I got hacked on iTunes
Last night, I was sitting around with friends enjoying the evening and happened to check my e-mail. To my surprise, I had received two e-mails from PayPal with the subjects "Receipt for Your Payment to iTunes Store." That's funny -- I hadn't bought anything on iTunes in over a week, and the last charge had already hit my account days ago.
Imagine my horror when I logged into the Account Management section and saw this: repeated charges totaling $95.30, split in two equal parts. Worse yet, it was for a game I had never downloaded, Sega's "Kingdom Conquest." Repeatedly, somebody had purchased within the app 1,200 CP (which I'm guessing is in-game credits) at $8.99 a piece.
+1: Can a Googlized Like button succeed?
Google's Facebook "Like" clone +1 took another step towards becoming exactly that on Wednesday as the company said it was now allowing web publishers to place the button directly on their websites.
Previously, +1 was only a feature within Google's search engine that allowed users to 'upvote' results as a method of approving of their relevance. With the expansion of the functionality, it would now include votes from users directly on those pages as part of those totals.
Apple's Mac Defender patch is already worthless
Within hours of Apple updating Mac OS X to specifically deal with the Mac Defender problem, the malware developers have already released code that bypasses the fix into the wild. "Mdinstall.pkg" is the name of the file, and it appeared to have been released about 8 hours after Apple's fix.
It will take some time for this version of Mac Defender to propagate, thus Apple's updated antivirus definitions will provide some limited protection. It will likely require the Cupertino company to work daily in updating the definitions -- a whole new world for a company used to watching malware purveyors attack Windows instead.
It's tablet overload at Computex
At Computex in Taiwan this week, it seems like every manufacturer is set to jump on the tablet train. By some counts, as many as 50 new tablet devices have already been announced at the show -- and many more previously announced entrants are on display.
We'll attempt to work through the clutter here and show you what's caught Betanews' eye -- trust us, it's difficult. We're noticing Honeycomb is playing a big part in these tablet announcements, and many seem to be trying gimmicks in order to grab consumer's attention. After all, Apple's leaving little of the current tablet market to fight over. Being different is certainly a positive.
Russian payment firm could be behind Mac Defender scam
Evidence is mounting that a Russian payment processing firm may be behind the Mac Defender malware scam that has suddenly brought the issue of Mac viruses into the limelight. Security researchers at Microsoft noted that the software shares some similarities to fake antivirus products intended for Windows machines.
Security researcher Brian Krebs has also been able to trace back the application to ChronoPay, a firm that has been involved in scareware scams in the past. Krebs scanned the WHOIS information of domains that victims were being sent to, and found contact e-mails matching that of other ChronoPay-linked domains.
Chinese prisoners forced into WoW "goldmining" scheme, says detainee
In what could be considered the most modern form of prisoner torture known, prisoners in a labor camp in northeastern China have allegedly been forced to play MMORPG's like World of Warcraft in an elaborate scheme said to net prison bosses approximately $800 to $900 per day.
A former prisoner who identified himself as "Liu Dali" told the Guardian that guards forced prisoners to work 12-hour shifts on a procedure commonly referred to as "gold mining." The process essentially requires long hours of playing the game to build up credits, which are then in turn sold for real money.
Gmail's new 'people widget' promotes contextual communication
In attempt to provide more context when composing e-mails in Gmail, Google on Thursday said that it was adding a new "people widget" to the interface that will provide contextual information on the contact. Information will be culled from a number of sources.
"Email is just as much about the people you communicate with as it is what you communicate about," software engineer Zohair Hyder said in a blog post announcing the new feature. "The people widget surfaces content from friends, family and colleagues that is already available to you but may be hard to find and makes it easier to connect with them."
Google debuts NFC enabled pay-by-phone system
As expected, Google on Thursday announced Google Wallet, a mobile application for Android that will use near-field communication (NFC) technology to allow users to pay with their mobile phone. The effort is a joint venture between Citi, MasterCard, First Data and Sprint.
Google Wallet is currently in field testing and Google expects to launch it to consumers this summer. Transactions will be secured through the use of an application-specific PIN, ensuring that a stolen phone doesn't subject the user to credit card theft. The first phone to support the functionality will be the Samsung Nexus S, although support for others are expected to be added soon.
Google to debut mobile payments system with Sprint
Google is set Thursday to debut its anticipated mobile payments system based on near-field communication (NFC) technology built into modern Android smartphones. It is expected that the search company will partner with Sprint to offer the service.
Such a move will put the carrier ahead of its three biggest rivals, who teamed up last year on a service called Isis. However that service is not expected to be available until 2012, leaving an opening for a competitor to stake its claim in a nascent market.
Sony security a house of cards as more attacks surface
Sony has appeared to be increasingly losing control of its network as reports of new attacks surfaced on Wednesday, bringing the number of known hacks to at least ten. While the biggest remains the attack that shuttered the PlayStation Network for over three weeks, these smaller incidents indicate Sony's security systems may be quite lax.
The latest reports come from three separate Sony sites. Sony confirmed that the names and e-mails of 2,000 customers who had used its Sony Ericsson Canada website had been stolen, and a website in Thailand was shuttered after it was found to be sending fraudulent emails. In Indonesia, Sony's music site was shut down after it was attacked and web access codes stolen there.
AT&T to launch LTE network this summer
In an effort to keep on par with competitors, AT&T said Wednesday that it plans to launch its LTE network in five cities this summer. The first to receive service will be Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, with another 10 cities to follow by the end of the year.
The comments were made by AT&T's business solutions chief John Stankey at a company investor conference on Wednesday. The topic of next generation data played a big part in the company's presentation, as did questions on its planned merger with T-Mobile USA.
Apple bolsters patent portfolio with 200 patents from Freescale
Apple has beefed up its patent portfolio, apparently obtaining the rights to about 200 patents formerly held by Freescale Semiconductor. The patents cover a range of technologies, from Wi-Fi to cellular data and data encoding, some filed as late as 2010.
It is not clear how Apple may have obtained the patents, although patent law blog PatentlyO -- which first reported the news earlier this week -- believed it involved a cash transaction.
Foxconn: Weekend explosion at plant won't affect iPad shipments
An explosion that rocked the Foxconn factory over the weekend in Chengdu, China responsible for manufacturing the iPad would not cause supply disruptions, the company has said. The blast -- blamed on combustible dust that ignited in an air duct -- killed three and injured 15.
The incident is only the latest in a series of embarrassing issues for Apple when it comes to one of its primary manufacturing partners. Foxconn has had a well known suicide problem that has given it bad press for more than two years now, and allegations of poor working conditions as early as 2006, which Apple was forced to address.
Ballmer: 500 new 'features' in Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango"
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told attendees of the Japanese Microsoft Developers Forum Monday that the next version of Windows Phone -- codenamed "Mango" -- will contain approximately 500 new features. Ballmer was light on specifics, although rumors may provide some insight.
Mango is expected to include support for multitasking, as well as better integration with Microsoft's Office productivity suite. Internet Explorer 9 will also ship with the new OS, and e-mail will be enhanced with better search and a new thread view. People Hub is also expected to pick up Twitter support.
Verizon to eliminate unlimited data, add shared data plans
In a move designed to force those using large amounts of data to pay for it, Verizon will eliminate unlimited data plans and replace them with a tiered system likely similar to competitor AT&T. There is a tradeoff, however: the carrier will begin to offer shared data plans.
Calling it a "logical progression," Verizon noted that while family plans have long been able to share minutes, each line with a smartphone was forced to pay for its own data plan. The new offering would allow for the pooling of data as well.
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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