Google serves up tat

Posted on September 3, 2014 by - News

telescopeSearch engine Google has come up with a novel way of getting people to update their browsers to something a little more recent.

Users of browsers which can remember the use of shoulder pads and Duran Duran are suddenly getting served up search results which are just as old.

An Opera 12.17 user complained on a Google help desk that, Google’s homepage reverted to the old version him. If he searched for something, the results are shown with the current Google look, but the homepage itself is the old look with the black bar across the top. It seemed to affect only the Google homepage and image search. However he still got the latest news.

Opera is currently using version 24, version 12 was bought out in June 7, 2011.

A Google spokesman said that there was not a fault with Google, in fact it was proof that the “encouragement” to upgrade was working perfectly. He suggested politely that if the user wanted a modern Google they should run a modern browser to support it.

“We’re continually making improvements to Search, so we can only provide limited support for some outdated browsers. We encourage everyone to make the free upgrade to modern browsers — they’re more secure and provide a better web experience overall,” the spokesman wrote on the thread.

Strangely, the help desk thread continued with people using old browsers insisting that there must be a fault with Google’s programming. After all, there was nothing wrong with working with the same version of Safari which was blessed by Steve Jobs while he was young and healthy is there?

NATO goes nuclear on cyber option

Posted on September 3, 2014 by - News

wenn2114091NATO is going to revise its treaty so that a cyber attack on one of its members will count as a hostile threat for all of them.

The plan is that when President Obama meets with other NATO leaders later this week, they are expected to ratify the idea that a cyberattack on any of the 28 NATO nations could be declared an attack on all of them, similar to a ground invasion or an airborne bombing.

This should put the fear of god into Russia, which was believed behind computer attacks that disrupted financial and telecommunications systems in Estonia in 2007 and Georgia in 2008, and is believed to have used them in the early days of the Ukraine crisis as well.

NATO is a bit behind when it comes to cyber security, although it now has just built a nice new computer security centre.  It does run computer exercises but it possesses no cyberweapons of its own and has no cunning plan how it might use the weapons of member states to strike back in a computer conflict.

The United States and Britain, have spent billions of dollars on secret computer offensive programs but they have not told NATO leaders what kind of weapons they might contribute in a NATO-led computer conflict.

The change in NATO’s definition of an “armed attack” will leave deliberately unclear what would constitute a cyberattack so large that the alliance might think that this would be a declaration of war.

Apparently the alliance is hoping that the impact of the attack will help define the matter. Defence experts point out that deterrence is all about ambiguity, and the implicit threat that NATO would enter a computer conflict in defence of one of its members is full of those ambiguities.

Apple faces firestorm over celeb hacking

Posted on September 3, 2014 by - News

lawrrenceIt appears that the Tame Apple Press are finally giving up on Jobs’ Mob and admitting that the leak of racy celebrity photos was actually caused by a security fault on Apple’s iCloud.

Earlier this week it looked like Apple was going to avoid any mention in the hack as the press insisted that such an attack on the iCloud was impossible because it had this magical thing called “encryption.” Apple even went as far as denying that the iCloud was breached by hackers who posted nude pictures of celebrities.

Photos from the celebrities were stolen individually, the company said. The celebrity accounts were “compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that is all too common on the Internet,” Apple insisted.

However by yesterday it was clear that Apple was not going to get away with that. Journalists were starting to ask real security experts about how hackers got the information and it was fairly clear that there was a bit of a tiny weeny hole in the iCloud.

Reuters, which normally spins pro-Apple adverts pretending to be news, sheepishly admitted that the highly public affair remains potentially one of Apple’s worst public crises in years. Speculation continues to spread on blogs about flaws in the iCloud service.

Brandwatch, a company that analyses sentiment on social media, blogs and other sites, found Apple had received 17,000 mentions on Twitter were related to the security breach and the negative words associated Apple’s iCloud service include “violation,” “disgusting violation,” “criminality,” “failure,” “glitch” and “disappointment”.

What is worrying Reuters is that it could upset Apple’s coming launch of the iPhone 6 which actually includes features that use the iCloud for mobile payments. After all, if you are in the middle of a security crisis the last thing you want is to tell potential customers that the same technology which handed over naked pictures of beautiful celebs to the paparazzi can be doing the same thing with your credit card information.

“This could be a scary time publicly for Apple,” JD Sherry, vice president of cybersecurity provider Trend Micro wrote in a Tuesday blogpost. “They haven’t had many, Antennagate and Apple Maps come to mind, and this would most likely trump those.”

 

Apple’s iWatch delayed – report

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

Taroko Gorge, Taiwan. Picture Mike MageeManufacturers on high tech island Taiwan are reporting that Apple’s iWatch is unlikely to see the light of day until 2015.

Speaking under terms of anonymity to Taiwanese wire Digitimes, the vendors say there’s still a way to go because components are still in their engineering verification stage and then has to undergo production verification testing.

And, more than that, vendors who make the components that go into the iWatch haven’t yet received firm orders from Apple.

Although Apple is holding one of its signature press conferences on September 9th, the company is unlikely to announce the iWatch then, Digitimes says.

Yesterday Swatch said it would enter the now rather competitive arena of wearable technology with a smart watch.  The jury is still out whether the world and its dog actually wants to wear this kind of device, however.

Microsoft tried to introduce a smart watch in the 1990s but the idea went down like a lead balloon.

Tech VCs flock to London

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

london-undegroundDN Capital is going to create a $200 million VC fund based in the Smoke and will invest o software digimedia, mobile apps and e-commerce firms.

But it’s not the only VC firm to set up shop in London. Tech investments worth around $1.4 billion have arrived over the last six months.

The firms include Index Ventures, Balderton Capital, Santander and Google Ventures.  And Dan Cobley, who used to run Google Europe said he will set up Brightridge Capital in London with funds reckoned to amount to $84 million.

London & Partners, Mayor Boris “No Man is an Island” Johnson promotional company, thinks that London is the place for investors looking for high growth.

Gordon Innes, CEO of London & Partners said that the Smoke “is increasingly the place to be for investors.  Funds based in London have access to the cream of the European technology scene, meaning they have the opportunity to invest in the great companies being created in booming clusters such as London’s Tech City”.

Windows XP refuses to die

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

Microsoft campusData from StatCounter Global Stats showed that Windows XP s still the world’s second most popular operating system.

That’s despite the fact that earlier this year Microsoft pulled the plug on XP, apart from on embedded devices.

StatCounter said that Windows 8.1 now has more volume than Windows 8.0 – representing 7.5 percent of OS share.

Windows 7.0 refuses to go away – it has a market share of 50.3 percent in the USA, with XP on 12.9 percent.  Windows 7 is expected to be EOLed next year, forcing the world+dog over to 8.1 in preparation for the introduction of Windows 9.

The figures are based on 15 billion page views per month to over three million websites – it’s possible to distinguish between 8 and 8.1 because the latter has a distinct user agent.

StatCounter data is here.

Russian sex mad geckos die in space

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

lizardA team of sex mad geckos who were sent by the Russians to see what they could do in zero gravity returned to earth stone dead.

The geckos were sent aboard Russian satellite Foton M-4 to study effects of zero gravity on reproductive systems.

According to officials at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems, the geckos – four females and one male died a week before the landing.

Apparently the satellite’s other randy cargo, the fruit flies were still alive and bred like crazy in space.

As the Foton satellite was not equipped to transmit live feeds back, Russian scientists will have to pick apart the 44 days of footage to know when exactly and why the geckos met their death.

Other than the fruit flies the entire experiment was a disaster. The Foton-M4 satellite was launched on 19 July, 2014 from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan. Though slated for two months, the capsule was recalled after 44 days following problems that began a few days after the launch.

Logicalis buys into wi-fi outfit

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

Clouds in Oxford: pic Mike MageeIT firm Logicalis said it has taken a 51 percent stake in a German company.

ITUMA, which is privaly owned, offers wi-fi services including 3D in location navigation, product promotions and retail ordering.

Why is Logicalis interested in this kind of stuff?  President and COO Mark Rogers said because it can get exclusive rights to the wi-fi products and services.  He said: “[It] is expected to achieve significant market penetration, driven off the back of customers’ investment in wireless or in pre-packaged managed and cloud services.”

He also said that will complement its existing partnership with Cisco and Logicalis will offer services across all the countries it operates in.

The software ITUMA has allows indoor navigation, product information and location.

ITUMA CEO Simon Marg said that the deal will allow it to spread its wings to Logicalis’ customers and companies across the world.

Celebrity leak was Apple cock up

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

lawrrenceThe coverage of the leak of celebrity photos from Apple’s iCloud has been surprisingly free of blaming Job’s Mob for the leak.  

In fact, some of the coverage has even praised Apple’s security for its magical encryption which apparently absolved Jobs’ Mob of all the blame for the hack.

The large-scale hacking found snaps on the accounts of Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, Cara Delevingne, Ariana Grande, Victoria Justice and Selena Gomez.

However Next Web has found proof hat the leaks were caused by a breach in Apple’s iCloud service.

A Python script emerged on GitHub that appears to have allowed malicious users to ‘brute force’ a target account’s password on Apple’s iCloud, thanks to a vulnerability in the Find My iPhone service.

The vulnerability allegedly discovered in the Find My iPhone service appears to have let attackers use this method to guess passwords repeatedly without any sort of lockout or alert to the target. Once the password has been eventually matched, the attacker used it to access other iCloud functions.

The tool was published for two days before being shared to Hacker News and Apple has moved to actually fix the hole.

Find My iPhone  has been used before for such attacks.  It that case hackers were holding victims ransom, locking their phones and demanding money in exchange for giving their phone back.

The Independent reported that Apple has “refused to comment” on any security flaw in iCloud today. So the Tame Apple press can go on telling users that Apple security is perfect.

EU watchdog investigation approves Micros takeover

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

watchdogEU watchdogs, which have been snuffling around the hindquarters of Oracle’s $5.3m takeover of Micros have barked that the deal has come up smelling of roses.

Oracle’s $5.3m takeover of retail and hospitality technology firm Micros Systems still has to get shareholder approval.

However, the EC said the planned purchase of the Columbia, Maryland-based company, announced in late June, raises no competitive issues as far as the EU was concerned and can go ahead.

The commission thought that the combined market share of Micros and Oracle was limited and many strong competitors would remain after the acquisition.

Micros sells mobile and cloud services, consulting, hardware, and point-of-sale software for restaurants, hotels and retail. Its own board unanimously approved the transaction.

It had been suggested that Larry Ellison only wrote a cheque for Micros to divert attention away from a series of disappointing quarterly results from Oracle, a cloud strategy that is still forming, and concerns about application growth.

It was the biggest deal that Oracle had done for a long time. In fact, it was the largest since Oracle bought Sun Microsystems in 2010 for $7.4billion. In 2008, it paid $8.5bn to take over BEA Systems but its most expensive purchase remains PeopleSoft, bought for $10.3bn in 2005.

Oracle president and CFO Safra Catz said that the sale would make Oracle a lot of dosh straight away and help the company to expand over time.

Micros management and employees will form a dedicated business within Oracle.

US tech companies rally against China

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

55_Days_at_Peking-633098393-largeUS companies are moaning that Chinese regulators are ganging up on Western tech outfits in a bid to shut them out.

The American Chamber of Commerce in China is fuming about a series of investigations scrutinising at least 30 foreign firms, as China enforces its 2008 anti-monopoly law.

According to the Chamber, multinational firms are under “selective and subjective enforcement” using “legal and extra-legal approaches,” the Chamber said in a report.

A survey of 164 members showed 49 percent of respondents felt foreign companies were being singled out in recent pricing and anti-corruption campaigns, compared to 40 percent in a late 2013 survey of 365 members. Twenty-five percent said they were uncertain, or did not know, and 26 percent said no.

Lester Ross, vice chairman of the chamber’s policy committee, said the expansion of the enforcement was welcome in principle, but regulators were using “extra-legal” means to conduct investigations.

“They have taken what are, in many instances, vague or unspecified provisions in the law and moved to enforce them, and sought to enforce those means through processes that do not respect the notion of due process or fairness,” Ross said.

The Chamber wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and asked them to get tough with Beijing on its use of anti-competition rules.

China is using competition law to advance industrial policies that nurture domestic companies, the U.S. Chamber, based in Washington, said in the letter.

It is not just the Americans who are concerned. The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China in August expressed its concern over the antitrust investigations, saying China was using strong-arm tactics and appeared to be unfairly targeting foreign firms.

The Chinese argue that some business operators in China have not adjusted their practices in accordance with the anti-monopoly law.  Others have a clear understanding of the laws, but they take the chance that they may escape punishment.

Anti-trust watchdogs have bitten Qualcomm’s local subsidiary after it said in February the company was suspected of overcharging and abusing its market position in wireless communication standards.  Yesterday Microsoft was given 20 days to reply to queries on the compatibility of its Windows operating system and Office software suite.

Microsoft defies judge’s cloud ruling

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

cloud 1A US judge has demanded that software giant Microsoft hand over emails which are stored on a foreign server to the government. Microsoft however has refused to do so until its appeal is heard in another court.

Apparently, the emails are sitting on a server in Ireland. If the ruling stands then it means that Microsoft could fall foul of EU law, where the emails are stored and if Redmond does allow the data to fall into US government hands, it can kiss good-bye to billions of EU cloud business.

Practically it means that if you have your data stored in a cloud owned by a US company you are effectively giving that data to US spooks. In fact, the US government could then sell on that data to US business rivals.

Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the US District Court in Manhattan had on July 31 upheld a magistrate judge’s ruling on the emails.  It is not clear why the government wants to read the emails just that it applied for a warrant.

Microsoft has been desperate to prove to customers that it does not allow the US government unchallenged access to personal data on its servers.

Preska had delayed enforcement of the government’s search warrant so Microsoft could appeal.

But prosecutors later said that because her order was not a “final, appealable order” and because Microsoft had yet to be held in contempt, there was no legal reason to enforce the stay.

Preska agreed, saying her order “merely confirmed the government’s temporary forbearing of its right to stay enforcement of the order it secured.”

Microsoft is still refusing to comply with the judge’s order, pending attempts to overturn it. A spokesVole said that everyone agreed this case can and will proceed to the appeals court. This is simply about finding the appropriate procedure for that to happen,

This appears to be the first case in which a corporation has challenged a US search warrant seeking data held abroad. It is backed by AT&T, Apple, Cisco Systems and Verizon.

 

 

Intel releases eight core desktop CPU

Posted on September 2, 2014 by - News

Core-i7-EE-chip-538x600Chipzilla has released its first eight core desktop CPU targeted at gamers and computer users who need a little extra.

Dubbed  Core i7-5960X Extreme Edition processor, the chip has 16 computing threads which, along with support for the latest DDR4 memory.  On paper at least it should create some of the fastest desktop systems yet seen.

Lisa Graff, vice president and general manager of Intel’s Desktop Client Platform Group claimed that the whole thing was a reinvention of the desktop’ which is a mantra Intel has come up with since the beginning of the year.  After all chucking more power at desktop units has never been tried before, and Intel seems to think that doing what it always has done is going to stop people saying that the PC is dead.

To be fair, outfits like Alienware seem to think that the eight-core extreme processor is pretty good too. It has installed it under the bonnet of its new Alienware Area-51. Using new overclocking and monitoring features in Alienware Command Center 4.0, it has got the processors to go like the clappers.

Intel has released a slightly less interesting six-core version and the prices in its new range start from $389 and range to $999.

Tablet sales go slow

Posted on September 1, 2014 by - News

ipad3Market research firm IDC said it has lowered its forecast for tablet sales in 2014 almost halving its estimate of how many will ship.

The reason for that, according to the company, is that buyers in mature markets are contributing to flatness.  The estimate now is that 233.1 million units will ship – its previous estimate was a year on year 12.1 percent growth rate. It’s lowered that rate to 6.5 percent now.

But while the “mature markets” are showing a slowdown, IDC said that other regional markets will hit a 12 percent growth rate.

More use of tablets in emerging markets will sustain that 12 percent figure.

IDC estimates that average selling prices will level out at $373 in mature markets but fall in other regions to $302.

Jitesh Urbani, senior research analyst at IDC said that the world outside Western Europe and North America will account for the majority of shipments this year.  “But in terms of dollars spent, medium to large sized devices in North America and Western Europe will still produce significant revenues,” he said.

White Bull readies startup show

Posted on September 1, 2014 by - News

White BullWhite Bull Summits, which runs an annual conference aimed at connecting startups and funds each year, said it is looking for nominations for 13 awards for people that have made a difference in the field.

It has 13 new categories which it will award at its Barcelona conference next month, including best male entrepreneur, best female entrepreneur, best law firm, best in communications and PR, best angel, best corporate VC, best executive search and others.

The nominations can be made until September 15th by going to this link.

The firm will announce its 60 “Bully Award” finalists and nominees on September 15th, with winners receiving awards at Pathways 2014 on October 6th to the 8th.

Farley Duvall, co-founder of White Bull Summits, said the conference represents its fifth anniversary and will bring VCs, startups, equity companies and angels together under the same roof.

TechEye will be attending the conference.