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MySpace UK, as well as other music services, are struggling to renegotiate licensing deals with the Performance Rights Society, a royalty-collection group in Great Britain.

Google’s prior deal with the PRS involved an undisclosed flat fee for 10 million pieces of music, according to the blog PaidContent. The deal has now expired and talks have broken down.

Online radio service Pandora pulled out of Great Britain more than a year ago. The Oakland, Calif.-based company said at the time it was not offered an “economically workable license fee.”

MySpace may follow YouTube by muffling music in the United Kingdom, according to a published report.

U.K. publication The Guardian cited an anonymous source Tuesday who said “the launch of MySpace UK’s comprehensive music service later this year could be thrown into jeopardy.”

MySpace and YouTube representatives were not immediately available to comment.

Delve’s technology automatically generates the video content into different file sizes to feed the viewer best depending on his or her Internet connection. This makes the site more bandwidth-friendly than YouTube and other movie sites. The company also creates a text transcript from the uploaded videos’ sound tracks for better and more relevant search results.

According to the Associated Press, TroopTube was built with the help of Delve Networks, a four-month-old start-up that builds advanced tools for approving, sorting, and managing videos.

After banning YouTube and other social Web sites on all overseas computers in May, citing bandwidth and security issues, the U.S. military on Tuesday launched an alternative video-sharing Web site for troops, their families, and supporters.

Technically, you need to be a member of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, or National Guard to register with the site for uploading. However, there’s no enforcing mechanism to make sure that’s the case. There are also options to register as a family member or civilian friend.

The new site is called TroopTube and has a look and function very much like YouTube, with one major difference: a Pentagon employee screens each video upload for taste, copyright violations, and national security issues.

TroopTube limits videos to 5 minutes in length and 20MB in size, as opposed to 10 minutes and 1024MB of YouTube. Unlike YouTube, you can’t rate a video but just leave comments.

Tweets began appearing that said “Don’t Click” followed by a link. Naturally, people clicked. When they did so, a tweet was sent from their account with the same “Don’t Click” message and link.

(Credit:
Sunlight Labs)

Twitter stopped a clickjacking attack on Thursday that quickly spread because it took advantage of social engineering and peoples’ natural curiosity.

This graph shows how quickly the "Don't Click" tweets spread across Twitter.

“We patched the “don’t click” clickjacking attack 10 minutes ago. Problem should be gone,” John Adams, aka Netik, an operations engineer at Twitter, tweeted around 11 a.m. PST.

The clickjacking appeared to be harmless and just propagated itself, according to a post on the Sunlight Labs blog.

The code “creates an iframe of the page, hides it, and when you click that button and you’re logged into Twitter, it makes you post that message (even though you don’t see it). There’s not a bit of JavaScript involved. The only JavaScript on the page is their Google Analytics code,” the Sunlight Labs post says.

Researchers at security firm Finjan said on Wednesday that they have uncovered an underground botnet-leasing network where cyber criminals can pay $5 to $100 to install malware on 1,000 PCs for things like stealing data and sending spam.

More technical analysis is available on Finjan’s Malicious Code Research Center blog, including the fact that the command and control server is hosted in Texas, the registrant country is China and the “proxy” Web site that tunnels traffic to the command and control server is hosted in Krasnodar, Russia.

Here’s how it works: a cyber criminal creates a botnet by hiding malicious code in a legitimate Web site that is used to turn Web surfing PCs into zombies. The code, typically an iFrame, points the PCs to a separate Web site where they are then infected with a Trojan backdoor that reports back to the Golden Cash command and control server.

Customers pay for the ability to install different types of malware on the Golden Cash bots, which are recycled for new jobs and new customers afterward. Prices are higher for compromised PCs in western countries, the report said.

The Golden Cash network, dubbed “Your money-making machine” on its home page, sells access to botnets comprised of thousands of compromised PCs to cyber criminals for custom malware spreading jobs, according to issue 2 of the Cybercrime Intelligence Report for 2009.

(Credit:
Finjan)

In order to increase the number of botnets, the Golden Cash server installs an FTP (file transfer protocol) grabber on new zombies to steal credentials used by the computers to run Web sites, giving the server control over additional legitimate Web sites. Approximately 100,000 domains, including corporate domains from around the world, were identified among the stolen FTP credentials under Golden Cash’s control, according to the report.

“This advanced trading platform marks a new milestone in the cybercrime evolution,” Finjan said in a statement.

Home page of the Golden Cash network.

Glims Glims is, quite simply, my favorite Safari plug-in. Instead of providing you with just one function, the plug-in does it all. And it does it all very well.

Saft lets you block ads with ease.

Safari140 is listed in your File menu. Once you click the “Post to Twitter” option, Safari140 automatically populates your tweet box with the title of the page you’re on and the link. You can post that to your Twitter account or delete and tweet something else. It’s a quick way to post to Twitter. And it works quite well.

Safari140 Safari140 is a simple Safari plug-in that lets you add a quick update to Twitter.

After you download TabExpos?, you can start opening tabs and click the TabExpos? option. It will then display your open tabs in an Expos?-like format. Like the Mac’s Expos?, you can click on one of the windows and it will be brought to the front of the page.

Saft blocks ads. It also allows you to drag tabs around the tab bar, so you can arrange them the way you like. It even gives you the option of searching your bookmarks and history. But perhaps Saft’s best feature is its shortcuts option, which allows you to type in customized phrases to get you to a page quicker. So, instead of trying to find a review of the iPhone on CNET Reviews by using Google, you can simply go to the page once, create a shortcut for that page (say, “iPhone rvw”), and whenever you input that term into the address bar, Saft will automatically deliver the page.

3. TabExpos?: It takes a little getting used to, but once you start using TabExpos? every day, you’ll be happy with what you find.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

CosmoPod CosmoPod allows you to download videos from the Web, so you can view them in iTunes or on your
iPhone and iPod.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Saft Similar to Glims, Saft is the go-to plug-in if you want all kinds of neat features added to Safari.

Cooliris displays all kinds of great content in your browser.

Safari plug-ins

Aside from a beautiful design, Cooliris features a search box in the top right of the display that allows you to search for Google images, Hulu videos, Flickr pictures, and a variety of other multimedia content. You can bring one image to the front of the display or hold the left-click down and drag your way across the page. Cooliris helps you enjoy your browser in a different way. Check it out.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Before we get into those plug-ins, I should note that since combined Safari market share is only about 8 percent in the browser market, there aren’t nearly as many plug-ins for Safari as there are for Firefox, which commands more than 20 percent of the browser market. That said, I’ve found some that are worth trying out.

Inquisitor Inquisitor helps make Safari search just a little better. When it’s installed, you’ll see that the Safari search field to the right of the address bar now says “Inquisitor.” When you start searching in that field, a black box is displayed showing suggested results as you continue to type. If you like what you see, you can click on that box and you’ll be redirected to the desired page. After you’ve visited a page, Inquisitor will also tell you how often you’ve been there and the last time you visited it, so you don’t need to guess which site you were on.

TabExpose displays your open tabs like Mac OS X displays open applications.

After using Inquisitor on Safari, I was extremely impressed. The recommendations displayed quickly, the search was quick, and the reminders placed on those sites I’ve visited were extremely helpful. Inquisitor is a plug-in that you’ll definitely want to try.

Safari140 lets you quickly post content to your Twitter stream.

Inquisitor displays some of the best results for your query.

TabExpos? If you’re a Mac user, you might be using Expos? to help you sift through the many windows you have open. If you’re a Safari user, you might be happy to know that you can use the same basic function in your browser with TabExpos?.

After it’s installed, you’ll find that Glims automatically populates your Safari search field with several sites you can search, including Google, CNET, Facebook, ESPN, and more. There are 16 total sites you can search. Glims also suggests searches for you. When you go to the search engine of your choice, it displays thumbnail images of all the pages in the results. It even automatically restores your tabs at launch, so you don’t need to worry about losing time opening them back up. I could go on about Glims, but suffice it to say that it’s the best plug-in in this roundup.

2. Saft: It might be a little expensive, but Saft has an amazing list of features.

CosmoPod lets you download videos to your desktop through Safari.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Many people who use
Firefox know that there are some really great add-ons for the browser that help extend its functionality. But it’s not the only browser that does that. Apple’s
Safari browser also works with plug-ins that, like Firefox’s add-ons, make the browser a little more useful.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

My top 3

(Credit:
Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

(Credit:
Saft)

TabExpos? is offered as a free trial, but it will cost you about $9 if you want to keep it.

Unlike Glims, Saft’s main competitor, which you can have for free, Saft will cost you $12 to download. It might seem a little expensive, but it’s worth the price.

1. Glims: It has everything you could want. Plus, it’s free.

Glims shows thumbnail images of Google search results.

Cooliris Cooliris is a nice plug-in that displays videos and photos in Safari in a Cover Flow-like arrangement.

CosmoPod’s icon is placed in the Safari address bar. Whenever you get to a page containing Web video, you can click the CosmoPod button and the plug-in will automatically start downloading the video onto your desktop. You can even play the video while you download it. It couldn’t be a simpler (or more useful) app, but be aware that it will set you back about $10 if you want to keep it after the free trial.

But in 2008, NORAD officially moved to the nearby Peterson Air Force Base. Still, even to this day, it maintains an alternate command center at Cheyenne Mountain that it shares with U.S. Northern Command, or USNORTHCOM.

Now, the Air Force has provided me with this photo, of the ACC, which, since my very first step when planning Road Trip 2009 was to see about arranging a visit to Cheyenne Mountain, is a fitting way to formally close the book on the project.

(Credit:
U.S. Air Force)

Photos: Inside Cheyenne Mountain, America’s Fortress

NORAD’s alternate command center, at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, near Colorado Springs, Colo. While NORAD’s main operations recently moved to the nearby Peterson Air Force Base, it still maintains the ACC at Cheyenne Mountain.

The ACC, as seen in this photo, has certainly been “scrubbed,” meaning that personnel in the room were very careful to ensure that nothing sensitive was visible in the shot. Still, you can get a sense for what goes on in the room today. To be sure, it looks very little like the giant command center that was made so famous in “War Games.” Yet in today’s world, where everything is smaller, more compact, and more efficient than back in the early 1980s, it’s no wonder that a facility like this would have the feel of an office full of cubicles.

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Either way, you can tell that the ACC is a place that has the ability to run serious exercises, and, in the case of a real emergency, is capable of being used as NORAD’s main nerve center. Let’s hope that’s never necessary.

When I visited, I was allowed the rare privilege of bringing a camera with me, and I took a lot of pictures. But the pictures were mainly of the infrastructure of Cheyenne Mountain, and I wasn’t able to see the alternate command center (ACC).

During my recently completed Road Trip 2009 project, one of the biggest highlights was my visit inside the Cheyenne Mountain Complex at the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station. Recognizable from the movie, “War Games,” and the “Stargate” TV series, the complex was long popularly known as NORAD, or the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

A First Solar installation in Dimbach, Germany.

Specifically, a 250-megawatt solar power installation is planned for Desert Center in Riverside County, while a 300-megawatt installation is planned for an unspecified location in San Bernardino County. Both stations will consist of thin-film photovoltaic solar modules.

In March, First Solar acquired the rights to OptiSolar’s incomplete projects and land rights, after its competitor had trouble raising enough capital to complete its projects in development. That deal was estimated to be worth $400 million and predicted to bring First Solar $70 million in revenue for 2009, according to the First Solar CEO Michael Ahern.

“First Solar is an excellent partner in helping us achieve our goals. This agreement is good for our customers, for the industry, and for the environment,” Stuart Hemphill, Southern California Edison senior vice president, said in a statement.

(Credit:
First Solar)

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but once up-and-running the plants would be capable of producing about 1.2 billion kilowatt-hours of energy annually, according to Southern California Edison.

The contract, which is subject to the approval of the California Public Utilities Commission, has solar module maker First Solar completing two solar stations by 2015 that together would create 550-megawatt generation capacity.

The deal is one of a number that have been announced in keeping with California’s goal to have 20 percent of its energy supplied by renewable resources by 2010–and, if extending legislation is passed, 33 percent by 2020. In February, Southern California Edison announced a contract for seven solar generation plants with BrightSource Energy that if completed could power 845,000 homes.

This latest deal is also more evidence in favor of analysts’ predictions that First Solar will be among the solar tech companies that make it through the recession.

Southern California Edison has signed a deal under which First Solar will build two solar power generation stations with the potential to provide electricity to 170,000 homes, the utility giant said Tuesday.

In a reversal, Microsoft says it will now charge all small businesses an annual domain registration fee, even those companies it had promised free Web site registrations for life.

“Yes, it is a change,” Microsoft said in a statement to CNET News. “As you know, we made a decision in February 2008 to begin charging $14.95 (per) year for custom domain name renewals for new customers. Now, we’re asking all customers to pay this same fee once their domain comes up for renewal.”

However, Microsoft notes that while the Web site will transfer, other data could be lost.

The Office Live Small Business tools date back to the earliest days of Microsoft’s Live push, first announced in late 2005 and released in final form in November 2006.

Microsoft did say that the price is quite competitive and noted that the majority of its Office Live small business services are still offered for free. Those that want a Web site for free have the option of moving their site from a custom domain and onto their own portion of the Office Live domain.

The move comes as Microsoft is shifting more of its online attention toward bringing the full Office suite on to the Web, as opposed to ancillary services. Free, browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote are coming next year as part of Office 2010.

Starting October 1, all customers will have to pay $14.95 a year to renew their custom Web address. Microsoft offers Web site registration as part of its Office Live Small Business service. In some ways, it’s understandable, given that Microsoft has to pay fees each year in order to keep renewing the domains.

“All e-mail accounts on the expired domain name will be automatically removed and e-mail messages will not be saved,” Microsoft said on its Web site, adding a link to a page offering methods of backing up such data.

However, the move does mean the software maker is going back on a promise it made last year. As part of a series of changes made in February 2008, the company said that new customers of Office Live Small Business would have to pay for domain renewals after the first year, but promised that early customers of the services would get their domains registered for free “in perpetuity.”

In a statement, Microsoft acknowledged the shift.

With few exceptions, like mammography, most radiologic testing offers net negative results because there is little high-level evidence that cumulative exposure can produce real harm, such as cancer caused by testing, according to Dr. Michael Lauer of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Md., in an accompanying article, “Elements of Danger–The Case of Medical Imaging.”

(Credit:
Steven Fruitsmaak)

Lauer adds that these tests should be subjected to rigorous clinical trials and that physicians should offer radiologic imaging with the same “humility” as when offering experimental treatments, taking a careful history of the patient to determine the cumulative dose of radiation already received: “If we began a national conversation about the dangers of ionizing radiation, it might cause enough discomfort to stimulate demand for high-quality evidence our patients deserve.”

Myocardial perfusion imaging alone accounts for 22 percent of the radiation dose from all study procedures, and CT scans of the abdomen, pelvis, and chest make up for about 38 percent, according to the study. Women and the elderly are exposed to the highest levels; for instance, while only 50 percent of adults ages 18 to 34 underwent a procedure, 86 percent of adults ages 60 to 64 did.

Unlike the exposure of workers in health care and the nuclear industry, which can be regulated, the exposure of patients cannot be restricted, largely because of the inherent difficulty in balancing the immediate clinical need for these procedures, which is frequently substantial, against the stochastic risks of cancer that would not be evident for years, if at all.

Almost 1 million adults between the ages of 18 and 64 in five U.S. cities took part in the study between 2005 and 2007, with 655,613 of the adults undergoing one or more imaging procedures associated with radiation exposure. This puts the mean effective dose at 2.4 millisievert (mSv) per person per year, but that includes a wide range of differentiation, often along gender, age, and geographic lines.

This abdominal CT scan reveals extensive cyst formation over both kidneys and the liver of an adult.

Medical-imaging procedures such as computed-tomography (CT) and myocardial-perfusion scans are up drastically from just 15 years ago, according to a new study published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

While most adults received less than 3 mSv annually, “effective doses of moderate, high, and very high density were observed in a sizable minority,” according to the study. (Just more than 19 percent of those enrolled were defined as having “moderate” exposure, with just less than 2 percent having “high” exposure.)

CT scans alone are up four-fold, according to the study. These “worrisome” radiation doses–as many as 2 percent of cancers could be attributed to radiation during CT scans alone–justify more rigorous scientific scrutiny, according to lead investigator Dr. Reza Fazel at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta:

If as many as 2 percent of cancers could be attributed to radiation during CT scans alone, as recent estimates suggest, I’m surprised that not enough discomfort has been caused already.

The installation, to be completed in early 2010, will include a communication system between the appliances and Masdar City’s utility grid that will allow the appliances to transmit real-time data and run nonessential functions during off-peak usage hours. Since Masdar City is not scheduled to be fully inhabited until 2013, the city’s grid will simulate peak usage strains in order to test the system.

A smart meter on a refrigerator at GE's labs.

A refrigerator equipped with a “smart” meter, for example, communicates with the local power utility. That refrigerator then waits to run its automatic defrost cycle until it has received a signal from the electrical grid that it’s an off-peak period.

Masdar City is under construction in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. It aims to be the first carbon-neutral and zero-waste city. It’s also home to the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. The post-graduate research center, a collaborator with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, began offering courses and research facilities in alternative energy and sustainable technology for graduate students in September.

Abu Dhabi’s planned green community, Masdar City, will be testing General Electric’s smart appliances in a handful of residences and coordinating them with its power grid, GE said Monday.

GE’s Consumer & Industrial division announced in October 2008 that it was developing home appliances that could ease the strain on electrical grids by coordinating with a grid’s off-peak hours to perform flexible functions.

The two-year pilot project with GE appliances will include refrigerators, stoves, and European-style washer/dryer machines that run on 220volt/50HZ platforms and will be installed in 10 residences.

Previously, GE began testing its smart appliances in select homes in Louisville, Ky., in conjunction with the Louisville Gas and Electric Company.

(Credit:
Martin LaMonica/CNET)