Friday, December 28, 2007

Amazon partners with fans' online record label

From
December 18, 2007

Sellaband, the fledgling music site which allows users to become 'investors' in bands whose music they like, has been given a major fillip by striking a distribution deal with Amazon.

From January, a dedicated section of the Amazon store will be devoted to music produced by acts that have been discovered on Sellaband, with albums selling for £8.99.

The wholesale price Amazon pays for the music - understood to be about £6 per album - will be split equally between Sellaband, the artists and their 'investors', otherwise known as fans.

Sellaband, based in Amsterdam, is effectively a 'user-governed' record label, which allows listeners to determine which music will be recorded and sold by voting for and investing in bands.

Unsigned bands upload their music, and if fans like it, they can buy a stake in the profits of any future album sales for $10 (£4.90).

Once a $50,000 (£24,500) threshold is reached, Sellaband helps the band produce an album. A fan can buy any number of $10 investments, each of which equates to a one five thousandth stake.

When the album is made, the backers each receive a copy, which they can either keep or sell at a 10 per cent profit on their personal Sellaband page. They also receive a cut of future sales on the Sellaband or other sites, as well as of any advertising revenue when the song is streamed.

Pim Betist, one of Sellaband's co-founders, said that the site was "a label of the future" because of the way it handed two parts of the record industry "value chain" over to consumers.

"First, consumers select which artists will make records, so there's a demand even before production begins. Second, they do the marketing, because there's a financial incentive to promote the artists they believe in."

So far 11 bands have reached the $50,000 threshold, and three, including one in Britain, have made albums.

Sellaband, which is funded by an angel investor in Germany who wishes to remain anonymous, plans to make money from album sales and publishing rights, as well as advertising and sponsorship deals, such as one it recently announced with Heineken.

The site has only been selling albums for three months, but already $25,000 (£12,300) has been transferred to artists and fans, a spokesman said.

The three albums Sellaband has already helped to produce - using well-known names such as 'Bassy' Bob Brockman, who has worked with Christina Aguilera - sell for $3.50 (£1.72) on its site, and at the standard iTunes rate of 99 cents per track in the US and 79p per track in the UK.

Mr Betist said that fans had already invested $1.3 million (£640,000) in the 6,000-odd bands that have uploaded music to their site, though that money is being held in escrow until the bands raise enough to make an album, at which point their investors become eligible to see a return.

"If Amazon passed on £6 for an album sale, then £2 of that would go to the fans, £2 to the band, and £2 to us," he said.

Every band that raises $30,000 (£14,750) will also receive an immediate boost of $1,000 (£490) from Amazon.

Sellaband, which was co-founded by Johan Vosmeijer, a former executive at the Sony BMG record label, has 150,000 unique users a month.

Unlocked in Singapore, iPhones are available on the internet

From
December 8, 2007

It is the world’s most-hyped mobile phone, but Apple’s iPhone could be yours without the rigmarole of changing network provider and being tied into an 18-month contract.

What started as complicated instructions to unlock the device on technical websites has now gone mainstream. British buyers can now buy the iPhone unlocked from Far Eastern retailers and auction websites for little more than the £269 O2, the official UK seller, charges.

Yesterday 700 unlocked iPhones were selling on the British version of eBay, at about £300 each, but without the mandatory O2 18-month minimum contract of £35 per month.

Such is their alarm that Apple has now threatened to sue retailers in Singapore who are unlocking the phones and selling them over the internet. Shopkeepers said they had received letters from Apple threatening to sue for S$1,000 (£340) for every unlocked iPhone they had sold.

The iPhone has been hailed as the future of mobile phones, winning Time magazine’s coveted Invention of the Year award. It is operated using a touch screen and as well as having all the functions of a normal mobile phone, it incorporates an iPod and the capacity to browse the internet.

Phone networks fought hard to win the right to sell the iPhone, with O2 entering into a five-year exclusivity deal with Apple. The network provider has so far refused to reveal how many handsets they have sold since the iPhone’s UK launch on November 10, saying only that sales have been “in line with expectations”. Two thirds of buyers are new customers stolen from other networks.

A spokesman for O2 cautioned that anyone buying a locked phone ran the risk of finding it rendered inoperable by new software updates. He said: “We don’t really understand why anyone would want to buy an unlocked phone. If you’re spending that amount of money on the phone and then unlocking it you run the risk of turning it into a useless brick.

“Every update that Apple releases reverts the phone to a locked state. We’re scratching our heads as to why people would want to run the risk of losing all that money.”

Apple’s exclusivity deals have already suffered challenges in two European countries. Orange, the provider that won the French exclusivity deal, has been forced to sell unlocked handsets in order to comply with French consumer law.

The firm sold 30,000 iPhones in the first five days of sales in France, but despite the network selling the unlocked phone for €749 (£540), €350 more than the two-year contract option, 20 per cent of purchasers opted for the unlocked version.

T-Mobile, who won the exclusivity rights in Germany, were forced to sell the iPhone unlocked after rival Vodafone obtained a court order. But on Tuesday the company managed to reverse the decision in a higher court.

Malam Tahun Baru, Dua Jalan Ditutup

Laporan: Choiruman

Jumat, 28-12-2007 | 18:43:06


BANJARMASIN, BPOST
- Mengantisipasi kemacetan luar biasa di jalan protokol Banjarmasin pada malam pergantian tahun, Satlantas Poltabes melakukan penutupan sejumlah ruas jalan.

Menurut Kasatlantas Poltabes Banjarmasin, AKP Teddi Mukmin Antoro, Jumat (28/12), jalan yang akan ditutup yakni sepanjang Jalan Lambung Mangkurat hingga Jalan Jenderal Sudirman samping Kantor Gubernur Kalsel.

Kedua jalan itu, lanjut Teddi, menjadi tempat warga menyambut tahun baru tanpa membawa kendaraan alias jalan kaki. Kebijakan itu diambil untuk memberi kenyamanan warga menyambut pergantian tahun tanpa harus terganggu lalu-lalang kendaraan.

Seperti diketahui, Jalan Lambung Mangkurat dan Jenderal Sudirman setiap malam pergantian tahun menjadi pusat berkumpulnya massa. Kondisinya demikian krodit karena antara kerumunan massa dengan lalu-lalang kendaraan menyatu.

Awas, Iklan Google Ditunggangi Trojan

Minggu, 23/12/2007 11:39 WIB
Fino Yurio Kristo - detikinet

Frankfurt
- Berhati-hatilah mengklik iklan Google, karena bisa jadi Anda akan diantarkan ke situs yang mengandung program jahat. Pasalnya, virus Trojan baru bernama Trojan,Qhost.WU ditengarai membajak teks iklan Google dan menggantinya dengan iklan dari provider lain. Virus ini diidentifikasi oleh vendor anti virus BitDefender.

Seperti dikutip detikINET dari VNunet, Minggu (23/12/2007), Trojan tersebut akan menginfeksi file host komputer korban. Menurut BitDefender, browser dari komputer yang telah terinfeksi kemudian akan mengakses iklan dari server yang berbeda, tidak dari Google.

"Hal ini adalah sesuatu yang serius. Pengguna terkena efek karena iklan atau link situs mungkin tercemar program jahat. Demikian juga bagi Webmaster karena Trojan ini akan menurunkan jumlah pengakses situs yang mungkin jadi sumber pendapatan mereka," tutur Attila Balasz, analis virus dari BitDefender.

Kabar baiknya, BitDefender menggolongkan ancaman Trojan ini dalam kategori penyebaran rendah meskipun resiko kerusakannya berada di tingkat menengah. Selain itu, software anti virus juga disebutkan mampu menghapus Trojan ini.

Sementara, pihak Google sendiri telah bertindak dengan membatalkan akun konsumen yang mengandung iklan menuju situs berbahaya tersebut.

( fyk / rou )

Siap-siap, iPhone Bakal Digempur Hacker


Kamis, 13/12/2007 11:00 WIB
Fransiska Ari Wahyu - detikinet

Jakarta - iPhone Apple harus bersiap menghadapi gempuran dahsyat dari para hacker. Pasalnya, tahun depan iPhone diprediksi akan menjadi target utama serangan para penjahat cyber. Demikian dikatakan perusahaan keamanan Arbor Network's Security and Engineering Response Team (ASERT).

Menurut ASERT, serangan tersebut dapat berwujud malware yang disusupkan dalam sebuah informasi yang tampaknya tidak berbahaya, gambar atau media lain yang sesungguhnya merupakan aksi berbahaya. iPhone memang memiliki daya tarik bagi para hacker sejak pertama kali diluncurkan tahun ini. Maka tak heran jika para pembajak berebut untuk menjadi yang pertama membajak platform baru tersebut.

Seperti dikutip detikINET dari ITNews, Kamis (13/12/2007), selain memprediksikan tentang target utama serangan hacker, perusahaan keamanan internet ini juga meramalkan bahwa akan ada peningkatan kejahatan di dunia maya oleh Cina.

"Tahun 2007 menjadi tahunnya para pembobol data, spyware, dan serangan ganas worm. Prediksi kami, tahun 2008 akan menjadi tahun serangan bagi iPhone, hacker Cina, spammer dan sebagainya," ujar Jose Nazario, ahli keamanan senior Arbor. ( dwn / dwn )

Awas, Iklan Google Ditunggangi Trojan

Minggu, 23/12/2007 11:39 WIB
Yurio Kristo - detikinet

Frankfurt - Berhati-hatilah mengklik iklan Google, karena bisa jadi Anda akan diantarkan ke situs yang mengandung program jahat. Pasalnya, virus Trojan baru bernama Trojan,Qhost.WU ditengarai membajak teks iklan Google dan menggantinya dengan iklan dari provider lain. Virus ini diidentifikasi oleh vendor anti virus BitDefender.

Seperti dikutip detikINET dari VNunet, Minggu (23/12/2007), Trojan tersebut akan menginfeksi file host komputer korban. Menurut BitDefender, browser dari komputer yang telah terinfeksi kemudian akan mengakses iklan dari server yang berbeda, tidak dari Google.

"Hal ini adalah sesuatu yang serius. Pengguna terkena efek karena iklan atau link situs mungkin tercemar program jahat. Demikian juga bagi Webmaster karena Trojan ini akan menurunkan jumlah pengakses situs yang mungkin jadi sumber pendapatan mereka," tutur Attila Balasz, analis virus dari BitDefender.

Kabar baiknya, BitDefender menggolongkan ancaman Trojan ini dalam kategori penyebaran rendah meskipun resiko kerusakannya berada di tingkat menengah. Selain itu, software anti virus juga disebutkan mampu menghapus Trojan ini.

Sementara, pihak Google sendiri telah bertindak dengan membatalkan akun konsumen yang mengandung iklan menuju situs berbahaya tersebut.

( fyk / rou )

Sudah Spam, Mencuri E-mail Pula


dikutip http://detikinet.com/

Jumat, 28/12/2007 11:36 WIB
Hidayat - detikinet

Jakarta - Pengirim spam kian menyebalkan. Bukan hanya menyebarkan e-mail promosi, kini pengirim spam juga gemar menyebarkan program jahat yang mencuri alamat e-mail.

Program jahat tipe worm bernama Zhelati.air ditemukan oleh perusahaan antivirus Trend Micro. Zhelati menyebar melalui spam dan bisa menginfeksi sistem operasi Windows XP, 98, ME, NT, 2000 serta Windwos Server 2003.

Zhelati akan berusaha mencuri alamat e-mail yang terdapat dalam komputer korbannya. Setelah berhasil, diduga alamat itu akan dikumpulkan dan digunakan sebagai target pengriman spam. Demikian seperti dikutip detikINET dari Softpedia, Jumat (28/12/2007).

Untuk menjaga diri dari serangan Zhelati, pengguna internet disarankan menghindari membuka file lampiran dari e-mail. Selain itu pengguna juga perlu berhati-hati saat mengunjungi situs yang mencurigakan.
( wsh / wsh )