Techachino

A Bank of Ireland laptop with thousands of customers’ details was stolen seven years ago in Co Kildare and clients were not informed.

Bank of Ireland says it is investigating an allegation that a laptop was stolen.

The development comes as the bank faces two separate investigations following the disclosure that laptops containing the details of 31,000 customers were stolen last year.

The theft happened in Bank of Ireland’s Newbridge branch in 2001.

The laptop was used by an official from Bank of Ireland’s life assurance division.

But the computer contained details of life assurance customers from branches in Newbridge, Kilcullen and Athy.

The laptop was not encrypted so the information could be easily accessed by hackers.

Sources have told RTÉ News that its theft was reported to line management in the bank. But customers were not informed.

The laptop had details of up to 4,000 Bank of Ireland customers.

These included dates of birth, addresses, bank account details, medical histories and investments held by customers.

In a statement issued this afternoon to RTÉ News, Bank of Ireland said it was investigating an allegation of a stolen laptop dating back to 2001.

A spokesman said the level of risk of fraud from information dating back seven years was remote.

Separately, the bank is currently sending letters to 31,500 customers who were affected by the theft of four laptops last year.

A Chilean hacker posted sensitive information about six million of his compatriots on the Internet, apparently in an act of protest against the government’s lax data security.

According to Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, details including people’s address’, phone numbers, ID numbers, email addresses and even academic records were all laid bare for the world to see on a popular technology blog called FayerWayer. Links to additional information was also posted on a website called “ElAntro”.

The information was mined from various different Chilean government and military sites, including the Ministry of Education, state telephone firms and the Electoral Service website. “Nobody bothers protecting that information”, the hacker allegedly wrote in explanation of why he felt the urge to expose six million of his countrymen to identity theft.

Chilean Police commissioner Jaime Jara told El Mercurio that the police were investigating, however, the fact that it took the slow poke Chilean authorities hours to twig what had happened, and then several more hours to get round to removing the private data, goes quite a way to proving the hacker’s point. µ

L’Inq AFP

Opera Software has released Opera Mini 4.1,  the latest version of itsfree, Java-based web browser that works on nearly every mobile phone.

According to Opera, the new version is up to 50% faster than the current one.

New features include:

• Will automatically suggest URL completions, making address input easier
• Web pages can be saved for later off-line viewing
  Can search for a word or phrase in Web pages
• Images, ringtones and other content can be downloaded without leaving the application

“We have actively talked to our community members in order to build the best Web browser for mobile phones,” says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera.

It is available now, free of charge, at operamini.com .

Here’s a little story for you: An Apple Store employee had a party in her apartment. A couple weeks later her place was cleared out to the tune of about $5,000 worth of electronics, including her new Mac. Days later, a friend sees that she’s online and alerts the Mac’s rightful owner. Since she was running Leopard with Back to My Mac, owner-girl logged in remotely and activated Photo Booth via the screen-share function. And what do you know, it turned out that the thieves were some “friends” who were at the party a few weeks back. She took the photos to the cops and — voila — busted! The thieves, Edmon Shahikian, 23, and Ian Frias, 20, both of the Bronx, have been charged with second-degree burglary and fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property. Go go crafty nerdy girl!

Tags: back to my mac stolen laptop nerd girl

It saddens me to let you know that Darko, the writer of this blog and good friend of mine, is having a lot of problems with his life at the minute. He was living in the middle of an area where a civil war was going on. Our good friend Darko was very nearly killed, however, he managed to flee the country and is now in Syria. His family is still in lebanon, he is working to get them out of there too. To read more about this, see this post in his personal blog.

Lets hope that all is well and both he, his family and other innocent people caught up in this mes pull through.

While Darko is unable to post here on techachino, i will be taking good care of it. I will do my best to keep you up to date with the same great news and guides that he did.

To anyone who cares, leave a comment here wishing our good friend luck.

A New York Times article purporting that Microsoft is working with NBC Universal to create a “copyright cop” — or anti-piracy filter — for the Zune that will prevent playback of unauthorized videos, was refuted by Microsoft today.

In the article which appeared on a Times blog, Saul Hansell, a Times reporter, quotes J.B. Perrette, president of digital distribution for the movie studio, as saying there are two reasons why NBC chose Microsoft’s Zune over Apple’s iTunes for content distribution.
One reason given by Perrette is that Apple insists on paying the same wholesale price for all videos, so that Apple can charge $1.99 for each film. The other is that Apple presented NBC with a flat out refusal on a request to include filters in the iPod.”Microsoft, by contrast, will accept NBC’s pricing scheme and will work with it to try to develop a copyright ‘cop’ to be installed on its devices,” according to Hansell’s story.

Hansell also said that Adam Sohn, a spokesman for Microsoft, declined comment on the issue except to say that the software company is exploring anti-piracy measures with NBC.

But in a blog post on the Zune site yesterday, Cesar Menendez, a member of Microsoft’s Zune team, responded by denying that content filtering is part of its content distribution deal with NBC.

“We have no plans or commitments to implement any new type of content filtering in the Zune devices as part of our content distribution deal with NBC,” Menendez wrote. “We think some folks in the industry were expressing hopes for how the entire industry, not just Microsoft, would come to look at content distribution, and some speculation has ensued. Again, no plans are in place toward this end.”

This morning, Hansell updated his NYT article with a link to Microsoft’s blog post, along with some new commentary of his own.

“It’s worth noting that Mr. Perrette told me that Microsoft committed to explore filtering; he didn’t say it committed to implementing those filters,” according to Hansell’s update.

“Here is what Mr. Sohn, the Microsoft spokesman, told me yesterday when I asked him about what Mr. Perrette said: ‘I don’t think they are wrong, but we are not going to characterize those discussions.’ Later he added, ‘We have agreed to work with NBC across a range of topics, and protection of copyrighted material is certainly one of them,’” Hansell wrote.

Tags: Microsoft, Times, Zune

Ubuntu, Linspire, and Freespire users can now install “Google Earth” with a single click, says Linspire. The desktop Linux distributor has added support for the free mapping application to its CNR (”click-n-run”) installer, a user-friendly tool currently beta-testing for a wide variety of desktop Linux distributions.

Linspire said the version of Google Earth that CNR supports will work with Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10 (32-bit), Linspire 6.0, and Freespire 2.0. Presumably, it will also support Ubuntu’s Hardy Heron release scheduled for tomorrow, as Linspire has promised CNR support for that release.

Google Earth aims to provide a “globe inside your PC,” according to Linspire. It lets users browse maps of roads, dining establishments, schools, railroads, stadiums, as well as terrain, borders, and geographical features. Users can even build maps of their own by creating KML (keyhole markup language) overlays. Users can also import data from supported GPS devices, and use that data to create maps.

Other Google Earth features touted by Linspire include:

Web-based map services

Local search with business listings and driving directions

Tilt, zoom, and rotate tools

Virtual “Play” button gives virtual helicopter rides over a given route

3-D buildings

Placemarks save geographic data for easy return to favorites

Measure Tool helps users to get detail on a particular distance

Built using Trolltech’s Qt framework for cross-platform application development, Google Earth is also available for Windows and Macintosh PCs. More details may be available on Linspire’s CNR.com website, here.

CNR is a cornerstone of the Linspire (formerly Lindows) desktop. The company began beta-testing a free version of the user-friendly, “single-click” installer last December.

Tags: Freespire, Google, Google Earth, Linspire, Linux, Ubuntu

A literary agent is suing the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikipedia contributors for negative comments, but Wikimedia says it’s not liable for user-generated content.

Barbara Bauer filed a lawsuit in New Jersey Superior Court alleging that the Wikimedia Foundation is liable for postings that called her one of the “Dumbest of the twenty worst” agents, who has “no documented sales at all.”

Wikimedia filed for a motion to dismiss the case, citing the Communications Decency Act, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and state free speech laws as protecting it from such lawsuits. The federal communications law says that owners and operators of Web sites cannot be held liable for user comments.

Courts have ruled in favor of Web sites in a number of similar cases where they upheld the Communications Decency Act. The courts have ruled that people with complaints of defamation on Web sites should focus on users who make comments and not the Web sites that host the comments.

Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University, told MediaPost,” There is no doubt that Wikimedia qualifies for (immunity) for any claims based on user submissions or edits to Wikipedia, and I would expect any associated lawsuit against Wikimedia alleging libel to be tossed quickly.”

Tags: Libel, wikipedia

Yahoo opened the beta test of SearchScan in several countries to help safeguard people against potentially dangerous links in their search results. Searchers may notice something different about the search results in Yahoo. The company partnered with security vendor McAfee, which runs the SiteAdvisor service, to power a new feature called SearchScan. “While SearchScan will be on by default, users have control over how they use the feature,” said the Yahoo Search blog. “In preferences, users can choose to turn the feature off or choose to filter out all sites with warnings from their search results.” SearchScan compares links with an index of ones it has checked for possible problems, like browser exploits, unsafe downloads, or just the likelihood the site spams visitors who give it an email address. McAfee said its site ratings are based on automated safety tests of websites, and include feedback from volunteer reviewers and its analysts. Yahoo’s Vish Makhijani, SVP & GM for their search engine, noted on the official Yahoo blog how they are the only search site providing this type of advance warning today. People will see these warnings appear in red with the listing SearchScan flags. SearchScan should be of great benefit to people whose less than perfect spelling leads them to mistype a query, which could return a link or two that direct people to a dangerous website. Some scammers register incorrectly spelled domains in the hopes of bringing in visitors who hit a wrong letter or two. Other search sites may want to consider similar initiatives. Google for one has been vexed for months with SEO poisoning attacks that drop links to infected pages into its listings. Their work with StopBadware.org doesn’t seem to notice these links, and that’s not good for visitors.

Tags: McAfee, SearchScan, Yahoo

As you might have noticed, during the last two weeks Techachino News wasn’t updated properly. This is due to me being the only editor at the moment and i have been busy studying for my midterms. I’m sorry for this negligence and i promise you to start updating the site very soon.

Despite reports that a Blu-ray Xbox 360 is in the works from an ASUS subsidiary, Microsoft has once again moved to deny the rumors.

Microsoft had no comment when the reports hit last week, but now an official has sent an email to the popular gaming website GamePro denying the reports.

“As we have stated, we have no plans to introduce a Blu-ray drive for Xbox 360. Games are what drive consumers to purchase game consoles, and we remain focused on providing the largest library of blockbuster games available.”

It seems that more and more reports will hit the Internet that a Blu-ray Xbox 360 is coming and Microsoft will continue to deny them. Will a Blu-ray Xbox 360 be coming anytime soon, or will Microsoft stick by its guns and stay with HD digital downloads?

Tags: Blu-ray, Microsoft, Xbox 360

 Former RIAA defendant Tanya Andersen has filed an amended complaint in her malicious protection lawsuit against the record labels and RIAA themselves. This marks the fourth complaint submitted by Andersen’s lawyer, Lory Lybeck. All prior submissions have been rejected by the judge. If Lybeck can get the judge to accept this one, it will begin what Andersen hopes to be a long-range investigation into the tactics the RIAA uses to thwart their P2P nemesis.

The first of three dismissed complaints accused the RIAA of racketeering, fraud, invasion of privacy, deceptive business practices, and a number of other wrong doings. The judge presiding over the case, Judge Anna J. Brown, dismissed it sighting they had not properly stated claims for relief, but allowed for the complaint to be resubmitted.

The second of the three dismissed complaints weighed in at 108 pages and outlined scandalous practices and criminal enterprise practices, but the judge threw it out because both the court and the RIAA believed they ignored the judge’s instructions to submit a short and concise complaint.

The third dismissed complaint was intended to be a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of other who have been mistakenly identified by the RIAA as criminals. The RIAA stands accused of conspiracy and abuse of the legal process, negligence, acting criminally in investigating and pursuing claims against class members, wire fraud, mail fraud, and wrongfully filing lawsuits.

The latest complaint is a paltry 39 pages and is believed to be Lybeck’s final attempt at a complaint with this judge. Lybeck has accused the RIAA of “operating a zone of secrecy” throughout its legal campaign, and hopes that last week’s filing will mark the beginning of the end for the labels and their legal campaign.

Tags: p2p, RIAA

This is a follow-up to the previous article regarding the generation of thumbnail previews for FLV and 3GP files.

One of the problems that graphic designer working with Photoshop face, is Windows XP inability to create thumbnail previews for PSD files. To fix this problem follow these steps:

Download the following dll file: psicon.dll. Place the file in the following directory:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Shell\

If the Shell folder does not exist you can create it. If you understand the registry file that i’m about to give you, then you can edit the path of the file and place it anywhere you want.

Copy paste the following registry code to your favorite notepad application and name the file “psd.reg” without the quotations

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDLLs]
“C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Adobe\\Shell\\psicon.dll”=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.psd\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@=”{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}”

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}]
@=”Photoshop Icon Handler”

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0B6DC6EE-C4FD-11d1-819A-00C04FB69B4D}\InProcServer32]
@=”C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\Adobe\\Shell\\psicon.dll”
“ThreadingModel”=”Apartment”

Run the file you just saved and you’ll be notified that you’re adding information to the registry, click yes.

That’s it, now head to any folder containing psd files, select a Thumbnails view and Windows explorer will be able to create Thumbnail previews to all PSDs. Problem Solved!!

Tags: DLL, Photoshop CS3, PSD, Thumbnails, Windows XP

A couple weeks ago, i wrote a tutorial on how to get Windows Media Player 11 to play FLV files. I received some emails asking how to get a thumbnail preview of FLV file in Windows XP and here’s the answer.

Since Windows explorer does not generate Thumbnail previews of FLVs, we need to install an application that can. That application is K-Lite Mega Codec Pack. Download the program(17.1 MB) and run the installtion. When you get to the Additional Tasks Menu, scroll down to “Make thumbnail gerneration possible for the following file types” and select the formats that you like special FLV.

That’s it, just complete the installtion and now windows explore become capable of generating FLV thumbnails for flv, mp4, hdmov, ogm, ts, m2ts, 3gp rmvb files

Tags: 3gp, FLV, hdmov, Klite, m2ts, mp4, Multimedia, ogm, Thumbnails, ts, Windows XP

The Chinese state media has announced that its country has now surpassed the United States as the world’s number one Internet-using population.

The last numbers available to Reuters, at the end of February, showed that China had 221 million Internet-users, a measly 5 million behind the US.

“Despite a rapidly increasing Internet population, the proportion of Internet users among the total population was still lower than the global average level,” the Xinhua news agency said, quoting the Information Ministry.

Despite the massive number of Internet users, the proportion was only 16 percent at the end of the 2007, compared to 19 percent for the world average. The US for example, has a proportion of over 70 percent.

China has the fastest growing population of Internet users however and BDA China, a Beijing-based research firm, added that it expects China to hit 280 million Internet users by the end of the year.

Tags: Inernet