Solid Oak Software and the Chinese deserve each other
Of all the filtering software makers in all the world, it's interesting and appropriate that Chinese software developers chose Solid Oak Software's CyberSitter to (allegedly) pirate -- not because it's the best out there, but because it's historically hewed the closest to enforcing the kind of heavy-handed control that Beijing likes.
Santa Barbara-based Solid Oak set up a hue and cry over the weekend, saying that China's "Green Dam Youth Escort" filtering software bears unmistakable proof of piracy. Examination of the software and its server logs seems to indicate the company is correct -- aside from the long list of sites to be filtered, there are bits of familiar code and even calls back to Solid Oak's servers. (Chinese officials have flatly denied that any intellectual property was stolen, and a subsequent update to the package eliminated many of the callbacks and other suspect code.)
Now you can expect that 250% speed blast from Firefox 3.5 RC1
Download Mozilla Firefox 3.5 RC1 for Windows from Fileforum now.
Last week, we reported that the first public users of the first Mozilla Firefox 3.5 release candidate could expect two-and-one-half times the speed of Firefox 3.0.10 right after installation. But we also thought that the RC was coming within mere hours. As it turned out, the organization released a stand-in called "Beta 99" instead, with a warning that it may not have received the full array of testing a release candidate should require.
Are cell towers ugly? Ericsson may have an alternative
Where wireless communications company Ericsson usually deals in products meant to be unseen, it has taken a different approach with its new Capsule cell site, and designed a mobile broadband base station that is meant to be seen without standing out.
Even though mobile broadband coverage is in increased demand, property owners and communities are often less than thrilled to have cell towers erected near their homes and places of business. Companies have tried to make the giant towers less obtrusive by hiding them in fake foliage, or in creative architecture, and in urban areas, they're frequently put up wherever there is free space.
iPhone 3.0! iPhone 3G S! iPhone ZOMG!
Just as the eagerly-awaited iPhone 3.0 software update became available, AT&T made an announcement that some subscribers' upgrade eligibility would be bumped up just in time for the iPhone 3G S launch this Friday.
AT&T addressed the subscriber frenzy today and said that any customers who would otherwise be eligible for an upgrade between July and September will be given their upgrade pricing effective tomorrow. This means that rather than make these customers wait one to three months, or otherwise force them to pay the full price of the new iPhone (an additional $200), they will be given amnesty, and be allowed to buy the device at its discounted upgrade price of $399 for the 16 GB model, or $499 for the 32 GB model when it goes on sale on Friday.
Samsung ships new Video Walls
Today, Samsung announced it has begun shipping its UT series of seamlessly stitchable 46" LCD monitors, the company's building blocks for JumboTron-scale displays.
Home theater enthusiasts are frequently presented with 150" and up single screen solutions that are touted as the recurring "pinnacle" of the home entertainment experience, but multi-monitor solutions can deliver just as giant of a screen with only a small gap for the monitor bezel. Samsung's UT series allows dozens of screens to be joined together into huge video walls with only a 6.7mm gap for the bezel between screens.
Tracking Vista's elusive 'Black Screen of Death'
What we've been calling a "perception problem" with Windows Vista -- the notion that users may tend to think it's less secure or reliable than it has proven to be on a large scale -- isn't just about perception for users faced with severe unreliability issues. As a Windows user for over two decades, I have been to the far depths of unreliability, and have lived to tell the tale. Probing the problems with Windows is actually part of my job, and one reason I actually am a Windows user -- unlike the rest of the world.
Yesterday, a problem that's far beyond perception afflicted a 64-bit Vista SP2-based Betanews production system for the fourth time in a year, this time with the remedy being so far out and unusual that everyday users could not possibly have discovered it by normal means. As we've found out, it's a problem that has affected a small number of Vista users since the system's debut three years ago, though that number appears to be growing steadily just as Vista is preparing to vacate the spotlight for Windows 7.
Cell phones aren't a fringe benefit any more, says IRS commissioner
Even though mobile phones are now practically issued at birth, with models designed for children, the elderly and those on public assistance, businesspeople have been subject to a 20-year old tax law that treats the devices as a luxury.
Earlier this month, the IRS issued notice for public comment on simplifying procedures for taxing employer-issued cell phones. The law classifies work-issued cell phones as a fringe benefit that are subject to income tax, and demands that employees keep a detailed record of calls made on their work phones that delineate business from personal use.
Up Front: Google may take a tiny step toward better security
Certain Web standards have been in place since the mid-1990s, since there was a Web. And certain companies rose to prominence by promoting their use. But when it comes time to evaluate which is more convenient, a few microseconds of delay or private communication in the clear, suddenly it's Google that's hiding behind a wall of public relations. Google's listening to its users now, and yesterday it demonstrated that fact, but why all the fuss about this privacy kick everyone's on?
Google considers defaulting to encrypted connections
Boku aims to bridge micropay gap with mobile-phone ease
A just-launched payment service would allow users to make purchases for virtual goods via their mobile phone, rather than by credit card or online payment service. Boku follows a model familiar to many mobile-phone users: an approved charge appearing on one's mobile bill.
Forget your late-'90s memories of Beenz and such; the pay-by-mobile model is already quite popular in Asia, and virtual goods -- an $8 billion annual market, according to Boku -- are a good fit.
Capitol v. Thomas, day 2: Say what?!
Day two of the Jammie Thomas-Rasset file-sharing trial included a statement by the defendant that even the most sympathetic observers found hard to follow -- "balanced" by a procedural error on the part of the RIAA's legal team that had Judge Michael Davis invoking skunks and threatening to toss all evidence from the morning's witness.
That wasn't Dr. Doug Jacobson's fault. The Iowa State computer science professor was simply the guy who examined the data presented by Charter Communications (Ms. Thomas-Rasset's ISP) and MediaSentry (the tracking firm retained by the RIAA). His testimony was fairly clear-cut stuff until he mentioned a log file that the defense team had never heard about -- one that Dr. Jacobson had previously mentioned to the RIAA's team.
Mozilla posts Firefox 3.5 RC1, announcement expected
The announcement has not yet been publicly made, but Mozilla posted a fresh build of Firefox 3.5 on its servers that it is officially calling Release Candidate 1. Not just "Release Candidate," which implies that a second round is indeed possible.
After a security run-in following some unrelated tests, we've found ourselves having to reset and restart our test platforms, so our usual round of Betanews performance tests is forthcoming. Also expect the latest numbers from the Opera 10 beta, which now includes provisions for the Unite browser-based server feature.
Largest US WiMAX deployment is official
As Clearwire announced just one month ago Atlanta, Georgia's WiMAX network has officially launched, and is the biggest United States deployment of the 4G technology to date, covering some 1,200 square miles with more than 400 cell sites.
Like Clearwire's Portland WiMAX network, Atlanta's core network equipment from access points to consumer equipment has been supplied by Motorola. Future deployments, however, will be built upon Cisco equipment, Clearwire announced early last May.
What will MySpace become after a 30% headcount reduction?
The question financial analysts are asking this afternoon in the wake of News Corp.'s layoff of 30% of MySpace employees is not, "Will this help?" Or even, "Does this make things better." It appears to be, "Will this be enough?"
In a frank statement this afternoon demonstrating he hasn't lost his touch since leaving AOL, News Corp.'s Chief Digital Officer Jonathan Miller pronounced the deed done, saying, "MySpace grew too big considering the realities of today's marketplace. I believe this restructuring will help MySpace operate much more effectively both structurally and financially moving forward. I am confident in MySpace's next phase under the leadership of [CEO] Owen [Van Natta] and his team."
'Computer, on screen!': A look at Google's voice recognition engine
Google's voice recognition technology took to the mobile sector with voice-powered search applications for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. Naturally, Google's own mobile operating system Android has begun to reap special benefits of the powerful technology with some new voice-enabled features.
Yesterday, an unforced update to Android's native Google Maps application endowed the software with speech recognition capabilities. Addresses, business names, and attractions can all be searched by spoken word. The app is now one of several that tap into Google's speech recognition engine, such as the voice-to-text app which recently turned up in the Android Market, simply named Voice Text for Android. That app allows the users to dictate text messages.
How secure is Opera Unite?
The notion of converting conceivably every computer on the planet into a server is certainly not new. But almost everywhere the notion has been attempted, it's been exploited. Microsoft's ActiveX experiment in the mid-1990s was a notorious example of collective inattention to the entire topic of exploitability, though it's not the only one. Since then, millions have willingly made their Web clients into P2P servers in the interest of file-sharing -- authorized or not -- while some of them unknowingly exposed their file systems to the whole planet, exposing sensitive government documents in the process.
History tells us to be skeptical when any software purports to enable ordinary computers, especially Web browsers, to act as servers. This morning, Opera Software unveiled its Unite server networking protocols, which consist of extensions to the existing widget system for its Opera Web browser. The objective there is to enable any Opera user to be a server in her own right, potentially serving up blogs, tweets, and files. Opera's own bank of servers -- which are already put to use providing pre-rendered pages for its "Turbo" feature -- serves as an intermediate proxy for all communications between Unite-enabled browsers.
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