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*HOT* Tech News And Downloads, I Would Read This Thread And Post Any Good Info
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AfterDawn Addict
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3. September 2006 @ 09:44 |
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PRINTER ANYWHERE..........
With PrinterAnywhere you can print documents and photos on other people's printers as easily as on the local one connected to your machine. No special technical knowledge is required from both - printer owner and user. It just works! With our software you can print directly from your application such as Microsoft Word, Outlook, Photo Editor or any other program you work with to a printer connected to another computer next door or ten thousand miles away (anywhere!) .....(free).....GO THERE!
http://www.printeranywhere.com/
NOTES,
With PrinterAnywhere you can print documents and photos on other people's printers as easily as on the local one connected to your machine. No special technical knowledge is required from both - printer owner and user. It just works!
With our software you can print directly from your application such as Microsoft Word, Outlook, Photo Editor or any other program you work with to a printer connected to another computer next door or ten thousand miles away (anywhere!).
Share printer
With PrinterAnywhere you can share your printer in less than a minute and let other people connected to the Internet (your friends, relative and colleagues) print paper documents on it. You don't need to know or deal with specifics of network sharing, complex settings and figuring out Windows access rights.
Our software automatically detects printers connected to your computer including local network printers. As long as you can print in it yourself, you can share the printer and let other people use it.
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Advertisement
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AfterDawn Addict
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3. September 2006 @ 11:35 |
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The computer spy that steals your passwords and credit details
Posted by l33tdawg on Sunday, September 03, 2006 - 03:23 AM (Reads: 226)
Source: Times Online
ABOUT three weeks ago, Cheryl Lambert bought a ?179 surfboard on eBay for her daughter. Soon after, she noticed her computer started to behave erratically and within a few days it had ground to a halt. ?It just completely crashed,? said Lambert, 38, a community worker who lives in Helston, Cornwall. ?The anti-virus software was saying the computer was infected, but it just couldn?t fight it. The computer got slower and slower and then it just stopped.? A few days after her desktop machine was unplugged from the internet, Lambert?s personal details appeared on a Russian website. Her home phone number, her address, her credit card number and her e-mail address with Tesco were all listed on a forum where criminals and computer hackers trade stolen identities.
very good read,go here to read a good article
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2340545,00.html
HOW TO STAY SAFE ONLINE
The risks can never be wholly eliminated, but experts recommend:
# Never go online without first ensuring your computer is protected with a firewall and anti-virus software. An unprotected computer is on average infected within 12 minutes of being plugged into the internet, according to research by Sophos, the computer security company.
# Always make sure you have the latest anti-virus software, which is regularly updated. Use software such as McAfee (uk.mcafee.com) or Norton (www.symantec.com). It costs money, but is recommended for safer surfing.
# Consider installing software that scans your system for downloads that secretly monitor your computer use. Products such as Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.org) can be downloaded free.
# Never download software from unknown sites. The downloads can harbour trojans. Similarly, never open e-mail attachments from unknown sources.
# When entering details on a banking website or payment service, such as PayPal, carefully check the website address. A trojan can direct a computer to a spoof site.
# If your computer is performing erratically or slowing down, then scan it with anti-virus software.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2340545,00.html
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AfterDawn Addict
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3. September 2006 @ 15:20 |
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HOT READ
Privacy Web Browser 'Browzar' Branded Adware
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Sunday September 03, @05:26PM
from the shell-games dept.
Software Internet Explorer Privacy
DivineOmega writes "The recently released 'Browzar' web browser, based on the Internet Explorer core, is designed to protect a user's privacy whilst surfing the Internet and be an effective 'throw-away' browser. However many who deal with the removal of malware have flagged this software as malware. From the article: 'The application Browzar has been branded "adware" by many because it directs web searches to online adverts. Some technical experts also say Browzar, which claims to leave no trail of webpages visited, does not work. Browzar's developers say they are examining the feedback but strongly deny that it is adware.'"
Software that claimed to provide increased privacy whilst surfing the web has been criticised by computer experts and the blogging community.
go here to read the article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5310114.stm
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AfterDawn Addict
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4. September 2006 @ 05:52 |
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i use the program
FREE,.....CPU-Z..........
Gathers information on some of the main devices of your system, including the CPU: Name and number. Core stepping and process. Package. Core voltage. Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier. Supported instructions sets. Cache information. The Mainboard: Vendor, model and revision. BIOS model and date. Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor. Graphic interface. The Memory: Frequency and timings. Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect) : vendor, serial number, timings table. And the System: Windows and DirectX version
.....(free).....GO THERE!
http://www.cpuid.com/index.php
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AfterDawn Addict
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4. September 2006 @ 07:18 |
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Fading Ways free mp3s
p2pnet.net News:- "Copy it, distribute it, display it, perform it, remix it, support it and enjoy it."
So says Canada's Fading Ways label on its new Share, share, share site, continuing:
Here you can download, for free, all of the tracks released to date in the SHARE sampler series. You are also free to copy them and give them to friends and family, upload them to your p2p networks, and let as many people as possible hear them.
As long as you use them non-commercially, so that any money that is made from their use goes direct back to the artist, you are granted permission to do whatever else you like with them, thanks to the Creative Commons license under which the SHARE samplers have been released. To learn more about the wonders of Creative Commons, visit the website at
go here to read the article
http://p2pnet.net/story/9766?PHPSESSID=d...a92e1fcbbda15a1
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AfterDawn Addict
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4. September 2006 @ 07:26 |
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one of the main reasons i do not use google
In Google we trust
p2pnet.net News View:- How much of your life do you want to put at Google's disposal?
The question is asked on MIT's Technology Review in an item dealing with Google forway into the Wi-Fi biz.
It continues:
I've already noted several times that Google primarily offers all this really cool free stuff in order to mine your hard drive for information and use it to sell ads," says the post. That's why Google's 'Secure Access"' program - the first bit of the WiFi strategy to hit the street - is such a spooky irony.
go here to read the article
http://p2pnet.net/story/9768?PHPSESSID=5...a27dc104e2b72d7
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 4. September 2006 @ 07:27
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AfterDawn Addict
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4. September 2006 @ 10:22 |
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RIAA loses another p2p case, 
p2pnet.net News:- The Big Four Organized Music cartel's RIAA tried to extort Oklahoma's Tallie Stubbs into 'settling' in another sue 'em all case.
But she and her lawyer, Marilyn Barringer-Thomson, joined the fast-growing ranks of people who've told the RIAA (Recording Industry Association America), owned by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, to poke their lawsuits where they sun doesn't shine, forcing the so-called 'trade' unit to once again cave in.
"So these RIAA (well known and respected record companies) want their case dropped without prejudice and at the same time asking the judge to drop the counterclaim WITH prejudice," posts Alter_Fritz on Recording Industry vs The People.
"Let's hope the judge does not allow this awful RIAA tactic! And rules that Ms. Stubbs is the prevailing party with regards to copyright law and that Ms. Stubbs will get her attorney fees paid by the RIAA.
"Otherwise those (well known and respected record companies) will 'play' this big money vs. average people extortion business for decades!
"It must be possible to fight against them and not accept their 3750$ extortion money if you are not guilty but can't afford a regular lawsuit where THEY must prove your wrongdoing!"
Stay tuned.
http://p2pnet.net/story/9771?PHPSESSID=c...f4b44ad5044410b
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Member
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4. September 2006 @ 13:09 |
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I'm soooo glad for Ms.Stubs. Hope the judge is a decent one.
Chuck
"Men are slower to recognize blessings than misfortunes." Titus Livius (59BC-17AD)
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nigeljkuk
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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5. September 2006 @ 03:36 |
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i use AVG pro ,with firewall , I think ive blocked wga ok ie wga.tray exe ,is this the correct one to stop this pest phoning home , i did think of unticking box in Spybot where its also listed , Im a bit wary of installing quick fixes off unknown sites
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AfterDawn Addict
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5. September 2006 @ 05:55 |
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good morning all,time for breakfast....
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. September 2006 @ 06:05
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gerry1
Suspended permanently
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6. September 2006 @ 04:04 |
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Good morning all! I'm in for a day from hell but thought I'd stop by and say hello. I'm having a blueberry muffic and a large iced coffee which was difficult to get. I stopped by a new coffee shop where a young asian girl, a new immigrant I suppose, could not tell the difference between "A Large Iced Coffee With Cream" and "A Large Coffee Ice-Cream". Was rather like an abbott and costello skit lol!
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AfterDawn Addict
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6. September 2006 @ 15:44 |
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GET YE DOWNLOAD..............
Windows Vista Release Candidate 1 Begins
Posted by: Digital Dave on September 06, 2006 3:51 PM
Come and get it!!!
NOTE: Use Internet Explorer then follow the instructions.
- x86 - 32Bit Download
http://download.windowsvista.com/preview...cfre_en_dvd.iso
- 64bit - Download
http://download.windowsvista.com/preview...xfre_en_dvd.iso
nVIDIA ForceWare Drivers for Windows Vista 96.33 Official Beta
Posted by: soxrocker on September 05, 2006 1:32 PM
..If you need 'em come and get 'em..
Drivers for the nVIDIA GeForce, Geforce 2, GeForce 3 + 4, the 'Ti' range of cards, GeForce FX and some Quadro cards. Visit the nVIDIA website for a full list of supported products.
FileForum download
nVIDIA ForceWare Drivers for Windows Vista 96.33 Official Beta beta
Publisher's Description:
Drivers for the nVIDIA GeForce, Geforce 2, GeForce 3 + 4, the 'Ti' range of cards, GeForce FX and some Quadro cards. Visit the nVIDIA website for a full list of supported products.
NVIDIA has made available the following drivers for Windows Vista RC1 build 5600.16384.060829-2230 and higher, and should not be used with other versions of Windows Vista. The current ForceWare driver is a preview release that will enable you to test the basic features and capabilities of the new operating system.
nVIDIA ForceWare Drivers has the following other editions available: nVIDIA ForceWare Drivers for Windows 2000/XP (32-bit), nVIDIA ForceWare Drivers for Windows 9x/Me, nVIDIA ForceWare Drivers for Windows NT and nVIDIA ForceWare Drivers for Windows XP/2003 (64-bit).
Released: September 1, 2006
Publisher: nVIDIA
Homepage: nVIDIA ForceWare Drivers for Windows Vista
Downloads: 9,127
License: Freeware
OS Support: Windows Vista
download here
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/nVI...sta/950852325/4
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AfterDawn Addict
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7. September 2006 @ 07:57 |
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I AM POSTING THE TOTAL ARTICLE AS IT IS A DAM GOOD READ..
Online pirates: valuable resources
p2pnet.net News:- According to the corporate cartels, so-called p2p 'pirates' are the scourge of the Net, "devastating" honest, hard-pressed the entertainment and software companies and forcing helpless support workers into hard times.
However, David Choi and Arturo Perez have a somewhat different view, suggesting the phenonmenon of online piracy is a valuable source of innovation to the industries, as well as to entrepreneurs.
Choi is an assistant professor of Management at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles who's published articles in the areas of technology standards, wireless technology, online commerce, and strategy innovation. He received his PhD in technology management at the Anderson School at UCLA.
Perez works for Growthink, a strategic consulting and investment bank boutique. He also heads-up ThinkDigital, Growthink's Digital Media industry practice. As an entrepreneur, he created and built Kludge, an online music magazine, and helped to build a non-profit organization that bridged music and the arts with philosophy. He's also director of the Human Heritage Project, a collective of business, bioethics and philosophy doctorates.
ONLINE PIRACY AND THE EMERGENCE OF NEW BUSINESS MODELS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This explorative paper examines the impact of online piracy on innovation and new business creation. While often dismissed by academics and professionals alike, online piracy has shown to be a valuable source of innovation to both industry incumbents and entrepreneurs for the following four reasons: First, the online pirates have pioneered the use of new technologies. For example, they have made a significant impact in the evolution of file-transferring technology, which has created breakthroughs in information distribution for both illegal and legal uses. Second, the piracy communities have been the source of invaluable market insight to the business world. Third, online pirates have contributed to new market creation. For example, many of former Napster users have migrated to the legal version of Napster and Apple?s iTunes. Finally, online piracy has often spurred the creation of legal and innovative business models.
We observe that this pattern of piracy pioneering new market insight, market communities and business models is repeated with each generation of new pirate technology. We point out that companies that understand the pattern and take advantage of the innovation offered by piracy communities can build businesses of significant value. Our paper is one of the very first and rare attempts on the subject of online piracy in management or entrepreneurship literature. It is also one of the first writings to describe the transition of online piracy to legitimate businesses. We believe that this is a practical paper that can be of use to academics as well as entrepreneurs.
Introduction
In the online world piracy refers to the unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted or patented material, such as music files or software codes. In most cases, piracy is illegal; in all cases, it is unquestionably unethical. Nevertheless, piracy is something that should not be ignored by strategists, entrepreneurs or academics.
Besides the negative connotation associated with the term, piracy has historically had little to do with legitimate businesses. While infringement of copyright caused by piracy has led societies to take new measures of security and policing, it is not usually identified for its ability to spur new legitimate businesses or economic value creation. In recent years, however, the piracy of information assets, such as media files and software codes, has had a profound impact on innovation and the emergence of new business models.
First, the online pirates have pioneered the use of new technologies. For example, they have made a significant impact in the evolution of file-transferring technology, which has created breakthroughs in information distribution for both illegal and legal uses.
Second, the piracy communities have been the source of invaluable market insight to the business world. As users of pirate music, game or software files tend to be early adopters, they have served as useful source of emerging consumer behavior. By researching the pirate communities, perceptive businesses were successful in identifying the needs that existing businesses were not adequately addressing.
Third, online pirates have contributed to new market creation. For example, many of former Napster customers have migrated to the legal version of Napster and iTunes. Today?s 4 million piracy community members are likely to become legitimate consumers, as businesses catch up to meet their needs (Economist, 2005).
Lastly, online piracy has often spurred the creation of legal and innovative business models. These new businesses were effective in large part because of their ability to take advantage of the new technology, market insight and market creation initiated by the piracy communities. At times, it was the online pirates themselves that were actively involved with the creation of next generation, legitimate businesses.
We find that this pattern of piracy pioneering new market insight, market communities and business models is repeated with each generation of new pirate technology. We believe that companies that understand the pattern and take advantage of the innovation offered by piracy communities can create businesses of significant value.
The paper briefly explores the evolution of piracy technologies and associated online communities starting with the beginning days of the Internet through the recent Napster and Torrent phenomena. In particular, we analyze the influence of the recent peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies and communities on the creation of new business models in the media industry. Finally, the paper analyzes the recent Torrent phenomenon and suggests its potential impacts on the creation of new business models.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Very little academic research exists in the area of online piracy in management literature. Most of the academic work has been legal (published in law journals) or ethical (published in law or ethics journals) in nature. For example, Kaplan (2005) and Smith and Rupp (2004) explore the legal impact of piracy on the entertainment industry, while Delaney et al. (2003) discuss measures for deterring copyright piracy. Goodman and Brenner (2002) examine the criminality of piracy, and Lichtman (2004) writes about holding Internet Service Providers accountable for Internet piracy. Kruger (2003) discusses the ethical elements of piracy.
Most of the management related discussions have been in the popular press in the form of newspaper or magazine reports. Most have been descriptive in nature. For example, Chmielewski (2005) writes about the ?world of file sharing?, while Cullen (2003) reports on the comeback of Napster. Some articles have been more analytical and have attempted to examine the lasting impacts of piracy on the media industry. Pesce (2005) analyzes the potential impact of video piracy on broadcast television, while the Economist (2005) discusses online piracy?s impact on the overall entertainment industry.
Our paper is one of the very first and rare attempts on the subject of online piracy in entrepreneurship literature. It is also one of the first writings to describe the transition of online piracy to legitimate businesses. Specifically, the paper aims to identify common patterns, i.e., processes by which each generation of piracy influences the creation of legitimate businesses. Finally, the paper examines the parallels between the Napster and Torrent phenomena, a topic not yet analyzed by most academic researchers.
History of Piracy and the Social Communities
The history of piracy is as long and complicated as the birth of the Internet itself. During the late 60?s the Department of Defense (DOD) funded a program called the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA). It was devised as a method for researchers to ?share? information between the large supercomputers of the DOD. The first established computer connections occurred in 1969, when ARPA connected the computers of Stanford, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah. These established connections were coined the ?ARPANET?. It grew quietly and slowly during the next 10 years. The mid 80?s saw a drift of the ARPANET away from its military roots, as the DOD released its ban on commercial enterprise on the ARPANET.
It is important to note that the early adopters of the Internet, many of whom were technologists and scientists, strongly believed in the idea of sharing information for mutual benefit. After all, the Internet was created by the government for the purpose of sharing information for scientific discovery. The computer communities grew over the years with their original philosophies intact. During the 70?s and 80?s nearly all software was ?open source?, meaning that the code used to create the program was available for all to see and use, so that people across the world were able to make their own improvements to the software for the benefit of the whole. When companies like Microsoft and Novell started to charge for their software, many people previously accustomed to free software were surprised and displeased. It was some of these disgruntled users that became the first software pirates. They didn?t think much about the legality or illegality of their actions. For them it was companies like Microsoft that was breaking the deep-rotted code of ethics.
The piracy scene evolved further with the rise of the World Wide Web in the mid and late 90?s. Many communities served as the central hubs for engineers and programmers from all over the world who cooperated amongst themselves ? with fundamentally the same ideology that began the concept of the Internet in the 60?s. A widely known cooperative project was the development of Linux, an open source operating system started by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and developed together with the community from the Minix operating system. Another example is Apache, one of the world?s most popular web server software, maintained by the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). ASF is a decentralized community of developers working on its open source software projects.
In the world of music and video piracy, some of the old mentality about ?sharing? continued to prevail. In 2002, Wired Magazine profiled one hardcore Morpheus user, a 44-year old computer consultant, who had accumulated 2,500 music, video and software titles (O?Brien, 2002). He stated, ?A lot of people out there don?t have any idea what their computer really is for.? ?To anyone who can?t afford to take the family to the moves or buy the latest PlayStation 2 title?, he felt that he was ?doing a public service.?
Napster and the Peer-to-peer Revolution
The Napster story presents a clear illustration about how online piracy evolves into new legitimate business models through the four-step processes mentioned above. In the Fall of 1999, the 19-year-old college student Shawn Fanning became a pioneer in the P2P file sharing technology when he released the original Napster, a software program he had developed in his dorm room. Fanning wanted an easier method of finding music and devised a way for computer users to use the Internet as a channel for copying files stored on someone else's hard drive. To the surprise of many skeptics, millions became Napster users in a matter of months. The Napster servers contained hundreds of thousands of bootlegged audio files donated by users.
The Napster and its followers? contribution to technology was noteworthy. A leading entertainment and media analyst considered Napster to be ?absolutely a groundbreaking technology that changed the way consumers listened to music, discovered music, and interacted with music??(Denison, 2002). Universal, BMG and Sony had promised to make music available for downloading by the end of 1999, only to let the deadline pass, invoking the lack of adequate technology (Anand & Cantillon, 2003). Then, the majors participated in industry setting efforts such as Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), but they were unable to achieve consensus and abandoned the project in 2001.
The rapid success of Napster became a source of valuable market insight, though neglected by most industry incumbents for many years. Hordes of college students praised Napster because it enabled them to obtain hit songs without having to buy an entire album. Napster proved the existence of an immense market interested in online distribution and storage of music to create customized CDs, access older songs and concert recordings, etc. Prior to Napster, no music label was even selling music online.
The P2P successes contributed to new market creation. It created a mass of music lovers who consumed music in a very different way. Note that pirates were not utilizing Napster and similar P2P services only because they were free ? this is where many industry experts got it wrong. Napster was immensely popular because it offered a wide range of important features, e.g., wide selection, convenience, and high-quality recordings, which offered strong benefits. Consumers would have been willing to pay for a service with such collection of beneficial features, as Apple?s iTunes later proved.
The revolution started by Napster gave way to a new generation of business models. Pressplay.com, a joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, and MusicNet, a partnership between AOL Time Warner, EMI, Bertelsmann, and Real Networks both launched in December 2001. But they had several flaws in their business model: PressPlay offered songs from only Sony and Universal, while MusicNet offered songs from its partners only. They operated with a monthly fee which its target market was not willing to pay for. Concerned about cannibalizing their CD sales, PressPlay and MusicNet either prohibited or limited, the ?burning? of music files onto a CD. Both PressPlay and MusicNet became a disappointment to their founding partners.
On the other hand, Apple took a different approach. In April 2003, Apple launched the iTunes online music service with a library of more than 200,000 songs from a wide range of artists and labels. Users were able to search by song title, artist name, album title, and genre and hear a 30-second preview of any song in the library for free. Songs were $0.99 each and purchased tunes were then transferred to a folder within their desktop console. Additionally, Apple incorporated a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system that ensured that music could be transferred only up to three Apple computers, burned up to ten CDs, and downloaded to an unlimited number of iPods. The songs were offered in industry-standard Dolby Advanced Audio Coding format, which allowed for CD-quality sound and better data compression, and enabled users to hold more music and store files more quickly. According to reports, iTunes has sold more than 500 million songs in the United States alone, more than 50 million within a year of its launch in Europe (Kageyama, 2005). The iTunes service accounted for 82 percent of all legally downloaded music in the United States (Kageyama, 2005).
Interestingly, the online pirates have themselves been the leaders in the creation of new, legitimate businesses. Shawn Fanning, the founder of Napster, has become the Chief Strategy Officer of Snocap, Inc., a small startup that has inked deals to register the entire catalogue of all the major music labels that initially sued Napster. A former manager of Kazaa has gone on to create Joltid, a consulting company which develops peer-to-peer based solutions. It is noteworthy how leading P2P businesses and personalities that were once threats to the music industry have begun together with music industry leaders to develop next generation technologies, communities, and market research.
BITTORRENT ? The New Napster of Television Programming?
The new BitTorrent phenomenon is very similar to the Napster story. A major P2P downside had been the slow speed at which large video files transferred. In February of 2002, Bram Cohen took the P2P model to the next level with the release of the BitTorrent technology. The software allowed a user to download files from a multitude of users, rather than a single individual, on a bit by bit basis, therefore decentralizing the source of the file from any single storage. The BitTorrent program became an instant hit with Linux users who wanted to swap their enormous open-source programs. Like the Napster, BitTorrent was considered a significant technology breakthrough, which could also be used in distributing legitimate video over the Internet. Even Microsoft was impressed and experimented with the technology (McHugh, 2005).
The breakthrough in technology has allowed for strong marketplace adoption. More than 20 million people have downloaded the BitTorrent application (Thompson, 2005). According to British research firm CacheLogic, BitTorrent accounted for an astounding 35% of all the traffic on the Internet in 2004 ? more than all other P2P programs combined (Thomson, 2005). On a global scale, BitTorrent consumed an astounding 53% of all P2P traffic in 2004 (Mennecke, 2004). BitTorrent?s market adoption was not limited to viewing films and TV shows.
The success of BitTorrent has demonstrated the economic and technological feasibility and the potential market acceptance of watching movies, music videos and television shows from the Internet. In the case of the award winning documentary, Outfoxed, the producers actually gave permission for online viewers to download the movie, as other producers are starting to do. Interestingly, the cost of hosting the 750 gigs of traffic for Outfoxed was estimated to be a mere $4 because of the nature of BitTorent technology On October 15, 2004, CNN?s audience for Jon Stewart?s appearance on Crossfire was 867,000; the number of viewers torrenting the show was in millions (Thompson, 2005).
As in the case of Napster communities, many of the BitTorent communities have already begun to migrate to new, legal communities. In recent months, independent BitTorrent communities have been successful in convincing independent producers to distribute their TV shows, offering educational programs, and distributing various open-source software.
For example, ShunTV specializes in political shows. It began with the (approved) distribution of Daily Show with Jon Stewart, daily episodes of the popular satirical Comedy Central show. The site evolved to include all other political junky shows, documentaries and specials, attracting a strong community of intellectual college students. BitMe, whose slogan is ?Feed Your Brain!? specializes in the distribution of technical and scientific journals, books, documentaries and audio books.
Like the early Napster users, these BitTorrent consumers are not there just because of the free videos, especially since they are mostly television shows. The BitTorrent pirates are connecting to their communities for the purpose of sharing information between like-minded thinkers to share their passion, such as politics and science.
New Business Models and Model Adoptions
BitTorrent communities can seem like groups of computer geeks too lazy to turn on the television, but their behavior may point to a new way of consuming media in the future, e.g., watching shows when they want, sharing experience with a virtual community, etc. Table 1 shows the combination of traditional media companies and new business models competing, and in other cases, collaborating to prepare for the next generation viewers.
Traditional cable companies are increasing their video on demand (VOD) services. Companies like SBC have recently started a multibillion dollar expansion project stretch their fiber-optic lines to homes to provide adequate bandwidth for high-definition Internet Protocol television (IPTV) streams (McHugh, 2005). Looking to cut in to the cable companies, telcos are building ultra-high-speed networks that use Internet Protocol to deliver videos over the phone lines. At the same time, a host of new startups ? led by Akimbo, Brightcove, and DaveTV ? are establishing their presence as Internet content broadcasters.
All four major engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL) have entered the video broadcasting business. In 2005, each company has quietly rolled out video specific search engines. In addition, each company is also attempting to distribute exclusive Internet content, or even original content. Yahoo is already providing subscribers with special extra episodes of The Apprentice and it has launched an exclusive music-related show, Smash, online, which originally aired on TV. AOL has the advantage of having Time Warner.
New companies like Ourmedia are in the BitTorrent infrastructure business. They offer free storage and bandwidth for videos and audio files using the latest BitTorrent technology. A series of new research and business consulting firms have started offering their professional services for companies interested in distributing Internet content using the BitTorrent model. BitTorrent, as in the case of the Napster, as spurred the creation of new, legitimate business models.
CONCLUSION
Online piracy has had and is likely to continue to have a large impact on the fast changing media and software industries. We observe that online piracy impacts the industries through the following processes: It (1) pioneers the use of new technologies; (2) provides the business world with invaluable market insight; (3) contributes to new market creation; and (4) evolves into legitimate and innovative business models.
Interestingly, we observe that the above four-step processes are repetitive and they reappear with each technology generation. Media incumbents should recognize that legal actions are not sufficient to protecting their business or participating in new wealth creation. For the entrepreneurially-minded companies or individuals, the changes brought by online piracy can present unique business opportunities when they are promptly and correctly identified.
References
Anand, Bharat and Estelle Cantillon. (2003), ?The Music Industry and the Internet?, Harvard Business School, 9-7030513.
Cullen, Drew, (May 19, 2003). ?Napster Reborn! Roxio buys Pressplay?, The Register.
Chmielewski, Dawn C. (August 1, 2005). ?A Whole New World of File Sharing?, The Mercury News.
Delaney, Edwin M., Goldstein, Claire E, Gutterman, Jennifer, and Wagner, Scott N. (Oct 2003). ?House subcommittee holds hearings on Copyright Piracy Deterrence Act?, Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal. Clifton: Oct 2003. Vol. 15, Iss. 10; p. 20.
Denison, D.C., ?The Legacy of Napster,? The Boston Globe, May 16, 2002.
Goodman , Marc D. and Brenner, Susan W. (Summer 2002),?The Emerging Consensus on Criminal Conduct in Cyberspace?, International Journal of Law and Information Technology, Oxford: Summer 2002. Vol. 10, Iss. 2; p. 139.
Kageyama, Yuri, (August 8, 2005). "Downloads for Japan iTunes Hit a Million", Yahoo News.
Kaplan, Debra. (Mar 2005). ?Broadcast Flags and the War Against Digital Television Piracy: A Solution or Dilemma for the Digital Era??, Federal Communications Law Journal, Los Angeles:.Vol.57, Iss. 2; pg. 325, 20 pgs.
Kruger, Robert. (Jul/Aug 2003). ?Discussing Cyber Ethics with Students is Critical?, The Social Studies, Washington:. Vol. 94, Iss. 4; p. 188
Lichtman, Douglas. (Winter 2004/2005), ?Holding Internet Service Providers Accountable?, Regulation, Washington Vol. 27, Iss. 4; p. 54.
McHugh, Josh (September, 2005), ?The Super Network?, Wired
Mennecke, Thomas, (September 29, 2004). ?P2P Usage - Which Network Consumes the Most Bandwidth?? Slyck.
Mennecke, Thomas, (May 25, 2005). ?MPAA, FBI and U.S. Customs Shut Down EliteTorrents?, Slyck.
Mulligan, Mark (June 23, 2005). "iTunes Hits 50 Million in Europe, But is That a Success?", Jupiter Research.
O?Brien, Jeffrey. M., ?Would You Download Music From This Man??, Wired Magazine, May 2002.
Smith, Alan D. and Rupp, William T. (2004). ?Exploring the impacts of P2P networks on the entertainment industry? Information Management & Computer Security. Bradford: 2004.Vol.12, Iss. 1; pg. 102.
Thompson, Clive, (January, 2005). ?The BitTorrent Effect?, Wired.
Thomson, Iain, (March 10, 2005). ?New BiTorrent flows across the web?, IT Week.
Download the .pdf here.
p2pnet newsfeeds for your site.
rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss
Mobile - http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
(Thursday 7th September 2006)
http://p2pnet.net/story/9797?PHPSESSID=d...564269576dd35a5
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7. September 2006 @ 08:03 |
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Another truck gets toasted by a Dell notebook
Crash bang wallop
By INQUIRER staff: Thursday 07 September 2006, 03:15
A REPORT on Florida based WFTV said that a notebook caught fire in a man's truck, turning it into ashes.
The driver of the truck told the TV station he'd switched on his notebook for his daughter so she could watch a film.
But then it turned into a towering inferno, causing David Costello to crash his truck which eventually burst into flames.
Dell told the TV station that the notebook in question doesn't fall into the recalled category. More here.
http://www.wftv.com/news/9798823/detail.html
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7. September 2006 @ 08:56 |
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Quickest Patch Ever
By Bruce Schneier| Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Sep, 07, 2006
If you really want to see Microsoft scramble to patch a hole in its software, don't look to vulnerabilities that impact countless Internet Explorer users or give intruders control of thousands of Windows machines. Just crack Redmond's DRM.
GO HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE
http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,71738-0.html?tw=rss.index
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7. September 2006 @ 09:06 |
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611 Defects, 71 Vulnerabilities Found In Firefox
Posted by kdawson on Thursday September 07, @11:50AM
from the rolling-in-bugs dept.
Security
Danny Begonia writes, "Some folks at Klocwork examined the large and complicated code base of the popular open source browser, Firefox. Overall, Firefox is a well written and high quality piece of software. Several builds were performed on the code, culminating in the final analysis of version 1.5.0.6. The analysis resulted in 611 defects and 71 potential security vulnerabilities. The Firefox team has been given the analysis results, and they will determine if or how they will deal with the issues." What are your thoughts ? do Firefox and the open source community welcome this kind of analysis?
GO HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE
http://www.g2zero.com/2006/09/examining_defects_in_the_firef.html
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7. September 2006 @ 10:04 |
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The RIAA in Action
p2pnet.net News:- The Big Four Organized Music family has been victimizing its own customers since at least 2003. But instead of vigorously questioning the bizarre practice, the mainstream on- and offline print and electronic media support it, parroting floods of Big Four so-called press releases as though they're accurate reports from credible sources.
New York lawyer Ray Beckerman runs Recording Industry vs The People which among other things, high-lights some of the worst examples of how the music industry cartel persecutes men, women and even children. The site also carries links to court documents and lists lawyers who are currently defending Big Four victims.
The labels have numerous faux 'trade' units fronting for them and in the US, it's the mis-named RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) owned by EMI (Great Britain), Vivendi Universal (France) Sony BMG (Japan and Germany) and, finally, Warner Music (US).
Here's Beckerman's latest on the RIAA in Action.
The RIAA lawsuits pit a small number of very large recording companies against individuals who have paid for an internet access account.
On the plaintiff's end, the owners of the underlying copyrights in the musical compositions are not involved in the case; neither are many smaller record companies.
As to the defendants, since no investigation is made to ascertain that the defendant is actually someone who engaged in peer to peer file sharing of copyrighted music without authorization, there are many defendants who have no idea why they are being sued and who did nothing even arguably violative of anyone's copyright. Defendants have included people who have never even used a computer, and many people who although they have used a computer, have never engaged in any peer to peer file sharing.
Sometimes the cases are misleadingly referred to as cases against 'downloaders'; in fact the RIAA knows nothing of any downloading when it commences suit, and in many instances no downloading ever took place.
It is more accurate to refer to the cases as cases against persons who paid for internet access which the RIAA has reason to believe was used by some person -- possibly the defendant, possibly someone else -- to engage in peer to peer file sharing.
Ex parte discovery cases.
At the core of the RIAA lawsuit process, is its initial lawsuit against a group of "John Does".
Here is how it works:
GO HERE TO READ A GOOD ARTICLE
http://p2pnet.net/story/9801?PHPSESSID=b...150d56f4a70a0e8
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7. September 2006 @ 14:10 |
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go here for free beer
http://www.freebeer.org/blog/
Free, as in Beer
Ever since the birth of the free software movement, its defenders have struggled to explain just what "free software" is. If it is free, how do coders eat? And how do businesses that support the software ? IBM, Hewlett-Packard ? make any money from it?
The standard answer has been a slogan: "Think free," the movement's founder, Richard Stallman puts it, "as in free speech, not free beer." You can charge whatever you want for free software. But what you can't do is lock up the knowledge that makes it run. Others must be allowed to learn from and tinker with it. No one is permitted a monopoly on the teaching that stands behind it.
A bunch of Danes, however, apparently didn't get the memo. In June, a Copenhagen artists' collective called Superflex released version 3.0 of a new beer called ? you guessed it ? Free Beer. "Free beer?" you ask. "Think free," Superflex members helpfully explained at the launch, "as in free software." Under the supervision of Birthe Skands, former chief of development at Carlsberg Beer, the brewery is now scaling up quickly to meet unexpectedly high demand. The first batch of 2,850 70-cl bottles (generous at about 24 ounces, so the natural tendency is to share) sold out practically overnight. Distribution deals are being negotiated with other breweries, especially overseas. And Superflex has now established a Free Beer Foundation to spread the profits to other like-minded projects.
What makes Free Beer free is the same thing that makes free software free: Its recipe is open and licensed freely. Anyone can make improvements. But anyone who distributes an improved version must release the changes as well. Superflex keeps a log of the updates at www.freebeer.org, and it will release a new version every six months. Skands is inviting the world to help her make better beer, and in exchange the brewery is keeping the knowledge free for everyone.
Copyright mavens will wonder if such a license could really work in the US (where recipes are not copyrightable). But that quibble has slowed neither this particular "open business" nor the movement of which it is a part. Indeed, we're seeing an explosion of open source businesses. Some are about developing software, like the Firefox browser. Others simply leverage the model of free software to forge a different kind of business, from the wildly popular Web-tagging tool del.icio.us and the blog-tracking search engine Technorati to the extraordinarily successful video site Revver, which embeds an ad bug into freely licensed user-generated videos, then pays the users as the clips spread. All of these businesses build upon the value created by their users, while keeping that value free for others to build upon as well.
When we begin to look at the range of examples ? OpenBusiness.cc has a prominent collection ? we might learn something from the pattern. Some have already seen enough to publish their insights. The short list of these books is led by MIT professor Eric von Hippel's Democratizing Innovation. Open source businesses, von Hippel explains, know that their customers are not idiots. These companies encourage customers to tinker with their products; they then learn from this tinkering how to make the products better. Yochai Benkler's The Wealth of Networks places this commercial practice in a larger and perhaps more significant social context: Although peer production is profitable for business, writes Benkler, "we are in the midst of a quite basic transformation in how we perceive the world around us and how we act, alone and in concert with others." What he calls nonmarket peer production is a critical part of this transformation. The trick is not making it happen, but making it flourish. And if my Wired boss, Chris Anderson, is right (and obviously, he must be) that we've entered the land of the long tail ? where digital technology supports a massively more diverse range of products and models for production ? then, as he puts it, making the consumer a producer is an excellent way to move a business up the long tail. In this model, free knowledge can drive a particular kind of free market ? at least a kind that seems to flourish in a digital world.
Stallman is annoyed that Superflex calls its project "open source beer": "You should have called it 'free software beer,'" he said prior to the Free Beer launch. But he no doubt recognizes the potential of this hack. As thousands are surprised by the quality of this fantastic beer yet puzzled by its name, at least some will read the explanation prominently printed on its large and striking label. And a few of those may then think a bit more about what helps innovation flourish. It's not any magic word, like free or open. It is instead a practice that encourages the widest range of innovators. Superflex has inspired this practice with beer. And perhaps with much more as well.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.09/posts.html?pg=6
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 7. September 2006 @ 14:14
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7. September 2006 @ 16:06 |
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Microsoft Confirms New Word Zero Day Attack
ms There's another Microsoft Word zero day attack under way. Microsoft on Sept. 5 confirmed that malicious attackers are exploiting a new, undocumented flaw in Word 2000 to load back-door Trojans on Windows machines.
The acknowledgment follows a warning from anti-virus vendor Symantec that the threat was detected in the wild targeting Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP systems.Microsoft Confirms New Word Zero-Day Attack Linked by shanmuga Wed Sep6 2006 10:18pm EDT
Microsoft Confirms New Word Zero-Day Attack
By Ryan Naraine
There's another Microsoft Word zero-day attack under way.
ADVERTISEMENT
Microsoft on Sept. 5 confirmed that malicious attackers are exploiting a new, undocumented flaw in Word 2000 to load back-door Trojans on Windows machines.
The acknowledgment follows a warning from anti-virus vendor Symantec that the threat was detected in the wild targeting Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP systems.
A spokesman for Microsoft said the Redmond, Wash., vendor's security response team has investigated the report and concluded that the attack is limited to users of Word 2000. "[We are aware of] an attack scenario that involves malware known as Win32/Wordjmp and Win32/Mofeir," the spokesman said, adding that definition updates have been rolled out to the company's free Windows Live OneCare safety scanner for detection and removal.
Security alerts aggregator Secunia rates the flaw as "extremely critical" and urged Word users to avoid opening Word documents from untrusted sources.
The FrSIRT vulnerability research team described the bug as a "memory corruption error" that occurs when Word 2000 handles a malformed document. "[This] could be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary commands by tricking a user into opening a specially crafted Word document," FrSIRT said in a published advisory.
http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,13...3129TX1K0000628
Microsoft Confirms New Word Zero-Day Attack
By Ryan Naraine
September 5, 2006
Be the first to comment on this article
There's another Microsoft Word zero-day attack under way.
ADVERTISEMENT
Microsoft on Sept. 5 confirmed that malicious attackers are exploiting a new, undocumented flaw in Word 2000 to load back-door Trojans on Windows machines.
The acknowledgment follows a warning from anti-virus vendor Symantec that the threat was detected in the wild targeting Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP systems.
A spokesman for Microsoft said the Redmond, Wash., vendor's security response team has investigated the report and concluded that the attack is limited to users of Word 2000. "[We are aware of] an attack scenario that involves malware known as Win32/Wordjmp and Win32/Mofeir," the spokesman said, adding that definition updates have been rolled out to the company's free Windows Live OneCare safety scanner for detection and removal.
Security alerts aggregator Secunia rates the flaw as "extremely critical" and urged Word users to avoid opening Word documents from untrusted sources.
PointerMicrosoft advises: Use Microsoft Word in safe mode. Click here to read more.
The FrSIRT vulnerability research team described the bug as a "memory corruption error" that occurs when Word 2000 handles a malformed document. "[This] could be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary commands by tricking a user into opening a specially crafted Word document," FrSIRT said in a published advisory.
Symantec said its virus hunters intercepted a double-barreled attack that comes with a Trojan dropper and a back-door worm. The dropper, identified as Trojan.Mdropper.Q, is used to distribute two pieces of malware?clipbook.exe and clipbook.dll?on the infected system.
The two files are linked to Backdoor.Femo, a Trojan horse with process injection capabilities.
eWEEK.com Special Report: Worm Attacks
The back door listens for the commands from a remote attacker and could be used to access the Windows command shell, run executable files, delete/create files and folders, or download additional files from the Internet.
The latest attack follows similar exploits targeting unpatched flaws in Microsoft Office programs. Since July, there have been separate zero-day attacks using specially rigged Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.
In 2005, Microsoft shipped patches for five flaws affecting all versions of Office. In the first eight months of 2006, that number skyrocketed to 24.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2012375,00.asp
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7. September 2006 @ 17:37 |
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Universal back catalogue to be made freely available by Xmas
Posted by Seán Byrne on 08 September 2006 - 02:29 - Source: HEXUS.net
With Napster and other online unlimited music download services having little luck taking on Apple and the Internetional Federation of Phonographic Industries currently estimating a ratio of 40 illegal downloads to every legal download, it seems like the only other way of competing is to not charge for the tracks at all. Well, this is exactly what Spiralfrog is planning to do once it launches its service in December later this year. It will rely fully on advertising to cover the cost of the music it will offer.
The site already has heavy backing from Vivendi Universal Music Group and will make Universal's entire back catalogue available free of charge via its service, along with recent hits. The service will also make music available from various Independent labels, including video content and will be mainly targetted at the 13 to 34 year old age group.
It is unclear at this time what audio codec and bitrate will be used for the music offered with this service and what (if any) players the music can be transferred to, however it is fairly clear that some DRM scheme will be put in place. Should this service turn out to be a major success, there is a good chance that the other big players including Sony BMG, Warner and EMI will follow, not to mention what may happen with Apple. Thanks to our reviewer and section administrator Womble for letting us know about this news:
It had to happen. A new legal music download service will be launched in December which will offer MP3s free at the point of delivery. New York-based Spiralfrog says its site will be fully funded by advertising.
The firm has some heavyweight backing in the shape of Vivendi Universal Music Group. Research apparently revealed consumers were willing to suffer ads for products relevant to them in exchange for free tunes.
Spiralfrog says it will make the entire Universal back catalogue available at no charge, including current hit parade favourites like Razorlight and Johnny Hallyday, together with its roster of classics from the likes of Stevie Wonder. Independent labels will be hosted too, along with video content.
As DRM is here to stay for a good while to come, never mind getting more sophisticated all the time, this alone may make many think twice of getting crippled music, even if it is available free of charge. As it is unclear how the music will be offered, there is even a chance that the music may be stream-only, which obviously would be of no use to anyone wishing to carry their music on the move or build up their own personal collection. On the other hand, I could easily see Napster really taking off if they offered unlimited tracks free of DRM and time limits. However, the main issue in this case would be that some consumers may grab all the music they can straight away and stop paying the subscription.
Feel free to discuss about online music services and avoiding the scams on our forum.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/13925
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8. September 2006 @ 06:27 |
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What?s the world?s fastest browser?
* 7 September 2006
* Ashton Mills
* Linux, Internet
Oh sure, the following tests aren?t as scientific as putting all the browsers in a ring and seeing which one is left standing after the fight, but it?s close.
Before we begin however, the new contender: Swiftfox.
Firefox, which we all know and love, has in recent times been accused of putting on weight and slipping back the bulky days of Mozilla, the very thing its birth was supposed to be an escape from. The draw cards of Firefox?s first releases were speed and simplicity.
While I personally don?t think Firefox has strayed far from this, there are those who feel otherwise ? like the chaps behind Swiftfox.
Swiftfox is Firefox with a few key differences ? it?s compiled with optimised flags for various CPU architectures, and it drops some of the more recent bulk ? such as the depedencies on the Pango libraries (used in part for international font rendering).
It?s only available for Linux, but as Firefox is open source, there?s nothing stopping someone building a Swiftfox for Windows.
Swiftfox has gained a rapid following for being noticeably faster, so I was curious to see if this was the case. Armed with my Ubuntu install, and specialised ?benchmarking toolkit? (read: bag of chips, coke, and a stopwatch), I sat down to see if Swiftfox could live up to its moniker using the AMD64 optimised binary for Ubuntu on my AMD64 4400+ system.
If you want seriously hardcore Web standards benchmarking, throw your browser through the Acid2 test, which is really what it?s all about. But here, we?re looking for speed, and for this there?s nothing better than Scragz? quick and dirty browser rendering benchmark. So, onto the results!
First, a baseline under Windows:
(32-bit) Internet Explorer 6: 3.76 seconds
(32-bit) 1.5.0.6 Firefox: 5.03
(32-bit) 9.01 Opera: 4.89
Well there?s a nice surprise! Even the aging IE6 bundled with Windows XP is a fair bit faster at the testpage than Firefox and Opera. But lets see how things fare under 64-bit Ubuntu and if Swiftfox lives up to its name:
(64-bit) 1.5.0.6 Firefox: 4.75 seconds
(32-bit) 1.5.0.6 Firefox: 4.79
(32-bit) 1.5.0.6 Swiftfox: 4.67
Well, Swiftfox is indeed faster ? by about 1.7%. Not really that much to write home about, but your mileage may vary. And plausibly, the 64-bit version of Firefox is flea?s sneeze faster than the 32-bit version. While we?re here, what about the two default browsers for the KDE and Gnome desktops, common to most Linux distributions:
(64-bit) 3.5.2 Konqueror: 3.75 seconds
(64-bit) 2.4.1.1 Epiphany: 4.69
Now there?s another surprise. Not only is the default (and often overlooked) Gnome browser Epiphany rendering almost as fast as Swiftfox, but Konqueror (KDE?s default browser) blows them all away, running head to head with IE on Windows.
So there you go. You want speed, it?s Konqueror or, yes, IE. And, to be fair, while Swiftfox wasn?t exactly leaps it does actually startup noticeably faster than Firefox, which is nice.
Do you notice rendering speed differences between browsers? And which is your preferred choice and why?
http://www.apcstart.com/site/amills/2006...fastest-browser
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8. September 2006 @ 06:34 |
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FREE,ULTIMATE DATA RECOVERY..........
Ultimate Data Recovery will quickly and easily recover deleted files emptied from the Windows Recycle Bin, or lost due to the format or corruption of a hard drive, virus or trojan infection, unexpected system shutdown or software failure.....(free).....GO THERE!
http://www.mispbo.com/index.htm
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8. September 2006 @ 07:03 |
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warning,warning,warning
Warning on exploding Soniq DVD players in Australia
Posted by Dan Bell on 08 September 2006 - 13:50 - Source: Adelaide Now
GristyMcFisty used our news submit to tell us about yet another defective device, that could cause serious injury to the user. The battery is of course to blame once again. Only this time, it's a Soniq portable DVD player. There are so far, (as of September 1) three known cases of exploding batteries in SA alone.
Consumers are being warned not to use the portable Soniq DVD player because the battery pack has exploded in several cases.
More than 15,000 of the players have been sold through JB Hi-Fi Stores across Australia between June 13, 2005 and July 2, 2006.
Consumer Affairs Minister Jennifer Rankine has asked the retailer to recall the item and replace the dangerous compenent. Can you imagine one of these malfunctioning on an airliner?
The Australian importer of the Soniq DVD has organised a supply of safe replacement batteries. Consumers can contact Quality IT Electronics in Victoria on 1300 765 663 or by visiting www.qualityit.com.au/recall.
Safety recall over exploding battery
CONSUMERS have been warned not to use a portable Soniq DVD player because it has faulty battery packs that are known to explode.
Consumer Affairs Minister Jennifer Rankine said 15,000 of the DVD players had been sold nationwide through JB HiFi stores between June 13, 2005, and July 2, 2006, and that she was surprised someone had not yet been seriously injured.
"A consumer was using the DVD player when a battery pack exploded, causing a fire and damaging their carpet," Ms Rankine said.
"Clearly, they are quite dangerous.
"These are exactly the type of products parents would buy for their kids for long car trips, or for use in caravans and those sort of circumstances."
She said there had been three known cases of the packs exploding in SA alone.
Ms Rankine said she was disappointed JB HiFi had not reported the fault.
The company had agreed to withdraw the product only after being contacted by Consumer Affairs, which had been contacted by a consumer.
"We would prefer companies let us know if they find fault with a product," she said.
"In fact, these companies can be held accountable if something does happen to someone and so it is in their interest to do so."
The recall comes just days after a worldwide recall by U.S. computer giant Dell, of about 4.1 million faulty batteries.
The lithium-ion batteries with cells made by a Sony Corp subsidiary in Japan could overheat and cause a fire.
The Australian importer of the Soniq DVD has organised a supply of safe replacement batteries. Consumers can contact Quality IT Electronics in Victoria on 1300 765 663 or by visiting
www.qualityit.com.au/recall
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story...5006301,00.html
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8. September 2006 @ 07:16 |
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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT HAVING A WEB SITE IN THE UNITED STATES.
Xanga fined $1 million under child-privacy act
By Caroline McCarthy
Staff writer, CNET News.com
Published: September 8, 2006, 7:40 AM PDT
Tell us what you think about this storyTalkBack E-mail this story to a friendE-mail View this story formatted for printingPrint Add to your del.icio.usdel.icio.us Digg this storyDigg this
Xanga.com, a social networking and blog site, has been ordered to cough up $1 million in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
The FTC said in a statement Thursday that Xanga, which has been in operation since 1999, had been letting people create accounts even if the dates of birth they entered indicated that they were under the age of 13. The terms of the child-privacy act, enacted in 1998, stipulate that parental notification and consent are required in order for a commercial Web site, including a social networking service, to collect personal information from children under the age of 13.
In addition, the FTC alleged that Xanga's policies regarding children were not sufficiently clear on its site and that parents were not provided a means to access and control their children's information. It is estimated that over the past five years, a total of 1.7 million Xanga accounts had been registered with a birth date that implied the person was under 13. Overall, privately held Xanga has 25 million registered users.
The $1 million penalty is the largest fine ever imposed for a violation under the child-privacy act, the FTC said. Mitchell Katz, an FTC spokesman, said the highest fine previously was $475,000 collected in 2004 from UMG Recordings and Bonzi Software in a dual settlement. In that situation, personal information was similarly collected from people who registered with birth dates that indicated they were under 13, and no parental notification was given.
Xanga CEO John Hiler said in a statement in response to the settlement that many of the 1.7 million "under 13" birth dates may have actually referred to pet birthdays, engagement dates and "born-again" dates for religious bloggers. Nevertheless, Hiler's statement also announced that Xanga is initiating new rules and standards to make the site better attuned to child safety.
http://news.com.com/Xanga+fined+1+millio...ml?tag=nefd.top
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Advertisement
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8. September 2006 @ 07:25 |
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WARNING,WARNING,WARNING
Websense: Samsung site hosts Trojan
Malicious software that steals passwords sits on Samsung server and is spread by spam and IM messages, says security firm.
By Munir Kotadia
Special to CNET News.com
Samsung Electronics' U.S. Web site is hosting a Trojan horse that logs keystrokes, disables antivirus applications and steals online banking access codes, according to Internet security firm Websense.
GO HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE
http://news.com.com/Websense+Samsung+sit...ml?tag=nefd.top
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 8. September 2006 @ 07:26
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