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Thursday, June 28, 2007

Microsoft getting into online storage

Microsoft is testing a system called Windows Live Folders that gives computer users up to 500 megabytes of online storage for their documents and other files.

The service gives users who e-mail documents between home and work computers another way to access their files when away from home or the office. Users can choose to keep files private, share them with others or allow anyone on the web to view them.

Windows Live Folders is an indication of Microsoft's growing focus on providing online services.

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Monday, June 25, 2007

Seagate now in the terabyte hard drive club

Seagate is a introducing 1 Terabyte capacity disks with advanced power saving technology. These drives could save up to a quarter of the power consumed by normal drives.

The Barracuda 7200.11 is a 3.5-inch format drive that spins at 7200rpm and has a sustained data rate of 105MB/s. The interface is SATA II running at 3GB/s.

Seagate has added a power saving technology, called PowerTrim, to these drives. Their electronics are managed by new firmware and hardware that monitors what the drive is doing and switches off power to unused parts of the drive electronics.

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Thursday, June 21, 2007

Homeland Security Has Security Issues

The man in charge of IT security for the US Homeland Security department may lose his job after the revelations that his department’s IT systems have misconfigured firewalls, suspicious botnet activity, Trojans and virus infections.

Homeland Security experienced 844 security related incidents on its computer systems in 2005 and 2006. Those incidents included unauthorized users hooking up personal computers to government networks, unauthorized software installations, classified e-mails traveling over unclassified networks, suspicious botnet activity, Trojans and virus infections, classified data spillages and misconfigured firewalls.

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Monday, June 18, 2007

Blockbuster to go with Blu-ray

Blockbuster decided to use Sony's Blu-ray DVD format rather than HD DVD for its high definition format for DVDs. They said it would boost its inventory of the high definition discs to 1,700 stores by mid July. Blu-ray rentals are "significantly outpacing HD DVD rentals," the company said in a statement.

Blu-ray's high-definition digital technology, backed by Sony Corp., offers crisper pictures and more room for special features than current DVDs.

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Thursday, June 14, 2007

Is your computer working for Botnet?

The US Department of Justice and the FBI have released a statement that they have identified over one million computers who have become part of a "botnet" and have been taken over by malicious software for the purpose of sending out spam and attacking other computers.

In January, Vint Cerf estimated that 1/4 of all computers could be part of a botnet. Google researchers recently said that they looked at 4.5 million web pages and round that over 10% of them contained malware or code that attempted to install malware on a user's system.

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Monday, June 11, 2007

Yahoo Messenger security holes

Online attackers are starting to target major security holes in Yahoo Messenger for Windows that can allow an attacker to take over your PC if you view a malicious Web site using Internet Explorer.

Yahoo released an updated version of Yahoo Messenger that closes these security holes. Yahoo Messenger versions downloaded prior to June 8, 2007 are at risk.

Download the fixed version from Yahoo.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

iPhone to be released on June 29

Apple and AT&T stores will begin selling the iPhone on June 29, and lines are expected to be long. The iPhone is a combination iPod, cell phone and Internet device.

Apple has projected sales of 10 million iPhones in its first year and projects potential iPhone sales of 100 million by 2011.

Neither AT&T nor Apple is accepting pre orders for the phone, so it will be first come, first served at more than 1,800 AT&T and nearly 200 Apple stores, plus the Apple Web site.

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Monday, June 04, 2007

Dangerous Search Engines

Searches for peer to peer file sharing clients and digital music on major search engines have a good chance of delivering you to a questionable Web site serving up spyware, adware, and spam.

Search categories such as digital music and tech toys produced between 35 to 50 percent risky sites on average when using search engines owned by Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL.

McAfee's SiteAdvisor browser toolbar identifies risky sites by flagging them (should you visit one) with a "red" warning or a "yellow" cautionary label that appears in your browser.

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Friday, June 01, 2007

Top spammer arrested on multiple charges

Robert Alan Soloway was arrested Wednesday in Seattle on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, email fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

Soloway allegedly spammed the masses in email fraud since 2003 by using hijacked computers from around the world, and covered his tracks using Chinese servers, fabricated websites and stolen identities.

In 2005, Microsoft won a $7.8 million judgment against him for his spoofing of MSN and Hotmail email addresses. Unfortunately, the $7.8 million could never be collected because Soloway’s funds and bank accounts remained elusive.

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