"Opera Mini" and "iPhone" are two words that fit uncomfortably together given the current state of the mobile industry, yet as Opera Software announced last week, it has combined them just the same.

Moreover, the maker of desktop and mobile browsers for multiple platforms has been demonstrating the iPhone-capable browser at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Opera has been secretive and stingy about it, too, forbidding journalists from taking photos and refusing to show the product outside of their convention floor booth.

In addition to raising flags about the program's stability, Opera's secretive treatment also raises questions. For instance, why would Opera go to the trouble of concocting an iPhone-ready browser when Apple routinely smacks down application submissions that compete with its native Safari browser? And even more significantly, why would Opera adapt Opera Mini, a browser meant to run on Java phones, instead of Opera Mobile, the full-fledged Web browser designed for capable smartphones like high-end Nokias and the HTC Touch?

The choice to run with Mini is an attempt to dive through a loophole in Apple's SDK, Opera told CNET. Opera Mini is backed by a proxy server, which means that the browser gets compressed versions of Web pages via Opera's servers. In more technical terms, there's no code being executed or scripts bring run in Opera Mini. Every Web page request is projected, in a sense, through Opera's filter, instead of being actively generated from and delivered to the browser the way it is on Safari, which does run its own Web code.

Although Opera might have landed on a workaround, we're not wasting too many brain cells wondering if Opera's iPhone experiment will actually lead to an Apple-vetted app. Last we heard, Opera had not submitted the app for iTunes consideration. Where we stand, Opera Mini on iPhone is a show piece designed to shine a spotlight on Apple's fierce stance toward competition, and to push the envelope.

Not that we'd mind some choice in the browser sphere. Opera impressed us in 2009 with a slick beta redo of both Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers, for Java phones (works on some Android and BlackBerry models) and Symbian and Windows smartphones, respectively. We wouldn't mind trying either of Opera's browsers--with their nearly identical interfaces--on iPhone.

Originally posted at 3GSM blog

uTorrent 2.0 introduces a new look via skins, but really what's important is under the hood.

A new protocol for managing heavily trafficked and bottlenecked torrents, a transfer cap with real-time updates, and a smoother installation will remind you why this torrent client deserves the attention it gets. Check out what it can do in this First Look video from CNET TV.

Still in a tizzy over disabling Google Buzz?

Last week we took you through a laborious step-by-step process to disable Buzz, Google's new social network. Google's engineers made some quick changes as a result of the backlash, including fixing a security flaw affecting mobile Buzz users, tweaking a setup process that has you manually accepting followers, and providing an easier way to disable Buzz if you want to give it the heave-ho.

Now when you click the still-tiny hyperlink at the bottom of your Gmail screen that turns Buzz off, you'll be taken to your Settings screen, where you'll have options about displaying Buzz in Gmail, and even disabling Google Buzz completely. Choose this latter option to nix Buzz in Gmail, unfollow buddies, break off any connected sites associated with your name, and eradicate both your Google Profile and Buzz posts.

Originally posted at Webware

Malware-carrying spam and attacks via Twitter and Facebook grew dramatically in the second half of 2009, says a report (PDF) released Tuesday by security company M86 Security.

The volume of spam shot up last year to more than 200 billion messages each day, or 80 percent to 90 percent of all inbound e-mail sent to organizations, said M86. Spam carrying malware also surged in the second half of the year, hitting 3 billion each day compared with 600 million per day in the first half of 2009.

The vast majority of spam is now sent through botnets hiding on infected computers--the second half of 2009 alone saw 78 percent of all spam triggered by the top five botnets, such as Rustock and Pushdo.

As most spam is triggered by just a few select botnets, a takedown of those specific threats could have a huge impact on malware, notes M86. But since most cybercriminals are part of organized gangs, they've proved to be adept at bouncing back from attempts to take them down.

Spam messages that carry malware payloads have become more sophisticated over the past year. One example pointed out by M86 is the Virut virus, which can install virtually any type of malware on a PC by infecting executable files with .exe and .scr (screensaver) extensions.

Zero-day vulnerabilities often found in Adobe and Microsoft products also grew in the latter half of 2009. This type of malware has become particularly hazardous since it can sometimes take companies weeks or even months to patch up specific security holes in their software.

PDF files have proved especially fertile ground for cybercriminals due to the ubiquity of Adobe Reader and the ability of these files to include hyperlinks and other dynamic content within them. Almost a dozen zero-day attacks were launched throughout 2009, says M86.

Malware via social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter also grew in volume during the second half of 2009. One example was that of venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki, whose Twitter account was hacked last June and sent out tweets with links that led to malware.

Cybercriminals have also pounced on the vulnerabilities inherent in shortened URLs, commonly used at Twitter and other social networks. Since users can't by default preview the actual page beforehand and usually trust that the link is legitimate, it's easy to direct a shortened URL to a malicious Web site that launches a malware attack.

How can people better protect themselves against the growing tide of malware? Aside from the typical advice of keeping your security software updated and not clicking on links in an e-mail, M86 recommends that people use the NoScript extension in Firefox, which limits the execution of JavaScript code and installs browser extensions that can display shortened URLs as their full addresses.

M86 said the report was compiled based on findings from its own researchers, who comb through more than 7 million different e-mail messages each day looking for specific patterns and trends in spam and malware.

Originally posted at News - Security

It has been a rough week for the Google Buzz team.

The fiasco over Buzz's privacy settings is starting to die down now that Google has made several changes, but security experts Tuesday discovered that the Buzz for Mobile service contained a flaw that could allow hackers to run their own code on Google Buzz accounts.

Google has already patched the flaw, which was reported by SecTheory. It was a cross-site scripting vulnerability, which could have allowed an attacker to hijack a Buzz account or run a phishing scam.

Google released a statement regarding the flaw. "We fixed a vulnerability that could have affected users of Google Buzz for mobile on February 16th, hours after it was reported to us. We have no indication that the vulnerability was actively abused. We understand the importance of our users' security, and we are committed to further improving the security of Google Buzz."

Originally posted at Relevant Results

In a move to marry its old-school Office product with the newer trends of the Net, Microsoft issued beta software Wednesday that brings social-network information into Outlook.

The product, called Outlook Social Connector, has been available in the Office 2010 beta. According to the Outlook Social Connector download site, the new version works with Outlook 2003 and 2007 and connects with social-network partners, which wasn't the case with the earlier version.

Outlook Social Connector will let people see updates from a person's social-network contacts. LinkedIn announced in November that it would become the first actual partner in the Microsoft program. The LinkedIn connector is now available from LinkedIn's Web site.

Microsoft said connectors for Facebook and MySpace will be available in the first half of 2010.

"Starting today you can download the new Outlook 2010 Social Connector to see what your contacts are up to on LinkedIn from right within the Outlook 2010 beta. When Office 2010 ships, you'll also be able to see your contacts' Facebook and MySpace actions in the same place," Microsoft's Doug Thomas said in a blog posting Wednesday.

The Associated Press reported earlier Wednesday about the new software.

Social networking is a hot area of Internet activity, made hotter by the recent arrival of the Google Buzz service built into Gmail. But it can be tough for people to stay on top of information feeds at multiple social-networking sites; even if you can set up one service to republish updates from another service, conversation about those updates often takes place separately.

Providing a more central communication service is a challenge, though. There are differing communication protocols for different services--if those protocols are available at all--and most social-networking players are vying with each other to be the primary service that people frequent. And there are blurry boundaries between social-networking status updates, e-mails, and instant messages.

In the Outlook Social Connector case, Microsoft has some incumbent advantage because millions of people use Outlook. The Outlook Social Connector will let them read status updates in software they're already accustomed to using, often continuously throughout the day.

However, Microsoft has some challenges. For one thing, the software doesn't let people write status updates of their own, only read what others have written. For another, a lot of social activity takes place on the Web in a personal rather than professional context, and in that domain, Microsoft's Hotmail service is arguably a better fit than Outlook.

One traditional Microsoft rival, Mozilla, is angling for a place at the center of people's online social lives, too. The Mozilla Raindrop project is designed to create software for an online service for unified communications.

Updated at 6:48 a.m. PST: with a download link and more details.

Originally posted at Deep Tech