Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-377485.html
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Microsoft debunks IIS vulnerability claims
Microsoft has denied claims of a new vulnerability in Internet Information Services 6, putting the blame on poorly configured web servers. by Vivian Yeo ZDNet Asia
McAfee: Facebook, Twitter top targets in 2010
Social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter can expect more attention from cybercriminals in 2010, according to a new report by McAfee Labs. by Larry Magid CNET News
Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-377486.html
LinkedIn iPhone App Gets Revamped UI
LinkedIn, a social networking site for professionals, recently issued a major upgrade to its iPhone app. It’s darn gorgeous.
The app’s user interface mimics the large, bubbly buttons of the iPhone’s home screen. Each button directs you to a different part of LinkedIn: status updates, profiles, connections, inbox and so on. The app is fast and smooth, although it encountered a bug that also appears on the LinkedIn website: connection invitations that never seem to go away, even after you approve or reject them.
The most interesting addition to the LinkedIn app is a feature called “In Person.” It enables LinkedIn iPhone users to swap contact information by simply bumping their phones together; the connection is made over Bluetooth. It’s very similar to an iPhone app called Bump, which does practically the same thing.
The LinkedIn app’s massive makeover is similar to the one Facebook received with its 3.0 update. Frankly, I think the Facebook and LinkedIn iPhone apps have better UIs than their actual websites. LinkedIn.com and Facebook.com, in my opinion, are pretty rough to navigate. Both iPhone apps make the user experience far more pleasant, though they don’t completely replace usage of the actual website. (You probably wouldn’t wish to fill out your LinkedIn profile with the iPhone app, for example, lest you believe employers won’t care about touchscreen-induced typos.)
The LinkedIn app is free in the App Store.
Download Link [iTunes] via TUAW
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/yIFiGsfXzyc/
AT&T: The Communications Company That Failed to Communicate in 2009
The network’s notoriety incited widespread complaints, an ad war with its biggest rival and a consumer protest. Even Saturday Night Live mocked the big A.
Every cellular network has its problems with voice quality, occasional dropped calls and imperfect data coverage. And AT&T has some things other networks don’t: It has even been ranked the fastest 3G network in some wireless surveys, such as the 12-city bandwidth test recently performed by Gizmodo. The company is also clearly responding to the problems, rigorously pumping out upgrades for networks in major cities all over the nation, according to its 2009 press archive.
Yet AT&T has taken some serious heat. A Consumer Reports survey, which polled 50,000 readers spanning 26 cities, ranked AT&T as the worst cellphone service in the United States. Meanwhile, YouGov’s BrandIndex survey showed a steady decline in AT&T’s brand perception.
AT&T has a perception problem, to say the least, and most of that can be tied to its performance as the sole carrier of the most popular phone in the nation, Apple’s iPhone.
“They had some interesting parts this past year,” said Michael Gartenberg, an Interpret analyst. “You’re Apple’s partner with sharing the iPhone, and you’re getting booed louder than Microsoft. That means you’re not hitting it the way you should.”
Surely, AT&T made a number of mistakes this year, and many of them were indeed related to the iPhone. From mixed messages to broken promises, here we document the communications company’s communication failures of 2009.
Mixed Messages
Boos echoed throughout the audience at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in mid-2009, when Apple vice president of marketing Phil Schiller delivered the bad news: Tethering for the iPhone would be provided by 22 carriers around the world, but not AT&T.
The second piece of disappointing news: Multimedia messaging, the ability to send images and videos through a text message, would be immediately available for 29 carriers around the world, but not for AT&T customers until “late summer.” More boos greeted the announcement.
In statements sent to the press, AT&T was quick to defend its network when customers complained about the lack of immediate MMS and tethering support for the iPhone.
“We absolutely will offer MMS on iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G with 3.0 upgrades in late summer once we complete some system upgrades that will ensure our customers have the best experience with MMS,” AT&T said in a press statement. “These upgrades are unrelated to our 3G network.?
Three months later, the company posted a video (above) explaining the challenges of supporting the enormous growth of data usage thanks to the rise of smartphones. When speaking about MMS for the iPhone, a company spokesman said, “We’ve been working for months to prepare the radio access controllers in our network to support this launch. That means calibrating base stations all over the country; frankly, that’s a very time consuming process.”
Unrelated to the network, huh?
Also in September 2009, AT&T acknowledged in an interview with The New York Times that it faced challenges because of the data-guzzling smartphones.
“It’s been a challenging year,” said John Donovan, AT&T’s chief technology officer. “Overnight we?re seeing a radical shift in how people are using their phones…. There?s just no parallel for the demand.?
Then, a few weeks ago, AT&T’s CEO of mobility, Ralph de la Vega, said 3 percent of its data users are taking up 40 percent of AT&T’s wireless capacity, and that the company was working on ways to cut down their usage. That would imply plans to impose some sort of limitation on data use. Currently AT&T offers all of its iPhone subscribers unlimited data plans.
Over the course of a year, AT&T went from denying network issues to acknowledging there were challenges in supporting data. And then de la Vega pointed fingers at heavy data users. That didn’t go over so well: De la Vega’s statement inspired the satiric blog The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs to launch Operation Chokehold ? a protest with the intention of bringing down AT&T’s network.
Dan Lyons, the author of that blog, was joking, but angry customers took him seriously and actually tried to assault the network with heavy data usage. Though the protest did not come anywhere near to overloading the network,�Operation Chokehold made headlines all over the web.
Empty Statements
Earlier this week, AT&T’s website briefly stopped selling iPhones to New York customers ? for reasons unknown. Bloggers quoted customer service representatives who said New York was not ready for the iPhone, because there weren’t enough towers to support it.
That explanation made no sense: If the network were already overloaded, how would slowing down online sales address the problem? iPhones were, after all, still being sold in brick-and-mortar stores in New York, so suspending sales online would be ineffective.
A few hours later, a different customer service representative said the sales were suspended due to fraud issues ? a plausible explanation. But customer service employees are not considered official representatives of the company.
AT&T’s official response? A statement that explained nothing: ?We periodically modify our promotions and distribution channels.?
After the story had already been reported by countless media outlets, AT&T resumed online iPhone sales in New York, turning it into a non-story in just a day. But it was too late: Bloggers had already drawn conspiracy theories about AT&T being unable to serve New York.
Something worth noting is AT&T has a responsive, stellar public relations team that uses a Twitter account, a YouTube channel and a Facebook page to interact with the media and consumers. The story could’ve been defused in a matter of minutes with a clear, believable explanation. Instead, AT&T used its PR to respond with an empty statement, leaving the world guessing the reasons for the suspension of iPhone sales in New York.
Broken Promises
AT&T broke a few promises. The company missed by a few days its “late summer” deadline of delivering MMS, which was minor. More notably, the company did not deliver an official tethering plan to AT&T iPhone customers this year, even though de la Vega said during the 2008 Web 2.0 Summit conference that tethering would arrive for the iPhone in 2009. With 2010 just two days away, there is still no tethering plan for the iPhone.
AT&T has also effectively broken its promise of “unlimited” data, by restricting the ability of certain apps to access its 3G network. In mid-2009, Apple rejected a TV-streaming iPhone app called SlingPlayer.
SlingMedia told Wired.com it had to modify the SlingPlayer application to work only with Wi-Fi ? not on AT&T’s 3G network ? in order to gain Apple?s approval. Apple made that request on behalf of AT&T, whose terms of service state television signals may not be viewed on a device over an AT&T internet connection.
“Slingbox, which would use large amounts of wireless network capacity, could create congestion and potentially prevent other customers from using the network,? an AT&T spokesman said. ?The application does not run on our 3G wireless network.”
The effective crippling of the SlingPlayer app raised concerns among many that Apple and AT&T were closing the mobile web by regulating the type of content that could be accessed over the 3G network.
Will 2010 Be Better?
Despite damage to its brand in 2009, AT&T is still seeing massive subscriber growth, so the company is still doing great from a shareholder perspective, said Tero Kuittinen, an MKM telecom analyst. According to the company’s financial results, AT&T generated $40 billion in revenue and $10 billion in profit in the third quarter of 2009.
Kuittinen cited clever marketing and a good selection of phones from Apple, LG and Samsung as reasons for AT&T’s success.
“That’s the dream of any company,” Kuittinen said. “To provide bad service at high prices and still have great benefits.”
Perhaps the story will change if Apple shares the iPhone with Verizon, which rumors suggest is a possibility in 2010.
See Also:
- Wired.com’s iPhone 3G Survey Reveals Network Weaknesses
- AT&T App Invites iPhone Owners to Report Network Problems
- AT&T Addresses Network Challenges, iPhone’s MMS Delay in Video
- Dissatisfied AT&T Customers Plan Network Attack
- IPhone 3G Users Heated Over Network Issues
Photo: Brent and MaryLinn/Flickr
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/RkFKvDQhpPc/
London Stock Exchange buys Turquoise
Tom Young, Computing, Monday 21 December 2009 at 12:03:00
LSE IT chief David Lester tipped to be head of new joint venture
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) announced this morning that it will take The LSE will merge the platform with its own Baikal operation, to create "a The merged entity will be 60 per cent owned by LSE and 40 per cent by Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the LSE, said: "Turquoise's existing The exchange will incur exceptional costs of up to �20m in the current Turquoise was set up by a consortium of investment banks following But the banks were no longer willing to fund the unprofitable platform after Christopher Morris, director of consultancy Aequitas Associates, told the The LSE will fully fund the cash needs of the new venture for the first two David Lester, the LSE's head of IT,
control of rival trading platform Turquoise.
new pan-European trading venture".
existing Turquoise shareholders and will continue to trade under the Turquoise
name.
pan-European footprint is a strong proposition and together with the
introduction of new trading technology and a neutral structure, we believe it is
now well positioned to be an agent of change and to capture a healthy slice of
the market's growth potential."
financial year, comprising the write-off of legacy technology costs, and other
restructuring and integration costs, including contract exit costs.
deregulation, and was an attempt to force traditional exchanges such as the LSE
to lower trading fees. It began operating around 18 months ago.
being hit hard by the recession. The deal this week is being seen by some in the
City as a political move by the LSE to make peace with the banks.
Financial Times: ?It is rebuilding goodwill with the banking community
that will be the most valuable asset.?
years and says it wants to bring the business to sustainable profitability.
has
been tipped as the head of the new joint venture, which is expected to be
run as an independent operation.
Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2255350/lse-buys-turquoise
'Ima let you finish' ? top Net memes of '09
Full story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34622705/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/
Cosmic Log: How to speak ?Avatar?
Full story at http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/12/30/2163435.aspx
Decade In Review: Corporate Scoundrels And Scandals
The business world has been rocked by one scandal after another in the past decade. From Martha Stewart to Bernie Ebbers and Bernie Madoff, it's been a confusing and angry time for investors. The era also saw a 777-point one-day plunge in the Dow and some 7 million job losses.
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Full story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122083807&ft=1&f=1001
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Mozilla hopes to finish Thunderbird 3.1 in April
Mozilla Messaging hopes to release Thunderbird 3.1 in early April, a date that reflects a new frequent-release strategy adopted from the better-known Firefox effort at Mozilla. by Stephen Shankland CNET News
Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-376018.html
No Nook by Christmas? Here's a $100 gift card
Barnes & Noble promises that it will send an e-mail notification on December 23rd with a $100 gift certificate if they are unable to ship the Nook e-reader in time. by Anne Dujmovic CNET Crave
Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-376019.html
Google Nexus One Phone Likely to Launch Jan. 5
Google has scheduled a press event for Tuesday, January 5 at its Mountain View, California, headquarters. Though the company hasn’t mentioned Nexus One, the invitation mentions Android, Google’s mobile operating system for phones, and the company is widely expected to show the device that has had smartphone industry watchers buzzing for weeks.
The invitation-only event will be held two days before the Consumer Electronics Show begins in Las Vegas and just one day before many CES exhibitors have scheduled major press conferences.
It’s a move straight out of the Apple playbook. In January, 2007, Apple famously upstaged CES when it unveiled the first iPhone at an event in San Francisco — even as most technology journalists and executives were huddled in Las Vegas for the trade show.
Google hasn’t commented about Nexus One. But recent online leaks suggest the Nexus One will be a GSM-device with a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, accelerometer and compass. It is expected to run the latest version of the Android operating system, Android 2.1.
Where Google could really innovate is how the phone is sold. The Nexus One is likely to be sold unlocked, which means consumers don’t have to be tied into long-term contracts with telecom carriers. T-Mobile, which offered the first Google phone, could provide “billing, coverage, features and rate plans,” says TMONews, a blog that tracks T-Mobile.�The Nexus One could also go on sale the morning of Jan. 5, says the site, though there’s no word yet on possible pricing.
Will Google offer expensive unlocked handsets in the United States — a la Nokia — or can it come up with a clever model to subsidize the device cost through mobile advertising or carrier support? Google’s press conference next week should answer that question.
See Also:
- Google Phone’s Existence Confirmed; It’s Unlocked and Thin
- Nexus One Hardware Details Revealed
- Strapped to Android, HTC Takes a Dizzying Ride to the Top
Photo: Cory O?Brien
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/Fna3eWQqUbo/
iGuide and iSlate ? Two Potential Name Candidates for an Apple Tablet?
Apple’s apparent filing for the “iSlate” trademark and purchase of the iSlate.com domain has some convinced that iSlate will be the official name of Apple’s rumored touchscreen tablet. Some more digging around led to the discovery of a trademark application for “iGuide,” which bears striking similarities to the iSlate application. The theory, then, is iGuide could be another name candidate for an Apple tablet.
MacRumors, who originally reported evidence that Apple purchased iSlate.com, found that the iGuide trademark application was signed by Apple’s senior trademark specialist Regina Porter, who was also the signer of the the iSlate paperwork. The iGuide application describes features that could be part of a general-purpose gadget:
Computer hardware and computer software for accessing, browsing, searching, recording, organizing, storing, transmitting, receiving, manipulating, streaming, reproducing, playing, and reviewing audio, video, games, music, television, movies, photographs, and other multimedia content
Also, a detail perhaps overlooked by MacRumors ? the address of the listed applicant, iGuide Media LLC, shares the same address as the applicant listed for iSlate, Slate Computing LLC: “1209 Orange Street, Wilmington DELAWARE.” That address is linked to Corporation Trust, an agency that assists corporations in expediting legal services and other requests. The implication, then, is Apple hired Corporation Trust to file for the iSlate and iGuide trademarks. Corporation Trust presumably set up accounts as “iGuide Media LLC” and “Slate Computing LLC” for filing their respective trademarks.
Wired.com consulted trademark experts to help assess the iSlate trademark application. They declined to speculate on Apple’s plans, but based on the legal expertise they provided, Wired.com finds it inconclusive that a future Apple product will carry either the name iSlate or iGuide.
Jane Wald, chair of the trademark practice group at Irell and Manella, noted to Wired.com that the iSlate trademark has not been registered in the United States; it’s only been filed. In U.S. trademark law, a company can only win registration of a mark once it provides sufficient evidence it is going to sell the product. That means “iSlate” is not a name set in stone; it could be abandoned.
Furthermore, a company can file for multiple trademarks that are potential candidates for a product’s name. However, a company must file for trademarks in good faith, meaning it must at least be considering using the name in commerce.
“If you filed 100 different [marks] for the same product years in advance, you probably wouldn’t be having a good faith intent, but a few of them doesn’t ring alarm bells,” Wald explained in a phone interview.
In summary, based on appearance of Apple’s trademark specialist on both applications, it’s safe to conclude iSlate and iGuide are trademarks filed for by Apple via the agency CT. And if we are to believe iSlate and iGuide are candidates for an Apple tablet, then there could be a few others out there ? but not very many.
iGuide, though? Bleh.
See Also:
- Times Editor Leaks ?Apple Slate? News ? Sorta
- Approaching January, Apple Tablet Rumors Run Wild
- Video Demonstrates Wired?s Concept iTablet App
- Everything We Know About Apple?s Touchscreen Tablet
Illustration of an imaginary iPhone tablet: Flickr/vernhart
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/xzFzyoW3tzA/
London Stock Exchange buys Turquoise
Tom Young, Computing, Monday 21 December 2009 at 12:03:00
LSE IT chief David Lester tipped to be head of new joint venture
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) announced this morning that it will take The LSE will merge the platform with its own Baikal operation, to create "a The merged entity will be 60 per cent owned by LSE and 40 per cent by Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the LSE, said: "Turquoise's existing The exchange will incur exceptional costs of up to �20m in the current Turquoise was set up by a consortium of investment banks following But the banks were no longer willing to fund the unprofitable platform after Christopher Morris, director of consultancy Aequitas Associates, told the The LSE will fully fund the cash needs of the new venture for the first two David Lester, the LSE's head of IT,
control of rival trading platform Turquoise.
new pan-European trading venture".
existing Turquoise shareholders and will continue to trade under the Turquoise
name.
pan-European footprint is a strong proposition and together with the
introduction of new trading technology and a neutral structure, we believe it is
now well positioned to be an agent of change and to capture a healthy slice of
the market's growth potential."
financial year, comprising the write-off of legacy technology costs, and other
restructuring and integration costs, including contract exit costs.
deregulation, and was an attempt to force traditional exchanges such as the LSE
to lower trading fees. It began operating around 18 months ago.
being hit hard by the recession. The deal this week is being seen by some in the
City as a political move by the LSE to make peace with the banks.
Financial Times: ?It is rebuilding goodwill with the banking community
that will be the most valuable asset.?
years and says it wants to bring the business to sustainable profitability.
has
been tipped as the head of the new joint venture, which is expected to be
run as an independent operation.
Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2255350/lse-buys-turquoise
Video: 'Bayonetta' goes old-school
Full story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30501433/vp/34612727#34612727
Cosmic Log: Pluto probe closes in
Full story at http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/12/29/2162319.aspx
Crusty Patient Helps Shape Doctor's Career
Dr. Suzanne Mitchell credits an ornery patient she met years ago with teaching her the difference between medical treatment and medical care. Today, she shares his story with medical students in hopes of making them better doctors.
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Full story at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122019955&ft=1&f=1001
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Mozilla hopes to finish Thunderbird 3.1 in April
Mozilla Messaging hopes to release Thunderbird 3.1 in early April, a date that reflects a new frequent-release strategy adopted from the better-known Firefox effort at Mozilla. by Stephen Shankland CNET News
Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-376018.html
No Nook by Christmas? Here's a $100 gift card
Barnes & Noble promises that it will send an e-mail notification on December 23rd with a $100 gift certificate if they are unable to ship the Nook e-reader in time. by Anne Dujmovic CNET Crave
Full story at http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-376019.html
Apple Bought iSlate.com ? Perhaps for a Tablet?
Wired’s friend Arnold Kim of MacRumors sniffed out the domain-name registrant history, which revealed Apple as the owner of iSlate.com as of 2007. The website is currently inactive, but Kim speculates Apple could be reserving the domain for a tablet product, which is rumored for a January 2010 announcement.
The “Whois” record of iSlate.com provides solid evidence that Apple bought the domain in 2007 and subsequently transferred the address to MarkMonitor.com, a registrar that handles domain registrations for several companies, including Apple. The purpose of the move is presumably to help obscure products prior to release.
That said, it’s still inconclusive that iSlate will be the name of an Apple touchscreen tablet. (It is, after all, still inconclusive that an Apple tablet even exists.) It’s possible iSlate is one of many candidates for a product name — Apple could have chosen several others and purchased domains for those, as well.
But the iSlate mystery only gets more interesting. Further investigation by TechCrunch revealed iSlate was registered as a trademark in 2006 by an unknown Delaware-based company called Slate Computing. No such company appears with a quick web search. The theory is Slate Computing is a dummy corporation set up to conceal Apple as the true owner of the trademark. Apple employed a similar trick with the iPhone trademark, originally filed by Ocean Telecom Services, another anonymous Delaware-based company.
Finally, the iSlate trademark application reveals the signatory of Regina Porter, who, according to her LinkedIn profile, is Apple’s senior trademark specialist. It seems safe to conclude that the owner of the iSlate trademark is Apple.
Comes off as awfully protective, doesn’t it? However, it’s difficult to tell whether secretly registering trademarks and domains so far in advance is a standard procedure for Apple when deciding on product names. We’re in the process of contacting lawyers to get their perspective on Apple’s moves. We’ll keep you posted.
Long story short, Apple at least considered iSlate as the name for a product and took measures to stealthily reserve it. Whether Apple delivers an iSlate next month, this is a marvelous example of internet-detective work.
See Also:
- Times Editor Leaks ‘Apple Slate’ News ? Sorta
- Approaching January, Apple Tablet Rumors Run Wild
- Video Demonstrates Wired’s Concept iTablet App
- Everything We Know About Apple’s Touchscreen Tablet
Photo illustration of a fake Apple tablet courtesy of Sergio Cabral
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/osrkjDJrWks/
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