Social apps 'harvest smartphone contacts'

Social apps 'harvest smartphone contacts'

Twitter has admitted copying entire address books from smartphones and storing the data on its servers, often without customers' knowledge.

Access to the address book is enabled when users click on the "Find Friends" feature on smartphone apps.

Two US congressmen have written to Apple asking why the firm allows the practice on its iPhone, as it contravenes app developer guidelines.

Twitter has said it will update its privacy policy to be more explicit.

The practice came to light when an app developer in Singapore, Arun Thampi, noticed that his contacts had been copied from his iPhone address book without his consent by a social network called...

MIT launches free online 'fully automated' course

MIT launches free online 'fully automated' course

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the world's top-rated universities, has announced its first free course which can be studied and assessed completely online.

An electronics course, beginning in March, will be the first prototype of an online project, known as MITx.

The interactive course is designed to be fully automated, with successful students receiving a certificate.

The US university says it wants MITx to "shatter barriers to education".

This ground-breaking scheme represents a significant step forward in the use of technology to deliver higher education.

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MITx Course Page

Symantec: Stop using pcAnywhere, right now

Symantec: Stop using pcAnywhere, right now

Symantec has admitted that blueprints for current versions of its pcAnywhere software were stolen in 2006 and that all users are at risk of attack and should pull the plug.

That includes users of both current and past iterations as well as those bundled with Altiris and the pcAnywhere Thin Host packaged with backup and security products.

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Blackberry maker RIM says co-chief executives step down

Blackberry maker RIM says co-chief executives step down

Blackberry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has said its co-chief executives Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have stepped down in a shake-up.

Mr Lazaridis, who founded RIM in 1984, will become vice chairman. Mr Balsillie will continue to sit on the board but not have any operational role.

Chief operating officer Thorsten Heins will replace them on Monday.

Investors have called for a strategy change as the company struggles to compete with Apple and Google.

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Red Hat guns for VMware with RHEV 3.0

Red Hat guns for VMware with RHEV 3.0

Red Hat has built a $1bn company, more or less, predicated on the idea that open source Linux is cheaper than Windows or Unix and that open source Java application servers are cheaper than commercial alternatives like WebLogic and WebSphere.

For two years now, Red Hat has been trying to convince the world that it has a chance to take on x86 server virtualization juggernaut VMware, to little avail. But with the advent of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.0, and a future upgrade planned later this year, Red Hat has a much better chance of denting VMware.

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Royal Society offers ways to overhaul ICT teaching

Royal Society offers ways to overhaul ICT teaching

The Royal Society has suggested ways the government can overhaul information and communications technology (ICT) teaching in schools.

It follows promises from Education Secretary Michael Gove to scrap the way the subject is taught currently.

The body, which oversees UK sciences, recommends dividing computing into distinct subjects such as computer science and digital literacy.

It said the government must do more to recruit specialist ICT teachers.

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Virgin Media to double the speed of customer broadband

Virgin Media to double the speed of customer broadband

Virgin Media will double the speed of its broadband service for more than four million of its customers, the company has said.

The upgrade, which begins in February, will also see the service's top speed increase from 100Mbps to 120Mbps.

The full rollout is expected to be complete by mid-2013 at a cost to the company of £110m.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said the investment would be a "great boost" to the UK.

"I welcome this announcement from Virgin Media," Mr Cameron said in a statement.

"It will provide a great boost for the economy and change the way many households, consumers and businesses use the internet.

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School ICT to be replaced by computer science programme

School ICT to be replaced by computer science programme

The current information and communications technology (ICT) curriculum in England's schools is a "mess" and must be radically revamped, the education secretary has announced.

From September it will be replaced by a flexible curriculum in computer science and programming, designed with the help of universities and industry.

Michael Gove called the current ICT curriculum "demotivating and dull".

He will begin a consultation next week on the new computing curriculum.

He said this would create young people "able to work at the forefront of technological change".

Full Story here

Microsoft celebrates IE6 death as Google downranks Chrome

Microsoft celebrates IE6 death as Google downranks Chrome

Microsoft has celebrated the imminent demise of version 6 of its Internet Explorer browser by baking a cake.

The software giant held the light-hearted celebration as it revealed that the program was used by less than 1% of US internet surfers.

It is keen to kill off the old version of the browser and persuade users to move to IE8 or 9.

Meanwhile rival Google has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown on the promotion of its Chrome browser.

Chrome climbdown

It has downgraded Chrome in its search listings after the discovery that a marketing campaign paid bloggers to promote a video about it.

The search giant has distanced itself from the campaign, blaming third-party marketing firm Essence Digital.

The issue was discovered by Aaron Wall, who wrote in his SEO Book blog, how he found that a...

MIT launches online learning initiative

MIT launches online learning initiative

'MITx' will offer courses online and make online learning tools freely available.

MIT today announced the launch of an online learning initiative internally called “MITx.” MITx will offer a portfolio of MIT courses through an online interactive learning platform that will:

•organize and present course material to enable students to learn at their own pace
•feature interactivity, online laboratories and student-to-student communication
•allow for the individual assessment of any student’s work and allow students who demonstrate their mastery of subjects to earn a certificate of completion awarded by MITx
•operate on an open-source, scalable software infrastructure in order to make it continuously improving and readily available to other educational institutions.

MIT expects that this learning platform will enhance the educational experience of its on-campus students, offering them online...