Apple Mac pioneer dies

Jef Raskin, the computer interface expert who helped pioneer the Macintosh project for Apple Computer, died of cancer on Saturday, at the age of 61.

Raskin, an early advocate for more affordable, user-friendly computing interfaces, joined Apple in January 1978 as 'employee number 31`.

He named the Macintosh after his favourite type of apple, but left Apple Computer amid a dispute with Steve Jobs in 1982, before the actual launch of the Macintosh in 1984.

iPod owners may soon be able to wirelessly broadcast music from their iPod to their car speakers, says a Motorola executive.

In an interview with Radio France, Motorola automobile product manager Bogdan Nedelcou hinted that a Bluetooth-enabled iPod could be in the works.

iPod owners will also be able to answer incoming phone calls without having to operate their mobile phone handset, says Nedelcou.

When a Bluetooth phone receives a call, the device will switch the car`s audio stream from the iPod`s music over to the phone`s audio feed, he says. A hands-free Bluetooth accessory will reportedly handle outgoing communication.

In the near future, Motorola is expected to debut its first `official` iTunes-ready mobile phone, which will sport both flash-based memory storage and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, AppleInsider reports.

A critical flaw has been discovered in Trend Micro`s AntiVirus Library, which is used by all the company`s desktop, server and gateway security products.

According to PCWorld, the library is also used by Internet service providers, e-mail services such as Hotmail, and in third-party security products that use licensed versions of the anti-virus software, greatly widening the scope of the new alert.

The full list of Trend Micro products affected by the flaw runs to a total of 30 products.

According to the company advisory, the problem lies with the way the library handles files compressed using the ARJ standard. "Thus, it is possible to create a specially crafted ARJ archive file that overwrites data after the allocated 512-byte buffer. This specially crafted file could possibly execute an arbitrary code."

NTT has prototyped a micro fuel cell for mobile phones that is fuelled by hydrogen gas.

The company says the cell is far more powerful than traditional methanol fuel cells. It has also designed an early prototype hydrogen storage unit to refill the phone at home.

However, the current model is far too large to fit inside a phone, and NTT researchers predict it will take around two years of additional work to shrink it down to a standard-sized battery.

According to The Feature, the company expects the fuel cell to provide 3G phones with nine hours of talk time once it is commercialised.