Yahoo computers smash pi record
A researcher has calculated the 2 000 000 000 000 000th digit of pi - and a few digits either side of it, reveals The BBC.
Nicholas Sze, of technology firm Yahoo, determined that the digit - when expressed in binary - is 0. Sze used Yahoo's Hadoop cloud computing technology to more than double the previous record.
The computation took 23 days to complete on 1 000 of Yahoo's computers. The heart of the calculation made use of an approach called MapReduce originally developed by Google that divides up big problems into smaller sub-problems, combining the answers to solve otherwise intractable mathematical challenges.
Basketball megastar accused of hacking
Basketball star Shaquille O'Neal has been accused of hacking into the phone of a former employee and mistress, as well as destroying evidence by throwing a laptop into a lake next to his home, reports The Register.
Shawn Darling alleges that the NBA star hacked into the voicemail boxes of Darling and Vanessa Lopez, the NBA star's alleged former lover. Darling further alleges that O'Neal conspired to frame him by planting child pornography on his computer.
Lawyers for O'Neal have filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the charges are fabricated and only arose after the NBA refused to pay $12 million for the return of copies of files taken by Darling from O'Neal.
Phishers target Skype users
Websense is warning Skype users to beware of e-mails with “Download VOIP Addons for Skype Free Talks” in the subject line, which are being sent out in the thousands in a phishing attack, writes Tech Watch.
The e-mails are designed to trick recipients into buying an upgrade, and therefore revealing credit card and other personal details to cyber criminals.
The bogus upgrade tempts users with features such as more free talk time and better call recording quality but the links in the message take users to a rogue Web site, which even has a valid SSL certificate and the appearance of a genuine Skype site.
Yahoo demos faster Mail service
Yahoo made some key changes to one of its most important products yesterday, rolling out a new look for Yahoo Mail, says News.com.com.
Blake Irving, the company's new executive vice president and chief products officer, unveiled the new design at Yahoo's headquarters during an event optimistically called “Product Runway”.
Yahoo said that its 281 million Yahoo Mail users will start seeing the new design this fall as it rolls out an opt-in beta version of the service, which is one of the key drivers of traffic to Yahoo's array of news and entertainment Web sites.
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