According to Japanese media reports, Sony has lost some 98.8 billion yen or $1.02 billion in March, the ended of the company’s fiscal year. Reports also told that it is the electronics and entertainment company’s first annual loss in the span of 14 years.

According to analysts, Sony should now decide whether it will drop or re-adopt the Walkman brand, the name which gave rise to the Japanese company. To date, the first Japanese to make it globally has been receiving a beating in the music player market as Apple Inc.’s iPod continues to hold assault.

Tokyo business analyst Kazuharu Miura of the Daiwa Institute of Research said that the gap between sales of Walkman and iPod has been “definitive” and has grown extremely wider for Sony to make comeback.

The maker of Vaio laptops and cybershot phones and cameras was advised to concentrate on new technology unique to the company and leave the Walkman brand behind. Analyst said that untouched markets for Playstation 3 and PSP are the most viable option for the company if it wishes to save further losses.

News of PSP with cellular phone features is a big buzz in Japan. However, Miura said that “there is nothing new” with the brand as most of the gaming feature can now be seen in the market today. He added that he would not expect something new from Sony anytime soon.

Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer hopes to save the company’s reputation and profitability by hiring new executives that will handle all the electronic and advertising aspect of the brand.

For the past 30 years, Sony Walkman has sold more than 385 million units worldwide. But Apple’s iPod has put a stop to the once mighty empire.

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The spy game, hosted by the National Intelligence Service, was created to mark the Korean War anniversary. The game, which runs on its official website (www.nis111.co.kr), will be available online from June 22 to July 21.

Game mechanics were simple, gamers were asked to pick out spies, North Korean sympathizers, and communist supporters.

An NIS spokesman said that the game was created to promote “public awareness” on national security. It was also designed to remind people, specially the youth, around the world about their country and its “better half”.

Some 200 lucky gamers will receive prizes ranging from digital cameras, game consoles, to laptops. Also, the spokesperson said that top bloggers who will link the Spy Game to their personal blogs will also win top-of-the-line watches.

Asked for comment on the liberal groups’ accusations, the NIS spokesperson refused to comment, stressing that the spy game has nothing to do with pro-unification activists.

Liberal groups fears that the spy game might create a perception that these pro-unification activists will be considered as potential spies by the gamers.

During the first stages of the game, gamers will be challenged to identity the spy or any suspicious-looking characters in a park full of people. One of which was a character holding signage with “Love Kim Il-Sung” printed on it.

The said game also encouraged players to report suspicious characters who usually leave establishments such as Internet cafes after sending or posting articles that incite anti-US or anti-government movements.

Another part of the game is indentifying sensitive military photographs of industrial, military, and people during demonstrations.

A SKorean newspapers over the weekend reported that NIS was only trying to be “hip” and “humorous” with the spy game, saying that the game’s computer generated images are far too funny to be incited as a tool to identify the people against the government.

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In a statement, Apple spokesman said the company has pulled out the controversial “Hottest Girls” application after its developer Allan Leung added nude photos of women immediately after the company has approved the program.

Apple said Leung has violated the terms of the iPhone Developer Program that prohibits developers to include and distribute indecent and vulgar contents, prompting the company to immediately pull out the application from its App Store.

According to reports, Leung first submitted to Apple his application showing girls in underwear or in scantily-clad clothing. Thinking that the program has followed the terms and conditions for iPhone and iPod applications, Apple has approved this immediately.

However, Leung allegedly included nude photos of women which is a clear violation of the company’s policy, according to Apple.

The company will continue to censor the “Hottest Girls” application priced at $1.99 and said that it will not rely on the iPhone 3.0 Parental Control program that sanitize contents by removing indecent and vulgar contents and materials.

Reports also said that other Leung’s applications such as “Hottest Guys” have been removed in Apple Store. Meanwhile, the technology giant did not provide details on this.

Few months ago, Apple has been criticized for approving an application called “Baby Shaker” which is an iPhone game that asks users to shake their phones when they see picture of a baby crying.

Few days after the release of “Baby Shaker”, Apple pulled out the said program and released a public apology.

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In their letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the chamber of commerce and other trading business groups asked China to drop the controversial order, just days before its full implementation.

The group represents the major technology business and other suppliers, which aims to put pressure on China to defer the plan.

The group’s action stemmed from a protest from Washington, whom earlier said that the filtering software (Green Dam), which will be installed in the users PCs can be more of a risk, than a more of a help for the government of China.

According to the business groups’ letter, Green Dam’s mandate only raise more questions on the privacy, security, and the reliability of the systems in allowing the free flow of data that the online users preferred.

“We are appealing to the Chinese government to reconsider the implementation of the said order and the main function of Green Dam,” the business groups said in their letter.

Based on earlier reports, such appeal by business groups to the Chinese leader is very unlikely. Companies usually do not meddle with the government functions and policies for fear of economic retaliation from the government.

Those who signed the letter were the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, Japan, Europe, and the US National Association of Manufacturers and small, medium, and micro enterprises operating in China. Most of the signatories were representing businesses in technology.

Earlier, the Chinese government stressed that there is a need to block the access to obscene, gore, and violent materials online.

But analysts and critics believe that the reason behind the installation of the software was to filter out politically objectionable articles and contents against the China.

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Meanwhile, Google said it is now investigating the incident to determine if authorities have indeed blocked its service, adding that they have not yet measured the extent of the blockage.

For the past few months, Chinese officials have accused the Internet giant of allowing pornography and other vulgar contents to proliferate in its service which is a clear violation of the country’s law.

In a statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang said Google is continuously committing grave violation against the country as it provides indecent, vulgar, and offensive contents that corrupt the mind of young people.

In an interview with local reporters on Thursday, Qin said they have found that the search engine giant has spread countless of pornographic content.

When asked if the government is responsible for the blockage, the official declined to give comments.

With the move to block Google, some analysts said that this may be one way for the Chinese government to get even following reports that US officials have recently criticized the Asian country of using net-filtering software on new computers to spy on other people especially those who have been vocal in criticizing the government.

Some experts also believe that the government’s move to block Google is rooted from the growing trade war between the US and China.

Meanwhile, China has been known to block some internet services and websites especially with contents that criticized the government.

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According to security firm SpiderLabs, a sample of ATM malware from a banking company in Europe can potentially harvest a complete information of card users including their personal identification number.

In a statement, SpiderLabs Vice President Andrew Henwood said the ATM malware is the first digital threat of its kind with its sophisticated way of retrieving data by recording the information found in the magnetic stripe at the back of the card.

“It seems the creators of these malwares are quite adept with how ATM works”, Henwood added.

Henwood said most ATM machines use security software but these lack sophistication to protect card users from more advanced malwares.

With billions of dollars at stake, Henwood urged banking institutions to strengthen its security features and develop new technologies to protect people various kinds of digital threats and cybercriminals.

Meanwhile, the security firm tested the malware on Microsoft Windows XP platform and confirmed that this can infect an ATM machine, however, it has no ability to transfer to other machines.

Despite its lack of networking ability, SpiderLabs said the malware may evolve into something which can infect other ATMs.

Henwood said that once this malware turns into a worm, which is a self-replicating computer program, it can spread and infect all the networks of ATMs.

According to a government data, cybercriminals are stealing billions of dollars every year in US alone.

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said on Thursday that it shut down Pricewent LLC based in a complaint filed before a federal court in San Jose, California that accused the company of spreading malware and child pornography.

In a statement, FTC said the ISP company has turned down numerous requests from different organizations to block its criminal clients.  Instead of taking necessary actions, the agency alleged that the company has tried to shield its clients by changing its addresses that initially prevented authorities to detect them.

In a complaint, Pricewent was described as a bandwidth and service provider for criminals who want to control computers which they have infected with a special software called botnets that will allow them to steal financial information and other sensitive data of a user.

Meanwhile, the FTC said Pricewent is the first ISP company to be shut down by a government, adding that this is a landmark event.

The FTC said that government usually shuts down individual website which operates illegally than cutting off ISP companies from the Internet.

When asked about the government’s decision to shut down the ISP, Pricewert Spokesman Max Christopher declined to give comment but said “they are confused with the complaint.”

Besides cutting off Pricewert from the Internet, the government said the company’s asset will stay frozen under the court order.

The federal court will hold a preliminary hearing on June 15.

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Online networking giant Habbo Hotel conducted a survey, which included 112,000 teenagers ages 13 to 16 from 30 countries, said that 21 percent of respondents declared that their preferred handset brand is Nokia, a huge decline from nearly 30 percent in 2008.

According to reports, handset makers posted slumping sales and weak demand for the previous months due to the ongoing financial crisis which is forcing people to spend less.  Some analysts even predicted that the handset industry will decline by 10 percent in 2009 as the economy remains weak.

Despite the overall slumping revenue, a recent survey revealed that smartphones, or mobile devices with Internet capability, remain popular among users that its sales are continuously rising.

In the US, Apple iPhone and RIM Blackberry are the two most popular smartphones that these devices have maintained healthy sales despite low consumer spending.

Here are the other key players in the handset industry:

·    Apple – this company’s iPhone has become popular with its wide selection of applications.
·    HTC – a Taiwan-based technology company, this focuses more on providing touch sensitive smartphones that use Windows Mobile platform.
·    LG – this handset maker focuses more on providing expensive signature and fashion cellphones than devices with advanced technologies.
·    Motorola – made its name during the 1990s when it released StarTac series which has become popular among business travelers.
·    Research in Motion (RIM) -  according to a recent study, its Blackberry is the biggest selling smartphone today, toppling Apple iPhone.
·    Sony Ericsson – this handset became popular with its camera phone that features advanced image technologies.

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In a recent report, Microsoft announced the removal of the service to countries like Cuba, North Korean, Sudan, Iran, and Syrian in “compliance” with the United State’s ban on embargoed countries for the acquisition of licensed software being distributed by the computer giant.

In a published report in a Cuban newspaper Juventud Rebelde said that the recent move by the computer giant is “another turn of the screw” designed to harass the island by imposing a stiffer technological blockade.

A certain technology writer in Cuba even called the action by Microsoft as “harsh violation” of the rights of the people in the sanctioned Island.

It will be recalled that the island has been using the instant messaging service without previous interruption from Microsoft.

Meanwhile, Windows Live Product Management Director Dharmesh Mehta came to Microsoft’s defense, saying that “there is nothing new with the blockade” as the company has made several adjustments and changes since 2008 in connection with the release of the latest Window Live Messenger.

He added that it is only now that the move received attention, adding that it is not only Microsoft who imposed product ban in the countries. He said the several other major companies operating in the Internet imposed their “obligation” not to do business in countries listed on the US sanction.

Mehta also stressed that the government has the right to exercise its right to regulate and restraint the use of different programs in the Internet that would most likely impede and affect the diverse commerce with the use of such platforms.

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According to reports, users began to receive spam messages from their friends’ accounts asking them to login to a bogus site called TwitterCut. The said website looks exactly like the login page of the real “Twitter.com” site.

The reports added that the spam messages stated that users can gain more friends if they login to the fake webpage. Once the users entered their login details, the malwares embedded in the link will start to attack the users’ computers with worm-like characteristics.

In an interview, F-Secure Research Chief Mikko Hypponen said that the latest phishing attack to Twitter is “somewhat different” from the attack earlier this year as accounts held by TwitterCut does not appear to send those spam messages.

“Even if the bogus TwitterCut holds many account details of thousands of users, it appears that these spam messages did not come from those infected,” he said.

Hypponen also expressed fear that hackers will use these accounts in the near future to spread spam messages that might contain links directed to more dangerous web pages, which could potential shutdown or infiltrate users systems.

In a related development, TwitterCut’s operators condemned the recent attacks to Twitter users, saying that they have already posted warning message to their website to prevent further phishing attacks.

It was learned that TwitterCut hosts various blacklisted websites the contained potentially dangerous malwares. Although the company claimed they have deleted links to these sites, reports said that the links and web pages are still active.

Twitter officials advised users to spam signs by looking at their messages if it is “retweet” or an international repost to prevent further damage. Users can also screen the website’s URLs to see it has been already blacklisted.

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