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From PC World: As customers’ expectations rise, giants like Amazon and EBay are finding it harder to keep people happy. A new study has found that customer satisfaction with online shopping plummeted during the last holiday season. While some experts note that such dissatisfaction is often the result of rising expectations, others suggest that companies …
From eWeek: A Google Inc. tool bar feature introduced this week is rekindling a debate over who should control what appears on a Web page the site’s creator or the software used to view it. Google introduced a feature called AutoLink in a beta of its next tool bar version. AutoLink inserts links into Web …
From USA Today: The way you type is as unique as your eye color or speech patterns and can be used in conjunction with a password to protect your computer, researchers at Louisiana Tech and Penn State say. Their discovery will bring Louisiana Tech its first direct royalty income, university president Daniel D. Reneau said …
From MSNBC: The overall security of computer systems inside the largest U.S. government agencies improved marginally since last year but still merits only a D-plus on the latest progress report from Congress. The departments of Transportation, Justice and the Interior made remarkable improvements, according to the rankings, which were compiled by the House Government Reform …
From MSNBC: Chinese authorities shut down more than 12,575 Internet cafes from October to December last year for operating illegally, the government said. The purpose of the crackdown was to create a ‘safer environment for young people in China,’ the official Xinhua News Agency said Sunday. It didn’t give details of the violations, but said …
From CNN: A report from the University of Utah says that when motorists between 18 and 25 talk on cell phones, they drive like elderly people — moving and reacting more slowly and increasing their risk of accidents. ‘If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, his reaction times are …
From CNN: The only grade school in this rural town is requiring students to wear radio frequency identification badges that can track their every move. Some parents are outraged, fearing it will rob their children of privacy. The badges introduced at Brittan Elementary School on January 18 rely on the same radio frequency and scanner …
From MS PressPass: Gates announced Internet Explorer 7.0, designed to add new levels of security to Windows XP SP2 while maintaining the level of extensibility and compatibility that customers have come to expect. Internet Explorer 7.0 will also provide even stronger defenses against phishing, malicious software and spyware. The beta release is scheduled to be …
From NYT: First, a confession. Since starting to write this article two hours ago, I have left my chair only once. But I have not been entirely present, either. Each time I have encountered a thorny sentence construction or a tough transition, I have heard the siren call of distraction. Shouldn’t I fiddle with my …
From TechRepublic: Microsoft’s idea to purchase Sybari Software came from a place where many of its ideas are born–its labs. Late last year, the software giant wanted to build on an important technology–the RAV antivirus software that it acquired from Romania-based GeCad–to take it beyond a desktop virus scanner to a security product for businesses. …