MSN Korea hacked

Microsoft has acknowledged that hackers booby-trapped its South Korean MSN site to steal passwords from visitors, but is unclear as to how many had been affected, reports AP.

Microsoft claims to have cleaned msn.co.kr and removed dangerous software code that hackers inserted this week.

Adam Sohn, a Microsoft spokesman, is confident the English-language Web sites are not vulnerable to the same attack.

Microsoft has drawn criticism after confirming it will not make the next version of Internet Explorer (IE) available to users of its Windows 2000 operating system, reports CNET.

A Microsoft employee`s blog-posting said: "It should be no surprise that we do not plan on releasing IE7 for Windows 2000. One reason is where we are in the Windows 2000 lifecycle and another is that some of the security work in IE7 relies on operating system functionality in XP SP2 that is not trivial to port back to Windows 2000."

Despite Windows 2000 being supported until 2010, Microsoft will not accept requested design changes or new features for the operating system after June 2005.

Microsoft has also been criticised for building a Web browser that cannot run independently of the operating system.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has approved a proposal to create Internet domains ending with .xxx.

Sexually explicit sites will be encouraged to move to the new domains to make it easier for people to filter and avoid them, reports BBC.

The Internet Control Messaging registry said the creation of the .xxx domain would help protect children from exposure to online pornography and also have a positive impact on online adult entertainment through the industry`s voluntary efforts.

However, Jonathan Robinson, business development director at NetNames, says people who have successful porn sites running off a particular domain might be reluctant to change.

Nearly 40 years after its conception in a California laboratory, the PC mouse is leaving its pad, reports Reuters.

The mouse has begun taking to all kinds of new surfaces and even to air, multiplying to meet the needs of an emerging generation of high-precision computers.

Many of the latest designs in mouse technology were on display at the Computex computer trade show in Taipei this week.

The most advanced devices on show sported ultra-precision optical and laser technology, allowing them to glide across unconventional surfaces like suede, stone and even human skin, and do everything from storing files to giving massages.