Hidden risks of file sharing

By JOSEPH DE AVILA

Surprise! When you share files on your computer with the teeming masses on the Internet, you might be sharing more than just music and video files. Numerous peer-to-peer users are learning, the hard way, that file sharing is a quick and easy way to open yourself up to identity theft.

The story isn't at all new, but the Wall Street Journal is bringing it into better focus, with specific examples and an indication that this trend is exploding. One man pleaded guilty last week to stealing tax forms, credit reports, and loan applications from more than 50 people, through the file-sharing program LimeWire. He then used the info to open credit accounts in those people's names, the usual form that identity theft takes. In September, Citigroup lost more than 5,000 Social Security numbers because one of its employees was using LimeWire and shared the wrong network. Ditto for Pfizer in June, which lost 17,000 employee records the same way.

Finding this stuff online isn't hard. Search any P2P network for hot-button words like "taxes," "resume," or "loan," and you'll come across personal information in seconds. It's also easy to misconfigure your computer to inadvertently share this information. One or two clicks is normally all it takes to share the entire contents of your hard drive instead of a specific directory intended for sharing. And no, all the security software in the world won't help you if you make a mistake like this.

What should you do? For starters, don't use P2P at all if you don't know what you're getting into. As the WSJ notes, using a computer dedicated solely to file sharing is a potentially good solution; just keep anything you don't want shared off the PC altogether. (It also goes without saying that you shouldn't share copyrighted material, either, but that's a lecture for another day.) Some networks are safer than others; certain P2P apps, like BearShare, no longer allow DOC or PDF files to be shared at all. On the other hand, in my experience, LimeWire is the network most likely to turn up private information.

The full story also has information on corporate software that can help protect you by monitoring what you're sharing, called Tiversa. Check out the link below for more details.

LINK: The Hidden Risk of File-Sharing

Many of the hundreds of millions of people around the world who swap music, movies and other digital content on their personal computers over the Internet have inadvertently put themselves at risk of identity theft.

Users of popular file-sharing services such as LimeWire have found themselves victims of identity theft when their personal information was inadvertently shared on a so-called peer-to-peer network. And recent high-profile breaches via these networks have put thousands of people's financial information at risk. The problem typically arises when users set up file-sharing software and create a folder for their downloads in the same location as their personal files.

Precise data on the incidence are hard to come by, in part because personal information can be accessed many different ways, and victims may not think to blame their file-sharing activities. But identity-theft experts say the problem is real and growing.

The risk from file-sharing "will get worse before it gets better," says Don McGillen, executive director of Carnegie Mellon CyLab, an initiative of the university in Pittsburgh that develops computer-security technology.

In the latest incident, a Seattle man this week pleaded guilty to charges of identity theft for using LimeWire to steal tax forms, credit reports and student-loan applications from the computers of more than 50 people. He used the information to set up phony credit accounts to buy merchandise online.

Citigroup in September confirmed that it was looking into a data breach where the names and Social Security numbers from 5,200 customer accounts were inadvertently leaked by an employee using LimeWire. And in June, Pfizer said the names and Social Security numbers of 17,000 current and former employees were leaked after the spouse of an employee downloaded file-sharing software onto a company laptop. Both companies say they aren't aware of any identity theft linked to the breaches, but they have offered the affected employees or customers free credit monitoring.

In another case involving charges of identity theft, computer crime and racketeering against a group in the Denver area, the final defendant pleaded guilty last week to racketeering. The group had used LimeWire to access several financial records and used the money from their practices to buy methamphetamine, according to the indictment.

"Once the meth addicts have discovered it, it is in widespread use" for identity theft, says Tom Sydnor,director of the Center for the Study of Digital Property with the Progress and Freedom Foundation in Washington, D.C.

Regulators, identity-theft experts and the file-sharing services themselves acknowledge the growing risk and are taking steps to address it. Last month, the House Oversight and Government Reform committee sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging it to expand its focus on file-sharing to protect users from identity theft. At least one company, Tiversa Inc., Cranberry Township, Pa., is offering products to monitor the sharing of files online. And LimeWire and other file-sharing services say they are seeking to limit how files are shared. Many identity-theft experts, however, say the steps are inadequate or confusing.

File-sharing allows users to swap personal files on their hard drives -- from music files and videos to documents and PDFs -- via a peer-to-peer network (often called a P2P). Users download software from one of a number of services that operate on these networks, with names like BearShare, Kazaa, Morpheus and LimeWire. The software then lets users access one of several P2P networks. Once users are connected to the network, they can search for and download copies of files that other users have shared from their hard drives -- even users of other software that use the same network.

P2P networks are often disparaged by critics for enabling users to illegally download copyright material. P2Ps first came to national attention in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the original version of Napster battled litigation from the music industry. The possibility of identity theft wasn't really on the radar then. But now, the newer applications such as LimeWire -- which unlike Napster don't house a database of files on their own servers, in an attempt to avoid copyright litigation -- have led to a surge in popularity. At any given time, as many as 12 million people world-wide are logged on to P2P networks, according to Tiversa, and 450 million copies of P2P software have been downloaded.

With growing use has come growing abuse, say identity-theft experts. But trying to pinpoint when inadvertent disclosure occurred is extremely difficult for law-enforcement agencies, says John Lynch, deputy chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section with the U.S. Department of Justice. Identity theft on the Internet can come from several sources, including leaked files on a P2P network, an online phishing scam or a hacked credit-card company, Mr. Lynch says.

Here's how inadvertent file-sharing often starts: When a user sets up the software for the P2P service, one of the first steps is to create a folder for the files the user will be downloading. Often, the user will place that folder within the computer's "My Documents" folder -- where people also typically put their personal files, including tax returns or other financial documents. Depending on how the user set up the program, all the files in the "my documents" folder or whatever convenient host folder was chosen -- and all of the subfolders -- are then available to others in the network.

Someone who searches a network for, say, "tax return" may be able to download a copy of those personal files off other users' computers. If a user has a company laptop, or has access to company files on their home computer, these files can get leaked, too -- even from the corporate server, Tiversa says.

Even tech-savvy users often don't have a clear understanding of how this works and how to protect select files on their computers, say identity-theft experts. The P2P services' software can be confusing, these experts say, and sometimes users think they have limited the sharing of their files, when in fact, they haven't.

Each service requires different steps. Consumers can try to consult with their software provider, but some are located overseas, identity-theft experts say. And even some experts disagree on the correct steps to use. A recent report from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reviewed several online sources that offered instructions on how not to share files on P2P networks, and said most of the instructions were dated and inaccurate.

But for people who do want to use P2Ps, some experts advise reserving a separate computer just for file-sharing.

LimeWire -- one of the most popular P2Ps with an estimated 50 million users -- says confusion is mainly a problem for neophyte users. Mark Gorton, chairman of LimeWire, says the company doesn't track how much inadvertent sharing goes on, but he says the company has been tweaking the software to make it easier for people to avoid inadvertent sharing. For instance, he says that in the latest version of LimeWire, users are no longer able to share their entire C drive. The company has also added a warning icon that tells users how many files they are sharing and will show them a list if they click on it.

Another popular P2P service, BearShare, has had trouble in the past with users inadvertently sharing files. In 2006, BearShare was bought by a unit of iMesh Inc. as part of a larger settlement between the Recording Industry Association of America and BearShare creator Free Peers Inc. Talmon Marco, president of iMesh, says that the current iteration of BearShare helps to curb inadvertent sharing: Users can swap only media files, such as those for music or movies. Other files, such as PDFs, Word documents or text documents can no longer be shared.

Marty Lafferty, chief executive for the Distributed Computing Industry Association, questions the significance of file-sharing in the total cases of identity theft. Still, he says, the organization is developing best practices for the industry with regards to inadvertent file-sharing. For example, the DCIA is advising its members to rework their programs' warnings to make it clearer when users are sharing files that they might not intend to, says Mr. Lafferty.

Tiversa offers a consumer product that monitors customers' file-sharing, for an annual charge of $24.95. If a group of files that might contain sensitive information has been designated to be shared, the company will alert the customer and explain how to stop the sharing. Tiversa can also tell the user whether a shared file has been downloaded by another user.

Cell phone viruses on the rise

Yahoo! Tech

Just when you were getting the hang of protecting your computer from viruses, they must have sneezed and found your cell phone. One in every 10 phones is now a smart phone—capable of handling data and messaging. That means it's become easy and lucrative for hackers to attack your cell phone. And the dangers are just as real. From 2004 to 2006, the number of phone viruses doubled every month.

According to Symantec, viruses spread on cell phones in a variety of ways: Internet downloads, MMS (multimedia messaging service) attachments, and Bluetooth transfers to name a few. They'll often show up as game downloads, updates to your phone's system, ringtones, or alerts. McAfee Avert Labs has identified about 450 different variants of mobile threats, and that's not including phishing attacks and spam. According to McAfee research, 83 percent of worldwide carriers have had security incidents in 2007.

What do these viruses do? Reports are trickling in: A Seattle family was watched, monitored, and threatened because of spyware on their cell phone. A man's cell phone content was wiped clean after he downloaded a virus-infested ringtone. Crashes, unstable or slower-than-usual performance, quick battery consumption, incorrect or skyrocketing mobile phone bills, a dramatic increase in messaging charges—any of these could be a virus.

One of the original cell phone viruses (2004) was transmitted through a Bluetooth connection. Like your PC, some phone viruses are just annoying—a pop-up or a silly joke. Others are a bit more insidious, like the one that resets your phone monthly.

But the latest and most sophisticated crop are what's called "pranking for profit." This can involve things like redirecting your calls to a different carrier in a different country, racking up a hefty phone bill. Or sending an MMS message to everyone in your contact directory, leaving you with enormous extra charges. Or "vishing," when you'll get a voice call that asks for information, faking it by posing as a legitimate business. A downloaded application may send information about your phone account to hackers. Snoopware (which is spyware on steroids) might capture your keypad clicks.

How do you know you've been infected? Pay attention when your phone starts behaving badly. Are your contacts disappearing? Are your calendar entries gone? Does your phone bill have strange charges?

If so, suspect a virus before you suspect user error.

Next up? We'll look at the new tools from Symantec and McAfee designed to protect your phone from infection.

Home-made helicopters hit northern Nigeria

By Aminu Abubakar

Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi, a 24-year-old physics undergraduate in northern Nigeria, takes old cars and motorbikes to pieces in the back yard at home and builds his own helicopters from the parts.

"It took me eight months to build this one," he said, sweat pouring from his forehead as he filled the radiator of the banana yellow four-seater which he now parks in the grounds of his university.

The chopper, which has flown briefly on six occasions, is made from scrap aluminium that Abdullahi bought with the money he makes from computer and mobile phone repairs, and a donation from his father, who teaches at Kano's Bayero university.

It is powered by a second-hand 133 horsepower Honda Civic car engine and kitted out with seats from an old Toyota saloon car. Its other parts come from the carcass of a Boeing 747 which crashed near Kano some years ago.

For a four-seater it is a big aircraft, measuring twelve metres (39 feet) long, seven metres high by five wide. It has never attained an altitude of more than seven feet.

The cockpit consists of a push-button ignition, an accelerator lever between the seats which controls vertical thrust, a joystick that provides balance and bearing.

A small screen on the dashboard connects to a camera underneath the helicopter for ground vision, a set of six buttons adjusts the screen's brightness while a small transmitter is used for communication.

"You start it, allow it to run for a minute or two and you then shift the accelerator forward and the propeller on top begins to spin. The further you shift the accelerator the faster it goes and once you reach 300 rmp you press the joystick and it takes off," Abdullahi explained from the cockpit.

He said he learned the rudiments of flying a helicopter from the Internet and first got the idea of building one from the films he watches on television.

"I watched action movies a lot and I was fascinated by the way choppers fly. I decided it would be easier to build one than to build a car," he said pacing the premises of the security division of the university which he uses as hanger for his helicopter.

He hoped -- and still does hope -- that the Nigerian government and his wealthy compatriots would turn to him and stop placing orders with western manufacturers.

So far, however, government response to his chopper project has been underwhelming to say the least.

Although some government officials got very excited when they saw him conduct a demonstration flight in neighbouring Katsina state, Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has so far shown no interest in his aircraft.

"No one from the NCAA has come to see what I've done. We don't reward talent in this country," he lamented.

Abdullahi does admit that his first helicopter lacks "some basic facilities like devices for measuring atmospheric pressure, altitude, humidity and the like."

In a country with Nigeria's abysmal air safety record officials may be loath to gamble on one student's home-made helicopter.

But Abdullahi, undeterred, has started work on a new flying machine, which, he says, "will be a radical improvement on the first one in terms of sophistication and aesthetics."

Currently just a spindly metal frame in the back yard, the helicopter will be a two-seater and Abdullahi calculates it will be able to fly at an altitude of 15 feet for three hours at a stretch.

It will be powered by a brand new motor -- albeit Taiwan-manufactured and destined for the Jincheng motorbike so common on the streets of Kano.

MySpace vs. Facebook - The Class War

By Claire Cain Miller, Forbes.com

A flurry of recent articles have observed that young people are leaving MySpace for Facebook in droves, setting off speculation that MySpace is becoming the latest victim of fickle teens following the hot new thing.

Not so, says University of California, Berkeley, researcher Danah Boyd. Not all teens are leaving MySpace, she wrote in a recent essay--instead, they're splitting up along class lines.

Boyd confirms what teens in any high school across the country already know: Affluent kids from educated, well-to-do families have been fleeing MySpace for Facebook since it opened registration to the general public in September, while working-class kids still flock to MySpace.

That could have big implications for advertisers targeting the coveted teenaged population online, three-quarters of whom have a profile on a social network. Both sites have been powerhouses for advertisers because of their huge, wide-reaching audiences, says Robin Neifield, chief executive of interactive marketing agency NetPlus Marketing. That strategy could change if the sites become more like the niche social networks popping up across the Web for groups of like-minded people from similar backgrounds.

Boyd's essay came amid speculation about the future of the social network giants. Despite the fact that MySpace still gets more than twice as many unique visitors as Facebook, it's littered with postings announcing that users, often teens, are switching to its rival.
The number of Facebook visitors ages 12 to 17 jumped 149% over the past year, while MySpace lost 27% of teens, according to ComScore Media Metrix. Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp.owns MySpace, even lamented in an interview that he was losing readers to Facebook. News Corp. is rumored to be considering swapping MySpace for a 25% stake in Yahoo!.

Estimated ad revenue for 2007 calendar year for Facebook is $125 million, $525 million for MySpace, according to research firm eMarketer. Together, the two account for 72% of all online advertising on social networks.

There's a reason why the "goody-two-shoes, jocks, athletes or other 'good' kids" are going to Facebook, says Boyd, who studies social networks and youth culture and made her observations based on formal interviews with 90 teens, informal interviews with hundreds more, and the perusal of tens of thousands of teens' online profiles.

Facebook launched in 2004 as a site for Harvard students. Gradually, it opened up to other college students, then to high school kids if a college student invited them. "Facebook is what the college kids did. Not surprisingly, college-bound high schoolers desperately wanted in," Boyd writes.

MySpace, meanwhile, is the "cool working-class thing" for high school students getting a job after graduation rather than heading to the Ivy League, Boyd writes. Constant local news stories on predators targeting kids on MySpace further alienated the "good kids," she says. Both companies declined to comment on Boyd's essay.

Her analysis could help marketers figure out which sites to target--help she says they desperately need. "Many of the advertisers that I have met are extremely savvy about offline marketing but complete fools when it comes to online marketing," ignorant of who visits Web sites and why, Boyd wrote in an e-mail interview with Forbes. Paying attention to demographics could help. Hot Topic should target MySpace, for example, while J. Crew should focus on Facebook.

"As an advertiser, in my opinion, Facebook users are more qualified to convert and more apt to buy a shirt, so I would go there before MySpace," says Josh Mohrer, director of retail for BustedTees, an online purveyor of hipster clothes and sometime Facebook advertiser.

Facebook can lure advertisers with its affluence, says Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise, an online marketing analysis firm. His data backs up Boyd's conclusions that Facebook users are richer than those on MySpace. Still, MySpace attracts so many more viewers that "there's no way marketers are going to leave," he says.

NetPlus chief Neifield says she's not paying too much attention to Boyd's observations. Advertisers should look beyond demographics when placing ads and instead analyze online behavior like who visited other sites with similar content, who downloaded what or who clicked on which ads, she says. "It's not very often these days that we buy based on demographics alone."

Automatic Toilet Tissue Dispenser rolls out

Company Rolls Out Electronic Toilet Tissue Dispenser That Spits Out 5 Sheets Per Wave

By Greg Bluestein, Associated Press Writer

Richard Thorne grins as he waves his hand under a toilet paper dispenser in a women's restroom. The machine spits five sheets of tissue into his grasp.

A year in the works, the electronic tissue dispenser is being rolled out to the masses by Kimberly-Clark Professional as it seeks to capture more of the $1 billion away-from-home toilet paper market. The company believes most people will be satisfied with five sheets -- and use 20 percent less toilet paper.

"Most people will take the amount given," says Thorne. Waxing philosophical, he adds, "People generally in life will take what you give them."

Kimberly-Clark turned to focus groups and years of internal research to determine just how much is right.

Americans typically use twice as much toilet paper as Europeans -- as much as an arm's length each pull, Thorne says. The company decided the best length is about 20 inches -- or precisely five standard toilet paper squares, though the machine can also be adjusted to churn out 16 inches or 24 inches, depending on the demand.

Roswell-based Kimberly-Clark Professional, a unit of Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark Corp., hopes dispensers like the one at the office will one day fit in with the automatic toilets, faucets and paper towel machines that have become a norm in many other office and institutional bathrooms.

"The one part of the room where there's not an automatic option is toilet tissue," says Thorne, director of the company's washroom business.

Call it a final frontier -- of cheapness -- if you wish.

When one of the two motion sensors is activated, the device's battery-powered motor automatically dispenses a predetermined amount of toilet paper.

The machine isn't completely automated. Each also comes with a suite of "security" features in case the machine malfunctions.

There's an emergency feed button, and a manual feed roller lets the users pull the roll around if the motor breaks down or the four D-size batteries run out. There's also an option for a "rescue roll" on one side of the machine just in case the old-fashioned way is preferred.

"This is probably the most personal experience you can have. We didn't want to get any frustrations," Thorne says. "None of us like to touch things they think someone before them has touched."

The devices cost about $30 apiece for the plastic variety, and $55 if cased in stainless steel.

Sean Nichols, one of the lead marketers for the device, says he's banking on the "coolness, the newness of the unit."

He's sending some to late-night comedians and hoping for TV exposure. He also says he hopes the devices will appeal to clean-freaks, such as Tony Shalhoub's obsessive compulsive germophobe character on the USA Network's "Monk."

But Thorne admits the company won't truly achieve a "touchless" bathroom until it develops a toilet that does the dirty work for you.

"And that," he says, "is going to be interesting."

He slides his hand under the toilet paper one more time for emphasis, and another string of toilet paper shoots out.

"The final frontier," he says with a smile.

Boeing unveils 787 Dreamliner jet

By Bill Rigby

Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - news) prepared to unveil the first carbon-composite 787 Dreamliner on Sunday amid a flurry of 55 new orders for the lightweight, fuel efficient plane.

European, Middle Eastern and Australian carriers trumpeted new purchases at various Boeing events in Seattle, as the U.S. plane maker got ready to host 15,000 or so employees, customers and suppliers at its nearby Everett, Washington, plant.

All are waiting for the first glimpse of the mid-sized, long-range jetliner, which is the company's first all-new plane in 12 years.

The jet will not look radically new on the outside, but beneath the just-dried paint lies a structure 50 percent made up of carbon composite materials and another 15 percent titanium, making the plane much lighter and fuel efficient than existing jetliners of the same size.

The use of fatigue-resistant and rust-free composite materials means air in the cabin can be more humid, leaving passengers less dried out and jetlagged after a long flight.

The lighter weight and newly designed engines made by General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE - news) and Britain's Rolls-Royce plc (RR.L) mean air carriers will save about 20 percent on fuel costs.

Airlines have jumped at the plane after years of struggling to turn a profit, and Boeing is rapidly closing in on 700 orders, worth more than $100 billion at list prices.

AIRBUS CONGRATULATES

The plane is trouncing rival Airbus, whose competing A350 XWB (extra wide body) has been bedeviled by design changes. The European plane maker conceded that the day -- 7/8/07 in U.S. date shorthand -- belonged to Boeing.

"Even if tomorrow Airbus will get back to the business of competing vigorously, today is Boeing's day -- a day to celebrate the 787," Airbus chief executive Louis Gallois wrote in a letter to Boeing CEO Jim McNerney in a letter made public by Airbus on Sunday.

Airbus and Boeing are the subject of a long-running EU-U.S. trade row over subsidies, and often jab at each other in the press. But the European company is most likely glad to cede the spotlight to Boeing as it puts more pressure on the Chicago-based firm to actually deliver the finished plane to customers from May next year.

Airbus itself has learned the dangers of over-exposure when its giant A380 superjumbo -- unveiled amid massive celebration in 2005 -- later stumbled on wiring problems, putting it two years behind schedule.

Boeing's new plane will not leave the ground until its first test flight in late August or September. First deliveries are expected by Japan's All Nippon Airways Co. (9202.T) next May, in time to carry passengers to the Beijing Olympics that summer.

Forty-six other airlines and leasing companies are lining up behind ANA to take delivery of 787s, which will be wider, quicker and more fuel efficient than the 767s they are designed to replace. They offer thousands of miles in extra range, making direct routes such as Tokyo to New York easier and cheaper to operate.

MORE ORDERS

On Saturday, German low-cost carrier Air Berlin (AB1.DE) ordered 25 of the planes, worth $4 billion, while Kuwait's Aviation Lease and Finance Co. (ALAF.KW) ordered another 10, on top of the 12 it already had on order.

That puts the number of firm orders for 787s at 677. That number is set to grow further as Australian carrier Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AX) said on Friday it planned to order another 20 of the planes, on top of the 45 it has already agreed to buy.

More customer announcements may crop up on Sunday as airlines look to cash in on the publicity surrounding Boeing's unveiling ceremony, which is set for 3:30 p.m. local time (2230

GMT).

Boeing is beaming the event, to be hosted by former TV news anchor Tom Brokaw, live via satellite to what it hopes will be millions of viewers around the world.

Six Steps to becoming a safer Driver

Play it safe with these racetrack-proven driving tips.

By Jon Alain Guzik, Yahoo! Autos, Editor-at-Large

In honor of the recent Independence Day holiday and the beginning of prime road trip season, Yahoo! Autos spoke to professional driver Tanner Foust, who with years of road, rally and drifting competitions under his belt, knows a thing or two about keeping the car on the road and avoiding costly accidents.

Foust, 34, has been driving since he was a young boy, offers up some proven racecar driving tips that also apply to everyday driving situations.

“With driving in general, it all comes down to common sense,” says Foust. “Common sense is what can save your life. Driving is a sport, and it’s unique because it is something we do everyday. I feel that if I was in an emergency, I’d have an advantage because it’s something I practice every day. Drifting, stunt driving and rally racing, they are all basically like driving in an emergency situation.”

Tanner Foust’s Top Driving Tips

1. Avoid the Target

One of the main problems in an accident is “target fixation.” Look at it like this; if you mash on the brakes and stare at the bumper in front of you, you are going to hit that bumper. If you look at the escape lane, you have a much better chance of getting there. Just like in any sport, you look where you want to go.

2. Avoid Distractions

If you’re paying more attention to the cheeseburger in your hand than the road in front of you, it’s a big problem. Eating in the car and not paying attention on a whole are huge distractions. Pay attention and you can help prevent accidents.

3. Anticipate Everything

Try to see things before you get to them. In any performance-driving situation, it helps if you keep your eyes up and look further down the road then you are used to. It keeps you from being surprised. In racing, anticipation is everything, and the same applies to everyday driving.

4. Know Your Car

For any motor sport or stunt driving, the most important thing is to know the equipment you are strapping yourself into. All good stunt drivers carry an air pressure gauge because tire pressure has one of the most pronounced effects on performance. For your own car, it helps to be aware of your car’s safety features, like anti-lock brakes and traction control. Also, monitor your tire pressure. Keeping track of the simple things helps.

5. Don’t Stress

With drifting, people only see the violence. But as a driver, it’s all about remaining calm in the face of stress and danger. When you are calm, you make the proper decisions. When you are stressed, you make mistakes and your natural instincts kick in. Natural instincts are not conducive to driving well. The main advantage that professional drivers have over everyday drivers is that they have replaced natural instinct with proper technique.

6. Stomp and Steer

Racing and emergency situations are in some cases very similar; for example, under maximum breaking it is very easy to lock up the brakes and skid. Most people in an emergency will mash on the brakes and hold them hard, even as they try and steer around obstacles. With normal braking systems this will result in a straight skid, and the steering wheel will have no effect on the direction of the car. The brakes need to be released in order for the car to turn. This technique is called “separation of controls” and is a basic racing technique. However, with anti-lock brakes (ABS), stomping on the brakes and steering at the same time will work. The ABS system will balance the traction between steering and braking, allowing you to accomplish both tasks simultaneously.

Microsoft lengthens Xbox 360 warranty

By Ben Silverman

No longer content adhering to the adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," Microsoft on Thursday announced that it will extend its Xbox 360 warranty coverage to three years from date of purchase. The warranty covers any consumer who experiences the general system failure indicated by three flashing red lights, more commonly referred to as the "red ring of death." Both shipping and repair costs will be covered.

The new warranty will represent a $1 billion pre-tax charge on Microsoft's earnings for the year's final quarter. This marks a notable setback for the company's Entertainment & Devices division, who reported a $315 million operating loss in the third quarter.

"The majority of Xbox 360 owners are having a great experience with their console and have from day one. But, this problem has caused frustration for some of our customers and for that, we sincerely apologize," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division.

The warranty also retroactively reimburses the small but vocal community of console owners who have already paid to get the error fixed. Though the company has not revealed the cause behind the hardware malfunctions, it claims to have "identified a number of factors which can cause general hardware failures" and "has made improvements to the console."

The announcement is intended to soothe the tide of disgruntled gamers who have experienced the failure, many of whom have meticulously documented numerous failed attempts at getting it repaired. In a conference call, Bach acknowledged an increase in the amount of attention the issue has been receiving. Although he didn't mention a specific number of problems, he called the rate of repair requests "too high for our liking."

Peter Moore, corporate VP of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division, has posted an open letter on the official Xbox site further explaining the decision.

Curious gadget fans smash and dissect iPhones

By Scott Hillis

It took Apple Inc. more than six months to build the iPhone but curious gadget fanatics needed only minutes to tear one apart.

Within hours of the first iPhones going on sale on Friday, enthusiasts scrambled to be the first to discover what makes the devices tick, posting photos and videos of disassembled phones on the Internet.

The information is more than just academic. Apple keeps a tight grip on information about parts suppliers so "tear downs" of its products are closely watched by investors keen to figure out how to place their bets.

In the past, word that a particular part was being used in Apple's popular iPod music players has sent that company's shares higher.

"With every new release of an Apple product, the hype and interest ratchets up a notch," said Andrew Rassweiler, an analyst with market research firm iSuppli.

Rassweiler and his team at iSuppli were working through the weekend to catalog the phone's guts for a report estimating the cost of every component, crucial for figuring how much it cost Apple to make each iPhone.

"We have had more people thrown at it this week than any other previous product," Rassweiler said.

Apple is offering the phone in two versions costing $500 and $600 depending on memory capacity, but the high price and limited availability wasn't enough to stop some people from giving into curiosity.

Some dissected the phones with the clinical skill of a surgeon while others resorted to brute force, enraging those swept up in the hype and winning praise from those gleefully resisting it.

By Sunday afternoon, a video on YouTube showing two guys banging away at an iPhone with a hammer and nail had garnered 56,000 views and was the 13th most-watched clip on the site, prompting some extremely angry comments. Watching the clip, it is difficult to see what was learned from the destruction.

The creator, whose user page identified him only as Rob in Miami, Florida, posted a second clip defending his unorthodox methods.

"We didn't smash it just to smash it. We smashed it to see what was inside. We were under a time limit," Rob said. "We resorted to extreme measures."

Ifixit.com, an Apple parts and repair guide site, conducted one of the most sophisticated dismantlings, posting dozens of high-quality photos alongside technical commentary.

"They've done some things that are above and beyond. They did some very innovative things," site cofounder Kyle Wiens said of the iPhone's manufacture.

Their efforts yielded a few nuggets of information. The iPhone boasts a main processor and memory chips from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., an audio-processing chip from Britain's Wolfson Microelectronics Plc and a Wi-fi wireless chip from Marvell Technology Group Ltd.

Opening the iPhone was the easy part. For many, the real prize is hacking the phone to get it to do things Apple never intended, such as run on networks other than that of AT&T Inc., the exclusive U.S. service provider.

Some programmers also want to find a way to run their own programs directly on the phone's operating system rather than being limited to programs run through the Web browser.

Helio Ocean probably best multimedia phone of all

Ben Patterson

Since I first laid eyes on it at CTIA in March, the Helio Ocean has stood out as the clear pretender to the messaging-phone throne—which, to my mind, has been owned by the Sidekick (both II and 3) for a few years now. Despite its aging features, the Sidekick 3 has had a couple of aces up its sleeve: a killer, easy-to-use interface, its swiveling screen and that roomy QWERTY keypad. But with its two-way sliding design—one way for numeric keys, the other for a full keyboard—plus its state-of-the-art data, messaging and multimedia features, the Ocean represents the Sidekick's strongest challenger to date. Look and feel: There's no question that the Ocean's a big phone: at 4.3 by 2.2 by 0.9 inches and about 5.6 ounces, the Ocean is nearly as big and heavy as my Treo (although it's noticeably smaller than the bulky Sidekick). But while it makes for a tight fit in a jeans pocket, the Ocean's nice curves and rubberized shell felt good in my hands. As for its twin keypads, I'm a bigger fan of the full-QWERTY keypad than of the numeric one. Don't get me wrong—I love the two-way slider concept, which keeps you from having to guess which QWERTY keys are for dialing and which aren't—but the thin, curved rows of numeric keys were tricky to press. The roomy QWERTY keypad was a pleasure, however, and I especially appreciated the dedicated "@" key for composing e-mail messages.

In the box: The Ocean comes with a solid set of accessories, including a wired stereo headset, a USB cable, and an adapter for earphones with standard 3.5mm minijacks—a nice change from the carriers who ship their phones with no accessories at all. There's no included microSD card for memory expansion, but the Ocean's generous 200MB of internal memory (good for a few dozen songs) will tide you over until you get one.

Interface: I've been a fan of Helio's user interfaces in the past, and I'm pleased to report that the Ocean's menu system looks even better now; previously tough-to-use features (like conference calling) are much easier to use now, and I never lost my way through the myriad options. I just wish the whole experience was a bit more unified; there's nothing like the Sidekick's "Jump" button that takes you back to the main menu. Also, a jog dial or trackball would be a welcome addition (my thumb kept reaching for a trackball that wasn't there).

Messaging: Outstanding—I especially liked the Ocean's unified messaging screen, which shows you at a glance the status of your e-mail and instant messaging accounts. You get out-of-the-box support for Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail, Windows Live Mail and Gmail, along with all their respective IM services (save Google's), and Helio is promising Exchange ActiveSync support for corporate servers later this year. A couple of things are missing, though: the Ocean won't automatically fetch your POP/IMAP messages (you have to collect them manually), and HTML-formatted e-mail messages are stripped of their formatting—then again, my pricey Treo 700p (and the Sidekick 3, for that matter) has the same problem.

Web browsing: The Ocean's mobile Web browser earns high marks, but it falls just shy of the bar set by Nokia. Web surfing was quite speedy, faster even than on my 3G Treo, and the cool zoom feature instantly zooms text and images up to 200 percent (or down to 50 percent). The browser borrows Nokia's mini-map so you can see your position relative to the rest of the page, which is a nice touch. The Ocean's browser puts HTML pages through Google's mobile optimizer by default; you can scroll to the bottom of a page and click a link to see the full HTML version, but you can't turn the option off altogether, which was a bit annoying. Also, the browser struggled to render full HTML pages correctly; it couldn't display the Yahoo! front page at all, and the IMDB front page looked jumbled (Nokia's Web browser breezed through those tests). Still, I'll take the Ocean's browser over almost any other mobile browser out there, including the Sidekick's.

Music and video: Helio at last has an online storefront where you can buy music, making its service more than competitive with the music and video stores on Sprint and Verizon Wireless. You can also sync your PC-based music and videos using the included USB cable and software, and subscription-based services like Yahoo! Music are supported. The Ocean's music player boasts shuffle and repeat modes, as well as an equalizer with four presets. Music controls along the left spine of the phone let you pause and skip tracks or tweak the volume, even when the Ocean is closed, and you can listen over a stereo Bluetooth headset or your own earbuds thanks to the unobtrusive 3.5mm minijack adapter. Nicely done.

GPS and pictures: The Ocean comes with Helio's cool Buddy Beacon feature, which lets you see the location all your fellow Buddy Beacon pals (you can, of course, disable the GPS locator if you want to travel covertly). The Ocean is also one of the few phones that integrates Google Maps with GPS, making it much easier to find nearby restaurants, ATMs, gas stations and so on. In my tests in Manhattan, the GPS-aided Google Maps pinpointed my location within a couple of doors—not bad at all. Even better, you can send pictures to your buddies embedded with your present GPS coordinates, or upload your photos directly to MySpace with the new HelioUp app. The Ocean's two-megapixel camera represents a major improvement over the carrier's previous camera phones—images looked relatively vivid and sharp, if not up to the standards or a dedicated camera.

The last word: The Ocean is clearly Helio's strongest phone to date—it's a quantum leap over last year's Hero and Kickflip, and I'd have to say it easily leapfrogs all the other consumer-oriented messaging phones out there, including the Sidekick 3, LG's enV, and Samsung's dual-flip SCH-u740. At $300 with service, the Ocean isn't cheap, but you're getting a truckload of features for the cash. If you're a messaging addict who wants plenty of multimedia on the road, then this is your phone.

Feds arrest man described as a 'top 10 spammer'

By GENE JOHNSON, AP Legal Affairs Writer

A 27-year-old man described as one of the world's most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.

Robert Alan Soloway is accused of using networks of compromised "zombie" computers to send out millions upon millions of spam e-mails.

"He's one of the top 10 spammers in the world," said Tim Cranton, a Microsoft Corp. lawyer who is senior director of the company's Worldwide Internet Safety Programs. "He's a huge problem for our customers. This is a very good day."

A federal grand jury last week returned a 35-count indictment against Soloway charging him with mail fraud, wire fraud, e-mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

Soloway pleaded not guilty Wednesday afternoon to all charges after a judge determined that — even with four bank accounts seized by the government — he was sufficiently well off to pay for his own lawyer.

He has been living in a ritzy apartment and drives an expensive Mercedes convertible, said prosecutor Kathryn Warma. Prosecutors are seeking to have him forfeit $773,000 they say he made from his business, Newport Internet Marketing Corp.

A public defender who represented him for Wednesday's hearing declined to comment.

Prosecutors say Soloway used computers infected with malicious code to send out millions of junk e-mails since 2003. The computers are called "zombies" because owners typically have no idea their machines have been infected.

He continued his activities even after Microsoft won a $7 million civil judgment against him in 2005 and the operator of a small Internet service provider in Oklahoma won a $10 million judgment, prosecutors said.

U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan said Wednesday that the case is the first in the country in which federal prosecutors have used identity theft statutes to prosecute a spammer for taking over someone else's Internet domain name. Soloway could face decades in prison, though prosecutors said they have not calculated what guideline sentencing range he might face.

The investigation began when the authorities began receiving hundreds of complaints about Soloway, who had been featured on a list of known spammers kept by The Spamhaus Project, an international anti-spam organization.

The Santa Barbara County, Calif., Department of Social Services said it was spending $1,000 a week to fight the spam it was receiving, and other businesses and individuals complained of having their reputations damaged when it appeared spam was originating from their computers.

"This is not just a nuisance. This is way beyond a nuisance," Warma said.

Soloway used the networks of compromised computers to send out unsolicited bulk e-mails urging people to use his Internet marketing company to advertise their products, authorities said.

People who clicked on a link in the e-mail were directed to his Web site. There, Soloway advertised his ability to send out as many as 20 million e-mail advertisements over 15 days for $495, the indictment said.

The Spamhaus Project rejoiced at his arrest.

"Soloway has been a long-term nuisance on the Internet — both in terms of the spam he sent, and the people he duped to use his spam service," organizers wrote on Spamhaus.org.

Soloway remained in federal detention pending a hearing Monday.

Google improves Maps with street views, miniapps

By Juan Carlos Perez, IDG News Service

Google has improved Google Maps with immersive views of streets from a handful of U.S. cities as well as with miniapplications that can be embedded on a map.

The Street View feature places users at the road level, giving them the perspective of drivers and pedestrians and thus offering a deeper and more detailed experience of the location than aerial images provide.

So far, Microsoft has been at the forefront of immersive online maps imagery, introducing so-called bird's-eye views in late 2005 that allowed users to tilt aerial images and view them from an angle. In November of last year, Microsoft unveiled 3D views of 15 U.S. cities, a feature that lets users zoom in and out of these urban areas and get a three-dimensional view of buildings, terrain, and the like. On Tuesday, Microsoft increased the number of cities available in 3D in its Live Search mapping site.

Google debuted Street View on Tuesday with major roads in San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Miami, and Denver and promises to add more cities "in the near future."

Meanwhile, Google also announced it is now possible to build lightweight applications so that users can mash them up with Google Maps. Called Mapplets, these gadget applications will be available in the Maps site for users to choose from and apply to their maps. Currently in preview mode, Mapplets can be found in a special version of Google Maps for users who want to try them out.

Mapplets take the concept of Google Maps mashups one step further, Google said. Previously, developers could build an application on top of Maps and make it available on a specific Web site. Now, those mashups can be packaged as a Mapplet so that several can be combined on a single Maps Web site.

Developers can find more information about creating these mapplets in this documentation page. To allow for the creation of Mapplets, Google merged two of its existing application programming interfaces: the Gadgets API and the Maps API.

Google to expand presence in South Korea

AFP

Google, the world's biggest Internet search engine, will expand its presence in South Korea's fast growing online video content market, officials said Tuesday.

Google chief Eric Schmidt met Seok Jong-Hun, head of South Korea's second-largest portal Daum Communications, on Tuesday to discuss ways to expand their burgeoning partnership.

"Daum and Google came to strengthen their partnership in the online advertisement markets, laying the ground for more service tie-ups that will have a synergy effect," said a statement from Daum after the meeting.

Both sides "plan to gradually expand their presence in the UCC (user created content) and search engine markets" in South Korea, it added.

Google and Daum agreed last December to cooperate in the online advertisement market. Daum is running Google's cost-per-click search ads, one of the fastest-growing types of Internet advertising.

Daum is now interested in using the content on Google's YouTube, the world's most popular online video-sharing service.

Officials at Daum said the company controls a quarter of South Korea's video content market and is in a tight race with rival Pandora TV to become the leader.

Google, which launched a Korean-language search site in 2000, has been striving to boost its presence in South Korea, where some 70 percent of homes have high-speed Internet access but many prefer local services.

Schmidt will also make the keynote speech at the Seoul Digital Forum on Wednesday.

Cisco finishes $3.2B WebEx acquisition

Stephen Lawson

Cisco has completed its acquisition of WebEx Communications, entering the online collaboration services business through a $3.2 billion deal, the company announced Tuesday.

Cisco will maintain WebEx's current business model of selling subscriptions for a Web-based service to enterprises that don't want to buy or build a collaboration system of their own, especially small and medium-size organizations. The Santa Clara, California, company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco, which plans to retain all its employees, said Cisco spokesman John Noh.

The acquisition, announced March 15, further extends a networking equipment giant that is increasingly positioning itself as a software and services company. It followed buyouts of two social-networking companies, Five Across and Utah Street Networks, and all the technologies will complement each other, Chief Development Officer Charles Giancarlo said in March.

The WebEx service lets companies share presentations, applications, and other data online, either asynchronously or in real-time sessions. The buyout will help Cisco compete against Microsoft and other vendors in collaboration and communication, and WebEx technology could also enhance Cisco's Unified Communications portfolio, according to Giancarlo. WebEx also offers a suite of productivity applications under the WebOffice brand, but Cisco doesn't plan to compete against desktop application suites, such as Microsoft'sOffice or Google's Google Apps, he said.

The deal closed as expected in Cisco's fiscal fourth quarter. It was the first deal the company has made through a tender offer, in which the would-be acquirer publicly invites shareholders to sell their shares at a certain price at a given time, Cisco's Noh said. More than 90 percent of WebEx shares were tendered. A tender offer generally can be finished more quickly than other types of deals, such as cash purchases and share swaps, and makes it easier to offer attractive terms to employees in order to keep them on board, he said.

15 Tech Myths: Busted and Confirmed

By Dan Tynan, PC World

We examine common tech beliefs and do some digging to find out what's true--and what's trumped up.

We hate to break it to you, but Bill Gates is not going to give you money just for forwarding an e-mail. Eating Pop Rocks and drinking soda at the same time won't cause your head to explode (though we don't recommend mixing Mentos and Diet Coke). The Harry Potter books are not a secret plot to promote witchcraft and satanism. And that story about Richard Gere and his pets? We don't even want to go there.

These are, of course, urban legends that have been circulating on and off the Internet for ages. For more, see "The Top 25 Web Hoaxes and Pranks." But they're not the only misconceptions out there: Many intelligent, experienced computer users believe things about technology that simply aren't true.

We came up with 15 common myths in the tech world and did some digging to reveal the real story. Some rumors are wholly bogus. Others turned out to have more than a grain of truth in them. To give you a sense of how real these myths are, we've created a little 1 to 5 scale with 5 being totally bogus and 1 signifying that the rumor is true.

We hope this research will make you a little wiser when you encounter future tales of technology--whether they're fact, fiction, or something in between.

Myth 1: If you download files from a peer-to-peer network, the MPAA or RIAA will know who you are.

Bogus Meter: 2.5 out of 5

It all sounds like George Orwell's 1984: "If you are downloading movies, television shows, music, or video games using a P2P network, the files that you have downloaded can be traced back to your IP address," says MPAA spokesperson Elizabeth Kaltman.

But BayTSP, which keeps watch on file-sharing networks like BitTorrent and eDonkey, is a tad less self-assured. When the company monitors these services for various clients, it can indeed capture a file swapper's IP address, the date and time of the download, the name of the file, and information on the individual's Internet service provider--but only for large downloads.

"If the file is big enough--a movie or software application (as opposed to a single song)--it is highly likely that BayTSP can identify an individual before that person has completed the entire file download," says Jim Graham, spokesperson for BayTSP. "Not 100 percent likely, but pretty close. We never claim to have complete insight into every downloader."

Connecting an IP address to an actual name or physical address isn't a sure thing either. Typically, attorneys for the record and movie industries approach ISPs or universities with evidence of alleged copyright infringements. It is up to that organization to identify its customers based on their IP address--and not all of them comply.

There are other challenges as well. Peter Eckersley, staff technologist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says that using anonymous IP networks, anonymizing proxies (sites or servers that let you keep your IP address hidden while surfing the Web), or open Wi-Fi connections can make it much harder to trace your identity. Note, though, that using a dynamic IP address via DHCP will not protect you. ISPs keep track of who was using a certain IP address at a particular time, and if they're willing to cough up that information, you could be hosed.

Myth 2: Using third-party ink in your printer voids the warranty.

Bogus Meter: 5.0 out of 5

This one has bogus written all over it--in any kind of ink. According to Canon, Epson, and Lexmark, using another company's ink cartridge or refills does not automatically nix your warranty. (However, PC World tests have shown that using third-party inks may not yield the best results.)

The exception to this rule is if the ink itself causes a problem with the printer. Epson spokesperson Cheryl Taylor likens it to the 50,000-mile warranty on your new radial tires. "Your car tire has a warranty on its tread life," she says. "If the tread wears out before it's supposed to, it's covered by the warranty. If you go out and slash your tire, well, something's wrong with your tire, but that's not damage covered by the warranty."

Myth 3: If you type a URL into your browser, you're safe from phishing attacks.

Bogus Meter: 3.0 out of 5

The surest route to having your identity stolen is to click a link inside a phishing e-mail and naively hand over your personal information. But typing www.yourbank.com into a browser is no guarantee that you'll foil the phishers.

There are at least two dangers still lurking, says Dave Jevans, chairman of the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

The first is "pharming" or "domain name poisoning" attacks, which intercept legitimate URLs en route to their destination and redirect the requests to bogus sites. So far, a handful of pharming attacks have struck domain name servers on the Internet, including one in February that targeted the Web sites of at least 50 financial institutions. Jevans says the only defense against pharming is to type or bookmark the address of the site's secure log-on page (it should begin with https:), since pharming attacks tend to target the top-level page of financial sites. However, you also should be on the lookout for warnings from your browser that the page's security certificate is invalid, in case the pharming attack has gone deeper.

The second danger is malware, which can achieve the same effect as phishing by rewriting your PC's Hosts file or otherwise hijacking your browser. But there are ways to protect yourself from that threat, says Fred Felman, chief marketing officer for MarkMonitor, which provides brand and fraud protection for Fortune 500 firms. According to Felman, if you keep your system patched, your firewall running, and your spyware and virus scanners up to date, you'll greatly reduce the odds of becoming yet another victim. Programs like the free Spybot Search & Destroy or WinPatrol can help protect your Hosts file.

Myth 4: Google finds everything on the Web, and once it has your information, it can't be removed.

Bogus Meter: 4.0 out of 5

Though it sometimes feels like the invisible fingers of Google touch everything, it's really not so. Google will find something on the Web only if another site links to that page, notes Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of Search Engine Land. "If you don't want information found, then don't put it on the Web at all, or ensure it can only be viewed with a password," he says. "Google doesn't do passwords."

You can also keep Google's searchbot from indexing your site--or get it to remove pages it's already found--by following the instructions at Google Webmaster Central. If the site has already been spidered, however, it will take time before the results are flushed from Google's cache.

The trickier question is how to remove personal information from Google if it's on a site that's not under your control. You can politely ask the site owner to remove the page or block Google from spidering it. If the owner refuses, and the site contains sensitive information like your Social Security number or copyrighted material, you can ask Google to delete it from its index. Otherwise you may need the services of a site like ReputationDefender, which attempts to eliminate inaccurate, embarrassing, or offensive material about you for a $30 fee--but offers no guarantees.

Myth 5. You're fully protected when you buy something on eBay.

Bogus Meter: 3.5 out of 5

The world's biggest auction site and its online payment division PayPal offer an arsenal of tools to guard against fraudsters, con artists, and the criminally stupid. But the protection falls short of 100 percent.

"When buyers use PayPal to purchase a physical item on eBay.com, they are automatically provided with $200 of coverage on the transaction," says eBay spokesperson Catherine England. "If the buyer uses PayPal to purchase an item from an eBay seller who is PayPal Verified, then the transaction automatically has up to $2000 of coverage."

Unfortunately, if you pay by some other method--personal check, money order, or wire transfer--all bets are off. These protections also don't apply to nonphysical items, such as software or electronic documents. And if you're fooled by a misleading or confusing item description, you may be out of luck.

For example, PR professional Greg P. thought he got a great deal when his $300 auction bid scored him a Microsoft Xbox. If he had merely received a broken Xbox, Greg P. would have been covered. But what he actually bought was a Word document listing places where he could buy Xboxes at a discount. Because (a) the item he purchased was electronic, not physical, and (b) the item for sale was accurately described, even though it displayed a photo of an Xbox, PayPal's Buyer Protection did not apply.

Myth 6: Static images on a plasma TV will burn in, so you can't leave them on for too long.

Bogus Meter: 2.0 out of 5

Plasma burn-in is not a myth, but it's something that most people need not worry about. According to CrutchfieldAdvisor.com, plasmas and some CRTs can suffer from burn-in when "a static image such as a video game, stock or news ticker, or station logo remains on-screen for an extended period. Over time, these images can become etched into the phosphor coating, leaving faint but permanent impressions on-screen."

Crutchfield product advisor Dallas Simon says this is extremely rare, since the image refreshes itself during commercial breaks and when you change channels. But it can be a problem for hard-core gamers, who may be playing the same first-person shooter for hours at a stretch, notes Andre Sam, a sales specialist for Best Buy in New York City. For instance, many titles display a static set of in-game statistics, such as scores, medals, energy bars, and radar.

Still, thanks to advances in plasma technology, newer flat panels are less likely to suffer from burn-in. "Like anything, if you abuse it you will probably break it," says Paul Meyhoefer, VP of Marketing and Product Planning for Pioneer Electronics. "With that said, new generations of plasma TVs have made significant improvements with things like the phosphors, cell structure, and filters to alleviate this issue."

Myth 7: You have to partition a large hard drive and/or defrag it often to get the best performance.

Bogus Meter: 2.0 out of 5

This is one of those myths that can start a bar fight at geekier watering holes. According to Mario Apicella, technology analyst and storage guru for PC World sister site Infoworld.com, defragging a large hard disk will boost performance on a Windows machine. Exactly how much of a boost depends on the number of files you change or delete each day.

"The OS has a silly habit of trying to reuse every free cluster, even if it's in the middle of a large occupied area and there's a lot of free space at the end of the volume," says Apicella. "So new files end up being scattered all over the drive, which means having to do several seek operations to bring them all together."

But in PC World tests, we found no noticeable performance lift after using a host of defraggers. Diskeeper Corporation, which makes a defragging utility, claims the practice can improve performance, but only if you have at least 20 percent free hard disk space. In short: Your mileage may vary.

Partitioning your hard disk into two or more logical drives won't necessarily speed up your system either, but it has a host of other benefits. For instance, it allows you to create a dual-boot system or separate files that don't change much (like your OS and apps) from those that do (your data and Internet cache). That will reduce fragmentation problems and make it easier to back up your system and/or replace the OS without endangering your data. (Check out our step-by-step instructions on partitioning your drive.)

Myth 8: Using high-speed flash cards in your digital camera lets you take photos faster.

Bogus Meter: 3.5 out of 5

High-speed memory cards allow a digital camera to save files faster, but that doesn't necessarily mean you can snap photos more quickly. "When you take a picture, the camera has to capture and process the image, then save it to the card," says Mike Wong, PR manager for memory-card maker SanDisk. "A faster card will only improve the latter part of the process--the save-file-to-card part."

If you use a speedy camera with slower memory, you may notice a lag on the memory side. But using a fast memory card with a slow camera is like putting race car tires on a Yugo--you'll mostly end up spinning your wheels, says Wong. "[The difference] can be significant in digital SLRs but less noticeable in many of the point-and-shoot types."

However, Wong says faster cards can reduce the amount of time it takes to upload photos to your computer, provided you also have a fast card reader. This may become more important as megapixels increase and card capacities grow.

Myth 9: Rechargeable batteries are more cost effective than disposable ones.

Bogus Meter: 2.0 out of 5

This one's not a myth, at least in most cases, but the cost effectiveness of rechargeable batteries depends upon the type of battery you choose and how often you use your gadgets.

Rechargeable nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride batteries lose their charge quickly when stored, says Chris Calwell, VP of policy and research at Ecos Consulting, which publishes reports on the energy efficiency of consumer products. These batteries are a bad call for devices you use infrequently--such as a flashlight for emergencies. Rechargeable lithium ion batteries keep their charge much longer, but may not be available in the size you need. If lithium ion batteries are not available for your device and you don't use it frequently, it may save you money in the long run to go with disposables.

Duracell spokesperson Blayne Murphy agrees that usage is a key factor: "For heavy users of high-drain devices, such as digital cameras, rechargeables are definitely the most cost-effective solution. But if you are an occasional user who doesn't take a lot of pictures, rechargeables are not going to be convenient because they may not be ready when you need them."

Not only do rechargeable batteries cost more than disposables, but you also have to factor in the price of the charger, the electricity it consumes, and how many recharges the batteries can take before you have to replace them. "Our general advice," says Calwell, "is to buy lithium ion-based rechargeable products or nickel metal hydride products with as high of a rated capacity and as small of a charger as possible."

Myth 10: 'Unlimited' 3G broadband access really is unlimited.

Bogus Meter: 3.5 out of 5

When carriers tout their unlimited high-speed data plans, rarely do they give you free rein over what you can do with that bandwidth. But some carriers are worse than others.

Until recently, Verizon Wireless advertised an "unlimited" broadband plan that really wasn't. Although EVDO subscribers could surf the Web and send and receive e-mail, Verizon's terms of service forbade them from uploading or downloading files, viewing Webcams, or using Voice over IP services. The company also placed an undisclosed 5GB cap on each account; if it detected that you had sent or received more than that in a given month, it would terminate your contract. After months of denials, the company quietly added information about the cap to its service agreements and stopped promoting its broadband access package as unlimited.

In Cingular's (now AT&T) terms of service, you'll find that its unlimited 3G plans "cannot be used for uploading, downloading, or streaming of video content (e.g., movies, TV), music, or games." Unlike Verizon Wireless, though, it does not impose a hard data cap. It may still monitor you, though, to make sure your data usage is not too high.

Sprint's unlimited EVDO plans don't place specific restrictions on how much data you can shuttle, nor do they prohibit downloading or streaming. However, Sprint does "reserve the right to limit or suspend any heavy, continuous data usage that adversely impacts our network performance or hinders access to our network."

According to Michael Ginsberg, president of 3G portal EVDOinfo, Sprint has yet to send any termination notices over excessive bandwidth usage to his customers. And we've also found few complaints and no reports of people getting cut off by Sprint due to excessive bandwidth use. "But that doesn't mean they won't have to change their policies at some point. Their own bandwidth isn't unlimited," Ginsberg says.

Myth 11: Airport X-ray machines can damage or erase your digital camera's memory card.

Bogus Meter: 5.0 out of 5

The Transportation Security Administration puts it succinctly: "Our screening equipment will not affect digital cameras and electronic image storage cards."

In fact, that CompactFlash card, Secure Digital card, or Sony Memory Stick may be tougher than you think. In tests conducted by Digital Camera Shopper magazine, memory cards proved to be quite resilient, surviving a soda pop bath, a trip through a washing machine, being run over by a skateboard, and the evil machinations of a six-year-old child. (However, they didn't fare as well when smashed with a sledgehammer or nailed to a tree.)

If you do damage your memory card, you may be able to use a program like WinRecovery's $30 CardRecovery or Ontrack's $89 EasyRecovery Lite to restore your lost photos.

Now, about getting your name off that No Fly list....

Myth 12: Excessive cell phone use can cause cancer or other health problems.

Bogus Meter: 2.5 out of 5

According to both the World Health Organization and the Food and Drug Administration, using a cell phone does not cause any known health problems--unless you're using it while driving, in which case you're an accident waiting to happen. But it can interfere with your pacemaker, hearing aid, or defibrillator.

End of story? Not exactly. Most studies on the health effects of cell phone radiation are inconclusive or contradictory, leaving both organizations to state that further research may be needed. A Finnish study published last August in the journal Proteomics found that some people may have cells that are genetically predisposed to respond to wireless phone radiation. This may explain why the studies performed thus far have come out with different conclusions.

By the way, there's no evidence that talking on a cell phone while filling your gas tank can cause explosions. However, the Federal Communications Commission does warn: "While any potential threat by wireless devices is very remote, there are potential ignition sources at gas stations like automobiles and static electricity." So why risk it? Save your gabbing for when you're done at the pump.

Myth 13: Macs are safe from malware attacks.

Bogus Meter: 5.0 out of 5

True believers in the Mac's inherent impregnability found their faith sorely tested recently, when security researcher Dino Dai Zovi took home a $10,000 prize for remotely hijacking a MacBook Pro running Mac OS 10.4. It took Dai Zovi less than 10 hours to uncover a vulnerability within Apple QuickTime and set up a Web page to exploit it. (Windows versions of QuickTime are also vulnerable to the hack.) Later, in an interview with Computerworld magazine, Dai Zovi declared the Mac OS to be less secure than Vista. (That grinding you hear is the sound of Steve Jobs gnashing his teeth.)

This is hardly the only known Mac exploit. In January, security researcher Kevin Finisterre and a hacker known only as LMH completed the Month of Apple Bugs project, which revealed a new Mac security vulnerability every day. And in February the first Mac OS 10 worm was identified. Considered relatively harmless, the OSX/Leap-A worm spread via Apple's iChat instant messaging application by forwarding itself to the user's buddy list.

Still, Mac users are far less likely to encounter viruses and exploits than Windows users, if only because Windows malware exists in far greater numbers.

Myth 14: Color inkjets that use combination ink cartridges cost more to run than those that use separate cartridges.

Bogus Meter: 1.0 out of 5

Here's a bit of common wisdom that actually appears to be true. "With a combination color cartridge, the yellow ink could run out, and you would need to replace the remaining cartridges as well if you wanted to print with yellow," says Epson's Cheryl Taylor. She says that individual ink cartridges maximize efficiency and lower your costs over time.

Basically, that's true, confirms Charlie Brewer, who writes the Hard Copy Supplies Journal, a monthly newsletter about digital imaging supplies. "It costs more to print with most tricolor cartridges than with individual tanks," he says. "Now, there could be instances where the individual tanks are way more expensive than a low-cost tricolor tank, but I can't think of any."

If your printer uses individual cartridges, it pays to make them last as long as possible. To find out how to eke the most out of each cartridge, check out "Six Savvy Ways to Get More Prints for Less Money" for tips on extending the life of your ink cartridges. You'll also want to take a look at ink-saving tips from online store PrintCountry.com.

Myth 15: If someone has hacked your PC or turned it into a zombie, you'd know about it.

Bogus Meter: 4.0 out of 5

Not necessarily, says Lawrence Baldwin of MyNetWatchman, which tracks bot networks. If hackers have turned your computer into a spambot, for example, your system tray might warn you that your computer is sending hundreds of e-mails--but only if you've got security software scanning your outgoing e-mail. Malware often shuts down your antivirus software, firewall, or Windows Update service so it can operate unfettered on your system.

In fact, says Baldwin, many users are oblivious until their ISP informs them that a bot has been detected at their IP address, or their e-mail starts getting rejected because their address is on a spam blocklist--or the Federal Bureau of Investigation knocks on their door asking why they've been launching denial-of-service attacks. According to Baldwin, it's foolish to rely entirely on security software to protect your computer.

So how can you tell if your PC's been compromised? If your machine suddenly becomes sluggish or takes too long to start up or shut down, it may be infected. "But," he points out, "these could also be symptoms of lots of different things that are potentially unrelated to malware." In most cases, users are to blame for allowing rogue software--such as files downloaded from a peer-to-peer network--to execute on their systems. As Baldwin puts it, "you need to either get smart or get off the Net."

Sound Off: What PC myths would you like to bust?