Verizon's first Droid ad goes on the iPhone attack

Click for the the Droid promo site (with ad).

Verizon has begun running a hard-hitting ad aimed at building excitement for its first phone powered by Google's Android-operating system. Dubbed the Droid, the phone, which until recently went by the code name "Sholes," is expected in early November. It joins other Android-powered phones already on the market, including T-Mobile's G1 and myTouch, HTC's Hero on the Sprint network, and the Motorola Cliq, which debuts this Friday.

The ad, which first appeared on network TV over the weekend promotes the Droid mostly by assaulting the iPhone, the Apple smart phone.Over happy pop music and rapid-fire images, apparently to emulate Apple's own advertisements, the ad highlights the iPhone's limitations, including these:

• The lack of a physical keyboard
• An inability to run simultaneous applications
• The absence of a 5-megapixel camera
• It's hard to personalize
• Its batteries are not replaceable by the user

The happy music ends abruptly, and the ad shifts to emulating a futuristic broadcast alerting the masses that a new mobile challenger will arrive in November. Viewers are directed to DroidDoes.com, a Verizon site that brags that the Droid possesses the missing iPhone features. It also highlights the new 2.0 version of the Android operating system, which succeeds the existing 1.5 version.

Some people who’ve handled the device say the Droid is the most sophisticated mobile device to hit the market to date from a hardware standpoint. When you combine that with the Verizon network, a consistent leader in our cell-phone service Ratings, available to subscribers, you’ve got a promising challenger to the iPhone.

Two-year operation nets 100 phishers

More than 100 people have been charged with identity theft and other computer-related crimes in a joint investigation by U.S. and Egyptian law-enforcement agencies.

Operation Phish Phry uncovered an international conspiracy that was allegedly using phishing tactics to steal personal information from account holders at American financial institutions. The investigation was conducted on the U.S. end by the FBI, the United States Attorney's Office, and the Electronic Crimes Task Force in Los Angeles.

The indictment charges that cyberthieves located in Egypt used classic phishing tactics to direct victims to phony Web sites, where they entered passwords, account numbers, and other data. That info was used to hack into accounts at two banks. Money was transferred from the compromised accounts to fraudulent accounts created by "runners" recruited by the U.S.-based co-conspirators.

Fifty-three defendants were charged in the United States with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud; 47 more were charged in Egypt.

Remember never to access a financial account online by clicking on a Web link embedded in an e-mail. For more security advice, take a look at our Guide to Online Security. —Donna Tapellini

A new security freebie from Microsoft

You’ve got one less excuse for leaving your computer unprotected against viruses and spyware: Microsoft recently added its new software package, Security Essentials, to the list of free antivirus tools available for download online.

We gave Security Essentials a preliminary test run on several PCs here in our labs. The program installed in less than a minute on the typical PCs we tried, appears to use relatively few system resources, and has reasonable default settings. It’s compatible with Windows XP or later.

The user interface is deceptively simple, which is a good thing. The program automatically updates itself, and performs a quick scan every Sunday night by default, though you can change that and other settings.

If you have antivirus software already, there's no need to change. If you decide to make the switch to Security Essentials, be sure to uninstall your old antivirus program first. Security Essentials disables Windows Defender if it finds it, since they duplicate anti-spyware tasks, and since running two real-time anti-spyware programs can lead to problems.

Cybersecurity: FBI warns of social networking risks

The number of hijacked social networking accounts is on the rise, according to a warning issued by the FBI this week. (For free advice on how to protect yourself online, see our Online Security Guide.)

The warning addresses one of the more popular online scams, perpetrated on sites like Facebook and Myspace: Criminals plant malicious software on a victim’s computer, hijack their social networking account, then use the account to send emergency distress messages, for example claiming they are in legal or medical peril, requesting money from their social network contacts.

The FBI’s announcement also describes several other online scams, such as spamming to promote phishing sites and distributing malicious software via social-networking “applications.”

One of the best ways to protect yourself against malicious software is to use an effective security software suite. Our Ratings of security software (available to subscribers) provide recommendations on which products offer the best protection.

If you’re looking for a free antivirus, be aware that Microsoft has just released its own called Microsoft Security Essentials. We haven’t tested it yet; we will be posting more details on this product in this blog very shortly.

For the rest of October, which is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, we’ll continue to post the latest news and advice about online security. —Jeff Fox

Tip of the week: Get free tech support online

[Image: Courtesy of Ivan Petrov]

We recently blogged about the frustration many of us feel when we can't figure out how to get balky electronics gear to do what we want it to. Here are some ideas on where to get help.

The user guide that came with the TV, digital camera, or other gadget is the obvious place to start—provided you can find it. If you can't locate a hard copy, see if the manufacturer has an electronic copy on its Web site. Many companies do. We quickly located downloadable manuals for Nikon cameras, Nokia phones, and Sharp Blu-ray players simply by searching for "product manual Nikon cameras" and so on. You can also get manuals from some retailers, such as online retailer Crutchfield, and third-party sites such as Fixya, Retrevo, and DiploDocs.

See what other support services the manufacturer might offer. Many have quite a bit. Samsung's online support center, for instance, has FAQs and troubleshooting and how-to guides. It's possible the answer to your question or solution for your problem might already be addressed. Sony's eSupport center online has much the same. Panasonic, meanwhile, has set up a Concierge service for users of its flat-panel TVs.

Buzzword: 4G

This term, increasingly in use in the wireless world, refers to the next—and fourth generation—stage in the evolution of networks for mobile devices.

4G technology promises to increase the rates at which phones and other portable devices can access the Internet and data services. The increase will be dramatic, to a rate as high as 70 to 100 megabits per second, or up to a hundred times faster than today’s high-speed, 3G networks allow. Though interference and other factors will limit how often those maximum speeds are achieved, 4G networks should alleviate network congestion and allow for music and video to be streamed and downloaded more quickly to phones and other mobile devices.

Quality levels could also be higher for that content—for example, video will likely be in high-definition mode, which is too data-heavy for today’s mobile networks to support. And 4G will also facilitate the uploading of content, such as high-def videos, from devices to the network and the Internet.

Alas, you likely won't enjoy 4G in any meaningful way for several years. That's because both of the two competing 4G technologies, WiMax and Long-Term Evolution (LTE), are only in the trial stage. WiMax proponent Sprint and its recently acquired partner Clearwire have been testing WiMax in several U.S. cities since 2008, but no rollout of the technology has yet been scheduled. LTE backer Verizon is pushing to launch its 4G network in 2010, but only in select areas. It's been reported that a 4G-enabled device from Apple is one reason for Verizon's aggressive timetable. Besides Verizon, LTE enjoys the support of AT&T and T-Mobile.

In addition, the chances are that the earliest 4G-compatible devices will not be phones but laptops or netbooks. Why? Their bigger batteries promise longer battery life on the new networks.

The faster a network is, as a rule, the more power demands it makes on devices that connect to it. (Case in point: iPhones that run on the slower 2G network have better battery life than when they run on 3G network.) Until there are significant improvements in battery technology and the energy efficiency of phones, 4G-compatible phones would likely either have unacceptably short run times or have to grow to an unacceptable size to accommodate a bigger battery.  —Mike Gikas

US Government launches cybersecurity high-school talent search

This week, the U.S. government issued a challenge to the youth of America to improve the state of Internet security. [Image: Screengrab]

With America’s cyber-defenses still in need of boosting, the US government has launched the US Cyber Challenge competition and talent search to find and develop 10,000 young Americans who can help the nation regain the lead in defending the Internet against attack.

The program includes the following three competitions, which are open to high school students and, in some cases, college and post-graduate students. Students can compete as individuals or in teams.

CyberPatriot, sponsored by the Air Force, is a cyberdefense competition that tests the ability of the students to defend a simulated corporate network from external hostile attacks.

DC3 Digital Forensics Challenge, sponsored by the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center, focuses on cyber investigation and forensics.

NetWars, sponsored by the Sans Institute, which trains security professionals, is a competition in network vulnerability discovery and exploitation.

Here are some of the benefits for students who compete (drawn from the program’s description):

Tweet URLs may be tiny, but they can also be dangerous

With tweets on Twitter limited to only 140 characters, many Twitterers economize by shrinking lengthy URLs for embedded links, with help from Web sites that specialize in such shrinkage. Now, at least one such site has been hacked.

URL-shortening site Cligs last month sent more than 2 million Web addresses to an entirely different destination. Phishers are also taking advantage of the trust users have in TinyURL Web addresses by using them to mask malicious destinations.

But easy solutions are available, PC Magazine points out. You can easily decode those cryptic URLs by pasting them into—what else—a URL lengthener. One such tool: Untiny. Just cut and paste the shortened URL into the box, and you’ll get the original address. Make sure it’s legit, click, and you’re good to go.

In other Twitter news, the site announced it was suspending accounts infected with a form of the Koobface virus. The suspended sites were sending out “bogus tweets” when the user logged in. The tweets included TinyURLs that sent users to Koobface malware sites. —Donna Tapellini

Bing-vs-Google: Now you can try them side by side

Bing-vs-Google, a new website, lets users contrast and compare the two search engines side by side. (Click image above to see a snapshot of Bing-vs-Google.)
[ Image: screengrab ]

Google or Bing? Been wondering which search engine is right for you? Now, you can put them to the test yourself with Bing-vs-Google.

As the name implies, the site puts the two side-by-side for a real-time search engine showdown. Merely type in your query, and a split screen page (see image) with live results from both pages comes up, letting you simultaneously view the results of both searches and see which one is best for you.

Bing, Microsoft’s new search tool, claims it provides a context for searches, making results more pertinent to users. Bing also has a versatile taskbar that displays related searches and a search history (which can be turned off), and offers a no-click preview of the first few paragraphs on a page.

But do any of Bing’s additions make it better than the reigning search champ, Google whose name has become synonymous with Web searching? (“Let me Google that.”)? And will those features help Bing dethrone Google? Time will tell.

In the meantime, give Bing-vs-Google.com a try, and let us know which site’s search results you prefer and why. —Will Dilella

BBB sees rise in Pay-to-Tweet scams

A warning to all you job hunters out there: The Better Business Bureau reports a spike in the work at home, get-rich-quick schemes being offered through the social-networking site Twitter.

The scams are similar to the classic Web and e-mail offers. Sites claim you can make loads of money, with little effort, and no experience, as long as you pay for an informative CD—as featured on the fill-in-the-blank nationally syndicated television show—that will reveal the mystery of making thousands of dollars a month.

According to the BBB, the purported offers being posted by companies on Twitter promise to pay users hundreds of dollars a day to be professional “Tweeters”—the name for a person who uses Twitter. “‘Make Money With Twitter’ schemes may sound risk-free but bear many red flags,” according to the BBB.