Hacks hit embassy, government e-mail accounts worldwide

Usernames and passwords for more than 100 e-mail accounts at embassies and governments worldwide have been posted online. Using the information, anyone can access the accounts that have been compromised.

Computer Sweden has verified the posted information and spoken to the person who posted them. The posted information includes names of the embassies and governments, addresses to e-mail servers, usernames and passwords. Among the organizations on the list are the foreign ministry of Iran, the Kazakh and Indian embassies in the U.S. and the Russian embassy in Sweden.

Freelance security consultant Dan Egerstad posted the information. He spoke openly about the leak when Computer Sweden contacted him.

“I did an experiment and came across the information by accident,” he said. Egerstad says he never used the information to log in to any of the compromised accounts in order not to break any laws.

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IBM demos single-atom memory, molecular switch

Even the highest density hard-disk drives use approximately 1 million magnetic atoms to store a single bit of information. IBM’s Almaden Research Center (San Jose, Calif.) has demonstrated the ability to store a bit on a single atom, portending hard drives with ultra-high storage capacity.

Simultaneously, IBM’s Zurich Research Lab has demonstrated a molecular switch that could replace current silicon-based chip technology with processors so small that a supercomputer could fit on a chip the size of a speck of dust.

IBM’s claims its atomic-scale demonstration promises to pack up to 1,000 times as much information on a hard disk than current technologies. Such hard disks could store 30,000 full-length movies on a device the size of an iPod.

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Sony to Bring White PlayStation 2 Console This Holiday

Sony is dreaming of a ceramic white PS2 Christmas

Although the PlayStation 2 is clearly a last-generation gaming system, it is still capturing the playtime and dollars of present day gamers. Sony knows that the PS2 is still hot item, and is bringing out a limited edition console that is ceramic white in color.

Coming this November will be a special white PS2 bundled with SingStar Pop and two USB microphones. SingStar Pop, the American take of the immensely popular SCEE franchise, features tracks from Alicia Keys, U2, Rihanna, Ashlee Simpson, The All-American Rejects, The Clash and more.

The bundle will will be available in the U.S. for a suggested retail price of $149.99. The package will also be offered in Canada for $159.99.

“With our expansive library of titles for PlayStation, led by social gaming experiences such as SingStar, and Buzz!, we have an incredible offering for first-time gaming families,” said Jack Tretton, president and CEO, SCEA. “At $149, the limited edition Ceramic White PlayStation 2, bundled with the family-friendly social gaming title, SingStar Pop, is an unbeatable value that will provide fun for everyone this holiday.”

The latest sales data from NPD Group show that the PS2 is still considerably outselling the newer PlayStation 3 by a considerable margin, even after the recent PS3 $100 price drop. During July, the PS2 sold 222,000 units while the PS3 sold 159,000 for the month.

Microsoft sics lawyers on popular AutoPatcher utility

On the same day that Microsoft set a date for the delivery of new Vista and XP service packs, it shut down a popular utility built and maintained by Windows enthusiasts for easily installing updates offline.

The AutoPatcher utility is described by project manager Antonis Kaladis as an offline Windows Update. It provides an interface to a large collection of updates, common applications and registry tweaks. The collection could be downloaded once, then used to update many computers, saving time and bandwidth. The collection was updated monthly.

Microsoft, however, told Kaladis that it fears his utility potentially could distribute malicious software along with legitimate Microsoft updates. Microsoft says it wants to limit the distribution of updates and other fixes to its own sites, such as Windows Update.

AutoPatcher was launched as a hobby in 2003 by Kaladis, who says on his Web site, “[I] once spoke to a Microsoft employee, and apparently they know about us but don’t care what we do! The AutoPatcher project has been going strong since 2003 and never had a sniff of trouble from Microsoft.”

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Samsung Unveils Blu-ray/HD DVD Player, MP3 Players

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. unveiled an MP3 music player with video playback and its first high-definition player supporting the two rival movie disc formats — Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD.

The devices are among several new products that the South Korean manufacturer announced Thursday on the eve of the IFA consumer and electronics show in Berlin.

The YP-P2 is MP3 music device that can also be used to view video. The device comes with a high-resolution screen that displays 30 frames per second in DVD movie format and the 16:9 screen ratio. It also features a touch screen that uses Emoture input technology.

The Bluetooth-enabled YP-P2 allows up to three people to listen to music at the same time when using the company’s YA-BH270 headsets equipped with the same short-range wireless technology.

The slim 9.9-millimeter player comes with 2G bytes, 4G bytes and 8G bytes of memory.

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80GB hybrid hard drive has 1GB of built-in RAM

The folks at Akiba PC Hotline! have spotted a new 2.5″ 80GB hybrid hard drive from a company called Mcell. Whereas hybrid hard drives typically come with 128MB or 256MB buffers made up of NAND flash memory, this model has a 1GB buffer that’s made up of DDR system memory.

According to Mcell—as quoted by Akiba—this 1GB DDR buffer enables transfer speeds above 110MB/s in random read tests for data sizes of 64KB to 512MB. The drive uses a 150MB/s Serial ATA interface, weighs in at 500g (1.1lbs), and Akiba has snapped pictures of it on sale for a relatively affordable ¥15,800 ($136.50).

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Bloggers battered by viral storm

Google’s Blogger site is being used by malicious hackers who are posting fake entries to some blogs.

The fake entries contain weblinks that lead to booby-trapped downloads that could infect a Windows PC.

Infected computers are being hijacked by the gang behind the attacks and either mined for saleable data or used for other attacks. The Blogger attack is the latest in a series by a gang that has managed to hijack hundreds of thousands of PCs.

Security researcher Alex Eckelberry from Sunbelt Software first noticed the booby-trapped links turning up on Blogger on 27 August.

Apple Brings New iMacs to India

Apple today unveiled an all-in-one iMac range of desktop computers featuring 20 and 24-inch glossy widescreen displays.

“This new iMac is one of the most awaited models Apple has ever made,” said Darren Sng, desktop product marketing manager, Apple Asia Pacific. “The computer has just three cables – one each for the power supply, keyboard and mouse unlike its competitors that have an untidy web of entangled wires,” he added.

An optional wireless keyboard with a wireless mouse offers a cable-free desktop.

The 20-inch 2.0 GHz and 2.4 GHz iMac costs Rs. 64,600 and Rs. 80,300 respectively while the 24-inch 2.4 GHz iMac comes at a price of Rs. 96,100. Get the specifications of the iMacs here.

Every iMac includes iLife ’08 and iWork ’08 that costs Rs. 4,050 each. The cost of five user copies is available for Rs. 5,110.

iLife ’08 has two new features iPhoto ‘08 and iMovie ‘08. iPhoto ‘08 automatically organises photo libraries into Events to help users manage their growing number of pictures. iMovie ‘08 allows users to make movies at a much faster pace.

iWork ’08 has added a new feature Numbers ’08 that allows users to prepare spreadsheets. With multiple tables on a flexible canvas, users can now rearrange information, add and resize columns without breaking the spreadsheet.

Apple also announced .Mac Web Gallery that allows members to share pictures and movies directly from iLife ’08 with anyone on a Mac PC or the iPhone.

The subscribers can also download high quality images for printing and can contribute photos using a standard web browser or e-mail. The storage space for the .Mac Web Gallery is 10 GB as against the previous 1 GB capacity for individual members and 20 GB as against the previous 2 GB for family members. .Mac subscribers can send and receive e-mail attachment of a maximum size of 20 MB.

.Mac Subscription to .Mac Web Gallery is optional. The annual individual subscription fee is Rs. 4,800 and Rs. 8,710 for a family pack that includes one master account and four sub accounts. A free 60-day .Mac trail version is also available on www.mac.com.

Has the iPhone really been unlocked?

Over the past two months, the unlocked iPhone has become the hi-tech equivalent of Bigfoot: chased around north America by geeks, but rarely seen and possibly completely fictitious.

That all changed last week when Apple’s flagship touchscreen mobile phone was finally hacked to run on any mobile network, not just America’s AT&T. The breakthrough came in the unlikely shape of New Jersey teenager George Hotz. Armed with a soldering iron and a suite of software, the 17-year-old became an instant celebrity when he managed to get his iPhone running with a T-Mobile Sim card. But his hack was daunting and dangerous – so it was no surprise when two other sources claimed they had easier alternatives.

One website, iPhoneSimFree.com, said it had a working unlocking process. So far the only confirmation has come from the website Engadget, which claims to have seen it in action.

Another group, Unique phone, boasted that it would make an unlocking code public – before pulling out at the last minute, claiming legal pressure from AT&T.

Some pundits say they smell a rat, and it would not be surprising if these remain shrouded in mystery. There is, after all, plenty of reason for hackers to claim an iPhone; with gadget-hounds in Europe and the US desperate to use their existing Sim cards in an iPhone, the promise of easy unlocking could prove very lucrative indeed.

But the prospect of a few dollars won’t bother Hotz, who has already cashed in by auctioning off his hacked handset.

“I traded it for a sweet Nissan 350Z and three 8GB iPhones,” he said, making the deal worth in the region of £25,000. “I leave for college tomorrow, and this has been a great end to a great summer.”

First iPhone unlocking service ‘days away’

Unlocking a phone, or the selling of a service to unlock a phone, is not illegal in the UK, according to Ofcom.

Two websites are vying to offer the first commercial service for unlocking Apple’s iPhone so that the device can be used outside the US in Europe and elsewhere.

The “unlocks”, which would be bought as a piece of downloadable software over the internet, will enable the phone to be connected to any network in “multiple countries”, the sites claim.

So far the iPhone is only available in the US on AT&T, but in the past two months a number of hackers have posted details on the internet of how to unlock the phone, meaning that it need not be tied to any particular network.

The latest offerings differ in that they do not require any sophisticated equipment – only a single download – and will appeal to owners of the phone in Britain and elsewhere who have bought the phone in the US and are keen to insert their existing SIM card.

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