Germany

Update: 3:48 PM PT The fallout from this weekend's discovery of security holes in several versions of Internet Explorer continues to spread. The latest: Germany is urging its citizens to stop using Internet Explorer until there's a fix.

"A fast spreading of the code has to be feared," the German government's Federal Office for Information Security, or BSI, said. The BSI recommended that users access the Internet using alternative Web browsers until Microsoft's security update becomes available.

It's unusual for a government to flatly urge its citizenry to stop using a popular … Read more

Apple and Motorola Mobility are close to a licensing deal in Germany, thanks in part to the ruling of a local court.

Motorola, a unit of Google, disclosed late Monday that the company had reached a tentative agreement to license out its essential patents to Apple. Patent law blog Foss Patents was the first to discover the disclosure.

CNET confirmed that the companies are going through the process of determining a fair and reasonable rate for the essential patents, which will be set by the German court. The rate is for a royalty Apple must pay to Motorola for products … Read more

Before giant Lego trees and flowers popped up in the Australian Outback, a honking huge Lego bridge made an appearance in Germany.

Late last year, street artist Megx pulled out the primary colors to transform the underside of a bridge into an optical illusion. Clever use of color and shading makes the bridge in Wuppertal look like it's built from an interlocking set of massive Lego bricks.… Read more

You might think aviation experts would dismiss this eccentric aircraft, which has no fewer than 16 propellers, but some are taking the Volocopter very seriously.

Built by Germany's E-volo, the unclassifiable thing recently received the Lindbergh Prize for Innovation at the Aero-Friedrichshafen 2012 airshow.

The Volocopter is a 175-pound, electrically powered vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) craft that has redundant propellers for safety. E-volo says it's very easy to control, with simple joystick steering. Could this be the personal transport of the future?

"We believe that the development of the Volocopter holds significant promise to radically change short distance transportation," said Erik Lindbergh, grandson of Charles Lindbergh. "It has a long development path ahead, but if this innovative design reaches the commercial market it will dramatically change the way we move about the planet." … Read more

In the future when we'll all be wearing robotic exoskeletons, we'll laugh when we think back on the days when we were mere meatsacks. German automation firm Festo is helping us upgrade with the ExoHand, a glove controller that can give people a machine handshake.

Known for its elegantly engineered SmartBird robot seagull, Festo says its ExoHand can not only teleoperate a robot hand in a master-slave control relationship, it can reduce strain from repetitive tasks when using your own old-fashioned, flesh-and-blood hands. … Read more

A German court ruled today that Google-owned YouTube is solely responsible for the content that users upload and post on the video-sharing Web site, a decision that could have massive implications for the company.

YouTube could be forced to pay royalties to those whose music copyright was infringed upon. It was also ordered to install word-based filters to bolster its existing filtering system to prevent further infringement of copyrighted work.

But YouTube warned that the measures would slow down the upload process, which could lead to a knock-on effect to citizen journalists in particular, who rely on the site to … Read more

Some people send Lego men spaceward on rockets, while others can only dream. Or build giant Lego barrel organs dedicated to Star Wars.

To promote the 3D version of "The Phantom Menace," German ad agency Serviceplan Campaign turned heads and arms with this mammoth instrument created from more than 20,000 Lego bricks.

When it's rotated with a hand crank, the barrel's many trees, buildings, and other Lego structures trigger levers that strike keys on a keyboard. That, in turn, plays the series' main theme. … Read more

A U.S. district court judge ruled today that Motorola Mobility won't be able to stop Microsoft from selling products, including Windows and the Xbox, in Germany for the time being.

That's the latest episode in the Microsoft vs. Motorola patent battle, which has been going on for the past couple of years.

According to today's ruling, handed down late in the day, Microsoft was granted an injunction and temporary restraining order against Motorola, which was seeking to stop Microsoft from selling certain products in Germany. The decision means that Motorola will not be able to stop … Read more

HANOVER, Germany--Google Executive Chairman is hopping from country to country on a European tour, but he said today the Internet is breaking down those national barriers.

"Loyalty is not just to a nation but to friends and interests," Schmidt said in a speech at the opening ceremony of the CeBIT technology show here today. "That will change everything for citizens, states, and society."

That may cause indigestion for any number of customs agents, tax collectors, and politicians, but it fits right in with Schmidt's optimistic view of the world: "It's a wonderful, wonderful … Read more