Security firms warn of Michael Jackson spam messages

Computer security firms are warning users to be vigilant about spam messages capitalizing the sudden death of U.S. pop star Michael Jackson.

Security firm Sophos on Friday reported that about eight hours after Jackson’s death, its experts witnessed the first wave of spam messages taking advantage of the breaking news in the subject line and body of the email.

In these messages, the spammers claimed that they have vital information about the death of Michael Jackson to share and asked for a reply. Experts said the spammers can easily harvest recipients’ contact information via a free live email address if users reply to the spam message.

Dell working on new Internet device

Dell is reportedly developing a pocket-sized electronic device for accessing the Internet. Dell is creating the device to run on Google’s Inc.’s Android software.

The Dell device is said to be slightly larger that Apple Inc.’s and iPod touch and could go on sale in the second half of the year.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs Returns to Work

Apple has confirmed that Steve Jobs is back on the Apple campus and has returned to work after almost six months sick leave.

Apple said Jobs will be splitting his time between working from his office at Apple headquarters and his home.

Jobs has been given an “excellent prognosis” by doctors after receiving a liver transplant in the US.

Sony considering PSP with mobile phone

Sony Corp. is reportedly developing a PSP / mobile phone hybrid device to better compete with Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Sony is planning to develop a new product that would combine the functionality of the PSP handheld and Sony Ericsson’s mobile phones.

The current PSP handheld can play UMD-based titles and store music, video and photos on Memory Stick media.

Microsoft Limiting Free Windows 7 Upgrades

Microsoft have announced that there will only be a limited number of free upgrades for their new Windows 7operating system. They have announced that there will only be 25 free upgrades of the software.

The idea behind both programs is to offer a free operating system upgrade as an incentive for consumers and small business buyers of new PCs, even as a new Windows operating system enters the market.

Windows 7, the next major OS release from Microsoft after Vista, will be officially available on Oct. 22. The first beta of the OS was released in February and a Release Candidate (RC) followed in May. The beta version will expire next week, while the RC will remain as a free download until Aug. 15.

2010 election back to manual after TIM quits

COMELEC Chairman Jose Melo announced that the local partner of Smartmatic International Corp. has quit the poll automation project. Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) has informed the election body about its decision to leave the project.

Chairman Melo said it would be too late to call for another bidding and added that with the development, the 2010 national election will be back to manual counting and procedure.

Chairman Melo said they might consider filing a case againts TIM because of its decision.

SMART offers “unlimited” calling via Smartalk

Smart Communications Inc. (SMART), launched a new service that enables SMART Buddy and SMART Gold subscribers to make unlimited calls to over 38 million mobile phone users on the SMART network.

Called Smartalk, the new service will be available starting June 26, does not require any changes in SIM or cell phone number, and can be enjoyed by SMART Buddy and SMART Gold subscribers.
SMART subscribers will be able to avail of the service by purchasing loads for unlimited calls which come in two denominations. The first is “Smartalk 100” which for P100 offers 5 days of unlimited calls to any subscriber on the SMART network anywhere in the country, at any time of the day.

Another variant, “Smartalk 500”, offers 30 days of unlimited calls to any subscriber on the SMART network for only P500 – effectively reducing the cost to as low as P17 for a whole day of unlimited calling to any number within the country’s largest mobile subscriber base.

Nokia Philippines announced the availability of Nokia N97

Designed for the needs of Internet-savvy consumers, the Nokia N97 combines a large 3.5” touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard, providing an ‘always open’ window to favorite social networking sites and Internet destinations.

The Nokia N97 is also perfectly suited for browsing the web, streaming Flash videos or playing games. Both the physical QWERTY and virtual touch input to ensure efficiency in blogging, chatting, posting, sending texts or emailing.

The Nokia N97 has 32 GB of on-board memory for music, media and more. This is complemented by excellent music capabilities, full support for the Nokia Music Store where available, and continuous playback time of up to 1.5 days.

The Nokia N97 also has a 5-Megapixel camera with high-quality Carl Zeiss optics, 16:9 and DVD quality video capture, and support for services like Share on Ovi for immediate sharing over HSDPA and WLAN.