Decaf coffee may still pack a mini-caffeine punch...

Reuters Health By Anne Harding

Fri Oct 20, 2006. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Decaf coffee is often not totally caffeine-free, a new study shows. In fact, while these beverages have far less caffeine than a cup of regular coffee, they still may have enough of the stimulant to cause physical dependence on them.

As Dr. Bruce A. Goldberger of the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville told Reuters Health, "The concentration of caffeine in these brewed decaf coffees does have physiological and behavioral effects on a person."

Goldberger and his colleagues tested the caffeine content of decaf from 10 different coffee establishments. Only one -- Folger's Instant -- contained no caffeine. The rest contained anywhere from 8.6 milligrams (mg) to 13.9 mg for a 16-ounce cup, the team reports in the Journal of Analytical Toxicology.

The researchers also tested six samples of decaf espresso and six of decaf coffee from Starbucks, and found a wide variation in their caffeine content. Decaf espresso shots contained from 3 mg to 15.8 mg of caffeine, while decaf coffee ranged from 12 mg to 13.4 mg.

A previous study by Goldberger and his colleagues found caffeinated specialty coffees contained an average of 188 mg per cup.

While the decaf tested in the current study contains only a small fraction of the caffeine found in a regular cup of java, Goldberger noted, the amount could be harmful for people who must restrict their caffeine intake for medical reasons. That might include people with a type of kidney disease, individuals with anxiety, or those taking certain types of drugs.

Also, he and his colleagues point out, people who drink several decaffeinated beverages daily may wind up taking in a considerable amount of caffeine.

"For people who need or want to abstain from caffeine, they should also abstain from decaf coffee," Goldberger advised.

SOURCE: Journal of Analytical Toxicology, October 2006.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Spam Trojan Installs Own Anti-Virus Scanner...

E-WEEK By Ryan Naraine

October 20, 2006. Veteran malware researcher Joe Stewart was fairly sure he'd seen it all until he started poking at the SpamThru Trojan—a piece of malware designed to send spam from an infected computer.

The Trojan, which uses peer-to-peer technology to send commands to hijacked computers, has been fitted with its own anti-virus scanner—a level of complexity and sophistication that rivals some commercial software.

"This the first time I've seen this done. [It] gets points for originality," says Stewart, senior security researcher at SecureWorks, in Atlanta, Ga.

"It is simply to keep all the system resources for themselves—if they have to compete with, say, a mass-mailer virus, it really puts a damper on how much spam they can send," he added.

Most viruses and Trojans already attempt to block anti-virus software from downloading updates by tweaking hosts file to the anti-virus update sites to the localhost address.

Malicious hackers battling for control over an infected system have also removed competing malware by killing processes, removing registry keys, or setting up mutexes that fool the other malware into thinking it is already running and then exiting at start.

But, as Stewart discovered during his analysis, SpamThru takes the game to a new level, actually using an anti-virus engine against potential rivals.

At start-up, the Trojan requests and loads a DLL from the author's command-and-control server.

This then downloads a pirated copy of Kaspersky AntiVirus for WinGate into a concealed directory on the infected system.

It patches the license signature check in-memory in the Kaspersky DLL to avoid having Kaspersky refuse to run due to an invalid or expired license, Stewart said.

Ten minutes after the download of the DLL, it begins to scan the system for malware, skipping files which it detects are part of its own installation.

"Any other malware found on the system is then set up to be deleted by Windows at the next reboot," he added.

At first, Stewart said he was confused about the purpose of the Kaspersky anti-virus scanner.

"I theorized at first that distributed scanning and morphing of the code before sending the updates via P2P would be a clever way to evade detection indefinitely," he said, but it wasn't until he looked closely at the way rival malware files were removed that he realized this was a highly sophisticated operation working hard to make full use of stolen bandwidth for spam runs.

Click here to read more about cyber-criminals' use of P2P tools.

Stewart also found SpamThru using a clever command-and control structure to avoid shutdown.
The Trojan uses a custom P2P protocol to share information with other peers—including the IP addresses and ports and software version of the control server.

"Control is still maintained by a central server, but in case the control server is shut down, the spammer can update the rest of the peers with the location of a new control server, as long as he/she controls at least one peer," he said.

Stewart found that the network generally consists of one control server (running multiple peer-nets on different ports), several template servers, and around 500 peers per port.

There appears to be a limit to how many peers each port can effectively control, as the overhead in sharing information between hosts is fairly large, he added.

"The estimated number of infected hosts connected to the one control server we looked at was between one and two thousand across all open ports," Stewart added.

The operation uses template-based spam, setting up a system where each SpamThru client is its own spam engine, downloading a template containing the spam, random phrases to use as hash-busters, random "from" names, and a list of several hundred e-mail addresses to send advertising.

The templates are encrypted and use a challenge-response authentication method to prevent third parties from being able to download the templates from the template server.

Stewart also found that the Trojan was randomizing the GIF files—changing the width and height of the images—to defeat anti-spam solutions that reject e-mail based on a static image.

"Although we've seen automated spam networks set up by malware before, this is one of the more sophisticated efforts. The complexity and scope of the project rivals some commercial software. Clearly the spammers have made quite an investment in infrastructure in order to maintain their level of income," Stewart said.

During his analysis, Stewart found that SpamThru was being used to operate a spam-based pump-and-dump stock scheme.

Check out eWEEK.com's Security Center for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEK.com Security Center Editor Larry Seltzer's Weblog.

Red wine can help prevent stroke damage...

Reuters News

Mon Oct 16, 2006. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Red wine might work to protect the brain from damage after a stroke and drinking a couple of glasses a day might provide that protection ahead of time, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday.

In an effort to better understand how red wine works, the scientists from Johns Hopkins University fed mice a moderate dose of a compound found in red grape skins and seeds before inducing stroke-like damage.

They discovered that the animals suffered less brain damage than similarly damaged mice who were not treated with the compound, which is called resveratrol.

"When we pre-treat the animals with the compound orally, then we observe that we have a significant decrease in the area of stroke damage by about 40 percent," said Sylvain Dore, the lead researcher for the study.

Dore and his research team presented their results from the study, which was funded in part by the U.S. government, at a Society for Neuroscience conference in Atlanta.

"What is unique about this study is we have somewhat identified what can be the specific mechanism," in the wine that is good for health, Dore said. "Here we are building cell resistance against free radical damage."

The study showed that resveratrol increases levels of an enzyme in the brain -- heme oxygenase -- that was already known to shield nerve cells from damage.

Dore said the beneficial effects associated with drinking a moderate amount of red wine could be explained by the fact the wine turns on the heme oxygenase anti-oxidant system.

"Red wine has been suggested for the heart. Here what we show is its special effect in stroke and pre-treatment," Dore said. "It suggests that prophylactic use of wine could work."

The fermentation process in wine-making boosts the concentration of resveratrol, Dore said. But said more studies are needed to translate the findings from mice into humans.

The amount of wine that must be consumed in order to reap the benefits of the compound will vary depending on a person's weight and the concentration of resveratrol in the wine. But Dore said it will likely work out to about two glasses a day.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

The future of malware: Trojan horses...

News ZD Net By Joris Evers, CNET News.com

October 13, 2006. Widespread worms, viruses or Trojan horses spammed to millions of mailboxes are typically not a grave concern anymore, security experts said at the Virus Bulletin conference here Thursday. Instead, especially for organizations, targeted Trojan horses have become the nightmare scenario, they said.

"Targeted Trojan horses are still a tiny amount of the overall threat landscape, but it is what the top corporations worry about most," said Vincent Weafer, a senior director at Symantec Security Response. "This is what they stay up at night worried about."

The stealthy attacks install keystroke-logging or screen-scraping software, and they are used for industrial espionage and other financially motivated crimes, experts said.

Cybercrooks send messages to one or a few addresses at a targeted organization and attempt to trick their victim into opening the infected attachment--typically, a Microsoft Office file that exploits a yet-to-be-patched vulnerability to drop the malicious payload.

Security technology can stop common attacks, but targeted attacks fly under the radar. That's because traditional products, which scan e-mail at the network gateway or on the desktop, can't recognize the threat. Alarm bells will ring if a new attack targets thousands of people or more, but not if just a handful of e-mails laden with a new Trojan horse is sent.

"It is very much sweeping in under the radar," said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos, a U.K.-based antivirus company. If it is a big attack, security companies would know something is up, because it hits their customers' systems and their own honeypots (traps set up to catch new and existing threats), he said.

Targeted attacks are, at most, a blip on the radar in the big scheme of security problems, researchers said. MessageLabs pulls about 3 million pieces of malicious software out of e-mail messages every day. Only seven of those can be classified as a targeted Trojan attack, said Alex Shipp, a senior antivirus technologist at the e-mail security company.

"A typical targeted attack will consist of between one and 10 similar e-mails directed at between one and three organizations," Shipp said. "By far the most common form of attack is to send just one e-mail to one organization."

In the past two years, MessageLabs has seen such attacks hit multinational companies, governments and military bodies. Other recurring targets include law firms, human rights organizations, news organizations and educational establishments, Shipp said.

Most attacks include Office files that use yet-to-be-patched vulnerabilities in the Microsoft application to install malicious code on vulnerable systems. The software giant has patched many such flaws on recent Patch Tuesdays.

Office files are also popular with attackers because organizations typically allow people to receive those files in e-mail, while executables or other files seen as more likely to be malicious are often blocked, Shipp said. "By and large, the best way of getting into an organization is to use something that the company lets in," he said.

The future of malware
The use of zero-day flaws circumvents traditional signature-based security products. These products rely on attack signatures (the "fingerprint" of the threat) to block the attack, which requires the attack to have been identified at least once before.

"This is the future of malware attacks," said Andreas Marx, an antivirus software specialist at the University of Magdeburg in Germany. "People affected by this won't be protected by antivirus software because there is no signature."

A signature is created when antivirus companies get a report from an infected company, when they see samples in their own honeypots, or get samples from other antivirus companies. "This doesn't happen with targeted attacks, as only an extremely small number of people get infected," Marx said.

As an example, Shipp said that only four antivirus products today detect one specific targeted attack that was first spotted months ago. Other products still let it through. MessageLabs is able to identity some of the threats by looking at the specific details of Office documents attached to e-mail and pinpointing unusual code in them, he said.

The identity of the attackers is mostly unknown. Security experts have theories of multiple gangs in different parts of the world, but haven't been able to pinpoint them.

The motivation of the attackers is also topic of dispute. From his analysis, Shipp believes the intent is to steal information. "In other words, corporate espionage," he said.

But Symantec's Weafer isn't so sure. "Whether they are for hire, or whether they are simply trying stuff out is not clear," he said.

Security companies are working on behavioral blocking and other techniques that go beyond signature-based detection to protect systems. Heuristics, which are programs that use pattern recognition, instead of being based on algorithms, are one example.

"Antivirus companies have moved in leaps and bounds in terms of heuristic attacks," Cluley said. "It is not completely disastrous, even if it doesn't appear on the radar. Good proactive protection can still defend against a lot of this stuff," he said.

The real good news is that there is a only a very low probability that any specific company was attacked last year, Shipp said. "The bad news is, if you were attacked and it was successful, it is of very high value," he said.

Skype lands Wi-Fi access deal in Europe

News ZDNet By David Meyer, ZDNet (UK)

October 11, 2006. Skype's Internet calling service will soon be accessible at the Cloud's Wi-Fi hot spots across Europe, according to the two companies.

Although normal online access to Skype's voice over Internet Protocol services is free to those connecting via PC, access to the Cloud's Wi-Fi network will require the use of a Skype-enabled phone from SMC Networks and a monthly payment of about $13 (6.99 pounds).

Niall Murphy, the Cloud's chief technology officer, said Tuesday that the deal "marks the start of a real low-cost alternative to traditional telecoms services."

The service will launch in the U.K. this month and spread to other European countries by the end of the year. The Cloud operates more than 8,500 hot spots across Europe.

At the moment, the only handset capable of being used in the service is the SMCWSKP100 model, which costs about $277. But a Cloud representative confirmed to ZDNet UK that the company is "actively working with handset and other types of device providers to ensure these products work well in the public Wi-Fi environment."

Wi-Fi hot spots are available in retail outlets, hotels and airports. The Cloud has also started adding outdoor hot spots in nine cities across the U.K.

David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.

Gravely ill woman kills son, is freed, kills husband...

Reuters News

Tue Oct 10, 2006. SOFIA (Reuters) - A Bulgarian woman who killed her son was released from prison because of terminal cancer. She then went home and killed her husband, police said Tuesday.

The 57-year-old was sentenced to 15 years in jail for killing her 29-year-old son with a garden hoe in April 2005 while he was sleeping.

Last month, authorities judged her to be in the final stages of cancer and let her go home, where she stabbed her husband in the throat with a knife.

"It was established she was in the last stage of cancer, she had it all over her body," said a spokeswoman for the Bourgas regional police.

"They presumed she was feeling bad and she would treat herself and rest. But nothing of the kind. She got aggressive and ... she killed her husband."

The woman, from a village in eastern Bulgaria, has been taken into custody again and is awaiting a new trial.

"She threatened that, if she is released again, she will kill her second son as well," the police spokeswoman said.

"The whole case is like something from the twilight zone."

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Microsoft struggles with patch

ZD NET News By Ina Fried, and Dawn Kawamoto, CNET News

October 10, 2006. Microsoft on Tuesday released a slew of patches for Windows and Office, but a glitch prevented the company from pushing the updates out automatically.

The patches, which include critical fixes for both Office and Windows, can be manually downloaded from Microsoft's Web site, and the company said it hopes its more automated tools will have the patch available later on Tuesday. Microsoft said that its technical teams "have been working around the clock" to solve the updating problems.

"Due to technical difficulties experienced on the Microsoft Update platform, security updates released today are not currently available via Microsoft Update, Automatic Updates, Windows Server Update Services or Windows Update v6," the software maker said.

Microsoft had said last week to expect 11 patches. However, a representative for the software maker said on Tuesday that a planned critical Windows patch "did not meet the quality bar" and so was not issued.

Tuesday's 10 security bulletins, which include six critical fixes for both Office and Windows, are designed to fix more than two dozen flaws in Microsoft's software--the largest bunch so far this year, said one security company.

"Although there are only 10 patches, they address 26 vulnerabilities, and it's the largest release for Microsoft this year," said Jonathan Bitle, manager of technical accounts at Qualys. "This could be overwhelming for IT managers because they'll have to navigate what to patch and which to patch first."

The second-largest release was in August, when Microsoft's 12 patches put right 23 flaws. A CNET Reviews rundown of the October bulletins can be found here.

Antivirus company Symantec said the updates include patches for Office flaws for which exploit code already exists, including an Excel vulnerability that surfaced in July and a Word exploit that emerged last month.

"The quantity of Microsoft Office vulnerabilities this month illustrates this emerging attacker focus, and users should consider the installation of these patches to be a critical component of a smart security strategy," Symantec Security Response director Oliver Friedrichs said in a statement.

IT administrators may want to work particularly quickly in deploying three of the patches--MS06-057, MS06-058 and MS06-060-Qualys' Bitle said.

Microsoft also noted that it expects to release Windows Internet Explorer 7 later this month, with the browser update scheduled to be delivered shortly thereafter via Windows Update and Automatic Update. The company said it is providing a blocker tool that will allow businesses to prevent their computers from receiving the new browser. Businesses that don't want IE7 should have the blocking tool in place by November 1, Microsoft said.

Wk schaken / Kramnik dreigt met rechter...

Dagblad Trouw Door Rob Velthuis

Nieuws sport 11-10-2006. Zes partijen lang alweer voert de WK-match tussen Veselin Topalov en Vladimir Kramnik ogenschijnlijk ongestoord naar een sportieve apotheose. De stilte is bedrieglijk. Morgen kan de met een rechtszaak dreigende Kramnik voor een hernieuwd schisma zorgen.

Op het bord was gisteren niets te merken van de dreiging die de schaakwereld kan splijten. Terwijl de WK-tweekamp in Elista toch als een hereniging was aangekondigd. Topalov speelde voor het laatst de witte stukken, maar het was Kramnik die voor de meeste dreiging zorgde.

Met de uiteindelijke remise na 66 zetten is de stand in de tweekamp met 5.5-5.5 in evenwicht.

Maar slechts winst van Kramnik in de twaalfde partij van morgen kan voor rust zorgen. Bij elke andere uitslag blijft de verdeeldheid van de afgelopen vijftien jaren in tact.

Het veelbesproken toiletincident van twee weken geleden hangt namelijk als een aanzwellende dreiging boven de match. Topalov beschuldigde de veelvuldig naar de wc lopende Kramnik in het eerste deel van de tweekamp van vals spel en eiste met succes het sluiten van zijn toilet. Kramnik betwistte deze inbreuk op de contractueel vastgelegde afspraken en kwam voor de vijfde partij niet opdagen.

Daarop besloot de internationale schaakfederatie Fide Topalov het punt toe te kennen. In de impasse die ontstond, besloot de Fide het toilet weer van het slot te doen. Kramnik speelde onder protest verder om de schaakliefhebbers niet teleur te stellen. De vijfde partij moet in zijn ogen gewoon worden gespeeld.

Topalov heeft zich niet geliefd gemaakt met zijn ordinaire psychologische oorlogsvoering. Kramnik kan op veel sympathie rekenen, al verklaarden oude rotten als Kortsjnoi en Karpov dat zij in zijn geval onder de huidige omstandigheden hadden geweigerd verder te spelen.

Tot gisteren werd niets ondernomen om tot een oplossing te komen. Topalov gaat er vanuit dat hij gelijk staat met Kramnik, zoals de tussenstand van de Fide bepaalt. Mocht hij morgen met de zwarte stukken remise afdwingen, dan wil hij in een barrage met verkorte partijen om de titel spelen.

Of het zover komt hangt af van Kramnik. Gisterochtend publiceerde hij een open brief aan Fide-voorzitter Iljoemzjinov waarin hij nogmaals protest aantekent tegen de gang van zaken rond de vijfde partij. Daarin verklaart hij dat, mocht Topalov tot wereldkampioen worden uitgeroepen dankzij het ’gratis punt’ uit de vijfde partij, hij hem niet zal erkennen. ,,In dat geval zal ik na de WK juridische stappen ondernemen tegen de Fide.’’

Zijn manager Carsten Hensel stelt het volgende voor: ,,Als een gebaar van goede wil, verzoekt de heer Kramnik de Fide partij vijf onmiddellijk na partij twaalf te laten spelen. Dit is in onze ogen de enige manier om de persoonlijke, sportieve, juridische en ethische beschadigingen die de heer Kramnik heeft opgelopen te verzachten.’

Toch kan hij morgen zelf alle problemen voorkomen, door de twaalfde partij te winnen.

Driver obeys navigation system, no matter what...

Mon Oct 9, 2006. BERLIN (Reuters) - An 80-year-old German motorist obediently following his navigation system ignored a motorway "closed for construction" sign and crashed his Mercedes into a pile of sand further down the road, police said Monday.

"The driver was following the orders from his navigation system and even though there was a sufficient number of warnings and barricades, he continued his journey into the construction site," a police spokeswoman told Reuters.

"His trip finally ended when he wound up crashing into a pile of sand," she added.
The driver and his wife escaped uninjured from the collision, which occurred on a motorway near Hamburg.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

MS releases final Vista candidate...

From our correspondents in Seattle

OCTOBER 09, 2006. MICROSOFT has released the final test version of its upcoming Windows operating system and said the launch for the highly-anticipated upgrade is running on schedule.

Incorporating feedback from earlier test releases, the world's largest software maker said it distributed Windows Vista Release Candidate 2, or RC2, for its testers to try.

"Microsoft expects the RC2 build to be the last interim release before the product is released to manufacturing," the company said.

Earlier this week, Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund said Microsoft was likely to ship Vista on time and distribute RC2 this week or next week, indicating that the Windows upgrade would be available for business customers in November and retail PCs by late January.

Microsoft said it continued to target that schedule for Vista, but said the final delivery date will depend on the product's quality.

Windows Vista, already five years in the making, has been postponed by Microsoft several times and some industry analysts have speculated that the world's largest software maker will again be forced to push back its release dates.

Microsoft Windows sits on more than 90 percent of the world's personal computers and the Windows business accounts for about 30 percent of the company's $44 billion in revenue.

By Reuters

Abducted by aliens? Call now for compensation...

Fri Oct 6, 2006. BERLIN (Reuters) - A German lawyer hopes to drum up more business by pursuing state compensation claims for people who believe they were abducted by aliens.

"There's quite obviously demand for legal advice here," Jens Lorek told Reuters by telephone on Thursday. "The trouble is, people are afraid of making fools of themselves in court."

Lorek, a lawyer based in the eastern city of Dresden who specializes in social and labor law, said he hoped to expand his client base by taking on the unusual work.

He has yet to win any abduction claims, but says there are plenty of potential clients, noting that extra-terrestrial watchdogs report scores of alien assaults every year.

"These people could appeal for therapies or cures," he said.
Lorek, 41, is pinning his hopes for success on a German law which grants kidnap victims the right to state compensation.

Asked if he was worried he might look ridiculous by seeking justice for clients haunted by aliens, Lorek was unfazed. "Nobody has laughed about it up until now."

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Miniskirts steal limelight at Japan tech trade show...

CHIBA, Japan, Oct 6 (Reuters Life!) - Forget the giant flat-screen TVs and snazzy mobile phones. At Japan's biggest technology trade show on Friday, Wataru Tatebayashi, 35, aimed his camera at the women in miniskirts lining up in front of the gadgets to wave visitors goodbye.

"Someday these photos will be worth good money," he said, shifting his weight to put down his tripod. "I'm putting some of these on my blog, but the best ones I'm saving for myself and for when the women become famous."

For fans like Tatebayashi, the "companions" posing next to some of Japan's most technologically advanced gear are far from gratuitous.

The mini-skirted women are the reason he took the afternoon off work and, his best cameras in tow, trekked out during a typhoon to the convention center, a two-hour train ride from his home in western Tokyo.

"It's a long-term investment," he said. "Plus, maybe some of them will become my friends."

For the women, too, events such as CEATEC, Japan's biggest annual electronics trade show, are often more than just a decent paying part-time job.

Mitsuki Hoshikawa, 21, on duty at the Digital Living Network Alliance booth, kept interrupting the picture-takers to tell them she was starting up a blog next month.

"Please remember to check out my site!" she said, writing down her name on trade show pamphlets.

Hoshikawa's agency, Style Corp., would pay for her blogging operation once she could show them she had a good following of admirers, she said.

"I need more fans, so I can get more gigs, and someday become a race queen," she said.
She declined to say how much she was paid, but said the top companions get more job offers from the big electronics companies and earn four to five times as much per gig.

She pointed to the adjacent booth, where one such "celebrity companion", Rika Ando, walked back and forth in front of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.'s 103-inch plasma displays.

But what about the risk of stalkers?

Web sites list the names and pictures of some of the most popular companions, along with the dates of their next gigs. What happens if one of the photographers gets out of line?

Hoshikawa paused before motioning to other women lined up in front of the booth. "We look after each other," she said, then flashed a smile at photographers, kneeling for a leg shot.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Drivers think of sex rather than signals...

Thu Oct 5, 2006 LONDON (Reuters) - Over a million motorists think about sex rather than the road ahead and millions more who don't indulge in intimate thoughts are worrying about work or thinking about their families, a survey said on Thursday.

Research from car insurer More Than found one in five drivers admit to concentrating behind the wheel less than 75 percent of the time, with 1.2 million thinking mostly about sex.

And sex wasn't the only non-traffic thoughts motorists have. For 3.2 million drivers work was the main focus and for 2 million more it was family issues that dominated.

"Unsafe habits can be unlearned just as easily as they can be learned, but first, drivers must recognize the risk they face by not concentrating on their driving," said Lisa Dorn, director of Driver Research at Cranfield University of the findings.

The study also revealed drivers' pet hates.

Topping the list were tailgaters (28 percent), lane hoggers (20 percent) and drivers who cut in (11 percent).

Other road users who drove too fast and those who drove too slowly were also rated on 11 percent.

The research carried out by Sky Living for More Than questioned 4,497 adults in June, 2006.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Microsoft to lock pirates out of Vista PC's...

By Joris Evers. CNET News.com

October 4, 2006. Windows Vista will have new antipiracy technology that locks people out their PCs if the operating system isn't activated within 30 days after installation.

If Vista is not activated with a legitimate product registration key in time, the system will run in "reduced functionality mode" until it is activated, said Thomas Lindeman, a senior product manager at Microsoft. In this mode, people will be able to use a Web browser for up to an hour, after which time the system will log them out, he said.

The new technology is part of Microsoft's new "Software Protection Platform," which the company plans to announce on Wednesday. It will be part of future versions of all Microsoft products, but debuts in Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn," said Cori Hartje, director of Microsoft's Windows Genuine Software Initiative. Vista, the successor to Windows XP, is slated to be broadly available in January.

Microsoft has escalated its battle with software pirates during the past two years through the "Genuine Advantage" add-ons for Windows and Office, its biggest cash cows. The company is now expanding its push by baking antipiracy features into its new products and taking more drastic action when it finds that a product was illegitimately acquired.

Many users shouldn't be confronted by Vista's antipiracy technology, however. People who buy a PC with Vista installed from companies such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway, for example, should find the operating system activated already.

"Everything is going to be good to go right out of the box," Hartje said. "This is more for those who install after the fact."

Those who install Vista themselves, for example on existing PCs, will have a 30-day period to activate the operating system and validate with Microsoft that they have a legitimate license. "During those 30 days, you get warning messages, it counts down. During the last three days they get very frequent," Lindeman said.

If ignored, after 30 days Vista will display four options. The first will allow the user to activate online, the second is to run in reduced functionality mode, the third is to enter a product key and the fourth displays instructions to activate by phone, Lindeman said.

"In reduced functionality mode, we will let you use your browser for periods of up to an hour before we log you off," Lindeman said.

Barring people from using their PC is a significant change from the antipiracy features that Microsoft bolted on to Windows XP with Windows Genuine Advantage. In XP, the piracy-busting features only put a block on downloading additional programs from Microsoft's Web sites.

Windows XP also included product activation, but people could still use their machine in "safe mode" if the operating system was not activated. Moreover, no activation was required if a volume license key was used, the most popular way of pirating Windows. Starting with Vista, Microsoft will no longer give out those types of license keys, which are typically used by larger organizations.

"Piracy is one of the most significant problems facing the software industry," Hartje said. More than a third of all software installed last year was pirated or unlicensed, she said, citing figures from the Business Software Alliance, a software industry group.

Microsoft will continue to check if Vista was legitimately acquired, even after activation. This happens, for example, when downloading additional Microsoft programs. Should a license key be deemed illegitimate, the user will be given another 30-day grace period to acquire a legitimate license key, Microsoft said.

During this grace period warnings will be displayed and Vista will block access to the Windows Defender antispyware tool, ReadyBoost memory expansion feature and Aero advanced graphics option, Microsoft said. Also, a persistent text will display in the lower right hand of the screen: "This copy of Windows is not genuine."

If Vista is not validated after the 30 days, the user will again be locked out.

As part of the increased effort to make it harder to pirate its products, Microsoft is also changing the way businesses license its software. New licensing systems will replace the current volume license keys, which have been widely abused, Hartje said. "Fifty percent of the piracy, we think, uses keys issued to volume licensing customers," she said.

Volume license keys are registration codes for products that Microsoft gives out to large organizations in plain text. One key can be used to activate and run an unlimited number of copies of the product, for example Windows XP or Office XP.

Starting with Vista, Microsoft will offer two different types of keys and offer three different ways to distribute them within an organization. In all cases, some more work will be required on the part of the technology department at a company. "They will just need to do a little extra planning," Hartje said.

The first type of product key to replace the current system is called "multiple activation key," or MAK. An IT pro at a company can install a key on a machine that will then need to be validated online. Alternatively a proxy can be set up centrally to activate multiple systems at once, according to Microsoft.

The second licensing option is called "key management service," or KMS. This requires the organization to set up a KMS service on the corporate network that will activate client machines. The Vista PCs will silently find the KMS service and activate, according to Microsoft.

It may seem like businesses will have to count all their licenses, but it's really not as bad as it sounds, said Michael Silver, an analyst with Gartner.

"It has nothing to do with license counting right now, but companies will need to expend time and effort and some money to administer this, in the name of helping Microsoft recoup revenue lost to piracy," he said. "There needs to be more of a benefit (for customers). Linux and Mac communities will try to make hay with this, but this will not be the tipping point."

Hey, no fair voting for yourself!

Mon Oct 2, 2006. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch have voted themselves Europe's third most loutish, bad-mannered nation behind Russia and France, according to a survey in Dutch daily De Telegraaf on Saturday.

"As we are too many people living in just a little country our tolerance of one another is continuously declining," wrote one of the survey respondents.

But another citizen protested: "The Dutch are very direct in the way they communicate. Sometimes that's considered the same as being bad mannered."

The Dutch voted the Swiss, Scandinavians and the Belgians as Europe's most polite nations.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Etiquette guide offers sleaze tips for posh girls..

By Kate Kelland

Mon Oct 2, 2006. LONDON (Reuters) - For hundreds of years, Debrett's has guided Britain's aristocracy through the niceties of meeting royalty, going to the races or eating soup in the correct way.

Now the publishers of the bible of blue-blooded behavior are straying into previously unmentionable areas of the life of a modern girl -- with a new book offering guidance on adultery, toplessness and celebrity gossip.

The first edition of Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage -- known in Britain as the "toff's bible" was published in 1769, and its tome on manners, Debrett's Correct Form, has guided high society for decades.

But according to its editor, Jo Aitchison, the new book "Etiquette for Girls" is a sign that the traditional arbiters of civility are catching up with the times.

"It's a nod to the modern day," she told Reuters. "We're pulling Debrett's out of Victorian times and trying to make it relevant to today." The book's advice ranges from how to conduct a sleaze-free office fling or a disease-free one night stand, to how to smoke at social occasions and what to do when you meet a celebrity.

"Avoid dark-alley gropery and unladylike fumbling in the back of a cab," the guide says on the subject of one night stands. "Discuss the necessaries to avoid planting any love children or disease, and you're away."

On smoking it decrees: "Always use a proper ashtray -- never a wine bottle, flower pot or used plate -- and avoid allowing smoke to billow out of the nostrils. It is also inelegant to leave the cigarette unsupported in the mouth..."

But Aitchison insists the book is not all about sex, lies and partying. The core values of Debrett's remain -- elegance, composure and dignity are all important, whether you are dining with the Queen or cheating on your husband.

"We are trying to give girls confidence to behave in the correct way," she told Reuters. "It's a bit like a survival guide for modern life, so we have had to include certain subject matters that are new for Debrett's."

The world of celebrity is "peopled by psycho fans and fame hags," the book says, and is best treated with caution.

As well as advice on affairs, Aitchison points out that the book also includes suggestions on less risque subjects: How to behave properly on the way to work -- "don't sit on the bus and bellow down your mobile phone" -- and what to take to a music festival -- "earplugs and a pillow."

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks for the memories...

Wed Sep 27, 2006. BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai coup leaders have banned go-go girls from dancing near tanks and troops on Bangkok streets as a distraction from the serious business of power, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

"It is not appropriate to entertain soldiers while they are on duty," Colonel Acra Tiprote told Reuters after a troupe of 10 women in tight camouflage vests and shorts posed with soldiers and tanks while making a music video.

"People should differentiate between entertainment and seriousness. A coup is not entertaining," Acra said, although the tanks sent in to lead Thailand's first coup in 15 years had turned Bangkok into a carnival-type attraction.

Thais and foreign tourists flocked to the Army Headquarters to take picture with tanks and soldiers. Many gave soldiers flowers or food and drink.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Three year old buys pink convertible on Internet...

Tue Sep 26, 2006. LONDON (Reuters) - Jack Neal briefly became the proud owner of a pink convertible car after he managed to buy it for 9,000 pounds ($17,000) on the Internet despite being only three years old.

Jack's mother told the BBC she had left her password for the eBay auction site in her computer and her son used the "buy it now" option to complete the purchase.

"Jack's a whizz on the PC and just pressed all the right buttons," Rachel Neal said. The seller of the second-hand car, a dealer from Worcestershire, central England, was amused by the bid and agreed not to force the sale through.

"Luckily he saw the funny side and said he would re-advertise," Neal said.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Don't meddle with our models, say Milan fashionistas

By Sophie Hardach

Tue Sep 26, 2006. MILAN (Reuters) - Milan fashion week is resisting calls for a ban on underweight models amid a debate on super-thin girls and eating disorders that has gripped the public but elicits bored yawns from designers.

Madrid earlier this month asked models below a certain weight to stay away from its shows, but on the catwalks in Milan there were plenty of girls with stick-thin arms and gaunt faces.
Mario Boselli, head of the Italian fashion industry's chamber of commerce, told Reuters on Tuesday there were no plans to copy Madrid.

Speaking on the phone between fashion shows, he said he had seen "maybe one girl among a hundred" that could be defined as too skinny and that there was no need for regulations.

Media had reported that Milan was adopting its own set of rules to protect models, but Boselli said those regulations were merely part of Italian law, were not new and had nothing to do with the weight issue.

"There's been a misunderstanding. We follow the Italian labor law, which means that underage models must have a health certificate, show that they attend school and be accompanied. But that applies to all minors, not just models," he said.

Burberry's designer Christopher Bailey, celebrating backstage with a crowd including his model friend Stella Tennant, a lean and towering mother-of-four, also opposed specific rules.

"I don't think it's so simple, I'm very thin and I eat like a horse...I think it's something we all have to be conscious and sensible about, we have to use common sense," he said.

When asked whether he had ever refused to employ a model because she was too thin, he declined to comment further.

At the 1980s-inspired show of Dolce & Gabbana's D&G label, girls with stork-like legs ending in chunky platform shoes trotted down the catwalk, their tiny waists narrowed even further by tightly girded belts and corsets.

Backstage before the show, 18-year-old Heather Marks from Canada, her fragile frame huddled in a big black jacket, said she personally had never felt pressure to stay thin.

"This season there are a lot of really thin girls. So many of the new girls are 14 so they are going to be super-thin because they haven't reached puberty," she said.
Marks was sitting in a corner reading Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream for school while around her, make-up artists and hair stylists buzzed over dozens of big-eyed, porcelain-skinned models.

"You do see a lot of girls, mostly Russian, where you don't know if they're naturally thin," Marks added.

But speaking to models from Russia and Eastern Europe at another fashion show, the response was always the same: we are naturally thin, we have never felt any pressure to loose weight.

"We're tall -- I'm 1.80 meters so it wouldn't look good if I were big," said 22-year-old Ekaterina Kashyntsera, a striking Ukrainian with short, dark hair who said she exercised and ate healthily to stay in shape. "But it's your own choice. If you don't want to, you can leave."

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Shanghai: It's a big pajama party

Wed Sep 20, 2006 SHANGHAI (Reuters) - People wearing pajamas in public, still a common sight in Shanghai, is one of the most irritating aspects of life in China's biggest city, according to an opinion poll of residents.

The survey found that pajama-wearing on the streets and in public places such as shops, banks and parks is among the most uncivilized things in the city, along with aggressive pets, unhelpful neighbors and disregard for the natural environment.

Over 16 percent of respondents said they or family members often donned pajamas in public, and 25 percent reported they sometimes did, Yang Xiong, a professor who helped conduct the poll, said Wednesday.

The survey was sponsored by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and the Shanghai Women's Federation.

Theories differ over why the practice of wearing pajamas -- baggy cotton outfits which are often printed with flowers or small animals -- is so widespread in China's richest and most cosmopolitan city.

Some believe residents are showing off their social status by underlining how close to the city center they live, while others say it is a holdover from life many decades ago in small, self-contained communities.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Centrelink outage prompts new backup plan...

ZDNet Australia Security By Steven Deare.

21 September 2006. Department of Human Services minister Joe Hockey has called for new backup datacentres for federal government agencies following a recent power outage that took down key Centrelink IT systems.

The incident occurred on the afternoon of August 22, when a problem with Canberra's power grid caused a Centrelink mainframe to fail. The Canberra grid supplies electricity to much of the ACT.

Compounding the problem, backup power to the Bruce, Canberra-based datacentre hosting the mainframe also failed.

The outage caused lengthy delays to Centrelink's processing of welfare payments, and staff had limited access to affected IT systems.

Although the problem was eventually rectified for Centrelink to make the day's estimated AU$350 million in payments to more than half a million families, Hockey said he was concerned about the wider implications.

"Needless to say that Jeff Whalan, who's the head of Centrelink, and myself were firstly not impressed, because we assumed that we had proper power backups," Hockey said.

"And in fact there was an extensive contract to deliver that power backup.

"So to say that we were impressed at that moment with the services provided would be a massive overstatement," Hockey said.

ZDNet Australia has learned Cybertrust was responsible for backup power to the facility, which houses computers for a number of government departments.

Cybertrust did not respond to requests for comment before time of publication.

Hockey wants new backup datacentres so the situation can't happen again. "The fact is Canberra's on one grid," Hockey said. "And yet so much of the operations of the nation and the day to day operations of the city of Canberra, which are not insignificant, rely entirely on that grid and the risks associated with being on one grid.

"From our perspective, Canberra represents some level of increased risk," he said. The IT skills shortage in Canberra was another reason for looking to locate backup datacentres in other states, according to Hockey.

He invited state governments to pitch to provide the facilities. "I'm interested in getting proposals from state governments to see if they'll play ball with us."

Hockey has supported burgeoning IT hubs on the Gold Coast and in Adelaide as a way of alleviating strain on Centrelink IT resources.

Hockey's access card project would also require a datacentre located outside the ACT.

"The 800 pound gorilla that is at the forefront of our minds at the moment but at the back of the minds of the IT industry is the secure registration system for the rollout of the smartcard.

"And I am certainly inclined to have the datacentre for that outside of Canberra, and backup facilities obviously in other risk-averse destinations.

"So that will be a significant project as well," he said.

Whether the access card datacentre would be the same facility as the Centrelink one was still to be decided, according to Hockey.

Man bites panda after panda bites man...

Reuters.com

Thu Sep 21, 2006. (Reuters) - An intoxicated Chinese man who tried to give a panda a hug at Beijing Zoo found himself biting it in self defense after his clumsy attempt at affection was savagely rejected, local media reported Thursday.

Zhang Xinyan, a building worker on holiday from China's central Henan province, climbed into an enclosure that held Gu Gu, a seven-year-old panda, at Beijing Zoo after the man had drunk four pints of beer during lunch at a nearby restaurant, the Yanzhao Metropolis Daily said.

Zhang, who couldn't remember the incident clearly, had wanted to hug the panda and shake its hand after having watched similar scenes on television.

"When I was in there, the panda was eating bamboo. Then, it seemed some people shouted, which startled the panda. He rushed over to bite my leg," Zhang said.

Zhang, who tried in vain to push the panda away, was bitten twice and forced to the ground, the paper said. "I took the opportunity to bite the panda's back, but its fur was too thick," Zhang said.

Eventually, a zoo worker sprayed water from a hose to rescue Zhang from the panda's clutches, the paper said.

Both were worse for wear after the tussle. Zhang was rushed to hospital and given tetanus and rabies shots, while Gu Gu lost her appetite, Xinhua news agency reported.

"It was scared by the intruder and refused to eat for one and a half days," a zoo spokeswoman, surnamed Ye, told Xinhua.

But Gu Gu had recovered and was back on display Thursday.

Zhang, however, faces at least a half-month convalescence, due to the "deep wounds," Xinhua said, citing Zhang's doctor.

His pride had also been injured, after reading stories of his exploits in newspapers.
"I wouldn't have jumped in if I knew what would happen," Zhang said.

The zoo, which plans to install cameras to monitor the enclosure, would not prosecute, Xinhua said.
But Zhang had already been tried and found guilty by Chinese Internet surfers.

"The man should be fined for the trouble he made," an anonymous commentator said in a posting on 163.com.
"He deserved to be bitten."

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Thief accidentally turns himself in...

Reuters.com

Tue Sep 19, 2006. MILAN (Reuters) - An Italian thief accidentally turned himself in after losing his cellular phone while robbing an elderly lady, calling his own number to meet the finder -- and unwittingly arranging a date with police.

The 77-year-old victim handed over the phone that the bag snatcher had dropped to police, who lured the thief to a meeting where he was arrested, news agency Agi reported Monday.

Agi said the man had been freed from prison recently under an Italian mass pardon meant to ease congestion in jails.

By the time police were waiting for him at the meeting point, the 35-year-old had already robbed another old lady and was riding a stolen scooter, Agi said.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

First penis transplant reversed after two weeks...

Health News-Reuters.com

Tue Sep 19, 2006. LONDON (Reuters) - Surgeons in China who said they performed the first successful penis transplant had to remove the donated organ because of the severe psychological problems it caused to the recipient and his wife.

Dr Weilie Hu and surgeons at Guangzhou General Hospital in China performed the complex 15-hour surgery on a 44-year old man whose penis had been damaged in a traumatic accident.

The microsurgery to attach the penis, which had been donated by the parents of a 22-year-old brain-dead man, was successful but Hu and his team removed it two weeks later.

"Because of a severe psychological problem of the recipient and his wife, the transplanted penis regretfully had to be cut off," Hu said in a report published online by the peer reviewed journal European Urology, without elaborating.

"This is the first reported case of penile transplantation in a human," Hu added.

Both the man and his wife had requested the surgery. He had been unable to have intercourse or urinate properly since the accident that occurred 8 months before the surgery was performed.

Ten days after the operation, which had been approved by the hospital's medical ethical committee, the recipient had been able to urinate.

There had been no signs of the 10-centimetre (4-inch) organ being rejected by the recipient's body. But Hu said more cases and longer observation are needed to determine whether sexual sensation and function can be restored.

"The patient finally decided to give up the treatment because of the wife's psychological rejection, as well as the swollen shape of the transplanted penis" Hu added.

In a commentary in the journal, Yoram Vardi, of the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel, said the successful surgery represents an additional step in contemporary medicine.

But he added that careful patient selection is required as well as thorough informed consent of the patient and his family.

"Satisfactory consideration of these issues must be taken into account so that this approach can be considered a serious therapeutic option in the future," Vardi added.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Porn sites exploit new IE flaw...

Tech News on ZDNet By Joris Evers, CNET News.com

September 19, 2006. Miscreants are using an unpatched security bug in Internet Explorer to install malicious software from rigged Web sites, experts warned Tuesday.

The vulnerability lies in the way IE 6 handles certain graphics. Malicious software can be loaded, unbeknownst to the user, onto a vulnerable Windows PC when the user clicks on a malicious link on a Web site or an e-mail message, several security companies said.

"Fully patched Internet Explorer browsers are vulnerable," Ken Dunham, director of the rapid response team at VeriSign's iDefense, said in an e-mailed statement. "This new zero-day attack is trivial to reproduce and has great potential for widespread Web-based attacks in the near future."

Security-monitoring companies Secunia and the French Security Incident Response Team have given the issue their most serious ratings.

Shady adult Web sites are among the first to exploit the IE vulnerability, Eric Sites, vice president of research and development at spyware specialist Sunbelt Software, wrote on a corporate blog. In one case, a malicious Web site used the exploit to install "epic loads of adware," according to Sunbelt.

Microsoft plans to fix the flaw as part of its monthly patching cycle on Oct. 10, the software giant said in a security advisory. The update might be released sooner, "depending on customer needs," Microsoft said. Typically, Microsoft only breaks its patch cycle when attacks are widespread.

The number of attacks may rise quickly, according to Web security company Websense. It appears that WebAttacker, a tool often used to create attack sites, has been fitted with the new exploit, Websense said in an e-mailed statement. "We have confirmed multiple, previously known, WebAttacker sites that are currently exploiting this vulnerability to install malicious software," Websense said. "We expect to see many of the several thousand WebAttacker sites begin to utilize the exploit, as they update to the latest release of the tool kit."

"Microsoft is aware that this vulnerability is being actively exploited," the company said in its advisory. While it works on an update, Microsoft recommends users keep their security software updated and take caution when browsing the Web. In its advisory, it also provides several workarounds to protect systems against the flaw.

The vulnerability lies in a Windows component called "vgx.dll." This component is meant to support Vector Markup Language documents in the operating system. VML is used for high-quality vector graphics on the Web.

This is the second known and unpatched flaw for IE to surface in as many weeks. Last week Microsoft confirmed a flaw in an ActiveX control related to multimedia. Attack code that exploits the flaw and could be used to hijack Windows PCs running IE 5 or IE 6 has been posted on the Net. Microsoft also has yet to provide a patch for a Word 2000 flaw being exploited in targeted cyberattacks.

Tennis - Hewitt feud continues...

By Pippa Davis

Tue 19 Sept 2006.The on-going feud between Australian Lleyton Hewitt and the Argentinean players continued to gather momentum in the lead up to the Davis Cup semi-final between the two countries.

This latest incident sees Hewitt being accused of turning the clash into a circus after being given special security during his visit to the South American country.

Hewitt - who arrived in Buenos Aires on Sunday night - will be accompanied by two personal minders during his week long stay in the Argentine capital.

The Australian is already hugely unpopular in Argentina having been involved in a number of acrimonious incidents with several of the country's top players during his career.

"Hewitt seems to be thinking that he's coming to Iraq," said Argentina's Jose Acasuso.

"But we're not bothered because this is the circus that he wanted to set up&hellip Nothing's going to happen and we shouldn't pay any attention to it.

"We're just worried about Argentina. Whether he has one bodyguard, or 500 bodyguards, that's up to him."

Argentina - who beat holders Croatia in the quarter-finals - are the favourites to win the tie at the Parque Roca where a capacity 14,000 crowd is expected on all three days.

Attack code targets new IE hole....

Tech News on ZDNet Joris Evers, CNET News.com

September 14, 2006. Computer code that could be used to hijack Windows PCs via a yet-to-be-patched Internet Explorer flaw has been posted on the Net, experts have warned.

The code was published on public Web sites, where it is accessible to miscreants who might use it to craft attacks on vulnerable Windows computers. Microsoft is investigating the issue, the company representative said in a statement Thursday.

"Microsoft's initial investigation reveals that this exploit code could allow an attacker to execute memory corruption," the representative said. As a workaround to protect against potential attacks, Microsoft suggests Windows users disable ActiveX and active scripting controls.

The flaw is due to an error in an ActiveX control related to multimedia features and could be exploited by viewing a rigged Web page, Symantec said in an alert sent to users of its DeepSight security intelligence service Thursday. An attacker could commandeer a Windows PC or cause IE to crash, the security company said.

IE versions 5.01 and 6 on all current versions of Windows are affected, the French Security Incident Response Team, or FrSIRT, a security-monitoring company, said in an alert Wednesday. FrSIRT deems the issue "critical," its most serious rating. Microsoft noted that Windows 2003 running Enhanced Security Configuration is not affected.

Upon completion of its investigation, Microsoft may issue a patch for the flaw as part of its monthly release process, the company said. Microsoft is not aware of any attacks that attempt to exploit the new IE vulnerability at this time, it said.

The warning of the new flaw comes only days after Microsoft released its September patches. On Tuesday it released three updates, two for Windows and one for Office. The software maker also released a third version of an Internet Explorer fix after it botched the first two versions of the patch.

In recent months, word of new attacks has repeatedly followed shortly after "Patch Tuesday." Some experts believe the timing of the new attack is no coincidence, suggesting that attackers look to take advantage of a full month before Microsoft is scheduled to release its next bunch of fixes.

How the system let my son down...

BBC NEWS UK By Jacqueline Head

Ashley committed suicide in 2002...

Saturday, 16 September 2006. As the children's commissioner for England says the lack of adequate education for autistic children is "shocking and appalling", one mother describes her ordeal.

Joy Belson's son Ashley committed suicide when he was 18 after suffering a number of learning difficulties, including Asperger's, an autistic spectrum disorder.

Ashley felt he was "useless", despite being bright and passing his GCSEs when he was 12 years old.

Mrs Belson, 62, who now lives in Carrickmacross, Ireland, was living in Birmingham at the time. She believes the education system let her son down badly.

'Useless'
"Ashley was first expelled from school when he was about eight. We got him into a local school who worked very very hard with him, but eventually they felt that things were getting a little too disruptive," she said.

That was when he was 11, so Mrs Belson began looking for specialist schools for her son. Ashley also suffered from Tourette Syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Semantic Pragmatic Disorder.

"We were bandied about between lots of schools, but they were not suitable for the problems he had got - they were for children who were badly behaved.

"We finally got him into a school in Chelmsley Wood. The headmaster there worked very very hard with him and he built up a good relationship with him. But when the Ofsted report came through the school was closed, and when it eventually re-opened the headmaster left.

"The new headmistress started taking in children bit by bit. Ashley was only there for a couple of weeks before they told us they couldn't teach him because of the problems he had.

"The fact he'd passed his GCSEs for maths when he was 12 meant nothing to them."

Mrs Belson was never able to find a school that was suitable for Ashley.

"They could cater for his intelligence but not his level of disruption, or they could cater for his disruptiveness but not for his intelligence - they could never do both."

"My son was a lovely boy, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his mother, but he was very intelligent, and the system let him down very very badly.

"He would say repeatedly 'I'm useless'."

Ashley never returned to school after he was 13. Mrs Belson believes that being rejected from school was one factor leading to his suicide.

"I feel passionate about this because I know where these kids can go," she said.

For more articles on Autism refer to the following links:

Autism Articles UK

Ministers consider autism funding

School inclusion 'can be abuse'

Schools 'fail autistic children'

Autism 'more common than thought'

Calls for better autism schooling

Autistic brains 'never daydream'

Scientific brain linked to autism

Viagra spammer gets a rude shock...

Computerworld Mitchell Bingemann

12/09/2006 The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) raided a residential premise today in relation to allegations that the occupant had sent billions of unsolicited spam emails.

ACMA issued a search warrant after a tip-off from the Dutch Independent Regulator of Post and Telecommunications, OPTA.

"Preliminary analysis of the email messages contained in the spam campaign has identified that over two billion emails were sent in one spam campaign,' said Lyn Maddock, Acting ACMA Chair. "ACMA analysis to date has identified that the messages in the spam campaign primarily promoted Viagra products."

While the Viagra spam appears to have been sent from overseas, section 7 of the Spam Act 2003 makes it an offence for an Australian to be involved in the sending of spam if there is an 'Australian link'.

It is ACMA's intention to investigate whether there is tangible Australian link with this spam campaign. As the matter is still under investigation, ACMA would not confirm whether one or more people were involved.

The watchdog said penalties for contravention of the Spam Act can be up to $220,000 per day for first-time corporate offenders and up to $1.1 million per day for repeat offenders. Profits can also be forfeited and compensation paid to victims.

ACMA has already been successful in prosecuting spammers under the Spam Act, with Perth-based Clarity1 becoming the first company to be prosecuted in April this year.

In that case ACMA submitted to the Federal Court that, in the twelve months after the Spam Act commenced, Clarity1 and its managing director Wayne Mansfield, sent out at least 56 million unsolicited commercial emails.

Following that case the judge called on both ACMA and Mansfield's lawyers to submit penalty recommendations for Mansfield. These have yet to be decided upon by the court.

Man gets 7 years for software piracy...

Tech News on ZDNet By Steven Musil, CNET News.com

September 10, 2006. The owner of a software piracy Web site has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison--the longest sentence ever handed down for software piracy.

Nathan Peterson, 27, of Los Angeles, sold copyrighted software at a huge discount on his site, iBackups.net, prosecutors said. The FBI began investigating the site in 2003 and shut it down in February 2005.

U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III on Friday ordered Peterson to pay restitution of more than $5.4 million. Peterson pleaded guilty in December in Alexandria, Va., to two counts of copyright infringement for illegally copying and selling more than $20 million in software.

Justice Department and industry officials called the case one of the largest involving Internet software piracy ever prosecuted.

Last month, Ellis sentenced Danny Ferrer, a Florida man who pleaded guilty to copyright charges in connection with multimillion-dollar sales of pirated software, to six years in prison.

Software piracy resulted in a loss of $34 billion worldwide in 2005, a $1.6 billion increase over 2004, according to a study commissioned by the Business Software Alliance.

Top US cardiologist calls for sweeping stent study...

Health News-Reuters.com

Fri Sep 8, 2006.CHICAGO (Reuters) - One of the nation's leading cardiologists is calling for a sweeping study that evaluates the risks of potentially fatal blood clots related to widely used heart devices that treat blocked heart arteries.

Nearly 6 million heart patients worldwide have received a so-called drug-eluting stent, a tiny wire mesh tube that is covered with a drug that reduces scar formation and keeps vessels from reclosing.

But there has been a growing body of evidence that this newer generation of stents, compared with the bare metal variety, may cause blood clots to form long after implantation. Known as late-stent thrombosis, the risks were the center of debate at a cardiology meeting earlier this week in Barcelona.

"This really shakes up the whole cardiology community," Dr. Stephen Nissen, head of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, said in a telephone interview.

"No one has done the right kind of long-term study," he said, adding that patients should be followed for three or four years instead 9 months. "We need a prospective, randomized trial. That's the gold standard and I'm hoping regulators will mandate it."

He said he will take an active role in initiating such a study. "How else will we answer the question?" Nissen added.

Footnote by Peter V: Now they tell me! I am carrying 4 stents of which 2 are covered with the so called drug-eluting matter.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Drug shown to improve common male sexual problem...

Health News-Reuters.com

Thu Sep 7, 2006. LONDON (Reuters) - A drug designed to treat premature ejaculation works well and is safe, researchers said on Friday.

Dapoxetine, an antidepressant known as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), is the first treatment specifically for premature ejaculation.

Premature ejaculation affects between 27 and 34 percent of all men, according the American Urological Association.

In two trials involving 2,600 men with premature ejaculation, the treatment developed by drug maker Johnson & Johnson's Alza Corporation unit was effective and delayed orgasm.

"On-demand dapoxetine is an effective and generally well tolerated treatment for men with moderate-to-severe premature ejaculation," Dr Jon Pryor, of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis who led the study, said a report in The Lancet medical journal.

Men in the studies received a placebo or the drug which they took one to three hours before having sex. After 12 weeks on the treatment there was a three- to four-fold increase in the time to ejaculation.

"Dapoxetine also improved patients' perceptions of control over ejaculation, satisfaction with sexual intercourse, and overall impression of change in conditions. Partners benefited through improved satisfaction with sexual intercourse," Pryor added.

Side effects of the drug included nausea, diarrhea, headache and dizziness.

Last October, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve the drug. The company said it would continue to develop the treatment and would address questions raised by the FDA.

Premature ejaculation affects more men than erectile dysfunction, the condition that made Pfizer Inc.'s impotence drug Viagra a blockbuster.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

McDonald's wins 'McCurry' war in Malaysia

Reuters.com:
Fri Sep 8, 2006. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - U.S. burger chain McDonald's Corp has won a five-year legal battle against a tiny Malaysian eatery called 'McCurry,' persuading a judge that passers-by might confuse it with the fast-food giant.

The 24-hour open-air restaurant serves spicy fish-head curries, tandoori chicken and other Indian delicacies on a street corner in the capital, under a large 'McCurry' sign.

'The defendant's use of the word McCurry and employing signage featuring colors distinctive of the plaintiff's was indulging in acts that could rise to confusion and deception,' the judge was quoted as saying in local media Friday.

In Thursday's ruling, the court ordered the curry house to drop the 'Mc' from their signage, but state news agency Bernama said the restaurant planned to appeal the ruling, arguing that 'McCurry' was just an abbreviation for 'Malaysian Chicken Curry.'

Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved. "

Bikini queen says aimed to show Pakistan as modern...

Reuters.com
Fri Sep 8, 2006. MUMBAI (Reuters) - A prize-winning bikini competition contestant who claimed to represent Pakistan, sparking some outrage in the Muslim country, says she wanted to project the nation as a modern one.

Officials in Pakistan, which does not hold beauty pageants, said Thursday they were investigating how Texas-based Mariyah Moten, 22, entered a "Miss Bikini" pageant in China last month as a Pakistani contestant.

Pakistan-born Moten, who holds an American passport, won a "Best in Media" title for being the most photographed and interviewed contestant, media reports said.

"I have broken all the barriers, and in the coming years there will be other Pakistani contestants who will carry this title," Moten, described by Pakistani media as the country's first bikini queen, told the Times of India newspaper.

"My intention was to project Pakistan in a very modern way."

Moten was born and brought up in the Pakistani city of Karachi. Her family moved to the United States eight years ago and she is now based in Houston.

Pakistani authorities said they might take up the issue with China, and might also withdraw from Moten privileges offered to people of Pakistani descent such as visa-free travel to Pakistan.

Moten, who said she might consider a career in the Pakistani film industry, was undeterred by the criticism.

"The hardliners are basically people who impose their thoughts on others, and we are not affected by people like them.

"It is actually very amusing how they are always so ready to react," the daily quoted her as saying.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Hey, I think your lower intestine is ringing...

Reuters.com

Thu Sep 7, 2006. SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - Four prisoners in an El Salvador jail hid cellphones, a phone charger and spare chips in their bowels so they could coordinate crimes from their cells, prison officials said on Wednesday.

The four men, all gang members, wrapped their phones and accessories in plastic and inserted them into their rectums "far enough to reach their intestines," Ramon Arevalo, director of the maximum security Zacatecoluca prison, said.

Arevalo said the ruse was discovered during X-ray examinations following six weeks of investigations.

The men, members of the ultra-violent Mara Salvatrucha street gang and the first in El Salvador known to go to such lengths to make phone calls in jail, used the cellphones to manage robberies, blackmail and murders outside, Arevalo said.

The Zacatecoluca prison -- some 40 miles east of the capital San Salvador and currently home to 337 inmates -- goes by the nickname "Zacatraz," after the famously secure U.S. island penitentiary Alcatraz.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Telephone telepathy - I was just thinking about you

Reuters.com

Wed Sep 6, 2006. NORWICH (Reuters) - Many people have experienced the phenomenon of receiving a telephone call from someone shortly after thinking about them -- now a scientist says he has proof of what he calls telephone telepathy.

Rupert Sheldrake, whose research is funded by the respected Trinity College, Cambridge, said Tuesday he had conducted experiments that proved that such precognition existed for telephone calls and even e-mails.

Each person in the trials was asked to give researchers names and phone numbers of four relatives or friends. These were then called at random and told to ring the subject who had to identify the caller before answering the phone.

"The hit rate was 45 percent, well above the 25 percent you would have expected," he told the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. "The odds against this being a chance effect are 1,000 billion to one."

He said he found the same result with people being asked to name one of four people sending them an e-mail before it had landed.

However, his sample was small on both trials -- just 63 people for the controlled telephone experiment and 50 for the email -- and only four subjects were actually filmed in the phone study and five in the email, prompting some skepticism.

Undeterred, Sheldrake -- who believes in the interconnectedness of all minds within a social grouping -- said that he was extending his experiments to see if the phenomenon also worked for mobile phone text messages.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Microsoft sets Vista prices, expands testing...

Tech News on ZDNet By Mike Ricciuti, CNET News.com

September 5, 2006. Microsoft on Tuesday announced retail pricing for Vista, its long-delayed Windows update, and said it will broaden testing to more than 5 million people.

Last week, pricing information had been briefly posted on Microsoft's Canadian Web site.

Then on Friday, Microsoft issued Release Candidate 1 of Windows Vista, a near-final test version of the operating system.

Pricing for full retail versions of the software will be Windows Vista Ultimate, $399; Windows Vista Business, $299; Windows Vista Home Premium, $239; and Windows Vista Home Basic, $199. (US dollars)

Upgrades from Windows XP are priced at Windows Vista Ultimate, $259; Windows Vista Business, $199; Windows Vista Home Premium, $159; and Windows Vista Home Basic, $99. (US dollars)

The company said it is broadening its existing Vista customer preview program. The program lets developers and other business users obtain prerelease code. Microsoft said it will expand the program this week to "technology enthusiasts" so that they can test the consumer-specific features of Vista.

Current customer preview program participants will be able to access the latest Vista test code beginning this week. Microsoft will open the program to new participants in the coming days, it says. Vista RC1 will post to the company’s MSDN and TechNet Web sites for subscriber download this week. In addition, Microsoft says it plans to distribute RC1 DVDs to readers of a number of technology publications worldwide.

As for Vista's launch date, the timing remains unchanged, said Shanen Boettcher, general manager of Windows product management. Microsoft is shooting to wrap up development work in time to ship the operating system to large companies in November and have a mainstream launch of Vista in January, Boettcher said.

Teens often skip condoms, regardless of partner...

Health-Reuters.com

Mon Sep 4, 2006. NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many teenagers and young adults fail to use condoms consistently, regardless of whether they have sex with a serious or a "casual" partner, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that among more than 1,300 15- to 21-year-olds, those with casual sex partners had unprotected sex just as often as those in serious relationships -- about 20 times over the previous three months, on average.

Those who had casual sex were more likely to use condoms at least some of the time, the study found. But because they had sex more often, they ended up having unprotected intercourse just as frequently as their peers in steady relationships.

The findings point up two different problems, according to the researchers.

"Unfortunately, this reveals that teens may overestimate the safety of using condoms most of the time with a casual partner and underestimate the risk of unprotected sex with a serious partner," lead study author Dr. Celia Lescano said in a statement.

Lescano and her colleagues at Brown Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island, report their findings in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

The study included 1,316 15- to 21-year-olds from three large U.S. cities. Overall, 65 percent said they'd had sex only with a serious partner over the past three months; the rest said they'd had at least one casual partner.

Those with casual partners said they used condoms 47 percent of the time, versus 37 percent among those in steady relationships. Still, young people in both groups had unprotected sex at about the same frequency.

For study participants in relationships, one of the problems seemed to be their perception -- correct or not -- that their partner did not want to use condoms.

It's important, Lescano's team writes, that teenagers be taught that consistent condom use is necessary, regardless of who their partner is or how long they've been in the relationship.

They say young people who worry their partner will be turned off by condoms need to be reminded that most people accept condom use -- and that consistent use lowers the risk of sexually transmitted diseases for both partners.

SOURCE: Journal of Adolescent Health, September 2006.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Near-final Windows Vista version issued...

ZDNet Australia: By Joris Evers and Ina Fried, CNET News.com

04 September 2006 It's beginning to look a lot like Vista.Microsoft on Friday issued Release Candidate 1 of Windows Vista, a near-final test version of the of the oft-delayed operating system.

Retiring Windows chief Jim Allchin announced the release Friday in an e-mail to testers. In his note, which was also posted to the Windows Vista Team blog, Allchin said there are "a lot of improvements since Beta 2," which was released in May. Among the changes he highlighted are tweaks in the user interface, more device drivers and improved performance.

Work on Vista is not done, Allchin wrote. "We'll keep plugging away on application compatibility, as well as fit and finish," he wrote. He noted that software makers should use the RC1 release to certify their applications.

The software maker is shooting to wrap up development work in time to ship the operating system to large companies in November and have a mainstream launch of Vista in January.

The release candidate is available to some technical beta and corporate testers now and will be made available next week to testers that are part of Microsoft's MSDN developer network. The software released Friday is build 5600, a slight update to the test version Microsoft released in the past week to businesses that are part of an early adopter program as well as to a subset of the tech enthusiasts that have been putting Vista through its paces.

Microsoft declined to say when the consumers that have been testing Vista will get their hands on RC1. The last broadly available test version, Beta 2, was released in May.

Earlier this week, Microsoft's Canadian site accidentally leaked Vista prices onto the Web, and Amazon provided a clue to the software's availability.

Home alone, and back again, for sleeping beauty...

Reuters.com

Fri Sep 1, 2006. SOFIA (Reuters) - A sleeping teen-ager flew home to Bulgaria and then back to Malta after aircrew apparently failed to notice she was still on the plane.

Maria Ilieva, 17, was traveling alone and fell asleep on an Air Malta plane taking her overnight from Valletta to Sofia.

Unfortunately she had returned to Malta by the time she woke up, the girl's family said Friday.

"Air Malta officials said the airplane was not a place for sleeping. But I have not seen any signs saying 'No sleeping', I have only seen signs saying 'No smoking'," the girl's mother, Nadezhda Vulova, told Reuters.

Maria was finally reunited with her family Thursday, almost four days after her sleepover. She had to pay 200 euros ($256) for the second flight home.

The family said they had filed a complaint against the airline and asked for a refund. Air Malta was not immediately available for comment.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Orange / Astonishment is making place for bewilderment...

Trouw - Sport Door Henk Hoijtink

Oranje / Verbazing maakt plaats voor verbijstering.

Zat. 02-09-2006. De entree van de onervaren Marco van Basten als bondscoach wekte verbazing, nieuwsgierigheid en, hoe dan ook, een gevoel van blijde verwachting. Van dat alles is twee jaar later weinig meer over.

Goed, verbazing is er nog steeds, al slaat die bij het begin van Van Bastens tweede cyclus, het EK-kwalificatietoernooi, steeds vaker om in verbijstering. Illustratief was deze week de onwennige reactie van de jonge AZ’er De Zeeuw op zijn uitnodiging voor Oranje. Bij zijn club was hij vorig seizoen geen vaste waarde. In de net begonnen competitie stond hij twee keer in de basis. Meer kon hij er ook niet over zeggen.

In de selectie voor de eerste twee kwalificatie-interlands, tegen Luxemburg (vanavond) en Wit-Rusland (woensdag), is De Zeeuw één van de elf spelers die minder dan tien interlands achter hun naam hebben. Hij dankt zijn uitverkiezing aan een bondscoach die een elementair beginsel bij herhaling aan zijn laars lapt. Van Van Bastens beschimpte voorganger Advocaat kan veel worden gezegd, maar hij huldigde wél het principe dat zoiets eervols als een invitatie voor de nationale ploeg moest worden verdiend – en daarvan kon, vond hij met recht, pas na een langdurige reeks in clubverband sprake zijn.

Van Basten heeft een keur aan niet of nauwelijks gelouterde spelers om zich heen verzameld. Van Nistelrooij en Van Bommel, aangetrokken door gerenommeerde clubs als Real Madrid en Bayern München, moesten onlangs aansluiten in het rijtje van afgedankte internationals die hun waarde in het internationale clubvoetbal hebben bewezen. Het gevoel zal blijven knagen dat we nooit zullen weten hoe de prikkelende combinatie van Van Basten als één van ’s lands mooiste spelers ooit met ’s lands naar redelijk objectieve maatstaven gemeten beste voetballers zou hebben uitgepakt. Een coach heeft het volste recht zijn eigen weg te kiezen en zelfs de primaire opdracht voor een bondscoach, het selecteren van hoe dan ook de besten, in eerste aanleg naast zich neer te leggen. Maar dan is het wel essentieel dat zijn alternatief werkt. Daarvan is op het WK en ook al daarvóór in de voorspoedige doch door mager spel getekende kwalificatie weinig gebleken. Niet eens zozeer het vrij normale stadium van uitschakeling op het WK, de achtste finales, als wel structureel ogende tekortkomingen van overwegend lichte spelers én hun coach voedden de twijfel of de aanpak van Van Basten het heil kan brengen.

De bondscoach maakte tijdens het WK elementaire fouten. Het meest kon hem worden aangerekend dat hij de voornaamste linie, het middenveld, niet van de vereiste balans kon voorzien. Door star in een kwetsbare samenstelling te volharden deed hij afbreuk aan de kwaliteiten van Cocu en Van Bommel. In bredere zin geeft het onderhand te denken dat Van Basten, wiens verdienste lange tijd een nieuwe teamgeest kon worden genoemd, juist tal van oudere spelers niet optimaal heeft kunnen laten renderen.

Dat kan mede worden toegeschreven aan de onervarenheid en rechtlijnigheid die ook in Duitsland de handelwijze van Van Basten tekenden. Een zwaardere staf rondom hem zou wenselijk kunnen worden geacht, maar Van Basten ziet daarvan de noodzaak niet. Dat is één van de redenen waarom mag worden betwijfeld of er op korte termijn wezenlijke vooruitgang is te boeken. Een andere is de onevenwichtige samenstelling van de selectie. Daarin zijn vele talentvolle neo-internationals opgenomen, maar er zijn geen gelouterde en invloedrijke medespelers – onmisbaar voor ware ontwikkeling – op wie ze kunnen vertrouwen. Rijkelijk laat heeft Van Basten erkend dat Oranje op het WK fysiek tekortkwam op het middenveld – alsof het niet te voorzien was geweest. Zijn vernieuwde ploeg oogt warempel nog lichter. Met instemming kennelijk van de KNVB, die zijn contract al wilde verlengen, vervolgt de bondscoach zijn weg willens en wetens met een op cruciale posities nauwelijks bewapend gezelschap. Ook dat geeft, afstandelijk beschouwd, te denken.

Maar gezien de grotendeels oninteressante oppositie in EK-kwalificatiegroep G mogen voorlopig nauwelijks antwoorden worden verwacht op de zorgwekkende vragen die Oranje oproept. Zoals ook de knagende vraag niet zal worden beantwoord hoe het toch zou gaan met een bondscoach die weer gewoon de beste spelers zou selecteren – in het besef dat een nationale ploeg zich niet leent voor het bouwen van het team en, voorzover dat al mogelijk is, het inslijpen van een opgelegde speelwijze.

Philips launches PC-free Skype phone...

Technology News-Reuters.com

Thu Aug 31, 2006. AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch Philips Electronics (PHG.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) (PHG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it would introduce the world's first cordless DECT phone that can make Skype Internet calls without being connected to a personal computer.

The product will be available before the end of the year, Philips chief of consumer electronics activities, Rudy Provoost, told journalists at the IFA electronics fair here.

Skype, which popularised free phone calls between computers over broadband Internet connections is a unit of eBay.

Philips is the world's biggest lighting maker, a top three hospital equipment maker, Europe's biggest consumer electronics producer and the region's number three in semiconductors.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Chinese Court rejects suit over right to sex...

Reuters.com

Thu Aug 31, 2006. SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A Chinese court has rejected a woman's claims for compensation for her sex life, which was ruined when her husband was injured in an accident, the Shanghai Daily reported Thursday.

Wei Suying, 31, whose husband has suffered from erectile dysfunction since a 2003 workplace accident, filed suit in a Shanghai court asking for 220,000 yuan ($27,650) in compensation from the shopping center where the accident occurred, it said.

The compensation included claims for mental anguish and for her purchases of products such as vibrators.

"I was not even 30 years old when my husband had the accident, which deprived me of my right to enjoy sexual life," the newspaper quoted Wei as saying.

But the court ruled that Chinese law does not define an individual's sex life as a protected right. Relatives can only ask for mental anguish compensation when a victim dies, the report said.

Wei's husband, Zhang Chengxiang, stumbled and hit his genitals on the corner of some audio equipment when an iron bar fell from a vent and knocked his head while he was working in a shopping center, it said.

The shopping center had paid Zhang 130,000 yuan ($16,340) in compensation in a previous lawsuit.

In pre-communist China, sex was less a taboo than it became under former leader Mao Zedong, when it became a matter of doing one's reproductive duty for the state.

Since then, the government has embarked upon a stern family planning policy to control a booming population -- the world's largest -- but official attitudes toward sex remain puritan, though they are changing slowly.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.