- Apple bitten by various lawsuits
- MS, AMD woo bloggers with free laptops
- Feds crawl toward encryption
- Second Life buzz plagued by fuzzy numbers
- Google Notebooks open to public
- Hone-in on the Wii, PS3
- Wiki founder to launch search engine
- MS official denies RSS grab
- Nintendo Wii gets browser, we win
- BEA dealing with accounting issues
December 30, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Apple bitten by various lawsuits
Although Apple has enjoyed great success of late, 2006 hasn't been all kind to the Cupertino, Calf.-based company. Beyond facing federal probes for alleged stock-option manipulations, the company has disclosed in a recent SEC filing that it's facing a number of lawsuits, according to reports, including one accusing the company of creating a monopoly by linking its iTunes store to the iPod.
"The case, filed July 21, is over Apple's use of a copy-protection system that generally prevents iTunes music and video from playing on rival players. Likewise, songs purchased elsewhere aren't easily playable on iPods," AP reports.
A judge denied Apple's request to dismiss the case on Dec. 20.
A second lawsuit, filed in November, alleges that the logic board of Apple's iBook G4s are prone to failure at an unusually high rate, AP reports. Apple has yet to file a response.
Finally, a company called PhatRat filed a patent-infringement against Apple in October in response to an iPod developed jointly by Apple and Nike that allows runners to measure the time and distance they've run. Apple has yet to file a response to that lawsuit, either, according to AP.
This isn't the first patent-infringement case Apple has faced. Earlier this year, the company settled with Creative for $100 million after Creative had sued the company for infringing on its patented interface and file organization technology for MP3 players.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 30, 2006 08:49 AM
December 29, 2006 | Comments: (0)
MS, AMD woo bloggers with free laptops
Microsoft PR is said to be giving away "top notch Acer Ferrari branded notebooks to bloggers for free!" in Australia, reports iTWire.
No strings attached, says the PR firm, Edelman. iTWire quotes one blogger who received one unsolicited:
As Ferrari notebook recipient blogger Scott Beale noted on his Laughing Squid blog: "I did not request that this laptop by (sic) sent to me or sign-up in advance for it. In fact, I had no idea how or why I was chosen to receive it. I wasn't even aware that I was going to be sent one until Edelman contacted me on December 20th. The email from Edelman said that it (was) a "present" and that it was being sent with "no strings attached" ...E-mail from MS PR continues: "Yes, Windows Vista and AMD sent out review computers to bloggers. Why? Because we believe in the power of community, we believe in our product, and we are partnering with AMD to give bloggers the best hardware experience we can...
"Also, you are welcome to send the machine back to us after you are done playing with it, or you can give it away on your site, or you can keep it. My recommendation is that you give it away on your site."
As iTWire notes, that's the ultimate form of temptation for cash-strapped bloggers just days before Christmas. Most publishers in Australia and the world set limits on what their writers can receive in terms of gifts, and this would not be allowed, so why bloggers. Easier to sway?
What do you think? Do you think this is kosher in journalism?
Posted by Mike Barton on December 29, 2006 09:57 AM
December 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Often it takes a high-profile disaster to get the wheels of government moving toward preventing a repeat.
Such appears to be the case with this year's infamous data-leak episode of millions of U.S. veterans' private information last May, which prompted the White House to issue a presidential mandate [PDF] requiring all agency mobile laptops and devices storing sensitive data to have fully encrypted hard drives.
Slowly but surely, the encryption-project ball is rolling, notes the Web site Full Disk Encryption: The government has posted RFPs (request for proposals), giving vendors a chance to line up and make their case for their respective encryption wares. "As with any other encryption product being used by Federal Government, the selected FDE product must have FIP 140-2 certification." (You can read the rest of the technical requirements here [Doc].)
Interested companies include Seagate, Mobile Armor, Pointsec, SafeNet, and Credant. According to Full Disk Encryption; the evaluation is expected to end in 90 days.
It will be interesting to see how much this encryption ends up costing, as well as just how effective it turns out to be. Hopefully it will help the Feds fare better than a D+ the next time its data security competence is assessed.
Meanwhile, perhaps more companies will follow the governments lead, given the rash of data leaks we've seen at corporations like Chevron, Boeing, Wells Fargo, Starbucks, and others over the past couple of years. If they're not sure where to start, they could check out InfoWorld's encryption special report from earlier this year.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 28, 2006 03:06 PM
December 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Second Life buzz plagued by fuzzy numbers
Those of us here in Massachusetts know that numbers count. After all, we're residents of one of just a handful of states in the country that is shedding population. And, as we all know, fewer people means less clout -- politically and otherwise.
The same thing is true, more or less, in virtual worlds like World of Warcraft and Second Life. Having a critical mass of users draws in other users, who draw the attention of advertisers, sponsors and partners -- a kind of virtuous cycle.
That's why recent posts at blogs like ValleyWag that question game maker Linden Labs' census of their Second Life virtual community touch a nerve. The game, which has been around since the late 1990s, has been riding a wave of publicity and favorable press coverage this year, as established firms like IBM, Intel and Sun Microsystems, media players like The Sundance Channel, not to mention press outfits like Reuters and CNET have set up outposts in Second Life. Reporters were drawn by the buzz, and by stories of Second Life users setting up shop and supporting their First Life selves through Second Life commerce -- admittedly, a cool development. For corporations, however, the lure was clearly Linden's claims that a population of 2 million tech-savvy users (the figure is one million in company press releases) awaited them and their products in Second Life's sprawling geography.
Those claims, and Linden's habit of snaring gushing and often uncritical write-ups from the technology press got under the skin of the folks over at ValleyWag, where contributors like Clay Shirky, in the truest tradition of muck raking journalists, developed an "incohate irritation" with Second Life and began poking around a bit behind the the pr blitz. In recent weeks, Shirky has been questioning, loudly, Second Life's claims to have two million or even one million unique participants, and the media's tendency to simply parrot those numbers without demanding proof from Linden that they're for real.
To quote Shirky: "There isn't one million of anything human inhabiting Second Life. There is no one-to-one correlation between Residents and users. And whatever Residents does measure, it has nothing to do with paying customers. The number of paid accounts is in the tens of thousands, not the millions (and remember, if you're playing along at home, there can be more than one account per person. Kits, cats, sacks, and wives...)"
No doubt, Second Life has plenty of enthusiastic participants. But for companies like IBM that are sinking thousands (tens of thousands? millions?) of their own money into creating virtual islands in Second Life, there's a big difference between a person who's paying a monthly subscription and logging on regularly to their account, and someone (like me, for instance) who downloaded Second Life's software a year ago to take a spin in the virtual environment, but never signed up or paid a return visit. It's not clear how many me's figure into that one or two million users figure -- or whether any of us do. It's also unclear, as Shirky points out, whether Linden is counting registered users or just their avatars in their census data. As more advertising and marketing dollars pour into Second Life, companies should (and probably will) be asking Linden for ham, not spam, when it comes to the real number of users active in Second Life.
And, as ValleyWag noted yesterday, at least one marketing executive at IBM, David Berger, may have heard Shirky and others. In a blog post, Berger says the company, which claims 1,000 employee users of Second Life and 12 virtual islands, may start asking "tough questions" and "exert(ing) leadership" amid the hype over virtual worlds.
Posted by Paul Roberts on December 28, 2006 10:43 AM
December 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Google Notebooks open to public
Google Notebook users are being warned to think "privacy option" with some recent breaches, TechCrunch reports.
It looks like some people using Google Notebook are bookmarking sensitive personal information, including social security numbers and email passwords. And others are finding that sensitive information via the Google Notebook search tool.
A Digg post, Google Notebook Search: Go through people's notebooks, shows how many have turned example of easy access to personal data -- apparently only available to the public once Google Notebook users manually turn of the default privacy option.
Regardless, question is: When does Google become responsible for monitoring such user neglect?
TechCrunch followed up its post with a note that Google had begun removing private data from Notebook, so this could get interesting and lead to some changes at Google, at least for this product.
Posted by Mike Barton on December 28, 2006 09:46 AM
December 27, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Feeling left out of the must-have craze of Xmas 2006? Gizmodo has honed in on a site the helps you locate a Nintendo Wii or Sony PS3 in Web 2.0 glory, via live maps.
Anecdotal reports from family is that the Wii is all that, with Opera boosting it with a Web browser in extra Christmas cheer.
From Gizmodo:
Just scan the map and you can see how many they have in stock or when the next shipment is. For some reason Circuit City and Target aren't reporting their numbers, but Best Buy is. At the very least, you can easily see the store's phone numbers so you can ring them up and ask.
How high-tech is that?
Posted by Mike Barton on December 27, 2006 04:51 PM
December 26, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Wiki founder to launch search engine
Google and Wikipedia are two of my favored tools for finding quick information. Thus, I'm rather intrigued by the announcement from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales that he's stepping into the search arena, spearheading a new Google competitor called Wikisari.
For those of you who missed the news, which Wales first announced last Saturday, he is seeking volunteers to help develop Wikisari, "a new kind of search engine, which relies on human intelligence to do what algorithms cannot."
Slated to launch during the first quarter of 2007, the project, according to reports, will be funded Amazon.con and Silicon Valley financiers. The named Wikisari, by the way, is a melding of wiki and the Japanese word asari, which means "rummaging search.”
The reason for Wikisari, Wales writes, is that search as we know it is broken: "Why is it broken? It is broken for the same reason that proprietary software is always broken: lack of freedom, lack of community, lack of accountability, lack of transparency."
According to the aforelinked article in The Money Times, Wales said that "Google is very good at many types of search, but in many instances it produces nothing but spam and useless crap. Try searching for the term 'Tampa hotels,' for example, and you will not get any useful results."
He went on to say, "Essentially, if you consider one of the basic tasks of a search engine, it is to make a decision: 'this page is good, this page sucks.' Computers are notoriously bad at making such judgments."
Wales is certainly correct: There are times when algorithms may not provide you the links you need to find the information you're looking for. However, he's also not the first person out there to realize the shortcomings of purely computerized search results.
Consider what happened around the time Hurricane Katrina struck earlier this year. Anyone going to Google to search for katrina ended up with links to trivia about the name Katrina and to a Virginia-based company run by a Web designer named Katrina Blankenship. Not very helpful, and a certainly a ding against letting a search engine deliver links sans human intervention.
Meanwhile, Yahoo demonstrated that it was aware of potential shortcomings of strictly-computerized search. As the hurricane approached, Yahoo editors (i.e. human beings) had tweaked search results to generate pertinent news articles and hurricane information when people typed in katrina.
Other search companies are learning, too. A relatively new search engine called ChaCha, for example, calls on human expertise to deliver personalized results in real-time, via IM, to meet the needs of individual users. (I haven't used it enough to assess just how good it is.)
So the big question is, will Wikisari be a success? Well, Wales certainly has Wikipedia's notoriety working in his favor. Also, some people who accuse commercial sites like Google and Yahoo of bias in its rankings might be lure to the (somewhat vague) promises of openness the Wales is offerings.
But on the other hand, it's bound to be an uphill battle for Wikisari. Google remains the king of search, despite the hiccups we saw during Katrina. The company presumably has learned from the experience and continues to adjust accordingly. Meanwhile, Yahoo and other engines have demonstrated that they can and do use human power to supplement algorithmic drawbacks.
Really, though, we'll have to wait and see how the business and search model of Wikisari shape up. Stay tuned. I know I will.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 26, 2006 02:33 PM
December 26, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft has responded to bloggers' claims it was trying to patent RSS, saying its applications last week for RSS-related patents do not change its commitment to the standards-based format.
InfoWorld-hosted Open Sources wrote:
Just what the world needs--Microsoft to claim control over something they didn't create. I'm not even sure how it makes sense if the context is just the Vista OS...
Microsoft responded in blogs over the Holiday weekend, with Microsoft RSS lead Sean Lyndersay posting in his blog regarding the patent applications (see 1 and 2):
From the beginning we have sought an open and reasonable relationship with the RSS community. As one example, we have published various RSS and Atom extensions under a Creative Commons license. These specifications provide proof of our commitment to offer our contributions to the community and evidence of our efforts to advance the technology. We honestly hope that our work brings benefit to all feed publishers, developers and users, and we've been happy with the response we have received from the community so far.Finally, as a number of commenters have noted, we are far from the only company to apply for patent protection in this space. Other companies, including Apple and Google, have apparently also applied for patents. Applying for a patent on your innovation is common industry practice, and one which, by incenting and protecting the companies and people involved, encourages everyone to contribute to the community.
Are your concerns hosed down enough for you to rest easy with that Microsoft is just in it for everyone? Talk back to us.
Posted by Mike Barton on December 26, 2006 12:18 PM
December 22, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Nintendo Wii gets browser, we win
The announcement that the Nintendo Wii game machine which allows players to use a remote control device to play games on their TV will get the Opera browser is very big news.
If you've ever tried to access your email on a hotel tv which had built-in Internet access you know what a pain that can be. But with an easy to use remote, rather than a cordless keyboard, access becomes far more comfortable and natural, especially to gamers in whose hands the future of high tech rests.
The browser on Wii also puts yet another obstacle in the way of Microsoft's strategy to become the center of the universe in the family room.
Yes, you can browse the Web with Xbox if you are technical genius and can figure it out. But it takes a consumer electronics company like Nintendo to make it simple.
In the battle for dominance in the home, PC versus TV, or who controls the home entertainment center, this is yet another example of how the TV will reign supreme.
Apple had a better chance than Microsoft at dominance but at the end of the day I would put my money on the consumer electronics companies.
After all didn't Comdex, the giant computer show of yesteryear disappear while the Consumer Electronics show is bigger than ever.
Of course, the TV of the future will have processors built in, along with Wi-Fi and maybe a VoIP phone hanging off the side [I'm speaking figuratively here] with a video VoIP call displayed on the screen.
On the inside it won't look like your father's TV. But on the outside it will look just about the same.
And we won't call it, HD TV, or flat panel TV or a Computer TV, we will just call it TV.
Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on December 22, 2006 03:04 PM
December 22, 2006 | Comments: (0)
BEA dealing with accounting issues
BEA Systems is wrestling with stock option grant accounting issues, which also have plagued other companies such as Apple Computer.
BEA has missed two financial results filing deadlines in the past two quarters while it reviews its books over stock option issues. As a result of the missed deadlines, Nasdaq has threatened to delist the company from its stock exchange and has sent two notices. But BEA is confident it will not be delisted.
The company on December 4 reported that an internal audit committee had made a determination that, under applicable accounting principles, the actual measurement dates for certain stock options differed from the recorded measurement dates for such stock options. BEA said it expects that the difference in these measurement dates will result in material non-cash, stock-based compensation expenses.
BEA is one of 180 companies now going through the process of examining its stock option practices, said Eric Stahl, BEA director of investor relations.
Rules on accounting for stock option grants had been loosely defined in the past, Stahl said.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 22, 2006 03:03 PM
December 22, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Allison hire spurs Google-MS war?
So Jeremy Allison of Samba fame is going to Google, leaving Novell as a protest over the Novell-Microsoft patent deal. Allison's departure makes sense: The agreement -- with its implication that Linux has an IP problem -- casts a pall over the open source movement. It seems inevitable that Allison would walk. But his choice of new homes... ah, now that's truly provocative.
You can view Allison's choice of Google in two ways.
1) A demonstrably smart guy needs a place to flee. Google hires smarts guys, lots of them. It's their habit, though plenty of those guys are reportedly sitting around on their hands, thinking deep thoughts and not doing all that much. In that scenario, Google is the ultimate soft landing. Or...
2) Google is signaling something big with this hire. Does this suggest they want to scale out their Web Office offerings beyond Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets? To do that, they would need a high-performance clustered file system to serve files across networks. Now, who would you hire if you wanted to do something like that? How about the guy who developed Samba, an "Open Source/Free Software suite that provides seamless file and print services to SMB/CIFS clients"? By walking out on the Novell, Allison might be making his point and putting a hurt on Microsoft in the process. Or am I reading too much into this?
Posted by Steve Fox on December 22, 2006 11:49 AM
December 21, 2006 | Comments: (0)
FUD (that's Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) is back in the news this week, as Jim Allchin, Microsoft's Co-President for Platforms and Services called "bull s***" on a recent report by antivirus vendor Sophos PLC that Vista is vulnerable to a rogue's list of malware, much of which has been in circulation for a couple of years now. The Sophos report (available here) claims that three viruses: Stratio-Zip, Netsky-D and MyDoom-O can bypass Vista's defenses when accessed via a third part web email client.
A bold claim and, not surprisingly, Microsoft took umbrage to it. Writing on the Windows Vista blog, Allchin
"clarified" those claims, noting that Vista out of the box, without any third party software, is actually immune to those viruses, and the rest of the malicious code on Sophos Top 10 list.
On the other hand, Vista users who take advantage of Microsoft Outlook, rather than Windows Mail, or use a third-party email client that blocks execution of known executable formats only stop eight of the top ten. Two worms: variants of MyDoom and Bagle, might slip by depending on what attachment type they use to spread the worm code, and what kinds of attachments you choose to block.
"In both cases, this is a function of the e-mail software, not Windows Vista," Allchin said.
Who's at fault here? Everybody, really. Sophos is certainly guilty of inflaming a non-debate by suggesting that Vista, the operating system, was vulnerable to XP-era malware when what we're talking about is third party mail clients allowing e-mail with Zip file attachments through, then Vista users opening the ZIP files, then clicking again to open the worm executables, which then run in the Vista environment.
But get used to it. Vista FUD is flying fast and furious from security vendors of all shapes and sizes, as they prime the pump to get people buying Vista-compatible updates to their own products. As Sophos says in its own release:
“It won’t be long before cyber criminals develop Vista-specific malware or modify current threats to fit the bill."
Then, earlier in the week, we had reports (this time from Trend Micro) of unconfirmed Vista 0Days on auction for $50,000, though nobody who wrote about that was able to confirm if the code for sale was a real Vista 0day or if the auctioneer was going to get their minimum bid met. Even the experts from Trend seemed incredulous. As of Wednesday, both the auction and the channel it was posted on had disappeared, according to a Trend spokesman.
Of course, nobody doubts that exploit code is for sale, and I'm inclined to believe Trend researchers when they say that prices are going up up up for undiscovered (0day) exploits on popular platforms.
And, in some sense, Microsoft was asking for this by trumpeting Vista's security improvements as the best (and only?) reason to invest in their zaftig new OS. Nobody really expected Vista to be a clean slate for Microsoft security wise. The problem is that so many of the other next generation features dropped out of the OS, security is the only thing most people could point to as an honest to goodness improvement. In areas where Microsoft did move boldly, as with Kernel patch Protection, they got their ears pinned back by competitors and EU regulators, as Allchin acknowledges.
"The recent feedback we received around our decision to continue to include Kernel Patch Protection in the 64-bit versions of Windows Vista (even though we had shipped this protection in 64-bit versions of Windows XP nearly two years ago) was more controversial than we would have expected. It's a complicated world -- that's all I can say."
Depressingly, though, if you read down in Allchin's post exonerating Vista, you find yourself in a discussion that's eerily similar to the kinds of talk that we've heard about Windows XP for years.
"If you are like most users and receive e-mail from unknown people, are not really sure even what executables or ZIP files are, run a lot of software and browse the web downloading programs with abandon, then our best advice remains the same: You should 1) stay current with the latest security updates (and in this case I urge you to use the recommended defaults included in Windows Vista); 2) use a firewall (there's a great two-way firewall built into Windows Vista! Or, use a third-party solution that you can buy); and 3) use anti-malware software. I recommend using the combination of Windows Defender and an add-on anti-virus software program such as Windows Live OneCare or one of the many great products available from third parties, such as Sophos."
Sigh.
Posted by Paul Roberts on December 21, 2006 10:08 AM
December 21, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Bebo tops 2006 Google searches
MySpace, beware: You were outGoogled in 2006 by another social-networking site.
Bebo was the No. 1 searched term on Google in 2006, according to Zeitgeist, which provides search trends information about Google. But social networking wasn't all the dominated the minds of Googlers. 2006 also witnessed a rise in interest about technology topics such as AJAX, podcasting, and Web 2.0.
Back to the top 10 Google searches, though: Myspace followed Bebo as No. 2, followed by, in order: world cup, metacafe, radioblog, wikipedia, video, rebelde, mininova, and wiki.
Interestingly, there's a striking difference between the top 2006 searches reported by Google compared to those reported by Yahoo, almost all of which were celebrities, starting with Britney Spears. The exception was the No. 2 ranked WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).
On Google News, paris hilton was the most highly sought topic, followed by orlando bloom, cancer, podcasting, hurricane katrina, bankruptcy, martina hingas, autism, 2006 nfl draft, and celebrity big brother 2006. (Steve Irwin's death was the top sought news article on Yahoo.)
Zeitgeist also lists some of the top-searched inquiries. The individual Googlers wanted most identified was Borat (as in who is borat), followed by Hezbollah and EU. (No. 4 four on that list: who is hot.)
Highest on the list of "What is ..." queries was hezbollah. Of the remaining nine, eight are various types of medication, except for No. 6, which is ajax. (Hopefully InfoWorld has been able to assist in clarifying that last one.)
Tech-related inquiries also popped up on the top "How to ..." inquiries and "Define ..." requests, including wiki how to, how to podcast, how to blog, define web 2.0, and define ajax.
To see all of the top searches on Google for 2006, go to here.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 21, 2006 08:50 AM
December 20, 2006 | Comments: (0)
More than 40 percent of developers working on SOA compete a typical development within three months, according to an Evans Data study to be released on Friday.
This figure is more than twice the number of developers that accomplished this a year ago, Evans said. The Evans Data 2006 Web Services Development Survey also said more than 60 percent of SOA projects are completed within six months.
The survey results were cited as evidence of dramatic productivity increases by Evans, which noted the improvements are concurrent with developers' embrace of .Net and Java for SOA in almost equal numbers.
Additionally, the number of companies with more than 40 Web services in production has doubled in two years, Evans said. The figure is expected to double again in the next year.
"We are now moving from the SOA pilot stage into full live deployments taking advantage of the reuse of frameworks and services thus driving the much-improved productivity curve," said John Andrews, Evans Data's president, in a statement released by the company. "This adoption highlights the proven benefits that both the IT and line of business organizations achieve through their SOA efforts."
The survey gauged the perspectives of more than 400 Web services developers.
In other findings in the survey:
* Evans found that half of developers working on Web services use AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) or plan to do so in the next 12 months, an increase of 45 percent from six months ago.
* Determining return on investment in SOA is considered the top challenge to SOA deployments, followed by achieving organizational buy-in.
* In three years, two of three SOA developers will be running most of their applications in managed code.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 20, 2006 07:01 AM
December 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Seems searchasaurus Google has an eye on every business opportunity under the sun. We've already learned that the company is shooting for the moon; now, according to Guardian Unlimited, the company is in talks with mobile-phone maker Orange to spawn a mobile device primed for performing search from anywhere.
According to the report, in which anonymous sources are cited:
"their plans centre on a branded Google phone, which would probably also carry Orange's logo. The device would not be revolutionary: manufactured by HTC, a Taiwanese firm specialising in smart phones and Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), it might have a screen similar to a video iPod. But it would have built-in Google software which would dramatically improve on the slow and cumbersome experience of surfing the web from a mobile handset."
Neither company would confirm or deny the report, though it's no secret Google has an interest in the wireless world. The company, along with EarthLink, recently won a bid to blanket San Francisco with free and paid Wi-Fi service.
Moreover, YouTube, which Google bought earlier this year, has teamed with Verizon to bring some of its content to mobile phones.
Additionally, the company just scooped up Endoxon, a developer of Internet mapping technology, to boost its own mapping services in Europe. Pair mapping with GPS with mobile, and you've got a real potential money-maker.
Google has surely come along way from its simple search-engine roots, and I can't help but wonder where it might end. It's already dishing out search results, news feeds, productivity apps, e-mail, streaming video, ads to various media, and now it may be seeking to deliver the aforementioned hardware and connectivity to access that stuff. My colleauge Mike Barton anticipates Google could also dip into VoIP with a targetted acquisition.
That all makes for quite an impressive resume. At what point does it raise monopolistic alarms?
Oh, wait: It already has.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 19, 2006 12:05 PM
December 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Cascading Style Sheets turn 10
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) technology for Web design, Cascading Style Sheets, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this week, W3C said on Tuesday.
To mark the occasion, W3C is launching a year-long CSS design competition with selections to be made by CSS co-authors Bert Bos and Hakon Wium Lie. Designs will be selected based on originality, utility and aesthetics and be featured in the CSS10 Gallery.
CSS has changed the face of the Web, W3C said in a statement.
"The design community has confirmed that using CSS promotes beauty while making it easier and less expensive to build sites," Bos said in a statement released by W3C.
CSS features a simple declarative style enabling designers to set positioning, margins and alignment, layering and other elements, W3C said. Reuse also is a benefit.
With CSS, markup is separated from style, enabling accessibility agents to convey information to users with disabilities. CSS style sheets allow for the same document to be viewed with different devices, ranging from color monitors to mobile phones and printers.
Level 3 of CSS, which is intended to make CSS easier to use, is in development. It features rich hypertext, more powerful borders and backgrounds and user interaction capabilities.
W3C said it has a released a new version of the CSS validator.
Adobe Systems last week unveiled CSS Advisor, a Web community to help with developing CSS-based Web pages.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 19, 2006 10:59 AM
December 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft's Zune player has been battling for street cred amid nagging reports of lackluster sales and all around ineptitude in the design and launch of the new MP3 player. But Microsoft may be ready to bury one of its biggest launch blunders: Zune's incompatibility with Vista.
According to a post on zuneinsider.com, a company blog run by Cesar Menendez, Microsoft will issue a 22 MB patch for the Zune player today that will fix a host of bugs and other glitches, and make the new players compatible with Vista.
The update is expected to be released at 10:00AM PT. The official Zune Web site still says that Vista support is pending. Zune users who don't run Vista are advised to install the patch as well to obtain the useability fixes included in it, Menendez said.
Unclear is whether the update will make Zunes compatible with official Vista releases, or the millions of beta versions of the OS currently running.
Posted by Paul Roberts on December 19, 2006 09:46 AM
December 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Net evolves: Meet interactive elf
In the beginning, there was the Dancing Banana -- and it was good, at least as far as Internet amusements went.
Ever since that hyperactive banana hit the Net in 2000, we've witnessed a rise in both the sophistication and interactive nature of this sort of Net fluff that gets passed along via e-mail, IM, and blog postings. And it's not only creative developer types spawning them for their own amusement and notoriety. Companies are leveraging the Web medium to effectively spark viral marketing campaigns -- which not only give themselves some potentially inexpensive publicity, but also can showcase some rather inventive uses of ever-evolving Web technology.
Case in point: OfficeMax has launched an entertaining "Elf Yourself" campaign that generated plenty of chuckles and guffaws (as well as some eye-rolling and snorts of derision) at the InfoWorld office.
The idea is, you upload a photo of yourself (or someone else). After a couple of steps to properly size the pic, the Web app will generate an animation of an elf grooving to some swing-y Christmas music -- with its face being the picture you've uploaded. Want a sample? See Sir Bill the Elf get his groove on.
OK, that bit's not necessarily sophisticated, and it's been done before (e.g. the "Wedding Crashers" Web promotion from a couple of years ago).
The interesting bit is, once you've uploaded the image, you can add a voice message for the elf to utter as it dances and prances about. When I first visited the site, I assumed a mic was needed, but no; the Web site gives you a phone number and a code. Dial the number, follow the prompts to enter your code and record your message -- and within moments, the little elf is "speaking" it (though it's sped up to sound more elfish).
Now granted, this isn't the most useful application of Web 2.0 technology -- but it's still a pretty inventive creation. I was particularly impressed by how quickly the voice and animation were stitched together -- though the one I made with voice (not posted here) was done later in the evening, because I got a busy signal trying to record a message during the day.
Oh, and on a semi-related holiday Net-fluff note, there's also the Simon Sez Santa 2.0 site, which is sort of a rip-off of Burger King's infamous and disturbing Subservient Chicken -- but still fun.
Do you have any entertaining seasonal sites to share?
Posted by Ted Samson on December 19, 2006 08:35 AM
December 18, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Jaxtr has begun a private beta of its click-to-call VoIP system for social networking (SN) sites, and nabbed high-profile LinkedIn co-founder Konstantin Guericke as CEO to give the start-up a boost.
Founded by entrepreneurs Phillip Mobin and Touraj Parang, Jaxtr bypasses all the headsets and hybrid phones by linking up tradition phones via VoIP and a call-back system.
In other words, users register their phone numbers with Jaxtr and when someone clicks to call, they enter their phone number. The click activates the system which phones the clicker on their elected number and connects them to the Jaxtr user.
Tech Watch made its first Jaxtr call to Parang, and it worked flawlessly, but in private beta fashion, our test of the service has not functioned properly.
Guericke said the key control panel, which allows users to switch between routing Jaxtr calls to voice mail or as live calls, was not quite ready for release, but would be soon.
Jaxtr users embed some code in their blogs or social network profiles, and voila. The code is tested with MySpace, Tagged, Friendster, Hi5, Xanga and Google's Blogger. But Guericke said it should work with any service that allows embedding of code in a page.
Jaxtr provides local phone numbers that allow callers to take advantage of the cost benefit of VoIP, eliminating international long distance charges. Twenty-nine national markets in Europe, the Americas and Asia are served. Initial countries range from United States to most of Western Europe to Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Australia.
Guericke told InfoWorld a certain set of minutes would remain free for the time being, but he said their were many ways to monetize the service, such as via people who would be willing to pay additional per month for a set number of minutes; and via businesses, which could use it for easier access for customers/clients. Think lawyers and real estate agents, he said.
He said SN was "all about connecting" but said the problem Jaxtr was addressing was that "you're not always at you computer."
There are obviously many ways it could be used, and I've already begun thinking how InfoWorld readers could leave voice comments about stories by clicking if Jaxtr was tied in to one of the audio-blogging systems.
The other standout thing with Jaxtr is that it is immediately -- well, not for me quiet yet with initial trial -- able to deliver VoIP to the masses by tying in to the one technology anyone wanting to be in touch already has -- a phone.
Interested in checking it out? Apply for private beta testing at Jaxtr.com, and a public beta is expected in one to three months, Guericke said.
Can you say Google Phone anyone? Smart venture, guys. How long will it be before Google will make Jaxtr the next YouTube? Jaxtr will just need to prove it is as easy as pie, amass users and Google can't live without it. VoIP made simple, with SN buzz? It will be a bidding war between Google, who could blend it into its properties Blogger and orkut quickly, and its Google Talk system, and Yahoo.
Watch this space.
Posted by Mike Barton on December 18, 2006 04:35 PM
December 18, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Is Oracle's aggressive acquisition strategy coming back to haunt it?
Although most companies would be happy with a 28 percent revenue increase in sales of new software licenses, some analysts are saying that application sales are "surprisingly low." This according to a story on Bloomberg's financial Web site.
Remember Oracle spent more than $10 billion for PeopleSoft and more than $5 billion for Siebel, so they need some big sales wins, to say the least, to get a return on those huge investments.
So although revenues may have increased the previous three quarters at the rate of 80 percent, a 28 percent increase in their second quarter is a somewhat troubling sign.
I suppose it may have something to do with the fact that when you buy Siebel and PeopleSoft it doesn't mean you get all of their customers added to your bottom line.
Once freed of their former license agreements, the fact that the vendor was sold to a rival frees up the CIO to consider other alternatives. Simply put, for those who may have been disgruntled with a previous purchase, this becomes an opportunity to look elsewhere.
Add to this fact that the growth of SOAs -- allowing companies to reuse what they already own -- may indicate a general decline in new application sales.
Maintenance agreements will be strong but enterprise-level companies may have decided to go slow in the purchase of new technology.
Yet another factor at play is the growth of part-time employees as opposed to companies hiring full-time knowledge workers.
Part-timers may not be given access to the kinds of higher level programs that Oracle sells.
Finally, Outsourcing and off-shoring where the service provider owns the license and may use a single license for a number of clients could have a long-term effect on software sales.
There's no need to run a benefit for Oracle yet, and many analysts say it will take more market share, but still, I wonder if we aren’t seeing the early stages of some big changes in software; the kinds we use and the way it gets deployed.
Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on December 18, 2006 02:45 PM
December 14, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Thief jets with Boeing staff data
In a scenario that's become all too familiar over the past couple of years, a Boeing employee had his unattended laptop swiped, and it contained the personal information of about 328,000 Boeing workers and retirees, according to the reports.
The company was vague with the details, saying the theft occurred earlier this month but did not say where. The stolen system was reportedly password-protected, but the data was not encrypted.
While the lifted laptop did contain employee names, Social Security numbers, salary information, and other data that could be used for identify theft, it didn't store any proprietary customer or supplier data, a Boeing spokesman said.
The company will give affected employees free credit monitoring, a common gesture on the part of organizations that have let private data slip.
According to ConsumarAffairs.com, credit monitoring is of minimal value to individuals facing potential ID theft.
"Critics and consumers have noted that typical credit monitoring services are extremely limited, only covering fraud that results from usage of the credit card number. Stolen Social Security numbers can be reused to create new identities and open new accounts, which are not detected by fraud alerts.""In fact, credit agencies will simply open a new sub-file for the new account, and not inform the original number owner. Victims of SSN-based identity theft often do not find out unless a debt charged by the new accountholder comes to them."
I continue to find it disturbing that large companies like Boeing (which has suffered two other leaks in the past 13 months of so), Chevron, and Wells Fargo, which should have both strict security policies regarding the transport of private data, as well as the financial means to invest in data-leak prevention and encryption technology, continue to suffer embarrassing and costly leaks.
To its credit, Boeing says it is working to implement encryption technology, a project it began after a data theft incident last April. According to CNet.com, "Boeing decided to start a project that would automatically encrypt files as they are pulled off the server... . The first groups to test this technology will be those working with employee data, but the encryption procedures eventually will be implemented in other areas of the company that deal with sensitive data. "
Other companies need to follow suit. This time, it was employee data that was stolen, the impact of which is perhaps relatively minor on the company's bottom line. Next time, what if it is indeed proprietary company data, or customer details, that get leaked?
Or perhaps companies are more diligent about protecting the latter. Again, the cost of dealing with an employee-data leak isn't negligible, but it's not the same as leaking application code or top-secret plans -- at least not to a company. The employees who have to deal with cleaning up their credit reports may feel differently.
Maybe it will take successful legal action on the part of those employees to compel other companies to be more diligent. I'm no fan of frivolous, get-rich-quick lawsuits, but I don't think this fits in that category.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 14, 2006 11:42 AM
December 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Blogger gets request to de-Google
Suppose you're an online vendor who's displeased with the ranking of your business Web site on Google. Well, you could try tweaking your ad words. Perhaps you could consider better marketing. Heck, maybe you could contact Google for answers or guidance. You might get lucky.
Or you might conclude that the best approach is to ask that people with higher-ranked sites de-Google themselves immediately.
Astonishingly, an unnamed e-merchant out there in cyberspace has taken the latter approach, sending threatening letters to blogger Dean Hunt. (Hunt's blog, by the way, is called "Deano's World - Internet Marketing, Madrid, Life, SEO & More." It appears to cover all types of topics.)
Anyway, the first odd e-mail he received, sent Dec. 8, reads as follows:
"My name is [edited] and I run [edited].com""I have been running the site for over two years and we have been ranked very highly for the search term [edited]."
"On Thursday morning I checked our google positions and your site is now above us for this term. I haev checked your blog and it has nothing to do with [edited], so I think it would be best all round if you remove your blog from google for this search term."
I know what you're probably thinking: What's the search term? Well, Dean hasn't shared that bit of info in his posts, nor the name of his adversary's business. Maybe he doesn't want to give Mr. Whacky extra publicity -- or maybe he's just trying to further protect his Web ranking by shielding his super-secret search term.
Dean did reply to the letter, though, essentially telling the sender that: a) he never attempted to rank for the mystery term; b) the fact that he does may be more of a commentary about the quality of the complainer's site; c) there's nothing he can do to remove himself for Search Term X; and d) the angry Web vendor should probably spend more time tweaking his site than e-mailing ridiculous requests.
Lo, Dean received a reply from the mystery merchant -- one with a more threatening tone:
"You have to understand Dean that an online business should be higher in Google than a blog.""Don't forget that Google is a business as well, they obviously make more money from other businesses than they do from blogs, so it is in their interest that I am higher than you for certain searches."
"I have also contacted my lawyer about this issue, so you should expect a letter in the post very soon."
While we wait to hear from Mr. Nutjob's attorney, how about we speculate on just what search term he wants to claim as his own? My co-worker Stephanie suggested it's SEO, which is in the title of Hunt's blog. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and apparently, Hunt knows a thing or two about that subject -- at least relative to others out there.
Also, have you ever received (or sent?) similarly odd requests to anyone?
Posted by Ted Samson on December 13, 2006 01:12 PM
December 12, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft pilots VS hotfix program
Microsoft has a pilot program under way to make hotfixes more easily available for the Visual Studio 2005 software development platform, a Microsoft blogger said.
The program is intended to offer a subset of hotfixes. "The goal for the pilot is to allow you to download the most frequently [requested] Visual Studio 2005 hotfixes and for us to learn whether this helps you," said S. "Soma" Somasegar, corporate vice president in the Microsoft Developer Division, in his blog.
"Hotfixes don't go through the same level of rigorous testing as service packs and product releases. Hence, we wanted to be thoughtful about how we roll this out," Somasegar said.
A broader selection of hotfixes is planned covering .Net and Visual Studio Team System. A list of hotfixes available now can be accessed here.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 12, 2006 03:54 PM
December 12, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Zero-day breach hits 800K students
The University of California at Los Angeles warned more than 800,000 current and former students, employees, faculty, student applicants and event parents of financial aid applicants that their personal information may have been lifted from a database of more than 800,000 people that was compromised for over a year by unknown hackers in a sophisticated attack, according to a notice posted on the UCLA Web site.
The university began sending letters to those who may have been affected today. According to information provided by the university, the compromise was spotted by a UCLA employee who noticed an unusually high number of database queries. An investigation into the unusual traffic discovered that the hackers have had access to the database since October 2005 and exploited "an undetected software flaw." The database contained names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, home addresses and contact information, but not bank or credit card account numbers or driver's license numbers. The investigation revealed that the hacker was specifically interested in social security numbers. The message goes on to state that there's no evidence that the social security numbers were misused.
(Though, frankly, it's hard to say what evidence could possibly show that. Maybe a message from the hacker? "Thanks, I plan to use these social security numbers for identity theft"??)
UCLA is advising those affected to seek (credit) counselling, and signed off of its Web message with an oddly off-key recitation of the University's decade-long computer security makeover that included "firewalls and intrusion-detection systems, removal of Social Security numbers from computer screens and written reports, and prohibited their storage on portable devices, among other steps"...funny, then, that they missed that 800,000 record db with the gaping security hole. Heck, who needs to shoulder surf someone's screen when they can do 800,000 times better online?
Posted by Paul Roberts on December 12, 2006 12:05 PM
December 11, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Webcomic Net map: Seriously cool
If you're ever feeling a bit lost in the midst of an Internet search, fear not: Randall Munroe, the author of the Webcomic xkcd, has created a nifty map of the system to point you in the right direction.
OK, fine. It's not that kind of map. (It's missing the all-important "You are here" symbol, for example.) But it's an impressively elegant piece of work, accompanied by an interesting account of how he went about the mapping task.
Munroe, by the way, is a former NASA roboticist.
Posted by Ted Samson on December 11, 2006 12:01 PM
December 11, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft's Security Response Center (MSRC) is warning users of some versions of Microsoft Word of yet another previously unknown (zero-day) vulnerability that's being exploited on the Internet. Mind you, this is different from the zero-day hole in Word that Microsoft reported last week.
According to a post on Sunday on the MSRC blog, company researchers are investigating a hole in Word 2000, Word 2002, Word 2003 and Word Viewer 2003. Word 2007 (ie, the new version) isn't impacted.
According to a blog posting by the folks at the SANS Institute Internet Storm Center, AV vendor McAfee first discovered the new exploit, which is being used to install a password-stealing trojan known as PWS-Agent.g. A.
According to MSRC, the attack is being used in "very very limited, targeted attacks," which, as ISC points out, adds an even finer grained category to their usual description of "very limited, targeted attacks," described here by MSRC staffer Christopher Budd.
Given that most security vendors have been saying for some time that most malicious behavior online has shifted from mass-attack worms and viruses to targeted attacks against selected targets, I'm not sure what MSRC hopes to accomplish by pointing this out -- kind of a "don't worry, you're probably not being targeted, unless you are, in which case you're screwed."
It is useful to note that, at least with the previous WOrd Zero Day, users must open the malicious Word document in order to be compromised. Not sure if that's the case here, but it's a good bet. So beware of strangers bearing Word documents!
Posted by Paul Roberts on December 11, 2006 08:08 AM
December 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
By now we're all well aware of the danger that bots pose. The remote control programs can turn your home computer into a spam-spewing zombie, steal your personal identity, distribute malicious code, or enlist you, unwittingly, in a massive denial of service attack on some unwitting network.
Now unwitting owners of bot infected machines have another thing to worry about: armed officers coming to your door and confiscating your PC.
According to Denver's 7 News, Denver resident Serry Winkler was greeted at her door by a team of armed officers bearing a search warrant and wearing flak jackets. (There's some dispute about whether the weapons were actually drawn -- Winkler says they were, the cops say they weren't.) In any case, the cops told Winkler they were looking for her PC and demanded she turn it over as part of a computer fraud investigation they were doing. Apparently, Winkler's computer had been 0wn3d by a bot (unnamed) and was being used to make fraudulent purchases online.
From the article: "Winkler didn't have a firewall on her computer, which she said was too old. 'I've tried it, but it just slows it down so badly that I can't,' she said."
Winkler's predicament (old hardware, resource intensive security software) tells us why these kinds of compromises are so common. Read down in the article and you see why its so hard to shut scams like this down:
"Detective Mike Wagner said what happened to Winkler was part of a large-scale scam traced to a cyber crime ring in Russia. A local sheriff in Colorado has no authority in Russia, so Boulder County has forwarded the investigative information to postal inspectors."
In the meantime, Ms. Winkler is in the market for a new PC for Christmas. Anyone want to take up a collection?
Posted by Paul Roberts on December 8, 2006 02:11 PM
December 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
H-1B may face Senate vote Friday
It looks like Senator John Cornyn, Republican, Texas, is still trying to push through the SKIL [Securing Knowledge Innovation and Leadership] bill, as of late Friday, December 8th.
Pro H-1B visa law firm Siskind, Susser, Bland, immigration law specialists, posted notice on Friday that "a strong push is still being made to address green card shortages for nurses," and "too few H-1B numbers…"
At the same time opponents are trying to rally the troops to stop any last ditch effort at getting it brought to the floor of the Senate tonight.
A blog at Web site, Common Sense Junction, is telling its readers that Microsoft lobbyists are behind the big push to get this through the Senate before the Senate adjourns.
According to the post, "Late last night it was rumored that [Senator] Frist was considering bringing it to the floor today in spite of the holds."
It seems Senate colleagues of Frist tried to put a hold on it coming to the floor.
At another site opposed to increasing the numbers of H-1B visa applicants allowed in the country, a blogger calling herself Cowgirl, from Texas, had this to say.
"A swarm of Mircorsoft loggyists, surely reeking of musty giant wads of campaign contributions--buzzed and stung their way through Senate offices Wednesday, demanding that they and others of their ilk be given hundreds of thousands more foreign workers next year."
If passed the SKIL bill will double the number of H-1B visas next year and then increase that by 20 percent each succeeding year if the quota for the preceding year is filled.
Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on December 8, 2006 12:48 PM
December 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Is Microsoft's Open XML document standard "so complex and so geared towards compatibility with legacy Office compatibility that it could never be implemented as a fully functional file format by any competing personal productivity applications (PPAs) like WordPerfect and OpenOffice"?
That's the question Adobe's Andrew Shebanow revives in his Shebanation blog about Open XML, as he reflects on an October post by IBM open standards "guru" Bob Sutor now that the document standard has been approved.
Shebanow cites a recent article by Microsoft Mac BU's Rick Schaut as cause for his pause. The Schaut post describes "very eloquently why the Mac version of Office won't support the Open XML file format until sometime next year."
This is proof-positive that Sutor's concern/claim is real, writes Shebanow.
From Shaut's article:
[...] a team of 5 developers will implement 25 handlers a week, which means that we'd have all the XML handlers written in 44 weeks. [...] Nevertheless, we've taken a little less than a year to get the converters reading the new file format. We still aren't writing the new file format, we have the RTF side of things to worry about, which is actually more complex than the XML side, and I've completely left out all of the design and coding for the intermediate representation of the file. The intermediate representation, itself, is at least 6 to 8 months worth of work.
Shebanow writes:
Got that? It would take 5 developers a year to do a quarter of the work.How can competitors afford to make that level of investment? Novell says they will support import and export for Open XML with financial and technical help from Microsoft. Corel says they'll do it too. Guess we'll need to wait and see how successful they'll be at maintaining fidelity and compatibility, though given what Rick has to say, I'm not super confident.
Looks suspicious ... but is this just competitor angst, or is it MS behaving badly?
Posted by Mike Barton on December 8, 2006 11:05 AM
December 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
MS sets Community Content feature
Looking to involve developers more in documentation, Microsoft is offering a Community Content feature for Visual Studio 2005 as part of an MSDN Wiki release candidate.
The capability is enabled for Visual Studio and the .Net 3.0 Class Library on MSDN Online, according to a Microsoft blogger.
"The Community Content feature allows our community of developers worldwide to extend the official online documentation by adding tips, notes, code examples, and other information alongside the over 300,000 topics covered by this [release candidate]," S. "Soma" Somasegar, corporate vice president in Microsoft's developer division, said in his blog.
"Because the community content is placed in a Wiki environment, developers can edit existing content blocks and add new ones," Somasegar said.
The current release is in English, but versions in other languages will be offered in February 2007. These languages include French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Traditional Chinese.
Only some topics in the MSDN Library currently are enabled for Community Content. Others will be added in coming weeks and months.
Key links enabled for Community Content include:
* Statistics.
* RSS feed.
* Visual Studio.
* .Net Framework 2.0 reference.
* .Net Framework 3.0.
Microsoft with MSDN Wiki has two goals: to let the community localize MSDN content to more languages than would otherwise be feasible, and to allow the community to expand the documentation.
Users can put in tags, examples, tips and tricks and other information not covered in the original documentation, according to Microsoft.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 8, 2006 09:32 AM
December 07, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Google's search secret revealed
This article in the American Mathematical Society describes Google's PageRank algorithm and how it returns pages from the web's collection of 25 billion documents that match search criteria so well that "google" has become a widely used verb.
Google's PageRank algorithm assesses the importance of web pages without human evaluation of the content. In fact, Google feels that the value of its service is largely in its ability to provide unbiased results to search queries; Google claims, "the heart of our software is PageRank." As we'll see, the trick is to ask the web itself to rank the importance of pages.Summary: Brin and Page introduced Google in 1998, a time when the pace at which the web was growing began to outstrip the ability of current search engines to yield useable results. At that time, most search engines had been developed by businesses who were not interested in publishing the details of how their products worked. In developing Google, Brin and Page wanted to "push more development and understanding into the academic realm." That is, they hoped, first of all, to improve the design of search engines by moving it into a more open, academic environment. In addition, they felt that the usage statistics for their search engine would provide an interesting data set for research. It appears that the federal government, which recently tried to gain some of Google's statistics, feels the same way.
There are other algorithms that use the hyperlink structure of the web to rank the importance of web pages. One notable example is the HITS algorithm, produced by Jon Kleinberg, which forms the basis of the Teoma search engine. In fact, it is interesting to compare the results of searches sent to different search engines as a way to understand why some complain of a Googleopoly.
Hold on to your math hats and read on in How Google Finds Your Needle in the Web's Haystack.
Posted by Mike Barton on December 7, 2006 05:37 PM
December 07, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Palm buys rights back to own OS
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a genius when it comes to business. But MBA or not, the latest news out of Palm has to leave more than just me scratching my head in bewilderment.
Palm Inc, formerly known as PalmOne, formerly known as Palm Inc., announced today it is buying a perpetual license for the Palm OS from Access, a company that bought PalmSource last year which owned the license after splitting with Palm Inc in 2003, for $44 million.
Do you follow?
So in essence Palm Inc. is paying $44 million to buy back a
technology it gave away three years ago.
What does this all mean?
With Palm Inc. already running both the Windows Mobile OS and Palm OS one has to wonder if either sales of the Windows version are not going well or despite the best efforts of Access to botch up the purchase of practically a household name in handhelds, the darn OS is still doing well on the original Palm. Go figure.
What should you or your company do?
Buy smart phones.
Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on December 7, 2006 01:55 PM
December 07, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Purge-Binge: Yahoo chases MetaCafe?
According to an unconfirmed report on Web site Ynews, Yahoo Inc. may be in discussions to buy Israeli based Video sharing site MetaCafe for a reported $200 to $300 million. Yahoo representatives contacted by InfoWorld declined to comment on the report, which was opined about on TechCrunch, saying they don't comment on rumor and speculation.
If the report is true and Yahoo can seal the deal with MetaCafe (a reported problem for the company with past deals) would give Yahoo an established video sharing site with over 17 million unique visitors a month and 400 million video views, according to MetaCafe figures.
That would take the bad taste out of Yahoo's mouth that's lingering from Google's nabbing of YouTube, the bru ha ha over the Peanut Butter Memo and more recent board room shakeup.
Still, let's not get ahead of ourselves. This is still at the "unconfirmed report" stage. More to come.
Posted by Paul Roberts on December 7, 2006 01:30 PM
December 07, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Greg Sandoval for CNET News.com has written an obituary for CNET gadget editor James Kim, who was found dead in the Oregon mountains Wednesday, noting he was a respected expert on cutting-edge digital devices, an owner of a trendy clothing store and a lover of the futuristic-sounding music known as electronica. Yet, according to friends, most of Kim's life revolved around old-fashioned values: sacrifice, friendship and family.
Those who knew him say they aren't surprised that Kim, in the last act of his life, demonstrated the ultimate expression of devotion to his wife and daughters.
There's also a video tribute, and a place to leave your thoughts.
Wired News also remembers James Kim.
Posted by Mike Barton on December 7, 2006 10:40 AM
December 07, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Fakeyourspace.com: The online reputation hack?
Kudos to Bruce Schneier for bringing us word of a new variant on hacking: the social network reputation hack. Schneier is blogging today about latest social networking phenom: FakeYourSpace.com, a new service that promises to hook you up with scads of model-esque guys and gals to populate your Web page. For just $.99 a month/friend, customers can browse Fakeyourspace's stable of models and pick those they wish to join their social network. The fakeyourspace folks will then add that person as a friend to your network (picture included, of course) and give you 2 comments a week, to boot. For twice the fee, you can get twice as good a friend (4 comments a week).
Not sure if fakeyourspace.com is for real or not. The domain was registered back in June, but neither the model selection nor checkout features seem to work as of Thursday. But it's no secret that sites that allow you to game your online reputation are proliferating. And, as more social and business networking gravitate to sites like MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn,and the like, who's to say that a few gonzo model friends on your friends list doesn't boost your appeal -- Sure, it's depraved and pathetic, but think of it as the online equivalent of a botox injection.
Posted by Paul Roberts on December 7, 2006 10:06 AM
December 06, 2006 | Comments: (0)
CNET editor James Kim found dead
CNET News.com is reporting the body of missing CNET editor James Kim has been located, according to authorities.
Arrangements are being made to transport Kim to an undisclosed location, according to police. Kim had been missing in the remote southwestern Oregon wilderness for 11 days. The Kim family has asked not to be contacted at this time."They have been true champions throughout this whole ordeal," Josephine County Undersheriff Brian Anderson said of the family at a press conference. "We just want them to know our prayers have been with them from day one."
Our thoughts at InfoWorld go out to Kim's family and friends.
Posted by Mike Barton on December 6, 2006 01:43 PM
December 06, 2006 | Comments: (0)
No, this is no neo-con, or Hawk, hangout for dropouts from the Bush administration, as the name might suggest. This site has always been pure geek, mainly for swapping code. But now it too has become a real social network -- for social software and social shopping?
D'oh. So much for the idea that social networking is changing the world; well maybe with social software dev, but we can't forget the power of change one gadget at a time.
Enough slagging off Hawkee.com, gathered from my read of the TechCrunch post, which notes:
Scott Aikin, the founder of Hawkee, said he tried to make sure that he had all of the "basic social networking" features. So you can create a profile with a picture, leave comments for your friends, send private messages, etc. But you can also read your friend's recommendations, snippets, and scripts, almost like their own personal blog. [Highlight] You can also search the electronics that they have tagged in their wishlists when it comes to gift giving time.
I guess we all have to pay the bills, which highlights the concerns over a social networking (SN) bubble. How will these networks be monetized if no gadget shopping links? Is this the silver bullet to save SN?
Talk back to us, below.
Posted by Mike Barton on December 6, 2006 09:12 AM
December 05, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft has issued a Security Advisory that warns of exploits for a previously unknown (zero day) hole in various versions of Microsoft Word.
According to an e-mail statement from the company's public relations firm, Microsoft has knowledge of "limited 'zero-day' attacks using a vulnerability in Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Word Viewer 2003, Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac, and Microsoft Word 2004 v. X for Mac, as well as Microsoft Works 2004, 2005, and 2006.
The company's published advisory doesn't have much more information than that, except to say that victims would have to open a malicious Word file with "a malformed string," that could then "corrupt system memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code."
The company will determine whether an in-cycle our out of cycle patch is necessary following an investigation of the issue, according to the e-mail statement.
Posted by Paul Roberts on December 5, 2006 05:24 PM
December 05, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Yahoo and Reuters will seize the armies of cameraphone and PDA-toting citizenry in a new user-generated news program, the New York Times reports.
The initiative kicked off Tuesday at Reuters.com and at Yahoo's YouWitnessNews.
Yahoo will carry the user-gen material on its news pages, and Reuters will go a step further, distributing the content over its wire to newspapers, magazines, and Web sites.
The Times reports: "The project is among the most ambitious efforts in what has become known as citizen journalism, attempts by bloggers, start-up local news sites and by global news organizations like CNN and the BBC to see if readers can also become reporters."
"There is an ongoing demand for interesting and iconic images,” said Chris Ahearn, the president of the Reuters media group. He said the agency had always bought newsworthy pictures from individuals and part-time contributors known as stringers.
"This is looking out and saying, 'What if everybody in the world were my stringers?' " Mr. Ahearn said.
Michael Richards, the actor who played Kramer on “Seinfeld,” was recorded last month responding to hecklers in a nightclub with racially charged epithets, The Times reports.
Lloyd Braun (Seinfeld likeness noted), who runs Yahoo’s media group, said: "People don't say, 'I want to see user-generated content.'
They want to see Michael Richards in the club. If that happens to be from a cellphone, they are happy with a cellphone. If it's from a professional photographer, they are happy for that, too."
That was certainly the case in the Asian Tsunami. The global pictures editor at Reuters, Tom Szlukovenyi, told me when I was a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald that pressure was coming from everywhere to have images at the ready. He said "near real-time photography" had become possible since his agency moved into the digital era in 1998.
The Herald's cover photograph, two days after the Boxing Day tsunami, of a man swept away in Phuket had been downloaded from a Web site where an artist had posted it.
TV News is always on the hunt for moment-of video and pics now. Australia's Channel Seven was one of the first crews to land at Phuket after the Boxing Day tsunami. The crew found home video the next morning that became the first and "most widely syndicated" footage of the disaster, according to the deputy news director, Tony Ritchie.
So, is this good for news and journalism or just a way to get free content?
From my Jan 8, 2005, report for the Sydney Morning Herald, with The New York Times:
Siva Vaidhyanathan, an assistant professor of culture and communication at New York University - and a blogger - said personal reporting made blogs compelling and therefore essential reading. "Right after BBC, I went to blogs," he told The New York Times.
Xeni Jardin, an editor at the Weblog boingboing.net, said bloggers at the scene were more deeply affected by events than journalists who roam from one disaster to another. "They are helping us understand the impact of this event in a way that other media just can't," she told The Times.
Mr. Vaidhyanathan said: "This notion that we now have eyes and ears around the world is more than something we've grown accustomed to; we've grown to demand it."
Talk back to us, below.
Posted by Mike Barton on December 5, 2006 05:18 PM
December 05, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Online community pushes mashups
Kapow Technologies is promoting enterprise mashups through an online community.
The company's openkapow community leverages the Java-based Kapow Mashup Server. "Openkapow provides free and open access to the visual scripting tools that create mashups, built around the concept of software Robots, " the company said on its Web site.
Kapow describes mashups as an approach to development that uses composite applications and integrates with existing applications, utilizing Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), Ruby, RSS, REST (Representational State Transfer) and Web services.
Openkapow features a visual programming language for performing tasks through visual point-and-click techniques.
Mashups can be developed to extend portals or to create Web services from existing application components. Application functionality can be aggregated as composite applications and data collected from various sources.
Posted by Paul Krill on December 5, 2006 02:03 PM
December 05, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Celebrity dirt tops Yahoo searches
A Web site featuring gossip about blonde wrestling pop stars could amass a remarkable following, considering the top search terms of 2006 on Yahoo.com.
The Yahoo Buzz Web site posted a host of top 10 search subjects for the year, including overall searches as well as breakdowns by category such as blogs and bloggers, news stories, and politicians.
Following Britney on the overall top 10 list was wrestling, er, sports entertainment empire WWE. No. 3 was singer Shakira, followed by fellow blonde crooners Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton. American Idol was No. 6, then Beyonce Knowles, Chris Brown, Pamela Anderson, and Lindsay Lohan. (I can't help but suspect this list is filtered, given the absence of terms such as sex and porn.)
Blog-readers appear to be drawn to celebrity gossip and politics. The top 10 blogs/blogger searches on Yahoo for 2006 were as follows:
1. Perez Hilton (Celebrity gossip)
2. The Superficial (Celebrity gossip)
3. Pink Is the New Blog (Celebrity gossip and mockery)
4. Huffington Post (Politics)
5, TMZ.com (Celebrity gossip)
6. Daily Kos (Politics)
7. Jossip (Manhattan-centric news and gossip)
8. A Socialite's Life (Celebrity gossip)
9. Little Green Footballs (Politics)
10. Gawker (Manhattan-centric news and gossip)
Other top searches:
News story: Steve Irwin's death (Iraq was No. 3, following the death of Anna Nicole's son.)
Politicians: George W. Bush
Sports team: New York Yankees
Baby searches: Suri Cruise
You can see the entire set of lists right here.
Tho