Ironpaper Current: Web design, online marketing, internet news, security and business online
Ironpaper on LinkedIn



RSS: Ironpaper, Current
  • Ironpaper: Current

    Internet strategy, web design, web security, cross-platform and website technology, online business development and web campaigns, SEO, SEM and online marketing topics.
  • Featured Service

    Web design for business success.
  • Tags

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Other Ironpaper blogs:
    Design & Development Tips
    Ironpaper updates

    Archive for August, 2009

    Microsoft Joins List Of HTML 5 Champions

    Saturday, August 8th, 2009

    The development of HTML 5 can be attributed to the hard work of Apple, Google, Opera, and Mozilla. These companies have also been proponents of web standards and innovations that have lead to open source and community development concepts.

    Microsoft has recently joined the list of HTML 5 supporters.

    One of the core concepts behind the renovation of the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) was to make the web a better foundation for applications–a logical push to use the web as place to house applications. HTML 5 will feature such innovations as built-in video and audio, the ability to store data on a local computer to enable use of Web applications even when offline, Web Workers that can perform computational chores in the background without bogging down Web application responsiveness and drag and drop functionality.

    Google Voice To Become Web Application

    Saturday, August 8th, 2009

    Apple prevented Google Voice from becoming listed on the iPhone App Store or installed on the iPhone. Google is now considering rebuilding the application as a web application which will circumvent the need to be distributed through the App Store. This loophole will allow iPhone users to access the new technology without breaking their terms and conditions contract with Apple.

    Google Voice is a free application that lets customers designate a single number to ring their home, work, and cell phones, and also get voice mail as text transcriptions.

    The reason Apple may have been behind the decision to block Google Voice is because the application also allows cheap international calls and free text messages through the program.

    Firefox Closes e-Store Following Security Breach

    Thursday, August 6th, 2009

    Firefox quickly closed its Mozilla Store after discovering that a vendor it hiring to run backend operations, GatewayCDI in St. Louis, had experienced a security breach. The vendor specializes in promotional products distributor and incentive company. This was a precautionary step. No violations against the store had been reported or discovered.

    The Mozilla Store sells mouse pads, backpacks, coffee mugs and tshirts with the Mozilla products’ logos.

    Twitter Goes Offline Following DDoS Attack

    Thursday, August 6th, 2009

    Twitter was offline for an extended period of time on August 6th 2009 due to a DDoS ( massive distributed denial-of-service attacks ). Twitter left a message during the attack reporting it’s outage: “We are defending against a denial-of-service attack, and will update status again shortly.”

    The attack is linked to the launch of a new Koobface malware run which used Twitter as a distribution vector. The malware is distributed to victims via fake Facebook pages and varying Twitter messages that link to scareware pages (fake security).

    Twitter began to use Google’s Safe Browsing API to filter out bad Twitter links. The Koobface links however are bypassing the Google Safe Browsing API.

    Microsoft Offers Fix For Open XML Docs In Office 2008

    Thursday, August 6th, 2009

    A new update is available for open XML in Microsoft Office 2008 for Apple computers–available for download on the Microsoft website. Under certain circumstances, Microsoft Office 2008 would display an error when trying to read Open XML documents. The error would also instruct the user to download the most recent version of that program.

    Tools affected were: Open XML Word, Excel, PowerPoint presentation and PowerPoint show files and more.

    Internet Explorer 8 Bugs and Fixes: CSS and Javascript Display Issues

    Thursday, August 6th, 2009

    Microsoft Launched Internet Explorer 8 and again created a browser that forces web developers to seek new methods for solving cross browsers issues directly related to Microsoft browsers. Each browser (6,7,8) possesses unique and separate issues and bugs for web design and cross browser compatibility. Again, in Internet Explorer 8, web standards were abandoned by Microsoft.

    Here is a quick fix for solving some Internet Explorer rendering problems. Paste this code just below the <head> tag in your code. This will cause Internet Explorer 8 to use the Internet Explorer 7 rendering model.

    <meta http-equiv=”X-UA-Compatible” content=”IE=EmulateIE7″ />

    News Corp Seeks To Charge For Content By Mid Next Year

    Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

    As newspaper revenues decline and the newspaper industry looks towards a darker, bleaker future, News Corp is seeking to charge for content by the middle of next year for its online services.

    News Corp properties include: The Wall Street Journal, cable programmers, local TV stations and movie studios and more.

    News Corp released its yearly projections for 2010, which seeks high single digit rise on 4 percent revenue growth. This projection is in contrast with a reported 10.7 percent drop in quarterly revenue.

    Whitehouse Takes Health Care Battle To The Web

    Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

    In an attempt to reach average Americans on the issue of health care reform and to pass new legislation on health care in general, the White House has taken the battle online. The White House has felt that its message about the meaning of the new health care strategy was being misrepresented in town hall meetings and on the news by organized interest groups as well as opposition party members, so the White House is trying to use new communication tactics–tactics which worked well for President Obama’s campaign–the web.

    With a new blog and use of online video, the White House will try to use the power of its media machine to build support for its health care campaign.

    The blog will be hosted on the White House website, under a sub domain entitled “Facts Are Stubborn Things” – www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/

    This effort represents a new wave of presidential / executive branch communications.

    Troubled Families In UK To Be Watched Under Video Surveillance

    Monday, August 3rd, 2009

    A new program, Family Intervention Projects, has begun in the UK which will put 20,000 of the “worst” families in a video surveillance program to ensure that children go to school/bed on time, eat proper meals, and the like. This program, dubbed the “Sin Bin” was put in place by the UK Children’s Secretary with a program budget of £400million. The program also includes the use of private security guards to do home checks. The per household bill will cost the government about £5,000 and £20,000.

    The goal is to help children of troubled households avoid a life of crime.

    Oprah Joins Twitter, Traffic Soars

    Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

    Oprah Winfrey joined Twitter, the popular online short messaging service, in April, and traffic to the site has grew considerably in the days following “@Oprah”. Her first tweet was “HI TWITTERS . THANK YOU FOR A WARM WELCOME. FEELING REALLY 21st CENTURY .” She will help further popularize the tool–extending it into an audience that could help propel the website into the top ranks. Already Twitter is ranked number 38 in America. As the NY Times has recently stated regarding Oprah’s “grant[ing] of pop superstardom” to Twitter: “Twittermania has only begun.” The true simplicity of the service will only help speed its race to the top.