Tech News Today 281
Episode 281 |
Recorded: July 11, 2011 Published: July 11, 2011 Duration: 51:08 |
Contents
Tech News Today 281: Patent Passion
AntiSec hits the military, Ballmer keynote very un-Ballmer-like, Google gets an eReader, and more.
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Hosts
- Tom Merritt (@acedtect)
- Sarah Lane (@sarahlane)
- Jason Howell (@raygun01)
- Darren Kitchen (@hak5darren)
Top Stories
- Hackers claim they exposed Booz Allen Hamilton data
- Anonymous releases 90k Military emails and passwords
- Anonymous AntiSec movement compromised a server at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton and have released internal data, they call "Military Meltdown Monday" including about 90,000 military e-mail addresses. Deleted source code from servers.
- No comment from Booz Allen
- Statement from AntiSec claimed they hacked Booz Allen for similar reasons as the hack on HB Gary
- HB Gary was going to unmask Internet activists, conduct an astroturfing campaign, counter wikileaks and spy on unions.
- AntiSec also includes an "invoice for our audit of your security systems," for a total of $310, for four hours of work. **Also claimed to have boosted "maps and keys for various other treasure chests buried on the islands of government agencies, federal contractors and shady whitehat companies. This material surely will keep our blackhat friends busy for a while."
- Ballmer: Windows Phone 7 Not Successful Yet
- Microsoft's Steve Ballmer says '400 million Windows 7 licenses sold'
- Ballmer Talks About How Skype Will Fit Into Microsoft
- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer during the opening keynote Monday at the 2011 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, being held this week in Los Angeles.
- In uncharacteristic Ballmer pridelessness - "In a year, we've gone from very small to ... very small," he said, referring to the market share that phone operating
- He noted that Microsoft had sold more than 350 million licences for Windows 7, while other unnamed companies, presumably Apple, were celebrating success with only 20 million copies of their OS. "350 is a lot more than 20," Win7 the fastest-selling operating system in history
- Also stressed the cloud - He noted that technologies from competitors such as Oracle and VMware "[have] merit, but what we think what customers want to do is match between the public and private clouds," he said.
- One of the great motivations in acquiring Skype was enabling the enterprise to have as much control as it wants through Active Directory and Lync, but also making it easier to connect enterprises to consumers and business partners around the world.
- Xbox Music coming this fall with 11 million songs
- Windows marketing chief Tami Reller made the promise pretty explicit: "The hardware you're making today will be able to take advantage of Windows 8 tomorrow." Win7 software will run on Win8
- "Bing is probably the Microsoft product or service that our partners spend the least amount of time with now. That will change over next few years. We're thinking about architecture that will allow us to open Bing up over time to be more of a platform."
- $140 Google eBooks reader, iriver Story HD, hits stores July 17
- Official Google blog post
- Cnet story with specs
- iRiver Story HD launches July 17 with Google Books as its store (first to have it integrated) priced at $139.99 for a WiFi-only version, available in Target stores nationwide July 17.
- Upgrade from 2009's iRiver Story
- 3 million free titles 100,000 paid
- Can read titles from Google Books over WiFi connection
- Resolution of screen: 768x1,024 pixels
- has 63.8 percent more pixels and faster page turns
Discussion Stories
- 28% of US smartphone owners use them as primary 'Net connection
- More U.S. Adults Own a Smartphone Than Have a Degree
- Pew Internet Project 83% have some kind of cell phone, From that group, 42% have a smart phone, of THAT 28% access the Internet this way most of the time, which amounts to 10 percent of all cell owners or 8 percent of all adults in the US and OF THAT nearly 1/3 lack any kind of traditional broadband Internet access.
- "Smartphone owners under the age of 30, non-white smartphone users, and smartphone owners with relatively low income and education levels are particularly likely to say that they mostly go online using their phones,"
- nearly half of those who are employed full time have a smartphone, while just over a quarter of those who are not employed have one.
- More Americans own Smartphones than hold a bachelor’s degree
- Pew surveyed 2,277 US adults between April and May of this year
- DOJ: We Can Force You To Decrypt That Laptop
- Ramona Fricosu, is accused of fraudulent real estate transactions. During the investigation, the government seized an encrypted laptop from the home she shares with her family, and then asked the court to compel Fricosu to type the password into the computer or turn over a decrypted version of her data.
- Prosecution (Department of Justice) claims this is similar to asking for blood samples, fingerprints or a key to a safe.
- The prosecutor in the case has insisted that the defendant would not be forced to disclose her passphrase, but only to enter the passphrase into a computer to decrypt the drive.
- EFF in an amicus brief says compelling the defendant to decrypt the laptop would violate 5th Ammendment protection against self-incrimination
- "Decrypting the data on the laptop can be, in and of itself, a testimonial act--revealing control over a computer and the files on it," according to the EFF's Marcia Hoffman
- Google + causes everyone to state opinion about Google +, leads to smallest innocuous comment from Vic Gundotra to make headlines!
- Google: Changes coming to Google+ this week
- Next up for Google Plus Hangouts: Sign language support
- Google+ Runs Out of Disk Space, Swamps Users With Notifications
- Google+ looking to piggyback off Gmail; integration aplenty
- How Google+ Will Balkanize Your Social Life
- I predict that Google+ will go from 0 to 100,000,000 users faster than any other service in history.
- LIKE IT OR NOT
- Google+ now has 4.7m US users – why I'm not surprised
- Ford wins a rare corporate foothold on Google+
- Vic Gundotra wrote: "Lots of criticism for Google+," Gundotra wrote at about 2:05 a.m. EDT today. "We are listening and working to address. Stay tuned for changes this week." = Computer World Headline "Google: Changes coming to Google+ this week"
- Google is going to launch a field test with users fluent in American Sign Langauge (ASL) to make Hangouts more accessible to deaf and hearing impaired users. Way to identify when someone is signing and put them on the main camera.
- "Yesterday, many users of Google+ noticed Google spamming their inbox with multiple email notifications in very quick succession. Earlier today, Vic Gundotra, Head of Social at Google, explained what was causing it – Google ran out of disk space on the server that keeps track of notifications."
- "How Google+ Will Balkanize Your Social Life" MIT's Technology Review -- "I predict that Google+ will go from 0 to 100,000,000 users faster than any other service in history." Bill Gross of Technology Incubator Idealab (on Google Plus) -- Dhanji R. Prasanna, hacker-at-large. Worked on Google PLus for a time and wrote " I predict that while Google+ will not usurp the throne from facebook per se, it will instead grow into a strong, competitive player and much-needed alternative."
- New research by Paul Allen, a serial entrepreneur and founder of Ancestry.com, claims that in the US alone there are 4.7m users.
- Ford gets the first (?) Company Profile page in Google Plus. Google has been deleting other corporate accounts saying Google + is optimized for individuals.
- Apple coughing up $8 million to Personal Audio in iPod playlist settlement
- W3C Wants to Invalidate Apple’s Widget Patents
- Apple files second ITC patent infringement complaint against HTC
- Apple fires second legal salvo at HTC
- PATENTLY APPLE?
- Personal Audio, a patent licensing company with a highfalutin' facility in Beaumont, Texas won a decision in the Eastern District court of Texas. Apple being asked to hand over $8 million to settle iPod found to violate patent for downloadable playlists.
- The W3C issued a call for prior art invalidating two Apple patents — #7,743,336, which describes a widget security system, and application #20070101146, which covers “safe distribution and use of content.” The W3C had hoped Apple would grant it a royalty-free license for that IP so it could be included in its Widget Access Request Policy specification for Web apps
- Apple has filed a second complaint against HTC. Targeted in the complaint are more than a dozen Android smartphones and its Flyer tablet.
News Fuse
- News Corp's purchase of British Sky Broadcasting hit a snag. The deal will be subject to the U.K.'s Competition Commission which ought to delay the purchase to 2012 at the earliest. Both News Corp's and BSkyB's stock dipped after the news made the rounds.
- HTC has announced a timeline for its phones that support unlocking the bootloader. Over on its Facebook page, HTC says to expect the HTC Sensation in August and some unstated time later, expect the Sensation 4G and EVO 3D on T-Mobile and Sprint respectively. The ability to unlock the bootloader should be fully operational by early September.
- The head of strategy and product management for Samsung's U.S. mobile division, Omar Khan, has jumped ship. Khan is leaving to take a position at Citigroup. A Samsung representative spun the situation saying, "Omar is not leaving to a join a competitor to Samsung, and we anticipate having a continued relationship with him once he settles into his new role."
- Researchers at North Carolina State University have found a new piece of malware that targets certain Android devices. It's called "HippoSMS" and it texts a premium number without the user's permission. The attacker gets paid a portion of the revenue earned by that premium number. Additionally, HippoSMS deletes incoming texts that could alert the user of an issue. The malware was found in alternative Android markets (not in the official Google App Market) and appears to affect only users in China.
- The six company consortium that bid $4.5 billion on Nortel's patents has received court approval to buy those patents. The consortium known as "Rockstar Bidco LP" includes Apple, Microsoft, and RIM. Once the deal is officially completed, they will be the proud owners of 6,000 patents and patent applications related to wireless networking technologies like LTE. Although outbid, Google gets A for Awesome with their bid of $3.14159M.
- PCMag reports that DisplayPort to HDMI cables may be recalled. The marketing director of HDMI LLC said that any cable that doesn't include HDMI connectors on both ends is a violation of the HDMI spec. That would mean that mini-DisplayPort-to-HDMI cables could be illegal. HDMI LLC could require that those cables are recalled, but it hasn't done so yet.
- IDC says that Android tablets accounted for 34% of global tablet sales for the first quarter of 2011. Compared to the previous quarter, that's an increase of 8.2% for Android tablets, but tablet shipments overall declined 28%. The iPad is still the dominant tablet, but looks like Android is gaining ground.
- Verizon's unlimited plans aren't dead dead, they're just mostly dead. If you were a Verizion subscriber with an unlimited 3G plan, you'll be able to upgrade to a 4G phone and keep that unlimited plan plus get access to a $30 a month 4G tethering plan. Verizon posted the news on its Verizon Support twitter account.
Randomizer
Calendar
- Firefox 7 pre-release with reduced memory footprint lands in Aurora channel - Firefox 5 arrived last month...version 6 reached beta status last week and is expected to launch on August 16.
- Apple seeds iOS 5 beta 3, iTunes 10.5 beta 3, Xcode 4.2 Preview 3, Xcode 4.1 GM to developers
- Tonight, live on the MLB's Facebook fan page you can watch the Home Run Derby, facebook.com/mlb. You can also watch on ESPN and MLB's apps.
- HTC Status ships July 17th, currently in a pre-order relationship with AT&T - a physical Facebook "Share" button that'll allow photos / videos /websites to be uploaded to your account.
- T-Mobile’s HTC myTouch 4G Slide hits July 27th for $200 on contract. Pre-orders start July 19
- If you haven't signed up for your free year of identity theft protection from Sony, you now have until the 31st of July to sign up.
- Nyko Zoom gives space-limited Kinect users more room on August 23 - $29 device that'll attach to your Kinect sensor to reduce the amount of flail-space required by about 40 percent.
- BlackBerry Internet Service 4.1 coming October 8th, when a user adds an account to BIS, the most recent 20 msgs on the server will be downloaded. previously only message sent after setup would be included. other improvements like attachment size bumped up to 8 mb, etc
Voicemail
"Hi Tom,
Loved the show as usual. Just listening in on the post show for July 8/11.
I too have had the unfortunate situation of dropping my iPhone into the water. It worked pretty well after a few hours in rice, with the exception of my ""sleep"" button (the button on the very top of the phone)...not the end of the world. Apple of course wouldn't fix it - water damage - so I suffered through without the use of the button. From time to time my phone would freak out and want to turn itself off (the slide to power off screen would appear, unprompted). After a few months of dealing with it...this week my phone suddenly began working good as new. I have full use of the sleep button again and no more unprompted powering off my phone. Perhaps there is hope for your phone too? Good luck.
Kate Halifax, Nova Scotia - Canada"
"I have heard a lot lately about what G+ is supposed to be for the end user. Many are looking to supplant Twitter or Facebook, others just can't quite put their finger on what G+ is all about. To me, its about targeted communication.
Twitter is really just a fire hose. Its great, you get a continual stream of information, but its untargeted and a bit cluttered, but fun. Facebook becomes more like a private club, where everyone in your circle is connected and you know anything said will be seen by all of them. G+ is more. This big thing for me with G+ is the circles. As a photographer and tech geek, I find myself often sharing information that is not germane to a portion of my audience. Now I can talk about developing film just to film photographers, discuss the finer points of Lightroom with the digital guys and talk about technology in general with those that are interested. I can control my signal to noise ratio to my audience, sending targeted messages to those who care... It strengthens my voice. That's why G+ is supplanting Facebook for me, because I need a firehose, but I don't need a private club when I can focus my message. G+ trumps Facebook for me, but does not fill Twitter's niche. Everyones mileage will vary. --
Michael W. Gray"
Sponsors
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Production Information
- Edited by: Jason
- Notes:
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