If you're one of those people whose lifestyles are dependent on their laptops, you probably have to live with a constant worry that your life (or the digital equivalent of it) will fall into the hands of someone - say, your little brother - who can misuse the data inside. If you are, you might like this piece of news: Intel is developing new anti-theft technology for laptops. Details in the full article.

Ever had your system accessed by unsavory elements? Well, let's hope it doesn't happen. Researchers from Indiana University, however, have pointed out that the number of unsecured Wi-Fi connections that have been popping up in various cities might make attacks on computer systems much more common than before.

Want to find out more about this? Check out the full article.

There have been many proposed ways to get rid of spam but no real solution has been found so far. One of the most common and efficient methods of filtering out spam is by using Human Interactive Proofs or HIPs when registering e-mail accounts.

This safety feature requires people signing up for a service to enter a series of letters which are shown to you in a rather distorted manner. While this works, spammers have found ways to modify their programs to distinguish which letters are being shown on screens.

Kevin Larson, a researcher at Microsoft's advanced reading technologies group, has found a method to improve the system. It involves showing 16 or more photos of cats and dogs then asking the user to identify each one. This method looks to be very promising with Larson jokingly saying that "it's possible that kittens are the wave of the future."

The main problem with this solution though is that Microsoft will have to keep a huge number of photographs in its archives to prevent spammers from using "brute force" and mapping each picture with an answer. Many suggestions have been given and Microsoft is taking them into consideration at the moment, hopefully this research will lead to an inbox with less or no spam at all.

 

Fred Amoroso, the CEO of DRM, electronic licensing e-licensing, and software asset managment provider">Macrovision, the original DRM company, has made a response to Steve Jobs' open letter regarding the role of Digital Rights Management (DRM) in the current electronic content marketplace. In his response, Mr. Amoroso highlights four major points.

First, is that DRM is just broader than music, and that DRM has an impact across many forms of content across different media. Therefore, the discussion should not be limited to just music.

Second, Amoroso asserts that DRM increases, rather than decreases consumer value. He says that without reasonable, consistent, and transparent DRM, there will only be a delay in consumers receiving premium, quality content in their homes in the way they want it.

Third, Amoroso believes that DRM will increase electronic distribution. He says that if owners of high-value content are asked to enter or stay in an environment/platform that offers no protection for their content, there will be no reason for them to enter.

And finally, Amoroso notes that what DRM needs is for it to be interoperable and open. He says that true interoperable DRM will speed the shift to the electronic distribution of content and make it easier for consumers to manage and share content in the home. He adds that it will also enable an open environment where content is portable across a number of devices and not held hostage in just one company's product.

Amoroso expounds:

As an industry, we can overcome the DRM challenges. A commitment to transparent, interoperable and reasonable DRM will effectively bridge the gap between consumers and content owners, eliminate confusion and make it possible for new releases and premium content to enter the digital environment and kick off a new era of entertainment.

We feel that we should have enough self-control to not laugh out loud at the use of words like "enabler" and "not decreases consumer value", and take those points suggested by Mr. Amoroso with reason. We're not sure about you folks though. We'll leave the laughing, nitpicking, and debating for and against DRM to you guys.

Anyway, here's a pseudo-analytical look at this. Jobs' letter said something that implies something like this: "The industry wants something impossible, like a unicorn headed for candy mountain." Macrovision's response is this: "Yeah! Candy Mountain rocks! Let's grow pink wings, turn into unicorns and fly to Candy Mountain!"

Double plus ungood. Read the exec's letter yourselves via our "read" link below.

Redmond giant Microsoft announced a new DRM, PlayReady, this time aimed at mobile devices. PlayReady is designed to provide digital media options to mobile network operators. If there's one thing you can count on, PlaysForSure DRMed media can be accessed through PlayReady.

Companies such as O2, Verizon Wireless, Bouygues Telecom, and Cingular Wireless/AT&T all lined up their own mobile packages that will include the DRM package. It will provide games, ringtones, music, video, ringtones, and images for distribution through rent or subscription.

PlayReady will also be compatible with Windows Media DRM 10, so mobile phones can download DRM-protected songs from online stores and play them. Interoperability programs will be provided by Microsoft so that other DRM content providers can make use of the technology.

Although it appears as a Microsoft stunt to boost development and marketing of their DRM technology, they say that the new DRM is a critical solution in the mobile content market. PacketVideos is teaming up with Microsoft to provide optimized version of the DRM over several popular handsets. PacketVideos CEO James C. Brailean said:

Microsoft PlayReady will have an immediate positive impact on the mobile entertainment market. With the rapid growth of mobile content services, Microsoft PlayReady technology will quickly emerge as a mission-critical ingredient for new consumer applications because it combines greater flexibility for content and services with a rock-solid technology foundation.

Microsoft has made no claim as to whether PlayReady will support the Zune's DRM on MarketPlace. They expect it to be available in the first half of 2007 and will be demonstrating PlayReady at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona this week, alongside PacketVideo.

Yes, we all know that sometimes things fail. But sometimes, things just fail in a sense that is beyond the net-speak use of the term fail can ever encompass . There are products, ideas, and concepts that are just too absolutely absurd, or to be nice, to "ahead of their time," that the mere thought of being associated with them induces a minor epileptic seizure.

TechEBlog has compiled a list of 5 gadgets you DO NOT want to be seen using. It's so odd and mind numbing that we decided to share the insanity with you, our beloved readers. Lets start.

The Wearable Cell Phone Booth.

This odd contraption was Created by Jenny Chowdhurry. It is basically "a wearable object you can carry around with you and set up when you need a moment to talk." Uh. Yeah.

Get the rest of the insanity after the jump!

What should Starbucks do if they lose four laptops containing vital information on about 600,000 current and former U. S. employees, along with no more than 80 Canadian workers and contractors? Give them a compensation package of free Starbucks for life, that's what.

Unfortunately, that's not how they run things over there, so that's but wishful thinking. What is fact is that the coffee giant indeed lost track of four laptop computers from a closet in their corporate support center over at its south Seattle headquarters. Spokesperson Valerie O'Neil explained that they have been looking for them laptops since early September, but that it is only now that they are notifying those who may be potentially affected. She says it was because "we wanted to make sure we were thorough before we notified people."

Remaining optimistic (or probably just on a caffeine-high), she further says, "We have no reason to believe those laptops are in the hands of someone who wants to misuse them..We just want to make every effort to protect our partners." The data from two of the missing laptops contain names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and is about three years old (since prior December 2003).

Notifying those whose information are in the laptops, Starbucks urged them to be on alert for any suspicious activity in their accounts. Add to that, they also promised free credit protection services to enable them with the tracking down of their accounts. Starbucks is now "reinforcing its corporate policies and updating procedures on protecting the personal information of its employees to prevent such data loss from happening again".

I'll take that to go.

Spam used to appease the senses, specifically the gustatory one. It was a treat for us kids when we'd get spam for breakfast. The aroma and the taste really had us going in the morning commute to school. Now, Spam is something that needs to be crushed like the cockroach that it is. At least cockroaches do something for the world, the other just makes the inboxes full to the brim with useless information.

There are now programs out there that limits the spam's clutches. We can finally see the end of our inboxes again. Yet, like a bad movie, there seems to be a twist to this whole story. Remember those movies where in the end the villain seems to have been defeated but somehow you get a feeling this guy's not yet out for the count, example:all 'Friday the 13th' movies. Well, it looks like spam is doing a Jason as well. Photo Spam. It's here and it lives inside your inbox. The moment you open it, you never know what will happen.

According to a leading anti-virus software lab AV-Test in Germany, one third of spam today is image-based. It's where text is included in an image. Most spam filters today look out for text spams only. That can only mean only two things: you have less text spam, but a lot of photo spam.

So what can the emailers who just want to send their vacation pictures to their parents, not land in the spam folders do? Write information relative to the picture in the email. Most photo spams have just pictures in them, no text.

The receivers have more chances of filtering spam if they use online e-mail services, rather than buying a filtering software. Cheaper too. A cautionary advice: one must have at least one alias address. The "real" e-mail address should be reserved for family, friends, and known acquaintances.

Laptop theft and the resulting compromise of sensitive data inside of them is a serious problem, security experts warn and as we reported recently. Some crook decided to prove the experts right on this topic - again.

A laptop belonging to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, part of the Department of Transportation, was stolen Tuesday from a government-owned vehicle. The FMCSA is warning that the laptop might contain the names, dates of birth, and commercial driver's licenses of 193 people from 40 motor carrier companies. The agency adds that the records do not contain financial or medical information - which is a relief for those 193 people concerned. But there is still the matter of that missing laptop and loose driver's license information.

The affected motor carriers have been promptly warned about the potential security breach. The states which had issued these licenses are Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia and Washington, D.C.

We know that losing a laptop is more than just losing the money paid for it, or the man-hours of work done on it. It's losing the data inside of it that's the most frightening - worse if the laptop isn't a personally-owned one but a corporate one. Bad enough that the laptop would be sold on the street for a quick buck - worse if any smart criminal (and there are plenty out there) knows that what's inside is worth more than the street value of a hot notebook.

We decided to do a "stolen laptop" search in the QJ site, and the first two stories that popped up (by relevance) were also among the scariest in this regard - because they were big-ticket news events:

• A laptop used by administrators of a day-care program in Rhode Island, containing the sensitive financial (ex: bank account numbers) and personal information (ex: name, address, phone numbers) of around 65,000 of the program's members, stolen from a locked office; and
• Ernst & Young laptops with the employee account information of client companies being stolen, forcing the firm to issue plenty of oops-we're-sorry-themed letters to its clients.

Let's not even mention the stolen Department of Veteran Affairs laptop that contained the records of more than 26 million veterans and their families. Fortunately the laptop was later recovered, and the FBI has determined the integrity of the data inside.

But you want to know what's really scary? Read on at the full article.