Google offers free calls to (US) Gmail users: should Skype and telcos worry?
Google has added free voice calls over the internet to its free email service Gmail in the US - although some UK users have found they can also use the service to make calls to the US for free. The service, unveiled on Wednesday night, will let users make free calls at least to the end of this year within the US and Canada. That presently undercuts Skype, which charges per minute for calls to landline numbers. It also threatens existing VOIP providers, and the recently introduced MagicTalk service from VocalTec. But in using internet technology to carry the phone calls, Google is also positioning itself as a dangerous rival to US long-distance carriers, and telecoms companies carrying international voice traffic, which have seen their businesses being eaten into by calls carried over the internet. Many call centres, for instance, use voice-over-internet technology so that international calls can be handled more cheaply than with high-quality voice lines.
25% of new worms are designed to spread through USB devices
In 2010, 25 percent of new worms have been specifically designed to spread through USB storage devices connected to computers, according to PandaLabs. These types of threats can copy themselves to any device capable of storing information such as cell phones, external hard drives, DVDs, flash memories and MP3/4 players. This distribution technique is highly effective. With survey responses from more than 10,470 companies across 20 countries, it was revealed that approximately 48 percent of SMBs (with up to 1,000 computers) admit to having been infected by some type of malware over the last year. As further proof, 27 percent confirmed that the source of the infection was a USB device connected to a computer. So far, these types of infections are still outnumbered by those that spread via email, but it is a growing trend. "There are now so many devices on the market that can be connected via USB to a computer: digital cameras, cell phones, MP3 or MP4 players," says Luis Corrons, Technical Director of PandaLabs. "This is clearly very convenient for users, but since all these devices have memory cards or internal memory, it is feasible that your cell phone could be carrying a virus without your knowledge."
Military Computer Attack Confirmed
A top Pentagon official has confirmed a previously classified incident that he describes as “the most significant breach of U.S. military computers ever,” a 2008 episode in which a foreign intelligence agent used a flash drive to infect computers, including those used by the Central Command in overseeing combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Plugging the cigarette-lighter-sized flash drive into an American military laptop at a base in the Middle East amounted to “a digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control,” according to William J. Lynn 3d, deputy secretary of defense, writing in the latest issue of the journal Foreign Affairs. “It was a network administrator’s worst fear: a rogue program operating silently, poised to deliver operational plans into the hands of an unknown adversary,” Mr. Lynn wrote. The incident was first reported in November 2008 by the Danger Room blog of Wired magazine, and then in greater detail by The Los Angeles Times, which said that the matter was sufficiently grave that President George W. Bush was briefed on it. The newspaper mentioned suspicions of Russian involvement.
Shareholder trading values Facebook at more than $33bn
Facebook is now being valued at more than $33bn (£21.3bn) as investors try to secure a stake in the social networking site in anticipation of its flotation on the US stock market. The latest data shows that shares in Facebook are changing hands for up to $76 each, more than double their value at the start of this year. While Facebook is still privately held, shareholders are able to sell the company's stock through "secondary market" trading. By buying at these prices, some investors are calculating that Facebook is worth more than eBay or Dell, or nearly twice as much as Yahoo! Secondary market trading can artificially inflate the value of a private company, as the relative scarcity of its shares may encourage a buyer to overpay. But with founder Mark Zuckerberg thought to be planning to float Facebook in the next couple of years, there is already strong interest in what would be the tech sector's biggest IPO since Google went public six years ago.
RIM offers Indian government forum on data access
Research in Motion (RIM) has offered to set up an official forum to sort out concerns over the rights of the Indian government to monitor its mobile traffic.The Indian government has said that it wants the ability to track andaccessmessages sent via the company’s handsets, and gave adeadline for complianceof August 31 or else it would have to shut down operations in the country. In response RIM has now offered “an industry forum focused on supporting the lawful access needs of law enforcement agencies while preserving the legitimate informationsecurityneeds of corporations and other organizations in India.” “In particular, the industry forum would work closely with the Indian government and focus on developing recommendations for policies and processes aimed at preventing the misuse of strong encryption technologies while preserving its many societal benefits in India,” the company said in a statement.
UK consumers 'unlikely to buy 3D TV'
The report, which polled 4,199 Britons and was conducted by YouGov for Deloitte, found that only 89 respondents were likely to spend money on a 3D-enabled TV set over the coming year. The news comes as a surprise following a series of major 3D TV releases during 2010. Electronics brands, includingSony, Samsung, LG and Panasonic, have all launched 3D TV sets in the last few months and from October 1, Sky’s dedicated 3D channel will be fully live. Those aged between 25 and 34 were the most likely to say they were planning to buy a set, with five per cent saying they would invest in a set over the next 12 months. Britons over the age of 45 were least likely to be planning to purchase a 3D TV set in the foreseeable future, with only one per cent saying they would. However, the research found that UK consumers across the board, had little interest in investing in any type of new TV products or services, including internet connected TVs and personal video recorders (such as Sky+ or Virgin).
Life on Lockdown: See-Through Gadgets, DIY Media, No Internet
Imagine that every day you wake up in an airport security line. Now imagine that the security check is taking place on the airplane itself, in coach, on a very full flight. The overhead bins are full, so just below the seat pocket in front of you, the soles of your feet are pressed against your carry-on bag and one personal item. Your knees are bent as though you were about to spring from a high-dive. TSA employees work their way down the aisle, opening bags and swapping passengers’ shoes. You fidget in your seat, bumping your neighbor with every movement. His breath and body odor float over you –- aerosolized humanity wafting into a cabin full of sweaty smells. It’s time for a distraction. The TV works, but the Feds have banned MP3 players on airplanes. Luckily, you came prepared with a DiscMan and Case Logic folder full of CDs. See, there was a reason why you never threw them away. In California’s San Quentin State Prison, inmates spend most of their day on board this metaphorical 747. Their two-man cells are tiny, their personal belongings may take up just 6 cubic feet of space –- the equivalent of shoving your life’s possessions into four carry-on bags. Though they spend years waiting for takeoff, they are permitted to use approved electronic devices in the meantime.
Dollars and sense: tech startups discover revenue is good
Open...and Shut During the dot-com bubble, making money was optional. Given enough eyeballs, all investors are shallow, went the refrain, and money poured into silly startups that had little chance of ever making money except in equally silly IPOs and acquisitions. Today, by contrast, revenue seems to be sexy again. Not everywhere, mind you. A friend of mine recently talked with several startups about their revenue plans. These are name-brand web services that you likely use every day, yet their plans to make money were amazingly weak: "Our plan is to get lots of users, and we figure that sales will automatically flow from our large user base." Except that it doesn't, as anyone from YouTube to Pets.com can tell you. In fact, the more free-riders on a server, the harder it may be to convince people to pay for the service or software. This may be why roughly one per cent of Skype's 560 million registered users ever pay the company anything.
Google launches real-time search engine
The search company has been integrating real-time information into the body of its main search results since last December, after signing deals with Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. This has meant that when somebody searches for a particular topic on Google they have received real-time updates from a variety of social media sites, as well as the usual list of search results. However, Google has now developed a standalone real-time search engine, which crawls the web for the most up-to-the moment search results, as well continuing to integrate real-time result into its main search results. ‘Google Realtime Search’ can be accessed here and "soon" via its own web address: www.google.com/realtime. Dylan Casey, a product manager at Google, wrote on the company’s blog: “On the new homepage you’ll find some great tools to help you refine and understand your results. First, you can use geographic refinements to find updates and news near you, or in a region you specify. So if you’re travelling to Los Angeles this summer, you can check out tweets from Angelenos to get ideas for activities happening right where you are.
Russia, Turkey named 'most dangerous' web countries
Users in Turkey and Russia are at the greatest risk of online attacks, according to a recent report.
Securityfirm AVG said that the two nations had the highest concentration of attack attempts per citizen. The report compared attack attempts collected by its Threat Labs to the total number of its users in a country. AVG said that one in 10 of its Turkish users had been subject to an attack attempt this year. In Russia, meanwhile, one of every 14 users had been targeted for attack. Ranking third on the list was Armenia, with one of every 24 users subject to attack, followed by Azerbaijan and Bangladesh. The UK ranked 31 on the list, with one in 63 users attacked. Users in the US had a one in 48 chance of attack, earning that country the ninth spot on the list.
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