SOFTeNEWS

Samsung Requests to See Apple’s iPhone 5 and iPad 3

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Mon, 30 May 2011 08:47:00 +0000

Samsung’s legal department is demanding to see the unreleased iPhone 5 and iPad 3, following Apple’s own request to have a look at some of the Korean company’s unreleased products, sources inform.

People with knowledge of the matter say Samsung is not backing off in its spat with Apple in which the latter is citing major similarities between their products and Samsung’s.

The judge presiding the case already granted Apple access to the Samsung devices, but many of these had already been made public.

By contrast, the next-generation iPhone and iPad are under the Apple-branded veil of secrecy.

Still, the Cupertino tech giant will have no choice but to show them to Samsung’s lawyers, should the judge grant the motion.

A screenshot depicting Samsung’s reciprocal discovery requests to Apple reveals that the Korean electronics manufacturer is asking to see:

a) a sample of the final, commercial version of the next generation iPhone that Apple will release, whether that product will be known as the “iPhone 4S”, “iPhone 5,” or some other name, along with the final version of the packaging in which this product will be delivered to retail customers and a final version of the insert(s) that will be included within such packaging; and

b) a sample of the final, commercial version of the next generation iPad that Apple will release, whether that product will be known as the “iPad 3,” “Third Generation iPad,” or some other name, along with the final version of the packaging in which this product will be delivered to retail customers and a final version of the insert(s) that will be included within such packaging.

Needless to point out, if Samsung is granted its motion to see Apple’s next-gen portables, it will be only the legal department that gets to analyze them to determine the veracity of Apple’s claims for their part.

Should any substantial leak occur around this time, Apple would have yet another reason to point fingers at Samsung in court.

It is worth noting that Samsung is the manufacturer of the A4 and A5 chips found in Apple's iPhones and iPads.

Apple Confirms OS X 10.7 Lion Download via Mac App Store

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Mon, 30 May 2011 08:46:00 +0000

The seed note accompanying Mac OS X 10.6.8 10K531 - the third beta build of Apple’s next maintenance update to Snow Leopard - provides the first real confirmation that Apple will be distributing copies of OS X Lion as digital downloads through the Mac App Store.

The fact that Apple distributes Lion betas to developers through the Mac App Store makes it easily deductible that the next major version of the Mac OS will arrive not only on retail disc and thumb USB drive, but via Apple's digital storefront for Mac software as well.

Currently, Apple sells Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) copies on DVD.

The Cupertino, California company also distributes the software on USB stick, boxed next to the latest generation of MacBook Air laptops that lack an optical drive.

The seed note for Mac OS X 10.6.8 Build 10K531 (as revealed in a screenshot posted at fscklog.com) is reproduced below:

The 10.6.8 update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:

- Enhance the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion
- Resolve an issue that may cause Preview to unexpectedly quit
- Improve support for IPv6
- Improve VPN reliability
- Identify and remove known variants of Mac Defender.

Notably, Apple also plans to use Mac OS X 10.6.8 to patch the widely-publicized Mac Defender threat.

In a Support document dated May 24, Apple pledged to address Mac Defender in a matter of ‘days’ via software update.

It is unclear whether OS X 10.6.8 will be that update, or whether there will be some other release specifically aimed at the malware.

With WWDC 2011 knocking on our doors with the promise of a final unveiling of Lion, it may just as well be this last Snow Leopard system update.

Microsoft Winner of the Best Multinational Workplaces 2011 in Europe Award

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Mon, 30 May 2011 08:44:00 +0000

Microsoft is the European king of the best workplaces on the continent, according to the Great Place to Work Institute.

The inaugural winner of the Best Multinational Workplaces 2011 in Europe award is just the latest accolade that the software giant received from the Great Place to Work Institute, although the organization has little to do with the laurels other than surveying the company’s employees.

According to the Redmond giant, in excess of 12,000 of its workers in various markets across the pond participated in the survey.

Still, Microsoft is no stranger to offering Europeans great places to work, since this is not exactly the company’s first award from the Great Place to Work Institute.

"Being named Best Place to Work in Europe for the fourth year in a row is a great honor for us, especially because it's an employee-driven award," revealed Jean-Philippe Courtois, president, Microsoft International.

"We believe the combination of our mission, our people and constantly finding new ways to use technology to help employees communicate and collaborate across cities, borders and around the world, are vital ingredients for attracting, retaining and motivating Europe's best talent."

The Great Place to Work Institute surveyed over than 1.5 million employees across Europe, with Microsoft ending up besting 1,380 companies.

In previous years, the software giant was awarded the Best Large Workplace in Europe accolade three years standing.

“Winning the top spot on our new European Best Multinational Workplaces list, on the back of several national awards, reflects Microsoft’s continued success in creating a working environment where people can thrive,” added José Tolovi Jr, Global CEO for the Great Place to Work Institute.

“The new list recognizes companies that create great workplaces across country borders, as well as cultural and language differences. Operating successfully in multiple countries is a complex job and Microsoft has shown how to create a great workplace in multiple countries through a combination of leadership and smart use of technology.”

Windows 8 NUI Gaming

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Mon, 30 May 2011 08:43:00 +0000

Will Windows 8 usher in the era of NUI gaming for computers? Windows 7 certainly didn’t manage to do it, but the potential for marrying natural user interfaces with next generation gaming experiences is there, and is bound to become only more comprehensive with Windows vNext.

Over the weekend, I could not help thinking back to the Touch Pack that Microsoft released a few months after Windows 7 RTM.

The Touch Pack consisted of six titles, three casual games and just as many applications ported from Microsoft Surface to Windows 7. All of them NUI-enabled.

The Touch Pack revealed what kind of NUI experiences Windows 7 was already capable of supporting. I’ve had the chance to play with the Touch Pack’s NUI apps and games most recently in the fall of 2010, on a next generation monitor.

I was joined by a friend who pointed out a range of caveats, including the performance impairment on what was a high end machine, but also obvious interaction limitations. As much as I felt as a kid in a candy store, he was indeed right; Microsoft still had a lot of work to do before NUI gaming on Windows would become reality.

I do see a possibility that Windows 8 will introduce a new level in terms of NUI capabilities, and I do hope that it will be on part with what the Xbox 360 plus Kinect can already do today.

Having done a bit of digging, I can now say that it’s not as simple as just plugging in a Kinect sensor into a Windows 8 machine, and start using it.

Sure, the software giant is already flirting with the idea, with the Kinect for Windows software development kit that the company announced.

The truth is that the Kinect for Windows SDK is simply not enough. There are NUI scenarios which require the most basic of interaction, such as entertainment experiences, but there are also those which will require extremely complex interaction, such as games.

The current Windows 7 gestures API is quite limited in this regard, with support for a little over a handful of gestures, and limitations on just how many of those gestures the users can perform simultaneously.

Windows 8 needs to change this. But in order for this to happen, the Redmond company must make the next version of Windows as appealing as possible to game developers. So more tools are required, code samples, controls, new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Visual Studio vNext enhancements, etc.

Since we’ve already seen Windows 8 enhancements such as facial recognition and human presence detection, I’d dare to say that Microsoft is on the right track to supporting NUI gaming with Windows 8. But this is just speculation on my part, and should be taken as such.

EVGA Prepares GTX 570 HD Classified Graphics Card

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Mon, 30 May 2011 08:42:00 +0000

EVGA is getting ready to update its product portfolio with a new graphics card built on the GTX 570 design that is targeting overclockers and extreme enthusiasts. The card is called the EVGA GTX 570 Classified and is expected to debut at Computex 2011.

Judging by the preliminary information that is available at this point, the GTX 570 Classified will feature a cooling assembly that looks remarkably similar with the Nvidia reference design.

However, this has been tweaked in order to cope with the increased amount of heat produced by overclocking and EVGA has even redesigned the card's printed circuit board.

Compared to the standard PCB, this now features a 10-layer design, an advanced 6-phase digital GPU VRM, which EVGA states that it can improve overclocking headroom, as well as dedicated voltage readout points.

Additional modifications were also brought to the power delivery systems, as the card now carries a 6+8 pin PCI-Express power connector.

Finally, the HD designation comes from the fact that EVGA's GTX 570 Classified houses a full-sized HDMI 1.4 connector as well as a DisplayPort output, next to the usual pair of dual-link DVI connectors.

Sadly, EVGA hasn't made public the operating frequencies of its graphics card yet, but this is expected to come higher clocked than the Nvidia reference design.

The stock version of the GTX 570 has its core running at 732MHz, while the memory works at 950MHz (3800MHz data rate).

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 570 is based on the company's GF110 GPU and it packs 480 stream processors, 60 texture units, 40 ROP units and a 320-bit wide memory bus that is connected to 1.25GB of GDDR5 video buffer.

As mentioned earlier, the EVGA GTX 570 Classified is expected to make its debut at Computex 2011. No details regarding pricing are available at this time.

ViewSonic Also Provides a 24-Inch Smart Monitor

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Mon, 30 May 2011 08:41:00 +0000

With the folks over at Computex now getting ready to get the show on the road, ViewSonic, like so many others, has prepared a whole collection of items to show off, one of which is an LCD smart monitor.

On a market where performance is already so high that variation in it can go by unnoticed, companies have started to expand their horizons.

To be more specific, the image quality and overall performance of today's displays is no longer the only feature that prospective buyers look for.

Power efficiency is one asset that is getting attention, but it looks like monitors and HDTVs that have extras like web connectivity and such are favored, to some extent.

That said, ViewSonic developed a 24-inch LED-backlit monitor that has all the performance anyone could hope for, down to 3D support.

The widescreen aspect ratio (16:9) makes a nice pair with the Full HD support (resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels).

Also, the newcomer has a very good response time (2ms), plus a contrast ratio of 20,000,000:1 and a refresh rate of 120 Hz (3D demands no less).

All in all, the V3D245wm-LED should be able to show off high picture detail and color accuracy, while the SRS Premium Surround sound and HDMI 1.4 support complete the feature set.

“We have continued to invest in our strategic partnerships with Microsoft and Google,” said Alan Chang, ViewSonic Managing Director of Europe and Asia-Pacific.

“At Computex, you will see that ViewSonic is not content with standing still and are continuing to innovate with 'display solutions', ranging from small as three inch ultra mobile devices to large 300 inch professional display solutions, all brought to the user with the ViewSonic attention to quality and service."

In addition to this product and the 10-inch ViewPad 10Pro, the outfit also prepared a pico projector and a digital photo frame, plus a series of camcorders.

Twitter Reveals Anonymous British Twitter User to Court

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Mon, 30 May 2011 08:40:00 +0000

A lawsuit involving Twitter is causing a lot of fuss in the UK and elsewhere, since Twitter revealed account details and private data of a Twitter account holder to the authorities. The main concerns is that this puts a dampen on free speech online, however, Twitter acted in full compliance of the law and, like in the past, notified the account holder and gave him time to respond and fight the claim.

The city council of South Tyneside, in the UK, accused an anonymous blogger and Twitter user going by the name Mr Monkey of libeling council members.

The council asked a California court for details about the user so that charges could be brought against him.

Twitter was ordered to supply all of the relevant info, but notified the user in question, Ahmed Khan, a South Tyneside councilor, that a court asked for his details.

The user had the opportunity to challenge the claim, while remaining anonymous. However, he declined to do so, not being familiar with the US legal system and being afraid of the legal costs associated with fighting a lawsuit abroad.

Twitter then proceeded to hand over the requested data, as it is required by law. Khan also received a copy of all of the data revealed. Khan denies being the author of the libelous accounts.

Twitter revealed the data for five accounts, only two of which Khan says are his. While he denies being involved, he does say he has been critical of the council in the past and believes the council is spending too much money with the lawsuit.

He also claims he doesn't need anonymity to express his views on the council members or their politics. Rather, he says he fears that whistleblowers which may have contacted him over Twitter may be revealed as a consequence of the lawsuit.

The main concern about the lawsuit is that it is the first time, at least in the UK, where a California court was used successfully to retrieve information on Twitter users. However, Twitter did all that it could legally do to ensure that the users are protected.

Networking Equipment Manufacturer Exposes Secret Password Recovery Procedures

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Mon, 30 May 2011 08:34:00 +0000

Networking equipment manufacturer Allied Telesis has accidentally leaked an internal support document describing backdoors into its devices.

The document, which was labeled as "INTERNAL ONLY," was inadvertently made public on its website and subsequently indexed by Google.

The question answered in it was "How do I obtain a backdoor password for my Allied Telesis device" and contained solutions for different types of network switches.

"Depending on the device that you are locked out of, there is either a built in Backdoor function, or a way to generate a password, based on the MAC address of the device," the support entry read.

In addition, it had several files attached, including default password lists, a password generator program and special instructions.

The content was copied and posted on file sharing websites before the company had a chance to remove it from public access.

"The Backdoor Passwords listed here are INTERNAL ONLY. Do not give this information freely to any customer as this can compromise a network," a note on the document reads.

This warning has sparked fears that attackers can use the information to attack network switches, however, these procedures require physical access to the devices.

The manufacturer claims they are industry standard password recovery features and says the use of the term "backdoor" was unfortunate.

"All documentation describing this password recovery process as a proprietary 'backdoor' feature is incorrect, and has been removed from the website," Allied Telesis said, according to threatpost.

"By definition this is not a 'backdoor' feature; it is a standard password recovery process for a person who has physical access to the device," it added.

Nevertheless, security experts have argued that the use of MAC addresses to generate backup administrative passwords is not secure because they can be easily determined.

Chris Wysopal, chief technology officer at Veracode, said that vendors could use cryptographic methods to sign the password reset commands and have the devices verify them.

Allied is now working on removing the information from websites that posted it and they have also informed their support personnel about the leak.

DNSSEC Adoption Endangered by Controversial US Anti-Piracy Bill

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Mon, 30 May 2011 08:33:00 +0000

A group of renowed experts have released a technical paper warning members of the US Senate that DNS-related provisions of a new anti-piracy bill endangers DNSSEC deployment and the security of the Internet infrastructure.

The controversial PROTECT (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act) IP Act proposes some very aggressive anti-piracy measures, some of which rely on DNS servers to blacklist domains that participate in copyright infringement.

The group of DNS experts, which includes Dan Kaminsky, the researcher who discovered a critical DNS flaw that pushed forward the adoption of DNSSEC, Steve Crocker, vice chair of the board of ICANN, Damballa co-founder David Dagon, VeriSign chief security officer Danny McPherson, and Paul Vixie, chairman, chief scientist and founder of Internet Systems Consortium, claim the PROTECT IP provisions are contrary to the US government's commitment to Internet security.

Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) are a suite of specifications meant to secure DNS, one of the critical components of the Internet infrastructure.

With DNSSEC, the requests between DNS resolvers and authoritative servers are signed, which ensures the integrity and authenticity of responses. This prevents DNS cache poisoning and other attacks.

"DNS filters would be evaded easily, and would likely prove ineffective at reducing online infringement. Further, widespread circumvention would threaten the security and stability of the global DNS," the experts write in their paper. [pdf]

"The DNS provisions would undermine the universality of domain names, which has been one of the key enablers of the innovation, economic growth, and improvements in communications and information access unleashed by the global Internet," they add.

Furthermore, the PROTECT IP provisions encourage migration away from ISP-provided DNS servers. This is a problem because many ISPs use DNS data to detect security threats on their networks and improve performance.

The group of experts feel that the goals of the bill can be reached through other means, like international cooperation on prosecutions, without endangering DNS security and stability.

Android Market Grows, Downloads Remain Behind

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:50:00 +0000

Google's Android Market, the portal through which all users of devices running under the platform can download and install applications, is growing fast, with some of the latest predictions on the area suggesting that it would be able to outpace the Apple App store this summer.

However, while the number of applications available for download from the storefront is on the rise, things are a little different when it comes to users' habits of downloading them.

Out of hundreds of thousands of applications available through the software portal, only 96 of them have been downloaded over 5 million times, a recent report (PDF) from Distimo shows.

Moreover, there is only one application that topped the 50 million downloads mark, the Google Maps, which makes it the most popular software in the storefront.

Further more, things are not looking good at all for around 20 percent of the free applications available through the Android Market, as they were downloaded less than 100 times until now.

The said report also shows that 80 percent of all paid applications were downloaded less than 100 times all around the world as well.

When compared to the Apple App Store, the Android Market clearly poses some more challenges to application developers than Apple's portal does.

“The refresh rate of top application charts is significantly higher in the Apple App Store for iPhone than in the Google Android Market,” Distimo explains.

“During the month of April, there were 94 distinct applications with a top 10 (free or paid) position in the Apple App Store for iPhone in the US; there were only 26 distinct applications that reached a top 10 position in the Google Android Market.”

When it comes to games, things are looking bad for Android as well, since only five games in the Market have over 250,000 downloads around the world, while the App Store had ten of them topping that mark in the US alone in the last two months.

Have a look at the graphs attached to this article to see the total downloads of all applications in the Android Market between April 1 – May 19 in the United States.

“The download tiers above show the proportion of applications that were downloaded worldwide between these intervals. The figures reveal that the majority (51.8%) of free applications have been downloaded less than 1,000 times to date,” the report shows.

Nokia to Release New Devices Faster than Before

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:47:00 +0000

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia is gearing up for the release of its first handsets powered by Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system, which would bring a change in the frequency at which it brings to the market new devices.

Apparently, along with its Windows Phone handsets, Nokia is also expected to put in place a faster device release schedule, so that more Nokia smartphones are available for purchase, faster.

“We should be launching new devices in a rhythm that might be every couple of months, every three months, something like that,” Nokia's executive vice president of smart devices, Jo Harlow, stated recently.

With Nokia bringing to the market handsets based on Windows Phone, the adoption of the platform is expected to rise among end users.

Apparently, the fact that Nokia adopted Windows phone as its primary OS is of great importance, for the future of both the platform and of the handset vendor.

According to Jo Harlow, while other companies see Windows Phone as their secondary OS, Nokia would mark a change in that, and Microsoft's software would gain more market share.

“We're going to keep coming with new devices in order to have something to talk about,” Harlow reportedly stated.

This year, Nokia should bring to the market a small number of handsets running under Windows Phone Mango, she confirmed, adding that more of them should be released in 2012.

Previous reports also suggested that Nokia might be set to launch its first dual-core Windows Phone device next year, with a ST-Ericsson chip inside.

However, that would happen only towards the end of the next year, and the focus at the moment would be on releasing phones that would prove good options for more users out there.

With Nokia in its team, and newly added partners, Microsoft would be able to make the platform available at more price points, in more markets that before.

Personify Mobile App for Android Phones Now Available for Download

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:45:00 +0000

Personify Mobile is a powerful business tool and one of the first platform solutions for associations, professional societies, fundraising organizations and other non-profits.

Developed by TMA Resources, a company focusing on providing association management software (AMS), Personify Mobile is fully integrated with the Personify association management software system, allowing staff and authorized members to perform a wide range of information, commerce and self-service functions.

Initially available for Apple's iPhone, the application has now been ported on Android devices to provide rich functionality and access to key features, even when the Internet is not available.

The application is built using CircleBack platform, formally known as Powered by DUB or DubMeNow.

“Many organizations have settled for iPhone only applications or single use applications based on an individual event. Personify Mobile goes further and provides members with much of the functionality that they find on their association’s Web site. Using their phone, members can manage conference schedules, update profiles, donate to worthy causes, and even purchase products,” said George Breeden, TMA Resources senior director, Product Marketing.

According to TMA Resources, support for the Blackberry platform will be available in the near future.

A fully functional demo of Personify Mobile can be downloaded from the Android Market as well as the iPhone App store.

Some of the key features of the Personify Mobile include: Android, BlackBerry and iPhone devices compatibility, staff management of members records, profile management, customer self-service notifications, member directory, contact exchange in-person or using email, featured products and events, searchable event calendar and detailed conference information, industry news feeds, and offline support.

However, the demo seems to be only available for authorized users that want to evaluate the Android version of Personify Mobile.

The application is compatible with all devices running Android OS 2.1 or newer and requires 2.6MB storage space.

Hide, Lock, Encrypt, Wipe Folders – Free and Portable App

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:42:00 +0000

Secure Folder has been designed with the purpose to keep your files safe from prying eyes. It locks your data using 256-bit AES Rijndael algorithm and can also hide the items from view.

Keeping information safe these days is not quite easy to achieve, despite the plethora of apps promising strong protection. In many case easy workarounds can open the door to your data. There are few programs that can indeed withstand cunning attacks.

But sometimes the easies solutions are the best. Secure Folder is a nifty little freebie geared up with plenty of protective features for your files. Besides encrypting your data it can also hide it from view. Moreover, you can use it to map a folder to a drive for easier access to that location; its functionality also includes a secure deletion component and a system cleaner.

The application comes both as a desktop installation as well as a portable download. If you go with the second there is no need to install, just unzip the contents and use.

Regardless how you decide to bring the program on your system you’ll face one of the simplest interfaces. All the options are condensed in the upper part of the window and most of the space is reserved for the folders you add and want to protect.

Secure Folder is protected by a countersign (“password”) from the very first moment you launch it. You are advised to change it for better protection, as this is the only key that can remove the security measures you enforce upon your data.

Support for drag and drop makes it easy to load up the directories you want to protect. A set of three options is at your disposal: lock the item, hide it or encrypt it. Of course, you can choose all of them to ensure maximum protection.

However, if locking and encrypting the folder work like a charm, hiding it does not really throw the invisibility cloak on them. We were able to bring it to surface by simply instructing Windows Explorer to display protected operating system files. Also, we noticed that the hiding occurs regardless of the security measure you impose in the software.

On the other hand locking and encrypting really did the job. The folder affected by these security measures showed zero size and we could not breach them.

An important aspect is that you always know which folders are protected and the protection measures enforced just by simply taking a gander at the main application window. Right near the secured folder you will see the protection modes currently on keeping it safe: “L” stands for Lock,” H” stands for Hide and “E” stands for Encrypt.

Drag & Drop to Upload to Box.net

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:40:00 +0000

It is getting easier by the day to upload date into an online storage account. With SimpleShare from Box.net this procedure reaches the utmost simplicity level as dragging and dropping the data into its interface is all it takes to get them into your upload folder of your Box account.

The application is not exactly a desktop client for the online service, but rather an upload manager, designed to facilitate uploading data to your account to the maximum.

SimpleShare is a 10.2MB download and it does not take great computer skills to put on your system. Installation procedure is actually a click-through process, which can be handled by beginner users as well, with no effort at all.

The freebie obviously addresses Box.net users, but if you want to benefit from its advantages creating an account takes less than a minute. If you opt for the free, personal plan you get 5GB of web storage, easy sharing of data and access to your account from a mobile device. On the downside, you cannot upload files larger than 25MB.

There isn’t much investment in the looks of the application as these are plain and simple, with the application window composed of two tabs: one is for viewing the basic details of your Box.net account and access the online upload folder while the other offers the configuration options.

As far as details about your account are concerned, you will be provided only with the current quota state of the web storage. This is presented in percent but you also have the cold numbers.

All the data you upload in your online account is stored in a specific folder which is created the moment your account becomes active. With SimpleShare you can easily access the contents of this directory, but, more importantly you can upload files there by simply dragging and dropping the items in its interface.

On the downside, there is no obvious hint to betray the fact that an upload job is in progress. Only if you look closely at the system tray icon you will notice it filling up; also, when the task completes a message pops up informing you that the file has been uploaded. But apart from this, which is quite difficult to spot, there isn’t any other indication.

A progress bar in the interface of the program would have been a neat solution, or at least display the progress in percentage upon moving the mouse over the icon.

Uploading items when dropping them in the interface is not the only trick SimpleShare has been conferred. The app also gives you the possibility to take screenshots of specific areas of your desktop or the entire screen and automatically upload them.

A more important screen recording solution, though, is capturing video of your work on the computer. Video recording job is triggered by a keyboard shortcut, Shift+Alt+5, which you can change to something more convenient. Just select the region you want to capture and everything will be caught on “tape”. The “stop” button is present in the lower right corner of the captured region. Once you click it, SimpleShare automatically starts uploading the newly created FLV file.

The configuration screen of the application is nothing complicated and all the options are shown in a clear manner, with no room for confusion. The list of settings includes the possibility to delete data once it is uploaded, disable automatic uploads or enable SimpleShare to start with Windows.

A very useful option is copying the URL of the uploaded when it is online. Since Box.net can be used for sharing data and collaborative tasks, this feature comes in very handy as it allows you to securely send the link to anyone you want.

“Preferences” screen is also the place to change the default shortcuts for taking a snapshot of the desktop, a specific area or defining the section for the screencast.

The same options available in the application window of SimpleShare are also available in the context menu of the app’s tray icon. Here you can even see a list of the data that has already been uploaded and access it online.

The Good

Getting data from your desktop to your Box.net account was already an easy job, but SimpleShare made it even easier. You just have to drop it in the interface and the upload process begins in an instant.

At the end of the transfer the link to the file is automatically placed in Windows Clipboard, so you can share it with others. You can take screenshots of your desktop and even video clips and get them online.

The Bad

Though the application is simple, it still lacks several features that would make its usage more comfortable. Making the transfer progress more visible and displaying the details of the job would be most welcomed in a future version of the product. A warning in the case of files exceeding the supported limit of a free account before starting the upload would also work well.

The Truth

All the problems SimpleShare seems to have are related to the lack of the proper features. It is the easiest upload managers we’ve seen. Further development should include at least minor adjustments to view the transfer progress.

'Dislike' Button Scam Rapidly Propagating on Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:32:00 +0000

Security researchers at the security firm Sophos have lately revealed that, Facebook scammers are scamming users into pasting rogue code into their web browser's address bars to get a Dislike button added to their options.

The spam messages published by victims say "Facebook now has a dislike button! Click 'Enable Dislike Button' to turn on the new feature!"

The scammers are making use of a hoax to substitute the Share link that is visible under the message with an "Enable Dislike Button" one. If anybody clicks the link, spam message will be shared from the user's account to all their contacts and friends. However, it also runs malicious code on their systems.

Cautioning the netizens, Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos stated that, as they had explained earlier, there is no formal or authorized dislike button offered by Facebook and wasn't ever probable to be. He further added that, however it remains something that several Facebook users would like, and thus scammers generally utilized the offer of a 'Dislike button' to scam the innocent netizens, as reported by Global Tvbc on May 18, 2011.

Another scam utilizing the Dislike button attraction is circulating by prompting users to paste malicious JavaScript code into their web browser's address bar.

This tactic is low-tech and should create a whole lot of doubt, but still, numerous users are falling prey to this scam.

Commenting on the above mentioned spam campaigns, which are circulating rogue code in the procedure of their execution, Fred Wolens, Spokesman, Facebook stated that, the spammers have redrafted their actions or activities so that it evades Facebook's scam identification system," as reported by ebrandz on May 18, 2011.

Fred further added that, netizens should be cautious and spread awareness. Users must ensure that their friends should be careful of the messages and alerts posted on their walls. He stated that, if someone receives such kind of messages, then he should immediately hide it or mark as spam. Marking the message as spam might be a better option as users can then help Facebook enhance its security from the future prospects.

Conclusively, Wolens stated that, Facebook is learning and enhancing the situation with every single new spam campaign and repetition of its defenses.

UK Student Hacker Gets Suspended Jail Sentence Over Malware Scam

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Sat, 28 May 2011 02:31:00 +0000

A 22 year old student of the UK University, Paul McLoughlin, has been released with a suspended prison sentence after being arrested for utilizing malware to steal users' login credentials for websites related to, as reported by PC World on May 18, 2011.

The Metropolitan Police central e-crime Unit (PCeU) stated that, McLoughlin was held responsible for compromising passwords from around 100 users and 20 user accounts, including one from his own, Salford University, as reported by PC World on May 18, 2011.

The offender scammed preys into installing what was supposed to be a software solution to avoid game licensing which had concealed within it the simply-available and effectual Windows password compromising utility called iStealer.

If downloaded, this tool can search an extensive array of passwords on the computer, comprising even those for e-mail, web browsers, quick messaging, social networking websites, login credentials and his deliberate target, gaming websites and services.

Crimes of McLoughlin came into limelight after a US citizen and iStealer prey got in touch with the Salford University, which further communicated the matter to the police.

On investigating the matter, Police ultimately traced the attack to a software pretending as a gaming utility that had been installed by McLouglin onto the file-sharing networks. Police, working in a close association with the security vendor McAfee and the University of Salford, recognized the encrypted aspects of an FTP server inserted within the malware, a finding that acknowledged McLouglin as a key offender in this instance.

Investigators think that the offender was encouraged by a wish to access free gaming facilities instead of making money through the trick, as he (McLoughlin) got an 8 months sentence - suspended for 12 months.

Commenting on the whole matter, Colin Wetherill, Detective Inspector of the Police Central eCrime Unit stated that, a trial for this specific crime is exceptional and comes under section 3A of the Computer Misuse Act 1990. He added that, in their attempts to maintain the Internet as a secure place, they will dynamically examine and impeach cyber criminals utilizing these tactics, while putting into practice the experience attained to their investigations into those engaged in more grave and planned kinds of cybercrime," as reported by The Register on May 18, 2011.

Novel Version of Alureon Malware Identified

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Thu, 26 May 2011 14:34:00 +0000

A novel variant of Alureon Trojan (also recognized as TDSS, TDL, and Tidserv) has been identified lately by Microsoft researchers, as reported by HELP NET SECURITY on May 17, 2011.

The Alureon Trojan has been in existence since 2007, and it's task comprise primarily in enabling the criminal to interrupt inward and outward Internet traffic so that he can gather private information and data, such as login details and credit/debit card details, but also to enable him to compromise the hacked machine with extra amount of malware.

Furthermore, Alureon is a famous and usually researched malware family that has few rootkit-like abilities in few of its variations. The latest version of the malware displays some behavior that researchers haven't observed earlier and which make it more troublesome for anti-malware software to find it and for experts to segment down its parts.

With the passage of time, the Alureon family of Trojans has been altered and directed to access rootkit abilities and utilized numerous tactics to stay concealed from the PC's user as well as AV solutions.

Microsoft took aside the latest version of Alureon and discovered that the malware presently utilizes what is basically a brute-force attack to decrypt its own encrypted parts.

Commenting on the matter, Dennis Fisher, Researcher at Microsoft, stated that, a specific set of files was consuming more than usual time to display malicious behavior than others. The researchers began finding out reason for all this, and concluded with a link from the past. He further stated that, at this point and situation the malware was utilizing Win32/Crypto-style decryption to avoid anti-virus solutions, as reported by Threat Post on May 16, 2011.

He further added that, the decryption feature or task maintains a documentation of all earlier attempted keys to evade using the similar key again and so running for an extraordinarily long time on a user's computer. He said that, this indicates that, the function will attempt a maximum 255 times prior to successfully finding the key. This magic value utilized during the final decryption step was earlier recovered from the header of the encrypted file.

The researchers further added that, however, that's not just the obfuscation and avoidance tactics this novel variant utilizes. Besides, it distributes the encrypted data all through the code, data, as well as resources, additionally obscuring the stagnant retrieval of the encrypted file.

Ratio of Malicious Downloading: Microsoft

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Thu, 26 May 2011 14:33:00 +0000

Microsoft stated on Tuesday (May 17, 2011) that one out of every 14 programs downloaded by Windows users displays the presence of malicious software.

Although modern browsers are well equipped with security features that are designed to caution users and bar them from unsafe software, about 5% of these users generally ignore these alarms and ends up downloading spiteful Trojan horse programs.

Even till the past five years, it was quite effortless on the part of hackers to steal away or decode information from computers. Innumerable browser bugs were present and a lot of users were not even good at patching. But, at present, browsers have turned out to be more secure and software developers can easily take away patches, in case of any problem.

Additionally, instead of decoding the browsers, hackers utilize a method called social engineering. For instance, this method is utilized in spreading spam among users through social network Facebook. In the disguise of presenting important and spicy news, users were being attracted to click on a malicious program.

According to Alex Stamos, a founding partner with Isec Partners, a security consultancy, attackers are quite acquainted with the fact that users cannot be easily fooled around in downloading Trojans, as reported by COMPUTERWORLD on May 17, 2011.

These sort of social-engineering hackers also instigate into infecting victims by hacking into several web pages and exploding fake antivirus warnings that seems like messages from the operating system, "Download these and you're infected."

Enterprises are also prospective victims to a kind of social-engineering technique called spear phishing. In this technique, criminals take time to find out about their victims and create a special crafted program or a malevolent document to be enough attractive to the victims.

According to Joshua Talbot, a manager with Symantec Security Response, attackers are quite intelligent and take the full advantage of any event that may turn down or attract people's attention. On tracking down 50 most popular malicious program during 2010, Symantec revealed that 56% of the attacks contained Trojan horse programs, as reported by COMPUTERWORLD on May 17, 2011.

Spammers Didn’t Switch their Tactics during Q1-2011

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Thu, 26 May 2011 14:32:00 +0000

As per the Kaspersky Labs' first quarterly report for 2011,cybercriminals did not much make use of new techniques for spam circulation and used the same conventional tactics during the first quarter of 2011.

One of the most well admired techniques, as per Kaspersky, was to dispatch links to a video clip promoting spammer services, another tactic observed was dispatching e-mails that says "Stop sending me spam" supposedly authored by an annoyed receiver of spam. The e-mail was actually a spam in itself with a video link directing the reader to a spammer's website.

Spammers also exploited the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster to dispatch spam e-mails capitalizing on these events and persuading victims to pay cash for false donations and fake relief funds.

Besides spam, the latest report notifies regarding malware. During Q1- 2011, Trojan-Spy.HTML.Fraud.gen sustained its top rank in the Top 10 list of malicious programs circulated through e-mail traffic. This Trojan makes use of spoofing technology and emerges in the appearance of an HTML webpage. The report highlights that, it appears with a phishing e-mail including a video link to a bogus website similar to that of a famous bank or e-pay system, where the user is requested to furnish a login as well as a password.

The report further stated that, the other leading entry in the Top 10 most malicious programs was an e-mail worm family that collects e-mail ids and circulate them through e-mail traffic.

Finally, Kaspersky's recent report also highlighted phishing statistics observed by the company during the first quarter of 2011. The amount of phishing e-mails was quite small and accounted for just 0.03% of the total e-mail traffic. The firm highlighted that, PayPal and eBay remained in the objectionable position of being the companies most regularly attacked by the phishers.

Commenting on the matter, Maria Namestnikova, Senior Spam Analyst at Kaspersky Lab, stated that, remarkably during Q1-2011 Google services, such as Google Checkout and Google AdWords were less taregted. The phishers shifted their focus to the extremely famous Brazilian social networking website, Orkut ( owned by Google), as reported by Techzone360 on May 13, 2011. She further stated that, it is worth pointing out that accounts of the users related to Google's services, including Orkut, are interlinked. Therefore, having got credentials for any one of these accounts, a phisher can avail any Google service registered with the similar user.

Andy Dolich Victimized by an E-mail Scam

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Thu, 26 May 2011 14:31:00 +0000

Exactly 1,398 of Andy Dolich's best friends or contacts got the same spam e-mail on April 13 (2011) that Andy was in some kind of problem and he badly needed their assistance, as reported by Mercury News on May 19, 2011.

Remarkably, Andy Dolich is an American sports executive, and presently runs a sports consultancy, Dolich & Associates, in Los Altos, California.

The alleged e-mail notified readers that Dolich was in London, where his passport and credit cards were stolen, and he was looking out for some "quick funds" to return to his home.

To send him financial help, which he guaranteed to pay back, he could be contacted at his listed e-mail id or at a cited phone number at the "hotel's help desk."

Commenting on the matter, Dolich stated that, he had a friend in London who believed this (e-mail) was sent from London, and who attempted to find him said that, he will help him. He further stated that, his 2 other affluent friends, not the kind to be influenced, were about to send financial help, but didn't. He further highlighted that, he was quite sure that few people must have sent money, as reported by Mercury News on May 19, 2011.

Dolich later found out that his Google account has been compromised by cyber criminals.

Unluckily, the scam that targeted several of Dolich's friends and contacts was the 419 scam or the notorious Nigerian scam.

There are diverse variations, but majority of them have the similar technique. A web-based e-mail account is compromised (similar to that of Dolich in the above mentioned instance). Then the cybercriminal imitates the victim (as Dolich in above mentioned instance), dispatching an emergency help to the victim's all the contacts and friends. Further, the security experts highlighted that, the message generally has few variation on getting attacked or robbed and urges the recipient of the e-mail to send money to a location the criminal can access.

Due to the maliciousness related to the scams of the above mentioned kind, security experts suggest users that, if they are actually concerned regarding a friend being troubled abroad, then they should firstly try to confirm the incidence through phone to check if they left the nation in the first place. Additionally, always keep in mind that, if a friend is in some overseas location, all foreign nations host embassies and consulates of other nations will help travelers who are trapped abroad.

HM Treasury Regularly Witnesses 'hostile' Cyber Attacks

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Thu, 26 May 2011 14:31:00 +0000

Recently, the Google's Zeitgeist conference was held on 16 May 2011. George Osborne, UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, highlighted during the conference that, during 2010 "hostile intelligence agencies" were accountable for several grave and pre-planned efforts to compromise the Treasury's computer and access personal and financial information. He stated that, these were element of a vast number of cyber attacks on government networks, which overall got over 20,000 malicious e-mails monthly, as reported by Guardian on May 17, 2011.

Previously during 2011, UK Home Secretary William Hague declared that attackers had effectively compromised government networks with the Zeus trojan or "Zbot", as reported by Naked Security on May 16, 2011.

Certainly, majority of the attacks believed to be targeting the UK government are targeting other organizations and businesses across the globe also. Governments and companies equally face the challenge of protecting their systems, as well as their private information from the cybercrooks.

The chancellor notified the Google Zeitgeist conference regarding an e-mail dispatched to the Treasury and its international collaborators during 2010. The e-mail was attached with a document. After few minutes, the similar e-mail appeared to have been again sent to the same distribution list.

Mr. Osborne stated that, as a matter of fact, in the second e-mail, the genuine attachment was exchanged with a file including malicious code. He added that, it would have simply appeared to the receiver of the e-mail that the attachment had been dispatched twice, as reported by FT on May 16, 2011.

The probable intent, as with nearly all cyber attacks on state IT systems, was to gain access to few of the several market information that the Treasury holds, making it one of the most famous targets for such strikes.

During early 2011, UK Home Secretary William Hague announced that attackers had effectively compromised government networks with Zeus Trojan, as reported by Naked Security on May 16, 2011.

Mr. Osborne stated that, during February 2011, William Hague, Foreign Secretary elaborated a series of efforts by foreign intelligence agency to access market sensitive information from British systems, as reported by THE WALL STREET JOURNAL on May 16, 2011.

Step back in time in San Francisco with Time Shutter iPhone app

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Tue, 24 May 2011 02:30:00 +0000

I traveled to San Francisco earlier this month to run the 100th Bay to Breakers 12K, so while I was making personal history I decided to brush up on my San Francisco history, too. While wandering the hilly streets of the Bay City, I equipped my iPhone with app Time Shutter — San Francisco Deluxe (it's also available for iPod Touch), which provides hundreds of historic city images and their present-day counterparts.

My hotel was on Union Square — a perfect jumping-off point for the more than 240 images provided in Time Shutter. Within the app, users are treated to a slideshow (it will run automatically or at your swiping speed, whichever your preference) of historical, fully captioned images of San Francisco landmarks. Immediately after each rendering, you'll see the present version of the location. Double tapping the screen will transition the images so you can quickly morph between the present and past.

Many of the included sites have been preserved, so the Flood Building looks similar to its 1908 version (minus the Gap, of course). Other sites didn't make it through history as successfully, though — the Orpheum Theatre-turned-parking-garage was a bit depressing. The app developers clearly made an effort take present-day photos as close to the angle and perspective as shown in the historic rendering. All of the locations included in Time Shutter are also denoted (and numbered) on a geo-coded map, which I found useful to create my own walking tour.

You don't have to be within city limits to enjoy Time Shutter — San Francisco Deluxe, but if you are standing on, say, Geary between Powell and Stockton streets, you can snap your own image of Union Square to create your own photo album. An overlay of the rendering will appear in your viewer so you can match it with your current view as closely as possible.

Time Shutter — San Francisco Deluxe is $1.99, but a free version of the app (with 100 fewer photos) is also available. I found the app to me more than worth its price, and I hope the developers consider launching the product in other cities.

Download the free Appolicious iPhone app

Square processing $3 million in mobile payments every day

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Tue, 24 May 2011 02:28:00 +0000

Mobile payment service Square seems to be exploding in popularity.

The startup hasn’t been around for too long, but it has recently picked up some steam with the release of a credit card reader for Apple’s (AAPL) iOS devices. Using the little device that plugs into iPhones and iPads, users can actually scan credit cards and process payments using Square’s mobile app.

Apparently, that service is pretty great, because Square has shipped 500,000 of those little credit card readers. It also has processed 1 million transactions so far in May and is clearing $3 million in payments every single day, according to TechCrunch. Apple has even endorsed Square by selling the $9.95 credit card reader in its stores.

Square recently pulled in $27.5 million in funding and investments from Visa (V), as well, and did $66 million in payment volume in the first quarter of 2011. At this rate, Square is on pace to do $1 billion in payment volume within the year. It’s also planning to add new services and expand its usefulness, starting with updates to its mobile apps.

Already, Square offers apps for iPhone, iPad and Android that are compatible with its credit card reader, which plugs into the headphone jack of those devices. Basically, that service allows businesses to accept credit card payments, even if they don’t have the traditional terminals necessary to do so. The iPad app has been revamped recently to offer better ways of organizing sale items for retailers and ways of inputting variations on those items, and a refined user experience.

Square is also rolling out a new service called Square Register, according to TechCrunch. The service will allow retailers to basically replace their cash registers altogether by using iPads in point-of-sale transactions. Register carries all the same functionality that used to come with Square – namely, the ability to accept credit card payments for businesses by just using a mobile device – but Register also has a companion app that helps increase communication between retailers and their customers.

With the older version of Square, once a transaction was complete, retailers could send along receipts to their customers either by email or SMS message. Register allows business owners to send a link to download an app to their customers as well, called Square Card Case, which basically stores loyalty cards for the businesses that use Square. That encourages users to become repeat customers, showing information about the businesses, other businesses that accept Square, and what customers are buying at those businesses, on top of all the useful info like orders and receipts.

Square Card Case also has one other cool function for repeat customers: those users will actually be able to put forward transactions as they’re heading out to a store, using a “use tab” function that lets Square basically skip using their credit card altogether. Square prepares the information when you’re within two blocks of the business, allowing you to just tell the retailer you buy from frequently your name, and leaving Square to do the rest of the work. Since you’re a repeat customer, your info is all on file with Square anyway – the merchant processes the transaction using your name and info and you receive a push notification when your credit card is charged. Meanwhile, Square Register and Square Card Case provide all kinds of analytics-type information to retailers, letting them know purchase habits so they can make smart business decisions.

Square Card Case will only be available for the iPhone, and it’s not yet available to the general public. About 50 retailers are using the service right now, but Square expects Register to become the norm for its users pretty quickly. Judging by how many transactions the company is processing right now, that seems entirely likely.

Android tablets won’t take off without any killer apps

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Tue, 24 May 2011 02:27:00 +0000

Earthquakes. PlayStation hacks. Call it a double whammy -- and it's wreaking havoc on Sony's expected earnings. In a year when Sony thought it would perform strong, the Japanese consumer electronics maker is suddenly facing losses.

Sony on Monday revised its consolidated results forecast for the fiscal year ended March 31. The good news is that Sony expects sales, operating revenue, and operating income to be in line with its February forecast despite the impact of the earthquake in Japan. The bad news is that Sony will bleed $3.2 billion of operating profit and miss its annual earnings forecast in the wake of the earthquake.

"The earnings drop preannouncement seems oversized and really highlights the exposure that cloud services have to hacker proclivities," said Al Hilwa, a program manager at IDC. "We have seen that viruses in the past have seriously impacted licensed software, but the impact on revenues is typically long-term and much less acute compared to these network outages."

Supply-Chain Interruptions

Sony also expects to take a hit on incremental expenses related to the earthquake, including restoration costs for sites damaged by the disaster. Sony figures it will spend 11 billion yen, or $134 million, to fix buildings, machinery and equipment as well as inventories. However, insurance should cover most of those costs.

"Our supply chain was significantly damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. In addition to direct damages, component-procurement conditions and power outages are also affecting our operation," said Masaru Kato, executive vice president and CFO of Sony.

"We have spent the time until last week investigating the conditions of recovery from this damage and reviewing our business plan whilst taking our new forecast into account, which has resulted in today's announcement. It has taken some time to reevaluate our business plan to include the impact of the earthquake, and this is one of the reasons that has caused a two-week delay in the normal timing of our year-end earnings announcement."

Remembering 1995

On April 19, Sony fell prey to another type of earthquake -- the largest data theft ever -- when hackers broken into Sony servers and stole the personal information of more than 100 million consumers. When the dust settled, the Internet activist group Anonymous disclosed logs that showed security holes in Sony's servers.

Sony's losses are the largest the company has seen in 16 years. Not ironically, it was also a combination of unfortunate factors that led to those losses. In 1995, a devastating earthquake in Kobe and challenges to Sony's movie business negatively impacted earnings. The news also means that Sony, which was expected to rebound under the leadership of CEO Howard Stringer, could post three straight years of losses.

Despite the disruption, Sony moved ahead with the news of its Sony Tablet with Android 3.0, which differentiates itself in the market with dual touchscreens. The device is supposed to launch this fall, perhaps too little and too late to make up for the losses related to the PlayStation Network hacking.

Google’s body of work

Google seems to be stepping in the right direction, however. Google Earth is a better experience on an Android tablet since its latest update, offering photo-realistic 3D building views that had previously only been accessible with the desktop version. Google Body, an interactive 3D anatomy app, also shows some great potential for what could be done with education apps in the future.

A lot of the time, however, such tablet apps are merely incremental improvements to their smartphone relatives, not game changers. It’s up to developers to create killer apps, and Android isn’t the only one at fault here: the iPad, too, suffers from a lot of half-assed tablet conversions that don’t really offer much. Developers continue to think about converting a smartphone or PC experience onto a tablet, instead of designing uniquely for the tablet itself. It’ll take some time, but once tablets become less ‘foreign’ and a standard experience that everyone can enjoy (rather like smartphones now) I think that the innovation will arrive.

Trouble is, even with all the brains at Google and all the pushing of Honeycomb-based tablets upon us, we’re still not that close to seeing truly innovative Android tablet apps yet. It’ll happen for sure, but Google could get left behind in the tablet wars if it doesn’t start to convince us that it’s the apps themselves that make an Android tablet truly worth purchasing, not just some fancy hardware specs and a good-looking OS.

Earthquake and PSN Hacking Will Cost Sony Dearly

noreply@blogger.com (NEWS) — Tue, 24 May 2011 02:24:00 +0000