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Journal Journal: mobile operators concerned by increasing malware

Journal by blusjune on Wednesday February 14, 2007 @03:49AM

Mobile operators concerned by increasing malware threat

13.02.2007 - Mobile network operators are increasingly feeling the impact of viruses and security threats that are already very familiar to computer users, new research has found.

Submission + - Teacher Convicted of Exposing Students to Popups

Submitted by

Bulldozer2003

on Wednesday February 14, 2007 @12:58AM

Bulldozer2003 writes: "A Connecticut teacher has been convicted and faces up to 40 years in prison after children in the classroom saw pornographic popups on a computer. Her defense, backed up by a computer consultant, says that malware from a hair-styling site brought up the popups. Possibly caused by the school's expired firewall/antivirus license. The prosecution argued she went to offending sites herself. From the article:
"Amero says that before her class started, a teacher allowed her to e-mail her husband. She says she used the computer and went to the bathroom, returning to find the permanent teacher gone and two students viewing a Web site on hair styles.
Amero says she chased the students away and started class. But later, she says, pornographic images started popping up on the computer screen by themselves. She says she tried to click the images off, but they kept returning, and she was under strict orders not to shut the computer off.
...
"What is extraordinary is the prosecution admitted there was no search made for spyware — an incredible blunder akin to not checking for fingerprints at a crime scene," Alex Eckelberry, president of a Florida software company, wrote recently in the local newspaper. "When a pop-up occurs on a computer, it will get shown as a visited Web site, and no 'physical click' is necessary.""

Submission + - BBC told Windows DRM is not enough

Submitted by

Richard Fairhurst

on Wednesday January 31, 2007 @11:19AM

Richard Fairhurst writes: "The trustees who govern the British broadcaster have demanded that its new video-on-demand service mustn't be Windows-only. The BBC Trust says the new iPlayer must be "platform-agnostic within a reasonable timeframe", explaining: "This requires the BBC to develop an alternative DRM framework to enable users of other technology, for example, Apple and Linux, to access the on-demand services.""

Submission + - Preschool Education from a geek's point of view?

Submitted by

andres32a

on Wednesday January 31, 2007 @09:05AM

andres32a writes: "I currently own a preschool that attends to 150+ kids aged from 1 to 5 years old, located in Ecuador, South America. We do have some classes with the kids that gives them some interaction with a mouse and so on... and i might be able to write a program or two using perl and/or flash if neccesary. I'm looking for suggestions on how to use computer technology to "give these kids a leg up in life", so to speak. Any ideas on how to improve Preschool Education from a "geek's" point of view is appreciated."

Submission + - PS3 vs Wii in the New York Times

Submitted by Silver Sloth on Wednesday January 31, 2007 @08:57AM

Silver Sloth writes: The New York Times has an article comparing sales of the PS3 vs The Wii. From TFA

The competitive picture became clearer on Tuesday, when Sony reported disappointing profits that industry analysts attributed largely to the expensive and shaky rollout of the PlayStation 3 and lukewarm demand for the complex machines. By contrast, Nintendo said last week that its own third-quarter sales were up 40 percent from a year earlier, buoyed by Wii sales.

Submission + - Peugeot Citroën revs up 20,000 Suse Linux

Submitted by

Francis Giannaros

on Wednesday January 31, 2007 @06:31AM

Francis Giannaros writes: "Peugeot Citroën will be deploying 20,000 thousand SUSE Linux Enterprise desktops, and 2,500 servers, in one of the Continent's largest-ever deployments of open-source Linux software on desktop computers. From the article:
"Officials from Peugeot Citroën were unavailable for comment, but Novell said in a statement, quoting an IT representative from the French company, that support for Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop and the user-friendly design of the software were key factors in the selection process.""

Submission + - Convincing Internet Prank Hits YouTube

Submitted by RulerOf on Monday January 29, 2007 @06:20AM

RulerOf writes: Three days ago a video was posted on YouTube called "How to Sign Up for GoogleTV Beta" along with four others as part of a series called "Infinite Solutions with Mark Erickson." The video was covered over at Gizmodo and after reading the article's comments, the joke becomes much more obvious. Follow the links for some very well done pranks from How to Unlock a Hidden Minesweeper Mode to Boosting your WiFi signal with a salad bowl.

It's all wonderfully wrapped up with a reassuring video that, among highlighting the jokes, gives a much better shot of the GoogleTV beta.

Submission + - Swedish Military goes Open Source

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 26, 2007 @08:50AM

An anonymous reader writes: The Swedish military is migrating several systems from MS Windows NT to Red Hat Linux, according to a story on idg.se (swedish only). They are already using some Linux systems — and more migrations to open source software are likely says Jonna Lidman, who works at the military's IT department.

Submission + - MPAA Law Enforcement Ineffective

Submitted by

Silver Sloth

on Friday January 26, 2007 @06:40AM

Silver Sloth writes: "IMDB is reporting that Studio Breifing is reporting that

A new study has suggested that efforts by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and law-enforcement authorities to crack down on online movie piracy have been largely ineffective. The study by Solutions Research Group discloses that 32 million Americans over the age of 12, about 20 percent of the U.S. online population, have downloaded at least one film, while 63 percent of those are considered regular pirates. Typically, a regular movie downloader is around 29 years old, male, and has 16 films stored on his PC. While 78 percent of those interviewed by the researchers said that they regarded stealing a DVD from a retail store to be a serious offense, only 40 percent said the same about downloading one from the Internet.
"

Submission + - New HD Formats: Why Should We Care?

Submitted by Kent Gershengorn on Friday January 26, 2007 @05:45AM

Kent Gershengorn writes: Should we really care about HD-DVD or BlueRay technology? FastSilicon.com has written an article that discusses the future of these formats, and ultimately, how they're going to fail. With more illegal movie downloads than ever before, and the transition to streaming media in the household, this is one article you can't pass up.

From the article: Because of these issues, we tend to think that it honestly doesn't matter which of the high definition media formats ultimately wins the "war", perhaps because it's a war being fought over an already apathetic consumer in the first place. And by the time high definition media (whether it's HD-DVD or Blueray) is ubiquitous, plentiful, and cheap, we feel the average consumer might possibly be too busy downloading or streaming their content to care.

Submission + - Top Rated Internet Sportsbook Closes Doors To U.S.

Submitted by

Sound of Silence

on Thursday January 11, 2007 @10:15AM

Sound of Silence writes: "Pinnacle Sports Closed To Americans Due To Internet Gambling Bill — Since 1998, Pinnacle Sports has been doing online business with US citizens who enjoy gambling, but when American gamblers signed onto their accounts this morning, they were informed they could no longer place bets with this sports book located in Curacao. Pinnacle's "main man" gave EOG an exclusive interview this morning and here is some of what he had to say: "It is with sadness that we have chosen to leave the US market, but we are so grateful for all the customers we've acquired throughout the years" When asked why Pinnacle Sports elected not to give any advance notice, he stated the following: "We didn't want anyone to have time to take shots at us." He started to reflect at this point: "When the U.S. focuses on something and says 'enough," and when they go to 'war,' no individual company can possibly win in a fight of this nature." "Since the Internet Gambling Bill went into effect, we have lost the ability to do business with many quality banks." "Fortunately, 35-40% of our current gambling business is non US driven, and perhaps more importantly, we are experiencing stronger growth in Europe and Asia, than we are in the United States." "So why live in fear?" To conclude, all US citizens are encouraged to ask for their balances as soon as possible. Pinnacle assured Eye on Gambling that everyone will be paid promptly. Read the full story: http://www.eog.com/news/full-article.aspx?id=16428 "

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