Google CEO Eric Schmid

Google is being targeted by lawsuits and governments around the world with potential privacy invasions, so perhaps it wasn’t the best choice of words when Google CEO Eric Schmidt told the Mobile World Congress in a keynote address a few days ago: “We can literally know everything if we want to.”

Schmidt was there to talk about the future of mobile, and he said everything you would expect him to — nothing particularly revealing. But several minutes into his address, he talked about the pervasiveness of social networking information, microblogging, and self-publishing on the Internet. And he had this to say:

This notion of publishing and microblogging and so forth, information that you think is generally interesting is an explosion that will drive networks futher into everything we do in every way. Think of it as an opportunity to instrument the world. These networks are now so pervasive that we can literally know everything if we want to. What people are doing, what people care about, information that’s monitored, we can literally know it if we want to, and if people want us to know it.

Schmidt was absolutely right in what he had to say. The amount of information available about people is mind-boggling, particularly when people use social networking sites to post information about themselves. Just consider the site Please Rob Me. It scans Twitter streams for people who say they are not at home, and then publishes that information on the site. Why does the site do it? To let people know just how dangerous it is to publicly post information about themselves that is best left private.

Google has the capability to scan not just Twitter streams, but information from all social networks, and combine that with your search history, and information about you on the Internet. So Schmidt was not guilty of overkill when he spoke to the Mobile World Conference.

He’s clearly aware about the privacy issues this raises — note how he said “we can literally know it if we want to, and if people want us to know it. (Emphasis is mine.) It’s good to see that he added that final caveat. I don’t think Google quite yet understands just how dangerous many people think its power to invade people’s privacy is. But eventually, prodded by governments, I think they’ll get it.

Source: ComputerWorld Blog

Goojje

It all sounds a little too weird and disturbing at the same time but it looks like a certain Chinese site is ready to replace Google Search altogether. Goojje is the name of the new search engine
and it might become the alternative China needs should Google withdraw from the market.

A certain stereotype says about the Chinese that they can copy pretty much any product. That’s certainly based on the large number of replicas and knock offs coming from China, a country that happens to be producing lots of the original products which it copies later on.

But Google’s search engine should be a lot more difficult to replicate, wouldn’t you agree? Or at least that would be the case if Goojje would be going for world domination in the search market. But Goojje seems to be a quick solution to the search needs of a country like China.

Google threatened to pull out of the market after having discovered that it was the target of cyber attacks originating from China. The Chinese government denied such allegations but Google stood its ground refusing to censor search results anymore. Furthermore the company postponed Android plans for China although Android smartphone manufacturers targeting the Chinese market are still proceeding according to plans.

And that’s how Goojje appeared. The explanation for the chosen word is that the final syllable of the word, “jje” sounds very familiar to the Mandarin pronunciation for Google which ends in “jiejie.” And Goojje search is delivering search results according to Chinese regulations which is why one would think that the service has been conceived in order to replace Google’s presence in China.

Google hasn’t commented on the situation yet but it will be interesting to see what happens next in the Chinese online search business. In the mean time Goojje has a message for Google on its home page:

Sister was very happy when brother gave up the thought of leaving and stayed for sister.

In Chinese Goojje sounds like “sister” while the pronunciation of Google sounds like “big brother.”

Read: Goojje Search Engine Launches in China [Goojje to Replace Google Search in China?] » TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities

Source: nexus404

IE logo

Google has clearly had enough with Internet Explorer 6.

As of March 1, Google will no longer support IE6 on its Google Docs and Google Sites services, it announced Friday. IE users will have to upgrade to at least version 7 if they want to use those products, as “many other companies have already stopped supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers,” the company said in a blog post.

A flaw in IE6 was exploited in the recent cyberattacks against Google and other U.S. companies, and Microsoft scrambled to patch the flaw in a rare out-of-cycle patch release earlier this month. Use of the browser–considered much weaker than more recent versions of IE within the security community–has been dropping with the release of Internet Explorer 8 but it is still being used by 13.5 percent of Web surfers, according to statistics from StatCounter.

Google set the baseline for other browsers at Firefox 3.0 or higher, Chrome 4.0 or higher, and Safari 3.0 or higher. “…you may find that from March 1, key functionality within these products–as well as new Docs and Sites features–won’t work properly in older browsers,” Google said.

Apple iPad

Tijdens de voorstelling in San Francisco demonstreert Jobs -in traditionele jeans en zwarte trui- het nieuwe toestel dat voor Apple een vierde pijler moet worden, naast de Mac, iPod en iPhone. De iPad is iets breder dan een A4-blad en lijkt op een grote versie van de iPhone.

Virtueel keyboard

Steve Jobs liet tijdens de presentatie zien hoe gebruikers films kunnen kijken, muziek kunnen luisteren en websites kunnen bekijken. Net zoals bij de iPhone beschikt de iPad niet over een echt toetsenbord maar over een touchscreen dat bediend wordt met de vingers. Wil je bijvoorbeeld een internetadres invoeren, dan verschijnt er op het scherm een virtueel toetsenbord waarop je kunt typen. Voor wie het echt wil, wordt er een apart toetsenbord verkocht.

De specificaties van de iPad zijn afgestemd op gebruik in de huiskamer. Het is compact en licht (1,2 cm dik en 680 gram zwaar), heeft een 9,7-inch kleurenscherm met een heel brede kijkhoek, draadloos internet, Bluetooth en 16 tot 64 gigabyte geheugen. Een 3G-modem is een optie. Alle software uit de App Store van Apple werkt ook op het tablet.

E-reader

Met de iPad treedt Apple, dat de laatste tien jaar geëvolueerd van computerbouwer naar consumentenelektronicaproducent, in de arena tegen gelijkaardige toestellen als de e-readers van Amazon en Sony. Zo demonstreerde Jobs hoe je er een krant als The New York Times op kan lezen.

Via iPad kunnen boeken gekocht worden in de ‘iBookwinkel’, een variant op de iTuneswinkel waar muziek gekocht kan worden. De boeken worden geleverd in het ePub-formaat, een open e-bookstandaard die de meeste e-readers ook ondersteunen. Dat wil zeggen dat er in principe ook veel Nederlandstalige werken leesbaar zullen zijn, bijvoorbeeld afkomstig van boeken.be.

499 dollar

Het toestel komt binnen zes weken op de Amerikaanse markt en krijgt een prijskaartje van 499 dollar voor de versie met 16 gigabyte geheugen. Voor versies met 32 en 64 gigabyte komt er telkens 100 dollar bij. Wie 3G-verbindingen wil opzetten moet nog eens 130 dollar extra betalen.

En wat met België? Pas in juni worden internationale lanceringen gepland, maar in tegenstelling tot de iPhone zal een Amerikaanse versie probleemloos hier werken. De iPad invoeren of meebrengen van een reisje naar de V.S. is dus een mogelijkheid.

Volgens sommige analisten kan Apple tot 3 à 4 miljoen iPads verkopen dit jaar.

Source: DE standaard

TechCrunch

Popular technology blog Techcrunch has been hacked and is currently down with all but a message noting that the site has indeed been compromised.

The blog has experienced frequent downtime of late but as have other blogs who host on Rackspace including, Mashable and The Inquisitr – we fortunately aren’t (we’re with Slicehost, owned by Rackspace interestingly enough).

This case appears different however with other blogs remaining live and Techcrunch admitting they had been targeted with a message that reads:

Earlier tonight techcrunch.com was compromised by a security exploit.
We’re working to identify the exploit and will bring the site back online shortly.

Earlier, presumably when the initial hack took place, text with a link to a rapid share download site was posted:

Oddly enough, sister blog CrunchGear is running smoothly, which indicates that TechCrunch in particular rather than its network was targeted.

The irony here of course, as it would be for us, is TechCrunch is a reliable source for information on site downtime.

More info over at Inquisitr and and Technologizer.

Update:

TechCrunch is now back up, interestingly all comments gone. Stay tuned for more info as to what happened.

Update 2:

A statement now on the blog reads:
“As some people noticed, at approximately 10:30 pm PST on Monday evening the main site in the TechCrunch Network – techcrunch.com – was hacked and redirected. The site was back up briefly at 11:30 pm but shortly went down again. As of 2:00 am, the site is back up and appears to be stable.

At this point we’re still gathering information on how the site was compromised, and will update this post with additional information.”

Source: thenextweb

Apple iTablet: the obvious name?

With all the recent talk about the iSlate, iPad, iSlab, whatever… doesn’t it seem like the obvious candidate for the name of Apple’s rumored tablet computer is being completely overlooked? Like Apple’s first phone that later came to be called the iPhone, isn’t the most obvious name for an Apple tablet the iTablet? To support the theory we decided to share the above image that we received from a trusted source and believe to be authentic. It’s a picture taken of an Apple Store employee’s corporate email after receiving information about the time and place of Wednesday’s Apple event. While the content of the email wasn’t very enlightening, note the word used in the filename of the second attachment: “itablet.” Now this doesn’t prove a thing. The administrative assistant who sent the mass email could have been using “itablet’ much in the same way that we’ve been using the term for years as a generic placeholder for the rumored device. Then again, maybe we should heed the wisdom of Occam’s Razor when speculating about Apple’s naming preference for a 10-inch tablet computer?

P.S. Amtek currently holds the US trademark (and itablet.com domain) for “iTablet” and continues to sell products under that name as it has for years. Not that a silly thing like trademark ownership could stop Apple from announcing its iPhone at a time when Cisco owned the rights.

Source:  engadget

Bach Technology

A proposed file format called MusicDNA will allow content owners to ship up to 32GB of information, such as album cover art, song lyrics, and even up-to-the minute blog posts and concert listings, alongside a music file. If enough content owners and distributors sign on, it could become an alternative to the MP3, giving users a more album-like digital playback experience, and allowing artists and content owners to charge more money per download.

The proposed format was announced by Bach Technology on Sunday at MIDEM 2010, a music-industry conference under way in Cannes, France. Unlike current alternatives to the MP3, such as Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MusicDNA is not a new audio technology, and requires no new audio codecs. Rather, as Bach CEO Stefan Kohlmeyer explains in this video interview with PaidContent, MusicDNA is an add-on to existing audio formats.

MusicDNA analyzes the audio itself for characteristics in 13 categories such as mood and tempo. This information is encoded as XML and ships with the file. Content owners can also provide data, such as album art and lyrics, to be included with the file. This data can even be updated when the user is online–for example, concert listings could be added as they’re announced, complete with links to ticket-buying sites. Bach hopes to make money by licensing the technology to software and hardware manufacturers.

Because MusicDNA isn’t a new audio technology, MusicDNA files should play on existing hardware and software–they’ll play the underlying audio file and ignore all the added data. This is how MusicDNA could escape the fate of marginalized formats like Windows Media Audio or Sony’s ATRAC.

It’s an ambitious and interesting idea, but the digital music industry right now is dominated by one player: Apple. A lot of what MusicDNA proposes to accomplish could be handled at the application level–if Apple wants to analyze the audio content in files and add more categories to describe them, it could build this technology into iTunes. Moreover, Apple’s already got its own format, iTunes LP, for shipping additional information with music files. So I don’t see a lot of incentive for Apple to spend money to license and support this new third-party format. And without Apple, I don’t see how MusicDNA can survive.

Microsoft Learned of IE Zero-Day Flaw Last September

Microsoft was aware months ago of a critical security vulnerability well before hackers exploited it to breach Google, Adobe and other large U.S. companies but did not patch the hole until Thursday.

The software giant had intended to release a patch for the flaw in February — more than four months after learning about it — but had to speed up that plan and roll it out this week in the wake of news that Google and others had been hacked through the flaw, the world’s largest software maker acknowledged Thursday.

Meron Sellen, a security researcher at BugSec, an Israeli firm, quietly reported the vulnerability to Microsoft in September, according tosecurity firm Kaspersky.

Microsoft confirmed it learned of the so-called “zero-day” flaw months ago.

According to Microsoft, “An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.”

The flaw, which primarily affected IE6, allowed hackers to download malware to employee computers to gain access to intellectual property at Google, as well as information connected to Gmail users. It’s unknown what the hackers obtained from some 33 other companies — hi-tech, financial and defense — that were also targeted in the attack.

Although Microsoft recognized the severity of the flaw at the time Sellen reported it, the company held off releasing a patch so it could be included in a cumulative update for IE planned next month, the company said.

A zero-day flaw is a vulnerability for which there is currently no patch. It’s also a flaw that is generally unknown to the software vendor, which gives hackers who may be aware of the flaw a jump on developing malware to exploit it.

It’s unknown if other companies were breached through the flaw prior to the high-profile hacks disclosed last week. Most companies are unwilling to acknowledge a breach, let alone provide public details about how they were hacked.

Google disclosed last week it discovered in mid-December that it had been hacked in an attack originating from China, about three months after Microsoft learned of the vulnerability. Adobe followed Google, announcing it, too, was hacked. Security firm iDefense said it had information that at least 34 companies were breached in the coordinated attack.

On Thursday, meanwhile, Microsoft released a cumulative security update for Internet Explorer that fixes the flaw, as well as seven other security vulnerabilities that would allow an attacker to remotely execute code on a victim’s computer.

“Our investigation into this responsibly reported vulnerability began early September,” Jerry Bryant, senior security program manager for Microsoft, said in a statement. “As part of this investigation we began working on an update to help protect customers. We became aware of the recent attacks in mid-January and as part of our investigation determined the vulnerability being used in these attacks was similar to the one investigated in September.

Source: wired

Apple Logo

There has been a lot of speculation as to what Apple’s rumored tablet will look like and how it will work. One analyst is now speculating on how much potential revenue the device, expected to be announced next week, could bring the Mac maker.

Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital estimates that Apple will sell each tablet for $600, according to an AppleInsider report. At that price, the “base case” scenario of 5 billion units sold during the first year would bring Apple an additional $2.8 billion in revenue.

Of course, we all know how important price is these days, when launching a new product, so Abramsky gave a couple of other scenarios to consider. If Apple sells the tablet for $800, Apple would see $777 million in revenue for the sale of 1 million units.

You can see the trend here–as the price goes up, the predicted number of units sold goes down.

“Anticipation for an Apple tablet (expected January 27) resembles that of Moses bringing down the 10 Commandments,” Abramsky wrote in a research note, reprinted on AppleInsider. “Despite high expectations, we believe that Apple plans to redefine portable computing–as the Mac redefined the PC–by ‘creating’ desire for a new converged portable device with innovative touch/gestures [and] iTunes content. A ‘hit’ could provide a possible new growth engine for Apple.”

Rumors surrounding the tablet have hit fever pitch since the company announced its event on January 27, but few other than Apple CEO Steve Jobs really know what it will be yet. Expectations of a larger-looking iPod Touch with the ability to read magazines and newspapers, as well as watching video and listening to music, seem to be the consensus among the most popular current rumors.

Google

Google’s logged 87.8 billion searches in December 2009, or 66.8 percent of the more than 131 billion searches conducted worldwide. Google hopes to grow its search and ad dominance by focusing on a convergence of mobile search, advertising and applications, including location-based technologies with a heavy dose of social networking. Smartphones as Google’s Nexus One, paired with mobile search, applications and advertising seem like a fine way for Google to extend its search dominance from the desktop to the PC. Google will pit its mobile technologies those of Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple in 2010.

Google’s strategy to “double down” on its core search business helped the company clean up as the top search property with 87.8 billion searches in December 2009, or 66.8 percent of the more than 131 billion searches conducted worldwide.

That’s good for a 58 percent increase in search query volume over the past year, according to figures released Jan. 22 by researcher comScore. These world-leading totals helped Google rake in a fourth-quarter 2009 profit of $1.97 billion and sales of $4.95 billion.

Google hopes to improve on these numbers through focusing on a convergence of mobile search, advertising and applications, including location-based technologies with a heavy dose of social networking.

Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice president of product management at Google, attributed Google’s successful Q4 to the company’s doubling down on its efforts in search, AdWords search advertising and display advertising.

“Search did particularly well in 2009 and I think that may be the best example of what we feel we can do when we double down and focus,” Rosenberg said on the company’s Q4 earnings call Jan. 21. He cited Google’s 550 search quality enhancements; a bigger and faster index; universal search expansion; and Google’s new music search service.

However, Google’s crowning search achievement arrived Dec. 7 in the form of real-time. Google indexes tweets from Twitter and public status updates from Facebook, as well as info from MySpace, news publications and blogs only seconds after the content is published online.

Rosenberg noted that two minutes after a force 4.1 earthquake struck California two weeks ago, Google’s real-time search algorithms surfaced local Twitter tweets and news reports. The idea is that retrieving this type of content will keep users coming to Google.

It’s difficult to gauge the financial impact of these real-time results, but Google CEO Eric Schmidt said on the call real-time search was “very successful.”

Source: eWeek