Paris-based Reporters Without Borders has issued a report finding that of the major Internet search engines operating in China, Yahoo censored more terms in a limited test it conducted.

The group used six terms, including “Falungong,” “Tibet Independence” and “Democracy,” and noted what the first 10 results were on the Chinese sites of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and the local Baidu.com. While there is no official published list of banned terms provided by the Chinese government, the companies are believed to follow the same general guidelines.

Source: News.com

silicon.com has been contacted by an individual claiming to have written the Yamanner virus which targeted users of the Yahoo! webmail service earlier this week. The man claims to be from Iran and says he is just trying to find work by advertising his programming credentials.

While a number of antivirus experts who have seen the email claim it is quite likely the sender is indeed the culprit, there is no sure-fire way of confirming this. However, one added that whether or not the man in question wrote the Yamanner worm it is certainly “an unusual way to try to land a job”.

Source: silicon.com

eWEEK editorial scoured dozens of news stories, job reports and technology forecasts, crunched them all together with a dash of insight, and came up with the following 10 cities and their surrounding areas.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 (PS3) has gone on sale on the web despite not being launched until November this year.

The next generation consoles are on offer as “pre-orders” to Europeans for £550 ($1,020) at online shop, play.com.

The website says that because of an expected European shortage, it cannot guarantee delivery before Christmas.

Source: BBC

A cross-site scripting flaw in the PayPal Web site allows a new phishing attack to masquerade as a genuine PayPal login page with a valid security certificate, according to security researchers.

Fraudsters are exploiting the flaw to harvest personal details, including PayPal logins, Social Security numbers and credit card details, according to staff at Netcraft Ltd.

The attack works by tricking PayPal members into following a maliciously crafted link to a secure page on PayPal’s site. However, the URL exploits a flaw in PayPal’s site that allows the fraudsters to inject some of their own code into the page that is returned

Source: Macworld

Best Buy Co. Inc. is preparing U.S. stores for the July 25 launch of Samsung Electronics America Inc. Blu-ray disc players.

The electronics retail chain plans to post pamphlets in stores that answer questions consumers might have on Blu-ray and the competing HD DVD format, a rival technology spearheaded by Toshiba Corp. and backed by companies, such as Intel, Microsoft, NEC, Sanyo and others.

Source: TechWeb

Java Standard Edition 6 has formally gone to beta status, downloadable from Sun. The beta includes the new scripting framework, the JAX-WS client stack (with JAXB), greatly enhanced diagnostics (especially if you’re running on Solaris 10), desktop enhancements, and a number of other changes. Sun expects JSE 6 to be finalized in August 2006.

Source: TheServerSide

Software giant Microsoft Corp. is laying the groundwork to compete against Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod digital entertainment device and iTunes service, sources familiar with the discussions and plans said on Friday.

Microsoft has held licensing discussions with the music industry to create its own music service, the sources told Reuters.

Source: Reuters

A vulnerability has been discovered in Microsoft Excel, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user’s system.

In order for this attack to be carried out, a user must first open a malicious Excel document that is sent as an email attachment or otherwise provided to them by an attacker.

The vulnerability is caused due to an unknown error within the processing of specially crafted Excel documents.

Security web site Secunia rates this vulnerability as
Extremely Critical, the highest rating on the scale.

Microsoft Windows Live Safety Center is updated for removal of malicious software that attempts to exploit the vulnerability, you can check your system here.

Update:
Symantec already discovered Trojan.Mdropper.J, Trojan horse that exploits this vulnerability in Microsoft Excel and drops Downloader.Booli.A on the compromised computer

Microsoft is in the early stages of planning a system where its employees will be able to work together online to plot the company’s vision for the future.

In an interview, CEO Steve Ballmer and Chairman Bill Gates said the system, known as Quests, will be used to help shape Microsoft’s vision of the home, office and data center of the future.

The system will use the “wiki” approach to help employees collaborate and is based on the company’s SharePoint portal technology.

Source: News.com

McAfee, Inc., (NYSE: MFE) today announced the beta version of its service platform code-named “Falcon.” Interested users may download, install and test McAfee’s most complete threat protection service in advance of the final product launch later this summer. The Beta is available at http://beta.mcafee.com .

McAfee has improved and added technologies that fight both traditional and emerging threats, providing unparalleled protection against identity theft, phishing scams, and spyware. These technologies include SystemGuards that monitor computers for specific
behaviors that may signal virus, spyware, or hacker activity; intelligent anti-phishing technology that will block consumers from potential Web site scams; and X-Ray for Windows, which will detect and kill rootkits (a set of tools used to gain access to a computer system) and other malicious applications that hide from Windows and other anti-virus programs.

U.S. politicians appeared sympathetic on Thursday to tech companies’ cries for help combating what are commonly called “patent trolls”–companies that supposedly hold patents for no reason other than coaxing inflated settlements out of wealthy corporations.

“The patent system should reward creativity, not legal gamesmanship,” Rep. Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who chairs a House of Representatives intellectual-property panel, said at a hearing here entitled “Patent Trolls: Fact or Fiction?”

Source: News.com