Welcome to another edition of the Prompt newsletter.

Social media sites are great at keeping us connected, but can they be used for more nefarious purposes? The US Army seems to think so, expressing concern over how Twitter can be used by terrorists.

Microsoft's also been making news this week, patenting software that can shut us all up. We take a close look below. Also in this issue, we examine Yahoo's commitment to open source, Google Earth for iPhones, and why teenage hacking is on the rise.

Plus: as the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, is released, Ellie asks: "what happened to all the gadgets?"

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Hazel Butters
CEO
Prompt Communications

Terrible Twittering

By Tarryn Landman

A draft report by the US Army's 304 Military Intelligence Battalion Open Source Intelligence Team has claimed that Twitter could potentially be used to plan and execute terrorist attacks. Twitter is a popular microblogging website that prompts short 'tweets' from members by asking "what are you doing?"

According to the report, Twitter has been used by human rights groups, communist organizations, and anarchists to communicate with each other and broader audiences. Some members are using the site to post tweets in support of or against Hezbollah, for instance. In fact, last month, Republicans in the US House of Representatives used Twitter to protest the lack of a vote on an offshore drilling bill. At the time, traditional means of communicating with the public, such as C-Span and microphones, had been shut down because the House had adjourned for several weeks of vacation.

In terms of terrorist activities, the report outlines three ways that Twitter could be used as a terrorist tool, as well as hypothetical situations depicting the use of Twitter by terrorists, and examples of current tweets, by US soldiers for example, that could be used by terrorists. According to the report, terrorists could use Twitter to send messages between members of a terrorist cell, to detonate a roadside bomb, and to gather real-time information by following soldiers' Tweets.

Twitter is not the only new technology to spark fears of its use as a terrorist tool. Google Earth has reportedly been used to help plan terrorist attacks against British troops in Basra, Iraq, and Skype has allegedly been used by the Taliban in Afghanistan to evade eavesdropping by Western intelligence services.

While there has been some scepticism about the actual danger of terrorists using Twitter, if anyone in the world can follow the activities of Gordon Brown's staff through Number 10's Twitter feed, and if large companies are starting to monitor tweets for mentions of their products and services, it is hardly unreasonable to imagine that someone somewhere could use the site for criminal or malevolent purposes.

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Microsoft made moderator of our mouths

By Dave Wilby

This week Microsoft was granted a patent pending for over four years that will allow it to censor internet audio in real-time. Essentially the technology recognises word fragments (phonemes) that are likely to be part of abusive phrases, and then fades them out or replaces them with other pre-captured phrases - all within a second. The software could ultimately monitor and censor an unlimited range of chat rooms, radio broadcasts, video streams or gaming channels concurrently.

Great, you might think. Microsoft will protect our children from undesirable language while they carry on calmly killing people on Xbox Live games, or tuning in to hip hop rappers and Radio 2 DJs. It might even stop trolls ruining audio on our grown up Web 2.0 communities. But hang on, isn't this all just a little bit sinister? Isn't Microsoft being granted a licence to literally prevent the freedom of speech? What's to stop it putting phrases like Linux or Google on its ban lists? Worse still, what's to stop authoritarian regimes using the technology to prevent legal web users, even private mobile phone users in their own countries, discussing topics that don't tow the official line?

Surely even the possibility of aiding political and personal suppression is too big a price to pay just to shut up Duke Nukem, Jay-Z and Jonathan Ross?

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Google makes the world much smaller

By Laurie Santalucia

Google Earth for iPhone and iPod Touch was released on Sunday 26 October. The application brings the same features of the PC version to mobile users and certainly does not disappoint.

A free application, available through the iPhone App Store or the App Store in iTunes, the mobile Google Earth stays true to its roots, making it possible to fly virtually from one end of the Earth to the other from the palm of your hand.

The touch interface of the iPhone and iPod Touch make virtual globe-trotting easier and more convenient than ever. At the touch of a button, the 'my location' feature will drop a pin near the exact location of its user is in the real world. Boasting over eight million Panoramio photos, Google Earth brings destinations to life and gives users a realistic sense of each place.

By integrating real-life still photos and Wikipedia, Google Earth makes it possible to view terrain from thousands of miles away. The application also includes features that allow its users to find local businesses, research travel destinations and view satellite photos of their homes.

Google Earth can get full details about businesses making reviews, photos, user content, business hours, and other useful information available at the drop of a dime. If that's not enough, Google has also added a 'search near me' feature, so with one touch you can find businesses near a desired location (current or otherwise) without having to navigate there first or even type in the name of the city.

Of course, critics will point to this as more evidence of Google taking over the world. Even so, it's a good application.

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Yahoo opens up

By James Gerber

This week, Yahoo introduced an initiative to have a more open approach to developing. Called Y!OS, the Yahoo Open Strategy platform is comprised of three development components: the Yahoo Application Platform, the Yahoo Social Platform and the Yahoo Query Language.

The goal of the new platform is to get developers creating applications, to use on Yahoo and their own sites, to grow Yahoo's brand. The Social Platform will be where the developers build the apps with the Query Language API, allowing information to be accessed across sites, and the Application Platform is the way that the apps will be deployed.

Yahoo claims this is only the beginning and I'm inclined to believe them. Yahoo has consistently supported openness and acquired open source email company Zimbra last year. The company is an active member of open source communities, and it was one of the founders of OpenSocial, a way to bring various social networks and applications together.

Yahoo has good ideas for the future, adding developer tools and portable contacts to free up the data that has previously been locked in. The ability to both add and export data from Yahoo makes it a much more valuable platform, because it will make it much more functional to users.

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Diary of a teenager hacker

By Kathryn Cave

The BBC reported this week that teenage hacking is on the rise. It all starts innocently enough with kids searching for exploits and cracks for their favourite computer games. From there, many adolescents progress to online communities, where they swap malicious programs, knowledge and even stolen data.

Fascinatingly, the majority of these criminals are motivated by a bizarre quest for fame. Chris Boyd, director of malware research from FaceTime Security, confirmed that many juvenile hackers are actually undermined by their desire to win recognition for their exploits: "They are obsessed with making videos of what they are doing."

Many post video proof of their crimes on YouTube, signing on with the same alias used to hack a site, run a phishing attack or write a web exploit. A huge number share photos and details of their life with cyberspace - making it ludicrously easy for security experts to track them down.

Mathew Bevan, a reformed teenage hacker, shed some light on the phenomenon: "It's about the thrill and power to prove they are somebody," he said. "The aim of what they are doing is to get the fame within their peer group. They spend months or years developing who they are and their status."

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Dr No Gadgets

By Ellie Turner

Bond number 22 is upon us, just in time for Halloween and woolly hat and scarf season. The new film, Quantum of Solace, sees tough, bad Bond on his own mission of revenge. But it seems one thing will be missing this time around for the British secret service agent who likes his Martini shaken, not stirred - no super gadgets. Q hasn't been seen in the new Bond films since the franchise was revamped with Daniel Craig in the lead part. Blond Bond is allowed, but not gadgetry apparently.

This is strange, considering that Sony is still continuing with their multi-million pound product placement deal. The company will launch a limited edition laptop with a 007 logo on the palm rest (complete with a matching leather protection case and serial number) and Blu-ray drive. All costing a Bond-tastic £3000, which you could win in a poker game, I suppose.

But some people still appreciate the gadgets. T3 has named its top 10 favourite Bond gadgets with the jetpack from Thunderball emerging as every boy's fantasy gadget.

But even if Craig's Bond continues to be a technophobe, there are still explosions, cars and girls to look at.