Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Well, I couldn’t have played it anyway, seeing as it was all in Chinese. “Incorruptible Warrior Online,” sponsored in part by the Communist Party Discipline Inspection Commission of Haishu District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, is a game set in ancient China. The idea is to combat graft by killing corrupt officials, all the while avoiding attacks by their henchmen and bikini-clad mistresses.

Obviously, though this game is set in ancient times, corruption is a big problem today in China. Much as America’s Army is designed to encourage people to - well, join the Army - this game is designed to promote anti-graft measures.

The problem is, it’s been too popular. Servers were designed to handle up to 600 players, but in the first week alone the game attracted 10,000! As with any video game that has some manner of violence, there has been some criticism over using violence in a game that’s supposed to teach a lesson. Let’s be honest though - this game wouldn’t get such a big following if there wasn’t some violence - despite the bikinis.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

It’s been nearly two years since since Sony got into the rootkit business. Not intentionally, but the DRM installed by Sony BMG CDs when you tried to play them on your PC had rootkit qualities. Not only that, but in a real-life example of the vulnerability, hackers used it to hack World of Warcraft.

Unfortunately, it seems Sony did not learn its lesson. Security company F-Secure charged Monday that the Sony MicroVault USM-F line of USB flash drives installs files in a hidden folder that can be accessed and used by hackers - once again, much as a rootkit.

The product installs a driver that hides in a hidden directory under “c:\windows”. The reason the directory is cloaked is a good one - the drives include fingerprint security and the authentication files are hidden to prevent tampering.

While that’s all fine, the fact that the folder can be used by a resourceful hacker is very similar to the earlier fiasco. In a post on F-Secure’s blog, Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure’s chief research officer, said:

The Sony MicroVault USM-F fingerprint reader software that comes with the USB stick installs a driver that is hiding a directory under “c:\windows\”. So, when enumerating files and subdirectories in the Windows directory, the directory and files inside it are not visible through Windows API. If you know the name of the directory, it is e.g. possible to enter the hidden directory using Command Prompt and it is possible to create new hidden files. There are also ways to run files from this directory. Files in this directory are also hidden from some antivirus scanners (as with the Sony BMG DRM case) — depending on the techniques employed by the antivirus software. It is therefore technically possible for malware to use the hidden directory as a hiding place.

We Say: What’s that old saying? “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Here we go again.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Last week I had the pleasure of sitting in on a teleconference with Intel, as they announced their revamped vPro platform. For those who don’t know, vPro is much like Centrino - a platform marketing initiative. In this case, it is targeted to businesses, and centers around security and virtualization.

Intel vPro processor technology packages a powerful new Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor, Intel® Q35 Express chipset and several technology innovations offering a host of security and management capabilities for desktop PCs.

New in this product is Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT, formerly codenamed LaGrande). In addition, Intel enhanced its Intel vPro processor technology with improved System Defense Filters. These filters can identify greater numbers and varieties of threats in the network traffic flow.

The latest version of Intel vPro processor technology also offers an embedded trust agent, the first certified by Cisco, providing the industry’s only 802.1x compatible manageability solution not dependent on OS-availability.

Further boosting PC manageability is the newest generation of Intel Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT). Intel® AMT allows for inventory and repair PCs “out of band” – meaning even if the OS has crashed or the PC is turned off.

The new Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor and Intel® Q35 Express chipset together will deliver improvements in energy-efficiency through a combination of performance increases and reductions in power consumption, thereby helping businesses support their own “Green IT” objectives and Energy Star* requirements. For the highest-volume processor, the 2007 Intel vPro processor technology delivers 30 percent greater performance than the previous-generation product, while significantly reducing power consumption. Source: Intel Press Release

We Say: As presented, the vPro platform is for businesses - and you can bet your IT department will be happy with many of these updates, as well as PCs built with them. They’re not really all that interesting for consumers, but in the future, many of these initiatives will likely work their way into consumer products.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Taiwan’s Acer has announced it will buy struggling computer vendor Gateway, in a deal worth $710 million. This will create the world’s #3 largest PC maker. At the same time, Gateway dealt a blow to Lenovo by announcing its intention to buy Packard Bell.

Lenovo’s plans were set back when Gateway declared on Monday that it would exercise its right to take a first attempt at buying the parent of European-focused PC maker Packard Bell.

The Chinese PC giant has said it was in talks to buy Paris-based Packard Bell, hoping to expand its presence in a European consumer market where it is relatively weak.

Acer said it would pay $1.90 per Gateway share, representing a premium of 57 percent over Gateway’s last closing price. The U.S. firm’s stock rose 59 cents, or 49 percent, in pre-market trading on Monday to $1.80, from a Friday close of $1.21. Source: Reuters

We Say: Gateway hasn’t excited me for 10 years, since the last time I bought any products from them. Acer really hasn’t done anything for me either, though their laptop line did garner some attention from me during my last buying foray.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

It definitely makes sense to hold these championships in Finland, since that’s where Nokia, the world’s largest manufacturer of cell phones, is based. Finnish domination in the contest was evident, with 3 of the 4 events being won by Finland natives.

Two Finns won their place in the history books as the winners the 8th Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships in the Finnish town of Savonlinna. Tommi Huotari won the men’s category with a throw of 89.62 metres, while Eija Laakso defended her previous year’s win with a 44.49-metre toss. Source: Earthtimes.org

We Say: In the freestyle event, Elina Pitkanen of Finland won the women’s event, while Taco Cohen of the Netherlands won the men’s event.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Yesterday I told you about the software unlocking of the iPhone performed by two different companies. One of them, Uniquephones.com, was to go live with its solution Saturday on its www.iphoneunlocking.com site. However, John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, said that he received a phone call about 3 AM Saturday local time (the firm is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland) from a man claiming to be from a law firm calling on behalf of AT&T.

But Uniquephones’s John McLaughlin says that he received a phone call at 3 a.m. Saturday from AT&T lawyers ordering that his company halt their plans. “They said if we did release this, that they would be within their rights to go after us,” he says. “These are bullying tactics.” Source: Newsweek

We Say: How solid is AT&T’s case? Not solid, IMHO - though I am not a lawyer. There is an exemption to the DMCA that explicitly exempts unlocking of cell phones. In this .PDF, right on the U.S. Copyright Office website, which references a new set of exemptions as of November 2006, it specifically says and exempts:

Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.

In English: as long as the locks are bypassed so that you can legally connect to a cellular network (i.e., you aren’t doing it to get free service), it’s fine.

Sounds like AT&T does not have a leg to stand on. However, what it does have is powerful lawyers and a load of cash. It’s possible this lawsuit it meant to drain Uniquephones.com and the second unlocker, iPhoneSIMfree.com. And if that’s the case, it’s another example of corporate bullying and it’s basically hurting us, consumers.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

And this is reason #1 that I hate any software that’s activated and that, if I can avoid it, I won’t buy it. It seems, however, I have little choice when it comes to my OS (yes, yes, I know about Linux and OS X ). Users trying to activate both XP and Vista since yesterday weren’t able to, as a Windows Genuine Advantage server outage occurred…

We contacted our sources at Microsoft, who told us off the record that the company is aware of a major WGA server outage affecting users across the globe. The Windows Genuine Advantage support forum has exploded with complaints, as a result, and Phil Liu, WGA project manager, says that he won’t sleep until the problem is fixed. Windows Vista and XP are affected, 32- and 64-bit versions. Source: Ars Technica

We Say: According to a post at the Microsoft WGA support forum, the outage is now fixed. Though the outage caused understandable outrage and makes one wonder why the WGA program can’t simply figure out the server is down rather than saying your software is invalid.

By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews

Earlier Friday mainstream media picked up on the hardware unlocking of the iPhone by an enterprising teenager. While that was big news, it pales in comparison to this. Software unlocking is the pinnacle, as there’s no fumbling with the soldering iron, and no tearing apart of your iPhone.

It’s high noon, Apple and AT&T — we really hate to break it to you, but the jig is up. Last night the impossible was made possible: right in front of our very eyes we witnessed a full SIM unlock of our iPhone with a small piece of software. It’s all over, guys.

The iPhoneSIMfree.com team called us up to prove their claim that they cracked Apple’s iPhone SIM lock system, and prove it they did. (No, we don’t have a copy of the unlock software, so don’t even ask us, ok?) The six-man team has been working non-stop since launch day, and they’re officially the first to break Apple’s SIM locks on the iPhone with software. It’s done. Seriously. Source: enGadget

We Say: Despite what you may think, this hurts Apple as well as AT&T - though not as much. Apple has a deal with AT&T that gives them a cut of all voice and data calls on the iPhone. Still, this can only help sales of the device itself. Not only that, there’s now news of a second software unlocker - and their service goes live today.