Wana go "pharming"??

Q: what comes after phishing?
A: Pharming.

The 'experts" are gettin better by the days.. first they start "phishing" for victims by creating phony sites that looked similar to the genuine site, so that unsuspecting victims will unwittingly enter their sensitive information for the phisher's perusal.
Now they no longer go phishing for individual vicitims. It's quite a hassle.
Instead they redirect victims to their sites even though they keyed in the correct URL!!
wooah!
i cant imagine how serious this problem will become in the future when more and more pharming incidents happen. Will there come a day when we can no longer trust the sites we visit because we cant differentiate the fake sites from the real McCoy??!

take a look at the article here.

-tee-

Want To Buy a Virtual Sword?

Gaming is not only about sales of the consoles and game titles anymore.
Microsoft is embarking on this "micro-transactions" trend. they are hoping to make use of the Xbox live online gaming system to generate additional reveune by allowing gamers to buy,sell and trade virtual items among themselves.. using REAL dollars and cents!!

Microsoft expects such deals to involve very little money.. for many cases, maybe even less than a dollar for sales of the virtual item.

In the bigger pipeline, they are trying to set up the marketplace not only for individual game players, but also all gamers who are simultaneously online.

one impt point to note though is that this new service has to enhance the gamers' experience, if not the idea will not sell.

check out the article: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/41353.html

-tee-

Yahoo ---> Mobile Gaming?

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/41111.html

this is an interestin correlation btw yahoo and mobile gaming.

i used to be a keen player of yahoo's online mahjong, poker and chess.. but those were the days when i had more time on hand :oL
however if these games are avail thru mobile phones, i may be able to indulge in these entertainment again whilst travellin on the bus or train, instead of staring into empty spaces and idle my time away.. in addition, playing such online community games also allows me to get in touch with my frens and family whilst on e move.

It may be of interest to us also that US is not the biggest consumer of the mobile gaming industry. The market is an interantional one.. and Asia is poised to be amongst the fore-runner in this emerging industry! The pie is currently worth US$2 billion.. and expected to grow rapidly in the next few years!!!

tempting ey?!

-tee-

China Shutsdown thousands of Net cafes

This is a short article.. it spoke a little abt how China shutted down thousands of illegal net cafes.
In wk 10's lecture we gone thru the e-revolution in China.
Apparently the burgeoning of internet is not all boon.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6969418/

" the government controls what the public can see online and blocks access to Web sites deemed pornographic or subversive. Internet cafes are banned near schools and the hours that children can use them are restricted."

The internet is such a vast and borderless territory. I feel that as much as the Chinese government will like to put controls inplace to protect her citizens from the evils of the internet, they are waging a losing battle.
For every site they banned, there will be 10 other new sites set up by others.

However, lacing time restrictions on children's useage of the internet may b a good move because it may help inculcate in the younger generation better net time useage. However from my personal experience, once I have access to the net, it is really quite tough to "limit" my use. Probably due to communication avenues such as the MSN messenger and ICQ which provides a fastr and convenient means to keep in touch with all my friends.
This convenience to chat does indeed come with a heavy cost. Many precious hours will be wasted behind the monitor screen "chatting" with our frens!!

-tee-