Iraq

Microsoft is opening for business in Iraq.

The company has chosen local company Legend Lands to officially sell its products in Iraq.

Based in Baghdad, Legend Lands will serve as a Microsoft partner to distribute the company's products and services through retailers and provide genuine Microsoft licensing for Iraqi customers. Legend Lands offers its services to enterprise companies as well as individual users.

Rajai S. El-Khadem, Microsoft's manager of business development for emerging markets, confirmed the news yesterday, according to the Associated Press. Microsoft called the move "a sign of growth for the war-plagued country."

The … Read more

In a string of attacks today, members of the digital activist group Anonymous apparently hacked into the Web site of defense lawyers for a U.S. Marine accused of leading a civilian massacre in Iraq, and have reportedly acquired e-mails exchanged by attorneys in the case.

They also reportedly: published the names, addresses and other information of more than 700 officers in Texas after compromising the Texas Police Association's Web site allegedly over a cop being investigated for child porn; attacked a Salt Lake City police Web site to protest an anti-graffiti bill; defaced a Boston police department site … Read more

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany--It's warming up in the Middle East, and as the mercury rises, so does the intensity of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that means the number of seriously injured American soldiers passing through here is also rising every day.

Ramstein is known as the U.S. military's gateway to Europe, since it's where most personnel touch down when deployed here, the Middle East, or Africa. It's also part of the Kaiserslauten Military Community, whose 54,000 U.S. citizens make up the world's largest concentration outside the United States. But it'… Read more

U.S. troops in Afghanistan will begin receiving wearable gunshot detector systems this month, allowing them to quickly grasp the approximate distance and direction of enemy fire.

The Individual Gunshot Detector (IGD) by Qinetiq consists of a shoulder-mounted unit with four acoustic sensors and a chest display that attaches to body armor.

Weighing less than 2 pounds, the IGD picks up supersonic waves produced by the blast and whiz of rounds and indicates where they're coming from in a fraction of a second.

An earpiece that was developed for the system provides audio warnings such as "Shot, 400 meters, 3 o'clock." It tracks the shooter and continues to provide audio updates.

Vehicle-mounted gunfire detectors have been used for some time in the field. The IGD should allow dismounted troops to quickly respond to an attack. … Read more

WikiLeaks defied a series of increasingly stern warnings from the U.S. military and other government officials today by releasing a massive trove of secret documents from the Iraq war.

Portions of the U.S. military reports, totaling nearly 400,000 classified documents, began appearing on the Internet this afternoon, including on the Web sites of some news organizations that had been handed the documents in advance.

The U.K. Guardian reported that the Iraq war logs show an Apache crew killed insurgents who had tried to surrender. Al Jazeera's analysis found a Pentagon directive told troops to ignore … Read more

NEW YORK CITY--A Wikileaks editor, deciding not to risk a confrontation with federal agents, skipped a high-profile speaking engagement at a hacker conference here on Saturday.

Instead, Jacob Appelbaum, a Seattle-based programmer for the Tor Project, who's involved in the Wikileaks Web site, took over the 1 p.m. ET keynote slot on behalf of co-founder Julian Assange.

Appelbaum used the opportunity to exhort a largely sympathetic audience to support Wikileaks by volunteering or by donating money, to address recent criticisms of the document-publishing Web site, and to boast that Wikileaks remains uncensorable. "You can try to take … Read more

Things are certainly winding down here at the CNET New York offices as The 404 finishes up its last two live episodes for the year. In the studio with us today is Natali Del Conte along with her CBS producer Will--so it sounds like the show is about to get some Early Show love on Friday morning!

Today's show starts off on an unsettling note as we talk about word of U.S. drones being hacked in the skies of Iraq. Apparently, all that was needed was a cheap $26 program that allowed insurgents access to our unmanned aircrafts--how comforting!

Bonehead military security issues aside, it's about time the FCC addresses the all-too-common issue of blaring TV commercials. How many times have you blown an eardrum after an ad comes on that's 35 times louder than the program you were watching?

In our unintentional effort to destroy the green movement, we uncover the ridiculous side effect some new LED traffic lights are having involving their inability to melt snow. It's actually causing accidents, so maybe good-old-fashioned energy-sucking, heat-producing traffic lights were the way to go.

There's more 404 fun in today's show: Y2K memories, "Iron Man 2" talk, and the year's best YouTube videos!

A new survey shows the messaging behavior of men and women on dating sites. And it leads Natali to the inevitable conclusion that you shouldn't date dorks. We also talk over the WikiLeaks pager data from the 9/11 events. And BlackBerry gets an eBay app. Why is this such big news?

Wikileaks offering 9/11 pager intercepts http://911.wikileaks.org http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/25/taking_liberties/entry5770280.shtml

Blackberry finally gets official, free eBay app http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-10404316-12.html… Read more

Each Memorial Day we honor the men and women in uniform who have paid the ultimate price for the freedom we enjoy. Traditionally, this is the day many people visit cemeteries and memorials, especially the Arlington National Cemetery. But not all of us can do that. This year there's an alternative.

Sean Askay, a Google engineer, released on Sunday a Google Earth layer, called Map the Fallen, that contains detailed information of more than 5,700 service members who died in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. This is an interactive tool that lets you see photos, learn about how … Read more