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The Shadowserver Foundation who track the number of infected computers, have seen a threefold increase in the last three months alone.  More than 450,000 computers are now part of zombie networks or botnets, run by hi-tech criminals, they said. The rise is believed to be linked to the number of attacks that booby-trap websites or try to infect the machines of users.

Criminal gangs are very keen to recruit new machines to a botnet to create a resource that they can use or that they can hire out to other criminal gang for profit. A lot of spam and junk mail is routed through the machines, forming the botnet. The botnet can then be used to launch attacks on websites, as an anonymous store to collect details and stolen data, and to help with phishing scams.  Most of the machines in the botnets are PCs running a version of Microsoft’s Windows.

The jump in individual zombie numbers is linked to a series of wide-spread attacks that inject malicious code on to legitimate websites that tries to compromise any visiting machine.

In recent months many hi-tech criminals have turned to web attacks to recruit new victims rather than rely on sending viruses out via e-mail.

Typically, a machine is compromised via a vulnerability in one of the programs it runs. Inside this initial attack program will be code that directs it to contact a C&C server which then downloads software to put it completely under the control of a botmaster.

Based on Microsoft’s current Operating System - Vista, Windows 7 is currently expected to be released in January 2010.

The announcement about the release of Windows 7 details was made on a new Windows 7 blog, which is being written by the engineers who are designing and creating the software. Writing on the blog, Jon Devaan and Steven Sinofsky, two senior engineers on the project, said that Microsoft had been keeping details about Windows 7 fairly quiet as they didn’t want to ‘talk up’ features that may never make it into the finished product.

What we know about Windows 7, is that it will be using core components from Windows Vista and it will have a touch interface, that when coupled with the right type of screen, will allow the system to recognise gestures to complete tasks. For the current technology trends with people purchasing iPhones in droves, these sort of features will be very welcome.

The one hope we here at Cupoftech.com have, is that Microsoft make Windows 7 a lot less bulky than Windows Vista is. Please think of the more advanced end user as well as Joe Bloggs who is using his first computer and appreciates ‘pretty’ interfaces.

The game allows you to take control of your own footballer and pit your skills against other players from around the world as you compete to improve your player and work hard with your teammates. You earn experience points based on your stats from matches that you play in, and you can use these points to improve your players stats, earn money and increase your fame.

Football Superstars will be free to download and play, however you will need to subscribe to gain access to all of the options available. It remains to be seen whether it can compete against the top football games currently on the market, such as Fifa, Pro Evolution Soccer and Football Manager, however - the FPS-style control of your single player and the ability to work as a team with 10 other players from around the world will certainly appeal to many football fans.

The game is currently in a private beta and looks like it will be released in the 4th quarter of this year. Watch this space…

Netflix have announced that they already have over 10,000 movies available for download and they plan to offer more titles every week. The set-top box is really an extension of their current service where they allow users to stream content to their PCs, but using the set-top box they can now play these movies in their living rooms which are undoubtedly going to be more comfortable and convenient.

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The purchased sites include: ZDNet, Gamespot, News.com, TV.com, MP3.com and Download.com - all of which already have a very good following - with Download.com being particularly popular for software and driver downloads.

I don’t think that this is going to be the last of the traditional TV networks breaking into the online world and purchasing digital property. After Rupert Murdoch’s (Sky) purchase of MySpace, and now the CBS acquisition of CNET, there will certainly be TV execs around the world looking for the next juicy target. Any predictions on who will be next?

The price of the Bebo brand is rather insignificant when compared to the price that Microsoft paid ($240m)for a paltry 1.6% of Facebook last year. Or in fact, the price that was paid for Myspace by News Corp ($580m) in 2005. News Corp now value the Myspace brand at more than $15bn. I’d love to have some of what they’re smoking…

There has been a lot of interest in social networking sites over the last couple of years and it is easy to see why. Social networking websites are seen as a very valuable method of online advertising due to the fact that the sites’ members post information about themselves and their interests and adverts can be targetted specifically towards those interests.

It will be very interesting to see what AOL do with the Bebo brand, as they’ve really failed to deliver anything useful in the ISP stakes over the last few years. I’ve lost count of the customers (mainly home users) over the last few years who I’ve supported and helped with removing AOL due to the software being bloated and about as fun to use as poking yourself in the eye with pins. Likewise, there isn’t a day that goes by without someone spamming me with Bebo invites and telling me to come and share my life with them on yet another social networking site. So with Bebo’s spam and AOL’s awful ISP reputation, I’m predicting that this will now be a ticking timebomb.

What do you think about AOL taking over Bebo? And does anyone have anything nice to say about either brand?

This is an amazing statistic and just goes to show that losing a battle with a rival in the current technology climate can have huge implications on your year-end profits, let alone the fact that if you are not established in other markets you could go out of business altogether.

I don’t know about you, but when I read out $1bn to myself, I’m saying it in an Austin Powers voice.

Out of interest, did any readers purchase a HD-DVD unit? If so, what will you be doing with it now? Do you have a creative use for it?

From the 14th March, the 20Gb hard drive model will cost €270 across Europe, which is a price drop of €80.

In the UK, the entry-level Xbox 360 console (which does not have a hard drive!), will be available for £159.99. This is a price drop of £40 from the previous price of £199.99. The top level Xbox 360 console which is Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Elite will be on sale for £259.99. The Elite has a 120Gb hard drive.

Microsoft’s price drops mean that their consoles are now cheaper than both their Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii counterparts. The PS3 currently sells for £299.99 (40Gb hard drive), and the Wii retails at £180.

The price cuts are due to Microsoft losing ground on their rivals, as both competitors have been outselling the Xbox 360 on a monthly basis. There’s no doubt that Sony and Nintendo will be viewing these price cuts with added interest and it’ll be fun to see how they react.

Do you own an Xbox 360 or will these new lower prices entice you into getting one?

As an example domains such as VIP.com ($1.4mil), BEER.com ($7mil), BUSINESS.com ($7.5mil) and SEX.com ($11-14mil depending on which report you believe), have all sold for very very high amounts of money. Of course these are generic domains and are valuable tools with the right marketing strategy, but it’s still a hell of a lot of money to throw down for a domain name.

Due to the prices that we see some of these domain names sell for, this has led to an increasing number of Internet speculators who will register a domain and then either park it and make money from the advertising revenue or they will try to sell it at one of the top domain auction sites, like the aforementioned Sedo.

If we take a look at some of the recent sales on Sedo, we can see that even the most normal looking domains can fetch fairly high prices. For example: musicvideo.info ($1114), caregiverz.com ($1588), glorylane.com ($2188) and malehq.com ($1800), have all made their respective owners a very healthy profit. Based on the fact that a domain costs on average $8-9, this is a very good return on their investments.

So how can you get caught out?

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