Six Estonian nationals were arrested this week, charged with running a massive $14 million clickjacking fraud ring that infected 4 million computers across 100 countries.

Discovered in a two-year FBI sting operation called "Operation Ghost Click," the six men have each been charged with wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, computer intrusion conspiracy, computer intrusion (furthering fraud,) and computer intrusion (transmitting information). The head of the group, Vladimir Tsastsin, 31, was additionally charged with 22 counts of money laundering.

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Online storage services can be a great way to share documents or back up key files. Of course they all have their own interfaces and clients, though, so if you use more than one then you’ll have plenty of software to install and master.

But maybe it doesn’t have to be that way. Cloud Turtle (from Genie9, the company behind the Genie Timeline backup package) doesn’t only work with Genie9′s own Timeline Cloud service, where it enables you to search your backed up files, restore any you need, stream music and videos, and more. It also delivers equally strong functionality with both Amazon S3 and Nirvanix accounts.

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That's the question a BetaNews reader asked me earlier today, when forwarding news that esteemed researcher Charlie Miller had gotten the shaft from Apple. Miller released an app that exposed a serious security flaw in iOS. His reward: Banishment from Apple's developer program, for one year. Perhaps longer.

I asked colleague Ed Oswald to write the news story. My followup here seeks to answer the question asked by the reader: "Can you imagine if Microsoft took this approach?" No, because that would go against Microsoft's security policies. But I can imagine the response had Microsoft done something like this -- punish a respected researcher for bringing a major security flaw to its attention. Vilification. Condemnation. Damnation. In blogs. In news commentaries. On social networks. And Apple? There is little noise at all. Once again Apple can do no wrong.

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It looks like this will be a very good holiday season for tablet computers with only 31 percent of respondents to our newest Plus Study saying they are not interested in a tablet. Out of the remaining 69 percent who are interested in buying a tablet or possibly learning more about them, 44 percent of them would be willing to consider a smaller, 7-inch Amazon Kindle Fire. At the same time only 12 percent say they wouldn’t even consider anything other than an iPad.

With this much "acceptance" of a smaller tablet and the large price difference, conditions seem right for the Amazon Fire to become a hot item this year. Although the study didn’t ask specifically about the Barnes and Noble Nook, the recently announced, $249 Nook tablet could also be an attractive alternative to iPad.

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Think Insights with Google, an experimental marketing research library that Google has been developing for the last three months is now out of beta and available for anyone to check out.

The idea behind Think Insights is that it gives marketers access to Google-sponsored research, search stats, and emerging trends as well as a multimedia library with various case studies, infographics and video content that help advertisers know who they should target, and how they should advertise (with Google, of course.)

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After you read this story, ask yourself: what would be the public response if Microsoft did this?

Apple is apparently unhappy with the security researcher who snuck a malicious app onto its App Store to expose a flaw in iOS, and has kicked him out of its developer program. Accuvant Labs researcher Charlie Miller published financial app InstaStock -- connected to a server that he operated. Miller effectively had complete control of that device, once the user installed the app. The proof of concept is in the YouTube video shown above.

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But it's going to be slow going, and for good reasons. Despite all IPv6 promises, there is still much, much testing to do before it's ready for prime time.

Today Comcast revealed that it has started an IPv6 "pilot market deployment" as first step leading to nationwide rollout next year. Broadband providers like Comcast haven't rushed the switch to IPv6 -- despite an increasing shortage of IPv4 network addresses -- because of lacking support, ranging from operating systems to network switches and other devices. Then there are security questions that only real-time use can answer.

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Mozilla has released the first stable build of its Thunderbird add-in, Lightning 1.0, which adds various organizer tools to Thunderbird, including a calendar, to-do list and events manager, giving it a more Outlook-like feel.

Version 1.0 represents the first stable release of the product, and is fully compatible with Thunderbird 8.0, which has just been released.

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In line with its recent Firefox 8 update, Mozilla has rolled out version 8 of its open-source email platform. Thunderbird 8.0 follows the pattern of recent major version updates by not actually delivering much in the way of new features -- understandable given the number of developers and testers working on Thunderbird are fewer than on Firefox.

Like Firefox 8, Thunderbird is now based on the latest Mozilla Gecko 8 engine, while add-ons installed by third-party applications are now disabled by default for security reasons. There are also new Search and Find keyboard shortcuts alongside numerous security patches and bug fixes.

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Adobe Flash, as a mobile browser plug-in, is finished.

Today, Adobe Vice President and General Manager of interactive development Danny Winokur announced that Adobe is ceasing work on Flash Player for mobile devices after the release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook.

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It was all hands on deck at HP Tuesday night: new CEO Meg Whitman wants to decide what to do with WebOS. HP is keeping its PC business, but there is no decision yet on the mobile platform, and some thought this would come last night.

According to The Verge -- although we can't pin down who their source is -- Whitman only kicked the can down the street, saying "it's really important to me to make the right decision, not the fast decision". Regardless, she is said to have promised a final word within the next three to four weeks.

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Cerulean Studios has updated its Windows cross-network IM chat tool, Trillian for Windows, to version 5.1. The major new addition to this multi-platform social-networking tool is support for Skype, which joins other notable networks such as Facebook, Windows Live Messenger and Twitter in being supported.

Trillian provides a one-stop shop to all your major chat accounts as well as social-networking sites. Skype support extends to chatting and voice calls only; video chats aren’t (yet) supported.

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SiSoftware has released the latest version of its flagship system information and benchmarking utility, Sandra 2012.

Upgrades to this kind of tool are normally rather dull, just adding support for this CPU, that graphics card or various other items of hardware. But Sandra 2012 is different -- it's packed with genuinely worthwhile improvements and additions.

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Google said that it will assist partners in defending against lawsuits surrounding the Android platform Wednesday. While Google is not offering monetary support, it is sharing information, expertise, and access to the Mountain View, Calif. patents, Reuters says.

Chairman Eric Schmidt is on the last leg of a three-city Asian trip, meeting with its partners in the Far East. Schmidt made his comments in Taipei while meeting with HTC, but had been in South Korea the day before visiting with representatives of Samsung and LG.

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It's easier than ever to pay your "Apple Tax" -- that price premium the company collects for its products. Well, that's how Microsoft refers to the price gulf between Windows PCs and Macs, as do many BetaNews readers. If you enjoy paying the tax then perhaps the Apple Store 2.0 app is just for you.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company updated the retail app earlier today, adding new features for taking your dough. Now you can order that shiny new Mac, iOS device or other item from your phone and pick it up at the local Apple Store within the hour. The option is a great benefit for those who forget birthdays, anniversaries or other events and need that last-minute, pricey gift that shows they care. Order while you drive and pick up the item en route to the gift's destination -- assuming there's no major freeway pile up while you shop in the car.

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