Most Internet access via cellphones

New York global market research firm Ipsos Insight says Internet access via cellphones exceeds wireless access from PCs in many parts of the world, reports M&C News.

Ipsos Insight`s latest annual study of Internet trends finds France and Britain have the strongest growth in this trend, while Internet usage via mobile phone continues to grow rapidly in Japan, where four in 10 adults browse the Internet on wireless handsets.

However, the report says growth in Internet browsing on a mobile phone is flattening in other markets, such as the US and Canada, where wireless Internet access via notebook PC appears to be emerging as the stronger out-of-home Internet platform.

Oracle`s quarterly critical patch update includes fixes for 36 security vulnerabilities in several enterprise-facing products.

eWeek says the mega update includes a fix for a flaw in the Oracle PL/SQL Gateway that Next Generation Security Software (NGSS) says could be exploited to gain full database administrator control of the back-end database server.

NGSS says an attack could be launched without a user name ID or password and could be used to hijack sensitive information from corporate databases.

Microsoft has reported that a component of the critical mega patch released last week has caused problems on computers running the Kerio personal firewall and on PCs running certain HP photo-sharing applications.

According to Sci-Tech Today, Microsoft has acknowledged that the patch has caused some unintended problems for certain users. As a result of these glitches, Microsoft says users could experience an inability to access or save files in special folders such as "My Documents" or "My Pictures". They also might experience unresponsive Microsoft Office applications.

Microsoft has posted a workaround for the problem on its Web site. It recommends that users affected by the update manually alter their Windows Registry settings.

Microsoft is working on a virtual server manager code-named Carmine that will enable users to add, move and manage virtual machines on its virtualisation platform, says Information Week.

The report says according to sources in the partner community, Carmine will contain some of the basic features of VMware`s VirtualCenter, with some saying Microsoft has to play catch up to Vmware`s management console because MS Virtual Server still lacks an overall management tool.

The report says Carmine is aimed at allowing users and partners to add, remove, drag and drop, and patch a virtual machine without too much downtime.

NASA`s Columbia supercomputer has completed a 3D simulation of two black holes merging, which is the computer`s largest astrophysical calculation ever, reports ZDNet.

NASA has described the simulation as a breakthrough in the observation of black holes, as well as the understanding of the entire universe. In fact, NASA claims it might even provide the ultimate proof for Einstein`s theory of general relativity.

Earlier trials have failed because the equations based on Einstein`s general relativity theory were so complicated they made supercomputers crash, but NASA researchers have managed to run it through Columbia, occupying its 2 032 interconnected 512 Intel Itanium 2 processors for 80 hours.

LucasArts is said to be developing a game dedicated to Darth Vader from Star Wars, reports Pocket-Lint.

The report says the head of Lucas Arts, Jim Ward, hinted in an interview with the New York Times that the company may have one more Star Wars title to release.

According to the newspaper, although Lucas Arts has not confirmed anything yet, the company could be able to make a game that centres on Lord Vader`s character between the end of Episode III and the beginning of Episode IV in the six films.