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Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft: Vista piracy rate is half that of XP (blogspot.com)

Submitted by marulez
marulez writes: Microsoft said Monday that it's seeing piracy rates for Windows Vista that are half those of Windows XP. Now cynical me wanted to write this up as "even pirates prefer XP two to one over Vista," but that wouldn't be fair. In reality, the decline in piracy rates is largely due to the fact that Vista is much tougher to fake than XP. "Piracy rates are lower because it's harder," Microsoft Vice President Mike Sievert said in an interview Monday.
Worms

Submission + - Malware grew by 100% during 2007 (net-security.org)

Submitted by BaCa
BaCa writes: In its 2007 data security summary, F-Secure reports of a steep increase in the amount of new malware detected during 2007. In fact the amount of cumulative malware detections doubled during the year, reaching the amount of half a million. This indicates that network criminals are producing new malware variants in bulk. While no truly new malware technologies were seen the existing ones were refined and adapted for much greater effectiveness. Social engineering remains a key method for propagating malware, and more productive malware development tools and kits are increasingly used by the criminals.
Security

Submission + - Why are my banks stupid?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Why can't I find a bank that isn't stupid?

Wellsfargo.com recently started loading (and requiring) javascript from akamai.net. This gives anyone who compromises akamai.net complete access to all Wellsfargo.com online banking functions. It's sort of like finding out that the bank vault has a back door that connects to the candy shop next door. Sure, the candyman is a nice guy, and he even locks his shop at night, but he's not my bank!

Just when I stopped fuming over that for a few minutes, an envelope arrived from Citibank. It shows my entire credit card number and advises me that my statement is available online.

Is there any bank that takes security at all seriously?
Wireless (Apple)

Submission + - Apple releases iPhone update 1.1.1

Submitted by CheekyBastard
CheekyBastard writes: Apple has, as of today, released the long-anticipated software update for the iPhone. Version 1.1.1 was released this morning and features myriad updates, though not all of what was expected. Apple's security fixes are listed here, and a decent run-down of added features can be found here.

A quick list of notable features includes:

— iTunes wireless store
— Easy access to caller-specific ringtones
— Mail attachments (e.g., PDFs, Spreadsheets) can now be viewed in landscape mode
— Stock and Weather listings are now swappable (order listed)
— Additional text-message sound effects
— Data roaming on/off switch
— TV-out
— Developer debugging for Safari (accessible by setting)
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - What is the worst commute you have heard of?

Submitted by smitty_one_each
smitty_one_each writes: In these days where carbon neutrality is all the environmentally-friendly rage, I'm curious: who has the most brutal commute, in terms of hours sacrificed per day, on average, to the gods of transportation?
Let's define "commute" to be a work-related journey undertaken at least three times per week, over a minimum one-year time period. IOW, living in New Mexico and commuting by plane to New York on Monday, the flying home Friday does not count.
Under no circumstances will any postings be used in a punitive manner against the poster. There will be no carbon footprint calculations, and no speed traps set up based upon anything posted to this thread. This thread concerns morbid curiosity only.
Businesses

Submission + - Apple is the new Microsoft (in a bad way)

Submitted by
HairyNevus
HairyNevus writes: "PC World came out with an article today that compares how every bad practice Microsoft purportrated on it's users (bundling, monopolizing, copycatting, etc.) has become part of Apple's new business scheme. For example, the iTunes software is bundled with all iPods and even the iPhone. And unlike IE, which merely came with your new Windows PC, iPod users have no other option but to use the iTunes software. Additionally, once a user has received an iPod, started using it with iTunes, maybe bought a couple of songs, they're an iPod user for life; their files won't transfer to different portable MP3 player. The article goes into further details on recent copycatting and bullying.

Question is, will anyone care? Have we all gone so long hating Microsoft and adoring all the new, cool Apple toys to change our tune at this point?"
United States

Submission + - MA Treasurer Arrested for 3 Peaches at Airport 2

Submitted by boot1780
boot1780 writes: The treasurer for the state of Massachusetts announced that he and his family arrested by US Customs officials and "treated like criminals" on their way back from Italy due to three peaches in his daughter's carry-on bag. "It felt like we were being interrogated and found guilty without any process, no explanation, no rundown of our rights," he said. He was told he had to pay a $300 fine or spend a night and jail, but wasn't told that paying the fine waived any right he had to an appeal. Well, they nabbed the girl with the three peaches. Any word on Osama yet?
Networking

Submission + - Cablevision CEO has Verizon FiOS at home? (my-pc-help.com)

Submitted by
Keri_Love
Keri_Love writes: "As you may already know, Cablevision and Verizon are in the middle of heated debate over Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) Broadband and Television. With Cablevision slinging lines like "We're not afraid of your fiber!" Mike Murray writes in his tech blog today "click the picture to the right showing a Verizon FiOS can and drop directly above Cablevision's CEO Chuck Dolan's Oyster Bay, Long Island mailbox."

He's not scared! He's a customer!"
Space

Submission + - A telescope as big as the Earth

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "A week ago, seven telescopes around the world were linked together to watch a distant galaxy called 3C273 in real time and create a single world telescope. The data from these telescopes, which are located in Australia, China and Europe, was streamed around the world at a rate of 256 Mb per second. One of the Australian researchers involved in the project said that it was the first time that astronomers have been able to instantaneously connect telescopes half a world apart. He added that 'the diameter of the Earth is 12,750 km and the two most widely separated telescopes in our experiment were 12,304 km apart.' So he's almost right by cliaming they created 'a telescope almost as big as the Earth.' But read more for additional references and a picture showing the location of these telescopes."
Censorship

Submission + - Libraries Defend Open Access

Submitted by aisaac
aisaac writes:
Publisher plans to equate public access to federally funded research with government censorship and the destruction of peer review were exposed earlier this year (Nature, January 25, 2007). In an open letter last month, Rockefeller University Press castigated the Partnership for Research Integrity in Science & Medicine (PRISM) for using distortionary rhetoric in a coordinated PR attack on open access. Now the Association of Research Libraries has released an Issue Brief addressing this PR campaign in more detail. The Issue Brief exposes some of the distortions used to persuade key policy makers that recent gains open access scientific publishing pose a danger to peer reviewed scientific research, free markets, and possibly the future of western civilization. As an example of what the publishers backing PRISM hate, consider the the wonderfully successful grants policy of the National Institutes of Health, which requires papers based on grant-funded research to be published in PubMed Central.
Security

Submission + - Storm Worm is World's Most Powerful Supercomputer (zdnet.com)

Submitted by r0und*m0und
r0und*m0und writes: The Storm Worm Trojan is building what experts believe could be the world's most powerful supercomputer. The Trojan, which uses a myriad of social engineering lures to trick Windows users into downloading malware, has successfully seeded a massive botnet — between one million and 10 million CPUs — producing computing power to rival the world's top 10 supercomputers. By New Zealand computer scientist Peter Gutman's calculations, the Storm Worm botnet "may be the first time that a top 10 supercomputer has been controlled not by a government or mega-corporation but by criminals."
Technology (Apple)

Submission + - Toshiba crams in 120GB onto 1.8in disk (itpro.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: IT PRO reports that scientists at Toshiba have managed to put 120GB of data onto a single 1.8in platter. Apparently cutting tracks into the surface helps cut down on signal interference and boosts storage. This could see future iPods that are thinner and have more capacity — if you really need it!

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