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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 13 Issue 10
Volume 13, Issue 10 Atari Online News, Etc. March 11, 2010
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2011
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:
Fred Horvat
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1310 03/11/10
~ Beware Quake Web Scams ~ People Are Talking! ~ iPad 2 Hits Stores!
~ New Chrome Browser Out ~ IE9 Debuts Next Week! ~ Obsolete Browsers!
~ Germans Dumping Linux! ~ Twitter To Give Up User ~ To LOL Or Not To LOL!
~ Sony Gets Geohot Logs! ~ Panel To Examine Google ~ Five Pac-Man Unknowns!
-* Law Could Damage Online Rights *-
-* Five Big Security Threats for 2011! *-
-* China's Cyber Abilities Worries the States *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The horrendous winter that we've experienced here in New England and many
other parts of the country pales in comparison to what Japan has just
experienced, as well as those in Hawaii and the U.S. west coast. It's
bad enough to have an earthquake, but one of the magnitude that Japan has
just experienced is mind-boggling. And to top that off, the after-effect
was a huge tsunami - so huge that it managed to get to Hawaii and the
west coast of the U.S. and cause significant damage and loss of life!
And this weather "event" is just another of numerous natural disasters that
have occurred recently - tornadoes in the South, another major quake in New
Zealand, and many others. Mother Nature has certainly been in a bad mood
lately, for lack of a better non-sexist description. I can't imagine what
other parts of the world are experiencing, but terror would be one way to
describe it!
Things here in the Northeast have eased up a bit. Yes, we've been getting
rain and some flooding, but nothing compared [yet] to what we experienced
last year. The snow is melting quickly; and I can actually see numerous
patches of my lawn throughout the yard. Maybe, hopefully, Spring is finally
starting to make its way to our area. One other sure sign of better things
to come - don't forget to set your clocks AHEAD one hour this weekend for
Daylight Savings Time. Sure, it's another hour of lost sleep, but this one
I can manage to appreciate somehow!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Judge Hands Over Geohot Sites IP Logs to Sony!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Five Things You Never Knew About Pac-Man!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Judge Hands Over IP Logs of Several Geohot Sites to Sony
IconEver visited the website of famed iOS and Playstation 3 hacker Geohot?
Or watched his video on YouTube? Or read his Blogspot blog? Well, you're
now part of a criminal investigation. A US judge has given Sony complete
and unrestricted access to all IP addresses which ever visited his website
and blog, or watched his YouTube video.
There's two reasons why Sony wants all this information. First, Sony wants
to demonstrate that Geohot's Playstation 3 code was distributed widely.
Second, Sony wants to show that enough Californians downloaded the code,
making it acceptable for the case to take place in San Francisco, instead
of Geohot's home state New Jersey.
Magistrate Joseph Spero has ordered Google to hand over all server and IP
logs for Geohot's Blogspot blog. BlueHost, which hosts Geohot's website,
is also forced to hand over all server and IP logs. As for YouTube - they
must hand over all account information related to an account named
"geohot", as well as all possible identifying information related to all
the people who watched or commented on a video posted by this account.
Twitter must hand over all tweets, personal messages, and account
information.
That's a whole boatload of information. Considering we and lots of other
websites linked to his website quite a few times, I'm pretty sure many of
you are now part of a criminal investigation. It's absolutely beyond me
how any judge with more than two braincells can disregard privacy concerns
this easily. It's very hard to maintain that this judge is impartial. I've
never had a whole lot of faith in the US justice system whenever large
companies were involved, and things like this do little to restore my
faith.
Sony has threatened to sue anyone who posts the encryption key or hosts the
jailbreak tools. Normally, I would post the key right here, since those
silly pro-corporation laws the US is so fond of do not apply in Europe.
Sadly, OSNews is a US site hosted in the US, so I can't take that risk.
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
Five Things You Never Knew About Pac-Man
Pac-Man Having been a part of the pop-culture landscape for over 30 years
now, Pac-Man is a pretty familiar character.
He has adorned cereal boxes, been the star of a Saturday morning cartoon
program and appeared on virtually every gaming platform to have ever been
released.
That's not just systems from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. It also
includes essentially every cell phone that has a screen, long-dead
portable systems and plug-and-play devices for your TV. Along the way, the
little pellet-muncher has built an empire that has allowed publisher
Namco-Bandai to survive the worst the economy could throw at it.
But even the most well known icons have their secrets. This week, at the
Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Toru Iwatani, creator of the
game, offered a postmortem on the industry's biggest franchise-and told a
few tales most fans have probably never heard.
Here are the five most surprising:
The point of the game was to attract girls
While today's player is slightly more likely to be male, gaming in the late
1970s was pretty much exclusively a men's club. Iwatani wanted to change
this, creating something that could appeal to both women and families, he
says.
"The reason I created Pac-Man was because we wanted to attract female
gamers," he says. "Back then, there were no home games. People had to go
to the arcade center to play games. That was a playground for boys. It was
dirty and smelly. So we wanted to include female players, so it would
become cleaner and brighter."
Each ghost had specific orders
When you play the game, it might seem as if the four ghosts are actively
chasing you. That's not exactly true. Iwatani intentionally avoided
programming them with that purpose, since that would have resulted in
Pac-Man zipping around the screen with four ghosts always right behind
him.
Instead, it's only Blinky, the red ghost, who doggedly pursues you
throughout the game. Pinky, the pink ghost (naturally), simply wants to
position itself at a point that's 32 pixels in front of Pac-Man's mouth.
The blue ghost, Inky, is seeking to position itself at a similar fixed
spot. And Clyde, the orange ghost, moves completely at random.
Because the player constantly has Pac-Man on the go, however, the ghosts
are always changing direction and trying to achieve their goal, which adds
to the challenge of the game.
What, exactly, does Pac-Man mean?
You may have heard the story about how a pizza with a missing slice
inspired Pac-Man's design. But it turns out the game was designed entirely
around food.
"I thought about something that may attract girls," says Iwatani. "Maybe
boy stories or something to do with fashion. However, girls love to eat
desserts. My wife often does! So the verb eat' gave me a hint to create
this game."
That theme continued with the game's name. In Japanese, "puck puck" is akin
to the U.S. saying "munch munch". So the original name - Puck-Man -
translated as "Munch man". (A savvy Midway Games official changed it to
Pac-Man when the game hit the U.S. to discourage vandals from shaving off
part of the "P," thereby creating an obscene word.)
The missing puzzle piece
Pac-Man was designed to be as simple as possible, to attract a wide
audience. The limits of technology in 1980 made this a little easier to
achieve. Iwatani says he's happy about this now, but at the time, there
was one more thing he wanted to add to the game.
"I wanted to have a shelter and it would move up and down," he says. "When
the ghost comes, the ghost would be pinched by the shelter which would
disfigure the ghost."
The ghosts were almost just one color
It's kind of hard to picture Pac-Man without the brightly colored ghosts
today, but when the game was being developed, Iwatani says he was pressured
hard to change that.
The president of Namco ordered him to make the ghosts a single color - red,
to be precise - since she believed players would be confused that some
ghosts, perhaps, were Pac-Man's ally.
Iwatani refused the order and on questionnaires to the game's testers,
asked if they would prefer a single color ghost or four. Not a single
person wanted the single-color option. That ultimately convinced the
president she was wrong.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
New EU Consumer Law Could Damage Online Rights, BSA Claims
Including digital content and services in the new Consumer Rights Directive
could have a detrimental effect on online consumers, the Business Software
Alliance (BSA) said on Monday.
The organization, which represents such software giants as Microsoft, SAP,
IBM, Dell and HP, has hit out at the controversial legislation, which is
aimed at revising European customer protection on national and cross-border
contracts.
To date, the proposed text of the directive has faced criticism from
consumer groups for failing to take sufficient account of consumer rights
for online digital purchases such as music, video, books and software.
However the BSA argues that the Consumer Rights Directive is simply not the
right vehicle for enhancing consumer protection of digital products at all.
Customers could find themselves trying to resolve failed downloads with
their internet service provider rather than the trader, the BSA claims. It
also alleges that traders could stop offering patches and updates because
they are only liable for faults at the time of purchase.
Preliminary agreement on the draft directive was reached last month between
the European Commission and member states. However, the European Parliament
must approve the text before any law can be implemented.
DigitalEurope and the European Digital Media Association have also expressed
concern and are developing a joint letter with the BSA to be submitted to
MEPs urging them to oppose the inclusion of digital products as part of the
sale of goods provisions in the proposed directive.
The current text has so far only been approved at committee level. The
Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee voted narrowly to approve
the revised text on Feb. 1. But members agreed that further discussion
would be necessary to "futureproof" any directive.
Currently there is a 14-day "cooling off" period during which consumers can
withdraw from a contract. The revised directive proposes a standard
withdrawal form to make it easier for consumers to pull out of a contract.
It also envisages a ban on all pre-ticked boxes which apply to payments,
such as for express delivery in distance selling or travel insurance,
priority boarding and baggage when booking a holiday. Consumers will have
the right to be reimbursed the extra payments to which they have not
actively agreed.
"Digital content transmitted to the consumer in a digital format, where the
consumer obtains the possibility of use on a permanent basis or in a way
similar to the physical possession of a good, should be treated as goods
for the application of the provisions of this Directive which apply to
sales contracts. However, a withdrawal right should only apply until the
moment the consumer starts to download the digital content," says the
current draft.
The text will be put to a full parliament vote on 24 March, but some
political groups already look likely to reject it.
Five Big Security Threats for 2011
Online malicious activity was a major headache in 2010, and so far, 2011
is no different: We've seen scams and malware on Twitter, Facebook, and the
Android Market, as well as a rise in politically motivated online attacks.
But that's no surprise to security experts such as Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for security firm Sophos. Cluley says that Sophos
analyzes about 95,000 pieces of malware every day that is either
brand-new or a variant of an older attack.
The bad guys are hard at work figuring out new ways to infect your
system. The good news is that the latest antivirus programs do a better
job than ever at detecting suspicious activity before it can damage your
computer.
But security software can't always protect you; sometimes the best
defense is a dose of common sense and a little bit of knowledge about
what to watch out for. Whether it's fake antivirus scams, malware on
social networks, or good old-fashioned e-mail attachments loaded with
viruses, it pays to be on your toes so you don't end up becoming a
victim to identity theft, a raided bank account, or even a home invasion.
So here's a look at 2011's five big security threats, and the steps you
can take to avoid becoming a victim.
*Threat 1: Mobile Apps*
*What it is: *It isn't surprising that smartphones are a hot new malware
target: 85 percent of adults in the United States own a mobile phone,
according to a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project,
and the smartphone market is growing at a rapid pace.
As recently as March 1, more than 50 third-party applications on Google's
official Android Market contained a Trojan called DroidDream. When you run
a DroidDream application for the first time, the malware gains
administrator access over your phone without your permission, according to
mobile security firm Lookout. That means it could download more malicious
programs to your phone without your knowledge and steal data saved on your
device.
Google was able to stop the DroidDream outbreak by deleting the bad apps
from the Market and remotely removing malicious apps from Android users'
devices, but it's only a matter of time before the next outbreak occurs.
And malicious apps on the Android Market aren't the only way that
malware authors can target phones: A recent Android malware outbreak in
China spread through repackaged apps distributed on forums or through
alternative app markets.
The threat of malware, coupled with other security threats (such as data
leakage from a lost phone) may soon impact your ability to use personal
devices at work, according to Andrew Jaquith, chief technology officer
of Perimeter E-Security. Companies may begin to set some serious ground
rules for putting company data on personal mobile devices by enforcing
"policies for passwords, device locking, remote wipe, and hardware
encryption," Jaquith says.
*Protect yourself:* You can't trust that all apps on the Android Market
are malware free. Make sure you read app reviews in the Market and on
reputable app review sites such as PC World's AppGuide. And avoid
installing any applications you get from unknown sources. That .apk file
may be titled "Fruit Ninja" but in reality is a Trojan horse waiting to be
unleashed. Don't forget that a number of mobile antivirus apps are
available for Android, and it may be wise to have at least one installed
on your phone.
Also, read an app's permissions screen carefully - it details what kinds
of data an Android application can access (Google makes it mandatory for
developers to have a complete list of permissions for every feature that
an app has access to on your phone). You can find this list on every
app's page in the Android Market (it appears right after you tap the
button to download an app). See if you can uncheck undesirable
permissions. If you're downloading a wallpaper application, for example,
chances are it doesn't need to know your exact location.
iOS users aren't off the hook, either: Some bad actors have slipped by
Apple's censors in the past despite the company's third-party
app-vetting process. Over the summer, for example, a flashlight app that
had hidden functionality got approved to the App Store. The actual risk may
be low, but it isn't impossible for a seemingly legit app to have some
hidden, malicious capabilities.
*Threat 2: Social Network-Based Scams*
Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter may be a great place to
connect with friends, but they are also a breeding ground for malicious
activity. Cluley says some of the most rapid growth in online attacks
comes from social networks. In November, antivirus maker BitDefender
made a similar statement, saying 20 percent of all Facebook users are
active targets of malware.
Social network scams often take the form of phishing attacks that try to
lure you in with photos or videos, and harvest your personal information
or Facebook login - or worse, infect your PC with malware - along the way.
Often, these links will come from Facebook friends who fall victim to
these scams. You could also run across rogue Facebook applications that
try to access your Facebook data and that of your friends.
While it's probably no big deal if scam artists find out what your
favorite movies or quotes are, your profile may contain critical
data - such as your date or place of birth, cell phone number, and e-mail
address - that can be used to build a profile about you and even steal
your identity. Such bits of information may be the final data point a
bad actor needs to impersonate you online.
You could even become a specific target for criminals through social
networks. In September, three young men ran a burglary ring in Nashua,
New Hampshire, by looking at Facebook postings about people going out
and then targeting homes they believed were likely to be empty. Police
said they recovered over $100,000 in stolen property after cracking the
ring, according to New Hampshire's WMUR-TV 9.
*Protect yourself:* Be wary of any social networking postings that offer
you the chance to see a cool photo or video or making claims you know to
be untrue - such as a recent Twitter scam that offered to let you see who
is viewing your profile. Often, these scams can be stopped by just
revoking the app in your security permissions and changing your account
password. Another smart thing to do, according to Cluley, is to stop and
ask yourself why a Facebook application wants to post messages on your wall
or access your friends list. If you can't think of a good reason the app
would need to do this, perhaps it's not worth authorizing.
*Threat 3: Fake Antivirus*
*What it is:* Although they've been around for a few years now, fake
antivirus scams are on the rise, according to Cluley. In the last eight
months, Sophos says, it has analyzed more than 850,000 instances of fake
antivirus. Also known as "scareware," these scams start by convincing
you to download a free antivirus program, sometimes appearing to be
software from a reputable security company. Then the software claims
your computer is under threat from a virus and you can save your system
by buying a "full" version of the antivirus program for a one-time fee.
Once you do that, however, not only have you allowed more potential
malware onto your computer, but you may have also handed over your
credit card credentials to identity thieves. At that point, the bad guys
can drain your bank account or steal your identity.
The irony of all this, says Cluley, is that these scams owe some of
their success to the fact that we are becoming more aware of computer
security. Since we want to protect ourselves as much as possible from
malware threats, we become easily seduced by software promising enhanced
security.
*Protect yourself:* First and foremost, make sure you are running a
security program that's current - especially one that effectively blocks
brand-new malware (see our reviews of the latest security suites and
antivirus programs for which to buy). And never download a security
program from a pop-up window you see online or from a third-party site.
*Threat 4: PDFs*
It may be the oldest online scam in the book, but e-mail loaded with
malware attachments is still a big problem despite a high degree of
awareness and robust antivirus scanning in Webmail clients such as Gmail
and Yahoo Mail. Cluley puts the number of malware-related e-mails sent
every day in the "millions," and says that "more and more spam is less
about touting Viagra or fake degrees, but [is] turning malicious in
nature."
PDF documents appear to be a prime method for these attacks, according
to a recent report by MessageLabs, a division of Symantec. "PDFs are
potentially one of the most dangerous file formats available and should
be treated with caution...Because it is significantly easier to generate
legitimate and concealed malicious content with PDFs," MessageLabs said
in its February 2011 Intelligence Report (a PDF link - oh, the irony).
In 2010, 65 percent of targeted e-mail attacks used PDFs containing
malware, up from 52.6 percent in 2009, according to MessageLabs, which
further predicts that by mid-2011, 76 percent of targeted malware
attacks could be using PDFs as their primary method of intrusion.
It's not just businesses that are targets of e-mail scams either. Sophos
recently discovered an e-mail scam in the U.K. purporting to offer an
$80 gift certificate to customers of a popular pet supply retailer.
*Protect yourself:* Make sure you are running an antivirus program and
that it's up-to-date. Also, never open an e-mail attachment that you
weren't expecting.
Last but not least, make sure that you keep Adobe Reader (or the PDF
reader of your choice) up-to-date; Adobe regularly releases security
updates that fix known flaws. The new Adobe Reader X has an updated
security architecture that can better protect you against malicious PDF
attacks.
*Threat 5: War Games*
State-sponsored malware attacks, industrial espionage, and hacktivism
are on the rise, according to Perimeter E-Security's Jaquith. They may
not be threats that affect everyone, but if you manage security for a
business, they are the sorts of issues you should be paying attention to.
The hacktivist group Anonymous, for example, grabbed headlines this year
for mounting attacks in defense of whistle-blower site WikiLeaks, and
attacking government Websites in support of recent protests in Egypt,
Tunisia, and Libya. The group also leaked a cache of e-mail messages
from a security researcher who was trying to identify Anonymous members.
"Whether it's WikiLeaks, Anonymous, or a Chinese or Russian attacker,
theft of industrial secrets is shaping up to be one of the key issues of
2011," Jaquith says in a statement.
*Protect yourself: *If you are trying to safeguard your company's
secrets or are worried about data leaks, monitor your company's network
traffic for suspicious activity and conduct regular reviews of employee
data access privileges.
The Internet may be filled with malware and potential threats, but that
doesn't mean you need to panic. Keep your guard up, use common sense,
and keep your software up-to-date, and you should be able to reduce your
risk of falling victim to attack.
China's Cyber Abilities Worry U.S.
China's growing capabilities in cyber-warfare and intelligence gathering
are a "formidable concern" to the United States, the top intelligence
official told a Senate panel on Thursday.
"The Chinese have made a substantial investment in this area, they have
a very large organization devoted to it and they're pretty aggressive,"
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Armed
Services Committee.
"This is just another way in which they glean information about us and
collect on us for technology purposes, so it's a very formidable
concern," he said.
Clapper, addressing questions at an annual hearing on worldwide security
threats, did not elaborate on Chinese cyber activities.
But in his written testimony, the intelligence chief said 2010 saw a
"dramatic increase in malicious cyber-activity targeting U.S. computers
and networks." The passage did not specifically mention China.
Clapper also cited an April 8, 2010, incident in which state-owned China
Telecom advertised erroneous network routes that instructed "massive
volumes" of U.S. and other foreign Internet traffic to go through
Chinese servers for 17 minutes.
"This incident affected traffic to and from U.S. government and military
sites, including sites for the Senate, the Army, the Navy, the Marine
corps, the air force, and the office of the Secretary of Defense, as
well as a number of Fortune 500 firms," he said.
When that incident was revealed in late 2010, China Telecom denied that
it hijacked U.S. Internet traffic. China's standard response to
cyber-attack allegations has been to deny any connection to them and say
it is also a victim of such attacks.
US Warns of Quake-Related Internet Scams
US computer security authorities warned on Friday that online scammers may
seek to exploit the earthquake in Japan.
The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) told computer users
to be wary of "potential email scams, fake antivirus and phishing
attacks regarding the Japan earthquake and the tsunami disasters."
"Email scams may contain links or attachments which may direct users to
phishing or malware-laden websites," US-CERT said in a statement.
"Fake antivirus attacks may come in the form of pop-ups which flash
security warnings and ask the user for credit card information," it said.
"Phishing emails and websites requesting donations for bogus charitable
organizations commonly appear after these types of natural disasters,"
US-CERT added.
Phishing refers to attempts to steal user names, passwords and other
personal information from unsuspecting victims, mostly through email or
instant messages.
The massive, 8.9-magnitude quake left hundreds dead in Japan and
unleashed a tsunami in the Pacific.
Senate Panel To Look into Google and Web Search
The US senator who chairs the subcommittee on anti-trust issues has
announced plans to examine Google's "dominance" of the Internet search
market.
Herb Kohl, a Democrat from Wisconsin who chairs the Senate Judiciary
Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer
Rights, put online search on the agenda for the new session of Congress.
Kohl said the subcommittee planned to address competition in online
markets and Internet search issues.
"Access to the wealth of information and e-commerce on the Internet is
essential for consumers and business alike," the senator said in a
statement.
"The subcommittee will strive to ensure that this sector remains
competitive, that Internet search is fair to its users and customers,
advertisers have sufficient choices, and that consumers' privacy is
guarded.
"In recent years, the dominance over Internet search of the world's
largest search engine, Google, has increased and Google has increasingly
sought to acquire e-commerce sites in myriad businesses," Kohl said.
"In this regard, we will closely examine allegations raised by
e-commerce websites that compete with Google that they are being treated
unfairly in search ranking, and in their ability to purchase search
advertising.
"We also will continue to closely examine the impact of further
acquisitions in this sector," Kohl said.
The Justice Department is currently reviewing Google's proposed $700
million acquisition of flight information company ITA Software, a deal
which is facing opposition from several leading online travel sites.
According to figures released on Friday by tracking firm comScore,
Google remains the overwhelming leader of the US search market although
its US market share slipped to 65.4 percent in February from 65.6
percent in January.
Apple's iPad 2 Hits Stores
Apple's new iPad goes on sale across the United States on Friday as the
gadget-maker seeks to stay a step ahead of its rivals in the booming market
for sleek touchscreen tablet computers.
Apple was to begin taking online orders for the iPad 2, which was
unveiled by chief executive Steve Jobs last week, at 4:00 am (0900 GMT),
but as of 5:00 am it did not yet appear to be available.
The device was to go on sale at the company's 236 US stores starting at
5:00 pm (2200 GMT).
The iPad 2, which is one-third thinner, nearly 15 percent lighter and
faster than the model released last April, will go on sale in another
two dozen countries on March 25.
Besides the size and weight, the other major improvement to the new iPad
is the addition of front- and rear-facing cameras that allow users to
take still pictures and video and hold video conversations.
Apple sold 15 million iPads last year, bringing in $10 billion in new
revenue and creating an entirely new category of consumer electronics
devices.
Dozens of other companies have been scrambling since then to bring their
own touchscreen tablets to market, most of them relying on Google's
Android software.
But with the exception of the Galaxy Tab from South Korea's Samsung,
rival tablet-makers have enjoyed little success.
Technology research firm Gartner is forecasting sales of 55 million
tablet computers worldwide this year and another research firm,
Forrester, said Apple has little to worry about for now.
"Competing tablets to the iPad are poised to fail, which is why we're
forecasting that Apple will have at least 80 percent share of the US
consumer tablet market in 2011," Forrester said.
The iPad 2 has received mostly glowing reviews from the influential
technology columnists of The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
"While it's evolutionary rather than revolutionary like the first model,
the changes Apple has made are generally pleasing and positive, and the
device worked very well for me," the Journal's Walter Mossberg said.
Mossberg said the iPad 2 "keeps Apple ahead in the tablet race, at least
for now." But he was critical of the quality of the photos taken by its
still cameras and its inability to play Adobe Flash video.
"This is a deliberate decision by Apple, and puts its devices at a
disadvantage for some users when compared with Android tablets, which
can play Flash, or say they will soon, albeit not always well," Mossberg
said.
While pleased with the iPad 2 overall, Mossberg said it was not a must
buy for owners of the old model.
"Unless you are desperate for the cameras or feel you are laboring under
the greater bulk of the original model, I don't advise that iPad owners
race to get the new version," he said.
David Pogue of the Times said the improvement in thinness, weight and
speed "transforms the experience" of using an iPad and the cameras are a
"treat."
"The entire screen is your viewfinder," he said.
Pogue also noted the iPad 2's inability to play Flash video but said the
device "will still dominate the market, because it dominates in all the
most important criteria: thinness, weight, integration, beauty - and
apps."
More than 65,000 applications have been created for the iPad, while
there are currently only about 100 crafted for tablets running Google's
Android operating system.
Pogue said another factor likely to keep Apple on top is the fact that
the iPad 2 costs less than the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola's new Xoom.
Apple is selling the iPad 2 at the same prices as the original iPad,
ranging from $499 for the basic 16-gigabyte version to $829 for the
top-of-the-line 64-GB model.
The iPad 2 will be available on March 25 in Australia, Austria, Belgium,
Britain, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and
Switzerland.
New Chrome Browser Ready for The World
Google on Tuesday released a finished version of its speedy new Chrome Web
browsing software for desktop or laptop computers.
The latest version of Chrome promised quick and responsive handling of
software running in the Web browser.
"We realize that speed isn't just about pure brawn in the browser,"
Google engineer Tim Steele said in a blog post announcing the latest
Chrome release.
"It's also about saving time with simple interfaces."
Google improved settings for bookmarks, passwords, searches and home
pages as well as enhanced protection from websites booby-trapped by
hackers with malicious code.
The latest Chrome browser software is available free online at
google.com/chrome. Earlier versions of the Web browser already being
used in computers will be automatically updated, according to Google.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the most widely used Web browser in the
United States followed by Firefox, Chrome and Apple's Safari.
Faster, More Secure IE 9 Set to Debut March 14
Just after proclaiming Internet Explorer 6 needs to die, Microsoft is
readying the launch of IE9, the newest version of its market-leading web
browser.
Microsoft plans to debut the browser at the SXSW (South by Southwest
Conference and Festivals) conference in Austin on March 14, and the
browser will be available for download that same evening.
IE 9 does what no Microsoft browser has done before -- embraces HTML 5.
HTML 5 is the latest greatest version of HTML, the core coding language
for the web. With HTML 5, rich media web sites with stronger animation
are made possible.
One of the key new features in IE9 is Tracking Protection. This feature
was originally planned for IE8, but Microsoft held off on executing the
software that lets customers control tracking on web sites. Essentially,
Tracking Protection lets consumers filter content in a page that may
have an impact on their privacy.
Here's how Tracking Protection works: Consumers can indicate what web
sites they would prefer to not exchange information with. Consumers do
this by adding Tracking Protection lists to IE. Anyone, and any
organization, on the web can create and publish Tracking Protection lists.
In practice, this means that if you visit a news site, then a sports
site, then some other web site, third-party advertisers can't build a
profile of browsing activity. Although there are many benefits to
building those profiles, including driving more relevant, personalized
content, Microsoft is responding to privacy concerns by giving consumers
a way to block that tracking.
IE9 also offers InPrivate Browsing, another feature to help consumers
control what their machine remembers about browsing sessions. InPrivate
Filtering was a forerunner of Tracking Protection.
"This is Microsoft's comeback platform. They've broken from the pack and
the end result is that it's incredibly fast," said Rob Enderle,
principal analyst at The Enderle Group. "It's probably one of the most
secure products Microsoft has ever brought out."
Beyond speed, security and privacy features, Enderle said Microsoft has
something else important in the realm of web browsers: massive developer
support to use the underpinning features. That means there should be a
number of web sites at launch that make unique use of some of the
performance and graphics capabilities of the product.
"This is probably going to be one of Microsoft's strongest launches ever
and probably one of the most important IE launches since IE 3 when
Microsoft stepped away from Spyglass," Enderle said. "So this is very
critical one for Microsoft and one where the company is taking a pretty
big risk by jumping out so far ahead of the other guys with regard to
technology."
Will the advances be enough to ward off Firefox, Chrome, Opera and other
competing browsers? It's too soon to tell, but one thing is certain:
Microsoft is focused on making IE 9 a success. And, Enderle said, when
Microsoft focuses it's hard for them to miss.
Twitter Must Give User Info in WikiLeaks Probe
A federal magistrate ruled Friday that prosecutors can demand Twitter
account information of certain users in their criminal probe into the
disclosure of classified documents on WikiLeaks.
Three of the five account holders targeted by the government had asked
the judge to reverse an earlier order she issued requiring Twitter to
turn over the information to prosecutors. The Twitter users argued that
the government was on a fishing expedition and its request amounted to
an unconstitutional violation of their freedom of speech and association.
But in a ruling issued Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Carroll
Buchanan said the government's request was reasonable and did nothing to
hamper the Twitter users' free speech rights.
"The freedom of association does not shield members from cooperating
with legitimate government investigations," Buchanan wrote in her
20-page opinion.
The efforts by the Twitter users marked the first legal skirmish in the
Justice Department's criminal investigation of the WikiLeaks
disclosures, but is unlikely to be the last. The Twitter users' lawyers,
including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier
Foundation - had previously said they would appeal an unfavorable ruling
from the magistrate to a trial judge.
A federal law - the Stored Communications Act - allows prosecutors to
obtain certain electronic data without a search warrant or a
demonstration of probable cause. Instead, the government must only show
that it has a reasonable belief that the records it seeks are relevant
to an ongoing criminal investigation.
Prosecutors said the law is used routinely in criminal investigations,
and that the WikiLeaks investigation is no different from any other
criminal probe.
The U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which
is investigating the WikiLeaks case, declined comment after Friday's
hearing.
Buchanan agreed with prosecutors, and said the Twitter users had no
reason to expect that the information sought by prosecutors would be
kept private. The order does not seek the content of the tweets
themselves, which are already publicly disseminated. Instead, it seeks
certain "non-content" information, like billing records and IP addresses
associated with the accounts.
"The Twitter Order does not seek to control or direct the content of
petitioners' speech or association," Buchanan wrote.
Lawyers for the Twitter users had argued that people would be less
likely to speak freely if they knew that doing so could result in their
being subjected to a government investigation.
Twitter did not immediately respond Friday to questions about whether it
now intends to turn over the information sought by prosecutors.
The original order issued by Buchanan in December 2010 at prosecutors'
request sought account information from Wikileaks founder Julian Assange
and Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is being held at Quantico Marine Corps
Base amid allegations that he leaked classified documents about the Iraq
and Afghanistan wars to WikiLeaks.
Three other accounts belonging to American Jacob Appelbaum, Dutch
citizen Rop Gonggrijp and Birgitta Jonsdottir, a member of Iceland's
parliament, were also targeted. Those three challenged the court order.
Assange has contended that, as an Australian citizen, he is not subject
to American law.
Buchanan also rejected a request that would have required the government
to disclose whether it sought similar records from other social
networking sites like Facebook.
IE6 Isn't the Only Obsolete Browser In Use
With Microsoft's push to eradicate its aging, problematic IE6 browser ,
PCMag looked into what other outdated surfing software people are still
using. The array of Web browsers still in circulation would probably
surprise the majority of Internet users, who by a large margin now
browse with newer versions of IE, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.
To conduct this investigation, we started PCMag.com's own traffic
analysis tools, Adobe Omniture SiteCatalyst, to see what unlikely
software our readers were using, then checked out Internet-wide stats
from Net Applications' NetMarketShare.
First, let's see where the leaders stand on PCMag.com. For all of 2011
up to the present moment, 28 percent of our readers used Firefox 3.6,
followed closely by Internet Explorer 8, with 26 percent. A bigger gap
separated the next app - Google Chrome 8, with 9.6 percent. Since the
latest version of Chrome is 9, and the software updates automatically, I
checked the first week of March, finding Chrome 9's share up over 17
percent, with version 8 dropping all the way to 0.4 percent. That's a
great case for Google's auto-update strategy, which would have saved
Microsoft from its present IE6 predicament. But it didn't save over 600
of our site visitors from using Chrome 1.0, and over twice that from
using version 2.
By contrast, IE7 was still at 8 percent. Remember, that version came out
over four years ago, in October 2006, and its performance on browser
benchmarks is orders of magnitude slower than the current crop of
browser versions. On PCMag.com, IE6 accounts for just 2.3 percent of the
audience, while Omniture lists the Internet average at 4.6 percent, and
Net Applications puts it at 11.3 percent for 2011 so far.
Older Firefox versions linger longer than those of Chrome, too. So far
this year, 1.5 percent still use version 3.5, which was superceded by
3.6 over a year ago, in January 2010. But it doesn't end there: we still
have readers using versions 3, 2, and even 1. Maybe strangest of all,
some readers were using /betas/ of old versions: over 500 readers used
the beta of Firefox 3.0, and a dozen even used the beta of Firefox 1.5,
which dates back to 2005.
Then we get to the more obscure browsers, which no longer even have
current versions. We found over 35,000 readers used MSN Explorer,
Microsoft's discontinued browser cum e-mail and IM app. I was shocked to
see that you could actually still download an ancient version of this
obsolete browser, and the top result in a Bing search for the term "MSN
Explorer" brings up a page offering a download of a version that
includes Internet Explorer 5.5 - an even older app than the one Microsoft
is trying to eradicate.
In another surprise from another era, we had over 20,000 people so far
in 2011 using Netscape Navigator to browser our site. Oddly, more of
them used version 2.0 - over 10,000 - while nearly 7,000 used version 4,
and almost 5,000 used version 3. Over 1,000 of our site visitors used
either version 1.1 or 1.2. Clearly, for some, this is still the age of the
dawn of the Web. We were only surprised that no one was using Mosaic, the
first popular browser.
Perhaps the oddest browser used was Nutscrape 1.0, which Omniture
reported for four site visitors in 2011. Probably just some hacker's
joke, we could only find that it may have run on the pre-PC CP/M
operating system. Though that OS didn't show up in our traffic analysis,
some surprisingly outdated ones did - we had 3,067 visitors who used
Windows 98, 1,663 ran Windows Me, and 282 were running Window 3.x.
Non-Windows blasts from the past were also represented: 438 used the
ill-fated OS/2 operating system, and five ran Amiga OS.
So while Microsoft's campaign to eradicate Internet Explorer 6 is
laudable, it seems clear that there's nothing anyone can to do stop
people from running some seriously outdated software.
German Foreign Office Kills Desktop Linux, Hugs Windows XP
Openistas beware! Politicos at the German Foreign Office are reportedly
ditching Linux in favour of returning their desktop PCs to Windows
XP-based systems.
According to a report on netzpolitik.org, which was diligently spotted by
The H, the German Foreign Office recently decided to dump their
Linux-based machines.
That move came despite the office being reassured in two separate
appraisals carried out by consulting outfit McKinsey that Linux and open
source software formed a perfectly adequate part of the German Foreign
Office's IT strategy.
McKinsey did highlight some areas of concern during its first study of
the FOSS strategy in 2009, but concluded that it "could generally be
considered sound".
Somewhat surprisingly, one problem highlighted by McKinsey was
interoperability with some office documents. But it was clearly noted
that a simple update on all Linux desktops to the latest versions of
OpenOffice could fix that particular issue.
A second study last year by the consultancy group found that a shift to
a pure Windows environment on the German Foreign Office's desktop
computers would be costly and work-intensive.
But by the end of last year the FO's IT commissioner Dr Michael Groß
told ministry staff that a decision had been reached in August 2010 to
revert the entire desktop estate back to Windows XP due to "massive user
criticism" about "unsolved interoperability problems".
And in case you're wondering why the migration didn't move directly to
Microsoft's latest operating system, Groß said that Windows XP, which
turns 10 later this year, was the "uniform basis for the actual step
towards implementing a new system using Windows 7 and Office 2010".
Questions have been raised in Germany's Bundestag parliament about the
sudden switch back to Windows XP.
The German government claimed the OS shake-up wouldn't lead to it having
to foot the bill for "indirect costs", and retorted that the migration
to "standardised software products" was likely to result in "efficiency
gains".
All that despite McKinsey confirming in 2009 that the German Foreign
Office had splurged less cash on its individual IT workspaces then any
other federal authority in the country while running a Linux desktop
shop. Shurely shome mishtake? ®
To LOL, Or Not LOL? That Is The Question
There was a time when LOL - "laughing out loud" - was so simple.
If I thought something in a casual online conversation was funny, I
typed it. If I wanted to let someone know I was kidding in an e-mail or
an instant message, same.
I might've even felt a little cool, using inside lingo that, at one
time, was exclusive to the online world. (You know I'm not the only one
who thought so.)
Today, though, I'm sensing a shift, even in my own thoughts about LOL.
Certainly, it's as ubiquitous as ever. Just search for it on Twitter or
Facebook to see how often people use it. Not exactly deep and meaningful
stuff, mind you, but there sure is a lot of it.
Perhaps that's why, at least in some circles, LOL has lost its cachet.
And at its worst, it's making people a little cranky.
It's overused and meaningless, they say. It "epitomizes lazy, and makes
people a liar" says Seth Ginsburg, a 29-year-old New Yorker. "Are they
really laughing out loud?"
Comedian Demetri Martin has joked that he uses "LTMQ - laughing to
myself quietly."
"It's more honest," he says.
I laugh every time I hear that joke - out loud, no less - because I too
have this internal debate: I tell myself that I'll only type LOL if I'm
really "LOL-ing."
But I fail, regularly. It's just too easy to type (two keys, one finger
or a thumb, if it's a cell phone), too convenient a response.
Sure, there are LOL haters out there, seemingly more all the time. But
for better or worse, this modern-day acronym has become ingrained in our
lexicon and, for some, has evolved in meaning.
"It's brevity at its finest, and it gets a point across," says
25-year-old Arzi Rachman, another New Yorker.
Try as some might, LOL will not be easily shaken.
The exact origins of this three-letter acronym, in its current form, are
not easy to pin down. Most likely, it was a gamer or hacker who first
used LOL (or "lol") on an electronic message board, probably sometime in
the 1980s.
Its use became more common on early Internet services such as CompuServe
and Netcom. By the mid-1990s, when even more people joined America
Online, the term LOL hit the mainstream in chat rooms and in instant
messaging.
It morphed, as well. If you thought something was really, really funny,
for instance, you might type ROFL - "rolling on the floor laughing" - or
LMAO - "laughing my (you know what) off."
By 2004, fatigue was setting in. LOL was added to the "List of Words to
Be Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General
Uselessness," updated each year at Lake Superior State University in
Michigan.
Regardless, LOL went forth and multiplied and has since seeped into
spoken language.
"At times, I do say LOL," says Rachman, a college student, "usually to
accentuate sarcasm, or something along those lines."
Of course, when speaking of text conversations, one can't forget the
sideways smiley - :-) - which you might call LOL's older cousin.
Scott Fahlman, a research professor in the computer science department
at Carnegie Mellon University, often gets the credit for first
suggesting that emoticon nearly 30 years ago. His fellow academics
quickly embraced it and ushered in its everyday online use.
The sideways smiley has gotten bashed too -- it's been called the
equivalent of "i's" dotted with hearts.
But asked if he's ever used LOL, Fahlman will tell you, "Nope." He draws
the line.
"It sort of strikes me as kind of - this is going to sound sexist - a
teenage girl thing," he says, "a high school thing."
But is that really true? Does the use of LOL really fall along
generational lines? Was the implication that some of us are too old to
use LOL?
"One of the things that's pretty clear - whether LOL is in or passe - it
depends on your social circle," says Naomi Baron, a linguist at American
University who wrote the book "Always On: Language in an Online and
Mobile World."
As more people of all ages forge online lives, those social circles may
be less divided by generation, though not completely.
In surveying college students about their use of online or texted terms,
for example, Baron has noticed a difference in the way they use LOL. For
them, it is often used as a simple acknowledgment that may have nothing
to do with laughter. Instead, LOL might mean "oh," "got it," "heard you"
or "really?"
That use might bother some people; Baron also has colleagues who scold
her when she doesn't correct students who greet her with a "hey!"
But she says that kind of evolution in language happens all the time.
Sometimes, it's for practical reasons or convenience. Other times, it's
simply a style or trend.
In the 18th and early 19th centuries in England, Baron notes, it was
commonplace to sign a letter using "Yr Hum Serv," an abbreviation for
"Your Humble Servant."
"Everybody knew what that meant," she says. "It was just convention."
Today, it's happening on Twitter with "hash tags" - the number symbol.
Originally meant to mark terms or events that users may search for,
people have started using hash tags to highlight the equivalent of a
funny or snarky side comment. That use has since transferred to
Facebook, where hash tags don't even apply.
"It's all part of marking your territory," Baron says. "People mark it
linguistically. They mark it by dress. They mark it by how many earrings
they have in their ears - you name it."
All of that makes sense to Ben Huh, who heads the Seattle-based company
that oversees popular humor websites such as "I Can Has Cheezburger?"
and "FAIL Blog." His sites allow users to share funny videos and photos,
which he and his staff call "LOLs" or "lolz."
"I don't actually remember the first time I started using this lingo
because it seemed to me that it was just part of life," says Huh, who is
33. "I didn't adopt the use of Internet cultural languages. I just grew
up with it."
So for him, using LOL feels as natural as saying "OK," or "cool." He
also couldn't care less if a person who uses LOL isn't really laughing
out loud.
"It's like the suburban dad who wants to put his hat on backward," he
says, "versus the kid who puts a hat on backward because that's just
what they do."
It's not necessarily a matter of age, he says, but whether it's really
just who you are.
I've decided that LOL is me, sometimes.
Just like I don't send text messages to my mother, because they'd never
see the light of day, I probably wouldn't use LOL with my boss or an
acquaintance or any number of people who kvetched about LOL when I told
them I was writing a story about it.
They're more likely to see the buttoned-up purist in me who avoids
cliches "like the plague," as one of my college professors once
encouraged me to do.
But then there's the me who has the urge to wear my pajamas to the
coffee shop on a lazy Sunday morning.
She uses LOL - and wishes the world would lighten up, just a little.
=~=~=~=
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