Amazon Kindle DRM Broken, eBooks Set Free

An Israeli hacker going by the handle “Labba” claims he has found a method which breaks the copyright protection on the Kindle, allowing the user to transfer eBooks purchased on the device as a PDF to another device. Kindles use a proprietary format “.azw” which prevents transfer to another device.

Not all books for Kindle include DRM — Amazon leaves it up to the publisher to decide whether or not they would like to protect their content. It is likely the company will rush to patch the hole opened by the hacker, although it was not immediately responding to requests for comment Wednesday.

The hack was developed as an entry to a contest on hacking.org.il, where participants were tasked with finding a way to open up the AZW format to allow it to be read on other devices. The hack took about eight days for Labba to complete. The hack is actually an application that is installed onto the device, which then converts the files to the mobi format. Be forwarned though that Amazon has apparently already pushed out code for the Kindle that breaks these scripts, although it is reported it does not auto-update the device.

My CES Wish List

Most of my time at the moment is being eating up by preparations for two annual events involving shiny new toys. One of these events is this Thursday. The other one is in a couple of weeks: It’s the mammoth Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where I’ll head to learn what the tech industry thinks is going to matter in 2010. (Well, all of the tech industry except Apple, that is.)

In the meantime, I’ve been reflecting on what I hope I’ll encounter at the show. I share some of them in my newest WePC.com contribution, Six Things I’d Like to See at CES (But Probably Won’t!). Check it out–and while you’re at WePC, you might want to investigate how to get a shot at winning a free PC.

Oh, and any of you going to CES?

Nexus One Specs

Engadget has what are allegedly detailed specs for Google’s Nexus One Android phone. (They look nice, but not particularly enthralling–although it’s supposed to have an OLED screen, which is a pro.) Engadget’s tipster says that the phone will be invite-only at first (like Gmail or Google Voice, I guess). It’s also said to run a flavor of wireless connectivity that only does 3G on T-Mobile in the U.S.–on AT&T, you’d drop back to EDGE. That sounds like a major limitation, and one that essentially makes this a T-Mobile phone, whether or not it’s sold unlocked and/or without a subsidy or contract…

The Santaland Patents

Here’s a story I did a year ago, but once again it’s as timely as it’s ever going to be. The Santaland Patents: The Most Festive Inventions of All Time.

An Old Technology-Related TV Commercial Christmas

It’s two days before Christmas, and I’m feeling festive. Which is all the reason I need to share some holiday-themed electronics commercials with you. Ho, ho, ho…

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BlackBerry Outage

What, another BlackBerry outage?

Ladies and Gentleman, It’s Game Awards Time

It’s time for one of Technologizer’s most hallowed traditions–actually, come to think of it, it may be the only hallowed tradition we have so far. For the second year, our gaming correspondent, Jared Newman, is commemorating the year that was in gaming by doling out some awards. We don’t have a famous venue, celebrity presenters, or exclusive afterparties, but we promise no long-winded speeches or Beyonce-related commandeering of the festivities.

And you can come as you are–just click here to view the Technologizer’s Second Annual Game Awards slideshow.

Technologizer’s Second Annual Game Awards

Tail between its legs, the video games industry tried to retreat from 2009. Heavy hitters like Splinter Cell: Conviction, Bioshock 2, Bayonetta and Heavy Rain were pushed back to next year, ostensibly to allow more development time, but more likely to avoid competition from Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3: ODST during a time of frugal gaming. Despite it all, there were plenty of games to love no matter what genre you’re into. I’ve got my favorites, upon which I’ve continued the tradition of bestowing arbitrary superlatives instead of arbitrary numerical rankings. Read on to find out what games were Technologizer’s best of 2010.

iPhone App Store Flirts With an NES Emulator, Briefly

For a brief period last night, iPhone owners without jailbroken phones had access to a fully-functional Nintendo emulator. I’m kicking myself for not spotting 9 to 5 Mac’s story sooner, but it looks like the app got pulled very shortly, maybe a couple hours, after the news broke.

The app was called Nescaline, and its creator is Jonathan Zdziarski, who wrote iPhone Forensics. The $7 app included several homebrew games, but also allowed users to download more games by pointing the app to the URLs of ROM files. On his Web site, Zdziarski says an Apple rep told him the app was removed because it was an emulator. “Ironically, Apple currently has several emulators in the AppStore, so I am going with the belief that someone (likely Nintendo) probably pressured them about this particular application,” he wrote.

He’s right about the App Store having other emulators, but it’s more complicated than that. Currently, it’s possible to purchase C64, which lets you play classic Commodore 64 games, but it only found permanent footing on the iPhone after some drama involving the app’s BASIC interpreter and the ability to hack into it. More importantly, C64 maker Manomio has the rights to the games it sells. Nescaline, by contrast, opened the door to illegal game downloads.

It’s certainly possible that Apple’s trying to avoid legal hot water — Nokia attracted some unwanted attention by advertising that capability on the N900 — but I also think Apple is inclined to reject NES emulators in order to protect the App Store’s business model. When you have games that can make $1 million per month, why give people a bountiful source of free, classic games?

Given that Apple and Nintendo are now competing, I think an official NES iPhone app is unlikely. As for why Nescaline was approved in the first place, I’m thinking it was a simple blunder. I doubt Zdziarski was the first developer to submit a Nintendo emulator.

comScore: Blizzard a Boon to Online Shopping

Research firm comScore said Tuesday that the blizzard that socked the Northeastern United States with one to three feet of snow did not prevent holiday shoppers from going about their business: they just did it online instead. Retailers pulled in some $767 million in sales on December 19 and 20, up 13 percent from last year.

The full week also proved to be profitable: a one week sales record was set with shoppers spending some $6.8 billion online, up six percent from a year ago. Good news for retailers, some of which expressed concern that the timing of the snowstorm could have put a serious damper on what is traditionally the biggest shopping weekend before Christmas.

“Consumers have clearly continued to spend online later into the season this year,” comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said. “Retailers have been very aggressive with late season promotions while informing consumers that they could still get their purchases shipped in time for Christmas, and these tactics seem to be paying off.”

What also could be helping is anecdotal evidence that retailers are not panicking like they did last year, cutting prices early which in turn cuts into profits. I’ve heard quite a few shoppers complain that the deals “just aren’t as good as last year.” Well, this year retailers have gotten a lot smarter in managing inventories, thus meaning less overstock to get rid of at the end of the season.

So here’s a question for our Northeast US readers. Did you stay in and shop online?

Microsoft Loses Word Court Case

Microsoft has lost the court case brought by a small Canadian software company over the custom XML feature in Word, and must remove it from Word by January 11th. According to Mary-Jo Foley at ZDNet, Microsoft’s got a strategy for removing the offending functionality from Word 2007 via a patch. I wonder how many companies depend on Word’s custom XML–and how they’ll feel about it disappearing?

Obama Taps Former Bush Adviser to Fill Cybersecurity Post

The White House said Tuesday that it had appointed former Bush cybersecurity adviser Howard Schmidt as Obama’s new Chief of Cybersecurity. Schmidt would serve on the National Security staff, and would work closely with the President’s economic advisers to ensure efforts do not hinder economic progress.

“Howard is one of the world’s leading authorities on computer security, with some 40 years of experience in government, business and law enforcement,” Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Assistant to the President John Brennan said.

Obama is acting on a promise made in May when he announced the creation of the post. The Adminstration sees cybersecurity as vital to national security, and it makes sense: increasingly the country’s enemies are turning to digital means to launch their attacks.

The recent example of Iraqi insurgents hacking into our Predator drones is certainly a good example of why we need to get more serious with the threats we face in cyberspace.

With the appointment, the White House is also making an effort to get the citizenry to become proactive in keeping themselves secure. A few boilerplate suggestions have been posted to the White House blog.

“Cybersecurity matters to all of us – and it’s our shared responsibility to mitigate the threats in this space,” spokesperson Macon Phillips wrote.

Schmidt’s appointment is also seen as a compromise between factions who have debated the course the Administration should take. Some are worried that extra regulation could harm innovation, while others are looking for swift action to prevent future attacks.

Putting someone in with business and government experience makes sense. Schmidt had served in executive positions involving security at both eBay and Microsoft prior to his involvement with the Bush Administration. Thus, he will have experience with both sides of the argument and may be able to bring everyone together easier than a political hack or some business leader with no government experience could.

5Words: Cheap iPhones for the French

In France, iPhone price competition.

Duke Nukem, vaporware’s patron saint.

Back up Twitter, Facebook, Gmail.

Facebook’s status trends of 2009.

Sony’s wireless reader is shipping.

Linux gets multi-touch input.

Just how open is Google?

Top ten video game stories.

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Wired’s Vaporware List

Wired, as is its wont, has released a list of the year’s biggest vaporware. It’s good reading as always. But the one tech-related product I’ve spent the most time sitting around and waiting for isn’t on the list, possibly because its vaporous nature isn’t the developer’s fault. It is, of course, Google Voice for the iPhone…

China Requiring Websites to Register or Face Blocking

New regulations handed down by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology over the weekend seem to suggest China may be creating a “whitelist” of approved websites. The Ministry said it is now requiring all websites to register, or face possible blocking by the authorities.

China’s latest censorship move seems born out of an effort to limit pornography, however critics seem to see porn being used as an excuse for broader net controls. Whether or not this extends to websites based outside of the country is unclear, although Chinese media is reporting that it will. If it goes through, the strategy would be a complete reversal of the way Chinese Internet regulators were previously doing business.

Under the previous system, websites were blocked on a case by case basis as soon as the Ministry learned about them. Here, everybody seems blacklisted first — and have to prove their non-subversiveness before being allowed into the walled garden that is the Chinese Internet.

The idea may be dead in the water: China could hurt itself economically as those who use the Internet to trade goods may find themselves unable to do business if the foreign site does not register. Additionally, the country does have a fairly long record of coming up with half-baked censorship schemes that are either not enforced or reversed after international outcry. A whitelist is certainly something that would cause the latter, I’d venture to guess.

China also last week limited .cn registrations to business users, Time reported last Friday. As far as I know, it would be the only TLD where private citizens are prohibited from purchasing domains. I wonder if ICANN would have something to say about that.

Facebook Trojan Brazen but Benign

This past weekend, a trojan mimicked Facebook’s native functionality and sent notifications on the user’s behalf. While Facebook says that the application was harmless, its ability to break through a boundary of trust on the platform alarmed me.

Continue reading this story…