The US military has appointed its first senior general to direct cyber warfare – despite fears that the move marks another stage in the militarisation of cyberspace. The newly promoted four-star general, Keith Alexander, takes charge of the Pentagon's ambitious and controversial new Cyber Command, designed to conduct virtual combat across the world's computer networks. He was appointed on Friday afternoon in a low-key ceremony at Fort Meade, in Maryland. 

The Guardian 

 

All those angry digital liberties campaigners? They shouldn’t get their hopes up too much about the Digital Economy Act under a new government. “We’re not going to repeal it,” the new UK government’s Conservative culture secretary Jeremy Hunt told paidContent:UK. Instead, the administration will wait to see how the act’s measures perform and, if alterations or something more is needed, take action later, Hunt said. That means the graduated-response anti-piracy action - which would level education or warning letters against freeloading ISP customers, leading to possible account suspension - will remain in place, along with all the bill’s other measures.

Paid Content 

 

In some ways, our current macroeconomic phase feels like being in the eye of a hurricane. We've experienced a lot of drama and damage, and have been in repair mode for a year, but we know there's still a hell of a lot of stormy weather left out there. One such report comes from Internet market researcher comScore, which has released its figures for US e-commerce spend in Q1. The good news is that it grew ten percent year-on-year, which is the fastest rate of growth since Q2 2008 (see table), back when we still thought the people running the world had the faintest idea what they were doing.

Hexus 

 

US watchdog the Federal Trade Commission has closed its investigation of Google’s proposed acquisition of mobile advertising network AdMob, concluding that the deal is unlikely to harm competition in the nascent mobile advertising market. The decision may come as a surprise to some, as it gives Google some serious oomph in the mobile advertising space, and curiously, Google has Apple to thank for the FCC’s verdict.

Telecoms 

 

fter one of the most tumultuous months in its young history, Facebook is planning to announce features intended to offer its hundreds of millions of users simpler privacy choices. A Facebook spokesman on Friday confirmed that the changes will arrive "shortly", without elaborating. "The messages we've received are pretty clear," spokesman Andrew Noyes said. "Users appreciate having precise and comprehensive controls, but want them to be simpler and easier to use. They also like the new programmes we have rolled out, but want simple and easy ways to opt out of sharing personal information with applications and websites."

ZDNet 

 

Android 2.2 Froyo was only announced on Friday but it’s already arrived on some Nexus One handsets. It seems like press models have been first to scoop up Android 2.2 Froyo but eager Google phone fans have been grabbing it themselves from the web. Have you got Android 2.2 Froyo on your Nexus One yet? While Android 2.2 Froyo has started popping up as an over the air update for some Nexus One owners in the US, we’ve yet to hear of it hitting UK models. Google promised in a tweet that Android 2.2 Froyo will be headed to all owners of the Nexus One within the next few weeks but you can hunt it down online now.

Electric Pig 

 

Somewhere above earth is America’s latest spaceship, a 30ft craft so classified that the Pentagon will not divulge its mission nor how much it cost to build. The mysterious X37B, launched successfully by the US Air Force from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, using an Atlas V rocket, looks like a mini-Space Shuttle — but its mission is top secret.

The Times 

 

Back at the dawn of microblogging time, when Twitter had only just started, there were only three users who mattered: Biz Stone, Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey - the three key people behind the service. Now there are more than a hundred million users - but the key influencers in this huge network can be quite easily identified. Now the team at Information Architects have decided to come up with a neat Twitter visualisation, akin to The Independent's classic 1992 "How the universe began" graphic, of the top 140 Twitter influencers, "sorted by #name #handle #category #influence #activity" and by when they joined the service (which determines how close to the centre they are).

The Guardian 

Since NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter arrived at its destination, 50km above the surface of the Moon back in June 2009, it's been sending back massively detailed images of the cratered surface to scientists on Earth. An Oxford astrophysicist named Chris Lintott has stepped in to ask the world's population of amateur astronomers to help out. He's started a project called Moon Zoo that invites anybody to help categorise the hundreds of thousands of rocks, craters and other obstacles on the surface that need sorting and measuring. It's based on his similar Galaxy Zoo project, that asks people to look at images from the Hubble telescope and label the galaxies they see.

Wired 

 

People suspected of not clearing up after dog mess is just one of the "absurd" reasons local councils have used in order spy on citizens, a condemning council report has revealed. The Big Brother Watch Grim RIPA report found the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) was used on average 11 times a day by councils in England, Wales and Scotland over the past two years with local authorities coming up with every excuse under the sun to play Big Brother. The actions by the councils have been described as a "disgrace" by privacy groups. 

Tech Eye