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A not-so-merry holiday gift for Amazon.com: hackers say they've successfully cracked copyright protections on the company's Kindle e-reader, making it possible to export e-books to other devices.

One hack reportedly resulted from a Kindle DRM challenge issued on Israeli forum Hacking.org. On that site, an Israeli hacker known as Labba claims to have created a tool that lets e-books stored on the Kindle be transferred as PDF files.

A U.S. hacker has written a program to crack copyright protections on the Kindle for PC application.

(Credit: Amazon)

A U.S. hacker who goes by the name "i♥cabbages," meanwhile, created a program called Unswindle that promises to convert books stored in the Kindle for PC application into a different file format.

The free Kindle for PC app lets book buyers read their books right from their PCs without having to buy a Kindle reader. Unswindle has to be used in conjunction with MobiDeDRM, a program by another hacker named "darkreverser."

Posters on i♥cabbages' blog give Unswindle mixed reviews, ranging from "works like a charm" and "worked flawlessly" to descriptions of various errors.

In addition to letting loose a string of expletives, those who have lost a phone or been a victim of phone thievery have probably reacted with the following: "Nooooo! My contacts!"

(Credit: Tenbu Technologies)

Mobile innovator Tenbu Technologies has come up with Nio, a Bluetooth security tag that links to any of your belongings. If your laptop, phone, keys, or even child move out of range, an alarm sounds.

The gadget has the potential to save your items and the valuable information they carry, like contacts.

How exactly does it work? Attach Nio to your keys, laptop bag, or other belonging you need to secure. The tag is linked to your Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone running the Nio software. Once you step out of the predefined security zone, an alarm is triggered.

The lowest security zone setting will let you wander about 65 feet before the alarm goes off. High security restricts movement to only a few feet away. This could be useful if you're traveling by plane and are worried that you might doze ... Read more

The entry hall in my house has been a test bed for home monitoring cameras for years. I like to be able to record people coming into the house and see what's going on around the front door. Anyone with a family and occasional babysitters will understand. So I continue to look for simple, robust video-monitoring solutions, and vendors keep obliging by improving the state of the art in home remote cameras.

The latest: Two interesting and very different products, Avaak's Vue and the Astak Mole. Both are very easy to get up and running, and neither require monkeying with arcane router settings to get offsite access to the video streams--something that can be a problem with the Panasonic BL-C131a cameras that I otherwise favor. (I've also tried the Logitech WiLife system, and find it quite good.)

The Vue.

(Credit: Rafe Needleman/CNET)

The Vue
The Vue is the most unusual remote camera I've seen. The product is unchanged from my March 2 preview, but I had a chance to experiment with the shipping version recently. The big benefit of the Vue: The cameras are tiny, battery-powered and thus completely wireless, and the system is extremely easy to set up. You plug an included controller box into your router or switch and tuck it out of the way, and then you can place the cameras anywhere in your house on their clever little stick-on magnetic dome mounts. The standard kit comes with two cameras.

The Vue is great for monitoring a location but there's a big downside: The cameras don't have motion sensors. If they did, the batteries wouldn't last. So you can see what's happening when you want, or record images on a schedule, but this product doesn't work as a security camera. It is very easy to share the output from a camera with friends, though. A two-camera kit is available now for $299.

The Vue experience is simple all the way around.

(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)

The aptly-named Mole.

(Credit: Rafe Needleman/CNET)

The Mole
I also recently received the Mole, from Astak. This is a single camera for $299, but unlike the Vue cameras, this unit must be plugged in for power (it has Wi-Fi as well as Ethernet for connectivity). It can be panned and tilted by remote control over the Web, so one camera can see more than two Vues in some setups.

The Mole also has infrared illuminators for low-light capability, and a microphone, so you can see and hear what's happening at all hours. Since the camera is always on and can see in all conditions, it can also watch for motion and perform actions--alerting you and recording video and stills either to the Web or to its own memory card--when it detects movement. It even has a speaker so you can talk back through the camera. It is black and industrial-looking, however, befitting its name --not so great for installation in a nice white-painted hallway.

We've all seen how fashion frequently goes full circle and brings back designs our grandparents wore, but we would never have guessed the same for dowsing. Popular during ancient times, it was believed that a pair of simple divining rods could magically detect water underground.

(Credit: ATSC (UK))

Seems dowsing is coming back, albeit with an unexpected angle. British company ATSC (UK) is selling a portable explosive detection device called the ADE 651, which brings bomb detection technology to another (magical) level with claims it can detect guns, ammunition, explosives, and even contraband items from more than half a mile through obstacles and even planes flying 3 miles overhead.

Amazingly, it uses no power source and all the operator needs to do is hold a pair of metal rods that will point to dangerous items via "electrostatic magnetic ion attraction." ATSC (UK) is selling the ADE 651 for between $16,500 and $60,000 each (depending on the source).

Despite the fact that the ADE 651 has been debunked by journalists and authorities (including ... Read more

This is a screenshot of the SMS the hacked iPhone users received.

(Credit: Tweakers.net)

A hacker in the Netherlands broke into some jailbroken iPhones and sent text messages to the owners asking them to pay to find out how to secure their phones, according to postings in a Dutch forum called Tweakers.net.

One of the victims posted a screenshot from his iPhone of the SMS received. It said: "Your iPhone's been hacked because it's really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked and secure your iPhone right now! Right now, I can access all your files."

The URL provided now displays a message indicating that it was reported for spam or phishing abuse and has been deactivated.

Ars Technica reports that before the page was removed, it asked that victims send 5 euros ($7.36) to a PayPal account and then await an e-mail with instructions on how to secure the phone. The fix probably would involve restoring the factory settings, according to the Ars Technica post.

"If you don't pay, it's fine by me," the hacker's page said. "But remember, the way I got access to your iPhone can be used by thousands of others--they can send text messages from your number (like I did), use it to call or record your calls, and actually whatever they want, even use it for their hacking activities! I can assure you, I have no intention of harming you or whatever, but, some hackers do! It's just my advice to secure your phone."

The highly praised NIS 2010 can be yours for $9.99.

(Credit: Symantec)

Got security? Forget all the system-hosing nightmares Norton put you through in years past; the company's Norton Internet Security 2010 suite improves on the already seriously improved NIS 2009.

Fry's is currently offering NIS 2010 3-User Edition for $9.99 shipped. Unfortunately--and this is really unfortunate--that's after a pair of mail-in rebates [PDF and PDF] totaling $50.

I'll be the first to admit it: I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel today. The pickings, they be slim.

I mean, I don't particularly care for security software. Don't use it, in fact. And I know how most of you hate rebates.

On the other hand, NIS 2010 is already being touted as one of the top security suites, as evidenced by the reviews by CNET, PC Magazine, and even Amazon customers.

And normally it would run you $59.99 (or $69.99 if purchased directly from Symantec). Yeah, the rebates are a hassle, but it's ... Read more

Lexar's JumpDrive Safe S3000 FIPS keeps your data safe in case of theft or loss.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

Thumbdrives offer arguably one of the most convenient ways to carry data around. However, because they are so small, they have been frequent culprits of data breaches. Enter the JumpDrive from Lexar.

The company announced Thursday its new JumpDrive Safe S3000 FIPS, which it claims is the world's first smart-card-based FITS 140-2 Level 3 validated flash drive.

Lengthy name aside, this is the most secure and easy-to-use thumbdrive I've ever gotten my hands on.

(FIPS 140-2, by the way, stands for Federal Information Processing Standard and is a U.S. government computer security standard used to accredit cryptographic modules. Level 3 of this standard is the second highest level of data security, which prevents the intruder from gaining access and requires a physical security mechanism to protect the data inside.)

Physically, the new JumpDrive looks very much like most standard thumbdrives on the market with a detachable lid that reveals the USB head. However, it is noticeably heavier due to its thick metal housing and a presumably sophisticated mix of high-security components inside. Its lid also has a thick layer of rubber insulation to keep the moisture out. According to Lexar, the drive exceeds military waterproof standards.

Lexar said the JumpDrive Safe S3000 FIPS is certified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and features hardware encryption and is the first of its kind to have atemper-resistant smart card to manage all security critical computations. The drive uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256-bit technology and utilizes an onboard hardware cryptographic controller to encrypt and decrypt data.

From the user's perspective, however, the drive is almost as easy to use as any thumbdrive. I tried it with a few computers and it worked very well.

(Credit: CNET / Josh Lowensohn)

The iPhone has many applications that let you view Web cams from around the world, but what about turning your phone into a remote camera of its own? A new app called IP Camera (warning: iTunes link) does just that. This $1.99 tool takes a photo from your iPhone's camera every 12 to 15 seconds, then posts it to a local Web page that can be accessed from other computers on the same network.

All that's needed for setup is to make sure your phone is on Wi-Fi, then to jot down the special local HTTP address it gives you. It will keep running until you quit the application manually or get a phone call; although like any good iPhone app it starts right back up when you're done with a call.

While there are very few bells and whistles, this app worked really well in my testing with an iPhone 3G. Although one big thing that's missing is a way to archive the photos it ... Read more