Silent Circle, Lavabit unite for 'Dark Mail' encrypted email project

Two privacy-focused email providers have launched the Dark Mail Alliance, a project to engineer an email system with robust defenses against spying.

Silent Circle and Lavabit abruptly halted their encrypted email services in August, saying they could no longer guarantee email would remain private after court actions against Lavabit, reportedly an email provider for NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

Their idea, presented at the Inbox Love email conference in Mountain View on Wednesday, is for an open system that could be widely implemented and which offers much stronger security and privacy. As envisioned, Dark Mail would shield both the content of an email and its "metadata," including "to" and "from" data, IP addresses and headers. The email providers hope a version will be ready by next year.

"The issue we are trying to deal with is that email was created 40 years ago," Jon Callas, CTO and founder of Silent Circle, in a phone interview. "It wasn't created to handle any of the security problems we have today."

Silent Circle, Lavabit and at least one VPN provider, CryptoSeal, shut down their services fearing a court order forcing the turnover of a private SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) key, which could be used to decrypt communications.

Lavabit was held in contempt of court for resisting an order to turn over its SSL key, which in theory allowed the government to decrypt not only Snowden's communications but also those of its 400,000 users. Ladar Levison, Lavabit's founder, is appealing.

Callas said Dark Mail is a collaboration with Levison. Rather than create a closed email service, they decided to design Dark Mail with open-source software components that could be used by any email provider.

"We need 1,000 Lavabits all around the world," he said.

Microsoft's David Dennis, lead principal program manager for the company's Outlook.com webmail portal, said Dark Mail is an "interesting proposal."

"We pay attention to any new innovations, protocols, standards and proposals impacting online communications," Dennis wrote in an email. "And we're always open to discussions with potential partners."

Representatives of Google and Yahoo who attended Inbox Love did not have an immediate comment.

Dark Mail will be crafted around XMPP, a web messaging protocol known by its nickname Jabber, along with another encryption protocol created by Silent Circle called SCIMP (Silent Circle Instant Message Protocol), Callas said.

An adapter will be built that will enable Dark Mail within different email clients. "There's no reason why you couldn't modify Outlook and Exchange to do this," he said.

The private key used to encrypt email will be held on users' systems and not retained by a service provider. Even if the government forced a SSL key to be turned over, users would not be compromised "because all of the messages are encrypted to keys that are sitting in the hands of the recipient," Callas said.

In that case, the party interested in the communication would have to request the encryption key from a person or find another way to decrypt the message.

Snowden's documents showed the NSA was also collecting email metadata, which reveals a sender's and recipient's email addresses, subject line of the email, IP addresses and more. Dark Mail will encrypt the metadata, using the XMPP protocol to signal when a new message has arrived, Callas said.

The alliance is also considering longstanding problems around encryption keys, such as public and private key pairs that are in use for years. "The longer that a key stays around, the bigger of a vulnerability it is," Callas said.

One idea is to create a protocol that would only keep a static public key for just a few hours or a day and then refresh it. Older messages would need to be re-encrypted with a new key to maintain access, but it would provide much better long-term protection for sensitive messages, Callas said.

Also under consideration is "forward secrecy," an encryption feature that limits the amount of data that can be decrypted if a private key is compromised in the future.

Wide use of encrypted email has implications for companies such as Google, which displays advertisements based on email content. In industries such as financial services, companies are required to retain email for compliance regulations.

There's also a convenience factor, as email encryption isn't necessarily easy to implement, especially as people use multiple tablets and mobile phones and desktop computers. Callas said Dark Mail will be flexible, allowing users to send unencrypted email if they don't need an extra level of security.

Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.com. Follow me on Twitter: @jeremy_kirk

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Sony slips into loss despite pick up in smartphone sales

Sony returned to a loss in its second fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, even as its smartphone business did well.

The Japanese electronics giant has also revised downwards its revenue and net profit outlook for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, after revising its annual sales forecasts for certain product lines.

The company's losses widened in the quarter to ¥19.3 billion (US$196 million) from ¥15.5 billion in the same quarter last year. Revenue for the quarter was close to ¥1.8 trillion, a 10.6 percent increase over the same quarter last year. Revenue, however, decreased 9 percent in constant currency, reflecting the volatility of the Yen.

Sony reported in the last quarter a modest profit of ¥3.5 billion which it attributed to improved sales of smartphones and the favorable impact of foreign exchange rates, continuing a turnaround that started in the last fiscal year, when it posted its first profit in many years.

In the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company blamed a drop in the operating profit of its Pictures segment, which saw a decline in motion picture sales. The revenue increase came primarily from higher smartphones sales and the depreciation of the Yen. The sale in September last year of the company's chemical products related business and a drop in sales of video cameras and compact digital cameras affected revenue growth.

Sony's mobile products and communications unit, which sells the smartphones, reported that revenue grew in the quarter by about 39 percent to ¥418.6 billion. The company saw the average selling price of its smartphones increase as it introduced new high-end models like the Xperia Z1.

The company competes in the smartphone market with Samsung Electronics, Apple, LG, Huawei Technologies and Lenovo which have forged ahead of Sony, according to analysts.

Its game sales increased by about 5 percent to ¥155.7 billion, mainly because of favorable exchange rates. The company in fact saw a decrease in the unit sales of its PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable devices, ahead of the November launch of the PlayStation 4. A cut in the price of the PlayStation Vita also affected the profits of this business.

The company's TV business grew 18.7 percent in the quarter to ¥174 billion.

Sony has revised its revenue outlook for the fiscal year to ¥7.7 trillion from a guidance of ¥7.9 trillion it had made in August. It has also forecast lower profit of ¥30 billion from the ¥50 billion it had earlier forecast. Revenue from semiconductor devices and imaging products like cameras are expected to decrease or be flat in the year, while smartphones and TVs sales are expected to continue to grow.

The PlayStation 4 could bring a dramatic change in the fortunes of its games business. IDC forecast earlier this month that PlayStation 4 bundle sales will overtake Microsoft's Xbox One sales in the upcoming holiday season mainly because of its lower price point.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Microsoft uses Kinect to interpret sign language from deaf people

Microsoft's Kinect technology, already adept at reading hand and body movements, is incorporating sign language into its motion-sensing vocabulary as part of a new research project meant to help the deaf.

Developers at Microsoft Research have been using the Xbox 360 gaming peripheral to read sign language from deaf users, and translate it into spoken text. On Wednesday, they showed off some of the results. "Thanks Microsoft for turning my dream into a reality," gestured Yin Dandan, a deaf student, who demonstrated the Kinect translator.

The technology can not only turn sign language into words spoken by a computer, but also do the reverse. A non-deaf user can speak or type words into the Kinect translator. The system will then motion the words in sign language using a virtual avatar shown on a display. (A video of the translator can be found here).

Microsoft Research demonstrated the technology as it celebrated the 15th year of its Asia division. Language translation has been among one of its focuses and already researchers there have developed software that can artificially replicate a person's voice, and have it speak other languages, including Chinese.

At the same time, the company has been promoting the use of Kinect among software developers in China, said Wu Guobin, a Microsoft Research program manager. The gadget has proven to be an ideal motion-sensing device for the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which has long been researching sign language recognition technology.

Researchers have previously tried to use cameras, and even "digital gloves", to capture sign language gestures. But these devices are expensive, with the cameras costing between 10,000 yuan ($1,632) and 30,000 yuan, Wu said. In contrast, the Kinect is an affordable alternative, at only 1,000 yuan, he added.

Starting in February 2012, Microsoft Research began collaboration on the project with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Beijing Union University. After about 18 months of development, the Kinect translator can now recognize 370 of the most popular words in Chinese Sign Language, and American Sign Language

The research team hopes to collaborate with more experts in the field and is also surveying the deaf to find the best use cases for the Kinect translator.

It's thought that the system could help deaf users make presentations to non-sign language speaking crowds. Deaf users working at an information kiosk could also more easily communicate with visitors who need help.

It is not known when the technology will arrive in the market, Wu said. Microsoft is still working on improving the language recognition technology, and needs to expand the vocabulary of sign language the system recognizes.

"I think it's been great. In a year and half, we have already developed the system prototype," Wu said. "The results have been published in key conferences, and other researchers have said the results are very good."

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Lenovo claims battery life crown with new Yoga tablets

Lenovo is claiming that its new Yoga tablets will offer 18 hours of battery life when browsing the web, which would be the longest when compared to other tablets.

The company's new Yoga tablets, which will come in 8-inch and 10.1-inch versions, will provide 12 to 14 hours when watching high-definition video, said Stephen Miller, Lenovo ambassador. The tablets were announced at a launch event in New York.

The battery life can be even longer if the tablets are set to low screen brightness, Miller said.

If Lenovo's claims of battery life hold up, the Yoga tablets will beat competition handily. Tablets today are at best able to squeeze up to 11 hours of battery life. The Yoga tablets have high-capacity cylindrical batteries similar to ones used in laptops, which helps prolong battery life.

The 8-inch tablet, which is priced at US$249, weighs 400 grams. The 10.1-inch tablet is at $299 and weighs 603 grams. The tablets will run Android 4.2 and be available in the U.S. on Wednesday. The company did not comment on worldwide availability.

The battery is housed in the tablet's circular base, which makes it easier to grip the device. A kick-stand allows the tablet to sit firmly on the table.

With a circular base, the Yoga tablets bears a resemblance to Notion Ink's now-defunct Adam tablet, which was one of the first Android tablets to ship when it became available in late 2010.

The Yoga tablets run on MediaTek quad-core processors with a clock speed of 1.2GHz. Both of the tablets display images at a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels.

Other features include a 1.6-megapixel front camera, a 5-megapixel back camera, up to 32GB of internal storage, and micro-SD card slot for expandable storage.

Lenovo has introduced a range of tablets, PCs, and hybrids in the last few years. The new products are important as buyers move away from PCs to mobile products.

"We shipped more smartphones and tablets than PCs," during the third quarter, Miller said.

Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tom Wheeler confirmed as new chief of US FCC

The U.S. Senate confirmed Tuesday the nomination of a new chairman to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

The confirmation of Tom Wheeler as chairman and Michael O'Rielly as a commissioner ends a deadlock over the appointment of two key FCC executives, after Republican lawmakers withdrew their opposition.

Commissioner Mignon L. Clyburn was named as acting FCC chairwoman in May after Julius Genachowski, chairman since 2009, decided to step down earlier this year.

Wheeler is a former investor and head of telecommunications industry groups. President Barack Obama said, when announcing Wheeler as his choice in May, that "for more than 30 years, Tom has been at the forefront of some of the very dramatic changes that we've seen in the way we communicate and how we live our lives."

Mobile industry group CTIA congratulated Wheeler and O'Rielly on Tuesday on their confirmation by the Senate.

"We are energized to work with the full panel of Commissioners at a time when the agency looks to deliver much-needed spectrum to fuel the deployment of mobile broadband services and maintain our global leadership in the mobile wireless ecosystem," the wireless industry association said in a statement.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz earlier on Tuesday said he had removed a hold on Wheeler's nomination after the nominee reassured him during a meeting that regulation of campaign funding disclosures, without Congressional action, was "not a priority."

There were also concerns raised that Wheeler would promote industry rather than consumer interests. Gigi B. Sohn, president and CEO at Public Knowledge, a consumer rights group, said the organization looked forward to working with Wheeler. "We expect that he will work to preserve a strong FCC that will ensure an open, universally accessible and affordable communications system that serves all Americans," Sohn said in a statement about the confirmation.

"We  also expect that he will carry out the President's communications policy agenda, which includes robust open Internet requirements, vigorous broadband competition, affordable broadband access, diversity of voices and serious consumer protections, all backed by vigorous agency enforcement," she added.  

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mozilla releases 10 patches, five critical, for Firefox

Mozilla released 10 patches for three versions of its Firefox browser on Tuesday, five of which are considered critical and could be used to remotely install malicious code.

The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team warned that the problems "could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code, bypass intended access restrictions, cause a denial-of-service condition or obtain sensitive information."

The Mozilla products affected are Firefox 25, Firefox ESR 24.1, Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) 17.0.10, Thunderbird 24.1, Thunderbird ESR 17.0.10, and Seamonkey 2.22.

Among the flaws fixed were several memory safety bugs in the browser engine, which is also in Mozilla's Thunderbird email client and Seamonkey, a suite of applications and web development tools.

Those bugs, tagged as update MFSA 2013-93, "showed evidence of memory corruption under certain circumstances, and we presume that with enough effort at least some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code," according to Mozilla's advisory.

The other four critical vulnerabilities could cause potentially exploitable crashes, Mozilla said.

One of the vulnerabilities given a "high" risk rating, MFSA 2013-99, could divulge information on a computer's local system. A security researcher, Cody Crews, discovered "a method to append an iframe into an embedded PDF object rendered with the chrome privileged PDF.js."

"This can used to bypass security restrictions to load local or chrome privileged files and objects within the embedded PDF object," Mozilla wrote.

In August, the TOR project warned that a vulnerability in Firefox ESR may have been used to collect information on computers visiting websites configured as TOR hidden services.

TOR, short for The Onion Router, is a system that allows for more anonymous browsing by routing encrypted requests for websites through servers worldwide. The TOR Project distributes a Browser Bundle, which includes Firefox for browsing with TOR.

The vulnerability could have facilitated the execution of remote code, but instead may have been used to collect the hostname and MAC address of Windows computers, it said. The TOR Project typically updates its browser bundle package quickly after Mozilla releases new patches.

Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.com. Follow me on Twitter: @jeremy_kirk

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Samsung's share grows while Apple's declines in Q3 smartphone market

Samsung Electronics continued to dominate the smartphone market in the third quarter, which also saw quarterly shipments cross 250 million for the first time, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

The South Korean electronics giant shipped more than two times the number of smartphones shipped by its second-placed competitor Apple in the quarter. Samsung shipped over 88 million smartphones in the quarter, up 55 percent from the same quarter last year, to get a record 35 percent share, Strategy Analytics said Monday.

Apple's market share, however, dipped to 13.4 percent from 15.6 percent in the same quarter a year ago. The iPhone maker said Monday it shipped 33.8 million iPhones worldwide in the third quarter, up from 26.9 million in the same quarter last year.

The figure for the third quarter included around 9 million iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c smartphones in the three days after the new handsets were launched on Sept. 20, which Apple said was a record.

The company reported Monday a drop in profit even as revenue grew in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 28. It reported a profit of US$7.5 billion for the quarter, down from $8.2 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue climbed to $37.5 billion, up from $36 billion in the same quarter last year.

Apple's falling share of the smartphones market comes even as the company has been trying to increase the models of the iPhone it has in the market. That strategy is expected to bear fruit in the fourth quarter. Strategy Analytics expects Apple to regain share in the fourth quarter of 2013 because of high demand for its new iPhone 5s model.

Samsung has reported an increased competitiveness in the mobile devices market in the third quarter, and said last week that shipments of its high-end smartphones remained flat quarter-on-quarter, although demand from the mass-market was higher.

A "star performer" in the quarter was Chinese maker Huawei Technologies which saw its global market share rise to over 5 percent from 4.4 percent in the same quarter a year ago, to become the third largest vendor. Huawei's shipments grew 67 percent year-on-year to 12.7 million units in the third quarter, but it saw its most robust growth in the domestic Chinese market.

LG shipped 12 million smartphones worldwide in the quarter for a close to 5 percent market share, while Lenovo rolled out 10.8 million smartphones for a 4.3 percent market share and fifth position in the third quarter, taking advantage of its popularity among Chinese mass-market consumers and its international expansion, Strategy Analytics said.

Global smartphone shipments grew 45 percent year-on-year to 251.4 million in the third quarter. Smartphones accounted for 6 in 10 of all mobile phones shipped worldwide, the research firm said.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Dell to show its first 64-bit ARM server this week

Dell will give its first public demonstration of a 64-bit ARM server this week, the latest step in an industrywide effort to build servers based on low-power chips like those used in smartphones.

Dell will show a server based on a 64-bit ARM processor from AppliedMicro running the Fedora version of Linux and hooked up to a storage system from PMC-Sierra, Dell said.

It plans to show the system at ARM's annual TechCon conference in Santa Clara, California, which kicks off Tuesday, and it aims to have a system with the AppliedMicro chip ready for "proof of concept" testing by customers in early 2014.

"This is a key milestone for customers seeking to run real-world workloads on 64-bit ARM technology," Dell executive Robert Hormuth will announce in a blog post this week, according to a copy of the post sent to IDG News Service.

Hewlett-Packard, meanwhile, is moving forward with its own low-power server plans. HP will offer a new 32-bit ARM processor from Calxeda, the EnergyCore ECX-2000, for its Moonshot server system in the first half of next year, HP said via email on Monday. And a Moonshot cartridge based on Intel's 64-bit "Avoton" Atom processor will be available next month, HP said.

The Dell system is being developed by Dell's Data Center Solutions division, which builds custom hardware for big Internet companies. Dell didn't say when it will put a 64-bit ARM server on sale.

It's the latest step in an effort to develop servers based on a processor architecture developed by ARM Holdings, which provides the chip designs used in most of today's popular smartphones and tablets. Other companies, such as Qualcomm and Apple, license those designs and incorporate them into systems on chip (SOCs).

ARM chips are being eyed for servers because they consume very little power. The explosion in online computing has left big data centers struggling to control their power consumption. The processors aren't very powerful, however, and the servers will be used for running lightweight, high-volume transactions, rather than big Oracle or SAP business applications.

"We believe the 64-bit ARM-based processor demonstrates promise for storage and Web front-end environments, where advantages in dollars per gigabyte, watts per gigabyte, performance per dollar, and performance per watt are critical," Hormuth says in his blog post.

Dell's demonstration is significant because 64-bit processors are seen as essential for running server workloads. Existing ARM processors have all been 32-bit designs, which limits the amount of memory they can address, and thus the applications they can run.

Calxeda, Advanced Micro Devices, and Broadcom are among the other firms developing ARM chips for servers. Calxeda is developing 64-bit versions of its ARM processors, code-named Lago and Sarita, and they'll be available in servers a year from now, Calxeda said on Monday.

Intel has responded to the challenge by developing versions of its low-power Atom chips for servers. HP's current Moonshot server uses Intel's Atom S1260 processor, known as Centerton. But the "Avoton" chip that HP will offer next month is a far more capable part, according to Intel.

Intel claims that Avoton is six times more power-efficient than Centerton. It's based on Intel's new Silvermont core and manufactured on an advanced 22-nanometer process.

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mozilla developing geolocation data service for public use

Mozilla is working on a geolocation data service using cell tower and Wi-Fi signals to give developers what it says will be a more privacy-aware option than current alternatives.

The service, which is in its early stages, would be mobile-focused, though laptops without GPS hardware could also use it to quickly identify their approximate location, the Firefox browser maker announced Monday.

Geolocation data constitutes a crowded space—commercial players include Neustar IP Intelligence, MaxMind, IPligence and Google. But there is still no large public service option, Mozilla said. Also, Mozilla's standing as an open-source software developer puts it in a better position to grapple with issues around privacy, the company said.

"None of the current companies offering this type of service have any incentive to improve on privacy," Mozilla said in its Wiki page devoted to the project. "In order to do this assessment, we need to understand the technological challenges and get real data," the company said.

The data would be provided by cell towers, Wi-Fi and IP address information, Mozilla said, and it would not have to be monetized. It could be made available to the public, the company said. And Mozilla is already in a good place to start, given its access to Firefox data on both mobile and desktop PCs.

The experimental service already provides basic service coverage in select locations to some early adopters, Mozilla said. Countries where it is active include the U.S., Brazil, Russia, Australia and Indonesia. People can start giving Mozilla data for the project by installing the company's stumbler application.

Google, meanwhile, is one of the bigger players in geolocation data, though the company has faced legal troubles by sniffing and storing certain data from Wi-Fi networks. Google also operates its Maps Engine Platform for companies looking to build maps to help run their business.

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Buffer encrypts access tokens after spammer hack

Buffer, a service for scheduling social media posts, said Sunday it has strengthened its security after spammers gained access to its network.

On Saturday, Buffer halted all social media postings after a raft of spam coming from Buffer accounts hit Facebook and Twitter. Later that day, service was restored, but Buffer advised users to access their accounts from its main URL rather than from its mobile applications.

Buffer, based in San Francisco, said on Sunday it is encrypting OAuth access tokens, which allow users to grant another application access to a service without revealing their password. Buffer also added a new security parameter to its API (applications programming interface) calls.

"We have greatly increased security of how we are posting to Twitter and Facebook and have confidence to cover the security holes the hackers have used to break into our system," wrote Joel Gascoigne, Buffer's founder.

Facebook said 30,000 Buffer users who had accounts on its service had spam issues, which is about 6.3 percent of the 476,343 Facebook accounts that are connected to Buffer, Gascoigne wrote. Buffer users will need to reconnect their Twitter accounts but not their Facebook ones. Posts that were scheduled to be published on Facebook during the outage will need to be resent.

Gascoigne wrote he expects Buffer to publish a more detailed update on the hack later.

"We're working with several security experts on tracking down exactly how it was possible for the spammers to get into our system," he wrote. "We're making good progress on this, this morning."

16.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

Livescribe's latest smartpen draws heavily on iOS

I'm an easy person to spot at meetings. While everyone else is dutifully tapping away at their iPads, I'm still scribbling down notes with pen and paper like a 20th century chump. It's not that I'm a luddite, but after trying out a parade of note-taking apps for the iPad, I've just never found anything in the digital world that matches handwritten notes.

Livescribe says I'm not the only one to feel this way. According to the digital penmaker's internal research, roughly two-thirds of smartphone and tablet users still prefer pen and paper for jotting down notes in meetings, lectures, or whenever they're on the go. But the company thinks its latest offering will be the one that causes us holdouts to cast aside our old-school pens for a digital counterpart.

The company's latest smartpen, the Livescribe 3, goes on sale Monday online, with the pen arriving in stores next week. In addition to a slimmer design, the Livescribe 3 promises tight integration with the iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, thanks to a just-released iOS companion app.

Livescribe 3 smartpen

Previous pens from Livescribe were more desktop-centric, says Bryan Rodrigues, the company's vice president of marketing and e-commerce. But pens like Livescribe's Pulse and Echo hit the market before the proliferation of mobile devices. The Livescribe 3 takes a much more iOS-centric approach.

"People are taking to the road with a notepad and an iPad and trying to get more out of that," says Rodrigues, pitching the Livescribe 3 as the third piece of that puzzle.

The pen is mightier

The Livescribe 3 is an actual pen, of course, that sets down physical notes in actual ink. But pair the smartpen with Livescribe's Dot Paper notebooks, and the pen keeps a digital record of every pen stroke. The tip of the Livescribe 3 contains a camera that's capturing what you write, allowing the pen's companion software to search through your text of find specific words in your handwritten notes.

With the Livescribe 3, Rodrigues says his company was aiming for a more pen-like look and feel. The new version certainly feels more slender than past Livescribe pens, the result of an inside-out redesign to make everything slimmer. There's no on/off switch; instead, you twist the Livescribe 3 to turn it on, just like you might twist a ballpoint pen before writing with it. (Forget to twist the Livescribe 3 off? Then pen shuts down after four hours to conserve battery life.)

"It's a writing gadget that looks and feels like a writing implement," Rodrigues says.

Remove the rubber cap on one end of the Livescribe 3 smartpen to get to its charging port; that cap also doubles as a capacitive stylus.

It's also a writing gadget that boasts some impressive battery life—about 14 hours of active writing on a single charge, according to Livescribe. The Livescribe 3 is able to last that long thanks to its use of Bluetooth Smart, a low-energy version of the wireless connectivity standard that connects the Livescribe 3 to your iOS device. When you're running on juice, just flip over the rubber cap on the top of the Livescribe 3 to get to the Micro-USB charging port.

An LED indicator gives you an at-a-glance look at the Livescribe 3's status. This blue light means it's connected via Bluetooth to your iOS device.

That rubber cap happens to be one of a number of clever design features built into the Livescribe 3: The cap doubles as a capacitive stylus that you can use with your mobile device. Don't expect to do the kind of elaborate sketching you'd produce with a dedicated mobile stylus, but for tapping your iPhone or iPad screening, it should do the trick. A series of LED lights on LightScribe 3—green when the pen is turned on, blue when it's connected via Bluetooth, red if you're recording audio to store on the pen—keep you apprised of any status alerts. There's even a Find My Pen function where the Livescribe 3 lets out a little beep to help you locate it on your desk or in your travel bag.

Take note

It's the Livescribe+ app, though, that really adds value to the new pen. Available on iOS 7 for the iPhone 4s and later, third-generation iPad and later, and fifth-generation iPod touch, Livescribe+ records the handwritten notes as you jot them down on paper, saving you the need to transcribe your scribbles into digital form later. It's not a completely instantaneous process—in my demo time with the Livescribe 3, there were a few noticeable seconds of lag time between when I wrote something down on a Dot Paper notebook and when it appeared on an iPad. But really, for the purpose of getting your notes from a piece of paper to your mobile device, the app performs well from what I can see. (You don't need to have your iPad with you when you're writing down notes; you can also sync up what you've written down later. The Livescribe 3 holds up to 2GB of notes—that translates to roughly 20,000 pages, Livescribe says. And if you're in a meeting that requires 20,000 pages of notes in a single sitting, you've got bigger problems than not having your iPad or iPhone handy for syncing.)

Flip over a block of handwritten notes in the Feed view of the Livescribe+ app, and you can convert it into text.

The Livescribe+ app can display notes in your handwriting; you can also convert that into digital text. The app's Feed view cuts up notes into blocks of writing; flipping one of those boxes over converts it into digital text, which you can then edit to your heart's content. Once your notes are in digital format, you can use them to create reminders, contacts, and calendar appointments or copy and paste into other apps. Livescribe+ also recognizes phone numbers and URLs, so tapping on those will either initiate a phone call or launch a webpage.

"There's multiple ways to do everything, so you can find the way that suits you," Rodrigues says.

The app also lets you organize notes by tagging them, highlighting them as favorites, or flagging them. It's a simple matter of tapping on the appropriate Tag, Favorite, or Flag icon on Livescribe's Dot Paper notebook, and the corresponding note will be categorized in the Livescribe+ app.

Play back a pencast you've recorded with Livescribe+, and the app highlights the relevant portion of your notes in green as the audio plays.

You can also record audio with the Livescribe+ app, creating what the company calls "pencasts." Audio recorded via the app is synced to what you're writing down. When you play back the audio, Livescribe+ highlights the relevant section of your notes. Other features of the Livescribe+ app include the ability to add pictures, text, and captions to your notes.

You can share notes from Livescribe+ as PDFs with any service or app that supports PDFs, including Evernote and Dropbox. You're able to share pencasts as well, though anyone you share with will need to download Livescribe+ themselves to use the audio playback features.

The app is currently only available for iOS devices due to Apple's support for Bluetooth Smart. This summer's Android 4.3 release added native support for Bluetooth Smart, and Livescribe plans to add Android support in 2014 as more devices adapt the low-energy connectivity feature.

What you get

The Livescribe 3 comes in two editions. The $150 standard edition features the new black-and-chrome smartpen, a 50-sheet Starter Dot Paper notebook, a replacement ink cartridge, and a Micro-USB cable. The $200 Livescribe 3 Pro Edition features a darker shade of chrome and includes a leather smartpen portfolio, a 100-sheet Dot Paper Journal, the replacement ink cartridge, and a Micro-USB cable. In addition, the Pro Edition features one year of Evernote Premium (normally $45) for free.

Livescribe 3 Pro smartpen

In addition, Livescribe also sells Dot Paper notebooks and journals in a variety of sizes, with prices ranging from $9 to $25. The company offers replacement ink cartridges as well, and will list other standard-sized ink cartridge brands that work with Livescribe pens on its website.

16.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

ATM malware may spread from Mexico to English-speaking world

A malicious software program found in ATMs in Mexico has been improved and translated into English, which suggests it may be used elsewhere, according to security vendor Symantec.

Two versions of the malware, called Ploutus, have been discovered, both of which are engineered to empty a certain type of ATM, which Symantec has not identified.

In contrast to most malware, Ploutus is installed the old-fashioned way: by inserting a CD boot disk into the innards of an ATM machine running Microsoft Windows. The installation method suggests that cybercriminals are targeting standalone ATMs where access is easier.

The first version of Ploutus displays a graphical user interface after the thief enters a numerical sequence on an ATM's keypad, although the malware can be controlled by a keyboard, wrote Daniel Regalado, a Symantec malware analyst, on Oct. 11.

Ploutus is programmed for a specific ATM model since it assumes there is a maximum of four cassettes per dispenser in the ATM. It then calculates the amount of money that should be dispensed based on the number of bills. If any of the cassettes have less than the maximum number of 40 bills, it releases whatever is left, repeating that process until the ATM is empty.

Kevin Haley, director of Symantec Security Response, said in an interview earlier this month that the attackers have deep knowledge of the software and hardware of the particular ATM model.

"They clearly know how this machine worked," he said.

The source code of Ploutus "contains Spanish function names and poor English grammar that suggests the malware may have been coded by Spanish-speaking developers," Regalado wrote.

In a new blog post, Regalado wrote that the attackers made Ploutus more robust and translated it into English, indicating the same ATM software can be exploited in countries other than Mexico.

The "B" variant of Ploutus has some differences. It only accepts commands through the keypad but will display a window showing the money available in the machine along with a transaction log as it dispenses cash. An attacker cannot enter a specific number of bills, so Ploutus withdraws money from the cassette with the most available bills, Regalado wrote.

Symantec advised those with ATMs to change the BIOS boot order to only boot from the hard disk and not CDs, DVDs or USB sticks. The BIOS should also be password protected so the boot options can't be changed, Regalado wrote.

Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.com. Follow me on Twitter: @jeremy_kirk

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Brits may consult convicted cybercrooks for tech defense

Convicted computer hackers could be recruited to join the government's new Joint Cyber Reserve (JCR), the unit's chief has said.

The JCR, announced last month, is expected to be made up of computer experts who will work alongside regular forces to protect the nation's cyber defences.

JCR head Lt Col Michael White told BBC Newsnight that recruitment of cyber-trained reservists would focus their skills rather than "personality traits".

He said: "I think if they [someone with a criminal record for hacking] could get through the security process, then if they had that capability that we would like, then if the vetting authority was happy with that, why not?

"We're looking at capability development, rather than setting hard and fast rules about individual personality traits.

Defence secretary Philip Hammond, who announced the new unit, also said that "each individual case would be looked at on its merits".

"The conviction would be examined in terms of how long ago it was, how serious it was, what sort of sentence had followed. So I can't rule it out," he told Newsnight.

However, a former hacker said that the UK government's involvement with the mass surveillance unveiled by Edward Snowden had deterred him from using his cyber skills to defend the UK.

Mustafa al-Bassam, who was the youngest hacker in the Lulzsec group and is now a computer science student at King's College London, told Newsnight:

"I can understand the need for a government to protect itself, but when you go ahead and stomp on everyone's civil liberties - as we've seen with all the mass surveillance stories that have been out over the past year - I think you can rest assured that you're going to repel talented people," he said.

The MoD plans to recruit "hundreds" of computer experts as cyber reservists to protect the UK's critical computer networks and safeguard vital data. Cyber attacks were identified as a 'tier one' threat in the government's 2010 National Security Risk Assessment. This is the same category assigned to international terrorism, an international military crisis and a major accident or natural hazard requiring a national response.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) yesterday launched a campaign to recruit up to 400 trainee cyber and intelligence officers over the next year.

The agency said that the initial part of the recruitment process will include a security-focused questionnaire, and that while the applications are open to all, candidates who have received a caution or been convicted of a crime may not be eligible to apply.

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Weeding out fake reviews online takes care, incentive

Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission this week fined Korean conglomerate Samsung $340,000 for "astroturfing."

Specifically, the Taiwanese FTC said Samsung paid two "marketing firms" more than $100,000 to hire people to "highlight the shortcomings of competing products," engage in the "disinfection of negative news about Samsung products," positively review Samsung products and, (in a bizarre turn of phrase), do "palindromic Samsung product marketing," whatever that means.

Wait, what's 'astroturfing'?

Samsung was fined for paying a "large number of hired writers and designated employees" to post comments in online forums praising Samsung and criticizing competitors.

Astroturf is a brand of fake grass; "astroturfing" is a reference to a fake "grass-roots" movement.

The practice of astroturfing has a long and sordid history. The term was coined by U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas in 1985, referring to a letter-writing campaign orchestrated by the insurance industry. In fact, astroturfing has been a major tool of political dirty tricks since the Roman empire.

The rise of the Internet, online messages boards and social media—and with it, the rising influence of "the crowd"—has brought the practice to business, including the mobile computing industry, as well as other types of businesses.

Sites like Fiverr host astroturfing transactions openly. A Fiverr user named " Jay from India," for example, offers to promote your iOS, Android or BlackBerry app on 25 online forums for $10.

Astroturfing scale ranges from the local business where the owner asks family and friends to write positive online reviews to the biggest sustained astroturfing campaign in history: China's 50-cent army.

The Chinese government reportedly pays as many 300,000 people to post pro-Chinese government comments on forums, message boards and social media sites within China and all over the world. It has reportedly being going on for years as part of a sustained policy.

(This effort of disinformation bolsters that government's massive monitoring system for social media worldwide, which reportedly employs 2 million people.)

While China allegedly relies upon sheer manpower to overwhelm global public opinion about the Chinese government, other organizations use automation.

A class of software called " persona management software" magnifies the effectiveness of each paid fake opinion writer by auto-generating a credible but phony online persona (also called a "sockpuppet"), including a fake name, email address, web site, social media profiles and other data. The software creates fake online activity to give the non-existent users a "history" or online "footprint."

"Persona management software" specific to social networks is called a " social bot."

Some industries rely almost entirely upon web-based reviews, and so astroturfing is rife. Hotels, restaurants, and books are heavily reliant on customer-generated reviews to attract new business.

In New York alone, recently, the New York attorney general shut down 19 companies engaged in the astroturfing of online sites like Yelp, Google Local and CitySearch.

Commenters were recruited on sites like Craigslist, Freelancer and oDesk and paid between $1 and $10 per "review."

A new book by NPR's David Folkenflik, called Murdoch's World, claims that Fox News engaged in " institutionalized astroturfing of the Internet" by using Fox employees using untraceable wireless connections to post pro-Fox posts online. One even used a dial-up AOL account. Another used 100 fake personas, according to the book.

What's wrong with astroturfing?

A Nielsen study from last year determined that 70 percent of people surveyed trust online user reviews and that 83 percent are influenced in their buying decisions by these reviews.

A Gartner report from about a year ago predicts that by 2014, between 10 percent and 15 percent of all social media "reviews" will be fake astroturfed opinions paid for by various companies.

This is problematic because buyers can be misled, and in unpredictable ways.

When I posted a short item on Google+ about the Samsung fine this week, an alarmingly large percentage of commenters expressed a belief that astroturfing is a common problem in the industry and that all major companies do it.

This belief is a problem for two reasons. First, just as astroturfing itself leads consumers astray by making them believe fake opinions, the belief that astroturfing is common leads consumers astray by making them doubt real opinions.

Second, a widespread belief that "everybody astroturfs" is itself an incentive for companies to engage in astroturfing. Why not benefit from the practice if consumers already believe you do it?

What to do about astroturfing

Some day soon, there may be a widely deployed software solution to the problem of paid astroturfing of online comments.

Cornell University researchers have created an algorithm that can detect astroturfed comments. They claim they can identify fake opinion posts 90 percent of the time. It would be helpful for a company like Google to deploy something like this to get a "second opinion" about whether comments posted online are real or fake.

In the meantime, we're each on our own. Helpfully, Time magazine recently published a handy guide for how to spot fake online comments and reviews.

The bottom line is that Samsung is not the only company engaged in astroturfing—not by a long shot. It's a widespread practice, and one that's difficult to detect.

Yes, we should all consult user options, but approach them with healthy skepticism. But more importantly, we should heavily favor reviews by professional reviewers in reputable publications before buying products.

Such journalist reviewers are not only skillful and experienced at writing product reviews, they're actually paid to be objective.

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Protesters rally in DC to end NSA mass surveillance

A crowd of about 5000 people, chanting "stop spying, stop lying" and "hey, ho, mass surveillance has got to go," marched through Washington, D.C., Saturday to protest the U.S. National Security Agency's mass surveillance programs unveiled in press reports this year.

IDGNSA protester dressed as U.S. President Barack Obama joins the rally against government surveillance programs.

Protesters, from a seemingly wide range of political beliefs, called on the U.S. Congress and President Barack Obama to end mass data collection and surveillance by the NSA.

"The government has granted itself power that it does not have," said former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, the 2012 Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. president. "We have to stand against this."

Hundreds in the crowd held signs or wore stickers thanking Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor whose leaks to news organizations exposed mass surveillance and data collection programs at the spy agency. Others held signs with the text of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protests residents against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Another popular sticker, from antiwar group Code Pink, featured lipstick marks and the message, "Make out, not war."

During the rally, members of the groups Fight for the Future and Restore the Fourth delivered a petition, with more than 575,000 signatures, calling on Congress to investigate NSA surveillance programs, to Representative Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican an outspoken critic of the NSA surveillance programs.

IDGNSProtesters gather in Washington, D.C., Saturday for a rally opposing mass surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency.

Many politicians want people to believe that a small group of people can't make a difference in the U.S. government, said Craig Aaron, president and CEO of digital rights group Free Press. "It's not such a small group," he told the crowd. "There are millions of people siding with us."

The rally, organized by the StopWatching.us coalition, was held on the 12th anniversary of the date former U.S. President George W. Bush signed the controversial Patriot Act into law. The NSA has used portions of the Patriot Act as the foundation for its mass surveillance programs. Protests were also scheduled in a handful of other cities in the U.S. and Germany.

The NSA and members of the Obama administration have defended the data collection and surveillance programs as necessary to protect the U.S. against terrorism. While the NSA collects phone records in bulk, the agency only obtains content for phone calls when it suspects criminal activity, Obama administration officials have said.

Rally attendees said it was important for them to be at the event, although some were unsure if it would make a difference.

IDGNSLauren Schreiber, community outreach and event coordinator at the Council on American Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C., holds up a sign during a Saturday protest.

Showing up at the rally was a way of "doing something" instead of just complaining about the NSA, said Lauren Schreiber, community outreach and event coordinator at the Council on American Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C.

The Muslim community in the U.S. has long been the target of surveillance, she noted. "I feel like if the government doesn't respect the very basic right of privacy, then all of our other rights are going to be trampled," she said.

Paul Charnetzki IV traveled to Washington from Chicago to attend the rally. He's opposed to the increased surveillance in the U.S. since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., he said.

Asked if the rally would make a difference, Charnetzki said, "Who knows?" He talked to a staffer at his congressman's office before the rally, and the staffer questioned if he was an extremist, he said.

"It got a little tense in there," he added.

The U.S. government needs to return to the protections of the Fourth Amendment, added John Lambert, from central Virginia. The U.S. government also needs to stop its surveillance on foreign leaders, he said, noting news reports this week.

"Spying on Americans without warrants is illegal," he said. "Spying on allies is just stupid."

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch is subject to many unhappy returns

Well, no wonder we haven't seen too many people sporting the Galaxy Gear since its debut. People keep returning them.

Geek.com claims to have a leaked document from Best Buy to its employees that expresses some concern over the marginally high return rate of the Galaxy Gear smartwatches.

Image: Geek.com

The statement seems to suggest that while employees have been successful in upselling the Galaxy Gear alongside sales of the Galaxy Note III, the smartwatches don't have much staying power at their new homes. Samsung has apparently discovered that about 30 percent of the Galaxy Gear watches are returned and is asking Best Buy employees to help shed some light on why.

The document also shows that Samsung is planning to release the software update that will allow its other Galaxy devices—the Note 2, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, and Galaxy S4 Active, specifically—to sync up with the smartwatch. The dates vary by carrier, however, and they won't all roll out at the same time.

It's not exactly hard to see why consumers may be turned off by the smartwatch. It's a mostly proprietary device that only works with Samsung's flagship products—though for now it's limited to the Note 3.

And the Galaxy Gear is still a work in progress. It's bulky for most wrists, and its current available features aren't much to write home about. That doesn't necessarily mean that smartwatches are dead on arrival—it could just mean that Samsung's particular incarnation isn't the kind of device that consumers are looking for.

Knowing Samsung, it'll probably give it another go next year with a different model but, until then, it might be a wise idea to stifle shipments until the company gets a better lay of the land for the watch.

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Historical Software Archive lets you use vintage software in your browser

The Internet Archive's new Historical Software Archive brings old software to your browser through the magic of JSMESS emulation.

The Internet Archive has protected and preserved old software for a while now; archivist Jason Scott claimed back in April that the organization possessed the largest historical software collection in the world.

Software is so transient, though. It's sometimes hard to get a program from 2003 to run on a modern machine, let alone a program from 1983. For most people it wouldn't be worth the trouble to, as the Internet Archive puts it, "track down the hardware and media to run [old software], or download and install emulators and acquire/install cartridge or floppy images as you boot up the separate emulator program, outside of the browser."

I'm a lemonade mogul. Pure capitalism.

The Historical Software Archive, announced Friday, changes that. There's no need to fuss with stand-alone emulators. Instead, the Internet Archive runs MESS (short for Multi Emulator Super System) with Javascript in Chrome, Firefox, Safari—any modern browser.

"Turning computer history into a one-click experience bridges the gap between understanding these older programs and making them available in a universal fashion," says the Internet Archive's announcement. "Acquisition, for a library, is not enough— accessibility is where knowledge and lives change for the better."

Of course, this isn't the first time someone has emulated old software in a browser. Look around the Internet, and you'll find plenty of sites that allow you to play Gameboy and SNES games.

The difference, presumably, is twofold. One is that the Historical Software Archive is for all types of software—not just games. Go ahead and check out Apple Presents the IIc, a series of instructional guides that introduced users to their new computer. Then make a spreadsheet in VisiCalc, the 1979 Apple II program that pioneered the computer spreadsheet.

Spreadsheets from 2013 still look pretty much like spreadsheets from 1979.

The second difference is legality. The Internet Archive is a reputable organization with a clean website and a name you can trust. That site where you found all those Nintendo ROMs? Yeah, not so much.

The unfortunate problem with legality, however, is it limits your scope. Hopefully more developers will open up their software for emulation through the archive, as it has the potential to make preservation more than an academic exercise. The full list is only 28 programs for now, but expect that number to grow soon.

Go home, E.T. Nobody likes you.

For now you can always play E.T., the Atari game that reputedly caused the video game industry to crash and burn in 1983—and you can understand why E.T. caused the video game industry to crash. Spoiler: it's abysmal.

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

LinkedIn's Intro tool for iPhones could be a juicy target for attackers

Some people think a lot can go wrong if you have your emails pass through LinkedIn's servers with the company's new Intro technology.

Earlier this week, the company released LinkedIn Intro, a plug-in for the iPhone's native email app that attaches people's LinkedIn profile information to their emails. The service is meant to add more professional context to emails, but it does that at the expense of users' private data, some security experts say.

By transmitting sent and received emails through LinkedIn's servers, which then scrape and analyze them for data, the service essentially amounts to a "man-in-the-middle attack," security consulting firm Bishop Fox wrote in a staff blog post.

"The introduction of new data sources into a medium rife with security issues such as email is a dream for attackers," Bishop Fox wrote, noting that it could only be a matter of time before someone uses the service to launch a phishing attack.

The concept of being watched online, in an age of targeted advertising, cookies, geolocation data and the National Security Agency, is not new. But in trying to embed LinkedIn profile information into people's email, the company looks at too much information, said Carl Livitt, managing securities associate at Bishop Fox. "The company used a massive hammer to crack an egg," Livitt said.

For online attackers, Intro makes LinkedIn a juicy target, he said.

LinkedIn maintains a privacy policy for the service, which states that each piece of data is encrypted with a key that is unique to the user and his device. "The servers themselves are secured and monitored 24/7 to prevent any unauthorized access," it says.

Though LinkedIn doesn't say that it decrypts emails while they're on the servers in order to make modifications and attach people's profile information, that's what's happening, Livitt said.

But some other observers don't think Intro raises any new security issues. "It's the same situation as every other cloud service provider," including Google, Yahoo, AOL and many others, said security expert and author Bruce Schneier. "You have to trust them."

"It's just another company ... in it for the money," he said. "Before, it was 1,000 companies you had to trust -- now it's 1,001."

LinkedIn may already be walking on thin ice when it comes to data security. The company suffered a major breach of its password database last year, which saw millions of hashed passwords appear in an online forum in Russia.

In a statement, a LinkedIn spokeswoman said the company takes the privacy and security of its members' data seriously, and that it has "taken a thoughtful approach to ensure we've put the right security precautions in place for the LinkedIn Intro product."

If the security risks are real, is the service that Intro provides worth it? That comes down to being a personal choice, Bishop Fox's Livitt said, but for him the answer is "no."

"I would not recommend Intro to any of my clients," he said.

Zach Miners covers social networking, search and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow Zach on Twitter at @zachminers. Zach's e-mail address is zach_miners@idg.com

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Samsung's profit up 26 percent on memory chip, smartphone sales

Samsung Electronics' net profit in the third quarter was up 25.6 percent year-over-year on record revenue driven by sales of its memory chips and smartphone products.

The South Korean electronics giant reported Friday a net profit of 8.24 trillion won (US$7.8 billion), up from 6.56 trillion won in the same period a year ago.

Revenue reached 59.08 trillion won, a year-over-year increase of 13 percent, and meeting the company's forecast.

Samsung is currently the world's largest smartphone vendor. But during the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company saw "intensifying market competition" in the mobile devices space, it said. Shipments of its high-end smartphones remained flat quarter-over-quarter, despite the release of the company's Galaxy Note 3 phablet in late September.

The company, however, saw shipments of its "mass market" handsets in the mid- and low-end segments increase quarter-over-quarter. "Overall, total smartphone shipments increased in the mid-10 percent range" from the previous three-month period, the company said.

Samsung's tablet business, however, is growing at a faster clip. Sales for the devices increased in the "mid-20 percent range" from the previous quarter, partly on demand for the Galaxy Tab 3 products.

The company expects both smartphones and tablets sales will pick up in this year's fourth quarter due to the holiday season and more of its "mass market" phones reaching the market.

Samsung's semiconductor business also reported big gains in its earnings, with revenue growing 12 percent quarter-over-quarter. Sales of the company's memory chips have been high from demand brought on by smartphones and tablets, servers, and game consoles.

But the company saw a 1 percent quarter-over-quarter decrease in sales in its panel business. Weakening demand for TV display panels in Europe and China led to a decline in shipments and price. TV panel sales, however, will rebound in the fourth quarter due to the holiday season, Samsung said.

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Eastern Europeans sought in online marketplace fraud scheme

Six Eastern European men are being sought by U.S. prosecutors for allegedly netting up to US$3 million by placing fraudulent advertisements for vehicles, motorcycles and boats on major online marketplaces, including eBay.

Ringleader Nicolae Popescu is accused of leading a group that placed advertisements for goods costing between $10,000 to $45,000, collecting the money from victims and never delivering the goods, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release on Thursday.

Interpol has issued notices seeking Popescu's arrest, along with fellow Romanians Daniel Alexe, Dmitru Daniel Bosogioiu, Ovidiu Cristea, and Dragomir Razvan and an Albanian man, Fabjan Meme. They're charged in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Six co-defendants were arrested in December 2012, the DOJ said.

The group, which also placed ads on Cars.com, AutoTrader.com, and CycleTrader.com, is accused of creating fake vehicle dealership websites. Victims received email invoices that appeared to be identical to those of legitimate payment services, such as Amazon Payments and PayPal, the DOJ said.

High-quality fake passports were used to open U.S. bank accounts to collect the funds, which were then sent by wire transfer to Europe, the DOJ said.

In a recorded conversation in October 2011, Bosogioiu asked Popescu about the differences between state and federal law and vowed to avoid the FBI. Popescu said in July 2011 that criminals would never be extradited from Romania to the U.S., according to the DOJ.

Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.com. Follow me on Twitter: @jeremy_kirk

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

NSA spied on 35 world leaders according to leaked document

The U.S. monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders, according to a National Security Agency document provided by its former contractor, Edward Snowden, according to The Guardian newspaper.

The names of the world leaders is not disclosed in the document of 2006, and access to the 200 phone numbers of the leaders provided "little reportable intelligence," as the phones were apparently not used for sensitive discussions. The numbers, however, provided leads to other phone numbers that were subsequently targeted, according to the document.

The document is likely to add to concerns about NSA surveillance, including its monitoring of phones of political leaders. German officials said this week that U.S. intelligence agencies may have spied on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone. There have also been reports that the U.S. hacked into the email server of Mexico's former president Felipe Calderon while he was in office, and also spied on Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff.

A report in French newspaper Le Monde alleged that the NSA recorded data relating to over 70 million phone calls involving French citizens over a period of 30 days. U.S. Director of National Intelligence, James R. Clapper said the allegation that the NSA had collected recordings of French citizens' telephone data was false.

Alarmed at the developments, some countries are considering measures. Brazil has, for example, proposed in-country data storage requirements under an Internet bill before the country's Parliament.

The phone numbers of leaders were handed over to the NSA as part of a policy encouraging people to provide the direct, residence, mobile phone and fax numbers of foreign political and military leaders.

The note asking for "targetable" phone numbers was addressed to "customer" departments, which the Guardian said includes the White House and the Pentagon.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hands-on with AMD's Radeon R9 290X GPU

Since AMD announced its new 'Hawaii' line of GPUs a month ago, gamers have speculated about how well the top-of-the-line Radeon R9 290X model would compare to everything Nvidia has to offer. AMD finally unveiled the high-end GPU on Thursday, and we've evaluated a reference card on everything from performance to price. We compared it directly to an Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 reference card that we also had on hand.

The Radeon R9 290X's full specifications, thanks to GPUz.

First, some nuts and bolts: Our Radeon R9 290X reference design carries a 1000MHz GPU clock, a 1250MHz memory clock, and 4GB of DDR5 memory. It boasts 2816 graphics cores and a 512-bit memory interface. It occupies a single PCIe x16 slot. One eight-pin and one six-pin power connector serve to power the card.

The Radeon R9 290X includes two BIOS settings. A tiny physical switch on the card lets you toggle between them (the toggle takes effect after a PC restart). 'Quiet' mode caps performance and fan speeds to produce a quieter experience. 'Uber' mode aims for optimal performance, regardless of the level of noise that results.

On our game benchmarks, at Ultra settings and a resolution of 2560 by 1600 pixels, the Radeon R9 290X bested the GeForce GTX 780 nearly every time.

In our tests, we saw little difference in performance between the two modes—only a few frames per second in some games. In some instances (usually at lower resolutions), Quiet mode slightly outperformed Uber mode. But in either mode, the Radeon R9 290X was a little to a lot faster than the Nvidia reference card.

If flipping a switch seems too simple for you, note that the included Catalyst Control Center software has a redesigned OverDrive option for fine-tuning the overclocking of your graphics card. In this utility, you can increase overdriving as a percentage instead of as a clock speed. A two-dimensional heat map, maximum fan speeds, and temperature-target sliders in the software help you customize overclocking without having to mess around in the BIOS.

AMD's updated OverDrive option.

AMD provided a 4K monitor with the card so we could see how well the Radeon R9 290X's focus on ultra-HD gaming has paid off. To push the card to its limits, we tried every game we had that could reach that resolution, and were impressed by the resulting decent performance. Nearly every game, except Crysis 3, ran at a playable 30 fps or better at Ultra quality—that's with everything turned up to the max.

Frame rates for games running at 4K resolution and Ultra settings were surprisingly good.

We measured the card's running temperature at a blistering 95 degrees Celsius (203 degrees Fahrenheit). AMD said that the 290X can run at that temperature perfectly safely for its entire life, and that there's no technical reason to reduce the target temperature—though you could lower it via OverDrive. Users who'd like to keep performance up and temperature down, should consider buying and installing a good after-market cooler.

Multiple-graphics-card enthusiasts can kiss those annoying, easy-to-lose CrossFire bridges goodbye. With the Radeon R9 290X, you can set up two cards in CrossFire mode simply by installing them on the same motherboard.

AMD's reference design provides two DVI-I connectors, one HDMI port, and one DisplayPort on the mounting bracket. Using AMD's EyeFinity multimonitor technology, you can connect as many as six displays to a single graphics card. GPUs in the Radeon R9 family now support up to three HDMI or DVI displays (previously the maximum was two), and the rest via the DisplayPort or DisplayPort adapters. There are some limitations, however: All the displays must support identical timings, for instance, and you must configure the display clocks and timing when booting the PC.

The Radeon R9 290X outperformed the Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 in artificial benchmarks, too.

Audiophiles will be pleased to hear that AMD's True Audio Technology, first included with the R7 260X, appears in the Radeon R9 290X as well. This technology lets programmers use integrated Tensilica HiFi EP Audio DSP cores to process high-quality audio without bothering the CPU. It also removes the CPU from the equation in instances where the CPU might be a bottleneck in sound processing. Developers and programmers have the task of putting True Audio capabilities to good use in future titles.

The Radeon R9 290X also uses ZeroCore Power, an energy-conservation feature that powers down the graphics card completely when the PC is in an idle state. A driver monitors tasks and display contents to determine whether applications are no longer actively changing the screen contents, allowing the PC to remain active without drawing power from the GPU. Activities such as file serving, video streaming, motherboard audio, and remote access remain available even in a powered-down state. When the GPU is required, the driver instantly wakes the card.

Better things are yet to come. No doubt you've heard about AMD's Project Mantle, the low-level API that gives developers direct access to AMD's graphics hardware. Programming "closer to the metal" improves a game's performance and quality. AMD considers Project Mantle a fundamental strength of the entire Radeon R9 series, and the Radeon R9 290X sports it proudly. It will start appearing in games later this year: For instance, Battlefield 4, which launches next week, will incorporate Project Mantle into a free update scheduled for December.

Suggested retail pricing for the Radeon R9 290X starts at $549, which makes it about $100 cheaper than the comparable Nvidia GeForce GTX 780. Of course, as retailers release versions with fancy extras, prices could very well reach GTX 780 levels. Based on the results of our hands-on testing, however, the Radeon R9 290X could be the new GPU to beat.

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

In rerun of Apple debacle, Samsung apologizes in China after state media criticism

Months after Apple apologized to consumers in China, Korean rival Samsung is doing the same after the country's state media criticized the vendor for failing to fix glitches in several of its phone models.

"We welcome the scrutiny from the media," Samsung posted to its China website on Wednesday. "Due to problems with management that brought inconvenience to our customers, the company expresses its sincerest of apologies."

Earlier this week, the country's state-controlled China Central Television aired a 30-minute segment that put a spotlight on flaws found in Samsung phones. The affected models include handsets which are part of Samsung's Galaxy S3 and Note 2 product line.

According to CCTV's report, a software glitch in the phones can permanently damage a memory chip within the device's motherboard. This can cause the phone to frequently crash, from 20 to 30 times a day, according to one Galaxy S3 owner interviewed in the segment.

Samsung, however, refused to properly acknowledge the problem, CCTV claimed in its report. Instead, the company said the glitch could be fixed with a software update, rather than replacing the phone's hardware.

In response, Samsung issued an apology on Wednesday, and said it would offer free repairs or replace phones with persistent problems. In addition, all affected phone models will receive another year of warranty protection, regardless of whether they showed any glitches.

Samsung is just the latest tech company to be scrutinized by China's state press. In March, Apple faced similar criticism over its warranty policies, which CCTV alleged treated U.S. customers more favorably than those in China.

Apple later apologized in April, and made changes to its policies.

Other foreign companies have also been targets. This past week, Starbucks has been defending itself after CCTV criticized the company for pricing its coffee products higher in China than in the U.S.

China's state press will regularly scrutinize companies, both foreign and domestic, as a way to regulate them, according to analysts. Apple and Samsung are two of the largest smartphone vendors in the country.

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

Apple wins in patent infringement trial against Wi-LAN

A federal jury in Texas found that Apple had not infringed on a patent related to CDMA and HSPA communications technologies owned by patent-licensing firm Wi-LAN.

The jury also found Wednesday that two of the claims of U.S. patent no. RE37,802 patent were invalid.

Wi-LAN began litigation against several technology companies for alleged infringement of two of its patents in 2011. The other patent in the litigation was patent no. 5,282,222, related to the use of Wi-Fi and LTE, but Apple was not accused of infringing the patent.

Since filing, six of the seven defendants have signed license and settlement agreements to resolve the litigation, according to Wi-LAN.

Wi-LAN in Canada said it was disappointed with the jury's decision but does not believe previous license agreements signed related to the patents are negatively impacted by the decision on Wednesday by the jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall division.

The lawsuit is just one of several filed by Wi-LAN against Apple and other companies, including one filed in December in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

John Ribeiro, IDG News Service , IDG News Service

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service.
More by John Ribeiro, IDG News Service

Thank you for sharing this page.

Sorry! There was an error emailing this page

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More

US court rules warrant required for GPS tracking of vehicles

A U.S. appeals court has ruled that police must obtain a warrant prior to using a GPS device to track a vehicle, deciding on an unaddressed issue in an earlier Supreme Court order.

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Tuesday is considered a victory by privacy groups as a number of courts in the country grapple with the legal and privacy implications of using mobile phone location information and GPS in investigations by law enforcement.

In the case, United States v. Katzin, the government used a GPS device attached to the exterior of the van of Harry Katzin, one of the suspects in the burglaries of several pharmacies, to track his movements and those of his two brothers as they drove from one pharmacy to another. Police eventually arrested them.

A District Court upheld the claim of the Katzin brothers that the government had violated their Fourth Amendment rights by attaching the GPS tracking device without a warrant. The government, which had contended that a warrant was not required for use of the GPS device, appealed the ruling.

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Unless there are some very highly specific circumstances, which were not present in the current case, "the police cannot justify a warrantless GPS search with reasonable suspicion alone," the appeals court wrote in its order.

The case is the first in which a federal appeals court has held explicitly that warrants are required for GPS tracking by police, said the American Civil Liberties Union, which was one of the amici curiae in the dispute. Described as "friend of the court," an amicus curiae is a party that is not directly involved in a litigation, but believe they may be impacted or have views on the matter before the court.

The government held that if officers are required to obtain a warrant and have probable cause prior to executing a GPS search, "officers could not use GPS devices to gather information to establish probable cause, which is often the most productive use of such devices," the court observed in its order.

In another case, United States v. Jones, the U.S. Supreme Court held last year that GPS tracking by attaching a device to a vehicle constituted a search under the Fourth Amendment. But the court did not decide on whether warrants were required.

"Among the issues that Jones left open, however, was whether warrantless use of GPS devices would be 'reasonable -- and thus lawful -- under the Fourth Amendment [where] officers ha[ve] reasonable suspicion, and indeed probable cause' to execute such searches," according to the ruling by the court of appeals.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

16.01 | 0 komentar | Read More

Yahoo to review redacted FISA papers before release

The U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has allowed Yahoo's counsel to review declassified documents from a 2008 dispute over data disclosure, after the company said the public release of documents redacted by the government could lead to its role being misunderstood.

The counsel for Yahoo may review the "redacted, formally declassified" versions of documents submitted to the court, Judge Reggie B. Walton of the FISC wrote in a ruling on Tuesday.

It is not clear what are the changes Yahoo may be allowed to make in the redacted documents.

Yahoo had asked the FISC in July to order the release of a secret order in a 2008 surveillance dispute, to show that it strongly resisted government orders. Disclosure of the documents of the 2008 dispute would show that it objected at every stage of the proceedings, but these objections were overruled and a stay denied, it said.

The move by Yahoo came after former National Security Agency contractor, Edward Snowden, disclosed through newspaper reports that Internet companies provided real-time access to content on their servers to the NSA under a surveillance program called Prism. The Internet companies have denied the charge.

Yahoo filed last month for pre-publication access to the court documents after redaction and declassification by the government. Yahoo said it wanted to review the government's submissions to "ensure that its redactions are well-founded and do not unintentionally create a risk that the documents will be misunderstood."

Upon receipt of notice from the government that it has provided the declassified documents to the court, Yahoo's counsel has seven days to raise any objections, which will then go to the government for its reply within seven days. Yahoo will then have three days to respond.

The U.S. Department of Justice and Yahoo earlier filed a joint motion before the court in which the DOJ said it had no issues with Yahoo viewing the documents after declassification and before their release. The DOJ is expected to provide a status report by November to FISC on the government's declassification of the documents by Nov. 12.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

16.00 | 0 komentar | Read More