Pc News

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Yahoo, MSN Messenger IM Networks Not Yet Compatible

Yahoo and MSN Messenger instant messaging users will have to wait a bit longer for the promised interoperability between the two services.

Yahoo and Microsoft said late last year that they would launch a service in the second quarter of this year that would allow their customers to send and receive messages and share buddy lists between the two instant messaging (IM) networks. With the second quarter come and gone, representatives from both companies say the interoperable service will launch globally "very soon."

When the service does launch, it's unlikely to include any additional capabilities than those that were announced late last year. At the time, the companies said the service would let users exchange messages, see buddy online presence status, share some emoticons and add buddies from either service to their lists. But they didn't say that the service would support some widely-used features such as voice, photo sharing or video conferencing.

New Plans
"We will continue to jointly innovate and explore the delivery of enhanced services to users, including voice, which we believe is an important component of IM interoperability," Microsoft said through its public relations company The Red Consultancy. There are technical issues that the companies will have to address to support voice interoperability, the company said.

MSN Messenger is likely to interoperate with other IM networks in the future, the company said. "We need to assure that the costs of interoperation are in line with the business benefits," it said.

Yahoo also plans to explore other opportunities to interoperate with other IM services, said Yahoo spokeswoman Isabelle Wies via e-mail. Yahoo did not offer a time frame for delivering interoperability with other IM services.

IM users have long clamored for interoperability between clients, but IM service providers resisted as they competed against each other to build the largest customer base.

Competing Camps
The threat of competition from Google's IM service, launched in the middle of last year, may have driven Yahoo and Microsoft to team up in hope of combining their weight against the new entrant.

The battle lines are clearly drawn. At the end of last year, Google and AOL said they'd make their IM services interoperable.

The two camps, with Google and AOL on one side and Yahoo and Microsoft on the other, even support competing protocols that enable the interoperability. Google supports the XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) protocol while Microsoft and Yahoo will connect their IM offerings using SIMPLE (Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions). SIMPLE and XMPP are competing protocols, both part of standards-making processes in the Internet Engineering Task Force standards body.

The battle between the groups may also be affecting third-party companies. Cerulean Studios offers the popular Trillian IM client software that allows users to combine many IM services within a single user interface. The software was part of Google Pack, a collection of free software that Google promotes, but was abruptly dumped from the suite in May. Google didn't explain the reason.

[Rasputin]

Tech at Work: Is Skype VoIP Ready for Business?

For years big businesses have used Voice over IP systems--phone services that use the Internet--to save on telephone costs. But it's only recently that small businesses, which typically aren't ready (or willing) to make a wholesale switch away from traditional local phone service, have been checking out the cost savings and voice quality by using VoIP on a line or two.

Skype, which started as a personal voice chat and video phone service, now claims more than 100 million users. The company recently introduced a service aimed at small businesses. I tried out Skype's business service.

To use the business service, you set up one or more groups and invite existing Skype users to join them. Once they're under the umbrella of your group, you can conveniently centralize account payments. You may purchase up to 250 euros (about $316) of prepaid Skype services for the group. Then you can set up individual users for automatic top-up, meaning that Skype will replenish their account balance by automatically charging the group account. Top-ups are processed overnight, whenever the individual account balance drops below half the top-up amount you establish. The service features a control panel that lets you easily manage the group account.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much it for Skype's little leap forward to serve the business market. There are no added telecommunications services. At the very least, I expected better account administration tools aimed at businesses, such as postpaid group billing (with approved credit) and centralized service usage analysis.

Skype Costs
Skype charges by the minute for its SkypeOut service, which offers calls to conventional land-line telephones. Per-minute charges start at 0.02 euro (about 2.1 cents), and there's no monthly minimum. Until the end of this year, users in the U.S. and Canada can make free SkypeOut calls to both landline and mobile phones in those countries.

Skype requires you pay in advance for its services, a minimum of 10 euros (about $12.50) at a time. Your credit balance is good for 180 days since your last call or purchase.

You don't have to buy a router to use Skype's service, though you might want to. You do need to download the free Skype application and install it on your PC. (Read "First Look: AIM Phoneline and Skype 2.5" for a review of Skype's latest software.) Depending on your calling patterns and service requirements, moving to Skype could save you money.

Skype's Downsides
But there are some potential downsides. Since Skype shares some of its customers' network resources, some ISPs prohibit its use (some ISPs might block VoIP altogether, actually). For example, Skype could designate your business's PC as a supernode--a sort of peer-to-peer server for Skype traffic. I have read reports of some users whose networks were overwhelmed by sharing requests from the Skype network until they adjusted their connection, putting it behind a firewall.

How does the audio quality compare to that of a conventional landline? That depends on your Internet connection and audio device. I've gotten the best sound quality from a USB headset, because its digital connection is superior to the analog technology of older headsets. You can also plug in an analog headset to your PC's sound card or purchase a USB interface box to plug in your existing telephone.

At first, I noticed a bit of digital stutter on the calls, but I was able to eliminate this problem by installing an expansion card with a better USB controller. On some SkypeOut calls, people at the other end told me my voice sounded faint. The sound quality when using Skype to call another Skype user was usually excellent--better, in fact, than usual telephone service. A bonus: Skype-to-Skype calls are always free.

In general, business users will likely want better services than those Skype currently offers--for example, consolidated reporting of calls within the group. However, Skype can save you money if you're willing to put up with the odd glitch and a lack of business-level call reporting.

[Rasputin]

Spammers Find Pictures Better Than Words

Spam is again on the rise, led by a flood of junk images that spammers have crafted over the past few months to trick e-mail filters, according to security vendors.

Called "image-based" spam, these junk images typically do not contain any text, making it harder for filters that look for known URLs or suspicious words to block them.

Instead of a typed message, users will see only an embedded .gif or .jpeg image file urging them to buy pharmaceuticals or invest in penny stocks.

Antispam vendor Cloudmark says that half of incoming spam on the "honeypot" systems it puts out on the Internet to lure spammers is now image-based. "About a year-and-a-half ago we started seeing a little bit of it, but it wasn't until the past six months that it became a serious issue for many antispam companies," said Adam O'Donnell, a senior research scientist with the company.

Image-based spam has jumped from about 1 percent of all spam messages in June 2005 to around 12 percent today, according to Craig Sprosts, senior product manager with IronPort Systems.

Spam Resurgence
Its growth is helping to fuel a global resurgence in spamming, Sprosts said.

The total number of spam messages sent daily is up 40 percent since April, Sprosts said. Much of this new spam is coming from a "relatively small group of spammers with control over very large zombie networks," of hijacked computers, he said.

Spammers now generate an estimated 55 billion messages per day, according to IronPort. A year ago that number was 30 billion e-mail messages per day.

The combination of greater volume and better techniques has meant more complaints for network administrators.

"I've had users complaining in the last few weeks about the overall increase in spam and I've personally noticed an increased rate of spam and an increase in the percentage of it that's image-based," said Jonathan Forster, computing manager with the University of Arizona's Psychology Department.

Administrators at Avnet have started stripping certain embedded image files out of all messages, after seeing an uptick in image-based spam two months ago, said Rob Kudray, manager of messaging services with the computer distributor.

One other tactic that is helping keep in-boxes full is the spammers' practice of constantly registering new domains. Of the 35 million domains registered in April, 32 million were never paid for and expired after five days, Sprosts said. He believes that many of those domains were used by spammers to send out their unsolicited e-mail during that five-day grace period.

This technique makes it very difficult to blacklist e-mail based on the URLs it contains. "Traditional blacklists and whitelist approaches just can't keep up with how fast they're registering new domains and changing the URLs in the e-mail," Sprosts said.

[Rasputin]

Net Watchdog: The Elusive Search for Privacy

AOL's accidental release of the search queries of 650,000 subscribers underscores the growing stakes when it comes to digital privacy. AOL's disastrous mistake is exactly the reason you should be asking yourself whether privacy even can exist in this digital age.

AOL's Research team mistakenly posted a file containing three months of search histories online. Once AOL realized what had happened, the company removed the 2GB of data from its site--but not before the file was copied and posted on servers around the Internet. Intimate searches for medical, financial, and personal information were made public.

The data identified users only by a unique ID, not by name. But in many instances that have been documented online--and, in one case, in a New York Times story, the individuals behind the searches were identified. These individuals were identified based on their queries: Some searched for their own names and social security numbers, and then later searched for local information. Those who analyzed this data were able to identify and contact these AOL users--users who had conducted these searches assuming they were anonymous.

AOL has apologized for the releasing the information. But I fear all too soon AOL's mistake will become another blur in our memory banks alongside the growing number of apocalyptic security snafus.

Fighting Back
On August 14, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a complaint against AOL (Acrobat file) with the Federal Trade Commission. The complaint alleges that AOL violated federal laws prohibiting "deceptive trade practices" when it released the search data. The EFF says AOL's privacy policy promises that no such disclosure would take place. The EFF hopes the FTC will launch an investigation into the AOL incident, and force the company to notify customers affected by the disclosure and to stop logging search data except where absolutely necessary.

Privacy activists aren't the only ones making noise: The folks in Washington also have been rattling their privacy sabers.

Representative Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) was quick to react to AOL's blunder. He issued a statement calling for Congress to pass previously proposed legislation intended to prevent the perpetual amassing of private information by Web site owners.

Markey had originally proposed the legislation in reaction to the news that Google was resisting the Department of Justice's subpoena of its search records as part of the DOJ's investigation of pornography searches on the Internet.

Markey's bill, called the Eliminate Warehousing of Consumer Internet Data (EWOCID) Act, would require Internet companies to delete "obsolete" data containing personal information. It also would put the FTC in charge of making sure all Web sites do not keep any visitors' identifying information in their logs. The bill has been introduced to the House or Representatives and is waiting for a hearing.

Earlier this year, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) reacted to the revelation of Web sites offering to obtain cell phone records on just about anyone for a small fee. He introduced a bill that bans the sale, lease, or rental of confidential telephone records. In March a House panel approved the legislation.

Wake up Call?
The EFF says AOL's mistake should serve as a privacy wake-up call. But I fear that American consumers have heard so many wake-up calls by now that they've broken the snooze button and have their heads buried deep between two pillows.

The most recent wake-up call came last year, when AOL and other major search companies received subpoenas from the Justice Department for their search data. AOL, Microsoft, and Yahoo handed over the search records. Google challenged the request. A federal judge ruled in March that Google didn't have to provide the data.

There have been earlier wake up calls. Remember ChoicePoint? Or LexisNexis? What about Microsoft Passport, or DoubleClick?

Trust Earned, Trust Broken
AOL swears such a mistake won't happen again. Should we believe the company?

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said earlier this month that his company has security precautions in place to prevent an incident like the one that occurred at AOL. Feel better now?

Meanwhile Google keeps right on recording your every search. And so do Yahoo and Microsoft.

Internet companies have plenty of good, legitimate reasons to track search histories. The data can help firms improve their search technology. Studying search histories also helps companies prevent click fraud, by making sure computers aren't repeatedly auto-clicking on Web ads to drive up costs.

All of the major search engines, including AOL, Google, MSN, and Yahoo post their privacy policies online. They explain how they each use a combination of cookies and so-called Web beacons to profile visitors anonymously. Yahoo is unique in that it allows you to opt-out of participating.

Privacy Is Worth Fighting For
People care about privacy. We know that when we enter sleazy online lotteries in hopes of winning plasma TVs or we install the latest free peer-to-peer software we invite the worst elements of the online advertising industry to come knocking. But search engines seem benign, and in today's world many of us can't avoid using them.

Hosts of privacy workarounds and digital software tools will cloak and protect your online identity when you're using search engines. But to me, using them feels about as natural and convenient as putting on a disguise every time I go grocery shopping.

Government and consumers can make a difference. It was only after complaints to the FTC that Microsoft changed its Passport sign-on service and DoubleClick changed its privacy policy.

Consumers can fight for privacy protection. We all just need to be reminded that it is worth fighting for.

[Rasputin]

Better Quality Coming for Some Skype Calls

Software in the Skype PC client that enhances call quality is now coming to dedicated devices such as mobile phones that use the peer-to-peer voice service.

Skype originally worked just on PCs but is now available on devices such as cordless phones and ATAs (analog telephone adapters), which link traditional phones to broadband connections for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) calls. VoIP is now spreading to mobile devices such as dedicated Wi-Fi handsets and dual-mode cell/Wi-Fi phones. They give users a way to make mobile calls without paying for minutes and, in some cases, to get better call quality where cellular coverage is weak. Some mobile operators are looking to Wi-Fi as a way to effectively extend their coverage, spread out demand for data capacity, and keep customers happy.

Global IP Sound (GIPS) today announced a deal with Skype, a unit of eBay, in which it will license its GIPS VoiceEngine software to manufacturers of Skype-compatible devices. Skype licensed GIPS's technology in 2003 for its PC VoIP software, but until now, non-PC devices that can make Skype calls haven't had it. The deal will put GIPS VoiceEngine into the software that Skype provides for devices such as mobile handsets and ATAs, says Gary Hermansen, president and chief executive officer of GIPS.

Handheld VoIP Devices
Skype, the free software that allows free calls among Skype users, has helped to spur the growing popularity of VoIP. Carriers have been breaking voice calls into IP packets for years in the core of their networks, but this type of call is now common all the way across networks through service providers such as Vonage. GIPS was founded in 1999 and started in network cores, Hermansen says. Nortel Networks is still its biggest customer. VoiceEngine is a media processing software framework that includes codecs (compression-decompression algorithms) and other components. It is designed to solve problems such as echo and choppy sound that can occur because data networks aren't designed to carry voice.

Device makers are ahead of the curve, already selling handheld VoIP devices. Samsung Electronics recently agreed to use GIPS VoiceEngine in upcoming dual-mode cellular and Wi-Fi phones as well as in ATAs. This month GIPS announced a key deal with Texas Instruments to get its codecs into TI's chips, which are widely used in ATAs and mobile phones.

However, devices that use Skype, such as the Linksys Internet Telephony Kit, haven't included the GIPS software that is in every downloaded Skype PC client, Hermansen says. Under the deal announced today, GIPS would approach vendors such as Linksys, a Cisco Systems division, to license that technology.

Some Improvement, Analyst Says
Skype phone calls on mobile devices already sound pretty good, and the addition of the GIPS technology should provide an incremental boost, says IDC analyst Will Stofega. Skype could be both a threat and a partner to mobile operators looking to VoIP, he believes.

Some cellular carriers will try to block the service, but others may offer it as a supplement to their regular services or put the popular Skype interface on top of their own cell-phone operating system, he says. International mobile provider Hutchison 3 Group announced in February that it would start enabling Skype on its third-generation mobile network as an additional choice for customers.

[Rasputin]

Did You Know? New Digital Economy Fact Book Released

Did you know that 18.3 percent of the world's Internet users are from the United States, while 11.1 percent are from China and 8 percent are from Japan? Did you know that venture capitalists invested less money in the U.S. software and biotechnology industries in 2005 than they did in 2004? Would it surprise you that venture capital investment in IT services grew by more than 50 percent between 2004 and 2005?

This information and a lot more is packed into the 2006 edition of the Digital Economy Fact Book, released today by the Progress and Freedom Foundation (PFF), a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. PFF researchers gathered data from a variety of public and private sources in the fact book, available in PDF format.

Eighth Edition
This eighth edition of the fact book, 135 pages long, includes information on the growth of the Internet, plus the hardware sector, the communications sector, and e-commerce.

For example, while there were a combined 233.6 million residents of the United States and the United Kingdom using the Internet as of the end of 2005, English was the language used by 312.8 million Internet users. Chinese was the second most popular language, with 132.3 million Chinese speakers on the Internet this year.

The total number of Internet users passed 1 billion in 2005, up from 420 million in 2000, the fact book says.

A number of controversies over Internet policy, including congressional debates over Net neutrality and court cases over technology patents, have dominated the news in the past year, noted outgoing PFF president Ray Gifford in the fact book's introduction. Those issues aren't going away anytime soon, but the Internet continues to grow despite the controversies, he added.

Digital Economy Strong
"The digital economy remains dynamic and vibrant--almost as if the policy battles in Washington, Brussels, and elsewhere mean little to the innovators, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists that fuel the incredible economic productivity growth brought about because of information technology," Gifford wrote.

All those people online are also spending money there, the fact book says. U.S. online retail sales were $23.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005, up from $19.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2004 and $9.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2001. E-commerce represented 2.5 percent of total retail sales in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2005, steadily rising from 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 1999.

A few of those billion-plus Internet users also like to send unwanted e-mail, otherwise known as spam. Two-thirds of all e-mail sent in March was spam, while only 20 percent of it was legitimate, the fact book says. Nine percent of all e-mail sent bounced, while 3 percent was virus e-mail and 1 percent was phishing e-mail.

Nearly 44 percent of all spam came from the United States, and another 13.6 percent came from China, the book says. More than 52.2 percent of spam focused on pharmaceutical products, and 15.5 percent pitched "enhancer" products.

Global revenues of security software vendors grew from $7.9 billion in 2003 to an estimated $10 billion in 2005, the book says.

[Rasputin]

Partners Encourage Microsoft to Ease Vista Transition

Microsoft partners are asking the software maker to do whatever it can to make the transition to Windows Vista easier, including offering discount Vista upgrade coupons to customers who purchase PCs during this year's busy November-December holiday shopping season.

In March, Microsoft announced that it was delaying the release of consumer versions of Vista until January 2007, meaning that these editions of the OS will miss the busy holiday shopping season. This announcement raised fears among hardware vendors and computer retailers that end-of-year PC sales would be hurt as a result.

Reports continue to trickle out of Redmond, Washington, that Microsoft is on the verge of confirming that it will begin offering Vista upgrade coupons later this year. Theoretically, the coupons would enable people who buy Vista-capable PCs before the OS is available to purchase Vista for a discount once it is released.

AMD's Take
Barry Crume, director of the Microsoft alliance for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), said that AMD supports any campaign Microsoft undertakes to navigate the transition from Windows XP to Windows Vista effectively. However, he said, AMD has stopped short of trying to tell the software vendor what specific methods it should adopt, contrary to a Bloomberg report asserting that AMD was putting pressure on Microsoft to offer coupons.

"It's not for us to determine...how they do it," Crume said. "It's really their call." He said that AMD is bullish on the idea of offering discounts for customers to upgrade to Vista if they purchase PCs that are capable of running the software before it is available.

Because its processors are included in PCs and laptops that will run Windows Vista, AMD is as concerned as computer vendors such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard that there will be a lag in demand for their products as customers wait for Vista machines to become available, he added.

The Bloomberg report mentioned Amazon.com as another Microsoft partner that has been pressing the company to make discount coupons available.

Though Amazon spokesman Sean Sundwall would not confirm the report, he did say that his company thinks it's important for Microsoft to make purchasing Windows Vista as easy as possible. Amazon supports any efforts by the software giant to accomplish this goal, he said.

Vista Ready
Microsoft has already been working with hardware partners to include labels on PCs and notebook computers so customers will know what versions of the Vista OS they can run. The company's Get Ready site details the hardware requirements for running different versions of Vista.

Not all PCs will be able to run Vista's higher-end versions, due to the demands of the versions' enhanced graphics and media features, so it's important for customers to understand Vista's system requirements when they shop for a new computer that they hope will run the OS.

[Rasputin]

Critical Flaw Found in IE Patch

Instead of making the browser more secure, Microsoft's August Internet Explorer security update introduced a critical security bug, according to researchers at eEye Digital Security.

Microsoft released the security patch, known as MS06-042 on August 8, but users soon reported several problems with the software.

Patched browsers would crash when using Web-based versions of several applications, including PeopleSoft, Siebel, and Sage CRM. Web sites that used HTTP 1.1 compression to speed up the downloading of images could also cause the browser to fail.

These issues are described on Microsoft's Web site. The MS06-042 update also is detailed on the site.

Last week, Microsoft released a "hotfix" download that addressed these problems, but the software giant will also take the unusual step of re-releasing the entire MS06-042 update, thus ensuring that all Windows users would automatically receive the updated code.

New Vulnerability
What Microsoft hasn't told its users, eEye said this week, is that the browser-crashing bug could also be used by attackers to run unauthorized software on a victim's PC.

"What people didn't know about that patch is when [Microsoft] introduced that patch, they actually introduced a new exploitable vulnerability," said eEye Chief Hacking Officer Marc Maiffret. "They basically butchered that patch."

EEye discovered the security problem last week after looking more closely at the crashing problem, but the company believes that the security hole is also known by other security researchers and exploit writers.

"The bad guys basically know about this and know that it's an exploitable scenario," Maiffret said.

Researchers at eEye have created a "proof of concept" exploit for the problem in their labs, but Maiffret did not know of any such code being released to the public. This lessens the likelihood of a widespread attack based on the bug.

Nevertheless, eEye is encouraging IT administrators to apply the revised MS06-042 patch as soon as possible.

Ongoing Debate
The problems with MS06-042 have rekindled an ongoing debate on the subject of responsible disclosure, with eEye faulting Microsoft for not informing customers sooner of the security flaw, and Microsoft saying that eEye's disclosure was done "irresponsibly," according to Tony Chor, a group program manager on the Internet Explorer team.

Microsoft knows of no attackers exploiting the bug at this time, he said. The company has released a security advisory on the matter.

Microsoft had been planning to re-release the MS06-042 update on Tuesday, but that has now been delayed indefinitely as Microsoft fixes an unspecified problem with the patch, Chor said. "Last night, we found an issue that would prevent some customers from being able to deploy the update," he wrote in a Tuesday blog posting. "Unfortunately, we [had] missed this issue, plain and simple."

The delay is due to a bug affecting Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS) product, according to a source familiar with the matter. The patch does work with the company's free update services, such as Windows Update, the source added. "Obviously, not everyone has bought [Microsoft's] SMS product, and that shouldn't be a reason to delay patches," the source said.

[Rasputin]

Tips & Tweaks: Explosive Notebooks

Update: At press time, Dell and the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntarily--and massive--recall of over 4.1 million lithium ion batteries manufactured by Sony. (Okay, so we don't use a press for this online column, but you get the idea.)

As you'll read later, some of Dell's batteries have erupted into flames.

If you want to find out if your battery's one that's being recalled, check the list of computers on Dell's site. If it's easier for you, call 866/342-0011. In the meantime, Dell advises you to turn off your notebook, remove the battery, and use the AC adapter to power the system. --Steve

I first wrote off the report of a Dell notebook bursting into flames as a typical urban legend. No such luck. A laptop did indeed burst into flames in June at a conference in Japan. The story was on the International Herald Tribune's site and YahooNews--honestly, it was. The link's dead now, so read the one saved in Google's cache. Gizmodo has some pictures.

And the kicker is, it happened again about a month later. Read about it on Tomshardware Forumz. [Thanks for the tip, Robert D.]

Wait! You want yet another kicker? Try the exploding laptop in Singapore. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the owner thought it was a fluke. In a blog post he goes on to say that the only Dell rep that contacted him was from the company's legal department.

Dig This: Here's a funny commercial that'll give you a quick chuckle.

On the Record: Dell Doesn't Deny
I called Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden for a comment. (You didn't think I had such great connections, right? Anne was surprised too.)

I tried wheedling her for a bombshell. I wanted some dirt. And I could almost hear her thinking, "No way, Bass." She stuck to her corporate line:

"Dell meets or exceeds battery specs for over 20 countries worldwide. They [batteries] are designed to increase safety by incorporating failsafe features to stop overcharging."

She wasn't finished.

"Suppliers are geared to the same stringent standards and high priority on evaluating and investigation of the safety concerns of both batteries and products."

What about the incident in Japan? I asked, fishing for some culpability.

"[We have] the notebook and battery. [It was a] lithium ion battery and the initial investigation shows a problem with one of the cells. We're absolutely concerned and relieved that no one was hurt in the incident," she said.

She also explained that the majority of notebooks and cell phones use lithium ion batteries. Notebook batteries typically have six cells, but may have as many as nine.

So much for my interviewing skills.

Dig This: Can your dog play "Simon Says"? Mine can't, either--but he sure knows when the UPS truck is coming by the house. [Warning: Turn your volume way down.]

Not New: Exploding Batteries
The problem isn't new. We reported on battery problems three years ago and again late last year; read "Mobile Battery Problems Explode" and "Dell Recalls Laptop Batteries" for details.

Of course, Dell's not the only manufacturer suffering from battery problems. Nikon had a recall in December, and according to a report by WCCO, a CBS affiliate in Minneapolis, the battery in a Mac notebook caught fire in May; WCCO also reports that there have been about 43 incidents of batteries catching fire in the last two years.

Dig This: It's Friday and you want to go home early. Your boss says no. Visualize your boss and grab the tweezers. [Thanks, David.]

The Hazards of Notebook Batteries
Okay, so all this was making me a bit nervous, so I did some research to reassure myself that this exploding battery thing isn't really a big deal. Maybe those incidents I heard about were just freak accidents. But the more digging I did, the more I found out that portable batteries are even more dangerous than I'd imagined.

I contacted the Portable Rechargeable Battery Association for information on safe handling of batteries. Like so many trade associations, it didn't offer much I could use. The association's site does have a FAQ with safety advice, but it would only be useful if I were planning to ship lithium ion batteries.

I found a few good sources of general information, though. For some background, read Charlie Demerjian's "The INQUIRER Guide to Exploding Batteries." For details on what lithium ion batteries are made of, how they work, and what they're used for, read Wikipedia's entry on the topic. You might want also want to plow through a white paper on MPower Solutions' site.

Dig This: You may still see old AOL promotional CDs at, well, practically everywhere. Some of you might even have a collection of the discs. Here's one thing you can do with them.

Safety Tips
There are a couple critical ways to safely use any lithium battery:

It's essential that you use the charger that's specifically designed for your battery. Use the wrong charger and there's a chance you can overcharge the battery.
Keep the battery--and your notebook--as cool as possible. Don't store the notebook in the trunk of your car. When you're using it for long periods of time, get a cooling tray.

[Rasputin]

Microsoft Campaign Goes After 'Cybersquatters'

Web users who've had the frustrating experience of mistyping a common or popular Web site URL and inadvertently landing on a page full of pay-per-click ads may soon have relief if a new campaign by Microsoft succeeds.

The software company today filed three lawsuits against so-called "cybersquatters" that have purchased Web site domain names containing names that are Microsoft's registered trademarks, allegedly so that they can lure Web browsers to sites laden with pay-per-click advertisements.

The term cybersquatting refers to the practice of including the name of a popular brand or company in a URL that is set up to deliver pay-per-click ads or other content that has little value to the user and is not connected to the brand or company whose name the URL contains.

"With each click, revenue is generated for both the advertising network and the person who owns the site," said Aaron Kornblum, an Internet safety enforcement attorney at Microsoft. He characterized this practice as an infringement on Microsoft's trademark and argued that it is forbidden under a 1999 law called the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits anyone who "has a bad faith intent" from registering Web site domains that contain trademarked terms.

Windows, Hotmail Names Used
As part of an initiative undertaken by Microsoft's Trademark and Internet Safety Enforcement groups, Microsoft filed suit against three defendants in Salt Lake City, Utah: Jason Cox, Daniel Goggins, and John Jonas, suing them both as individuals and through their two companies, Jonas and Goggins Studios and Newtonarch. According to the suit, the three work together to use Microsoft trademarks such as Windows and Hotmail in 324 domain names that they have registered for sites that contain only pay-per-click ads.

Some of the domain names registered by the three that Microsoft claims infringe on its trademarks include 1windows45.info, 1replacingwindows34.info, 1hotmail25.info and 1hotmail27.info, according to documents Microsoft filed.

A similar suit, filed in Los Angeles, alleges that Long Beach, California, resident Dan Brown and his company Partner IV Holdings have used trademarks such as Xbox and Windows in 85 domain names for sites that are used for pay-per-click ads.

Microsoft also filed a third "John Doe" suit to target people who have registered domain names that infringe on Microsoft trademarks but who have protected their identities through online registrars' privacy registration services, Kornblum said. The services allow people to purchase Web site domain names without publicly revealing their identities.

"We found hundreds of infringing domains that do this, and we've whittled down the list to 217 domains that were most egregiously infringing [on Microsoft trademarks]," he said. Microsoft is using the John Doe suit to subpoena the online registrars in an effort to obtain the personal information of the people who registered the offending sites, Kornblum added.

Domain Auctions Also Targeted
In addition, Microsoft also is working to shut down online auctions that resell Web-site domain names that contain its trademarks, he said. "In the past, we have done some irregular requests to online auction companies to take these down, but we'll be doing this more systematically for auctions [now]," Kornblum said.

According to Kornblum, the initiative to target cybersquatters arose several months ago out of work Microsoft has been doing with a company called Internet Identity in Tacoma, Washington, to thwart phishing scams. Microsoft and Internet Identity have been monitoring the registration of new Internet domain names in the United States in an effort to track down phishing scams, and they noticed that sites were being registered to promote cybersquatting in addition to phishing, he said.

[Rasputin]

Sophos Offers Free Rootkit Detection Tool

There's a new free tool to help PC users root out rootkits.

Called Sophos Anti-Rootkit, the software from Sophos will detect and remove both known and unknown rootkits, and it will also warn system administrators if removing the software might harm operating system integrity.

Rootkits are a collection of tools used by hackers to gain administrative privileges on compromised machines. They are typically used to help hide other forms of malware--keyloggers or Trojan horse programs, for example--from antivirus software.

Rootkits Hit the Big Time
Late last year, Sony BMG Music Entertainment helped to make rootkit a household word, after the company was forced to recall millions of CDs that used these cloaking techniques to hide its copy protection software. Sony's rootkit, which was installed when customers tried to play CDs, actually compromised PC security. Hackers eventually released malicious software that used Sony's software to hide itself on a PC.

Sophos Anti-Rootkit works with the Windows NT, 2000, XP, and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. The software features a graphical interface to help guide users through the process of detecting and removing the malicious software.

Since the Sony fiasco, the security industry has paid more attention to the rootkit problem and there are now a number of free utilities designed to identify this type of software. Other tools include RootkitRevealer, GMER and IceSword.

[Rasputin]

Microsoft Tests Wi-Fi Management Service

Some Office 2007 beta testers can test drive a forthcoming service from Microsoft that helps users manage wireless connections when they are using Wi-Fi hotspots.

According to the Techlog.org blog, Microsoft this week allowed select beta testers of Office 2007 to preview a forthcoming service called Windows Live WiFi Center. Office 2007, in beta 2 now, is expected to be available to business users by the end of the year, and consumers in early 2007.

Microsoft confirmed through its public relations firm today that Windows Live WiFi Center is now available in a "limited, managed beta."

The service will offer users a simple and secure way to locate and connect to Wi-Fi "hotspots," or networks, globally, Microsoft said. It will also provide users with encrypted connections for secure and nonsecure wireless network connectivity.

Key Features
Key features of Windows Live WiFi Center include a network locator, which allows users to search for free and fee-based wireless networks all over the world, and network management, which lets users see what networks are around them and get information about the networks, including the network address, description, available amenities, service providers, and signal strength.

Customers of the service also can label networks as "favorites" for future connections, track connection history and manage network preferences.

Windows Live WiFi Center also will provide built-in security, including a VPN (virtual private network), which lets users secure a connection on unsecured wireless networks, Microsoft said.

Wi-Fi Locator
Microsoft also plans to launch the Windows Live WiFi Hotspot Locator Web site at hotspot.live.com. The site will help people find wireless hotspots and will be accessible through any PC.

Since Microsoft launched its Windows Live services in November, it has amassed a portfolio of Web-based services, some of which were previously part of its MSN portfolio, and some of which are new.

Windows Live got a lot of attention when it was first launched, but critics have become increasingly skeptical of whether Microsoft can use the services to drive advertising revenue and keep up with competitors Google and Yahoo.

They also are waiting to see when sales made through the company's adCenter paid-search advertising platform--which the Live services are supposed to support--will pick up steam. Microsoft launched adCenter in the U.S. in May, but it has yet to contribute to the overall financial health of the company's MSN division, where the platform resides.

[Rasputin]

Broadband Abroad: Internet Connectivity Outside of the United States

Nearly 60 publications in countries ranging from Australia and Bangladesh to Venezuela and Vietnam either carry the PC World name or are associated with us in some way. So we asked editors at several of them to tell us how their readers get online. Not surprisingly, our colleagues report that many countries are substantially ahead of the United States in many respects.

For example, in the United Kingdom, you can buy DSL service with a download speed of up to 24 megabits per second. In Denmark, some people have fiber-optic connections as fast as 100 mbps. And in Italy and Spain, broadband service is cheap, and dial-up service is free (except for the cost of the local call). Still, many countries have their own connection quirks; read about them below.

Italy
In Italy, Internet users can subscribe to fiber-optic service from FastWeb. According to PC World Italia's Maurizio Lazzaretti, the service provides 10 mbps of bandwidth, though that's also used for television delivery. DSL service is less expensive but more common in less densely populated areas, with 4 mbps being the most common option; it costs about 20 euros per month (around $25) plus VAT (tax). Fiber-optic service costs twice that. With both types of services, subscribers can add VoIP capability for around 20 euros per month. Dial-up service is free, except for the local call.

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, people have a few more options, though fiber optics isn't yet one of them. DSL speeds of up to 24 mbps for downloads and 1.3 mbps for uploads are available, though they're geographically limited, says Simon Jary, editorial director of PC Advisor. Rosemary Haworth, PC Advisor's features editor, adds that "in practice, the availability of such speeds is still very much limited to places within spitting distance of a British Telephone exchange enabled for such rates, so [customers] get fobbed off with 18 mbps if theya??re lucky." We should all be so lucky.

Cable Internet connections range from 2 mbps to 10 mbps download speeds, with 256 kbps to 384 kbps uploads, and they're marginally more popular than DSL accounts, says Haworth. Nearly 70 percent of all UK Internet connections are made via broadband--much higher than in the United States.

But the average consumer broadband connection is more like 2 mbps, with an average cost of between A#15 and A#20 ($28 to $37) per month. "It's common for services to have capped usage limits, at around 2GB per month," adds Jary.

"The real flyer at the moment is TalkTalk's broadband and phone package," says Jary. The package includes 8-mbps downloads and 448-kbps uploads, with a 40GB usage cap; it includes unlimited calls to the UK and international landlines (28 countries), all for just A#21 ($39) per month. "This is causing a price war on UK broadband, with others soon to offer combined broadband/phone packages," says Jary.

[Rasputin]

Sony Makes a Web Video Move

Sony Pictures Entertainment is making a foray into the fast-expanding world of Web video sharing by acquiring Grouper Networks, the privately-held operator of the grouper.com Web site.

The Sony unit will pay $65 million to acquire the company, which counts itself as number two in the Web video market behind YouTube, said Jonathan Shambroom, vice president of product development, at the Sausalito, California-based company in a telephone interview.

Like competing services, grouper.com allows users to upload their own videos and watch other videos through a Flash player. In addition, the site also allows users to download videos to the desktop and offers versions formatted for viewing on Sony's PlayStation Portable and Apple Computer's iPod with video. The site also makes it possible for video material to be integrated into a user's blog and lets users append video comments by webcam to existing material.

Editing Options
Grouper also offers a software tool that allows users to edit video, add soundtracks and captions, and produce finished video pieces. As a result of the acquisition by Sony, it's possible users could bring in Sony-owned content and combine it with their own material to produce new videos that can then be further shared online, said Shambroom.

The various copyright and digital rights management issues required should Sony add its own material to the site have yet to be fully worked out but the possibility of Sony content coming to Grouper was a major attraction in acquisition talks, he said.

Under the terms of the deal with Sony, the current management of Grouper Networks will remain in place.

The acquisition comes at a time when Web video sharing sites are booming. In July for the first time a video-sharing Web site broke into the top 50 most popular sites as ranked by comScore Networks' Media Metrix. YouTube entered the monthly chart at position 40 with 16 million visitors, a 20 percent increase versus June, the research company said.

Grouper claimed 10 million unique visitors to its Web site in July.

The popularity of online video also helped push up traffic to the video sections of portal sites. MySpace Videos, which had 20 million visitors, saw traffic double in July and top-ranked Yahoo Video recorded a 28 percent jump in visitors to 21.1 million visitors, comScore Media Metrix said.

[abadani69]

كارشناسان امنيت اينترنتي در مورد شناسايي نگارش جديدي از ويروس رايانهاي "رندكس" خبر ميدهند كه علاوه بر قابليتهاي نگارشهاي قبلي، توانايي نفوذ به رايانه با استفاده از يكي از آخرين حفرههاي امنيتي شناسايي شده در سيستمعامل "ويندوز"، به آن افزوده شده است.

به گزارش سايت اينترنتي "تك وب"، نگارش جديد اين ويروس با نام "رندكس.جل"( (Randex.gelاز حفرهامنيتي MS060-40سيستمعامل "ويندوز" كه وصله اصلاحي آن به تازگي توسط مايكروسافت منتشر شده، براي آلوده كردن رايانههاي آسيب پذير استفاده ميكند.

نگارشهاي قبلي ويروس "رندكس" از حفرههاي قديميتر سيستمعامل "ويندوز" براي نفوذ به رايانههاي كاربران استفاده ميكردند كه از جمله اين حفرهها ميتوان به برخي ايرادهاي امنيتي اشاره كرد كه پيش از اين توسط ويروس رايانهاي خطرناك "زوتاب" مورد استفاده گرفته بود.

شركت توليدكننده نرمافزارهاي ضدويروس "سيمانتك" اعلام كرد ويروس "رندكس" از برخي حفرههاي قديميتر و همچنين جديد "ويندوز" براي نفوذ به رايانههايي كه وصلههاي اصلاحي "ويندوز" را نصب نكردهاند، استفاده ميكند و براي گسترش از يك رايانه به رايانه ديگر از خدمات مسنجر پركاربر از جمله "اماساس مسنجر"، "ياهو مسنجر" و مسنجر شركت "اي او ال" استفاده كرده و علاوه بر تمامي اين موارد، رايانههاي استفادهكننده از نرمافزار بانك اطلاعاتي "اس كيو السرور" شركت مايكروسافت نيز در شبكههاي رايانهاي در برابر نفوذ اين ويروس آسيبپذيرند.

به گفته كارشناسان، ويروس "رندكس" از مجموعهاي متنوع از روشهاي مختلف براي آلوده كردن رايانهها بهره ميگيرد و بهترين روش براي توقف گسترش آن، دانلود و نصب آخرين وصله اصلاحي "مايكروسافت" ويژه ترميم حفره امنيتي MS06-040سيستمعامل "ويندوز" است كه در هشتم ماه اوت جاري اين شركت ارائه كرد.