Slow light to speed up the net

A huge increase in the speed of the Internet could be produced by slowing parts of it down, reports BBC News.

The Internet's speed limit comes about not in transporting information, but in routing it to its various destinations. Applying the brakes could serve as the "metamaterials" to replace the bulky and slow electronics that do the routing, paving the way for lightning-fast speeds.

The metamaterials could be engineered to accomplish the frequency spreading step as well, working much like a prism that splits white light into a rainbow.

Sophisticated cyber-crooks have developed a technique for tampering with the PIN entry devices on chip-and-PIN readers to steal users' card details and PINs, says The Register.

Police from the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit recovered stolen PIN pads and hundreds of fake cards in a raid on a counterfeit card factory in Birmingham earlier this week. Two as yet unnamed people arrested during the raid were charged on Tuesday with conspiracy to defraud.

Equipment recovered from the factory included kit to swipe card details and make counterfeit cards - stolen chip-and-PIN terminals, a card reader/writer, computer software and counterfeit magnetic stripe cards.

Intel is unveiling technology that will let computers wake up from their power-saving sleep state when they receive a phone call over the Internet, reports Associated Press.

Current computers have to be fully on to receive a call, making them impractical and energy-wasters as replacements for the telephone.

The new component Intel is announcing today will let computers automatically return to a normal, full-powered state when a call comes in. The computer can activate its microphone and loudspeaker to alert the user, then connect the call.

Privacy advocates are warning of the dangers of rushing headlong into using location-based services, says The BBC.

The Centre for Digital Democracy told the BBC that, "while these services will be a powerful force in our lives, they are a potential privacy nightmare".

The centre's comments follow Yahoo's launch of Fire Eagle, which lets users manage information on where they are.