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The Windows Web Browser Choice Screen Works
According to the latest data from Opera, the Windows Web Browser Choice Screen—a browser download and activation pop-up mandated by the European Union in all versions of Microsoft’s operating system—is working. They say it’s “dramatic uptake on downloads.”

Opera reports that their downloads have more than doubled across the European continent during the introduction of their latest version. Some countries saw their rates tripling. One, Poland, experienced a 328% surge. Of the total number of downloads, a 77% came from the Choice Screen in Poland. On average, 53% came from the Choice Screen in the whole of Europe. Not bad at all, considering that the roll-out has just started in early March, and will continue to happen “well into May for existing Windows computers and for five more years on new installations.”

It seems the Eurocrats were right. Hopefully, the UScrats will take good note.

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• Opera more than doubles download numbers in Europe after Choice Screen introduction (opera.com)

Amazon added a few bricks to its Kindle kingdom on March 18, with the introduction of Kindle for Mac, a free application that lets readers pull up Kindle books on a Mac computer.
 
“Kindle for Mac is the prefect companion application for customers who own a Kindle or Kindle DX,” Jay Marine, director of Amazon Kindle, said in a statement. “For those customers around the world who don’t yet have a Kindle, Kindle for Mac is a great way to instantly access and read the most popular new releases as well as their old favorites.”

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• Amazon Brings Kindle App to Mac (appscout.com)

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• Zillow Adds Rentals, Social Networking to iPhone App (appscout.com)

Ruling in favor of Bank of America Corp’s Merrill Lynch unit, Barclays Plc and Morgan Stanley, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote said Theflyonthewall.com engaged in “systematic misappropriation,” essentially getting a “free ride” from its quick publication of upgrades and downgrades that can move stocks higher and lower.

Cote issued a permanent injunction requiring the Summit, New Jersey-based company to wait until 10 a.m. to report research that was issued before the market opens, and at least two hours for research issued thereafter. The bulk of research is typically issued before the open.

While the banks had sought longer delays, Cote said: “This time frame preserves incentives for the firms to create and disseminate research reports to their investor clients, while still recognizing the inevitable, fast-moving, and widespread informal communication of recommendation on Wall Street.”

Cote added she could not excuse Theflyonthewall.com’s activities simply because recommendations are also reported by many rivals, or are otherwise leaked or rumored.

“The legally salient fact … is that Fly is exploiting its self-described ‘hefty relationships with people in the know,’” she wrote.

The judge said Theflyonthewall.com may apply in one year to lift the injunction if the banks do not take reasonable steps to halt the unauthorized distribution of research.

According to the opinion, Theflyonthewall.com said the lawsuit has forced it to ritualistically engage in “confirming” the substance of research with two or three sources before publishing — still, typically, before the market opens.

The company has about 30 employees. It charges $50 a month, or $480 annually, for its services, its website shows.

Facebook overtook Google to become America’s most popular website. Figures for the week ending March 13th showed that the social-networking site accounted for 7.1% of the country’s traffic, compared with Google’s 7.0%, the first time it has had a weekly lead. However, with revenues of $23.7 billion last year, Google remains easily the more profitable of the two.

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• Facebook Overtakes Google as Most Popular U.S. Website (dailyfinance.com)

Green Infrastructure, Earth Day and Global Awareness

Spring 2010 is approaching and there’s a lot of buzz around topics like the economy, taxation, global poverty, restoration in Haiti/Chile, and lastly, green awareness. With spring, Earth Day also draws nearer (April 22nd); as individuals, we must remember and realize the importance of global warming and all of its implications. Subsequent topics discussed as of late include space travel/burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and green building. As nations like Haiti and Chile prepare for rebuilding and new construction, there are many things to consider when advancing. Moving towards cleaner, greener infrastructure is vital in ensuring a successful restoration campaign.

The U.S. Green Building Council is a 501(3)(c) non-profit community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everybody. It’s one of the many organizations playing its role in green progression. Heavy discussion lies on green topics, especially the more recent ones like space travel; others include deforestation, green crops, clothing, energy, and much more. It’s important that we as individuals/citizens stay up-to-date on important global topics like warming. As organizations like the CGI (Clinton Global Initiative), AFH (Architecture for Humanity), and the USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council) conducts sustainability campaigns and enforce strict green constraints, our world will continue to become a better, cleaner place. Machines behind the CGI, Doug Band and Former President Clinton have been pursuing an emission reduction plan in the San Francisco Bay area. Meanwhile, CEO of GEC (Globetrotters Engineering Corporation), Niranjan Shah, is underway with green building projects in Chicago, IL. Despite these few national examples, green infrastructure, particularly in places like Haiti, has become an integral part of restoration and construction.

As polluters continue to buy their way out of Carbon Cuts globally, and large organizations continue to dump their waste into lakes, ponds and rivers, communities and must play their role in ensuring sustainability. Organizations like the CGI, AFH, and USGBC provide repercussion and policy change for acts such as. Most of the results from warming and climate change are miniscule and unnoticeable now, but our youth and earlier generations will experience firsthand the effects of pollutants and unsustainable efforts. Feel free to visit http://www.earthday.org/ to learn more about what you can do to support your world.

Hackers have flooded the Internet with virus-tainted spam that targets Facebook’s estimated 400 million users in an effort to steal banking passwords and gather other sensitive information.

Technology  |  Lifestyle  |  Media

The emails tell recipients that the passwords on their Facebook accounts have been reset, urging them to click on an attachment to obtain new login credentials, according to anti-virus software maker McAfee Inc.

If the attachment is opened, it downloads several types of malicious software, including a program that steals passwords, McAfee said on Wednesday.

Hackers have long targeted Facebook users, sending them tainted messages via the social networking company’s own internal email system. With this new attack, they are using regular Internet email to spread their malicious software.

A Facebook spokesman said the company could not comment on the specific case, but pointed to a status update the company posted on its web site earlier on Wednesday warning users about the spoofed email and advising users to delete the email and to warn their friends.

McAfee estimates that hackers sent out tens of millions of spam across Europe, the United States and Asia since the campaign began on Tuesday.

Dave Marcus, McAfee’s director of malware research and communications, said that he expects the hackers will succeed in infecting millions of computers.

“With Facebook as your lure, you potentially have 400 million people that can click on the attachment. If you get 10 percent success, that’s 40 million,” he said.

The email’s subject line says “Facebook password reset confirmation customer support,” according to Marcus.

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• McAfee: A million ’scareware’ victims a day (news.cnet.com)

VirnetX won the initial round in its patent-infringement case against Microsoft over VPN technology.

A Texas jury on March 16 recommended Microsoft pay VirnetX $105.75 million for willfully infringing on two VirnetX networking patents which VirnetX claims Microsoft used without licensing. VirnetX said Microsoft has used the VPN technologies in question in Windows Server 2003, XP, Vista, Live Communications Server, Windows Messenger, Office Communicator and various versions of Office.

Microsoft is appealing the verdict.

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• Verdict expected Tuesday in VirnetX v. Microsoft trial (seattlepi.com)
• Jury sides with VirnetX in Microsoft patent-infringement case (seattlepi.com)

We’re getting a few more details about the Android 2.1 update that’s dropping tomorrow for the Motorola Droid. Here’s the deal:

The first batch of 1,000 updates will be pushed out at 9 a.m. PDT.
Assuming all goes well, another 9,000 updates will go out at 8:59 p.m. PDT.
After that, there’s a 24-hour waiting period (to make sure all’s still well.)
Then 200,000 updates will go out on Saturday, March 20.
Another batch of 200,000 goes out after that, until everyone has the update.
This stuff is brand-new as of this morning, and things are still subject to change. But we’re close, people, and we still expect a manual updating method to be had in short order, so don’t freak out if you’re not in the first group. Thanks, anon!

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• Android 2.1 to hit the Motorola Droid starting Thursday (mobilecrunch.com)

If you’re thinking about running the IE9 Platform Preview, don’t try installing it on any nearly-decade-old operating systems (I’m looking at you, XP): If you do, you’ll get to a dialog stating “Windows Internet Explorer Platform Preview does not support any operating system earlier than Windows Vista SP2.” And of course, don’t even think about versions for non-Windows operating systems. IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch told me that Mac and Linux versions weren’t currently in the company’s plans.

The reason IE9 doesn’t work in XP is that the browser uses the Direct2D feature of DirectX when accessing the graphics hardware to accelerate image creation and drawing. Direct2D was introduced in Windows 7 and then added

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• Microsoft confirms IE9 will shun Windows XP (go.theregister.com)
• Unsurprisingly, IE9 won’t be supported on an obsolete OS (arstechnica.com)