'Hacker' launches iTunes copying

The software will allow the sharing of music bought on iTunes

The release of software from a firm run by a notorious Norwegian hacker is likely to cause waves in the music and film download world.

Jon Lech Johansen became the "enfant terrible" of the DRM industry when he released software which cracked the encryption codes on DVDs, aged just 15.

His firm, DoubleTwist, has now released software allowing users to share digital media files across devices.

It would allow songs bought on Apple's iTunes to be shared on other devices.

At the moment, the only portable music player which can store content downloaded from the iTunes store is Apple's iPod.

Users can copy downloaded songs to a CD and then copy the disc back on to the computer so that the songs can then be moved to other portable devices - but the quality of the music is affected.

In 2003 Mr Johansen distributed a program which bypassed Apple's Fairplay system, the software that enforces this relationship between iTunes and the iPod. Since then he has had several other well-publicised run-ins with the firm.

Tower of Babel

The new software from his San Francisco-based company DoubleTwist will allow users to share both user-generated and professionally created music, photos and video clips between computers, mobiles and game consoles.

Media which lives on a computer can be moved to a variety of mobile devices by dragging and dropping the files to a desktop folder which then drops copies on the external device over the web.

Initially the system will allow file-sharing with Sony's PSP games console, Nokia's N-series mobile, Sony Ericsson's Walkman and Cybershot handsets and Microsoft's Windows Mobile smartphones.

The software converts media stored in one file format to those used by the other devices in a system that mimics the process of ripping a CD onto a computer.

One hundred songs can be converted in about half an hour, with a slight degradation in sound quality, according to the firm.

"With digital media such as video from a friend's cell phone or your own iTunes playlists, it's a jungle out there," said Monique Farantzos, co-founder of DoubleTwist.

"The digital media landscape has become a tower of Babel, alienating and frustrating consumers. Our goal is to provide a simple and well integrated solution that the average consumer can use to eliminate the headaches associated with their expanding digital universe," she said.

The company is confident there will not be any legal challenges from Apple.

"All we are facilitating are friends sending things to one another," Ms Farantzos told the Reuters news agency.

The software is available as a free download from the company's website.

Vulnerability Found in Some Symantec Products

eEye Digital Security, a noted security vendor, recently provided an alert regarding a susceptibility in Symantec Antivirus that allows a hacker to infiltrate and take control of a computer system that is running certain Symantec software. Shortly after the eEye's alert, Symantec confirmed the veracity of the story. The finding of this security flaw is of special importance since Symantec is one of the world's leading makers of antivirus software.

Fortunately for home users, the flaw is found only in Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition and Symantec Client Security 3.x. Home users of Norton Antivirus and Norton Internet Security products are not at risk. Symantec is working on a patch to eliminate the problem and will download the fix to corporate users as soon as it is available.

Firefox 3.0 hits beta

New security features have been included in the just-released Firefox 3.0 beta, although Mozilla has warned that most users should stick to Version 2.0 for the moment.

"We do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download the Firefox 3 Beta 1 milestone release,"

Mike Beltzner, the company's interface designer, said on Mozilla's website.

"It is intended for testing purposes only."

But while the official word was for users to stand clear, Beltzner's personal recommendation was a lot less intimidating.

"It's a preview release, so use with caution and don't expect your add-ons to work without some magic; but between you and me, I've been running on this 'developer preview' for at least three months, and have never looked back,"

he said on his own blog.

Beltzner touted several improvements in Firefox 3.0, including new security features, a redesign of bookmarking and history, but said they all require more testing and user feedback. The company has posted a more complete list of new features in the release notes on its website.

On the security side, Firefox 3.0 adds malware checking, an anti-phishing feature that warns users of suspicious URLs; one-click site information that displays site ownership; fixes for vulnerabilities in plug-in updating; and integration with anti-virus software and Windows Vista's parental control settings.

Mozilla also claimed that it has fixed more than 300 individual memory leaks and added a new cycle collector to eliminate other memory issues. Firefox has a reputation for consuming large quantities of memory the longer it's left running, and ultimately slowing down the computer, even though some of its developers have contested the claims, and even pegged the problem as one of perception.

Most current Firefox plug-ins will not work with Firefox 3.0, a stumbling block for some who might otherwise want to test the preview.

"Users of the latest released version of Firefox should not expect their add-ons to work properly with this beta,"

the beta's release notes read.

Firefox 3.0 Beta 1 can be downloaded for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux in 21 language versions from Mozilla's site.

Mozilla has not set a deadline for delivering the final edition, and apparently does not intend to.

"The final version of Firefox 3 will be released when we qualify the product as fully ready for our users,"

its release notes said. Mozilla is more than three months behind it own schedule schedule, in part because it extended the alpha-testing stage to encompass eight versions.

This summer, Mozilla pegged Beta 1's release for late July with a second beta in September, both to precede a final release by the end of the year. The company is now shooting to deliver a second beta before the end of the year, with more betas possible before producing one or more release candidates in a run-up to the final code.