» us mum calls 911 over grand theft auto
a boston mum whose 14-year-old son refused to stop playing grand theft auto in the early hours called in the cops to put a stop to his late-night gaming.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/23/grand_theft/

» microsoft loses its appeal in $200-million-plus custom xml patent infringement case
microsoft is going to have to cease providing custom xml as part of its office suite, as it has lost its appeal to overturn a patent-infringement verdict awarded to toronto-based i4i for that technology.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=4835

» iphone worms can create mobile botnets
the ikee-b (duh) iphone worm, released in late november, exploited default root passwords on jailbroken iphones to turn the smartphones into botnet clients under the control of a server based in lithuania. the worm affected iphone users in the netherlands, and specifically targeted customers of dutch online bank ing direct.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/22/iphone_worm_analysis/

» eff sues cia, doj, others over facebook surveillance
the electronic frontier foundation sued the cia, the us department of defense, department of justice and three other government agencies on tuesday for allegedly refusing to release information about how they are using social networks in surveillance and investigations.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-369425.html

» intel demos 48-core chip
the 1.3-billion transistor processor, called single-chip cloud computer (scc) is successor generation to the 80-core "polaris" processor that intel's tera-scale research project produced in 2007. unlike that precursor, though, the second-generation model is able to run the standard software of intel's x86 chips such as its pentium and core models.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-369543.html

» google accelerates internet with public dns service
opening up a potentially vast source of business intelligence, google (nsdq: goog) on thursday introduced a public domain name service (dns) resolver, a service that allows internet users to rely on google rather than their isp to take them to the web sites they wish to visit.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/web_services/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222000551

» ctia: u.s. texters send 4 billion sms messages a day
the big number this time around, according to the ctia: in the past six months alone, americans sent an estimated 740 billion text messages, which comes out to about 4.1 billion messages each day. put another way: that's 11.7 text messages a day for every man, woman, and child in the country. (of course, the average american teen can fire off 11 text messages in the time it takes you to read this paragraph.)
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/57781

» amd intros dual-gpu monster graphics card
amd has whipped out its latest top-of-the-line dual-gpu graphics card, as expected. dubbed the ati radeon hd 5970, the directx 11-supporting card can drive up to three displays simultaneously - there are a pair of dvi connectors and a displayport on the back - and one screen at up to 7680 x 1600. the board's two 40nm gpus run at 725mhz with each chip's 1gb of gddr 5 clocked to 1ghz effective and connected over a 256-bit bus.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/11/18/amd_launches_5970/

» windows 7's dirty secrets revealed
while chief technology officer ray ozzie was away in the clouds at microsoft's professional developer conference, technical fellow mark russinovich got down and dirty with the true heart of windows - the kernel.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/18/windows_7_heart/

» broadband economics: competition lowers prices
it's a simple principle of economics: competition and more customer choice results in lower prices. and so it is true of broadband services. with about 65 percent of the u.s. population now subscribing to broadband, cable operators and telephone companies are duking it out for new customers. the companies are offering cut-throat prices and new promotions to win over new subscribers.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10401291-266.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1

» iphone apps run background checks on your date
in a move that is sure to make playboys everywhere nervous, internet company peoplefinders has created two iphone applications that let users perform background checks on their potential dates.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/111809-iphone-apps-background-checks.html?hpg1=bn

» anti-filesharing laws are go
the government will press ahead with plans to restrict internet access for illegal filesharers, it was confirmed in the queen's speech today.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/18/digital_queen/

» google chrome os: rounding up the rumors
unfortunately, so far we know very little in terms of solid facts about google's chrome os project, with the company providing only scant details. the linux-based os, which is built upon the company's browser of the same name, is expected to arrive in the second half of 2010, and although it will be geared toward netbooks, it'll run on higher-end pcs as well. google has revealed a number of the manufacturers involved in the project, such as acer, asus, hewlett packard, and lenovo. intel is also in on the act.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/182452/google_chrome_os_rounding_up_the_rumors.html

» top e-tailers profit from billion-dollar web scam
vertrue, webloyalty, and affinion generated more than $1.4 billion by "misleading" web shoppers, said members of the u.s. senate committee on commerce, science and transportation, which called the hearing. lawmakers saved their harshest rebuke for web retailers that accepted big money--a combined sum of $792 million--to share their customers' credit-card information with the marketers.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10399880-93.html

» at&t loses first legal battle against verizon ads
at&t has lost the first battle in a legal war against verizon wireless to force the company to stop showing advertisements that compare its 3g wireless network coverage with verizon's coverage. a federal judge in atlanta on wednesday declined to grant at&t a temporary restraining order that would force verizon to stop showing the ads.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10401094-266.html

» is antivirus software dead?
antivirus isn't going away. it's just changing its shape to meet the times.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/antivirus/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=221600458&pgno=1

» paypal to embed x apps in self
in facebook-like fashion, paypal will open its own website to third-party applications as it continues its quest to "power all of ecommerce."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/04/paypal_app_store/

» skype goes open source
skype has announced that it is developing an open-source version of its linux client. "this will be a part of a larger offering, but we can't tell you much about that right now," said skype developer stanislav karchebny (also known as berkus), in a blog post. skype has confirmed that the user interface will be open sourced, but customers have expressed concerns that the client's protocol may remain closed, according to the comments under the blog post.
http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2252463/skype-goes-open-source?

» 10 essential things companies should teach employees about security
as many security systems as an organization might have, the last line of defense rests with the employees. that's precisely why companies need to do a good job of educating employees about security. employees have to be directly engaged in the it security process.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/10-Essential-Things-Companies-Should-Teach-Employees-About-Securit...

» comcast pop-ups alert customers to pc infections
comcast is launching a trial on thursday of a new automated service that will warn broadband customers of possible virus infections, if the computers are behaving as if they have been compromised by malware.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10370996-245.html

» national broadband could cost $350 billion
the total cost of developing a universal broadband plan for the united states could run as high as $350 billion, but the plan would produce major economic and social benefits ranging from improving healthcare and education to helping people with disabilities and improving public safety programs, according to a report prepared by an fcc task force. the huge price tag dwarfs the $7.2 billion earmarked in president obama's economic stimulus program. the task force estimated universal broadband deployment costs would range between $20 billion and $350 billion. the highest figure calls for providing service at 100 mbps or faster.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/mobile/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220300595

» viasat buys wildblue for $568 million
rural broadband access got a shot in the arm thursday through the $568 million acquisition of consumer broadband provider wildblue communications by satellite gear producer viasat. the deal will help wildblue break out from its slowing growth and it will enable viasat to enter the consumer market with a hefty 400,000 wildblue subscribers under its belt.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/services/data/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220300720

» rim results raise growth fears
financial results and forecasts released by research in motion (rimm) on sept. 24 raised investor concerns that growth for the maker of the blackberry may be reaching its peak.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2009/tc20090924_707876.htm

» freecom to sell early usb 3.0 portable drive
freecom on thursday introduced one of the earliest devices based on the usb 3.0 standard: a portable hard drive that provides faster data-transfer rates compared to drives based on the older usb 2.0 standard.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/172679/freecom_to_sell_early_usb_30_portable_drive.htm...

» red hat continues to grow
in the 2nd quarter of its 2010 fiscal year, american linux distributor red hat has increased its total revenue by 12 per cent
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/145834

» fcc's net neutrality push: is wireless access different?
the federal communications commission forged ahead with its net neutrality proposals and invited industry players to comment on six principles. it didn’t have to wait long. the big question: would net neutrality regulations hamper the wireless industry?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=24649

» what does 6 gbit sata mean to you?
seagate announced hot new disk today: a 6 gbit sata interface; 64 mb of cache; and 2 tb of capacity. time to replace your old disk drives? no rush each of these features is a good thing. but only the capacity is usable today. the faster sata interface is available on just a couple of high-end pc motherboards. the good news is that the interface is backwards compatible with the 1.5 and 3 gbit versions. while you don’t gain any performance from the faster interface today, you don’t lose anything either.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=631

» best smartphones for under $100
no need to pay big bucks for a high-quality, full-featured smartphone. we’ve rounded up the best inexpensive models across the four major carriers. whether you’re a social networker, a business executive, or a multimedia addict, there’s a wallet-friendly smartphone for you.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/172125-2/best_smartphones_for_under_100.html

» conflicker still defeats experts
insecurity experts have admitted that the conflicker worm has baffled them. the worm has infected more than five million computers in a botnet that could take out the internet in some countries. the sydney morning herald said conflicker was powerful enough to shut down the internet in australa, if the current government does not do it with its censorship software first. rodney joffe, a director of the conficker working group formed to defeat the worm said, "the general agreement in the security world is that conficker is the largest threat facing us from a cyber crime point of view." the worm, which spreads rapidly among personal computers by exploiting a flaw in microsoft windows, first surfaced last november. according to joffe, "it has proven to be extremely resilient. it's almost impossible to remove."
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1534307/conflicker-defeats-experts

» amd predicts more intel revelations
following the european commission's publication on monday of how intel broke anticompetition laws, rival chipmaker amd — the wronged party in this particular case — has predicted further revelations stemming from other cases. "this is the first time intel has had to confront now publicly available facts of its illegal behavior and it won’t be the last," amd legal expert tom mccoy said in a statement. "the u.s. ftc and new york attorney general's continuing investigations and amd's civil case against intel will provide other clear demonstrations of intel breaking the law — the next steps toward bringing consumer choice to the marketplace."
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-345146.html

» tech's contributions to rock and roll
rock music undoubtedly owes its legacy to a number of factors (the relative affluence of the baby boom generation, the tumultuous political climate of the cold war, and remarkable advances in the field of recreational psychotropic substances, to name a few), but one element was absolutely crucial: technology.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/171861/turn_it_up_to_11_techs_contributions_to_rock_and_roll.html

» av tests find that reputation really does count
new reputation-based antivirus systems are doing a better job of blocking malicious software than did their predecessors. that's what testing and certification company nss labs discovered when it looked at how good antivirus software really is at blocking web-based attacks.
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/pcworld/20090921/tc_pcworld/avtestsfindthatreputationreallydoescount

» facebook app flaws create trojan download risk
grey-hat hacker unu has discovered cross-site scripting vulnerabilities involving facebook applications, of a type that might be used to distribute trojan horse malware or launch other hacking attacks. the romanian hacker - well known for identifying security flaws in the websites of banks, security firms and the uk parliament - has turned his attention to the social networking site, discovering a series of flaws in applications. unu has posted screenshots illustrating the flaws he has identified in five apps developed by newscloud, alongside an advisory that explains the possible ramifications of the flaws.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/21/facebook_xss_snafu/

» fcc boss moves for stiffer net neut rules
the head of the us federal communication communications has proposed formal net neutrality rules that would prohibit internet service providers from discriminating against particular content or applications. "because it is vital that the internet continue to be an engine of innovation, economic growth, competition and democratic engagement, i believe the fcc must be a smart cop on the beat preserving a free and open internet," obama-appointed fcc chairman julius genachowski said in a washington d.c. speech (pdf) on monday morning.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/21/fcc_boss_net_neutrality_rules/

» usb 3.0 slouches towards bethlehem
an nec announcement monday should make it easier to get usb 3.0 products to market, perhaps as soon as this holiday season. nec's usb 3.0 "design solution" marries the company's new system-on-chip (soc) ip core with its usb 3.0 µpd720200 host controller released this may and certified by the usb implementers forum (usb-if).
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/21/nex_usb_3_soc/

» women spending more time at work - but less time working
a performance analysis software vendor has risked inflaming the battle of the sexes by declaring that "women work hard, but not quite as hard as men". officemetrics claimed that its research showed that over the last nine months, uk office workers were tending to spend more time in the office, as they seek to impress their bosses and stave off the threat of redundancy.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/21/office_efficiency/

» linux foundation to microsoft: stop secretly attacking linux
linux foundation executive director jim zemlin has a message for microsoft: he wants the software giant to stop attacking linux. zemlin contends that microsoft is engaged in a covert war against the open source operating system and that the company's hostile behavior is detrimental to the growing number of microsoft customers who deploy mixed windows and linux environments.
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/09/linux-foundation-to-microsoft-stop-secretly-attackin...

» at&t: iphones to get mms by sept. 25
long sought-after multimedia messaging service (mms) support is coming to the apple iphone 3g and 3gs by the end of the month, courtesy of a software update. that's likely to be good news for critics, who have lambasted -- and sued -- at&t over its lack of support for mms -- even though the feature is supported in the iphone's hardware.
http://www.internetnews.com/mobility/article.php/3837806/ATT+iPhones+to+Get+MMS+by+Sept+25.htm

» id software pins quake series for iphone
“there’s no doubt that we’ll go through quake and quake 2,” explained carmack in an interview. “i think that i can probably manage to do quake 3 on the conventional iphone platform, if apple winds up addressing just a few things in their system software. when you start looking at the 3gs, [quake 3] would not be a problem at all.” quake 3 has already been ported to the phone by enterprising hackers,...
http://www.geek.com/articles/games/id-software-pins-quake-series-for-iphone-20090630/

» cyber attacks hit 2 countries
the sites of 11 south korean organizations, including the presidential blue house and the defense ministry, went down or had access problems since late tuesday, according to the state-run korea information security agency. agency spokeswoman ahn jeong-eun said 11 u.s. sites suffered similar problems. she said the agency is investigating the case with police and prosecutors.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090708/ap_on_re_as/as_skorea_cyber_attack

» michael jackson's death themed malware campaigns spreading
the sudden death of michael jackson quickly opened a window of opportunity for cybercriminals to capitalize on. with a malicious spam campaign, blackhat seo search results poisoning which is serving scaraware within the first 100 search results for michael jackson’s death, and an opportunistic participant in zango adware’s network using typosquatting, malicious activity is prone to increase during the next couple of days.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=3682

» big fine could be big trouble in downloading case
minneapolis (ap) - the $1.92 million verdict against a minnesota woman accused of sharing 24 songs over the internet could ratchet up the pressure on other defendants to settle with the recording industry - if the big fine can withstand an appeal. under federal law, the recording companies are entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement but the law allows the jury to raise that to as much as $150,000 per track if it finds the infringements were willful. the jury decided on $80,000 per song.
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20090619/D98U0UJ01.html

» 5 things the iphone 3gs is still missing
the iphone 3gs brings some much-needed improvements to apple's mobile computing device, but still manages to leave out some key technologies and features. here are five that i could think of off the top of my head.
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/06/5_things_the_ip.html

» federal cto sees it leading u.s. out of recession
having survived their own dot-com bust, information technology cios may be the catalyst to help pull the country out of its recession.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217801252

» html 5: could it kill flash and silverlight?
html 5, a groundbreaking upgrade to the prominent web presentation specification, could become a game-changer in web application development, one that might even make obsolete such plug-in-based rich internet application (ria) technologies as adobe flash, microsoft silverlight, and sun javafx.
http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/html-5-could-it-kill-flash-and-silverlight-291

» microsoft's looming windows 7 licensing 'disaster' for xp users
microsoft's potential xp downgrade trap -- under microsoft's planned enterprise licensing rules, businesses that buy pcs before april 23, 2010, with windows 7 preinstalled can downgrade them to windows xp, then later upgrade them to windows 7 when they're ready to migrate their users. but pcs bought on or after april 23 can only be downgraded to vista -- which is of no help for xp-based organizations, silver notes -- and could cause major headaches and add more costs to the windows 7 migration effort.
http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/microsofts-looming-windows-7-licensing-disaster-xp-users-639

» senators ask fcc to look into iphone-at&t exclusivity
with rumors flying about that apple plans to open up the iphone to verizon as well as at&t, four senators are calling on the fcc to investigate exclusive mobile deals like the iphone deal and verizon’s exclusive access to the palm pre, reuters reports.
http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4965

» china caves, says green dam software is optional
caving to public pressure, china on tuesday said that use of its controversial "green dam youth escort" software is not required, though all pcs sold on the mainland will come with it pre-installed.
http://www.crn.com/software/217900033;

» microsoft files lawsuit over "click fraud"
in the suit filed on monday in a u.s. federal court in seattle against the three individuals and companies they are believed to control, microsoft said it suffered at least $750,000 as a result of the click fraud scheme. under the scheme, large groups of people or automated computer scripts click on online advertisements without having any interest in the services or product being advertised.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090616/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_microsoft

» palm gets friendly with pre hackers
palm appears to be giving tacit approval to groups trying to hack the palm pre and palm's new handset operating system, webos. the pre dev wiki says it received a note from palm warning the hackers not to try to unlock the pre's tethering ability during the handset's exclusivity period with sprint. tethering lets your mobile device double as a modem for wireless internet access.
http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobilize/palm-gets-friendly-pre-hackers-589

» the ext4 linux file system
in the face of rapidly rising data volumes, it is increasingly clear that ext3, the current default linux file system, is reaching its limits. a maximum file system, and thus volume size, of 16 tb can already be a tight squeeze for large raid arrays; ext3's 32-bit block numbers and 4 kb data blocks mean, however, that there's no way around this limit. a major refurbishment is therefore due.
http://www.h-online.com/open/The-Ext4-Linux-file-system--/features/113403

» linux 2.6.30's best five features
windows and mac os updates every few years. windows 7 arrives on october 22nd and apple's snow leopard will show up in september. the linux kernel, the heart of linux distributions, however, gets updated every few months.
http://blogs.computerworld.com/linux_2_6_30s_best_five_features

» china tells pc makers to install censoring software
the chinese ministry of industry and information technology plans to require that all personal computers sold in the country as of july 1 be shipped with software blocking access to certain internet sites, the wall street journal is reporting.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/China-to-PC-Makers-Install-Censoring-Software-438012...

» microsoft ... kills "three app limit" on windows 7 starter edition
"there are still plenty of features missing from the starter edition, although i think that most netbook users can either live without these features of work around them"
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4459

» twitter gets targeted again by worm-like phishing attack
twitter users have been tricked into divulging their login and password details to a web site that then spammed their contacts. the culprit is a web site called twittercut. some twitter users began getting a message that appeared to be from one of their friends and included a link to the twittercut web site. the message implied they could gain more twitter contacts by following the link.
http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/twitter-gets-targeted-again-worm-phishing-attack-886

» amd delivers the world's first 1 ghz graphics processor
nine years after launching the world’s first 1 ghz cpu, amd is again first to break the gigahertz barrier with the factory overclocked, air-cooled ati radeon™ hd 4890 gpu
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~131192,00.html

» ryan naraine and dancho danchev
spammers are no strangers to the ever-growing twitter. from commercial twitter spamming tools, to re-tweeting trending topics for delivering their message, a new crafty search technique can provide spammers with fresh and valid emails harvested from twitter’s users in real-time. basically, the search query consists of common phrases such as “email me at” and “contact me at” in a combination with a domain of a spammer’s choice.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=3402

» facebook members hit by another phishing scam
in what's just the latest facebook phishing scam, hackers on thursday broke into accounts and sent e-mails to friends urging them to log on to fake facebook sites, according to new reports and anecdotes from members. facebook did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking confirmation and information about the hack. the number of users affected remains unknown
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10241573-83.html

» home automation: the unfulfilled promise
aside from simple tasks like lighting and thermostat control, home automation systems have largely struggled to find a foothold in the household. however, as new technologies like home computer networks make headway into consumers' homes, and as smart grid technologies gain greater acceptance, home automation systems may reach a tipping point.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Home-Automation-The-Unfulfilled-Promise-66973.html

» open source becomes a force in health care it
open source is picking up steam in enterprise computing, even as the economy peters out. if west virginia sen. jay rockefeller has his way, open source will soon make its mark on medicine, too, with the lower cost of open source a key impetus behind the move.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10230940-16.html

» china hardest hit as malware attacks increase
china received the brunt of a rise in malware attacks around the world in april, doubling its share of attacks from the previous month as the lucrative online gaming market attracted hits from cybercriminals.
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/24834/53/

» enterprise applications slideshow: 10 iphone apps for it administrators
as the iphone and the ipod touch become increasingly integrated into the enterprise life, a number of application vendors and developers have started designing apps that add mobile functionality to it administration. even if out of the office, it administrators can use the following apps—all available from the itunes app store—to access and manage their systems remotely.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Applications/10-iPhone-Apps-for-IT-Administrators-389944/

» amazon and wikipedia phactor phorm out of the privacy equation
even if the uk government are not going to stop phorm spying on internet users on privacy grounds, it looks like some of the biggest brands on the web will.
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/24578/1231/

» vmware introduces the "internal cloud"
the point of vsphere 4 is to enable enterprises to set up cloud computing architectures within their own it environments.
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/24562/1231/

» all-in-one pcs: what's new and what's next
from budget-oriented 'nettops' with touchscreens to top-of-the-line designer models, it's easy to see why the single-piece desktop is making a comeback.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/163145/allinone_pcs_whats_new_and_whats_next.html

» bluetooth 3.0+hs arrives without the hs
the next version of bluetooth is being launched today, though anyone hoping to see uwb capabilities will be disappointed to see that for the moment "hs" means wi-fi speeds over a wi-fi carrier.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/21/bluetooth_3/

» amd loses cash less quickly
meyer put the blame squarely on the enterprise market. "stand back and look at it," meyer said, "our server business was down a little bit quarter-on-quarter, while both the desktop and notebook businesses were up quarter-on-quarter, which affects the overall asp and moves it down." on the plus side, meyer noted that he believes that gpu sales "might see a spike" when microsoft releases the directx 11-enhanced windows 7 expected later this year. he also has high hopes for the upcoming congo variant of amd's yukon platform, which he said will ship near the end of the current quarter.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/22/amd_q1_2009/

» spam e-mails killing the environment, mcafee report says
if annoying users and wasting their time wasn't bad enough, spam e-mails are also responsible for clogging our atmosphere with carbon dioxide, a gas that shoulders much of the blame for global warming, according to a report commissioned by antivirus vendor mcafee. "when you look at it from an individual user perspective you're only talking about 0.3 grams of carbon dioxide per spam message," said dave marcus, director of security research and communications at mcafee's avert labs, in a telephone interview. "when you extrapolate the math out to the larger numbers, it definitely is significant."
http://www.pcworld.com/article/163141/spam_emails_killing_the_environment_mcafee_report_says.html

» cybercrime surging: and it's your money they're after
a trio of quite separate reports released this week on different aspects of internet security reveals an alarmingly rapid increase in the scale, scope and success of organised attacks on it systems for financial gain.
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/24439/1231/

» symantec showcases digital malware snapshots for 2009 rsa conference
ever try to draw a picture of malware? eweek never has, but artists alex dragulescu and julian hodgson both have. using digital imagery, the duo has crafted a showcase of art depicting three-dimensional images of virus code. the pictures will be displayed at an art show hosted april 22 by symantec as part of this year's rsa conference in san francisco. to bring the malware to life, the artists used a special application to analyze virus code that uses the code's values to create a 3d image. from there, the image is transferred to modeling software, where it is positioned and lit to best capture the aesthetics of the model. the final image is then rendered for presentation.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Symantec-Showcases-Digital-Malware-Snapshots-for-2009-RSA-Conferen...

» twitter worm no longer security threat
twitter is finally clear of a worm that hijacked user accounts and spread spamlike messages reading "mikeyy" throughout the microblogging site's network. dubbed "stalkdaily," the twitter worm unleashed four waves of attacks against the service, in each case exploiting a cross-site scripting vulnerability. the only goal of the malware seemed to be self-propagation; it had been created by 17-year-old michael "mikeyy" mooney, who confessed that he had created the worm out of boredom.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/Twitter-Worm-No-Longer-Security-Threat-289240/

» facebook users get worse grades in college
facebook users have lower overall grades than non-users, according to a survey of college students who also ironically said the social networking site does not interfere with studying. early findings show that over 85 percent of undergrads use facebook, compared to 52 percent of grad students.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/facebookusersgetworsegradesincollege

» microsoft ready for an open-source skoolin'
sam ramji wants more input from the open-source community, hoping to make microsoft more responsive to their needs. ramji called himself the community's "unelected representative" within microsoft.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/10/ramji_open_source_microsoft/

» ready or not, ipv6 is coming
uptake of ipv6 is low, despite predictions that ipv4 numbers will become used up in as little as two years. a recent survey by the internet society found that many within a small sample of internet industry heavy hitters reckoned ipv6 uptake was being driven more by fashion than a strong business case.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/03/ipv6_analysis/

» scareware surging, microsoft report finds
scareware purports to be security software but isn't. it's sold to technically naive users to address supposed computer security threats. but it generally offers little or no protection, and may act maliciously, by stealing information, for example.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/cybercrime/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216403570&subSec...

» cyberspies launch malware on u.s. electrical grid: report
cyberspies from china, russia and other countries have hacked into the u.s. electrical grid and installed malicious software that could be used to stop power or disrupt the system, according to the wall street journal. officials believe that the cyberspies intended to navigate and take control of the u.s. electrical grid. while so far no damage has been found to the grid or other national infrastructure, the journal reported that the hack seems to be "pervasive," and experts say that there is a distinct possibility the software left behind by the attackers could be used for malicious purposes in times of war, according to the report.
http://www.crn.com/security/216403568

» web 2.0: internet too dangerous for normal people
the computer security industry has failed computer users, and the internet has become so unsafe that average users can't protect themselves. that was the message delivered by alex stamos, co-founder and partner at software security company isec partners, at the web 2.0 expo on wednesday morning.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/web2.0/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=216402352

» tomtom pays microsoft and settles patent-infringement dispute
microsoft and tomtom have settled the patent-infringement suits (and countersuits) between the two vendors, microsoft announced march 30. microsoft is not paing tomtom, but tomtom is paying microsoft an undisclosed amount as part of the deal.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2398&tag=nl.e539

» isps join riaa's fight against piracy
the recording industry association of america's plan to recruit internet service providers in its battle against illegal file sharing is now underway. at&t and cox both confirmed to pc world that they have begun cooperating with the riaa in some form. comcast did not say it was working with the riaa, but did say it was forwarding messages on the behalf of the recording industry to customers. still a mystery is to what extent isps are cooperating with the riaa and what it takes to get booted from your isp for illegally swapping copyright protected content online.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/161978/isps_join_riaas_fight_against_piracy_is_your_isp_one_of_them.h...

» microsoft hit with patent suit over update tech
microsoft is facing another patent infringement suit, this time over the technology it uses to automatically update windows, office, and other programs. in a lawsuit filed march 20, backweb technologies charges that microsoft's background intelligent transfer service (bits), as well as windows update and other products, infringe four of backweb's patents. backweb, which is based in israel and has u.s. offices in san jose, calif., filed the complaint in u.s. district court in san francisco.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10204577-56.html

» pc buyers fail to prove ms deceived in vista 'capable' suit
the judge in the ongoing vista capable row has denied pc buyers a motion for partial summary judgment in a lawsuit against microsoft, citing a lack of evidence to show the company had hoodwinked customers.
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/03/20/vista_capable_court_denies_partial_summary_judgment/

» websense mistakes cisco.com for hack site
websense briefly classified the home page of networking giant cisco as a hacking site earlier this week. as a result of the snafu, corporate users of websense's web filtering technology were denied access to cisco.com for about 15 minutes on tuesday. websense explained that the censorware cock-up arose because an ip address used by www.cisco.com was formerly associated with a hacking site.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/20/websense_blocks_cisco/

» iphone os 3.0 - what's new ...
most of the major updates here were pretty predictable (and, to be honest, long overdue). what hadn’t been anticipated was the in-app purchase which promises to be a vacuum hose in the user’s pocket as far as apps go. expect those apps that you paid for to ask you for more and more money soon!
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=3973

» opera chief: microsoft's ie 8 'undermines' web standards
silverlight a lesson in openness for years, microsoft has gone its own way online with its own ie rending engine. that's forced web developers to either build one version of their web sites for ie and another for all those other browsers that do implement html and css in a broadly consistent way or simply to target ie and get to the others later - or never. that's distorted the market.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/17/opera_ceo_microsoft/

» new lithium battery takes seconds to charge
a new lithium battery technology might mean rapid charging and discharging times that take just seconds instead of the minutes or hours we're used to.
http://www.goodcleantech.com/2009/03/new_lithium_battery_takes_seco.php

» microsoft's r&d chief: the people problem with innovation
redmond r&d boss rick rashid says he predicted the cloud computing thing. but that was the easy part. rick rashid, leader of microsoft's vast, multi-billion dollar r&d operation, said he could foresee cloud computing some years back.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/13/rashid_innovation/

» dirty little secrets of the keyboard revealed
nail clippings, chips, pastry crumbs, chewing gum and beard hair are some of the disagreeable detritus that accumulates inside the average office keyboard, according to claire burke, director of keep it clean, an it hardware cleaning company with clients including hotels and the nhs.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-277938.html

» a dell latitude laptop you can drop, shock and nearly blow up
laptop security is a top-shelf issue for it pros, and there’s nothing worse than data corruption from drops, spills and tech complications thanks to an employee or the environment they’re in. enter dell’s latitude e6400 xfr, the company’s next-gen “fully rugged” platform, announced today and engineered to meet the needs of the most demanding customers: the military, first responders, field service technicians and those who require systems that meet mil std 810f specs: drop tests, sea fog, temperature extremes, thermal shock and explosive environments.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=1976

» rigged podcasts can leak your itunes username/password
a design issue exists in the itunes podcast feature. a subscription to a malicious podcast may cause an authentication dialog to be presented to the user. this dialog may entice the user to send itunes credentials to the podcast server.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2861

» broadband stimulus funding timeline set by government
members from several government agencies delivered on tuesday a basic timeline for funding broadband stimulus projects, with the goal of getting all $7.2 billion of the broadband stimulus money out the door by october 2010.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/031009-broadband-stimulus-timeline.html?hpg1=bn

» at&t wants to run your data center
in a bad economy, any job that can be turned into a service is at risk. that's why system administrators should be a little worried, with so many companies offering remote it management services to it shops. this week, telecom giant at&t threw its hat into the ring with its own remote infrastructure management service.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/06/att_remote_it_management/

» iphone dominates mobile browsing in february
the iphone is dominating the mobile internet according to net application. in their latest report for february the company states that the iphone browser accounts for two-thirds of all mobile platforms browsing online. the iphone accounted for 66.61% market share in february while the java me platform came in at a distant second with 9.06% market share.
http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/iphone-dominates-mobile-browsing-in-february-2009033/

» comcast wideband hits san francisco bay area
comcast is expanding its 50 mbits/s "wideband" service to the san francisco bay area, the cable company announced tuesday. comcast announced last month that its wideband service, also known as docsis 3.0, now reaches 30 percent of its footprint, a number that should grow to 65 percent by year's end.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2342381,00.asp

» iphones, netbooks, and the age of the invisible pc
the usage models of computing are changing. can the software development community keep up?
http://weblog.infoworld.com/fatalexception/archives/2009/03/iphones_netbook.html

» accelerate your hard drive by short stroking : on the stroke of performance: hard drive short stroking
flash ssds dominate the news at present. if you believe the coverage from multiple internet tech magazines, flash-based devices are about to take over the storage market. they’re perceived as being faster and more efficient than hard drives—and maybe a bit more expensive. the truth is different, though; flash memory still has only a tiny market share for many reasons. the good old hard drive isn’t dead, and we just found another reason for them to live on for a while: short stroking technology.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/short-stroking-hdd,2157.html

» netbooks may offer hackers private data gateway
netbook web surfers beware. that low-cost netbook you're using could be a high-speed gateway into your life, bank accounts, passwords and other personal data. netbooks have made headlines since their 2007 launch, making pcs accessible to millions of non-traditional users. but their cheap cost could also carry a steep price tag due to lax security that makes them easier prey for viruses and hackers.
http://www.telecommagazine.com/newsglobe/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_4938

» installing mac os x on a dell mini 9 – the easy way (updated 2x)
if you’re looking to get a notebook to install mac os x on, i recommend the dell mini 9. it’s one of the best, no-compromises platforms according to the boingboing compatibility chart for netbooks running os x and one can be yours for around $400 depending on the options that you choose.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=3258

» microsoft pumps cloud, trumps google with gsk
announcing a 100,000-seat deployment by pharmaceuticals giant glaxosmithkline (gsk), microsoft online services — the software vendor’s hosted exchange, sharepoint and livemeeting division — today stepped up its validation of cloud applications at the same time as making google apps’ 15,000 seats at biotech leader genentech look small by comparison.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/SAAS/?p=698

» microsoft's secret plan behind the tomtom suit
a very interesting analysis of the microsoft versus tomtom suit has appeared on veteran journo glyn moody's blog. having established that microsoft's "it's not about linux" schtick is transparently wrong - the area covered by the fat patents is pure linux, unchanged by tomtom, so any linux distro with fat compatibility would qualify - we then get a post from jeremy allison, who's well versed in microsoft's approach to open source.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-276211.html

» netbooks and recession drive collapse in pc average selling prices
there’s been a dramatic collapse in average selling prices (asp) for pcs around the world with vendors under enormous pressure as they are hit by a rapid decline in revenues and the effects of the global economic tsunami. in a report just released, market research and industry advisory firm technology business research (tbr), warns of, what it calls, a structural and permanent decrease in asps after the collective asp of vendors dropped 13% in the fourth quarter of 2008, causing an 18% decline in revenues.
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/23662/53/

» linux companies sign microsoft patent protection pacts
in microsoft vs. tomtom, microsoft is suing tomtom in part because the guys from redmond claim that tomtom's use of linux in its navigation devices has violated three of its file-system related patents. one reason why microsoft feels it can do this is that it already has patent cross-licensing agreements covering these patents with other linux-using companies.
http://blogs.computerworld.com/linux_companies_sign_microsoft_patent_protection_pacts

» red hat hit by a patent suit
software tree has filed a lawsuit against red hat claiming the linux distribution and open source middleware manufacturer has infringed upon one of its patents.
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/134060

» the reality of using linux every day
"it's full of bugs. nothing ever works. i can't get it to do what i want. it's too hard."
http://www.e-linux.it/news_detail.php?id=8042

» visa: new payment-processor data breach not so new after all
days after visa inc. seemingly confirmed that a data breach had taken place at a third payment processor , following on the recent breach disclosures by heartland payment systems inc. and rbs worldpay inc., the credit card company now is saying that there was no new security incident after all.
http://www.itworld.com/security/63431/visa-new-payment-processor-data-breach-not-so-new-after-all

» recruiter's secrets: 6 job hunting tips for a tough market
says ambrose, "reach out. do research on companies you're interested in working for and do some networking to find people who can introduce you to those companies."
http://www.itnews.com/careers/752/recruiters-secrets-6-job-hunting-tips-tough-market

» youtube hits major milestone - 100m viewers
in january, youtube passed 100 million viewers in a month for the first time, according to online researcher comscore inc . the researcher also noted in an online report thursday that overall, americans viewed 14.8 billion online videos in january, which is a 4% jump from december. and youtube had the lion's share of that growth, accounting for 91% of the growth.
http://www.itnews.com/social-media/771/youtube-hits-major-milestone-100m-viewers

» facebook client seemingly snaffled from windows 6.5
hackers over at xda developers have posted a facebook application, apparently ripped from a windows 6.5 rom but installable on earlier versions of windows (mobile).
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/05/windows_mobile_facebook/

» intel aims open source at your car
intel and a group of leading automotive-industry manufacturers have formed a non-profit group to develop and promote an open-source reference platform for in-vehicle infotainment (ivi) systems. ivi is a catch-all term that refers to digital in-car systems that can provide navigation, internet access, back-seat video, audio, telephony, and other information and entertainment services.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/05/genivi_and_intel/

» us court urged to block warrantless gps tracking
the electronic frontier foundation and the american civil liberties union are waging a legal challenge against what they say is law enforcement's growing use of global positioning system location-tracking devices often without first seeking a warrant.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/04/warrantless_gps_tracking/

» economic benefits of business mobile broadband usage: $7.4b per year
dr paul patterson of concept economics, under commission from telstra, has estimated that use of mobile broadband services by business and government could produce an annual productivity dividend to the australian economy of $7.4b
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/23605/127/

» vista voted tech world's biggest fiasco
windows vista lovers have had pie thrown in their faces with the revelation that the operating system which took microsoft five years to roll out has been voted the technology world's worst fiasco.
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/23546/1231/

» feds: it admin plotted to erase fannie mae
a fired computer engineer for fannie mae has been arrested and charged with planting a malicious software script designed to permanently destroy millions of dollars worth of data from all 4,000 servers operated by the mortgage giant.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/29/fannie_mae_sabotage_averted/

» seagate offers second fix for hard-drive firmware
the storage device company previously isolated the problem that affected the barracuda drives and other drive lines based on the same platform. seagate technology has pulled a firmware fix for its 1-tb barracuda 7200.11 hard drive after the patch reportedly caused 500-gb versions of the drive to stop working.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/storage/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212901822

» western digital launches 2 tb green hard drive
western digital on tuesday introduced a 2-tb hard drive to its environmentally friendly caviar green product line. wd believes many consumers are ready for such a large capacity drive to store video, pictures, audio, and other files in their expanding media libraries. quoting market intelligence firm trend focus, the hard-drive maker claims about 10% of 3.5-inch drives sold today are at the 1-tb level or higher.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/storage/portable/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212902992

» ebay sees rocky first quarter
ebay’s fourth quarter wasn’t so bad, but the first quarter outlook was disappointing. and the company on its conference call declined to give guidance for 2009.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=11569

» intel axes five plants, 5,000 workers
intel plans to close chip assembly plants in malaysia and the philippines and end us wafer fab operations in oregon and california as part of a restructuring plan that will affect as many as 6,000 employees worldwide.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/22/intel_to_shut_down_five_plants_4kto5k_affected/

» mobile carriers answer call for new services
mobile phones are providing location-based services through a combination of embedded gps chips and network-based cell-tower data, a feature that holds great promise for commercial applications by providing the ability to deliver to mobile phone users information, entertainment and advertising tailored to their location.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Mobile-Carriers-Answer-Call-for-New-Services/

» music industry urged to embrace the internet
cannes, france (reuters) - the music industry needs to learn from the "dark side of the internet" that has so decimated its business if it is to ever regain the upper hand in the fight against piracy. at the annual industry gathering in the south of france, executives revealed a sliver of optimism for the first time in years, after agreeing retail deals with the likes of nokia, amazon and myspace.
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE50J03U20090120

» us credit card payment house breached by sniffing malware
heartland payment systems - a payments processor that serves more than 250,000 us businesses - warned consumers tuesday that their card data may have been compromised following a security breach of the company's payment system.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/20/heartland_payment_breach/

» when a little it knowledge is too much
in the early 1980s, i worked as a computer tech in a small computer store. i did quite a bit of customizing user menus for ms-dos systems. for store customers, both personal and small business users, we installed a menu system to serve as a user-friendly interface to the then-common ms dos operating system. i had talked with a close friend of mine -- we'll call him john -- who did not work in it, and i guess i gave him just enough knowledge to make him dangerous.
http://weblog.infoworld.com/offtherecord/archives/2009/01/untrained_techi.html

» fcc fingers comcast voip favoritism
comcast may be in trouble with the fcc once again over possible net neutrality violations in its latest "protocol-neutral" internet traffic management regime. in a letter filed january 18, the us agency asks comcast to provide "detailed justification" on why its new network management practices affect the quality of competing voip services, but apparently doesn't degrade comcast's own digital voice service.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/21/fcc_letter_comcast_voip_traffic_management/

» fake obama web site reportedly builds botnet
with so much attention being paid to the physical security at the inauguration of president barack obama, cybersecurity concerns appear to have been largely discounted, even as inauguration-related online attacks have surged. "dhs and the fbi have no credible information indicating a cyber threat to the inauguration," the 56th presidential inauguration joint threat assessment (jta) stated.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/government/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212901473

» intel says loss possible in first quarter: report
intel ceo paul otellini warned employees in an internal memo that the chip maker could potentially report its first loss in more than 20 years in the first quarter of 2009, bloomberg reported this week.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Intel-Says-Loss-Possible-in-First-Quarter-Report/

» nvidia pro graphics chip supports four displays
nvidia on tuesday unveiled a professional graphics card that supports up to four 30-inch monitors. the quadro nvs 420 is designed for smaller desktop systems that require multidisplay support. the graphic card has a total of 16 processor cores on two gpus and a total of 512 mb of memory with a bandwidth of 11.2 gb per second per processor.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/processors/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=212901514

» australians build tiny motor for fantastic voyages inside humans
engineers from monash university (victoria, australia) have built a miniature mechanical motor for a microbot that could someday cruise through miniscule human arteries of the brain, heart, and eyes.
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22784/1066/