Macbook Air Hacked in Under 2 Minutes

One of the things that Apple has always prided itself over and promoted in no uncertain terms, has been the so-called 'robust security' offered by its OSX operating system. However this supposition of Apple's took a huge beating on Thursday when a team of researchers from Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) managed to hack a MacBook Air in just two minutes using a previously unknown security vulnerability in Apple’s own safari browser.

The people who did the 'hack' were ISE security researchers - Charlie Miller, Jake Honoroff, and Mark Daniel – who were participating in the "PWN to OWN" competition at the CanSecWest security conference, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

In this competition there were 3 laptops, with different OS’s offered for being hacked into. These included an Apple Macbook Air running OS X 10.5.2, a Sony Vaio VGN-TZ37CN running Ubuntu 7.10 and a Fujitsu U810 running Vista Ultimate SP1. Anyone who could successfully hack or exploit these machines would win a $10,000 price from famous security company Tipping Point.

The first to go was of course the Macbook, followed by Windows Vista. Ubuntu stood strong despite repeated attempts.

For further details on this hack, check out this post here on Tipping Point.

Apple Announces Safari 3.1

Apple has introduced Safari 3.1, for Mac and Windows PCs.

Available immediately as a free download from here, Safari loads web pages 1.9 times faster than IE 7 and 1.7 times faster than Firefox 2. It also runs JavaScript up to six times faster than other browsers

"Safari 3.1 for Mac and Windows is blazingly fast, easy to use and features an elegant user interface," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "And best of all, Safari supports the latest audio, video and animation standards for an industry-leading Web 2.0 experience."

Safari features an intuitive browsing experience with drag-and-drop bookmarks, easy-to-organize tabs, an integrated Find that shows the number of matches in a page and a built-in RSS reader to quickly scan the latest news and information. Safari 3.1 also supports the new video and audio tags in HTML 5 and is the first to support CSS Animations. Safari also supports CSS Web Fonts.

Safari software updates are delivered seamlessly through Apple’s Software Update application, which automatically checks for updates.

Safari 3.1 for Mac OS X requires Mac OS X Leopard or Mac OS X Tiger version 10.4.11, a minimum of 256MB of memory and is designed to run on any Intel-based Mac or a Mac with a PowerPC G5, G4 or G3 processor and built-in FireWire. Safari 3.1 for Windows requires Windows XP or Windows Vista, a minimum of 256 MB of memory and a system with at least a 500 MHz Intel Pentium processor.

Nat Geo, Zapak.com Launch Interactive Website

Taking off from National Geographic Channel's new series 'My Brilliant Brain ', Nat Geo and Zapak.com have created an interactive website called Brilliantbrain.

While the TV series celebrates the power of the human mind and examines three groups of genius to answer questions about the origins of genius, the website, www.brilliantbrain.in, features mind-tickling features for viewers to have fun with their mind, check their Genius Quotient and win loads of prizes. These features include mind-games, brain-teasers, multiplayer games where you can chat with other users while playing, blog, ask the expert section, videos of the international and local geniuses featured in the series and more.

The highest scorer on the website will win the My Brilliant Brain grand prize, which is a trip for 2 to Washington DC to visit the National Geographic Museum. Besides the grand prize, there are also Nat Geo goody bags along with limited edition Nat Geo telescopes to be won every week on the website.

Rajesh Sheshadri, Senior Vice President - Content and Communication, National Geographic Channel, India said, "My Brilliant Brain is a celebration of the incredible powers of the human mind. The focus of the promotional activities is to stimulate and challenge the minds of viewers nation-wide in an exciting and engaging format, with interactivity being the key. Our online initiative with Zapak.com is our way to reach out to our viewers in an innovative manner. Zapak.com is the ultimate destination for on-line gaming and an association with them has helped us create a unique My Brilliant Brain experience for the netizens."

My Brilliant Brain premieres on the National Geographic Channel on December 10 at 10 pm and will feature international and Indian content. The Indian film titled, 'India's Geniuses' will feature four Indian geniuses and will be hosted by actor, Konkona Sen Sharma.

New Windows Genuine Advantage to Roll Out

Microsoft Corp. is pulling back from a system that disables programs on users' computers if it suspects the software is pirated, opting instead for a gentler approach based on nagging alerts.

Microsoft said late Monday it will roll out the new version of Windows Genuine Advantage with the first service pack for Windows Vista, due in the first quarter of 2008.

When computer users activate a copy of Windows Vista or try to download certain software from Microsoft's website, the Windows Genuine Advantage system scans their PCs for signs of pirated software. As of now, if the tool finds an unauthorized copy of Vista, the glassy Vista user experience disappears and other features are suspended.

In the new version, PC users found to have a pirated copy of Vista will continue to be able to use their computers, but with unmistakable signs their operating system is a fake. The desktop wallpaper will turn black, and a white notice will appear alerting users to the problem. Each time they log in, they will be prompted to buy legitimate software, and every hour, a reminder bubble will appear on the screen.

Users with a high tolerance for irritation can put off switching to genuine software indefinitely, but those who relent and buy a real copy of Windows can do so at reduced prices – $119 for Windows Vista Home Premium, half the regular retail price.

"We want to make sure unwitting victims get a great treatment," said Mike Sievert, a corporate vice president in Microsoft's Windows marketing group.

Windows Genuine Advantage collects several pieces of information about a PC during the check, including the serial number on the hard drive and its IP address, but Sievert says none of that can be used to identify individual PC users.

In August, the Windows Genuine Advantage team at Microsoft accidentally updated its servers with computer code that wasn't quite ready for prime time. As a result, Microsoft said "fewer than 12,000" people who tried to validate software over a two-day period couldn't.

Some found legitimate copies of Windows hobbled after the tool labeled them pirated, and an outcry spread across Web forums and technology news sites.

Sievert said the glitch in August was unrelated to the change in how the Windows Genuine Advantage tool will work.

"Microsoft realizes it has to take a different approach with their customers," said Chris Swenson, a software industry analyst for market researcher NPD Group. "If you shut down someone's computer, you're going to anger customers."

Microsoft also said Monday the package of Vista updates will fix two holes in the operating system that have allowed pirates to create counterfeit copies – one that mimics the activation of software by computer makers before a PC is sold, and one that extends a grace period given to people who install new software, before they must activate it.

Sievert said Microsoft plans to offer an update for Windows Genuine Advantage that will run the piracy check regularly without the computer user initiating the process.

New Software Detects Web Interference

Increasingly worried over Internet providers' behavior, a nonprofit has released software that helps determine whether online glitches are innocent hiccups or evidence of deliberate traffic tampering.

The San Francisco-based digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation hopes the program, released Wednesday, will help uncover "data discrimination" - efforts by Internet providers to disrupt some uses of their services - in addition to the cases reported separately by EFF, The Associated Press and other sources.

"People have all sorts of problems, and they don't know whether to attribute that to some sort of misconfiguration, or deliberate behavior by the ISP," said Seth Schoen, a staff technologist with EFF.

The new software compares lists of data packets sent and received by two different computers and looks for discrepancies between what one sent and the other actually received. Previously, the process had to be done manually.

Schoen compared the software to a spelling checker.

"If you really had no idea what you were looking for, this could save dozens of hours," he said.

Increasingly people are contacting the EFF worried that their online activity has been disrupted by their Internet service provider, he said. The goal of the EFF's program is to "help consumers get more clarity about what the ISPs are doing."

An Associated Press investigation, published last month, confirmed in nationwide tests that Comcast Corp., the No. 2 U.S. Internet provider, interfered with attempts by some subscribers to it's high-speed service to share files online. EFF, which had been running its own tests, later said its findings were consistent with the AP's results.

The tests revealed that a PC would see messages from Comcast that were invisible to the user that told it to stop communicating, which would lead it to cancel a download or upload.

The AP's tests helped revive the debate over so-called "'Net Neutrality," how to treat all types of Internet traffic equally.

Comcast says it does not block access to any applications but does use sophisticated technologies to keep Internet connections running smoothly.

Some online activities, like peer-to-peer file-sharing, swallow massive amounts of bandwidth and can slow Internet connections for other subscribers.

Sabeer Bhatia Unveils Live Documents

Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia has launched a software product called Live Documents, which he claims has all the features of Microsoft Office 2007 and is available online for free.

"Live Documents will give you the same experience of Microsoft Office 2007 - which costs USD 400 - for free online," said Bhatia. "Live Documents mean Microsoft Office 2007 will be available in a browser. Many users can access a document simultaneously."

Live Documents has been developed with Java and Flash and it would work across platforms, he said.

With regards to security he said, "Documents would be completely secured on the Net. They are encrypted in the back-end. The user can give digital rights on who should open the document."

"If Live Documents makes 1 per cent of Microsoft Office revenues, then we would earn USD 200 million a year. If Live Documents makes 10 per cent of Microsoft Office revenues then our revenues would be USD 2 billion a year in the next three to four years", said Bhatia.

Live Documents has been developed by his Bangalore-based company InstaColl.

Bookmark Improvements New to Firefox 3

A new version of the Firefox browser, now available for testing mainly by developers, offers improvements on finding frequently visited Web sites and tools for running Web applications without a live Internet connection.

The Beta 1 version of Firefox 3 released this week still has problems, including the inability to run newer Web-mail programs from Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp., and a final version for consumers isn't expected for several months.

But it offers a window on what's to come.

Many of its new features concern bookmarks, an area typically slow to change in the browsing world. You can now add keywords, or tags, to sort bookmarks by topic. And a new ''Places'' feature lets you quickly access sites you recently bookmarked or tagged and pages you visit frequently but haven't bookmarked.

There's also a new star button for easily adding sites to your bookmark list - similar to what's already available on Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 browser.

Offline Web support - for example, letting you compose Web mail while offline to send after you're back online - is bound to come in handy as more software developers design programs to be run completely over the Internet, eliminating installation complexities.

But Web developers must add the Firefox offline functionality to their sites, so the usefulness of this feature will be limited at first.

Other new features include the ability to resume downloads midway if the connection is interrupted and an updated password manager that doesn't disrupt the log-in process.

Versions for Windows, Mac and Linux computers were released Monday by Mozilla, an open-source community in which thousands of people collectively develop free products, mostly as volunteers.

Apple Patches Leopard

Apple has released a huge security rollout for its products including its latest OS, Leopard. The latest update to Mac OS X 10.5.1, which weighs in at 321.5 Mb includes changes to a host of Leopard features, such as fixing a problem that cripples some software like Skype, when the firewall was put or setup in its most flexible option of data transfer monitoring. It also tackles problems formatting drives before they can be used with Time Machine, the integrated backup and restore software.

Among other fixes Apple has put out a total of 51 patches, 41 of which tackled vulnerabilities in the Mac OS X operating system. Among these 41 patches about 15 are rated as extremely critical i.e. can lead to a system being completely compromised. The remaining 26 deal with various other problems like “drive-by” web hacks to system oriented hacks which have to be maliciously applied by a person sitting on the machine.

The remaining 10 fixes are for their Safari browser. These include fixes for “Cross-site scripting” vulnerabilities and other “drive-by” hacks. One of these updates was however crucial because it permitted remote code execution.

For further details please head on to this security advisory.

Apple's Leopard is Here

Apple has announced the availability of its latest OS, Leopard for the Indian market.

This new upgrade has more than 300 new features and introduces a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to access files from the Dock; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and Time Machine, an interactive way to automatically back up everything on a Mac.

Leopard’s new desktop includes the redesigned 3D Dock with Stacks, which is an easier and faster way to organize files and documents of a similar variety for quick and easy access with just one click. This is especially helpful as Leopard automatically places web, email and other downloads in a Downloads stack to maintain a clutter-free desktop.

The updated Finder includes Cover Flow and a new sidebar which is a simplified way to search for, browse and copy content from any PC or Mac on a local network. Content on any computer on a local network can now be searched using Spotlight, browsed using Cover Flow or copied across the network with a simple drag.

Quick Look helps users to look inside files without launching them or even having the application that created them. With Quick Look, users can instantly view full-screen, high-resolution files including media files from any view in the Finder.

Spaces is a new way to organize their work by creating customized desktops, which can contain only those applications or documents needed for each project, with the ability to quickly switch between Spaces with the mouse or keyboard.

Time Machine lets users easily back up all of the data on their Mac, find lost files and even restore all of the software on their Mac. With just a one-click setup, Time Machine automatically keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on the Mac. In the event a file is lost, users can search back through time to find deleted files, applications, photos another digital media and then instantly restore the file.

Mail has been updated in Leopard and features more than 30 stationery designs and layouts. Notes and To Dos help users stay organized by acting just like emails that can be easily created, saved as drafts, synced across multiple Macs and stored in Smart Mailboxes. Data detectors automatically sense phone numbers, addresses and events so they can be added to Address Book or iCal with just a few clicks.

iChat offers richer video chats in Leopard with iChat Theater, which makes it easy to show photos, presentations, videos or files in a video conference; screen sharing which lets users remotely view and operate another Mac

In terms of pricing Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard is available now through Apple Authorized Resellers for a maximum retail price of Rs. 6,200 for a single user license. The Mac OS X Leopard Family Pack is a single-residence, five-user license that is available for a maximum retail price of Rs. 9660. The standard Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after October 1, 2007 for a shipping and handling fee of Rs. 461.

Marvel, Other Comics Go Online

Marvel is putting some of its older comics online Tuesday, hoping to reintroduce young people to the X-Men and Fantastic Four by showcasing the original issues in which such characters appeared.

It's a tentative move onto the Internet: Comics can only be viewed in a Web browser, not downloaded, and new issues will only go online at least six months after they first appear in print.

Still, it represents perhaps the comics industry's most aggressive Web push yet. Even as their creations – from Iron Man to Wonder Woman – become increasingly visible in pop culture through new movies and video games, old-school comics publishers rely primarily on specialized, out-of-the-way comic shops for distribution of their bread-and-butter product.

"You don't have that spinner rack of comic books sitting in the local five-and-dime any more," said Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Publishing. "We don't have our product intersecting kids in their lifestyle space as much as we used to."

Translate "kids' lifestyle space" into plain English and you get "the Internet". Marvel's two most prominent competitors currently offer online teasers designed to drive the sales of comics or book collections.

Dark Horse Comics now puts its monthly anthologies "Dark Horse Presents" up for free viewing on its MySpace site. The images are vibrant and large.

DC Comics has also put issues up on MySpace, and recently launched the competition-based Zuda Comics, which encourages users to rank each other's work, as a way to tap into the expanding Web comic scene. Company president Paul Levitz said he expects to put more original comics online in coming years.

"We look at anything that connects comics to people," Levitz said. "The most interesting thing about the online world to me is the opportunity for new forms of creativity... It's a question of what forms of storytelling work for the Web?"

For its mature Vertigo imprint, DC offers weekly sneak peeks at the first five or six pages of upcoming issues. The publisher also gives out downloadable PDF files of the first issues in certain series, timed to publication of the series in book or graphic novel format.

The Web release of DC's "Y the Last Man" sent sales of that book collection soaring at Bridge City Comics in Portland, Ore., the shop's owner Michael Ring said.

"They really do tend to be feeder systems," Ring said of online comics. "They give people that initial taste."

For Marvel, the general public has often already gotten its initial taste through movies like "Spider-Man" or the "Fantastic Four" franchises.

The publisher is hoping fans will be intrigued enough about the origins of those characters to shell out $9.99 a month, or $4.99 monthly with a year-long commitment. For that price, they'll be able to poke through, say, the first 100 issues of Stan Lee's 1963 creation "Amazing Spider-Man" at their leisure, along with more recent titles like "House of M" and "Young Avengers." Comics can be viewed in several different formats, including frame-by-frame navigation.

Ring expects Marvel's effort to put a slight dent in the back-issue segment of the comic shop industry, where rare, out-of-print titles sell for hundreds of dollars on eBay and at trade shows.

Though most comic fans are collectors, some simply want to catch up on the backstory of their favorite characters and would no longer have to pay top dollar to do so.

About 2,500 issues will be available at launch of Marvel Digital Comics, with 20 more being released each week.

Photobucket Advances Tagging Concept

The media-sharing site Photobucket is introducing a search mechanism that lets users append labels to specific faces and objects in photos.

The new 'tagging' feature, expected to launch Thursday, also lets users easily link to external sites such as online references on a landmark photographed.

Tagging represents a way to organize photos, video and other information with multiple descriptive words. On Google Inc.'s YouTube, for instance, video of a python attacking rabbit gets tags that include "python, snake, rabbit, reptile, eat, devour, food, chain", helping to guide people who search the site looking for any of those things.

Until now Photobucket, a unit of News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media, enabled searches of photo headlines. But someone searching for "bridge" wouldn't find a photo called "View of Golden Gate". Tagging allows people to attach both "bridge" and "Golden Gate" to their photos.

And users will be able to specify where in the photo the bridge is located. Likewise, tags can be attached to specific faces in a group photo.

With rival Flickr from Yahoo Inc., users must list every name as a tag for the entire photo, though Photobucket's new feature is like Flickr's Notes, which lets users attach a non-searchable note to part of a photo.

Alex Welch, co-founder of Photobucket, said he had been skeptical of tagging because many users add scores of meaningless descriptors in hopes of drawing more visitors. He said Photobucket was waiting for technology that gave tags more meaning.

When users embed Photobucket photos into other sites – such as personal profile pages at its sister site MySpace – the tags and attached links will follow them there.

Prices haven't been disclosed yet.

Facebook has begun transforming itself from an online hangout into an online business district. Companies can now create their own pages on Facebook for free, under a new program announced Tuesday.

Advertisers also will be able to show users their pitches in the guise of friends' endorsements, based on what the friends buy and do online. For example, if a friend has booked a vacation on Travelocity, the online travel agency will be able to display the friend's photo as part of an ad to entice the user to buy flights and hotel stays.

The friend will have some control over whether to share that information, but the user will have fewer choices over whether to receive it.

As Web companies look to boost advertising revenue by offering to target ads based on users' hobbies, interests and behavior, Facebook's move could change the tone of the site and revive privacy complaints it faced last year.

Facebook will rely on information in users' profiles and on friends' online activity to determine what ads might appeal to users.

"Some people may find it creepy," said Deborah Pierce, executive director of the San Francisco-based Privacy Activism. "They are trying to find some ways to monetize this and keep the lights on. If the disclosure is upfront, yeah, I think this is a reasonable thing for them to do."

Facebook has long prided itself on guarding its users' privacy, but the walls have gradually lowered. A feature allowing users to track changes their friends make to profiles backfired when many users denounced it as stalking and threatened protests. Facebook quickly apologized and agreed to let users turn off the feature.

Advertisers can fine-tune their audiences – having their pitches appear only to women under 30 who attended New York University and work at Goldman Sachs, for instance.

Facebook promises no information that could identify individual will be disclosed to advertisers. And its officials said users can complain again if they find the new targeting program offensive.

"If users are displeased with this, we will hear from them," said Chris Kelly, the company's chief privacy officer.

Privacy concerns aside, many Facebook members may be reluctant to endorse an advertiser for fear of alienating friends who had bad experiences with the same company, said Chris Winfield, who runs 10e20, an online marketing specialist.

"They are relying a lot on their users to make this happen, and that's going to be tricky," Winfield said.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, who founded the company three years ago, said marketers must respond to the changing nature of communication, driven in part by social networking sites like his.

"Pushing your message out to people is no longer good enough," Zuckerberg told about 200 advertising-industry executives, many already in New York for the ad:tech conference. "You have to get your message out to the conversations."

Facebook's usage has grown rapidly since last year, when the site opened membership to all Internet users. ComScore Media Metrix says Facebook had 30.6 million US users in September, compared with rival MySpace's 68.4 million.

Search companies like Google Inc. have generated a lot of revenue from text-based ads targeted to a user's search terms. Those have been good at fulfilling demand – users often are already looking for a car or a travel package when searching and seeing those ads.

Zuckerberg said Facebook planned to go after the bigger opportunities in generating demand; something Google and other sites are trying to do through display and other brand promotions. Seeing a friend buy a product or praise a band, he said, are good ways to generate demand.

David Hallerman, a senior analyst at the research group eMarketer, said Facebook's success would depend on how the site grows and whether users buy into the program.

It might help with movies and local restaurants, he said. But he questioned whether it would work promoting a soft drink: Coca-Cola Co. is among the early commercial participants that began launching more than 100,000 new pages Tuesday.

The key difference between companies' pages and individuals' is that businesses won't have access to individuals' profiles the same way their friends do, even when users formally declare themselves 'fans' of a company.

Among the new features Facebook announced, companies can now embed coding it calls Beacon on outside sites such as eBay Inc., enabling a Facebook user who lists an item for auction, for example, to generate alert messages for Facebook friends, who may then check out the item.

Users can similarly alert friends to their reviews of restaurants or bands they enjoyed and books or DVDs they bought online, whether through the Beacon or the Facebook page. And advertisers can have their pitches appear next to those alerts – appearing with the user's photo, though marked 'sponsored'.

"People influence people," Zuckerberg said. "Nothing influences a person more than a recommendation from a trusted friend."

Besides Coca-Cola and Travelocity, initial participants include General Motors Corp.'s Saturn, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures and the National Basketball Association.

It's unclear whether Facebook – a three-year-old startup with about 300 employees – is mature enough to deal with the diverse demands of thousands of advertisers, said Deama Zlotin, who runs SEMDirector, which provides online marketing tools.

"The opportunity is tremendous, but I think it will take them at least six months to get it right," Zlotin said.

Social networking sites like Facebook and News Corp.'s MySpace have been trying to find the best way to profit from the trove of personal data their users put on profile pages. On Monday, MySpace announced an expansion of its targeting program to include more categories and more advertisers.

MySpace lets companies create profile pages but doesn't have Facebook's system of alerts and adjacent social ads. However, MySpace appears to be trying to analyze its users' interests based on what they write in profiles.

Zuckerberg told reporters he wasn't worried users would consider Facebook too commercial. He said regular ads would stand out more because targeted ads can be better integrated with conversations users are already having with one another.

Yahoo Messenger 9.0 Beta Launched

Yahoo today announced the launch of its Messenger 9.0 Beta, a new version of the popular Instant Messaging software, that's designed to work on both Windows XP and Vista.

The latest version allows people in six new markets to use the program in their native language. They are the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and India. The Indian version enables users to chat in Hindi.

As for features, there's the obviously new design, and you can choose from several color themes. Avatars and status messages can now be seen right next to contacts' names. New skins and emoticons add to the visual appeal.

Aesthetics apart, Messenger 9.0 beta is fully compatible with video and photo sharing applications such as YouTube or Flickr, so sharing pictures and video clips is made simple via the inline media player.

A call forwarding option – rather like Skype’s – allows users to stay connected with contacts even when they’re away from the PC. Voice mails are sent as MP3 attachments via email.

File transfer is claimed to be much more secure, thanks to scan support from Symantec Norton AntiVirus.

Opera Releases Mini 4 Beta and Opera Link

Opera today released Opera Link. Wherever you are, whatever Opera browser you use, or whichever device you use Opera on, you can instantly access your bookmarks, Speed Dial, and personal bar.

Opera Link is supported in Opera 9.5 beta and the newest beta of Opera Mini 4. There is also a Web interface for users of any browser at my.opera.com. The Opera Web browser for PC/Mac/Linux and Opera Mini are available completely free for anyone to use and enjoy.

Opera Link allows users to sync bookmarks between PC and mobile device, and also supports RSS feeds. Another great feature the Opera server offers is that the compression level of pages is carried out well enough to help reduce data charges. This Java-based app can be installed in virtually any mobile.

"The web provides a key platform for mobilising content across a wide range of devices and web browsers remain the primary portal to that content," said Tony Cripps, senior analyst, Ovum. "Tighter functional integration between browsers running on different devices is a natural and important extension that will further benefit the user experience of the web when away from the PC."



"We refuse to believe people should compromise their experience when they access the Web from different devices," said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera. "With Opera Link, we give them a consistent experience uniquely suited to the way they want to use the Web. But as cool as we think Opera Link is now, we're already hard at work making it even more valuable to our users in the future. Opera Link means convergence without compromise."

Via GSM Arena.

Adobe Targets India's Education Sector

Less than satisfactory response to its products on a standalone basis from domestic educational institutions has prompted Adobe India to draw up new marketing strategies.

As part of this new initiative, the company has announced new site licensing and pricing packages for schools and universities.

For schools the company has a package called K12 (kindergarten to 12th grade). Under this scheme a school can install Adobe's software products – used for visual designing, web development and video production – in 500 of its computers, including the teacher's home computers, for a one-time fee.

According to country sales manager Sandeep Mehrotra, the cost depends on the kind of suite of software packages a school opts for.

For Indian universities the company's package is called Term Site Licence, which is valid for 12 months. The cost includes software upgrades that happen during that period.

According to Mehrotra, the company will initially target schools affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and other high-profile private schools, totaling about 100,000 institutions.

He said the company will conduct promotional events and contact the schools directly as part of its marketing strategy. Schools having fewer than 500 computers can buy the company's products on individual basis and not as a suite available under the new scheme.

Internet Security Threat Report 2007 Released

Cyber predators are increasingly exploiting trusted environments to target their victims, according to Symantec's latest Internet Security Threat Report.

The report reveals that between January 1 and June 30 this year, attackers increasingly targeted victims by exploiting vulnerabilities in trusted environments, such as popular financial, social networking, and career recruitment websites.

Symantec also reported that 61% of all vulnerabilities disclosed were in web applications. Once a trusted website has been compromised, criminals can use it as a base for distributing malicious code to users visiting the site.

Today, the threat landscape is more dynamic than ever. Identity theft is an increasingly prevalent security issue, particularly for organizations that store and manage information that could facilitate identity theft.

Compromises that result in the loss of personal data could be quite costly, not only to the people whose identity may be at risk and their respective financial institutions, but also to the organization responsible for collecting the data. Data breaches that lead to identity theft could damage an organization’s reputation, and undermine customer and institutional confidence in the organization.

Underground economy servers are used by cyber criminals to sell stolen information. This data can include government-issued identification numbers such as social security numbers, credit cards, bank cards, personal identification numbers (PINs), user accounts, and email address lists.

The report says that social networking websites are particularly valuable to attackers since they provide access to a large number of people, many of whom trust the site and its security. These websites can also expose a lot of confidential user information that can then be used in attempts to conduct identity theft, online fraud, or to provide access to other Web sites from which attackers can deploy further attacks.

The threat report also noted that cybercriminals are continuing to become more professional and some are even commercializing their efforts. They're taking a business approach to the development, distribution, and use of malicious code. The cost to obtain credit card details is $0.50-$5, bank account details are available for $30-$400, e-mail passwords cost $1-$350, while identity thefts cost $10-$150!

The most commonly advertised goods for sale on underground economy servers were credit card details, making up 22 per cent of all advertised goods.

The advertised price for bank account credentials varied widely and was dependent on the funds available in the account. Bank accounts that included higher balances were worth considerably more. Furthermore, bank account information that included personal information of the victim was more highly valued.

Email passwords were the third most common item advertised for sale, making up eight percent of all advertised goods. In addition, the value of the account was also based on the username in the email itself; email accounts with usernames that were standard English terms were generally highly priced.

Other findings in the report include:
Stolen credit card numbers were the most commonly advertised commodity on underground economy servers, making up 22% of all advertisements; stolen bank account numbers were a close second with 21%.
Symantec researchers documented 237 vulnerabilities in web browser plugins in the first half of the year. The report noted that it's a significant increase over the 74 discovered in the second half of 2006, and the 34 in the first half of 2006.
Theft or loss of computer or other data storage equipment made up 46% of all data breaches that could lead to identity theft.

Symantec also reported an increase in multistage attacks, which include an initial attack designed to deploy other attacks. A downloader, for example, is malicious code that infects a computer. It's designed to pull other code down from the Internet to further infect the machine. Symantec reported that 28 of the top 50 malicious code samples were staged downloaders.

India has been ranked 14th worldwide when it came to hosting phishing websites. Mumbai hosted 30% of the total phishing sites in India, Delhi 29%, and Bangalore and Chennai accounted for 12% each of the total sites.

Amazon Unveils Early Version of Music Service

Amazon.com launched an early version of its highly anticipated digital music download store, which is seen as a potential rival to Apple's dominant iTunes system.

Amazon's store, named "Amazon MP3," allows users to buy music without copy protection technology, so that the songs can play on a variety of devices including Apple's iPod.

Most songs are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with more than half of the 2 million songs priced at 89 cents, the online retailer said in a statement.

Many Web start-ups have proposed business models to take on iTunes, which has a 70 percent market share of digital music sales. Many have also failed as they get caught up in negotiations with the music companies.

For weeks Amazon had been expected to launch its iTunes rival after signing deals with Universal Music Group, which is owned by French media giant Vivendi, and EMI.

U.S. music companies, concerned about piracy enabled by file-sharing Web site, are mulling new business models with a goal of increasing digital revenue as CD sales drop more sharply than anticipated.

They also hope to create alternatives to iTunes to boost their negotiating power against Apple when licensing contracts are renewed.

Bluetooth Enabled Devices Unsafe: Symantec

Security giant Symantec Corporation has cautioned users of the possible dangers of using Bluetooth-enabled devices. Users of these devices are susceptible to several attacks such as Bluespamming (sending spam to a Bluetooth enabled device, Bluejacking (sending a message from your Bluetooth enabled device PDA to a stranger who also has a Bluetooth enabled device. It can also be used to flirt with someone or play a practical joke), BlueSnarfing (copy address information like business card data from a person's Bluetooth phone in the vicinity) and BlueBugging (this vulnerability allows the hacker to initiate phone calls, send and read SMS, read and write phonebook contacts, eavesdrop on phone conversations, and connect to the internet)

However, Symantec noted that Bluespamming does have a low-level security risk. Blusnarfing is also quite dangerous as it could allow attackers to sneak into an unfortunate user’s phone and scan through the data.

Bluebugging, according to Symantec is the biggest threat, where hackers can remotely control a handset while making calls without permission.

Office 2008 for Mac Set for January Release

Microsoft Corp. said it will release three versions of its Office 2008 for Mac suite in January, with the most expensive of the bunch aimed at creative professionals overwhelmed by the task of organizing their digital media files.

Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition, which includes three licenses for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage, an e-mail/calendar/contacts program, will cost $150, Microsoft said.

A $400 version aimed at professionals who use Apple Inc. computers, simply called Office 2008 for Mac, includes the same programs as Home and Student, plus the ability to connect to a Windows Exchange server.

A third version, the $500 Special Media Edition, adds features to the $400 configuration, including Expression Media, a program that helps computer users organize and manipulate digital photos, video and other files.

Microsoft sells Expression Media, one of several new tools for graphic designers and other creative professionals, for $299.

All three versions work on Intel-based Macs and older PowerPC machines. The software maker planned to announce the lineup and pricing Tuesday at Apple Expo in Paris, France.

Apple announced in August that it added a spreadsheet program to iWork, the company's own productivity software suite. Apple sells individual licenses for $80 and family packs, which allow users to install the programs on five different computers, for $100.

Amanda Lefebvre, marketing manager for Microsoft's Macintosh business unit, said Microsoft's offering is ''a really robust suite compared to iWork.''

For Apple users who don't want to wait until next year for Office, Microsoft is offering an upgrade program. For the price of shipping, handling and taxes _ an estimated $10 in the U.S. _ the company will send a comparable 2008 suite to people who buy the Standard Edition or the Student and Teacher Edition of Office 2004 for Mac through March 14.

NY Attorney General Subpoenas Facebook

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has subpoenaed Facebook after the company did not respond to "many" complaints by investigators who were solicited for sex while posing as teenagers on the social-networking site.

Investigators set up profiles as 12- to 14-year-olds, and the decoys were quickly contacted by other users seeking sex, Cuomo said. On several occasions, Facebook did not respond to written complaints, he said.

Cuomo joins several state attorneys general in raising questions about social-networking sites and how well they protect users from predators. Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal has said civil lawsuits against MySpace, Facebook and others are possible.

The New York investigators said Facebook did, in some instances, take down pages in response to their messages about inappropriate communications and content. But other complaints about user groups hosting "hardcore pornography" were ignored, Cuomo said.

"My office is concerned that Facebook's promise of a safe Web site is not consistent with its performance in policing its site and responding to complaints," he said. "Parents have a right to know what their children will encounter on a Web site that is aggressively marketed as safe."

Facebook spokesman Brandee Barker said the states' concerns are being taken "very seriously."

"As our service continues to grow so does our responsibility to our users to empower them with the tools necessary to communicate efficiently and safely," Barker said. "We strive to uphold our high standards for privacy on Facebook and are constantly working on processes and technologies that will further improve safety and user control on the site."

On Monday, Cuomo released a letter to Facebook over its safety claims. Those concerns are based on several "undercover tests" in recent weeks, he said. The subpoenas seek copies of complaints made to the company as well as its relevant policies.

Blumenthal said Cuomo's work "advances our common effort because it will likely produce additional information."

MySpace did not return a telephone call seeking comment.