..from: http://www.apple.com/motion/video/

Demonstration of Apple's new MOTION software - Apple’s high-performance motion graphic design and production application (http://www.apple.com/motion) - done at the most recent National Association of Broadcaster's (NAB) exhibition.

======================================= So you want to be a cybercrook...

By James Sherwood CNET News.com August 19, 2004, 3:24 PM PT

Some Web sites are now offering surfers the chance to download free "phishing kits" (definition of Phising at http://inews.webopedia.com/TERM/p/phishing.html) containing all the graphics, Web code and text required to construct the kind of bogus Web sites used in Internet phishing scams.

According to security firm Sophos, the kits allow users to design sites that have the same look and feel as legitimate online banking sites that can then be used to defraud unsuspecting users by getting them to reveal the details of their financial accounts.

"By putting the necessary tools in the hands of amateurs, it's likely that the number of attacks will continue to rise," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

Sophos warned that many of the kits also contain spamming software that enables potential fraudsters to send out thousands of phishing e-mails with direct links to their do-it-yourself fraud sites.

"The emergence of these 'build your own phish' kits means that anyone can now mimic bona fide banking Web sites and convince customers to disclose sensitive information such as passwords," Cluley said.

Many online banking Web sites now carry messages urging users not to open any e-mail that they suspect may be fraudulent and to telephone their bank for further information if they do receive suspicious e-mail.

Phishing has become such a problem that there are now several online antiphishing guides to educate users about the con artists' common tricks.

===================== ...complete article at: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5316664.html? part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnet

How eight pixels cost Microsoft millions

By Jo Best Silicon.com August 19, 2004, 11:36 AM PT

Microsoft's lack of multicultural savvy cost the Redmond behemoth millions of dollars, according to a company executive.

The software giant has seen its products banned in some of the biggest markets on earth--and it's all because of eight wrongly colored pixels, a dodgy choice of music and a bad English-to-Spanish dictionary.

Speaking at the International Geographical Union congress in Glasgow on Wednesday, Microsoft's top man in its geopolitical strategy team, Tom Edwards, revealed how one of the biggest companies in the world managed to offend one of the biggest countries in the world with a software slip-up

When coloring in 800,000 pixels on a map of India, Microsoft colored eight of them a different shade of green to represent the disputed Kashmiri territory. The difference in greens meant Kashmir was shown as non-Indian, and the product was promptly banned in India. Microsoft was left to recall all 200,000 copies of the offending Windows 95 operating system software to try and heal the diplomatic wounds. "It cost millions," Edwards said.

Another social blunder from Microsoft saw chanting of the Koran used as a soundtrack for a computer game and led to great offence to the Saudi Arabia government. The company later issued a new version of the game without the chanting, while keeping the previous editions in circulation because U.S. staff thought the slip wouldn't be spotted, but the Saudi government banned the game and demanded an apology. Microsoft then withdrew the game.

The software giant managed to further offend the Saudis by creating another game in which Muslim warriors turned churches into mosques. That game was also withdrawn.

[...]

========================== ...complete article at: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5316507.html? part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnet

IBM asks for Linux ban on SCO

By David Becker CNET News.com August 19, 2004, 10:13 AM PT

IBM asked a federal court to bar the SCO Group, a Linux adversary, from distributing any Linux software, in the latest filing in their ongoing legal battle.

In a motion for partial summary judgment filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, IBM asks the court to rule in favor of its counterclaim alleging SCO has violated the terms of one of the most common licenses under which Linux software is distributed.

An IBM representative declined to comment beyond the text of the motion. An SCO representative said the company disputed IBM's allegations and would respond soon in court.

The motion says that by distributing Linux software governed by the GNU General Public License (GPL) while at the same time declaring the GPL invalid, SCO has forfeited the right to distribute Linux code, particularly code to which IBM has made contributions. SCO has been a harsh critic of the GPL, declaring it a violation of the U.S. Constitution in one legal document.

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