News From Around The Industry:

• Symbian: Mobile OS's are an unsexy rocket science, mobile Linux is like a common cold, and Google has no idea what its doing:
Google's dominance of the web will not translate to the mobile phone market, a senior executive at Symbian has said. John Forsyth, vice president of strategy at Symbian, the platform that powers many of the world's phones, said Google lacked experience. Mr Forsyth said there was nothing to indicate that Google's dominance of the web would make it successful as a mobile phone platform provider. "Search and a mobile phone platform are completely different things. It's costly, arduous and at times a deeply unsexy job of supporting customers day by day in launching phones. That's something there's very little experience of in Google's environment. If you are a serious phone maker and you are asked to bet your handsets on somebody, you would want to bet on someone with a track record of delivery and support." Gee... is someone getting a little touchy about some possible competition? Or are they afraid of the name Google cropping up in their territory? Forsyth also said Google had to be aware that making a "mobile OS is a very specialised form of rocket science. "It's not search rocket science." He said Google's alliance with 33 firms was yet another attempt to launch a Linux-based operating system to drive mobile phones. "About every three months this year there has been a mobile Linux initiative of some sort launched. It's a bit like the common cold. It keeps coming round and then we go back to business. We don't participate in these full stop. We make our own platform and we are focused on driving that into the mobile phone market at large ever more aggressively."

• First magenta, now berries:
Hot on the heels of TMobile claiming to have patented the color magenta, RIM has sued LG Electronics Inc. this week as it tries to stop that company from using names that are a bit too BlackBerryesque, including Black Label, Strawberry and Black Cherry. As far as RIM is concerned, any wireless device with the words Black, Berry or Pearl in their name should be off limits to rivals unless they have its consent, the company says in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. “The aforesaid actions of LG have caused, and, unless enjoined, will continue to cause monetary damage and irreparable injury to RIM and the BlackBerry marks for which there is no adequate remedy at law,” Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM said. None of the allegations have been proved in court. A spokeswoman for LG's U.S. operations didn't return a call seeking comment. A RIM spokeswoman said company executives weren't available for comment. Has the word "ridiculous" been patented yet? Probably.

• Government: File sharing may increase CD sales; Economist: Uh, no:
When Industry Canada came out with a study last week that found file-sharing doesn't lead to reduced CD sales -- and in fact may even lead to an increase in sales among those who download a lot -- it came as a surprise to many, most of all the music industry, which has been arguing for years that downloads are killing the record business. It also came as a surprise to Stan Liebowitz, an economist with the University of Texas, who has been studying the impact that file-sharing and other Internet-related technologies have on music sales for several years, and has repeatedly come to the exact opposite conclusion. In a nutshell, Liebowitz says, the Industry Canada paper is at odds with well-established research that shows a prominent decline in CD and record sales over the past several years, a period in which the use of file-sharing software has grown dramatically. If downloading either doesn't affect CD sales or actually has a small positive effect, he says, then how can we explain that large a decline? But what about the 2004 study by Felix Oberholzer-Gee of the Harvard Business School and University of North Carolina economist Koleman Strumpf? They came to almost the exact same conclusion as the Industry Canada study -- that is, they found the effect of downloading on CD sales was "statistically indistinguishable from zero." Prof. Liebowitz says that the Oberholzer-Strumpf study's research methods were also flawed. It's natural to assume that downloading music would lead to fewer sales of CDs. But is it solely responsible for the decline in sales over the past decade, or are there other factors at work? And while CD sales have declined, have overall music revenues -- concert-ticket sales, public appearances, T-shirts, endorsements, etc. -- gone down as well, or have they made up for the drop in CD revenues? The debate continues.

• FCC seeks more data in XM-Sirius review; analysts optimistic the merger will happen:
Regulators reviewing Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.'s proposed purchase of XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. are asking the companies to turn over more information about the deal, as some analysts expressed growing optimism that it will be approved soon. The FCC, the U.S. regulating authority, has sent letters to the companies' lawyers requesting documents on any marketing agreements they have with major retailers, equipment and vehicle manufacturers and content providers. The FCC request, from the agency's Media Bureau chief, also asked the companies to provide information to back up claims that the merger will cut costs and benefit consumers. It set a Nov. 16 deadline for the companies to respond. "It does mean FCC is getting closer to a decision," Stifel Nicolaus analyst Blair Levin said. The move could be an indication that the FCC is putting together a rationale to the endorse the deal, Levin said. But more likely, he said, it's "just the process playing out." Sirius plans to buy XM in an all-stock deal worth about $4-billion. The merger would combine the only two providers of satellite radio service in the United States and has sparked concern among some U.S. lawmakers and consumer groups.

• GOP Calls for Closer Look at Google-DoubleClick Deal:
Republican members of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection are seeking a further look at the privacy implications of Google's proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick. The deal is currently under regulatory scrutiny at the Federal Trade Commission. In a Nov. 6 letter to Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush, D.-Ill., Republican members of the panel urged Rush to schedule an oversight hearing on the merger. The acquisition would combine two of the biggest players in online advertising. Google's text-based AdSense business is based on clickable links, while DoubleClick's technology places targeted banner ads and other display advertising on popular online sites. "It seems to me that policymakers should know more about Google's intentions than we do, and a serious hearing to get at the facts looks like a very good idea," Rep. Joe Barton, R.-Texas, said in a statement. At a September Senate hearing on the merger, Google Chief Legal Counsel David Drummond contended the deal does not foreclose other companies from competing in the online advertising market. Drummond pointed to Microsoft's $6 billion acquisition of online advertising firm aQuantive, which already has received the Federal Trade Commission's blessing, Yahoo's deal to buy Right Media and AOL's purchase of AdTech and Tacoda as proof of a vibrant online ad market. House Republicans, though, are more concerned about the privacy aspects of the merger. "One focus of this hearing could be on how this information is used and what could be done to better protect consumer privacy," the Republicans' Nov. 6 letter states. "The privacy implications of such a merger are enormous and without an in-depth examination, we and the American public will not fully understand what all those implications might be."

• Mac's First Trojan Begins to Breed:
The Mac's first Trojan won't be its last: Security researchers at F-Secure have found that the gang behind the malware has been churning out slightly modified versions to evade anti-malware detection. That's nothing new—the fake codec the Trojan is masquerading as is a variant of Trojan.DNSChanger, malware that's been plaguing Windows users for some time. "This operation keeps modifying their … Trojans constantly: they have been doing this for their Windows malware for a long time; now they are also doing it for Mac," F-Secure's Mikko Hyppönen said. "Welcome Mac anti-malware companies to our world," Hyppönen said. Many Mac enthusiasts have been skeptical about this Trojan, dismissing the hype as overreaction. Their arguments boil down to three tenets: There are far fewer threats to the Mac operating system than for Windows, users are at risk only if they surf porn, and a user must go to great length to get infected—i.e., download the fake codec, open it, run the installer, and enter in an administrative password. Craig Schmugar of McAfee Avert Labs rebutted these arguments noting that it only takes one threat to get infected, dozens of domains have been found that serve the malware and yet have nothing explicitly to do with porn, and a click-to-install requirement didn't keep Bagle from becoming one of the most successful pieces of Windows malware ever.

• Thousands snared by malware warning from big-name websites:
Thousands of PC users have been duped into surrendering sensitive information and installing malicious software after falling victim to a complex scam that continues to plague well-known websites, a researcher warns. The scam is the latest to piggyback on banner ads that are fed to high-traffic destinations. Malicious code hardwired into the ads prompts a pop-up that warns of a bogus security threat on the visitor's machine. It offers to fix the problem in exchange for a fee and for credit card information. The ad then attempts to install a back door on the victim's machine. "These are pretty well-respected, high-traffic websites," said Don Jackson, a researcher with security provider SecureWorks. "The point is to compromise [the user's machine] and basically have it on demand." Jackson estimates the rogue ads have appeared on anywhere from "several hundred to 1,000" sites, which tend to be related to television and entertainment. Jackson has managed to shut down at least two servers serving the bad ads, but warns at least two more are still operational. He declined to identify the servers or the websites by name.

• Microsoft to patch software driver vulnerability:
Microsoft has warned that a faulty driver used for copy protection could allow a hacker to gain high-level access to a PC. The problem lies with a driver called secdrv.sys, which is part Macrovision's SafeDisc software included with Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP. The software, which can block unauthorized copying of some media, also ships with Windows Vista, but that OS is not affected. Microsoft said it knows of "limited attacks" that try to use the vulnerability, in an attack known as an elevation of privilege. The vulnerability could allow a hacker with local access to a machine to elevate his access rights and gain administrator rights, for example, allowing him to install software. Macrovision has issued an update for the driver. Microsoft said it also plans to issue a fix as part of its monthly patch cycle. Secunia said the vulnerability was first reported as a zero-day about two weeks ago, meaning the problem was being exploited by hackers as it became known.The company rated the vulnerability as "less critical," it's second lowest risk ranking for a vulnerability.

• Trend Micro offers free security service for Sony PS3:
Trend Micro launched a new Web security service for Sony's PS3 game console. Trend Micro claims that as game consoles with Web browsers proliferate, so too will security problems. Trend Micro Web Security for PS3 relies on Trend Micro's Web reputation and URL filtering technology to keep users safe from malicious and harmful Web sites. It provides filtering of Web sites by category -- Adult/Sex, Alcohol/Tobacco, Violence/Hate/Racism, for example. Gamers can thus fire virtual weapons in games like Metal Gear Solid while being denied access Web sites detailing the real thing. Robert Hansen, known in security circles as RSnake, said in a May blog post that vulnerable Web-enabled devices like the PS3 could pose a serious threat. "Let's say for a second that PS3 was sitting behind a firewall of someone who worked at supersecurecompany.com and they use a VPN only to connect to their company," he said. "Now that I am running my code on that system, I could theoretically break into other machines on the network much easier since I am behind the firewall. This is far more nasty than I think most people realize. It might be a video game console but if it is Web-enabled and running over a shared Internet line it should be just as secure as anything else." PS 3 relies on a version of the NetFront browser, provided by Access Co., a maker of software for portable devices. In March, a hacker going by the name Anathema reported that the NetFront browser could be exploited. The vulnerability was added to the Bugtraq list in May. To date, however, such risks remain largely theoretical.

• A broadband duel that both TalkTalk and BT can win:
Nowhere is the territory where telephony meets the internet more fiercely fought over than in the UK. On the broadband battlefield, Charles Dunstone, Carphone Warehouse's chief executive, has painted himself as the champion of the consumer (a strategy that almost backfired when his "free" TalkTalk service was swamped with applicants) in a fight to the death with the incumbent BT. To make money, TalkTalk has to "unbundle" broadband customers from BT exchanges - a process in which not only users but revenues migrate from BT to Carphone. In the second quarter to end-September, the impact of the accelerated pace of unbundling was felt within BT's wholesale division, where external revenue fell 9 per cent compared with the equivalent period of 2006. But this is no war of attrition. BT continues to earn residual charges on the unbundled lines. In any case, it has long predicted the trend of lower revenues in this area, while its retail division is expanding in broadband. BT took a higher than expected 37 per cent share of the UK's net new broadband users in the second quarter. Both companies also claim to be making a better profit from their growing customer bases. A lot of propaganda is spouted in this war, but it may be one of those rare duels where both parties emerge victorious.

• The Philadelphia experiment: Making muni Wi-Fi work:
Carol Ellison comments over at MuniWireless: "The group has already far outdistanced my original expectation (and this is where your humble commentator eats some serious crow). Back in 2005 when Wireless Philadelphia was little more than a dream on a drawing board and I was a wireless editorialist at eWEEK, I wrote that the only thing larger than Philadelphia's ambitions were the challenges it faced in achieving them. I, frankly, doubted that a city as big, as political, and as struggling as Philadelphia was in so many ways could make much headway at all. The city's crime and poverty rates were and are daunting; the notoriety of its politics span generations. So today, it's really quite heart-warming to be able to say I was wrong. Two-and-a-half years later, Wireless Philadelphia is not only scoring successes in addressing the digital divide, it continues the drive toward its goals when similar groups in communities like Sacramento, a fraction of Philadelphia's size with a fraction of its problems, are struggling. "