It's no surprise that everyone wants in on PayPal's successful payments strategy, and MasterCard is no exception. On Wednesday, the credit card giant launched a version of its MoneySend mobile app for BlackBerry.

Similar to the iPhone version, MasterCard MoneySend for Blackberry can settle peer-to-peer balances by sending money to friends and family, and purchasing goods from an informal vendor. The app's tool let you request cash (via text message) that others owe you and receive credit and debit card payments made to your account.

Since MoneySend operates as a form of prepaid credit card, you can also transfer money to and from your account and your credit card or bank account, the funding sources.

There's no sign-up fee or usage surcharge, but it will take new users about ten minutes to register from the desktop to link the prepaid card you create to your mobile phone number. MasterCard has partnered with well-known mobile payment provider Obopay, which operates the MoneySend service on the backend.

Originally posted at Dialed In

The latest software for the iPhone and iPod Touch is available starting Wednesday for download from Apple.

The company foreshadowed the arrival of iOS 4.1 at its annual fall press event last week and included an overview of the latest features. The download is free via iTunes for iPhone and iPod Touch owners.

Besides upgrades to new features for games, photos, and high-definition videos, Apple is using this software update to zap several bugs at once.

Among the issues Apple CEO Steve Jobs promised would be fixed with the installation of 4.1 are: proximity sensor problems that were causing some accidental dropped calls; the painfully slow performance of the iPhone 3G with iOS 4.0; Bluetooth connectivity problems with certain car stereos and headsets (that CNET noted as soon as the iPhone 4 was released); and problems related to the Nike+iPod software.

Other upgrades in iOS 4.1 include: the ability to upload HD videos over Wi-Fi, TV show rentals on iTunes from an iPhone or iPod Touch, new HDR (high dynamic range) photo function, and the delayed GameCenter.

GameCenter was announced in April at the iOS 4.0 press event, but was not included in the initial release of the software. GameCenter is a social-networking feature that allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to play games on their devices against friends in real time.

CNET's Kent German will have a hands-on review of the latest software for iPhone and iPod Touch as well as screenshots later today, so be sure to check back.

Originally posted at Circuit Breaker

Computer games have played an important role in advancing the state of the art for computing, and now Mozilla hopes to draw upon gaming to advance browser application development.

The Firefox backer launched the new Mozilla Labs Gaming project Tuesday with the goal of encouraging programmers to use a host of new browser and Web technologies.

"Modern Open Web technologies introduced a complete stack of technologies such as Open Video, audio, WebGL, touch events, device orientation, geolocation, and fast JavaScript engines which make it possible to build complex (and not so complex) games on the Web. With these technologies being delivered through modern browsers today, the time is ripe for pushing the platform," said Pascal Finette, the Mozilla Labs "catalyst" whose job is to "make things happen."

As part of the effort, Mozilla also announced the Game_On 2010 browser-game contest that will start in September.

The work dovetails with a broad industry transition: Browsers are growing from a vessel for containing Web pages into a foundation for applications. Even Microsoft, for years a laggard in the browser realm and still a powerhouse with PC applications, has gotten Web app religion with its coming Internet Explorer 9, due to launch next week in beta form.

A lot of casual games on the Web today are built with Adobe Systems' Flash technology, which runs across modern and ancient browsers and across multiple operating systems. Many features coming to browsers--notably SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) and Canvas for 2D graphics--reproduce some of what Flash can do. And other technologies, such as WebGL for hardware-accelerated 3D graphics, are headed the same direction as Flash.

Although casual games on PCs are a major market, another powerful new force in the gaming world is the new generation of smartphones and related mobile devices--most notably Apple's iOS-based iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. There, static Web pages are a challenge and Web-based games are even harder. So for now at least, it seems likely that the more impressive browser games will be mostly a desktop phenomenon.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Mozilla released two new versions of its browser on Tuesday, Firefox 3.6.9 and Firefox 3.5.12, to close 10 critical security vulnerabilities in each and to help Web site operators block a risk called clickjacking. Firefox 3.6.9 is also available from CNET Download.com for Windows, Mac, and Linux

Critical vulnerabilities can let a remote attacker run arbitrary code on a computer. With Web browsers becoming both more important and more powerful, browser makers must constantly watch for new attack possibilities.

Firefox 3.6 also gets a new general approach to cut down browsing risks: support for what's called the X-Frame-Options HTTP response header. Web site developers can use this technology to block browsers from showing their Web sites inside a frame--essentially a smaller window within the browser window. Putting a legitimate site inside a frame on a malicious site is one approach for attacks called clickjacking, in which the malicious site can capture keystrokes such as usernames and passwords.

For the new versions of Firefox 3.5 and 3.6, 9 of the 10 critical vulnerabilities are the same, but one problem on 3.5 is minor on 3.6, and one 3.6 problem didn't affect 3.5. In addition, several noncritical security vulnerabilities were patched. Full details are available on the security pages for 3.6.9 and 3.5.12.

Mozilla also is racing to release Firefox 4 this year. It released a fifth Firefox 4 beta on Tuesday, adding support for some hardware acceleration on Windows, among other features.

However, not all the Firefox 4 hopes are coming to fruition. According to meeting notes published Tuesday, another feature slipped off the roadmap: a Firefox developer tool called the Inspector that would have made it easier to find details about elements on Web pages.

It also seems likely Mozilla won't meet its Friday deadline for freezing the code base for the sixth beta--the last cutoff point for getting new features into Firefox 4. A week later, September 17, now looks more likely, according to the meeting notes.

Also updated Tuesday were the stable and beta versions of Google's new Chrome 6 browser with the release of version 6.0.472.55 (Windows | Mac | Linux). This update fixes problems with autofill, which can enter data such as addresses and names into Web forms; the overwriting of the default search engine setting; and some issues with Chrome's translation ability.

Originally posted at Deep Tech

Norton Power Eraser is a new tool from Symantec that the company says is the home user's last, best hope for eradicating an aggressive malware infection. Power Eraser is free, and one component of the update to Norton Internet Security 2011 and Norton AntiVirus 2011.

By making Power Eraser free, the company hopes to draw in users who have been scared off by years of bad experiences and who haven't given the Norton suites a chance since the programs' turnaround in the 2009 versions. Although Power Eraser represents an aggressive approach towards helping infected consumers, the suites have also been improved in other ways.

Performance is one of the areas that Norton continues to improve in. According to three independent efficacy testers--Dennis Labs, AV-Test.org and AV-Comparatives.org--Norton continues to score at or near the top of their tests. Norton 2011 introduces revamped proprietary zero-day detection technology called Sonar 3, as well as the expected ongoing improvements to the existing Norton System Insight and Download Insight for evaluating real-time system performance for security risks, as well as reputation-based download guarding. Norton has also improved its Bootable Recovery Tool to include a default setting for USB sticks.

The more basic of the two programs, Norton AntiVirus 2011 includes antivirus, antimalware, e-mail and instant-message guards, and a silent mode for gaming, and retails for $39.99 for one computer. Norton Internet Security 2011 includes the above features plus parental controls and identity protection features, and retails for $69.99 for three computers.