If it's not slipping at the wheel, it's slipping a big secret!

Top Gear's Stig has finally been unmasked after nearly 7 years of secrecy. Ben Collins, a former Formula 3 driver, had planned to release his memoirs, something the BBC wished to stop. Though he planned to release them it was actually the Sunday Times which named Collins as The Stig due to his company's financial reports. For instance a 2003 report stated that the company was heading out of a 'cornerstone year' due to "driving services provided for the BBC, mainly in the Top Gear programme.

The question now lingers on whether there needs to be replacement. Back in 2002 former Formula 1 driver Perry McCarthy left the programme after he was outed as being 'the tame racing driving', of which created the introduction of Collins as the white Stig, replacing the former black suited driver.

With many previous stunts to try to prevent the identity being revealed, such as Michael Schumacher being unmasked, which many believed to be a 'red herring', the BBC has a tough choice to make. With local Bristol papers already printing a story about Ben Collins being Top Gear's best driver earlier in the year, after Collins apparently let slip his secret to a gallery owner whilst trying to purchase a print of The Stig.

With many now knowing the identity of the BBC's biggest secret will they ditch the white suited pilot of the show, who's the face of much BBC merchandise, or try another tactic?

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/aug/22/top-gear-bbc-stig-memoirs

"Our People" not for the South

South Korea has band North Korea's tweets from social networking website Twitter. The secretive country first posted a tweet a week ago and has amassed over 8500 in a short time since, but South Korea has banned it from being viewed.

South Korea have been repeatedly blasted by North Korea in its tweets and South Korea released a statement claiming these were containing, "illegal information". The North has often said it is not to blame for the destruction of a South Korean Navy ship. The uriminzok account which means Our People, is big news for a country with limited Internet access across its nation, with them also setting up their own Youtube page, what more can we expect from North Korea?

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/pda/2010/aug/19/north-korea-twitter-banned-south

Blackberry in more international trouble

India have given phone maker's Blackberry a deadline of the 31st of August to give them access to all of their service's or will be shutdown, which would be a bad step in a country poised for smartphone growth!

In a recent and enlarging feud, Blackberry has been the major headline hitter throughout many countries. Since already having Saudi Arabia ban the phones' use for 4 hours India might cut the network altogether, leaving 1 million Indian Blackberry users in a difficult situation. India and many other countries claim that security is at risk due to the facts that texts and emails can be sent from the phone without the authorities having the ability to monitor them.

It is now down to RIM, who gave Saudi Arabia the codes to check emails, and though have claimed to co-operate with the government Indian officials say it doesn't go far enough. With more countries set to follow suit, Blackberry appears to be in a bit of a mess.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10951607

4 Hours of havoc over for Saudi Arabia Blackberry users!

Blackberry services have been restored in Saudi Arabia so it has been reported after a ban upon Blackberry devices was invoked for the sending and recieving of messages due to security reasons. The ban took place for around 4 hours according to locals.

Though earlier reports that Blackberry manufacturers RIM (Research in Motion) had found a solution to security issues raised by local authorities cannot be confirmed. The Blackberry devices cannot have their messages monitored and authorities aren't pleased. It raises concerns that if RIM granted Saudi Arabia security codes other countries might expect the same treatment, such as Algeria, Indonesia and India. It's still unclear why everything's in working order, and the ban which was implemented on August 6th will hopefully become clearer in the near future.

Related stories

• Read your comments


• Untangling the BlackBerry ban


• Saudi Blackberry ban from FridayThe authorities object to the devices because they operate an encrypted message service meaning that communication from Blackberry devices cannot be monitored.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10896653

Source (Picture): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10888954