$250,000 Reward for Conficker Author

$250,000 Reward for Conficker Author

Author JoeDigital | 15.02.2009 | Category IT Security, Windows, world news

Microsoft has pulled out the big bucks and announced a 250 thousand dollar reward for the person or persons who can lead international authorities to the arrest and conviction of the authors of the infamous Conficker (Downadaup) worm. The worm which is known to affect all versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system has even migrated over to the new Windows 7, as well as infiltrating Windows Vista Service Pak 1 and WIndows XP Service Pack 3.

Conficker was initially spread by exploiting a Critical vulnerability in Windows Server Service. Since that was patched in October 2008, the malicious code has continued to evolve, with two current versions, Conficker.A and Conficker.B, which use additional attack vectors including unprotected network shares and portable media’s AutoPlay feature.

“As part of Microsoft’s ongoing security efforts, we constantly look for ways to use a diverse set of tools and develop methodologies to protect our customers,” explained George Stathakopoulos, general manager of the Trustworthy Computing Group at Microsoft. “By combining our expertise with that of the broader community we can expand the boundaries of defense to better protect people worldwide.”

Currently, the best clue to origin of the Confiker worm is that the virus does not affect computers using the Ukranian keyboard layout, which has led many investigators to conclude that its author may have ties to the Ukraine. Microsoft, which considers the virus to be a crimminal attack, has guarantted to pay the reward in any country where it can be accepted, but stipulates that an arrest and conviction must be obtained for the reward to be payable.
Microsoft is not alone in this quest, either. It is but one of a consortium of companies which include ICANN, NeuStar, VeriSign, CNNIC, Afilias, Public Internet Registry, Global Domains International Inc., M1D Global, AOL, Symantec, F-Secure, ISC, researchers from Georgia Tech, the Shadowserver Foundation, Arbor Networks and Support Intelligence.

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Samusng Post First Quarterly Loss

Author JoeDigital | 24.01.2009 | Category Consumer Electronics, Technology Viewpoint, world news

Samsung Electronics, the South Korea-based electronics giant, posted the first quarterly loss in its history on Friday. In large part, the loss was due to decreased memory chip and display units sales, which have dropped dramatically during the global economic slump.

The posted loss, through December 31st, 2008, was 14.4 million dollars, a sharp contrast to the 2.2 trillion profit posted only a year earlier. Samsung is not alone in taking losses, either, with Sony Corp. reporting their first annual loss in 14 years on Thursday.

LG Electronics reported a record loss, and Panasonic Corporation has announced shutting unprofitable aspects of their business, and reducing planned 2009 investments by 1.5 billion dollars. This cut is primarily the cancellation of two nw flat-screen TV plants that had been intended.

Business all over the world are feeling the crunch of tougher economic times, but perhaps none more so than the electronics sector, which has long based growth on continuous competitive developments in technology. One consequence of smaller budgets will be less investment into research, which means a complete slow down of the entire technology development process.

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The Windows 7 Inconvenient Truth

Author JoeDigital | 13.01.2009 | Category Computers, world news

If you have been following any of the recent Windows 7 news, you are aware that the Windows 7 Beta is available for download to anyone, through the 24th of January. But the question one must ask is this: is Windows 7 going to be a significant improvement over earlier versions of Windows? And this, of course, can be followed up with more subtle questions, like Is it going to be stable? and Is Windows 7 more secure?

Here’s a quote from one review:
“Let’s just cut to the chase here: Windows 7 is built on top of Windows Vista. It doesn’t roll back the major changes that Vista made; it doesn’t reduce system requirements (for example, it still needs Direct3D graphics and 1 GB RAM to be worthwhile), it doesn’t undo security decisions like UAC, and, except for specific scenarios like booting, it doesn’t really perform significantly better.
However, Windows 7 shouldn’t make anything any worse.”

Okay, so you are being asked to purchase an operating system that doesn’t make anything better, but at least it doesn’t complicate the existing flaws. This kind of marketing forces one to recall the endless string of updates and security patches that has always surrounded XP.

Interestingly, the Windows 7 browser, IE8, is still unstable, and will be along a little later. This has always been the case with Microsoft web browsers, and is generally a good indication that they have not yet copied the competitor’s code. ‘Rather sad, considering nost of Microsoft’s competitors these days are Open Source projects’, I heard someone say.

The screenshots we’ve seen for WIndows 7 look really nice, but considering the security lapses and patches we’ve seen for full releases, installing a beta copy seems to be taking some very large risks.

If you’d like, try the Windows 7 Beta for yourself, and let us know what your reactions were.

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Nanotechnology device Allows Precise Drug Timing

Author JoeDigital | 09.01.2009 | Category Science, Technology, world news

Researchers at MIT have managed to use nanotechnology to accurately time the release of drugs within a body. Before you get a picture in your head of super-tiny robots running around spraying drugs, let me point out that nanoparticles and nanorobots are two entirely different things. The concept is really a simple one: different particles melt when exposed to different levels of infrared light.

This method of administering medication has an advantage over traditional methods, because it allows the chemical to be placed directly at the site where it is needed, rather than infusing the entire circulatory system. This means that particularly lethal medications can be pinpointed to the tumors they are intended to affect, without damaging the tissue around it.

The way it works is that a particular drug is covered in a nanoparticle, sometimes of gold, and then administering using traditional methods. Once the drug has arrived at the site where it is needed, and then the nanoparticle is melted using mnear-infrared light, releasing the drugs exactly where it can do the most good. This process will even allow multiple drugs to be given in one dosage, and then activated at the required time individually.

By using nanoparticles that melt at different wavelengths, it vbecomes possible to adminiter sever drugs at once, and then activate them when the time is right to do so. “Just by controlling the infrared wavelength, we can choose the release time,” said Andy Wijaya, the report’s lead author.

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Pole Climbing Robotic Rescue Worker

Author JoeDigital | 01.01.2009 | Category Robotics, world news

Critical Inspections are one of many recognized uses for the HyDRAS robotic Climber

The Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) of the College of Engineering from Virginia Tech won the grand prize at the 2008 International Capstone Design Fair, recently. Their entry was a robotic device intended to be used for rescue and other high risk missions that involve vertical climbing. Little more than a set of computerized wheels, the device is able to wrap itself around a pole or other vertical object, cling to it, and manuver upwards.

Inspecting high rise buildings, or the pilings under bridges are other potential uses for the HyDRAS, which is approximately 1 meter (3 feet) long, and employs computers and cameras both for navigation and for inspection on arrival at a work location when in use. These pole climbing rescue workers could be used for shuttling equipment and information, as well as other tasks that would endanger additional lives.

Another contender in the competition was the CIRCA, which was similar, but employed compressed air for movement and actuation, as opposed to the electrical methods used with HyDRAS. Both showed enormous potential, and may soon be saving lives and preventing human endangerment in hazardous locations worldwide.

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Don’t “;-)” at Me!

Author JoeDigital | 18.12.2008 | Category World Wide Web, world news

A russian entrepreneur has announced that he has trademarked the “wink” emoticon, and claims to have been the first to put it into use. But if you like to wink a lot when you send texts or email, don’t fret. This generous genius of “net speak” allows that non-commercial use will still be allowed, free of charge or license. Well now, isn’t that just great!

Corporations who use this emoticon, which is perhaps one of the best known character “faces” used in internet dommunications, will have to pay a yearly licensing free of approximately $10,000. Well, it is pretty easy to see how he justifies calling himself an entrepreneur, but foresee a long and expensive battle to secure such a widely used symbol. This is especially true when you consider that one of the definitions of a trademark is a symbol, word, or phrase which is used to represent a company or idea.

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Cool Earth Solar’s Party Plan

Author JoeDigital | 16.12.2008 | Category Science, Technology, world news

It look’s like a giant party balloon but like many things in life, looks can be deceiving. The big shiny balloons aren’t for a party though the company has reason to celebrate.

The huge balloons set to go up near the national library of Livermore are the main component in Cool Earth Solar’s efforts to economize solar power. The objects described by Rob Lamkin Chief exectutive at Cool Earth Solar as “an inflated solar concentrator that’s made of thin-film plastic.” The basic theory being that concentrated sunlight produces more power than conventional sunlight.

The device which measures 8 feet in diameter comprises of one reflective and one clear side focuses sunlight 500 times its usual intensity onto a solar cell placed inside the balloon. This along with a tracking and cooling system is the heart of the entire operation. These balloons are then attached onto poles or on a grid.

The balloons which are made from same packing material used in Lays and Powerbar. This frugal approach towards materials used is helping the company achieve power generation on a very economical scale. With each balloon producing 1 Killowatt of power the company aims to deliver power at 1$ per watt.

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The Firm With The Golden Phone!

Author JoeDigital | 14.12.2008 | Category Consumer Electronics, world news

Image source: gsmarena.com

or those who thought that Vertu hand sets were a tad understated, worry no more. The Vertu Boucheron 150 is here to satisfy you completely.

Designed and crafted by French jewelry makers Boucheron, celebrating their 150^th anniversary, have crafted a single edition Vertu Boucheron 150, which pushes opulence to a new high. Boucheron has designed a phone for Vertu before, a signature line which was made with gold and precious stones.

This time though, the use of gold has been taken to a whole new level, the entire phone is sculpted from a piece of solid gold which took about 1000 hours to cut into shape another 500 to craft and then at least 700 to polish by hand.

The only question is that in this economy, who will be brave enough to make a call?

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Stolen Identities for sale: $120

Author JoeDigital | 26.11.2008 | Category World Wide Web, world news

If you’re thinking that fraudulent online surfers spend lots and lots of money to find some other innocent person’s identity to use to his advantage, you might want to think again. Today, it’s easy to grab somebody’s identity online for as low as $120. This isn’t really much when you think that you will unlawfully be losing all your money, security and credibility the moment people will be making of your account for their own benefit.

What’s worse is that this “competitive” fraud price actually reaps more than thousands of dollars for the source, which means easy jobs for them – all at the very convenient expense of others.

This is a remember: be wary of your internet security, especially if you highly depend on it for matters such as banking and other transactions that risk being the target of online thieves. Always protect yourself from spyware as well as keep your accounts and passwords secure. When in doubt, increase security.

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USB gets “super speed”

Author JoeDigital | 25.11.2008 | Category Technology, world news

USB 3.0 is finalized - finally

A new breed of USB is coming to town at the later part of this coming 2009, and it seems to have as much as 4.8 Gbs per second in data transfer power. Known as the “Super-speed”, the USB 3.0 is expected to function up to ten times much faster than its 2.0 predecessor which was known to be power efficient.

This new technology in portable and mobile drives was said to have the purpose of answering to the growing need of users to quickly transfer massive amounts of large files from computer to computer. So whether the user is a tech enthusiast or the average user who needs to transfer videos or music every now and then, the USB 3.0 will prove useful for the vast consuming public.

USB 3.0 is also said to still be compatible with 2.0 stuff as long as it deals with a Type A connector. But more importantly, the first thing that everyone should look out for is this gadgets promised speed.

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