALEM - Scientists using American space technology have started a huge project to digitalise the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest known version of the Hebrew Bible, and post in on the internet for all to see, said an Israeli Antiquities Authority official.

The project, which is expected to take about five years, marks the 60th anniversary of discovery of the 2,000-year-old scrolls, said Pnina Shor of the Antiquities Authority. The goal is to make the scrolls accessible to scientists and the general public, she said.
August 28, 2008

There's nothing too exciting about the metallic box stylings of the Juniper Networks E320 Broadband Services Router.

Unimpressive it may be, but it, and devices like it, are part of an encouraging multi-million investment currently being made by various internet service providers.
August 28, 2008

A group of Auckland doctors have been told they can't connect their iPhones to one of the city's major health IT networks.

The company that runs IT and other administrative services for the Waitemata and Counties Manukau District Health Boards, healthAlliance, is one of thousands of organisations around the world to ban staff from tapping into corporate networks using the iPhone.
August 28, 2008

Pros: Think "Operation" the popular 80s boardgame meets Wii. Trauma Center: Second Opinion follows on from the DS title - which used the handheld's stylus. But this version takes advantage of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to stitch up patients and work your way through a half-dozen surprisingly entertaining levels. You play as young doctor Derek Stiles (crikey) or as Nozomi Weaver as you conduct operations for a gruesome variety of ills, using scalpels, forceps and a laser, among other instruments. The story is quite good, set in 2018, in a post-Aids, post-cancer world - but the biggest threat is the terrorist-created GUILT virus.

Cons: Those who get queasy watching medical docos might want to steer away from this one.
August 28, 2008

Ever thought you could do the whole creation of the world thing better? A new game called Spore, by game designer extraordinaire Will Wright, gives you your chance, reports MATT GREENOP

In a unique collision between video games and science, a new title called Spore is redefining the genre known as "God games". Dreamed up by Will Wright, considered the Spielberg of the gaming industry, it takes a whole new look at evolution.
August 28, 2008

Telecom says it has no plans to abandon its public pay phones, despite the huge rise in mobile phone use in the past five years.

In 2003 the number of pay phone calls in New Zealand peaked at 30 million annually, but since then it has dropped to just 12 million a year.
August 27, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - Did a computer intrusion at a Best Western hotel in Germany open the door for a hacker to steal the records of 8 million customers and pull off "the greatest cyber-heist in world history," as a Scottish newspaper put it?

Or was the incident a significantly more-minor affair, affecting only ten customers at the one facility, as claimed by Best Western International Inc.?
August 27, 2008

Mac cloner Psystar is responding in kind to a lawsuit filed by Apple last month.

CNET reports that Psystar is intending to file a countersuit in a federal court today, alleging anti-competitive practices.
August 27, 2008

The Apple iPhone, the must-have gadget that sends technology fans into rapture, fails to give users complete access to the internet, the British Government's media watchdog rules today.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the combined phone, music player and computer is flawed because of the absence of two common website programmes, Flash and Java.
August 27, 2008

LONDON - A computer containing banking security details of more than a million people has been sold on eBay for 35 pounds ($92), bank officials said - the latest in a series of losses of personal data in the U.K.

The computer contained account numbers, passwords, mobile telephone numbers and signatures. It belonged to MailSource UK - an arm of Graphic Data, an archiving company that holds financial information for Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and American Express.
August 27, 2008

New Zealand-based ICT company Imarda sealed a $12 million deal with a major US freight company yesterday.

Chief executive Selwyn Pellett expects it to be the biggest information communication technology deal to come out of New Zealand this year.
August 27, 2008