| Production notes
Streep plunged headlong into all the accoutrements that surround Miranda. "When we first met her I gave her a huge three-ringed binder full of research regarding the movie and fashion," recalls producer Wendy Finerman. "It included fashion industry facts, figures, and photos, and I thought, `Oh God, she's going to laugh at me.' But instead she said, `That's fantastic! Do you have any more?' She read everything she could get her hands on. It was just amazing." Finding a good assistant who can live up to Miranda's high expectations is a near impossible task. That changes when the smart, unfashionable Andy Sachs walks into her office. Anne Hathaway, the breakout star of "The Princess Diaries," and who had a key role in "Brokeback Mountain," portrays Andy, a journalism student who believes she can change the world after leaving the comforts of Northwestern University and landing in the big city.
Good news and bad for SNP: He's popular - but independence isn't
The Scottish Centre for Social Research, which compiled the data, said the results showed that the SNP did not secure victory on the back of a rising tide of support for independence. Rather, it won because it was more successful than ever at getting its vote out and due to the popularity of its leader. Professor John Curtice, a research consultant for the centre, said: "The SNP's victory in May was a success for the party rather than the cause of independence. "It had a popular leader and tapped a feeling that Holyrood should put Scotland, rather than partnership with London, first. This enabled the party to win the votes of those who already backed independence rather than win new converts to the independence cause." The results represent a mixed blessing for Mr Salmond.
Government says ID theft down but report is disputed
A government survey released this week questions the conventional wisdom that identity theft is a growing problem in the U.S. But don't toss out your shredder just yet. Consumer advocates are not convinced the Federal Trade Commission numbers are accurate, though they do agree on a key point highlighted in a footnote of the agency's report: the difficulty in coming up with a reliable assessment of the problem. An estimated 8.3 million Americans over the age of 18 were victims of identity theft in 2005, according to an analysis of a phone survey released Tuesday by the FTC. That represented a decline of about 16 percent from an estimated 9.9 million victims in 2003, when the agency last conducted its survey. While the FTC's identity theft survey is broad, the agency acknowledged in a footnote that its conclusion is not "statistically significant" because the sample size was too small.
Ten Firefox extensions to keep your browsing private and secure
Most people lock their doors and windows, use a paper shredder to protect themselves from identity theft, and install antivirus software on their computers. Yet they routinely surf the Internet without giving a second thought to whether their browser is secure and their personal information safe. Unfortunately, it's easy for someone with nefarious intentions to use a Web site to glean data from -- or introduce spyware to -- your computer. Even worse, sometimes all you have to do is randomly click on a site to have your data probed in a most unwelcome way.
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OpenSuse 11 and Geubuntu - new releases
The world of Linux moves quickly with new releases every day. Here are a couple of the releases that caught our eye this past week: OpenSuse 11.0 alpha and Geubuntu Luna Nova.
Russian hacker network goes underground
An online conduit accused of spreading vast amounts of malicious and criminal content has closed down its base in St Petersburg sparking fears that the operation will surface elsewhere. Security firm Trend Micro said that Russian Business Network (RBN) dropped off the internet last Tuesday, and has predicted its emergence in a newly reinvigorated form somewhere in Asia. Run by a shadowy figure known only as 'Flyman', RBN has been associated with a number of high-profile online crimes committed in the UK. Security firms have linked RBN to child pornography, corporate blackmail, spam attacks and online identity theft, according to a report in Times Online. "The UK has been a focus for this group and its criminal clients, and things are set to get worse," said David Perry, an analyst for Trend Micro.
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