Twitter hit by massive wave of malicious messages

Twitter users attempting to click on any one of hundreds of messages advertising dramatic life or weight changes are receiving this warning instead.

Twitter

Hundreds of Twitter accounts appear to have been hijacked Wednesday to deliver a tidal wave of malicious messages.

The attack, which seems to have begun at about 2 p.m. PT, featured messages testifying to dramatic weight loss and life-changing events, such as, "If I didn't try this my life wouldn't have changed." An accompanying link led to a Women's Health magazine spoof site promoting a "miracle pill" for weight loss.

It wasn't immediately clear if the page was trying to install malware or perform some other nefarious task, but Twitter wasn't taking any chances, warning readers that the link had been flagged as potentially harmful.

The source of the attack wasn't immediately clear either. The attack appeared to be related to security breaches at third-party sites and apps, according to Ars Technica's Dan Goodin. He noted that early versions of the messages included the tag "via weheartit.com," leading to speculation that the accounts had some connection to the social network.

We Heart It told Ars Technica that it had identified malicious activity on the network and was investigating. The social network announced in a tweetthat it had temporarily disabled sign-in and sharing via Twitter.

CNET has contacted Twitter for more information on the messages and will update this report when we learn more.

The attack appears similar to one thathit thousands of Hootsuite accounts last September and featured the same diet product. The popular platform for social-media management said that about 7,000 accounts, less than .01 percent of its user base, were affected by unauthorized access through a third party using OAuth, an authentication mechanism that allows third-party access without sharing login credentials.

Madame Tussauds unveils Mark Zuckerberg wax figure

Madame Tussauds bills itself as an attraction, not a museum. You can’t touch the exhibits at a museum; at the kitschy Fisherman’s Wharf spot — reopening on June 26 — you can touch with impunity. Which may not be the best news for Mark Zuckerberg’s dignity.

On Wednesday, Madame Tussauds hosted a preview of its wares, showing off wax figures of pop star Rihanna, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and the Facebook CEO. Zuck is outfitted in his signature hoodie, although he’s barefoot for some reason. It’s a bit unsettling to look at Zuckerberg’s feet, even in wax form.

You can check out wax Zuckerberg in the gallery above. The photos of him with wax Rihanna and wax Leo are particularly funny. It looks like the world’s most incongruous party.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 4 family set for May 1 debut

Samsung said on Wednesday that the Wi-Fi versions of its Galaxy Tab 4 line will be offered across a variety of retailers and online stores on May 1. Among those expected to carry the Galaxy Tab 4 are Amazon, Best Buy, Office Depot, OfficeMax, and Samsung.com. Presales will be available for all three tablets starting April 24.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 line will be sold in both black and white color choices and in three size options. The Tab 4 7.0 will retail for $199 while the 8-inch and 10.1-inch versions will carry $269 and $349 price tags, respectively.

Looking ahead to summer, Sprint is expected to carry the 4G LTE version of the Tab 4 7.0. T-Mobile will offer the 4G LTE version of the Tab 4 8.0, and Verizon will sell the 4G LTE version of both the Tab 4 8.0 and the Tab 4 10.1. AT&T, for its part, will sell a 4G LTE version of the Tab 4 though it isn't immediately clear which size(s).

Samsung, which is the second-largest manufacturer of tablets behind Apple, is looking to continue gaining ground through its strategy of flooding the market with devices of multiple sizes.

Bigger-screen iPhone 6 may mean smaller sales at Apple -- for now

Apple may not have sold as many iPhones as investors and analysts hoped last quarter -- even with the addition of China Mobile as a distribution partner in the world's largest smartphone market -- because some customers may already be holding off and waiting for the larger-screen iPhone 6 rumored to be released later this year.

Analysts on average are expecting Apple CEO Tim Cook to deliver $43.5 billion in sales, and profit of $10.19 a share, when the company reports second-quarter earnings after the market closes Wednesday. That's down from the $43.6 billion in sales and $10.09 a share in profit the company had in the same quarter a year ago. Analysts are calling for gross margin, a key measure of profitability, of 37.6 percent.

A big part of the drop has to do with the iPhone, Apple's biggest moneymaker at more than half of sales. Apple has released a new iPhone every year since former CEO Steve Jobs introduced the device to the market in 2007. Consumers may be holding off on buying the current iPhone 5s andiPhone 5c, which each sport a 4-inch high-definition display, as they wait for larger-screen models in the second half of the year. Cook and company are reportedly gearing up to announce two new iPhone 6 models with display sizes of 4.7 and 5.5 inches.

"We expect a slight pause in near-term iPhone sales due to the faster global ramp of new models in late 2013 as well as anticipation of the larger form-factoriPhone 6," said Brian Marshall, hardware and data analyst for International Strategy & Investment Group.

There has been some speculation that larger iPhones could also steal sales from Apple's iPad Mini, with consumers opting to buy a bigger phone instead of buying Apple's smaller tablet.

After selling 55 million iPhones and 26 million iPads during the holiday quarter -- an Apple record for that time of year -- sales of its smartphones and tablets are expected to be lighter this time around. Analysts are anticipating about 38 million iPhones sold and about 20 million iPads, according to Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

It's not just an iPhone pause that may be hurting demand for Apple phones. The company's biggest rival, Korean handset maker Samsung, may have wooed iPhone users over to its popular Galaxy smartphone with its new S5 model.

The pressure has been on Apple to enter new product categories instead of incrementally refreshing its existing product lines, especially while competition from other tech giants like Samsung becomes more fierce. The iPhone and iPad together account for more than 75 percent of Apple's sales, and Cook has been criticized for not branching off sooner into new markets, including smart TVs and wearables.

Apple and Samsung are embroiled in along-running legal battle over alleged patent infringement in their mobile devices. One of Samsung's main defenses of its meteoric rise to smartphone prominence (it's now the largest smartphone seller in the world) is that the company offers consumers features that Apple's products don't have -- including larger screens. TheGalaxy S5, released earlier this month, has a 5.1-inch display.

iPhone demand may also have been affected by a change in smartphone upgrade policies -- from 20 months to 24 months -- at AT&T and Verizon, the two largest carriers in the US, and a "weaker" than expected run rate for iPhone sales during the quarter fromChina Mobile, according to Sacconaghi. China Mobile, the world's largest mobile service provider, began carrying the iPhone in January after Cook spent years negotiating a pact. The iPhone is already sold through China Unicom and China Telecom, the other major carriers in China.

Investors and analysts may already be looking past Wednesday's earnings report to Apple's annual developer confab, which the company typically uses as a stage for new product announcements, including updates to the iOS mobile operating system that powers the iPhone and iPad, and updates to the Mac OS X software that runs its Macintosh computers. TheWorldwide Developers Conference will be held June 2-6. Apple could unveil new hardware at that event or later in the fall, including those larger-screen iPhones.

Also, the company finally may be ready to unveil its long-rumored iWatch, a smart device that would mark Apple's entry into the wearable-device market. Rumors around an Apple wearable have intensified since CNET reported last week that Nike was putting the kibosh on its FuelBand fitness-tracking bracelet, possibly paving the way for an Apple-Nike partnership for a future device. Cook has served on Nike's board for the last nine years, which feeds the speculation.

Cook has said repeatedly that 2014 will be a year of product innovation for Apple, and he told investors in January -- after announcing earnings and iPhone sales that disappointed them -- that the company is still on track to enter new product categories this year. Analysts are holding him to his word. "Now is the time to invest in Apple for new product categories," Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty told investors last week.

Apple's shares, down 5 percent this year, closed at $531.70 Tuesday in regular Nasdaq trading.

Samsung hopes to make FaceTime a headache for Apple

After weeks of playing defense against five Apple patents, Samsung this week went after Apple with two of its own patents: one it says is infringed when people make FaceTime calls, and another that covers the photo gallery feature found on iPhones, iPads, and some iPods.

In the case of the video patent, Samsung says it's being infringed every time iOS users begin a FaceTime call over cellular networks, or if they send video messages to one another through the Mail and messaging app. In its opening, Apple referred to the technology as being around from the VCR and Betamax days, a dig Samsung's witness — University of Illinois professor Dan Schonfeld — said was an unfair comparison.

"IT WAS AN INTERESTING AGE FOR DIGITAL VIDEO."

"VCR and Betamax were technologies in mid-70s. This was just around the 90s," Schonfeld said. "It was an interesting age for digital video. 20 years after VCR and Betamax," and closer to when CDs and DVDs were gaining in popularity, he added.

Of course, FaceTime didn't arrive until 2010 with the iPhone 4, and it wasn't until iOS 6 in 2012 that the feature officially worked over cellular networks.

Samsung's other patent covers photo galleries, and was originally invented by Hitachi in 1997. The company owned it until 2011, when Samsung bought it. In essence, it covers photos and videos that are grouped into albums and folders, and shows people the difference between the two types of media when they are next to one another. It also lets users search through photos. In its case, Samsung says Apple's infringed on that patent with the camera roll, where images and videos taken on the device end up.

For both, Samsung is asking for $6.9 million in damages, with the overwhelming majority of that coming from the patent covering video. Samsung is asking for $6.78 million for the video patent, and just $158,400 for the image gallery patent. More than $3 million of the total figure comes from the iPhone 5, with the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 trailing close behind according to court documents seen by The Verge.

SAMSUNG WANTS $6.9 MILLION

Samsung called on Brigham Young professor Dr. James Kearl to come up with the $6.9 million figure. Kearl said he determined FaceTime damages by multiplying the number of infringing devices by how often the feature it was used, multiplied again by the 99 cents Apple was charging for the standalone FaceTime feature through the Mac App Store. That figure was then multiplied by a "relative value," and a hypothetical negotiation between the two companies, math that was kept confidential from the public here in court. It was slightly different arithmetic for the gallery features, Kearl said, noting that there were non-infringing alternatives like the stacks of photos Apple was to show users photos they had stored on the iPad.

Designed by Apple in California?

According to Apple's attorneys, Samsung bought the pair of patents specifically for the case, instead of inventing them in-house. The original inventors on the video patent, for instance, originated in Oklahoma, and the gallery patent originally belonged to Hitachi. In the case of the video patent, Samsung disclosed that it paid $2.39 million to acquire it in 2010, the same year FaceTime debuted alongside the iPhone 4. Apple hopes that will stand in stark contrast with its five patents, two of which were filed the day the company introduced the iPhone, and all developed within the company.

SAMSUNG BOUGHT ITS PATENT THE SAME YEAR AS FACETIME

To prove that point, Apple called upon Roberto Garcia, one of its employees who worked on the FaceTime protocol, and described it as a wholly original invention. In testimony, Garcia said FaceTime (which was internally codenamed "Venice") had been a natural evolution from voice technologies he and others at the company were working on as part of an API for developers to use in games, and was the result of "tens of thousands of lines of code."

"I was expanding voice chat to have multiple people, you and all your friends ... talk to each other," Garcia said. "I was working on that piece for Game Center. A lot of that code became the FaceTime product."

This is the last week of evidence in the month-long trial between the two companies. For the rest of the week, Apple's rebutting Samsung's claims. Beginning next Monday, each company gets two hours to make its closing arguments before the jury begins its deliberations. It's not just a chance to sum up the claims that have been made over the last several weeks, but potentially sway the eight-person jury who will ultimately decide whether these dollar figures go from courtroom slides to real bills.

More Details Emerge About LG’s Upcoming Smartwatch

LG’s upcoming smartwatch will be water- and dust-resistant. Essentially it can be worn to the beach and it will be just fine. Or to a sprinkler party in a dusty warehouse. Either way, the watch will survive.

The news comes from the G Watch’snew product site on LG.com where it was also revealed that the watch will come in two colors: “stealth black” or “champagne gold”. The band seems to be of the cheap, rubber sort, but looks to be connected to the watch using a standard pin so owners should be able to replace it.

The microsite also notes that the display is always on. “A screen that never sleeps,” it says. That feature would set the G Watch apart from the Samsung Gear which requires a flick of motion to display the screen. Likewise, with an always-on screen, the battery life will probably be shorter than Samsung’s smartwatches.

Price and release date are still unknown. LG originally stated that the watch would hit this summer and the launch of this microsite seems to indicate that the watch is on schedule.

Apple video narrated by Tim Cook advertises green power, not products

Just ahead of Earth Day, Apple has released a new ad and overhauled a section on its website designed to highlight its environmental initiatives, including the shrinking of its carbon footprint and the reduction of toxins and energy use in its products. The nearly two-minute-long video is narrated by none other than Apple CEO Tim Cook, who explains how the company has been aggressively shifting over to renewable energy. "Now more than ever we will work to leave the world better than we found it," Cook says.

Under Cook, Apple has increasingly drawn focus to its environmental initiatives, and it appears that it's now pushing toward being seen as a real leader on sustainability. The overhauled environment section on Apple's website now resembles a page advertising a new product more than a corporate initiative, with different sections breaking down the ways that Apple says it's making progress.

"WE ARE PROUD OF OUR PROGRESS."

In particular, Apple focuses on climate change, stating clearly: "We believe climate change is real." Cook recently scolded investors who wanted to see Apple drop its sustainability initiatives in order to focus more on profit, while effectively rejecting climate change. Apple seems to be expounding upon Cook's feelings here, acknowledging that as a major technology manufacturer it can be a significant contributor to climate change through carbon emissions.

To that end, the tone of the new video is not strictly celebratory. Cook and Apple's updated website repeatedly note that their efforts are still a work in progress. Apple has managed to turn its sustainability efforts into something meaningful quite quickly, however. Over the past several years, Apple has shifted from a company that was sternly criticized by Greenpeace for its use of "dirty energy" to a company that's been praised by Greenpeacefor its use of renewable energy.

The video's release also coincides with an article published today in Wired, which finds Apple's environmental initiatives leader, former EPA chief Lisa Jackson, giving a tour of one of the fields of solar arrays that power Apple's data centers. Jackson has been at Apple for less than a year, but Apple is already coming close to meeting its standing goal of powering its facilities entirely with renewable energy.Wired reports that it's now at 94 percent.

Speaking to its initiatives overall, Jacksonwrites in an open letter on Apple's website that the company intends to keep the public updated on its path toward sustainability. "We have a long way to go," she writes, "but we are proud of our progress."