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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 16 Issue 01
Volume 16, Issue 01 Atari Online News, Etc. January 3, 2014
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2014
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 #1601 01/03/14
~ Facebook Privacy Suit! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Ransomware Evolves!
~ Snapchat Users Hacked! ~ Amazon and Sales Taxes! ~ New, Bigger iPad?
~ FireEye Buys Mediant! ~ Snapchat Offers Opt Out! ~ Reasons Not To Hire!
~ Erase All Your Facebook ~ Coinye West Virtual Coin ~ Leaders on Twitter!
-* NSA: PC To Crack Privacy Codes *-
-* Xbox One Almost Fatally Sabotaged! *-
-* Sony Patent, New Content to Emulated Games *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Happy New Year, everyone! The new year is starting out with plenty of
new snow and temperature hovering around (and below) zero degrees! I
haven't felt this kind of cold for a long time; and the wind makes it
feel even colder! Hopefully, your weather is a little bit better.
So, while I find ways to stay warm, and likely you as well, sit back, and
enjoy the first issue of the new year!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Microsoft Almost Fatally Sabotaged The Xbox One!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" New Sony Patent, Adding New Content to Emulated Games!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Microsoft Almost Fatally Sabotaged The Xbox One
Microsoft made a lot of terrible public relations mistakes when it
rolled out the Xbox One, but thankfully none of those mistakes were
reflected in the actual console, which has lived up to the hype and was
a hot seller over the holiday shopping season. But in an interview with
the Official Xbox Magazine, Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer reveals
that Microsoft actually came incredibly close to making a design
decision that would likely have handed Sony an easy victory in the
latest console wars.
Essentially, Spencer says that Microsoft was still considering removing
the Xbox Ones disc drive as late as mid-2013 and selling all games
digitally over the Internet. While such non-disc-based games probably
are the future of console gaming, releasing a console that didnt allow
for any disc-based games in 2013 would have been a disastrous mistake
because many potential Xbox customers lack the high-speed connections
that are needed to make such a system viable. Whats more, in an age
where ISPs have started slapping subscribers with bandwidth caps, its
very difficult to see how gamers could regularly download enormous files
onto their consoles without getting hit with unwelcome overage fees.
There was a real discussion about whether we should have an optical disc
drive in Xbox One or if we could get away with a purely disc-less
console, but when you start looking at bandwidth and game size, it does
create issues, Spencer acknowledge. So we decided which I think was
the right decision to go with the Blu-ray drive and give the people an
easy way to install a lot of content. From some of those original
thoughts, you saw a lot of us really focusing on the digital ecosystem
you see on other devices thinking of and building around that.
It goes without saying that happy Xbox One owners are breathing a sigh
of relief that Microsoft made this decision.
New Sony Patent Deals With Adding New Content to Emulated Games
A patent filed for by Sony in 2012 has been published today by the United
States Patent & Trademark Office, revealing the company's apparent
interest in finding ways to more easily introduce new content into
classic games being streamed through the cloud. Essentially, the patent
describes the ability to suspend gameplay in an emulated game and then
introduce new content in a manner that doesn't involve reverse
engineering the game's code.
"Finding new ways to play preexisting video games can increase the
longevity of older games," the patent states. "Instead of replaying the
same level or completing the same missions repeatedly, gamers often
desire new challenges when replaying legacy games. In response to this
need, game designers have begun to produce mini-games. Within a
mini-game, the gamer can be instructed to complete new objectives or
challenge their friends for high scores in a format that was not
originally designed into the legacy game."
Basic examples of the types of mini-games the patent is referring to are
limiting the number of lives or amount of health players have when
fighting a boss.
Sony's patent, which is entitled "Suspending State of Cloud-Based Legacy
Applications," would allow for triggers or "snapshots" to be used as the
mechanism through which the emulated game is suspended and the new
content is then delivered. It also talks about offering games on
platforms they were not originally designed for, which is what you'd
expect from cloud-based gaming.
Put as simply as possible, "The present disclosure is related to video
game emulation. Among other things, this application describes a method
and apparatus for emulating a video game that includes generating
snapshots that can be used for incorporating new content into the
emulated video games."
While it's unclear what Sony would do if granted the patent, it should be
reiterated that this deals with cloud-based game streaming. The patent was
originally filed on June 29, 2012, just prior to the company's
announcement of its acquisition of cloud gaming service Gaikai. Sony has
announced it will make use of Gaikai on PlayStation 4 - including the
ability to stream PS3 games to the system, a feature purportedly coming
this year - but it has never given any indication it planned to do more
with it than stream games as they already exist.
It's already been suggested this patent could allow for Sony to release
games in the style of NES Remix, which offers twists on levels from
classic NES games like Donkey Kong, Excitebike, and Super Mario Bros. Do
you have any theories or hopes for what we'll see from Sony involving
this patent, if anything? Let us know in the comments below.
Thanks, NeoGAF.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
NSA Developing Computer To Crack Privacy Codes
The U.S. National Security Agency is trying to develop a computer that
could ultimately break most encryption programs, whether they are used to
protect other nations' spying programs or consumers' bank accounts, The
Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The report, which the newspaper said was based on documents leaked by
former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, comes amid continuing controversy
over the spy agency's program to collect the phone records Internet
communications of private citizens.
In its report on Thursday, The Washington Post said that the NSA is
trying to develop a so-called "quantum computer" that could be used to
break encryption codes used to cloak sensitive information.
Such a computer, which would be able to perform several calculations at
once instead of in a single stream, could take years to develop, the
newspaper said. In addition to being able to break through the cloaks
meant to protect private data, such a computer would have implications
for such fields as medicine, the newspaper reported.
The research is part of a $79.7 million research program called
"Penetrating Hard Targets," the newspaper said. Other, non-governmental
researchers are also trying to develop quantum computers, and it is not
clear whether the NSA program lags the private efforts or is ahead of
them.
Snowden, living in Russia with temporary asylum, last year leaked
documents he collected while working for the NSA. The United States has
charged him with espionage, and more charges could follow.
His disclosures have sparked a debate over how much leeway to give the
U.S. government in gathering information to protect Americans from
terrorism, and have prompted numerous lawsuits.
Last week, a federal judge ruled that the NSA's collection of phone call
records is lawful, while another judge earlier in December questioned the
program's constitutionality. The issue is now more likely to move before
the U.S. Supreme Court.
On Thursday, the editorial board of the New York Times said that the U.S.
government should grant Snowden clemency or a plea bargain, given the
public value of revelations over the National Security Agency's vast
spying programs.
Government Moves To Appeal Surveillance Ruling
The Obama administration moved Friday to ask the secretive U.S. spy court
to allow the National Security Agency to continue collecting every
American's telephone records every day, in the midst of dueling decisions
in two civilian federal courts about whether the surveillance program is
constitutional.
U.S. officials were in the process of requesting an order from the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court to renew the NSA phone collection program
for 90 more days, said Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the Office of the
Director of National Intelligence. Such periodic requests are somewhat
formulaic but required since the program started in 2006.
The latest request would be the first since two conflicting court
decisions about whether the program is lawful and since a presidential
advisory panel recommended that the NSA no longer be allowed to collect
and store the phone records and search them without obtaining separate
court approval for each search.
Also Friday, government lawyers turned to U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit to block one federal judge's decision that
threatens the NSA phone records program. The opposing lawyer who
spearheaded the effort that led to the ruling said he hopes to take the
issue directly to the Supreme Court.
The Justice Department filed a one-page notice of appeal asking the
appeals court to overturn U.S. District Judge Richard Leon's ruling last
month that the program was likely unconstitutional. The government's move
had been expected.
Larry Klayman, who filed the class-action suit against President Barack
Obama and top administration national security officials, said he intends
to petition the federal appeals court next week to send the case directly
to the Supreme Court. Klayman said the move was justified because the NSA
case was a matter of great public importance.
"There are exigent circumstances here," Klayman said. "We can't allow
this situation to continue. The NSA's continuing to spy on everybody."
Judges sitting on the secretive spy court have repeatedly approved the
program for 90-day periods. They also have repeatedly upheld the
constitutionality of the program a judicial bulwark that held strong
until Leon's surprise decision last month.
Leon said the NSA's program was "almost Orwellian," a reference to writer
George Orwell's futuristic novel "1984," and that there was little
evidence the operation had prevented terrorist attacks. He ruled against
the government but agreed to postpone shutting down the program until the
government could appeal.
In a separate case involving the same NSA phone records program, a
district judge in New York last month upheld the government's data
collection as lawful. The American Civil Liberties Union, which lost that
case, said this week it will appeal to a federal appeals court in New
York.
Cryptolocker Ransomware Evolves To Spread on Its Own
The notorious Cryptolocker ransomware, which strongly encrypts victims'
hard drives until a ransom is paid, has taken a turn for the worse it's
evolved from a Trojan into a worm.
This means the uncrackable malware can now propagate itself, rather than
relying on gullible humans to open infected email attachments or point
their browsers at corrupted Web pages.
"This update is considered significant because this routine was unheard of
in other CRILOCK variants," wrote security firm Trend Micro in a recent
blog posting, using the company's own name for the malware. "The addition
of propagation routines means that the malware can easily spread, unlike
other known CRILOCK variants."
The bug seems to have been re-engineered to spread via USB flash drives
and PCs in a two-step process, much in the way bubonic plague was spread
among humans and fleas.
Greed plays a part as well; the new variant lurks on file-sharing sites,
pretending to be an "activator" that verifies pirated copies of Adobe
Photoshop and Microsoft Office.
Victims trying to get those paid software products for free will run the
"activators," infecting themselves and copying the malware onto any USB
drives that are subsequently plugged into their machines. (So far,
Cryptolocker infects only Windows PCs.)
There is a silver lining, although it may be temporary. While older
versions of Cryptolocker used domain-generation algorithms (DGAs) to
constantly move their command-and-control servers from one Web domain name
to another, this new variant uses fixed control-server domains, making
them easier for anti-virus software to block.
"This could mean that the malware is still in the process of being refined
and improved upon," Trend Micro noted. "Thus, we can expect latter
variants to have the DGA capability."
Trend Micro has posted a useful FAQ for readers worried about
Cryptolocker. Good anti-virus software should also block most variants.
Snapchat Says Millions of User Accounts Compromised
Snapchat, the red-hot private messaging service, said on Thursday that it
knew for months about a security loophole that allowed hackers this week
to harvest millions of phone numbers and announced changes to its
systems.
An anonymous group called Snapchat DB posted the usernames and phone
numbers of 4.6 million Snapchat users on New Year's Eve, days after the
startup - headed by 23-year old founder Evan Spiegel - brushed off
warnings that its app still contained security loopholes.
The hacker group, which claimed to be based in the United States and
Europe, made the entire database available for download but redacted the
last two digits of every phone number. Snapchat DB said it was working to
raise awareness about Snapchat's security holes, not out of malicious
intent.
In its first public statement since the leak, Snapchat said in a blog post
on Thursday that no "snaps" - the contents of messages - were compromised
or accessed as part of the hack.
Snapchat was first alerted to the vulnerability in August by a security
group called Gibson Security. Snapchat said it made changes to its system
to address the weaknesses, but the company also published a blog post
downplaying the threat as "theoretical" on December 27.
Snapchat DB carried out the hack and disclosed the phone numbers just
four days later.
The hack was a rare black eye for a high-flying appmaker started by
Stanford University undergraduates in 2011. Snapchat has soared in
popularity over the past year because it allows its users - mostly teens
- to send private pictures and messages that self-destruct after 10
seconds at most.
Snapchat's immense popularity among young users has made it one of the
most closely watched social media companies in the world, and Facebook
Inc reportedly offered $3 billion last year in a failed acquisition bid.
Snapchat asks new users for their phone number so that their friends can
find them on the service. The phone numbers were not attached to any real
names.
Calling the hackers' disclosure an "abuse" of its system, Snapchat said
Thursday that it was first told by security experts in August that its
"Find Friends" feature may contain a weakness.
The company did not apologize for the leaks but said it would carry out
some changes to prevent further unwanted disclosures.
"We will be releasing an updated version of the Snapchat application that
will allow Snapchatters to opt out of appearing in Find Friends after
they have verified their phone number," the company wrote. "We're also
improving rate limiting and other restrictions to address future attempts
to abuse our service."
Rate limiting restricts how many times a party can query the Snapchat
servers.
In an email to Reuters, the group claiming to be behind the New Years Eve
hack called it "promising" that Snapchat was beginning to address its
security vulnerabilities.
"Let's hope they aren't trying to downplay the situation once again and
avoid the heat, but instead taking reasonable steps to secure sensitive
user information," Snapchat DB said. "Actions speak louder than words."
Snapchat To Let Users Opt Out of Built-In Privacy Flaw
Snapchat is now addressing, after a fashion, the clumsy coding in the
Find Friends feature that let angry hackers scrape and post private
information about 4.6 million Snapchat app users earlier this week.
"We will be releasing an updated version of the Snapchat application that
will allow Snapchatters to opt out of appearing in Find Friends after
they have verified their phone number," the company said in a blog
posting entitled "Find Friends Abuse" yesterday (Jan. 2).
Left unmentioned was a timeline for the release of the updated version.
Nor was there an actual fix for the Find Friends feature, similar
versions of which are used by Facebook, Twitter and other online services
without corresponding problems or any form of "We're sorry."
"What a shame the firm didn't [feel] comfortable expressing an apology to
the 4.6 million Snapchat users who have already had their privacy exposed
by this incident," observed British security blogger Graham Cluley.
In many ways, this entire debacle could be seen as Snapchat's own fault.
After initial installation of the Snapchat app on an iOS or Android
device, the Find Friends feature queries the user's contact list and runs
each telephone number against Snapchat's own list of subscriber cellphone
numbers.
If there's a match, the Snapchat app displays the username associated with
that number and asks the user if he or she wants to add that username to
his or her Snapchat contact list. (Users who disable Find Friends will
presumably have to add their Snapchat-using friends manually.)
The problem was that Snapchat hadn't built any query-rate limitations that
would block rapid-fire queries attempting to "scrape" the user list.
Two Australian researchers calling themselves Gibson Security discovered
that fact and, in their own telling, alerted Snapchat to the flaw last
August.
Four months later, they hadn't received a response, and on Christmas Day,
they decided to make the flaw public knowledge by posting it on the
Internet along with code that would prove it worked.
Gibson Security told ZDNet that the Snapchat flaw could easily have been
fixed. But instead of fixing it, Snapchat dismissed Gibson Security's
code and vulnerability exploit as impractical and unlikely.
"Theoretically, if someone were able to upload a huge set of phone
numbers, like every number in an area code, or every possible number in
the U.S., they could create a database of the results and match usernames
to phone numbers that way," Snapchat said in a blog posting last Friday
(Dec. 27).
That's exactly what the unnamed hacker or hackers who leaked the 4.6
million usernames did. Using the code that Gibson Security had provided,
he, she or they rapidly generated millions of possible North American
telephone numbers and ran each one through Snapchat's Find Friends
feature, capturing the Snapchat usernames associated with any positive
result.
The hackers, who called themselves Snapchat DB and claimed to be acting
for the benefit of Snapchat users, posted a list of 4.6 million usernames
and partly obscured cellphone numbers online on New Year's Eve. Since
most people unwisely use the same usernames for multiple accounts, such
information could be leveraged to hijack accounts with other services.
In yesterday's blog posting, the Snapchat company said it welcomed
security suggestions from independent security researchers, even as it
called such research "abuse."
"We want to make sure that security experts can get ahold of us when they
discover new ways to abuse our service so that we can respond quickly to
address those concerns," the posting read. "The best way to let us know
about security vulnerabilities is by emailing us: security@snapchat.com."
A few months ago, Snapchat turned down a $3 billion buyout offer from
Facebook.
FireEye Buys Firm That Tied Cyberattacks to China
FireEye Inc. said Thursday it has acquired Mandiant Corp., the firm that
linked years of cyberattacks against U.S. companies to a secret Chinese
military unit.
FireEye said that the purchase of privately held Mandiant would increase
its ability to stop attacks in their early stages.
The company valued the deal at nearly $1 billion. FireEye said it would
buy 21.5 million shares and options of its stock worth about $884
million at Thursday's closing price and pay $106.5 million in cash to
former Mandiant investors.
FireEye makes computer-security software. It had a successful initial
public offering of stock in September, with the shares nearly doubling in
price on the first day of trading. The Milpitas, Calif.-based company
said its customers include more than 100 of the Fortune 500 corporations.
Virginia-based Mandiant drew attention last February when it issued a
detailed report tracing attacks on 141 companies to a hacking unit in
Shanghai that experts believe is part of the Chinese Army's cyber
command. The Chinese government denied the firm's accusations, but the
incident helped the company burnish a reputation in cybersecurity.
Mandiant's clients include more than one-third of the largest 100
corporations, according to FireEye.
Before the deal was announced, shares of FireEye fell $2.48, or 5.7
percent, to close at $41.13, but they were soaring $9.12, or 22.2
percent, to $50.25 in after-hours trading.
FireEye also said that fourth-quarter revenue would be between $55 million
and $57 million, higher than the company's earlier forecast of $52 million
to $54 million. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $53.4 million. The
company is scheduled to report results after the market closes on Feb. 11.
Including the Mandiant acquisition, FireEye expects 2014 revenue to be
$400 million to $410 million.
Facebook Sued for Invading Users Privacy
Two Facebook users this week filed a class action complaint against the
social network, Ars Technica reports, alleging that the messaging system
inside Facebook is not as private as its advertised to be, and that the
company actively mines for data from personal messages and generates
likes based on the content exchanged between users. Facebook described
its messaging system as unprecedented, when it comes to privacy
controls, but the filing alleges that the company is actually accessing
data gathered from chats without the user consent.
Instead to increase users comfort with the website and, thereby,
increase the amount of information they share, the company makes
assurances of user control over privacy settings and messaging options,
the filing says. In reality, Facebook never intended to provide this
level of confidentiality. Instead, Facebook mines any and all
transmissions across its network, including those it labels private, in
order to gather any and all morsels of information it can about its users.
The filing further explains how Facebook can access the links contained
in private messages exchanges and assign likes on the sites respective
Facebook page in case it discovers Like buttons on that website.
Furthermore, the plaintiffs say that Facebook uses a combination of
software and human screening to comb through private messages, in order
to use the available data for various purposes including selling it to
interested third parties. According to them, while Facebook does explain
what user information it receives, it never explains how it scans, mines
and manipulates the content of users private messages.
The plaintiffs seek compensation the greater of either $100 for each day
of violation, or $10,000 as well as statutory damages of either $50,000
per class member or three times the amount of actual damages.
In addition to the class action suit against Facebook, a petition on Care2
The Petition Site is asking Facebook to stop stalking our unposted
thoughts on the network. The petition was just a few hundred signatures
short of its 28,000 goal at the time of this writing, and it comes in
response to the recent discovery that Facebook keeps track of everything
a user writes while inside the social network, regardless of whether the
message or status update is posted or discarded.
The fact that they are doing this is scary and crazy, remember Facebook
has been sharing data with the NSA! We have all written posts and then
decided against posting them for various reasons. Now we learn Facebook
is looking at these posts. If they choose to save them as they claim
their policies enable them to, it could mean that every key stroke
entered at Facebook could be sent to a government agency, the petition
says. On top of all this is the fact that users chose not to post these
comments so they should not be seen by anyone. This is a breach of
privacy that goes beyond user-beware, as users dont even know their
posts are being viewed.
Why You Should Never Hire Anyone Based on Their Facebook Profile
The person youre thinking of hiring has posted a bunch of pictures of
themselves drunkenly vomiting on their cat on their Facebook page does
this mean theyre a bad fit for your company? The answer, according to
research flagged by Forbes Kashmir Hill, is maybe not. The new study,
conducted by researchers at Florida State University, Old Dominion
University, Clemson University, and Accenture, found that there is no
correlation between how prospective employers rated someones Facebook
profile and how well that person actually performed at their job.
Even worse, the researchers found that recruiters on average gave lower
ratings to people who had traditionally non-White names and/or who were
clearly non-White, which means that using Facebook profiles as a
criteria for hiring someone may reinforce racial prejudices. Other
reasons why prospective hires drew negative marks for their Facebook pages
included the use of profanity, references to sexual activity and religious
quotations in other words, things that are completely normal to the vast
majority of people in the world.
Theres a big allure to using Facebook hiring managers say they want
to get a sense of the applicants character, Clemson researcher Philip
Roth tells Forbes. It really appears hard for people to stop themselves
from doing it if they dont have an HR background. I wouldnt want to use
a Facebook assessment until I had evidence it worked for my organization.
There needs to be a track record of this working before you use it. I
dont think the track record is there yet.
Heres How To Quickly Erase Everything Youve Ever Done on Facebook
Facebook doesnt have a simple way of deleting specific data from ones
timeline including old posts, comments and likes that a person would like
to have removed from his or her profile, Slates Jennifer Golbeck has
learned. While the social network lets you easily save a copy of all your
activity and lets you close your account for that matter it doesnt
have a tool that can help with removing only certain past actions that
may not be relevant to you and your Facebook friends.
Golbeck said she averaged about 10 activities per day since joining the
network in 2005, which meant she had roughly 30,000 past items to manually
delete one by one printed, her full Facebook Timeline log would have
taken 2,400 pages.
Deleting 30,000 things takes a long time. In the Activity Log, theres a
pencil icon next to each item. Clicking that shows a menu of options.
Some items can be truly purged; the Delete option is in the menu itself,
Golbeck wrote. On average, it took 20 to 30 minutes to purge a months
worth of posts. After about 12 hours of hand-deleting stories, I decided
it was time to automate.
The writer found two open-source tools that can run in Chrome or Firefox
to automate the Facebook activity removal process, including Facebook
Timeline Cleaner and Absterge. However, the results were not on par with
expectations. The former would let the user delete only certain past
activities, although it runs for a long time in the browser and can
crash depending on workload. The second solution is less subtle: it
deletes everything. Even so, some of the deleted posts still reappear on
Facebook, whether they have been removed manually or by using an
automated program.
The real lesson I learned from this exercise is how difficult it is to
manage ones online persona. I had it pretty easy: I was willing to
delete everything, Golbeck added. For someone who wants to cull their
Timeline more selectively, the automated solutions wouldnt work it
could take dozens of hours to clean it up.
While Golbeck doesnt see any value in having her entire activity history
still available inside Facebook, the social network may certainly be
interested in all those posts, status updates and likes to better serve
her ads. Last month, it was discovered that Facebook keeps track of
everything a customer writes while visiting the social network, even if
he or she doesnt end up posting a status or message, in an attempt to
better understand user behavior.
Amazon Is Now Charging Sales Tax in Indiana, Nevada, and Tennessee
Three more states have joined the growing list where you'll be charged
sales tax on Amazon purchases: Indiana, Nevada, and Tennessee. Amazon
already collected tax in 16 states, and in 2016, South Carolina will join
them, bringing the number up to an even 20. Technically speaking, you're
supposed to add up purchases on your tax returns (the "use tax") no
matter where you are, but that oft-ignored rule has increasingly given
way to automatic point-of-sale charges. This hasn't happened without
strong pushback from Amazon and other online retailers, though; they've
gone through several long legal slogs as states pursue sales revenue and
parity for local brick-and-mortar businesses.
Amazon's warehouse expansions have given it a physical presence in more
and more regions, speeding up deliveries but also opening it up to taxes,
but pulling out of a state isn't necessarily a panacea. Recently, the
Supreme Court declined to hear an Amazon lawsuit against New York, after
the company attempted to fight a ruling that its relationships with local
affiliates constituted a physical presence. Though it opposes what it
calls a patchwork of state-level taxes, Amazon supports Congressional
efforts to establish nationwide online sales tax rules.
Kanye West-themed Bitcoin Clone Said To Launch This Month
Coders have announced that a new Kanye West-themed cryptocurrency called
Coinye West will launch on January 11th. Coinye is based on Bitcoin, the
virtual currency that approximates cash on the internet, but will be
easier to use, the creators say. "Coinye West is a cryptocurrency for the
masses," the creators tell Noisey.
The effort may be nothing more than an elaborate joke, but launching a
cryptocurrency is actually relatively easy since the Bitcoin source code
is public. Many serious and half-serious clones have launched, but Coinye
and the meme-cenric Dogecoin are getting a lot more attention than
Litecoin, Namecoin, and other virtual currencies that attempt to improve
upon Bitcoin. Perhaps Snoopcoin is next?
Apples Upcoming 12-inch iPad May Hammer The Notebook Market
Apple and Google have both already done a lot to shake up the traditional
PC market but dont expect either of them to stop anytime soon. Barrons
flags a note from Evercore Partners analyst Patrick Wang, who thinks that
Apples upcoming 12- to 13-inch iPad has the potential to transform the
traditional notebook market as we know it because it will be the first
time that Apple has made an iPad thats targeted specifically toward
Microsofts PC customer base.
Arriving in fall 14, Apple goes Enterprise with an 12-inch iPad, Wang
writes. Powered by the A8 chip (perhaps 4C), this expands ARMs reach
and, once again, transforms the traditional notebook market as we know
it. Expect a 2-1 hybrid think iPad + MBA similar to how most iPads
are used in the workplace and in the same spirit of MSFTs Surface.
As Wang acknowledges, Apple isnt really doing something innovative as
far as form factor goes since its basically releasing a new version of
the iPad that will be built like Microsofts Surface. So why would
companies flock to the Apple device instead toward devices such as the
Surface Pro? One answer could be that the iPad already enjoys a robust
app ecosystem that isnt at all lacking for developers. Another is that
workers who have iPhones and iPads at home are already familiar with
iOS so in theory there shouldnt be the same sort of learning curve that
comes with Windows 8.
Whats particularly interesting about Apples upcoming iPad Pro,
however, is the specific market that it will reportedly target: Schools.
Weve read reports that Google has been making major inroads into schools
with its low-cost, low-maintenance Chromebook laptops, so it looks like
Microsoft rivals smell blood when comes to displacing PCs as the default
computing machines in schools.
Any way you slice it, it looks like Apple and Google are going to keep
aggressively invading Microsofts territory throughout the year.
AllThingsD Editors Launch "Re/code" Venture With NBCUniversal Backing
Veteran technology journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher have
unveiled "Re/code," a technology news site and conference business to
succeed AllThingsD which they founded and built into a premier tech media
brand within News Corp.
Mossberg and Swisher, who agreed in September to sever a 10-year
relationship with News Corp, said on Thursday their new venture will be
backed by Comcast's NBCUniversal and Windsor Media, the investment
company headed by former Yahoo! Inc Chief Executive Terry Semel.
Mossberg and Swisher will hold majority ownership in the venture, with
NBCUniversal and Windsor Media sharing a minority stake.
"It says a lot about NBC in particular that a big media company would take
a small share of a startup, provide plenty of funding without trying to
control it," Mossberg said by phone. "In order to grow, we needed a fully
independent structure."
Mossberg declined to discuss financial details of the deal or the
valuation of his new company, but said Re/code will share editorial
resources with NBCUniversal.
Re/code's journalists, which include many former AllThingsD staff, will
appear on programs such as CNBC and NBC News, while sites such as
msnbc.com will run their work. Re/code will also partner with CNBC to
host conferences.
Both long-time Wall Street Journal reporters, Swisher and Mossberg founded
AllThingsD in 2003 as an annual technology industry gathering.
The blog launched in 2007 and in 2007 News Corp acquired Dow Jones, and
with it the profitable AllThingsD. With the dissolution of AllThingsD's
relationship with News Corp, the site will remain online but the brand
will be phased out.
In the absence of AllThingsD - and with the introduction of a new
competitor - the Journal has announced a new technology section complete
with gadget reviews (formerly written by Mossberg) and beefed-up coverage
from its San Francisco and bureaus in Asia and Israel.
But neither the Journal nor Re/code will inherit the crown jewel of the
AllThingsD brand - the lucrative annual conferences that regularly drew
names like Steve Jobs, the late Apple Inc chief executive.
The Journal said it would begin hosting its own tech conference called
WSJD in late October in southern California.
Mossberg said the same team that produced the AllThingsD conference will
produce a rebranded event called the "Code Conference" during the same
week and at the same hotel.
Re/code is just one of several new arrivals in the crowded tech media
arena.
Earlier this year, Jessica Lessin, another Wall Street Journal reporter,
also defected to launch The Information, a premium, subscription-based
tech news site. Yahoo is also preparing a consumer tech site with David
Pogue, the former New York Times gadget reviewer.
"Tech sites and tech conferences are areas that people think are in
demand and can be both journalistically valuable and financially
successful," Mossberg said. "We're obviously hoping the same."
Microsoft CEO Prospects Fear Ballmer Looking Over Their Shoulders
Why is it taking Microsoft so long to find a new CEO? Unnamed sources
tell The Wall Street Journal that candidates are worried about the
potential influence of Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates and outgoing CEO
Steve Ballmer, both of whom are likely to remain on the companys board
of directors even after the new CEO is chosen. Specifically, one source
says that CEO candidates know that part of what they are negotiating
for is the level of engagement that Gates and Ballmer will have with
the company after theyre hired. The Journals sources also say that
some candidates for the top post at Microsoft seem to be particularly
uneasy about Mr. Ballmer, who has made several recent decisions that
have altered the companys strategy and generated controversy among
managers and investors.
80% of World Leaders Are On Twitter
Twitter isn't just for all those silly youths with their "rap music" and
"irony" anymore. According to a recent study, it's also now home to 80%
of the world's leaders.
The Digital Policy Council has just released World Leaders on Twitter,
the organization's fifth annual report measuring world leaders' activity
on the social media site. Their findings determined that a huge
majority80%of world leaders are now tweeting, up 8% from 2012, and up
nearly 93% from 2011.
The study also ranked the top ten most popular world leaders on Twitter,
with President Obama clocking in in first place (#obvi). In second place
is the President of Indonesia, which was really surprising until we
learned that 6.5% of all Twitter users come from Indonesia. Who knew!
Here's the full list:
1. President Obama
https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/415928561485094912
2. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia
https://twitter.com/SBYudhoyono/status/419059554039513089
3. President Abdullah Gul of Turkey
https://twitter.com/PresidGul_CIMUN/status/277074875628277761
4. Queen Rania, the Queen Consort of the King of Jordan
https://twitter.com/QueenRania/status/400634374724395008
5. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (lol ok)
https://twitter.com/MedvedevRussiaE/status/379232382580051969
6. President Christina Fernandez De Kirchner of Argentina
https://twitter.com/CFKArgentina/status/384051743874494466
7. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the
UAE and Ruler of Dubai
https://twitter.com/HHShkMohd/status/417621611479441408
8. Mexicos President Enrique Pena Nieto
https://twitter.com/EPN/status/400402202516152320
9. President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia
https://twitter.com/JuanManSantos/status/411316469281325056
10. Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff
https://twitter.com/dilmabr/status/413722513483788289
=~=~=~=
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