South Korean police claim to have busted a criminal gang which used elite North Korean computer hackers to break into online game sites and steal prize points worth millions of dollars.The North has been accused of several cyber attacks on the South in recent years, but this was the first reported case of hacking for profit. Police said some of the proceeds apparently went to the regime in Pyongyang.They said 17 South Koreans had stolen 6.4-billion won (US$6.02-million) since June ...

Google Voice, the Skype-like component within Gmail, has opened itself up to 38 more languages as well as many more countries outside the US.Previously, only US users could access Google Voice for landline and mobile calls. Now, however, users in South Africa, Turkey, Russia, Portugal, Vietnam, Serbia and many others can logon to their Gmail accounts and start making phone calls at greatly reduced rates. Gmail's US rates, as outlined in the table below, are substantially cheaper than Skype's ...

Microsoft has kicked off a contest aimed at turning the tables on hackers by offering big money prizes for innovative tactics to foil cyber attacks.The US software titan launched the premier BlueHat Prize competition at a major Black Hat computer security conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.The Black Hat conference aims to "bring together thought leaders from all facets" of the information security world.According to the competition website, the BlueHat contest prize is "designed to generate new ideas for defensive ...

The BBC is reporting that a story which claimed that Internet Explorer users have a lower average IQ than users of other browsers is a hoax.A number of news organisations ran the story on the basis of a report posted what was on what was believed to be the Canadian website of a research firm called AptiQuant.It has since emerged, however, that AptiQuant's website had only recently been set up and that the images of its staff were copied ...

There is no doubt that digital continues to be a growing part of every marketing budget. Choosing the right partner to assist your digital efforts is a critical decision. As critical, I'd argue, as the choice of agency in any marketing discipline to date. The reason for this lies in the nature of digital itself -- uncontrovertibly, digital has technology at its heart.For a marketer, what does this mean? When I talk technology, I mean hardware and software -- always ...

The governments of the United States and other countries, major US defence contractors, the United Nations and the International Olympic Committee have been targets of a global cyber spying campaign, security firm McAfee has announced.McAfee did not identify the country believed to be behind the sophisticated hacking campaign dubbed "Operation Shady RAT," which it traced back to at least 2006, but computer security analysts pointed the finger at China.The McAfee report identified 72 "compromised" parties including the governments of the ...

The group buying industry sprang to life with very little warning. Groupon began a trend and soon everyone wanted a piece of the action. This phenomenon has been popular in emerging market countries such as South Africa where it began with Wicount in 2010. By January 2011, big names like Groupon and Bidorbuy had bought out smaller South African sites like UbuntuDeal and with a very low barrier to entry, the market exploded.It would seem that it is an ...

Sony Computer Entertainment has bought the studio behind hit videogames "inFamous" and "Sly Cooper."Sucker Punch Productions will be part of game development operations of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios and make games exclusively for PlayStation 3 videogame consoles, according to SCE."We've enjoyed an incredible relationship with Sony that has allowed us to combine our creative design capabilities with their guidance to make some of the best franchises to hit the PlayStation platforms," said Sucker Punch managing partner Brian Fleming.Read more ...

Google is a latecomer to social networking but according to technology experts its new site, Google+, is growing much more rapidly than Facebook, Myspace and Twitter did in their early days.While Google+ may be the fastest-growing social network ever, it remains to be seen, however, whether it can pose a serious threat to social networking titan Facebook, which has more than 750-million members. Andrew Lipsman, vice president for industry analysis at tracking firm comScore, said Google+, which was launched by ...

In what could be a potential boon for tech entrepreneurs in the region, Startup Weekends have arrived in South Africa. Startup Weekends are established in Silicon Valley, but until recently, South Africa had missed out on the benefits of this exciting 54-hour weekend phenomenon. The initiative involves teams gathering from Friday evening to Sunday night to set up a business, ultimately vying for the top position as judges assess the best business ideas at the end of the weekend. ...