DAWN Science; February 23, 2008

February 23, 2008

Welcome to a generous selection of articles from DAWN's Weekly Sci-Tech World.
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Cyber crime law Separating myth from reality Remember Bruce Willis, the main protagonist in the fourth installment of the Die Hard series last summer? Live Free or Die Hard depicts Willis as the New York police department detective John McClane who is commissioned to capture a gang of ‘cyber terrorists’ intent on shutting down...		When Censorship defines the rules Blogger Khalid Omar recalls how his websites were blocked, and the troubles he faced Irun a travel website on Pakistan, along with a website on technology which are both hosted on the same server. On February 3, the Pakistan Telecommunic- ation Authority (PTA) ordered both my websites to be blocked....

Q’N’A: Byteback As long as the server is accepting connections from anywhere (that is, not meant for specific users or firewalled), and the LAN user has internet access, it should connect. Most of the time, you cannot connect to a specific CS server because it is meant for certain users only, like users of only a specific DSL provider. ......		TECHNOLOGY BUZZ: Life’s perfect companion Laptops come in all shapes and sizes, from super-big, hernia-inducing desktop replacements to ultra-portables. Tablet PCs are one such category in laptops. However, that has never really caught the imagination of the computer user in Pakistan. Although, the advantages for business uses are great ranging from the ability to sharing the interactive screen,...

COOL GADGETS If you have had a particularly long day at work, and just want to relax with some soothing music and calming ambience, the Room Palette will definitely help in unwinding you by beaming summer ocean lights on to your walls and ceiling, courtesy the thick gel-like substance stored within the adjustable cylinder...		GAME ON: Fighting with style Sega’s Virtua Fighter (1993) was the very first 3-D fighting game and it marked the birth of the genre. It featured a very deep and fluid fighting system as well as realistic fighting styles. Virtua Fighter games have always been praised for their realism, depth and complexity....

TIPS AND TRICKS: Web bugged The internet is nothing less than wild west when it comes to surfing. PC slowdowns due to malware acquired from the web, cookies tracking and remembering users, browser hijackings resulting in altered favourite links, search page and home page etc., are issues experienced every day by any moderate-level internet user.....		FROM FAR AND WIDE A flu epidemic is well under way in the US, and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said that it had clear indications that the viruses have mutated, making the current vaccine less effective....

Chicken fever: NO fluke really It was not really a matter of why we are being plagued with bird flu; it was more a matter of when the inevitable would hit. It is not that chickens never fall ill. All creatures endowed with biology are subject to illness, curable or death-dealing.w...		DOT COM: Been there, bought that There are many instances when we go to new places for shopping, window shopping, or visit a new restaurant. In times like these, we always look for those people who have already been there or at least can give an idea about the good and the bad features of the place....

‘The bill creates an insecure environment for businesses to operate in.’ There is no doubt that as internet and computer usage increases, the dangers that we face as businesses, government and civil society go on to a different track. But this is no different from criminal...		‘I don’t see how the bill would obstruct businesses in anyway.’ It is a pretty serious threat, both to an average internet surfer as well as corporations. Even in denial of service attacks that Pakistan has witnessed in the past, unless there is a law in your own country, we can’t go to court,. We cannot register a service attack in the court of law abroad either, ...