Samsung Installs Keylogger on Its Laptops

PC maker Samsung is in the centre of a security storm after it installed keylogging software onto laptops to let it know what its punters were doing.

A network security expert Mohamed Hassan, who is the founder of NetSec Consulting was stunned to discover keylogging software on two different models of Samsung portable computers, which he purchased.

He then called Samsung to log the incident with Samsung Support Staff. Initially Samsung support staff denied that the spy software was there.

First Samsung changed its story by referring the author to claiming that "all Samsung did was to manufacture the hardware."

When Hassan, said this was unacceptable point, he was routed to some other Support personal, who confirmed that Samsung knowingly put this software on the laptop to, as he put it, "monitor the performance of the machine and to find out how it is being used."

It could cause huge problems for Samsung. Not only is spying on your customers probably illegal, but will also result in decline in its potential customers. The existence of key-loggers inside laptops

This keylogger which is found is named Starkeylogger. Many might be thinking over what a keylogger is. For the moment , keeping aside all the if an buts, what organizations and individuals with Samsung systems should back up the important data(if any) and then format the system.Theinvestif\gation has been launched by Samsung for this case.

Until it is cleared up, it is unlikely that any one will want to buy a Samsung product.

Network World confirmed the news.

Manage, Share, and Discover Books with Shelfari

I'm an avid reader. And the older I get, the harder it becomes for me to remember every book I've read. At the same time, I want to get recommendations from sources other than Amazon: friends, people who share my tastes, etc.

Shelfari is a free service that lets you build a virtual bookshelf of stuff you've read, see what your friends are reading, discover popular titles in specfic genres, and join discussion groups.

In other words, at the risk of overusing the metaphor, it's kind of like Facebook for bibliophiles.

After signing up for Shelfari, you can browse or search its library to find books to add to your virtual shelf. For any book you choose, you have the option of rating, tagging, and/or reviewing it. You can also mark it as something you've read, are reading, or are planning to read. All this requires just a few easy clicks.

Shelfari is also heavy on community features, stuff like which books got the highest ratings and most comments for the day, members who added the same books as you, and group categories ranging from Authors & Writing to World Literature & Culture.

Of course, Shelfari is by no means the only book-lovers site of its kind. Another popular destination is Goodreads, though I find that site's interface much less intuitive and attractive.

I do wish Shelfari offered some kind of integration with Facebook and/or Twitter. Even so, it's a great destination for anyone who loves books. If you want to "friend" me on the service, look for user justrick.

Syncables 360 Premium Keeps Data Synced on PCs, Macs, and Smartphones

When you have multiple computers and smartphones that you use regularly, making sure that the right file is on the right device at the right time--and in sync with all other devices--can seem to be an impossible task. Syncables 360 Premium ($50, buy-only) aims to make it a simple, automatic one, and adds some nice extras as well.

Syncables 360 Premium syncs multiple computers, but they'll need to be on the same network or use USB as a go-between; it can't synchronize over the Internet.

Syncables 360 Premium automatically synchronizes files and folders among multiple computers and devices, including PCs, Macs, Linux computers, and Blackberry and Windows Mobile smartphones. You can do it over a network or via a USB cable.

It's simple to use and set up, and it presents all of your syncing options in a pleasing, well-thought out interface. Syncables 360 Premium does more than just basic synchronization. It also migrates data between computers, previews media files, backs up files to a USB drive or external hard drive, and lets you share media on social networking sites such as Facebook and Flickr.

Syncables 360 Premium joins the throng in an increasingly crowded market niche. Notable syncing tools competitors include SugarSync and the beta of the newest version of Windows Live Sync. In one way, the free versions of both SugarSync and Windows Live Sync are superior to Syncables 360 Premium, because both of those free services don't just synchronize folders between computers--they also back up the files to 2GB of free online storage (more storage is available for a fee). So if you only want file synchronization, you'd be better off with one of those free services.

Syncables 360 Premium has one more drawback as well, and it's a major one: It won't synchronize over the Internet. You can only do it via a direct connection such as a cable, or over a home or business network.

But Syncables 360 Premium offers plenty of tools those pieces of software don't offer, such as media previewing, synchronizing contacts, data migration, and the ability to easily share photos on social networking sites including Flickr and Facebook. So if you need those features, and don't need the ability to synchronize over the Internet, Syncables 360 Premium is worth it. Otherwise, you'd be better off with a free solution.

Note that Syncables 360 Premium works with three computers. If you need to synchronize more than that, you can buy the Syncables 360 Home Network version, which can sync up to five computers, for $70.

Enough with the elitist App nonsense

Usually, my co-blogger Garett Rogers and I don’t land too far from each other in terms of our views or we cover Google from such different angles that it really doesn’t matter. However, two of his last posts have so thoroughly torqued my twister (and, I think, are indicative of a particular point of view held by a subset of programmers and users) that I had to respond. Here’s the deal, folks: Apps don’t lack value just because they’re developed by non-programmers, nor are the ubiquitous body-function Apps that are easy to find in both the Apple and Android App repositories completely without value. Here’s why:

This all began when Google opened up Android App development to non-programmers with their App Inventor tool. I hailed it as an incredible educational tool. Garett, like many others (the link, by the way is to a nicely balanced TechCrunch article that deals with both points of view) felt that it would
degrade the Android Marketplace, “making tools that encourage people to create crappy meow apps, [instead of giving] developers better tools to build great apps.”

Then, Saturday saw another pot shot at the Android Market. Garett cites Android Pit’s ranking and download data as evidence that only 6250 Apps in the Android MarketPlace are “good.” He goes on to reference App Inventor again:

That’s about 7% of apps. As we start seeing more submitted from App Inventor, it’s feasible that number will drop even lower.

Really? I suppose that might be true if one sticks with Android Pit’s data as a measure of goodness. Since Garett in particular used 50 downloads as his minimum number to create his pool of potentially good apps. Since App Inventor lets a teacher create an interactive application for his or her class, then the 28 downloads from his students would leave him out of the running. Does that mean his App isn’t good?

It lets me create an App (just as soon as Google processes my invite, hint, hint) that shows my 8 month-old daughter either pictures of our chickens or pictures of her brothers (the two things in the world that make her happy during a meltdown) with the slide of a finger, keeping the phone from turning off the screen in the midst of said meltdown. Will anyone else want to be able to show their 8 month old pictures of my chickens? Probably not, but this little App will have value to me. Would it be “good” by Garett’s reckoning? No. Nowhere close.

The strength of Android has always been its openness. Even the closed and tightly controlled Apple App Store has its share of crap applications that don’t have obvious value. And yet, they exist, people download them, and, in some cases, people buy them. This is what happens in a free market economy. As ZDNet Editor-in-Chief, Larry Dignan, put it,

However, the beauty here is that useless is in the eye of the beholder. Now I’m never going for the Wonder Bread app, but some sandwich junkie may think it’s the best thing ever. There’s something to be said for allowing anyone to create a quiz app (right). Sure, there will be clunkers, but open up mobile apps and let the marketplace demand decide.

Perhaps more importantly, App Inventor gives us the chance to make our phones do precisely what we want them to do, even without any substantial programming skill. Whether the Apps thrive in the Marketplace may often be irrelevant. Do you remember the first time you got a Word macro to create several document features automatically? Those features or that simple macro may have been worthless for everyone in the world besides you and, if you were lucky, a few grateful co-workers. But the power in the hands of non-programmers was profound.

App Inventor is a great democratizer in a world of Apps. Microsoft is getting in on it in their own way with their KittyHawk project and the entire Web 2.0 revolution made web content creation available to those without knowledge of sophisticated scripting, let alone HTML. Opening a tool to the masses and making it useful and accessible to those who can identify a need and meet it themselves without a team of programmers behind them is not a new idea. It’s simply new in the brave new world of smartphones.

I have no trouble finding countless useful and well-designed Apps in the Android Market. Just like any other Google search, you need to separate the wheat from the chaff. However, the ability to create my own Apps, whether for instructional purposes, to gain additional insight into Android, to solve a particular and specific problem just for my own designs, or to bring the next great App to Android should never be viewed as a bad thing. Don’t worry - programmers will still have plenty of work to do. But for anyone with some reasonable degree of computer savvy to be able to exploit the extraordinary power of current and future generations of mobile devices is nothing short of revolutionary.

Get Started With Paint.NET

I routinely use high-powered photo editing programs like Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop, and Corel Paint Shop Pro. But you can get away with spending a lot less on photo editing software. You can spend nothing at all, in fact. In the past I've mentioned GIMP--a popular free, open source program. This week, I'll show you how to get started with Paint.NET as well.

Paint.NET got its start as a senior design project at Washington State University, where it was envisioned as a replacement for the Paint program in Windows. It has evolved significantly since then, though. It remains free, and today has all the basic rudiments of photo editing programs, like layers, effects, and even support for Photoshop-like plug-ins. You can download the latest version of Paint.NET from PCWorld, but you'll want to bookmark the official Paint.NET Web site as well, since there are forums, tutorials, and plug-ins available there. (You can also get to the Web site from Paint.NET's help menu.)

A Quick Tour

The interface should look pretty familiar to anyone who has used a program like Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. Nothing, though, is locked in place. The standard toolbar, for example--usually located on the left side of the screen--can be moved around anywhere in the program window. In fact, if you don't maximize the Paint.NET window, you can drag toolbars and tool palettes out of the program window completely.

The toolbar has all the basics. You'll find selection tools, a magic wand, and a clone tool, for example. When you choose a tool, look at the toolbar at the top of the screen for options to customize it, such as controlling the size of the brush. But making a complex selection with Paint.NET can be tricky, since there's no "magnetic" selections--just a freehand lasso.

As you make changes to your photo, you might notice the Undo window at the top right. It tracks everything you do, so you can undo edits one at a time, or undo a slew of actions all at once--all the way back to the first thing you did to the photo, if you want to.

Working With Layers

Like any full-featured photo editor, Paint.NET gives you the ability to combine photos using layers. There isn't an "adjustment layer" tool for making edits to a photo, but you can simulate Photoshop-like adjustment layers pretty effectively. Just duplicate your photo in a new layer (choose Layers, Duplicate Layer) and then choose one of the options from the Adjustments or Effects menus. You can choose Adjustments, Curves, for example, and tweak the photo. Then, in the Layers palette at the bottom right of the screen, click Properties and use the slider to adjust the opacity of the top layer. (Note that Paint.NET uses the geeky range of 0-255 instead of 0-100, but the effect is the same.)

Play With Plug-Ins

You can use plug-ins to add a wealth of new capabilities to Paint.NET. To get to plug-ins, choose Help, Plug-ins from the menu in Paint.NET, which opens your browser to the Paint.NET Web site's plug-in page.

For example, if you shoot using your camera's RAW mode, the first plug-in you'll want to install is a RAW plug-in so you can open those images in Paint.NET. To get to that quickly, choose Plugins Index, show the Alphabetical List of Plugins Q-Z, and scroll down to the entries for RAW tools. There are a few to choose from, but I've had the best luck with RawReader. To install it, download the RawReader zip file, which contains three DLL files. Then open the program location for Paint.NET (probably c:\program files\Paint.NET) and drag those DLLs to the folder called FileTypes. Restart Paint.NET and you should be able to open most RAW files. Installing any plug-in is basically that easy--just drag the DLL to the Paint.NET folder or one of its subfolders like Effects or FileTypes.

Is there something in particular you'd like to do with Paint.NET? Send me your questions and I will answer them in a future Digital Focus.

Hot Pic of the Week

Get published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality, and technique.

Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format, at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before entering, please read the full description of the contest rules and regulations.

Google Calendar: Sync Outlook or Your Phone, Add Features

A few months back I told you how to add events to Google Calendar by sending text messages from your phone. Since then I've discovered more ways to get calendar and contact data into Google Calendar, Contacts, and Gmail. Read on for a whole new crop of tips.

Sync Outlook with Your Google Calendar

Most of my calendar data lives in Outlook. Not by choice, mind you, but because that's just where it has accumulated over the years.

I'd rather use Google Calendar, which is more versatile and less, well, Outlooky. Just one problem: how do I move my data from the latter to the former? And, just as important, how can I keep the two entities in sync?

Surprisingly few people know that Google offers a solution: the aptly named Google Calendar Sync. This free utility runs under Windows and automatically keeps Google Calendar and your Outlook calendar in sync.

That means you can enter an appointment in one spot and it'll auto-magically appear in the other--and vice versa. But you also have the option of sticking with a one-way sync, like copying all your Outlook appointments to GCal but not copying GCal appointments to Outlook.

Google Calendar Sync is compatible with Windows XP and Vista (though in my experience it works fine with Windows 7 as well). It requires Outlook 2003 or 2007--I'm not sure if it's compatible with Outlook 2010.

Setup is a snap:

1. Download and run the utility.
2. Enter your Google account info.
3. Choose your sync option (one way or two way).
4. Specify how often the utility should sync your calendars (the default is every two hours).

That's it! The first sync takes a couple minutes; after that, it's virtually instantaneous. Now you can use both calendars however you see fit, all the while keeping both in sync.

Sync Google Calendar With Your Smartphone

One of the things I love about Google Calendar is that it requires no desktop component. Sure, you can sync it with Outlook, but not everyone needs or wants a program like that just to manage appointments.

Indeed, more and more people prefer to keep their calendars on their mobile phones, just as they do their address books.

If you do use Outlook, you've probably already configured it to sync with your phone. If not, or if, like me, you're trying to migrate away from that unwieldy beast, look no further than Google Sync--a free service that syncs mobile phones with Google Calendar.

And not just Google Calendar, but also Google Contacts and Gmail. The service works with BlackBerry, iPhone, and Nokia S60 devices. (Why not Android? Because Google's mobile OS already syncs with the various Google services, natch. As for the Palm Pre and Pixi, they can sync with Google right out of the box.)

Google provides all the instructions you need for configuring and using Google Sync, so I won't rehash them here. My goal is simply to explain why it's a good idea.

If you're already a Google Calendar user, it should be pretty obvious: Sync brings a copy of your schedule to your phone--and keeps both versions up to date. Handy!

If you're not a Google Calendar user, Sync effectively gives you an online backup of your schedule--something that could prove invaluable if your phone gets broken, lost, stolen, etc.

Plus, there's much to be said for having a calendar that's accessible from any Web-enabled device (desktop, netbook, iPad, etc.). Same goes for your contacts.

Add a 'Next Meeting' Box to Google Calendar

Now that you know how to sync smartphones and Outlook with Google Calendar, let's talk about some other ways to make it more useful.

Like many of Google's apps and services, Calendar offers a "labs" section where you can find various tweaks and enhancements that are still in the testing stages. One of my favorites is Next Meeting, which adds a box that displays--you guessed it--your next scheduled appointment. It's a tiny change, but a very practical one.

To enable Next Meeting, sign into Google Calendar, then click the little green beaker that appears in the upper-right corner of the page. That'll take you to the Labs page. Scroll down almost all the way to the bottom, find Next Meeting, click Enable, and then click the Save button at the bottom.

That's all there is to it! Now, when you look at your calendar, you'll see the new box in the lower right corner. It shows the next scheduled entry in your calendar and a countdown timer.

Like I said, it's a tiny tweak--but definitely one worth making.

Apple's Answer to User Gripes: A Giveaway

Apple Friday responded to the controversy surrounding its flawed antenna design by using a classic public relations maneuver: giving people free stuff.

In his attempts to appease critics who say that the iPhone 4's poor antenna location makes it more likely to drop calls than other mobile devices, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company would give free rubber bumper cases to all iPhone 4 users or would give iPhone 4 users full refunds if they weren't happy with the device. Consumer Reports said this week that the rubber cases solved the signal problems caused during tests when users put their hands over the phone antennae.

iPhone rules the smartphone roost

So far, reaction to Apple's bumper giveaway has been mostly positive. Ars Technica, which has been critical of Apple during the whole antenna ordeal, now says that giving away bumper cases is a step in the right direction for the company.

"We called Apple's iPhone bumpers a ripoff at $30, but it's hard to argue with free," writes Jacqui Cheng. "Those of us on staff who already have bumpers plan to apply for the refund."

Computerworld's Sharon Machlis also gives Apple kudos for offering users free bumpers, but scratched her head at the company's slow response. She singles out Jobs' "tendency to want to control all aspects of the narrative around his company's products" as a possible reason why it took Apple so long to acknowledge the controversy. Even so, she says that Friday's announcement will go a long way toward easing user anger over the device's antenna woes.

"Whatever the reason, Apple has finally done the right thing for its customers," she says. "Today's announcement that iPhone 4 users will be able to request a free case to solve reception issues should get Apple out from under the deluge of negative publicity it's suffered over the issue."

The Huffington Post's Larry Magid also says that he's satisfied with Apple's free-bumper fix but is also taking issue with Jobs' assertion today that a lot of other smartphones on the market have signal strength problems if you hold your hand up over the antenna.

"I was pretty pleased with Apple's response except for one thing," he says. "Jobs spent a fair amount of time claiming that other phones have similar problems. According to the New York Times live blog he showed a BlackBerry Bold, Droid Eris and other phones dropping bars when gripped… I'm not sure how true that is. I've used a BlackBerry Bold and never noticed that problem and although I haven't tried the Droid Eris, I've used many Android phones including the Droid and Droid X and have never encountered a 'grip of death.'"

Investors were also apparently satisfied with Apple's fix, as the company's shares climbed in the wake of the announcement, rising by 0.2% immediately following the press conference. As the Wall Street Journal has noted, Apple shares have declined overall by around 7% since the release of the iPhone 4 last month.

But while the reaction around the Web and the markets has been mostly positive to Apple's offer, not everyone is quite so sanguine. TGDaily's Trent Nouveau called Jobs "arrogant" and fumed that the company thought it could appease users with a "bumper bribe."

"According to the unrepentant Jobs, the iPhone antenna is still one of the 'most advanced' ever designed for a smartphone," he fumes. "Is it just me, or are those Evo 4G and Motorola X smartphones looking really good right about now!?"