Prosecutors have dropped child pornography charges against a Massachusetts state employee after an investigation determined that his government-issued laptop was poorly configured and riddled with malicious software.
Michael Fiola, former investigator with the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents (DIA), had been facing two-and-a-half years in prison after being charged last year with possession of child pornography.
Those charges were dropped on June 10 after an investigation by the Massachusetts Attorney General's office found that the state could not prove that Fiola had downloaded the images. "We could not meet our burden of reasonable doubt," said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley.
The case shows how easy it is for someone to be charged with illegal computer activity that they may know nothing about, said Fiola's attorney, Timothy Bradl. "This type of thing could have happened to anyone with a work-issued laptop," he said.
When the DIA issued Fiola his Dell Latitude laptop in November 2006, it was so badly configured that it may well have already been hacked, said Tami Loehrs, a forensics investigator hired by Fiola's defense team. The Microsoft Systems Management Server software on the laptop was misconfigured and was not receiving critical software updates, and the laptop's Symantec antivirus software was either misconfigured or not working properly, she said.
"He was handed a ticking time bomb," she said.
State IT staff examined Fiola's laptop in March 2007 after they noticed that his Verizon broadband wireless usage was four times above normal. He was fired the same month, after the pornography was discovered.
Fiola, a former firefighter with no criminal record, was ostracized by his community after being criminally charged in August 2007, Bradl said. "His life has been destroyed," he said. "His friends ran for the hills; his family mostly ran from him."
DIA spokeswoman Linnea Walsh was quoted in the Boston Herald on Monday saying, "we stand by our decision," but when reached by IDG News Service, she declined to comment on the matter, saying only "we don't want to go there right now," before abruptly hanging up the telephone.
Since his wife, Robin, was at one point hospitalized for a stress-related illness, Fiola is now facing health insurance payments in excess of his monthly mortgage. But he is unlikely to take his old job back, even if the DIA were to offer it, Bradl said. "I would think that theoretically he'd be entitled to his job back with back-pay, however he would never want to go back to work with such buffoons," he said.
Because of the heinous nature of child pornography, prosecutors and investigators often rush to conclusions while investigating this type of crime, Loehrs said. "Because the content is so disturbing, everybody just loses all sense of reality."
Take the case of Matt Bandy, who was 16 when police raided his house and charged him with possession of child pornography. The charges could have resulted in a 90-year jail sentence. Bandy eventually pleaded guilty to lesser charges, but computer experts believe that he may have been the victim of a worm that turned his PC into a "zombie computer" that was used by others to store the child pornography.
According to Wark, an initial state attorney general investigation of Fiola's laptop concluded that he was likely responsible for downloading the pornography, while a second examination, conducted after Loehrs reported her findings, reached the opposite conclusion.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Judge: White House doesn't have to turn over e-mail records
The U.S. Executive Office of the President doesn't have to turn over information on an alleged 10 million missing e-mail messages to a government watchdog group seeking information on how the e-mails were lost, a judge ruled Monday.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) had sought information on the missing e-mails through the 41-year-old Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), but Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the Office of Administration (OA) in the Executive Office of the President is not subject to the law that allows citizens to request that the U.S. government disclose the contents of previously unreleased documents.
President George Bush's administration sought to remove the OA from the information act's requirements in 2006 and 2007, Kollar-Kotelly noted. OA is also not the type of independent agency covered under FOIA, and the office generally exists to assist the U.S. president, she wrote in her ruling. A 1974 amendment to FOIA excepted branches of the Executive Office that existed only to advise and assist the president.
CREW had argued that the Bush White House may have been covering up links to a lobbying scandal, alleged political influence at the U.S. General Services Administration and other problems by deleting the e-mail. White House staffers sometimes used outside e-mail accounts to conduct official business, CREW said in an April 2007 report.
CREW had argued that the White House is required to keep e-mail messages under the Presidential Records Act.
CREW has appealed the judge's decision, said Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director.
"The Bush administration is using the legal system to prevent the American people from discovering the truth about the millions of missing White House e-mails," she said in a statement. "The fact is, until CREW asked for documents pertaining to this problem, the Office of Administration routinely processed FOIA requests. Only because the administration has so much to hide here, has the White House taken the unprecedented position that OA is not subject to the FOIA."
The White House didn't have an immediate comment on Kollar-Kotelly's ruling.
In February, Kollar-Kotelly issued a ruling allowing CREW to have limited access to OA records. The OA did deliver more than 1,300 pages of documents to CREW, but it said it was withholding thousands more.
CREW's allegations that there are more than 10 million missing White House e-mails from March 2003 to October 2005 has led to inquiries from Congress, as well. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, controlled by Democrats, has investigated the alleged missing e-mails. In April, three Democrats, including Committee Chairman Henry Waxman of California introduced the Electronic Communications Preservation Act, which would require the U.S. archivist to establish standards for the preservation of White House e-mails.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) had sought information on the missing e-mails through the 41-year-old Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), but Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the Office of Administration (OA) in the Executive Office of the President is not subject to the law that allows citizens to request that the U.S. government disclose the contents of previously unreleased documents.
President George Bush's administration sought to remove the OA from the information act's requirements in 2006 and 2007, Kollar-Kotelly noted. OA is also not the type of independent agency covered under FOIA, and the office generally exists to assist the U.S. president, she wrote in her ruling. A 1974 amendment to FOIA excepted branches of the Executive Office that existed only to advise and assist the president.
CREW had argued that the Bush White House may have been covering up links to a lobbying scandal, alleged political influence at the U.S. General Services Administration and other problems by deleting the e-mail. White House staffers sometimes used outside e-mail accounts to conduct official business, CREW said in an April 2007 report.
CREW had argued that the White House is required to keep e-mail messages under the Presidential Records Act.
CREW has appealed the judge's decision, said Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director.
"The Bush administration is using the legal system to prevent the American people from discovering the truth about the millions of missing White House e-mails," she said in a statement. "The fact is, until CREW asked for documents pertaining to this problem, the Office of Administration routinely processed FOIA requests. Only because the administration has so much to hide here, has the White House taken the unprecedented position that OA is not subject to the FOIA."
The White House didn't have an immediate comment on Kollar-Kotelly's ruling.
In February, Kollar-Kotelly issued a ruling allowing CREW to have limited access to OA records. The OA did deliver more than 1,300 pages of documents to CREW, but it said it was withholding thousands more.
CREW's allegations that there are more than 10 million missing White House e-mails from March 2003 to October 2005 has led to inquiries from Congress, as well. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, controlled by Democrats, has investigated the alleged missing e-mails. In April, three Democrats, including Committee Chairman Henry Waxman of California introduced the Electronic Communications Preservation Act, which would require the U.S. archivist to establish standards for the preservation of White House e-mails.
New Nokia phones targeted at enterprises
Nokia has expanded its family of enterprise phones with the introduction of the E71 and E66, which come at a time when Apple, Research in Motion and Microsoft are trying their best to attract enterprise customers.
The specs are very similar; both phones are equipped with support for HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) at 3.6M bps (bits per second), WLAN, navigation using A-GPS (Assisted Global Positioning System) and a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus.
They are optimized for personal and business e-mail, according to Nokia. Customers can choose among a wide variety of enterprise platforms, including Exchange and its own Intellisync, as well more consumer-focused services such as Gmail, Yahoo mail and Hotmail.
For Nokia the launch is a bit of a comeback in the enterprise market. It has been nine months since it launched the last model in the E family, said Leif-Olof Wallin, an analyst at Gartner.
"That is a long time in this business, and we believe Nokia was slowed down by a reorganization," said Wallin. He praised the latest additions to Nokia's portfolio, especially the E71, which will replace the E61i. "It has a really good keyboard, and is very slim," said Wallin.
But it's not the design which will be Nokia's greatest asset when competing for enterprise dollars. Instead, built-in hardware support for encryption and the ability to switch between personal and work e-mail at the push of a button will make it possible for the company to one up competitors, said Wallin.
"I would have liked to see Nokia taking the switching between personal and work even further, and including not only e-mail, but calendar and contacts as well. But what we are seeing now is only version 1.0," said Wallin.
The encryption of both the device memory and the memory card will help companies protect its phones without losing performance, and the built-in chip can also be used to store certificates and keys. In this field Nokia is years a head of the competition, according to Wallin.
Both phones are expected to start shipping in July and cost about €350 (US$538), before subsidies. The phones will cost about as much as an iPhone 3G when the subsidies are calculated in, according to Wallin.
The specs are very similar; both phones are equipped with support for HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) at 3.6M bps (bits per second), WLAN, navigation using A-GPS (Assisted Global Positioning System) and a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus.
They are optimized for personal and business e-mail, according to Nokia. Customers can choose among a wide variety of enterprise platforms, including Exchange and its own Intellisync, as well more consumer-focused services such as Gmail, Yahoo mail and Hotmail.
For Nokia the launch is a bit of a comeback in the enterprise market. It has been nine months since it launched the last model in the E family, said Leif-Olof Wallin, an analyst at Gartner.
"That is a long time in this business, and we believe Nokia was slowed down by a reorganization," said Wallin. He praised the latest additions to Nokia's portfolio, especially the E71, which will replace the E61i. "It has a really good keyboard, and is very slim," said Wallin.
But it's not the design which will be Nokia's greatest asset when competing for enterprise dollars. Instead, built-in hardware support for encryption and the ability to switch between personal and work e-mail at the push of a button will make it possible for the company to one up competitors, said Wallin.
"I would have liked to see Nokia taking the switching between personal and work even further, and including not only e-mail, but calendar and contacts as well. But what we are seeing now is only version 1.0," said Wallin.
The encryption of both the device memory and the memory card will help companies protect its phones without losing performance, and the built-in chip can also be used to store certificates and keys. In this field Nokia is years a head of the competition, according to Wallin.
Both phones are expected to start shipping in July and cost about €350 (US$538), before subsidies. The phones will cost about as much as an iPhone 3G when the subsidies are calculated in, according to Wallin.
Nvidia dumps 240 cores in new graphics processor
Nvidia on Monday announced a new graphics processor with 240 computing cores, giving PCs the horsepower needed to run three-dimensional games and scientific applications.
The new GeForce GTX 280, the largest GPU ever built by Nvidia, includes 1.4 billion transistors and delivers 933 gigaflops of performance. It succeeds the GeForce 8800 GTX, which had 128 cores and delivered 518 gigaflops of performance.
The GPU will bring a new level of realism to gaming, with better character detail and more natural character motion, said Jason Paul, senior product manager at Nvidia.
Users can leave general purpose computing to the x86 CPU and unload advanced processing to the GeForce GTX 280, which will take care of applications like video transcoding and surfing the Web using three-dimensional Web tools, Paul said.
"What you have today are great three-dimensional games [and] high-definition video playback, but now you'll see the GPU becoming the heart of the optimized PC. It's going to provide the second processor of the PC," Paul said.
The chip includes support for PhysX, a hardware and software engine that adds physical reality to existing games, like smoke billowing from an object after an explosion, or the behavior of a rock after it hits a target.
New to the GeForce GTX 280 architecture is support for double-precision, 64-bit floating point computation that can deliver the horsepower necessary to perform high-end scientific applications, Paul said.
Nvidia may paint this as a more powerful alternative to the CPU, but this is a specialized processor designed for high-performance computing applications like weather predictions and, in some cases, CAD programs, said Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research. "This is not a general-purpose replacement for x86 processors, this is a specialized processor to take apps originally running on an x86 and now they can run it on a GPU," he said.
People have had to run scientific applications on scalar processors like the x86 chip because they couldn't afford high-end vector processors like the ones found in IBM's supercomputers, Peddie said. With the new Nvidia chip, vector processors can now be built into a home PC, Peddie said.
"This is such an incredible technology. We can go out and buy a teraflop computer for under $1,000," Peddie said.
However, a vector processor should be limited to high-performance computing because x86 chips are capable of handling general-purpose computing, Peddie said. The GeForce GTX 280 GPU can be used as a high-end gaming machine chip or on workstations to process graphics-intensive applications.
Today's applications are mostly designed for x86 processors and will need to be recompiled to take advantage of GeForce GTX 280, Peddie said. Nvidia provides CUDA, a tool that allows programmers to design and port programs to run on the new GPU.
The GeForce GTX 280 is available for US$649.
The new GeForce GTX 280, the largest GPU ever built by Nvidia, includes 1.4 billion transistors and delivers 933 gigaflops of performance. It succeeds the GeForce 8800 GTX, which had 128 cores and delivered 518 gigaflops of performance.
The GPU will bring a new level of realism to gaming, with better character detail and more natural character motion, said Jason Paul, senior product manager at Nvidia.
Users can leave general purpose computing to the x86 CPU and unload advanced processing to the GeForce GTX 280, which will take care of applications like video transcoding and surfing the Web using three-dimensional Web tools, Paul said.
"What you have today are great three-dimensional games [and] high-definition video playback, but now you'll see the GPU becoming the heart of the optimized PC. It's going to provide the second processor of the PC," Paul said.
The chip includes support for PhysX, a hardware and software engine that adds physical reality to existing games, like smoke billowing from an object after an explosion, or the behavior of a rock after it hits a target.
New to the GeForce GTX 280 architecture is support for double-precision, 64-bit floating point computation that can deliver the horsepower necessary to perform high-end scientific applications, Paul said.
Nvidia may paint this as a more powerful alternative to the CPU, but this is a specialized processor designed for high-performance computing applications like weather predictions and, in some cases, CAD programs, said Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research. "This is not a general-purpose replacement for x86 processors, this is a specialized processor to take apps originally running on an x86 and now they can run it on a GPU," he said.
People have had to run scientific applications on scalar processors like the x86 chip because they couldn't afford high-end vector processors like the ones found in IBM's supercomputers, Peddie said. With the new Nvidia chip, vector processors can now be built into a home PC, Peddie said.
"This is such an incredible technology. We can go out and buy a teraflop computer for under $1,000," Peddie said.
However, a vector processor should be limited to high-performance computing because x86 chips are capable of handling general-purpose computing, Peddie said. The GeForce GTX 280 GPU can be used as a high-end gaming machine chip or on workstations to process graphics-intensive applications.
Today's applications are mostly designed for x86 processors and will need to be recompiled to take advantage of GeForce GTX 280, Peddie said. Nvidia provides CUDA, a tool that allows programmers to design and port programs to run on the new GPU.
The GeForce GTX 280 is available for US$649.
Microsoft now sponsor of Open Source Census
Microsoft has become a sponsor of The Open Source Census, a project started earlier this year that aims to track and catalog the use of open-source software in enterprises worldwide, the group announced Monday.
The company's "customers, partners and developers are working in increasingly heterogeneous environments," so participation in projects such as the census is relevant to the "ecosystem" in which Microsoft operates, said Sam Ramji, Microsoft' senior director of platform strategy, in a prepared statement.
It is the latest gesture by the Redmond software giant toward the open-source community, which has long regarded it as a bogeyman due to actions like its claim last year that open-source software violated more than 200 of its patents.
Ramji, who could not be reached for comment, is seen as a major driver behind Microsoft's gradually warming attitude -- at least publicly -- toward open source and interoperability.
It is important to balance open-mindedness with skepticism when thinking about Microsoft's open-source strategy, according to one observer.
"I've met with Sam and there's no question those guys are smart with what they're doing with open source," said Jay Lyman, an analyst with The 451 Group. "They definitely have changed. Is it genuine? Some of it is and some of it may be less so."
Microsoft's involvement could help the census gain interest from larger enterprises, Lyman noted. But at the same time, it may also draw ire from Microsoft's many critics, he added.
In addition to Microsoft, ActiveState, EnterpriseDB, Oregon State University's Open Source Lab and OSAlalt.com have also joined the effort, which provides a tool, from vendor OpenLogic, which a company can use to scan computers and spot installed open-source code. The scan data can then be pushed in anonymous form to the OSC's database.
Contributors can get reports that summarize their own use, as well as comparative data based on similar companies' results. Aggregated data untraceable to any company is available publicly.
More than 220,000 open-source packages or installations have been found during the two months since the effort launched, according to the site. But as of June 12, only about 1,300 machines had been scanned.
Lyman's firm is watching the census' progress closely to see whether it turns up enough data to provide a useful representative sample. "The theme from all accounts is that open-source usage is wildly underestimated," he said. "Maybe we'll get a better sense of that."
The company's "customers, partners and developers are working in increasingly heterogeneous environments," so participation in projects such as the census is relevant to the "ecosystem" in which Microsoft operates, said Sam Ramji, Microsoft' senior director of platform strategy, in a prepared statement.
It is the latest gesture by the Redmond software giant toward the open-source community, which has long regarded it as a bogeyman due to actions like its claim last year that open-source software violated more than 200 of its patents.
Ramji, who could not be reached for comment, is seen as a major driver behind Microsoft's gradually warming attitude -- at least publicly -- toward open source and interoperability.
It is important to balance open-mindedness with skepticism when thinking about Microsoft's open-source strategy, according to one observer.
"I've met with Sam and there's no question those guys are smart with what they're doing with open source," said Jay Lyman, an analyst with The 451 Group. "They definitely have changed. Is it genuine? Some of it is and some of it may be less so."
Microsoft's involvement could help the census gain interest from larger enterprises, Lyman noted. But at the same time, it may also draw ire from Microsoft's many critics, he added.
In addition to Microsoft, ActiveState, EnterpriseDB, Oregon State University's Open Source Lab and OSAlalt.com have also joined the effort, which provides a tool, from vendor OpenLogic, which a company can use to scan computers and spot installed open-source code. The scan data can then be pushed in anonymous form to the OSC's database.
Contributors can get reports that summarize their own use, as well as comparative data based on similar companies' results. Aggregated data untraceable to any company is available publicly.
More than 220,000 open-source packages or installations have been found during the two months since the effort launched, according to the site. But as of June 12, only about 1,300 machines had been scanned.
Lyman's firm is watching the census' progress closely to see whether it turns up enough data to provide a useful representative sample. "The theme from all accounts is that open-source usage is wildly underestimated," he said. "Maybe we'll get a better sense of that."
Greenpeace says e-waste from US stopped in Hong Kong
Environmental group Greenpeace said it identified three containers of electronic waste as they were about to be unloaded in Hong Kong Port over the weekend.
The group said the three containers were on the "Yang Ming Success" that had sailed to Hong Kong from the U.S. port of Oakland and were destined for the Sanshui district in neighboring Guangdong province. That meant the shipment was illegal under Chinese law, Greenpeace said.
In a video distributed by the group to news organizations, Greenpeace supporters that had boarded the ship can be seen unfurling a banner along the side of containers that read in English and Chinese, "Toxic waste not welcomed here."
In response Hong Kong's Environmental Protection Department has ordered the containers be held on the pier until the owner opens them for inspection, said Lo Sze Ping, a campaign director for Greenpeace. The Hong Kong authorities could not be immediately reached for comment.
Greenpeace said that Hong Kong is a major transit point for electronic waste because of several loopholes in the territory's environmental protection regulations. Among them, importers can easily claim the waste is for recycling or reuse to escape the controls, the group said. It also charged the Environmental Protection Department, which issues the import and export permits, with concentrating on waste like old batteries and paying little attention to printed-circuit boards.
The issue of e-waste is one that the Amsterdam-based group is fighting. Between 20 million and 50 million tons of electronic waste is produced each year but 75 percent of it disappears. That's a problem for the environment because if it is not properly disposed, the toxins found inside, including lead, beryllium, PVC, phthalates and brominated fire retardants can poison the environment and damage human health.
Of particular concern in the region is the Chinese city of Guiyu, which is also in Guangdong province. The city is one of the biggest electronic waste recycling centers on earth but the informal industry is centered around primitive, small-scale factories where products are dismantled by hand. The work is often done with little regard for health of the workers or the environment.
The group said the three containers were on the "Yang Ming Success" that had sailed to Hong Kong from the U.S. port of Oakland and were destined for the Sanshui district in neighboring Guangdong province. That meant the shipment was illegal under Chinese law, Greenpeace said.
In a video distributed by the group to news organizations, Greenpeace supporters that had boarded the ship can be seen unfurling a banner along the side of containers that read in English and Chinese, "Toxic waste not welcomed here."
In response Hong Kong's Environmental Protection Department has ordered the containers be held on the pier until the owner opens them for inspection, said Lo Sze Ping, a campaign director for Greenpeace. The Hong Kong authorities could not be immediately reached for comment.
Greenpeace said that Hong Kong is a major transit point for electronic waste because of several loopholes in the territory's environmental protection regulations. Among them, importers can easily claim the waste is for recycling or reuse to escape the controls, the group said. It also charged the Environmental Protection Department, which issues the import and export permits, with concentrating on waste like old batteries and paying little attention to printed-circuit boards.
The issue of e-waste is one that the Amsterdam-based group is fighting. Between 20 million and 50 million tons of electronic waste is produced each year but 75 percent of it disappears. That's a problem for the environment because if it is not properly disposed, the toxins found inside, including lead, beryllium, PVC, phthalates and brominated fire retardants can poison the environment and damage human health.
Of particular concern in the region is the Chinese city of Guiyu, which is also in Guangdong province. The city is one of the biggest electronic waste recycling centers on earth but the informal industry is centered around primitive, small-scale factories where products are dismantled by hand. The work is often done with little regard for health of the workers or the environment.
AMD's latest FireStream processor hits 1 teraflop
Advanced Micro Devices previewed on Monday the latest version of its high-performance chip package, the FireStream 9250, which is due later this year.
Chips in the FireStream line offer much faster performance for mathematical calculations than other processors. FireStream can take a single instruction and execute it using multiple sources of data in parallel.
The processor, which AMD refers to as a "stream processor" or General-Purpose General-Processing Unit (GP GPU) is capable of up to hundreds of parallel calculations per clock cycle, whereas other more general-purpose processors can only do a handful, the company said.
The 9250 will be available by the end of September for US$1,999. Last November, AMD released the FireStream 9170, the first such chip in the line that is capable of up to 500 gigaflops of computing power. A gigaflop is 1 billion floating-point operations per second. For single-precision calculations, the 9250 tops 1 teraflop, or 1 trillion floating-point operations per second, AMD said.
The FireStream chips can also perform "double precision" floating-point calculations. AMD says that helps runs intensive tasks such financial analyses and seismic processing much faster.
The 9250 comes with 1 G byte of GDDR3 (Graphics Double Data Rate 3) RAM memory on its PCI card, a type of memory that was designed by ATI, the graphics chip maker now owned by AMD.
The 9250 will fit in a single PCI slot, making it compatible with most desktop systems, workstations and servers. Power consumption is less than 150 watts, similar to the 9170. Performance is rated at eight gigaflops per watt.
AMD has a software development kit, the AMD Stream SDK, to help developers create applications that use the full abilities of the FireStream chips. AMD says the FireStream line is not only for high-performance computing but also more mainstream and consumer applications.
Chips in the FireStream line offer much faster performance for mathematical calculations than other processors. FireStream can take a single instruction and execute it using multiple sources of data in parallel.
The processor, which AMD refers to as a "stream processor" or General-Purpose General-Processing Unit (GP GPU) is capable of up to hundreds of parallel calculations per clock cycle, whereas other more general-purpose processors can only do a handful, the company said.
The 9250 will be available by the end of September for US$1,999. Last November, AMD released the FireStream 9170, the first such chip in the line that is capable of up to 500 gigaflops of computing power. A gigaflop is 1 billion floating-point operations per second. For single-precision calculations, the 9250 tops 1 teraflop, or 1 trillion floating-point operations per second, AMD said.
The FireStream chips can also perform "double precision" floating-point calculations. AMD says that helps runs intensive tasks such financial analyses and seismic processing much faster.
The 9250 comes with 1 G byte of GDDR3 (Graphics Double Data Rate 3) RAM memory on its PCI card, a type of memory that was designed by ATI, the graphics chip maker now owned by AMD.
The 9250 will fit in a single PCI slot, making it compatible with most desktop systems, workstations and servers. Power consumption is less than 150 watts, similar to the 9170. Performance is rated at eight gigaflops per watt.
AMD has a software development kit, the AMD Stream SDK, to help developers create applications that use the full abilities of the FireStream chips. AMD says the FireStream line is not only for high-performance computing but also more mainstream and consumer applications.
New Samsung handsets made from corn
Samsung Electronics on Monday unveiled two new mobile phones made with plastic made from corn as it expands initiatives aimed at being more nature-friendly.
The W510 is the first mobile phone Samsung has ever made using the new corn-based plastic, the company said. Samsung did not use any heavy metals, such as lead, mercury or cadmium, in the handset either. The company has been working on the new plastic as a way to produce more environmentally-friendly materials.
Several companies have worked on corn-based plastics, including NEC and Fujitsu of Japan, to replace petroleum-based plastics in products such as laptop PCs and mobile phones. The idea of using corn-based plastics has been around for years, and has been reignited in recent years by the high price of oil.
In the 1990s, companies started putting corn-based plastics in a range of products, including plastic bags, water bottles and diapers, but companies avoided using them in heavier products because the plastic was weak. More recently, researchers have mixed corn-based plastics with petroleum-based plastics to create a stronger material suitable for laptops and handsets.
The second corn-based handset Samsung released Monday was the F268, which includes an alarm on the charger to alert users when the battery is fully-charged. They company also made sure accessories for the F268 did not contain PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or BFRs (brominated flame retardant), a chemical used to make it hard for products to catch fire but that may be contaminating the environment.
Samsung plans to expand its eco-friendly handset line-up, a company representative said without being specific. European users will see other environmental features on all Samsung handsets, including the charger-alarm as well as more nature-friendly packaging. Globally, Samsung plans to stop using PVC and BFRs by 2010 in all handsets.
The W510 will be launched in Korea in June, while the F268 will hit China at the same time.
Samsung has operated recycling schemes for its handsets in South Korea since 2004 and China since 2005, a company representative said. Owners of Samsung handsets need only turn old phones in at Samsung repair and service centers in both countries.
The W510 is the first mobile phone Samsung has ever made using the new corn-based plastic, the company said. Samsung did not use any heavy metals, such as lead, mercury or cadmium, in the handset either. The company has been working on the new plastic as a way to produce more environmentally-friendly materials.
Several companies have worked on corn-based plastics, including NEC and Fujitsu of Japan, to replace petroleum-based plastics in products such as laptop PCs and mobile phones. The idea of using corn-based plastics has been around for years, and has been reignited in recent years by the high price of oil.
In the 1990s, companies started putting corn-based plastics in a range of products, including plastic bags, water bottles and diapers, but companies avoided using them in heavier products because the plastic was weak. More recently, researchers have mixed corn-based plastics with petroleum-based plastics to create a stronger material suitable for laptops and handsets.
The second corn-based handset Samsung released Monday was the F268, which includes an alarm on the charger to alert users when the battery is fully-charged. They company also made sure accessories for the F268 did not contain PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or BFRs (brominated flame retardant), a chemical used to make it hard for products to catch fire but that may be contaminating the environment.
Samsung plans to expand its eco-friendly handset line-up, a company representative said without being specific. European users will see other environmental features on all Samsung handsets, including the charger-alarm as well as more nature-friendly packaging. Globally, Samsung plans to stop using PVC and BFRs by 2010 in all handsets.
The W510 will be launched in Korea in June, while the F268 will hit China at the same time.
Samsung has operated recycling schemes for its handsets in South Korea since 2004 and China since 2005, a company representative said. Owners of Samsung handsets need only turn old phones in at Samsung repair and service centers in both countries.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Microsoft says it offered $9 billion to Yahoo
In a letter to employees on Friday, a Microsoft executive said the company had offered to buy Yahoo's search assets for US$1 billion and invest $8 billion in the remaining company, before talks between the two ended.
Microsoft's offer, which would have included a long-term search partnership, would have increased Yahoo's operating income by more than $1 billion above the search provider's current levels, Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft's platforms and services group, wrote in the letter to employees.
"Taken together, we believe that our proposal would have created total value for Yahoo's shareholders in excess of $33 per share," he wrote.
His letter comes a day after Yahoo said that it had concluded negotiations with Microsoft and decided to start carrying advertising from Google alongside its search results. Yahoo said it expects the Google deal to generate an annual revenue opportunity of $800 million for Yahoo.
Yahoo's stock had slumped to around $23.47 at the end of the day Friday. Microsoft recently pulled an offer of $33 per share for the whole company.
Johnson's letter, made available by Microsoft's press department, is the software maker's first public comment on Thursday's agreement between Yahoo and Google. That deal "would start to consolidate over 90% of the paid search advertising market in Google's hands," Johnson wrote. "This will make the market far less competitive."
He also hinted at potential difficulties the arrangement may face. "There are many experts who suggest that a host of legal and regulatory problems lie ahead for Google and Yahoo," he said.
Yahoo and Google have said they don't believe the deal needs regulatory approval, although they have submitted it "voluntarily" for review by the U.S. Department of Justice anyway. Google argued in a blog posting Thursday that the deal would be "good for competition."
Others have also expressed concern about how the deal might only strengthen Google's already dominant position in search advertising. U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, who is chairman of the U.S. Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, said Thursday he would examine the competitive and privacy implications of the deal. "This collaboration between two technology giants and direct competitors for Internet advertising and search services raises important competition concerns," he said in a statement.
Other such far flung organizations as the National Black Chamber of Commerce and the American Corn Growers Association have expressed their concerns about the deal's impact on search advertising.
In the meantime, Microsoft plans to continue to execute on its stated plan to boost its search and online advertising position including through internal development, Johnson said.
Microsoft's offer, which would have included a long-term search partnership, would have increased Yahoo's operating income by more than $1 billion above the search provider's current levels, Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft's platforms and services group, wrote in the letter to employees.
"Taken together, we believe that our proposal would have created total value for Yahoo's shareholders in excess of $33 per share," he wrote.
His letter comes a day after Yahoo said that it had concluded negotiations with Microsoft and decided to start carrying advertising from Google alongside its search results. Yahoo said it expects the Google deal to generate an annual revenue opportunity of $800 million for Yahoo.
Yahoo's stock had slumped to around $23.47 at the end of the day Friday. Microsoft recently pulled an offer of $33 per share for the whole company.
Johnson's letter, made available by Microsoft's press department, is the software maker's first public comment on Thursday's agreement between Yahoo and Google. That deal "would start to consolidate over 90% of the paid search advertising market in Google's hands," Johnson wrote. "This will make the market far less competitive."
He also hinted at potential difficulties the arrangement may face. "There are many experts who suggest that a host of legal and regulatory problems lie ahead for Google and Yahoo," he said.
Yahoo and Google have said they don't believe the deal needs regulatory approval, although they have submitted it "voluntarily" for review by the U.S. Department of Justice anyway. Google argued in a blog posting Thursday that the deal would be "good for competition."
Others have also expressed concern about how the deal might only strengthen Google's already dominant position in search advertising. U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, who is chairman of the U.S. Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, said Thursday he would examine the competitive and privacy implications of the deal. "This collaboration between two technology giants and direct competitors for Internet advertising and search services raises important competition concerns," he said in a statement.
Other such far flung organizations as the National Black Chamber of Commerce and the American Corn Growers Association have expressed their concerns about the deal's impact on search advertising.
In the meantime, Microsoft plans to continue to execute on its stated plan to boost its search and online advertising position including through internal development, Johnson said.
Support grows for universal power adapter
A technology that could help the environment by eliminating the need to ship a power adapter with every electronics device got a vote of confidence Friday from consumer electronics maker Westinghouse Digital Electronics.
Westinghouse said it had committed to using a smart power technology developed by a start-up company, Green Plug, that aims to let people use a single "universal adapter" to power their laptops, cell phones and other electronics gear.
Most products today ship with a custom adapter that converts AC power from a wall socket into the correct DC power required for each device. Green Plug's technology allows each device to communicate its individual power requirements to the power adapter, allowing several devices to share one adapter.
The technology's success depends partly on getting support from electronics manufacturers, who will need to embed Green Plug's firmware into their devices so that they can send their power requirements to the adapter. That's why Westinghouse's support is significant.
"We know we're not the largest [electronics company] but we are the first, and somebody has to be first," said Darwin Chang, CTO of Westinghouse, which makes LCD televisions, computer monitors and digital photo frames.
Besides helping the environment, the Green Plug technology will also help Westinghouse to cut its costs, Chang said. Eventually it could stop shipping power adapters with its products because customers will already have a universal adapter at home, he said.
Each adapter will act like a hub that several devices can plug into. The first are expected to go on sale in the first quarter next year for under US$100, Chang said. The adapters also will shut off the power supply when a device has finished charging or is turned off, giving further energy savings.
It remains to be seen whether other electronics vendors will follow suit. Green Plug also needs semiconductor makers to build its technology into chips that will go into the universal adapters. Green Plug CEO Frank Paniagua said his company already has one chip-maker on board, though he won't say yet who it is.
Westinghouse made its announcement at the second meeting of the Alliance for Universal Power Supplies, a group comprising electronics vendors, power supply makers, utility companies and others promoting standard power systems to reduce e-waste and inefficiency. The meeting in San Francisco was attended by representatives from Fujitsu, Motorola, Intel and Broadcom, among others.
The stakes for the environment are high. More than 3 billion power adapters will be shipped worldwide this year, up from 2.2 billion just three years ago, according to Greg Lefebre of the environmental consultancy ESS. The growth has been driven by the proliferation of devices like cell phones, MP3 players and digital cameras.
A whopping 434 million consumer electronics devices are "retired" in the U.S. each year, Lefebre said, including 130 million cell phones. In many cases those products, along with their chargers and power adapters, end up in landfills, he said.
Some vendors don't have an incentive to eliminate unique power supplies and connector cables, because they get supplementary revenue stream from selling replacements, Lefebre noted. He cited Apple, which uses a proprietary connector for the iPod, as a prime example.
There are other hurdles too. Code Cubitt of Motorola Ventures, speaking on a panel here, said product managers are fixated on providing a good "out of the box" experience. If the company ships a product without an adapter, and the consumer doesn't have a universal adapter at home, it creates a bad impression of the company.
Another issue is liability. If a company ships a product and a consumer plugs it into another vendor's universal adapter and it starts a house fire, all the parties involved could find themselves in court. That problem will be lessened if the product vendor can show it conformed to an industry standard, said Armando Castro of the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
In China, where 500 million cell phones were manufactured last year, the government has regulated that all cell phone chargers, including those imported, have a standard USB interface and output voltage, so consumers don't need a new one with every new phone.
Such regulations are unlikely in the U.S., but if the industry doesn't get its act together then the federal government may start to intervene in some way, speakers here said.
Green Plug offers its firmware to electronics makers for free so they can make their devices support its power specification, and it hopes to make money by licensing the technology to chip-makers. The cost to vendors to include the technology in each device will be about $2, Paniagua said.
Westinghouse said it had committed to using a smart power technology developed by a start-up company, Green Plug, that aims to let people use a single "universal adapter" to power their laptops, cell phones and other electronics gear.
Most products today ship with a custom adapter that converts AC power from a wall socket into the correct DC power required for each device. Green Plug's technology allows each device to communicate its individual power requirements to the power adapter, allowing several devices to share one adapter.
The technology's success depends partly on getting support from electronics manufacturers, who will need to embed Green Plug's firmware into their devices so that they can send their power requirements to the adapter. That's why Westinghouse's support is significant.
"We know we're not the largest [electronics company] but we are the first, and somebody has to be first," said Darwin Chang, CTO of Westinghouse, which makes LCD televisions, computer monitors and digital photo frames.
Besides helping the environment, the Green Plug technology will also help Westinghouse to cut its costs, Chang said. Eventually it could stop shipping power adapters with its products because customers will already have a universal adapter at home, he said.
Each adapter will act like a hub that several devices can plug into. The first are expected to go on sale in the first quarter next year for under US$100, Chang said. The adapters also will shut off the power supply when a device has finished charging or is turned off, giving further energy savings.
It remains to be seen whether other electronics vendors will follow suit. Green Plug also needs semiconductor makers to build its technology into chips that will go into the universal adapters. Green Plug CEO Frank Paniagua said his company already has one chip-maker on board, though he won't say yet who it is.
Westinghouse made its announcement at the second meeting of the Alliance for Universal Power Supplies, a group comprising electronics vendors, power supply makers, utility companies and others promoting standard power systems to reduce e-waste and inefficiency. The meeting in San Francisco was attended by representatives from Fujitsu, Motorola, Intel and Broadcom, among others.
The stakes for the environment are high. More than 3 billion power adapters will be shipped worldwide this year, up from 2.2 billion just three years ago, according to Greg Lefebre of the environmental consultancy ESS. The growth has been driven by the proliferation of devices like cell phones, MP3 players and digital cameras.
A whopping 434 million consumer electronics devices are "retired" in the U.S. each year, Lefebre said, including 130 million cell phones. In many cases those products, along with their chargers and power adapters, end up in landfills, he said.
Some vendors don't have an incentive to eliminate unique power supplies and connector cables, because they get supplementary revenue stream from selling replacements, Lefebre noted. He cited Apple, which uses a proprietary connector for the iPod, as a prime example.
There are other hurdles too. Code Cubitt of Motorola Ventures, speaking on a panel here, said product managers are fixated on providing a good "out of the box" experience. If the company ships a product without an adapter, and the consumer doesn't have a universal adapter at home, it creates a bad impression of the company.
Another issue is liability. If a company ships a product and a consumer plugs it into another vendor's universal adapter and it starts a house fire, all the parties involved could find themselves in court. That problem will be lessened if the product vendor can show it conformed to an industry standard, said Armando Castro of the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
In China, where 500 million cell phones were manufactured last year, the government has regulated that all cell phone chargers, including those imported, have a standard USB interface and output voltage, so consumers don't need a new one with every new phone.
Such regulations are unlikely in the U.S., but if the industry doesn't get its act together then the federal government may start to intervene in some way, speakers here said.
Green Plug offers its firmware to electronics makers for free so they can make their devices support its power specification, and it hopes to make money by licensing the technology to chip-makers. The cost to vendors to include the technology in each device will be about $2, Paniagua said.
EBay to open up merchant tool to developers
EBay will open a tool used by 700,000 of its merchants to external developers, the next step in an ongoing effort to promote the creation of applications for its online marketplace.
For the first time, eBay will feature third-party applications within Selling Manager, a tool merchants use to manage their eBay listings, the company plans to announce Monday at its annual eBay Developers Conference in Chicago.
"We're taking our open [application development] platform to the next level," said Max Mancini, eBay's senior director of mobile platform and disruptive innovation.
Selling Manager is the most popular tool among eBay merchants, but so far has only featured applications created by the company. However, eBay now recognizes that it can't extend the tool's functionality on its own in a way that meets all of its users' demands and requirements, Mancini said.
By turning Selling Manager into an open platform, eBay believes it will be able to enhance the visibility of third-party applications for the benefit of both the developers who create them and the merchants who adopt them.
The initiative, called Project Echo, is now in a closed, early-stage testing phase, and will open up to public testing at the start of the fourth quarter. A more advanced public beta test is slated for the first quarter and the official launch is planned for mid-2009.
Merchants will be able to browse and search an applications directory for tools and applications that could help them run their eBay business. In addition, eBay will also deliver to them contextually relevant promotions for such tools and applications, based on what the company knows about the merchants.
Mancini offered the hypothetical example of a merchant that sells its 10,000th item, a milestone that could trigger a promotional suggestion for CRM (customer relationship management) applications. "The point is to help sellers scale their business," he said.
EBay hasn't yet decided whether developers will have to pay for their applications promoted via the new contextually-relevant suggestion system, as in an advertising program. It's still early in the rollout of the system and eBay will settle on specifics later based on feedback from developers, Mancini said.
EBay is trying to help external developers market more effectively their applications, by giving them more direct and targeted access to the type of professional seller that typically uses Selling Manager, Mancini said.
"One of the biggest requests from developers is how we can help them to promote and distribute their applications to sellers," Mancini said.
Developers who participate in Project Echo will also get access to previously unavailable merchant data via new APIs, so that they can enrich their applications with additional functionality, Mancini said.
Meanwhile, PayPal, eBay's online payment division, will also court external developers next week when it announces a new Developer Central portal, designed to support the creation of applications for PayPal.
"The goal is to help developers be more productive," said Glenn Lim, PayPal's General Manager of Alliances and Developer Services.
The PayPal Developer Central portal will debut in July and will contain free business and technical kits, including marketing materials, sample code, training information and discussion forums.
The portal will also feature a directory where merchants can find developers who have been certified by PayPal for building tools and applications for the online payment system.
A preview version of the portal is already up.
In addition to the portal, PayPal will also announce several new APIs and fraud filters, including a Recurring Payments API for building subscription billing into an applications and a Reference Transaction API to ease transactions with repeat customers.
PayPal's Developer Program, established in 2001, currently has some 35,000 active developers, 300 of which have the PayPal certification. The eBay program, founded in 2000, has about 70,000 developers.
For the first time, eBay will feature third-party applications within Selling Manager, a tool merchants use to manage their eBay listings, the company plans to announce Monday at its annual eBay Developers Conference in Chicago.
"We're taking our open [application development] platform to the next level," said Max Mancini, eBay's senior director of mobile platform and disruptive innovation.
Selling Manager is the most popular tool among eBay merchants, but so far has only featured applications created by the company. However, eBay now recognizes that it can't extend the tool's functionality on its own in a way that meets all of its users' demands and requirements, Mancini said.
By turning Selling Manager into an open platform, eBay believes it will be able to enhance the visibility of third-party applications for the benefit of both the developers who create them and the merchants who adopt them.
The initiative, called Project Echo, is now in a closed, early-stage testing phase, and will open up to public testing at the start of the fourth quarter. A more advanced public beta test is slated for the first quarter and the official launch is planned for mid-2009.
Merchants will be able to browse and search an applications directory for tools and applications that could help them run their eBay business. In addition, eBay will also deliver to them contextually relevant promotions for such tools and applications, based on what the company knows about the merchants.
Mancini offered the hypothetical example of a merchant that sells its 10,000th item, a milestone that could trigger a promotional suggestion for CRM (customer relationship management) applications. "The point is to help sellers scale their business," he said.
EBay hasn't yet decided whether developers will have to pay for their applications promoted via the new contextually-relevant suggestion system, as in an advertising program. It's still early in the rollout of the system and eBay will settle on specifics later based on feedback from developers, Mancini said.
EBay is trying to help external developers market more effectively their applications, by giving them more direct and targeted access to the type of professional seller that typically uses Selling Manager, Mancini said.
"One of the biggest requests from developers is how we can help them to promote and distribute their applications to sellers," Mancini said.
Developers who participate in Project Echo will also get access to previously unavailable merchant data via new APIs, so that they can enrich their applications with additional functionality, Mancini said.
Meanwhile, PayPal, eBay's online payment division, will also court external developers next week when it announces a new Developer Central portal, designed to support the creation of applications for PayPal.
"The goal is to help developers be more productive," said Glenn Lim, PayPal's General Manager of Alliances and Developer Services.
The PayPal Developer Central portal will debut in July and will contain free business and technical kits, including marketing materials, sample code, training information and discussion forums.
The portal will also feature a directory where merchants can find developers who have been certified by PayPal for building tools and applications for the online payment system.
A preview version of the portal is already up.
In addition to the portal, PayPal will also announce several new APIs and fraud filters, including a Recurring Payments API for building subscription billing into an applications and a Reference Transaction API to ease transactions with repeat customers.
PayPal's Developer Program, established in 2001, currently has some 35,000 active developers, 300 of which have the PayPal certification. The eBay program, founded in 2000, has about 70,000 developers.
FBI warns of child-support card scam
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation warned Friday that online scammers are now targeting single parents who use the EPPICard system to receive child-support payments.
The criminals are running a typical phishing scam, but one that is targeted at a new group of victims. "Individuals have reported receiving e-mail or text messages indicating a problem with their account. They are directed to follow the link provided in the message to update their account or correct the problem," said the FBI's Internet Crime Complain Center (IC3) in an advisory. "The link actually directs the individuals to a fraudulent Web site where their personal information, such as account number and PIN, is compromised."
In another scam, victims are asked to fill out an online survey and are then told that once they enter their account information, they will receive an EPPICard deposit as a token of thanks for their answers. Instead, their accounts are emptied by criminals.
EPPICards are issued by government agencies in 15 U.S. states. They work like debit cards, and are promoted as an easy-to-use alternative to child support payment checks.
The EPPICard association also warns about the scam on its Web site. "We will never request your personal information such as social security number, card number or PIN through any of these methods," the warning reads. "Please do not respond to requests like these."
Scammers have also been trying to get this information via the telephone, the association warns.
The criminals are running a typical phishing scam, but one that is targeted at a new group of victims. "Individuals have reported receiving e-mail or text messages indicating a problem with their account. They are directed to follow the link provided in the message to update their account or correct the problem," said the FBI's Internet Crime Complain Center (IC3) in an advisory. "The link actually directs the individuals to a fraudulent Web site where their personal information, such as account number and PIN, is compromised."
In another scam, victims are asked to fill out an online survey and are then told that once they enter their account information, they will receive an EPPICard deposit as a token of thanks for their answers. Instead, their accounts are emptied by criminals.
EPPICards are issued by government agencies in 15 U.S. states. They work like debit cards, and are promoted as an easy-to-use alternative to child support payment checks.
The EPPICard association also warns about the scam on its Web site. "We will never request your personal information such as social security number, card number or PIN through any of these methods," the warning reads. "Please do not respond to requests like these."
Scammers have also been trying to get this information via the telephone, the association warns.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
HTC iPhone rival launches in Taiwan Saturday
High Tech Computer's Touch Diamond handset, the company's answer to the 3G iPhone, will be launched in Taiwan on Saturday as a series of promotional events begins leading up to sales of the phone at the end of the month, the company said Friday.
The suggested retail price of the handset is NT$23,900 (US$786). The price is only for Taiwan and does not reflect possible subsidies by service providers that want to bundle the handset with a 3G (third-generation) contract. Still, it's nearly quadruple the price of Apple's new iPhone, which now sells for just US$199.
HTC may have lowered its price a bit due to the iPhone launch, however. A few weeks ago, people familiar with the situation said the Touch Diamond would cost NT$26,000.
The Touch Diamond is a Microsoft Windows Mobile-based 3G handset with a 2.8-inch touchscreen, GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver and 3.2-megapixel camera. The iPhone boasts a 3.5-inch touchscreen, and many of the same wireless technologies, but only has a 2.0-megapixel camera.
Taiwan isn't the first place the Touch Diamond will go on sale. HTC shipped some handsets to Hong Kong CSL, a mobile service provider late last month. People in Hong Kong could buy the handset on May 31.
Apple's announcement of a US$199 price for the new 3G iPhone has shaken up smartphone makers. HTC's stock, which is listed in Taiwan, plunged after Apple's announcement over fears the iPhone's price will undercut HTC's smartphone prices.
The suggested retail price of the handset is NT$23,900 (US$786). The price is only for Taiwan and does not reflect possible subsidies by service providers that want to bundle the handset with a 3G (third-generation) contract. Still, it's nearly quadruple the price of Apple's new iPhone, which now sells for just US$199.
HTC may have lowered its price a bit due to the iPhone launch, however. A few weeks ago, people familiar with the situation said the Touch Diamond would cost NT$26,000.
The Touch Diamond is a Microsoft Windows Mobile-based 3G handset with a 2.8-inch touchscreen, GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver and 3.2-megapixel camera. The iPhone boasts a 3.5-inch touchscreen, and many of the same wireless technologies, but only has a 2.0-megapixel camera.
Taiwan isn't the first place the Touch Diamond will go on sale. HTC shipped some handsets to Hong Kong CSL, a mobile service provider late last month. People in Hong Kong could buy the handset on May 31.
Apple's announcement of a US$199 price for the new 3G iPhone has shaken up smartphone makers. HTC's stock, which is listed in Taiwan, plunged after Apple's announcement over fears the iPhone's price will undercut HTC's smartphone prices.
MySpace to shake up its layout
MySpace will unveil next week a large-scale redesign that will alter major components of the social-networking site, like its home page, navigation scheme, search engine and video player.
On Wednesday, MySpace users will see the first phase of the redesign, which has been in the works for the past six months, according to the company.
MySpace, the world's most popular social-networking site, expects the changes to boost user engagement by making the site easier to navigate.
MySpace is routinely criticized by users and observers for a layout that many consider visually strident and messy. Its members have many options to alter their profile pages, such as changing their background color, adding hyperactive animations, using fonts of many sizes and colors and plastering them with videos and photo slideshows.
On the other hand, rival Facebook is much more conservative in its design, aiming for a cleaner and more organized look, and gives its members fewer liberties to adorn their profile pages. In fact, layout and design is one of the key areas of differentiation between the two sites, and people often choose one or the other based on this issue.
As part of the redesign plans, MySpace has conducted surveys, performed usability tests and gathered focus groups.
In addition to revamping the home page, MySpace is also changing the profile editor to make it easier for members to design and decorate their profile pages. The profile pages will also undergo renovations.
Meanwhile, the search engine interface is getting a more streamlined layout, an enhanced relevancy algorithm and a tabbed results page including categories like people, MySpace site, Web, music and video.
In addition, the video player is gaining new controls and support for Flash 9 full-screen mode.
Facebook is also busy these days toiling away at a major redesign of its member profile pages, which it has previewed and which it hopes to roll out at some point this month.
On Wednesday, MySpace users will see the first phase of the redesign, which has been in the works for the past six months, according to the company.
MySpace, the world's most popular social-networking site, expects the changes to boost user engagement by making the site easier to navigate.
MySpace is routinely criticized by users and observers for a layout that many consider visually strident and messy. Its members have many options to alter their profile pages, such as changing their background color, adding hyperactive animations, using fonts of many sizes and colors and plastering them with videos and photo slideshows.
On the other hand, rival Facebook is much more conservative in its design, aiming for a cleaner and more organized look, and gives its members fewer liberties to adorn their profile pages. In fact, layout and design is one of the key areas of differentiation between the two sites, and people often choose one or the other based on this issue.
As part of the redesign plans, MySpace has conducted surveys, performed usability tests and gathered focus groups.
In addition to revamping the home page, MySpace is also changing the profile editor to make it easier for members to design and decorate their profile pages. The profile pages will also undergo renovations.
Meanwhile, the search engine interface is getting a more streamlined layout, an enhanced relevancy algorithm and a tabbed results page including categories like people, MySpace site, Web, music and video.
In addition, the video player is gaining new controls and support for Flash 9 full-screen mode.
Facebook is also busy these days toiling away at a major redesign of its member profile pages, which it has previewed and which it hopes to roll out at some point this month.
Insider threat exaggerated, says study
Insiders are not, after all, the main threat to networks, a detailed new analysis of real-world data breaches has concluded.
Verizon's 2008 Data Breach Investigations Report, which looked at 500 breach incidents over the last four years, contradicts the growing orthodoxy that insiders, rather than external agents, represent the most serious threat to network security at most organizations.
Seventy-three percent of the breaches involved outsiders, 18 percent resulted from the actions of insiders, with business partners blamed for 39 percent -- the percentages exceed 100 percent due to the fact that some involve multiple breaches, with varying degrees of internal or external involvement.
"The relative infrequency of data breaches attributed to insiders may be surprising to some. It is widely believed and commonly reported that insider incidents outnumber those caused by other sources," the report states.
"Our caseload showed otherwise for incidents resulting in data compromise. This finding, of course, should be considered in light of the fact that insiders are adept at keeping their activities secret."
Fifty-nine percent of breaches were attributed to hacking, 31 percent involved malicious code, 22 percent exploited vulnerability, with 15 percent involving a physical threat. Sixty-two percent -- the overwhelming majority - had at their root human error.
Nevertheless, the report cautions from using the statistics to dismiss the internal threat altogether. When internal or partner security compromises happen, they tend to involve greater amounts of data. Where data loss was involved, external security breaches resulted in a media of 30,000 records being compromised, some way behind the figure for internal breaches, at 375,000.
When internal hacks occur, they tend to be nastier, with 50 percent blamed on IT staff themselves, way ahead of other types of employee.
The report concludes that honest network admins are obsessed with outdated ideas of perimeter security. Had data security been looked at within the network, almost nine out of ten data breaches could have been avoided.
"While a strong network perimeter is important, it cannot be the only or even the main layer of protection around sensitive information assets," the authors say.
Verizon's 2008 Data Breach Investigations Report, which looked at 500 breach incidents over the last four years, contradicts the growing orthodoxy that insiders, rather than external agents, represent the most serious threat to network security at most organizations.
Seventy-three percent of the breaches involved outsiders, 18 percent resulted from the actions of insiders, with business partners blamed for 39 percent -- the percentages exceed 100 percent due to the fact that some involve multiple breaches, with varying degrees of internal or external involvement.
"The relative infrequency of data breaches attributed to insiders may be surprising to some. It is widely believed and commonly reported that insider incidents outnumber those caused by other sources," the report states.
"Our caseload showed otherwise for incidents resulting in data compromise. This finding, of course, should be considered in light of the fact that insiders are adept at keeping their activities secret."
Fifty-nine percent of breaches were attributed to hacking, 31 percent involved malicious code, 22 percent exploited vulnerability, with 15 percent involving a physical threat. Sixty-two percent -- the overwhelming majority - had at their root human error.
Nevertheless, the report cautions from using the statistics to dismiss the internal threat altogether. When internal or partner security compromises happen, they tend to involve greater amounts of data. Where data loss was involved, external security breaches resulted in a media of 30,000 records being compromised, some way behind the figure for internal breaches, at 375,000.
When internal hacks occur, they tend to be nastier, with 50 percent blamed on IT staff themselves, way ahead of other types of employee.
The report concludes that honest network admins are obsessed with outdated ideas of perimeter security. Had data security been looked at within the network, almost nine out of ten data breaches could have been avoided.
"While a strong network perimeter is important, it cannot be the only or even the main layer of protection around sensitive information assets," the authors say.
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