A new report by an international group tackling internet scams has confirmed that Tokelau, a New Zealand territory, has more malicious registrations under its .tk domain name than any other domain except .com.
These fraudulent web addresses are used for phishing, where emails are sent to random web addresses in an attempt to steal banking information and other personal details.
Tokelau sold its domain name to a Dutch company, BV Dot TK, which provides the domain free worldwide, making it an easy target for scammers.
“By offering free domain names, .tk has become the third largest country code top-level domain after Germany’s .de and Great Britain’s .uk,” The Anti-Phishing Working Group wrote in its latest global report, released at a technology conference in Malaysia this week.
]]>“I thought these video lessons would be a good supplement. Nadia started improving significantly and more family wanted to see them, so I put them on YouTube. Others started to randomly access them and it just went from there.” says Khan.
Five years, 2000 video lessons, and 41 million views on YouTube later, Khan is on target for his mission of “providing a world-class education to anyone, anywhere” - with one faculty member.
Khan has university degrees in mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering, and an MBA from Harvard Business School - but no formal teaching qualifications.
Last year he caught the attention of Bill Gates (who uses the videos personally to “remind myself of things”, and for his children) and Google - who have provided funding, enabling Khan to leave his job as a hedge fund analyst and concentrate on the Khan Academy.
He now has a small team developing user-paced exercises “allowing the Khan Academy to become the free classroom for the world”.
]]>The world’s most popular short-form video website will expand into streaming big-name, full-length blockbusters in May, according to reports. Under the premium movie-on-demand service, film lovers will be able to stream new releases for as little as $2, though prices will differ for each movie.
Three of the six major film studios - Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Brothers and Universal - have reportedly agreed licensing terms with the Google-owned video giant. Paramount, Fox and Disney have not yet committed to the plan, it is understood. The service is expected to be limited to the US for the foreseeable future.
A spokeswoman for YouTube declined to comment.
]]>In what has been dubbed “Vodafail: the musical”, Scott Dawkins and Sheona Urquhart, who comprise the sketch comedy group TV Live On Stage, reworked Lady Gaga’s Telephone into an anti-Vodafone rant.
The clip has been spreading on social media today but it’s unclear how many views it has received as YouTube’s view counter has been stuck at 407 views for some time.
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) described the clip as a “brilliant piece of satire that perfectly reflects the very real frustration Vodafone customers have experienced over the past five months”.
]]>Cybercriminals looking to cash in on Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s big day have already begun targeting Australian internet users, hiding viruses and malicious software within emails falsely claiming to be royally relevant.
Internet security group Norton on Tuesday warned wedding watchers to be alert for online spam emails or dodgy websites promising juicy royal gossip, such as details of the wedding dress or photos of Prince William’s bachelor party.
It’s found that after television, the most common place for Australians to seek information about the April 29 wedding is online.
Three times as many people are expected to follow the event online as in newspapers, five times as many than in magazines and ten times as much as those over radio, Norton’s research shows.
“Potentially one in five Australians who plan on following the royal wedding are at risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime,” Norton said in its report.
Internet usage spikes in the lead up to major international events and cybercrims began circulating viruses masked as leaked footage, scandalous images or other intriguing content as recently as March.
]]>The snapshots, along with a listing of the speed of the vehicles and the time and date the photographs were taken, are designed to shame or even scare people into better driving.
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority website shows a succession of cars, vans and buses, with licence plates visible, as they are caught by anti-speeding cameras.
The chairman of the authority, Francis Tolentino, said in a statement the pictures were part of a new automated system where drivers are sent their speeding tickets later rather than being apprehended on the scene.
“Once captured by our cameras, there is no escape,” Tolentino said.
More than 7000 drivers have been caught on camera and sent tickets for exceeding the 60 kilometre per hour limit at that part of the metropolis, he added.
There has been a drop in the number of accidents on the highway as a result, he said without elaborating.
The automated picture system is only in force along the 12-kilometre Commonwealth Avenue, site of frequent accidents due to speeding.
]]>The technology company’s field trip program invites groups of 25 students, from kindergarten to year 12, to spend 90 minutes learning to work on projects using Apple products.
”Your class will experience the Mac, iPad and other Apple products as learning tools - and have fun to boot,” says the Apple website.
But not everyone is excited. Nick Broughall, editor of the technology and gadgets site Gizmodo, has concerns about excursions to retailers.
”There are plenty of really good educational programs and tools Apple has created that are perfect for school-age children … but trying to encourage it as a part of a school’s actual curriculum? No way. That’s stepping beyond the realm of education and dipping the toe in the murky waters of indoctrination,” he said.
Sharryn Brownlee, of the Federation of Parents and Citizens Association of NSW, said she supported links between businesses and schools as long as they were relevant to what students were studying. Excursions such as the Apple program could be ”useful for specific secondary student subject areas for retail or IT”.
An Apple spokeswoman said it was up to teachers to design a program for the excursion: ”A lot of these schools don’t have the technology - we’re providing a facility.”
]]>The European web advertising industry’s self-regulation pledge comes a month before a European Union directive takes effect, requiring websites to obtain a user’s consent before installing a tracking cookie.
“It will change significantly how the internet will look and how people interact with ads,” said Kimon Zorbas, vice president of Brussels-based Internet Advertising Bureau Europe, the industry group that developed the new rules.
Web companies monitor people’s online activities through tracking software called cookies, so they can send targeted advertising based on their potential interests or previous site visits - a process called behavioral advertising.
Under the agreement, web ads will carry a clickable icon labeled “AdChoices” that will let users change their privacy settings so they are no longer profiled for advertising purposes.
Companies including Yahoo, Microsoft, Google and AOL are among those which have have agreed to use the icons on their online display ads in Europe.
Policymakers in the EU and elsewhere have been concerned users have little control over the use of cookies to track their activity — and are often unaware it is taking place.
Those involved in developing the code of conduct say it is not a response to the EU directive, but was inspired by a similar self-regulatory movement in the United States.
Zorbas said the industry body had made adjustments to the code based on feedback from the European Commission.
]]>According to the latest data from Experian Hitwise, Google was responsible for 64.42% of searches in the U.S. in March, 2011. Bing-powered search — which includes both search.yahoo.com and bing.com — accounted for 30% of U.S. searches.
The fact that Bing has crossed the 30% mark in the U.S. is significant in and of itself. Looking back through Experian Hitwise’s archives underscores the tremendous amount of growth for Bing-powered search. The rate of growth appears to be increasing.
Last October, Experian Hitwise reported that Google controlled 72.15% of the US search market for September, 2010. Bing powered search accounted for 23.64%. In the last six months, Bing’s market share in the US is up to 30%. Moreover, Bing.com, which represented just 10% of searches in September 2010, represented 14.32% of searches in March, 2011.
Google still clearly leads Bing more than 2 to 1. But when you consider that that ratio was 3 to 1 last fall, the gap appears to be closing. Bing is growing by five or six percent each month, whereas Google is losing two to three percent.
]]>A new clip published on Pepsi’s YouTube channel shows Beckham on a California beach making some seemingly impossible trick shots - he is apparently able to easily shoot three balls into far away garbage cans while barefoot.
The debate over whether the shots are real has sent the clip viral, and it has garnered almost 900,000 views in just a few days. If it is fake it was clearly designed to look spontaneous.
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