TurkmenPost

In another example of "ransomware," a new Trojan horse threatens to delete files unless the victim pays up, security experts have warned.

When activated, the Trojan horse, dubbed Ransom-A by antivirus company Sophos, displays some explicit images. It then shows an expletive message that demands a $10.99 payment, or it will delete one file every 30 minutes, security experts at SophosLabs said in a statement published Friday.

"This Trojan horse is designed to take your data hostage and tries to scare users into paying up quickly by threatening to wipe files one-by-one," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said in the statement.

The Trojan asks for payment via the Western Union money transfer service and promises delivery of a special disarming code after the ransom is paid, Sophos said.

This is the second example of malicious software that seeks to extort money in as many months. In March, a Trojan horse that encrypts victims’ files and demands a $300 payment to have them decrypted and unlocked made the rounds. A similar attack was spotted in May of last year.

via zdnet.

Lost TV star has been released from jail in Honolulu after serving time for a drink-driving offence in Hawaii.

Rodriguez, Anna Lucia in the TV series, was sentenced to five days in jail but spent only 65 hours behind bars.

Time spent in custody after her arrest was taken into account.

Rodriguez is also serving three years’ probation after pleading no contest in 2004 in Los Angeles to three traffic violations, including drink-driving.

The actress shared a dormitory with 60 other women while in prison, a spokesman for the jail said.

"I kind of have to get back to my life, go back to making some money," she said outside court after sentencing.

Rodriguez, 27, and co-star Cynthia Watros were arrested within minutes of each other last December on suspicion of driving while under the influence.

The actress chose a jail sentence rather than perform 240 hours of community service.

via bbc.

• Now you can play with Elisha Cuthbert all you want. Well, in digital form, anyway. (Hollywood Tuna)
• Pete Doherty is a sick, sick freak. (Pink is the New Blog)
• Is Tom Cruise a liar? Probably. Is he a tool? Definitely. (A Socialite’s Life)
• Britney Spears is actually 5 months pregnant. Wouldn’t it have been better to admit it from the start, rather then let people think you’re a fat pig? (DListed)
• Charlie Sheen is denying the accusations that he’s a crazy, abusive, drugged-out, child-porn freak. Well, wouldn’t you? (IDLYITW)
• So, naturally, you’d think that now probably isn’t the best time for Charlie Sheen to be launching a clothing line for kids. (Hollywood Rag)
• The Jolie-Pitt family continues to draw attention to Namibia. Maybe they should do something usefull like go to Darfur. (Just Jared)
• At least George Clooney is doing something to bring attention to Darfur. (Defamer)
• Rosie O’Donnell joins The View. Now even more reasons why not to watch. (Gawker)
• Celebrity impersonators can be really creepy. Of course, so can real celebrities. (CityRag)

via egotastic.

Nintendo said yesterday that the next-generation game console it has been developing under the code name Revolution would be given what the company believes is a revolutionary name: Wii.

Pronounced "we" — or in the French market, "oui" — Wii replaces what had always been a working title for Nintendo’s new system, which will go head-to-head with Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 console and Sony’s coming PlayStation 3.

Sony announced last month that it was delaying the release of its new machine until November. Wii is expected to go on sale about the same time.

The name was developed over six months in Japan.

A Nintendo spokeswoman said it was meant to indicate that "Wii is a platform for everyone — not just the gamer or the nongamer."

The dual "i" is intended to suggest Wii’s game controller, a tall, thin white unit reminiscent of a television remote control. Used with one hand, the controller is motion-sensitive: players will swing the remote to simulate play in a golf or tennis game, for example.

"NGage and Gizmondo are cool names," said Michael Pachter, a research analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles, referring to previous products aimed at gamers. "But consumers relate to the coolness of the product, not the name."

Games for the new console are expected to be previewed next month at the Electronic Entertaiment Expo, the annual video-game trade show in Los Angeles.

via nyt.

At first it seemed to be nothing more than a routine, if damaging, case of counterfeiting in a country where faking it has become an industry.

Reports filtering back to the Tokyo headquarters of the Japanese electronics giant NEC in mid-2004 alerted managers that pirated keyboards and recordable CD and DVD discs bearing the company’s brand were on sale in retail outlets in Beijing and Hong Kong.

Like hundreds, if not thousands, of manufacturers now locked in a war of attrition with intellectual property thieves in China, the company hired an investigator to track down the pirates.

After two years and thousands of hours of investigation in conjunction with law enforcement agencies in China, Taiwan and Japan, the company said it had uncovered something far more ambitious than clandestine workshops turning out inferior copies of NEC products. The pirates were faking the entire company.

Evidence seized in raids on 18 factories and warehouses in China and Taiwan over the past year showed that the counterfeiters had set up what amounted to a parallel NEC brand with links to a network of more than 50 electronics factories in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In the name of NEC, the pirates copied NEC products, and went as far as developing their own range of consumer electronic products - everything from home entertainment centers to MP3 players. They also coordinated manufacturing and distribution, collecting all the proceeds.

more at iht.