This year I acted as an embedded reporter at Burning Man, a place of extreme temperatures, high winds, and white-out dust storms. The ultra-fine alkaline dust is hell on gear—so it’d seem like a good place to test some rugged stuff out, right? More »
We’ve all had it happen to us before: we’re browsing the web when we’re greeted with a pop-up alert claiming that our computer is infected and that our immediate action is required. Most tech savvy people wouldn’t be tricked into falling for that, but for a while, these scams had many computer users legitimately scared. A handful of people involved in one of these scareware scams have been ordered by a US District Court to pay out a whopping $163 million FTC fine today, after it was discovered that they scammed more than 1 million people out of money.
Those people, Kristy Ross, Sam Jain, and Daniel Sundin, were hit with the $163 million fine to repay the victims they ripped off throughout the years. In addition, Ross has been banned from selling software that interferes with a user’s computer. Ross and co. were responsible for one of these seemingly endless scareware schemes, alerting Internet-goers to non-existent problems on their computers, and then charging $39.95 and up to “fix” the issues. The scam ran from 2000 to 2008, and in that time, the trio pulled in tens of millions of dollars from confused and scared PC users.
Three other people involved in the case, Marc D’Souza, Maurice D’Souza, and James Reno, settled with the FTC in 2010, and aren’t required to pay back the $168 million. The group operated under the name of Innovative Marketing Inc., which bought space for legitimate-looking ads on major websites. When users would click on the ads, they would be taken to an Innovative Marketing website, where they were told that any number of malicious programs were discovered on their computer and then urged to purchase bogus software to fix the issues.
This is a big step in the right direction for the FTC, but unfortunately, scareware still runs rampant today. It’s a problem that probably won’t ever go away entirely, so users need to stay vigilant when it comes to surfing the Internet and believing those illegitimate alerts. This may not be the last we’ve heard of scareware, but it’s definitely the last we’ve heard of Innovative Marketing Inc.
[via Threat Post]
FTC slaps scareware distributor with $163 million fine is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
HP CEO Meg Whitman has taken on a lot since stepping into the position last September, and one thing she’s focused on has been making HP’s line of PCs and laptops more aesthetically pleasing. Whitman tells The Wall Street Journal that the laptop she was given when she started at the company was “a brick,” and that now one of her goals is turning that around. Where she’s pulling inspiration from may surprise you, too.
The WSJ write-up pegs Whitman with a desire to have the design of HP’s machines rival that of Apple‘s. “I don’t think we kept up with the innovation,” she said. “The whole market has moved to something that is more beautiful.” That part is definitely true – lately we’ve seen the market leaning toward some incredibly sleek-looking Ultrabooks, which go for excellent design and speed over raw power.
When Whitman took over in September 2011, HP’s laptops were all designed by different teams, meaning that there wasn’t any one common theme that immediately told consumers “this is an HP machine.” In the time since, HP has doubled the size of its PC team, and appointed HP PC executive Stacy Wolff to devise a look and feel that all HP machines could share. We’ve seen the fruits of that labor with HP’s latest line up of machines, which includes the Envy X2, the Spectre XT, and the Envy One. All of them are sleek looking products, and it’s easy to see that HP was taking some design cues from Apple when it sat down at the drawing board.
“Apple taught us that design really matters,” Whitman said, continuing by claiming that the company has “made a lot of progress” with its latest machines. Though HP has undeniably come up with a common look for its new products, it will undoubtedly have some stiff competition from the other Windows 8 manufacturers out there, who are all touting some impressive laptops and all-in-one PCs of their own. Have a look at our story timeline below for more on HP’s recent exploits.
HP CEO sings the praises of Apple design is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Malware and viruses are bad, but so long as you’re careful, your PC will stay squeaky clean, right? Maybe not. Microsoft has found that many PCs from China are coming with malware pre-installed, as many as a fifth. More »
Microsoft has kicked off a new initiative to try to stop the spread of the Nitol Botnet, and it has the backing of a US District Court in East Virginia in doing so. Microsoft’s Digital Crime Unit was granted permission to go after those distributing the Botnet after it was discovered that cybercriminals were infiltrating the company’s supply chain. Apparently, these unfavorable folks were loading counterfeit software housing the malware onto PCs at some point in the supply chain, leading retailers to unknowingly sell the infected machines.
Microsoft says that a supply chain becomes unsecure when reseller accepts stock from an untrustworthy source. After launching an investigation into these unsecure supply chains, Microsoft determined that it was being hosted at 3322.org, which contained a “staggering 500 different strains of malware hosted on more than 70,000 sub-domains.” The company obtained an ex parte temporary restraining that allows it to take control of 3322.org, thus stopping the spread of Nitol from it and its sub-domains.
In a write-up on the Microsoft Blog, the company says that 20% of the PCs purchased from an unsecure supply chain during its investigation were infected with malware, which obviously isn’t good. Nitol is capable of spreading to other machines and devices through things like USB flash drives, making the problem even more severe. Once you’ve been infected, all kinds of nasty things can happen to your computer, from the malware distributors remotely activating your webcams and microphones to listen in on what you’re doing, to logging all of your keystrokes and netting your personal information without you ever knowing your security has been breached.
While this is a big step in the right direction in the fight against Nitol, Microsoft is urging distributors, retailers, and resellers to make sure that the machines they buy and then sell to consumers are coming from legitimate sources. Microsoft also says that lawmakers need to do their part to help with the issue. As with most efforts against Malware, Microsoft’s battle against the Nitol Botnet is ongoing, so expect to hear more about it soon. Stay tuned.
Microsoft makes major progress in fight against Nitol Botnet is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Go ahead and put a bow on it, as Verizon Wireless and Leap Wireless (the parent company of Cricket), have announced a successful spectrum swap. The agreement follows the recent stamp of approval from the FCC, which was issued as part of a larger deal between Verizon Wireless, SpectrumCo and Cox. For its part, Leap will divest itself of excess AWS and PCS spectrum across the US; in exchange, Verizon will pay $120 million to Leap and provide it with 12MHz of A Block 700MHz spectrum in Chicago. Leap will use the new holdings to supplement its existing 10MHz of the A Block within the Windy City, and will use the cash to build up its LTE infrastructure across the US. The company currently expects to provide LTE coverage to at least two-thirds of Cricket’s current footprint over the next three years — or, maybe sooner. Just check the PR to watch the company waffle.
Verizon and Leap Wireless announce $120 million spectrum swap in wake of FCC approval originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 18:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Back in March, Maingear entered the world of the all-in-one PC with the utilitarian Solo 21. Even though the unit is now only five months old, it’s being replaced with a model that’s more attractive, more functional and that carries a lower price. We’re most excited that the redesigned Solo 21 is now fully upgradable — and yes, this includes the Mini-ITX motherboard itself. Available from $899 on up, the baseline configuration includes a 3.3GHz Intel Core i3 2125 CPU (Ivy Bridge), 4GB of RAM, 500GB of storage, a DVD burner, Bluetooth, WiFi and Windows 7 Home Premium. The Solo 21 also supports mSATA SSD storage and can also be outfitted with Blu-ray in place of the standard DVD configuration. You’ll also find it supports the VESA mount, should you decide to throw the PC on your wall. If you’d like to become a bit better acquainted with Maingear’s latest refresh, you’ll find the full PR after the break.
Continue reading Maingear Solo 21 receives a makeover, $899 all-in-one PC is now fully upgradable
Filed under: Desktops
Maingear Solo 21 receives a makeover, $899 all-in-one PC is now fully upgradable originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Dell announced today that its profits in the second quarter of its fiscal year fell 18% from the year before, landing at $732 million and prompting an after hours stock price dip. At the time of this writing, Dell’s stock is down by 4.28% to $11.81 after hours, with the stock finishing the regular trading day at $12.34, only a 1.75% decrease. The Wall Street Journal reports that Dell’s sinking profits come from the computer manufacturer’s struggles with a consumer base that is increasingly opting for mobile devices while they decide to wait on PC purchases.
Revenues were also down in the quarter, slipping 7.5% year-over-year to $14.48 billion. That’s actually a 0.4% increase over the last quarter, but that tiny increase did nothing to impress investors, who were expecting a 2% to 4% increase over the previous quarter. This less-than-stellar second quarter has forced Dell to not only lower its projections for the third quarter, but for the financial year as a whole.
Dell now expects Q3′s profits to come in 2% to 5% lower than originally expected, settling somewhere in the area of $13.7 billion to $14.2 billion. Despite the fact that profits will be lower than expected, that’s still a pretty decent number for the quarter, but the real kicker comes in Dell’s retooled expectations for the whole year. Whereas once the company was projecting that earnings-per-share would be coming in above FY 2012′s $2.13, it now says that it’s expecting an earnings-per-share value of “at least $1.70.”
Overall, Dell’s stock has fallen 18% over the course of the past three months, which isn’t too good. Now the company is gearing up to post lower-than-expected results for the rest of the year, but you never know with these things, especially with the holiday season just around the corner. That holiday shopping season could give Dell’s profits quite a boost, but then again, consumers could just as easily skip the PCs and go with the smartphones and the tablets instead. Stay tuned.
Dell profits tumble by 18% in Q2, stock price dips is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
If, for some reason, you need a laptop that can go toe-to-toe with the desktop big boys and handle games that aren’t even out yet, Origin’s new EON17-SLX might be the absurd fit for you. More »
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