At the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, an iPhone security flaw has come to light. The iPhone security flaw--which exploits a weakness in SMS text messaging to take control of the device--appears real, but will probably be addressed before it becomes a serious issue.

Apparently hackers can exploit this vulnerability to knock users off the network and there is a risk of personal information being stolen. The hacks have been tested on four iPhones on a German network, and the folks over at Black Hat think criminals only need about two weeks to write software to exploit this vulnerability.

What are users to do? Should we turn off our phones and wait for Apple to address the issue? Perhaps. Perhaps we should also disconnect our computers from the Internet and forgo all electronic communication while we're at it. In fact, why not cancel all our credit cards, empty our bank accounts, and keep our money under a mattress? Now that we live in this highly interconnected world, security is an ongoing issue. Personal information about virtually everyone is available on networked computers. It shouldn’t be assumed that any of these systems are unhackable. Since the iPhone is such a hot item, the minutia of its every issue is immediately broadcast around the world. The announcement that the iPhone has security vulnerability probably isn’t as scary as it's being made out to be.

I don’t mean to underplay the severity of the issue. Clearly it needs to be addressed. Surely Apple, which proudly markets just how secure its computers are, takes this issue seriously and wants to protect its image of ironclad security.

The truth is that there are millions of iPhones in use today, and while many have been jailbroken, I am unaware of a single report of someone having their phone hacked in the wild. Of course, this might change now that the cat is out of the bag, but I wouldn’t lose any sleep until there are reports of iPhones actually being exploited.

credited to pcworld.com

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The Vatican has never been a fan of the Harry Potter series, but they must have done something right with the most recent film in the franchise, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

The new movie, which opens this week across Australia, "made the age-old debate over good v evil crystal clear", The Associated Press reports The Vatican as saying.

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano applauded the film's treatment of adolescent love, saying it achieved the "correct balance" and made the stars more credible to the general audience.

The newspaper said the film was the best adaptation yet of the J.K. Rowling series.

The Associated Press reports while criticising Rowling for omitting any explicit "reference to the transcendent" in her books, L'Osservatore said the latest installment nevertheless makes clear that good should overcome evil "and that sometimes this requires costs and sacrifice."

"In addition, the spastic search for immortality epitomised by Voldemort is stigmatised," the review said.

But it wasn't always that way.

The Vatican's chief exorcist, back in 2006, condemned J. K. Rowling's fictional boy wizard as downright evil.

"Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil," said Father Gabriele Amorth, the Pope's "caster-out of demons".

The Vatican’s official newspaper L’Osservatore Romano at the time condemned JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books for posing a danger to children by promoting witchcraft and the occult.

For the 2000 fans at last night's Sydney premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the film had not lost any of its magic.

Reviews for the sixth film in the hugely successful franchise have been almost universally positive. And Sydney fans were in total agreement.

Self-confessed Potter-head Angelina Kosev, 17, said the film had been "everything she hoped for and more".

"They do tend to get darker and darker," Ms Kosev said after watching the film at Sydney's Greater Union cinema.

"This one definitely got darker but there were some really light moments as well. The funeral was cut out but it was just awesome."

Rachel Luck, 18, who won the best dressed contest at last night's screening, said the film may be the best in the series.

"It was amazing," she said.

"I have to watch it again to decide whether it is better than number five, but it was close."

It was a longer than expected wait for fans with the film's release date pushed back from Christmas to take advantage of a gap in the US summer seasons. Roadshow Films national marketing manager Phil Oneile said he did not believe the delay would harm the film's box office prospects.

credited to news.com.au

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Everyone predicted Microsoft Corp. wouldn't take long to fire back against Google Inc.'s latest foray into its home turf.

It took less than a week.

On Monday, Microsoft said it would offer a free version of its popular Office software suite that would run on the Internet.

The Redmond, Wash., company didn't mention its archrival by name, but analysts saw Monday's move as a strategy by Microsoft to protect one of its most profitable businesses against Google, which already dominates the Internet search market.

The Web-based version of the Office suite will be available next year.

"Microsoft was forced to provide a free product" as an answer to Google Docs, a suite of free, browser-based document and spreadsheet editing software, said Sheri McLeish, an analyst with Forrester Research. "It's a very competitive market out there, and this was Microsoft's opportunity to one-up Google by offering a much better product."

The announcement, made at Microsoft's developers conference in New Orleans, is the latest tit-for-tat in an intense competition between the two technology giants.

The Mountain View, Calif., search giant said last week that it would develop an operating system designed to attract users away from personal computers, where Microsoft is ubiquitous. Google's Chrome OS and software would run on the Internet, where Google has a commanding share of the Web audience.

Last month Microsoft released Bing, its answer to Google's popular search engine.

By giving away versions of its Office software, Microsoft risks cannibalizing one of its most profitable products. The company's business software division, which includes Office, made $9.3 billion in profit from $14.3 billion in sales during the first three quarters of its 2009 fiscal year. The unit also has revenue from other software applications and services such as Microsoft Exchange, but the bulk of its sales comes from Office, which includes the Word and Excel applications.

About 80% of companies recently surveyed by Forrester use Microsoft's Office. Less than 8% use other document editing software, including IBM Corp.'s Lotus Symphony, Sun Microsystems Inc.'s StarOffice and Google Docs.

For Microsoft, the imperative is to maintain its dominance, according to Melissa Webster, an analyst with IDC. She said a recent survey found that nearly everyone who used Web-based document editing software such as Google Docs also used Microsoft Office.

Many, for example, create a document using Excel, then upload it to the Web to share with colleagues, who may read and edit the spreadsheet using a Web-based program such as Zoho Sheet or Google Docs.

"Web-based tools are not taking share away from Microsoft's desktop Office suite," Webster said. "But to the extent that these products are complementary, Microsoft needs to get in the game. They risk losing users as people get more comfortable using Web-based tools. And they risk losing their edge."

Microsoft's group product manager for Office, Chris Bryant, said its customers were increasingly using the Web to share and edit documents.

"It's something our users have said they'd like," Bryant said. "Customers are telling us they expect to use the Web-based applications as companions to their desktop software."

Bryant declined to outline how Microsoft would make money with the move, but hinted that business models could include advertising and fees for premium services such as online storage of large files.

The free versions won't include all the features of the desktop software, priced between $70 for a basic student version and about $350 for the professional version. For the upcoming software suite Office 2010, Microsoft plans to let users edit video in PowerPoint and manipulate images in Word -- features that would be unavailable in the free versions.

Investors didn't appear to be concerned about Microsoft's proposed giveaway. On Monday its shares gained 84 cents, or 3.7%, to close at $23.23.

credited to latimes.com

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Warner Bros. is about to decide who will wear the super-powered ring in "Green Lantern," the studio's latest DC Comics tentpole movie.

Along with director Martin Campbell and producers Donald De Line and Greg Berlanti, Warners has spent the past five months searching for the actor to play Hal Jordan, the hot-shot Air Force pilot who is chosen by a dying alien to be his successor in an intergalactic police force known as the Green Lanterns.

This week, the race narrowed to Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds and Justin Timberlake. The clock is ticking on the decision as the holding deal the studio had on the actors expired Monday, meaning the three are now free to accept other offers.

The studio ordered up two rounds of screen tests with Cooper, Reynolds and Timberlake. Other actors in the early mix included Michael Fassbender, Henry Cavill and Jared Leto.

Apparently, De Line, Campbell and the studio each had a different favorite among the three finalists, making it difficult to come to a consensus.

Another issue impacting the casting process is the rising budget. "Lantern" is a full-blown space epic that is expected to cost between $150 million and $200 million, if not more. Warners would like to have the production costs at a reasonable level before proceeding.

The studio has scheduled the movie for a December 2010 opening.

Cooper, repped by CAA and Thruline, is feeling a lot of love from Warners as he stars in the studio's surprise comedy hit, "The Hangover," which has grossed $210 million domestically.

UTA-repped Reynolds recently starred in a comic book movie, Fox's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," where he played "the merc with a mouth" Deadpool. The character is now being developed for a spinoff to which Reynolds is attached. The actor is also in theaters with Disney's romantic comedy "The Proposal."

Timberlake, repped by CAA and Rick Yorn, has been steadily building an acting resume, appearing in such dramas as "Alpha Dog" and "Black Snake Moan" while also showcasing his comedy chops with appearances on "Saturday Night Live."

credited to hollywoodreporter.com

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British celebrities and Bollywood stars are ditching their worst pair of pants to demand a ban on a harmful pesticide in cotton production.

Dermot O'Leary and Sam Roddick are among those joining the Pants To Poverty protests taking place in 16 countries around the world.

They are calling for a ban on the use of the harmful pesticide endosulfan, used in underwear production.

It can cause cancer, birth defects, respiratory problems and sterility among cotton farmers and their families.

Pants To Poverty, a Fairtrade underwear company, says toxic cotton pants containing traces of the chemical are being sold on the UK high street.

Just one pair of non-organic cotton pants can use 10ml of the chemical - enough to kill a person if directly exposed.

Ben Ramsden, founder of Pants To Poverty said: "Using pants as our metaphor, this campaign explains both the good and the bad about the cotton industry and points towards a brighter future."

Laboratory tests on 1,000 pairs of pants from UK shops showed one in 50 tested positive for the dangerous pesticide.

It has been banned in 62 countries due to its high toxicity, but its use is still permitted in India and other developing nations.

Dr Mohan Kumar, the campaign's doctor, told Sky News Online that British shoppers are unwittingly adding to a huge environmental problem.

He said: "The proof against endosulfan is comprehensive. With this new research, we can finally prove that replacing it not only dramatically improves people's health, but also enables farmers to earn more money and support their communities.

"The Indian government must stop producing and exporting this dangerous pesticide. It can still make a profit, but this time also for our people and our environment."

credited to news.sky.com

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credited to saintjimmy.com

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Rescuers managed to prevent a drugged man, who attempted suicide from the eighth floor, from hurting his 2-year-old daughter.

A real drama was taking place on the eighth floor of an apartment block in Chengdu, Sichuan province in China.

A man approached the window, threatening to kill himself, and was holding his 2-year-old daughter. The littler girl was in shock due to her father`s mad state.

A rescue team managed to save the little girl. It was determined later on that the man in question was under the influence of opiates.

credited to javno.com

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The parallels are almost eerie. A world-famous singing sensation, known for his distinctive dance moves, glittery wardrobe and bizarre behavior, dies of heart failure amidst a pile of prescription drugs. Fans line up outside the gates of his estate -- waiting to pay their respects to the King. It's Michael Jackson we're talking about though, not Elvis. But there is still plenty of speculation that Jackson's famous home -- Neverland Ranch -- could become a tourist attraction ala Presley's Graceland.

For days rumors swirled that his family was considering a public viewing of Jackson's body at Neverland, a 2,800 acre spread, located 33 miles northeast of Santa Barbara, Calif. News crews booked hotel rooms. AT&T and Verizon were allegedly moving in emergency cell phone antennas. The appearance of a cement truck at the ranch on June 30 had readers of celebrity gossip site TMZ.com speculating there may even be a crypt under construction.

The man who controls the ranch, real estate investor Thomas Barrack, is mum about the long term plans. Barrack's Colony Capital bought the $22 million mortgage on the property just before it went up for auction last year. It's now owned in a joint venture with Jackson's estate, says Barrack spokesperson Joanne Lessner. She released an effusively worded letter from Barrack to local residents on June 30. Citing pioneering California missionary Junipero Serra, Jackson's 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges and "a Western tradition of kindness and hospitality," Barrack asks his neighbors to bear with the public onslaught and let the world take in the "magic elixir" of the Santa Ynez Valley.

Locals say it is highly unlikely Barrack or the Jackson family could get permission to build a Graceland -- like tourist attraction at the site, however. Local real estate broker and long time area resident William Etling recently blogged about the issues that might prohibit such a development. The ranch, he notes, is zoned for agricultural not commercial use. After talking with a local mortician, Etling says it is unlikely that Jackson's body could legally be buried on the property.

Then there is the issue of the community support. Last year voters in Santa Barbara County shot down a candidate for supervisor who was seen as pro-hotel development. Locals, including celebrity residents such as Bo Derek and David Crosby, have vigorously opposed expansion plans by the local Chumash Indian casino. Lately locals have taken to calling the ranch Never!-land.

As a real estate broker, Etling would seemingly have an interest in seeing more development of the bucolic region, which saw a surge in tourism five years ago after the movie Sideways was filmed there. But Etling says the largely wealthy area residents have no interest in opening more of their valley to John Q. Public. "It would depreciate our property to have that carnival," he says. "It's not that type of place. It's very stable. There's not a lot of mobility."

Jackson's ranch is located about five miles north of the tiny wine country hamlet of Los Olivos. It's one of the most beautiful spots in the country, blessed with rolling hills, vineyards and cool, damp air from the nearby ocean.

It is a part of the world Barrack knows well. He's owned a ranch and vineyard near Neverland for three decades. Last year he reached a settlement with neighbors that allowed him to open his Happy Canyon Winery to wine salespeople and critics but not for public wine tastings, which locals had opposed.

Retired venture capitalist Bob Field, who says his own property overlooks Barrack's vineyard, has another suggestion for his neighbor -- dismantle Neverland and take it piece by piece to Las Vegas, where Barrack's company owns the Las Vegas Hilton and an interest in Station Casinos -- a string of gambling joints aimed at local residents. "This is a small valley," Field says. "We don't have the roads, hospitals or airport. It will take him multiple years to develop anything here. It would cost him a fraction of that in Las Vegas. The day it opened, there would be many times the visitors."

If a Neverland museum doesn't get developed in Vegas or Los Olivos there are other cities that might welcome it. The mayor of Jackson's hometown of Gary, Indiana is practically begging to have the star's remains find a permanent home there.

credited to kpth.com

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A drunk German sparked a slow-speed police chase after stealing a tractor to get home from a nightclub, said police, who used pepper spray to try to stop the vehicle.

"After his girlfriend abandoned him in a night club, the 23-year-old driver, who doesn't own a license, commandeered the vehicle to make his way home," a police spokesman said.

Six police cars began trailing the tractor, which was chugging along at 20km an hour, after they were alerted to the theft at about 5 am on Saturday.

Officers tried holding up stop signs and directing pepper spray through the open window to bring the driver to a halt.

They then tried unsuccessfully to end his getaway by throwing nail belts on the road, but the tractor's tyres proved too thick, said the police spokesman.

The 40-minute chase finally came to an end when officers shot at the tractor's tyres after it rammed into a police car and collided with another vehicle.

credited to stuff.co.nz

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The teen hacker who unlocked the original Iphone claims to have created an app that can 'jailbreak' Apple's recently released Iphone 3GS.

George Hotz, 19, wrote a program called "purplera1n" which he says can install third-party software on an Iphone 3GS, even if that software is not approved by Apple.

It didn't take him very long to hack the device, which has only been available since June 19.

This shows that it isn't impossible to bypass Apple's wonderful built-in security features for the Iphone and it makes a mockery of the outfit's autocractic control of users.

It also means that users can run whatever they like on the gizmo rather than only what Steve Jobs says they are allowed.

Hotz released software that works with Windows-based computers and the latest version of Itunes, as well as the Iphone 3GS running Apple's latest Iphone 3.0 software. Over the weekend he released a Mac version, too.

Hotz got his first 15 minutes of fame two years ago when, at the age of 17, he became the first hacker to crack the Iphone's security so it could run unauthorised apps.

credited to theinquirer.net

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A 54-year-old carpenter in Wantage, England, accidentally cut off his own penis while working with a saw, his mother says.

Stuart Keen's mother, Edna, told The Sunday Telegraph her son had been cutting wood for a cabinet when the saw inflicted the horrific injury. Surgeons were able to reattach the severed appendage, she said.

"Stuart is a carpenter and uses sharp and sometimes dangerous tools," Keen's mother said.

"This was an unfortunate accident but these things happen all the time to people in his profession."

A South Central Ambulance Service spokesman said paramedics found him bleeding in his bathtub.

"I have spoken to him and he is quite embarrassed about the whole incident," Keen's mother told the Telegraph.

credited to upi.com

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Have you heard the news? Microsoft's Bing is taking a bite out of Google, boasting first-month market share gains while the competition's stronghold slips away! At least, that's what some headlines around the Web might lead you to believe this week.

The truth, though, is that the change is not nearly as dramatic as it appears at a glance. While Bing has, according to certain data, minimally increased Microsoft's search market share, Google's position has not significantly shifted.

Bing vs. Google: The Buzz

All the buzz comes from a new search market analysis by Web stats company StatCounter. Bing, the researchers say, secured 8.23 percent of all U.S.-based searches for the month of June. (Bing officially launched on June 3.) The previous month, StatCounter shows Microsoft sitting at 7.81 percent of U.S. searches. That amounts to a month-to-month increase of just under half a percentage point following Bing's debut.

Google, during that same time span, dropped from 78.72 percent to 78.48 of U.S. searches—a decrease of 0.24 percent, according to StatCounter's data. Looking back to April, the difference becomes slightly less apt to be obliterated by a sneeze: Google's two-month drop amounts to 0.59 percent, while Microsoft's April-to-June gain comes out to 1.02 percent.

The Bing Picture

The numbers, obviously, are quite small—but perhaps more important is the fact that zeroing in on such a short period of time makes it difficult to reach any real conclusions. Sticking with StatCounter's data, you'll find that Google's market share has actually fluctuated fairly regularly over the past several months. In March, for example, Google randomly dipped down to 76.49 percent of U.S. searches. Then, it bounced back to 79.08 a month later. Why? Who knows. But it wasn't because of Bing—that word hadn't even entered our vocabulary as a proper noun at that point.

What this appears to indicate is that, whether as a result of shifting usage or margin of error within the measurement, the numbers do bounce around occasionally. Putting too much stock into a minor two-month change, then, seems a bit premature.

What's more, early metrics from other analytics companies have suggested Google may have actually seen gains as a result of Bing's arrival. Just a couple of weeks ago, the crew from Compete theorized that users were trying Bing but not abandoning their standard search engines and switching allegiance.

In the end, it's simply too soon to call the race; the amounts of change just haven't been significant so far. Bing is far from being out of the running, but it also has yet to complete any awe-inspiring laps.

Maybe some projectile vomit-filled ads are what Bing's campaign is missing. Does anyone have the number for Microsoft's IE marketing department?

credited to businessweek.com

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Spectators pull up stakes and leave after learning that there will be no public memorial at Jackson's former Santa Barbara County estate and that he will not be buried there.

Reporting from Los Olivos, Calif. -- Desiree Crossley, her two daughters and a friend left Lancaster in their PT Cruiser at 1 a.m. Wednesday to be among the first in line for what they thought would be a public memorial for Michael Jackson at his Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County.

About 5 a.m., they began pitching their tent on the side of Figueroa Mountain Road, taking turns hammering in stakes and trying to keep warm. They packed a portable toilet, heater and plenty of food and water to last them.

But at 2:30 p.m., Crossley and the three other women were pulling up stakes and preparing to leave. Word filtered down that there would be no public memorial at the ranch and that Jackson would not be buried there.

"It is disappointing," Crossley said as her daughters -- Antonae Martin, 17, and Desiree Bell, 19 -- folded their tent. "But I am flexible and I'm telling you, I think the family has to come before the fans."

Most fans who came to the ranch Wednesday stayed only briefly. Most just stood in front of the gates, snapped a few photos and left. But a few people, like Crossley and her group, brought tents and fold-out chairs. They were determined to see what events, if any, would be held at Jackson's onetime home.

The fans often were outnumbered by media representatives, many of whom also believed Jackson would be buried there and that there would be a public memorial.

The area grew chaotic and traffic along the two-lane road grew increasingly congested. Trucks carrying construction vehicles, as well as landscaping vans, drove in and out of the compound.

Television trucks with large satellite dishes and other vehicles lined the street. Journalists jockeyed for the perfect position near the ranch's entrance and swarmed spectators as they approached.

A blimp advertising something called "personal genetics" floated overhead while law enforcement officers tried to control traffic and threatened to tow vehicles parked in the street. At one point, officials closed part of Figueroa Mountain Road -- making spectators walk roughly 1 1/2 miles to Neverland's entrance -- only to reopen it later.

In the early afternoon, a spokesman for the management company Relevé Unlimited passed out a release saying a nearby ranch would host an event Friday. The gathering, organizers said, would commemorate Jackson's life and legacy. For a fee of $40 per motor vehicle, fans could park at the Ted Chamberlin ranch, listen to Jackson's music, watch music videos on large-screen televisions and buy food from vendors, according to company spokesman Scott Corridan.

In downtown Los Olivos, some locals said they hoped the furor would subside. At a coffee shop, one woman commiserated with the cashier and said. "I don't want 250,000 people in our town either."

Jackson bought the 2,600-acre Neverland estate -- named for Peter Pan's magical kingdom where children never age -- for $19.5 million in 1987 and lived there for 15 years.

In March 2008, Jackson defaulted on a $24.5-million loan and Neverland went into foreclosure. But just days before it went to public auction, the private equity firm Colony Capital picked up the note on the loan. Since then, Colony has spent a reported $3 million renovating the ranch in a bid to turn it into a salable property.

credited to latimes.com

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Winner in the latest creepy new "beauty" trend has to be bagelheads. Let's sooo hope the Japanese body modification trend of injecting saline drips into one's body to form bagel shapes will not make it stateside. Heads, faces, boobs, and arms are reported to be targets for those embarking on this, er, unique concept. Any routine noshing on a Katz's, Noah's (if you must), or Holey Bagel may become mentally difficult if any bagelhead is within eating (read: gagging) distance. According to www.thefrisky.com, the bagelheads "are injected by professional piercers in a specific location, which causes over-the-top inflammation and swelling. Then the area can be molded and dented in to their liking. Using food dye, you can even color your bump!" The bagelhead experience lasts for only one night, after the bagel bump loses shape and allows the skin to return to its normal shape. Oy.

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