This just in from the Reg, and it's not good: a massive botnet of 320 Command & Control servers placed in 40 countries, and being sold to law enforcement agencies to infiltrate and root cell phone systems.

The Milan-based firm that developed RCS boasts on its website that its malware can crack any mobile operating system and remain undetected while doing so. Based on documents leaked to Citizen Lab, the firm may be correct in its claims. ... Once a target is identified by cops or g-men the malware is sent out and installed, either by tricking the user with a spearphishing attack or by exploiting vulnerabilities in the target's operating system. ... Once on a target's mobile, the RCS software can intercept and record all phone calls, SMS messages, chat conversations from apps such as Viber, WhatsApp and Skype, grab any files or pictures on the handset, spy on the calendar, look up the user's location, and take screenshots whenever the operator specifies, as well as harvesting data from third-party applications like Facebook.

Looks like Android is more at risk here, but iOS can also be hacked, especially if it's been jailbroken. 'Scuze me while I go reinstall a landline and move into the basement with a tinfoil hat and a weapons cache :(

Since retiring as CEO (in 2000), Chief Architect (2008), and Chairman of the Board (2013) of Microsoft, Bill Gates has devoted most of his professional life to the work of his philanthropic organization. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provides grants to charities, scientists and others to fight disease and poverty, and to provide educational and technological assistance, mostly in the developing world. But Gates remains interested in science and technology of all kinds, and climate change and 'clean energy' in particular.

He has just blogged about the serious underfunding of clean energy research and development in the US - from both government and the private sector - and backed up his claim with four stunningly clear charts, based on publicly available data, showing the rapid rise of energy-related carbon emissions over the past 150 years; comparing US R&D expenditures on energy vs. other fields (e.g. defense, health care); and showing where the US stacks up against other countries (middle of the pack).

Gates advocates tripling US Government expenditures on long-term energy research, and increasing private sector research indirectly by expanding grants and streamlining regulations.