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AfterDawn: News

Twitter headed to China, eventually

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Mar 2010 6:44

Twitter headed to China, eventually Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has confirmed that they will eventually offer a Chinese version of the extremely popular social network, although a time frame was not given.

The confirmation came at a panel discussion earlier this week after Chinese activist Ai Weiwei asked: "Is it possible to provide a Chinese access on Twitter? I need a clear answer, yes or no."

"I would say yes. It's just a matter of time," said Dorsey, in response.

Ai Weiwei calls Twitter a very important part of the future of China, which has practically forbidden a free flow of information and censors search engine results. "In China, we cannot see YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter, and very soon, maybe not see Google," he adds.

Why is Twitter so important? "At 140 words, in Chinese, you can really write a novel. You can discuss most profound ideas really to democracy, freedom, poetry," Ai Weiwei notes, via PCWorld.

Dorsey adds that he wants Twitter in China, but technological and political hurdles need to be jumped, including finding a way for Chinese characters to be universally supported via phone SMS. Getting inside "the Great Firewall" would also be a problem.




AfterDawn: News

EA follows Ubisoft, will sell titles with 'always on' DRM

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Mar 2010 6:08

EA follows Ubisoft, will sell titles with 'always on' DRM Following in Ubisoft's footsteps, Electronic Arts has confirmed that upcoming games from the publisher will include the very controversial "always on" DRM scheme that forces gamers to be connected to the Internet at all times or lose the ability to play their games.

The first EA title to include the DRM will be Command & Conquer 4.

While gaming, if you ever lose connection to the Internet, or even if EA's servers go down for any reason, you will not be able to play C&C4, not even in single player mode.

Ubisoft learned the hard way that the system is flawed and does nothing but push legitimate buyers over to pirated versions, which allow for full playback without DRM, but it seems clear that EA will have to learn the same lesson on their own terms.




AfterDawn: News

Facebook hit by password stealing virus

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Mar 2010 2:07

Facebook hit by password stealing virus Popular anti-virus company McAfee is reporting today that Facebook has become the target of a virus that aims to steal passwords and other sensitive information from the social network's 400 million users.

The virus comes via spam emails that state that users Facebook accounts have had their passwords reset. You are then urged to click on an attachment to "obtain new login credentials." Once opened, the attachment unleashes a group of trojans, including a password stealing software.

"This threat is potentially very dangerous considering that there are over 350 million Facebook users who could fall for this scam,"
adds McAfee.

For those who are scared of the virus, the email is titled "Facebook Password Reset Confirmation! Customer Support." Delete it immediately.




AfterDawn: News

New PlayStation Move ad mocks Wii, Natal

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Mar 2010 1:52

New PlayStation Move ad mocks Wii, Natal The PlayStation Move, Sony's contender in the motion controller market, was just announced last week, and Sony has already released an ad mocking rivals the Wii and Microsoft's Natal.

The Move is used in conjunction with the PlayStation Eye camera and allows for real-time tracking of the player's body movements.

The system should retail for under $100 when it becomes available later this year.

The ad:




AfterDawn: News

Mobile apps to become $17.5 billion market in two years

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Mar 2010 1:38

Mobile apps to become $17.5 billion market in two years According to a new study by GetJar, the market for mobile apps will grow to $17.5 billion USD by 2012, with mobile application downloads jumping from 7 billion to 50 billion.

"It is easy to see how mobile apps will eclipse the traditional desktop Internet," GetJar CEO Ilja Laurs says. "It makes perfect sense that mobile devices will kill the desktop."

GetJar is the second largest App store in the world behind Apple's.

The App Store currently has 150,000 apps, the Android Market has 30,000 and other stores such as RIM's and Nokia's continue to grow.




AfterDawn: News

As expected, TVGorge is taken down

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Mar 2010 1:03

As expected, TVGorge is taken down In early February we reported on the launch of international TV streaming site TVGorge, which claimed legal availability of 120 TV shows.

Gorge was an indexing service, which didn't host any of the material on its own servers, embedding or linking from other sites instead. Most agreed the service worked well, but most also agreed that there was little chance the site was legal.

This week, the site has been effectively taken down by the MPAA, which has ordered a cease-and-desist on behalf of the studios it represents.

"TVGorge has recently been advised to remove all of our indexed content,"
says TVGorge, via TF. "We understand content owners have a need to protect their content and we can only hope they take the initiative to provide easy access to all of their great TV shows at an international level. If anything, hopefully we have shown them that people are desperately looking for a place to watch their favorite TV shows."

Read more...


AfterDawn: News

Movie pirate 'maVen' sent to prison

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Mar 2010 12:50

Movie pirate 'maVen' sent to prison One-time extremely popular release group pirate maVen (aka Geremi Adam), has been sentenced to 10 weeks in prison this week, after pleading guilty to distributing camera versions of two feature films.

maVen (Adam), the 27-year old Canadian resident, was for at least 2 years, the most popular release group for telesync releases, although in 2006, releases stopped coming, after the FBI began investigating the group.

In April 2006, Adam was arrested after recording "Invincible" at a theater in Montreal. Despite seizing his camera and laptop, Adam was released. One month later, Adam was arrested again, accused of selling his recorded movies for profit to other release groups or on the streets.

After the arrest, the FBI went as far as to call Adam the "world leader" in Internet piracy.




AfterDawn: News

Illegal downloaders in UK cost economy £1.4 billion

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Mar 2010 12:33

Illegal downloaders in UK cost economy £1.4 billion According to a new report, Building a Digital Economy: The Importance of Saving Jobs in the EU's Creative Industries, illegal downloading of movies, music, games and TV cost the UK economy £1.4 billion in 2008, as well as leading to the loss of 39,000 jobs.

If the trend continues, says the report, piracy will lead to 1.2 million lost jobs and £215 billion in lost revenue across Europe.

The report was commissioned by the Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP), and endorsed by the EU's "creative industries," writes the AP.

Says Norwegian actress Agnete Haaland, President of the International Actors Federation (which also endorsed the report) added: "The fact is that piracy is killing the industry. What we are talking about is actually a criminal act. We need to change all poor attitudes towards illegal downloading and recognize that it is theft."




AfterDawn: News

Sprint gets Nexus One, as well

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 18 Mar 2010 12:18

Sprint gets Nexus One, as well Earlier today we reported that the Google Nexus One is now available on AT&T, marking the second carrier the "superphone" has been made available for.

Google has announced that the Nexus One is now headed to Sprint, as well, although price and an exact release date were not part of the press statement.

"Nexus One is a powerful device that belongs on a powerful network. This is another step in our continued partnership of innovation with Google," adds Fared Adib, Sprint vice president of product development.

The Nexus One is now available, or will be available for all the major carriers, Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint.

Additionally, Sprint is rumored to unveil a 4G-capable phone dubbed "Supersonic," next week.




AfterDawn: News

Nexus One for AT&T now available from Google

Written by Rich Fiscus @ 17 Mar 2010 9:11

Nexus One for AT&T now available from Google Google has just introduced a new version of their Nexus One smartphone which supports 3G data speeds for AT&T customers in the US and Rogers customers in Canada.

The initial version of the phone offered by Google was already compatible with AT&T's network. However, data speed was limited because the frequency used for 3G data transmission by AT&T and Rogers wasn't supported.

So far the new model is available only through Google's web store. No plans have been announced to offer a subsidized version.

A CDMA version of the Nexus One, designed to work on Verizon's network, is expected very soon.




AfterDawn: News

Android Market tops 30,000 apps

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Mar 2010 1:12

Android Market tops 30,000 apps Google has told MobileCrunch today that the Android Market has reached a new milestone, 30,000 applications.

The company last reported figures in December of last year, claiming 16,000 apps.

Although they would not include numbers on paid versus free, stat site AndroLib says the ratio is about 39 percent to 61 percent, with free in the clear lead.

In comparison, the Apple app store has about 150,000 apps currently available, with both markets growing very quickly.




AfterDawn: News

Terrorists love Facebook

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 17 Mar 2010 1:06

Terrorists love Facebook Okay, while the headline may be a bit sensationalist, according to the new 2010 Digital Hate Report, terrorists and racists are increasingly turning to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to lure children.

The report is released annually by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance, and it "aims to assist law enforcement, public officials, educators, parents and the news media to better grasp the scope of hate."

2010DHR is based on 11,500 "problematic" sites, forums, Twitter posts and social networks and the report has found that "hate-filled" language is increasing in social networks, as well as offensive and "disturbing" video footage.

More disturbing, was the increase in "how-to" posts for suicide terrorists, including bomb making and laser technology. Terrorists are using social networks to brainwash young children into "hate-filled Islamic fundamentalist zombies," some as young as six years old.




AfterDawn: News

Sky to send 3D TVs to pubs in UK

Written by James Delahunty @ 17 Mar 2010 12:44

Sky to send 3D TVs to pubs in UK Sky has purchased 15,000 3D televisions from LG Electronics and plans to install them in pubs around the country to promote its 3D broadcasts. Back in January, Sky broadcast a Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester United and held screenings of the event in nine pubs to show off the technology.

The broadcaster is set to launch a 3D service for wide use in the UK in April, while consumer electronics manufacturers are pushing out new 3D flat-panel televisions. The industry hopes that growing interest in 3D movies in theaters will spur interest in 3D TV at home.

Sky hopes that showing football matches and other sports events in pubs in 3D will generate some interest in it. LG also benefits from the deal in that its televisions are being promoted as part of Sky's demonstrations.




AfterDawn: News

Five fails to secure Freeview HD bandwidth

Written by James Delahunty @ 17 Mar 2010 12:44

Five fails to secure Freeview HD bandwidth The UK broadcasting regulator has rejected Channel Five's request for capacity on Freeview's Multiplex B. Ofcom was not convinced that Five was fully committed to HD broadcasting. Under the rules, the bandwidth will now be allocated to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Ofcom has to assign Freeview HD capacity to non-commercial broadcasters if the bandwidth is not being used by commercial broadcasters. Five was unable to clearly inform Ofcom of when it will begin broadcasting HD or how it plans to maintain a daytime HD schedule.

Ofcom is believed to have been planning to give the bandwidth to Channel 4 or S4C instead, but both also failed to commit to a service that would meet Ofcom's requirements.

Five will now have to wait until 2012 when Ofcom will again allow commercial broadcasters for pitch for HD capacity.




AfterDawn: News

Waledac botnet 'decimated' by Microsoft actions

Written by James Delahunty @ 17 Mar 2010 12:43

Waledac botnet 'decimated' by Microsoft actions Research is showing that action taken by Microsoft and others to tackle the Waledac botnet have been effective. Microsoft's "Operation b49" employed a number of technical measures coupled with court actions to cut off the controllers of the spam-spewing botnet from the 70,000 - 90,000 infected PCs.

"While it is still too early to know the entire scope of this particular takedown's impact, early returns show that Operation b49 has been delivering on the disruption of Waledac and helping to map new territory in the fight against botnets," Microsoft's Jeff Williams said.

He said that data from Microsoft and other security researchers "indicate that our actions have effectively decimated communications within the Waledac bot network." An analysis by the Shadowserver Foundation of honeypot PCs (machines allowed to be infected by researchers to observe their behavior) showed that commands received by the infected machines plummeted.

Read more...



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