Sponsoer by :

Friday, December 3, 2010

WikiLeaks fights to stay online amid attacks (AP) : Technet

Sponsored

WikiLeaks fights to stay online amid attacks (AP) : Technet

WikiLeaks fights to stay online amid attacks (AP)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 08:11 PM PST

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER and PETER SVENSSON, Associated Press Raphael G. Satter And Peter Svensson, Associated Press – 1 hr 1 min ago

LONDON – WikiLeaks became an Internet vagabond Friday, moving from one website to another as governments and hackers hounded the organization, trying to deprive it of a direct line to the public.

The organization that has embarrassed Washington and foreign leaders by releasing a cache of secret — and brutally frank — U.S. diplomatic cables found a new home after an American company stopped directing traffic to wikileaks.org. Then French officials moved to oust it from its new site.

By late Friday, WikiLeaks was up in at least three new places.

"The first serious infowar is now engaged. The field of battle is WikiLeaks. You are the troops," tweeted John Perry Barlow, co-founder of the online free-speech group Electronic Frontier Foundation. His message was reposted by WikiLeaks to its 300,000-odd followers.

Legal pressure increased on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after Swedish authorities revised a warrant for his arrest in response to procedural questions from British officials.

British law enforcement authorities have refused to say if or when Assange would be arrested. His lawyers have said they believe they would be notified of any move to arrest him but had yet to be served with a warrant as of Friday afternoon.

The 39-year-old Australian is wanted on allegations of rape and other sex crimes that emerged after a trip to Sweden in August.

Assange said that his arrest would do nothing to halt the flow of American diplomatic cables being released by his group and newspapers in several countries, and he threatened to escalate the rush of information if he is taken into custody.

Hundreds of cables have been published by WikiLeaks and several newspapers in recent days. Assange said that all of the cables had already been distributed in a heavily encrypted form to tens of thousands of people.

If something happens to him, he suggested, the password needed to decrypt the data will be released and all the secrets will go out at once.

"History will win," Assange said in a Web chat with readers of The Guardian newspaper, one of the media organizations helping to coordinate the documents' publication. "The world will be elevated to a better place. Will we survive? That depends on you."

WikiLeaks doesn't depend entirely on its website for disseminating secret documents; if it were knocked off the Web, the nationless organization could continue to communicate directly with news organizations. But the site provides a direct line to the public, fulfilling the organization's stated goal of maximum distribution for the secret documents it receives from mainly anonymous contributors.

In an online chat with readers of The Guardian, Assange promised to improve the availability of the website as soon as possible.

"Rest assured I am deeply unhappy that the 3 1/2 years of my work and others is not easily available or searchable by the general public," Assange said.

EveryDNS — a company based in Manchester, New Hampshire, that had been directing traffic to the website wikileaks.org — stopped doing so late Thursday after cyber attacks threatened the rest of its network. WikiLeaks responded by moving to a Swiss domain name, wikileaks.ch — and calling on activists for support.

The loss of support from EveryDNS just a minor annoyance because the site can leap from one name to the next, said Fraser Howard, a researcher with Internet security firm Sophos.

"The whack-a-mole analogy is fairly good," he said.

The Swiss address directs traffic to servers in France, where Industry Minister Eric Besson called it unacceptable to host a site that "violates the secret of diplomatic relations and puts people protected by diplomatic secret in danger."

The general manager of French web hosting company OVH, Octave Klaba, confirmed that it had been hosting WikiLeaks since early Thursday, after a client asked for a "dedicated server with ... protection against attacks."

He said the company has asked a judge to decide on the legality of hosting the site on French soil.

"It is not up to the political realm or to OVH to request or decide the closure of a site, but rather up to the courts," Klaba said.

WikiLeaks has been brought down numerous times this week by what appear to be denial-of-service attacks. In a typical such attack, remote computers commandeered by rogue programs bombard a website with so many data packets that it becomes overwhelmed and unavailable to visitors. Pinpointing the culprits is difficult. The attacks are relatively easy to mount and can be performed by amateurs.

The attacks started Sunday, just before WikiLeaks released the diplomatic cables. To deal with the flood of traffic, WikiLeaks moved to Amazon.com's Web hosting facility, which has vast numbers of servers that can be rented as needed to meet surges.

But Amazon booted WikiLeaks from the site on Wednesday after U.S. congressional staffers started asking the company about its relationship to WikiLeaks. Amazon said it ousted the organization in part because the leaks could endanger innocent people.

The U.S. is conducting a criminal investigation into WikiLeaks' release of the diplomatic cables. Attorney General Eric Holder said this week that the leaks jeopardized national security, diplomatic efforts and U.S. relationships around the world.

In Washington, the lawmaker expected to take over the House Judiciary Committee in January, Republican Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, said he plans to conduct hearings on the matter.

Republican Sen. John Ensign of Nevada introduced a bill to amend the U.S. Espionage Act that would give prosecutors more flexibility to pursue a criminal case against Assange and his organization. But there was little chance of passing a new law in the remaining weeks of the congressional session.

Assange also risks legal action in his homeland, where Australia said it would detain Assange if possible in response to the warrant filed in the Swedish case by Interpol.

Wikileaks.ch, is owned by the Swiss Pirate Party, formed two years ago to campaign for freedom of information. Its officials said they gave Assange information on how to seek asylum in Switzerland.

___

Svensson reported from New York. Louise Nordstrom reported from Stockholm, Jenny Barchfield from Paris, Holly Ramer from Manchester, New Hampshire, John Heilprin from Geneva and Larry Margasak from Washington.

Viacom replays copyright claims in YouTube appeal (AP)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 02:46 PM PST

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke, Ap Technology Writer – Fri Dec 3, 5:46 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO – Viacom Inc., the owner of MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, is trying to revive a federal lawsuit that seeks more than $1 billion in damages from YouTube for showing tens of thousands of pirated video clips from its shows.

The challenge filed Friday in a federal appeals court in New York had been expected since a June ruling rebuffed Viacom's copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube and its owner, Google Inc.

Viacom's renewed effort is the latest twist in a closely watched legal battle that has already dragged on for nearly four years. Oral argument on the appeal probably won't happen until at least next summer.

The case revolves around the premise that YouTube became the world's leading online video channel after its 2005 inception by turning a blind eye to the rampant piracy on its site. Viacom argued that YouTube's founders realized the copyright-protected clips from shows such as Viacom's "The Daily Show" attracted far more viewers than the amateur video of cute kittens and angst-ridden teenagers.

Piracy was so prevalent at YouTube in its early years that Google branded the video-sharing site as "a `rogue enabler' of content theft" before it bought the service in 2006, according to internal documents unearthed in the lawsuit.

Underscoring its resolve, Viacom hired well-known attorney Theodore Olson to steer the challenge in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He served as U.S. solicitor general during the first term of President George W. Bush.

"We are appealing a very bad decision, which would have serious repercussions for our economy and for the creative works for people who spend time trying to enrich our lives," Olson said in an interview.

YouTube is confident the lower-court ruling that cleared the service will be upheld. "We regret that Viacom continues to drag out this case," spokesman Aaron Zamost said.

Viacom's appeal will hinge on its argument that YouTube doesn't qualify for the protections allowed under a 12-year-old law that insulates Internet services from copyright claims as long as they promptly remove illegal content after being notified of a violation.

U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton concluded that YouTube had complied with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, absolving it of legal liability for the theft of its users. He dismissed Viacom's lawsuit before a trial.

But Viacom contends YouTube doesn't fall under the law's "safe harbor" provision because its founders — Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim — welcomed the piracy as a way of expanding its audience and increasing the chances that they could get rich quick by selling the site to a larger company. The founders cashed in when Google bought YouTube for $1.76 billion four years ago.

None of them is still in leadership positions at YouTube, which now receives about 35 hours of video every minute. The site relies on technology developed by Google to identify and block unauthorized content.

Viacom's appeal cites evidence that YouTube could have done more to prevent pirated clips from appearing on its site, but held off on imposing tougher controls because the site's managers knew viewership would plunge without the copyright-protected material.

Granting YouTube immunity under the 1998 copyright law would be "absurd, disquieting and disruptive," Olson wrote in Viacom's 61-page appeal.

But Internet service providers and free-speech groups believe more damage would be done if YouTube loses its tussle with Viacom. They fear a ruling against YouTube would undercut the digital copyright act and make it more difficult for people to express themselves online, because service providers fearing lawsuits would block controversial, but legal content.

Shares in New York-based Viacom fell 25 cents to close at $39.80, while shares in Google, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., gained $1.18 to close at $573.

Gadgets that bring the Internet to the TV (AP)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 09:58 AM PST

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology Writer – Fri Dec 3, 12:58 pm ET

NEW YORK – Do you have 157 channels and nothing on? Not if your TV is connected to the Internet. There's a wealth of movies and TV shows available, often at reasonable prices and sometimes even free. And it's getting easier and easier to connect TVs to the great wild Web.

Here are some gadgets that will do the job:

• Apple TV ($99) is a box that connects to the TV and comes with its own remote. It connects to the Internet through Wi-Fi or an Ethernet cable.

Pros: Very small. Elegant interface. Able to stream video from iPhones, iPads and home computers as well as iTunes and Netflix.

Cons: Compared with the competition, the Apple Inc. device is somewhat restricted in terms of online video available. There's no access to content from Hulu or Amazon, and it won't work with older TVs that lack an HDMI input.

• Roku HD ($60) is similar to the Apple TV and is the cheapest standalone option for getting a TV connected. Step-up options Roku XD and XD/S have better Wi-Fi chips and sharper, 1080p video, for $80 and $100 respectively.

Pros: Small, clean interface. Access to Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and a wealth of independent, mostly free, video sources.

Cons: Doesn't really let you show movies and photos from your own computer. Some software from third parties is supposed to do this, but we've had no luck getting any to work. However, Roku Inc.'s XD/S model has a port for USB drives with photos and movies.

• Mac Mini ($699) is a full-blown, but small, desktop computer from Apple. Connect it to your TV, and the whole Internet is available to you. On the Windows side, the Dell Zino HD is a bulkier, but cheaper alternative, with a Blu-ray drive as an option.

Pros: Mini is very elegant and quiet. Unsurpassed access to Internet video. Makes PC gaming on the TV a possibility, too.

Cons: The most expensive option, and that's before you get a wireless keyboard, preferably with a touchpad, to control it. A small remote is available, but it costs extra and doesn't help with Web browsing. However, iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads can act as remotes too. Has DVD drive, but Apple doesn't support Blu-ray, so that's not an option.

• Logitech Revue ($299) is the first standalone device to run Google TV software, which is also available on some Sony TVs. Google Inc. wants to do more than just make another set-top box. It wants to bring its search function into the living room, to scour digital video recorders and programming guides for the content you want. However, it's not there yet — only a few Dish Network DVRs are compatible with Google TV.

Pros: Comes with well-designed keyboard that includes a touchpad. Includes a Web browser, which can be used while showing live TV in a window. A webcam is an option for videoconferencing. The idea of replacing the clumsy, confusing interfaces of today's cable and satellite boxes is welcome.

Cons: The device from Logitech International SA is expensive for what you get. Doesn't live up to its promise of wide media access yet. Some broadcasters block their shows from running on the Google TV Web browser because they don't want people to view their Internet content on the TV for free.

• Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 game console ($300) is a capable Internet video device, just like Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360. It has the added advantage of featuring a Blu-ray player. Even Nintendo Co.'s Wii console can play Netflix movies, making game consoles the Internet video device you're most likely to have already.

Pros: In addition to Hulu Plus and Netflix, PlayStation 3 has access to Vudu, an Internet video service with impeccable HD movies. Oh, and it also plays games.

Cons: Expensive if you're not going to use it for gaming. Access to online video is somewhat restricted compared with other options. Standard controller not well suited to be a video remote. Keypads and more standard remotes available as options.

• LG BD550 Blu-Ray Disc Player ($160 list, but available for as little as $93) is representative of today's Blu-ray players, which have come down in price to cost only a bit more than DVD players. Like this one, many of them come with the capability to stream Internet video, from sources such as Netflix, Amazon.com and Vudu.

Pros: Cheap! Plays Blu-ray discs, which have better image quality than any stream you'll find. Plays photos and videos from USB drives.

Cons: This model lacks Wi-Fi capability. LG Electronics Inc. and others have models with Wi-Fi for about $40 more. No ability to access content straight from your PC.

• Samsung LN40C670, 40-inch LCD TV ($1,100 list, but available for $800). If you're in the market for a new TV, just cut to the chase and get one that's Internet-enabled, so you won't need any add-on boxes. This model from Samsung Electronics Co. supports streaming services from Netflix Inc., Vudu Inc., Hulu.com and Amazon.com Inc.

Pros: No need to fiddle with two remotes. Easy to set up and doesn't clutter the media center.

Cons: Not really an option if you already have a TV. This model lacks Wi-Fi capability. No keyboard means messaging, searching and browsing functions are limited. It costs about $100 more than non-Internet TVs, so getting a Roku box or a Blu-ray player would be cheaper.

Verizon Wireless dialing up home phone service (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 02:36 PM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Fri Dec 3, 5:36 pm ET

Ready to hang up on your land-line bills, but not quite ready to ditch your home phone? Turns out Verizon Wireless is quietly testing a new service, starting at $10 a month for current Verizon mobile subscribers, that lets you make calls with a standard telephone over the carrier's network.

We're only talking a limited trial for now: NetworkWorld reports that Verizon is kicking the tires on its Home Phone Connect service in select areas of New York and Connecticut.

Here's how the service works: Just plug your old home phone — yep, the one in the bedroom or hanging from the kitchen wall — into a wireless, AC-powered base station supplied by the carrier, which in turn connects to Verizon's cellular voice network.

After that, well … you start making and receiving calls, just as you would over a land line (and yes, you can port over your old land-line number if you wish).

Verizon's Home Phone Connect service will offer most of the same features you'd expect from a land line, according to NetworkWorld, including 911, 411 and 611 calls, with Verizon's customer support page ticking off such familiar cell-phone features as call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, three-way calling, voice mail, last-number callback, and codes for getting your account balance and automated payment menus.

Of course, one of the key features of a land line is that it typically will keep working even during a power outage. Not to worry: The Verizon base station comes with a battery pack in case the lights go out.

How much does it all cost? Well, you must be a Verizon Wireless customer to sign up for the service at all, NetworkWorld says. You then pay $10 a month to share voice minutes between your cell phone and your Home Phone Connect phone, or you can get unlimited domestic minutes for your new, virtual land line for an extra $20 a month.

If all this sounds familiar, maybe you're thinking of T-Mobile's now-defunct @Home service, which let you make calls through T-Mobile's cellular network using your home phone and a Wi-Fi-enabled base station with a SIM card inside. It was a nifty service (I got to test the original @Home units back in 2008, and had a positive experience overall) that never got off the ground, and T-Mobile killed it off early this year.

You may also remember the Verizon Hub, the snazzy-looking but pricey ($200) home phone with a 7-inch touchscreen that connected to the Verizon Wireless network. Again, though, the "land-line slayer" failed to catch on. Verizon hung up on the Hub less than a year after its January 2009 launch.

Verizon Wireless' Home Phone Connect test comes as more and more Americans are tossing their land lines. A recent survey found that 1 U.S. household in 4 has gone wireless-only. I happen to live in one of those no-land-line households, and personally, I don't miss having a home phone. My mobile has effectively become my home phone.

But for those who want the security of an actual land line but have grown tired of paying the bills (which aren't all that cheap, especially if you appreciate such basic niceties as voice mail and call waiting), a service like Home Phone Connect could make for a clever compromise.

So, anyone out there interested in a such a virtual "home phone" system like Verizon's? Would you rather stick with a real land line? Or have you gone ahead and gone all-wireless, all the time?

Update: Want to see photos and the user manual for Verizon's Home Phone Connect base station? Here they are, courtesy of PhoneNews.com.

— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.

Follow me on Twitter!

A Foursquare TV show? Don’t laugh, it’s real (Ben Patterson)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 01:36 PM PST

By Ben Patterson ben Patterson – Fri Dec 3, 4:36 pm ET

Not only are millions of socially savvy users already checking in with Foursquare, they may soon also be tuning in — to an upcoming TV show based on Foursquare, that is.

According to the Associated Press, a TV production company called Endernol USA — the production shop behind such reality-TV hits as "Deal or No Deal" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," so no, it's no joke — is teaming up with the makers of the popular Foursquare location check-in app for a new show.

What exactly is this show going to be about, you ask? Young 20-somethings running around, checking in at nightclubs and becoming the mayors of their favorite coffee shops?

Good question -- and for now, the companies aren't saying, with a joint statement saying only that Foursquare will be "meaningfully integrated" into the show, the AP reports. Think of it as the ultimate in product placement, I guess.

For those of you who aren't following the wonderful world of location-based apps, Foursquare lets you "check in" to any store, restaurant, watering hole, or other venue that you happen to walk into.

Basically, you fire up the application on your GPS-equipped smartphone (versions are available for iOS, Android, and other mobile platforms), pick the venue you're at out of a list of nearby locations, and tap the "check in" button.

Once you're checked in, other users who are checked into the same place can see that you're there too, and the fun begins. (Those who aren't specifically your Foursquare "friends" will only see your profile photo and first name.)

You can also earn badges based on your check-ins — such as "Newbie" for your first check-in, or "Super User" for checking in 30 times in a month — or become the "mayor" of a place if you check in more than anyone else.

Yes, it's ridiculous ("Web antics," as one of my friends called it) but hey — if it's your thing, live and let live. (And close to 5 million users do like Foursquare, apparently.) Not being 25 anymore (or even 35, for that matter), I quickly grew tired of Foursquare, particularly after I stopped chuckling about my mayor-ship of the UPS drop box near my apartment.

So, back to the Foursquare TV show, which Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley reportedly sees as a way to help his company "grow" its user base. What could it be about?

One possibility, speculates PaidContent.org, could be an "Amazing Race-ish scenario" in which "mobile-wielding contestants run from one destination to another." Maybe, but that sounds a little too close to the original "Amazing Race" to me.

Or how about a dating show, where the lovelorn contestants try to find each other at the hot spot they've both checked into? (Yes, there's a reason I'm not in the TV business.)

One thing's for certain: The show will bear no resemblance to "4 Square" a Canadian children's show (so says Wikipedia) in which kids wearing four different color-coded sweatsuits dance, sing, recite poetry, and generally prance around.

So, how nuts would a TV show based on Foursquare be — or would it be so nuts that it just might work?

Related: Foursquare in deal to create TV series based on it [AP]

— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.

Follow me on Twitter!

RIM: India Agrees to Work With Enterprises for Data Access (PC World)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 04:00 PM PST

Nancy Gohring Nancy Gohring – Fri Dec 3, 7:00 pm ET

The Indian government has agreed that it must work with individual enterprises if it wants access to communications sent via BlackBerry enterprise services, Research in Motion said on Friday.

"The Government has acknowledged that any potential policy or approach that requires lawful access to strongly encrypted enterprise data sent to or from corporate and government organizations ... would need to occur through the enterprise customers themselves since RIM has no ability to provide the customers' encryption keys," RIM said in a statement.

The comment offers a clue about how RIM might be able to comply with government demands for access to BlackBerry communications while maintaining its reputation for security. Instead of RIM providing governments with access to user data, it appears to put the responsibility on the government to approach individual enterprises for it.

RIM has maintained since the beginning of the dispute that it does not have access to its customers' encryption keys and therefore cannot provide access to their data. The dispute has put the company in a tricky position. If it doesn't help the government, it risks having its service blocked. If it does, it risks alienating customers who choose RIM for the strength of its security.

RIM's comment comes after the Indian government said earlier Friday that it was still unable to monitor communications made through RIM's enterprise services. It can, however, monitor and intercept voice, short message and e-mail communications among consumers who buy the service directly from the mobile operators.

While the government said it cannot yet monitor communications through the Messenger instant messaging service, RIM said that's not the case. "RIM confirms that it is fully cooperating with the Government of India and is enabling carriers in India to be able to provide the same degree of lawful access to consumer data services, including BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), that occurs with respect to other consumer products and services offered by other companies including RIM's competitors," it said.

Along with its statement, RIM distributed a letter it sent to customers Nov. 19 seeking to reassure them that their services are secure. "RIM does not possess a 'master key', nor does any 'back door' exist in the system that would allow RIM or any third party to gain unauthorized access to the key or corporate data," it said.

While it said it was cooperating with the government and having constructive discussions, RIM did not say how it might resolve the dispute.

Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy's e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com

Pico Projector in iPhone 5? Don't Count On It (PC World)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 03:16 PM PST

Jeff Bertolucci Jeff Bertolucci – Fri Dec 3, 6:16 pm ET

Speculating on future Apple gear is always fun, and Friday's rumor is intriguing (if highly unlikely). A series of Friday blogospheric musings are pondering whether Apple might add a pico projector to the next-generation iPhone (a.k.a. iPhone 5).

A pico projector, also known as pocket or handheld projector, projects images onto a nearby surface, such as a wall or desktop. It's a developing technology, one that may play a major role in future smartphones, although today it's strictly the stuff of blue-sky demos.

A Mozilla Labs' video

of designer Billy May's concept Seabird smartphone demonstrates how pico projectors may play a role in future mobile devices:

Cool stuff, for sure, but probably a few years off. The next-gen iPhone will certainly have a few gee-whiz enhancements, but a pico projector won't be among them. Apple, after all, usually takes a wait-and-see attitude with emerging technologies and products--consider the case of the iPod and iPhone, both of which entered established markets.

If and when the pico projector debuts in a smartphone, it may well be in one of growing number of Android handsets. Apple, on the other hand, will likely wait a while, fine-tuning its projector technology and striving to one-up the competition with a solution that works better.

Pico Ponderings

So how'd this iPhone projector rumor get started? Tiernan Ray of Tech Trader Daily traces its origins to the Friday morning musings of Ticonderoga Securities hardware analyst Brian White, who believes that a pico projector would be a good feature for the iPhone, one that allows it "to project a slide presentation or video on a wall or other surface area in large size."

White, however, wasn't making any iPhone 5 predictions. "I would caution that White's note, based on his recent trip to Asia to talk with electronics supply chain folks, was kind of thinking out loud, big picture stuff. I don't think White meant to suggest anything was imminent for pico projectors and the iPhone, or for Microvision specifically," Ray writes.

Nevertheless, the flurry of iPhone 5-projector reports created enough buzz to goose the stock of Microvision, which manufactures parts for pico projectors. The company's share price rose by as much as 50 percent on Friday, and closed up 9 percent at $1.57.

How about a smartphone that makes pico de gallo? I'd buy one.

Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com.

Verizon Refutes AT&T on LTE, Says It's Committed To 3G (NewsFactor)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 10:30 AM PST

Adam Dickter, newsfactor.com Adam Dickter, newsfactor.com – Fri Dec 3, 1:30 pm ET

Responding to an attack on Thursday by rival AT&T, Verizon Wireless said it isn't abandoning its 3G network as it launches its higher-speed Long Term Evolution system on Sunday. "We continue to invest in and enhance our 3G network to stay ahead of the fast-growing demand by our Droid smartphone customers," said Verizon Wireless spokesperson Howard Waterman in an e-mail to us.

'Speed Degradation'?

AT&T Chief Technical Officer John Donovan wrote on a company blog Thursday that companies who rush to LTE -- a clear reference to Verizon -- without investing in their current network were setting up customers for "jarring speed degradation" if they leave the limited LTE coverage area.

"Their claim is untrue," wrote Waterman. "We have invested $50 billion in our network since 2000, more than any other U.S. carrier."

The war of words comes as Verizon is set to launch its version of 4G coverage in 38 markets in major cities in the U.S. and 60 airports, with data speeds up to 10 times faster than its current 3G network. The service will be available for mobile computer users only until the middle of next year, when 4G smartphones will make their way into Verizon stores.

AT&T is also planning a 4G network sometime next year, while also working to enhance its current HSPA+ network. In addition to Verizon, Sprint/Nextel, Clearwire and T-Mobile have 4G networks, but AT&T has made a point of taking its time.

Waterman noted that as of Sunday, one-third of Americans will live in areas covered by Verizon's LTE. "AT&T has said publicly they expect to have 70-75 million people covered with their LTE network by the end of 2011," he added. "On Sunday morning, we will have 110 million covered."

Pantech's Modem

On Friday, Verizon announced its second 4G-compatible USB wireless modem, the Pantech UML290, which will sell for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a two-year mobile broadband contract, which is separate from cell-phone plans.

Verizon said the modem, like its LG counterpart announced Wednesday, will deliver download speeds of five to 12 megabits per second and upload speeds of two to five Mbps in the LTE coverage area, which is expected to be the entire Verizon 3G footprint by 2013. The LTE data plan is $50 for 5GB of data or $80 for 10GB, with $10 for every gigabyte over the limit. Verizon will send customers text-message updates to help them keep track of usage, Vice President Tony Melone said Wednesday.

Customers living outside the coverage area, which is mapped on a street-by-street level on Verizon's LTE web site, can plan ahead by getting the modem and expect 3G download speeds now of 600 kilobits per second to 1.4 Mbps and upload speeds of 500 to 800 kbps.

Micromobs: Inside a Social Network Startup (PC World)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 04:55 PM PST

James Mulroy James Mulroy – Fri Dec 3, 7:55 pm ET

In today's social-networked world, it can be tough to keep your personal information under your control. And given Facebook's dominant position, it's not so easy for start-up social networks to connect you with your friends, family and acquaintances. That's why a small start-up company named Micromobs has taken up the challenge of bringing simplicity and privacy to you in one click.

As a start-up, Micromobs has been successful in growing as a community and company; perhaps your start-up can learn from them.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Hacker Dojo in Mountain View, California, a community center and gathering place for hackers, thinkers, and future Silicon Valley mavens. While there, I met with Ajay Kamat, Himani Amoli, and Gordon McCreight, the creators of Micromobs, a company whose goal is to develop a social network that's easy to use and respects your privacy. They taught me a thing or two about running a start-up, and of course, they gave me some juicy nerd-details about their site.

Who is Micromobs

Micromobs is specially designed with social groups--like companies, work groups, clubs, friends, and families--in mind. The service lets you create a group (called a "mob") in one click, and log in using your existing Facebook or Twitter account. Micromobs's big draw is the privacy it offers: When you create a mob, you'll be able to control who is in the mob, and who'll be able to see what's posted to it. Compare this to Facebook, where, unless you're vigilant about locking down your profile, you never know who on the other side of the world is reading what you post. Also, joining a mob is 100% your choice; there's no forced opt-in as there is with Facebook's latest change to Facebook Groups.

When you do chose to join a mob, you'll be presented with a stream of messages--all relevant to that mob--from other mob members. Micromobs's creators made it very clear when I spoke to them that Micromobs is not just about privacy and simplicity, but also about context. Whenever you log on to Facebook or Twitter, you'll see a stream of posts that might not have anything to do with your interests.

But when you go to your mob, you are more likely to see posts relevant to the original point of the group. And when you post in your mob, others in your mob are more likely to care about your post and are also more likely to respond, resulting in a more engaging discussion. As the founders say on the Micromobs blog, "mobs are for winners, [Facebook] groups are for spammers"You don't have to worry about friending on Micromobs; just worry about your group.

Micromobs is also designed to be very accessible. You can respond to notifications directly from your e-mail account, and your response will post immediately to the mob you are responding to. Micromobs is also accessible via the browser on Blackberry, Android, and the iPhone, and SMS-forwarding functionality is coming soon. The creators say that they will likely work on applications for the phones in the future.

Advice For Other Small Companies

Micromobs was able to become successful because of its creators' ingenuity, business style, and personal commitment to bringing a better networking site to the Web.

According to the creators, part of the company's success comes from its summer intern program. For instance, Lionel Vital, a business intern from Stanford University, helped the company put together its business model and test various traffic and monetization strategies. Anuj Biyani, a technical intern from UC Davis, apparently learned Ruby on Rails in only two weeks, and also built a host of critical features which immediately went live to all of Micromobs's users. Finally, Jeff McNulty, a current Micromobs intern, is helping with the company's grassroots outreach campaign, and is responsible for bringing hundreds of new users to the site.

Micromobs was able to find these interns in part because the co-founders were among the creators of StartupRoots, a program that matches top-tier students with Bay Area tech companies.

Kamat, Amoli, and McCreight had this advice for young companies and potential founders:

  • "Focus on problems you experience in daily life. When you feel the pain point strongly, you are best enabled to build a good solution."
  • "Find a great team. Starting a company is a difficult task. The people you have working with you will dictate whether you succeed or fail."
  • "Right now is a fantastic time to start a company, especially a Web start-up There is a lot of opportunity, a ton of resources, and it is substantially cheaper than it has ever been."
  • "Start your business in the Bay Area. There is no place like it for startups. You can work at a place like the Hacker Dojo for $100 per month and the is an endless supply of start-up competitions and networking events to help get your word out."
Whether you run a gadget company or a social networking site, when it comes down to it, your success really comes down to only a few main points: Provide something that people need or want, stay motivated, find great people, advertise like no-other, and keep chasing that dream. Even if you don't have the funds, look into other options like interns, research fellowships, or venture companies. Micromobs did it, and so can you.

Viacom (Investor's Business Daily)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 04:00 PM PST

– Fri Dec 3, 7:00 pm ET

Viacom (NYSE:VIA - News), the entertainment giant, appealed a June court ruling that favored Google (NMS:GOOG). The court said Google's YouTube Web site didn't infringe Viacom's copyrights by hosting pirated content on its site. Viacom wants $1 bil damages.

Netflix Talks HTML5 in its Device Apps (Mashable)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 03:21 PM PST

Christina Warren Christina Warren – Fri Dec 3, 6:21 pm ET

On its new Tech Blog, Netflix VP of Personalization Technology John Ciancutti discusses why Netflix has opted for HTML5 when building the user experiences on its Netflix Ready Devices.

In October, the Netflix experience on the PS3 shifted from requiring an instant streaming disc to running as a stand-alone app. The new interface for the PS3 was written entirely in HTML5 using a custom-build of WebKit specifically for the gaming console.

HTML5 is also used to create the UX for the iPhone, iPad and upcoming Android apps. As Ciancutti explains, there are a number of advantages to building the base of the Netflix applications in HTML5.

One big advantage of using HTML5 comes in the area of user testing. For a company like Netflix, a core part of keeping users subscribed to the service -- and enticing others to join -- is making sure movies or TV shows are easy to find and easy to watch.

To that end, Netflix spends a lot of time experimenting with different setups -- both on the front-end and the back-end -- to make the experience better. The key to this kind of iterative testing is the ability to frequently roll out updates or roll back changes.

This is where using HTML5 becomes important. As Ciancutti says in the blog post,

The technology is delivered from Netflix servers every time you launch our application. This means we can constantly update, test and improve the experience we offer. We've already run several experiments on the PS3, for example, and we're working hard on more as I write this. Our customers don't have to go through a manual process to install new software every time we make a change, it "just happens."

Most of the early Netflix Experience Devices rely on embedded software to dictate the Netflix experience. Changing the interface then requires a system update, like what Roku did this summer. Depending on the device manufacturer, the ability to alter or update the experience may not always be possible.

However, for apps built in HTML5, that's no longer an issue. This gives the Netflix team more control over the UX and lets them do more iterative testing.

Using HTML5 also means that the UI engineers and backend developers can benefit from using one codebase. Sure, there might be display or backend layers optimized for each platform, but the underlying structure can remain the same.

That speeds up the process of rolling out improvements across the product line, which helps with creating a cohesive product experience.

It's interesting to get the perspective from a company that is iterating and releasing software on a variety of different devices. It's also indicative of the potential HTML5 has to offer.

Although much of what we've written about HTML5 has had to do with specific aspects of the spec -- like the audio or video tags -- the fact is that HTML5 is a distinctive shift from its predecessors. Rather than merely being a markup language, HTML5 can be used to create web apps. Combined with CSS3 and JavaScript, the ability to build robust, responsive and powerful applications is possible. The fact that these applications can then be used on a myriad of devices really opens up the possibilities -- especially as embedded platforms and connected devices become more powerful.

Have you used the new Netflix UI on the PS3? What do you think of the way companies are using HTML5 as a way to make iterative changes and do scalable testing? Let us know.

Google Reader, Winamp lead Fresh Android Apps of the Week (Appolicious)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 08:54 AM PST

'Natty Narwhal' Alpha Offers Peek at Ubuntu 11.04 (PC World)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 04:10 PM PST

Katherine Noyes Katherine Noyes – Fri Dec 3, 7:10 pm ET

Canonical on Thursday released the first alpha version of Ubuntu 11.04, offering fans of the open source Linux operating system an early glimpse at the next major version.

The Alpha 1 Release of Ubuntu 11.04, also known as "Natty Narwhal," is intended as a "developer snapshot" of the next major Ubuntu version, which is due in April. That version has already generated considerable interest and controversy in recent weeks, most notably because of Canonical's announced decision to use the 3D-enabled Unity interface in the desktop version of the software as well as the Wayland graphics system.

Natty Narwhal Alpha 1 can be downloaded from the project's Web site, though it's a very early release and not intended for production systems. Users currently running Ubuntu 10.10 on a desktop system can upgrade by pressing Alt+F2 and typing "update-manager -d" (without the quotes) into the command box.

Two more alpha releases of Ubuntu 11.04 are planned for after this one, followed by a beta version due roughly a month before Natty Narwhal's scheduled official release on April 28.

Under the Hood

Unity is indeed the default desktop interface in this new Ubuntu version, but it's only partially implemented so far. Currently, the Unity Launcher is available for launching applications that are pinned to the launcher and for switching among running applications.

Users can choose to run either Ubuntu Desktop, which requires 3D driver support and offers Unity by default, or the Ubuntu Classic Session, which is based on the traditional GNOME desktop and supports all video hardware and video drivers, Canonical says.

Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha 1 also includes version 2.6.37-rc3 of the Linux kernel, which is based on the latest mainline release candidate. This represents a major update from version 2.6.35, which is what's used in Maverick Meerkat, or Ubuntu 10.10. By the time Natty Narwhal releases officially next spring, it is expected to include version 2.6.38, which will offer considerable speed improvements under heavy loads.

The current kernel update includes a number of desktop-related responsiveness improvements along with AppArmor for security and multiple improvements to virtualization performance.

A Community Effort

Alpha versions may not be suitable for production use, but they're a great way to see what's coming.

If you give Natty Narwhal a spin, be sure to provide feedback and make Ubuntu better.

Follow Katherine Noyes on Twitter: @Noyesk.

WikiLeaks accuses 'cowardly' Amazon of lying (AFP)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 11:53 AM PST

by Chris Lefkow Chris Lefkow – Fri Dec 3, 2:53 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – WikiLeaks, battling to remain online after sparking an international furor with its release of secret US cables, accused Amazon on Friday of cowardice for booting the website off its servers.

The Seattle-based Amazon, meanwhile, broke days of silence and provided its first public explanation of its decision to withdraw its Web-hosting services from WikiLeaks.org.

Amazon Web Services, in a statement, said it cut off WikiLeaks because it had violated the company's terms of service and not because of any government pressure.

WikiLeaks fired back with a message on its Twitter feed. "Amazon's press release does not accord with the facts on public record. It is one thing to be cowardly. Another to lie about it," it said.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said WikiLeaks had deliberately chosen to place servers "in jurisdictions that we suspected suffered a free speech deficit in order to separate rhetoric from reality."

"Amazon was one of these cases," Assange said in a question and answer session with readers on The Guardian newspaper's website.

Amazon is best known as an online retailer but it is also a major provider of Web-hosting services, renting out space on its computer servers to customers around the world.

In its statement, Amazon said "there have been reports that a government inquiry prompted us not to serve WikiLeaks any longer. That is inaccurate."

"There have also been reports that it was prompted by massive DDoS attacks," the company said in a reference to distributed denial of service attacks on the WikiLeaks website.

"That too is inaccurate," Amazon said. "There were indeed large-scale DDoS attacks, but they were successfully defended against."

DDoS attacks occur when legions of zombie computers, machines infected with viruses, are commanded to simultaneously visit a website, slowing it down or crashing it completely.

EveryDNS.net, the US domain name system service that had been sending traffic to WikiLeaks.org, pulled the plug on the website late on Thursday, saying the cyberattacks were threatening its 500,000 other clients.

Another US company, Tableau Software, cut off WikiLeaks on Wednesday citing a violation of its terms of service. Tableau Software was being used by WikiLeaks to create charts of its cache of secret US diplomatic cables.

Tableau Software said the move was in response to a call from US Senator Joe Lieberman, who said "no responsible company -- whether American or foreign -- should assist WikiLeaks in its efforts to disseminate these stolen materials."

Amazon Web Services said it does not pre-screen its customers "but it does have terms of service that must be followed.

"WikiLeaks was not following them," it said.

Amazon's terms state that customers must "control all of the rights to the content" stored on its servers and that the content "will not cause injury to any person or entity."

"It's clear that WikiLeaks doesn't own or otherwise control all the rights to this classified content," Amazon said.

"Further, it is not credible that the extraordinary volume of 250,000 classified documents that WikiLeaks is publishing could have been carefully redacted in such a way as to ensure that they weren't putting innocent people in jeopardy," the company said.

Some of the data stored by customers on Amazon's servers is controversial "and that's perfectly fine," the company said.

"But when companies or people go about securing and storing large quantities of data that isn't rightfully theirs, and publishing this data without ensuring it won't injure others, it's a violation of our terms of service, and folks need to go operate elsewhere," Amazon said.

WikiLeaks was offline for several hours after EveryDNS.net withdrew its services but reappeared on Friday with a Swiss domain name, WikiLeaks.ch.

WikiLeaks.ch only remained online for a few hours, however, forcing WikiLeaks to launch new addresses in the Netherlands, Germany and Finland: wikileaks.nl, wilileaks.de and wikileaks.fi.

Man pleads not guilty to running vast spam network (AP)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 05:10 PM PST

By DINESH RAMDE, Associated Press Dinesh Ramde, Associated Press – Fri Dec 3, 8:10 pm ET

MILWAUKEE – A 23-year-old Russian man accused of masterminding a vast worldwide spamming network pleaded not guilty Friday in federal court in Wisconsin to violating a U.S. anti-spam law.

The judge ordered Oleg Y. Nikolaenko held without bond, saying he was a flight risk because of his access to cash and his lack of ties to Wisconsin or the U.S.

Nikolaenko was brought into court wearing bright orange prison pants and matching sweatshirt and shackled at the ankles. His attorney entered the plea as a Russian interpreter translated for the Moscow man.

Prosecutors say Nikolaenko ran a network that involved placing malicious code on unsuspecting users' computers and then hijacking the infected machines to blast out billions of e-mails.

Internet security experts say the network was so massive that on some days it accounted for one of every three unwanted e-mails in the world.

Nikolaenko is charged with violating the CAN-SPAM act by intentionally falsifying header information in commercial e-mail messages and sending at least 2,500 spam e-mails per day, the minimum threshold for the charge. Prosecutors say his network was capable of sending up to 10 billion messages per day.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Nikolaenko, unshaven with disheveled hair, sat silent and expressionless during the 20-minute proceedings.

His attorney, Christopher Van Wagner, said he intended to mount a vigorous defense and would examine whether broad pre-trial publicity might jeopardize his client's ability to receive a fair trial.

"Some people still harbor Cold War images of people from Russia," he told reporters on the courthouse steps. "You take one look at Oleg, he looks like a kid you find in a basement munching nachos and playing Wii" video games.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Erica O'Neil said the prosecution's case would hinge on "voluminous" records including e-mails Nikolaenko allegedly sent and information gleaned from computer hard drives. She said a computer-crimes expert from the U.S. Department of Justice is assisting because of the complexity of the case.

Van Wagner hinted that he may try to cast doubt on the validity of the e-mail records.

"When you respond to an e-mail you don't know who's typing it," he said.

Nikolaenko was arrested last month at the Bellagio Hotel while he was in Las Vegas for a car show. He is being tried in Milwaukee because that's where an undercover FBI investigator ordered Viagra through an e-mail distributed by Nikolaenko's alleged operation and received bogus herbal pills instead, an FBI spokesman said.

O'Neil said Nikolaenko is being held at a U.S. Marshal detention facility in Milwaukee.

In arguing that Nikolaenko should be granted release on bail, Van Wagner noted that his client's wife and young daughter were in the process of requesting travel visas in Russia so they could be with Nikolaenko in Milwaukee for the trial. They wouldn't be doing that if Nikolaenko were planning to flee, he said.

But U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Gorence wasn't convinced, saying Nikolaenko had two passports and a sizeable amount of cash when he was arrested. She said Van Wagner could request a new bond hearing once the defense arranged for a place for Nikolaenko to live, a request Van Wagner said he would "absolutely" make.

O'Neil said the amount of cash was about $4,000.

Prosecutors say they sniffed out Nikolaenko's trail during the prosecution of another man convicted in Missouri of conspiring to traffic in counterfeit Rolex watches. The say details emerged that led them on a far-flung investigation, one that eventually helped them tie Nikolaenko to one of the most sophisticated spamming networks in the world — "Mega-D," which investigators said accounted for 32 percent of all worldwide spam.

Investigators say Mega-D was a botnet, short for "robot network," in which users' computers are infected with so-called malware that allows someone to remotely hijack the computer and have it send out spam e-mails. The Mega-D network included more than half a million infected computers.

Nikolaenko is due in court Dec. 21 for a scheduling conference. Gorence said his trial must start no later than Feb. 11.

Mozilla baits Firefox users with sheer cuteness (Digital Trends)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 04:59 PM PST

Molly McHugh Molly Mchugh – Fri Dec 3, 7:59 pm ET

FirefoxesMozilla's got a new ploy for your business, and it's possibly the cutest marketing scheme of all time. The popular browser recently adopted two baby red pands, dubbed "firefoxes," and will host a live feed of their activity over the next few months.

The clever campaign is a part of Mozilla's conservation efforts, with the company primarily focusing on reaching out to endangered species. And of course, there's a tie in: "Just as Mozilla works to build and protect the open Web, we also support the preservation of key natural ecosystems and hope that Firefox Live will raise awareness of the pandas' threatened status," its blog reads.

In addition to the 24-hour live cam (we highly suggest you check out the highlight reel), Mozilla is giving viewers the chance to name the cubs. And you don't have to spend an hour looking at an empty cage for one glance of a red panda tail – Mozilla has provided six different camera angles to choose from.

The only disconcerting part is the "Download for Treats" feature. A sidebar on the site implores visitors to download the Firefox browser "to help the cubs get their next treat." Worse? It's been hovering around 50 percent for the last couple of hours.

Top papers to charge online, but how? (Reuters)

Posted: 03 Dec 2010 03:41 PM PST

By Jennifer Saba and Georgina Prodhan Jennifer Saba And Georgina Prodhan – Fri Dec 3, 6:41 pm ET

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Three of the world's most influential newspapers have finally come to terms with the notion that charging readers online is the only way to survive.

There is far less agreement on how to go about that, the publishers of The New York Times, The Times of London and the Financial Times made clear at this week's Reuters Global Media Summit.

The New York Times Co's launch of its long-awaited online payment system early next year will be the latest effort to convince readers to pay for what they have come to expect free.

It will join News Corp's Times of London, whose own tests have achieved mixed results.

"We create very valuable, important content and we are trying to ensure we get fairly compensated for it," said News Corp Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey.

Carey and other top executives speaking this week at the Reuters summit are trying to calibrate prices and bundles of products that will not alienate advertisers, fearful of steep drop-offs in readers, and consumers, who are accustomed to free access.

News Corp also owns the Wall Street Journal, which remains one of the few newspapers to have generated a healthy online business from subscriptions over the past decade.

But the strategy, which worked well for a business publication, has failed to yield similar results for News Corp's most recent attempt to charge readers of the Times.

News Corp put all the news from the Times' website behind a pay wall, charging 1 pound for a day or 2 pounds for a week's access. Its online readership dropped by almost 90 percent.

Success will be measured over years, not a quarter, Carey said. "The media always want to declare judgment in a quarter."

The New York Times, on the other hand, will employ a different tactic. It plans to announce as early as January prices for its "metered" model, which will charge readers after they access a limited number of articles for free on NYTimes.com.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr, publisher of the New York Times, took pains to make clear the stark differences between the two papers' approach.

"Please don't compare us to the Times of London," Sulzberger said. "They have a gate, a real wall. We aren't doing that. To compare us to them is just a false comparison."

He added: "We want to be part of the digital ecosystem."

It will be the second major attempt for the New York Times to convince readers to pay, mindful of the publishing industry's challenge.

"We're going to test it. We're going to learn. We are going to adapt," Sulzberger said.

The U.S. and UK newspaper industries suffered an unprecedented decline in advertising spending that pushed papers into bankruptcy and resulted in thousands of job losses. Print papers and magazines have also competed with free digital news and entertainment venues for readers as circulation revenue has plunged over this period.

The New York Times dallied with a pay strategy in 2005, but pulled the plug by 2007 in its attempt to extract fees for access to TimesSelect, featuring its award-winning columnists such as Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich.

New York Times Chief Executive Janet Robinson called TimesSelect a "success" but said they ended the service in order to maximize its online readership.

The New York Times has spent the past year studying its proposed new metered model, finding ideas from telecom and cable companies, and even WeightWatchers, which charges users for in-depth diet tips.

"We know that we have the opportunity, particularly with the metered model, to manage this process," said Robinson.

Robinson did not detail plans for the strategy, but made clear there were distinctions between it and the Financial Times, from which it drew inspiration. The Pearson Plc-owned newspaper has charged people to read its news online since 2001.

Although the FT initially blocked all content from non-subscribers, the site switched to a metered model by 2007 that allowed people to read a set number of articles each month before asking for a fee.

Now digital revenue at the FT -- which includes subscriptions and advertising -- represents 20 percent of total revenue.

Speaking at the London arm of the Reuters Global Media Summit, FT Chief Executive John Ridding said digital subscriptions are steady and strong. These subscriptions have helped it collect valuable data from its customers.

"We can understand where traffic is coming from on a regional basis," Ridding said. "So that naturally increases the efficiency of the advertising."

This "efficiency" has enabled the FT to charge up to 10 times more for online ads tailored for its readers, Ridding said.

The more newspapers that start charging for online news, the better, Ridding said. "We've always believed that quality in journalism is worth paying for."

(Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York and Georgina Prodhan in London; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
at 9:26 PM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

My Blog List