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RealPlayer SP aims to ease transfer of Web videos to portable devices

Real Networks has unveiled the twelfth iteration of its RealPlayer media playback software.

Dubbed "RealPlayer SP," the new RealPlayer includes version 11's capability to grab Flash-based videos from any Web browser (albeit with the usual caveat: the streams can't be copy-protected, which rules out most Hollywood movies and TV shows on sites such as Hulu). The "SP" designation in the name stands for "social and portable." The big upgrade is the capability to easily transcode and transfer those videos to a wide array of portable devices, including many BlackBerry phones, the Zune, and--via iTunes--the iPod and iPhone. It also offers the capability to easily share online video links via social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as via e-mail.

We were able to get a brief early look at the SP beta. The software made it easy to download several Flash videos from YouTube. It was also simple to choose the preset for converting and transferring the videos to a format compatible with a Palm Pre that we borrowed from a co-worker. However, once we transferred the files to the Pre, we weren't able to play them back. However, an earlier demo from a Real Networks representative successfully transferred videos to a Pre, a BlackBerry Bold, and--via a transfer to iTunes--the iPod Touch, so we're assuming we encountered an isolated glitch. … Read more

RealNetworks to build all-in-one media support into Linux Netbooks

Chalk up a victory for those who crave all-in-one media integration on their Netbooks, because RealNetworks has announced a licensing agreement with many of the major Linux software companies to have RealPlayer for Mobile preinstalled on Ubuntu and Instant-On Netbook OS systems made by Xandros, Phoenix Technologies, DeviceVM, and Canonical.

An "Instant-On" system, usually Linux-based, is a miniature OS that boots up quicker than the main OS, allowing quicker on-the-fly access of files. For Netbooks, the advantage to an Instant-On system is obvious, but often these environments are significantly hobbled in usability. Presto, HyperSpace, and Splashtop, made by … Read more

RealPlayer security upgrade available

Security vendor Secunia on Tuesday reported a partial fix for a critical vulnerability it first reported last week affecting the RealPlayer software used to play media within Internet browsers on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.

Secunia disclosed a critical vulnerability within the rmoc3260 ActiveX control in RealPlayer 11 (11.0.0 - 11.0.2 builds 6.0.14.738 - 6.0.14.802), 10.5 (6.0.12.1040-6.0.12.1663, 6.0.12.1698, 6.0.12.1741), and RealPlayer 10 on Windows;RealPlayer 10.1 (10.0.0.396 - 10.0.0.503) and … Read more

RealPlayer vulnerable in Internet Explorer

If you use the RealPlayer on Internet Explorer, watch out. Researcher Elazar Broad has posted to the Full Disclosure mailing list a so-called heap overflow vulnerability that makes it possible for an attacker to modify heap blocks after they are freed and overwrite certain registers. This could allow code execution on a compromised machine. The vulnerability affects all versions of RealPlayer running under Internet Explorer.

Exploit code for this flaw has not yet been made public.

Without a patch from RealPlayer, security experts recommend disabling the killbit for the following ActiveX ClassIDs:

2F542A2E-EDC9-4BF7-8CB1-87C9919F7F93 CFCDAA03-8BE4-11CF-B84B-0020AFBBCCFA Please note that disabling the killbits … Read more

RealPlayer named by StopBadware.org

StopBadware.org said Tuesday it has labeled two versions of the RealPlayer media player as "badware," or spyware.

RealPlayer 10.5, it claims, "fails to accurately and completely disclose the fact that it installs advertising software on the user's computer." And RealPlayer 11, it claims, "does not disclose the fact that it installs Rhapsody Player Engine software, and fails to remove this software when RealPlayer is uninstalled." Ryan Lukin, PR manager for RealNetworks, disputed some of the claims.

Lukin said the Message Center in 10.5 feeds only news and information, product updates, … Read more

RealPlayer 11: A new way to handle online video

Back in May, Señor Bell wrote about the new RealPlayer, which promised users the ability to download video in a variety of formats (Flash, WMV, Quicktime) from a variety of sites (YouTube, Comedy Central, and so on) using a variety of Web browsers. Somewhat unsurprisingly, I've gotten a variety of results. RealPlayer is fresh out of beta (download Version 11 for Windows from Download.com)--the perfect time to put it to the test, in my book. Personally, I don't find the latest version particularly useful for my video tastes, but you may find it compelling, … Read more

RealNetworks patches exploited security hole

To address a security hole being exploited by hackers, RealNetworks has issued a security fix for the Windows versions of RealOne Player, RealOne Player version 2, RealPlayer 10.5 and RealPlayer 11 beta. The Windows versions of RealPlayer 8 and earlier versions of RealNetworks are not vulnerable. Linux and Macintosh versions of RealPlayer are also not affected.

The attack targets an ActiveX object installed by RealPlayer, and affects how that object interacts with the Internet Explorer browser. The exploit, if executed, can corrupt process memory and execute arbitrary code.

Affected users should upgrade to RealPlayer 10.5 or RealPlayer 11 beta … Read more