Fail2Care.COM

The closure of a web hosting firm that is believed to have had spam gangs as clients has led to a

drastic reduction in junk mail.

Two US internet service providers have pulled the plug on the firm McColo following an investigation by the Washington Post newspaper.

Anti-spam firm Ironport has seen junk mail levels drop by 70% since McColo was taken offline on 11 November.

But, it warned, it will be a temporary respite from the menace of spam.

“It is an unprecedented drop but will be a temporary outage as the networks move from North America to places where there is less scrutiny,” said Jason Steer, a spokesman for Ironport.

The Washington Post has been gathering data on McColo for the past four months and passed the information

to its internet service providers, Global Crossing and Hurricane Electric.

Both decided to pull the plug on the firm on Tuesday.

It is believed that it hosted gangs running botnets - networks of computers that have been taken over by criminals to send malicious software and spam.

According to MessageLabs, botnets are responsible for over 90% of spam.

Increasingly the tech industry is fighting back.

“All the US internet peering companies are under much more scrutiny. The authorities and the internet

community have woken up to the problem,” said Mr Steer.

But while it might make criminals think more carefully about what they do, it will not stop them, he thinks.

“Spam levels will come back to normal as we build up to Thanksgiving and Christmas,” he said.

A recent study by computer scientists from the University of California, Berkeley and UC, San Diego (UCSD) found that spammers manage to turn a profit despite only getting one response to every 12.5m emails they send.

This Article Taken from BBC TECHNOLOGY

If you haven’t heard you probably live in a bomb shelter like we all should be, but Apple announced a new generation of iPod nanos yesterday at their “Let’s Rock Out With Our Mac Loving Cocks Out” event in San Francisco. The new nano is thinner, curvier, and comes in a bunch of different colors, as well as 8GB and 16GB capacities. It also has an accelerometer so you can shake it to shuffle your songs and turn it sideways for a wide-screen experience. The device has the new ‘Genius’ feature as well, meaning it can create playlists by finding songs in your library that go well together. Neato. 8GB’s are $150, 16GB’s are $200, and I’ll throw in some hand action for another $10. Toothless smiles are always free.

Official commercial:

Yes this is the latest in Dwarf news, apparently BBC Worldwide wants to
make a one hour special of the boys on the Dwarf, and who am I to say
otherwise. No story spoiler here and the script is close to being
finalized, so here’s to new Red Dwarf.

At the KTCS9 20th Anniversary evening tonight, Robert announced to a small crowd that a brand new, 1 hour Red Dwarf episode had been commissioned by BBC Worldwide, to be filmed in October 2008.

He wouldn’t spoil the storyline, but did mention that the script is being finalized right now.

I was in the audience, it was a good night, with not too many people, and plenty of chances for questions.

It was recorded by KTCS9 for a future DVD.

Thanks Robert, I enjoyed the evening and your Kochanski walk.

In a freakish turn of events, Isaac Hayes, who co-stars with Bernie Mac in the upcoming film Soul Men,
was found dead Sunday afternoon. The 65-year-old soul singer was
collapsed near a treadmill when he was discovered by a family member,
according to the AP:

Hayes was pronounced dead at Baptist East Hospital in
Memphis an hour after he was found by a family member, the Shelby
County Sheriff’s Office said. The cause of death was not immediately
known.
With his muscular build, shiny head and sunglasses, Hayes cut a
striking figure at a time when most of his contemporaries were sporting
Afros. His music, which came to be known as urban-contemporary, paved
the way for disco as well as romantic crooners like Barry White.

Younger readers will remember Isaac Hayes as the voice of Chef on South Park.
I always hoped one day he’d write me a kickass theme song. Something
where I’m a street-wise detective who has sex with strippers while
cleaning up the streets in my tank. But, alas, it wasn’t meant to be.
Rest in Peace, Isaac Hayes. You were one bad motha.

Comedian Bernie Mac passed away Saturday morning from pneumonia.
Earlier last week, it was reported he would make a full recovery
despite have been previously diagnosed with sarcoidosis a disease that
affects the immune system. Sadly, Bernie didn’t pull through. People reports:

“[He] passed away this morning from complications due to
pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital,” his rep, Danica Smith, told
PEOPLE. “No other details are available at this time. We ask that his
family’s privacy continues to be respected.”

It was later revealed Bernie’s hospitalization was more serious than
it was reported. He was put into intensive care a full week before the
media was aware of his health problems which were played down to
protect his family’s privacy, according to People:

The sister-in-law says Mac’s inflammatory lung disease
contributed to his death. “He had sarcoidosis, but it was in
remission,” she says. “But because he had it, his immune system was
compromised. He had an infection … He was on a new medication that
suppresses the immune system, and that’s where the pneumonia came from.”

She reveals that Mac – having trouble breathing and running a fever –
was actually hospitalized on July 24, eight days before the date given
for his admittance. The actor was diagnosed with pneumonia and
immediately placed on a ventilator.

Bernie Mac is survived by his wife Rhonda of 30 years and their
daughter Je’Niece who were at his bedside when he passed. ‘Merica, we
lost a good one. Rest in Peace, Bernie.