Parliament's Web presence needs radical upgrading say MPs

A parliamentary Select Committee has reported that Parliament's website needs 'radically upgrading'. In it's report, the Modernisation of the House of Commons Select Committee says: 'We are convinced of the need for a radical upgrading of the website at an early opportunity, which will require significant investment in systems and staff.' The Committee's brief was to look at all aspects of the workings of the Houses of Parliament in order to make them more accessible and relevant to British citizens in the 21st Century. ...more

Sun bundles Java ES development tools with Solaris

Sun Microsystems has announced it will be bundling the Java Enterprise Systems (Java ES) and its suite of developer tools with the Solaris Operating System. The move, which has been expected for some time, is part of the company's open-source strategy for Solaris and provide programmers with a complete development environment. At the beginning of the year Sun announced that it would release an open-source Solaris 10 under its CDDL licence. ...more

Critical hole revealed in Unreal Tournament

Gamers have been warned that the Unreal Engine, found within a variety of games as well versions of Unreal Tournament, contains a critical security flaw. Described as a 'Query Buffer Overflow Vulnerability', the 'highly critical' flaw could let an attacker execute arbitrary code on affected machines. The vulnerability was first reported by one Luigi Auriemma, and you can read his original advisory here. ...more

Dial-a-Web site

VeriSign is testing a service that allows you to register phone numbers or numeric strings against particular Web sites in order to ease cell phone access to the Internet. Called WebNum, the service is based on the very simple premise that - for wireless Internet access - entering URLs on a cell phone is a rather laborious business, with all the cycling of key-character options that is involved. Instead, a memorable number or - in American style - the use of "logos" from the alphanumeric keys (ie. ...more

BPI rebuffs Stelios

'Just because stealing is easy, doesn't make it right' In response to a letter from easyGroup chairman and cuddly business tycoon Stelios claiming Internet music piracy to be the result of the music industry overcharging customers, BPI chairman Peter Jamieson has responded in a letter to the FT, putting the shoe on the other foot. The letter to the editor reads: 'If I were to find a way to get into the easyJet booking system and steal myself free airline flights to Luton, Liverpool and Majorca, I'm sure Stelios Haji-Ioannou would be the first to cry foul. If I were to find a way to do so, which he was powerless to counteract, he would be even more aggrieved. ...more