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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 11 Issue 29
Volume 11, Issue 29 Atari Online News, Etc. July 17, 2009
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2008
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1129 07/17/09
~ First Trip to the Moon ~ People Are Talking! ~ MS Bing Still #3!
~ MS, Yahoo Close to Deal ~ Microsoft Stores Soon! ~ Game Sales Sink!
~ Twitter Hacked, Again! ~ Office 2010 Test Opens ~ Dog Dating Sites!
~ China Tops in Web Users ~ eBay Live, Now Dead! ~ End-of-Life Wishes
-* Facebook Violates Privacu Law *-
-* MS, Yahoo Are Close to Search Deal? *-
-* China Bans EST for Its Internet Addicts! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I know that I'll regret saying it, because I'll jinx myself by doing so,
but we've finally seen some nice weather around here. "Normal" weather,
but it's been nice to see the sun for a change and no need for long
sleeves! Wanna know how bad it's been around here? We haven't even
bothered to open up our pool this year - no point, especially at this
late point in the summer season!
I don't have much to say this week. It's been another long week at work,
and I'm tired again. It's tough to think about editorial commentary and
write about it when you're exhausted! So, let's just move along this week
and get right to this week's issue - enjoy!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
compiled by Joe Mirando
joe@atarinews.org
Hidi ho, friends and neighbors. This is going to be a very short column...
VERY short. You see, my service provider just stopped providing access to
the UseNet. And without access to UseNet, there isn't a way to get UseNet
messages.
I'll work something out... hopefully by next week, and be up and running
as soon as possible. If anyone has any info on a free service that allows
access to the UseNet (please don't recommend DejaNews... I hate the
interface BIG TIME!), please drop me a line at computerjoe@mail.com and
I'll jump right on it.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, the Senate has been deliberating on
Judge Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court, there's lots of hubbub
about Michael Jackson's death and kids and family, and the conservatives
are still whining about the President's health care and stimulus packages.
Of course, all of the conservative senators and congressmen who have spoken
so heatedly about not taking or using stimulus money have made sure that
they've gotten their own pet projects inserted into the bill. Personally,
I think that any senator who voted against the stimulus package should have
to go back to their home state and explain why their voters aren't going
to see a damned dime of the stimulus money.
On the subject of "The Health Care Plan", I have one problem... it's
misnamed. We don't have a health care problem. We have a health care
INSURANCE problem. The average cost of health care insurance is now higher
than the cost of food. For my own minimal, abysmally inadequate health
care coverage, the cost is what I consider unconscionable. To feed me in
an adequate, even opulent fashion, it costs between 50 and 70 dollars a
week. That's with milk for my cereal and steaks and chops and veggies and
bread for my pbj and even a couple of goodies thrown in. The cost for my
health care insurance is $148.00 per week. That's right. As much as three
times the cost of my food. And if you want to amortize the $1500.00
deductible on my insurance over 12 months (should I need health care),
the cost becomes almost $177 per week.
And let's be clear here: This is not the cost for health care. It's the
cost of INSURANCE... basically a bet with the insurance company that I'm
going to have something serious happen to me that will require medical
attention within the next 12 months.
How can any company justify this? Well, they'll tell you that its based
upon a complex set of actuarial tables and probabilities and it's the
rising cost of a hospital stay that's causing the whole thing.
Don't you believe it. Just open up the Wall Street Journal or log on to a
page that lists company profits or stock dividends. A lot of these places
are the ones handing out multi-million dollar bonuses while denying
coverage for <expletive deleted> cancer treatments.
It's true that things are a lot more expensive now than they used to be;
high-tech diagnostic and treatment equipment like PET/CT scanners and the
machines that irradiate tumors and such.. Who could have guessed 50 years
ago
that a piece of medical equipment could cost multiple millions of dollars?
And the drugs that are used... there's another big-ticket item. The cost
of some of these drugs is just insane. Of course, being part of the health
care system, the drug companies will cry and moan about the high cost of
development and funding next-gen drugs and having to pay their insurance
and all the rest of it... all while doling out multi-million dollar
bonuses to their higher-ups. Not even the brilliant individuals who make
these wonder drugs reality. The corporate types who probably couldn't tell
a pill from a capsule without a research report.
And the salaries for doctors and nurses... every hospital you look at will
bemoan the fact that they have to pay such high salaries. Well, let me
tell ya, for what nurses do, and for the number of patients they do it
FOR, they're under-paid! And doctors? Well ask a doctor why he should be
making so much money and they'll say that they need to pay off their
schooling and.... wait for it... INSURANCE! Yes, malpractice insurance is
a killer. If you trace it back to the insurance companies, they'll tell
you that the high cost of malpractice insurance is due to 'frivolous
lawsuits'. Don't buy into that
either. The fact is that the amount paid out on all malpractice lawsuits
annually amounts to less than one percent of the premiums they collect.
They'll also mention the necessity of retaining a large staff of lawyers
to 'defend themselves and their clients (hospitals and doctors)' from the
evil plaintiffs who want to be compensated just because their lives have
been ruined due to their clients.
Retaining a virtual army of lawyers IS a costly proposition. There's no
doubt about that. The thing is that most of the time a lawyer spends in
defense of a doctor or medical establishment is on the appeals process,
not litigation itself. These lawyers know that the longer they can hold
off the final judgment for their clients, the less that judgment will be
worth. For instance, with a 5% annual inflation rate, a $1,000,000
judgment will be worth only about half that in adjusted dollars if they
can keep appealing and hold of judgment for 10 years (not a difficult
feat these days).
Of course, the LAWYERS continue to collect their money in the meantime.
But let's wrap this up and get back to the focus of my argument here.
It's not health care that needs reforming... we have the best health care
in the world. It's the peripheral stuff that's killing us... insurance
for all involved. And the only ones getting rich are the insurance
companies.
Six or eight years ago, when the last administration was 'working' on
Medicare, I took some of the small amount I'd been able to put aside and
invested in several drug manufacturers and insurance companies. My
reasoning was simple: With the plan they put into place... the concessions
made to the pharma and insurance industries, the only way anyone was ever
going to be able to afford to be sick was if they had stock in the drug
and insurance companies.
Well, that's it for this week, friends and neighbors. Tune in again next
week, same time, same station, and be ready to listen to what they are
saying when...
PEOPLE ARE TALKING
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - US Video Game Sales Sink in June!
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=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
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US Video Game Sales Sink in June, Biggest Drop in 9 Years
Sales of video game hardware and software were down by around one-third
in June compared to the same month last year, according to data released
late Thursday. After initially showing positive growth as the U.S. slid
into recession, the latest figures mark the fourth month of declines and
the largest year-on-year decline in almost 9 years.
"The first half of the year has been tough largely due to comparisons
against a stellar first half performance last year, but still, this
level of decline is certainly going to cause some pain and reflection in
the industry," said Anita Frazier, a games analyst with NPD Group, in an
e-mailed statement.
The entire video game market in the U.S. was worth US$1.2 billion in
June, down 31 percent from the same period last year, according to NPD
Group. Software accounted for more than half the market with sales of
$625.8 million, down 29 percent on June last year, while game hardware
sales came in at $382.6 million, down 38 percent.
Those declines mark the worst year-on-year since September 2000, when
the market witnessed a 40 percent fall, and it could get worse.
"This is one of the first months where I think the impact of the economy
is clearly reflected in the sales numbers," said Frazier. "While the
aggregate of content may not be as strong as what we saw in the first
half of last year, and while the consumer base willing to spend dollars
on hardware at the current price points may be thinning, the size of the
decline could also point to consumers deferring limited discretionary
spending until a big event (must-have new title, hardware price cut)
compels them to spend."
The top selling device of the month was the Nintendo DS which shifted
766,500 units in the month. The strong sales were spurred by the April
launch of the DSi, a new version of the popular handheld gaming device.
The only other competing handheld, Sony's PlayStation Portable, sold
163,500 units. Sony has promised a new version of the PSP for later this
year so many gamers will likely hold off on buying the device until the
new model appears. It's due to be launched in the U.S. in October.
Among game consoles, Nintendo's Wii sold 361,700 units in the month to
make it the top ranked console. Microsoft's Xbox 360 came in second with
sales of 240,600 units and was followed by the PlayStation 3 at 164,700
units and the PlayStation 2 at 152,700 units.
During the month the top-ranked game was "Prototype," an action thriller
in which gamers play a genetically-mutated character with shape shifting
abilities. The Activision Blizzard game, which launched on June 9, is
available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC platforms but it was
the Xbox version that topped the chart with sales of 419,900 copies in
the month.
Second most popular game of the month was the pro-wrestling "UFC 2009:
Undisputed" title from THQ. The game launched in late May and sold more
than a million copies last month for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In
June the Xbox version remained in the ranking with sales of 338,300 units.
The top-ten list was also notable for the absence of a game: Wii Play.
For the first time in 29 months the game hasn't made the top ten
ranking, although other Wii games claim four of the positions.
The top ten best-selling games in the U.S. in June were, according to
NPD Group:
1) Prototype, Xbox 360, 419,900 units
2) UFC 2009: Undisputed, Xbox 360, 338,300 units
3) EA Sports Active Bundle, Wii, 289,100 units
4) Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, Wii, 272,400 units
5) Wii Fit, Wii, 271,600 units
6) Night Fight Round 2, Xbox 360, 260,800 units
7) Night Fight Round 2, PlayStation 3, 210,300 units
8) Mario Kart with Wheel, Wii, 202,100 units
9) Red Faction Guerrilla, Xbox 360, 199,400 units
10) Infamous, PlayStation 3, 192,700 units.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
China Bans Electro-Shock Therapy for Internet Addicts
China has banned electro-shock therapy as a treatment for Internet
addiction, citing uncertainty in the safety and effectiveness of the
practice after criticism in the local media.
The Ministry of Health announcement followed recent media reports about
a controversial psychiatrist in Linyi, Shandong Province, who
administered electric currents to nearly 3,000 teenagers in an attempt
to rid them of their Internet habit.
The Chinese government has led a campaign for over a year against
Internet addiction, saying young people's excessive time in Internet
cafes, known as Web bars in Chinese, is hurting their studies and
damaging family life.
"Electroshock therapy for Internet addiction...has no foundation in
clinical research or evidence and therefore is not appropriate for
clinical application," read the notice, posted on the ministry website
(www.moh.gov.cn).
The world's most populous country also has the world's largest Internet
population, with almost 300 million users at the end of last year,
according to the China Internet Network Information Center.
Problems caused by Internet over-use are also on the rise, especially
among young Chinese seeking an escape from the heavy burden of parental
expectations. There are over 200 organizations offering treatment for
Internet disorders in China.
The developer of the "electric impact therapy" is Doctor Yang Yongxin,
also known as "Uncle Yang," who runs a boot camp called the Internet
Addiction Treatment Center at Linyi Mental Hospital, the China Youth
Daily said.
Patients are given psychotropic drugs as well as electro-shocks, at a
cost of 5,500 yuan ($805) a month.
Strictly trained in military ways and accompanied by their parents, the
young patients are prohibited from outside contact.
Most of them were sent to the hospital by force, the China Youth Daily
added.
Neither Yang nor his six colleagues at the camp were qualified
psychotherapists, it said.
Microsoft and Yahoo Reported Close To Search Deal
Microsoft and Yahoo are reportedly close to a search and advertising
deal that could be announced next week. Microsoft executives are said to
be in Silicon Valley for final talks, and CEO Steve Ballmer is
reportedly monitoring their efforts.
The All Things Digital blog reported that the executives include Yusuf
Mehdi, Microsoft's senior vice president for online; Satya Nadella,
senior vice president for research and development; and Dr. Qi Lu,
president of Microsoft's Online Services Group and a former Yahoo search
executive.
The blog said the deal would involve "Microsoft paying Yahoo several
billion dollars upfront to take over its search advertising business and
guarantee certain payments back to Yahoo." That would be in line with
Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz's comments in May that Yahoo was talking with
Microsoft and any deal for Yahoo's search assets would require
"boatloads of money."
All Things Digital said Yahoo is likely to lead in selling display
advertising for the companies.
A deal could help Yahoo and Microsoft grab more of the search
advertising market dominated by Google, which had 65 percent in June,
according to comScore. Yahoo was second with 19.5 percent and Microsoft
a distant third at 8.4 percent despite the launch of its Bing search
engine last month.
Microsoft launched an unsuccessful hostile takeover bid for Yahoo in
2008, but Yahoo's board said the $47.5 billion offer was too low. That
rejection infuriated stockholders and led to the resignation of Yahoo
CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang and brought in Bartz.
Office 2010 Test Opens; Free Web Versions Later
Microsoft Corp. is giving a select group of technology-savvy testers an
early peek at its Office 2010 software, but it's keeping a key
development - free Web-based versions of programs such as Word and Excel -
under wraps a little while longer.
Monday's launch of this "technical preview" indicates Office 2010 is
still on track for release in the early part of next year.
Microsoft is updating the highly profitable desktop software package to
add more ways for people to work simultaneously on documents, organize
their e-mail and edit videos and photos, among other changes. And for
the first time, Microsoft is adding free companion versions that run in
a Web browser.
Microsoft Office is by far the most popular software package worldwide
for making presentations, spreadsheets and other documents, and its
dominance is in no immediate danger. But the company is trying to defend
against a long-developing trend in which software is moving from the
desktop to the Web. Google Inc. has been pushing its own free, Web-based
programs for more than two years, though it has yet to gain much
traction with corporations.
With Office 2010, Microsoft must decide how much software it can give
away online without undermining its lucrative desktop software business.
If it doesn't make the right calculation, the software maker could find
itself in the same position as newspapers that gave online content away
and now are struggling to replace print revenue.
In Microsoft's case, the "Home and Student" version of Office 2007 is
listed at $150, though it can be found on Amazon.com for $90. Such sales
deliver attractive margins - in 2008, the division responsible for Office
logged $12.4 billion in profit on nearly $20 billion in revenue.
The Office 2010 Web programs will be Microsoft's first real attempt at
an online office package. In 2007, Microsoft launched something called
Office Live Workspace, which let people view and comment on documents,
but it lacked tools for creating and editing files.
The browser-based programs are on a different development cycle from the
desktop programs, and Microsoft says the Web versions' "technical
preview" will be ready in August.
The Web version of Office 2010 will be free to consumers, in a version
supported by advertising. Microsoft will let companies with long-term
Office licensing agreements install the online programs on their servers
for no extra charge. Companies will also be able to buy subscriptions to
access the programs through Microsoft-operated data centers.
Microsoft has not said how much Office 2010 will cost, only that it will
sell five variations on the suite, two for big corporations and three
available to consumers and small businesses.
Microsoft says people attending its annual partner conference this week
in New Orleans will be among the tens of thousands invited to try the
new software.
After Bing's First Month, Microsoft Still No. 3
Microsoft Corp.'s redesigned search site remains a distant third to
Google and Yahoo despite getting a slight boost in its first month.
ComScore Inc. estimates that Bing, the new site, snagged 8.4 percent of
U.S. Web searches in June, up from 8 percent in May.
It appears Microsoft's slight gain was Yahoo's loss. Google's share
stayed steady at 65 percent. But Yahoo's dipped to 19.6 percent in June,
losing about as much as Bing gained.
Google's dominance means a bigger slice of revenue from search
advertising, the small text ads that appear next to search results.
Microsoft has been trying to catch up for years, both with Live Search,
its previous Web search incarnation, and by trying to buy Yahoo. The
Redmond, Wash.-based software maker is trying again with Bing, which it
says does a better job than competitors for searches related to travel,
shopping and health.
Analysts were underwhelmed by the June results. Barclays Capital analyst
Douglas Anmuth wrote that he expected Bing's share to come in between 10
percent and 11 percent. Anmuth reported the comScore figures in a
research note Wednesday.
"Bing doesn't exactly set the world on fire," Benjamin Schachter, an
analyst for Broadpoint AmTech, wrote in a note to investors. "We
continue to believe much of Bing's early interest is being driven by
curiosity and early adopters, and not from fundamentally better search
experiences or outcomes."
Microsoft executives have said that they don't expect an immediate
change in Bing's search share, but the comScore estimates were lower
than early June reports showing Microsoft's share topping 10 percent.
Puppy Love Blooms on India Dog Dating Websites
Leo is affectionate, likes stuffed toys, eats fish and is a hit with
ladies looking for love on online. Not bad, for a 3-year-old Golden
Retriever.
Leo is just one of hundreds of dogs being signed up to a crop of dog
dating websites in India by doting owners seeking a mate or a companion
for their pet.
"A lot of dog owners want their dogs to have doggy friends with whom
they can play and have their own fun time," says Geetika Nigam, who
launched the 6,500-user-strong Puppy Love (http://www.puppylove.in/)
community two years ago.
Just like human dating sites, dog owners can upload photos, blog, search
for the perfect match and set up dates.
Many of the eligible dogs are pedigreed but some pet owners also
advertise for strays they have adopted.
"People are very happy that finally someone has taken up this cause,"
says Mumbai-based Mekhala Lobo, who spotted a business opportunity in
her newly launched Date Your Pet (http://dateyourpet.co.in/) website.
"Believe me, in the dog world, finding a mate is next to impossible,"
the MBA student said.
And it's especially hard for the boys.
Nigam, who owns a dog-grooming business, says a skewed sex ratio ensures
females have the upper hand in the dog-meets-dog world. "Families
generally prefer keeping male dogs so females are always in demand," she
said.
But, just like humans, not all dogs are lucky in love.
Ishita Sukhadwala set up DogMateOnline (http://dogmateonline.com/) in
2008 to help her cousin's 6-year-old Doberman Rocky find a mate. "It was
more out of necessity than anything else," she said.
Rocky had a profile set up on the website but died before a potential
match was found.
Sukhadwala and co-promoter Robina Gupta dedicated the website to Rocky
and now help nearly 5,000 registered members find a canine companion for
their pets.
Pet ownership has boomed in India, thanks to its growing ranks of
wealthy, middle and upper class professionals who are also driving sales
of luxury goods.
But for the vast majority of the country, which lives on between $1 and
$2 a day, pets are not an option. Stray dogs are also often beaten,
herded into trucks, poisoned and dumped into pits by municipality health
teams.
First Trip to Moon Recreated for Internet Generation
Man's first trip to the moon is about to blast off anew in an online
recreation intended to enthrall an Internet generation not yet born when
the US mission made history 40 years ago.
A virtual reenactment of the Apollo 11 mission that put men on the moon
and brought them back safely will launch Thursday online at
wechoosethemoon.org and incorporate new-age communication tools such as
email alerts and Twitter.
Thursday is the 40th anniversary of the day astronauts rocketed into
space to fulfill late president John F. Kennedy's goal of showing the
prowess of democracy by beating the former Soviet Union to the moon.
"President Barack Obama is seen as inspiring because he challenged
people to do more than they envisioned themselves doing," said Tom
McNaught, spokesman for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and
Museum which is behind the online project.
"We are saying there was a president in the 1960s who felt the same way.
Our mission is to share that legacy with new generations."
Kennedy in 1961 made the NASA space program a top national priority
because he thought it critical to "beat the Russians to the moon,"
according to historians at the library.
The United States was being left behind in the space race by what was
then the communist Soviet Union, which had launched the Sputnik
satellite in 1957 and put cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit around the
Earth in 1961.
"Landing on the moon before the Russians was an absolute priority,"
McNaught said.
"The only way to beat the Russians in the space race was to land on the
moon before they did. President Kennedy wanted to show the world that
democracy as a form of government could keep up with communism, if not
surpass it."
Apollo 11 progress and highlights from the launch count-down to July 20,
when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first
people to walk on the moon, will be replayed online on their original
time line.
Actual communications between the crew and mission control technicians
will be streamed at the website as well as "tweets" on hot microblogging
service Twitter, according to McNaught.
NASA recordings, film footage, photographs, and audio broadcasts have
been woven into an interactive online replay of the drama of the mission.
"People are going to be able to hear, see and watch a lot more than they
were able to in 1969; no media outlet covered it minute-by-minute for
the four days," McNaught said.
Email alerts will let people know the moment on July 20 when the space
module landed on the moon.
"We created something interactive so young people can really get a sense
of the achievement in 1969 when a man walked on the moon."
Wechoosethemoon.org website will remain online for at least a year, with
visitors being able to replay selected portions of the mission at their
convenience.
"It is an anniversary being marked around the world and we are just
delighted to have a part in it," McNaught said.
"We have so many Americans who weren't born at the time... There are so
many new communication tools and so much new technology."
Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and was not alive to see his goal of
reaching the moon realized.
Microsoft Stores To Open Near Apple Stores in Fall
Microsoft Corp will open stores close to those of Apple Inc this fall,
according to its chief operating officer, as it looks to win back the
initiative in the battle for Main Street PC and gadget buyers.
"We're going to have some retail stores opened up right next door to
Apple stores this fall," said Microsoft's Kevin Turner at a webcast
conference in New Orleans on Wednesday. "Stay tuned."
The world's largest software company announced in February that it would
open its own chain of branded stores as it looks to counter Apple's
successful foray into retailing, hiring a former Wal-Mart Stores Inc
executive to run them.
Few details have emerged since then. A Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed
on Wednesday only that "there will be scenarios where we have stores in
proximity to Apple," and that some stores would open "in the fall
timeframe."
Canada: Facebook Violates Privacy Law
Canadian officials on Thursday said Facebook was breaking national
privacy law by holding on to personal information from closed accounts
at the social-networking service.
A Canada privacy commission report expressed "an overarching concern"
that privacy information Facebook provides its more than 250 million
users is "often confusing or incomplete."
Facebook said it is working with the commission to resolve its concerns
in ways that safeguard privacy without disrupting user-experiences at
the world's most popular online social-networking community.
"Overall, we are looking for practical solutions that operate at scale
and respect the fact that people come to share and not to hide,"
Facebook chief privacy officer Chris Kelly told AFP.
"We continue our dialogue and have every confidence that we will come to
acceptable conclusions. I think the concerns are fully resolvable."
Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said there are several
areas in which Palo Alto, California-based Facebook needs to bring its
practices in line with privacy law in Canada.
The conclusion is based on an investigation prompted by a complaint from
the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic.
"It's clear that privacy issues are top of mind for Facebook, and yet we
found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates," Stoddart said
in a release.
Facebook's policy of holding onto personal information from deactivated
accounts is a violation of Canadian law established by a Personal
Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, according to the
report.
The law requires organizations to retain personal information only for
as long as is necessary to meet appropriate purposes, the commissioner said.
The report calls on Facebook to make privacy policies and options more
transparent to ensure that the nearly 12 million Canadians using the
service can properly manage personal information.
Facebook does not adequately restrict access that outside software
developers have to personal information people put on profile pages,
according to the commissioner.
A key to Facebook's popularity has been that third-party developers are
free to make fun, functional, or hip mini-programs that people can
install on profile pages.
The report estimated that 950,000 developers in 180 countries craft
Facebook applications, with games and quiz programs among favorites.
Facebook has agreed to adopt many recommendations in the report.
"We urge Facebook to implement all of our recommendations to further
enhance their site, ensure they are in compliance with privacy law, and
ultimately show themselves as models of privacy," said Assistant
Commissioner Elizabeth Denham.
The privacy commissioner's office gave Facebook 30 days to comply with
all its recommendations and noted that it can go to federal court for
enforcement.
Facebook will soon introduce additional privacy features that it
believes will address the commission's concerns, according to Kelly.
"Facebook has made privacy a core part of its business, and is the
industry leader in developing and deploying privacy tools and advocating
their use," Kelly said.
"We believe that the very reason Facebook is popular in Canada is
because the site offers people a way to share information, enables them
to choose what information they share with whom, and is very easy to use."
Twitter Hacked By Old Technique, Again
Breaking into someone's e-mail can be child's play for a determined
hacker, as Twitter Inc. employees have learned the hard way, again.
For the third time this year, the San Francisco-based company was the
victim of a security breach stemming from a simple end-run around its
defenses. In the latest case, a hacker got the password for an
employee's personal e-mail account - possibly by guessing, or by
correctly answering a security question - and worked from there to steal
confidential company documents.
The techniques used by the attackers highlight the dangers of a broader
trend promoted by Google Inc. and others toward storing more data
online, instead of on computers under your control.
The shift toward doing more over the Web - a practice known as "cloud
computing" - means that mistakes employees make in their private lives
can do serious damage to their employers, because a single e-mail
account can tie the two worlds together.
Stealing the password for someone's Gmail account, for example, not only
gives the hacker access to that person's personal e-mail, but also to
any other Google applications they might use for work, like those used
to create spreadsheets or presentations.
That's apparently what happened to Twitter, which shares confidential
data within the company through the Google Apps package that
incorporates e-mail, word processing, spreadsheet, calendar and other
Google services for $50 per user per year.
Co-founder Biz Stone wrote in a blog posting Wednesday that the personal
e-mail of an unnamed Twitter administrative employee was hacked about a
month ago, and through that the attacker got access to the employee's
Google Apps account.
Separately, the wife of co-founder Evan Williams also had her personal
e-mail hacked around the same time, Stone wrote. Through that, the
attacker got access to Williams' personal Amazon and PayPal accounts.
Stone said the attacks are "about Twitter being in enough of a spotlight
that folks who work here can become targets."
Some of the material the hacker posted online from the Google Apps
documents was more embarrassing than damaging, like floor plans for new
office space and a pitch for a TV show about the increasingly popular
online messaging service.
Twitter says only one user account was potentially compromised because a
screenshot of the account was included among the stolen documents. The
value in hijacking a user's account is limited, as those attacks are
mainly used to post fake messages and try to trick the victim's friends
into clicking on links that will infect their computers.
Sensitive Twitter documents were filched, though.
The hacker claims to have employee salaries and credit card numbers,
resumes from job applicants, internal meeting reports and growth
projections.
TechCrunch, a widely read technology blog, says it was e-mailed the
documents, and subsequently published some of them, including financial
projections that Twitter drew up in February. The forecast envisioned
Twitter generating its first revenue in the current quarter, with sales
of about $400,000 and about 60 employees. By the end of next year,
Twitter expected to employ about 345 people with annual revenue of about
$140 million, according to the documents published by TechCrunch.
Stone said in an e-mail that most of the documents TechCrunch has access
to are "speculative exercises."
In his blog post, Stone said the stolen documents "are not polished or
ready for prime time and they're certainly not revealing some big,
secret plan for taking over the world," but said they are sensitive
enough that their public release could jeopardize relationships with
Twitter's partners.
Stone said the company is talking to lawyers about "what this theft
means for Twitter, the hacker, and anyone who accepts and subsequently
shares or publishes these stolen documents."
What the attacks on Twitter show is that Web sites don't need to get
compromised in the traditional sense to put its users and employees at
risk.
Hackers don't need to find a vulnerability in the site itself, or plant
a virus on an employee's computer, to sneak inside.
The easier approach is much more low-tech: All they need to find is an
employee who uses weak passwords for his or her e-mail accounts, or has
security questions that are easy to answer with a little information
about the person.
It's an old strategy that's becoming more and more valuable as people's
personal and work lives merge online.
It can be trivial to guess someone's passwords, as former vice
presidential candidate Sarah Palin found out during the election, when
her personal e-mail was hacked and screenshots were posted online. The
attacker sneaked in by accurately guessing the answer's to Palin's
security questions, based on information about her and her family that
was already online.
Password-guessing programs are also a common hacking tool. An attacker
runs the program against an account, and if it's allowed to try lots of
times and the password isn't very complicated, the hacker's in.
Twitter was hit twice before this year in similar incidents.
In an attack against Twitter in January, a Twitter support staffer's
account was compromised using a password-guessing-program. The hacker
got administrative access to the site. The Twitter feeds for Barack
Obama, Britney Spears and other celebrities were used to send out bogus
messages. A similar attack happened in May.
The attacks on Twitter serve as a reminder of why many corporations are
reluctant to jump on the cloud computing bandwagon. Outsourcing
sensitive jobs can save money but also open up companies to more risk,
because their data aren't entirely under their control.
Another trend online is for Web-based services to streamline access by
letting users log into each others' sites with the same usernames and
passwords. Facebook and other services have begun to do this, raising
possible security risks.
The lesson from Twitter's latest security troubles is an old one: Use
strong passwords, which include some combination of letters and numbers,
and for companies, be careful about how many accounts are linked to the
same username and password combination.
EBay Live! Now Dead
EBay Inc is pulling the plug on its annual eBay Live! event, eschewing
the large networking affair for a series of more intimate gatherings to
connect sellers.
The company notified sellers on its internal blog on Monday that it
would no longer hold its planned August 2010 event in Orlando, Florida.
Instead, eBay will host "more local events that don't require costly
travel" for attendees, said president of eBay Marketplaces Lorrie
Norrington.
EBay had earlier canceled its 2009 conference.
"EBay: On Location" will begin in Orlando in February, then travel to
various cities before winding up in San Jose, California, the company's
headquarters, in August. The series of smaller events will still bring
together eBay sellers and provide opportunities to learn about selling
on eBay, Norrington said in the blog.
The three-day event that included networking, talks with eBay executives
and forums on how to benefit from eBay's site, first began in 2002.
But recent dissatisfaction among some sellers over changes eBay has made
to its pricing, listings and policies had altered the tone of the
convention.
At its peak, eBay Live! attracted some 15,000 attendees, according to
AuctionBytes blogger Ina Steiner, who noted that the once-festive
atmosphere - where executives were greeted with rousing standing
ovations - had turned combative.
"Last year's conference in Chicago was so contentious that a
convention-center worker observing one session told me it was like
attending a union meeting," Steiner wrote.
The recession has also had an effect on corporations' marketing efforts,
with many cutting back on lavishly produced events in favor of more
low-key meetings.
The company, which turns 15 next year, is trying to reignite its
marketplaces division where growth has decelerated in recent years. EBay
is trying to move away from the online auctions business that made it
famous and instead focus on fixed-price sales, which often benefit
larger sellers.
Google Health To Safeguard "End-of-Life" Wishes
Google has invited people to store "end-of-life" wishes at its free
online health records management service.
Google Health made available "advance directive" forms on which people
can specify what they want doctors to do or not do in the event they are
too ill or injured to express their wishes.
Forms created with collaboration from an organization specializing in
elder care are available free for download online and can be customized
to the laws in US states, according to Roni Zeiger and Julie Wilner of
the Google Health team.
"An advance directive allows you to determine your end-of-life wishes so
that your family and doctor can honor them if you get sick and are
unable to communicate," Wilner and Zeiger said in a message at Google's
official blog.
"The decision to sign an advance directive is an important and personal
one, and Google Health now makes it a little bit easier."
Google Health recently added a feature that lets people upload scanned
medical records to profiles for storage or selective sharing.
"We would like to reduce the unnecessary use of paper in patient care,"
Zeiger and Wilner wrote.
"We hope someday we'll move beyond paper, but until then Google Health
can help you store your paper medical records electronically, including
an advance directive, in one safe place," they wrote
China's Internet Users Outnumber U.S. Population
China's Internet users have surpassed the U.S. population in number, and
more Chinese than ever are using e-commerce and accessing the Web
through mobile phones, according to official statistics.
China had 338 million Internet users at the end of last month, the most
in any country, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)
said late Thursday.
Chatting on message boards, cruising around social networking sites and
pursuing other entertainment were among the most popular activities for
Web users, the center said in a report posted on its Web site. The
number of Internet users who watched videos online rose 10 percent from
six months ago. More than one-fourth now shop online.
China also led the world in the number of registered Web sites, nearly
13 million, using its .cn top-level domain, the report said.
Almost all of the reported figures rose substantially this year. Nearly
all of the Internet users had broadband, which China is working to link
to more remote areas
But the report gave mixed signals on the prospects for mobile broadband,
which China is also pushing. The number of Chinese who used mobile
phones to access some online services rose to 155 million, but just one
in four of those people said they would use 3G to surf the Web in the
future, the report said.
High prices and limited coverage so far have kept down 3G take-up
despite aggressive marketing by China's three mobile carriers.
The report also showed the severity of malware and other security
problems in China. Over 100 million Chinese had passwords or account
numbers stolen in the first of this year, and almost twice as many
experienced virus or trojan attacks, it said.
Despite the huge numbers, only one in four Chinese is already an
Internet user, the report said.
=~=~=~=
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