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Proposed legislation would put authority over the security of government and private networks in the hands of officials reporting to the President. - President Obama promised in his campaign to take cybersecurity seriously and he appears to be following up on that promise. Legislation just introduced in the Senate, written with White House input according to the Washington Post, would federalize the business of computer security. It would give Wh...

Despite the player only being a few weeks old, problems are already being reported with the third-generation iPod shuffle, specifically in relation to contact with moisture. According to support discussions, play and volume controls may malfunction when used during activities associated with sweat, such as a run or a workout. Volume may suddenly ramp up to the loudest setting, or down to the quiet...

Apple Inc. has filed for a patent application for the idea of UI controls that change according to user-controlled movement. Called 'Varying User Interface Element Based on Movement,' the ideas in the patent filing suggest that Apple is thinking about having items like scroll bars or buttons change according to how they are being used by the user.

plasticsquirrel was one of several readers to send in the sharpening rumors that IBM is on the verge of acquiring Sun Microsystems, as we discussed last week. The pricetag is reportedly $7 billion. According to the NYTimes's sources, 'People familiar with the negotiations say a final agreement could be announced Friday, although it is more likely to be made public next week. IBM's board has already approved the deal, they said.' After the demise of SGI, one has to wonder about the future of traditional Unix. If the deal goes through, only IBM, HP, and Fujitsu will be left as major competitors in the market for commercial Unix. And reader UnanimousCoward adds, 'Sun only came into the consciousness of the unwashed masses with the company not being able to get E10K's out the door fast enough in the first bubble. We here will remember some pizza-box looking thing, establishing 32 MB of RAM as a standard, and when those masses were scratching their heads at slogans like 'The network is the

iPod shuffle sales grew 51% from their prior level in the first full week the third-generation model of the device was available, according to the latest data from the NPD Group. Citing information from NPD published by a Barclay's analyst, Apple Insider reported that growth continued the week of March 28, rising another 10%, an effect that is most likely attributable both to early adopters and the extended period that had elapsed before the.

Digital technology company Phorm is facing a major setback, with several of the world's largest dotcom companies considering boycotting its controversial online advertising technology.Last month Open Rights Group, the privacy campaign group, sent a letter to nine of the internet's biggest names - including Google, Bebo, Facebook and Yahoo - asking them to opt out of Phorm's technology 'to protect your users' privacy'.UK-listed Phorm has developed technology that allows internet service providers to track what their users are doing online. ISPs can then sell that information to media companies and advertisers who can use it to place more relevant adverts on websites the user subsequently visits.The technology has been tested by BT in the UK, with Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse's TalkTalk also interested in using it.Although Phorm emphasises that the information is made anonymous and consumers can opt out, it has been attacked by privacy campaigners as online snooping.Phorm's techno

The Obama administration needs more research before it can tailor a strategy for harvesting available energy resources in the U.S., according to a report released today by the Interior Department. President Obama has made clear that he's big on alt energy options – but said during his campaign that he would consider off shore drilling on leased land in combo with development of renewable energy sources in a push to make the U.S. independent of foreign oil. [More]

Boxee, a freeware media browser that allows users to watch web video, streaming TV shows, and any other non-DRM content shared on their network through a user-friendly interface, now derives 25% of its total traffic from Apple TV devices that have been hacked to run the Boxee software. According to new statistics published by Fortune, Apple's products account for 92% of all Boxee use when the Apple TV users are combined with the 67% of users.

Intels Nehalem-based 5500 series Xeon microprocessors were developed hand-in-hand with input from the financial services industry, which relies on heavy computing power in order to generate models and crunch financial data. As Sun Microsystems, Dell, IBM, HP and other server vendors design new products with Xeon microprocessors, a company executive refers to chip rollout as the companys most important since the Pentium Pro, an x86 microprocessor originally introduced in 1995. - NEW YORK - Intel developed its Nehalem-based 5500 series Xeon microprocessors with input from thefinancial industry, whose increasingly complex models of the worlds marketshave demanded a corresponding rise in computing power, according to Intelexecutives during a presentation this week at N...

(Telecompaper) US mobile data revenues for 2008 rose 39 percent to USD 32 billion, according to a survey conducted by industry association CTIA Wireless. Mobile data revenues amounted to nearly 22 percent of the total USD 148 billion in service revenues recorded last year. According to the survey, text messaging remains enormously popular, with more than 1 trillion text messages carried on operator networks in 2008, compared to 363 billion text messages in 2007, breaking down to more than 3.5 billion messages per day. Mobile subscribers are also sending more pictures and other multi-media messages with their mobile devices, with 15 billion MMS messages sent in 2008, up 6 billion from the year before. The industry survey recorded more than 270 million mobile users at the end of December. Mobile customers used more than 2.2 trillion minutes in 2008, an increase of 100 billion minutes from 2007.