• Sony Hacked Again New Phishing Sites Identified


    It seems like a nightmare for Sony as Reuters now reports that the Internet service provider unit of Japan’s Sony, alerted customers that an intruder broke into its system and stole virtual points from account holders worth $1,225.

    This latest attacks comes after personal information of some 100 million Sony user accounts was stolen last month when its online gaming systems, the PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment, were hacked.

    “What we’ve done is stopped the So-Net points exchanges and told customers to change their passwords,” So-Net said in a statement to customers on its website in Japanese.

    About 100,000 yen ($1,225) was stolen from accounts that were attacked. The company said there was no evidence that other accounts in the online system had been hacked.

    “At this point in our investigations, we have not confirmed any data leakage. We have not found any sign of a possibility that a third party has obtained members’ names, address, birth dates and phone numbers.”

    Security experts, however said that Sony’s networks around the world remain vulnerable to attack.

    Update:

    There’s signs of a credit card phishing scam apparently running, live, on one of the company’s servers as reported by slashgear where F-Secure discovered the fake site, at hdworld.sony.co.th, inviting people to enter all their details for a card they’ll never get.

    At time of writing the page was still up, though Google’s Chrome browser did warn us that it was a reported phishing site. F-Secure has apparently notified Sony, and we’re expecting the company to move with reasonable speed to make sure this all gets removed.

    Actually figuring out how the pages got onto the servers, however, and what loopholes are being taken advantage of may take longer, and it seems that Sony isn’t out of the woods yet when it comes to addressing its security. There are also unconfirmed reports that phishers are sending out fake PSN password reset emails, so do be careful where you click.

  • Apple Signs Deals With Sony, EMI and Warner Group Over Cloud Music


    Apple has reached agreements with three major record labels to let users of its new music service access their song collections from handheld devices via the Internet, as reported by Bloomberg tonight:

    The new iTunes offering will let users store content on Apple’s servers and access it using the Web, rather than loading songs into a device’s memory, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. The plans could be previewed as early as Apple’s developers conference, set to begin June 6, the people said.

    Apple has reached licensing accords with Sony music division, EMI Group and Warner Music Group, the people said. Universal Music Group, the largest recording company, is close to a deal. The company also would need to reach agreements with music publishers, which control different rights than the labels.

    Apple’s cloud music service is said to be part of a major MobileMe overhaul which said to be unveiled in WWDC this June.

  • Gears of War 3 Becomes The Fastest Pre-Ordered Game in Xbox 360 History


    Epic Games and Microsoft have achieved a big milestone today as the game Gears of War 3 has become the fastest pre-ordered title in Xbox 360 history and has broken 1 million orders. This comes as a result for statistics released for the public beta which ended on May 15, with an impressive 1.29 million players who participated in the franchise.

    The game also logged some very impressive stats. check out the figures rundown below:

    • 145 different countries participated in the beta
    • 249 years worth of matches played
    • More than 11 million matches completed
    • More than 927 million kills recorded
    • More than 131 million executions performed
    • More than 23 million deaths by chainsaw
    • Nearly 23 BILLION bullets fired
    • 4.9 billion ribbons and 291M medals earned
    • 435K people earned the Beta exclusive Thrashball Cole skin to use in the retail game when it launches in September
    • 234K people earned the Beta exclusive Gold Retro Lancer to use in the retail game when it launches in September

    Cliff Bleszinski, Epic Games’ Design Director commented on the success of the beta:

    “We can’t thank the fans enough. The beta was a fun way to give players an early taste of our game, it also provided us with invaluable feedback to help us refine and polish ‘Gears of War 3’ to ensure it’s truly the culmination of the trilogy we promised to the fans.”

    Gears of War 3 will be releasing September 20, 2011 exclusively for Xbox 360.

  • Toshiba Shows off 4-inch 367dpi 720p Resolution Retina Display Panel


    Toshiba has indeed made a lot of hype over revealing last week their new four-inch LCD display that incorporates 367 pixels-per-inch density, runs at 1280 x 720 pixel resolution natively. Today, Engadget had a chance to spend some time with Toshiba’s new entry at SID 2011, and here what they had to say about the new display panels:

    We got the lowdown on Toshiba’s latest four-inch LCD a couple of days ago, and today at SID 2011 we got up close and personal with the pixel-packed display. It’s one thing to read about a 367ppi screen that shows native 720p video, and it’s quite another to experience it in person. We can report that it is, in fact, as awesome as it sounds — onscreen images were clear, crisp, and chromatically brilliant. Pixel density enthusiasts will also be happy to hear that Toshiba confirmed the display will make it to market this year. Of course, the rep wouldn’t tell us which phone will take the iPhone 4’s crown as the ppi champ, though we imagine it’ll be something powered by little green bots.

    They have recorded a small footage that you can watch below: