Gawkwire: Web Hosting and Internet News Resource

The rumored Skype sale by eBay: Much ado with little to go by

2009-01-29T09:27:00-05:00

Much of the media appears not at all convinced that this is so, despite all the attention paid to the rumors. In stories on the subject that are becoming practically obligatory by now, some publications are softening their headlines with "may" or "might," as in "EBay might consider selling Skype." Even more seem to be couching the headline as a question, a la, "Will eBay sell Skype"? ... Go to source http://www.gawkwire.com/business/the_rumored_skype_sale_by_ebay_much_ado_with_little_to_go_by.html

Cloud computing shapes up as big trend for 2009

2009-01-29T09:24:00-05:00

It is still early in the year, but cloud computing already is shaping up as a key trend for 2009.

At SoftwareAG's Cloud Computing Innovation Day in Santa Clara, Calif., on Tuesday, executives from companies including Software AG, Elastra, RightScale, and Soasta pondered the benefits and obstacles of cloud computing, a concept that generally involves enterprises utilizing third-party servers over the Internet to run applications. The event was at least the third cloud computing-related session scheduled in the Silicon Valley area since last Thursday. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/cloud_computing_shapes_up_as_big_trend_for_2009.html

Broadband stimulus passes its first hurdle

2009-01-26T12:00:00-05:00

The House committee on Energy and Commerce , which has oversight on broadband and energy matters, approved its portion of the Economic Recovery Legislation this week.

The broadband components of the legislation which is over 200 pages give the National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) authorization to allocate $2.85 billion for wireless and wireline broadband through a program of grants. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/broadband_stimulus_passes_its_first_hurdle.html

Building a better spam-blocking CAPTCHA

2009-01-23T09:45:00-05:00

How do you let people create user accounts or post comments on your Web site without letting spam bots in? Simple -- make your users prove they're human. Many Web sites use CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart) technology to try to tell the bots from the people.

CAPTCHA's idea is simple enough. It presents users with an image showing an obfuscated string of letters that they must type in to get an e-mail or social networking account, for instance, or to enter a comment on an online forum. The theory is that only humans can decipher the letters hidden in the image and type in the correct code, and for a time it was an effective tool to keep the bots out. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/building_a_better_spam-blocking_captcha.html

Mac OS X Trojan Found In Pirated iWork 09

2009-01-26T09:33:00-05:00

Mac security software company Intego on Wednesday said it had identified previously unknown Trojan software that affects computers running Mac OS X.

The Trojan was found with some unauthorized copies of Apple's new iWork 09 productivity suite on sites that traffic in illegally copied software.

Intego identified the Trojan file name as "iWorkServices" and said it gets installed when the user installs an infected copy of the iWork 09 suite. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/mac_os_x_trojan_found_in_pirated_iwork_09.html

70 Of Top 100 Web Sites Spread Malware

2009-01-23T09:40:00-05:00

Internet users are often encouraged to visit only legitimate Web sites to reduce the risk of malware infections, but distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate Web sites increasingly appears to be meaningless.

Seventy percent of the top 100 Web sites either hosted malicious content or contained a link designed to redirect site visitors to a malicious Web site during the second half of 2008, claims Websense's report State of Internet Security, Q3-Q4, 2008. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/70_of_top_100_web_sites_spread_malware.html

Virtualization: Doing More Harm Than Good?

2009-01-20T09:26:00-05:00

Enterprises virtualizing their infrastructure to help cut costs could be in for a shock -- system performance may be degraded and they may not save as much money as they had hoped, unless they manage the performance of their business-critical applications.

But that management is difficult because of a lack of tools that enable companies to look in on a virtualized environment and see what is going on, according to a study by Bojan Simic, an analyst at research firm Aberdeen.

The study, which surveyed 137 enterprises in December, found that companies do much better in improving performance for business-critical applications when they're in a physical environment, rather than in a virtualized environment. That's because they lack the adequate tools to do so under virtualization, Simic told InternetNews.com in an e-mail. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/virtualization_doing_more_harm_than_good.html

Mobile Internet To Grow Rapidly By 2010

2009-01-19T09:35:00-05:00

There are more than one billion Internet users around the globe, but a new study from ReportLinker said that number could be dwarfed by the amount of mobile Web surfers in a few years.

The report, titled "Mobile Internet 2010," said there are more than 4 billion wireless subscribers globally and many of these will be using their handset as the main Internet terminal. But in order for that potential to be achieved, the report said carriers need to boost their networks, and handsets makers need to do a better job of incorporating Web services into a phone's user interface. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/mobile_internet_to_grow_rapidly_by_2010.html

Latest Mac Mini Rumors Are Atomic

2009-01-19T09:29:00-05:00

Among the letdowns for Apple faithful at this month's Macworld show was the lack of a new Mac Mini model -- despite weeks of rumors, gossip and even images floating around the Web of what many Mac fans believed to be a case for a new Mini.

That setback hasn't stopped the rumor mill from starting up once again. And now, it's churning out more detail. Tom's Hardware, the popular hobbyist Web site, cited an nVidia partner in a report that says Apple was the first PC manufacturer to receive samples of nVidia's Ion graphics processor, ostensibly for use in an Intel Atom-powered Mac Mini. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/latest_mac_mini_rumors_are_atomic.html

Social Networking Attracting more Adults

2009-01-16T20:00:00-05:00

All though the main reason people use social networks is still to keep in touch with friends (89% consider it one of the main priorities of use), business usage is increasing. In fact, the majority of social network users have multiple profiles to separate work from their personal lives and work contacts from personal contacts.

Also not surprising, younger adults have a higher percentage of use. 75% of 18-24 year olds and 57% of 25-34 year olds have at least one profile. 30%, 19%, 10%, and 7% of 35 - 44, 45 - 54, 55 - 64, and 65 years old an older have a social network profile respectively. Women and men have an equal chance of use

MySpace is still quite popular with 50% of all social network users having a profile. 22% use Facebook. 6% use LinkedIn, and only 1% have accounts with Youtube and Classmates.com

The study found that privacy rated the highest amongst older users who preferred to keep their profiles private.

Social Network use was 8% in February of 2005 and has been steadily rising. The largest jump in use was between May and August of 2008 where usage saw a 15% increase.

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/study_social_networking_attracting_more_adults.html

Buying on Web to Avoid Sales Taxes Could End Soon

2009-01-17T06:00:00-05:00

In hopes of unraveling the complex tax rules -- and bringing states more money -- 22 states and many brick-and-mortar retailers support the efforts of a group called the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. The group is getting states to simplify their numerous tax rates and rules, in exchange for a crack at taxing online sales.

Shopping online can be a way to find bargains while steering clear of crowds -- and sales taxes.

But those tax breaks are starting to erode. With the U.S. recession pummeling states' budgets, their governments increasingly want to fill the gaps by collecting taxes on Internet sales, which are growing even as the economy shudders. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/buying_on_web_to_avoid_sales_taxes_could_end_soon.html

Microsoft refreshes Azure cloud tools

2009-01-16T11:48:00-05:00

Microsoft unveiled on Wednesday refreshed versions of its Windows Azure software development kit and Azure tools for Visual Studio, which support the planned Windows Azure cloud services platform.

The refreshed releases offer improved integration with Visual Studio, performance improvements with execution and debugging scenarios and improvements to the storage client and ASP.Net provider samples. Bug fixes are featured as well. Also included is added support to debug Silverlight in a Web role. Silverlight is Microsoft's browser plugin-based rich Internet application platform; Microsoft released the Silverlight 2 beta last year. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/web_hosting/microsoft_refreshes_azure_cloud_tools.html

Oops! Verizon CEO Leaks Microsoft Search Deal

2009-01-12T09:28:00-05:00

It's a little like giving away the punch line to a joke too early.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is primed to unveil a search and advertising deal with Verizon Wireless during his pre-conference keynote this evening at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

As it turned out, it was Verizon Communication's CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, who announced the deal during at a Citigroup conference Wednesday morning -- taking some of the surprise value out of Ballmer's speech tonight. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/oops_verizon_ceo_leaks_microsoft_search_deal.html

Another DNS flaw?

2009-01-12T09:22:00-05:00

Security researcher Dan Kaminsky made headlines last year when he discovered a critical DNS flaw. If left unpatched it could have crippled vast parts of the Internet.

As 2009 starts up, a new DNS flaw has emerged, but the severity of the threat is less pronounced.

ISC (Internet Systems Consortium) the group leading development of the open source BIND DNS server that dominates the Internet, quietly issued a patch to multiple versions of BIND this week. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/another_dns_flaw.html

Record Market Share Loss for Internet Explorer

2009-01-09T09:00:00-05:00

Researchers believe Internet Explorer is losing market shares based on the declining popularity of their older browser, IE6. Although IE7 also lost market share, it only lost six-tenths of a percentage point. IE8 will be unveiled soon as Microsoft states that it is “just around the corner.” Microsoft is betting that IE8 will halt the decrease in market share.

Google’s Chrome browser was off to a shaky start early in the fourth quarter of 2008 but has increased its revenue share to 1.04%. This represents a 20% gain from November.

Net Applications cites other reasons for Microsoft IE’s decline. Statistics show that holiday months such as November and December have been traditionally bad years for Internet Explorer as more Internet users use their home computers. Home and off-work computers (such as cyber-cafes) boast a higher percentage of non-Microsoft browsers, while corporate computers favor Internet Explorer. "The December holiday season strongly favored residential over business usage," the company said on its Web site. "This in turn increases the relative usage share of Mac, Firefox, Safari and other products that have relatively high residential usage. All December usage statistics should be read in that context." http://www.gawkwire.com/business/record_market_share_loss_for_internet_explorer.html

Microsoft to push IE8 via Automatic Update, issues blocking tool

2009-01-10T06:00:00-05:00

Microsoft Corp. yesterday posted a tool kit to block the upcoming Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) from downloading and installing automatically when it is officially released later this year.

If the company uses a timeline similar to its previous Web browser, the tool kit's release means that Microsoft is likely to deliver IE8 within the next three months.

In an entry to a company blog, an IE program manager said that Microsoft would push IE8 to users via its Windows Update and Microsoft Update services when the browser is finished. The blocker modifies each PC's Windows registry. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/microsoft_to_push_ie8_via_automatic_update_issues_blocking_tool.html

Steve Jobs Addresses Health Concerns

2009-01-09T09:27:00-05:00

Jobs cites a hormone imbalance for “robbing” him of proteins and thus causing him to lose weight. The drastic loss in weight has made many question if Jobs is still healthy enough to be the CEO of Apple. In his letter, Jobs stated that he “will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple's CEO.”

The open letter also discusses how he mishandled his health problems as far as the Macworld keynote speech. “Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed,” said Jobs. Indeed, many news outlets have been discussing whether Jobs has cancer or if Apple will collapse if Jobs passes away. These rumors have fueled a reduction in the value of Apple’s stock since early last summer.

http://www.gawkwire.com/business/steve_jobs_addresses_health_concerns.html

Hack forces Twitter into 'full security review'

2009-01-09T09:25:00-05:00

Twitter Inc. has launched a comprehensive review of the defenses in its popular social network and microblogging service after hackers hijacked the accounts of several high-profile users on Monday.

In interviews this week, analysts said they were surprised that sites such as Twitter, which are potentially hot targets for hackers and phishers, had long avoided such major attacks, and thus strong scrutiny by its corporate users. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/hack_forces_twitter_into_full_security_review.html

Five things Apple needs to do at Macworld

2009-01-05T09:40:00-05:00

Two important dates are coming soon for Apple: Its last appearance at the Macworld Conference & Expo, which begins in San Francisco today, and the Mac's 25th anniversary later this month.

With those two events so closely linked, it seemed that the stars would align to make this year's Macworld presentation even more exciting than in past years. Then Apple suddenly announced its withdrawal from Macworld, saying it would not take part in the conference after 2009 -- and that CEO Steve Jobs wouldn't even be at this year's big show.

Apple's departure leaves a cloud over future such events, although the 2010 expo is still scheduled to take place. It has also upset Mac fans who had been looking forward to Jobs' big speech. ... Go to source http://www.gawkwire.com/business/five_things_apple_needs_to_do_at_macworld.html

Mozilla, Microsoft Move to Nix Web Security Flaw

2009-01-02T12:49:00-05:00

A vulnerability in a widespread digital certificate technology has lit a fire under major Internet stakeholders, prompting moves by Microsoft, the Mozilla Foundation and others to prevent attackers from using the hack to endanger secure Web sites.

Researchers yesterday announced they had found a flaw in MD5, or Message-Digest algorithm 5 (define), a cryptographic technique used in a variety of security applications, including secure Web site certificates. ... Go to source

http://www.gawkwire.com/technology/mozilla_microsoft_move_to_nix_web_security_flaw.html