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New tool lets single server map entire internet in 45 minutes
Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a new tool that allows a single server with a gigabit Ethernet port to scan the internet so quickly that it can map 98 per cent of the world's IPv4 connections in under 45 minutes.
Mapping internet nodes is nothing new – companies and researchers have been doing it for …
Blighty street has hottest Wi-Fi hotspot hottie in Europe: We reveal where
London's Oxford Street has Europe's greatest density of Wi-Fi hot-spots - and almost a quarter of them are openly accessible to the public. That's according to a new study that also puts the UK behind the US in terms of free wireless connectivity.
Across America 32 per cent of Wi-Fi access points offer web browsing gratis to …
Google goes dark for 2 minutes, kills 40% of world's net traffic
You can all relax now. The near-unprecedented outage that seemingly affected all of Google's services for a brief time on Friday is over.
The event began at approximately 4:37pm Pacific Time and lasted between one and five minutes, according to the Google Apps Dashboard. All of the Google Apps services reported being back online …
'But we like 1 Direction!' Rock gods The Who fend off teen Twitter hate mob
Legendary rockers The Who have announced they have no plans to ask One Direction to withdraw their new track Best Song Ever after a digital mob of rabid teenage girls bombarded them with death threats.
The English rock band issued the statement yesterday, weeks after the boy band released their hit song. From the day of its …
O2 tears wraps off £26-a-month mobe sport, music, games (and 4G)
O2 has joined EE and Vodafone in using 4G to justify a jump in pricing, to £26 a month, leaving Three the only UK network selling connectivity rather than technology.
O2's 4G pricing in the UK will start at £26 a month for one gigabyte of data a month, aping EE's tariff and matching Vodafone on price. Voda customers get twice …
Facebook keeps company with misery say boffins
The more you use Facebook, the worse you feel. That's the headline finding from a new study University of Michigan published on PlosOne this week.
Of course, that could mean that the unhappy are turning to Facebook to help them cope, but across the study's sample, the University of Michigan researchers found Facebook use today a …
ACCC wants to check broadband performance
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has proposed a program to monitor and report broadband performance.
In a consultation paper published here, the regulator is looking for industry input into how a performance monitoring program could be rolled out. The ACCC wants to create a “robust” program to monitor data …
Japan's largest mobe operator to snub Samsung this winter
Japan's largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo will snub Samsung in its winter smartphone line-up after the Galaxy S4 failed to meet its summer sales targets.
The firm will stock mobes from Sony, Sharp and Fujitsu in its main product line, partly in response to the S4's performance and also because the Korean electronics firm doesn' …
Boffins harvest TV, mobile signals for BATTERY-FREE comms
Radio boffins from the University of Washington have created tags and readers which reflect and feed off ambient radio frequency energy for communications - without needing a power source.
The team calls the technology "ambient backscatter" and reckons it could connect up the much-heralded Internet of Things without either party …
BRUCE WILLIS (ad) DIES HARD (in Sky broadband telly fib ban)
Hollywood action hero Bruce Willis has been sensationally banned from appearing on the UK's small screen ... in misleading ads touting Sky broadband.
Blighty's advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority, ruled the telco's telly adverts featuring the Die Hard star were somewhat economical with the truth.
One …
Rate-my-boink app scores frisky fanbois, fangurlz' SCREAMS, VIBRATIONS
Spreadsheets are pretty much the unsexiest invention since the chastity belt, but one app developer is hoping the idea of analysing their own performance in the bedroom will appeal to a generation of selfie-taking fanbois.
A new bit of software called Spreadsheets is now on sale in Apple's app store, an online space that's …
Bacon 'n' egg on his face: Hollywood heartthrob pwned by Twitter phishers
Miscreants broke into the Twitter profile of prominent advertising bloke Footloose star Kevin Bacon to scam his fans.
The 300,000-plus followers of the actor - who these days is just as well known for the “six degrees of Kevin Bacon” trivia game as his starring roles in films such as Apollo 13 - were spammed with web links …
Three's UK mobile network goes down on unlucky northerners
Three UK's phone network has gone down for users in Scotland and the North of England.
While users appear to be able to use data on their phones, they're unable to engage in the ancient art of actually calling people to speak to them.
The mobile operator's support account tweeted:
Some customers in Scotland and the North of …
Facebook to gobble voice-recog outfit, not so chatty on price tag
Facebook plans to buy speech recognition and translation app maker Mobile Technologies for an undisclosed sum.
The free-content ad-network said on Monday that it had agreed to acquire the outfit, adding that MT's "amazing team" is "behind some of the world's leading speech recognition and machine translation technology".
Once …
BlackBerry pie sliced up: Nuke-plant OS, BBM chat app, etc sale mulled
Troubled mobe-maker BlackBerry has confirmed it is "exploring strategic alternatives" to remaining as one enormous company - confirming wire reports last week of a potential breakup.
The firm formerly known as RIM said a "special committee" has been formed to examine options that "could include, among others, possible joint …
New blinged-up 'iPhone 5S' touted by Jobs FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE
The next-generation iPhone, one of the last devices conceived by Apple godhead Steve Jobs before his death, will hit the shelves on 10 September, according to fresh rumours.
The new spin of the iOS smartphone, expected to be called the 5S, could sport a gaudy "champagne gold" coloured case, as well as the usual white or black, …
Should UK tear Wi-Fi a new one at 5GHz? Speak your brains, says Ofcom
Ofcom, Blighty's fearless watchdog of the airwaves, wants to know if Wi-Fi needs more space.
The regulator is willing to allocate more radio spectrum to wireless networking - and wants Brits to be able to use those frequencies without the regulator having to auction them off to a corporate giant.
The consultation is, strictly …
Sources spill CEO Heins' beans: BlackBerry 'open' to going private
The board of BlackBerry is considering a private buyout of the company, saying that delisting would get shareholders off its back and give it freedom to move.
The rumour comes from Reuters, which reports "several sources" claiming that discussions have been had with various private equity companies, and enterprise computing …
Moneybags pour shower of gold on new mega-precise GPS system
A GPS-based satellite navigation system promises accuracy to within an inch by December this year – to those willing to stick a thousand dollars into the pot.
Swift Navigation, makers of the super-accurate satnav, say it uses existing Real Time Kinematic (RTK) navigation techniques to ensure its pinpoint accuracy. Rather than …
Tu Me to go: Tu Go to be Telefonica's 'NEXT BIG AMAZEBALLS' for voice
Telefonica's freebie VoIP platform Tu Me will be shuttered next month as the mobile network pushes customers towards, er, Tu Go.
Tu Me came out of Jajah, the internet voice-call outfit Telefonica bought in 2009, but it was never intended to be more than a stepping stone towards a brave new future of telephony as a service. That …
Bill Gates's barbed comments pop Google's broadband balloons
Charity mogul Bill Gates couldn't give a flying clippy about Google's broadband balloon PR puffery.
The tech titan reserved some barbed words for Google when asked by BusinessWeek what he thought of the Mountain View Chocolate Factory's "loon" attempt to bring internet to developing countries via floating balloons.
"When you're …
Vodafone flashes bulging package at Brits: New 4G service to rival EE, O2
Vodafone's new 4G mobile broadband package, announced today for the UK, will include live football or a Spotify Premium subscription, plus three months of unlimited downloads and calls - all for £26 a month.
Voda has effectively updated its "Red" tariff by adding a fiver a month onto the price, and including 4G connectivity and …
Tough luck, bumpkins! Blighty broadband speed gap misery worsens
Speedy broadband networks in cities continue to infuriate country bumpkins who are running out of patience with their painfully slow internet connections.
Sadly, the gap between broadband speeds for urban dwellers and people living in the sticks is set to widen.
Communications watchdog Ofcom said today the UK's average fixed- …
Rival French mobe firms sue Orange and Vivendi's SFR for €1.4bn
Dominant French mobile operators Orange and SFR have been hit with a compensation claim from their diminutive rivals after a court ruled their offer of free calls was anti-competitive.
Between 2005 and 2008 Orange and SFR offered customers free calls within the same network, forcing third-position operator Bouygues to offer loss …
NBN builder Syntheo gives up in two States
Syntheo, the joint venture between Lend Lease and Service Stream Limited that won contracts to build Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) in the States of West Australia and South Australia, will down tools forever in those States early in 2014.
NBN Co's canned utterance on the matter says it and Syntheo “ have mutually …
Windows Phones BLAB passwords to hackers, thanks to weak crypto
Microsoft has warned IT departments to batten down their Wi-Fi networks following the discovery of a security vulnerability in Windows Phones that leaks users' passwords.
Miscreants who set up rogue hotspots can grab from devices employees' encrypted domain credentials, needed to authenticate with corporate systems and access …
Bloke in shed starts own DAB radio station - with Ofcom's blessing
A three-month experiment in Brighton has proved that Digital Audio Broadcasting can be cheap and easy to transmit, opening the way to community and local stations – and perhaps a pirate or two.
The experiment was carried out by Ofcom broadcast specialist Rashid Mustapha, though in his own time and at his expense. Despite that, …
Two more counties to get gov-funded bumpkin broadband from... guess?
BT won two more government-subsidised contracts to rollout rural broadband on Monday when it scooped up deals in Oxfordshire and Worcestershire.
The telco giant will spend £11m in Oxfordshire installing fibre-to-the-cabinet technology; the local council will cough up £10m and a further £4m will come from the state. The work will …
iiNet to buy Adam Internet
iiNet has announced it will acquire Adam Internet for $AUD60m.
The announcement comes just weeks after Telstra abandoned its quest to acquire the ISP. Telstra's ambitions were roundly criticised as anti-competitive when it announced its intentions in October 2012, with Vodafone Hutchinson Australia, iiNet and Macquarie Telecom …
Sad shop-shelf-clinging BlackBerry Z10 AXED ... in price, contracts
Having failed to set the world on fire, BlackBerry's flagship Z10 smartphone is now being touted at knockdown prices.
The touchscreen-driven Z10 was BlackBerry's comeback device when it was launched at the end of January. But it was priced alongside top-end devices from Apple and Samsung with premium tariffs - more than £30 per …
Oi, trolls, BEHAVE! Twitter tweaks rules to tackle abusive twits
Twitter's UK operation has been forced to apologise to a number of high-profile women who were targeted with abuse by users of the micro-blogging site.
The company has said it will hire more staff to help block people who are breaching Twitter's rules by using the service to harass others.
It also reiterated that netizens need …
Mobe networks hacked phones to fix SIM hijack flaw, says bug-finder
A terrifying weakness at the heart of global mobile phone security has turned into a damp squib: networks scrambled so fast to patch the flaw that the researcher behind the discovery isn't making the details public.
It's claimed five carriers pushed out fixes to their customers by exploiting the bug.
The flaw was supposed to …
Jimbo Wales: ISP smut blocking systems simply 'ridiculous'
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has attacked "absolutely ridiculous" network-level porn-blocking systems that are being introduced by the UK's biggest telcos over the course of the next few months.
Tory MP Claire Perry, who has pushed hard for content to be filtered by ISPs, took to Twitter on Sunday to moan about the comments …
You CAN'T be a Silicon Roundabout hipster... you don't have Bluetooth socks
Hipsters concerned that their footwear is lagging in the cool stakes will soon be ordering Bluetooth-enabled socks, even if they do make them look like a young offender with an electronic tag.
The Sensoria sock monitors impact across the toes and heel of the foot as the wearer runs, providing helpful advice about stride and …
The Old Reader drops Google refugee eviction plan
The Old Reader, the RSS reader that drowned in new users after Google switched off its own RSS reader and then decided to boot out those refugees, has reversed its position and will continue to operate as a public service.
In a blog post someone called “Ben Wolf” wrote “The application now has a bigger team, significantly more …
T-Mobile joins effort to bring Ubuntu phones to US mobile market
Fourth-ranked US wireless operator T-Mobile has become the latest mobile carrier to join Canonical's Ubuntu Carrier Advisory Group (CAG), bringing the group's total membership to 13.
"T-Mobile USA reaches almost 300 million American consumers and business people today," Canonical said in a statement on Thursday. "As a member of …
Ultimate Radio Deathmatch: US Navy missile-defence radar vs 4G mobile mast
On Monday the US Navy will fire up its mighty, six-megawatt AN/SPY-1 raygun radar while academics run an LTE mobile-data base station in the same band, so both sides can establish if coexistence is a workable proposition.
AN/SPY-1 is used as part of the Aegis anti-missile system mounted on, amongst other platforms, the US Navy's …
Mobes, fondleslabs, web sending Brit families back to THE FIFTIES - Ofcom
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom's latest research shows living-room TV watching is on the rise: picture families gathering round in front of the goggle box even if half their eyes are elsewhere.
The living room is regaining its dominant position as the nerve-centre of TV viewing for families - as fondleable tablets and phones …
Virgin Media blames scruffy students for HUGE drop in cable subscribers
Virgin Media reported flat second quarter revenue this morning as it presented its first results since falling into the clutches of US cable giant Liberty Global.
The telco attributed its tiny 0.6 per cent sales growth (£1.03bn) during the period ended 30 June to VM's decision to jack up prices for its cable business earlier …
Base stations get high on helium, ride MUTANT kite-balloons at the football
A team of European boffins has hoisted a mobile network base station into the air from a balloon/kite combination. Yet unlike similar schemes, this one is intended for everyday use, not just for emergencies.
In a paper published by Cornell University, the team demonstrates that modern small cell technology can be combined with …
'Chromecast - recycle it after a long fulfilling life of kitten videos'
QuotW This was the week when the reviews, teardowns, commentaries and analyses of Google's 35-buck media-streaming HDMI dongle Chromecast came flooding in. Though there were those who were blown away, those who loved its pure simplicity and those who reckoned that the Chocolate Factory's dominance of TV was just around the corner, …
People really liked our Xperia. Throw in a weak yen and KERCHING - Sony
The weak yen and strong sales of its smartphones in Japan combined to help Sony report a better-than-expected operating profit in its fiscal first quarter.
Things were looking good for the one-time electronics giant at home, where foreign exchange rates were helping its bank balances and its flagship Xperia smartphone was well- …
