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Hackers Creating Networking Website
July 25, 2011 by admin
Filed under Around The Net, Internet
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Anonymous, which has taken credit for several high-profile cyber attacks in recent months, plans to launch what it says will be a new social networking site called AnonPlus.
The group’s move was apparently spurred by Google’s decision to shut down Anonymous’ Google+ account for community standard violations, a report by Mashable says.
For the moment, at least, AnonPlus appears to be little more than a single, somewhat poorly formatted page explaining what the site will be about.
“This lil info dump of a site is here simply to dispence (sic) info, soon the actual site will go up and you can begin to interact with it,” a message on the site notes.
“This project is not overnight and will take many of those out there who simply want a better internet,” the message noted. “We will not be stopped by those looking to troll or those willing to stop the spreading of the truth.”
The message doesn’t mention Google shutting down Anonymous’ Google+ account, but it does promise members that with AnonPlus there would be no fear of “censorship”, “blackout” or “holding back.”
Skype Gives Asterisk The Boot
The Internet is buzzing with news that Skype is in the process of giving Asterisk the boot by no longer offering Skype for Asterisk starting in July. Skype for Asterisk is proprietary software that was developed by Digium with Skype’s approval. The software was unique in that it allowed Asterisk based systems to join Skype’s VoIP Network. We assume this will not negatively impact current users for the next couple of years.
We wonder if Microsoft had a hand in killing this deal with Asterisk since they have a competing product. One could also assume that Skype wanted to develop a native application and not use Asterisk for SIP implementations. I guess we will need the executives at Skype to fill us in on the details one day.
Bill Had A Hand In Microsoft Buying Skype
One of the world’s richest people, Bill Gates had given his blessing for Microsoft to buy Skype for $8.5 billion dollars. Actually, Bill Gates pressed other executives on the board of directors to support or back the idea of gobbling Sky which has yet to turn a profit.
Word on the street is that Bill told the Gates BBC in an interview which will be televised this weekend that he played an instrumental role in getting this deal approved by the board of directors. So this really squashes any rumors that Steve Ballmer was the force behind the deal getting approved by the executive team.
AOL Launches Professional Division
May 19, 2011 by admin
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AOL Inc is launching a professional division called AOL Industry on Monday geared towards capturing the government, energy and defense executives attention.
The idea is to bring the use of social media, video and design from consumer-oriented sites and apply it to media for business professionals.
“(Trade media) hasn’t done as good a job at innovating as consumer media,” said Jay Kirsch, vice president and general manager of AOL Industry, who pitched the idea to AOL at the end of last summer.
“If you look at most of the innovations that have really changed media most of them have been consumer facing and not business-to-business.”
AOL Energy rolled out first and will be followed by AOL Government and AOL Defense in June. AOL Industry is not charging a subscription for access and will not have a print component.
Facebook’s Users Info Was Leaked
May 12, 2011 by admin
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Facebook users’ personal information could have been accidentally leaked to third parties, in particular advertisers, over the past several years, Symantec Corp said in one of its blog postings.
Third-parties would have had access to personal information such as profiles, photographs and chat, and could have had the ability to post messages, the security software company stated.
“We estimate that as of April 2011, close to 100,000 applications were enabling this leakage,” the blog post said.
” … Over the years, hundreds of thousands of applications may have inadvertently leaked millions of access tokens to third parties,” posing a security threat, the blog post said.
The third-parties may not have realized their ability to access the information, it said.
Facebook, the world’s largest social networking website, was notified of this issue and confirmed the leakage, the blog post said.
It said Facebook has taken steps to resolve the issue.
“Unfortunately, their (Symantec’s) resulting report has a few inaccuracies. Specifically, we have conducted a thorough investigation which revealed no evidence of this issue resulting in a user’s private information being shared with unauthorized third parties,” Facebook spokeswoman Malorie Lucich said in a statement.
Facebook Growth Very Good
May 3, 2011 by Mike
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Facebook Inc’s business is growing faster than forecast several months ago and the social media company is on track to surpass $2 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in 2011, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal.
Facebook’s growth is above the growth projections that circulated when Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies invested in the closely held Internet company, the newspaper said in its online edition.
The newspaper did not indicate by how much Facebook may exceed those original expectations.
Is Twitter Finally Getting A Competitor?
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Twitter your days alone at the top of the micro-blogging mountain may soon be ending. UberMedia, which owns major third-party mobile applications for the Twitter platform, is said to be building a service that will compete directly against Twitter. If it’s true, the move would come on the heels of Twitter briefly suspending the company’s apps for alleged use policy violations.
Citing unnamed sources, CNN.com reported today that UberMedia is looking to attract users to its own microblogging service by addressing common complaints about Twitter, such as its rules on message lengths as well as how the service can be confusing to new users.
UberMedia declined to comment on whether its programmers are building a new microblogging service. However, in an emailed statement to Computerworld, company marketing chief Steve Chadima said, “Our foremost desire is to continue to innovate on the Twitter platform and bring more users and usage to Twitter.”
UberMedia owns UberTwitter, which is for the BlackBerry platform; Twidroyd, for Android devices; and UberCurrent, which can be used on iPhones and iPads. The company also has been in the news in recent months because it’s moving to acquire popular Twitter client TweetDeck.
TweetDeck competes directly with Twitter’s Web and mobile clients.
Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, said he wouldn’t be surprised if UberMedia were to go after some of Twitter’s business, but the company would have an uphill climb.
Terror Alerts To Be Issued Via Facebook, Twitter
April 10, 2011 by admin
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The U.S. government may start issuing terror alerts via Facebook and Twitter, according to a news service report.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is working to re-design the current color-coded terror alert system. The new system, according to the report, would have only two levels of alerts — elevated and imminent.
Those alerts would be conveyed out to the public in part via social networking sites Facebook and Twitter . The AP article is based on a 19-page draft of the plan that the news service obtained.
“The new terror alerts would also be published online using Facebook and Twitter ‘when appropriate,’” the news agency reported, “but only after federal, state and local government leaders have already been notified.”
The new system is expected to be in place by April 27.
Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at Yankee Group Research, said the fact that the U.S. government is entrusting something as critical as terrorist alerts to Facebook and Twitter shows how important social networking sites have become to people’s lives.