Internet News

A hacker has posted attack code that could be used to break into a PC running older versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - With its deal to buy Revolution Money, American Express is taking aim at the growing market for online and alternative payments, in a challenge to recognized leader PayPal, analysts say. Full Story »

VIENNA (AFP) - Austrian cattle farmers no longer have to travel long distances to sell or buy cattle: it can all be done at the click of a mouse, on a new auction website. Full Story »

You probably already know that many Black Friday bargains are available online too. Rather than brave the elements or risk being trampled at 5 a.m., it's much more pleasant to shop from the comfort of home. Save the Kevlar vest for another day. Full Story »

HAVANA (Reuters) - The husband of Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez said he was attacked by government supporters as he waited on Friday to confront state security agents accused of detaining and beating his wife two weeks ago. Full Story »

California's ban on plasma-screen televisions to reduce energy consumption could cost as much as $50 million per year in sales taxes because consumers are free to buy the sets online or in other states. "At a time when the state of California is facing its worst money crisis in history, this is going to be disastrous," said Jennifer Bemisderfer, a spokesperson for the Consumer Electronics Association, which lobbied against the ban. Full Story »

MILWAUKEE - A lawsuit in Wisconsin is bringing a fresh challenge to the practice of paying for keywords on Google and other search engines to boost one company's link over a rival's. Full Story »

For entertainment hardware companies like Sony, a thriving, all-encompassing online media store is the Holy Grail. It's a glorious balance, in which the customer buys software through the store, and therefore becomes hooked on the hardware to which it's attached. That's how brand loyalty is created. Full Story »

ROME (AFP) - Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's blood and brain went on sale Friday for 15,000 euros (22,000 dollars) on online auction website eBay, before the company pulled the ad posted by an anonymous seller. Full Story »

On Friday, Cloud Engines released its newest version of the Pogoplug, a small "multimedia sharing device" that connects hard drives to the Internet and allows a user to access the files remotely. The company described Pogoplug as "your own personal cloud that broadcasts safely from your home." Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US judge set February 18 for a hearing on the revised legal settlement between Google and US authors and publishers that would allow the Internet giant to scan and sell millions of books online. Full Story »

Have some extra USB hard drives you'd like to put to a good use? How using them to create an Internet storage cloud for your company, yourself, or your family? Full Story »

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Cisco on Friday announced the release of a free iPhone application for anyone who wants to stay on top of the latest trojans, worms, or other threats marauding on the Internet. Full Story »

The micro-blogging platform's new prompt, "What's happening?", is also a redefinition. Full Story »

Facebook can be a dangerous beast. As social media evolves -- and the freedom of the Internet diminishes our self-censorship -- many have run into situations where Facebook has landed them in trouble and sometimes canned from a gig. It has been established that some companies scrutinize employee and potential employee Facebook pages to ensure what it's getting isn't tarnished by bad behavior such as playing hooky or being loose-tongued about one's feelings about work. The latest example is a little trickier: a Canadian woman saw her health benefits stripped away after the insurance company saw "happy" pictures of her on Facebook. Full Story »

In a step to make YouTube videos more accessible to deaf people as well as to anyone else searching for videos online, Google has launched an automatic video captioning service. Full Story »

The judge in the copyright infringement case pitting the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) against Google and its book search program has set a date for the final hearing on the parties' controversial settlement proposal. Full Story »

TOKYO (AFP) - Sony Corp. aims to launch next year a new online service that will allow people to download content such as music and movies to their televisions and other electronic gadgets, a top executive said Friday. Full Story »