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Options for a coming singularity include self-destruction of civilization, a positive singularity, a negative singularity (machines take over), and retreat into tradition. Our urgent goal: find (and avoid) failure modes, using anticipation (thought experiments) and resiliency -- establishing robust systems that can deal with almost any problem as it arises. In order to give you pleasant dreams tonight, let me offer a few possibilities about the days that lie ahead—changes that may occur within the next twenty or so years, roughly a single human generation. Possibilities that are taken seriously by some of today's best minds. Potential transformations of human...

U.S. State Department purchase of more than 15,000 computers produced by Lenovo Group, a company controlled by the Chinese government, is starting to draw criticism in the latest sign of American unease about the role of foreign companies in the American economy..

Utah has offered its largest economic incentive ever - an estimated $15 million - to high-tech giants Micron Technology Inc. and Intel Corp., which plan under a joint venture to add 1,850 new jobs in Lehi over the next 18 months to two years.    Members of the Governor's Office of Economic Development Board on Friday unanimously approved the incentive from the state's tax rebate program, which typically is reserved for companies that have not yet decided where they will expand. The board awarded the incentive even though the two companies' IM Flash Technologies partnership said months ago it would expand...

In May 2005, a trojan called PGPcoder was discovered in the wild by Websense Security Labs. The trojan's purpose was to encrypt a user's files, then demand a ransom for their decryption. Although this scheme seemed novel, it is actually predated by over 15 years, by a similar scam in 1989. LURHQ's Threat Intelligence Group has now discovered a third such scheme involving ransomware which we are calling Cryzip. Unlike PGPcoder, which used a custom encryption scheme (which was subsequently reverse-engineered by LURHQ), Cryzip uses a commercial zip library in order to store files inside a password-protected zip. Although the...

WASHINGTON - A new variety of unusually powerful Internet attacks can overwhelm popular Web sites and disrupt e-mails by exploiting the computers that help manage global Internet traffic, according to security researchers. First detected late last year, the new attacks direct such massive amounts of spurious data against victim computers that even flagship technology companies could not cope. In one of the early cases examined, the unknown assailant apparently seized control of an Internet name server in South Africa and deliberately corrupted its contents. Name servers are specialized computers that help direct Internet traffic to its destinations. The attacker then...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates on Wednesday mocked a $100 laptop computer for developing countries being developed with the backing of rival Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG - news) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The $100 laptop project seeks to provide inexpensive computers to people in developing countries. The computers lack many features found on a typical personal computer, such as a hard disk and software."The last thing you want to do for a shared use computer is have it be something without a disk ... and with a tiny little...

New virus seeks 'ransom' for computer files Wed Mar 15, 12:56 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - In the equivalent of a holdup in cyberspace, a new computer bug locks up a user's file with encryption and demands a 300-dollar "ransom," security experts say. The so-called "ransomware" Trojan was discovered Saturday by the security firm LURHQ, which said it was based on a similar scheme perpetrated 15 years ago. Users whose computers are infected receive an e-mail stating that their files have been encrypted and will not be unlocked unless they transfer 300 dollars to a special account. In poorly written...

Computer codes row threatens £12bn jet order By Francis Harris in Washington (Filed: 15/03/2006) Britain threatened the United States yesterday that it will cancel its £12 billion order for the new Joint Strike Fighter unless America agrees to give the Armed Forces full access to the warplane's critical computer codes. Lord Drayson, Minister for Defence Procurement, issued the blunt warning as he arrived in Washington to address members of Congress. Without full access to computer software the JSF could be ‘switched off’ The bad-tempered row not only threatens the 150-aircraft programme, but also the intimate Anglo-American military partnership. Without full...

CNET How-to courses: Personal computer clinic Whether you're a gamer planning your next PC-building project or a novice wondering if your PC is protected from viruses and spyware, CNET's online courses can help you get the most out of your computer. In these specially designed courses, our experts will teach you everything from choosing the best parts for your next gaming PC to better understanding digital music to setting up and securing a wireless network. Best of all, you can learn right at your computer. See first course Featured PC clinic courses Course #1: Build Your Dream PC Before you...

Scientists have long wondered why organisms bother with sexual reproduction. It makes a whole lot more sense to just have a bunch of females that can clone themselves, which is how asexual reproduction works. Turns out sex might have evolved as a way to concentrate lots of harmful mutations into individual organisms so they could be easily weeded out by natural selection, a new computer model suggests. The classic explanation for the onset of whoopee, about 1 billion years ago, is that it provides a way for organisms to swap and shuffle genes and to create offspring with new gene...

Is there any way of recovering the contents of a file over which new contents was saved for the same file name? Existing file "A" is on a computer in a given folder. User opens an email attachment with another file "A" attached to it, and wishes to save the attachment to that folder. Of course, the user is asked if replacement is desired. User ACCIDENTALLY says "yes" and file is replaced, wiping out the original file "A." Question: How, if at all, can the old contents of file "A" be recovered? I don't think recycle bin is an option,...

AOL filed three civil lawsuits yesterday against "several major phishing gangs". The lawsuits are the first by a major ISP to cite Virginia's anti-phishing statute, the first in the US, adopted in July 2005. The suits also cite applicable Federal laws, including the Lanham (Trademark) Act, and the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act. AOL is seeking total damages of $18m in the series of lawsuits which allege that the phishing gangs victimised AOL and CompuServe members through emails that attempted to drive them to bogus websites. The three lawsuits, filed in the US Court for the Eastern District of Virginia,...

The chief financial officer of Google Inc... Tuesday said overall growth is slowing ... The company will now have to "find other ways" to boost revenue... The stock was down 11 percent, or more than $42...

The movement of computing work abroad represents an economic and scientific challenge, but the fears of job migration far outweigh the reality so far, according to a new study by the Association for Computing Machinery. The lengthy report, released Thursday, is the result of a yearlong project by the professional organization to assess the impact and implications of the outsourcing of software development and research. The study concluded that dire predictions of job losses from shifting high-technology work to low-wage nations with strong education systems, like India and China, were greatly exaggerated. Though international in perspective, the study group found...

Gartner, the technology research group, has added its voice to warnings about a feature in Google's new Desktop beta that allows users to transfer data between two computers. The Desktop 3 update was released a fortnight ago by Google, and a new feature called Search Across Computers enables the transfer of information such as emails, instant messages and other files so they can be searched from another computer. But to enable the transfer, the user must first authorise Google to store material from the PC on its own servers for up to 30 days. "The newest release of Google's desktop...

PROVO — A Brigham Young University assistant professor has resigned after being arrested Thursday night for investigation into allegations that he taped and watched pornographic videos of a 14-year-old girl on his computer. The 63-year-old man is being investigated for sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony, and voyeurism, a class-A misdemeanor, after Provo police found a video clip of a girl undressing on a laptop computer belonging to BYU. The Deseret Morning News does not name arrested persons until charges are filed. Acting on a tip, Provo police approached the man at his home and took him to...

To anyone with a modicum of computer expertise :) I have been having a problem with my computer. It has been crashing a lot lately, and goes to a blue screen with the standard issue less-than-helpful blah blah. What I can tell you is that it says "MACHINE CHECK EXCEPTION" and follows with more gobblety-gook (yes, I know - not the most scientific of descriptions) then gives the STOP and specific system address of the exception. I can get more specific if anyone has an idea on how to correct this. THANX!!

Just got my computer back from being updated to xp and everything on my screen is large. I thought the view adjustment would fix it, but that doesn't do it. I have to scroll left and right to see any page. It's obviously set to some setting that makes it easy for people with bad eyes to read the text and such, but I feel like I'm using the computer version of that big pencil they start you off with in kindergarden.

SAN FRANCISCO – A California man was indicted Friday on federal charges of creating a robot-like network of hijacked computers that helped him and two others bring in $100,000 for installing unwanted ad software. The indictment from a federal grand jury in Seattle also accuses Christopher Maxwell, 20, and two unidentified conspirators of crippling Seattle's Northwest Hospital with a ”botnet” attack in January 2005. Authorities say the hospital attack caused $150,000 in damages, shut down the intensive care unit and disabled doctors' pagers. “Some people consider botnets a mere annoyance or inconvenience for consumers but they are highly destructive,” U.S....

My computer is broke! None of my Pogo.com links work and Texas Hold 'Em is calling.In fact my Norton 2006 has crashed and it seems any links related to security on Microsoft and Semantec don't work eitherDoes anyone know what virus, worm or stupip kid-game download has caused this? How do I fix it? I have enabled my Active-X and Javascripts (not that I know what that will do.) This started about 4 days ago. I am running WinXP and IE5.something. Please help this techno-peasant!