Orkut attacked by 'Bom Sabado' worm

 “Bom Sabado” seems to be the Last Nail in the Coffin for Orkut. It is the second major XSS (cross-site scripting) attack on Orkut this week. Orkut is flooded with “Bom Sabado” scraps. The word "Bom Sabado" means "Good Saturday" in Portuguese, which is the also the official language of Brazil, one of the last remaining Orkut bastions in the world.

The worm seems to be posting scraps with the text "Bom Sabado" and also adding affected users to new Orkut groups. Such XSS attacks have targeted Orkut in the past too.

Experts have advised users to avoid logging on to Orkut till Orkut engineers fix the hole and also not to click on any suspicious links. Orkut had just last month announced new updates to the website.

Earlier this week, the popular microblogging website Twitter was also at the receiving end of an XSS exploit. The attack, which emerged and was shut down within hours Tuesday morning, involved a XSS flaw that allowed users to run JavaScript programs on other computers.

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Dell plans to get into Internet TV devices

 Dell is in plans to develop devices beyond PCs which would stream Internet content to regular television sets but the company is yet to make an official announcement for its product after studying the market opportunity. 

The company will also consider the Google TV platform which merges broadcast TV and Internet into one interface. Apart from this, Dell will also follow Apple and Roku which offers a digital video player that streams content from the internet to the television, reports Agam Shah of IDG News.Samsung and Sony also have similar plans of using the Internet to stream movies and TV shows. "The company is evaluating new devices from set-top box makers and original design manufacturers (ODMs) that could seamlessly bring Internet content to TVs," said Chris Camilletti, Desktop Product Manager at Dell.

Dell is following companies like Apple, which makes the Apple TV, and Roku, which offers a digital video player that streams content from the Internet to TVs. A number of TV companies such as Samsung and Sony also have their eyes set on using the Internet to stream movies and TV shows.

The launch of Inspiron Zino HD desktop by the company, will help in bringing Internet movies to high-definition TVs. "The Zino HD is an entry point to make consumers aware of the capability to play streaming movies on TVs," Camilletti added. The device comes with a wireless keyboard and remote control that can switch between the PC and TV. 

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97 percent of Indians will own a cellphone by 2014

 With number of cellphone makers and network providers growing by the day in India, it is only a natural thing that more and more Indians will own a cellphone. Now this thought is backed by a survey.

According to market research firm iSuppli, the wireless subscriptions in India are expected to be more than 97 percent in the 1.26 billion population. The first four months of 2010 alone witnessed an addition of 19 million new subscribers. In fact, by end of this year, the total wireless subscriptions are projected to reach 766.0 million. This is an increase of 49.5 percent from 2009?s subscriber count of 525.1 million.iSuppli forecasts show that this pace will be continuing in the future as well. It adds that the number of subscribers will increase in the next four years and will touch the 1 billion mark by 2012. By 2014, mobile teledensity - a measure of cell phone availability - likely will reach 97.4 percent per 100 persons.

"Such high mobile teledensity means that almost everyone - except children and the abjectly poor - will have a cell phone in India, with those having multiple mobiles boosting total subscription rates and compensating for those without," said Jagdish Rebello, Ph.D., Senior Director and Principal Analyst for Wireless Research at iSuppli.

The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for mobile handsets in India will reach 18.6 percent from 2009 to 2014.  

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A kitty-bag must-have!

                                                     

We love our portable media players and flashy smartphones, but all these fancy gadgets just about turn into nothing but overpriced paperweights every time they run out of battery. Low battery life is the bane of all portable gadgets and given the fact that being mobile has becomes such an integral part of everyone's life, the Gum Plus is a must-have. Gum Plus is a Red Dot Award winner for its design and is certified to work with the iPod and the iPhone.

DESIGN :

Encased in a pseudo-aluminium casing, this portable power pack is a design wonder. Simple, aesthetic, and tiny enough to slip in your pocket, it delivers juice when you need it the most – on the go.

Taking minimalism to a new level, all it has is a mini-USB port on one side to charge it, a regular USB port on the other for power output, and an On/Off toggle switch on top along with five blinking LEDs to indicate battery status.

It comes with a USB charging cable, another one to charge your iPhone or iPod, and a micro fibre pouch to carry it. Just charge it via USB and carry it along.

It can charge not only your iPhone and iPod, but any other device that can be charged via USB. This includes most smartphones and Mp3 players available today – all you need is the USB cable that works with your device.

CHARGING :

When you need to charge, just switch it on and connect the cable – you can charge while travelling in the bus or train, inside your bag, even use your device while it's being charged.

With a 4400 mAh battery inside, Gum Plus outputs 1000 mAh of power to charge your baby in a jiffy.

The iPhone can be charged up to 90 per cent capacity in just an hour, and a fully-charged Gum Plus can recharge your iPhone for up to four times before it puts its legs up and dies. If you keep running out of juice on your phone or music player while travelling, you need this. Period.

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Facebook launches location-aware service ‘Places’

 Social networking website Facebook has launched a new service called ‘Places’ which allows users to share their location with their friends. The service, which has prompted security fears, also tells users which of their friends are at the same place or if they have ever “checked in” there before.

The new feature went live in Britain yesterday after its launch in the US last month. It is one of a new raft of social networking services that use the GPS function on many smartphones to work out exactly where a person is at any point, the Daily Mail reported.The application, which works like popular location—based social networking site Foursquare, asks a user to click on the “Check In” button after logging into the website.

Once you click on the option, it displays a list of possible locations near where they are. When the users selects one of the options, it allows their friends to know about their location.The service also lists nearby businesses and attractions, and Facebook will target the locations it lists to each Places user.

“Facebook is a place to share information with people you know,” said Facebook product manager Michael Sharon. “We saw people were already using the site to tell people where they are, so the natural thing was to build a product to make this easier. This just formalises what people were doing anyway.”

Facebook, which has come under fire over its attitude towards privacy in the past, has installed a set of stringent new rules for its Places application. Unlike other “always on” services, this application is optional and a user’s location is not stored unless they check in or accept a tag from a friend. Check—ins are defaulted to friends—only rather than everyone on Facebook.

In the “People Here Now” section users can see others who are checked in with you at that place. This section is visible for a limited amount of time and only to people who are checked in there, the website said.

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Live streaming debuts on YouTube

YouTube is making its long expected foray into live streaming by launching an experimental trial with four new media partners. The new live streaming platform will be previewed in a two-day trial beginning Monday, but is expected to later grow considerably across the Google Inc-owned website. 

Four YouTube partners will participate: the celebrity-focused Young Hollywood; the online television outlet Next New Networks; the how-to guide Howcast; and Rocketboom, the Internet culture vlog. For the last two years, YouTube has offered numerous events live, including a U2 concert, cricket matches in India and President Barack Obama's first State of the Union address.

 But for all of those events, YouTube relied on third-party technology to enable the live webcasts.  YouTube, though, is far from the first company to step into the streaming video space. Startups such as Ustream.tv, Justin.tv and Livestream have already established themselves. 

Ustream is the current leader in live video, with 3.2 million unique viewers in July. But Google video sites, which are primarily driven by YouTube, drew 143.2 million unique visitors in July, according to ComScore.

"Any time you can bring your viewers into a broadcast _ like making a shout-out to someone who left a comment _ the audience really gets excited about that, on YouTube in particular," said D'Emilio. "It breaks down any kind of wall between the people on camera and the people who are watching."

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Use Windows With “ Your Brands Name”

Let's Do Some funny hacks....

Wants to use your own window. Let follow these following step and make window with your name.

Open notepad paste the following lines into it and save it with the name OEMINFO.INI in the  c:\windows\system32 directory:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[General]
Manufacturer=Your Name Here
Model=Your Model Here
[Support Information]
Line1=Your Name Here
Line2=Your Address Here
Line3=Your Email Address Here

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Save the file.

2. Then make a right click on my computer select properties, in the general tab a button will be highlighted (support information) make a click on it, you will be able to see the changes.

3. Now if you want to display some more information then simply increase the line in the file.

ex: Line4=Your Company name here.....  and many other things....

Enjoy & visit regularly http://ittechresearch.blogspot.com

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Make A Autorun File For Your CD

Did You Notice, whenever You Insert any game 0r software CD, or simply consider Windows Xp Operating system CD. As soon as You Insert the disk in CD-ROM, It automatically runs the CD.

If you want to make a autorun file for that CD , Just follow these steps below.....

1) Open Notepad
2) Write here :  [autorun]
                                                           OPEN=INSTALL\Setup_filename.EXE
                                                           ICON=INSTALL\Setup_filename.EXE
                                                           Now save it with the name autorun.inf
                                                           

But remember! The "Setup_filename.EXE" MUST be replaced with the name of the setup file. And you also need to rember that it is not all of the setup files there are called '.exe but some are called '.msi

3) Now burn your CD with the autorun .inf file included.

4) Now set the CD in you CD drive and wait for the autorun to begin or if nothing happens just double-click on the CD drive in "This Computer"

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Increase Your Acrobat Reader Speed

Adobe Acrobat reader always consumes more memory when it starts. The reason behind is, it loads all the plugins, even the plugins that you do not use. This trick is to remove all the plugins from the plugins directory to elsewhere. Hence, whenever you open Acrobat reader it directly opens the files without loading any plugins and the speed is just like Notepad.

1. Go to the installation folder of acrobat reader
(C:\program files\adobe\acrobat\reader\plug_ins)

2. Move all the files and folders from the "plugins" directory to the "Optional" directory. Just cut and paste do not copy them.
Also make sure that acrobat reader is not open else it will lock the files and not allow you to move the files).

Now your acrobat reader will load very fast and almost as good as notepad.

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Tips to make your browser secure

Web browsers are the key to the internet. Without them the internet is an impenetrable black box.

Browsers may be among the most commonly used applications, but they also offer the greatest number of attack options for dangerous content on the net. To keep viruses, worms and other malware away from your computer when surfing, it's crucial to configure your browser for security.

The firewall on a DSL router is a good first step for protecting the computer during surfing, says Marco Rinne from the computer portal chip.de. But that doesn't hold true if your browser is out of date: “Internet Explorer 6 and 7 or Firefox 2 no longer satisfy current security standards,” he says. For optimal protection, he therefore urges users to keep their browsers updated.

There are numerous security tools already present in Firefox and Internet Explorer. The pop-up blocker, for example, prevents more than just annoying ads. It also throttles other windows that can be used to sneak malicious software onto PCs. Phishing filters protect personal data against theft.

Firefox offers additional configuration options under the Settings item in the Security tab of the Options dialog box: this includes the ability to block risky or forged websites. It's also a good idea to prohibit websites from installing add-ons on their own. Similar settings are possible under Internet Explorer in the Security tab of the Internet Options dialog box, accessible from the Tools menu.

Computer owners should also activate all options for warning against attacks, advises Markus Linnemann, managing director of the Institute for Internet Security (ifis) at the Polytechnic University of Gelsenkirchen in Germany. This applies in particular to warnings about suspicious content to be displayed using ActiveX, Flash, or JavaScript.

Yet the warning mechanism on most browsers alone isn't usually enough, Linnemann says. Those who wish to be especially careful can, for example, use the Firefox add-on 'No Script,' which blocks all active content of a website by default and allows the user to decide which should be permitted. The problem is that most users are unable to determine which content represents a threat to their computer, Rinnem says. 

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Transcend launches 16GB Swarovski flash drive

Transcend has launched a new 16GB edition of its JetFlash V95C USB flash drives.

The JetFlash V95C features a retractable USB connector and comes with a glossy lacquer accent panel with a Swarovski sapphire crystal.

According to Gordon Wu, Regional head – South Asia, Transcend, "Although the 16GB JetFlash V95C is ultra compact, the USB flash drive is capable of storing up to 6552 still images (based on 5 megapixel JPEG compression format) or 240 minutes of high-definition 1080p video. Each JetFlash V95C comes with a leather strap."

Users can also download Transcend's JetFlash Elite data management tools to enhance their mobile productivity.

The JetFlash V95C offers up to 15MB/s transfer speeds and is available in four capacities: 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB.

The 16GB version is priced at Rs 3650. 

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China's progress in IT is an opportunity for India: Infy's Murthy

N.R. Narayana Murthy, the founder of IT giant Infosys, opined that India should perceive China's rapid development in the information technology sector as an "opportunity" for Indian IT companies functioning in that country, rather than as a "threat," reports Raktima Bose from The Hindu. 

Answering if China's speedy progress in the IT field could pose a threat to India's favourable global position, Murthy said, "China has shown development in extraordinary proportions in different sectors. It will also make progress in the IT sector. Almost all Indian IT companies have a presence in China now.

 But we are not looking at China as a threat but as an opportunity." Many of India's leading IT companies like TCS, Infosys and Satyam has setup shops in china to attract projects from the Chinese Industries and to explore the booming manufacturing sector there. Some of the major Indian companies have also acquired small sized Chinese companies to understand the market and to merge themselves into the Chinese culture. Though the per hour rate offered by Chinese is less than India's rate, about 30 percent less. But there are lot of hidden costs which includes communication issues (more time, more rate), knowledge transferring time, data security protection and regulatory issues. These issues demands a completely new strategy for the western companies to kick start its outsourcing plans. 

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India stands at 78th on Newsweek’s best country list

 India ranks 78th on the World’s Best Countries’ list compiled by Newsweek magazine, which placed nations on the basis of health, education, economy and politics. Among India’s neighbours, China is ranked 59th, Sri Lanka is placed at 66th position, while Bangladesh and Pakistan has been placed at 88th and 89th spots respectively. Japan, South Korea and Singapore are the only three Asian countries in the top 20. The top four positions go to Finland, Switzerland, Sweden and Australia while the United Statescomes in at 11th with Germany at 12th and the United Kingdom at 14th.


“In Newsweek’s first-ever Best Countries special issue, we set out to answer a question that is at once simple and incredibly complex—if you were born today, which country would provide you the very best opportunity to live a healthy, safe, reasonably prosperous and upwardly mobile life?,” writes Rana Foorohar, deputy editor. The rankings are based on performance in areas such as education, health, economic dynamism and quality of life. India is described as a big country with 1.2 billion people with a small per capita income of $1,170 per capita.


In an article describing how the countries were ranked, Foorohar writes, “While remarkable individuals can be found in any nation on earth, certain countries give their citizens much greater opportunity to succeed than others at certain points in time.” India gets 2.5 for freedom of expression, political participation and electoral processes from Freedom House with 1 being the highest score. Pakistan scores low with 4.5. In the quality of life section, the study quotes the World Bank statistics as 75 per cent of the population living on less than $2 per day.

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HCL Infosystems launches gaming consoles

HCL Infosystems has launched low-cost gaming consoles  range including ME D75, ME F25 and ME K 28. The new consoles have been custom-made to cater to the children of the age-group of 4 to 15 years. With special form factors, HCL ME F25 will primarily target the girls with its heart-shape design whereas HCL ME D75 and HCL ME K28 with its black-shade and strong built to appeal boys. The range will be power-packed with capabilities like TV out. 

The company has also launched 2 more brain-trainer consoles – ME A30 and ME C100. These newly launched brain-trainers are available at an affordable price ranging from Rs 799 to Rs 1890. 

Commenting on the launch, George Paul, Executive Vice President, HCL Infosystems, said, “Today interactivity is the key for effective communications, let it be business, sports, education and even developing analytical skills. HCL gaming has been designed to harness the enthusiasm of the children for games and in the process challenge their intelligent quotient effectively, triggering logical thinking at an early age.”

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Pak group hacks into Vijay Mallya's website

Playing spoilsport to I-Day celebrations on Sunday was a cyber threat from Pakistan. The victim http://www.mallyainparliament.com — the official website of Vijay Mallya, Bangalore-based businessman and MP (Rajya Sabha).

According to Mallya’s office in Mumbai, "The website was hacked and the Pakistani flag was placed on the site with a dire message from an organization claiming to be the ‘Pakistan Cyber Army’."

"A police complaint will be filed with the cyber crime cell on Monday," Prakash Mirpuri, spokesperson for Mallya, told TOI. However, he refused to comment on the message details. The website was fixed by Sunday evening and all the remarks removed.

The exact role of Pakistan Cyber Army in this act is yet to be confirmed. But the organization has been known for similar cyber shocks, posting pro-Pakistani messages across various Indian websites in the past. According to details available on the web in 2008, they had also hacked ONGC website, http://www.ongcindia.com. They also have a huge fan base on popular social networking sites like Facebook. A web report said that the Mallya group had registered a complaint with the Karnataka police. However, Dr D V Guruprasad, DG CID, denied it. Tnn

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How hackers snoop on private browsing

Experts have identified how their web browser's 'private mode' setting is also vulnerable to hackers. Most web browsers offer a private mode, intended to leave no trace of surfing history on the computer. Even if private browsing is enabled, details relating to the key remain stored on the computer's hard drive, allowing a hacker to establish that a particular site had been visited.



A hacker could "guess what sites you've been to based on traces left behind," New Scientist quoted Jackson as saying.

These attacks on privacy "do not require a great deal of technical sophistication and could easily be built into forensics tools," he added.

However, Rik Ferguson  -- a UK-based security researcher at Trend Micro of Tokyo, Japan -- says that any attacker with the knowledge to exploit the weaknesses would probably look to other attacks first, which may yield more detailed information.

"If someone is capable of tracking your browsing habits in this way, then they are probably also tech-savvy enough to know about commercial spyware which could much more effectively track your computer use," says Ferguson.

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Trojan hacks 3,000 bank accounts

Computer hackers have stolen at least 675,000 pounds from thousands of bank accounts in Britain  using a malicious software, which expert believe the most dangerous virus ever created. About 3,000 online Banking customers have been victims of a computer virus attack that empties their accounts while showing them fake statements so the crime goes undetected. 

                                                                                                  




Experts have described the attack using a "trojan" virus as the most sophisticated and dangerous malware programme ever created, Daily Mail reported. The cyber crimnals stole an estimated 675,000 pounds between July 5 and August 4 and the attack is still progressing, experts warn. 

The latest virus is a variant of the Zeus trojan banking virus which first emerged three years ago and is called Zeus v3. M86 Security said, "We've never seen such a sophisticated and dangerous threat. Always check your balance and have a good idea of what it is." The scam was discovered after M86 gained access to the command-and-control server in Eastern Europe  running the thefts.
 
It collects data such as passwords and even transfers money out of accounts automatically, but only after checking if there is at least 800 pound available. Bradley Anstis, M86 vice-president of technology strategy, said, "This is an extremely sophisticated version of the virus and it cannot be detected by traditional security software." 
                                 The company said it was the most-sophisticated and dangerous virus yet seen and advised online banking users to check their balances regularly and have a good idea of what it should be. British high street banks do not believe they have become victims of the cyber criminals. 
                                                                                                                          A spokesman for HSBC said, "There are millions of viruses and other malicious software. We urge people to take basic measure to protect themselves from virus attacks. Any customer who is a victim of fraud will be reimbursed by HSBC." However, M86 said it believed one high street bank was breached and failed to act quickly after warnings last month. More than 100,000 personal computers in Britain have been infected with other forms of the trojan virus. 

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How to lock your computer

If you want to quickly lock your computer while working when kids or strangers hover around, here’s a shortcut to do that.

1. Right click on the Desktop and select New -- Shortcut

2. Enter rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkstation as the shortcut

3. Call it Lock Computer and right click and choose Properties

4. Now Click on Change Icon and search through shell32.dll to set any icon you want. Remember you need a password to do this !

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Nokia has launched C-6

Your Latest Smartphone Nokia has launched C-6 in England. Now there can be bought directly from Nokia's website. Nokia's the best slider phone costs 289 pounds ie around 21 thousand rupees has been earmarked.

The phone's 3.2 inch touch screen has started captive. For best picture quality of this powerful 5 megapixel camera has been installed. Not only in C-6 Chips and such features also have been Qwerty board. The phone not only all the big social networking sites Skree feeds can also be seen.

Nokia S 60 Ssimbaan the phone operating system is used. There were speculation that company before it its own operating system 'Mimo' will use. It is expected that the company soon Utaregee in the Indian market.

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