30/08/2007 by john.

Sony today announced the availability of two new Series of digital media players – the WALKMAN® A Series and S Series.
The A Series and S Series will support an open platform and include support for Windows Media technology, providing greater choice for downloading and managing music, video and photo collections.
These new WALKMAN® digital media players (NWZ-A810 & NWZ-S510 Series) will support an open platform and include support for Windows Media technology, providing greater choice for downloading and managing music, video and photo collections. Whatever their needs consumers, will now be able to quickly and easily transfer their content from their PCs to their WALKMAN® digital media players.

The players support security-enhanced Microsoft Windows Media Audio (WMA), as well as non-secure AAC and MP3 music formats, plus JPEG files for photos. In addition, the A Series WALKMAN® players support video playback with AVC (H.264/AVC) Baseline Profile and MPEG-4 video codecs.

Users can download movie trailers, music videos, podcasts and clips from a variety of website destinations. As long as the videos are compressed in the appropriate codec, resolution and size they will work with the new WALKMAN® A Series players.

With these new WALKMAN® players, Sony has widened its digital music environment to support Windows Media technology. The company will be moving towards a more open system that gives customers flexibility in their music software approach. As a result, Sony will be phasing out the CONNECT Music Service based on Sony’s ATRAC audio format in Europe. Specific timing will vary by region depending on market demand, but will not be before March 2008.

All of the new players are compatible with security-enhanced Windows Media Audio and support most subscription music services. The new players are also among the first to carry the Certified for Windows Vista (also known as “PlaysForSure”) logo.

To help manage digital music libraries, the new WALKMAN® players come with Microsoft Windows Media Player 11. This familiar interface makes transferring music truly intuitive.

The devices have a standard user interface that makes it easy to enjoy music, videos or pictures. For crystal-clear image quality, the video players have a large Quarter Video Graphics Array (QVGA) LCD screen (320×240 pixels) that displays video at 30 frames per second.

Compatible with other Sony products, the new devices offer instant connectivity with a range of Sony products including PLAYSTATION®3 and the Sony GIGA JUKE®. Sony also offers a range of accessories including a Bluetooth audio transmitter and a host of accessories that allow consumers to wirelessly release their music on the move.

The battery life of the products allows up to eight hours of video playback for the WALKMAN® A810 Series*, and also provides up to 33 hours** of music playback for both Series.

As with all WALKMAN® products, sound quality is unrivalled. The WALKMAN brand has long been associated with the highest quality in audio playback and these new players continue to uphold this standard with the inclusion of Sony’s Clear Audio technologies.
The WALKMAN® players are available in three memory sizes; 2GB, 4GB and 8GB for A Series and 2GB for S Series and there are a variety colour options including: silver, blue, black, white and pink.

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29/08/2007 by john.

This is all needed for Web criminals to earn millions of pounds. Hundreds of Internet pages and forums offer tools needed to infect users

- A Trojan costs between £175 and £350, while lists with one million email addresses are sold for £50

Just over six hundred pounds can buy a cyber-crook the tool needed to turn malicious action into financial profit, according to data from PandaLabs. This is thanks to a black market on the Web where malicious code and tools are available at knock-down prices.

All types of crimeware tools can be bought on hundreds of forums. Even though most Web pages are located in Eastern Europe, Internet mafia networks extend worldwide.

Buying malware

If a cyber-crook wanted to buy a Trojan, say, he would only have to shell out between £175 and £350. A password stealer Trojan for example, costs £300, and a Limbo Trojan–with less features- costs around £250, although they have been sold for as little as £175. They both steal passwords to access online banks. Cyber-crooks would have to pay £250 for a Trojan that captures payment platform accounts, such as Webmoney, although there are often ‘special offers’. In one case, the first 100 buyers only had to pay £200.

The next step is to get a list of email addresses to distribute the Trojan. For this, they only have to visit another web page, where they can get mailing lists of all sizes. Prices vary from £50 per million addresses to £750 for 32 million. If they also want to send links that download the Trojan to instant messaging users, they can buy a million ICQ addresses for £75.

The next step? Making sure antivirus programs will not detect the malicious code. For between one and five dollars per hidden executable, they can hire a service that protects the malware against security tools. If they want to do it themselves, they can get polymorphic encryption software called Polaris for just £10.

The last step is to send emails to distribute the Trojan. For approximately £250, cyber-crooks can rent a spam server. Then, they just have to wait for the victims to be infected.

The profitability of malware

A few simple calculations are all that’s needed to underline how lucrative this activity can be. If a Trojan costs £250 and a million-address mailing list costs around £50, that means £300 is enough to infect a million people. Then add a £10 encryption program and a £250 spam server. With almost a 10 percent (really low) success rate, hackers could infect 100,000 people.

If they then managed to steal bank details from 10 percent of them, it would mean access to 10,000 bank accounts. Just imagine the money the average person has in a current account and multiply it by 10,000 to calculate the cyber-crooks’ profits.

However, emptying thousands of accounts would be very suspicious and crooks seek to obtain money invisibly. They, therefore, only take a small sum of money from each account, a hundred pounds, for example. Multiplied by 10,000, it still totals a million pounds. In other words, cyber-crooks can become millionaires with a £600 investment in very little time. Bearing in mind that very low success ratios were used in the calculations, the amount could be higher in real life.

If you think your computer might have been infected by these or other malicious codes, you can scan it free at www.nanoscan.com

More Information at PandaLabs blog.

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29/08/2007 by john.

COLLISION
6/7/8 September 2007
Art, Sound and Performance Collide in the Dark www.collision.org.uk

A three-night artist led festival on the evenings of 6/7/8 September encompassing live moving image, sound art, sculpture and performance, and the collision of them all on the Saturday night.

Thursday 6 - Moving Image
Film ­ Projection - light
8pm till 12

Friday 7 - Sound
Music - Sound ­ Noise
8pm till late

Saturday 8 - The COLLISION
Visual art ­ performance ­ film - bands - DJs 8pm ’til late

£5 on the door every night or get a festival pass for £8

Area 10 Project Space
Behind Peckham Library
Eagle Wharf
Peckham Hill Street
London
SE15 5QS

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21/08/2007 by john.

Adobe has announced the latest update for Adobe(r) Flash(r) Player 9 software, code-named Moviestar, which includes H.264 standard video support - the same standard deployed in Blu-Ray(r) and HD-DVD(r) high definition video players - and High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) audio support, as well as hardware accelerated, multi-core enhanced full screen video playback. These advancements will extend Adobe’s leadership position in Web video by enabling the delivery of HD television quality and premium audio content through the ubiquitous Adobe Flash Player and pave the way to expand rich media Flash experiences on the desktop and H.264 ready consumer devices. The latest update for Adobe Flash Player 9 will be available in beta for immediate download later today on Adobe Labs at http://labs.adobe.com .

With H.264 encoding already available in Adobe Premiere(r) Pro and Adobe After Effects(r) software, H.264 playback is now enabled in Adobe Flash Player, and will be supported by the Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) and applications developed with Adobe AIR(tm) software, including Adobe Media Player(tm). Adobe AIR is a cross-operating system application runtime that enables developers to use their existing skills to build and deploy rich Internet applications to the desktop. The Adobe Media Player, which leverages Adobe’s Emmy(r) Award winning Flash architecture, delivers engaging video experiences to viewers while offering content publishers new abilities to distribute, track and build businesses around their media assets.

“Adobe is committed to providing a seamless creation-to-playback solution that allows creatives and developers to produce video and rich-media once, and then deploy that content across the widest array of distribution and playback environments,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe. “Already a broadly adopted industry standard, the inclusion of the H.264 codec in Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR, the Creative Suite(r) product line, and the upcoming Adobe Media Player will accelerate customer workflows, enabling the creation and repurpose of high-quality Web video content without extra development costs.”

Broader Reach for Video Consumers
Adobe Flash Player content reaches over 98 percent of Internet-enabled desktops, as well as a wide range of devices. Today, both live and on demand television shows are being delivered online with video that can be viewed using Adobe Flash Player, and the technology also powers the video capabilities of social networking sites such YouTube and MySpace. As Adobe expands Flash experiences outside the Web browser, content can be shared across different devices and people can get great video experiences on the video players of their choice, including the upcoming Adobe Media Player. Consumers can also stream user-generated content such as home movies from Adobe Premiere(r) Elements with Adobe Flash Player and play video movies on handheld, portable devices.

“MTV Networks has consistently led the industry in making its popular music, entertainment and comedy programming available everywhere so our audiences can stay in touch with all the great content they love from CMT, COMEDY CENTRAL, Logo, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike and VH1,” said Nick Rockwell, senior vice president and chief technology officer for MTV Networks. “Flash is an important part of that strategy and Adobe’s support of H.264 in Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR and the upcoming Adobe Media Player will ensure that we continue to deliver high-quality video to our diverse audiences who expect it.”

Content developers can reduce the cost of encoding and preparing data for distribution with H.264 and HE-AAC support in Adobe Flash Player, since these standards are already integrated into their existing authoring workflows. In addition, Adobe is working with an ecosystem of video encoding partners to expand rich media Flash experiences that already support these standards.

Availability
The public beta version of the update to Adobe Flash Player 9 software, code-named Moviestar, which includes H.264 and HE-AAC functionality, will be available later today as a free download from Adobe Labs at http://labs.adobe.com . The final release is expected to be available via update in the fall. Demonstrations of Adobe Flash(r) Media Server and Adobe Flash Media Encoder supporting the new codecs will be held during the IBC 2007 at the RAI Exhibition and Congress Center in Amsterdam, September 7- 11 (Stand 7.721) and again at the Adobe MAX conference in Chicago, which begins September 30th.

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21/08/2007 by john.

The way you watch TV has changed forever! Taking control of what and when you watch has never been simpler. Evesham’s new DTR250 Twin Tuner Digital TV Recorder delivers a wealth of features to ensure you are just a click away from staying in total control of your TV viewing and radio listening.

A combined Digital Terrestrial (Freeview) receiver and Digital Video Recorder the new DTR250 from Evesham gives you access to all free-to-air digital TV channels and radio stations and includes a whopping 250GB HDD to record an extensive amount of TV programmes in digital quality. It includes a comprehensive selection of ports ensuring a phenomenal amount of connectivity options to suit your requirements.

The DTR250 has an automatic channel search facility so set up is not only instant but completely hassle-free and features an easy to read, full 7 day Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) which allows you to pre- schedule your weekly viewing and doubles as a multi guide to schedule recordings quickly and easily up to 7 days in advance.

Recording your favourite programmes couldn’t be simpler, by adding your selections to record with just one touch of a button, the DTR250 automatically records your preset selections until either storage space is filled or until you run out of things you want to record. With Twin Tuners as standard you can even record one Digital TV channel, whilst watching another.

The DTR250 also boasts the Freeview Playback logo certifying it as a high quality product to ensure you get the best TV experience with Freeview. ‘Freeview Playback’ puts you in control of the 40+ Freeview channels currently available, allowing you to watch what you want at a time that suits you. You can record programmes at the touch of a button and can schedule recordings in advance, all that you record can then be played back at anytime, you can even schedule an evenings TV list based on your recordings. Not only can you record your favourite TV programmes, you can also pause and rewind live TV so that if your viewing is interrupted for any reason you can return to the part of the programme you left off or if you miss or simply want to repeat a pivotal moment in a programme you can do so with ease.

All of the DTR250’s features are easily accessible with the supplied fully functioning, user friendly remote control giving you total viewing control at the touch of a button.

The DTR250 is available now for only £169.99 Inc VAT from www.evesham.com.

DTR250 Main Features:

Twin Tuner (DVB-T) – Record one channel while watching another

Time Shift - Pause live TV

One button record

7 Day EPG (Electronic Programme Guide)

Once, daily, weekly programmed event recordings

250Gb HDD

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20/08/2007 by john.

Ministry of Sound Radio have launched a ‘gadget’ for Microsoft Windows Vista. The MoS Radio Gadget sits on users desktops and offers direct one-click access to the very best in dance music from across the globe. The 60 million Vista computer users will now be able to access Ministry of Sound Radio’s world class line-up of DJs who provide the soundtrack for over 100,000 clubbers every month and represent all the different genres of dance.
The Vista Sidebar gadget allows users to easily listen to any of the 13 daily shows from the live stream, or select and skip through the On Demand channels where users can pick exactly what they want to hear, when they want to hear it. The On Demand channels give direct access to the best shows and mixes by genre, including ‘Chill Out’ and the underground ‘Sessions’ mixes, plus a full weekly archive of all the station’s specialist shows. Listeners can pause and skip forwards and backwards at their leisure.
Chris Bailey, Head of Radio at Ministry of Sound comments on the launch of the desktop gadget, “Ministry of Sound Radio is in a truly unique position with access to the best dance music and DJs in the world. For anyone with an interest in dance music, from those with a passing curiosity to a complete music obsessive who lives eats and breathes it, the Ministry of Sound Radio Vista Sidebar Gadget offers something for everyone from the comfort of their computer desktop, whether at home or at work.”
The daytime playlist for Ministry of Sound Radio is unique; a careful balance of the current big floor-filling tracks in dance music, combined with brand new tunes that deserve to be played. Chris continues, “We also feature key dance classics from across the years throughout the day combined with new music, which steps up in the afternoon easing the transition into the evening specialist DJ shows from global headliners such as Jazzy M, Lottie, Allistair Whitehead, Guy Ornadel and Ashley Beedle”.
Chris adds, “While Ministry of Sound is a massively aspirational brand, the radio is created to make it relatable and personal to every listener, wherever they are in the world. No other UK online station can offer the content the station can. The station is constantly striving to discover and play the most exciting new music, support new artists and break fresh acts and DJs.”
To celebrate the launch of the gadget, Ministry of Sound Radio will broadcast a 3-hour live show direct from the world famous London studios on Thursday 6th September 2007, between 1pm and 4pm, with a competition to win a Ministry of Sound Car Sound System, which includes a head unit and speakers. The show will target people in the workplace, and give them the opportunity to call into the station or email their all time favourite dance tracks.
To download the Vista Sidebar Gadget from the Windows Live Gallery visit: http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=5ccfbc41-0881-4f30-b3f2-c47097005c4b&bt=1&pl=1
More information on Ministry of Sound Radio can be found here: http://www.ministryofsound.com/radio

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15/08/2007 by john.

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15/08/2007 by john.

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15/08/2007 by john.

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15/08/2007 by john.

Aug. 14, 2007 – Mozilla today announced it is organising and hosting a 24-hour global Web conference called Mozilla 24.

What:

“Mozilla 24″ is a worldwide, 24-hour open discussion that connects community members, academics and Web visionaries from Asia, America and Europe, in person and over the broadband video WIDE network. The event will feature industry leaders who will present on Web trends and technologies that will help shape the future of the Web.

Current speakers include:

• Dr. Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google Inc.
• Dr. Lawrence Lessig, professor of law at Stanford Law School and founder of its Center for Internet and Society
• Dr. Jun Murai, professor of Faculty of Environment and Information Studies and Vice President at Keio University
• Dr. David Humphrey, professor at the School of Computer Studies at Seneca College, Toronto, Canada
• Mitchell Baker, Chief Executive Officer, Mozilla Corporation
• Mike Shaver, Director of Ecosystem Development, Mozilla Corporation
• Tristan Nitot, President of Mozilla Europe
• Satoko Takita, Chairman of Mozilla Japan

“Mozilla 24″ consists of a variety of programs, including presentations, panel discussions, online contests, and music festivals. Many of the presentations, including the panel discussions, will be accessible online to anyone in the world using the distance learning environment and remotely placed virtual machines provided by the WIDE Project’s School on the Internet Working Group (SOI), a research consortium that operates its own IP backbone and the M-Root Server. For example, Keio University and Stanford University will facilitate a distance panel discussion among Dr. Vint Cerf, Dr. Jun Murai and Mitchell Baker, using DVTS high-definition video and advanced data technologies. This panel will mark the inaugural connection between Keio University’s Global Studio and that of Stanford University which was established as a part of DMC Research Institute’s Global Studio initiative. In addition, Mozilla Europe will present in real-time to audiences at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand, and Keio University in Tokyo, Japan.

Who:

Mozilla 24 expects to draw individuals who are interested in shaping the future of the Web socially, technically and culturally, including Web developers, researchers, engineers, and end users from around the world.

When & Where:

• U.S.: 8pm, September 14th – 8pm, September 15th, 2007 (PDT)
  • Stanford University, Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning Wallenberg Hall (Building 160), Peter Wallenberg Learning Theater - 11am - 8pm September 15th (PDT) only.
• Europe: 5am, September 15th – 5am, September 16th, 2007, (CEST)
  • Location to be announced – 10am – 1pm September 15th (CEST) only.
• Japan: 12pm, September 15th – 12pm, September 16th, 2007 (JST)
  • Keio University’s DMC Global Studio: Live streaming of Mozilla 24 worldwide activities, in-person presentations and panel discussions.
  • Belsalle Kudan: Children’s event, live streaming of Mozilla 24 hour worldwide activities and more.
  • SHIBUYA BOXX: Special music event, Firefox ROCK FESTIVAL ’07 – 3:30pm – 22:00pm, September 15th (JST) only.
• Online: You can also take part in our activities online at:
  • English: www.mozilla24.com/en-US
  • Japanese: www.mozilla24.com/ja

Register Now:

You can register to attend the U.S. event at http://wiki.mozilla.org/Mozilla_24

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