Total Tech Security

Nokia and Intel's much anticipated OS MeeGo

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:15:00 +0530

Android enabled mobile device's are selling like hot cakes. It won't be wrong to say that these devices are selling faster then Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry. Android sure has stormed the market but it will certainly not go unchallenged with Windows 7 and MeeGo enabled devices entering the market. It will be interesting to see this battle for market share of mobile devices.

MeeGo is a Linux based open source mobile operating system. It is joint project between two technology giants, Intel and Nokia with the help of Linux foundation. The aim is to merge Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo former projects into one common project. With the world's largest chip manufacture Intel and the world's largest mobile manufacture Nokia joining hands MeeGo surely is a thing to watch. MeeGo is intended to run on a variety of hardware platforms including handsets, in-car devices, netbooks and televisions.

MeeGo is not aimed at only Mobile devices. It is being built for much broad spectrum including netbooks, tablets, digital video recorder (dvr), internet connected TV. In simple words if a device has a requirement of user interface and operating system it can consider MeeGo. Developers of me MeeGo are trying to make it universal, so no matter what platform you use MeeGo would look and work the same. It is designed to run on both Intel Atom and ARMv7 and ARMv9 architecture. Due to these capabilities many mobile manufacturer have dropped Symbian and replaced it with MeeGo for smart phone devices. Nokia plans to use MeeGo for its high performance mobile phone.

MeeGo v1.1 IVI

MeeGo launched its v1.0 purely for developers. MeeGo v1.1 came up in October 2010 and was for the users. The plan is for the next version 1.2, which will include a Handset release with a complete set of applications, and support for other device usage models, to appear in April 2011. Instead of Android's Virtual Machine based interface, MeeGo use the more traditional Unix/Linux X11-based and Qt 4.7 structure in the front end. Due to this if you crate an application for MeeGo one can easily port it to Linux desktop without much problem. Like Android phones, the iPhone, and the iPad, MeeGo does have its own App Store: AppUp.

Though there is no finished MeeGo enabled product in the market as yet, it would be interesting to see how does Nokia and Intel live upto to the expectation of delivering an OS that works seamlessly and identical on all platforms.

source: www.smart-developer.com

Google and Facebook in talks to buy Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:47:00 +0530

If the report in todays The World Street Journal is to be believed Google and Facebook might soon bid to buy Twitter. Twitter has now over 200 million users, generating 65 million tweets every day. During the recent Super Bowl there were 4063 tweets per second breaking the previous record of 3283 tweets per second set during Japans 3-1 victory over Denmark during the last world cup. The record is of more then 6939 tweets per second set in Japan after midnight on New Year's Eve.

But what is so special about Twitter a micro blogging sites ? Twitter has gained a lot of popularity over the past few years and is ranked at third place among the most popular Social Networking sites and among the top 10 most viewed sites worldwide. Facebook and Google have been in talks to buy Twitter for sum of $10 billion dollar much higher then the companies recent evaluation which was $3.7 billion dollars.

Both Google and Facebook have discussed buying Twitter in the past and have kept their lines of communication open.Twitter's revenues and valuation have risen even as the company continues on ways to translate its more than 200 million registered users into profitable business.

People familiar with the situation said that the company belive that it can grow into a $100 billion company.

To read the original article click here.

Google and Twitter launch service enabling Egyptians to tweet by phone

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Tue, 8 Feb 2011 13:42:00 +0530

Google Inc launched a special service to allow people in Egypt to send Twitter messages by dialing a phone number and leaving a voicemail, as Internet access remains cut off in the country amid anti-government protests.

"Like many people we've been glued to the news unfolding in Egypt and thinking of what we could do to help people on the ground," read a post on Google's official corporate blog on Monday.

The service, which Google said was developed with engineers from Twitter, allows people to dial a telephone number and leave a voicemail. The voicemail is automatically translated into an audio file message that is sent on Twitter using the identifying tag #egypt, Google said.

Google said in the blog post, titled "Some weekend work that will (hopefully) enable more Egyptians to be heard," that no Internet connection is needed to use the service.

It listed three phone numbers for people to call to use the service.

Internet social networking services like Twitter and Facebook have been important tools of communications for protesters in Egypt who have taken to the streets since last week to demonstrate against the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak.

Internet service has been suspended around the country and phone text messaging has been disabled.

A source familiar with the matter said Google, whose corporate motto is "Don't Be Evil," was not taking sides in the crisis in Egypt, but was simply supporting access to information as it has done with other services such as video website YouTube.

YouTube has been streaming live coverage of Al Jazeera's broadcasts of the events in Egypt.

Dozens of the so-called speak-to-tweet messages were featured on Twitter on Monday. The messages ranged from a few seconds to several minutes and featured people identifying themselves as Egyptians and describing the situations in various parts of the country.

"The government is spreading rumors of fear and of burglary and of violence," said one of the messages from an English speaker. "The only incidence of theft and burglary are done by the police themselves."

Google listed the following numbers for people to use the service: +16504194196 or +390662207294 or +97316199855.

Source: www.reuters.com

Zynga Lost $11.9 million in fraud

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Mon, 7 Feb 2011 21:17:00 +0530

A 29-year-old British man faces a certain jail term after admitting he stole 400 billion gaming chips worth an estimated £7.5 million ($11.9 million) from FarmVille maker, Zynga.

Ashley Mitchell, who runs the Facebook application Gambino Poker, had illegally accessed Zynga's servers in 2009 before draining the chips and then selling them to fund gambling debts, a British court heard this week.

Mitchell sold the stolen chips at a discounted price, netting him just over £50,000 between June and September, 2009.

Had police not intervened, he would have netted about £184,000 at the rate he was selling.

Zynga alerted police after staff discovered many chips were disappearing. Mitchell had accessed Zynga's computers between June and August, 2009.

Justice Phillip Wassall denied Mitchell bail on the belief that he would do it again.

'It is inevitable you are going to prison. The question is how long for," said Phillips.

Mitchell's lawyer said the defendant's "six-figure income" was enough to pay back the money over two years.

Mitchell admitted to a charge of unauthorised access to data with the intent to commit a crime and faces four more counts under the proceeds of crime act.

Zynga's most famous game

source: www.securecomputing.net.au

Apple laptops and desktops might soon have AMD processors

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Sun, 6 Feb 2011 22:55:00 +0530

Apple has used Intel's microprocessor in its laptops and desktop personal computers from 2006, but this may soon change. Apple has recently has been in talk's with Intel's rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Representative of AMD have been spotted on their way out from meetings with member's of Apple's top brass.

The meetings have reportedly included briefings by AMD that have since enabled Apple to begin working with AMD processors in its labs as part of an initiative to position the chips inside some of the company's forthcoming products.

It is believed that Apple is working with AMD to expand its potential sources for CPUs in order to increase its flexibility and broaden its competitive options, but also likely in response to problems it has encountered with Intel. These issues include limited availability of new processors as well as new chipset designs imposed by Intel that have blocked the Apple's plans to continue a partnership with NVidia to deliver a standardized chipset for use with its Intel processors across all of its consumer computer offerings.

Why Apple hasn't used AMD CPUs before
When Apple first announced its plans to migrate to Intel CPUs back in 2005, many observers questioned why the company wasn't also using AMD's compatible processors as a secondary option. AMD's chips at the time were considered more powerful and often cheaper than Intel's flagship offerings, including the Pentium IV. However, Apple was happy to information about Intel's roadmap, and was primarily interested in the company's new Core line of fast, yet energy efficient designs suitable for use in its notebooks.

AMD's edge in CPUs in the first half of the 2000 was blown away by Intel's new Core family, which came to market just as Apple was making its transition. AMD currently offers few advantages in terms of performance or efficiency, but does offer significantly lower component pricing than Intel. AMD also owns ATI, which produces graphics chips Apple continues to use in some of its models.This suggests the possibility that Apple could deliver an integrated package of AMD and ATI components that delivered respectable performance and great graphics performance at a lower price than Intel's.

Having multiple sources of CPUs would enable Apple to use the best parts available from each supplier, similar to how the company has worked with both ATI and NVidia to offer competing options in Mac graphics adapters. With the dramatic growth Apple has experienced in its Mac sales over the past half decade, it may now make sense for the company to offer a wider array of competitive CPU options to target a broader range of price points and performance needs.

Reasons for new interest in AMD
Given word of the ongoing discussions and briefings, Apple may also now have access to new information about competitive products AMD has in the pipeline. The company may also have original design specifications that AMD may be more willing to adopt than Intel just to obtain Apple's high profile business.

The talks with AMD could also be part of a competitive leveraging strategy to keep Intel interested in retaining Apple's core business, similar to how the company has been rumored to be discussing plans to use Microsoft's Bing search engine in preference to Google's on the iPhone.

At the same time, while AMD has historically trailed Intel's performance and efficiency in CPUs, particularly in the mobile computing space, the company's acquisition of ATI gives it far more powerful GPU technology than Intel currently has.

AMD could offer very competitive options for Apple's future notebooks, particularly given the Mac maker's focus on graphics performance and its related GPU technologies, including Grand Central Dispatch and OpenCL.

If AMD can deliver 80% of the CPU performance of Intel at 60% of the cost, and add significantly better GPU performance and sophistication, it would not be surprising to see Apple working to adopt the company's parts broadly across its Mac lineup within the next year or two.

source: www.appleinsider.com

One of the best browser till date: Google Chrome 9

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Sun, 6 Feb 2011 18:22:00 +0530

You may have noticed but your Chrome browser has been automatically updated. If not, click on the tools icon followed by "About Google Chrome" .Google released Chrome 9 this week.

Get Google Chrome

Some of the features are Chrome Instant search, a speed enhancer that loads Web pages as you type a URL. Other notable upgrades include WebGL support for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, as well as access to Google's new Chrome Web Store.

Google Instant

This feature will automatically load webpages as you type the URL in the addressbar. The option is turned off by default. You can turn it on by Option-Check "Enable Instant for faster searching and browsing".

WebGL

By far the most compelling feature of the newly released browser is the integration of WebGL in the browser. WebGL support brings hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to the browser without the need for additional software. Google's Body Browser, for instance, uses WebGL to employ a computer's GPU to speed up rendering of 3D graphics. Chrome is the first browser with this technology which should be soon available on Firefox and IE. Definitely a technology to watch.

Chrome WebStore

The store offers a collection of free and commercial Chrome applications, extensions and themes. The Chrome Webstore is now here for quite some time yet appeals masses with its over 100s of free and paid apps. Though few of the web apps are optimized speciafically for chrome, many others can be used with their full potential for Firefox and safari. You can download web app, open it as new window or create shortcuts on desktop. Windows users can also pin web app to start-menu or create a quciklaunch icon for the webapp for quick and easy access. Chrome WebStore

Cloud printing

With this feature you will be able to print from devices that cannot directly communicate with Printers. Cloud printing Allows printing from any app on any device, OS or browser without the need to install any software.When released later this January, the support was limited for Windows OS only. To put it simply you will be able to print Google docs or any other document from your smart phone.

WebP files

WebP is new image format that offers better compression for images over the web. This implies that image file size will substantially reduce resulting in faster download rate while the picture quality is maintained.You can download the image converter from here: WebP files

Overall, Chrome 9 adds some compelling upgrades while retaining the speed and simplicity that makes Google's browser so compelling.

Internet Explorer 9 Beta Review

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Sun, 6 Feb 2011 15:45:00 +0530

If you are something like me list of things to do as soon as we get a new PC: Uninstall every piece of crapware, change the desktop wallpaper, and fire up Internet Explorer to download a new browser like Firefox or Chrome. Without fail, we've repeated that last step . Why is it that we almost instantly replace IE with another option? There are lots of reasons, but to name a few... the browser usually comes plastered with toolbars, which makes it painfully slow to load even just a simple news site. And even when those are uninstalled it feels sluggish in comparison to Firefox and Chrome. Also, it's just not as attractive or intuitive as the others and then there are the smaller items, like the fact that it lacks a download manager or uses more RAM than the competition.

Internet Explorer 9 could be a pivotal release for Microsoft. The Microsoft browser has been bleeding market share to rivals for a number of years: in January 2009 Internet Explorer boasted a worldwide market share of 70%, according to Net Applications; last month that share had fallen to 57%.

Whereas Firefox used to be Microsoft's main threat, Google Chrome has now emerged as the most serious threat to Internet Explorer's crown. Although still a distant third in the browser wars, Chrome's market share has doubled over the past year to 10%.

Internet Explorer 9 which is now available for download as a public beta will try and mend all those issues. There are some interesting features such as "Pinned Sites" and "One Box" that Microsoft's been less vocal about. So, does IE9 live up to the hype and will it finally give us a preloaded browser that's fast enough to run with the others?

Design and User Interface

"Unlocking the beauty of the Web." That's Microsoft's new tag line for Internet Explorer 9.The company's finally realized that, you know, web surfers want to see more web and less browser and toolbars. Actually, Microsoft claims with the new design more of a web page can be seen than in Firefox even if it's only by a few centimeters. It appears that Chrome actually allows you to see a bit more of a page, but honestly the difference in space really seems insignificant.

The menu bar has been removed and the address bar are now at the forefront. It looks a lot like Chrome . The compatibility view, refresh and stop buttons have been just latched on to the address bar and there are dedicated favorite and tools buttons on the far right side.

Pinned Sites
With Pinned Sites, you can get to your favorite sites directly from the Windows taskbar without having to open the Internet Explorer first. Pinning a site takes seconds: click the icon to the left of the web address in One Box, the tab for the website, or the website's icon on the New Tab page and drag it to the taskbar. That's it. Once a site is pinned, it shows up as its own thumbnail, separate fromInternet Explorer. Now all it takes is one click to get to your favorite website.

Download Manager:
Finally IE9 adds a real download manager that lets you see what you've recently downloaded as well as see the progress of a current download. It also has a SmartScreen Filter, as it's been dubbed, that alerts you to security issues. Alerts appear within the browser window now rather than as a pop-up.

Enhanced Tabs
Tabs aren't new to Internet Explorer, but Microsoft's added a few new tricks. They're really easy to snap out of place now, and even if you're doing something like playing a video in YouTube, detaching it doesn't lose your place as content is continuously rendered. Like Chrome, there's now the ability to just shut down one tab when a website starts to hang.Instead of having to shut down the entire browser, you can go into the task manager and just kill that particular tab. The new tab page shows frequently visited sites along with a meter of how actively you visit them.

Search in address bar:

You can now search directly from the address bar. If you enter a website's address, you'll go directly to the website. If you enter a search term or incomplete address, you will launch a search using the currently selected search engine. Click the address bar to select your search engine from the listed icons or to add new ones.

When you search from the address bar, you'll have the option of opening a search results page or the top search result (if your search engine supports the feature). You can also get optional search suggestions in the address bar—but they are off by default, in case you don't want to share what you type with a search provider.

Add-on Performance Advisor
Add-ons, such as toolbars, can enhance your browsing experience, but they can also slow it down. Add-on Performance Advisor tells you if an add-on is slowing down your browser performance, and then allow you to disable or remove it.

With all this information the question still remains:do we still need to replace IE with Firefox and Chrome ? It's certainly not mandatory anymore, or at least it shouldn't be by the time IE9 is ready to ship with new PCs. The interface is attractive and clean, the new features robust and the speed greatly improved. Microsoft has sped up and cleaned up Internet Explorer 9 to a point where it's not only usable, but actually a real pleasure to use.

source: www.engadget.com

Firefox, Chrome to add "Do Not Track" tools soon

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:44:00 +0530

Firefox and Google Chrome browsers are getting tools to help users block advertisers from collecting information about them. This is similar to "Do Not Call" feature available on phones.

Mozilla is reportedly exploring putting anti-tracking features on its popular Firefox browser so that users can keep their online activities from being monitored. The bad news? Mozilla recently rejected a more powerful privacy protection tool under pressure from the advertising industry.

Alex Fowler, a technology and privacy officer for Firefox maker Mozilla, said the "Do Not Track" tool will be the first in a series of steps designed to guard privacy. He didn't say when the tool will be available.

Google Chrome users can now download a browser plug-in that blocks advertisers - but only from ad networks that already let people decline personalized, targeted ads. According to Google Inc., these include the top 15 advertising networks, as rated by the research group comScore, a group that includes AOL Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Google itself.

The next version of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser, which is still being developed, will include a similar feature, though people will have to create or find their own lists of sites they want to block.

Google and Mozilla, however, are developing tracking-protection tools that will work automatically - once people decide to turn on that privacy feature, that is.

Microsoft, Google and Mozilla's promises of stronger privacy comes on the heels of government complaints that online advertisers are able to collect too much data about people in their quest to target ads.

Last month, the Federal Trade Commission recommended the creation of a "Do Not Track" tool that would invite consumers to restrict advertisers from collecting information about them, including the websites they visit, the links they click, their Internet searches and their online purchases.

Google product managers Sean Harvey and Rajas Moonka said the new Chrome tool will allow for more permanent ad blocking. Before, opt-out settings were typically stored through small files known as cookies; when users clear cookies, however, the opt-out settings get erased, too. Another benefit is that the new tool allows users to opt out of all participating ad networks at once, rather than one at a time.

Google eventually hopes to develop a similar plug-in for other browsers as well, Harvey and Moonka added.

Thus the dilemma of Web browsers caught in the crossfire between their audience, Internet users and regulators seeking to protect user privacy, and their revenue, online advertisers who want more information on users’ preferences.

source: ibnlive.in.com, socialtimes.com

World's Thinnest Laptop

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:12:00 +0530

We started with computers that required an entire room to be fully functional. Then came in Personal Computers (PC) which were far smaller in size but were restricted to its location. Then came the laptops,a portable device which could be carried any where.

As the technology has progressed and the competition to produce the best computers has intensified we are seeing some of the most creative and powerful machines been made every day. Its now not only about performance but also looks. We have laptops that are not only have advanced computing features but are as slim as notebook. Definitely the consumer are following the mantra "it is better if its slimmer".

SONY VAIO X:

Sleek, sexy and slim the SONY VAIO X is the perfect netbook for stylish people. It is definately lighter then most of the notebooks weighing just 655 gms (about 1.4 pounds) lighter then Apple Macbook Air (2.3 pounds) and is 0.5'' thick. It has 11'' wide TFT display the measure merely 0.125 inch thick. The laptop comes with two interchangeable batteries: a standard (3.5 hour) battery and a larger, heavier, battery-and-stand combo that lasts for upto 14 hours.

The X features a 128 GB solid state drive, 2 GB of RAM and a 2 GHz Intel Atom Z550 processor with Windows 7 Home Premium Edition. The X series makes room for a Memory Stick Pro slot and an SD Card slot (both located right under the touchpad), a headphone jack, two USB 2.0 ports, a VGA-out, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and an Ethernet port that conveniently folds out to keep the machine ultrathin. Don't go looking for an optical drive, since its not there.

Price d 54,000

Apple Macbook Air :

As with all Apple products, the Macbook Air wa

s launched in style. Steve Jobs launched Macbook Air by removing it from an envelope. It weighs 1.06 kg (2.3 pounds) and 1.7 cm (0.68 inches) thick. It comes with 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo procrssor with 3MB on-chip or onboard optional 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache and with 2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM onboard (4GB maximum) things are definitely going to work smoothly. It comes with 128 GB flash storage. Like most of the apple products it has superior graphics with NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with the main memory. It can provide 5 hours of battery life or upto 30 days of standby time. But the biggest down side is that it has only one USB port and one mini display port which means one has to have a bunch of other adapters to get connected with other devices. It does not have a Ethernet port which means if you don't have wireless connection you can't surf the internet. Though Macbook Air does not compromise on Ergonomics it has a very high price tag for less features.

Price d 95,000

Dell Adamo XPS:

If you thought the above two were the best slim laptops wait you haven't yet seen Dell Adamo XPS. Adamo in Latin stands for "I fall in love with". After seeing the design one would surely fall in love with it.

It has 13.4'' HD display, metallic key cap and full sized keyboard. It weighs 1.44 kg (3.2 lbs) with the standard 20 WHr battery. It has battery life of upto 5 hours with an optional extended battery life using lithium ion cell. With 2MP integrated camera and mono digital microphone video chat is made very simple.

It comes with Windows 7 Home Premium and 128GB solid state drive. It has 4GB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR3 memory.It comes with two USB and display port.It also has simple swipe of your finger overt the capacitative latch release.

Just like Macbook Air it has limited connectivity option so a host of adapter is needed.

Price

d 150,000

All these laptop are excellent when it comes to design but a little more efforts need to be made in improving the performance of these laptops.

Acer Timline X 4820 TG priced at d 49,000can surely give these laptops a good competition.

Explaining Facebook's Spam Prevention Systems

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 11:11:00 +0530

- As a global service connecting 400 million people, Facebook has helped build and extend communities around the world. As with any community, the benefits of bringing people together are occasionally accompanied by inappropriate or unacceptable conduct by a small number of people. This behavior ranges from thoughtless to criminal and can degrade the experience for others or undermine the community itself.

On Facebook, the most common unacceptable behavior involves some abuse of the communication tools. This can be as innocent as annoying others with too many messages or friend requests or as serious as deliberately trying to spam others for commercial gain.

Facebook has taken these deliberate spam attacks seriously and devote a tremendous amount of their engineering time and talent to build systems that detect suspicious activity and automatically warn people about inappropriate behavior or links. Because of the efforts, only a very small percentage of people who use Facebook has ever experienced spam or a security issue.

Every once in a while, though, people misunderstand one of these systems. They incorrectly believe that Facebook is restricting them by blocking them from posting a specific link or from sending a message to someone who is not a friend. Over the years, these misunderstandings have caused Facebook to be wrongly accused of issues ranging from stifling criticism of director Roman Polanski over his sexual abuse charges to curbing support for ending U.S. travel restrictions on Cuba to blocking opponents of same-sex marriage.

To try to be more transparent, they have been working to improve warnings and make them more clear.

- New warning explaining why content has been blocked.
  
  With billions of pieces of content being shared on Facebook every month and bad actors constantly targeting the people who use Facebook, preventing spam isn't easy. Just as a community relies on its citizens to report crime,Facebook rely on you to let us know when you encounter spam, which can be anything from a friend request sent by someone you don't know to a message that includes a link to a malicious website.
  
  Using information from your reports and what they know about how the average person uses Facebook, they have identified certain common patterns of unacceptable behavior. For example, they have learned that if someone sends the same message to 50 people not on his or her friend list in the span of an hour, it's usually spam. Similarly, if 75 percent of the friend requests a person sends are ignored, it's very likely that that person is annoying others he or she doesn't actually know.
  
  In extreme cases where the behavior continues despite the warnings, they may disable the person's account. When this happens, it usually isn't a person's account at all but a fake account or a real account that's been compromised. The compromised accounts are put into a process to give control back to the rightful owner.
  
  These automated systems don't just prevent spam and other annoyances. They also protect
  
  against dangerous websites that damage your computer or try to steal your information. When we're notified about one of these sites, we immediately add it to a block list and prevent Wall posts or messages that link to it. We also provide the person who's attempting to share the link with an explanation of why it's blocked and a way to correct us if we're wrong.
  
  Sometimes, spammers try to hide their malicious links behind URL shorteners like Tiny URL or bit.ly, and in rare cases, we may temporarily block all use of a specific shortener. If you hit a block while using a URL shortener, try a different one or just use the original URL for whatever you're trying to share.
  
  These systems are so effective at working in the background that most people who use Facebook will never encounter one. They're not perfect, though, and Facebook always is working to improve them.
  
  If you do encounter one of our spam prevention systems, remember that its sole intent is to protect you and maintain Facebook's trusted environment.
  
  Source: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=403200567130

Acer Timeline X 4820 TG

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 10:27:00 +0530

The Acer Timeline is just 24 mm thick (less then one inch),rising just 5 mm at its highest point. It has a brushed aluminium cover and weight of 1.6 kg (3.5 lbs) for its 13.3'' model.What's more impressive is its 8 hours of battery life.

It has got a nice black metal finish which means that there won't be any finger prints. The keys are quite wobbly. But in case of the touchpad, it is one of the best ever . The touchpad also supports pinch-and-zoom with two fingers. The best part is that even with a DVD drive, it's extremely light at just 1.6 kg. The screen is a beautiful, bright 13.3-inch one with backlit LED making Acer 4820TG really good to look at. It has 8 hours of battery life.

It has an Intel Core i5-430 M 2.26Ghz processor with 4GB of RAM. In addition, it also has a 500GB HDD and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 Graphics card. This ensures good video quality when you view your media or even want to play games. The OS is Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit which is responsive and works without hassles most of the time.

Like Nvidia's optimus technology, this too, has two graphic processing units (GPUs) which switch between high performance and low to give you optimal performance for computing. What NvidiaOptimus does is switch to a high performance GPU, that is ATI, when it has to run programmes with high graphic content and switch to the Intel GPU for the low menial computational tasks.

But then, you will have to do this manually as it doesn't switch automatically. If you are a new user, you wouldn't even probably know it's there as Acer has not mentioned this anywhere. A dedicated switch would have been better. Regarding the actual workings of the switch, Acer recommends that you shut down all applications before you switch to GPU. If you switch without shutting down your programmes, the screen freezes. The 2 GPUS are a pain to switch on. They do their job but with a lot of hiccups.

All standard forms of connectivity are present -- USB, HDMI out, Ethernet, standard headphone jack and Wi-Fi. Full HD in 1080p in 16:9. The speakers are pretty good too and enhance the sound via Virtual Surround Sound making it slightly better than the speakers on most laptops.

It costs 49,000.

Torrents to be banned soon by Google

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:39:00 +0530

We all have downloaded movies, tv series, games and a lot of stuff via torrent. Totrentz.com is the world's largest torrent search engine. Several searches everyday are made on Google to find popular torrents. Soon this might be not possible.

Rapidshare, Megaupload, Bittorrent and Torrent might all be censored soon. Google has planned to remove them from their auto complete list. What this means is any search made with the word torrent in it will not be suggested by the search engine. The weired part is that Google hasn't banned words like PirateBay which is a popular torrent site.

MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) have been applying pressure on Google for a while now and it's no surprise to many that they have finally come through.

This might have been a step taken too late but it would require a lot then these feeble steps to remove the Entertainment industry from privacy.

Facebook comes up with new security features

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:43:00 +0530

Just a day back we saw Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg account was hacked. Lately Facebook has been news due to lack of security and security breaches . Just a few months ago several thousand Facebook user had quit the website siting concern about their security. Facebook had then immediately briefed up their security measure and had added security features which were easy to understand and use. One can now customize the setting according to his need.

Facebook has announced new security features.This ensures that only person controlling your security on Facebook is you.

Secure connection via https (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure)

Facebook user can now connect securely via https. This is commonly used in banking and other online transaction where we require safe and secure transfer of data. In the Account Security section (on the Accounts Settings page) of Facebook, there is a tab that says, "Browse Facebook on a secure setting (https) whenever possible". The downside of this additional security is that encrypted pages take longer to load. However, if you're sitting in a coffee shop or accessing the internet over a public network, this feature is recommended. Note, some third party Facebook applications will not be supported over https.

Account activity:

Suppose you use chrome browser for browsing Facebook. Now if you visit your friends place and use Firefox browser a message will be send directly to email or your cell phone. It also checks the OS that your operating on .Suppose you regularly use Windows 7 and if an access is made to your account from any other OS it is noted. This feature is particularly very handy and informs the user on time if any intrusion is found in his account.

Using CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart )

When we create a new account on website like Google,Yahoo or Facebook we are told to enter some scramble words.

This is to distinguish human from computers. For a normal human beings it is easy to identify these scrambled words and enter.Contrary to this to create a program to identify these scrambled words is difficult and as a result computer can not pass this test.

Facebook's going to start using this same philosophy for testing that you are the actual user on your account in case of a security breach. For instance, if you've logged into your account from Mumbai and then seemingly from Australia two hours later, Facebook's going to send you a security check to see if it's really you accessing your account. This feature will show you pictures of your friends that you will have to correctly identify. The philosophy is that hackers will know your password, but they won't necessarily know your friends.

While Facebook's commitment to security is admirable, it is not a guaranteed that your personal data will always remain secured.

Source: tech2.in.com

Mark Zuckerberg's account hacked !!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:56:00 +0530

Mark Zuckerberg (CEO and founder of Facebook) fan page has been hacked .

The hacker has posted calling the company to transform into a "Social Business ".

The message which was posted on Facebook was soon removed but not quickly enough to go by unnoticed, receiving more than 1800 likes and hundreds of comments in the process.

The message read:

"Let the hacking begin: If facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn't Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a 'social business' the way Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus described it? What do you think? #hackercup2011?

There are rumors around that Mark himself might have posted it. We hardly believe this rumor as the world's youngest billionaire and a person who was recently on the cover of "TIME" magzine need not do something like this to get publicity.

Facebook made no statement about the incident, but if Zuckerberg's fan page was indeed hacked, it's a big deal.

If the Facebook CEO (more accurately, the PR team who's handling the page for him) can't keep his Facebook account safe from intruders, who can?

Check his fan page : http://www.facebook.com/markzuckerberg

A message is displayed "The page you requested is not found"

It takes as less as $2 to know your personal data

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:06:00 +0530

The cyber black market is growing and anyone can get online to take part in illicit activities, a report has found.

There are more than 50 dedicated online stores where web users can buy data, ranging from credit card details to logins and passwords, Panda Security has discovered.

Credit card details can be bought for as little as £1.25 (A$2) per card. For those who want credit line or bank balance details, the price can go up to £50 for smaller bank balances and above £430 for accounts with a guaranteed balance of £51,000 or more.

Cyber criminals have also been seen flogging card cloning machines for between £125 and £625, as well as fake ATM machines from around £2,200.

To rent a botnet, to user for a spamming campaign for instance, users can expect to pay between £9.50 and £12.50

Tools have also been made available for anyone who wants to set up a fake online store to sell rogueware to unsuspecting users.

Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs, said getting involved in the black market was as easy as looking for the right terms on Google and finding the right site.

Although he couldn’t put a figure on how much the cyber black market was worth, he said it would be “many millions.”

“When I started researching these kinds of things, you could find some places, but just a few. Now there area lot of them, so it has grown a lot,” Corrons told IT PRO.

“As long as it remains so easy to do, it will continue to grow at the same rate or even higher.”

Corrons said he does not expect to see big changes in the evolution in the market, as the criminals are making enough money with the system as it is.

Earlier this week, Symantec warned of the proliferation of attack kit s, which are making it simple for anyone to get involved in illicit online activities.

Even those with very limited technical capabilities, it seems, can now become a cyber criminal.

Source :

http://www.securecomputing.net.au/News/245606,panda-warns-of-cyber-black-market.aspx

Kick Off : Fifa 11 Vs Pro Evolution Soccer 11

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 13:52:00 +0530

Most of us have played games on computer. Starting with Dave,Pac Man,Mortal Kombat and many other games. As the computing power of personal computers begun to improve in terms of processing speed and graphics display, game makers came up with more interesting and realistic games.

Fifa and PES are the best example of it. Fifa is a product of EA Sports, a company which know for producing some of the best games. Most of the games from EA Sports are representation of real life sports in virtual world.NHL, NFL and Tiger Woods PGA Tour are all creation of EA Sports. Every year a new version of these game is launched with improvements mostly in user interface,game play or alikeness of the players.

PES also known as Winning Eleven 5 in Japan and World Soccer Winning Eleven 5 in US is a product of Konami. Konami has made some of the famous games like Metal-Gear series,Contra series and Dance Dance Revolution series. PES was launched in 2001 in Europe by Konami.

For years Fifa has been the market leader when it comes to football. It is because it has the licences of all the major leagues in the world and was unchallenged for many years. With the introduction of PES is has serious competition now .

FIFA 11 Features :

Next Generation Gameplay Engine : The game engine that is used in Xbox 360 and PS3 has arrived on PC. It delivers next generation console quality gameplay.
360° Dribbling : True 360° dribbling system will provide finer dribbling control, enabling players to find space between defenders that previously was not possible.
Fifa World : Allows the user to crate online avatar, compete with players from all arounf the world and fight for their place on leaderboard.
Pro Passing : It is a new passing system where the gamer's own accuracy with the control pad, as well as the situation and skills of the players on the pitch, determines the accuracy of each pass.
Goalkeeper Intelligence : Goalkeepers now have more urgency and better perception of where to intercept loose balls, resulting in a more responsive and powerful rushing system. Goalkeepers are now more agile and can make more impressive saves.
Enhanced AI Support : Supporting runs have been improved to allow your AI teammates to make more intelligent moves to open space with a sense of greater urgency opening up more scoring opportunities and the ability to evade defenders.
PC Improvements : Next-gen menu presentation is used. Manager mode from console version of FIFA 10 has been imported with some improvements. Be a pro seasons have been completely revamped. There is a new practice arena which can be accessed when exiting a game mode. There is a new 5 v 5 online team play and Pro Club Championship. Further, there is the all new Virtual Pro game mode. Players can create their game face on the official web site then download it and apply it to their virtual pro in game. 360° dribbling is also featured along with LAN play. Players can also create tactics themselves.
iOS version : FIFA 11 for Apple iOS devices features improved graphics and compatibility with the iPhone 4 and 4th generation iPod touch's retina displays. The game is compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, 3rd and 4th generation iPod touch, and a recent version came out for the iPad.

Pro Evolution Soccer 11 Features :

Total Control: PES has enhanced the 360 degree passing ratio, offering unprecedented levels of control over every pass, shot, throw-in, through-ball, and lofted through-balls. This allows users to pass the ball into space, and move their play with total freedom. Players can apply pressure on opponents to force them off the ball.

Shot and Stamina Gauge: In addition to the generic power gauge, the shot and stamina metre details the player’s level of fitness. Constantly sprinting will affect the player’s movements and will have an adverse affect on his stats, with passes going awry and a loss of pace.

New Defender AI: Defenders now hold their positions naturally, no longer chasing any ball that enters their area; preferring to close down the attacker and force them into a mistake.

Improved Goalkeepers: Players now have more control over their goalkeeper. This greater control allows for quick roll-outs, saves, improved accuracy with goal kicks, and precision ball distribution to make quicker breaks or playing down the clock easier.

Animation and Player Physics: PES has reworked every element of in-game animation. These additions will become clear before even kick-off, with the players enjoying more natural movements, with more realistic acceleration and inertia. Ambient animation also adds immensely to the in-game atmosphere, as players behave realistically when off the ball, and walk and run with a variety of individual styles.

Stadium Editor (My favourite feature): The stadium editor allows the player to create his own stadiums. One will be able to edit the stands by selecting preset built structures, seat colours, the adboards and hoardings, the turf style , the architecture and roofing of the stands, whether there's a running track, plain ground, or grass around the pitch. One can also select to have fencing near the seats similar to certain stadia present in Germany and other parts of the world. Once all that has been put together, the user can now choose the setting for the stadium. The user is given the option to specify a background layout, with a variety of both urban and rural backdrops. After that, there is a possibility of adding a background image, with stock items including city scenes - and a mountain range that looks similar to the one seen in the background on the PES 3 intro.With this tool it should be possible to recreate many different stadiums from all over the world with lots of variation in style. There are currently around 25 stadiums in PES 2011 . This is more than PES 2010, which had 22. There will be a total of 25 slots to create stadiums, giving a grand total of 50 possible stadiums.

Speed of Play: The new level of control means that PES 2011 enjoys a more considered pace of play, which varies dependent on situations. The game will burst into life as counter-attacks come into play, but players can dictate the pace via slow build up or exploiting available space to surge forward.

Aesthetics: Facial animation has been enhanced, but the key advances are over 1,000 all-new animations which have been recreated from the ground up using over 100 hours of motion captured footage. Every aspect of player movement has been reworked, with more organic runs, turns, throw-ins, tackles, and interaction. The way players speed up and slow down is also more natural, while replays display elements of motion blur that bring the user's saved goals to vivid life.'

User Interface: PES 2011 has come up with a completely new and a very appealing user interface.

Other Edit Features: PES 2011 does not feature a boot editor. Boots and balls will be added by Konami through updates like PES 2010. One is be able to create teams, stadiums, and even full leagues (for use with offline game modes such as Become a Legend, League/Cup, and Master League) with qualification structures. In addition, the user will be able to edit the league emblems too.

Both the game has its own set of loyal fans . With this rivalry between Fifa and PES its the gamer at the end whose benefiting with new and more realistic features with every edition .

But for me the clear winner is PES 2011 mainly due to its game play, resemblance to players and off course the new stadium editor feature .

10 Futuristic Cell Phone Concepts

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:32:00 +0530

Mobile has moved a long way from being just a device of communication. From making bill payment to reservation for your journey to having a high digital camera anything can be done on it .Mobile phones today are not a part of your luxury but have become a necessity for every age group.

"Limitation live only our minds. But if we use our imaginations our possibilities become limitless. " - Jamie Paolinetti

Just don't freak out if a few years from now your phone severs you hot coffee, can be used as a projector or even wash clothes !!!!!!!! In today's world where technology is evolving every second anything is possible.

In this post well show you 10 futuristic cell phones concepts .It will surely make u think is it possible ? And if you think of owning one you are sure of turning a few heads around.

1) Weather Cell Phone Concept

Beautiful cell phone concept design by Seunghan Song accurately detects and illustrates present weather conditions.

2) Mobile Script Cell Phone Concept

Designed by Aleksander Mukomelov, this cell phone comes with a large touchscreen, that is located inside the phone in the collapsed state.

3) Projector Cell Phone Concept

Cool extra slim concept cell phone equipped with rotating screen with built-in projector; an ideal tool for field presentations.

4) Alarm Clock Cell Phone Concept

Sony Ericsson WakeUpPhone looks and functions like an alarm clock that will wake you up in the morning.

5) Pen Cell Phone Concept

Target-shaped areas on top and bottom are earpiece and receiver.

6) Edge Cell Phone Concept

7) Grass Cell Phone

Green mobile phones designed to last only for the length of its functional life cycle, they fall apart for easy recycling after two years are up.

8) Mechanical Cell Phone Concepts

Cell phone designed by Mikhail Stawsky will charge its battery when you spin it around your finger.

9) Flexible Cell Phone Concept

Beautiful wrist concept cell phone designed by Shirley A. Roberts.

10) Ear Cell Phone Concept

Kambala is a cool mobile phone that transforms into an earpiece.

Architecture and Security of Android phones

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 20:54:00 +0530

From a mobile phone that was just used as a means of communication to smart phones which are as powerful as your personal computers ,next generation mobile phones can possible do anything .

Gone are those days where we required to carry a laptop everywhere . All you need today is a smart phone and internet connection. Just like your PC these phone have an OS (Operating System) . Windows Mobile , Symbian OS, Bada OS, iOS and the most recent one which has arrived with a bang in the market with features just unimaginable on your phone is the GOOGLE ANDROID. Android enabled phone available in markets are popular because of its unlimited functionalities.

With all the brilliant functionalities and application that complete your work at the click of a button , comes in the concern of security in these phone .Are these really capable of providing safety to your personal and confidential data ?

In this post we shall look into the architecture of Android phones and address the issue of security associated with the same .

Android Architecture :

Google 's Android Development SDK was first available commercially in G1-Android phone. Android use Linux OS so the user can experience the same internet connectivity as on their PC .

Android is first truly open source platform for mobile phones with full integrated software stack that consists of an operating system, middle-ware and a user friendly interface .It allows the user to develop applications, software and functionalities without limitations.

Application layer consists of the basic application such as the browser,SMS client,calender and many other applications.It has a integrated browser based on Open Source Web Kit engine which allows the user to view the web pages in the same manner as on their PC.Application framework is the next layer which consist of the security constraints.It also has many open source libraries. Android has included set of core libraries in the Android Runtime sub layer and every application running on android has its own Dalvik Virtual Machine.It is a virtual machine of the Android OS.Before execution,Android application are converted into the compact Dalvik Executable (.dex) format which is designed to be suitable for systems that are constrained in terms of memory and processor speed.Unlike Java VM which use stack based architecture,Dalvik VM uses

Android relies on its Linux kernel for its security services,memory management,network management,network stack and drivers .All application running on Android are subjected to security constraints enforced by Application framework.All these feature in Android phone increases the stability and reliability of processing .

Android Security Model :

The security of Android resides in its Linux Kernel and it uses techniques like Sandbox approach .From the table given below we can see how Android security differs from other phone OS.

Phone OS Security Mechanism

Google Android User and Group ID,permission level security

Windows Mobile Security Policies,roles and certificates

Symbian OS Certificate management and Cryptography

Symbian OS use certificates and cryptography to protect from malicious and harmful programs.Windows Mobile uses security policies, roles and certificates.That is, it has its own set of security policies for access of data. In contrast to this Android uses Linux User Identifiers and special permissions.

How does Android OS Security work ?

The major difference in Android is its 'Secure Sandbox' approach. The open nature of Android OS and secured sandbox makes access of data quite different. Unlike Windows , every application running on Android has its own instance. Each application has a unique User Identifier (UID) and file permissions to access database and files on the phone. Due to this application running on Android do not disrupt other processes in other application. In contrast to this all the application running of Windows phone have the same user identifier and the security is through the built in security policies. Thus there is no additional security in accessing database and files on the phone.

When we run three process like dial a number,take pictures and use GPS in three application in the top most layer of Android,it runs with three unique user identifiers. Additional security is provided in permission based level. It provides proper access privilege based on an access control policy mechanism. Due to this only those authorized users are able to access the data. However other application interface is visible to the user running on a particular application. These settings can involved in the Google code setting libraries. Unfortunately due to the openness of the phone platform anyone can write and modify these settings.

The above approach provides considerably good security then any other phone. Because of its isolation from other application running on the Sandbox, there is no possibility that an attacker can steal information running on other application.

But how permission is granted between two different applications. A particular permission can be enforced at number of places during the program’s operation.

At the time of a call into the system, to prevent an application from executing certain functions
When starting an activity, to prevent application from launching activities of other application
Both sending and receiving broadcasts, to control who can receive our broadcast or who can send a broadcast to us
When accessing and operating on a content provider
Binding or starting a service

Suppose, we are running one application process and wants to access other application we need to share the User Identifiers between the applications. In this instance, instead of different User Identifier we are sharing the same User Identifiers for different applications. This can be achieved by using a Content Provider. Content providers provide an additional level of security by giving permissions applied between applications, which restrict the access to the data by a certain user. Bt when a user shared the User Identifier with other application that provide a weak link of security. Because of the open nature of the Android phone and no centralized control for the applications running on the phone, there are several points of security vulnerability. The applications running on Android uses a self signing certificate from the Application developer, in the event of sharing the information between applications, user Identifiers in both applications are signed by the same authority. This causes impact to the permission based security in different ways:

First, the Application can give a certain type of permission to visible all database and files to other application by a general permission
When two application share the same User Identifier, they declare the same User ID for both applications that are signed by same authority (same developer )

This security approach is not so secure when handling sensitive data. Android uses less memory for security and permissions, and only way to avoid this by allocating memory to the sensitive information, could still be used by a potential hacker to break into secure Content Provider service. So this method cannot provide a good security when sharing information between applications.

There are many security discussions still undergoing on the Android security discussion forum that no one is clear whether the security certificates used in Android phone is secured or not. .There are many security implications to note that Certificates used in Android phone. They pointed out that the public keys used for certificate verification are vulnerable, because they are public keys and there are no secrets to protect. However, if an attacker compromised a system and adds his own public key, he can issue his own certificates, that will looks exactly as a legitimate certificate. These self signed certificates does not provide any more security instead, it will be a potential hole to the attacker to access the contents.

Because of the open nature of Android and self signed certificate mechanism for applications, any users can write the application and signed with the same key they have. There is no central control for certificates and this causes many risks in the mobile phone.When the applications are sharing the same user identifiers with the same key allows the attackers to compromise the phone and use information for theft. In this way, malware writers can easily install the source code into a mobile with self signing certificate because of the open nature of Android phone.

We can realise that granting permissions to a particular application will provide an additional security. Also, each applications running on its own UID will minimize the malicious threats from a source code developer. However, in the second phase, when sharing a UID for different applications can have potential impact of entering unprivileged software to a phone, when a hacker get access to one application.The most controversial use of self signed certificate verification for a new application allows the malicious code writers to access a user’s phone, and the user is not at all aware of the fact that his phone gets compromised. So the permission based security is not a good security strategy used in Android.

Source: A security overview of Google's Open Source Android phone
   Sunitha Medayil Vijayamma
   School of Computer and Information Science
   Edith Cowan University, Western Australia, Australia

How does an AntiVirus work ?

noreply@blogger.com (Jeet Damania) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:07:00 +0530

With the expansion of internet and with the advance in technology , viruses have become a big threat . It is fascinating to know how a few lines of code can lead you into sever hardware damage or even acquire your confidential information .

There are several Anti Virus software available in market that claim to be effective and protect your gadgets from computer diseases . The question to be asked is how do this Anti Virus are successful in protecting us ?

Anti Virus software usually have to ways of detecting a virus :

Dictionary based detection also know as the Signature based detection
Identifying the suspicious behavior of a program also know as Heuristic based detection

Dictionary based detection :

It is the most effective virus detection technique . It is a simple technique where files are refereed to Dictionary of previously known viruses . If a match is found then the file is deleted , quarantined so that it can no longer be used or it is repaired . It is important that the Dictionary is regularly updated so that newly found viruses can be detected .

This method is not a full proof method and virus authors can easily fool it . "Polymorphic viruses" which are encrypted form of virus . They disguise themselves so as to get unnoticed .

Heuristic based detection :

This is more intelligent method of detecting a virus . Unlike the Dictionary based technique , the Heuristic based technique analyze the behavior of programs . Here the virus notifies the user about the unusual behavior of the program . Suppose a program is overwriting an .exe (executable) file an alert message is sounded to the user .

Heuristic based technique has the advantage that it can detect previously unknown virus . However this method is not that effective as it sounds a large amount of fault positives making the user desensitized about the issue .

Other detection techniques :

In some case anti virus software tend to emulate the starting part of the code of a file being used . If it is self modifying or appears to be effected as a virus , one can assume it affected . However this technique issues a lot of false positive .

Sandbox technique is used to run a program in controlled environment . This technique emulate the operating system and the program to be executed is first run on this simulation . After the program has terminated the simulation is analyzed for an virus . This technique is mostly used for On-demand scan due to its performance issues .

User education is as important as anti-virus software; simply training users in safe computing practices, such as not downloading and executing unknown programs from the Internet, would slow the spread of viruses, without the need of anti-virus software.

source : www.antivirusworld.com