p2pnet World Headlines – March 30, 2009
Browser wars are back The Economist.com
The good news is that the latest version of Microsoft`s web-browser, Internet Explorer version 8, which was finally released to the public on March 20th, is a vast improvement over its predecessor. The bad news is that it is not an automatic upgrade; you have to download and install it yourself. That is a strange decision. Internet Explorer has 67% of the browser market precisely because it comes ready-installed as the default browser on nine out of ten personal computers. Usually, one of the first things done by those who care about setting up a Windows computer properly is to replace Internet Explorer with a safer and more flexible browser such as Firefox or Opera. Yet most people leave the Microsoft browser in place and suffer the consequences. The same goes for Macintosh users. Over the past half a dozen years, the default browser on all Macs has been Apple`s Safariâa nifty program that uses a rendering engine and tools for running Java scripts borrowed from a venerable Linux browser called Konqueror. Certainly Safari, which is used on 8% of computers, is as light and nimble as Konqueror. Unfortunately, though, it offers an open door for cyber-criminals seeking to hijack computers for dastardly deeds. Both Firefox (22% market share) and Opera (less than 1%) are better bets for Macs, though neither is as secure on Apple`s operating system as it is on Windows. One of the main reasons why a Windows machine is harder to crack than a Mac is because of the way Microsoft randomises the memory locations of code inserted into processes. Even if they can get into the system, hackers then have trouble finding where their nefarious bit of code is lurking. And if they cannot find the malicious code, they cannot get it to do its dirty work.
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From scareware to ransomware Heise Online
FireEye, a malware specialist, reports that Vundo, which makes fake antivirus programs (scareware), has now started a new scam. Vundo is no longer merely alarming users with bogus warnings that their PCs have been infected to con them into buying largely useless scanning software. Their latest attacks (ransomware) encrypt all of the files (.pdf, .doc, .jpg and others) on a user’s PC and then report garbled data. System messages are sent to con the user into coughing up â¬50 for the full version of a “repair tool”, FileFix Pro 2009. In contrast to scareware, which normally only pretends there’s a problem, users are left little option, because all of their files have genuinely been encrypted although only with a simple algorithm. FireEye doesn’t say how the ransomware gets on to the computers, but it probably needs a little help from the user.
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Consumers can be stuck when Web sites change terms Associated Press
A recent e-mail from Eastman Kodak Co. didn’t lead to a Kodak moment for Vanessa Daniele. It got her angry. On May 16, the company’s Kodak Gallery online photo service will delete her picture albums unless she spends at least $4.99 by then and every year thereafter on prints and other products. That’s the new rule for people whose photos take up less than 2 gigabytes of space on Kodak’s servers _ enough for around 2,000 1-megabyte photos. People over that limit must spend at least $19.99 a year. And customers who signed up under the old rules won’t be given a pass.
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Calgary dad leaves baby in cold car to go gambling Sun Media
Emergency services in Calgary rescued a baby early this morning after the father left the child in a car to go gambling. The baby’s cries alerted patrons of the Silver Dollar Casino, located in the 1000 Block of 42 Ave. S.E., to the plight of the child, said police in a statement. Police, fire and EMS arrived to find the baby cold and crying, while his father gambled inside, the statement said. “A car was found with the windows covered with blankets to avoid viewing from outside,” said police. “Fire crews gained access to the vehicle and removed a 21-month-old male child from a rear child restraint.
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Mystery Flash and Big Boom Rattles Virginia Space.com
A mysterious boom and light occurred over the skies of Norfolk and Virginia Beach, Va., on Sunday night, but just what caused the phenomenon is still unknown. Calls from local residents to 911 began coming in at around 9:45 p.m. EDT, with some people reporting their doors and windows rattled when the boom went off, according to reports from WVEC-TV. Similar reports in the past often have turned out to involve meteors, which can explode in the atmosphere to create a loud noise and bright flash of light that streaks across the sky. However, often times the source of events like this are not determined.
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A Young, Hip, Classical Crowd Wall Street Journal
So there I was not long ago at Le Poisson Rouge, a New York club, for a classical-music show, and the guy in the DJ booth was telling all of us to “talk and clap when you like. And go to the bar if you get bored.” This was Gabriel Prokofiev, and if his name seems to have classical-music resonance, it ought to — he’s the grandson of the great classical composer Sergei Prokofiev, composer of symphonies, operas and “Peter and the Wolf.” He’s a composer himself, but in his native London he’s also a club DJ. He was here for the first New York outing of a London enterprise he calls Nonclassical — a name that’s partly ironic, because what he presents is classical music, and partly for real, because he wants to move far away from the formality of the classical-music world. Nonclassical is both a record label and a monthly club night, each featuring music that (to quote the group’s Web site) is “taking inspiration from baroque/techno/grime/classical/avant-garde.” And co-sponsoring the night was New Amsterdam Records, a New York record company run by young composers with more or less the same agenda.
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Netflix ups fees for Blu-ray amid rising demand Associated Press
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Netflix Inc. is raising its prices for rentals of Blu-ray discs. The change will triple or quadruple the high-definition surcharge on Netflix’s most popular subscription plans. The new rates announced Monday are being driven by the growing appetite for discs in the high-definition format. Blu-ray discs cost about 30 percent more than standard DVDs, so Netflix’s profit margins are being squeezed as it expands its Blu-ray inventory.
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Skype for iPhone: It’s official CNET news
Months after teasing us at CES with an announcement of Skype’s native VoIP client for the iPhone, the free Skype for iPhone will finally be available to download from the iTunes App Store sometime on Tuesday. We got a chance to sit down with the application’s principal engineer before the announcement was made at CTIA 2009, to see Skype for iPhone do its thing. While most of the features aren’t too surprising–Skype does want to maintain some consistency across its mobile applications, after all–there are a few capabilities that are notably missing, and a few iPhone-only perks that are refreshing to see.
Skype on iPhone. In terms of navigation, Skype’s VoIP app for iPhone looks more like your traditional iPhone app than it does Skype 4.0 for Windows. For many who already prefer Apple’s sleek interface archetype, that’s a triumph, but those who enjoy Skype’s branding may feel disappointed.
March, 2009
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