Sponsoer by :

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Barnes & Noble unveils color Nook e-reader (AP) : Technet

Sponsored

Barnes & Noble unveils color Nook e-reader (AP) : Technet

Barnes & Noble unveils color Nook e-reader (AP)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 04:06 PM PDT

By MAE ANDERSON and SARAH SKIDMORE, AP Retail Writers Mae Anderson And Sarah Skidmore, Ap Retail Writers – Tue Oct 26, 7:06 pm ET

NEW YORK – Barnes & Noble Inc. is introducing a new Nook e-reader with a color touch screen for $249 as competition in the fast-growing industry heats up ahead of the holidays.

As the first full-color touch electronic reader, the Nookcolor stands apart from black-and-white competitors like Amazon's Kindle. The device can be used to read books, magazines, newspapers and an expanded array of children's titles. It also takes hints from Apple Inc.'s iPad with more games, Web browsing, music streaming and its own application store. Like earlier versions, it runs on Google Inc.'s Android operating system.

Barnes & Noble, which announced the product Tuesday, said it will begin taking orders for the device online and in stores on Wednesday and begins shipping in mid-November.

"I think Barnes & Noble did a pretty good job presenting this device as its own e-reader instead of just a cheaper version of the iPad," said Simba Information analyst Michael Norris. "It is focused on the reading experience."

E-readers are again expected to be popular holiday gifts, but competition has exploded over the past year — especially since Apple released the iPad in April. New models and price cuts for Amazon.com's Kindle and new offerings from Kobo, Sony and others intend to compete with the iPad and other tablet computers.

Nookcolor's features include full-color display on the new 7-inch screen; earlier versions offer color only on the bottom half of a dual-screen. It is lightweight at about a pound, making it easy to grasp while holding a cup of coffee in the other hand, and its battery is estimated to last roughly 8 hours between charges.

Barnes & Noble also is offering more digital books for the Nook, including more than 12,000 new titles for kids.

At $249, the Nookcolor is $50 more expensive than the most expensive Nook on the market. It is also more expensive than Amazon's Kindle, which retails for $139 to $189. But it costs much less than the iPad, which starts at $499, and that could entice consumers.

"What they want to avoid doing is creating product that will make consumers think, 'I'll just spend a bit more and get an iPad,'" Norris said.

James McQuivey, a Forrester Research analyst, said the Nookcolor doesn't threaten the Kindle or iPad or anything else — yet. But it does ensure Barnes & Noble gets a share of the rapidly growing markets for e-readers and tablet devices.

McQuivey was surprised that Barnes & Noble was first to the party with a color e-reader, saying he expected Sony or Amazon would be first. Still, it makes sense for the bookseller, which has had a tough year and is counting on e-books the Nook for revenue growth.

"I can see why they're putting the energy into it, because it might start looking like the knight in shining armor that any challenged retailer would be interested in seeing ride up on a horse," McQuivey said.

Other e-reader makers also are amping up competition. On Monday Borders, which offers several e-readers online and in stores, announced several offers that last the rest of this week. Shoppers can save $30 on some readers and get free shipping with online orders, or they can get a $25 gift card with a Velocity Micro Cruz tablet purchase or free e-books with a Kobo pre-order and 20 percent off e-reader accessories.

Also last week, Amazon said it would let e-book owners start borrowing books later this year, a service similar to one Barnes & Noble offers. And Amazon's Kindle is now available at Best Buy, Target and Walmart, along with Amazon.com. The Nook is also available at Best Buy and Walmart and soon Books-A-Million stores, along with Barnes & Noble stores.

Traditional booksellers like Barnes & Noble and Borders are pinning their hopes on e-readers. Research firm The Yankee Group has forecast 6 million will be sold in 2010 and the market will grow to $2.5 billion by 2013.

Shares of Barnes & Noble fell 19 cents to close at $14.98 but were unchanged in after-hours trading Tuesday.

___

Skidmore reported from Portland, Ore. Rachel Metz contributed to this report from San Francisco.

Apple says white iPhone 4 delayed until spring (AP)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 04:49 PM PDT

By JESSICA MINTZ, AP Technology Writer Jessica Mintz, Ap Technology Writer – Tue Oct 26, 7:49 pm ET

SEATTLE – Apple says the elusive white iPhone 4 will remain out of reach until spring.

Apple Inc.'s own "Apple Store" iPhone app lets people reserve products to pick up at local Apple stores. On Tuesday, bloggers posted screen shots of the app appearing to offer the option to reserve a white iPhone 4. By late afternoon, that option was no longer available.

Trudy Muller, an Apple spokeswoman, says the company is sorry to disappoint customers with another delay. She did not give reasons for the delay, but Apple said in July that the white models are "more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected."

Apple had hoped to make the phones available sometime late this year. The black version went on sale in June.

Yahoo tries to entice users with e-mail facelift (AP)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 07:23 PM PDT

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke, Ap Technology Writer – 1 hr 41 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – Yahoo Inc. is sprucing up its free e-mail service in the latest attempt to persuade people to spend more time on its website.

The new look debuting Wednesday includes several new features and repackages some previously introduced tools that hadn't been easy to find or use.

Yahoo considers it to be the biggest overhaul of its e-mail service in five years. As part of the redesign, Yahoo is promising its e-mail will run twice as fast as it has been.

Yahoo's estimated 273 million worldwide e-mail users will have the choice to switch to the new look beginning Wednesday, in a testing period that will last through at least the rest of the year. All e-mail accounts will automatically be converted to the new format at a still-undetermined time next year.

In a long-promised change, Yahoo is finally offering its e-mail users the opportunity to connect their e-mail accounts with their profiles on Twitter's popular short-messaging service. The addition means people will be able to see incoming Twitter messages and post their own musings, or "tweets," directly from their Yahoo e-mail. Yahoo previously had added a similar tool that connected its e-mail service with Facebook accounts.

Another upgrade will enable Yahoo's e-mail users to play videos and peruse pictures sent to them without having to follow links to a new page. Both Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. have already included some of this technology in their own free e-mail services.

Yahoo also is adding a pane on the left-hand side of the inbox that aims to make some common tasks easier, such as finding top contacts or searching for material contained within e-mails.

The e-mail facelift comes at a time when Yahoo has been losing luster with millions of Web surfers, many of whom are communicating with each other more in online forums such as Facebook and Twitter, or gravitating to Google. The migration has made it more difficult for Yahoo to sell advertising, a factor that has had been hurting its stock price for the past two years.

The number of Yahoo e-mail users was 10 percent lower in September than a year ago, according to the latest data from the research firm comScore Inc. That ranked Yahoo as the world's second largest Web-based e-mail service behind Microsoft's rival offering. Microsoft's total users have dipped 3 percent during the past year to 362 million. Google's Gmail has climbed 21 percent during the past year to 193 million worldwide users.

Cultivating loyal e-mail users is important because they tend to be frequent visitors and they often remain logged in when using other online services run by the e-mail providers. The return trips and logged-in activity creates more opportunities to show ads.

White iPhone 4 available now, if you live in the future (Macworld)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 07:31 PM PDT

Lex Friedman Lex Friedman – 1 hr 34 mins ago

Wonderful news for folks still waiting on Apple's long-promised white iPhone 4. You've waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. Well, now that you're so good at waiting, you won't mind Tuesday's news that you get to wait until Spring 2011!

As first reported by Reuters, Apple has announced that the Duke Nukem Forever of iPhones is delayed yet again.

Reuters quoted Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller as saying, "We're sorry to disappoint customers waiting for the white iPhone again." No further explanation was provided, though the company has previously stated that the white iPhone has proven "more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected."

Spotted at the press launch of the iPhone 4 and reportedly seen in public being toted by Apple employees, the iPhone 4 seems to really exist, at least in small quantities. But it has never materialized for regular iPhone buyers.

Macworld can also report that writing new stories about these repetitive white iPhone delays is more challenging than we originally expected.

Google executive pushes privacy concerns (AP)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 05:20 PM PDT

By DAN PERRY, Associated Press Dan Perry, Associated Press – Tue Oct 26, 8:20 pm ET

JERUSALEM – Google's global privacy counsel says he's surprised by how few people choose to control what ads are steered their way — a tool which the Internet search giant launched, albeit with minimal fanfare, over the past year.

Paris-based global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer said Tuesday that the tool — which enables users to prevent targeted ads or alter the parameters used to steer ads their way — was visited by tens of thousands of people per week.

That's a tiny fraction of the user base of the world's largest search engine.

"I have to say I am puzzled about why more people don't use more of the privacy controls," said Fleischer, speaking at a round-table with journalists at a privacy conference in Israel.

"It's a question that we ask ourselves. ... Is it that people feel comfortable with the status quo? Possibly."

He also said Google was hoping to get the word out about such privacy initiatives.

Google targets ads based on fields of interest it identifies in users, as evident in the "cookies" left behind on their Web browsers — virtual footprints showing which sites were visited. Thus it identifies preferences not with an individual or even IP address — which would presumably have greater value to advertisers — just the particular browser.

Under the relatively new "ads preference manager" a user can wipe out these cookies or alter the subject areas that were identified.

"You can say, 'You've been showing me ads for sports — I actually want travel,'" Fleischer said.

The facility is reachable by searching for "ads preference manager," by clicking on "ads by Google" buttons that appear along with certain targeted ads, and through a somewhat cumbersome process via Google's home page.

Fleischer said that of those who do use the tool, only "one in seven make a change ... which is a surprise to me." The count is suspect, however, because Google bases it on browser use — but often more than one user has access to the same browser, and some use more than one browser.

Fleischer also addressed the challenges of launching global Internet products when societies have different privacy tendencies.

He noted the divergent reactions to its Street View project — which provides street-level images on Google Earth and Google Maps — as a prime example.

In Germany, authorities had demanded that Google allow citizens to request their homes not be pictured in Street View — and Google agreed and says more than 244,000 Germans have done so.

"And yet, in neighboring countries like Denmark and the Netherlands, there's essentially no debate whatsoever," Fleischer said. "It tells me that privacy is very much also culturally defined."

Street View set off a firestorm when Google admitted that its researchers collected wireless information including entire e-mails, URLs and passwords. In a statement Friday, Google Vice President Alan Eustace said, "We are mortified by what happened," listing steps to protect privacy.

Another reflection of how cultural differences can play out: last March a Milan judge convicted him and two other Google employees of violating the privacy of an autistic teen because the Internet giant sought profit when it hosted an online video of him being bullied. The three were given suspended six-month sentences in a criminal verdict that was condemned by defenders of Internet freedom.

Fleischer did not comment on that affair, but did say he expected more efforts to agree on common privacy policies around the world.

"The Internet itself is driving (a) growing awareness," he said. "A lot of countries are coming together and talking about it more because everyone recognizes that it requires more of a global approach, more of a global framework."

He said that already "people are detecting more of a convergence between European and U.S. policy debates" on privacy — suggesting that Americans are becoming increasingly concerned about the issue. "There's certainly much more privacy debate in the U.S. now than ever in my two decades of being involved in privacy law."

Wi-Fi Direct Gadgets Could Revolutionize the Wireless World (NewsFactor)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 05:54 PM PDT

Mark Long, newsfactor.com Mark Long, newsfactor.com – Tue Oct 26, 8:54 pm ET

A new generation of consumer gadgets based on the Wi-Fi Direct specification unveiled in December will dramatically change the wireless networking environment when the first certified products hit the store shelves later this year, the Wi-Fi Alliance said Tuesday. According to the global trade association, the new technology will give consumers the ability to establish instant wireless networks with other devices on the fly without the need for an intervening home network, hot spot, or access point.

The goal is to make it easier to share apps or exchange multimedia content with any individual equipped with a Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as a laptop, web tablet, smartphone, e-reader or camera, noted alliance CEO Edgar Figueroa.

"We designed Wi-Fi Direct to unleash a wide variety of applications which require device connections, but do not need the Internet or even a traditional network," Figueroa said. "Wi-Fi Direct empowers users to connect devices -- when, where and how they want to, and our certification program delivers products that work well together, regardless of the brand."

Share Apps and Exchange Content

Although Wi-Fi was first used as a wireless technology for laptops, these days the technology is showing up in a wide range of consumer electronic products. ABI forecasts that 82 million portable consumer devices and 216 million handsets with Wi-Fi capabilities will ship in 2010 alone.

"As people continue to increase the number of devices and the amount of content they carry, Wi-Fi Direct extends an already-compelling technology into an even more useful, convenient solution for all the things people want to do with their devices," said ABI Research analyst Victoria Fodale.

With Wi-Fi Direct, the initial focus is on helping users with activities such as sharing gaming apps and synchronizing devices, as well as exchanging photos, videos and other multimedia content. The Wi-Fi Alliance expects all these capabilities will appeal to younger Americans, who carry an average of about 1,100 songs, 50 videos, and 1,200 photos on digital devices.

With Wi-Fi Direct, device users also will be able to send pictures directly to a printer, display images and videos on a TV screen, and even share a presentation with a group. About 90 percent of young Americans report gathering around a portable device to look at pictures, videos or video games, according to a new survey conducted by the Wi-Fi Alliance and Wakefield Research. In addition, 64 percent of respondents said Wi-Fi connectivity helps them maintain their social relationships with friends.

Push-Button Access

Wi-Fi Direct connections can only be established after one user has requested access and the other has granted permission. However, products certified for Wi-Fi Direct will feature a push button that will vastly simplify the process of implementing a peer-to-peer network connection, the Wi-Fi Alliance said.

Connection security is ensured through the use of the WPA2 security protocol, together with encryption based on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Also on tap is a partition capability for controlling which files and apps that network participants can access on a device.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has already granted Wi-Fi Direct certification to Intel's Centrino Advanced-N 6200 chipset and PCIe cards from Atheros, Broadcom, Ralink and Realtek, and other certified consumer offerings are expected to reach the marketplace before the end of this year. The good news for existing device owners is that current-generation gadgets compatible with the 802.11 a, g and n standards will also be able to join networks initiated by Wi-Fi Direct-certified devices.

Hijack Alert: Firesheep Exposes Facebook and Twitter Dangers (NewsFactor)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 06:01 PM PDT

Jennifer LeClaire, newsfactor.com Jennifer Leclaire, newsfactor.com – Tue Oct 26, 9:01 pm ET

Firesheep. That's the name of a new Firefox add-on that lets bad guys scan a Wi-Fi network and hijack access to Facebook, Twitter and other web services. Eric Butler, a freelance developer in Seattle, created the add-on and released it at the ToorCon security conference in San Diego over the weekend.

"It's extremely common for web sites to protect your password by encrypting the initial log-in, but surprisingly uncommon for web sites to encrypt everything else. This leaves the cookie -- and the user -- vulnerable," Butler noted.

"Facebook is constantly rolling out new 'privacy' features in an endless attempt to quell the screams of unhappy users, but what's the point when someone can just take over an account entirely?" he asked. "Twitter forced all third-party developers to use OAuth, then immediately released (and promoted) a new version of their insecure web site. When it comes to user privacy, SSL is the elephant in the room."

Grey-Hat Tactics

Butler released Firesheep to demonstrate how serious the problem is, but some security researchers don't agree with his tactics. In fact, Beth Jones, a senior threat researcher at Sophos, called it a grey-hat approach.

"I understand that researchers are trying to prove the point that these social-media sites need to secure their users a little more, but at the same time they've made it that much easier for people who are hackers -- or for people who even want to dabble in hacking -- to do so," Jones said. "There are better and more ethical ways to approach this than just fanning the flames."

Jones does agree that Twitter, Facebook and other web sites could do more to keep users secure. She pointed to Google's efforts to roll out SSL over Gmail. The SSL encrypts cookies, so even if malicious hackers can see the cookie, they can't see what's in it. When Google took this security measure, she said, Gmail still worked well and the precaution came at little expense to Google.

Should Facebook, Twitter Do More?

Twitter has had its fair share of breaches. In September, the onMouseOver incident left Twitter flooded with posts that tapped into a flaw in the site's programming and dispatched pornography and spread worms to innocent tweeters.

In February, cybercriminals relentlessly attacked Twitter. Many Twitter users received a direct message or saw tweets with phrases like "This you???" or "LOL is this you" followed by a link. They were warned not to click through because the destination is a phishing site designed to steal personal information.

Facebook has seen numerous attacks as well. In March, cybercriminals ran scams that targeted Facebook users, college basketball fans, and celebrity gossip watchers. One widespread attack was a common ploy security researchers call the Facebook Password Reset Scam. The cybercriminals send an e-mail addressed to "user of Facebook" that reads, "Because of the measures taken to provide safety to our clients, your password has been changed. You can find your new password in the attached document."

"I think Facebook and Twitter could be doing more and better, but I also understand it takes time," Jones said. "There are certain protocols they have to go through to get everything rolled out, but I think it's going to happen eventually. I am also very cognizant of the fact that, as a whole, people don't necessarily care."

PayPal unveils micropayments, Facebook integration (AFP)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 04:16 PM PDT

– Tue Oct 26, 7:16 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – PayPal unveiled a new micropayments service on Tuesday that makes it easier to buy digital goods and announced an integration with social networking giant Facebook.

PayPal said the new micropayments system "lets consumers pay for digital goods and content in as little as two clicks, without ever having to leave a publisher's game, news, music, video or media site."

It described the service, which will be available later this year, as the "online equivalent of dropping a quarter in the slot to buy a newspaper or play a videogame."

"PayPal's new solution solves a key problem for the digital goods industry by offering a faster, safer and more cost-effective way to send and receive micropayments globally," the online payment giant said.

"Every time a customer purchases content, publishers and merchants get paid quickly, giving them fast access to their funds," PayPal said in a statement released at its two-day developers' conference here.

PayPal said its fee structure for micropayments was five percent plus five cents for purchases under 12 dollars -- "lower than the fees typically charged by payment processors in the digital goods industry."

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said the social network will integrate PayPal's new digital goods payment service to make PayPal the way to make purchases on Facebook.

PayPal, which is owned by online auction giant eBay, said a number of other companies have also signed up for the service including Autosport.com, FT.com, GigaOM, Justin.tv and Ustream.

"The decision to purchase digital goods and content usually happens on impulse, so the act of paying needs to be as quick as that impulse," Sam Shrauger, PayPal's vice president of global product strategy, said.

"PayPal for digital goods is an ideal solution for game developers, newspapers, bloggers, media companies, and anyone who is looking to monetize premium digital content around the globe," Shrauger said.

EBay chief executive John Donahoe said meanwhile in an interview with financial news network CNBC that he expected PayPal to eventually be a bigger business than eBay.

LimeWire's file sharing halted by injunction (AP)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 05:01 PM PDT

By DANA WOLLMAN, AP Technology Writer Dana Wollman, Ap Technology Writer – Tue Oct 26, 8:01 pm ET

NEW YORK – Lime Group, whose LimeWire software has allowed people to share songs and other files over the Internet, received a federal injunction Tuesday to disable key parts of its service.

The privately owned company and its founder, Mark Gorton, have been wrestling in court with the Recording Industry Association of America, the body representing the U.S. recording industry, for four years. The RIAA contends that LimeWire's software encourages illegal sharing of copyright-protected music. In May, Lime Group was found liable of copyright infringement; a trial to determine damages is expected in January.

The injunction, issued by U.S. District Court in New York, compels Lime Group to disable LimeWire's searching, downloading, uploading, file trading and distribution features, effective immediately.

"The court has now signed an injunction that will start to unwind the massive piracy machine that LimeWire and Gorton used to enrich themselves immensely," said RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy.

Lime Group spokeswoman Tiffany Guarnaccia said LimeWire's digital music store will still be available.

"We are out of the file-sharing business, but you can make it known that other aspects of our business remain ongoing," Guarnaccia said.

Lime Group is also working on a new piece of software that the company promises will adhere to copyright laws. The new service will include a desktop media player, mobile apps and a catalog of music from which people can stream and download songs.

Guarnaccia said the company is far along in developing the software but declined to say when this service might launch.

Making the new service a success will require negotiating deals with the record companies to stock LimeWire's music. It is not clear what, if any, deals Lime Group has struck so far.

New Gmail Labs Feature Saves You Precious Seconds (Mashable)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 03:07 PM PDT

Adam Ostrow Adam Ostrow – Tue Oct 26, 6:07 pm ET

Gmail has just added a new "Labs" feature that should save you some time if you're the type of person that tends to plow through your e-mail inbox in bunches.

As the name implies, the new "Auto-advance" option (that can be enabled under "Settings" > "Labs") lets you automatically move to the previous or next conversation after Archiving, Deleting or Muting an individual e-mail message.

While that might sound like expected behavior, up until today, Gmail simply took you back to your inbox after taking any of those actions, meaning you essentially needed to scroll back down to wherever you were in your attempt at e-mail triage.

Thus, you can see how "Auto-advance" might save you some time – and probably not an insignificant amount of time if you get a lot of e-mail and aim to keep your inbox clean through the use of archiving, deleting and muting.

Have your own Gmail productivity tips? Let us know in the comments.

Netlog brings social network's status updates to Yahoo! (Appolicious)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 11:35 AM PDT

Oracle CEO claims can prove wrongdoing by new HP CEO (Reuters)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 08:40 PM PDT

– 24 mins ago

BOSTON (Reuters) – Oracle Corp Chief Executive Larry Ellison said he can prove that Hewlett-Packard Co's incoming CEO oversaw a scheme to steal Oracle's software by rival SAP AG.

SAP has admitted in court documents that it stole Oracle's software. A jury trial is scheduled to begin on Monday to determine how much SAP should pay Oracle to settle the case, with Oracle seeking some $2 billion in damages and SAP saying that tens of millions of dollars would be reasonable.

The matter is complicated by boardroom moves that have unfolded over the past few months: HP sacked Mark Hurd as its CEO and Oracle hired him as one of its presidents. Then HP hired SAP's former CEO, Leo Apotheker, to replace Hurd and named former Oracle COO Ray Lane as its chairman.

Ellison said in a statement that Oracle intends to subpoena Apotheker, but it could not do so because the executive has been living outside the jurisdiction of the San Francisco area court that will try the case.

Apotheker is due to start work on Monday at HP, which is headquartered in nearby Silicon Valley. Company spokeswoman Mylene Mangalindan declined to comment on whether he would testify in the case.

HP and Oracle had long been partners who teamed up to sell HP's hardware bundled with Oracle's software. That relationship began to crack last year after Oracle agreed to buy hardware maker Sun Microsystems, and then collapsed after the recent round of executive hirings.

The two sides have been exchanging barbs for several weeks.

"A few weeks ago I accused HP's new CEO, Leo Apotheker, of overseeing an industrial espionage scheme centering on the repeated theft of massive amounts of Oracle's software. A major portion of this theft occurred while Mr. Apotheker was CEO of SAP," Ellison said in a statement.

"HP's Chairman, Ray Lane, immediately came to Mr. Apotheker's defense by writing a letter stating, 'Oracle has been litigating this case for years and has never offered any evidence that Mr. Apotheker was involved.' Well, that's what we are planning to do during the trial that starts next Monday."

Hewlett-Packard responded by saying that Oracle had deposed Apotheker in October 2008 and that Ellison was insisting that he now testify in a bid to irritate his rival.

"Given Leo's limited knowledge of and role in the matter, Oracle's last-minute effort to require him to appear live at trial is no more than an effort to harass him and interfere with his duties and responsibilities as HP's CEO," Mangalindan said.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Bernard Orr and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

IBM authorizes $10B stock buyback (AP)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 02:18 PM PDT

– Tue Oct 26, 5:18 pm ET

ARMONK, N.Y. – IBM Corp. on Tuesday said its board approved an additional $10 billion in stock buybacks, representing nearly 6 percent of the computer company's outstanding shares.

IBM says the new buyback authorization adds to $2.3 billion remaining from a previous $8 billion authorization, issued in April.

The company also said it plans to request permission to buy even more shares at its next April board meeting.

IBM shares rose 83 cents to $140.67.

Companies often use buybacks to take advantage of low stock prices, but IBM's stock is close to its all-time high of $143.03, hit Oct. 18, just before it reported its third-quarter results.

IBM also said its board maintained the company's 65 cent quarterly dividend.

"IBM's higher value, higher margin business strategy has enabled the return of $91 billion since 2003 to our shareholders through share repurchases and dividends," Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement.

Dutch Team up With Armenia for Bredolab Botnet Take Down (PC World)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 09:11 AM PDT

Jeremy Kirk Jeremy Kirk – Tue Oct 26, 12:11 pm ET

Armenian authorities arrested a 27-year-old man on Tuesday on suspicion of running a large botnet that was dismantled after a unique take-down operation by Dutch law enforcement and computer security experts on Monday.

Dutch authorities said they seized dozens of servers used to control the Bredolab botnet, estimated to have infected millions of computers worldwide.

Bredolab is a type of malicious software program that can steal login and password details, log keystrokes, and steal any data from an infected computer. The Dutch High Tech Crime Team, which is part of the National Crime Squad, began investigating the botnet over the summer, according to a press release issued on Monday.

The Bredolab botnet was capable of infecting up to 3 million computers per month. By the end of last year, it was estimated that 3.6 billion spam e-mails were sent out daily containing the Bredolab malware, according to the High Tech Crime Team.

The team said it has disconnected and seized 143 servers used for Bredolab, working with the Dutch Forensic Institute, Govcert.nl, the Dutch computer emergency response team, and the security vendor Fox IT. The 143 servers were part of the network run by LeaseWeb, the largest hosting provider in the Netherlands, and had been hired through one of LeaseWeb's resellers.

The Armenian man was tracked down in a joint effort between Fox IT, which is based in the Netherlands, and Dutch law enforcement. The man is suspected of renting computers that had been infected with Bredolab to cybercrime players in other countries, said Ronald Prins, founder of Fox IT.

For example, a cybercriminal in Spain could rent 100,000 machines infected with Bredolab, then upload their own specific malicious software program to those machines, such as the Zeus online banking malware, Prins said.

The Armenian man had constructed a massive botnet, at one point infecting up to 29 million computers in countries including Italy, Spain, South Africa, the U.S. and the U.K. The Dutch police wanted to disrupt and shut down Bredolab.

"We wanted to take down the botnet," Prins said. "What we also wanted to do was make sure the botnet wouldn't switch over to other infrastructure under his control."

The Dutch police decided to use a tactic they have apparently used before, taking over the computers infected with Bredolab and directing them to servers not under the control of the Armenian. Fox IT helped with that by uploading a "good" bot developed by police to those PCs, Prins said.

The action started about 2 p.m. CET on Monday. Upon opening their Web browser, people with computers infected with Bredolab are now being redirected to a website set up by Govcert.nl, the Computer Emergency Response Team for the Dutch government. The Web page, written in English, warns people that their computer is infected and includes instructions for how people can remove Bredolab.

So far, at least 100,000 computers have displayed the Web page, which also has a link where people can file a complaint about Bredolab. So far, 55 people have filled out the complaint form, according to the Dutch National Prosecutor's Office.

The action by the Dutch authorities represents a bold move, as infecting anyone's computer -- whether it's with a "good" bot or a malicious one -- is likely against the law in many countries.

When the Armenian -- or whoever controlled Bredolab -- noticed that the botnet was being taken over, a distributed denial-of-service attack was launched against the infrastructure used by investigators, Prins said. But it didn't disrupt the botnet takeover.

"At that point, I don't think it was clear to him that the police were actually taking over," Prins said.

Investigators were able to trace Bredolab's controller to Armenia, which resulted in the arrest. Botnet operators are very smart, but they need to make at least 20 evasive steps in order to stay anonymous, Prins said.

"We only need one mistake to catch him," he said.

Mozilla Warns of Unpatched Firefox Flaw Used in Attacks (PC World)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 04:10 PM PDT

Robert McMillan Robert Mcmillan – Tue Oct 26, 7:10 pm ET

Mozilla developers are scrambling to fix a new Firefox browser bug being used by criminals to install malicious software on victims' computers.

The flaw was uncovered Tuesday by security vendor Norman, which said that it learned of the bug after analyzing attack code surreptitiously installed on the Nobel Peace Prize website. "If a user visited the Nobel Prize site while the attack was active early Tuesday using Firefox 3.5 or 3.6, the malware might be installed on the user's computer without warning," Norman said in a press release.

In a blog posting, Mozilla confirmed that the attack exploited a previously unpatched flaw, and said it had heard from "several security research firms" that this attack code has been used on the Internet.

"We have diagnosed the issue and are currently developing a fix, which will be pushed out to Firefox users as soon as the fix has been properly tested," Mozilla said in its blog post.

Mozilla said that the bug affects Firefox 3.5 and 3.6, but didn't say what operating systems are vulnerable. According to Norton, the attack seen on the Nobel Peace Prize website targets Windows. It installs a Trojan program that can then be used by attackers to download more malicious software and essentially take control of the victim's computer.

The attack does not appear to be widespread at this point.

Users who want to protect themselves against the attack can disable JavaScript in Firefox by locating the checkbox under the Tools drop-down menu in the Options Content tab. Users can instead install the NoScript add-on, Mozilla said.

Robert McMillan covers computer security and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Robert on Twitter at @bobmcmillan. Robert's e-mail address is robert_mcmillan@idg.com

Online travel coalition fights Google's ITA deal (AP)

Posted: 26 Oct 2010 06:43 PM PDT

– 2 hrs 21 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – Several leading Internet travel agencies and search engines are trying to convince U.S. government regulators to block Google Inc. from buying a technology supplier that plays an instrumental role in finding the best airline fares.

The opponents, led by Expedia Inc., have formed a coalition called FairSearch.org to fight Google Inc.'s proposed $700 million acquisition of ITA Software. Other members of the group, which was announced Tuesday, include Farelogix Inc., Kayak, which also owns SideStep; and Sabre Holdings, which owns Travelocity.

The U.S. Department of Justice is already investigating the deal, which was announced four months ago.

FairSearch argues that combining Google's dominant Internet search engine with ITA's influential flight software would stifle competition and threaten to drive up air fares. ITA's technology plays a role in most online searches for airline tickets, providing Google with the means to manipulate one of the biggest markets in electronic commerce, according to FairSearch.

The proposed deal "raises some serious concerns for travelers and the online travel industry as a whole," said Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

To help make its case with the Justice Department, FairSearch hired Thomas Barnett, who ran the agency's antitrust division from 2005 through 2008. Before leaving the government, Barnett threatened to sue Google to block a proposed search partnership with rival Yahoo Inc. after he steered an investigation into the alliance. Google backed out of the Yahoo deal to avoid a court fight.

Google contends ITA would allow it to build better travel tools that help both consumers and the travel industry. To ease concerns that the deal could make it even more powerful, Google has pledged that it won't attempt to book airline reservations nor will it try to withhold ITA's software from other websites that already depend on the technology to find and recommend the best fares.

Those assurances have helped persuade some online travel services that Google's ITA acquisition wouldn't harm them. Priceline.com Inc., Travelport and Orbitz Worldwide Inc. have said they don't have any serious objections to the deal.

"Our reason for making this acquisition is simple: ITA will help us provide better results for our users," Andrew Silverman, a senior product manager for Google, wrote in a post on the company's website.

Google has navigated through other rigorous government inquiries to gain regulatory approval to buy online ad service DoubleClick Inc. for $3.2 billion in 2008 and mobile ad service AdMob for $681 million earlier this year.
at 9:24 PM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

My Blog List