MyDoom Virus Resurfaces
Antivirus software maker McAfee upgraded a newly discovered variant of the MyDoom virus, W32/MyDoom.bb@MM, to a medium risk worm based on reports gathered from scans of its customers' computers. The variant attempts to harvest e-mail addresses from search engines including Google.
MyDoom's initial version is probably the most remembered of the variants. It tore through the Internet in January 2004. At one point, the virus was showing up in 1 out of every 12 e-mails scanned, prompting Sophos' Graham Cluley to call it the "of the worst viruses ever."
Microsoft Patches Media Player 10
Microsoft on Wednesday issued an updated Windows Media Player 10 to correct a potential security issue that could allow an attacker to mislead users into downloading malware or viruses instead of a license to playback DRM content.
A spokesperson for Microsoft confirmed that the new WMP release, marked build 3802, was the promised update to take care of issues related to the player's digital rights management functions.
Study: Half of Gmail Switchers from Hotmail
The results of a study released Wednesday indicate that new Gmail subscribers are about twice as likely to come from MSN's Hotmail as they are from Yahoo Mail. Return Path, a company that offers tools to ease the switch between e-mail services based the results on data collected from clients during the period of June through December 2004.
Between 52 to 56 percent of customers switching to Gmail came from a Hotmail address each month, said Return Path. This compares to only 24 to 34 percent being from a Yahoo account. The rest of Return Path's clients were switching from MSN, AOL and Comcast, though at much smaller numbers.
Motorola E1060 Not 'iTunes Phone'
BetaNews has learned that Motorola's new E1060 phone with iTunes software was used at 3GSM only to show off the capabilities of the program, but will not ship with the feature. The demo caused erroneous reports to circulate through several technology news sites. A Motorola spokesperson later confirmed the E1060 will not ship with iTunes capability.
"The E1060 was used to demonstate the iTunes client; however, it is not our iTunes product," the spokesperson said. This is the second time Motorola has demonstrated the software in phones that will not actually offer the feature; the first was during Steve Jobs' keynote at Macworld in January.
Airbus to Enable Cell Phone Use on Jets
Airline passengers flying Airbus planes may soon be able to make phone calls using their cell phones. Airbus announced Wednesday that it had reached a deal with OnAir, a joint venture between the company and Dutch-based IT firm SITA Information Networking Computing.
OnAir says that international calls would cost between $2.00 and $2.50 USD per minute. A text message would cost about 50 cents to send or receive.
MS AntiSpyware Free for Personal Use
UPDATED Speaking at the RSA Conference Tuesday, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said the company's recently released anti-spyware product will remain free for personal use.
"Just as spyware is something that we have to nip down today, we have decided that all licensed Windows users should have that protection at no charge," Gates said.
DVD Copy Protection Strengthened
Content protection software maker Macrovision announced Tuesday a software solution that could help curb the problem of illegal copying of DVDs.
The software, called RipGuard, plugs up a hole created by the popular DeCSS software. DeCSS allows the user to break the already present copy protection and make near-perfect copies of the discs for uploading to P2P networks or re-burned onto recordable DVDs.
Music Player Market Has Plenty of Room
A survey released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project showed that the portable digital music player market has plenty of room to expand, at least in the over-18 market. One in ten adults (11 percent) owns a digital music player, which equals approximately 22 million Americans. The group said it surmises that millions more teens own MP3 players; however, they were not included in the survey.
Highest market penetration was seen in the under-30 bracket where one in five, or 19 percent of the population owned a player. Wealth was also a factor in whether or not the respondent owned a music player. 24 percent of those who live in households earning more than $75,000 had them, while only 9 percent of those living in households making less than $30,000 owned an MP3 player.
Supercomputers Aid Weather Forecasts
INTERVIEW NOAA, the government organization tasked with monitoring climate and weather, has flipped the switch on a new line of supercomputers from IBM. The computers, named "Red," "White" and "Blue," will each be tasked with various functions, with one serving as a backup in case of failure.
According to the NOAA, the computational power available to forecasters has increased from 450 billion calculations per second to 1.3 trillion calculations per second.
TiVo Upgrade Buggy, Customers Report
An upgrade to Series 2 TiVo DVRs that promised to deliver new features such as TiVoToGo, which allows users to take their TiVo recordings with them, has also delivered unwanted problems. Users have reported several bugs in the new software and a glitch that may prevent the use of TiVoToGo over a wireless network.
Subscribers across TiVo fan sites and the company's own support forums are complaining of slowness in TiVo menus and in changing channels. Another issue causes a loss of signal quality and pixelization when watching "live" TV.
Motorola Demos iTunes Enabled Phone
Motorola's long-awaited iTunes compatible phone made its debut at 3GSM Monday in Cannes, along with several other high-tech phones based on the company's popular RAZR phone concept.
Motorola said that all of its second generation phones will bear the four letter identification scheme from now on. The BLZR will be the black colored version of the RAZR phone and will be available by the end of the month. The SLVR will follow the design cues of the RAZR, but without a flip, and the PEBL will be a round-shaped phone. Both are slated for a third quarter release.
iTunes Discounts Grammy Winners
Apple announced Monday that albums including a Grammy winner will be discounted $2, bringing the cost of most down to $7.99 USD. Apple also struck a deal that gives iTunes exclusive rights on "Across the Universe," performed live at Sunday night's Grammy awards. The song will be available for 99 cents and proceeds from it will go to tsunami relief.
"We want to extend our congratulations to all of the Grammy nominees and winners," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "We're thrilled to be able to honor the industry's top artists by showcasing their award winning music on the iTunes Music Store."
Broadcom Brings MPEG-4 Video to Phones
Chipmaker Broadcom announced at 3GSM Monday a new processor that is specifically designed to handle high quality video and imaging on mobile phones. According to the company, the additional power for video processing comes at no cost to talk time.
The processor will feature built-in support to display video at 30 frames per second, which is near-TV quality video, as well as support for MPEG-4 encoding and decoding. MPEG-4 support was previously only available in higher-end digital video camcorders.
MS, Nokia Join on Mobile Digital Music
In what may come as a surprise to some industry watchers, Microsoft and Nokia announced at the 3GSM World Congress Monday that the two companies will team up to ensure mobile music can be played on both Nokia's handsets and a user's home computers.
The collaboration means Windows Media technology will be available on Nokia's next generation of multimedia handsets, reversing a general trend by the Finnish mobile phone maker to distance itself from Microsoft's attempts at breaking into the mobile arena.
Low Cost VOIP Debuts at DEMO@15
Voice over IP provider Teleo demonstrated a new low cost Internet telephony solution Monday that will allow users to receive VOIP calls over their cell phone or regular telephone. Users will also be able to make a call simply by clicking on a telephone number in an e-mail or on the Web.
The Teleo service will cost $4.95 USD per month for 250 minutes of calling time, or $2.95 USD each month for a "Lite" version that includes 150 minutes. The company will also offer a 30-day free trial that includes 25 minutes of access.
Ed's Bio
Ed Oswald is a freelance journalist from the Reading, PA area. Although he has written across a variety of subjects, Ed’s passion and focus has been on technology and gadgets. His work regularly appears on tech news sites BetaNews, PCWorld, and Technologizer, and has been syndicated to eWeek, Time’s Techland blog, VentureBeat and the New York Times.
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