Microsoft makes a u-turn, Windows 7 testers to get free copy

In a surprise turn around, Microsoft announced today that Windows 7 technical testers will be receiving a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. In recent weeks Microsoft has faced angry reactions from bloggers and beta testers when they originally announced the testers 'thanks' was the discounted pre-order offer.

Blogger Paul Thurrot claimed: "the painful thing here, for beta testers, is that they've been screwed" which demonstrated the reaction to the previous announcements.
In a blog posting at Microsoft's Windows Team Blog, Brandon LeBlanc confirmed: "to show our appreciation, members of the invitation-only Windows 7 Technical Beta Program will be eligible for a free, final copy of Windows 7 Ultimate." All current members of the English technical and international mini-beta programs are eligible for a full non-upgrade copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition. Testers can get access to their copy in one of two ways:
* Download a copy and product key via Microsoft connect, English downloads will be available August 6th and other languages will follow as they become available.
* Boxed retail copies are available in a limited amount and are being offered on a first come, first served basis. These copies will not be ready until October 22nd or later.
ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley recently highlighted the testing process and how the focus has been taken away from Microsoft's beta testers. Testers are no longer held in such high esteem it seems as Microsoft only supplied the same 2 public beta builds this time around. However, it's good to see Microsoft making a u-turn and admitting they were wrong to not provide a thank you to beta testers. Hopefully with Windows 8 Microsoft will focus on beta testers once again.

source: neowin.net

Technorati Tags: ,,
| Continue Reading..

Studios Sue to Stop Pirate Bay

The Pirate Bay Sues By Hollywood Studios Pirate Bay makes it easy for users to download copies of shows like "Desperate Housewives" and movies like "Gran Torino."

Millions of users have already taken advantage of Pirate Bay's directory of titles, and there is little that the service's operators could to do prevent those people from continuing to share illegally downloaded content.

However, legal action could force the operators to take technical steps to make it harder to share new files in the future, says Monique Wadsted, a Stockholm-based lawyer representing the Motion Picture Association. "What we want is to make them stop," she said.The major Hollywood studios requested that a Swedish civil court impose an injunction against the operators of file-sharing service Pirate Bay.

The studios are seeking to stop Pirate Bay's operators and its Internet-service provider from making copyrighted movies and TV shows easily available on the Internet. The studios are also asking for an unspecified fine.

Earlier this year, the studios won a victory in criminal court against Pirate Bay's operators for aiding copyright infringement. The litigation highlights the rapidly changing future of the service, which was sold last month to Global Gaming Factory X AB, the Swedish software company. The purchase is pending Global Gaming stockholder approval late next month.

More : wsj.com

Technorati Tags: ,,,
| Continue Reading..

China Puts Online Games That Glorify Mafia on Its Hit List

captured_Image.pngWhether it is religion, environmentalism or nonprofit charities, the Chinese government has always been wary of any organized activity it cannot directly control. 

Now there is an addition to the list: simulated organized crime.

On Monday, the Ministry of Culture issued a notice banning online games that feature Mafioso kingpins, marauding street gangs or any sort of hooliganism predisposed to organization.

The decree, which promises “severe punishment” for violators but fails to specify the penalties, also prohibits Web sites from including links to Internet games that glorify organized crime.

Such games, the ministry said, “embody antisocial behavior like killing, beating, looting and raping,” and their availability “gravely threatens and distorts the social order and moral standards, easily putting young people under harmful influence.”

By Tuesday, a number of popular games, including “Godfather,” “Gangster” and “Mafioso Hitman,” had been excised from the ether, although scores of other violence-laden games were still available.

The ruling is not entirely surprising, given the government’s war against Internet pornography and other sites that can be construed as “socially disruptive.”

This year more than a thousand Web sites have been shut down for “vulgar” content, although some critics complain that academic or public service sites that deal with sexually transmitted diseases have also been swept up in the juggernaut.

More : nytimes.com

Technorati Tags: ,,,
| Continue Reading..

ATI to launch DirectX 11 GPUs in seven weeks

Ati DirectX 11 GPU For the past week and a half, we've been hearing rumors citing various dates for the launch of AMD's DirectX 11 graphics cards… ranging from GDC in China to newly invented delays that would push the launch window in to November.

However, all of these rumors are false, given that AMD has firmed its "Cinema 3.0/DirectX 11" launch. As tradition goes, the North American launch will happen in seven weeks in San Francisco on a very special place indeed - but we're not at liberty to say where the event will take place. All we can say is that it will be someplace that neither Intel nor nVidia would even remember.

ATI will catapult not one, but rather a complete DirectX 11 line-up into the orbit, ranging from $50 to the high end parts in their respective three-figure pricing brackets. Just like the Radeon 4000 series, consisting out of 4400, 4500, 4600, 4700 and 4800 parts, the new Radeon series will consist out of entry-level [Hemlock], mainstream [Cedar, Redwood], performance [Juniper] and high-end part [Cypress]. When it comes to codenames, you'll notice that all of these parts have codenames from plants, with some belonging into the same family [Cedar, Juniper, Redwood] Note that not all of these parts will be launched on the same day. Some parts might have to wait until Holiday season to get them in OEM-level numbers, but all in all - this is the strongest line-up ATI had in years. We might even dare to say strongest line-up ever from any GPU manufacturer.

According to information we have at hand, initial rumors about the names and specs proved true - these parts bring DirectX 11 compliancy from top to the bottom, and if you want to play upcoming DirectX 11 games [so far, there are six confirmed DX11 titles launching this year] in a budget less than $500, you have no other choice but to go ATI.

From : brightsideofnews.com

Technorati Tags: ,,
| Continue Reading..

Expression® Studio 3 Top Features

Expression Studio 3 Features Expression Studio 3 Released and available for download the trial version from Microsoft website. Featured are tools including Expression Blend 3, for interactive design and improving designer-developer workflow;  Expression Web 3, for building Web sites using standards such as PHP and HTML; Expression Encoder 3, for video-encoding; and Expression Design 3, for illustration and graphic design.

Top 10 Features

- SketchFlow revolutionizes the speed and efficiency with which you can prototype a vision for an application

- Rapidly demonstrate and iterate on ideas, application flows, screen layouts and functionality with your client using a SketchFlow prototype.

- Enable interactivity without writing code

- Bring an Expression Blend project to life by adding interactivity, animation and transitions using drag and drop Behaviors, powerful building blocks of interactivity, without writing code.

- Accelerate the design of effective UI with design time data

- Increases the speed and flexibility you can envision a user interface in Expression Blend through the effective use of sample data. Sample data can be seamlessly switched to a live data feed at any time.

- Streamlined design and development workflow

- Share projects, code, and designs for better productivity and quality. The smooth workflow between Expression Blend and Visual Studio help the delivery of superior results to your client, who today more than ever expect; compelling, cutting edge solutions to be delivered in rapid time and on budget.

- Professional tools save time creating Web sites that deliver results

- Expression Web features an advanced code editor with IntelliSense, an editable design surface, and includes Expression Design and Expression Encoder for creating graphics and encoding Silverlight video for Web streaming or podcast download.

- Advanced visual diagnostics speed debugging

- Debug Web pages with Snapshot Preview, which shows rendered page changes while you code, and SuperPreview, which displays your page on multiple browsers on your development machine.

- Rich standards-based Web design with the essential technologies

- Expression Web supports PHP, CSS, HTML/XHTML, XML, XSLT, JavaScript, ASP.NET, ASP.NET AJAX, Silverlight (video, animation, and Deep Zoom), Windows Media, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Photoshop files.

- Prepare video for Silverlight

- Encode a wide array of video file formats, stream live from webcams and camcorders or screen capture your PC with Expression Encoder. Make simple edits to video files and enhance your media with overlays and advertising. Choose encoding settings including IIS Smooth Streaming, choose from a range of player templates and publish rich media experiences with Microsoft Silverlight.

- Team Foundation Server Integration

- Share your Expression Studio project files with those of your colleagues by using check in and check out functionality with Microsoft Team Foundation Server integration.

- Adobe Photoshop Importer

- Import your Adobe Photoshop files with full control over layers and objects straight onto the design surface of all Expression products to ensure maximum compatibility with any original artwork you need to integrate.

"Expression 3 introduces a broad range of new features such as SketchFlow in Expression Blend and SuperPreview in Expression Web. These features and others provide improved usability and productivity across the designer and developer workflow," a Microsoft representative said in a statement.

More info in this Web page, the triad download page also available.

| Continue Reading..

Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 released to manufacturing

At last… RTM-ed…Windows 7 has been a tightly controlled product from its first days on the drawing board. The last milestone is proving to be no exception: On July 22, at precisely 4:40 p.m. ET, Microsoft announced it had released to manufacturing Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

What’s up with the weird hand-off time? It seems to be designed to coincide with CEO Steve Ballmer’s keynote address for Microsoft’s 13,000 or so field sales folks who are in Atlanta this week for the MGX conference. Unfortunately, the MGX folks are running late and Ballmer wasn’t yet speaking at 4:40… oh well.)
The Windows builds that are being released to manufacturing today were compiled over a week ago, on Monday July 13, company officials confirmed. Specifically, it’s build 7600.16385 that is the RTM version of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
There’s not much new left to say about either product. Very little has changed between the Release Candidate builds that went to the public in May and the RTM versions, testers who’ve been dabbling with leaked copies of the 16835 build say.
(Check out all of ZDNet’s Windows 7 coverage via our Special Report page. And if you are all about Windows Server, check out my colleague Jason Perlow’s coverage of the RTM of Windows Server 2008 R2 here.)
While Microsoft did a bunch of tuning and final testing in the last month-plus, the final Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 products won’t be very different from the last build testers saw, officials said. Microsoft’s intention was to keep the code base stable so that partners and customers could start testing on it months before the products went to manufacturing, officials said. While some testers welcomed that dependability, others were less-enamored of going to the trouble of testing with the feeling their input was going to make little difference.
PC makers will get the official bits from Microsoft by the end of this week, as Microsoft officials said yesterday. Those who want to download the official builds from Microsoft won’t be able to do so for another week plus (depending on whether you have an MSDN/TechNet, volume-license agreement or some other way of getting the bits earlier than the general availability date of October 22).
Speaking of October 22, that is the date Microsoft is considering to be its worldwide consumer launch of Windows 7. There will be a bunch of new hardware that has yet to be seen from a variety of manufacturers that will be preloaded with Windows 7 available on that date, said Mike Angiulo, General Manager of Microsoft’s Planning and PC Ecosystem team. (No word still on whether Microsoft will hold a single big launch, like it did with Vista in New York; I hear company officials are leaning away from going that route.)
The “business launch” of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is slated for November 9, officials said. (Actually, it’s going to be a triple-play launch of Win7/Win Server 2008 R2 and Exchange 2010, as Microsoft told its partners attending the Worldwide Partner Conference last week.) It sounds as if there will be a number of business launch events starting on that date and continuing for the next couple of months.

source: blogs.zdnet.com

Technorati Tags: ,,
| Continue Reading..

NVIDIA GeForce/ION Driver 190.38 WHQL-Certified Download

NVIDIA GeForce Driver 190.38 With support for OpenGL 3.1 and CUDA 2.3

Following a recent BETA release of the new GeForce 190.38 drivers for graphics cards and ION-based products, the Santa Clara, California-based graphics chip maker has released today the WHQL-certified version of the aforementioned drivers.

As you can expect from the majority of NVIDIA graphics drivers, the new release adds support for new applications, improves performance and delivers a series of fixes to known bugs. The

new release is available for download right here on Softpedia, providing support for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 users.

The new GeForce/ION driver release has been WHQL certified and provides support for all of NVIDIA's latest GPUs, ranging from the old GeForce 6-series to the more recent 200-series desktop GPUs and the new ION GPUs. As with the BETA release, the WHQL version adds support for OpenGL 3.1 API and the new CUDA 2.3, providing users with improved performance in GPU Computing applications. In addition, NVIDIA also included several new control panel features and numerous bug fixes.

The company's new GeForce 190.38 WHQL-certified release delivers an improvement over the features offered by previous ones. These drivers provide users with support for SLI technology and the PhysX System Software version 9.09.0428, as well as enable them to set the PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card, improving performance over a single-GPU solution. The driver pack also includes the GeForce Plus Power Pack #3, providing users with a number of applications that are optimized for the GeForce GPUs.

For those looking to upgrade to the new WHQL-certified GeForce 190.38 graphics drivers we have put up the following links, offering support for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the most popular Windows operating systems, including XP, Vista and 7.

NVIDIA GeForce/ION Driver Release 190.38-WHQL for Windows XP 32-bit

NVIDIA GeForce/ION Driver Release 190.38-WHQL for Windows XP 64-bit

NVIDIA GeForce/ION Driver Release 190.38-WHQL for Windows Vista/7 32-bit

NVIDIA GeForce/ION Driver Release 190.38-WHQL for Windows Vista/7 64-bit

From Softpedia.

Technorati Tags: ,,,
| Continue Reading..

ESPN reporter secretly videotaped nude in hotel

ESPN reporter Erin Andrews was secretly videotaped in the nude while she was alone in a hotel room and the video was posted on the Internet, her attorney said.

The blurry, five-minute video shows Andrews standing in front of a hotel room mirror. It's unknown when or where it was shot.

Andrews' attorney, Marshall Grossman, confirmed Tuesday that the video posted on the Internet shows the 31-year-old reporter. He said she decided to confirm it "to put an end to rumor and speculation and to put the perpetrator and those who are complicit on notice that they act at their peril."

Andrews plans to seek criminal charges and file civil lawsuits against the person who shot the video and anyone who publishes the material, Grossman said.

"While alone in the privacy of her hotel room, Erin Andrews was surreptitiously videotaped without her knowledge or consent," Grossman said in an earlier statement. "She was the victim of a crime and is taking action to protect herself and help ensure that others are not similarly violated in the future."

Andrews has covered hockey, college football, college basketball and Major League Baseball for the network since 2004, often as a sideline reporter during games.

A former dance team member at the University of Florida, Andrews was something of an Internet sensation even before the video's circulation. She has been referred to as "Erin Pageviews" because of the traffic that video clips and photos of her generate, and Playboy magazine named her "sexiest sportscaster" in both 2008 and 2009.

She last appeared on the network as part of its ESPY Awards broadcast on Sunday, and is scheduled to be off until September, when she will be covering college football, ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said.

"Erin has been grievously wronged here," Krulewitz said. "Our people and resources are in full support of her as she deals with this abhorrent act."

It was not clear when the video first appeared on the Internet. Most of the links to it had been removed by Tuesday.

Several TV networks and newspapers aired brief clips or printed screen grabs of it Tuesday. Grossman responded to an e-mail question about whether he plans to go after those outlets by reiterating his statement that Andrews plans to seek civil charges against "anyone who has published the material."

He would not say what law enforcement agencies might be investigating.

ESPN is based in Bristol, but Connecticut State Police were not involved in an investigation into the video, said Lt. J. Paul Vance, a department spokesman. Vance said investigations into Internet crimes often begin in the victim's home state or wherever the video was shot, if that can be determined.

Quoted From : AP

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"While alone in the privacy of her hotel room, Erin Andrews was surreptitiously videotaped without her knowledge or consent. She was the victim of a crime and is taking action to protect herself and help ensure that others are not similarly violated in the future. Although the perpetrator or perpetrators of this criminal act have not yet been identified, when they are identified she intends to bring both civil and criminal charges against them and against anyone who has published the material. We request respect of Erin's privacy at this time, while she and her representatives are working with the authorities."

Technorati Tags: ,,,
| Continue Reading..

Windows 7 RTM Build 7600 (16385) x86 EN Final DVD.iso

Windows 7 Build 7600.16385.win7_rtm.090713-1255 Final RTM.

Short Description : 4 days ago Windows 7 RTM Build 7600 ( 6.1.7600.16384.win7_rtm.090710-1945 ) has leaked by Wzor.
7600.16384.090710-1945_x64fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRMCULXFRER_EN_DVD.iso

7600.16384.090710-1945_x86fre_client_zh-cn_Retail_Ultimate-GRMCULFRER_CN_DVD.iso

But, This is not the final RTM cuz the dvd had created at 090710.
The branch builds WIN7_RTM:
6.1.7600.16384.win7_rtm.090710-1945 - no sign-off in RTM.
6.1.7600.16385.win7_rtm.090713-1255 - very, very possible FINAL RTM build.

Collected all distributions assembly SKU: 7600.16385.090713-1255.
>>According to Wzor.

Now the Final RTM Is Coming, And its coming for all who waiting and looking for Quality.
More Info:
http://www.gosugoon.com/
http://winspark.net/tag/6-1-7600-16385- ... 0713-1255/
http://win7.in/2009/windows-7-build-617 ... sible-rtm/
ISO Info:
MICROSOFT.WINDOWS.7.BUILD.7600.16385.WIN7_RTM.X86.ENGLISH.DVD.ISO
Build String: 6.1.7600.16385.win7_rtm.090713-1255
FILE: 7600.16385.090713-1255_x86fre_client_en-us_Retail_Ultimate-GRMCULFRER_EN_DVD.iso
SIZE: 2,501,894,144 byte
SHA1: 5395DC4B38F7BDB1E005FF414DEEDFDB16DBF610

Screen shoot:

SETUP.exe:
http://rapidshare.com/files/256372530/SETUP.rar

Download:
http://www.mininova.org/tor/2768199
http://www.torrentzap.com/torrent/50856 ... ENA+org%5D

Activation:
http://rapidshare.com/files/256323721/7 ... n.rar.html Or this

Technorati Tags: ,,,
| Continue Reading..

SlickMap CSS – A Visual Sitemapping Tool For Web Developers

SlickMap CSS - Developers' Visual Sitemapping SlickMap CSS is a simple stylesheet for displaying finished sitemaps directly from HTML unordered list navigation. It’s suitable for most web sites – accommodating up to three levels of page navigation and additional utility links – and can easily be customized to meet your own individual needs, branding, or style preferences.


The general idea of SlickMap CSS is to streamline the web design process by automating the illustration of sitemaps while at the same time allowing for the predevelopment of functional HTML navigation.

Features and Benefits
  • Eliminates the need for additional software
  • Easily revised with clients on-the-fly
  • Clickable anchors with visible URLs
  • Design process results in working HTML code

Download | View Demo

| Continue Reading..

Can Windows 95 runs on iPhone?

Windows 95 on iPhoneI thought it was impossible, but what do you think?

The hack makes use of a standard Windows 95 image and the Bochs emulator, though as you can expect, the performance is thoroughly crummy. They’re working on getting Windows XP to work too.

From : bink.nu

Technorati Tags: ,,
| Continue Reading..

Windows 7 RTM 7600 x86 and x64 activator - time crack

Windows 7 RTM Build 7600 have been leaked. Download it from here. By the way, here are 2 ways how to activate Windows 7 RTM 7600 x86 and x64.

1. Activator

Execute activator like a admin and wait "Windows is activated", now retart (not before!)
Now remove watermark (Instruction inside), enjoy!
Download:
Windows 7 7600 x86 and x64 activator (link 1)
Windows 7 7600 x86 and x64 activator (link 2)
Windows 7 7600 x86 and x64 activator (link 3)
2. Timeer crack (Replaces RTM with RC Activation)


To activate, You will need to open how to crack.txt.
Remember, You will need a RC Key to activate.
Download: Windows 7 7600 Activator (Replaces RTM with RC Activation)

Technorati Tags: ,,,
| Continue Reading..

US State Dept. workers beg Clinton for Firefox

US State Department workers have begged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to let them use Firefox.

"Can you please let the staff use an alternative web browser called Firefox?" worker bee Jim Finkle asked Clinton during Friday's State Department town hall meeting.

"I just moved to the State Department from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and was surprised that State doesn’t use this browser. It was approved for the entire intelligence community, so I don’t understand why State can’t use it. It’s a much safer program."

Presumably, the State Department is using Microsoft's Internet Explorer. And we wouldn't be surprised if it's still mired in the eight-year-old IE6. The only thing that moves slower than Orange is a US government agency. But the State Department has yet to respond to our questions about its Firefox-less browsing mandate.

Finkle's fellow workers responded to his Firefox request with applause. While Clinton responded with bewilderment. "Well, apparently, there’s a lot of support for this suggestion. I don’t know the answer. Pat, do you know the answer?" she said, turning to under Secretary Pat Kennedy.

"The answer is, at the moment: It’s an expense question," Kennedy said. Then someone in the audience pointed out that Firefox is free.

"Nothing is free," Kennedy responded. "It’s a question of the resources to manage multiple systems. It is something we’re looking at...It has to be administered. The patches have to be loaded. It may seem small, but when you’re running a worldwide operation and trying to push, as the Secretary rightly said, out FOBs [for remote log-ins] and other devices, you’re caught in the terrible bind of triage of trying to get the most out that you can, but knowing you can’t do everything at once."

Clinton then told her staff to have a look through their closets. "The more money we can save on stuff that is not cutting edge, the more resources we’ll have to shift to do things that will give us more tools," she said.

"[That reminds] me of what I occasionally sometimes do, which I call shopping in my closet, which means opening doors and seeing what I actually already have, which I really suggest to everybody, because it’s quite enlightening. And so when you go to the store and you buy, let’s say, peanut butter and you don’t realize you’ve got two jars already at the back of the shelf – I mean, that sounds simplistic, but help us save money on stuff that we shouldn’t be wasting money on, and give us the chance to manage our resources to do more things like Firefox, okay?"

If the State Department buys less peanut butter, Clinton may even let them use Facebook. During a state department town hall meeting earlier this year, a bigwig at the US embassy in Mexico City told Clinton that the social networking site is a great way to prevent solipsistic stupid people from entering the country.

From : The Register

Technorati Tags: ,,
| Continue Reading..

Download Microsoft Office 2010 Mondo Beta 1 x86 and x64

The latest version of Microsoft Office 2010 (Technical Preview v14.0.4302.1000).

Not feeling confident or miss out downloading the pre-beta version of upcoming Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview (TP) version 14.0.4006.1010 or 14.0.4006.1008?

A new version of Office 2010 build which is said to be the first official beta (Beta 1) build of 2010 Microsoft Office Systems have leaked to Internet.
The latest Office 2010 Beta1 has the build version of 14.0.4302.1000, and is compiled or signed off on July 8, 2009. Although it’s still been labeled as Technical Preview, it may be the build version of Office 2010 that goes out to registrants of Office 2010 Technical Preview Program (TPP), and is widely to be considered as Office 2010 Beta 1. Interestingly, after installation, it shows the Office 2010 programs as Microsoft Office 2010 Mondo (Technical Preview).
Both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) setup installer of Microsoft Office 2010 Mondo version 14.0.4302.1000 is available for free download. The leaked Office 2010 is Office 2010 Ultimate edition.
Download Microsoft Office 2010 Mondo (Technical Preview Beta 1) v14.0.4302.1000

Torrent (32bit and 64bit): MICROSOFT.OFFICE.2010.v14.0.4302.1000.BETA.1.VOLUME.X86-64.ENGLISH-WZT.torrent

The torrent will download 14.0.4302.1000_Mondo_volume_ship_x86_en-us_wzt.rar and 14.0.4302.1000_Mondo_volume_ship_x64_en-us_wzt.rar via BitTorrent (BT) client. User who prefers to directly download the setup installer can use the HTTP download links below.

HTTP (x86 32-bit): 14.0.4302.1000_Mondo_volume_ship_x86_en-us_wzt.rar
HTTP (x64 64-bit): 14.0.4302.1000_Mondo_volume_ship_x64_en-us_wzt.rar

Do take note that this build version of Office 2010 is still a pre-RTM, is a test version or even just an alpha build, and should not be used in production environment, as it may contains bugs.

From : mydigitallife.info

Technorati Tags: ,,
| Continue Reading..

Twitter : Koobface Worm Comes To Twitter

The new thread begin to follow on Twitter.

The Koobface worm, which had popped up on social networks, has begun to spread on Twitter.

Koobface, the worm that’s been spreading among users of social networks Facebook and MySpace, is now on Twitter. How many people have been affected in unclear, but it’s been serious enough to Twitter to issue a warning on Friday, and some infected accounts have been suspended.
The company said:
"Some users’ PCs have been infected with a variant of the Koobface malware. This malware sends bogus tweets when the user logs into Twitter."
"We are currently suspending all accounts that we detect sending such bogus tweets. If we suspend your account, we will send you an email notifying you of the suspension. This email also includes tips for removing the malware from your PC."
The problem comes from infected PCs that upload bogus Tweets, containing a link to a supposed video, but which is actually to one of a number of sites loaded with exploit code, according to The Register. Anyone installing the codec from the site becomes infected.

From : news.digitaltrends.com

Technorati Tags: ,,,
| Continue Reading..

Silverlight 3 Release To Web!

Fully supported by Visual Studio and Expression Blend, highlights of new features and functionality of Silverlight 3 include: major media enhancements, out of browser support allowing Web applications to work on the desktop; significant graphics improvements including 3D graphics support, GPU acceleration and H.264 video support; and many features to improve RIA development productivity.

Also, in order to fully integrate all the .NET developer tools, Visual Studio 2010 will support a fully editable and interactive designer for Silverlight.

Silverlight 3.0 What’s New page and Silverlight Program Manager Tim Heuer explains Silverlight 3.0 features in detailed on his blog, which is especially useful for developers.

Microsoft is going to host an online version of Silverlight 3.0 with Microsoft Expression 3.0 launch will be held at www.seethelight.com, which is set to online on July 10, 2009, the original launch date for Silverlight 3.0.

Experience Smooth Streaming

The Silverlight browser plug-in allows you to see Smooth Streaming in action on this page. (If Silverlight is not installed, please install it when prompted.) If the Internet bandwidth and video rendering capability on your playback device are sufficiently high, you'll experience high-definition video playback of the sample content. You will also be able to simulate end user experiences under varying conditions by simulating drops and recoveries in bandwidth. If your actual bandwidth is below 3 Mbps, or your playback device is video-challenged, then you will experience the adaptive nature of Smooth Streaming without needing to simulate a bandwidth cap. www.iis.net.

Download Silverlight 3

| Continue Reading..

Released! Silverlight 3.0 at Microsoft Website

Silverlight version 3.0 has been released at Microsoft Website. It is an RTW version meaning Released to Web. The version number is Silverlight 3 RTW (3.0.40624.0).

http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/resources/install.aspx.

Silverlight includes more than 50 new features. One of the most notable feature is offline mode which can be viewed out of the browser, 3D support, GPU acceleration and a lot more. Even with lot of huge features it is almost the same size as Sivlerlight 2.0.

Get Silverlight 3.0

| Continue Reading..

Attacks on South Korean Internet Sites Resume for Third Day

Here the latest news about cyber attack in South Korean.

South Korean Internet sites came under attack from hackers for a third day as the government boosted security to counter intrusions that paralyzed some U.S. services yesterday.

The Web sites of Kookmin Bank and Daum Communications Corp. were being targeted in a new wave of attacks that resumed at 6 p.m. today in Seoul, computer security company Ahnlab Inc. said. The two Web sites were still offline as of 7:30 p.m.

The “highly organized” attacks may come from a state, the National Intelligence Service, or NIS, said today in a statement without naming a country. There is “speculation” North Korea orchestrated the barrage, Kwon Tae Shin, South Korea’s minister for policy coordination, said at a meeting of vice-ministers today in Seoul.

The attacks could be the most serious in South Korea since January 2003, when the “Slammer” worm slowed networks and crippled service, Ahnlab spokeswoman Hwang Mi Kyung said earlier.

South Korea’s NIS and Defense Ministry have previously accused Kim Jong Il’s regime of training a “cyber division” within the North Korean army. So far South Korea has never provided evidence to show the communist nation has hacked South Korean Web sites or disseminated viruses.

‘Cannot Rule Out’

“Of course we cannot rule out the possibility that North Korea is behind these attacks but it’s too early to draw conclusions from what we know so far,” Choi Hee Weon, a senior researcher at Korea Information Security Agency said of this week’s assaults. “It will take time to trace the origin of the attacks.”

South Korea’s Defense Ministry plans to spend 489 billion won ($382 million) next year to beef up its defense against cyber warfare, the ministry said in a budget report today.

The malicious script behind this week’s trouble works by commandeering remote computers and turning them into “zombies” that flood targeted Web sites with a large volume of data. The attacks may target seven organizations, including the Web site of South Korea’s Ministry of Public Administration and Security, Ahnlab said earlier today in an e-mailed statement. Korean- language Web portals known as Naver and Paran are also targeted.

“The level of the attacks were highly organized and meticulously planned, indicating a level of certain organizations or state,” the NIS said.

The U.S. departments of State, Treasury and Transportation were attacked by unidentified hackers during the July 4 holiday weekend, the same day North Korea test-fired seven missiles. In some cases the cyber attacks were continuing, the agencies said yesterday.

Escalating Provocation

If North Korea is behind the attacks it would mark an escalation of provocations against the U.S. and South Korea, Bruce Klingner, a Northeast Asia analyst at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, said in a statement. Still, there is no “hard evidence” linking North Korea to the attacks, he said.

North and South Korea have been technically at war for more than half a century since their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace agreement. The two nations exchanged military threats since the North testing a nuclear weapon on May 25, prompting United Nation’s sanctions.

Web sites of some government agencies and banks in South Korea were also attacked yesterday, following similar strikes on 26 sites on July 7, the Korea Information Security Agency said in a statement today.

Seven South Korean banks’ Web sites were paralyzed in the July 7 attacks, but have fully resumed operations, the nation’s regulator Financial Services Commission said today. The lenders suffered no losses from the attacks, it said, without naming them.

From : Bloomberg

Technorati Tags: ,,,
| Continue Reading..

Google Chrome OS Announced

After eons of speculation stating that Google is secretly working on an OS, they finally are, except it’s not so secret anymore.

Google has just announced the Google Chrome OS, which is targeted towards netbooks and, as the name may hint to you, mainly intends on providing you with a more web-integrated OS solution with easy access to Google’s vast and widely used online suite of services.

Google Chrome OS will be a lightweight and open source operating system that is going to be powered by the Linux kernel. It will run on both x86 and ARM chips. As more and more people are turning away from software and looking to the web to do more and more of their daily tasks, especially now with cloud computing and the ability to store your data on the cloud and access it anywhere, such as OS that is integrated with said tasks may come in handy for netbook users who need to do just this and don’t need the wide array of features provided by “competitors” such as Windows and OS X.

As stated on the Google blog, this will be a simple, lightweight browser specifically made to browse the web that is tied into the cloud so that your documents are synced and accessible anywhere somehow. Not much was said about the exact features that will be implemented in Chrome OS, but I’m interested in seeing what said features will be and how this will stack up to some of its real direct competitors such as Gazelle, Microsoft’s own attempt at the browser + OS fusion.

source: geeksmack.net

Technorati Tags: ,,
| Continue Reading..

Microsoft Working on Patch for IE ActiveX Vulnerability

Microsoft has warned of an Internet Explorer vulnerability involving its Video ActiveX Control that could let an attacker take control of a PC. Microsoft said the vulnerability affects Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

It offered a workaround to the IE ActiveX hole that it said should also be used for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

Microsoft Relevant Products/Services has warned of a vulnerability in its Video ActiveX Control that affects Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The software giant said there have been limited attacks exploiting the vulnerability.

The flaw could be exploited by a visit to a malicious Web site and allow an attacker to take control of a PC. Microsoft said it is working on a security Relevant Products/Services update, and meantime advised that users prevent Microsoft Video ActiveX Control from running in Internet Explorer.

The steps to stop the control in IE are a bit complex, but Microsoft offers a "Fix it for me" option at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972890.

Microsoft also recommends users of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 take these steps.

The Microsoft Video ActiveX Control connects DirectShow filters for video and is used in Windows Media Center. When the control runs in Internet Explorer, it can corrupt the system so that an attacker can run arbitrary code.

Security vendor Symantec said the vulnerability affects IE6 and IE7, but not IE8.

| Continue Reading..

Subsonic 3.0 Released!

captured_Image.png SubSonic is A Super High-fidelity Batman Utility Belt that works up your Data Access (using Linq in 3.0), throws in some much-needed utility functions, and generally speeds along your dev cycle.

SubSonic 3.0 is the latest version of SubSonic and was released in June of 2009. Work on SubSonic 3.0 lasted close to a year, and revolved mostly around supporting Language-integrated Query, also known as LINQ.

The focus of SubSonic 3.0 is to provide tools, not guidance or an overall mindset/approach. There are a number of things in SubSonic that allow you to move faster while applying whatever patterning floats your boat. We're not as complete as NHibernate, but you'll work faster with less concept count. We're not as deep as Linq to SQL, but you can use our stuff on most databases.

Linq

SubSonic 3.0 supports Linq with a core Expression Parser that turns System.Linq.Expressions into SQL. In addition, our 2.0 Query Tool (now called SimpleQuery) can use Lambda expressions to simplify some tasks.

All of the templates we use build on top of our core parsers and query tools, and you can build on top of these quite easily.

Simple Query Tool

The Simple Query Tool works almost exactly as it did with SubSonic 2.x - as a fluent "SQL-style" query tool that allows you to query the database almost as if you're using SQL.

The additions to this tool include Expression support for Where's as well as a "ToList<>()" method that will execute a query and load an object for you.

Utilities

SubSonic also comes with a number of utility methods expressed as Extension Methods. This is SubSonic's Sugar Utility Library and has a number of things to save you time, including File IO, string methods, date math, number utilities, and Object parsing.

Download Subsonic 3.0

Technorati Tags: ,,,
| Continue Reading..

Ex-boyfriend convicted of stalking Marin woman and hacking into her computer

After more than three years of legal maneuvering, a Las Vegas man was convicted of stalking a Corte Madera woman, breaking into her home and hacking into her computer.

Robert Charles Sudar, 56, faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 9 before Judge Paul Haakenson.

Sudar, who was free on bail during the protracted case, was booked into Marin County Jail late Tuesday afternoon, shortly after a jury convicted him of all counts. His bail is set at $1.5 million.

"It's the best possible outcome," said Deputy District Attorney Yvette Martinez, who prosecuted Sudar.

Sudar, a computer technician, was first arrested Nov. 26, 2005, after the Corte Madera woman told police a man she dated for about a year was stalking and harassing her.

The woman said the ex-boyfriend, who had helped set up a computer in her home office, might have set up wireless access to the computer and was using it to monitor her computer activity.

The woman later left a wireless remote camera in her home office while she went out for the evening. The camera captured the image of Sudar entering the room and using the woman's computer, police said.

Police later arrested Sudar after a brief chase on Lucky Drive and searched his car, seizing binoculars, computer connection wires and storage devices, a Palm Pilot and mobile disk drives.

Numerous counterfeit items, including a passport, were found in a backpack along with photographs

Advertisement

belonging to the woman, police said.

Sudar was released on bail, but he was arrested again the next year after police saw him driving around the victim's residence, a violation of a court protective order. He posted bail again.

Through attorney changes and legal motions by Sudar, the case dragged on for years, finally reaching trial in early June. On Tuesday afternoon, after one day of deliberations, the jury convicted him of stalking, residential burglary, unauthorized computer hacking, receiving stolen property and eavesdropping, Martinez said.

Sudar's lawyer, David Wise, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

From : mercurynews

Technorati Tags: ,,,
| Continue Reading..

Windows 7 pre-orders sold out in Japan

Microsoft's upcoming Windows operating system, Windows 7, is slated for an October 22 release; however, the Redmond software giant allowed people to begin pre-ordering much earlier to beat the rush... and it seems this offer was quite well received in Japan.

According to Engadget, Windows 7 has completely sold out of pre-orderable copies in Japan, which combines sales from the 17 retailers involved with the early orders. Apparently, this is a grand total of about 30,000 copies of the operating system, and it took 1.5 days (out of the 10 that were allocated) for this event to happen. Don't think that this offer hasn't been popular in the U.S., though; Windows 7 immediately shot to the top of Amazon sales.

It's evident that this new piece of software is proving to be very popular for Microsoft, already pulling in rave reviews of the beta and release candidate builds. It will certainly provide a fresh dose of PR after the last operating system the company released. Here on Neowin, however, out of the 1396 votes (at the time of writing), only 561 people have planned to take advantage of the offer. The pre-order offer started a few days ago and will last until July 11, so if you haven't got around to it yet, it's best to do so soon.

source: neowin.net

Technorati Tags: ,,
| Continue Reading..

FBI: Top 10 Internet Auction Fraud (CyberCrime)

The latest report of the Internet Crime Complaint Center shows auction fraud is the number one complaint.

According to the FBI,  one in every four Internet crime complaints in 2008 involved auction scams such as wire transfer schemes, second-chance schemes and overpayment fraud.

FBI Internet Crime

The FBI has a great breakdown of the schemes and how to avoid being victimized. Check out the FBI link below .

Info:  

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june09/auctionfraud_063009.html

Technorati Tags: ,,,,,
| Continue Reading..

Pirate Bay founders get rich in jail

Pirate Bay Founder Get Rich A little-known Swedish software firm has snapped up file-sharing website The Pirate Bay with the hope of turning the source of legal controversy into a money-spinner that appeals to both users and content providers.

Global Gaming Factory X AB, which operates Internet cafes and provides software, said Tuesday that it had agreed to buy Pirate Bay for 60 million Swedish crowns ($7.7 million).

The website made world headlines in April when the three Swedish founders and a financial backer were each sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay a combined $3.6 million in damages for breaching copyright law with the free downloading site, which was one of the biggest sites of its kind on the Internet.

Swedish News Agency TT cited one of the founders, Peter Sunde, as saying that the money would not go directly to him or any of the others sentenced in April.

Sunde told TT that the money would be placed in a company outside Swedish borders and it would be used for Internet projects other than downloading sites.

Pirate Bay could not be immediately reached for comment.

Global Gaming said it believed the website was a viable business with its plans for a new, legal business model.

"We would like to introduce (business) models which entail that content providers and copyright owners get paid for content that is downloaded via the site," the company said in a statement.

USERS AS EARNERS

Global Gaming Chief Executive Hans Pandeya told a news conference that the revamped website would generate money via advertising, supplying storage space and helping telecom operators optimize Internet traffic.

He also said users would be able to earn money by supplying storage space, which would encourage people to use the site.

"That's what is interesting. If you can earn money by file-sharing, it's no big deal to pay for what you download," Pandeya said.

Analysts were unimpressed by the move, comparing it to Napster, an online file-sharing site that quickly lost popularity after it started to charge its users.

"It looks like they are going to Napsterize it," said Leigh Ellis, intellectual property partner at Gillhams Solicitors.

Mark Mulligan, vice president at research firm Forrester, said that many of Pirate Bay's around 20 million users would move on to other free downloading options.

More : reuters.com

Technorati Tags: ,,,
| Continue Reading..

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Followers