Mirror Magazine

Microsoft's forthcoming Zune player is soon to be the life of the party, allowing users to create mobile social networks and stream music to nearby friends or strangers. Zune owners can act as their own DJ, sending streaming music content to up to four other devices. With the device's wireless networking abilities turned on, people can send and receive photos, as well as promotional copies of songs, albums and playlists. Hardware maker Toshiba is manufacturing the Zune device. The device and service has been referred to as Zune and by two code names, Argo and Pyxis. Microsoft confirms that Toshiba will manufacture the Zune device, but declined to offer additional details.

Microsoft announced last month that it was developing a device and music service to rival Apple Computer's iTunes/iPod combination. The company had said Zune would have built-in Wi-Fi abilities, but had not yet said what it planned to allow users to do with their wireless connection. The software maker said it will have one model available in time for this year's holiday season. It has also said it expects the Zune effort to take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. As regards the DJ feature, people have the option of turning the feature on or off, as well as of choosing whether to stream to any nearby Zune user or only to people on their friends list.

If the DJ setting is on, people don't need to do anything else to allow others to listen to their music. The music sent is the same as what the DJ is listening to- if they stop listening, the stream is interrupted. Microsoft has said that Zune will come preloaded with videos from record label EMI, but has not discussed the details of any music or movie service it plans to offer. Toshiba has long used Microsoft's software in its products, dating back to its first laptop in 1985. The company has also made portable media players and handheld computers using the slimmed-down Windows CE operating system. Last year, the two companies inked a patent cross-licensing pact and also spoke at the time of working together on “new breakthrough innovations that will bring about new scenarios for years to come.”

-Cnet.com

TPH: Hacked!

Dear TPH,
I have an email address provided by my Internet service provider which I use regularly. Recently I found out that my email account has been hacked. The hacker sent me an email through my account threatening that he will forward my personal emails to other people. I changed my password but he still manages to send me emails from my account. What should I do about it?
-R.P.

Dear R.P.,
By the time you woke up, brushed your teeth, had your morning tea, and went down to buy The Sunday Times today, the hacker who gained access to your account would have read this article on the Online Edition of The Sunday Times in the wee hours of the morning. He would have forwarded all the letters you got from your ex-boyfriend to your present boyfriend and the sexual harassment complaint you wrote against your boss to all your work mates. And frustrated by my attempt to help you, he would have also hacked into my personal email accounts and printed leaflets out of the latest set of poems I wrote and mailed myself!

Anyway, don’t panic just yet. If you can still access your email account and change your password, this whole episode is most likely a hoax. Let me explain.

Remember the last time you sent your friend an e-card for her birthday? No? What…? You forgot her birthday??? At least you remember the e-card you received from her don’t you? All she would have done is put her name and email address as well as your name and email address on her chosen e-card at the e-greetings website and pressed ‘send’. When you received the card, it would have appeared as if she actually sent the card through her email account!

It is possible for someone with a basic knowledge about how email works; to build a webpage or a simple ‘home-made’ application with C# or VB.net that can send and receive emails. These applications can send emails under any given name and email address.

This is because the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) that is used to send emails does not require users to authenticate themselves before sending an email. In fact it is very difficult to enforce such an authentication process for practical reasons. Therefore, it is possible for anyone to send emails under a false pretence.

There is a different procedure for receiving emails. When someone sends you an email, the domain of your email address points to your ISP’s mail server, where the email you receive is routed. Only you have access to them with your username and password.

If the ‘hacker’ is not so sophisticated, it may be possible to trace the email you received to its originating IP address and thereby to an approximate geographic location from which it was sent.

This can reveal evidence about whether your email account was actually hacked. Next week, I will explain how to trace an email to its point of origin. Until then, it is best that you inform your ISP about the incident who may be able to check the access logs to your account and confirm if any outside sources have accessed your account and if so, they can take necessary steps to prevent it from happening again.

-TPH

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