Filed under: Computers

Guess what, Canada has hackers too! It’s true, the country isn’t all maple leaves and mounties. Now the only question is whether Canada has anymore hackers after Wednesday’s raid that snatched up 17 of these young whippersnappers in 12 towns across the winter-swept country.

The suspects ranged from 17 to 26 years-old, and with one exception, all male. The 17 tech-savvy young men and woman formed a hacking ring accused of trafficking in identity and data theft, denial of service attacks (cutting off Internet access), and spamming. The criminal hackers used the standard tools of the trade — viruses, spyware, and bots to hijack victims’ PCs and servers.

The attacks are estimated to have caused $45 million in damages to governments, businesses and individuals around the world. Each hacker is thought to be responsible for hijacking 5,000 computers, most outside of Canada.

From National Post

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Filed under: Computers

When Intel typically develops and debuts a new microprocessor to the computer buying public, it usually gets fanfare around new high speeds attained — and, of course, the higher price point. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company may be bucking its own trend the next time around, however, as it finishes development of a new low-priced, smaller-sized chip code named “Diamondville.”

This new chip, the result of advances in smaller “wafer”-making capabilities, is geared for low-cost notebook computers. We’re talking less than $250 each.

While the new chip won’t break speed records, it will make it possible for computer makers to develop new notebook and desktop PCs that serve basic, everyday functions, such as e-mailing, scheduling and organizing. (Can you think of a few family members who would benefit from such an accessible, inexpensive device?)

Intel expects big-name PC makers to get in on the action once the new chip — the official brand-name is yet to be decided — is available.

We’ve already seen that you can get some great laptops for under $500, but it looks like we can expect more computing options at better price points in the not too distant future.

From The Wall Street Journal.

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Filed under: Cell Phones, Celebrities, MySpace

French President Nicolas Sarkozy once again is finding himself in a pretty sticky situation, this time thanks to leaked cell-phone text message and some creative musicians. Last week, it was reported that just eight days before his marriage to Italian model-turned-popstar Carla Bruni, Sarkozy text messaged his ex-wife Cecilia, begging her to return to him.

“If you come back, I’ll cancel everything,” said the SMS message.

Though the French prez has denied the story and filed suit against the media outlet that originally ran the story, he’s out of luck because the story just wont die. In fact, French pop act Jeanne Cherhal has turned the now-infamous text message into a song, ‘Si tu Reviens,’ and posted it on her MySpace page.

Will Sarkozy sue her too? Probably not, but it does add more fodder for gossip blogs, and, thanks to mobile technology, gadget blogs such as this one!

From Textually.org

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Filed under: Cameras, Computers, Celebrities

Well, New York Magazine’s ‘Playboy’-esque foray into nudie pics has been incredibly successful. This week’s photos of the completely naked, barely-legal Lindsay Lohan have garnered the print magazine plenty of attention, not to mention the NYMag Web site, which got more traffic than it could handle than it could handle.

The star of ‘Herbie Fully Loaded‘ and Disney’s misguided remake of ‘The Parent Trap‘ shed her garments to recreate Marilyn Monroe’s last nude photo shoot, which has come to be known as ‘The Last Sitting.’ The images were shot by Bert Stern, who created the original photo shoot with Monroe back in 1962. The be-freckled, former red-head generated so much Web traffic for the magazine that for a while on Monday the site was completely inaccessible.

According to Forbes and Portfolio.com, the New York magazine site — which published a slide show of the photo shoot, as well as some outtakes — received 40 million views over the first two days that it was up (around 2,000 percent more than usual). Meanwhile, the magazine got 500 more subscription requests than it usually gets in a week. To boot, Forbes is reporting that Bert Stern was paid a standard fee for doing the shoot, and Lohan apparently did the shoot for nothing (which is a whole lot cheaper than the figures some celebrity publications pay for images of stars). So it looks like New York magazine really made a good deal here.

There are two lessons to be learned here. First, the Web can still help bring some business to beleagured print magazines, especially if you choose a lusted-after starlet to pose nude. Second, if you’re going to post pictures of starlets’ nipples, then you need to invest in some extra capacity so your Web site isn’t brought to its knees.

Still, those are some pics, no?

From Portfolio, Forbes, New York Observer, and New York.

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Filed under: Computers

In the U.S. there are debates raging in the world of the Internet Service Provider, or ISPs, about whether they are obligated to help the recording and film industries by stopping the flow of pirated content on their networks. In the U.K., though, the British government is putting its foot down, saying that if ISPs there don’t take steps to stop illegal downloading they’ll institute legislation to force their hand.

Here Comcast has definitely taken the side of the content holders, actively slowing and even disabling connections for those who would download torrents of films. Verizon on the other hand has indicated it has no intent to get involved with the content war, reminding everyone of the various bits of legislation that protects telephone service providers from being held liable for what people choose to say on them and indicating that any attempt to stop pirated content is a very slippery slope indeed.

Will this be a trend? Can we expect similar measures here in the U.S.? You can bet on it if the Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America have anything to say about it — and given the number of lobbyists the two wield, they certainly will.

From Reuters

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