Nokia's $79 Surge messaging phone on tap for AT&T
A relative bargain as far as Nokia handsets go, the mid-range, full-QWERTY Surge might be a solid choice for texting and on-the-go e-mail fanatics.Available on July 19 through AT&T for $79 (albeit with a two-year contract and a $50 mail-in rebate), the modest Surge makes for a departure from Nokia's usual $500-and-up multimedia powerhouses.
Nope, you won't find such features as Carl Zeiss-designed 5MP optics, touch-enabled home screen widgets, or Wi-Fi on the Surge.
That said, the new 4.4-ounce slider runs on the Symbian S60 operating system, still one of the most powerful and popular mobile platforms around (even if it is looking a bit long in the tooth these days), and plenty of Symbian-based apps are available for download.
You'll also get what looks to be a fairly roomy QWERTY keypad (I've yet to try the Surge in person), as well as support for personal and Microsoft Exchange-powered e-mail accounts, instant messaging, and (of course) SMS and picture messaging.
The 3G-enabled Surge also handles most of AT&T's subscription services, including downloadable music, AT&T Navigator, and one-way video conferencing via AT&T Video Share. No word on AT&T's streaming Cellular Video clips, however (although th
e phone's media player reportedly supports Flash videos).Other features on the Surge include A-GPS, a two-megapixel camera and QVGA video recorder, an FM radio, stereo Bluetooth, and microSD memory expansion.
All in all, not bad, although business-minded Nokia fans might be more interested in the slim, $99 E71x, which has been available on AT&T for a few months now.
Malware spreading fast via Facebook
As such, Facebook is quickly becoming a hotbed of activity for all kinds of malware and financial scams.
With 200 million registered users, Facebook represents an ocean of fish which are all accessible in one convenient place. It helps that many Facebook users are relatively unsophisticated at the web and especially the complex security issues surrounding it, and are thus more susceptible to attacks delivered via the social network.
Facebook says it's doing its part to fight the problem, but it can't monitor every bit that passes through its servers. Less than 1 percent of its users have been victimized over the last five years, it says. That sounds good, until you realize that could be up to 2 million people, hardly a drop in the bucket.
The exploits cover a wide range of technical and simplistic attacks. Everyday viruses and phishing come-ons are spread through messages and links to third-party websites. A virus by the name of Koobface is one of the site's most notorious and virulent attacks.
Then there are the attacks that attempt to take advantage of users through social engineering techniques. One popular method: Simply message someone's Facebook friends, explain that the person has been injured while traveling overseas, and needs money to get back home. Naturally, the messenger is more than happy to courier the funds if you can spare some cash.
With all its quizzes, games, and fuzzy exterior, Facebook feels mostly harmless, but these stories are a great reminder that security diligence is mandatory no matter where you go on the web. In fact, you need to be extra vigilant when you're on a third-party website, because antivirus and other security utilities are worthless at protecting you from a guy who tells you your college roommate broke her leg.
Hack and steal data via electrical outlet
A few years ago, the idea of using nothing more than a standard electrical outlet to hack into sensitive computer systems would be the stuff of Hollywood -- and far-fetched, eye-rolling Hollywood at that.
I can almost picture the scene: A wily Justin Long taps a few keys on his laptop and we watch the signal race through the power grid to his target, where a hapless government employee types his password into the ultra-secure computer at headquarters. Back with Long, we watch the password show up on his computer screen, as if by magic, thanks to his nifty hacking skills.
It sounds ridiculous.
But it turns out, well, it's basically a reality.
At the Black Hat USA conference later this month, hackers are preparing to unveil their methodology to steal information typed on a computer keyboard using nothing more than the power outlet to which the computer is connected.
The technique behind the exploit isn't as wildly high-tech as you might think, though. Old-fashioned electrical properties are the key to the trick. Here's how it works (in simple terms):
When you type on a standard computer keyboard, electrical signals run through the cable to the PC. Those cables aren't shielded, so the signal leaks via the ground wire in the cable and into the ground wire on the computer's power supply.
The attacker connects a probe to a nearby power socket (perhaps in the vacant office next door or a hotel room across the hall), detects the ground leakage, and converts the signal back into alphanumeric characters. So far, the attack has proven successful using outlets up to about 15 meters away.
If you've got a wireless keyboard or are working on a laptop unplugged from the wall, which would make this attack useless, fret not: The hackers have a method for eavesdropping on you too. A simple laser beam -- better than a laser pointer, but not by much -- can be pointed a shiny object on the table where the computer sits, and the beam's reflection is captured by a receiving system. The vibration of that reflection caused by the striking of keys can be analyzed and, as with the electrical outlet system described above, reconstructed into words, since every key produces a unique vibration pattern. All this technique requires is a direct line of sight to the PC and a few hundred dollars worth of equipment.
Be safe out there, folks.
60 percent Companies to skip Windows 7
In a survey performed by systems management consulting group ScriptLogic, 60 percent of companies said they have no plans (at least for the next few years) to install Microsoft's upcoming and highly-anticipated Windows 7.
That's terrible news for Microsoft, which is still reeling from the dead-on-arrival Windows Vista and a general economic slump that caused the company to undergo its first ever layoffs earlier this year.
The survey polled 1,000-plus companies about their plans for the upgrade, which arrives in October, and found awfully sketchy support. Only 5.4 percent of those surveyed, for example, say they plan to upgrade by the end of 2009.
Why aren't companies rushing to Windows 7? Largely it comes down to money and the lack of employee talent and resources required to get such an upgrade rolled out. 42 percent cited these reasons for postponing or skipping Win 7 altogether.
Compatibility is another big issue for IT staffers, with 39 percent saying they're concerned that existing applications won't run on the new OS. (Though, truth be told, Microsoft is attempting to take great pains to make sure this isn't the case.)
All of this begs the question: If they're skipping Windows 7, what are these companies going to run instead? Vista has made only minimal inroads in corporate computing environments, so the venerable Windows XP is what Win 7-skippers are the most likely to continue to use. But obtaining new Windows XP licenses is getting increasingly difficult.
A bigger problem: Finding future hardware that is compatible with Windows XP, as many manufacturers already offer only a small set of computers for which XP drivers are available, a pool which is sure to continue to shrink over time. It's all part of the computer industry's game of goading you into upgrading eventually -- whether you want to or not -- and for companies that have already skipped Vista, that's a game that will increasingly end up in Microsoft's favor.
Yahoo Lottery?
Dear Lucky Winner, This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of One Million United States Dollars Only (US$1,000 000.00) in the YEAR 2008/2009 YAHOO! Lottery Promotion, which is organized by YAHOO! LOTTERY INC, for the introduction and Launching of the new Yahoo! BETA MAIL which all YAHOO! Subscribers are required to switch to.
Sorry to tell you but, as you might have suspected, it's completely fake. In fact, the only thing legitimate about this message is the address for Yahoo!, which correctly appears at the top of the email.
There is no Yahoo! Lottery at all, of course. The message is simply a thinly disguised ruse designed to get you to give up enough personal information about yourself to pull off an identity theft scam of some sort. Most likely, if you reply to the message you'll be asked for bank account information as well, and possibly a payment from your end to "help facilitate an overseas funds transfer." In any case you'll end up poorer, not richer.
What should you do with such messages if you receive them? Simply mark them as spam in your email reader. If you'd like to file a formal complaint about the message, you can do so on this abuse web page, but there's such an overwhelming flood of junk email reported that little is likely to come of your action.
For more information about this scam, Yahoo! maintains a help page regarding the nonexistent Yahoo! Lottery here. Remember that the come-ons may vary (it may be a Sweepstakes or a Bonus Offer tomorrow), but no matter the specifics, these messages are invariably fake.
Next time better be careful.
Prototype Nokia Phones recharges without wires
Pardon the cliche, but it's one of the holiest of Holy Grails of technology: Wireless power. And while early lab experiments have been able to "beam" electricity a few feet to power a light bulb, the day when our laptops and cell phones can charge without having to plug them in to a wall socket still seems decades in the future.
Nokia, however, has taken another baby step in that direction with the invention of a cell phone that recharges itself using a unique system: It harvests ambient radio waves from the air, and turns that energy into usable power. Enough, at least, to keep a cell phone from running out of juice.
While "traditional" (if there is such a thing) wireless power systems are specifically designed with a transmitter and receiver in mind, Nokia's system isn't finicky about where it gets its wireless waves. TV, radio, other mobile phone systems -- all of this stuff just bounces around the air and most of it is wasted, absorbed into the environment or scattered into the ether. Nokia picks up all the bits and pieces of these waves and uses the collected electromagnetic energy to create electrical current, then uses that to recharge the phone's battery. A huge range of frequencies can be utilized by the system (there's no other way, really, as the energy in any given wave is infinitesimal). It's the same idea that Tesla was exploring 100 years ago, just on a tiny scale.
Mind you, harvesting ambient electromagnetic energy is never going to offer enough electricity to power your whole house or office, but it just might be enough to keep a cell phone alive and kicking. Currently Nokia is able to harvest all of 5 milliwatts from the air; the goal is to increase that to 20 milliwatts in the short term and 50 milliwatts down the line. That wouldn't be enough to keep the phone alive during an active call, but would be enough to slowly recharge the cell phone battery while it's in standby mode, theoretically offering infinite power -- provided you're not stuck deep underground where radio waves can't penetrate.
Nokia says it hopes to commercialize the technology in three to five years.
Fujifilm launching 3-D consumer camera
While the television world haplessly attempts to figure out how to bring 3-D display technology to the home, Fujifilm is charging forward with the bold goal of bringing the third dimension to still camera photos.
The only thing immediately and obviously curious about the company's prototype point-and-shoot camera (pictured above) is the placement of a second lens on its front. One lens is located roughly on each of the upper corners on the front face of the camera, giving the front of the shooter the vague appearance of a smiling robot.
The technology is pretty simple: Snap the shutter and both lenses capture a slightly different image -- the same trick that all 3-D systems use to get that uncanny 3-D effect. More magic is required in the piecing together of the two shots into a single, 3-D image. You need specific technology in order to view 3-D images, and Fujifilm has two options for observers who want to enter the third dimension, neither of which requires special glasses to work.
The first is a custom photo frame which directs the appropriate image to the appropriate eye of the viewer, presumably if he or she stands in just the right spot. The second is the tantalizing option for 3-D prints, with are treated with a plastic coating that "acts as a kind of 3-D lens" that can show off the image in three dimensions. In addition to selling the hardware to take the shots, the company hopes to offer a service to make the prints, ideally with a price of under $5 a pop. Developing pictures? Talk about old school!
The new camera, which doesn't appear to have a model number yet, arrives in Japan this summer and on our shores in September, at an expected price of about $600. Expect to pay a few hundred bucks for the frame, also.
Blogger sentenced for Leaking Guns N' Roses
Kevin Cogill also received one year's probation and must appear in an anti-piracy commercial under the terms of his plea deal with federal prosecutors.
He pleaded guilty last December to a single misdemeanor count of violating federal copyright laws, and agreed to help authorities identify the original source of the leak.
Cogill posted nine tracks from the Guns N' Roses album "Chinese Democracy" onto the Web site antiquiet.com (http://www.antiquiet.com) five months before the CD came out last November. The tracks were widely circulated, diminishing some of the anticipation surrounding the long-awaited album, which was a disappointing seller.
Cogill's public-service announcement for the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the major U.S. music labels, is expected to air during the music industry's Grammy Awards on January 31.
Cogill had faced a maximum of one year in federal prison, a $100,000 fine and five years' probation. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul L. Abrams said there was no profit motive, the tracks were posted on the blog for a short period, and his cooperation proved useful.
A U.S. Dept. of Justice spokesman said the government was still investigating the original source of the tracks.
