Addicted to the Internet

Pac-Man on Google wasted 4.8 million hours

2010-05-25T23:52:00.001-04:00

It might not sound like a lot on first glance, but the 36 extra seconds that the average Google.com visitor spent there last Friday playing Pac-Man adds up to a massive 4.8 million of wasted hours.

According to a study by RescueTime, Pac-Man on Google--the playable version of the iconic game that the search giant replaced its home page logo with on Friday--cost the economy a total of 4,819,352 man-hours and a whopping $120,483,800 in lost productivity. As RescueTime put it, you could hire every single Google employee, including co-founders Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and CEO Eric Schmidt, and get them for six weeks for that much money.

Still, it's hard to get too worked up over 36 extra seconds of time someone might have spent on Google. After all, how much time does the average person spend not doing work when other time-sucks come along, like presidential elections, sports championships, "Lost" finales, the death of celebrities like Michael Jackson, and so on. Clearly, that number is an average, and so it masks that fact that some people probably lost most of their day Friday to Google's remake of the 30-year-old game.

What's more interesting to me is how much time people lost because other people were playing Pac-Man, or because they couldn't figure out how to stop the game from running automatically and playing its theme music.

After I wrote about the release of the remake, I got a flood of e-mails from people complaining that they couldn't figure out how to shut off the game, and the music. Later in the day, Google modified the game so that the sound could be turned off, but before that happened, a lot of people certainly struggled with that. And some companies and government agencies surely had to figure out how to disable Google's home page because of policies banning game playing at work.

Still, I suspect that many, many more people had a great time with the Google experiment, and I bet even most businesses didn't mind too much. After all, having happy employees is a good thing. source: CNET

Facebook must stop tricking its users, says Danah Boyd

2010-05-18T11:54:00.002-04:00

Danah Boyd, the researcher who accused Google and Facebook of failing users on privacy earlier this year, has called on Facebook to embrace “radical transparency”. In a post on her blog at the weekend, Boyd recalled the reaction to her speech at the South By Southwest conference in Texas:

    “After my talk, I received numerous emails from folks at Google, including the PM in charge of Buzz. The tenor was consistent, effectively: ‘we f—– up, we’re trying to fix it, please help us.’ What startled me was the radio silence from Facebook…”

Boyd joins a growing number of technology experts who are criticising Facebook’s approach to privacy. Her argument is particularly powerful since she takes the time to gather data about these things.

    “Youth are actually much more concerned about exposure than adults these days. Why? Probably because they get it. And it’s why they’re using fake names and trying to go on the DL (down-low).

    “A while back, I was talking with a teenage girl about her privacy settings and noticed that she had made lots of content available to friends-of-friends. I asked her if she made her content available to her mother. She responded with, ‘of course not!’ I had noticed that she had listed her aunt as a friend of hers and so I surfed with her to her aunt’s page and pointed out that her mother was a friend of her aunt, thus a friend-of-a-friend. She was horrified. It had never dawned on her that her mother might be included in that grouping.”

This kind of confusion is understandable given the complexity of Facebook’s privacy settings. Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s vice president for public policy, told the New York Times last week that Facebook can’t win – it is criticised for not allowing enough control if the privacy settings are simple and it is criticised for being too confusing when it allow more granular control.

However, Boyd says Facebook can do more:

    “If Facebook wanted radical transparency, they could communicate to users every single person and entity who can see their content. They could notify then when the content is accessed by a partner. They could show them who all is included in ‘friends-of-friends’ (or at least a number of people). They hide behind lists because people’s abstractions allow them to share more. When people think ‘friends-of-friends’ they don’t think about all of the types of people that their friends might link to; they think of the people that their friends would bring to a dinner party if they were to host it. When they think of everyone, they think of individual people who might have an interest in them, not 3rd party services who want to monetize or redistribute their data. Users have no sense of how their data is being used and Facebook is not radically transparent about what that data is used for. Quite the opposite. Convolution works. It keeps the press out.”

Boyd closes by emphasising the importance of choice for Facebook users:

    “The battle that is underway is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It’s a battle over choice and informed consent. It’s unfolding because people are being duped, tricked, coerced, and confused into doing things where they don’t understand the consequences. Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is completely unfair. It gives users the illusion of choice and hides the details away from them ‘for their own good.’”

However, Facebook is closing in on 500 million users. It might calculate that it can afford to annoy a few of them in order to get what it wants. source: Telegraph

Megan Fox wants to hurt whoever took her nude picture

2010-05-18T11:49:00.000-04:00

Megan Fox might be known — in part — for being a sex symbol, but don’t even think about snapping an unauthorized photo of her in any state of undress.

Allure magazine interviewed Fox and told her about a blurry topless picture of her that was taken on a cell phone. The image was leaked while she was filming her new independent movie “Passion Play,” in which she plays a circus-sideshow performer who has bird wings.

“If I knew who took this picture, I would personally cause them harm — physical harm,” Fox told Allure. “I’m not a f---ing reality-TV star that’s courting the paparazzi and wants my f---ing picture taken all the time. I’m at my job and I’m trying to play a character and I’m trying to be serious, and this is the sh-- that’s happening to me. It makes me furious.”

Other things that make Fox’s dislikes list include industry events and compliments.

As for industry events, Fox said, “Everyone blows sunshine up everyone else’s ass.” Which brings her to that thing about compliments: “I hate receiving compliments; I hate being told I’m talented or people think I’m going to be a movie star. I always feel that it’s forced and fake.” source: MSNBC

Noynoy, Binay keep leads in latest PPCRV tally

2010-05-11T22:56:00.000-04:00

Updated as of 05/12/2010 10:00 AM

Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay have maintained their lead in the latest tally released by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), which represents votes transmitted by 67,681 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.

Aquino kept a wide margin of 4,883,215 over his closest rival, former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada, who has refused to concede to the senator.

Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, meanwhile, remains closely behind Binay. Binay only has a total of 798,999 lead over the senator.

Nacionalista Party's Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. was the first presidential candidate to concede to Aquino. He was followed by John Carlos de los Reyes, Sen. Richard Gordon and Gilbert Teodoro.

Results of the latest PPCRV tally as of 5:15 a.m.:

For president

Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III - 13,419,501
former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada - 8,536,286
Sen. Manuel "Manny" Villar - 4,851,188
Gilberto Teodoro Jr. - 3,583,710
Eddie Villanueve - 999,906
Sen. Richard Gordon - 454,986
Nicanor Perlas - 47,740
Jamby Madrigal - 40,998
John Carlos "JC" de los Reyes - 39,039

For vice president,

Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay - 13,115,669
Sen. Manual "Mar"Roxas - 12,316,670
Sen. Loren Legarda - 3,683,419
Bayani Fernando - 913,465
Edu Manzano - 688,756
Perfecto Yasay - 322,637
Jay Sonza - 56,203
Dominador Chipeco - 46,287

For senators

Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. - 17,303,512
Jinggoy Estrada - 16,923,007
Miriam Defensor Santiago - 15,473,883
Franklin Drilon - 14,179,561
Juan Ponce Enrile - 13,992,593
Pia Cayetano - 12,245,640
Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. - 11,785,333
Ralph Recto - 11,074,245
Vicente "Tito" Sotto III - 10,620,224
Serge Osmeña - 10,409,943
Lito Lapid - 9,760,497
Teofisto "TG" Guingona III - 9,212,023
Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel - 8,185,058
Ruffy Biazon - 7,723,857
Joey de Venecia - 7,456,531

Partial proclamation

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Lucenito Tagle said the poll body can already make a partial proclamation for senators.

Tagle said they can already proclaim the first 10 leading senatorial candidates in the Comelec's partial count as of 4 p.m. Tuesday.

He, however, said they have decided to wait for all the PCOS machines' transmittal before making the proclamation, which he said, may happen Thursday or Friday.

Tagle said the 4 p.m. Tuesday tally of the Comelec came from at least 87% of all the PCOS machines for the country's first-ever nationwide automated elections

Noynoy's girlfriend proclaimed Valenzuela councilor

2010-05-10T23:45:00.000-04:00

Updated as of 05/11/2010 11:34 AM

A winning couple?

Shalani Soledad, Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III's girlfriend, has been proclaimed as councilor of Valenzuela City's 2nd district.

A radio dzMM report said Soledad topped the race for councilor in her district.

Aquino has also been leading by a wide margin in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) partial count for the presidential race.

As of 9:39 a.m., Aquino already had 12,587,406 votes followed by former president Joseph Estrada.

On third place was Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. with 4,477,209.

Meanwhile, the local election office has also proclaimed Sherwin Gatchalian as winner in Valenzuala's mayoralty race.

The winning vice-mayor was Eric Martinez. -- Report from Dennis Datu, radio dzMM

Villar concedes to Aquino

2010-05-10T23:38:00.002-04:00

Updated as of 05/11/2010 11:22 AM

Nacionalista Party's (NP) Sen. Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. on Tuesday conceded to Liberal Party's Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

"I congratulate Sen. Noynoy Aquino on his victory," Villar said in a press conference.

The NP candidate also offered to help Aquino if he wins the presidential race.

"The challenges our country face are enormous and we should work together," Villar said.

As of 11:00 a.m., the Commission on Elections (Comelec) partial and official count showed Aquino was leading by a wide margin over former president Joseph Estrada.

Aquino had 12,587,406 votes followed by Erap with 8,015,110 votes. Villar was on third with only 4,477,209 votes.

Noynoy, Binay continue to lead in Comelec count

2010-05-10T23:23:00.006-04:00

Updated as of 05/11/2010 11:00 AM

Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay pulled away further in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) partial and unofficial tally for president and vice-president released on Tuesday morning. As of 6:15 a.m., Aquino had a nearly 4.5 million lead over former president Joseph Estrada while Binay had more than 800,000 lead over his closest rival, Mar Roxas.

Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said 30,431,735 votes cast or 78.55% of total votes cast on May 10 had been transmitted by the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.

The results as read by Comelec Chairman Jose Melo were:

VOTES FOR PRESIDENT (Comelec partial count as of 6:15 a.m.)
Benigno Aquino III	12,233,002	40.19 %
Joseph Estrada	7,749,597	25.46 %
Manuel Villar Jr.	4,329,215	14.22 %
Gilbert Teodoro Jr	3,243,688	10.65 %
Eddie Villanueva	916,543	3.01 %
Richard Gordon	431,954	1.41%
Nicanor Perlas	42,205	0.13 %
Jamby Madrigal	37,119	0.12 %
JC de los Reyes	34,833	0.11 %

VOTES FOR VICE PRESIDENT (Comelec partial count as of 6:15 a.m.)
Jejomar Binay	12,025,429	39.51%
Manuel Roxas II	11,213,563	36.84 %
Loren Legarda	3,259,963	10.71 %
Bayani Fernando	847,100	2.78 %
Edu Manzano	593,653	1.95 %
Perfecto Yasay	295,558	0.97 %
Jay Sonsa	50,722	0.16 %
Dominador Chipeco	40,335	0.13 %

Reelectionist senators Ramon Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada remained on top of the senatorial race, getting more than half of the total votes transmitted by the PCOS machines.

VOTES FOR SENATOR (Comelec partial count as of 6:15 a.m.)
Ramon Revilla Jr.	15,813,329
Jinggoy Estrada	15,567,636
Miriam Defensor Santiago	14,303,091
Franklin Drilon	13,088, 779
Juan Ponce Enrile	12,934,515
Pia Cayetano	11,331,696
Ferdinand Marcos Jr.	10,984,495
Ralph Recto	10,208,616
Vicente Sotto III	9,852,406
Sergio Osmeña III	9,547,093
Lito Lapid	8,916,136
Teofisto "TG" Guingona	8,493,334
Risa Hontiveros	7,592,116
Ruffy Biazon	7,147,461
Jose de Venecia Jr.	6,896,071
Gilbert Remulla	6,227,571
Danilo Lim	6,083,423
Sonia Roco	5,587,412
Ariel Querubin	5,441,247
Gwen Pimentel	5,108,573
Nereus Acosta	4,843,018
Alex Lacson	4,247,512
Adel Tamano	3,287,561
Liza Maza	3,169,923

Erap Junks Binay

2010-05-10T12:52:00.001-04:00

The video shows that Erap did not vote for Binay, who is known to be his vice president running mate for 2010 Philippines Elections.

Aquino set for big win in presidential race

2010-05-10T12:33:00.000-04:00

Updated as of 05/10/2010 11:49 PM

Benigno Aquino was on course Monday for a landslide win in the Philippine presidential race after an historic election that saw millions of Filipinos embrace his promise to fight endemic graft.

The senator's emphatic early lead in the vote count came after a tumultuous polling day in which 10 people were killed across the country, and technical glitches marred the introduction of an automated polling system.

Aquino, son of the Southeast Asian nation's most revered democracy heroes, established a huge lead over former president Joseph Estrada with 38.25 percent of the vote counted on Monday night, the election commission said.

Aquino had secured 40.44 percent of the votes counted, with Estrada on 25.76 percent and business titan Manny Villar in third place with 13.98 percent, Commission on Election chair Jose Melo told reporters.

Estrada enjoyed the most emphatic win in Philippine electoral history in 1998 when he received 39 percent of the vote.

Although the commission needed to count more votes before declaring a winner, the early trends reflected opinion polls carried out ahead of Monday's election that showed Aquino would swamp his rivals.

Aquino deftly tapped into popular sentiment for his parents by pledging a new style of clean government following nearly 10 years of rule under President Gloria Arroyo, whose reign has been tainted by allegations of massive graft.

"Corruption is the single biggest threat to our democracy," Aquino, a 50-year-old bachelor who has an economics degree, said on his official blog.

His mother, former president Corazon Aquino, led the "people power" revolution that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

His father, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, was shot dead three years earlier as he attempted to return from US exile to lead the democracy movement against Marcos.

The bespectacled Aquino was a latecomer to the presidential race, declaring his candidacy only after his mother's death from cancer last August plunged the country into mourning and demonstrated the power of the family name.

About 75 percent of the 50 million eligible voters turned up at polling stations on Monday, reflecting Filipinos' deep commitment to democracy.

But violence that always plagues Philippine politics inevitably flared.

More than 17,000 positions were at stake -- from president down to municipal council seats -- and local politicians who are infamous for using their "private armies" to eliminate rivals or intimidate voters were out in force.

Ten people were killed on polling day, bringing the death toll from election-related violence over the past four months to at least 40, according to police statistics.

Two of the fatalities occurred as gunbattles raged in the flashpoint southern province of Maguindanao, where 57 people were killed in an election-linked massacre late last year.

Technological problems also emerged immediately after polls opened with some machines breaking down, and the election commission was forced to extend the voting period by one hour as long queues formed.

Nevertheless, the election commission and security chiefs insisted the country's first effort at automated polling had succeeded.

The elections "will go down in our nation's history as probably the most peaceful and orderly political exercise ever held in our land," national police director general Jesus Verzosa said.

Many colourful characters contested the elections, including world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, 31, who ran for a seat in the lower house.

Another candidate for the lower house was Imelda Marcos, 80, who gained global notoriety when thousands of her shoes were found in the presidential palace after her late husband overthrow in 1986.

Aquino, Binay lead in initial PPCRV tally

2010-05-10T09:06:00.000-04:00

Liberal Party presidential candidate Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III and Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino vice-presidential bet Jejomar Binay are early leaders in the presidential and vice-presidential races, based on the partial and unofficial tallies of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) of the May 10 nationwide automated election.

The PPCRV said it has tallied more than 2 million votes as of 7:51 p.m. Monday.

Aquino led the presidential race with 111,191 votes, followed by Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino's Joseph Estrada with 85,756 votes, Nacionalista Party bet Manny Villar with 69,756, Lakas-Kampi CMD bet Gilbert Teodoro 35,909, Bro. Eddie Villanueva 9,809, Vetellano Acosta 2,011, Richard Gordon 1,303, Nicanor Perlas 491 and Jamby Madrigal 418 votes.

In the vice-presidential race, Binay led with 118,092 votes, followed by Mar Roxas 91,991, Loren Legarda 66,061, Edu Manzano 10,490, Bayani Fernando 5,575, Perfecto Yasay Jr. 2,602, Jun Chipeco 591, and Jay Sonza 513.

Initial 2010 Philippines Election Results

2010-05-10T09:01:00.000-04:00

As of 8:21 PM, here are the unofficial results released by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting - PPCRV,

Benigno AQUINO III (Liberal Party) - 179,020

Joseph ESTRADA (Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino) - 136,295

Manuel VILLAR, Jr. (Nacionalista Party) - 102,271

Facebook Follows Foursquare, Checks in With McDonald's

2010-05-09T05:39:00.003-04:00

AdAge is reporting that Facebook is expected to challenge popular startup Foursquare by offering location-based status updates for its users later this month. McDonald's is allegedly building an application with Facebook to allow users to check in at one of its restaurants and have a featured product appear in the post. What will be interesting to see is what effect Facebook's move has on services from Gowalla and Foursquare, which has grown to support more than 1 million users in just over a year. Foursquare has already inked check-in deals with Starbucks and others but the startup is vastly outgunned by the nearly 500 million Facebook users.

Of all the items on the rumor menu for Facebook's F8 developer conference last month, a location-based service was one dish that failed to materialize.

Perhaps it is just taking longer to cook. AdAge is reporting that the leading social network is expected to challenge popular startup Foursquare by offering location-based status updates for its users later this month.

What makes this interesting is the rumor that Facebook will offer check-ins with a side of McDonald's.

The fast food chain is allegedly building an application with Facebook to allow users to check in at one of its restaurants and have a featured product appear in the post, said AdAge, citing executives close to the deal.

Coupons for Angus burgers and such could also be in the mix for Facebook users who check in while at participating McDonald's locations.

This deal would serve as its own advertising within an application. Indeed, AdAge said the app was negotiated as part of a "bigger media buy on Facebook, and McDonald's will be the first marketer to take advantage of the service."

The sky is the limit on pairing such timely and relevant ads with location. Moreover, the ad-within-the-app approach is looking promising, with companies such as Apple lending its weight to in-app ads with its impending iAd platform.

However, Facebook will have to be very careful about protecting user privacy with any location service The company is currently weathering privacy storms on multiple fronts.

The company launched social plugins and instant personalization at F8, sparking a protest from MoveOn.org. Facebook then suffered a flaw that exposed users' Facebook chat conversations.

That's not stopping other digital ad agencies looking to strike similar deals with Facebook, Digital marketing firm Context Optional CEO Karen Barenblat confirmed his team is working on Facebook location features for its retail clients.

What will be interesting to see is what effect Facebook's move has on services from Gowalla and Foursquare, which has grown to support more than 1 million users in just over a year.

Foursquare has already inked check-in deals with major brands PepsiCo, Starbucks, Bravo and MTV. For example, Foursquare users who check in at Starbucks locations will earn the "Barista badge" after five checkins.

However, the startup is vastly outgunned by the nearly 500 million Facebook users.

Social media experts say the pie is quite large enough to allow many companies to succeed, and Google, Twitter and a host of other Internet companies are already dabbling in location. The real winners may be who can learn the best advertisers to their sites, creating campaigns that draw in more users.

That's a win-win for a location provider such as Facebook and an advertiser such as McDonald's. McDonald's current slogan is "I'm Lovin' it." How long before Facebook users begin saying "I'm locatin it"?

Five hidden dangers of Facebook (Q&A)

2010-05-08T21:03:00.000-04:00

Facebook claims that it has 400 million users. But are they well-protected from prying eyes, scammers, and unwanted marketers?

Not according to Joan Goodchild, senior editor of CSO (Chief Security Officer) Online.

She says your privacy may be at far greater risk of being violated than you know, when you log onto the social-networking site, due to security gaffes or marketing efforts by the company.

Facebook came under fire this past week, when 15 privacy and consumer protection organizations filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, charging that the site, among other things, manipulates privacy settings to make users' personal information available for commercial use. Also, some Facebook users found their private chats accessible to everyone on their contact list--a major security breach that's left a lot of people wondering just how secure the site is.

In two words, asserts Goodchild: not very.

On "The Early Show on Saturday Morning," Goodchild spotlighted five dangers she says Facebook users expose themselves to, probably without being aware of them:

   1. Your information is being shared with third parties
   2. Privacy settings revert to a less safe default mode after each redesign
   3. Facebook ads may contain malware
   4. Your real friends unknowingly make you vulnerable
   5. Scammers are creating fake profiles

Below is an edited transcript of the interview.

Is Facebook a secure platform to communicate with your friends?
Here's the thing: Facebook is one of the most popular sites in the world. Security holes are being found on a regular basis. It is not as inherently secure as people think it is, when they log on every day.

Certainly, there are growing pains. Facebook is considered a young company, and it has been around a few years now. It is continuing to figure this out. They are so young, they are still trying to figure out how they are going to make money. It is hard to compare this to others; we have never had this phenomenon before in the way [so many] people are communicating with each other--only e-mail comes close.

The potential for crime is real. According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, victims of Internet-related crimes lost $559 million in 2009. That was up 110 percent from the previous year. If you're not careful using Facebook, you are looking at the potential for identity theft, or possibly even something like assault, if you share information with a dangerous person you think is actually a "friend." One British police agency recently reported that the number of crimes it has responded to in the last year involving Facebook climbed 346 percent. These are real threats.

Lately, it seems a week doesn't go by without some news about a Facebook-related security problem. Earlier this week, TechCrunch discovered a security hole that made it possible for users to read their friends' private chats. Facebook has since patched it, but who knows how long that flaw existed? Some speculate it may have been that way for years.

Last month, researchers at VeriSign's iDefense group discovered that a hacker was selling Facebook usernames and passwords in an underground hacker forum. It was estimated that he had about 1.5 million accounts--and was selling them for between $25 and $45.

And the site is constantly under attack from hackers trying to spam these 400 million users, or harvest their data, or run other scams. Certainly, there is a lot of criticism in the security community of Facebook's handling of security. Perhaps the most frustrating thing is that the company rarely responds to inquiries.

Do people really have privacy on Facebook?
No. There are all kinds of ways third parties can access information about you. For instance, you may not realize that, when you are playing the popular games on Facebook, such as FarmVille, or take those popular quizzes--every time you do that, you authorize an application to be downloaded to your profile that gives information to third parties about you that you have never signed off on.

Does Facebook share info about users with third parties through things such as Open Graph?
Open Graph is a new concept for Facebook, which unveiled it last month at its F8 conference. It actually is basically a way to share the information in your profile with all kinds of third parties, such as advertisers, so they can have a better idea of your interests and what you are discussing, so Facebook can--as portrayed--"make it a more personal experience."

The theory behind Open Graph--even if it has not implemented it--is its whole business model, isn't it?
That is the business model--Facebook is trying to get you to share as much information as possible so it can monetize it by sharing it with advertisers.

Isn't it in Facebook's best interest to get you to share as much info as possible?
It absolutely is. Facebook's mission is to get you to share as much information as it can so it can share it with advertisers. As it looks now, the more info you share, the more money it is going to make with advertisers.

Isn't there also a security problem every time it redesigns the site?
Every time Facebook redesigns the site, which [usually] happens a few times a year, it puts your privacy settings back to a default in which, essentially, all of your information is made public. It is up to you, the user, to check the privacy settings and decide what you want to share and what you don't want to share.

Facebook does not [necessarily] notify you of the changes, and your privacy settings are set back to a public default. Many times, you may find out through friends. Facebook is not alerting you to these changes; it is just letting you know the site has been redesigned.

Can your real friends on Facebook also can make you vulnerable?
Absolutely. Your security is only as good as your friend's security. If someone in your network of friends has a weak password, and his or her profile is hacked, he or she can now send you malware, for example.

There is a common scam called a 419 scam, in which someone hacks your profile and sends messages to your friends asking for money - claiming to be you--saying, "Hey, I was in London, I was mugged, please wire me money." People fall for it. People think their good friend needs help--and end up wiring money to Nigeria.

A lot of Web sites we use display banner ads, but do we have to be wary of them on Facebook?
Absolutely: Facebook has not been able to screen all of its ads. It hasn't done a great job of vetting which ads are safe and which are not. As a result, you may get an ad in your profile when you are browsing around one day that has malicious code in it. In fact, last month, there was an ad with malware that asked people to download antivirus software that was actually a virus.

Is too big a network of friends dangerous?
You know people with a lot of friends--500, 1,000 friends on Facebook? What is the likelihood they are all real? There was a study in 2008 that concluded that 40 percent of all Facebook profiles are fake. They have been set up by bots or impostors.

If you have 500 friends, it is likely there is a percentage of people you don't really know, and you are sharing a lot of information with them, such as when you are on vacation, your children's pictures, their names. Is this information you really want to put out there to people you don't even know?

This interview, "Five Hidden Dangers of Facebook," was originally published on CBSNews.com.

Apple Announces Ipad International Release Dates

2010-05-08T12:13:00.002-04:00

Apple announced that its bestselling iPad will be available in nine international markets starting May 28, with preordering in those countries starting May 10. In July, the iPad will expand to still more countries, including Belgium and Hong Kong. Apple had previously announced delays in its international rollout due to sales that apparently exceeded the company’s supply pipeline and internal expectations. More than 1 million iPads have been sold since the device’s April 3 release.

Apple announced on May 7 that the iPad will be available May 28 in nine international markets: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The iPad’s early sales success in the United States had exceeded Apple’s supply pipeline, forcing the delay in the international rollout to late May.

A statement on Apple’s site indicated that iPad preorders for those nine markets would begin May 10, for both the WiFi-only and 3G-enabled versions of the device. The latter began selling in the United States April 30, and retails at a roughly $130 premium over the WiFi-only version.

July will see the iPad arrive in another round of countries, including Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore. Release dates and preordering for nine other countries are apparently in the works.

Since the iPad’s April 3 release in the United States, Apple executives have repeatedly indicated that demand for the device has outstripped internal expectations. “[We] will likely continue to exceed our supply over the next several weeks as more people see and touch an iPad,” the company said in an April statement.

Total iPad sales topped 1 million units by the end of April. In addition, Apple indicated in its May 7 statement that some 12 million apps and 1.5 million ebooks had been downloaded by iPad owners. Those numbers contributed to Broadpoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall raising his calendar year 2010 revenue estimates for Apple from $57.9 billion to $62.6 billion: “Once again, we highlight our view that Apple remains the best technology company on the planet with numerous catalysts on the horizon—e.g., international iPhone ramp, iPad ramp, emerging recurring revenue stream, etc.—and no business model issues.”

Despite delays in the international rollout, the iPad has already attracted its share of attention in other countries, with Israel temporarily banning the device due to its WiFi capability allegedly being in noncompliance with the European wireless standards.

However, Israel later reversed its decision and returned iPads confiscated by customs. “Following the completion of intensive technical scrutiny, Israel Minister of Communications Moshe Kakhlon approved the import of [the] iPad to Israel,” the Israeli Communications Ministry wrote in a statement reprinted on Reuters. “Accordingly, the import of a single device per person will be permitted commencing Sunday, April 25.”

Airport in Japan has the world’s biggest curved plasma TV

2010-04-29T08:03:00.003-04:00

Think you have a pretty big plasma screen television? Well, I hate to burst your bubble chief, but even if you had a gorgeous 100-inch plasma television draping the wall of your home, it would still pale in comparison to the display showcased at one of Japan’s major international airports.

Over at the departure area inside the Kensai International Airport, a 200-inch curved plasma screen display waits to greet visitors. The massive display that measures 4-meters high and 3-meters wide was put in place to showcase not only the airport and surrounding tourist hot-spots in Kensai, but also introduces patrons to Japanese culture.

That’s all well and good, but I hope someone had the foresight to also showcase some sports on that enormous 200-inch screen. I mean, after all – isn’t that what all huge televisions were created for in the first place? source: geek.com

Facebook's new features raise privacy concerns

2010-04-25T23:44:00.001-04:00

At SimplyHired.com, Facebook members can click on friends' photos and pull up a list of jobs at their companies.

On Internet radio service Pandora, a Facebook user can learn that a friend just listened to Frank Sinatra and rediscover the croonings of Ol' Blue Eyes with a mouse click.

And on Levi.com, Facebook users can "like" a pair of 501 Original blue jeans and tell their friends in a status update.

Those are three examples of how Facebook is moving quickly to make the Internet one big personalized social network, setting up the Palo Alto firm as the default communications platform for what some observers are already calling Web 3.0.

The possibilities are exciting to marketers and Web site operators - and alarming to digital privacy advocates.

"Facebook wants to be the center of the social Web," said Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst for the research firm eMarketer Inc. Whether the company succeeds, "we're going to have to wait and see," she said. "The biggest question to me is whether consumers and companies are going to want to cede the social Web to Facebook. And maybe some privacy concerns will come out that we haven't even thought about yet."

Last week at its developers conference in San Francisco, Facebook Inc. introduced an ambitious plan to export the Facebook experience to all Web sites, using "social plug-ins" like a new "Like" button to link news stories, restaurant reviews, movie data, product information and other content to a Facebook user's network.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg outlined his vision of linking the "social graphs" of the more than 400 million Facebook users to the rest of the Internet, creating an efficient, interconnected Web of social interactions.

Companies jump in

Numerous companies are already on board with the plan, including Yelp, CNN, the New York Times, IMDb, Time Inc., Fandango, the National Hockey League, USA Networks, Levi Strauss, Univision and ABC-TV.

They hope that tapping into a beehive of social activity yields a wealth of customer data that leads to more product sales or advertising opportunities. And combined with Facebook's growing reach into the Web, "marketers realized they needed to fish where the fish are," Willamson said.

Job searches

For job search firm Simply Hired Inc., integrating Facebook into its Web site with just a few lines of computer code will provide useful tools for job seekers, said Dion Lim, the Mountain View firm's president and chief operating officer.

Once a Facebook member signs in, photos of Facebook friends are displayed, and the site automatically finds listed jobs for each of their employers. Simply Hired can also tap the visiting Facebook member's profile for interests or fan pages and suggest jobs available in those fields.

"What's so compelling is that the information we are leveraging is creating high amounts of utility for the user," Lim said. And, he added, "you can opt out at any moment."

Facebook's frequent changes to its pages or policies always lead to complaints. That happened in December when the company said it was changing privacy settings to give members more control over their information, even though critics said the opposite was true. This time, some members set up a fan page to criticize a new Instant Personalization setting installed in all members' profiles to control information accessed by the social plug-ins.

Kurt Opsahl, a senior attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, criticized the fact that Instant Personalization is by default set to share user information and is time-consuming to change.

"Your friends could be giving away information like your name, your gender, your community interests and pages to the Web sites they chose to interact with," Opsahl said.

Opting out

Opsahl posted a five-minute video showing the exact steps needed to opt out of allowing Instant Personalization access, including separate actions needed to block applications like Microsoft Docs, Pandora and Yelp.

"There appears to be a number of people out there who think they've opted out, but they have not completed the process," Opsahl said. "What people want and need is to have control over their information." source:sfgate.com

U.S. Students Suffering From Internet Addiction: Study

2010-04-25T22:51:00.001-04:00

Crackberry is no joke.

American college students are hooked on cellphones, social media and the Internet and showing symptoms similar to drug and alcohol addictions, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Maryland who asked 200 students to give up all media for one full day found that after 24 hours many showed signs of withdrawal, craving and anxiety along with an inability to function well without their media and social links.

Susan Moeller, the study's project director and a journalism professor at the university, said many students wrote about how they hated losing their media connections, which some equated to going without friends and family.

"I clearly am addicted and the dependency is sickening," said one student. "Between having a Blackberry, a laptop, a television, and an iPod, people have become unable to shed their media skin."

Moeller said students complained most about their need to use text messages, instant messages, e-mail and Facebook.

"Texting and IM-ing my friends gives me a constant feeling of comfort," wrote one of the students, who blogged about their reactions. "When I did not have those two luxuries, I felt quite alone and secluded from my life."

Few students reported watching TV news or reading a newspaper.

The American Psychiatric Association does not recognize so-called Internet addiction as a disorder.

But it seems to be an affliction of modern life. In one extreme example in South Korea reported by the media, a couple allegedly neglected their three-month-old daughter, who died of malnutrition, because they were on the computer for up to 12 hours a day raising a virtual child.

In the United States a small private U.S. center called ReSTART, located near Redmond, Washington, opened last year in the shadow of computer giant Microsoft to treat excessive use of the Internet, video gaming and texting.

The center's website cites various examples of students who ran up large debts or dropped out of college due to their obsession.

Students in the Maryland study also showed no loyalty to news programs, a news personality or news platform. They maintained a casual relationship to news brands, and rarely distinguished between news and general information.

"They care about what is going on among their friends and families and even in the world at large," said Ph.D. student Raymond McCaffrey who worked on the study. Loyalty "does not seemed tied to any single device or application or news outlet." source: nytimes

Blippy Leaks Fifth Credit Card Number to Google's Cache

2010-04-25T22:39:00.002-04:00

It's an all-too-familiar threat for anyone who's done a bit of online shopping: the notion that, somehow, a security breach or errant server configuration could somehow expose your credit card information to the entirety of the Internet. And revealing this most sacred of numbers doesn't even have to be the work of a super-hacker--as five users of the online service Blippy recently learned, all it can take is one fairly simple Google search to unlock the key to one's financial kingdom.

Here's the deal. Blippy is a startup service that allows anyone to create a profile and share their various online purchases with a mass group of friends. It's akin to a giant Facebook wall for shopping: When you buy $500 worth of Blu-ray discs from your favorite online retailer, this purchase gets shared on Blippy as long as you made the transaction using your previously designated "Blippy Card."

The Blippy Card isn't a new piece of plastic--it's just the credit card that you've told Blippy to track purchases on, under the subtext that purchases you don't want tracked could be made using another card or payment system.

For most retailers, the actual purchase information related to a transaction is pretty sparse: It might register as "Favorite Retailer DVDs City Name," for example. Blippy takes this "raw data," as they call it, and cleans it up to a more manageable note like "Favorite Retailer" just to give you (and your friends) a nicer way to see what you've been purchasing.

The recent issue at-hand concerns a combination of this raw data and Google's cache of Blippy's site pages. According to Philip Kaplan, Blippy's co-founder, the raw data related to some purchases used to be able to be viewed through the source code of a given Blippy page. Though Blippy found and removed this backdoor, and claims that said raw data was never accessible on Blippy's live site, Google nevertheless indexed this information.

For five users, an unexpected combination of raw data and the Google cache errantly exposed their full credit card numbers for more than 100 separate purchases. According to Blippy co-founder Ashvin Kumar, there are five separate criteria to tell if a user's credit card number could be compromised via his or her Blippy account:

The user had to sign up for Blippy prior to February 3rd, 2010.
The user had to link a credit or debit card account to Blippy.
The user had a public account on Blippy.
The user's bank must include credit card numbers in the line-item purchases on their credit card statement. So instead of the usual statement showing "Quiznos," the bank statement would list something similar to "Quiznos from card number 4444....." To date, we've only found 2 banks that do this, and no major banks.
The Google cache for a purchase on Blippy from that credit card must not have been updated since early February, 2010."

Whether it was five users or five hundred, Blippy's security issue nevertheless raises the time-tested argument about oversharing on the Web. And it's not as if corporate retailers themselves are ignoring the issue.

The end of an era: Sony officially kills floppy disks

2010-04-25T22:33:00.000-04:00

Who uses 3.5-inch floppy disks anymore? No one. So it is a mainly symbolic announcement that Sony will no longer be producing the disks in Japan, officially putting the last death knell on the format.

Sony stopped making floppy disks in the US and other major markets long ago, and every other big corporation has pulled out of the now-archaic format.

According to Cnet, Sony still managed to sell 12 million floppy disks in its last fiscal year. That may be because it's the only real major player still in the market. But it has decided that it's time to move forward.

Sony is credited with bringing the 3.5-inch format to the market. It first introduced the medium to computers way back in 1981. Since then it was become completely obsolete with the advent of small memory cards, USB drives, and to a lesser extent the non-rewritable CD and DVD standard.

At the time, a handheld storage device that could store 1.44 MB was a big deal. Now, it has about the value of a half cent piece.

Sony will officially cease its floppy disk operations early next year. So long, floppy disks! source: tgdaily

Massive fireball reported across Midwestern sky

2010-04-17T02:12:00.001-04:00

Authorities in several Midwestern states were flooded Wednesday night with reports of a gigantic fireball lighting up the sky, the National Weather Service said.

The fireball was visible for about 15 minutes beginning about 10 p.m., said the National Weather Service in Sullivan, Wisconsin, just west of Milwaukee.

"The fireball was seen over the northern sky, moving from west to east," said the NWS in the Quad Cities area, which includes parts of Iowa and Illinois.

"Well before it reached the horizon, it broke up into smaller pieces and was lost from sight," the service said. "Several reports of a prolonged sonic boom were received from areas north of Highway 20, along with shaking of homes, trees and various other objects including wind chimes," it said.

It said the fireball was seen across parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. CNN affiliate WISN-TV said that people in Ohio also saw it.

Video from WISN showed a massive ball of light exploding across the sky. The Doppler Radar from the Quad Cities weather service appeared to capture a portion of the smoke trail from the fireball at just after 10 p.m., the NWS said. It appears as a thin line extending across portions of Grant and Iowa Counties in Wisconsin.

There has been no official determination as to what caused the fireball, the NWS in Sullivan said.

However, it said there is a meteor shower called Gamma Virginids that occurs from April 4 to April 21, with peak activity expected on Wednesday and Thursday.

"A large meteorite could have caused the brilliant fireball that has been reported," the National Weather Service said.

The NWS in Quad Cities said that it was unknown if any part of a meteorite hit the ground.

According to NASA, a meteor appears when a meteoroid -- a particle, chunk of metal or stony matter -- enters the Earth's atmosphere from outer space.

"Air friction heats the meteoroid so that it glows and creates a shining trail of gases and melted meteoroid particles," it said. "People sometimes call the brightest meteors fireballs."

Tekken 6 for PS3 Review

2009-11-23T11:09:00.001-05:00

I admit that fighting games are usually not the first game I’ll play when I have free time. However, that doesn’t stop me from enjoying a round or two; especially when I need to kill 20 minutes. I haven’t played Tekken much since its third iteration. Most of the time it was spent losing to my brother so my memories of the game are not particularly favorable. I missed out on 4th and 5th debuts of Tekken and they are decisions I regret after playing Tekken 6.

Since it’s a fighting game, I decided to skip the story mode and just do some arcade matches to get the feel of combat. I then learned something about myself: I genuinely stink at fighting games. At least, when I start to play them. I had the game set for the default difficulty and I chose Sergei Dragunov as my first character because I liked that his surname is the always trusty Dragunov (SVD) sniper-rifle. The first seven matches were not very difficult. I lost a round here and there but I didn’t lose any match. Once I reached the 8th stage all that changed. It took me roughly 20 minutes to beat the last two bosses. I then switched to Lars because of my affinity for Star Wars and I had similar results except exponentially worse. Once I reached the 8th stage, it took me one full hour to win the last two matches.

My anecdote shows two things. Tekken 6 is not an easy game, at least at first, for people that play fighters on and off. And two, you can’t go wrong with Eddie Gordo. After both failures I went with good old Eddie and beat Arcade Mode in promptly 12 minutes. But for my initial three hours of playing, I only got frustrated twice. Considering a majority of those three hours were spent losing, it shows very well for Namco’s fighter. Tekken does a great job giving you a challenge without making you feel like you’re trying to walk up a 90 degree angle. However, this could just be the fact that I’m used to Street Fighter which takes a different approach. In my experience, Tekken requires more thought than Street Fighter. Depending on your opponent (I’m looking at you Azazel) you’ll fare much better thinking one or two moves ahead. Most of the time hesitating or bum-rushing at the wrong moment, which can happen often, will ruin you if not you’re paying attention. After roughly six hours of play, I could pick up a character, look at a few combos, and make my way through the end of Arcade on the default difficulty within a reasonable time so I will say, it’s not that bad of a learning curve.

So by now, you’re wondering about the story mode. Well that I did pay attention to–-or at least tried to. When I chose story mode, I was greeted by a very useful, entertaining, prelude that explained the main story lines of from Tekken to Tekken 6. For a time, I thought I was in the middle of a Metal Gear since there were so many cutscenes. Once you’ve done the tutorial levels and cleared your first boss, you unlock the Arena where you can participate in the 6th Iron Fist Tournament. The only catch is that you need to unlock other characters by progressing through story mode so that you can utilize and learn their story in the Arena. The story itself seems a little iffy. It turns out that Jin won the Tekken 5 tournament and has declared an all-out war against all nations. A small rebellion within the Tekken force led by Lars Alexandross tries to stop Jin and the also evil G Corporation. I honestly didn’t expect so many cutscenes when playing the story. It’s the first time in a while where amnesia is brought in as a plot device. It’s not bad, but I just couldn’t feel for the characters. “Who plays a fighting game for the story?” you may ask. While I’m no Bioware “story is #1 blah blah” fanatic I would like something more… compelling. It just doesn’t feel urgent.

Controls in story mode are a bit wonky. Pulling off moves where you need to use the D-Pad backwards are difficult since it’s not in a 2D setting and your character actually turns around and moves backwards. Your character also feels a lighter in the 3D setting, which takes some getting used to. When you kill enemies in story mode, some drop items that you can use to customize your characters and even play online with. Some items have upgrades on them that you can use in story mode. I fought Paul with red hair, red pants and a samurai sword. It was odd in an amusing way.

Controls while fighting in 2D are what you expect from your fighter and you feel the right “weight” if that makes sense. I noticed each character that I used has some form of cheap combo that you can get away with in Arcade mode. I found online play is great. I played online for over an hour in my first sitting and only had one match where lag was an issue, so I must give props to Namco for that. That said, I’ve read numerous complaints about lag hindering online play. And, by the way, the reason I despise Azazel is because he has ridiculous reach and nearly all of his attacks are 2+ hit combos so one connection will take off one quarter of your health.

One thing I like about the game is that there’s (albeit little) variety in the voice acting. It’s something I’ve always wanted in fighting games ever since my brother first mentioned it. He believed that fighters from different parts of the world should speak the language native to their country. It seems Namco may have made the first baby steps in this direction. If a character knows English than their voice actor speaks in English; if not, then they speak Japanese. It does require significant suspension of disbelief in the story mode cutscenes (for example Eddie and Nina understanding Jin’s Japanese flawlessly) but it’s still a cool idea to me. I may be completely off the mark though–Namco may have done this since it would be cheaper (and faster) to hire 42 voice actors as opposed to 84. And, since I don’t know Japanese, I can’t tell if the voice acting is actually bad or not.

I’m rather disappointed with the graphics. While playing story mode, the environments really stick out when your character is moving around in story mode. The textures don’t look very polished. It’s harsh but when I look at Soul Calibur IV’s graphics and the detail of some of the stages themselves look better than some of Tekken’s. There are a few good looking stages but the low quality textures of others leaves more to be desired. In Arcade mode you won”t notice this as much but it’s definitely not where it could be. Their CGI rendered movies do look amazing, but I don’t want to be stuck going to Theatre Mode just to get some eye candy. The graphics aren’t bad, but they could be so much better.

Since I’m not a huge Tekken fan, I can’t say whether it’s a game the hardcore would love or merely enjoy. My experience with the game was pleasant overall and I would recommend it for someone who wants a fighter that will last them more than two weeks. It has more replay value than most fighting games and, problems aside, it’s very fun to play. source: Geek.com

BlackBerry Pearl 9100 (Stratus/Striker)

2009-11-23T10:59:00.002-05:00

Rumors have been floating around that the BlackBerry Pearl 8100 will soon get a successor. The phone, codenamed the BlackBerry Striker or Stratus, will be launched as the BlackBerry Pearl 9100. CrackBerry.com has released a number of photos of the new smartphone with the blessing of RIM, according to its article.

There was some debate between Salomondrin and CrackBerry.com on who had live photos of the new phone first, but at the end of the day Crackberry gave the kudos to Slomondrin for being first. Nevertheless, BlackBerry enthusiasts benefit from multiple photos and information about the rumored device.

Looks like the new smartphone comes with a new trackpad and a sleeker profile. I really like the new side and back profile of the Pearl 9100. I can not say I’m a big fan of the “Pearl” plastered on the back near the camera though. CrackBerry points out that the new smartphone comes with a newly designed battery. No doubt, we can look forward to a more detailed review from both websites soon. source: Geek.com

Norton Internet Security 2010 Review

2009-11-23T10:13:00.001-05:00

Last year, with Norton Internet Security 2009, the security software (and antivirus) saw a significant reboot. The new version
was light, quick, and efficient, making it a welcome change from the trend of previous years. The software installed in just a few clicks and its burden on the computer was less than ever. It was a successful release that caught people’s attention and reminded us why someone would ever pay for an antivirus.

If 2009 was about optimization then 2010 is about detection. On the surface it looks a lot like Norton Internet Security (NIS) 2009, but under the hood a lot has changed. One big change is the development of a reputation-based security tool known as Quorum. This uses a cloud-based reputation system (not just signatures) to identify threats and is designed to deal with quickly changing malware. A piece of malware may be changed in a matter of hours but it’s reputation won’t be improved, so it will be recognized as a possible threat. Quorum also helps with another issue, files that fall between the cracks. Security software tend to have no problem at whitelisting good files and blacklisting bad ones, but about 1% don’t qualify as either. For these files reputation technology is a major help.

For a quick refresher: Norton Internet Security is Symantec’s full security suite. It features an antivirus, but the security extends to the network, email, and identity protection. NIS also included PC optimization features that allow the user to identify what could be slowing down their computer (including isolating the percentage used by NIS). Norton 360 included all of NIS’ security features and adds in backup and file restoration tools, but leaves out the PC optimization. Norton Antivirus (currently version 2010) is the most stripped down application offered. It has the antivirus core found in NIS and 360 but none of the rest (parental controls, anti-spam, anti-phishing, backup, optimization, and so on).

As with NIS 2009, the installation of NIS 2010 went very smoothly. Significant efforts have gone into making this as easy as possible and Symantec has done a good job with it. The installation process seems to be free of any sort of snags or hold-ups though there is an online signup. This didn’t seem particularly useful in the past, but if you have multiple Symantec licenses to keep track of or if you need to find your license key then it can be handy. Once you are past this, and you’ve removed any overlapping products (AVG, etc.), you’ll be set.

Norton’s home screen is a dashboard that gives you a look at everything the software is up to. In addition to telling you how many days your license has left and the last time your security definitions were updated (usually under 10 minutes) you can scan the status of each of the software’s tools. So in a second you can tell if the antivirus or antispyware tools are on or off, and you can toggle between those states with just one click. This is the main function of the dashboard, but from it you can also access all NIS2010’s other functions. These include your settings (it’s a robust suite so there are a lot of them) and then the auxiliary tools. NIS is separated into three main categories: Computer, Network, and Web. The settings include these three, as well as Parental & Privacy and Misc.

The flip-side of the dashboard is all about performance. Here you can quickly see your system utilization as well as a timeline of Norton activities (like virus scans and updates) in the recent past. Through this screen you can tell the software to do an optimization as well. It’s not really clear what Norton’s optimization does, but it would be at the level of Norton’s own software and settings, not anything affecting the rest of your computer.

The auxiliary tools are one of the more interesting parts of Norton Internet Security, at least they will be for anyone who is concerned about how Norton and the host system is functioning. One is Norton Insight Network, which uses data from the Norton community to identify threats and then scans your computer for files that are known to be either bad or trusted. The Insight Protection app tells you how many files have been identified within the community, how many trusted files are on your computer, and how many Insight look-ups your system has performed. Another app is Norton Tasks, which scans your computer’s CPU and Memory utilization over a period of time (up to a month) and shows you what programs are using up your computer’s resources. It is able to isolate Norton’s impact as well. It’s interesting, but not always useful–if anything it seems like a way for Norton to brag about how few resources it’s consuming, even though it’s running all the time. After all, there isn’t a whole lot you can do about some programs using a lot of resources except to uninstall them.

Another app is Application Ratings, which scans your running processes (or files, startup items, recently installed, etc.) and tells you if the files in question are trusted, their resource usage, how many people in the Norton community use them, and how old they are. Specific files can be checked as well, and Norton integrates itself heavily into your system’s context menus so there is a Norton option present whenever your right-click.

It’s never easy to say just how secure an antivirus tool is or how effective its protection is, but the tools Norton employs should mean it’s top-notch. In the past Norton has always had strong security at its core and the community features found in 2010 were designed to take these to a level that other services can not compete with. It is sort of a crowd-sourcing of threat identification but Norton’s user pool should be very effective, so long as enough people opt in to the program. I’m not the type of person to opt in for something like this and most people concerned about security probably won’t, so there is a certain externality here, but it seems like Norton has been able to get their data regardless. There is also a network effect here–the more people that use the community tools the more effective it will be. This means that tools like Quorum won’t be as effective for early adopters as they will be in a year, but this point will be moot if Norton’s initial pool is sufficiently large. Plus NIS 2010 isn’t losing anything from NIS 2009 so these tools can only help, or at least not hurt at all.

One of the features NIS’ users will be most happy about is the virus scanner. This has been seriously optimized over the years and it’s gotten faster and more efficient as a result. The scanner will run through a relatively fresh installation of Windows 7 (on a ThinkPad) in under 5 minutes for a quick scan and 15 minutes for a full one. During this time it will use varying amounts of CPU power based on what’s available–more when the system is idle and less if other tasks are being performed. Overall, it’s a smart and efficient system that is designed so that it doesn’t bog down your computer. After scanning the cleanup is quick and easy–users are given options but not presented with anything overly complex or confusing.

Of course the most important aspect of an antivirus is the protection that it offers. This is extremely difficult to test, especially given our limited sample size, so we’ll leave it up to the people that do it for a living. AV-comparatives.org rates Norton Antivirus quite highly in almost all areas including throughput (scanning speed), detection (ranked 4 out of 16), and false positives. Their most recent (August 2009) test awarded NAV 2010 with 3 out of 3 stars. NAV 2010 passed Virus Bulletin’s recent October ‘09 VB100 test (as Symantec Endpoint Protection, the company’s business product) but it failed the August 2009 test. Previously it had passed every time from November 1999 to June 2009. Norton 2009 was certified with icsalabs.com, as did Symantec Endpoint Protection v11 but there is no mention of NIS/NAV2010 at this point.

In case you hadn’t noticed yet, NIS2010 is a full package. In addition to the standard antivirus, anti-malware, and firewall there is much more. One useful feature for some people will be the parental controls. These are handled online through OnlineFamily.Norton and it offers the ability to schedule set computer times/limits, block certain sites, and more. It works through the internet so it can be adjusted remotely and it works on multiple systems (PC or Mac). The tool isn’t perfect, but it’s another useful feature in the package. Another perk is Identity Safe, which encrypts a users login information and can make it portable, via a USB key.

Symantec’s Norton Internet Security 2010 excels in a number of areas. Foremost amongst these are its speed, performance, and limited impact on the computer system it’s running on. New features like System Insight and the underlying Quorum technology as well as revamped anti-spam tools (for people who still use email clients) don’t change the user experience but they streamline the software and optimize its effectiveness against today’s threats and annoyances. It’s hard to measure the impact of something like Quorum, but the analysis of user data for a reputation system seems like a significant step forward in antivirus software. NIS 2010 has few shortcomings, but at $69.99 (for three PCs) a bit more expensive than some of the competition (most of which lack its feature set) and the user interface needs to be streamlined–the UI is confusing and has too much reliance on sub-windows. This may seem like a minor point, but the software has a lot of tools and some get lost in the mix. Overall, Norton Internet Security 2010 is an excellent package and a great follow up NIS 2009. source: Geek.com

Apple Crushes Clone Maker Psystar

2009-11-15T11:22:00.001-05:00

The Apple vs Psystar case has ended rather predictably, with Apple basically nuking the Mac clone maker out of existence.

Florida-based Psystar rose to fame back in February of 2008 when it started to market Mac close systems - basically PCs modified and configured to run the Mac OS. In July of that year Apple threw a spanner into Psystar’s plans by filing a lawsuit against the company. That case has been progressing through the legal system ever since.

However, on Friday Judge William Alsup dealt what seems to be a fatal blow for Psystar by granting Apple’s motion for summary judgment while denying Psystar’s counterclaims.

Basically Alsup ruled that the Mac OS End User License Agreement (EULA) is both legal and valid and ruled that installation of the OS on non-Apple hardware is not allowable. Period.

Alsup also dismissed claims that Psystar was protected by the first sale doctrine (doctrine that gives purchasers of a copyrighted works the right to resell without the permission of, or payment to, the copyright holder). Alsup stated that first sale doctrine only applies to legal copies of software and since Psystar had modified the OS to run on their systems, it did not apply.

This isn’t the end though. A hearing is scheduled for December 14 to thrash out remedies, which should be interesting. And who knows, Psystar might still appeal.

So, what does this mean? Well, basically that Psystar is dead. Nuked out of existence by Apple’s legal machine. It also sees the legal system side with the EULA. It also kills off any chance of seeing other OEM come out with Mac clones anytime soon.

At time of writing the Psystar website is still open and offering systems running Mac OS X for sale. source: ZDNET

You Tube Will Offer Videos In High-Res

2009-11-15T11:17:00.002-05:00

With an eye on improving the viewing experience of its users, YouTube from next week will start to support 1080p high resolution videos.

The move from YouTube is seen by many as a very significant move given the fact that it currently supports videos to the maximum of 780p only.

Commenting on the subject, Hunter Walk, Director of Product Management at You Tube, mentioned that more than half of the videos have already been re-encoded according to the new video format.

Although, there is still a limit of 10 minute maximum for a video being uploaded, the size limit will have to be increased from the existing 2GB.

Walk also said the high-resolution video had been tested with success and despite the cost of supporting huge files, the company was not worried. Most analysts believe that YouTube which is owned by Google has the capacity to foot the increased costs associated with displaying videos in full HD and it will allow YouTube to tie-up with established content providers and it may even look to offer premium content at a later stage.

It must be noted that mobile users figure amongst the biggest contributors when it came to adding content and the site experiencing a 2000% increase in mobile uploads this year. source: IT Pro portal