Update News IT Security and News Technology - blogthongD

MangaStream.com & MangaStream's extension

2011-10-13T15:23:00.000-07:00

TheMangaStream is an extension of Google Chrome for mangastream.com.

All pages will load it up to you. You can read until the end of the load once.

Watch the video.

Download : MangaStream

Thank You

Google unveils '+1' button to rival Facebook 'Like'

2011-04-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

Google has unveiled its latest social networking feature, the "+1" button, which provides users a way to recommend search results to friends, but an industry watcher says the "copycat" feature is not likely to see success.

Users will need to have a public Google profile and log in to select the "+1" option, which appears next to search results such as Web sites or ads, and share "useful" and "relevant" recommendations and information with their Google contacts, product manager Rob Spiro said in a blog post.

To be launched first on Google's home page, the "+1" button--which is the digital shorthand for "this is pretty cool"--will eventually be available as a plugin so the function can be integrated into other sites.

However, Adam Bunn, director of search engine optimization (SEO) at search marketing agency Greenlight, noted that the new tool is unlikely to see significant adoption.

In a research note Friday, Bunn said: "There are immediate shortcomings if Google is hoping to conquer the social sphere in a bid to further bolster its dominance in the search space."

He noted the similarities between the "+1" and Facebook's "Like" buttons, the latter of which currently holds the lion's share in the social sphere of online interactions.

"[Google] creating its own copycat is unlikely to succeed," he said.

He pointed out that the search giant will only be able to pull off entering the social networking space if it can import data from social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, into users' Google profiles, and become the "gatekeeper of social interactions" or the first to market.

But there are hurdles should it decide to do so, Bunn said, noting that there are already "too many points of interaction" today including Twitter, Facebook, instant messaging and e-mail. In addition, social networking behemoth Facebook has also made clear it is unlikely to allow Google access to the data it holds, he said.

Bunn also highlighted that the Google brand is widely perceived as "functional rather than recreational", and unless it can create paradigm shift in online social interactions, there is "little option other than to buy Twitter" or form a major partnership akin to the Bing-Facebook alliance.

Google's "+1" effort marks the company's latest attempt at penetrating the social networking realm. Since 2009, the company has rolled out online real-time collaboration platform Wave and social networking platform Buzz to much hype but little success.

The latter, in particular, generated intense privacy backlash when it was found that Buzz--which works with Gmail's Web interface--exposed e-mail contacts that users did not want to make public.

Wave was eventually killed off last August--though some features resurfaced in Google Docs--while Buzz continues to be embroiled in lawsuits and privacy audits.

Logitech to Stream Video to IPads, IPhones

2011-02-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

In a move that underscores the importance of both mobile devices and video in staying connected within enterprises, Logitech is extending its LifeSize video streaming system to iPads, iPhones and iPods.

Video is coming into more enterprises as a communication tool even while more employees are relying on mobile devices. Cisco, Polycom and other vendors have committed themselves to reaching those mobile users with video, a task that requires the content to be adapted to different screen sizes and processing capabilities.

Logitech is starting to tackle this problem with the latest version of software for its LifeSize Video Center appliance, a platform for distributing live and recorded streams such as training sessions, executive messages and company meetings. Logitech began with Apple iOS because of the large installed base of such devices, but the company is looking at future offerings for Android, BlackBerry and other platforms, said Mary Miller, director of product marketing.

Video Center is designed strictly for one-way, one-to-many distribution of video. Logitech is not extending its two-way videoconferencing system to mobile devices yet, though it continues to look at the need for that capability. LifeSize users on the road have to use laptops for videoconferencing.

Logitech is bringing video streaming to iOS devices through the Web browser rather than an application. Logitech has verified the software with native iOS browsers, said Travis McCollum, a Logitech product manager.

Companies can record videos or initiate live streams on LifeSize endpoints such as the LifeSize 220 Series at their facilities, with resolutions up to 720p. The content is transcoded within the endpoint for different devices on which it may be viewed, including laptops, desktops, large displays and iOS devices.

The LifeSize Video Center Version 1.2 software includes a mechanism for automatically changing the bit rate of a stream for certain types of clients when they are detected on the network. Using the right bit rate for the network and device can eliminate the need for buffering, Miller said. Administrators can set up as many as four different bit rates and assign those to particular types of devices based on policies.

This "automatic adaptive streaming," as well as being able to stream to iOS devices, sets LifeSize Video Center apart from other systems in its class, including ones from Polycom and Cisco, Miller said.

Polycom said its Polycom Video Media Center supports multiple video formats, including for mobile devices, for on-demand streaming. The company plans to offer adaptive bit rates for live streaming later this year. Cisco offers automatic transcoding and optimization of streams for a wide range of mobile devices, including the Apple iOS lines, on its higher-end Media Experience Engine appliance.

PayPal Mobile app leak

2010-11-05T05:41:00.000-07:00

App of the online payment service PayPal has a big hole on both the iPhone and Android phones. It is not the only betalingsapp with a leak.

PayPal has already made an update to his app, and submitted to the respective app stores. Users who have new, safe version can download, sign up to the Wall Street Journal. To the extent that PayPal knows, the hole is not abused. It promises 100 percent reimbursement fraud.

Phishing
The leak is a basic error: the betalingsapp not verify the certificate from the PayPal server is valid. This enables users to be redirected to a spoof, to secure their login information for PayPal booty. "This is really a huge mistake by PayPal," said lead researcher Andrew High of viaForensics, the company that this leak has discovered.

The Wall Street Journal reports that it is possible for payments to listen and thus to intercept user names and passwords. According to PayPal can only under rare circumstances, through an unsecured WiFi network where an attacker, therefore it just must be connected. The possibility of phishing spoof sites through communication, however, undermines this lulling.

Password
Furthermore, abuse of this vulnerability, possible on the iPhone. Android Smartphones are not vulnerable. Yet PayPal has its app for mobile operating system that is also updated. It is unknown what the status of the PayPal app for Blackberry.

On the website is to find no mention of the new version and the need for updating. PayPal is praised as the security of its mobile apps with the message that "any payment is confirmed by a password.

The iPhone app PayPal according to the company about 4 million times since that app was released in April this year. The updated version (3.0.1) is already available in the iTunes App Store. The online payment service expects mobile payments this year totaling some 700 million U.S. dollars amounts.

More Apps leak
Meanwhile prove more apps for mobile payment to contain leaks. viaForensics has several apps reviewed and gaps in discovery. These mobile payment applications of the large U.S. banks: Bank of America, USAA, Chase, Wells Fargo, TD Ameritrade and Vanguard. Several of these institutes have been update for their apps.

viaForensics has informed the banks before it went public with his discoveries. "Since Monday (November 1, 2010), we communicate and work together with financial institutions to eliminate these errors," the company said in a blog post yesterday. "The discoveries that we have published, the impact of testing we on November 3 or so. " The company, the new versions of the apps are also screening.

iPhone table with 58 inch screen

2010-11-05T05:10:00.000-07:00

The iPhone is using a cable connected to the Connect Table. In addition, the unit currently gejailbreaked to a specific app to run. In the movie shows the Table Connect team, however, hinted that in future no longer necessary. How the system will work in the future is unclear. The table has multi-touch features, so you can do whatever you normally do well on the iPhone. Think swipe, but also to zoom in and out through your fingers together or apart to move.

Connect the Table is unfortunately only for iPhone 3G and 4. This is according to the team with the processor of the original iPhone and iPhone 3G. This is simply too slow to well with the Table Connect to cooperate.

Cheer also not too early. It is possible that the Connect Table was a hoax. It fell Macworld reader Davasc that on the iPhone on the movie with the little finger when you turn off iPhone app is started. In addition, the website of Connect Table is very little information and is hosted by Blogger.

The demonstration of the prototype of the Connect Table

Android Market Crosses 1 Lakh Applications

2010-10-26T05:05:00.000-07:00

Almost two years since Android Market went live, Google's proprietary mobile OS has achieved a significant feat. More than 1 lakh applications are now available in the Android Market. Google announced this through the Android Developer Twitter account. This feat notwithstanding, Google is still behind rival Apple, which has almost thrice as many iOS applications available in its application store. The Android milestone is nonetheless significant, because it's the only viable competitor to those seeking a more open source alternative to Apple's offerings.

With increasing number of devices, ranging from smartphones to tablets, flooding the market, the future looks bright for Android. The extent of this success still hinges on Google's ability to maintain a synergy between the large array of devices sharing the Android platform, and the effectiveness of the upcoming 7-inch tablets.

Ozzie's 'doomsday' memo warns Microsoft of post-PC days

2010-10-26T04:56:00.000-07:00

Computerworld - Departing Microsoft executive Ray Ozzie's just-published memo is a "doomsday-ish" missive that calls on the company to push further into the cloud or perish, an industry analyst said today.

Ozzie, who replaced Bill Gates as Microsoft's chief software architect in 2006, is leaving the company, although Microsoft has not disclosed the date of his departure.
His "Dawn of a New Day" memorandum, which was dated Oct. 28, is an attempt to focus Microsoft's attention on the day when PCs no longer rule consumer or business computing, said Wes Miller, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, the Kirkland, Wash. research firm that specializes in tracking Microsoft.
Miller worked for Microsoft from 1998 to 2004, in both the MSN and Windows groups.

"If you do a tag cloud of the memo, you'll see he rarely mentions the words 'PC' or 'Windows,'" said Miller, talking about the visual representation of a document's or Web site's content. "The words that are most prominent are 'devices' and 'services,' and shows that Ozzie believes the future will revolve around connected devices and continuous services."
In a nutshell, continued Miller, Ozzie's memo spells out the time when the PC -- the foundation of Microsoft's 35-year-old business, particularly its lucrative Windows franchise -- has been replaced by a slew of simple, low-cost devices that are constantly connected to the Internet, and through that, to cloud-based services.
"There's one key difference in tomorrow's devices," wrote Ozzie. "They're relatively simple and fundamentally appliance-like by design, from birth. They're instantly usable, interchangeable, and trivially replaceable without loss."
The communique is in many ways reminiscent of the one Ozzie published in 2005 shortly after joining Microsoft, in which he warned that the firm needed to jump on the cloud. And it's a continuation of what he's tried to do at Microsoft since.
"Ray has become synonymous with connected collaboration and the cloud," Miller argued, citing Azure as Ozzie's biggest success at Microsoft. "He's fought the valiant fight at Microsoft, but he's saying the company needs to continue investing in the cloud."
While Ozzie acknowledged rivals' successes in moving toward his world view, he didn't name names. "Our early and clear vision notwithstanding, their execution has surpassed our own in mobile experiences, in the seamless fusion of hardware & software & services, and in social networking & myriad new forms of Internet-centric social interaction," Ozzie said.
He didn't have to use the words "Apple" or "Google" or "Facebook" to get his message across to Microsoft's executives, said Miller. "They know who he's talking about."

Ozzie's note seemed "doomsday-ish" to Miller, but the concern is warranted. "He's telling Microsoft that it needs to look forward or you're not going to own the market in the future," Miller said. "He's trying to get Microsoft to start thinking about a day when the hegemony of Windows is a thing of the past."
To do that, Ozzie said Microsoft must stress simplicity over complexity, and essentially said that the 25-year-old Windows and its surrounding ecosystem was an example of the latter.
"Complexity kills," said Ozzie. "Complexity sucks the life out of users, developers and IT. Complexity makes products difficult to plan, build, test and use. Complexity introduces security challenges. Complexity causes administrator frustration."
Miller agreed. "Microsoft needs to focus on simplicity," he said.
But turning around Microsoft won't be easy. It's a huge company, with revenues and inertia to match.
"My frustration is that it's a big ship, and the velocity with which the boat is going will make it hard," Miller said. "You're talking about competing with companies that are, if not out-innovating Microsoft, then out-pacing them."
It's unlikely Ozzie's words came as a surprise to people at the top of Microsoft's organization chart. "This may be the last chance for Ray Ozzie to make his thoughts known, but I think he's said this internally for a long time. It fits with everything he's been doing at Microsoft," Miller said.
Miller was hopeful that Ozzie's words would find fertile ground. "My hope is that it brings some soul searching to Microsoft," Miller said. "I can't imagine someone at Microsoft not walking away from this without thinking that Ray's right."
But he was also realistic. "From my time at Microsoft, it totally depends on the individual executive whether this is accepted," he concluded.

Android continues to grow, others lose their share.

2010-09-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

Android shows no sign of slowing down. For the three months ended July 31 Android smartphone platform just to show growth. Palm remained, while Apple, Microsoft and RIM have all seen decreases.

ComScore latest report covers the period May, June and July 2010. During this time, Apple announced the iPhone 4 and although it was a huge commercial success, that a phone with an American carrier to limit its growth. Many sales of the fourth generation of existing iPhone owners are upgrading. That revenue from Apple, but nothing that the market share of the iPhone.

The fifth-generation iPhone could come with a spirit that appears when you rub it and give you three wishes, and there are still people who do not pass the network to AT & T's. Apple has dropped 25.1 per cent stake to 23.8 percent. Because the smartphone market grows, it shows that whatever the growth of the iPhone knows, it does not follow the general market.

Google's Android platform has passed Microsoft's Windows Mobile. This is not new information, but it is the first time this has happened in the rotation period of three months, indicating that the trend is real. Microsoft shares within three months ended in April was 14 percent, just before Google's 12 percent. Now the tables have changed. Microsoft has 11.8 percent, while Google grew 17 percent.

RIM, of course, strongly upward. with a share of 39.3 percent but has declined steadily. No data called again with BlackBerry 6.0 is included in this study.

Some of you may remember the recent news that Android was much higher in the standings. These surveys are usually based on data from NPD, which is only seen in retail sales. ComScore data channels appear to include wholesale and enterprise.

Surprisingly, the Palm WebOS remained stable, even if your operating system getting a little long in the tooth compared to the smartphone standards. It is a year and caused a sensation in the relatively small market when it was released exclusively on Sprint's network. Branch to AT&T and Verizon has obviously helped them remain stable.

Relations within the next six years have been a lot of new faces on it. WebOS launch of Windows 2.0 Phone 7, which Microsoft is a complete reboot of the BlackBerry platform and 6.0 included in the data.

Microsoft: No tethering on Windows 7 Phone

2010-09-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

Although Microsoft manager Brandon Watson says that Windows 7 Phone use as modem supports, is now officially denied: no tethering.

Microsoft creates confusion or Windows 7 Phone enables 3G Internet looped to a laptop through the mobile as a modem. Earlier this week reported Brandon Watson, Director of Developer Experience Phone for Windows 7, it is possible, but not enabled by default.

Tethering or not
"It is the operators to turn it on, but it is certainly possible. They will not do. Well, you must have your operator partners to keep friends, but your cell phone manufacturer partners," said Watson in a podcast.
Some draw hope from these statements, but now Microsoft's officialstatement: no support for tethering. However, it seems that this last statement above is not to create expectations about tethering, but the OS is supported in principle. That is basically the same policies that Apple has the iPhone: it can, but the operator must turn.

Abuse
The decision of Watson will be fodder for hackers to unlock tethering functionality itself. However, this is probably root access, and that is no easy task, as Microsoft has significantly 7 Phone boarded up, says Watson. [Rooting] is very difficult to do, if not impossible. But people will try. "
Almost all operators in their terms prohibit tethering, but most take little against the practice. Recently, the small group who do tethering of the operators blamed the debt. Because they are deprived excessive data, see eg KPN and Vodafone was forced to enter a data limit.

No flash, no Skype
Android smartphones tethering easier, for example an app like PdaNet. Tethering in Android 2.2 is installed as standard. Watson also confirmed the earlier news that Windows 7 Phone (yet) running Flash. At launch there will be no Skype app are supported.

Dell CEO shows 7-inch Streak tablet

2010-09-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

Michael Dell flashed a 7-inch version of its Android-based Streak tablet at Oracle OpenWorld...but offered no real details.

Dell is apparently working on evolving its Android-based Streak tablet: at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, Dell CEO Michael Dell flashed a 7-inch version of the device, which is currently available with a 5-inch display. However, Dell offered no other hard details about the device, including important information like price, availability, and whether Dell still envisions tablet devices serving as fully-functional phones.

A 7-inch version of the Dell Streak might make the device more competitive with the Apple iPad. Although numerous consumer device manufacturers are aiming at the tablet market with Android-based devices aimed at the end-of-year holiday buying season, so far the Apple iPad—with its high prices and 9.7-inch display—largely stands alone in the consumer tablet market. However, the Dell Streak has been given a lackluster reception by consumers, who note the device isn’t really big enough to serve as a full-fledged entertainment device or a notebook replacement for people on the go, but with a 5-inch display is too large to make a convenient phone.

At Oracle OpenWorld, Dell announced an expansion of its Dell Services Oracle Practice, which provides infrastructure support to enterprises and other large organizations with significant Oracle installations internationally.

You can download Skip Bucks 1.4.0 at download.cnet.com

2010-09-23T04:22:00.000-07:00

You can download the Skip Bucks, and all chrome extension from Download.com.

http://download.cnet.com

Samsung Galaxy Tab a 'litmus test' for the tablet market: Ovum

2010-09-13T03:24:00.000-07:00

Samsung's Android-powered Galaxy Tab will be a "litmus test" for the tablet market, according to analyst firm Ovum.

Ovum analyst Tony Cripps said that the reception of the Galaxy Tab will "tell us a great deal about the likely future development of the still embryonic tablet market". "Many questions remain. Answers to these questions will only really start to be answered later in the year, by which time the Galaxy Tab, Dell Streak, and Apple iPad will have been joined by an array of variations on the tablet theme, by multiple vendors, and right across the price spectrum. In the meantime, devices such as Samsung's Galaxy Tab are providing the perfect litmus test for the tablet market's prospects."

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is smaller than the iPad, and may prove to be more accessible for users who are on the go as a media consumption device.

"With its little brother the Samsung Galaxy S Android smartphone smartphone already selling well and demand for the iPad running high, it is not unreasonable to expect the scaled-up version [Galaxy Tab] to also ship in significant volume."

Mixed messages from Google: is Android ready for tablets?

2010-09-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

Google's Android mobile operating system was designed for smartphones, but it is increasingly being adopted by consumer electronics companies to power a range of new devices, including tablets and e-book readers. As we discovered when we looked at some of the upcoming Android tablet products a few months ago, the platform isn't natively suited for the tablet form factor and will need some refinement in order to deliver a top-notch user experience on devices that aren't smartphones.

Google mobile products director Hugo Barra recently acknowledged this issue in a statement to TechRadar. He says that Android 2.2, codenamed Froyo, is simply not designed for the tablet form factor. He also commented that the Android Market won't be available on tablets that deviate too far from the conventional Android user experience, because such devices won't be able to properly run Android applications.

Google's Android compatibility definition, which describes the mandatory hardware and software features that a product has to support in order to ship with the Android Market, poses challenges for tablet vendors because it stipulates some hardware requirements that may not be practical for tablets—such as requiring devices to have a built-in camera and GPS. As we explained earlier this year, the purpose of such requirements in the compatibility definition is to protect the platform from fragmentation by ensuring that devices which are intended to run third-party software share a baseline level of functional and behavioral compatibility.

A problem that has emerged as Android is expanding to new form factors is that it may be difficult in some cases to adapt the platform to work well on non-smartphone devices without falling afoul of the compatibility definition. Despite the challenges, some vendors like Samsung are building compelling tablet-sized Android products that conform with Google's requirements. As TechRadar points out, this works because the Samsung Galaxy Tab is basically an oversized phone rather than a conventional tablet.

An odd twist in the Android compatibility story is the fact that upcoming products based on the Google TV platform will be able to run Android applications despite the fact that such devices won't even come close to fitting within the constraints of the Android compatibility definition. One one hand, we have a radically new set-top form factor that will supposedly run Android applications, and on the other hand, we have a Google product director saying that Android isn't a good fit for non-smartphone devices and that those devices may pose insurmountable application compatibility challenges in some cases.

Google open source and compatibility program manager Dan Morrill recently weighed in on this issue on the official Android Developers blog. Although Google's official Android documentation on supporting multiple displays doesn't even address sizes that are larger than four inches, he says that existing applications generally behave properly on larger screens. He also says that it won't be difficult for developers to make custom layouts that will allow applications to take advantage of the extra space when it's available.

In his view, the challenge posed by the Google TV product and other radically different form factors can be overcome if developers simply specify Android Market filters in their application's manifest file. This will cause their applications to only show up in the Market on devices that are capable of supporting all of the application's functionality. An application that relies on SMS and the camera, for example, could simply be excluded from the Android Market on Google TV.

"You can use our built-in tools to handle these cases and control which devices your app appears to in Android Market. Android lets you provide versions of your UI optimized for various screen configurations, and each device will pick the one that runs best," he wrote. "Android Market will make sure your apps only appear to devices that can run them, by matching those features you list as required (via tags) only with devices that have those features."

This approach will work, but it will create a certain kind of fragmentation that the Android compatibility definition was intended to prevent. Despite Google's efforts to ensure hardware uniformity between devices, it seems like fragmentation is inevitable. What is most puzzling is the lack of consistency in Google's message about Android on non-smartphone form factors.

It's possible that Android 3.0 will bring solutions to some of these problems. There are already rumors circulating that it will boost tablet support and be better suited for non-phone form factors. If Google's compatibility program can evolve to function as effectively for new devices as it has for smartphones, we could see Google's little robot show up in a lot more places.

Google and Adobe may dissolve iPhone

2010-09-12T20:17:00.000-07:00

Google and Adobe are very pleased with the easier terms for Apple iPhone and iPad developers . Adobe Flash blows its IOS - to- tool and Google's new life in AdMob may continue .

Yesterday Apple unexpected changes in the conditions it imposes on developers of IOS apps for iPhone and iPad . Dutch development studio prices changeBut remain skeptical at the same time , partly because of the vague formulations that Apple uses .

Antitrust Investigation
But the big news is that Adobe and Google now think they have free rein . The previous version of the conditions closed development software from Adobe with Flash via a conversion tool ( Packager ) makes apps for IOS . Apple also banned , while revealing his own IAD , other mobile ad brokers " not neutral " were, because they have such a rival mobile OS . This Apple threatened Google's mobile advertising platform AdMob to ward off the iPhone and iPad , though still not an effective blockade come .

The measures led to much controversy and even the U.S. market watchdog FTC launched an antitrust investigation. Under this pressure, now let Apple reins , to the delight of Adobe and Google.

No Flash in browser
"We will again continue to develop this feature for future releases , Welcomes Adobe. " This is fantastic news for developers , we get reports that Packager apps already admitted to the App Store. We point out however that Apple 's restrictions on Flash in the browser IOS still in force. "

AdMob can
Google also blogs relieved that AdMob , which last year 750 million U.S. dollars paidAt IOS can stay. "Unlike the previous version , the new terms give Apple developers can choose from different ad platforms (including Google 's AdMob ) to monetize their apps . [ ... ] We are pleased that Apple has clarified its terms . "

Forgetful Facebook fanatics can remotely kill their other sessions

2010-09-07T03:28:00.000-07:00

Forgetful Facebook users and wannabe-burglars can now rest a little easier at night knowing that they can remotely log themselves out if they accidentally left logged-in sessions in other locations. Facebook users will soon be able to see where else they might be logged on, adding another layer of security to the social networking service.

Some of you may know the scenario all too well: you log into your Facebook account at your friend's place or your parents' house to check an event page or post a quick update. Then you forget to log out before you leave, which you realize after your friend has posted 30 penis photos to your profile wall. If you think this doesn't really happen, think again: members of the Ars staff are constantly finding logged-in Facebook accounts at places like the Apple Store, and we aren't always able to resist the temptation to post a (polite, but) embarrassing update to the user's profile, reminding them to log out next time.

You'll be able to go to Account > Account Settings > Account Security in order to see which devices are currently logged into Facebook as you. (The feature is slowly rolling out to all users, so it may not be available on every account just yet.) There, Facebook will provide a list of active sessions along with as much device and location info as it can gather.

You then get the choice to "end" each session by logging it out, and there are extra steps you can take if those sessions aren't your own doing. "In the unlikely case that someone accesses your account without your permission, you can shut down the unauthorized login before resetting your password and taking other steps to secure your account and computer," the Facebook team wrote on its blog.

This update follows one from earlier this year that allows Facebook users to authenticate each device they want to use to log into their accounts. When someone tries to log into a locked-down account on a new device, Facebook will ask a series of questions to ensure the user is who she says she is. And, Facebook says these features are just the beginning: "Stay tuned over the coming weeks and months for more improvements," says Facebook.

O2 UNVEILS IPHONE 4 EARLY UPGRADE OFFER

2010-06-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

O2 has revealed details of its 'Early Upgrade Offer' that will allow its customers whose existing mobile contract has not yet expired to get their hands on aniPhone 4.

Apple's latest smartphone was unveiled by Steve Jobs this week at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
The new handset, which features an all-new design, has "well over 100 new features" including an HD screen, video calling, a gyroscope, a new iMovie app and countless other upgrades.

O2, along with Orange, Vodafone and T-Mobile will be offering the handset in the UK from June 24.
O2 said that instead of paying off the remaining contract in full, it would let its customers that wanted to take out a new iPhone 4 contract, pay a one-off charge based upon a £20 per month fee for each full month left to run on the contract.
However, none of the UK networks have yet revealed pricing details for the handset.
O2 customer interested in upgrading can visit the network'sdedicated upgrade web page and enter their upgrade date to get an estimate as to how much the one-off charge will be.
However, the network did say the scheme could not be used in conjunction with an early upgrade eligibility that might already exist.
O2 customers looking to get their hands on the iPhone 4 might want to consider making use of O2's mobile phone recycling scheme.
Under the scheme, O2 will pay a cash sum into your bank in exchange for your old mobile phone and battery.
Those looking to recycle a 16GB Apple iPhone 3G can get their hands on £173, which O2 customers could use to extract themselves from their current contract and even leave enough left over to pay the expected handset charge.
However, we have noticed the cash sum is decreasing daily, so users will need to recycle their handset quickly.

For more information see the Apple Web site.
For more information see the O2 Web site.

Cyber War: Microsoft a weak link in national security

2010-06-10T02:26:00.000-07:00

"Microsoft has vast resources, literally billions of dollars in cash, or liquid assets reserves. Microsoft is an incredibly successful empire built on the premise of market dominance with low-quality goods."

Who wrote those lines? Steve Jobs? Linux inventor Linus Torvalds? Ralph Nader? No, the author is former White House adviser Richard A. Clarke in his new book, Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About It.

It has been a few months since Clarke's latest opus appeared, but it's still making quite a splash. Clarke, after all, was the guy who repeatedly warned the White House about Al Qaeda before September 11, 2001. As a result, he has quickly become the most publicly identifiable person on the subject.

"While it may appear to give America some sort of advantage," Cyber War warns, "in fact cyber war places this country at greater jeopardy than it does any other nation." The enormous dependence of our financial and energy networks on the 'Net open us up to potentially devastating online attacks. "It is the public, the civilian population of the United States and the publicly owned corporations that run our key national systems, that are likely to suffer in a cyber war."

Large scale movement

Clarke takes readers through various famous cyberwar incidents, most notably the Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on Estonia back in 2007, but how bad could such events really get?

The hypothetical answer is on page 64. There Clarke deputizes you as Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and takes you through a scenario of doom. The National Security Agency has just sent a critical alert to your BlackBerry: "Large scale movement of several different zero day malware programs moving on Internet in US, affecting critical infrastructure."

But by the time you get your office, one of the DoD's main networks has already crashed; computer system failures have caused huge refinery fires around the country; the Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic control center in Virginia is collapsing, and the hits just keep coming.

"The Chairman of the Fed just called," the Secretary of the Treasury tells you. "Their data centers and their backups have had some sort of major disaster. They have lost all their data." Power blackouts are sweeping the country. Thousands of people have already died. "There is more going on," Clarke narrates, "but the people who should be reporting to you can't get through."

File under fiction

Clarke's book has gotten tons of play with this sort of stuff—check out, for example, the scary interview he did with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air. But little of it impresses his critics.

"File under fiction," begins Ryan Siegel's review over at Wired. "Like in real war, truth is the first casualty." Siegel warns that the tome is based on hypothetical scenarios (see above) or alarmist and inaccurate rehashings of various cyber emergencies. Plus, we note the book has no references or index.

Ditto, says Evgeny Morozov in the Wall Street Journal. "We do not want to sleepwalk into a cyber-Katrina," he writes, "but neither do we want to hold our policy-making hostage to the rhetorical ploys of better-informed government contractors." Clarke is one of four partners in the Good Harbor Consulting security firm.

But even his detractors acknowledge that some of Clarke's broad arguments make sense—most notably his warning that the Pentagon can't assume that the energy and financial sectors will effectively defend themselves from cyber attacks.

"At the beginning of the age of cyber war," Clarke ruefully notes, "the US government is telling the population and industry to defend themselves."

Money talks

Why has the national response to this problem been so slow? Lack of consensus on what to do and fear of the "R-word"—government regulation, Clarke contends. Then there's Reason Number Five on his list, which basically boils down to "Microsoft."

"Some people like things the way they are," Clarke obliquely observes. "Some of those people have bought access." Microsoft, he notes, is a prominent member of OpenSecrets.org's "Heavy Hitters" political donor list. Most of the list's stars are trade associations. "Microsoft is one of only seven companies that make the cut."

The software giant's largesse has shifted from Republicans back in the Clinton antitrust days to Obama, he continues, but the agenda is always clear: "Don't regulate security in the software industry, don't let the Pentagon stop using our software no matter how many security flaws it has, and don't say anything about software production overseas or deals with China."

Clarke tries to be fair. He notes that Microsoft didn't originally intend its software for critical networks. But even his efforts at fairness are unflattering. Microsoft's original goal "was to get the product out the door and at a low cost of production," he explains. "It did not originally see any point to investing in the kind of rigorous quality assurance and quality control process that NASA insisted on for the software used in human space-flight systems."

But people brought in Microsoft programs for critical systems anyway. "They were, after all, much cheaper than custom-built applications." And when the government launched its Commercial Off-the-Shelf program (COTS) to cut expenses, Microsoft software migrated to military networks. These kind of cost cutting reforms "brought to the Pentagon all the same bugs and vulnerabilities that exist on your own computer," Clarke writes.

Floating i-brick

The former White House advisor cites the 1997 USS Yorktown incident as a consequence. The Ticonderoga-class ship's whole operational network was retrofitted with Windows NT. "When the Windows system crashed, as Windows often does, the cruiser became a floating i-brick, dead in the water."

In response to this "and a legion of other failures," the government began looking into the Linux operating system. The Pentagon could "slice and dice" this open source software, pick and choose the components it needed, and more easily eliminate bugs.

Clarke says that, in response:

[Microsoft] went on the warpath against Linux to slow the adoption of it by government committees, including by Bill Gates. Nevertheless, because there were government agencies using Linux, I asked NSA to do an assessment of it. In a move that startled the open-source community, NSA joined that community by publicly offering fixes to the Linux operating system that would improve its security. Microsoft gave me the very clear impression that if the US government promoted Linux, Microsoft would stop cooperating with the US government. While that did not faze me, it may have had an effect on others. Microsoft's software is still being bought by most federal agencies, even though Linux is free.

The company took a similarly hard line towards the banking and financial industry, Cyber War says, rebuffing access requests from security specialists for Microsoft code. When banks threatened to use Linux, Microsoft urged them to wait for its next operating system—Vista.

"Microsoft insiders have admitted to me that the company really did not take security seriously, even when they were being embarrassed by frequent highly publicized hacks," Clarke confides. Sure enough, when Apple and Linux began to offer serious competition, Microsoft upgraded quality in recent years. But what the company did first was to lobby against higher government security standards.

"Microsoft can buy a lot of spokesmen and lobbyists for a fraction of the cost of creating more secure systems," concludes Clarke's section on the software firm. "They are one of several dominant companies in the cyber industry for whom life is good right now and change may be bad."

Required to do so

Given the considerable amount of criticism Cyber War has come in for, we're not endorsing Clarke's nightmare version of Microsoft's history. And we're more than a little nervous about some of his prescriptions for "change." These include government rules ordering the big ISPs "to engage in deep-packet inspection for malware."

Although these provisions should include high standards for privacy, "the ISPs must be given the legal protection necessary" so they won't fear being sued for stopping malware, viruses, DDOS attacks, and worms. "Indeed, they must be required to do so by new regulations," Clarke insists.

But many of the reviews and notices of Cyber War gloss over one of the principal observations of the book: the privatization of government over the last two decades may have saved cash but compromised the government's ability to defend crucial portions of America from big and small attacks on the 'Net. That's a concern that bears further discussion, whatever you think of Clarke's scary cyber stories.

Vision of 'a smart phone for everyone'

2010-06-01T23:59:00.000-07:00

SINGAPORE : Samsung has launched its new flagship Galaxy S Android smart phone first in the Asia-Oceania region, with the aim of riding the wave of innovation in the Android platform and providing smart phones for every budget.

Speaking at the launch in Singapore, Gregory Lee, CEO of Samsung Southeast Asia and Oceania, said he was confident that the phone will be a major success thanks to Android now being the fastest-growing smart phone platform and the rich variety of applications available on the Android Market.

Samsung is all about open platforms which will help each country build in localisations.

The US and European launches will follow sometime in July. Lee said it was rare in the US for all carriers to launch the same phone at the same time, but all have already signed up for the Galaxy S.

In the region, Singtel, AIS, Telkomsel, Optus (and soon Maxxis) have signed up as launch partners.

''This is only the beginning of Samsung's approach to smart phones. We will soon offer smart phones for every price point aimed at every consumer in Southeast Asia,'' he said.

Winston Goh, Product Manager, ran though some of the highlights of the phone.

The Galaxy S is 9.9 millimetres slim and comes with the industry's most powerful CPU right now, running at 1 GHz. This does not come at a cost of battery life. Standby is 250 hours on 2G and 200 on 3G. With the radios off in flight mode, it is capable of showing video for seven hours.

''And when your battery runs out, you simply open it and put in another one. You don't need an engineer to change the battery,'' he said, taking a sideswipe at Apple's iPhone with its non-replaceable battery. Goh later said that the Galaxy S was not magic, but the result of hard engineering work, also taking a jab at Apple's ''magical'' iPad experience.

The Galaxy S is the second phone in Southeast Asia that comes with Samsung's new Super AMOLED display that offers stunning colours and, unlike earlier AMOLED designs, remains readable under direct sunlight.

Also present is Samsung's Swype keyboard, where words are written on an onscreen keypad without taking the user's finger off the screen. This input method, as used on the Samsung Omnia II, currently hold the Guinness world record for phone text input speed.

The Galaxy S runs Android 2.1 and features all the usual Android features, such as tight integration with social networking, gallery and video playback.

In addition it provides eBook capabilities, HD video playback and recording, DLNA (digital living network alliance) connectivity, ThinkFree office that can view and edit Microsoft Office 2007 documents, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi B/G/N and mobile access point (tethering) dhcapabilities.

It supports 7.2 MBPS down, 5.76 MBPS up on 3G networks and EDGE class 12.

Other applications included, for the Singapore market at least, was an e-Nets (debit card) application for e-commerce.

Google’s Hong Kong Back Door

2010-03-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

Overnight in China, Google started redirecting users of its mainland Chinese search engine Google.cn to the uncensored, Hong Kong-based Google.com.hk, presenting a challenge to China’s control of the Internet.

Google’s latest move to offer unfiltered results to Chinese users represents the most prominent challenge to Chinese authorities in recent memory, particularly for a company that says it still wants to do business in China. The redirection of users to the Hong Kong site could be seen as compounding the offense since it is clearly based on the wider freedoms available in Hong Kong under the “one country, two systems” policy.
The former British colony of Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, maintains a separate legal system and has a free press. Google’s Hong Kong office is registered as a separate legal entity from its mainland China offices.

Google.hk offers many of the same services as Google.cn, as well as a simplified Chinese-language option (Hong Kong uses traditional Chinese characters). On the simplified Chinese home page of Google.hk, users are greeted with a message that reads: “Welcome to the new home of Google Search in China.” Users can also access Google’s free Chinese music download service through the Hong Kong site.
The Hong Kong government said Tuesday it doesn’t censor the content of Web sites and fully respects freedom of information. “There are no restrictions on access to Web sites, including Hong Kong-based Web sites, from China,” the government said in an e-mailed statement.
The question now is how long China will allow Google to continue to exploit the loophole offered by “one country, two systems.” Mainland authorities could easily revoke Google’s right to use the Google.cn domain name (as well as the related g.cn domain) and/or block access to the Hong Kong site, but beyond that, Google’s activities in Hong Kong are largely beyond their reach. This has made the city a haven for media outlets that take a critical stance toward the Chinese government, such as Jimmy Lai’s Next Media (publisher of Apple Daily) and the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia, as well as human rights groups and NGOs that focus on issues in China.
China’s response so far doesn’t offer much comfort. This morning, Xinhua news agency cited an official from the Internet bureau of the State Council Information Office slamming the U.S. Internet giant’s actions.
“Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying. “This is totally wrong. We’re uncompromisingly opposed to the politicization of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts.”

:blogs.wsj.com

InVisage aims to remake camera sensor market

2010-03-22T00:57:00.000-07:00

"With a tiny smartphone 3-megapixel sensor, we could make that a 12-megapixel sensor," said Chief Executive Jess Lee. "Or we could quadruple its sensitivity and ISO. That's the net benefit here." Higher sensitivity means photos that aren't as afflicted with the flecks of color that mean the sensor is capturing noise instead of what a person wants to photograph.

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company is set to demonstrate its products at the Demo conference in Palm Springs, Calif., on Monday, coming out of stealth mode in the process. Specifically, it'll show images produced by a sensor whose pixels measure only 1.1 microns, or millionths of a meter, on edge.
Essentially, the technology works by adding a new finely tuned light-sensitive layer on top of the silicon chip, Lee said. That layer is more efficient at converting incoming light into electrical signals, and the light isn't partially blocked by a microprocessor's metallic layers, either.

Those who make camera sensors, including Panasonic, Sony, Canon, Micron Technologies spinoff Aptina Imaging, and OmniVision Technologies, have been working to snatch as many photons as possible that come through the camera lens. Among other things, they've reduced the size of circuitry that gets in the way of capturing light, thereby increasing the "fill factor" of each pixel; they've flipped the sensor design around so the circuitry doesn't get in the way of the silicon in an approach called back-side illumination; they've come up with "gapless" microlenses that gather light from one edge of the pixel to the other and focus it on the light-gathering area.

And those sensor makers have made steady progress. In particular, SLR cameras can shoot at ISO sensitivity settings as high as 102,400 in a couple cases. But SLRs use large, expensive sensors that don't fit in a mobile phone camera's physical housing or price constraints, and smaller sensors require some combination of fewer megapixels and smaller pixels with lower sensitivity.

InVisage believes its approach offers a much larger leap in improvement than the existing industry has come up with so far, and though it's aiming initially for high-end mobile phones, the technology will work on ordinary digital cameras, security cameras, and military night-vision systems as well, Lee said.

The company has ambitions to remake the image sensor market, but doing so isn't easy. Foveon, another Silicon Valley image sensor start-up, has had only niche success, for example. And it's going up against major chipmaking experts with established businesses.

Competitor OmniVision has 1.1-micron pixels, too, with its own partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), and said the process will work with sub-micron pixels as well.
InVisage has backing in the form of more than $30 million raised from RockPort Capital, Charles River Ventures, InterWest Partners, and OnPoint Technologies. It's got 30 employees to date and a manufacturing partnership with TSMC, as well.

And Lee argues InVisage has an advantage over incumbent powers: its technology doesn't require as advanced manufacturing equipment to make. OmniVision's 1.1-micron pixel sensor requires manufacturing equipment that can make features as small as 65 nanometers, or billionths of a meter, but InVisage's requires only 110-nanometer equipment, Lee said.

InVisage Executives include Lee, who previously was a vice president of OmniVision and also worked at Altera, Silicon Graphics, and Creative Labs; nanotechnology researcher and Chief Technology Officer Ted Sargent; and Marketing Director Michael Hepp, who worked at OmniVision as in product marketing and program management and also worked at National Semiconductor.

InVisage is starting with smartphones first because it's an established, high-volume market. "We're working with two top-tier handset manufacturers already," Lee said, declining to mention them by name.
The company will begin producing samples of its chips by the end of the year. With mass production typically taking six to nine months after that, people could start seeing them in products by mid-2011, Lee said.

:news.cnet.com

Viacom, Google air dirty laundry in court docs

2010-03-22T00:49:00.000-07:00

Court filings released on Thursday in the bitter $1 billion copyright fight between Viacom and Google's YouTube show just how far apart the companies remain, as the 3-year-old case winds through federal court.
Viacom, in 108 pages of court documents, portrays YouTube's founders as reckless copyright violators who were far more concerned with increasing traffic to their site than obeying the law. Even executives at Google, which acquired YouTube for $1.7 billion in October 2006, questioned the ethics of building a site through questionable copyright practices, according to the Viacom filings.

But in the 100-page document filed by Google, perhaps not surprisingly, the search engine tells a different story. Viacom is painted as a media giant trying to play it both ways: demanding that YouTube take down videos even while third parties were uploading Viacom content on the entertainment giant's behalf. More intriguingly, the parent company of MTV and Paramount Pictures was at one point interested in acquiring the video-sharing site, according to the documents.
"We believe YouTube would make a transformative acquisition for MTV Networks/Viacom that would immediately make us the leading deliverer of video online, globally," according to an internal Viacom slide that Google filed with the court.
Interesting as the documents may be, it's not clear which side will benefit most from the disclosures. Google argues that it is protected by the safe-harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which says, in short, that if a Web site acts in good faith to take down copyrighted content as soon as it learns of it, and it has not benefited financially through advertising or other means, it is protected from a lawsuit. Viacom is attempting to pierce that protection by proving that YouTube employees, at the very least, knew of rampant copyright violations on their site and did little about it.
:news.cnet.com

Chrome Extension : Amazon Rocket

2010-03-08T03:48:00.000-08:00

Amazon Rocket is access to popular products and Product cheap prices. Simple and fast as possible

download amazon rocket click

HTC Legend in April with Vodafone UK

2010-03-03T20:48:00.000-08:00

The month of April seems to be a time of promise for the world Android in Europe, following news that the Nexus One will be marketed in April in England (and also in Italy), now check the news that the 'HTC Legend arrives on the shelves of United Kingdom in the same month.

The price in UK will be £ 399 from 12 April, probably in Italy will cost around € and 499. We recall that the 'HTC Legend is based on the Android operating system 2.1 Eclair, interface Sense of HTC, an optical joystick (instead of the trackball), a 5 megapixel camera and 3.2-inch AMOLED screen HVGA capacitive type.
Street: AndroidWorld.

Kindle: more than an e-book reader, it's a development platform

2010-02-25T01:59:00.000-08:00

Last month we announced the forthcoming release of the Kindle Development Kit, a suite of programming interfaces, tools, and documentation that allows you to build active content that you can promote in the Kindle Store. I travel a lot, and I'm seeing more and more Kindles every time I fly. Kindle owners never hesitate to tell me how much they love their devices and its capabilities -- the long battery life, an easy-on-the-eyes display, an incredibly convenient form factor, the instant gratification of accessing and downloading new content on-the-go whenever something strikes their fancy. Now you, as a developer, can tap into this enthusiasm and create compelling active content.

Today we're pleased to announce open enrollment into the Kindle developer beta program. Read more about the program here and sign up here. We'll ask you to briefly describe your idea during the enrollment process. Enrollees receive information on how to download the development kit, how to receive support from us while you develop your project, and how to submit your finished project to the Kindle Store. The development kit includes a Kindle simulator (both 6" and 9.7") that works on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. You can also register up to three Kindle devices through the developer portal; the owners of those devices will receive invitations to download and test your active content.

The Kindle as a platform offers your customers a great user experience, including its large e-ink display and access to its always-connected wireless Whispernet with no monthly connectivity fees or contracts. The Kindle Store provides you wide exposure to make your active content discoverable and accessible to a very large community of enthusiasts. We're looking forward to seeing some great innovation!
: amazon.com

Twitter ‘LOL’ Phishing Attack Turns Into Spam Wave

2010-02-22T02:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we wrote about a new phishing attack on Twitter, which lured unsuspecting users into giving away their Twitter credentials. The compromised accounts were then used to spread the attack further via direct messages containing text such as "lol, is this you", "Lol. this is me?", "lol , this is funny" etc.

IT security firm Sophos now has detailed info on the attacks and a video describing them, which we’ve embedded below.

After the first attack wave, however, the phishers are now using the compromised accounts to send out spam, which resulted in a huge amount of Viagra-related messages on Twitter (Twitter), which read something similar to this: "Get bigger and have sex longer. go here", followed by an address that leads to a sexual enhancement site.

Once again, if you see unusual messages (similar to the examples above) sent from your Twitter account, it may mean it has been compromised, and you should change your Twitter password immediately.

:mashable.com

Puma Phone pounces into action

2010-02-17T04:22:00.000-08:00

BARCELONA, Spain--I think I just found my favorite phone (though the HTC Legend comes in a close second) of Mobile World Congress 2010 and it's from someone completely unexpected: Puma. Yes, the same Puma who makes the shoes, sportswear, and accessories.
OK, maybe I'm just a sucker for a cool gimmick but it's always nice to see something completely different like the Puma Phone. Plus, it looks to be quite a competent phone and it's apparent that the company put a lot of thought into the integrated features.
The handset itself is manufactured by Sagem and has a 2.8-inch, 240x320 capacitive touch screen and built-in solar charger on the back. The quad-band GSM device also includes Bluetooth, 3G, aGPS, and a 3.2-megapixel camera. All pretty standard for a full-feature phone, but it's the user experience that makes the Puma Phone different.
From the bright red background to the bold icons to the preloaded sports functions, the Puma Phone is designed to complement your lifestyle just as much as it is meant to be a communication device. There's a host of sports features, such as a run and bike tracker that takes advantage of the GPS capabilities. There's a built-in radio, a scratching turntable, social networking integration, and video calling. And it's all done with a cheeky and fun attitude. I mean, the phone has an on-demand digital puma named Dylan. Enough said.
Unfortunately, it looks like the Puma Phone will only be heading to Europe with an expected April ship date. If you like what you see, there's always a chance you buy the phone unlocked, but pricing information was not released at this time. For more about this cool cat, check out our hands-on photo gallery below.

: cnet.com

What Google needs to learn from Buzz backlash

2010-02-17T04:12:00.000-08:00

Google's decision to use mostly internal testing before launching Google Buzz backfired: sure, the product didn't leak, but objections to its privacy policies were muted until it launched.

Credit: news.cnet.com

Disappointed with iPad, go for Adam

2010-02-11T02:20:00.000-08:00

Disappointed with iPad, go for Adam: Are you one of those who got disappointed by Apple iPad? Then you can try your hand at Notion Ink’s ‘Adam’.

Indian company Notion Ink’s Adam runs on NVIDIA’s Tegra T20 chipset and Android. Has WiFi, Bluetooth and UMTS/HSDPA, A-GPS, a digital compass, accelerometer and proximity, ambient light and water sensors.

Supports 1080p Full HD video playback and is equipped with a 3-megapixel autofocus camera.

It measures 6.3 x 9.8 x 0.6 inches and weighs around 770 gms. It has 16GB or 32GB of onboard storage.

Pricing is under wraps as of now.

Google Broadband Move is Latest Case of Google Creep

2010-02-10T23:43:00.000-08:00

Google Feb. 11 said it will build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in some locations across the U.S., hurtling Internet data at speeds of 1 gigabit per second, or more than 100 times faster than most residential broadband connections.
Google will offer this service to anywhere from 50,000 people to 500,000 people. Why would a search engine do this?
Because Google is not just a search engine anymore. It the premier proprietor of Web services and the sooner everyone acknowledges this, the easier it will be to grok Google.
Google says it does everything it does for the sake of organizing the world's information on the Web.
The company offers search to organize the Web's information. It leverages communications tools such as Gmail to let people e-mail each other and share other content via the Web through Google Buzz.
Google Voice lets users funnel calls to several phones via the Web.
Google tethers advertising to most of these services and Google's Nexus One and other Android devices are aimed at extending this empire to the mobile Web.
With $25 billion in the bank, the search engine also has the cash to branch out to the infrastructure parts of the Web, such as offering a Google Domain Name System.
Now Google wants to own some of the pipes that shuttle the massive chunks of data generated in these Web services to and from the computers and mobile devices we use.
Hence the broadband play, which has been in the works for years. Google's goals for this endeavor include:

We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it's creating new bandwidth-intensive "killer apps" and services, or other uses we can't yet imagine.
We'll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we'll share key lessons learned with the world.
We'll operate an "open access" network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we'll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.

In a complementary post, Google's D.C. Telecom Guru Richard Whitt cited streaming high-definition video content, remote data storage, distance learning and real-time multimedia collaboration as some of the tasks 1 Gbps broadband will enable.
We should not be surprised. Anything that makes the Web work faster enables Google to consummate more search and Web services transactions. In this digital economy, more Web transactions translates to more advertising spend and more reward for the primary vector of that operation: Google.
While the FCC has come out in support of Google's endeavor, the nation's broadband providers aren't likely to be so kind of this latest case of Google Creep.
Google Creep is my term for the way Google is entering new markets, often with the stated goals to improve the way the Web works for users. Behind these statements of philanthropy lie the cool, precise model for making money from the Web.
Is Google taking over the world, and is that a leading question, as lawyers like to ask?
If you believe the world is run by information in this Information Age, and you accept that the Web is now the ultimate medium for delivering information in the Information Age then the answer is yes.
The Web by its nature wants to make information available to users rapidly and now Google is facilitating this effort from the starting point of broadband access to the search engine gateway, or the "middleman" to the extending Web service tendrils, such as Gmail, Google Voice, and in mobile.
Google is taking over the Web, in so far as the Web, which is open, can be taken over. Net-net, Google is gunning to control some of the pipes to protect its interests in making sure Internet service is better than anything average Joe Web user has at home.
If Google pulls this off, one could envision in five years Google serving consumers from soup to nuts, or its search and other Web services and mobile apps, from its own pipes.
This is fantastic and frightening at the same time. Some people will love the emergent Google World Order. Others loathe it, fearing a slow slide toward a Microsoft-like grip on the Web. Fear in Loathing in Mountain View, Calif.

Apple iPad: Is it for you?

2010-02-04T00:31:00.001-08:00

Apple iPad

Police survey provides glimpse of Net-surveillance figures | Politics and Law - CNET News

2010-02-03T23:58:00.001-08:00

A forthcoming survey of computer crime investigators suggests that electronic surveillance is a bit more commonplace than most people might expect.Even a relatively small group of 100 police working on online investigations reports submitting as many as 22,800 legal requests for information a year to Internet and e-mail providers, a category that includes both subpoenas and search warrants.CNET has reviewed a presentation scheduled to be given at a federal task force meeting on Thursday, which says that the survey respondents said they submitted a total of anywhere from 2,868 to 22,800 requests for information a year. (See one excerpt and another.)"Most Internet users do not realize how often the government is demanding personal information from companies, often without judicial oversight, and how often companies turn it over," says Nicole Ozer, technology director for the ACLU of Northern California. "Companies are refusing to disclose to the public how many demands they get. It appears that the government is demanding that Internet companies turn over so much personal information about users, so often, that companies can't keep up."No law requires that the number of subpoenas and search warrants sent to Internet and e-mail providers be made public. Federal law does require the disclosure of certain types of wiretaps--in 2004, for instance, there were 1,442 nonterrorism-related wiretaps, and only 4 percent targeted computers and electronic devices.Sixty-one of survey respondents reported that their investigations were "detrimentally" affected because data were not retained long enough, and 47 percent said they had to end an investigation because data were not retained. The survey was conducted in late October 2009. (In general, subscriber information such as billing addresses can be obtained with a subpoena, and content information such as the contents of an e-mail message can be obtained with a search warrant.)The survey, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, is part of a broader push from law enforcement agencies to alter the ground rules of online investigations. Other components include renewed calls for laws requiring Internet companies to store data about their users for up to five years, and a push for a national Web interface linking police computers with those of Internet and e-mail providers so requests can be sent and received electronically instead of via fax.The survey's author is Frank Kardasz, who is scheduled to present it at a meeting of the Online Safety and Technology Working Group, organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Kardasz, a sergeant in the Phoenix police department and a project director of Arizona's Internet Crimes Against Children task force, said in an e-mail exchange on Tuesday that he is still revising the document and was unable to discuss it.

Police survey provides glimpse of Net-surveillance figures | Politics and Law - CNET News

Apple seeks e-book pricing plan for tablet

2010-01-27T03:48:00.000-08:00

Apple is in secret last-minute negotiations with book publishers over a new e-books pricing scheme for its highly anticipated tablet computer, putting it in direct competition with Amazon, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Apple wants publishers to create two new price points for e-books of best-sellers: $12.99 and $14.99, with some titles offered at $9.99, according to the report. As it does with iPhone apps, Apple is negotiating for a 30 percent take on the sales price, with publishers getting the other 70 percent, the Journal reported.
The move would put Apple in an open battle for the e-book sales crown with Amazon, which has slashed the prices of titles for its Kindle e-book reader, offering some best-sellers for free. Amazon has also announced the release of a software development kit for the Kindle, which will allow developers to build and eventually sell their own applications for the device, apparently opening a new front with Apple and its iPhone.
Apple and Amazon representatives did not immediately respond to request for comment.
When Apple allowed Amazon to develop a way for iPhone users to get access to Amazon's library of e-books, it appeared the company was ceding the mobile computing e-book market to Amazon. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has dismissed the e-book reader and market in general, declaring in 2008 that "people don't read anymore." However, Jobs is notorious for dismissing a new product or concept right up until the day Apple ships a similar product.
Apple has also been rumored to be jockeying to get a variety of media on the device, including TV content magazines, newspapers, music, games, and video. Publishers such as the New York Times Co., Conde Nast Publications, and HarperCollins Publishers have reportedly been approached over content deals, as well as TV networks such as CBS and Walt Disney over monthly subscription deals for the device, which is expected to be unveiled at an event Wednesday in San Francisco.
However, at least one books publisher isn't likely to be very welcome at the event. Terry McGraw, the chairman and CEO of McGraw-Hill apparently jumped the gun a bit during a CNBC interview, confirming that a device would be revealed Wednesday and that college textbooks would make an appearance on it. He also revealed that the device would be based on the iPhone operating system--the first named source offering actual confirmation of the operating system and specific content for the device.

news.cnet.com

Toyota halts sales of eight models

2010-01-27T03:45:00.000-08:00

After issuing 6.5 million vehicle recalls over the past few months, Toyota on Tuesday took the further and dramatic step of halting sales of eight models until it gets a handle on whether they are exhibiting uncontrolled acceleration and, if so, why.
Production is being halted on the 2009-'10 RAV4, Corolla, and Matrix; 2005-'10 Avalon; 2007-'10 Camry; 2010 Highlander, 2007-'10 Tundra, and 2008-'10 Sequoia. Five plants in Indiana, Texas, Kentucky, and California will be affected.
Toyota has been racing for months to get in front of whatever engineering issue may exist and the public-relations nightmare it is creating.
Dealers began fitting revised accelerator pedals on 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles after a September recall that was the largest in company history. Earlier this month Toyota also began retrofitting a throttle interrupt mechanism on many Camry, Avalon, and Lexus models, a mechanism that would be phased into all Toyota corporation vehicles by the end of 2010. And a few days ago the company issued a new recall on 2.3 million cars to correct a part in the throttle linkage that may wear prematurely and prevent the throttle from returning to idle.
When reports of uncontrolled acceleration began surfacing last fall, the company advised owners of many models to remove floor mats as a temporary solution until dealers could fit a revised accelerator pedal that supposedly would not catch on the flooring. But ABC News has recently surfaced a number of reports of uncontrolled acceleration in Toyota cars whose floor mats had been removed.

Days before iTablet-palooza, the rumor hits keep comin

2010-01-24T22:44:00.000-08:00

Gizmodo

With just days to go before Apple is likely to unveil a long-expected tablet device, rumors continue to circulate over its details. As the buzz continues, we wanted to wrap up what we have heard recently.
You want 3G with that? Sources inside both AT&T and Verizon once again say that an Apple tablet will be compatible with not just one or the other, but both networks. The source from Verizon claims that it will work automatically with Verizon's WiFi hotspots and switch seamlessly to EVDO when out of range. Whether such a service would work the same on AT&T isn't known, but that company did boast to Fox that it has "the largest network of Wi-Fi hotspots in the country."
Further rumors peg Qualcomm as the supplier of the 3G chip for the tablet. Apple may build separate versions, one with HSPA+ chips for AT&T and most other carriers, and another with EVDO chips for Verizon and other carriers using the CDMA standard. Alternately, Apple may even include a chip recently designed by Qualcomm that's capable of connecting to either network.
Buy one dock connector, get one free. Sources for iLounge say that the tablet will have not one, but two dock connectors—one on the horizontal bottom, and one on a vertical "bottom." This would allow the device to be docked in either landscape or portrait orientation while charging. This way, the tablet could perform different functions—playing video or reading books, for example—while set in a single charging station.
The tablet will also have generously sized antennas, if the "long rear stripe" of plastic along the back—which breaks up the device's metal casing—is any indicator. That should offer better reception that the small antennas on the iPhone, and may enable 802.11n compatibility.
Mom? Am I coming in clear? This rumor isn't necessarily new, but MacRumors seems certain that the tablet will have a front-facing camera. A recent Wall Street Journal report suggested it may be used for facial recognition, a sort of biometric auto-login, but it could easily be used for iChat videoconferencing or posting gratuitous self-portraits on Facebook.
What's in a name? "iSlate," "iTablet," "iPad." Al these are possible names, and would be in line with Apple's now 12-year-old habit of adding an "i" in front of the name of its products. Macworld UK rehashes trademark office filings suggesting that Apple is trying to separate "iPad" from Fujistu, which used to make a portable POS device for retail stores. However, analysis of the filings reveal that Apple's objection is because the name is so close to "iPod."
What if Apple drops the "i" altogether, and goes with something like "Canvas?" Anything's possible.
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket... or perhaps on a tablet. It appears HarperCollins isn't the only publishing company being associated with Apple's upcoming tablet. A BusinessWeek report says that McGraw-Hill and Hachette Book Group are in talks with Apple to bring an assortment of textbooks and trade publications to the tablet in digital format. The availability of educational material could make the tablet a shoe-in for the education market.
John Wiley & Sons titles may also make an appearance as well. "We have had ongoing conversations with Apple about their interest in including educational content," Peter Balis, director of digital content at Wiley, told BusinessWeek. "We will continue to support their efforts in whatever iteration it takes next week."
At what cost, iTablet? A recent ChangeWave survey suggests that, sight unseen, 18 percent of survey respondents are likely to buy one if Apple announces one in the coming days. However, consumers would have the strongest demand for an Apple tablet at a price between $500 and $700.
RBC analyst Mike Abramsky agrees that Apple would have a hit on its hands if it can introduce the tablet at $600. His model predicts Apple would sell 5 million tablets in 2010 at that price, but sales would drop to just 1 million if the price were $800. Going off the deep-end, Abramsky imagines that if Apple sells the tablet for $500, they could move as many as 10 million units in its first year.
Let's be realistic, though. The iPhone costs $600 at full retail. It seems unlikely that Apple would sell a much larger tablet at the same price. It will probably cost less than a MacBook, but chances are good that it will cost more than an iPhone. Even a top-end iPod touch costs $400, and that's without cellular radios, GPS, camera, compass, and other hardware. Apple might not include all that hardware, but a $700 or $800 price seems more likely.
: http://arstechnica.com

Week in tech: Chrome OS, HTML5, China, Ubuntu 10.04a, and Firefox 3.6

2010-01-24T22:24:00.000-08:00

It was a busy week as controversy continued to rage over the Google-China dust-up and Mozilla released a solid new version of Firefox. But first, Google.
Ars sat down with the engineering director of Google's Chrome OS project to talk about the past, present, and future of the project. There's a lot of good detail about the relationship between Chrome and Android, the genesis of Chrome OS, and much more.
The Google/China story has enough legs to qualify as a "centipede" at this point. After saying that it would no longer censor Chinese search results and that it was ready to pull out of China, Google also admitted to being the victim of a sophisticated cyberattack that went after more than 30 companies. The Chinese government responded harshly.
The Ubuntu development community pushed out the second alpha version of Ubuntu 10.04. It offers a few new apps and drops HAL in favor of DeviceKit. Check out our hands-on for the scoop on 10.04.
Firefox 3.6 was released this past week. We tested it extensively and found that its incremental improvements combined with a lot of developer-friendly features to make for an extremely solid release.
Ever wanted to know more about quantum computing but were afraid to ask? Check out our definitive guide to quantum computing. It covers the basics of qubits, two-qubit systems, and a primer on quantum physics 101 so you can wrap your brain around the topic.
As the e-book reader wars heat up and we await the unveiling of the Apple tablet, Amazon tried grabbing a bit of the spotlight by announcing a new royalty program for the Kindle. Authors can now earn up to 70 percent from each e-book sold, with a couple of catches.
Looking to make a love connection online? Data from popular dating site OKCupid reveals what kind of photos draw the most attention, and the results may surprise you.
The FTC recently filed a complaint against Intel over its business practices in the CPU market. Intel finally got around to posting its response this past week, and it's a doozy. Highlights include some damning comments from AMD execs made during the middle of the past decade.
Carbon sequestration has been touted as a way to deal with the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Researchers have developed a copper complex that is capable of reacting with carbon dioxide at a slightly elevated electric potential. The process turns the carbon dioxide into a usable byproduct which can be recycled and reused for this purpose multiple times.
Akamai's State of the Internet report reinforces the United States' reputation as a broadband sluggard. The average broadband speed in the US is 3.9Mbps, placing the country in 18th place. Topping the list? South Korea, with an average speed of 14.6Mbps.

:arstechnica.com

Motorola Backflip

2010-01-23T03:11:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, Motorola introduced its latest Google Android smartphone to the world, the Motorola Backflip. Scheduled for a global release at the beginning of Q1 2010, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha said the device would be available in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and North America but would not disclose any carriers. Oh gee, it couldn't possibly be AT&T, which announced five upcoming Android smartphones, including one from Motorola, could it?

The Motorola Backflip is a quad-band GSM phone with support for the 850/1900/2100MHz 3G bands (coincidentally, AT&T's 3G bands), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. The smartphone's design is really what sets it apart, however. At first glance, the Backflip looks like a sleeker, smaller version of the Motorola Cliq, but instead of a slider design, the phone opens up like a book. In addition, in its closed state, the full QWERTY keyboard is located on the back. For those concerned about durability, Motorola said the keyboard is strong enough to take a beating and keep on clicking, but of course, that remains to be seen.

Another unique feature of the Backflip is the trackpad, which Moto calls Backtrack, located on the back of the display (when the phone is open). It works just like a traditional trackpad, allowing you to navigate through menus, flip through photos, scroll through the home screen panes, and more. It's certainly an interesting twist, but we're not completely sold on it. You can also interact with the smartphone through the 3.1-inch HVGA touch screen.

: cnet.com

HP Mini 5102

2010-01-22T10:52:00.000-08:00

As the sequel to one of our favorite all-around Netbooks, the HP Mini 5102 has some pretty big shoes to fill. It wasn't HP's choice in components that we liked about its business line 10-inch system--after all, most 2009 Netbooks shared a very uniform set of parts--it was the overall design and build quality of the Netbook we liked

With a body made of aluminum and magnesium alloy, the 5101 felt significantly more rugged than many of the plastic Netbooks it was competing with, and its excellent keyboard layout made typing a breeze. The new version, the 5102, offers only minor cosmetic tweaks, but also more configuration options, including a touch screen.

That means you can create a fairly compelling Netbook using HP's online configurator, but it'll also be an expensive one, as anything above the baseline adds significant cost. At a time when HD displays are becoming the norm, our $424 review unit has only a standard 1,024x600-pixel resolution 10-inch display, along with a single-core Intel Atom N450 processor, Windows 7 Starter Edition, and 1GB of RAM.

With the competition (including HP's own Mini 311 line) regularly offering HD displays and Nvidia Ion graphics for very reasonable prices, we would have liked to see the Mini 5102 make some bolder steps with its new version. As it is, this sequel to our favorite 2009 Netbook feels like just that--a 2009 Netbook.

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Nokia takes on Google with free navigation app

2010-01-21T03:25:00.000-08:00

Nokia is making its navigation service free to all GPS-enabled Nokia devices in a move that will help the company better compete in the smartphone market against the likes of Apple and Google.

Starting Thursday, Nokia users will be able to download for free the client that enables GPS phones to get Ovi Maps and Navigation, as well as, various city guides on their phones. Nokia has been offering the maps and navigation service for more than two years. After its acquisition of Navteq announced in 2007, it enhanced the service by adding turn-by-turn pedestrian navigation. And it added premium content from partners, such as Lonely Planet.

Previously, customers could only access the basic maps for free. Turn-by-turn navigation and city guides had cost extra.

But that all changes Thursday when Nokia begins offering these services for free. Initially, the free service will be available for 10 of Nokia's phones, including the Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia E72. Eventually, the software client will be available for all Nokia GPS-enabled phones. And starting in March, the company will begin shipping new GPS Nokia phones with the software and maps for the service pre-installed.

Taking mobile navigation to the mass market
Personal navigation devices, such as ones made by Garmin and TomTom, have become big hits with consumers. And now personal navigation is gaining popularity in mobile phones, thanks to GPS-enabled handsets, and applications such as Google Maps. Approximately 27 million people worldwide had GPS navigation on their mobile phones at the end of 2009, according to the research firm Canalys. Nokia estimates that by offering the service free on its phones it can boost that figure to 50 million.

"We think this will transform the mobile navigation market overnight by providing consumers with an out-of-the-box experience," said Tero Ojanper?, executive vice president of services for Nokia. "I'll admit it wasn't the easiest process getting this service in the past. But now we're moving from the early market to the mass market."

While Nokia still leads the world in overall cell phone sales, it's been losing ground over the past couple of years to new competitors such as Apple and Research In Motion in the high-end smartphone market. Competition will likely intensify in 2010 and beyond as manufacturers flood the market with a steady stream of new smartphones using the Google Android operating system.

Consumers are attracted to the new breed of smartphones, because of all the mobile applications that can run on these devices. Maps and Navigation powered by Google are key applications on these devices.

Taking on Google
Nokia sees personal navigation and location services as a major differentiator, setting its phones apart from its competitors and adding value for wireless operators. Specifically, Nokia executives believe that its mapping and navigation services are superior to Google's own Google Maps and Google Navigation, which are preloaded and offered for free on many popular handsets, such as the iPhone, the Motorola Droid, and Google's own NexusOne.

For example, Nokia's Ovi Map service offers navigation in 74 countries in 46 languages. And it can provide traffic information in more than 10 countries, as well as detailed maps for more than 180 countries.

Ojanper? said that creating and maintaining a dynamic mapping and navigation service is not easy. He said the company is continually updating its mapping content and it specifically looks at 250 different attributes to collect data using cars driving around various cities around the world to verify information is correct.

"Google offers free car navigation in one country," he said. "We offer it in 74 countries. We are truly global where others are not."

Another important differentiator for Nokia is the free access to the Lonely Planet Travel guides.

But Ojanper? also said that Nokia's service is better for wireless operators because the service and application consumes far less bandwidth than competing mapping navigation services, such as Google Maps and Google Navigation.

Ojanper? said that the technology Nokia uses to serve up its maps is 10 times more network efficient than Google's method. Nokia uses what's called a hybrid vectorizing mapping method, which allows users to zoom in and out of the map without downloading the same map multiple times. By contrast, Ojanper? said that Google's technology requires that a new map be downloaded each time a user zooms in or out of the map, which increases the amount of bandwidth needed to use the service.

For this reason, Ojanper? said he believes that wireless operators will want to work with Nokia to sell its phones and make the Ovi services available on their networks.

This sales pitch could be particularly useful in the U.S., where Nokia has a weak presence and only offers a handful of devices with subsidized price tags through a wireless operator. For several years, Nokia has sold most of its high-end phones in the U.S. directly to consumers. But in a market where someone can get an iPhone subsidized by a carrier for $99, it's difficult to sell a $500 unsubsidized phone.

That said, the new free mapping and navigation services could finally give wireless operators a reason to sell Nokia phones. It could also give consumers a reason to buy a Nokia phone, even without a subsidy. A personal navigation device can cost between $200 and $300, which makes a $500 unsubsidized Nokia phone look pretty good.

Ojanper? said Nokia plans to continue selling its phone directly to consumers but its primary focus will be to target wireless carriers in U.S. market.

Regardless of which channels Nokia chooses to sell the phone, one thing is certain. The company will have to spend some money marketing Ovi Maps and Navigation to the mass market. At this point, anyone with a computer is familiar with Google and is likely familiar with Google Maps.

Nokia's Navteq and Ovi brands are relatively unknown in the U.S., so the company has a lot of work ahead of it.

news.cnet.com

Microsoft Confirms Internet Explorer Vulnerability [Security]

2010-01-19T04:18:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has confirmed a vulnerability in several versions of Internet Explorer that it should have been used in Chinese attack on Google and other companies. The vulnerability exists in Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8, but have been the attacks seem to target only the Internet Explorer 6-contained systems on the information in the description of the vulnerability on the Microsoft website.

The vulnerability is not valid as a reference pointer in Internet Explorer. It is subject to certain conditions for the invalid pointer can be accessed after an object is deleted. In a special attack, try to access an object is released, Internet Explorer can be done to allow the execution of code from remote locations.

Microsoft is currently working on a patch for vulnerabilities in the probability that the patch cycle, the patch will be released generally resolve as a fix.

The confirmation page patch lists several mitigating factors, but the safest option is now moving to a different web browser, at least if no patch is needed to protect the computer system vulnerability.

On Call: Android's biggest flaw

2010-01-19T02:48:00.000-08:00

In a few months, operating system, Google Android has come a long way to go. We have seen a steady stream of new phones and new updates to the Android Market has increased and the operating system took center stage at CES, 2010.

Since September, I welcomed these developments. I like Android and the idea of openness and choice of the client he represents. Thus, as the operating system expands and enriches the world of mobile phones, I was a little opposition. I will continue to work to identify gaps separate Android phones - that's what I get paid, and it does not mean that I have iPhone Fanboy, - but I also give, where appropriate.

Take, for example, one communication. During the week I spent with the phone, I admire her dress a little. It is very fast, the screen is beautiful and provides new features android family. But even with all this good, which is currently the phone lacks some important features (see our review for full list). And what's this lack of opportunity to illustrate the major disadvantage over Android's.

So far I have reviewed six phones Android, and each of them was a completely different experience. On the design front, as expected - it was partly the reason for Android - and although I do not always agree, I'm okay with manufacturers to add their own layers of interface, as HTC or MotoBlur Sense.

With regard to the functions, however, the lack of uniformity rather disturbing. Each device has its strengths its functionality, but I have not found the phone Android, which brings together all these forces in a single device. Just look at the list of devices with Android past five months. Along with each phone, which I have listed the important features it offers. If I did not include the feature next to the device, we can assume it does not give such an opportunity.

Nexus: Here you will find options for mounting the camera and flash interface options Home Screen, double-click zoom, as well as enhanced voice control. Debut with Android 2.1.

Motorola Droid: Perspectives synchronize calendar, the options for mounting the camera, and then double-click zoom. He debuted with 2,0 Android, which combines several other improvements as a single e-mail address in the box and search text messages.

Motorola Cliq: synchronized with Outlook Calendar and schedule together, these two personal meetings and the work includes editing capabilities included. Debut with Android 1.5.

HTC Droid Eris Hero: Editing options include proposals, support for Flash Lite web browser, Pinch and multitouch-Zoom, synchronizing Outlook calendar and schedule together. Debut with Android 1.5.

Samsung Voice II: synchronization of calendar, Outlook, camera flash and editing capabilities, and improved Media Player. Debuted with Android 1.5

Samsung moments: Bring your calendar synchronization Outlook, Flash, and combined graph. Debut with Android 1.5.

As you can see, there is not an element of the list above, which are on all devices. If I want to pinch and zoom, I choose if I want to synchronize the calendar of Outlook, I have a choice, but if I want to as I have no choice. This situation may change in the near future, but now I can not have it all. And I want it all that Android device, which gives me everything.

The list also highlights the second fault of the OS updates. Currently, Google does not require, when carriers upgrade if you find yourself with a number of fairly mixed OS versions from 1,5 to 2,1. I understand that in the absence of such conditions reflects the spirit of Android, customers do not have to wait for months to update the OS, if they each received yesterday. I urge manufacturers and carriers to ensure a more concerted effort to these updates quickly.

Android is not perfect, I want a better Media Player, there is no native file manager, the options for hands-free calls are limited, and you can store applications in memory. But even these flaws, which I am sure will change over time, are dwarfed by landscape feature, it's all at stake. Hopefully we will see a more cohesive as time passes. There are so many things to talk about Android already, it can do better.

With IE 9, Microsoft fights back in browser wars

2009-11-18T19:53:00.000-08:00

With Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft showed Wednesday it's trying to retake the browser initiative.

IE remains the Net's dominant browser. But perversely, it became something of a technology underdog after Microsoft vanquished Netscape in the browser wars of the 1990s and scaled back its browser effort.

That left an opportunity for rivals to blossom--most notably Firefox, which now is used by a quarter of Web surfers, but also Apple's Safari, which now runs on Windows as well as Mac OS X, and Google's Chrome, which aims to make the Web faster and a better foundation for applications.

news.cnet.com

Rumors of a Gphone refuse to die

2009-11-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

Is Google really thinking about making a substantial change to its business model by releasing the fabled Gphone?

TechCrunch sparked the latest round of Gphone rumors Wednesday, reporting that its sources indicate Google is working on releasing a Google-branded Android phone sometime in early 2010 that will be sold directly to consumers at retail, presumably bypassing wireless carriers. Such a phone is supposedly being built by a manufacturing partner with the intent that Google's brand will dominate the phone; TechCrunch compares the strategy to what Microsoft did with Toshiba and the Zune music player.

Well before Google unveiled its Android mobile operating system project two years ago, and almost ever since, persistent rumors have circulated that Google's mobile phone ambitions go beyond software development. Just as consistently, Google executives have downplayed such rumors with statements that the company is most interested in seeding Android far and wide across multiple carriers and hardware manufacturers, rather than following Apple's strategy of designing and building the entire product itself.

news.cnet.com

Rate your Windows 7 upgrade experience

2009-10-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we ran a casual, unscientific poll asking what your plans were for Windows 7. It closed Monday morning, but because of the overwhelming response, we decided to reopen it until today. Out of the 13,108 readers who voted, 59 percent (7,669) of you said that you were going to upgrade from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7.

So, for those of you who are upgrading an older version of Windows to Windows 7 this weekend, we'd like you to rank your experience for us in a new poll posted below. Please share both your horror stories and your tales of easy installation in the comments. The new poll will close Monday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time.

The remaining results from previous poll were mostly unsurprising. Fourteen percent, or 1,856 voters, said that they were planning on buying a new computer with Windows 7 already installed. Slightly more of you, 2,146 respondents (16 percent), said they had no plans to change computers or upgrade at the moment. A small but not insignificant percentage, 865 voters, said that they were going to switch to a Mac or a Linux computer.

After we reopened the poll on Monday afternoon, we added two questions by popular demand. Less than one percent of voters said they were going to switch from a Mac or Linux computer to Windows 7, while 454 people (3 percent) said that they already had a Mac or Linux computer and were planning on also using Windows 7.

What these numbers confirmed is that a majority of current Windows users will be upgrading current systems, meaning that most people not only believe that their hardware can adequately run Windows 7, but also that they can comfortably perform the upgrade themselves. However, sizable minorities will either be buying Windows 7 fresh or ignoring it entirely, while a tiny group will be using it as an excuse to abandon ship.

Google Webmaster Tools Gets Major Overhaul

2009-05-13T03:59:00.001-07:00

Google has announced a major overhaul of Webmaster Tools that’s filled with both major and minor design and functionality changes.

The most obvious change is the new dashboard that now shows Top
search queries, Crawl errors, Links to your site, and Sitemap
information — saving users what used to be several clicks to get this
information. Here’s a look:

(Pssst, hey Webmaster Tools team: It would be really cool if you’d let users build our own dashboard, like we do in Google Analytics. Just sayin’….)

The main navigation has been reorganized, with tools moved into more
logical groupings called Site Configuration, Your Site on the Web, and
Diagnostics. The Enhanced Image search feature is now gone. And Google
is now saying that all sites must be verified in order to access
Webmaster Tools — some tools used to be available to unverified sites.
The full list of changes, along with a video explaining them, is available in Google’s announcement.

The new design is available now at http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/new. Google says the current/old design will remain in place for a couple weeks.

Google Image Search Adds Color Picker

2009-05-13T03:20:00.001-07:00

Google Operating System spotted a new feature on Google Image Search. The feature allows you to click on the color of images you want to be found, and Google will filter your query based on images that match the query and the color you selected.

For example, I search on [flowers] and then chose the color red, to be shown flowers in the color of red. As you can see from the URL structure, Google added on &imgcolor=red, which was how you were manually able to filter by color. Here is a picture of the results:

As you can see, there are 12 colors to filter by, including:

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Teal
Blue
Purple
Pink
White
Gray
Black
Brown

It is also interesting to note that this works for me on Firefox but not on the Safari browser.

Postscript: The Google Blog has now announced this new feature on their blog.

Google gives road warriors a boost with iPhone sync

2009-02-10T03:09:00.001-08:00

A sales rep finally convinces a key client over lunch to schedule a meeting to talk about new contracts. The rep adds the meeting date to her iPhone calendar but forgets to include it on her laptop calendar. She subsequently neglects to recheck the iPhone calendar, forgets the date and blows the potential deal.

Google Inc. today made it harder for users to overlook such important appointments.

The company unveiled a beta version of a new push technology, called Google Sync, that allows iPhones and Windows Mobile-based devices to automatically synchronize Google calendar appointments and Gmail contacts over the air. The push technology is designed, for example, to have changes made to the iPhone calendar or contact list show up on other mobile devices within minutes, said Marcus Foster, product manager of Google Mobile, in a company blog post. The tool also supports SyncML, he added.

"For all of these devices, synchronization happens automatically over the air, without having to manually sync your phone," added Foster. "The connection is always on, which means your information is always up-to-date, no matter where you are or what you're doing."

Dan Olds, principal analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group Inc., called Google Sync a viable solution for busy business people and others who like to stay connected.

"People travel. They are in cars and restaurants, and they need to see their schedule and know how to get in touch with people," Olds said. "It means you don't have to use multiple calendars and manually sync them up, which is a great convenience. Being able to use just one calendar and just one set of contacts on different devices is much more convenient. It means you don't have to get out your laptop to find a phone number. Or, on the other hand, you don't have to check your BlackBerry for your next appointment when you're working on your PC. It's just much more handy."

Olds said it's also a solid step in Google's march toward owning the desktop.

"A big part of that is the calendar and contact stuff, particularly for business people," he noted. "It is much better if they can see that same information on their phone and PDA, right? If they can do that, then they'd be more likely to use other Google applications."

This move comes more than a year after Google released a tool that allows users to sync Google Calendar with BlackBerry devices.

Last week, Google got a lot of attention for unveiling an upgrade to Google Maps that allows people to track the exact location of friends or family through their mobile devices. Google Latitude not only shows the location of friends, but it can also be used to contact them via SMS, Google Talk or Gmail.

(Credit: computer world)

LiMo Foundation gets ready for next-generation platform

2009-02-09T21:02:00.001-08:00

The next version of the LiMo Linux-based mobile platform is getting closer to launch, and a number of operators are promising handsets during 2009, the LiMo Foundation said today.

All the components that make up Release 2 have been delivered on time by the contributing members, according to the foundation. The new version will provide better multimedia support, location-based services, device management and enhanced security.

But making life easier for developers is the most important difference, according to Geoff Blaber, an analyst at CCS Insight.
"With Release 2 there is a far greater level of consistency, which makes it far easier to develop applications and move them from device to device," he said.

But commercial phones won't be ready until the end of the year at the earliest. LiMo is expected to show reference designs that conform to Release 2 at the Mobile World Congress, according to Blaber. The conference opens Feb. 16 in Barcelona.

There will be demonstrations of mobile Web applications and widgets, touch-based user interfaces, mobile TV and high-resolution cameras at the show, according to the LiMo site, which doesn't provide any additional details. Members will also be showcasing toolkits for developers who want to create applications for LiMo handsets, it said.

But the LiMo Foundation isn't just making headway on the platform side. NTT DoCoMo, Orange, SK Telecom, Telefónica, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone will all launch devices this year, according to the foundation.

"It's positive news for the LiMo Foundation, and what it does is underline the fact that although operators are looking at other platforms in the near term, LiMo is still part of operators' plans," said Blaber.

The fact that LiMo isn't dominated by one vendor and has an underlying service strategy of its own -- which in some cases can compete with operator interests -- makes it an attractive alternative to Google's Android, Nokia's Symbian and Microsoft's Windows Mobile, according to Blaber.

LiMo has become a tool that operators can use to try to keep those vendors in check, according to Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. The operators are sending the message that LiMo gives them an alternative to other platforms, he said.

The increased competition will be good for users, resulting in cheaper phones, and more and better services to choose from, according to Saadi.

IDG.net

US congressman leaks classified intel on Twitter?

2009-02-09T19:41:00.001-08:00

We now interrupt the flame war that's erupted in my last blog post about H-1B workers to bring you this breaking news bulletin: A U.S. congressman is apparently endangering our national security using -- yes, that's right -- Twitter.

This is not an hallucination induced by imbibing too many Numb Nutz (2 ounces Bacardi 151, 1 ounce Tanqueray, 6 ounces Malava Novocaine, 2 peanuts). This comes straight out of the Congressional Quarterly. To wit:

A congressional trip to Iraq this weekend was supposed to be a secret.

But the cat's out of the bag now, thanks to a member of the House Intelligence Committee who broke an embargo via Twitter.

(Credit: computer world)

Google CEO advises right wing, too--in the U.K.

2009-02-09T19:19:00.001-08:00

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt advised Barack Obama during his presidential campaign, but apparently he's willing to diversify when it comes to his influence.

Schmidt will be international business adviser to the U.K.'s Conservative Party, according to leader David Cameron, the Associated Press reported Monday.

It's not his first time in the group's orbit. Schmidt gave a speech at a U.K. Conservative Party event in 2006, too.

Another adviser is Christopher Gent, the former CEO of mobile phone network giant Vodafone, according to the report.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News)

Amazon eases cloud control

2009-02-05T23:17:00.001-08:00

When Amazon's Elastic Cloud was in its infancy, the only management tools available were a set of Java-based command-line applications. The set was comprehensive: You had complete control over and access to Amazon Machine Images (AMIs). Moreover, you could create and manipulate the ancillary components of the cloud: key-pairs, elastic IP addresses, and so on. As capable as the tools were, however, they were out of pace with the very Web-based world that they served.

Graphical alternatives have since appeared. Elastic Fox (available from Amazon's Web Services developer site), a free plug-in for the Firefox browser, is a popular tool for creating and supervising AMIs. It provides virtually all the capabilities of the command-line tools, but in an easy-to-navigate browser interface.

[Learn more about Amazon Web Services in the InfoWorld Test Center analysis: "Diving deep into Amazon Web Services."]

Commercial GUI-based cloud-management systems are available as well. Examples are RightScale and Elastra, which add features that enhance the creation and deployment of AMIs beyond what is available with the freeware tools.

Into this arena, Amazon has trotted out the AWS (Amazon Web Services) Management Console. Currently in beta, the AWS Management Console is a browser-based dashboard for Elastic Cloud that -- unlike Elastic Fox -- is not restricted to Firefox. The Console currently supports Firefox 2.0 or later, Internet Explorer 7.0 or later (though I have run it in 6.0), and Safari 3.0 or later. Like Elastic Fox, however, the AWS Console is free; all you need is an AWS account with access to Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2) and Simple Storage Service (S3) services to get started.

In the clouds

The AWS Console is arranged in IDE fashion, with a navigation pane on the left and workspace panes on the right. The navigation pane holds links pointing to the services provided by the console. The workspace panes comprise the dashboard itself, where you actually interact with the cloud and track the status of in- progress operations.

The AWS Console is primarily a control panel for launching and monitoring AMIs. Before you start an AMI, however, you'll need to create an RSA key-pair. For Linux images, a key-pair is needed so that SSH can provide you with a secure log-in to the running instance. For Windows images, the Elastic Cloud infrastructure uses the key-pair to generate an image's administrator's password. (The key-pair consists of a public and a private key. AWS encrypts the password with the public key. You have to have the private key to decrypt that password; otherwise you'll be unable to log in to your Windows instance.)

How Google Latitude locates you

2009-02-05T23:09:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, Google Inc. released the real-time location tool Google Latitude and opened up a new world of location-based services (LBS) for both PC and mobile phone users.

Latitude enables you to track friends, family, employees and so on — and vice-versa — in real time. Whether this is a good thing (hey, you'll always know where your buddy is in the stadium parking lot), or a preview of a corporate 1984 world where your boss can track your every move, will be determined by how we'll use the service. It's no surprise that at least one privacy group has already voiced security concerns over Latitude.

For now, though, most questions center on how people can use Latitude and how it does its location voodoo.

Can I use Google Latitude? According to Google, if you have any mobile device that supports Google Maps for Mobile v3.0 and above, you're probably good to go. These include Android-powered devices with Maps v3.0 and above; most color BlackBerry devices; most Windows Mobile 5.0 and above devices; and most Symbian S60 devices.

Spy On Your Workers With Google Latitude

2009-02-05T23:03:00.001-08:00

It will be interesting to see how Google's new geo-locator service, called Latitude, plays with small business. Launched yesterday, Latitude transmits the user's location back to Google for display using the service's online maps.

The location information comes from a GPS-equipped Smart phones or by triangulation using cell towers. An opt-in service, Latitude also works with laptop computers.

It's easy to think of business uses for Latitude, such as tracking service people as they move from call-to-call. Delivery vehicles might also be tracked, and the service could also be used to make certain the closest resource is always sent to a customer's request.

And I haven't even touched on the value of tracking specific people, certain to be a boon to the personal assistants and group admins of the world. I suppose bosses could also use the service to keep an eye on their charges to make sure they are where they are supposed to be.

The business value of Latitude only works if the service updates frequently enough to be useful in near real-time. It also lacks the bells and whistles associated with commercial vehicle tracking systems.

Those systems are expensive, however, and since Latitude is from Google you can bet the price will be right. I would not be surprised, however, to see application developers build commercial versions of the service sometime later.

The downside of Latitude is the amount of extremely personal information, such as the details of all a person's travels that is sent to Google. I know people who simply don't trust Google to not become evil, if the company hasn't already. They wonder why the company offers so many free applications unless it has some way to monetize them that isn't obvious to the user.

Latitude also doesn't seem very well-suited for tracking a large number of people at once, though I could be mistaken about this.

As soon as it's available for the iPhone, I plan to test Latitude is a real world application. My wife works for an Emergency Medical Services provider and carries a second-generation iPhone with the built-in GPS receiver. I'll be interested to see how well Latitude keeps up with her ambulance as it goes out on runs.

You might want to try a similar test in your organization. I am pretty sure that business will find some most useful applications for Google Latitude. Please tell me about yours.

David Coursey is a 25-year veteran of the tech world, as well as a talk radio host.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Official Gmail Blog: Introducing Gmail Labs

2009-01-28T02:03:00.000-08:00

Official Gmail Blog: Introducing Gmail Labs

Ook Google koppelt accounts aan OpenID

2008-10-31T00:51:00.000-07:00

Google maakt het mogelijk voor websiteontwikkelaars om gebruikers in te laten loggen met behulp van hun Google-accountgegevens. Een belangrijke steun voor OpenID.

Het bedrijf hoopt hiermee een stap te zetten richting een internetcultuur waarin gebruikers niet tientallen verschillende gebruikersnamen en wachtwoorden hoeven te onthouden voor verschillende websites.

Google maakt hiervoor gebruik van OpenID, een idee dat werd bedacht door Brad Fitzpatrick en waarvan eind vorig jaar alweer versie 2.0 werd gelanceerd. OpenID is een gedecentraliseerd authenticatiemechanisme waarmee het op den duur mogelijk moet worden om op alle websites in te loggen met dezelfde gebruikersnaam en wachtwoord.

In het bericht op de officiële blog van Google, waar de nieuwe mogelijkheid wordt aangekondigd, maakt het bedrijf bekend dat Zoho.com, aanbieder van online programma's, al gebruik maakt van de inlogmethode van Google.

Één inlog voor het hele web
Raju Vegesna van Zoho: 'We bieden onze gebruikers vanaf nu de mogelijkheid om in te loggen bij Zoho met hun Google Account, zodat zij niet verplicht zijn om nóg een gebruikersnaam en wachtwoord aan te maken.' Zoho toonde zich al eerder een voorstander van OpenID door gebruikers de mogelijkheid te geven in te loggen met hun Yahoo-account.

Het aanmelden werkt vrij eenvoudig. Gebruikers kunnen op de site van Zoho kiezen of zij een nieuw account willen maken of dat zij willen inloggen met hun Google-account (of Yahoo). Vervolgens wordt er een pagina van Google geopend waarop het gebruik van de accountgegevens bevestigd moet worden en waar aangegeven kan worden of die accountgegevens opgeslagen mogen worden om sneller in te kunnen loggen. Daarna is de gebruiker aangemeld.

Yahoo en AOL voeren fusiegesprekken

2008-10-31T00:40:00.000-07:00

Yahoo is in weer gesprek met AOL om mogelijk een verbintenis aan te gaan, vooral nu de advertentiedeal met concurrent Google lijkt te stranden.

De twee bedrijven zijn op dit moment bezig met het inspecteren van elkaars boekhouding (due diligence) om in te schatten welk profijt zowel Yahoo als AOL uit een eventueel samenwerkingsverband halen, meldt persbureau Reuters.

De gesprekken zijn voornamelijk bedoeld om te zien hoe AOL content, onderdeel van Time Warner, geïntegreerd kan worden in het ecosysteem van Yahoo. Time Warner zou na de fusie een groot aandeel van het gecombineerde bedrijf in handen krijgen. In juli zijn de fusiegesprekken begonnen. Drie jaar geleden flirtten Yahoo en AOL ook al met elkaar.

Vijandig
Zoekgigant Yahoo speurt naar een partner om de groeistrategie beter te kunnen plannen en om voornamelijk vijandige overnames, door vooral Microsoft, tegen te houden. De eerdere advertentieovereenkomst met zoekmachinerivaal Google, lijkt te stranden door kritiek vanuit de politiek en van de eigen aandeelhouders.

En terwijl de deal tussen de twee alleen voor de Amerikaanse markt is bedoeld, bemoeide ook de EU zich met de kwestie, met name marktwaakhond Neelie Kroes.

Allebei sappelen
De aandelen van Yahoo zijn de afgelopen maanden sterk gedaald, ruim 63 procent in vergelijking met vorig jaar. Ook de aandelen van AOL gaan niet bepaald over rozen. In vergelijking met afgelopen jaar staat moederbedrijf Time Warner 45 procent in de min. De uitkomst van de gesprekken is dan ook nog erg onzeker, omdat beide bedrijven zeker willen weten dat de overeenkomst geen luchtbel wordt en ze niet aan boord stappen van een potentiële Hindenburg.

Congratulations Google!

2008-09-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

Google officially celebrates its 10th Birthday today and they’ve released a timeline of the company’s history to commemorate their achievement. From Google setting up in a Silicon Valley garage in 1998 to becoming the behemoth it is today, Google has revolutionised how we use the internet.
In keeping with their ‘don’t be evil’ mantra, Google has also launched Project 10100 which is “a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible”. People can submit their ideas that they think will help the world, vote on the submitted ideas and Google has committed to fund the best ideas. Genius.
Check out the introductory video here:

Live Blog From the Google Phone Event

2008-09-24T01:34:00.000-07:00

UPDATE 11:26 a.m.

Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, make a surprise appearance at the end of the event. They both talk about how the phone is a geek’s dream. Mr. Brin talks about how he wrote his own application, using the phone’s accelerometer, that allows you to throw the phone up in the air then (hopefully) catch it. The App will time how long it was in the air.

“We didn’t release it, but maybe I should put it up on the App store,” he mused. (Yes Google will run an app store for all the phones that use its Android operating system just like Apple.)

In the closest anyone got to discussing Google’s business model, Mr. Page noted that it’s hard to search the Internet when you are away from a computer.

“It’s hard to carry your laptop with you all the time, especially when you are roller blading,” he said. The Android phone will bring search (and all the money Google makes from it) to people’s pockets.

UPDATE 11:12 a.m.

Some facts from the demo videos:

My first impression is it is a lot like an iPhone, only with a pop-out keyboard. The differences that we can see are subtle. There is a different interface feature: if you hold the touchscreen down for several seconds, what Google calls a “long press,” up pops a menu of other things you can do, much like the right mouse button on a PC. When shopping on the Amazon store, it brings up related merchandise. When surfing the Web, it gives options for sharing the page. Apple, the devotee of one button mice, doesn’t have a context menu on the iPhone.

One of the crucial differences in the software is that it allows several applications to run at the same time. That means you can still receive an instant message from a friend while you surf the Internet. Apple said multi-tasking takes up too much system resource.

Not surprisingly, there is a lot of integration with Google. There is a button on the keyboard to bring up search. And Google Maps is woven through the service, including its Street View collection of photos. That means as you walk through a city, you can look at photos of where you are as well as simply looking around.

UPDATE 11:07 a.m.

Finally the key facts: In the United States, the price is $179, $20 less than the iPhone. The official launch date is October 22. But it will roll out over several weeks, and will be available in cities representing 80 percent of the population by November. Existing T-mobile customers can order them now on a special Web site.

It will be available in Britain in early November and in the rest of Europe next year.

T-Mobile has two data plans: $25 per month for limited data, e-mail and text messages. $35 a month for unlimited data and messages.

———————————-
I’m here at the Google, T-Mobile press conference.

They are definitely going for style of substance. It is in a vast space under the 59th Steet Bridge. They couldn’t have picked a less convenient place, all the way on the East Side on a day when world leaders and their limos are clogging the streets near the United Nations.

The press kit we were given has some photos of the new phone, known as the G1, and a fact sheet (without some of the important facts, like the price).

As we reported, it has a big color screen and a flip out keyboard. You can navigate by a track ball, in addition to a touch screen.

“The keyboard of the G1 will appeal to a wide variety of people,” said Peter Chou, the chief executive of HTC, which manufactures the phone. In the introductory remarks. Everyone is repeating “mobile Internet” and “open” as much as possible.

The phone will be able to watch YouTube videos, send IMs on Google and several other instant message systems, and run a few applications:

o ShopSavvy: designed to help people do comparative shopping

o Ecorio: developed to help people keep track of their daily travels and view what their carbon footprint looks like

o BreadCrumbz: enables people to create a step-by-step visual map using photos; customers can create their own routes, share them with friends or with the world

o Amazon MP3 Store (pre-installed on the device): enables people to search DRM-free, full-track MP3 music and download that music from Amazon directly to their device using a Wi-Fi connection

The hardware also has a music player, GPS navigation, Bluetooth connections, and a MicroSD slot for expansion. T-Mobile says it has five hours of talk time and 130 hours of standby time.

AMD to make a splash in the server chipset space

2008-08-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

Advanced Micro Devices plans to deliver a new server platform in the first half of 2009, the company announced on Friday, with the platform revolving around a new chipset.
The new chipset will be geared toward servers, with multiple sockets to plug in additional server chips. The chipset could improve the way chips in multiple sockets and components like graphics cards communicate with each other. The improved performance comes through new virtualization capabilities and support for HyperTransport 3.0 bus technology, according to the company.
AMD's upcoming Shanghai server chips -- which will be delivered in the fourth quarter this year -- will go into this chipset, said Phil Hughes, a company spokesman. Shanghai chips will also go into Nvidia and Broadcom chipset offerings.
This could be a significant announcement for AMD as the company hasn't had a server platform that included a chipset since the very start of Opteron around 2003, said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research. Most of the AMD servers today contain either Nvidia or Broadcom chipsets, he said.
The new server chipset won't necessarily boost AMD's processor business, but server vendors do not accept desktop chipsets, he said. AMD has a strong presence in the desktop chipset business, and the server chipset could open a new market for the company, McCarron said.
Though the input-output performance on the chipset will improve with the new features, it is not designed to boost processor performance, McCarron said. That will solely depend on how Shanghai chips perform.
Shanghai chips will be the first manufactured by AMD using the 45-nanometer manufacturing process. Desktop offerings manufactured using the 45-nm process technology will closely follow, said Randy Allen, senior vice president of computing solutions at AMD, during a conference call on Friday.
AMD is in talks with server vendors to finalize its Shanghai-based server shipment schedules. Based on how those discussions go, AMD hopes the servers will be in the market by the end of the year, Allen said.
AMD is roughly a year behind Intel in shipping chips based on the 45-nm technology, but efforts are underway to close the gap, Allen said.
The server chipset announcement may be an attempt by AMD to pre-empt Intel's server-based announcements at its Intel Developer Forum show next week in San Francisco. Last year, AMD announced the Phenom triple-core chip prior to the start of IDF.
AMD executives spent a lot of time on the conference call berating Intel for photocopying its past innovations, including quad-core processors and chip technology.
"It is often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and we certainly see that in play here. But at another level it is somewhat annoying when you see the over-the-top rhetoric they utilize, and at some level you get mad," Allen said.
AMD has historically announced products prior to IDF to show that it is still alive and should not be forgotten, Mercury Research's McCarron said.

:computerworld.com

Google's unhappy Android developers

2008-08-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

Google has led a largely blissful existence, fostering a widespread perception -- sometimes in direct contradiction to the facts -- that it can do no wrong. Yet the company's controversial Android mobile platform venture threatens to seriously dent this notion, at least with some of the people it needs most.
As it readies its long-anticipated open mobile OS for public release, Google is behaving in a way that threatens to permanently taint its relationship with many Android developers. The company's actions -- including restricting access to key development tools and allegedly treading on open source principles -- have created, if not a full-fledged revolt, at least a sense of disappointment and disillusionment among many in the tightly knit Android development community, which numbers perhaps 2,000, according to an estimate by AndroidGuys, an independent Android blog site. Some developers have threatened to shift their attention to other mobile platforms.
Mike Novak, a New York-based independent Android developer, says Google may be guilty of taking its developer base for granted. "Developers are the driving force behind Android applications, so without them it would be very hard for Android to have a stance in the market," he says.
Casey Borders, an independent Android developer in Columbus, Ohio, warns that Google will have to work hard to retain developer loyalty and attract new developers to its platform. "The Android platform has a very strong base and a lot of potential, but it also has a lot of competition," he warns.
The Android SDK controversyAt the heart of the developers' discontent is the status of the Android Software Developers Kit (SDK). In July, Google announced that the latest SDK would be released first to the 50 winners of its Android Developer Challenge (ADC), a US$10 million contest that the company is using to find the best and most innovative Android applications -- "cool apps that surprise and delight mobile users," as Google says on its ADC Web page.
While many developers cried foul, Google claims its SDK decision was designed to help the development community. "The ADC finalists are helping us update the latest version of the SDK before we release it to the world in the coming weeks," the company said in an e-mailed statement. "We wanted to limit the challenges developers face with an early release in a particularly critical time during the challenge to not disadvantage them. We've separated the scheduled releases to not disadvantage these winners who are competing for money and the public will receive a release of the SDK soon with more documentation and tools."
But the news that Google was reserving its latest and best development tools for a handpicked group, as well as failing to announce a firm date for the SDK's general release, hasn't gone down well with many developers.
For many in the closely linked "Androidsphere," Google's announcement seemed to come out of nowhere, stinging keenly and contradicting the company's vaunted developer-friendly reputation. Borders believes that Google's decision violated an open source guiding principle. "The idea with open source software is to allow early adopters access to the buggier pieces of code so they can help fix them or let people who want to wait for a solid release the ability to do that," he says. "The key is choice, and Google has taken away that choice and is developing Android like every other piece of closed software."

:computerworld.com

Chinese Authorities Order Olympic Hotels To Install Spy Gear

2008-07-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

In an apparent mistranslation of the concept of hospitality, Chinese authorities have ordered foreign-owned hotels to install Internet monitoring equipment to spy on hotel guests during the Olympic Games, U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, charged on Tuesday.

"I am very disappointed that the Chinese government will not follow through on its promise to the International Olympic Committee to maintain an environment free of government censorship during the Games," Brownback said in a statement. "The Chinese government has put in place a system to spy on and gather information about every guest at hotels where Olympic visitors are staying. This means journalists, athletes' families and other visitors will be subjected to invasive intelligence gathering by the Chinese Public Security Bureau."

According to a news release issued by the senator's office, Chinese authorities have ordered foreign-owned hotels to install a software program and a hardware device to help the Public Security Bureau spy on hotel guests. Several hotel chains have reportedly confirmed the existence of this order and provided documentation to Brownback.

A spokesperson for Brownback was not immediately available.

News service Reuters quoted one of the documents thus: "In order to ensure the smooth opening of Olympic in Beijing and the Expo in Shanghai in 2010, safeguard the security of Internet network and the information thereon in the hotels ... it is required that your company install and run the Security Management System."

Brownback said that the hotels have asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

Chinese authorities have been accused of similar behavior before. In May, The Associated Press reported that Chinese officials may have covertly copied the contents of a U.S. government laptop computer that was left unattended during a visit by Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez.

Given that the U.S. National Security Agency has been monitoring Internet and telephone communications since warrantless wiretapping was authorized in 2001, there seems to be more resignation than outrage among potential visitors to China.

As one person commenting on Reuters' coverage remarked, "Bad enough I have the U.S. government snooping on my Internet and telephone activity. To heck with going to China to have them do it to me too. Think I'll save my money and blood pressure and just stay home and watch them on the TV."

:informationweek.com

Toshiba's Former CEO to Join IBM Board

2008-07-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

IBM's board of directors has appointed Taizo Nishimuro, former president and CEO of Toshiba, to serve on the board from later this year.

Nishimuro served as president and CEO of Toshiba between 1996 and 2000, after which he became chairman of the company until stepping down in June 2005. Nishimuro went on serve as president and CEO of Tokyo Stock Exchange and is currently chairman of the organization, which is one of the world's largest stock exchanges. He keeps ties with Toshiba as an advisor to the company.

He will join the IBM board in September this year as its 13th member.

"He has a unique understanding of the needs of Asian markets, and his knowledge and insights will make a significant contribution to our company," said Samuel Palmisano, IBM's chairman, president and CEO in a statement.

IBM did about one fifth of its business during the first six months of this year in the Asia Pacific region. Revenues during the period totaled US$10.5 billion, a jump of 15 percent on the same period in 2007. Performance in the region was lead by China, were business jumped 22 percent on a local currency basis or 15 percent on a U.S. dollar basis, IBM said. In Japan revenue increased 12 percent on a Japanese yen bases but decreased by 2 percent when adjusted to U.S. dollars.

:pcworld.com

Google in Final Negotiations to Acquire Digg For "Around $200 Million"

2008-07-23T02:16:00.000-07:00

Google’s and Digg have reportedly signed a letter of intent and are close to a deal that will bring Digg under the Google News property. The acquisition price is in the $200 million range, says one source.

TechCrunch first wrote about the Google-Digg negotiations in March. Despite a vigorous denial by Digg CEO Jay Adelson the negotiations continued, although Google’s Marissa Mayer reportedly cooled on the company for a period of time.

The companies are now in final negotiations according to our sources, although it could be a couple of weeks before it closes. And while the major deal points have been agreed on, the acquisition could still fall apart. Microsoft, which was previously interested in the company, may be willing to step back in at a much lower price. Most of Digg’s revenue comes from a three year ad deal with Microsoft.

Researcher offers insight into DNS flaw

2008-07-09T02:38:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, security researcher Dan Kaminsky of IO Active calmly explained in a conference call with security reporters how he first stumbled upon a pervasive flaw deep within the Domain Name System (DNS), a series of servers used to translate common Internet names to IP addresses. Kaminsky said he wasn't even looking for a security vulnerability. What he found, however, could explain how criminal hackers have been able to redirect DNS queries recently.[...]
:news.cnet.com

Justice Breyer Is Among Victims in Data Breach Caused by File Sharing

2008-07-09T02:34:00.000-07:00

Sometime late last year, an employee of a McLean investment firm decided
to trade some music, or maybe a movie, with like-minded users of the
online file-sharing network LimeWire while using a company computer. In
doing so, he inadvertently opened the private files of his firm, Wagner
Resource Group, to the public.

That exposed the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of
about 2,000 of the firm's clients, including a number of high-powered
lawyers and Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer.

The breach was not discovered for nearly six months. A reader of
washingtonpost.com's Security Fix blog found the information while
searching LimeWire in June.[...]

:www.washingtonpost.com

Adobe - Improving Search Results For Flash Applications

2008-07-06T03:01:00.000-07:00

Adobe announced the company is teaming up with search industry leaders to dramatically improve search results of dynamic Web content and rich Internet applications (RIAs). Adobe is providing optimized Flash Player technology to Google and Yahoo! to enhance search engine indexing of the Flash file format (SWF) and uncover information that is currently undiscoverable by search engines.

This will provide more relevant automatic search rankings of the millions of RIAs and other dynamic content that run in Adobe Flash Player. Moving forward, RIA developers and rich Web content producers won’t need to amend existing and future content to make it searchable — they can now be confident it can be found by users around the globe.

The openly published SWF specification describes the file format used to deliver rich applications and interactive content via Adobe Flash Player, which is installed on more than 98 percent of Internet-connected computers. Although search engines already index static text and links within SWF files, RIAs and dynamic Web content have been generally difficult to fully expose to search engines because of their changing states — a problem also inherent in other RIA technologies.

“Until now it has been extremely challenging to search the millions of RIAs and dynamic content on the Web, so we are leading the charge in improving search of content that runs in Adobe Flash Player,” said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president of the Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “We are initially working with Google and Yahoo! to significantly improve search of this rich content on the Web, and we intend to broaden the availability of this capability to benefit all content publishers, developers and end users.”

Google has already begun to roll out Adobe Flash Player technology incorporated into its search engine. With Adobe’s help, Google can now better read the content on sites that use Adobe Flash technology, helping users find more relevant information when conducting searches. As a result, millions of pre-existing RIAs and dynamic Web experiences that utilize Adobe Flash technology, including content that loads at runtime, are immediately searchable without the need for companies and developers to alter them.

“Google has been working hard to improve how we can read and discover SWF files,” said Bill Coughran, senior vice president of engineering at Google. “Through our recent collaboration with Adobe, we now help Web site owners that choose to design sites with Adobe Flash software by indexing this content better. Improving how we crawl dynamic content will ultimately enhance the search experience for our users.”

Yahoo! also expects to deliver improved Web search capabilities for SWF applications in a future update to Yahoo! Search. “Yahoo! is committed to supporting webmaster needs with plans to support searchable SWF and is working with Adobe to determine the best possible implementation,” said Sean Suchter, vice president Yahoo! Search Technology Engineering.

“Designers and Web developers have long been frustrated that search engines couldn’t better access the information within their content created with Flash technology. It’s great to see Adobe and the search engines working directly together to improve the situation,” said Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief, SearchEngineLand.com. “The changes should help unlock information that’s previously been ‘invisible’ and will likely result in a better experience for searchers.”

Mozilla pitches Firefox 3.1 alpha for July release

2008-07-05T02:57:00.000-07:00

Just a week after Mozilla shipped Firefox 3.0, the open-source developer has proposed ship dates for the next version that, if approved, would produce an alpha release next month and a final no later than early 2009.

According to a draft schedule discussed at a Tuesday meeting, Mozilla wants to have the first Firefox 3.1 developer preview, or alpha, ready by July, then move to a beta by August. The schedule slates final code delivery in the last quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2009. A month ago, when Mozilla first started discussing Firefox 3.1 internally, Mike Schroepfer, the company's vice president of engineering, said the upgrade's target ship date was the end of 2008.

If Mozilla holds to that plan, Firefox 3.1 would be its first fast-track update, with a development timeline significantly shorter than usual. Firefox 3.0, for instance, launched approximately 20 months after its predecessor, Firefox 2.0.

Previously, Mozilla said that it would be able to meet the shorter deadlines because Firefox 3.1 would be composed of features that didn't make it into Firefox 3.0, but were "nearly complete," Schroepfer said.

In the meeting notes published online Tuesday, Mozilla listed some of the improvements it hopes to slot into Firefox 3.1, including changes to the revamped bookmarking that debuted in 3.0 and modifications to the new amped-up location bar.

Several of the proposed changes, however, rely on improvements to the Gecko engine that underpins Firefox, as well as other applications, such as Mozilla Messaging's Thunderbird e-mail client. Developers are working on Gecko 1.9.1 at the same time as Firefox 3.1, and programmers on the latter project expect some of those refinements will make it into the browser's next upgrade, including additional improvements in JavaScript performance and better compliance with the Acid3 test, which checks how closely a browser follows certain Web standards.

In March, when both Apple and Opera Software ASA touted gains in matching Acid3's requirements with their Safari and Opera browsers, respectively, Mozilla called the race to a perfect score "a puzzle game" and said it wouldn't divert resources from the still-under-construction Firefox 3.0 to match its rivals.

Since the June 17 launch, more than 21.8 million copies of Firefox 3.0 have been downloaded, according to Mozilla's own counter.

Google Media Server: From the desktop to your TV

2008-07-04T02:52:00.001-07:00

Google released Google Media Server which allows you to connect your pc
with your tv using universal plug and play devices. The Windows
application uses Google Desktop technology such as Desktop gadgets for
the administration tool and Google Desktop Search to locate media
files. All you need is a PC running Google Desktop and a UPnP-enabled device (e.g. a PlayStation 3).

At the touch of a button, you can then:

Access videos, music, and photos stored on your PC
View Picasa Web Albums
Play your favorite YouTube videos

Viacom to Get YouTube User Histories

2008-07-04T01:05:00.001-07:00

Google has been ordered to turn over the viewing history of every YouTube user...to Viacom.This is an example of a formatted note note.

As litigation continues in Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement suit against Google, a judge has ordered (PDF) Google most turn over the usage histories of every YouTube user to Viacom. The usage logs contain each YouTube user's login ID, the IP address used to connect to YouTube, as well as a video identifier and a start time.

The court did not order the Google disclose to Viacom its search code, schemas, and other intellectual property, noting that such disclosure—even under a non-disclosure agreement—would cause Google harm since the information carries significant commercial value. The court also ruled Viacom doesn't get data on privacy videos hosted on YouTube—that is, videos that can only be seen by a user specifically authorized to view it.

Although Viacom won't get information on private videos, the ordered disclosure of user histories is being decried as a setback for online privacy. "The Court's erroneous ruling is a set-back to privacy rights," wrote the EFF's Kurt Opsahl, "and will allow Viacom to see what you are watching on YouTube. We urge Viacom to back off this overbroad request and Google to take all steps necessary to challenge this order and protect the rights of its users."

Viacom is suing Google for copyright infringement, claiming that Google's YouTube service is profiting off the illegal distribution of Viacom content (including clips from popular programs like The Daily Show and South Park). Viacom says it had identified more than 160,000 infringing clips which had been viewed a total of 1.5 billion times as of early 2007. Google maintains it offers copyright holders mechanisms to have infringing content taken down from the service. YouTube has long been promising to roll out content filtering technology that prevents infringing material from being uploaded to YouTube in the first place.

'Gratis Hyper-V prijst VMware niet uit de markt'

2008-06-30T20:48:00.000-07:00

Hoewel Microsoft met de release van Hyper-V voor Windows Server 2008 een flinke concurrent vormt voor VMware, zijn er volgens analisten genoeg redenen om voor VMware te kiezen.

Christopher Voce, analist bij Forrester: "VMware is op verschillende gebieden een zeer volwassen en doorontwikkeld product. Op het gebied van veerkracht en stabiliteit heeft de software nog steeds een grote voorsprong op Microsoft".

Andere analisten lieten eerder al weten dat Hyper-V twee belangrijke opties mist, die wel in VMware te vinden zijn. De eerste optie is migratie, oftewel de mogelijkheid om een applicatie die op een virtuele server draait te verhuizen van het ene fysieke apparaat naar een andere fysiek apparaat. VMware kan deze taak uitvoeren zonder dat er downtime optreedt, terwijl de software van Microsoft daar enkele seconden voor nodig heeft, meldt NetworkWorld.

Live migratie
De andere optie is 'hot add', de mogelijkheid om geheugen toe te voegen aan een virtuele server, terwijl deze draait. "Live migratie is van groot belang voor grote bedrijven die som honderden of zelfs duizenden virtuele servers hebben draaien" zegt Laura DiDio, analist bij onderzoeksbedrijf DiDio. "Microsoft heeft ook een zeer snelle migratie, die dichtbij de snelheid van VMware komt, maar het is nog niet hetzelfde. Live migratie maakt het werk van grote bedrijven simpelweg een stuk eenvoudiger. Het gaat maar om seconden en minuten, maar bij dit soort bedrijven staat dat gelijk aan veel geld."

Prijsstunter
Volgens Voce is Microsoft zich wel bewust van het feit dat deze functies in de nabije toekomst verbeterd moeten worden, maar willde het bedrijf de release van Hyper-V niet uitstellen om deze reden: "Ze wilden het product lanceren, zelfs al is het nog niet helemaal perfect." Een belangrijk argument in het voordeel van Microsoft is dat VMware wat prijs betreft natuurlijk niet kan concurreren. Hyper-V is gratis voor gebruikers met een licentie voor Windows Server 2008 en voor een stand-alone versie die eind van dit jaar zal worden uitgebracht, hoeft slechts 28 dollar te worden betaald.

VMware toch goedkoper
Hoewel de software van Microsoft gratis is, beweert VMware toch dat grote bedrijven voordeliger uitzijn wanneer ze kiezen voor hun betaalde software, omdat VMware veel meer virtuele servers zou kunnen laten draaien, zonder dat de prestaties daaronder te lijden hebben. Op deze manier ontstaan er veel lagere kosten per virtuele machine, hetgeen de aankooprijs van VMware kan billijken. Mede om die reden is VMware niet van plan om de prijzen op korte termijn te verlagen. Als alternatief biedt het bedrijf wel VMware Server, een uitgeklede versie van de hyperviso-software. De prijzen van de software variëren daardoor van 495 dollar voor VMware ESXi tot bijna 6000 dollar voor VMware Infrastructure Enterprise.

Microsoft System Center multifunctioneel
Maar Microsoft biedt meer voordelen dan alleen gratis virtualisatie. Zo is Microsoft System Center volgens Voce in staat om zowel Hyper-V als VMware virtual servers te beheren en kan het zowel fysieke als virtuele systemen aan, iets dat niet geldt voor VMware. Voce: "VMware is alleen gericht op de virtualisatieproducten van het eigen bedrijf en gaat er van uit dat alles in het datacenter van een klant virtueel is."

Volgens DiDio heeft VMware vooral het voordeel dat het één van de eerste spelers op de markt was en tevens een goede reputatie heeft bij virtualisatieprofessionals: "Er is simpelweg geen reden om te stoppen met VMware als je het al hebt draaien, en zeker niet als het helemaal naar wens is. Nieuwe klanten zullen het moeilijker hebben bij het maken van een keuze".

New backdoor for MacOS

2008-06-30T10:30:00.001-07:00

PandaLabs has detected a new backdoor, OSX/AsTHT.A, designed to affect Apple operating systems such as MacOS, Leopard or Tiger.

When run, the backdoor uses an Apple Remote Desktop Agent vulnerability to gain privilege escalation and administrator permissions. It then copies itself onto the system and sends a mail to its creator reporting the infection. It also associates the victim's IP address to a Dynamic DNS service to continue having access to the infected computer even if the address is modified.

OSX/AsTHT.A accesses the computer through a VNC server (Vine Server) it includes, and through SSH. It also enables a Web server where the remote control tool is hosted.

This malicious code drops a keylogger on the system which can capture images through the ¡Sight integrated camera (an Apple webcam). . This way, it steals email passwords, banking passwords, etc.

Additionally, if more than one user is registered on the PC, it tries to guess their credentials using a brute-force program. It is also designed to disable the firewall and disable, delete and modify several system log files to prevent leaving traces and impede detection.

:pandasecurity.com

Gates neemt in tranen afscheid van Microsoft

2008-06-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

Bill Gates heeft vrijdag met tranen in z'n ogen afscheid genomen van Microsoft, het bedrijf dat ooit de 'onrealistische' doelstelling had iedereen aan de pc te krijgen.

Gates verlaat het bedrijf om zich te kunnen richtig op zijn liefdadigheidsorganisatie, de Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation die de miljarden van Gates aan goede doelen weggeeft.

Tijdens een speciale bijeenkomst op het hoofdkantoor van Microsoft klom Gates vrijdag op het podium voor een korte speech en om wat vragen van werknemers te beantwoorden: "Er zal geen dag in mijn leven zijn dat ik niet denk aan Microsoft en aan de geweldige dingen die het doet. En dan zal ik het moeilijk vinden om niet te helpen." Gates sprak de woorden uit met betraande ogen, terwijl de medewerkers hem een staande ovatie gaven.

Geen manier om te bedanken
Ook Microsoft topman Steve Ballmer, tevens oud klasgenoot van Gates tijdens zijn studie aan Harvard, kreeg een brok in zijn keel toen hij trachtte te omschrijven wat de impact is geweest van Gates op het bedrijf en op de samenleving in het algemeen: "Er is geen goede manier om Bill te bedanken. Bill is de oprichter, Bill is de leider. Wij hebben nu fantastische mogelijkheden, mogelijkheden die ons door Bill zijn gegeven."

Sentiment
Hoewel Gates zich nog steeds bezig zal houden met speciale projecten binnen Microsoft, zal hij vooral energie steken in het helpen bij de zoektocht naar nieuwe vaccinaties en het verstrekken van microkredieten in de derde wereld.

Bij een dergelijk afscheid hoort uiteraard sentiment en Ballmer haalde met Gates dan ook de nodige herinneringen op. De twee bespraken hoe Microsoft veranderde van een beginnende bedrijfje tot een gigant met meer dan 90 duizend medewerkers dat in vrijwel ieder segment van de computerindustrie actief is. Met trots spraken de twee over de obstakels die ze door de jaren heen hebben moeten overwinnen, zoals toen IBM, ooit partner van Microsoft, zich tegen met het OS2 besturingssysteem tegen het bedrijf keerde. Ballmer: "We zijn de confrontatie aangegaan met het machtigste computerbedrijf ter wereld en we hebben ze verslagen."

Fouten
De 52-jarige Gates bleek echter ook een realist. Hij erkende dat Microsoft een grote fout heeft gemaakt door het belang van zoektechnologie en online advertenties over het hoofd te zien. Maar de Microsoft topman liet daarbij wel weten dat Microsoft niet onderschat moet worden: "Ik hou ervan wanneer mensen Microsoft onderschatten. Ja, we maken fouten en daar zijn we ons van bewust. Maar we komen altijd terug en leren van die fouten. Dit heeft geleid tot de beste producten en diensten die we hebben".

Dell schiet onder duiven Asus met 'E' laptops

2008-06-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

Dell komt onder de naam 'E' met een nieuwe lijn notebooks. Tussen de nieuwe laptops zitten concurrenten voor de Macbook Air en de populaire Eee Pc van Asus.

De Dell E-lijn bestaat uit meerdere soorten notebooks, waaronder een mini-laptop en een ultradunne portable, meldt Engadget. De eerste, de Dell E is een 8,9 inch model en kan gezien worden als een aanval op de nieuwe Eee 900 van Asus. De Dell E zou vanaf 300 Amerikaanse dollar gaan kosten en in meerdere kleuren beschikbaar komen.

Wimax
De tweede, die de naam 'E Slim' heeft meegekregen, heeft een 12 inch scherm en is maar 0.8 inch dik. Dat is een fractie dikker dan de Macbook Air en de X300 van Lenovo. De E Slim zou volgens Engadget in een tweede versie ook WiMax gaan ondersteunen.

In de E-lijn zou Dell ook nog de E Video en E Video+ in de planning hebben. Deze notebooks hebben met meer geheugen, een grotere flashopslag en de plus-variant heeft ook Bluetooth-ondersteuning.

Geen Vista
De Dell E's zouden in eind deze zomer op de markt komen. Opmerkelijk is dat volgens Engadget de Dell E-laptops niet draaien op Windows Vista, maar op XP of Linux, net als de Eee PC's van Asus. Over de prijzen van de andere modellen is nog niks bekend.

Eind vorige maand werd Michael Dell tijdens een conferentie al betrapt met een onbekende rode minilaptop van Dell onder zijn arm.

Yahoo Mail Opens up Two New Domains

2008-06-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

If your favorite name @yahoo.com was snagged back in 1997, now is your chance to get in on @ymail.com and @rocketmail.com while they're still new.

Popularity may be a boon for a free e-mail service’s creators, but for new users, joining a giant e-mail service usually entails tacking a bunch of numbers onto the end of a name just to find a handle that no one else has taken. Yahoo recently recognized this problem in its own Yahoo Mail service, and launched the solution on Thursday: two fresh e-mail domains to open up those commonly used names again.

Users signing up for Yahoo Mail can now choose from addresses that end in @ymail.com or @rocketmail.com, giving the John Thompsons, Mary Smiths and Steve Richards of the world a chance to nab their commonly held monikers before someone else does.

A recent survey commissioned by Yahoo revealed just how important the actual names used in e-mail addresses are to users. Fifty-nine percent of respondents prioritized an address that was easy to remember – an attribute that’s hard to come by when you’ve got five random digits hanging off the end. The best choice for an easy-to-remember name was contentious though: given a choice of any e-mail address, there was a close three-way split over whether users would opt for their last names, first names, or nicknames (last names ended up winning by a hair.)

The most desirable names on the new domains have actually been reserved by Yahoo, but for good reason. It will auction them off on eBay, with benefits going to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Ocean Conservancy, Point Foundation, Right To Play and World Wildlife Fund.

BudFits Modify Apple Earbuds for Fitness

2008-06-20T05:52:00.000-07:00

By adding a clip-on rubber loop to Apple's standard earbuds, a pair of BudFits makes them suitable for running, cycling, skateboarding and other activities.

If you’ve ever taken your new iPod out for a run only to have those smooth white earbuds jostle their way out of your ears a few minutes into your pavement pounding, you’re not alone. While plenty of companies have already released aftermarket earbuds catering specifically to this problem, a new product known as BudFits allows you to salvage your existing earbuds with a simple modification.

Innovelis’ BudFits are simply flexible rubber ear loops that clip onto existing Apple earbuds, then loop over your ear to provide more support for them, the same way many aftermarket designs work. You can clip them on when it’s time to work out, then remove them before the morning commute when you would rather not have the extra bulk.

They’re also cheaper than buying a completely separate pair of headphones just for exercise. A pair runs for $8.99 to $9.99, depending on where you pick them up (Amazon has them for $8.99.) They come in three different colors: frosted clear, black, and white.

Americans Turn to Phones, Net for Politics

2008-06-19T02:45:00.000-07:00

A new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that nearly half of all Americans have used the Internet or their phones for political activity.

The adjective most frequently associated with the American electorate in recent years might be "apathy," but a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project might show a political re-awakening through technology. "The Internet and the 2008 Election" finds that nearly half of all Americans—46 percent—have ised their phones or the Internet to participate in some form of political activity, whether that's getting information about a campaign or issue, sharing their views, or mobilizing others. And supporters of presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama seem to be leading the way with online political activity.

Among the online crowd, the report finds four activities are the most common, with 39 percent of Americans saying they've used the INternet to access information, documents, and other "unfiltered" campaign materials and information, and 35 percent of respondents saying they've watched online political videos. Further, 10 percent of respondents said they've used a social networking service to gather information or become involved, and 6 percent have made online political contributions. That last figure is up from just 2 percent who made online political contributions during the complete 2004 presidential campaign.

Even as Americans—particularly younger Americans—take part in the political process via technology, Internet users remain skeptical of the role of the Internet in the 2008 campaign, with many wired Americans saying the Internet has a tendency to magnify extreme viewpoints and serve as a source of false, inaccurate, or misleading information.

Vijf vragen over de iPhone 3G

2008-06-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

Afgelopen maandag lanceerde Apple de nieuwste versie van de iPhone. Vanaf 11 juli zal het toestel dan toch eindelijk officieel in Nederland te koop zijn.

In Nederland wordt de iPhone 3G inclusief abonnement door T-Mobile verkocht. Prijzen en tarieven zijn nog niet bekend, maar vermoedelijk zal het bedrijf de iPhone aanbieden samen met zijn bestaande web 'n' walk internetabonnement, waarbij tegen een vast bedrag per maand onbeperkt gesurft kan worden.

Er is een kans dat het toestel wel eens fors duurder kunnen uitvallen dan in de VS, waar de goedkoopste variant (8 Gb) 199 dollar kost. Vodafone biedt in Italië bijvoorbeeld een prepaid model aan voor 499 euro. T-Mobile meldt op haar site dat de iPhone niet als prepaid toestel te koop zal zijn.

1. Waarom heeft het eigenlijk zo lang geduurd voordat de iPhone in Nederland verkrijgbaar was?
De eerste iPhone was voor de Nederlandse markt nauwelijks interessant, aangezien geen ondersteuning voor UMTS of 3G werd geboden. Internetten op de iPhone zou dus erg traag zijn geweest. De eerste iPhone werkte alleen via GPRS of het iets snellere EDGE. Dat laatste netwerk heeft even bij Telfort gedraaid, maar verdween na de overname door KPN.

Daarnaast heeft Apple zich het afgelopen najaar geconcentreerd op de drie grootste Europese landen: Duitsland, Engeland en Frankrijk. De overeenkomst met T-Mobile maakt onderdeel uit van een pakket waarin naast Oostenrijk ook diverse Oost-Europese landen zijn opgenomen. T-Mobile had vorig jaar naar verluidt al een principeovereenkomst met Apple, maar het bedrijf heeft toch ook nog met KPN onderhandeld.

2. Waarom kan ik de iPhone niet gewoon bij verschillende providers kopen?
Het nadeel van SIM-vrije toestellen is dat de configuratie lastig kan zijn. Door met maar een bedrijf in zee te gaan kan Apple de werking van het toestel garanderen. Overigens zijn er wel degelijk landen in Europa waar meerdere aanbieders de iPhone verkopen, bijvoorbeeld Oostenrijk, Portugal, Tsjechië en Italië.

Apple probeert daarnaast zoveel mogelijk aan de iPhone te verdienen. Aanvankelijk moesten de aanbieders een deel van hun omzet aan Apple afdragen. Dat stuitte op grote weerstand. De providers betalen Apple nu een extra bedrag per toestel, waardoor het bedrijf de iPhone goedkoper kan aanbieden.

3. Kan de nieuwe iPhone gekraakt worden?
Het wordt in elk geval een stuk moeilijker gemaakt. De eerste versie van de iPhone stond helemaal niet het gebruik van software van derden toe, vandaar er zogenoemde jailbreak (gekraakte) versies kwamen. Met de komst van het iPhone ontwikkelaarspakket (SDK) zijn nu wel applicaties te ontwikkelen voor de iPhone. Die moeten dan wel worden goedgekeurd door Apple, want de installatie geschiedt uitsluitend via een zogenoemde App Store. De verwachting is dat 70 procent van deze applicaties gratis zal worden aangeboden.

4. Ik word doodmoe van al die hype rond de iPhone. Andere toestellen zijn toch net zo goed?
Er zijn inderdaad al aardig wat iPhone klonen op de markt. Samsung lanceerde toevallig maandag de Samsung Omnia (ook wel bekend als de SGH-i900) met glimmende metalen behuizing. Ook de HTC Touch Diamond 3D doet een gooi op de markt. Het is een kwestie van smaak: de iPhone heeft een hoge mate van gebruiksvriendelijkheid die bij andere toestellen nog wel eens ontbreekt.

5. Wat gebeurt er met het zusje van de iPhone, iPod Touch?
De iPod Touch biedt dezelfde mogelijkheden als de iPhone, maar dan zonder telefoon. Tot voor kort goedkoper dan de iPhone, maar met de nieuwste iPhones is de iPod Touch eerder duurder. De verwachting is dat Apple de prijs van de iPod Touch zal aanpassen en deze van de nieuwste 2.0 -software zal voorzien die bestaande gebruikers vanaf juli overigens voor weinig geld ook zelf kunnen installeren. De iPhone biedt in vergelijking nu wel nog meer mogelijkheden, zoals ingebouwde GPS satellietnavigatie.

Wat vindt u van de iPhone 3g? Geef uw mening in onze wekelijkse peiling (stemmen is alleen mogelijk voor geregistreerde bezoekers)

Firefox 3 to Launch Today

2008-06-18T02:48:00.001-07:00

Version 3 of the Firefox browser gets released today...and, if you're lucky, you can participate in a world record attempt for most downloads in a day.

The Firefox 3.0 browser is scheduled for release today, and while it isn't quite online yet as of this writing, the Mozilla folks are hopeful the new browser will make a splash: the debut of the browser be be audited in an attempt to set a Guinness world record for the most software downloads in a 24 hour period.

Firefox 3 sports a variety of new features, including significantly improved performance (Mozilla is claiming the new release will be seven times faster than Internet Explorer and three to four times faster than previous editions of Firefox), single-click bookmarking, a smart location bar, and improved security features that warn users about expired certificates, site forgeries, and malware. The release will also see improved password management, a new download manager, better security for add-on updates, a full-page zoom feature, and other new features.

Mac and Linux users may be pleased to see Firefox 3.0 has attempted to make itself behave more like a native application, although release candidates for Mac OS X have garnered about the same amount of criticism as previous versions for failing to honor Mac OS user interface conventions and user interface elements.

Firefox 3.0 is available for free; downloads via the Web (not FTP) will be counted toward the world record attempt. Firefox is currently the second most-popular browser on the planet, behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Power your MacBook Air with the sun

2008-06-18T02:27:00.000-07:00

A new solar panel kit for the MacBook Air will both charge and power the laptop at the same time.

QuickerTek, a Wichita, Kansas-based company that sells accessories for Apple devices, calls its new portable solar power gadget the Apple Juicz MacBook Air Solar Charger.

The Juicz comes in three size and power options and has a one-year warranty, QuickerTek said Tuesday. As usual with solar energy, all that “free” power is going to cost you.

The smallest 19-watt Apple Juicz, which takes 14 hours to recharge the laptop, will sell for $500; the 8-hour, 29-watt model is $600 and the 5-hour, 58-watt model is $1,000.

In addition to laying out the initial money for the solar kit, you’ll also need to shell out another $100 for a compatible MagSafe power adapter, or pay QuickerTek $25 to upgrade your existing power adapter. (For $500 to $1,000 you’d think they could throw in the adapter modification for free.)

You’ll also need a bit of space to use these.

While each solar panel kit folds up into a rectangle about the size of a piece of paper, unfurling them for use requires room. The 19-watt model unfolds into 30 inches by 30.5 inches and the largest 58-watt model folds out to about 5 feet by 3.5 feet.

That doesn’t sound like a big deal when you picture your green, conscientious self sitting outside this summer on a patch of grass, or at a picnic table, with your solar panel spread out beside you and passersby inquiring about your oh-so-ingenious gadget. In reality, how’s this going to work when you’re jockeying for space around an outdoor table at a coffee shop?

Reported by Candace Lombardi @ CNet

Tool UvA-studenten vindt lekke webapplicaties

2008-06-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

Studenten van de Universiteit van Amsterdam hebben een tool gemaakt die automatisch lekke webapplicaties op servers kan detecteren. Een eerste versie is al te downloaden.

Studenten Dick Visser en Bart Roos van de Universiteit van Amsterdam hebben een nieuwe methode ontwikkeld die serverbeheerders sneller een totaaloverzicht van alle webapplicaties op hun server moet geven, meldt Security.nl vrijdag. Webapplicaties als weblogs en fotoalbums worden vaak gehackt doordat benodigde veiligheidsupdates niet zijn geïnstalleerd. Serverbeheerders hebben niet altijd op tijd in de gaten welke applicaties gebruikers hebben geïnstalleerd.

Het gaat om een methode om snel van alle mappen op servers te bepalen welke webapplicaties erin staan en welke versies ze hebben. Zo kunnen beheerders snel zien welke applicaties onveilig zouden zijn. Het beschreven algoritme baseert zich op de hashwaarden van aanwezige bestanden.

Ook bruikbaar voor hackers
Visser en Roos bieden hun tool, de Web Application Detector, online aan. Ze noemen de WAD nog 'proof-of-concept'. De tool kan nog verder worden uitgebreid.

De Web Application Detector werkt al met de populaire content managementsystemen WordPress en Joomla en de forumsoftware phpBB. Deze webapplicaties zijn vaak kwetsbaar voor hackers. Een risico is wel dat hackers zelf hun nieuwe gereedschap zouden kunnen gebruiken om ook een snel overzicht te krijgen van alle lekke webapplicaties op een server.

Internetbankieren ABN Amro onbereikbaar

2008-06-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

De online bankiermodule van de ABN Amro bank is sinds 15.00 uur vrijdagmiddag uit de lucht. Een hardwareprobleem zou hieraan ten grondslag liggen.

De inlogpagina biedt sinds vanmiddag alleen een storingsbericht. ´Het systeem ligt helemaal plat' door een hardwarematig probleem, meldt de bank. Later vanavond zou de storing naar verwachting verholpen zijn.

"Het is een klein gelukje dat veel mensen vanavond iets anders te doen hebben", aldus de zegsman van ABN Amro eerder vandaag tegen nieuwsdienst AFN. De woordvoerder was vrijdagavond niet bereikbaar voor commentaar.

Ruim een half jaar geleden kampte de bank met meerdere ernstige verstoringen in haar online dienstverlening nadat het bij de lancering van de website na een restyling misging.

Update: de storing is inmiddels verholpen.

Hoge Raad nog niet klaar met goksites Ladbrokes

2008-06-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

Het Britse wedkantoor Ladbrokes handelt met goksites volgens de Hoge Raad in strijd met de kansspelwet. Maar het Europese Hof moet nog zeggen hoe zich dat verhoudt tot Europees recht.

De Hoge Raad vindt dat Ladbrokes zich schuldig maakt aan overtreding van de Wet op de Kansspelen door via internet het gokken op sportwedstrijden aan Nederlanders aan te bieden. Dat bepaalde de Raad vrijdag in een arrest. Vergunninghouder De Lotto won eerder in hoger beroep al van Ladbrokes.

De kwestie is daarmee echter nog niet afgerond. De Raad wacht nog op antwoorden van het Europese Hof van Justitie in Luxemburg over hoe het Europees recht in deze zaak moet worden uitgelegd. De Hoge Raad is niet de enige die over internetgokken vragen stelde aan het Europese Hof. Dat deden ook rechters in andere lidstaten en de Nederlandse Raad van State vorige maand.

Europees verdrag
De vraag is hoe het Nederlandse staatsmonopolie op kansspelen zich verhoudt tot het Europese recht op het vrij verkeer van diensten. Die bepaling staat in het EG-Verdrag. Beperkingen op het aanbieden van diensten zijn verboden als lidstaten daarvoor geen goede rechtvaardiging kunnen aanvoeren.

Zo'n rechtvaardiging zou er wel kunnen zijn als Nederland gokactiviteiten voldoende beperkt en de bestrijding van gokverslaving serieus oppakt. Maar dat verhoudt zich mogelijk slecht tot de reclames voor loterijen en kansspelen van de huidige vergunninghouders. Ook vraagt de Hoge Raad zich af of nationale rechters in ieder afzonderlijk geval een uitspraak moeten doen over het blokkeren van buitenlandse goksites.

Betfair en Unibet
Ladbrokes heeft in het Verenigd Koninkrijk wel een vergunning voor het aanbieden van kansspelen. Na de beantwoording van de gestelde vragen zal de zaak verder worden behandeld door de Hoge Raad.

Ladbrokes is een van de vele bedrijven die met goksites tot nu toe juridisch bot vangt bij Nederlandse rechters. Dat overkwam ook onder meer Unibet en Betfair. Een zaak van Betfair bij de Raad van State loopt ook nog. Daarbij gaat het onder meer over de weigering door minister van Justitie Hirsch Ballin om Betfair kansspelvergunningen te verlenen.

'Apple's App Store cruciaal voor succes iPhone'

2008-06-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

De App Store, die Apple op 11 juli aanstaande opent, is van groot belang voor Apple's 'mobiele toekomst'.

Volgens Michael McGuire van onderzoeksbedrijf Gartner, weet Apple heel goed hoe het een bepaald platform moet lanceren: "Ik denk dat de App Store voor de iPhone zal worden wat iTunes is geworden voor de iPod. Apple weet als geen ander hoe het twee verschillende producten naadloos samen moet voegen en te verkopen als in elkaar overlopend geheel" meldt Computerworld.

Opnieuw goud in handen?
Als McGuire gelijk heeft dan heeft Apple opnieuw goud in handen, omdat het bedrijf dan eigenhandig een nieuwe markt voor software heeft ontwikkeld, die volledig gericht is op de iPhone. Carl Howe van onderzoeksbedrijf Yankee Group Research Inc. voegt daar nog aan toe dat de App Store het bewijs is dat de iPhone voor Apple veel meer is dan een leuke gadget: "Dit toont aan dat de iPhone een heus platform is en voor platforms geldt dat de add-ons vaak net zo waardevol zijn en soms zelfs waardevoller dan het product dat oorspronkelijk werd gelanceerd."

Platform belangrijk voor Apple
Tijdens de Worldwide Developers Conference sprak Apple CEO Steve Jobs bijna driekwart van de tijd die hij had voor zijn keynote over de waarde van de iPhone als platform. Ook dit is volgens Howe een duidelijk signaal hoe belangrijk het platform is voor Apple: "Er is één ding dat we inmiddels weten over Steve Jobs, en dat is dat hij geen tijd verspilt aan dingen die onbelangrijk zijn voor consumenten."

Apple vangt 30 procent van elke applicatie
Apple introduceerde de App Store in maart van dit jaar, toen het de software development kit onthulde voor de iPhone. De winkel zal, vergelijkbaar met iTunes, fungeren als een verkooppunt, maar dan voor iPhone applicaties die zijn ontwikkeld door derden. Wat een ontwikkelaar vraagt voor een dergelijke applicatie bepaalt hij zelf, maar er moet wel 30 procent van de verkoopprijs worden afgestaan aan Apple. In ruil daarvoor biedt Apple marketingkracht en bandbreedte.

Opnieuw goud in handen?
Volgens Howe is het succes van de App Store niet van cruciaal belang voor het succes van de iPhone, maar wel voor het succes van het platform in z'n geheel. McGuire voegt daar nog aan toe dat, wanneer de App Store net zo soepel werkt als iTunes, het een reden kan zijn voor ontwikkelaars om te kiezen voor de iPhone als ontwikkelplatform, in plaats van voor Android of Nokia.

Myspace volgende week op de schop

2008-06-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

Netwerksite MySpace krijgt volgende week een nieuwe versie met een verbeterde vormgeving en een nieuwe videospeler. Dat moet de site wapenen in de strijd met Facebook en YouTube.

Woensdag gaat de nieuwe versie van MySpace live in de meeste landen. Ook de Nederlandse editie gaat op de schop, zegt Derek Fehmers, country manager van MySpace Nederland. "Onze vormgeving was niet zo mooi en de zoekfunctie werkte slecht. Dat wordt nu allemaal veel beter."

Minder rommelig
Een van de belangrijkste verbeteringen is de nieuwe manier waarop gebruikers hun profielen kunnen vormgeven en indelen. Mogelijkheden om zelf HTML-codes te gebruiken, waardoor pagina's er rommelig uit kunnen gaan zien, verdwijnen wat meer naar de achtergrond.

In plaats daarvan heeft de nieuwe 'Profile Editor' allerlei standaard opties en waarden, waarmee gebruikers zonder verstand van HTML ook controle hebben over de vormgeving. Sites als Facebook hebben dat al langer. Myspace-leden kunnen straks bijvoorbeeld met schuifbalkjes de grootte van hun lettertype aangeven. Ook zijn allerlei standaard 'themes' te selecteren.

Videospeler
De videospeler is flink verbeterd met een Fullscreen-optie en een mogelijkheid voor HD-weergave. Adverteerders kunnen vanaf nu ook spotjes voor of na videoclips integreren of wel gebruik maken van overlays over de video heen.

Een nieuwe zoekfunctie moet het zoeken naar mensen, muziek, MySpace-pagina's en op het web beter maken. Volgens MySpace krijgt de site jaarlijks 20 miljard zoekopdrachten. De zoekfunctie maakt gebruik van de Lucene open-source engine.

550 duizend Nederlanders
Volgens Fehmers heeft MySpace in Nederland momenteel 550 duizend leden. De site is in Nederland allerlei samenwerkingsverbanden aangegeven. Samen met filmdistributeurs komen er premières voor MySpace-leden. De eerste zogeheten Black Curtain Screening in Nederland is van de film '21' in Amsterdam. Daarnaast werkt Myspace samen met RTL voor de nieuwe talentenjacht Rocktalent op RTL5.

Facebook
De nieuwe versie van Myspace is hard nodig, want de site verliest rap terrein aan Facebook. Onderzoeksbureau Comscore meldde deze week dat Facebook nu wereldwijd Myspace heeft ingehaald. Beide sites hebben nu maandelijks 115 miljoen unieke bezoekers.

Amazon.com wederom uren uit de lucht

2008-06-12T03:56:00.000-07:00

Opnieuw kon het winkelend webpubliek maandag moeilijk terecht bij Amazon, net als vrijdag het geval was. Op beide dagen was de winkel urenlang slecht bereikbaar.
Voor Nederland waren het de avondsurfers die last kunnen hebben gehad van de technische problemen. Maandagavond tussen 19.03 en 19.23 uur lukte het maar dertig procent van de bezoekers om toegang te krijgen tot de site. Dat zegt het bedrijf Keynote Systems, dat de prestaties van verschillende websites bijhoudt.

Nadat de verbindingen na de eerste storing zich stabiliseerden, was het een half uur later opnieuw raak. Tussen 19.56 en 20.09 lukte het 68% om op de site te komen. Ook de Britse versie van de online winkel kampte met problemen. Na 20.09 deed de site het weer naar behoren.

Reactie
Amazon liet weten aan PCWorld: "Er zijn klanten die problemen hebben gemeld aan ons. Het lukte sommigen niet om op de site te komen. We proberen er alles aan te doen om de problemen op te lossen."

Amazon's site voor ontwikkelaars, getiteld Amazon Web Services, had geen last van de storingen op vrijdag en maandag.

Onderhoud
Op vrijdag duurden de problemen langer dan maandag. Voor het weekend was de site bijna drie uur moeilijk bereikbaar. De website meldde slechts "Http/1.1 Service Unavailable."

Voor de gemiddelde klant betekent deze cryptische melding niks. Maar de baas van Keynote Systems, Shawn White, vermoedt dat er ergens een server niet goed geconfigureerd was: "Hoe complexer het system, hoe moeilijker het is om te onderhouden. Daardoor kan een configuratieverandering op de ene plek, zorgen voor problemen in een ander gebied."

Voor elk uur onbereikbaarheid loopt webwinkelreus Amazon duizenden koopgrage klanten mis en daarmee behoorlijke omzet.

Kroes pleit voor toepassing open standaarden

2008-06-11T03:53:00.000-07:00

Eurocommissaris Neelie Kroes heeft dinsdag een vurig betoog gehouden voor de toepassing van open standaarden. Ook kreeg Microsoft wederom een sneer.
In wat de New York Times een "botte snauw" noemt, haalde Kroes indirect flink uit naar Microsoft.

In een speech voor het OpenForum in Brussel, gaf Kroes aan veel te voelen voor open standaarden: "Ik weet wat slimme bedrijfskeuzes zijn als ik ze zie, en een keuze voor open standaarden is zo'n slimme bedrijfskeuze," aldus de mededingingscommissaris.

Afwijzing
"Geen enkele burger of bedrijf zou moeten worden gedwongen of aangemoedigd om een gesloten technologie te moeten kiezen, ten koste van een open variant," stelt Kroes in wat algemeen wordt opgevat als een uithaal naar Microsoft.

Kroes heeft de afgelopen jaren een bitter gevecht geleverd met Microsoft. De eurocommissaris vindt dat het bedrijf teveel misbruik maakt van zijn machtspositie, door te weinig inzicht te geven in zijn software en te weinig samen te werken met andere bedrijven. De New York Times noemt deze afwijzing van Microsoft een ongebruikelijke botte snauw' richting het bedrijf uit Redmond.

Kroes deed haar aanbeveling overigens zonder de naam van Microsoft expliciet te noemen. Ze verwees wel naar het bedrijf door de dubbele boete te noemen die ze opgelegde in 'een mededingingszaak'.

Democratische principes
Ze verwees in positieve termen naar de Nederlandse overheid, die probeert om ook open standaarden toe te passen. Ook München kon rekenen op een compliment, omdat de stad al eerder was overgestapt.

Ze gaf aan dat ook de Europese organisaties actief open standaarden moeten toepassen: "De Europese Commissie moet niet alle hoop op één leverancier vestigen, het moet gesloten standaarden niet accepteren, en het moet voorkomen dat het wordt opgesloten binnen de kaders van één technologie."

Voor Kroes horen open standaarden bij een democratie. Het pleiten voor open standaarden spreekt haar aan, zegt ze, omdat het "ondersteund wordt door democratische principes en solide economische beslissingen".

Start-Up Releases Smaller Version of Flip Camcorder

2008-06-04T21:04:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO — In the last year, Pure Digital, a small San Francisco start-up, has shown the world’s consumer electronics companies how to build a camcorder that regular people actually use.

It has sold nearly one million units of its Flip Camcorder, a $149 four-button video recording device that has attracted the admiration of Oprah Winfrey and accolades from jaded product reviewers. It has been able to carve out a 20 percent share of a device category long characterized by flat sales and user manuals the size of Russian novels.

To stave off a flood of imitation products from more-established device makers seeking to copy its formula for success, on Wednesday Pure Digital will begin selling a slender new model, the Flip Video Mino.

The Mino is 40 percent smaller than the previous version of the Flip, the Ultra. It has curved edges and is meant to slip into the pockets or pocketbooks of youthful members of the MySpace generation, and can record up to 60 minutes of video. It has the same pop-out U.S.B. plug as its predecessor that, when inserted into a computer, easily transfers video onto the PC and onto video-sharing sites like YouTube.

The device will sell for $179 in major retail stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy, and on Web sites like Amazon.com, where the original Flip devices of various colors are currently four of the five best sellers in the camcorder category.

The Mino actually has slightly less to offer than its predecessor, which is precisely the point. Instead of requiring replaceable AA batteries, there is an internal rechargeable battery that holds only about four hours of power and charges when the device is plugged into a PC. The Mino also has touch-sensitive buttons that recede into the casing.

“The Mino is designed to be with you and let you be creative and share with the world all the visible and viral things you capture,” said Jonathan Kaplan, chief executive of Pure Digital. “We are trying to make video fun again.”

The popularity of such a simple device has been an eye-opener for the consumer electronics industry. Device makers have been obsessed with adding, not subtracting, features to camcorders, such as high-definition video recording and more refined optical zoom. But those features just confused many prospective buyers.

“The cliché is true. The camcorder was something that sat in the closet until people brought it out in a special moment, only to find out that the batteries were dead,” said Paul Worthington, an analyst at Future Image, a research firm. “With the Flip, you are not missing the moment while you try to figure out menu options.”

Its appeal to consumers has not gone unnoticed. In May, Creative Technology, a device maker based in Singapore, introduced the Vado, a strikingly similar camcorder that cost $50 less than the Flip Ultra and has a slightly larger L.C.D. screen.

Sony, Aiptek and Audiovox’s RCA have all introduced camcorders for under $200 in the last few months, and Mr. Kaplan believes the other major electronics makers, such as Samsung and Sanyo, are not far behind. “They realized this is an interesting market,” he said.

To stay competitive, Pure Digital has ripped a page from Apple’s playbook. The Mino is to the Flip Ultra what the Nano was to the original iPod — smaller, stripped down, but sleeker.

Mr. Kaplan is also borrowing that studied insouciance from Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, and resisting other people’s suggestions for adding to Flip camcorders. Customers and its retail partners have all asked for more features, Mr. Kaplan said, such as optical zoom, longer battery life and an SD slot to add external memory. With the Mino, Pure Digital is ignoring them.

“It takes a huge amount of value for you to see us add anything to the Flip,” Mr. Kaplan said. “We resist ‘feature creep’ like no other company in the world today. When our products get more complicated, they get less easy to use and less fun.”

www.nytimes.com

Video: Google demos the HTC Dream at I/O conference

2008-06-03T20:37:00.000-07:00

from engadget

Word on the street is that Google just busted out a live demo of the oft-rumored HTC Dream doing its Android-flavored thing at the company's I/O conference in San Francisco. Reports tell us that the device is a roughly 3-inch by 5-inch touchscreen phone with a slider keyboard. Not a lot is known right now, though apparently the device packs an accelerometer which allows you to tilt the unit to scroll across Google Maps or Street View. A video is on the way, so stay tuned for more information (and images) as we get them.

Canonical makes Ubuntu Netbook Remix official at Computex

2008-06-03T20:28:00.001-07:00

from engadget

Not like we weren't totally expecting this or anything, but Canonical has chosen Computex as the expo where it will officially showcase Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Hailed as a "reworked desktop image of Ubuntu built specifically for a new category of portable internet-centric devices," the operating system will probably not be too foreign for those familiar with the standard Ubuntu Desktop Edition. We are told that this flavor will feature a launcher that enables users to "get online more quickly and have faster access to their favorite applications," and that it "leverages Moblin technologies optimized for the Intel Atom processor." Unfortunately, devices pre-loaded with UNR aren't apt to ship until "later in 2008," though OEMs interested in getting in while there is still room on the bandwagon are encouraged to hit up Canonical. Full release waiting after the jump.

Canonical Showcases Ubuntu® Netbook Remix at Computex
Canonical Now Delivers for OEMs a Rapid Route to Market For Netbooks Powered by an Intel® Atom™ Processor
Computex, Taiwan June 3, 2008: Canonical, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu®, today announced that it will be demonstrating a reworked desktop image of Ubuntu built specifically for a new category of portable Internet-centric devices – netbooks. These affordable, power-efficient, small screen devices, based on the ground breaking low-power micro-architecture of the Intel® Atom™ processor, and Ubuntu allow consumers to enjoy email, instant messaging, Internet surfing and on-line access to photos, videos or music with an affordable, reliable device.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix is built to provide a superb user experience leveraging Ubuntu's reputation for delivering operating systems that 'just work' in the desktop environment. The remix is based on the standard Ubuntu Desktop Edition but with a launcher that allows users to get on-line more quickly and have faster access to their favourite applications. Ubuntu Netbook Remix will enable device manufacturers to get to market rapidly with a compelling software solution on netbooks, as they have a standard user interface (UI) that is built on a widely used operating system underpinned by a globally recognised brand. Canonical is also working with ISVs to ensure that popular desktop applications are certified on Ubuntu, and will run on the Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

Canonical is already working with a number of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to deliver the software into the market on devices later in 2008. Demonstration versions will be available at Computex.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix leverages Moblin technologies optimized for the Intel Atom processor. Intel and Canonical are working to create a next generation computing experience across a new category of affordable Internet-centric, portable devices; including Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), netbooks, nettops and embedded devices based on Intel Atom processor technology. Canonical is a founding contributor to Moblin and will continue to work with Intel to ensure the best open source applications become available to users and OEMs through Moblin.

"Our goal is to deliver a superb user experience while making it simple and cost-effective for device manufacturers to be able to bring their devices to the consumer marketplace," explained Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu. "Ubuntu has in a very short period transformed the perception of the Linux desktop experience. Many more people will experience Linux for the first time through these devices so working with Canonical, using our UI and leveraging software from the Moblin project is the best way to ensure the netbook experience is a success."

"At Intel, we see netbooks as an opportunity to expand basic Internet usage throughout the world through simple and affordable devices for consumers," said Doug Fisher, vice president, Software and Solutions Group for Intel. "The combination of Ubuntu Netbook Remix with Moblin technologies optimized for the Intel Atom processor will deliver a good Internet and media experience on Intel-based netbooks."

Availability: OEMs looking to ship Ubuntu Netbook Remix should contact netbooks@canonical.com.

About Canonical Ltd
Canonical Ltd, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, is a global organisation headquartered in Europe, committed to the development, distribution and support of open source software products and communities. World-class 24x7 commercial support for Ubuntu is available through Canonical's global support team and partners. Since its launch in October 2004, Ubuntu has become one of the most highly regarded Linux distributions with millions of users around the world.

Ubuntu will always be free to download, free to use and free to distribute to others. With these goals in mind, Ubuntu aims to be the most widely used Linux system, and is the centre of a global open source software ecosystem. For more information visit www.canonical.com or www.ubuntu.com.

engadget.com

Mozilla hoopt op 'wereldrecord' met Firefox 3

2008-05-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

Browsermaker Mozilla heeft een bijzondere manier bedacht om in het Guinness Book of Records te komen: de komende release van Firefox 3 moet een recordaantal downloads opleveren.

Deze week begon de campagne van Mozilla om gebruikers op te roepen de volledige versie van Firefox 3 te downloaden op de eerste dag dat deze beschikbaar komt.
Feestjes organiseren

De exacte releasedatum is nog niet bekend, maar Mozilla verwacht de nieuwe browser medio juni. Een testversie is al wel beschikbaar.

Mozilla noemt de dag waarop Firefox 3 zal verschijnen 'Download Dag'. Firefox-fans moeten dan niet alleen de nieuwe browser downloaden maar ook feestjes organiseren om hun vrienden aan te moedigen hetzelfde te doen of speciale download-buttons op hun sites te zetten.

Momenteel is er nog geen wereldrecord voor softwaredownloads gevestigd. Na Download Dag wil Mozilla alle bewijzen overhandigen aan het Guinness Book of World Records.
Fans

Sinds de introductie van de eerste versie in november 2004 heeft Firefox een aanzienlijke schare enthousiaste fans, gedeeltelijk omdat de browser uitgroeide tot een serieuze concurrent van Microsofts Internet Explorer. Firefox heeft een eigen fanpagina op Facebook, waar bijna 80.000 adepten staan ingeschreven. Volgens Mozilla zijn er wereldwijd 175 miljoen gebruikers van Firefox, dat in meer dan 45 talen beschikbaar is.

:webwereld.nl

Microsoft's 'Cashback' only first of many Live Search incentive programs

2008-05-23T03:48:00.000-07:00

Microsoft plans to follow the Live Search Cashback service announced this week with a series of other new features designed to draw more traffic, to be rolled out every spring and fall.

"'Cashback' will be the major new release for this spring," a Microsoft spokesperson told BetaNews today, during a press event in New York City.

Microsoft Chaiman Bill Gates announced Cashback yesterday in Redmond, Washington, at the Advance 08 conference for online advertisers.

But at a multivendor press event today in Manhattan, focused mainly on providing press previews of products for the 2008 December holiday season, Microsoft showed journalists how Cashack rewards people who use Live Search for online shopping with cash refunds on part of the price of items purchased.

"These refunds are coming directly from Microsoft, not from the companies selling the products," pointed out the spokesperson.

As previously reported, Microsoft has consistently landed in third place behind industry leader Google and runner-up Yahoo in search engine rankings compiled by analyst firms such as Comscore.

In recent weeks, Microsoft officials have articulated the need to build up the company's online search and advertising capabilities as a top priority, regardless of whether Microsoft pins down some sort of a deal with Yahoo.

At the press event in New York City today, BetaNews asked the spokesperson why Microsoft has now decided to give cash refunds to online shoppers. Previously, the company offered prizes for those who played games on Live Search Club that indirectly led to more Web searches.

"As Bill Gates said yesterday, Microsoft wants to create customer loyalty for Live Search," we were told.

:www.betanews.com

Splunk and iSecure Announce Agreement to Deliver Managed Security Services in Thailand

2008-05-23T03:44:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO, May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Splunk, the IT Search company, and ACIS i-secure, a subsidiary of United Information Highway (UIH) of Thailand, announced today that ACIS i-secure will license Splunk to provide managed security services to their user base. New government policy in Thailand, the Computer Related Crime Act B.E. 2550, requires any company that deals with public data on the Internet to comply with specific regulations. To meet these requirements, ACIS i-secure has built a solution on Splunk, for delivery to their user base through their managed security services offerings. Splunk's universal indexing capabilities give iSecure's customers the ability to collect, index and secure all security data from any application, server or device, keeping it all within the boundaries of their own networks, making compliance easier and secure.

"Through our collaboration with Splunk we are able to help our customers meet their compliance requirements in an expeditious and cost effective way. Our joint solution helps our clients improve their operations and keep up with changing regulation and compliance mandates," said Pong Trakulthong, managing director, ACIS i-secure. "ACIS i-secure chose the Splunk IT Search platform because they make it easy to quickly build a custom solution that solves problems, has a better overall value proposition, and more deployment flexibility than the alternatives."

The Splunk IT Search platform is the industry's first integrated approach to keeping infrastructure available, secure and compliant. Splunk collects and manages logs, configurations, messages, traps, alerts and statistics from every IT component. That data is then available to any application for fast problem solving, threat response, compliance reporting or insight into user activity and transactions. The platform includes a common set of services and APIs making it easy for iSecure to integrate Splunk with their own managed security services offerings.

"Splunk is easily adaptable to serve a multitude of datacenter needs, provide many options for building applications, and a great deal of opportunity for service providers, resellers and OEM partners worldwide," said Pervaiz Choudhry, director, business development, Splunk, Inc. "We are very excited about our partnership with UIH and ACIS i-secure and expect our combined solutions and services to empower our clients with flexibility to meet security and compliance needs world wide."

About Splunk

Splunk is a Silicon Valley company inventing large-scale, high-speed indexing and search technology for IT infrastructures. The company's freely downloadable software indexes and makes it possible to search and navigate data from any application, server or network device in real time. Logs, configurations, messages, traps and alerts, scripts and metrics. If a machine can generate it -- Splunk can eat it. It's easy to download, install and use, and is very powerful. More than 600 enterprises, government organizations, and service providers and more than 175,000 users are achieving higher availability, investigating security incidents in record time, and meeting compliance requirements at lower costs with Splunk. Splunk's partner ecosystem is growing fast too. Over 50 OEM, System Integrator, Value Added Reseller and Managed Service Provider partners have fueled their offerings with IT Search. Partners like British Telecom, IronPort, Netcordia, Proofpoint, Radware, Trigeo, Uptime Software and Voltage Security are driving new business with innovative products powered by Splunk. Download your own free copy today at http://www.splunk.com

OpenXML geaccepteerd als ISO-standaard

2008-05-22T03:05:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's documentformaat Office OpenXML is met de hakken over de sloot toch aangenomen als ISO-standaard 29500.

In totaal hebben 24 van de 32 hoofdleden van ISO voor de standaard gestemd en daarmee is de drempel van 66,66% in aantal landen ruimschoots gehaald. Van de 71 observerende leden hebben uiteindelijk 10 tegen gestemd, waarbij een kwart, oftewel 17 stemmen nodig waren om de standaard af te wijzen, zo melden diverse bronnen aan Webwereld.

Ondanks de overwinning voor Microsoft zit er ook een pijnlijke kant aan de acceptatie. Tijdens de procedure is het niet gelukt grote landen als China, India, Brazilië, Canada, Zuid Afrika en Iran te overtuigen.

Niet onomstreden
De overwinning voor OpenXML is niet onomstreden. De voorzitter van de Noorse commissie heeft bezwaar aangetekend tegen de gang van zaken in zijn land, maar door de stemverhouding zou een gehonoreerde klacht de uitslag van de stemming niet veranderen.

Met de acceptatie lijkt een einde te komen aan een lange procedure bij het standaardisatie orgaan, waarbij de emoties van tijd tot tijd hoog opliepen. Volgens bronnen binnen Microsoft werd acceptatie van de standaard gefrustreerd door krachten die bezwaar hadden tegen het bedrijf en niet zozeer tegen de standaard zelf. Fans van het concurrerende Open Document Format wijzen er steevast op dat hun standaard afdoende is en meerdere standaarden verwarrend zijn.

Vanuit de industrie heeft veel kritiek geklonken op de gang van zaken, waarbij het plotseling verschijnen van Microsoft-partners bij een vergadering in Zweden om de stemming te beïnvloeden het failliet van ISO zouden aantoonden. Ook is er cynisch gereageerd op de laatste bijeenkomst in Genève, waar de laatste openstaande punten werden behandeld. Volgens critici zijn veel openstaande punten niet inhoudelijk besproken.

Toch blijken de genomen stappen voldoende te zijn geweest om de meeste landen te overtuigen en zal ISO morgen bekend maken dat de standaard is aangenomen. Zie voor de stemverhouding de PDF, die in handen is van Webwereld.

Microsoft voegt ODF-ondersteuning toe aan Office

2008-05-22T03:04:00.000-07:00

Microsoft zal binnen een jaar ondersteuning voor zowel ODF als PDF toevoegen aan zijn Office suite. Ondersteuning met aparte plug-ins is dan niet langer nodig.

In de eerste helft van 2009 zal het bedrijf Office Service Pack 2 uitbrengen, waarin de ondersteuning is meegenomen, meldt InfoWorld. Naast ondersteuning voor ODF v1.1, zal de service pack ook ondersteuning voor PDF/A en XPS (XML Paper Specification) toevoegen. Wanneer de service pack is geïnstalleerd binnen Office 2007, wordt het mogelijk om documenten vanuit het pakket op te slaan als ODF, PDF en XPS, iets dat voorheen alleen maar mogelijk was met een extra plug-in.

Kritiek
Office 2007 ondersteunt nog uitsluitend de eigen Open XML standaard van Microsoft. Vooral de standaardisatieprocedure bij de International Organization for Standardization (ISO) leverde flink wat commotie op, omdat het formaat concurreert met het open document format (ODF) dat wordt gesteund door onder meer IBM en Sun Microsystems.

Omdat ODF al in 2006 werd erkend als ISO-standaard, beschouwen Microsoft-critici OXML als overbodig. Desondanks werd OXML afgelopen april goedgekeurd.

Geen ondersteuning voor OOXML
Ironisch genoeg heeft Microsoft laten weten met de service pack geen ondersteuning toe te voegen voor de huidige ISO-standaard voor OOXML, maar dit pas te doen in de volgende versie van Office. Wanneer dit pakket zal worden uitgebracht is nog niet duidelijk, maar tot die tijd zal Office een oudere variant van het OOXML bestandsformaat ondersteunen.

Koerswijziging
Microsoft is druk bezig om zich te profileren als bedrijf dat volledig achter open bestandsformaten staat. De steun voor het alternatieve bestandsformaat, en weigering om ODF direct in Office te ondersteunen, werd daarom als tegenstrijdig gezien. De felle kritiek uit verschillende richtingen, in combinatie met de aanhoudende kritiek van de EU, lijken het bedrijf ertoe bewogen te hebben om de koers te wijzigen.

Interoperabiliteit
Zo heeft het Microsoft gisteren laten weten dat het zich aansluit bij de technische commissie van de Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), een organisatie die werkt aan de volgende versie van ODF. Daarnaast sluit het bedrijf zich aan bij de werkgroep ISO/IEC (International Electrotechnical Committee) om een bijdrage te leveren aan het onderhoud van ODF en het verbeteren van de interoperabiliteit tussen ODF en andere goedgekeurde bestandsformaten.

Flash 10 ondersteunt 3D-animaties

2008-05-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

Adobe heeft een betaversie van Flash 10 onthuld. De nieuwe versie moet de firma helpen om de voorsprong op Microsoft, Ajax en JavaFX vast te houden.

Een definitieve releasedatum voor de nieuwe Flash versie is nog niet bekend. Versie 10 is volgestopt met een aantal nieuwe functies waarmee Aodbe hoopt de huidige dominantie van de technologie pakket te kunnen behouden.

Flash is geïnstalleerd op 98 procent van de pc's, maar Adobe voel de hete adem van concurrenten als Microsoft's Silverlight, Ajax en Sun's JavaFX in de nek, meldt InformationWeek.
Lat een stuk hoger

Volgens David Wadhwani, general manager van de Platform Business Unit bij Adobe voegt de nieuwe versie van Flash dan ook veel toe: "Adobe heeft een lange geschiedenis waarin het met regelmaat technologieën heeft gecreëerd die de richting van de markt hebben bepaald. Wij geloven dat deze bètarelease van Adobe Flash Player 10 de lat opnieuw een stuk hoger legt", zegt Wadhwani tegen InformationWeek.
3D-animaties

Een van de belangrijke nieuwe mogelijkheden is het gebruik van driedimensionale animaties. Een andere nieuwe functie is een nieuwe reeks filter-effecten die gebruik maken van Adobe's Pixel Bender Toolkit, dat zich op dit moment nog in een testfase bevindt. Deze toolkit laat ontwikkelaars effecten aan Flash-media toevoegen.

Daarnaast heeft Adobe de prestaties van het programma verbeterd, door de grafische kaart te gebruiken voor het renderen van Flash graphics. Ook wordt er gebruik gemaakt van dynamic streaming, wat inhoudt dat de kwaliteit zich aanpast aan de beschikbare netwerksnelheid.
Toepasbaar in AIR

De tekst engine is voor Flash Player 10 volledig herschreven, om zo onder andere meer invloed uit te kunnen oefenen op lettertypes. Er is een verbeterde versie van de Drawing API toegevoegd, waarbij het niet langer nodig is om handmatig code in te voeren voor ingewikkelde vormen.

De betaversie van Flash Player 10 werkt op verschillende versies van Windows, Mac OSX en Linux. Volgens Adobe zullen alle functies van Flash Player 10 daarnaast ook beschikbaar zijn in toekomstige versies van het AIR platform.

Zwaar weer voor stedelijke Wi-Fi-netwerken

2008-05-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

Wi-Fi netwerken die hele steden moeten bedienen staan op instorten. De laatste draadloze provider geeft er de brui aan, en deze week ging Philadelphia op zwart.

Het Amerikaanse MetroFi kondigde vrijdag een liquidatie aan, waarbij al zijn netwerken zal verkopen of simpelweg zal afsluiten. De firma biedt nu nog graits, door advertenties bekostigde netwerken in een klein dozijn steden in Californië, Oregon en Illinois, waaronder San Jose, de tiende grootste stad van de VS en de officieuze hoofdstad van Silicon Valley.

Daarmee is MetroFi de laatste Amerikaanse Wi-Fi-provider die er de brui aan geeft. Eerder dit jaar gaf Kite, een provider uit het zuidwesten van de Verendigde Staten, de strijd al op. Earthlink had eerder al aangegeven dat het zou stoppen met de netwerken.
Philadelphia

Het naderend einde van MetroFi komt enkele dagen nadat de gemeenteraad van Philadelphia de stekker uit een look Wi-Fi-project trok. Directe aanleiding voor het stopzetten van de dienst in Philadelphia was het uitblijven van betalende klanten.

Internetprovider Earthlink heeft de rechter verzocht om het contract met de stad open te breken. In juridische stukken maakt de provider melding van 5.942 klanten, terwijl tijdens de aanbesteding nog werd gerekend op 100.000 potentiële abonnees.

Door het uitblijven van betalende klanten moet de provider per maand tot 200.000 dollar bijpassen. Volgende week had de firma volgens het contract 1 miljoen dollar moeten afdragen aan de gemeente. Earthlink daarom nu toestemming voor verwijdering van de 4.300 Wi-Fi zenders die het heeft geïnstalleerd.
Grote belofte

Stedelijke Wi-Fi netwerken werden ooit gezien als een grote zakelijke groeimarkt. Omdat zij relatief goedkoop zijn aan te leggen en te onderhouden, konden zij internet bieden in arme wijken en concurreren met DSL- en kabelproviders. Maar consumenten schuwden de betaalde diensten en bij gratis netwerken blijken de advertentie-inkomsten tegen te vallen.

Eerder zijn projecten in Boulder, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, St. Louis en Portland al gestrand. Bij al die projecten had de gemeente de bouw en exploitatie aan commerciële partijen zoals Earthlink of MetroFi overgelaten.
Subsidie

In andere steden overleven de netwerken alleen dankzij sponsors en subsidies. Zo betaalt Google voor een draadloos netwerk in Mountain View, de stad waar het hoofdkantoor van de zoekgigant staat. In diverse andere steden betaalt de gemeente een deel of alle kosten van het netwerk.

Daarnaast bepleiten experts dat er nog wel een markt is voor kleinschalige netwerken, die bijvoorbeeld beperkt zijn tot een bepaalde buurt of waarbij het netwerk wordt gebruikt om de veiligheid te vergroten.

Mozilla presenteert alpha-versie Thunderbird 3

2008-05-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

Mozilla Messaging heeft de eerste officiële alpha versie van de nieuwe Thunderbird uitgebracht. De emailapplicatie is gebaseerd op hetzelfde platform als Firefox 3.

Vorig jaar werd Mozilla Messaging opgericht om ervoor te kunnen zorgen dat de ontwikkeling van Thunderbird gehandhaafd zou blijven. Vlak na deze oprichting werden de plannen voor Thunderbird 3 bekendgemaakt. De derde versie van Thunderbird verschilt aanzienlijk van z'n voorgangers, omdat hij is gebaseerd op het Gecko 1.9-platform. Dit geeft het programma geavanceerder mogelijkheden, zoals Cairo-based rendering, verbeterde SVG-mogelijkheden, JavaScript 1.8 en ondersteuning voor Cocoa widgets onder Mac OS X.
Shredder, zoals de alpha 1-release wordt genoemd, biedt ook een aantal andere vernieuwingen zoals integratie van het Mac OS X adresboek, betere zoekfunctionaliteit en een nieuwe plug-in manager zoals die van Firefox 3, meldt Ars Technica.
Blootstellen van bugs

Volgens David Ascher, CEO van Mozilla Messaging is het doel van deze eerste alpharelease het blootstellen van bugs in de applicatie die zijn ontstaan door de integratie van Gecko 1.9. Hoewel dit platform zorgt voor een flinke verandering onder de motorkap van Thunderbird, zal het geheel er aan de buitenkant niet heel veel anders uitzien. De release heeft de naam Shredder gekregen om duidelijk te maken dat deze release niet per definitie representatief is voor het uiteindelijke eindproduct.
Nieuwe functionaliteiten

De alpha-release is beschikbaar voor Windows, Linux en Mac OS X. Wie wil helpen met het testen van het programma, kan daarvoor meer informatie vinden op de website van Mozilla Messaging.

Hoewel het nog niet echt mogelijk is om conclusies te trekken uit deze alpha-release, is deze wel al zeer goed ontvangen. Zo zouden de ontwikkelaars werken aan een groot aantal nieuwe mogelijkheden die de gebruikerservaring van Thunderbird 3 aanzienlijk moet verbeteren. Een aantal van deze verbeteringen zal al te zien zijn in de volgende pre-release. Wie niet zo lang kan wachten kan een kijkje nemen op de website van Mozilla Messaging interface designer Bryan Clark, die alvast vooruitloopt op verbeteringen van onder andere de zoekfunctionaliteit.

Rootkit 2.0

2007-10-25T23:59:00.000-07:00

ในงานสัมนาแฮกเกอร์ Joanna Rutkowska และ Alex Tereshkin ได้แสดงให้เห็นถึง Rootkit แบบเสมือนเป็นครั้งแรก โดยโครงการนี้มีชื่อว่า BluePill จะทำงานเหมือนกับเครื่องจักรเสมือน (VMWare) และจะแทรกตัวเข้าไปอยู่ระหว่างฮาร์ดแวร์และระบบปฏิบัติการ ทำให้สามารถรักษาการควบคุมได้ในทุกๆ สถานการณ์และยังป้องกันการทำงานของโปรแกรมป้องกันมัลแวร์ได้ด้วย นอกจากนั้นแฮกเกอร์ยังสามารถแทรก Rootkit เข้าไประหว่างการทำงานได้เช่นกัน ซึ่งผู้ที่ตกเป็นเหยื่อจะไม่มีโอกาศที่จะล่วงรู้ถึงการโจมตีได้เลย เนื่องด้วยโค้ดและชุดคำสั่งต่างๆ จะอยู่ในเว็บอย่างอิสระ ด้วยเหตุผลนี้จึงมีคำถามเหลือเพียงแค่ช่วงเวลาเท่านั้น ว่าจะมีสปายแวร์ต้วแรกที่ใช้เทคนิคนี้ออกมาเมื่อใด

เงียบสนิท Rootkit จะเข้ามาขโมยเครื่องจากเว็บ

อย่างไรก็ตามก็มีความเป็นไปได้ที่ Rootkit 2.0 นี้จะเป็นไปได้ด้วยการใช้ CPU รุ่นใหม่ในปัจจุบันที่มีเทคโนโลยี่ Virtualization ที่มีชื่อว่า Pacifica (AMD) หรือ Vanderpool (Intel) ซึ่งเป็นส่วนที่ใช้ในการสร้างและจัดการดูแลระบบเสมือน แต่ก็ไม่มีหลักประกันอะไรเนื่องจาก BluePill สามารถที่จะปรับให้เข้ากับเทคนิค Virtualization ได้อย่างง่ายดาย ดังนั้นสิ่งที่ต้องบอกต่อไปยัง Intel และ AMD คือให้ประกอบกลไกการป้องกันสำหรับคำสั่งเสมือนเข้าไปด้วย ซึ่งในที่นี้อาจจะเป็นรหัสผ่านที่เมื่อไม่ใช้รหัสผ่านก็ไม่สามารถที่จะปฏิบัติตามคำสั่งเหล่านี้ได้เป็นต้น

เนื่องจากแผนงานของทั้ง Intel และ AMD ยังไม่มีระบบกลไกป้องกันอยู่ ดังนั้นผู้เชี่ยวชาญจึงได้ทำงานเกี่ยวกับโปรแกรมป้องกัน ในงาน BlackHut ผู้เชี่ยวชาญด้านความปลอดภัยได้แนะนำเทคนิคที่จะเปิดโปง Rootkit แบบเสมือนได้ แต่สิ่งที่ตรวจพบได้ก็จะเป็นเพียงสัญญาณที่ระบบแสดงออกมา ซึ่งหากเกิดจากความไม่ตั้งใจอันเนื่องมาจากเครื่องเซิร์ฟเวอร์มีหลายระบบเชื่อมต่ออยู่ที่จะใช้อะไรไม่ได้เลย และนั่นก็ทำให้ผู้ใช้ยังคงหนีจาก Rootkit ไปไม่พ้นอยู่ดี

Credit : CHIP

เมื่อ Database ถูก Hack 1

2007-06-05T04:21:00.000-07:00

ผมเคยเขียนโปรแกรมที่เก็บข้อมูลมาหลายครั้ง ทุกครั้งที่ต้องเก็บข้อมูลในฐานข้อมูล ผมจะดูว่า จะเลือกว่าจะเขียนด้วยภาษาอะไร และเก็บฐานข้อมูลด้วยโปรแกรมจัดการฐานข้อมูลตัวไหน เช่นล่าสุดผมเขียนโปรแกรมด้วยวิชวลเบสิก และเลือกใช้ฐานข้อมูลของ Microsoft SQL Server หรือ ถ้าสมัยก่อนก็เขียนโปรแกรมด้วยฟอกซ์โปร ซึ่งต้องใช้ฐานข้อมูลของฟอกซ์โปร

เมื่อผมลองเขียนโปรแกรมภาษา PHP ซึ่งอนุญาตให้เลือกโปรแกรมจัดการฐานข้อมูลได้หลายแบบ แรกๆ ผมก็เลือกใช้ MySql ซึ่งเป็นโปรแกรมจัดการฐานข้อมูลที่มีให้เกือบทุก Server และ โปรแกรมเมอร์ทุกคนที่เขียน PHP มักจะเลือกเป็นอันดับแรกๆ แล้ววันหนึ่งก็เกิดปัญหาขึ้นมาจนได้ เมื่อ Server ที่ผมเลือกฝากข้อมูล ไม่มีบริการ MySql หรือ มี MySql แต่ลูกค้าเลือก Server ในเงื่อนไขราคาถูก ปัญหาใหญ่จึงเกิดขึ้นแก่ผม ผมจึงตัดสินใจเขียนโปรแกรมจัดการฐานข้อมูลขึ้นมาเอง

อันดับแรกเลย ผมต้องตัดสินใจให้ได้ก่อนว่าจะเก็บข้อมูลในรูปแบบไหน จะเรียกใช้ด้วยคำสั่งอะไร หลังจากคิดดูหลายตลบ จึงตัดสินใจว่า ทำไมไม่เขียนให้เรียกใช้ด้วยคำสั่ง SQL ซะเลย ผมจะได้ไม่ต้องคิดออกแบบคำสั่งในการเรียกใช้ให้วุ่นวาย เนื่องจากมีรูปแบบคำสั่งเป็นมาตรฐานอยู่แล้ว และผมก็ไม่ต้องอธิบายวิธีการใช้ให้มากความ เพราะคนที่เขียนโปรแกรม PHP น่าจะรู้จักคำสั่ง SQL พื้นฐานอยู่แล้ว หรือไม่ก็สามารถศึกษาคำสั่ง SQL ได้จากแหล่งอื่นๆ

ถ้าอย่างนั้นก็เหลืออีกอย่างคือ จะเก็บข้อมูลในลักษณะไหนดี เก็บแบบ Text สิ เริ่มเขียนครั้งแรกน่าจะใช้แบบนี้ เพราะเวลาดูจะง่ายดี
หลังจากตัดสินใจได้ ผมก็เริ่มเขียนเลย

อันดับแรก

ผมเลือกเขียนในลักษณะของ Object เนื่องจาก Object มีคุณสมบัติในการเก็บรักษาข้อมูลที่เป็นส่วนตัว ซึ่งทำให้สามารถเปิดฐานข้อมูลได้ไม่จำกัด เพราะเราสามารถสร้างวัตถุขึ้นมาใหม่ได้ตลอดเวลา และวัตถุแต่ละชิ้นจะมีคุณสมบัติต่างๆ เป็นของตนเอง
วิธีสร้าง class
class Db {
var $sqlCmd="";
function Db($cmd="" , $para1="" , $para2=””) {
if (isSqlCommand($cmd,$sqlCmd)) {
$this->sqlCmd=$cmd;
if (method_exists($this,$sqlCmd)) $this->$sqlCmd($cmd,$para1,$para2);
}
}
}//--- End Of Class Db

ผมกำหนดวิธีการสร้าง class ให้ Class Constructor รับ Parameter มา 3 ค่า โดย $cmd เป็นคำสั่ง SQL ที่ต้องการให้จัดการกับตารางข้อมูล ซึ่งทำให้สามารถสร้าง Object ใหม่พร้อมกับทำงานคำสั่ง SQL ได้ทันที เช่น $guestbookDb = new Db(“SELECT * FROM /guestbook/guestbook.db”) จะเป็นการเปิดตารางข้อมูลชื่อ /guestbook/guestbook.db และดึงข้อมูลทุกรายการและทุกฟิลด์จากตาราง น่าจะสะดวกดี ตัวแปรอีกสองตัวมีไว้สำหรับส่งข้อมูลเพิ่มเติมให้กับคำสั่ง

อันดับที่ 2

ต้องมีคำสั่งสร้างตารางข้อมูลก่อน ซึ่งก็คือคำสั่ง CREATE TABLE
รูปแบบมาตรฐานคือ
CREATE TABLE tableName ( field type [ (size [,decimal] ) ] [index] [ , field type [ (size [,decimal] ) ] [index] [,...] ] )
เอาเป็นว่ารุ่นที่ 1 ยังไม่ต้องมี Index ก่อนก็แล้วกัน แค่ให้สามารถสร้างหัวตารางได้ก็พอ คำสั่งที่ได้จึงมีแค่
CREATE TABLE tableName ( field type [ (size [,decimal] ) ] [ , field type [ (size [,decimal] ) ] [,...] ] )

Method ในการสร้างตารางเป็นอย่างนี้
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function Create($sqlCmd="",$propStr="") {
/*
Method for create new table
CREATE คำสั่งสำหรับสร้างฐานข้อมูลใหม่
version 1.00
สร้างเมื่อวันที่ 1 เมษายน 2545
Sql Command
CREATE TABLE tableName ( field type [ (size [,decimal] ) ] [index] [ , field type [ (size [,decimal] ) ] [index] [,...] ] )
field คือชื่อฟิลด์
type คือชนิดของข้อมูลของฟิลด์ มี ชนิดคือ
- auto [ (size) ] เป็นตัวเลขที่เพิ่มขึ้นอัตโนมัติ ครั้งละ 1 ถ้าระบุ size จะเติม 0 ข้างหน้า(ยังใช้งานไม่ได้)
- char [ (size) ] เป็นตัวอักษรที่มีขนาดจำนวน size ตัวอักษร ถ้าไม่ระบุ size จะไม่จำกัดจำนวน
- date เป็นชนิดวันที่ รูปแบบในการเก็บข้อมูลคือ ปปปปดดวว
- int [ (size) ] เป็นตัวเลขจำนวนเต็มที่มีขนาด size ถ้าไม่ระบุ size จะเป็นจำนวนเต็มไม่จำกัดหลัก
- double [ (size [ ,decimal) ] ] เป็นตัวเลขทศนิยมที่มีขนาด size และจำนวนทศนิยม decimal หลัก
ตัวอย่าง CREATE TABKE guestbook.db ( id auto(6) , postDate date , postTime char(8) , name char , message char )
รูปแบบ db header คือ field1 type=type of field;size=size of field,decimal=number of decimal;

property
debug = yes/no yes=พิมพ์ค่าแสดงผลลัพท์การทำงาน
*/

$fieldTypeList=array("auto","date","char","int","double");
$propList=db_propertyExplode($propStr,"overwrite=no");
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") {
echo "<div style=\"border:2px white ridge;padding:5px;width:100%;text-align:center;\"/>";
echo "<div style=\"border:2px white groove;background-color:#FF8040;padding:2px;font-weight:bold;font-size:12pt;color:#FFF1EA\"/>Debug of CREATE SQL command</div/>";
}
$this-/>sqlCmd=trim($sqlCmd);
$sqlClause=explodeSqlCmd($this-/>sqlCmd);
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") db_arrayPrint($sqlClause,"header=sql command<br/>$this-/>sqlCmd");
if (!isSet($sqlClause["create"])) {
$this-/>error(1010,"<b/>$this-/>sqlCmd</b/> is not a create sql command");
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "</div/>";
return;
}
if (!isSet($sqlClause["table"])) {
$this-/>error(1011,"Create table not specify");
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "</div/>";
return;
}
if (!ereg("^[a-zA-Z0-9./:]*[ ]",$sqlClause["table"]." ",$eregResult)) {
$this-/>error(1012,"Table name is not a valid name");
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "</div/>";
return;
}
$tableName=trim($eregResult[0]);
$sqlClause["field"]=trim(subStr($sqlClause["table"],strLen($tableName)));
$sqlClause["table"]=$tableName;
$this-/>dbName($sqlClause["table"]);
if ($this-/>haveFile($this-/>dbFullName())) {
$this-/>error(1013,"Table {$sqlClause["table"]} was exists");
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "</div/>";
return;
}
$fieldStr=$sqlClause["field"];
$field=array();
if ( subStr($fieldStr,0,1) != "(" or subStr($fieldStr,-1) != ")" ) {
$this-/>error(1013,"Field specification incorrect. Must have ( at begin and ) at the end.");
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "</div/>";
return;
}
$fieldStr=subStr($fieldStr,1);
$fieldStr=trim(subStr($fieldStr,0,-1));
if (empty($fieldStr)) {
$this-/>error(1014,"Field specification empty");
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "</div/>";
return;
}
while (!empty($fieldStr)) {
$char=subStr($fieldStr,0,1);
$fieldStr=subStr($fieldStr,1);
if ($char==="(") $openChar=true;
elseif ($char===")") $openChar=false;
if ( $char==="," and !$openChar ) {
if (!empty($fieldSet)) $field[]=$fieldSet;
$fieldSet="";
} else $fieldSet.=$char;
}
if (!empty($fieldSet)) $field[]=$fieldSet;
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") db_arrayPrint($field,"name=field;header=Field Listing<br/>field : {$sqlClause["field"]};");
$dbStructure="";
foreach ($field as $fieldSpec) {
$fieldSpec=trim($fieldSpec);
if (!ereg("^[a-zA-Z0-9]*[ ]",$fieldSpec,$eregResult)) {
$this-/>error(1014,"Field name <b/>$fieldSpec</b/> not correct");
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "</div/>";
return;
}
$fieldName=trim($eregResult[0]);
$fieldSpec=trim(subStr($fieldSpec,strLen($fieldName)));
list($fieldType,$fieldTypeExtension)=explode("(",$fieldSpec);
$fieldType=trim($fieldType);
if (!in_array($fieldType,$fieldTypeList)) {
$this-/>error(1015,"Field type of <b/>$fieldName $fieldSpec</b/> incorrect");
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "</div/>";
return;
}
if (subStr($fieldTypeExtension,-1)===")") $fieldTypeExtension=subStr($fieldTypeExtension,0,-1);
list($fieldSize,$fieldDecimal)=explode(",",$fieldTypeExtension);
$fieldSize=trim($fieldSize);
if (!ereg("^[0-9]*$",$fieldSize,$r)) {
$this-/>error(1016,"Field size of <b/>$fieldName $fieldSpec</b/> not integer");
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "</div/>";
return;
}
if (!ereg("^[0-9]*$",$fieldDecimal,$r)) {
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "</div/>";
$this-/>error(1017,"Field decimal of <b/>$fieldName $fieldSpec</b/> not integer");
return;
}
if ( in_array($fieldType,array("auto","char","int")) and !empty($fieldDecimal) ) {
$this-/>error(1018,"No field decimal on type <b/>$fieldType</b/> field <b/>$fieldName $fieldSpec</b/>");
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "</div/>";
return;
}
$dbStructure .= $fieldName." ";
$dbStructure .= "type=$fieldType;";
$dbStructure .= (empty($fieldSize) ? "" : "size=$fieldSize;");
$dbStructure .= (empty($fieldDecimal) ? "" : "decimal=$fieldDecimal;");
if (subStr($dbStructure,-1)===";") $dbStructure=subStr($dbStructure,0,-1);
$dbStructure .= _dbSeparator;
}
$dbStructure=subStr($dbStructure,0,-1);
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "<div style=\"border:2px white groove;padding:2px;text-align:left;\"/><b/>db Structure Generate is</b/><br/><font color=red/>$dbStructure</font/></div/>";

$fp=fopen($this-/>dbFullName(),"w");
if ($fp) {
fputs($fp,$dbStructure._dbNewLine);
fclose($fp);
}
if ($propList["debug"]==="yes") echo "</div/>";
$this-/>Select("SELECT * FROM $this-/>dbName");
return true;
}

มีคำสั่งที่ผมต้องสร้างขึ้นมาใหม่ 2-3 คำสั่ง เนื่องจากยังต้องใช้อีกหลายแห่ง คือ
1. db_propertyExplode ซึ่งทำงานคล้ายคำสั่ง Explode ของ PHP
2. db_arrayPrint ไว้สำหรับพิมพ์แสดงค่าตัวแปรชนิด Array
2. explodeSqlCmd ไว้สำหรับถอดคำสั่ง SQL ให้ออกมาเป็นส่วนๆ เพื่อจะได้หาองค์ประกอบของคำสั่งต่อไป
งานส่วนใหญ่ของ Method คือการถอดคำสั่ง SQL ออกมาเป็นส่วนๆ เพื่อหาชื่อฟิลด์ และคุณสมบัติของแต่ละฟิลด์ แล้วสร้างแฟ้มที่ประกอบด้วยส่วนหัวของตาราง ด้วยคำสั่ง
$fp=fopen($this->dbFullName(),"w");
if ($fp) {
fputs($fp,$dbStructure._dbNewLine);
fclose($fp);
}

แค่นี้ก่อน โปรดติดตามอ่านตอนต่อไปนะครับ......