Federal prosecutors charged Robert A. Soloway on Wednesday with 35 violations of U.S. cybercrime statues, including wire fraud, identity theft, money laundering and violations of the CAN-SPAM Act.
Soloway, who owned and operated Newport Internet Marketing Corp., allegedly offered to sell "broadcast e-mail" software and services to clients and spammed tens of millions of e-mail messages to advertise the Web sites from which he sold his products, claimed the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington in a statement. Soloway used other people's e-mail addresses to make it seem as if other people sent the bulk e-mail messages, prosecutors stated in court filings. Using false information in the header of an e-mail can be a violation of the CAN-SPAM Act and constitutes aggravated identity theft, if the e-mail address belongs to someone else.
"Spam is a scourge of the Internet, and Robert Soloway is one of its most prolific practitioners," said Jeffrey C. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington. "Our investigators dubbed him the "Spam King" because he is responsible for millions of spam emails."
The volume of spam seen on the Internet has risen, despite the passage of the CAN-SPAM Act. The lion's share of spam is now sent through bot nets -- networks of compromised PCs controlled by a single person or group. Using the bot nets, the most powerful groups are capable of taking companies offline, as happened to anti-spam firm Blue Security.
The prosecution has requested a ruling against Soloway, which would allow the government to seize $772,998, which it claims are the proceeds of Soloway's allegedly illegal activities.
(securityfocus)
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Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Insecure plug-ins pose danger to Firefox users
A security weakness in the update mechanism for third-party add-ons to the Firefox browser could give an attacker the ability to exploit unsecured downloads and install malicious code on the victim's computer, a security researcher warned on Wednesday.
The vulnerability affects any third-party add-ons that use an unsecured download site as part of the update process, according to Indiana University graduate student Christopher Soghoian, who released an advisory on the issue Wednesday. While using the standard secure communications protocol available in major browsers, known as secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption, could prevent the attacks, many major companies -- such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, LinkedIn, and AOL -- failed to do so, Soghoian said.
"Many of companies have world-class in-house security teams, so their worst sin is not consulting their own experts, who would have undoubtedly shot down any attempt to update code over an insecure and untrustworthy connection," Soghoian said in an e-mail interview with SecurityFocus.
Soghoian, who attracted the attention of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security last year when he created an online boarding-pass generator, posted an advisory and video of the attack to his Web site on Wednesday, a month and a half after notifying Mozilla and Google of the issue.
Vulnerability researchers have increasingly targeted Firefox as the open-source browser's popularity has grown. The group improved the browser's security with its latest version, Firefox 2.0, released last October. Both Microsoft and Mozilla have argued that their own browser protects Internet users better.
In April, Soghoian decided to use a network sniffer to capture the data that Firefox sent out over the network as it was starting up. He quickly noticed that several extensions sent requests to check for new updates using plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) packets, without any sort of security.
"The insecure update requests stuck out like a sore thumb, and within a couple of hours, I had a working demo which proved that it was possible to hijack the extension upgrade process," Soghoian said.
Such requests could be intercepted by an attacker, if the victim used a wireless network or an untrusted wired network, he said. In particular, an attacker that had access to or control over the local domain name service (DNS) server could easily subvert the patch process. The attacker could then respond to the update request with a malicious add-on that could monitor the victim's Internet connection and steal sensitive information.
The Mozilla Foundation acknowledged the issue, but stressed that any updates downloaded from its servers user SSL and are checked against a hash.
"We strongly recommend that add-on developers require SSL for updates to prevent the attack described above," Window Snyder, chief security officer for Mozilla, stated in a post to the group's developer blog.
The Mozilla Foundation released on Wednesday a patch for both version 1.5 and version 2.0 of the browser, fixing a critical memory corruption flaw.
Ironically, an amateur developer coding up a plug-in for Firefox will be much less likely to have to worry about the issue than a large company. Because most smaller developers use the Mozilla Foundation's Add-ons download site, they are more likely to be secure.
Google, for example, not only uses an unsecured connection to check for and download updates, but also suppresses any notification that an update is being installed, Soghoian said. The company has already created a patch and will automatically be updating Google Toolbar users soon, a representative said.
"We were notified of a potential vulnerability in some updates for Firefox extensions," the representative said in a statement sent to SecurityFocus. "A fix was developed for the Google extensions and users will be automatically updated with the patch shortly. We have received no reports that this vulnerability was exploited."
Soghoian, who spent last summer interning at Google, hopes that the search giant will also reconsider its decision to update users without notification. Firefox users now need to take a critical look at the third-party add-ons installed on their browser, and having as much information as possible helps, Soghoian said.
"As a matter of general policy, vendors really should not have their software silently install updates without asking the user's permission -- it is asking for trouble," he stated in his advisory.
The Mozilla development team is currently considering ways that they could prevent insecure updates in the next version of the browser, Firefox 3.0, the group said on its blog.
(securityfocus)
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The vulnerability affects any third-party add-ons that use an unsecured download site as part of the update process, according to Indiana University graduate student Christopher Soghoian, who released an advisory on the issue Wednesday. While using the standard secure communications protocol available in major browsers, known as secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption, could prevent the attacks, many major companies -- such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, LinkedIn, and AOL -- failed to do so, Soghoian said.
"Many of companies have world-class in-house security teams, so their worst sin is not consulting their own experts, who would have undoubtedly shot down any attempt to update code over an insecure and untrustworthy connection," Soghoian said in an e-mail interview with SecurityFocus.
Soghoian, who attracted the attention of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security last year when he created an online boarding-pass generator, posted an advisory and video of the attack to his Web site on Wednesday, a month and a half after notifying Mozilla and Google of the issue.
Vulnerability researchers have increasingly targeted Firefox as the open-source browser's popularity has grown. The group improved the browser's security with its latest version, Firefox 2.0, released last October. Both Microsoft and Mozilla have argued that their own browser protects Internet users better.
In April, Soghoian decided to use a network sniffer to capture the data that Firefox sent out over the network as it was starting up. He quickly noticed that several extensions sent requests to check for new updates using plain Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) packets, without any sort of security.
"The insecure update requests stuck out like a sore thumb, and within a couple of hours, I had a working demo which proved that it was possible to hijack the extension upgrade process," Soghoian said.
Such requests could be intercepted by an attacker, if the victim used a wireless network or an untrusted wired network, he said. In particular, an attacker that had access to or control over the local domain name service (DNS) server could easily subvert the patch process. The attacker could then respond to the update request with a malicious add-on that could monitor the victim's Internet connection and steal sensitive information.
The Mozilla Foundation acknowledged the issue, but stressed that any updates downloaded from its servers user SSL and are checked against a hash.
"We strongly recommend that add-on developers require SSL for updates to prevent the attack described above," Window Snyder, chief security officer for Mozilla, stated in a post to the group's developer blog.
The Mozilla Foundation released on Wednesday a patch for both version 1.5 and version 2.0 of the browser, fixing a critical memory corruption flaw.
Ironically, an amateur developer coding up a plug-in for Firefox will be much less likely to have to worry about the issue than a large company. Because most smaller developers use the Mozilla Foundation's Add-ons download site, they are more likely to be secure.
Google, for example, not only uses an unsecured connection to check for and download updates, but also suppresses any notification that an update is being installed, Soghoian said. The company has already created a patch and will automatically be updating Google Toolbar users soon, a representative said.
"We were notified of a potential vulnerability in some updates for Firefox extensions," the representative said in a statement sent to SecurityFocus. "A fix was developed for the Google extensions and users will be automatically updated with the patch shortly. We have received no reports that this vulnerability was exploited."
Soghoian, who spent last summer interning at Google, hopes that the search giant will also reconsider its decision to update users without notification. Firefox users now need to take a critical look at the third-party add-ons installed on their browser, and having as much information as possible helps, Soghoian said.
"As a matter of general policy, vendors really should not have their software silently install updates without asking the user's permission -- it is asking for trouble," he stated in his advisory.
The Mozilla development team is currently considering ways that they could prevent insecure updates in the next version of the browser, Firefox 3.0, the group said on its blog.
(securityfocus)
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Online thieves nab $450,000 from town coffers
A keylogger on the computer of the Carson, Calif., treasurer enabled online thieves to transfer nearly half a million dollars to other bank accounts, according to news reports.
The thieves made two transfers: The first on May 23 for $90,000 and the next for $358,000 on the following day, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Carson Treasurer Karen Avilla noticed the transfers on May 24 and, with the help of the town's bank, froze all but $45,000 of the money. A computer forensics team from the bank found a Trojan horse on her city-issued laptop, according to a report in ComputerWorld.
"We're vigilant in checking our (bank) balances daily," she told ComputerWorld. "I think the only thing you can do (to keep your money safe) is look at it with your own two eyes."
Following legislation that requires companies and organizations to disclose data breaches, news of online thieves making off with people's data have become commonplace. The theft of funds from companies is far less likely to be reported. A massive breach of retail giant TJX Companies' processing systems led to the loss of information on at least 45.6 million credit and debit cards.
The U.S. Secret Service is currently tracking the path of the $45,000 missing from the accounts, media reports stated.
(securityfocus)
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The thieves made two transfers: The first on May 23 for $90,000 and the next for $358,000 on the following day, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. Carson Treasurer Karen Avilla noticed the transfers on May 24 and, with the help of the town's bank, froze all but $45,000 of the money. A computer forensics team from the bank found a Trojan horse on her city-issued laptop, according to a report in ComputerWorld.
"We're vigilant in checking our (bank) balances daily," she told ComputerWorld. "I think the only thing you can do (to keep your money safe) is look at it with your own two eyes."
Following legislation that requires companies and organizations to disclose data breaches, news of online thieves making off with people's data have become commonplace. The theft of funds from companies is far less likely to be reported. A massive breach of retail giant TJX Companies' processing systems led to the loss of information on at least 45.6 million credit and debit cards.
The U.S. Secret Service is currently tracking the path of the $45,000 missing from the accounts, media reports stated.
(securityfocus)
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Search engines reduce risky results, says report
The chance of encountering a questionable or malicious site among search results dropped to 4 percent in May, as most search engines continue to work to cull dubious sponsored links, stated a report published on Monday by SiteAdvisor, a subsidiary of security firm McAfee.
The report surveyed the SiteAdvisor ratings of the top-5 search engines, which represent 93 percent of all searches on the Internet, and found that those that linked to risky Web sites dropped to 4 percent of all results, compared to 5 percent a year earlier. Most of the improvement came from better vetting of the sponsored links that the search engines place in a prominent position for a fee. This year, 6.9 percent of such links were considered risky, down from 8.5 percent a year ago.
"These differences indicate search engines’ control over the sites they promote," the report stated. "Search engines can look the other way while dubious ads run rampant, but they can also set and enforce tough editorial policies to keep bad ads out."
SiteAdvisor regularly scans sites that account for the lion's share of all Web traffic, rating dangerous pages as 'red', questionable pages as 'yellow', and legitimate sites as 'green'. In March 2006, the company found that sites accounting for 5 percent of all Web traffic attempted to upload hostile programs to a visitor's computer, or acted in some other malicious way. Sites that accounted for another 2 percent of traffic received the company's yellow rating.
In the latest survey, America Online's search engine had the fewest risky search results at 2.9 percent, while Yahoo's search engine had the most at 5.4 percent
(securityfocus)
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The report surveyed the SiteAdvisor ratings of the top-5 search engines, which represent 93 percent of all searches on the Internet, and found that those that linked to risky Web sites dropped to 4 percent of all results, compared to 5 percent a year earlier. Most of the improvement came from better vetting of the sponsored links that the search engines place in a prominent position for a fee. This year, 6.9 percent of such links were considered risky, down from 8.5 percent a year ago.
"These differences indicate search engines’ control over the sites they promote," the report stated. "Search engines can look the other way while dubious ads run rampant, but they can also set and enforce tough editorial policies to keep bad ads out."
SiteAdvisor regularly scans sites that account for the lion's share of all Web traffic, rating dangerous pages as 'red', questionable pages as 'yellow', and legitimate sites as 'green'. In March 2006, the company found that sites accounting for 5 percent of all Web traffic attempted to upload hostile programs to a visitor's computer, or acted in some other malicious way. Sites that accounted for another 2 percent of traffic received the company's yellow rating.
In the latest survey, America Online's search engine had the fewest risky search results at 2.9 percent, while Yahoo's search engine had the most at 5.4 percent
(securityfocus)
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Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Keylogging Trojan Dodges Anti-virus Detection
By Brian Prince
A new variant of the Russian Trojan Gozi is circulating on the Web, this time armed with a keylogging function and the ability to scramble itself so it is difficult to detect by anti-virus software.
The Trojan is believed to have been spreading since April 17. Like the original, which was discovered earlier in 2007, the new version of Gozi steals data from encrypted SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) streams.
The latest variant was uncovered May 7 by Don Jackson, a security researcher at SecureWorks in Atlanta. Jackson also found one data cache from the Gozi variant that contained 2,000 new victims and several thousand account records, including bank and credit card account numbers, Social Security numbers, and other personal information.
SecureWorks researchers suspect that other servers with stolen Gozi data exist, Jackson said.
"If you were infected before mid-May, then it will act like a rootkit and hide itself on your PC and will make itself undetectable by most anti-virus software," he said
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A new variant of the Russian Trojan Gozi is circulating on the Web, this time armed with a keylogging function and the ability to scramble itself so it is difficult to detect by anti-virus software.
The Trojan is believed to have been spreading since April 17. Like the original, which was discovered earlier in 2007, the new version of Gozi steals data from encrypted SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) streams.
The latest variant was uncovered May 7 by Don Jackson, a security researcher at SecureWorks in Atlanta. Jackson also found one data cache from the Gozi variant that contained 2,000 new victims and several thousand account records, including bank and credit card account numbers, Social Security numbers, and other personal information.
SecureWorks researchers suspect that other servers with stolen Gozi data exist, Jackson said.
"If you were infected before mid-May, then it will act like a rootkit and hide itself on your PC and will make itself undetectable by most anti-virus software," he said
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Nissan: Cell Phones Can Disable Your Car Keys
By Reuters
DETROIT (Reuters) - Nissan North America has a warning for customers: placing your electronic key too close to your cellphone could leave you stranded.
The automaker is asking customers driving new models of two of its flagship sedans to keep their car keys and cellphones at least an inch apart to avoid disabling the "intelligent keys."
Cellphones kept near Nissan's I-Keys—wireless devices designed to allow drivers to enter and start their cars at the push of a button—can erase the electronic code on the keys, rendering them unable to unlock or start the cars.
The problem has occurred on the 2007 Nissan Altima and Infiniti G35 sedans—two of their top-selling models, the company said on Thursday.
"We discovered that if the I-Key touches a cellphone, outgoing or incoming calls have the potential to alter the electronic code inside the I-Key," Nissan spokesman Kyle Bazemore said.
"The car won't start and the I-Key cannot be reprogrammed," he added.
The problem has occurred in a "very small percentage" of cars sold, Bazemore said. He also said a new version of the I-Key would be available in the fall.
Bazemore said current owners have been notified of the potential glitch via mail and can get new keys from dealers if they encounter the problem.
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DETROIT (Reuters) - Nissan North America has a warning for customers: placing your electronic key too close to your cellphone could leave you stranded.
The automaker is asking customers driving new models of two of its flagship sedans to keep their car keys and cellphones at least an inch apart to avoid disabling the "intelligent keys."
Cellphones kept near Nissan's I-Keys—wireless devices designed to allow drivers to enter and start their cars at the push of a button—can erase the electronic code on the keys, rendering them unable to unlock or start the cars.
The problem has occurred on the 2007 Nissan Altima and Infiniti G35 sedans—two of their top-selling models, the company said on Thursday.
"We discovered that if the I-Key touches a cellphone, outgoing or incoming calls have the potential to alter the electronic code inside the I-Key," Nissan spokesman Kyle Bazemore said.
"The car won't start and the I-Key cannot be reprogrammed," he added.
The problem has occurred in a "very small percentage" of cars sold, Bazemore said. He also said a new version of the I-Key would be available in the fall.
Bazemore said current owners have been notified of the potential glitch via mail and can get new keys from dealers if they encounter the problem.
Copyright Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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Canon, Toshiba to Delay SED TVs Again
By Reuters
TOKYO, May 25 (Reuters) - Canon Inc. and Toshiba Corp. have decided to postpone the launch of SED TVs from their latest target of late 2007, the Japanese companies said on Friday, raising doubt over the commercial viability of the new flat televisions.
Canon cited a prolonged patent lawsuit with Nano-Proprietary Inc. as a reason for the delay. It is also delaying the launch to develop the technology to cut production costs, a step necessary to compete with LCD and plasma TVs, the company said.
Toshiba, which plans to procure SED panels from Canon, is postponing the TV launch as Canon is unable to start supplying the panels on time.
The new launch timing has yet to be decided, they said.
Despite the delay, however, both companies said they have no intentions of abandoning plans to offer SED TVs.
"We still plan to offer SED TVs as soon as we secure panel supplies," a Toshiba spokeswoman said.
SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) TVs are said to have brighter images and consume less energy than existing LCD and plasma models.
But analysts are concerned that SED TV suppliers, which do not even have large-scale production facilities at the moment, are likely to face an uphill battle in bringing down prices fast enough in the flat TV market, known for multi-billion dollar investments and steep price declines.
($1=121.06 Yen)
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TOKYO, May 25 (Reuters) - Canon Inc. and Toshiba Corp. have decided to postpone the launch of SED TVs from their latest target of late 2007, the Japanese companies said on Friday, raising doubt over the commercial viability of the new flat televisions.
Canon cited a prolonged patent lawsuit with Nano-Proprietary Inc. as a reason for the delay. It is also delaying the launch to develop the technology to cut production costs, a step necessary to compete with LCD and plasma TVs, the company said.
Toshiba, which plans to procure SED panels from Canon, is postponing the TV launch as Canon is unable to start supplying the panels on time.
The new launch timing has yet to be decided, they said.
Despite the delay, however, both companies said they have no intentions of abandoning plans to offer SED TVs.
"We still plan to offer SED TVs as soon as we secure panel supplies," a Toshiba spokeswoman said.
SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) TVs are said to have brighter images and consume less energy than existing LCD and plasma models.
But analysts are concerned that SED TV suppliers, which do not even have large-scale production facilities at the moment, are likely to face an uphill battle in bringing down prices fast enough in the flat TV market, known for multi-billion dollar investments and steep price declines.
($1=121.06 Yen)
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Philadelphia Wireless Internet Project Advances
By Jon Hurdle, Reuters
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters)—Philadelphia has finished testing its wireless Internet project, setting the stage for America's biggest citywide Wi-Fi network that will also offer access to low-income households, officials said on Thursday
The city government this week approved results from a 15-square-mile test zone where people can access the Internet for $21.95 a month or $9.95 if they qualify for low-income assistance.
Access is free in parks and other outdoor spaces, and for people participating in community programs such as employment training or housing assistance.
By the end of this year, Philadelphia will have wireless Internet access throughout its 135 square miles in a project being watched by many cities throughout the world, said Greg Goldman, chief executive of Wireless Philadelphia, a nonprofit organization set up by the city to implement the plan.
Although other cities have wireless "hotspots," no other U.S. city as large as Philadelphia has total Wi-Fi coverage, Goldman said.
"This is a major step toward achieving our vision of the entire city connected," Goldman said. "Low-income families can begin using the powers of the Internet to improve their educational, employment and life opportunities."
Wireless Philadelphia aims to provide Internet access for the more than 300,000 households—about half of the city—that cannot currently get on the Web, and so are unable to perform basic economic activities such as applying for jobs whose employers only accept online applications, Goldman said.
Philadelphia, with a quarter of its 1.5 million people officially below the federal poverty line, is one of the poorest U.S. cities.
For 2,000 of the neediest customers, Wireless Philadelphia plans to provide free refurbished laptops, a one-year Wi-Fi account, and educational and technical support in a program that will cost $3 million once funds are raised, Goldman said.
The network is being funded, built and managed by Earthlink, an Atlanta-based Internet provider, which plans to invest $13.5 million to complete the project. The company will pay revenue-sharing fees to Wireless Philadelphia to support its "digital inclusion" project for low-income users.
Copyright Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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PHILADELPHIA (Reuters)—Philadelphia has finished testing its wireless Internet project, setting the stage for America's biggest citywide Wi-Fi network that will also offer access to low-income households, officials said on Thursday
The city government this week approved results from a 15-square-mile test zone where people can access the Internet for $21.95 a month or $9.95 if they qualify for low-income assistance.
Access is free in parks and other outdoor spaces, and for people participating in community programs such as employment training or housing assistance.
By the end of this year, Philadelphia will have wireless Internet access throughout its 135 square miles in a project being watched by many cities throughout the world, said Greg Goldman, chief executive of Wireless Philadelphia, a nonprofit organization set up by the city to implement the plan.
Although other cities have wireless "hotspots," no other U.S. city as large as Philadelphia has total Wi-Fi coverage, Goldman said.
"This is a major step toward achieving our vision of the entire city connected," Goldman said. "Low-income families can begin using the powers of the Internet to improve their educational, employment and life opportunities."
Wireless Philadelphia aims to provide Internet access for the more than 300,000 households—about half of the city—that cannot currently get on the Web, and so are unable to perform basic economic activities such as applying for jobs whose employers only accept online applications, Goldman said.
Philadelphia, with a quarter of its 1.5 million people officially below the federal poverty line, is one of the poorest U.S. cities.
For 2,000 of the neediest customers, Wireless Philadelphia plans to provide free refurbished laptops, a one-year Wi-Fi account, and educational and technical support in a program that will cost $3 million once funds are raised, Goldman said.
The network is being funded, built and managed by Earthlink, an Atlanta-based Internet provider, which plans to invest $13.5 million to complete the project. The company will pay revenue-sharing fees to Wireless Philadelphia to support its "digital inclusion" project for low-income users.
Copyright Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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Wirecard Explains How Virtual Banking Will Work
By Chloe Albanesius
The virtual banking world now has the backing of an actual bank. German bank Wirecard is among the four investors that recently purchased banking licenses issued by the virtual community of Entropia Universe.
Virtual reality enthusiasts paid a total of $400,000 earlier this month to acquire the licenses, which will allow their owners to lend cash to the community's participants for the virtual purchase of anything from game-fighting weapons to real estate. They will have the exclusive rights to these banking licenses for two years, after which Entropia will consider issuing additional licenses.
The Wirecard stake was purchased for $59,060 in conjunction with Entropia avatar Janus JD D'Arcwire. Other purchasers include Jon "NeverDie" Jacobs, an Entropia nightclub owner and one of the world's most well known players, who paid $90,000; avatar Yuri iNTellect, representing Russian Internet payment provider MONETA.ru, by Efremov, who paid $99,900; Second Life celeb Anshe Chung, who paid 60,000; and an anonymous entrepreneur using the avatar name "Jolana Kitty Brice," who paid $95,000.
Purchasers also had to pony up an additional $100,000 in seed money to acquire the licenses.
The move is another step toward making virtual reality more than just a game. Members may be hunting for monsters and mythical swords, but they're doing it with real money that can now be backed by funds from a real bank. Gamers like Jacobs and Chung survive on the proceeds of their virtual activities and grow their businesses within the confines of the virtual community.
Wirecard declined to provide details on how much of that $59,060 it actually paid. Its interest in the virtual community stems from the increasingly popularity of virtual reality.
"The growth of virtual economies … results in significant business opportunity for banks offering services specifically targeted to the needs of such customers," said Jan Marsalek, vice president of software and development at Wirecard, via an email interview.
"Only real life banks are able to offer a unique set of new and exciting but also trustworthy and secure services to the users of virtual worlds," Marsalek said. "The future growth and reputation of virtual worlds significantly depends on the sustainability of the services provided to their users and we believe that real life banks, such as Wirecard Bank, can add substantial value to the overall game play experience."
The deal with Entropia is not Wirecard's first foray into virtual reality. The bank already operates a virtual bank branch within the Second Life, operated by members of Wirecard's customer service team out of Leipzig, Germany, according to Marsalek.
Given that Wirecard is an actual bank, it has the opportunity to provide more services than those virtual banks operated by Entropia avatars. At this point, if an Entropia member wishes to do business with one of the other banking avatars, they must hand over some of their virtual acquisitions as collateral in order to receive funds instead of receiving money outright, according to Entropia officials.
Wirecard's offerings will be designed around the bank's Internet payment service, Marsalek said. The bank will begin with a single line of business, but officials are exploring additional opportunities within Entropia.
"Wirecard Bank is able to offer … far more sustainable services … due to the fact that it's a real life bank," Marsalek said.
But real life banks are also subject to real life banking regulations. "Depending on the origin of the customer, some services or products may be restricted to certain geographic areas," Marsalek said. "The legal implications of a failed business relationship vary as well as … the service or product affected."
Marsalek downplayed concerns about the anonymity of its Entropia customers. "Even the best-known and most trusted avatar will have to reveal the real-life person behind it when it comes to certain types of services," he said.
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The virtual banking world now has the backing of an actual bank. German bank Wirecard is among the four investors that recently purchased banking licenses issued by the virtual community of Entropia Universe.
Virtual reality enthusiasts paid a total of $400,000 earlier this month to acquire the licenses, which will allow their owners to lend cash to the community's participants for the virtual purchase of anything from game-fighting weapons to real estate. They will have the exclusive rights to these banking licenses for two years, after which Entropia will consider issuing additional licenses.
The Wirecard stake was purchased for $59,060 in conjunction with Entropia avatar Janus JD D'Arcwire. Other purchasers include Jon "NeverDie" Jacobs, an Entropia nightclub owner and one of the world's most well known players, who paid $90,000; avatar Yuri iNTellect, representing Russian Internet payment provider MONETA.ru, by Efremov, who paid $99,900; Second Life celeb Anshe Chung, who paid 60,000; and an anonymous entrepreneur using the avatar name "Jolana Kitty Brice," who paid $95,000.
Purchasers also had to pony up an additional $100,000 in seed money to acquire the licenses.
The move is another step toward making virtual reality more than just a game. Members may be hunting for monsters and mythical swords, but they're doing it with real money that can now be backed by funds from a real bank. Gamers like Jacobs and Chung survive on the proceeds of their virtual activities and grow their businesses within the confines of the virtual community.
Wirecard declined to provide details on how much of that $59,060 it actually paid. Its interest in the virtual community stems from the increasingly popularity of virtual reality.
"The growth of virtual economies … results in significant business opportunity for banks offering services specifically targeted to the needs of such customers," said Jan Marsalek, vice president of software and development at Wirecard, via an email interview.
"Only real life banks are able to offer a unique set of new and exciting but also trustworthy and secure services to the users of virtual worlds," Marsalek said. "The future growth and reputation of virtual worlds significantly depends on the sustainability of the services provided to their users and we believe that real life banks, such as Wirecard Bank, can add substantial value to the overall game play experience."
The deal with Entropia is not Wirecard's first foray into virtual reality. The bank already operates a virtual bank branch within the Second Life, operated by members of Wirecard's customer service team out of Leipzig, Germany, according to Marsalek.
Given that Wirecard is an actual bank, it has the opportunity to provide more services than those virtual banks operated by Entropia avatars. At this point, if an Entropia member wishes to do business with one of the other banking avatars, they must hand over some of their virtual acquisitions as collateral in order to receive funds instead of receiving money outright, according to Entropia officials.
Wirecard's offerings will be designed around the bank's Internet payment service, Marsalek said. The bank will begin with a single line of business, but officials are exploring additional opportunities within Entropia.
"Wirecard Bank is able to offer … far more sustainable services … due to the fact that it's a real life bank," Marsalek said.
But real life banks are also subject to real life banking regulations. "Depending on the origin of the customer, some services or products may be restricted to certain geographic areas," Marsalek said. "The legal implications of a failed business relationship vary as well as … the service or product affected."
Marsalek downplayed concerns about the anonymity of its Entropia customers. "Even the best-known and most trusted avatar will have to reveal the real-life person behind it when it comes to certain types of services," he said.
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Google Warned on Potential Privacy Violations
PARIS (Reuters) - Google Inc, the world's top Internet search engine, could be violating European privacy laws by keeping data on people's searches for as long as two years, EU data protection advisory groups warned the company
A letter to Google from a group of national advisory bodies that counsels the European Union on privacy policy expressed concern the company was keeping information on users' searches for too long, a spokeswoman for Google in Paris said on Friday.
"The concern is about keeping information about people's search for a definite period of time ranging from 18 to 24 months," the spokeswoman said. "They (the Article 29 working party) believe it is too long."
With every search, Google gathers information about a customer's tastes, interests and beliefs which could potentially be used by third parties ranging from religious groups to advertisers.
The spokeswoman added that Google, at its own initiative, had decided earlier this year to limit to up to two years the period during which it kept users' data. She said the company had not set any limit previously.
Google said it was preparing its reply to the letter before the working party's next meeting in June.
"We are committed to engaging in a constructive dialogue with privacy stakeholders, including the Article 29 working party, on how to improve privacy practices for the benefit of Google users and for everyone on the Internet," Peter Fleischer, Google's privacy counsel, said in an e-mailed statement.
Copyright Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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A letter to Google from a group of national advisory bodies that counsels the European Union on privacy policy expressed concern the company was keeping information on users' searches for too long, a spokeswoman for Google in Paris said on Friday.
"The concern is about keeping information about people's search for a definite period of time ranging from 18 to 24 months," the spokeswoman said. "They (the Article 29 working party) believe it is too long."
With every search, Google gathers information about a customer's tastes, interests and beliefs which could potentially be used by third parties ranging from religious groups to advertisers.
The spokeswoman added that Google, at its own initiative, had decided earlier this year to limit to up to two years the period during which it kept users' data. She said the company had not set any limit previously.
Google said it was preparing its reply to the letter before the working party's next meeting in June.
"We are committed to engaging in a constructive dialogue with privacy stakeholders, including the Article 29 working party, on how to improve privacy practices for the benefit of Google users and for everyone on the Internet," Peter Fleischer, Google's privacy counsel, said in an e-mailed statement.
Copyright Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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YouTube's 'Lonelygirl15' To Get U.K. Spinoff
By Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - The creators of the online phenomenon "Lonelygirl15" have joined forces with social networking site Bebo to create a British spin-off story that will use brands to help define the characters.
The organizers say the project will give advertisers the chance to pitch their products such as clothing or mobile phones at a younger audience who have moved in recent years from traditional media to the Internet.
The star of the show, to be called Kate Modern, will post a series of videos and have a profile on the Bebo site, allowing members to interact with her and fellow fictional characters.
The series follows "Lonelygirl15", the video diary of an American teenager called Bree which drew a huge following even after the revelation that Bree was in fact an actress and the diaries scripted by writers.
President of Bebo International, Joanna Shields, told Reuters Television that the project would allow a small number of brands regular access to a potentially huge following.
"If we do (the advertising) tastefully and well and people see that it is successful then it could be an opportunity for advertisers and brands to connect with this demographic," she said.
"Each time I connect with that character, the advertiser has a chance to send me a message."
Lonelygirl15 has received more than 50 million hits on the Internet and has occasionally incorporated advertising.
In the British version, Kate Modern will be a 19-year-old art student living in central London and the story will be set around the hip Carnaby Street.
The series will initially start on Bebo at the beginning of July before moving to YouTube and other networking sites.
Miles Beckett who helped create Lonelygirl15 said the original creation had worked because of the storyline.
"It combined the best elements of traditional story telling along with the technological innovations of the Web," he told Reuters.
"So we had great characters, a great plot and then we added all the social networking features ... with people being able to message the characters, interact with them and really take part in the story."
The team said they did not think it would be an issue that "Kate Modern" was not a real person as "people watch television everyday".
Copyright Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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LONDON (Reuters) - The creators of the online phenomenon "Lonelygirl15" have joined forces with social networking site Bebo to create a British spin-off story that will use brands to help define the characters.
The organizers say the project will give advertisers the chance to pitch their products such as clothing or mobile phones at a younger audience who have moved in recent years from traditional media to the Internet.
The star of the show, to be called Kate Modern, will post a series of videos and have a profile on the Bebo site, allowing members to interact with her and fellow fictional characters.
The series follows "Lonelygirl15", the video diary of an American teenager called Bree which drew a huge following even after the revelation that Bree was in fact an actress and the diaries scripted by writers.
President of Bebo International, Joanna Shields, told Reuters Television that the project would allow a small number of brands regular access to a potentially huge following.
"If we do (the advertising) tastefully and well and people see that it is successful then it could be an opportunity for advertisers and brands to connect with this demographic," she said.
"Each time I connect with that character, the advertiser has a chance to send me a message."
Lonelygirl15 has received more than 50 million hits on the Internet and has occasionally incorporated advertising.
In the British version, Kate Modern will be a 19-year-old art student living in central London and the story will be set around the hip Carnaby Street.
The series will initially start on Bebo at the beginning of July before moving to YouTube and other networking sites.
Miles Beckett who helped create Lonelygirl15 said the original creation had worked because of the storyline.
"It combined the best elements of traditional story telling along with the technological innovations of the Web," he told Reuters.
"So we had great characters, a great plot and then we added all the social networking features ... with people being able to message the characters, interact with them and really take part in the story."
The team said they did not think it would be an issue that "Kate Modern" was not a real person as "people watch television everyday".
Copyright Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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Google: We Hold Data for Two Years
By Reuters
PARIS (Reuters) - Google will tell Brussels it needs to hold on to users' search data for up to two years for security and commercial reasons after being warned it could be violating European privacy laws by doing so.
The world's top Internet search engine on Friday said it would respond by June 19 to a letter from a European Union data protection advisory group expressing concern it was keeping information on users' searches for too long.
"The concern of EU law is that a company that collects data on its customers should keep it as long as it is necessary, but not longer," Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy counsel, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Google shares were untroubled by the warning, rising 1.7 percent to $482.26 by 1456 GMT.
With every search, Google gathers information about a customer's tastes, interests and beliefs that could potentially be used by third parties such as advertisers, but the company stresses it never passes it on.
Google last week received a letter from the Article 29 working party, a group of national advisory bodies that counsels the EU on privacy policy, which asked the company to justify its data retention practices.
"I will tell the working party that Google needs to hold on to its log database to protect itself and the system from attacks and refine and improve the effectiveness of our search results," Fleischer said.
He said Google, at its own initiative, had decided in March to limit the time it kept engine search information to between 18 and 24 months. The company previously had no set time limit.
He called on rivals Yahoo! and Microsoft to clarify their data retention practices and policies.
"Will the working party focus on other players in the industry?" Fleischer asked.
Copyright Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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PARIS (Reuters) - Google will tell Brussels it needs to hold on to users' search data for up to two years for security and commercial reasons after being warned it could be violating European privacy laws by doing so.
The world's top Internet search engine on Friday said it would respond by June 19 to a letter from a European Union data protection advisory group expressing concern it was keeping information on users' searches for too long.
"The concern of EU law is that a company that collects data on its customers should keep it as long as it is necessary, but not longer," Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy counsel, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Google shares were untroubled by the warning, rising 1.7 percent to $482.26 by 1456 GMT.
With every search, Google gathers information about a customer's tastes, interests and beliefs that could potentially be used by third parties such as advertisers, but the company stresses it never passes it on.
Google last week received a letter from the Article 29 working party, a group of national advisory bodies that counsels the EU on privacy policy, which asked the company to justify its data retention practices.
"I will tell the working party that Google needs to hold on to its log database to protect itself and the system from attacks and refine and improve the effectiveness of our search results," Fleischer said.
He said Google, at its own initiative, had decided in March to limit the time it kept engine search information to between 18 and 24 months. The company previously had no set time limit.
He called on rivals Yahoo! and Microsoft to clarify their data retention practices and policies.
"Will the working party focus on other players in the industry?" Fleischer asked.
Copyright Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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'The Sims' to Hit the Big Screen
By Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Maybe they can call it "The Sims: The Movie." Electronic Arts Inc. has sold the movie rights for "The Sims," the best-selling computer game, of all time to 20th Century Fox, Variety said on Friday.
"The Sims" is one of EA's biggest franchises and, including sequels and expansions such as "The Sims: House Party" and "The Sims: Vacation," has sold nearly 85 million copies since it debuted seven years ago.
Oft-described as a "virtual dollhouse," the game puts players in charge of simulated people, helping them make friends, find satisfying jobs and buy household items in order to stay happy.
"The Sims has done an interactive version of an old story, which is what it's like to have infinite power and how do you deal with it," the Hollywood industry paper quoted Rod Humble, head of The Sims Studio at EA, as saying.
"The Sims" was created by legendary game designer Will Wright, known for his quirky titles that eschew linear storylines in favor of letting players create and explore their own worlds.
Variety did not mention financial terms of the deal. Spokesmen for EA and Fox could not immediately be reached for comment. Fox is owned by News Corp.
Copyright Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Maybe they can call it "The Sims: The Movie." Electronic Arts Inc. has sold the movie rights for "The Sims," the best-selling computer game, of all time to 20th Century Fox, Variety said on Friday.
"The Sims" is one of EA's biggest franchises and, including sequels and expansions such as "The Sims: House Party" and "The Sims: Vacation," has sold nearly 85 million copies since it debuted seven years ago.
Oft-described as a "virtual dollhouse," the game puts players in charge of simulated people, helping them make friends, find satisfying jobs and buy household items in order to stay happy.
"The Sims has done an interactive version of an old story, which is what it's like to have infinite power and how do you deal with it," the Hollywood industry paper quoted Rod Humble, head of The Sims Studio at EA, as saying.
"The Sims" was created by legendary game designer Will Wright, known for his quirky titles that eschew linear storylines in favor of letting players create and explore their own worlds.
Variety did not mention financial terms of the deal. Spokesmen for EA and Fox could not immediately be reached for comment. Fox is owned by News Corp.
Copyright Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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Toshiba Will Ship AMD-Based Notebooks
By Reuters
TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp. said it would buy microprocessors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc., ending its exclusive ties with Intel Corp. for the supply of the brains that run computers, and sending its shares higher.
Toshiba, the world's fourth-largest laptop PC maker, said on Tuesday it expects to put AMD processors in about 20 percent of the notebooks it sells in the United States and Europe.
The move follows an announcement last year by Dell Inc., the world's second-largest PC maker that had been procuring microprocessors only from Intel for more than two decades, that it would begin using chips from AMD.
Intel is AMD's far larger rival with a market share of around 80 percent.
"With PCs becoming commodity products, there seems to be a new way of thinking that competition should be introduced even in procurement of such core parts like processors as long as there are no major differences in product specifications," Macquarie Securities analyst Yoshihiro Shimada said.
"This could be a message that an era in which Intel took the lion's share of microprocessor profits as the king of PC chips is over."
Toshiba plans to put AMD chips in moderate-priced standard models for individual and corporate clients, Toshiba spokeswoman Yuko Sugahara said.
The Nikkei business daily reported earlier that prices of AMD-equipped PCs are expected to sell for up to 10,000 yen ($82) less than comparable models.
Toshiba will install AMD chips in some models to be released this summer, enabling it to reduce parts-procurement costs by at least 10 percent, the paper said.
Shares of Toshiba were up 1.0 percent at 906 yen in early afternoon trade, outperforming the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index, which gained 0.37 percent.
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp. said it would buy microprocessors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc., ending its exclusive ties with Intel Corp. for the supply of the brains that run computers, and sending its shares higher.
Toshiba, the world's fourth-largest laptop PC maker, said on Tuesday it expects to put AMD processors in about 20 percent of the notebooks it sells in the United States and Europe.
The move follows an announcement last year by Dell Inc., the world's second-largest PC maker that had been procuring microprocessors only from Intel for more than two decades, that it would begin using chips from AMD.
Intel is AMD's far larger rival with a market share of around 80 percent.
"With PCs becoming commodity products, there seems to be a new way of thinking that competition should be introduced even in procurement of such core parts like processors as long as there are no major differences in product specifications," Macquarie Securities analyst Yoshihiro Shimada said.
"This could be a message that an era in which Intel took the lion's share of microprocessor profits as the king of PC chips is over."
Toshiba plans to put AMD chips in moderate-priced standard models for individual and corporate clients, Toshiba spokeswoman Yuko Sugahara said.
The Nikkei business daily reported earlier that prices of AMD-equipped PCs are expected to sell for up to 10,000 yen ($82) less than comparable models.
Toshiba will install AMD chips in some models to be released this summer, enabling it to reduce parts-procurement costs by at least 10 percent, the paper said.
Shares of Toshiba were up 1.0 percent at 906 yen in early afternoon trade, outperforming the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index, which gained 0.37 percent.
Copyright Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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Yoggie Pico Brings Enterprise Security to the Desktop
By Neil J. Rubenking
Corporate desktops have an easy life because other computers handle most of their security. Spam gets filtered on the mail server. A corporate firewall keeps out all external attacks and may also scan all traffic for viruses. The user doesn't have to think about it, since everything is managed by the IT department. On an individual non-corporate desktop, however, all these security tasks use up CPU time and reduce the system's effective power. Yoggie Security Systems (www.yoggie.com) aims to recharge your desktop's performance by offloading all security tasks to the Yoggie Pico—a separate computer that looks like a USB drive.
Yoggie founder and CEO Shlomo Touboul observed a problem during his tenure as CEO of Finjan Software (which he also founded). Security suites just kept getting bigger, dragging system performance. Every day they would spend time downloading signature updates and code patches, not to mention slapping on a whole new module—probably duplicating code in existing modules—every 16 to 18 months.
Touboul also discovered out that many security suites constantly challenge the user with queries that they don't understand. Users want maximum security with the minimum performance hit possible, and they don't want any hassles.
Yoggie Pico aims to address all of these issues by taking security out of the user's hands and running it entirely outside of Windows. The device has a 520Mhz Intel Pentium processor running 13 distinct security applications under Linux. When installed, its driver "hijacks" all network traffic—wired, wireless, Bluetooth, even G3—and processes it before handing it off to the desktop. The Pico's operating system and essential files are stored in read-only memory and copied to active memory at each boot-up, so even if a Linux-based attack managed to compromise it, a reboot would clean things up.
Network traffic goes through firewall and Intrusion Prevention layers, including deep packet inspection to detect attacks. Next it hits HTTP, FTP, POP3 and SMTP proxies. These in turn connect with antivirus, antispyware, antiphishing and antispam modules, as well as a module that can block URLs based on content.
The Yoggie Pico checks for updates every five minutes using a secure, encrypted connection to Yoggie's servers. It does share bandwidth with the desktop during this time, but doesn't otherwise impact the connection. There's also a web server module so you can log in and view reports. Worried about kids and the Internet? Pocket the Yoggie Pico and they're cut off!
The $179 Yoggie Pico will be available for online order beginning the first week in June and on retailer shelves in the next 60 to 90 days. The price includes a year's subscription to all necessary updates, with renewal costs at $30 per year. It also comes with a license for Kaspersky's antivirus scanner, for those who want to actively scan the system. The Pro version adds a secure VPN Client and central management for $199 and $40 per year
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Corporate desktops have an easy life because other computers handle most of their security. Spam gets filtered on the mail server. A corporate firewall keeps out all external attacks and may also scan all traffic for viruses. The user doesn't have to think about it, since everything is managed by the IT department. On an individual non-corporate desktop, however, all these security tasks use up CPU time and reduce the system's effective power. Yoggie Security Systems (www.yoggie.com) aims to recharge your desktop's performance by offloading all security tasks to the Yoggie Pico—a separate computer that looks like a USB drive.
Yoggie founder and CEO Shlomo Touboul observed a problem during his tenure as CEO of Finjan Software (which he also founded). Security suites just kept getting bigger, dragging system performance. Every day they would spend time downloading signature updates and code patches, not to mention slapping on a whole new module—probably duplicating code in existing modules—every 16 to 18 months.
Touboul also discovered out that many security suites constantly challenge the user with queries that they don't understand. Users want maximum security with the minimum performance hit possible, and they don't want any hassles.
Yoggie Pico aims to address all of these issues by taking security out of the user's hands and running it entirely outside of Windows. The device has a 520Mhz Intel Pentium processor running 13 distinct security applications under Linux. When installed, its driver "hijacks" all network traffic—wired, wireless, Bluetooth, even G3—and processes it before handing it off to the desktop. The Pico's operating system and essential files are stored in read-only memory and copied to active memory at each boot-up, so even if a Linux-based attack managed to compromise it, a reboot would clean things up.
Network traffic goes through firewall and Intrusion Prevention layers, including deep packet inspection to detect attacks. Next it hits HTTP, FTP, POP3 and SMTP proxies. These in turn connect with antivirus, antispyware, antiphishing and antispam modules, as well as a module that can block URLs based on content.
The Yoggie Pico checks for updates every five minutes using a secure, encrypted connection to Yoggie's servers. It does share bandwidth with the desktop during this time, but doesn't otherwise impact the connection. There's also a web server module so you can log in and view reports. Worried about kids and the Internet? Pocket the Yoggie Pico and they're cut off!
The $179 Yoggie Pico will be available for online order beginning the first week in June and on retailer shelves in the next 60 to 90 days. The price includes a year's subscription to all necessary updates, with renewal costs at $30 per year. It also comes with a license for Kaspersky's antivirus scanner, for those who want to actively scan the system. The Pro version adds a secure VPN Client and central management for $199 and $40 per year
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Analyst: Dell's Wal-Mart Choice 'Creative'
By Jessica Davis
Dell's move to sell through Wal-Mart was a "creative choice" and the PC maker needs to be careful about balancing the message that choice sends, according to J.P. Gownder, a principal analyst at Forrester Research.
Gownder has been watching the company's moves into the retail space
"They are going for cost-sensitive consumers, and if there is something that Dell needs to be careful of it's that they need to make sure that everyone understands that this is the low end of their product line," he said. "They have spent the last five years trying to convince everyone that they are a high-end build-to-order company."
Click here to read more about Dell's decision to move away from its direct-only model and sell products through Wal-Mart.
Gownder said the company needs to ensure that the message spread by the recent move is that it caters to a range of price points and needs—the same way General Motors has both luxury cars and economy cars.
Gownder described Dell's choice of Wal-Mart as "creative" because more natural targets would have been Best Buy or Circuit City Stores, he said.
But Dell has said that Wal-Mart, as the world's largest retailer, can provide it with an education about retail.
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Dell's move to sell through Wal-Mart was a "creative choice" and the PC maker needs to be careful about balancing the message that choice sends, according to J.P. Gownder, a principal analyst at Forrester Research.
Gownder has been watching the company's moves into the retail space
"They are going for cost-sensitive consumers, and if there is something that Dell needs to be careful of it's that they need to make sure that everyone understands that this is the low end of their product line," he said. "They have spent the last five years trying to convince everyone that they are a high-end build-to-order company."
Click here to read more about Dell's decision to move away from its direct-only model and sell products through Wal-Mart.
Gownder said the company needs to ensure that the message spread by the recent move is that it caters to a range of price points and needs—the same way General Motors has both luxury cars and economy cars.
Gownder described Dell's choice of Wal-Mart as "creative" because more natural targets would have been Best Buy or Circuit City Stores, he said.
But Dell has said that Wal-Mart, as the world's largest retailer, can provide it with an education about retail.
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Neoware Unveils 3 New Thin-Client PCs
By Scott Ferguson
Neoware, one of the largest producers of thin-client PCs in the United States, is launching a new hardware platform that includes three revamped models with additional RAM and flash memory capacities.
The company, based in King of Prussia, Pa., is launching the three refreshed models—Neoware c50, e90 and e140—starting May 29.
All three models will include DDR2 (double data rate 2) RAM, which promises to offer a 25 percent increase in performance from previous models that used traditional DDR RAM.
In addition, the three models will also offer a minimum of 256MB of RAM and Neoware can now configure its thin clients with up to 1GB of flash memory, said Bill Bredbenner, the company's chief technology officer.
"We consider ourselves a leader in some of the key technological innovation in the thin-client space," Bredbenner said. "What our thin-client models offer are solutions for our customers interested in virtualization, security and energy savings. There are a lot of modern problems in IT and we are attempting to provide computing solutions for those problems."
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Neoware, one of the largest producers of thin-client PCs in the United States, is launching a new hardware platform that includes three revamped models with additional RAM and flash memory capacities.
The company, based in King of Prussia, Pa., is launching the three refreshed models—Neoware c50, e90 and e140—starting May 29.
All three models will include DDR2 (double data rate 2) RAM, which promises to offer a 25 percent increase in performance from previous models that used traditional DDR RAM.
In addition, the three models will also offer a minimum of 256MB of RAM and Neoware can now configure its thin clients with up to 1GB of flash memory, said Bill Bredbenner, the company's chief technology officer.
"We consider ourselves a leader in some of the key technological innovation in the thin-client space," Bredbenner said. "What our thin-client models offer are solutions for our customers interested in virtualization, security and energy savings. There are a lot of modern problems in IT and we are attempting to provide computing solutions for those problems."
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HP Launches 'Paperless' Rebates
By Chris Preimesberger
Hewlett Packard customers now have the option to redeem rebates online—without submitting any paperwork—when purchasing consumer technology products at the HP Home & Home Office Store, the Palo Alto, Calif., company announced May 24.
The "paperless" rebate program gives U.S. customers the option to redeem their rebates by entering just two pieces of information online—their order number and billing zip code—instead of completing a mail-in rebate form.
The simplified process, which the company launched earlier in May, is intended to offer customers greater convenience, a company spokesperson said.
"Our customers were asking us for a way to simplify the paperwork process, so this is what we decided to do," Cindy Zelanis, director of operations for HP Home Store told eWEEK.
HP also expects that the online program will speed up the rebate process overall, Zelanis said.
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Hewlett Packard customers now have the option to redeem rebates online—without submitting any paperwork—when purchasing consumer technology products at the HP Home & Home Office Store, the Palo Alto, Calif., company announced May 24.
The "paperless" rebate program gives U.S. customers the option to redeem their rebates by entering just two pieces of information online—their order number and billing zip code—instead of completing a mail-in rebate form.
The simplified process, which the company launched earlier in May, is intended to offer customers greater convenience, a company spokesperson said.
"Our customers were asking us for a way to simplify the paperwork process, so this is what we decided to do," Cindy Zelanis, director of operations for HP Home Store told eWEEK.
HP also expects that the online program will speed up the rebate process overall, Zelanis said.
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Sony to Sell HD Digital Radios
By Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sony Corp. on Tuesday said it would soon sell HD Digital Radios, making the Japanese electronics maker one of the largest manufacturers to back the broadcast radio industry's fledgling technology.
Sony said it would start shipping in July a tabletop radio and a model for cars, kicking off what it calls a long-term commitment to offering a range of HD Radio-enabled products over the next several years.
HD Radio lets traditional radio stations broadcast multiple new digital channels. The service is free, but consumers must buy a compatible radio.
U.S. radio operators are working to promote HD Radio at a time when consumers are already faced with many digital music options, such as Apple Inc.'s iPod, other MP3 players and satellite radio. The industry has pledged to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing through the HD Digital Radio Alliance.
Sony said its table top XDR-S3HD radio would be available in July for about $200, and its XT-100HD car tuner will be available that month for about $100.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sony Corp. on Tuesday said it would soon sell HD Digital Radios, making the Japanese electronics maker one of the largest manufacturers to back the broadcast radio industry's fledgling technology.
Sony said it would start shipping in July a tabletop radio and a model for cars, kicking off what it calls a long-term commitment to offering a range of HD Radio-enabled products over the next several years.
HD Radio lets traditional radio stations broadcast multiple new digital channels. The service is free, but consumers must buy a compatible radio.
U.S. radio operators are working to promote HD Radio at a time when consumers are already faced with many digital music options, such as Apple Inc.'s iPod, other MP3 players and satellite radio. The industry has pledged to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing through the HD Digital Radio Alliance.
Sony said its table top XDR-S3HD radio would be available in July for about $200, and its XT-100HD car tuner will be available that month for about $100.
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Spyware Doctor To Add Cyberhawk A/V Defense
By Neil J. Rubenking
Sydney-based PC Tools, purveyors of the popular Spyware Doctor antispyware utility, today announced their acquisition of Novatix Corporation.
Novatix's flagship product is Cyberhawk, a real-time behavior-based anti-malware program. According to PC Tools, "Cyberhawk's patent-pending ActiveDefense technology offers unsurpassed protection against both known and unknown viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits, buffer overflows and other forms of malware and provides effective protection against zero-day attacks."
Mike Kronenberg, chief executive of Novatix, will become chief technical officer of North American operations for PC Tools.
Spyware Doctor has long been a PC Magazine Editor's Choice for spyware protection, though the latest revision, Version 5.0 – a total rewrite with antivirus protection added – had some new-version problems. In testing, Cyberhawk Pro 2.0 was very effective at preventing malware from installing on a clean system. It doesn't remove found threats, just bottles them up so they can't do any harm. It's a good match for Spyware Doctor, which thoroughly cleans up the malware infestations it finds.
According to PC Tools chief executive Simon Claussen, "This new technology will help strengthen our zero-day coverage and improve our ability to detect emerging threats".
Kronenberg agreed. "We see this acquisition as a great fit for Novatix," he said. "PC Tools is a leader in the anti-spyware and anti-virus space. Our combined efforts will ensure that consumers get the best protection possible. PC Tools' broad reach in the consumer marketplace ensures our highly effective technology will have an even greater impact."
When asked when customers would reap the benefits of this acquisition, Michael Greene, PC Tools' vice president of product strategy, said immediately. "Consumers will start to recognize benefits right away." Greene said. "The information that comes in from the Cyberhawk community protection feature will feed into our ongoing analysis of new threats, and our Threat Expert technology will help speed up processing".
Cyberhawk Pro and the free Cyberhawk Basic will be backed by the PC Tools name and fully supported by PC Tools, Greene added.
Greene also declined to give a timetable on when both products would be integrated. "We don't have a hard date for integrating the technology into Spyware Doctor, but it is part of the long-term plan. Not only will we have signatures for the stuff we know about, we'll have behavioral technology for threats we haven't seen."
Be Master In Google Yahoo Banking USA Indonesia Bojonegoro Nando007 NandoBJN NanangBJN Computer Hardware Software Download Free Laptop Desktop Science Technology High Insurance Email SMS MMS Handphone Nokia Siemen PC World
Sydney-based PC Tools, purveyors of the popular Spyware Doctor antispyware utility, today announced their acquisition of Novatix Corporation.
Novatix's flagship product is Cyberhawk, a real-time behavior-based anti-malware program. According to PC Tools, "Cyberhawk's patent-pending ActiveDefense technology offers unsurpassed protection against both known and unknown viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits, buffer overflows and other forms of malware and provides effective protection against zero-day attacks."
Mike Kronenberg, chief executive of Novatix, will become chief technical officer of North American operations for PC Tools.
Spyware Doctor has long been a PC Magazine Editor's Choice for spyware protection, though the latest revision, Version 5.0 – a total rewrite with antivirus protection added – had some new-version problems. In testing, Cyberhawk Pro 2.0 was very effective at preventing malware from installing on a clean system. It doesn't remove found threats, just bottles them up so they can't do any harm. It's a good match for Spyware Doctor, which thoroughly cleans up the malware infestations it finds.
According to PC Tools chief executive Simon Claussen, "This new technology will help strengthen our zero-day coverage and improve our ability to detect emerging threats".
Kronenberg agreed. "We see this acquisition as a great fit for Novatix," he said. "PC Tools is a leader in the anti-spyware and anti-virus space. Our combined efforts will ensure that consumers get the best protection possible. PC Tools' broad reach in the consumer marketplace ensures our highly effective technology will have an even greater impact."
When asked when customers would reap the benefits of this acquisition, Michael Greene, PC Tools' vice president of product strategy, said immediately. "Consumers will start to recognize benefits right away." Greene said. "The information that comes in from the Cyberhawk community protection feature will feed into our ongoing analysis of new threats, and our Threat Expert technology will help speed up processing".
Cyberhawk Pro and the free Cyberhawk Basic will be backed by the PC Tools name and fully supported by PC Tools, Greene added.
Greene also declined to give a timetable on when both products would be integrated. "We don't have a hard date for integrating the technology into Spyware Doctor, but it is part of the long-term plan. Not only will we have signatures for the stuff we know about, we'll have behavioral technology for threats we haven't seen."
Be Master In Google Yahoo Banking USA Indonesia Bojonegoro Nando007 NandoBJN NanangBJN Computer Hardware Software Download Free Laptop Desktop Science Technology High Insurance Email SMS MMS Handphone Nokia Siemen PC World
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