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Apple has allegedly been pressuring music labels to ditch Amazon MP3's "Daily Deal" promotions, lest they be excluded from being promoted through the iTunes machine. According to anonymous executives speaking to Billboard, Apple has always been uncomfortable with the labels double dipping with both iTunes and Amazon, but the company has ramped up its complaints lately in an attempt to retain its lead in the online music market. Though Apple still remains in the number one spot among all music retailers, the move is indicative that Apple takes competition from Amazon very seriously.

One unnamed music executive said that, when Amazon first launched its Daily Deal section in 2008, the labels weren't included in the discussion and no one was given any special privileges for being there. Nowadays, however, Amazon has asked labels to give the company a one-day exclusive before street date in order to be featured in the Daily Deals. This was the turning point for iTunes, it seems—iTunes reps allegedly began threatening to "[withdraw] marketing support for certain releases featured as Daily Deals" if labels continued participating.

Speaking about iTunes, another major label executive told Billboard that "[t]hey are . . . diverting their energy from 'let's make this machine better' to 'let's protect what we got.'"

Some of those threats have apparently worked: labels representing Corinne Bailey Rae, Lady Antebellum, and Ke$ha have all reportedly pulled out of Daily Deals consideration in favor of staying on Apple's good side. And, because Apple's distaste for the Daily Deals at Amazon has become widely known in the industry, other labels have decided not to play the game at all by holding back their online offerings on the street date and the day before.

Amazon MP3 has been gaining popularity rather quickly since its launch in 2007, due largely to the fact that it was the first major online music store with a fully DRM-free library. In late 2008, market research firm NPD Group noted that Amazon MP3's gains were not coming at the expense of iTunes, though. Instead, NPD said Amazon had been building its own user base and that only 10 percent of Amazon's customers had previously bought through iTunes.

Last year, however, NPD released a new report saying that Amazon had already taken the number two spot in online-only music sales—iTunes sat at 69 percent with Amazon MP3 at eight percent. Even though the differences in market share were significant, Apple knows that Amazon is gunning for its spot and that it's only a matter of time before the two are on more equal footing.

Source: Ars Technica

Quote

Final Voting Totals

• *Opera 10.x - 51% (13,234 votes)
  
• Firefox 3.5/3.6 - 41% (10,710 votes)
  
• Chrome - 4% (1,266 votes)
  
• Internet Explorer 8 - 1% (447 votes)
  
• Safari 4.x - 0% (234 votes)

*denotes winner

Source: About.com

Apple has announced the new version of their iWork suite at today's media event, along with the launch of the tablet, named the iPad. Rumors predicted that today we'd see an update to iLife, not iWork, though Apple have certainly made sure it works well on the new device.

There are no announcements regarding the OS X version of iWork, though Apple showed off a lot of how the new version works. Everything has been rewritten and redefined for the new resolution and interface, working much like it would on an iPhone, although, of course, you won't be able to purchase iWork for your iPhone. Typing is done either via an on-screen keyboard or with the keyboard dock from Apple, though the touch interface is very intuitive when it comes to other aspects of the software. It's much easier to describe it in pictures, so we've included a gallery, with photos courtesy of Engadget.

The new software is available upon the launch of the iPad, in two months, for the price of $10 an app on the iPad. There are three apps, so for the full suite, it'll set you back $30. If you'd like to get your hands on this, you'll have to wait it out until the launch of the device.


Source: Neowin | Hands on with the Apple iPad. Photos and more 

Today, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs took to the stage to introduce a new device named the Apple iPad.

Jobs began by revealing that Apple has reached 250 million iPod sales to date. He then revealed that "Apple is the largest mobile devices business in the world today." Moving on throughout Jobs speech he questioned whether there is room for a third category device in-between a laptop or a smart-phone. Jobs then mocked competitors for investing in netbooks and immediately revealed the iPad.

Jobs went on to demonstrate several features including browsing, Photos and built-in slideshows. The iTunes store is also built in and the usual suspects of a mail, contacts and calendar applications are available. Jobs also demonstrated the maps application and its location features.

YouTube HD support is also included and Jobs demonstrated various videos during his keynote. After the video demonstrations Jobs moved onto the specifications:

• 0.5" thin
• Weighs 1.5 pounds
• 9.7" IPS display
• 1GHz Apple A4 processor
• 16, 32, or 64GB of flash storage
• 802.11n, WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1
• 10 hours battery life

Various applications were demonstrated on the new iPad, some run at full resolution with slight pixelation whilst others run at their native resolution which seems far from ideal. A New York Times application was also demonstrated briefly that syncs between the iPhone app and includes in-line video clips.



Later in his speech Jobs priced up data plans for the iPad over 3G, AT&T will be offering the following:

• 250MB monthly data limit for $14.99 - No contract
• Unlimited data for $29.99 - No contract

International data plans will be revealed in June.



The iPad will be available in two months time for the WiFi only version and three months time for the WiFi and 3G version. Pricing of the devices will be:

• 16GB WiFi only $499, WiFi + 3G $629
• 32GB WiFi only $599, WiFi + 3G $729
• 64GB WiFi only $699, WiFi + 3G $829

Apple also announced a case and keyboard dock accessory for "when you really need to do a lot of typing" said Jobs.

News of the announcement saw Apple's (AAPL) stock drop over 1% initially and later recovered and rose 1%.


Source: Neowin | Hands on with the Apple iPad. Photos and more 

More than 150 people have approached consumer publication Which? Computing claiming to have been wrongly targeted in crackdowns on illegal file-sharing.

ACS:Law has sent thousands of letters to people claiming they have illegally downloaded material and offers them a chance to settle by paying around £500.

Which? says it has been approached by some - including a 78 year-old accused of downloading pornography - who have no knowledge of the alleged offence.

ACS:Law said its methods were accurate.

The London-based firm said that it would send more letters soon.

However, since the latest letters were sent two weeks ago, ten new people have come forward saying they have been wrongly accused.

One told Which?: "My 78 year-old father yesterday received a letter from ACS Law demanding £500 for a porn file he is alleged to have downloaded.

"He doesn't even know what file-sharing or BitTorrent is so has certainly not done this himself or given anyone else permission to use his computer to do such a thing."

'Wrongly targeted'

Which? Computing is concerned that too many innocent people are being wrongly accused.

"Innocent consumers are being threatened with legal action for copyright infringements they not only haven't committed, but wouldn't know how to commit," said Matt Bath, technology editor of Which?

Many "will be frightened into paying up rather than facing the stress of a court battle", he added.





He advised people who believe they have been wrongly targeted to "rigorously deny it and, if possible, provide physical evidence of where they were when the infringement took place".

He also advised them to contact Which with the details of their case.

Andrew Crossley, of ACS:Law, said that some cases had been dropped although he declined to give numbers.

He said that he is convinced the method used to detect the IP address used for illegal downloads is foolproof.

"We are happy that the information we get is completely accurate," he said.

He said the letters do not accuse individuals.

"We explain that an infringement has taken place but it may not be the account holder who has done it," he said.

He advised those who believe they have been wrongly accused to seek out the "advice of a technical expert or the citizens' advice bureau".

But he warned that people "shouldn't just think that writing and saying they didn't do it will be sufficient".

Mr Crossley said the majority of illegally shared content was music with only 10% being adult content.

'More letters'

He told BBC News that the law firm had a range of clients that it was representing, including German content firm DigiProtect.

The company is based in Frankfurt and brands its business with the motto "turn piracy into profit".

It has represented a range of rights holders in the past including the German techno band Scooter.

It tracks down alleged pirates by logging the individual Internet Protocol, or IP, address of internet users logged on to file-sharing networks.

It then applies to the High Court to force broadband companies to release the physical contact details of customers matched to those addresses.

ACS:Law is currently under investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Mr Crossley said that the law firm planned to send "lots more letters" this year although conceded that none of the current 10,000 actions had yet come to court.

"It has been said that we have no intention of going to court but we have no fear of it," he said.

Some are already in the process of going to court, he told BBC News, although the majority of the accused settle out of court.

Mr Bath is not convinced.

"These cases have been pending for a long time. I suspect that if they went to court it would be very difficult to proof beyond doubt that a particular individual was responsible for downloading the illegal content," he said.


Source: BBC News

Yesterday Adrian Stone from the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) and I hosted a live webcast to discuss Security Bulletin MS10-002 and Security Advisory 979682 in more detail with customers.Below is the video of that presentation and you can find the question & answer transcript here. We spent over an hour answering customer questions during the webcast. They were all good. Below the video, I am including a set of links to resources we referred to during the presentation.

Thanks to all who attended!

More listening and viewing options:

• Windows Media Video (WMV)
• Windows Media Audio (WMA)
• iPod Video (MP4)
• MP3 Audio
• High Quality WMV (2.5 Mbps)
• Zune Video (WMV)

Resources:

Blogs

• Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) blog: http://blogs.technet.com/msrc
• Security Research & Defense blog: http://blogs.technet.com/srd
• Microsoft Malware Protection Center Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/mmpc/
• Internet Explore Team blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie

Bulletins, Advisories, Notifications & Newsletters

• Security Bulletins Summary:
  www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/summary.mspx
• Security Bulletins Search:
  www.microsoft.com/technet/security/current.aspx
• Security Advisories:
  www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/
• Microsoft Technical Security Notifications:
  www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/notify.mspx
• Microsoft Security Newsletter:
  www.microsoft.com/technet/security/secnews/

Security Centers

• Microsoft Security Home Page:
  www.microsoft.com/security
• TechNet Security Center:
  www.microsoft.com/technet/security
• MSDN Security Developer Center:
  http://msdn.microsof...ty/default.aspx

Other Resources

• Update Management Process
  http://www.microsoft.../secmod193.mspx
• Microsoft Active Protection Program Partners: http://www.microsoft...p/partners.mspx

>> Source: Microsoft Security Response Center

Via a January 22 blog post, Microsoft is providing more details about the system requirements for its Office 2010 suite, due out by June 2010.The bottom line: If your PC can run Office 2007, it will be able to run Office 2010. If you just acquired a brand new PC, it also will be able to run the forthcoming suite. But if you’re using Office 2003, there are no guarantees you’ll automatically be able to run Office 2010 on the same hardware.

The 32-bit version of Office 2010 will run on the following 32-bit operating systems: XP with Service Pack (SP)3, Vista SP1, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003 R2 (with MS XML). The 64-bit version will run on on 64-bit versions of all of these same operating systems, with the exception of Windows Server 2003 R2.



CPU and RAM requirements approximately doubled between Office 2003 and Office 2007, blogged Alex Dubec, a Program Manager on the Office Trustworthy Computing Performance team. The minimum system recommendations (for being able to perform average Office tasks relatively quickly) for Office 2003 specified a 233 MHz processor and 128 MB of RAM. For Office 2010, the suggested minimum requirements are a 500 MHz processor and 256 MB of RAM.

The disk-space requirements for Office 2010 are somewhat greater than for Office 2007 or Office 2003. Dubec noted that the footprint of most Office apps has gotten larger. As a result, “most standalone application disk-space requirements have gone up by 0.5 GB and the suites have increased by 1.0 or 1.5 GB,” he said.

>> Source: Mary Jo Foley

The panic over this month’s wave of targeted, zero-day attacks against Google, Adobe, and other companies is over. Microsoft has released a security update for Internet Explorer that patches the underlying vulnerabilities, and everyone can breathe a sigh of relief.But what does this episode say about Internet Explorer? I’ve seen several pundits argue that Internet Explorer is inherently unsafe. I think they’re overreacting. Yes, there is a case to be made for using a different browser, especially one with a lower market share that is targeted less frequently than Internet Explorer. (And if you’re too impatient to read this entire post, then skip to the last page for that discussion.) But it’s also true that switching browsers is a small part of a comprehensive, defense-in-depth security strategy.

One thing’s for certain: Changing browsers isn’t a magic bullet, and it might not have made a difference in this case, as I explain in this post.

First things first: How do I protect myself from becoming a victim of this exploit?

Regardless of which version of Internet Explorer or Windows you’re using, you should install today’s Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (described in KB978207 and Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-002). This update should be delivered automatically via Windows Update or Windows Software Update Services.

You should also turn on Data Execution Prevention, a feature which prevents code execution from data pages in memory (technical details for the Windows XP family are here, for Windows Vista and 7 here). DEP is on by default in Internet Explorer 8. To enable DEP on Windows XP or Windows Vista with IE6 or IE7, use the Fix It tool on the MS10-002 advisory page.

So, exactly what happened in this case?

The public does not know the full details of what happened. Various reports and analysts have published conflicting reports with a lot of speculative analysis. A January 12 report by Verisign’s iDefense security outfit blamed the attacks on an Adobe PDF vulnerability. That report was retracted two days later, although many news stories based on that inaccurate report have not been corrected.

>> Source: Ed Bott

Only a day after the recent out-of-band Internet Explorer vulnerability patch, a new un-patched Internet Explorer flaw could leave thousands of users at risk.The new attack uses smaller un-patched vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, small enough they couldn’t compromise a system, but together they can overwhelm Internet Explorer and give access to a users machine if the individual clicks on a malicious link. Jorge Luis Alvarez Medina said to Reuters, "There are three or four ways to conduct this type of attack." Alvarez Medina is a security consultant with Boston-based Core who have been researching Internet Explorer weaknesses.

The smaller exploits triggers four or five minor exploits at the same time, by three or four different methods to trigger the attack.

Alvarez Medina said that the attack uses a string of four or five minor exploits in Internet Explorer. The vulnerability will be demonstrated at the yearly Black Hat Security conference, which will take place on February 2, 2010.

>> Source: Neowin

Microsoft has filed a patent that reveals Internet Explorer 9 is set to have better tab management options and enhanced functionality.The patent, spotted by Microsoft MVP Manan Kakkar, describes a system and method for selecting a tab within a tabbed browser. Originally filed in September 2009, the patent reveals that the Quick Tabs feature in Internet Explorer is likely to be enhanced with better functionality and greater tab management options. In Internet Explorer 8 Quick Tabs simply display thumbails of all tabs open with the option to close them individually. The patent images reveal that the following features will be included:

• Drag and move the tabs within the Quick Tabs interface.
• Tab thumbnails will enlarge on mouse-hover.
• In case your tab row was over flowing with tabs and in Quick Tabs you were to hover the mouse on a tab not currently visible on the tab bar, the overflow icons would change appearance.

Microsoft originally announced and demonstrated Internet Explorer 9 at PDC 2009. IE 9 will take advantage of the power of the GPU for all page rendering and developers can exploit this using CSS, DHTML and javascript. Microsoft believes IE9 will result in smoother rendering and improved performance. Interoperability and standards support is increasing and features such as rounded corner CSS support will be built in. A new JS engine will also be built into Internet Explorer 9. Microsoft officials offered no time lines or indications as to when a build of Internet Explorer 9 will be available publicly. Neowin understands Microsoft are on target to provide an early technical preview build at MIX 2010 in March.

>> Source: Neowin

According to a report on Consumer Password Best Practices culled from an analysis of 32 million passwords exposed in the recent Rockyou.com Web security breach, the three most commonly used passwords among users of the Rockyou social networking site turned out to be 123456, 12345, and 123456789.Also making in into the top ten, in this order, were the following: Password, iloveyou, princess, rockyou, 1234567, 12345678, and abc123.

During the Rockyou breach last month, a hacker exploited a SQL Injection vulnerability to expose 32 million passwords -- which had been stored in clear text in Rockyou's database -- and then posted the passwords, without any other identifying information, on the Web.

In analyzing the results for a report issued today, researchers at the Imperva Application Defense Center (ADC) discovered that even now, people are still relying on the same kinds of "weak" passwords detected in earlier studies of Unix passwords 20 years ago, and Hotmail passwords a decade ago.

About 30% of Rockyou users chose passwords with five or fewer characters, and almost 50% opted for "names, slang words, dictionary words or trivial passwords (consecutive digits, adjacent keyboards keys, and so on)," according to key findings of Imperva's report.

>> Source: Betanews

It's been said that improvements to Web browsers aren't truly improvements unless the user can both see and feel them. Mozilla's latest efforts in that area have just been finalized: a new stable version of Firefox that not only provides more control features to the new Windows 7 taskbar, but lets you paste posters on its wall.It's called Personas, and it addresses one of the few features gaps between Firefox and Google Chrome -- a browser that, besides being the fastest stable Windows Web browser in the field, is relatively bare-bones compared to Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Bringing back one of the more popular features attached to Netscape Navigator back in the '90s, Firefox 3.6 offers users a way to paste an image in the background of the browser frame.

In building up for this release, Mozilla gathered several thousand candidate images in a new gallery. And this afternoon, Betanews noticed that the organization was tweaking its download service so that new downloaders (you, for example, when you visit Fileforum to download 3.6 for yourself) will be steered toward this gallery.

Most impressively of all, you can see how a persona might look on your own browser simply by rolling over its thumbnail in the gallery. This is important because with Firefox, not all components appear in exactly the same place, due to exactly the trend that the Personas feature encourages: customization. You might like a persona with your favorite pop star in the upper right corner, for instance, but the way your components are arranged now, a search box could cut right through her face.

>> Source: Betanews

Today we released a Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer. We’ve released this Cumulative Security Update earlier than originally scheduled based on malicious activities reported on the web. The update is available via Windows Update and Microsoft Update. Most users configure their machines to update automatically; you can find more information on that here.This update actually includes 236 separate packages for all the different languages and versions of Windows and IE that customers run and Microsoft supports worldwide. We release these packages simultaneously for all supported products and languages as part of this update. The complete matrix of browsers, operating systems, and languages is available in the security bulletin. At a high level, these packages cover:

• Seven operating system versions: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, 2008, and 2008 R2, Windows Vista and Windows 7. Customers run 32-bit, 64-bit, as well as Itanium versions of some of these operating systems, as well as a variety of different service packs.
• Four different versions of IE: 5.01, 6, 7, and 8.
• All supported languages. Older versions of Windows require separate language-specific packages, typically between 18 and 25. Windows Vista and later operating systems have a single language-neutral binary to update IE.

We test each security fix thoroughly with different variants of the security issue. We also test the entire package extensively for compatibility and reliability, as well as any setup, deployment, and manageability issues. Also, security updates are cumulative and contain all previously released updates for each version of Internet Explorer, to make securing any system (one updated a month ago or never updated at all) easy.

This update addresses several vulnerabilities including the one described here. Other blog posts describe specifics. Some of these vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer. Note that IE8 users on Windows 7 have extensive defense in depth protections with DEP, ASLR, and protected mode that make remote code execution from a malicious site extremely difficult. Microsoft therefore strongly recommends customers upgrade to IE8 to benefit from these extensive defense in depth protections.

For detailed information on the contents of this update, please see the following documentation:

• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS10-002
• Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 978207

We encourage everyone to set their operating system to automatically update with the latest security updates for all their software. You can find more information here.




>> Source: IE Blog

The next big release for Adobe Flash Player, 10.1 will allow private browsing while web surfing in supported browsers. Flash Player will automatically clear your flash history data off your computer once you terminate the session.Adobe Flash Player will only work on supported web browsers with private browsing, including:

• Internet Explorer 8.0+
• Mozilla Firefox 3.5+
• Apple Safari 2.0+
• Google Chrome 1.0+

Safari private browsing is currently not supported, but Adobe said it will work in future versions of Safari.

Adobe Flash Player will use the same concept that browsers use to storing data temporarily when private browsing is enabled, in a local storage location. After the session is terminated, browsers will automatically clear history, cookies and any corresponding data to the session. Flash Player will also remove any traces of user logins and passwords, when used in a flash player environment, with any other data associated with it.

Adobe said that other Flash Player instances will not be able to access your private browsing LSOs at any time. When users enable private browsing, games and applications won't be able to access your normal browsing history, acting as if you have never access the flash application before.

Users will still be able to access their camera and microphone at any time, but users will not be able to increase their storage limit when browsing in private mode.

>> Source: Neowin

U.S. software company Oracle has been given unconditional approval from the European Union for its $7 billion purchase of computer maker Sun , . Oracle was given the go ahead by the U.S. Department of Justice in August last year.The approval comes after an investigation was started by European Commission in September over concerns of the impact the deal would have on the competing MySQL database. Sun acquired the popular database system in early 2008.

Speaking in a statement, EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said, "I am now satisfied that competition and innovation will be preserved on all the markets concerned. Oracle's acquisition of Sun has the potential to revitalize important assets and create new and innovative products."

Oracle announced its intentions for the MySQL platform in a December press release - something whichapparently played an important role in Kroes decision. Speaking at the time of the release, she said it was "an important new element to be taken into account in the ongoing proceedings."

However, Michael Widenius, one of the founders of MySQL, has continually lobbied for MySQL to be excluded from the deal. An advisor to the Swedish programmer said the commitments from Oracle were merely "cosmetic".

Prior to EU approval, Widenius said, "Should Oracle get MySQL unconditionally, then I can only say that as a European I am ashamed of our regulatory system."

>> Source: Neowin