Mitsubishi shows production electric car, announces pricing

Mitsubishi is ready to put its i-Miev on the road, but this woman will have a 30-minute wait to charge up her car.

(Credit: Mitsubishi)

Not to be outdone by Subaru's earlier announcement of the Stella electric car, Mitsubishi gave full details on the production i-Miev electric car, including sales volume plans and pricing.

Mitsubishi has been aggressive in pushing its electric car plans by putting its i-Miev into test fleet operations and showing it off at auto shows. The company even let journalists drive one at the Detroit auto show.

The i-Miev fits four passengers for zero-emission driving.

(Credit: Mitsubishi)

Mitsubishi announced that it would begin selling the i-Miev electric car in late July, matching the timing of Subaru's Stella electric car sales. But the i-Miev will initially only be available to corporations and government groups. Sales to private buyers will not commence until April 2010.

Unlike Subaru, which will only sell 170 Stella electric cars, Mitsubishi is planning on producing 1,400 i-Mievs for corporate and government lessees. The i-Mievs will go for 4,380,000 yen, or about $45,300 at current exchange rates. Japanese buyers of the i-Miev would qualify for a $14,300 subsidy for electric vehicles from the Japanese government.

The i-Miev uses a lithium ion battery pack and a 47-kilowatt electric motor to get a range of 100 miles. Recharging the batteries from a quick charger takes 30 minutes, while recharging from a 200 volt outlet takes seven hours. Regenerative brakes help recharge the battery pack during driving.

Mitsubishi has designed the i-Miev with all the amenities of a production vehicle, including electrically powered climate control with air conditioning. All exterior lighting, including headlights, are LED. Mitsubishi specifies an optional navigation system with a 7-inch display and a solid-state drive for map storage.

The company has even worked out which color schemes will be available at launch.

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Federal Trade Commission shuts down rogue ISP

3FN's Website before taken down.

(Credit: Mhvt)

The Internet might just have gotten a little safer.

The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday that it had Pricewert LLC shut down by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division.

Pricewert is a San Jose, Calif.-based Internet service provider that allegedly recruits, intentionally and actively participates in the distribution of spam, child pornography, and other harmful electronic content.

Generally, the Commission files a complaint when it has "reason to believe" that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest.

The court issued a temporary restraining order to prohibit Pricewert's illegal activities and required its upstream Internet providers and data centers to cease providing services. Pricewert is now completely off the Internet. The order also freezes Pricewert's assets.

According to the FTC's complaint, Pricewert, which does business under a variety of names including 3FN and APS Telecom, recruits and colludes with criminals seeking to distribute illegal, malicious, and harmful electronic content over the Internet. The content reportedly includes child pornography, spyware, viruses, Trojan horses, phishing, botnet command and control servers, and pornography featuring violence, bestiality, and incest.

Spam is one of the biggest online nuisances.

(Credit: Jackmedia)

Pricewert allegedly advertised its services via a forum established to facilitate communication between criminals. In addition, the company shielded its criminal clientele by either ignoring take-down requests issued by the online security community, or shifting its criminal elements to other Internet protocol addresses it controlled to evade detection, according to the FTC.

The FTC also alleges that Pricewert engaged in the deployment and operation of botnets--large networks of computers that have been compromised. Transcripts of instant-message logs filed with the district court show Pricewert's senior employees discussing the configuration of botnets with "bot herders."

In its filings with the district court, the FTC estimates that more than 4,500 malicious software programs are controlled by command-and-control servers hosted by 3FN. This malware includes programs capable of keystroke logging, password and data stealing, programs with hidden backdoor remote control activity, and programs involved in spam distribution.

This case was brought to light with the assistance of multiple agencies and people including NASA's Office of Inspector General; the Department of Justice's Computer Crime Division; Gary Warner, director of research in computer forensics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; the Shadowserver Foundation; the Spamhaus Project; and Symantec.

Talking to CNET News, Vincent Weafer, vice president of Symantec Security Response, said that this crackdown, more than anything, sent a message to the bad guys that now corporations and law enforcement are more willing to work together to fight illegal online activities.

In regard to how much safer this would make the Internet, Vincent said it would take time to find out but it likely won't change much in terms of how many spams you'll receive a day, as there are many other companies like Pricewert around the world. Symantec has been working closely with law enforcement by providing intelligence via its 240,000 Internet activity sensors located in 200 countries around the world.

The court will hold a preliminary injunction hearing on June 15.

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Sony Ericsson plans to make all phones green

Swedish-Japanese phone maker Sony Ericsson on Thursday announced targets for reducing CO2 emissions.

The initiative, part of its pre-existing GreenHeart program launched in September 2008, is intended to reduce emissions by 20 percent across internal operations and by 15 percent over the full life cycle of its products by 2015.

Sony Ericsson plans to roll its green strategy into its entire portfolio over time, which is different from focusing on individual green products, such as Nokia's Green 3110 or Motorola's Renew W233.

"We would rather have mainstream models that we sell in large quantities than one particular green model," Jon Mulder, who heads the company's product marketing in North America, told CNET News. "Our customers should first and foremost be able to buy a great phone, and--by the way--find that it's a green phone, too".

One of three new products launching under Sony Ericsson's GreenHeart program is the C901, shown here.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET)

Methods for cutting emissions include providing e-manuals for products to reduce paper usage, and using smaller packaging to decrease the transport-related CO2 footprint, recycled plastics, low-power chargers, and water-based paint that uses local water in the manufacturing process.

Sony Ericsson is launching three products initially: the C901 GreenHeart, a new version of the Cybershot phone C901; Naite, a basic GSM and 3G phone; and the MH300 GreenHeart headset.

Sony Ericsson's approach is pragmatic and low profile, Mulder said. There will be no GreenHeart logo on the hardware, only indications in some of the software.

Sony Ericsson was ranked No. 3 out of 17 manufacturers of electronics in Greenpeace's latest version of its Guide to Greener Electronics from March 2009, earning 5.7 out of 10 maximum points.

The company slipped from its No. 1 position with 5.1 points in June 2008.

In March the same year, Greenpeace awarded Sony Ericsson's T650 the greenest rating among 37 products at the Cebit international electronics fair in Hannover, Germany.

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EFF tracking policy changes at Google, Facebook and others

The Electronic Frontier Foundation on Thursday launched a new online site that keeps track of the policy changes at popular Web sites as specified in their terms of service.

The EFF's TOSBack site lists the terms of service and offers alerts when the terms of service on tracked sites change. It features a real-time feed of changes and side-by-side before and after comparisons with highlights in different colors for text that has been removed or added.

The EFF's new TOSBack tracker site highlights changes companies make to their terms of service.

(Credit: Electronic Frontier Foundation)

The sites being tracked include Google's Blogger, Facebook, YouTube, eBay, Apple, WordPress, Data.Gov, and GoDaddy.

"'Terms of Service' policies on websites define how Internet businesses interact with you and use your personal information," the EFF said in a statement. "But most web users don't read these policies--or understand that the terms are constantly changing."

Companies can change their terms of service at any time, for any reason and without any notification to users. This site will give people an easy way to keep track of policy changes.

Many TOS changes are minor, but companies often make changes under the radar that could have serious consequences for user privacy.

Facebook earlier this year modified its terms of use to give it a perpetual license to use deleted user content. The company later backed down and returned to its former terms of service after a user revolt and the threat that privacy advocates would file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

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Google Mobile App arrives on Nokia S60

(Credit: Google)

Nokia S60 users can finally bypass the browser and start Google searches from the same application that most other smartphone users have been using for months. The free Google Mobile App has arrived on Nokia S60 phones.

As with CNET Editors' Choice winner Google Mobile App on BlackBerry, this Symbian build places a search bar at its heart. The search bar supports search suggestions, history, and edits to the history, all of which saves you typing on subsequent searches for similar topics. Submitted searches return results in the default browser.

The search bar is flanked on the top by icons for Gmail, Google Maps for Mobile, YouTube, and Picasa Web albums. Clicking either of the first three will launch each separate native app if you've got it installed, or will install it for the first time if you don't have it. A 'more" button fast tracks you to online versions of Goog 411, Google Reader, Google SMS, and Orkut.

The final feature in this approachable and endlessly useful app is the My Location feature that uses the phone's GPS or cell tower triangulation to guess your general neighborhood. With it activated, Google can automatically localize your searches, which takes typing your city or zip code off your hands.

You can launch Google Mobile App from Nokia's Today screen by pressing the phone's "back" key. Users can opt out by disabling the quick launch hot key in the app's Setting menu.

Get Google Mobile App for Nokia S60 by visiting m.google.com from your mobile browser, or mobile.google.comfrom a desktop.

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Apple update supports new Canon, Nikon SLRs

Canon's Rebel T1i

(Credit: CNET)

Apple released a software update Thursday to let its Aperture 2, iPhoto '08, and iPhoto '09 photo-editing software handle raw images from three newer SLRs, Canon's Rebel T1i, Nikon's D5000, and Olympus' E-30.

Higher-end cameras offer raw image formats that provide more flexibility and quality than JPEG, but the raw file formats are proprietary, vary from one camera model to another, and require companies such as Apple and Adobe Systems to release a constant stream of updates. Microsoft relies on camera manufacturers to supply software for Windows that can interpret the raw data, which is taken directly from camera image sensors without in-camera processing.

Camera makers typically supply their own software for handling raw images, but many people prefer their own photo software.

Further detail on Apple's support is available on Apple's raw camera support page.

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Fring 3.40 merges overpopulated contacts list

Fring's latest update for Symbian phones introduces the option of a merged buddy list to its mobile VoIP communication app (download links below). Merging eliminates the duplicates you often find when a contact appears for the same friend on multiple IM accounts. When you view a friend's profile after merging, Fring shows you which service your friend is signed into at any given time.

This bit of space-saving housekeeping isn't automatic, however. After highlighting the buddy's name, you'll need to select "manage buddies" and then choose to merge them. You'll need to seek out and select your friend's other aliases before saving.

Fring 3.40 also lets you update your profile picture, status, nickname, and mood from within the mobile application. All this occurs through the profile editing menu item in the Options list.

Friend suggestions are also new to the multinetwork IM and voice app. When Fring discovers that a contact from your address book or from one of its supported IM or social networks is also a registered Fring user, it will suggest you add them and will fill in their profile details. Fring's friend finder can be found in the buddy management menu in the program options.

While Symbian phones were the first to get Fring's new functionality this week, Windows Mobile and iPhone users can expect the same integration next.

Download Fring 3.40 from Download.com:
Fring 3.40 for Symbian 9.4
Fring 3.40 for Symbian 9.3
Fring 3.40 for Symbian 9.2
Fring 3.40 for Symbian 9.1

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