Attacks Through Browsers Are Rising, Microsoft Says

Attacks on operating systems may be decreasing since last year, but attacks on applications, incidents of malware, and unwanted software are rising and account for 90 percent of vulnerabilities, according to the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report, released Saturday.


The amount of malware and unwanted software removed from computers increased 43 percent in the first half of the year, according to the 150-page report, now in its fifth installment. Thirty percent of that malware was Trojan-based, usually in the form of a computer worm or virus disguised as another application that erases data, corrupts files, and reinstalls itself after being disabled.

China had the highest percentage of browser-based attacks at 50 percent, with the United States following with 23 percent. China's infection rate of 6.6 percent, a 41 percent increase from the second half of 2007, was a bit lower than industry experts expected.

Security expert Jose Nazario of Arbor Networks said he thought China would have a higher infection rate than Microsoft's findings, but he wasn't surprised by the percentage of browser-based attacks. "The browser becomes the center and the nexus for the average person because it is feature-rich, and those features increase the vulnerabilities of the browser attacks," Nazario said.

Threats a Continuous Evolution

While businesses and security experts continue to develop software and operating systems to withstand attacks, Microsoft's research shows the problems and threats to both businesses and people continue to evolve.

"The Microsoft Security Intelligence Report gives us a chance to share our extensive analysis of the threat landscape and related guidance with our customers, partners and the broader industry, helping ensure people are better informed and, in turn, protected," said Vinny Gullotto, general manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center.

Microsoft suggests consumers and businesses check for and apply software updates on a continuing basis, enable firewalls, and install antivirus and anti-spyware programs that add another layer of protection.

The software giant also suggests that consumers refrain from opening links and attachments in e-mails and instant messages -- even if they are from a trusted source -- without first considering the harm that opening may cause.

Cause for Change

Microsoft's size and global reach allows it to be one of the best companies to handle both the collection and reporting of data, according to Nazario. "There are some potential problems with Microsoft, but they have the best visibility because of their reach and how they collect data," said Nazario. "They have visibility around the world and can get into the details of what is running the host."

Microsoft also has the most to lose by not responding. Part of the company's validation in conducting this research is that it is in a position to collect the data, respond to security issues, and then analyze and share their findings, similar to what they did with Code Red and Blaster, two breeches that put a huge dent in the company. Code Red, a computer worm, attacked Microsoft's IIS Web server in July 2001, affecting 360,000 hosts, according to published reports. Blaster was a computer worm that affected Windows XP and Windows 2000.

"If they are not responding to these threats, then their market share is under threat," Nazario said. "They have a massive responsibility to keep computing safe."

Gullotto said the company is focused on applying the data from the report to its research and response efforts to provide protection to customers.

"They appear to, from what I can tell reading this (report) over the years and in talking with friends who work there, that they take it to heart and use {the data} to make compelling cases for changing the way they do things," Nazario said.

Source

Nintendo eyes record profit in fiscal year

TOKYO – Japanese gamemaker Nintendo said Friday it was on course for record profits in the current fiscal year, bucking the deepening global financial crisis on surging demand for its blockbuster Wii home console.


Nintendo eyes a record net profit of 345 billion yen ($3.6 billion) in the year ending March 2009. The latest forecast was lowered 16 percent due to a stronger yen, but the new projection is still up 34 percent from the previous fiscal year.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said worldwide sales of the Wii and the DS portable machine remained brisk in the face of a global downturn, and U.S. and European retailers complained they could hardly keep up with demand.

"As far as the overseas market is concerned, I have not seen any signs of slowing demand for the Wii and the DS due to the financial crisis," Iwata told a news conference a day after the company released earnings results. "We can surely meet the sales target of the Wii."

Nintendo Co. expects to sell 27.5 million units of the Wii worldwide in the fiscal year, far outpacing its rival Sony Corp.'s sales target of 10 million units of the PlayStation 3 console during the same period.

Iwata said the soaring sales of the Wii were due to popular game software, including the hugely successful "Wii Fit" exercise game.

"In the United States alone, we are selling 100,000 copies of the Wii Fit game every week," he said.

On Thursday, the company said its fiscal half-year profit through September rose 9.4 percent to 144.8 billion yen ($1.5 billion) and sales rose 20 percent to 836.9 billion yen ($8.6 billion).

Kyoto-based Nintendo sold 8.76 million copies of the Wii Fit game worldwide in the six months to September, and Iwata said he expected to sell 10 million copies of the blockbuster exercise game around the world by the end of this year.

"We keep hearing from European and American retailers saying, 'Don't you have more the Wii, the Wii Fit and the DS.' It's a welcoming headache for us," the president said.

Nintendo's overseas sales, mainly in Europe and the United States, account for 88.5 percent of the company's total revenue, with the remaining 11.5 percent from Japan.

Iwata said the next challenge for Nintendo is to expand its market in Asia.

"We would like to focus on expanding our Asian market next year," he said without elaborating further.

On Saturday, the company is to start domestic sales of the Nintendo DSi, a variation of the DS that comes with a digital camera that will allow players to mix images, scribble on photos and create new faces. Iwata said the DSi will be available overseas in early next year.

Nintendo sold 13.73 million DS hand gaming systems in the first half, up 3 percent even though the device has been on the market for four years.

With the launch of the DSi, Iwata said Nintendo's ambition is to sell the DS machine for everyone.

"We are aiming to sell the DS for every individual, not for every household," he said.

Source

Survey: 22 Percent of Teens Want iPhone

You've gotta feel sorry for parents. In the face of a failing economy, they've got job security to worry about as well as their children -- a growing number of whom want iPhones, a survey says.

Piper Jaffray's 16th bi-annual survey of teenage buying patterns and preferences found that 22 percent of students surveyed expect to own an iPhone in the next six months. That's a sharp increase from 9 percent of teens who reported plans to purchase the popular handset in spring 2008.

The survey also found that 8 percent of the survey's participants already own iPhones -- up from 6 percent reported in spring.

Also, of students expecting to eventually buy a mobile phone, 33 percent specified an iPhone.

iPhones? Back when I was a teenager it was cool if you had a pager. And teens would flirt with each other by writing in pager code like 7415. 804, 48113 7117735 64817630. 9863125 1113123 9123774 5711910.

My take:
It seems the survey is conducted in the USA or may be in some other country or continent but not in my country. Even though the iPhone could create the same kind of hype at my place as it did all over the world it couldn't live up as people were expecting it to be around 200$ here, it was launched at a price of 650$-850$ lol which is a highly expensive. Now our teens are waiting that price to be dropped which is not on the radar I guess after all it's Apple's decision with the network providers here. But teens here still want to have it I mean wish to have it. Whatever I am not into this iPhone mania as I lost impression on the iPhone with the first version launch itself which happened last year. As there was no bluetooth and so features and even this new iPhone doesn't have the basic features like copy paste(Dont ask me if I use them) because I really do use such features.

Source of this article: Wired magazine

T-Mobile G1 Buggy Says A User Review

The first of the user reviews are trickling in and it is not exactly a big thumbs up for the T-Mobile G1, the device based on Google's newly launched Android operating system.


The G1 "does not run as smoothly as you would think" says a user with the handle 'kaziko' on AndroidCommunity.com

A few applications on the phone "stutter" and the device needs to be restarted more than a few times to ensure smooth operation, says the review.

There's another potential hazard for G1 buyers. The "battery charger makes the bottom of the phone extremely hot," says the review.

On the brighter side, the review described the phone as "(HTC) Sidekick with massive steroids" and that the device has good voice call quality, a loud speaker and comes with instant messaging clients including Google Talk, AIM, ICQ and MSN. Wonder why no Yahoo instant messenger though.

GI also has a fairly responsive touchscreen, says the user, something that has been a problem for a few HTC devices.

The phone's design including its slide-out keyboard and the Android apps marketplace, similar to Apple's iPhone App store, also get bonus points.

The review isn't an official one since the G1 will not be out till Oct. 22. It could be based off a test unit out there available to T-Mobile or Google employees and some of issues listed could still be fixed through a firmware update before the release.

Overall, it seems like the G1 will be a mixed bag. The device is exciting because it is the first to be based on Google's new mobile operating system but it just doesn't have the mix of design and features that could make it a blockbuster hit among consumers.

Complete Review [Android Community]

My take:
I think this mobile would be good. Right now I'm reading the book about google 'The Google Story' and I can clearly see how Google evolved so I think I would believe that Google concentrates a lot on quality. So even the above review (which is done before the release date) mentions that there are some flaws I would still like to mention that that the phone may be good, at least for geeks lol. As consumers are more into much hyped phones like the iPhones, tech guys may be into these kind of phones as they do not need much of presentation but need things like security and logic.
Enough said I guess. I wonder when the mobile is going to come to my country, may be in 1 more year.
Source to above article is: Wired magazine

BlackBerry Curve 8900 get early video praise, T-Mobile Germany says November

Just when we're all geared up to get crazy corporate with a bunch of Bold purchases, RIM has to go and make our lives difficult by reminding us that the Javelin / Curve 8900 is out there -- lurking -- just waiting to make a grand entrance sometime in the next few months. A new video posted to CrackBerry goes through the 8900's finer points, noting that the handset clocks in just a bit more compact than its big brother, features a slightly smaller, higher dot pitch display, and carries over an original Curve-style keyboard with spaced keys rather than the flowing design employed on the Bold (for what it's worth, the narrator seems to like both styles equally). Interestingly, it's noted that this prototype employs an older trackball design that'll allegedly be replaced with a more bulletproof design by the time it launches. The lack of 3G is going to be a dream killer for many, but we could see this one getting some retail legs underneath it if the price is right -- it's got WiFi, after all.

In fact, T-Mobile Germany is saying that it'll have the 8900 next month -- a claim we actually believe, since Germany is from the future. The trackball shown on its version of the handset is distinctly different than CrackBerry's, so it's looking like the claim of a redesign might hold water.

[Thanks, Alex]

Source: Engadget

Japanese Eggheads Fit 42 GB Onto a Single DVD

Japanese researchers have figured out a way to cram a Blu-ray slaying 42GB onto a single, old fashioned DVD. How have they managed this? By making the small pits that hold the data bigger.

By replacing the shallow old flat-bottomed holes with new, high-tech v-shaped gouges, the discs have room for a lot more data. Apparently the same technique will work for CDs, too.

You're too smart to believe this, right? There must be a trick? There certainly is. A new data reading and writing technique has been developed by the Tohoku University researchers. Because the holes have sloping sides, the lasers can be bounced off at various angles, giving each pit the potential to store any one of a byte's worth of bits. Instead of just one or zero, there are now a range of values in between.

Smart, but as James Sherwood of The Register writes, why bother? Instead of building new hardware to do this to DVDs, why not do the same thing to Blu-ray, upping the storage by an order of magnitude? Half Terabyte optical discs? That's what we're talking about.

Source: WiRed

German users claim MacBook Air can cut through bread, flesh

This one is quite interesting in my opinion. Mac book Air is surely interesting but still I didn't like it for the only small reason that it doesn't have an optical drive which I find it a lot important than the slimness it boasts off.
Whatever, carry on reading about this interesting story by some German users.




Now, we know that the MacBook Air is one thin laptop, but some Apple forum members in Germany are claiming that the edge of the laptop is not only sharp -- but downright dangerous. According to "Apple Talk" reader Bajuware, his MBA went kill-crazy all over his elbow while he was cold-chillin' on his couch. The details are a little hard to suss out due to the language barrier (and machine translation), but it would appear the Air's bottom edge made nasty work of the human flesh like someone had insulted its mother. Another MBA owner claims his computer is sharp enough to slice bread, though we assume it's not used for buttering. Honestly, we're not sure what kind of danger an innocent MacBook Air could really pose besides causing you to throw out your back constantly plugging in the AC to charge that not-quite-as-advertised battery.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/