Israeli president talks democracy, power of Facebook
In an attempt to learn how to use social media to bridge the divide between countries, Israeli President Shimon Peres is visiting Facebook's headquarters today.
Peres also is launching his own Facebook page, which he hopes will help him reach out to young Arabs around the world.
The 88-year-old leader sat down with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg to take questions from audience members and online users for a live-stream on Facebook Live. Peres talked about the changing state of democracy, Facebook's global effects and about living a life of service. Read more...
No joke: Microsoft SQL Server 2012 debuts on April Fools’ Day
As expected Microsoft has released SQL Server 2012, formerly codenamed Denali, to manufacturers and will be making the final code available on April Fools' Day.
"This is the cusp of a major milestone for Microsoft and SQL Server," Doug Leland, GM of SQL marketing for Redmond told The Register. "It's been battle-tested by over 150,000 customers and is ready to go."
The new build, available in standard, business intelligence and enterprise editions, has been designed specifically with big data uses in mind, and Leland reckons it works with structured and unstructured data sets faster than any previous version. The use of in-memory processing for tables was one area where significant speed increases have been achieved. Read more...
Google expands Android app size from 50MB to 4GB
Google is giving Android app developers a lot more room to work with, expanding the maximum Android app size from 50MB to 4GB.
Although Android apps were free to exceed the size limit before, developers had to host the data on their own. For users, that meant downloading additional files from within the app after installing the core app from the Android Market. The extra downloads were a nuisance and would eat into the 15-minute refund window for Android apps.
Under the new system, Android .APK files will still be limited to 50MB, but Google will host up to two expansion files, each up to 2GB. Most newer devices will download these expansions automatically, and the refund window will not begin until all files are in place. Read more...
President Obama lords Twitter followers over Aziz Ansari
Actor/comedian Aziz Ansari — the guy who plays "Tom" on "Parks and Recreation" — knows from social media. If you've ever seen his standup bit about harassing his little cousin Harris on Facebook — you'd remember because it would be that 15 minutes of your life where you couldn't breathe because you were laughing so hard — you know what I'm talking about. Read more...
LulzSec leader turns informant, helps FBI bring down group
In a move straight out of a suspense novel, the leader of infamous hacking troupe LulzSec teamed up with federal agents to bring down top members of organization in an early morning sting that spanned two continents. A total of five high-ranking LulzSec members — two from Ireland, two from Great Britain, and one American — are now in custody thanks to help from Hector "Sabu" Monsegur, the alleged leader of the digital gang. Read more...
iPad dispute signals new era in trademark troubles
iPotato, isock, icouch, istove, i-you-name-it. An Internet search for "i'' words from A to Z will turn up just about any combination you might think up, from all over the world, only a handful of them related to Apple Inc.
Given its penchant for "iproducts," Apple's current troubles in China over the iPad trademark are not its first, and are unlikely to be its last. China's importance as a major consumer market is bringing fresh headaches for companies, and even celebrities, seeking to protect and claim brand names. That's apart from the usual problems with piracy and other infringements.
Financially troubled Proview Electronics Co., a computer monitor and LED light maker, says it registered the iPad trademark in China and elsewhere more than a decade ago and wants Apple to stop selling or making the popular tablet computers under that name. Apple says Proview sold it worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 2009, though in China the registration was never transferred. Read more...
Too Big To Fail: Why Anonymous And Hacktivism Will Go On After Sabu
Earlier today, authorities descended on a hacker called Sabu and five of his cohorts, who are now in custody, with more than a little love lost between him and the bigger Anonymous group with which they were associated. The reports claim that Sabu (real name, Hector Xavier Monsegur) had been an informant for months over the group’s hacking, distributed denial of service, and other attacks used to bring down websites against which they were protesting.
That’s an explosive betrayal that seems almost too dramatic to be true. But while the news today has surely rocked a lot of people, for those closely involved with this movement, experts in the field of online security believe it is unlikely to make much of a difference longer term.
Quite simply, Anonymous is too big to fail. Read more...
Judge extends DNS Changer deadline as malware cleanup progresses
A federal judge yesterday extended an operation that will keep hundreds of thousands of users infected with the "DNS Changer" malware connected to the Internet until they can scrub their machines.
Meanwhile, Tacoma, Wash.-based Internet Identity (IID), which has been monitoring the cleanup efforts, said today that it had seen a "dramatic" decrease in the number of computers infected with DNS Changer.
DNS Changer, which at its peak infected more than four million Windows PCs and Macs worldwide, was the target of a major takedown led by the U.S. Department of Justice last November.
The malware hijacked users' clicks by modifying their computers' domain name system (DNS) settings to send URL requests to the criminals' own servers, a tactic that shunted victims to hacker-created sites that resembled the real domains. Read more...
Microsoft releases SQL Server 2012 to manufacturers
Yes, we expected it to happen around this time, but the moment has arrived at last: SQL Server 2012 has been released to manufacturers.
Microsoft has been working on SQL Server 2012, previously codenamed Denali, for so long that we’re almost sad to see it take wings and fly. We’ve covered its community technology previews, its versions, its release candidate, and now its launch.
While SQL Server 2012 is out today, it’s already well known by the market. According to Microsoft, over 150,000 busiessness have tested the software. General availability of the product is expected starting April 1st, 2012. I asked Microsoft if they were being facetious, but no, they did pick April Fool’s day. If you want to snag an evaluation copy of SQL Server 2012, head here. Read more...
US gov agencies & colleges are now demanding access to Facebook accounts
According to a report by MSNBC, US government agencies and colleges are now demanding access to applicants’ Facebook accounts — through friending and/or actual password requests. No longer can users hide behind Facebook’s privacy options, because if you want a job or a college degree, you have to give up the goods.
The good news is this isn’t happening everywhere…yet, and hopefully it won’t spread too far. For government jobs that involve high level secrecy for the sake of security, I completely understand surrendering your online information. As for college students, if they’ve made an effort to be private, universities have no right to ask for such sensitive information. It’s like asking to log into email accounts five years ago or demanding a student’s diary. In other words, it is unacceptable. Read more...