|
|
A vicious computer virus masquerading as a benevolent holiday greeting is tearing its way through the world’s email inboxes. The so-called “Reeezak” worm is capable of outright destroying personal computers, if recipients are foolish enough to activate it by clicking on the associated attachment. Reeezak can delete all files from users’ Windows system directory, in addition to deactivating some keys on the keyboard. That makes computers pretty much unusable. The worm, which spreads by emailing itself to a computer’s Microsoft Outlook email addresses, is carried in a message titled “Happy New Year.” The malicious attachment is called “Christmas.exe,” which misleads some recipients into thinking it’s a Christmas card. Computer users are likely to be unusually susceptible to the worm right about now, given that they’re expecting holiday greetings from people they know.
Music searches are tops for 2001 at Ask Jeeves
In spite of, or perhaps because of, the recession, war in Afghanistan and terrorist attacks, the most frequently input search terms in Ask Jeeves concern song lyrics. Specifically and in order, people wanted lyrics from Eminem, *NSync, Shaggy, The Beatles and Nelly. The plain-English search site reports that the second-most-popular search query was “Where can I find a phone number?” followed by No. 3, “Where can I find a currency converter?” and No. 4, “Where can I find driving directions?” Recession-related concerns did make the top-10, however, with No. 7, “Where can I find information about writing a résumé?” and No. 9, “Where can I find cheap airfares?” Oddly, the 10th-most-popular query for the year was “How can I tell if I'm pregnant?” In terms of searches for news items, Sept. 11 led, followed by No. 2, terrorism, No. 3, Nostradamus, and No. 4, Osama bin Laden. George W. Bush came in at No. 15, just below foot-and-mouth disease. To compile the list, Ask Jeeves analyzed searches from some 16 million site visitors.
Heavy traffic kills AdCritic.com
A victim of its own success? AdCritic, a web site that archived popular TV commercials, has shut down. A message on the site’s home page says, “We became so popular so fast that we couldn't stay afloat.” AdCritic drew some 35,000 visitors a day, with about 300,000 daily page views. What felled the site was the high cost of storing the streaming media and delivering the sound and video to visitors. AdCritic did not charge visitors, and its advertising revenue was insufficient for its high overhead. The site attracted mass attention for archiving Super Bowl TV spots. It was also a clearinghouse for currently popular commercials and quirky and controversial ads, such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ pro-spaying ad, which featured animatronic humping felines.
Playboy Playmate pics on your mobile
Where there's a will, there's porno. Pin-up provider Playboy has announced it will make photos of its models available for download, for a fee, onto mobile phones next year. At first the technological limitations of the phones will only allow black-and-white images. But more advanced phones, to be released into the market in late 2002, will permit the glossies in all their splendor on two-inch screens. The company had no trouble selling the idea to telecom operators, who are eager to include new services that might ensnare more customers. Users in Belgium will be the first to download the images on their "handys," as mobile phones are called in many other countries, while British and American customers will have to wait just a bit longer. Playboy officials remain bullish about their prospects. "Our research shows that we can anticipate approximately one million downloads in the first year alone," said Playboy.com president Larry Lux in a statement.
December 20, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
Printer-Friendly
Version | Send
to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact
Us
