Miscreants are using an unpatched security bug in Internet Explorer to install malicious software from rigged Web sites, experts warned Tuesday.

The vulnerability lies in the way IE 6 handles certain graphics. Malicious software can be loaded, unbeknownst to the user, onto a vulnerable Windows PC when the user clicks on a malicious link on a Web site or an e-mail message, several security companies said.

Shady adult Web sites are among the first to exploit the IE vulnerability, Eric Sites, vice president of research and development at spyware specialist Sunbelt Software, wrote on a corporate blog. In one case, a malicious Web site used the exploit to install “epic loads of adware,” according to Sunbelt.

Source: News.com

Napster hangs “for sale” sign in front window.

Napster is evaluating the possibility of a sale by hiring of an investment bank. Citing “recent third party interest,” the company has asked UBS Investment Bank to explore strategic partnerships or an outright sale of the company.

Source: arstechnica

According to the EFF, the new Zune portable media player from Microsoft won’t play files infected with the old Microsoft DRM. It seems that all of the ‘PlaysforSure’ media that has been sold and is currently being sold will not play on the Zune. In addition, Microsoft has now advocated violating the DMCA in order to transfer files to the player.

Source: Slashdot

Disney is jumping on the portable-video bandwagon, expanding its line of media players and offering movies on memory cards.

On Tuesday it announced an upgraded version of the Disney Mix Stick music player, which features more memory, a mini version called the Disney Mix Micro, and a multimedia version, the Disney Mix Max Player, which plays music and movies and displays photos.

Disney has taken SanDisk’s approach to media players by offering expansion slots for memory cards to increase device capacity rather than equipping the devices with large internal memories. And the company is selling postage-stamp-size cards with Disney content already on them.

Source: News.com

Time Warner Inc. on Tuesday said a strategy to offer most of online unit AOL’s services for free was making faster-than-expected progress in attracting new Internet users and cutting costs.

Jeffrey Bewkes, Time Warner’s chief operating officer, told investors at a Goldman Sachs media conference that its strategy had attracted new users beyond those who were once paying customers of the online service.

Some 40 percent of new users were not former subscribers, Bewkes said. “That means there is demand for AOL beyond the existing base,” he said.

In addition, subscribers who formerly paid for AOL services were moving to its free services at a quicker rate than originally predicted by AOL management, Bewkes said.

Source: Reuters

Terrorism and organised crime should not be used as excuses for passing laws which undermine people’s privacy and data protection rights, according to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). Existing laws do not need changed, he said.

In an update on data protection in Europe, EDPS Peter Hustinx said that security concerns were not an adequate reason to undermine data protection principles.

“It is a misconception that protection of privacy and personal data holds back the fight against terrorism and organised crime,” said Hustinx. “Current legislation does allow, for instance, law enforcement to check suspicious phone numbers found in a computer.”

Source: The Register

Companies owning thousands of common names for Internet use will hold back the spread of .eu, Europe’s attempt to rival .com, campaigners said on Tuesday.

The European Union-sponsored .eu Internet domain was launched in April and two million names have been registered, including www.europa.eu, the 25-nation bloc’s own website.

EU officials said .eu offers a European profile, and makes it easier for companies to have a one-stop shop Web site rather than an address for each country they operate in.

But campaigners and European Parliament members say a few firms bought 200,000 to 300,000 generic names that people often use to search for information on the Web.

The EU contracted Eurid, a domain registration agency, to operate .eu, and Maria Berger, a German socialist in the EU assembly, said it has been too generous in registering generic names.

“It should be possible to deny registration if it’s apparent abuse,” Berger told reporters during a visit to Eurid on the outskirts of Brussels.

Source: Reuters

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said on Tuesday that it would launch a new service on its phones that would allow full music downloading, initially focusing on new and up-and-coming artists.

Mobile phone makers have been integrating music players into their handsets, part of a threat to Apple’s iPod. Sony Ericsson has christened its new service M-BUZZ. It will use an enhanced version of its PlayNow service and the Internet.

“The first phones offering M-BUZZ will be the W850 and W950 Walkman phones announced earlier this year and scheduled to ship in European, Asian and Latin American markets during the second half of 2006,” Sony Ericsson said in a statement.

Source: Reuters

Microsoft announced it has created a hotfix that patches a bug in one of the dozen August security updates which could corrupt users’ data. Customers must contact Microsoft to get the hotfix.

The MS06-049 update, which was released Aug. 8 to correct a flaw in the Windows 2000 kernel, can ruin data on NTFS formatted drives when the PC is using Windows’ own file compression. Files larger than 4K that are either created or back up can be corrupted, and become unreadable.

Source: InformationWeek

Freescale, one of the world’s largest device-oriented semiconductor manufacturers, is being acquired by a private equity consortium in a transaction valued at $17.6 billion. The company was formed in 2004 when Motorola spun out its semiconductor division, and is a leading supplier of silicon to Motorola and other cellphone manufacturers.

The deal consummates rumors that emerged last week, after Freescale confirmed acquisition talks on Sept. 11. Subsequently, Freescale’s stock price shot from about $27 to about $37 per share.

Source: linuxdevices.com

Panda Software launches its new consumer solutions for the US market. These products include: Panda Antivirus 2007, Panda Antivirus+Firewall 2007 (the new Titanium) and Panda Internet Security 2007 (the new Platinum).

The new 2007 solutions from Panda Software integrate a series of reactive and proactive technologies. These include the award-winning TruPrevent Technologies, which automatically counteract new, unknown threats, blocking them without users intervention.

The new Panda Software solution combines antivirus, anti-spyware and anti-phishing technologies with the Genetic Heuristic Engine, a new generation heuristic scanner that detects and blocks unknown threats.

Microsoft Corp. will start testing on Tuesday an Internet video-sharing service called Soapbox, the software company’s answer to Web sensation YouTube.

Soapbox is one facet of Microsoft’s strategy to create attractive Internet content to lure away billions of Web advertising dollars from market leaders Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc..

Source: Reuters