German scientist cracks secret mobile phone code

A German computer scientist has cracked the secret algorithm used to maintain privacy in the conversations of cell phone users.

Karsten Nohl worked with a team for the last five months and finally cracked the code used to encrypt calls using GSM technology.

The findings can allow anyone to listen to private phone conversations.

Speaking at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin he said his conclusions proved that security of GSM, the most used mobile technology in the world, was "inadequate".

"We are trying to inform people about this widespread vulnerability," the BBC quoted Nohl as saying.

The expert added: "We hope to create some additional pressure and demand from customers for better encryption."

However, the GSM Association (GSMA), which created the code, said Nohl''s work would be "highly illegal" in Britain and many other countries.

A spokesperson said: "This isn''t something that we take lightly at all."

But Nohl insists that he spoke to lawyers before releasing his work publicly and said it was "legal".

Talking about his study Nohl said: "Any cryptographic function is a one way street…You should not be able to decrypt without the secret key".

To break the code Nohl and others computer networks to look through "every possible combination" of inputs and outputs. Nohl pointed out there were "trillions" of possibilities.

All the outputs are now listed in a vast table.

Nohl explained: "It''s like a telephone book - if someone tells you a name you can look up their number."

The codebook, a "beefy gaming computer and 3,000 dollars worth of radio equipment" would enable anyone to decipher signals from billions of people around the world using GSM technology, he stated.

The GSMA says the technology would remain unaffected by the new research, since there had been "a number" of such studies describing how A5/1 algorithm could be broken but "none to date have led to a practical attack".

The spokesperson added: "All in all, we consider this research, which appears to be motivated in part by commercial considerations, to be a long way from being a practical attack on GSM.

Facebook ‘makes loneliness worse’

Whilesocial networking sites like Facebook are keeping people more connected than ever, loneliness is still a problem, especially among young people.

In fact, young people are worried more about loneliness than the elderly, according to a new survey by the Samaritans. 21 per cent of those aged between 18 and 24 said that it was one of their main worries, compared with 8 per cent of over-55s.

Leanne Rivers, the co-director of the Samaritans’ Central London branch, said that the explosion of social networking sites had added to the problem.

“Social networking has not helped because it is a remote contact. Some young people don’t have any real friends,” Times Online quoted Rivers as saying.

“They are completely surrounded by people, but they can still be lonely because they are not able to make lasting bonds,” Rivers added.

The trend has been highlighted by a new website, uSocial. net, which offers visitors the chance to purchase friends on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter

What happens to your email account after you die

Saving that parting e-mail from your first love in your inbox? Well, chances are, after you pass away, your spouse and the entire family will know about the long held secret.

This is because web email services like Hotmail and Gmail do not let users specify what should happen to their messages when they die.

In fact, email services owned by Internet giants like Google and Microsoft have a policy of keeping your data after you die and letting your next of kin or the executor of your estate access it.

These services can hold tens of thousands of messages.

Accounts with Google''s Gmail can hold up to 7GB - or roughly 70,000 emails with a small to medium picture attached to each and they archive the messages you''ve written as well as received.

When it comes to deleting the data, Microsoft''s Hotmail will remove an account if it is inactive for 270 days, while Gmail leaves the responsibility to the next of kin.

Of the top three providers, only Yahoo! refuses to supply emails to anyone after the user has died. The user''s next of kin can ask for the account to be closed, but cannot gain access to it.

A Yahoo! spokesperson said the only exception to this rule would be if the user specified otherwise in their will.

Meanwhile, social-networking site Facebook has recently publicised a feature called memorialisation that lets the family of deceased users keep their profile page online as a virtual tribute.

MySpace, on the other hand, says it addresses the issue of family access to sensitive data on a "case by case basis".

A spokesperson for MySpace could not rule out letting a user''s next of kin log into their profile - potentially giving them access to private messages. (ANI)

India’s first Android tablet PC - ‘Adam’ - to be unveiled at CES next month

Next month's Consumer Electric Show (CES) in Las Vegas, US, will likely witness the unveiling of India's first Google Android OS-based touchscreen tablet PC, developed by a Hyderabad-based startup - Notion Ink, which was founded in February this year.

Designed and developed by six IIT graduates and an MBA, the Indian Android device, dubbed Adam, will expectedly be a ground-breaking product that will draw a gigantic customer base. As per the media reports, Notion Ink's 'Adam' - developed in partnership with National Institute of Design (NID), Bangalore - features a writable 10.1-inch touchscreen from Pixel Q, is powered by NVIDIA's Tegra T20 chipset.

The other notable features of the 770-gram device include 32GB data storage; Bluetooth; Wi-Fi connectivity; 48 hours standby battery; and a 3-megapixel digital camera with auto focus, and video recording.

The 'Adam' will be available for less than Rs 14,000 ($300) in India, and for less than $400 (Rs 18,800) in the US.

Talking about the unveiling of the 'Adam' at the forthcoming CES, Rohan Shravan, Notion Ink founder and director Creatives, pointed the Android usage issue on PC, and said in a blog: "There are lots of issues for Android to be used on the big screen. We are going to fix it, but will not showcase in CES this time. There are going to be a lot of User Interface changes in the final product."

Chinese author Mian Mian sues Google over copyright issues

Chinese novelistMian Mian has suedGoogleover its plan to create an online library.

And now a Beijing judge has told the author to hold settlement talks with the search giant.

After a two-hour hearing, the court ordered both sides to talk but did not set a deadline for reporting back, according to the author''s lawyer.

Mian Mian is seeking damages of 61,000 yuan (or 8,950 dollars) and a public apology, reports the BBC.

She filed the lawsuit in October after Google scanned one of her books, ‘Acid House’, into its library.

Google said it had removed the book as soon as it learned of the lawsuit, but had no further comment on the case.

And Mian Mian is not the only writer who has complained about copyright issues raised byGoogle''s online library.

The China Written Works Copyright Society is also looking for compensation for other Chinese authors whose work is included in the project.

In France, a court ordered Google to stop digitising French books without the publisher''s approval.

In the US, Google agreed a 125 million dollar settlement with American authors and publishers - although this is still waiting for final court approval. (ANI)

New online virus threat comes via banner ads

Cologne, Germany - Recently, criminals managed to place a doctored banner ad carrying a virus on the homepage of the New York Times, a mainstay of American journalism.

The fact they could do so is bad enough. Worse: it's not an isolated case. It's becoming more and more common for unsuspecting computer users to accidentally pull Trojan horses and other damaging programmes onto their computer via these ads.

"They're becoming more popular," says Frank Felzmann of the German Federal Office forInformation Security (BSI). The first wave of these new viruses came to light at the start of 2008, says Christiane Ruetten of c't, a Germancomputer magazine. Since then, a variety of attacks like the one on the New York Times have been recorded.

Like any standard virus attack, the goal is usually malicious. Sometimes it's to bring as many computers as possible under the control of someone with a botnet network for distributing spam. Others are looking to steal a little money from the owners of the hijacked machines, perhaps by smuggling in a programme to steal information about online banking.

And how are they doing this? Usually they lodge their programme into the source code of a banner ad put up by a law-abiding company by accessing its flash data.

"It's packaged with a script that means that all a user has to do it look at the website to get routed to a malicious site," explains Candid Wueest of Symantec, a producer of security software. Like an online version of a drive-by shooting, a Trojan is introduced into the system that easily.

Other viruses have to coerce users into actually clicking on the banner, which means they get a warning telling them their computer is infected with "this or that number of dangerous programmes," says Felzmann.

"Then, some advertising for a fee-based programme, so-called scare or rogue ware, pops up." In a best-case scenario, those programmes are useless. In a worst case scenario, the programme doesn't install helpful software, but instead a programme which goes on to download yet another Trojan.

What can a person do? The first step is developing a healthy mistrust of banner ads with unheard of products. Felzmann advises avoiding programmes with names like Antivirus-Doctor '09 or Removal Tool 2010, since they could be the work of swindlers.

"The manipulated banner ads I've seen had no connection to well-known products," said Ruetten.

Safety minded computer users won't just avoid dubious computer tools, but will take the more important step of protecting their computer.

"Even Mac users aren't 100 per cent secure," warns Frank Ackermann, an IT security expert with the industry association eco. That means keeping the operating system, software like Flash Player, the browser, the anti-virus programme and the firewall all up-to-date.

Additionally, even if it means having to click a few extra times or limiting the function of some websites, it's always advisable to switch off functions like ActiveX, JavaScript or Flash, says Ackermann, because all are standard targets for criminals.

Another option is to make sure a person's computer is set so ads can only activate upon the customer's request and only after the request is verified separately. (dpa)

Mumbai City to get second cable bridge

Mumbai’s first cable-stayedbridge — the Bandra Worli sealink — has become the latest landmark for the city. If things go as planned, the city will soon have another cable-stayed bridge.

Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd. (MMOPL) that is building the Verosva-Andheri-Ghatkopar metro line is now building a 39-metre high (about 10-storey high) cable-stayed bridge over the Jog flyover, in Andheri (East). The flyover is on the Western Express Highway.

“The Jog flyover is already built at a great height and we had to provide additional clearance over it,” said a senior official of MMOPL. “The height made it necessary that we construct a cable- stayed bridge.”

The 175-metre long cable-stayed bridge will allow the metro line to glide 6.5 metres above the 13 metre high flyover. The bridge will consist of two cable spans, which will hold the bridgetogether.

Construction of the Rs 16-crore bridge has already begun and is expected to be complete by April 2010. The bridge is being constructed with the help of VSL, a Switzerland-based company specializing in construction of cable-stayed bridges.

A cable-stayed bridge is built with one or more columns — called towers or pylons — with cables supporting the bridge’s deck. Cable-stayed bridges help minimise the construction of columns on land and are generally used where there are obstacles.

The need for a cable-stayed bridge over the Jog flyover was felt as the flyover had become an impediment to the construction of the elevated metro line.

MMOPL is building the Rs 2,356 crore Versova Andheri Ghatkopar Line, the first metro line in the city, which is expected to be complete by December 2010.

The upcoming bridge will be much smaller than the Bandra-Worli sealink, which is 5.6-km long. Vidyasagar Setu, built over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, is the longest cable-stayedbridge in India and one of the longest in Asia. It links the city of Howrah to its twin city of Kolkata.

Google reportedly planning to launch its own mobile

New York, Dec 27 - Google reportedly hopes to strengthen its presence in the world of mobiletelephony with plans to introduce its own high-tech phone sometime in 2010, according to press reports.

Reports by the Wall Street Journaland other outlets cite sources close to Googlestating that the company, known primarily for its online search functions, is expected to release a phone dubbed Nexus One that runs Google's Android operating system.

However, the company hopes to sell the phone directly to consumers, skipping mobile service providers, which often package their services with hardware from other companies. That means

customers will either have to use their existing mobile phone contract with the Nexus or arrange for a new one.

The new phones will reportedly be manufactured by Taiwanese phone maker HTC, reported TechCrunch, a technology blog. HTC already produces several phones that use Android.

With Google in the lead, the two companies developed Android, which relies primarily onGoogle's online services for mobile internet functions. However, until now, Google has always relied on

other companies, like HTC, Samsung or Motorola, to provide network support and hardware.

Google recently reported in a blog entry that it was letting some of its employees test a newmobile device, but provided no further details. The company is seen by many to be one of the up-and-coming players in the mobile phone market. Google believes it can leverage its strong position in online advertising to similar strengths within the mobile market. (dpa)

Opera upgrades browser to block Chinese users from Facebooking

Beijing, Nov. 25 : Chinese Internet users would no longer be able to access Facebook, as the web browser Opera has upgraded itsChinese version closing a loophole that allowed users to access websites banned by the government.

Mobile users of the Opera Mini browser were asked to upgrade to a Chinese version at this weekend, BBC reports.

Opera confirmed that it had started directing users of the international version of the mobile browser to the Chinese version on 20 November.

"The difference between the Chinese and the international version is that the former connects to compression servers within China..... benefits are higher speed, lower costs and an overall improved mobile web browsing experience," the firm said in a statement.

Earlier, traffic ran over Opera servers bypassing the so-called Great Firewall of China, making the browser popular with Chinese users.

The company was not prepared to discuss the "background for this decision".

Chinese bloggers had a plenty of speculation on the firm’s decision.

"Let me guess what has happened here. The Chinese government has put pressure on Opera to close down that free access. And like most companies, they complied," wrote blogger Carsten Ullrich. (ANI)

Now, glass toaster that lets you see your bread as it browns

London, Dec 26 : Burnt toast may soon be history, thanks to a glass toaster.

The revolutionary toasterlets a person see his/her bread as it browns, reports The Times.

The device working: bread is placed between two sheets of heated glass and cooked in full view so a person can eject his/her slice at the right moment.

Melinda Hart, of the product developer Inventables, said: “This idea is based on a transparent heating glass technology.” (ANI)

Google upgrades search technology

- Google unveiled new features for its signature search tools Monday, including an ability to search by sight, a mobile translator and a real-time search of more than 1 billion new social media pages created every day.

Google executives showed off the upgrades at an annual company event called Searchology.
The search engine giant said it was working to tie its search service more closely to cellphones. It showed off a new search option called Google Goggles that allows users to submit pictures rather than key words as queries, which would allow for identification of images taken via cellphones.
"It is our goal to be able to identify any image," said Google's vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra. "It represents our earliest efforts in the field of computer vision. You can take a picture of an item, use that picture of whatever you take as the query."
Gundotra said the company has the capability of integrating facial recognition into thetechnology but was delaying the implementation while it considered the privacy implications.
"For this product, we made the decision not to do facial recognition," Gundotra said. "We still want to work on the issues of user opt-in and control. We have the technology to do the underlying face recognition, but we decided to delay that until safeguards are in place."
Future search results would feature the company's "near me now" technology that will prioritize location-based items, he said.
Gundotra also showed off the search engine's ability to translate a spoken phrase from English to Spanish using a mobile phone. The translator feature will become available early next year and Google will rapidly expand the number of languages it can use, Gundotra said.
"Our goal at Google is nothing less than being able to support all the major languages of the world," he said.
The real time search technology is a product of partnerships announced Monday with Facebook and MySpace. Google already had an agreement with microblogging site Twitter, and said that the new search would be rolled out worldwide in the coming days. (dpa)

Iranian Cyber Army ‘hacks’ Twitter

London, Dec 19 : Popular social networking site Twitter has been attacked by a group claiming to be the Iranian Cyber Army that directs web users to a page containing anti-America messages.

The page containing political messages shows an image of Arabic text overlaid on a green flag carrying the name of the third Shi''i Imam, ImamHusayn.

Twitter bosses have said they would start an investigation into what allowed the "unplanned downtime" to take place.

It also included a poem in Persian, which said: "We shall strike if the leader orders, we shall lose our heads if the leader wishes."

Also included were the words: "Those that wage fight on the path of God win."

Soon after the images appeared Twitter went offline. About an hour later the site appeared to be working normally.

A post on the Twitter status blog said: "We are working to recovery (sic) from an unplanned downtime and will update more as we learn the cause of this outage."

Twitter has admitted that its Domain Name System (DNS) records had been "temporarily compromised". It said it was looking into what happened.

DNS acts as the address books for the internet. It tells browsing software where to find the computers hosting a particular webpage.

By attacking the DNS servers the hackers were able to re-direct Twitter users.

"These changes mean that when you or I type a website address into our browsers, we are directed not to the real website but to a second site, set up by the hackers, in this case the ''Iranian Cyber Army''," BBC News quoted Rik Ferguson from security firm Trend Micro as saying.

Ferguson said such attacks were typically a result of politically motivated hacking or "hacktivism". (ANI)

IBM reveals 5 innovations that will change cities

IBM has unveiled a list of innovations that have the potential to change how people live, work and play in cities around the globe over the next five to ten years: 




·         Cities will have healthier immune systems


·         City buildings will sense and respond like living organisms


·         Cars and city buses will run on empty


·         Smarter systems will quench cities' thirst for water and save energy


·         Cities will respond to a crisis -- even before receiving an emergency phone call

DDoS attack hobbles major sites, including Amazon

An attack directed at the DNS provider for some of the Internet's larger e-commerce companies--including Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Expedia--took several Internet shopping sites offline Wednesday evening, two days before Christmas.

Neustar, the company that provides DNS services under the UltraDNS brand name, confirmed an attack took place Wednesday afternoon, taking out sites or rendering them extremely sluggish for about an hour. A representative who answered the customer support line said the attacks were directed against Neustar facilities in Palo Alto and San Jose, Calif., and Allen Goldberg, vice president of corporate communications for Neustar, confirmed that at about 4:45 p.m. PST, "our alarms went off."

Goldberg said the company received a disproportionately high number of queries coming into the system, and analyzed it as an attack. Neustar deployed "a mitigation response" within minutes of the attack, he said, and brought matters under control within an hour. The response limited the problems to Northern California, he said.

In addition to the high-profile sites, dozens of smaller sites that rely upon Amazon for Web-hosting services were also taken down by the attack. Amazon's S3 and EC2 services were affected by the problems, according to Jeff Barr, Amazon's lead Web Evangelist, who retweeted a report to that effect without clarification and confirmed it in later tweets.

For a brief period Wednesday evening, "ultradns" was the top search term on Google, likely as frantic technicians at Web sites attempted to figure out what was going on with their sites.

Web sites need DNS providers to translate the character-based URLs that people can remember to the IP addresses that Web sites actually use to list themselves on the Internet. When a DNS provider is overwhelmed with malicious requests for IP addresses, the system can overload and prevent legitimate users from reaching their destinations.

Amazon's Web Services Health Dashboard declared an all-clear around 6:40 p.m. PST, saying that DNS resolution had returned to normal. Amazon and several other big sites seemed to recover around 5:40 p.m., but some other sites continued to report problems until around 6 p.m.

Needless to say, the timing of such an outage could not have been much worse, as holiday procrastinators rushed to make sure they could get one-day shipping for gifts to be delivered before Christmas Day on Friday.

Wolf Austad, a CNET reader, wrote in around 5:00 p.m. PST Wednesday to report that a last-minute gift purchase for his wife from Amazon.com had gone awry. He later reported that his transaction was stored in Amazon.com's history once he was able to get back into the site. However, "now I need to explain to my wife why she is getting her gift on the 26th," he wrote in an e-mail.

UltraDNS suffered a similar attack earlier this year, which took out Amazon, Salesforce.com, and other sites. Goldberg described Wednesday's attack as smaller than that one, in that it affected fewer customers.

However, Amazon is no small customer. Goldberg declined to comment on specific customers affected by the outage, and said Neustar had not yet determined the source of the attack.

One expert thought the attack might have been more widespread.

"This was wider than just UltraDNS," said Bill Woodcock, research director at Packet Clearing House, which operates domain name servers and supports Internet exchange points around the globe.

"It's difficult to tell at this point how much is a DDoS attack and how much is collateral damage from the attack that is being felt in other ways," like a domino effect, he said. "There were routing problems at some major European exchanges at the same time that caused major Internet service providers' routers to encounter a higher load and pass fewer packets."

URL Shortener by Google – Goo.gl

After facebook just launched their url shortener, Google has also joined the party with their own version of URL shortener – Goo.gl.

The Google URL shortener currently doesn’t work as stand-alone service as you can’t use it to shorten links directly (like you do with bit.ly). However Google URL Shortener is available from the Google Toolbar and FeedBurner. If the service proves useful, Google says that they may eventually make it available for a wider audience in the future.

How To Share Pages using Gog.gl?

Sharing pages using Google toolbar is very easy. If your browser already has Google toolbar installed you should see a new green share button (very similar to the shareaholic icon

The Google share option gives you a long list of social websites where you would usually share content (e.g. twitter, facebook, digg and so on). So basically if you use the Google’s toolbar share function to share something, it will automatically use Google’s URL shortener to share the link. However, I have to say that this isn’t working for me for some reason but it looks like others are using it successfully. So give it a try!

Now why should you use Google’s URL Shortener rather than other similar services like tinyurl or bit.ly? Google in their official blog explains 3 major benefits of using their URL shortener:

Stability:Google’s scalable, multi-datacenter infrastructure provides great uptime and a reliable service to our users.

Security: As Google does it with their web search, shortened URLs are automatically checked to detect sites that may be malicious and warn users when the short URL resolves to such sites.

Speed: Google loves fast products and they have worked hard to ensure this service is quick. We’ll continue to iterate and improve the speed of Google Url Shortener.

3 Reasons Mozilla's New Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 Is A Winner

Mozilla recently released Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 with a wide range of improvements for users, including improved browser start-up time and responsiveness.

The new Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 is available for free download and as a free update to all Firefox 3.6 beta users. Here are three reasons Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 is a winner.

1. A faster, more responsive browser

Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 does away with browser latency (that awkward downtime when you click on the browser and there is a delay).

Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 has the ability to run scripts asynchronously. Translated into English: faster page load times.

Remember a browser is all about fast and efficient Web browsing. Think of Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 as an engine that has just gotten new spark plugs. Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 is now firing on all cylinders!

2. Improved video support

Mozilla Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 now supports native video in a full screen format and poster frames. We're living in an internet video age.

This is a major improvement for anyone consuming a significant amount of Web video (all of us!). We love the comment of one Mozilla community member who noted that Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 video is "far better than the current Full Screen Extension which forced a full video restart when switching modes. Neat!" Neat indeed. Better video viewing for Firefox browser users.

3. Increased browser stability

One of the things we love about the Mozilla Firefox community platform is the all-out no holds barred focus on making it the best browser bar none. That means doing the basic blocking and tackling better than the other guys. In this case that means "a change to how third party software integrates with Firefox to increase stability."

Bottom line: The Mozilla community has made some pretty significant changes with regard to how third party software hooks into Firefox 3.6 Beta 5 aimed at eliminating "a good chunk of crashes" without sacrificing a user's ability to add extensions that personalize the browser experience.

The Mozilla community has delivered a bang up new version of Firefox.

March 2010 Pegged For Major Intel, AMD Product Releases

A floodgate of confidential processor roadmap information from Intel appears to have opened up as 2009 winds down, with leaked specs and 2010 availability dates for coming products from the chip giant being splashed across the Internet.

Intel and rival chip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) both appear to have pulled in their release dates of next-generation server products to the first quarter of 2010— setting up the month of March as a marketing battleground for a pair of rivals attempting to recapture business lost in a recessionary 2009.

Add in the expectation that Nvidia will release its first Fermi-class GPU products in the same time frame, and the early spring should be a bonanza of next-generation hardware. Here's a bit of what we've learned in recent weeks—while keeping in mind that an Intel spokesperson contacted by CRN.com declined to comment on "rumor and speculation."

Intel has targeted March 16 for the release of its Xeon 5600 sequence of 32-nanometer Westmere EP server processors for the Tylersburg platform, including several six-core editions, according to an Intel document obtained by CRN.com.

Meanwhile, with upcoming multi-core server processors code named Magny-Cours and Lisbon, AMD will consolidate its next-generation Opteron offerings into two series—the Opteron 6000 series for 2P and 4P/8P servers, and the Opteron 4000 series for 1P and 2P servers. Magny-Cours will be launched on March 29, according to a source with knowledge of AMD's roadmap, while Lisbon is expected in the second quarter of 2010.

On the desktop front, Intel is also expected to release its first six-core client processor, the Core i7-980X, in March. That's another 32nm Westmere-generation part that goes by the code name Gulftown and had been earlier thought to be branded "Core i9." Sources with knowledge of Intel's roadmap have confirmed a March release date.

Finally, the leak-fest continues with pricing and availability for many of the processors listed above, including a $999 price tag for the aforementioned Core i7-980X Extreme Edition chip. AMD's answer to that chip is its own six-core desktop processor codenamed Thuban, scheduled for release in the first half of 2010.

Microsoft Sued By Bing! (And We Don't Mean Its Search Engine)

Just as Microsoft worked out a compromise to its long-running conflict with the European Union, it now faces the prospect of legal action from a pair of small companies the software giant has allegedly wronged.

Last week Microsoft admitted that a Chinese contract developer, hired by MSN China to develop its Juku microblogging site, copied code from Plurk, a competing site. Although Microsoft has apologized for the fiasco, Plurk has hinted that it might take legal action.

Now comes word that a small design firm in St Louis has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, claiming it owns trademark rights to the "Bing!" name Microsoft chose earlier this year for its overhauled search engine.

Last week Bing! Information Designs LLC filed the lawsuit against Microsoft in the 22nd Judicial Circuit of the Missouri Circuit Court in St. Louis charging Microsoft with trademark infringement and unfair competition.

Bing! (the St Louis one) maintains that it has been using the name since 2000. A story in The Seattle Times on Friday quoted the company's attorney, Tony Simon, as saying that since Microsoft rebranded its search engine with the Bing! name earlier this year, clients of the St Louis Bing! are confused and think the design firm is somehow affiliated with Microsoft.

The company is seeking "actual and punitive damages," including having Microsoft pay for advertising to reverse the confusion the software vendor has created, according to a Dow Jones Newswire story. The suit does not specify a dollar amount for the alleged damages.

Microsoft spokespersons have said they don't believe the suit has any merit.

One point in Microsoft's defense: While the St Louis Bing! claims that it has been using the name for almost 10 years, the company just filed a trademark application for the name in May—after word began circulating that Microsoft might adopt the name, according to a story published online today by the Guardian newspaper in Britain. Microsoft filed a similar application in March for the Bing! trademark, the story said.

As for the Plurk case, the Canadian company has yet to take legal action, but a posting on the company's blog last week indicated that a lawsuit is likely.

"We are currently looking at all possibilities on how to move forward in response to Microsoft's recent apology statement," said Alvin Woon, Co-founder, Plurk in the blog. "We are still thinking of pursuing the full extent of our legal options available, due [to] the seriousness of the situation. Basically, Microsoft accepts responsibility, but they do not offer accountability."

Court bans sale of Word; Microsoft promises fix

SEATTLE – A federal appeals court ordered Microsoft Corp. to stop selling its Word program in January and pay a Canadian software company $290 million for violating a patent, upholding the judgment of a lower court.

But people looking to buy Word or Microsoft's Office package in the U.S. won't have to go without the software. Microsoft said Tuesday it expects that new versions of the product, with the computer code in question removed, will be ready for sale when the injunction begins on Jan. 11.

Toronto-based i4i Inc. sued Microsoft in 2007, saying it owned the technology behind a tool in the popular word processing program. The technology in question gives Word users an improved way to edit XML, or code that tells the program how to interpret and display a document's contents.

A Texas jury found that Microsoft Word willfully infringed on the patent. Microsoft appealed that decision, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Tuesday upheld the lower court's damage award and the injunction against future sales of infringing copies of Word.

Michel Vulpe, founder and co-inventor of i4i, said in a statement that the company is pleased with the decision, calling it "an important step in protecting the property rights of small inventors."

Microsoft said it has been preparing for such a judgment since August. Copies of Word and Office sold before Jan. 11 aren't affected by the court's decision. And Microsoft said it has "put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature" from versions of Word 2007 and Office 2007 that would be sold after that date.

"Beta" or test versions of Word 2010 and Office 2010, expected to be finalized next year, do not contain the offending code, the software maker said.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft said it may appeal further, asking for either a rehearing in front of the appeals court's full panel of judges or in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Buffalo announces 12x USB 3.0 Blu-ray burner

At a time when USB 3.0 is just around the corner and computer hardware manufacturers are only bucking up for products supporting the new standard, Japanese peripheral and storage vendor Buffalo is all set to roll out the world's first, USB 3.0 powered, 12x Blu-ray burner, BR-X1216U3.

Buffalo's latest burner boasts of up to 12x speed for writing a single or dual layer Blu-ray disc.That means at full speed, this means a 25GB Blu-ray disc can be written in 11 minutes.

The drive can also record low-cost Blu-ray LTH (Low-to-High) discs at 6X, rewritable BD-RE discs at 2X, and DVDs at 16X and 8X for single and dual-layer discs respectively. Moreover, it is also backward compatible to USB 2.0 connections, but will burn your Blu-rays with "just" 7x speed in that case.

Buffalo says they will roll out the burner at the beginning of next month. The product is currently available in Japan for about 39,100 Yen ($449).

Top 10 infected sites from India

India is among the top three countries in the Asia Pacific region that has been impacted by malicious activities in the cyberworld. In its latest security report, Symantec has revealed top 10 infected sites from India as:

lastspy.in
sapesoft.in
automotiveproductsfinder.com
premalayam.in
ashokelectronics.in
apfindia.com
evision.in
mlcuniv.in
pmrtechnologies.in
nagarjunauniversity.ac.in

"In India, a lot of people aren't taking adequate steps to protect themselves. Cybercriminals are actively crawling the internet looking for websites that are available to be compromised. Good websites are being infected everyday," said David Hall, regional consumer product marketing manager at Symantec, Asia Pacific.