Google Local Search Leaves Beta
Google Local finally left beta in the U.S. and Canada on Thursday, offering local search results with integrated map information. Users can pull up nearby businesses blended with satellite imagery and overlaid driving directions from Google's index and Yellow Pages data.
"With today's launch of Google Local, users will be able to go to one location to find all the local and mapping information they need," said Marissa Mayer, director of Google's Consumer Web Products. "Whether it's directions to the nearest pharmacy or reviews of nearby dim sum restaurants, we will continue to develop innovative technologies that enrich our users' lives."
Nintendo to Launch Free Wi-Fi in Nov.
Nintendo said on Thursday its free Wi-Fi Connection service for wireless gaming will officially launch on November 14. The service will work with the company's Nintendo DS console and support a number of games, including Mario Kart DS, Animal Crossing and Metroid Prime Hunters.
Wi-Fi Connection will be accessible from inside or outside the home, at select Nintendo Hotspots across the United States. The service will also be compatible with Nintendo's next-generation game console, known as the "Revolution." Players can connect and seek out known friends, or automatically play with others based on skill-level.
Symantec AntiVirus Engine Vulnerable
Symantec has issued an advisory on a security vulnerability discovered within the web-based Administrative Interface of its AntiVirus Scan Engine. The flaw could lead to a buffer overflow that enables a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code and access a system.
Security firm iDefense discovered the problem, which is only a risk if the Web interface is enabled and open to outsiders. Symantec has issued a patch for the AntiVirus Scan Engine that can be downloaded through its support site. The company says it is unaware of any customers that were affected by the flaw.
Microsoft Forms Security Coalition
Building upon its newly announced security software for businesses, Microsoft on Thursday officially established a new consortium called SecureIT Alliance alongside security industry heavyweights such as Symantec, Trend Micro, McAfee, and Panda among others.
Those in the Alliance will share information about new threats and best practices, along with gaining access to Microsoft betas, software development kits, early adopter programs and development labs. The online portal to facilitate this cooperation will launch later this year.
Sober Worm Resurfaces in Wild
A new variant of the mass mailing Sober worm has surfaced in the wild, according to a threat advisory issued by McAfee Wednesday night. Like its predecessors, Sober.r arrives as a .zip file attached to e-mails written in English and German. McAfee rated the worm as a "Medium" risk for the time being.
According to the advisory, Sober.r "harvests addresses from local files and then uses the harvested addresses to send itself. This produces a message with a spoofed From address." In order to be infected, a user would need to manually extract the executable file from the .zip and run it.
America Online Acquires Weblogs, Inc.
Taking a major step forward in embracing blogs as a new medium for content, America Online on Thursday announced it will acquire the popular Weblogs, Inc. blog network. Among the 85 blogs to become part of the AOL family are Engadget, Autoblog, Cinematical and TVSquad.
Weblogs boasts 30 million pageviews and another 25 million views of its RSS feeds each month. Links to the 85 blogs will be integrated across AOL.com, including the Personal Finance Channel, the Autos Channel, the Travel Channel, the Games Channel, the Television Channel, and at AOL News.
NewsGator Chomps Up NetNewsWire
Adding to its repertoire of RSS software, NewsGator this week purchased popular Macintosh feed reader NetNewsWire. The company had previously bought Windows-based RSS tool FeedDemon in May. The acquisition means NetNewsWire will add NewsGator syndication features for sharing and syncing RSS feeds.
"Many of our online customers who are Mac users have asked if we had plans to extend our product platform to the Mac desktop," NewsGator CTO Greg Reinacker said in a statement. "NetNewsWire is the dominant RSS application for the Mac OS, and was an obvious choice for us."
Nokia Taps Symantec for Phone Security
Leading mobile phone manufacturer Nokia has chosen Symantec to protect its Series 60 based smartphones, the two companies announced Wednesday. Symantec Mobile Security will be preloaded onto the handsets and other Symbian OS based devices from Nokia to stem the emerging threat of mobile malware.
Symantec says it has worked with Nokia for two years on building technology to protect smartphones. Although mobile devices have yet to widely become victims of the same security threats plaguing PCs, new viruses such as Cabir and CommWarrior have specifically targeted Symbian and other phone platforms.
Microsoft Builds Own Antivirus Engine
While customers may have to wait until next year for the Client Protection tool, Microsoft on Thursday also announced the availability of Antigen, an antivirus program for messaging and collaboration servers that it acquired with the purchase of Sybari Software earlier this year.
Antigen will soon be bolstered by Microsoft's own antivirus scan engine, the company said, which all customers will receive as a free upgrade. In addition, a beta of Antigen specifically designed for Microsoft Exchange will ship early next year. According to Microsoft, the program "has been shown to achieve measurably improved levels of security."
Opera: Browser Downloads Surging
Since transitioning its popular Web browser to freeware status and dropping the built-in advertisements, Opera Software says downloads continue to surge. Over three million new users have downloaded Opera, the company claims, at a rate four times greater than previous releases.
Opera 8.5, which hit the 1 million download mark just 48 hours after its release, puts fresh pressure on Microsoft's Internet Explorer dominance. In fact, Opera has said the majority of downloaders were IE users looking for a safer alternative browser. The free Opera is available on a variety of operating systems in numerous languages.
AOL Goes On Anti-Phishing Offense
America Online is taking extra measures in order to battle the growing problem of phishing attacks on its users, inking two new partnerships and expanding another. The nation's largest ISP says it currently blocks 8 million phishing attempts each day and will now actively seek out potential scams before they become a problem.
Working with MarkMonitor and Cyveillance, AOL will keep track of newly registered domains and see if they mimic legitimate sites. The company will also crawl the Web looking for phishing sites and work with Internet providers to take them offline.
Single-Play DVD Hoax Fools Windows Sites
On Monday, news surfaced that Microsoft had invented a single-play DVD that would no longer function after being watched once in order to combat piracy. The story was quickly repeated, often without source, on a number of Windows enthusiast sites and blogs. There was only one problem: the news was not true.
The report was initially made by British Web site "The Business Online," claiming, "Showing a video of himself dressed in a sailor suit pretending to audition for the blockbuster Titanic, Gates pitched Hollywood with the proposition that only Microsoft could solve its piracy problem by making its DRM software a standard across every home entertainment playback and recording device."
.eu Domains to Launch on December 7
EURid, the European organization tasked with managing the .eu top-level domain name, has announced it will begin offering registrations on December 7. To prevent cybersquatting, public bodies and trademark holders will be the first to register until February 7, 2006, when company names and artistic names can be claimed.
Starting April 7, 2006, .eu domains will be open for anyone to register. All domains will be offered on a first-come first-served basis, EURid says, and those registered in the initial phases will require legal proof of name ownership. The price to register a .eu domain will vary depending on the reseller.
Apple to Hold Event Next Wednesday
Apple has sent out invitations to a special event next Wednesday at the California Theatre in San Jose, using the tagline "One more thing..." Last month, Apple held a similar event in San Francisco that heralded the arrival of the iPod Nano and Motorola ROKR iTunes phone.
Per usual, Apple is keeping mum on the details of the event. Prior speculation has pointed to a video-enabled iPod or paid music video downloads being added to the iTunes Music Store. Jefferies & Co. analyst Adam Benjamin said this week that production may have begun last month on a video iPod using chips from PortalPlayer.
Security Flaw in Kaspersky Antivirus
UPDATED A security researcher has uncovered a critical security flaw in Kaspersky Anti-Virus that could allow an attacker to take control of a vulnerable system. The problem lies in a component used to open CAB files, which can be exploited using a buffer overflow.
According to an advisory issued by Alex Wheeler, a malformed CAB file could be sent via e-mail, and when opened by Kaspersky Antivirus for processing the PC could be compromised.
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