Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » octobre 11, 2011

BetaNews.Com (13 non lus)

One day before iCloud and iOS 5, Apple drops iTunes 10.5

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 11:29pm CEST par Mark Wilson

The attention of Apple fans has been focused on the imminent release of iPhone 4S on October 14, but before that there is iCloud and iOS 5 -- tomorrow. To make the most of both, a new version of iTunes is needed. iTunes 10.5 includes iCloud support as well as a number of other important additions.

iTunes in the Cloud is part of the new level of connectivity that is to be found in iOS 5, and it means that any music or video purchases you make are synced online and can be accessed from any of your computers or iOS devices. Tied into this idea are automatic downloads; when you purchase music from iTunes Store, it will automatically sync to your other computers and iOS devices.

Apple also has added the capability to redownload apps, music and television shows you have purchased in the past -- and the usual synchronization process has been simplified thanks to the addition of WiFi syncing. Providing your iPhone, iPod or iPad is on the same network as your computer that has iTunes installed, synchronization will automatically take place wirelessly.

The release of iTunes 10.5 also paves the way for iTunes Match, which will be available in some countries on a subscription basis. As an added bonus, downloaders may also be pleased to see that it will now possible to grab a copy of iTunes independently of QuickTime. There are still a few hours before the release of iOS 5, so now is as good a time as any to get your copy of iTunes bang up to date.

You can find out more and download a copy of the app by paying a visit to the iTunes 10.5 review page. There are versions available for both the 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows as well as for OS X.
AT&T uses Android as one-size-fits-all solution for 5 different types of customers

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 11:10pm CEST par Tim Conneally

National wireless carrier AT&T on Tuesday simultaneously announced five new Android smartphones, none of which are flagship devices for the carrier, but each of which answers the needs of a specific type of phone user.

For the Power User: Motorola Atrix 2

Following up on last year's breakthrough Motorola Atrix 4G, AT&T announced the Atrix 2 which is equipped with a 4.3" (960x540) screen, "4G" HSPA+ connectivity, a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8 megapixel camera and front-facing VGA chat camera, enterprise-grade IPsec VPN, microSD encryption, and support for Enhanced Exchange ActiveSync. Like its predecessor, it also supports the Lapdock accessory, and has the Firefox webtop environment.

For the Businessman: Samsung Captivate Glide

Another follow-up phone, the Samsung Captivate Glide is a QWERTY-enabled 4G smartphone that is the successor to last year's Samsung Captivate, AT&T's Galaxy S smartphone.

It comes equipped with a 4" Super AMOLED screen, a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 AP20H dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, HSPA+ connectivity, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), 8MP Autofocus w/LED + 1.3MP front-facing chatcam, VPN support, on-device and SD encryption, Enhanced Exchange ActiveSync support for syncing email, contacts, calendar and tasks.

For the Teenager: Samsung DoubleTime

DoubleTime is a QWERTY flip phone with two 3.2" touchscreens, one on the inside and one on the outside. It's not a 4G device like the other two, and it is running on less powerful internals and software: a 600MHz Qualcomm processor, 260MB RAM, and Android 2.2 (FroYo). It also has a less-costly 3.2 Megapixel camera. This means the total package has a goodly amount of power and versatility, but no leading-edge hardware or software.

For the "General Consumer": Pantech Pocket

Pantech has historically provided mid- and lower-range devices in AT&T's portfolio that sport unique body designs, and the Pocket keeps this trend going in the Android realm as well. The Pantech Pocket's noteworthy design feature is that it has a 4" square (600 x 800) touchscreen instead of the usual "portrait" rectangular orientation. It runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), has a 5 megapixel flash camera, 600MB of internal memory plus a 2GB microSD card with support for cards up to 32GB in size.

For the pay-as-you-go Customer: AT&T Avail (ZTE)

This is only the second Android phone to hit AT&T's GoPhone service (the first being the LG Thrive), and another in what promises to be an increasing number of phones from Chinese manufacturer ZTE. This device features a 3.5" touch screen, 5- megapixel camera and Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). While none of the devices AT&T announced today included their price, this is certain to be the cheapest of the bunch.
It's showtime! CyberLink releases PowerDirector 10

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 10:42pm CEST par Mike Williams

If you’ve ever tried CyberLink’s PowerDirector then you’ll know it’s one of the fastest and most feature-packed consumer video editors around. So you may not be surprised to learn that PowerDirector 10, released today, carries on this proud tradition by adding plenty of essential new functionality, and some very worthwhile speedups.

The program is now a very capable video editor, for instance. PowerDirector 10 can open many native 3D videos (MVC, dual stream AVI, side-by-side, over-under) and some 3D image formats (MPO, JPS); or, if you don’t have any of these, then you can always convert 2D videos and photos to 3D with CyberLink’s TrueTheater 3D. These can be then be enhanced with many 3D effects, titles and menu templates, and once you’re done may be exported as 3D videos (including the anaglyph format, so anyone with a pair of standard 3D glasses can view them).

One of the most interesting 2D additions is the new support for third-party video effect plugins. Right now the only company supporting this is NewBlue, but they’ve provided 10 bundled "art effects" with the program ("air brush", "colorize", "hand drawn", "pastel" and so on). And in time you’ll be able to extend PowerDirector’s capabilities by downloading more, although CyberLink say this isn’t possible just yet.

Of course you get some native new effects, too. If you’re interested in time-lapse photography then a new time-lapse tool will assist in bringing your work to cinematic life -- and PowerDirector 10 can now record hand-drawn animations, and overlay them on your video: you might use this to draw an arrow, highlighting something of interest, say; or viewers could watch as your signature gradually appears at the end of a movie.

Other highlights include some smart new audio tools. The Beat Marker is able to analyze your movie soundtrack, for instance, and highlight notable beat changes on your timeline, making it much easier to synchronize transitions and effects with the music. And there’s no need to worry about differing audio levels on your clips, any more -- PowerDirector 10 can now normalize every audio file on a specific timeline track with a single click.

Once you’ve finished, you can author DVDs or Blu-ray discs, or upload your masterpiece directly to YouTube, Facebook, and (new this time) Vimeo or DailyMotion.

PowerDirector 10 also includes some important new performance features designed to ensure that it’s faster than ever. So OpenCL support can speed up video effects rendering by up to 380%; Intelligent SVRT analyzes your project and recommends the output profile which will deliver the best quality and speed; and a range of more general improvements (including an optimised H.264 encoder) mean your movie should be rendered in less than half the time taken by the previous version (and that wasn’t exactly slow).

Just as with those previous versions, PowerDirector 10 is available in two editions. PowerDirector 10 Ultra is the high-end suite, which includes everything we’ve mentioned here, and is priced at $99.95.

That’s not actually a bad price at all for what you get, but if you don’t need the 3D features, native 64-bit support, direct import from AVCHD camcorders or full HD preview, then you could always opt for PowerDirector 10 Deluxe: it’s yours for $69.95.

If you’re a PowerDirector fan, or just looking for a quality video editor at the moment, then you’ll probably want to take a closer look at PowerDirector 10 immediately. And we understand: it looks like a great product, and a 30-day trial edition is available now.

If you’re not quite so sure, though, then we understand that, too. Check back in a couple of days when we’ll have a full review online, giving you a much more detailed look at and evaluation of all PowerDirector 10‘s new features, and how the package behaves in real world testing.
Future Photoshop feature signals end of the blurry photograph

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 9:38pm CEST par Ed Oswald

Adobe may have the solution for all those blurry photographs on your digital camera you were about to trash: a YouTube video of a presentation by the company at its annual MAX developers conference shows a prototype "deblurring" feature that may make it into a future version of Photoshop.

The so-called "blur kernel" attempts to decipher how the camera was moved in order to remove the blur from it. By doing this, it then will be able to remove the blur successfully, the YouTube video shows.

Removal is two separate steps: an analyzing process to understand the blur, and then the actual process of removal itself, but the results are outstanding. The plug-in even has a special feature to deal with blurry text, allowing the sharpening of those cell phone images of something you wanted to read but couldn't.

The user can either select to deblur an entire image or just sections of it. Obviously, in some cases selecting a smaller region may be ideal given the long processing times entire images may take to re-render.

The company's representatives on stage would not commit to a release date for the feature or if it would even ever appear in the software itself, but judging from audience reaction you would think they have certainly made a good first impression.
AT&T, Sprint and Verizon: Cloud-connected devices change everything

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 8:37pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

CTIA Enterprise & Applications kicked off today in San Diego with a brief tribute to Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, who died last week. CTIA President Steve Largent praised Apple's move into the smartphone market, also calling it "disruptive".

Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO, then took the stage -- the first of three chief executives. He checked off wireless industry accomplishments, such as the year's many natural disasters or the Arab Spring that toppled governments across Northern Africa and the Middle East. "We make a difference in the lives of nearly every person on earth", he asserted.

Hesse, who opposes AT&T's proposed and increasingly troubled T-Mobile acquisition, couldn't resist mentioning it in passing. But he emphasized; "Members of the CTIA board have worked very well this year".

Hesse spoke about wireless' contributions now and in the future, claiming the trillion dollar industry -- only one of five -- could add $860 billion in additional US GDP over the next decade. He spent an enormous amount of his time on stage talking about green wireless.

Sprint strongly opposes texting and driving, which accounts for 20 percent of fatal car crashes, Hesse said. The carrier recently launched the "Sprint Drive First" app for Android phones. When installed, the phone locks after the vehicle goes faster than 10 miles an hour.

Hesse is a surprisingly good speaker. Sprint's CEO is articulate, clear and he presented without prompts. No slides! Now there's the measure of someone who can command the stage.

"Perfect Storm of Innovation"

Ralph de la Vega, CEO AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, followed Hesse. His style was more antimated than was Sprint's CEO. He started by talking about the "mobile revolution", which he described as "the perfect storm of innovation".

The AT&T executive focused on the new era of collaboration, calling out Boeing as an example for inviting customers/partners to participate in the design of the Dreamliner.

Collaboration is a priority for AT&T particularly working with mobile software developers. "We can't wait for innovation to come to us, we have to go to where the innovation is". So the company founded AT&T Foundry, with locations in Palo Alto, Calif., Plano, Texas and Israel.

AT&T has created its own API toolkit and supports HTML5. The Foundry also provides access to back-end services. It's a platform pitch you don't often hear from wireless carriers.

There's more. "We're using a venture capital model" to allow ideas generated anywhere within the company to quickly get attention. The ideas with the most potential receive immediate funding. AT&T calls the collaboration program TIP -- The Innovation Platform. More than 100,000 employees participate.

Yesterday, AT&T released an app for dividing work and personal zones on its handsets. The idea, de la Vega explained, is to help CIOs demarcate employees' personal stuff, like music, from corporate applications and content. The app came out of the TIP program, from an employee suggestion.

"Connected devices are the next big thing in mobility", de la Vega said, and he wasn't talking cell phones -- everything from e-readers to GPS pet tags and more. He went on to discuss connected "wearable devices", such as the fireman's suit that reports his vital signs.

Ralph de la Vega's content contrasted sharply from Dan Hesse'. Sprint's CEO spoke about wireless' broader benefits and put them in context of helping people everywhere. The AT&T chief executive mostly spoke about what his company is doing and the benefits to business.

Machine-to-Machine Wireless

Dan Mead, Verizon Wireless CEO, wrapped up the keynote, and he commanded the stage, too. I've reported on tech for 17 years, and I've rarely seen three so articulate major executives speaking one after the other.

Mead spoke about the importance of collaboration. He asserted that the wireless carriers have long worked together, even while competing, which has allowed the industry to rapidly grow. He used roaming agreements as one example how carriers cooperate while competing.

"Cooperation and collaboration are booming today at Verizon Wireless", he boasted.

Mead emphasized the importance of "machine-to-machine" wireless communications. Examples include cameras that snap photos if a car is hit while the driver is away.

Mead spoke about the speed of wireless innovation, but "we are just at the beginning", he claimed. Four years ago the average lifecycle of a cell phone was 24 months, but it is much less today. That's a measure of the speed of innovation, he said.

Verizon Wireless' CEO wrapped up by emphasizing the importance of collaboration -- and with it responsibility -- as assuring the industry can proceed without "government intervention".

Cloud-connected apps and services was the undercurrent to all three execs' presentations. It was the one unifying theme other than boasting about the importance of wireless in general.

CTIA Enterprise & Applications continues through October 13, ironically or perhaps appropriately, the day before iPhone 4S goes on sale in a handful of countries, including Japan, United Kingdom and United States. The smartphone goes on sale in an additional 22 countries on October 28.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox
Comodo releases free 2012 security software

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 6:21pm CEST par Nick Peers

Comodo has launched the 2012 range of its free security products. Standalone antivirus and firewall products Comodo Antivirus and Comodo Firewall are joined by Comodo Internet Security 2012 Premium, which combines both products in one app.

The products, which sport a relatively minor version number (5.8), promise to be faster, lighter and stronger than previous releases, sporting revamped user interfaces alongside bug fixes and a handful of new options.

Users of the 2011 versions will be automatically updated next week, but those key to try the new features now can either install the relevant standalone version over the top of an existing build or, as recommended by Comodo, by uninstalling the existing build before installing the new one from scratch.

New features, reflecting the build’s relatively minor release number, are thin on the ground. Comodo promises a new simplified installation experience, and claims it will integrate seamlessly with Comodo’s ESM 2.0 Business Edition software.

Comodo Firewall and Comodo Internet Security also beneft from a stronger Defense+ firewall component in 64-bit operating systems, while all three apps provide new options for the user to control the appearance of popup and anti-virus alerts.

Comodo also promises reduced resource consumption and a corresponding performance improvement across all three products.

Various fixes have also been applied, correcting problems with the firewall component working over Bluetooth PAN adapters, anti-virus crashes when scanning files residing on bad sectors and various conditions that allowed malware to evade Defense+ protection.

Comodo Antivirus 2012, Comodo Firewall 2012 and Comodo Internet Security 2012 Premium are all available now as a freeware downloads for PCs running Windows 7, Vista or XP.
Strip back and take control of Android with CyanogenMod 7.1

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 4:35pm CEST par Mark Wilson

One of the joys of Android is the fact that users are not fenced in in quite the same way that iOS users are. It is possible to install a wider range of software on your device with fewer worries. If you want to take things to the next level, CyanogenMod is a replacement for your existing Android OS that has been stripped back and optimized to provide a balance between performance, stability and customization.

The firmware is built around Android 2.3 and while the interface is nothing flashy, the focus is on speed rather than looks -- but you still have the option to use themes. The unique tweaks and options include the ability to swipe notifications off the screen, while the built-in music player boasts the simplicity and ease of use of an iPod. Support for customizable gestures means that it is easier than ever to control playback.

Gestures are also put to good use on the lockscreen where swipes can be used to not only unlock your device, but also switch on the flashlight and toggle sound. New in this version of the ROM is the ability to use Touch to Focus when taking photographs and it is also possible to change the way focusing works as well as using a timer to take group photos.

Security is important for any mobile user just as it is for desktop computer users, and CyanogenMod makes it possible to take control of permissions that have been granted to apps. While this is something that should be used with caution, it is also places users firmly in control. There is also an interesting Phone Goggles tool, referred to by the developers as ‘drunk mode’, in which phone calls and messaging features can be disabled until mathematical captchas have been solved.

There is a huge amount to explore in this firmware, and while it is something that novice users should perhaps shy away from, it is well worth a look.

You can find out more and download a free copy of the firmware by paying a visit to theCyanogenMod review page.
Is Facebook 4 for iOS a roach motel?

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 4:17pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

You'd think so after seeing all the bug reports. Ah, perhaps Facebook should have waited even longer to release the app supporting iPad. If not for how long people waited for this version, someone could accuse Facebook of rushing the new iOS app out the door. Scratch that, the app can't possibly be ready.

Less than 24 hours has passed since Facebook 4 for iOS appeared on Apple's App Store. The number of 1-star ratings and complaints about crashes and other problems is staggering. They go on and on and on. The majority are similar.

Kawasaki10 one-stars the app and gripes: "With the new update it won't load up the sign-in page". After giving the app 5 stars, carloc24 gripes: "Doesn't work for the iPad! It keeps on crashing whne I try to use it!"

"Every update I get for this fuggin app it gets worse", Destortion complains. "After the latest one the damn thing won't even open -- just sits there and load". Problems opening the app by far rank among the most common complaints about Facebook 4 for iOS.

Matt Arguin writes:

Get it together, Facebook. You'd think a major company would be able to produce a good app. Apparently not. I'll give you this: in the 4.0 version, it looks good. Heck, it looks awesome. Great UI decisions and purposeful navigation. BUT (and this is a big BUT here, folks), it's generally awful. It takes forever to load, is laggy and full of busg and crashes. For instance, I have two navigation bars, both work. Navigating between items in the slide-out menu doesn't work and causes the app to freeze or crash. I don't get it. Focus on your code, Facebook.

Facebook user agriffith96 "downloaded the new app. It crashed and never loaded. Deleted the app and redownloaded. Got halfway downloaded and got stuck. Power cycled the iPhone. Now it's hung on the Apple log. APP FAIL!"

Isuldur2 calls the app "useless. Just when you think Facebook can't get any worse, they do!" Two2olives writes: "The app locked up the iPhone when launched -- completely locked up, as in 'hit the power button and home button restart the phone'. I had to uninstall and reinstall the app".

Rosas9rojas: "This has to be the worst update ever!"

So, I've got ask: How is Facebook 4 for iOS working out for you?

Photo Credit: Bradipoo/Shutterstock
How do survey scammers 'clipjack' Facebook users?

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 9:02am CEST par Yuval Ben-Itzhak
This analysis is excerpted from AVG Technologies' Q3 "Community Powered Threat Report", which released Oct. 11, 2011.

Facebook is the second most popular site in the world according to Alexa's traffic rankings. The social network had explosive growth from 2008 with 100 million users to 750 million users today. This equates to about 11 percent of the world’s population or 36 percent of global Internet users; Facebook became the largest social network worldwide. The social network's popularity and its fast growth make it a prime target for cybercriminals.

Here, we examine the anatomy of the Clipjacking and Survey Scam. Clipjacking (similar to ClickJacking or LikeJacking) is a method where scammers try to trick Facebook users into clicking on a play button of a video clip. In this specific case it is claimed to be the world's funniest condom commercial. Similar to the earlier LikeJacking scams, the users do not realize that by trying to play the video clip, they are unwittingly saying that they "Like" the video clip, and not just that, they even "share" it with their Facebook friends.

However, the ultimate aim of this attack is to get the victim to agree to an automatic $10 monthly mobile phone charge. Even if victims evade the monthly mobile phone charges, they are likely to be embarrassed at a minimum, as most of the lures involve subjects of an adult or morbid nature. Co-workers, bosses, parents, children and spouses are usually part of each victim's social network.

This attacking method takes advantage of the viral nature of Facebook; every time someone tries to watch the video clip, it is written on his or her Wall and is shared among friends and friend’s friends (via the News Feed) and spreads all over the Facebook nation.

The attack involves placing a transparent image file (GIF) over a video clip; this GIF file and hidden code behind it can go unnoticed by the majority of Facebook users. The user is tricked into believing that he or she is pressing the "play" button when actually clicking on the transparent GIF that executes the code.

It is important to note that even though this is not a computer virus or worm per se, since it relies on the viral nature of Facebook itself to spread, it is viewed by most of the victims like they’ve been hit by a virus.

Clickjacking is one of the most common attacks executed against Facebook users. In August 2011 alone, we have witnessed that more than 80 percent of the attacks on Facebook were Clickjacking related.

Anatomy of an Attack

Let’s dive deeper to see a live example of how this attack works:

1. A Facebook user sees on his or her news feed, a viral link recommended by a friend in the network

2. When clicking on the viral link, the following page is presented; all the user needs to do is click on the play button, right? Wrong.

3. As we are often told, read the fine print! Most Facebook users will not be able to see the hidden code underneath the photo (marked with a red border) or wouldn’t understand the implication if they did.

4. In the following screenshot, part of the code is highlighted.

5. Anyone clicking the play button would have this same code executed on the Facebook account; on top of the hidden "Like" process, the user is askedd to fill out an endless list of surveys, generally to "prove that they are not an Internet bot".

6. After a seemingly endless process of surveys, eventually the user gets to the point where he or she "only" needs to supply a cell phone number. While supplying the cell phone number, the user basically agrees to an automatic $10 monthly mobile phone charge.

Credit Card Data is Passé

The Facebook detections are the ones that show Facebook as either the deliverer or the referrer, and it roughly works out to 30,000 detection reports daily in March 2011. AVG’s ‘population’ is 98 million and the Internet’s population is 2 billion people, so we can assume that the real daily detections are approximately 600,000 (30,000 X 20).

Let’s assume that the success rate (meaning users who did provide their cell phone details to the cyber criminals) is about 1 percent. This translates to 6,000 users who generate $60,000 per day of gross profit, or 1.8M per month. However, we shouldn’t forget this is not a one-time sale. Unless the victim cancels the charge, it will recur each month, easily compounding to over $20,000,000 annually.

Other ClickJacking/LikeJacking scams that we witnessed during the year are:
- "Big baby born – amazing effects"
- "Who is looking at your profile"
- "Girl caught stripping on webcam by her dad"
- "You won’t believe what this teacher did to his student"
- "This guy took a picture of his face every day for eight years"
- "Lily Allen shows her breasts on British television"
The main take away from the story is that stealing credit card data is passé. To steal a victim’s money, all that is needed is his or her mobile phone number. Mobile phone companies make it easy for the scammers since they collect the money for them.

Yuval Ben-Itzhak is chief technology officer for AVG Technologies. He is responsible for the strategic and technical development of the AVG product line as well as developing key partnerships within the industry and identifying technologies offering potential for acquisition. Ben-Itzhak is a security industry veteran with more than 15 years of global IT security experience.
Cybercriminals go for easy money: Facebook and Bitcoin users

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 9:01am CEST par Joe Wilcox
Bank, credit card and PayPal accounts aren't as lucrative treasures for cybercriminals -- not like they once were. New security measures make pilfering accounts more difficult than years past. So the bad guys are going after easier money and, in process, younger users. In its third-quarter "Community Powered Threat Report", released today, AVG Technologies identifies two emerging security trends: Clipjacking and Survey Scamming Facebook accounts and siphoning digital money from Bitcoin users. With both, cybercriminals tap new revenue streams, cell phone accounts for the one and pure currency for the other.

Yesterday, I spoke with Yuval Ben-Itzhak, AVG's chief technology officer, about the new report and these two trends. "There's a ridiculous number of stolen credit cards on criminal sites", Ben-Itzhak says. "The main issue is how to use these compromised credit cards, because the credit card companies have taken serious actions to prevent and minimize the damages". Auction of PayPal accounts is commonplace, too, "but this is also becoming challenging to monetize because of all the security that is in place".

Target: Young People w/o Credit Cards

Predators don't give up when cut off from their main food animals, they simply look for new prey. "Premium SMS starts to be the main monetization vehicle for cybercriminals, both from the mobiles themselves and fake applications -- but also from the web itself and the best example is Facebook", Ben-Itzhak says.

The United Nations estimates that there are 5.6 billion cell phone subscribers worldwide. The number of potential victims eclipses those on PCs by huge margin -- more than 5 to 1.

Cybercriminals seek to trick cell phone users into accepting bogus services. The way cellular carriers handle certain services makes adding new ones, without explicit permission, easy. Charges tend to be $10/month and target "young people without credit cards" Ben-Itzhak says. These extra charges can go unnoticed for months.

The appeal to cybercriminals:
- They can go after "many more users".
- Credit cards are higher criminal risk.
- It's easier than stealing credit card numbers.
- "It's much easier to monetize because they can use the mobile operators in many countries".
"That's a big change from how they've been monetizing for the last couple of years", Ben-Itzhak emphasizes.

Facebook is becoming an increasingly popular means of launching these kinds of attacks. In the companion to this story, AVG's CTO explains the process in-depth. Quickly summarizing: cybercriminals exploit trust. Someone receives a link to "Cool Video" and clicks it. Clicking the video actually activates a "clear GIF" -- an image with hidden script that launches the attack. Unknown to him or her, this posts the bogus video to the Wall, which Friends see, too. The user is presented with a series of survey questions before the video can be viewed. The last, supposedly for verification purposes, requests the cell phone number, which authorizes a $10/monthly charge against the phone bill.

"Until a parent or an adult notices these charges, it could take some time. Think about the volume of traffic happening in Facebook, you can imagine just how much money is running around here", Ben-Itzhak says.

Picking Bitcoin's Wallet

AVG also sees an increasing number of attacks targeting digital currencies, such as Bitcoin. People use Bitcoin in place of cash for the purpose of conducting online transactions -- it's essentially a micro-payments system. Credentials and transaction are placed on the user's PC or on service providers' servers. The AVG report explains:

The main difference of Bitcoin is that it designed to allow people to buy and sell without centralized control by banks, governments or commercial companies. It also allows for pseudonymous transactions, which aren't tied to a real identity...Bitcoin is a digital version of cash. Payments are made with no intermediaries, but it also has the same major disadvantage as cash, if someone is stealing cash, it is almost impossible to get it back, the same goes for Bitcoin, once the transaction is approved by the network, there is no way to reverse the action...As of August 2011 there are over 7.1 Bitcoins available. Estimated Market Capital is $63,336,546.

AVG's report identifies several methods being used to steal Bitcoins. Among them:

Our Security Labs have noticed a kind of a Trojan that uses the user's computer to mine Bitcoins on behalf of the attacker. The Trojan manages to silently install itself on victim's computers (exploiting various vulnerabilities). This piece of malware can run without a user’s knowledge, it is running in the background by disguising itself as a windows process (using filenames that belong to or are similar to the Microsoft Windows processes, often exploited to hide a malware presence such as spoolsv.exe, svcho0st.exe, explorer.exe). The Malware is using victims CPU and/or GPU computing power to mine BTC (Bitcoin currency) for someone else.

Users could get the Trojan by a number of means, including the all-too-common installation with another application. The Trojan opens a back door that mines Bitcoins from others and/or steals the Bitcoin "Wallet" from the compromised PC.

"Surprise, surprise, the hackers are running after that. It's really about free cash they are collecting right from the computer, and they can use it right away", Ben-Itzhak says.

Photo Credit: Photosani/Shutterstock
BlueStacks App Player alpha brings Android apps to Windows today

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 9:01am CEST par Tim Conneally

Silicon Valley startup BlueStacks on Tuesday officially launched the alpha version of its App Player for Windows, which lets users run Android apps right from their Windows desktop.

It is as easy to understand as it is to appreciate. It's an application that virtualizes Android inside Windows, and can be run with a touchscreen, or can convert mouse actions into virtual touchscreen actions.

"Not all apps are going to work perfectly on day one," John Gargiulo, BlueStacks' Vice President of Marketing told us last week. "It's kind of a great experiment that we're doing with our community. Certainly things with accelerometer and phone-based stuff like SMS aren't going to work so well. But a lot of our IP is based around the virtualization of touch; and surprisingly, most apps and most games work beautifully with a mouse."

We first spoke to BlueStacks earlier this year, and excitement for their product has been extremely high. Potential users are interested, developers are interested, PC makers are interested...and we're interested.

The team has not been secretive about this Alpha launch, and has been hyping it up for a couple of months. But they surprised us with this launch by unveiling a couple of huge new elements to the application.

First, a new cloud sync platform called BlueStacks Cloud Connect that lets users wirelessly sync their Android apps down to their PC. Users install the BlueStacks Cloud Connect app on their Android device, and pick the apps that they want their PC to have.

Secondly, BlueStacks announced that it has been pre-registering big-name app developers to pre-load their apps inside of App Player. This is especially important to developers who do not already have --or do not plan to release-- a Windows application.

For Pulse, the popular newsreader app for iOS and Android, BlueStacks will be the ONLY way their app will be available on Windows.

BlueStacks App Player has a "get apps" link which goes to a list of about 150 approved apps that users can pick and send to their PC. This is an interesting aspect to the whole package because it is an Android app store where the target device is a Windows PC, and there is simply nothing of the sort in existence anywhere else. BlueStacks' featured apps section will eventually include connections to other Android app stores.

"This has huge implications for gaming. They've created 200,000 plus PC games overnight," said Vladimir Funtikov, co-founder of mobile game development company Creative Mobile.

Currently, the Alpha version of BlueStacks Cloud Connect does not support multiple devices and multiple PCs tied to a single cloud account. Gargiulo told us that this feature is ready to go and will be rolled out very soon.

Sign up to be a BlueStacks App Player alpha tester on the company's official site.
Opera Next build 1090 is here -- get it now!

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 1:03am CEST par Mark Wilson

The Next branch of Opera’s development has been updated to build 1090, with a number of interesting changes that see alterations to the skin’s appearance and improvements made to the plugin installation process. Of course, there is also the usual swathe of bug fixes and performance enhancements, and despite the fact that this is a fairly early glimpse of the next version of the browser, it already seems surprisingly stable and polished.

There are a number of changes that can be summed up as polishing -- icons and buttons have been updated as has the badge graphic. The overall size of the skin has been reduced in terms of file size, and the padding around some screen elements has been adjusted to improve alignment.

Problems stemming from Opera’s automatic updating have also been addressed, helping to avoid issues that crop up after updating. The plugin installation wizard has been tweaked so it is now possible to hide the plugin installer progress window, and crashes that occurred in previous builds have also been fixed.

Opera Next is available for Mac, Windows and Linux is shaping up well and the accelerated development cycle is comparable to that of Firefox. Across all platforms there are minor yet noticeable changes including tweaks to colorization in Windows and Linux to better match the color schemes of the two operating systems.

While this build is generally stable, it should be remembered that it is still only a development version. You can find out more and download a copy of the browser by paying a visit to the Opera Next review page.
Finally, Facebook for iPad is here

Publié: octobre 11, 2011, 12:55am CEST par Joe Wilcox
The wait is over. You heard the rumors and saw the leaked screenshots. You believe in unicorns and UFOs. But it was growing hard to keep believing in Facebook for iPad. Today, the social network rewards your faith and anoints your pad with Facebook 4.0. Surely aliens will land tomorrow and unicorns will be found in some remote jungle. If so, you can more easily tell all your friends from iPad.

Facebook 4.0 is the long-anticipated remedy for what ills iPad: FB iPhone app. The social network released Facebook 3.5 for iOS in early September and to the disbelief of many unicorn and UFO hunters (and plenty other people) without the long-anticipated iPad support.

Apple (on the iTunes store) and Facebook (on its official app page) are promoting six benefits. From iTunes:
- Enjoy bigger, better photos: Your photos are high-res and easy to flip through, like a real photo album
- Navigate anywhere, fast: Just tap, slide or pinch to move from one screen to another
- Play games on the go: Access your favorite Facebook apps and games, wherever you are
- Focus on what matters: Zoom in on your friends' photos, updates and stories
- Never lose your place: Share a photo, update your status or send a message without leaving News Feed
- See who's nearby: Check out the Nearby map to see what your friends are up to
Okay, Facebook for iPad is here. So why aren't you downloading it already?