INTANT PR-7 -BUG-

News is around the net that you can make an instant PR7 website without any backlinks or visitors. Is this true? Yes but it is a Bug!!

It is true I have tried it out and it did show PR7 the instance the site with subdomain name as hyves was created. I had created a website as hyves..com and this site did show as PR7 at PR Checker.

So beware of users selling the domain/sub domains with this name as PR7. Even though it shows as PR7 it is just a bug from google which will surely be rectified soon. Also this PR7 is not going to get you any visitors or backlinks.

To check the actual PR, I recommend checking your PR at CheckPageRank Net. This will clearly tell you that anything with hyves sub domain actually points to social networking site www.hyves.nl because of some bug. Also it does clearly indicates “Pagerank seems to be forged”.

CES: Adamo, awesome lappy from DELL

Dell got things rolling this morning with an announcement on the software distribution side. Where Dell.com recently began offering music and movies, there will now be downloadable software as well. Next up was a subsidized netbook partnership with AT&T similar to the one the company announced with Vodafone in September. The next announcement was where things began to pick up steam. Adding to Dell’s Mini line of netbooks, the company unveiled the Atom Z530-powered Inspiron Mini 10 this morning. Their “perfect 10″ netbook offers a 16:9 720p HD display, a full edge-to-edge keyboard, a built-in TV tuner, built-in mobile broadband connectivity, GPS, 802.11n, a multi-touch and gesture touchpad, and design studio customizability.

Aesthetics was an important theme in today’s Dell gathering, with the hallways lined by artists’ design studio laptop shell creations, and Kidrobot artist Tristan Eaton putting his trademark designs on Dell products in the background. Dell is drawing a sharp line between performance and design in its product line, the company’s peak performers fall under the Alienware line, and the peak examples of design will come under the new Adamo line. The product which had various accessory leaks happen several months ago has caused a great deal of speculation among fans of the company. Today, a production model of Adamo was shown off, ever so briefly, ever so distantly, and with no information regarding specs. We do know that there is both a black model and a white model.

Source: Betanews, AP

Google Is Generous To Its Employees....check this out

While the G1 is a nice handset - and a free one isn't to be sniffed at - you can't help but think that any Google employee that wanted one would already own a unit.

With the credit crunch still making things tough for companies the world over, many corporations are looking to cut back on traditional Xmas bonuses – and Google thinks it's on to a cost-reducing winner.

According to CNet, the company has ditched the traditional holiday bonus payments in favour of giving staffers a free Android-based G1 smartphone. While the handset is a developer version – i.e. unlocked and not tied to a particular network – there are rules attached to the gift.

Gizmodo has got its hands on a list of questions and answers the company is including with the free G1 announcement, and it's interesting to see the number of limitations on the 'free' handset. One such question, which asks “what happens to my holiday bonus [if] I already have an Android phone” is answered with a strict warning that the handsets are “a personal gift [...] please do not resell them as this is against Google policy.” Which – you'll notice – doesn't actually answer the question: the answer being, of course, “you don't get a holiday bonus, bucko.”

The handsets will be provided to around 85 percent of the company's staff worldwide, with employees in nations unable to receive the G1 getting a more traditional cash gift instead.

While the move is clearly an effort to reduce costs at a difficult time, communications from Google to recipients explain that it also represents an opportunity to “dogfood a product” - in other words, to get all staff using the handsets in order to increase consumer awareness and encourage suggestions and improvements from employees. Whether the suggestions will take the form of “give us the cash instead” remains to be seen.

Hackers already exploiting Sony’s PlayStation Home

Already suffering through complaints of user boredom, disappointing content and outdated presentation, the PlayStation 3’s much-delayed virtual world Home has now fallen into the cross hairs of the online hacker community. More pointedly, exploits uncovered within Home’s software coding have enabled opportunistic hackers to customise the apparently bland virtual world so that it includes interactive elements not officially included by creator Sony Computer Entertainment. Specifically, one such hack allows users to watch their own movies on display screens located within the expansive three-dimensional world. It also allows for the implementation of text and music-based changes to fit the user’s personal taste, reports The Telegraph.

Not so playfully inoffensive in its delivery, another hack sees users able to download private files from the PlayStation Home servers, which includes having access to the profiles and in-world avatar representations of other users. Beyond the potentially harmless content applications associated with the security crack, the unexpected intrusion is being seen as somewhat of a worry in that it enables those ‘in-the-know’ to upload files to the Home server and also delete any files held therein. Industry concerns are now suggesting the PlayStation Home vulnerability could be utilised by cyber criminals to execute malware attacks that capable of culminating in the virtual world being forced offline completely.

Source: Tech Herald

Yahoo adjusts data retention time

In an attempt to bolster trust with its users, Yahoo has revamped its global data retention policy, promising to anonymise user log data within 90 days, half the period stipulated by the EU. The company added that the new policy will apply to page views, page clicks, ad views and ad clicks as well as search log data, but also said that there would be exceptions when forced to keep the information for fraud, security or legal reasons. Recently Microsoft announced that it would fall in line with EU regulation and reduce the retention time of search information to just six months, while Google still holds on to the data for nine months. According to Yahoo, the move follows a comprehensive review of its data practices across the globe working with privacy and data governance teams to examine the data needs for global products and services.

The company reckons the new limit will still allow it to provide the same level of service to users and advertisers while maintaining the ability to fight fraud, secure systems, and meet legal obligations. “This policy represents Yahoo’s assessment of the minimum amount of time we need to retain data in order to respond to the needs of our business while deepening our trusted relationship with users,” added Toth. However, there are a few provisos added to this new policy. In the case of potential fraud and system security issues, Yahoo will retain system specific data in identifiable form for no more than six months, and the search engine admits it may have to retain some data for longer periods to meet other legal obligations.

Source: Vnunet

Opera 10 Alpha 1 now available

Opera has long been the pioneer of the browser world; many of the features that we take for granted in Firefox, IE and Safari actually began life in Opera. The browser also tends to have the best web standards support around, and the latest alpha preview of Opera 10 is no exception. Although the new Opera 10 is an alpha preview, and not recommended for anything more than testing, its noteworthy for being the first release to grab a perfect score on the ACID 3 browser stress test. The ACID tests are designed to push a browser’s limits when it comes to rendering web pages. The idea is that if browsers can render the ACID test pages, then they should be able to handle just about anything on the web.

Although the ACID 3 test has been around for some time, Opera 10 is the first release to pass it. Apple’s Safari browser, which was the first to pass the ACID 2 test, also passes ACID 3, but only using the developer nightly builds. Of course cutting edge web standards support isn’t the only thing coming in Opera 10. The first alpha also packs in revamped and much faster rendering engine, on-the-fly spell checking for text fields, support for HTML messages in Opera Mail, and an auto-update feature to force browser updates. We don’t recommend rushing out and downloading Opera 10 in its current alpha state, but the preview release is good news for Opera fans. So far Opera has not announced a time line for the final release of Opera 10.

Source: Wired

Facebook infected with Koobface virus-PPI

Attention new viewers: those 5000 “friends” you have on Facebook? They might not actually be your friends. In fact, some of them might be scammers trying to infect your computer with a new virus dubbed “Koobface”. Koobface, which already made the rounds on MySpace, is now worming its way through Facebook. The Koobface virus uses Facebook’s private messaging system to infect computers via a shared video. Unsuspecting users will see a video link (shared by an infected friend) with the message, “You look just awesome in this new movie.” Click the link will lead you to an outside site where you’re told that you need to download a Flash update, which is actually a virus file. Once the virus is installed, it will try to grab sensitive data off your PC, like credit card numbers.

In a way this a very old virus; it operates much like mass-mailing worms that used to infest Usenet and e-mail lists. But it’s proving an effective tactic on social networks where private messages from friends seem more trustworthy than traditional e-mail, which even the most neophyte web users have come to distrust. With its some 120 million users, Facebook is not only a potentially lucrative target, but it’s well into the mainstream, which means more gullible, less internet-savvy users for virus creators to prey on. The virus watchdog blog for McAfee labs reports that Facebook is aware of the Koobface attack and is already working to remove the spammed links from its system. But with dozens of Koobface variants known to exist, McAfee warns that “the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better.” Should your PC be infected the Koobface worm, the Facebook security blog suggests resetting your password and running updated anti-virus software to purge the worm from your system.

Source: Wired

Botnets revived, spam back to prior level

Spam levels could take an upwards spike after researchers detected a malicious network of computers designed to push out junk mail and malware was brought back to life Tuesday. The Srizbi botnet, comprising more than half a million PCs, was deemed responsible for approximately 40 to 50 percent of the world’s spam. Up until recently, security experts believe that Srizbi was completely defunct after botnet was knocked offline two weeks ago as part of a collaborative effort within the security community. Now that Szribi is partially revived, it is anticipated to spew out malicious content at alarming rates, experts say.

According to MessageLabs, now part of Symantec, the spike in spam levels was only at 37 percent of what they were before Internet Service Provider McColo was disconnected from upstream provider Hurricane Electric, who disassociated with the provider because of its connection to some of the world’s largest malicious botnets. McColo’s shut down came shortly after the release of a scathing report by a group of notable security researchers and vendors lambasting McColo for hosting numerous Web sites known to cater to child pornography and malware. Spam levels experienced a sharp drop — anywhere from 60 to 80 percent– in the weeks following McColo’s takedown. However experts say that spam levels are steadily returning to “normal” levels, rising to two thirds of what they were before the McColo shut down as the spammer reconnected with other providers.

Source: CRN

Russian hackers infiltrated into Pentagon systems

Computer hackers suspected of working from Russia successfully penetrated Pentagon computer systems in one of the most severe cyber attacks on US military networks. The electronic attack was so serious that Adm Michael Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, briefed President George W Bush and Robert Gates, the defence secretary. Defence officials told the Los Angeles Times that the attack struck computers within the US Central Command, which oversees Iraq and Afghanistan, and involved malicious software - known as “malware” - that permeates a network. “This one was significant, this one got our attention,” said an official, speaking anonymously.

Officials did not disclose the extent of the damage and would not elaborate on the reasons for believing the assault originated in Russia. The Pentagon and other US government departments face repeated cyber attacks, especially from Russia and China, either from individuals or indirectly from those countries’ governments. Within the past 18 months Russia has been accused of orchestrating major electronic attacks on neighbours Estonia and Georgia.

Source: Telegraph

Negotiations: The Beatles finally on iTunes?

Apple’s iTunes Music Store has come to be the biggest seller of music in the digital age with many of the most popular and influential bands offering their tracks and albums. There are still some notable holdouts that aren’t on the iTunes store including The Beatles. Negotiations have been ongoing to get The Beatles music on iTunes with some of the issues revolving around a legal battle between Apple Inc. (the company behind the Mac and the iTunes store) and Apple Corp. (the holding company that The Beatles set up to manage their music catalog). In February of 2007, the two companies set aside their legal issues and were moving forward with negotiations to bring Beatles music to the iTunes store. Sir Paul McCartney, one of the surviving members of the band, has now come out and said that negotiations to add The Beatles to iTunes have stalled.

McCartney told BBC News, “We’d like to do it. We are very for it, we’ve been pushing it. But there are a couple of sticking points, I understand.” EMI was the label behind The Beatles during the bands heyday and owns the tracks. However, the label needs the permission of Apple Corp. to release the band’s music in new formats. A spokesperson from EMI said, “We have been working hard to secure agreement with Apple Corps to make the Beatles’ legendary recording catalogue available to fans in digital form. Unfortunately the various parties involved have been unable to reach agreement but we really hope everyone can make progress soon.” McCartney didn’t comment specifically on what exactly EMI wanted Apple Corp. to agree too that it wasn’t willing to offer. In these sorts of negotiations, the sticking points typically revolve around money.

Source: DailyTech

Microsoft studies cyberchondria

Microsoft's research might lead to a HealthVault that not only stores your medical information but diagnoses you as well.

A study undertaken by Microsoft has revealed a dark side of browsing for medical information on the web: the snappily-titled 'cyberchondria'.

The survey, which the New York Times highlights as covering “health-related Web searches on popular search engines as well as a survey of the company's employees,” seems to have uncovered evidence of a widespread digital analogue (if there can be such a thing) to medical students' disease – the condition by which an overworked medical student will frequently consider him or herself to be suffering from the very maladies currently being studied.

Study leader, AI researcher at Microsoft Eric Horvitz, says that the problem comes from people treating a search engine as if it were capable of answering a question rather than just providing keyword-driven links to information. “People tend to look at just the first couple [of] results, [and] if they find 'brain tumor' [sic] or 'A.L.S.', that's their launching point.”

An example of the issues this can cause for the cyberchondriac is in the example of searching for information on a recurrent headache: as many links are given describing the symptoms of a brain tumour as are given for the rather more likely case of caffeine withdrawal.

Estimating that around two percent of all queries to search engines are in some way health related, the study showed around a quarter of the one million individuals monitored searching for medical information during the sample period. A third of those went to to explore information regarding serious illnesses relating to their original search.

While Horvitz's message is clear – don't worry yourself into an early grave based on what the web might think you have, and consult someone with a medical qualification if you're unsure – the main outcome of the upcoming study of the results gathered will be for Microsoft to create a more expert-like search engine capable of giving 'answers' to queries of this nature rather than just blind links. Whether such a service would be of interest to those convinced they're suffering from some incredibly rare malady is something that Microsoft will have to think long and hard about.

Hackers misuse Obama’s victory with malware

President-elect Barack Obama is already targeted as the subject of a malicious malware campaign designed to steal information from infected computers. Following Obama’s presidential victory Tuesday, malware authors were quick to create a Trojan exploiting the high volumes of Web traffic surrounding Obama, security experts said. And so far, researchers say that spam capitalizing on Obama’s victory has experienced a sharp upward spike, comprising about 60 percent of all spam messages in what has become a globalized attack. “The hackers are taking advantage of Obama-mania,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for SophosLabs. “So many people have been excited or interested in (the election), that they might be susceptible to it.”

Specifically, malware authors are exploiting users’ post-election curiosity with an e-mail purporting to offer news of Obama’s victory. The legitimate-looking message then offers the viewer a link, allegedly of a video featuring Obama’s acceptance speech. However, in order to view the clip, users are advised to click on a link that will allegedly download the latest version of Adobe Flash player. Once users open the link, a Web site actually links to a file called adobe_flash_exe, a malicious Trojan downloader designed to distribute information-stealing software on unsuspecting victims’ computers. Upon execution, the compromised machine receives a RootKit that sends the user’s personal data to numerous command and control centers. Researchers at Web security company Websense said in a blog that they have seen at least 25,000 e-mails through the systems using that particular technique, which, in addition to distributing data-stealing malware, also incorporates the victim’s computer into a botnet, a network of computers programmed to perpetuate spam campaigns.

Source: CRN

Netflix made a streaming deal with Samsung

Netflix Inc. has reached an agreement with Samsung Electronics Co. to bring movies from the Internet to television sets through Samsung electronics devices, including new products that also play movies in the high-definition Blu-ray format. The deal is the latest in a series of efforts by Netflix, the Los Gatos, Calif., company that pioneered DVD rentals delivered by mail, to position itself for a future in which movies are delivered entirely over the Internet. Samsung, the big Korean electronics manufacturer, will allow users of two new $400 products, the BD-P2500 and BD-P2550 Blu-ray disc players, to access video through a Netflix Internet video service that currently offers more than 12,000 movies, television shows and other titles.

The Samsung products are already on sale, though early users of the products will have to connect them to the Internet to download new software that makes them compatible with Netflix’s service. Future versions will have Netflix access built in. Terms of the relationship between the two companies weren’t disclosed. Netflix has already struck deals to offer its Internet video service on devices that include a Blu-ray disc player by LG Electronics Inc., the Xbox 360 videogame console by Microsoft Corp. and a set-top box manufactured by a startup Roku Inc.

Source: WSJ

Worm Gimmiv quickly spreading after MS patches

One day after Microsoft issued a rare emergency Windows security patch, the bad guys have a few new ways to take advantage of the bug. By Friday, security researchers had identified a new worm, called Gimmiv, which exploited the vulnerability, and a hacker had posted an early sample of code that could be used to exploit the flaw on the Web. Microsoft issued the patch more than two weeks ahead of its next security updates because the bug could be used to create an Internet worm attack and Microsoft had already seen a small number of attacks that exploited the flaw. This vulnerability lies in the Windows Server service used to connect with other devices on networks.

Although the firewall software that ships with Windows will block the worm from spreading, security experts are worried that the flaw could be used to spread infections between machines on a local area network, which are not typically protected by firewalls. And that’s exactly what the Gimmiv worm is designed to do, according to Ben Greenbaum, a senior research manager with Symantec. The worm then loads software that steals passwords, security experts say. Both Symantec and McAfee said Friday that they had seen only a very small number of attacks based on this exploit, but Symantec says that, starting Thursday evening, they found a 25 percent jump in network scans looking for potentially vulnerable machines. That could be a sign that more attacks are coming.

Source: NY Times

ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE 4 MASTER COLLECTON - Out In Warez Sites

Description: Create visually rich, engaging content for virtually any media — print, web, interactive, video, audio, and mobile — using the tightly integrated tools and services in Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection software.

Features:
- Express yourself richly in virtually any medium
- Simplify workflows for greater efficiency
- Exchange information, ideas, and feedback more easily

Release Name: ADOBE.CREATIVE.SUITE.4.MASTER.COLLECTON.DD.MULTILANGUAGE-ISO
Filename: -
Size: 5.9 GB
OS: WinAll

Hacker faces 10 years for taking down Scientology

An 18-year-old New Jersey man will plead guilty to the January online attacks that took down the Church of Scientology’s Web site, federal prosecutors said Friday. Dmitriy Guzner of Verona, New Jersey, was part of an underground hacking group called Anonymous that has made the church a target of several attacks. He was charged Friday but has agreed to plead guilty sometime in the next few weeks, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. He faces 10 years in prison on computer hacking charges.

The attacks began Jan. 19 and managed to knock the Scientology.org Web site offline by hitting it with several bursts of unwanted Internet traffic. The attack, known as a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack, flooded the site with as much as 220M bps of traffic, according to computer security firm Arbor Networks. That’s considered to be a decent-sized DDOS attack and was enough to disable the Web site temporarily. Anonymous quickly followed its attacks with a series of YouTube videos, claiming its actions were a response to what it said were efforts by the Church to suppress a video of movie star Tom Cruise professing his admiration for the religion.

Source: PC World

Study: Hi-Technology Keeps Families Together

Technology is helping families stay in touch like never before, says a report. Instead of driving people apart, mobile phones and the net are helping them maintain social ties, says the Pew Internet report. Families are also among the keenest users of technology, the survey of 2,252 Americans revealed. It found that using the net was often a social activity within families, with 51% of parents saying they browsed the web with their children. The research looked at the differences in technology use between families with children and single adults, couples without children and adults who share a home but are not related. It found that traditional so-called “nuclear” families were more likely to have more hi-tech gadgetry in their home than almost any other group it measured.

Multiple mobile phones were found in 89% of nuclear families and 66% had a high-speed net connection. The US national average for broadband is 52%. It also found that 58% of this type of family were likely to have more than two computers in the home. Many people use their mobile phone to keep in touch and maintain social ties with parents, siblings and children. Seventy percent of couples who both own a mobile use it every day to chat or say hello. In addition, it found, 42% of parents contact their children via their mobile every day. This led to 53% of those questioned saying that new technologies had increased the quality of their contact with distant family members, while 47% said it improved interaction with those they live with.

Source: BBC

Major internet spam organization busted

The Federal Trade Commission won a preliminary legal victory against what it called one of the largest spam gangs on the Internet, persuading a federal court in Chicago on Tuesday to freeze the group’s assets and order the spam network to shut down. The group, which used several names but was known among spam-fighting organizations as HerbalKing, sent billions of unsolicited messages to Internet users over the last 20 months, promoting replica watches and a variety of pharmaceuticals, including weight-loss drugs and herbal pills that supposedly enhanced the male anatomy, according to the commission. To pepper Internet users with its solicitations, the HerbalKing group used a botnet, a global network of computers infected with malicious software, often without the knowledge of their owners.

The security firm Marshal Software, which assisted the F.T.C. with the investigation, estimated in court documents that the group’s Mega-D botnet — named after one of its pill products — was made up of 35,000 computers and could send 10 billion e-mail messages a day. In January, the botnet was the leading source of spam on the Internet, the firm estimated. F.T.C. investigators also said they monitored the group’s finances closely and that it cleared $400,000 in Visa charges in one month alone. The commission has brought more than 100 cases against spammers and spyware vendors over the past decade. But officials and investigators said this spam operation was perhaps the most extensive they had ever encountered, with ties to Australia, New Zealand, India, China and the United States.

Source: NY Times

Study: Internet usage helps your brain

For middle-aged and older people at least, using the internet helps boost brain power, research suggests. A University of California Los Angeles team found searching the web stimulated centres in the brain that controlled decision-making and complex reasoning. The researchers say this might even help to counteract the age-related physiological changes that cause the brain to slow down. As the brain ages, a number of changes occur, including shrinkage and reductions in cell activity, which can affect performance. It has long been thought that activities which keep the brain active, such as crossword puzzles, may help minimise that impact - and the latest study suggests that surfing the web can be added to the list.

Each volunteer underwent a brain scan while performing web searches and book-reading tasks. Both types of task produced evidence of significant activity in regions of the brain controlling language, reading, memory and visual abilities. However, the web search task produced significant additional activity in separate areas of the brain which control decision-making and complex reasoning - but only in those who were experienced web users. The researchers said that, compared to simple reading, the internet’s wealth of choices required people to make decisions about what to click on in order to get the relevant information. Now you have a great reason to waste even more time browsing online!

Source: BBC

Woman convicted of p2p crimes given new trial

A Minnesota woman who had been convicted of violating copyright laws by downloading music files has been granted a new trial, after the judge said he made an error in his jury instructions that may have prejudiced the outcome. U.S. District Judge Michael Davis on Wednesday granted Jammie Thomas’ motion for a new trial in the case, brought by the Recording Industry Association of America that alleged she illegally downloaded copywritten material off the peer to peer site Kazaa. Additionally, the judge urged Congress to redefine the definition of peer-to-peer piracy and prevent exorbitant fines to be levied against other defendants in similar situations, according to his ruling.

Thomas was initially found guilty of downloading 24 songs and ordered her ordered to pay $222,000 to six record companies. That equates to $9,250 per downloaded song. With the order of the new trial, Davis declined to rule on the fine, instead deferring that decision to the next round of litigation. Davis’s declared the mistrial because he said he believes he misled the jury in the initial court case when he told the jury that sharing music was the same as distributing it.

Source: CRN