Business

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Mike Benbow, Business Editor benbow@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, February 24, 2008 Technology notebook T-Mobile to test out new landline service in Seattle and Dallas Cell-phone carrier T-Mobile USA is going to try its hand at being a landline phone company. It has started offering wired phone service for $10 a month, plus taxes and fees, to its wireless subscribers in the Seattle and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. The service, called Talk Forever Home Phone, provides unlimited local and domestic long distance calls. It will piggyback on the customer's high-speed Internet connection, in much the same way voice-over-Internet providers like Vonage Holdings Corp. sell phone service. Customers will need to buy T-Mobile's Internet router for $50 when signing up. The router has two phone jacks where standard corded or cordless home phones can be plugged in. An existing home number can be transferred to the new service. Subscribers will also need to be signed up for a wireless plan costing at least $39.99 a month. In a similar vein, T-Mobile last summer launched the HotSpot AtHome program, which allows subscribers to place calls over their Internet connection using special Wi-Fi-equipped cell phones. That plan also costs $10 a month for unlimited calls. Hackers recruit for local language skill: Wanted: computer virus writers. Must be fluent in Mandarin. Or Russian. Or Portuguese. These hacker help wanted ads are appearing on underground Internet channels as malicious code designers increasingly want programmers with foreign-language skills to help launch country-specific attacks, security vendor McAfee Inc. said in a report Thursday. Hackers want to craft compelling and grammatically correct Web pages and spam e-mails -- which are crucial in fooling people to download viruses or reveal personal information like credit card numbers, according to the report. By localizing their attacks, hackers can better target software and sites popular in specific countries -- such as peer-to-peer network applications in Japan, online gaming sites in China and banks in Brazil. They can also limit their attacks to countries where law enforcement is more likely to be lax. Brain-reading game headset coming soon: Hands cramping up from too many video games? How about controlling games with your thoughts instead? Later this year, Emotiv Systems Inc. plans to start selling the $299 EPOC neuroheadset to let you do just that. The headset's sensors are designed to detect conscious thoughts and expressions as well as "nonconscious emotions" by reading electrical signals around the brain, says the company, which demonstrated the wireless gadget at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The company, which unveiled a prototype last year, says the headset can detect emotions such as anger, excitement and tension, as well as facial expressions and cognitive actions like pushing and pulling objects. The headset will be sold with a game developed by Emotiv, but it can also be made to work with existing PC games, the company said. Users will also be able to access an online portal to play more games, chat or upload their own content such as music or photos. Service taps users to help filter sites: You can now help decide what Web sites your boss should block. A new service from OpenDNS lets users tag sites under categories such as "gambling," "hate" and "social networking." Others can weigh in on whether they agree with those classifications. If there are enough votes, the site gets added to a system used by companies, schools and other organizations to block access. OpenDNS says its approach is better than commercial software because more people are reviewing sites and can do so quickly as new ones pop up. OpenDNS already has a filtering system for "phishing" scam sites using a similar, community-based approach. It contracts with a vendor, St. Bernard Software, to filter pornography sites, and those sites will not be part of the new tagging program. The system is free to use. The filters are part of OpenDNS' main service providing the directories necessary to translate a Web site's domain name into its actual numeric Internet address. OpenDNS estimates it has more than 4 million users worldwide. From Herald news services

1. Teen dies after Granite Falls crash 2. Bikini coffee stands to be regulated as adult entertainment 3. Sultan brothers plead guilty in death of rival gang member 4. Body found after house catches fire north of Bothell 5. Gregoire unveils budget with deep cuts, will press for tax hikes 6. Grief and gratitude expressed for four slain officers 7. Two teenagers hurt in crash near Granite Falls 8. Friends and family honor Clearview couple who loved always 9. Roe appointed interim county prosecutor 10. Arlington's budget is ‘bare bones' 2 - Top 10 Stories Most Talked about 3 - Top 10 Stories Most Emailed

• Zambian woman thanks students for their help • Food banks see rise in use • ‘Making Spirits Bright’ in Edmonds • Wolfpack takes aim at state • Seahawks help students smile • 95 and still volunteering • Sno-King joined by local TV king • Veterans back for Wildcats • Lynnwood seeks to plug $2 million budget gap • Boeing will build, flight test and deliver 787s in South Carolina to spe ... • Snohomish County EDC promoting job growth in key industry clusters • $4 million grant to advance brain tumor research has Everett links • Providence medical center construction tops off its 12-story steel frame ... • Tulalip affordable housing project to be financed by KeyBank, Raymond Ja ... • Arlington's Lak of Ink has a growing following for Luke Kooyman's creati ... • Bank of the Northwest formed • Cascade Bank earns $1.6 million