Internet cafes

Requirements that Internet cafés in a southern Chinese city install Chinese-developed operating systems are raising new concerns over cyber snooping by authorities, a U.S. government-funded radio station reported Wednesday.

The new rules that went into effect Nov. 5 are aimed at cracking down on the use of pirated software, said Hu Shenghua, a spokesman for the Culture Bureau in the city of Nanchang.

Computer infections with viruses by way of USB flash memory drives are spreading in Japan, according to a Trend Micro Inc. survey released Saturday.

Based on the finding, the Tokyo-based virus-scanning software company called on PC users to take precautions when sharing data with others via USB memory sticks.

A USB flash memory drive is a portable data-storage device that has become popular as an alternative to a floppy disk.

Enough about "porn mode" in Internet Explorer 8.0.

The new privacy features previewed in the recent beta 2 are a good idea.

The problem that Microsoft is addressing -- and in a serious fashion -- is mysterious to less-sophisticated computer users: In the name of convenience, computers track stuff that, if found by someone, could embarrass you, bust you dead broke or get you fired.

Blind people generally use computers with the help of screen-reader software, but those products can cost more than $1,000, so they're not exactly common on public PCs at libraries or Internet cafes. Now a free new Web-based program for the blind aims to improve the situation.

It's called WebAnywhere, and it was developed by a computer science graduate student at the University of Washington. Unlike software that has to be installed on PCs, WebAnywhere is an Internet application that can make Web surfing accessible to the blind on most any computer.