Revealed: How eBay sellers fix auctions

Recorded excerpts of meetings with Paraskevaides: Clip 1 Clip 2

CUSTOMERS of the internet auction site eBay are being defrauded by unscrupulous dealers who secretly bid up the price of items on sale to boost profits.

An investigation by The Sunday Times has indicated that the practice of artificially driving up prices — known as shill bidding — is widespread across the site.

Last week one of the UK’s biggest eBay sellers admitted in a taped conversation with an undercover reporter that he was prepared to use business associates to bid on his goods for him.
Our inquiries found evidence that a number of businesses — ranging from overseas property agencies to car dealerships — have placed bids on their own items using fake identities.

The cases raise questions about whether eBay, the world’s biggest auction site, is doing enough to protect consumers.

Shill bidding is against eBay rules and is illegal under the 2006 Fraud Act. However, the resulting higher prices on the site boost the value of eBay’s share of the sales.

Last November eBay changed its rules to conceal bidders’ identity — making it even more difficult for customers to see whether sellers are bidding on their own lots. Since its launch seven years ago, eBay’s UK website has attracted more than 15m customers. It sells more than 10m items at any given time.

One of the beneficiaries of the boom is Eftis Paraskevaides, a former gynaecologist, from Cambridgeshire. He has become a “Titanium PowerSeller” — one of eBay’s handful of top earners — selling more than £1.4m worth of antiquities a year on the site.

In a conversation with an undercover reporter last week, Paraskevaides claimed shill bidding was commonplace on eBay.

When the reporter asked whether he arranged for associates to bid on his own items, he replied: “Well, if I put something really expensive (up for sale) and I was concerned that it was going for nothing, I would phone a friend of mine, even a client of mine who buys from me, and say: For Christ’s sake, I sell you 100 quids’ worth of items a week . . . just put two grand on it, will you?” The reporter was posing as a seller of valuable antiquities. He inquired whether Paraskevaides could sell them on eBay and guarantee a minimum price.

He replied: “Leave it to me (laughs). Don’t call it shill bidding. Then I won’t be accused of shill bidding. Yes. I mean — I’ve got people.

“I’ve got some of my big clients who buy big items off me, I look after them. So I can get on the phone to America and say: Mr XXXX . . . you’re a multi- millionaire. You buy a hundred grand’s worth off me a year. Do me a favour would you. Just put — yeah. Exactly.”

He claimed eBay would never follow up a complaint against him for shill bidding because he generated about £15,000 a month in commission for the company. “Are they going to ban somebody who’s making them the best part of 15 grand a month? No,” he said.

After being told that he had been talking to an undercover reporter, Paraskevaides denied that he had ever shill bidded on eBay and claimed he was talking about clients who sometimes bid on expensive items if they wished to protect the price.

However The Sunday Times discovered businesses that have been bidding on their own items. One leading dealer from London admitted last week that that he had shill bidded in the past.
A spokesman for eBay said he expected that the company would now launch an investigation into Paraskevaides. Anyone caught shill bidding risks a permanent ban.

The spokesman added: “The change to the way bidder IDs are shown has already resulted in a safer environment for users.”

The worst (tech) Idea ever

One giant step for home entertainment?

Is this the way we will all be 'enjoying' our television programmes and computer games in the future?

In this astonishing photo, a model is wearing a new gadget, from electronics manufacturer Toshiba, that enables the wearer to experience a full 360-degree view on a 40 centimetre dome-shaped screen.

But, looking more like the helmet from Neil Armstrong's space suit than the next must-have gizmo, this three kilo full-faced helmet might make it a little tricky to relax with a drink in front of the football...

A step closer?

Sony's electronic book hails new dawn for reading


Books have been the orphan in the digital world. Music has the iPod. Video has YouTube. Books have, well, Amazon.com, where you can buy them printed on paper.

Of course, there are electronic books available for download at Amazon and elsewhere, but they haven't really caught on.

Sony Corp. however is now tackling part of the problem with the U.S. launch of the first e-book reader that imitates the look of paper by using innovative screen technology.

Is this the iPod for books? Not quite. But it is a step forward.

The Sony Reader is a handsome affair the size of a paperback book, but only a third of an inch thick. It went on sale this week for $350 (£190) on Sony's Web site, and is available in Borders stores in October.

Unlike other e-books, the screen has no flicker or back light, allowing the reader to spend as much time reading as they want without the fear of eyestrain.

The 6-inch screen can be taken for a monochrome liquid-crystal display at first glance, but on closer inspection looks like no other electronic display. It's behind a thin pane of glass, but unlike an LCD it shows no "depth" - it pretty much looks like a light grey piece of paper with dark gray text.

The display, based on technology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology spin-off E Ink Corp., is composed of tiny capsules with electrically charged particles of white and black ink. When a static electric charge is applied on the side of the capsule that faces the reader, it attracts the white particles to the face of the display, making that pixel show light gray.

Reversing the charge brings the black pigments floating through the capsule to replace the white pigments, and the pixel shows as dark gray.

Like paper, the display is readable from any angle, but it doesn't look as good as the real thing, chiefly because the contrast doesn't compare well. The background isn't white and the letters aren't black. The letters show some jaggedness, even though the resolution is a very respectable 800 by 600 pixels. It will display photos, though they look a bit like black-and-white photocopies.

But it's still a more comfortable reading medium than any other electronic display. The text is easy on the eyes in almost any light you could read a book by.

The other major advantage of the display is that it's a real power sipper. Sony says a Reader with a full charge in its lithium battery can show up to 7,500 pages.

The reason behind this trilogy-busting stamina is that the display only consumes power when it flips to a new page. Displaying the same page continuously consumes no power, though the electronics of the device itself do use a little bit.

The Reader's internal memory holds up to 100 books, depending on their size, and can be expanded with inexpensive SD cards or Memory Sticks.

Google warns on 'unsafe' websites

Google has started warning users if they are about to visit a webpage that could harm their computer.

The warning will pop up if users click on a link to a page known to host spyware or other malicious programs.

The initiative comes out of a larger project cataloguing programs that plague people with unwanted ads, spy on web habits or steal personal data.

Google is one of several companies trying to act as an "in-flight adviser" to ensure people stay safe online.

The warnings will be seen by anyone using the search engine who clicks on a link to a site identified as harmful by the Stop Badware coalition.

Google, PC maker Lenovo and Sun set up this initiative in January 2006 to identify dangerous software and the websites that try to trick people into installing these malicious programs.

DANGEROUS KEYWORDS
Free screensavers
Bearshare
Screensavers
Winmx
Limewire
Lime wire
Free ringtones

Initially the warnings seen via the search site will be generic and simply alert people to the fact that a site has been flagged as dangerous. Eventually the warnings will become more detailed as Stop Badware researchers visit harmful sites and analyse how they try to subvert users' machines.

The warning suggests that people try a different site but if they want to continue to the potentially dangerous webpage Google will not stop them.

A research report released in May 2006 looked at the safety of the results returned by a search and found that, on average, 4-6% of the sites had harmful content on them.

For some keywords, such as "free screensavers" the number of potentially dangerous sites leapt to 64%.

The keywords are used to entice people to access the website.

The research report was partly sponsored by McAfee's SiteAdvisor which also warns people when they are about to visit potentially harmful sites.

Another company ScanSafe has also created the Scandoo search engine which overlays its warnings on results produced via Google and MSN.

"Most dodgy websites that have spyware or are infected with viruses come through search," said Eldar Tuvey, chief executive of ScanSafe. "Because they are the ones that people do not know as well and find through searching."

The newest PC

HANOVER, Germany (AP) - After months of cryptic Web marketing and word-of-mouth hype over Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s Project Origami, the company finally showed off the product: an ultracompact computer running Windows XP with a touchscreen and wireless connectivity.

It's everything a full computer or laptop is, minus the keyboard. It has a 7-inch touch-sensitive screen that responds to a stylus or the tap of a finger.

Two models from different manufacturers are expected to hit stores shelves by spring, and Microsoft says they'll be about an inch thick and weigh less than 2 1/2 pounds - about the size of a large paperback book.

It will run on a full version of Windows XP, the same operating system used on larger tablet PCs, and newly developed software called Windows Touch Pack will handle touch-screen functions. Future editions will support Windows Vista, a version of Microsoft's flagship operating system that's due out in the second half of this year.

"It really opens up new possibilities for PC use," Bill Mitchell, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Mobile Platforms Division, said Wednesday.

The device will be officially unveiled Thursday at CeBIT, the annual technology trade show in Hanover.

It won't be called Origami. Instead, the company is marketing it as a category it's calling the ultramobile PC, said Mika Krammer, a marketing director for Microsoft's Windows mobile unit.

Though Microsoft is not manufacturing the hardware, it took a guiding role from the start.

"We've done more than just provide the software. We've built the reference designs to sort of get the category started," he said. "We had the first prototypes about nine months ago and started working with partners early on."

One of those partners is Intel Corp. (INTC), which makes the Celeron M microprocessor that runs the device. Three companies have built working models - Samsung, Asus and the Chinese manufacturer Founder.

The Samsung and Asus devices are expected to be in stores by April, and the Founder device in June, Krammer said.

"A lot of the early engagement we have had has been with nontraditional PC vendors, although there is a lot of interest from traditional PC vendors as well," Mitchell said. "It ideally brings the best of what a Windows PC is and marries it to what the best of a very capable consumer electronic device is."

That, said David Bradshaw, a principle analyst with London-based Ovum, is key.

"I really would hope that it would be something that works," he said, adding that he had not seen one of the models. "Something that is wirelessly connected. Hopefully it will have a wide range of wireless options so that you would be able to use Wi-Fi when available or a (wirelesss) carrier's network if you can afford to pay through the nose."

Krammer said device is expected to retail for between $600 and $1,000.

Origami, Mitchell said, sporting Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless access. At CeBIT, he said they were using their models by connecting their cell phones to it via BlueTooth.

The screen is wide, bright and easy to see, even in low light. Mitchell showed a music video on one model and a film on the other. It doesn't have its own keyboard, but since the units are designed with USB 2 ports, one could be plugged in as needed.

Other units shown to The Associatied Press had SecureDigital Card and CompactFlash memory card slots, along with jacks for connecting digital cameras, headphones and speakers.

For users who don't want to jot down notes with the stylus, the Origami has a built-in program called Dial Keys that splits a standard QWERTY keyboard into pie shapes on the lower corners of the screen so that input can typed - or thumbed in.

The battery power averages about 2.5 to three hours, and it will have up to a 60-gigabyte hard drive.

Mitchell said the device is aimed at consumers who want to have the full power of a PC while on the go but don't want to lug around a heavy laptop or desktop PC.

"We think that for most people, this is more of a replacement for the classic consumer electronic devices that they're buying with disposable income," he said.

While it's not compact like an iPod, it does play music, store and display photos like a digital picture frame, and show films and TV shows. For someone sitting on a plane, some models have a stand in back to prop up the device for easier viewing.

Bradshaw said if the screen's size appeals to consumers, it could be an impetus for wireless carriers to offer more video-on-demand.

"It may be the dream device for all these mobile operators that actually want people to watch video over their networks," he said.

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst in Jupiter Research's New York office, said he thinks the device has potential.

"The whole Origami concept may very well change what devices people are going to carry with them," Gartenberg said. "It's not a pocketable device, but it's certainly small enough to be kept close at hand, and the fact that it runs Windows means that it can do a variety of tasks, from productivity to games to media consumption."

Windows PCs face ‘huge’ virus threat

Kevin Allison in San FranciscoPublished: January 2 2006 18:18 Last updated: January 2 2006

Computer security experts were grappling with the threat of a newweakness in Microsoft’s Windows operating system that could put hundreds of millions of PCs at risk of infection by spyware or viruses.


The news marks the latest security setback for Microsoft, the world’s biggest software company, whose Windows operating system is a favourite target for hackers.

“The potential [security threat] is huge,” said Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer at F-Secure, an antivirus company. “It’s probably bigger than for any other vulnerability we’ve seen. Any version of Windows is vulnerable right now.”

The flaw, which allows hackers to infect computers using programs maliciously inserted into seemingly innocuous image files, was first discovered last week. But the potential for damaging attacks increased dramatically at the weekend after a group of computer hackers published the source code they used to exploit it. Unlike most attacks, which require victims to download or execute a suspect file, the new vulnerability makes it possible for users to infect their computers with spyware or a virus simply by viewing a web page, e-mail or instant message that contains a contaminated image.

“We haven’t seen anything that bad yet, but multiple individuals and groups are exploiting this vulnerability,” Mr Hyppönen said. He said that every Windows system shipped since 1990 contained the flaw.

Microsoft said in a security bulletin on its website that it was aware that the vulnerability was being actively exploited. But by early yesterday, it had not yet released an official patch to correct the flaw. “We are working closely with our antivirus partners and aiding law enforcement in its investigation,” the company said. In the meantime, Microsoft said it was urging customers to be careful opening e-mail or following web links from untrusted sources.

Meanwhile, some security experts were urging system administrators to take the unusual step of installing an unofficial patch created at the weekend by Ilfak Guilfanov, a Russian computer programmer.

Concerns remain that without an official patch, many corporate information technology systems could remain vulnerable as employees trickle back to work after the holiday weekend.

“We’ve received many e-mails from people saying that no one in a corporate environment will find using an unofficial patch acceptable,” wrote Tom Liston, a researcher at the Internet Storm Center, an antivirus research group. Both ISC and F-Secure have endorsed the unofficial fix.

Microsoft routinely identifies or receives reports of security weaknesses but most such vulnerabilities are limited to a particular version of the Windows operating system or other piece of Microsoft software. In recent weeks, the company has been touting its progress in combating security threats.

The company could not be reached on Monday for comment.

That's a battery?

Japan's NEC has developed a thin, foldable battery to be used in cards or clothes, leading to new possibilities such as people walking through ticket gates with fare passes in their pockets.

The 0.3-millimeter (0.012-inch) thick battery can support tens of thousands of signal transmissions on a single charge and can be recharged in less than 30 seconds, NEC said.

The battery "will be used extensively in the future to power all kinds" of gadgets ranging from electronic paper to tags that trace retail goods in real-time, it said.

It is "bringing us closer to a ubiquitous networked society by allowing access to the network anytime, anywhere," an NEC statement said.

It will open the way for small wearable computers, such as ticket cards that can be attached to a person's clothes, it said.