Harm on the Pharm

The Buzz: By now, we are all too familiar with phishing attacks, those phony e-mail messages that direct users to spoofed sites in an attempt to steal passwords and account information. Well, pharming is like phishing with a really big net--redirecting users even though they have typed a legit URL into their browser. Pharmers inject malicious code into a PC or even a DNS server on the Net. Then if you type a URL like the address of your bank, your compromised machine or server may redirect you to a bogus site designed to install spyware or steal info. Pharming attacks on DNS servers (called DNS-cache poisoning) are uncommon, according to Shawn Eldridge, chair of the Trusted Electronic Communications Forum, but "the greater concern is pharming of individual computers with Trojan [horses] and worms." Users who innocently open an e-mail attachment can easily infect their machine with such malware, which can then plant the seeds of its nefarious pharm work.

Bottom Line: Never open an attachment from someone you don't know. Always keep your antivirus software up-to-date. And floss regularly.

Yahoo Gets its Groove Back

The Buzz: Suddenly, Yahoo is on fire. In the last few months, the search giant bought ground-breaking photo-sharing app Flickr, launched Yahoo 360 (a blogging and social networking service), and introduced two new search engines (FareChase for travel and Creative Commons Search for material with "flexible copyright protections"). It has also struck deals with video and TV producers for exclusive content, debuted a Yahoo Research Labs page, and even rolled out a slick news redesign. And since Yahoo has opened up many of its search interfaces to third parties, you can expect some cool third-party Yahoo-based apps as well.

Bottom Line: Watch your back, Google. Yahoo is gaining on you.

Your MP3 Player Is Ringing

The Buzz: In a further attempt to establish the phone as a Tolkienesque One Device to Rule Them All, vendors are now pushing music phones--hybrid devices with integrated music players, digital rights management support, and removable memory for holding downloaded tunes. Models like Motorola's E725 (and its announced ITunes phone), Nokia's 6230 and 7610, and Sony Ericsson's coming W800 Walkman all offer higher fidelity than your garden-variety cell, but their minimal battery life (9 to 12 hours or so) will hardly impress the IPod set.

Bottom Line: I'm going to wait for the next generation--with built-in hard drives and streaming audio--to arrive before ponying up.

Coming Tech: 4G by Any Other Name

EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized), the zippy wireless broadband currently in U.S. trials, gets all the press. But HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) will be just as big a deal when it starts rolling out for phones and laptops late this year. A major step up from today's third-generation (3G) services, which typically push data at about 300 kbps, HSDPA--like Ev-Do--should deliver up to 2 mbps, roughly equivalent to wired DSL. Which 4G should you go for? That depends on your carrier. Ev-DO is an upgrade of today's CDMA-based networks (like Verizon's and Sprint's); HSDPA works with GSM-based systems (like those from Cingular and T-Mobile).

Here\Now

1. RocketBoom.com Offbeat and fun, this daily 3-minute video blog skewers tech, news, and more.

2. Trumba OneCalendar You can sync this well-designed, easy-to-share Web calendar with Outlook.

3. Filangy.com This useful service indexes every Web search you run or page you visit, for one-click retrieval later.

4. Answers.com Like it says. Plug in a topic; get well-groomed information from multiple sources.

5. Energy Star monitors Look for the Energy Star label on monitors. A monitor built around the new spec could save you $10 to $40 per year.

Contact PC World Contributing Editor Steve Fox at steve_fox@pcworld.com. Click here to read additional Plugged In columns.