Hi folks! You might have noticed the site looks different! Today we launched the BETA version of the new Good News Network -- the fourth version since the site launched in 1997. This update was urgently needed, because we were hacked twice last year, which was quite disturbing... This software is much more secure. Let me know what you think. We are still tweaking, adding some things, finding the bugs... Are there problems? Are you missing anything? Let me know in the comments below. (The FORUM isn't working yet, so don't try to go there!) Or, you can always send…

• Vietnam declared its independence from France, forming a republic (1945)
• Japan signed its unconditional surrender, finally ending six years of WWII (1945)
• The first automated teller machine in the United States was installed in Rockville Centre, New York (1969)
• The United States and Russia agreed to cooperate to build a space station (1992)
• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opened in Cleveland, Ohio (1995)

And on this day in 490 BC, after the Battle of Marathon, where the Greeks defeated the invading Persians, Pheidippides, who had already run 140 miles over two…

A cybercrime report released in July 2010 revealed a 50 percent drop in the number of attacks on retail stores in 2009, with 143 million stolen records, down from 360 million the year before. (CS Monitor)