Tech News

IN THE NEWS: CHINA REVERSES SELF ON INTERNET-FILTERING SOFTWARE RULE

BEIJING (AP) — It doesn't happen often. But it looks like China's government is bowing to pressure to back away from a rule that would have required personal computers sold in the country to have Internet-filtering software. Just hours before the rule was to have taken effect, the Beijing government said it would delay the requirement that all computers sold in China be outfitted with "Green Dam" software. A government official says the decision was made in part because some PC makers were having trouble meeting the deadline. The official didn't say whether the plan might be revived.

IN THE NEWS: SECURITY GUARD ACCUSED OF HACKING COMPUTERS AT MED CLINIC

DALLAS (AP) — Authorities in Dallas say a security guard at a medical clinic had plans for the 4th of July that went beyond grilling some burgers and setting off some fireworks. They claim the guard hacked into computers at the clinic in hopes of launching a massive computer attack on Independence Day. Jesse William McGraw is being detained after his arrest Friday on a charge of downloading malicious code into a computer without authorization. An affidavit says McGraw leads a group of hackers and wanted to take control of computers and use them to attack others. A court hearing in the case is set for today.

ON THE WEB: TICKETMASTER SUBSIDIARY REACHES DEAL WITH ILLINOIS AG

CYBERSPACE (AP) — A branch of Ticketmaster has reached an agreement with the Illinois Attorney General over the way it does business. The state AG had been on the case of TicketsNow after people complained they bought overpriced tickets to concerts by Bruce Springsteen and Hanna Montana. The Illinois AG found that TicketsNow had set up Web sites that led customers to believe it was linked to those who were operating the concerts. As a result, customers thought they were paying face value for tickets, but were actually paying resale prices. TicketsNow agreed to close such sites and not use ones that practice similar tactics. Also it agreed that resale tickets won't be available until Ticketmaster begins selling face-value tickets.

On the Net:

TicketsNow site: http://www.ticketsnow.com

IN STORES: ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) — The new animated movie in the "Ice Age" series hits the screen today. And as is often the case, there's a video game to go along with it. The Activision title: "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" gives players the chance to take control of their favorite characters from the movie. Whether you choose Sid, Manny, Diego or any of the other characters, the drill is the same. There's an underground world of dinosaurs to navigate through, with 15 levels of play. The title is available for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii (wee). There's also a version of the title for the PC and for the Nintendo DS. All the versions are rated "E10+" by the ESRB, except for the DS version, which is rated "E."

On the 'Net:

Ice Age game site: http://www.IceAgeGame.com.

Activision site: http://www.activision.com

ESRB site: http://www.esrb.org

by Oscar Wells Gabriel II

Oscar Gabriel can be reached at ogabriel@ap.org.