Skype Updates With Call Forwarding, Ring Tones

Skype Technologies has gone live with an updated version of its Internet telephony software, adding call forwarding and personalization options to its popular VoIP service.

Skype version 1.4, which launched for beta testing in August, allows users to forward incoming Skype calls to another Skype name or to landline or mobile numbers. Calls forwarded to Skype names are free; calls sent to traditional phone numbers are charged at the company's SkypeOut rates, which start at 2 cents per minute.

The new version also introduces "Personalize Skype," a customization service being managed by Qpass, a Seattle-based Skype partner. Personalize Skype offers consumers pictures to use as avatars and sound clips that can serve as ring tones or replace Skype's default sounds. A limited number of pictures and sounds are available for free.

Skype's update is currently available only for Windows users, though the company says it is working to bring the new features to its Macintosh, Linux, and Pocket PC editions.

Apple admits problem with iPod nano

SanDisk Puts Copy Controls on Flash Cards. Entertainment companies may feel more secure about releasing content on cards.

Mobile Phone Standards to Launch in 2006

The mobile phones for sale during the 2006-2007 holiday season should be a lot more secure than this year's crop, thanks to a new mobile security specification that likely to be released in the first half of 2006.

The specification is being developed by the Trusted Computing Group, an industry association backed by mobile vendors such as Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung.

The TCG has already created standards for PCs, servers, and networks designed to make computing more secure; and at this week's Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association Wireless IT and Entertainment conference in San Francisco, the group took a step toward finalizing its mobile standard.

Today, the TCG released a number of use cases defining the areas that it expects its mobile standards to cover. These documents discuss things such as locking down phones to make them harder to use when they are lost or stolen, managing software updates and patches, and supporting secure payments via mobile devices.

In a statement, the TCG said that it expects to have a publicly available mobile phone specification ready in the first half of 2006. If this happens, devices supporting the specification should begin to emerge by the end of next year.

The first mobile phones built with the TCG's mobile security technology should be harder to use without proper authorization. As more infrastructure is built to support the TCG standards, phones will become more resistant to mobile viruses and other forms of abuse.

Farther along, when mobile phones become even more secure, they could evolve into a kind of electronic wallet that could be used to authenticate buyers and sellers in online transactions.

Yahoo Users Get Phished

A new phishing method is targeting Yahoo users by recording their user name and password while logging them into a legitimate area of the portal, according to Websense, a Web security software firm.

Users receive an instant message or e-mail purporting to be from a friend wanting to show photos from a vacation or birthday party. The message has a link to the phishing site, which records the user's ID and password while forwarding the user to the real Yahoo Photos site.

"It would be difficult for the user to know they'd actually been phished," says Ross Paul, Websense product manager for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

It appears the phishers are close to home: The actual phishing site is hosted in free Web space provided by the Yahoo Geocities service in the United States, Websense says.

Not only are the phishers using a fake logo to trick users, but they are also forwarding the person to another site, a method that has been used before but not on such a large scale, Paul says. Websense's worldwide network, which monitors Internet traffic, detected the technique.

"That leads us to believe [the phishing attack] is fairly widespread," Paul says, adding, however, "It's difficult to quantify."

The advice for users is similar to that issued in prior warnings: Be leery of unexpected e-mails and check with the sender to make sure an e-mail is authentic. Users can also always check with Yahoo to see if a specific e-mail is legitimate, Paul says.

"I think what you are seeing is criminals are getting more sophisticated in social engineering," Paul says.

In an e-mail response to a query about the warning, Yahoo spokesman David Sawday wrote: "When we learn about phishing sites on our network, we remove them as quickly as possible." He did not provide information on how Yahoo was dealing with the new phishing method.

Google Video Integrates Media Player

Google has improved its Google Video service by eliminating the need for users to download software to play back videos.

The service's videos now play within a Web browser without the need for additional software, says Peter Chane, senior business product manager for Google Video.

Moreover, the previously Windows-only playback service is now available to users whose PCs run the Linux and Mac OS operating systems.

Other enhancements to the service include a larger and resizable viewing window, and more playback controls, such as pause, skip back, skip forward, and volume. Also new is the availability of 10-second video previews that can be played on the search results page.

Google also announced that between Monday and Thursday of this week, visitors to Google Video will be able to view the series premiere of the UPN television network's show Everybody Hates Chris.

During those four days, Google Video will be the only place on the Web where the episode will be available in its entirety, Shane says. "We're working with all sorts of owners of video content to help them bring their content online," he says. "You'll see more high-quality video content on Google Video in months to come."

Google launched Google Video in January of this year, and the service was deemed underwhelming by many, in part because it didn't feature any actual videos to play back. What it did feature were transcript excerpts from TV, along with still photos from the video broadcasts, as well other complementary information about the programs. The indexed information also was limited to only certain television shows.

Google Video's lack of viewable content made it pale in comparison with existing multimedia search engines from competitors America Online, Blinkx, and Yahoo. However, Google has been improving its video service. Along the way, the company has opened the service to allow anyone, from individual amateurs to television and movie producers, to submit video for inclusion in Google Video. It has also made actual video viewable on the service.

Asian top 100

Few days back Red Ferring lunched its list of Top 100 Private Companies in Asia. China provided the most companies on the list (41), followed by India (19) and South Korea (10).
I could find only 18. Here is the list of the Indian companies which made it in the list.

Computing

• Axis Software
• Bahwan CyberTek
• Ittiam Systems
• Skelta Software

Communications

• Bharti Telesoft
• Jataayu Software
• Navin Communications
• Tejas Networks

Entertainment & Media

• DQ Entertainment
• Indiagames
• Paprikaas Animation Studios

Biotech

• Strand Genomics

Internet Services

• AppLabs Technologies
• Comat Technologies
• Pinstorm
• Pramati Technologies
• Progeon

Security

• E2Labs Information Security