Apple go cheap with new iMac

Since Apple gave the world a ‘cheap’ phone, they’ve convinced themselves that they can go ‘cheap’ across the board. Of course, Apple’s version of cheap isn’t the same as anyone else’s.

They’ve added an iMac to their product line which will cost you £899 ($1,099), which is cheaper than the rest of their offerings, but not exactly something you could buy on a whim once the direct debits have come out of your account at the start of the month.

So what’s under the hood?

Apple say that it’ll have a 21.5-inch display with 1.4GHz dual-core Core i5, a 500GB hard drive, and Intel HD Graphics 5000 hardware. It’ll have 802.11ac WiFi and Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 ports, but, with 8GB of RAM soldered hard to the motherboard, you won’t be able to beef it up. There’s pictures of that here.





This is something of a turnaround for Apple.

Once upon a time, Steve Jobs said that they wouldn’t go cheap(er) because ”we don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk.” Of course, this isn’t a $500 computer, but apply some inflation and it’s as good as.

Fancy one, or is it worth just saving up for a proper one?

 source: bitterwallet.com

Twitter’s Vine expands video on Web

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter’s video service Vine announced Friday it was expanding its presence on the Web, giving users the option of watching full-screen clips on their personal computers.

The new service allows members to watch sequences of videos and use a full computer screen for viewing.

While Vine began as a mobile app for sharing short videos from smartphones, the new service gives more options to PC users.

Twitter bought the small team at Vine, a startup based in New York, in October 2012, prompting talk the messaging service intended to do for smartphone video what Instagram did for pictures.

“Today, we’re introducing a new way to experience Vine: on the web,” said a blog post from engineer Janessa Det.

“Log in at vine.co to view your home feed and like, comment, and share videos just as you do on our mobile apps. You can also visit your favorite users’ Vine profiles to browse the videos they’ve created since joining Vine. Plus, now you can share your profile with others so they can see your posts.

Det said Vine added a TV mode “to view the collection of videos in sequence and in full screen mode.”

“This release is just a first step toward bringing you a richer, more enjoyable web experience. We look forward to introducing more improvements in 2014,” she added.

Vine, which was one of the fastest-growing apps when it was launched, said in August its registered users had hit 40 million.

source: interaksyon.com

Oracle adds 10 new cloud services

MANILA, Philippines — U.S. multinational computer company Oracle Corp has added 10 new cloud computing services in line with the company’s bid to deliver the most comprehensive cloud portfolio in the industry.

The new services, which will be available on a subscription basis, expand the company’s portfolio of application, social, platform, and infrastructure services.

“Unlike other clouds that offer services in one or two layers, Oracle Cloud is the only cloud that delivers a broad portfolio of integrated services across applications, social, platform, and infrastructure,” the company said in a press release.

Oracle said that the new services will help “customers and partners further capitalize on the power of cloud computing.”

The 10 new services are the compute cloud, object storage cloud, database cloud, java cloud, business intelligence cloud, documents cloud, mobile cloud, database backup cloud, billing and revenue management cloud, and cloud marketplace.

“Oracle Cloud provides the industry’s most complete suite of modern, enterprise SaaS applications including Human Capital Management, Customer Experience, and Enterprise Resource Management, with built-in business intelligence, social and mobile capabilities,” the company said.

Flexibility is also accorded to customers as they can choose to deploy Oracle software in traditional on-premise data centers, private clouds, or in other public clouds.

According to the company, they currently support nine million customers and 19 billion transactions daily on 7,000 servers and 200 petabytes of storage in 13 data centers in the world.

source: interaksyon.com

Lenovo tops PC makers

Lenovo Group held on to its position as the world’s No. 1 personal computer maker in the latest quarter despite a drastic dip in its core Chinese market, according to figures published by tech research firm Gartner on Wednesday.

Overall, the latest numbers showed an 8.6 percent decline in PC sales in the third quarter, confirming a worldwide trend towards tablets that has benefited Apple Inc and Google Inc but hurt traditional PC stalwarts Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 80.3 million in the latest three month period, the lowest level since 2008, Gartner said, despite the ‘back to school’ season when sales traditionally spike.

Europe, Middle East and Africa was the worst hit region, with a 13.7 percent decline in PC sales, followed by Asia Pacific with an 11.2 percent decline. The U.S. market increased 3.5 percent, helped by low inventories being re-stocked and the popularity of models featuring the latest Intel chips, Gartner said.

“Consumers’ shift from PCs to tablets for daily content consumption continued to decrease the installed base of PCs both in mature as well as in emerging markets,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “A greater availability of inexpensive Android tablets attracted first-time consumers in emerging markets, and as supplementary devices in mature markets.”

Strong sales in the United States and Europe helped Chinese PC maker Lenovo hold onto the top spot among manufacturers, offsetting the decline in Asia.

Lenovo’s overall shipments rose 2.8 percent over a year ago to give the company a 17.6 percent share of the global market.

Former No. 1 Hewlett-Packard Co, which is being remodeled by Chief Executive Meg Whitman, posted a 1.5 percent growth in shipments for a 17.1 percent global market share. It was H-P’s first positive shipment growth figure since the first quarter of 2012. Whitman said on Wednesday that she expected to stabilize revenues next year as she continues her work to reverse the company’s fortunes.

source: interaksyon.com

Dell unveils new XPS 12 convertible ultrabook

MANILA, Philippines - Dell is helping customers touch the future with a refreshed portfolio of consumer PCs built for Microsoft Windows 8, designed to provide a more intuitive computing experience and address evolving customer desires.

Dell’s new systems deliver on the promise of new advances in computing: a leading-edge and intuitive touch experience, the security and manageability required by today’s always-on pace and the design aesthetic, style and precision workmanship that customers demand.

Dell has unveiled powerful addition to its industry-leading XPS brand of computers. Joining the award-winning XPS 13 ultrabook, and the XPS 14 and XPS 15 laptops, the new XPS 12 ultrabook enable both consumer and business customers to do more with their technology — from multimedia, entertainment and creation to full business productivity to transition seamlessly from home to office.

The XPS 12 convertible combines two devices in one: a powerful ultrabook plus a full-featured tablet. The XPS brand has a distinguished heritage of delivering the latest technology and thoughtful design for performance and craftsmanship without compromise.

Each product in the XPS portfolio is tailored for specific customer needs, and the newly unveiled products are designed to take advantage of emerging software and technology, with the same XPS brand attributes that customers expect from Dell.

“The XPS 12 represents the culmination of a deep understanding of the ‘Bring Your Own Device’ movement and insights gained from both our consumer and business customers,” said Christopher Papa, country manager of Dell.




“The new set of XPS 12 represents a milestone in our design and approach to user experience. Our vision for our XPS line of computers is not just about the device or technology, it’s about achieving the perfect balance of amazing design, end user productivity and IT enablement,” Papa added.

Dell tapped its heritage of offering unique and innovative solutions to create the XPS 12. The product features a novel and elegant flip hinge touch-screen display designed to take advantage of the W8 operating system advances for touch interaction.

The result is two products in one, providing the full functionality of an ultra-portable laptop with keyboard plus the convenience of a tablet.

The innovative flip hinge design can easily transition from laptop to tablet to laptop and features a full HD screen that provides 97 percent more pixels than a standard HD display. The result is an exceptionally crisp reading and photo and video viewing experience.

The XPS 12 features thoughtful design and attractive aesthetics, and is crafted from premium materials such as machined aluminum and carbon fiber, as well as Corning Gorilla Glass for durability.



Partners

“With Windows 8 re-imagined, we are bringing a no-compromise, immersive and personalized experience to our customers,” said Mon de los Reyes of Microsoft Philippines.

“The support from our partners is critical for the success of Windows 8. Dell is an important partner to Microsoft and we will continue to work together to transform lives through the power of computing technology,” De los Reyes said.

“Our life experiences are defined by our senses — by what we see, hear and touch. These human senses are also at the foundation of Intel’s vision for the ultrabook to deliver a no-compromise, must-have computing experience and we congratulate Dell on the launch of its new touch-enabled product range,” said Ricky Banaag, country manager of Intel Philippines.

“Dell has always been at the forefront of innovation in technology and we are glad to be a partner to Dell in the continuing evolution of the computing experience,” Banaag said.

The Dell XPS 12 is priced P65,990 at authorized retailers nationwide.

On-site service

All Dell products running with pre-attached Windows 8 come with an on-site service, a new after-sales service where a customer is rescued from problems encountered with the shortest turnaround.

“We want to make sure that we are able to attend to our customer right at their doorsteps. With the new system in place, response is within 24 to 48 hours,” said Alvin Go, product manager of Dell.

The steps are as easy as 1-2-3. First, call the Dell Tech Support at toll-free 1-800-1601-0062. The Dell Tech Support will then conduct a diagnosis and determine the problem. A Dell engineer on-site will solve the problem.

The Dell’s new on-site service is available nationwide.

To know more about Dell products, log on to www.dell.com.

source: philstar.com

WD provides Mac users with USB 3.0 connectivity with new My Book Studio

MANILA, Philippines - WD, a Western Digital company and a world leader in external storage and connected life solutions, has announced a new version of the My Book Studio external hard drive.

USB 3.0 capability is now extended to this family of My Book Studio hard drives and provides data transfer speeds up to three times faster than USB 2.0.

WD has also introduced the addition of a massive 4 TB capacity in a single-drive configuration, making it a perfect solution for backing up large amounts of digital content.

The My Book Studio drive is designed with a premium aluminum enclosure and will be available in 1 TB, 2 TB, 3 TB and 4 TB capacities.

The My Book Studio drive’s features and benefits have made it a favorite among creative professionals and Mac computer enthusiasts, including working seamlessly with Apple Time Machine, for protecting and backing up valuable professional and personal content.

The My Book Studio external hard drive includes WD Security, which allows users to password-protect their drive along with 256-bit hardware-based encryption for added security against unauthorized access to the drive and its contents.
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“WD’s My Book Studio with USB 3.0 delivers extreme transfer speeds while maintaining the standard USB and FireWire connections computer users prefer,” said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of WD’s branded and CE products.

“Its large capacity, combined with a premium aluminum enclosure, hardware-based encryption, and compatibility with Apple Time Machine, provide Mac users with a fast, secure and complete system for preserving their valuable content,” Welsh added.


The My Book Studio external hard drive comes with a three-year limited warranty and is available on the WD store at www.wdstore.com and at select retailers and distributors.

The suggested retail prices for My Book Studio 1 TB is P6,990; 2 TB, P8,190; 3 TB, P10,290; and 4 TB, P13,290.

WD will continue to offer its My Book Studio drive with USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 connectivity for legacy systems.

For more information on the My Book Studio external hard drives, visit the WD website at http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=200.

source: philstar.com

ASUS Releases Two GeForce GTX 650 Ti DirectCU II Graphics Cards

Dual-fan ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti DirectCU II graphics cards present very attractive options for those interested in moving up to the DirectX 11 and 28nm era for home multimedia, graphics-reliant productivity, and detailed gaming. Exclusive ASUS features include the DirectCU II thermal design for 20% cooler and 3X quieter operation, DIGI+ VRM and Super Alloy Power for extended longevity and greater stability, and GPU Tweak user-friendly overclocking. The cards further support four-screen displays via NVIDIA 3D Surround technology. ASUS offers two GeForce GTX 650 Ti DirectCU II variants, including TOP and OC versions.

ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti DirectCU II cards offer high-output products well-suited to a wide range of PC DIY needs. Derived from the NVIDIA? GK106 core, they maintain an excellent cost-to-performance ratio for customers.

The TOP version uses specially-picked GPUs that are aggressively-tested and factory-overclocked to 1033MHz boost clock (105MHz above reference) The OC version runs 954MHz boost (26MHz above reference). Both cards ship with 1GB GDDR5 video memory set to 5400MHz.

DirectCU II runs 20% cooler and three times quieter

Unique to all ASUS performance graphics cards, the DirectCU II cooler consists of copper heatpipes in direct contact with the GPU, a larger dissipation area made of thermally-efficient materials, and dual noise-dampening fans. The latter are of special interest, as ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti DirectCU II cards are unique in their category by offering a twin fan design.

Overall, DirectCU II results in 20% cooler performance to improve stability and increase overclocking tolerance, plus three times quieter operation ? perfect for pleasant gaming and home multimedia environments.

DIGI+ VRM and Super Alloy Power increase performance, reliability, and longevity

ASUS GeForce GTX 650 Ti DirectCU II products retain the exclusive features that are at the heart of new ASUS graphics cards. Their DIGI+ VRM digital voltage regulation sets them apart, allowing for more delicate voltage adjustments and refined overclocking. As the GTX 650 Ti core offers customers a considerable overclocking margin, DIGI+ VRM control helps unlock these nascent capabilities. To aid in this, Super Alloy Power solid state capacitors, concrete-core buzz-free chokes, and MOSFETs handle heavy load and extended operation with ease. The design allows for 30% less power noise to boost stability, and its long-lasting components translate into 2.5 times the longevity of reference cards.

GPU Tweak taps flexible graphics card tuning and management

The exclusive GPU Tweak utility also joins the package to assist GeForce GTX 650 Ti DirectCU II buyers in making the most of graphics card power. Easy core and clock adjustments, fan speed controls, and voltage modification allow customers to change card parameters.

source: mb.com.ph

Lenovo knocks HP from top of global PC market: Gartner

SAN FRANCISCO/HONG KONG — China’s Lenovo Group Ltd edged out Silicon Valley icon Hewlett-Packard Co to become the world’s No. 1 PC maker in the third quarter, according to data released by research house Gartner on Wednesday.

A rival to Gartner, IDC, still ranks HP in the lead – but by less than half a percentage point – in terms of PC shipments worldwide. Both studies reinforce HP’s struggles against rivals as new chief executive Meg Whitman tries to overhaul the stalled 73-year-old company.

Worldwide shipments of personal computers fell over 8 percent in the third quarter to 87.5 million, the steepest decline since 2001, Gartner analysts said.

PC demand growth has crumbled over the past year as more consumers flock to ultra-portable and increasingly powerful tablets and smartphones for basic computing.

“It’s quite a tough year for PC makers because (Microsoft’s) Windows 8 is not launched yet and some consumers are waiting for that. Cannibalisation of tablet PCs is also another factor,” said Eve Jung, an analyst with Nomura Securities in Taipei.

Both sets of data show that Lenovo, Taiwan’s Acer and other Asian PC makers are taking share away from U.S. competitors HP and Dell, which held on to the No. 3 spot in the quarter.

Lenovo, which has a market value of $8.2 billion, said it believed there was room for continued growth in the sector.

“We are establishing even deeper roots in each major market around the world. In addition to localized sales and distribution teams in major markets, we are establishing an even stronger manufacturing footprint,” Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang said in a statement.

This year the company has bought Brazilian electronics maker CCE, valued at a base price of 300 million reais ($148 million), and U.S. cloud computing firm Stoneware.

China’s tech rise

Lenovo’s rise highlights the advance of China’s technology firms on the world stage in recent years as a result of aggressive pricing, overseas acquisitions, and taking advantage of a fast-growing home market.

The Chinese company, which vaulted into the PC market by buying IBM’s personal computer division in 2005, took the top spot for the first time by growing its market share to 15.7 percent, shipping an estimated 13.77 million units during the quarter, up nearly 10 percent from a year ago, Gartner said.

HP’s global PC share stood at 15.5 percent after shipping 13.55 million units, down 16.4 percent from a year ago, Gartner said, adding that this was the first time HP has not been the top-ranked PC vendor position since 2006.

IDC had HP at the No. 1 spot with a 15.9 percent market share, marginally ahead of Lenovo’s 15.7 percent share.

HP responded to Gartner’s study by saying IDC’s was more expansive.

“While there are a variety of PC share reports in the market, some don’t measure the market in its entirety,” HP said in a statement. “The IDC analysis includes the very important workstation segment, and therefore is more comprehensive.”

HP shares closed 1.32 percent lower at $14.18 on Wednesday, after touching $14.02, its lowest level since October 2002.

Lenovo’s shares ended up 0.3 percent on Thursday, compared with a 0.4 rise in the benchmark Hong Kong index.

Since the start of 2012, Lenovo’s shares have risen more than 9 percent, in contrast to a roughly 40 percent drop in HP’s stock, a 35 percent fall in Dell and Acer’s 21 percent slide.

Analysts say PC makers are suffering from still-sluggish growth in consumer and corporate spending across the globe, even in once-reliably hot markets like China, Lenovo’s home turf. The industry’s future is uncertain, partly because of a proliferation of computing devices from tablets of all sizes to smartphones.

“PCs are going through a severe slump,” said Jay Chou, senior research analyst at IDC’s Worldwide PC Tracker.

“A weak global economy as well as questions about PC market saturation and delayed replacement cycles are certainly a factor, but the hard question of what is the ‘it’ product for PCs remain unanswered.”

source: interaksyon.com

Late night TV/computer sessions linked to depression

Sitting in front of a computer or TV screen late into the night or leaving it on when you fall asleep could increase your chances of becoming depressed, according to a study by U.S. scientists.

The study, by a team of neuroscientists at Ohio State University Medical Center partly funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, will give screen-addicted night owls pause for thought.





The researchers - who exposed hamsters to dim light at night and picked up changes in behavior and the brain that bore striking similarities to symptoms in depressed people - said a surge in exposure to artificial light at night in the last 50 years had coincided with rising rates of depression, particularly among women, who are twice as prone as men.

"The results we found in hamsters are consistent with what we know about depression in humans," said Tracy Bedrosian, who led the study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Although exposure to night-time light has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer and obesity, the relationship with mood disorders is poorly understood.

The hamsters involved in the experiment were exposed for four weeks to dim light at night - equivalent to a television screen in a darkened room - and the results compared to a control group exposed to a normal light-dark cycle.

The experimental group was then moved back onto a normal cycle for one, two or four weeks before they were tested.

The results showed they were less active and had a lower than usual interest in drinking sugar water - both symptoms are comparable to signs of depression in people.

The similarity extended to their biological make-up. The researchers found changes in the hippocampus - a part of the brain - that were consistent with people suffering depression.

The hamsters exposed to dim light at night were also shown to produce more of a protein called tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a chemical messenger that is mobilized when the body is injured or infected and causes inflammation in its efforts to repair the damage.

"Researchers have found a strong association in people between chronic inflammation and depression," said Randy Nelson, who also worked on the study. "That's why it is very significant that we found this relationship between dim light at night and increased expression of TNF."

The scientists found that blocking the effects of TNF with a drug prevented signs of depression in the hamsters, though some other indicators in the structure of the brain were unaffected.

For instance, hamsters that were exposed to dim light at night still showed a much reduced density of dendritic spines - hairlike growths on brain cells that are used to send chemical messages from one cell to another.

The overall symptoms of depression were reversible, the researchers said. Those hamsters returned to a normal light-dark cycle saw both their TNF levels and the density of their dendritic spines return to normal after about two weeks.

"The good news is that people who stay up late in front of the television and computer may be able to undo some of the harmful effects just by going back to a regular light-dark cycle and minimizing their exposure to artificial light at night," Bedrosian said.

source: interaksyon.com

US spy agency chief to meet with hackers at ‘Defcon’

Computer geeks attending the world’s largest annual hacking party in Las Vegas next week will have a rare chance to rub shoulders with the head of the U.S. National Security Agency.

General Keith Alexander, director of the spy agency, will speak at the Defcon conference, marking the highest-level visit to date by a U.S. government official to the colorful gathering. Organizers expect some 15,000 hackers this year as they celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first U.S. hacking event that was open to the public.

The Pentagon disclosed the visit on Friday.

“We’re going to show him the conference. He wants to wander around,” said Jeff Moss, a hacker who organized the first Defcon conference while working as a messenger for a Seattle law firm. He now sits on an advisory committee to the Department of Homeland Security.

Alexander may choose to talk shop with the techies. He holds four master’s degrees, including ones in electronic warfare and physics.

Still, Moss said he expect there could be some controversy over Alexander’s presence among the diverse hacker crowd that attends the conference.

The NSA plays both offense and defense in the cyber wars. It conducts electronic eavesdropping on adversaries, in addition to protecting U.S. computer networks.

“I expect some people will say ‘You are a sellout for having someone from the NSA speak,” said Moss, who is known as the Dark Tangent in the hacking community.

But he doesn’t see it that way.

“One of the things I try to do at Defcon is take some of the hackers out of their comfort zone. I want to expose them to people they would normally not hear from,” he said.

“Don’t you think it’s important to hear what the most senior person at the NSA has to say? I’m interested in hearing what he has to say,” said Moss, whose full-time job is serving as chief security officer with ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which helps manage the infrastructure for much of the Internet.

Hackers come to the conference to exchange information about tools of the trade, socialize and compete in hacking contests.

There will be talks on attacking mobile phones and Google TV, more technical discussions on programming and discussions about government surveillance.

Defcon offers a side conference for children, Defcon Kids, which Alexander will likely visit. It also trains hackers to pick locks and has an annual contest to measure who is best at persuading corporate workers to release sensitive data over the phone.

Moss said he invited federal agents to the first Defcon conference, but that they politely declined. They showed up anyway, incognito. They kept coming, in bigger numbers, sometimes in uniform.

“We created an environment where the feds felt they could come and it wasn’t hostile,” Moss said. “We could ask them questions and they wanted to ask the hackers about new techniques.”

He said he’s spent a decade trying to get the head of the NSA to speak at Defcon, but he never imaged it would actually happen: “To me this is really validating of the whole culture.”

source: interaksyon.com

400,000 Yahoo! user names, passwords stolen, published on the Web

BOSTON — More than 400,000 Yahoo Inc user names and passwords were stolen and published on the Web, putting other websites at risk as well, after hackers exploited a vulnerability in Yahoo!’s computer systems.

Some logins for Google Inc, AOL Inc and Microsoft Corp services were among those compromised. The three companies said they required affected users to reset passwords for sites including Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, MSN and Live.com.

Yahoo issued a statement apologizing for the breach, the latest setback for a company that has lost two chief executives in a year and is struggling to revive stalled revenue growth.

Chairman Alfred Amoroso acknowledged that Yahoo had experienced a “tumultuous” year at its annual shareholder meeting on Thursday morning. Interim CEO Ross Levinsohn told attendees he was optimistic about the company’s progress.

The breach prompted criticism from security experts who said that a major Internet firm like Yahoo should do a better job at protecting user data.

“This points to some very lax security practices,” said Rob D’Ovidio, associate professor of criminal justice at Drexel University.

As an example, he noted that the hackers were able to produce more than 400,000 cleartext passwords within a day. That indicates that Yahoo either did not encrypt them at all or used an encryption method that was easy to crack, he said.

The professional networking service LinkedIn recently came under similar criticism. Security experts chided the company for failing to use sophisticated encryption practices to secure its passwords, millions of which were released following a breach last month.

What happened?

Yahoo! spokeswoman Dana Lengkeek said “an older file” had been stolen from Yahoo! Contributor Network, an Internet publishing service that Yahoo! purchased about two years ago. It helps writers, photographers and videographers to sell their work over the Web.

“We are fixing the vulnerability that led to the disclosure of this data, changing the passwords of the affected Yahoo! users and notifying the companies whose users’ accounts may have been compromised,” she said.

AOL said the Yahoo data published on the Web included valid passwords for 1,699 accounts. Microsoft and Google declined to provide similar numbers.

Other firms whose customers were at risk include Comcast Corp, Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T, Rapid7 researcher Marcus Carey said. He estimated that tens of thousands of accounts of users of services other than Yahoo were affected by the breach.

AT&T and Verizon did not have any immediate comment. Officials with Comcast could not be reached.

AOL Senior Vice President David Temkin said spammers typically use credentials like the ones stolen from Yahoo to break into email accounts and use them to send out spam.

“In this case, I think we actually got ahead of it before the people who stole those accounts were able to use them,” Temkin said.

The five most popular passwords in the group were “123456″, “password”, “welcome”, “qwerty” and “ninja”, according to an analysis by anti-virus software maker ESET.

source: interaksyon.com

Kaspersky finds largest attack on Mac OS by malware Flashback/Flashfake

Manila, Philippines - Kaspersky Lab, a leading secure content and threat management solutions developer, recently analyzed the Flashfake botnet and discovered a massive number of infected computers worldwide, most likely running Mac OS X. The botnet is being distributed via infected websites as a Java applet that pretends to be an update for the Adobe Flash Player.

About 670,000 computers worldwide, 98 percent of them running Mac OS X, were infected by Flashfake. Kaspersky Lab attests that this is the largest Mac-based infection to date, with the largest number of victims targeting developed countries. The United States had the most infected computers (300,917) followed by Canada (94,625), the United Kingdom (47,109) and Australia (41,600).

Infections also found in France (7,891), Italy (6,585), Mexico (5,747), Spain (4,304), Germany (4,021), Japan (3,864) and Philippines is among the countries that contribute the average count of 1- 2,547 said Kaspersky Lab security expert, Igor Soumenkov in his blog.

Security expert Alexander Gostev also stated in his blog that they were able to reverse-engineer the Flashfake malware that enabled them to successfully analyze the communications between infected computers and the command and control (C&C) servers of Flashfake.

“After intercepting one of the domain names used by the Flashback/Flashfake Mac Trojan and setting up a special sinkhole server last Friday, April 6, we managed to gather stats on the scale and geographic distribution of the related botnet. We continued to intercept domain names after setting up the sinkhole server and we are currently still monitoring how big the botnet is. We have recorded a total of 670,000 unique bots. Over the weekend of April 7 to 8, we saw a significant fall in the number of connected bots,” added Gostev.

Kaspersky Lab is also directing users to visit the website www.flashbackcheck.com, specifically made to determine if a computer is infected with the malware using a tool that looks into the device’s universal unique identifier (UUID). It also has instructions on how remove the malware if it is found.

source: mb.com.ph

Microsoft counting down to the end of Windows XP

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is counting down the days until it is through with the Windows XP operating system for personal computers.

The US software titan used a blog post to remind the world that in two years it will no longer support the generations-old operating system that people have clung to despite the releases of successors Vista and Windows 7.

“We want to acknowledge the two-year countdown to the end of Windows XP and Office 2003 support,” said Microsoft marketing director Stella Chernyak.

“Windows XP and Office 2003 were great software releases for their time, but the technology environment has shifted.”

She advised computer users, particularly businesses, to begin “migrating” machines to the latest versions of the programs well before Microsoft puts XP to rest on April 8, 2014.

source: japantoday.com