Kaspersky Lab has uncovered a scheme using a greeting card Web site to specifically target financial information from customers of a Mexican bank. The spam was first identified by Kaspersky Lab on the morning of February 19 in the form of a Trojan masked to look like a standard greeting card email. When recipients of the fake card click on the link, a malicious file is downloaded on to their computer.

Once this malicious file is launched, it modifies DNS entries on the user’s computer, so that if they attempt to access the Mexican Banamex banking site through standard addresses like www.banamex.com, they will actually be redirected to a remote malicious user’s site–and of course, if they enter their banking details on that site when prompted, their data will end up in the hands of the bad guys.

When we decided to increase our coverage of LEGO personal robotics, we really wanted to find someone who truly understood how it all works. No one could possibly have a better, comprehensive perspective of LEGO’s MINDSTORMS NXT robotics system than David J. Perdue, author of The Unofficial LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Inventor’s Guide. This article is a must-read.

Read this Computing Unplugged article.

Toysoft has released PictureLink for Palm OS. PictureLink is a new system utility to create application and contact short cut links with a customizable picture on the Launcher screen. You can create custom app icons for contacts, email addresses, sms, web links, Pocket Tunes playlists and Google Maps locations. Once you have a custom link created you can use it in any launcher screen or even assign it to a hardware button.

RecorderX is a sound recording application designed for the Treo. It can record phone conversations and can also be used as a stand alone voice memo app. Similar to CallRec, the program can automatically capture both ends of your phone conversation and can compress and archive the resulting files to a memory card. It uses the standard wav format with ADPCM compression and has multiple recording quality settings. You can also send recordings to other devices over email and IR.

Shape Services has released an update to their Palm OS multi-service instant messaging application. IM+ All-in-One Mobile Messenger combines six IM service providers in one application. It supports AOL IM, Yahoo, Google Talk, MSN Live/Messenger, ICQ and Jabber based systems. Key features include SSL support, full presence status support, groups, detailed contact info, configurable sound and vibration notifications, 5-way support and background operation for use while in other apps.

BlackBerry users in North America were complaining of service problems again on Wednesday morning. Users of the BlackBerry outage newsgroup began reporting problems at around 6 a.m. on the East Coast of the U.S. related to scheduled maintenance on Research In Motion’s network. The issue appeared to get progressively worse, initially affecting about half of users in the Americas but eventually affecting all users, according to users of the newsgroup.

Earlier this week, Salesforce.com migrated a subset of its overall user base to its Spring ’08 release. In the process, Salesforce.com experienced an outage to its NA5 server Feb. 11 that lasted, intermittently, for about 7 hours and affected a small set of customers.

On the same day, BlackBerry users found only a black hole lasting for several hours when they tried to reach email and calendar services. While it’s not clear exactly what caused either outage, the bottom line is that on-demand services, like the phone company, are subject to some unexpected downtime.

Are intermittent system outages the end of the world? No, for most users (though it may seem like it at the time). But small outages may well be the new norm for users of on-demand services, at least for the time being.

A growing number of people are becoming addicted to their mobile phones, Blackberries and other digital devices, researchers are warning. Techno addiction can become so bad that people wake up several times a night to check their emails and text messages.

It can even interfere with an addict’s job as he feels he has to be linked up all the time, says Professor Nada Kakabadse of Northampton University. She is conducting research into how widespread the addiction may be.

PhatWare presented the new version of its PhatNotes notes organizer for Windows Mobile devices and Desktop PCs. A key new feature added to PhatNotes 5.2 is the ability to configure the software’s “context analyzer” directly on the mobile device–enabling users to adjust their settings while on-the-go. The Context Analyzer feature allows users to access Web sites, send emails, make phone calls, or even open files or execute applications just by tapping on words that are recognized as Web site URLs, email addresses, phone numbers, or a custom command.

The Pocketsurfer 2 is an ultra-thin portable device that fits easily into your pocket or bag and delivers the real web, just like at home or at work. Proporta offer two types of case for this device, the Alu-Leather and Classic Case.