As the holiday season wound down, U.S. residents kept on shopping significantly more than they did in 2006, particularly on the day after Christmas, but they also reported being less satisfied with e-tailers, according to a pair of studies.
Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 27 -- the first 57 days of the holiday season -- U.S. shoppers spent almost US$28 billion in online retail purchases, up 19 percent compared with the same period in 2006, according to comScore.
Shoppers spent $545 million on Dec. 26, more than doubling the spending on that day in 2006, as they took advantage of "late-season" offers and discounts, according to comScore.
Still, it looks like online spending growth for the 2007 holiday season will fail to meet comScore's 20 percent forecast, and fall way below the 26 percent growth registered during this period in 2006.
ComScore chalks up the smaller-than-expected growth to several factors, including warm weather in early November and various economic challenges this year, including higher gas prices, the real estate crunch and a "jittery" stock market, the company said Sunday.
Another important metric that dropped this holiday season compared with 2006's was customer satisfaction, according to ForeSee Results, a provider of online customer-satisfaction measurement services.
A survey of more than 11,000 shoppers revealed that, on a 100-point scale, customer satisfaction with the largest 40 e-tailers dropped, in aggregate, to 74 points, down 1 point from the 2006 holiday season, according to ForeSee. It conducted the survey in conjunction with FGI Research using the methodology of the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index.
Still, the spending growth in online shopping this holiday season, even at 19 percent, would greatly outpace the growth of overall U.S. retail holiday spending, forecast at 4 percent by the National Retail Federation.
That 4 percent growth rate -- which would put 2007 holiday season retail spending in the U.S. at almost $475 billion -- would fall below the 10-year average of 4.8 percent and be the slowest since 2002, according to the National Retail Federation.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
US-CERT warns of flaw in latest RealPlayer
The US-CERT is warning computer users of a possible problem with the latest version of RealPlayer after a Russian security company claimed to have found a way to exploit a critical flaw in the multimedia software.
US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team) published its warning on Wednesday, the day after Gleg Ltd. Chief Technology Officer Evgeny Legerov announced the exploit code in a posting to the Daily Dave security discussion list.
The flaw affects the latest version 11 of RealPlayer running on Windows XP, service pack 2, according to Gleg. A Flash demonstration of the vulnerability has been posted to the Gleg Web site, but the company has not released its attack code or any technical details of the flaw.
Legerov discovered the flaw, called a stack overflow bug, during an audit of the RealPlayer source code, he said via e-mail.
Gleg sells "penetration testing" software that can be used by security professionals to find holes in computer networks. The RealPlayer flaw was added to Gleg's VulnDisco SA software on Dec. 16, which means that subscribers have had access to the code for more than two weeks. VulnDisco SA is sold as an add-on to Immunity's Canvas penetration testing platform.
There have been no reports of the code being released to the general public so far. US-CERT has not been able to study the exploit code and confirm that it works, said Art Manion, vulnerability analysis team leader at US-CERT.
Real is working to confirm whether the exploit code actually works, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
US-CERT is doing the same thing, Manion said. In the meantime, RealPlayer users should be cautious. "If one wants to assume the most cautious possible stance, you don't use it," Manion said.
In October, criminals exploited another flaw in RealPlayer in order to sneak unauthorized software onto victim's computers. That bug has been patched.
US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team) published its warning on Wednesday, the day after Gleg Ltd. Chief Technology Officer Evgeny Legerov announced the exploit code in a posting to the Daily Dave security discussion list.
The flaw affects the latest version 11 of RealPlayer running on Windows XP, service pack 2, according to Gleg. A Flash demonstration of the vulnerability has been posted to the Gleg Web site, but the company has not released its attack code or any technical details of the flaw.
Legerov discovered the flaw, called a stack overflow bug, during an audit of the RealPlayer source code, he said via e-mail.
Gleg sells "penetration testing" software that can be used by security professionals to find holes in computer networks. The RealPlayer flaw was added to Gleg's VulnDisco SA software on Dec. 16, which means that subscribers have had access to the code for more than two weeks. VulnDisco SA is sold as an add-on to Immunity's Canvas penetration testing platform.
There have been no reports of the code being released to the general public so far. US-CERT has not been able to study the exploit code and confirm that it works, said Art Manion, vulnerability analysis team leader at US-CERT.
Real is working to confirm whether the exploit code actually works, a company spokesman said Wednesday.
US-CERT is doing the same thing, Manion said. In the meantime, RealPlayer users should be cautious. "If one wants to assume the most cautious possible stance, you don't use it," Manion said.
In October, criminals exploited another flaw in RealPlayer in order to sneak unauthorized software onto victim's computers. That bug has been patched.
Company suing OLPC asked for $20 million
A company suing the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Association for patent infringement has asked for US$20 million to settle claims that the nonprofit had copied its keyboard.
Lagos Analysis Corp., or Lancor, is still trying to settle after filing the patent lawsuit in Federal High Court, Lagos Judicial Division in Nigeria, said Adé Oyegbola, Lancor's CEO. Lancor, now based in Natick, Massachusetts, has offices in Nigeria and owns a Nigerian patent for a four-shift keyboard, allowing computers to better handle multiple languages, Oyegbola said.
Oyegbola on Wednesday confirmed information published on the Groklaw blog saying that in August his company had asked OLPC for $20 million. That figure was based on OLPC information on potential distribution in Nigeria, Oyegbola said.
Nigeria, in July 2006, placed an order for 1 million of the laptops, but the Nigerian government is now reviewing that decision. Lancor's Konyin Multilingual Keyboards sell for $19.95, meaning 1 million of them would be worth approximately $20 million.
Lancor in December obtained a temporary injunction against OLPC distributing its laptop in the country.
"We didn't start the process because we're looking for the money," Oyegbola said. "It doesn't make sense for us not to protect our intellectual property."
Lancor, in its lawsuit, accuses OLPC of illegal reverse engineering its multilingual keyboard.
But OLPC had not yet begun selling its laptop at the time of the demand, OLPC's lawyer wrote in a letter published on Groklaw. "I feel obliged to note that, given the fact that OLPC has sold no multilingual keyboards, and that, according to Lancor's Web site, its multilingual keyboard sells for $19.95, your demand for $20 million is not well founded," lawyer Bruce Parker of the Foley Hoag law firm wrote.
Groklaw's Pamela Jones, a frequent critic of patent lawsuits against open-source projects, called the lawsuit "ridiculous."
"In short, they apparently jumped the gun, sending the dunning letter before OLPC had even shipped anything, not to mention that OLPC is a charity, not a business, and asking for money in a sum that doesn't match reality," she wrote.
A OLPC spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for a comment.
Oyegbola said he hopes his company can still settle with OLPC. "We're hoping it doesn't get to [a trial]," he said. "It's in the hands of the lawyers now."
The evidence against OLPC is sketchy, Jones wrote on Groklaw. She questioned Oyegbola's motives, saying his actions may aid a rival project by Intel.
"Maybe this doomed litigation effort will last just long enough for a Nigerian knock-off of the OLPC, or the OLPC on Intel, to become ready for release," she wrote. "Maybe it's just about money a couple of guys want. Who knows why people do things like this?"
The goal of the nonprofit OLPC, founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte, is to donate laptops to children in developing nations. Through Dec. 31, residents of the U.S. and Canada could donate $400 and get one laptop for themselves, while sending a second to a child overseas.
Lagos Analysis Corp., or Lancor, is still trying to settle after filing the patent lawsuit in Federal High Court, Lagos Judicial Division in Nigeria, said Adé Oyegbola, Lancor's CEO. Lancor, now based in Natick, Massachusetts, has offices in Nigeria and owns a Nigerian patent for a four-shift keyboard, allowing computers to better handle multiple languages, Oyegbola said.
Oyegbola on Wednesday confirmed information published on the Groklaw blog saying that in August his company had asked OLPC for $20 million. That figure was based on OLPC information on potential distribution in Nigeria, Oyegbola said.
Nigeria, in July 2006, placed an order for 1 million of the laptops, but the Nigerian government is now reviewing that decision. Lancor's Konyin Multilingual Keyboards sell for $19.95, meaning 1 million of them would be worth approximately $20 million.
Lancor in December obtained a temporary injunction against OLPC distributing its laptop in the country.
"We didn't start the process because we're looking for the money," Oyegbola said. "It doesn't make sense for us not to protect our intellectual property."
Lancor, in its lawsuit, accuses OLPC of illegal reverse engineering its multilingual keyboard.
But OLPC had not yet begun selling its laptop at the time of the demand, OLPC's lawyer wrote in a letter published on Groklaw. "I feel obliged to note that, given the fact that OLPC has sold no multilingual keyboards, and that, according to Lancor's Web site, its multilingual keyboard sells for $19.95, your demand for $20 million is not well founded," lawyer Bruce Parker of the Foley Hoag law firm wrote.
Groklaw's Pamela Jones, a frequent critic of patent lawsuits against open-source projects, called the lawsuit "ridiculous."
"In short, they apparently jumped the gun, sending the dunning letter before OLPC had even shipped anything, not to mention that OLPC is a charity, not a business, and asking for money in a sum that doesn't match reality," she wrote.
A OLPC spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for a comment.
Oyegbola said he hopes his company can still settle with OLPC. "We're hoping it doesn't get to [a trial]," he said. "It's in the hands of the lawyers now."
The evidence against OLPC is sketchy, Jones wrote on Groklaw. She questioned Oyegbola's motives, saying his actions may aid a rival project by Intel.
"Maybe this doomed litigation effort will last just long enough for a Nigerian knock-off of the OLPC, or the OLPC on Intel, to become ready for release," she wrote. "Maybe it's just about money a couple of guys want. Who knows why people do things like this?"
The goal of the nonprofit OLPC, founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte, is to donate laptops to children in developing nations. Through Dec. 31, residents of the U.S. and Canada could donate $400 and get one laptop for themselves, while sending a second to a child overseas.
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