International Space Station catches virus

This is interesting and a little worrying:

Nasa has confirmed that laptops aboard the International Space Station (ISS) became infected with the Gammima.AG computer virus.

The computer virus that infects machines in order to steal login details for online games and although it is a nuisance, it isn’t considered to be a highly serious virus.

However, the fact that the laptops used by astronauts to send emails, watch videos and record details relating to experiments did get infected is a cause of concern.

The machines reportedly did not have anti-virus protection, although Nasa told Channel 4 News that they were not mission critical machines.

However, when I asked their spokesman Kelly Humphries whether they were connected to the ISS’s mission critical computer network, the telephone line appeared to go down.

After about twenty seconds of silence, I asked, “are you still there?”, he replied:”yes” although when I repeated the question, the line went dead again.

After repeating this part of the conversation for five minutes, Nasa refused to deny that the computers were indeed connected to the network, but then they also refused to say they were.

Nasa said it’s not the first time a computer has been infected with a virus. When I asked “is it then routine?” I was told “it’s not routine but it’s a nuisance”

Source: Channel 4 News

An iPhone advert has been banned in the UK after Advertising Standards Authority deemed it misleading.

This is the advert:

from The Telegraph:

A television advert for Apple’s iPhone has been banned after the official watchdog ruled that it misled viewers.

The advert for the handset showed the phone in someone’s hand and a finger touching the different icons on the main page.

The voice-over then boasts about how iPhone owners can access “all parts” of the internet at a touch of a button.

“You never know which part of the internet you’ll need,” it says.

“The do you need sun cream part? The what’s the quickest way to the airport part? The what about an ocean view room part? …Which is why all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone.”

Customers complained that the claim was untrue because the iPhone did not support Flash or Java, two pieces of software needed to watch some online videos and access some websites.

Apple said that the advert was not about “technical details” but about highlighting the varied websites that owners of the iPhone can access.

It added that none of the websites featured in the advert required Flash of Java. However, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the advert gave “a misleading impression” of the internet capabilities of the iPhone, which doubles as a phone, iPod and internet browser.

“We considered that, because the ad had not explained the limitations, viewers were likely to expect to be able to see all the content on a website normally accessible through a PC rather than just having the ability to reach the website,” it said in its ruling.

A spokesman for Apple declined to comment.

Source: Telegraph Website