Least surprising news ever: Facebook and privacy don’t mix
A few weeks ago, Sony’s PlayStation Network was hit by hackers who took down its network (where gamers can communicate with each other and buy music, movies, etc, all over their gaming consoles). It has emerged since that the attack on Sony divulged the personal data of millions of people, including at least some credit card numbers. It’s one of the largest data security breaches in history and Sony officials were quick to apologize for it.
Meanwhile, over at Facebook, it turns out there was also some data security breaches — or the potential for breaches, at least. Due to some weird computer programming issue, companies that provided third-party services to Facebook might have been able to access the profiles, photos and even personal online correspondence of millions of Facebook users. It’s not clear that the third-party companies even realized they’d even received the alleged access to private data. But it is clear that privacy isn’t something Facebook users should expect to begin with. Read more...
Facebook: no evidence of apps leaking user data
Yesterday Symantec revealed that hundreds of thousands of Facebook apps have been accidentally leaking user data for years (if you haven’t yet, change your Facebook password, to be on the safe side). Thankfully, the two companies worked together to fix the flaw before it could be seriously exploited.
Symantec said the Facebook apps were leaking access to millions of Facebook users’ accounts, including profiles, photographs, chat, and other personal information. The only comfort the security company offered was that the third parties who were accidentally granted access to the data may not have realized their ability to see this information. Read more...
AnonOps Denies Responsibility For Sony PSN Attack
Anonymous has denied any involvement in the recent PlayStation Network hack said that members could have been acting on their own.
In an audio message to PSN users, posted on the group’s blog, the group maintained that it had nothing to do with the attack on Sony and that it is not involved in credit card theft.
However, the group also said in the message that individual members of the group could have orchestrated the attack.
“While it could be the case that other Anons have acted by themselves, AnonOps was not related to this incident and does not take responsibility for whatever has happened,” the audio message said. Read more...
Xbox Will Gain Little From Playstation Network Outage
While Microsoft's Xbox might gain some new, disgruntled customers in the wake of the Sony PlayStation Network outage; experts say a mass exodus is unlikely.
Since April 21, Sony's PlayStation Network has been disabled due to the outcome of a vicious hack that infiltrated its database. Hackers got illegal access to 25 million consumers' account information. Sony hasn't set an exact date for when the PlayStation Network will return, but said it wanted to make sure everything was covered and people's data was entirely secure.
Yet this delay and lack of an informative response has caused many loyal PlayStation users to openly vent their anger towards the company. While some users have threatened to go and buy an Xbox, PlayStation's main competitor, video game analysts don't see an exodus forthcoming. Read more...
Microsoft-Skype deal: 3 ways it benefits enterprises
CIO - At first glance, Microsoft's whopping $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype may seem like a pure consumer play to bolster Windows Live, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Kinect-- or an extremely expensive way to prevent Google from gobbling up Skype first.
It is in fact both of those things, according to industry analysts, but the Microsoft-Skype deal will also have an impact on enterprise users, particularly those who use unified communications daily as part of their jobs.
In addition to enhancing the telephony features of Microsoft Outlook and unified communications platform, Lync, the Skype purchase gives Microsoft an important weapon in "the consumerization of IT" and opens up video conferencing to more than just co-workers, according to Forrester research VP Ted Schadler. Read more...
With Sony PlayStation Network Still Down, Users Start To Get Angry
That is how long millions upon millions of users of the PlayStation Network have gone without the service. And if fan forums and Twitter is any indication, they are starting to get angry about the whole ordeal.
The network has been shut down since April 21 after it was the victim of a hack attack in early April. The hackers illegally infiltrated Sony's database, accessing the personal information of 25 million users. Information such as names, addresses, e-mail addresses, birthdays, passwords, and user names, as well as online user handles were all exposed as part of the hack. Sony's music and video sharing service, Qriocity, was also illegally accessed and subsequently shut down.
Since the hack attack ravaged Sony's online entertainment world, the company is saying it's being extra careful before it restores service. In an update on Tuesday, Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications, said he could not give an exact date as to when the service would restore, but said it is likely a few days away. Read more...
Google Music takes on Apple iTunes, Amazon
Google kicked off its annual Google I/O developers conference by giving people what they've been speculating about for months -- an online music service.
During a keynote presentation on the first day of the conference, Google took the wraps off Music Beta by Google, a service that will enable people to store their music in the cloud and then stream it to all kinds of devices -- tablets, smartphones or PCs. Read more...
Best of Android packed into “Ice Cream Sandwich”
Google on Tuesday said it is packing the best of its Honeycomb tablet computer software into a new "Ice Cream Sandwich" version of Android for mobile devices.
The California-based Internet titan planned to release Ice Cream Sandwich by the end of the year and promised that it is being designed to run smartphones, tablets, and any other Android gadgets.
"Our top priority for Ice Cream Sandwich will be one operating system that runs everywhere," Android engineering team chief Mike Claron said at a Google developers conference in San Francisco. Read more...
Ghostery hunts websites that haunt your privacy
Spend any amount of time online and there is a high chance that some of the websites you visit track information about you. Cookies, scripts and other techniques can be used to monitor how web users behave online and to build up profiles. This may well be information you would prefer not to share, and Ghostery is a browser add-on that can be used to detect, analyze and block any tracking of your online activities. Read more...
Siege Hero for iOS, Angry Birds for the 1980′s nostalgic
When we were children, my older brother and I were lucky enough to receive a game called Crossbows and Catapults as a gift. The premise of the game was simple: knock down your opponent's building block castle using rubber-band powered siege weaponry and red and blue "battle caroms" (essentially junior-sized plastic poker chips).
We loved it and played it more than any other board game we had. I loved this game so much that I even got the additional "castle outposts" and contemplated buying the carom-chucking minotaur and cyclops accessories with my saved-up allowance money. Read more...
Chrome 12 moves closer to stable release
Hot on the heels of the stable release of Chrome 11, Google released a new beta version of Chrome 12. It is obviously very early days for Google's latest browser, but there is already a great deal to look forward to. There is support for the latest web standards, which means that hardware accelerated 3D CSS can deliver rich content in style, assuming you have a recent graphics card installed. Read more...
Trillian for Windows users, whack your Linux and Mac friends — you get pro features free
Cerulean Studios has announced that it's making Trillian, the cross-platform social networking and instant messaging client, free for desktop and mobile users. Features previously restricted to Pro users, such as the ability to sign in from multiple locations, support for themes and activity history viewer, will now be available in free editions of the software, starting with Trillian 5 for Windows, which has just been released.
Other supported platforms, including Mac and mobile devices (iPhone,Android and Blackberry), will get these features added to the next updates when they're released. For now, though, only Windows users get the full gamut of features with the release of version 5. Read more...
Google extends Android into embedded hardware, home automation
At the Android Keynote on the first day of Google I/O 2011, Google announced the next version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich will unify tablets, phones, and Google TV devices under a single version of the operating system. Yet a new facet to Android was introduced today that may turn out to be the most left-field announcement of the conference: Android for embedded devices and home automation.
Android founder Andy Rubin summed up the operating system's progress in the following way at a press conference Tuesday morning: Android started with phones, then grew to tablets, and now it should grow to everything. Read more...
Got Photoshop CS5? There are three apps for that
Continuing its foray in iOS software Adobe today released three companion apps for Photoshop CS5. The apps provide a range of new ways to interact with Photoshop with your iPad starting with Adobe Eazel, which enables you to paint and draw on the screen of your iPad using a range of tools before sending the completed work of art to your PC or Mac, or sharing it via email. Read more...
VidCoder: Rip DVDs with the Handbrake on
One of the most popular open-source tools for ripping and encoding video from DVD and Blu-ray is the cross-platform tool, Handbrake. One of the charges levelled at it, particularly from a Windows user's point of view, is that the user interface can be a little confusing and overwhelming, particularly for beginners.
Mindful of this fact, Codeplex code RandomEngy has developed a fresh take on Handbrake in the form of VidCoder, which is also available as a 64-bit application. VidCoder takes all the features and raw power of Handbrake, and delivers them to end users via a more streamlined and user-friendly interface, making the program more accessible to all. Read more...