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FBI partner attacked by hackers, passwords taken (AP) : Technet |
- FBI partner attacked by hackers, passwords taken (AP)
- Cellphone cancer warning falls lightly on US ears (AP)
- Nintendo says server breached, no data lost (AP)
- Video Preview of "iOS 5" Makes the iPad Truly Magical (Mashable)
- China paper warns Google may pay price for hacking claims (Reuters)
- Hackers report breach of US-based FBI affiliate (AP)
- Will iCloud be the new iTunes?: A pre-WWDC assessment (Digital Trends)
- Plants vs. Zombies tops Android Games of the Week (Appolicious)
- Why Google Won't Survive the Facebook Threat (The Atlantic Wire)
- Nintendo hacked by LulzSec, no harm done (Digital Trends)
- Cube It 3D tops iPad Games of the Week (Appolicious)
- Israel's Mirs picks Nokia Siemens for mobile deal (Reuters)
- Fast food restaurant apps lack that special ingredient (Appolicious)
- Apple's Jobs to take the stage as iCloud hype grows (Reuters)
- Apple poised to introduce iCloud (AFP)
- Hackers attack Nintendo's servers in United States (Reuters)
| FBI partner attacked by hackers, passwords taken (AP) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 05:03 PM PDT LONDON – Nearly 180 passwords belonging to members of an Atlanta-based FBI partner organization have been stolen and leaked to the Internet, the group confirmed Sunday. The logins belonged to members of the local chapter of InfraGard, a public-private partnership devoted to sharing information about threats to U.S. physical and Internet infrastructure, the chapter's president told The Associated Press. "Someone did compromise the website," InfraGard Atlanta Members Alliance President Paul Farley said in a brief email exchange. "We do not at this time know how the attack occurred or the method used to reveal the passwords." Copies of the passwords — which appear to include users from the U.S. Army, cybersecurity organizations and major communications companies — were posted to the Internet by online hacking collective Lulz Security, which has claimed credit for a string of attacks in the past week. In a statement, Lulz Security also claimed to have used one of the passwords to steal nearly 1,000 work and personal emails from the chief executive of Wilmington, Delaware-based Unveillance LLC. Lulz Security claimed it was acting in response to a recent report that the Pentagon was considering whether to classify some cyberattacks as acts of war. The FBI said Sunday that it was aware of the incident and that steps were being taken to mitigate the damage. Farley said InfraGard's website had been taken down and that members had been advised to change their passwords and beware of further attacks. Farley added that his group — a volunteer organization — had had no previous involvement with Lulz Security, which describes itself as a collective of hackers who attack weakly-protected websites for fun. Lulz is a reference to Internetspeak for "laugh out loud." The collective appears to have had a busy week. Earlier Sunday, Nintendo said it had been targeted in a recent online data attack claimed by Lulz Security. Nintendo said no personal or company information was lost. On Thursday, Lulz Security boasted of a major breach which saw as many as tens of thousands of Sony users' details posted to the Internet. The group has also claimed credit for defacing the PBS website after the public television broadcaster aired a documentary seen as critical of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Emails and other messages seeking comment from the group over the past few days have gone unanswered, although it maintains an active presence on microblogging site Twitter, where it taunts its opponents and promises more hacks. ___ Online: InfraGard: http://www.infragard.net/ Unveillance: http://www.unveillance.com/ |
| Cellphone cancer warning falls lightly on US ears (AP) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 12:21 PM PDT NEW YORK – News last week that an arm of the World Health Organization said cellphones might raise the risk of brain cancer has been greeted by Americans mostly with a shrug of the shoulder — one that's pinning a cellphone to the ear. Google searches for "cancer" and "cellphones" spiked this week. And some people vowed to get headsets to shield themselves from radiation. But most seemed to either dismiss the warning as too vague, or reason that if the most useful device in modern life poses a slight health risk, then so be it. "I was watching the news about it, and I thought, `I'm already screwed because I've been talking on the phone for seven years,'" said Genevieve Chamorro, a 31-year-old New Yorker who was shopping for a phone. John Gottani, a manager at a cellphone store in New York, said he's been selling phones for six years and has never heard anyone ask if they cause cancer. The only things customers really care about, Gottani said, are "if it works, and if it texts." The International Agency for Research on Cancer reviewed dozens of published studies on cellphones and cancer before classifying cellphones as "possibly carcinogenic" on Tuesday. It's a risk category that includes night-shift work, engine exhaust and coffee. Studies haven't been able to rule out a link between cellphones and cancer. But experts say that if there is a link, it's unlikely to be strong. Cellphones emit weak radio waves, which, under the conventional understanding of physics, can't wreak the same sort of cellular changes that sunlight and radioactivity can. A common tip offered to those who want to reduce their exposure to cellphone radiation is to use a headset. Even wireless Bluetooth headsets reduce radiation exposure. Though they emit radio signals of their own, they're much weaker than cellphone signals. But there seems to be little rush to get Bluetooth headsets. They've been declining in popularity for at least four years, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. It's also found that most headset owners don't intend to replace the one they have when it wears out. According to Strategy Analytics analyst Chris Schreiner, the main reason is that when you're wearing a Bluetooth headset, you look like a person who's wearing a Bluetooth headset. "Style has always been a huge issue in terms of Bluetooth headsets," Schreiner said. On Twitter this week, the most common posts mentioning "headset" and "cancer" have been repeats of a joke from humor site Someecards.com: "I can't decide between being seen wearing a Bluetooth headset or just getting brain cancer." Cellphones differ in how much radiation they emit. Proposals in a few states would force cellphone stores to display these radiation ratings. But CTIA-The Wireless Association, the cellphone industry trade group, is fighting these moves. It says there's no evidence the measured ratings have any correlation with risks. And cellphone manufacturers and carriers are showing no sign of breaking ranks with each other to use the ratings to their advantage — for instance, by touting "low-radiation phones." Spokesman John Walls said CTIA wouldn't fight a manufacturer that wanted to market a "low-radiation phone." But claiming a phone to be safer than any other would cross the line, he said. "They're all deemed safe by science," Walls said. Americans on average talk about 700 minutes a month on their cellphones, making them some of the most talkative people in the world, well ahead of Europeans. In San Francisco, Chuck Luter, 42, said he doesn't plan to change his habits as a result of the radiation warning. When the advertising-shoot prop stylist talks on his Sidekick phone, he usually uses the speakerphone, so it's not close to his head. And in any case, he texts more than he talks. Besides, he added, there are few alternatives to owning a cellphone. "What are the other options? To not have one? To try to keep it all in your head? There are so many bad things for you — just add this to the pile." ___ AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson contributed from San Francisco. AP Business Writer Christina Rexrode contributed from New York. ___ Peter Svensson can be reached at http://twitter.com/petersvensson |
| Nintendo says server breached, no data lost (AP) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 04:20 AM PDT TOKYO – Nintendo was targeted in a recent online data attack, but no personal or company information was lost, the Japanese maker of the Wii game console said Sunday. The server of an affiliate of Nintendo Co.'s U.S. unit was accessed unlawfully a few weeks ago, but there was no damage, company spokesman Ken Toyoda said. "There were no third-party victims," Toyoda said, while declining to elaborate. "But it is a fact there was some kind of possible hacking attack." The damage from what could be a recent spate of such data breaches targeting big-name brands was more serious at rival Sony Corp. Sony has said massive personal information, including email addresses, names and birth dates, and involving more than 100 million users, is suspected of having been stolen after security was compromised in April for its network service for the PlayStation 3 game machine, for other online services and, in the past week, from Sony Pictures' website. It is still unclear who is behind the attacks at Sony or Nintendo, based in Kyoto. Hackers calling themselves Lulz Security — a reference to the Internetspeak for "laugh out loud"_ have recently boasted of compromising more than 1 million users' personal information. Tokyo-based Sony has said it is strengthening security measures. It has contacted the FBI and other authorities for an investigation into the cyber attacks. |
| Video Preview of "iOS 5" Makes the iPad Truly Magical (Mashable) Posted: 04 Jun 2011 12:35 PM PDT [More from Mashable: 6 New Apps For Getting More Out of Foursquare]
While magician and performance artist Simon Pierro is not really showing us a "beta version of iOS 5," his iPad demo is magical nonetheless. [More from Mashable: Social Media-Using Guys Are Lovin' The Fast Food [INFOGRAPHIC]] We especially like the way Simon demonstrates iOS 5's new "space/time connection," engaging in a special kind of streaming that you won't soon forget. This story originally published on Mashable here. |
| China paper warns Google may pay price for hacking claims (Reuters) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 08:40 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) – Google has become a "political tool" vilifying the Chinese government, an official Beijing newspaper said on Monday, warning that the U.S. Internet giant's statements about hacking attacks traced to China could hurt its business. The tough warning appeared in the overseas edition of the People's Daily, the leading newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party, indicating that political tensions between the United States and China over Internet security could linger. Last week, Google said it had broken up an effort to steal the passwords of hundreds of Google email account holders, including U.S. government officials, Chinese human rights advocates and journalists. It said the attacks appeared to come from China. The Chinese Foreign Ministry rejected those accusations, and the party newspaper warned Google against playing a risky political game. By saying that Chinese human rights activists were among the targets of the hacking, Google was "deliberately pandering to negative Western perceptions of China, and strongly hinting that the hacking attacks were the work of the Chinese government," the People's Daily overseas edition, a small offshoot of the main domestic paper, said in a front-page commentary. "Google's accusations aimed at China are spurious, have ulterior motives, and bear malign intentions," said the commentary, written by an editor at the paper. "Google should not become overly embroiled in international political struggle, playing the role of a tool for political contention," the paper added. "For when the international winds shift direction, it may become sacrificed to politics and will be spurned by the marketplace," it said, without specifying how Google's business could be hurt. The latest friction with Google could bring Internet policy back to the foreground of U.S.-China relations, reprising tensions last year when the Obama administration took up Google's complaints about hacking and censorship from China. Google partly pulled out of China after that dispute. Since then, it has lost more share to rival Baidu Inc in China's Internet market, the world's largest by user numbers with more than 450 million users. Google last week that the hacking attacks appeared to come from Jinan, the capital of China's eastern Shandong province and home to an intelligence unit of the People's Liberation Army. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates over the weekend warned that Washington was prepared to use force against cyber-attacks it considered acts of war. In February, overseas Chinese websites, inspired by anti-authoritarian uprisings across the Arab world, called for protests across China, raising Beijing's alarm about dissent and prompting tightened censorship of the Internet. China already blocks major foreign social websites such as Facebook and Twitter. (Editing by Miral Fahmy) |
| Hackers report breach of US-based FBI affiliate (AP) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 03:48 PM PDT LONDON – Nearly 180 passwords belonging to members of an Atlanta-based FBI affiliate have been stolen and leaked to the Internet, the group confirmed Sunday. The logins belonged to members of the local chapter of InfraGard, a public-private partnership devoted to sharing information about threats to U.S. physical and Internet infrastructure, the chapter's president told The Associated Press. "Someone did compromise the website," InfraGard Atlanta Members Alliance President Paul Farley said in a brief email exchange. "We do not at this time know how the attack occurred or the method used to reveal the passwords." Copies of the passwords — which appear to include users from the U.S. Army, cybersecurity organizations and major communications companies — were posted to the Internet by online hacking collective Lulz Security, which has claimed credit for a string of attacks in the past week. In a statement, Lulz Security also claimed to have used one of the passwords to steal nearly 1,000 work and personal emails from the chief executive of Wilmington, Delaware-based Unveillance LLC. Lulz Security claimed it was acting in response to a recent report that the Pentagon was considering whether to classify some cyberattacks as acts of war. The FBI said Sunday that it was aware of the incident and that steps were being taken to mitigate the damage. Farley said InfraGard's website had been taken down and that members had been advised to change their passwords and beware of further attacks. Farley added that his group — a volunteer organization — had had no previous involvement with Lulz Security, which describes itself as a collective of hackers who attack weakly-protected websites for fun. Lulz is a reference to Internetspeak for "laugh out loud." The collective appears to have had a busy week. Earlier Sunday, Nintendo said it had been targeted in a recent online data attack claimed by Lulz Security. Nintendo said no personal or company information was lost. On Thursday, Lulz Security boasted of a major breach which saw as many as tens of thousands of Sony users' details posted to the Internet. The group has also claimed credit for defacing the PBS website after the public television broadcaster aired a documentary seen as critical of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Emails and other messages seeking comment from the group over the past few days have gone unanswered, although it maintains an active presence on microblogging site Twitter, where it taunts its opponents and promises more hacks. ___ Online: InfraGard: http://www.infragard.net/ Unveillance: http://www.unveillance.com/ (This version CORRECTS style of "InfraGard.") |
| Will iCloud be the new iTunes?: A pre-WWDC assessment (Digital Trends) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 08:26 PM PDT
According to Daring Fireball's John Gruber — a man known for getting Apple predictions more right than most — we shouldn't "think of iCloud as the new MobileMe," Apple's now back-burnered cloud storage service. Instead, it's more accurate to "think of iCloud as the new iTunes." Not only will iCloud serve as a cloud-based music service (as is all but guaranteed by Apple's recently sealed deals with the major music labels), says Gruber, but it will absorb much of the functionality currently tasked to iTunes. Right now, the Mac-based iTunes software serves as the syncing hub for iOS devices, like the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Through iTunes, users update all their media, from music to e-books, as well as "App Store apps, contacts, calendars, bookmarks, notes, and any sort of files shared between iOS apps," writes Gruber. With iCloud, this could all change. As iPhone and iPad owners know, these devices still require a Mac/PC link to get started, and to keep the device properly backed up and updated. With the introduction of iCloud, iOS device users could never have to plug in their device to their Mac/PC again. "Rather than 'Take this [iPad] out, plug it into your Mac or PC (after first making sure your Mac/PC is running the latest version of iTunes), wait for it to sync before you actually play with it', you might get something like 'Take this out, turn it on, sign into your iTunes account, and start playing with it,'" writes Gruber. Long-time blogger and technology expert Kevin Fox of Fury.com also expects the necessity of the Mac/Pc to diminish with the introduction of iCloud. Fox sees "[s]eamless remote access to any data kept in your Documents folder, and synchronization across machines." This means users will be able to "[w]alk up to any Mac, sign in as a guest using your Apple account credentials and you'll be brought to the same desktop you get on your personal machine." Fox adds that we could see "[r]ealtime, continuous syncing of iOS devices will mean never having to plug your iPhone or iPad in to your computer again, or even the need for a computer for syncing at all." In short, the introduction of iCloud could deliver the true end of the PC era for Apple, a service that will allow Apple's mobile devices to be just as powerful — perhaps more powerful — than the desktop or laptop home bases to which we've long been accustomed. If Apple's iPhone and iPad lines sparked the beginning of the "post-PC" era, then an iCloud that closely matches Gruber's and Fox's predictions would usher in the evolution's second act. |
| Plants vs. Zombies tops Android Games of the Week (Appolicious) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 12:30 PM PDT |
| Why Google Won't Survive the Facebook Threat (The Atlantic Wire) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 10:32 AM PDT Google's internet monopoly is certainly something to be envied. In the words of Ben Elowitz at TechCrunch, Google "had the most impressive dataset the world had ever seen; the most sophisticated algorithm to make sense of it; an audience of a billion users expressing their interest; and more than a million advertisers bidding furiously to reach those consumers at just the right moment." But is its crucial search feature vulnerable to Facebook? According to Elowitz, yes. Google is vulnerable precisely because its dataset is, as he puts it, "dead." Its search algorithm analyzes the pages and links that users have left behind, but it has almost no first-hand knowledge of any of the users who created this content. The users are all anonymous. Facebook, on the other hand, "has created a platform that knows more than 600 million people, complete with identity, interests, and activities online." Writes Elowitz: If Google’s business has been built on choosing which Web pages, out of all those in the universe, are most likely to appeal to any given (but anonymous) query string, think about this: Facebook already knows, for the most part, which pages appeal to whom—specifically and directly. And, even more powerfully, Facebook knows each of our individual and collective behavior patterns well enough to predict what we’ll like even without us expressing our intent. In Elowitz's estimation, this key difference could give Facebook a tremendous advantage in search "when it eventually decides to move in that direction." But Matt Rosoff at Business Insider calls this idea "completely nuts." For one, he argues, a search function is "absurdly expensive." Moreover, Facebook already has a huge uncapitalized upside, as it only collects about $2 to $3 per user per year (though with 700 million users). But further than that, that is just not the way things go in the tech industry. Google will lose to Facebook, but not through a search function. A single dominant player emerges -- Microsoft in operating systems, Google in search, Amazon in e-commerce, Facebook in social networking. Once that happens, it's extremely hard for another player to beat the incumbent by doing the same thing better... The way to win is to do something new and different that makes the old incumbent's business less relevant... And that's the real threat of Facebook and other social companies to Google. Eventually, users will realize they can get a lot of of the information they need -- particularly shopping recommendations -- without ever conducting a search. At Beyond Search, Stephen Arnold agrees with the premise that "search" is no longer where the action is. Google is the past, rooted firmly in AltaVista.com-type methods. Facebook is, like it or not, the future of information access: gated, incomplete, social, and essentially cut loose from precision and recall unless intermediated through “friends.” Facebook may not need search, but nonetheless, Arnold points out that it has its problems cut out for it. Google is anchored in brute force solutions, and Facebook operates on a membership basis. Country club members put up with craziness from management in order to golf, have a place to park fancy cars, and eat dinner with people who are members. For Facebook, the company seems to be on a collision course with management, design and usability, performance, and legal issues related to personal information |
| Nintendo hacked by LulzSec, no harm done (Digital Trends) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 03:37 PM PDT
"There were no third-party victims," said Ken Toyoda in a statement on the matter. "But it is a fact there was some kind of possible hacking attack." In an email statement to Reuters, Nintendo of America, Nintendo’s US operation, reiterated that no customer data was compromised in the hack. "The server contained no consumer information. The protection of our customer information is our utmost priority," the company said. "We constantly monitor our security." According to LulzSec, the only data obtained in the breach of the US-based Nintendo server, which reportedly took place a few weeks ago, was a configuration file. Why the restraint, you ask? LulzSec says it simply likes Nintendo too much to cause any real damage. "Re: Nintendo, we just got a config file and made it clear that we didn't mean any harm," wrote LulzSec on Twitter. "Nintendo had already fixed it anyway. <3 them!" As those who've been following LulzSec's path of destruction already know, Sony didn't get nearly as lucky. During the hack of SonyPictures.com, LulzSec claims to have stolen the user data of 1 million people. The data contained a variety of personal information, "including passwords, e-mail addresses, home addresses, dates of birth, and all Sony opt-in data associated with their accounts," the group said. LulzSec's breach of Sony came just as Sony was managing to get its beleaguered PlayStation Network back online following a prior hack, carried out on April 19, that left the user data of as many as 100 million customers worldwide at risk, and resulted in a month-long shutdown of Sony's PSN and Qirocity services. On Saturday, LulzSec revealed that it had hacked the website of Infragard Atlanta, a non-profit organization that serves as a public arm of the FBI. Through that breach, LulzSec obtained login data of Infragard member Karim Hijazi and infiltrated the network of his data security firm, Unveillance. Hijazi asserts that members of LulzSec attempted to extort money from him in exchange for their silence. LulzSec says Hijazi tried to pay them to take down his competitors. Does it matter who's telling the truth? Not to LulzSec it doesn't. |
| Cube It 3D tops iPad Games of the Week (Appolicious) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 03:00 PM PDT |
| Israel's Mirs picks Nokia Siemens for mobile deal (Reuters) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 07:01 AM PDT TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Israel's Mirs Communications has chosen Nokia Siemens Networks to supply the infrastructure for its new mobile phone network in a deal valued at 200 million shekels ($59 million) over three years. Mirs said on Sunday it chose Nokia Siemens over Ericsson (ERICb.ST), the other bidder in the final stage of the tender competition. Nokia Siemens is a 50-50 joint venture of Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and Siemens (SIEGn.DE). Mirs, which is owned by French businessman Patrick Drahi, is the fourth-largest mobile phone operator in Israel. In April it won one of two mobile phone licenses auctioned off by the Communications Ministry, which will enable it to expand significantly. It offered 705 million shekels for the license. Israel's near $6 billion a year mobile phone market is dominated by three carriers -- Cellcom Israel (CEL.TA) (CEL.N), Partner Communications (PTNR.O) (PTNR.TA) and Pelephone, a subsidiary of Bezeq Israel Telecom (BEZQ.TA). Mirs, which has a market share of only 4-5 percent, was the only existing operator allowed to participate in the tendering. Drahi also controls Israeli cable TV operator HOT (HOT.TA), which offers internet and fixed-line phone services in competition with Bezeq, Israel's largest telecoms group. ($1=3.39 shekels) (Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Greg Mahlich) |
| Fast food restaurant apps lack that special ingredient (Appolicious) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 06:00 AM PDT |
| Apple's Jobs to take the stage as iCloud hype grows (Reuters) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 12:05 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc Chief Executive Steve Jobs returns on Monday to the stage at San Francisco's Moscone center to take the wraps off what investors hope will be the next source of growth for the world's most valuable technology company. Jobs, who has been on medical leave for months and last took the stage in March to present the iPad 2, will unveil the iCloud, a Web-based service that lets consumers stream music they bought to any Apple device, pitting it against rivals Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc. That expansion into cloud computing is seen as crucial if the company is to stay competitive with increasingly popular open-sourced software, such as Google's Android operating system, according to analysts and investors. The iCloud has the potential to make Apple's iTunes even more powerful, making it tougher for rivals to keep up, Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said. "It looks like Apple will likely offer some base service for free," Wu said. "Competitors, including RIM, Google, Amazon and Microsoft already have a hard time competing with iTunes as it is, but we believe will likely find it even tougher with iCloud enhancements." The Moscone center in San Francisco -- ground zero in the launch of several iconic Apple gadgets such as the iPad -- was a hive of activity this week as workers put the finishing touches on banners featuring a giant Apple logo. Apple has been busy wrapping up negotiations with major record labels to secure licenses for its iCloud service, which is also expected to include a revamped version of its little-known MobileMe storage service. The licenses will help Apple introduce scan-and-match technology that scans a user's hard drive and provides access to music found there from the company's own servers. Currently, Google and Amazon require users to upload their library of songs. Some analysts say the iCloud has the potential to be a new model for media consumption, which could also spark more demand for Apple devices. It could also enable the consumer giant to design new devices around the service, said Trip Chowdhry, managing director of Global Equities Research. "iCloud by itself will not be a billion dollar revenue opportunity," Chowdhry said. "It is an enabling technology ... once you have things in the cloud, you can create new devices that (have not) been created right now." The company, legendary for keeping its agenda under wraps, has been unusually open about what it plans to show at its annual developers' conference, a five-day extravaganza for developers that begins on Monday. Apart from iCloud, Jobs will introduce software upgrades at the conference, including Lion, its Mac OS X computer operating system and the next version of its mobile operating system. Still, fans, developers and Wall Street cannot help but feel the consummate showman may have a surprise or two up his sleeve because he typically takes the stage only for major events. There "certainly could be" a surprise, said Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart, who often attends Apple events. "Apple is known for just one more thing." Apple has used the WWDC venue in the past to unveil a new iPhone, but some sources told Reuters they did not expect the new model to appear until September. But any appearance by Jobs, who survived a rare form of pancreatic cancer, is usually closely scrutinized by Wall Street, given that the fortunes of the $320 billion company are so closely linked with the co-founder. "One of the things that's going to be interesting to see is how much actual introduction Steve does and how much he is playing emcee," Greengart said. "He may just come out on stage three times -- once to introduce the things, once to punctuate and once to close. Or he may be on stage for two-and-a-half hours," he added. (Editing by Andre Grenon) |
| Apple poised to introduce iCloud (AFP) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 10:35 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AFP) – Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is taking a break from medical leave on Monday to preside over the opening of the company's annual conference for software developers. And in a break from Apple's usual practice of shrouding its events in an air of mystery, the California gadget-maker this time revealed ahead of time what it plans to announce at the event in San Francisco. Sort of. In a press release, Apple said Jobs and other executives will unveil the next generation of Lion, the software that powers Macintosh computers, and iOS 5, the next version of the mobile operating system for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. And one more thing: iCloud. Apple described the previously unknown iCloud as its "upcoming cloud services offering" but provided no further details of what awaits at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference. "iCloud was almost a throwaway line in the press release," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst for technology research company Gartner. "But that's getting the most scrutiny because we don't know anything about it." According to multiple reports, iCloud would allow for streaming of music hosted on Apple servers in the Internet "cloud" to various devices -- from computers to smartphones to touchscreen tablets. The New York Times reported on Friday that Apple has nearly completed talks with the major music publishers over the new cloud music service after sealing deals with the four major record labels. The Los Angeles Times said iCloud will initially be offered for free to iTunes users, allowing them to listen to music hosted on Apple servers on a Web browser or an Internet-connected Apple device. Apple will eventually charge a subscription fee of around $25 a year for the service, the newspaper said. A Web-hosted music service from Apple would come just weeks after online retail giant Amazon and Internet search titan Google unveiled their own cloud music offerings. Amazon launched a Cloud Drive and Cloud Player music service in late March that allows subscribers to upload digital music to Amazon servers and play it on a computer or an Android device. Google's music service introduced in May lets people store their music collections in online libraries for streaming to computers, smartphones and tablets. Google Music does not sell songs, however, and Amazon's cloud service requires time-consuming uploading of each song to Amazon servers before a user can listen to it. Gartenberg said he expects an Apple service would "provide consumer value, differentiation from what's come before and a way of taking the market forward." "What is going to be that extra Apple bit of magic that's going to be infused that will drive consumers to use this?" he asked. "Apple was not the first company to offer downloads of music," he said. "But they did it the best and therefore conquered the market. They weren't first with MP3 players or smartphones." Gartenberg also said iCloud may not be restricted to music. "It could be synchronization for all my files -- it could involve video, my office files," he said. "I think what we're going to see is something more than just another digital locker, another online storage place. "It will be interesting to see if new business models are introduced," he added. "If we're talking about new ways to purchase, rent, listen to music, and share." An Apple cloud service could potentially benefit from the huge existing base of iTunes accounts. "Anything they do that would be commerce-related is going to be fairly low friction if you're already part of the iTunes ecosystem," Gartenberg said. Gartenberg said it was unlikely that Apple planned to unveil a new iPhone although Jobs, a cancer survivor who went on medical leave in January for an undisclosed illness, is known to love surprises. "The fact that Apple telegraphed that this is going to about Lion, iOS 5, iCloud seems to me to downplay any expectation of new hardware," Gartenberg said. "This is going to be very software-centric." |
| Hackers attack Nintendo's servers in United States (Reuters) Posted: 05 Jun 2011 09:09 AM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Nintendo's U.S.-based servers were attacked several weeks ago but no consumer data was stolen, the company said on Sunday. Nintendo is the latest company to be targeted by cyber criminals in a hacking attack. In April, hackers broke into Sony Corp's servers and exposed the personal information of more than 100 million of its customers. No group has taken responsibility for that attack. Nintendo's break-in did not affect consumers' information, the company said. "The server contained no consumer information. The protection of our customer information is our utmost priority," Nintendo of America, the company's U.S. unit, said in an e-mailed statement. "We constantly monitor our security," Nintendo said. On Sunday, the hacker group Lulzsec said it had attacked Nintendo in a statement posted on its Twitter feed. Lulzsec is the same group that broke into the servers that run Sony Pictures Entertainment websites last week, and claimed attacks on U.S. PBS television and Fox.com. Lulzsec tweeted it had taken one file but "we didn't mean any harm. Nintendo had already fixed it anyway." Nintendo is expected to unveil its new gaming console and successor to its hit product, the Wii, on Tuesday. It will be the first home console to enter the market in five years. (Reporting by Liana B. Baker, editing by Maureen Bavdek) |
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