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Wednesday the 6th of January 2010

Welcome to the Helpforce Daily Briefing, on Wednesday the 6th of January 2010

1. Virus Warnings
2. Daily Technology News
3. Latest Shareware and Freeware
4. FAQ for the day
5. Advice of the day
6. Internet Advice

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1. Latest Virus Alerts From Sophos
---------------------------------------
Troj/Nyrate-B on 6 January 2010 10:33:51 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojnyrateb.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/PWS-BGL on 6 January 2010 10:33:51 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojpwsbgl.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/PWS-BGM on 6 January 2010 10:33:51 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojpwsbgm.html?_log_from=rss
W32/Autorun-AXP on 6 January 2010 10:33:51 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/w32autorunaxp.html?_log_from=rss
Mal/AppRedir-A on 6 January 2010 07:11:01 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/malappredira.html?_log_from=rss
Mal/Bredo-B on 6 January 2010 07:11:01 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/malbredob.html?_log_from=rss
Mal/EncPk-MY on 6 January 2010 07:11:01 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/malencpkmy.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/VB-ELW on 6 January 2010 07:11:01 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojvbelw.html?_log_from=rss
W32/Pykse-F on 6 January 2010 07:11:01 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/w32pyksef.html?_log_from=rss
Troj/FakeAv-AOA on 6 January 2010 05:14:27 Z
http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/trojfakeavaoa.html?_log_from=rss

2. Latest Technology News From Slashdot
-----------------------------------------------

-- Alleged Ponzi Mastermind Hacked In Antigua
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/uoEODcrzcI0/Alleged-Ponzi-Mastermind-Hacked-In-Antigua)
krebsonsecurity writes "Criminal hackers apparently involved in break-ins at several US financial institutions also appear to have dug up dirt on Robert Allen Stanford, a man slated to go on trial this month for his alleged part in an $8 billion Ponzi scheme. Quoting: 'In early 2008, while federal investigators were busy investigating disgraced financier Robert Allen Stanford for his part in an alleged $8 billion fraudulent investment scheme, Eastern European hackers were quietly hoovering up tens of thousands customer financial records from the Bank of Antigua, an institution formerly owned by the Stanford Group.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- EA Shutting Down Video Game Servers Prematurely
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/50RoWMHaV10/EA-Shutting-Down-Video-Game-Servers-Prematurely)
Spacezilla writes "EA is dropping the bomb on a number of their video game servers, shutting down the online fun for many of their Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3 games. Not only is the inclusion of PS3 and Xbox 360 titles odd, the date the games were released is even more surprising. Yes, Madden 07 and 08 are included in the shutdown... but Madden 09 on all consoles as well?"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Office Work Ethic In the IT Industry?
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/XCuR1U_E6f0/Office-Work-Ethic-In-the-IT-Industry)
An anonymous reader writes "As a recent graduate entering industry for the first time at a large software and hardware company, I have been shocked at what seems to be a low standard of work ethic and professionalism at my place of employment, especially in this poor economy. For example, at my company, the large majority of developers seem to each individually waste — no exaggeration — hours of time on the clock every day talking about football, making personal phone calls, gossiping, taking long lunches, or browsing the Internet (including, yes, Slashdot!). Even some of our subcontractors waste time in this manner. Being the 'new guy,' I get stuck with much of the weekend and after-hours grunt work when we inevitably miss deadlines or produce poor code. I'm not in any position to go around telling others to use their time more efficiently. Management seems to tolerate it. I would like to ask Slashdot what methods others have used to deal with office environments such as this. Is my situation unique or is it common across the industry?"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- iPhone-Controlled Helicopter With AR Games
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/fGfKfFIvsH8/iPhone-Controlled-Helicopter-With-AR-Games)
andylim writes "Parrot has unveiled a remote-controlled helicopter that boasts augmented reality games. The helicopter is controlled using an iPhone or iPod Touch's accelerometer and touchscreen. There's a camera on the front of the helicopter, which you can use to navigate and to play augmented reality games, including a game that involves fighting a gigantic robot."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Y2.01K
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/heqMtvxZ2YE/Y201K)
After our recent discussion of decimal/hexadecimal confusion at the turn of 2010, alphadogg writes in with a Network World survey of wider problems caused by the date change. "A decade after the Y2K crisis, date changes still pose technology problems, making some security software upgrades difficult and locking millions of bank ATM users out of their accounts. Chips used in bank cards to identify account numbers could not read the year 2010 properly, making it impossible for ATMs and point of sale machines in Germany to read debit cards of 30 million people since New Year's Day, according to published reports. The workaround is to reprogram the machines so the chips don't have to deal with the number. In Australia, point-of-sales machines skipped ahead to 2016 rather than 2010 at midnight Dec. 31, rendering them unusable by retailers, some of whom reported thousands of dollars in lost sales. Meanwhile Symantec's network-access control software that is supposed to check whether spam and virus definitions have been updated recently enough fails because of this 2010 problem."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Dragon Age: Origins Expansion Coming In March
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/bsuptbz19aE/emDragon-Age-Originsem-Expansion-Coming-In-March)
ishanjain tipped news that BioWare has announced an expansion for Dragon Age: Origins, called Awakening, that is due out on March 16th. Awakening "is supposed to run about 15 hours and will allow for players to import and edit characters they've broken in from the core game," and it will take place "in the in the role of a Grey Warden Commander who's been tasked with rebuilding the order of Grey Wardens and finding out how the darkspawn survived following the death of the Archdemon dragon." A trailer is available at the official site, as well as some information on a new bit of DLC that will be out shortly, entitled Return to Ostagar. (It was originally due for release on January 5th, but was delayed.)Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- The LHC, Black Holes, and the Law
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/VbsgLHfCGmw/The-LHC-Black-Holes-and-the-Law)
KentuckyFC writes "Now that the physicists have had their say over the safety of the Large Hadron Collider, a law professor has produced a comprehensive legal study addressing the legal issue that might arise were a court to deal with a request to halt a multi-billion-dollar particle-physics experiment (abstract). The legal issues make for startling reading. The analysis discusses the problem with expert witnesses, which is that any particle physicists would be afraid for their livelihoods and anybody else afraid for their lives. How can such evidence be relied upon? It examines the well established legal argument that death is not a redressable injury under American tort law, which could imply that the value in any cost-benefit analysis of the future of the Earth after it had been destroyed is zero (there would be nobody to compensate). It asks whether state-of-the-art theoretical physics is really able to say that the LHC is safe given that a scientific theory that seems unassailable in one era may seem naive in the next. But most worrying of all, it points out that the safety analyses so far have all been done by CERN itself. The question left open by the author is what verdict a court might reach."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- China Faces Piracy Suit Over Censorship Software
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/AAMGHE0nu34/China-Faces-Piracy-Suit-Over-Censorship-Software)
angry tapir writes "Web software filtering vendor CyberSitter has filed a $2.2B lawsuit against the Chinese government, two Chinese software makers, and seven major computer manufacturers for their distribution of Green Dam Youth Escort, a controversial Web filtering package the Chinese government had mandated to be installed on computers sold there. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that Green Dam copied code from CyberSitter."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Sony, IMAX, Discovery To Launch 3D TV Network
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/iByjWuU3BuU/Sony-IMAX-Discovery-To-Launch-3D-TV-Network)
adeelarshad82 writes "In a surprising endorsement for 3D display technology, Sony Corp. of America, Discovery Communications and IMAX Corp. have announced plans to form a US television network entirely devoted to 3D programming. The three parties have signed a letter of intent to form the unnamed venture, which is scheduled to launch in 2012. The new network is intended as a sort of carrot to lure buyers to purchase 3D-enabled TVs." Reader jggimi notes NY Times coverage, which points out that this prospective network won't be the first: "Earlier Tuesday, ESPN announced that it would start 'ESPN 3D' in June 2010. The channel will show a minimum of 85 live 3D events during the first year."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Slovak Police Planted Explosives On Air Travelers
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/aqyeUNPT63w/Slovak-Police-Planted-Explosives-On-Air-Travelers)
Entropy98 writes "Slovakian Police have planted explosives on 8 unsuspecting air travelers. Seven were stopped by airport security, including one man arrested and held upon arriving at a Dublin airport. Unbelievably, one innocent traveler made it home with 90 grams of explosives, and had his flat surrounded by the police and bomb squad."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- CIA Teams Up With Scientists To Monitor Climate
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/W1XpX8odJNA/-CIA-Teams-Up-With-Scientists-To-Monitor-Climate)
MikeChino writes "The CIA has just joined up with climate researchers to re-launch a data-sharing initiative that will use spy satellites and other CIA asets to help scientists figure out what climate change is doing to cloud cover, forests, deserts, and more. The collaboration is an extension of the Measurements of Earth Data for Environmental Analysis program, which President Bush canceled in 2001, and it will use reconnaissance satellites to track ice floes moving through the Arctic basin, creating data that could be used for ice forecasts." Even though the program is "basically free" in terms of CIA involvement, the Times notes: "Controversy has often dogged the use of federal intelligence gear for environmental monitoring. In October, days after the CIA opened a small unit to assess the security implications of climate change, Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, said the agency should be fighting terrorists, 'not spying on sea lions.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Astronomers Detect the Earliest Galaxies
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/uGREJ5f8GpY/Astronomers-Detect-the-Earliest-Galaxies)
FiReaNGeL writes "Astronomers, using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, have uncovered a primordial population of compact and ultra-blue galaxies that have never been seen before. They are from 13 billion years ago, just 600 to 800 million years after the Big Bang. These newly found objects are crucial to understanding the evolutionary link between the birth of the first stars, the formation of the first galaxies, and the sequence of evolutionary events that resulted in the assembly of our Milky Way and the other 'mature' elliptical and majestic spiral galaxies in today's universe."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Living In Tokyo's Capsule Hotels
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/eJKrk4mF8WI/Living-In-Tokyos-Capsule-Hotels)
afabbro writes "Capsule Hotel Shinjuku 510 once offered a night’s refuge to salarymen who had missed the last train home. Now with Japan enduring its worst recession since World War II, it is becoming an affordable option for people with nowhere else to go. The Hotel 510’s capsules are only 6 1/2 feet long by 5 feet wide. Guests must keep possessions, like shirts and shaving cream, in lockers outside of the capsules. Atsushi Nakanishi, jobless since Christmas says, 'It’s just a place to crawl into and sleep. You get used to it.'”Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Bringing Free Television To Phones In America
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/HQJDjWw58Lw/Bringing-Free-Television-To-Phones-In-America)
ideonexus writes "South Korea, China, Brazil, parts of Europe, and Japan have been watching television on their phones for free since 2005, but American mobile carriers are struggling to offer clunky streaming video using Qualcomm's proprietary MediaFLO system for an additional monthly fee and excessive bandwidth demands. Now, with America having gone digital in June, if Mobile carriers were to have ATSC M/H (advanced television systems committee — mobile/handheld) television-tuner chips built into their handsets it sounds like we could enjoy free TV on our cell phones too; however, these companies have already invested a great deal of money adapting their networks to Qualcomm's format and Qualcomm is considering becoming a mobile television distributor itself."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

-- Google's Nexus One Phone Launches
(http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/pcipIyql4Xs/Googles-Nexus-One-Phone-Launches)
The press conference at the Googleplex is over and Google's Nexus One phone has launched (official Google blog announcement). The NY Times confirms the bare details: manufactured by HTC; $529 unlocked, $179 with 2-year T-Mobile contract; coming to Verizon in the US, and Vodaphone in Europe, in "Spring 2010." The Times notes one desirable feature: "[Google] has also voice-enabled all text boxes in the device, so a user can speak into the device to, for instance, compose an e-mail, rather than type the text of the email." Walt Mossberg points out one limitation: "On the Nexus One, only 190 megabytes of its total 4.5 gigabytes of memory is allowed for storing apps. On the $199 iPhone, nearly all of the 16 gigabytes of memory can be used for apps." No answers yet to the obvious questions: can it tether on T-Mobile? Will it allow VoIP?Read more of this story at Slashdot.

3. Latest Shareware from Planet-Shareware
-----------------------------------------------

4. FAQ of the day from Helpforce
-----------------------------------------------

-- What is PHP and MySQL and should my web host have them?
(http://www.helpforce.com)

Question: I am thinking of making a web page and they have a requirement of my Web Server to have "PHP software and MySQL database" I have no idea what this is.Does Asis have this?Thank you,Joyce

Answer: Firstly, webpages are generally written in HTML, which is the language which you would be writting in (or generating with Frontpage etc...) HTML is generally enough initially to create a good looking webpage, although it does have its limits, which become more apparent when you start doing more advanced things, which is what PHP tries to address.PHP (which stands for Hypertext Preprocessor) allows for dynamic generation of HTML. So, for example if you have users entering data, then PHP can be used to process this data and incoperate it into another page.... it could be used for a forum, to allow for users buying items etc... There are another other languages which perform similar functions, but PHP is one of the more powerful ones yet easy to learn, and so has become very popular. Its website can be found at www.php.netMySQL is a database system. If you wish to store data, such as forum postings, user names, customer addresses etc... then a database is the way to go, as it allows for easy storage and organisation of the data. Im not sure if you have heard of Microsoft Access, in the Office suite - that is a common database too. However, MySQL is a lot more designed for the internet and can be used with PHP to easily save and retrieve data.As far as the need for them goes, they are prety much standard on all good hosts (although the free ones such as yahoo, angelfire etc do not provide them) and Asis does provide them when you sign up. You may not think you require them at the moment, but as your skill increases you may find you do, and a number of installable scripts (such as forums) can often require them.

5. Advice of the Day from ask-leo
-----------------------------------------------

6. Internet Advice
-----------------------------------------------

-- What Does a Good Password Look Like?(http://netforbeginners.about.com/b/a/257582.htm)

Every day, we log into our Windows 7 or Mac, our email, our eBay and PayPal accounts, our bank accounts, our Hotmail accounts, and more. These passwords never seem to end! Well, folks,...

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