Sony to restore Playstation Network in Japan this week

By Martyn Williams
Edited by Anthony Ian G. Etcobanez

Gaming network finally resumes after two and a half months of suspension

Sony said Tuesday it plans to restore by this weekend playstation

Sony will fully restore PlayStation Network service to users in Japan this week, ending a two-and-a-half month suspension of service, and bringing to a close an embarrassing incident that began with the largest known loss of customer information by a company.

Users in Japan will be able to access all functions of the PlayStation Store and Qriocity services from July 6, Sony said. The PlayStation Store is an online shopping mall offering games and video to PlayStation users, while the Qriocity service offers video content to Internet-linked consumer electronics devices like televisions.

The services were suspended worldwide on April 20 when Sony detected a sophisticated intrusion had hit one of its data centres.

An investigation established that attackers had managed to bypass three firewalls to steal data on all 77 million registered accounts. The stolen data included user names, email addresses, login IDs and passwords. It was originally feared that millions of credit card numbers had also been leaked, but Sony later said it was unable to find any evidence that the credit card database was accessed.

Sony asked users to change passwords, and to date it says there have been no reports of unauthorised credit card usage linked to the attack.

The attack left Sony reeling, and the services were offline for weeks while the company rebuilt its security system. Sony reintroduced service in stages, with online gaming first being switched on for users in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand in the middle of May. That followed for users in Asia in June, and PlayStation Store service was subsequently restored for users in all regions except Japan.

The PlayStation Store remained offline in Japan while Sony discussed the data breach with authorities and briefed them on its new security system, said Satoshi Fukuoka, a spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment. With progress made in those discussions, Sony is now able to resume service.

When that happens on Wednesday, the service will be fully restored globally to the same level as before April's attack.

The attack and Sony's response to it is estimated to cost the company around ¥14 billion (£108 million) this financial year. That includes the cost of calling in several computer security companies to investigate the attack, the rebuild of its security system, identity theft monitoring for users in some countries, and the offer of several free games to users.

Facebook hits back at Google+ with Skype partnership

By Sharon Gaudin
Edited By Anthony Ian G. Etcobanez

A little more than a week after Google unveiled its own social network, Facebook responded today with upgrades to its site, in an attempt to curb growing enthusiasm for the Google+ project.

After teasing last week that today's announcement was going to be "awesome," Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg took the wraps off a partnership with Skype that brings video chat to the social network. The news also came with the unveiling of a new group chat feature for the site.

The announcement seem to take a swing directly at Google+ , which opened with a "Hangouts" feature that is similar to an online group conference call. Facebook's response to that is to work with Skype for its own group call feature.

That, say industry analysts, is a sign that Google+ may be sufficiently compelling to have Facebook glancing a bit nervously over its shoulder.

"The Skype deal isn't something they cobbled together in a week, but Google's announcement might have accelerated this a bit," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Gartner. "I don't think this takes the wind out of the sails of Google+. They're kind of different experiences."

Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group, said Facebook just might have succeeded in taking some of the lustre off Google+.

"This is Facebook both responding to Google's announcement and pointing out to the market that Facebook has at least a 749 million user lead over Google+," Olds said. "And Facebook also is signalling that they aren't going to stand still and watch Google+ come on. So yes, they are taking away some of Google's momentum."

While Google and Facebook have been competitors over the past year, Google's introduction of its own social network raises the stakes to a new level. And that is where Microsoft comes into the mix.
Microsoft and Facebook have been partners for several years, and Microsoft bought an early stake in the social network in 2007. That was a fortuitous move, which has made Microsoft and its partner Facebook common enemies of Google. They can work together to battle Google, and the Facebook/Skype deal is proof of it.

In May, Microsoft agreed to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion. While the deal hasn't closed, upon news of the upcoming buy there was immediate speculation that Facebook would benefit from it.

"We are going to see Facebook work with partners to try to circle the wagons against Google," said Gartenberg. "It does become a little of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Could Microsoft and Facebook find themselves in competition down the road? Sure. But right now they have a common enemy in the guise of Google."

But despite Facebook's partnership with Skype and Microsoft, Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, said today's announcement does make it look like Facebook is chasing Google.

"Facebook may have started down this path first, but Google made theirs public first, so it makes it look like Facebook is catching up," Enderle said. "Still, both Facebook and Skype have a massive lead in their respective markets and that could render Google+ redundant regardless of how good it is. Facebook and Skype have a massive advantage with respect to customer reach against the very new and unique Google+ offering."

HyperDrive for iPad review

By Cliff Joseph
Edited by Anthony Ian G. Etcobanez


One of the very few complaints levelled at the iPad is that it’s not possible to increase the amount of internal storage built into it. You don’t need a huge library of music and video files to quickly fill up the 16GB and 32GB models, and even the most expensive iPad model has a modest 64GB of storage.

Some people argue that the iPad should contain an SD card slot to enable users to store and access files using expandable storage, something that’s not likely to happen. However, HyperMac’s new HyperDrive is an ingenious if pricey way of getting around that issue.

The HyperDrive is essentially a conventional hard drive, available in sizes between 320GB and 750GB, but it also sports a 3.2in colour screen that displays a series of icons for the main controls. You can connect the HyperDrive to a Mac or PC using a USB cable, and copy photos and video files to it just like an ordinary hard drive.

The HyperDrive also has two slots that take most types of memory card (CF, SD, MMC, MS) so that you can quickly transfer files from a digital camera. HyperMac claims that battery life should last long enough to transfer about 250GB worth of files back and forth.

Finally, a solution to storing more photo and video files for viewing on your iPad

Photos that you transfer onto the HyperDrive can be previewed on its own screen, before you connect it to your iPad. You can only connect the HyperDrive to an iPad by using the USB adaptor that’s part of Apple’s Camera Connection Kit. This costs another £25, but most keen photographers will probably own one already.

You connect the HyperDrive to the Camera Connection Kit and then use the screen on the HyperDrive to locate the folders that you want to transfer onto the iPad. The contents of each folder then appear rather miraculously on the iPad’s screen. You can tap the Import All button on the iPad to import the entire folder, or tap on individual photos or videos you want to import. Your files are added to the Photos app on the iPad, ready for viewing. Want a stock of videos for a long flight? Bring them along on the HyperDrive.

But the HyperDrive does have a couple of rough edges. The on-screen controls are a bit slow, and there was sometimes a pause before it made the connection. You can’t transfer files from the iPad onto the HyperDrive either to free up space.

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Google shuts down Google+ invitation system after massive demand

By Sharon Gaudin

Edited by Anthony Ian G. Etcobanez 

Social network service closes doors after flood of new users

Interest in Google's new social networking service has exceeded not only the company's expectations but its ability to keep up with the new demand.

Late on Wednesday night, Vic Gundotra, a senior vice president of Social for Google, posted on the Google+ network that the company has been overwhelmed with interest and had to stop taking new users. Google+ is no longer taking new users, even if they received invites to join.

"We've shut down invite mechanism for the night," Gundotra posted. "Insane demand. We need to do this carefully, and in a controlled way. Thank you all for your interest!"

The shutdown means people can't invite anyone else to join Google+ right now, and even people who already had been invited onto the network can't get in. "Already invited? We've temporarily exceeded our capacity. Please try again soon," was the message one would-be user who was invited got today.

A Google spokeswoman said she didn't have any information on how many people have signed up to use Google+ or how many invitations have been sent out. She did say that the invitation process will be opened and closed periodically as the company works on getting the network ready for its big public release.

"We launched Google+ in a field trial in order to test the product out and gather more feedback," the spokeswoman wrote. "As part of the field trial, we may open and close Google+ to new users at any time. We're thrilled so many people are interested in trying out a new approach to online sharing."

She added that the goal of the field trial is see exactly how Google+ works outside of the company's own walls. And Google also is looking for user feedback and time to fix any bugs they may find. The spokeswoman did not offer details on what bugs may have been found, and she could not say when Google+ will be released publicly.

Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with CurrentAnalysis, said a limited field test may actually frustrate people who want to get on the network and try it out, but can't.

"It makes [Google] seem like they're not ready for primetime," said Gottheil. "You can't really use a social network unless you have a social network.... They get one chance to get attention, but I think [Google] would have been better off with something like, "Try it with one small circle, limited to 10 or 20 or whatever members, instead of something so limited."

Google took the wraps off its new Google+ project on Tuesday, after months of Internet buzz that Google was working on a social network that could take on Facebook, now the largest social service in the world. Facebook has more than 500 million users.

When Google launched its network, the company didn't open it up to everyone. Instead, a small group of people, including some journalists, were invited to try out Google+ and invite 15 others to join them.

Al-Qaida communications network knocked down by hacker attack

By John Ribeiro

Edited by Anthony Ian Etcobanez

Al-Shamukh web forum taken out in sophisticated assault

Terrorist group al-Qaida has been left without a trusted operational channel on the Internet for distributing its media and propaganda, according to a terrorism expert.

"I really can't say for certain how or why this happened, other than that it involved apparently separate attacks on both the domain name and data server used by al-Qaida's trusted forum, Al-Shamukh," Evan Kohlmann of Flashpoint Partners said. That kind of coordinated event doesn't typically occur by happenstance, he added.
Other jihadi forums left online still allow "the rabble" to communicate with others, but none of them are fully trusted by al-Qaida, said Kohlmann who has spent over a decade tracking al-Qaida and other terrorist organisations. The incident began in earnest about 72 hours ago, he said.

Kohlmann reported earlier this week in a message on Twitter that hackers hijacked the primary web domain used by the Shamukh chat forum, which disseminates propaganda on behalf of al-Qaida. He later reported that the entire website was unavailable, and two more top tier jihadi web forums had also been mysteriously knocked offline, including the Arabic-language Ansar al-Mujahideen network.

Kohlmann said on Wednesday that he was certain that al-Qaida has backup copies of the forum database, and there are various mirrors of their material still available online, such as aljahad.com/vb. But there is no other trusted channel left for al-Qaida to release new material through. Either Shamukh must be resurrected, or else al-Qaida must establish a direct relationship with a new forum, he added.

Shamukh is at present the critical linchpin in the network, Kohlmann said. "I'm sure that Shamukh will eventually be replaced by another forum, just as it replaced the former top tier "al Faloja" forum last year," he added.

The list of potential suspects who may have brought down al-Qaida's online communications channels includes both government-sponsored hackers from the US and the UK, as well as independent cyber vigilantes, Kohlmann said. One frequent hacktivist who launches these types of attacks is known as th3j35t3r, he said.

Known as the Jester, th3j35t3r describes himself on his Twitter account as a "hacktivist for good. Obstructing the lines of communication for terrorists, sympathisers, fixers, facilitators and other general bad guys". Jester did not claim credit for the Shamukh hack on either the Twitter account or on his blog.

 

Google+ challenges Facebook in social network battle

BBC News

Edited by Anthony Ian G. Etcobanez

Online search giant Google has launched a new social networking website in its latest attempt to take on Facebook, which now claims more than 500m users.

Google+ allows individuals to share photos, messages and comments but also integrates the company's maps and images into the service.

It also aims to help users easily organise contacts within groups.

But some analysts say Google has simply reproduced features of Facebook while adding a video chat function.

Google, which handles roughly two out of every three internet searches in the US, has taken several stabs at Facebook in recent years.

But its previous efforts ended in failure, with both Google Wave and Google Buzz proving unpopular with users.

New functions
 
The company is now boasting that four features in Google+ could help make the company a permanent player in social networking:

• Circles - a functionality that allows individuals to place friends into groups, allowing users to share different forms of content with targeted clusters of friends
• Hangouts - live multi-user video conferencing that permits friends to drop in and out of live group conversations
• Huddle - group instant messaging
• Sparks - a feature that connects individuals on the network to others with common interests.

The current version of Google+ has only been released to a small number of users, but the company has said it soon hopes to make the social network available to the millions of individuals that use its services each day.
"Online sharing needs a serious re-think, so it's time we got started," Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of engineering at Google, said in a press release.

"Other social networking tools make selective sharing within small groups difficult," she added, taking what appears to be a jab at Facebook's recent grouping function.

But some analysts have said Google could have a difficult time converting Facebook devotees to their new social network.

"People have their social circles on Facebook - asking them to create another social circle is challenging," Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst with research firm eMarketer, told the Associated Press news agency.

"The whole idea of a Google social network... they've been throwing stuff against the wall for several years and so forth nothing has stuck," she added.

In April, Google reached an out-of-court settlement with a US policy group over its rollout out Google Buzz, a previous social effort.

The legal action claimed Google deceived users and violated its own privacy policy by automatically enrolling all Gmail users in its Buzz social network without seeking prior permission.

How to transfer data between BlackBerry devices

By Al Sacco

Edited by Anthony Ian G. Etcobanez


Getting a brand new BlackBerry smartphone can be a life-changing experience. But how do you transfer the loads of personal information on your old device to that shiny new Pearl Flip? Fortunately, you can complete the process quickly.

I've covered various aspects of the BlackBerry Desktop Manager in the past, including how to use the program to load, update or remove applications; back up and restore handheld data; add media files to a BlackBerry microSD memory card; and determine the amount of smartphone memory you're using at any given point.


This BlackBerry Tip o' the Week explains how to use Desktop Manager to quickly and easily transfer all or some of the personal data and applications on an existing BlackBerry smartphone to another. All you need to get started are two mini USB sync cables (like the one that came with your BlackBerry,) the Desktop Manager software and the two BlackBerry smartphones. (Note: If you're transferring data to or from a device with a micro USB port, like the new Pearl 8220 Flip, you'll also need a micro USB sync cable.)

Step One: Get BlackBerry Desktop Manager

First things first: You'll want to download or install RIM's BlackBerry Desktop Manager software, if you haven't already. To do so, either insert the BlackBerry user tools disc that shipped with your device and then install the software, or visit RIM's website and download it manually. The latest version of Desktop Manager is 4.6., though earlier versions should do the trick, as well. (Note: BlackBerry Desktop Manager only works on PCs, though RIM has promised similar tools for Mac users in 2009.)

After installing BlackBerry Desktop Manager, launch the program by clicking on the desktop icon created during installation. (If you chose not to create a desktop icon, locate the application in your computer's program files and then launch.)

Step Two: Connect your existing BlackBerry, and select device switch wizard

Next, connect your existing BlackBerry smartphone - the one storing your personal data and applications - to your PC using the USB sync cable, and then close any unrelated dialogue boxes that appear. You know your device is connected when your BlackBerry PIN appears in the bottom left corner of the BlackBerry Desktop Manger screen, next to Device connected (PIN).

When the BlackBerry is connected to your PC and Desktop Manager, choose the Device Switch Wizard option. On the following screen, click Switch BlackBerry devices.

Step Three: Configure BlackBerry device switch wizard

The Switch BlackBerry devices screen displays three columns: Current device ; New device ; and Options . The first field below the Current device heading should be labeled PIN and the value within should match the PIN digits in the bottom left corner of the application screen. If not, open the drop down menu beneath Current device and select the PIN associated with the connected BlackBerry. If your device is password protected, you'll also need to enter your passcode.

Because you new device is not yet connected, we'll ignore the middle column for now.

The Options section lists a number of options related to the device data that you wish to transfer to the new device. For example, you can choose to transfer all device data and options, as well as all third-party applications. Or you can pick just device data or only third-party apps. There are also options for updating existing applications--if updates are available--and you can manually select which apps you wish to transfer. (Note: Some applications are OS-specific, so an app that works with BlackBerry handheld OS v4.3 may not function correctly on a device running OS v4.5.)

Step Four: Transfer data from one BlackBerry to another

When you've specified what data and apps you want to transfer, click the Next button in the bottom right corner of Desktop Manager to proceed. A variety of progress bars will appear on screen as Desktop Manager scans your device and copies its contents for backup. This will take a few minutes, so be patient.
When the backup process is complete, another dialogue box appears asking you to select your new device. At this point, connect the new BlackBerry that you wish to transfer data and applications to and select the corresponding PIN from the drop down menu. Again, you'll need to enter in your passcode here if your device is password protected. Then hit OK. Another set of progress bars then appears to scan the application configuration on the new BlackBerry.

If you checked the Options box for Allow me to select applications to add or update option , a list of all the applications on your existing BlackBerry appears. You can then choose which apps you want to transfer from the old device to the new. To remove an app from the list, simply uncheck the box next to that application. When you're finished, click Next.

Patience comes into play again at this point, as it can take anywhere from five minutes to half an hour to complete the process. So sit back, grab a soothing beverage perhaps, and decide what to do next with your new smartphone.

Two factors worth noting: After transferring personal data and apps to a new BlackBerry, you'll likely have to log back into any programs that require a user name and password, so you may want to have your login information handy. Second, it's not uncommon to come across application errors when attempting to transfer apps from one device to another--especially if those devices are running different OS versions. The simplest way to proceed after receiving an app error is to remove the problem application from the list of programs that will be transferred using the instructions above. Then you can simply download a fresh copy of the problem app at a later time.

Firefox 5 now available to download

By Gregg Keizer
Edited By Anthony Ian G. Etcobanez


One thousand improvements later

Mozilla today delivered the final version of Firefox 5, the first edition under the new faster-release regime it kicked off earlier this year.


The company also patched 10 bugs in Firefox 5, including one in the browser's handling of the WebGL 3-D rendering standard that rival Microsoft has called unsafe.


Firefox 5 met Mozilla's self-imposed deadline of 21 June, notable because the company has historically struggled to ship browser upgrades on time.


Firefox 5 looks identical to its predecessor, Firefox 4, but Mozilla's made changes under the hood.
Shortly after Mozilla launched Firefox 4 in March, the company committed to a faster release schedule that puts the browser on a six-week refresh cycle that lets developers add features as they're completed, rather than hold them until all work on the next upgrade is completed. If a feature presents problems, it's yanked and re-inserted into a later cycle after fixes have been applied.


Mozilla has denied copying Google Chrome's upbeat schedule - that browser was the first to institute a fast-release strategy - but analysts have noted the similarities and pointed out the need of all browser makers to step up the pace.


Because of the shorter development cycle, Mozilla called out relatively few new features in Firefox 5.
Although the company said it added more than 1,000 improvements to the browser, most were minor bug fixes or tweaks. Among the most significant changes were enhanced support for HTML5 and new support for CSS (cascading style sheet) animations.


Firefox 5's user interface is nearly identical to Firefox 4, for instance.


Mozilla also dropped a feature it had touted during the testing phase, dumping a tool that let users change development channels from, say, the final to either Beta or Aurora, rougher builds that precede the most stable edition. The company decided that few were using the channel switcher, and rather than devote time and resources to maintaining the feature, pulled it.


Mozilla did not make a major marketing push for Firefox 5, another departure from past upgrades when it has touted the number of downloads and gotten supporters to throw release parties.


On the security front, Mozilla patched vulnerabilities in both Firefox 3.6 and Firefox 5.


Ten of the 11 bugs fixed in Firefox 3.6, which Mozilla said it will continue to support "for a short amount of time," were rated "critical," the company's most serious threat rating; the one exception was tagged as "moderate."


Seven of the 10 bugs quashed in Firefox 5 were also rated critical, two were labelled moderate and the last was pegged a "low" threat.


One of the moderate vulnerabilities patched in Firefox 5 was in the browser's implementation of WebGL , a 3-D rendering standard that both Chrome and Firefox rely on. The bug was reported to Mozilla by Context Information Security some weeks ago, which has cited several serious security issues with WebGL, including information theft.


Users running Firefox 4 will be offered the upgrade to Firefox 5 through the browser's update mechanism, which is triggered when the "About Firefox" dialog is opened. In Windows, users can select "Help/About Firefox" from the Firefox button at the upper left of the browser Windows. On a Mac, "About Firefox" is the first choice under the Firefox menu.


The next version of Firefox is currently on schedule for an early August release.

Apple posts upgrade instructions for Mac OS X Lion

By Lex Friedman and Serenity Caldwell
Edited by Anthony Ian G. Etcobanez

Business and consumer pricing confirmed

If you're an IT manager worried about how Lion's Mac App Store-only distribution will affect your deployment of the new OS, perhaps some official instructions from Apple will alleviate your fears. On Friday, the company posted a PDF to its sales website detailing exactly how business and education customers can upgrade come July.

First reported by TUAW, the document offers a basic overview for upgrading to Lion in regards to business and education, as well as confirmation regarding newly purchased Macs being eligible for a free OS upgrade. The PDF is available only to authorised purchasers on Apple's sales website, though MacRumors has posted a copy to its servers.

For those of you who don't feel like reading over the PDF, we've broken down the information for you in a few simple steps. The pricing refers to US copies of the operating system, no details of UK pricing are available as yet, aside from the standard consumer pricing of £20.99.

Buying Lion

Business customers: According to the document, business customers will be able to purchase Lion and Lion Server through the online Business Store or by calling Apple's business line. Buyers will be able to purchase volume licences for $30 each (minimum 20 licences).

Maintenance contracts, which offer three free subsequent years of OS updates as part of Apple's Maintenance Program, will cost $50 a licence (minimum 20 licences). Lion Server will be available for an additional $50 from the Mac App Store. If you're currently running Snow Leopard Server, you'll have to buy both Lion and Lion Server at the same time to upgrade.

Education customers: Those buying Lion for a school can upgrade through their Apple Education Account Representative or through Apple's online Education Store. Lion will be automatically bundled with iLife and iWork as part of the company's Apple Software Collection, which starts at $39 per licence (minimum 25 licences).

New Mac owners: The PDF also confirms that customers who recently purchased a Mac should be entitled to a free upgrade to Lion. If you bought a qualifying new laptop or desktop from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after June 6, you'll be entitled to a free upgrade to Lion as part of the company's Up-to-Date programme. According to the PDF, you'll have 30 days after Lion's release to request an update code.

Downloading and dissemination

Downloading Lion: Business or education customers that buy the requisite licences will receive a single redemption code for use on the Mac App Store. Once redeemed, this code will download the Lion installer. From there, you can copy the installer to a disk, flash drive or networked drive to transfer it over to another system.

Installing Lion: You can go about actually installing Lion a couple of different ways: by dragging the installer to the computer in question and having it install in place, or if you're running Lion Server by using NetInstall to make the Lion installer a startup disk on your company's local network. If your business has a copy of Apple Remote Desktop, you can use that to automate system installation, as well.
But what about updates? You can download updates for both Lion and Lion Server through Software Update on each respective computer. No Mac App Store patch downloading necessary.

Questions and answers

In its announcement that the Mac App Store would be the exclusive way to upgrade to Lion, Apple raised several concerns among consumers and IT professionals alike. If this document is any indication, however, it looks like the company is beginning to address these issues.
That being said, Apple has yet to discuss upgrade paths for other types of customers, namely people with limited bandwidth or a data-capped Internet connection, who might run into problems downloading large files from the Mac App Store.

Also left out in the cold: Mac users who haven't upgraded to Snow Leopard, as you need to be running Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later to use the Mac App Store. We hope to get more details on those issues from Apple in advance of Lion's July arrival.

NASA looking for new ideas for space travel

By Sharon Gaudin


100 Year Starship Study Symposium looking for bright sparks

DARPA and NASA want the U.S. to be sending humans on interstellar space missions by 2111, and officials are seeking your help in accomplishing that goal.

The two agencies today jointly put out a call today for ideas and abstracts for possible presentation at the 100 Year Starship Study Symposium.

The project pairs up the Department of Defense's research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA, with NASA's Ames Research Center. With DARPA footing the bill, the two agencies are working to come up with a plan for creating technology that can help humans travel to the stars within 100 years.


"One hundred years is a pretty good period of time to inspire research, to go out and tackle problems that will have you asking questions you didn't even know to ask at the beginning," said David Neyland, director of the Tactical Technology Office for DARPA. "The investment must have a long term goal and ancillary benefits to the government and NASA."

The overall effort kicked off last year and continued in January with a DARPA-hosted workshop that featured an eclectic mix of sci-fi authors, physicists, educators and biologists discussing why humans should travel to the stars. The group also talked about the physics of interstellar travel and who should go on such a long and perilous trip.

"We want to capture the imagination of folks who might not be thinking of coming into research and development," said Neyland.

Neyland was adamant in contending that technology developed as a result of this project would likely reap great benefits for the US military as well as the population as a whole.

We want to feed research and development" to create technology to use in building starships that would also "have ancillary payoffs," Neyland said. "Clearly, a starship would have to be energy neutral. It's not going to be able to stop off at a gas station on the way. That kind of research could benefit us now."
He also cited technologies that could be used to produce food, water and oxygen in outer space.
The papers can focus on several subjects, such as: time and space manipulation, near speed-of-light navigation, interstellar communication, the religious implications of finding life on other planets, creating medical facilities in space and what items should be taken on starships.

What is the reason behind of Lulzsec cyber attack? - Bloggers Talks

What is the reason behind of Lulzsec cyber attack? - Bloggers Talks

LulzSec hackers take down CIA website

US intelligence agency main public site brought down temporarily.

The CIA's main public facing web site appears to have been taken down by hacking group LulzSec earlier today.

The group, which has previously claimed responsibility for hacking into Sony Pictures, tweeted this afternoon about bringing down the CIA site. "Tango down - cia.gov - for the lulz," the loosely organised group said in the post.

As of late this afternoon, the CIA's main website at cia.gov appeared to be resolving somewhat slowly or not at all in some cases. It is not immediately clear if the intrusion resulted in any information being compromised.

The CIA hack adds to what has already been a very busy week for LulzSec. The group this week also claimed credit for breaking into servers belonging to the US Senate and to game maker Bethesda Software.

A spokesman from the Senate's sergeant at arms had noted that the group had managed to break into an account at a Senator's office and used that access to compromise the Senate server.

LulzSec, which until recently was a relatively unknown group, also announced earlier this week that it would accept hacking requests from anyone who wanted specific websites targeted. "Call into 614-LULZSEC and pick a target and we'll obliterate it," the group announced.

Tweets posted by the group Tuesday and Wednesday suggest that those who dialed the numbers were being automatically redirected to other numbers. "Our number literally has anywhere between 5-20 people ringing it every single second. We can forward it anywhere in the world. Suggestions?" LulzSec said in a tweet earlier today.

The group dubbed yesterday as Titanic Takeover Tuesday and claimed credit for breaking into several gaming sites including Eve Online, Minecraft and League of Legends. "Welcome to #TitanicTakeoverTuesday where everyone is laughing at crybabies getting Lulz Cannoned!," the group said.

The continuing string of attacks show "how just about everyone's perimeter defences are vulnerable to attack," said Josh Shaul, CTO at Application Security.

"Security teams need to focus their efforts on securing data where it lives, in the database, instead of continuing in the failed strategy of protecting the borders of the network," he said. "Hopefully some good will come from this string of high profile hacks. For a long time organisations have vastly under invested in it security. This could be the inflection point where that all changes."

Microsoft Office 2010 Adopted 5 Times Faster Than Last Version

By Dina Bass



Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), the world’s biggest software maker, said corporate customers adopted the Office 2010 product five times faster than the previous version.


Sales to businesses outpaced those of Office 2007 through the first nine months of product availability, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said today. The 2010 software suite is the fastest selling update among regular consumers, and almost 50 million of them are using the Web-based versions of Office programs Microsoft released to combat Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Apps.


The company is announcing the numbers in a blog on the one- year anniversary of the product’s release, Takeshi Numoto, an Office vice president, said in an interview.


Microsoft’s Business Division unit, mostly sales from Office, has been exceeding analysts’ estimates, helping revenue growth as the Windows operating-system business loses some consumers to Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPad. Mountain View, California-based Google has been trying to steal corporate and government customers from Office with online word-processing and spreadsheet software.


“The Office business is the one business people feel pretty good about,” said Brendan Barnicle, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities Inc. in Portland, Oregon, who rates the shares “sector perform.” “It’s not really coming under the same kind of attacks” as Windows and mobile software.


Google Apps has been out for several years and there hasn’t been mass defections, he said in an interview.

Cloud Computing

Deployments of Office 2010 are also beating those of Office 2003 “by a pretty significant margin,” Numoto said. Nine of 10 customers in a Microsoft satisfaction survey said 2010 was the best Office release ever, he said.

Sales in the business division, the company’s biggest, rose to $5.27 billion last quarter, exceeding the $4.9 billion average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The Office business is being challenged by the growing popularity of so-called cloud software delivered over the Internet, which is allowing companies to choose from more options, Barnicle said. Delivering software as a service over the Internet may squeeze Microsoft’s profit margins, he said.

Microsoft Office 365 still a beta service, says analyst

Cloud productivity apps still riddled with problems
Microsoft Office 365 cloud service is likely on the verge of exiting beta and entering general availability. CEO Steve Ballmer revealed that the service will launch this month and will be giving a speech about the service's future on June 28.

But is Office 365 really ready to ditch the "beta" tag? One analyst who has been testing Office 365 for a few months says no, and a quick look at Microsoft help forums shows that numerous beta testers are experiencing problems.

"I'm a big fan of Office 365. I think it's going to do well," says analyst Paul Burns of Neovise, who spent 20 years as a software engineer and senior product manager at HP, before becoming an industry analyst. "But if they are moving out of beta at the end of June, then yes, I'm surprised."

Burns signed up for the Office 365 beta for himself and five part time employees, and plans to continue using the service once it becomes generally available. Burns is using Exchange for email as well as SharePoint, Lync, Office Web Apps and the regular version of Microsoft Office.

One missing capability, in Burns' opinion, is the ability to import contacts from, say, an Outlook client into a shared global address list that can be accessed by all employees through an Exchange server. Currently, Microsoft requires Office 365 customers to either manually enter each email address one by one, or use

Windows PowerShell.

Burns isn't the only one complaining about this, as a help forum thread shows.
A Microsoft support specialist told users on May 12, "If you'd like to import a list of contacts into your Global Address List, you'll need an Enterprise subscription. In Enterprise, you can use Remote PowerShell." A week later, the Microsoft moderator followed up and said, "Small Business subscribers can now use Remote PowerShell."

But PowerShell requires users to work in a command line interface, and "not everyone has the expertise to do that," Burns said. It's also time consuming.

Because of the global address list snafu, and another issue that made it difficult to create properly functioning email aliases, Burns says, "I went to download PowerShell, but very quickly I realised this is going to be time consuming, and if I write the script, how do I test it? How do I know it's right? Now I'm afraid to run the script on my data. What if I biff it and delete all my stuff instead?"
One Office 365 beta user complained in the global address list help forum, "This is another example of how such a basic requirement from any business cannot be executed unless you have the Enterprise package. Why the heck should you need to have the Enterprise package simply to be able to import contacts into the GAL?"

Microsoft said it provides tools to small businesses to migrate users and mailboxes from other services. "Office 365 for small businesses is designed specifically for smaller businesses and professionals who are looking for cloud-based productivity tools without the IT hassles," Microsoft said.

At the same time, Microsoft did not deny that it requires PowerShell to import addresses into the Global Address List. PowerShell is also required to create shared mailboxes for email aliases, which for example would let any employee respond from a generic address, such as "sales@company.com."

We received no word from Microsoft on whether this will change once Office 365 exits beta.
"In this beta exchange environment you have to wait an hour before connected mail accounts will be checked. This is unacceptable," a user wrote this week. "Will this change in the final version? If not, I will move on. For me, as a freelancer it is not [a] workable situation."
Another user complained about calendar tasks not syncing properly with a Windows mobile phone, and others had trouble creating SharePoint sites.

Burns also complained about non-delivery of emails, coupled with a status dashboard that is less than informative. In a case where multiple people told him they received bounceback emails while trying to contact him, the Office 365 dashboard insisted there were no problems at all.

"Office 365 can have problems on its side, and I'd like to be informed via an administration tool when that happens," Burns says.

Another nagging issue was configuring Office 365 to work with a website hosted by a non-Microsoft provider. Microsoft offers documentation on how to do this, but Burns says the process was full of snags and took many hours.

Burns temporarily had problems inviting people to Lync meetings via email, until that issue was fixed. He's also struggled with importing Word documents into Office Web Apps while keeping the right format, even though Microsoft has loudly touted its ability to import documents and criticised Google Docs for its failure to do so.

Overall, though, Burns is impressed by Microsoft's new cloud service. "I'm totally impressed with that price, and I'm really impressed that they're letting people even just buy one seat per company," he says.

Apple Numbers for iPad and iPhone review

By Rob Griffiths

Edited and Republished by Global Information  & Tech

When I reviewed the initial release of Numbers for iPad in April 2010, I noted that it worked well for creating original spreadsheets, and for working on Numbers-native spreadsheets from your Mac, but that it fell short due to its inability to output files in Excel format. Though Apple’s app could read such files, it would convert them to Numbers format. That version of Numbers was also available strictly for the iPad, and not the iPhone or iPod touch.

Numbers 1.4 addresses the Excel issue, adds some other welcome features, and can now be used on the iPhone (3GS and 4) and iPod touch (third and fourth generation) in addition to the iPad. In this review, I’ll focus on what’s new in Numbers, and discuss its use on the smaller iDevices.

The big news in this Numbers update is the small news, that you can now use Numbers on certain iPods and iPhones. While Numbers is a Universal app (one version for all iOS devices), there are a couple of features in Numbers on the iPad that you won’t get to use in Numbers on the iPhone or iPod touch: full screen mode and landscape view.

On the iPad, you can enter a full screen mode to get an overview of your data, and run quick summaries of data sets with a simple flick of your finger. You can’t do much more than that, though, so the lack of this feature on the smaller screened iPhone and iPod touch may not be a major problem for most users.

The lack of landscape mode is more troubling though as many worksheets are laid out in a landscape orientation, and viewing a super-wide landscape spreadsheet on an iPhone in portrait mode can entail a lot of finger swiping. I didn’t realise just how often I used this mode in Numbers on the iPad until I flipped my iPhone around for the first time, expecting to see my worksheet flip, too. When it didn’t, I thought I had the iPhone’s orientation locked, but that wasn’t the case. There simply isn’t any support for landscape mode on the iPhone and iPod touch.

One other minor but potentially annoying “feature” in Numbers on the iPhone and iPod touch is that you can only undo and redo changes by shaking your device, in the iPad app, there’s a dedicated button in the toolbar that doesn’t appear when you run the app on smaller iOS devices. When developing a spreadsheet, I use undo and redo a lot, and shaking the phone over and over again to accomplish that task gets old really quickly. I found myself longing for the iPad’s dedicated button after only a couple of undo shakes.

While Numbers works just fine on the iPhone 4, my biggest problem with it is that there’s simply not enough screen real estate to work productively. It seemed every time I wanted to do something, I was either scrolling or zooming to make sure I had the right cell selected or to see the big picture. It’s also very hard to get a sense for how your finished project will look when you’re laying it out one tiny section at a time.
In short, while Numbers runs just great on an iPhone or iPod touch, I wouldn’t want to use it for anything beyond simple spreadsheets or minor edits to larger projects. There’s a reason that serious spreadsheet jockeys usually have monstrous monitors connected to their desktop machines, there’s no such thing as too much screen space when creating large spreadsheet models.

This release of Numbers includes a number of new and/or improved features that make it easier to do what you need to do, and to share what you’ve done with others. The big news for me was that Numbers can now export in Excel format. Previously it could read but not write Excel files. This means you can now work on an Excel file on your iDevice, and output it back to that same format, so you can share it with those who use Office instead of Numbers.

You can now create folders in the spreadsheet browser mode. Folders work here exactly as they do in iOS in general, just drag and hover one icon over another, and you’ll create a folder. For those with a lot of spreadsheets, this is a welcome addition. Also new since the last review is printing via AirPrint printers, though I was unable to test this feature.

Finally, if you’re the type who never reads in-app help, you should break that habit and read Numbers’ in-app help. It contains a lot of usability tips that will help you get the most out of the mobile spreadsheet app. For example, Help reveals how to restrict a drag operation to a straight line. Hold one finger from one hand on the screen while dragging the object with a finder on your other hand.

Not all is perfect in Numbersland, however. Numbers still can’t import hide rows/columns or merge cells, which are two features that many spreadsheets use extensively. In particular, not being able to merge cells (and having merged cells break on import) will cause some layout headaches. You’re also still limited to your iDevice’s relatively meager font collection, and headers/footers and certain features on graphs also won’t survive the transition from the desktop to your iDevice.

Working with files is still more painful than it should be: you’re generally restricted to working with one file at a time (i.e. when copying to/from iTunes), and you can’t open more than one spreadsheet at a time.

Later this year, Numbers (as well as Keynote and Pages) will support Apple’s iCloud service. This should greatly ease the sometimes tricky document management issues related to working with one file on multiple devices. Instead of winding up with multiple copies of the same file on multiple devices, iCloud integration will allow you to have one copy of the file that’s simply synced to all your devices. Create a spreadsheet on your Mac, close it, and you will then be able to pick up your phone and continue working, right where you left off.
While iCloud integration looks like a win, it’s not clear yet what will happen with iWork.com, Apple’s perpetually in beta iWork document sharing service. The features provided by iWork.com aren’t necessarily replicated by iCloud, so I would expect that it will continue to exist, at least in some form.

The potential upside of iCloud support in Numbers is huge, but we’ll have to wait until later this fall to see exactly how well it works, and what becomes of the iWork.com beta programme.

Five reasons Microsoft could win the tablet war

                                                                                      Windows 8 could put the IT giant back on top

Microsoft has let it be known that the next version of Windows will run on ARM architecture, and it has demonstrated early builds of Windows 8 (or whatever Microsoft ultimately calls the next OS) on a tablet at both CES 2011 and MIX '11. While Microsoft did a quick 180 on comments from Steve Ballmer confirming a 2012 launch of Windows 8, we know it's coming sometime, and when it does it quickly dominate the tablet market.

Why? Well, here are five reasons that Microsoft could come from behind and ultimately win the tablet war.

1. Uniform experience

Microsoft Windows enjoys a dominant market share of nearly 90 percent for desktop operating systems. While the tablet is a different environment than the desktop, users will appreciate having a tablet that has a look and feel consistent with what they're already familiar with.

2. Software library

Intel informed investors that the ARM version(s) or Windows will not be able to run legacy software, so that could significantly reduce the available software for a Windows tablet. But, Microsoft declared that Intel was out of line in speculating, and it has already demonstrated both Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer 10 on ARM-based tablets.

Even if Intel is correct, and it seems quite possible it could be, Microsoft could still provide developers with the tools necessary to make porting from x86 to ARM as simple as possible. The more users can use the exact same software they are already comfortable with from their desktop, the more successful the tablet will be.

3. Diverse hardware

Apple dominates the tablet market right now, but with Apple you just have the iPad 2. Granted, it has a variety of models, but overall an iPad 2 is an iPad 2. A Microsoft Windows tablet will most likely follow in the footsteps of the current array of Android tablets, with a variety of shapes and sizes to choose from. That diversity gives users more options to choose the tablet form factor and hardware specs that work best for them rather than using the one size fits all approach.

4. Price?

You might notice the question mark. On the one hand, different vendors creating rival tablets will drive some price competition, both in the tablet industry overall and among other Windows tablets. The freedom to use different hardware specs will also enable some cost cutting.
But, as it stands now, Apple seems to have cornered the market on many of the key components of tablets, making it difficult for other vendors to purchase the hardware necessary to make tablets in sufficient volume to bring the price down. So, price is a gray area that may be hard to deliver.

5. No rush

Yes, I understand that Microsoft is not new to tablets. Microsoft has been pushing slate or tablet style PCs for a decade with little success. But, as far as the 'iPad generation' of tablets goes, Microsoft is sitting on the sidelines so far. Microsoft strategy seems to be focused on getting it right, rather than racing to market.
If you look at current iPad rivals, it seems that rushing incomplete or unfinished tablets to market can have dubious results. The Motorola Xoom and BlackBerry PlayBook were both hailed as potential competitors for the iPad, but both hit the street missing key elements and leaving users wanting more, resulting in disappointing sales and a first impression for users that may haunt future tablet efforts.

If Microsoft can get it right and deliver a familiar Windows experience, but in a way that is uniquely suited for a mobile tablet, and deliver it at a price that can compete head to head with the iPad, it could still come out of nowhere and eventually dominate tablets as it dominates desktops.

Of course, I still think that a tablet is not a PC, and that it is a mistake to try and put the Windows desktop in a mobile tablet. In my opinion, Microsoft should be developing a tablet version of the Windows Phone 7 platform because Windows Phone 7 has been designed from the ground up to be a mobile OS.

Microsoft plans live TV streaming for Xbox 360

By David Daw


Xbox live service to get selected content over Internet

Today at E3, Microsoft revealed plans to bring live streaming television to its Xbox Live entertainment platform this fall. Microsoft said it was partnering with companies in the US and abroad to provide a variety of television content, but the company didn't announce any partners at the event.

The live TV play is just one part of Microsoft's push to make Xbox Live a central entertainment hub in the home. As part of this push, Microsoft also said it would be bringing YouTube to the console. Together with existing content channels like Netflix and Sky Player, the Xbox system is fast becoming a formidable media centre.

Microsoft also announced plans to integrate its Bing search engine into Xbox Live, and to add voice controls using its popular Kinect peripheral.

While the company has yet to announce details for its Live TV services, it seems likely that the American content partnerships would follow the model Microsoft has already established in Europe.

For the past few years, Microsoft has been partnering with content providers like Sky TV in the UK to bring dedicated live content channels to the Xbox. We don't know who Microsoft is in talks to partner with, but Microsoft has said it's looking to increase its partnerships by a factor of ten in the coming year.

LulzSec hackers claim breach of FBI affiliate

InfarGard targeted as a response to cyberwar announcements

Hacking group Lulz Security claimed it had hacked and defaced the website of the Atlanta chapter of InfraGard, an organisation affiliated to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and leaked its user base.
The group said that they had hacked the InfraGard site after NATO and President Barack Obama had raised the stakes with regard to hacking, by treating it as an act of war.

The website of InfraGard's Atlanta chapter was not accessible late Sunday and returned the message that the site was "under construction" as the future home for the Atlanta InfraGard Member's Alliance. A cache of the site on Google search confirmed that the site was that of InfraGard Atlanta.

InfraGard describes itself an association of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the US.

The FBI in Atlanta and InfraGard did not immediately respond to e-mailed requests for comments.
LulzSec has recently made news for hacking into PBS. It claimed last week that it had broken into several Sony Pictures websites and accessed unencrypted personal information on over 1 million people.

LulzSec claimed to have obtained about 180 logins from the hack of the InfraGard Atlanta website, and all of them were affiliated to the FBI in some way. It also claimed to have obtained the login of Karim Hijazi, CEO of Unveillance, a network security company.

Hijazi said in a statement last week that LulzSec made threats against him and his company to try to obtain money as well as to force him into revealing sensitive data about his botnet intelligence that would have put many other businesses, government agencies and individuals at risk of massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

LulzSec claimed that Hijazi had tried to pay them to attack competitors' sites.

Sony hacked again as embarrassment mounts

"We accessed EVERYTHING," claim LulzSec hackers

LulzSec, a hacking group that recently made news for hacking into PBS, claimed today that it has broken into several Sony Pictures websites and accessed unencrypted personal information on over 1 million people.

In a statement released on Thursday, the group claimed that it had also managed to compromise all "admin details," including administrator passwords, as well as 75,000 "music codes" and 3.5 million "music coupons" from Sony networks and websites.

The group has publically posted a full list of compromised sites, along with links to documents containing samples of what it claimed was material stolen from Sony.

The compromised databases included one that appeared to contain information belonging to people who participated in a promotional campaign involving Sony Pictures and AutoTrader.com, as well as another involving a Sony-sponsored Summer of Restless Beauty campaign.

Also compromised in the break-in, according to LulzSec, was a Sony music codes database, a music coupons database, and databases from Sony BMG Belgium & Netherlands.
The compromised databases contained "varied assortments of Sony user and staffer information," the group said.

"SonyPictures.com was owned by a very simple SQL injection, one of the most primitive and common vulnerabilities, as we should all know by now," LulzSec said. "From a single injection, we accessed EVERYTHING."

"What's worse is that every bit of data we took wasn't encrypted," the group claims. "Sony stored over 1,000,000 passwords of its customers in plaintext, which means it's just a matter of taking it."

LulzSec said that it had copied and published only a relatively small sample of the information it had managed to access because it did not have the resources to download everything. The group said that in theory it could have "taken every last bit of information," but that would have taken weeks.

The group posted a link to the SQL injection vulnerability it had exploited and invited anyone to verify it personally. "You may even want to plunder those 3.5 million coupons while you can."

In a brief comment sent by email, Jim Kennedy, executive vice president of global communications for Sony Pictures Entertainment, said the company is looking into the claims made by LulzSec, but offered no other comment.

If the breach is as extensive as LulzSec has claimed, it would be the second major compromise that Sony has suffered since mid-April, when intruders broke into its PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment networks. Those breaches resulted in the compromise of personal data belonging to nearly 100 million account holders.

Since then, there have been a series of intrusions at various Sony websites around the world. The attacks, such as the one carried out against Sony Pictures by LulzSec, have been designed largely to embarrass Sony, which has sparked the wrath of many hackers for its hard line stance over copyright and IP protection.

The continuing attacks have become a huge issue for the company. Sony was forced to shut down its PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment networks for several days to fix issues resulting from those intrusions. Even now the networks are still limping back to normal.

So far, Sony has hired at least three external security firms to help patch its networks. It also recently hired a

 new chief information security officer to help coordinate its security efforts. With the company's websites having been routinely broken into, despite such measures, many wonder just how porous Sony's networks are.

Sony itself characterized the PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment intrusions as highly targeted and sophisticated cyberattacks. However, all of the publicly disclosed ones since then appear to have been the result of some fundamental security oversights on the part of the company.

Several of the attacks have resulted from SQL injection flaws that hackers have claimed were extremely easy to find and to exploit.

Windows 8 gets dramatic smartphone makeover

Radical upgrade but some unhappy

Whatever Microsoft ends up calling Windows 8, a press event at the Computex Show in Taiwan confirms that the company has already given the next version of the world’s most ubiquitous

operating system a bold new smartphone interface.

In the first of a series of videos released to the media, Microsoft’s director of Windows User Experience team Jensen Harris, has underlined the extent to which the new OS will look like and probably integrate with Windows 7 Phone. Microsoft also offered further details in its Computex press event.

Gone is the ‘Start’ button and menu in favour of a mosaic composed of tiled applications and service icons lifted wholesale from the smartphone world. Because Windows 8 will feature a touch interface, swiping to the right one or more times brings up successive screens full of the same icons.

As with a smartphone or tablet, clicking on an app makes it fullscreen while swiping on the left side of the screen brings up other apps that are running, one by one. Each application can be resized on the screen in a variety fo ways.

As well as including a touch keyboard, Microsoft is also experimenting with a ‘thumb’ keypad, which the keyboard into a two thumb-accessible blocks at the left and right hand side of the screen.
As with much of the new user interface, this is clearly aimed at tablet computers, a sector Microsoft clearly sees as at least as important as the laptops and desktop computers that turned previous versions of Windows into the world’s biggest OS.

Under the hood, the new OS will still run conventional Windows applications controlled through the mouse rather than touch, complete with the NTFS and FAT32 file systems. Interestingly, Microsoft clearly sees these as ‘legacy’ beside an as-yet unknown volume of new Windows apps that will run and behave much as they would on a smartphone.

Question marks remains. Can Microsoft serve the needs of users with one OS across so many different types of device?

Its rivals offer a clear break with desktop computing, and are less constricted by the need to convert new users from an established platform. It’s also unclear whether with a growing number of mobile, tablet and smartphone-oriented operating systems available free, users will see the need to write a hefty cheque to Microsoft simply to run an operating system.

Microsoft could offer it free of charge and hope to levy a tax on the apps that run on it, but that would represent a huge change in business model. With so many devices able to access a basic suite of applications without charge, it’s also unclear whether suites such as Office have a future as cloud services away outside the business sector.

It's also less than clear what sort of processing grunt will be needed to run both new-fangled smartphone apps beside older ones. Even slimmed from Windows Vista's bloat, its predecessor Windows 7 still needs more power than most tablets can offer.

What Microsoft does gains by offering people visuals on the new OS, not due for at least a year, is a critical window of feedback and the chance to adjust the design of Windows 8. That alone is a huge change from the inward-looking run-up to previous Windows releases.

The development cycle for Windows 8 is already proving controversial, especially the reported insistence that chip vendors and hardware vendors work together in a way that suits Microsoft's ambitions. Companies such as Acer have expressed unhappiness at being corralled in this way.