Technology

Skype WiFi for iOS lets you buy internet access by the minute

2011-08-19T00:21:00.000-07:00

Skype has launched a new app for iPad and iPhone that lets you tap into commercial Wi-Fi hotspots without having to pay full daily or hourly fees. Instead, the app drains your Skype credit account by the minute, which is ideal if you just need to make a quick VoIP call. Rates are in the neighbourhood of $0.06/minute, with access available at over 1 million hotspots worldwide hosted by Boingo, Fon, Vex, Tomizone, and plenty of others.

Skype’s core business is video and voice chat over data connections, and over the last little while they’ve been shifting from desktop to mobile. Although Skype often undercuts the prices of wireless service providers, many carriers like Telus and Verizon have taken to supporting the service in their phones with stuff like direct billing of Skype credit to your monthly bill. Data bandwidth and hardware limitations make mobile video calling a bit impractical for now, but for voice calls, Skype’s proven to be a great alternative for folks wanting to save on long-distance calls.

Skype WiFi is a logical extension of their old laptop app called Access, which did basically the same thing. I could definitely see myself using this app when traveling, since roaming fees in Canada are particularly harsh. Most of the time I just want to check in to Foursquare so the folks back home know that I’ve landed safe and sound, but on a BlackBerry, the second you turn on data the e-mails come flooding in – maybe this will be a more viable alternative.

Here’s an App Store link, and we’ll definitely keep our eye open for an Android version.

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Younicorn: turn anyone into a unicorn with your iPhone

2009-12-20T04:28:00.000-08:00

by Jay Hathaway

Of all the novelty photo apps we've seen on the iPhone, Younicorn might be the weirdest. It turns anyone into a glowing, psychedelic unicorn, and it's based on the simple philosophy that everyone looks better with a long, pointy horn growing out of their head. Younicorn is to photos what Cornify is to websites, but better.

There are several backgrounds to choose from, including sparkles, rainbows, and an array of space-themed scenes. You can place anyone - even your dog, which I find totally hilarious - into one of these backdrops, and position a glowing horn on their forehead. All this magic can be yours ~~if you have enough rubies~~ for 99 cents in the app store!

For extra Younicorn fun, check out a video of the Younicorn team enacting a real-life version of their app, after the jump.

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Iranian hacker attack: What will it cost Twitter?

2009-12-20T04:25:00.000-08:00

Hacker attacks cost public companies $1.6 million in lost share value. For Twitter, it's the firm's reputation that's at risk.

After a hacker attack in August, college student Joy Troy checked a Twitter page at the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles. A new attack by hackers Dec. 17 redirected users to a page from a previously unknown group called the Iranian Cyber Army.

By Laurent Belsie Staff writer

Thursday night's cyber attack against the Twitter microblogging service was no routine assault to bring down a website. It was a sophisticated online blitz –perhaps part of an online Iranian cybercampaign – that could prove costly for social media networks.

Why It Matters

As cyberspace becomes militarized, cyberattacks against social-media websites are expected to escalate. Find more of our stories on Twitter.

Unfortunately, such attacks are expected to escalate around the globe.

"There is an arms race in cyberspace occurring today," writes Ron Deibert, a cyberwarfare researcher at the University of Toronto, in an e-mail. "The United States, Russia, and China all have adopted operational doctrines in cyberspace that include computer network attacks such as these. In such a climate of intense militarization, I believe attacks such as these are going to become more common. Services and platforms like Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook will be regularly targeted for filtering, denial of service attack, defacement, and targeted espionage – as they have already with increasing frequency from China to Iran to Russia and Pakistan."

Most computer attacks are relatively straightforward denial-of-service attacks, where computers overwhelm a website with data to bring it down. Thursday night's attack against Twitter was more serious because the hackers gained access to part of Twitter's network and were able to redirect users to a page with a photo of a flag with Farsi script. Near the top of the page ran a bold red headline in English: "This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army."

Hackers for several days have attacked the websites of opponents of Iran's regime and posted the same image. The opponents have used social-media sites like Twitter to organize street protests this year. (For a look at the breadth of those cyberattacks, click here.)

But hacking a site as large as Twitter is an embarrassing setback for the fast-growing social-media network.

"Attacks are very damaging to a social-network company like Twitter because they cripple its main function, the exchange of messages among members, its reputation, and its future profitability," writes Nicholas Economides, an economics professor at New York University's business school. And "the ability of hackers to get inside the company's computers is alarming and it raises privacy concerns for its members."

If Twitter were a large public company, news of a security breach would bring down its market value by an average 2.1 percent – or about $1.65 billion within two days, calculates Huseyin Cavusoglu, an information-systems professor at the University of Texas at Dallas. Since Twitter isn't yet public, the main risk is damage to its reputation.

"Attacks like this can definitely raise concerns about the security of Twitter, which in turn, can reduce the prospects for a successful IPO," Professor Cavusoglu writes in an e-mail. "This is more of a concern for Twitter because it suffered from similar service outages and interruptions in the past."

It's not clear that the attack was officially launched by Iran's government. Professor Deibert notes "a disturbing pattern of 'privateering' occurring in cyber conflicts today, whereby authorities contract out or otherwise encourage acts of 'patriotic' hacking. There is a potential in such encouragement for escalation to occur – a kind of cyclone in cyberspace – whereby bystanders and outsiders are drawn into the conflict and take it in unexpected directions."

For Web-based networks based on trust and friending, this is a chill wind in cyberspace.

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Where in the world are Apple's 78 million handsets?

2009-12-20T04:22:00.000-08:00

Posted by Philip Elmer-DeWitt

Mostly in the U.S., but Japan, France, Australia and China are coming on fast, says AdMob

Click to enlarge. Source: AdMob

By the end of December, according to Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, Apple's (AAPL) will have sold 78 million iPhones and iPod touches worldwide.

So where, exactly, are those devices?

A report issued Friday by AdMob, the world's leading supplier of mobile ads, tries to map the location of Apple's handsets country by country based on the number of users who requested at least one of its ads in November — a number that increased 150% in 2009.

Among the highlights of its findings:

In November, 50% of unique Apple visitors were located in the United States. The next four biggest markets were the U.K., France, Canada and Germany.
In total, 23 countries had more than 100,000 unique Apple visitors.
50% of unique Apple users were located outside of the US, up from 39% in January 2009.
The iPhone accounted for 71% and the iPod touch 29% of the total unique Apple users in November. In raw numbers: 18.0 million iPhones; 7.3 million iPod touches; 25.2 million total.
The fastest growing countries between January 2009 and November 2009 were Japan, France, Australia and China. See the bar graph below.

Source: AdMob

AdMob describes itself as the world's largest mobile advertising platform, serving banner and text link ads on 15,000 mobile Web sites and iPhone and Android applications. Its reports are based on handset and operator data on nearly 138 billion impressions. They do not, however, measure mobile markets in the traditional sense of number of handsets sold. And they have a bias toward devices like the iPhone and Droid that visit ad-supported websites and also run ad-supported apps.

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10 Worst Tech Product Releases

2009-09-17T00:14:00.000-07:00

Have you ever witnessed first hand a product flop so severe that you have to wonder – “what the heck were they thinking?” Chances are you have seen at least one that makes you wonder about the intended market. And you’ve seen the product go down in a flaming meltdown that makes the Hindenburg seem like a practical transportation idea.

While we hate to point fingers and laugh at someone else’s misfortune… here are 10 of the worst product releases (or at least our favorites). As a warning to others – be more sensible than trendsetting, else you may end up as an example.

1. Vista – How could they get this one wrong?

Vista was the heir apparent to the XP kingdom. When you are the largest Operating System provider in the world, with hardware basically designed for your wares, how could you do wrong in the latest and greatest? You just had to keep doing what you were doing, and make it nicer. Seemingly simple, right?

Well, Vista proved to be none of that. Instead it was marketed as a revolution in computing. Now, why would Microsoft need a revolution? Everything was working great up to that point, and the market was already theirs. Instead, the battle was almost lost, and driver problems along with hardware incompatibilities left way too many users out in the cold.

By the time the dust settled Microsoft was peddling upstream in yet another confusing ad series featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates himself. At least I think it was a commercial – I really couldn’t tell if it had any real point. I would have written someone to ask what was going on, but my printer was not compatible with Vista.

After it was all over Microsoft basically had two things to say – It wasn’t as bad as Windows ME, and Windows 7 will be out soon. But at least Microsoft had done something that Apple had not been able to – they sold a lot of Mac computers to hardcore Windows users as frustrated people abandoned the platform.

2. Virtual Boy – 30 minutes of fun at a time.

Nintendo was the king of portable gaming at the time when it launched its latest darling, Virtual Boy. Obviously aimed at the Gameboy market, the device was to deliver exciting 3d virtual games for the masses. How could you miss this market, especially since the man behind it was legendary developer Gunpei Yokoi (he had a hand in Donkey Kong and Mario Bros, as well as the Gameboy itself).

By the time the expensive (for a Gameboy market) Virtual Boy hit the market, it had a meager lineup of games for it. While this in itself may have been corrected in time, users complained of headaches from using the device. Nintendo released a warning to consumers that they should take 15 minute breaks after using the device for 30 minutes. This raised an alarm to the parents of potential younger buyers, and it proved to be enough fodder to avoid the expensive purchase.

The outcome? Virtual Boy was a flop. And after 30 years with Nintendo, Gunpei Yokoi was forced out of the company only to die in an automobile accident a year later.

3. Gizmondo – the portable gaming unit that was ahead of its time

Sometimes a product comes along that seems to be a herald of the future. Tiger Telematics seemed to have hit a winner when you read the spec sheet of the new gaming wonder – including a 128-bit processor, digital camera, music AND movie player, and even a built-in GPS. How could you miss?

The product suffered from being too much with too little. The battery life was simply too short to make it worthwhile and the screen was small for its overall size. On top of that, the marketing was askew, with two versions being sold, without ads or with. That is, if you took the lower price unit you would get small ad spots on the screen downloaded via the unit’s GPRS radio. The ad system, named Smart Adds, failed to materialize, and it served to confuse the market even more.

Tiger Telematics also blew the launch with an announcement of a forthcoming wide screen model, so buyers that were interested held off for the larger screen version (which never made its way to production).

When the smoke cleared, the device failed to get a foothold, and Tiger Telematics went bankrupt. However, in 2008 the Gizmondo 2 was announced from the newly reformed company, and a launch date of May 2008 was announced. As of this writing (September 2009), there is no new solid information on the device and it has not been released.

4. Motorola ROKR E1 – Apple Testing the iPhone Waters?

Before Apple had the iPhone, it had a little experience with cell phones. That is, Motorola released the ROKR E1 that was fully supported by iTunes, including downloading music directly. Given that iTunes was the largest computer distributor of music, and there was no other compatible phone at the time, it should have been a perfect fit. But the marriage didn’t work out, and the ROKR fell to the wayside.

What was wrong? Well, the ROKR simply did not have the PDA pedigree to keep the relationship strong. The phone could only hold a paltry 100 songs, forcing the power iTunes user to have to do some serious debating about which tunes to take with them. Downloading to the phone was such a slow process that they had plenty of times to reconsider their choices (as well as to run a few errands), which did not help. On top of that, when the phone played music it was so sluggish with other operations that it was a pain to use.

The ROKR E1 was soon abandoned, but it may have been a catalyst in Apple eventually producing the iPhone. Lessons learned taken to heart?

5. Nokia N-Gage – A case of mistaken identity

If anything, recent history has shown us that cell phones and gaming are a strong combination. People like to carry one device that can do many things, and the rise in pocket(able) horsepower makes this a reality. So when a giant of cell phones such as Nokia releases a combination early on, it should get attention.

Well, it did get attention – perhaps of the worse kind. The phone offered the gamer a way to talk on their Gameboy replacement, but the taco shape proved to be very unfriendly to anything but game playing. To hamper the gaming, the buttons were designed for a cell phone. The device did not excel at either gaming or talking.

Add to that a very weak game library, and the N-Gage device soon went the way of the Betamax. The N-Gage name itself did not, and it evolved into a gaming download service for many cell phones starting in 2008.

6. Apple Hockey Puck Mouse – Even Less Mighty than the Mighty Mouse

Apple is no exception when it comes to releasing turkeys, and they have yet to deliver a quality mouse product in my opinion. However, the Mighty Mouse’s shortcomings look rather nice when compared to the Hockey Puck disaster.

The original iMac mouse, round in shape that all too well resembled a hockey puck, fit the hand about like, well, a hockey puck – not well at all. Any attempt to actually get comfortable with an awkward hand position was cut short by a cord that was way too short.

To sum it up, it looked nice, but it did not work well with actual human hands.

7. QuickTake – Early Digital Camera That Did Not Deliver

While we are talking about Apple products, let’s mention one that missed its mark for the simple reason that the mark had not been defined yet – The Apple QuickTake.

Apple’s strategy, at least with their latest products, seems to be simple enough – let the market get established, and then release a more refined, easier to use product. This is the case in the iPod and the iPhone. When Apple tries to establish the market (Newton), it fails. And so it was with Digital Photography.

The Apple QuickTake, actually manufactured by Kodak, featured an under-whelming 0.3 megapixel image. But even with this small pixel count, the unit could only hold 8 of these pictures in its memory. It was hardly a replacement for any kind of real camera, unless you planned on taking very few pictures on your vacation. But given the picture quality produced with the 640×480 resolution, we could not blame the end user for keeping it to a few pictures.

Fixed focus and a complete lack of zoom helped to bury the camera in the eyes of consumers, and not even an enhanced 200 model built by FujiFilm could salvage the product. When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 he wasted no time in pulling the QuickTake from the Apple shelves.

8. CueCat – Forced upon the Masses

Back before typing in WWW was commonplace, someone came up with the ideal of linking the printed magazine to a website with a piece of hardware. Enter the CueCat.

The ideal was that the reader would buy the magazine, read an article, and then take the article to the computer, swipe the CueCat wand on a special slanting barcode within the article in question, and it would read the special barcode and take them to a website about said article.

Obviously the ideal of simply typing in a printed URL was considered to be beyond the magazine reader. (I wonder what they would think about the reader doing a little quick Google research on the topic at hand?)

CueCat mailed literally hundreds of thousands of these devices to subscribers of popular magazines, free of charge and branded by the magazine. In fact, about half a million were sent to Wired subscribers alone.

Now, let me ask you this – if the user is savvy enough to hook up the device and install it on their computer, don’t you think that they would be more than capable of typing in a URL if they wanted more information? Apparently that was the case, and today, if you dig deep enough in any major landfill, you will probably unearth a few hardly used CueCats.

9. The Original DIVX Disc – A very Non-Green Solution to Digital Distribution

The now-defunct Circuit City thought they had a winner with the Digital Video Express. The ideal was simple – you rented a DIVX disc for $4 (which resembled a DVD), and you could watch it for 48 hours. After the 48 hours the disc was rendered inoperable, and instead of returning the disc you could simply chuck it in the nearest landfill where it would linger for any number of years.

But it wasn’t the disposal of the disc that caused its demise – rather it was the product itself. To use the disc you needed a special DIVX player that connected to the mother ship via a telephone line.

The title selection was also rather limited, and the quality was not great. Many titles were available in only pan-and-scan, and special features were often limited to a single trailer. Paying more for less did not gel with the consumer base, and soon the experiment became a 114 million dollar write off for the (then) electronics giant.

10. Cuil. The search engine that was not to be.

Okay, technically Cuil is not a “product”, but was so bad it deserves to be here.

The PR on this one was strong. Even such big blogs of the time as Huffington Post was speaking its praises. So what went wrong – outside of perhaps a name that was rather irksome?

Well, it takes more than buzz to have a good product. You actually need a good product to provide some form of service. On its launch day Cuil was down throughout the day. Many excited users would see only a sign about overloaded capacity. So, maybe the PR was a little too good? Or maybe the PR and the tech guys lived on different planets, and the tech guys were completely out of touch with the demands? Little word of advice here – if you plan on taking on Google, have the capacity to handle even a small percentage of their user base.

Not to mention Cuil also had erroneous search results – not the thing you want from your search engine. And the name had issues all around it. People were not sure how to spell the “cool” sound-alike and if you accidently typed in culi.com you landed on an Italian porn site.

So there you have it – ten product releases that didn’t measure up.

There are many products that we enjoy in our everyday life. But for each one that is successful, you can find many others that fail. Whether it is a fickle public or lack of research on the part of the producer, one thing is certain – there will be new products all the time, and many of these products will not survive the test of time. And some will be doomed from the start.

What do you think is one of the worst tech product releases ever? Do you have one that’s not on our list? Please share it with us.

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Opera Mini 5 Beta Brings Tabs, Speed Dial, Better Performance

2009-09-17T00:08:00.000-07:00

by Stan Schroeder

Opera Mini, the Java-based mobile browser from Opera () (which means it can run on any phone, regardless of platform, that runs Java ME), has a new version out: Opera Mini 5 Beta.

It brings a number of improvements compared to the previous major version, Opera Mini 4.2; if your phone is not an iPhone (which uses the fantastic Safari () for web browsing), you should try the new version out, as it blows away most built-in mobile browsers.

The most important new feature is tabbed browsing; I’ve tried it out on my Sony Ericsson P1i, and it looks really slick, taking cue from the way it’s done on the iPhone. Fans of Opera’s Speed Dial feature (which lets you quickly open your favorite websites from a grid of thumbnails) will be happy to see that it was included as well. I’ve never used that feature before, but I have to admit that on a phone like the P1i, being able to quickly access 9 sites that you often use is great.

Other important new features include password management, and better optimization for touchscreen phones, meaning that at the bottom of the screen you now have larger icons for important commands: back, forward, refresh, tab management and settings. There’s also a very functional virtual keyboard for entering text, something that was sorely missing in the previous version.

What everyone probably wants to know is: are the web pages displayed better, and is it faster than the previous version? The answers are yes, and yes. When it comes to web page rendering, although Opera Mini 4.2 was already miles ahead of the built-in mobile IE, it still wasn’t the perfect browsing experience. On the new version, it’s comparable to the iPhone, which is pretty much the highest praise I can give it. As far as speed goes, it feels snappier, although not drastically faster than before. But, when it comes to speed, any improvement is very welcome.

If you want to try Opera Mini 5 beta out, visit the address m.opera.com/next using your phone’s default Web browser.

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Judge: Microsoft Banned from Selling Word in the US

2009-08-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

by Pete Cashmore

Welcome to the world of surprising patent lawsuits. A Texas judge ruled Tuesday that Microsoft cannot sell Word – yes, Microsoft Word, the cornerstone of Microsoft Office – in the United States.

Toronto-based i4i Inc won an injunction against Microsoft regarding the company’s XML patents. In the words of i4i, the injunction “prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML”. Microsoft has been given 60 days to comply, reports Seattle PI.

The injunction reads:

Microsoft Corporation is hereby permanently enjoined from performing the following actions with Microsoft Word 2003, Microsoft Word 2007, and Microsoft Word products not more than colorably different from Microsoft Word 2003 or Microsoft Word 2007 (collectively “Infringing and Future Word Products”) during the term of U.S. Patent No. 5,787,449:

1. selling, offering to sell, and/or importing in or into the United States any
Infringing and Future Word Products that have the capability of opening a .XML,
.DOCX, or .DOCM file (“an XML file”) containing custom XML;

2. using any Infringing and Future Word Products to open an XML file
containing custom XML;

3. instructing or encouraging anyone to use any Infringing and Future Word
Products to open an XML file containing custom XML;

4. providing support or assistance to anyone that describes how to use any infringing and Future Word Products to open an XML file containing custom XML;

and

5. testing, demonstrating, or marketing the ability of the Infringing and Future
Word Products to open an XML file containing custom XML.

This injunction does not apply to any of the above actions wherein the Infringing and Future Word Products open an XML file as plain text.

Needless to say, Microsoft won’t pull Word off the market. The company has said it plans to appeal, and i4i actually sells XML products for Word, making that company reliant on the ecosystem. An agreement will be reached: probably one involving Microsoft signing a big check.

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Apple, AT&T sued for lack of MMS capability

2009-08-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

By Mike Magee

A class action started in a Louisana district court alleging that Apple and AT&T touted the iPhone as supporting MMS (multimedia messaging service) but have not as yet provided the service.

The plaintiffs allege that Apple "advertised heavily that the new version of iPhone, the 3G, as well as the even newer version the 3G-S would allow MMS. Apple's print and video advertisements in and on television, the internet, the radio, newspapers and direct mailers all touted the availability of MMS." AT&T advertised the same functionality, the filing says.

But since the launch, in the USA, such functionality is not yet available. The court filing says the AT&T Answer Center page said: "Customers who are sent a MMS message and own a non-MMS capable device will receive a text message instead of an actual MMS message."

But, the filing alleges: "AT&T is not a carrier which offers MMS! Of course, AT&T is the only carrier in the United States used by the iPhone. In other words, AT&T's towers do not support MMS."

Apple, says the filings, has revealed that AT&T has never upgraded its towers so as to support MMS functionality. "The only excuse offered by AT&T and Apple is a mouseprint disclaimer on the website, in barely readable font, which reads 'MMS Support from AT&T coming in late summer'".

The class action suit alleges the Louisana suit will consist of at least 10,000 individuals. The action is brought both under the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices Act and other Louisiana civil codes.

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Yooouuutuuube Puts YouTube on LSD

2009-05-12T00:35:00.000-07:00

There are some pretty cool add-ons and tools for YouTube: in fact we wrote about more than 100 of them in our YouTube Toolbox. Some are fun, some useful and some - like the tools to download YouTube videos - aren’t necessarily legal.

But the YouTube tool that’s got people buzzing this week is just plain out of this world. Yooouuutuuube.com lets you put tens, even hundreds, of YouTube videos into rows and columns, creating an utterly trippy experience. Just enter a YouTube () video ID and frame width for each “piece” of the mosaic, and Yooouuutuuube will generate a video grid.

The best example: view this 36 by 36 column Alice in Wonderland masterpiece…and be warned that either your computer, mind, or both may be pushed to the max.

Report: AT&T to cut iPhone service plan by $10

2009-05-12T00:33:00.000-07:00

by Marguerite Reardon

AT&T may slash the price of its iPhone service plan by $10 when a new version of the touchscreen smartphone is launched this summer, according to a story on TheStreet.com.

The article cited analyst Michael Cote of Cote Collaborative saying that there is a "strong possibility" that AT&T will drop the entry-level price of its service plan to $59 from $69. Apple is expected to unveil the latest iPhone on June 8 during the company's World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

(Credit: Apple)

AT&T declined to comment for this story, and Michael Cote did not respond to an e-mail request for an interview.

The price cut would likely help make the iPhone, which now retails for $200 with a two-year service plan with AT&T, more appealing to more mainstream customers. I've been saying for quite some time that the biggest hurdle to widescale adoption of the iPhone or any other smartphone in the mainstream market is the high price tag of the service contracts.

Consumers have shown that they are willing to pay anywhere between $100 and $200 for a sophisticated smartphone device. But the monthly service charge, which starts at $69 for the iPhone, is much harder to swallow.

It puts the real cost of the iPhone 3G over the life of the two-year contract at a whopping $1,856, which includes the price of the 8GB phone and 24 months of the most basic iPhone voice and data plan. It doesn't include the activation fee or taxes and other fees associated with the account. For subscribers who need more voice minutes or unlimited texting, the price tag is even higher.

Still, a $240 reduction in the overall cost of the phone over the life of the contract could entice some cost-conscious consumers.

AT&T and Apple have slashed the price of the iPhone twice already. The first version of the device introduced nearly two years ago was originally priced at $599 for the 8GB version. A couple months after the release, Apple reduced it to $399. When the new iPhone 3G was introduced, AT&T subsidized the cost of the phone and offered it for $199 with a two-year contract. The price cut likely helped the companies sell about 17 million iPhones last year, compared to about 4 million devices in 2007.

For the most part, Apple and AT&T have managed to keep the subsidy and sale price of the iPhone constant over the past year, while other carriers and smartphone makers have been forced to slash prices to attract customers.

Only a month after it hit the market, T-Mobile's G1 started selling for $148 from Wal-Mart. And three months after it launched the Storm, Verizon Wireless started offering a special buy-one-get-one free promotion that allowed customers who bought any BlackBerry device, including the Storm, to get another one free.

But as competition heats up in the smartphone market, AT&T and Apple could be forced to address the affordability issue to gain new customers. This is especially true as Research In Motion's consumer-focused BlackBerry Curve surpasses the iPhone in sales. And with the Palm Pre also set to launch in early June on Sprint Nextel's network, Apple and AT&T will face even more competition.

Marguerite Reardon has been a CNET News reporter since 2004, covering cell phone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate, as well as the ongoing consolidation of the phone companies. E-mail Maggie.

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Pirate Bay Founder Devises DDo$ Attack

2009-05-12T00:26:00.000-07:00

Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm (aka anakata) recieved a bill for the 30 million SEK that he, along with Peter Sunde (aka brokep), Fredrik Neij (aka TiAMO), and Carl Lundstrom, was fined in the verdict of the Pirate Bay trial just over three weeks ago. The bill inspired anakata to devise a plan involving sending money to Danowsky’s law firm, but not to pay the fine of course which they say will never be payed. Anakata’s clever plan is called internet-avgift, internet-fee in English. Anakata encourages all Internet users to pay extremely small sums around 1 SEK (0.13 USD) to Danowsky’s law firm, which represented the music companies at the Pirate Bay trial. The music companies will not benefit from this, instead it will cost them money to handle and process all the money.

The plan can be called a Distributed Denial of Dollars attack (DDo$). The plan is an away-from-keyboard DDoS attack. DDoS attacks involve lots of users overloading the victim with internet traffic damaging their ability to provide services. Money, instead of Internet traffic is used in this case. The victim is Danowsky’s law firm which represented the IFPI at the Pirate Bay trial.

A friend of anakata told Blog Pirate that the bank account to which the payments are directed has only 1000 free transfers, after which any transfers have a surcharge of 2 SEK for the account holder. Any internet-fee payments made after the first 1000, which includes the law firm’s ordinary transfers, will instead of giving 1 SEK, cost 1 SEK to the law firm. Since Danowsky & Partners Advokatbyrå is a small firm, all the transactions are handled by hand. Handling all payments will be time consuming, costing the law firm in productivity. Maybe it will even affect their success in other cases.

Make direct payments to
Danowsky & Partners Advokatbyrå KB. Plusgiro 79 31 21-5.

Additionally if after paying the internet-fee you determine that your payment was erroneous, Swedish law states that you can request the money back, putting an additional load on Danowsky’s law firm.

Since the Pirate Bay crew was provided with such clear, logical, and well explained methods for calculating the damages in the trial, an explanation on how the internet-fee was calculated is provided. Use the formula below, substituting anything anywhere, to check that the internet-fee really is 1 SEK.

The name internet-avgift, as well as the layout of the site is based on tv-avgift and they layout of its site. Radiojanst, a state owned company, is responsible for collecting TV license fees in Sweden.

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10 Free Linux Ebooks For Beginners

2009-05-12T00:24:00.000-07:00

By Pavs

Last time we did a free book collection 2 years ago it was a hit among Linux users and rightfully so, who doesn’t like free books? No matter how experienced you are with Linux systems, there is always something new you can learn from a good book that focuses on specific aspects of a Linux system. While our old list was an ‘OK’ list, it wasn’t structured properly and most of the links are broken by now. This time we tried to make a list of free books by categories. “Beginners”, “Advanced” and “Administrators”.

This is the first part of the series, in the near future we will have a list for “Intermediate and Advanced Linux Users” and “Linux System Administrators”. If you have any suggestions feel free to share them with us in the comments.

Free Linux Ebooks For Beginners

1) Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

Author: Machtelt Garrels
Format: HTML

2) Bash Guide for Beginners

Author: Machtelt Garrels
Format: HTML

3) Rute User’s Tutorial and Exposition

Author: Paul Sheer
Format: HTML

4) The Linux Starter Pack

Author: Paul Hudson
Format: PDF

5) FLOSS Manuals

Author: FSF
Format: HTML & PDF

6) The Easiest Linux Guide You’ll Ever Read

Author: Scott Morris
Format: PDF

7) Linux Knowledge Base and Tutorial

Author: James Mohr
Format: PDF

8) Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference

Author: Keir Thomas
Format: PDF

9) Linux Newbie Administrator Guide

Author: Peter and Stan Klimas
Format: HTML

10) Slackware Linux Basics

Author: Daniël de Kok
Format: HTML

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15 things you need to know about Windows 7

2009-05-12T00:22:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 provides various ways to help reduce the number of UAC alerts

Windows 7 has been making headlines for a few months now. If you've read one or two of the stories and reviews dedicated to it, you might think that you know about all that it contains: new touchscreen features, a revamped taskbar with larger thumbnail previews, Internet Explorer 8, easier networking and so on.

While that sounds reasonable enough, it's not exactly exciting. It might even have given you the impression that Windows 7 isn't very different from Vista. That assumption, however, would be a mistake.

The reality is that Windows 7 is packed with new developments – it's just that most people aren't talking about them.

Would you like to be able to defrag multiple hard drives at the same time, or create a sandboxed PC user account for your kids so that they won't be able to mess up your Windows or program settings any more?

What about working with – and even booting from – virtual hard drive (VHD) files, the ability to encrypt USB flash drives to protect the data you're carrying, and tools for calibrating your display to ensure that you're seeing accurate colours and crisp, clear text? Windows 7 has all these features, and a whole lot more.

Security

1. Keep your PC clean

If you share your PC with less experienced computer users then you'll know the problems that can arise as they mess up your settings and unknowingly install dodgy software. Windows 7 can help you to avoid these problems.

Enable PC Safeguard on the kids' account and they'll be able to log on and play as normal – but when they log off , any settings they've changed are reversed, files they've saved are deleted and your hard drive is returned to its original state.

2. Restrict other users

If Safeguard isn't enough, try AppLocker. It gives you even more control, restricting users to only the programs you specify. It's able to automatically create rules for your installed programs, and other rules can be added in seconds.

3. Action Center

Windows 7 replaces the Security Center with the more all-purpose Action Center, which warns you of PC maintenance and back-up issues as well as potential security problems. It's prone to complaining if your security settings don't meet its approval, but at least now there's an effective solution.

If you regularly see messages telling you that you've turned the Windows firewall off , say, then you can choose to disable just those while leaving the more useful alerts active.

4. Tone down UAC

User Account Control irritated many Windows Vista users with its constant warnings that 'Windows needs your permission to continue'. Windows 7 improves the situation by displaying fewer warnings and providing additional UAC tweaks.

Tell the system not to raise warnings if you change Windows settings and you'll be able to use the Control Panel without any prompts. Alerts will only appear if a program tries to perform a similar action.

5. BitLocker to go

Encryption isn't just for hard drives anymore: the Windows 7 version of BitLocker can protect removable (and easily lost) devices such as USB flash drives, too.

Right-click the device in Explorer, select 'Turn on BitLocker' and then enter and confirm a password to protect your data from snoopers.

6. 'Run as' returns

Right-click a program in Windows XP and you'll see a 'Run as' option that allows you to run the program as a different user. This is very useful if you'd like to run an app that requires different privileges to your current account.

The option disappeared in Vista, but Microsoft has relented: hold down [Shift] while right-clicking a shortcut and you'll see that the 'Run as' option has returned.

7. Find and fix problems

Windows has always had plenty of troubleshooting tools, but they've been scattered around many different places. Windows 7 brings order to this situation by placing all of the most important troubleshooters in the new Find and Fix Problems applet, located in the Control Panel.

These fix common problems, check for incorrect settings, clean up your PC and more. Developers can create additional troubleshooters, too. You can read more about that at Within Windows.

8. The Problem Steps Recorder

As a knowledgeable PC user, it's likely that you're called upon to troubleshoot friends' computer problems, which can be tricky if they find it difficult to describe what's going on. Windows 7 has a handy tool to solve this problem.

If an application is misbehaving under Windows 7, all the flummoxed PC user needs to do is launch the Problem Steps Recorder, click 'Record' and work through whatever task they're trying to complete.

Every click and keypress that they make will be recorded, packaged up with screen grabs and saved into a single zipped MHTML file, ready for emailing to you. It's a simple tool that's going to save many people hours of time.

9. Extended System Restore functionality

System Restore has always been a very handy troubleshooting tool, and Windows 7 extends it in a couple of useful ways. A single click will now tell you exactly which programs and drivers will be restored or deleted if you choose a particular restore point, and there's now an interface that lets you configure the amount of disk space allocated to System Restore.

You can also decide not to back up Windows settings. This means that only files will be backed up, so you'll be able to squeeze more restore points into the available disk space.

10. Discover bottlenecks

If your Windows 7 PC seems sluggish, the new and extended Resource Monitor should help you to sort things out. It's like a more powerful version of Task Manager that not only shows you the processes running on your PC, but also reveals how they're using your CPU, RAM, hard drive and network.

A couple of clicks can show you who the biggest resource hogs really are.

11. DIY system discs

Windows 7 includes a new option to burn a bootable system repair disc. If your PC won't start, pop in the repair disc and it'll do its best to restore normal operations. There's no new technology involved – it's just a CD version of the Start-up Repair tools on your Windows Vista disc – but this functionality will be useful for people who never get a full Windows 7 DVD.

It's also safer to carry one of these around with your laptop rather than risk damaging or losing your original Windows disc.

12. Faster IE startups

Some heavyweight Internet Explorer add-ons can take a while to start. IE8 can help you spot the worst off enders.

Click 'Tools | Manage Add-ons', peruse the Load Time column and you'll immediately see which extensions are putting a brake on your browsing.

13. Simultaneous disk defrags

Ever wondered why you can't defrag both your hard drives at the same time? There's no reason why not – and now in Windows 7 you can through the command-line defrag tool. Other new switches run the defrag at a higher priority and provide regular progress reports. Enter 'defrag /?' in a command-line window to fi nd out more.

14. Multithreaded Robocopies

The command-line Robocopy tool also sees new optimisations, including an '/MT' switch that can improve performance by carrying out multithreaded copies (you can specify up to 128 threads).

Enter 'robocopy/?' at the command line for the full details, though Robocopy newbies should be aware that there are an enormous number of switches to examine.

15. Search connectors

Windows 7 adds support for search connectors. These are small configuration files that extend the Windows Search tool to include online resources. To add Flickr support, for example, visit www.istartedsomething.com/flickr search to download and open the connector.

This will add a Flickr Search option to your Searches folder, and you'll be able to search the site from within Explorer.

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Researchers hijack botnet, score 56,000 passwords in an hour

2009-05-12T00:20:00.000-07:00

By Jacqui Cheng

Researchers at the University of California Santa Barbara have published a paper (PDF) detailing their findings after hijacking a botnet for ten days earlier this year. Among other things, the researchers were able to collect 70GB of data that the bots stole from users, including 56,000 passwords gathered within a single hour. The information not only gave them a look at the inner workings of the botnet, they also got to see how secure users really are when it comes to online activities. (Hint: they aren't.)

The botnet in question is controlled by Torpig (also known as Sinowal), a malware program that aims to gather personal and financial information from Windows users. The researchers gained control of the Torpig botnet by exploiting a weakness in the way the bots try to locate their commands and control servers—the bots would generate a list of domains that they planned to contact next, but not all of those domains were registered yet. The researchers then registered the domains that the bots would resolve, and then set up servers where the bots could connect to find their commands. This method lasted for a full ten days before the botnet's controllers updated the system and cut the observation short.

During that time, however, UCSB's researchers were able to gather massive amounts of information on how the botnet functions as well as what kind of information it's gathering. Almost 300,000 unique login credentials were gathered over the time the researchers controlled the botnet, including 56,000 passwords gathered in a single hour using "simple replacement rules" and a password cracker. They found that 28 percent of victims reused their credentials for accessing 368,501 websites, making it an easy task for scammers to gather further personal information. The researchers noted that they were able to read through hundreds of e-mail, forum, and chat messages gathered by Torpig that "often contain detailed (and private) descriptions of the lives of their authors."

(Comically, the report notes that 0.1 percent of Torpig victims love "exchanging insults" online, with another four percent spending their time looking for sex online. The rest are doing relatively mundane things like worrying about grades, looking for advice from doctors and lawyers, looking for jobs, and playing video games.)

Of course, the primary goal of Torpig is to steal financial information like credit card numbers and bank logins. In just ten days, Torpig apparently obtained credentials of 8,310 accounts at 410 financial institutions, including PayPal, Capital One, E*Trade, and Chase. The researchers noted, too, that nearly 40 percent of the credentials stolen by Torpig were from browser password managers, and not actual login sessions, and that the Torpig controllers may have exploited these credentials for between $83,000 and $8.3 million during that time period.

Interestingly, a large number of the financial institutions that had been breached required "monumental effort" in order to notify the victims, according to the report. In fact, financial institutions weren't the only ones—interacting with registrars, hosting facilities, and law enforcement were all "rather complicated," indicating that there's a long way to go in order to make notifying botnet victims easier.

Not becoming a victim in the first place is the most ideal situation, however. The researchers concluded that victims of botnets are usually those with poorly maintained machines and who choose "easily guessable" passwords. " This is evidence that the malware problem is fundamentally a cultural problem," reads the report. "Even though people are educated and understand well concepts such as the physical security and the necessary maintenance of a car, they do not understand the consequences of irresponsible behavior when using a computer."

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Firefox to get Multi-process Support?

2009-05-12T00:18:00.000-07:00

Firefox, the world's second most used browser, by the looks of it will soon receive an update that will add multi-process support.

By multi-process support we re talking about the similar feature seen in Google Chrome and IE8 that runs multiple, separate processes for each tab, which allows the browser to function without issues even when one tab has stopped responding or has crashed. This method of splitting processes increases stability and offers performance improvements as well.

As for why the speculation regarding multiprocessor support arose, that is because of a recent project that the Mozilla has initiated. The project is being co-coordinated by Benjamin Smedberg, who is a long time supporter of Mozilla. While little is known abut the project itself, we have a roadmap which suggests that we should be seeing a simple implementation of this in action by July this year.

That being the first phase, there will be three other phases post this, which will deal with the interactions between process types. The third phase will comprehensively test APIs for extensibility, accessibility, and performance. The fourth phase will deal with the final implementation and sandboxing.

Looking at how things are moving now, it would be at least an year from now when we would see a final release version of Firefox with multi process support.

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Windows 7 RC1: 10 Things You Need to Know

2009-05-12T00:14:00.000-07:00

By matt buchanan

Windows 7's about ready to come out of the oven, and now everybody can shove their hands in the warm OS pie. And really, you should. Here's everything you need to know to dive in.

1. Where Do I Get It?
Right here! If you're at work, don't worry, you have until July to download it. From there, you'll need to burn the disc image to a DVD or copy it to a flash drive. From there, you can follow our guide to installing Windows 7 pain-free (or Lifehacker's, though I hear they smell like nerd feet). There's a guide for doing it on a Mac too.

2. Will It Run on My Computer?
Probably. It's run fantastically on netbooks for us, if that tells you anything. But here are the hard minimum specs:

• 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
• 1 GB of RAM (32-bit); 2 GB of RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit); 20 GB of available disk space (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

3. Wait, Can I Upgrade My Current Windows Install?
If you're running Windows Vista, you sure can—it's designed to be easy to go from Vista to Windows 7, actually. It's a little more complicated with other types of Windows. You can upgrade your Windows 7 Beta install if you've got one, but it's not recommended, and takes a bit of skunkwork. You're out of luck with XP and any other older version of Windows, which is how it's gonna be with the retail version of Windows 7 too—though Microsoft has some tools to make it less painful, or you could take the long way around, just to say you did it.

4. Is It Safe?
It's very safe. Unlike Google, Microsoft seems to be using product cycle terms in their traditional sense, so the designation "release candidate" means it's a version that's got the potential to go final—as long as nothing majorly FUBAR is discovered—with just a few little bugs left for squishing. Besides, the Windows 7 Beta was pretty damn solid to begin with. And if you follow one of our guides to dual-booting it, then you've really got nothing to worry about.

All of your hardware should work just fine, especially if it worked alright on Vista, since we're talking mostly the same OS guts here, and Microsoft bent over backward to make stuff backward compatible with Vista. It's possible you'll need to grab drivers for your hardware or gadget straight from the manufacturer—or in the case of graphics cards from Nvidia or ATI, you'll want to for the best possible performance—but you should be able to just plug and play.

Still, back your stuff up! That's just common sense.

5. How Long Can I Keep It?
Depends on what you mean by that! It goes completely poof on June 1, 2010. But on March 1, it becomes basically unusable—it starts automatically shutting down every two hours like a dbag.

6. How Is RC1 Better Than the Beta?
Lots of stuff, actually. Just for starters, Aero Peek is better, and works with Alt+Tab now when you're flipping through programs. Windows Key shortcuts are more logical, so pressing Windows Key + [number key] switches between apps pinned to the taskbar, rather than just launching 'em. And things just feel smoother—more fade transition effects sprinkled throughout, for instance, and there seems to be a bit more snap to everything, like a carrot. If you like carrots.

7. What's This I Hear About XP Mode?It's true, Windows 7's secret new feature is XP Mode. It's a virtual Windows XP machine—complete with a fully licensed copy of Windows XP SP 3 installed on the virtual machine—that you can download which runs seamlessly in Windows 7, so you can do crazy things like run IE6 side-by-side with IE8. It's meant for businesses who need compatibility for mission critical XP-only apps.

Really, don't get too hung up on it—it's only for the Enterprise, Professional and Ultimate versions of Windows 7, not the Home Premium version you'll probably be running one day. (The release candidate is Ultimate, so you can toy around with it after downloading it here.) You also need a processor with either Intel Virtualization Technology or AMD-V and 2GB of RAM. And you can't really do anything intense like gaming inside of it. Oh, and fair warning, it's also probably one of the release candidate's glitchiest features. Image via Wikipedia.

8. Holy Crap, Microsoft Is Tripping on Acid!Yes.

9. What's Still Glitchy?
Uh, the aforementioned Windows XP Mode, for one. Some of our Steam games are still acting a little bit weird, notably with audio. Coming out of sleep can be wonky for OpenGL with UAC turned on. Occasional taskbar weirdness if you play around with the positioning. But all in all, fairly minor stuff, so far.

10. Why Should I Go Through All This Trouble?
Simply put, Windows 7 has been awesome. Whatever bad things you felt toward Vista—hate, fear, rage, apathy, bi-curiosity—Windows 7 probably solves your issue. The UI's evolved more than it has in years, you don't need to download a bunch of stupid codecs, it makes plugging in gadgets kind of fun, it's more secure and generally, life's just a lot better for anyone on a PC. While Microsoft says a pre-release shouldn't be your main OS, we're pretty sure it will be, almost instantly.

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Deconstructing Apple's Tiny iPod Shuffle

2009-04-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

By Arik Hesseldahl

View Slide Show

When the first iPod graced store shelves almost eight years ago, it could pack about 1,000 songs into roughly the same space as a deck of playing cards. A new iteration of the digital music player called the shuffle packs the same number of songs into a space that's about the same size as your pinky finger.

There's not much else to the shuffle, released in March. There are no buttons, for instance—only a power switch that also controls whether songs are played in sequence or "shuffled," as the name implies. Other controls for playing and changing the volume have been moved off the device entirely and into the wire running from the headphones.

Nor is there much on the inside of the shuffle, as a teardown analysis of the device by market research firm iSuppli has found. Privately held iSuppli takes consumer electronics apart in order to estimate how much they cost to build. And while a teardown doesn't account for the costs of design, software, manufacturing, or shipping, these cost estimates help fill in the blanks toward estimating the profit on each device sold.

All told, the cost of the shuffle's components, the headphones, and the packaging it ships in comes to $21.77, according to iSuppli's estimates. That's about 28% of the device's retail price. The smaller the component cost as a percentage of price, the higher the potential profit. This suggests the per-unit profit margin on the shuffle is higher than on other iPod models. The component cost for the first iPod touch released in 2007, for instance, amounted to about $147, or about 49% of its $299 retail price. The component cost of the third-generation iPod nano, also released in 2007, amounted to about 40% of its retail price.

Who the Suppliers Are

Analysis by iSuppli also helps determine the makers of the components inside electronics devices. The big winner in the shuffle, says iSuppli analyst Andrew Rassweiler, appears to be South Korea's semiconductor giant Samsung. ISuppli examined the insides of the four-gigabyte shuffle, which goes for $79. The main application chip used in the device, controlling music and other functions, comes from Samsung and costs $5.98, Rassweiler says.

Samsung remains the king of Apple's silicon suppliers, at least for the iPod and iPhone family. It supplies the main applications processor on the iPhone 3G as well as for the iPod touch. And like the other Samsung chips used in Apple devices, the one in the shuffle is based around a core design licensed from ARM Holdings (ARMH), a British chip designer in which Apple used to be an investor.

Samsung also supplied the four gigabytes of flash memory, used primarily to store music, at a cost of about $6, Rassweiler says. Apple is likely to be using other suppliers in addition to Samsung for flash memory, including Japan's Toshiba (6502.T) and South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor. "It's almost like six dollars worth of flash memory tied to some flash and a battery and not much else," Rassweiler says. "It's very basic and downsized." Other suppliers of various parts include On Semiconductor (ONNN), NXP Semiconductor, and Texas Instruments (TXN).

From Tiny to Minuscule

The device contains a tiny lithium ion battery that costs $1.20, and that Rassweiler describes as "the smallest we've ever seen." And for a company that doesn't ignore the tiniest of details, the most mundane of components are the most advanced available. The device's so-called passive components—capacitors and resistors—are unusually small. Known by their numeric label 01005, which in electronics shorthand describes their dimensions in thousandths of an inch, they're about the size of a grain of salt and cost fractions of a penny each. But they're half the size of what had previously been considered the smallest device of their type, those labeled 0201.

It's just one of many ways that Apple continues to differentiate its products from the rest of the pack. "Until recently we didn't see passive components quite this small," Rassweiler says. "Here you see them working on the cutting edge, even on the passives." They also help save space inside.

The components themselves are too small to give even a hint of who made them, but typical suppliers include such companies as AVX (AVX), Vishay Intertechnology (VSH), Kemet, and Rohm (6963.T), Rassweiler says.

There are other costs in addition to components for which a teardown can't account: The time and efforts of software engineers and designers, industrial designers, manufacturing, distribution, royalties paid on patents owned by other companies, and so on. When it last reported earnings on Jan. 21, Apple said its gross margin, a key indicator for profitability that takes into account costs to make all its products, was 34.7%. The company also said it expects a gross margin of 32.5% in the quarter ended Mar. 30, for which it will report results on Apr. 22.

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Apple Privately Admits White MacBook's Notorious Crack Problem

2009-04-13T22:51:00.000-07:00

By matt buchanan

And lo, the winged horse of the Apocalypse bounded through the sky: Apple is acknowledging the white MacBook's legendary hairline cracks along the bottom enclosure, and will actually fix it, regardless of your warranty.

An internal bulletin reportedly circulated last month to service providers points out four specific areas of the case that are especially to hairline cracking: the front, under the palmrests and trackpad, around the I/O ports, near back rear corners, and around the rear vents.

When examining your cracked out MacBook, if the service provider can't find any signs it's all your fault, the bulletin advises them to bump it for coverage by Apple even if the one-year warranty is up. As AppleInsider notes, this effectively reverses their previous policy of not covering repairs for the MacBook's bottom casing, which could suffer from cracking even under normal use.

Hurray for plastic MacBook owners But really, you should just get a unibody enclosure, it's made out of adamantium or something like that. Duh. [AppleInsider]

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iPhone 3.0 video recording interface, compass support spotted? (Update: voice dialing, too)

2009-04-13T22:47:00.000-07:00

by Nilay Patel

iPhone OS 3.0 is riddled with hints that video recording is on the way, and the latest is is this supposed screenshot of a revised camera app with a video toggle. MacRumors says it comes up when certain config files are edited to make it seem like a video camera is present, but it's not clear exactly what steps have to be taken, so we're treating this one cautiously until we can confirm it. Other secret features buried in the plists are said to include "auto-focus camera," "voice control," and "magnetometer," which is assumed to be a compass. Yep, all stuff we'd expect from an iPhone revision around, say, June, but nothing earth-shattering -- and if the video features are as mediocre as the current iPhone camera, we don't think the Flips of this world have too much to worry about.

Update: Boy Genius Report has scored some other 3.0-culled goodies, including what appears to be voice dialing ("Voice Control" as they're calling it), a digital battery strength readout, and further evidence of video support. Beta 3, where are you?

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Bluetooth 3.0 prepped for launch on April 21

2009-04-13T22:46:00.000-07:00

By Jacqui Cheng

Right on schedule, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group is preparing to launch the Bluetooth 3.0 specification on April 21. A list of chip-makers who are on board with the updated spec has not yet been made public, but it's expected to be available when the formal announcement is made later this month.

Bluetooth 3.0 will bring with it dramatically-improved file transfer speeds by using 802.11 technology (not technically WiFi, which is a certified version of 802.11 standards) that will enable the transfer of much larger files. The previous spec was fine for the transfer of more bite-sized data, like contact info or calendar items, but as mobile devices evolve to become our entertainment centers on-the-go, a speed improvement will certainly be helpful for transferring things like video and music collections.

For those curious, the Bluetooth 3.0 + High Speed standard works by using two compatible Bluetooth modules that coordinate a switch to 802.11 (without having to join a WiFi network) to move the bulk files. Once a file-transfer is complete, the devices coordinate a switch back to the slower and backwards-compatible 3.0Mbps rate of earlier Bluetooth releases, which consumes less power and bandwidth.

Once the new standard is announced by the Bluetooth SIG, it likely won't be long before we see devices with Bluetooth 3.0 built-in. Of course, when you have battery-sucking phones like the iPhone that need to be plugged in and synced every day already, there seems like less of a need for such high-speed file transfers, but everyone else using Bluetooth to sync files will no doubt be happy with the improvements.

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CompUSA Comes Back From the Dead

2009-04-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

By Priya Ganapat

About three months ago, Loretta Alkalay, a retired Florida resident, wanted to get a new HDTV. So she decided to give the CompUSA near her home a try.

Yes, CompUSA. The once-bankrupt electronics retailer is making a comeback, with about 30 new CompUSA stores nationwide and a new strategy that includes aggressive prices, remodeled stores, improved lighting and in-store web access for comparison shopping.

"We have invented this idea of retail 2.0," says Gilbert Fiorentino, chief executive of the Technology Products Group at Systemax, now parent company of CompUSA. Fiorentino is also the founder of Tiger Direct, a web only electronics retailer and another subsidiary of Systemax. "Every screen in every CompUSA store is now connected to the internet and making buying a richer experience for customers," he says.

It was price that brought Alkalay the store. She wound up buying a 32-inch flat panel TV for $200 -- a real steal, she says.

"I had never heard of the brand. But given the price and size, I thought this is a great bargain," says Alkalay.

Once part of the big three electronics retail stores in the country, CompUSA filed for bankruptcy two years ago. It was not alone: High overheads and the inability to compete with low online prices forced companies such as Circuit City and Ritz Camera into bankruptcy, too. Meanwhile, online players such as Amazon, Buy.com and NewEgg have been growing.

But after a reorganization and a buyout in January last year by Systemax, a major electronics retailer, CompUSA is back in business.

The in-store web access may be the biggest gamble, since it raises the possibility that you might use a CompUSA floor model to find a better deal on Amazon.com for the very computer you're using to get that information.

Say you are in a CompUSA store trying to decide if that big plasma TV is the one you want. Just tap the keyboard in front of the screen and go online to check out the specs and reviews an even the recommended mounting brackets. There's also custom information for that particular store, such as how many are in stock.

"We do the same thing with laptops, desktops and monitors," says Fiorentino. "We are using tech to change the retail experience for the customer and giving them access to all the information on the internet anytime they want during the buying process." And there are no restrictions. Users can surf the internet, check their Facebook or even Twitter if they want, says Fiorentino.

It may sound like a small change but it is quite different from how Best Buy, Office Depot or other brick-and-mortar stores display information to their customers, says Doug Fleener, president of retail consulting firm Dynamic Experiences and former director of retail for Bose.

“It’s an untested concept,” says Fleener. “We will have to see if customers like to spend their time gathering information while shopping rather than doing it at home.”

Systemax's Tiger Direct online shopping site has benefited first hand from the online shopping trend. But Fiorentino says customers still want to go stores to buy electronics.

And Fiorentino says CompUSA can keep its prices low despite the additional overhead costs associated with a physical store. CompUSA's inventory now ties into Tiger Direct and the company offers the same prices whether consumers buy a product online or in a store.

Customers such as Robert Oschler, a New York resident who runs a site for robotics enthusiasts, are seeing the difference.

About a month ago Oschler found a CompUSA store near him running offering 48-hour special deals. "They seem to be doing a lot of that," he says. Oschler bought a Novint Falcon gaming mouse for $99 that otherwise retails for $180.

He says he's also noticed the changes in the store’s layout, “They seem more organized,” says Oschler. “Earlier, their aisles used to cluttered, almost supermarket-like, where they wanted to shove as much stuff as possible in your face as you walked by. But now there are more categories and better displays.”

Still, the revived CompUSA is a shadow of its former self. At its peak about three years ago, CompUSA posted about $5 billion a year in sales and had more than 216 stores nationwide. Now it posts a fraction of that in sales and has just about a tenth of its former reach.

If CompUSA can survive through the recession and manage its costs—rent, salaries, inventory--the chain can hope for a future, says Fleener. As other big box retailers disappear, consumers are looking for alternative places to go to and the thrill of walking into a store and looking at products is not easily replaceable for shoppers.

“Stores like Circuit City going out does leave an opportunity in the market,” says Fleener. “With less brick and mortar competition around, people will give CompUSA a chance.”

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Four years later, Skype's founders looking to buy it back

2009-04-13T22:42:00.000-07:00

By Jacqui Cheng

The popular VoIP service Skype started out as an independent company, and it may soon end up the same way. Skype's founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, are reportedly looking for ways to buy the company back from eBay, after having sold it to the auction giant in 2005. eBay may be open to such a deal too, as the two companies have had trouble meshing right from the start.

Zennstrom and Friis sold Skype to eBay in 2005 for US$2.6 billion in cash and stock, with the possibility of an additional $1.5 billion payout if certain financial goals were met. At the time, eBay planned to integrate Skype's technologies into its online auction business, providing buyers with a "click to call" button on auctions so that they could ask questions and communicate with sellers. eBay also postulated that it could use Skype on its own customer support site, giving consumers a problem-solving option in addition to eBay's Web interface.

Unfortunately, that was apparently the end of the good times for Skype and eBay as a joint entity. Not long after the buyout, eBay made a filing with the SEC in which it admitted that it would take $1.4 billion in charges thanks to Skype and that Zennstrom would be stepping down as CEO to become a nonexecutive chairman. A major Skype service outage only helped to highlight that things weren't going well.

Needless to say, Skype has been bleeding money and the aforementioned performance goals were not met, so the current value of the Skype purchase ended up being around $1.1 billion. In addition, most of eBay's lofty goals for incorporating Skype into its services never came to fruition, though a number of new features have been introduced to Skype in the meantime.

As we noted last year, eBay never actually seemed to put any effort towards integrating Skype into eBay's services—the company seemed to have bought Skype and set it on auto-pilot (destination: nowhere) almost immediately. Then, in late 2008, eBay CEO John Donahoe mentioned during the company's quarterly earnings call that it was time to finally "test synergies" or it could be the moment to send Skype on its way.

That brings us to where we are today: Zennstrom and Friis are supposedly in talks with private equity firms to raise $1 billion, which they'd add to their own resources in order to buy Skype back, according to sources speaking to The New York Times. It's not clear right now whether the two have entered into talks with eBay as of yet, though some analysts believe that eBay would be willing to sell Skype back for around $1.7 billion.

At this point, if the two are able to get the financing they need, it seems like eBay would have no problem selling Skype back to them. To put it in business speak, the "synergies" have not been "strong" between the two companies, so almost any deal is likely to be fair game for the right price.

Original here

New in Gmail Labs: Inserting images

2009-04-13T22:39:00.000-07:00

Posted by Kent Tamura, Software Engineer

Well, it's about time. You no longer have to use workarounds to put images into your messages or attach images when you really want to inline them. Just turn on "Inserting images" from the Labs tab under Settings, and you'll see a new toolbar icon like this:

Make sure you're in rich formatting mode, or it won't show up. Click the little image icon, and you can insert images in two ways: by uploading image files from your computer or providing image URLs.

Keep in mind that Gmail doesn't show URL-based images in messages by default to protect you from spammers, so if you're sending mail to other Gmail users, they'll still have to click "Display images below" or "Always display images from ..." to see images you embed.

Got feedback on inserting images? Send it our way.

Original here

Parsing the nuances of Windows 7 decisions

2009-04-13T22:37:00.000-07:00

by Larry Dignan

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

A new survey reveals that 84 percent of IT pros don't have plans to upgrade to Windows 7 in the next year and that half of respondents are considering alternatives. But it pays to parse a few nuances.

The survey, which was conducted by Dimension Research and commissioned by KACE, a systems management appliance company. The survey had 1,142 respondents and 99 percent of them had a Windows operating system installed at their companies.

(Credit: Dimensional Research/KACE)

The spin here has been that it's somehow bad that most IT professionals won't jump to Windows 7 in the next year.

However, Windows 7 is still in beta and hasn't been released yet. Of course, 84 percent won't upgrade to Windows 7 in a 12-month time frame. If you go April to April and Windows 7 is launched in October-ish, that means IT pros would have just six months to make the leap. In the OS upgrade world, that speed just doesn't happen.

Cast in that light, the figures in the pie chart to the right actually look pretty impressive to me.

So within two years, 59 percent of IT pros plan to upgrade to Windows 7. The good news: that's some pent-up demand. The bad news: Vista is the reason there's pent-up demand.

But what really caught my eye is the secondary headline about Windows alternatives.

(Credit: Dimensional Research/KACE)

The headline: 50 percent of IT pros are considering a move from Windows. Operative word: considering. You'd be dumb not to consider a move. In fact, I'd argue that the other half of IT pros aren't doing their job: you should always assess alternatives.

If you break down the 50 percent considering a move away from Windows, 14 percent are actively making a jump. That's up from 11 percent in 2008 and 9 percent in 2007. You can determine whether the money quote here should be:

• 36 percent are staying, i.e,. Microsoft is still winning.
or
• 14 percent are bolting, i.e., alternative operating systems are gaining steam.

The truth is probably in the middle.

Another nuance to ponder. Apple's OS X is the most likely platform to replace Vista or Windows 7, with 27 percent eyeing the Mac platform. The rub: that percentage is down from 29 percent in 2008.

Perhaps the headline should be that Vista, Windows 7 and OS X are in decline--and that Ubuntu is on the rise.

In any case there's a lot of fun to be had with numbers in this survey.

(Credit: Dimensional Research/KACE)

Larry Dignan is editor in chief of ZDNet and editorial director of CNET's TechRepublic. He has covered the technology and financial-services industries since 1995
.
Original here

20 registry hacks to make your PC more awesome

2009-04-13T22:33:00.001-07:00

The Windows registry is key to personalising your PC

Right-clicking on everything is a good way to learn about hidden Windows functionality. Exploring the lesser-known Control Panel applets is another useful technique, and browsing the command line applications in Windows' System32 folder can be interesting. But let's be realistic. There's nothing that quite compares to the Registry.

It's packed with useful settings that can improve performance, fix security holes and change even the most fundamental Windows behaviour for the better. And many of these features simply can't be accessed in any other way. Be careful, though: the Registry has more than its fair share of traps.

If you're not cautious, you could cause more problems than you solve. But with a little care you can get on with creating a better system that's tailored towards your needs. Here are 20 great Registry hacks that everyone should know about.

1. Improve security

If strangers have physical access to your PC, it's easy for them to plug in a USB flash drive and make copies of your data. If you're using Windows XP SP2 or later, though, there's a simple way to prevent this from happening.

Go to 'HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies', create a DWORD value called 'WriteProtect' and set it to 1. You'll be able to read USB drives, but not write to them any more.

2. Tame UAC

Windows Vista's User Account Control raises so many alerts that many people just turn it off. But do that and you'll also lose useful features like IE's protected mode. If you really can't live with UAC, try disabling the alerts for administrators: you won't get any more hassle, but UAC will run in the background and you'll still get its other features.

To do this, set 'HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System\ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin' to 0. You can restore normal UAC behaviour by setting it to 2.

3. Change the owner

Install Windows on your PC and you'll be asked to enter your name, which is then stored as the registered owner (run WinVer to see this on your system). If you've got a second-hand PC, you probably want to change the name stored as the registered owner. There's no obvious way to do this, and that's where the Registry comes in.

Browse to 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion' and you'll see both a 'RegisteredOwner' and 'RegisteredOrganization' value. Double-click either to change them.

4. Sort files properly

Sorting filenames in Explorer can be a problem. By default, it will place 'File_v2.txt' before 'File_v15. txt': that's not ASCII ordering, but it seems to be sensible. But what if the 'v' refers to a version number, and actually File_v15.txt should come first? Suddenly Explorer's default system doesn't work at all.

To restore regular ASCII file ordering, go to 'HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Currentversion\Policies\Explorer', create a DWORD value called 'NoStrCmpLogical' and set it to 1. Delete the key to restore the standard Explorer approach.

5. Troubleshoot startup

If Windows is taking its time to start up or shut down, there might be a problem. To find out what's going on, go to 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System', create a DWORD value called 'verbosestatus' and set it to 1. Restart your PC and Windows will tell you what it's getting up to.

6. Manage folder types

Windows Vista's Explorer will 'intelligently' choose your folder type based on its contents. But this means that a Download folder will change to a Music folder if you grab a few MP3s. To fix this, go to 'HCU\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell', delete the 'Bags' subkey and then create a new Bags key in the same location.

Create a key called 'AllFolders' beneath Bags, and a key called 'Shell' below that. Click it to open 'HCU\Software\Classes\LocalSettings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\ Bags\AllFolders\Shell'. Right-click the right-hand pane, choose 'New | String Value' and call this 'FolderType'. Then double-click FolderType and set its value to 'NotSpecified'. You'll still be able to change the folder type, but Vista will no longer assign one. (See steps 10 to 20 here if you need more help.)

7. Easy encryption

Some versions of Windows have always allowed you to encrypt files, but it's an awkward process; you must right-click the file, select 'Properties', click the 'Advanced' button, check 'Encrypt contents to secure data' and then press 'OK' twice.

For a simpler alternative, go to 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced', create a new DWORD called 'EncryptionContextMenu' and set it to 1. Now you can just right-click a file and select 'Encrypt'.

8. Access folders fast

Get speedy access to any folder by pinning it to the Start menu. Run REGEDIT, go to 'HKCR\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers', right-click 'ContextMenuHandlers' and click 'New | Key'.

Type '' (as ever, without quotation marks) and press [Enter]. Now hold down [Shift], right-click a folder and select 'Pin to Start Menu'.

9. Speed up copy times

Vista gives a high priority to your soundcard, so you should get glitch-free audio no matter what you're doing. This can cause slower network copy speeds, however.

To tweak this, browse to 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile'. Try setting 'NetworkThrottlingIndex' to more than 10 – 50 or 60 should be effective – then reboot and test your network speeds again. Read more here.

10. Fix the drive listing

If Explorer no longer lists your DVD drive (or thinks that it's a DVD-ROM and can't burn discs), go to 'HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\' and delete the 'UpperFilters' or 'LowerFilters' settings.

This usually works, but it may break whatever application caused the problem in the first place. If a program stops working, check to see if it has an update, then reinstall it.

11. Access display settings quickly

Right-click the desktop in Windows Vista and you can't directly access the display settings. Windows 7 will fix this, but in the meantime go to 'HKCR\Directory\Background\Shell', right-click 'Shell', select 'New | Key' and call it 'Display Settings'.

Double-click '(Default)' in the right-hand pane and enter 'Display Settings' in the Value Data box. Now right-click Display Settings in the left-hand pane, select 'New | Key' again and call this key 'command'.

Double-click this new key's (Default) value and enter this text: 'rundll32shell32.dll,Control_ RunDLLDESK.CPL,@0,3'. (That's a zero following the @ sign, and take care to use the right cases.) Click 'OK' and right-click the desktop to see the new Display Settings option.

12. Multiple Live Messenger log-ins

By default, Windows Live Messenger only lets you log into one account at a time. To rectify this situation, go to 'HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WindowsLive\Messenger', create a DWORD value called 'Multiple Instances' and set it to 1. Delete the value to restore things to the way they were beforehand.

13. Clean the menus

You've uninstalled an application, but it's left you a gift: several now-useless right-click context menu entries. To fix this, go to 'HKCR\*' and 'HKCR\Directory'. Expand the shell, then the 'shellex\ContextMenuHandlers' keys and look for any keys beneath these that relate to your unwanted command.

On our PC, the key 'HKCR\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\7-Zip' links to the 7-Zip context menu, for instance, so to get rid of that we would right-click the 7-Zip part in the left-hand pane and click 'Delete'. But be careful – only delete a key if you're really sure it's the right one.

14. Speed up backups

Windows XP's NTBACKUP improves its performance by maintaining a list of system files it knows you won't want to back up (such as the paging file). Add your own files and folders that you're not bothered about and you'll get even better results.

View the list at 'HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToBackup'.

15. Change the default installation folder

Most installations default to the Program Files folder, but if you want to point this elsewhere, navigate to 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion', change the 'ProgramFilesDir' entry to point at your chosen folder and reboot.

16. Rename drives

Add a memory card reader to a PC and Explorer will often cram the Computer folder with similar sounding drive names ('Removable Drive D:', 'Removable Drive E:' and so on), making it difficult to tell them apart. But it doesn't have to be that way.

If drive G: is a CompactFlash slot, say, then a few Registry tweaks can change it to read 'CompactFlash (G:)', making things much clearer. Start at 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer' and create a key called 'DriveIcons'.

Within that, create a key with the drive letter ('G' in this example), and within that, create a new key called 'DefaultLabel'. Double-click this key's (Default) value entry, give it the name 'CompactFlash' (or whatever you like) and click 'OK'. Restart Explorer or press [F5] to see the change.

17. Wipe the page file

Windows stores memory pages in its paging file as you work. That's fine unless an intruder gets access to your system. If so, they may then be able to browse the paging file and extract confidential information.

To avoid this, go to 'HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\MemoryManagement', set the 'ClearPageFileAtShutdown' value to 1 and reboot. Windows will now wipe the page file every time it shuts down, lengthening the process but increasing your security.

18. Crash on cue

Blue-screen crashes are usually bad news, but occasionally you might want to initiate one yourself. You might need to test Windows' error reporting, for example. There's a Registry trick that can help achieve this.

Go to 'HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters', create a DWORD called 'CrashOnCtrlScroll' and set it to 1. Reboot your computer, and to crash it just hold down the right [CTRL] and press [Scroll Lock] twice. Use this sparingly: it's a crash like any other, and there's a chance of hard drive corruption. To be safe, delete the CrashOnCtrlScroll value when you're done.

19. Save CPU time

The average PC has several programs wanting to use the processor at any one time, and so Windows allocates each a period of CPU time – a 'quantum' – before moving to the next. By default this is very short, which makes for a responsive PC, but it sometimes means that Windows wastes time just switching between processes.

The solution? You can try what Windows Server does: set up your system to use a long quantum. Set 'HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\PriorityControl\Win32PrioritySeparation' to 16 (hex).

Longer quantums mean fewer switches between programs and so less wasted time. It can push some programs too far, though, and you might begin to notice games lagging or video playback becoming less smooth. If you spot any problems, just restore the original Win32PrioritySeparation value (probably 26 hex).

20. Disable AutoRun

Windows' AutoRun feature is a potential security risk because it automatically runs code when you connect removable devices to your PC. If you can put up with the inconvenience of doing things manually then it's safest to disable it.

On some systems, this can only be done from the Registry. To do so, go to 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping' and create a key called 'Autorun.inf'.

Next, double-click the new key's (Default) value and enter the new value '@SYS:DoesNotExist'. Now delete the Registry key 'HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MountPoints2'. Windows now won't automatically run any code on CDs, DVDs or removable drives; you will have to manually launch it.

Original here

10 skills developers will need in the next five years

2009-04-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

Author: Justin James

If you’re a developer looking to get ahead in your field (or in some cases, to simply stay employed), this is not a good time to be complacent. Justin James lists the skills you’ll want to work on now to maximize your future job prospects.

With the recent changes in the economy, a lot of developers are focused on their short-term job prospects. At the same time, it’s important to make sure that you get the most bang for your buck when it comes to taking the time and energy to learn new skills. Here is our list of 10 skills you should be learning right now to make sure that your resume is relevant for the next five years. The list is hardly exhaustive, and there are huge swaths of the industry it won’t cover (mainframe developers, for example). Nonetheless, for average mainstream development, you can’t go wrong learning at least seven of these skills — not only to the point where you can talk convincingly about them at a job interview, but actually use them on the job.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: One of the “Big Three” (.NET, Java, PHP)

Unless there is a radical shift in the development world (akin to an asteroid hitting Redmond), most developers will need to know at least one of the Big Three development systems — .NET (VB.NET or C#), Java, or PHP — for the near future. It’s not enough to know the core languages, either. As projects encompass more and more disparate functionality, you’ll need to know the associated frameworks and libraries more deeply.

2: Rich Internet Applications (RIAs)

Love it or hate it, in the last few years, Flash is suddenly being used for more than just animations of politicians singing goofy songs. Flash has also sprouted additional functionality in the form or Flex and AIR. Flash’s competitors, such as JavaFx and Silverlight, are also upping the ante on features and performance. To make things even more complicated, HTML 5 is incorporating all sorts of RIA functionality, including database connectivity, and putting the formal W3C stamp on AJAX. In the near future, being an RIA pro will be a key resume differentiator.

3: Web development

Web development is not going away anytime soon. Many developers have been content to lay back and ignore the Web or to just stick to “the basics” their framework provides them with. But companies have been demanding more and more who really know how to work with the underlying technology at a “hand code” level. So bone up on JavaScript, CSS, and HTML to succeed over the next five years.

4: Web services

REST or SOAP? JSON or XML? While the choices and the answers depend on the project, it’s getting increasingly difficult to be a developer (even one not writing Web applications) without consuming or creating a Web service. Even areas that used to be ODBC, COM, or RPC domains are now being transitioned to Web services of some variety. Developers who can’t work with Web services will find themselves relegated to legacy and maintenance roles.

5: Soft skills

One trend that has been going for quite some time is the increasing visibility of IT within and outside the enterprise. Developers are being brought into more and more non-development meetings and processes to provide feedback. For example, the CFO can’t change the accounting rules without working with IT to update the systems. And an operations manager can’t change a call center process without IT updating the CRM workflow. Likewise, customers often need to work directly with the development teams to make sure that their needs are met. Will every developer need to go to Toastmasters or study How to Win Friends and Influence People? No. But the developers who do will be much more valuable to their employers — and highly sought after in the job market.

6: One dynamic and/or functional programming language

Languages like Ruby, Python, F#, and Groovy still aren’t quite mainstream – but the ideas in them are. For example, the LINQ system in Microsoft’s .NET is a direct descendent of functional programming techniques. Both Ruby and Python are becoming hot in some sectors, thanks to the Rails framework and Silverlight, respectively. Learning one of these languages won’t just improve your resume, though; it will expand your horizons. Every top-flight developer I’ve met recommends learning at least one dynamic or functional programming language to learn new ways of thinking, and from personal experience, I can tell you that it works.

7: Agile methodologies

When Agile first hit mainstream awareness, I was a skeptic, along with many other folks I know. It seemed to be some sort of knee-jerk reaction to tradition, throwing away the controls and standards in favor of anarchy. But as time went on, the ideas behind Agile became both better defined and better expressed. Many shops are either adopting Agile or running proof-of-concept experiments with Agile. While Agile is not the ultimate panacea for project failure, it does indeed have a place on many projects. Developers with a proven track record of understanding and succeeding in Agile environments will be in increasingly high demand over the next few years.

8: Domain knowledge

Hand-in-hand with Agile methodologies, development teams are increasingly being viewed as partners in the definition of projects. This means that developers who understand the problem domain are able to contribute to the project in a highly visible, valuable way. With Agile, a developer who can say, “From here, we can also add this functionality fairly easily, and it will get us a lot of value,” or “Gee, that requirement really doesn’t match the usage patterns our logs show” will excel. As much as many developers resist the idea of having to know anything about the problem domain at all, it is undeniable that increasing numbers of organizations prefer (if not require) developers to at least understand the basics.

9: Development “hygiene”

A few years ago, many (if not most) shops did not have access to bug tracking systems, version control, and other such tools; it was just the developers and their IDE of choice. But thanks to the development of new, integrated stacks, like the Microsoft Visual Studio Team System, and the explosion in availability of high quality, open source environments, organizations without these tools are becoming much less common. Developers must know more than just how to check code in and out of source control or how to use the VM system to build test environments. They need to have a rigorous habit of hygiene in place to make sure that they are properly coordinating with their teams. “Code cowboys” who store everything on a personal USB drive, don’t document which changes correspond to which task item, and so on, are unwelcome in more traditional shops and even more unwelcome in Agile environments, which rely on a tight coordination between team members to operate.

10: Mobile development

The late 1990s saw Web development rise to mainstream acceptance and then begin to marginalize traditional desktop applications in many areas. In 2008, mobile development left the launch pad, and over the next five years, it will become increasingly important. There are, of course, different approaches to mobile development: Web applications designed to work on mobile devices, RIAs aimed at that market, and applications that run directly on the devices. Regardless of which of these paths you choose, adding mobile development to your skill set will ensure that you are in demand for the future.

Finally: 10 Things… the newsletter!

Get the key facts on a wide range of technologies, techniques, strategies, and skills with the help of the concise need-to-know lists featured in TechRepublic’s 10 Things newsletter, delivered every Friday. Automatically sign up today.

Justin James is an employee of Levit & James, Inc. in a multi-disciplinary role that combines programming, network management, and systems administration. He has been blogging at TechRepublic since 2005. Read his full bio and profile.

Original here

Poll: Will The Pirate Bay Crew Be Found Innocent or Guilty?

2009-04-13T22:28:00.000-07:00

Written by Ernesto

In a few days the verdict in the Pirate Bay trial will be announced, a decision that could have far reaching consequences for fellow BitTorrent trackers and file-sharing in general. Through this poll we’d like to hear what the public believe the verdict will be. Generally in favor of The Pirate Bay Four - or against?

February 16 marked the start of The Pirate Bay trial and as the days passed, plenty of information was presented by both the prosecution and defense.

The prosecution claimed that the four defendants were ‘assisting in making copyright content available’ and demanded millions of dollars in damages. The defense did not agree, and all pleaded not guilty - backed up by the inimitable King Kong defense.

In an earlier post we summarized some of the key arguments in the case, but much will depend on the judge’s interpretation of the word ‘assisting’. The Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde still predicts an EPIC WIN, he told us so, and the IFPI and MPAA fancy their chances too.

Of course, if we ran a poll asking you if you believe the defendants are innocent or guilty, it’s likely the response would be overwhelmingly in favor of the former. So what we would like to know in this poll is not whether you think the four are innocent or not, but purely what you believe the court’s verdict will be. Your personal opinion of The Pirate Bay doesn’t really matter, only what you believe the court will decide - good or bad.

The court’s decision may not be straightforward. It’s possible that one, two or more people walk, or equally be found guilty, or any other combination incorporating the four defendants. So we ask for your feeling overall, when all things are considered.

The verdict will be generally

What the Wolverine Leak Means for the Future of Piracy

2009-04-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

By Michael Dance

Twentieth-Century Fox was the butt of a big prank this April Fool’s Day, when news broke that a copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was leaked onto the net. Movies get leaked habitually, sure, but the circumstances combined to make it feel like a first: It was a DVD-quality copy. Of a massive, big-budget superhero movie. Online a full month before the movie’s release.

The bootleg spread like wildfire, and by some accounts there were over one hundred thousand downloads on the first day alone. That’s a lot of conceivable box office revenue.

It felt like a first, but it also might be a last. Because the way I experienced it, April Fool’s Day marked the end of piracy’s glory days — the day piracy stopped being casually tolerated by everyone but studio heads.

This goes beyond Fox’s you-messed-with-the-wrong-people response to the incident (they put out a statement which went something like, and I’m paraphrasing, “we’re working with the FBI to make sure whomever was responsible will spend the rest of their life worrying about dropping the soap”). And it goes beyond the firing of FoxNews.com’s Roger Friedman, who won the Stupidest (Ex-)Columnist in the World award for writing a review of the bootleg and encouraging people to watch more movies online illegally. (Seriously, man. Twentieth-Century Fox and Fox News are sibling companies, what kind of false sense of job security did you have?)

It also goes beyond whether the movie was any good or not. I’ve read good and bad things; the majority of responses haven’t been promising, but then again, we’re talking about the internet. Do the disparagers really think watching it on a fifteen-inch screen with unfinished special effects will provide the same experience sitting in a movie theater will? No, they just like being negative.

What it really boils down to is that the online fan community itself condemned the leak. Universally.

Ain’t It Cool News, the granddaddy of online movie spoiling and fanboy bitching, ran a story called “We Don’t Want your Wolverine Movie Reviews,” explaining, “the only way you’re seeing it right now is through illegal channels, and we’re not going to condone that.”

JoBlo.com downplayed its potential effects, saying that “while there will always be a percentage of internetizens who actively seek pirated/bootleg/camera copies of movies, it’s probably safe to say that the average consumer still prefers the theater experience.”

TheBadandUgly.com said they stopped watching the bootleg after a couple minutes, in order to get the better theatrical experience: “Just because you can watch a rough-sketch and go somewhere on the internet to read the entire plot,” the article says, “does not mean you, I or anyone knows what X-Men Origins: Wolverine looks like. Because it isn’t done.”

And DarkHorizons.com summed things up by saying “It’s an act that cruelly robs thousands of people of not just months of hard effort, but their potential livelihood as well.”

That was the reigning sentiment: even if you don’t care about hurting a big studio, you’re hurting the hundreds of hardworking crew members who spent months on the project. If piracy translates into lost revenue, that’s going to translate into smaller budgets and fewer jobs.

If you really want a nail in the coffin? Even some pirates are speaking out against the leak. The New York Times ran a story called “Some Pirates Won’t Watch Illegal Wolverine”, while Gizmodo came out with a “Pirate’s Code of Conduct”, which contained gems like “save action flicks…for the big screen” and ” if you really like it and can afford to do so, buy it.”

Does this mean everyone in the world has suddenly found a stringent set of morals? That’s pretty doubtful. But the tide of public opinion has turned. And I am sure about one thing:

The fourteen-year-old who stole the copy of Wolverine from his dad’s postproduction and posted it online thinking he was cool is totally crapping his pants right now.

Original here

'Conficker' computer worm finally stirs

2009-04-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

By Associated Press

Video

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The dreaded Conficker computer worm is stirring. Security experts say the worm's authors appear to be trying to build a big moneymaker, but not a cyber weapon of mass destruction as many people feared.

As many as 12 million computers have been infected by Conficker. Security firm Trend Micro says some of the machines have been updated over the past few days with fake antivirus software - the first attempt by Conficker's authors to profit from their massive "botnet."

Criminals use bogus security software to extort money. Victims are told their computers are infected, and can be fixed only by paying for a clean-up that never happens.

Conficker gets on computers through a hole Microsoft patched in October. PCs set up for automatic Windows updates should be clean.

Facebook Blocks All Pirate Bay Links

2009-04-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

Written by Ernesto

It was less than two weeks ago when The Pirate Bay implemented a new feature making it easier for site users to post links to torrents on their Facebook profile, so their friends can download those torrents with just a single click.

The entertainment industries were not happy with the new feature, but since The Pirate Bay is not exclusively used to spread copyrighted material, there wasn’t much they could do about it. Facebook users responded positively and many began posting torrent links in their profile. This integration of the world’s largest tracker and the world’s largest social networking site generated hundreds of news articles and excitement. But it wasn’t to last.

This morning Facebook decided to put an end to the sharing and blocked not only the feature, but all links to Pirate Bay’s torrents. The ‘Share on Facebook’ button on the TPB torrent download pages doesn’t work anymore, and neither does the Facebook bookmarklet. Manually adding a link to your Facebook messages isn’t allowed either, regardless of the “legality” of the content it’s linking to. Facebook has basically launched a site-wide ban of Pirate Bay torrent URLs.

Any message containing a torrent URL, like this one, is blocked. According to the message you’ll see on Facebook it is because it “has been reported as abusive by Facebook users” but this is inaccurate. Facebook is actively blocking the links, also for new torrents and ‘legal’ torrents that are uploaded by artist who want to share their work.

Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt told TorrentFreak, “Facebook respects copyrights and our Terms of Service prohibits placement of ‘Share on Facebook’ links on sites that contain “any content that is infringing. Given the controversy surrounding The Pirate Bay and the pending lawsuit against them, we’ve reached out to The Pirate Bay and asked them to remove the ‘Share on Facebook’ links from their site. The Pirate Bay has not responded and so we have blocked their torrents from being shared on Facebook.”

Facebook users are not allowed to link to Pirate Bay torrents

Interestingly, links from thepiratebay.se are still accepted. The Pirate Bay’s Peter Sunde told TorrentFreak that this is plain censorship and said he will try to come up with a workaround so people can continue to share. “I’ll fix it later today so it will have a link to a redirect site or something,” he said.

Since Facebook’s Terms of Service forbid any acts of copyright infringement, the company wouldn’t generally be responsible for infringements committed by their users. However, just as a torrent site is expected to respond to DMCA takedown notices, so is Facebook. If, after being notified of an infringement Facebook fails to take action, it could itself become liable. Add this to the prospect of a growing administrative headache linked to a rising tide of DMCA takedown notices generated by TPB torrents, and Facebook probably decided it had enough grounds to justify a ban.

Facebook’s censorship policies are not very consistent though. Mininova and isoHunt, two other large BitTorrent sites remain unaffected, even though isoHunt offers the exact same ‘Share on Facebook’ feature as The Pirate Bay previously did.

Original here

French government OKs Web piracy law

2009-04-13T22:13:00.000-07:00

By Andre Paine, Billboard

Getty Images photo

UPDATE: French anti-piracy law rejected

LONDON -- The French National Assembly has voted to adopt the central clause in the anti-piracy Creation and Internet Law, which would allow a state body to cut off copyright infringers' broadband access after two warnings were issued.

The three-strikes scheme proposed by the French government to tackle P2P file-sharing has met with opposition from some politicians and consumer groups, but the vote has been welcomed by parts of the international music business.

"The French government has taken a decisive step to protect artists and creators, setting an example to the rest of the world," said IFPI chairman and chief executive John Kennedy in a statement. "The great thing about this French initiative is that it will result in very sensible and achievable actions by ISPs to reduce piracy in a way that is overwhelmingly preventative and not punitive."

IMPALA, which represents 4,000 independent labels across Europe, also welcomed the vote.

"We see this as a great breakthrough. Independents produce 80% of all new releases and as a result suffer particularly from illegal downloading," said executive chair Helen Smith in a statement. "We feel that this text reaches an excellent compromise between the interests of the fans, the music companies and the ISPs."

Michel Lambot, co-president of PIAS and co-president of IMPALA, added: "This was a bold move by the French, and has brought its fare share of criticism. We hope the law will now be able to go on to be the success that we believed it would and that it will serve as an example that other countries can follow."

France's consumer rights group UFC-Que Choisir has opposed the plan.

Thursday's vote on the three-strikes measure was crucial to the legislation, which will undergo parliamentary scrutiny article by article, beginning April 9, before it is finally passed into law.

Original here

22 Firefox Extensions to Turn Gmail into a Powerhouse of Productivity and Manageability

2009-04-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Gmail is perhaps the greatest web app ever developed, it is very popular (over 100 million users), has a generous 2GB of free storage (a small percentage of users will ever use more than this), and very, very user friendly. It is certainly powerful, but is it powerful enough? With Firefox Addons you can take your inbox even further…

GTDInbox Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : GTDInbox
Description : GTDInbox is a powerful addon that will transform your Gmail inbox into an all in one manager that can compete with Outlook. You can do your most common functions within one or two intuitive clicks using a popup command box that allows you to preview, archive, delete or modify the labels of your emails. Another great feature is that you can mark emails as actions to be completed and given priority. Process actions by project, context or person.

Categorize actions, communication and resources…the features are seemingly endless, marvelous tool.

Better Gmail 2 Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Better Gmail 2
Description : Add useful extra features to Gmail, like hierarchical labels, macros, file attachment icons, and much, much more. Better Gmail 2 compiles the best Greasemonkey user scripts for Gmail into a single package.

tLo : Gmail Manager Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : tLo : Gmail Manager
Description : This is a Firefox extension that allows you to manage multiple Gmail accounts and receive new mail notifications. Displays account details including unread messages, saved drafts, spam messages, labels with new mail, space used, and new mail snippets.

Gmail Skins Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Gmail Skins
Description : This cool allows you to customize the look of your Gmail inbox. Gmailskins adds the following features: Change the color/skin of your inbox, integrate your google homepage alongside your inbox (this allows you to view weather reports, rss feeds, news headlines, flickr recently added, google calendar module etc from your inbox), insert images from your Picasa web album in to your emails, insert smileys/emoticons, insert HTML tables and other complex HTML in to your emails, make the navigation (Inbox, Starred, Sent Mail, etc) appear horizontal, fix the navigation in place so that you don't have to scroll to the top of the page to see it, change the attachment paperclip (on inbox) to an icon indicating the type of attachment, and finally, hide various page elements (invite panel, page footer, your email address from the top right of inbox).
Indispensible extension.

Gspace Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Gspace
Description : Gspace turns the 2GB of your Gmail account into free online storage. With Gspace you can manage unlimited Gmail accounts to store all type of files within its simple, user friendly interface. Simply download Gspace and transfer files between your computer and Gspace, its that simple.

GCalQuickTab Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : GCalQuickTab
Description : If you are using both Gmail and Google Calendar, GCalQuickTab makes it easy to switch between the two web apps by overriding the default behavior of the new Gmail/Google Calendar links that appear in the upper-left-hand corner of those sites. If the linked webapp is already open, then it brings that tab into focus instead of opening the webapp in a new window. You can also switch apps by using keyboard shortcuts: “g” for Gmail and “l” for Calendar.

GPhotospace Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : GPhotospace
Description : This very useful extension makes use of your Gmail storage and uses it for online photo storage. Quickly and easily, any user can store their photos online for free. And best of all very little technical knowledge is needed.

Remember The Milk Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Remember The Milk
Description : Remember The Milk is a popular web app that allows you to manage tasks quickly and easily, with this Gmail addon you can add new tasks (and connect them with your emails, contacts, and Google Calendar events) and automatically add tasks for starred messages or specific labels.

Gmail S/MIME Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Gmail S/MIME
Description : With the Gmail S/MIME extension, you can send and receive signed and encrypted S/MIME messages in Gmail. It not only secures your e-mails, it even protects your attachments.

Gmail Contact Book Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Gmail Contact Book
Description : With this simple, but useful addon,you can easily select your contacts from the Contact Book by clicking the little book icon next to CC and BCC Boxs.

Just Smile! Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Just Smile!
Description : This extension replaces text-smileys with the image-smiley variation that that you want (the smiley list is editable).

TodoCue Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : TodoCue
Description : TodoCue is a free web app for creating simple todo lists, simply download the extension and your to-do-list will appear within Gmails sidebar.

Gmail Notifier Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Gmail Notifier
Description : Another small addon that allows you to monitor multiple Gmail accounts right inside your browser's UI.

Easy Job Application Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Easy Job Application
Description : When searching online for a job, and you need to quickly and painlessly send a job application or CV, then this addon is for you. “Right Click” and select “Send Job Application to…”, and that is it, you have applied for a job.

WebMail Notifier Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : WebMail Notifier
Description : WebMail Notifier checks your webmail accounts and notifies you of the number of unread emails.

Blank Canvas Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Blank Canvas
Description : This tiny extension automatically inserts HTML signatures into your Gmail messages based on which address you are sending from. Works for Compose Message and Reply/Forward.

Email This! Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Email This!
Description : Email This! will send your recipient the link, title, & highlighted text of the page you are viewing via GMail.

Send Page By Email Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Send Page By Email
Description : Send web links, send text, or send an image on any webpage you are currently browsing, and email it to anyone you want.

Todoist Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Todoist
Description : Todoist is a popular online task manager that is useful, fast and easy to use and it also comes with an addon that integrates easily into Gmail.

Gmail Checker Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : Gmail Checker
Description : A simple tool that checks for new emails in your Google Mail and Google Apps (Gmail for Domain) accounts.

WiseStamp Email Signatures Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : WiseStamp Email Signatures
Description : WiseStamp enables you to easily customize & add personalized email signatures on any webmail service (Gmail ,Yahoo Mail ,AOL mail, Hotmail, Google Apps…).

MyWebber Firefox Addon for Gmail

URL : MyWebber
Description : This extension gives you more screen space for your messages, Gmail advertisements take up a lot of space even if they get blocked by other addons because they leave unused empty space.

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Top 10 Must-Have Firefox Extensions, 2009 Edition

2009-04-13T22:06:00.000-07:00

By Kevin Purdy

Last time we compiled our must-have Firefox extensions, it was two years (and one browser version) ago. Our new list keeps some, tosses others, and remains our go-to, Grandmaster list of the best Firefox add-ons.

All four of the editors you see posting here daily were asked to name the extensions they think have the most day-to-day value while also adding something new and unique to the open-source browser. It was reassuring to see that more than half of the extensions we featured last time 'round are still on the list, as they obviously kept their value. But four newcomers cropped up in the two years since then, and were innovative enough, or showed enough potential, to make it on our new compendium.

Each Top 10 entrant is linked to the page where Firefox users can install them from. See if you can't find something new for your browsing routine below.

10. AutoCopy

We like it because we're bloggers, having to quote and copy links and code every day, but anyone who does a fair amount of copying to and from the web will dig AutoCopy. The basic use: It copies anyt text you select on the web as soon as you select it—no Ctrl+C necessary. For pasting into text forms, you simply hit the middle mouse button rather than Control+V. If that's all it did, hey, we'd recommend it to anyone who writes, copies, or pastes a lot, but we also have to point out that it fixes really long, wrap-broken URLs automatically. Three cheers for fewer pinky-finger stretches!

9. Google Gears

It's a bit more technical than most browser extensions, but for all intents and purposes, Gears is an easy-to-install add-on that unlocks an entirely new world to the internet. Primarily, it takes Google apps offline—Gmail, Google Reader, Docs, and Calendar—but a handful of other apps make good use of its mini-database powers, including Remember the Milk and PassPack. Still, given the kind of impressive implementation Offline Gmail received, we've only scratched the surface of the potential in them there gears.

8. Personal Menu

Personal Menu is kind of a next-generation version of the much-loved Tiny Menu, accomplishing the same basic but totally great effect: Giving the web content you're actually looking at more space to breath. It does this by stripping the screen-wide menu bar at the top of Firefox's windows and converting it into a single drop-down menu, then lets you choose which of those menus show up in it. Keyboard shortcut ninjas can enable an option to temporarily bring back the menu bar when Alt is pressed, and the extension auto-adds a history and bookmarks button to the main toolbar to compensate for the two most active menus.

7. Better Gmail 2

It's not a revelation that Gmail functionality is one of our pet obsessions. Better Gmail 2 fixes or answers a lot of our Gmail complaints and wishes in one neat package. You can individually enable or kill any of Better Gmail's more than a dozen fixes and improvements, and whenever a great new Gmail user script hits the Greasemonkey realm, you can count on seeing it added to Better Gmail by our own Gina Trapani.

6. DownThemAll!

Not a tool you need every day, but really useful when you want it, DownThemAll is a selective, powerful download manager. It makes short work of snatching all the images on a page (including those links to the "bigger" or "zoom" versions), all the MP3s off a music blog, or any other kind of filter you can set up. Gina's showed us how to do some smart tune-grabbing and Flickr downloading with her guide to supercharging your Firefox downloads with DownThemAll, but her walkthrough should work for any types of files and any page. Incidentally, DownThemAll isn't just one of our favorites—it's also the most popular download manager among Lifehacker readers.

5. Tab Mix Plus

Remember browsing before tabs? We kind of recall a faint smell of kerosene and words like "dubloon" still in use. In all seriousness, browser tabs are the key ingredient to how many of us multi-task on the web every day, and Tab Mix Plus is a master key for everything you like or loathe about tabs. It controls which links open in a new tab, new window, or same window to an OCD-friendly level, adds key features like italicizing the text on tabs you haven't viewed yet, and super-powers Firefox's undo closed tab feature. It gets way, way more intricate than that, but even for just the bare basics, it's totally worth the install.

4. Automatic Save Folder

This one is technically an experimental, non-Mozilla-approved download, but with the positive reaction it received in our experimental extensions round-up, and experimental extensions no longer requiring a sign-up and log-in, it's more than worth stepping out on the ledge. It's the smart-downloading companion to DownThemAll, placing the files you download in a certain folder on your system based on the file extension or the site you grab it from. So if you always want the .xls spreadsheets you grab from Gmail to go into your Reports folder, but an .xls you grab from anywhere else to show up on your Desktop like everything else, you set the rules. JPG files from your friends' Flickr page, versus photo downloads off the rest of the net? Tell them where they should go. It keeps your folders and desktop clean, and sets up rules you shouldn't have to tweak much after one go—truly an extension after our own geeky hearts.

3. Adblock Plus

You knew this would be here, didn't you? Ad-blocking can make the internet a more tolerable place to look around, and AdBlock Plus does this with a powerful ad-blocking feed subscription you can pick at start-up. Alternately, any ads you find particularly distracting ("ONE RULE TO A FLAT STOMACH: OBEY") can be right-clicked on and killed in perpetuity with "Adblock Image." Ads can be brought back if you're feeling curious, but as many a commenter (and AdBlock-loving editor) has said: After getting used to AdBlock Plus, you forget what the internet truly looks like until you turn this extension off. Lifehacker is, of course, an advertising-supported site, so we'd love it if you kept our ads displaying, opting instead to individually kill only the ones that make your eyeballs itch.

2. Greasemonkey

For Firefox changes that require deep browser integration (like adding a new button to the browser's chrome), there are extensions. For everything else, there's Greasemonkey. Greasemonkey is a difficult extension for the uninitiated to wrap their heads around, but once they do, it's a breeze. In essence, Greasemonkey is a meta-extension of sorts. It does nothing by default when first installed; the power lies in Greasemonkey user scripts developed by JavaScript-wielding geeks fed up with under-performing sites or interested in bringing more power to the sites they already love. If you don't like seeing labels on your Gmail messages, but wouldn't mind seeing them when your pointer hovers over them, there's a fix. Want YouTube to acknowledge your bandwidth and load high-quality clips by default? Same deal. Those are just a few recent examples, but the list goes on, and the fixes keep getting better. You can find Greasemonkey scripts all over the web, but if you're just getting started, you may also want to check out Userscripts.org—sort of like Mozilla's add-ons site but for Greasemonkey scripts.

1. Foxmarks/Xmarks

Foxmarks is gradually rebranding as Xmarks, but what we really like about Fox/Xmarks remains the same as the last time it claimed the Must-Have crown: It's nearly seamless at keeping your bookmarks and passwords synchronized between browsers on any platform, and stores them on a site you can visit from any browser where you can't install an extension. If you're not down with the cloud, you can even tell this extension to store your stuff on your own server. Foxmarks is also available on IE and Safari, and you can separate your work bookmarking from ooh-cool life stuff with selective bookmark profiles. It's the tool that lets you keep fleeting thoughts, IM links, and other ephemeral web stuff all together, so of course we dig on it. The transition to Xmarks adds a few semi-nifty, social-y features to your searching and bookmarking, but if you're not keen on those changes, you can easily disable them in the Xmarks preferences.

Original here

AT&T: New iPhone will be hot, son

2009-03-24T01:51:00.000-07:00

Posted by The Boy Genius

We can’t tell you where or who, but pretty high up in AT&T’s food chain, the following was reported to be said:

New iPhone announcement around mid-June (duh)
New iPhone will be faster and have a more seamless experience unmatched by any device (could be just talking about 3.0, but we think it’s also a new iPhone)
U-Verse iPhone application; will allow control of your home DVR (play, pause, rewind, etc.)
The annual iPhone launch is “becoming a tradition.”
Nothing official is being confirmed, but they said that people should prep for an exciting time this summer.
AT&T is said to be working with Apple to create a unified product with an unparalleled experience across all their products and services.
Apple’s 3.0 software should tell us where the iPhone platform is going… uh, k?
They said customers shouldn’t need to choose from AT&T’s high-end devices because of features, they should choose based on preferences. The gap in capability should be filled with the new iPhone. Ok, bets on slide out QWERTY, autofocus camera, video sharing, blah blah?
Seems like the higher speed HSDPA (7.2Mbps) is being hinted at too which should confirm the earlier rumors of the new Infineon chipset.
The $99 3G netbook will start selling this summer, and the first one won’t be a Windows OS.

For clarification, the above is 100% confirmed.

Thanks, Stephanie!

Original here

Meet Nurse iPhone

2009-03-24T01:49:00.000-07:00

The iPhone and iPhone OS 3.0 will make a surprisingly competent medical assistant, blazing a healthy trail that all smartphones will surely follow soon.

by Tim Bajarin

Last week Apple announced a new version of the iPhone OS, adding features to the best-selling platform. Cut and paste, global search, voice navigation, peer-to-peer connectivity for multiplayer games, enhanced Bluetooth, and multimedia messaging will be just a few of the capabilities in iPhone OS 3.0 when it comes to market this summer.

Two apps from the demo last week at One Infinite Loop take advantage of this new OS in a very important way: These apps underline the emerging role of the iPhone as a medical assistant. I'm sensitive to the medical side of things, since I've dealt with hypertension and diabetes for over 18 years. And I'm interested in the role technology plays in helping me and millions of others deal with various health issues. The PC and the Internet itself have been phenomenal tools for anyone with health questions; since sites like WebMD, MayoClinic.com, and others inform us and help people ask their doctors more intelligent questions. At the event in Cupertino, we learned that the smartphone is becoming an important tool in our medicine cabinets, too, letting people research and locate medical information anytime and anywhere. These new apps from Apple add the dimension of real-time monitoring to the iPhone and can play a part in our quest for healthier lives.

The first demo involved a blood-pressure cuff that plugged into the connector on the bottom of the iPhone. An application on the iPhone delivered all the controls needed to inflate the cuff for measuring a person's blood pressure. Since an iPhone is always connected via the integrated 3G modem, it could potentially send that data to your doctor for real-time monitoring of your condition. This will become possible with OS 3.0, which will finally enable the iPhone to talk to third-party peripherals.

This isn't just a cool app—it has real implications for the doctor/patient relationship. Other digital monitoring systems download data to a PC before sending it to the doctor for review. This app breaks new ground, allowing testing in real time and letting doctors adjust medication needs far more proactively.

Although I am a type 2 diabetic and control my diabetes mostly through food, exercise, and oral medications, the second demo was just as interesting to me, since I take blood glucose tests two to three times a day to monitor my blood sugar level. A representative from Johnson & Johnson's LifeScan division showed an app that could tie a blood glucose testing device, such as the company's OneTouch system, to an iPhone. With such a connection, one could download test results to an app on the iPhone to chart various readings graphically. Since it's connected, the device could give real-time information that a person might need to adjust his medicine or insulin. This particular app will also be tied to a community of folks with the same condition, so people can compare treatments, get feedback, and share their own ways of dealing with this disease.

These two applications are good examples of what can happen if you add connectivity and new levels of intelligence to something like the iPhone, turning it into an indispensible medical assistant. It will be interesting to see what the broader medical community will do with this new SDK. Will health-care manufacturers apply their knowledge and expertise to a lot of other medical problems and monitoring devices in the future?

But smartphones aren't assistants only to those with hypertension or diabetes. These devices are indispensible for the hearing-impaired, too. According to Julie Tsoukalas, a friend whose husband is deaf, text messaging has revolutionized communication in the non-hearing world. Those with total hearing loss use sign language to communicate when they are together, but until they had text messaging and e-mail, they couldn't communicate when apart. Now, my friend can "call" her husband anytime and keep in touch night or day when apart.

The iPhone is important to the sightless as well. A phone is already an important communication gateway for the visually impaired; such people can also use audiobooks to deliver information and entertainment. In addition, Apple's new voice-based turn-by-turn navigation could be helpful to pedestrians going from point A to point B in new surroundings. Also, voice communication and the potential of text-to-speech could play an important role in making these devices even more useful someday.

To date, the iTunes App Store has the best repertoire of medical applications for smartphones. In fact, there's an entire section that offers over 230 applications—heart-rate monitoring tools, drug information apps, and even training programs for medical students. But I fully expect to see similar apps popping up on the BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm Pre, and Symbian platforms in the near future.

I'm sure the folks who invented the cell phone never envisioned the device as a medical assistant. But that is exactly what is happening. And I bet they'd be proud of the new capabilities.

Tim Bajarin is one of the leading analysts working in the technology industry today. He is president of Creative Strategies (www.creativestrategies.com), a research company that produces strategy research reports for 50 to 60 companies annually—a roster that includes semiconductor and PC companies, as well as those in telecommunications, consumer electronics, and media. Customers have included AMD, Apple, Dell, HP, Intel, and Microsoft, among many others. You can e-mail him directly at tim@creativestrategies.com.

Original here

Scammer shuffles Apple out of 9,000 iPods

2009-03-24T01:48:00.000-07:00

by Darren Murph

For whatever reason, Apple's iPod ends up in the middle of quite a few crimes. The latest story, however, is even more extreme than usual. Nicholas Arthur Woodhams, a 23 year old from Kalamazoo, Michigan, was recently slapped upside the gord with federal charges of fraud and money laundering after he managed to con Apple into shipping him around 9,000 iPod shuffles. As the story goes, he managed to somehow correctly guess thousands of valid shuffle serial numbers and have replacements shipped to him; once they arrived, he sold them for less than MSRP to excited buyers, all while giving Apple a prepaid VISA number that would reject the charges after he failed to send back the nonexistent "original" shuffle. It's rather amazing to us that he was able to pull this off for so long without being noticed, but even if it works for awhile, we've learned yet again that crime doesn't pay. In fact, the feds have already seized a half million bucks from one brokerage account, some real estate and a trio of vehicles. Tragic, yeah?

Original here

iPhone Sales Hit 17 Million

2009-03-24T01:45:00.000-07:00

Apple has sold a total of 17 million iPhones -- including sales of both the original iPhone and iPhone 3G -- since launch, according to the company's vice president of iPod and iPhone product marketing.

Speaking at the launch of Apple's iPhone 3.0 software last week, Joswiak said the figure -- which includes 13.7 million iPhones sold in 2008 -- beat Apple's target of 10 million by a wide margin.

Including sales of the iPod touch, Apple has sold 30 million devices running the iPhone OS.

Other successes including Apple's iPhone developer programme, which boasts 50,000 members, while the number of applications available via the company's App Store now exceeds 25,000. There have been 800 million total downloads on the App Store so far, Apple said.

Original here

"Feel" the Movies With Philips' Tactile Jacket

2009-03-24T01:43:00.000-07:00

by Daniel A. Begun

Not counting tasting popcorn or soda or whatever yummy morsels you might have snuck into a movie theater, the only human senses that are typically engaged in "watching" a movie are seeing and hearing--someone sitting behind you, kicking your seat, doesn't count, as that is not part of the "film's world" (or diegesis as film scholars like to call it). Not that some innovators haven't tried to engage the sense of smell for movies, such as the short-lived Smell-O-Vision or John Waters' tongue-in-cheek, Odorama. But what about the sense of touch? What if someone kicking your seat or a similar sensation was actually part of the film's world and the intended viewer's experience?

That's that question that researchers from Philips Electronics are asking, and they're trying to get their answers using a special jacket they created that contains 64 embedded vibration motors. Each motor can be independently controlled, and the actuators are divided into 16 different arrays, with each four-motor array controlled by a dedicated processor. All the actuators are linked to each other on a serial bus and they are distributed through the jacket's arms and torso.

Photo credit: Steve Brewster
via IEEE Spectrum

The purpose of this exercise is not necessarily to reproduce physical sensations from the film. Such haptic devices already exist, such as TN Games' 3rd Space Gaming Vest and its upcoming HTX Helmet. The Philips researchers are more interested in determining what sort of emotional responses touch can elicit from a viewer. They call this "emotional immersion," and it is more akin to providing a sensation such as a "causing a shiver to go up the viewer's spine and creating the feeling of tension in the limbs" or "create a pulsing on the wearer's chest to simulate... [an] elevated heartbeat." This added sensation could serve to make viewers associate more intimately with characters and even empathize with them in. The researchers posit that touch can be a powerful emotional catalyst; Paul Lemmens, a Philips senior scientist, says: "People don't realize how sensitive we are to touch, although it is the first sense that fetuses develop in the womb."

Lemmens has a Ph.D. in cognitive science and is "experienced in experimental psychological research focusing on human information processing that is related to resolving conflicting information in a perceivers environment and the role of emotion in information processing." Lemmens is giving a presentation on research Philips has done with the jacket at the World Haptics conference this week in Salt Lake City, Utah. IEEE Spectrum reports that Philips has previously engaged in similar devices meant to increase viewers' sensations, such as "lighting-effects devices and wind machines that together can simulate the sensation of a gentle breeze or a bomb blast."

If the mind wanders long enough (and for some of us, it doesn't take that long at all), the idea of placing actuators into items of clothing that cause viewers to feel sensations leads to an obvious question. Interestingly, it is a question that Lemmens has already given some thought to:

"Asked if he and his colleagues have any plans to make a matching set of pants, Lemmens says no, but that the possible applications of this technology are limitless and that the emotion-inducing actuators could go anywhere."

Original here

Report: Apple leaks 17-inch iMac for $899?

2009-03-24T01:42:00.001-07:00

by David Carnoy

It's kind of funny when an Italian-language site breaks a wee bit of English-language-based Apple news, but that's what happened when SetteB.IT spotted a small mention of an $899 17-inch iMac for the education market on Apple's own Web site.

Currently, Apple is offering iMacs only in 20- and 24-inch screen sizes. The 20-inch model starts at $1,199, and the 24-incher starts at $1,499.

No word on when the "new" 17-incher will arrive (or if it's really new), but we'll await official confirmation from Apple.

Anybody interested? In this economy, I think the sub-$1,000 market is a good spot for Apple to play in--especially when it comes to cash-strapped parents of students.

(Source: Gizmodo via SetteB.IT)

Update: Wired's Gadget Lab is reporting that the "new" 17-inch iMac isn't really new and is just a reference to the old white plastic iMac 17-incher. Of course, Apple could very well do a 17-inch aluminum iMac at some point, so we'll see how this all plays out.

Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of Knife Music, a novel that's available as a print and Kindle book at Amazon.com, as well as a free e-book download for the iPhone/iPod Touch and the Sony Reader. E-mail David.

Original here

Monster "HDMI Difference" scam still kickin' in Fry's Electronics

2009-03-24T01:39:00.000-07:00

by Darren Murph

Man, this is just sad. Over a year after the internet was set ablaze with rage after seeing Monster's HDMI cable scam, we've just been notified that the tactic is still being used in at least one Fry's Electronics store. For those unaware, the rig works as such: two TVs are set beside each other along with a sign that says "See the Monster HDMI Difference." Trouble is, the "Monster set" (on the right) is connected to its source via an HDMI cable, while the "non-Monster set" (on the left) is connected via composite cable. As in, the lamest looking signal next to using an RF modulator. So, is anyone with any amount of power paying attention to this? We get the feeling "false advertising" is a real understatement of the situation.

Original here

Pirate Bay Announces IPREDATOR Global Anonymity Service

2009-03-24T01:38:00.000-07:00

Written by enigmax

As the online battle against file-sharers heats up with governments and ISPs forced into the arena, those opposed to being monitored are investigating counter-measures. Soon the Pirate Bay team will introduce IPREDATOR, a service that promises to make global Internet users more anonymous than with existing VPN services.

As the entertainment industries turn their lobbying power towards ISPs and governments in their on-going battle against file-sharers, more and more people are looking at neutralizing the effects of monitoring and new legislation.

Many file-sharers already pay a few dollars each month for a VPN service. This type of facility allows the user to protect his Internet connection with encryption while “tunneling’ data in privacy through the servers of a VPN provider, usually located in another country. The user’s ISP-designated IP address remains hidden, revealing only a second IP address provided by his VPN company.

This type of service hinders outsiders from finding the identity of an individual behind an IP address, while helping Internet users effectively side-step laws which may prove inconvenient or unpalatable in their home country.

For those who like to share files, one country set to introduce an extremely unpalatable law is Sweden. Due to come into force in just over a week, the controversial Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) legislation will make it easier for copyright holders to get their hands on the personal details of suspected illicit file-sharers.

But not if the crew of The Pirate Bay have anything to do with it.

Timed to coincide with the introduction of IPRED on April 1st 2009, a brand new service designed to neutralize the effects of the law will be launched. Dubbed ‘IPREDATOR’, this brand new anonymity service from The Pirate Bay promises to make subscribers “more anonymous” than when using traditional VPN services.

Peter Sunde, aka brokep told TorrentFreak that the service is currently in beta and will be slowly opened to around 500 users. When those users are experiencing the service bug-free, it will be opened up to everyone.

Fortunately the service won’t be limited to just Swedish users. Brokep confirmed that anonymity will be available globally for a modest fee of around 5 euros ($6.77) per month.

The weak link in any VPN/anonymity service is always their willingness (or otherwise) to hand over your customer data when pressured under the law. However, with IPREDATOR this should not be an issue since the service is promising to keep no logs of user activity whatsoever.

Anyone who would like to participate in the beta should sign up here.

Stay tuned for further updates.

Original here

Obama Sides With RIAA, Supports $150,000 Fine per Music Track

2009-03-24T01:36:00.000-07:00

By David Kravets

The Obama administration for the first time is weighing in on a Recording Industry Association of America file sharing lawsuit and is supporting hefty awards of as much as $150,000 per purloined music track.

The government said the damages range of $750 to $150,000 per violation of the Copyright Act was warranted.

"The remedy of statutory damages for copyright infringement has been the cornerstone of our federal copyright law since 1790, and Congress acted reasonably in crafting the current incarnation of the statutory damages provision," Michelle Bennett, a Department of Justice trial attorney wrote (.pdf) Sunday to a Massachusetts federal judge weighing challenge to the Copyright Act.

The position -- that the Copyright Act's monetary damages are not unconstitutionally excessive -- mirrors the one taken by the Bush administration and should come as no surprise.

Two top lawyers in President Barack Obama's Justice Department are former RIAA lawyers: Donald Verrilli Jr. is the associate deputy attorney general who brought down Grokster and fought to prevent a retrial in the Jammie Thomas case. Then there's the No. 2 in the DOJ, Tom Perrilli. As Verrilli's former boss, Perrilli argued in 2002 that internet service providers should release customer information to the RIAA even without a court subpoena.

Presidential administrations often intervene in lawsuits in which the constitutionality of a federal law is in question. This case concerns a former Boston University student challenging a peer-to-peer file sharing case.

Still, parts of the government's brief sounded as if it was taken from the RIAA's public relations playbook.

"Congress sought to account for both the difficulty of quantifying damages in the context of copyright infringement and the need to deter millions of users of new technology from infringing copyrighted work in an environment where many violators believe that their activities will go unnoticed," Bennett wrote.

The RIAA has sued more than 30,000 individuals for file sharing the last five years. It is winding down the campaign and is lobbying internet service providers to discontinue service to copyright scofflaws.

Original here

Why Microsoft Continues to Chase Internet Search

2009-03-24T01:34:00.000-07:00

By Saul Hansell

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft.

If you are making something that is growing and profitable, why throw billions at something else that has kept losing money and market share?

That was the last question I had for Steve Ballmer, the chief executive of Microsoft, when he came by The Times on Thursday. I wrote earlier about most of our conversation, which was about the company’s plans to offer computing services from its network of data centers to corporate customers. While I wondered about the complexity of Microsoft’s software design, it has the advantage of a strong position in the corporate software market, which it won over the last 10 years.

But I asked Mr. Ballmer, why bother with trying to catch up to Google in search when it looks as if the enterprise market has much better potential return given the risk?

He flatly rejected the premise of the question.

“I don’t feel like I have to make the choice whether to do foo or to do bar,” he said, using the language of computer jocks of a certain generation. (Wikipedia traces the word “foobar,” meaning “placeholder,” to the Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1970s.)

Mr. Ballmer wants to be in search because that’s where the money is.

“At the end of the day, one of the key lessons is that not all businesses on the Internet are good businesses,” he said. Microsoft, he pointed out, dominates instant messaging in Europe, but that popularity hasn’t turned into much profit.

“There are only three things on the Internet that have made money: Amazon, eBay and Google,” he said. “If we’re going to make a lot of money on the Internet, we’ll have to challenge Google in search.”

Mr. Ballmer added that when individuals use Microsoft products, it helps sales to business.

“Getting people hooked on using Office in a collaborative mode at home is super-important to getting them to use it that way at work,” he said. “If you lose the consumer, you lose the enterprise.”

How’s that for putting even more pressure on the team trying, yet again, to come up with a search engine that people actually want to use?

Original here

Internet Explorer 8: How not to launch a new browser

2009-03-24T01:32:00.000-07:00

Opinion – Microsoft is the company that invented the concept of launching a beta product in order to build up traction for the final product. And still, the introduction of Internet Explorer 8 shapes up to be a complete train wreck as far as customer adoption is concerned.

Sure, journalists are no marketing whizzes, at least not typically. And I don’t claim that I am smarter than Microsoft’s marketing and PR strategists. But I have spent my fair share in software marketing in my career and I can say with certainty that I would have been in trouble if I had messed up a product launch as much as Microsoft messed up the launch of its new web browser.

Last week, I spent some time on the relatively slow launch pace of IE8, which topped out at a market share of 1.86% by Friday afternoon, according to data provided by Net Applications. For a company with the reach of Microsoft, this was a bit of a disappointment. But browsers like Internet Explorer 7, Firefox or Safari hit their market share highs on weekends, while Internet Explorer 6, still a browser that has a fairly high market share during the week, declines.

If we believe the market share numbers provided by Net Applications, IE8 climbed above the 2% mark when U.S. users went into their weekend – or around 5 pm EDT last Friday. Over the past two days, the market share climbed as high as 2.59% (Sunday, 3 am EDT), before dropping into the 2.3% neighborhood later that day. It is too early to say which browser had to give up market share to enable IE8’s gain, but as far as we can see from Net Application’s data, it does not appear that IE7’s and Firefox 3’s market share numbers have suffered. It will take some time until we can see whether IE7 users are upgrading or Firefox users are returning to IE.

But the heart of the matter is that, in a best case scenario, IE8 has gained less than 1% of market share over the weekend and may have seen somewhere between 5 and 7 million downloads between Friday evening and Sunday night. Since launch day, the market share has increased by less than 1.3% - if Net Applications’ numbers are correct.

Let’s look at what Mozilla accomplished with Firefox. Firefox 3 gained 2.76 percentage points over its first four days of availability – and we are talking about a browser that had less than 20% overall market share at the time of its release. Microsoft’s IE is still well above the 65% mark. You do the math on the performance discrepancy – and it is now even more impressive how Mozilla handled the launch of Firefox 3.

I have no idea what happened at Microsoft, but I can just imagine the questions that are already asked by some executives. It is mind boggling to compare ingenious campaigns such as the launch of IE4 and the quiet launch of IE8. Just like IE4 was designed to surpass Netscape’s Navigator/Communicator browser back then, IE8 is a critical product that Microsoft needs as supporting software for its cloud computing strategy. I personally would have missed the launch, had I not been told about it by TG Daily in-house browser expert Christian Zibreg.

Given the circumstances, especially IE declining market share, I just don’t believe Microsoft can afford such half-baked product launches.

Original here

The four stages of programming competence

2009-03-24T01:30:00.000-07:00

One of the basic pillars of the study of human psychology is the analysis of the subconscious and conscious mind. Sigmund Freud was one of the first to clearly identify and characterize the ‘areas’ where our psychic energy flows. During the first part of his notable life he stated that these were the ’subconscious’, ‘preconscious’ and ‘conscious’ mind.

If we wanted to get an idea of how each of them is involved in our ideas, feelings, thoughts, decisions and motivation (which are key in our daily and professional lives), we should picture ourselves as an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg, the only part we see from the surface, is the conscious mind. It’s logical, organized, and we can control it, but still small. The vast and voluminous underlying mass is the unconscious mind. It’s disorganized, illogical, irrational, but defining in how we act.

Modern psychology has attempted to classify how good we are at a certain skill by observing how deep it perforates that iceberg. It thus describes four stages of competence an individual can achieve. In this article I’ll try to apply this simple scheme to the skill we practice everyday: programming.

Stage 1: Unconscious incompetence

John is a young web developer. He used to be a law student, but he thought that wasn’t where the money’s at, so in the blink of an eye he made the switch. He was always good at fixing his buddies computers, so he figured it would be easy. He quickly looked up a few places (near his home, naturally) where he could learn the job. After six months he claims to be a Web Development expert, and his resume lists every programming language, software application and platform known to man.

John, in reality, is a ruthless copypaster. He thinks succeeding at displaying an alert window is all there’s to Javascript. PHP? Piece of cake: he installed Wordpress. Linux? He booted an Ubuntu LiveCD, he could surely set up a cluster of load-balanced Apache web servers. His knowledge knows no frontiers.

The problem here is that John is unaware of all he could learn, so he simply doesn’t. He’s in a bubble that no one at the online forums or mailing lists he usually visits can burst, when they try to gently explain the root of his problems is his superficial knowledge. And sadly, his hourly rate is bigger than yours and mine combined.

John is unconsciously incompetent.

Stage 2: Conscious incompetence

Mark is a math teacher. He works at a small downtown university which he wishes had at least five times the resources it currently has. He believes they’re a few steps back from other institutions when it comes to technology, so he decides to get hands to work. He wants to build an online platform to share the material of the courses with the community.

Mark has a naturally logical mind. He knows that in order to execute that task he’ll need to do his research, get information. His quest starts in Wikipedia, but at the end of a long browsing session, he’s learned that a few groups of people around the world offer Open Source solutions to his problem.

He picks the project he thinks best suits his needs. He proceeds to read the documentation and tutorials he finds on the website, and finally downloads the program. All his excitement fades away when he sees that ‘Database connection error’ issue. He tries and tries, even triple-checks his steps, to no avail. Mark is not irritated, he knows it’s not his field of expertise.

He heads to the mailing list and describes his solution with all the exactitude his knowledge allows, which is little. He warns everyone that he’s not exactly sure of what he’s doing, so he’ll welcome more documentation to read, or any tips people can spare. He won’t have to wait long for a solution, because he’s doing the right thing.

Mark is consciously incompetent.

Stage 3: Conscious competence

It’s been two years since Adrian picked up his first HTML book. It clearly has been a one-way ride, for all Adrian thinks about every day is how to improve at what he loves. A few months ago he picked up his first freelance jobs in a website, which he executes passionately despite how low the pay and how basic the task is, even to him.

Of one thing he’s convinced: the best way to learn is to persevere, try and fail, and try again. He always researches how to best execute a task, since it doesn’t come naturally to him. He has to try hard to produce secure code, so he audits it time after time. He fixes it time after time.

The other day he wrote 30 or 40 lines of code for a personal project of his. He can’t help but feel a little disappointed when, browsing the net a few days later, he sees an effortless and much more elegant execution in half as many lines. He wonders when he’ll be able to write solutions of that quality on his own, straightforwardly. However, after a bit of thought, he’s searching his files. He knows he has to rewrite that piece or he won’t sleep well that night. He won’t be copypasting it.

Adrian’s on his way to become an excellent professional, but he’s not giving himself titles, he can wait.
Adrian is consciously competent.

Stage 4: Unconscious competence

This is the ultimate stage of programming mastery. It’s not only the result of accumulated knowledge, but the result of a set of logic rules that have been slowly imprinted on the individual’s mind through the years.

We know we’re dealing with such a person when one cannot help but admire the ease with which extremely complex solutions are provided. This type of programmer seems to smell, not think, his way to a solution.

Writing optimized, maintainable and secure code, applying design patterns and picking the right set of tools he’ll be working with come naturally. This guy can work with ease on multiple languages and platforms.

Closing thoughts

After reading these examples I hope you’re as convinced as me of the validity of applying this model of thought to this particular field.

It’s worth mentioning that some authors suggest a fifth stage, which is reflective competence, described as the ability to teach and convey that what was learned and now is known unconsciously. We may see this in talented individuals who can teach and explain (even in front of crowds) as an apparent second-nature (John Resig quickly comes to mind).

Original here

'Smart Grid' may be vulnerable to hackers

2009-03-24T01:29:00.000-07:00

By Jeanne Meserve
CNN Homeland Security Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Is it really so smart to forge ahead with the high technology, digitally based electricity distribution and transmission system known as the "Smart Grid"? Tests have shown that a hacker can break into the system, and cybersecurity experts said a massive blackout could result.

If someone hacked into the Smart Grid, experts say it could cause a blackout that stretches across the country.

Until the United States eliminates the Smart Grid's vulnerabilities, some experts said, deployment should proceed slowly.

"I think we are putting the cart before the horse here to get this stuff rolled out very fast," said Ed Skoudis, a co-founder of InGuardians, a network security research and consulting firm.

The Smart Grid will use automated meters, two-way communications and advanced sensors to improve electricity efficiency and reliability. The nation's utilities have embraced the concept and are installing millions of automated meters on homes across the country, the first phase in Smart Grid's deployment. President Obama has championed Smart Grid, and the recent stimulus bill allocated $4.5 billion for the high-tech program. Watch CNN report on Smart Grid »

But cybersecurity experts said some types of meters can be hacked, as can other points in the Smart Grid's communications systems. IOActive, a professional security services firm, determined that an attacker with $500 of equipment and materials and a background in electronics and software engineering could "take command and control of the [advanced meter infrastructure] allowing for the en masse manipulation of service to homes and businesses."

Experts said that once in the system, a hacker could gain control of thousands, even millions, of meters and shut them off simultaneously. A hacker also might be able to dramatically increase or decrease the demand for power, disrupting the load balance on the local power grid and causing a blackout. These experts said such a localized power outage would cascade to other parts of the grid, expanding the blackout. No one knows how big it could get.

The utility industry has made significant improvements to the power grid since the blackout of 2003, which disrupted power to an estimated 50 million people in the eastern United States and Canada. The utility industry said it is now better able to detect and isolate outages, and some elements of Smart Grid technology will enhance that capability.

Also, industry representatives said, they have no intention of putting an unsafe grid online.

"We are not going to manufacture this car without a seat belt," said Ed Legge, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute.

But as of now there are no clear-cut Smart Grid cybersecurity standards.

"There are a lot of discussions about where the requirements will come from and who will be ultimately responsible," said a Department of Homeland Security official, speaking on background.

Itron, a major manufacturer of automated meters, said its products are secure. Matt Spaur, a senior product marketing analyst, said his company tried to make hacking a meter "unappealing and unrewarding if you do it. And it is very traceable." But Spaur acknowledged that the Smart Grid is vulnerable.

"Any network can be hacked," he said.

One expert said security concerns have put "the fear of God" into the utility industry, vendors of Smart Grid products and the federal government. They have been working cooperatively to detect and mitigate vulnerabilities.

"Industry is working to make meters more secure. They have done a good job," said Joe Weiss, an expert on utility control systems.

Still, experts like Skoudis recommended that Smart Grid deployment be slowed until security vulnerabilities are addressed. Otherwise, he said, Smart Grid equipment deployed now may have to be replaced later.

Utility managers are taking heed.

Garry Brown, chairman of New York's Public Service Commission, said he believes the benefits of Smart Grid outweigh the risks, but his state is taking a hard look at cybersecurity before making large investments in the technologies.

"Before we go rushing headstrong into a Smart Grid concept, we have to make sure that we take care of business, in this case cybersecurity," he said.

William Sanders, principal investigator for the National Science Foundation Cyber Trust Center on Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid, concurs.

"I don't think the sky is falling," he said. "I don't think we should stop deployment until we have it all worked out. But we have to be vigilant and address security issues in the Smart Grid early on."

Original here

10+ Best Firefox Addons for Security and Privacy

2009-03-24T01:25:00.000-07:00

Security and privacy are some of the major concerns these days while choosing a web browser to use. So much so that all the major players in the “browser wars” are providing or developing a private browsing mode.

Firefox with the myraid of add-ons that it has to offer is never far from action. Here are some of the top Firefox addons that you should install for better privacy and security

Stealther

Stealther - Stealther provides you with what can be called a private browsing mode. It allows you to browse the web without leaving any trace. The addon disables browsing history, cookies, cache, recent tabs and sending of referrer header for as long as you want. It’s lot like the incognito mode in Google chrome. Distrust is another similar addon that allows you to acheive the similar results.

Close ‘n’ Forget

Close ‘n’ Forget - While Stealther and Distrust require you to turn on private browsing explicitly, what if you happen to stumble upon a site that you wished you would have known to turn on the private browsing mode for? Close ‘n’ Forget comes to your rescue. Just hit the special close button once you are finished and that site will be deleted from history and cookies cleared as if you had never visited the site.

WOT

WOT - We all know about the threats which surfers suffer like viruses, spywares, adware, malicious spam, phishing etc., but here Web of Trust comes to rescue. WOT warns you about risky websites that try to scam surfers before they enter in them using a safety rating of 21 million websites, WOT combines evidence collected from multiple sources. Not only does it help surfers but also sets a protection level for children by blocking inappropriate content.

NoScript

NoScript - An absolute must have security addon for your browser. NoScript gives you the power to specify the sites you trust and only those sites will be allowed to run active content like Javascript, Java code and other executable code. The addon thus protects you from cross-site scripting attacks and clickjacking attacks.

Panic

Panic - Panic allows you to instantly close all the open tabs and replace it with another tab of your choice. So next time while you are on facebook and your boss drops to check in just hit Alt + ` and you would be taken to predefined page in no time.

hideBad

hideBad - Hides bad things! Saves all the tabs, closes them and opens your home page. Allows you to clear history, cookies, cache and passwords at your will and then restore them later.

TabRenamizer / Page Title Eraser

TabRenamizer and Page Title Eraser - Do your tabs give you away? Why not change their names with TabRenamizer or remove the names all together with Page Title Eraser? Both these addons let you play with the tab titles so that you can change them according to your will.

Gish It / tEMPORARYiNBOX / spamavert

Gish It!, TemporaryInbox, spamavert - These addons allow you to protect your inboxes from Spam by getting throwaway email addresses to be used with web forms while registering for sites you are not sure about.

BetterPrivacy

BetterPrivacy - Now you don’t need to worry from anything like ‘you are being tracked..!!’ BetterPrivacy is a Super-Cookie Safeguard which protects from usually undeletable Flash-Cookies. It blocks long term tracking on Google, YouTube, Ebay to name a few.

Ghostery

Ghostery - It keeps an eye on the websites that are keeping an eye on you i.e. it finds out that which web sites which are tracking you and would alert you about the same.

Torbutton

Torbutton - It provides a button to securely and easily enable or disable the browser’s use of Tor. Tor can be used for anonymous browsing and has been covered on makeuseof in detail.

FoxyProx

FoxyProxy - FoxyProxy automatically switches an internet connection across one or more proxy servers based on URL patterns and switching rules defined by you.

JSview

JSview - Allows you to view the source code of external files like javascript and CSS files. Although it would require a bit of knowledge and looking through the code to determine if it really is harmful, it can be quite useful to see if there is some malicious code sending off your passwords to somewhere else.

If privacy and security are on top of your list check out how to remain safe on public computers and how to set up firefox to automatically clear sensitive data.

Did I miss any addon that you use for similar purposes? (I am sure I have, there are just so many or them!) Fire up a comment and share your Firefox knowledge with us!

Original here

5 Freeware Photoshop Alternatives and Web-based Photo editing

2009-03-24T01:22:00.000-07:00

by Sietse Smith

Photoshop, is there any good, free alternative out there?

Because my own PC got screwed and died on me a couple of months ago, I’ve been using my girlfriend’s Vista Home Basic laptop ever since. It is this laptop that’s seen every beginning stage of this very blog and because of using it, I never really came to desiging it myself. Everything you see on here is part of what other people have made through Wordpress themes, plugins and some random buttons.

This morning I thought I’d try and spice this blog up a little by making my own logo and then I realised why I never did it before: this laptop is godd*mn slow! This is why I never got to installing Photoshop, the program I’ve been using for years to create my own stuff.

So here, quest was created: to find a good, free, application as an alternative to Photoshop and able to run on low-end systems. And here’s a list of what I’ve come across so far!

1. GIMP, GNU Image Manipulation Program

The first one I tried was a good hit right away. It’s a name I remembered from quite some time ago and I figured it

would still be around. It still is and they’ve now developed it up

to version 2.6. Developing it ever since 2005, it is now available for most used platforms like Windows, Mac and some versions of Unix.

In short: the light-weight GIMP software offers a free way to enhance/alter your digital photos, manipulate existing graphics and create your own graphics. Using the regular tools such as a paintbrush, the pencil and cloning, this application can actually be compared to it’s bigger (expensive) brothers like Adobe Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.
Instead of the regular full-sized window, you get several widget-kinda windows with the seperate functions and tools attached. It’s something to get used to, but it offers an easy way to work on your graphics and in the meantime keep an eye on the rest of your desktop. Quite dynamic!

A screenshot of my desktop using GIMP. I know it's Dutch.

Feel free to give it a spin and download your version below. Get stuck? Visit the GIMP tutorials page! Download version 2.6 for Windows here (other versions and platforms, click here

2. Paint.net Digital Photo Editing

Another freeware application is Paint.net for Windows (and Windows only!).

Instead of the widget windowed layout of GIMP, Paint.net uses the traditional full-size window with the same kind of windows inside. A comprehensive and very adjustable layout gives you the means to optimize it to your liking.

I got lazy, couldn't bother to provide my own screenshot

At first when I tried to install Paint.net, it failed for no apparent reason, giving some kind of blank error and then shutting down. After a quick glance on the software’s website, I figured out I needed an updated version of the .NET Framework by Microsoft (v3.5 SP1). From there it worked like a charm! It’s easy to use, it’s light-weight which means it’s dodgy laptop-friendy and best of all: it’s free!

Download it for Windows here.

3. Artweaver, das Deutsche kreative Programm!

Yes, know your German!
Artweaver is another one of those creative applications with a fair amount of choices to edit or create your works of art. Loads of options like different brush styles, standard effects such as sharpen, blur and embos and it offers good pen tablet support. Ofcourse the ability to work with Layers is also present.

I feel sorry for all those unfortunate Mac users, because just like Paint.net, Artweaver only supports Windows usage.

Just looks like any other graphics application!

Download Artweaver 0.5.7 for Windows right here.

4. Photoshop Express, free web-based photo editing

Kind of a different category, but it’s quite fun and useful. Especially for those who don’t want to install previously mentioned, more advanced applications. This online version of Adobe’s Photoshop offers you the ability to upload your photos and edit them to your liking. Enhancing it with better lighting and shadows or spicing it up with cool special effects, Photoshop Express hands the tools in a neat, comprehensive package.

Don’t want to give Adobe all your information right away? Understandable! These days you cannot trust a soul! Adobe understands this as well and lets you take a ‘test drive’ of the whole system without the need of registering or logging in. Try it right here.

Adobe Photoshop Express' start page

One major lack to this application is the fact you can’t use layers to edit your images a bit more professionaly, but I guess that’s okay, because they make up for it by offering you free 2gb hosting of you (edited) images.

So give it a spin at the test track without having to register, or register right away and start editing!

5. Aviary, a powerful online Tool Suite!

Definitly a very worthy mention. The Aviary tool suite has been mentioned on this blog before and now it’s up for an explanation of what these tools can really do! Coming from a suite of tools, I’ll just put these in together:

Aviary's Phoenix

Phoenix, layer-ready image editorPhoenix is mostly like what Photoshop is all about. Offering usage of layers, a rich toolset of brushes, paint buckets, cloning and such and cool blending modes for some great special effects!

Everything is based on Adobe Flash so it’s all very smooth and pretty. It runs quite fast, even on my previously mentioned crappy notebook and ofcourse that’s a huge plus for me!

Because it doesn’t require any installation of files on your PC, it’s all very easy to use and this makes for a very fun experience, just fooling around with the vast amount of effects and drawing tools.

Have a look at this introduction movie, showing how a cute kitty gets a new jacket.

Aviary's Raven

Raven, awesome vector graphics creator!What’s cooler than vector art? That’s right: NOTHING!

Well, maybe that’s a bit over the edge, but you have to agree that vector art really does look cool and is also very useful for creating logo’s for prints and such.

Vector basically means that your creations aren’t based on pixels, but on variable equations. Because of this you can create something small and then later size it down or up without losing any of the details. If you would do this with your regular JPG image, it will get all blurry or edgy, especially when it comes to small text.

So here’s Raven! A tool much like Adobe Illustrator by the awesome clan of Aviary. According to the creators, Raven is the only free online Vector creation tool on the entire internet! A bold statement to say the least, but try looking for anything like it and I think you might find out they’re right.

Go have a look-see right here.

So if you would like to have a look at what else they have created and maybe even look at the upcoming software releases, have a look at the Aviary website or go directly to their Tools page. There’s a whole community out there showing off their creations through the use of Aviary tools and also a fair share of tutorials on how to work with it.

Do you think I left out an application that’s definitly worth a mention in this list? Don’t hessitate to comment below or throw me an e-mail.

6. Visitor submissions

Picknik, online photo editor

Submitted by teddY from teddY-risatioN.

Picknik is another Flash-based online photo-editing service. Looking very slick, this site offers a good basic photo-editing station for resizing, removing red eyes, editing colour saturation and a couple more of those. I just tried one, just to see how it works and I must say it’s very easy and pretty cool to do! The program doesn’t require any registration, although if you do, you get some more features like a Library of your photos, easy submission to social networks such as Facebook and Flickr and the ability to upgrade to a Premium account at any time.

Premium you say? Yes, Premium. In addition to the normal, free features on Picknik, with Premium you can edit your photos in full screen, keep an infinite number of photos in your editing history, more easy-appliable effects and a whole lot more.

Logged in to the starting page of Picknik, DuckbillJones is my username

I´d say it´s worth a peek! Go there now and try it out!

Thanks for the hint teddY!

SUMO PAINT, Online Image Editor

Submitted by tim from timmyjohnboy.com

Here’s a good one! SUMO Paint is actually another flash-based web image editor, but instead of putting emphasis on enhancing photos, SUMO hands you the tools to create awesome graphics! Have a look at the gallery of wicked Top rated submissions right here to see what I’m talking about.

Since the latest v1.1 release, SUMO’s based on the latest version of Flash (10) and having tried this awesome online application, I must say it’s one of the fastest, most advanced and yet easiest free image editor I’ve come across yet! SUMO definitly offers a lot of those most used tools and ‘filters’ you see in Photoshop and the likes and all this without a second of registration or installation acking. Ofcourse, just like Picknik, you do have the ability to register and take advantage of a lot of image storing and posting options.
This way, you can get your stuff noticed and participate in a whole community of online artists. Pretty neat!

Instead of pure photo editing, SUMO Paint puts the emphasis on creating cool digital works of art!

Again, thanks to timmy for the recommendation of this cool app!

Keep submitting your suggestions people!

Original here

Apple holding back on web-based 3D graphics for the desktop

2009-03-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

Apple has added 3D position and transform capabilities to WebKit, along with the 2D CSS-based transform abilities added some time ago. However, Apple allows access to these advanced 3D abilities only via Mobile Safari. If Apple enables the features on the desktop, they could kickstart the development of a whole new class of visually rich web applications... without Flash.

By Chris Foresman

Apple has created a series of specifications for performing two-dimensional transforms via CSS, as well as animating those transforms over time. The Safari 4 beta highlights some of these CSS-based transforms, along with Safari's support for HTML 5's video and audio tags, in the "welcome page" that's loaded on Safari 4 beta's first launch. But flying much lower under the radar is an addition to Apple's CSS Transforms that gives web app developers some powerful 3D graphics capabilities—so long as that web app is made for an iPhone.

The WebKit team added CSS Transforms to nightly builds of WebKit back in October 2007, transforms that included scaling, rotation, skewing, and translation in 2D space. As the specification matured, 3D and animation capabilities were added. Eventually, the 3D transforms were broken out into a specification of their own. Though WebKit has had these 3D transform capabilities for some time, only Mobile Safari on the iPhone and iPod touch has them enabled. Currently, neither Safari 3.2, Safari 4 beta, nor WebKit nightly builds can take advantage of these advanced 3D transforms.

The 3D transforms, it should be noted, only apply to 2D elements. However, the transforms allow a web developer to translate, scale, rotate, skew, and change the perspective of almost any DOM element in 3D space, resulting in some rather spectacular effects. Below are two examples—provided by Apple on the Mobile section of its Safari Dev Center site—loaded in iPhone Simulator.

Though many of the 2D transforms and animations are possible to replicate with JavaScript, and Mozilla is experimenting with some JavaScript-based 3D effects, WebKit's CSS transforms offer a serious performance advantage.

"It's hardware accelerated, and all the timing and intervals needed for the animations are handled more efficiently by Safari itself instead of Safari's JavaScript engine," Peter Zich, a Chicago-area developer, told Ars. "The framerate for JS animations on the iPhone usually doesn't get past 5fps, for instance, while with CSS it is far more."

Apple promotes these capabilities as a way for iPhone web app developers to achieve near native speed 3D effects. So why isn't Apple bringing the technology to the desktop? "I talked to Vicki Murley, a Safari Tech Evangelist at Apple, about why they left 3D off of non-Mobile Safari," Zich said. "She said they didn't really have a reason for it... they just hadn't done it."

A ticket in the WebKit team's bug tracker, opened in July of 2008, requests that the transforms be enabled in desktop builds of WebKit.

Zich would like Apple to take browser 3D even further. "I'm hoping they make a 3D canvas," he said. He's been experimenting with the capabilities, making a simple model of a van using PNG files for the faces, which are then placed in 3D-positioned divs.

"What I'd like to do is make something where you throw in a set of points, and it makes a 3D model," he says. His 3D van demo model, though, certainly opens up the imagination to the possibilities.

If you needed further evidence that Apple will never allow Flash to sully its portable Internet devices, then 3D CSS transforms are it. Along with WebKit's support for HTML 5's advanced media handling capabilities, advanced Nitro JavaScript engine, and CSS-based transforms and animations, Apple is readying WebKit to be the best tool for providing web-based applications on a wide variety of platforms. Enabling the 3D capabilities on the desktop would go a long way towards generating interest in making Apple's currently-proprietary CSS extensions into a de facto, or even official, web standard.

Original here

We found the chip inside the new iPod headphones...but is it DRM?

2009-03-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

Posted by Joel Johnson and Rob Beschizza

You'd never guess it was there—a tiny chip, barely a millimeter square, hidden inside the headphone module on the third-gen iPod shuffle. If you dismantle the module itself, you still won't see it: it's underneath a board containing a few simple copper traces, itself minuscule, and glued to the plastic. Even the traditional iFixit teardown gallery missed it.

We decided to take a closer look after iLounge reported that the third-generation iPod Shuffle's headphones had an "authentication chip" that Apple could use to turn something as basic as headphones into a proprietary licensing scheme.

By adding such a chip to headphones, Apple could force third-party manufacturers to pay fees to make headphones for its iPod Shuffle—after all, the device has no controls, so normal headphones are useless.

"This is, in short, a nightmare scenario for long-time iPod fans," wrote iLounge's Jeremy Horwitz. "Are we entering a world in which Apple controls and taxes literally every piece of the iPod purchase from headphones to chargers, jacking up their prices, forcing customers to re-purchase things they already own, while making only marginal improvements in their functionality?"

Even if someone invented headphones that worked without a licensed chip, that could amount to circumvention of a digital lock: Apple could shut them down using the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, provided the signal sent from the headphone buttons to the iPod itself is encrypted.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Fred von Lohmann followed up, exhorting gadget reviewers to looks closer:

One final thought: why have so many of the reviews of iPods failed to notice the proliferation of these Apple "authentication chips"?

What we found is a mystery to us: we're not electrical engineers. For all we know, it could be something the FCC made them put in so that it doesn't interfere with whalesong.

But it's an honest-to-god chip inside the proprietary headphones required to listen to the latest iPod, and it's hard not to wonder if Apple, with its 70% market share, just tried to eat the headphone industry whole.

If so, they've been planning it since at least the last update of the iPod line. According to the product page for the new "Apple Earphones with Remote", the new controls will also work with the most recent iPod Nano, iPod classic, and second-generation iPod Touch. That means that whatever sort of signal is being sent from the new headphones, it's been in the works before the latest Shuffle. And while the new headphones do not work with the iPhone 3G, it can be expected that they will be compatible with the next version of the iPhone.

If it's not an "authentication chip", then, what could it be? The current in-line click remote for the iPhone works by dropping the resistance on the second ring of the headphone's TRRS minijack connector, which the iPhone recognizes as a simple on or off. One click pauses. Two clicks fast forward.

It is possible the new Shuffle headphones simply send a pulse or other analog electrical signal to the headphone jack of the Shuffle, but we do not have the equipment to determine that ourselves. (Put a multimeter on the second ring of the new headphones, though, and you'll at least be able to see if different button presses causes different resistance, implying the controls work with analog controls, not a digital scheme.)

But it is also possible the signals are digital. "Digital" does not mean "encrypted", however. If the signals are not encrypted, then there would be no legal impediment to manufacturers making compatible and unlicensed headphones that work with the new controls. (Either way, regular audio headphones still work, although without controls they're useless on the Shuffle.)

If the signals are encrypted, it would mean that headphones with in-line controls compatible with Apple's latest (and future) iPods would have to be made with chips* available exclusively from Apple. Manufacturers attempting to reverse-engineer the simple three-button controls could be prosecuted under the DMCA.

Previously:
• New iPods have DRM on the headphone interface
• Old inline iPod/iPhone adapters don't work in new Shuffle

* Labelled in the headphones we have as "8A83E3", not currently listed in Octopart.

Update: Hideki Francis Onda opened his up, and found that his one has a different number. Original here

Would you buy an Intel smartphone?

2009-03-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

by Brooke Crothers

Intel concept wide-screen mobile device

Intel smartphone and mobile Internet device concept designs have potential. So, as Intel prepares to enter the smartphone market with LG Electronics and others, will these designs be realized? And would you buy one?

One thing is certain. A re-badged Apple iPhone running Windows isn't going to upset the Apple cart (pun intended).

So, one obvious challenge is for Intel to get its considerable weight behind a new smartphone or mobile Internet device (MID) design that resets the market.

Just so happens there's a design that Intel has been brandishing for a couple of years now (see photos). It's essentially a high-end wide-screen smartphone or MID (choose your favorite device category nomenclature).

A series of videos demonstrating the Intel Moorestown-based mobile device pretty clearly show how--by virtue of the wide screen--the device would be different.

Intel concept device, with virtual keyboard

(Credit: Intel)

Now, if that device could run a browser and basic applications faster than my BlackBerry Storm (which I gauge has circa 1995 PC performance) on a bigger screen, that would be enough for me to buy one.

At least one analyst expects big things from Intel in this market. Doug Freedman of Broadpoint AmTech upgraded Intel to a "buy" this week, partially on expectations that Intel may flourish in the system-on-a-chip market as a result of the chip production deal struck earlier this month with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. Intel's upcoming Moorestown chip--the linchpin of the deal--is a system-on-a-chip that's targeted, not coincidentally, at high-end smartphones, among other devices.

Freedman had this to say in a research note about Intel: "The TSMC (deal) likely opens the door to highly integrated (system-on-a-chip) solutions for target markets such as consumer, wireless, communications and networking infrastructure, and automotive," he wrote. "Though we cannot assign a value to future business opportunities without specific customer announcements or end-market intentions...We note that a minor incremental opportunity would not have triggered a press release event for Intel or TSMC."

Original here

The Pirate Bay User Pages Blocked by Google, Firefox

2009-03-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

Written by enigmax

A few hours ago, certain sections of The Pirate Bay were flagged by Google as containing malware and were subsequently blocked. Similar warnings are being shown by Firefox, which states that the world’s largest tracker is an “attack site”. The Pirate Bay team are working on the problem now.

Right now, trying to access certain sections of The Pirate Bay via Google or using the Firefox browser is proving worrisome. While other parts of the site appear to function normally, the ‘user’ sections of the site (such sections are identifiable via this type of URL: http://thepiratebay.org/user/XXXX) appear to have some significant problems. Accessing the site via Firefox generates the following message;

A Google search on the same pages returns, “This site may harm your computer.”

So what exactly is the problem? TorrentFreak spoke with Peter Sunde (brokep) who told us that right now they don’t have a clear idea of what is causing the problem although they are working hard on fixing it. Current thinking by some says that the problems are being caused by malicious ads from third parties which are embedded in the site.

Google has made its own analysis and is reporting that the /user sections of the TPB site were listed once for suspicious activity, yesterday 14th March 2009. Of 699 pages tested, it found that 2 pages resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. Google goes on to say that the malicious software includes 68 scripting exploits although they report that a successful infection resulted in zero new processes on the target machine.

The malicious software in question is said to be hosted on 3 domains; savelocity.com, seekerfeed.com, and xoads.com, with another 6 reported as distribution intermediaries including parkneed.com, yieldmanager.com and zxxds.net.

This type of problem is nothing new on torrent sites. Last year we reported how Google and Firefox blocked Empornium, the world’s largest porn tracker, when they suffered similar problems at the hands of outsiders. Just yesterday, the h33t.com torrent site suffered a similar problem, but that now appears to be fixed after we tipped off the staff there.

We will add to this post during the day to include the latest updates.

Original here

Second generation Surface coming

2009-03-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

By Darren Waters
Technology editor, BBC News website, Texas

Microsoft Surface is helping re-think how we interact with computers

A second generation of Microsoft's Surface computing device is two to three years away, the South by SouthWest Festival has heard.

Developer Joe Olsen, whose company Phenomblue writes applications for the Surface, said he had been told the device was still in the development stage.

"They haven't even got to point where they are going to commercialise," he said.

Chris Bernard, user experience evangelist for Microsoft, said he could not confirm a release date.

Surface is a multi-touch computer in the shape of a table, with a flat screen that can "read" multi-touch gestures, as well as content from printed material placed onto the device, thanks to five cameras inside the machine.

It is being developed with enterprise, tourism and public-facing solutions in mind and launches in the UK next week.

Dubbed Second Light, the Surface 2 will build on the original model and have a second projector inside the table computer that can project images onto a layer above the surface of the screen.

In effect, the device will be able to overlay secondary images above those on the screen - such as satellite imagery over a street map, or more detailed contextual data on top of images.

Shift in interaction

Devices like the Surface are changing how we interact with computers

The machine will also have infrared sensors that can interpret gestures and movements without having to touch the screen.

Mr Olsen said Microsoft staff at Redmond had told him that the device was still in being worked on within Research and Development.

Erik Klimczak, creative director of Clarity Consulting, which also produces applications for the Surface, said he expected the next generation to have high-definition cameras.

"Right now they are limited to how much detail they can pick up," he said.

Devices like the Surface, as well as Apple's iPhone, are at the vanguard of a shift in how we interact with computers.

"Everything is moving to touch and multi-touch so you had better jump on that bandwagon," Mr Klimczak told the conference of web developers.

Original here

Week in Microsoft: is IE8 a fast browser?

2009-03-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

By Emil Protalinski

Let's look back at the week that was in Microsoft news:

Running the Windows 7 beta on a MacBook. Windows 7 may still be in beta, but it's good enough on a Mac. Whether you prefer a separate partition or a virtual machine, Ars helps you install Microsoft's latest OS on Apple's latest machines and points out some pitfalls along the way.

Microsoft's own speed tests show IE beating Chrome, Firefox. Microsoft has released its own tests that show IE8 can load many websites faster than two open source browsers: Firefox and Chrome.

Will Windows Mobile 7 fix updating?. According to a recent job posting, Microsoft might be changing how updates work on Windows Mobile with the release of version 7 next year.

Bill Gates is world's richest man again. Bill Gates has once again become the world's richest man. I guess there are people who win in this recession after all, though Gates did lose $18 billion over the last year.

Rollout for Hotmail POP3 worldwide support complete. Microsoft has finished the worldwide roll-out of POP3 support for Windows Live Hotmail.

Windows 7 build 7048 outperforms build 7000, Vista, XP. According to recent tests, Windows 7 performance just keeps looking better, both on low-end systems and high-end systems.

Windows Microsoft finally underlines a useful feature in MSN Toolbar. Microsoft has finally detailed a feature in the MSN Toolbar that many users will find useful: a cashback-offer-detecting mechanism.

Windows 7 beta gets its first security update. Microsoft has released the first security update for the Windows 7 beta (both 32-bit and 64-bit) via both Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center.

Kumo homepage screenshot leaks, shows many minor tweaks. A screenshot of the Kumo homepage has leaked, so we dive in to check out the minor changes between it and the Live Search homepage.

Windows Marketplace for Mobile details for developers arrive. Microsoft has given a bunch of details on what developers should expect with the Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

You can follow Microsoft news at Ars by using the Microsoft tab at the top of the page, the RSS feed, or Twitter.

Original here

Rollout for Hotmail POP3 worldwide support complete

2009-03-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

By Emil Protalinski

The Mail Call blog has finally confirmed the conclusion of Windows Live Hotmail's POP3 rollout: "POP3 technology has now rolled out to Hotmail customers WORLDWIDE!" Hotmail has a few more features to still release soon, including Messenger integration, but for now, here are the details you need to know for POP3:

POP server: pop3.live.com
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

In January, the feature trickled out to the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, Italy, as well as the Netherlands, and then arrived in the US and Brazil in February.

Hotmail previously only offered DeltaSync (the protocol that Outlook, Windows Live Mail, and Windows Live for Windows Mobile use). Many of you already know that DeltaSync is more robust and might be wondering why Microsoft is bothering with POP3. Well, the latter is much more commonly used and accepted (especially on mobile devices), so if your e-mail client doesn't support DeltaSync, chances are it will be able to work with POP3. For those wondering, there are currently no plans for Hotmail supporting the IMAP protocol.

Original here

Fingerprinting Blank Paper Using Commodity Scanners

2009-03-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

By Ed Felten

Today Will Clarkson, Tim Weyrich, Adam Finkelstein, Nadia Heninger, Alex Halderman and I released a paper, Fingerprinting Blank Paper Using Commodity Scanners. The paper will appear in the Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, in May 2009.

Here's the paper's abstract:

This paper presents a novel technique for authenticating physical documents based on random, naturally occurring imperfections in paper texture. We introduce a new method for measuring the three-dimensional surface of a page using only a commodity scanner and without modifying the document in any way. From this physical feature, we generate a concise fingerprint that uniquely identifies the document. Our technique is secure against counterfeiting and robust to harsh handling; it can be used even before any content is printed on a page. It has a wide range of applications, including detecting forged currency and tickets, authenticating passports, and halting counterfeit goods. Document identification could also be applied maliciously to de-anonymize printed surveys and to compromise the secrecy of paper ballots.

Viewed under a microscope, an ordinary piece of paper looks like this:

The microscope clearly shows individual wood fibers, laid down in a pattern that is unique to this piece of paper.

If you scan a piece of paper on an ordinary desktop scanner, it just looks white. But pick a small area of the paper, digitally enhance the contrast and expand the image, and you see something like this:

The light and dark areas you see are due to two factors: inherent color variation in the surface, and partial shadows cast by fibers in the paper surface. If you rotate the paper and scan again, the inherent color at each point will be the same, but the shadows will be different because the scanner's light source will strike the paper from a different angle. These differences allow us to map out the tiny hills and valleys on the surface of the paper.

Here is a visualization of surface shape from one of our experiments:

This part of the paper had the word "sum" printed on it. You can clearly see the raised areas where toner was applied to the paper to make the letters. Around the letters you can see the background texture of the paper.

Computing the surface texture is only one part of the job. From the texture, you want to compute a concise, secure "fingerprint" which can survive ordinary wear and tear on the paper, such as crumpling, scribbling or printing, and moisture. You also want to understand how secure the technology will be in various applications. Our full paper addresses these issues too. The bottom-line result is a sort of unique fingerprint for each piece of paper, which can be determined using an ordinary desktop scanner.

Original here

iPhone OS 3.0 is coming, preview on March 17th

2009-03-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

by Joshua Topolsky

We just got the announcement, iPhone OS 3.0 is coming. Set your clocks, mark your calendars. It's going down March 17th. Apparently, we'll get a sneak peak at the new OS, as well as a look at a brand new version of the SDK. Exciting stuff indeed, and we'll be there live at 10am PST (1pm EST) with the liveblog. Apple's calling this an "advance preview of what we're building," so we're not expecting anything ready to go as of the 17th, but hopefully this will allow developers to start building toward future functionality (hey, how about some push notifications?), and presumably users won't have too many months to wait after that for the real deal.

Original here

New iPod Shuffle moves controls to headphone cord

2009-03-12T15:24:00.000-07:00

Posted by Rob Beschizza

Available at 4GB, the fresh model is long, thin and sleek--somewhat like the original first-gen model, but with a clip. It's available in light gray and dark gray, and the controls are moved to a bulbous clicker on the cord.

My problem with this is going to be being stuck with Apple's headphones, or having to buy some fancy new officially licensed headphones that also have the new control block built-in. This isn't new, as far as little audio players go, but is still a shame: for today's show, the part of Sony will be played by Apple.

It also has a new feature called Voiceover: press it, and the Shuffle tells you what's playing.

They're up at the Apple Store for $80.

Update: Mute Kaiza points out that it might be easy to splice better headphones onto the control unit, so long as you're O.K. ruining your beautiful Appley lines.

As an aside, I imagine Belkin will announce an adapter within minutes. I still don't want to pay for one, even if it's just $10.

Great comment from reader Cyklo: "I'm amused that if you swap out the inline-control bundled earphones for your own, you reach Apple Zen: an iPod with zero buttons."

Original here

The new iPod shuffle: Button, button, who's got the button?

2009-03-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

by Dan Moren, Macworld.com

Steve Jobs hates buttons.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise to you: the Apple CEO has been on a crusade to wipe moving parts from the face of Apple’s products as early as the replacement of PowerBook trackballs with trackpads or the removal of the physical scroll wheel from the original iPod. The iPhone and iPod touch were further steps towards a button-free world, relegating as many controls as possible on the touchscreen.

And now we have the buttonless iPod shuffle. With the exception of a single switch that controls the unit's power and lets you change between shuffle and ordered play, the iPod shuffle itself contains no buttons. Instead, the playback controls are integrated into the headphone cord: you can squeeze either the top, bottom, or center of the remote to execute different functions.

If you ask me, the war on buttons has gone too far. The new iPod shuffle takes a step back in both the usability and compatibility departments. Don’t get me wrong, the new VoiceOver feature is a very clever idea, especially on a device with no screen. But the rest of the changes make me wonder if Apple has placed too high a premium on the product's form over its function.

I admit, I haven’t had a chance to handle a new shuffle yet, so it’s possible all my concerns are for naught, but from my initial impressions, I think that the move from the second-generation shuffle’s controls to the new remote-based controls are a poor decision on the part of Apple’s design team. Let’s look at it in relation to its predecessor.

The second-generation iPod shuffle’s controls are pretty familiar to anyone who’s used any sort of playback device, whether it be an iPod, other music player, or even a DVD player. The buttons are clearly marked with the nearly-universal symbols for Play/Pause, forward, previous, and "more" and "less." This is an iPod that my mom or dad could pick up and grasp without too much trouble.

Now the new iPod shuffle:

The fact that Apple has to put up this diagram tells you how much more complicated it is: how would you figure out the controls without this chart? The only markings on the controls are the "+" and "-" that mark volume controls. There is no indication of how to play or pause music. There’s also no way to know where the previous or next track buttons are; you wouldn't be out of line thinking that it might involve the use of the volume up and down buttons—not so. In order to go to the next track, you double-click the center of the controller; to go the previous track, you triple-click the controller. You can also hold down the center button to hear the name of the currently playing track, then release it after a beep to hear the name of all your playlists.

Look, even buttons have their place: having discrete controls for discrete functions is not necessarily a design failure. Sometimes it's just the best way to get the job done. There's no inherent, intuitive cognitive connection between double-clicking to go forward or triple-clicking to go back; it requires the forging of a new link in our minds. Where does it end? Will future versions require you to quadruple- or quintuple-click? Will there be a system where you can spell out the name of the song, artist, or album you want in Morse code?

I realize that it seems elegant to Apple—look, ma, no moving parts—but anybody who’s going to spend some time helping a less-than-tech-savvy individual deal with their new iPod is quickly going to encounter frustration: “No, dad, click three times to go back to that last song. No, don’t hold it down! Okay, let's start again.” It’s enough to make you wish for a feature that lets you click your heels together to go home again.

Then, there’s the lock-in aspect. I suffer from a not uncommon genetic condition called “the stupid iPod earbuds don’t stay in my ears.” I simply can’t use the iPod earbuds for anything that doesn't require me staying absolutely still; if I walk around, the earbuds fall out—never mind jogging. Up until now, no problem: just swap in any pair of headphones, from the cheapest pair of over-the-head models to a $300 pair of noise-cancelling cans. Headphones are headphones are headphones, right?

Alas, no more. The decision to put the controls on the headphones means that unless Apple opens up the controls to third parties, you can’t even play music on the iPod without using Apple’s own earbuds. What happens if, as is also not unheard of, Apple's stock earbuds break? Your iPod is completely useless until you get another pair of approved headphones. This is not Sparta, this is madness.

I know there will be plenty who say: well, the iPod shuffle isn’t for you, then. True, it’s not; I'll stick to my fifth-generation iPod or a nano. But it also means the new shuffle won’t be the iPod I’d recommend to others, as the previous shuffle often was.

I understand the desire for the Apple design team to push themselves and try to accomplish something new and perhaps even revolutionary, but in the words of Dr. Ian Malcolm, perhaps they were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

Original here

BBC hacks into thousands of PCs

2009-03-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

BBC - proving a point

The BBC has deliberately hacked into 22,000 PCs to prove the power of botnets, and the damage that can be done with a network of compromised computers.

Click – BBC News' technology programme – with the help of anti-virus company Prevx, took over thousands of computers in order to demonstrate a growing problem in the modern world.

Botnets are networks of computers that have been compromised by cyber-criminals and can be used to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on servers or, most commonly, to send out the deluge of spam that lands in the world's inboxes daily.

Low-value

"Click managed to acquire its own low-value botnet - the name given to a network of hijacked computers - after visiting chatrooms on the internet," said the BBC

"The programme did not access any personal information on the infected PCs.

"If this exercise had been done with criminal intent it would be breaking the law.

Easily done

Prevx demonstrated the ease in which people can 'rent' botnets for their own use earlier this year when TechRadar visited Director of Malware Research Jacques Erasmus.

Commenting on the BBC project, Erasmus said "Cyber criminals are getting into contact with websites and threatening them with DDoS attacks.

"The loss of trade is very substantial so a lot of these websites just pay-up to avoid it."

The BBC points out that it 'destroyed' its botnet after finishing its project.

By Patrick Goss

Original here

One-Third Use a Single Password for Everything

2009-03-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

A third of web users have admitted to using the same password for a number of different websites, says Sophos.

According to the security firm, just 19 percent never use the same password twice. Sophos added that three years ago, 41 percent of web users said they used the same password, indicating that just 8 percent of web users have realized the importance of strong, unique passwords.

"It's worrying that in three years very few computer users seem to have woken up to the risks of using weak passwords and the same ones for every site they visit," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

"With social networking and other internet accounts now even more popular, there's plenty on offer for hackers and by using the same password to access Facebook, Amazon and your online bank account, you're making it much easier for them. Once one password has been compromised, it's only a matter of time before the fraudsters will be able to gain access to your other accounts and steal information for financial gain."

"It's easy to understand why computer users pick dictionary words as they're much easier to remember. A good trick is to pick a sentence and just use the first letter of every word to make up your password. To make it even stronger, you can replace words like 'for' for the number 4, and this should give you peace of mind that your password won't be guessed," advised Cluley.

Original here

Why Apple must do a Netbook now

2009-03-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

by David Carnoy

Mac OS X loading onto the Dell Mini 9.

(Credit: Gizmodo)

My brother-in-law Ken IM'd me the other day with this message: "Did you see they're loading OS X on Netbooks?" He sent me a link to a Gizmodo article that explained how to hack a Netbook into running Apple's OS X. He also pointed me to a chart that BoingBoing put together showing how compatible various Netbooks are with OS X.

Obviously, none of this stuff is geared to the average consumer--and there are certainly some bugs to contend with--but with some tweaks, techies have gotten certain Netbooks to run OS X shockingly well. Perfect or not, those articles and some videos had my brother-in-law, who's a total Applehead, champing at the bit to get his hands on an Apple Netbook.

Here's the conversation that followed:

Ken: "Apple really needs to do a Netbook."

Me: "Yes, now. It's the biggest growth category in laptops. They're missing out on a big opportunity to take Windows' share away."

Ken: "Apple keeps saying it doesn't want to go near the low-end and make crappy notebooks with low margins. Would tarnish the brand, hurt the bottom line."

Me: "They're lying. They know they have to go there."

Ken: "Agree."

Me: "So they slap a little design flair on the thing, put one model out for $599 and another for $699. Sure, the Windows version would cost you $350-$450, but I'd have no problem paying the Apple premium on one of these."

Ken: "A lot of people would pay $599 for an Apple Netbook."

Me: "No one's buying the Macbook Air at $1,800."

Ken: "I wouldn't say no one."

Me: "OK, but it's sort of the Apple TV of laptops. It's just not that relevant. Most people would prefer buying a more powerful notebook that weighs a little more for a grand."

Ken: "I agree. I almost bought an Air when it first came out, but I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger." [Note: Ken uses a MacBook Pro but he wants a Netbook for nonbusiness travel].

Me: "Apple always talks about design--and they do have great designers--but what people want now is cheap. As I said, this thing doesn't have to be a masterpiece. I'd rather see them keep things simple and elegant and keep the cost down to $599."

Ken: "You should write a column."

Me: "I will."

I have a feeling a lot of other people are having similar conversations. And while I believe that Apple's on the verge of missing an opportunity here--and think it needs to move quickly to put out a Netbook--I also think that it's well aware of the market dynamics.

Microsoft has made it a point to say that Windows 7 is designed to run on entry-level machines, and it's clearly targeting low-cost Netbooks as the next big frontier.

At the same time, Apple is heading toward its own release of a new operating system, Snow Leopard, which is also designed to run faster and more efficiently. So, you'd think that it, too, is ultimately looking toward more inexpensive PCs, including a so-called MacBook Mini and the much-rumored next-gen Mac Mini.

As far my Netbook experience goes, I've been working on and off on a Lenovo S10 loaner unit, and like it enough to strongly consider one of these machines over the next few months.

My brother-in-law is encouraging me to convert the Lenovo into an OS X machine (the S10 is on the list of Netbooks that do pretty well with OS X), though he knows that neither Apple nor Lenovo would be too keen on me doing this. As Gizmodo says, "Hackintoshing" violates the OS X EULA, and should you want to return your hacked Lenovo S10 or Dell Mini 9 for service, you'll probably get the cold shoulder.

"I'm really tempted to buy one of these things and put OS X on it," he IM'd me last night. "I can get a loaded Dell Mini 9 Linux version for just over $400. 2 gigs of RAM and a 32GB flash-based drive."

He'd rather wait for the Apple Netbook, of course. But I have a feeling that if it doesn't come soon, he's not going to be able to wait any longer. The force is strong for the Apple lover who longs for a Netbook.

What do you guys think?

Helpful links:

CNET's best Netbooks (full reviews)

Gizmodo's step-to-step guide to turning the Dell Mini 9 into a Mac Netbook

BoingBoing Netbook compatibility chart

Wired's running OS X on a Netbook (Apple made Wired pull the video)

Wake up and restore from MSI Wind Netbook with Mac OS X (YouTube video):

Acer Aspire time trial with video running (YouTube video)

Why the Japanese Hate the iPhone

2009-03-01T09:16:00.000-08:00

By Brian X. Chen

Apple's iPhone has wowed most of the globe — but not Japan, where the handset is selling so poorly it's being offered for free.

What's wrong with the iPhone, from a Japanese perspective? Almost everything: the high monthly data plans that go with it, its paucity of features, the low-quality camera, the unfashionable design and the fact that it's not Japanese.

In an effort to boost business, Japanese carrier SoftBank this week launched the "iPhone for Everybody" campaign, which gives away the 8-GB model of the iPhone 3G if customers agree to a two-year contract.

"The pricing has been completely out of whack with market reality," said Global Crown Research analyst Tero Kuittinen in regard to Apple's iPhone prices internationally. "I think they [Apple and its partners overseas] are in the process of adjusting to local conditions."

Apple's iPhone is inarguably popular elsewhere: CEO Steve Jobs announced in October that the handset drove Apple to becoming the third-largest mobile supplier in the world, after selling 10 million units in 2008. However, even before the iPhone 3G's July launch in Japan, analysts were predicting the handset would fail to crack the Japanese market. Japan has been historically hostile toward western brands — including Nokia and Motorola, whose attempts to grab Japanese customers were futile.

Besides cultural opposition, Japanese citizens possess high, complex standards when it comes to cellphones. The country is famous for being ahead of its time when it comes to technology, and the iPhone just doesn't cut it. For example, Japanese handset users are extremely into video and photos — and the iPhone has neither a video camera nor multimedia text messaging. And a highlight feature many in Japan enjoy on their handset is a TV tuner, according to Kuittinen.

What else bugs the Japanese about the iPhone? The pricing plans, Kuittinen said. Japan's carrier environment is very competitive, which equates to relatively low monthly rates for handsets. The iPhone's monthly plan starts at about $60, which is too high compared to competitors, Kuittinen added.

And then there's the matter of compartmentalization. A large portion of Japanese citizens live with only a cellphone as their computing device — not a personal computer, said Hideshi Hamaguchi, a concept creator and chief operating officer of LUNARR. And the problem with the iPhone is it depends on a computer for syncing media and running software updates via iTunes.

"iPhone penetration is very high among the Mac users, but it has a huge physical and mental hurdle to the majority who just get used to live with their cellphone, which does not require PC for many services," Hamaguchi said.

Cellphones are also more of a fashion accessory in Japan than in the United States, according to Daiji Hirata, chief financial officer of News2u Corporation and creator of Japan's first wireless LAN.

So that would suggest that in Japan, carrying around an iPhone — an outdated handset compared to Japanese cellphones — could make you look pretty lame.

Take for example Nobi Hayashi, a journalist and author of Steve Jobs: The Greatest Creative Director. His cellular weapon of choice when he spoke to Wired.com June 2008? A Panasonic P905i, a fancy cellphone that doubles as a 3-inch TV. It also features 3-G, GPS, a 5.1-megapixel camera and motion sensors for Wii-style games.

"When I show this to visitors from the U.S, they're amazed," Hayashi told Wired.com. "They think there's no way anybody would want an iPhone in Japan. But that's only because I'm setting it up for them so that they can see the cool features."

Kuittinen said he's predicting Apple's next iPhone will have better photo capabilities, which could increase its odds of success in Japan. However, he said the monthly rates must be lowered as well.

Otherwise, Apple might as well say sayonara to Japan.

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Taking the Green, Universal Charger to the Next Level

2009-03-01T09:15:00.000-08:00

By Matthew Wheeland

When the GSM Association last week announced that in three years all new cell phones would be powered by the same interface, it was a big win for the environment, as well as cell phone manufacturers and owners.

The move will save manufacturers millions of dollars in costs and resources for accessories that are essentially useful only as long as the original product functions; it will keep untold tons of potentially toxic waste from ending up in landfills; and it will make life significantly easier for mobile phone users.

Moving to a universal charger, especially in as large an industry as mobile phones, also heralds a big shift toward universal power in other electronics product lines, something long been hoped for in green IT and environmental arenas. Although no one type of gadget is as ubiquitous as the mobile phone, bringing a flexible, universal power supply to electronics of all types will amplify the economic and environmental savings.

The GSMA announcement was also, in a somewhat roundabout way, a big win for Green Plug, the manufacturer of smart power supplies for all types of products. We previously covered Green Plug in a feature on phantom power last year, and I got Paul Panepinto, Green Plug's executive vice president of marketing, on the phone to talk about the announcement.

While obviously excited about the move, Panepinto explained that the GSMA is following on a move the China implemented almost two years ago: As of June 2007, all cell phones designed for sale in that country will need to use the same universal charging standard, the same mini-USB technology mandated under the GSMA rule; China's Mobile Communications Associated predicted savings of the equivalent of about $300 million a year by making the shift.

Green Plug has more ambitious goals than just a universal charger: their innovation is a smart charger that interacts with a chip in the electronic device to manage power use while charging, while idling, and even in peak power situations. So they're working on a way to plug your iPod dock into the smart grid.

The group envisions a day when all devices will be enabled with their smart chip, drawing no power when fully charged but also able to put their recharging on hold if, say, the building the device is charging in happens to be in the peak hours of a hot summer day and the local utility is looking for ways to draw down electricity use.

"We've spoken with several utilities about this kind of smart grid and demand response," Panepinto told me. "The smart meters can negotiate with the smart power outlets to negotiate power usage -- it's this "language of energy" phrase we coined for our GreenTalk technology." The company believes that there are significant opportunities for energy efficiency based on dynamically changing demand.

For now, Green Plug is still working on manufacturers to take that leap into being early adopters -- to overcome the perceived risks of getting behind a new technology first -- even though the benefits to the technology seem readily apparent to manufacturers. "Vendors are recognizing that there's a huge win for them -- but why not let someone else be first?" Panepinto said.

Although he obviously couldn't share details of discussions or even which companies they are working on as early adopters, Panepinto described HP, Apple and Sony as obvious dream customers for taking on Green Plug.

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Cellular providers want Nokia to drop Skype from cell phones

2009-03-01T09:11:00.000-08:00

Two cell service providers in the UK are supposedly up in arms over Nokia's inclusion of Skype software on its N97 handset, and are threatening not to carry the device unless the software is ditched. This stance is not only annoying to consumers who are beginning to like VoIP, but it could also even hurt the carriers' business in the long run.

By Jacqui Cheng

Two UK mobile operators are reportedly fuming at Nokia for including a mobile version of Skype on its N97 handset. Both Orange and O2 are so terrified that the popular VoIP service will siphon away profitable cell minutes by allowing users to make free calls that they are supposedly threatening not to carry the device unless Skype is removed.

The outrage is going on behind closed doors for the time being, though it's hardly surprising, given the power that carriers have traditionally had over handset manufacturers. They don't like customers having options that the handset maker wants to offer when they believe it might threaten their bottom line—even if they ultimately benefit consumers.

This attitude is merely reinforced by the anonymous comments made to Mobile Today about the issue. "This is another example of them trying to build an ecosystem that is all about Nokia and reduces the operator to a dumb pipe," one mobile operator told the site. "Some people like 3 may be in a position where it could make sense to accept that. But if you spend upwards of £40m per year building your brand, you don't want to be just a dumb pipe do you?"

3 is a mobile operator in the UK that can apparently see the VoIP writing on the wall; it already offers a handset with Skype capabilities, and T-Mobile has also gotten on board with support for the service. Unfortunately O2 and Orange aren't fans of it, and are visibly holding back on allowing VoIP software so they can make sure it won't hurt their business.

This is, of course, a frustrating development for customers who are increasingly buying handsets equipped with WiFi capabilities and want to be able to take full advantage of their capabilities. VoIP use on cell phones helps customers to save money and minutes by making extremely low-cost calls when on a WiFi network, without having to carry a second Skype phone with them.

Including VoIP software on mobile phones could actually lead to more sales, more new customers, and even more cell network use because of the new customers. In fact, a "senior industry source" speaking to Mobile Today suggested exactly that: "If you look at what 3 has done—chargeable calls on Skype phones is bigger than those without it."

This fear of VoIP is certainly not limited to the UK; mobile operators in the US have also been extremely cautious in allowing handsets to be equipped with Skype or other VoIP software, though some are taking baby steps. AT&T sort of tolerates VoIP apps on Apple's iPhone, though they must be restricted to WiFi-only—no VoIP calls over the cell network for you! Additionally, T-Mobile has launched HotSpot@Home here in the US, which allows users to make VoIP calls over WiFi networks that automatically switch to the cell network when users wander outside of WiFi range.

As VoIP becomes more pervasive, customers will put more pressure on cell operators to let them make those calls when they want to. It seems like a better idea for carriers to get on board now—even in a limited sense with WiFi-only VoIP—than to put it off until customers get really irritated.

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Yahoo Teams With Newspapers to Sell Ads

2009-03-01T09:08:00.000-08:00

Hilary Schneider and Lem Lloyd of Yahoo, which has formed an alliance with newspapers.

By MIGUEL HELFT

Terry Widener has been selling newspaper ads for 35 years. But until last fall, Ms. Widener, a 53-year-old saleswoman at The Knoxville News Sentinel in Knoxville, Tenn., had never sold an Internet ad.

Then in a two-week sales “blitz” intended to test an innovative partnership between newspapers and Yahoo, she persuaded advertisers to buy $200,000 in online ads that ran on the paper’s Web site and on Yahoo. That represented about a seventh of the amount she typically sells in an entire year.

“I’m pretty much from the old school,” Ms. Widener said. “It was such a learning experience. Hopefully I am going to sell more and more online.”

Many newspaper owners and publishers have similar hopes. They say that the partnership with Yahoo is one of the only bright spots in an otherwise horrible advertising market.

Through the partnership, ad salespeople at newspapers pitch local businesses on advertising packages that let them reach visitors to the newspapers’ Web sites and Yahoo users in the area. The newspapers also use Yahoo technology that lets them charge more for ads on their sites.

A similar sales blitz at The Ventura County Star, a small daily north of Los Angeles, netted nearly $1 million in sales in the run-up to Christmas, or roughly 40 percent of what the paper sold in online ads in 2008. The Naples Daily News in Florida did even better: The late-January blitz generated $2 million in sales, or more than half what the paper sold online in 2008. Some larger newspapers have had similar successes.

“If we could do just shy of $1 million in two weeks in a horrible economy, what does it mean for us when the economy turns?” asked George H. Cogswell III, publisher of The Ventura County Star.

Yahoo, which has been struggling with internal turmoil and slowing growth, is also hailing its alliance with the newspaper consortium as one of its most important efforts. The consortium has grown to nearly 800 dailies, up from 176 in 2006.

“It seems to be hitting the sweet spot for both newspapers and Yahoo,” said Lem Lloyd, a Yahoo vice president for the partnership.

No one expects that the partnership will make up for what’s ailing Yahoo or the newspaper industry any time soon. Consider that on Friday E. W. Scripps, the owner of the Knoxville, Ventura and Naples newspapers, closed The Rocky Mountain News, one of its flagship properties. The San Francisco Chronicle, one of the first papers to make use of all parts of the Yahoo alliance, is being threatened with closure by its owner, the Hearst Corporation.

Yahoo’s bet on the newspaper consortium will not give a meaningful lift to its finances this year or tilt the balance in its fight with Google, which dominates the online ad business.

“In 2009, this partnership is not material,” said Hilary Schneider, executive vice president for North America at Yahoo, who is one of the driving forces behind the alliance. “If you look at the long-term opportunity, it is material, and it continues to exceed our expectations.”

The partnership began in 2006 and was initially focused on sharing employment classifieds. But over the last year, about half of the newspapers in the alliance, including some smaller newspapers owned by The New York Times Company, have agreed to begin testing two new elements of the relationship.

One is a new ad system from Yahoo, currently installed at about 100 newspapers, that allows them to sell graphical ads on their sites that are aimed at specific audiences, like car buyers or sports enthusiasts. The system puts users into those groups based on the pages they visit online, a technique known as behavioral targeting.

This allows publishers to sell, say, high-priced travel ads not only on travel pages but also on any page visited by a user interested in travel. An advertiser may have paid 50 cents to reach every thousand visitors to a high school sports page, for example, said Leon Levitt, vice president for digital at Cox Newspapers. “Now it doesn’t matter where the page is on the site,” Mr. Levitt said. “All of a sudden we can sell that page for $15” for every 1,000 visitors who are interested in travel, he said.

The other new element of the partnership allows newspapers to sell ads on Yahoo pages, with the two sides sharing the resulting revenue. That lets newspapers promise advertisers that their messages will reach a larger portion of the local audience, helping the newspapers compete more effectively with television.

Between its print and online editions, The Ventura County Star, for example, reached about 56 percent of its local audience. With the addition of the Yahoo pages, it now reaches 85 percent of Ventura residents, and it can also tell advertisers that they can reach Yahoo’s audience in the larger Los Angeles market.

“It is certainly a new opportunity,” Mr. Cogswell said.

Yahoo benefits too, by being able to tap into some 7,500 sales people at newspapers across the country. The additional ads translate into higher rates for pages that typically command low ad prices, like those on Yahoo’s mail service, Mr. Lloyd said.

Some newspaper executives have been worried that a management shake-up at Yahoo could put the partnership at risk. Ms. Schneider said Carol Bartz, Yahoo’s new chief executive, is squarely behind the alliance. “Carol looks at this partnership as core to Yahoo’s future,” Ms. Schneider said.

Ken Doctor, a newspaper industry analyst with Outsell, said losing Yahoo’s support would be a blow to newspapers. “For the companies that are in it, this is the No. 1 growth initiative in 2009 and 2010,” Mr. Doctor said.

For now, however, that growth provides only a small dose of relief for an ailing industry.

“It’s a new source of revenue that we think is going to be a growing source of revenue,” said William Dean Singleton, the chief executive of the MediaNews Group, which owns 54 dailies and is one of the original members of the consortium. “It is still small compared to the recessionary print declines we are seeing.”

Original here

Report: RIAA Undergoing Massive Layoffs

2009-03-01T09:06:00.000-08:00

By David Kravets

The Recording Industry Association of America is firing scores of workers, a "bloodbath" as some have described it.

The recession, and its announced pullback of its 5-year-old litigation campaign, are among the reasons.

Hypebot.com reports dozens of RIAA workers are being let go. The "RIAA as you know it is probably history by Tuesday of next week," the site says. The site predicts the group is likely to merge with the International Federation of the Phonographic Industries, the RIAA's European counterpart which is part of the ongoing trial against The Pirate Bay in Sweden.

Cara Duckworth, an RIAA spokeswoman, says in an e-mail to Digital Media News that: "Can't confirm number but I can confirm there were layoffs."

The move comes two months after the music industry's litigation and lobbying front announced an end to its 5-year litigation campaign, in which more than 30,000 individuals had been sued for file sharing. The RIAA, which defeated Napster and Grokster in court, said instead of litigation it would work with ISPs to suspend file sharing copyright scofflaws – a plan that has not materialized.

Duckworth did not immediately return e-mails or phone calls for comment.

The Motion Picture Association of America, the film studio's litigation and lobbying arm, announced layoffs weeks ago.

Original here

Pirate Bay Witness’ Wife Overwhelmed With Flowers

2009-03-01T09:01:00.000-08:00

Written by Ernesto

When Professor and media researcher Roger Wallis left the stand yesterday, the court asked whether he wanted to be reimbursed for his appearance. “You are welcome to send some flowers to my wife,” he responded. In the hours that followed, many Pirate Bay supporters took this suggestion to hand.

Professor and media researcher Roger Wallis appeared as an expert witness at the Pirate Bay trial yesterday. He was questioned on the link between the decline of album sales and filesharing. Wallis told the court that his research has shown that there is no relation between the two.

He was heavily attacked by industry lawyers Danowsky, Pontén and Wadsted who did everything they could to discredit and slander his reputation. When Wallis was asked whether he wanted to be reimbursed for travel expenses etc, he light-heartedly suggested sending some flowers to his wife.

His statement was picked up by the large audience listening in to the live audio from the trial and flowers soon began arriving at the Wallis’ house.

Mr. and Mrs. Wallis and their flowers.

Roger’s wife, Görel Wallis, wasn’t surprised by her husband’s whim in court:

“We have been married for 38 years. He proposed half an hour after we met and I said maybe. After a day, he had convinced me”, she said.

At a local flower store in Stockholm they had received 100 orders by 20.30 last night. Owner Kristian Skald said that two nearby stores had received an equal amount of orders.

“Last delivery was 33 bouquets Thursday night. There will be more to come on Friday,” the owner of the flower shop commented.

Today, Friday, the couple celebrates their wedding day anniversary and on Saturday it’s Görel’s birthday. Roger Wallis feels she is worth all the flowers she gets.

“She was very worried before the trial. They questioned my competence and that made her very sad. She hadn’t slept for two days,” Roger said.

A web page has been set up that collects what has been given so far, complete with an ever-growing stack of CDs that show how many sales the music-industry has lost by slandering the Professor.

Thus far, in an amazing show of generosity from a section of society labeled by the music industry as ‘thieves’, more than 4100 Euros worth of flowers, chocolate and gifts have been sent to the couple.

The Wallis’ soon ran out of vases for the flowers but Görel knows that sharing is caring and will distribute the flowers to all residents in their apartment building.

“We will make sure it will be beautiful here.”

Original here

Safari 4: Eye candy, or seriously useful?

2009-03-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that I use Macs, I've never been a big fan of Safari, Apple's browser. It doesn't always properly view some of the Web pages I use regularly, and it has what I consider odd interface quirks.

For example, if you prefer not to see underlined links, there's no checkbox for that option in its preferences - instead, you have to find and edit an arcane configuration file.

Over the last few years, Apple has been putting considerable effort into advancing Safari, and that's one of the reasons for the renewed browser development landscape. Competition between Safari, Mozilla's Firefox, Google's new Chrome and Microsoft's dominant Internet Explorer has been good for Web users because it's resulted in seriously useful innovations.

Apple fired its latest salvo on Tuesday with the surprise release of a public beta of Safari 4, which is available for both Windows and Macintosh systems. It includes some interesting features that are worth exploring, but whether you'll consider them eye candy or innovation is likely to be a matter of personal preference.

At the moment, I lean more toward the former. Safari 4's biggest change borrows from the Cover Flow display style that first appeared in iTunes and then later found a home in the Finder in Mac OS X 10.5. It previews Web pages via thumbnails set against a black backdrop in two separate features.

Whether this is useful or merely looks cool will depend on how you use a Web browser.

The first time you see the effect, it's in a feature called Top Sites, which shows your most-visited sites via a series of stacked thumbnails.

A similar feature is found in Chrome, Google's Windows-only (for now) browser, but it doesn't look half as cool. At first, most of the sites shown are placeholders that are commonly used by many people. Over time, as you use Safari, the thumbnails will change to reflect where you go on the Web.

The Top Sites page appears by default when you open a new blank tab. You can also access it via a button in the bookmark/history manager.

And that's where you next see the Cover Flow feature in Safari 4. Here, it looks even more like Cover Flow in iTunes or the Mac's Finder, with bookmarks and pages you've visited marching across the "stage" with a flick of your mouse cursor.

The Cover Flow display is available in both the Mac and Windows versions, with one exception: If your Windows PC's video card doesn't support Microsoft's DirectX 9 graphics system, you won't see this.

If you're visually inclined, searching through bookmarks and history in this way may make sense to you. I'm more likely to browse through a text list sorted by recent visits or alphabetically - I find I don't use Cover Flow that much, either in iTunes or the Finder. I'm probably not apt to use it much in Safari, either.

There's one other interface tweak worth noting. In both the Windows and Mac versions, Apple has moved the tab bar to the very top of the browser window, another feature borrowed from Chrome.

I don't care much for this layout in Chrome, and still don't like it in Safari. I prefer my tabs to be atop the browser's display pane, where the action is. Fortunately, there are hidden settings you can tweak in Safari to put the tabs back where they belong.

Safari 4 is also noticeably faster to load pages, particularly those that use Javascript, than its predecessor. Although I've not run any benchmarks, those who have say its quantifiably faster than even Firefox 3, and certainly faster than Internet Explorer - which is not hard to do.

I'm a big fan of really useful search built into a browser - which is one reason why I love Firefox 3's "awesome bar" - and Safari has added a feature first seen in Opera that I really like. When you search your recent browsing history, it not only searches URLs and page titles, but also the text recently found on the pages in your browser's cache. This means if you can remember a line of text on a page, you can find it again even if you don't know the site name or page title.

I'm going to try living with Safari 4 for a while and see if it grows on me. I'll report back either here or in a future Computing column.

And if you've got some first impressions of Safari 4, either on a Windows or Mac system, please leave 'em in the comments.

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