Olympic head: No deal on Internet censorship

Olympic officials on Saturday said there was "no deal" with the Chinese Government to restrict Internet access for foreign journalists covering the Beijing Games.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said during a press conference in Beijing that he is "adamant in saying there has been no deal whatsoever to accept restrictions", according to the BBC. In addition, he applauded the organization of the Summer Games, falling short of an apology following widespread public criticism that China had backtracked on assurances that members of the media would not be restricted.

Rogge did not address reports that had surfaced earlier this week that some Olympic officials had been aware of negotiations with the Chinese Government. On Wednesday, IOC press chief Kevan Gosper told Reuters that committee members had cut a deal to let the Chinese Government block sensitive sites.
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New worm targets Facebook, MySpace

Just because a "friend" sends you something on Facebook or MySpace doesn't mean you should trust it.

A new worm is spreading via Facebook and MySpace, turning victims' computers into zombies on a botnet, Kaspersky Lab said on Friday.

Basically, infected machines are propagating the worm by sending messages via the social networks to friends in the network.

The messages look like they contain links to video clips. When clicked on they prompt the recipient to download an executable file that purports to be the latest version of Flash Player. Instead, it is the worm itself, infecting yet another victim.

When infected machines log onto the social networks the next time their computers automatically send the malicious messages out to new victims grabbed from the friend list, said Ryan Naraine, security evangelist at Kaspersky.

"We've seen these types of worms before, typically around MySpace," he said. "People are more trusting of things they receive from a friend," and many people don't recognize that what they are downloading isn't a legitimate Flash Player file, but a malicious program.

Naraine repeated the refrain that security professionals have been spreading for years: be careful about downloading anything to your computer, even if it appears to come from a friend; and be diligent about applying security patches to your computer.

Via CNET News

2008 Olympics: The digital games

Two years ago, watching the Olympics live via the Internet was limited to a single gold medal game of a popular sport. This year, everything from preliminary table tennis matches to team handball will be available both live and on-demand directly to the PC.

In all, more than 2,000 hours of live content and 3,000 hours of on-demand video will be available from the PC via NBCOlympics.com.

While a huge opportunity for Olympics fans, it is also a big test for both Web video and for the companies behind the site, in particular for NBC Universal and Microsoft, whose Silverlight technology is being used in the video player, and for Limelight Networks, whose network is being used to route all of those streams to Internet service providers.

To be sure, the Web has seen some big live events in recent years, including CBS Sports' streaming of March Madness games, but this could be the biggest test yet.

"It does keep me up at night," said NBC Universal Senior Vice President Perkins Miller, who is heading up the network's Internet efforts.

That this much content will be available over the Internet is a testament to just how much progress has been made in everything from video streaming to online advertising in just the past two years, as well as a change in attitude among consumers, who now slurp up 3.5 billion videos a month from YouTube.
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Targus Zip-Thru laptop case to make travelers, TSA happy

If you fly enough, you probably have a full routine for getting through security as fast as possible. I, for one, have given up on belts, coats, shoes with laces, and the hope that I'll ever remember at 6am where I've put all my "fluids". The only thing that continues to gum things up is my laptop, since the Transportation Security Administration requires screeners to get a clear image of the laptop when it goes down the belt. This means that along with making sure no one walks off with my shoes (true story, and yes I got them back), I have to pay attention to where my notebook is and getting back in its case. This new case from Targus, however, should help smooth the process out a bit.
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ThinkPad X200 vs. X300: A comparison

Thanks to the launch of Intel's new Centrino 2 platform earlier this month, we managed to get our hands on Lenovo's new ultraportable, the ThinkPad X200. We took some time to compare it with both its predecessor and the ThinkPad X300 introduced earlier this year.

We've completed performance and battery testing (battery life was especially impressive) and will post the full review of the ThinkPad X200 as soon as we can get final pricing for our configuration. Meanwhile, check our side-by-side pictures and comparisons of the ThinkPads X61s, X200, and X300 after the break.


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