McAfee expects rise in social network threats in 2010
Wrapping up 2009, Santa Clara-based security company McAfee has issued a warning about what 2010 may look like in terms of cybercrime with the 2010 Threat Predictions report. According to McAfee, next year evil doers will increase their activity on social networks, with Facebook, Twitter, and third-party applications related to these two services expected to see a rise in attacks. The use of shortened URLs, especially on Twitter, is seen like a great advantage by those who want to direct users around the world to malicious websites that would be infected with malware.
Banking Trojans and malware-carrying emails are also expected to rise in volume as they have proven quite effective until now. Trojans will get updates though, and will become more effective at bypassing protections set up by banks while also operating stealthier. Web applications are also set to see an increase in attacks as more and more people access them via a wide variety of platforms.
Adobe Reader and Flash will continue to be some of the favorite attack targets given their grand popularity and high install base. Unfortunately for its maker and users, the two apps are predicted to surpass Microsoft Office in terms of exploitation next year. Last but not least, McAfee mentions botnets, which are expected to adopt peer-to-peer control methods and thus become harder to take down,
Overall, 2010 is looking like yet another year of unsafe computing so be sure to stay alert, update your software quickly and be wary of mails and contact from people who you don't know. Stay safe!
Read More ...
PQI readies USB 3.0 portable HDDs and SSDs
PQI's adoption of the USB 3.0 standard will see the Taiwanese company bring to market a couple of new portable storage solutions which go by the name of S533 and H566. The H566 is a 2.5-inch hard drive coming in 320, 500 and 640GB capacities that provides read and write speeds of up to 105 MB/s and 99.9 MB/s, respectively via USB 3.0 (can be used with USB 2.0 too).
The S553 has the same form factor as the H566 but makes use of an Intel SSD and is able to reach read and write speeds of 274 MB/s and 198 MB/s, respectively. PQI's new USB 3.0 drives should become available in the coming weeks.
Read More ...
BitComet updated to version 1.17
BitComet, one of the popular BitTorrent (and HTTP and FTP) download clients, has received a new update this week and moved up to version 1.17. This latest release includes the following:
- GUI Improved: support download Magnet URI when click "Open Torrent from URL" from file menu
- GUI Improved: change "copy BC link" in context menu of task list, Torrent History and Torrent Exchange to "Copy Magnet URI"
- GUI Improved: new auto-shutdown condition: shutdown at specified time
- GUI Improved: display information of every connection to the same server in connection tab of HTTP task
- GUI Improved: add context menu to BT task file list header, to select columns to display
- GUI Improved: display the preview buttons of files in BT task file list according to each file's downloading progress
- GUI Improved: support mouse wheel in task summary
- GUI Improved: remove "Task Content" tab
- GUI Improved: highlight the row on which mouse hovers in file list, peer list and tracker list
- GUI Improved: rename "Super-Seeding" to "Initial-Seeding" in BT task properties dialog
- GUI Improved: display local-language name of every language in Tools menu, besides theirs English name
- GUI Improved: remove es_ar language due to the limit in launchpad.net, and add Uighur
- GUI Improved: rename Torrent Archive under Torrent Share to Torrent Share under Torrent Exchange, and add Torrent History in addition
- GUI Improved: display introduction page when click Torrent Exchange in left fav tree
- GUI Improved: new option in BT task page of options dialog: add to Torrent History when open .torrent file
- GUI Improved: new option in BT task page of options dialog: list of BitTorrent clients allowed connecting to
- GUI Improved: new option in Integration page of options dialog: associate with Magnet URI
- GUI Improved: option to restart program immediately when send crash report
- GUI Improved: when opening video file, use the player program configured in advanced option
- GUI Bugfix: fix many spell mistakes in GUI (thanks to greywizard)
- GUI Bugfix: cannot input Web Seed address longer than one row of the input edit-box
- Core Improve: support BitTorrent Extension Protocol of metadata exchange, compatible with BitTorrent mainline
- Core Improve: support BitTorrent Extension Protocol of report DHT port, compatible with BitTorrent mainline
- Core Bugfix: display file failed to create in task log when start new BT task in certain situation
- Core Bugfix: can not open torrent file containing multi-files, in which the name field ends with space
... and can be downloaded here.
Read More ...
Get the National Geographic archive on a portable HDD
If you can't travel the world to see its beauty you can have almost the next best thing loaded up on a portable hard drive. Yes, we're talking about the National Geographic collection - 120 years worth of content, provided in digital form on a 160GB USB-connected hard drive available for purchase from the NG Store.
Leaving 100GB for the user's storage needs, the portable drive contains all the National Geographic magazines scanned in high resolution, offering quick access to articles, photos and maps which would keep you contemplating for hours.
The HDD costs $200 and is up for grabs here.
Read More ...
Psystar to start selling Linux-loaded systems
Since its Mac-cloning days are over, Psystar has to rethink its strategy and come up with new products to provide it with a steady revenue stream. While it's still waiting to get the Rebel EFI software 'approved' for distribution in court, the company has announced that it will begin to sell PCs that are pre-installed with "your choice of Linux operating system."
The Linux-powered system's will utilize Psystar-chosen components and will have configurations that ensure they are compatible with Mac OS X. It seems Psystar still hopes to make a living off Apple's own platform despite losing to the Cupertino company in court. We're not the ones to shatter dreams so we await Psystar's Linux PCs as they may be interesting offers, even without the prospect of running Mac OS X on them.
Read More ...
Huntkey announces the X7 900W power supply
Following a hopefully thorough investigation, the Huntkey Enterprise Group has concluded that 900W is the "most useful and suitable" wattage for a power supply used by gamers and enthusiasts. As a result, the company has constructed the X7, a 900W modular PSU that puts the emphasis on four things - efficiency, enhanced performance, effectiveness and environmental friendliness.
The new unit comes with features like the interleaved PFC and phase-shifted full-bridge, which enable it to have a high efficiency (it's 80Plus Silver certified), is ATX12V V2.3 and EPS12V V2.92 compliant, has five 12V (18A) rails, SLI and CrossFireX support, a silent, thermal-controlled fan, and boasts a MTBF of 100,000 hours.
The X7 900's price tag or retail date have not been announced unfortunately.
Read More ...
Apple grabs 10% of US mouse market in November
NPD Group data seen by AppleInsider paint a nice picture for Steve Jobs and his team who managed in November to secure just over 10% of the US mouse market. This double-digit share, which is a first for Apple, was possible thanks to great standalone sales of the Magic Mouse, the touch-enables, button-less rodent released in October.
The record share solidifies Apple's third place in the US but continues to keep it way behind Logitech and Microsoft, the companies holding the first and second places, respectively. Apple's shiny dust was swallowed by HP and Targus in November, and things are unlikely to change in December.
The wireless Magic Mouse is available for purchase via here at $69.
Read More ...
A-Data N002 flash drive packs both SATA and USB 3.0 connectors
A-Data Technology has now revealed the N002, a flash-based storage solution (read solid state drive) that offers two connection options - SATA 3.0 Gbps and USB 3.0 (5 Gbps). The new drive comes in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities, has an aluminum shell and makes use of a 8-channel architecture which enables it to deliver read and write speeds of up to 200 MB/s and 170 MB/s, respectively.
A-Data's N002 line will go on sale next month but it's pricing scheme has not been revealed. Luckily, we can wait, right?
Read More ...
China Unicorn's iPhone sales pass 300,000 units
China's second-largest mobile phone carrier, China Unicorn, is reported to have seen its sales of Apple iPhones reach 300,000 units at the end of last week. The exclusive (official) supplier of iPhones in China needed 40 days to pass the 100,000 mark but shipped the next 200,000 in less than 20 days. To boost sales China Unicorn kicked off a 46-city promotion campaign so the iPhone numbers should continue to grow quite nicely in the future.
In addition to selling 300,000 iPhones, China Unicorn has topped 3 million 3G customers, which isn't much given its 120+ million customer base, but it still is a milestone. And we love milestones, but that's another story.
Read More ...
Google Nexus One pricing schemes exposed
The badly-kept secret of the Nexus One/Google Phone, got even worse as even the pricing plans for the smartphone have been exposed. Google will probably wait until January 5th to make everything official but, according to the leaks, the Nexus One will be sold unlocked, without a contract for $529.99, and with a two-year ($79.99/month) T-Mobile plan for $179.99. Those who want to customize their purchase will be able to engrave it with a few words.
Ordering the Android 2.1-running Nexus One will require a Google Checkout account, customers being limited to buying five phones per account. All this and more as of next week so for now enjoy the New Year celebrations. What? It's not the 31st yet?
Read More ...
No comments:
Post a Comment