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DDoS the Weapon of Choice for Hackers Driven by Politics, Not Profits

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:03:23 +0000

Politics, rather than good old-fashioned theft, is increasingly the motivation of malicious hackers who attack websites using DDoS techniques. Arbor Networks has found that ideological hacktivism was the motivation behind most distributed denial of service attacks in 2011. Attacks for profit or competitive reasons still happen, but the rise of the political hacker is changing the threat landscape. “Businesses should definitely be cognizant of the potential impact that policy changes and outbound corporate statements might have in the public forum,” said Arbor’s Carlos Morales.

Google Pours Chrome Into Android

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:03:34 +0000

Google has brought its Chrome Web browser to the Android Market. A beta edition of the browser is available from the app shop now for free, but since its operation is restricted to the latest version of the mobile operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich, only about 1 percent of Android’s millions of users will be able to take the software for a test drive. Making the browser a downloadable app means users don’t have to wait for phone makers to install the browser on their hardware. On the other hand, they still have to wait for those phone makers to upgrade their handsets.

Enterprise Web Apps: The Next Generation

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

When the bright folks at Zeebox, a killer social TV site, decided to build their website, they naturally turned to cloud services because they are a startup and had to use their money wisely. They also turned to the Scala language and open source community because they had very specific scalability and performance needs, like processing 60+ TV channels — knowing it will grow to thousands in the future — in real time, and juggling the social streams of users from sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Radio Tray: Tiny Web Radio Player Is Handy but Picks Up Some Static

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

If you spend a lot of time at your keyboard, no doubt you dabble a lot in listening to Internet radio. Radio Tray is a relatively new Linux app that can make tuning in to your favorite radio stations a new experience. Radio Tray is a streaming player for online radio that sits on the Linux desktop panel. Think of this app as a shortcut that hides the browser interface. It is not intended to replace a full-featured music player. Rather, its was created as a fast and simple way to play streaming radio with a barely-there interface.

Wolfram Alpha to Get Brainier

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:00:30 +0000

How much does a civil engineer in New Orleans make? What is the average temperature there? What are the differences in the trigonometric functions of sin, cos and tan? What is the exchange rate between the U.S. and the UK right now? Throw one of these questions at Siri, the voice assistant in iPhone 4S, and she will speedily reply. Fueling Siri is Wolfram Alpha, a computational knowledge search engine launched in 2009. Now the engine’s developers are taking its data-driven approach one step further with the launch of Wolfram Alpha Pro.

3D Printer Joins Organ Replacement Revolution

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:45:56 +0000

They’re building people out of 3D printers now — parts, anyway. LayerWise announced Sunday that it has applied a process called “additive manufacturing” to produce a titanium total lower jaw implant for facial reconstruction. The project was developed in collaboration with partners from medical industries and academia. This is the first complete patient-specific implant for the lower jaw. The complex implant design incorporates articulated joints and dedicated features. The implant restored a patient’s facial aesthetics and allowed her to regain her speech within hours.

Anon Lets Fly With Symantec Code After Ransom Talks Collapse

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:45:44 +0000

A hacker who was negotiating a ransom for stolen source code to a Symantec product released the data via peer-to-peer networks on Tuesday after negotiations fell through. The code is for security vendor Symantec’s pcAnywhere remote access software. Symantec had last month warned pcAnywhere users to observe best security practices and told them they might have to disable the application. The company launched its own investigation and called in law enforcement.

Google Mashes Up Eggheads’ Big Ideas With Solve for X

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:50:43 +0000

Google has launched a new program devoted to fostering discussions and ideas among leaders in the science and technology industries. The project, dubbed “Solve for X,” aims to be a seeding ground for solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems. The site is meant to inspire “moonshot” thinking, out-of-the-box technologies and projects that might seem closer to science fiction than real-life solutions to global problems. The program hopes to sponsor thinkers and doers that can highlight a widespread problem and present concrete and radical solutions.

Google Gets in Your Eyes

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:17:26 +0000

Google’s apparently taking a cue from movies like “Iron Man” and “The Terminator” in designing one of its upcoming products: Eyewear that displays data and information to the wearer. The Internet giant’s glasses are in the late prototype stage, 9to5Google claims. They are likely going to run a version of Android, connect to the Internet, include a global positioning system and double as a phone, 9to5Google stated. The devices could be released to the market soon.

Eating Right: There Are Apps – and More – for That

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

One day, Hemi Weingarten’s wife brought home some glow-in-the-dark yogurt for their three young children. He read the ingredient list to find out how the strawberries could be so red, and finding “Red #40,” looked it up online. He was surprised to discover that it was a controversial chemical banned in parts of Europe. That incident made him realize there was a market for easily accessible nutritional information for consumers. “I decided to help consumers like me by creating a simple tool that people can use while at the supermarket,” Weingarten said.

iOS More Crashtastic Than Android

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

The rivalry between Google and Apple in the cut-throat mobile device world took a new turn recently when mobile app support platform company Crittercism published a study that found iOS apps crash more often than their Android counterparts. Crittercism analyzed more than 214 million apps launched in November and December that use its service. The worst offender was iOS 5.01, with nearly 29 percent of overall crashes. iOS 4.2.10 accounted for another nearly 13 percent and iOS 4.4.4 a further nearly 11 percent.

Avid Studio: Thumbs Up on Interface, Sideways on Features, Down on Sound Effects

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Back when Apple promised editing features built into the iPhone 3GS (the first iPhone to have a video camera), I wondered how a video-editing program could possibly fit into a phone. It wasn’t just a question of available processing power, though that was part of it. It was also a question of screen size. Video editing needs a lot of space. If you’re going to be throwing around a few dozen clips and managing multiple tracks for sound, you’re going to need some elbow room.

BTJunkie Scurries Into the Shadows

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:51:39 +0000

BitTorrent search engine BTJunkie has abruptly shut down its website, giving its users a short and sweet goodbye: “We’ve decided to voluntarily shut down. We’ve been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but it’s time to move on.” It appears likely that the move was a defensive maneuver in response to law enforcement’s takedown of the Megaupload site in January, accompanied with several arrests. If that’s the case, BTJunkie is hardly alone in reacting to the Megaupload drama — although its response is probably among the most drastic.

Google’s New App Mall Cop

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Google last week announced it’s beefed up security at the Android Market with a malware sniffing system called “Bouncer.” Bouncer analyzes new and existing apps, as well as developer accounts. Before apps are allowed to be sold in the market, they’re analyzed to see if they contain any known malware, spyware or trojans. Apps will also run in the Google cloud to see if they’re exhibiting bad behavior. In addition, the bona fides of new developers are reviewed to prevent malicious devs from returning to the market after they’ve been eighty-sixed by Google.

Will the Spark Tablet Ignite a FOSS Fire?

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Now that webOS is making its merry way along the open road, there’s no telling what tablets or other mobile devices it may inspire over the upcoming months. In the meantime, the Linux world is all abuzz over what promises to be the very first fully open tablet out there: the Spark, a device slated to ship in May from none other than the KDE Plasma Active community itself. The details have been coming fast and furious; preorder signup begins this week. Will FOSS fans jump at the chance?

‘Inside the World of Dinosaurs’ Feeds the Dino Lover in All of Us

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

As near as I can tell, almost every kid goes through an intense dinosaur phase, and for some adults, the fascination remains for decades. Even years after the movie “Jurassic Park” brought dinos to life, I would still eat up all the dinosaur documentary shows I could find, like “Walking With Dinosaurs.” When I saw Inside the World of Dinosaurs as an app made specifically for the iPad, I was interested. When I saw that it was narrated by Stephen Fry, the UK actor, comedian and writer, I bought it.

AMD: Shift Happens

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Last week was the coming-out party for AMD’s new CEO, and his core message was that the market was undergoing a shift — and when markets shift, leadership changes. His point was that Intel’s leadership was at risk and that AMD was poised to take over that leadership. The nature of this change is massive, and I doubt we — I mean any of us — are fully aware of how much is changing. Nor are we sure which companies or technologies will exit this change. Everyone is at risk — from Apple to Microsoft, from Google to Facebook, from Oracle to HP, and from AMD to Intel.

Facebook to Investors: You Like What You See?

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Facebook’s finally decided to take a head-first dive into the mountain of cash it’s been standing on for years. Following several days of heated rumors and years of speculation about when CEO Mark Zuckerberg was finally going to cash in his chips, the company filed an S-1 statement with the SEC, paving the way for an IPO as early as this May. Facebook has its sights set on hauling in $5 billion, making it the biggest Internet IPO in history. The move will likely make hundreds of Facebook staffers millionaires overnight.

Pew Study Finds Facebook Power Concentrated in Relatively Few Friends

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:07:50 +0000

An in-depth look at Facebook user behavior reveals some interesting trends among this more than 800- million constituency: One, Facebook users tend to receive more from the Facebook friends than they give out; two, there is a solid core of users that are very active on the site. The Pew Research Center’s report on the subject is based on data mined from the server logs of Facebook activity and survey data that explores the structure of Facebook friendship networks and measures of social well-being.

Leaked Info Offers Glimpse of WinPho’s Muscular Future

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:22:54 +0000

Microsoft is overhauling Windows Phone 8, which is still in development, to make it more competitive with market leaders iOS and Android, according to leaked information. The mobile OS will add support for multicore processors, up to four new screen resolutions, and removable microSD card storage. It will also support near-field communications, the technology that enables mobile wallets. “This builds upon what Mango has,” Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst at IDC, told TechNewsWorld, referring to Windows Phone 7.5.