Bytee Creation - IT/Computer Tips

Reminder: norbaitee Talib wants you to join SugarSync

2011-11-19T03:08:00.001+08:00

SugarSync is a cool new service that gives you 5 GB of free storage to backup, sync, and share your data (music, photos, videos, documents) from all of your computers. SugarSync also lets you access all of your data right from your mobile phone!

Join SugarSync today and you'll earn 500 MB of bonus storage and give norbaitee Talib an extra 500 MB too!

Join SugarSync

Thanks,
Team SugarSync

Get our app: iPhone Android Other

To stop receiving invites from SugarSync, click here.

--
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.

norbaitee Talib wants you to join SugarSync

2011-11-14T12:04:00.001+08:00

Join SugarSync

Thanks,
Team SugarSync

Get our app: iPhone Android Other

To stop receiving invites from SugarSync, click here.

bytesmat@gmail.com has referred you a message about IDrive

2011-09-19T17:42:00.003+08:00

Simplicity; now Redefined!

Backup and restore data across multiple platforms (PC and Mac) within two clicks*.

Quick and efficient backup

Compressed data transfer and incremental backups optimize bandwidth usage and speeds up backup.

Secure and all locked up

Your data is encrypted during transfers and also on storage at world-class data centers via a private key and use secure methods as banks and the military to send and store data.

What about my Hand held device?

Presenting IDrive Lite for mobile devices! Now you can backup and restore contacts and manage them via the web.

* This assuming you accept the defaults.

Windows logo is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. Mac, iPhone logo/images are trademarks of Apple Inc. BlackBerry image is a trademark of Research in Motion Limited.

You received this email since bytesmat@gmail.com chose to refer the IDrive service to you. In case you do not wish to receive email updates on the IDrive Service, click here.

bytesmat@gmail.com has referred you a message about RemotePC

2011-09-19T17:42:00.001+08:00

Remote access for consumers

Work on your home or office PC's resources including files, programs and emails. Transfer files and folders across computers and invite a guest to temporarily access your remote computer.

Remote access for small businesses

SMEs can connect to multiple computers from a single administrative account. Communication between local and the remote computer is encrypted, ensuring extreme security.

RemotePC for iPhone / iPad

Access and view your desktop of your computer remotely, from your iPhone / iPad.

Remote Helpdesk

Get inside your customer's PC to troubleshoot or provide training. Interact with customers over live chat and reboot their machine. In other words, do it all!

You received this email since bytesmat@gmail.com chose to refer the RemotePC service to you. In case you do not wish to receive email updates on the RemotePC Service, click here.

Updates to Dropbox Terms of Service and Privacy Statement

2011-07-04T16:22:00.000+08:00

Hi Norbaitee,

We wanted to let you know that we've made some changes to the Dropbox Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Security Overview. We did this to make our policies easier to read and understand, and better reflect product improvements we've made to Dropbox. Please read about these changes in our blog post, and read the docs themselves:

We welcome feedback on the changes at tos-feedback@dropbox.com. Please note that by continuing to use Dropbox, you agree to our new TOS which will be effective on July 15th, 2011.

- The Dropbox Team

Start using Dropbox!

2011-04-10T17:42:00.001+08:00

Hi Norbaitee,

We noticed that you signed up for Dropbox a while ago, but never installed the software. Installing Dropbox lets you:

Easily save files to your Dropbox.
Get to your files from any computer or phone.
Share photos or docs straight from your desktop.

Download Dropbox here.

Enjoy!
- The Dropbox Team

If you need a refresher, check out our tour.

If you prefer not to receive these tips from Dropbox, please click here.

Welcome to Dropbox!

2011-04-03T01:12:00.000+08:00

Hi Norbaitee,

Here's how to get the most out of Dropbox:

Download and install Dropbox.

Any file you place in your Dropbox folder will automatically save to all your computers, phones and even the Dropbox website!

Downloading Dropbox also lets you easily share docs and photos, and work together with friends.

To learn more about Dropbox, check out our tour.

Welcome to Dropbox!
- The Dropbox Team

P.S. Get extra space free.

Bytesmat Bytee invited you to Dropbox

2011-03-30T10:29:00.001+08:00

Bytesmat Bytee wants you to try Dropbox! Dropbox lets you bring all your photos, docs and videos with you anywhere and share them easily.

Get started here.

- The Dropbox Team

To stop receiving invites from Dropbox, click here

Video-editing tools at your fingertips

2011-02-25T22:01:00.001+08:00

HF G10

Canon unveiled its latest Legria camcorders which do more than just record videos, at a press event in Yokohoma, Japan.

By CHONG JINN XIUNG
intech@thestar.com.my

The next-generation Canon Legria camcorders don't just shoot videos but also allow the user to edit them directly on the camcorder itself.

Canon has intergrated a video editing tool into the camcoder which it calls Cinema Style. The tool comprises of three components: Story Creator, Cinema-look filter and Touch Decoration.

The Story Creator component lets users piece together their own movie as they shoot. Users will be given a choice of several themes to pick including holiday, party and family gathering.

It will then act as a "personal movie director," providing useful tips and ideas on the type of scenes users can capture to tell their story.

At the end of the session, the tool will help compile the videos into one movie and users can even add a soundtrack to it.

The Touch Decoration component allows users to get creative by adding fun effects to the videos. Using this feature, users can have fun superimposing images and animation such as bubbles and shooting stars on their videos.

To make videos more interesting, users can also use this feature to add drawings and messages as well as superimpose decorative frames.

The Cinema-look component gives users a choice of different filters like vivid, dream and nostalgia so that they can convey different moods and tones with their videos.

The filters can be applied in the camcorder itself so users can enhance their movies without using a PC or additional software.

Trio of camcorders

The highlight of the show was the company's new flagship model for the Legria line, the semi-professional HF G10. The camcorder has a 2.4-megapixel HD CMOS Pro image sensor which is the same one used in Canon's professional camcorders.

Canon claims that the sensor has better low-light performance and a wider dynamic range because each of the sensor's pixel are 60% larger.

Exclusive to the HF G10 is a specially designed 30.4mm wide-angle Canon HD video lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.8.

The wide-angle lens has a zoom of up to 10x and optical image stabilisation (OIS) for distortion-free images.

Plus, the lens also has an eight bladed iris that can smoothen background blur for better bokeh effect.

For more precise handling, there are also many dedicated manual controls for adjusting the aperture, shutter speed and more.

The HF G10 has a 3.5in touchscreen for tweaking the camcorder settings, playing back videos and using the Cinema Style features.

The HF camcorder, which records movies in AVCHD format, has 32GB of Flash memory for storage. It also has two SDXC compatible memory card slots which allows users to easily make backups of their movies from one card to another or even record movies simultaneously on two cards.

Of course, the camcorder can also shoot pictures although its primary function is still video recording.

HF M400

Canon also has added two new camcorders to its HF M range, the HF M41 and HF M400. Both the compact camcorders have an ultra-sleek design and lightweight body. Similar to the HF G10, the camcorders have a professional-grade 2.4-megapixel HD CMOS Pro sensor and high-quality microphone.

The camcorder, which record 1080p videos, have a conversion tool that transcodes HD videos to standard definition which allows users to upload movies faster to videos sharing sites like Youtube.

HF M41

Both camcoders have a 3in touchscreen and feature two SD card slots that offer a relay recording feature that automatically switches to the next available storage source when one becomes full.

However, only the HF M41 has 32GB internal Flash memory and a 0.24in sliding electronic viewfinder.

All three camcorders feature improved internal microphones that reduce mid- and low-frequency background noise.

The HF G10 will be available in April while the HF41 and M400 will start shipping in March.

The prices for the camcorders have yet to be announced.

German iPhone app guides handicapped around cities

2011-02-25T22:00:00.001+08:00

USEFUL APP: Stoecker posing with his iPhone in the Alexanderplatz Train Station in Berlin. Stoecker, a regular user and beta tester for wheelmap.org, hopes the site will encourage often reclusive handicapped urbanites to explore surroundings they see as potentially perilous to navigate. - AP

BERLIN: Raul Krauthausen, who has used a wheelchair since childhood, has always been uncomfortable with the services Germany provides for the physically handicapped, like special taxis and grocery delivery - saying they feel patronising and further isolate him from the able-bodied world.

So Krauthausen took matters into his own hands and launched wheelmap.org, an iPhone application and website in German and English that allows users to share ratings and tips on how accessible shops, bars and other places are.

"Sometimes I feel I'm treated like a child who isn't allowed to decide specific things by myself," said the 30-year-old who suffers from a genetic disorder that makes his bones brittle. "I want to remain flexible and not be dependent on when a driving service has time to pick me up."

It turned out he wasn't the only one who felt that way. With some 300 new user-ratings daily, wheelmap.org now has details on 30,000 locations. Around 80% of tagged spots are in Germany, but site ratings for cities like London and New York are slowly growing, Krauthausen said.

"Wheelmap.org wants to help show people with mobility impairments everything that's achievable," he said.

Krauthausen attributes Wheelmap's success to its availability as an iPhone application and the "Wiki principle" - the idea that anyone, anywhere can contribute. Users rate locations without registering, but must log in to add specific comments.

Ingo Stoecker, a regular user and beta tester for the app, said he hopes the site will encourage often reclusive handicapped urbanites to explore surroundings they see as potentially perilous to navigate. Some 4.5 million of Germany's 82 million people are physically handicapped.

"Most or many wheelchair users are rather introverted - they'd rather not go out," said Stoecker, who suffers from a birth defect resulting in incomplete spinal development.

"I think if they knew of such an app, they would maybe get out more."

Stoecker, 30, can navigate very short distances on crutches and drive a special car. He uses Wheelmap to find bars or cinemas for weekend nights in Berlin or traveling outside the city with friends from his wheelchair basketball team.

"It's helpful when our team is on the road to unknown cities where we have games," he said on a recent day, using the app to pick out a not-yet rated sandwich shop in Berlin's Alexanderplatz. "We can see how to get around and what there is to do."

On the iPhone app, locations are tagged as either green, yellow or red - totally, partially and not at all accessible. Unrated locations are gray.

Stoecker rated the sandwich shop yellow. It had a curb about 4in (10cm) high - low enough for him but prohibitive for more disabled urbanites.

Exciting

While many large cities from San Diego to Vienna offer guidebooks for handicapped visitors, Anette Stein, an education researcher at the Bertelsmann Foundation think tank, and other experts said they were unaware of any other application that allowed users to add instant comment.

"I find the Wheelmap project highly exciting and can well imagine that it could spread through social networks and consequently see enormous growth," Stein said.

Beyond helping the handicapped, Krauthausen said he hopes Wheelmap will persuade more business owners to make their stores barrier-free, something Germany legally requires, but in reality is often not implemented.

"Often it's simply a matter of one or two steps preventing you from getting in. For that, there's a cheap solution," he said.

Stein said change will come if businesses see themselves losing customers or developing reputations as handicapped-unfriendly.

"Wheelmap generates a type of pressure on proprietors and establishments and will arguably cultivate an interest for them not to be shown as gray or red, but as green" Stein said.

To finance wheelmap.org, Krauthausen has relied on both private donations and a governmental stipend.

Though he welcomes the public funds, he worries the government might be trying to "buy its way out" of the problem of making handicapped Germans more independent.

"The whole reason there are organisations like ours is because the government has failed to do anything themselves," he said.

Krauthausen and Stein both pointed to a 2007 United Nations study rating Germany as one of the worst industrialised nations for handicapped accessibility.

The Labour Ministry said things are improving, and that the UN study has been a catalyst for improving federal initiatives to aid the disabled; the Cabinet is expected to pass an action plan, written with a focus group of handicapped Germans, in March. - AP

Addressing piracy in the virtual world

2011-02-25T21:58:00.001+08:00

THE Internet is an indispensable tool in the modern world but as the old adage goes, we need to take the good with the bad.

While it is regarded as the world's largest library, the Internet is not only a place where copyright violaters can download music and movies (much to the chagrin of groups like the Motion Picture Association (MPA) but also where people can obtain other counterfeit products such as luxury goods and medication.

This is also a reason why fashion names like Lacoste and the MPA have dedicated teams to comb cyberspace for such perpetrators.

Cyberlockers and stashers

The MPA is not new to this battle. Besides the normal peer-to-peer sharing of movies, it found that the problem also presents itself in the form of cyberstashers or cyberlockers.

A cyberlocker is a dedicated space on the Internet where users can stash their digital data.

But even if they have been fighting this battle for a while, the MPA still encounters obstacles.

According to Ted Shapiro, Motion Picture Association EMEA senior vice-president, general counsel and deputy managing director, civil cases involving perpetrators operating online can be tricky especially with the case of cyberlocker owners.

"Apart from the complex privacy issue, there is also the case of unclear borders on what needs to be monitored and what the scope of injuctions can be," he said in a panel session themed addressing counterfeiting and piracy in the virtual world at the sixth global congress on combating counterfeiting and piracy in Paris, France.

Successfully nabbing copyright violators is also another task because they are a nimble bunch, Shapiro said.

They play a divide-and-conquer game by registering their domain in one country and opening a bank account in another.

They are also well informed on which countries are better at enforcing copyright laws.

"They understand the shortcomings of civil litigations very well and are very adept in bouncing from one place of operations to another," he said.

In order to deal with this new age problem, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency have updated their strategies to book online counterfeiters.

It developed Operation In Our Sites (OIOS), which targets websites with domain names registered in the United States that offer not only pirated movies but also other counterfeit items from handbags to toys.

Its assistant deputy director, Erik Barnett said told congress delegates about the agency's success in tackling sites offering pirated movies.

Ice had received a warrant from a US federal judge to seize a perpetrator's hardware and also asked for a job to redirect the website to Ice's. Of course, when visitors came to the disguised website, there was nothing to download.

"The MPA had referred nine sites to us but once they realised someone was watching, only two sites resumed operations," he said.

Ice regards OIOS as a success but it did receive its fair share of criticism, Barnett said.

Most of it is about how Ice is actually censoring the Internet and many Americans believe that Ice's act is in violation of the first ammendment of the US constitution, which prohibits the making of any law that impedes on the freedom to exercise freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the press, among others.

However such criticisms are treated like water off a duck's back.

"We're a law enforcement agency, we don't have feelings," Barnett said drawing guffaws from the delegates.

Barnett said Ice continues to work with copyright owners and the US government to bring down the piracy rate but private companies seeking its help will need to do a bit of homework themselves to assist with the investigations.

"We'll need something more than a domain name and something less of a thick file and also an understanding of how such sites are impacting your business," he said.

Private efforts

Besides government agencies like Ice, intermediaries like search engine company Google and e-commerce site PriceMinister.com in France are also doing their part to sniff out counterfeiters.

Google does so through its Adwords Counterfeit Policy which is aimed at advertisements promoting counterfeit products.

According to Google Inc senior trademark counsel Annabelle Daniel Varda, customers or even copyright owners can file a complaint through a prepared online form if they catch a site selling counterfeit items.

"We have zero tolerance for counterfeit products because it is not ideal for our customers, it harms users and ruins Google's reputation to the extent that people might say that we profit from counterfeiters," she said.

She added that Google will continue its efforts to develop more tools to be able to proactively detect counterfeit products promoted via its search engine.

Meanwhile PriceMinister.com takes proactive steps by analysing vendors who sell items on the site.

Its director of legal and government affairs, Benoit Tabaka said this is especially so when a vendor suddenly has a large amount items like 10 mobile phones and two perfumes.

"If they can't prove that the items are genuine, their accounts will be suspended," Tabaka said.

However, to make its efforts more effective, Tabaka said PriceMinister is looking to strike a partnership with the copyright owners to help them better protect their intellectual property.

"Site owners have access to information such as Internet protocol addresses, how many accounts a person has and possibly even who the person is. With our help, I think we can help copyright owners keep an eye on counterfeiters but they have yet to take us up on this offer," he said. - JO TIMBUONG

Related Stories:
The brutal side of software piracy

APCERT completes cybersecurity drill

2011-02-25T21:56:00.001+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR: The Asia-Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT) has completed its annual drill to test the response capability of leading Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) from regional economies.

The drill, themed "Critical Infrastructure Protection," was for participating teams to exercise incident response handling arrangements locally and internationally to mitigate the impact of ongoing Internet-based attacks, to enable better co-ordination of teams in the region in tackling cyber-incidents.

In a joint statement, APCERT and CyberSecurity Malaysia said in this year's scenarios, the employees of critical infrastructure companies of an imaginary economy were targeted.

It said criminals are capitalising on the popularity of online business, which has become a profitable revenue stream for the underground economy.

This year, 20 teams from 15 economies - Australia, Brunei, Bangladesh, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam -participated in the drill.

Roy Ko, Chair of APCERT, said the attacks usually came from distributed locations that required the co-ordinated effort of CERT teams and security organisations from different economies to track and close down.

"It is vital for every CSIRT to build up their capability to detect and defend when the community at large is under attack and the daily business of the economy is hampered," he said.

CyberSecurity Malaysia chief executive officer Lt Col (Ret) Husin Jazri said the agency, under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, was involved in the drill by providing an infrastructure to support this year's exercise.

"CyberSecurity Malaysia also provided technical support to the National Security Council in organising the annual cybersecurity exercise for the Critical National Information Infrastructure agencies," he said.

APCERT was established by leading and national CSIRTs from the economies of the Asia-Pacific to improve co-operation, response and information sharing among CSIRTs in the region.

APCERT consists of 26 CSIRTs from 17 economies. - Bernama

Wearable sensors could help the elderly

2011-02-25T21:52:00.000+08:00

FEEL THIS: A NTT Communications staff tickles the ear of a robot at the NTT Research and Development Forum in Tokyo. The company is developing a simple wristwatch-like device to monitor the well-being of the elderly. - AP

TOKYO: Japan's top telecoms company is developing a simple wristwatch-like device to monitor the well-being of the elderly, part of a growing effort to improve care of the old in a nation whose population is aging faster than anywhere else.

The device, worn like a watch, has a built-in camera, microphone and accelerometer, which measure the pace and direction of hand movements to discern what wearers are doing - from brushing their teeth to vacuuming or making coffee.

In a demonstration at Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Corp's research facility, the test subject's movements were collected as data that popped up as lines on a graph - with each kind of activity showing up as different patterns of lines. Using this technology, what an elderly person is doing during each hour of the day can be shown on a chart.

The prototype was connected to a personal computer for the demonstration, but researchers said such data could also be relayed by wireless or stored in a memory card to be looked at later.

Plans for commercial use are still undecided. But similar sensors are being tested around the world as tools for elderly care.

In the United Stataes, the Institute on Aging at the University of Virginia has been carrying out studies in practical applications of what it calls "body area sensor networks" to promote senior independent living.

What's important is that wearable sensors be easy to use, unobtrusive, ergonomic and even stylish, according to the institute, based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Costs, safety and privacy issues are also key.

Despite the potential for such technology in Japan, a nation filled with electronics and technology companies, NTT president Satoshi Miura said Japan is likely falling behind global rivals in promoting practical uses.

Worries are growing the Japanese Government has not been as generous with funding and other support to allow the technology to grow into a real business, despite the fact that Japan is among the world's most advanced in the proliferation of broadband.

More than 90% of Japan's households are equipped with either optic fibres or fast-speed mobile connections.

"But how to use the technology is the other side of the story," Miura said in a presentation. "We will do our best in the private sector, but I hope the government will help."

Nintendo Co's Wii game-console remote-controller is one exception of such sensors becoming a huge business success. But that's videogame entertainment, not social welfare.

George Demiris, associate professor at the School of Medicine at the University of Washington, in Seattle, says technology for the elderly is complex, requiring more than just coming up with sophisticated technology.

Getting too much data, for instance, could simply burden already overworked health care professionals, and overly relying on technology could even make the elderly miserable, reducing opportunities for them to interact with real people, he said.

"Having more data alone does not mean we will have better care for older adults," Demiris said in an e-mail.

"We can have the most sophisticated technology in place, but if the response at the other end is not designed to address what the data show in a timely and efficient way, the technology itself is not useful," he said. - AP

http://techcentral.my/news/story.aspx?file=/2011/2/24/it_news/20110224094739&sec=IT_News

E-assessment

2011-01-12T08:19:00.001+08:00

Assessment and Evaluation

First of all we have to be aware of the difference between evaluation and assessment. According to the Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, the former frequently involves gathering information on patterns of language use, language ability, and attitudes towards language; it uses both quantitative and qualitative methods, a mark is assigned. While the latter is the measurement of the ability of a person or the quality or success of a teaching course; it may be by test, interview, questionnaire, observation, among others.

What are the purposes of assessment?
Kellough and Kellough (1999) identified seven purposes of assessment:
1. Improve student learning;
2. Identify students' strengths and weaknesses;
3. Review, assess, and improve the effectiveness of different teaching strategies;
4. Review, assess, and improve the effectiveness of curricular programs;
5. Improve teaching effectiveness;
6. Provide useful administrative data that will expedite decision making; and
7. To communicate with stakeholders.

What is assessment? What is e-assessment?

According to Wikipedia, educational assessment is the process of documenting, usually in measurable terms, knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs. Assessment can focus on the individual learner, the learning community (class, workshop, or other organized group of learners), the institution, or the educational system as a whole. E-assessment refers to the use of information technology for any assessment-related activity. This definition embraces a wide range of student activity ranging from the use of a word processor to on-screen testing. E-assessment can be used to assess cognitive and practical abilities. Cognitive abilities are assessed using e-testing software; practical abilities are assessed using e-portfolios or simulation software.
E-assessment is becoming widely used. It has many advantages over traditional (paper-based) assessment.

What are the advantages?

The advantages include:

lower long-term costs
instant feedback to students
greater flexibility with respect to location and timing
improved reliability (machine marking is much more reliable than human marking)
greater storage efficiency - tens of thousands of answer scripts can be stored on a server compared to the physical space required for paper scripts
enhanced question styles which incorporate interactivity and multimedia.

Among all the assessment tools there are, we can mention concept maps, concept tests, knowledge surveys, exams, oral presentations, poster presentations, portfolios, written reports and rubrics.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-assessment
http://informingscience.org/jite/documents/Vol5/v5p251-269Buzzetto152.pdf
Richards, J.; Platt, J. & Platt, H. (1992) Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics Essex: Longman

Hackers crack open mobile network

2011-01-06T17:22:00.001+08:00

Security researchers have shown how to eavesdrop on any GSM call

Mobile calls and texts made on any GSM network can be eavesdropped upon using four cheap phones and open source software, say security researchers.

Karsten Nohl and Sylvain Munaut demonstrated their eavesdropping toolkit at the Chaos Computer Club Congress (CCC) in Berlin.

The work builds on earlier research that has found holes in many parts of the most widely used mobile technology.

The pair spent a year putting together the parts of the eavesdropping toolkit.

"Now there's a path from your telephone number to me finding you and listening to your calls," Mr Nohl told BBC News. "The whole way."

He said many of the pieces in the eavesdropping toolkit already existed thanks to work by other security researchers but there was one part the pair had to create themselves.

"The one piece that completed the chain was the ability to record data off the air," he said.

In a demonstration at the CCC, the pair took attendees through all the steps that led from locating a particular phone to seizing its unique ID, then leap-frogging from that to getting hold of data swapped between a handset and a base station as calls are made and texts sent.

Key to grabbing the data from the air were cheap Motorola phones which can have their onboard software swapped for an open source alternative.

"We used the cheap Motorola telephones because a description of their firmware leaked to the internet," he said.

This led to the creation of open source alternative firmware that, he said, has its "filters" removed so it could see all the data being broadcast by a base station.

The eavesdropping work builds on earlier work to list GSM encryption keys

This allows attackers to home in on the data they need to eavesdrop, said Mr Nohl. The encryption system that scrambles this data can be defeated using a huge list of encryption keys, called a rainbow table, that Mr Nohl generated in a separate research project.

"Any GSM call is fair game," he said.

GSM is the name of the technology used on the vast majority of mobile phone networks around the world. The GSMA, which represents operators and phone makers, estimates that there are more than five billion GSM mobiles in use around the world.

The GSMA has not responded to requests for comment about the research.

Playing around

Simeon Coney, a spokesman for mobile security firm Adaptive Mobile, said the work looked fairly thorough.

"Especially interesting is how the attack is aimed at a specific target phone, which could lead to malicious interest of high value targets," he added.

"This isn't an attack that is today readily repeatable yet by the anyone unfamiliar with the underlying technology," he said. "However, it does illustrate the manners in which the mobile phone system could be compromised in a focussed attack in less protected markets."

Mr Nohl said that before now commercial equipment that could spy on calls cost upwards of £35,000. The kit demonstrated at the Berlin event cost far less than that, he said. For instance, the Motorola phones used to grab data cost only 10 euros (£9) each.

Despite showing off the entire eavesdropping kit, there were no plans to release all of it for others to use, said Mr Nohl.

However, recreating the missing parts would not be difficult for a tech savvy amateur, he added.

"I expect people to do it for the fun of doing it."

Mr Nohl said the motivation for carrying out the research was to create awareness around the problem and perhaps prompt operators to improve security.

A few simple steps could make it much harder for eavesdroppers, he said.

"Raising their awareness is the most likely outcome, but the technical changes would be better."

Cyber-sabotage and espionage top 2011 security fears

2011-01-06T17:19:00.001+08:00

By Maggie ShielsTechnology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Industry insiders say cyber attacks will increase in 2011

The biggest security concerns for the coming year will be cyber-sabotage and cyber-espionage, say industry experts.

They cite the success of the Stuxnet worm in attacking industrial control systems as a prime example of what to expect in 2011.

Other predictions include a rise in sophisticated malware, Wikileaks-style breaches and a focus on mobile.

But Stuxnet type attacks top the list of forthcoming fears after the success it had interfering with Iran's nuclear power generation efforts.

In November, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad confirmed that Stuxnet had hit its target.

"They succeeded in creating problems for a limited number of our centrifuges with the software they had installed in electronic parts," Mr Ahmadinejad told a news conference.

'Destruction'

Researchers who have studied Stuxnet say its complexity suggests it could only have been written by a "nation state" in the West, rather than an organised crime group.

Security firm Kaspersky described Stuxnet as "a working and fearsome prototype of a cyber-weapon that will lead to the creation of a new arms race".

Iran had denied that the virus had damaged any of its nuclear plants

Art Coviello, president of security firm RSA, agreed with Kaspersky's assessment.

"Stuxnet is the most troubling risk to me when I think about the conflict of cyber warfare," he said.

"I also realise all civilised nations of the world recognise that cyber warfare will escalate to the point of mutually assured destruction," he said.

"I would hope we all recognise that but I worry about [Stuxnet] getting in to the hands of non-state actors," Mr Coviello told BBC News.

Some experts believe that not only will there be more incidents in 2011 involving Stuxnet but there will be attempts to improve it.

"I would love to say that Stuxnet is something that is unique but I don't think that is going to be the case," said Jason Urso, chief technology officer for Honeywell and an expert in the security of manufacturing and industrial plants.

"The publicity surrounding Stuxnet will bring awareness to the fact that these critical infrastructures like power plants, oil refineries and so on are using systems that can be vulnerable if not secured in the right way," he said. "I think there is a real concern for copy-cat style attacks."

Hacks and attacks

Sharing the headlines with Stuxnet were the hack attacks carried out by supporters of whistle-blowing website Wikileaks. In late 2010, Wikileaks began releasing some of a cache of 250,000 leaked US diplomatic cables.

The diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks were the focus of world attention.

Members of a group calling themselves Anonymous attacked Amazon, Mastercard, Visa and PayPal in retaliation for those firms hampering Wikileaks' ability to raise funds.

The attacks took the form of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. These involve bombarding a website with data to the point that it is overwhelmed.

Dr Hugh Thompson, a professor of computer science at Columbia University, said these events have changed security for the long term.

"Now we have people who are viewing these types of attacks under the lens of activism and that is a dangerous sort of thing to do when talking about companies," he said.

"It will change some of the elements of enterprise security which has previously centred around worrying about firewalls and data leaks," said Dr Thompson. "Now, if companies fall out of favour for whatever reason, like BP over the oil spill, there is now this other route where people can protest in the future.

"That is scary from an enterprise security perspective," he said.

Net security expert Dan Kaminsky said DDoS attacks were likely to proliferate in 2011 because of their simplicity.

"There is very little technological skill involved in creating a denial of service attack," he said. "They will never go away and the barrier to entry is very low yet their effectiveness is perceived as high and that means we will see more and more of them."

Art Gilliland, a vice president at security giant Symantec, said the Wikileaks debacle underscored the need to shift the focus from securing infrastructure to securing content.

"The level of professionalism in the hacker community is driven by the fact they are going after corporate information whether its credit card details or intellectual property or embarrassing documents.

"If they are able to sell it, like any market it creates a specialisation in the market and tools to make the hacker community more sophisticated - whether it's for financial gain or some sort of government nation state priority."

Mr Gilliland said that while DDoS attacks would not go away, the real hackers or criminals will keep their eyes fixed on the financials.

"There is some press value in taking down a website but not a lot of money and that is where the level of investment will go - stealing information because there is money there," he said. "The big pain will come from stealing that content or information and holding that party or organisation or government entity to ransom."

Future targets

Another top target in 2011 is likely to mobile phones, which are increasingly being turned into virtual wallets and being used in the workplace.

The M86 Security Labs predicted in its threat report for 2011 that the "exploding smartphone market and growing tablet demand will lead to more mobile malware".

Mobile security is a big worry for 2011 as more people use them for work

Mr Coviello from RSA does not disagree but is more sanguine about the scale of a problem.

"For me mobile is just another end point," he said. "Okay, it's a different end point and there will be new viruses developed to attack it and new pieces of malware but they are the same kinds of things used to attack physical end points today like PC's and the internet as a whole.

"Mobile devices do mean more transactions, more flow of information and the law of averages is that there will be more security problems but they have to be taken in context."

From Symantec, Mr Gilliland agreed.

"It is clear you will see more attacks in this landscape because people are doing more of their lives on these devices but with the proliferation of operating systems there is no one clear target.

"If there starts to become a "winner" in that platform it will become a more attractive target," he said. "For example, if you look at the demographics of who buys the iPhone or iPad, they are usually technically savvy, typically wealthier and therefore maybe that is a richer target landscape."

RockMelt 101: A Quick Guide to the Mysterious Browser

2010-11-18T10:41:00.001+08:00

By JR Raphael, PCWorld Aug 15, 2009 5:28 am

Have you met RockMelt? Neither have most people, it seems -- but the Web is definitely a-buzzin' with word of the mysterious new browser. Thanks to a high-profile story in The New York Times , RockMelt's rapidly becoming the talk of the tech community.

So what exactly is RockMelt, and who's behind it? Most of the available info is sketchy at best. If you piece it all together, though, you can get a very rough picture of what the browser might be about. Here's a roundup of what's been revealed so far.

1. RockMelt's founders are two former Opsware employees.

The guys reportedly creating RockMelt are Tim Howe and Eric Vishria, both of whom used to work at networking company Opsware. Opsware was founded by Netscape creator Marc Andreessen and sold to HP in 2007.

2. Andreessen himself may be involved with RockMelt.

Andreessen is investing in RockMelt, according to unnamed sources quoted by The New York Times. Andreessen apparently alluded to the project in an interview earlier this summer as well, telling The Times he had "backed a really good team." Within minutes, The Times reports, Andreessen "appeared to regret his comment" and declined to elaborate any further.

3. RockMelt will be "different" from other browsers.

It's a vague statement, but Andreessen is quoted as telling The Times RockMelt would stand out from the pack of browsers currently on the market, focusing somehow on the "network of complex Web sites and applications" into which the Internet has evolved.

4. RockMelt may feature some kind of Facebook integration.

One of the areas of focus may involve some kind of social network integration. A Times reporter claims to have seen references to a RockMelt-Facebook relationship in a privacy policy once posted on the RockMelt home page. (The policy is no longer accessible from the site.) The reporter says the policy discussed the presence of features tied to a user's Facebook ID, including built-in access to Facebook updates and other content.

The idea of a Facebook relationship is echoed by materials published by tech blog ReadWriteWeb. The blog's lead writer, Marshall Kirkpatrick, says he obtained an early build of RockMelt. He calls it a "semi-independent desktop client for Facebook," offering a screenshot as an illustration.

Despite those reports, Facebook is denying knowledge of any kind of formal relationship with the startup. A Facebook spokesperson has gone on the record as saying the company is "not aware of any details about RockMelt and its product."

5. RockMelt may have its own URL shortener.

RockMelt has registered the domain me.lt as a URL shortener, ReadWriteWeb's Kirkpatrick claims. He says the domain was referenced on the RockMelt home page up until early this week.

According to DNS records, the me.lt domain was registered on April 16 of this year under the name "Klute-Thiemann Informationstechnologie GmbH & Co. KG." As of now, it points to a generic server landing page.

6. RockMelt's team is staying decidedly quiet.

The guys involved with RockMelt definitely don't want to say much about it. Eric Vishria tells The Times he and his group are "at very early stages of development," adding: "Talking about it at this stage is not useful."

RockMelt's Web site does have a form to register for updates as they become available.

JR Raphael tackles the less serious side of technology at eSarcasm, his new geek humor site. You can also catch him on Twitter: @jr_raphael.

Facebook Hackers Phishing and Taking Over Facebook Accounts www.IDTheftS...

2010-04-25T17:53:00.000+08:00

WARNING: {Facebook Hackers On The Rise} - WATCH THIS VIDEO NOW!

2010-04-25T17:52:00.000+08:00

Mariah Carey My All Lyrics

2010-04-25T17:14:00.000+08:00

Parenting: General text/chat/IM abbreviations parents should know, Part 1

2010-04-21T09:52:00.001+08:00

By Katie Derrick

Since texting, chatting and IMing are three of the main ways that teens and pre-teens tend to communicate (even when writing with pen and ink, but that is another gripe for later), it is important for parents to be versed in their child's language - and believe me, it is a language all unto itself. However, with knowing just a few key abbreviations you will be able to decipher many more, sort of like the Rosetta Stone of the electronic age! Of course, as soon as kids start catching on that the adults are learning their new language they will undoubtedly change it, just as more and more number abbreviations are starting to pop up. But, at least for the near future maybe you will be able to understand what your kid is saying when he sends you a text message!

This first group of abbreviations focus on general abbreviations that tend to either deal with drugs, swearing or other behaviors that we, as parents, probably want to know about (sex-related abbreviations will have its own posting).

420 - lets get high or "Marijuana"
4Q - F*** you
555 - sobbing, crying
A3 - anytime, anywhere, anyplace+
AYOR - at your own risk
AYSOS - are you stupid or something?
B8 - bait, an under-aged person
BF - boyfriend, best friend
BBC - big bad challenge
CLAB - crying like a baby
E - ecstasy
GTFO - get the f*** out
IOMH - in over my head
LGH - lets get high
NALOPKT - not a lot of people know that
OSIF - Oh Sh** I Forgot
PRT - party
QQ (qq) - crying eyes
SUITM - see you in the morning
TS - Tough Sh**
UDI - unidentified drinking injury, scratch, bruise, pains
WIIFM - what's in it for me?
ZERG - to gang up on someone

http://familybuilder.com/newsletter/vol/1/issue/6/article/3

Parenting: How to prevent cyberbullying

2010-04-21T09:37:00.000+08:00

Parenting 101: How to prevent cyberbullying

By Jackie Kass

Hundreds of students dread school because they're the victims of some form of bullying. Increasingly, that form is "cyberbullying." In an annual survey released at last summer's National Teen Summit on Internet and Wireless Safety more than one-third of U.S. teens (ages 13-18) questioned said they had been cyberbullied or knew someone who had been cyberbullied. About 4 in 5 teens think that bullying online is easier to get away with or to hide from their parents than bullying in person.

Cell phones with email connections and unlimited texting, and Internet social networking sites have given young bullies a sophisticated "technological forum" limited only by their imagination in which to aggressively inflict psychological and sexual harassment on their peers.

Cyberbullying may well be the most pressing Internet safety issue young people face today. Like traditional forms of bullying, its victims have lower self-esteem and a variety of negative emotional responses, including being scared, frustrated, humiliated, angry and depressed.

The effects of ridicule in cyberbullying messages are sometimes so strong that they can lead to suicide. It's rare, but there have been several widely reported cases in the U.S.

Victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying are twice as likely to be girls. When it comes to telling someone to get help, preteens are more likely to tell a parent or teacher, while teens were more likely to tell a friend. Over half of all cyberbullying is not even reported to adults at all.

Parents must pay attention to what their child is doing online or with his/her cell phone. It's not easy, but a conscious effort on your part may help your child when he/she needs it the most.

To protect your child:
• Always use parental controls available through Internet service providers
• Maintain an ongoing dialogue about what your teen is doing online, whom they are talking to and how they are accessing the Internet.
• Do your own research about social networking/Web sites your children visit.

Below are two good on-line resources to help you recognize and deal with cyberbullying issues.
1. NetSmartz provides on- and offline learning activities for parents to facilitate discussions with their children and teens about Internet safety.

2. i-SAFE is a non-profit foundation dedicated to protecting the online experiences of youth everywhere. i-SAFE incorporates dynamic community outreach to empower students, teachers, parents, law enforcement, and concerned adults to make the Internet a safer place.

Source: Sgt. Debra Kalish, Johns Creek Police Dept.

Google Chrome 4.0 For Windows Adds Extensions and Bookmark Sync

2010-01-26T19:14:00.001+08:00

Google Chrome 4.0 is here for Windows users, and it adds two of the most sought-after features: extensions and bookmark syncing. Google boasts that Chrome 4 runs 40% faster than Chrome 3.

Extensions have been available in the beta release for about a month now, but now you can get them in the stable version. There are now more than 1,500 extensions in the gallery; there were only 300 when the beta hit the streets. That's a far cry from the selection available for Mozilla's Firefox browser, but it's progress. And don't forget that with Chrome (), you don't have to restart the browser to install an extension.

A Google Voice () extension — which Google announced this weekend — is now available. It adds a button in your toolbar that lets you know how many new messages you have. You can access messages and transcripts and make calls or send text messages from within Chrome. It also makes phone numbers on web pages callable with one click, kind of like the Skype () extension for Firefox ().

You won't get a bookmark sync function in Firefox without installing an extension like Xmarks (), which is where Chrome has the browser beat. Google ()'s bookmark sync function will keep your bookmarks straight across all your installations of Chrome on all your Windows () computers. When it's enabled, adding a bookmark on one computer adds it on the others, too.

Extensions are now available in the beta release of Chrome for Linux (), but Mac users will still have to either do without or give the developer version a spin. We've embedded Google's video about extensions for Windows below.

Google Toolbar Keeps Tracking Your Browsing Even After You Choose Disable?

2010-01-26T18:53:00.001+08:00

Security expert Ben Edelman has done some digging, and he's discovered that Google toolbar keeps tracking your browsing even after you disable that option. He's also noticed that Google makes it easier to enable than disable certain tracking features, all of which make the Google toolbar a somewhat shady affair if you're concerned about your privacy.

A very detailed explanation can be found on Edelman's blog. In addition to the problems named above, he also quotes some bits from Google Toolbar's installation and privacy disclosures, which seem to have worsened over time.

Google has recently taken a very big step towards protecting their users' security and privacy by refusing to operate under some of China's rules. But it makes it easy to forget that Google itself has a history of privacy issues, some of which seemingly still haven't been resolved.

Extract: http://mashable.com

Hackers could do worse than just steal codes

2010-01-22T07:51:00.001+08:00

MOUNTAIN VIEW (California), Jan 21 — The crown jewels of Google, Cisco Systems or any other technology company are the millions of lines of programming instructions, known as source code, that make its products run.

If hackers could steal those key instructions and copy them, they could easily dull the company's competitive edge in the marketplace.

More insidiously, if attackers were able to make subtle, undetected changes to that code, they could essentially give themselves secret access to everything the company and its customers do with the software.

The fear of someone building such a back door, known as a Trojan horse, and using it to conduct continual spying is why companies and security experts were so alarmed by Google's disclosure last week that China-based hackers had stolen some of its intellectual property and had conducted similar assaults on more than two dozen other companies.

"Originally we were saying, 'Well, whoever got it has the secret sauce to Google and some 30 other California companies, and they can replicate it'," said Rick Howard, director of security intelligence at VeriSign iDefense, which helped Google investigate the Chinese attacks.

"But some of the more devious folk in our outfit were saying, 'Well, they could also insert their own code — and they probably have'."

For example, a foreign intelligence agency might find it extremely useful to know who was asking particular questions of Google's search engine.

Security researchers took particular interest in the fact that Adobe Systems, which makes the popular Acrobat Reader and Flash software, was one of the companies hit by the recent wave of attacks.

Alan Paller, director of research at the Sans Institute, a security education organisation, said American technology companies have become better at protecting their most-prized intellectual property by creating more complex security systems.

But security can still be undermined by employees who open malicious files sent to them through e-mail, said George Kurtz, the chief technology officer at McAfee. "The people element is one of the greatest vulnerabilities that remains."

Meanwhile, an American computer security researcher has found what he believes is strong evidence of the digital fingerprints of Chinese authors in the software programs used in the recent cyber attacks.

Joe Stewart, a malware specialist with computer security company SecureWorks, said he determined the main program used in the attack contained a module based on an unusual algorithm published exclusively on Chinese-language websites.

There are now tens of thousands of Chinese hackers, also known as hong ke — a play on the Chinese words for red and hacker. Many are motivated by patriotism, although it is more difficult to establish their relationship with the Chinese government or military, which some experts suspect as being behind the attacks.

The popularity of hacking in China makes it hard to prove how or by whom they are coordinated. Would-be hackers can easily learn how to do it, thanks to a healthy hacking industry.

For US$150 (RM510), a keen student can buy all the modules online, from programming Trojans to evading anti-virus programs. Tutors are available via instant messaging and interactive tutorials. — Agencies

http://www.themalaysianinside

If your password is 123456.......................

2010-01-22T07:48:00.001+08:00

If your password is 123456, just make it HackMe — Ashlee Vance

JAN 21 — Back at the dawn of the Web, the most popular account password was "12345."

Today, it's one digit longer but hardly safer: "123456."

Despite all the reports of Internet security breaches over the years, including the recent attacks on Google's e-mail service, many people have reacted to the break-ins with a shrug.

According to a new analysis, one out of five Web users still decides to leave the digital equivalent of a key under the doormat: they choose a simple, easily guessed password like "abc123," "iloveyou" or even "password" to protect their data.

"I guess it's just a genetic flaw in humans," said Amichai Shulman, the chief technology officer at Imperva, which makes software for blocking hackers. "We've been following the same patterns since the 1990s."

Shulman and his company examined a list of 32 million passwords that an unknown hacker stole last month from RockYou, a company that makes software for users of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. The list was briefly posted on the Web, and hackers and security researchers downloaded it. (RockYou, which had already been widely criticised for lax privacy practices, has advised its customers to change their passwords, as the hacker gained information about their e-mail accounts as well.)

The trove provided an unusually detailed window into computer users' password habits. Typically, only government agencies like the FBI or the National Security Agency have had access to such a large password list.

"This was the mother lode," said Matt Weir, a doctoral candidate in the e-crimes and investigation technology lab at Florida State University, where researchers are also examining the data.

Imperva found that nearly 1 per cent of the 32 million people it studied had used "123456" as a password. The second-most-popular password was "12345." Others in the top 20 included "qwerty," "abc123" and "princess."

More disturbing, said Shulman, was that about 20 per cent of people on the RockYou list picked from the same, relatively small pool of 5,000 passwords.

That suggests that hackers could easily break into many accounts just by trying the most common passwords. Because of the prevalence of fast computers and speedy networks, hackers can fire off thousands of password guesses per minute.

"We tend to think of password guessing as a very time-consuming attack in which I take each account and try a large number of name-and-password combinations," Shulman said. "The reality is that you can be very effective by choosing a small number of common passwords."

Some Web sites try to thwart the attackers by freezing an account for a certain period of time if too many incorrect passwords are typed. But experts say that the hackers simply learn to trick the system, by making guesses at an acceptable rate, for instance.

To improve security, some Web sites are forcing users to mix letters, numbers and even symbols in their passwords. Others, like Twitter, prevent people from picking common passwords.

Still, researchers say, social networking and entertainment Web sites often try to make life simpler for their users and are reluctant to put too many controls in place.

Even commercial sites like eBay must weigh the consequences of freezing accounts, since a hacker could, say, try to win an auction by freezing the accounts of other bidders.

Overusing simple passwords is not a new phenomenon. A similar survey examined computer passwords used in the mid-1990s and found that the most popular ones at that time were "12345," "abc123" and "password."

Why do so many people continue to choose easy-to-guess passwords, despite so many warnings about the risks?

Security experts suggest that we are simply overwhelmed by the sheer number of things we have to remember in this digital age.

"Nowadays, we have to keep probably 10 times as many passwords in our head as we did 10 years ago," said Jeff Moss, who founded a popular hacking conference and is now on the Homeland Security Advisory Council. "Voice mail passwords, ATM PINs and Internet passwords — it's so hard to keep track of."

In the idealised world championed by security specialists, people would have different passwords for every Web site they visit and store them in their head or, if absolutely necessary, on a piece of paper.

But bowing to the reality of our overcrowded brains, the experts suggest that everyone choose at least two different passwords — a complex one for Web sites were security is vital, such as banks and e-mail, and a simpler one for places where the stakes are lower, such as social networking and entertainment sites.

Moss relies on passwords at least 12 characters long, figuring that those make him a more difficult target than the millions of people who choose five- and six-character passwords.

"It's like the joke where the hikers run into a bear in the forest, and the hiker that survives is the one who outruns his buddy," Moss said. "You just want to run that bit faster." — NYT

*This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

Extract From : http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

It Is Official, Twitter Is The Microblogging De Facto Standard

2009-11-29T10:21:00.001+08:00

Earlier this week, we saw that LinkedIn announced a partnership with Twitter. The basic idea is that LinkedIn status updates (yes, they have them too), can now be pushed to Twitter, and Twitter updates will be pulled into LinkedIn using the #in hashtag. This does not sound like much and Marshall Kirkpatrick says as much in his ReadWriteWeb post:

I don't mean to be too grouchy, but this looks like just one more sweetheart Silicon Valley deal that has limited imagination and represents a lost opportunity for the kind of innovation everyone expects these kinds of companies to drive.

Marshall does have a point. Why make a big deal out of something like this? First, LinkedIn does not really want to be a purely stodgy old business network. It really wants to be Facebook, but for your business connections. They know they have opportunities to grow that they might be missing. Otherwise, why add status updates to LinkedIn at all? By making this "partnership" they add some of the Twitter buzz to LinkedIn.

In reality, this is more about not missing the boat. Twitter has become the de facto standard for microblogging. I am not saying this due to their level of traffic. If that were true, we would be saying this about Facebook. The difference is that you need to write an application on Facebook that meets specific requirements, and users need to install and approve the application before it can post updates for the user. That really limits what data gets into Facebook from third party applications.

Twitter has a read/write API that has been used for ages now. There are third party clients that people depend on and various applications like Twitterfeed and Tweetmeme use it as well. A read/write API is not news, but the number of people that use it is definitely news. More importantly, let's look at who is using the API:

LinkedIn
MySpace
Facebook (through applications)
FriendFeed
FourSquare
BrightKite
Google Reader
Amazon

And, there are tons of smaller applications that write to Twitter as well. There are some interesting points to note as well. Three of the world's most popular social networks push status updates to Twitter. Most of the mobile-location applications post updates to Twitter. Google Reader now allows you to post shared stories to Twitter. Finally, Amazon made it simpler to post affiliate links to Twitter.

Given that all of these applications work with Twitter, it is safe to assume that Twitter has become the infrastructure that the founders have always desired. So, if you are developing an application that works with social media in some way, there are two questions you need to ask yourself. First, how are you integrating with Facebook? Second, how are you integrating with Twitter?

Source: http://regulargeek.com/2009/11/11/it-is-official-twitter-is-the-microblogging-de-facto-standard/

The dark side of the internet

2009-11-29T10:11:00.001+08:00

In the 'deep web', Freenet software allows users complete anonymity as they share viruses, criminal contacts and child pornography

Freenet means controversial information does not need to be stored in physical data havens such as this one, Sealand. Photograph: Kim Gilmour/Alamy

Fourteen years ago, a pasty Irish teenager with a flair for inventions arrived at Edinburgh University to study artificial intelligence and computer science. For his thesis project, Ian Clarke created "a Distributed, Decentralised Information Storage and Retrieval System", or, as a less precise person might put it, a revolutionary new way for people to use the internet without detection. By downloading Clarke's software, which he intended to distribute for free, anyone could chat online, or read or set up a website, or share files, with almost complete anonymity.

"It seemed so obvious that that was what the net was supposed to be about – freedom to communicate," Clarke says now. "But [back then] in the late 90s that simply wasn't the case. The internet could be monitored more quickly, more comprehensively, more cheaply than more old-fashioned communications systems like the mail." His pioneering software was intended to change that.

His tutors were not bowled over. "I would say the response was a bit lukewarm. They gave me a B. They thought the project was a bit wacky … they said, 'You didn't cite enough prior work.'"

Undaunted, in 2000 Clarke publicly released his software, now more appealingly called Freenet. Nine years on, he has lost count of how many people are using it: "At least 2m copies have been downloaded from the website, primarily in Europe and the US. The website is blocked in [authoritarian] countries like China so there, people tend to get Freenet from friends." Last year Clarke produced an improved version: it hides not only the identities of Freenet users but also, in any online environment, the fact that someone is using Freenet at all.

Installing the software takes barely a couple of minutes and requires minimal computer skills. You find the Freenet website, read a few terse instructions, and answer a few questions ("How much security do you need?" … "NORMAL: I live in a relatively free country" or "MAXIMUM: I intend to access information that could get me arrested, imprisoned, or worse"). Then you enter a previously hidden online world. In utilitarian type and bald capsule descriptions, an official Freenet index lists the hundreds of "freesites" available: "Iran News", "Horny Kate", "The Terrorist's Handbook: A practical guide to explosives and other things of interests to terrorists", "How To Spot A Pedophile [sic]", "Freenet Warez Portal: The source for pirate copies of books, games, movies, music, software, TV series and more", "Arson Around With Auntie: A how-to guide on arson attacks for animal rights activists". There is material written in Russian, Spanish, Dutch, Polish and Italian. There is English-language material from America and Thailand, from Argentina and Japan. There are disconcerting blogs ("Welcome to my first Freenet site. I'm not here because of kiddie porn … [but] I might post some images of naked women") and legally dubious political revelations. There is all the teeming life of the everyday internet, but rendered a little stranger and more intense. One of the Freenet bloggers sums up the difference: "If you're reading this now, then you're on the darkweb."

The modern internet is often thought of as a miracle of openness – its global reach, its outflanking of censors, its seemingly all-seeing search engines. "Many many users think that when they search on Google they're getting all the web pages," says Anand Rajaraman, co-founder of Kosmix, one of a new generation of post-Google search engine companies. But Rajaraman knows different. "I think it's a very small fraction of the deep web which search engines are bringing to the surface. I don't know, to be honest, what fraction. No one has a really good estimate of how big the deep web is. Five hundred times as big as the surface web is the only estimate I know."

Unfathomable and mysterious

"The darkweb"; "the deep web"; beneath "the surface web" – the metaphors alone make the internet feel suddenly more unfathomable and mysterious. Other terms circulate among those in the know: "darknet", "invisible web", "dark address space", "murky address space", "dirty address space". Not all these phrases mean the same thing. While a "darknet" is an online network such as Freenet that is concealed from non-users, with all the potential for transgressive behaviour that implies, much of "the deep web", spooky as it sounds, consists of unremarkable consumer and research data that is beyond the reach of search engines. "Dark address space" often refers to internet addresses that, for purely technical reasons, have simply stopped working.

And yet, in a sense, they are all part of the same picture: beyond the confines of most people's online lives, there is a vast other internet out there, used by millions but largely ignored by the media and properly understood by only a few computer scientists. How was it created? What exactly happens in it? And does it represent the future of life online or the past?

Michael K Bergman, an American academic and entrepreneur, is one of the foremost authorities on this other internet. In the late 90s he undertook research to try to gauge its scale. "I remember saying to my staff, 'It's probably two or three times bigger than the regular web,"' he remembers. "But the vastness of the deep web . . . completely took my breath away. We kept turning over rocks and discovering things."

In 2001 he published a paper on the deep web that is still regularly cited today. "The deep web is currently 400 to 550 times larger than the commonly defined world wide web," he wrote. "The deep web is the fastest growing category of new information on the internet … The value of deep web content is immeasurable … internet searches are searching only 0.03% … of the [total web] pages available."

In the eight years since, use of the internet has been utterly transformed in many ways, but improvements in search technology by Google, Kosmix and others have only begun to plumb the deep web. "A hidden web [search] engine that's going to have everything – that's not quite practical," says Professor Juliana Freire of the University of Utah, who is leading a deep web search project called Deep Peep. "It's not actually feasible to index the whole deep web. There's just too much data."

But sheer scale is not the only problem. "When we've crawled [searched] several sites, we've gotten blocked," says Freire. "You can actually come up with ways that make it impossible for anyone [searching] to grab all your data." Sometimes the motivation is commercial – "people have spent a lot of time and money building, say, a database of used cars for sale, and don't want you to be able to copy their site"; and sometimes privacy is sought for other reasons. "There's a well-known crime syndicate called the Russian Business Network (RBN)," says Craig Labovitz, chief scientist at Arbor Networks, a leading online security firm, "and they're always jumping around the internet, grabbing bits of [disused] address space, sending out millions of spam emails from there, and then quickly disconnecting."

The RBN also rents temporary websites to other criminals for online identity theft, child pornography and releasing computer viruses. The internet has been infamous for such activities for decades; what has been less understood until recently was how the increasingly complex geography of the internet has aided them. "In 2000 dark and murky address space was a bit of a novelty," says Labovitz. "This is now an entrenched part of the daily life of the internet." Defunct online companies; technical errors and failures; disputes between internet service providers; abandoned addresses once used by the US military in the earliest days of the internet – all these have left the online landscape scattered with derelict or forgotten properties, perfect for illicit exploitation, sometimes for only a few seconds before they are returned to disuse. How easy is it to take over a dark address? "I don't think my mother could do it," says Labovitz. "But it just takes a PC and a connection. The internet has been largely built on trust."

Open or closed?

In fact, the internet has always been driven as much by a desire for secrecy as a desire for transparency. The network was the joint creation of the US defence department and the American counterculture – the WELL, one of the first and most influential online communities, was a spinoff from hippy bible the Whole Earth Catalog – and both groups had reasons to build hidden or semi-hidden online environments as well as open ones. "Strong encryption [code-writing] developed in parallel with the internet," says Danny O'Brien, an activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a long-established pressure group for online privacy.

There are still secretive parts of the internet where this unlikely alliance between hairy libertarians and the cloak-and-dagger military endures. The Onion Router, or Tor, is an American volunteer-run project that offers free software to those seeking anonymous online communication, like a more respectable version of Freenet. Tor's users, according to its website, include US secret service "field agents" and "law enforcement officers . . . Tor allows officials to surf questionable websites and services without leaving tell-tale tracks," but also "activists and whistleblowers", for example "environmental groups [who] are increasingly falling under surveillance in the US under laws meant to protect against terrorism". Tor, in short, is used both by the American state and by some of its fiercest opponents. On the hidden internet, political life can be as labyrinthine as in a novel by Thomas Pynchon.

The hollow legs of Sealand

The often furtive, anarchic quality of life online struck some observers decades ago. In 1975, only half a dozen years after the internet was created, the science-fiction author John Brunner wrote of "so many worms and counter-worms loose in the data-net" in his influential novel The Shockwave Rider. By the 80s "data havens", at first physical then online locations where sensitive computerised information could be concealed, were established in discreet jurisdictions such as Caribbean tax havens. In 2000 an American internet startup called HavenCo set up a much more provocative data haven, in a former second world war sea fort just outside British territorial waters off the Suffolk coast, which since the 60s had housed an eccentric independent "principality" called Sealand. HavenCo announced that it would store any data unless it concerned terrorism or child pornography, on servers built into the hollow legs of Sealand as they extended beneath the waves. A better metaphor for the hidden depths of the internet was hard to imagine.

In 2007 the highly successful Swedish filesharing website The Pirate Bay – the downloading of music and films for free being another booming darknet enterprise – announced its intention to buy Sealand. The plan has come to nothing so far, and last year it was reported that HavenCo had ceased operation, but in truth the need for physical data havens is probably diminishing. Services such as Tor and Freenet perform the same function electronically; and in a sense, even the "open" internet, as online privacy-seekers sometimes slightly contemptuously refer to it, has increasingly become a place for concealment: people posting and blogging under pseudonyms, people walling off their online lives from prying eyes on social networking websites.

"The more people do everything online, the more there's going to be bits of your life that you don't want to be part of your public online persona," says O'Brien. A spokesman for the Police Central e-crime Unit [PCeU] at the Metropolitan Police points out that many internet secrets hide in plain sight: "A lot of internet criminal activity is on online forums that are not hidden, you just have to know where to find them. Like paedophile websites: people who use them might go to an innocent-looking website with a picture of flowers, click on the 18th flower, arrive on another innocent-looking website, click something there, and so on." The paedophile ring convicted this autumn and currently awaiting sentence for offences involving Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth met on Facebook. Such secret criminal networks are not purely a product of the digital age: codes and slang and pathways known only to initiates were granting access to illicit worlds long before the internet.

To libertarians such as O'Brien and Clarke the hidden internet, however you define it, is constantly under threat from restrictive governments and corporations. Its freedoms, they say, must be defended absolutely. "Child pornography does exist on Freenet," says Clarke. "But it exists all over the web, in the post . . . At Freenet we could establish a virus to destroy any child pornography on Freenet – we could implement that technically. But then whoever has the key [to that filtering software] becomes a target. Suddenly we'd start getting served copyright notices; anything suspect on Freenet, we'd get pressure to shut it down. To modify Freenet would be the end of Freenet."

Always recorded

According to the police, for criminal users of services such as Freenet, the end is coming anyway. The PCeU spokesman says, "The anonymity things, there are ways to get round them, and we do get round them. When you use the internet, something's always recorded somewhere. It's a question of identifying who is holding that information." Don't the police find their investigations obstructed by the libertarian culture of so much life online? "No, people tend to be co-operative."

The internet, for all its anarchy, is becoming steadily more commercialised; as internet service providers, for example, become larger and more profit-driven, the spokesman suggests, it is increasingly in their interests to accept a degree of policing. "There has been an increasing centralisation," Ian Clarke acknowledges regretfully.

Meanwhile the search engine companies are restlessly looking for paths into the deep web and the other sections of the internet currently denied to them. "There's a deep implication for privacy," says Anand Rajaraman of Kosmix. "Tonnes and tonnes of stuff out there on the deep web has what I call security through obscurity. But security through obscurity is actually a false security. You [the average internet user] can't find something, but the bad guys can find it if they try hard enough."

As Kosmix and other search engines improve, he says, they will make the internet truly transparent: "You will be on the same level playing field as the bad guys." The internet as a sort of electronic panopticon, everything on it unforgivingly visible and retrievable – suddenly its current murky depths seem in some ways preferable.

Ten years ago Tim Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist credited with inventing the web, wrote: "I have a dream for the web in which computers become capable of analysing all the data on the web – the content, links, and transactions between people … A 'Semantic Web', which should make this possible, has yet to emerge, but when it does, the day-to-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy and our daily lives will be handled by machines talking to machines." Yet this "semantic web" remains the stuff of knotty computer science papers rather than a reality.

"It's really been the holy grail for 30 years," says Bergman. One obstacle, he continues, is that the internet continues to expand in unpredictable and messy surges. "The boundaries of what the web is have become much more blurred. Is Twitter part of the web or part of something else? Now the web, in a sense, is just everything. In 1998, the NEC laboratory at Princeton published a paper on the size of the internet. Who could get something like that published now? You can't talk about how big the internet is. Because what is the metric?"

Gold Rush

It seems likely that the internet will remain in its Gold Rush phase for some time yet. And in the crevices and corners of its slightly thrown-together structures, darknets and other private online environments will continue to flourish. They can be inspiring places to spend time in, full of dissidents and eccentrics and the internet's original freewheeling spirit. But a darknet is not always somewhere for the squeamish.

On Freenet, there is a currently a "freesite" which makes allegations against supposed paedophiles, complete with names, photographs, extensive details of their lives online, and partial home addresses. In much smaller type underneath runs the disclaimer: "The material contained in this freesite is hearsay . . . It is not admissable in court proceedings and would certainly not reach the burden of proof requirement of a criminal trial." For the time being, when I'm wandering around online, I may stick to Google.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/26/dark-side-internet-freenet

Computer 'agents' take to the web

2009-09-25T20:05:00.000+08:00

By Zoe Kleinman
Technology reporter, BBC News

The software agents use simple rules to negotiate for a buyer

Artificial intelligence technology could soon make the internet an even bigger haven for bargain-hunters.

Software "agents" that automatically negotiate on behalf of shoppers and sellers are about to be set free on the web for the first time.

The "Negotiation Ninjas", as they are known, will be trialled on a shopping website called Aroxo in the autumn.

The intelligent traders are the culmination of 20 years' work by scientists at Southampton University.

"Computer agents don't get bored, they have a lot of time, and they don't get embarrassed," Professor Nick Jennings, one of the researchers behind the work, told BBC News.

"I have always thought that in an internet environment, negotiation is the way to go."

Price fixing

The agents use a series of simple rules - known as heuristics - to find the optimal price for both buyer and seller based on information provided by both parties.

Heuristics are commonly used in computer science to find an optimal solution to a problem when there is not a single "right answer".

They are often used in anti-virus software to trawl for new threats.

"If you can't analyse mathematically exactly what you should do, which you can't in general for these sorts of systems, then you end up with heuristics," explained Professor Jennings.

"We use heuristics to determine what price we should offer during the negotiation - and also how we might deal with multiple negotiations at the same time.

"We have to factor in some degrees of uncertainty as well - the chances are that sellers will enter into more negotiations than they have stock."

Fixed pricing is a relatively recent phenomenon

Nick Jennings

To use one of the intelligent agents, sellers must answer a series of questions about how much of a discount they are prepared to offer and whether they are prepared to go lower after a certain number of sales, or at a certain time of day.

They are also asked how eager they are to make a sale.

At the other end, the buyer types in the item they wish to purchase and the price they are willing to pay for it.

The agents then act as an intermediary, scouring the lists of sellers who are programmed to accept a price in the region of the one offered.

If they find a match, the seller is prompted to automatically reply with a personalised offer.

The buyer then has a choice to accept, reject or negotiate. If they choose to negotiate, the agent analyses the seller's criteria to see if they can make a better offer.

The process continues until either there is a sale or one of the parties pulls out.

Aroxo will be trialling the Negotiation Ninjas from the autumn, and plans to have the system fully operational in time for Christmas shopping this year.

The site currently offers mainly electrical goods.

While the sellers will not have to pay to use the Ninjas, they pay to contact a buyer. The charge from Aroxo is 0.3% of the buyer's original asking price.

For Professor Jennings, this application of his research marks a return to a more traditional retail model.

"Fixed pricing is a relatively recent phenomenon," he said. "Throughout history most transactions have been negotiated. Only in the last 100 years have we gone for fixed pricing."

Microsoft: Windows 7 not affected by latest flaw

2009-09-10T10:10:00.001+08:00

Microsoft issued a formal security advisory late Tuesday on a reported zero-day flaw in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. However, the software maker also said that the flaw does not affect the final version of Windows 7, contrary to earlier reports.

"Microsoft is investigating new public reports of a possible vulnerability in Microsoft Server Message Block (SMB) implementation," Microsoft said in the advisory. "We are not aware of attacks that try to use the reported vulnerabilities or of customer impact at this time."

The flaw could allow an attacker to gain control of a system, although Microsoft said that "most attempts to exploit this vulnerability will cause an affected system to stop responding and restart."

The software maker said it is working with security software partners to provide information that can be used to create protections. Once its investigation is wrapped up, Microsoft said it will take action, which could include releasing a patch during its next monthly cycle or doing an "out-of-band" release, if necessary. Tuesday was Microsoft's monthly release for patches, which included five critical Windows updates addressing eight vulnerabilities.

The software maker said the latest issue affects the "release candidate" version of Windows 7, but not the final version that was completed in July. Also, the recently completed Windows Server 2008 R2 is not vulnerable, Microsoft said, nor are the earlier Windows XP and Windows 2000 operating systems.

Microsoft is already dealing with a separate, still unpatched flaw reported last week. Attacks have already been seen based on that vulnerability. Microsoft has taken issue with the fact that that flaw, like the latest one, was reported publicly as opposed to being privately disclosed to Microsoft, giving the company time to patch it.

Abstract: http://news.cnet.com/security/

Mozilla patches holes in Firefox 3.5, 3.0

2009-09-10T10:05:00.001+08:00

Mozilla released two new versions of its browser, Firefox 3.5.3 and 3.0.14, that patch three critical security holes and fix assorted other bugs.

The updates can be fetched through the Help menu's Check for Updates option, or can be downloaded directly.

Although Mozilla still supports the 3.0 version, it's pushing people to the 3.5 version, and support for the 3.0 series will end in a few months. Version 3.5, released in June, supports a variety of new Web page technologies and includes a faster JavaScript engine for running Web-based programs.

Palm thinks small with new Pixi smartphone

2009-09-10T09:59:00.001+08:00

Palm's new smartphone, the Pixi.

(Credit: Palm)

Hoping to capitalize on the momentum created by the release of its Pre smartphone, Palm on Wednesday will unveil a smaller, cheaper smartphone called Pixi.

Apparently geared toward younger consumers than those targeted by the Pre, the playfully named smartphone will be longer but slimmer than the Pre and will sport a smaller multitouch screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, and a 2-megapixel camera, Palm said. However, like its smartphone sibling, the 3.5-ounce Pixi will still have 8GB of memory and GPS capabilities.

In addition to a new Facebook application, the Pixi will also be able to integrate LinkedIn contacts and Yahoo contacts, calendar, and IM in a single view via Palm's Synergy feature.

"With Palm WebOS, we're creating a new, more intuitive smartphone experience defined by unmatched simplicity and usefulness," Jon Rubinstein, Palm chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "Palm Pixi brings this unique experience to a broader range of people who want enhanced messaging and social networking in a design that lets them express their personal style."

The announcement of the Pixi comes less than four months after Palm began selling the Pre, which the company said registered record sales when it became available in June. The company did not discuss specific numbers that first week, but some analysts estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 units were sold during the first weekend.

The move coincides with an announcement that Palm would drop the price of its Pre smartphone to $150 with a two-year service agreement and two rebates. Palm did not reveal the Pixi's price but did say it would be less than that of the Pre and that it was expected to be available to consumers in time for the holiday shopping season through Sprint. Palm also plans to offer artist-designed, limited edition replaceable back covers, which it plans to showcase at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York, which starts Thursday.

On Tuesday, Sprint kicked off a short-lived promotion that offered customers of competing carriers a $100 service credit to anyone who bought a Palm Pre and ported his or her old number to Sprint. However, the offer was pulled after a few hours with Palm saying that it was posted in error.

Abstract from: Cnet.com

Fun in teaching, learning English

2009-09-10T08:14:00.001+08:00

IT was just another day for some pupils of SJK (T) Chembong, Rembau, just before the recent school holidays.

The pupils from different classes were engrossed in their English lessons and activities, unperturbed by the groups of people observing them from the back of their respective classrooms.

They have become quite used to the attention, as their school is one of many rural schools in Negri Sembilan involved in a programme to improve the standard of English.

Run by the Brighton Education Group (Brighton), whose goal is to enhance English language teaching and learning in rural areas, the programme involves 29 primary schools in Rembau and 15 secondary schools in the Kuala Pilah district.

Mohan explaining a class activity that requires the use of index cards.

The Primary English Language Enhancement and Activities Project (PRELEAP) is funded by the Yayasan Negri Sembilan, while the Secondary English Language Enrichment and Communication Teaching (SELECT) is funded by three royal trusts - the Tuanku Ja'afar Education Trust, the Tunku Najihah Foundation and the Yayasan Tunku Naquiyuddin.

Brighton's executive chairman Christopher Bell said the programme's objective was to raise English proficiency among students through teachers.

"This means improving the way they teach. Traditional methods where students are spoon-fed and then tested are not good enough.

"Task or activity-based learning is the way to go.

"The classroom environment is being transformed. There's drama, public speaking, and even Tom and Jerry cartoons or Michael Jackson songs make appearances, to help students learn more effectively," he said.

Bell added that the students themselves did not seem to be complaining, judging from their delighted expressions and eager participation in classroom activities, even in front of a group of ten or so visitors.

Another pleasantly surprising fact was that the English lessons were conducted entirely in English in all three schools the writer visited.

Although most rural students are thought to have little grasp of the language, the students observed were definitely trying their best to practise their English.

"We encouraged the teachers to conduct their lessons entirely in English - to not be afraid of making mistakes as these can be corrected.

"We have trainers who visit periodically to ensure the programme runs smoothly and to help the teachers with problems they might encounter.

"Although its too early to measure results, the improvement is astounding in both the teachers and the students.

"And to think they have only been exposed to this method of teaching for about three months," commented Bell.

B. Mohan, who teaches English at SJK (T) Chembong, was equally enthusiastic about the programme's benefits.

"I often spoke in Tamil during my English lessons before, to help students understand the instructions, but now that's changed and the students have adapted well.

"I am more confident and the students have also improved. English is fun now with the student-centred activities and everyone is eager to participate in dramas or story-telling sessions," he said.

His sentiments were echoed by Elis Rosliza Yahya who teaches English to students at the nearby SK Pedas.

"I've been teaching for 20 years, but I still learnt new things from Brighton's trainers. The techniques I learnt have helped me tremendously and the students have benefited as a result.

"They enjoy their English lessons now and I believe they will slowly learn to converse in English more confidently," she said.

Sixty-three teachers from Rembau were trained for the primary school project and another 50 were picked from secondary schools in Kuala Pilah.

Reaching out to improve English proficiency in rural areas is however, not entirely new to schools in the state as the Project to Improve English in Rural Schools (Piers) – which involved primary schools in Negri Sembilan - was conducted from 2006 to 2008, before Brighton came in.

But this is the first time that secondary schools have been included in such a programme.

"The SELECT project will help students better prepare themselves for further education and employment as it will enhance their English communication skills," said Bell.

Both programmes will run for six months before an assessment is conducted at the end of the year.

Currently, the programme is the only one of its kind in the country, and its primary focus is to equip teachers with the skills to make their English classes more interesting.

Bell, who taught English in rural schools in the country from 1978 to 1983, hopes to extend the programme to schools in Mantin, Nilai or Tampin next year.

"The support we received has been integral to the success of both programmes. There is a need to close the gap between urban and rural students and in today's global context, English proficiency is one of the neccesities for a brighter future.

"I believe these rural students can compete with or even outperform their urban counterparts if given the opportunity and guidance," he said.

Woman falls for Facebook scam

2009-09-10T03:42:00.001+08:00

ST. LOUIS: A Missouri woman was tricked into wiring about US$4,000 (RM14,400) to someone in England after receiving faked messages from a friend on Facebook asking for help, police said.

Jayne Scherrman of Cape Girardeau wired the money through Western Union after receiving what she believed were several requests for help from her friend.

Police were notified about the scam on Aug 26. They believe someone took over the Facebook account of a Cape Girardeau County resident, Grace Parry, changed the password so she couldn't access it and sent out messages saying she and her husband had been detained in London and needed money.

Scherrman said she received a message last Tuesday from Parry saying she needed help. Scherrman, a pediatric dentist, said Parry and her minister husband go on mission trips, so she didn't think it unusual that they might be in England.

She figured they really needed assistance if they could only reach her electronically, and expected they'd pay her back quickly. She originally was told electronically they needed US$600 (RM2,160) for a hotel and taxis. Then she was told it wasn't enough with the exchange rate.

Finally, she was told by a caller that the couple had been detained and more money was needed to help them fly home.

Scherrman asked to speak with her friend but was told she wasn't available. She also got a name from the caller and tried to get an address when she realised she might have been scammed. By then, she had wired nearly US$4,000 through three Western Union transfers, she said.

Parry said another friend from Mississippi also sent US$600.

Shameful act

Parry, who hadn't travelled to England in years, tried to access her account to warn other friends but couldn't. She asked Facebook to suspend her account and her husband posted warnings about the scam, including one Scherrman received after she'd sent the money.

She said she feels violated by what happened. "It's just sad because they work on people's compassion and Jayne's a very compassionate person," she said. She said she had never posted a lot of information about herself online.

Selzer said people should remember to change their passwords often and to be careful about posting personal information.

Palo Alto, California-based Facebook said Internet schemes like this one aren't uncommon. Facebook has systems to detect suspicious behaviour tied to compromised accounts and blocks it when it possible, company spokesman Simon Axten wrote in an e-mail.

"We're also working with law enforcement and with Western Union (a wire transfer company commonly used by the scammers) to investigate specific cases and improve education," he wrote. — AP

++++

www.facebook.com/security

Mobile Web Portal

2009-09-10T03:39:00.001+08:00

Ruumz adds a mobile web portal to its site

KUALA LUMPUR: Ruumz.com, a social networking site, has added a mobile web portal that targets most smartphone and portable computer users in the country.

The portal features an online radio service, music store, a list of what's screening in local cineplexes, and solat times for Muslims to break their fast during the month of Ramandan.

It also offers snapshots from traffic cameras so that motorists can better plan their routes to avoid jams or congested areas. It is compatible with Nokia and Sony Ericsson phone operating systems, as well as the iPhone's Safari browser.

Operated by local company ruumzNation, the site has about 20,000 registered users and its chief executive, James Chong, said the newly launched portal will help extend the site's reach to more Malaysians.

"We are trying to reach a wider audience by providing a mobile service with many applications that will be useful to Malaysians." he said.

Faced with competition from foreign-owned social networking sites, such as Facebook and Friendster, ruumz.com is trying to carve out a niche for itself.

"We feature Malaysian artistes on our online radio and we support local film-making projects, such as 15Malaysia," said Chong.

15Malaysia is a shortfilm project where 15 movies by Malaysian filmmakers are available for viewing and download on the website.

Ruumz.com is working to introduce a trading platform on its site, where users can sell goods online. But it's early days yet and Chong declined to provide details on this service.

The company is a member of the Green Packet Bhd group of companies, The group also owns Packet One Networks (Malaysia) which operates a WiMAX wireless broadband Internet service in the country.

Woman falls victim to identity thief

2009-09-10T03:35:00.001+08:00

PETALING JAYA: Swashna (not her real name) wondered why strangers kept sending requests to add her as a friend on their profile at a popular social networking site.

The 25-year-old company executive is normally careful about who she adds to her own profile, so she was surprised to find total strangers claiming to know her.

"They said that I had added them as friends on some other social networking site so I went to the website to look," Swashna said in a telephone interview with In.Tech from Perak.

What she found was that someone had set up a fake profile at the site using her photos and personal details. When she contacted the person, asking that the profile be taken down, the perpetrator locked her out by making the profile private — viewable only by designated people.

Swashna does not know why the person has set up the fake profile and suspects that the perpetrator is someone she knows. She is worried that the person may be up to no good.

"I am really scared that this could turn out to be something more sinister than just someone stealing my pictures online and putting up a fake social profile," she said. "But I don't know what I can do about it."

According to cybersecurity company F-Secure Malaysia, Swashna's is not an isolated case and even online-security experts can fall victim to the deed.

Chia Wing Fei, security labs security response manager at F-Secure, said he was a victim of this kind of identity theft about a year ago. He reported the abuse to the social networking site, which immediately took down the fake account.

"The perpetrator had taken my pictures and other details from another site, and did the same with some of my friends' profiles," he said.

It's a form of identity theft, according to F-Secure.

But real damage can happen, Chia said, such as if your identity is used to swindle money from your friends.

For example, he said, the perpetrator could contact your friends and pose as you, saying that you've been robbed while on holiday and that you need money quick to get home. "Such cases are being reported all the time," he added.

"Or, the person could post lewd suggestions online, ruining your reputation, or make provocative political or social statements that could land you in hot water," Chia said.

There's also a possibility of the perpetrator using the fake profile to induce people you know to unknowingly download malware (malicious software).

"Messages sent via these (social networking) sites can be embedded with codes that redirect users to a website hosting malicious programs," he warned.

Help is at hand

Cybersecurity Malaysia, the Government's specialist on cyberspace security, believes that such cases should not be taken lightly.

Its chief executive officer, Lt Col (retired) Husin Jazri, said the organisation has handled such cases before.

It will use its expert knowledge in data forensics to help the victim prove that his or her identity has been stolen. It will then contact the social networking site in question to get the fake profile taken down.

Cybersecurity Malaysia can also refer the case to the police for further action.

Husin said Swashna, and any other victims of such incidents, should ask for Cybersecurity Malaysia's help by sending an e-mail to cyber999@cybersecurity.my.

"Internet users should always be aware of the kind of personal information they put online because these can become public knowledge, making them susceptible to abuse or exploitation," he said. "Be very cautious about this."

FREEWARE?????

2009-09-10T03:31:00.001+08:00

Going for freeware? Think again, says Symantec

PETALING JAYA: In order to protect computers against malware and Internet threats, a majority of Malaysians rely on freeware programs, according to software security company, Symantec Corp.

"By relying on such programs, Malaysians are more susceptible to online threats as their computers are not adequately protected," Symantec Asia Pacific Pte Ltd vice-president of consumer for Asia-Pacific and Japan, David Freer said.

"All freeware programs have limited features and can lull consumers into a false sense of security. These kind of programs only provide one type of protection such as antivirus or firewall, which is inadequate to combat today's threats," he claimed.

For the average consumer, they feel protected as long as there is antivirus program installed in their computers.

"It does not bother them that the antivirus is a freeware program, which offers limited protection," he explained.

Freer added that freeware programs offer spotty protection against known threats, and do not offer layers of protection against Internet threats.

Moreover, freeware programs do not come with customer support, should the users need help with the software.

Users who mix and match freeware programs with other solutions are also more likely to complain about annoyances such as pop-ups and alerts, to upgrade the program, he said.

On the other hand, with a complete security suite, users are protected against known and unknown threats.

This kind of solution offers seamless and automatic updates, multiple layers of protection, and extensive customer support.

Survey results

Freer was sharing the outcome the Norton 360 Cyber Safety Index survey, which was carried out between May 1 and July 14 among adults online in Malaysia, India and Singapore.

There were 805 respondents from Malaysia — 76% of which rely on freeware security programs. The survey was conducted by research firm Saffron Hill on behalf of Symantec.

The survey also revealed that one in four Malaysians is at high risk of being a victim of cyber-crime while 10% of the respondents use security software with an expired subscription.

About 5% of the respondents do not have any security software installed at their computers while 4% believe they do not need security software.

"For Symantec, our biggest challenge is apathy. Internet users believe that no untoward incidents would happen to them online. So, they find no reasons why they should pay for security," said Freer.

He said malicious code can infect an unprotected computer within minutes.

Since June, Symantec has created 1.3 million threat signatures, and this is expected to surpass last year's figures.

Last year, the company created 1,656,227 new malicious code signatures.

On related matter, Symantec would include a new feature called "reputation" to tackle undiscovered malware in its new products — Norton Internet Security 2010 and Norton AntiVirus 2010.

Instead of putting applications on a whitelist or blacklist, or relying solely on traditional signatures, every application is assigned a reputation value to identify whether it is safe to use or otherwise. This helps to identify whether the application is malware or not.

Abstract: The Star

Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade to be Sold at Retail

2009-07-12T19:48:00.001+08:00

Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade to be Sold at Retail
Download Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade to be Sold at Retail at High Speed

We've learned that with Windows 7, users will be able to easily upgrade to a higher tier easily. In fact, all versions of Windows 7 will ship on the same disc, with only the product key instructing the installer which version the user is licensed to use.

That means that, unlike with Windows Vista, users of Windows 7 won't need to obtain any special upgrade discs to enable the process – it's all handled by a product key.

We asked Microsoft's Sr. PR manager for Windows Clients, Ben Rudolph, to tell us about the Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade process.

"With Windows 7 WAU, there are two processes by which a customer can upgrade from one edition of Windows 7 to a higher edition of Windows 7," Rudolph said.

The first method is online purchase and upgrade:

* Consumers will use the WAU Tool to go online, shop, learn and purchase a product key for the upgrade.
* This key will be delivered automatically to the customer's machine via the Internet
* Once the key is received, the WAU Tool will initiate the upgrade process (EULA acceptance, feature unlock, etc.)

The second method is to purchase an upgrade package at retail. That's right, consumers will be able to walk into a retailer and purchase an Anytime Upgrade for Windows 7 right off the shelf.

* Consumers will have the opportunity to purchase a Media-Less Key (MLK) at Retail.
* When they return to their PC, the customer will use the same WAU Tool to manually enter the Product Key printed on the MLK.
* Once the key is entered, the WAU Tool will initiate the upgrade process (EULA acceptance, feature unlock, etc.)

Offering the Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade as retail product makes sense for those users who wish to purchase a higher tier of Windows with their new PC without worrying about any additional purchases (all the while collecting points at a store's loyalty program or redeeming gift cards). Offering in stores will also allow those without credit cards to upgrade.

Source : neowin.net

Kingston's latest 128GB monster

2009-07-12T19:37:00.001+08:00

Remember those heady days when USB drives used to cost hundreds of dollars? Well, thanks to Kingston's latest 128GB monster, they can again.

The DataTraveler 200 comes in three sizes 32GB, 64GB and the world's first 128GB USB flash drive, which sells for a whopping $546. However it doesn't look like they are expecting too many people to snap up the largest option, it is build-to-order only.

All of the capless drives have built-in password protection and are enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost. The smaller versions are priced at $120 and $213 respectively. [Kingston via PocketLint]

Rumor: PS3 Price Cut in August

2009-07-12T19:32:00.001+08:00

This is one rumor that's been through the mill a few times.

Analysts say Sony is all but ready to cut the price of the PS3 later this Summer, just before the launch of Madden on August 18.

Industry Gamers today reports that Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia writes in his latest industry note that "industry sources indicate Sony is planning a $100 price cut on the PS3 in mid-August, just prior the launch of Madden (8/18) and the start of the back to school shopping season," adding that this will, "naturally be a positive for the industry."

Similar rumors did the rounds in March, which turned out to be a price cut for the PS2. Granted a $99 PS2 is nothing to turn your nose up at, but a lot of gamers were disappointed that there wasn't a grain of truth to the PS3 price cut rumors.

According to IG, Bhatia also said that while software sales for the first half of the year are behind that of 2008, "the second half, in contrast, will likely be up ten percent to 15 percent driven by a robust lineup, easier comparisons and potential price cut(s)."

We're seriously hoping this time around, Sony will deliver.

Computer Tips

2009-05-16T21:12:00.002+08:00

		To delete the whole line Here's a quick shortcut for anyone who's found themselves acting like a telegraph operator on their backspace key. You know what I'm talking about. You've just finished a line of text, it doesn't look right, so you want to delete the whole line. "Ratta-tatta-ratta-ratta", and your finger falls off... There's a better way! Simply put your cursor at the beginning of the line you want to delete and press Shift+End. This will cause the whole line to be selected, and all you have to do after that is press delete or backspace to finish the job! The best part is that because your cursor is already at the beginning of the line, all you have to do is type! Deletion, simplified! Source: http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/open-task-manager-now

What smart meters will do for you

2009-05-15T14:51:00.001+08:00

Money Talk
By Garry Felgate
Chief executive, Energy Retail Association

Smart meters will let you monitor gas and electricity use

A revolution in the way you think about and use energy in your home is about to get underway.

The government is poised to announce how it intends to roll out electricity and gas smart meters to every household in the UK by 2020.

Calling this a revolution may seem overly dramatic.

However, this will be the impact of the transfer from existing "dumb" meters to new, smarter alternatives.

Quite simply, keeping your existing meters is like sending a telegram instead of installing wireless broadband.

The government, along with the energy industry, is now involved in devising the best way of getting this massive project underway to replace 46 million meters - in 25 million British homes - by the year 2020.

This is a huge undertaking, ranking alongside the digital switch-over and the introduction of North Sea gas to homes in the early 1970s.

So what are smart meters?

Smart meters are fundamentally different from ordinary gas and electricity meters.

This display will put you in total control of your energy use

They provide a real-time, accurate, record of the gas and electricity you are using, day and night, and how much it costs.

Crucially, your new smart meter will include a display device that will tell you how much energy you are using at any given time, and how much it is costing you - and even how much carbon that equates to.

This display will put you in total control of your energy use - which is vital when more and more of us are becoming more energy efficient on financial and environmental grounds.

Some display devices even incorporate a red, amber and green traffic light system that shows you clearly how your usage changes when you turn various appliances on and off.

You will be able to see how much energy you used the day before, the week before and even the year before, and how your consumption changes in real time.

Smart meters will also make it easier for people who generate their own energy to measure how much they are exporting back to the national grid.

No more estimated bills

This new technology will also spell the end of estimated bills and meter readings.

It is possible that smart meters could link up with other household appliances

Garry Felgate, Energy Retail Association

With smart metering, electricity and gas bills will be accurate.

There will not be any need for your energy company to estimate your consumption as the smart meter can tell the supplier how much energy is being used and when.

Smart meters also provide an exchange of information between you and your energy company.

This means the company will be able to communicate directly with you and enable you to receive up-to-date readings from the meter without having to send someone out to your home.

This interactivity also means energy companies can send messages to your smart meter and, where required, instantly update products such as energy tariffs at your request.

Paving the way for innovation

As well as helping all of us save money, smart meters will also pave the way for a number of innovations aimed at saving energy.

For example, using the information from your meter, new tariffs could be offered encouraging off-peak energy use.

The meter would also be capable of providing information on which appliances you use most, allowing companies to subsequently offer energy saving tips via the meter and its display device.

In the future, it is possible that smart meters could link up with other household appliances - for example freezers, washing machines, kettles.

You could time their operation to take advantage of cheaper off-peak tariffs - again saving you money, while simultaneously reducing your carbon footprint.

Energy companies are already legally required to reduce the amount of carbon they produce and smart meters will help their customers contribute to the wider effort.

Maintaining momentum

The potential benefits of smart metering are clear.

Britain is no longer self-sufficient in terms of energy and supplies of North Sea oil and gas are depleting.

Smart meters have to be part of the solution to the problem of drastically reducing our energy consumption.

Momentum is gathering towards making smart meters a reality for all of us by 2020.

It is important that this momentum is not lost, as it is in our power to make a real change in the way we all use our vital resources.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by the BBC unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

SMART METERS

2009-05-15T14:48:00.001+08:00

The government is planning for every home to have smart meters

The government is unveiling plans for every home in Britain to be equipped with smart meters by the end of 2020.

The move has been met by a chorus of approval from the energy industry and by a consumer watchdog.

But how will this affect householders, and will it cost or save them money?

What is expected to happen?

The government wants every home in Britain to be installed with smart meters - a device that shows exactly how much gas and electricity is being used.

This should bring an end to estimated bills, because the technology could send back an accurate meter reading to your energy company every day.

According to the Energy Retail Association, which represents the energy companies, the technological advance would be the equivalent of using wireless broadband instead of sending a telegram.

No more estimates. Will that mean they get my bill correct?

There have been thousands of complaints from householders who claim they have been overcharged on direct debit bills.

Consumer groups said this meant energy suppliers were getting free loans from customers. In March, regulator Ofgem told the companies to make charges clearer but said there was no "systematic" abuse of the direct debit system.

Smart meters should put this debate to bed, and would mean that householders no longer need to let the gasman in to read the meter.

People might even by able to check their usage on the internet, or share tips for cutting bills on social networking websites.

But installing these meters will be a big job. Some 26 million electricity and 22 million gas meters will need to be fitted.

That sounds expensive. Who pays?

You will not receive a bill from your energy company for installing a new meter, but you will pick up some of the cost.

A look at how the meter works

Industry estimates suggest that the total installation bill will be £7bn.

That amounts to about £15 per household per year between 2010 and 2020, but £10 of this will be covered from savings made by companies who no longer need to pay people to read meters, and the cost of dealing with complaints should fall.

That leaves £5 a year that would be put onto bills, but the industry thinks that - by keeping an eye on the meter - householders will cut their energy use and so reduce their annual bill by between £25 and £35.

These savings might come by changing habits such as switching off the television, rather than leaving it on standby.

Consumer groups are keen to see all the savings made by energy companies are passed on to the consumer, rather than just boosting their profits.

How do I get one of these meters?

There are trials of smart meters going on at the moment, so some householders have already got them.

There will be three months of consultation and, if the scheme is given the final go-ahead, it will be a huge job to replace the UK's meters.

"Government should show leadership and make sure that this roll-out is joined up and the opportunity is not wasted," said a spokesman for Consumer Focus, the consumer watchdog.

Under the plans, each home would get a new smart gas meter and a new electricity meter. One is the "host" meter, that will communicate with you and the supplier.

Will this make it more difficult to switch supplier to save on bills?

Your new smart meter might have your current supplier's branding on it, but don't be fooled.

They might look different, but all the meters should have the same specifications so if you want to switch suppliers you will not need to get a new meter installed.

Switching suppliers to get a better deal should be as easy as it is now.

You will not get a different meter if you pay in different ways - such as pre-payment or quarterly by cheque.

What about bills at business properties?

Large businesses should have smart meters within five years, according to the government.

Small businesses should get smart meters in the same timeframe as consumers.

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk

Web murderer given life sentence

2009-05-15T14:44:00.001+08:00

Heiss became angry when his obsessive messages were blocked

Murder reveals hidden online lif

A man from Germany has been jailed for life for stabbing a Nottingham student 86 times after stalking his girlfriend.

David Heiss, 21, from Limburg, became infatuated with 20-year-old Matthew Pyke's girlfriend Joanna Witton, 21, during repeated internet exchanges.

Heiss, who denied the murder charge and said he was acting in self defence, was found guilty at Nottingham Crown Court.

The judge described Heiss's motive as "bizarre" and ordered him to serve at least 18 years for the 2008 attack.

During the trial the jury heard that on 18 September, 2008, Heiss flew from Frankfurt to Birmingham with a knife and made his way to the flat Mr Pyke shared with Miss Witton on North Sherwood Street in Nottingham.

He waited until Miss Witton left for work the following morning and confronted Mr Pyke, originally from Stowmarket in Suffolk.

Matthew Pyke's mother Kim: 'He was very trusting'

Heiss had claimed he was acting in self defence after Mr Pyke charged at him with a knife.

The court heard Miss Witton, who was originally from Selby in North Yorkshire, met Heiss through a website she ran with Mr Pyke.

Heiss spent six months pestering her with declarations of love and visited the couple twice in Nottingham before the attack.

He became infuriated when the couple, who conducted their entire social life online, blocked Heiss from their website, preventing him from sending further messages to Miss Witton.

'Wonderful man'

Mr Justice Keith said Heiss had remained in denial about the murder.

He told Heiss: "The law permits only one punishment for the crime of murder and the sentence I pass on you is one of imprisonment for life.

"The fact that your motive for murder was so bizarre doesn't make your killing of Matthew any the less serious."

Speaking after the trial, Mr Pyke's brother Adam said: "All it takes is one stab wound and somebody dies.

"He was a great brother to have and it's still difficult to come to terms with the fact that he's not going to be here any more."

The couple had just celebrated the third anniversary of their relationship

A statement issued on behalf of Mr Pyke's family and Miss Witton said: "We will never truly come to terms with what happened to Matthew that morning.

"While we have wanted justice throughout the course of this trial, all we really want is Matthew back with us.

"There will always be a massive part of our family missing and not a day goes by without us thinking about Matthew and what might have been.

"It's not fair that we should all have to live like this for the rest of our lives because of one man's actions. He has taken a wonderful, caring, loving young man from all of us."

Det Ch Insp Tony Heydon from Nottinghamshire Police warned people about the dangers of the internet.

"It is the worst case I have dealt with. It is a horrific incident, a very pre-planned premeditated murder.

"The scene we found on the day was horrific and what happened to Matthew was a terrible act, everyone is shocked about what happened.

Web warning

"David Heiss was very clever on the internet, and he learned a lot of information about Joanna Witton and Matthew Pyke and others.

"It is very, very interesting that he could do that.

"One of the things that's important here is that people need to realise that on their computers there is a lot of personal information that other people can gather.

"We know that Heiss found out a lot of information about where they lived and where they worked and all sorts of things about their social network that perhaps now with hindsight they wouldn't want him to know.

"So people need to bear that in mind when they are on their own systems using Facebook, people need to be careful."

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8040178.stm

Hackers 'destroy' flight sim site

2009-05-15T14:41:00.001+08:00

BBC News website

Avsim was one of the largest sites serving the flight sim community

Flight simulator site Avsim has been "destroyed" by malicious hackers.

The site, which launched in 1996, covered all aspects of flight simulation, although its main focus was on Microsoft's Flight Simulator.

The attack took down the site's two servers and the owners had not established an external backup system.

The site's founder, Tom Allensworth, said that the site would be down for the foreseeable future and was unsure if would ever go back up.

"The method of the hack makes recovery difficult, if not impossible, to recover from," Mr Allensworth said in a statement.

"AVSIM is totally offline at this time and we expect to be so for some time to come. We are not able to predict when we will be back online, if we can come back at all. "

Backlash

The attack has shocked the flight sim community, with hundreds of blogs, posts and tweets. One user on the simflight.com website said that "there's a special place in hell for hackers who pull stunts like this".

Speaking to the BBC, Derek Davis, editor of PC Pilot magazine, said: "It looks like 13 years of hard work on Toms part could have been wiped out.

"Avsim is an important site, because it services the whole community as a source of community developed terrains, skins, and mods - its contribution has been immeasurable," he said.

Mr Allensworth has set up a temporary forum for Avsim users while the future of the site is decided.

On it, he explained the site's backing up process, although he did not explain why the firm had no external media storage.

"Some have asked whether or not we had back ups. Yes, we dutifully backed up our servers every day. Unfortunately, we backed up the servers between our two servers.

"The hacker took out both servers, destroying our ability to use one or the other back up to remedy the situation."

Mr Davis said he thought the site still had a future:

"I'm sure Avsim will rise like a phoenix from the ashes and will be bigger and better then before."

Text lifeline to help deaf people

2009-05-15T14:25:00.001+08:00

By Elaine Okyere
BBC News, London

Walking to his home in east London after a night out Damaris Cooke saw a motorist hit a cyclist.

The trial of a 999 SMS text service will be launched this autumn

Like any passer-by he knew he had to call for help.

"Someone was walking ahead of me and she attended to the cyclist," said Mr Cooke.

"When I approached I could see clearly that she wanted me to call 999.

"I didn't want to tell her that I was deaf because I felt it would have added more hassle to the situation."

The 25-year-old had to run down two streets before he found someone who could call an ambulance.

'Feeling helpless'

Most Londoners take it for granted they can use a phone to call 999 whenever they want, but deaf people can face difficulties.

"I do not like feeling helpless," Mr Cooke said. "If an accident occurred I would feel guilty for not being able to do anything because of my deafness, even though it is not my fault."

There may now be a solution for people like Mr Cooke.

A national trial is being launched this autumn to help deaf people send text messages to contact the police, ambulance, fire rescue and coastguard.

The new system will allow hard of hearing people to send a text to 999 to contact the emergency services.

If the trial is successful the service could be up and running in 2010.

For the estimated nine million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK the new service will transform the way they call for help in an emergency.

Access to the emergency services can be a matter of life and death. People who find themselves in difficult or tricky situations cannot help

Guido Gybels, director of technology at the RNID

Ruth Akins, from Barkingside in east London, experienced the same feeling of helplessness when a friend fell ill.

"I was dumbstruck and horrified at my inability to help my friend.

"I realised I couldn't call the ambulance because of my deafness. It had never occurred to me before, and perhaps stupidly I never thought I'd be in this situation."

Fortunately another person was able to make the call and Ms Akins' friend made a full recovery.

Currently deaf people can use a textphone to contact the Metropolitan Police, London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade via BT Typetalk.

The service, run by Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) and paid for by BT, enables people with textphones to type a message to an operator who makes the voice call on their behalf.

The downfall of this system is that a hard of hearing person without a textphone nearby would have to find someone to call 999 on their behalf.

BT advises deaf people who use an ordinary phone to call the emergency services to try to make as much noise as possible or tap on the handset, but there is a danger the operator could cut off the call if they do not believe it is genuine.

Text trial

In some parts of the country, including the South West and Hampshire, a similar text service is in operation.

In these areas the emergency services are already responding to texts sent to 80999.

The messages received are sent directly to the police control room and a controller then calls for assistance from any of the emergency services.

Guido Gybels, director of technology at the RNID, said: "At the moment we have a very fragmented regional service, and, in an emergency, deaf people may not remember the number or even know it.

Guido Gybels believes an emergency text service could help save lives

"Quite clearly access to the emergency services can be a matter of life and death.

"People who find themselves in difficult or tricky situations cannot help - this is a real barrier in 2009."

For the past six years government bodies, telecommunications groups and the RNID have been working to find a way to install a national emergency service text or SMS number.

Mr Gybels believes the new text message system could help save lives.

He said: "We hope to create a solution so that people with hearing impairments are on an equal footing with the rest of society.

"It is not a perfect system, but it is better than having nothing."

Google unveils 'smarter search'

2009-05-15T14:23:00.001+08:00

By Maggie Shiels
Technology Reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Google says users are becoming more sophisticated at search

Web giant Google has unveiled new products that it says will push search in a new direction.

Google is using so-called semantic web technology to leverage the underlying data on websites to enhance results.

"The race in search is far from over and innovation and continued improvement is absolutely pivotal," said Google's Marissa Mayer.

Google said it could not afford to rest on its laurels in the quest to build the perfect search engine.

Google has over 63% of the US market compared with rival Yahoo, on 20%.

"I've said this many times but search is still in its infancy. Our engineers are worried about what is the next big thing in search and how are they going to find it," said Ms Mayer, who is the vice-president of search products and user experience.

She said that last year Google had released more than 360 products and in the first quarter of this year it had been 120. Ms Mayer added that this was proof that "Google gets better all the time".

Google has in the past said that despite its lead in the marketplace, users were "one click away" from switching to other alternatives.

Vanessa Fox of SearchEngineLand told the BBC that Google's ability to constantly innovate gave them a leading edge.

"Google is saying: 'We have to provide for all searchers and do things at scale.' It means they have to launch all sorts of features while some companies can concentrate on just one thing. The key thing behind why they are still ahead is because they are able to innovate at such a pace," said Ms Fox.

Rich snippets

During the Searchology event at Google's Mountain View headquarters, Ms Mayer and her team showcased four new products that she said would give users a "different way to look at the web".

Google Squared is still experimental and far from perfect, says the company

Rich Snippets are search results that return more information in every listing.

For example, users looking for reviews of a new restaurant might get a "rich snippet" of average review scores, number of reviews and the restaurant's price range.

"This is a step toward making the whole internet smarter," said Google product manager Kavi Goel.

Rich snippets use the metadata from web pages, such as address information, calendar information and semantic web mark-up specifications, called Resource Description Frameworks.

The use of these so-called microformats allows the search engine to better understand the meaning of data and to employ it more intelligently.

Google can understand the relationship between different sets of data, and so can pull the correct address listing of a shop without that information having to be specifically tied together.

Google Squared

One of the more experimental products was called Google Squared, which will go public in the next month or so. It takes information from the web and displays it in a spreadsheet in "split seconds", something Ms Mayer said would normally take someone half a day to do.

During the demonstration, a query for "small dog" was typed into the search box. Seconds later a table popped up showing photographs of various dogs, their origin, weight and height in a clear and simple layout.

While Ms Mayer described this product as "transformative", she would only hint at the specific techniques that Google uses to drive this feature.

"I think we can open the kimono a little bit without talking about the computer science behind it.

"What they are basically doing is looking for structures on the web that seem to imply facts. Like something 'is' something.

"Different tables, different structures, and then corroborating the evidence around whether or not something is a fact by looking at whether that fact occurs across pages.

"This is all in the secret sauce of what we are doing and it takes an incredible amount of compute power to create those squares," said Ms Mayer.

'Refine, filter and view'

Google Search Options is a tool that is aimed at letting users "slice and dice" results so they can manipulate the information and get what they want faster.

Search options is a "tool belt" giving new ways to interact with search

They come into play after a normal web search and allow users to drill down into the results by offering an option for different genres like product reviews, forum posts or videos. Other choices include recently added blogs, images, timelines and so on.

Ms Mayer said this new feature should help people who struggled with the "vexing" problem of exactly what query they should type into the search box.

It is meant to give users the opportunity to "refine, filter and view results in a different way".

'Skymap'

A final feature had Ms Mayer "reaching for the stars" with an app for mobile phones using the Android operating system.

Google said it was still working on finding keys but can find the stars

"For a long time here at Google we joked could we actually find physical things like keys and now with the power and technology of Android, coupled with search, you can see we are starting to find some physical things like stars," said Ms Mayer.

Skymap displays the constellations. By using the smart phone's GPS capability, it offers the user a dynamic star map that knows where they are standing and which way they are pointing

The feature came about as a result of Google's 20% time, which allows engineers to spend one-fifth of their time working on pet projects.

The app is now available on the Android app market.

"Clearly Google is still pushing the envelope with all these new additions," said Rob Hof, Silicon Valley editor of Business Week.

"They are certainly continuing to improve daily. Whether it makes a difference and will stave off the competition, I don't know. But they are not standing still."

Ms Mayer said keeping the user happy was at the heart of everything they did.

"There is a shoe company called Stuart Weitzman and their slogan is 'a little obsessed with shoes'.

"Google is a little more than obsessed with search," confessed Ms Mayer.

Credit card code to combat fraud

2009-05-15T14:19:00.001+08:00

Credit card code to combat fraud

A credit card with a built-in display is being tested by Visa with the aim of reducing online fraud.

The Emue Card generates and displays a unique code each time it is used.

Developers say that the new technology would make it very hard for fraudsters, as any transaction would require the pin to generate the code.

The card is currently being trialled by 500 employees of Deloitte with the aim of assessing the technology by the end of the year.

The new technology comes against a growing backdrop of fraud. While chip and pin technology has helped reduce crime at the tills, when it comes to phone, internet, and mail order fraud - known in the industry as card-not-present or CNP fraud - the figures are growing every year and now make up more than 50% of all credit card fraud.

These transactions ask for the 16-digit code on the front of the card, and expiry date and some also ask for the three digit security card on the back. All of these details are available to a criminal who has a stolen card.

The new code technology could reduce so-called 'card not present' fraud

According to figures from the Association for Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) - the trade forum for banks, building societies, and credit card firms - CNP fraud accounted for more than £328.4 million in 2008, a rise of 13% from the previous year.

Michelle Whiteman, a spokesperson for Apacs, said there were a number of problems in tackling CNP fraud.

"Firstly, you aren't able to check the card's physical security measures, such as the hologram or signature.

"Then, at present, there is no form of chip and pin security.

"And finally, because of the anonymous nature of internet transactions, there fraudsters have a much lower chance of getting caught, which probably encourages some people who might otherwise not commit a crime," she said.

Visa say the new Emue system could help combat this by adding an additional layer of security. While the three-figure security code would remain, an additional four figure code - generated by the card - would also be required before a transaction could go through.

Backwards compatible

Sandra Alzetta, head of innovation at Visa, said that the card was bringing the principles of chip and pin technology to the online world.

"The card needs to be globally compatible: that means embossed characters for mechanical swipes, a magnetic strip for systems that require a signature, the fixed three digit security code and now the unique four figure code.

"You have to remember that our cards work across the world and not every country or retailer has access to the level of technology we might be used to," she said.

The new Emue card is currently on trial with Deloitte employees

Ms Alzetta said she hoped field trials would be completed by the end of the year.

Once certified by Visa it is then down to the banks and credit card companies to decide if they take up the new technology, but Ms Alzetta said she was confident they would.

"I see this as a very consumer focused product and any Visa bank could add it to their commercial cards and make it available, assuming it passes muster."

One of the problems facing developers was how to make sure the card could be handled like any other card without accidently pressing buttons or breaking the display.

"We've made the buttons in such a way that you need to 'pinch' them, rather than just press, for them to work.

"One of the things we're testing is how long the battery lasts - the plan is for it to work for more than three years, which means your card should expire before it runs out of power."

source:BBC News

Robot to create Facebook profile

2009-05-15T14:13:00.001+08:00

The Ibn Sina robot will soon get a Facebook profile page

Facebook could soon be helping bridge the divide between humans and robots.

Researchers are giving a robot its own Facebook profile page to help foster meaningful relationships with people.

The page will be populated with interactions the robot has with people as well as photos of the time it spends in human company.

Its creators hope that embedding it in a social web will demonstrate that a sustainable friendship can grow up between man and machine.

Ancient scholar

The coupling of robot and social network is the idea of Dr Nikolaus Mavridis and co-researchers as they look into ways of overcoming the reluctance of people to stay in touch with robots.

While robots that can engage people have been produced before now, research suggests that humans lose interest - at most a few weeks after being introduced - as the behavioural repertoire of the machine is exhausted.

In a paper on the pre-print website Arxiv.org server, the researchers say they want to find out if this can be thwarted by giving humans and robots a pool of shared memories and if they are part of the same social circle of friends.

The platform for exploring the problem is a robot that can recognise faces created by Dr Mavridis and colleagues from the Interactive Robots and Media Lab (IRML) at the University of the United Arab Emirates plus co-workers in Germany and Greece

The prototype is based on a PeopleBot machine from ActivRobots to which they have added a range finder, touch screen and stereo camera. The current prototype is called "Sarah" but when the project begins this will be swapped for a machine with the face of Islamic scholar Ibn Sina, aka Avicenna.

Under the hood the machine has three software modules to help it interact with people it meets at IRML. One module recognises the faces of real people or the images they place of themselves on Facebook.

It also has a language module so the machine can carry on real-time conversations and it will maintain a database of its friends and their social relationships based on information in Facebook. This social database will also keep its own Facebook profile up to date.

In a month-long trial, Dr Mavridis aims to let Ibn Sina wander around IRML talking to people it meets and trying to get to know those that it does not. When it meets anyone for the first time it will check on Facebook to see if they have a profile page and use what it finds there as the starting point for a conversation.

Trying Windows 7 RC on for size

2009-05-15T14:10:00.001+08:00

PETALING JAYA: In our ongoing tests of the Windows 7 Release Candidate, we've been installing the operating system on various types of computers to see how it installs and to judge how well it runs.

We started at the small end of the scale, the netbook. But first, a quick reminder — Asus Eee PCs with 4GB of SSD storage will not be able to install Windows 7 RC. The operating system requires at least 16GB of free space, although the actual installation size is 7GB to 9GB.

We have a 10in-screen Eee PC with 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of SDRAM, Intel GMA950 graphics processor and 160GB hard disk drive in the office so that became our guinea pig.

Windows 7 RC took to this machine like a duck to water. In fact, the installation went completely without a hitch and the operating system even installed the drivers for every component in the Eee PC, including the ElanTech touchpad.

What surprised us was how really, really well Windows 7 RC ran on the device despite the relatively basic specifications of the Asus. Also, the machine's Aero transparent interface worked like a charm on the Microsoft operating system.

Even more surprising was that we could run a 720p Windows Media Video file, open several Internet Explorer windows, and yet still be able to use the Flip3D (Windows key + TAB) to view all the open windows (and the video still running flawlessly) as Flip3D icons.

Overall, we had a very pleasant experience running Windows 7 RC on what we see is a typical netbook.

Going bigger

We next installed Windows 7 RC on a desktop PC that's powered by an AMD Athlon 64 2.2GHz processor and has 1GB RAM, as well as a built-in ATI Radeon Xpress 200 graphics chip.

Here we ran into a problem initially because this version of the operating system does not have the drivers built-in for this relatively old and finicky graphics chip.

We did a Windows Update and Windows 7 RC found the needed driver; we were soon up and running.

Strangely, the operating system didn't seem to be running as speedily on this machine as it did on the netbook. This could possibly due to the different graphics chip in each computer. We'll be looking further into this.

Cool, this is

One of the things we like in Windows 7 RC is its Libraries feature. Libraries appears in the Internet Explorer window and is a sort of smart folder which you can configure yourself.

What Libraries does is provide a shortcut based on certain criteria that you set. For example, if you set the criteria as looking for videos, the link in Libraries will list all your videos no matter where they are located on the hard disk.

Windows 7 RC comes preconfigured with a number of Libraries folders — such as Videos, Music and Documents.

The one unfortunate thing is that we couldn't seem to add folders stored on removable hard drives to the Libraries folders.

Nevertheless, Libraries is a useful tool to have, especially if you have files stored all over your hard disk.

That's all for now. Keep watching this space for more on our Windows 7 RC experiences.

Turn creative ideas into money

2009-05-15T14:08:00.001+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR: Creative multimedia developers stand to win RM1mil worth of grants at the MSC Malaysia Intellectual Property Creators Challenge (IPCC) 2009.

IPCC organiser Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) will give out 26 grants in the competition's four categories — animation, computer games, digital interactive comics and mobile games.

The RM1mil total is a slight increase from that during the past three years that the competition has been running. Previously the grants totalled about 870,000 per year.

This year, there are six RM50,000 grants for the animation category, five RM50,000 grants for computer games, five RM50,000 grants for mobile games, and 10 RM20,000 grants for digital interactive comics.

IPCC is in an initiative by MDeC that aims to unearth creative content. It expects 360 entries this year — an increase of 20% from last year.

Saifol Bahri, vice-president of MDeC, said the entries can be as simple as a concept put on paper, with a few accompanying visuals.

Out of these initial entries, 51 participants will be chosen to make a pitch to local industry players in mid-July.

These will then be whittled down to 26 participants, who will be given grants to develop their paper concepts into prototypes over five months.

There is an added bonus exclusively for those who receive grants in the animation category — they will get a chance to make a pitch to a panel of regional industry players next year.

MDeC hopes to extend this bonus to the other categories in the near future .

Stepping stone

Saifol hopes that the annual event will act as a launching pad for local talent in developing content that can meet global expectations.

"Last year's animation winning team, Roaring Tin Toys, has attracted interest from satellite TV and production company Astro Bhd," he said.

"Astro was impressed with the team's winning clip about ghost-hunting superheroes, called Ghoul Smashing Quarters, and are currently in talks with Roaring Tin Toys."

That year's runner-up team in the animation category, Insipidea Sdn Bhd, has been shortlisted by internationally-known Cartoon Network for a co-production deal, said Saifol who declined to elaborate.

He said it is time for the local creative multimedia industry to move up a gear because there is a huge global market for the taking, estimated to be worth about US$780bil (RM2.6 trillion).

There is also a lot of space for revenue growth locally, according to him. "Revenue from Malaysian creative multimedia was RM2.4bil in 2007, we hope to hit RM3bil by 2010," he said.

Those interested in competing in IPCC 2009 should send a brief story outline and accompanying visuals to submitipcc@mdec.com.my.

Participants must be college graduates or working professionals. The closing date for entries is July 12. For more information, surf to www.msc.com.my.

MDeC is caretaker of the MSC Malaysia initiative.

Source: Star

Prison ‘break’ that brings hope

2009-05-07T21:24:00.001+08:00

KAJANG: Nineteen-year-old Abu (not his real name) was a typical college student. He was studying security management and in his spare time listened to Indonesian rock and chatted on the Internet.

Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, he lived a comfortable. middle-class life until everything changed one night. He and two friends got into a scuffle and a foreigner was stabbed to death. Now he's in the Kajang Central Prison, where he has been these past few months, waiting to go on trial.

It's a far cry from his college life, he told In.Tech two weeks ago. Nowadays, he has to put up with prison food, lights-out by 7pm, and if he's lucky, two hours of TV viewing every weekend.

"I'm trying to focus on my future," he said in Bahasa Malaysia. The light at the end of his tunnel is provided by the prison's e-Bimbing programme, where inmates can learn IT skills so that they can find employment when they are released. Abu is one of the more than 1,000 inmates, aged between 14 and 21, participating in the year-long programme that is being conducted at the Kajang prison and in four others around the country.

e-Bimbing teaches desktop publishing, digital photography and PC maintenance. The inmates are also taught how to use common programs such as Microsoft Office and Corel Draw. The only entry requirement is that the inmates have the right attitude and are eager to learn.

"It's just like being back in school," said Abu from in front of a PC in the prison's training room. Around him were the other 29 participants in the class and the instructor. Classes are from 9am to 2pm, from Monday to Friday. The classroom is equipped with about 30 PCs in rows, a colour printer, scanner, and digital camera. All the computers are on a wireless local area network but Internet access is only available under supervision of prison authorities. Before prison, Abu only knew how to surf the Internet and participate in online chat sessions, but now he's learned how to create graphics on a computer.

That success has sparked off an ambition to become a graphics designer and he's been asking his parents to buy him a PC when he gets out. "They are quite supportive," he said. Abu doesn't know when that'll be but he's happy that e-Bimbing is teaching him new skills and keeping him occupied. Another e-Bimbing participant is 20-year-old Ali (not real name) who has been in remand for a year at the same prison. He's awaiting trial for illegal possession of a firearm.

Like Abu, Ali is quite taken with being able to use a computer to design graphics. "I want to set up a kiosk at the Central Market (in Kuala Lumpur)," he said.

Helping hand

e-Bimbing is the brainchild of Prihatin Malaysia, a charity organisation that among other things, uses information and communications technology (ICT) training to help prison inmates find employment or start a business after they leave prison. The project is funded and supported by the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry, with the co-operation of the Prisons Department of Malaysia.

Ramanitharan Rajaram, vice-president of Prihatin Malaysia, said prisoners have so much time on their hands and many don't know what to do with themselves. "We offer them the opportunity to better themselves by learning a new skill or several skills," he told In.Tech.

"With enough time and training we can teach them to be very good at whatever vocation they choose." There are choices aplenty. Inmates can take up batik printing, motor vehicle repair, woodworking and even baking. Training in computer skills was added about two years ago when it was found that young inmates were more inclined towards that. The pilot programme for e-Bimbing began in June 2007 in Kajang Central Prison with 250 participants.

There are 750 e-Bimbing graduates nationwide to date. "Among those released, 50 are studying for IT diplomas, 20 are with companies designing T-shirts, wedding cards and name cards, and two have set up e-kiosks selling and designing T-shirts," said Ramanitharan.

This helps show prisoners that they can earn a living the legal way, he said. "With the skills they learn in prison, they can easily earn RM2,000 to RM3,000 a month when they go into business after they are released," he added.

Syamir Mustadza, 25, who is the ICT teacher at the Kajang prison, agrees. He's been teaching there since the start of the programme. "At first, I was not very confident that I would be successful teaching prisoners," he said. "But many of them surprised me." He said the inmates realise that e-Bimbing is a golden opportunity for them to improve their lot in life and they are very dedicated to the lessons.

"Some of them can create their own designs after only three months of training and many have shown a lot of spirit and creativity," Syamir said. "I guess the programme also gives them hope."

Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 impressions, insights, and expectations

2009-05-07T20:56:00.001+08:00

As you may or may not know, Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 has been officially handed out to MSDN and TechNet subscribers today, and there are plans to unleash the heavily-hyped OS to the waiting public at large come May 5th. We had a chance to sit down with reps from Microsoft to discuss the new iteration of Windows (and the company's current frame of mind) more in-depth, and we've taken the new build for a bit of a spin around the block. Read on for an exploration into a few of the more delicious Windows 7 tidbits, as well as a full complement of our (potentially) enlightening observations.

Look and feel

When you get RC1 in your hands, it's not going to feel drastically different than the previous beta. There are UI tweaks and tucks, and some functionality added, but mostly it's more of the same — which is to say a really cleaned up, streamlined, nicer looking version of Vista. One thing we can say for sure is that it felt snappier and less buggy than the earlier versions (duh), and it's clear that Microsoft has taken a lot of the feedback it's gotten to heart. RC1 shows off definite attention to detail; things like the jump lists are now stacked with options, and since new applications won't auto-add to the taskbar, they hang out in the Start menu for a little while. We're talking the kind of little adjustments that don't immediately stand out, but you find yourself turning to all the time.

Strangely, though, the most interesting new component here might just be some of the wallpaper the company is including with this release: colorful, artsy, psychedelic… pretty much like nothing you've ever seen from Microsoft in its flagship software. Combined with the slightly more polished UI, you get the distinct impression that Redmond's gotten a jolt of new blood — if not in staff, then certainly in mindset.

Remote Media Streaming

Microsoft is super jazzed about the new media sharing options in 7. Specifically, a little ditty it's calling Remote Media Streaming. The premise here is simple: associate your computers (say, home and laptop) using a Windows Live login, and you can connect to your home system while on the road with little to no difficulty. Unfortunately, it requires a little hunting around in Windows Media Player and a software download to really get the thing working right, and right now (during the RC phase), Microsoft is only using Windows Live IDs to connect. Still, it's further proof that the company is really making an effort to show off an integrated experience… and that the experience actually is getting more integrated.

Windows XP emulation

Sure, there's a lot of noise about this right now, but as has been previously speculated on, unless you're an enterprise user, Microsoft didn't really intend this feature for you. There are two main things worth noting: firstly, if you happen to have a full release license for XP that you haven't used for some reason, you can hit this up on your rig no matter what level of Windows 7 you've got. Second, again: this isn't at all intended for you. Basically, the XP emulation is really there to help coax businesses over to 7 who've been reluctant to touch Vista — Microsoft really don't want you trying to recreate your 2002 PC experience on it. We're not going to say we agree with this line of thinking — if the company really wanted to entice a wider audience with Windows 7, it would not only include XP virtualization with all versions (sans license), but tout the feature heavily, just like Apple did with Classic.

Netbooks

One thing that became clear when we were talking to reps is that the Starter Edition (which we've been hearing will be loaded onto most netbooks) isn't the end of the road for low-end users. Apparently, it's not so much of a power issue as a money issue that cheaper systems will have the 3-apps-at-a-time-only version of the OS. Because Redmond is still doing its "in-place" upgrades, you can boost your crappy, neutered OS to your heart's content… for a price. In fact, Microsoft says that Windows 7 scales lower and higher much better than Vista, and felt confident that if you wanted to load up Ultimate on a netbook, you'd be just fine (to some degree — the people we talked to did expect that you'd max out the memory pretty quickly). Just in case you're wondering about the base specs, it's a 1GHz x86 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of available hard drive space, and a DirectX 9 graphics device.

Partners

This is probably mostly pre-launch hyperbole, but the reps we spoke with claim that the big M's partners have never been so excited about a release in all their lives. That's probably due more to the fact that all the hardware and software they've designed to be Vista compatible will get a second chance with the launch of 7, but it's also possible that they're legitimately happy to see Microsoft coming out of the gate with a positively revamped OS. Regardless, a strong showing with its new OS means lots of green for Microsoft and its friends — so why shouldn't they be happy?

Release date

Microsoft is obviously still tight lipped about an official release for 7, but during our chat with the company, they seemed particularly excited about being "ahead of schedule" on the software, and gave us more than just a small wink that this may slide in under the January 2010 anniversary of Vista.

Wrap up

The mood at Microsoft seems (understandably) high about this release. It's clear that lots of folks see this as the big, shiny band-aid for many of the Vista woes that people have been experiencing — and in many ways, that's exactly what it is. If you're at all curious about what Microsoft has been up to, you should absolutely grab this install and take it for a spin (when you can); there is a metric ton going on here, and it's certainly worth taking a second look at. Bottom line, though? This is still Windows, and it's still got a lot of Vista in it. If you weren't feeling it the first time around, there may not be enough here to convince you otherwise. However, this is a valiant effort from Microsoft and it shows that the company does understand it's burned some bridges throughout the last three years — this is a big step for them both in technique and tone, and that's certainly not lost on us.

Source:Windows 7 News

Windows 7 Launching Before January 2010?

2009-05-07T20:46:00.001+08:00

Microsoft have stated publicly that Windows 7 will launch 3 years after Windows Vista, which places the launch date for Windows 7 at January 2010. However, the beta trials of Windows 7 are going so well that speculation has started that Microsoft will launch Windows 7 earlier.

In a poll run on a site asking 'When Will Windows 7 Launch?', over 30,000 readers voted and 48% of users voted for 2009, and 16% of readers voted for Q1 2010.

Personally, I don't think the launch will be brought forward significantly. Bringing forward such a major launch such as Windows 7 would be a massive undertaking. There are so many moving parts involved in bringing Windows to market Everything from agreeing the box design, to printing CDs, to getting promotional materials in the hands of retailers etc takes time, and I doubt Microsoft will be able to shift the date forward by more than a month to say December 2009. This of course though will allow Microsoft to capitalise on the vital Christmas market.

The progress that Microsoft are showing during the beta program and the positive feedback that testers are giving the product will feed through to a very strong release, whenever it happens. I still have many friends who are nervous about upgrading to Vista because of the nightmare stories they have heard. I don't think these friends will be as nervous about upgrading to Windows 7, because most early adopters are giving it a good write up.

Whatever happens, hopefully Windows 7 will give a much needed economic boost to the PC market!

Source: http://www.windows7.cc/

Cyberlaw and Intellectual Property Law

2009-05-07T20:34:00.001+08:00

LAWS OF MALAYSIA

ACT 588
COMMUNICATIONS AND MULTIMEDIA ACT 1998 [REPRINT 2002]
Incorporating latest amendment - Act A1220/2004

Date of Royal Assent :	23rd September 1998
Date of publication in the Gazette :	15th October 1998
Date of coming into operation:	1st April 1999 : except for sections 157, 159, 160, 161,162, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 176, 178, 197 and 198 [P.U.(B) 128/99]; 1st April 2000 : sections 157, 159, 160, 161, 162, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 176 and 178 [P.U.(B) 106/2000] ; 1st March 2002 : sections 197 and 198 [P.U.(B) 66/2002]

_____________
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
_____________

RULES & REGULATIONS

Source:http://www.msc.com.my/cyberlaws/act_communications.asp

Microsoft Big Brains: Mark Russinovich

2009-04-24T20:21:00.001+08:00

Just before retiring from day-to-day responsibilities at Microsoft, Chairman Bill Gates said that he expected Microsoft's 22 Technical Fellows to get a lot more publicly visible — now that they wouldn't be living in his shadow. While some of the Microsoft fellows already have been active on the public-speaking circuit, many of them are not widely known outside the company.

Last year I launched this series — "Microsoft Big Brains" — to help remedy that shortcoming. In the coming weeks, I am hoping to profile as many of the company's tech fellows as to whom I can get access.

Microsoft's Technical Fellows came to the company via a variety of different routes. Some of them run divisions inside the company; some focus on particularly thorny technical issues that may span a variety of product units. Regardless of where they sit in the organization, the fellows all have been charged with helping Microsoft craft its next-gen products and strategies, much the way that Gates used his regular "Think Weeks" to prioritize what Microsoft needed to do next.

This Week's 'Big Brain': Mark Russinovich
Claim to Fame: "I've influenced Windows 7 and Server, but not yet had the time to influence the tech direction."
How Long You've Been With Microsoft: 2.5 years
More About You: One of the foremost experts — inside or outside Microsoft — on the inner workings of Windows. Cofounder (in 1996) of Winternals Software — a company which Microsoft acquired in 2006. Also cofounded Sysinternals.com, for which he's written dozens of Windows utilities, including Filemon, Regmon, Process Explorer, Rootkit Revealer and more. Prior to that, was a resarcher at IBM's TJ Watson Research Center, specializing in operating-system support for Web-server acceleration.
Your Biggest Accomplishment (So Far) at Microsoft: "I have started discussions across groups (at Microsoft) about coordinating more on Windows."
Team(s) You Also Work With: Developer Division, Windows Mobile, Windows Server, Windows Experience Division (WEX)
Why Stay at Microsoft? Russinovich said he's been tinkering with things like how to disassemble ROM since the ninth grade. His whole background and focus is operating systems. Windows "is the most important operating system — it has the biggest impact." And the best way to help influence its direction is to be at Microsoft, he said.

Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich knows Windows. And since joining Microsoft, he's made it his business to help herd the cats inside the company who have anything to do with Windows' development and futures.

Russinovich currently reports to Jon DeVaan, the head of Microsoft's Core Operating Systems Division. He is more of an "individual contributor" tech fellow than one who leads teams. He does a lot of speaking, blogging, article and code writing, rather than managing. (In all his "free time," he's working on the fifth edition of Windows Internals, due out in May 2009.

Russinovich takes pride in being part of a core group of senior architects at the company working on architectural best practices. The group is working on an architectural "constitution" which outlines the layers in Windows (along with the functionality in each layer) and guidance on application-programming interface (API) design.

"We ask teams to come in and make sure there's no overlap — to make sure we're not duplicating things," Russinovich explained.

Russinovich characterized his role as helping to facilitate "dialog and cross divisional cooperation" around Windows. I asked for further details as to what this involves and how it will show up in future Windows releases, but he said he was unable to share more because the particulars are NDA.

(Russinovich is said to be the leader of the still-unannounced Microsoft MinSafe project, which is considered by some of my sources to be a milestone on the way to Midori, an incubation project that could ultimately become Microsoft's next-generation distributed, multicore operating system.)

What can Russinovich discuss, in terms of his near- and longer-term hot buttons?

He is involved in the development of MinWin, the Windows core that is part of Windows 7 (and will be in future iterations of Windows). He is always thinking about Windows' evolution, he said. And he's continuing to work on the Windows Sysinternals tools, both in terms of enhancing existing utilities and creating new ones, like a new memory footprint analysis tool for developers that he's been working on. (Russinovich called his Sysinternals work "a hobby" for him.)

"There's a lot of work to do in the Windows 8 timeframe," Russinovich said. "We're thinking now about what steps we should be taking."

For all of the "Microsoft Big Brains" profiles, check out the Big Brains page.

- ZDNET.com

UK 'has the worst copyright laws'

2009-04-19T17:25:00.001+08:00

Many people do not know that copying music to an iPod violates copyright

UK copyright laws "needlessly criminalise" music fans and need to be updated, a consumer watchdog says.

UK laws that make it a copyright violation to copy a CD that you own onto a computer or iPod should be changed, says Consumer Focus.

The call came after global umbrella group Consumers International put the UK in last place in a survey of 16 countries' copyright laws.

Consumer Focus said the UK had to catch up with the rest of the world.

"UK copyright law is the oldest, but also the most out of date," said Ed Mayo, chief executive of Consumer Focus.

"The current system puts unrealistic limits on our listening and viewing habits and is rapidly losing credibility among consumers. A broad 'fair use' exception would bring us in line with consumer expectations, technology and the rest of the world."

Violation

The survey by Consumers International looked at intellectual property laws and enforcement practices in 16 countries - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, the UK and the US.

It decided that UK law was least effective in balancing the interests of rights holders against those of consumers.

"It is currently a copyright violation [in the UK] to rip a CD that you own on to your PC or iPod," said Consumer Focus, "even though over half (55%) of British consumers admit to doing it and three in five (59%) think this type of copying is perfectly legal."

The watchdog's call was backed by digital rights campaign body the Open Rights Group, which called for a "more flexible" approach to copyright.

Open Rights group executive director Jim Killock said: "It is ridiculous to ban copying, sampling and parody without payment, yet that is how the law stands today.

"The government is undermining copyright's reputation by failing to give clear rights to users in a changed digital world, where we all rip, mix and burn. Copyright urgently needs reform, as this study shows."

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk

Bytee Creation - IT/Computer Tips

Reminder: norbaitee Talib wants you to join SugarSync

norbaitee Talib wants you to join SugarSync

bytesmat@gmail.com has referred you a message about IDrive

bytesmat@gmail.com has referred you a message about RemotePC

Updates to Dropbox Terms of Service and Privacy Statement

Start using Dropbox!

Welcome to Dropbox!

Bytesmat Bytee invited you to Dropbox

Video-editing tools at your fingertips

German iPhone app guides handicapped around cities

Addressing piracy in the virtual world

APCERT completes cybersecurity drill

Wearable sensors could help the elderly

E-assessment

Hackers crack open mobile network

Related stories

Cyber-sabotage and espionage top 2011 security fears

Related stories

RockMelt 101: A Quick Guide to the Mysterious Browser

Facebook Hackers Phishing and Taking Over Facebook Accounts www.IDTheftS...

WARNING: {Facebook Hackers On The Rise} - WATCH THIS VIDEO NOW!

Mariah Carey My All Lyrics

Parenting: General text/chat/IM abbreviations parents should know, Part 1

By Katie Derrick

Parenting: How to prevent cyberbullying

Parenting 101: How to prevent cyberbullying

Google Chrome 4.0 For Windows Adds Extensions and Bookmark Sync

Google Toolbar Keeps Tracking Your Browsing Even After You Choose Disable?

Hackers could do worse than just steal codes

If your password is 123456.......................

It Is Official, Twitter Is The Microblogging De Facto Standard

The dark side of the internet

Unfathomable and mysterious

Open or closed?

The hollow legs of Sealand

Always recorded

Gold Rush

Computer 'agents' take to the web

Microsoft: Windows 7 not affected by latest flaw

Mozilla patches holes in Firefox 3.5, 3.0

Palm thinks small with new Pixi smartphone

Fun in teaching, learning English

Woman falls for Facebook scam

ST. LOUIS: A Missouri woman was tricked into wiring about US$4,000 (RM14,400) to someone in England after receiving faked messages from a friend on Facebook asking for help, police said.

Mobile Web Portal

Woman falls victim to identity thief

FREEWARE?????

Going for freeware? Think again, says Symantec

Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade to be Sold at Retail

Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade to be Sold at Retail Download Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade to be Sold at Retail at High Speed

Kingston's latest 128GB monster

Rumor: PS3 Price Cut in August

Computer Tips

What smart meters will do for you

SMART METERS

Web murderer given life sentence

Hackers 'destroy' flight sim site

Text lifeline to help deaf people

Google unveils 'smarter search'

Credit card code to combat fraud

Credit card code to combat fraud

Robot to create Facebook profile

Trying Windows 7 RC on for size

PETALING JAYA: In our ongoing tests of the Windows 7 Release Candidate, we've been installing the operating system on various types of computers to see how it installs and to judge how well it runs.

Turn creative ideas into money

KUALA LUMPUR: Creative multimedia developers stand to win RM1mil worth of grants at the MSC Malaysia Intellectual Property Creators Challenge (IPCC) 2009.

Prison ‘break’ that brings hope

Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 impressions, insights, and expectations

Windows 7 Launching Before January 2010?

Cyberlaw and Intellectual Property Law

Microsoft Big Brains: Mark Russinovich

UK 'has the worst copyright laws'

Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade to be Sold at Retail
Download Windows 7 Anytime Upgrade to be Sold at Retail at High Speed