Companies could soon have to use biometric technology to authorise major financial transactions, as part of banking industry measures to tackle internet fraud and money laundering.
Industry body the Association for Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) says corporate customers will be among the first to receive devices to physically confirm signatories as well as using passwords, so-called two-factor authentication (Computing, 14 April).
Europe's biggest supercomputer will crunch data from thousands of radio antennae eavesdropping on the history of the universe, its Dutch developers and U.S. computer giant IBM said on Tuesday.
The computer, based in the northern Netherlands, will process signals from up to 13 billion light years from earth -- as far back in time as the beginnings of the earliest stars and galaxies after the formation of the universe.
Following criticism from computer security professionals and civil libertarians about the privacy risks posed by new RFID passports the government plans to begin issuing, a State Department official said his office is reconsidering a privacy solution it rejected earlier that would help protect passport holders' data.
Think your kids spend too much time online? The organizers of the first annual National PC-Turnoff Week hope families will soon learn to kick the habit.
Modeled after TV-Turnoff Week, PC-Turnoff Week runs Aug. 1 through Aug. 7 and is meant to raise awareness of the hazards of excessive computer use in the home.
After four years of pondering, Bruce Stevens is finally ready to buy a service for making phone calls cheaply over the Internet. The New Orleans graphics designer just isn't ready yet to rely on it as his sole means of communications: He'll keep his cell phone, even if it means an extra $60 a month.
``Since it's all brand new, there are always unexpected things, things you never would have dreamed would be a problem,'' Stevens said. ``You could mark me down as having a slight fear of the unknown.''
Beginning in mid-May, pilots who intrude into restricted airspace over the nation's capital will be warned by pulsating red and green laser beams, part of a government effort to prevent a terrorist attack.
The U.S. military will activate the ground-based lasers whenever unauthorized or unresponsive aircraft enter the restricted zone, a huge swath of airspace surrounding the region's three major airports.
Before business trips, Suneet Tuli used to leave behind a long list of numbers where he could be reached and told important clients to ring him on his cell phone. The routine was cumbersome and cost him about $800 a month in phone bills.
Now, he has local numbers for New York, London and Mexico City despite no permanent presence in any of those cities. The lines automatically forward to another number that seamlessly transfers to a cell phone with the best rates for wherever he happens to be.
If you think video games are engrossing now, just wait: PlayStation maker Sony Corp. has been granted a patent for beaming sensory information directly into the brain.
The technique could one day be used to create video games in which you can smell, taste, and touch, or to help people who are blind or deaf.
The U.S. patent, granted to Sony researcher Thomas Dawson, describes a technique for aiming ultrasonic pulses at specific areas of the brain to induce "sensory experiences" such as smells, sounds and images.
Advances that transformed how the world communicates are among the top 25 technological breakthroughs of the past quarter century, according to a panel of experts assembled by CNN.
Having a computer in almost every American home (No. 5) has changed the way the world conducts business and how people communicate. Computers have gone from whirring behemoths to devices that fit in every room -- or every pocket.
"We see them in our cell phones, our PDAs," said Suzanne Kantra of Popular Science magazine. "Kids' toys in particular have taken off in the ability to be smart."
Matthew Nagle, 25, was left paralysed from the neck down and confined to a wheelchair after a knife attack in 2001.
The pioneering surgery at New England Sinai Hospital, Massachusetts, last summer means he can now control everyday objects by thought alone.
The brain chip reads his mind and sends the thoughts to a computer to decipher. He can think his TV on and off, change channels and alter the volume thanks to the technology and software linked to devices in his home.
