The Rides and Tours

北朝鮮が日本人拉致問題を反日感情による偶発的事件だと主張した。

EXPERTS CAUTION AGAINST SPYWARE, PHISHING

金融機関などからの正規のメールやWebサイトを装い、暗証番号やクレジットカード番号などを搾取する詐欺。「釣り」を意味する「fishing」が語源だが、偽装の手法が洗練されている(sophisticated)ことから「phishing」と綴るようになったとする説がある。 (IT用語辞典 e-Words)

In computing, phishing, short for password harvesting fishing, is the luring of sensitive information, such as passwords and other personal information, from a victim by masquerading as someone trustworthy with a real need for such information. It is a form of social engineering attack. (Wikipedia)

Update: password harvesting fishing = パスワード獲得探索 (渡辺千賀)

... Recently, Citibank and US Bank's websites were "spoofed" and their domain names were "masked" to appear like the real thing. The unsuspecting victim thinks that the bank wants them to log in to their account and make some changes or updates. Unknowingly to the victim, there are cyber criminals licking their chops as the victim reveals all their private information and bam…all their financial data such as passwords, account numbers, etcetera have been stolen. ...

The hero is no Tom Hanks and the movie has yet to be made. But like the 1998 hit movie "You've Got Mail," a new bestseller in Japan is an old-style romance for the Internet age--with a distinctly Japanese twist.

『電車男』がベストセラーに躍り出たのは、インターネットが日本の若者の日常生活にいかに深く浸透しているかの表れだと専門家は話している。（ロイター）

Stoked by nationalism, a new generation of Chinese feels growing hostility toward Japan

Save, share and recall anything you find online

... 人気ブロガーで、早くからRSSを熱心に広めていたデイブ・ワイナー氏は、「私の考えでは、乗り遅れた人など誰もいないし、今がちょうどいいタイミングだ。信じようと信じまいと、われわれは現在、採用の初期段階にある……。インターネット・ユーザーの2％以上がRSSを使っているとしたら、むしろ私にとっては驚きだ」 ...

タイトルにある未来4行日記というのは
★明日の自分像　私は前向きな人間です
●挑戦する内容　自分から進んで声をかける
◆注意する行動　”すみません”ではなく”ありがとう”
■明日の行動予定　出会う人に笑顔で挨拶

と明日（未来）の行動予定、未来像を4行で書く。
そして、その日記を時間があれば、眺めたり、音読したりする。

A U.S. defector to North Korea confesses to his crime and recounts his long, strange story

アメリカ在住の人文系研究者による日常観察・オピニオン系blog

GOOGLE, the world's number one search engine, has lost its edge. That's the considered view of software engineers who have been testing an early version of Microsoft's MSN Search service, released last week. The quality of search offered by the Microsoft product will soon easily match that of Google, the experts say. And Yahoo's search engine already does, they add. Google is only top of the heap because of the "mindshare" it has garnered since it exploded onto the scene in 1998. "It's now more a perception issue that Google is the best," says Chris Sherman of the SearchEngineWatch website in Darien, Connecticut.

Sending HTML emails can be a pain. You have to overcome more variables than a plain text newsletter but the rewards are worth it! If you send HTML emails, here are 7 fast tips that can help improve the quality of how well your newsletter is received. If you do not do the HTML coding for your email newsletter, pass today’s Ezine-Tips to your HTML coder.

• Gmail
• Glog?
• Gbrowser
• More G-nius
• The G-force
• Oh, my golly, Google

Portal says DomainKey use will protect users from ID theft and phishing scams.

SPAM has been one of the major turn offs for most web users. Checking emails have become a hassle when you cannot be sure the mail you received is from the actual sender! Email ID spoofing (phishing as it is generally called) has become a potent tool in the hand of spammers to lure innocent victims into releasing private information that can have dangerous consequences.

Wirehog, a new breed of file-sharing program spawned by the creator of thefacebook.com, made its official debut on the Harvard and Stanford campuses yesterday with hundreds of students signing up to use the service.

HURRICANE FRANCES was on its way, barreling across the Caribbean, threatening a direct hit on Florida's Atlantic coast. Residents made for higher ground, but far away, in Bentonville, Ark., executives at Wal-Mart Stores decided that the situation offered a great opportunity for one of their newest data-driven weapons, something that the company calls predictive technology. ...

老舗が実店舗販売に行き詰って始めたサイトや、周囲の冷たい目に耐え、新しいモデルで成功したサイトなど計10サイトが受賞した。

Citing the privacy of its customers, Google’s public relations department would not comment on inquiries about Gmail enrollment figures. But the service has already taken a secure hold at Harvard.

After news of the search-engine’s newest venture spread last summer, dozens of students have switched to Gmail as their primary e-mail client, citing its extensive search features, speed and unique “conversation” feature that organizes e-mail messages according to their authors and replies.

家族や友人、グループ活動の仲間などからGMailで送ったメールの文字化けを指摘されることが多いが、高校時代の同級生が教えてくれたたサイト「他社Webメールでの文字化けについて」を読んで、問題がはっきりした。Webメールに限ったことではなく、一般のメーラにも当てはまるようだ。それによると、問題の原因は、Gmailから送信するメールのエンコードに関するヘッダが
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
になっていて、一方、日本ではメールのエンコード方式としては ISO-2022-JPが標準であり、UTF-8への対応は、各Webメールサービスによってまちまちで、ブラウザで受信しても文字化けして読めないケースが多いのが現状だとあります。

個人的な経験では、相手のメーラの種類によって、

• subject だけが文字化けし、本文は正常に読める
• subject 本文ともに文字化けして、全く解読不能
• （reply の場合に）subject だけを入力しなおして送信すると、subject の文字化けが避けられる

... 家族を代表して自宅のパソコン設定などをしなくてはならない立場のお父さんが多いと思います。自分だけでなく、大切な家族をインターネットの脅威から守るためにも、家庭内危機管理のひとつとして、インターネットのセキュリティについて真剣に考えていただきたいと思います。...

... 妙なことに日本に行くと、なぜか日本風の酒場には行かず、常に韓国風の酒場にばかり行くようになる。日本には、それだけ韓国風の酒場が多い。...

Among the top 20 nations, Denmark displaced Sweden for the top slot, followed by United States at 3rd position and Switzerland, Canada, Netherlands, Finland, Korea, Norway, UK, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, Austria, Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, Japan, France and Taiwan in that order.

"i was bored last night, so curiosity got the best of me and i decided to see if there was a correlation between %bush voters and %college grads by state (nerd!). so i found out each state's %Bachelor's degrees from the census and ran it--indeed there was a negative linear relationship between %bush voters and %college grads (R = -0.71)-- which means, the less % of college grads, the more % bush voters. DC had the highest % of college grads (42.5%) and the lowest % of bush voters (9%); West Virginia had the lowest % grads (16.1%) and a relatively high % (56%) bush voters...... Interestingly the last 14 ranking states in grads (<22%) were all bush winners (many 55-60+% voted for bush), and 11 of the top 14 ranking states in grads (>30%) were kerry winners."

Q: I'm looking to buy a copy of Adobe Acrobat Professional. I found a site on the Web that offers to sell it for only a little over $100, which seems too good to be true. What's the catch? The site is www.ibackups.net.
— D. Ketcham, Whidbey Island

A: There is a catch, and it's hinted at in the name.

A Robbinsdale woman who had her identity stolen during the 1990s was hassled by creditors for five years and eventually had to legally change her name to stop her credit problems, according to Robbinsdale Police Detective Bruce Larson.

Several kinds of computer programs -- all annoying, though not necessarily dangerous -- are lumped under "spyware," according to anti-spyware makers. These include:

• Adware: The most common kind of spyware, adware generates several types of ads, possibly keyed to the sites you visit on the Internet. May download programs onto your PC without your knowledge.
• Adware cookies: Installed without your knowledge, these tiny pieces of code store information about your surfing habits. Can let marketing companies create and sell a profile of you.
• Browser hijacker: Changes the settings in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, changes your chosen home page, redirects your searches. May render browser useless.
• Dialer: Disconnects you from your Internet service provider and reconnects you to the Internet using an expensive line.
• Keylogger: Records all the keystrokes you type. May let outsiders access your logins, passwords and credit card numbers.
• System monitor: Records keystrokes plus e-mail, chat room conversations and instant messages. May be accessible to outsiders.
• Trojans: Programs that let outsiders make changes to your computer. Might create or delete files, or install other programs without your knowledge.

Increasingly inexpensive and ubiquitous information technologies such as the Internet, wireless connections and cheap computer servers, he says, allow him to run the company with far less money and fewer people than he could have a decade ago -- without scrimping on features or quality. Says the 34-year-old serial entrepreneur: "This is the prototype of the new Internet startup."

With the explosion of the personal computer, and the internet’s ease of access to information, security has now taken on additional roles. With over 605 million people online at any given moment worldwide, criminals are no longer bound by geographic location. Today’s cyber criminal can hack from the comfort of his home just by getting online.

... 秋山容疑者は六月上旬ごろ、東京都港区六本木と武蔵野市のネット喫茶のパソコンに、利用客のキーボード操作を記録する「キーロガー」と呼ばれるソフトを組み込み、客が打ち込んだＩＤやパスワードを六時間おきに自分のメールアドレスに転送するよう設定、情報を不正に入手していた。 ...

「ブログ」「ウェブログ」などの言葉で検索すると、開設サービスのサイトがたくさん出てくる。無料が多い。...

「もともと日本はネットで日記を公開する人が多い。読まれたい人たちが、開設方法や記事(文章)更新の簡単さ、読者のコメント(返事)の速さに長じたブログに注目した」。「gooブログ」を運営するNTTレゾナント(東京都千代田区)の二宮功ポータル事業本部シニア・プロデューサー(45)は、普及の背景を説明する。高齢者はIT(情報技術)に弱いと思いがちだが、...

日本を訪問し、... 得た最も大きな所感の一つも、日本社会の「偏見のなさ」だった。

... スパイウェアは、ユーザーのPCに勝手に入り込んで利用状況を監視、ひそかにその情報をネットワークを介したサーバーに送る、という「スパイ」プログラム。

Denmark is the world's most tech-savvy nation, ...

Sweden took second place, the US took third and Switzerland was in fourth. Canada, the Netherlands, Finland, Korea, Norway and the UK made up the rest of the top ten. ...

日本は世界の中で10位以内に入っていません。

国際サッカー連盟（ＦＩＦＡ）は最近発売した『フィファ・フィーバー』というＤＶＤ２枚の映像資料で１００年の歴史のワールドカップを通して「１０大誤審疑惑」を選定したが、...

Japanese guard’s dream nearly a reality.

歌手、趙英男（チョ・ヨンナム）氏の「日本文化ルポ」を５回にわたって掲載する。趙氏は最近、日本国際交流基金（ジャパンファウンデーション）の招待で、日本各地の文化行事を体験し、様々な関係者に会った後、帰ってきた。同氏の厳しい視線は、日本に対し依然として閉ざされている「韓国の自画像」にも向けられている。