Computer users already anxious about viruses and identity theft have new reason to worry: Hackers have found a way to lock up the electronic documents on your computer and then demand $200 over the Internet to get them back.

Everyday computer users already have enough to think about but this latest ploy just adds to the list…It proves that you need to be ever vigilant as you try to stay in front of those that endeavour to profit from others via illegal actions.

Security researchers at San Diego-based Websense Inc uncovered the unusual extortion plot when a corporate customer they would not identify fell victim to the infection, which encrypted files that included documents, photographs and spreadsheets.

Effectively they are holding your computer files hostage and are demanding cash to return them to you.

A new shopping complex in Ohio will try to combine the convenience of online stores with the hands-on experience of browsing at a mall.

This is a great idea and shows the ways in which marketers are developing new systems and processes to ensure that the consumer is offered the best possible options when it comes to purchasing goods.

Sometime near the end of 2006, the complex, called Epicenter, is scheduled to open in Columbus at the Polaris Fashion Place. The nucleus of Epicenter will consist of two parts - the Buypod, a hand-held electronic device, and electronic kiosks located throughout the mall.

This New York Times Report explains the idea in more detail

Roger Lowenstein writes in the TheNewYorkTimes Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out, Start the Computer Revolution…

This is a great article, read on to see what Roger has to say.

LETs get this straight: Jerry Garcia invented the Internet while he was tripping on acid. No, actually, it was Ken Kesey, who thought computers were the next thing after drugs - which, according to John Markoff, they really were.

So were you part of the revolution?

Netscape recently launched its new browser Netscape 8.0 but just hours after the launch they had to release a security update to take care of more than 40 security holes.

Version 8 of the browser is the first major update to it since 2002 and includes a number of new security features designed to protect users from remote attacks and malicious Web sites. It is based on the increasingly popular open-source Firefox browser, but it didnt include any of the security patches in the recently released Firefox 1.0.4.

The story continues…

Google has introduced a personalised home page for its users to hopefully gain an edge over rivals Yahoo

Duncan Martell, Reuters explains…

The personalized Google home page integrates other already available Google features such as its e-mail service Gmail, news, weather, stocks, driving directions, movie listings and the like.
While Google has long said it had no interest in becoming a portal to lure users to spend much of their Internet time on the Google site, its move on Thursday puts it in even more direct competition with Yahoo and Microsoft, among others, as the paid search industry becomes more competitive and ad dollars spent on Internet advertising continue to soar.

Read more about The New Personalised Google Home Page over Here