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    Archive for September, 2010

    Hey, why is no one talking anymore about blogging?

    Monday, September 27th, 2010

    A NYTimes article, Blogging Is Alive and Well, Says Report, describes how just a few years ago articles on blogging were all the rage. It seemed like everyone was discussing blogging from business news to tech journals. That interest has seemed to fade towards other things–certainly Facebook and Twitter have picked up steam. See the Google Trends graph below on Facebook’s explosive growth in online search query volume and media mentions since 2007.

    Well, according to a new report by eMarketer, The Continued Rise of Blogging, more than half of web users will read blogs this year. Blog readership and blogging is still going strong. From marketing purposes to corporate communications to hobbyists wanting to share their passions, blogging is a robust occupation.

    The eMarketer report has a number of encouraging stats about blogging. For example, about 12% of U.S. Internet users update a blog at least once a month. Additionally, approximately 60% of US  internet users will be reading blogs by the year 2014.

    Largest Facebook crash in years

    Sunday, September 26th, 2010

    On September 23rd, 135 million people could not access the social media website, Facebook. This software flaw resulted in a block-out period lasting 2 and 1/2 hours starting from 7pm. The site had to be shut down while engineers fixed the problem. The root of the dramatic outage was an automatic system that was designed to help fix such problems–it handled an error condition inappropriately, which forced engineers to take the site offline.

    Iran’s first nuclear power station hit by computer worm

    Sunday, September 26th, 2010

    It has been discovered that the  operating system at the Bushehr plant, Iran’s first nuclear power station, has been infested with the Stuxnet worm. The worm is a highly complex, malicious software ( weapon ) that focuses on the vulnerabilities of systems built by the Siemens company. The Stuxnet worm is capable of seizing control of industrial plants, and it’s complexity suggests that it must have been built by a nation-state.

    It is estimated that the Stuxnet worm has infected up to 30,000 IP addresses in Iran, and it has been found on the personal computers of staff of the plant.

    Cookies That Just Don’t Go Away

    Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

    Flash cookies are becoming the subject of a number of federal lawsuits against media and technology companies. These cookies are different from normal HTML cookies in that they are not cleared via the browser preferences, so a lot of users may be tracked without their knowing. Flash cookies are stored in a separate directory from normal cookies. Flash cookies can even be used to resurrect HTML cookies that have been deleted from a users computer.

    This summer five class action lawsuits have been filed in California against media companies like Fox Entertainment  Group and NBC Universal. This issue at hand is consumer and personal privacy–and companies use of this special technology to circumvent users privacy settings.

    Cyber espionage has lower political risks for nations than traditional espionage

    Monday, September 20th, 2010

    On Sept 17th, the MI5 Director-General, Jonathan Evans,  gave a speech before the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals, regarding the use of cyberspace in espionage.

    In his speech, he addressed the major threats the domestic intelligence services faced. This includes the use of the internet as a vector for espionage. The increased use of the internet for espionage reduced political risks for nations to engage in the activity. As a side note, the cyber-espionage can pave the way for tradition forms of espionage.

    (Source: Stratfor and telegraph.co.uk, Jonathan Evans’ terrorism speech)

    Google Mobile App for BlackBerry Can Scour The Depths Of A Device

    Saturday, September 18th, 2010

    Universal search is becoming more and more real everyday it seems even for mobile devices. New functionality for the Google Search, Mobile App on Blackberries devices can scan the contents of numerous items on your device, including  e-mail, the subject of a Google Doc, or a contact.

    Security is a strong feature of the Google system, which allow uses an encrypted, https connection to transfer data as well as never actually storing your password.

    Google Soon To Take Commission From App Sales In MarketPlace

    Saturday, September 18th, 2010

    Currently, app creators for the Google Marketplace pocket all the revenue from a sale. This may soon change, as Google is planning to introduce commission rates within the Marketplace.

    The Google Marketplace was launched six months ago. The plan to introduce 20% commission rates was stated from early on.

    The billing API for Google Apps Marketplace will be based on Google Checkout, which should help boost sales for Google’s eCommerce system. The 20% commission rate will apply to the total revenue generated by the Marketplace, not just the initial sale. Tracking the varying transaction and billing approaches of it’s many vendors certainly will prove to be a challenge.

    Microsoft Throws Big Party For Beta Launch Of Internet Explorer 9

    Thursday, September 16th, 2010

    Microsoft threw a big party at the Design Concourse Center in San Francisco to announce the launch of Internet Explorer 9.

    Besides the live band, the party included developers, journalists and Microsoft employees.

    The latest version of the Internet Explorer web browser boasts greater support for HTML 5 and hardware acceleration. Web developers have a history of dislike of the IE web browser, and many view the browser with skepticism.

    Microsoft claims that the focus of IE9 will be the “regular consumer.” This will most likely frustrate those of us that keep many tabs open at once. The tabs will appear on the right side of the address bar–the goal obviously was to decrease the amount of real estate consumed by the controls at the top.

    By Christmas, Google May Be Known In The Music World

    Monday, September 6th, 2010

    Google is in talks with record companies regarding it’s plans to launch an online music store and digital song tool. This new tool would allow mobile users to access and play new music wherever they are–on the go. This new tool would increase the rivalry between Apple and Google. Currently, Apple dominates the industry with a 70% market share of all US digital music sales.

    It is said that Christmas will be the launch date for Google’s new music store.

    EU Considering Second Enquiry Into Chinese Modem Subsidies

    Monday, September 6th, 2010

    The European Commission is considering whether to open a second investigation into the prohibited subsidizing of modem manufacturers by the Chinese Government. Option, a Belgium 3G modem maker, raised a complaint in the EU that Chinese companies were dumping wireless modems onto the European market at insanely cheap prices. The complaint alleges that ZTE and Huawei, two manufacturers are subsidized by their Government, which gives them a hugely unfair advantage in the open markets.

    During the last investigation, the Chinese Government accused the European Union of protectionism.