- Virtual worlds 'worth $1B'? Oh no!
- Look out BlackBerry, Palm is back
- Symantec relies on reputation
- China aims to "purify the Internet"
- Cascading Style Sheets turn 10
- Net evolves: Meet interactive elf
- Webcomic Net map: Seriously cool
- Purge-Binge: Yahoo chases MetaCafe?
- Firefox beats IE in 'phishfight'
- 'Enemies of the internet' blacklisted
March 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Virtual worlds 'worth $1B'? Oh no!
With news on Monday of Google buying in-games advertising firm Adscape Media, it should come at no surprise, really, that the market for massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) in the West is said to now be worth more than $1 billion.
BBC.co.uk reports on research by analysts Screen Digest, which says that millions of people are flocking to inhabit virtual online worlds.
But it is a surprise to me, much like the faddish rush to Second Life for corporate giants and media outlets.
It must have taken Google a bit by surprise as well, as it is now chasing Microsoft, which last year acquired in-game ad company Massive for $200 million.
The BBC report notes that a number of new MMOG genres are emerging, including:
-- Virtual world building games, such as Second Life -- Virtual pet rearing games, such as Neo pets -- More casual MMO puzzle games -- Sports games in which you have to buy items and build up your character
Where is this all headed? With falling newspaper sales as the clarion call for the media industry, a big reshaping is in the works. User-generated is all the buzz now, but with Reuters on-board in Second Life, is mainstream media all aboard for another ride into the unknown as it makes desperate moves to reach the cagey new generations of game players who eschew movies and traditional media?
I say hold on. I tend to think this is a lot of hooey. Over time, good old human nature will kick in, as people look past whiz-bang for the solid nuggets of information that the information age is short on.
SeekingAlpha has a good post up that cites the limitations of user-gen, and a look at where it is working, with news giant Gannett.
I just hope the neato 3D world hoopla does not replace real media. Having worked at New Media magazine, which predicted CDs would reshape the media landscape on launch, it all sounds a bit been-there.
That's not to say online media cannot cherry-pick from the best new ideas in delivery. SeekingAlpha's post posits that old media can adapt by producing its rich text and other media as an anchor and let users generate content around that.
Now, that sounds reasonable. I'd hate to see what the world would be without real reporting on issues such as the Walter Reed hospital scandal in the Washington Post. It's a case study of "anchor" content -- drop the bomb, and turn over the whistleblowing to the public for where else the problem lies. No whiz-bang or virtual world need apply.
Or maybe virtual worlds are the great escape from such a scary world of war and government malfeasance? What do you think?
Posted by Mike Barton on March 20, 2007 09:49 AM
February 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Look out BlackBerry, Palm is back
Palm's dated OS is a love-hate relationship -- let's say familiarity comes at the cost of modernity. But with a new boost to its e-mail service, the old dog of smartphones has new tricks.
Look out BlackBerry? Well, maybe not, if RIM can just update its core devices line with some memory expansion, cameras and other multimedia features. But it still has the problem with its business-class pricing for data.
I just traded my BB 8703E on Sprint for a Palm Treo 700p and did the VersaMail update, and getting my InfoWorld Exchange mail and calendar via push was a snap.
Much is said of the BlackBerry, and its killer app -- its very pushy and addictive e-mail service, which usually beats Microsoft's Exchange to the delivery line in my experience.
Now the Treo 700p and 680 can do the same -- for much cheaper.
The clincher on my deal to trade phones over eBay was that I could not justify $30 a month for push e-mail alone ... no real multimedia features on the BB. But this agreement to exchange devices took place before I found out about the Palm updating its Active Sync with support for Microsoft Direct Push tech.
I was first charged $60 a month for BB data service from Sprint before haggling them down. And there is no option for a lesser service. Just doesn't work.
That's going to add up and SMBs for one are always keeping an eye on monthly costs.
But with the Treo, its $15 for unlimited because it's just a data connection, and the rest is done by Microsoft Direct Push, bypassing any network middleware, which drives up the cost of BB service.
With a Treo 700p, albeit more expensive, you get a camera for stills and video, digital music player, and the list goes on. But I could justify paying for those features if I could not get real push email and calendar functionality.
I have not used 700W (Windows), but what I've read is that it is pretty clumsy, and Palm with Docs to Go is better at opening MS docs than it. (Comment below if you do no share this take, or have a different experience.)
The other thing I've taken note of is some of the new interface in this AccessPowered device (OS not owned by Palm). But Treophiles have noted how the new UI only appears in certain apps which take advantage of it.
If Palm and Access spent some time further developing it, and even trimming down the Treo line, they'd be serious contenders again. For now I'm pretty happy with my XP in a Vista world-sort-of device. It's a bit old school but it gets the job done, and the brick-like device has a lighter side too.
I've done the opposite of Open Sources blogger extraordinaire Matt Asay; I've converted to Treo from BB. Matt, I'd love to hear if you are still in love, and if Direct Push won't bring you back. And I'll update as I've spent more time with the new-life Treo.
Posted by Mike Barton on February 6, 2007 11:48 AM
February 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)
From the Demo 2007 show floor: When you want to buy from a Web site or open a piece of mail, how do you know if you should trust the site or sender? Will thieves try to steal your identity, flood you with spam, or sneak malware onto your system? It's a nasty dilemma, and the wrong decision can have far-reaching consequences. One likely solution -- part of a Symantec's Identity Initiative -- relies on identity and reputation to help consumers make smart decisions.
A back-end platform and a desktop client (which will ship sometime this year as a yet to be determined part of the Norton 2008 product line), the Identity Initiative taps into Symantec's worldwide labs and response centers, which monitor spam attacks and collect information and make assessment on sites around the clock.
Here's how it works: When a site or email asks for personal information, the Norton client pops up with a rating of the requester's reliability and a recommendation about whether you should share your information. Ultimately users make the decisions, but the Norton client provides informed, up-to-the minute advice.
If Norton gives a green light, you can proceed with impunity. Similarly, a red light warns you that skullduggery is afoot. For those maybe-yes maybe-no cases, users can have the Norton client help manage their credentials and mask their identity. By clicking a checkbox, for instance, users can have Norton generate a site specific e-mail address (as opposed to their regular address), which they can supply when requested. Norton will then route the email as needed. Similar safeguards are planned for VoIP numbers and one-time credit card numbers (in cooperation with financial institutions).
Symantec plans to use other ID systems, including Yahoo ID and OpenID, to augment their reputation information. Pricing and distribution are not yet determined. Smart money says Symantec will release at least some version of this as a free download, with a paid enhanced version available as well.
We'll almost certainly be seeing a greater industry-wide emphasis on the concept of reputation as a means of circumventing fraud, and I think Symantec has its heart and head in the right place with this initiative. This app is a good start, even if it isn't the last word in identity management. Anything that gives nervous consumers a leg up on the bad guys, though, is more than welcome.
Posted by Steve Fox on February 1, 2007 12:53 AM
January 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)
China aims to "purify the Internet"
I love that the Internet is a bastion of free speech and open commerce. Thus, you can count me among those raising an eyebrow after reading China's Paramount Leader Hu Jintao declared ambition to "purify the Internet environment."
What that means, precisely, isn't clear -- but it's clearly related to the country's crackdown on blogs and search engines, as well as its successful bid for a censored version of Google to serve its country's ever-increasing population of Internet denizens.
According to a recent report from the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of registered Internet-users in China hit 137 million in 2006 -- an increase of 23.4 percent. China thus now ranks second in Web users after the United States, the organization says. Chinese officials estimate that the country could overtake the U.S. -- which has 210 million Net users -- within two years. (That estimate is a bullish one, granted.)
The point, of course, is that as the country's Net population swells, so too does its economic impact on the Web. That, in turn, gives China some leverage in its Internet-purification scheme. If a company such as Google -- which boasts the informal motto of "Don't be evil" -- is willing to cash in on China's Internet presence at the expense of censoring the information it delivers, what's to stop other companies, both present and future, from following suit?
According to reports, "[Hu Jianto] told officials to intensify control [over the Internet] even as they seek to release the Internet's economic potential. 'Ensure that one hand grasps development while one hand grasps administration.'"
Then again, there will always be demand for the type of content and, well, general freedom on the Internet that Communist China-friendly companies won't supply. Thus those of us living outside of the country needn't worry about losing access to, say, information about, say, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
Posted by Ted Samson on January 24, 2007 05:42 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)
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 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 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
November 14, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Firefox beats IE in 'phishfight'
Anti-phishing technology in the new generation of Mozilla Firefox and Microsof Internet Explorer browsers punched it out and Firefox was victorious, The Washington Post's Security Fix reports.
One third-party test that pitted the browsers against two week's worth of phishing sites concluded that Firefox's phish net may have fewer holes than IE's.
The evidence was released today (PDF file) by software testing firm SmartWare, the report said. The company is said to have tested each browser against the same phishing sites flagged by contributors to Phishtank, an anti-phishing network run by OpenDNS.
Firefox blocked 243 phishing sites that IE7 overlooked, while IE7 blocked 117 sites that Firefox did not.
The report notes the differences between the two anti-phishing technologies, but highlights that they are not good enough yet:
While I applaud Microsoft and Mozilla for their first efforts, the reality is that -- depending on which browser (and setting) you use -- anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of the phishing scams are going to sneak past undetected. I'm not saying this is an easy problem to solve: It certainly isn't. But I'm left wondering whether a stronger "whitelist" approach that involves identifying legitimate banking sites might prove to be a more effective strategy, or at least a highly complementary one.
OK security experts and those who just play them on TV, what is the best way to filter out or flag phishing sites? Talk back to us below.
Posted by Mike Barton on November 14, 2006 10:32 AM
November 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
'Enemies of the internet' blacklisted
A list of 13 "enemies of the internet" has been released by human rights group Reporters Without Borders, reports BBC Online.
The list is comprised of the countries Reporters Without Borders, which has been a harsh critic of China and Yahoo, believes are suppressing freedom of expression on the Internet.
Here is this year's list:
BLACKLISTED
Belarus
Burma
China
Cuba
Egypt
Iran
North Korea
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
"We wanted to mobilize Net users so that when we lobby certain countries we can say that the concerns are not just ours but those of thousands of internet users around the world," a spokesman for the group told the BBC.
Posted by Mike Barton on November 8, 2006 04:52 PM
November 01, 2006 | Comments: (0)
If you're an intrepid Web explorer intent on visiting every corner of the Internet, you have your work cut out for you: As of this month, there are now 100 million-plus Web sites out there, and the number continues to increase rapidly.
That announcement comes from Netcraft's November 2006 Web Server Survey. "The 100 million site milestone caps an extraordinary year in which the Internet has already added 27.4 million sites, easily topping the previous full-year growth record of 17 million from 2005," according to the report.
"The Internet has doubled in size since May 2004, when the survey hit 50 million," it adds.
Driving the surge in Web destinations is the explosive growth of blogs and SMB Web sites, the report says.
Among Web servers in use, Apache tops the list with 60.3% market share. Microsoft comes in second with 31%, followed by Sun with 1.7% and Zeus with 0.5%.
Now, I would very much like to provide a link to each and every one of those 100 million-plus Web sites, out of fairness, but that's just not feasible. So here's a list of sites that have earned one type of distinction or another.
info.cern.ch - Site of the first Web site, put online on August 6, 1991. It provided an explanation about what the World Wide Web was, how one could own a browser, and how to set up a Web server. It was also the world's first Web directory. Here's an archive of that first site.
Yahoo.com - Currently the most popular Web site in the world, according to Alexa. MSN.com and Google.com follow. You can also view the most popular Web sites by country. In China, the No. 1 site is baidu.com. Want to know how Alexa comes up with its rankings? Go here.
Myspace.com - The world's worst Web site, according to PC World's 25 Worst Web Sites feature. I guess quality and popularity don't always correlate.
www.dokimos.org/ajff - A couple thousand folks at digg.com seem to agree that this is the most annoying Web site in the world. Click with care. Personally, I don't know that it's the worst, but it's pretty bad. And that has nothing to do with the religious message, OK? It's the seizure-inducing background.
maddox.xmission.com - The "Best Page in the Universe," according to its creator. I am not certain what criteria he used.
Also, here's Time's 50 Coolest Web Sites of 2006, PC Magazine's Top 101 Classic Web Sites of 2006, and the 2006 Webby Award nominees and winners. Given how many Web sites there are out there, all the people behind these sites should be proud.
What are some of your favorite, and least favorite, Web sites?
Posted by Ted Samson on November 1, 2006 12:52 PM
October 06, 2006 | Comments: (0)
The bad old days of Internet startups may be back, as witnessed by the report in InfoWorld on Friday, which cites a WSJ report that says Google is in negotiations with YouTube to buy the company for $1.6 billion.
Only now there is a very interesting twist.
In the old days, startups with sketchy business plans and no revenue became overnight successes. The millions invested by VCs was promulgated on the belief that it didn't matter if you weren't making a profit as long as you had market share.
Eventually, as market share didn't pay the bills these companies squandered all the investment dollars and then disappeared. It all came to a head in April 2000, when a lot of these companies disappeared all at once.
Now there appears to be a difference.
What Google has shown us is that if you do have market share, meaning millions of visitors, that alone can turn into huge revenues thanks to Internet advertising.
Why the difference, I'm not sure. Perhaps Internet advertising just wasn't ready for prime time back then. But whatever the reason, Google wants YouTube because it owns almost 46 percent of all visits to video Web sites.
Got an explanation? Talk back to us below.
Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on October 6, 2006 02:48 PM
October 03, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Update: Google's garage days mapped
updated | Google has bought the Menlo Park, California garage where the company was founded, reports say.
The BBC report said the original Googleplex (New link shows the house) was owned by a friend of one of Brin's girlfriends and leased to Serge and Brin for about $1,700 a month in 1998.
Just in A reader sent us the address: 232 Santa Margarita Ave., Menlo Park CA.
BBC reported that Google declined to say how much it paid for the Menlo Park home, but similar homes in the neighborhood sell for about $1.3 million.
Zillow.com estimated the home (address supplied by reader, not confirmed) was worth $1,170,722 on Oct. 3.
I've asked Google to confirm the address and will let you know what I hear.
The former owner, Susan Wojcicki, is now Google's vice president of product management.
The home is intended to be preserved as part of the company's living history.
Garage cred goes a long way in tech circles, and Google is not the first to buy their landmark plot. BBC reports HP paid $1.7 million for the garage where it was founded in Palo Alto in 1938.
Now that we have the picture, does anyone know the house and will they share the address so we can Google Earth it?
Thanks qukza.
Posted by Mike Barton on October 3, 2006 10:35 AM
September 25, 2006 | Comments: (0)
SaaScon trumpets next-gen computing
One expects a high level of optimism at industry conferences, but the keynote speaker and opening panel discussion at SaaScon in San Francisco went all out.
The business-oriented event for software as a service was layered with references to "tectonic shifts," "new breeds," and "an enterprise that lives within the browser." Tod Loofbourrow, CEO of Authoria even predicted that "everyone will be converted over time."
He might be on to something, with the emphasis on "over time." Citing an Aberdeen Group study released weeks ago, Ann Winblad, a partner with the investment firm of Hummer Winblad, noted that just over 50 percent of companies surveyed were considering outsourcing at least one core business function to an on-demand model within the next year.
Loofbourrow asserted that the "game question" now is integration, and that "questions about security and data security are still there, but the answer has become pretty standard." When asked to elaborate on what he meant by standard, he back-pedaled a bit and cited a 150-page white paper available on the topic. So, security may still qualify as a game question among executives with lingering concerns over loss of control.
Philippe Courtot, CEO of Qualys, later addressed the topic during his presentation on "Security Through SaaS," when he explained: "SaaS applications are inherently more secure because there are less attack vectors and because it's easier to encrypt the data."
Much of the day's discussion focused on the economic benefit of automation and the relative ease with which businesses can now connect employees, services, and customers by renting applications over the Internet.
Greg Gianforte, CEO of RightNow Technologies, was upbeat about the subscription model's future: "SaaS 2.0 will be less about simplification and more about gaining better insight into customers and partners while improving service delivery levels."
Posted by Richard Gincel on September 25, 2006 03:00 PM
September 01, 2006 | Comments: (0)
A Web browser built to truly protect a user's privacy would be a hot commodity these days as people fret over falling victim to user-profiling and AOLesque data spills.
Thus it's no surprise that the birth of Browzar generated so much excitement, in that it was hyped as just the kind of Web browser privacy-conscious users were craving.
However, some pundits, myself included, may have gotten a leetle overexcited, thus creating a misleading impression of what Browzar is and can do.
First off: Browzar isn't technically a Web browser at all; it's a wrap around Internet Explorer's rendering engine. (I guess the name "IE Wrappar" doesn't have the same flair.) For some people, that alone raises little Red(mond) security flags.
Second, it is indeed designed to protect your privacy and mask your search history -- but mostly only from people who share your PC. Browzar will automatically purge your cache, Net history, and so forth, so when, for example, your spouse goes Net surfing after you, he or she won't know that you were visiting RabbitsGoneWild.com. (Disclaimer: I don't know if that site exists. Feel free to test it yourself.)
And even so, as "mikx" notes at insecure.org, Browzar doesn't tidy up your IE index.dat file. Thus, a more ambitious person who shares your system still could discover your fetish for the furry and floppy-eared.
The most Browzar seems to do insofar as masking your comings and goings to the outside world is ... it eats your cookies.
The point, though, is that Browzar won't stop ISPs and search engines from compiling your personal information and search history. If you read the Browzar site's FAQ carefully, the creators never makes that claim.
Notably, Ajaz Ahmed, the main man behind Browzar, did invoke AOL's notorious data-spill when pimping Browzar: "Privacy is becoming a bigger issue... . The AOL story highlights the issue that some of the things people are searching for are very, very personal."
That's misleading in the context of what his product actually does, no? Like saying "Hurricanes are a big concern in the wake of Katrinas, so try out this umbrella I'm selling."
Interestingly, the Browzar FAQ also acknowledges that other products out there do what Browzar does, something a lot of techies have noted since hearing about it. "Although there are ways, on some Internet browsers, to erase history folders and so on," the FAQ reads, "it is complicated and involves a level of technical knowledge (and time) that many people surfing the Internet do not have."
So in summation: There's clearly a high demand there for non-techies out there to feel secure as they Net surf; the hype behind Browzar is a clear indication of that fact, and it's a shame it got overblown and created false hopes. Hopefully, though, we'll see products coming out down the road that do what people hoped Browzar could: provide a simple way to protect their privacy online.
Oh, and it would also be nice if companies would be more careful with our personal data in the first place.
Posted by Ted Samson on September 1, 2006 02:41 PM
August 31, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Update: TrackMeNot fools searches
Note from the writer, added Sept. 1: This article has been updated to correct some mistatements about Browzar and its capabilities. Additionally, thank you to those of you who commented below. Given your comments, I've written another entry about Browzar.
In the wake of AOL's stunningly ill-conceived decision to publicize the search habits of hundreds of thousand of its users, as well as reports of various search engines employing user-profiling, we're seeing more Web tools emerge aimed at helping users hide their tracks to an extent -- or to baffle their trackers.
Browzar falls under the former category. Though the name sounds like Godzilla's next-door neighbor on Monster Island, Browzar is actually essentially a wrap for Internet Explorer designed to protect users' privacy by not retaining details of the Web sites they've searched. It does so by automatically deleting Internet caches, histories, cookies and auto-complete forms. Notably, aside from deleting cookies, the software really just saves you from the potential embarrassment of having those who share your PC see where you've been hanging out on the Internet.
Taking a different tack from Browzar is a Firefox extension called TrackMeNot. Rather than employing concealment or encryption to mask a user's browsing activities, it "periodically issues randomized search-queries to popular search engines, e.g., AOL, Yahoo!, Google, and MSN," according to the TrackMeNot Web site.
So, for example, while you're busily searching for terms like "tutu for my cat" and "XXL rubber pants," TrackMetNot will send random queries like "purple monkey dishwasher" to the aforementioned search engines. (I don't know if any of those words are actually in TrackMeNot's vocabulary; Simpsons fans can only hope.)
Doing so "significantly increases the difficulty of aggregating [search] data into accurate or identifying user profiles."
The creators, Daniel C. Howe, researcher at NYU's Media Research Lab, and Helen Nissenbaum, an associate professor at NYU, acknowledge that although TrackMeNot can produce a goodly number of faux search-term requests, "it is unlikely to deter serious data-profiling by those aware of the system. Future versions are likely to include larger (distributed) query databases, dynamically generated and/or Web-harvested queries, as well as grammar-generated natural-language queries."
The duo's explanation for developing the extension makes for interesting reading. Here's an excerpt:
"We are disturbed by the idea that search inquiries are systematically monitored and stored by corporations like AOL, Yahoo!, Google, etc. and may even be available to third parties. Because the Web has grown into such a crucial repository of information and our search behaviors profoundly reflect who we are, what we care about, and how we live our lives, there is reason to feel they should be off-limits to arbitrary surveillance."
What steps are you taking, if any, to hide your search path on the Wild Wild Web?
Posted by Ted Samson on August 31, 2006 03:58 PM
August 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)
ICANN ponders variable pricing
If you register an Internet domain today, typically you pay a flat fee, no matter what the domain name. That could be about to change, according to blogger Ken McCarthy. A new proposal is being shepherded through ICANN that McCarthy says could lift the price caps on domain registration. A variable pricing system, he says, would inevitably lead to dramatically escalated prices for domain registrations -- think thousands of dollars, or more, for popular domains.
So far, the ICANN proposal applies only to the .biz, .org, and .info top-level domains (TLDs), but if it passes, McCarthy and others expect that VeriSign will follow suit with .com, the TLD that VeriSign controls.
ICANN has a public comment process in place where you can let your voice be heard on this issue, but McCarthy points out that you'd better move quickly: The deadline for comment ends today at 5:00pm Pacific Time.
Posted by Neil McAllister on August 28, 2006 03:22 PM
August 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)
As mobile phones become increasingly vital tools for corporate and social communication, savvy and malicious hackers are finding new ways to exploit both the security holes of devices as well as the, well, gullibility of some end-users.
Case in point: McAfee today announced a new type of phishing attack. Called "SMiShing," a marriage of phishing and SMS, this attack sends a message to the phones of unsuspecting users reading, "We're confirming you've signed up for our dating service. You will be charged $2/day unless you cancel your order," writes McAfee Mobile Threat Researcher David Rayhawk in the McAfee Avert Labs blog.
Included in the text message is a URL that some unsuspecting users will very likely click. From there, Rayhawk writes:
"[Users] are prompted to download a program which is actually a Trojan horse that turns the computer into a zombie, allowing it to be controlled by hackers. The computer then becomes part of a bot network, which can then be used to launch denial of service attacks, install keylogging software and steal personal account information and other malicious activities. Because monitoring botnet activity is complex, it is challenging to know the current scope of the problem."
Meanwhile, CBS recently announced plans to push TV clips to mobile devices via Bluetooth. The idea is, a user would see a billboard at Grand Central Station in New York City urging him or her to enable Bluetooth. Doing so would let the user connect with a Bluetooth system on the billboard and download video files.
Clever? Certainly -- perhaps from a marketing perspective. But urging users to enable Bluetooth in a public place like that could result in leaving them susceptible to a virus like Cabir.
Mobile insecurity shouldn't just concern individuals who fear for their phone bills, of course. Mobile devices can be overlooked and poorly protected gateways to your enterprise network.
McAfee's Rayhawk urges enterprises to revisit (or create, in some cases) mobile security policies: "Enterprises would be wise to keep a close eye on this issue and think about policies for securing their mobile devices ahead of time, rather than playing catch up when it hits them, and begin to educate their employees about the potential risk now."
Posted by Ted Samson on August 28, 2006 01:28 PM
August 09, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Court: Web at work not private
If you're surfing the Net from work, click with care: Your employer has the right to monitor your online activity.
And if you're an employer who doesn't pay attention to your end-users' Internet activities, it's time to protect yourself by tightening the reins and steering your employees away from seedier destinations on the Web.
The Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals Tuesday upheld the conviction of a man from Montana who was arrested for "receiving obscene material on his work PC," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "Receiving obscene material," in this case, refers to accessing child pornography.
The 3-0 ruling confirms that companies have the right to keep a close eye on how workers use company equipment and Net access. Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlan writes: "Social norms suggest that employees are not entitled to privacy in the use of workplace computers, which belong to their employers and pose significant dangers in terms of diminished productivity and even employer liability."
The case dates back to January, 2001 when Jeffrey Ziegler was busted for having child pornography on his work computer. The FBI discovered the files with the assistance of the IT admin at Ziegler's place of employment, Frontline Processing.
Prior to Ziegler's arrest, Frontline had notified its employees that their online activities were subject to monitoring. And that kind of precaution is prudent, according to titled "Risky Business: What Must Employers Do to Shield Against Liability for Employee Wrongdoings in the Internet Age?" by Nicole J. Nyman from the Shidler Journal of Law, Commerce and Technology.
"To take a proactive part in the battle against inappropriate employee Internet activity, employers should put procedures into place to educate and monitor employees. If it can be demonstrated that the employer took affirmative steps to prohibit illegal activity, liability for employee actions is much less likely," Nyman writes.
The report includes some valuable advice on how to educate employees and reduce the risk of litigation for your company.
Posted by Ted Samson on August 9, 2006 10:50 AM
August 04, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Blogger's jailing turns up heat
The AP reports today that the jailing of freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf, 24, "is turning up the heat on the growing list of reporters order to cough up information to federal grand juries: Cooperate face prison time."
Wolf was jailed on Tuesday "after refusing to turn over video he took at an anticapitalist protest here last summer and after refusing to testify before a grand jury looking into accusations that crimes were committed at the protest", reports the NY Times.
Lucy A. Dalglish, exec director of Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the AP: "This is the first time it's been pretty clear to me the federal government is interested in what bloggers do."
And it won't be the last. But the issue for me circles on this graph in the AP report:
Wolf does not fit the classic profile of a reporter trying to protect a source. He has described himself as an activist and journalist, a freelance cameraman who also runs a blog.
What do you think? Should activist bloggers have the same protection as journalists? Or should the grassroots be treated like the general public it is?
Talk back to us.
Posted by Mike Barton on August 4, 2006 01:54 PM
July 31, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Craigslist Craig's news play named
The Craig Newmark-backed online news play may be as secretive as ever but at least it has a name to Google for more info as it comes out: Daylife.
Reports said Monday that Jeff Jarvis, in writing about another news site, NewAssignment.Net, said: "Daylife will gather, analyze, organize and create a new, distributed platform for the world's news."
The TechWeb report said the site would provide technical and distribution help to NewAssignment, which aims to encourage "smart mobs" of regular citizens to submit ideas and report the news through a process they're calling "open source journalism."
If Daylife rattles publishers' news interests like Craigslist has their classifieds interests, it should get interesting.
I hope it turns up the heat competition-wise rather than leading to more newspapers going downhill or out altogether.
Having worked at a major daily newspaper, I have great respect for papers' role, and for the teams of people who work tirelessly to put them together day-in and -out.
Posted by Mike Barton on July 31, 2006 03:52 PM
July 25, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Firefox snubbed at new Microsoft.com
The snazzy new preview of microsoft.com snubs Firefox and Opera users, who get the rude message: "We're sorry, the page you requested could not be found", are redirected to the old-school MS page, minus all the bells and whistles.
The preview includes a new interface and one-click access to Software and Services, Download & Trials, and Security, but only for IE users.
However, Opera 9 loaded the preview up nicely, so what gives?
Opera 9 has the same problem.
Is this a conspiracy? I think Microsoft should develop its pages to work with all modern browsers, not just its own. After all, the U.S. government at one point told people to switch to Firefox for security's sake.
Talk back to us.
Posted by Mike Barton on July 25, 2006 01:43 PM
July 21, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Anti-net neutrality campaign viral
Scott Cleland, Chairman of NetCompetition.org, who faced-off against Craigslist founder Craig Newmark on NPR last month over net neutrality, wrote to tell us: "We thought the time was ripe to produce another flash video on net neutrality, because they are such a fun and effective way to communicate what is really going on in this net neutrality debate."
His jab comes at the same time that net neutrality advocates are stepping up their pressure on lawmakers.
Cleland says of his group's video, A Royal Fable:
When the dominant online giants: Google, Microsoft, eBay, Yahoo, Amazon, and IAC, first funded and named "Itsournet.org," their pro-net neutrality lobbying coalition, we needled them here for their "Freudian Slip" in claiming they "owned" the Internet. We suggested to them that it might be more forthright and neutral to "share" ownership of the Internet with the rest of America and rename their coalition: itseveryonesnet.org. Alas they did not take our advice.Thus, we thought their elitist sense of Internet ownership and entitlement was worthy of a new flash video.
Clelland says Netcompetition's first flash video has been seen over 2500 times on youtube.com.
There must be some pro-net neutrality videos out there to counter this viral campaign. Be the vector and send us youtube.com or other links.
And, talk back to us below.
Posted by Mike Barton on July 21, 2006 11:42 AM
July 19, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Opera Software has unveiled Opera Widgetize! to ease creating widgets for its Opera 9 browser.
The tool, available for RSS and ATOM feeds, is very simple. Here's how, according to Opera: Name your widget, enter the address of your site, choose how you want it to look, and it's done.
Opera Widgetizer! creates a link and buttons to place on a blog or Web page, and the widgets are stored on Opera's servers.
"Many of our users wanted to create their own widgets, but didn't want to spend hours learning how to code," said Hakon Wium Lie, the company's CTO. "So we created a service that does all the work for them. It's the easiest way to have all the fun of widgets without all the hassle."
Posted by Mike Barton on July 19, 2006 04:11 PM
July 12, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Firefox 2.0 beta stokes browser wars
Mozilla released Firefox 2.0 Beta 1 today, our sister publication PC World reports.
It says that according to developer docs, all the new features for version 2.0 should be in this version. But it's by no means finished: Mozilla says you shouldn't expect your 1.x extensions and plugins to work properly, and there are certainly bugs.
Get Firefox 2.0 beta 1 here, and read more about it in PC World's first look.
I'm thinking Opera 9 takes the cake for most improved, but I keep coming back to trusty Firefox 1.5 with lo-fi theme for my own taste of less is more.
Talk back to us on IE7 vs. Opera 9 vs. Firefox 2.0...
Posted by Mike Barton on July 12, 2006 09:06 PM
June 22, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Flock has released the beta 1 of its uber-social browser.
Flock is "a free web browser that makes it easier than ever to share photos, stay up-to-date with news from your favorite sites, and search the Web", the VC-backed young company says.
The Flock blog said of the beta: "For this release, and for at least the next year or so, we are primarily focused on supporting the social dimension of the web, and on bringing information closer to the user. Right now this includes a heavy emphasis on the photo experience (from upload through discovery to notification), RSS support, dramatic improvements to the search box (including a new take on favorites), and blogging."
It's been a while since Flock told us it hopes the new browser will fly with users.
Does a beefed-up social browser make sense? Give it a spin and talk back to us and let others know.
It's great to see some browser buzz again with this and Opera 9's release yesterday. Opera 9 is looking to me at first glance to be a real contender in interface and performance.
Posted by Mike Barton on June 22, 2006 04:12 PM
June 21, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Net neutrality face-off on NPR
Scott Cleland, chairman of NetCompetition.org wrote to us to give a heads-up on his commentary for NPR Morning Edition opposing Net neutrality.
Craig Newmark, founder of community classifieds giant Craigslist, will do the commentary supporting Net neutrality on Thursday's Morning Edition.
See the face-off page here, with links to each of their arguments.
Tune in to both and talk back to us below on if Net neutrality matters to you.
The issue is far from decided: Groups have been pushing alternatives, and the Senate's chairman has offered a net neutrality deal following his vow to fight any net neutrality regulation.
What chance do you think any legislation has? Is a tiered Internet a done deal?
Posted by Mike Barton on June 21, 2006 03:03 PM
June 20, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Claria software, which announced back in March that it is getting out of the adware business, posted notices to users of its GAIN service that it will stop working on July 1, 2006. As of that date, folks with the GAIN pop-up advertising wares installed will actually stop receiving pop-ups.(Pop-ups discontinued? This must be a first.) However, the company will still collect Web use data until October 1, 2006, Claria said.
Claria is focusing on a new service it calls "PersonalWeb" that allows consumers to customize their Web experience (whatever that means), and raked in US $40 million in VC to fund that effort back in April.
To an untrained ear, PersonalWeb sounds an awful lot like My Yahoo! and all the other customized Web portal services. You can "automatically create a custom Home Page for every user." The difference, I suppose, is that PersonalWeb monitors your surfing behavior and updates your page with links to things that seem to be related to your interests. So i guess its like if you went out shopping, and then all the stores where you browsed got to follow you home and set up little kiosks on your lawn...am I wrong here??
Posted by Paul Roberts on June 20, 2006 10:37 AM
May 18, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Feeds 2.0: Are you hungry for personalized RSS?
Innovate Europe has spit out some interesting players this year, and Feeds 2.0 is one highlighted by Techcrunch.
Techcrunch writes:
The reader is definitely rough and in need of further development, but the personalization engine is rock solid and will be popular with some users. Feeds 2.0 monitors what you like and dislike about individual posts in your feed list and presents posts to you based on what it thinks you will want to read next. Attention information comes in via what you read (clicking on the title or expand buttons), what you mark as good (similar to Rojo’s Mojo feature) and what you mark as uninteresting. All of your feedback is run through their algorithm, along with feedback on those posts from other users, to help determine what order your posts are shown to you.
What sounds cool to me is how feeds can be sliced and diced for presentation by feed by feed basis, or by all content in reverse chronological order, or - if turned on - by personalization.
Descriptive tags for each post are generated by the reader, aiding find content. Social tagging is a no-show just yet.
Sign up for a private beta at the Feed 2.0 Web site and leave your thoughts in feedback here so others can see.
Posted by Mike Barton on May 18, 2006 10:04 AM
May 16, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Microsoft introduced its interactive map masher-upper MapCrunch.
Microsoft says:
MapCruncher enables a user to take existing road maps and aerial imagery and overlay particular, specialized maps to create unique mash-ups tailored to the user’s specific interests.MapCruncher consists of two panes and a left-side control panel. The right-hand pane provides Virtual Earth aerial imagery from Windows Live Local. The center pane is where you navigate to a map you want to mash up with Virtual Earth. Once that map is in place, you zoom to an appropriate level, set a superimposed pair of crosshairs on a specific site on the right-hand pane, set the crosshairs on the center pane at the corresponding point, and click Add.
Posted by Mike Barton on May 16, 2006 04:43 PM
May 11, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Kiwi (New Zealand) Web analyst and consultant Richard McManus' Read/WriteWeb has mapped a rich trove of Web 2.0 resources.
Well, because I am covering the end-user side of Web/Media 2.0 for InfoWorld, I thought I'd add to it here my homework on this mysterious new catch-all term (plus I wanted to revice my earlier post What is Web 2.0? ):
-- Wikipedia on Web 2.0 (start here)
-- Open BC's "The List" on Web 2.0
(Hey, this is from a Google of the topic.)
Posted by Mike Barton on May 11, 2006 10:47 AM
May 10, 2006 | Comments: (0)
The FCC today will begin auctioning off frequencies for in-flight Internet service.
As reported by the New York Times, nine companies are expected to bid on the two licenses available, including Verizon Airfone, which pioneered in-flight pay phones.
The winner of the auction will then have to persuade carriers to install their equipment, which will make it possible for passengers to use laptops in-flight to surf the Web or make VoIP calls.
If you are one of those fliers who look forward to boarding planes so you can get away from the demands of phones and e-mail, take heart in one last bastion of peace: The auction will not affect the use of cellphones, which use other frequencies and are (so far) still prohibited in air.
The travel site Tripso conducted a poll that found 83.75 percent of respondents are against the idea of allowing the use of cellphones in-flight, even if they do not interfere with cockpit duties.
The FAA is studying the matter, and last month Air New Zealand customers were granted "limited" use of cellphones by the NZ Civil Aviation Authority. So tell us what you think -- would you welcome the use of cellphones in-flight?
Posted by Caroline Craig on May 10, 2006 06:33 AM
May 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
News of Australia-based Zookoda joining the free RSS-to-e-mail service provider's list with sits 2.0 version takes this next wave in push news to a critical mass in my mind.
Techcrunch, which now offers subscription to its RSS via Feedburner's RSS-to-e-mail service, writes: "It competes with Feedburner’s new email product, and while it doesn’t have the benefit of Feedburner’s massive customer base, it does offer a very robust feature set that will be attractive to many bloggers."
I have been trying Squeet for a while now, and while I love it I have to admit I've gone back to getting my RSS in Outlook (via Attensa), mainly because I do all of my blogging at and for work.
But the power of blog-by-e-mail service spells trouble for the trusty newsletter. People can customize the look and fee of their feeds and subscribe to only which RSS they want, and quit subscriptions more easily than compared with complicated subscription centers, within logins and all.
But publishers seem likely to become the winners if this catches on in a big way as I predict. Especially with the trashing of the in-box by spam, a welcomed RSS subscription gets prime placement in the very personal in-box.
Techcrunch says that "based on some stats that Fred Wilson (an investor in FeedBurner) published last year, we can expect about 1 email subscriber for every 5 RSS subscribers."
Not bad. How likely would non-techie people welcome a form window to subscrive rather than the silly orange XML images we still see. What does XML mean to an end user? Extremely Meaningless Lingo (for tech geeks). This could be the way to bring RSS to the masses.
And more advanced, corporate RSS subscribers can benefit from reduced clutter and Web browser real estate with tools for Outlook such as Attensa and inclue.
Question now is, when will Google, Yahoo or Microsoft buy one of these guys and get the ball rolling with the some serious media muscle? (More integration with Gmail would be good too, Google.)
Posted by Mike Barton on May 8, 2006 01:47 PM
May 01, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Typos worth millions to Google
The Washington Post reports that Google is making millions of dollars a year by filling otherwise unused Web sites with ads, many times designed to come up when someone mistypes an Internet address, such as BistBuy.com.
Google bans Web addresses that infringe on trademarks from using its ad network, but a review of placeholder Web sites that result from misspelled domain names of well-known companies found many of the ads on those pages come directly from Google, the report said.
Google was awarded in July last year the rights to several website addresses that relied on typographical errors to exploit its popularity so computer viruses and other malicious software could be unleashed on unsuspecting visitors.
The Post said it "generated roughly 100 random misspellings of "www.earthlink.net" and found 38 sites using variations of the Earthlink name "parked" at a Google-owned service called Oingo.com. All 38, which includes "dearthlink.net" and "rearthlink.net," serve Google ads.
As TechDirt notes, the trademark claim in The Post story "is pretty silly, since it's pretty hard to imagine many people being confused into thinking a typosquatting site like hmoedepot.com is the actual homedepot.com site it's aping."
TD says the space is "attracting a lot of attention from companies who say the sites can function as additions to search engines."
"There's no doubt that these companies are grabbing low-hanging fruit, but the bigger issue, particularly for typosquatters, is that their business could get stamped out, either by misguided trademark lawsuits, or by technology," TD writes.
Is Google not acting fast to stamp out typosquatting to avoid any more bad PR?
Posted by Mike Barton on May 1, 2006 03:08 PM
April 28, 2006 | Comments: (0)
I thought I was really on to something with Attensa, which is revolutionary to me because it brings RSS to Outlook in a smart way, synchronizing with its Web interface and tagging from its browser toolbars.
But as I scanned my morning feeds in Outlook I thought how I'd like to get RSS in Google's GMail because I would like to have the filtering, tagging and search features for my RSS that Gmail is known for. And I don't want to have to fire up InfoWorld's VPN just to get RSS at home.
Then I came across Scobleizer's post linking to Squeet, which delivers RSS feeds you choose to any nominated e-mail account.
Yes, the new buzz meter -- for measuring how well a post is doing from a promotion system much like Digg it seems -- is cool too, but the killer feature here is Squeet's core service: RSS pushed live to the in-box. People can also choose to get updates sent daily, weekly etc, and in HTML or plain text.
Say bye-bye to newsletters as this spreads, I predict.
Is e-mail the killer app for RSS? Let us know what you are using and why.
Posted by Mike Barton on April 28, 2006 10:43 AM
April 21, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Spam is a nuisance, we all know that. No more so than for the poor suckers who find their name and reputation marred by some spam or phishing attack. But a $5 billion problem? That's the contention of (surprise surprise) e-mail security and antispam vendor IronPort. On Monday, the company will release a report saying that bounced e-mail messages costs $5 billion annually in IT help desk associated costs, and make up 11 percent of "hostile mail" on the Internet.
Here's the scenario, according to IronPort:
1. Filthy spammer launches spam/phishing campaign and forges sender addresses using legitimate addresses from Acme Corp. on millions upon millions of spam messages.
2. 99% of those messages get rejected by gateway antivirus/antispam box and dropped or sent back to the "sender."
3. Acme Corp. gets innundated with the bounced messages, bogging down their e-mail server. (IronPort says more than 50% of the Fortune 500 have had this happen.) Most of the bounce messages are ignored, but...
4. Around .5% of the messages that get bounced actually make it back to an employee's mailbox.
5. Employee freaks out and assumes that their computer has been 0wn3d by a virus.
6. Employee calls IT desk to get computer disinfected.
7. IT desk diverts resources to figuring out whether employee's machine was, in fact, 0wn3d, or whether this is just a bounce message thing.
8. Company pays for IT resources and loses money/efficiency when e-mail server goes down.
Now you've always gotta wonder about these vendor sponsored studies ("Study by Cattle Ranchers Benevolent Society finds people who eat three steaks a day live longer!). Nevertheless, it's an interesting statistic. I've asked IronPort for more details. Stay tuned.
Posted by Paul Roberts on April 21, 2006 08:30 AM
April 20, 2006 | Comments: (0)
The United States has retained its title for top spam offender, according to the security firm Sophos' latest spam-relaying figures.
While its share of the deluge has declined from 2004, when almost half of all spam came from the US, almost a quarter of all spam (23 per cent) between January and March this year was relayed from servers in the U.S., Silicon.com reports.
China and Europe are said to be catching up fast.
Australia is at the forefront of clamping down on spammers by introducing a code of practice for companies providing or enabling e-mail services.
Internet service providers must by July 16 address the sources of spam within their own networks under the new rules.
But jurisdiction ends at countries' shores, and the growth in China and parts of Eastern Europe signals that it will be harder to can the spam because enforcement is lacking in those regions, experts have noted.
The OECD has this week called for more international cooperation to tackle spam, but the future looks set for e-mail authentication systems to hold the growing tide of spam at bay -- despite slow progress on the technology, as noted this week at the a major e-mail authentication powwow in Chicago.
Microsoft used the gathering to heavily promote its Sender ID e-mail authentication architecture, and its new MSN Postmaster Services, a new program to provide tools and best practice guidance for ISPs to manage their e-mail infrastructures.
Microsoft said Sender ID adoption increased threefold among Fortune 500 companies, from 7 percent in July 2005 to 21 percent.
The power of e-mail is that it is open, but some spam experts say, with spam expected to grow from 50 percent to 80 percent of all e-mail traffic, a conditionally open system may be what we have to accept to save it from a tragedy of the commons.
What do you think needs to be done about spam? Talk back to us below.
Posted by Mike Barton on April 20, 2006 04:46 PM
April 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
IE patch breaks some users' browsers
The IE security update released this week has apparently left some users with temporarily broken browsers.
The MS06-13 update patches 10 vulnerabilities in IE, including the nasty TextRange () bug reported last month, but also makes non-security changes to ActiveX. Those changes -- made as a result of a $521 million judgment against Microsoft in a patent lawsuit brought by Eolas -- mean that on some Web sites, users may now have to click through extra steps when using dynamic content like Flash animation.
Mike Murray, director of research at vulnerability management vendor nCircle, is quoted in Information Week as saying customers "are at the point where they're pulling out their hair."
Microsoft has posted a "compatibility patch" that undoes the ActiveX changes in MS06-13 and gives customers more time to prepare for the update, but nCircle's Murray logically asks why Redmond didn't "deploy it as a separate patch or roll it into a service pack."
If enterprises follow Microsoft's advice -- deploy MS06-013 and its ActiveX changes first, then follow up by installing the compatibility patch -- they'll be faced with a secure, but possibly-broken browser, at least temporarily, Murray said.
Having your own problems with the latest IE security update or compatibility patch? Let us hear from you.
Posted by Caroline Craig on April 13, 2006 08:12 AM
April 12, 2006 | Comments: (0)
With only two days left to enter, Mozilla has released the first set of Firefox Flicks, the grassroots 30-second videos that are vying to become part of the marketing campaign for the up-start browser.
Mozilla says of the first release: "These are some of the 150+ community generated Firefox ads submitted since the Flicks project launched in late December. More to come every couple of days."
The winner will be announced this month at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Of the three up now, Drama Queen looks like a contender.
See the Flicks Backstage blog for the latest on the contest.
Posted by Mike Barton on April 12, 2006 04:16 PM
March 22, 2006 | Comments: (0)
What on Google Earth is going on?
SMH.com.au reports yet another hovering car sighting in Google Earth.
The report said the sighting, identified on Google Earth by the Flyin' Globe website, was from suburban carpark on the outskirts Australia's westernmost city Perth.
SMH reported the first hovering car sighting from Google's satellite imagery in January.
Website visitors had a range of theories but there must be a real explanation for the apparent tech glitch.
Will pose the issue to Google and see what it says... Back shortly with its answer.
Posted by Mike Barton on March 22, 2006 11:36 AM
March 22, 2006 | Comments: (0)
The first iteration of the next generation Firefox, 2.0, is available. Mozilla.org writes of the so-called Bon Echo Alpha 1 Release: "Bon Echo Alpha 1 is a developer preview release of our next generation Firefox browser and it is being made available for testing purposes only. Bon Echo Alpha 1 is intended for web application developers and our testing community. Current users of Mozilla Firefox 1.x should not use Bon Echo Alpha 1."
We'd like to here what people think. Does it have the potential to become an IE7 killer? Although Windows Vista's general release has been pushed out to next year, Microsoft said Internet Explorer 7 would still be available in the second half of this year.
Microsoft this week released Beta 2 of IE7.
IW's Jon Udell has an interesting read on IE7 here.
Posted by Mike Barton on March 22, 2006 10:48 AM
March 20, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Is being listed in a Google search a right, not a privilege?
It looks like Google may need to do a search itself soon for the best lawyers money can buy.
Not only is Google being hauled before Congressional committees to defend its reasons for caving in to the Chinese government by restricting access to certain sites, it is also defending itself from other government agencies that want it to cough up details on users who search for porn.
And now Google is being sued by a company called KinderStart.com for allegedly destroying its business by delisting them from their search engine.
The full details are on our site but in a nutshell, Google believes KinderStart was scamming them to gain a higher listing in its search results.
Kinderstart start says no such thing.
The results of getting delisted have been pretty severe for the company that has a Website for parents of young, under seven years of age, children. KinderStart's hits have gone down 70 percent and their ad revenue by 80 percent.
So the bigger question that this lawsuit highlights is, in this information age, is information and the ability to get at it a public right?
Does Google, and Yahoo and all the rest have the right to limit its search results according to whatever rules they create? Or is this a high tech version of the civil rights suits of the 50s and 60s that said a restaurant is a public place and it cannot use race, color or creed as a basis to restrict its service?
High tech has been getting pretty much of a free ride up until now. No Internet sales tax, for example, and in general Congress has been afraid of legislating any restrictions. Is it time for a change?
Plug in your comments after this blog and we'll air it all out.
Posted by Ephraim. Schwartz on March 20, 2006 02:22 PM
March 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Has Google blown its orbit with news of the online darling's latest additon, Google Mars?
The Google watching business set, and share owners, might think it has blast off into the far reaches of geekery -- and beyond business reason -- with this one.
Or is it another clever wow-factor service that seems to boost the share price beyond reason a la Web 1.0, allowing Google to cherry pick Web 2.0 start-up greats left and right, such as last week with Writely?
The company introduced Google Mars in commemoration of astronomer Percival Lowell's birthday, writing:
"[We're] pleased to bring you Google Mars.
"Explore the red planet in three different ways: an elevation map shows color-coded peaks and valleys, a visible-imagery map shows what your eyes would actually see, and an infrared-imagery map shows the detail your eyes would miss."
Wow-factor accomplished.
Posted by Mike Barton on March 13, 2006 10:33 AM
March 09, 2006 | Comments: (0)
A post on the Official Google Blog confirmed on Thursday some rumour it had purchased the web-based collaborative word processor Writely.
Coupled with the recent news a Google Calendar is in the works the latest revelation makes some think a Google Office suite is near.
Business 2.0's Om Malik, who broke the rumor on his blog, writes: "Now buying Writely is in line with Google thinking of using browser for everything. I mean an online word processor, and online excel spread sheet make a lot more sense than making people switch to OpenOffice."
But Malik notes, and I agree, people are conditioned to use MS Office, but even if Google Writely is free, who wants sensitive business documents living on Google's servers? So forget the enterprise for some time.
I've had people say they didn't want to send me stuff to Gmail because they feared it would threaten their privacy.
Well, at least this time Google is following Microsoft.
Look out Microsoft Office? InfoWorld's Paul Krill says, "maybe in 15 years".
What do you think. Would you jump aboard Google Office?
Posted by Mike Barton on March 9, 2006 03:51 PM
March 08, 2006 | Comments: (0)
The Web log TechCrunch reports it has obtained screenshots of Google's new Ajax calendar application, which TechCrunch's Michael Arrington says will be called "CL2".
Blog legend Om Malik has posted some more details of CL2.
Arrington writes: "The closed beta is ongoing with about 200 participants - people involved are not allowed to invite outsiders to see the calendar and are under strict rules not to share any details with outsiders. Based on feedback I am getting, CL2 is a long way away from launch."
With little surprise, CL2 is said to be closely tied in with Gmail.
Here's a link to the login page.
Google says of the "rumor": "We're continually exploring opportunities to expand our offerings, but we don't have anything to announce at this time."
Too late for that.
Posted by Mike Barton on March 8, 2006 01:10 PM
March 07, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Symantec's latest Internet Security Threat Report for the last six months of 2005 has reworked how it counts browser bugs, apparently aiming to please both sides, with one that finds IE has the most vulnerabilities, and a second that reports Firefox as the bug-leader, IDG News reports.
Firefox had the highest number of "vendor-confirmed" vulnerabilities, with 13 compared to IE's 12, said Symantec's Dave Cole. But the report also includes a count of bugs found by security researchers that have not been confirmed by Microsoft or Mozilla.
By that count, IE had the most security issues: 24, compared to Firefox's 17.
So, what's going on here? Are the browser wars back? Tech Watch welcomes the latest competition, coming soon in the form of IE7.
But beside universal access, browsers seem so old-school, and overworked for richer applications.
As interface guru Jakob Nielsen told me, imagine if iTunes was all web-based rather than being software that pulls in web resources? It would not be the same, and we should not expect that of the web.
Adobe's Flash 8 and Flex system is being used to develop some much more rich web interfaces. See Jon Udell's screencast on Flex 2.0. Update: Paul Krill writes Adobe is introducing open source libraries intended to bridge its Flex technology with AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). The intention is to make it easer for developers to harness Adobe Flex, Flash Player and AJAX for building rich Internet applications, he wrote.
Bring it on, I say. Why has it taken so long? Eight years ago Macromeda was showing me whole e-commerce websites in a flash interface and under 150 kilobytes.
With broadband as widespread as it is and with WiMax and ADSL2+ speeds coming for mad mainstream download speeds, I believe the time is now to move beyond the browser for many richer media applications.
Where do we go from here? I'd love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment.
Posted by Mike Barton on March 7, 2006 10:36 AM
March 02, 2006 | Comments: (0)
Open letter on AOL's e-mail tax
More than 50 groups have formed a coalition to fight AOL's plan for fee-based email and have written an online open letter to the internet giant with their concerns.
The coalition is comprised of a number of diverse groups, ranging from leftie Craigslist founder Craig Newmark to the right-wing