Website reveals Windows 2000 and XP SP1 DoS vulnerability

A potential vulnerability in Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 and Windows XP Service Pack 1 has been publicly revealed by the French Security Incident Response Team. The organisation has drawn the ire of Microsoft by publishing details of a proof-of-concept exploit that targets the vulnerability. According to the author, a specially crafted request to upnp_getdevicelist can cause services. ...more

Beatles demand $15mn for online rights - report

The Beatles are asking $15mn for six months' exclusive rights to sell their catalogue online, according to a News.com report. If true, such a high premium would almost certainly price the world's biggest selling group out of the range of most of the online services. ...more

The Robot takeover is gathering pace, says UN

There is a buying boom for robotic devices according to a survey published by one of the United Nation's Economic Commissions. "Never before have the United States and the European Union invested in so many industrial robots in a single year," said Jan Karlsson in a report in The New York Times. Karlsson compiled the data for the World 2000 Robotics survey. ...more

Networks to run 10 times faster

A team of researchers has discovered a method that could allow semiconductors made of traditional materials to be able to switch at the speed of light. Announcing their discovery in the journal Nature, the team from Stanford in the US says that the design is 10 times faster than existing switches that might herald a new generation of ultra high-speed networks. The team says that they have built a modulator made of silicon and germanium. ...more

VeriSign hit with customer-stealing lawsuit

VeriSign's latest sales methods have sparked protests from rivals, resulting in a lawsuit being brought by competitor BulkRegister, reports Reuters. The lawsuit, alleges that Verisign sought to dupe domain name owners into switching their accounts in which the domain is held. The direct marketing campaign emailed 'domain-name expiry' notices to name owners registered by competitors, implying that they could lose control of their names unless they renewed them, along with a $29 fee, by 15 May. ...more