Oily Web site vandalised over pricing

Cyber-vandals have attacked Opec's Web site, defacing it with a written statement condemning the organisation's greed. The statement, which was written by someone calling themselves 'fluxnyne', appeared as a text footnote at the bottom of the Opec homepage. After several seconds, visitors are then taken to the site's main menu. ...more

Sony hooks up MiniDisc Walkmans to PCs

Sony has increased the capacity of its memory-stick walkmans and made its MiniDisc players networkable in a Walkman rebranding exercise. The new MiniDisc player, called the MZ-R700PC, comes with a USB cable and PC-link converter so that MiniDisc enthusiasts can convert downloaded MP3 and WMA files into analogue and write them to MiniDisc. Meanwhile, the memory-stick and Flash Walkmans are now called Network Walkmans, though little else has changed. ...more

Cookies crumble and affect IE security

The security company Secunia has highlighted a warning about Internet Explorer: it reports on a 'cross-domain cookie injection' vulnerability, which was discovered by Westpoint. While it may sound dramatic, the threat is not rated as critical. Effectively, a cookie attribute for domain information can be maliciously manipulated. ...more

Japanese CE giants back home networking via powerlines

Consumer electronics companies have come together to back powerline home networking. Back in January Sony and Mitsubishi Electric initiated the Consumer Electronics Powerline Communications Alliance (CEPCA) - see CES: Sony gives energy to powerline home networking. Well, CEPCA has now been formally established with a total of eight companies on board. ...more

Government to allow homes to add more aerials and dishes

The UK Government is preparing to change planning regulations to allow householders to attach more than one aerial or satellite dish to their properties. The change is designed to increase access to digital television and satellite broadband services. 'The planning system needs to adapt to take account of changing technology,' Housing and Planning minister Yvette Cooper explained. ...more