Visa site flaw reveals personal details

A website flaw that revealed the personal details of people applying for visas in Britain was left unchecked for a year after the problem was first reported, according to PC Pro's internet security expert. The bug occurred on the VFS India website, The British High Commission's partner for processing UK visa applications from India. Essentially, you could access the organisation's database just by changing a few numerical identifiers in the URL. ...more

SiS, ALi to feature non-Springdale products at IDF

With technology licensing issues over the new Springdale platform still not settled, Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) and ALi Corporation (formerly Acer Laboratories) are expected to put the spotlight on their current Pentium 4 chipsets and peripheral-use chips at this year's Intel Developer Forum (IDF), which will kick off on February 18 in San Jose. Intel's change in Springdale specifications last November made all three Taiwanese chipset designers fall behind in the launch schedule of their new P4-supporting chipsets. Though SiS and ALi are said to have no problem producing their Springdale-based chipsets at the moment, the two companies are not planning to display the chip samples at IDF due to the concern about the licensing issue. ...more

Microsoft extends Office with XML-based XDocs

'Connecting XML Web Services to the Desktop' is the strap line for Microsoft's new Office application, codenamed XDocs. The 'vision' for the new application involves the use of XML-based forms to quickly process the flow of business information. By using XML (eXtensible Markup Language), XDocs will work with any user-defined XML schemas. ...more

Universal to offer free music via ad-sponsored service

Music and video from the Universal Music Group (UMG) catalogue is scheduled to be available for free download in the US and Canada. The service will be powered by a New York-based company called SpiralFrog and will follow an advertising-sponsored model, as opposed to the paid-for per-track favoured by the market-leading Apple iTunes or the subscription model favoured by the likes of Napster. 'Offering young consumers an easy-to-use alternative to pirated music sites will be compelling,' said SpiralFrog's CEO, Robin Kent. ...more

Wireless Net access arrives at Eurostar's Waterloo

Wi-Fi hotspots are coming to the Eurostar terminals at Waterloo International and Ashford International. Broadreach has won the contract to provide its ReadyToSurf? service at the railway stations. The company already provides Wi-Fi Zone coverage for Piccadilly in London and has worked with Virgin Trains to create a specialist subsidiary to provide on-train Internet access. ...more