Sony’s PlayStation 3 beat the monthly sales of Nintendo’s rival Wii in Japan for the first time in November, signalling that the battle between the two next generation consoles many yet have further to run.

The news comes in the run-up to the crucial Christmas period, after Sony cut the price of the PS3 and more games become available for the console.

Sony sold 183,217 PS3s in Japan in the four weeks to November 25, against sales of 159,193 for the Wii, according to the closely-watched survey from Enterbrain, the games magazine publisher.

The report comes is a blow to Nintendo, which has seen the Wii sell as many as six times as many units as the PS3 in recent months.

Analysts have argued that the Wii – a product largely constructed from of-the-shelf components – runs the risk of suffering a much shorter lifespan that the PS3, which is largely powered by expensively developed proprietary technology.

The Wii, which has been profitable from its very early sales, had been the run-away global leader in the $30 billion-a-year video games market. That feat was largely achieved through the Japanese group’s decision to underprice its rivals and target “non-core gamers”, such as older people and women.

Read more at Times Online

Game console makers may be making millions of gamers happy, but environmental watchdog Greenpeace is giving the industry dismal scores.

Greenpeace on Monday issued its quarterly "Guide to Greener Electronics," which ranks consumer electronics manufacturers and their policies regarding toxic chemicals and recycling.

At the bottom of the heap are Nintendo, Philips, and Microsoft.

Nintendo has the distinction of being the first global brand to score zero on Greenpeace's criteria in the quarterly report, which for the first time includes televisions and game consoles.

Nintendo managed that by scoring zero in the five categories related to the use of harmful chemicals, including offering no list of banned or restricted substances and no policy regarding the use of vinyl plastic or brominated flame retardants. It also scored zero in the four categories related to recycling.

Part of Nintendo's poor score stems from lack of available information. Nintendo supplied insufficient information or no information on a number of Greenpeace's individual benchmarks.

Read more at CNet

Apple Inc's iPhone went on sale in France on Wednesday with operator Orange predicting nearly half a million users in a year.

Didier Lombard, chief executive of Orange parent France Telecom, told a news conference analysts' forecasts of between 400,000 and 500,000 subscribers within the first year were in line with the company's own planning.

"That is the middle of the range of our forecasts," Lombard said.

Hundreds of eager buyers lined up in front of Orange's boutique on Paris' Champs Elysees just before the launch late on Wednesday afternoon. The handset was sold in just 12 cities on Wednesday before a nationwide roll-out on Thursday.

Read more at Reuters

Internet search leader Google Inc. is testing technology that will find the location of people using its mobile mapping service, even if the phone making the connection isn't equipped with a GPS receiver.

The new tracking feature introduced Wednesday is being touted as an added convenience because it will enable people on the go to skip the task of typing a starting address on a mobile handset's small keys when they turn to Google's maps for guidance.

Using the technology, dubbed "My Location," simply requires pressing zero on a mobile handset equipped with the new software. The sender's location shows up as a blue dot on Google's mobile maps.

The tracking system isn't set up to collect a user's phone number or any other personal information that would reveal a person's identity, said Steve Lee, product manager for Google's mobile maps. As a safeguard, the feature can be turned off at any time by simply clicking on a link in the help menu.

Those assurances probably will alleviate privacy concerns raised about the new service, said analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence.

After trying out "My Location" on a Blackberry device, Sterling predicted people will embrace it. He called it "an incremental improvement but still meaningful."

Unlike GPS, Google's tracking feature works while handsets are indoors. "My Location" also drains less power from a phone's battery than a GPS receiver does.

Read more at AP

The 3G iPhone has been naught but a rumor until AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson opened his mouth recently and spilled the beans. Oh, how Steve Jobs must be fuming right now. All Stephenson would commit to is "next year", but that's enough for many.

Though the iPhone has been a good seller since its June 29 debut, there are many who have decided against purchasing it because it is limited to EDGE data networks and can't access faster 3G wireless data speeds. Looks like they won't have to wait too much longer before a 3G version of the iPhone becomes available.

At a meeting in California, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told reporters that a 3G version will be available next year. He also said that he couldn't say exactly when it will be available, or how much more it will cost than the current version of the iPhone, which sells for $399.

Read more at IW

The ultimate goal of the Million Book Project is to digitize every book that has ever been published.

It's only 1 percent of the way toward that target -- but that still makes for some impressive numbers.

The project, based at Carnegie Mellon University and working with partners in China, India and Egypt, has now scanned 1.5 million books, which can be viewed for free at the project's Web site, ulib.org.

The project's founders, led by former Carnegie Mellon computer science dean Raj Reddy, hope that one day, every book will be available in any language the reader wants it in.

For now, though, books on the site are only available in their original languages.

Because the project has relied heavily on scanning centers in China and India to save money, 976,000 of the books scanned so far are in Chinese, nearly 100,000 are in various Indian languages, and 40,000 are in Arabic, a special contribution of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina library in Alexandria, Egypt.

About a quarter of the total -- 366,000 -- are in English, said Michael Shamos, a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor who is the project's director.

So far, virtually none of the books is in modern European languages because libraries in those nations haven't been willing to cooperate with the project, Dr. Shamos said, and none is in Latin or classical Greek.

But that doesn't deter him.

"If it's a wacky, obscure collection so far, it doesn't matter," he said, "because for us, it's just a stepping stone to the next 10 million books."

Visitors to the Web site can search for books by title, author, language, country, subject or year written. The project currently has 18 books written between 1000 and 1100 A.D., for instance, and 7,746 in Sanskrit.

The project began in the late 1990s with Dr. Reddy's efforts to create a universal library, but shifted into higher gear in 2002 after receiving a $3.5 million seed grant from the National Science Foundation.

Read more at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

MySpace parent News Corp. is developing an online ad-serving technology that will be used to sell and serve ads on MySpace, other News Corp. properties, and eventually other media sites, Fox Interactive Media president Peter Levinsohn said at a media conference Monday.

That news dovetails well with rumors that News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch plans to make The Wall Street Journal a free news site. Ever since going online, the Journal has been available only to subscribers and paying customers.

"We're well down the path in terms of discussions with some of the other News Corp. properties to do ad serving," Levinsohn said at the Reuters Media Summit in New York. "Ultimately we'll take the company off network and become an ad network for assets outside of the News Corporation empire."

Read more at NewsFactor

It looks as though Dell has even more up its sleeve today after the announcement of the Dell Precision T5400 and T7400. Next up to bat for Dell is the XPS m1530 notebook.

The 15.4" XPS m1530 is the bigger brother to the XPS m1330 which sports a 13.3" display. Processor options for the new notebook range from a 1.5GHz Core 2 Duo T5250 on up to a 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo T7800 processor. As with most new notebooks today, the XPS m1530 supports up to 4GB of DDR2 memory.

Customers can choose from either a 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS or GeForce 8600M GT for graphics duties while storage options are plentiful -- up to 200GB (7200 RPM), 300GB (5400 RPM) or 64GB (SSD) are supported. Other storage options include either a slot-loading dual-layer DVD burner or a slot-loading Blu-ray drive.

Other niceties include three USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI output, Firewire, an 8-in-1 media reader, an ExpressCard slot and integrated 2.0MP camera. Options include an Intel 802.11n wireless card, Dell Wireless 5520 HSDPA, Dell Wireless 5720 EVDO and Bluetooth 2.0.

Read more at DailyTech

Nintendo Co. sold more Wii game consoles last week than in any week since the popular gadget launched in late 2006, but executives warned Tuesday that Wiis would be scarce through the end of the year.

Nintendo sold 350,000 last week, when many stores were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, compared to 300,000 the previous week. The only time with higher sales was an eight-day period in late November 2006, when the Wii debuted and more than 600,000 units sold.

The company is on track to sell 17.5 million Wiis in the fiscal year ending March 31. Last fall, Nintendo executives predicted they would sell 14.5 million Wiis.

They were producing roughly 1.2 million units per month at the time.

Nintendo has ramped up production to about 1.8 million per month, but its manufacturers cannot increase production again, said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, who spent Friday and Saturday spot-checking Wii supplies at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, GameStop, Target and Toys R Us stores in Erie, Penn., and Redmond, Wash.

"I couldn't find a single Wii system on the shelves — literally as I was walking into a Wal-Mart at 11 a.m., someone was walking out with the last one," Fils-Aime said in an interview at the company's new office here. "Consumers are buying every game we can put into the system."

Fils-Aime predicted a new sales record the week before Christmas, despite being "very concerned" about the U.S. economy and the rising price of gasoline. About 40 percent of Wii sales have been in North America and Latin America, while 35 percent were in Asia, primarily Japan, and the rest came from Europe and the Middle East.

He dismissed speculation online that the Kyoto, Japan-based company — maker of Pokemon and Super Mario games — is deliberately constraining supply of the $250 console to generate buzz.

Read more at AP

Federal prosecutors tried unsuccessfully to force Amazon.com to identify thousands of innocent customers who bought books online, then abandoned the idea after a judge rebuked them.

In an order that was sealed but has now become public, U.S. District Judge Stephen Crocker rejected the Justice Department's subpoena for details on Amazon's customers and their purchasing habits. Prosecutors had claimed the details would help them prove their case against a former Madison, Wisc., city official charged with tax evasion related to selling used books through Amazon.

"The subpoena is troubling because it permits the government to peek into the reading habits of specific individuals without their prior knowledge or permission," Crocker wrote in June. Amazon filed the lawsuit to quash the grand jury subpoena.

The case is reminiscent of last year's attempts by federal prosecutors to wrest sensitive search-related information from Google through a subpoena. A California judge eventually rejected the request for users' search queries (and allowed only an excerpt from Google's index of Web sites).

In both cases, the judges worried about public perception. California's Judge James Ware was concerned about the "perception by the public" that Google search terms are "subject to government scrutiny." In the Amazon case, Judge Crocker predicted that "rumors of an Orwellian federal criminal investigation into the reading habits of Amazon's customers could frighten countless potential customers into canceling planned online book purchases, now and perhaps forever."

Instead of giving the Bush administration what it wanted, Crocker split the difference, saying that Amazon could send letters to its customers asking them whether they voluntarily wanted to contact the Feds.

Read more at Cnet

Google is set to extend its online storage services in a bid to become a central repository for the public’s digital data.

The web giant is understood to be readying a new data storage service – thought to be dubbed “GDrive” – that would allow users to store digital files such as music tracks on the internet and access them via a web browser.

A spokesman for Google refused to comment directly on speculation that the company will launch the service in a matter of weeks, but said: “Storage is an important component of making web [applications] fit easily into consumers' and business users' lives.”

Last year Google inadvertently leaked a presentation memo that outlined its plans in data storage – moves apparently designed to make the hard drives installed on personal computers all but defunct.

“With infinite storage, we can house all user files, including: emails, web history, pictures, bookmarks, etc and make it accessible from anywhere (any device, any platform, etc)," it said.

Plans to extend Google’s reach over the public’s data is likely to spark renewed concerns from privacy activists who claim the company is already party to vast amounts of personal information. Concerns over data security escalated sharply last week when it emerged that the Government lost details of 25 million Britons in the post.

Executives at Microsoft are also likely to be wary of Google's plans. Analysts have argued that the long-anticipated GDrive could make it easier for consumers to abandon Windows, Microsoft’s dominant operating system.

Henry Blodget, the technology blogger, said: “The critical element here will be seamlessness: If Google forces users to go through an inconvenient "uploading" process, the product will be just another easy-for-Microsoft-to-duplicate [tool]

Read more at Times Online

Beta18 Exclusive- Today, we received a fake email pretending to be from egreetings.com. It is just not another spam email but a dangerous email that spreads harmful malware. It gives a link that appears to be from egreetings.com but is actually linking to a Russian website hosting a file GreetingCards.exe.


Downloading and executing this WinRar archive will install a dangerous virus called IRC/BackDoor.Flood and two different Trojan Horse if proper anti-malware protection is not available. We are providing a screenshot of the avg free test results of the infected file plus the content of the fake email. If you have McAfee SiteAdvisor installed, it will prevent you from downloading this file from your browser.

---FAKE EMAIL---

Notification from eGreetings.com
from-eGreetings.com Inc
date-Nov 27, 2007 2:46 AM
subject-Notification from eGreetings.com

Hi , a friend has sent you a greeting card just now!
Please click the link below to view your sent Greeting Card....If the link is not clickable just copy and paste or type the address in your browser..ENJOY!!
this is a flash executable that you can save on your hard drive so you can look at it anytime you like!

Your Sent Greeting Card hettp://www.egreetings.com/pickup.htm?pid=111XXXXXXXXX (harmful clickable link, actually linking to a Russian malware site)

If you have trouble using the link we provided, please follow these easy steps:

1) Click this link to go to our homepage,
or copy and paste it into your browser's address line:http://www.egreetings.com
2) Enter your card ID 111XXXXXXXXX in the Pick up ID Box
Your card will be available for you 30 days. If you would like to send a card yourself please go to :http://www.egreetings.com
Get your egreetings.com Reminder Service
and Printable Calendars http://www.egreetings.com/reminder © Copyright 2000-2007 www.egreetings.com Free Online Greeting Cards

Beta18 Exclusive- Phishers are attempting to fool Regions Bank Customers with regular fake email reminders to verify their accounts. We received same three emails over a span of three days from November 20-22. However, the phishing website links were different in each email. All the sites are fortunately down by now. We encourage readers not to reply or visit any links provided in such emails. Here's the content of the fake email-

----FAKE EMAIL----

from-Regions Bank

subject-Regular Account Maintenance

Dear Regions Valued Member,

We are currently performing regular maintenance of our security measures.Your account has been randomly selected for this maintenance, and you will now be taken through a series of identity verification pages. To perform regular maintenance please click here .

Please Note: If we do no receive the appropriate account verification within 24 hours, then we will assume this account is fraudulent and will be suspended. The purpose of this verification is to ensure that your account has not been fraudulently used and to combat the fraud from our community.

Thank you for using Regions!

The Regions Team

----FAKE EMAIL ENDS----

Security research firm Secunia has reported what it calls an "extremely critical" vulnerability in media-streaming program Apple QuickTime.

The flaw, which affects the latest versions of QuickTime, 7.x, has not been patched and could allow a hacker to gain remote control of an affected system. It lies in a boundary error, when the program processes Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) replies, according to Secunia's advisory, published on Monday.

RTSP allows a client to remotely control video streams. Working exploit code is in the wild, said Secunia, which linked from its advisory to details of the code on another security research site, milw0rm, which is where the vulnerability was initially recorded by Polish security researcher Krystian Kloskowski.

Symantec reports that both IE 6 and 7 (as well as Safari 3 block the attack. However, relying on this as a defence may be unwise. "Attackers may attempt to refine the exploit in the coming days in order to overcome this initial hiccup and work to create a reliable exploit that works on Internet Explorer," Symantec notes.

For the meantime, Firefox users are more exposed to the problem, especially if they've selected QuickTime as the default player for multimedia formats.

Pending a patch from Microsoft, users are advised to restrict outbound connections on port TCP 554 using their firewalls, advice that's probably easier to apply in corporate environments. Home users are warned to avoid any temptation to follow links to untrusted websites.

Read more at ZDNet, The Register

Testers over at Devil Mountain Software have analyzed the performance of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (Release Candidate). They found that "testing with OfficeBench showed an ~10% performance boost vs. the same configuration running under Windows XP w/Service Pack 2."

Windows XP Service Pack 3 build 3244 is now twice as fast as Windows Vista in the OfficeBench benchmark program. They used a Dell XPS M1710 laptop with 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 1GB of RAM and nVidia GeForce Go 7900GS video. The machine runs Microsoft Office 2007.

Craig Barth of Devil Mountain stated that “Since SP3 was suppoed to be mostly a bug-fix/patch consolidation release, the unexpected speed boost comes as a ncie bonus. In fact, XP SP3 is shaping up to be a must-have update for the majority fo users who are still running Redmond’s not-so-latest and greatest desktop OS.”

15,000 testers have been given Windows XP SP3 Release Candiate. It will feature over 1,000 hot fixes and patches which have been put out over the past three years and at least four new features.

Windows XP users have been waiting for this one for quite some time and with the news that it gives a performance boost, the anticipation is higher than ever.

Read more at eFM, dbTechno

According to Sony's official released data, over one million units have been shipped to retailers all over Japan since the launch of the model on September 20.

The new figures beat the PSP's previous record. The first edition of the handheld console needed two weeks more to achieve the same goal.

Compared to the original PSP, which went on sale in December 2004, the new model is 33 percent lighter and 19 percent thinner. It is also slightly cheaper and has a larger LCD screen. An optional digital TV tuner is also available that allows users to tune into Japan's free-to-air mobile digital TV broadcasts.

According to previously published sales estimates Sony managed to sell around 250,000 of the new PSP during its first four days on sale. In recent weeks sales have fallen back but are still doing well.

In the week from November 12 to 18 the PSP was the second most popular piece of games hardware sold in Japan, according to Media Create. The agency, which estimates national sales based on point-of-sales system data, said 65,609 PSPs were sold during the week. The leading Nintendo DS saw sales of 76,069 units.

Read more at PC World, Portal IT

The iPhone is a design and marketing phenomenon and rarely have we see a device polarise opinions as thoroughly as Apple's so-called 'Jesus Phone'. But are the nays outweighing the yays...?

According to UK analyst group GfK NOP that certainly seems the case. It polled 500 Brits and discovered that 46 per cent of respondents have simply dismissed the handset based on price, while a further 26 per cent admitted an interest but only if ownership costs reduced significantly. Even more bleak for Cupertino were figures which reveal just two per cent are considering buying the iPhone this Christmas. An additional eight per cent even confessed to a vitriolic hatred.

"This is a highly competitive market and the mobile phone manufacturers have very strong brand loyalty," said GfK NOP spokesman Richard Jameson. "Apple needs more than cutting-edge design to penetrate this market and will have to work much harder in the UK than it did in the US."

Read More-Via[TR]

In October 2007 Vertu launched the next generation of Ascent handsets, the Vertu Ascent Ti collection. Precision engineered for strength and balance with a distinctly masculine edge, the Vertu Ascent Ti takes its design and material cues from high performance sports cars.

Unrivalled design

Handcrafted in England, the new Vertu Ascent Ti is testament to Vertu’s uncompromising attitude to craftsmanship and engineering. The striking silhouette emulates the clean, sculpted curves of a powerful car, while the onscreen chronograph and offset illumination of the keypad echo precision dashboard instruments. ‘Ti’ is the chemical symbol for Titanium, the non-corrosive element with the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal and an ability to withstand extreme temperatures. Usually found in sports car engines, High Performance Titanium forms the chassis of the Ascent Ti handset.

Frank Nuovo, Vertu Principal Designer, comments: ‘From the start the Vertu Ascent has been heavily influenced by the power, energy, and sheer precision of a beautiful car. With the Vertu Ascent Ti, this vision has been developed further using the high grade materials, design detail, technical superiority and unsurpassed performance associated with the luxury sports car industry. The result is a highly crafted handset of precision, balance and strength.’

Meticulous detail

Every component, from the tanned cow-hide leather to the scratch-resistant sapphire crystal face and highly polished ceramic, is of the highest possible specification and hand assembled by expertly trained craftsmen. The finished product is then taken through a series of rigorous tests of every aspect of the phone, from sound quality to extreme robustness.

Read More-Via[BWI]

LG Electronics India has announced the launch of two new handsets- the KG288 and the KG 285. These new feature-rich and full loaded mobile phones happen to be LG’s latest entrants to target entry-level customers who wish to own a stylish color phone.

The KG 288 and the KG 285 mobile phones come pre-loaded with an anti-theft tracking technology. This is the USP of the phones.

Also, both the LG KG 288 and KG 285 handsets feature games like Sudoku as well. The KG 288 phone in particular features a hot key for FM stereo radio. It also supports FM on speakers. This handset also comes with an inbox headset for FM listening.

Besides this the KG 288 and KG 285 handsets sport a TFT 65K Color Display and an excellent quality speaker phone. They both also have one of the best keypads in the class, according to LG.

Read More-Via[TechShout]

The city-based Ichip India has developed a technology to deliver Internet-based entertainment, education and communication services through a single integrated device.

The new device, @Box, is reckoned to be an affordable replacement for home entertainment PC. The company plans to start commercial production of the new low-cost device by March next year and deploy it in a million households in one year. It could be priced at around $ 100 per device.

It is also in talks with an original equipment manufacturer in India for making TVs with in-built @Box in it. The company expects to launch the new TVs by the middle of next year. It is also looking at partnering with telecom and broadband service providers including BSNL, MTNL and Bharti for launching service like IPTV (Internet protocol television) and VoIP (voice over Internet protocol).

"At about $100 per piece, every Indian household would be able to access Internet at home. The hardware, operating system and the software are developed by our company. It is an easy to use unlike a personal computer”, said K A Padmanabham, chairman & managing director of Ichip India.

Read More-Via[ET]

Microsoft's Get Genuine Solution (GGS) will enable SMBs to legalize their counterfeit or unlicensed Windows XP Professionals PCs.

Valid for a limited period of time in India, China, Brazil, and Russia, it's a simple and a scalable solution for businesses that want to legalize Windows XP licenses through Microsoft's reseller partners.

The solution aims at easing the pain businesses face while migrating to original software. It allows them to derive greater value out of their technologies.

Customers who opt for GGS also have the option of enrolling into Microsoft's Software Assurance (SA) program that allows them the choice of an upgrade path to Windows Vista.

Read More-Via[CT]

Facebook, the popular social networking site, has become a full-fledged platform for communicating, sharing and advertising. ABC News is betting that it will become a platform for political coverage, as well.

ABC News and Facebook have formally established a partnership — the site’s first with a news organization — that allows Facebook members to electronically follow ABC reporters, view reports and video and participate in polls and debates, all within a new “U.S. Politics” category.

To underscore their collaboration, the two organizations will announce today that they are jointly sponsoring Democratic and Republican presidential debates in New Hampshire on Jan. 5, three days before the primary election there.

“Through this partnership, we want to extend the dialogue both before and after the debate,” said Dan Rose, Facebook’s vice president for business development.

The announcements are another sign that news organizations are looking to capitalize on the potential power of Facebook, which began as a database of college friendships, and other social networking sites. Media companies like The New York Times and The Washington Post have produced pages for use on Facebook and some newspapers, magazines and television stations have recently invited users to join special pages that are set up to follow reporters’ political coverage. But ABC’s new relationship is intended to be deeper.

“There are debates going on at all times within Facebook,” David Westin, the president of ABC News and a new Facebook member, said. “This allows us to participate in those debates, both by providing information and by learning from the users.”

Read More-Via[NyTimes]

Although auctioneers initially considered the Internet a threat, its growth and development of searchable Web sites like AuctionZip have contributed to a boom in the live-auction industry, with one-time rivals forming partnerships that produce bigger audiences for sellers, often by simulcasting live auctions on the Web.

Buyers emboldened by success on eBay and other sites are seeking live sales in search of lower prices — and the thrill of competing in person.

Sales of goods and services at live auctions totaled $257 billion in 2006, a surge of 7 percent over 2005.

A study for the Kansas-based National Auctioneers Association found residential real estate auctions have grown 39 percent since 2003, agricultural real estate grew 33 percent, and sales of commercial and industrial property surged 27 percent. Car auctions increased by 10.5 percent and charity auctions rose 16.5 percent.

Earlier this year, the 6,000-member National Auctioneers Association teamed up with Gemstar-TV Guide International to launch Auction Network, which produces Webcasts of auctions.

"The Internet has been the greatest thing that ever happened to the auction industry," said NAA president Tommy Williams, an Oklahoma real estate auctioneer. "It made us reinvent ourselves."

Auctioneers were slow to embrace the Internet because it was considered competition, said Ina Steiner of Natick, Mass., editor of AuctionBytes, a trade publication for online merchants.

But now, even rural residents often have sufficient Web service to compete and sellers realize that customers have choices far beyond eBay. There are specialty sites like Bid4Assets for real estate and IronPlanet for construction equipment.

"General consumers, they go to sites like eBay," Steiner said. "But they might go to Google. Google's the great equalizer. If an auction site is savvy and has a listing optimized for Google, people can find them."

The intersection of live and virtual auctions promises nearly limitless opportunity, and a few companies have already found niches by pairing traditional auction houses with the online world.

Read more at AP

comScore has released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the search marketplace. Among core search engines in October 2007, Google Sites remained the top search property with more than 6.1 billion core searches conducted, representing a 58.5 percent share of the search market. October was a strong month for overall search activity, as each of the five core search engines achieved at least 5 percent growth in the number of searches conducted.

October U.S. Core Search Rankings

In October, Google Sites increased its lead atop the core search ranking with 58.5 percent of U.S. searches, gaining 1.5 share points versus the previous month. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 22.9 percent, followed by Microsoft Sites (9.7 percent), Ask Network (4.7 percent) and Time Warner Network (4.2 percent).

In October, Americans conducted 10.5 billion searches at the core search engines, marking a 12-percent increase versus September. More than 6.1 billion core searches were conducted at Google Sites during the month (up 15 percent), while Yahoo! Sites recorded 2.4 billion (up 8 percent). All core search engines posted solid gains in search query volume in October.

October U.S. Expanded Search Rankings

In the October 2007 analysis of the Top 50 properties worldwide where search activity is observed, Google Sites led the pack with approximately 7.5 billion searches. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with nearly 2.6 billion searches, followed by Microsoft Sites (1 billion), Time Warner Network (905 million) and Ask Network (493 million). Ask.com saw particularly strong growth, gaining nearly 23 percent in search query volume versus September, while Facebook.com entered the ranking at number 9 with 152 million searches.

Read more at comScore

Internet users in France who frequently download music or films illegally risk losing Web access under a new anti-piracy system unveiled on Friday.

The three-way pact between Internet service providers, the government and owners of film and music rights is a boon to the music industry, which has been calling for such measures to stop illicit downloads eating into its sales.

Under the agreement -- drawn up by a commission headed by the chief executive of FNAC, one of France's biggest music and film retailers -- service providers will issue warning messages to customers downloading files illegally.

If users ignore those messages, their accounts could be suspended or closed altogether.

"We run the risk of witnessing a genuine destruction of culture," French president Nicolas Sarkozy said in a speech endorsing the deal.

"The Internet must not become a high-tech Far West, a lawless zone where outlaws can pillage works with abandon or, worse, trade in them in total impunity.

And on whose backs? On artists' backs," he added. An independent authority will be set up and put in charge of deciding when to issue Internet users with "electronic warning messages". The authority will be supervised by a judge.

Read more at Reuters

A Sony representative has told GamesIndustry.biz that reports of a PlayStation Phone are wide of the mark.

This comes after a story in the Economic Times of India which claimed that Sony Computer Entertainment might be working with Sony Ericsson on the project - following the launch of a Bravia-branded handset.

SCE's co-chief operating officer, Jim Ryan, had apparently told the publication: "The PlayStation is a proven success and so is Sony Ericsson. Convergence with the two arms working together is definitely plausible."

And now, Sony flat-out denies any such project, according to CVG, saying that Ryan's statement to The Economic Times of India was a misquote. They will say they're "talking" about "various topics," but at this time, there is no PlayStation Phone.

"Jim Ryan was in fact misquoted by the Economic Times of India about this issue," a Sony UK spokesperson told CVG. "We do have talks with other arms of the Sony family about various topics but I can confirm we are not currently working together on the creation of a PlayStation Phone."

Read more at PSXextreme, gamesindustry

Beta18 Exclusive- Phishers are attempting to lure Bank of America Customers this time. Here's the phishing message:

Bank of America Account Review Department ! Your Online Banking is Blocked Because of unusual number of invalid login attempts on you account, we had to believe that, their might be some security problem on you account. So we have decided to put an extra verification process to ensure your identity and your account security. Please click on sign in to Online Banking to continue to the verification process and ensure your account security. It is all about your security. Thank you, and visit the customer service section.

Here's a screen shot of the of the phishing email-

Clicking on Circled Links will land you on this phishing website-

McAfee Site Advisor Successfully Detected it. However Firefox couldn't. We have reported it to Mozilla.

"Phishing" is a particularly popular scam where a party tricks a user into providing a username and password or other personal information necessary to commit identity theft. The most common requested information is a Social Security number, bank account number, PIN number, credit card number, or mother's maiden name.

In many cases, this party creates an official-looking web page that asks for this information. Users will often receive a link to this phishing page via an email which claims to come from an official-looking (but likely forged) address. Given the nature of the web, it's easy to stumble upon these fraudulent websites by following links that you find in your email, on the web, or in IM messages.

There's a certain amount of crowing associated with hacking the blog of a security team - which might be why a hacker, apparently Russian, broke into the blog of the Cambridge University security team at the Light Blue Touchpaper blog.

He did it via some weaknesses in their Wordpress installation, upgrading himself from a plain "can post" user to an admnistrator of the blog using a zero-day (that is, previously unnoted) vulnerability, via SQL injection.

But the interesting part came later, when the team was clearing up. They could see the user, but what password had he used? All they had was the entry in the MySQL database for the password; but that had been loosely encoded (encrypted is too strong a word) using the MD5 hash.

You shouldn't, in theory, be able to extract the original text from an MD5 hash. That would take millions, or at least thousands, of computers running all the time.

Read More-Via[GU]

Non-profit organisation the One Laptop Per Child foundation, which has produced the rugged XO budget laptop for developing nations, has this week announced that its initially limited time ‘Give One Get One’ promotional program is to be extended through to the end of the year.

Launched on November 12, the ‘Give One Get One’ offer was only supposed to run for a two-week period, allowing consumers in North America to pay $399 USD to purchase a single unit of the $200 USD Quanta-made XO laptop, while a second unit would be dispatched to a needy child in a developing country.

However, a massive surge of mainstream consumer demand following the launch of ‘Give One Get One’ has resulted in the foundation pushing back the offer’s closure until December 31, 2007.

"In the past 10 days, we’ve experienced an outpouring of support from the public that is truly gratifying and encouraging," enthused Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of the One Laptop Per Child foundation. "Because so many people have asked for more time to participate either individually or in order to organize local and national groups to which they belong, we have decided to extend Give One Get One through the end of this year.

Read More-Via[M&C]

Internet telephony firm Skype could have kept the London numbers it stripped from customers this week for only a modest fee.

Yesterday, we[PCpro] revealed how the company had angered hundreds of its customers by suddenly withdrawing their 0207 numbers. Business customers were given just a month's notice, leaving many with thousands of pounds worth of printed advertising and stationery that was now effectively useless.

In a company statement, Skype said that it had "to return some of the 0207 SkypeIn numbers to one of our suppliers of London numbers".

However, the chief executive of the supplier in question, GCI Telecom, has told PC Pro the company could have retained the numbers for only a few pounds per month, per line.

GCI's Don McQueen says a rush from VoIP companies for the highly-desirable 0207 numbers has led to increased charges across the board. "Everyone wants to put a central London number on their business card - it has a good brand," says McQueen. "VoIP carriers are all racing to get to them."

McQueen claims that Skype were previously being charged "a very, very small management fee" for the 0207 numbers, and that GCI offered to renew Skype's rights to the numbers for a modest fee. He says the wholesale price would have "been significantly less" than the £4 per month his company charges for 0207 VoIP numbers, but Skype refused to meet the demands. "Negotations broke down in early November," McQueen reveals.

Read More-Via[PCpro]

State run telecom companies -- BSNL and MTNL -- have been excluded from the panel to review spectrum allocation norms recommended by the Telecom Engineering Centre.

The committee, headed by DoT Additional Secretary R Bandhopadhyay and comprising representatives from GSM and CDMA operators, will be meeting on November 26 and 30.

Senior officials of the two PSUs expressed concern over being left out from the panel on spectrum allocation norms.

"Public Service Enterprises have to face many constraints in their operations, not the least being aggressive lobby by competitors to stymie their expansion," Minister of State from Commerce Jairam Ramesh had said recently in a letter to Sunil Mittal on a matter related to spectrum allocation.

PSUs have done far better in meeting social obligations compared to private players. BSNL, in particular, has fulfilled social role much more effectively than all the private companies put together.

Read More-Via[ET]

Looking for a way to spice up the forthcoming weekend? Sony Computer Entertainment is presenting an Expo dedicated exclusively to Playstation, the last word on virtual gaming.

Playstation Experience – Entertainment like never before’ will be a two day long event held at Taj Land’s End on Saturday and Sunday, November 24th and 25th, 2007 from 11 am to 7 pm. It claims to be a perfect mix of gaming and entertainment along with the introduction to the latest star attraction – the Singstar Bollywood.

The grand Expo will be spread over 10,000 square feet of space and seven gaming zones including the Sports Zone, Speed Zone, Action Zone, Shooting Range, Gaming Dungeon, Buzz World and the Sing Star Center Stage. Newly launched Sing Star Bollywood is an extension to the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system. The latest addition to the PlayStation2 family will be the prime focus of the event and have a gamut of activities built around it to peak the audience’s interest.

Read More-Via[ZDnet]

T-Mobile will sell an unlocked version of Apple's popular iPhone in Germany while it fights a legal challenge from rival Vodafone, the company said last week.

The move comes shortly after a court granted an injunction requested by Vodafone mandating that T-Mobile either sell an unlocked version of the iPhone or withdraw the product from the market.

Vodafone contends German competition law prohibits an operator from selling a locked phone with a two-year contract. Last week, T-Mobile announced it will sell an unlocked version of the iPhone for €999 (US$1481). T-Mobile sells a locked 8GB iPhone in Germany for €399 including 19 percent value-added tax.

However, T-Mobile is appealing the injunction and will withdraw the unlocked version if the company prevails, said Klaus Czerwinski, a T-Mobile spokesman, based in Bonn. T-Mobile is also considering filing for damages against Vodafone.

"We think the law does not apply to this situation," Czerwinski said. "We are still going to court."

Read More-Via[PC World]

Five Hollywood film companies have filed copyright lawsuits against a Chinese movie download provider and an Internet cafe for allegedly providing pirated film download service to Internet users.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures Corp., Columbia Pictures Industries, and Universal City Studios, accused Beijing-based Jeboo.com and a Shanghai Internet cafe of violating their copyrights.

"The internet cafe provided movie download service through the software developed by Jeboo.com. Among others, 13 movies, including Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Charlie's Angles 2, X-Men 2,and Night at the Museum, were distributed without authorization," read the indictment.

The studios demanded compensation of some 3.2 million yuan (about 432,000 U.S. dollars) and required the defendants to immediately stop the practice and make a public apology.

The case will be heard at Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court on Nov. 29, according to sources.

Founded in 2004, Jeboo.com claims to be China's biggest movie download provider, with a database of nearly 30,000 movies and TV series that have online certificates.

Read more at Xinhua

Millions of young people are putting themselves at risk of identity fraud by leaving their "electronic footprint" on Internet Web sites and blogs, the country's privacy watchdog has warned.

Concerned about the explosion of personal information available online, the Information Commissioner's Office (IOC) has launched official guidelines for millions of people who use networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.

The guidance includes warnings that a "blog is for life" and "reputation is everything" while entries can leave a permanent "electronic footprint" on the Internet. The report said that the future of almost three-quarters of young people aged between 14 and 21 -- about 4.5 million people -- could be placed at risk by the reckless use of information.

The IOC survey found the online content "could damage the prospects of young people and leave many more vulnerable to identity fraud".

The warnings come in a week that the government said computer discs containing personal information, such as bank account details, of 25 million people had been lost in the mail, putting them at risk of identity fraud.

Read more at Reuters

Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers.

In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime. Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives.

Such requests run counter to the Justice Department's internal recommendation that federal prosecutors seek warrants based on probable cause to obtain precise location data in private areas. The requests and orders are sealed at the government's request, so it is difficult to know how often the orders are issued or denied.

The issue is taking on greater relevance as wireless carriers are racing to offer sleek services that allow cellphone users to know with the touch of a button where their friends or families are. The companies are hoping to recoup investments they have made to meet a federal mandate to provide enhanced 911 (E911) location tracking. Sprint Nextel, for instance, boasts that its "loopt" service even sends an alert when a friend is near, "putting an end to missed connections in the mall, at the movies or around town."

With Verizon's Chaperone service, parents can set up a "geofence" around, say, a few city blocks and receive an automatic text message if their child, holding the cellphone, travels outside that area.

Read more at Washington Post

Amina Turner was just as surprised as her friends and business contacts to learn about an e-mail message circulating with her name on it and a phony plea for help getting her out of Africa.

Turner, the executive director of the state NAACP chapter, is a victim of one of the latest Internet scams.

The SBI computer crimes unit, federal investigators and the Internet Crime Complaint Center are looking into the incident, a hoax that puts a new twist on an old Nigerian e-mail swindle. The new wrinkle is that the scammer impersonates the victim, sending a plea for help to addresses in the victim's personal address book.

The e-mail, which is full of grammatical mistakes, went out to people in Amina Turner's address book. It claims Turner is writing from a "saber cafe" in Lagos, Nigeria, and needs $2,900 wired via Western Union to pay a hotel bill and other expenses. It asks the recipient for a return e-mail address.

"It's unnerving because it's your name," said Turner, executive director of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "It's worse because it's the organization's name, too."

Read more at Charlotte Observer, AP

Agilent Technologies has announced the commencement of its annual awards, Agilent Engineering & Technology Awards (AETA) 2008, to recognise innovative projects by engineering students from across the country.

The technology solutions provider is inviting B Tech and M Tech engineering students from over 50 leading engineering colleges in the country to participate in this competition, Agilent said in a statement.
AETA 2008 requires participants to submit innovative engineering projects either in the field of electronics & communications engineering or in the life sciences/ bio analytical streams.

The winning team would get an opportunity to visit and interact with world-class scientists at Agilent's R&D facility in San Francisco, USA.

Read More-Via[HT]

Microsoft Tuesday said sales of Vista have hit 88 million and the company highlighted a number of customer migrations it says signify that users are gearing up to switch to the year-old OS despite recent surveys that say many are taking a cautious approach.

Company officials say the ebb and flow of new contracts and expiring contracts means the overall number of volume licensing copies of Vista doesn't change dramatically from quarter to quarter.

In addition to the 88 million copies of Vista sold, Microsoft said 42 million PCs now have Vista licenses via volume licensing contracts signed by corporate users. Microsoft used the same 42 million number back in July when it discussed Vista uptake at its annual meeting for financial analysts.

The Vista numbers were tabulated during Microsoft's first fiscal quarter, which ended Sept. 30. The financial results of that quarter were reported Oct. 25.

The numbers of copies sold represents nearly a 47% increase over the 60 million copies sold that was reported by Microsoft in July.

Vista shipped to corporate users on Nov. 30, 2006, after five years in development.

A recent survey by King Research, which was funded by systems management vendor Kace, showed that 90% of 961 IT professionals surveyed said they have concerns about migrating to Vista and more than half reported they have no plans to do so.

The respondents showed concerns that Vista would reduce stability and introduce too much complexity into their environments.

"Stability in general was frequently cited, as well as compatibility with the business software that would need to run on Vista," says Diane Hagglund of King Research. "Cost was also cited as a concern by some respondents."

Barracuda Networks Inc. on Friday reported a more than 10 percent surge in the number of phishing Web sites created and 3 times the number of phishing e-mails sent out in the last 24 hours.

Campbell-based Barracuda, an e-mail and Web security provider, said the increase in activity indicates that scammers are working to cash in on Black Friday, traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year, and the long Thanksgiving Day weekend.

“Consumers need to be extra vigilant when shopping online this weekend,” said Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks. “Anyone planning to do holiday shopping online this weekend should go directly to the sites that they plan to purchase from, rather than click on URLs that arrive via emails.”

The Thanksgiving surge in phishing Web sites has also created an increase in emails directing unsuspecting users to the sites directly by offering ‘great deals’ or ‘sales’ as well as emails that attempt to lure the recipient into verifying account information via a link to the fake sites.

“We typically see an increase in phishing activity before a regular two-day weekend, but the volume of phishing sites and corresponding email in just this past 24 hours is quite astounding,” said Drako. “We expect this blitz to continue over the next few days.”

Read more at BW, Business Journal

Japanese electronics maker Hitachi on Thursday said it is conducting a feasibility study in India for local manufacturing as the market for high-end products grows in the country.

"The market for LCD, plasma and HD TV market in India is small but as the market grows we might consider domestic manufacturing for which we are currently doing a feasibility study to understand the market," Hitachi Home Electronics Country Head Tarun Jain told reporters here.

He said the company is facing procurement problem worldwide because of which the prices of the high-end products have stabilised that were going downwards initially. However, till the market-size increases along with Hitachi's share, it would continue to source products from outside.

Read More-Via[ET]

Having survived its freshman hazing, the Zune is back for its sophomore revenge, and the iPod has every reason to be frightened. The Zune 4 (4GB, $149) and Zune 8 (8GB, $199) offer a leaner, lighter version of Microsoft's full-size Zune 80 MP3 player (80GB, $249).

With a new hardware and software design, wireless sync capability, subscription music compatibility, and integrated support for audio and video podcasts, the Zune 4 and Zune 8 are poised to compete directly with the third-generation Apple iPod Nano.

Design

The Zune 4 and Zune 8 are Microsoft's first foray into smaller, flash memory-based MP3 players. Zune 4 and Zune are identical to one another in every way but storage capacity, and both come in red, black, green, and pink. Measuring a slight 3.6 inches by 1.6 inches by 0.33 inch, the flash-based Zunes are considerably slimmer than their 80GB hard-drive-based sibling. In the overcrowded marketplace of flash-based MP3 players, however, the dimensions of the Zune 4 and 8 are hardly noteworthy. That said, the Zune 4 and Zune 8 have a nice shape, which feels reminiscent of the first-generation iPod Nano.

One design feature that distinguishes the Zune 4 and Zune 8 from the competition is Microsoft's decision to use a glass-covered LCD instead of plastic. The 1.8-inch glass screen not only lends the device a sophisticated feel, it also provides a more scratch-resistant surface with less optical distortion than the ubiquitous plastic variety. Although the 1.8-inch screen seems minuscule compared with the opulent 3.2-inch screen on the 80GB Zune, the oversized font on the main menu affords a legibility rarely found on pint-size MP3 players.

Another unique design feature is a completely new navigation control that Microsoft dubs the Zune Pad. Think of the Zune Pad as a cross between a standard four-direction navigation pad and a laptop's touchpad. With the Zune Pad, users can navigate menus by either pressing or sliding their finger in four directions and select items by clicking the middle of the pad. We were initially skeptical about the Zune Pad's usability compared to the tried-and-true click pad of the first-generation Zune, but after just a few minutes we found the Zune's old interface to be positively archaic. Navigating lengthy song lists is a breeze, especially with an accelerated scroll kicking in when the pad is held down. The new Zune Pad interface also lets you skip through songs, photos, and radio stations with just a light brush of the finger. Buttons for play/pause and menu still flank each side of the Zune's control pad, and behave exactly as they did in the first-generation Zune. It's hard to say whether the Zune Pad interface is actually better than Apple's patented iPod wheel navigation, but it is certainly comparable. We found the Zune Pad made scrolling long lists of artists much easier than using a scroll wheel, but the iPod's center select button is more reliable than the ambiguously defined button found on the Zune.

The entire Zune product line uses a new graphic user interface that no longer looks like a rehash of the Portable Media Center operating system found on the Toshiba Gigabeat S. While the critically beloved "twist" interface of first-generation Zune remains, the main menu has been replaced with stunning, oversized text that takes readability to the next level. You can customize this same main menu with a background image from your digital photo collection. Existing Zune loyalists will be happy to know that Microsoft is offering the new Zune operating system as a free upgrade to all first-generation Zune owners. We're also happy to see that the back of the Zune covered with rugged, matte-finished aluminum, etched with the Zune logo. Microsoft has also partnered with a handful of graphic artists to create custom-etched versions of the 4, 8, and 80GB Zunes, which can be ordered directly from Microsoft at ZuneOriginals.net. Features With subscription music support, video playback, Wi-Fi music sharing, a high-quality photo viewer, an RBDS-enabled FM radio, and composite video output, the features on the first-generation Zune were already impressive.

The second-generation Zunes maintain all of the compelling features of the original and also includes new features such as audio and video podcast support and a unique ability to automatically sync content over a home's wireless network. Ever since Apple rolled podcast support into its iPod and iTunes products back in 2005, no one has been able to match their seamless integration of audio and video podcast discovery, subscription, and management tools (although Creative's Zencast alternative gets close). With the latest refresh of the Zune PC software, first- and second-generation Zune owners can now enjoy audio and video podcasts with the same ease as their iPod contemporaries. Podcasts now have their own directory within the main menu of the Zune, which is subdivided between audio and video podcasts. The Zune PC software also includes a new podcast tab that allows users to browse through a growing library of podcasts. If your favorite podcast can't be found in the directory, the software lets you both recommend the podcast for inclusion and lets you add the podcast manually by copying and pasting its URL into the Zune software. In the end, podcast downloads, auto-sync preferences, and subscription management match that of iTunes. In fact, Microsoft takes podcast integration a step further by allowing users to unsubscribe from podcasts directly on their Zune -- a great feature for podcast junkies who want to tidy up their subscriptions on the go. (Editors' note: Microsoft removed the podcast unsubscribe feature from the Zune's initial firmware release due to instability.

Microsoft plans to reintroduce the feature in its next firmware update.) We're also happy to see that the Zune includes a playback resume option that automatically bookmarks your place in a podcast when you can't listen to it all in one sitting. The Zune 4 and Zune 8's piece de resistance is their ability to wirelessly sync content from your PC over your home Wi-Fi network. The feature requires a one-time setup to familiarize the Zune with your home network, after which it will remember to look for the network automatically each time you plug it in for a recharge. If you're within range of your wireless network but don't feel like recharging your player to trigger the wireless sync, you can also initiate the sync manually by digging through the Zune's settings. Of course, you can always connect the Zune directly to your computer using the included proprietary USB cable, but the wireless option is a neat trick. The Zune 4's and Zune 8's audio, video, photo, and radio features are largely unchanged from the first generation--not a bad thing, really.

The Zune's music player supports MP3, WMA, protected-WMA (Zune Marketplace only), WMA Lossless, and AAC music file formats. The continued support for AAC opens the door for iPod converts, although you won't be able to transfer DRM-protected iTunes purchases or Windows' older DRM-9 files. The Zune supports WMV, MPEG-4, and H.264 video formats natively at a DVD-quality 30 frames per second rate. Windows Media Center users will be happy to know that the Zune also imports DVR-MS recorded video content. Although the Zune's screen displays at a 320x240 resolution, video files stored on the Zune can be as large as 720x480. Unfortunately, the Zune 4 and 8 do not share the same TV output feature included on the 80GB Zune, so the support for 720x480 files is pointless. The Zune 4 and 8 display RBDS (Radio Broadcast Data System) station information, distinguishing their FM radio as one of the best on a handheld device. Depending on the broadcaster, the Zune's FM radio displays a station's call letters, genre, and occasionally shows the currently playing artist and song information. Users can also switch between European, North American, and Japanese radio bands from the Zune's radio settings menu.

The Zune's radio depends on a connected pair of headphones (any will do) to act as an antenna, however, so don't be surprised when the radio doesn't work while the Zune is connected to an AV dock.

Read More-Via[CNN]