Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer (IE) browser has an unpatched vulnerability that could let hackers hijack, then access, Google Inc. Gmail accounts, a California security company warned Monday.
IE, said Santa Clara-based Cenzic Inc. in an alert issued Monday, contains an unspecified cached files bug that when combined with a cross-site request forgery flaw in the Web-based e-mail service, exposes Gmail account sign-ons and lets others access those accounts and any messages or file attachments there.
Although not a bug that can be leveraged remotely -- an attacker must have local, physical access to the PC -- as Cenzic pointed out in its alert, there are scenarios where that's not a limitation. "These vulnerabilities could be exploited such that all users of a shared computer, who use Internet Explorer and share a user account -- a common practice at computer kiosks in a library or Internet cafe -- could be vulnerable," said Cenzic.
Gmail contributes to the overall vulnerability because its URLs display attachments when viewed using the "View Source" command, the warning went on. IE, however, sports "improper use of caching directives [and] incorrect access checks on cached Internet Explorer files."
Together, the bugs could conceivably let someone at a public PC hijack any Gmail log-on credentials that had been entered on the machine since the IE cache had last been purged. IE deletes the contents of its cache only as new files are added -- and the oldest are deleted -- or when the user explicitly instructs the browser to clear the cache using the "Delete Browsing History" command.
Microsoft denied that IE even has a bug. "Microsoft has thoroughly investigated the claim and found that this is not a product vulnerability," said a company spokesman in an e-mail Tuesday morning. "In the scenario in question, an attacker would need authenticated access to the system in order to modify files located in the cache. With that level of access, an attacker could install malicious programs that would have more impact than the scenarios described."
While true, that did not address Cenzic's scenario; by design, public PCs such as those in libraries, schools or Web cafes do not require authentication to access. Microsoft was not available for clarification.
Google did not immediately respond to questions about Gmail's part in the threat.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
MPAA wins copyright case against TorrentSpy
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New Sprint chief Hesse faces a big inbox
New Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse has lots of choices as he takes over the ailing mobile carrier and looks for problems to start solving.
Sprint, the third-biggest wireless operator in the U.S., is losing subscribers as it keeps working through the merger of Sprint and Nextel, which occurred in 2005. On Tuesday, Sprint announced Hesse is taking over immediately for Gary Forsee, who was forced out by the company's board in October. Hesse, 54, previously led Embarq, the local wireless carrier Sprint spun off as part of the Nextel deal.
Sprint needs to both distinguish itself from competitors and get its own house in order, according to mobile industry analysts.
"They couldn't go on without someone who's willing to set a direction," said Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. Sprint could try to compete with Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless on price, or with more flexible terms of service, or bring out more innovative devices, but it's failed so far to choose, according to Greengart.
"Their brand right now doesn't stand for anything," he said.
One thing the Sprint name has been associated with recently is disappointing customer service. Reporting on the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company blamed accelerating customer "churn" to other carriers in part on longer help calls and waits for those calls. The introduction of simplified bills, expected to continue until the middle of 2008, boosted the number of those calls, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sprint also noted new handsets at rival carriers, clearly a reference to AT&T's Apple iPhone.
Meanwhile, thanks to about 700,000 subscribers quitting the aging Nextel network, Sprint's subscriber base as a whole declined by a net 337,000 in the quarter. The carrier said it had about 54 million subscribers on Sept. 30.
What could most set Sprint apart is also its biggest gamble, the WiMax wireless broadband network it plans to build across the U.S. at an estimated cost of US$5 billion. Though the WiMax network is likely to be in place first, set to reach 100 million people by the end of 2008, Sprint's main rivals plan to have their own high-speed data offerings using a similar technology, LTE (Long-Term Evolution). And WiMax won't fix Sprint's long-overdue need to harmonize its cellular operations, currently split between CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and Nextel's older iDEN technology, Greengart said.
If it goes ahead with WiMax -- interim CEO Paul Saleh said this month the business might be spun off -- Sprint will have to convince skeptical investors it's making the right move, said Yankee Group's Phil Marshall. It will also need to find a way for WiMax to truly complement the cellular business, Marshall said. So far, Sprint has painted WiMax as a mobile service distinguished from its conventional voice offerings by the promise of an any-application, any-device model. A better plan would be to push WiMax as an alternative to wired broadband that's bundled with Sprint's cellular service, Marshall said.
However, in the short term, Hesse just needs to get the company to run its existing businesses better, Marshall said. Cleaning up customer service would be one key move, he added. Judging from Hesse's previous performance -- he once headed AT&T Wireless -- the new CEO is qualified to do this, according to Marshall.
"He's very pragmatic and systematic in his management style," Marshall said.
Sprint, the third-biggest wireless operator in the U.S., is losing subscribers as it keeps working through the merger of Sprint and Nextel, which occurred in 2005. On Tuesday, Sprint announced Hesse is taking over immediately for Gary Forsee, who was forced out by the company's board in October. Hesse, 54, previously led Embarq, the local wireless carrier Sprint spun off as part of the Nextel deal.
Sprint needs to both distinguish itself from competitors and get its own house in order, according to mobile industry analysts.
"They couldn't go on without someone who's willing to set a direction," said Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. Sprint could try to compete with Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless on price, or with more flexible terms of service, or bring out more innovative devices, but it's failed so far to choose, according to Greengart.
"Their brand right now doesn't stand for anything," he said.
One thing the Sprint name has been associated with recently is disappointing customer service. Reporting on the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company blamed accelerating customer "churn" to other carriers in part on longer help calls and waits for those calls. The introduction of simplified bills, expected to continue until the middle of 2008, boosted the number of those calls, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sprint also noted new handsets at rival carriers, clearly a reference to AT&T's Apple iPhone.
Meanwhile, thanks to about 700,000 subscribers quitting the aging Nextel network, Sprint's subscriber base as a whole declined by a net 337,000 in the quarter. The carrier said it had about 54 million subscribers on Sept. 30.
What could most set Sprint apart is also its biggest gamble, the WiMax wireless broadband network it plans to build across the U.S. at an estimated cost of US$5 billion. Though the WiMax network is likely to be in place first, set to reach 100 million people by the end of 2008, Sprint's main rivals plan to have their own high-speed data offerings using a similar technology, LTE (Long-Term Evolution). And WiMax won't fix Sprint's long-overdue need to harmonize its cellular operations, currently split between CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and Nextel's older iDEN technology, Greengart said.
If it goes ahead with WiMax -- interim CEO Paul Saleh said this month the business might be spun off -- Sprint will have to convince skeptical investors it's making the right move, said Yankee Group's Phil Marshall. It will also need to find a way for WiMax to truly complement the cellular business, Marshall said. So far, Sprint has painted WiMax as a mobile service distinguished from its conventional voice offerings by the promise of an any-application, any-device model. A better plan would be to push WiMax as an alternative to wired broadband that's bundled with Sprint's cellular service, Marshall said.
However, in the short term, Hesse just needs to get the company to run its existing businesses better, Marshall said. Cleaning up customer service would be one key move, he added. Judging from Hesse's previous performance -- he once headed AT&T Wireless -- the new CEO is qualified to do this, according to Marshall.
"He's very pragmatic and systematic in his management style," Marshall said.
Congress slow on tech issues in '07
No one is calling 2007 a banner year for the technology industry in the U.S. Congress.
Congress passed a handful of bills on many tech vendor and trade group wish lists, but in several cases, they represented partial victories.
"This Congress so far has a record of neglect on technology issues," said Representative Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, whose party lost the majority in Congress in the November 2006 elections.
Goodlatte isn't an impartial observer, but members of the tech community also acknowledge that Congress has been slow to act on tech issues this year. Still, not everyone was expecting great things from a Congress that had to reorganize after the change in party control.
It's too early to judge this session of Congress, which continues through 2008, said Kevin Richards, federal government relations manager at cybersecurity vendor Symantec. "I think we have a lot of interest [from lawmakers], and this has the potential to be a tech-friendly Congress," Richards said.
Members of the tech community point to some success in Congress this year:
-- Congress passed the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act, which became law in August. The America Competes Act allocated US$43.3 billion for research and math- and science-education programs.
-- Congress approved a free-trade agreement with Peru in December, the only such agreement approved this year. Some labor and environmental groups opposed some free-trade agreements, but the pacts are "imperative" for tech vendors, said Sage Chandler, senior director of international trade for the Consumer Electronics Association.
The CEA, which launched a campaign against "protectionism" in October, said every trade agreement is important to its members. Upcoming free-trade agreements coming before Congress include Columbia, Panama and South Korea. A handful of CEA members are already doing business in Peru or would like to and between 2000 and 2006 U.S. consumer-electronics exports to Peru increased by 12 percent, Chandler said.
"Without the ability to sell into foreign markets and get components from foreign markets, our companies aren't going to be able to employ Americans," she said.
Some successes the tech community can point to, however, were partial victories:
-- Congress, in late October, passed a seven-year extension to a moratorium on access taxes and other taxes unique to the Internet. But many tech groups and lawmakers had pushed for a permanent tax ban, arguing that it was needed to foster Internet and broadband growth.
Opponents of a permanent ban successfully argued that it would remove a check on Internet service providers attempting to include other services, such as VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol), in the tax ban. In addition, some lawmakers argued that a permanent ban could cripple the ability to pay for services.
But some lawmakers argued Congress should've gone farther. The House of Representatives, which in the past has approved permanent extensions, this year passed a four-year extension and "had to have the Senate show them the way to a better seven-year extension," Goodlatte said. The "ultimate goal" should be a permanent tax moratorium, he said.
-- The Senate in December passed a one-year extension to a research and development tax credit for U.S. companies. The Temporary Tax Relief Act, which the House approved Nov. 9, extends the tax credit, which covers 20 percent of qualified R&D spending. But many tech groups have called on Congress to permanently extend the R&D tax credit, which has been extended a dozen times since 1981.
Supporters of an expanded tax credit argue that the U.S. has fallen behind other nations in its R&D support. Once the most generous with R&D tax breaks, the U.S. by 2004 fell to 17th out of the 30 nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
But the tax break comes with a price tag of about $7 billion a year, and Congress has been reluctant to extend the program long term. Some government watchdog groups have called the R&D tax credit corporate welfare.
But tech groups have said the R&D tax credit helps keep high-paying tech jobs in the U.S. And companies have a hard time mapping out their R&D when the credit keeps expiring, said Symantec's Richards. "The on-again, off-again nature of the credit makes it impossible for companies to do the long-term planning that's needed," he said.
In many other areas, Congress failed to act on legislation many tech groups called for:
-- Patent reform: Many large tech companies said their top priority was for Congress to pass a wide-ranging patent reform bill that would make it more difficult for patent holders to sue and collect massive infringement awards. The House of Representatives in September passed the Patent Reform Act, which would allow courts to limit patent damage awards if a patented invention is a small piece of a larger product. Among other things, the bill would also allow a new way to challenge patents within one year after they've been granted.
Supporters of the bill, including Microsoft and IBM, argued that it's too easy for patent holders who have no intent of marketing an invention to sue large companies and collect multimillion-dollar damages when a small piece of a technology product is found to infringe. "There are people who now just hold patents to sue and not to innovate," said Symatec's Richards.
Another important piece of the bill would limit where patent holders could file lawsuits, Richards said. Many patent holders file lawsuits in the patent-friendly U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, even though neither the patent holder or the accused infringer is located there.
Opponents, including pharmaceutical companies, some small technology vendors and inventors, have successfully stalled the bill in the Senate. They say the bill severely weakens the power of patents.
Senate leaders say they will tackle the bill again in January. Opponents will continue to pressure lawmakers, said Ronald Riley, president of the Professional Inventors Alliance, which has enlisted the support of some labor unions.
Opponents have talked about finding candidates to run against lawmakers who support the bill, Riley said. "We will have an all-out onslaught on the legislation," Riley said. "We think we will have to make an example of some legislators."
-- H-1B visas: Another top priority of many tech vendors has been an expansion of the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers. The current yearly cap is 65,000 visas, with exceptions for an additional 20,000 graduate students, but in recent years, the cap has been filled before the year begins.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates testified before a Senate committee in March, saying the U.S. should not shut out talented workers. "We have to welcome the great minds of this world, not drive them out of this country," Gates said. "These employees are vital to American competitiveness."
But U.S. tech worker groups such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA (IEEE-USA) have opposed a higher H-1B cap, arguing that companies use the program to hire foreign workers for less money than unemployed U.S. workers would receive. An H-1B increase to 115,000 was part of a comprehensive immigration bill in the Senate, but that bill stalled over a contentious debate about illegal immigration.
-- Data breaches: A handful of data breach notification and cybercrime bills stalled as Congress focused on other issues. The House approved two antispyware bills, one that created penalties of up to five years in prison for some spyware-like behavior. But the Senate didn't act on the bills, in part because there are concerns that the second spyware bill would preempt tougher state laws.
-- Net neutrality: Many consumer groups and Internet-based companies continued to call on Congress to pass a net neutrality law, which would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing competitors' Web content. However, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has included some net neutrality rules in an upcoming spectrum auction, and both Verizon Wireless and AT&T have recently pledged to allow outside content and devices on their mobile-phone networks.
Congress has also examined tougher penalties for copyright infringement, but hasn't moved legislation forward. With the change in party control, some things have been delayed, and "that was fine with us," said Art Brodsky, spokesman for Public Knowledge, a consumer-rights group that has opposed tougher copyright penalties.
Some observers expect Congress to be more active on tech issues in 2008. It will be an election year, and it will be hard for controversial legislation to move forward, but many tech issues aren't partisan, Goodlatte said.
Passing some tech-related legislation would show some progress, he said. "I would think that the Democratic leadership, in the miserable lack of success they've had in passing legislation this year, would be looking for a new approach in the new year," he said.
Congress passed a handful of bills on many tech vendor and trade group wish lists, but in several cases, they represented partial victories.
"This Congress so far has a record of neglect on technology issues," said Representative Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, whose party lost the majority in Congress in the November 2006 elections.
Goodlatte isn't an impartial observer, but members of the tech community also acknowledge that Congress has been slow to act on tech issues this year. Still, not everyone was expecting great things from a Congress that had to reorganize after the change in party control.
It's too early to judge this session of Congress, which continues through 2008, said Kevin Richards, federal government relations manager at cybersecurity vendor Symantec. "I think we have a lot of interest [from lawmakers], and this has the potential to be a tech-friendly Congress," Richards said.
Members of the tech community point to some success in Congress this year:
-- Congress passed the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act, which became law in August. The America Competes Act allocated US$43.3 billion for research and math- and science-education programs.
-- Congress approved a free-trade agreement with Peru in December, the only such agreement approved this year. Some labor and environmental groups opposed some free-trade agreements, but the pacts are "imperative" for tech vendors, said Sage Chandler, senior director of international trade for the Consumer Electronics Association.
The CEA, which launched a campaign against "protectionism" in October, said every trade agreement is important to its members. Upcoming free-trade agreements coming before Congress include Columbia, Panama and South Korea. A handful of CEA members are already doing business in Peru or would like to and between 2000 and 2006 U.S. consumer-electronics exports to Peru increased by 12 percent, Chandler said.
"Without the ability to sell into foreign markets and get components from foreign markets, our companies aren't going to be able to employ Americans," she said.
Some successes the tech community can point to, however, were partial victories:
-- Congress, in late October, passed a seven-year extension to a moratorium on access taxes and other taxes unique to the Internet. But many tech groups and lawmakers had pushed for a permanent tax ban, arguing that it was needed to foster Internet and broadband growth.
Opponents of a permanent ban successfully argued that it would remove a check on Internet service providers attempting to include other services, such as VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol), in the tax ban. In addition, some lawmakers argued that a permanent ban could cripple the ability to pay for services.
But some lawmakers argued Congress should've gone farther. The House of Representatives, which in the past has approved permanent extensions, this year passed a four-year extension and "had to have the Senate show them the way to a better seven-year extension," Goodlatte said. The "ultimate goal" should be a permanent tax moratorium, he said.
-- The Senate in December passed a one-year extension to a research and development tax credit for U.S. companies. The Temporary Tax Relief Act, which the House approved Nov. 9, extends the tax credit, which covers 20 percent of qualified R&D spending. But many tech groups have called on Congress to permanently extend the R&D tax credit, which has been extended a dozen times since 1981.
Supporters of an expanded tax credit argue that the U.S. has fallen behind other nations in its R&D support. Once the most generous with R&D tax breaks, the U.S. by 2004 fell to 17th out of the 30 nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
But the tax break comes with a price tag of about $7 billion a year, and Congress has been reluctant to extend the program long term. Some government watchdog groups have called the R&D tax credit corporate welfare.
But tech groups have said the R&D tax credit helps keep high-paying tech jobs in the U.S. And companies have a hard time mapping out their R&D when the credit keeps expiring, said Symantec's Richards. "The on-again, off-again nature of the credit makes it impossible for companies to do the long-term planning that's needed," he said.
In many other areas, Congress failed to act on legislation many tech groups called for:
-- Patent reform: Many large tech companies said their top priority was for Congress to pass a wide-ranging patent reform bill that would make it more difficult for patent holders to sue and collect massive infringement awards. The House of Representatives in September passed the Patent Reform Act, which would allow courts to limit patent damage awards if a patented invention is a small piece of a larger product. Among other things, the bill would also allow a new way to challenge patents within one year after they've been granted.
Supporters of the bill, including Microsoft and IBM, argued that it's too easy for patent holders who have no intent of marketing an invention to sue large companies and collect multimillion-dollar damages when a small piece of a technology product is found to infringe. "There are people who now just hold patents to sue and not to innovate," said Symatec's Richards.
Another important piece of the bill would limit where patent holders could file lawsuits, Richards said. Many patent holders file lawsuits in the patent-friendly U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, even though neither the patent holder or the accused infringer is located there.
Opponents, including pharmaceutical companies, some small technology vendors and inventors, have successfully stalled the bill in the Senate. They say the bill severely weakens the power of patents.
Senate leaders say they will tackle the bill again in January. Opponents will continue to pressure lawmakers, said Ronald Riley, president of the Professional Inventors Alliance, which has enlisted the support of some labor unions.
Opponents have talked about finding candidates to run against lawmakers who support the bill, Riley said. "We will have an all-out onslaught on the legislation," Riley said. "We think we will have to make an example of some legislators."
-- H-1B visas: Another top priority of many tech vendors has been an expansion of the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers. The current yearly cap is 65,000 visas, with exceptions for an additional 20,000 graduate students, but in recent years, the cap has been filled before the year begins.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates testified before a Senate committee in March, saying the U.S. should not shut out talented workers. "We have to welcome the great minds of this world, not drive them out of this country," Gates said. "These employees are vital to American competitiveness."
But U.S. tech worker groups such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA (IEEE-USA) have opposed a higher H-1B cap, arguing that companies use the program to hire foreign workers for less money than unemployed U.S. workers would receive. An H-1B increase to 115,000 was part of a comprehensive immigration bill in the Senate, but that bill stalled over a contentious debate about illegal immigration.
-- Data breaches: A handful of data breach notification and cybercrime bills stalled as Congress focused on other issues. The House approved two antispyware bills, one that created penalties of up to five years in prison for some spyware-like behavior. But the Senate didn't act on the bills, in part because there are concerns that the second spyware bill would preempt tougher state laws.
-- Net neutrality: Many consumer groups and Internet-based companies continued to call on Congress to pass a net neutrality law, which would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing competitors' Web content. However, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has included some net neutrality rules in an upcoming spectrum auction, and both Verizon Wireless and AT&T have recently pledged to allow outside content and devices on their mobile-phone networks.
Congress has also examined tougher penalties for copyright infringement, but hasn't moved legislation forward. With the change in party control, some things have been delayed, and "that was fine with us," said Art Brodsky, spokesman for Public Knowledge, a consumer-rights group that has opposed tougher copyright penalties.
Some observers expect Congress to be more active on tech issues in 2008. It will be an election year, and it will be hard for controversial legislation to move forward, but many tech issues aren't partisan, Goodlatte said.
Passing some tech-related legislation would show some progress, he said. "I would think that the Democratic leadership, in the miserable lack of success they've had in passing legislation this year, would be looking for a new approach in the new year," he said.
Privacy groups: FTC has obligation in Google deal
Two privacy groups are stepping up the pressure on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, saying the agency has an obligation to consider privacy concerns as it prepares to rule on the antitrust implications of Google's proposed acquisition of DoubleClick.
The executive directors of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) repeated their call for the FTC to impose privacy conditions if it approves the merger. It appears that an FTC decision on the $3.1 billion acquisition is "imminent," said Jeffrey Chester, CDD's executive director.
FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz in October suggested the FTC's review of the deal had to be about competition questions, not privacy, but Chester disagreed during a press conference on Tuesday. One of the FTC's main duties is to protect consumer privacy, and the merger of the number one search provider with the number one ad server raises serious privacy questions, he said.
Google's contention that there are no major privacy concerns is "absurd on the face of it," Chester said. DoubleClick says it serves 8 billion online ads and processes 964 gigabytes of Web server log files each day, he said.
"It would be a violation of trust, in effect abuse of their own role, in not addressing an issue of such concern as the data-collection apparatus within the ever-growing behemoth," Chester said. "If they're really the agency to protect consumer privacy, they will act to protect privacy. If they fail to act to protect privacy, they have basically put up a flag to American consumers saying, 'We surrender your data.'"
Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich repeated Google's position that the merger would have positive effects.
"This acquisition is good for consumers, advertisers and Web site publishers, and we continue to be confident that it will be approved," he said. "I would also point out what the FTC itself has said about privacy not playing a role in its review of the deal."
Last week, the two groups asked FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras to recuse herself from the decision on the merger, saying her husband works for a law firm that is advising DoubleClick on the deal in the U.S. Majoras declined Monday to recuse herself, saying that her husband isn't directly involved in the DoubleClick deal and that the Jones Day law firm is advising the company only before European regulators.
An FTC spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment.
Chester and EPIC executive director Marc Rotenberg repeated their calls for Majoras to recuse herself. Jones Day's Web site, until recently, said it was advising DoubleClick on the deal in the U.S. as well as Europe, they said.
But the most important step the FTC can take is to impose privacy conditions on the merger, Rotenberg said. The case for a privacy review "is very clear," he said.
Chester agreed. "Are they concerned about Americans' privacy, or are they going to give Google a pass?" he said.
The executive directors of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) repeated their call for the FTC to impose privacy conditions if it approves the merger. It appears that an FTC decision on the $3.1 billion acquisition is "imminent," said Jeffrey Chester, CDD's executive director.
FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz in October suggested the FTC's review of the deal had to be about competition questions, not privacy, but Chester disagreed during a press conference on Tuesday. One of the FTC's main duties is to protect consumer privacy, and the merger of the number one search provider with the number one ad server raises serious privacy questions, he said.
Google's contention that there are no major privacy concerns is "absurd on the face of it," Chester said. DoubleClick says it serves 8 billion online ads and processes 964 gigabytes of Web server log files each day, he said.
"It would be a violation of trust, in effect abuse of their own role, in not addressing an issue of such concern as the data-collection apparatus within the ever-growing behemoth," Chester said. "If they're really the agency to protect consumer privacy, they will act to protect privacy. If they fail to act to protect privacy, they have basically put up a flag to American consumers saying, 'We surrender your data.'"
Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich repeated Google's position that the merger would have positive effects.
"This acquisition is good for consumers, advertisers and Web site publishers, and we continue to be confident that it will be approved," he said. "I would also point out what the FTC itself has said about privacy not playing a role in its review of the deal."
Last week, the two groups asked FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras to recuse herself from the decision on the merger, saying her husband works for a law firm that is advising DoubleClick on the deal in the U.S. Majoras declined Monday to recuse herself, saying that her husband isn't directly involved in the DoubleClick deal and that the Jones Day law firm is advising the company only before European regulators.
An FTC spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment.
Chester and EPIC executive director Marc Rotenberg repeated their calls for Majoras to recuse herself. Jones Day's Web site, until recently, said it was advising DoubleClick on the deal in the U.S. as well as Europe, they said.
But the most important step the FTC can take is to impose privacy conditions on the merger, Rotenberg said. The case for a privacy review "is very clear," he said.
Chester agreed. "Are they concerned about Americans' privacy, or are they going to give Google a pass?" he said.
'Atlas' tools extend Lotus Connections
IBM on Tuesday released Atlas, a software toolset that provides advanced search and analysis functions for its enterprise social networking product, Lotus Connections.
"Atlas looks at the data within Connections and does some visualizations of the information," said Chris Lamb, senior product manager. "The main point is that it is a way to visualize the social data from a line-of-business perspective and a personal level."
The Atlas suite contains four components dubbed My Net, Find, Reach and Net.
The Net component provides a view of groups that have formed within an organization due to work on similar projects, IBM said. The point is to help users find ways to improve communications among various nodes throughout the company. My Net provides a similar view, but focuses on a user's personal network.
Atlas also includes Reach, a dashboard-like tool that helps users "navigate the six degrees of separation that divide them from a colleague," as an IBM statement describes. The purpose is to help workers more quickly connect with people in the organization who have a particular skill set or area of knowledge.
The last component is Find, which can provide search results that leverage social networking-related data, such as blogs and reporting structures, according to IBM.
Atlas and Lotus Connections fit into an ambitious push by IBM around social collaboration in enterprises.
A growing number of people use multiple networks and would like to easily move their profile data between them. Without providing specifics, Lamb said IBM is moving to address the problem.
"That's something that we're looking at, how we aggregate that," he said. "There will be some announcements around the Lotusphere time frame." Lotusphere is scheduled for Jan. 20-24 in Orlando, Florida.
IBM is selling Atlas through its Software Services for Lotus group. Lamb declined to provide specific pricing information.
"Atlas looks at the data within Connections and does some visualizations of the information," said Chris Lamb, senior product manager. "The main point is that it is a way to visualize the social data from a line-of-business perspective and a personal level."
The Atlas suite contains four components dubbed My Net, Find, Reach and Net.
The Net component provides a view of groups that have formed within an organization due to work on similar projects, IBM said. The point is to help users find ways to improve communications among various nodes throughout the company. My Net provides a similar view, but focuses on a user's personal network.
Atlas also includes Reach, a dashboard-like tool that helps users "navigate the six degrees of separation that divide them from a colleague," as an IBM statement describes. The purpose is to help workers more quickly connect with people in the organization who have a particular skill set or area of knowledge.
The last component is Find, which can provide search results that leverage social networking-related data, such as blogs and reporting structures, according to IBM.
Atlas and Lotus Connections fit into an ambitious push by IBM around social collaboration in enterprises.
A growing number of people use multiple networks and would like to easily move their profile data between them. Without providing specifics, Lamb said IBM is moving to address the problem.
"That's something that we're looking at, how we aggregate that," he said. "There will be some announcements around the Lotusphere time frame." Lotusphere is scheduled for Jan. 20-24 in Orlando, Florida.
IBM is selling Atlas through its Software Services for Lotus group. Lamb declined to provide specific pricing information.
Facebook watchers offer advice against data leaks
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Analyst: Apple TV leads pack in emergent industry
Apple's Apple TV leads the pack in terms of internet video delivery devices, though market growth has been stymied by lack of available content and the cost of entry, a report claims.
ABI Research also notes that market development has also been limited by competition from cable and satellite services, and lack of clear communication as to what benefits such solutions offer users.
Things may change next year, the analysts said. They believe that solutions like the Apple TV will see shipments of 1.2 million in 2008.
"Since this category first emerged in 2004-2005 with the debut of Akimbo's public internet VoD product, vendors of these products have struggled with a number of hurdles that have so far made this market relatively unsuccessful," said research director Michael Wolf.
"The high cost of these devices, their reliance on the home network, the need for consumer self-installation, and the scarcity of content have all contributed to their lack of commercial success."
However, increased availability of content should help the market grow, the analyst said. Making high definition films available online and the evolution (and explosion) of user generated content should also help promote such services.
Despite competition from existing services, and the gradual addition of on-demand content from service providers, Wolf notes: "We believe that there is a possibility of a break-out success among these new entrants if they can create compelling content offerings, make consumer installation and management incredibly easy, and offer both the hardware and content at compelling pricing. We believe one way to achieve this is by incorporating some premium content using advertising support."
ABI Research also notes that market development has also been limited by competition from cable and satellite services, and lack of clear communication as to what benefits such solutions offer users.
Things may change next year, the analysts said. They believe that solutions like the Apple TV will see shipments of 1.2 million in 2008.
"Since this category first emerged in 2004-2005 with the debut of Akimbo's public internet VoD product, vendors of these products have struggled with a number of hurdles that have so far made this market relatively unsuccessful," said research director Michael Wolf.
"The high cost of these devices, their reliance on the home network, the need for consumer self-installation, and the scarcity of content have all contributed to their lack of commercial success."
However, increased availability of content should help the market grow, the analyst said. Making high definition films available online and the evolution (and explosion) of user generated content should also help promote such services.
Despite competition from existing services, and the gradual addition of on-demand content from service providers, Wolf notes: "We believe that there is a possibility of a break-out success among these new entrants if they can create compelling content offerings, make consumer installation and management incredibly easy, and offer both the hardware and content at compelling pricing. We believe one way to achieve this is by incorporating some premium content using advertising support."
NetSuite raises IPO price range
NetSuite has raised the estimated price range for its IPO (initial public offering) to $16 to $19, from the original $13 to $16.
The company made the disclosure in a document filed Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company is following the lead of Google in conducting an online, auction-style IPO, instead of having underwriters set the price. The auction opened on Dec. 10 and NetSuite said at the time it expects the stock's price to be finalized on Wednesday.
NetSuite, which sells a line of hosted business software, is putting up 6.2 million shares of common stock. NetSuite expects to net about $98.4 million after expenses from the IPO, it said in the filing. That estimate assumes the stock will price at $17.50.
Scott Sweet, managing director of IPOBoutique.com, said he was "not surprised" by NetSuite's move.
Sweet, whose firm tracks the IPO market and offers advice to investors, said he is hearing a "very strong buzz" around the NetSuite auction.
"I still expect that it will likely price above the revised range, based on demand and the potential for NetSuite's ERP product," he said.
NetSuite has said it plans to use money generated by the IPO to pay off an $8 million balance on a line of credit with Tako Ventures, an entity controlled by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and to possibly make acquisitions.
Ellison controls about 60 percent of NetSuite's outstanding stock, which works out to about 31.9 million shares. He plans to put those shares into a "lockbox" limited-liability company, a move that would "effectively eliminate" his voting control and thereby avoid potential conflicts of interest, NetSuite has said.
The company made the disclosure in a document filed Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company is following the lead of Google in conducting an online, auction-style IPO, instead of having underwriters set the price. The auction opened on Dec. 10 and NetSuite said at the time it expects the stock's price to be finalized on Wednesday.
NetSuite, which sells a line of hosted business software, is putting up 6.2 million shares of common stock. NetSuite expects to net about $98.4 million after expenses from the IPO, it said in the filing. That estimate assumes the stock will price at $17.50.
Scott Sweet, managing director of IPOBoutique.com, said he was "not surprised" by NetSuite's move.
Sweet, whose firm tracks the IPO market and offers advice to investors, said he is hearing a "very strong buzz" around the NetSuite auction.
"I still expect that it will likely price above the revised range, based on demand and the potential for NetSuite's ERP product," he said.
NetSuite has said it plans to use money generated by the IPO to pay off an $8 million balance on a line of credit with Tako Ventures, an entity controlled by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and to possibly make acquisitions.
Ellison controls about 60 percent of NetSuite's outstanding stock, which works out to about 31.9 million shares. He plans to put those shares into a "lockbox" limited-liability company, a move that would "effectively eliminate" his voting control and thereby avoid potential conflicts of interest, NetSuite has said.
Sprint Nextel names Dan Hesse CEO
U.S. mobile operator Sprint Nextel has appointed Dan Hesse as president and CEO. He replaces Gary Forsee, who resigned in October.
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On this topic
CS3, Acrobat push Adobe to strong finish for fiscal 2007
Master Foo On Structured Documents
IBM expects $1 billion in India revenue this year
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Forsee left as Sprint Nextel fought to retain market share in the face of its two larger rivals, AT&T and Verizon Wireless. The company struggled with integrating the disparate customer bases of its two constituent parts, not least because the Sprint and Nextel wireless networks are based on different technologies.
Sprint Nextel's directors already know Hesse: he most recently served as chairman, president and CEO of Embarq, a company formed from the local telecommunications division of Sprint following that company's 2005 merger with Nextel.
Before that, he held the same roles at Terabeam, a wireless carrier, following a number of years at the head of AT&T Wireless.
Hesse will now join the Sprint Nextel board of directors, although unlike Forsee he will not be its chairman. That honor will remain with James Hance, who took the post following Forsee's departure, the board said Tuesday.
Sprint's two cellular networks serve around 54 million customers, and it also has licenses to build a national WiMax network, leaving it with something of an identity problem. Hesse will have to balance the needs of these networks as he sets out a new strategy for the company.
Click here to find out more!
On this topic
CS3, Acrobat push Adobe to strong finish for fiscal 2007
Master Foo On Structured Documents
IBM expects $1 billion in India revenue this year
Get practical tips, IT news, how-tos, and the best in tech humor.
Forsee left as Sprint Nextel fought to retain market share in the face of its two larger rivals, AT&T and Verizon Wireless. The company struggled with integrating the disparate customer bases of its two constituent parts, not least because the Sprint and Nextel wireless networks are based on different technologies.
Sprint Nextel's directors already know Hesse: he most recently served as chairman, president and CEO of Embarq, a company formed from the local telecommunications division of Sprint following that company's 2005 merger with Nextel.
Before that, he held the same roles at Terabeam, a wireless carrier, following a number of years at the head of AT&T Wireless.
Hesse will now join the Sprint Nextel board of directors, although unlike Forsee he will not be its chairman. That honor will remain with James Hance, who took the post following Forsee's departure, the board said Tuesday.
Sprint's two cellular networks serve around 54 million customers, and it also has licenses to build a national WiMax network, leaving it with something of an identity problem. Hesse will have to balance the needs of these networks as he sets out a new strategy for the company.
Clinton staffers banned from liberal New Hampshire blog
Less than a month before the first presidential primary in New Hampshire, a liberal blog in the Granite State has banned six usernames traced to an IP address belonging to Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign, because those using the names failed to disclose that they are affiliated with the campaign.
The Blue Hampshire blog traced two usernames to the IP address, along with four usernames that had registered with the blog within minutes of one another that were used to recommend a pro-Clinton post noted Dean Barker, managing editor of the blog, last week.
"Paid campaign staff are welcome in this community, but are asked to disclose their affiliation to a campaign, either through their signature line, a disclosure statement on a diary or even in the choosing of a user name," Barker wrote on the blog. "The fact that all the users mentioned above came from a Clinton campaign IP, but did not register with campaign email addresses and avoided making comments or diaries, instead only recommending pro-Clinton diaries strikes us as gaming the system."
The Clinton campaign did not respond to a Computerworld request for comment but told Blue Hampshire that the comments on the blog were not part of an orchestrated effort, but the product of "overeager staffers and volunteers."
"While initial acts like these are very small, when a community starts to sense there is no enforcement of the norms of the site, a slow slide into anarchy inevitably begins," Barker added. "Team Clinton is the subject of this post, but it is meant to be a warning shot across the bow of all campaigns. It is the fact that we do manage to have civilized discussions here among opponents that makes this line worth drawing."
One user on the blog, registered as Elwood, noted that there is a noticeable difference between "organized dirty campaign tricks and half-witted acts by volunteers and staffers." The Clinton staffers who commented on Blue Hampshire fall into the second category, Elwood claimed.
"If a campaign operative simply comes to a site like this and registers openly and makes his/her case openly she or he will be much more effective," Elwood wrote on the blog.
However, another user on the site, MBair, noted that there is a difference between one user promoting content that is supportive of a candidate and someone trying to "fake out other members of the community" by pretending they are someone they are not.
"That's exactly what's going on here," MBair wrote. "These users are not members of the community. If they want to start blogging and writing diaries, then sweet, the more the merrier. If they want to do it from a Clinton campaign machine then that's their business and anyone here would be extremely petty to fault them for it. But how do you even know that this isn't one person with a bunch of sock puppets? That's not cool as far as I'm concerned."
This is not the first time a candidate has grappled with the blogosphere. In February, John Edwards faced a firestorm of criticism over the religious comments made by two bloggers from his staff. The bloggers later left the campaign.
The Blue Hampshire blog traced two usernames to the IP address, along with four usernames that had registered with the blog within minutes of one another that were used to recommend a pro-Clinton post noted Dean Barker, managing editor of the blog, last week.
"Paid campaign staff are welcome in this community, but are asked to disclose their affiliation to a campaign, either through their signature line, a disclosure statement on a diary or even in the choosing of a user name," Barker wrote on the blog. "The fact that all the users mentioned above came from a Clinton campaign IP, but did not register with campaign email addresses and avoided making comments or diaries, instead only recommending pro-Clinton diaries strikes us as gaming the system."
The Clinton campaign did not respond to a Computerworld request for comment but told Blue Hampshire that the comments on the blog were not part of an orchestrated effort, but the product of "overeager staffers and volunteers."
"While initial acts like these are very small, when a community starts to sense there is no enforcement of the norms of the site, a slow slide into anarchy inevitably begins," Barker added. "Team Clinton is the subject of this post, but it is meant to be a warning shot across the bow of all campaigns. It is the fact that we do manage to have civilized discussions here among opponents that makes this line worth drawing."
One user on the blog, registered as Elwood, noted that there is a noticeable difference between "organized dirty campaign tricks and half-witted acts by volunteers and staffers." The Clinton staffers who commented on Blue Hampshire fall into the second category, Elwood claimed.
"If a campaign operative simply comes to a site like this and registers openly and makes his/her case openly she or he will be much more effective," Elwood wrote on the blog.
However, another user on the site, MBair, noted that there is a difference between one user promoting content that is supportive of a candidate and someone trying to "fake out other members of the community" by pretending they are someone they are not.
"That's exactly what's going on here," MBair wrote. "These users are not members of the community. If they want to start blogging and writing diaries, then sweet, the more the merrier. If they want to do it from a Clinton campaign machine then that's their business and anyone here would be extremely petty to fault them for it. But how do you even know that this isn't one person with a bunch of sock puppets? That's not cool as far as I'm concerned."
This is not the first time a candidate has grappled with the blogosphere. In February, John Edwards faced a firestorm of criticism over the religious comments made by two bloggers from his staff. The bloggers later left the campaign.
Microsoft security update cripples IE
Microsoft Corp. confirmed Monday that it is investigating reports that a security update for Internet Explorer issued last week has crippled some users' ability to get on the Web with the browser.
Users started posting messages to multiple Microsoft support newsgroups almost immediately after Microsoft released the MS07-069 security bulletin on Dec. 11, saying that they were unable to connect to the Internet, either because IE refused to open or because when it did open, it could not reach various sites.
"About 60% of the time, I would get an 'Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and must close' dialog," reported Bill Drake on the Windows Update newsgroup. Others echoed those comments on IE-specific forums, noting that both IE6 and IE7 balked at loading, or while loading, some pages, particularly home pages, on both Windows XP and Windows Vista machines.
Harold Decker, operations manager at San Diego-based Gold Peak Industries NA Inc., started fielding calls from users last Wednesday morning as soon as people hit the office. "I stopped everyone who hadn't installed the update from installing it, after four PCs out of 14 had the problem," said Decker, who manages a total of 35 Windows XP SP2 machines. "We're a pretty plain shop; all our systems run Windows XP SP2 and IE6," said Decker. "But some kept crashing. It seemed limited to the window that was opened, and changing the home page to something simple, like a blank page, gave a better success rate."
Decker cited numerous brand-name sites that workers at Gold Peak couldn't reach without crashing IE, including Federal Express' and Lowe's Home Improvements.
Microsoft said it is on the case. "Our customer service and support teams are investigating public claims of a deployment issue with Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-069," Microsoft's Mark Miller, director of security response, acknowledged in an e-mail. "If necessary, Microsoft will update the Knowledge Base article associated with MS07-069 with detailed guidance on how to prevent or address these deployment issues," Miller added.
Other users on the support forums weren't much help, except to suggest uninstalling last Tuesday's security update. That's what Decker did. "We uninstalled [MS07-069] and have had no problems since then," he said.
Users started posting messages to multiple Microsoft support newsgroups almost immediately after Microsoft released the MS07-069 security bulletin on Dec. 11, saying that they were unable to connect to the Internet, either because IE refused to open or because when it did open, it could not reach various sites.
"About 60% of the time, I would get an 'Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and must close' dialog," reported Bill Drake on the Windows Update newsgroup. Others echoed those comments on IE-specific forums, noting that both IE6 and IE7 balked at loading, or while loading, some pages, particularly home pages, on both Windows XP and Windows Vista machines.
Harold Decker, operations manager at San Diego-based Gold Peak Industries NA Inc., started fielding calls from users last Wednesday morning as soon as people hit the office. "I stopped everyone who hadn't installed the update from installing it, after four PCs out of 14 had the problem," said Decker, who manages a total of 35 Windows XP SP2 machines. "We're a pretty plain shop; all our systems run Windows XP SP2 and IE6," said Decker. "But some kept crashing. It seemed limited to the window that was opened, and changing the home page to something simple, like a blank page, gave a better success rate."
Decker cited numerous brand-name sites that workers at Gold Peak couldn't reach without crashing IE, including Federal Express' and Lowe's Home Improvements.
Microsoft said it is on the case. "Our customer service and support teams are investigating public claims of a deployment issue with Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-069," Microsoft's Mark Miller, director of security response, acknowledged in an e-mail. "If necessary, Microsoft will update the Knowledge Base article associated with MS07-069 with detailed guidance on how to prevent or address these deployment issues," Miller added.
Other users on the support forums weren't much help, except to suggest uninstalling last Tuesday's security update. That's what Decker did. "We uninstalled [MS07-069] and have had no problems since then," he said.
Google dips its toe into user-generated profiles
Google Inc. over the weekend quietly announced Google Profiles, which provide a way for users of various Google products like Google Maps and Google Reader to offer information about themselves to other users.
The announcement got some bloggers twittering about a possible future foray by Google into social networking. A Google Profile will initially include basic points, like a user's name, photo and location, and can include other information, like a person's profession.
"You control what goes into your Google Profile, sharing as much (or as little) as you'd like," Google noted on a Web page with a brief description about Google Profiles. "Use multiple Google products? Soon your Google Profile will link up with these as well."
Anyone can see a user's profile, the site noted, and if a user includes his full name in a profile, it may be returned in Google search results for that name.
The new Google Profiles are already available in Google Maps and Google Reader and will be added to other Web applications, noted Ionut Alex Chitu, in a post at the Google Operating System blog.
"It is not a stretch to see that these profiles are the perfect host for your activity streams, and your public activities could become a part of the profile (uploading photos to a photo album, bookmarking Web pages, posting a new blog post)," Chitu wrote.
Sepideh Saremi, a blogger at search engine optimization company Reprise Media, noted that this move, combined with Friday's announcement that Google Reader has been linked to the Google Talk chat feature in Gmail to help users better share content with friends, shows that Google is moving closer to building a social network.
Google is chipping away at rival Facebook by "leveraging the dependency Google users have on Google products and building a social network that integrates these products," Saremi wrote.
"Facebook, which tends to annoy its finicky user base by rolling out features that don't necessarily have the user's best interest at heart, should also look to Google when it wants to implement changes to its site," Saremi added. "Google is rolling out its own social features methodically, explaining them clearly, and respecting their user base by saying they will make changes per user feedback. Google's evolving social network platform will absolutely rival Facebook, and probably sooner than anyone realizes."
The announcement got some bloggers twittering about a possible future foray by Google into social networking. A Google Profile will initially include basic points, like a user's name, photo and location, and can include other information, like a person's profession.
"You control what goes into your Google Profile, sharing as much (or as little) as you'd like," Google noted on a Web page with a brief description about Google Profiles. "Use multiple Google products? Soon your Google Profile will link up with these as well."
Anyone can see a user's profile, the site noted, and if a user includes his full name in a profile, it may be returned in Google search results for that name.
The new Google Profiles are already available in Google Maps and Google Reader and will be added to other Web applications, noted Ionut Alex Chitu, in a post at the Google Operating System blog.
"It is not a stretch to see that these profiles are the perfect host for your activity streams, and your public activities could become a part of the profile (uploading photos to a photo album, bookmarking Web pages, posting a new blog post)," Chitu wrote.
Sepideh Saremi, a blogger at search engine optimization company Reprise Media, noted that this move, combined with Friday's announcement that Google Reader has been linked to the Google Talk chat feature in Gmail to help users better share content with friends, shows that Google is moving closer to building a social network.
Google is chipping away at rival Facebook by "leveraging the dependency Google users have on Google products and building a social network that integrates these products," Saremi wrote.
"Facebook, which tends to annoy its finicky user base by rolling out features that don't necessarily have the user's best interest at heart, should also look to Google when it wants to implement changes to its site," Saremi added. "Google is rolling out its own social features methodically, explaining them clearly, and respecting their user base by saying they will make changes per user feedback. Google's evolving social network platform will absolutely rival Facebook, and probably sooner than anyone realizes."
Apple patches keep coming: Mac OS, Safari beta fixed
Apple kept its rush of year-end security patches coming Monday, issuing a flurry of fixes for its Mac OS X operating system and the test version of its Safari browser.
Monday's patches included a whopping 31 updates for the Apple operating system. The Mac OS X patches fix components ranging from the Address Book and iChat software to under-the-covers operating system components such as ColorSync, the IO Storage Family, and the Perl, Python and Ruby programming languages.
Most of these flaws theoretically could be exploited by attackers to run unauthorized software on the Mac, although some of them had other security implications, such as allowing an attacker to gain access to sensitive information or download files to the computer without authorization.
These updates are for the Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 operating systems, known as Tiger and Leopard, respectively.
Apple also released a minor update to its Safari 3 beta code, which runs on Windows as well as Mac OS X, fixing a cross-site scripting security problem that affects Windows users.
The patches come just days after Apple released a major update to its QuickTime media player and a Java security fix for the Mac OS X 10.4 operating system, code-named Tiger. The QuickTime flaw was particularly serious, as it had been exploited by online criminals since early December.
With hackers and security researchers now paying more attention to Apple's products, the company's security team has been working overtime on bug fixes this year. Monday's patches were Apple's 35th and 36th security updates this year. In 2006, the company released just 22 sets of patches for its products.
Monday's patches included a whopping 31 updates for the Apple operating system. The Mac OS X patches fix components ranging from the Address Book and iChat software to under-the-covers operating system components such as ColorSync, the IO Storage Family, and the Perl, Python and Ruby programming languages.
Most of these flaws theoretically could be exploited by attackers to run unauthorized software on the Mac, although some of them had other security implications, such as allowing an attacker to gain access to sensitive information or download files to the computer without authorization.
These updates are for the Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 operating systems, known as Tiger and Leopard, respectively.
Apple also released a minor update to its Safari 3 beta code, which runs on Windows as well as Mac OS X, fixing a cross-site scripting security problem that affects Windows users.
The patches come just days after Apple released a major update to its QuickTime media player and a Java security fix for the Mac OS X 10.4 operating system, code-named Tiger. The QuickTime flaw was particularly serious, as it had been exploited by online criminals since early December.
With hackers and security researchers now paying more attention to Apple's products, the company's security team has been working overtime on bug fixes this year. Monday's patches were Apple's 35th and 36th security updates this year. In 2006, the company released just 22 sets of patches for its products.
CS3, Acrobat push Adobe to strong finish for fiscal 2007
Software maker Adobe reported a strong financial finish to its 2007 fiscal year, with revenue up 23 percent for the year and 34 percent for the fourth quarter on sales of its Creative Suite 3 (CS3) and Acrobat software, the company said Monday.
For its fourth quarter ended Nov. 30, Adobe reported record revenue for a three-month period of US$911.2 million, compared with $682.2 million for the same time period last year. Revenue beat estimates from analysts polled by Thomson First Call, who were expecting the company to bring in $837 million in the quarter.
For the fiscal year ended at the same time, Adobe reported revenue of $3.16 billion, also a record for the company, compared with $2.58 billion last year. Adobe's net income for the quarter was $222.2 million, a 21 percent increase over the $183.2 million reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006. For the year, net income was up 43 percent at $723.8 million, compared with $505.8 million in fiscal 2006.
Diluted earnings per share (EPS) for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 were $0.38, slightly above the company's own range of $0.35 to $0.37, and a 27 percent increase over diluted EPS of $0.30 for the same period last year. Diluted EPS for the year was $1.21, a 46 percent increase over EPS of $0.83 in 2006.
A strong end to fiscal 2007 is fitting for what turned out to be a banner year for the publishing and design software vendor. The company released CS3, a combination of its own graphics creation products and Web design and multimedia tools that it acquired from Macromedia. It is the first real blend of the two companies' complementary technologies in one suite.
CS3 so far has been well-received by the creative Web and production design community that has been loyal to both Adobe and the former Macromedia for years, making Adobe the leader among those customers. However, this position also inspired more competition in 2007, most notably from software giant Microsoft, which came out with its Expression suite to rival CS3, as well as new cross-browser software called Silverlight to compete with Adobe's ubiquitous Flash multimedia technology.
2007 also saw longtime Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen step down at the end of the fiscal year. He made the move as part of a planned transition and so he could pursue other career endeavors. Shantanu Narayen, former president and COO, is now chairman and CEO of the company.
Adobe on Monday also provided estimates for its first quarter of fiscal 2008, which ends in February. The company expects revenue between $855 million and $885 million and EPS between $0.34 and $0.36 for the quarter. For fiscal 2008, the company reiterated its target annual revenue growth rate of about 13 percent, which it previously announced.
For its fourth quarter ended Nov. 30, Adobe reported record revenue for a three-month period of US$911.2 million, compared with $682.2 million for the same time period last year. Revenue beat estimates from analysts polled by Thomson First Call, who were expecting the company to bring in $837 million in the quarter.
For the fiscal year ended at the same time, Adobe reported revenue of $3.16 billion, also a record for the company, compared with $2.58 billion last year. Adobe's net income for the quarter was $222.2 million, a 21 percent increase over the $183.2 million reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006. For the year, net income was up 43 percent at $723.8 million, compared with $505.8 million in fiscal 2006.
Diluted earnings per share (EPS) for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 were $0.38, slightly above the company's own range of $0.35 to $0.37, and a 27 percent increase over diluted EPS of $0.30 for the same period last year. Diluted EPS for the year was $1.21, a 46 percent increase over EPS of $0.83 in 2006.
A strong end to fiscal 2007 is fitting for what turned out to be a banner year for the publishing and design software vendor. The company released CS3, a combination of its own graphics creation products and Web design and multimedia tools that it acquired from Macromedia. It is the first real blend of the two companies' complementary technologies in one suite.
CS3 so far has been well-received by the creative Web and production design community that has been loyal to both Adobe and the former Macromedia for years, making Adobe the leader among those customers. However, this position also inspired more competition in 2007, most notably from software giant Microsoft, which came out with its Expression suite to rival CS3, as well as new cross-browser software called Silverlight to compete with Adobe's ubiquitous Flash multimedia technology.
2007 also saw longtime Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen step down at the end of the fiscal year. He made the move as part of a planned transition and so he could pursue other career endeavors. Shantanu Narayen, former president and COO, is now chairman and CEO of the company.
Adobe on Monday also provided estimates for its first quarter of fiscal 2008, which ends in February. The company expects revenue between $855 million and $885 million and EPS between $0.34 and $0.36 for the quarter. For fiscal 2008, the company reiterated its target annual revenue growth rate of about 13 percent, which it previously announced.
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