Filed under: Security

I know, it's the story that never ends -- and really, don't expect it to end any time soon -- but here's another angle: what about Chinese hardware?

We now know that either the Chinese government, or a very large privately-funded clandestine operation from Asia, has been hacking Western governments, intelligence agencies, and businesses for a decade. What if the hardware they produce also has secret backdoors or comes pre-infested with trojan viruses?

The story on IT World lays down some pretty chilling precedents: did you know that Chinese intelligence agents approach business men at trade fairs in the UK and offer 'gifts' of digital cameras that come with viruses on them? What if the Chinese government has gotten to hardware manufacturers -- what if your Xbox 360 comes with a backdoor in it that lets them snoop on your home network? How about a chip on your motherboard or graphics card that phones home?

It's an interesting idea, made all the more scary because it's believable. For now, as far as we know, it's just espionage, an attack on governments and businesses -- but when will be the targets?

A vast amount of technology originates from China and Taiwan, and that's not going to stop soon -- if China's grasp is inescapable, why bother worrying?

And even then, is there even a way we can combat it?

Most of the world's electronics are made in China...can we continue to trust our tools? originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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China - Asia - Republic of China - Xbox 360 - Download Squad

Filed under: Business, Text

Just days after Amazon.com decided to stop selling all books by Macmillan and its imprints, the online book giant has relented and added buy buttons back to Macmillan titles. The publisher vs. retailer dispute arose when Macmillan wanted to raise prices on its eBooks to $15, which is well over what Amazon currently charges (and, arguably, more than consumers will pay). You can get the details of the original dispute in an earlier post by Download Squad's Brad Linder.

For now, the details of the resolution aren't being made public, but Amazon has said it will allow major publishers to switch to an "agency" model for eBook sales. That means publishers like Macmillan and HarperCollins can sell you their eBooks directly, at whatever prices they wish, and Amazon will act as the middleman and take a 30% commission. The New York Times speculates that Amazon also asked the publishers not to make exclusive deals with other eBook vendors, like Apple's upcoming eBook store.

Amazon restores Macmillan books, becomes eBook middleman for publishers originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon.com - Apple - E-book - HarperCollins - Macmillan Publishers

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Freeware, iPhone

Touch Mouse [iTunes link] is a free iPhone / iPod Touch application from Logitech that turns your iDevice into a wireless keyboard and trackpad for your Windows or Macintosh computer. It's not a remote control application, so you don't get a view of the computer's screen; you simply get an alternative way to control the mouse pointer and keyboard. Touch Mouse works by relying on a small server software component that you install on your desktop computer that listens for connections from the iPhone app.

This is very useful when you have a computer set up as a PVR. Most of the time, you can do what you need to do with a remote control, but occasionally you'll need to navigate the file system or close a pesky dialog box (no, I don't want to upgrade my antivirus, thanks), and for that Touch Mouse can be very useful.

My one small concern about Touch Mouse is that there is no authentication going on; it appears that any computer that is running the Touch Mouse server software on the same wireless network shows up in the Touch Mouse app. That won't be a problem for me since I'm using it at home on my home network, but it could be a problem in other environments.

[via TUAW]

Logitech's free Touch Mouse app turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a keyboard and trackpad for your computer originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - IpodTouch - Logitech - Windows - iTunes

Filed under: Web, Android

The folks behind the popular Urbanspoon iPhone app (oh yeah, and web site), have launched an app for Google Android devices. Here's how it works. You want to pick a place to eat? Just fire up the Urbanspoon app, give your phone a good shake, and Urbanspoon will find a restaurant in your area.

Not looking for a completely random surprise? You can choose the neighborhood you're looking to dine in, hit the lock button, and Urbanspoon will randomly select a style of cuisine and a price level. Or you can lock in those categories, if say, you're looking for cheap vegetarian food in Old City Philadelphia.

If you don't actually want to shake your phone, you can also just hit the shake button.

One Urbanspoon finds a restaurant, you can call to make a reservation by tapping the phone number, read reviews by clicking the button at the bottom of the screen, or just read more about the restaurant by clicking the name.

[via Mashable]

Urbanspoon for Android makes picking a restaurant easy originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Urbanspoon - Android - IPhone - Download Squad - Restaurant

Filed under: News, Blogging, Social Software

Pew Internet released a report yesterday called Social Media and Young Adults that shows teen blogging down by 50% over the past four years, even as blogging increased among those over 30 years old.

The report also shows that teens are not very likely to be Twitter users (only 8% of internet users between the ages of 12 and 17 report using the service), even though they are heavy users of almost all other online applications; in fact, 73% of "wired American teens" are social networking website users. Twitter seems to stick out as a service that younger people are not as interested in.

Interestingly, even as MySpace popularity wanes overall, young people are still almost double as likely to maintain a profile there as are older adults, who have moved on to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

The report's summary has a ton of other interesting statistics about social network and wireless usage, which as Mashable points out, seems to indicate that teens just don't seem to be very interested in content creation, compared to adults. This seems somewhat counterintuitive, but you can't argue with the numbers.

Social Media and Young Adults report shows teen blogging on the decline originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook - Twitter - Social Media - MySpace - Social network service

Filed under: Fun, Kids, Freeware, Web

A computer's keyboard and mouse have never been very good as an interface to play a virtual piano, but The Virtual Keyboard takes an interesting approach that makes the resulting music much more appealing.

While you can individually click on any key on the piano's keyboard to hear the resulting tone, where it shines is in its ability to play predetermined chords just by pressing a number key on your computer's keyboard.

Each number from 1 to 7 represents a chord from the scale of the key you're playing in. You can choose what key to play in, and even shift the chord voicing lower or higher to better approximate the sound you want to hear.

What's great about this approach is that the numbers represent a valuable musical concept: musicians often use numbers to represent chords relative to one another, regardless of the key they're playing in. So, for example, Louie Louie could be represented by "1, 1, 1, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4" -- try it, and you'll see what I mean. It doesn't matter what key you're in, that pattern still sounds like Louie Louie when played with the right rhythm.

While The Virtual Keyboard seems like a toy or time waster, I can see it being of real value to songwriters who don't play piano, but need to figure out some chords for a song they're writing. It is limited by the fact that you can't play chords that don't naturally fall into the key the virtual piano is set to, but I'll take that simplification for the ease of use it offers in return.

Make some music with The Virtual Piano originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Piano - Louie Louie - Music - Download Squad - Keyboard