Software Blog » business

Twitter CEO’s Tweet-Blocking Defense: It’s Just Business

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Twitter is on the defensive over its new tweet-filtering policy, which it considers a progressive, forward-looking approach to complying with local laws around the globe. Speaking at Dive Into Media Monday night, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo characterized the changes as a way to ensure that more people see tweets. “There’s been no change in our stance or attitude or policy with respect to content on Twitter,” he said. “It is simply not the case that you can operate in these countries and choose which of the laws you want to abide by.”

Take the 5th? Not With Encrypted Hard Drives, Says Fed Judge

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:31:59 +0000

Encrypting data on your computer may protect you from hackers and thieves, but it won’t protect you from crime investigators. That was the finding of a federal district court in Colorado Monday in a case involving a woman who refused to decrypt the files on her laptop for government prosecutors. The woman, Romona Fricosu, of Peyton, Colo., denied prosecutors’ demand to decrypt the files on the grounds that doing so would violate her Fifth Amendment rights. She argued that forcing her to use her password to decrypt the files was tantamount to self-incrimination, which is prohibited by the constitution.

Anonymous Lashes Out in Wake of Megaupload Shutdown

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:59:49 +0000

The hacker group Anonymous has reportedly launched a series of attacks that shut down major websites in retaliation against the U.S. Department of Justice’s actions against the site Megaupload. The attacks have been ongoing since Thursday, and various Web users who clicked on certain links may have been tricked into becoming accomplices. The group reportedly began issuing distributed denial of service attacks Thursday almost immediately after U.S. federal authorities announced they’d arrested several Megaupload executives on charges of racketeering, money laundering and copyright infringement.

Numberlys: A Top-Shelf App for Kids, Though a Bit Overhyped

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

I must admit, I felt a bit duped by the description of the Numberlys app after I bought, downloaded and launched the app. I was expecting something bigger and longer that would appeal more to adults. Something gorgeous, imaginative, and slightly dystopian with an uplifting ending. What I got was something gorgeous, imaginative, and slightly dystopian with an uplifting ending. Just not something huge. In order to be fair in this review, I have to juggle the expectations set up by the description with my personal expectations and connect that to what you actually ge.

Middle-East Cyberbattle Escalates as Arab Banks Take a Pounding

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Unrest between Israelis and Arabs on the cybersecurity front is escalating, with Israeli hackers having reportedly taken down the websites of the Saudi and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges. The Israeli hackers, who call themselves “IDF-Team,” apparently paralyzed the Saudi stock exchange site and caused significant delays to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, according to a report. They warned of more retaliatory attacks if Arab hackers continue their activities.

Symantec Source Code Scattered to the Winds

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Source code for two security applications from Symantec has been stolen and posted on the Web. The hackers claiming responsibility, who call themselves the “Lords of Dharmaraja,” say they obtained code for the Norton Antivirus application. However, it appears they actually got their hands on code for two enterprise products, Symantec End Point 11 and Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 10.2 instead, Symantec spokesperson Cris Paden said. The code is “four and five years old,” and SEP 11 has since evolved into SEP 12.0 and 12.1, while SAV 10.2 has been discontinued.

Barnes & Noble’s Nook: Life Preserver or Dead Weight?

admin — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

The arrival of the Amazon Kindle Fire gave Apple reason to worry, but it may have given Barnes & Noble a reason to completely freak out. Its Nook Tablet Android device arrived about a month after the Kindle Fire was announced, and the Nook may be in a much more vulnerable position than the iPad. iPad still owns the top end of the tablet market, but down in the sub-$300 realm, the Nook has to fight with a cheaper Kindle Fire that just happens to be hooked up to Amazon’s giant ocean of digital content.

One Year Later: MS Exchange Practices Most Companies Should Still Shun

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Over a year ago, we presented a list of the top 10 worst practices that you should avoid if you want to maintain the performance and uptime of your Microsoft Exchange email system. Since then, some things have changed, while others have not. So here’s a revised Top 10 List of “Don’ts” to point out which practices still hold true and which do not. First, let’s look at what has not changed. Storage strategies have changed very little. The use of JBOD is not a one-size-fits-all strategy, so when considering this approach, be sure to weigh all of the risks and costs.

No Shelter From a Cybercrime Storm

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

The Anonymous hacker collective has run riot this holiday season, and security experts predict more pain from cybercriminals at large for the coming year. Anonymous announced earlier that it had also cracked the systems of gear vendor SpecialForces.com. As a follow-up to its breach of private think tank Stratfor’s systems last week, the hacker collective, or its stepchild Antisec, dumped all the information stolen from the Stratfor break-in on the Web on Friday.

Can Apple Convince Me I Want a Smaller TV?

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Even before Steve Jobs admitted to his biographer that he had cracked the modern television nut, Apple fans have long suspected — and hoped — that Apple’s little hobby Apple TV set-top box was just a stepping stone to a bigger and better HDTV living room experience. The latest rumors throw fuel on the fire: Apple’s suppliers reportedly are gearing up to produce components for delivery of an iTV sometime in 2012. More specifically, Samsung might be making the chips, while Sharp might make the screens. The screen sizes indicate the iTV would come in 32 and 37-inch models.

Microsoft Washes Its Hands of CES

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:36:54 +0000

January’s Consumer Electronics Show will be the last one Microsoft will attend. Announcing its decision on Wednesday, Microsoft’s Frank Shaw said the company’s product news milestones generally don’t align with the timing of the show, which is regularly held in January. “Microsoft was faced with announcing Windows 8 a month before they want to announce it, when they’re unprepared, and it becomes an untimely showcase,” Rob Enderle, principal analyst of the Enderle Group, pointed out. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is widely expected to unveil new information about Windows 8.

The 5 Pillars of Master Data Management

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

In the last three years, corporate views of master data management have rapidly evolved from data-centric confusion to a point where companies now focus on the consumers of master data and the business processes that consume it. In the next two to five years, the companies that use this MDM momentum will gain a strategic advantage. Companies are often tempted to start by defining what master data looks like versus starting by asking, “which applications and processes need master data” and then asking what data they need.

Apple Gears Up to Create a Star TV

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:14:49 +0000

Apple is holding talks with media executives to discuss the future of television, according to a recent report. It’s also allegedly working on providing wireless streaming capabilities, voice and motion controls, and features that enable the sharing of content across multiple devices. “We believe it’s very likely that Apple’s working on a set-top box or iTV or whatever you’d like to call it, because the TV is the next growth area for Apple, and it’s the only one screen they haven’t conquered yet,” said Jia Wu, a senior analyst at Strategy Analytics.

Timeline: Pretty Interface, Ugly Rollout

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:05:21 +0000

Facebook will be disrupting the online lives of its members in the coming weeks with the redesign of their profile pages. The redesign, called “Timeline,” has been available on a limited basis since it was announced in September, but Thursday the social network announced a system-wide rollout of the redesign. It’s also available for mobile devices running Google’s Android operating system and at its mobile website. No mention was made of when Timeline would be available to devices running Apple’s iOS operating system.

Timeline: Pretty Interface, Ugly Rollout

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:05:21 +0000

Auto Updates Nudge IE Users Into the Present

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:45:58 +0000

Microsoft will automatically upgrade earlier versions of its Internet Explorer browser beginning in January. The updates will be for PCs running Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, Redmond said. Users in Australia and Brazil who have turned on the automatic update feature in Windows Update will be the first to have their browsers automatically updated, and Microsoft will roll out this capability elsewhere over time. Customers will be given the ability to opt out of the automatic browser updates.

Microsoft’s Windows Store: FOSS Welcome Here

admin — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Here in the world of FOSS, watching Microsoft can be like riding on the proverbial roller-coaster, with no shortage of ups and downs. Sometimes — like pretty much all the time when it comes to Android, for example — things look pretty bad. Other times, however, there can appear faint glimmers of hope. Such was the case just last week, in fact, when Redmond began to reveal details about its upcoming Windows Store, including its app developer agreement for all those who hope to offer their wares there.

Behold, the Windows Store Cometh

admin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:53:15 +0000

Microsoft will begin accepting submissions for the Windows Store, its Windows 8 app store, when it unveils its Windows 8 public beta in late February. It also invited applications from devs to submit applications using the Metro-style touch user interface for inclusion in the Windows Store. The store is itself a full-screen Metro-style app built with HTML 5 and JavaScript that will give devs access to the 500 million Windows users worldwide, Microsoft said. Devs will get up to 80 percent of the revenue from each app purchased.

A Linux Attack Considered

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Well the last ruckus over operating systems had barely settled down here in the Linux blogosphere when another one started up anew. The cause this time? Oh, just a little article entitled, “The Disadvantages of Using Linux” by a blogger known as “DarkDuck.”
“No standard edition,” “learning curve,” “non-compatible software” and “unsupported hardware” are just a few of the charges DarkDuck makes against our beloved operating system, sparking numerous outbursts of outrage.

Facebook Whittles Down 6 Degrees of Separation to 4.74

admin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:46:43 +0000

Six degrees of separation may be good enough for most people, but for Facebook members, it’s only 4.74 degrees, according to a study conducted jointly by the social networking giant and the University of Milan. Conducted earlier this year, the study examined all 721 million active Facebook users, who had 69 billion friendships among them, Facebook said. Whether the conclusions of the study might be off-base is open to debate. “Obviously the study is only valid for the part of the population that is on Facebook,” said UCSD’s James H. Fowler.