Ed Oswald

Are you shocked that Google is back in the news again for behaving badly? This latest "evil" is hard to excuse as being accidental. Several online advertising outfits, including Google, ignored the privacy settings of iPhone users and embedded tracking code in mobile advertisements, the Wall Street Journal finds. The code allowed Google and others to track browsing behavior across many different websites. Supposedly Google stopped the practice after being contacted by the Journal.

The browser breach raises important questions about the search and information giant's commitment to user privacy, and more importantly the lengths the company will go to build its advertising business. Considering that the Mountain View, Calif.-based company made such a big deal in its early years that "you can make money without doing evil", each successive report of Google acting just like any other company is ever more disturbing.

Continue reading →

Has Apple finally admitted Mac OS X has a malware problem? If you consider the implications of its Gatekeeper feature within v10.8 "Mountain Lion", the answer is yes.

Apple finally admits (although in a roundabout way) that malware exists for Mac. "While malware is one of the biggest security challenges on personal computers, it’s hardly an issue on a Mac", Apple says on a page describing Gatekeeper. "Apple is working hard to see that it won’t be".

Continue reading →

Did you think that the marriage of Motorola and Google meant your pre-Ice Cream Sandwich Moto device would see an update quicker? Wrong. The company on Wednesday updated its upgrade roadmap for devices slated to receive the new software, and some devices available here in the United States could wait up until a year for ICS (Android 4.0). Imagine the outcry if Apple had an upgrade cycle like this.

The issue of device obsolescence plays a role at that point. Furthermore, with Jellybean probably not too far off, software obsolescence may also come into play -- your upgrade may be out-of-date the day it comes out.

Continue reading →

Cisco's release of its study on mobile data usage proves that throttling at 2GB is not going to work. AT&T's response to it? Woe is us! Data's increasing exponentially, and we're trying!

AT&T says that its data traffic increased 20,000 percent since 2007, with the amount of bandwidth consumed doubling every year since then. "The growth is now driven primarily by smartphones", senior executive vice president John Donovan writes in a blog post. "Add to that new customer additions and the continuing trend of upgrades from feature phones to smartphones, and you have a wireless data tsunami".

Continue reading →

While the White House in January signaled deep concerns about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), President Barack Obama's 2013 budget proposal suggests that he still plans to push for wider enforcement of intellectual property, a concession to the entertainment industry that could prove critical to his reelection efforts in 2012.

Last month, coordinated protests erupted across the Internet as prominent websites, Wikipedia among them, blacked out for 24 hours. Protesters argued that either bill, if passed into law, would greatly impede free speech and give the Justice Department unprecedented powers to censor the Internet. Those hailing victory over SOPA and PIPA should have a look at back-door enforcement championed by the White House.

Continue reading →

If you hate wireless data throttling, thank Cisco for making your argument against the practice that much easier. The telecommunications company says it expects at least 100 million smartphone users to exceed one gigabyte of data monthly in 2012. That is a large group of users with significant data needs.

But wait -- wasn't I just told that the average user doesn't need gigabytes of data, you ask? Yes you were: I wrote about it last week as part of the bigger story of AT&T's plan to screw its longtime customers with unlimited data plans, and the topic has been covered ad nauseum by the tech media at large for years.

Continue reading →

Despite the protestations of the movie industry over the harm BitTorrent incurs to its bottom line, there is an ever increasing amount of evidence that this is not true -- at least here in the United States. University of Minnesota and Wellesley College's study does show that internationally there is a correlation, but this is likely more to do with the considerable lead time the United Stats enjoys in movie releases.

The study finds a seven percent decrease in box offices revenues on average as a result of piracy. The amount of loss widens as the lead time increases, indicating there is some relation between the two. Essentially, the power to reduce losses as a result of BitTorrent lies within the industry itself.

Continue reading →

Apple's strategy concerning third party applications on iOS is the target of a good deal of criticism: it's either the App Store or nothing at all. Like it or not, Microsoft will bring the same approach to Windows as it ports the platform to the ARM architecture.

Microsoft has said that Windows on ARM will not support virtualization nor the porting of applications build for the x86 platform. There are solid reasons for this, including system performance and lack of a keyboard and mouse setup in most WOA deployments. Windows and Windows Live president Steven Sinfosky mentions these issues as part of a broader discussion on WOA development.

Continue reading →

With criticism of working conditions in its factories increasing, Foxconn now faces a new problem: hackers. In a series of posts, a group calling itself Swagg Security boasted on Twitter that it had hacked Foxconn's services, posting the results to Pastebin and torrents available on The Pirate Bay.

Apple enthusiast blog 9to5Mac reported that before external access to the company's intranet was cut off, it was able to verify several of the login credentials as legitimate. This includes credentials for company CEO Terry Gou. It is not immediately clear if any sensitive information has leaked.

Continue reading →

Beta testers, get ready: Windows 8 is coming on Leap Day. The first public beta release that is, which keeps it on track for an October release. My colleague Joe Wilcox details the timeline in this post on Windows 8, which hints at Microsoft's announced date -- calling it "six or more weeks later" than the early January release of Windows 7's public beta. I'd say he was pretty close.

Microsoft is celebrating the release of the Customer Preview with an event in Barcelona, Spain on February 29, which is being held there to coincide with Mobile World Congress, also taking place during that week.

Continue reading →

Source code for Symantec's pcAnywhere software is now out in the wild, following failed negotiations between a hacker and the company. Emails published to Pastebin on Monday indicate that the hacker demanded $50,000 from the company to prevent the source code's release, a conversation Symantec confirms is legitimate.

The company says it did not handle the negotiations, which were done in conjunction with law enforcement. "YamaTough", the hacker behind the extortion attempt, tells Reuters in his own defense that even if the money was paid, he still intended to release the source code to Symantec's remote desktop software.

Continue reading →

A new study from CEO network TechNet suggests that the surge in smartphone and device app development has created 466,000 jobs since 2007, welcome news for those looking for positives in an otherwise tough economy. But has it landed you a job?

The study, conducted by former chief economist for BusinessWeek Dr. Michael Mandel took into account not only the "pure" app development firms like Zynga, but also companies where apps have become a necessary secondary business such as Electronic Arts or Amazon, and even those providing infrastructure and platform support for the App Economy including Google, Apple, and Facebook.

Continue reading →

Long-time iPhone users, take note. If you have unlimited data, you want to read this: the company will throttle you for more than 2GB of usage in any given month. Do you feel better now about the thousands you've handed over to AT&T for the past several years?

Users are alerted to the throttling via text message. "Your data usage is among the top 5 percent of users. Data speeds for the rest of your bill cycle may be reduced", it reads.

Continue reading →

A plane crash in Boise, Idaho has claimed the life of Micron CEO Steve Appleton. He was 51. Boise Airport officials say that Appleton's experimental fixed wing single engine Lancair crashed shortly after takeoff at 8:58am local time Friday after attempting an emergency landing. NTSB officials say that witnesses reported the plane climbing about 100 to 200 feet, then attempting to turn before falling to the ground.

According to Boise NBC affiliate KTVB-TV, Appleton is heard shortly after taking off telling air traffic controllers: "I'd like to turn back in... and land. Coming back in." In the background of the audio from air traffic control a woman is heard saying "oh my god" repeatedly. The station has refused to release the remainder of the audio due to its senstitive content.

Continue reading →

Are you ready to pay for Facebook? You just may. Analyst Foad Fadaghi of Telsyte, an Australian technology research firm, tells news.com.au that premium accounts are an option to increase revenues.

As I argued on Wednesday, Facebook now must answer to shareholders. Being a public company is a completely different world from life as a private company. Fadaghi also expects Facebook to make advertising more invasive, as investors demand better performance. Ain't that grand?

Continue reading →