In a scenario reminiscent of the fairy tale about the fellow who cries "wolf" too often, security engineers are actively wondering whether Firefox' "blowing of the whistle" on self-signed certificates is a) frightening, and b) fair to developers.
One of the oft-touted improvements in Mozilla's Firefox 3.0 Web browser has been its improved handling for sites that authenticate their own identities using SSL certificates -- the kind used to initiate encrypted transactions with HTTPS protocol. For instance, a site whose authentication is verified will be indicated in Firefox's address bar by having its icon expanded to a full name, printed on a green background. Supposedly, this is to reassure the user that everything's copacetic.
But on the other end of the scale is the browser's handling of certificates it cannot validate, which in recent weeks, multiple users and developers alike have characterized with the word "scary." Now, Firefox replaces the Web page with a full-screen warning, featuring a traffic-cop pictogram and explaining the problem in detail. The color scheme is yellow, not red (which Firefox reserves for such things as suspected phishing sites or scam practitioners). Still, developers are asking whether the level of alarms Firefox raises now are so intense that many users will actually choose to ignore them rather than pay attention to them.
The issue may have become critically important earlier this year, when a major potential Internet-wide exploit was uncovered by security researcher Dan Kaminsky. As security software provider Qualys' Chief Technical Officer Wolfgang Kandek told BetaNews in an interview last month, the success of spoofs that involved that exploit may have come down to whether Web browser users actually read the warnings that tell them the SSL certificates they've received don't match or can't be validated.
In order for you, the everyday user, to avoid falling into the trap yourself, Kandek told us, "you would depend on a browser popping up saying a certificate does not match. The question would be, how many people understand that? How many people simply do not acknowledge that? What happens every once in a while is that [a certificate] expires, or there is a redirect. I get these messages every once in a while, I usually read them, and then decide, can I go on or not? Of course, a common person would [have trouble with] that because you have to be reasonably security-savvy to understand the warning message and decide what to do."
Mozilla began implementing a stricter policy on warning its users, according to its developers' site, after having received no fewer than three independently created warnings about how, at that time, Firefox 2 handled so-called self-signed certificates (SSC). These are valid, though not authenticated, certificates that can be used for encrypting connections, as long as the user is willing to trust their validity in the absence of a third party certificate authority (CA) -- such as VeriSign -- that can do the validation on the user's behalf.
The warning, essentially, stated that the earlier method's handling of SSCs gave users a kind of a plea to become accepted. Once it was, its acceptance extended to any so-called alternate site names the certificate may contain, even though those alternate names weren't presented to the user. Conceivably, an SSC could be used as a kind of gadget for maneuvering invalid Web sites into becoming validated automatically, leveraging the user's willingness to just trust the main site for what it says it is, and get on with it.
A self-signed certificate warning from Firefox version 3.0.2
Developers often build SSCs for themselves. It's an easy process, especially if you have Internet Information Services 7.0; and both Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox (versions 3.0 and above, as well as version 2.0.0.15), in fairness, have tightened their behavior with regard to recognizing a self-signed certificate that a CA can't vouch for.
Sometimes it makes sense for a Web developer to create SSCs from a security standpoint -- for instance, it may not be a good idea to register on the books of a third party, the name, IP, and DNS addresses for a project operating in stealth. Otherwise, SSCs are often just more convenient for developers than having to register, and then pay for, every certificate for every project.
Meanwhile, SSCs and expired certificates turn up in the most unusual places, including such places as Google Checkout, Yahoo's publisher network, and LinkedIn, according to the SSL developers' blog SSL Shopper.
So Firefox's sudden treatment of SSCs as "second-class citizens" -- or, in a sense, as more prone to suspicion than a standard HTTP site with no encryption at all -- is annoying many independent developers, including open source advocates, some of whom go so far as to question whether they should be paying for authentication.
In a personal blog post three weeks ago, developer Nat Tuck wrote, "Mozilla Firefox 3 limits usable encrypted (SSL) web sites to those who are willing to pay money to one of their approved digital certificate vendors. This policy is bad for the Web. Not only does it make users less secure overall by reducing the number of encrypted connections, it damages the basic principle of equality among Web participants."
In a blog post two weeks ago intended to put the entire issue to rest, Mozilla developer Jonathan Nightingale responded to this claim and others by saying Firefox 2's warnings were easier for users to ignore or just blindly accept, and that a real security issue could emerge from that acceptance.
"With a self-signed certificate, we don't know whether to trust it or not," Nightingale wrote. "It's not that these certificates are implicitly evil, it's that they are implicitly untrusted -- no one has vouched for them, so we ask the user. There is language in the dialogs that talks about how legitimate banks and other public web sites shouldn't use them, because it is in precisely those cases that we want novice users to feel some trepidation, and exercise some caution. There is a real possibility there, hopefully slim, that they are being attacked, and there is no other way for us to know."
As for developers who sign their own certificates for their own purposes, he goes on, well, they know who they are, and certainly it's up to them whether they trust themselves or not. But the new warning is meant to wake people up, and give them an opportunity to override Firefox's default behavior -- which is now to distrust -- with a statement of trust that is applied specifically to the main site under suspicion.
One alternative to the use of SSLs that many developers may not be aware of comes from a company called StartCom, which offers some Class 1 digital certificates for free.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 update with HTML5 browser on track
Microsoft confirmed a brief delay for an update that includes cut and paste, but said an even bigger Windows Phone update remains on track for year end
Microsoft has confirmed a delay to the Windows Phone 7 update that includes cut and paste, but the company said it is still on track to deliver an even bigger update by the end of the year.
On Wednesday, the Mobiletechworld blog noticed an entry on an official Microsoft France blog that said the update that contains cut and paste would come in the second half of March. That's a slight setback, because Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had said the update would come in early March.
[ Also on InfoWorld: Who wins in the Microsoft-Nokia $1 billion deal? | iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android? Whatever handheld you use or manage, turn to InfoWorld for the latest developments. Subscribe to InfoWorld's Mobilize newsletter today. ]
In a blog post, Eric Hautala, general manager of customer experience engineering at Microsoft, has now confirmed the delay. He wrote that it was the result of problems with an earlier update, the first one Microsoft has tried to send to Windows Phone 7 devices. Ironically, that update is designed to improve the update process itself. While some phone users have gotten that first update, Microsoft has twice suspended the process due to problems with installing the software, which have plagued primarily users of Samsung phones.
"I've decided to take some extra time to ensure the update process meets our standards, your standards, and the standards of our partners. As a result, our plan is to start delivering the copy-and-paste update in the latter half of March," Hautala wrote.
Some people have wondered whether this delay might affect another update that Ballmer said would come later this year.
Hautala said the update for later this year is still on schedule. "This short pause should in no way impact the timing of future updates, including the one announced recently at Mobile World Congress featuring multitasking, a Twitter feature, and a new HTML 5-friendly version of Internet Explorer Mobile," he wrote, referring to the event where Ballmer spoke about the update.
Hautala seemed to shift some of the blame for the problems onto carriers. Microsoft has to ship its update to carriers, which often add their own software and do their own testing, he said. "But it's still their network, and the reality is that some carriers require more time than others," he wrote.
He also refuted speculation that operators may block updates, a theory that has been rampant in the Android community, typically when certain phones don't get the most recent update. But while operators may ask for a specific date to start an update and may ask that updates get bundled together, "you should ultimately receive all the updates we send out," he wrote.
He confirmed that Microsoft is using Windows Update, the system it has used for years to push out updates to desktop PCs. Still, it's always hard to predict what will happen once software is in use, he said. "Microsoft has been making and delivering software updates long enough to know that the laboratory can simulate -- but never quite equal --the experience of delivering software to thousands of real phones 'in the wild,' each loaded with its own unique set of apps, pictures, songs, and other stuff," he wrote.
While the practice of issuing software updates to mobile phones is relatively new, Google and Apple have now been doing so largely without issues, and to far more phones, for more than a year. While Microsoft years ago was one of the first to say it would push updates to phones, with its Windows Mobile software, it seldom did.
Microsoft has confirmed a delay to the Windows Phone 7 update that includes cut and paste, but the company said it is still on track to deliver an even bigger update by the end of the year.
On Wednesday, the Mobiletechworld blog noticed an entry on an official Microsoft France blog that said the update that contains cut and paste would come in the second half of March. That's a slight setback, because Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had said the update would come in early March.
[ Also on InfoWorld: Who wins in the Microsoft-Nokia $1 billion deal? | iPhone, BlackBerry, or Android? Whatever handheld you use or manage, turn to InfoWorld for the latest developments. Subscribe to InfoWorld's Mobilize newsletter today. ]
In a blog post, Eric Hautala, general manager of customer experience engineering at Microsoft, has now confirmed the delay. He wrote that it was the result of problems with an earlier update, the first one Microsoft has tried to send to Windows Phone 7 devices. Ironically, that update is designed to improve the update process itself. While some phone users have gotten that first update, Microsoft has twice suspended the process due to problems with installing the software, which have plagued primarily users of Samsung phones.
"I've decided to take some extra time to ensure the update process meets our standards, your standards, and the standards of our partners. As a result, our plan is to start delivering the copy-and-paste update in the latter half of March," Hautala wrote.
Some people have wondered whether this delay might affect another update that Ballmer said would come later this year.
Hautala said the update for later this year is still on schedule. "This short pause should in no way impact the timing of future updates, including the one announced recently at Mobile World Congress featuring multitasking, a Twitter feature, and a new HTML 5-friendly version of Internet Explorer Mobile," he wrote, referring to the event where Ballmer spoke about the update.
Hautala seemed to shift some of the blame for the problems onto carriers. Microsoft has to ship its update to carriers, which often add their own software and do their own testing, he said. "But it's still their network, and the reality is that some carriers require more time than others," he wrote.
He also refuted speculation that operators may block updates, a theory that has been rampant in the Android community, typically when certain phones don't get the most recent update. But while operators may ask for a specific date to start an update and may ask that updates get bundled together, "you should ultimately receive all the updates we send out," he wrote.
He confirmed that Microsoft is using Windows Update, the system it has used for years to push out updates to desktop PCs. Still, it's always hard to predict what will happen once software is in use, he said. "Microsoft has been making and delivering software updates long enough to know that the laboratory can simulate -- but never quite equal --the experience of delivering software to thousands of real phones 'in the wild,' each loaded with its own unique set of apps, pictures, songs, and other stuff," he wrote.
While the practice of issuing software updates to mobile phones is relatively new, Google and Apple have now been doing so largely without issues, and to far more phones, for more than a year. While Microsoft years ago was one of the first to say it would push updates to phones, with its Windows Mobile software, it seldom did.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
10 Fun Microsoft Facts You Might Not Know
Despite ever-increasing Mac sales, Microsoft still has an undisputed dominance over the computer industry.
With such a vast presence, much has already been written about Microsoft: Its history, its products, even its former CEO Bill Gates. For those itching to know even more, we’ve dug up 10 snippets of info that you might not have heard before.
What experimental musician created the Windows start-up sound? How do they celebrate anniversaries? Does Microsoft have a “pest” problem? Have a read of our Microsoft-themed facts, stats and trivia and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
1. “Micro-soft’s” First Ever Mention
The first ever mention of “Microsoft” was in a letter from Bill Gates to co-founder Paul Allen in 1975. Gates initially wrote the company name as Micro-soft, which made sense considering it’s a portmanteau of “microcomputer” and “software.”
Losing the hyphen, “Microsoft” was officially registered as a company in November, 1976 in New Mexico where Gates and Allen were working with their first major customer, MITS. Microsoft didn’t move to its current campus in Redmond, Washington until 1986.
The Microsoft logo has changed several times over the years, the current “Pac-Man” logo was introduced in 1987, but previous to that was the “blibbet” logo that’s pictured above. The “blibbet” refers to the stylized “o” and was apparently once the name of a burger served in the Microsoft company cafeteria.
2. Brian Eno Composed “The Microsoft Sound”
Pioneering musician Brian Eno was the musical brains behind Window 95′s start up tune, dubbed “The Microsoft Sound.”
The influential musician, who has worked with the likes of David Bowie and U2, told the San Francisco Chronicle that making such a short piece of music was “funny” and “amazing.” Eno likened the process to “making a tiny little jewel.”
Other musical trivia from the launch of Windows 95 is, of course, the use of The Rolling Stones “Start Me Up” in the ad campaign, while a related Eno fact is that he also composed the music for the computer game Spore.
3. Microsoft’s Fave Food Is Pizza
Although not quite at Google‘s level of snack-tastic, free-for-all wonder, Microsoft does offer free drinks. Over 23 million gratis beverages are downed on the corporate campus each year.
Apparently the top two drinks of choice for Microsoft staffers are milk and OJ. There’s also free candy on the Microsoft campus shuttle.
As far as food goes, Microsoft has around 35 cafeterias (one of which is pictured above) serving around 37,000 people each day. Pizza tops the list of most popular meal.
4. Microsoft Uses Codenames
Ever since the company’s first operating system, Microsoft has worked on its projects under codenames, of which Wikipedia has a long list. Apparently Gates was ready to launch Windows under the name “Interface Manager” before he was persuaded to change it by an employee.
Past codenames include “Longhorn,” “Lone Star,” and “Vienna.” While you might be tempted to add “Mojave,” to that list, it’s actually part of a Microsoft ad campaign. The “Mojave Experiment” was a marketing exercise that battled Vista’s poor PR by presenting the software to new users as a fresh product.
5. The Average “Softie”
The average Microsoft employee, or “Softie” as they call themselves, is a 38-year-old male with the average salary for a developer coming in at $106,000.
Microsoft currently employs 88,180 people who work across 32,404,796 square feet of Microsoft’s premises, over 50,000 of which are U.S.-based. The male to female ratio is very high among Microsoft’s American employees with a staggering 76% male workforce.
6. Microsoft Celebrates Anniversaries With M&Ms
All companies have their little in-house traditions, and Microsoft is no exception. It seems it’s customary for Softies to celebrate their yearly employment anniversaries with candy, and more specifically, M&Ms.
Each anniversary, a Microsoft employee is expected to provide one pound of M&Ms for every year they’ve worked. That means if Bill Gates observed the tradition, he should have turned up with 33 pounds of M&Ms on June 27, 2008.
7. Microsoft’s Stock Has Split Nine Times
Microsoft has split its stock nines times since it went public back in March 1986. Put very, very simply, a company will generally split its stock when its share price becomes too high.
Since Microsoft has had six 2-for-1 splits and three 3-for-1 splits, one original Microsoft share would now be equal to 288 shares today. Interestingly the price of Microsoft’s stock at its initial public offering was $21 a share, at the time of writing a share is now around the $23 mark. One original MSFT share would now be worth over $6,000.
8. Microsoft Has a Huge Art Collection
No, we’re not talking about Clip Art. Microsoft is one of the largest corporate collectors of artworks with over 5,000 contemporary pieces including painting, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, ceramics, studio glass, and multimedia works. Microsoft gathers arts from local artists, up-and-coming artists and big names such as Cindy Sherman, Chuck Close and Takashi Murakami.
A large proportion of the works are on display at more than 150 of Microsoft’s many campuses, as the company subscribes to the belief that art in the workplace reduces stress, increases productivity and encourages discussions and expression of opinions.
9. Microsoft Asks Strange Interview Questions
Microsoft has a reputation in the industry for asking off-beat, off-the-wall questions during its job interview. The most oft-quoted question is: “Why is a manhole cover round?” Whether this particular example is genuine, or an urban legend, it’s certainly true that Microsoft employs a very unusual, and forward-thinking interview process. It’s even rumored that companies like Google have since emulated the style.
Rather than plain “Where do you see yourself in five years” type questions, Microsoft is more likely to ask you to solve a logic puzzle or think through a problem like “Design a coffee maker that will be used by astronauts.” Obviously, Microsoft isn’t planning to go into the coffee-in-space industry anytime soon, but the process serves to find candidates that can think creatively.
10. Microsoft Holds Over 10,000 Patents
Microsoft holds over 10,000 patents and files around 3,000 every year, ranking as one of the top five patent owners in the U.S.
Although a large majority of the patents relate to obscure elements of software, the 5,000th and 10,000th were consumer-friendly, easily-understandable ideas. The 5,000th was for tech in Xbox 360 games that lets people “watch” a video game remotely, while the 10,000th was for the Microsoft Surface, linking real-life objects with data and images.
Microsoft also rewards its staff members for securing a new patent. Besides a $1,500 bonus, they get a wooden plaque and a decorative black “cube” that features their name, as well as the title and date of the patent.
BONUS: The Microsoft Campus is Full of Bunnies!
Our very own Jolie O’Dell found a great factoid about the Microsoft Corporate Campus, she gleaned while on a recent visit.
“So, back in the mists of time, some people dumped a bunch of rapidly reproducing pet bunnies — leftovers from kids’ Easter gifts — on a grassy knoll near the MSFT campus,” Jolie said. “The bunnies started doing what bunnies do best, that is, making more bunnies.
At one point, there were so many that MSFT staff had to start catching them and having them spayed and neutered! Nowadays, you’ll still see lots of rabbits hopping around, though. Way cuter than Google’s goats.”
It seems the bunny proliferation has been a long term issue. According to a 1998 Seattle Times article, the “Redmond rabbit problem” does not just affect Microsoft, but Nintendo, Eddie Bauer and other companies in the area.
The problem back then spawned the Redmond Rabbit Coalition group (many members of which are now involved in the current day Evergreen Rabbit Rescue) who campaign for a humane solution to the ongoing pest problem.
With such a vast presence, much has already been written about Microsoft: Its history, its products, even its former CEO Bill Gates. For those itching to know even more, we’ve dug up 10 snippets of info that you might not have heard before.
What experimental musician created the Windows start-up sound? How do they celebrate anniversaries? Does Microsoft have a “pest” problem? Have a read of our Microsoft-themed facts, stats and trivia and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
1. “Micro-soft’s” First Ever Mention
The first ever mention of “Microsoft” was in a letter from Bill Gates to co-founder Paul Allen in 1975. Gates initially wrote the company name as Micro-soft, which made sense considering it’s a portmanteau of “microcomputer” and “software.”
Losing the hyphen, “Microsoft” was officially registered as a company in November, 1976 in New Mexico where Gates and Allen were working with their first major customer, MITS. Microsoft didn’t move to its current campus in Redmond, Washington until 1986.
The Microsoft logo has changed several times over the years, the current “Pac-Man” logo was introduced in 1987, but previous to that was the “blibbet” logo that’s pictured above. The “blibbet” refers to the stylized “o” and was apparently once the name of a burger served in the Microsoft company cafeteria.
2. Brian Eno Composed “The Microsoft Sound”
Pioneering musician Brian Eno was the musical brains behind Window 95′s start up tune, dubbed “The Microsoft Sound.”
The influential musician, who has worked with the likes of David Bowie and U2, told the San Francisco Chronicle that making such a short piece of music was “funny” and “amazing.” Eno likened the process to “making a tiny little jewel.”
Other musical trivia from the launch of Windows 95 is, of course, the use of The Rolling Stones “Start Me Up” in the ad campaign, while a related Eno fact is that he also composed the music for the computer game Spore.
3. Microsoft’s Fave Food Is Pizza
Although not quite at Google‘s level of snack-tastic, free-for-all wonder, Microsoft does offer free drinks. Over 23 million gratis beverages are downed on the corporate campus each year.
Apparently the top two drinks of choice for Microsoft staffers are milk and OJ. There’s also free candy on the Microsoft campus shuttle.
As far as food goes, Microsoft has around 35 cafeterias (one of which is pictured above) serving around 37,000 people each day. Pizza tops the list of most popular meal.
4. Microsoft Uses Codenames
Ever since the company’s first operating system, Microsoft has worked on its projects under codenames, of which Wikipedia has a long list. Apparently Gates was ready to launch Windows under the name “Interface Manager” before he was persuaded to change it by an employee.
Past codenames include “Longhorn,” “Lone Star,” and “Vienna.” While you might be tempted to add “Mojave,” to that list, it’s actually part of a Microsoft ad campaign. The “Mojave Experiment” was a marketing exercise that battled Vista’s poor PR by presenting the software to new users as a fresh product.
5. The Average “Softie”
The average Microsoft employee, or “Softie” as they call themselves, is a 38-year-old male with the average salary for a developer coming in at $106,000.
Microsoft currently employs 88,180 people who work across 32,404,796 square feet of Microsoft’s premises, over 50,000 of which are U.S.-based. The male to female ratio is very high among Microsoft’s American employees with a staggering 76% male workforce.
6. Microsoft Celebrates Anniversaries With M&Ms
All companies have their little in-house traditions, and Microsoft is no exception. It seems it’s customary for Softies to celebrate their yearly employment anniversaries with candy, and more specifically, M&Ms.
Each anniversary, a Microsoft employee is expected to provide one pound of M&Ms for every year they’ve worked. That means if Bill Gates observed the tradition, he should have turned up with 33 pounds of M&Ms on June 27, 2008.
7. Microsoft’s Stock Has Split Nine Times
Microsoft has split its stock nines times since it went public back in March 1986. Put very, very simply, a company will generally split its stock when its share price becomes too high.
Since Microsoft has had six 2-for-1 splits and three 3-for-1 splits, one original Microsoft share would now be equal to 288 shares today. Interestingly the price of Microsoft’s stock at its initial public offering was $21 a share, at the time of writing a share is now around the $23 mark. One original MSFT share would now be worth over $6,000.
8. Microsoft Has a Huge Art Collection
No, we’re not talking about Clip Art. Microsoft is one of the largest corporate collectors of artworks with over 5,000 contemporary pieces including painting, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, ceramics, studio glass, and multimedia works. Microsoft gathers arts from local artists, up-and-coming artists and big names such as Cindy Sherman, Chuck Close and Takashi Murakami.
A large proportion of the works are on display at more than 150 of Microsoft’s many campuses, as the company subscribes to the belief that art in the workplace reduces stress, increases productivity and encourages discussions and expression of opinions.
9. Microsoft Asks Strange Interview Questions
Microsoft has a reputation in the industry for asking off-beat, off-the-wall questions during its job interview. The most oft-quoted question is: “Why is a manhole cover round?” Whether this particular example is genuine, or an urban legend, it’s certainly true that Microsoft employs a very unusual, and forward-thinking interview process. It’s even rumored that companies like Google have since emulated the style.
Rather than plain “Where do you see yourself in five years” type questions, Microsoft is more likely to ask you to solve a logic puzzle or think through a problem like “Design a coffee maker that will be used by astronauts.” Obviously, Microsoft isn’t planning to go into the coffee-in-space industry anytime soon, but the process serves to find candidates that can think creatively.
10. Microsoft Holds Over 10,000 Patents
Microsoft holds over 10,000 patents and files around 3,000 every year, ranking as one of the top five patent owners in the U.S.
Although a large majority of the patents relate to obscure elements of software, the 5,000th and 10,000th were consumer-friendly, easily-understandable ideas. The 5,000th was for tech in Xbox 360 games that lets people “watch” a video game remotely, while the 10,000th was for the Microsoft Surface, linking real-life objects with data and images.
Microsoft also rewards its staff members for securing a new patent. Besides a $1,500 bonus, they get a wooden plaque and a decorative black “cube” that features their name, as well as the title and date of the patent.
BONUS: The Microsoft Campus is Full of Bunnies!
Our very own Jolie O’Dell found a great factoid about the Microsoft Corporate Campus, she gleaned while on a recent visit.
“So, back in the mists of time, some people dumped a bunch of rapidly reproducing pet bunnies — leftovers from kids’ Easter gifts — on a grassy knoll near the MSFT campus,” Jolie said. “The bunnies started doing what bunnies do best, that is, making more bunnies.
At one point, there were so many that MSFT staff had to start catching them and having them spayed and neutered! Nowadays, you’ll still see lots of rabbits hopping around, though. Way cuter than Google’s goats.”
It seems the bunny proliferation has been a long term issue. According to a 1998 Seattle Times article, the “Redmond rabbit problem” does not just affect Microsoft, but Nintendo, Eddie Bauer and other companies in the area.
The problem back then spawned the Redmond Rabbit Coalition group (many members of which are now involved in the current day Evergreen Rabbit Rescue) who campaign for a humane solution to the ongoing pest problem.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Tablet Wars: Microsoft and HP to Unveil Apple Tablet Competitor
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is set to reveal his own rival to the Apple Tablet, according to The New York Times Bits Blog. We first learned about a Microsoft tablet device in September. We believe tomorrow’s announcement will be about the same device, currently called the Courier.
According to leaked details at that time, the Microsoft Courier is a tablet built like a notebook, with a two-screen setup and a stylus, made for saving and sharing content and “clippings” from the web. It also supposedly acts as an e-reader. The NYT piece reveals that its manufacturer will be none other than computing giant HP.
While we don’t have any more details, we do think that it makes sense for Ballmer to reveal a new device at the world’s largest gadget trade show. We’re almost certain that Apple‘s coming out with a tablet at the end of the month, and this is a strong way to counter that problem. We’ll be at Ballmer’s keynote, covering whatever may come from Microsoft and HP live tomorrow.
According to leaked details at that time, the Microsoft Courier is a tablet built like a notebook, with a two-screen setup and a stylus, made for saving and sharing content and “clippings” from the web. It also supposedly acts as an e-reader. The NYT piece reveals that its manufacturer will be none other than computing giant HP.
While we don’t have any more details, we do think that it makes sense for Ballmer to reveal a new device at the world’s largest gadget trade show. We’re almost certain that Apple‘s coming out with a tablet at the end of the month, and this is a strong way to counter that problem. We’ll be at Ballmer’s keynote, covering whatever may come from Microsoft and HP live tomorrow.
Monday, April 25, 2011
What The iPod Wholesaler Can Provide
Hey, guys, have you asked yourself that what's the significance of our every 24 hours, what is the essence of our life. Are you in a fog? Have you gotten an answer and what is it? Have you talk about the title of life significance with your friends? Are you reach a consensus?
Yesterday my friend and I had taken a rest, went to a remote villa. We walked, sit, and laid all the afternoon, a cloudy weather, which was not sunny and not raining, made us sit outside all the afternoon,talked something un-important. At the time, we were both happy and relaxe, just like all the mess became footy. We just breathed the clear air and imaged the beautific future, smile and laugh loudly. I was in there, but I had start to miss theis happy and wonferful time. We had fun and got drunk into the quite environment. Such wonderful time, we handed out my ipod and shared the music together, which behavoir made our mood more comfortable. I am sure we will remember this perfect time.
As to the life significance, we will find it easily when you throw off the mess things in our everyday city life, stay with nature alone, not about job, house, car, and something substantial. In there, you will find nature and you are in one.
But our daily life are full of mess things , are awlays make us confused and forget what we do such things for. The most things in our daily life are boring and have no significance, but regrettably we can not run out them. We can not always have time to go to the clear nature and find yourself, sober the things in the world. Music is a great thing that can substitite for nature in some degree. And music is a thing which we can get it easily, can make us quite, understand you, happy you, console you, exert yourself and something possitive, negetive aslo.
I choose ipod only after I had tried many mp3 player brands, and now I own Ipod 5th 8G, the discount ipod nano, paid to ipod wholesaler in a discout money. As a user, I can introduce to you, because it is cheap now, can buy online in a discout price, and the useful funtions are enough for you.
Yesterday my friend and I had taken a rest, went to a remote villa. We walked, sit, and laid all the afternoon, a cloudy weather, which was not sunny and not raining, made us sit outside all the afternoon,talked something un-important. At the time, we were both happy and relaxe, just like all the mess became footy. We just breathed the clear air and imaged the beautific future, smile and laugh loudly. I was in there, but I had start to miss theis happy and wonferful time. We had fun and got drunk into the quite environment. Such wonderful time, we handed out my ipod and shared the music together, which behavoir made our mood more comfortable. I am sure we will remember this perfect time.
As to the life significance, we will find it easily when you throw off the mess things in our everyday city life, stay with nature alone, not about job, house, car, and something substantial. In there, you will find nature and you are in one.
But our daily life are full of mess things , are awlays make us confused and forget what we do such things for. The most things in our daily life are boring and have no significance, but regrettably we can not run out them. We can not always have time to go to the clear nature and find yourself, sober the things in the world. Music is a great thing that can substitite for nature in some degree. And music is a thing which we can get it easily, can make us quite, understand you, happy you, console you, exert yourself and something possitive, negetive aslo.
I choose ipod only after I had tried many mp3 player brands, and now I own Ipod 5th 8G, the discount ipod nano, paid to ipod wholesaler in a discout money. As a user, I can introduce to you, because it is cheap now, can buy online in a discout price, and the useful funtions are enough for you.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Google To Offer Chrome Notebook Subscriptions [REPORT]
Remember those Chrome notebooks Google was testing late last year? Now a report claims Google will be offering Chrome OS-based notebooks this summer on a subscription basis, charging between $10 and $20 per month per user.
Why would somebody want to subscribe to a piece of hardware? The monthly fee will include hardware refreshes as they’re released, as well as a replacement warranty as long as the subscription lasts, according to Neowin.net. There were no further details about the duration of those subscriptions or plans associated with them.
If you don’t like the idea of a subscription, according to Neowin’s source, Google will also offer the laptops for a flat fee. All the laptops will be distributed by third parties, the source said — similar to the way Android works now.
It’s not clear which hardware will be used in this deal, but we expect it to be similar to the CR-48 Chrome OS notebook we tested late last year as part of Google’s pilot program. That program was finished in March when Google stopped shipping the test laptops.
When announcing the end of the pilot program in March, Google VP of product management Sundar Pichai told Mashable that the first Chrome OS devices will go on sale this summer. Neowin’s report matches that, narrowing down that ship date to late June or early July.
If Google’s subscription laptop is anything like the CR-48 we tried last fall, it’ll boot up unusually quickly — we noticed it was ready to use in less than 10 seconds. Beyond that, it’s a rather plain and nondescript laptop that runs the Chrome OS quite well, fast enough for most web browsing activities.
Would you be interested in subscribing to a laptop? Let us know in the comments.
Why would somebody want to subscribe to a piece of hardware? The monthly fee will include hardware refreshes as they’re released, as well as a replacement warranty as long as the subscription lasts, according to Neowin.net. There were no further details about the duration of those subscriptions or plans associated with them.
If you don’t like the idea of a subscription, according to Neowin’s source, Google will also offer the laptops for a flat fee. All the laptops will be distributed by third parties, the source said — similar to the way Android works now.
It’s not clear which hardware will be used in this deal, but we expect it to be similar to the CR-48 Chrome OS notebook we tested late last year as part of Google’s pilot program. That program was finished in March when Google stopped shipping the test laptops.
When announcing the end of the pilot program in March, Google VP of product management Sundar Pichai told Mashable that the first Chrome OS devices will go on sale this summer. Neowin’s report matches that, narrowing down that ship date to late June or early July.
If Google’s subscription laptop is anything like the CR-48 we tried last fall, it’ll boot up unusually quickly — we noticed it was ready to use in less than 10 seconds. Beyond that, it’s a rather plain and nondescript laptop that runs the Chrome OS quite well, fast enough for most web browsing activities.
Would you be interested in subscribing to a laptop? Let us know in the comments.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Amazon: Cloud Problems To Be Fixed Friday; Affected Sites Back
Amazon said Friday morning that it expected that the majority of sites affected by its unexpected cloud services outage would be back up by the end of Friday, with some exceptions. (See PCMag's analysis on why the Amazon cloud outage matters.)
Amaazon's published round-the-clock updates overnight, advising customers that the company had brought "all hands on deck" to solve the problem. At issue, Amazon said, was a single "availability zone" in the Eastern U.S. that with "stuck" volumes of data.
"We continue to see progress in recovering volumes, and have heard many additional customers confirm that they're recovering," Amazon wrote Friday morning. "Our current estimate is that the majority of volumes will be recovered over the next 5 to 6 hours. As we mentioned in our last post, a smaller number of volumes will require a more time consuming process to recover, and we anticipate that those will take longer to recover. We will continue to keep everyone updated as we have additional information."
It appeared that the sites which had been affected by the Thursday outage to Amazon's EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) and Amazon Web Services were functional, but that data for the affected period was in the process of being restored. That means that visitors to those sites would be able to use them, but not necessarily access comments, access rights, documents or other data affected by the outage.
Quora and Reddit, two sites that were affected by the outage, were operational at press time, but partly so. "We are slowly getting our capacity back, and as such users are being randomly granted access back to the site," Reddit posted to the top of the site. "Please check back soon, as you may be able to log in shortly. Thanks!"
Charlie Cheever, one of the founders of Quora, also explained why some of the site's data was still missing. "The Amazon EBS volumes where the data for Quora is stored are still not available," he wrote on the site. "To get the site back online, we brought up a new database based on the most recent database backup we had available which was from midnight on Tuesday night. So, any writes to the database during the time between the backup and the outage (most activity on the site on Wednesday) are missing right now.
"When the volume is restored, we'll try to merge the data from Wednesday back into the current version of the site," Cheever added. "There will likely be some conflicts, but we think there will be graceful ways to resolve most of those."
Foursquare, which had also been taken down by Amazon's cloud problems, also reported that it had restored full access to the site at 1:40 AM EDT on Friday morning, taking the site down for ten minutes just to ensure there were no problems.
Hootsuite, which also had been affected by the outage, said that service had been restored at 9:25 PM on Thursday, although not all profiles were available.
At 6:18 AM PT, Amazon reported that it had begun to see "more meaningful progress" in restoring its volumes, and at 8:49 AM PT customers began telling Amazon that they were coming back online.
Amaazon's published round-the-clock updates overnight, advising customers that the company had brought "all hands on deck" to solve the problem. At issue, Amazon said, was a single "availability zone" in the Eastern U.S. that with "stuck" volumes of data.
"We continue to see progress in recovering volumes, and have heard many additional customers confirm that they're recovering," Amazon wrote Friday morning. "Our current estimate is that the majority of volumes will be recovered over the next 5 to 6 hours. As we mentioned in our last post, a smaller number of volumes will require a more time consuming process to recover, and we anticipate that those will take longer to recover. We will continue to keep everyone updated as we have additional information."
It appeared that the sites which had been affected by the Thursday outage to Amazon's EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) and Amazon Web Services were functional, but that data for the affected period was in the process of being restored. That means that visitors to those sites would be able to use them, but not necessarily access comments, access rights, documents or other data affected by the outage.
Quora and Reddit, two sites that were affected by the outage, were operational at press time, but partly so. "We are slowly getting our capacity back, and as such users are being randomly granted access back to the site," Reddit posted to the top of the site. "Please check back soon, as you may be able to log in shortly. Thanks!"
Charlie Cheever, one of the founders of Quora, also explained why some of the site's data was still missing. "The Amazon EBS volumes where the data for Quora is stored are still not available," he wrote on the site. "To get the site back online, we brought up a new database based on the most recent database backup we had available which was from midnight on Tuesday night. So, any writes to the database during the time between the backup and the outage (most activity on the site on Wednesday) are missing right now.
"When the volume is restored, we'll try to merge the data from Wednesday back into the current version of the site," Cheever added. "There will likely be some conflicts, but we think there will be graceful ways to resolve most of those."
Foursquare, which had also been taken down by Amazon's cloud problems, also reported that it had restored full access to the site at 1:40 AM EDT on Friday morning, taking the site down for ten minutes just to ensure there were no problems.
Hootsuite, which also had been affected by the outage, said that service had been restored at 9:25 PM on Thursday, although not all profiles were available.
At 6:18 AM PT, Amazon reported that it had begun to see "more meaningful progress" in restoring its volumes, and at 8:49 AM PT customers began telling Amazon that they were coming back online.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Norton 2012 Betas Earn High Marks from Antivirus Group
Public beta testing for the 2012 Norton security products began last Friday. In the few days since, German antivirus test lab AV-Test.org has worked up initial impressions for Norton AntiVirus 2012 beta and Norton Internet Security 2012 beta, and both products definitely made a good first impression.
Norton detected 98.87 percent out of almost 150,000 very recent malware samples, beating the current industry average of 97.71 percent. In both on-demand and on-access tests, it detected 100 percent of widespread "WildList" malware. Since all current products detect 100 percent of those samples, this success isn't surprising.
AV-Test also challenged Norton to detect, terminate, and clean up about two dozen active malware samples. It detected them all and successfully removed 95.7 percent of them. The average program in this test detects 95.2 percent, removes the active components for 85.7 percent, and fully removes just 47.6 percent. Norton also detected and removed 87.5 percent of active rootkit samples, compared to an average of 56 percent.
The lab didn't report any measurable slowdown of system operations in daily use, and reported that after the initial full scan, subsequent scans cut 85 to 90 percent off the scan time. Norton also correctly refrained from identifying any of 250,000 valid files as malicious—zero false positives.
The final test challenged Norton to detect and prevent active attacks by malicious Web sites and malicious downloads. It correctly warned and blocked all but one sample, for a success rate of 96.8 percent. The average product detects 80 percent of these threats and successfully blocks 64 percent.
Overall, the Norton products put on a stellar performance, achieving above-average results in every test. AV-Test will replace Norton AntiVirus 2011 and Norton Internet Security 2011 in their ongoing tests once the 2012 editions are actually released. PCMag will put them through a thorough evaluation at that time as well.
Microsoft MCTS Certification, MCITP Certification and over 2000+ Exams at Actualkey.com
Norton detected 98.87 percent out of almost 150,000 very recent malware samples, beating the current industry average of 97.71 percent. In both on-demand and on-access tests, it detected 100 percent of widespread "WildList" malware. Since all current products detect 100 percent of those samples, this success isn't surprising.
AV-Test also challenged Norton to detect, terminate, and clean up about two dozen active malware samples. It detected them all and successfully removed 95.7 percent of them. The average program in this test detects 95.2 percent, removes the active components for 85.7 percent, and fully removes just 47.6 percent. Norton also detected and removed 87.5 percent of active rootkit samples, compared to an average of 56 percent.
The lab didn't report any measurable slowdown of system operations in daily use, and reported that after the initial full scan, subsequent scans cut 85 to 90 percent off the scan time. Norton also correctly refrained from identifying any of 250,000 valid files as malicious—zero false positives.
The final test challenged Norton to detect and prevent active attacks by malicious Web sites and malicious downloads. It correctly warned and blocked all but one sample, for a success rate of 96.8 percent. The average product detects 80 percent of these threats and successfully blocks 64 percent.
Overall, the Norton products put on a stellar performance, achieving above-average results in every test. AV-Test will replace Norton AntiVirus 2011 and Norton Internet Security 2011 in their ongoing tests once the 2012 editions are actually released. PCMag will put them through a thorough evaluation at that time as well.
How Many BlackBerry PlayBooks Did RIM Sell?
The reviews for the BlackBerry PlayBook might prompt tablet fans to think twice, but according to one analyst, first-day sales of the Research in Motion device were solid, with the company possibly selling 45,000 PlayBooks.
"While the launch of the Playbook is not attracting overnight crowds, preorder sales and in-store demand in major cities has been solid; however, AT&T's prohibition of free tethering is an unexpected negative," Peter Misek, an equity analyst with Jefferies, wrote in a Wednesday note.
The PlayBook went on sale on Tuesday and in first-day checks, Misek found that sales skewed toward pre-orders, as well as the 32GB and 64GB models, while inventory and demand was higher in urban areas. He predicted that Best Buy and Staples sold about 20,000 units, excluding pre-orders, while consumer pre-orders totaled 25,000.
"If correct, 45K+ sell through on the first day would be a success," Misek wrote.
Despite more glowing reviews for the Motorola Xoom, Misek speculated that PlayBook sales "are far exceeding" the Xoom's.
One controversial aspect of the PlayBook is that it's tied to a BlackBerry smartphone via the BlackBerry Bridge software, which pipes over email and messages and lets the PlayBook get on the Internet for free. That feature, however, is not yet available via AT&T.
"AT&T is working with RIM to make the BlackBerry Bridge app available for AT&T customers. We have just received the app for testing and before it's made available to AT&T customers we want to ensure it delivers a quality experience," AT&T said earlier this week.
Misek estimated that of the 60 million BlackBerry users, about 8 million are on AT&T, so "the lack of free tethering support is obviously disappointing," he said.
RIM, meanwhile, has promised that the PlayBook will get a native email client in the next 60 days.
For more, see PCMag's full review of the PlayBook and the slideshow below, the unboxing, our review of the BlackBerry tablet OS, and PCMag's comparison of the Xoom, PlayBook and iPad 2.
"While the launch of the Playbook is not attracting overnight crowds, preorder sales and in-store demand in major cities has been solid; however, AT&T's prohibition of free tethering is an unexpected negative," Peter Misek, an equity analyst with Jefferies, wrote in a Wednesday note.
The PlayBook went on sale on Tuesday and in first-day checks, Misek found that sales skewed toward pre-orders, as well as the 32GB and 64GB models, while inventory and demand was higher in urban areas. He predicted that Best Buy and Staples sold about 20,000 units, excluding pre-orders, while consumer pre-orders totaled 25,000.
"If correct, 45K+ sell through on the first day would be a success," Misek wrote.
Despite more glowing reviews for the Motorola Xoom, Misek speculated that PlayBook sales "are far exceeding" the Xoom's.
One controversial aspect of the PlayBook is that it's tied to a BlackBerry smartphone via the BlackBerry Bridge software, which pipes over email and messages and lets the PlayBook get on the Internet for free. That feature, however, is not yet available via AT&T.
"AT&T is working with RIM to make the BlackBerry Bridge app available for AT&T customers. We have just received the app for testing and before it's made available to AT&T customers we want to ensure it delivers a quality experience," AT&T said earlier this week.
Misek estimated that of the 60 million BlackBerry users, about 8 million are on AT&T, so "the lack of free tethering support is obviously disappointing," he said.
RIM, meanwhile, has promised that the PlayBook will get a native email client in the next 60 days.
For more, see PCMag's full review of the PlayBook and the slideshow below, the unboxing, our review of the BlackBerry tablet OS, and PCMag's comparison of the Xoom, PlayBook and iPad 2.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
How to Recycle Your Technology
Recycle with Computer Manufacturers and Mobile Carriers
Computer Manufacturers Most will take their own stuff, but how you go about it depends on the maker. You can find a quick chart on the Environmental Protection Agency's Plug-In to eCycling site.
Mobile Carriers
Every one of the four major mobile phone service providers will take cell phones back for recycling, either to dispose of safely or, better yet, to refurbish for special use as 911 emergency phones for those in need, such as abuse victims or active duty military soldiers. Just remember to erase the data from your phone before you drop it off. If it's from AT&T or T-Mobile, take out the phone's SIM card, too. All of the carriers' efforts are also part of the EPA Plug-In to eCycling campaign.
AT&T Reuse & Recycle
Takes any phone, plus batteries and accessories. Just drop them at the nearest AT&T store.
Sprint Re:cycle
Sprint offers to buy-back some phones from existing customers and provides credit toward a new one, but if that doesn't work, it will take any phones, batteries, and accessories you want to drop off or send in by creating a pre-printed, postage-paid shipping label.
T-Mobile's Handset Recycling Program
Again, T-Mobile will take any carrier's phone and accessories—it's a good idea to also donate the charger—either in the story or by mail with a pre-printed label with postage already paid.
HopeLine from Verizon
Specifically targeted to get recycled phones to victims of domestic violence, Verizon's program is no different for you, the donate—you can drop phones, batteries, and accessories at the stores around the country or use the pre-paid shipping label. Start your own HopeLine Phone Drive to get involved.
Computer Manufacturers Most will take their own stuff, but how you go about it depends on the maker. You can find a quick chart on the Environmental Protection Agency's Plug-In to eCycling site.
Mobile Carriers
Every one of the four major mobile phone service providers will take cell phones back for recycling, either to dispose of safely or, better yet, to refurbish for special use as 911 emergency phones for those in need, such as abuse victims or active duty military soldiers. Just remember to erase the data from your phone before you drop it off. If it's from AT&T or T-Mobile, take out the phone's SIM card, too. All of the carriers' efforts are also part of the EPA Plug-In to eCycling campaign.
AT&T Reuse & Recycle
Takes any phone, plus batteries and accessories. Just drop them at the nearest AT&T store.
Sprint Re:cycle
Sprint offers to buy-back some phones from existing customers and provides credit toward a new one, but if that doesn't work, it will take any phones, batteries, and accessories you want to drop off or send in by creating a pre-printed, postage-paid shipping label.
T-Mobile's Handset Recycling Program
Again, T-Mobile will take any carrier's phone and accessories—it's a good idea to also donate the charger—either in the story or by mail with a pre-printed label with postage already paid.
HopeLine from Verizon
Specifically targeted to get recycled phones to victims of domestic violence, Verizon's program is no different for you, the donate—you can drop phones, batteries, and accessories at the stores around the country or use the pre-paid shipping label. Start your own HopeLine Phone Drive to get involved.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Microsoft's persistence brings software patent fight to Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments on i4i's patent lawsuit against Microsoft, and the software industry is holding out hope that a pro-Microsoft ruling will help bring sanity to a software patent system run amok.
Microsoft wants the high court to lower the standard of proof required to overturn a patent. But opposition to the change is also running high as the ruling would affect all patents, not just those for software, potentially making it easier to overturn any patent.
BIG STAKES: U.S. government sides against Microsoft in Supreme Court patent case
Intellectual property experts and patent-owning corporations from multiple industries have piled on this case, filing more than 40 amicus briefs, with the software industry mostly on Microsoft's side. Support from Microsoft even includes its typical rivals such as Red Hat and Google. In opposition stand such heavyweights as the U.S. government itself.
"The case raises a pivotal issue in patent law, and the standard that applies when the defendant challenges the validity of a patent," Andy Culbert, associate general counsel at Microsoft, told Network World. "I don't think this case is anything at all like the David versus Goliath case that i4i says it is. If you look at all amicus briefs that i4i solicited, many of them are from major pharmaceutical companies. I don't think you could characterize pharmaceutical companies as 'the little guy.'"
CASE UNFOLDS: History of i4i v. Microsoft
The legal issue revolves around a special rule, created by the Federal Circuit. It applies only to patent cases and not to other types of civil cases involving property rights, and it stacks the odds in favor of the patent holder, Culbert explained. A higher standard of proof is required to overturn a patent than the standard of proof required for other civil matters. For patent cases, the standard to overturn a patent is that there must be "clear and convincing" evidence that shows a patent should not have been issued in the first place, whereas in other civil cases the standard is a "preponderance of the evidence."
That special rule originally included a punishment, too: The courts would issue an automatic injunction against selling the disputed product or service if the defendant was found to have infringed. In a case involving eBay (eBay v. MercExchange, 2006), the Supreme Court decided that injunctions should not be automatic. Microsoft is now arguing to eliminate the special rule that creates a higher standard of proof to overturn a patent, too.
"Microsoft wants the same burden of proof to apply to patents that applies to other civil cases," Culbert said.
Steve Chang, a patent attorney from national law firm Banner & Witcoff, attended Monday's hearing and characterized the discussion as lively, sprinkled with chuckles. While the justices didn't tip their hand, there were some questions over i4i's position.
"It's kind of like reading tea leaves," Chang told Network World. "The questions were not hostile to one side or other, but it was clear that some justices, like Justice Alito, were questioning what the statutory support would be for the 'clear and convincing' standard. Justices Ginsberg and Sotomayor asked if the Patent Act was passed in 1952, and the Federal Circuit was created in 1982 and the 'clear and convincing' standard came along after that, what happened in the first 30 years?"
Microsoft wants the high court to lower the standard of proof required to overturn a patent. But opposition to the change is also running high as the ruling would affect all patents, not just those for software, potentially making it easier to overturn any patent.
BIG STAKES: U.S. government sides against Microsoft in Supreme Court patent case
Intellectual property experts and patent-owning corporations from multiple industries have piled on this case, filing more than 40 amicus briefs, with the software industry mostly on Microsoft's side. Support from Microsoft even includes its typical rivals such as Red Hat and Google. In opposition stand such heavyweights as the U.S. government itself.
"The case raises a pivotal issue in patent law, and the standard that applies when the defendant challenges the validity of a patent," Andy Culbert, associate general counsel at Microsoft, told Network World. "I don't think this case is anything at all like the David versus Goliath case that i4i says it is. If you look at all amicus briefs that i4i solicited, many of them are from major pharmaceutical companies. I don't think you could characterize pharmaceutical companies as 'the little guy.'"
CASE UNFOLDS: History of i4i v. Microsoft
The legal issue revolves around a special rule, created by the Federal Circuit. It applies only to patent cases and not to other types of civil cases involving property rights, and it stacks the odds in favor of the patent holder, Culbert explained. A higher standard of proof is required to overturn a patent than the standard of proof required for other civil matters. For patent cases, the standard to overturn a patent is that there must be "clear and convincing" evidence that shows a patent should not have been issued in the first place, whereas in other civil cases the standard is a "preponderance of the evidence."
That special rule originally included a punishment, too: The courts would issue an automatic injunction against selling the disputed product or service if the defendant was found to have infringed. In a case involving eBay (eBay v. MercExchange, 2006), the Supreme Court decided that injunctions should not be automatic. Microsoft is now arguing to eliminate the special rule that creates a higher standard of proof to overturn a patent, too.
"Microsoft wants the same burden of proof to apply to patents that applies to other civil cases," Culbert said.
Steve Chang, a patent attorney from national law firm Banner & Witcoff, attended Monday's hearing and characterized the discussion as lively, sprinkled with chuckles. While the justices didn't tip their hand, there were some questions over i4i's position.
"It's kind of like reading tea leaves," Chang told Network World. "The questions were not hostile to one side or other, but it was clear that some justices, like Justice Alito, were questioning what the statutory support would be for the 'clear and convincing' standard. Justices Ginsberg and Sotomayor asked if the Patent Act was passed in 1952, and the Federal Circuit was created in 1982 and the 'clear and convincing' standard came along after that, what happened in the first 30 years?"
Monday, April 18, 2011
Wanted: Brilliant technology slave
Is it just me, or are the postings for IT jobs utterly ridiculous these days? Lately I've seen some postings that appear to be jobs for two or three positions collected into one hire. Reading through some of them, I have to wonder if the person they're looking for exists. If they do, they surely aren't seeking work because they must be a wizard and/or god.
[ Also on InfoWorld.com: Read Paul Venezia's instant classic, "Nine traits of the veteran Unix admin." | Then, if you dare, join the debate about rebooting Unix-based systems. ]
This is a slightly embellished example -- and I do mean slightly, because it's based on a few postings I've seen recently.
WANTED TO HIRE - System Administrator
Fergenschmeir Systems is an advanced technology company specializing in advanced technology. We are a growing and fast-paced group that has just completed our first round of financing and is looking for driven, focused, and talented people to enable us to achieve our shared vision.
Opportunity:
The role of System Administrator is the key to enabling our team to work smarter and simpler. This person must be able to maintain a positive outlook, work one-on-one with other team members and stakeholders in developing solutions to problems, and take ownership of their roles and responsibilities. This fast-paced position requires knowledge of key technologies and computing foundations and will involve interactions with the rest of the company, in addition to customer-facing tasks. This person must be able to communicate extremely well and present positive, take-charge attitudes at all levels of engagement. Hobbies and families are frowned upon.
Responsibilities:
* Provide technical problem resolution at all levels of Fergenschmeir's infrastructure
* Assist with customer infrastructure integration, problem resolution
* Present highly technical information clearly to other team members and customers
* Provide a wealth of deep technical information on all technical subject matters
* Assist sales in the construction of proposals
* Provide presales technical assistance to sales during customer interactions
* Build and maintain new technologies internal to Fergenschmeir's operation
* Work closely with engineers on developing new, revolutionary technology products
* Attend trade shows to present technical resources to event participants
* Know all competing products and technologies, and remain current with their progress
* Provide on-call services for a far-flung, international stakeholders and customers
* Care and maintenance of the break room and refrigerator contents
[ Also on InfoWorld.com: Read Paul Venezia's instant classic, "Nine traits of the veteran Unix admin." | Then, if you dare, join the debate about rebooting Unix-based systems. ]
This is a slightly embellished example -- and I do mean slightly, because it's based on a few postings I've seen recently.
WANTED TO HIRE - System Administrator
Fergenschmeir Systems is an advanced technology company specializing in advanced technology. We are a growing and fast-paced group that has just completed our first round of financing and is looking for driven, focused, and talented people to enable us to achieve our shared vision.
Opportunity:
The role of System Administrator is the key to enabling our team to work smarter and simpler. This person must be able to maintain a positive outlook, work one-on-one with other team members and stakeholders in developing solutions to problems, and take ownership of their roles and responsibilities. This fast-paced position requires knowledge of key technologies and computing foundations and will involve interactions with the rest of the company, in addition to customer-facing tasks. This person must be able to communicate extremely well and present positive, take-charge attitudes at all levels of engagement. Hobbies and families are frowned upon.
Responsibilities:
* Provide technical problem resolution at all levels of Fergenschmeir's infrastructure
* Assist with customer infrastructure integration, problem resolution
* Present highly technical information clearly to other team members and customers
* Provide a wealth of deep technical information on all technical subject matters
* Assist sales in the construction of proposals
* Provide presales technical assistance to sales during customer interactions
* Build and maintain new technologies internal to Fergenschmeir's operation
* Work closely with engineers on developing new, revolutionary technology products
* Attend trade shows to present technical resources to event participants
* Know all competing products and technologies, and remain current with their progress
* Provide on-call services for a far-flung, international stakeholders and customers
* Care and maintenance of the break room and refrigerator contents
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Oracle to patch 73 critical DB server flaws
The next batch of security patches from Oracle will be a biggie: 73 new security vulnerability fixes across hundreds of Oracle products.
According to an advance notice from the database server giant, some of the vulnerabilities affect multiple products and may be exploited over a network without the need for a username and password.
The patches, scheduled for release next Tuesday (April 19, 2011), will affect the following products and components:
Security vulnerabilities addressed by this Critical Patch Update affect the following products:
* Oracle Database 11g Release 2, versions 11.2.0.1, 11.2.0.2
* Oracle Database 11g Release 1, version 11.1.0.7
* Oracle Database 10g Release 2, versions 10.2.0.3, 10.2.0.4, 10.2.0.5
* Oracle Database 10g Release 1, version 10.1.0.5
* Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1, versions 11.1.1.2.0, 11.1.1.3.0, 11.1.1.4.0
* Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3, version 10.1.3.5.0
* Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2, version 10.1.2.3.0
* Oracle Identity Management 10g, versions 10.1.4.0.1, 10.1.4.3
* Oracle JRockit, versions R27.6.8 and earlier (JDK/JRE 1.4.2, 5, 6), R28.1.1 and earlier (JDK/JRE 5, 6)
* Oracle Outside In Technology, versions 8.3.2.0, 8.3.5.0
* Oracle WebLogic Server, versions 8.1.6, 9.2.3, 9.2.4, 10.0.2, 11gR1 (10.3.2, 10.3.3, 10.3.4)
* Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, versions 12.0.6, 12.1.1, 12.1.2, 12.1.3
* Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i, version 11.5.10.2
* Oracle Agile Technology Platform, versions 9.3.0.2, 9.3.1
* Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM, version 8.9
* Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise ELS, versions 9.0, 9.1
* Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise HRMS, versions 9.0, 9.1
* Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal, versions 8.8, 8.9, 9.0, 9.1
* Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise People Tools, versions 8.49, 8.50, 8.51
* Oracle JD Edwards OneWorld Tools, version 24.1.x
* Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools, version 8.98.x
* Oracle Siebel CRM Core, versions 7.8.2, 8.0.0, 8.1.1
* Oracle InForm, versions 4.5, 4.6, 5.0
* Oracle Sun Product Suite
* Oracle Open Office, version 3 and StarOffice/StarSuite, versions 7, 8
The highest CVSS 2.0 Base Score for vulnerabilities in this Critical Patch Update is 10.0 for Oracle JRockit of Oracle Fusion Middleware and Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server, Sun Java System Application Server of Oracle Sun Products Suite, the company said.
“Due to the threat posed by a successful attack, Oracle strongly recommends that customers apply Critical Patch Update fixes as soon as possible.”
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According to an advance notice from the database server giant, some of the vulnerabilities affect multiple products and may be exploited over a network without the need for a username and password.
The patches, scheduled for release next Tuesday (April 19, 2011), will affect the following products and components:
Security vulnerabilities addressed by this Critical Patch Update affect the following products:
* Oracle Database 11g Release 2, versions 11.2.0.1, 11.2.0.2
* Oracle Database 11g Release 1, version 11.1.0.7
* Oracle Database 10g Release 2, versions 10.2.0.3, 10.2.0.4, 10.2.0.5
* Oracle Database 10g Release 1, version 10.1.0.5
* Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1, versions 11.1.1.2.0, 11.1.1.3.0, 11.1.1.4.0
* Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3, version 10.1.3.5.0
* Oracle Application Server 10g Release 2, version 10.1.2.3.0
* Oracle Identity Management 10g, versions 10.1.4.0.1, 10.1.4.3
* Oracle JRockit, versions R27.6.8 and earlier (JDK/JRE 1.4.2, 5, 6), R28.1.1 and earlier (JDK/JRE 5, 6)
* Oracle Outside In Technology, versions 8.3.2.0, 8.3.5.0
* Oracle WebLogic Server, versions 8.1.6, 9.2.3, 9.2.4, 10.0.2, 11gR1 (10.3.2, 10.3.3, 10.3.4)
* Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, versions 12.0.6, 12.1.1, 12.1.2, 12.1.3
* Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i, version 11.5.10.2
* Oracle Agile Technology Platform, versions 9.3.0.2, 9.3.1
* Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise CRM, version 8.9
* Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise ELS, versions 9.0, 9.1
* Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise HRMS, versions 9.0, 9.1
* Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal, versions 8.8, 8.9, 9.0, 9.1
* Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise People Tools, versions 8.49, 8.50, 8.51
* Oracle JD Edwards OneWorld Tools, version 24.1.x
* Oracle JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools, version 8.98.x
* Oracle Siebel CRM Core, versions 7.8.2, 8.0.0, 8.1.1
* Oracle InForm, versions 4.5, 4.6, 5.0
* Oracle Sun Product Suite
* Oracle Open Office, version 3 and StarOffice/StarSuite, versions 7, 8
The highest CVSS 2.0 Base Score for vulnerabilities in this Critical Patch Update is 10.0 for Oracle JRockit of Oracle Fusion Middleware and Sun GlassFish Enterprise Server, Sun Java System Application Server of Oracle Sun Products Suite, the company said.
“Due to the threat posed by a successful attack, Oracle strongly recommends that customers apply Critical Patch Update fixes as soon as possible.”
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Saturday, April 16, 2011
Internet Officially Runs Out of Addresses
Today the well of addresses on the Internet officially runs dry, but there's no need to panic. The exhaustion has been known about for years, and new addresses—which are designed not to run out for a long, long time—are already in operation.
The Number Resource Organization (NRO), an industry group made up of five regional Internet provider registries, held an event in Montevideo, Uruguay, today where members announced that it had today handed out the last of the available addresses on the old system.
"This is truly a major turning point in the on-going development of the Internet," said Rod Beckstrom, President and CEO of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the organization responsible for assigning IP addresses. "Nobody was caught off guard by this, the Internet technical community has been planning for... depletion for quite some time."
Two years ago the organization proposed that when the pool of unused addresses had been depleted to five "blocks," as they recently had, each registry would get one of the blocks. The agreement was ratified by ICANN, and those blocks were assigned today. Each block comprises 16.8 million addresses, according to NRO.
The old system, called IPv4, uses a system of numbers, typically separated by decimals, that even casual users of the Internet would probably recognize (if your unsure, check your computer or phone's network settings for numbers like "192.162.2.235"). IPv4 had about 4.3 billion addresses, which ran out more rapidly once mobile devices with Internet connections became commonplace.
Now all new Internet addresses will use IPv6, a system that has more numbers and characters, and is said to have enough spots for 340 trillion, trillion, trillion unique IP addresses. Equipment that uses IPv6 has been in use since 1999.
The two systems aren't automatically compatible with each other, however, so service providers and network operators need to upgrade systems to ensure the transition is smooth, which is why there has been so much recent attention focused on the subject.
"This is an historic day in the history of the Internet, and one we have been anticipating for quite some time," NRO Chairman Raúl EcheberrÃa said. "The future of the Internet is in IPv6. All Internet stakeholders must now take definitive action to deploy IPv6."
Despite the magnitude of the issue, most users should not even notice the change from IPv4 to IPv6, the experts said. If you own a business with an online presence or host your own Internet services, you should check out PCMag's summary of what you should know.
The Number Resource Organization (NRO), an industry group made up of five regional Internet provider registries, held an event in Montevideo, Uruguay, today where members announced that it had today handed out the last of the available addresses on the old system.
"This is truly a major turning point in the on-going development of the Internet," said Rod Beckstrom, President and CEO of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the organization responsible for assigning IP addresses. "Nobody was caught off guard by this, the Internet technical community has been planning for... depletion for quite some time."
Two years ago the organization proposed that when the pool of unused addresses had been depleted to five "blocks," as they recently had, each registry would get one of the blocks. The agreement was ratified by ICANN, and those blocks were assigned today. Each block comprises 16.8 million addresses, according to NRO.
The old system, called IPv4, uses a system of numbers, typically separated by decimals, that even casual users of the Internet would probably recognize (if your unsure, check your computer or phone's network settings for numbers like "192.162.2.235"). IPv4 had about 4.3 billion addresses, which ran out more rapidly once mobile devices with Internet connections became commonplace.
Now all new Internet addresses will use IPv6, a system that has more numbers and characters, and is said to have enough spots for 340 trillion, trillion, trillion unique IP addresses. Equipment that uses IPv6 has been in use since 1999.
The two systems aren't automatically compatible with each other, however, so service providers and network operators need to upgrade systems to ensure the transition is smooth, which is why there has been so much recent attention focused on the subject.
"This is an historic day in the history of the Internet, and one we have been anticipating for quite some time," NRO Chairman Raúl EcheberrÃa said. "The future of the Internet is in IPv6. All Internet stakeholders must now take definitive action to deploy IPv6."
Despite the magnitude of the issue, most users should not even notice the change from IPv4 to IPv6, the experts said. If you own a business with an online presence or host your own Internet services, you should check out PCMag's summary of what you should know.
Friday, April 15, 2011
The Most Influential Technologies, Round 5: Gaming
Some lists pick themselves. Then there's the list of the most influential technology. After a good amount of debate around the PCMag offices, we've opted to let you, the reader, help us choose the winners. We've split our coverage up into five categories—desktops and laptops, software, cell phones, consumer electronics, and gaming.
Each round, we're offering up five products that we believe have had a profound impact on the industry as we know it. When we say “profound impact,” we don't necessarily mean that they were the first (though in many cases they were). In some cases, the product is the first in its class to really capture the imagination of the development community or the public at large.
Interestingly, the gaming category was the easiest round of the five to finalize. I imagine that, like the others, there will likely be some debate surrounding some of what did—and didn't—make it into the voting, but for most of the choices on here, there seems little room for serious argument.
Here's round five: Gaming. Each slide features an image of the product and an explanation about why it was so important and influential. The poll is on the final page.
Each round, we're offering up five products that we believe have had a profound impact on the industry as we know it. When we say “profound impact,” we don't necessarily mean that they were the first (though in many cases they were). In some cases, the product is the first in its class to really capture the imagination of the development community or the public at large.
Interestingly, the gaming category was the easiest round of the five to finalize. I imagine that, like the others, there will likely be some debate surrounding some of what did—and didn't—make it into the voting, but for most of the choices on here, there seems little room for serious argument.
Here's round five: Gaming. Each slide features an image of the product and an explanation about why it was so important and influential. The poll is on the final page.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Install Mac OS X Lion 10.7 on PC Hackintosh
After writing a number of Hackintosh Guides, we are revealing curtains off the next big Guide that had been keeping us Busy for last few weeks.
Its now possible to Install Mac OS X 10.7 Lion on your PC with the standard Hackintosh techniques.
Note: Hackintosh PCs are for nerds who desire to have them with effort, if you are lazy, you may quit now.
This Hackintosh is based on the developer release of Mac OS X Lion released to Apple’s developers.
Update: You can checkout the video of my hackintosh at the end of the post.
Minimum Requirements:
* Intel Core 2 Duo or better i.e. Core i3, i5, i7. (no Core Duo or AMD right now).
* 2GB RAM (4GB recommended)
* A Nvidia or ATi radeon graphics card. (On Intels get ready to go glitchy)
Pre-Requisites:
* Mac OS X Lion .dmg image (Search on torrents or ask your Apple developer program friends)
* Existing Hackintosh PC – Can be a Snow Leopard or Leopard form any of our existing guides. OR ask any of your friends to lend you a Mac for preparing USB.
* EFI Boot Loader – iBoot Download (Let me know @taranfx on twitter if link goes down)
* 2 USB thumb drives, one atleast 8gb in size.
How to Install Mac OS X 10.7 Lion on PC/Laptop
1. Boot into existing Mac OS X installation (Leopard or Snow Leopard). This can be your friend’s Mac, it doesn’t matter.
2. Double click Mac OS X Lion.dmg to mount it.
3. In the Terminal, Type the following:
open /Volumes/Mac\ OS \ X\ Install\ ESD/BaseSystem.dmg
4. Plug your 8gb USB drive and Open Disk Utility.
5. Format the USB drive as “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”.
diskUtility-Lion
6. Navigate to Finder and locate the restored drive and goto folder System > Installation and there you will see “Packages”. Remove it. Create a new Empty folder called “Packages”.
7. In Terminal, type:
open /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/Packages
copy the contents to System > Installation > Packages (empty folder).
8. Locate your “FakeSMC.kext” (typically in Extra > Extensions) and copy it to USB’s “System > Library > Extensions”.
9. In Terminal navigate to “Extensions” (you can do this quickly by typing “cd ” and then dragging & dropping “Extensions” to Terminal) and fix permissions using:
sudo su
[your password here]
chown -R 0:0 FaksSMC.kext
chmod -R 755 FakeSMC.kext
That should be all for the USB. It now has all the basic stuff for kicking the installation. We’ll add few more things to the USB to make it bootable and compatible with hackintosh hardware.
Phase 2. Installing iBOOT
Option I: If you have Windows Installation on same PC
1. Boot into your Windows installation (on same PC where you wish to install the Mac OS Lion) and extract the iBOOT, run the installation from iBOOT_SetupToolBeta.2.exe
2. Plug in your second USB drive and format (FAT preferred). Replug the usb drive and click “Prepare iBOOT” inside the iBOOT app.
At this time you can add DSDT (place it in the DSDT folder in your iBOOT USB stick, i.e. “iBOOT USB Stick > efi > dsdt”) or EFI drivers, if your hardware needs any. Checkout OSx86 wiki or insanelymac forums if you are not very sure. Option 2: No Windows. Use Mac instead
1. Navigate to folder iBOOT > DuetToHDD. Drag and drop this file to Terminal, press space bar and type “write /dev/rdiskXsY”
Where X = your second USB’s Drive number and Y is Partition number. Y should be 0 for most cases ,since its single partition.
2. Press space bar again and drag the file “Efildr20″ into terminal and hit Enter.
That’s it Both your USBs are ready to get into Action.
Phase III: Installation of Mac OS X Lion
If you’ve made it well so far, you shouldn’t face much problems, provided your hardware is compatible.
1. Go to BIOS settings of your PC, enable USB booting and give USB the highest priority for booting.
2. Plugin both of your USB drives (iBOOT USB & installation USB) and switch ON your PC. You should see a GUI interface in few moments. In some cases you might even see a white line for couple of seconds.
iboot
3. If you see GUI interface, Press “U” to increase resolution. (alternatively “D” to decrease). Do so until you see the available USB drives. If you still don’t Press “V” to probe the USB volumes.
4. Lets now set Boot flags by pressing “M” followed by boot flags i.e. “-v” to enable verbose mode. You can also use other flags that you know of from previous hackintosh guides like arch=i386, arch=x86_64, cpus=1 etc.
5. Select your Installation USB which might be shown as “Mac OS X Base System”.
Troubleshooting Tip: If somehow you don’t get this visual, you have either done a blunder during preparation of Installation USB or you are missing an important flag for your hardware.
6. Soon you would enter the installation where you can select your Language and continue with standard Mac OS X install. If you are confused over this, checkout the Video in Step 3 of this Hackintosh guide, its very much identical till the point you reboot. Basically, what you have to do is format the hard drive you want to install OSX Lion to (go to Utilities -> Disk Utility, then click on the drive, select 1 Partition, Mac OS X Journaled, give it a name, and make sure GUID Partition Table is set in the Options. After you Apply the new partition, go back to the installer and install like normal to that drive. You may want to customize the install to remove unnecessary stuff like printers, etc.
Phase IV: Finalizing and Fixing stuff
Bear it with us, we are almost done. This is the last part that would ensure that you can boot into Mac OS X Lion without trouble, everytime!
1. Once your Installation completes, Boot into iBoot again and Load “MAc OS X Base System” from USB. When installation screen appears, Goto “Utilities > Terminal” and type in:
cd /Volumes/Lion/System/Library/CoreServices/
rm -rf PlatformSupport.plist
cd /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Library/Extensions/
cp -R FakeSMC.kext /Volumes/Lion/System/Library/Extensions/
chown -R 0:0 /Volumes/Lion/System/Library/Extensions/FakeSMC.kext
chmod -R 755 /Volumes/Lion/System/Library/Extensions/FakeSMC.kext
exit
Where “Lion” is the name of the partition on which OSX Lion was installed.
2. Reboot and load iBOOT again, this time select your “Lion” Partition where you installed it, instead of USB.
3. All should go well and you should see a welcome Video. Congratulations, You now have Mac OS X Lion installed on your PC.
Mac-OS-X-Lion-Desktop
Phase V: Post-Installation Driver (Hardware) tips
Chances are most of your hardware like Graphics card, sound card, network card don’t work yet. Lets fix them one by one.
1. Add KEXTs to iBOOT
You can customize iBOOT to install kexts from “Extra > Extensions” from any of your previous hackintosh machines into “System > Library > Extensions”. If its your first time, you will have to checkout OSx86 wiki to see what kexts do you need to make your hardware work.
2. Essentials:
We are listing some of the must have KEXTs:
* FakeSMC.kext – We’ve already installed it. Essential for System Management controller emulation
* ElliotForceLegacyRTC.kext – Prevents the CMOS Reset encountered on some motherboards.
* NullCPUManagement.kext – Disables AppleIntelCPUManagement.kext which may cause Kernel Panics with incompatible DSDT.
Optional KEXTs:
* EvOreboot.kext – Makes your hardware compatible for Shutdown and Restart (yes, Really!) without actually needing a DSDT.
* IOAHCIStorageBlockInjector.kext – Makes external drives behave as internal.
* NVEnabler 64.kext (NVidia GeForce 9500GT)
* VoodooHDA.kext 2.7.1 (2.7.2 doesn’t work, ALC888b)
* RealtekR1000SL.kext (Realtek 8111)
3. Making Graphics Card Work with Lion
Most of the Modern ATi, Nvidia Graphics card would work out of the box since Apple supports them in macbooks. If on a Nvidia graphics card, you are not able to get the optimal resolution, try using Fermi drivers NVDAResman.kext and NVDAFG100hal.kext from NVIDIA drivers into /System/Library/Extensions/ of Lion, and remove GeForce.kext.
I’ve achieved QE/CI out of the box with my ATi Radeon card (Desktop), and with some additional work on Nvidia GT 230m (laptop), but mileage may vary. I`ll update more about QE/CI support as soon as I get handson different machines.
Its now possible to Install Mac OS X 10.7 Lion on your PC with the standard Hackintosh techniques.
Note: Hackintosh PCs are for nerds who desire to have them with effort, if you are lazy, you may quit now.
This Hackintosh is based on the developer release of Mac OS X Lion released to Apple’s developers.
Update: You can checkout the video of my hackintosh at the end of the post.
Minimum Requirements:
* Intel Core 2 Duo or better i.e. Core i3, i5, i7. (no Core Duo or AMD right now).
* 2GB RAM (4GB recommended)
* A Nvidia or ATi radeon graphics card. (On Intels get ready to go glitchy)
Pre-Requisites:
* Mac OS X Lion .dmg image (Search on torrents or ask your Apple developer program friends)
* Existing Hackintosh PC – Can be a Snow Leopard or Leopard form any of our existing guides. OR ask any of your friends to lend you a Mac for preparing USB.
* EFI Boot Loader – iBoot Download (Let me know @taranfx on twitter if link goes down)
* 2 USB thumb drives, one atleast 8gb in size.
How to Install Mac OS X 10.7 Lion on PC/Laptop
1. Boot into existing Mac OS X installation (Leopard or Snow Leopard). This can be your friend’s Mac, it doesn’t matter.
2. Double click Mac OS X Lion.dmg to mount it.
3. In the Terminal, Type the following:
open /Volumes/Mac\ OS \ X\ Install\ ESD/BaseSystem.dmg
4. Plug your 8gb USB drive and Open Disk Utility.
5. Format the USB drive as “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”.
diskUtility-Lion
6. Navigate to Finder and locate the restored drive and goto folder System > Installation and there you will see “Packages”. Remove it. Create a new Empty folder called “Packages”.
7. In Terminal, type:
open /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/Packages
copy the contents to System > Installation > Packages (empty folder).
8. Locate your “FakeSMC.kext” (typically in Extra > Extensions) and copy it to USB’s “System > Library > Extensions”.
9. In Terminal navigate to “Extensions” (you can do this quickly by typing “cd ” and then dragging & dropping “Extensions” to Terminal) and fix permissions using:
sudo su
[your password here]
chown -R 0:0 FaksSMC.kext
chmod -R 755 FakeSMC.kext
That should be all for the USB. It now has all the basic stuff for kicking the installation. We’ll add few more things to the USB to make it bootable and compatible with hackintosh hardware.
Phase 2. Installing iBOOT
Option I: If you have Windows Installation on same PC
1. Boot into your Windows installation (on same PC where you wish to install the Mac OS Lion) and extract the iBOOT, run the installation from iBOOT_SetupToolBeta.2.exe
2. Plug in your second USB drive and format (FAT preferred). Replug the usb drive and click “Prepare iBOOT” inside the iBOOT app.
At this time you can add DSDT (place it in the DSDT folder in your iBOOT USB stick, i.e. “iBOOT USB Stick > efi > dsdt”) or EFI drivers, if your hardware needs any. Checkout OSx86 wiki or insanelymac forums if you are not very sure. Option 2: No Windows. Use Mac instead
1. Navigate to folder iBOOT > DuetToHDD. Drag and drop this file to Terminal, press space bar and type “write /dev/rdiskXsY”
Where X = your second USB’s Drive number and Y is Partition number. Y should be 0 for most cases ,since its single partition.
2. Press space bar again and drag the file “Efildr20″ into terminal and hit Enter.
That’s it Both your USBs are ready to get into Action.
Phase III: Installation of Mac OS X Lion
If you’ve made it well so far, you shouldn’t face much problems, provided your hardware is compatible.
1. Go to BIOS settings of your PC, enable USB booting and give USB the highest priority for booting.
2. Plugin both of your USB drives (iBOOT USB & installation USB) and switch ON your PC. You should see a GUI interface in few moments. In some cases you might even see a white line for couple of seconds.
iboot
3. If you see GUI interface, Press “U” to increase resolution. (alternatively “D” to decrease). Do so until you see the available USB drives. If you still don’t Press “V” to probe the USB volumes.
4. Lets now set Boot flags by pressing “M” followed by boot flags i.e. “-v” to enable verbose mode. You can also use other flags that you know of from previous hackintosh guides like arch=i386, arch=x86_64, cpus=1 etc.
5. Select your Installation USB which might be shown as “Mac OS X Base System”.
Troubleshooting Tip: If somehow you don’t get this visual, you have either done a blunder during preparation of Installation USB or you are missing an important flag for your hardware.
6. Soon you would enter the installation where you can select your Language and continue with standard Mac OS X install. If you are confused over this, checkout the Video in Step 3 of this Hackintosh guide, its very much identical till the point you reboot. Basically, what you have to do is format the hard drive you want to install OSX Lion to (go to Utilities -> Disk Utility, then click on the drive, select 1 Partition, Mac OS X Journaled, give it a name, and make sure GUID Partition Table is set in the Options. After you Apply the new partition, go back to the installer and install like normal to that drive. You may want to customize the install to remove unnecessary stuff like printers, etc.
Phase IV: Finalizing and Fixing stuff
Bear it with us, we are almost done. This is the last part that would ensure that you can boot into Mac OS X Lion without trouble, everytime!
1. Once your Installation completes, Boot into iBoot again and Load “MAc OS X Base System” from USB. When installation screen appears, Goto “Utilities > Terminal” and type in:
cd /Volumes/Lion/System/Library/CoreServices/
rm -rf PlatformSupport.plist
cd /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Library/Extensions/
cp -R FakeSMC.kext /Volumes/Lion/System/Library/Extensions/
chown -R 0:0 /Volumes/Lion/System/Library/Extensions/FakeSMC.kext
chmod -R 755 /Volumes/Lion/System/Library/Extensions/FakeSMC.kext
exit
Where “Lion” is the name of the partition on which OSX Lion was installed.
2. Reboot and load iBOOT again, this time select your “Lion” Partition where you installed it, instead of USB.
3. All should go well and you should see a welcome Video. Congratulations, You now have Mac OS X Lion installed on your PC.
Mac-OS-X-Lion-Desktop
Phase V: Post-Installation Driver (Hardware) tips
Chances are most of your hardware like Graphics card, sound card, network card don’t work yet. Lets fix them one by one.
1. Add KEXTs to iBOOT
You can customize iBOOT to install kexts from “Extra > Extensions” from any of your previous hackintosh machines into “System > Library > Extensions”. If its your first time, you will have to checkout OSx86 wiki to see what kexts do you need to make your hardware work.
2. Essentials:
We are listing some of the must have KEXTs:
* FakeSMC.kext – We’ve already installed it. Essential for System Management controller emulation
* ElliotForceLegacyRTC.kext – Prevents the CMOS Reset encountered on some motherboards.
* NullCPUManagement.kext – Disables AppleIntelCPUManagement.kext which may cause Kernel Panics with incompatible DSDT.
Optional KEXTs:
* EvOreboot.kext – Makes your hardware compatible for Shutdown and Restart (yes, Really!) without actually needing a DSDT.
* IOAHCIStorageBlockInjector.kext – Makes external drives behave as internal.
* NVEnabler 64.kext (NVidia GeForce 9500GT)
* VoodooHDA.kext 2.7.1 (2.7.2 doesn’t work, ALC888b)
* RealtekR1000SL.kext (Realtek 8111)
3. Making Graphics Card Work with Lion
Most of the Modern ATi, Nvidia Graphics card would work out of the box since Apple supports them in macbooks. If on a Nvidia graphics card, you are not able to get the optimal resolution, try using Fermi drivers NVDAResman.kext and NVDAFG100hal.kext from NVIDIA drivers into /System/Library/Extensions/ of Lion, and remove GeForce.kext.
I’ve achieved QE/CI out of the box with my ATi Radeon card (Desktop), and with some additional work on Nvidia GT 230m (laptop), but mileage may vary. I`ll update more about QE/CI support as soon as I get handson different machines.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Control Windows 7 with Kinect
Xbox Kinect is the ultimate hack machine, and that’s it the most popular gadget of the year 2010. Kinect has often been hacked to work with a large number of hobby electronics to attain Gesture based control for systems. It has been hacked to control Widnows 7 PC a number of times, but it was never done and sold like a regular software bundle.
Win&I is the first fully useful commercial software that let’s you control your windows 7 PC with a Kinect controller using gestures alone.
You can control Windows 7 and thousands of applications with this natural user interface. WIN&I software replaces the computer mouse by tracking simple gestures from users up to several meters from the screen using the power of the Kinect depth-sensor.
You just have to Connect your Kinect with your PC and run the WIN&I control session to control windows 7, And leave the rest for Kinect to manipulate.
Xbox Kinect is the ultimate hack machine, and that’s it the most popular gadget of the year 2010. Kinect has often been hacked to work with a large number of hobby electronics to attain Gesture based control for systems. It has been hacked to control Widnows 7 PC a number of times, but it was never done and sold like a regular software bundle.
Win&I is the first fully useful commercial software that let’s you control your windows 7 PC with a Kinect controller using gestures alone.
You can control Windows 7 and thousands of applications with this natural user interface. WIN&I software replaces the computer mouse by tracking simple gestures from users up to several meters from the screen using the power of the Kinect depth-sensor.
You just have to Connect your Kinect with your PC and run the WIN&I control session to control windows 7, And leave the rest for Kinect to manipulate.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Abstract Intelligent Agents And Agent-based Models
An intelligent agent can change your business. And no, we are not talking about espionage and subterfuge but about tech entities. Read on...
a number of enterprises these days employ abstract intelligent agents (AIAs). These are ‘intelligent' entities that can scrutinise the given milieu and respond to variations in specific parameters. As AIAs have the knack to learn from their surroundings and are also specially ‘trained' to use their knowledge, a number of companies are using them for meticulous precision and accuracy in calculations.
AIAAgents with intelligence
An intelligent agent has the ability to observe its surroundings and react according to the changes. But it is not fully self-reliant. In most cases, the implementer is required to closely monitor the working of these agents.
In actual practice we deploy many types of multi-agent systems (MASs) for better accuracy in tasks like online trading, disaster response and so on. Online trading is too difficult for an individual agent (or monolithic system) to handle. If you are in this domain, you can incorporate such a system in a business framework, provided you have the technical expertise.
The agents in a multi-agent system could be robots or human beings. And their environment may have other agents, objects, and global and local variables. Based on the behavioural capabilities of the agents, you may classify them as reactive agents (whose prediction factor depends only on the environment) and proactive agents that work in a framework where the environment and its own state are considered. Some agents are non-adaptive while some others are adaptive. One has to be very vigilant while choosing the agent for a particular business.
Technically speaking, MAS agents can communicate using a weighted request matrix and a weighted response matrix. The specification style adopted by the developers is elegant and comprehensible. Even if you are a novice in this realm, you can imbibe the agent's ‘functions, rules, knowledge and strategies' by looking at it. And there are even many other schemes for MASs-viz, the challenge-response-contract-that are extremely practical and commanding.
Since they are able to solve problems by themselves, these are aptly called as self-organised systems. The success of MAS has triggered advanced level research in agent-oriented software engineering; organisation; beliefs, desires, and intentions (BDI); distributed problem solving and multi-agent learning. By suitably using communication and negotiation capabilities, agents help enterprises in promoting their products and solutions.
Agents in action
When you purchase books from Amazon.com, have you ever wondered how the site is able to display a list of books that you may like? Buyer agents (shopping bots) are behind them. The bot analyses what you are buying now and what you have bought in the past. Then, it uses its ‘knowledge base' to furnish suggestions. These agents can be customised to get information about goods and services. You must have used ‘user' agents (personal agents), too-when your system plays games as your opponent, it is doing the function of an agent.
If you look at the website of NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration's) Jet Propulsion Laboratory you can find information about monitoring-and-surveillance (predictive) agents. Though these agents as such can't be employed in a business framework, they can be tailored to perform specific tasks like monitoring your competitors' prices.
Data mining agents are also widely being used in the industry. And one may often have a data warehouse that contains information from many other sources. Agents can come out with ways to boost sales or keep customers loyal by using data mining techniques coupled with other AI solutions.
The list of applications does not end here. There is a lot more that you can do with such agents. You can even simulate the movement of a large number of objects or characters using them. Some R&D teams opt for fuzzy agents and distributed agents to perform definite missions.
Why are agents unique?
Their ability to learn and adapt makes agents exceptional. Not surprisingly, many industries are investing in their development. Many companies have R&D teams working on agents. Though you can build an agent from scratch, there are some frameworks that implement common standards, such as JADE.
JADE is essentially a middleware (a type of connector) that can be used for the development of applications. It can administer both mobile and fixed environments. A peer-to-peer intelligent agent approach is employed here. You can use JADE for developing simple reflex agents, model-based reflex agents, goal-based agents, utility-based agents and learning agents, provided your company's CTO is good in customising complex frameworks. Once you employ an agent-where it is an agent for decisions, inputs, learning, processing, world/global agent, or a spatial or temporal agent*-you will see the impact right away in your turnover. That's the clout of artificial intelligence (AI)!
a number of enterprises these days employ abstract intelligent agents (AIAs). These are ‘intelligent' entities that can scrutinise the given milieu and respond to variations in specific parameters. As AIAs have the knack to learn from their surroundings and are also specially ‘trained' to use their knowledge, a number of companies are using them for meticulous precision and accuracy in calculations.
AIAAgents with intelligence
An intelligent agent has the ability to observe its surroundings and react according to the changes. But it is not fully self-reliant. In most cases, the implementer is required to closely monitor the working of these agents.
In actual practice we deploy many types of multi-agent systems (MASs) for better accuracy in tasks like online trading, disaster response and so on. Online trading is too difficult for an individual agent (or monolithic system) to handle. If you are in this domain, you can incorporate such a system in a business framework, provided you have the technical expertise.
The agents in a multi-agent system could be robots or human beings. And their environment may have other agents, objects, and global and local variables. Based on the behavioural capabilities of the agents, you may classify them as reactive agents (whose prediction factor depends only on the environment) and proactive agents that work in a framework where the environment and its own state are considered. Some agents are non-adaptive while some others are adaptive. One has to be very vigilant while choosing the agent for a particular business.
Technically speaking, MAS agents can communicate using a weighted request matrix and a weighted response matrix. The specification style adopted by the developers is elegant and comprehensible. Even if you are a novice in this realm, you can imbibe the agent's ‘functions, rules, knowledge and strategies' by looking at it. And there are even many other schemes for MASs-viz, the challenge-response-contract-that are extremely practical and commanding.
Since they are able to solve problems by themselves, these are aptly called as self-organised systems. The success of MAS has triggered advanced level research in agent-oriented software engineering; organisation; beliefs, desires, and intentions (BDI); distributed problem solving and multi-agent learning. By suitably using communication and negotiation capabilities, agents help enterprises in promoting their products and solutions.
Agents in action
When you purchase books from Amazon.com, have you ever wondered how the site is able to display a list of books that you may like? Buyer agents (shopping bots) are behind them. The bot analyses what you are buying now and what you have bought in the past. Then, it uses its ‘knowledge base' to furnish suggestions. These agents can be customised to get information about goods and services. You must have used ‘user' agents (personal agents), too-when your system plays games as your opponent, it is doing the function of an agent.
If you look at the website of NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration's) Jet Propulsion Laboratory you can find information about monitoring-and-surveillance (predictive) agents. Though these agents as such can't be employed in a business framework, they can be tailored to perform specific tasks like monitoring your competitors' prices.
Data mining agents are also widely being used in the industry. And one may often have a data warehouse that contains information from many other sources. Agents can come out with ways to boost sales or keep customers loyal by using data mining techniques coupled with other AI solutions.
The list of applications does not end here. There is a lot more that you can do with such agents. You can even simulate the movement of a large number of objects or characters using them. Some R&D teams opt for fuzzy agents and distributed agents to perform definite missions.
Why are agents unique?
Their ability to learn and adapt makes agents exceptional. Not surprisingly, many industries are investing in their development. Many companies have R&D teams working on agents. Though you can build an agent from scratch, there are some frameworks that implement common standards, such as JADE.
JADE is essentially a middleware (a type of connector) that can be used for the development of applications. It can administer both mobile and fixed environments. A peer-to-peer intelligent agent approach is employed here. You can use JADE for developing simple reflex agents, model-based reflex agents, goal-based agents, utility-based agents and learning agents, provided your company's CTO is good in customising complex frameworks. Once you employ an agent-where it is an agent for decisions, inputs, learning, processing, world/global agent, or a spatial or temporal agent*-you will see the impact right away in your turnover. That's the clout of artificial intelligence (AI)!
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Parish declares that Facebook and Christianity don’t mix
A Roman Catholic parish in Chicago is warning parishioners about the dangers of Facebook. St. John Cantius parish leaders wrote in the church bulletin this past Sunday that Facebook is against the Christian culture. Social networking sites in general apparently encourage vanity and dishonesty by providing an outlet for children to create their own electronic version of reality, concocting their own identities and social realities with a reduced risk of real-world consequences.
Chicago Tribune has the full quote of what parish leaders wrote in the church bulletin:
[Facebook] is exactly the opposite of the Christian culture where people go into the secrecy and sacredness of the confessional to blot out their sins forever. God entrusted parents with the care of their children for one particular purpose, and that is to teach them the way “to know, love, and serve God in this life and save their souls hereafter.” Everything leads us to think that Facebook fits poorly into this plan and was devised for a very different goal.
The church wants families to raise children without Facebook, as it supposedly helps youth defy their parents and cultivate feelings of lust. It’s rather worrying that families trying to raise their children in a wholesome environment are being told to avoid rather than educate.
Kids are future adults, and must thus learn about this world as much as they can, since they’ll be the ones managing it one day. At least for the foreseeable future, Facebook is part of this world.
Chicago Tribune has the full quote of what parish leaders wrote in the church bulletin:
[Facebook] is exactly the opposite of the Christian culture where people go into the secrecy and sacredness of the confessional to blot out their sins forever. God entrusted parents with the care of their children for one particular purpose, and that is to teach them the way “to know, love, and serve God in this life and save their souls hereafter.” Everything leads us to think that Facebook fits poorly into this plan and was devised for a very different goal.
The church wants families to raise children without Facebook, as it supposedly helps youth defy their parents and cultivate feelings of lust. It’s rather worrying that families trying to raise their children in a wholesome environment are being told to avoid rather than educate.
Kids are future adults, and must thus learn about this world as much as they can, since they’ll be the ones managing it one day. At least for the foreseeable future, Facebook is part of this world.
Friday, April 8, 2011
A Talent Assessment Tool That Connects Many Eco-system Dots II
Here's an account of a start-up that has made millions even before its formal launch, which is slated for September 2009.
"The only people in the world who can change things are those who can sell ideas," Lois Wyse, the popular American writer and columnist, once observed. With a belief in himself, and backed by this adage, Dushyant Bhatia decided to let go of his safe job in a multinational company and leap into the entrepreneurial ocean - a world of wide open horizons, but also uncharted waters. He set up BlogertizeWorld.com-an online portal that sells adspace to bloggers in the form of pixels, and in turn promises them avenues to monetise their blogs without any effort.
Pixel advertising is a form of display advertising on the Web, in which the cost of each advertisement is calculated on the basis of the number of pixels it occupies.
Dushyant_1
Dushyant Bhatia, CEO & founder, BlogertizeWorld.com
"This is the first Web start-up, worldwide, that has raised funds to run its online business by selling pixel adspace on its website."
The portal makes pixel blocks or ad spaces available in four different sizes (of 2000, 4000, 6000 and 8000 pixels) for sale to 2,860 bloggers. The ad space is sold to bloggers on a ‘first come first serve' basis, for a period of three years across 12 categories -- sports, technology, health, politics, finance, gaming, education, showbiz, travel, life, literature and social responsibility.
"The objective is to divert a chunk of the traffic coming onto Blogertize to these blog advertisers. This will help the latter to dig up a couple of loyal readers, which in turn would assist them in monetising their blogs," says Bhatia, CEO and founder, BlogertizeWorld.com.
To draw traffic, Blogertize offers an extensive suite of services such as an online marketplace, podcasting facilities, an online community (discussion board), the ad exchange network, promotional quizzing and a contest portal, Blogertize ROI (return on investment) analytics, exposure via a newsletter, and most importantly, profit sharing.
According to Bhatia, the value proposition that the portal will offer its bloggers, unlike other blogger communities, is that they will not be required to invest their precious time surfing the Internet to promote their blog. "A link to their blog (in the form of an image) will be placed on the website for a minimum of three years and without spending even a single minute on Blogertizeworld, they can potentially make thousands of dollars per year via their blogs by using our services smartly," adds Bhatia.
It's different!
This is the first Web start-up, worldwide, that has raised funds to run its online business by selling pixel adspace on its website, affirms Bhatia. The idea is to combine various important pillars of Internet marketing like affiliate marketing, promotional quizzing models, e-commerce, micro blogging, online community, etc, with pixel advertising and create a business out of it.
Looking back with pride!
Bhatia narrates the story behind the firm's genesis: "I was in my final year of graduation when I came across this concept, and that is when I decided that whenever I started my first venture, it would be related to pixel advertising."
Bhatia started his research in March 2008 and tried to find a way of using pixel advertising to its fullest potential. After some work he realised that pixel advertising could assist him in raising funds to run his online business and at the same time give bloggers an opportunity to monetise their blogs without much effort.
The concept of the website is similar to that of a mutual fund where the cost of running this website is distributed among a large pool of bloggers. A chunk of adspace proceeds are reinvested in various revenue generating avenues, which in turn, helps all stake holders to earn revenues, says Bhatia.
A collaborative model that works well for all
"Our vision is to create a new collaborative model of business where all could monetise together," says Bhatia. The bloggers advertising on the portal are required to place a link to the Blogertize shopping portal on their blog. If visitors to their blog click on that link, they get directed to the Blogertize shopping portal. Once there, if these visitors purchase anything, up to 75 per cent of the profit will be given to that respective blogger, explains Bhatia. "The main idea is to create an online trading store and have distributors, i.e., bloggers all over the world," he adds.
"Bloggers advertising with Blogertize also have an option to open an online store for free, during the first year of operations. No yearly fee or commission on final sales will be charged for the first year and so bloggers can sell their products via our website, free of cost," shares Bhatia.
The portal aims to offer an advertising network that enables blog and social media publishers at every level to maximise online advertising revenues. Bhatia explains how that would happen: "Bloggers/social media publishers can take control of their online inventory to increase their earnings, and advertisers can run better campaigns because they know where traffic and even each conversion is coming from." According to Bhatia, the revenue split is 70:30 between general bloggers and the Blogertizeworld team, and 80:20 between bloggers advertising with Blogertize and the portal.
Leveraging the social media
But how did the portal manage to reach the masses and generate interest amidst the bloggers' community? "Social media was the key element to begin with. We hired a couple of Internet marketers who were quite active on social networking sites like Facebook, Digg, etc. Some collaborations with blogger forums worldwide also helped us spread the word. Once the bloggers got to know about our site, they started reviewing our service on their blogs, which in turn helped us spread the word. Bloggers from countries like the US, UK, Malaysia, Philippines, China, Israel, NewZealand, etc, also wrote reviews of our start-up," shares Bhatia.
BlogertizeWorld.com timeline
2006: Idea for BlogertizeWorld.com germinated
March 2008: The research for BlogertizeWorld.com started
September 01, 2008: The firm was set up
September 01, 2009: The portal is to be launched (with all its services)
As far as the marketing budget is concerned, the team is expecting to sell off all the pixel adspace blocks by September 2009. "The adspace proceeds that we have by then would take care of the operating and marketing needs for at least 18 to 20 months," says Bhatia.
A few promising statistics!
Moving ahead, the team's primary objective is to ensure that all the 2,860 registered bloggers are satisfied with the
returns (monetary or otherwise) they receive in the next three years. "We intend to make this experimental business model work and resell the adspace to bloggers three years down the line," Bhatia adds.
Bhatia reveals that out of the total of 2,860 spots, the team has already received registrations from over 1,800 bloggers. "Adspace worth $50,000 has already been sold. We are planning to double the prices once we reach the 2,500 mark. The remaining 360 pixel blocks would be sold post September 2009 when the portal is formally launched," he adds.
Now, how many seven-month-old Web start-ups can boast of that kind of progress, Bhatia proudly asks. Not many, we concur!
"The only people in the world who can change things are those who can sell ideas," Lois Wyse, the popular American writer and columnist, once observed. With a belief in himself, and backed by this adage, Dushyant Bhatia decided to let go of his safe job in a multinational company and leap into the entrepreneurial ocean - a world of wide open horizons, but also uncharted waters. He set up BlogertizeWorld.com-an online portal that sells adspace to bloggers in the form of pixels, and in turn promises them avenues to monetise their blogs without any effort.
Pixel advertising is a form of display advertising on the Web, in which the cost of each advertisement is calculated on the basis of the number of pixels it occupies.
Dushyant_1
Dushyant Bhatia, CEO & founder, BlogertizeWorld.com
"This is the first Web start-up, worldwide, that has raised funds to run its online business by selling pixel adspace on its website."
The portal makes pixel blocks or ad spaces available in four different sizes (of 2000, 4000, 6000 and 8000 pixels) for sale to 2,860 bloggers. The ad space is sold to bloggers on a ‘first come first serve' basis, for a period of three years across 12 categories -- sports, technology, health, politics, finance, gaming, education, showbiz, travel, life, literature and social responsibility.
"The objective is to divert a chunk of the traffic coming onto Blogertize to these blog advertisers. This will help the latter to dig up a couple of loyal readers, which in turn would assist them in monetising their blogs," says Bhatia, CEO and founder, BlogertizeWorld.com.
To draw traffic, Blogertize offers an extensive suite of services such as an online marketplace, podcasting facilities, an online community (discussion board), the ad exchange network, promotional quizzing and a contest portal, Blogertize ROI (return on investment) analytics, exposure via a newsletter, and most importantly, profit sharing.
According to Bhatia, the value proposition that the portal will offer its bloggers, unlike other blogger communities, is that they will not be required to invest their precious time surfing the Internet to promote their blog. "A link to their blog (in the form of an image) will be placed on the website for a minimum of three years and without spending even a single minute on Blogertizeworld, they can potentially make thousands of dollars per year via their blogs by using our services smartly," adds Bhatia.
It's different!
This is the first Web start-up, worldwide, that has raised funds to run its online business by selling pixel adspace on its website, affirms Bhatia. The idea is to combine various important pillars of Internet marketing like affiliate marketing, promotional quizzing models, e-commerce, micro blogging, online community, etc, with pixel advertising and create a business out of it.
Looking back with pride!
Bhatia narrates the story behind the firm's genesis: "I was in my final year of graduation when I came across this concept, and that is when I decided that whenever I started my first venture, it would be related to pixel advertising."
Bhatia started his research in March 2008 and tried to find a way of using pixel advertising to its fullest potential. After some work he realised that pixel advertising could assist him in raising funds to run his online business and at the same time give bloggers an opportunity to monetise their blogs without much effort.
The concept of the website is similar to that of a mutual fund where the cost of running this website is distributed among a large pool of bloggers. A chunk of adspace proceeds are reinvested in various revenue generating avenues, which in turn, helps all stake holders to earn revenues, says Bhatia.
A collaborative model that works well for all
"Our vision is to create a new collaborative model of business where all could monetise together," says Bhatia. The bloggers advertising on the portal are required to place a link to the Blogertize shopping portal on their blog. If visitors to their blog click on that link, they get directed to the Blogertize shopping portal. Once there, if these visitors purchase anything, up to 75 per cent of the profit will be given to that respective blogger, explains Bhatia. "The main idea is to create an online trading store and have distributors, i.e., bloggers all over the world," he adds.
"Bloggers advertising with Blogertize also have an option to open an online store for free, during the first year of operations. No yearly fee or commission on final sales will be charged for the first year and so bloggers can sell their products via our website, free of cost," shares Bhatia.
The portal aims to offer an advertising network that enables blog and social media publishers at every level to maximise online advertising revenues. Bhatia explains how that would happen: "Bloggers/social media publishers can take control of their online inventory to increase their earnings, and advertisers can run better campaigns because they know where traffic and even each conversion is coming from." According to Bhatia, the revenue split is 70:30 between general bloggers and the Blogertizeworld team, and 80:20 between bloggers advertising with Blogertize and the portal.
Leveraging the social media
But how did the portal manage to reach the masses and generate interest amidst the bloggers' community? "Social media was the key element to begin with. We hired a couple of Internet marketers who were quite active on social networking sites like Facebook, Digg, etc. Some collaborations with blogger forums worldwide also helped us spread the word. Once the bloggers got to know about our site, they started reviewing our service on their blogs, which in turn helped us spread the word. Bloggers from countries like the US, UK, Malaysia, Philippines, China, Israel, NewZealand, etc, also wrote reviews of our start-up," shares Bhatia.
BlogertizeWorld.com timeline
2006: Idea for BlogertizeWorld.com germinated
March 2008: The research for BlogertizeWorld.com started
September 01, 2008: The firm was set up
September 01, 2009: The portal is to be launched (with all its services)
As far as the marketing budget is concerned, the team is expecting to sell off all the pixel adspace blocks by September 2009. "The adspace proceeds that we have by then would take care of the operating and marketing needs for at least 18 to 20 months," says Bhatia.
A few promising statistics!
Moving ahead, the team's primary objective is to ensure that all the 2,860 registered bloggers are satisfied with the
returns (monetary or otherwise) they receive in the next three years. "We intend to make this experimental business model work and resell the adspace to bloggers three years down the line," Bhatia adds.
Bhatia reveals that out of the total of 2,860 spots, the team has already received registrations from over 1,800 bloggers. "Adspace worth $50,000 has already been sold. We are planning to double the prices once we reach the 2,500 mark. The remaining 360 pixel blocks would be sold post September 2009 when the portal is formally launched," he adds.
Now, how many seven-month-old Web start-ups can boast of that kind of progress, Bhatia proudly asks. Not many, we concur!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Google boosts Android security with encrypted tablets, remote PIN reset
Google is trying to make Android more appealing to businesses by adding IT administration tools to Google Apps that can encrypt Android tablets or remotely locate a lost Android phone and reset the PIN.
In a new blog post, Google product manager Mayur Kamat announced that "With the new version of the Google Apps Device Policy app, employees can quickly secure a lost or stolen Android 2.2+ device by locating it on a map, ringing the device, and resetting the device PIN or password remotely via the new My Devices website."
MOBILE SECURITY: Android improves, but trails iPhone and BlackBerry
Android 2.2 and up is used on mobile phones, while Android 3.0 is for tablets, such as the Motorola Xoom. To make Android tablets more business friendly, Google Apps customers will now be able to require encrypted storage on tablets running Android 3.0.
The tablet encryption requirement is achieved through an API that lets administrators enforce policies such as encryption and the aforementioned PIN reset. As with Android phones, it appears that Android tablets will support software-level encryption but not the more robust hardware-level encryption.
The PIN reset and encryption features, as well as a new tool for looking up corporate contacts, will be rolled out to Google Apps business and education customers. Google Apps for Business costs $50 per user per year for Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar and several other applications. (See also: Google Apps basics.)
It only makes sense for Google to bring IT administration tools for Android right into Google Apps.
"With more than 300,000 devices activated per day globally, Android is seeing rapid adoption in the post-PC era," Kamat said. "Android works quite well with Google Apps, but we're working to make it an excellent choice for both end users and IT at businesses and schools."
This week's Google announcement doesn't say anything about the ability to remotely wipe all the data off an Android device, a key requirement for many IT organizations. However, Google already announced remote wipes and other features last October when it first released the Google Apps Device Policy application, which can be downloaded on the Android Market.
The application, in combination with a Google Apps subscription, lets IT "remotely wipe all data from lost or stolen mobile devices; lock idle devices after a period of inactivity; require a device password on each phone; set minimum lengths for more secure passwords; [and] require passwords to include letters and numbers," according to Google.
Google Apps for Mobile also includes administration tools for rivals iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Symbian. Managing multiple types of devices will be key for any mobile management platform because the smartphone market is not dominated by any one single vendor.
Microsoft just recently, for example, expanded its System Center management capabilities to iPhones, iPads, Android and Symbian. (See also "iPhone, Android, Windows and Linux: Microsoft now manages them all.)
In a new blog post, Google product manager Mayur Kamat announced that "With the new version of the Google Apps Device Policy app, employees can quickly secure a lost or stolen Android 2.2+ device by locating it on a map, ringing the device, and resetting the device PIN or password remotely via the new My Devices website."
MOBILE SECURITY: Android improves, but trails iPhone and BlackBerry
Android 2.2 and up is used on mobile phones, while Android 3.0 is for tablets, such as the Motorola Xoom. To make Android tablets more business friendly, Google Apps customers will now be able to require encrypted storage on tablets running Android 3.0.
The tablet encryption requirement is achieved through an API that lets administrators enforce policies such as encryption and the aforementioned PIN reset. As with Android phones, it appears that Android tablets will support software-level encryption but not the more robust hardware-level encryption.
The PIN reset and encryption features, as well as a new tool for looking up corporate contacts, will be rolled out to Google Apps business and education customers. Google Apps for Business costs $50 per user per year for Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar and several other applications. (See also: Google Apps basics.)
It only makes sense for Google to bring IT administration tools for Android right into Google Apps.
"With more than 300,000 devices activated per day globally, Android is seeing rapid adoption in the post-PC era," Kamat said. "Android works quite well with Google Apps, but we're working to make it an excellent choice for both end users and IT at businesses and schools."
This week's Google announcement doesn't say anything about the ability to remotely wipe all the data off an Android device, a key requirement for many IT organizations. However, Google already announced remote wipes and other features last October when it first released the Google Apps Device Policy application, which can be downloaded on the Android Market.
The application, in combination with a Google Apps subscription, lets IT "remotely wipe all data from lost or stolen mobile devices; lock idle devices after a period of inactivity; require a device password on each phone; set minimum lengths for more secure passwords; [and] require passwords to include letters and numbers," according to Google.
Google Apps for Mobile also includes administration tools for rivals iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Symbian. Managing multiple types of devices will be key for any mobile management platform because the smartphone market is not dominated by any one single vendor.
Microsoft just recently, for example, expanded its System Center management capabilities to iPhones, iPads, Android and Symbian. (See also "iPhone, Android, Windows and Linux: Microsoft now manages them all.)
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Windows Live Family Safety 2011
Parental control of a sort is built right into Windows 7 and Windows Vista. For each child you can set a weekly computer use schedule, control which games are permitted, and block specific programs. Windows Live Family Safety 2011 (free, direct) extends these features and adds the remaining components you'd expect in a full-scale parental control system. Note, though, that if you got yourself a new computer and gave the kids the old XP box, you can't use this edition of Family Safety, and the older XP-compatible edition lacks many significant features.
Family Safety is a component of Windows Live Essentials but it can be used independently if you don't want the whole package. As in Norton Online Family Premier ($49.99 direct, 4 stars) and Bsecure CloudCare 6.0 ($49.95 direct, 3 stars) all Family Safety configuration occurs online—from any Web browser—with a small client program that enforces rules on the computers the kids use.
As another full-scale free parental control product, Norton Online Family (Free, 4 stars) is the closest competitor to Family Safety. In this article, unless otherwise stated, I'll refer to features from the free edition of Norton Online Family, not the Premier edition.
Rocky Start
Installing just the Family Safety and Messenger modules from Windows Live Essentials was easy enough. However, on trying to launch Family Safety I got the error message "Access is denied: Error 80070005." According to Microsoft's help website this is caused by attempting to run the program under an account without Administrator privilege. I verified that was not the case; I was definitely using an Administrator account. Luckily the product ran correctly after a reboot.
Specifications
Type
Personal
Free
Yes
OS Compatibility
Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7
Tech Support
FAQs and forum.
More
On another computer I logged into the Family Safety website and defined a child account. As part of this process, I had to create a Windows Live ID for my imaginary child. I'm not entirely sure I approve of that requirement—does a toddler really need a Windows Live ID?
On the flip side, if a child under 13 attempts to create that Windows Live ID directly then the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires parental permission. Microsoft verifies parental permission using a small charge (50 cents) on the parent's credit card.
Back on the test system, I created a user account for my child. The product strongly recommends using Standard/Limited accounts for children. That's a reasonable requirement. The problems that caused many parents to just give the kids Administrator accounts under XP are effectively solved in Window 7 and Vista.
At first log-in, my brand-new user account didn't work correctly at all. The Start menu would only stay open for a few seconds, so launching any program was tough. Family Safety's program control correctly blocked Firefox, as I had configured it to do, but also blocked many other programs. It even blocked the program that provides its own visible user interface. Another reboot cured the problem, but it was definitely a rocky start.
A little experimentation showed that changes made online don't take effect right away. Family Safety checks the configuration once per hour or at login. Most products that offer remote configuration receive changes almost immediately—a much better result. Some, like Norton Online Family, also include an option to check for new settings on demand.
Content Filtering
Keeping the kids from accidentally or deliberately visiting inappropriate websites is a primary feature of most parental control systems. Net Nanny 6.5 ($39.99 direct, 4.5 stars) (PCMag's Editors' Choice), Norton, and most others let parents pick and choose from specific categories to block. Many automatically pre-configure categories based on the child's age.
In Family Safety parents choose a filtering level rather than picking from dozens of specific categories. The toughest level prevents access to all sites except those explicitly added by parents. At the Child-friendly level kids can also visit sites that have been categorized and vetted as fine for kids. The General Interest level allows wider access to web sites "of general interest," and the Online Communication level also permits social networking, chat, and webmail.
For the oldest kids, the Warn on Adult level doesn't block anything but does give a warning before allowing access to adult sites. I used the Online Communications level for my testing.
When Family Safety blocks a site, it gives the child an option to request access by e-mail or by asking a nearby parent. The online management console includes a page for pending requests which lets the parent allow or block the site for this user or for all users. Parents can also transfer existing lists of blocked and allowed sites between users at any time.
As always I tried to find sites with offensive content that slipped past the filter. I was able to reach a few iffy ones, but nothing undeniably "adult" in nature. I verified that Family Safety forces Safe Search in Bing and Yahoo, but when I tried to visit Google I found it blocked by Family Safety. They're pulling for Bing, maybe? Microsoft said Google should not be blocked, but the only way I could use it was to define an exception for the site. K9 Web Protection 4.0 (Free, 3 stars) and Net Nanny take Safe Search protection to the next level by blocking access to search sites for which forced Safe Search isn't possible.
A child with a Standard account can't run the network command that disables some parental control systems. In any case, Family Safety is immune to this attack. A secure anonymizing proxy will still give the kids unlimited access. However, I had quite a hard time finding a secure anonymizing proxy site that wasn't itself blocked by Family Safety. The one I did locate gave me unfiltered access but went from unblocked to blocked overnight.
Both Norton Online Family and Family Safety allowed to me view some videos that I'd definitely consider inappropriate. That's not uncommon. Net Nanny's real time content analysis can filter out videos based on keywords, and Safe Eyes specifically includes filtering for videos but few other parental control systems have the ability to allow a site like YouTube while blocking specific videos. The Premier edition of Norton Online Family tracks videos watched on popular sites, which at least gives parents an eyeful of what the kids are watching.
Family Safety is a component of Windows Live Essentials but it can be used independently if you don't want the whole package. As in Norton Online Family Premier ($49.99 direct, 4 stars) and Bsecure CloudCare 6.0 ($49.95 direct, 3 stars) all Family Safety configuration occurs online—from any Web browser—with a small client program that enforces rules on the computers the kids use.
As another full-scale free parental control product, Norton Online Family (Free, 4 stars) is the closest competitor to Family Safety. In this article, unless otherwise stated, I'll refer to features from the free edition of Norton Online Family, not the Premier edition.
Rocky Start
Installing just the Family Safety and Messenger modules from Windows Live Essentials was easy enough. However, on trying to launch Family Safety I got the error message "Access is denied: Error 80070005." According to Microsoft's help website this is caused by attempting to run the program under an account without Administrator privilege. I verified that was not the case; I was definitely using an Administrator account. Luckily the product ran correctly after a reboot.
Specifications
Type
Personal
Free
Yes
OS Compatibility
Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7
Tech Support
FAQs and forum.
More
On another computer I logged into the Family Safety website and defined a child account. As part of this process, I had to create a Windows Live ID for my imaginary child. I'm not entirely sure I approve of that requirement—does a toddler really need a Windows Live ID?
On the flip side, if a child under 13 attempts to create that Windows Live ID directly then the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires parental permission. Microsoft verifies parental permission using a small charge (50 cents) on the parent's credit card.
Back on the test system, I created a user account for my child. The product strongly recommends using Standard/Limited accounts for children. That's a reasonable requirement. The problems that caused many parents to just give the kids Administrator accounts under XP are effectively solved in Window 7 and Vista.
At first log-in, my brand-new user account didn't work correctly at all. The Start menu would only stay open for a few seconds, so launching any program was tough. Family Safety's program control correctly blocked Firefox, as I had configured it to do, but also blocked many other programs. It even blocked the program that provides its own visible user interface. Another reboot cured the problem, but it was definitely a rocky start.
A little experimentation showed that changes made online don't take effect right away. Family Safety checks the configuration once per hour or at login. Most products that offer remote configuration receive changes almost immediately—a much better result. Some, like Norton Online Family, also include an option to check for new settings on demand.
Content Filtering
Keeping the kids from accidentally or deliberately visiting inappropriate websites is a primary feature of most parental control systems. Net Nanny 6.5 ($39.99 direct, 4.5 stars) (PCMag's Editors' Choice), Norton, and most others let parents pick and choose from specific categories to block. Many automatically pre-configure categories based on the child's age.
In Family Safety parents choose a filtering level rather than picking from dozens of specific categories. The toughest level prevents access to all sites except those explicitly added by parents. At the Child-friendly level kids can also visit sites that have been categorized and vetted as fine for kids. The General Interest level allows wider access to web sites "of general interest," and the Online Communication level also permits social networking, chat, and webmail.
For the oldest kids, the Warn on Adult level doesn't block anything but does give a warning before allowing access to adult sites. I used the Online Communications level for my testing.
When Family Safety blocks a site, it gives the child an option to request access by e-mail or by asking a nearby parent. The online management console includes a page for pending requests which lets the parent allow or block the site for this user or for all users. Parents can also transfer existing lists of blocked and allowed sites between users at any time.
As always I tried to find sites with offensive content that slipped past the filter. I was able to reach a few iffy ones, but nothing undeniably "adult" in nature. I verified that Family Safety forces Safe Search in Bing and Yahoo, but when I tried to visit Google I found it blocked by Family Safety. They're pulling for Bing, maybe? Microsoft said Google should not be blocked, but the only way I could use it was to define an exception for the site. K9 Web Protection 4.0 (Free, 3 stars) and Net Nanny take Safe Search protection to the next level by blocking access to search sites for which forced Safe Search isn't possible.
A child with a Standard account can't run the network command that disables some parental control systems. In any case, Family Safety is immune to this attack. A secure anonymizing proxy will still give the kids unlimited access. However, I had quite a hard time finding a secure anonymizing proxy site that wasn't itself blocked by Family Safety. The one I did locate gave me unfiltered access but went from unblocked to blocked overnight.
Both Norton Online Family and Family Safety allowed to me view some videos that I'd definitely consider inappropriate. That's not uncommon. Net Nanny's real time content analysis can filter out videos based on keywords, and Safe Eyes specifically includes filtering for videos but few other parental control systems have the ability to allow a site like YouTube while blocking specific videos. The Premier edition of Norton Online Family tracks videos watched on popular sites, which at least gives parents an eyeful of what the kids are watching.
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