Bug affects Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7
Microsoft has warned that hackers are already exploiting the flaw, which could allow them to remotely take control of a computer running Microsoft's Windows operating system. Computer users running Internet Explorer 5.01 or the latest release, Internet Explorer 8, are not affected by the vulnerability.
"At this time, we are aware of targeted attacks attempting to use this vulnerability," Microsoft said in a security advisory. "We will continue to monitor the threat environment and update this advisory if this situation changes."
Intel on Thursday showed off a wireless electric power system that analysts say could revolutionize modern life by freeing devices from transformers and wall outlets.
Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner demonstrated a Wireless Energy Resonant Link as he spoke at the California firm's annual developers forum in San Francisco.
Electricity was sent wirelessly to a lamp on stage, lighting a 60 watt bulb that uses more power than a typical laptop computer.
Most importantly, the electricity was transmitted without zapping anything or anyone that got between the sending and receiving units.
"The trick with wireless power is not can you do it; it's can you do it safely and efficiently," Intel researcher Josh Smith said in an online video explaining the breakthrough.
"It turns out the human body is not affected by magnetic fields; it is affected by elective fields. So what we are doing is transmitting energy using the magnetic field not the electric field."
Examples of potential applications include airports, offices or other buildings that could be rigged to supply power to laptops, mobile telephones or other devices toted into them.
The technology could also be built into plugged in computer components, such as monitors, to enable them to broadcast power to devices left on desks or carried into rooms, according to Smith.
"Initially it eliminates chargers and eventually it eliminates batteries all together," analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group said of Intel's wireless power system.
"That is potentially a world changing event. This is the closest we've had to something being commercially available in this class."
Previous wireless power systems consisted basically of firing lightning bolts from sending to receiving units.
Smith says Intel's wireless power system is still in an early stage of development and much research remains before it can be brought to market.
Rattner spoke of technological transformations he expects by the year 2050.
"You'd like to cut the last cord," Smith said.
"It's great that we have wireless email and wireless internet and stuff like that but at the end of the day it would be nice to have wireless recharge as well."
91% Of Japanese Will Not Buy iPhone 3G
By Marin Perez
InformationWeek Fri Jun 20, 5:30 AM ET
At Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference, Steve Jobs was greeted with cheers when he demonstrated the Japanese character recognition of the upcoming iPhone 3G.
But a new survey from iSHARE reveals that Apple's handset may not be greeted as favorably by the Japanese market, as 91% of respondents surveyed said they have no plans to buy the iPhone 3G.
One possible reason is that the iPhone lacks a removable battery, of which 77% of respondents said they preferred a removable battery. Another issue could be that SoftBank, the only wireless provider that will offer Apple's handset at launch, is the nation's third-largest carrier.
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
Laptop computer storage is racing fast towards the 500G-byte level with Fujitsu becoming the third hard-disk drive maker to announce a drive at that capacity.
Fujitsu is accomplishing this capacity by combining three disk platters-- the magnetically-coated disks on which data is stored-- each with a 170G-byte capacity inside the drive. Hitachi, the first company to announce a 500G-byte drive, and Samsung Electronics are also using three platter designs.The third platter increases the thickness of the drive to 12.5 millimeters versus most other laptop drives, which have just two platters and are 9.5 millimeters thick.
As a result the Fujitsu drive won't fit into the drive bay on many laptop computers, so its availability doesn't mean an instant capacity upgrade will be possible for all laptop users. Hitachi's drive is also 12.5 millimeters thick, but Samsung said it has been able to keep the drive height at 9.5 millimeters on its Spinpoint M6 drive.
Fujitsu will begin selling its 2.5-inch drive in May. It will have a Serial ATA (SATA) interface and can transfer data at up to 300M bytes per second. The average seek time for reading data on the 4,200 rpm drive is 12 milliseconds and 14 milliseconds for writing data. Fujitsu didn't announce pricing.
Hitachi said in January that it would ship its drive this month and Samsung announced a March shipping date. Both the Hitachi and Samsung drives spin the disk faster, at 5,400 rpm.
All three drives will also be aimed at the fast growing digital video recorder (DVR) market. Many of the DVRs use laptop drives because they are smaller and lighter than the 3.5-inch models typically made for desktop computers and servers.
Japanes women at an internet cafe in Tokyo. Japan has launched a satellite aimed at providing high-speed Internet access across Asia, after a one-week delay.
(AFP/File/Yoshikazu Tsuno)news...
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan Saturday launched a satellite aimed at providing high-speed Internet access across Asia, after a one-week delay.
The experimental satellite is looking at how to ensure broadband-speed services across Asia, even when terrestrial infrastructure goes down.
The Kizuna launched at 17:55 pm (0855 GMT) from the Space Centre on the small island of Tanegashima off the southern tip of Kyushu Island, southern Japan.
"The rocket launch went smoothly," a spokeswoman for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in Tokyo said.
Preparations before the launch Saturday included fully loading liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks and checking the radio frequency system between the launch vehicle and ground stations, the agency said.
The launch comes after the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said last week it had discovered a problem with the gas jet thruster for its launch rocket.
Japan, like developing Asian powers China and India, has been stepping up its space operations and has set a goal of sending an astronaut to the moon by 2020.
Models pose with Toshiba's new 'HD-XA1' HD DVD player in Tokyo in this Friday, March 31, 2006 file photo. Toshiba may pull the plug on its HD DVD next-generation video format, the Japanese electronics maker said Monday, Feb. 18,2008. Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp. said in a statement that no decision has been made, but acknowledged it had started a review of its HD DVD business strategy. The comment came after weekend Japanese media reports, including in Kyodo News, that the company is studying a possible withdrawal from HD DVD.
(AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara, File)Richard Koman, newsfactor.com Wed Feb 13
Reports that Apple is cutting production orders on current iPhone models support rumors that a 3G version of the cutting-edge device is in the works for midyear, analysts say.
Last week, Craig Berger of FBR Research reported to clients that Apple has been accelerating production cuts for the iPhone and iPod Touch. "For both iPods and iPhones, we believe Apple was previously targeting a roughly 50 percent quarter-over-quarter decline for first-quarter units, whereas we now think the firm is targeting a 60 percent quarter-over-quarter unit decline for first-quarter units," Berger said.
In a research note Monday, analyst Richard Gardner of Citigroup cited the falling production numbers as an indicator that Apple is gearing up for a new model, The Washington Post reported. In Europe, iPhone sales have been underwhelming. "We believe that lack of 3G has been a significant headwind for iPhone in Europe, where 3G is already pervasive," Gardner said.
A television monitor shows how a new social network site Gypsii, launched this week at the Mobile World Congress, allows users to locate their contacts owing to new technology that uses the mobile phone as a tracking device in Barcelona.
(AFP/File/Josep Lago)by Adam Plowright Wed Feb 13, 12:22 PM ET
BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) - Users of social network sites like Facebook will soon be sharing their exact whereabouts with their friends in real-time, owing to new technology that uses the mobile phone as a tracking device, experts say.
A new social network site, Gypsii, which launched this week at a phone industry trade show in Barcelona, allows users to search for and identify their contacts, be they in the neighbouring street or across the ocean.
"Look, that's Bill, my friend in New York. He's 3,800 miles away," explained Toon Wee, a director of Gypsii, as he pointed to a coloured pin in the middle of a map of Manhattan while explaining the product at the Mobile World Congress in Spain.
SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. said an independent investigation into a January laptop computer battery explosion showed that batteries used in such computers won't blow up under normal conditions.
"An external shock under an extremely high temperature caused the explosion in January," the company said in a statement Tuesday, citing a test result report by the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, a state-sponsored power apparatus test firm.
"Under normal usage conditions, it is not possible for a notebook PC battery to combust," it said.
The company said tests did not reveal what initially caused the high temperature.
South Korean media reported that a laptop belonging to a South Korean journalist burst into flames after smoke began to emerge from it. The LG Electronics notebook computer was fitted with a battery manufactured by its affiliate LG Chem Ltd. There were no injuries.
Both companies have since investigated the incident to determine the exact cause of the explosion.
LG Chem said Tuesday it won't recall the batteries used in the notebook computers by LG Electronics.
LONDON (Reuters) - Online retailer Play.com is to launch a new UK download store called PlayDigital, offering music from EMI and independent labels as MP3 tracks which could be played on all digital devices including iPods.
The music industry had relied on digital rights management (DRM) as the cornerstone in its fight against illegal downloading but the labels are now offering tracks without the restrictive protection in an effort to increase digital sales.
PlayDigital will sell tracks and albums in the DRM-free MP3 format. Apple's iTunes also sells EMI music at a higher price without DRM, but this is in the unprotected AAC format which plays on many digital devices but not all.
Online retailer Amazon has signed all four major music groups -- Universal, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI -- but it has yet to set a date for rolling this out in the UK.
The company said the average price for a PlayDigital track would be 70 pence ($1.37) with the top sellers at 65 pence, and it hopes to sign more labels to the service over time.
Play.com describes itself as Britain's third most visited online retailer with over 7 million customers.
"What this shows is that new entrants into the digital music space are banking that digital rights management is not going to be around," Jupiter Research analyst Mark Mulligan told Reuters on Wednesday.
"This move by Play.com to be DRM-free illustrates the trend."
Wendy Snowdon, the head of PlayDigital, told Reuters they had avoided DRM because they believed the tide was turning against it.
"We believe DRM-free digital music is the way that digital music should have always been available because ... we think it is natural to the customer and what the customer wants."
(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Paul Bolding)
**FILE PHOTO** News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch smiles as he speaks at a press conference in Tokyo, Nov. 6, 2006.
(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer 1 hour, 20 minutes ago
SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo Inc. is discussing a possible Internet partnership with media conglomerate News Corp., its latest effort to repel Microsoft Corp.'s takeover bid or pry a better offer from the unsolicited suitor, a person familiar with the situation said Wednesday.
The specifics of the proposed joint venture haven't been worked out, according to the person, who didn't want to be identified because the talks are considered confidential.
Both The Wall Street Journal and a prominent blog, TechCrunch, reported that News Corp. is interested in folding its popular online social network, MySpace.com, and other Internet assets into Yahoo — an idea that first came up last year. News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.
News Corp. and a private equity firm reportedly would buy significant stakes in Yahoo as part of a complex deal designed to boost the Sunnyvale-based company's market value above Microsoft's initial bid of $44.6 billion, or $31 per share.
Peter Sayer IDG News Service
Celltrust developed its SecureSMS application so banks could deliver secure text messages to their customers' mobile phones-- but the company's chief technology officer wonders whether French president Nicolas Sarkozy might like a copy of the software.
Sarkozy sued a French magazine on Thursday for publishing a message it alleged he had sent by SMS (Short Message Service) to his ex-wife just days before his marriage to singer Carla Bruni earlier this month. The president accused the magazine of falsification, use of false documents and possession of stolen goods.
If a text message is sent using SecureSMS then even if the phone is stolen, the secured messages on it cannot be read, Celltrust CTO Houman Shafiezadeh said at a press event in Barcelona, on the eve of the Mobile World Congress.
That's because SecureSMS encrypts messages before transmission using a key unique to the sender, decodes them at a secure gateway and reencrypts using another key for delivery. A special application on the sender's and the recipient's phones stores the encrypted message, and will only decrypt and display it if the appropriate password is provided.
SecureSMS can encrypt messages sent between two cell phones as long as both subscribers have set up accounts with Celltrust, Shafiezadeh said.
Celltrust's target market, though, is big business: it hopes that banks will use its gateway and application software to secure the messages they send out to customers. The software has other advantages for banks: it provides confirmation of the reception and opening of secured messages, showing that whoever holds the phone also has the password.
These confirmations, however, are sent by SMS and paid for by the phone subscriber. That makes the application more suitable for customers on tariffs allowing unlimited text messages.
"If you're paying 10 cents a message, I wouldn't recommend it," Shafiezadeh said.
Celltrust is in talks with a number of U.S. banks to roll out the software in trials, he said. Finding enough customers with the right kinds of account, phone and SMS tariff is slowing things down, he said. Once the banks have identified the customers, the company will invite them to download the application, so that it can fine-tune the delivery process. The trials should begin in March, with a commercial service up and running by September, he said.
The SecureSMS software is initially available as a J2EE applet for phones capable of running Java applications. Other versions, for Microsoft's Windows Mobile and for Qualcomm's Brew platform, will soon be ready.
After that, Shafiezadeh said, it will be a race between Celltrust coders producing versions for Google's Android platform-- for which there is an SDK (software development kit) but no phones-- and for Apple's iPhone, on the market for almost eight months but with no official SDK available yet. That's frustrating for Shafiezadeh because Celltrust has issued its employees with iPhones.
Other companies offer secure SMS tools, but for more limited ranges of handsets. Kryptext, in Brighton, England, offers an application by the same name that works only on phones running Symbian OS, while Finnish handset maker Benefon (now GeoSentric) offered handsets that could send encrypted text messages back in 2003.
The Mobile World Congress, at the Fira de Barcelona, runs through Thursday.
Peter Sayer, IDG News Service
You might think the last thing you'd need to play games on your mobile phone would be a wireless remote control, but Zeemote's JS1 is just that.
The Bluetooth device has four buttons and a thumb-operated analog joystick, and can be held in the left or right hand, leaving the other hand free to hold the phone.The control measures 3.8 inches by 1.4 inches by 0.8 inches, and is less fiddly to operate than the small buttons on phones, said Jim Adams, Zeemote's vice president of sales and business development. Separating the control from the phone also makes it easier to hold the display steady while playing action games, he said at a press event on the eve of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where Zeemote will be showing the device.
This reporter is no gamer, but flying the helicopter in Fishlabs' shoot-em-up game Heli Strike 3D seemed easier with the Zeemote than with the tiny joystick of the Nokia N95 on which the game was running. The instinctive reaction is to point the control at the phone, holding them close together, but the gadget works just as well if you relax and let your arm fall to your side.
Fireworks, a bubble-bursting game developed by Finblade, showed off what Adams sees as a key benefit of the JS1: it makes two-player gaming possible on a single mobile phone. It also showed that whoever is holding the phone has a certain advantage.
Games must be specially coded to work with the Zeemote, Adams said, but the company will offer programmers a software development kit (SDK) at no cost. Zeemote will retain control of the SDK under a royalty-free license that will allow it to ensure that game play meets a certain minimum quality standard, he said.
In addition to Fishlabs and Finblade, Zeemote is working with developers such as Eidos and Sega Mobile, the company said.
Zeemote will sell the device first in Europe, because the high-end handsets it is most likely to be used with are more prevalent here, Adams said.
No price has been set: the company hopes to convince operators or retailers to bundle the controller with games and a new phone. Focus groups have told the company they would expect to pay between US$30 and $50 for such a device, Adams said.
The company plans to put the controller into mass production in May. The three-year-old company is on surer financial footing after landing $7million in new funding from Nauta Capital, Commonwealth Capital Ventures and Egan-Managed Capital.
The Mobile World Congress, at the Fira de Barcelona, runs through Thursday.
source : yahoo
Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, seen here in January 2008, has said the Finnish telecommunication giant will release a touch-screen handset for the first time in the second half of this year.
(AFP/Lehtikuva/File/Markku Ulander)stories...
BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) - Finnish manufacturer Nokia, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, said Monday it would release a touch-screen handset for the first time in the second half of this year.
Nokia has been late in introducing the technology. Apple has scored a hit with its touch-screen iPhone and Nokia's traditional rivals LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and HTC have already used the technology.
Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told a press conference here that the touch-screen phone would appear "in the second half of 2008."
He added that Nokia, which had 40 percent of the world market at the end of 2007, would launch its music download service "Nokia Music Store" in 10 more countries in the next six months. It is currently available only in Britain.
source : yahoo
What is it ?
In December 2007, Shinhan Card unveiled South Korea’s first USB Credit Card. To make a purchase, all you have to do is simply wave the card in front of the till to complete the transaction. And, if you happen to do all your spending online, simply pop the USB Credit Card into your USB drive and it will automatically fill the appropriate white boxes with the necessary credit card information. If you’re concerned about security, the device uses the trusted IC chip, which contains the public authorization and internet credit payment programs.
When will it available ?
There’s no word on availability or price.
Security workers warn that encrypting stored data doesn't truly protect it, and you're fooling yourself if you think so.
Bryan Betts, Techworld.com
Sunday, February 10, 2008The use of data encryption could make organizations vulnerable to new risks and threats, a panel of security experts warned.
Many organizations are encrypting their stored data to relieve concerns over data theft or loss - for example, U.S. mandatory disclosure laws on data breaches do not apply to encrypted data.
However, experts from IBM Internet Security Systems, Juniper, nCipher and elsewhere said that data encryption also brings new risks, in particular via attacks - deliberate or accidental - on the key management infrastructure.
The change comes particularly with the shift from encrypting data in transit to encrypting stored data - often in response to regulatory demands - said Richard Moulds, nCipher's product strategy EVP.
"Lot of organizations are new to encryption," he added. "Their only exposure to it has been with SSL, but that's just a session. When you shift to data at rest and encrypt your laptop, if you lose the key you trash your data - it's a self-inflicted denial-of-service attack.
"Organizations experienced with encryption are standing back and saying this is potentially a nightmare. It is potentially bringing your business to a grinding halt."
Encryption is also as big an interest for the bad guys as the good guys, warned Anton Grashion, European security strategist for Juniper. "As soon as you let the cat out of the bag, they'll be using it too," he said. "For example, it looks like a great opportunity to start attacking key infrastructures."
"It's a new class of DoS attack," agreed Moulds. "If you can go in and revoke a key and then demand a ransom, it's a fantastic way of attacking a business."
Another risk is that over-zealous use of encryption will damage an organization's ability to legitimately share and use critical business data, noted Joshua Corman, principal security strategist for IBM ISS.
"One fear I have is that we're all going to hide all our information, but companies are information-driven, so we take tactical decision and stifle ability to collaborate," he said.
"Sometimes, the result of implementing security technology is actually a net increase in risk," added Richard Reiner, chief security and technology officer at Telus Security Solutions.
By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer
NEW YORK - The popular wireless technology known as Bluetooth could get a lot faster next year by taking advantage of Wi-Fi technology already built into many gadgets.
Michael Foley, director of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, said the first devices with the technology could be on the market in the middle of next year. The industry group behind Bluetooth, which has more than 10,000 member companies, plans to announce Monday that it is pursuing the technology and will make it available next year.
A fast transfer channel for Bluetooth using a different radio technology, ultra-wideband, was announced in 2006, but delays in getting it to work prompted the Bluetooth group to look at Wi-Fi too, Foley said.
Some products, like laptops, already combine Bluetooth and Wi-Fi functions, but they work off separate chips. Most likely, manufacturers will use single chips still under development that combine Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities.
"It does appear that the first products ... are going to be Bluetooth-Wi-Fi, and our members want to take advantage of that," Foley said, adding that all the major makers of Bluetooth chips are participating in the project.
The combination devices will use the regular low-power Bluetooth radios to recognize each other and establish connections. If they need to transfer a large file, they will be able to turn on their Wi-Fi radios, then turn them off to save power after finishing the transfer, Foley said.
The new technology doesn't have a name, and it isn't clear how consumers will be able to tell it apart from Bluetooth-UWB devices, which the industry group still supports.
"This in no way ... changes our vision of using ultra-wideband technology for high speed when that technology is ready," Foley said.
While it started out as a specific radio technology, Bluetooth is turning into an umbrella standard for a variety of different radio technologies. Apart from the high-speed flavors, the SIG has incorporated an ultra-low-power wireless technology developed by Nokia Corp. and previously known as Wibree. Products like watches and pedometers that use that technology are also expected to hit the market next year.
Sign in front of Yahoo! headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Internet giant Yahoo's board has decided to reject Microsoft's 44.6 billion dollar takeover bid, an informed source told AFP Saturday.
(AFP/Getty Images/File/Justin Sullivan)
Internet giant Yahoo's board has decided to reject Microsoft's takeover bid, saying its 44.6 billion dollar offer "massively undervalues" Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
(AFP/HO/File)by Glenn Chapman Sat Feb 9
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Internet giant Yahoo's board has decided to reject Microsoft's 44.6 billion dollar takeover bid, an informed source told AFP Saturday.
The source confirmed an earlier Wall Street Journal report that Yahoo's management believes the Microsoft offer, which would bring together two top names in online computing, massively undervalues Yahoo.
The Journal said Yahoo's board also believes the Microsoft offer, at 31 dollars per share, does not account for risks facing Yahoo if it pursues a deal that might be ultimately blocked by government regulators.
"Yahoo's board believes that Microsoft's is trying to take advantage of the recent weakness in the company's share price to 'steal' the company," the newspaper said on its website, citing an unnamed source.
"Yahoo's board appears to be betting that Microsoft doesn't want to 'go hostile' and try to acquire the company against the wishes of management and the board," it said.
A person knowledgeable with the situation told AFP that the Journal report was generally in line with the Yahoo board's intentions.
"Reports today lacked some facts, but they are not totally off-mark," the person said, requesting anonymity. "You can expect that Monday will be the day that the board responds."
On February 1 Microsoft unveiled its 44.6 billion dollar offer to take over Yahoo, in an effort to merge the world's biggest software company with a major Internet player to take on search and advertising juggernaut Google.
Microsoft proposed 31 dollars per share to Yahoo's board, a 62 percent premium above its closing price the previous day.
Microsoft said a combination of the companies would lead to cost savings of a billion dollars per year.
But Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang sent a message to employees on Wednesday, assuring them the firm's leaders were exploring ways to avoid a Microsoft takeover.
"Our board is thoughtfully evaluating a wide range of potential strategic alternatives in what is a complex and evolving landscape," Yang wrote in the email.
"What's become clear in the past few days is how much people care about this company. I've heard from many of you, and from other friends and colleagues from around Silicon Valley and across the globe, that we need to do what's best for Yahoo and our shareholders."
Google earlier condemned Microsoft's effort as an attack on the very independence of the Internet.
"Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions," said David Drummond, Google's senior vice president for corporate development and chief legal officer, in a statement Sunday.
"This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation."
Analysts say the goal of the takeover is to better compete with Google, whose dominance of Internet advertising, backed by its powerful search engine technology, has come at both Microsoft's and Yahoo's expense.
Microsoft, they say, hopes that by taking over Yahoo it will expand its own presence in on-line advertising and, using Yahoo's popularity and technology, ratchet up its own competitiveness overall in Internet services.
On Monday Microsoft urged Yahoo to quickly accept its offer.
"We think it's a generous one," Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said at the US firm's annual conference with analysts in New York.
"We trust the Yahoo board and the Yahoo shareholders will join with us quickly in deciding to move down an integrated path," Ballmer said.
Also on Monday, there were unconfirmed reports that Google's chief executive had called Yang to offer to help the company resist any hostile takeover campaign by Microsoft.
Yahoo would not confirm that, but a source close to the company told AFP earlier this week that Yahoo has received calls from "a number of interested parties" and has a wide range of strategic options.
Those options could include outsourcing online advertising to Google itself.
If it spurns Microsoft's offer, Yahoo's board of directors will be under pressure to give stockholders a better return on their shares in line with the tempting 62-percent premium Microsoft offered.
The Graphic that compares unique Internet traffic to Google, Microsoft and Yahoo since 2002.
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