Volume 11, Issue 38 Atari Online News, Etc. September 18, 2009 Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2008 All Rights Reserved Atari Online News, Etc. A-ONE Online Magazine Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor Atari Online News, Etc. Staff Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking" Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile" Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips" Rob Mahlert -- Web site Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame" With Contributions by: To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe, log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org and click on "Subscriptions". OR subscribe to A-ONE by sending a message to: dpj@atarinews.org and your address will be added to the distribution list. To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to subscribe from. To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the following sites: http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm Now available: http://www.atarinews.org Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi! http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/ =~=~=~= A-ONE #1138 09/18/09 ~ HP Shows Off New PCs! ~ People Are Talking! ~ New Macs Coming Soon? ~ From Beyond the Grave! ~ E-mail Burglar Alarm! ~ Chrome 3 Is Launched! ~ MS After Malvertisers! ~ Students: Win 7 Cheap! ~ Need for Speed Leads! ~ Net Neutrality Nears! ~ Web's Stupid Burglar! ~ Snow Leopards Tops! -* Playing Video Games Remotely *- -* New Phishing Attack Chats Up Victims *- -* China, Russia Are Aggressive in Cyberspace *- =~=~=~= ->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!" """""""""""""""""""""""""" Ah, another week, another batch of political faux pas and other interesting tidbits of foolishness. If I know Joe as well as I think I do, he'll be mentioning one or two in his weekly commentary. So, we won't aim any spotlights elsewhere this week! Instead, this week I'm going to rest my brain, along with every other part of my body - I've earned some relaxation for one day. So, let's move right to what you're all looking for in the first place - another issue of A-ONE! Until next time... =~=~=~= PEOPLE ARE TALKING compiled by Joe Mirando joe@atarinews.org Hidi ho friends and neighbors. Well, there were only 6 new messages in the newsgroup this week... and five of them were ads. Now, I have nothing against ads on the UseNet; I think it's a decent way of getting info 'out there', but they're not things that I can use in this column. But that's okay, because there's something I want to talk about and, while it IS a political subject, it encompasses so much more. Unless you're on your way to or from Mars, you've heard about Congressman Joe Wilson's outburst at the President's speech to Congress last week. Yes, I thought it was in very poor taste, showed a complete lack of not only self-restraint but also intellect, and should not be allowed to go unpunished. There ARE rules in congress, regardless of what some think, and "because I disagree" just isn't a valid reason for discarding them. But now, another specter (no, not Arlen) has raised its head. Former president Jimmy Carter and columnist Maureen Dowd have both expressed their opinions that Congressman Wilson's outburst was tinged with racism. As Dowd put it in her column: "... fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!" I must admit that I'm at a loss. I like and respect both President Carter and Dowd. I agree with them much more than disagree, and when I do disagree, it's never been with both of them before. But to be honest, I just don't see racism as a factor here. I'm not saying that I know that Wilson is a racist... I have no information about that, and no opinion. He may well be, for all I know, but I don't think that's what motivated his childish outburst. Instead, I believe it was something much more common and much more insidious; the belief that you are empowered to do whatever you want simply because you want to. With all the talk of Wilson and his expletive, I've heard nothing in the way of proof that he's a racist. No instances of mocking a black waitress, no stories of crude, vulgar comments or epithets. And believe me... I've known racists. Even in my own family. The "N" word was used by a few of my older relatives, along with a more 'colorful' array of words. My grandfather had no problem with what we today call racial slurs. I find it hard to believe that a racist in the position that Congressman Wilson is in could hide such attitudes for long. And yet there have been no instances of people coming forward with examples of errant deeds or words. As I said, what I see as the underlying cause is something much more pervasive in today's society and also much harder to single out. This idea permeating, not just politics but everyday life too, that we don't have to either acknowledge or abide by things we don't agree with or approve of is troubling. Take the governor of Texas, who several months ago was talking about seceding from the Union... Ummm... Ricky, did you stop to think that that's what the Civil War was fought over? Or did you just forget who won? Now, in addition to the "Birthers" who don't want to have to believe that the president was born in the United States, the "Lifers" who don't want to have to believe that there will be no 'Death Panels', the ones who don't want to have to believe that the government will be paying for health benefits for illegal immigrants, the ones who don't want to have to believe that there were no WMDs, etc., we've got those who believe that .. What I cannot fathom is that, in their minds, their beliefs mold the 'truth' instead of the other way around. This hearkens back to the dark days of the Inquisition when Galileo and Copernicus were persecuted... and prosecuted for 'radical' thoughts such as the idea that the Earth revolves around the sun when, as everyone knew at the time, the bible clearly pointed out that it was the other way around. No need for inquiry or debate; the 'facts' were plain for all to see, right? We even have people who not only don't want to have to believe that the Creator's vision and reach is much more than any of us could ever envision, and that billions of years have passed since the creation of the Earth, but they want the rest of us to have to not believe it too. (Notice the neat transposition there?) Now we have a Congressman (and his newfound groupies) figures that it's his turn and he shouldn't have to abide by the rules and regulations that govern the House; the ones saying that there are certain things you can't do or call the president. Well so what, right? 'I' don't have to pay attention to that because _I_ don't want to, and it's all about me, not about what's right or proper or even fact! Last week, I gave you a link (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.3200.IH:) that leads right to the actual bill before Congress, and mentioned that Section 246 was where it dealt with payment of 'credits' and that they would not be paid to undocumented aliens. And I'm not talking about Klatu or E.T. or those dudes from Cocoon. Even with the people who don't believe that the scatter of tripe the right is throwing around in an effort to derail change.. even among people who aren't afraid of thinking for themselves... how many have checked out that link? The whole thing, from beginning to end, is all right there in black and white, and it's not all that hard to understand. But it's far easier to make up one's mind and bend or discard the facts to fit that belief. And that's what some people do. I guess what keeps me from doing things like that is that I look just a little bit farther down the road. How am I going to explain it to myself when, after believing what I wanted because I wanted, regardless of the facts, when things have all gone to hell? What will I convince myself of then? That's all for this week, folks. Tune in again next week, same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are saying when... PEOPLE ARE TALKING =~=~=~= ->In This Week's Gaming Section - Play Video Games Remotely! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""" Need for Speed Leads Pack! =~=~=~= ->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Startup Lets You Play Console Video Games Remotely As any a video game aficionado knows, it's easy to pop a game into your Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 and spend hours working your way from one level to the next. Without the hefty console, though, you're out of luck if you want to keep blasting those aliens while away from home. A startup called Spawn Labs thinks it has a solution to this problem. Starting Monday, the Austin, Texas-based company began selling a box that is much like a Slingbox - a device that lets you watch your home TV remotely - for video gaming. Spawn Labs' HD-720 costs $200, or about the same price as Microsoft's cheapest Xbox console. Unlike playing a video game on a Web site, when the box is connected to one of several different gaming systems you can remotely access any video game disc already inside, along with any games stored on the console's hard drive. You can connect the HD-720 to up to two video game systems, including an Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, and to a TV set to play games at home. If you install Spawn Labs' free software on a computer, you can then log in to the company's Web site and play games remotely in real time, using a video game controller plugged into one of the computer's USB ports or a keyboard. Spawn Labs, which showed off its product Monday at the TechCrunch50 startup conference in San Francisco, is also pushing its product as a way to connect remotely with friends who might not be able to come over and play games with you - instead, you can allow them to access your console online and they can play on a computer from wherever they happen to be. If you want to let more than one person to play remotely, Spawn Labs sells $30 adapters that plug into the back of the box, enabling group gaming. You'll need a good Internet connection to use the HD-720: CEO David Wilson said that the box streams video games in high-definition video. If a connection isn't speedy enough, though, the HD-720 can show games in standard definition, he said. "This will take two or three years to fully roll out into the mainstream, probably, and as that happens everyone will have a fat pipe they can play with," he said. As for any computing requirements, Wilson said that most laptops currently being sold should work well with the device. Some netbooks may also be able to support the high-definition video, he said. 'Need for Speed' Titles Lead Pack of Racing Games The video game racing genre is gearing up for a traffic jam. Nearly a dozen racing games are expected to drive onto store shelves before the end of the year, competing for the attention of gamers at a time when sales have tapped the brakes. "Forza MotorSport 3," "Dirt 2," "Blur," "MotorStorm: Arctic Edge" and "Gran Turismo" for the PlayStation Portable are among the titles plotting a course for release this year. Electronic Arts has revved up new "Need for Speed" titles as part of its strategy to diversify the 15-year-old racing franchise for different platforms. EA Black Box, the Canadian developer that created the previous "Need for Speed" games, has taken a backseat while other developers have crafted three games aimed at three different audiences. The first, developer Slightly Mad Studios' hardcore racing simulator "Need for Speed Shift," was released this week for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PC, iPhone and iPod Touch. "Shift" abandons the series' slick street style in favor of photorealistic action similar to the "Forza MotorSport" franchise. The focus is on recreating the sensation of being pulled by G-forces during high-speed cornering inside the game's 72 realer-than-real racing cars. "It's something we euphemistically refer to as first-person driving," said "Shift" producer Jesse Abney. "First-person shooter games have done a great job over the last few years of creating an environment where players are really immersed in the action. What we've done with `Need for Speed Shift' is create that true driver's experience of being in the cockpit." EA will venture down a different path with "Need for Speed Nitro," the arcade-style racing game developed by EA Montreal for the Wii and Nintendo DS set for release Nov. 17. Unlike "Shift," this "Need for Speed" edition will feature speedy police pursuits and the ability for racers to trick out their rides and tracks with customizable decals and colors. "When I first came to EA, I thought it was a really interesting challenge to make a `Need for Speed' game on the Wii that can attract gamers and a general mass audience because the Wii is not a platform that's about graphics," said "Nitro" producer Gadi Pollack, who worked on "Prince of Persia" at Ubisoft. "It's about the gameplay and the handling." The third "Need for Speed" title, "Need for Speed World Online," is a massively multiplayer online game being developed by EA Singapore. The free-to-play action-driving game, which will be released in Asia before coming to the U.S., will feature fully customizable cars and a matchmaking system that pits players against each other in multiple game modes. =~=~=~= A-ONE's Headline News The Latest in Computer Technology News Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson HP Shows Off New Ultra-thin PCs, Stylish Netbook Hewlett-Packard Co unveiled several new products for the important fall season, including thin and light laptop PCs and an eye-catching new netbook. The world's No. 1 PC maker has ably navigated a steep industry downturn in computer sales, managing to grow its global market share to 20 percent even as consumers and businesses dial back on spending. With the forthcoming launch of Microsoft Corp's new Windows 7 operating system on October 22, many analysts expect PC sales to begin a slow recovery from lows seen earlier year. And despite the recession, PC makers continue to see a market in more expensive and stylish models for those who can afford them. HP is marking its entry into the high-end, ultra-thin consumer PC market with its new Envy sub-brand. The Envy checks in at under an inch thick and less than 4 pounds, and will have a customized software interface that HP says makes the device more personalized, a growing trend in the PC space. It will go head-to-head with Apple Inc's MacBook Air and Dell Inc's Adamo. The Envy will start at $1,700, while both the Air and the Adamo start at $1,500. With 'thin and light' all the rage, HP will also launch a pair of more affordable PCs in the category. The company is calling its new business PC, the ProBook 5310m, the "world's thinnest full-performance notebook" at 0.9-inches thick and an affordable entry point of $699. The new HP Pavilion dm3, which has an optional CULV low-power processor from Intel Corp, starts at $549. It also measures less than an inch in thickness and claims up to 10 hours of battery life. Consumer PCs have fared much better than business PCs in the downturn, helped by the sharp growth of netbooks, low-cost devices that are changing the face of the computer market. Ultra-portable and used primarily for Web surfing, email and other simple tasks, many consumers have flocked to the devices. At the same time, PC makers are increasingly emphasizing design as a way to differentiate their PCs, and HP has been actively pushing its creative side. On Saturday, it used a catwalk at New York's Fashion Week to unveil its latest collaboration with designer Vivienne Tam, a gold "digital clutch" netbook adorned with butterflies. The limited edition model won't be available until next spring. HP is launching another netbook this fall designed by Dutch artist Tord Boontje, which has a floral and environmental theme etched in a three-dimensional design. The white device, which is targeted more at the youth market, will sell for $400. It will also offer a new netbook model, the Mini 311, which features a slightly larger screen at 11.6 inches and Nvidia's Ion platform, which pairs Intel's Atom chip with an Nvidia graphics processor. It will also sell for $400. Apple May Unveil New Macs Soon Will an updated series of Macs appear shortly? Wedge Partners, a Denver-based research firm, thinks there's a good chance that Apple will unveil redesigned iMacs and MacBooks "in the next several weeks." According to a report by Barron's Eric Savitz, the new Macs may include a thinner iMac with "smoothed or rounded edges," and an updated MacBook with "limited" (i.e., minor) changes. When contacted by PC World, Wedge Partners director of research Kirk Adams confirmed the Barrons' report, and added that the fall Mac rollout probably wouldn't include revolutionary new hardware like the much-hyped tablet, or even a new netbook computer, both of which would be a first for Apple. "We don't expect a tablet or a netbook per se, but rather some redesigns of some good products," Adams says. If Wedge's prediction comes true, the Mac upgrades would certainly be seem as an attempt by Apple to steal thunder from Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 media blitz. The official Win 7 launch date is Oct. 22, and Microsoft's new operating system is expected to spur sales of both business and consumer PCs. Last June, Apple unveiled a new batch of MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops. Google Expects Chrome 3.0 To Boost Market Share On Tuesday, Google launched the third iteration of its Web browser after just a year on the market. Google is billing Chrome 3.0 as a brand-new release that comes on the heels of 51 developer, 21 beta, and 15 stable updates and 3,505 bug fixes in the past 12 months. Even though Chrome is no longer in beta, it's still only available for PCs running Windows. But Google is reporting some major improvements in its first stable release and some ambitious goals for increasing market share. According to Google, the company has improved JavaScript performance by more than 150 percent since the first beta of Google Chrome, and by more than 25 percent since the most recent stable release. With Chrome 3.0, Google aims to grab five percent market share by 2010 and 10 percent by 2011. The company has just more than two percent market share today. Google's gains may come primarily at the expense of Microsoft's Internet Explorer unless it launches Chrome versions for Linux and Mac OS X. Chrome 3.0 is set to compete with a New Tab page that facilitates one-click browsing. Google said it redesigned the tab page so it's customizable. For example, with Chrome 3.0, users can rearrange thumbnails of most-visited Web sites by clicking and dragging the mouse. Users can also pin thumbnails to a spot so they don't disappear even if browsing habits change. "You can do even more to customize your New Tab page -- for example, you can hide parts of the page you don't want to see, or even opt for a simple list view of all your most visited Web sites. In addition, we've added handy tips to the bottom of the New Tab page to help you get the most out of Google Chrome," said Chrome program manager Anthony Laforge. Chrome 3.0 also boasts improvements to the Omnibox. Omnibox serves as a search bar and a Web address bar. Chrome 3.0 optimizes the presentation of the drop-down menu and adds icons that aim to help the user distinguish between suggested sites, searches, bookmarks and sites from the browsing history. Chrome 3.0 offers HTML5 capabilities. A video-tagging feature promises to make embedding videos in a page as simple as embedding regular images. The video tag also allows video playback without a plug-in. Finally, Google officially christened Themes, which allows users to dress up a browser with colors, patterns and images. Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret, called Chrome 3 an impressive product that has the force of Google behind it and must not be dismissed. But he still wonders why Google ventured into the browser business to begin with and how the move is going to impact its partner relationships. "Google has the default search box in [Apple] Safari and in [Mozilla] Firefox. Instead of partnering with these companies and claiming the parts of the browsing experience that make money, Google is doing its best to alienate these organizations to claim browser share," Gartenberg said. "I am not sure why and what they are hoping to accomplish here." Gartenberg said Chrome gives him the feeling that Google created a browser for the sake of creating a browser. In the long run, he's not sure Chrome will further Google's ambitions in the manner Google is expecting. "Chrome doesn't bring any revenues in and of itself. They are certainly not selling the browser. You do have to wonder: If Google is going to start alienating its partners, like Mozilla and Apple, is this a good opportunity for Microsoft?" Gartenberg said. "One does have to question if this is really the business Google wants to be in." Snow Leopard Sales Top Previous Mac OS X Releases NPD Group said Thursday that sales of Snow Leopard Mac OS X so far have exceeded Apple's two previous Mac OS X releases during their first two weeks. According to the market researcher, Snow Leopard unit shipments were more than twice the volume of Leopard's initial sales and almost four times higher than Apple's earlier Tiger Mac OS X release. Moreover, Snow Leopard's sales only declined about 25 percent from the first week to the second, said NPD Vice President Stephen Baker. In comparison, volume shipments of Leopard and Tiger declined more than 60 percent in the second week, he added. "With pricing reduced by more than $100 for both the single-user and five-user pack versus Leopard pricing, Apple has clearly demonstrated that aggressive pricing policies in this economic environment generate an outstanding consumer response," Baker said. Still, Snow Leopard's strong initial performance is unlikely to have much of an impact on Apple's bottom line in the current third quarter, according to Piper Jaffray, which is maintaining an "overweight" rating and $186 price target for Apple's stock. "According to NPD data, Snow Leopard has outsold Leopard two to one, but since it is one-fourth the price, it is half the revenue event that Leopard was," said Piper Jaffray analyst Andrew Murphy. "It should still provide a slight tailwind to margins in the quarter, but in the end it's still a relatively minor product for Apple with a minor financial impact on the business." Piper Jaffray also has analyzed NPD's retail data for domestic Mac sales during the first two months of the third quarter. The numbers show a seven percent rise in Mac sales, which led the firm's analysts to project unit shipments of 2.75 million to 2.8 million versus a Street consensus of about 2.75 million for the current quarter. "This data, along with our assumptions for the last month of the quarter, implies year-over-year Mac unit growth of five percent to seven percent - a slight upside to the Street's forecast of five percent year-over-year growth, Piper Jaffray's analysts said. Some industry observers had considered Snow Leopard to be less feature-focused than Apple's Leopard or Tiger releases. But Baker noted that the ease of upgrading to Snow Leopard, together with its affordable pricing, made it "a win-win for Apple computer owners - thus helping to push sales to record numbers." However, upgrading to Snow Leopard is not without potential pitfalls. Earlier this month, Sophos warned Mac users that they could be exposed to security threats they thought had been patched when upgrading to Snow Leopard. According to the IT security and data protection firm, Snow Leopard discreetly - and without the user's permission - downgrades to an insecure version of Adobe Flash that leaves users exposed to a raft of potential attacks and exploits. Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at the security firm, is urging Mac users who have upgraded to Snow Leopard to verify that they are running the current version of Adobe Flash. If not, they should update it immediately "as a matter of priority," he said. "In many ways, Adobe is 'the new Microsoft' when it comes to security vulnerabilities, with hackers targeting its code looking for ways to infect users," Cluley observed. "That's deeply concerning because it is so widely used by many Internet users, whether on Mac or PC." Mac users who have been diligent about keeping their security up to date don't deserve to be silently downgraded, Cluley said. "It's vital, therefore, that users ensure they are running the latest version - and that, in the future, operating-system manufacturers do not reduce their customers' level of security without warning," Cluley said. Microsoft To Offer Windows 7 for $29.99 to Students Microsoft will offer Windows 7 for just $29.99, the company said via a post on Twitter. The tweet refers users to Win741.com, which offers a number of Microsoft Silverlight-encoded videos promoting Windows 7. In one, the Lenovo Y650 IdeaPad is mentioned, but there are no other details listed. A Microsoft FAQ identified by a Microsoft spokesman, however, identified this Web site as the official offer, where students can sign up and find out of they're eligible for the offer. Students can only buy one copy of either Windows Home or Windows Professional, and only via download; a backup DVD can also be ordered. The difference, as the FAQ notes, is that Windows Professional can join a domain, as some schools require to access hosted applications or remote media streaming. If a school participates in MSDNAA, a global academic program designed specifically for academic labs, faculty, and students studying in areas of computer science, engineering, and information systems, Microsoft's Windows 7 can be downloaded for free. Microsoft has offered some of its technical software for free to students, although the company generally discounts flagship programs, like Office. Other Microsoft discounts for students are available at this page. Facebook to Let Users Log In With Vanity URLs How was this not a feature before? Facebook on Friday announced that members will be able to log into the site using their usernames, or vanity URLs, instead of e-mail addresses. The new log-in feature works for the Web and mobile versions of the site, as well as any Facebook Connect-enabled sites, Facebook said in a blog post. For those who really like typing the @ sign into fields, the e-mail address log-in is still enabled on the site. Facebook vanity URLs date back to June, when the social networking site announced that users could select usernames that would appear at the end of their URL. Rather than a series of numbers, users could choose their own name, like Facebook.com/brianheater. The sign-up process went live at 12:01am on June 13. More than 200,000 usernames were snapped up in the first three minutes, and 500,000 names were gone after 15 minutes, Facebook said. By the end of the weekend, Facebook logged 5.75 million usernames. FCC To Unveil Open Internet Rules Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski will unveil in a speech on Monday new proposals that would force Internet providers to treat the flow of content equally, sources familiar with the speech said on Friday. The concept, referred to as net neutrality, pits open Internet companies like Google Inc against broadband service providers like AT&T Inc, Verizon Communications Inc, and Comcast Corp, which oppose new rules governing network management. Advocates of net neutrality say Internet service providers must be barred from blocking or slowing traffic based on content. Providers say the increasing volume of bandwidth-hogging services like video sharing requires active management of their networks and some argue that net neutrality could stifle innovation. "He is going to announce rulemaking," said one source familiar with his speech about broadband, to be delivered at the Brookings Institution, a public policy think tank. "The commission will have to codify into new regulations the principle of nondiscrimination." The FCC could formally propose the rules aimed at applying to wireless and landline platforms at an open meeting in October. Government Review: No Privacy Problems in Cyber Security The Justice Department has concluded that a beefed-up surveillance program that monitors federal employees' Internet traffic does not violate their rights or those of private citizens who communicate with them. But the review of the Einstein 2 program was limited and leaves important questions unanswered, said the vice president of an Internet freedom watchdog group. Einstein 2 is a second-generation automated program designed to detect cyber attacks on government computer networks. The review, completed last month and released Friday, said the system addresses potential privacy concerns by warning employees when they log in that their communications may be monitored. Such warnings "eliminate federal employees' legitimate expectations of privacy" on government computers, acting Assistant Attorney General David J. Barron wrote. The review reaches the same conclusion as a study undertaken by the Justice Department during the Bush administration. Jim Dempsey, vice president for public policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said his group agrees with the report's conclusion, as far as it goes. "If you send an e-mail to the government, you can't complain that they read it," Dempsey said, after reviewing the two reports. But the memos do not address how Einstein works in practice, including whether it also monitors communications between private parties and if so, what it does with any information it collects, Dempsey said. "Those questions haven't been fully answered and they deserve to be," he said. The memos also do not deal with the next generation program, Einstein 3, which is intended to both detect and stop cyber attacks against government computers. New Phishing Attack Chats up Victims With many who bank online now wary of phishing attacks, criminals are adding fake live-chat support windows to their Web sites to make them seem more real. RSA Security spotted the first ever of these "chat-in-the-middle" attacks in the past few hours, according to Sean Brady, a manager with the security company's identity protection and verification group. The phishers send e-mails that direct victims to a fake Web page designed to look like a banking site. That's a standard technique, but what's different in this case is that the phishing site comes with a fake online chat option, so that scammers can talk directly with their victims. After the crooks prompt victims for their credentials, they pop up a browser window designed to look like a chat session from the bank's fraud department. Then, via chat, they ask for even more information, including the victim's name, phone number and e-mail address. The phishers used the open-source Jabber chat software, Brady said. The attacks target a single U.S. bank, which Brady declined to name. But he said there's a good chance the technique will become more widespread. "If this person has any measure of success, I would anticipate that there will either be copycats or the fraudster will do this again with other institutions," Brady said. Microsoft Files Lawsuits Against "Malvertisers" Microsoft Corp on Thursday filed five civil lawsuits in Seattle, Washington against alleged "malvertisers." Malvertising is the term used to describe harmful online advertising and works by camouflaging malicious code as harmless online advertisements, Microsoft's associate general counsel Tim Cranton wrote in a blog. "The lawsuits allege that individuals using the business names "Soft Solutions," "Direct Ad," "qiweroqw.com," "ITmeter Inc" and "ote2008.info" used malvertisements to distribute malicious software or present deceptive websites that peddled scareware to unsuspecting Internet users," he said. Cranton added that names of specific individuals behind these activities were not known and the lawsuits were being filed to help uncover the people responsible. Hands On with Tripwi.re, An Email Burglar Alarm Is anyone reading your e-mail? How would you know, and how soon would you know once they started reading it? Tripwi.re thinks it can help you answer all of these questions and it does it through just a little bit of subterfuge. Billed as a "burglar alarm for your mailbox," Tripwi.re is an online service that, with your help, can set up a honey pot in your e-mail box of choice. A honey pot is, as you might guess, something that looks awfully enticing on the outside, but could be a trap (or worse) on the inside. In this case, the trap is set by Tripwi.re in your inbox, in the form of yummy e-mail that 1) appears to have been sent to you by yourself and 2) has the subject line of "my password". Better yet, inside is a user name and password ostensibly for this and other sites you use. Ah, but wait, that's not real. The e-mail is generated by Tripwi.re and deposited in your mailbox. When someone opens it, likely someone snooping around in your mail looking for good stuff - like passwords - Tripwi.re sends a text message to your phone alerting you to the intrusion. I made my way through the jargony and slightly confusing sign-up (the FAQ clears up most issues). The service works as advertised, but since some cellular phone service providers SMS systems are unbearably slow; there can be quite a lag between when the intruder gets your "fake" stuff and when you learn about it. The good news is that that the username and password are useless. The bad news is someone is inside your email! Which means you probably have bigger problems. Tripwi.re costs $19 a year for basic services and $99 for premium services that include tracking down the hacker. There's also a $199 a year small business plan. China, Russia 'Aggressive' in Cyberspace China and Russia are "aggressive" players in cyberspace, the US intelligence chief said Tuesday as a report identified enhancing cybersecurity as a national priority. The 2009 National Intelligence Strategy (NIS), a four-year blueprint for the intelligence community, "elevates the importance of the challenges we face in the cyber domain," Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said. The NIS did not point to any particular country as a cyber threat, but Blair, speaking to reporters as the report was released singled out China and Russia. "China is very aggressive in the cyberworld," he told reporters. "So is Russia and others." The NIS warned that "foreign entities, including state and non-state actors, violent extremist groups, cyber intruders, and criminal organizations, are increasingly undermining US interests in myriad and growing ways. "Globalization of the marketplace and the openness of modern information networks have enabled our adversaries? goals," the report said. "At the tactical level, they are intent on penetrating our critical infrastructure, information systems, and leading industries," it said. The report recommended that counter-intelligence measures be employed "across the cyber domain to protect critical infrastructure." Among the missions of the intelligence community should be to "understand, detect, and counter adversary cyber threats to enable protection of the nation?s information infrastructure," the NIS said. Warning that the Internet is "neither secure nor resilient," it said "nation states and non-governmental entities are compromising, stealing, changing, or destroying information, and have the potential to undermine national confidence in the information systems upon which our economy and national security rests." It recommended cyber expertise be extended throughout the intelligence community "as well as with allied intelligence services, industry, and the academic community" and that steps be taken to protect US infrastructure. The report said the "explosive growth" in the volume of data posed challenges in itself and US intelligence needs to improve its ability to "'sense data' and our capabilities to 'make sense of data.'" "History proves that riding the leading edge of technology is critical to the (intelligence community's) ability to deliver better intelligence," it said. Burglar Checks Facebook During Raid, Gets Busted "OMG LOLZ brkin into sum1s house!" That might've been the Facebook status update left by Jonathan G. Parker, 19, as he was inside the Martinsburg, West Virginia house he was robbing. Yes, you read that right. Parker was *inside the house*, checked his Facebook profile, and left his account open on the victim's computer before fleeing. He was wicked hard to catch. Parker entered through a bedroom window and ransacked two diamond rings worth more than $3500. The victim's computer was in the same room as the rings, so maybe after he was through Googling "best escape routes," Parker bopped onto his Facebook page. The victim also noticed that she and Parker had a mutual friend who later confessed to assisting with the crime. I understand that Facebook is magically delicious, total HTML crack, but c'mon--you can wait until you get home to see if your Boston friend is making dumplings for dinner again or your Philly pal is watching movies with her cat. Now Parker faces between one and 10 years in prison. That's a long time to go without the glowing allure of Facebook. Website Offers Emails From Beyond The Grave The fear of dying suddenly, without the chance to mend wrongs or say goodbye, has prompted an Australian entrepreneur to start a website where people can contact loved ones from beyond the grave. Peter Ingram, a security systems retailer, watched as within just two weeks of being diagnosed with a brain tumour an aunt lost her ability to speak, write, or even smile. She was 100 percent conscious and able to understand what was happening around her, but remained silent until her death, taking her secrets, thanks and regrets to the grave. "I'd known her for 20 years and to me that was devastating," said Ingram. Ingram recently launched Australia's first virtual time-capsule site, FromBeyond2u.com, where the living can leave videos, photographs and documents to be sent out to loved ones after death. For one dollar a week users can store their "cherished digital memories" and programme farewell messages for the time of their death and on fixed dates such as birthdays or anniversaries into the future. "It's not a new concept, leaving things, letters for people, videos, messages, but the Internet has changed what we can do with it," Ingram told AFP. "You can keep in touch today, tomorrow and beyond." Subscribers can write their own eulogy and create a multimedia tribute for use at their funeral, and bequeath their photo and video files. Whilst living, they can use the site as a place to store and share their files with friends and family all over the world. A certificate with an activation code in the event of death is given to every user to be left with their will or next of kin. Part social-networking hub, part memoir project, FromBeyond2u is one of just a handful of such sites worldwide, and its appeal lies in creating "everlasting love" for generations to come, Ingram says. It could, of course, have less savoury applications, he said. "I had a radio station ask me the other day 'What if people leave nasty messages? Maybe I want to tell my mother-in-law for the next 10 years that I didn't like her,'" Ingram said. "I guess she can change her email address if you keep on badgering her with emails, but that's not what it's about." People could also use the future messages service to posthumously speak to a mistress or spill their darkest secrets, knowing they wouldn't have to deal with the consequences, he added. "That's none of my business, you can do whatever you want," he laughed. Ingram said he had already accumulated plenty of embarrassing footage of his "angelic" son on the site in preparation for his 21st birthday celebrations. "This is you chucking a tantrum, this is you when you're nine years old telling me you'll always love me, even when you're a teenager," he joked. "Hopefully at his 21st I will have 12 or 13 years of backed-up photos and memories and hopefully I'll be there. But if I do kick the bucket they'll all be there for him," added Ingram. Users could also leave more obscure instructions they might overlook in a legal will, such as where they kept their motorcycle keys or hid precious things, he said. Far from being morbid or narcissistic, Ingram believes the site encourages sharing with family and community. "I think the number one (aim is) definitely sharing the love with loved ones and being there for them, and not to be forgotten, that's a fear of mine," he said. 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