Tech News Today 513

Tech News Today Episode 513

Tech News Today 513: Sexy Stuxnet

US conducting cyberwar, Google tries to out-map Apple, Microsoft pisses off advertisers, and more.

Submit and vote on story coverage at technewstoday.reddit.com

Hosts

• Tom Merritt (@acedtect)
  • TomMerritt.com
• Sarah Lane (@SarahLane)
  • SarahLane.com
• Iyaz Akhtar (@Iyaz)
• Jason Howell (@RayGun01)
• Darren Kitchen
  • hak5.org

Top Stories

• Confirmed: US and Israel created Stuxnet, lost control of it
• How Obama Was Dangerously Naive About STUXNET and Cyberwarfare
• Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran
  • Report in NY Times today called "Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran" by David Sanger is an excerpt from his book "Confront and Conceal: Obama’s Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power"
  • Report confirms US and Israel's governments developed Stuxnet
  • It was targeted specifically at Iranian nuclear centrifuge equipment in the Natanz facility and used to break the equipment and set back Iranian nuclear development
  • The program (Olympic Games) first authorised by president Bush - used some beacon code to map out network connections within plant
  • Natanz was not networked, so how to get it in? . “That was our holy grail,” one of the architects of the plan said. “It turns out there is always an idiot around who doesn’t think much about the thumb drive in their hand.”
  • Program worked as intended, disabling centrifuges, but in 2010 got out on the Internet. It was not supposed to be capable of that.
  • Technology Review's Christopher Mims notes that once Stuxnet got out hackers began to learn more about how to infect industrial control systems
  • "I think this undercuts the Internet Freedom agenda in a big way," Chris Bronk, a former State Department official, the former State Department official, added. "(It shows that the US) is willing to use the digital agora as a weapon whenever we need to. I think that’s playing both sides of the fence."

• Nano-SIM design gets green light -- but did Apple win?
• ETSI names new nano-SIM format, 40 percent smaller than Micro-SIM
• Nokia acknowledges nano-SIM decision, now says it's 'prepared' to license essential patents
• One nano-SIM to rule them all: Apple submission approved as standard
  • European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has approved a design for the "nano-SIM" or 4FFa new smaller version of the SIM card.
  • Ars and Macworld report committee-member Giesecke & Devrient say Apple's design won.
  • 40% smaller than micro-SIM (12.3mm x 8.8mm and .67 mm thin)
  • Will be backwards compatible with micro-SIM slots
  • Uses sliding tray (no notch as in competing proposal for "push-push")
  • Apple met RIM, Motorola, Nokia almost halfway
  • Nokia still believes Apple's design is inferior, but backed away from threats not license necessary patents under FRAND.

• Google Promises To Unveil The “Next Dimension Of Google Maps” Next Week
• Google planning to introduce 'the next dimension' of maps on June 6th
• Google to head Apple off at the pass by holding 3D Maps event on June 6th, just before WWDC
• Google holding Maps event on June 6th
  • Google announced it is holding an event on June 6th at 9:30AM
  • The invite says "The Next Dimension of Google Maps" with a nicely rendered image of California with a pin rising out of it
  • The invitation also notes that Google will offer attendees “a behind-the-scenes look at Google Maps and share our vision."
  • RWW: we also poked around a bit and, as far as what we’ve heard, 3D is definitely on the table for this event.
  • Speculation time: 3D coming to the maps? Maybe the browser or the android app.
  • People are also pointing out Apple's widely rumored to be dropping Google Maps from iOS at WWDC, that keynote is on June 11th.

Discussion Stories

• Microsoft turns on 'do not track' by default in IE10
• Microsoft sets 'do not track' as default on IE10, ruffles feathers
• Microsoft ticks off advertisers with IE10 'Do Not Track' policy
  • IE 10 will require users to opt-in if they wish to be tracked
  • IE9, Firefox and Chrome all require users to turn do not track on, or opt-out
  • "This decision reflects our commitment to providing Windows customers an experience that is 'private by default' in an era when so much user data is collected online," said Dean Hachamovitch, head of Internet Explorer, in a blog post
  • The US executive branch asked in February for browser makers to implement a do not track button
  • Association of National Advertisers, a consortium of 450 companies, strongly opposed Microsoft's plan, calling it "irresponsible."
  • "Microsoft's decision, made without industry discussion or consensus, undercuts years of tireless, collaborative efforts across the business community," said Bob Liodice, CEO of ANA. "We reject efforts by any provider or other group to unilaterally impose choices on the consumer in this critical area of the economy."
  • Microsoft doesn't yet support the feature on its own websites

• Acer, Toshiba To Take On IPads With Windows 8 Tablets
  • Acer, Toshiba, & Asus will release Windows 8 tablets next week at Computex in Taipei Taiwan, people with knowledge of the matter said. the show runs June 5-9
  • Toshiba to show a tablet and a notebook-type device
  • Asustek to show tablets with detachable keyboards similar to its current Transformer model
  • iOS and Android tablets together own 91% of tablet market
  • ARM-based chips in Win8 tablets a big change from Intel & AMD exclusively providing chips for Windows machines. Intel has over 80% of the PC-chip market.
  • Asustek will demonstrate tablets based on an Nvidia Tegra chip and another powered by an Intel chip for comparison, the people said.
  • The Acer (2353) tablet is built around an Intel chip, while Toshiba is using Texas Instruments ARM chip.
  • Qualcomm, the world’s largest maker of mobile-phone chips, will demonstrate a test device running Windows 8 based on its Snapdragon processor
  • Microsoft VP Steven Guggenheimer is set to show off Asustek devices in a presentation at the show on June 6
  • The tablet market is poised to grow 70% a year on average through 2015, according to estimates from Evercore Group LLC

• Chrome or IE? Who Won the May Browser Wars? (StatCounter has Chrome in the lead fpor first time it has done it for an entire month -- last report we did was when Chrome won for an entire week. Net Applications has Chrome third)
• Chrome or IE? Who Won the May Browser Wars?
• Google says Chrome is slamming IE's market share
  • Chrome may be the most popular browser. Depending on who you ask
  • StatCounter, which previously rated Chrome the most popular for one day in March and for one week last month, not says Chrome was most popular in May, passing IE
  • Chrome took 32.43% IE 32.12% and Firefox 25.55% and Safari 7.09% Opera 1.77%
  • Net Applications pegs Internet Explorer at 54.05 percent with Firefox ahead of Chrome at 19.7 percent and 19.6 percent respectively.
  • Net Applications uses unique users and StatCounter pageviews/
  • Net Applications spokesman Vince Vizzaccaro told PCMag country-level weighting is likely the biggest factor, adding that IE has a very strong market share in the U.S. and China, which carry the largest bases of Internet users.
  • At D10 Sundar Pichai, SVP Chrome, said that the browser grew about 300 percent last year, with "hundreds of millions of active users,"

News Fuse

• Facebook's changes to its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and its Data Use Policy are up for a vote for a one-week period thanks to the efforts of Max Schrems, the founder of Europe vs. Facebook. The voting period starts today. If more than 30% of all active users vote, then Facebook will go with the will of the voters. If less than 30% vote, Facebook will consider the vote "advisory." Voting ends June 8th at 9AM.

• Responding to Google's European complaint that Nokia and Microsoft were using proxy companies to damage Android, Nokia responded by saying the complaint was "wrong" and "frivolous." Microsoft called it a "desperate tactic." Microsoft also took a shot at Google for not responding to complaints by regulators over use of patents.

• Examiner.com reports that Microsoft will unveil a something called "Xbox Smart Glass"to select people. The "Microsoft Confidenial" presentation says Smart Glass will let users control their 360 remotely and will be cross platform with support for Windows, Windows Phone, Android and iOS. A demo will be shown at E3, but no live video will be featured. Engadget describes it as similar to Airplay.

• AT&T's CEO says that within two years, we're likely to see data-only cellphone plans. That wouldn't mean the death of the voice call - texts and minutes would be part of the gigabytes you use up every month.

• Cricket just landed a prepaid iPhone the other day, but according to TechnoBuffalo, Sprint subsidiary Boost Mobile may soon join the fray. The company could be selling the iPhone 4 and the 4s in "early September."

• The Guardian reports the European Commission has given Google until July 2nd to offer changes to its search results or else there could be litigation and maybe a big fine ahead. The EC is currently looking into Google's dominance in the the search market and whether it stifles competition by favoring its own properties.
  • EU gives Google until July 2nd to address anti-competitive search practices, says The Guardian

• TechCrunch reports that Facebook will be integrated in iOS 6, which should make it a lot easier for other apps to use Facebook Connect without having to switch apps. However, don't expect Facebook to be baked into the next version of OS X - that's not happening.

• Facebook was not functioning properly for a few hours yesterday. So what caused the glitch? Facebook isn't giving details but a spokesperson said that the problem was not caused by a denial-of-service attack.

• The dispute over whether Samsung copied iPhone's design came before the ITC today. And we also heard from Cheech and Chong. U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Thomas Pender said he would apply the "Cheech & Chong test" to the case, referring to the comedy duo's routine about dog feces, according to a Bloomberg account. "Does it look like it, feel like it, smell like it?" he said.

Randomizer

• Nook version of War and Peace turns the word "kindled" into "Nookd"

Calendar

• Social Meets Search with the Latest Version of Bing, Available to Everyone in US Today

• Best Buy Connect no longer accepting new activations, service to end June 1

• Apple sending MobileMe users a 30-day warning to transfer their data to iCloud

• Top jailbreaker pod2g will be speaking and running a workshop at JailbreakCon September 29th in San Francisco

• Tuesday is last chance to see transit of Venus - It happens only four times every 243 years. If you want to see the famed transit of Venus, next Tuesday is your last chance, unless you're really young or plan to live really long, next transit will be in 2117.

INCOMING

Email

"Hi guys, Just thought I'd remind you that in episode 408 Tom predicted that Windows phone will have 17% market share by June 1!

Love the show, Andrew Brackin"

"I think it's worth pointing out that people that are used to the desktop aren't just old school power users. It's not just people being cranky geeks.

In the corporate world, think of all the otherwise not computer/smartphone/tablet using workers who know the desktop interface exclusively for how they use it at work. Microsoft's idea of thinking people are used these types of interfaces on their phones/tablets is extremely youth and consumer centric. I can't imagine trying to train a bunch of folks in a corporation how to do their job in the windows 8 transition.

I don't see this being popular among large companies.

-- Kai Fuller"

Sponsors

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Production Information

• Edited by: Jason
• Notes:

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