How to Hack your PSP to 4.01 M33-2 (The Easy Way)

UPDATE (10-20-2008): 4.01 m33-2 is NO LONGER the latest hacked PSP Firmware. The newest one is 5.00 M33-3 and can be found HERE - How to hack the PSP. So if you just bought a PSP and want to get into custom firmware, this is the right place to be. If you already have custom firmware on your PSP and just want to upgrade to 4.01, skip below to the 4.01 section. Update: This works on the new blue Madden PSP as well! Requirements: 1. PSP Pandora Battery 2. Memory Stick Pro Duo (64mb to 8gb TESTED so far - any will do). 3. psp-grader-v005-lite-setup 4. Official PSP 3.90 Firmware. Steps: 1. Install PSP Grader on your computer. 2. Run PSP Grader and select the location of the 3.90 firmware and drive for your memory stick 3. Hit run and let the program create a “Magic Memory Stick” for you. 4. Your Memory stick is now ready, insert the Pandora’s Battery whilst holding the L should button on the PSP. Once the IPL has loaded on the PSP simply press the X button. Wait. After around 1 - 3 minutes the Flash shall be done, press X to shutdown the psp, it is now safe to remove the pandora battery. Its is very important to just wait and not switch off the PSP or remove the Memory Stick or Pandora’s Battery, it could result in a brick if you do not wait. 5. Once that is done, you can format the memory stick with your psp to use to load games. Games are normally loaded in the “ISO” folder. you need to hit select on the PSP to get the ISO mode correct. Use the “Sony NP9660″ one. This was the easiest way I could find to get the PSP to 3.90 m33-3, from there you are going to just run two more updates to reach 4.01-m33-2 Steps to finish the hack to Version 4.01…. If you already have custom firmware you can skip the steps above and jump directly here. 1. Download the following files:. a. 401-m33 (Hacked firmware v4.01 m33-1) b. 401m332 (Hacked firmware v4.01 m33-2) c. Offical PSP 4.01 Firmware. 2. Extract the 401-m33 files and the official 4.01 firmware update. Rename the 4.01 official update to 401.PBP and then copy it to the 401-m33’s extracted UPDATE folder. 3. Copy the UPDATE folder to the memory stick on your psp to the following location: “/PSP/GAME/” 4. In your PSP go to Games, and then run the update. This will take your PSP to version 4.01 m33-1 5. Delete the UPDATE folder you just created in “/PSP/GAME/”. 6. Extract the 401m332 file and copy the extracted UPDATE folder to your PSP memory stick under “/PSP/GAME/” 7. In your PSP go to Games, and then run the update. That’s it. You are all patched up to the latest version of the time of this posting! There is also an add-on pack to this firmware that gives the PSP additional features like Screenshots, video capture, etc. That can be found here: How to take Screen Shots of PSP Games and More Also if you are looking for a jump start to getting emulators to run on your PSP, you should check out: Capcom CPS2 Emulator for the PSP Slim and also Capcom CPS1 Emulator for the PSP Slim. Those two articles should atleast get you on your feet. Images/Code Retard

How to Download free MP3’s from using Google

To search for free mp3’s with google, all you have to do is modify the search query. All you have to do is search for this.. “Band or Artist name here” last modified mp3 “index of” -html -htm -php -asp For example i want to get some Snoop Dog’ song… “Snoop Dogs” last modified mp3 “index of” -html -htm -php -asp

Free Apple iPhone App Store Apps of the Day - 5/15/09

Get them now while they’re hot! These iPhone apps have been recently reduced to the recession friendly price of free! There’s no word when these app prices will shoot back up (usually these freebies are only good for a couple of days as app publishers try to get a little publicity) so make no delay and point your iTunes to the App Store and get to downloading! * Eric Thayne’s Eggs Away!: Accelerometer-based balancing game * Laminar Research’s X-Plane-Trainer: Flight simulation training * Aaron Marlin’s Trash Day: Trash pickup reminders * InnerFour’s iCopter 3D: FREE: Acceleromterer-based flight simulator * noidentity’s RadioAlarm: Internet radio alarm clock * ustwo’s Steppin: Touchscreen-based balance game * Peter Damen’s Pitch & Roll: Inclinometer

How-to: using the new Facebook stream API in a desktop app

Facebook launched a new set of APIs on Monday that allow third-party software to interact with the Facebook activity stream. Developers can use these new APIs to build sophisticated Facebook client applications that give users direct access to the stream from their desktop. Courtesy of these APIs, rich support for Facebook could soon arrive in your favorite Twitter client and other social networking programs. In this article, I'll give you an inside look at how I used the new APIs to add full support for the Facebook stream in Gwibber, my own open source microblogging client for Linux. The activity stream includes several kinds of content, including status updates, images, links, videos, and content that is imported from other services, such as Delicious bookmarks and Google Reader shared items. Users can post comments on stream items and can also indicate that they "like" a specific stream item. Facebook now provides programmatic access to all of this data through several different mechanisms. Developers can use a conventional REST method, a FQL query, or an Atom-based feed. Atom Activity Extensions The Atom-based feed is, perhaps, the most intriguing aspect of the new open streams system. Atom is a standardized XML-based format for simple syndication that is similar to RSS but is more robust and extensible. Rather than completely inventing its own dialect, Facebook wisely chose to put its weight behind Atom Activity Extensions, an emerging effort to build a standardized set of activity tags that can be used in Atom feeds. Atom Activity Extensions is still in the draft stage and is not yet a formal standard. The draft is authored by David Recordon and Martin Atkins of Six Apart under the aegis of the DiSo project, a collaborative effort to build open standards for data portability and social networking. Facebook has become one of the first major adopters of Atom Activity Extensions, a move that will significantly boost the visibility of the nascent standard and help it gain traction. MySpace is also committed to the format and working on an implementation, so it now has the backing of two of the most popular social networking websites. This is a major win for interoperability and it could eventually facilitate development of universal activity stream clients that function in much the same way that desktop news feed readers work today. Chris Messina, a leading figure in DiSo who is well-known for his work with OAuth and is closely involved with Atom Activity Streams, is enthusiastic about Facebook's adoption of the format. He commented on the implications in a message posted to DiSo's Activity Streams mailing list on Monday following Facebook's announcement. "This is indeed good news for Facebook and for this community effort," he wrote. "At the very least, I'm excited to see how similar we can get the feeds coming out of MySpace and Facebook and I'm also eager to start looking at how we can replace the current activities API in OpenSocial with the Activity Streams format." Facebook makes the stream available to third-party software through a URL. In order to access the feed, the program will need to be authenticated and will have to provide as parameters a session key and signature checksum. The following is the URL format: http://www.facebook.com/activitystreams/feed.php?source_id=&app_id=&session_key=&sig=&v=0.7&read&updated_time= The significance of each of those attributes is described in greater detail in the official documentation, but those values should all be relatively familiar to developers who have worked with the Facebook API. Although the Atom-based feed will be very useful for developers who are building generalized stream clients, Facebook's native APIs are more practical for client applications that will integrate tightly with the service. In Gwibber, I chose to use the new activity stream REST API methods. Implementing Facebook activity streams in Gwibber I originally created Gwibber in 2007 with the goal of building a social networking application for the GNOME desktop environment. It brings together comprehensive support for several popular microblogging services in a single program with a unified message stream. It is written in the Python programming language and is distributed under the terms of the General Public License (GPL). The actual content stream is drawn with an embedded WebKit HTML renderer and the rest of the user interface is built the GTK+ toolkit. Gwibber's current Facebook functionality is built on top of PyFacebook, a lightweight open source Python library that wraps the Facebook APIs. PyFacebook mitigates a lot of the pain of Facebook client development because it handles all of the authentication, session, and signature hash stuff. It hides those idiosyncrasies under a simple object-oriented interface that is easy for developers to use. PyFacebook is also very easy to extend when new Facebook API methods are introduced. Each Facebook API method is described in the PyFacebook library using a simple data structure that specifies the method's name and parameter types. PyFacebook does not appear to have been updated to work with the new stream API methods yet, but it was trivially easy for me to do it myself. You can see my simple PyFacebook modifications here. Note that I did not add all of the new methods, just the ones that I'm using in Gwibber. Each service that is supported in Gwibber is implemented in its own module which exposes its functionality through a set of methods and properties that is consistent across all of the service modules. This makes it possible to wrap the services with a generalized abstraction layer so that the rest of the client application doesn't have to understand the differences between the various services. This abstraction layer is what makes it possible for Gwibber to display a combined stream of the messages from all of the services. To implement support for the activity stream, I rewrote most of Gwibber's Facebook service module. Obtaining stream data To add the full Facebook stream to Gwibber, I had to process the stream and extract the values into standard Gwibber message classes. I started by adding support for reading the stream. With my modified version of PyFacebook, this is very easy. I call the stream.get method on a PyFacebook instance. When called, the stream.get method will return the contents of the stream in either XML or JSON, depending on what you have requested. The only parameter that is required by stream.get (besides the session key and others that are handled automatically by PyFacebook) is the UID of your application's user. There are several optional parameters that you can provide to customize the output. For example, you can provide start_time and end_time parameters which will display stream content that was published between the specified times. This is sort of Facebook's equivalent of Twitter's since_id and max_id values. There is also a limit parameter (similar to Twitter's count) which allows you to specify how many messages you would like to download. The default if no limit value is explicitly specified is 30 posts. The maximum number that can be retrieved at once isn't documented, so I did some experimentation to see if I could figure it out. I tried pulling down 400 but only got 312, with the oldest messages dating back seven days. This leads me to believe that there is probably not a numerical maximum but that it will only give you access to a week of messages. Unlike Twitter, Facebook's stream API doesn't support the concept of paging, so you can't go back any further than that or iteratively download your entire history.

Number of confirmed H1N1 cases worldwide soars

GENEVA, Switzerland (CNN) -- Confirmed cases of swine flu jumped by more than 65 percent Saturday with the World Health Organization reporting 615 people in 15 countries infected with the virus commonly known as swine flu. A policeman guards a Hong Kong hotel where 300 people are under quarantine. A policeman guards a Hong Kong hotel where 300 people are under quarantine. Click to view previous image 1 of 2 Click to view next image more photos » The organization had reported 367 cases on Friday. The jump in cases was due to ongoing testing of a backlog of specimens in Mexico, the WHO said. The most cases were in Mexico, where 397 people were infected and 16 deaths were attributed to the virus, according to the WHO. Next was the United States, which has 141 cases and one death. "What the increase reflects is that we are moving forward in confirming many of the cases that have been left untested for some time, so in an way that's reassuring," said WHO spokesman Paul Garwood. "We know that these cases are being dealt with, these specimens are being looked at and assessed, and we're getting more and more info about this virus. Video Watch latest developments as swine flu sweeps world » "So we haven't seen, say, a spike in new cases or new influenza cases appearing in Mexico City, for example," Garwood continued. "It's just the fact that this reporting backlog is bearing fruit and we're seeing the results of that." The latest developments come as parts of Asia discovered they were not immune to the spread of the virus. Learn about the virus » Hundreds of guests and staff were under quarantine in China on Saturday after health officials determined that a hotel guest had contracted the H1N1 virus. Nearly 200 hotel guests and 100 staff members were ordered to stay in Metro Park Hotel in Hong Kong for seven days to stop the spread of the H1N1 virus, a government spokesman said. Read more about quarantined hotel guests The quarantine was ordered after a 25 -year-old Mexican man stayed in the hotel and became sick, according to the spokesman. It is the first confirmed case of the virus in Hong Kong, local medical officials said. Don't Miss * Hundreds isolated in Hong Kong hotel * Mexico trip costs students graduation * Dr. Sanjay Gupta 'tweets' on swine flu South Korean officials on Saturday confirmed their first case -- a 51-year-old nun who recently traveled to Mexico for volunteer work. The other countries with confirmed cases are Canada, with 34; Spain and the United Kingdom, which each have 13; Germany and New Zealand, which each have four; Israel, with two; and Austria, China, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Switzerland, which each have one. See where cases have been confirmed » As the number of swine flu cases across the globe is expected to rise, scientists are racing to develop a vaccine to confront the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, hopes to have a vaccine for the virus available to manufacturers within a month, said Michael Shaw, the U.S. agency's lab team leader for the virus response. "We're doing the best we can as fast as we can," he said. Still, it would take four to six months from the time the appropriate strain is identified before the first doses become available, said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research. "Of course, we would like to have a vaccine tomorrow. We would have wanted to have it yesterday," she said. "It's a long journey." Kieny said there is "no doubt" that a vaccine can be made "in a relatively short period of time." Producing a vaccine involves isolating a strain of the virus, which has already been done, and tweaking it so manufacturers can make a vaccine, Kieny said. Video Go behind the scenes at the CDC » As researchers work, the mayor of Mexico City expressed optimism Friday. Authorities in Mexico are "beginning to see evidence that the (virus) might be letting up, and the number of people who have been hospitalized has leveled out in regards to people who are contagious, at least as of yesterday," Mayor Marcelo Ebrard told reporters. "I do not say this so that we lower our guard or so that we think that we do not have a problem anymore," he said. "We do have a problem, but I say this so that we know where we are as a city after we have done all we have done, and in what direction we are heading and how much we have progressed. And what I can say is that we are heading in the right direction." One death in the United States has been attributed to swine flu -- a toddler from Mexico whose family brought him to Texas for medical treatment. At a Cabinet meeting Friday, President Barack Obama praised the "extraordinary" government response to the virus but emphasized that "we also need to prepare for the long term." advertisement "Since we know that these kinds of threats can emerge at any moment, even if it turns out that the H1N1 is relatively mild on the front end, it could come back in a more virulent form during the actual flu season, and that's why we are investing in our public health infrastructure."

Freedom of the media declines worldwide, report says

"Global declines in press freedom" persisted last year, with setbacks highlighted in Israel, Italy, Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere across the world, an annual survey said Friday. Media freedom campaigners don gags during a news conference in Hong Kong in April 2008. Media freedom campaigners don gags during a news conference in Hong Kong in April 2008. Freedom House, a nongovernmental organization that supports democracy and freedom of the media, said in its annual press freedom survey that "negative trends" outweighed "positive movements in every region, particularly in the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa." "This marked the seventh straight year of overall deterioration. Improvements in a small number of countries -- including bright spots in parts of South Asia and Africa -- were overshadowed by a continued, relentless assault on independent news media by a wide range of actions, in both authoritarian states and countries with very open media environments." Israel -- once the only country to be consistently rated free by the group in the Middle East and North Africa -- was ranked as "partly free" because of the Gaza conflict. The report cited "increased travel restrictions on both Israeli and foreign reporters; official attempts to influence media coverage of the conflict within Israel; and greater self-censorship and biased reporting, particularly during the outbreak of open war in late December." Elsewhere in the Middle East, there are concerns about harassment of journalists and bloggers in Libya, Iran, Syria, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. The drop in violence in war-torn Iraq helped journalists move around the country, and a new law in the Kurdish region gave journalists "unprecedented freedoms." Hong Kong, which is part of China, also dropped in rankings from free to partly free, a reflection of "the growing influence of Beijing over media and free expression in the territory." Don't Miss * Journalist jailed in Iran may seek pardon * U.S. journalists to be tried in North Korea * Journalists freed in Azerbaijan * Read the report (PDF) "Of particular concern were the appointment of 10 owners of Hong Kong media outlets to a mainland Chinese political advisory body, increased restrictions on film releases in the period surrounding the Olympics, and reports that critics of Beijing encountered growing difficulty in gaining access to Hong Kong media platforms." The report cited deterioration of of freedoms in Taiwan, which has been characterized as East Asia's freest media environment. That's because of "legal pressures and attempts to control broadcast media outlets." Italy dropped from free to partly free because of the "increased use of courts and libel laws to limit free speech, heightened physical and extralegal intimidation by both organized crime and far-right groups, and concerns over media ownership and influence," the report said. It cited fears about media magnate Silvio Berlusconi becoming prime minister again. There are concerns about "the concentration of state-owned and private outlets under a single leader." In the former Soviet Union, "legal pressure and attempts to control broadcast media outlets" were cited in Russia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The report noted other problems in Russia, saying "reporters suffer from a high level of personal insecurity, and impunity for past murders or physical attacks against journalists is the norm." Across Africa, there were "some improvements," citing developments in Comoros, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Liberia. But there were continued problems in places like Zimbabwe and Eritrea. "Senegal took a significant step backward due to a dramatic increase in both legal and extralegal action against journalists and media houses, accompanied by overtly hostile rhetoric from the president and other officials," the report said. The report cited strides in South Asian nations, ranking the once "not free" Maldives to "partly free." It mentioned a "new constitution protecting freedom of expression, the opening of additional private radio and television stations, the release of a prominent journalist from life imprisonment, and a general loosening of restrictions after the country's first democratic presidential election in October." It said Bangladesh and Pakistan reversed declines in freedom of the media. But there were setbacks in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, two countries racked by warfare. In some countries in the Americas, such as Mexico, Bolivia and Ecuador, "attacks and official rhetoric against the media escalated." Venezuela and Cuba were ranked as not free, and there were "high levels of intimidation and self-censorship" in Colombia and Guatemala. Positive developments were noted in Guyana, Haiti and Uruguay. The worst-rated countries in the world are Myanmar, Cuba, Eritrea, Libya, North Korea and Turkmenistan. "Given the current economic climate, which is certain to place a further strain on media sustainability and diversity in rich and poor countries alike, pressures on media freedom are now looming from all angles and are increasingly threatening the considerable gains of the past quarter-century," the report said.

Behind Microsoft’s ‘Apple tax’ gambit

Microsoft (MSFT) raised the stakes in its anti-Apple (AAPL) PR offensive Thursday by issuing a 10-page “white paper” that puts a price tag on what it calls the “Apple tax” — the premium paid by consumers who choose Apple computers over those that run Microsoft Windows. It’s a theme that was first raised last month by CEO Steve Ballmer, who told a Business Week-sponsored forum last month that Mac customers were paying an extra $500 to get the Apple logo on what is essentially the same hardware. And it has been repeated with slightly more subtlety every week since in a series of 60-second TV mini-dramas in which ordinary price-conscious Americans choose PCs over Macs. (The third is pasted below the fold; for more on the first two, see here and here.) But the white paper, written by Endpoint Technologies Associates‘ Roger L. Kay and entitled “What Price Cool,” goes a few steps further. Not only does it slap a considerably higher tax on that Apple logo — $3,367 for two computers over five years — but it turns up the rhetorical temperature to something approaching the boiling point. The white paper is available here as a pdf file and summarized as a faux U.S. tax form by Brian LeBlanc at Microsoft’s official Windows Blog. “What Price Cool” is a curious document. “White paper” is a term of art in business and politics for an authoritative report that lays out facts clearly and concisely to help readers make informed decisions. But no one would mistake Roger Kay’s white paper for objective statement of the facts. It’s a tendentious piece of work, dripping with sarcasm. Take, for example, this paragraph from the section that briefly summarizes the history of personal computers: “All during this time, even in the darkest of ages, when Apple hung onto a 2% share with its fingernails, the Mac community held vigil. Their inner belief was sheltered against the cold wind of market sentiment by secret thoughts that they were, well, better. Fewer crashes, less clutter, and, as time wore on, fewer viruses. But it was more than that, the Mac was just more elegantly done, nay, cooler.” Kay seems obsessed with what he perceives as Apple’s “cool,” a word he uses in various forms 25 times — an average of 2.5 times a page — culminating in his conclusion: “Macs are pretty cool, Jack thinks, but at a $3,367 premium over five years? Now, that’s not cool!” It’s an odd approach, especially given the fact that the Apple premium is quite real. Macs do indeed carry higher sticker prices than PCs with comparable specs. You would think that for an industry watcher with Kay’s experience, making side-by-side comparisons would be relatively easy. But as several of Apple’s defenders have pointed out, Kay seems unable to keep his fingers off the scale. Technologizer’s Harry McCracken, who worked with Kay at IDG and describes him as a “friendly acquaintance,” says that Kay’s spreadsheets are riddled with errors, comparing old versions of Apple computers to current versions of Windows PCs. (McCracken has done his own cost comparisons and come to very different conclusions.) Similarly, Ina Fried at CNet found several instances where Kay added in the cost of software on the Mac side — for example, $70 and $149 for Quicken and Office, respectively — but not on the PC. In his defense, Kay says that he took great pains to make sure his charts were correct. Some of the errors, he says, were due to changes Apple made in its specs after he wrote his piece; others to Microsoft’s in-house production team grabbing the wrong versions of his charts. “I don’t think the main theme is destroyed by what is essentially a production error,” he says. “But this is the methodology of the Mac brownshirts. They find a discrepancy and use it to invalidate the entire thesis.” Kay stands by his piece, and his rhetoric — in particular the games he plays with the word “cool” — although he admits that he would not have called it a white paper. “White papers are boring. You have to have pity for the poor reader.” “I actually believe most of this stuff,” he says. Although he adds that Microsoft did call for changes in his text — particularly in those place where he praised Apple. For example, he wrote in his original draft that Windows “copied” Apple’s graphical user interface. That raised legal red flags for Microsoft’s lawyers. In the final version, the word was changed to “followed.” Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by any of this. After all, Microsoft paid Kay to write this paper and it’s unlikely to have released anything it disagreed with. Kay, for his part, is hardly a disinterested observer. He’s been consulting for Microsoft since 2006, offering among other services, according to his webpage, “message tuning, spin management, press release support [and] high quality writing.” In the past he has written, in reference the Mac’s apparent immunity from computer viruses, that “those living in shiny houses of self-righteous glass often end up surrounded by shards of their former sanctimony” — predicting (incorrectly so far) that Macs and iPhones would soon be infected. And he is often quoted by the press as an independent Apple expert, as when he said this to Wired about Steve Jobs: “I think he has cancer. They talk about digestive this and digestive that, but … forget all the buzz you’re hearing. Just look at the photos.” Kay's notebookYou can read more of Kay’s previous work here and here. For me, one the most revealing pieces is his paean in Business Week to his 10-year-old Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) Jornada notebook, which he dusts off every year to take notes at the Consumer Electronics Show in Los Vegas. “Every time I open this device,” he writes, “I of course have to endure the mockery of my peers.” Now that’s not cool.

Conficker wakes up, updates via P2P, drops payload

The Conficker worm is finally doing something--updating via peer-to-peer between infected computers and dropping a mystery payload on infected computers, Trend Micro said on Wednesday. Researchers were analyzing the code of the software that is being dropped onto infected computers but suspect that it is a keystroke logger or some other program designed to steal sensitive data off the machine, said David Perry, global director of security education at Trend Micro. The software appeared to be a .sys component hiding behind a rootkit, which is software that is designed to hide the fact that a computer has been compromised, according to Trend Micro. The software is heavily encrypted, which makes code analysis difficult, the researchers said. The worm also tries to connect to MySpace.com, MSN.com, eBay.com, CNN.com and AOL.com as a way to test that the computer has Internet connectivity, deletes all traces of itself in the host machine, and is set to shut down on May 3, according to the TrendLabs Malware Blog. Because infected computers are receiving the new component in a staggered manner rather than all at once there should be no disruption to the Web sites the computers visit, said Paul Ferguson, advanced threats researcher for Trend Micro. "After May 3, it shuts down and won't do any replication," Perry said. However, infected computers could still be remotely controlled to do something else, he added. Last night Trend Micro researchers noticed a new file in the Windows Temp folder and a huge encrypted TCP response from a known Conficker P2P IP node hosted in Korea. "As expected, the P2P communications of the Downad/Conficker botnet may have just been used to serve an update, and not via HTTP," the blog post says. "The Conficker/Downad P2P communications is now running in full swing!" In addition to adding the new propagation functionality, Conficker communicates with servers that are associated with the Waledac family of malware and its Storm botnet, according to a separate blog post by Trend Micro security researcher Rik Ferguson. The worm tries to access a known Waledac domain and download another encrypted file, the researchers said. Conficker.C failed to make a splash a week ago despite the fact that it was programmed to activate on April 1. It has infected between 3 million and 12 million computers, according to Perry. Initially, researchers thought they were seeing a new variant of the Conficker worm, but now they believe it is merely a new component of the worm. The worm spreads via a hole in Windows that Microsoft patched in October, as well as through removable storage devices and network shares with weak passwords. The worm disabled security software and blocks access to security Web sites. To check if your computer is infected you can use this Conficker Eye Chart or this site at the University of Bonn.

Windows 7 beta upgrade won't be easy

Those who want to move from the beta version of Windows 7 to the upcoming "release candidate" version will be able to do so, but it is going to take some work. In a blog posting on Tuesday, Microsoft said that it is offering two options for going from the beta to the newer test version, which is due shortly. Neither is all that easy. The recommended approach, Microsoft said, is to go back to Windows Vista and upgrade from that. Microsoft asked testers to follow this approach as it will help the company get more feedback on the experience that the typical user will have in going from Vista to Windows 7. Those who really want to upgrade directly from the beta to the release candidate will be able to do so, but only using a series of convoluted steps. "We know many people (including tens of thousands at Microsoft) are relying on the pre-release builds of Windows 7 for mission critical and daily work, making this step less than convenient," the company acknowledged in its blog. "We're working hard to provide the highest quality release we can and so we'd like to make sure for this final phase of testing we're supporting the most real world scenarios possible, which incremental build to build upgrades are not. At the same time everyone on the beta has been so great we wanted to make sure we at least offered an opportunity to make your own expert and informed choice about how to handle the upgrade." The company also cautioned that the same hassles will apply for those moving from the release candidate to the final version of Windows 7.

Yahoo & Microsoft Said to Be Weighing Ad Pact

Yahoo and Microsoft, which held a marathon series of fruitless merger and partnership negotiations last year, have restarted discussions, this time over a possible advertising agreement, a person briefed on those discussions said Friday. Skip to next paragraph Related Times Topics: Microsoft Corporation | Yahoo! Inc. Conversations between the two sides have been scant since Carol Bartz was named Yahoo’s chief executive in January. But they have started anew recently, and Ms. Bartz met with Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, last week, said the person briefed on the discussions, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential. Yahoo and Microsoft declined to comment. The discussions are in early stages and may not lead to any agreement, the person said. They have centered on ways for the companies to pool their advertising efforts, including a possible partnership under which Microsoft would sell search ads for Yahoo, and Yahoo, in turn, would sell display ads on Microsoft properties, this person said. After merger and partnership talks collapsed last year, Microsoft continued to make sizable investments in its search business to better compete with Google. Those investments included the hiring of a string of top search executives and engineers, some of whom had previously worked at Yahoo, including Qi Lu, a well-regarded technologist who is now in charge of Microsoft’s overall online business, including search. Microsoft is expected to release the results of its latest research and development efforts in search technology this summer when it plans to introduce a major overhaul of its search engine. Microsoft executives are bullish about the capabilities of the new service. But they readily admit that it does not address one of the principal challenges the company faces in competing with Google: Microsoft’s audience and its base of advertisers are tiny compared with Google’s. That makes Microsoft’s search business, in which advertisers bid against one another in an auction, less lucrative than Google’s. A partnership that would pool Microsoft’s and Yahoo’s users or advertisers could go a long way toward addressing that problem, and could help create a more powerful No. 2 competitor to Google in search.

Mobile Phone Tracking

Pernah terpikir untuk mencari posisi atau melacak seseorang melelui NO Mobile / HP?? Andai suatu saat anda ingin mencari tau posisi kerabat / pasangan anda..tapi anda ingin orang yang ingin anda cari tidak tau klo anda sedang mengintainya...Atau mengintai pasangan anda yang sedang selingkuh.. Dengan teknologi makin maju..Sekarang itu bisa dilakukan.. Dengan memanfaatkan teknologi INTERNET dan Satelite GPS ( Global Positioning System ).. Caranya mudah..tinggal koneksi keInternet... Klik alamat ini ... http://www.themobiletracker.com/english/index.html Kemudian pilih negara dari posisi yang anda carii...Misal Indonesia.. Masukkan kode area dan nomor telepon... Misal..Untuk Esia = 021..Fren = 08888, IM3 = 0856,..Simpati = 0813.. Baru masukkan Nomor teleponnya... Kemudain klik Start Searching... Tunggu beberapa detik atau menit..tergantung kondisi Server dan koneksi Internet anda... Hasilnya dapat dipastikan 99%, bila tidak terjadinya putus Koneksi..

Mobile Phone Location n U ?

Mobile phone tracking services work by identifying the physical location of a mobile phone or other mobile device. This could be your own mobile phone or the mobile phone of a relative, friend or work colleague. A wide range of new services are possible using location services including telling you how to get to the nearest cash machine or chemist; allowing a parent to identify the location of his or her child; making it easier for friends to meet up for an evening out; and assisting firms with the security of lone workers. All mobile phone tracking services are subject to the legal requirements of the Data Protection Act. To see this in action view our demonstration here. For consumers this means that mobile tracking information can be used only after consent is provided by the user of the phone being located. For business users, employers must explain to their employees how mobile tracking information will be used before it is collected. The Data Protection Act requires that customers are made aware of: · who their mobile tracking company is; · the purposes for which personal data - including location information - will be collected and processed; · whether data will be sent to a third party for the purpose of providing the location service and length of time for processing data, including storage, will be. In addition to data protection legislation, participants in the UK location services industry - including both location service providers and mobile phone operators - have agreed a Code of Practice for the provision of location services. This Code of Practice sets out additional requirements for different types of mobile tracing services. This includes requirements relating to: · registration of individuals and organisations using location and mobile tracing information; · provision of reminders on location services operating on a mobile phone;; · how customers can stop a locating service which is running on their phone and prevent tracking of a mobile; and · responsibilities of a locating business or other organisation. While details vary, all mobile tracking services depend on the disclosure of where you are to companies or to other individuals. This offers you significant opportunities to use new services. However, these services should be used with the same care as you would take in telling other people your location in a phone call or SMS. Further, unlike a phone call or SMS, they can provide information on your location over a period of time. Only consent to the use of your mobie phone being tracked if you would be willing to provide the same company or individual with details of where you are in a phone call or SMS. Be aware that your consent may apply for a period of time. Don’t forget that you can withdraw your consent to the mobile phone tracking at any time. If you have any concerns about your safety which relate to the operation of our mobile tracing service then you should contact us as soon as you are able on 0871 425 4422 or email us at imconcerned@followus.co.uk. Only consent to the use of your location information if you would be willing to provide the same company or individual with details of where you are in a phone call or SMS. Be aware that your consent may apply for a period of time. Don’t forget that you can withdraw your consent to being located at any time. If you have immediate safety concerns then you should, as in other circumstances, contact the police by dialling 999 or 112. If a user of a location service believes that the industry Code of Practice isbeing breached by the location service provider, he or she may contact the Mobile Broadband Group by e-mail at mobilebg@btopenworld.com or write to The Secretariat, Mobile Broadband Group, PO Box 34586, London SE15 5YA.

Sky's The Limit: Time Warner's $150 Unlimited Bandwidth Plan

Time Warner Cable unveiled a new pricing structure for broadband Internet access to quell customer criticism questioning the service provider's plans to cap bandwidth usage. In a statement, Time Warner COO Landel Hobbs said early criticism of the provider's plans to trial bandwidth consumption limits was "premature." "We realize our communication to customers about these trials has been inadequate and we apologize for any frustration we caused," Hobbs wrote. "We've heard the passionate feedback and we've taken action to address our customers' concerns." To that end, Time Warner unveiled new pricing tiers for bandwidth usage. According to Hobbs, light Internet users will receive a low-price option offering 1 GB per month for $15 with speeds of 768 KB/128 KB and overage charges of $2 per extra GB. In addition, Hobbs said Time Warner is increasing the bandwidth tier sizes included in all existing packages in trial markets to 10, 20, 40 and 60 GB for its Road Runner Lite, Basic, Standard and Turbo packages. Prices for those packages, which range from $30 to $75 per month, will stay the same and overage charges will be $1 per GB per month. For high-volume users, Hobbs said Time Warner will launch a 100-GB Road Runner Turbo package for $75 per month with speeds of 10 MB/1 MB with a $1-per-GB overage charge. Lastly, Hobbs said all overage charges will be capped at $75 per month, meaning that for $150 per month "customers could have virtually unlimited usage at Turbo speeds," Hobbs wrote. According to Hobbs, capped bandwidth pricing structures have become a necessary evil as Internet usage continues to grow. "With the ever-increasing flood of content on the Internet, bandwidth consumption is growing exponentially," Hobbs wrote. "That's a good thing; however, there are costs associated with this increased Internet usage." In Time Warner's case, Hobbs said, consumption among its high-speed users is increasing by roughly 40 percent per year, which raises costs as the company builds out the network to support growing usage. Like Time Warner, Hobbs said network providers worldwide, including AT&T, have started consumption-based trials. Others, such as Charter and Cox, are using methods to monitor and manage bandwidth consumption. Time Warner rival Comcast also caps bandwidth usage, charging users just more than $40 for 250 GB per month for basic service. "Internet demand is rising at a rate that could outpace capacity within a few years," he said, adding reports indicate that current infrastructure may not be able to accommodate the explosion of online content by 2012. "This could result in Internet brownouts. It will take a lot of money to fix the problem. Rather than raising prices on all customers or limiting usage, we think the fairest approach is to move to a tiered model in which users pay more if they use more." Hobbs said "sitting still is not an option," and if providers do nothing customers' Internet experience could suffer. Hobbs stressed that the tiered pricing models are just trials at this point and customers won't be immediately billed or impacted. Instead, Time Warner will provide two months of data usage and then a one-month grace period in which overages will be noted on customers' bills, but they won't be charged. That model, Hobbs said, gives customers a chance to access their usage and pick the right service package before charges are applied. Initial trials will start in August in Rochester, N.Y., and Greensborough, N.C. Further trials will launch in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, in October. "The Internet is dynamic and continually evolves, so our plans will evolve as well and aren't set in stone," Hobbs concluded. "We'll look forward to more dialogue as we progress in these trials."

Security Firms Begin Poking New Conficker Variant

Reports are all over that a new and interesting version of the Conficker worm is around, and that it is pushing rogue anti-malware to its users. Thus a purpose to the whole endeavor begins to emerge: Money. But the vendor analyses of this new variant are not yet in synch; they disagree on some points and are confused on others. ESET calls this new variant Win32/Conficker.AQ; the names are really beginning to diverge among the vendors. The new variant is split into client and server components. The server, a Windows device driver, attempts to perform the infections of other systems through the MS08-067 vulnerability in Windows that made Conficker famous, but which had actually been removed from the previous variant. It also sets up an HTTP server on a random TCP port. Curiously, after May 3 the server part of the program will remove itself from the system as of the next reboot. The client program is a newly-obfuscated version of the old, familiar Conficker program. ESET says the new version dumps the domain name distribution scheme; this seemed clever, but was too susceptible to organized resistance by the industry and authorities. The new version attempts only to communicate through the already established peer network. They also suspect that the Autoun propagation system has been removed from it too, but haven't completed analysis on that point. ESET has a removal tool for this variant. Symantec is reporting that the driver patches tcpip.sys in order to increase the number of concurrent connections on the system. They call this variant W32.Downadup.E. Symantec describes the DLL portion as the C variant and that the purpose of the infection is to install that C variant. This isn't exactly what ESET says. Symantec also doesn't say that the Autorun propagation has been removed and they still recommend in their technical description disabling Autorun, but the description of E variant doesn't mention Autorun anymore. The Microsoft description has more details than most others: * Before it spreads itself it appends a stream of randomly generated garbage to itself to confuse file identifiers, but this won't be too hard to defeat. * It establishes the server by using SSDP to find an Internet gateway device and then issues a SOAP command to set up port forwarding to itself. This is UPnP, and router configuration program often do similar things. Kaspersky's Threatpost then follows through on the business model of Conficker: pushing rogue anti-malware. They report that infected systems are getting popups with warnings that push a $49.95 scam product, SpywareProtect2009. Kaspersky has their own disinfection tool.

YouTube, Universal to launch 'Vevo' music video site

Vivendi's Universal Music Group and Google Inc.'s YouTube have reached a deal to create a new premium music video service. The service, which is expected to launch in the coming months, is a bid to boost revenues from YouTube's phenomenal global usage. YouTube also gained an extension on the rights to feature content from Universal's catalog including U2 and 50 Cent, within YouTube videos. The new service will be called Vevo, and it will offer higher quality music videos, as opposed to the typically lower quality content uploaded by users. The premium service, exclusive to Universal content, may also attract more big name advertisers who have been reluctant to advertise alongside user-generated content. A boost in advertising rates will boost revenues for the content, which will be shared among Universal and YouTube.

YouTube, Universal to launch 'Vevo' music video site

PARIS (Reuters) - France's parliament rejected a bill on Thursday that proposed disconnecting Internet users if they download music or films illegally, with the ruling UMP party failing to turn out in force to approve the law. Backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy's government, the legislation was meant to quell the flow of free songs and films on the Internet that has hurt the revenues of artists and production companies. However, opposition politicians managed to defeat it at a final vote in the National Assembly on Thursday when only a small number of UMP lawmakers turned up for the session, handing the center-right government an embarrassing defeat. Sarkozy said he was determined to see the law passed and accused the opposition of parliamentary maneuvering. "Nicolas Sarkozy does not intend to give up on it, whatever the derisory maneuvers that only serve to harm creative diversity," his office said in a statement. Socialist parliamentarians broke out in applause after the vote went their way. The government said it plans to re-submit the bill later in April. "(The law) will only be delayed by a few weeks," said Roger Karoutchi, the minister in charge of relations with parliament. UMP party discipline has been severely tested this year, from a controversy over France's return to the military command structure of NATO, to a bill to ease restrictions on Sunday business hours -- which was postponed indefinitely. The Internet bill, which is heavily supported by the music industry, would give users caught illegally downloading files two warnings and then, after a third violation, have them disconnected from the Internet for up to a year. Socialist parliamentarian Patrick Bloche called the bill "dangerous, useless, inefficient, and very risky for us citizens." Others urged the government not to re-submit it. Under pressure from a struggling music industry, governments have long been trying to crack down on online file-swapping. "The proposed law is an effective and proportionate way of tackling online copyright infringement and migrating users to the wide variety of legal music services in France," said John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of IFPI, a music industry group. Some consumer groups have said that the proposed law could hit the wrong people, and that honest users risked being unfairly punished and forced to prove their innocence if hackers hijacked their computers' identity. Others worried it would pit artists against their audience. The music industry has been lobbying for similar laws to be introduced around the world. In January, Irish Internet provider Eircom agreed to disconnect users who download music illegally in a settlement with four major record companies.

Conficker worm finally stirs -- removal advice

The (bad) April Fool's scare caused by the widely spread Conficker variety of malware has been followed by a spring to life by the Conficker worm, according to security firm Trend Micro. The firm has tracked Conficker updates to infected machines over the past few days, hinting that the authors are trying to cash in on their global botnet. Rather than instruct the worm to cause global chaos, it has started downloading fake anti-virus tools to nag users about phony infections and scam them into buying the "product". It is estimated that as many as 12 million PCs worldwide are infected. The use of bogus software to extort money from uninformed users is nothing new at all, but it can be very profitable to the individuals behind the scam and a total nightmare for anyone who falls into the trap and pays for a clean-up that never happens. The spread of Conficker emphasizes just how many Windows machines are running without Automatic Updates enabled or adequate security software. DETECTION & REMOVAL To figure out whether you are infected with the Conficker worm is to try the usual tricks. Firstly, check the websites of common security tools like Symantec, AVG and Avira. If none of those would load, you may be infected, as Conficker blocks access to the sites. Another good test is to check the status of several services (Start -> Run -> services.msc). If Automatic Updates, Background Intelligent Transfer Service, Error Reporting Service or Windows Defender (or other security services you did not disable yourself) have been disabled without your knowledge, or cannot be started, this could be another sign of infection. If you have any concerns after these checks, then downloading and running a removal tool might be a good idea. Removal Tools McAfee AVERT W32/Conficker Stinger - Download! Symantec W32.Downadup Removal Tool 1 - Download! (CNET) Sophos Conficker Cleanup Tool (Stand-Alone Computer) - Download! Sophos Conficker Cleanup Tool (Network Removal) - Download! Eset Win32/Conficker Worm Removal Tool - Download! (CNET) Anti-Virus Avira AntiVir Personal - Download! AVG Free Edition - Download! Microsoft Patch MS08-067 - addresses a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (KB 958644) - Download!

Tornado roars through Arkansas town, kills 3

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - At least three people were killed and two dozen injured on Thursday night when a tornado smashed through Mena, Arkansas, officials said on Friday. "About half the injuries were reported as serious," said Tommy Jackson, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management at North Little Rock, Arkansas. Mena, with a population of 5,600, is the seat of Polk County, on the Arkansas border with Oklahoma, and is about 130 miles west of Little Rock, the state capitol. The storm roared through the small town shortly after 8 p.m. CST on Thursday night (0100 GMT on Friday morning). Damage but no death was reported in several smaller, nearby communities. The number of homes damaged or destroyed had yet to be determined, Jackson said. But he said there was extensive damage to the Polk County courthouse and municipal buildings, and to the downtown business area. Shelters were set up in two Mena churches for the displaced. Governor Mike Beebe dispatched 30 National Guardsmen to the town to assist local officials in providing security. Entergy, the state's primary electricity provider, said more than 10,000 customers were without power in three counties closer to central Arkansas because of damage to lines from high winds. "It's still far too early to determine how extensive the damage is," Jackson said.

Tips Bypass Internet Akses : 2 - Freegate

Hampir sama dengan software Ultrasurf spt yg sdh dibahas disini, dengan menggunakan software yg disebut dengan Freegate, kita jg bisa melewati/membypass batasan akses internet pada halaman yg ingin kita kunjungi. Freegate jg bersifat portabel sehingga dapat dijalankan langsung tanpa perlu instalasi. Freegate hanya berukuran sebesar 168 KB dan software ini dapat didownload disini. Saat Freegate dijalankan pertama kali, kita harus melakukan konfigurasi proxy pada Freegate spt yg ditunjukkan pada gambar berikut. Konfigurasi proxy pada Freegate hampir sama dengan Ultrasurf dimana terdapat 3 pilihan, yaitu : # Autodetect IE Proxy + Freegate (Default) Freegate akan mendeteksi konfigurasi proxy yg sama spt pada IE dan kemudian memakai konfigurasi proxy tsb. # Manually Set IE Proxy + Freegate Untuk melakukan konfigurasi proxy Freegate secara manual, kita harus mengetahui proxy yg digunakan pada jaringan untuk koneksi internet. Isikan alamat proxy server dan port pada kolom yg disediakan. # Use Fregatee Only Pada konfigurasi ini Freegate akan mencoba untuk melakukan koneksi langsung dengan server Freegate (direct connection). Apabila konfigurasi proxy pada Freegate telah dilakukan dengan benar maka Freegate akan melakukan pencarian server Freegate. Server yg berhasil dihubungi akan ditampilkan beserta kecepatan koneksinya pada jendela Freegate. Secara default Freegate akan memilih server yg paling cepat. Kemudian lakukan konfigurasi proxy pada browser untuk melakukan koneksi internet melalui Freegate dengan mengisikan proxy 127.0.0.1 : 8580. Untuk mengecek apakah browser sudah menggunakan proxy Freegate, kunjungi cmyip.com. Apabila konfigurasi proxy pada browswer sudah benar maka halaman tersebut akan menampilkan proxy server Freegate yg anda pakai seperti gambar berikut. Jika koneksi terasa lambat, anda dapat melakukan kembali pencarian server Freegate dengan koneksi yg mgkn lebih cepat dengan menekan tombol Search Again pada Freegate.

Bypass Firewall Part I dengan Aplikasi proxy gratisan

Satu lagi neh aplikasi free proxy tandingan dari tutorial yang pernah di posting oleh mahadewa. Aplikasi ini berasal dari negeri Jerman kayaknya. Soalnya banyak IP german yang disediakan. Situs resminya adalah www.your-freedom.net. Tapi disini aku tidak membahas apa itu proxy, cari aja di google kalau mau mengetahui pengertian lengkap dari proxy. Tapi kegunaan utama proxy adalah untuk melewati firewall yang dibuat untuk membatasi koneksi internet kita. Apa itu firewall? nah terpaksa cari lagi deh di google :D. Hmm tapi aku cerita sedikit tentang firewall menurut versi aku. Gini deh, klo kita sedang surfing or lagi depan komputer yang terhubung ke internet entah itu kita memakai laptop dirumah, di cafe, atau dimana aja, bisa juga kita lagi disebuah warnet. Ketika kita ingin membuka sebuah situs yang didalamnya ada konten pornograpi, secara (bahasa gaul dikit) pemerintah kita lagi giat2nya menghimbau kepada semua ISP (Internet Service Provider/penyedia jasa internet) untuk memblokir semua situs yang memuat konten SARA,Pornographi dan sebagainya yang tercantum dalam UUITE yang dikeluarkan beberapa waktu lalu. Nah, ketika kita membuka situs tersebut, yang ada hanyalah tampilan browser kosong yang berisi peringatan bahwa site tersebut telah di block oleh sang admin yang menyediakan koneksi internet kita. Kasus satu lagi yang sering terjadi adalah kita tidak bisa mengakses sebuah situs karena IP kita telah di block oleh empunya situs. Jadi Fungsi utama dari kita memakai proxy adalah untuk melewati sebuah firewall dan juga memanipulasi pembacaan IP dari sebuah situs yang ingin kita kunjungi. Masih banyak kasus kasus lain yang memaksa kita untuk memakai sebuah proxy yang tidak bisa aku jelasin disini, karena inti dari tulisan ini adalah cara memakai aplikasi proxy gratisan dari www.your-freedom.net. Tutorial ini sebenarnya dibuat bukan untuk mengajari seseorang untuk berbuat nakal :D, tapi lebih untuk sebuah pembelajaran dalam mengenal fungsi umum dari sebuah kata proxy. Sebelum menggunakan aplikasi ini, kita diwajibkan untuk register disitus utamanya www.your-freedom.net atau bisa langsung daftar dengan meng-klik First visit? Click here to register dibawah kolom login. Tetapi sebelum kita masuk lebih dalam pada proses registrasi ada baiknya kita mendownload aplikasi yang akan kita gunakan nantinya. Klik download dan pilih full windows installer klo mau yang paling lengkap. Filenya berukuran sekitar 11 Mb. Setelah mengisi beberapa field yang diawajibkan diisi seperti buat email baru, selanjutnya yaitu proses verifikasi dengan cara membuka email yang kita masukkan pada saat registrasi. Kita akan mendapatkan sebuah acount YF (your-freedom) baru setelah proses verifikasi, yang akan kita gunakan untuk login melalui situsnya atau login melalui aplikasi YF. Untuk acount YF gratisan (free) kita mendapatkan beberapa fasilitas diantaranya adalah koneksi max 64kbps selama 6 jam, tapi setiap 1 jam koneksi akan terputus, peringatan pemutusan koneksi diberikan 5 menit sebelum terjadi pemutusan. Reconect ulang dengan memasukkan kode angka yang diberikan. Weks napa dah loncat kesana :D Now, aku anggap proses download, registrasi, instalasi aplikasi di windows sudah selesai. Sekarang tata cara penggunaannya...cari minum dulu :) bersambung ke part II

Hackers Work's

Thanks to the media, the word "hacker" has gotten a bad reputation. The word summons up thoughts of malicious computer users finding new ways to harass people, defraud corporations, steal information and maybe even destroy the economy or start a war by infiltrating military computer systems. While there's no denying that there are hackers out there with bad intentions, they make up only a small percentage of the hacker community. ­ The term computer hacker first showed up in the mid-1960s. A hacker was a programmer -- someone who hacked out computer code. Hackers were visionaries who could see new ways to use computers, creating programs that no one else could conceive. They were the pioneers of the computer industry, building everything from small applications to operating systems. In this sense, people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were all hackers -- they saw the potential of what computers could do and created ways to achieve that potential. A unifying trait among these hackers was a strong sense of curiosity, sometimes bordering on obsession. These hackers prided themselves on not only their ability to create new programs, but also to learn how other programs and systems worked. When a program had a bug -- a section of bad code that prevented the program from working properly -- hackers would often create and distribute small sections of code called patches to fix the problem. Some managed to land a job that leveraged their skills, getting paid for what they'd happily do for free. More on Hackers * Worst PC Viruses * Could hackers devastate the economy? * ScienceChannel.com: Hacker Quiz ­As computers evolved, computer engineers began to network individual machines together into a system. Soon, the term hacker had a new meaning -- a person using computers to explore a network to which he or she didn't belong. Usually hackers didn't have any malicious intent. They just wanted to know how computer networks worked and saw any barrier between them and that knowledge as a challenge. ­ In fact, that's still the case today. While there are plenty of stories about malicious hackers sabotaging computer systems, infiltrating networks and spreading computer viruses, most hackers are just curious -- they want to know all the intricacies of the computer world. Some use their knowledge to help corporations and governments construct better security measures. Others might use their skills for more unethical endeavors. In this article, we'll explore common techniques hackers use to infiltrate systems. We'll examine hacker culture and the various kinds of hackers as well as learn about famous hackers, some of whom have run afoul of the law. In the next section, we'll look at hackers' tricks of the trade. ­

How Cell-phone Viruses Work on The Phone

Inside this Article 1. Introduction to How Cell-phone Viruses Work 2. Cell-phone Virus Basics 3. How They Spread 4. The Damage Done 5. Protecting Your Phone 6. Lots More Information 7. See more » The first known cell-phone virus appeared in 2004 and didn't get very far. Cabir.A infected only a small number of Bluetooth-enabled phones and carried out no malicious action -- a group of malware developers created Cabir to prove it could be done. Their next step was to send it to anti-virus researchers, who began the process of developing a solution to a problem that promises to get a lot worse. Related Articles * Computer Viruses * Popular Cell Phones * Discovery.com: Tracking Cell Phones ­ Cell-phone viruses are at the threshold of their effectiveness. At present, they can't spread very far and they don't do much damage, but the future might see cell-phone bugs that are as debilitating as computer viruses. In this article, we'll talk about how cell-phone viruses spread, what they can do and how you can protect your phone from current and future threats.

Spot the Tiny Phishing Trick

The TinyURL service allows you to enter a long URL, such as one for a particular Google Maps location, and convert it into a short, easy-to-type or e-mail link. Good for sending links - or as Trend Micro reports, for hiding a malicious Web site URL in a phishing e-mail. Trend says the dirty trick, which it first reported on in February, is becoming more popular and spreading into multiple languages. The ruse is intended to make it more difficult for the wary to immediately peg a link as suspicious when they mouseover a link to see where it actually goes. Of course, you'd probably be just as suspicious if you receive an e-mail that purports to be from your bank but uses a TinyURL, but Trend also writes that the technique is being used for IM-based phishing with messages that pretend to come from a friend. If you suspect that a TinyURL link you've received might hide a malicious URL, you can check it out without clicking the link. First copy the link to the clipboard and paste it into your browser's address bar, or type it in directly. Then type 'preview' before the address, so that http://tinyurl.com/g0hz would become http://preview.tinyurl.com/g0hz, for example. Then hit enter to bring up a preview page, and you'll see the the full URL used for the TinyURL link without actually bringing up the linked-to page. If you want to see if that link has been reported as a phishing site, or if you want to report it as such yourself, cut and paste the (real) link and enter it on http://www.phishtank.com. * See more like this: * phishing, * e-mail security, * online security, * browser security

Melewati Akses Internet Yang Diblokir

Suatu kali mgkn anda pernah merasakan tidak bisa mengakses suatu website atau blog dari jaringan internet kantor, sekolah, atau ISP tertentu. Padahal, jika anda mengakses halaman tersebut dari warnet atau ISP yg lain, halaman tersebut dapat diakses dgn normal. Pembatasan akses internet ini biasanya terjadi karena adanya kebijakan2 tertentu yg dikeluarkan oleh penyedia layanan internet pada jaringan internet yg kita pakai. Untuk melewati/membypass pembatasan akses internet spt yg disebutkan diatas, ada beberapa cara yg bisa kita pakai, namun intinya adalah penggunaan proxy server lain sbg jalur akses, diantaranya spt berikut :

1. Web proxy
Dengan menggunakan web proxy kita bisa dengan mudah mengakses suatu halaman di internet yg tidak bisa kita akses secara langsung (direct connection) atau pun melalui proxy pada jaringan internet yg kita pakai. Web proxy dapat kita cari dengan mudah melalui Google, salah satunya www.hidemyass.com. Untuk mengakses halaman yg ingin dituju, masukkan URL halaman tsb pada box kemudian tekan tombol HideMyAss.
2. Online translator
Pada dasarnya online translator ditujukan untuk menerjemahkan bahasa dari sebuah halaman website namun online translator ini bisa jg dijadikan sebagai web proxy. Salah satu dari online translator itu adalah Google Translate.
3. Ultrasurf, Freegate dan GPass
Ketiga software ini diciptakan oleh para pembuatnya bagi org2 yg tinggal di negara Cina. Tujuan dari software ini adalah utk membypass firewall yg dibuat oleh pemerintah Cina sehingga org2 yg tinggal di negara Cina bisa dengan mudah mengakses informasi yg berasal dari luar negara Cina. Dengan menggunakan salah satu dari ketiga software ini, kita jg bisa membypass firewall jaringan internet untuk mengakses halaman internet yg diblokir. Ketiga software ini dapat berjalan di Windows tanpa perlu instalasi sehingga bersifat portabel dan jg ukurannya sangat kecil, sekitar 200 KB. Penggunaan ketiga sofware ini dapat anda lihat disini : Ultrasurf, Freegate, GPass
4. Your Freedom
Oleh para pengembangnya, Your Freedom diciptakan untuk membypass koneksi internet yg dibatasi oleh firewall dan filtering proxy. Your Freedom mempunyai sekitar 24 proxy server yg tersebar di benua Amerika, Eropa dan Asia. Software ini dapat dijalankan pada Windows dengan menggunakan platform Java. Ada 4 paket yg ditawarkan untuk dapat menggunakan Your Freedom, yaitu paket Free, Basic, Enhanced dan Total. Artikel selengkapnya beserta penggunaannya dapat dilihat disini.
5. ...

Semoga penggunaan tips untuk membypass akses internet ini dapat menambah pengetahuan anda.

Buka proteksi internet kantor

Pusing, pening, bingung, menyebalkan dan ingin muntah (emang sampai segitu ya?) itulah salah satu hal yang ditimbulkan saat kita lagi asik2 browsing surfing dan krosing (eh yang terakhir engga dink) namun web yag mau kita kunjungi alias mau kita buka di blok alias ditutup sama admin jaringannya... uwhhhh sebel deh (sok imut ya?) jadi ngga bisa brosing2 n surfing2, padahal lagi pengen n kebelet banget.. aduh2 Pernah mengalami hal kaya diatas?? nah kalo saya seh sering... sampi pusing 13 keliling (kebanyakan) sampe2 mau tak bandem watu adminnya kalo digituin terus (ini trik yang ngga perlu n ngga boleh ditiru) jangan panik, jangan ragu, dan jangan cemas, dan jangan buang sampah sembarangan!! karena saya punya salah satu trik alias tips buat masalah web yang di block yang jelas ini bukanlah sulap maupun sihir serta bukan aplikasi dari ilmu perdukunan dan dunia hitam... Banyak cara dan trik untuk memecahakan masalah seperti diatas... apalagi kalo anda search di google... wuhh langsung dah bejibun artikel2 yang membahas masalah bloking membloking alias tutup mentutup , namun disini saya mau membahas salah satu cara yang menurut saya efektif (menurut saya lho ini) yaitu menggunakan toonel alias tunel atau software proxy (benar ga sih istilahnya begitu?) Sebenernya kalo mau buka web yang di blok sama admin ngga harus pake toonel atau software2 proxy tapi bisa juga pake anonymous web, anonymous web ini sama juga menggunakan fasilitas proxy melalui web. nah dibawah ini adalah salah satu (salah banyak ding) web yang bisa digunakan untu melewati proteksi web oleh admin network kampus, kantor atau instansi tempat anda berinternet 

• http://anonymouse.org/ 
• http://notyourip.com/ 
• http://ninjaproxy.com/  
• http://www.unblockglobal.com/  
• http://www.dontyouknow.info/  
• http://www.yourpcsucks.com/  
• http://www.unblock7.com/  
• http://hidemyass.com/  
• http://youhide.com/ 

nah dengan fasilitas web tersebut anda bisa melewati proteksi dari admin (tapi ngga tau jadinya kalo adminnya dah jagoan) Caranya sih gampang tinggal masukin alamat web yang ingin kita tuju (kebanyakan friendster dan youtube yang di blok) nah enter deh... namun kadang fasilitas ini juga agak merepotkan karena kita harus menulis alamat dikolom web diatas, nah mugkin cara yang satu ini lebih praktis.. namun juga agak repot... tapi dikit.. untuk cara berikutnya langsung saja n ngga usah bertele2 oke untuk cara berikutnya kita memerlukan tambahan software yang bisa juga disebut toonel atau tunel begini cara pakainya : 

1. Download Toonel freegate (toonel yang bagus menurut saya) bisa anda download di sini Download freegate ver 677 http://www.ziddu.com/download/2692210/fg677p.exe.html 
2. Setelah selesai download langsung saja jalankan freegate (tinggal dobel klik) 
3. Nah kalo freegate bekerja dengan lancar tanpa gangguan, freegate akan mencari proxy yang aktif dan mengkonekkan alias menghubungkan anda denga proxy tersebut, dan secara otomatis juga setelah freegate connect dia akan membuka Internet Explorer secara sendirinya (datang tak dijemput pulang tak diantar) kaya jelangkung... hiiii 
4. Nah internet exsplorer siap digunakan untuk bersurfing dan ber browsing ke situs yang diblokir. selesai deh... 
5. tinggal masukin aja alamat yang diblokir lewat Internet Eksplorer.. Selesai kan?? 

we?? kenapa?? ohh... belum selesai to?? Kok pake IE mas?? saya kan loph deth sama firefox??!!! O iya ding hampir lupa.. nah ini tips n trik tambahan buat para pencinta Moziilla Firefox seperti saya.. supaya setingan dari freegate bisa teraplikasi atau bisa digunakan dalam firefox kita tinggal set aja proxy dari firefox.. caranya : 

1. buka tool - Option - buka tab advanced - buka tab Network - Setting - pilih manual proxy configuration 
2. isi kolom HTTP Proxy dengan ip : 127.0.0.1 dan isi port : 8580 setelah itu centang "use this proxy for all protocol" 
3. nah jadi deh... kalo ngga mau repot2 gonta ganti n ngga mau cape ngetik ip proxy tadi anda bisa gunakan add-ons dari firefox yang bernama switch proxy bisa di download di alamt ini : https://addons.mozilla.org/extension...cation=firefox dengan add-ons itu anda dapat menyimpan settingan proxy dan dapat menggantinya sewaktu2 
4. toonel freegate ini juga bisa memperlancar surfing dan browsing, entah ini perasaan saya saja atau memang seperti itu adanya, karena selama saya menggunakan freegate kayanya kecepatan internetnya jadi bertambah, saya yang biasanya (baru seminggu ding jadi belum bisa dikatakan biasa) menggunakan indosat m2 broom paket unlimited yang rata-rata kecepatannya 8 kBps pernah juga sampai 30 kBps cuman sedetik tapi (maklum di desa saya belum ada 3g) bisa naik sampai 15 kBps ke atas bahkan sampai 21 - 40 kBps.. ngga tau juga apa cuman perasaan saya atau memang tambah banter... mending dicoba aja deh... 

NB : anda tidak bisa mendownload dari beberapa file sharing jika menggunakan toonel dan anonymous web, tapi kadang2 kalo pake toonel juga bisa (kadang2 lho.. tapi jarang sekali) lagi2 NB : Kalo admin jaringannya memang jagoan dan kejam, seluruh trik diatas mungkin saja tak berlaku, namun tak ada salahnya dicoba dulu.

Nama E-mail Pengaruhi Jumlah Spam

Terjangan spam alias pesan sampah ternyata tidak sembarang menyerbu alamat e-mail. Dalam studi University of Cambridge di Inggris diungkap bahwa jumlah spam yang diterima pemakai e-mail tergantung pada huruf pertama nama e-mailnya. Dengan menganalisis sekitar 500 juta spam yang beredar di Inggris, ditemukan bahwa alamat e-mail yang dimulai dengan huruf yang umum dipakai kemungkinan kuantitas spam-nya mencapai 40 persen. Sedangkan alamat yang dimulai dengan huruf yang tidak umum, maka kuantitas spam hanya mencapai seperlima di inbox mereka.

Menurut studi ini, jika huruf pertama dalam alamat e-mail dimulai dengan J, A, U, I, R, P, M, atau S, maka jumlah spam yang diterima bisa sampai dua kali lipat dibanding dengan alamat e-mail yang dimulai dengan huruf Q, Z, W, Y atau F.

Sayangnya, studi ini tak menyimpulkan penyebab pasti fenomena itu. Dr Richard Clayton, akademisi Cambridge University yang membesut studi ini hanya mengemukakan bahwa mungkin, hal itu disebabkan lebih banyak nama e-mail dimulai dengan huruf di barisan pertama daripada yang kedua sehingga kuantitas spam-nya lebih banyak.

Temuan tersebut diharapkan bisa membantu dibuatnya teknik tertentu dalam menangkal spam.

DETIKINET

Facebook Indonesia

Facebook, formerly Thefacebook, is a free-access social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. The website’s name refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of a campus community that some US colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff as a way to get to know other people on campus.
Compared to Friendster? Facebook is far more “adult”. Views FS is very fancy and very suitable for young people. FB is much more elegant because the view can not customize the indiscriminate, so very fitting for a serious adult. More the top person (adults) joined, such as Amien Rais, Andi Noya, Faisal Basri, etc. From politicians, artists, lecturers, scientists, etc. The more sharing thoughts directly from Facebook, very effective. Compared to FS, FB is still far in Indonesia, even though globally the largest is MySpace then facebook. Both users have more than other competitors such as Friendster and Orkut (Google’s).
Below the number of users online social networking in Asian (in million / million users, 1 person can have more than 1 user).
Friendster (65 million users) Facebook (14 million) MySpace (15 million) CyWorld (Korea, 14 million) Hi5 (10 million) Orkut (10 million) Xiaonei (China, 5 million) 51.com (China, 5 million) Bebo (4 million). Source: Inside Facebook
Some other data of Facebook statistical : - More than 150 million users worldwide - Over half the users are outside the school / college - More than 700 million photo uploads per month - More than 4 million video uploads per month - 2.6 billion minutes spent on Facebook per day - Users age 25 years is the most rapid growth
Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook while he was a student at Harvard University. Website membership was initially limited to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It later expanded further to include any university student, then high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over. The website currently has more than 175 million active users worldwide.
Facebook has met with some controversy over the past few years. It has been blocked intermittently in several countries including Syria and Iran. It has also been banned at many places of work to discourage employees from wasting time using the service. Privacy has also been an issue, and it has been compromised several times. It is also facing several lawsuits from a number of Zuckerberg’s former classmates, who claim that Facebook had stolen their source code and other intellectual property.
2008 may be spelled Facebook is a year in Indonesia. Imagine, 2008 year ago the growth of Facebook reached 645% or more than 6-fold from the previous year. At this time there were 831 thousand Facebook users are from Brazil (0.4% of our population 237 million). One review said that the features of Facebook in Australia would trigger the growth of this high.
However, consider “culture” of Indonesia social networking which is very high on the Internet, with so Populer Friendster in Indonesia, then it is not strange that this service can be very popular in Indonesia.
Below Facebook Demographic Statistics for Indonesia
Source 2009 : http://allfacebook.com/facebook-demographic-statistics/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook http://teknohikmah.blogspot.com/2009/01/facebook-terobos-dunia-internet.html

Kiamat 2012 (Day of Resurrection 2012)

On the internet at this time many words that the Maya tribe predicted who lived in southern Mexico or Guatemala on the Day of Resurrection will occur on 21 December 2012.

In the manuscript of the tribe known heritage astronomical and calendar system mentioned on this date will appear the waves so large galaxy that resulted in interruption of all activities in the face of this Earth. Outside the prediction Maya tribe that has not known the basic calculations, according to Deputi Bidang Sains Pengkajian dan Informasi Kedirgantaraan, Lembaga Penerbangan dan Antariksa Nasional (Lapan), Bambang S Tedjasukmana, estimated phenomena that can appear around the year 2011-2012 is sun storms. Prediction is based on the monitoring center monitors the weather in outer space some countries since the 1960s, and by Lapan in Indonesia since 1975.

Described, Sri Kaloka, Head of The Center for Science Space Lapan, storms occur when Sun appears Flare and Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). Flare is a big explosion in the atmosphere of the Sun charged equivalent to 66 million Hiroshima atomic bomb explosion. The CME is a very big explosion that caused hurl particles speed 400 kilometers per second.

Sun weather disturbances can affect the condition of cargo to the outer magnet Earth, further impact on the electricity system, transportation, relying on the satellite navigation global positioning system (GPS) and communication systems that use satellite communications and high frequency waves (HF), and may be dangerous to life or human health. “Because the Earth magnet interference, ” said Sri. Step antisipatif

From the Sun, billions of particles to the electron layer ionosfer Earth in four days time, said Jiyo Harjosuwito, Head of Group Research Ionosfer and Propagasi Radio Waves. The impact of the electron charge particles in the Earth polar magnet held for several days. During that time antisipatif step can be done to reduce the impact caused.

Anticipate the emergence of the outer waves, continue Bambang, Lapan has building the central system to monitor the weather in outer space integrated Science Center Utilization Space Lapan Bandung. Object monitored, among other layers ionosfer and geomagnetik, and radio waves. This system will be fully operational in January 2009 to come.

Antisipatif steps which have been made Lapan such as contact the parties that may be affected by the storm’s outer emergence, Dephankam namely, military, Dephub, PLN, and Depkominfo and local governments. Currently training for local government officials who operate the HF radio has been made since long ago, now there are about 500 people trained in the radio signal interference.

Bambang expects PLN to take steps antisipatif with the extinction of the electricity system that does not happen that impact worse. Therefore, socialization should be done in the community when it steps will be taken.

In addition, flights and cruises that rely on GPS satellite navigation system as the system should use the manual when the storm occurred outer space, living in the guide base or landing aircraft.

Electron density changes due to weather outer, said Lapan researcher from the PPSA, Effendi, can change the speed of radio waves when passing through ionosfer so giving rise delay propagasi on the GPS signal.

These changes lead to distortions in the determination of the distance and position. In addition, components microelectronic on satellite navigation and communications will be damaged, so that the acceleration of the life, so that it can not work anymore.

Currently, Lapan have developed modeling for planning the use of the frequency interference to HF radio communications. “Now we have prepared the same field modeling for navigation,” said Bambang.

source : http://www.kompas.com/read/xml/2008/11/26/13072198/isu.kiamat.tahun.2012.yang.meresahkan

Google Ocean Temukan Petunjuk Baru Kota Atlantis

TEKNOLOGI Google Ocean yang merupakan bagian dari Google Earth temukan petunjuk baru bagi misteri kota bawah laut Atlantis. Sebuah pola menyerupai pola sebuah kota berhasil ditemukan di dasar laut dekat kepulauan Canary, Samudera Atlantik, dan menjadi petunjuk terbaru bagi misteri Atlantis. Para peneliti yang kerap memburu misteri kota bawah laut Atlantis, tampaknya dapat sedikit tersenyum lega sekarang. Hal ini dikarenakan kegiatan penelitian mereka kini menjadi lebih mudah dengan memanfaatkan Google Ocean. Hingga hari ini belum ada satu pun penelitian yang berhasil membuktikan keberadaan kota raksasa bawah air tersebut. Namun, misteri keberadaan Atlantis tetap membuat para peneliti berusaha ‘mengupdate’ informasi terbaru seputar keberadaan Atlantis. Kini, Google Ocean, berhasil menangkap gambaran dari satelit pemancar Google Earth berupa guratan-guratan tekstur di dasar laut. Guratan-guratan yang menjadi dasar perkiraan kota Atlantis tersebut merupakan guratan-guratan yang berada pada jarak 620 mil dari bagian pantai Barat Laut Afrika dekat dengan kepulauan Canary pada bagian dasar Samudera Atlantik. Google Ocean merupakan temuan para ilmuan Mountain View (kota markas Google) yang kini mencoba mengeplorasi ke dalam laut. Bukan hanya laut, tetapi juga dasar lautnya. Format Peta dari Google Ocean ini, memungkinkan penggunanya untuk melihat-lihat isi lautan dengan tombol navigasi. Tidak hanya itu, Google Ocean juga memiliki data-data penting seputar dasar laut, seperti; kondisi cuaca di sekitar laut tersebut, jenis koral yang hidup di dasar lautan itu, bangkai kapal terkenal yang ada di dasar lautan itu, dan tak ketinggalan arus lautan itu. Berdasarkan gambar yang berhasil ditangkap satelit Google Ocean, tampak bentuk persegi panjang yang kira-kira berukuran sama dengan kota Wales, Inggris dan gambar tersebut diperkirakan sebuah fosil kota bawah laut. Hal ini juga tergambar pada alat eksplorasi seorang ahli aeronautical yang juga mengklaim bahwa gambar tersebut juga gambar sebuah kota. Guratan tersebut dapat kita temukan pada koordinat 31 15’15.53N 15’30.53W. Pernyataan tersebut didukung oleh beberapa peneliti Atlantis karena koordinat tersebut sesuai dengan deskripsi yang dilakukan oleh Filsafat, Yunani, Plato. Menurut Plato kota tesebut tenggelam setelah para penduduknya gagal untuk menguasai Athena sekitar tahun 9000 SM. Dr Charles Orser dari Universitas New York menyatakan bahwa penemuan yang memanfaatkan teknologi Google Earth ini sangat mengagumkan dan sebaiknya dilakukan penelitian lebih lanjut. Bernie Bamford (38) dari Chester yang menemukan pola tersebut, kemudian membandingkannya dengan skema milik Milton Keynes, sebuah desain tata kota dari Buckinghamshire. Setelah membandingkan pola tersebut, Bernie mengatakan kalau pola itu merupakan buatan manusia. Sejarah Atlantis sendiri telah menarik jutaan imajinasi manusia selama berabad-abad. Dan sebelum penemuan ini, ada yang memperkirakan kalau kota tersebut berada pada lepas pantai Siprus dan ada pula di bagian selatan Spanyol. Menurut Plato, Atlantis merupakan sebuah pulau yang lebih besar dari Libya dan Asia yang dijadikan satu serta berada di depan Pilar Hercules – Selat Gibraltar. Atlantis merupakan negeri dengan kekayaan yang luar biasa, peradaban yang maju, serta keindahan yang lenyap oleh gempa bumi dan banjir 9000 tahun kemudian karena ketidak mampuan mereka untuk mengatasi global warming. (*/OL-02)

Hearst Planning Electronic Reader Alternative To Kindle

Analysts suggest such a device would help the news publisher find an answer to reverse shrinking subscriber bases, as well as revenue losses from publications. Hearst Corp.'s plans to launch a wireless electronic reader for viewing the publisher's newspapers and magazines reflects the kind of experimentation deemed pivotal to finding a business model that can compete in an era of the content-free Internet.

Hearst, which has seen its own revenue plummet as advertisers shift an increasing amount of their spending to the Web, is planning to launch an e-reader with a large-format screen this year, Fortune magazine reported Friday. The device would be big enough for the layout and advertising requirements of newspapers and magazines.

Hearst Corp.'s plans to launch a wireless electronic reader for viewing the publisher's newspapers and magazines reflects the kind of experimentation deemed pivotal to finding a business model that can compete in an era of the content-free Internet.

Hearst, which has seen its own revenue plummet as advertisers shift an increasing amount of their spending to the Web, is planning to launch an e-reader with a large-format screen this year, Fortune magazine reported Friday. The device would be big enough for the layout and advertising requirements of newspapers and magazines.

scan Virus HP Dengan Kaspersky

Ngomong-ngomong mengenai virus ponsel, sebenarnya apa sih virus ponsel itu? Virus pada ponsel berarti segala program atau kode yang dapat menyebabkan aplikasi atau fitur ponsel tidak dapat digunakan semestinya. Biasanya virus disamarkan dalam bentuk yang menarik seperti game ataupun gambar. Supaya lebih menarik lagi, permainan ataupun gambar tersebut diselipkan kata-kata seronok.

Virus yang dapat menyerang ponsel dan PDA pertama kali ditemukan sekitar Juli 2004, saat ahli selular menemukansoftware yang mampu berpindah dan memperbanyak diri dengan perantara Bluetooth. Virus ini dinamakan Cabir. Setelah itu mulai bermunculan virus lain, seperti Commwarrior-A yang menyusup pada game The Mosquitos. Lalu muncul lagi virus ponsel yang dapat mengirim MMS otomatis ke nomor yang ada dalam inbox. Virus bukan satu-satunya perusak ponsel.

Ada worm atau cacing yang bertempat tinggal pada memori ponsel yang aktif dan bisa menduplikasi dengan sendirinya. Worm menyebar ke ponsel lain melalui e-mail, chatting, LAN, dan Bluetooth.

Berbagai Virus PonselContoh virus jenis worm ini adalah Cabir. Cabir menyebar melalui koneksi Bluetooth dan masuk ke dalam ponsel melalui inbox, misalnya berupa file dengan ekstensi sys (mirip aplikasi Symbian). Saat file sis tersebut diklik dan di-install, Cabir mulai mencari mangsa baru, yaitu ponsel dengan akses Bluetooth terbuka untuk menginfeksinya. Nama lain dari Cabir adalah SymbOS/Cabir.A, atau bisa juga dinamai Cabir.A,Worm atau bisa juga disebut virus Caribe.

Cabir akan mengaktifkan Bluetooth secara periodik sekitar 15-20 menit sekali. Tidak ada kerusakan file yang terjadi apabila ponsel kita terkena virus ini, tapi baterai akan cepat habis karena dipakai untuk mencari perangkat Bluetoothaktif lainnya. Untuk mencegahnya, yang dapat dilakukan adalah mematikan fitur Bluetooth di ponsel kita dan kita hanya mengaktifkan saat dibutuhkan saja.

Selain Cabir, salah satu jenis virus worm lainnya adalah Commwarrior yang menyebar melalui MMS dan koneksiBluetooth. Setiap tanggal 14, ponsel akan me-reset dengan sendirinya. Nama lain dari Commwarrior antara lain adalah SymbOS/commwarrior.a.

Commwarrior menyebar dengan cara mengirim file yang menarik ke ponsel kita. Salah satu cara untuk mencegahnya adalah dengan tidak menggunakan Bluetooth secara sembarangan dan jangan menerima file yang tidak diketahui asal-usulnya. Perusak ponsel lainnya adalah Trojan Horse. Trojan Horse adalah suatu program jahat yang berpura-pura ramah. Trojan dapat merusak program pada ponsel. Trojan tidak dapat menduplikasi dirinya seperti worm.

Salah satu jenis dari Trojan adalah Skulls dengan nama lengkap SymbOS.skulls. Nama lain dari virus ini adalah SKULLS.A. Skulls akan mengganti sistem di dalam ponsel dan menyebabkan icon menu utama berubah menjadi gambar tengkorak.

Tidak hanya gambar yang diubah, Skulls juga akan melumpuhkan aplikasi yang icon-nya tadi diubah. Jadi pada saat kita memencet icon dari aplikasi tersebut, maka akan muncul pesan sistem error. Terdapat tiga jenis skulls yaitu Skulls A, Skulls C, dan Skulls H. Cara mencegah virus ini adalah dengan menolak meng-install aplikasi ini dan selalu menutup koneksi Bluetooth saat tidak dibutuhkan.

Salah satu jenis virus Trojan lainnya adalah Doomboot. Virus yang bernama lengkap SymbOS.Doomboot.A. Cara kerja dari virus ini adalah dengan membuat file korup (rusak) dan setelah ponsel terinfeksi maka virus lainnya akan ditempatkan dalam ponsel kita. File yang korup tadi akan membuat ponsel tidak dapat melakukan booting.

Virus Doomboot masuk ke dalam ponsel dengan seakan-akan menyerupai game Doom versi Symbian. Virus ini sangat pandai menyaru, karena setelah ponsel terinfeksi, tidak ada tanda apa pun bahwa ponsel telah terinfeksi virus. Virus ini juga secara otomatis akan menyebar melalui Bluetooth dan mengakibatkan konsumsi baterai ponsel menjadi berlebihan sehingga baterai cepat habis. Doomboot akan membuat ponsel tidak dapat melakukan bootingsaat kita mematikan ponsel dan menyalakan kembali.

Cegah dengan Antivirus CanggihSebagai langkah antisipasi dari virus-virus di atas, Anda perlu meng-install antivirus. Salah satunya Kaspersky Mobile Security. Kaspersky adalah perusahaan antivirus dari Rusia. Awalnya, pada tahun 2004 mereka berhasil mendeteksi dan menghilangkan virus di ponsel bersistem operasi Symbian dan Windows Mobile. Virus yang dapat mereka atasi adalah jenis Trojan dan juga worm.

Dalam menangani virus, Kaspersky akan melakukan scanning terhadap semua file yang masuk ke ponsel. Saat terdeteksi ada virus, ponsel akan langsung berbunyi. Update-nya pun tersedia melalui GPRS. Di samping scanotomatis, Kaspersky juga menyediakan opsi untuk pemindaian virus secara manual.

Selain sebagai antivirus, Kaspersky Mobile Security menyediakan fitur pengamanan data dari pencurian. Melalui Kaspersky, Anda dapat memblokir ponsel dari jarak jauh dan mencari tahu di mana lokasi ponsel Anda.

Untuk menyediakan fasilitas ini, Kaspersky menggabungkan fitur SMS Block, SMS Clean, dan SIM Watch. Fitur SMS block secara otomatis akan memblokir ponsel dengan password yang telah ditentukan sebelumnya. Caranya dengan mengirimkan SMS ke ponsel yang baru hilang. Fitur SMS Clean secara otomatis akan mengosongkan semua isi ponsel dan kartu memori dengan SMS. Kedua fitur ini hanya berfungsi jika SIM Card Anda masih terpasang dan ponsel belum dimatikan oleh sang pencuri.

Jika kebetulan yang mencuri ponsel Anda buru-buru mematikan ponsel begitu dicuri olehnya, dan menggantinya dengan SIM Card lain, maka fitur SMS Watch akan bekerja. Kaspersky secara diam-diam akan mengirimkan SMS dari nomor sang pencuri dan mengirimkannya ke nomor Anda. Selanjutnya, Anda tinggal mengurus kartu baru dengan nomor yang sama, ke operator seluler yang Anda gunakan untuk menerima SMS Watch dari ponsel Anda. Dari data nomor telepon yang didapat, Anda bisa melacak di mana lokasi sang pencuri.

Selain itu, Anda dapat memanfaatkan Kaspersky sebagai penangkal spam. Seperti kita ketahui, sampa saat ini ponsel baru bisa memblokir telepon saja, tidak untuk SMS dan MMS. Nah, di sini Kaspersky menyediakan solusi untuk menangkal spam yang masuk melalui SMS dan MMS.

Yang unik, aplikasi ini juga bisa menyediakan firewall bagi ponsel Anda. Jadi Anda tak perlu khawatir akan terkena virus, saat mengakses internet dari ponsel.

Untuk meng-install aplikasi antivirus ke ponsel, unduh Kaspersky (kmsecurity_wm_sp_7.0.1.37_en.cab/sis, 508KB) dari situs http://www.kaspersky.com/productupdates?chapter=207716169. Setelah itu, pilih jenis sistem operasi, dan bahasa yang ingin Anda instalasikan, lalu salin file tersebut ke memori ponsel. (Sinyal)

Aktifasi GPRS Kartu AS / SIMPATI

GPRS adalah general pocket radio service, salah satu fitur data transfer dari penyedia jaringan seluler yang memungkinkan anda untuk berselancar di dunia maya tanpa harus menggunakan kabel dan alat piranti keras lainnya. Cukup dengan telepon selular yang anda miliki anda bisa langsung terkoneksi ke dunia maya dengan melakukan setting pengaktifan terlebih dahulu tentunya.

Syarat Pengaktifan dan Penggunaan GPRS - Menggunakan handset / hp yang bisa gprs - Ada software browser html / wap pada ponsel anda atau di koputer pc atau laptop jika anda menyambungkannya ke komputer. - Kartu anda dalam keadaan aktif tidak tenggang atau grace period. - Bagi simpati memiliki sisa pulsa minimal Rp. 500,- - Berada di wilayah yang dijangkau fitur GPRS

A. Langkah / Tahap Aktifasi GPRS pada Kartu Halo

1. Mengirim SMS ke 6616 dengan pesan sebagai berikut :

Ketik : GPRS Keterangan : Dikenakan tarif Rp 250 sekali kirim

2. 2 Kali Mendapatkan SMS Konfirmasi dari Server Telkomsel

Tunggu beberapa saat, anda akan menerima konfirmasi sms bahwa aplikasi gprs anda sedang diproses dan membutuhkan waktu kurang lebih sekitar 48 jam atau dua hari. Setelah gprs aktif pada server, anda akan kembali mendapat notifikasi sms kedua yang menyatakan gprs anda sudah aktif.

3. Lakukan seting gprs di ponsel anda dengan parameter umum : - Connection Name : APN Telkomsel - Data Bearer : GPRS - Access Point Name : telkomsel - Username : wap - Prompt Password : No - Password : wap123 - Authentication : Normal - Gateway IP address : 10.1.89.130 - Homepage : http://wap.telkomsel.com - Connection Security : Off - Session Mode : Permanent

B. Langkah / Tahap Aktifasi GPRS pada Kartu Simpati dan Kartu As

1. Mengirim SMS ke 6616 dengan pesan sebagai berikut :

Ketik : GPRS[spasi]nomor ICCID (Integrated Circuit Card Identification) di belakang sim card simpati anda Contoh : GPRS 6210001234567890 Keterangan : Dikenakan tarif Rp 350 sekali kirim

2. 2 Kali Mendapatkan SMS Konfirmasi dari Server Telkomsel

Tunggu beberapa saat, anda akan menerima konfirmasi sms bahwa aplikasi gprs anda sedang diproses dan membutuhkan waktu kurang lebih sekitar 48 jam atau dua hari. Setelah gprs aktif pada server, anda akan kembali mendapat notifikasi sms kedua yang menyatakan gprs anda sudah aktif.

3. Lakukan seting gprs di ponsel anda dengan parameter umum : - Connection Name : APN Telkomsel - Data Bearer : GPRS - Access Point Name : telkomsel - Username : wap - Prompt Password : No - Password : wap123 - Authentication : Normal - Gateway IP address : 10.1.89.130 - Homepage : http://wap.telkomsel.com - Connection Security : Off - Session Mode : Permanent

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