Apple Computer has closed a security hole that allowed an underground program to tap into its iTunes Music Store and purchase songs stripped of antipiracy protections.

The PyMusique software, created by a trio of independent programmers online, emerged last week as a copy protection-free back door into the popular iTunes store.

Apple released a statement Monday saying the problem had been fixed, and that some iTunes customers would need to upgrade their software.

“The security hole in the iTunes Music Store which was recently exploited has been closed, and as a consequence the iTunes Music Store will now sell music only to customers using iTunes version 4.7,” the company said in a statement.

Source: News.com

GameFly today announced that they plan to carry all available titles for the March 24th launch of Sony’s new PSP(TM) (PlayStation(R) Portable) handheld video game platform. While consumers may have difficulty finding games for the PSP, GameFly is committed to buying every PSP title that is released during the launch period. Additionally, the PSP page on the GameFly Web site has all of the information a gamer could want for this new handheld system — reviews, cheats and codes, screenshots, videos, trailers, and more.

Barry Diller’s InterActive Corp (IAC) is buying Ask Jeeves for almost $2bn.

IAC owns assorted web properties including CitySearch, Expedia, TicketMaster, dating site Match.com and the Home Shopping Network. The buy shows that search sites are still attracting investors. Microsoft recently followed Google and Yahoo into paid-for-search advertising.
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IAC runs CitySearch which offers localised search results for businesses, bars, cinemas and restaurants.

Ask Jeeves brought in revenue of $86m in the last quarter of 2004 and income of $17.5m. IAC will buy the search engine using shares which it will then buy back, according to anonymous executives quoted by the New York Times. Official confirmation is expected this week.

Ask Jeeves owns ask.com, Bloglines and Excite.

Source: The Register

Yahoo has purchased online photo-sharing service Flickr, less than a week after the Internet giant launched a beta test of a new blogging tool.

Vancouver, British Columbia-based Flickr lets users upload digital photos from computers and camera phones, put together photo albums, and post photos to blogs, among other things.

Joanna Stevens, a spokeswoman for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo, confirmed the deal Sunday but did not disclose the terms.

Both the 360 move and the acquisition of Flickr and parent company Ludicorp Research & Development come as social networking and blogging draw increased interest from rivals. Microsoft in December added a blog product for its MSN Web service, called MSN Spaces. Google, meanwhile, owns Web log service Blogger and social networking site Orkut.

Source: News.com