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Monday, August 8, 2011

Kids and hackers, oh my! DefCon adds kids track (AP) : Technet

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Kids and hackers, oh my! DefCon adds kids track (AP) : Technet

Kids and hackers, oh my! DefCon adds kids track (AP)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 06:59 AM PDT

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson, Ap Technology Writer – Mon Aug 8, 9:59 am ET

LAS VEGAS – Fewer things seem out of place at the rough-hewn DefCon hacker convention than a swarm of kids.

For 18 years, hackers — and the computer security experts who track them — have gathered at DefCon, one of the largest and longest-running conferences of its kind, to share information about breaching and securing computers and other devices.

This year's DefCon featured what some hardcore attendees might consider to be a startling sight: children. For the first time, DefCon included discussions and tutorials for budding hackers, ages 8 to 16. Some 60 kids showed up.

Over two days, they met prominent hackers, Homeland Security officials and NSA security experts. They also listened to talks on the history of hacking and lectures on cryptography. Some of the convention's hotly contested competitions were geared toward children, as well. One contest covered lock-picking techniques to be used in the event they forget their locker combination. The kids were encouraged to find security vulnerabilities in popular technologies, from video games to computer hardware.

Children were required to have a parent with them. Many parents who brought their kids are longtime DefCon attendees who said they were excited about the bonding opportunity.

Rey Ayers, 42, an information security specialist for a utility company in the San Francisco Bay area, has attended DefCon for the past four years. He brought his son, Xavier, 14, who has been tinkering with computers for years and already has two information technology certifications.

Ayers said it was important to introduce his son to the hacker community, adding that they've talked extensively about the difference between ethical and unethical hacking.

"I see it in him — he feels like he belongs to a clan, to a group. I'm really proud," Rey Ayers said in an interview. "I can see he has the excitement in his eyes."

Xavier, his backpack decked out in new pins with hacker logos, said he's trying to follow in his dad's footsteps. The conference has given them new ideas to explore. The two look forward to finding vulnerabilities in wireless networks together when they get home to Vallejo, California. Xavier, who hacks mostly with his dad, said he hoped to meet some kids his age at the conference who might become his hacking pen pals.

"I feel like a community here — it's like I'm not the only kid," Xavier said.

The emergence of the DefCon kids' conference comes as hackers are making headlines around the world. Though the general public often associates hacking with criminality, the engineering culture of the technology mainstream has always embraced people who explore the boundaries of what can be done with computers and other gadgets. Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak, the co-founders of Apple Inc., have said they considered themselves "hackers" when they created the first Apple computers in the mid-1970s.

Recent hacker attacks, however, play into stereotypical definitions of hackers. On Saturday, for instance, the hacker group Anonymous broke into 70 U.S. law enforcement websites, illustrating the growing threat from criminal hackers.

DefCon and its more-polished relative, the Black Hat technical security convention, drew thousands of people here in Las Vegas. They came for the revelry and intense discussion of new vulnerabilities in devices ranging from mobile phones to insulin pumps and critical infrastructure.

Black Hat, which is an industry sponsored event and costs up to $2,500 to enter, had more than 6,000 attendees. Vendors and executives in suits were there to schmooze and strike deals until Black Hat ended on Thursday.

DefCon, which ended Sunday, costs $150 to enter. Organizers stopped counting the number of attendees after they sold 10,000 badges on the first day. Most attendees wore t-shirts and shorts. One popular annual pastime at DefCon involves trying to identify undercover federal agents. DefCon ended Sunday.

This year many attendees rallied around a hacker named "Barkode" who has a blood disease and needs an urgent bone marrow transplant. Volunteers running a blood drive on site offered free mohawks to all donors. Conference organizers said the drive was so successful that extra supplies were needed to handle the donations.

Wolfe and Behr Crouse of Conroe, Texas proudly sported mohawks. Wolfe, 11 and Behr, 8 outlined the family hacking hierarchy.

"He's the hacker, I'm the lockpicker. I get him in the building," Behr said.

So how long has he been a lockpicker? Less than a day, his mother laughed. He got the bug after picking locks with some success at DefCon.

The boys' parents, Rick and Kirsten, are both techies. They came to DefCon to introduce their boys to the culture. Rick has attended for the past three years. He said he wanted Wolfe and Behr to see the constructive applications of hacking.

"The technology itself isn't good or evil — it's what you do with it," Rick Crouse said.

Kirsten Crouse added that they wanted to show examples of math and science in action to convey the importance of doing well in school.

"It's an amazing opportunity for the kids to see what the options are out there," she said.

Expert: Rural US websites easy target for hackers (AP)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 07:09 AM PDT

By NOMAAN MERCHANT and RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Nomaan Merchant And Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press – Mon Aug 8, 10:09 am ET

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The digital trove of credit card numbers and emails stolen by the group known as Anonymous came from towns across rural America — places like Gassville, Ark. and Tishomingo County, Miss., where officers don't usually have to worry about international hackers.

That may have made them an easy score.

The loosely-knit hacking collective said Saturday that it attacked 70 mostly rural law enforcement websites in the United States in retaliation for the arrests of its sympathizers. Some county sheriffs said they were told about the hacking, but others appeared to learn of the scope of what had happened only when contacted by The Associated Press.

Web security experts said the cyberattack shows that no website is too small to avoid hacking, especially as more law enforcement agencies upload sensitive information about investigations, inmates and officers to their sites.

"It seems to me to be low-hanging fruit," said Dick Mackey, vice president of consulting at Sudbury, Mass.-based SystemExperts. "The smaller the organization, the more likely that they don't think of themselves as potential targets. They're not going to have the protections in place that a larger organization will have."

Many of the sheriff's offices outsourced their websites to the same Mountain Home, Ark.-based media hosting company, Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing. If Brooks-Jeffrey's defenses were breached, that would give hackers access to every website the company hosted, said Kevin Mitnick, a security consultant and former hacker.

Brooks-Jeffrey declined to comment.

Most of the sheriffs' department sites, if not all, were either unavailable for most of Saturday or had been wiped clean of content. Some had started to reappear online Saturday evening.

The emails were mainly from sheriffs' offices in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Mississippi. Many of the leaked emails appeared to be benign, but some of the stolen material seen by the AP carried sensitive information, including tips about suspected crimes, profiles of gang members and security training. At least one email had material — including pictures of teenage girls in their swimsuits — that Tim Mayfield, the police chief in Gassville, Ark., said was sent to him as part of an ongoing investigation. Mayfield declined to provide more details.

In another email that Anonymous posted, a police tipster wrote that his uncle was a convicted sexual offender who was homeless and hanging around an area Walmart and other places where children were. Another tipster wrote to police that she and her neighbors could smell drugs coming from a house.

The leaked information also included five credit card numbers Anonymous said were used to make "involuntary donations." At least four of the names and other personal details appeared to be genuine. One person confirmed to the AP that his credit card had been used improperly.

In a statement, Anonymous said it leaked "a massive amount of confidential information that is sure to (embarrass), discredit and incriminate police officers across the US." The group said it hopes its disclosures would "demonstrate the inherently corrupt nature of law enforcement using their own words" and "disrupt and sabotage their ability to communicate and terrorize communities."

The group did not say specifically why these sheriffs' departments were targeted, but Anonymous members have increasingly been pursued by law enforcement in the United States and elsewhere following a string of high-profile data thefts and denial of service attacks — operations that block websites by flooding them with traffic. FBI spokesman Steve Frazier did not return several messages Saturday seeking comment on the latest cyberattack.

The group celebrated its success in several messages posted Saturday to Twitter and hinted that more attacks were to come. In one tweet, it poked fun at local sheriffs: "Time to wake up, boys."

Small agencies often need to do more to protect themselves, even if they don't have as much staff or money as larger cities, Mackey said. One major step is demanding better security from the companies that host their sites.

"I think it behooves anyone who stores sensitive information to basically put the pressure on the vendors who create their websites to do a good job of protecting those sites," Mackey said.

Many sheriffs said they weren't using their sites to store Social Security numbers or other highly sensitive data. John Montgomery, sheriff of Baxter County in northern Arkansas, where Brooks-Jeffrey is located, said his department's website has been used in the past to help track down suspects and get information to the public.

"We are going to continue using the Web," said Montgomery, whose website was taken down. "Are we going to have to be smarter in how we use the Web as far as security? Sure. We'll have to look closely at the security measures that go into place."

Montgomery said the department would also check its internal servers for any weaknesses, and he encouraged other county sheriffs to do the same.

___

Merchant reported from Little Rock, Ark; Satter reported from London. Associated Press writers Maria Fisher in Kansas City, Mo.; M.L. Johnson in Chicago; Shannon McCaffrey in Atlanta; and Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans contributed to this report.

Your smartphone: a new frontier for hackers (AP)

Posted: 07 Aug 2011 05:49 AM PDT

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson, Ap Technology Writer – Sun Aug 7, 8:49 am ET

LAS VEGAS – Hackers are out to stymie your smartphone.

Last week, security researchers uncovered yet another strain of malicious software aimed at smartphones that run Google's popular Android operating system. The application not only logs details about incoming and outgoing phone calls, it also records those calls.

That came a month after researchers discovered a security hole in Apple Inc.'s iPhones, which prompted the German government to warn Apple about the urgency of the threat.

Security experts say attacks on smartphones are growing fast — and attackers are becoming smarter about developing new techniques.

"We're in the experimental stage of mobile malware where the bad guys are starting to develop their business models," said Kevin Mahaffey, co-founder of Lookout Inc., a San Francisco-based maker of mobile security software.

Wrong-doers have infected PCs with malicious software, or malware, for decades. Now, they are fast moving to smartphones as the devices become a vital part of everyday life.

Some 38 percent of American adults now own an iPhone, BlackBerry or other mobile phone that runs the Android, Windows or WebOS operating systems, according to data from Nielsen. That's up from just 6 percent who owned a smartphone in 2007 when the iPhone was released and catalyzed the industry. The smartphone's usefulness, allowing people to organize their digital lives with one device, is also its allure to criminals.

All at once, smartphones have become wallets, email lockboxes, photo albums and Rolodexes. And because owners are directly billed for services bought with smartphones, they open up new angles for financial attacks. The worst programs cause a phone to rack up unwanted service charges, record calls, intercept text messages and even dump emails, photos and other private content directly onto criminals' servers.

Evidence of this hacker invasion is starting to emerge.

• Lookout says it now detects thousands of attempted infections each day on mobile phones running its security software. In January, there were just a few hundred detections a day. The number of detections is nearly doubling every few months. As many as 1 million people were hit by mobile malware in the first half of 2011.

• Google Inc. has removed about 100 malicious applications from its Android Market app store. One particularly harmful app was downloaded more than 260,000 times before it was removed. Android is the world's most popular smartphone operating software with more than 135 million users worldwide.

• Symantec Corp., the world's biggest security software maker, is also seeing a jump. Last year, the company identified just five examples of malware unique to Android. So far this year, it's seen 19. Of course, that number pales compared with the hundreds of thousands of new strains targeting PCs every year, but experts say it's only a matter of time before criminals catch up.

"Bad guys go where the money is," said Charlie Miller, principal research consultant with the Accuvant Inc. security firm, and a prominent hacker of mobile devices. "As more and more people use phones and keep data on phones, and PCs aren't as relevant, the bad guys are going to follow that. The bad guys are smart. They know when it makes sense to switch."

When it comes to security, smartphones share a problem with PCs: Infections are typically the responsibility of the user to fix, if the problem is discovered at all.

The emergence in early July of a previously unknown security hole in Apple Inc.'s iPhones and iPads cast a spotlight on mobile security. Users downloaded a program that allowed them to run unauthorized programs on their devices. But the program could also be used to help criminals co-opt iPhones. Apple has since issued a fix.

It was the second time this year that the iPhone's security was called into question. In April the company changed its handling of location data after a privacy outcry that landed an executive in front of Congress. Researchers had discovered that iPhones stored the data for a year or more in unencrypted form, making them vulnerable to hacking. Apple CEO Steve Jobs emerged from medical leave to personally address the issue.

The iPhone gets outsize attention because it basically invented the consumer smartphone industry when it was introduced in 2007. But Apple doesn't license its software to other phone manufacturers. Google gives Android to phone makers for free. So, Android phones are growing faster. As a result, Google's Android Market is a crucial pathway for hacking attacks. The app store is a lightly curated online bazaar for applications that, unlike Apple's App Store, doesn't require that developers submit their programs for pre-approval.

Lookout says it has seen more unique strains of Android malware in the past month than it did in all of last year. One strain seen earlier this year, called DroidDream, was downloaded more than 260,000 times before Google removed it, though additional variants keep appearing.

Lookout says about 100 apps have been removed from the Android Market so far, a figure Google didn't dispute.

Malicious applications often masquerade as legitimate ones, such as games, calculators or pornographic photos and videos. They can appear in advertising links inside other applications. Their moneymaking schemes include new approaches that are impossible on PCs.

One recent malicious app secretly subscribed victims up to a service that sends quizzes via text message. The pay service was charged to the victims' phone bills, which is presumably how the criminals got paid. They may have created the service or been hired by the creator to sign people up. Since malware can intercept text messages, it's likely the victims never saw the messages — just the charges.

A different piece of malware logs a person's incoming text messages and replies to them with spam and malicious links. Most mobile malware, however, keep their intentions hidden. Some apps set up a connection between the phone and a server under a criminal's control, which is used to send instructions.

Google points out that Android security features are designed to limit the interaction between applications and a user's data, and developers can be blocked. Users also are guilty of blithely click through warnings about what personal information an application will access.

Malicious programs for the iPhone have been rare. In large part, that's because Apple requires that it examine each application before it goes online. Still, the recent security incidents underline the threat even to the most seemingly secure devices.

A pair of computer worms targeting the iPhone appeared in 2009. Both affected only iPhones that were modified, or "jailbroken," to run unauthorized programs.

And Apple has dealt with legitimate applications that overreached and collected more personal data than they should have, which led to the Cupertino, Calif.-based company demanding changes.

"Apple takes security very seriously," spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said in July. "We have a very thorough approval process and review every app. We also check the identities of every developer and if we ever find anything malicious, the developer will be removed from the iPhone Developer Program and their apps can be removed from the App Store."

A criminal doesn't even need to tailor his attacks to a mobile phone. Standard email-based "phishing" attacks — tricking people into visiting sites that look legitimate — work well on mobile users. In fact, mobile users can be more susceptible to phishing attacks than PC users.

The small screens make it hard to see the full Internet address of a site you're visiting, and websites and mobile applications working in tandem train users to perform the risky behavior of entering passwords after following links, new research from the University of California at Berkeley has found.

The study found that the links within applications could be convincingly imitated, according to the authors, Adrienne Porter Felt, a Ph.D. student, and David Wagner, a computer science professor.

They found that "attackers can spoof legitimate applications with high accuracy, suggesting that the risk of phishing attacks on mobile platforms is greater than has previously been appreciated."

A separate study released earlier this year by Trusteer, a Boston-based software and services firm focused on banking security, found that mobile users who visit phishing sites are three times more likely to submit their usernames and passwords than desktop PC users.

Mobile users are "always on" and respond to emails faster, in the first few hours before phishing sites are taken down, and email formats make it hard to tell who's sending a message, Trusteer found.

Still, mobile users have an inherent advantage over PC users: Mobile software is being written with the benefit of decades of perspective on the flaws that have made PCs insecure. But smartphone demand is exploding, with market research firm IDC predicting that some 472 million smartphones will be shipped this year, compared with 362 million PCs. As a result, the design deterrents aren't likely to be enough to keep crooks away from the trough.

"It's going to be a problem," Miller said. "Everywhere people have gone, bad guys have followed."

Chinese smugglers use epic zip-line to transport iPads, iPhones (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 06:18 PM PDT

10-year-old app hacker discovers Android and iOS game exploit (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 05:53 PM PDT

4 Reasons Google+ Brand Pages Will Be Better Than Facebook's [OPINION] (Mashable)

Posted: 07 Aug 2011 02:03 PM PDT

Zeny Huang Zeny Huang – Sun Aug 7, 5:03 pm ET

This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Mashable as a publication.

[More from Mashable: Why Are Some QR Codes More Scanworthy Than Others? [INFOGRAPHIC]]

Zeny Huang is an Emerging Media Strategist at JWT New York where she helps brands connect with fans in innovative and meaningful ways using social media. You can follow her on Twitter @Zenidala.

Converting Facebook's 750 million active users to Google+ will be a long, difficult battle for the search giant. But converting brands to Google+ will be much easier if Google+ is able to solve advertisers' biggest problems with Facebook -- such as post-click engagement tracking, paid search inefficiencies and limited customization.

[More from Mashable: Speech Recognition Interface Uncovered in iOS 5]

Advertisers drive paid media to their Facebook Pages because they want to be where their audience is, but there's a major flaw in this strategy. Advertisers can't track post-click engagement of non-Facebook ads driving to Facebook, and that's a huge disadvantage in qualifying traffic and uncovering valuable user insights. Without such information, we can only guess whether media dollars are being well spent.

In a month or two, Google+ will launch its highly anticipated brand pages. Here are four reasons why marketers are right to be excited and why Google+ brand pages will provide a better branded experience than Facebook.

1. Better Search Opportunites

A major challenge with driving paid search ads to a Facebook page is that the Facebook.com domain generates a lower click-through rate (CTR), most likely due to people finding the domain irrelevant to their query. The low CTR makes for a low quality score in Google's auction-model, which typically increases cost per click for paid search ads driving to Facebook versus a unique brand domain. The loss in cost efficiency of driving to a Facebook page has been an ongoing struggle for advertisers, particularly on Google, which has over 60% of the search market.

It would be crazy for search giant Google not to have search benefits for Google+ brand pages, whether it is a "certified check mark" callout (like on Twitter), a colored box around the listing, or possibly page-rank priority. Search benefits would likely be the strongest reason for brands to adopt a Google+ brand page. The only flaw in this theory is that giving brand pages' extra benefits in search could raise the specter of anti-trust action and legal challenges.

2. More Customization

Facebook ad types are limited to just ads, sometimes with a video or poll, allowing for few branding or creative opportunities. Looking at the design of Google+ personal pages, I predict the two skyscraper-sized white spaces on each side of the profile will be opportunities for custom skinning of your brand page and for display or rich media ads.

Google+ users are probably cursing me for suggesting the placement of ads on the currently clean design of Google+, but I am speaking specifically about allowing brands to advertise and skin their own pages as seen on branded YouTube channels such as Old Spice and Miracle Whip. These are great examples of how Google+ brand pages can deliver stronger brand experiences and help brands raise awareness of special promotions, as well as letting them drive qualified traffic to pages outside of Google+.

I would not be surprised if advertising opportunities were immediately available after the launch of Google+ brand pages, since Google is fully prepared to support it with its Google Display Network, AdWords and DoubleClick advertising products.

3. Better Analytics

People who have used Google Analytics know how detailed the data is, including metrics like time spent on page, top content, referring sites and geographic information. It seems inevitable for Google to integrate Google Analytics into Google+ brand pages, so that brands can gain valuable insights into who their fans are, what content their fans are consuming, and where they are coming from.

All this data will guide brands in the prioritization, organization and creation of content for their page, which will lead to an improved experience that better suits fans' interests and needs. More importantly, Google Analytics and DoubleClick reporting products will let advertisers tie paid media placements to page interaction, and help to optimize and maximize the value of media spend.

4. Google Can Learn from Facebook

Facebook pioneered one-on-one connections between a brand and its fans through social networking, and will continue to be valuable for inherently social brands like musicians and celebrities. But for less social industries such as insurance, health and, say, paper towels, Google+ provides a platform that is open to conversation and focuses on providing branded content and valuable information in one place.

Facebook's successes and missteps offer invaluable lessons, giving Google second-mover advantage in creating a brand page based on brands' need for more customization, a hub to aggregate content across the web, strong search presence and user-engagement data. However, if Google+ brand pages turn out to be a replica of Facebook's, the battle could be over before it's begun.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

House to end page program after nearly 200 years (AP)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 03:55 PM PDT

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Larry Margasak, Associated Press – Mon Aug 8, 6:55 pm ET

WASHINGTON – After nearly 200 years, the House page program that allowed high school students to serve as messengers and learn about Congress is ending, rendered obsolete by the Internet and email in cost-cutting times.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Monday that the $5 million annual expense can no longer be justified when messages and other materials are delivered electronically. The blue-jacketed pages, who have been a common sight in the House since the 1820s, now have little to do, according to the two leaders.

The program, which also has been touched by scandal, will end by Aug. 31.

Before the Internet and personal electronic devices, pages "crisscrossed the congressional complex each day delivering countless messages and documents to members, committees and leadership offices," the two leaders said in a letter to House members — delivered via email.

Two studies begun in 2008 found that while the young aides were once "stretched to the limit delivering large numbers of urgently needed documents and other packages," they now are "rarely called upon for such deliveries, as most documents are now transmitted electronically."

Today, the pages "are severely underutilized," the letter said.

Boehner and Pelosi wrote that while they are "mindful of the special place their unique experience holds in the memories of the young Americans privileged to serve as pages over the years, our decision to close the program reflects two current realities: Changes in technology have obviated the need for most page services, and the program's high costs are difficult to justify, especially in light of diminished benefits to the House."

While the page program usually functioned as a government learning experience, it had its share of occasional headline-grabbing scandals.

In 1983, the House censured Republican Dan Crane of Illinois and Democrat Gerry Studds of Massachusetts for sexual relationships with pages; Crane with a young woman and Studds with a young man.

More recently, in 2006, Republican Mark Foley of Florida resigned in disgrace after it was learned he had sexually suggestive email communications with former male pages.

After the Foley case, the House overhauled the board that supervised pages, including giving both parties an equal say in overseeing the program. The Republican chairman of the board during the Foley scandal had failed to notify other board members of Foley's questionable emails. The board also was expanded to include a former page and the parent of a page.

The pages have their own school, with a regular faculty, and live in a dormitory near the Capitol. A study calculated the per-page cost for a two-semester school year at $69,000-$80,000 annually, depending on the size of each semester's class.

Applicants must have a 3.0 average in core subjects. They wear black uniforms and must have a hairstyle that is "appropriate for a business environment." They earn $1,804 a month.

Rep. John Dingell, the longest serving House member, was a page for five years from 1936 to 1941, while his father was a congressman.

"It's very sad," said the Michigan Democrat, who began his tenure in December 1955. "There have been some scandals, but you'd be amazed how they've blossomed. Most kids get a great deal of good out of it. It taught me about government and gave me a real knowledge of what happens in the House. It gave me an appreciation of public service."

Dingell said four of his page friends were killed in World War II.

Jerry Papazian, president of the Capitol Page Alumni Association, said he was "stunned and saddened" when he received an email Monday from House Speaker John Boehner's office announcing the end of the program. Papazian was a House page in 1971 and 1972, working on the House floor.

"Nixon was president, it was just before Watergate. We were observing history first-hand," said Papazian, who is now managing director of a management consulting firm in Rolling Hills Estates, Calif. "It was one of the most profound experiences of my life."

He said the alumni association is preparing for a reunion of pages from the House, Senate and Supreme Court next spring. The Supreme Court ended its page program in the 1970s, Papazian said.

The Senate page program will continue.

____

Associated Press writer Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report.

"Desperate Housewives" streaming to China (Reuters)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 03:07 PM PDT

London Riots: Organized via Twitter and Smart Phones? (Time.com)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 08:35 PM PDT

By WILLIAM LEE ADAMS / LONDON William Lee Adams / London – 33 mins ago

Even after the police arrived, the gasoline bombs kept exploding. On the evening of Aug. 6, two days after Mark Duggan, a black man, had been shot dead by police, his family staged a vigil on the streets of North London's Tottenham neighborhood. Within hours, the peaceful gathering descended into chaos, reportedly after an officer clubbed - or was said to have clubbed - a teenage girl. Mobs of hooded youth threw bicycles at police and slashed the tires of two police cars before setting them on fire. As night fell, a burning double-decker bus lit the way for other hooligans who shattered storefront windows and walked away with stolen cell phones and sneakers.

Before the smell of burning rubber had even dissipated in Tottenham, havoc spread to other parts of the city. The following evening, Sunday, Aug. 7, copycat looters - acting opportunistically rather than out of any desire to avenge Duggan's death - laid siege to the North London boroughs of Enfield, Islington and Waltham Forest. Fifty vandals gathered near Oxford Circus in Central London to damage property. An additional 200 took to the streets of Brixton, in the south of the city, where they raided an electronics store and set a Foot Locker store on fire. By Monday morning, police had arrested more than 160 people and charged 16 with burglary and violent disorder. Three police officers were hospitalized. In the late afternoon, daylight skirmishes erupted in Hackney, East London, reportedly prompted by a police stop-and-search incident earlier in the day. (See "London Riots: A Blast from the Past or a Glimpse of the Future?")

In an age of social media in which disgruntled youth are frequently more skilled with smart phones than are the adults who police them, London authorities believe handheld technologies may have helped those trying to instigate violence to spread their message. Rather than shouting through a megaphone - as in the infamous 1985 riots on the Broadwater Estate in Tottenham - today's rabble rousers are more likely to organize online and with the aid of their iPhones and BlackBerrys. As the riots unfolded, some used Twitter to encourage violence. "Everyone up and roll to Tottenham f*** the 50 [police]. I hope 1 dead tonight," one man tweeted. Jody McIntyre, who was forcibly removed from his wheelchair by police during London demonstrations last year, asked his 9,000 Twitter followers to spread unrest across the city. "Be inspired by the scenes in #tottenham, and rise up in your neighbourhood. 100 people in every area = the way we can beat the feds."

Although Twitter provides an interesting vantage point from which to watch the riots, it may be premature to suggest, as some British tabloids have, that the service somehow fueled the chaos. Sure, users retweeted an image of a burning police car 100 times during the riot, but it hardly follows automatically that this image inspired anyone to grab a crowbar and start smashing the windows of electronics stores.

Jonathan Akwue, author of the blog Urban Mashup, has suggested that BlackBerry Messenger - the smart phone's instant-messaging service - may have played a more significant role in the mayhem. "People were referring to BBM as a network where they were telling people where they were going," he tells TIME, noting that references to the Tottenham riots on BBM began cropping up two days before violence broke out. "In advance of what took place Saturday, information was shared across the network."

A quick search of "BBM" in Twitter suggests Akwue may be on to something. "There's a recruitment broadcast going around on bbm to gather hoodrats to start a riot," one user tweeted. "Just received 3 BBM Messages detailing a new organised 'Riot' plan complete with 'Loot Rules'. This is the start of something new. #Anarchy" wrote another. Given that BlackBerry messages are sent across private networks, it's difficult to assess the full extent and content of the messages. BlackBerry U.K. put out a statement on Twitter on Aug. 8 at 3:07 p.m.: "We feel for those impacted by the riots in London. We have engaged with the authorities to assist in any way we can." (See photos of the London riots.)

BlackBerry has targeted Britain's urban youth for years through its long-standing partnership with rapper Jay-Z and through promotional events like a BlackBerry-sponsored hip-hop concert in London on July 22. Akwue says its popularity also stems from the fact that its data packages are "all you can eat," which might explain why 37% of British teens now have a BlackBerry handset. For potential rioters, there's an added perk: the origins of messages on the BlackBerry Messenger network may be more difficult than those on Twitter for authorities to trace.

As the police probe the ways in which technology may have helped spread mayhem around the city, the people of Tottenham and other affected areas are focused on recovery. The morning after the attacks in Walthamstow, local Member of Parliament Stella Creasy surveyed the damage to her community. One local supermarket lost about $100,000 after looters emptied its cash registers, while scores of smaller stores had their windows smashed and their stocks raided. Aware of the conversations taking place on Twitter, Creasy has been reaching out to her constituents through the site and has set up meetings with concerned citizens to dispel various myths. "Pure and simple, people were coming here to steal stuff they could sell," she says. "It's looting. It's not rioting." Creasy knows that messages sent via BlackBerry and Twitter may have played a part. But she doesn't want the hype surrounding social media to overshadow what matters most. "Do I think that social media is responsible? No. That's bonkers," she says. "It's ultimately the people who were doing it that are responsible. That's what we need to get to grips with."

See more on Britain's student riots.

See "Riots and Royals: Protests and Britain's Self-Image."

View this article on Time.com

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Posted: 08 Aug 2011 01:30 PM PDT

DFW Airport launches social networking deals campaign (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 07:22 PM PDT

Lisa Mason Lisa Mason – 1 hr 45 mins ago
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There is now one more benefit to using your smartphone at the airport. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has announced a brand new, groundbreaking program that will give passengers in the airport special deals via social networking. When customers check in via social networking at any of DFW's five passenger terminals, they will be able to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

Travelers using Foursquare and Facebook Places on their mobile devices will be able to access special concession deals and also find special offers based on precise terminal locations. This means you will get the best deals for the concessions closest to your location in the airport. There will be no more worrying about where to find something in a large airport. The new service is intended to make things easier for the customer.

The program will have offers at more than 85 different concession locations to start. Some of them include Starbucks, Auntie Anne's Pretzels, Brookstone, Hudson News, and Reata Grill. This list is expected to grow in time.

"This program allows DFW concessionaires to place information directly into the hands of passengers, just when they are looking for it. It will give our customers a great snapshot of what is nearby, so they can make more educated decisions about their purchases," explained Jeff Fegan, CEO of DFW Airport

Social networking is used as a tool to make many things in life easier, but this is the first time it has been used in the airport industry in this way. It could change the way people with smartphones interact in airports from now on.

"Customers who use smartphones and mobile apps are actively looking for information about their immediate environment, and this is a powerful way to easily share those specifics," said Sharon McCloskey, vice president of marketing for DFW Airport in a press release for the new program.

A recent survey by DFW showed that 84 percent of airport passengers use Smartphones, meaning the market for this type of service is very large. Of those, 36 percent are also using location-based social networking apps to "check in" while at the airport or certain locations near the airport. For example, you can update your Facebook status to reflect that you are at the airport or at a specific concession location in the airport.

These are the types of customers the new campaign is marketed towards, and it offers a new level of customer service, getting you the information you need right on the spot, right when you need it. To help people find out about the new service, DFW is launching a large campaign to advertise it. If you are in the DFW airport any time soon, you may see ads on banners and wall clings, flight information display monitors, window clings, lighted dioramas, and other locations. It may also be broadcasted on airport television monitors to make everyone aware of the new service.

For more stories in your area, check out Yahoo! Local Dallas.

No, an Android Tablet Can't Replace Your Laptop (ContributorNetwork)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 07:22 PM PDT

Jared Spurbeck Jared Spurbeck – 1 hr 45 mins ago
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As Matthew Guay of Techinch wrote, the iPad is like the microwave oven of computing. It doesn't do everything a laptop can, but what it does do it does faster and more conveniently. You don't want to write a novel on it, but then, you don't want to cook a roast in a microwave, either.

Most people know this, I think, even if they haven't come up with as useful a metaphor to explain it. They know that laptops have "software" like Microsoft Office and Photoshop, while iPads have "apps" like iWork and iMovie. No one expects an iPad to do the same stuff that a laptop can, and probably no one's returning iPads to the store because they can't do "real computer" stuff.

But what about those "tablet" things? The ones that look like an iPad, but aren't. Some of them have a more solid, professional look to them, and it says here on the box that they can browse the "full" web, unlike the iPad. That means they're like regular computers, only smaller ... right?

Surely no one would think that

But apparently, they do. According to Android developer Seth Clifford, the Staples where he bought his 10-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab has seen an extremely high return rate on these tablets. "People buy them thinking they're getting rid of a laptop," according to an unnamed employee, "and they all come back returning them."

I must confess, though: The first time I saw the original iPad, that's exactly what I thought, too. A tiny computer with cheap 3G Internet access? Sign me up! All it'd need is an external keyboard; and look, Apple sells those too.

The thing is, a tablet's not all it's cracked up to be. Sure, it's extremely convenient, but if you think you're replacing your laptop you're going to be disappointed. There'll be websites you can't visit and software you can't use, even things you might need for work or for school. Typing is harder, even with an external keyboard, because there are few keyboard shortcuts and you need to prop the tablet up someplace (and reach for it instead of using a mouse).

Even basic multitasking, like having an instant messaging window open while reading online in the background, is a hassle on iPads or Android tablets. And that new PC or Mac game that came out? Forget it. World of Warcraft still won't run on the iPad 2.

Digging even deeper

To add insult to injury, Android tablets are even more limited than the iPad, unless you're a developer (and arguably even then). There are far fewer apps; hundreds instead of tens of thousands. And that "full" Web they can browse, that supposedly includes Flash, doesn't. Try as it might, Adobe hasn't been able to replicate the desktop Flash experience on a tablet ... not even close.

So are Android tablets worth getting? Maybe, if you have a compelling reason to buy one instead of an iPad. But if you're thinking of buying one instead of a laptop? Unless you've got a desktop machine as a backup, no way.

10-year-old hacker discovers mobile game security hole (Appolicious)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 11:02 AM PDT

Verizon workers hit picket lines from Mass. to Va. (AP)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 06:46 PM PDT

By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press Jim Fitzgerald, Associated Press – 2 hrs 21 mins ago

NEW YORK – Striking Verizon landline workers say they laid the foundation for the company's booming wireless business and shouldn't be expected to give up contract benefits just because they work on a less profitable side of the business.

But management says the company has to change to stay competitive and the 45,000 landline workers can't expect to be paid the way they were when the phone company was a monopoly.

"It's no secret that the wireline business has experienced a 10-year decline in our customer base and in profitability," said CEO Lowell McAdam. "... We have arrived at the point where we must make additional hard decisions to address customer needs and the overall operating costs of the business."

A union spokeswoman said the company is seeking about $20,000 a year per worker in annual givebacks.

Thousands of strikers took to picket lines from Massachusetts to Virginia on Monday, the second day of their strike. Managers replaced many strikers and Verizon said there was only minimal impact on service. It said there may be slightly longer hold times for customer service and longer waits for repair.

However, the company also alleged a dozen acts of sabotage that affected phone, Internet and TV service in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.

Union spokeswoman Candice Johnson said it was "a management tactic, rolling out the idea of sabotage."

Strikers claimed two demonstrators were hit by a replacement worker's car near Buffalo.

Negotiators met face-to-face in New York on Monday, but neither management nor labor would say if there was progress. Their contracts expired at midnight Saturday.

The workers are represented by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Verizon Wireless, the non-union and much more profitable division of which Verizon owns 55 percent, was not affected by the strike. But the wireless operation was a focus of contention anyway.

Verizon phone lines are disappearing at a rate of about 8 percent per year and are down to 25 million, about a quarter of the number of devices connected to its wireless network. Verizon has invested heavily to keep its land line division relevant, spending more than $20 billion to replace copper phone lines with optical fiber so it can sell cable-like TV service. While the so-called FiOS service has staved off competition from cable, it hasn't led to profits.

Company spokesman Richard Young said the company wants to freeze the workers' pensions but is willing to enhance their 401k accounts. He said management is also demanding that workers contribute to their health insurance premiums.

Young said the workers' benefits "no longer reflect today's marketplace. ... There are dozens of competitors."

Johnson said top workers earn about $77,000 a year in New York. The company puts the figure at $91,000 and said benefits average $50,000.

Young said Verizon made $3 billion in the first six months of 2011, and strikers said it was wrong to keep them from sharing in the profits because they are the underpinnings of the profitable wireless sector.

Paula Lopez, 60, a customer service representative on a picket line in New York, acknowledged that fewer people use land line phones but said land lines were "the stepping stones and building blocks for wireless. ... That's where they got the money to start up the wireless."

Demonstrators also complained that the company was squeezing them when high-level executives were making millions. Young said executive pay was based on performance and had been approved by stockholders.

Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics in Boston, said the problem is "The company is half in trouble."

"Fewer and fewer people are using their traditional land lines, and only with the introduction of FiOS has that been stemmed," he said. "The workers know that, but they also know their checks come from a big, profitable company.

"So we're in concession bargaining, with the company saying we need concessions or jobs will be lost and the workers doubting jobs will be lost because the company is doing all right," Entner said.

AT&T Inc., the only U.S. phone company larger than Verizon, wrung some concessions from unions in 2009, when contracts covering about 90,000 workers expired. The negotiations ended without a strike, and with workers shouldering some premiums and co-payments for their health insurance.

London rioters using BlackBerry Messenger to organize (Digital Trends)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 01:53 PM PDT

Molly McHugh Molly Mchugh – Mon Aug 8, 4:53 pm ET

London riotsThis year oppressed people worldwide have been using communication technology and social networking to combat their restrictive governments. Demonstrators in countries like Egypt, Libya, and Syria used YouTube, cell phones, Facebook, and Twitter to organize their protests as well as communicate their fight to the outside world.

Now, Londoners are using BlackBerry Messenger for their own anti-government purposes. While the developed nation isn't fighting for the same freedoms, citizens are using the private messaging application to voice their outrage over the controversial police shooting of Mark Duggan.

Last Thursday, 29-year-old Duggan was an alleged gangster and drug dealer who was shot and killed by London police after a minicab he was riding in was stopped by officers. Those close to Duggan claim he was unarmed and that officers with submachine guns opened fire and killed him. Soon after vigils turned to anger, anger to protests, and protests to looting and violence directed toward Scotland Yard.

The demonstrations have continued and authorities have been looking to the likes of Facebook and Twitter to see if they are being used as part of the effort. But blogger and media strategist Jonathan Akuwe was the first to point to BlackBerry Messenger. "BBM as it is known, is an instant messenger system that has become popular for three main reasons: It's fast (naturally), it's virtually free, and unlike Twitter or Facebook, it's private."

Akuwe says that since the morning of Duggan's death, BBMs have been spreading and were "the channel used to spread the word that the riot had started, and from what I can tell on Twitter, it appears to be the means by which communications continue to be shared." The Telegraph says that shortly before his death, Duggan sent a BBM to his girlfriend saying, "The Feds are following me."

Since then, the BBMs regarding Duggan's death and the ensuring riots have gone viral. The Guardian was shown one message by a recipient which read, "Everyone in Edmonton, Enfield, Wood Green, everyone in north London, link up at Enfield train station at 4pm." It detailed what items to being–including hammers–for the demonstrations.

The advantage users have with BBM is that the news continues to circulate, but is covert enough that it is difficult to trace. BBMs are encrypted and hacking this network would be incredibly difficult, so protestors are able to stay a step ahead of authorities.

RIM UK has stated that it will help Scotland Yard in any way it can, so the BBM may only have so long to live as a tool for rioters. But most of them are of the young, mobile-minded, tech-savvy generation, and there are a variety of tools at their disposal. 

IPad rivals have better chance in Europe: Forrester (Reuters)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 04:05 PM PDT

– Mon Aug 8, 7:05 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) – Would-be rivals to Apple's iPad have more of a chance in Europe than they do in the United States, but they need to cut prices fast to grasp the opportunity, IT research firm Forrester said on Tuesday.

Apple's relatively small retail presence in Europe -- with 52 stores compared with 238 in the United States -- offers a chance to the likes of Samsung, Acer and Research in Motion, Forrester said.

But their prices cannot yet compete with Apple, which has far larger scale in the tablet market and an efficient supply chain. Forrester said emerging challengers from China and Taiwan would likely step in soon with cheaper offerings.

"There is this opportunity for iPad challengers, but the competition is very fragmented. Competing with Apple will require a different approach from what we've seen so far," said analyst Sarah Rotman Epps, the author of the Forrester report.

Apple still has the tablet-computer market almost to itself after launching the iPad a year and a half ago. It has sold close to 30 million iPads, whose prices start at about $500.

Forrester expects Apple to sell 80 percent of all consumer tablets in the United States and 70 percent in Europe this year.

It expects 2011 worldwide tablet sales to reach 48 million units, with half of those sold in the United States, 30 percent in Europe, 15 percent in Asia and 5 percent in Latin America.

Epps said local content and good retail outlets, along with lower prices, were essential to succeed against Apple.

"A competitor to Apple would have to put together the right content, the right price and the right channel strategy. There isn't anyone that has all three," she said.

Tablets are on sale in Europe from Acer, Archos, Asus, HP, Motorola, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, Samsung and Toshiba.

Dell has not launched its new, 10-inch Streak tabloid in Europe or North America yet but is concentrating on China, where it is number two behind Lenovo and distributes its products through 10,000 retail outlets.

"Manufacturers, retailers and operators we spoke with all commented on the failure of the first 7-inch tablets that attempted to compete with the iPad," Forrester wrote.

"The newer generation of iPad challengers, such as the 10-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Acer Iconia Tab, are getting better reception, but they're still at a disadvantage to Apple in terms of channel strategy."

Forrester surveyed almost 14,000 online adult consumers in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Britain, and also interviewed product strategists from manufacturers, telecommunications operators and retailers.

Between 2 percent and 7 percent of the consumers surveyed, depending on the country, said they owned a tablet, and a further 10 percent to 14 percent said they were interested in buying one.

Spain had the highest ownership and France the lowest, while Germans were most interested in buying a tablet. In Britain, where Apple has 30 of its European stores, ownership was relatively low at 3 percent.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Take-Two misses Street, downplays NBA concerns (Reuters)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 04:34 PM PDT

By Liana B. Baker Liana B. Baker – Mon Aug 8, 7:34 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (TTWO.O) missed Wall Street estimates because one of its games failed to connect with audiences, but it downplayed concerns the NBA lockout would hurt its top-sports title.

The company brushed off worries a National Basketball Association lockout would lower sales of its upcoming title, "NBA 2K12," which will be released in October. The company said a missed season would have no impact on its sales or earnings.

"Given how lifelike our games are, we think it's possible we can fill a need in the case of the lockout and offer consumers an opportunity to participate in basketball," said Chief Executive Strauss Zelnick in an interview.

Take-Two's stance on a major lockout seems out of step with its rivals. Electronic Arts Inc (ERTS.O) previously said a football lockout would have lowered sales of the "Madden NFL" video game by 30 percent to 45 percent.

Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey called Take-Two's NBA strategy misguided and said he was puzzled the company did not use the lockout as a "free pass" to lower its fiscal targets.

"If there's no NBA season next year, there is no way they are going to do the same numbers," Hickey said.

As U.S. stocks plunged on Monday, analysts pressed Zelnick on the company's strategy to cope with consumers tightening their wallets and scaling back on $60 video games. The interactive entertainment sector suffered in 2008 during the global financial crisis.

Despite the economic pressures, Zelnick said the company's strategy of investing in must-have games that appeal to a wide audience such as "Grand Theft Auto" will pay off.

"We think our strategy makes sense in good times and bad," he said.

DUKE DISAPPOINTS

Take-Two's big bet on its game "Duke Nukem Forever" hurt its bottom line. Take-Two, like its publisher rivals, now invest more money and resources into fewer games per year, which makes the need to produce hits more critical than ever before.

In the 1990s, a top console game could be made for a couple of million dollars, but in 2011 a marquee game might cost between $20 million and $40 million to produce.

Duke Nukem, an action first-person shooter game, had been in production for more than a decade when it was finally released in June 2011 to poor reviews.

"Duke Nukem was nothing to write home about," said Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia.

He added that the game's performance not only hurt first-quarter sales, but is the reason behind the company's weaker-than-expected forecast for the second quarter.

For the second-quarter, Take-Two expects revenue to be between $70 million and $85 million, and an adjusted loss between 55 cents and 65 cents per share. This is far below the $195 million in revenue Wall Street was expecting for the quarter.

The company's fiscal first quarter net loss was $8.7 million, or 11 cents per share. Excluding items such as stock-based compensation, the company posted earnings per share of 2 cents, which missed analysts' estimates of 9 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue fell 11 percent to $334.4 million, which was below Wall Street's estimates.

For the full year, it expects revenue between $1 billion and $1.1 billion, which is in line with Wall Street estimates.

Its shares were flat after closing 8.8 percent lower at $11.07 on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker; editing by Bernard Orr)

Johnny Long, charity hacker, announces InfoSec without Borders (Digital Trends)

Posted: 08 Aug 2011 07:22 PM PDT

Derek Mead Derek Mead – 1 hr 45 mins ago

Renowned hacker extraordinaire Johnny Long was once famous for attacking server vulnerabilities by using certain Google search terms, but for some time he's been know as a leader of the good guys in the security world. He's a guy who's tried to bring one of the original meaning of hacking (it's a term that will forever be debated) back into the forefront: not cracking bank security, nor hanging out on rollerblades with Angelina Jolie, but using analytical, observational and tech skills to make things more efficient, user friendly and secure.

CNET's Elinor Mills had a great chat with Long at the DefCon security conference in Las Vegas about his newest charity venture. In 2008, Long started a nonprofit called Hackers for Charity that's been a model of success in utilizing the resources of the hacking community to offer serious IT help to those in need.

In a legendary talk at DefCon 15 in 2007 (watch it here, as it's simply awesome), Long announced the organization, which is novel in that he discussed trading industry connections and recommendation in exchange for work from the many undiscovered talents attending the conference. It was one heck of a novel idea: take hackers who are basically skilled privateers, give them projects to help charities, and in exchange for quality work, offer them a chance to break into the industry. That's the type of idea Long talks about when he mentions hacking charities.

Talking to Mills, Long discussed his newly launched program called InfoSec without Borders which is modeled after its namesake Doctors Without Borders. Both InfoSec without Borders and the Hackers for Charity nonprofit are tasked with providing free IT services and training to impoverished nations and NGOs, and also provided food for thousands of families through a "food for work" program. The goal is to provide IT training to the poorest of regions so people aren't forced to revert to scams, like those made famous from Nigeria, to earn money in the tech world.

at 9:45 PM

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