Texting 'improves language skill'

Text messaging may help language development

Text speak, rather than harming literacy, could have a positive effect on the way children interact with language, says a study.

Researchers from Coventry University studied 88 children aged between 10 and 12 to understand the impact of text messaging on their language skills.

They found that the use of so-called "textisms" could be having a positive impact on reading development.

The study is published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology.

"Children's use of textisms is not only positively associated with word reading ability, but it may be contributing to reading development ," the authors wrote in the report.

The children involved in the study were given 10 different scenarios and asked to write about them using text messages.

The textisms were split into categories, including shortenings, contractions, acronyms, symbols and non-conventional spellings, and analysed for their use of language alongside more traditional schoolwork.

Misspellings

"The alarm in the media is based on selected anecdotes but actually when we look for examples of text speak in essays we don't seem to find very many," said Dr Beverley Plester, the lead author of the report and senior lecturer at Coventry University.

Texting is likely to be an important part of a child's learning development, she thinks.

"The more exposure you have to the written word the more literate you become and we tend to get better at things that we do for fun," she said.

The study found no evidence of a detrimental effect of text speak on conventional spelling.

"What we think of as misspellings, don't really break the rules of language and children have a sophisticated understanding of the appropriate use of words," she said.

Other reports have produced similar results. Research from the University of Toronto into how teenagers use instant messaging found that instant messaging had a positive effect on their command of language.

'All clear' for web auction tool

Auctiva has more than 500,000 users

A third-party add-on for eBay has been given the all clear after being flagged by Google as potentially malicious.

Servers powering Auctiva's website, which provides tools for sellers on the popular auction service, had become infected with a trojan virus.

"Google has rescanned our site and given it a clean bill of health," said the firm's Robert Green.

Google warns users about websites which may pose a security risk.

The trojan that had infected some of Auctiva's servers, called Adclicker, is classed by security specialist Symantec as a "very low risk".

It is designed to "artificially generate traffic to certain web sites" and is used by malicious hackers to boost clicks to online banner adverts or to inflate web statistics.

Google works in partnership with the StopBadware.org organisation to warn users about potentially malicious websites that are infected with viruses and trojans.

First flagged

More than 186,265 websites have been reported to StopBadware for hosting malicious programs or web scripts, which can damage a computer or, in extreme cases, hijack a machine.

Users first flagged the problem with the Auctiva site last week after anti-virus software began to warn there could be a problem with the service.

Hundreds of thousands of people use Auctiva's tools in their virtual shop windows on eBay.

Some users reported they were also receiving warnings on auction listings inside eBay.

The firm said it had removed servers in China that had become infected with the trojan and that it was "currently safe to navigate the Auctiva website".

Earlier this week Auctiva was taken offline completely in order to fix the problem.

Mr Green, product manager at Auctiva, added: "Ebay Security Teams are helping Auctiva to ensure the strictest level of safety and security on Auctiva.com.

"Ebay is currently conducting a site scan of Auctiva.com to ensure security vulnerabilities have been eliminated."

SNP accuse PM of airbrushing site

The site is designed to reflect initiatives across the UK

Gordon Brown has been branded "petty" by the SNP after policies by the Scottish government to combat recession were removed from a website.

The "real help now" website was launched by the prime minister to list action being taken around Britain.

It initially included Scottish measures such as a council tax freeze and flexible business support but the SNP claim these have been "airbrushed" out.

The Cabinet Office, which runs the site, said it was updated all the time.

A spokesman said: "The real help now website brings together the help available to families and businesses affected by the current economic climate.

"It is constantly being updated with news from across the UK."

'Whitewash'

But the SNP has accused the government of removing help being offered by the Scottish government and replacing it with a link to "an out-of-date Scotland Office statement" less than 24 hours after the site was launched.

SNP Scotland Office spokesperson, Angus MacNeil said the move made Gordon Brown "look more like Winston Smith than Winston Churchill" - a reference to a character from George Orwell's 1984 who rewrote newspaper articles to make them reflect the party line.

Mr MacNeil said: "Apart from making Gordon Brown look incredibly petty, he has replaced the real economic action taken by the Scottish Government with a link to a department which is all but irrelevant in tackling the financial crisis.

"Instead of website whitewashes, if Gordon Brown is serious about tackling the economic crisis, he should rule out Labour's planned cuts to public spending in Scotland which would be so damaging in the teeth of recession."

The "real help now site" is modelled on US President Barack Obama's "recovery" website as part of his economic plan, which he says aims to show the American people where their money is going.

No 10 says it wants to enable people to find details of the support it was giving workers, employers and homeowners "in one place".

Game consoles 'cause skin sores'

Excessive use of consules may cause physical problems

A new skin disorder caused by use of games consoles has been identified by skin specialists.

The condition, dubbed PlayStation palmar hidradenitis, is described in the British Journal of Dermatology.

Researchers outline the case of a 12-year-old girl who attend a Swiss hospital with intensely painful sores on the palms of her hands.

The girl, who had been using a games console regularly, recovered fully after 10 days of abstinence.

If you're worried about soreness on your hands when playing a games console, it might be sensible to give your hands a break from time to time Nina GoadBritish Association of Dermatologists

Doctors who examined her at the Geneva University Hospital concluded she had a condition known as 'idiopathic eccrine hidradenitis', a skin disorder that generally causes red, sore lumps on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.

The condition has been previously found on the soles of the feet in children taking part in heavy physical activity, such as jogging.

It it is thought to be linked to intense sweating.

Unusual symptoms

For the disorder to only affect the hands is very unusual.

The patient had not participated in any sport or physical exercise recently, and could not recall any recent trauma involving her hands.

However, her parents did say that she had recently started to play a video game on a PlayStation console for several hours a day, and had continued to play even after developing the sores.

The doctors suspect that the problem was caused by tight and continuous grasping of the console's hand-grips, and repeated pushing of the buttons, alongside sweating caused by the tension of the game.

The researchers said cases of addiction to using games consoles had been recorded, but the symptoms had initially been thought to be psychological.

However, some physical symptoms, such as acute tendonitis, dubbed Wiitis, had begun to emerge.

They said 'PlayStation palmar hidradenitis' could now be added to the list.

Nina Goad, of the British Association of Dermatologists said: "This is an interesting discovery and one that the researchers are keen to share with other dermatologists, should they be confronted with similar, unexplained symptoms in a patient.

"If you're worried about soreness on your hands when playing a games console, it might be sensible to give your hands a break from time to time, and don't play excessively if your hands are prone to sweating."

MPs 'talking, not hearing online'

MPs should use the internet to converse not to inform, the report says

MPs are getting more adept at using the internet - but they tend to see it as way of talking to rather than hearing from voters, new research suggests.

Attitudes among MPs to new media as a communications tool are too "passive", the Hansard Society has concluded.

Its research found that although 83% of MPs have a personal website, only 11% of them blog while less than one in four use social networking sites.

New media remained an "untapped area" for political engagement, it said.

US example

All British parties have been studying Barack Obama's use of the internet during his successful election campaign to attract supporters, focus policy debates and drive voter registration.

It is thought the Obama campaign employed as many as 95 permanent web staff and spent heavily on online operations.

MPs are transmitting and not receiving Andy Williamson, Hansard Society

A survey of 168 MPs by the Hansard Society - the independent political research organisation - found members of Parliament were not fully exploiting the internet's interactive potential.

Its findings suggested MPs see electronic media primarily as a way of informing the public about their activities and views rather than engaging with people about them.

It found that younger MPs and those elected more recently were more likely to use social networking tools.

As for blogs, many MPs believed they did not have the time or resources to manage one although the reputation of some blogs of being a forum for abuse was cited as putting some off.

Cabinet minister Hazel Blears attacked political bloggers earlier this year for fuelling a culture of cynicism about public life.

But former deputy PM John Prescott is a recent convert to blogging, launching a site to support a fourth Labour term.

Although the potential of the internet is generally not well understood by MPs, Hansard said the growth in the number of MPs using social networking sites showed a willingness to learn.

"MPs are transmitting and not receiving," said Andy Williamson, director of the Society's eDemocracy programme.

"They use the internet as a tool for campaigning and for organising their supporters, rather than opening up two-way communications with constituents."

Workers 'stealing company data'

By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

The study said companies fail to take proper steps to stop data theft

Six out of every 10 employees stole company data when they left their job last year, said a study of US workers.

The survey, conducted by the Ponemon institute, said that so-called malicious insiders use the information to get a new job, start their own business or for revenge.

"They are making these judgements based out of fear and anxiety," the Institute's Mike Spinney told BBC News.

"People are worried about their jobs and want to hedge their bets," he said.

"Our study showed that 59% of people will say 'I'm going to take something of value with me when I go'."

The Ponemon Institute, a privacy and management research firm, surveyed 945 adults in the United States who were laid-off, fired or changed jobs in the last 12 months.

Everyone that took part had access to proprietary information such as customer data, contact lists, employee records, financial reports, confidential business documents, software tools or other intellectual property.

"Surging wave"

In the report, entitled Jobs at Risk = Data at Risk, the Institute showed that such data breaches put a company's financial health in jeopardy.

That view is backed in part by another recent study by security firm McAfee. It estimated total global economic losses due to data theft and security breaches by organised crime, hackers and inside jobs reached $1 trillion last year.

24% of workers could still access data after leaving the company

Kevin Rowney , from the data loss prevention arm of security firm Symantec, the sponsors of the study, told the BBC there would be a "surging wave" of these insider attacks.

"It is conceivable that a company can lose its corporate life through a large scale data breach," warned Mr Rowney.

He added: "The intellectual property of a company can represent the crown jewels and are almost worth more than the building. This is the core asset of a company and any breach or loss can be very expensive."

Relaxed attitude

The Ponemon Institute revealed that part of the problem rests with companies themselves and their relaxed attitude towards security.

It found that only 15% of respondents' companies reviewed or audited the paper documents or electronic files employees were walking out of work with.

Most data breaches are preventable said experts

The report also said that if businesses did conduct a review, it was very poor with 45% not being completed and 29% being fairly superficial.

"Many firms believe insider data breaches are the cost of doing business," said Mr Spinney.

"They believe this is just something they have to live with. Our sense is that a lot of companies have really just given up, but this study shows these are preventable events."

During the economic downturn, security experts have predicted that the number of insider attacks will rise.

Last week, Microsoft told BBC News that "with 1.5 million predicted job losses in the US alone, there's an increased risk and exposure to these attacks".

Mr Rowney said one way to limit such breaches was to boost security but also to change focus.

"The industry has concentrated on the protection of the containers where the data is stored like firewalls, access, controls and end point security systems.

"The end result is that most security teams are protecting the containers not the data itself. And that is a core flaw in the security methodology of many practitioners today," claimed Mr Rowney.

The struggle among the stars

All players of Eve Online share one vast virtual galaxy.

By Flora Graham BBC News

It's a credit crunch nightmare.

The chief executive of the world's biggest corporation gets a phone call in the middle of the night. Thanks to industrial espionage, the company has been bankrupted, assets stripped, bank accounts emptied. When trading starts the next day, even the company name will be gone.

If this were real life, the executive might consider jumping out the window. But in the online game of EVE Online, it's all part of the fun.

"It is another challenge," said Par Molen, the leader of the "corporation" Band of Brothers (BoB), who got the late-night call.

"That's what we live for."

Mr Molen and his online colleagues had spent four years building BoB into the dominant force in a game where 200,000 players battle it out in an online galaxy of spaceships and planets.

Unlike other multiplayer online games like the hugely popular World of Warcraft, which is split into smaller groups, the thousands of EVE players are in it together.

In one virtual galaxy, players build, fight, and trade, joining together to form "corporations" to gain control over sections of the huge starscape.

This creates a complex society where anything can happen, and often does. Rules are few, and all of the lying, cheating and stealing that occurs in real life can also happen in the game.

A player called "The Mittani" is the shadowy spymaster who runs dozens of agents for his corporation - GoonSwarm. He got the call of his career when a disgruntled BoB director contacted him to say that he was thinking of switching sides.

With the director's access to BoB's internal workings, the pair were able to disband the corporation and steal all the assets they could lay their hands on.

To add insult to injury, GoonSwarm then re-registered the Band of Brothers name for itself, leaving the former alliance nameless and broken.

It's a finale that has been compared to "Apple dissolving Microsoft", and led to some players calling for the game's developer, CCP, to "roll-back" the game to the previous day and cancel the change.

Eve Online is about the struggle between giant corporations

"Any one director should not have the power to destroy the work of so many people for so many months and years with two mouse clicks," wrote a player called David on an EVE-related blog.

But CCP is well-known for keeping its hands off action within the game. Since no rules were broken, the changes stood, and thousands of BoB members woke up to a very different world.

Scams in space

This is not the first time that rogue bankers and credit fraud have made EVE Online seem more like the financial pages than a space cowboy video game.

In January, a player absconded with over 80bn ISK, the game's virtual currency, from an in-game bank. Although the 80bn is only worth a few thousand pounds if exchanged for real money, it represents hours of in-game toil.

In an online echo of the real-world banking crisis, the bank's chairman issued a statement to calm a run on deposits, writing: "Dynasty Banking will get over these times and we will continue to strive to earn the public's faith as one of the leading banks of Eve Online".

Another scam on an epic scale beyond the fantasies of real conmen was perpetrated in 2006, when a player ran off with 700bn ISK from another EVE bank.

"Think of me as a space Robin Hood