Free Republic

In the 1960s science fiction film Fantastic Voyage, a vessel is shrunk by military researchers and dispatched to destroy a blood clot threatening the life of a key scientist. It sounded unbelievable then. But now, proving that science fact is quickly resembling science fiction, the world's smallest computer - which was developed last year by Israeli scientists - has been successfully programmed to fight cancer.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Malicious programs that can delete address books. Junk messages that flood a cell phone's inbox. Stealthy code that uses Bluetooth wireless technology to sneak onto handsets. Scared yet? Security experts say plagues like these will target mobile phones, but others contend cell phone viruses are the tech equivalent of smallpox: To the best of anyone's knowledge, they exist only in labs. "We've had no reports of people actually seeing these viruses in their daily use," said Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant with London's Sophos PLC. "The only reports we've seen documented are antivirus researchers sending...

SAN JOSE – Susan Love's problems began with a smile. The New York City fund-raiser clicked on a happy-face attachment in a friend's e-mail last year. The virus crashed her computer within an hour. Love, 57, salvaged her data. But within a few months her computer's performance slowed to a crawl. In December 2003, she upgraded to a Sony Vaio with an extra-large monitor and Microsoft Windows XP operating system. Within a few days, "spyware" – programs that sneak onto computers uninvited – began sponging up valuable memory. Then her e-mail stopped arriving. Instead of crafting holiday e-mails, she spent...

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN/Money) - A Rice University computer scientist and two of his students discovered a potentially serious security flaw in the desktop search tool recently distributed by Google, a newspaper report said Monday. The glitch, which could permit an attacker to secretly search the contents of a personal computer via the Internet, is what computer scientists call a composition flaw, the New York Times said. "When you put them together, out jumps a security flaw," Dan Wallach, an assistant professor of computer science at Rice in Houston, told the newspaper. Wallach and graduate students Seth Fogarty and Seth Nielson...

LOGAN, Ohio (AP) -- Election officials watched Monday as a technician repeated a repair he had made to a vote tallying computer, then announced they had found no evidence of any sort of tampering, despite a congressman's request for an FBI probe

YAMHILL, Ore.--There is a story behind every electronic gadget sold on the QVC shopping channel. This one leads to a ramshackle farmhouse in rural Oregon, which is the home and circuit design lab of Jeri Ellsworth, a 30-year-old high school dropout and self-taught computer chip designer. Ellsworth has squeezed the entire circuitry of a two-decade-old Commodore 64 home computer onto a single chip, which she has tucked neatly into a joystick that connects by a cable to a TV set. Called the Commodore 64--the same as the computer system--her device can run 30 video games, mostly sports, racing and puzzles...

TV REVIEW | 'SOMEONE'S WATCHING' As a Computer-Literate Big Brother Lurks By NED MARTEL Published: December 18, 2004 ame may be elusive, but who knew that namelessness is no longer possible? Not only has the government sought new powers to know more about everyone inside United States borders, but eerily precise marketers have also merged medical, legal and mercantile records of each American's patterns and deeds, in hopes of matching person with product. In "Someone's Watching," tonight on the Discovery Times Channel, privacy experts forecast a most ominous moment in the foreseeable future. Very soon, the government could have full...

I have 2 computer problems:1) Compaq Presario 2140 laptop. XP Pro. Dial-up modem will not work - when I try, I get the "no dial tone" message. Phone line is securely in place. Phone line works, and desktop computer dial-up using same line also works. Any suggestions?2) Dell 8400 Desktop. XP Pro. I have Spyware Blaster downloaded, but cannot get updates. When I try, message pops up saying problem reaching server, try back later, blah, blah, blah. Uninstalled and re-installed, but no luck. Then downloaded Spyware Guard. When first tried to download update, box popped up with 3 options (think...

Boston Teen Arrested in McAllen Break-In An 18-year-old Massachusetts man has been charged today with breaking into a McAllen pawn shop and stealing handguns. An officer found Atbin Hoshang Forghan of Canton, Massachusetts, outside Danny's Pawn Shop before dawn. Forghan allegedly was carrying stolen munitions, a bulletproof vest and a switchblade. Forghan was arraigned today on charges of burglary and possessing prohibited weapons. Bond is 550-thousand dollars. Investigators say Forghan traveled to McAllen by bus from the Boston area earlier this week and he had visited the pawn shop. McAllen police also contacted Homeland Security officials. An investigator with the...

The Reg launches downloads site By Team Register Published Thursday 16th December 2004 12:05 GMT Site offer We’re absolutely delighted in the run-up to the Festive Season™ to be able to offer our readers a little something from the Vulture Central “get-something-for-free-pay-nothing-ever” department.Indeed, we’re sure that fans of El Reg will find this a refreshing change from the inexorable “buy-now-pay-2020-at-86%-APR” Yule orgy of capitalism which has so sullied the spirit of Christmas.So, with all temptation to utter "bah humbug" pushed firmly from our minds, we direct you immediately to our all-new downloads service, offering a range of gratis and shareware...

Can anyone help me? The picture on my monitor has turned sideways, the top on the left, bottom on the right. I've rebooted twice. Tried the buttons on the monitor, propeties on thr right click.... Even swapped monitors with another computer. The picture is still sideways. I'm not even sure who to call about this. My ISP nephew says he has never heard of such a problem. Does anyone know how I can fixed this? My neck is getting really sore...

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood movie studios on Tuesday sued scores of operators of U.S.- and European-based computer servers that help relay digitized movie files across online file-sharing networks. The copyright infringement suits expand on a new U.S. film industry initiative whose initial targets were individual file-swappers. The defendants this time run servers that use BitTorrent, which has become the program of choice for online sharers of large files because of its immunity to industry attempts to confound file-swappers with bogus decoy files. "Today's actions are aimed at individuals who deliberately set up and operate computer servers and Web sites that,...

Am I the only who finds Visioneer scanners hard to configure? I had to reinstall the software recently. Before, I was able to select "scan" and have the image go to Microsoft Paint as its destination. Now, though, when I configure the Scan button, I don't see Paint as a selectable option for a destination. The closest option is to create a PDF file, but that doesn't help, because I eventually want to insert files into PowerPoint. How can I tell "One Touch" (the Visioneer software) that I want images to go to Paint?

we spilled coffee on our keyboard - compaq presario 2100 laptop - caps will not work and y key has gone nuts - any suggestions before we ship it off... help yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyybyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyn

I have had to format C: so many times, I need a new way to get my computer back quickly. I have a dial up connection so updating my Windows packages and Norton virus definitions and other such stuff is a real pain. I have tried several backup meathods and none so far are satifactory. I would love to be back up in a few hours instead of days with all my software installed with the proper serial numbers with all the updates and settings that I like, down to my wallpaper and file locations. I want one of those...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's largest personal computer maker, Lenovo Group Ltd., said Wednesday it is buying control of IBM's PC-making business for US$1.25 billion, capping the U.S. tech giant's gradual withdrawal from the business it helped pioneer in 1981. The agreement, which forms the world's third largest PC business, calls for Lenovo to pay IBM $650 million in cash, $600 million in Lenovo Group common stock and for Lenovo to assume $500 million in net balance sheet liabilities from IBM.

I have a problem with my Apple G3 and after a day of pulling out my hair, It dawned on me that the best place to have my questions answered is right here. I had gotten my G3 when it was brand new, than gave it to my son, who after a few years gave it to my other son. The G3 having gone full circle I have it again. The problem is I can't get it to boot, I have OSX and the update to it. When I start the system with OSX the installer never comes up, when...

Corporate PCs 'riddled with spyware' By John Leyden Published Thursday 2nd December 2004 17:23 GMT Corporate systems are riddled with spyware, according to a study by an anti-spyware firm. Companies voluntarily using Webroot's Corporate SpyAudit tool had an average of 20 nasties per PC, Webroot reports.Most of the items found were harmless cookies. But average five per cent of the PCs scanned had system monitors and 5.5 per cent had Trojan horse programs, the two most nefarious and potentially malicious forms of spyware. The audit - based on scans of more than 10,000 systems, used by more than 4,100 companies...

Tiny nanocables, 1,000 times smaller than a human hair, could become key parts of toxin detectors, miniaturized solar cells and powerful computer chips. The technique for making the nanocables was invented by UC Davis chemical engineers led by Pieter Stroeve, professor of chemical engineering and materials science. They manufacture the cables in the nano-sized pores of a template membrane. The insides of the pores are coated with gold. Layers of other semiconductors, such as tellurium, cadmium sulfide or zinc sulfide, are electrochemically deposited in the gold tube until a solid cable forms, then the membrane is dissolved, leaving finished...

Here's your fixSo Your Computer is Running Slow When you first bought your computer, it zinged. It was faster than the computer you replaced. It was "upgraded"! But lately something happened. It slowed to a crawl, taking forever to boot up and net surfing - especially for you dial-up users - became excruciatingly, impossibly slow. It is possible to recapture that lost speed. What happened? There are a few culprits. We personally hate long winded explanations, so we will keep this short. Or, you can forget the explanations and just skip to the fixes. For those of you still with...