Secunia Research has discovered a vulnerability in various browsers, which can be exploited by malicious web sites to spoof dialog boxes.

The problem is that JavaScript dialog boxes do not display or include their origin, which allows a new window to open e.g. a prompt dialog box, which appears to be from a trusted site.

Illustration by Secunia.com (source)

Last week Google Maps added country outline maps for the entire world, now Google added satellite images for the whole world. Although the satellite images are not backed by maps for the rest of the world, you can defiantly zoom in your favorite country and city.

In addition to that Google Maps UK added detailed satellite images to back up the city maps, and now it is possible to zoom in to street level in large UK cities.

Apple Computer has discontinued its single-processor Power Mac G5 system in favor of an all dual-chip lineup, the company confirmed on Monday.

Late last week, Apple customers noticed that the 1.8GHz, single-processor machine had disappeared from Apple’s online store. On Monday, Apple said it was in the process of selling off the last of the machines.

Source: TechRepublic

Microsoft is taking legal action against an alleged spammer now resident in Germany.

The company has not been named but it is based in North Rhine-Westphalia. Microsoft accuses it, and its managing director, of sending millions of spam emails advertising web design companies, online casinos and porn sites.

Some Hotmail addresses received thousands of mails traceable to the Westphalia firm. The owner has denied the charges, blaming partners, who he declined to name.

Source: The Register

Bram Cohen, the creator of BitTorrent, published a response in livejournal.com to Microsoft’s BitTorrent Alternative, Avalanche
From the article:

A bunch of people have been pestering me about Avalanche recently, so I’ll comment on it.

First of all, I’d like to clarify that Avalanche is vaporware. It isn’t a product which you can use or test with, it’s a bunch of proposed algorithms. There isn’t even a fleshed out network protocol. The ‘experiments’ they’ve done are simulations.

It’s a bad idea to give much weight to simulations, especially of something so hairy as real-world internet behavior. I spent most of my talk at stanford explaining why it’s difficult to benchmark, much less simulate, BitTorrent in a way which is useful. But we can look at their simulation to see if it might at least be ballpark.

Source: livejournal.com

Microsoft has begun soliciting testers for OneCare Live, the company’s subscription antivirus and anti-spyware service.

In an online posting seeking people to try out the service, Microsoft said that it plans to start testing this summer.

“This new service will be entering its beta testing phase in a few weeks,” the company said on its OneCare Web site. A Microsoft representative was not immediately able to offer further details on the testing or say when the final service will be ready.

Source: News.com

Last week we reported on rumors that the online search-engine mammoth Google Inc. is preparing to introduce an electronic payment system later this year.

Although Google refused to respond to this item, we have found out that Google owns the domain googlebucks.com.

Registrant:
Google Inc.
(DOM-258898)
2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy
Mountain View
CA
94043
US

Created on..............: 2001-Aug-21.
Expires on..............: 2006-Aug-21.
Record last updated on..: 2003-Dec-30 15:39:35.

If this has anything to do with the above rumor, we do not know, but it sure looks suspicious.

The two, rival blue-laser optical storage formats, Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, will not be coming together, Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi admitted yesterday.

Talks between the BD-backing Sony and HD DVD cheerleader Toshiba have ended, he said, in an interview with Nikkei Electronics.

Source: The Register

eBay has launched a new Web site intended to help developers create applications for the auction site and its PayPal online payment service.

At the Web site, dubbed eBay Community Codebase, developers will have access to source code for various eBay and PayPal tools and sample applications, as well as provide a way to more easily collaborate on projects with others.

“We are dipping our toe, so to speak, in the pond of the open-source world,” said Greg Isaacs, director of eBay’s Developer Program.

Initial projects in the Codebase Web site include sample programs that allow people to keep track of eBay auctions through their Firefox browser and TiVo digital video recorder, as well as scripts for building PayPal “buy now” buttons into Web sites.

Source: News.com

MSN today released a beta version of a new Local Search service, enabling consumers to quickly retrieve local results from business, residential or local Web sites, often accompanied by informative maps and aerial images. This initial beta release is the first step by MSN(R) Search toward delivering a broad local search vision, which encompasses geo-local search, mapping technologies, mobile search, local business and residential databases, and local Instant Answers related to news, events, movie times, weather and more.

MSN also announced that the Virtual Earth(TM) team will join MSN Search, bringing over 10 years of mapping and geo-location experience, allowing MSN to provide an immersive experience that enables consumers to search, navigate, explore and discover local information through the next wave of local search technology.