Demand your data from Internet companies
Tim Berners-Lee has said that the problem with companies like Facebook and Google is not that they collect vast troves of data about their users, but that they don't share with them what they learn from it.
Berners-Lee, who is often described as the inventor of the World Wide Web, was speaking out against the U.K.'s proposal to allow government intelligence to monitor digital communications. Berners-Lee is a U.K. native.
He acknowledged that users reveal deeply personal information about themselves through their use of the Web.
"You get to know every detail, you get to know, in a way, more intimate details about their life than any person that they talk to, because often people will confide in the Internet as they find their way through medical websites ... Read more...
Ruby 1.9.3 update fixes RubyGems security problem
The Ruby development team has published an update to the 1.9.3 series of its open source programming language to fix a vulnerability found in the RubyGems package management framework.
The maintenance release of the scripting language, labelled 1.9.3-p194, updates RubyGems to close a security hole that caused SSL server verification to fail for remote repositories. This has been addressed by disallowing redirects from https to http connections and by enabling the verification of server SSL certificates in an updated version of RubyGems, 1.8.23; more details on these issues are provided in the latest RubyGems History file. The developers encourage those who use https source in .gemrc or /etc/gemrc to upgrade as soon as possible.
Scammers create fake Instagram app on Android
According to security company Sophos, a Russian web site has sprung up which offers a fake version of the popular Instagram app for Android. The Russian language site emulates the look of the official Instagram product page but the download link doesn't lead to the actual app on Google's Play store. Users who download the program from the Russian site get a fake app instead that sends out premium SMS text messages in the background which are used to earn revenue for the scammers. Read more...
Everyone can play Diablo III this weekend
To say that there’s a lot of anticipation in the run up to the launch of Diablo III is a bit of an understatement. When the game arrives on May 15, Blizzard will be hard pressed to keep up with demand, and with that in mind the developer wants to stress test the Battle.net servers. Read more...
RapidShare Publishes Anti-Piracy Manifesto for Cyberlockers
Swiss-based file-hosting service RapidShare has released an anti-piracy manifesto to serve as a guideline for cyberlocker and cloud hosting sites. Partly motivated by the criminal indictment of Megaupload, RapidShare stresses that they will do all they can to counter piracy, even if this is at the expense of user privacy and convenience.
In the aftermath of the Megaupload shutdown, people have been keeping a close eye on other file-hosting services, RapidShare included.
As a company, RapidShare sees itself operating in the “cloud hosting” business, offering a service comparable to the likes of Dropbox. And since people are moving data from local drives to the cloud at an increasing rate, these companies will undoubtedly host some copyrighted material too.
During the past several years RapidShare has made tremendous efforts to cooperate with copyright holders and limit copyright infringements. Read more...
Rumors swirl of smaller iPad, which Jobs detested
Apple generates more gossip than the Kardashians.
There's a constantly spinning mill of rumors about Apple products, most of which turn out to be untrue. What's unusual this week is that talk has revived of a smaller iPad model, an idea company founder Steve Jobs derided publicly a year before he died.
Apple and its suppliers aren't commenting. Rumors of a smaller iPad, or "iPad mini" have percolated ever since the first iPad was launched two years ago. This time around, they're fed by media reports from South Korea, China and Taiwan, saying Apple has ordered Samsung screens that are 7.86 inches measured on the diagonal. That would make the screen about two-thirds the size of the current iPad, which has a diagonal measurement of 9.7 inches. Read more...
Moms We’d Like To Fund
Are you an entrepreneur looking to build something truly awesome that will positively impact millions of people’s lives? (And by the way, make a LOT of money?)
If so, then I have a suggestion…
Stop building yet another daily deal site or mindless social game or yellow filter so-lo-mo photo-sharing service. Instead, build something awesome for moms, dads, families, or kids. Believe it or not, there are a lot of them so make their lives easier and happier. Because, the best part is that they’ll probably pay you for it. Read more...
Microsoft touts corporate tools in Windows 8 Enterprise
Microsoft yesterday laid out the exclusive features of Windows 8 Enterprise, one of three editions of the upcoming OS and the only one limited to corporate customers.
Windows 8 Enterprise will be available only to businesses that have signed Software Assurance deals with Microsoft. Software Assurance is a kind of software insurance that lets firms upgrade to every new version of a specific product released during the life of the agreement.
Software Assurance fees typically run 23% to 29% of a desktop product's license price for each year of coverage. Read more...
Apple further eases new iPad availability, orders now showing 5-7 day deliveries
Apple has taken steps to ease constraints on the availability of its new iPad after it cut delivery times by a week, with delivery times now showing availability of between 5-7 days on its US online store.
Previously, the US store showed delivery times of between 1-2 weeks, but today it has been slashed. Other regional markets are also showing the shortened customer waiting times, including Korea and Malaysia, where the device launched today, which shows that the company is working to provide the new iPad faster than ever as it is introduced to new markets. Read more...
Nokia’s 808 PureView promo quite literally speaks for itself
I often believe that one of the best adverts for a device is when its maker is able to showcase its features using images or footage produced directly by it.
With its 41MP image quality, Carl Zeiss lens, and PureView imaging technology, Nokia demonstrates the imaging capabilities of the device front and center, but also shows off its social capabilities, really appealing to those who want the very best optics in their smartphone device. Read more...