Porn-To-Go Starting To Take Off

Call it pocket porn, mini-porn, even porn-to-go. I am sitting in an edit suite completely dazzled by the cultural trend that is racing across the screens in front of me.

When the video iPod debuted back in October, there was great acclaim over the idea that we could download music videos, prime time television shows, and even movies, and carry them with us and watch them when and where we liked. Four months later, we're downloading alright. But on iPods, video cell phones and PDAs, some of the hottest content by far is pornography.

People in the porn industry, and even some major communications companies, say they've never seen anything like it. Since the dawn of the Internet, people could bypass adult video stores or hotel movie rentals in search of pornography. But now, they don't even need to have the stuff stored on their computers. So people are loading up the little hard drives on their hips with, well...hips...and a whole lot more.

It's intriguing, titillating, even a bit amusing. But I'm left wondering how I'm going to feel the first time I'm with my kids and we run up on someone watching a pod full of porn.

Russian Hackers Responsible For Selling WMF Exploit

Do you remember the WMF exploit? If not it means that you got lucky. The flaw was discovered at the end of the previous year and was known as the WMF (Windows MetaFile) vulnerability. The vulnerability allows hackers to embed malicious software into image files. The so-called malware can insert viruses, worms, and spyware that can steal sensitive information or damage a user’s computer.

To make a long story short, Microsoft finally managed to patch the flaw in January this year. But now the WMF exploit comes again in the spotlight, because the experts from Kaspersky Labs, the Russian anti-virus company, have discovered that the Russian hackers had soldl the exploit code for for $4,000.

According to a Kaspersky quarterly report released this week: "One of the purchasers of the exploit is involved in the criminal adware/spyware business. It seems likely that this was how the exploit became public." "As the vulnerability was present in all versions of Windows, the situation threatened to spiral out of control."

According to Kaspersky, the situation was mitigated by the holiday season, when internet use was much lighter than normal.

Apple shares hit record high after Intel tapped for desktop PC market

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Apple Computer Inc. shares leaped to an all-time high Wednesday, boosted by its decision to use Intel Corp. microprocessors to help it grab a bigger share of the desktop PC market.

Apple is tapping not only the latest chip technologies that rival makers of Windows-based computers will use but also the vast marketing power that Intel, the world's largest semiconductor company, delivers.

Apple unveiled its first two machines with Intel's Core Duo - an IMac and new laptop - on Tuesday and said it would not thwart users who would seek to run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system on the machines. With Intel processors inside the new Macs, their owners could run Microsoft Windows and software designed for it at full speed.

The move to Intel chips will boost Apple's sales and erase the perception that Macintosh computers lag behind Windows-based PCs in performance, analysts said.

"Now consumers can buy a Mac that is three times faster and for the same price," said Nathan Brookwood, an analyst with Insight 64 research firm.

Apple shares soared $2.62, or 3.2 per cent, to a split-adjusted record high of $83.48 soon after the Wednesday trading session opened on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

With the success of its IPod players and flashy retail stores, Apple has already begun siphoning customers from the Windows camp. After years of hovering around three per cent, Apple last year cracked 4 per cent of the U.S. PC market.

Apple's historic shift to Intel microprocessors came months earlier than expected as CEO Steve Jobs debuted Tuesday an IMac desktop and a notebook based on the chipmakers' new two-brained processor, the Intel Core Duo.

When it first announced plans to switch in June, Apple said it expected to begin making the transition by mid-2006. On Tuesday, Jobs was joined at the Macworld Expo by Intel CEO Paul Otellini to unveil the new jointly designed computers.

Jobs said its entire Mac line will be converted to Intel by the end of 2006.

The shift comes as Apple's hugely popular iPods continue to enthrall the public. Apple brought in a record $5.7 billion in sales during the holiday quarter as it sold 14 million IPods - nearly three times as many units as it did in the same period a year ago, Jobs said. Meanwhile, Apple's online ITunes store has sold more than 850 million songs and eight million videos to date, he said.

The company's stock shot to a 52-week high on the news.

But Tuesday's focus was on computers.

For years, Apple shunned Intel, which has provided chips that power a majority of the world's PCs, along with Microsoft's Windows software. In the late 1990s, Apple even ran TV ads with a Pentium II glued to a snail.

But Apple became increasingly frustrated in recent years as its chip suppliers, IBM Corp. and Motorola Corp.'s spinoff, Freescale Semiconductor Inc., failed to meet its needs for faster more energy efficient chips.

Of particular concern was IBM's apparent inability to develop a G5 chip that would work well in notebook computers.

Intel, on the other hand, has been focusing on developing chips specifically tailored for notebooks. During last week's International Consumer Electronics Show, Intel unveiled its latest, the Core Duo, which features two computing engines on a single piece of silicon. It was that chip that Apple decided to fit into the new IMacs and MacBooks.

AOL Nears Major Deal With Google

Time Warner Inc. is negotiating exclusively with Google Inc. to broaden a lucrative advertising partnership with Time Warner's America Online unit, abruptly ending negotiations early Friday with Microsoft Corp., officials close to the negotiations said.

Shutting out Microsoft sets the stage for a high-profile agreement among two titans of the Internet. Among other terms of a deal expected to be announced as early as next week, Google will highlight Time Warner Web properties as sponsored links and AOL will continue to provide Google's search engine to its own subscribers.

Officials described the negotiations on condition of anonymity, because no agreement has yet been formalized.

AOL is effectively Google's biggest customer. It accounted for about $420 million, or about 10 percent, of Google's revenue during the first nine months of this year, according to regulatory filings.

Most of the $420 million came from the ads Google distributes on AOL's Web site. The two companies first began working together in 2002 when Google wrestled away AOL from another online advertising network currently owned by Yahoo Inc.

Microsoft, which increasingly views Google as a fierce online rival, has been negotiating with Time Warner since January but did not propose any cash investment in AOL, officials said.

Microsoft Sues Companies for Pirating Software

Microsoft has filed its first-ever breach-of-contract lawsuits against several members of a software subscription service.

Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it had filed its first-ever breach-of-contract lawsuits against several members of a software subscription service.

The Redmond-based company alleges that nine people in California, Maryland, New York, Texas and Virginia obtained Microsoft Action Pack Subscriptions, then tried to sell the software on Internet auction sites.

Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, said the alleged abuses involved falsifying information to receive program benefits and software titles multiple times.

The MAPS program provides partners with discounted Microsoft software for product evaluation and internal use, not for resale.

"Our honest partners have asked us to intervene to help protect those who abide by laws and rules governing software use and distribution," Mary Jo Schrade, a senior attorney at Microsoft, said in a statement released Thursday. "We want to protect the business of honest resellers and try to ensure a level playing field for our partners."

Microsoft also sued three companies, in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, accusing them of pirating software.

Google Offers Secure WiFi VPN

For years and years we've been wondering why the market for WiFi VPNs was so small. By now, most people should know that WiFi isn't the most secure connection, but that a VPN can encrypt and protect most of your data. In fact, for a while, it seemed like the only player in the space was HotSpotVPN -- who offered a service for $9/month.

I use it (and am using it right now, in fact), but it's always seemed like a space that could use some more entrants. A few months ago, JiWire got into the act as well, but it still seemed pretty small time.
Now, apparently, that market is going to be shaken up. Someone who prefers to remain anonymous just pointed out that Google is now offering what appears to be their own wireless VPN offering.
However, unlike these other offerings, Google's VPN offering is going to be free. Of course, how long will it be until the conspiracy theorists start screaming about this one? I'm willing to bet that Google is being "non-evil" about this, but someone is going to complain that this means Google can see where your surfing, since your connection will run through their VPN system.

Either way, assuming it works, it's great to have a free VPN solution out there that can encrypt data while surfing WiFi.