Top 10 Spammer Arrested

A 27-year-old man described as one of the world’s most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday

SEATTLE (AP) - A 27-year-old man described as one of the world’s most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.

Robert Alan Soloway is accused of using networks of compromised “zombie” computers to send out millions upon millions of spam e-mails.

“He’s one of the top 10 spammers in the world,” said Tim Cranton, a Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) lawyer who is senior director of the company’s Worldwide Internet Safety Programs. “He’s a huge problem for our customers. This is a very good day.”

ProjectW Closes Down After 3 Years

I’ve decided to close ProjectW down since I don’t have time to run it anymore. It was fun to do 3 years but now the time has come to shut it down. Big thanks to all posters, donators, VIPs and most of all mods and admins. Good luck in the future, GRIZZLY

ProjectW, possibly the biggest online warez board has today closed its doors. With over 400000 members and millions of posts, the board could count on a huge popularity. The recent update to phpBB 3.0 RC1 could have been the reason of Grizzly’s decision, because the Release Candidate worked slower as phpBB 2, and the search function (crucial to a board of this size) didn’t function perfectly, however a ProjectW moderator tells us this wasn’t the reason of ProjectW’s demise.

It’s quite unlikely that almost half a million users will just give up, therefor I expect to see petitions and new boards rising from the remains of ProjectW.

» Link: ProjectW.org

Update: Rumor has it that http://piratebot.org/ will release an archived version of ProjectW’s database in a couple of days.

Update: The biggest warez-board now pW.org closed is www.warez-bb.org
A lot of moderators and admins of the old pW.org board have also made a new board (with empty database) at www.warezws.com

The World Rejoices: Starcraft 2 Announced

Blizzard WWI in Seoul, South Korea - Blizzard has unveiled that the long-awaited video game it is developing goes by the name of “Starcraft 2“. That’s right. Starcraft 2 is coming! They sure took their sweet old time with saying anything exciting (an hour), as with any huge announcement. Of course it’s all about creating and extending the hype. It really goes without saying that no matter what game Blizzard announced, excitement would ensue. Details on the game will follow soon, but right now I just wanted to get this posted for everyone. Are you happy with Blizzard’s announcement? Leave your thoughts below.

» Video: >> Click here << (YouTube, Flash Required)
» View: Starcraft 2 | Press Release
» Screenshot: >> Click here << (Courtesy of IGN)

Microsoft Claims Linux Violates 235 Patents

Free software is great, and corporate America loves it. It’s often high-quality stuff that can be downloaded free off the Internet and then copied at will. It’s versatile - it can be customized to perform almost any large-scale computing task - and it’s blessedly crash-resistant. A broad community of developers, from individuals to large companies like IBM, is constantly working to improve it and introduce new features. No wonder the business world has embraced it so enthusiastically: More than half the companies in the Fortune 500 are thought to be using the free operating system Linux in their data centers.

But now there’s a shadow hanging over Linux and other free software, and it’s being cast by Microsoft.

Hellgate: London Elite Multiplayer $9.95/mo

As an update to January’s post the latest issue of Games for Windows Magazine has revealed the elite subscription pricing behind Hellgate: London, which will be free to play online should you opt out of subscribing for additional features. These features, which will be available for $9.95 (depending on location) are as follows:

• Elite subscribers pay $9.95 a month
• 24/7 phone- and internet-support
• No (server) queues for elite subscribers, with preference over non-paying customers
• 3 chars per account for non-elites, 12 for elite-customers
• Elite subscribers can store up to 40 items (instead of 20 for non-subscribers), which can be accessed from any char in an account-wide item vault.
• Visible distinction from other players. Elite subscribers are recognisable from their equipment and may trade subscriber-only equipment to other elite subscribers.
• VIP-Shuttles to remote areas
• Housing and founding of guilds are enabled for subscribers. Elite subscribers may attain officer/leader priviledges within their guild.
• Elite subscribers have access to additional game modes, including Hardcore mode.
• Elite subscribers and non-subscribers can play with each other.
• Costs actually depend on where you live. Subscription fees in the Asian market will cost considerably less, in accordance to the market conditions and expectations of the players and local publishers within the region.

The subscription costs make it possible for Flagship Studios to produce additional content for Hellgate: London twice a month, or more. New content includes new items, monsters, areas, character classes and other content which are not present in the retail version of the game. It is not known as this time whether this additional content will only be available to paying subscribers.

» View: Original Story @ Hellgate Guru
» Link: Shacknews Coverage