Net2Phone Inc., which enables cable companies to provide residential phone service, has charged that Internet phone service provider Skype Technologies SA has infringed on its patent on point-to-point Internet calling.

Source: AP

Do not panic if your data is hidden by virus writers demanding a ransom.

Poor programming has allowed anti-virus companies to discover the password to retrieve the hijacked data inside a virus that has claimed at least one UK victim.

The Archiveus virus caught out British nurse Helen Barrow and swapped her data with a password-protected file.

The virus is the latest example of so-called “ransomware” that tries to extort cash from victims.

The 30-digit password locking the files is “mf2lro8sw03ufvnsq034jfowr18f3cszc20vmw”. Using the password should restore all the hijacked files.

Source: BBC

YouTube unveiled a major upgrade of its Web site on Friday that will transform how millions of YouTube fans find videos by encouraging them to subscribe to channels that focus on the latest work of favorite artists or topical themes.

The changes allow users to create playlists that can be shared with similar-minded fans. Tastes range from high-minded artistry to pop sensibility to dumb and dumber.

Source: Reuters

ATI’s upcoming RD600 chipset will ship as the CrossFire Xpress 3200 and, like Nvidia’s nForce 500 series, support automatic overclocking, according to online reports.

Source: TheRegister

A phishing site that harvested the login and credentials of MySpace.com users was removed as of Friday from a California server, a security vendor reported.

A phishing attack involves tricking users into visiting a look-a-like Web page that asks for personal information, which is then sent to a hacker.

Source: PCWorld

One Laptop Per Child founder Nicholas Negroponte used the Wall Street Journal’s D Conference in Southern California Wednesday to show off a prototype of the much-anticipated $100 laptop for emerging markets. However, he acknowledged that the device will initially be priced around $130 to $140 USD.

Source: BetaNews

Sweden’s justice minister denied on Friday that U.S. government pressure had led to a crack down on Internet piracy this week in an escalating row over copyright protection and freedom of information.

The row started on Wednesday when police detained three men on suspicion of breaking copyright law for involvement in a file sharing Web site, The Pirate Bay. Police closed the Web site and seized Internet servers.

Swedish public television said on Thursday an official in the Justice Ministry had put pressure on the police and prosecutor’s office to act against the Web site on a request from the U.S. government and the U.S. movie industry for action.

Justice Minister Thomas Bodstrom rejected the report.

Source: Reuters

The visually impaired have long decried these codes, which protect sites such as Yahoo.com and Ticketmaster.com from computer programs that create scores of email accounts for spammers or buy hundreds of concert tickets for scalpers. Now, the quizzes are irritating a wider array of Web surfers as companies toughen them as part of their arms race with the spam crowd.

Source: WSJ

Google Calendar’s SMS-notification option allows you to conveniently check your calendar just by sending a quick text message.

Now when you’re on the go, you can access the events on your calendar with your mobile phone. First, you’ll need to verify your mobile phone number on the Notifications Settings page. After that, just send a text message to 48368 (GVENT) with a quick command like “next” to see what’s coming up on your schedule. You can also update and add new events to your calendar using SMS

A year ago, Henry and Roma Gerbus took their computer to Best Buy in Springfield Township to have its hard drive replaced.

Henry Gerbus said Best Buy assured him the computer’s old hard drive — loaded with personal information — would be destroyed.

“They said rest assured. They drill holes in it so it’s useless,” said Gerbus.

Now it has turned up at a flea market, still containing their personal information, such as bank account numbers and Social Security numbers.

Source: Yahoo

A virus that first appeared on Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Web site six years ago was recently detected in a device driver being distributed to HP customers over the Internet, a security firm said Thursday.

The Funlove virus was discovered Wednesday in a driver available through HP’s FTP servers, BitDefender said. The security company notified the Palo Alto, Calif., computer maker and the application was removed from the Web site.

Source: InformationWeek

The governor of Texas is spending $5m installing web cameras along the state’s border with Mexico so ordinary web surfers can get involved in stopping illegal immigration.

The idea is that a “virtual wall” will be created by putting night-vision cameras and motion sensors on private land near the border. Illegal immigration and violence has become more of a problem recently, thanks to a drugs war over the border.

The footage will be streamed in real time onto a website so people can watch for illegal immigrants. A freephone number will be set up so citizens can report any crimes they see, or think they see.

Source: TheRegister