Overture adds local sponsored search

Online advertising specialist Overture has added local sponsored search to its range of products. Searchers using parent company Yahoo! as well as MSN, Dogpile, Excite and other web portals in the US will receive local products listings. The company claims that the new services Local Match allows advertisers to target customers right down to a specific neighbourhood. ...more

Microsoft returns to patching for June security update

Microsoft is expecting to announce a slew of patches for security flaws in its monthly update next Tuesday. Following last month's lull, which was clear of critical updates, 14 June will see Redmond's Windows product range subject to seven patches. The most severe is rated as Critical and some will mean computers need to be restarted. ...more

Powerful parental controls in prospect for Leopard

Apple is lining up powerful new parental controls in next year's release of OS X 10.5 Leopard, evidenced by screenshots from the latest developer build. The grabs show a new Parental Controls preference pane that provides four areas in which access to the Mac, websites, email and chat can be restricted by the system's administrator. ...more

Microsoft patents XML Word-processing documents

When it comes to legal patents and the world of technology, nothing much surprises these days. Think of BT's attempt to claim the hyperlink, Amazon's control of a mouse click and even the Eolas claim against invoking applications over the Internet. Well, it seems there may be a new one to consider, flagged by Java Today, the Java community news site. ...more

Puppy provides fingerprint security

Sony has introduced a new security system that prevents anyone without the right fingerprint being able to access a PC. The FIU-600 Puppy plugs into a USB port and uses capacitance-sending technologies to 'read' your fingerprint. It cannot be fooled by paper copies nor does it require cleaning, says Sony. ...more