From The Editor
By Jeff Caruso, Site Editor
- Most popular stories this week: July 30
- Readers wanted to know more about the supposed vulnerability in Wi-Fi's WPA2. Plus, the Black Hat conference gave us lots of security news, topped by the hack that makes ATMs spit out cash. Check out...
- How to submit for Network World's new product slideshow
- Network World's online products slideshow
What it is: A snapshot of new products and services from vendors published online each Monday.
While we welcome submissions, they must be submitted in...
- Most popular stories this week: July 23
- Summer reading is lighter reading, and Network Worlders know this. Some of the most popular stories this week looked at geeky summer vacation ideas, the techie flubs of Hollywood, and weird PC...
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Microsoft tunes Windows 7 for slates; Google blocked in China overnight Listen now!
- Hacker snoops on GSM cell phones in demo
- Despite concerns that federal authorities might fine or arrest him, hacker Chris Paget went ahead with a live demonstration of mobile phone interception at the Defcon hacking conference Saturday.
- Mystery File Posted to Wikileaks Afghan Page
- A mystery file with the name "Insurance" has been posted to the web page where earlier this week some 77,000 secret documents about the Afghan war were leaked. The 1.4GB file is ten times larger than all the other files on Wikileaks' Afghan War Diary page combined and is encrypted in AES256.
- Kindle's E-Reader Price War: Who'll Blink First?
- When, oh when, will the price-cutting end? Now that Amazon has stunned the e-book world by dropping the price of its Kindle e-reader (well, the new Wi-Fi-only model) to $139, will competitors Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Sony do the same?
- Windows 7 Tablets: Just Say No, Microsoft
- Microsoft is busy at work on a new tablet computer design, a product that may arrive from one or more of its hardware partners in "not a heck of a long time," CEO Steve Ballmer told analysts on Thursday.
- Microsoft Needs a Tablet Strategy, Not a Tablet
- Ballmer promised the world that a Windows 7 tablet is coming. Maybe it is, or maybe it's just a pipedream, but Microsoft doesn't need to focus on developing a Windows 7 tablet. Microsoft does need to focus on having a strategy for taking advantage of the changing mobile computing market--but it doesn't have to include a Windows 7 tablet.
- Japan user marks Twitter's 20 billionth 'tweet'
- Twitter, the social networking site that allows users to say something in 140 characters or less, passed another milestone on Saturday with the sending of tweet number 20 billion.
- VA set to spend billions on IT
- The U.S. Veterans Administration is making upward of $12 billion in IT contracts available to businesses over the next five years, as part of an effort to modernize its operations.
- How to steal corporate secrets in 20 minutes: Ask
- A few companies in the Fortune 500 need to upgrade their Web browsers. And while they're at it, a little in-house training on social engineering wouldn't be a bad idea, either.
- Terry Childs is denied motion for retrial
- The former San Francisco network administrator who refused to hand over passwords for one of the city's networks was denied a new trial on Friday and is expected to be sentenced Aug. 6, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office said.
- FCC concerned over DefCon mobile hacking talk
- Chris Paget wants to demonstrate how easy it is to snoop in on mobile-phone conversations. The question is: Will the federal authorities allow it?
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- Novell upgrades Mono Tools for Visual Studio
- Module allows developers to build .Net apps for non-Windows platforms, including Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X
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- Private Facebook Data Becomes Big Business
- When a security researcher made personal profile information of more than 170 million Facebook users available to the public on BitTorrent--a peer-to-peer file sharing site--many questioned why he did not attempt to sell that information to an interested party. Names and profile data on that many Facebook users is a potential gold mine of valuable marketing data.
- StarCraft II in Review: Media Love, Player Plaudits
- Blizzard held something important back when it loosed its real-time strategy PC game StarCraft II on the public this Tuesday:
- Microsoft will try to block Google-Yahoo Japan deal
- A legal battle is brewing between Microsoft and Google for control of Japan's lucrative search market.
- SAP warms to open source
- SAP catches up with rival Oracle on the open source software front
- Can Microsoft imitate Apple one more time?
- Remember back in early June when Steve Ballmer said the Apple iPad was "just another PC"? He'd like to amend that slightly to "just another PC that's now kicking our a**."
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- Are biases keeping you from hiring the best job candidate?
- Even in a recession, Bobbie Wilbur is always trolling for good people to fill IT positions at her tech services firm in Oakland, Calif.
- Finding the right candidate is always tough
- It's a hiring manager's market these days, so why aren't they having any fun?
- Samsung scores FCC approval for first LTE phone
- Samsung appears to have won the race to be the first device manufacturer to gain approval from the Federal Communications Commission for a phone based on the 4G LTE standard.
- CRM's evolution to be showcased at NY event
- CRM (customer relationship management) users, vendors, analysts and consultants are set to gather in New York next week for the CRM Evolution conference, which will feature discussions on how technologies and economic forces are changing the software segment.
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- Negroponte offers OLPC technology for $35 tablet
- The nonprofit organization One Laptop Per Child wants to join forces to help develop the Indian government's planned US$35 tablet.
- The InfoWorld news quiz: July 30, 2010
- WikiLeaks springs a big one; don't leave your iPad out in the sun
- Turn Your Web Browser Into a 'Clicker' with Clicker.tv
- Remember Boxee, the media-center software that streams TV shows from Hulu, Netflix, and other online sources? Clicker.tv is kind of like Boxee, but without the software.
- Microsoft sets emergency Windows patch for Monday
- Microsoft today said it will issue an emergency patch for the critical Windows shortcut bug on Monday, August 2.
- U.S. military launches review of IT security after Wikileaks breach
- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said military officials are launching a review of IT security procedures following the leaking of tens of thousands of classified documents related to the war in Afghanistan.
- Mobile health requires grasping smartphone, user connection
- Health-care providers looking to implement a mobile strategy need to understand the strong bond people have with their smartphones, said panelists Friday at the World Congress' Summit on mHealth in Boston.
- Microsoft, Get Back to Work!
- Steve Ballmer assured analysts and the world that Microsoft is hard at work developing a Windows 7-based tablet to compete with devices like the Apple iPad. It is also putting the finishing touches on Windows Phone 7, and preparing to launch the innovative Kinect controller for the Xbox 360. The problem for Microsoft is that these are not its bread and butter markets, and its dominance with business customers is slowly slipping away while it dabbles in consumer gadgets.
- Free Android apps scrape personal data, send it to China
- As many as four million users of Android phones have downloaded wallpaper apps that swipe personal data from the phone and transmit it to a Chinese-owned server, a mobile security firm said today.
- Strategy's Limits: A chat with Ernest von Simson
- As co-founder of The Research Board, an exclusive, IT-focused think tank established in 1970, Ernest von Simson watched time and again as corporate leaders took their companies through change and crises over three decades. During those years, he came to believe that steadfastness is the most vital leadership characteristic for success, as he demonstrates in his new book, "The Limits of Strategy: Lessons in Leadership from the Computer Industry".
- How Froyo Will Boost Business
- Froyo is coming. Sprint announced that the upgrade to Android 2.2 will go out to owners of the HTC EVO 4G beginning next week. While other Android smartphone users wait with envious anticipation, EVO 4G users will be able to put the new Froyo features to use to make the smartphone an even better business tool.
- Print a List of Your Startup Programs
- Pancho asked the Desktops forum how to print a list of all the programs that come up when you boot Windows.
- Top 10 Ways CIOs Can Prepare for Recession No. 2
- As Gartner warns IT leaders to be ready in case a second recession hits, CIO.com's Thomas Wailgum shares his thoughts on how CIOs can actually slash pesky budgets. Hint: Unpaid interns, meet Russian hackers!
- Brits use work web connection for personal use at lunch
- Nearly three quarters (72 percent) of Brits use the internet at work during their lunch hour for personal activities, says Star.
- Anatomy of a Cisco data center convert
- Cisco almost didn't make the cut. NightHawk Radiology Services was ready to hand its data center consolidation project to another vendor until a facility leasing issue delayed its decision.
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- Intel's legal issues help AMD gain in graphics market
- Record product shipments and Intel's legal issues helped Advanced Micro Devices gain share in the graphics market during the second quarter, market analysis firm Jon Peddie Research said on Friday.
- Microsoft Vows Tablet Comeback, But When?
- Microsoft is hard at work preparing a Windows-based alternative to Apple's already-popular iPad tablet, the company's CEO Steve Ballmer told analysts on Thursday. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Asus, Lenovo, and Toshiba are cooperating with Microsoft on such a device, expected later this year, in a bid to catch up with Apple and Google Android.
- What Evo 4G users can expect from Froyo
- If you're a Sprint customer who is happy with your Evo 4G device but disappointed you can't bring it to work, help is on the way.
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- Amazon's New Kindle Spells Doom for Other E-Readers
- If the e-reader price war between Amazon and Barnes & Noble didn't cause panic for other companies, certainly will.
- Sprint's HTC EVO 4G to Get Android 2.2 Next Week
- It's official: Sprint's HTC EVO 4G will get Froyo starting next week.
- Amazon Kindle 3 in pictures
- Amazon has launched the next generation of its Kindle e-book reader, with an enhanced display, faster navigation, and an entirely redesigned chassis
- AirTight defends Wi-Fi WPA2 'vulnerability' claim
- AirTight is defending its claim to have uncovered a vulnerability in the 802.11 specification, and to have mounted an undetectable insider attack based on it. Some have dismissed it as a "publicity stunt."
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- Ironkey looks to secure mobile, business banking
- Cybercriminals are increasingly looking at business rather than consumer accounts to hack as banks scramble to shore up their defenses, according to an executive from vendor IronKey.
- How To Troubleshoot Your Home-Built PC
- Building a PC is a little like walking a tightrope without a net. Okay, it's not quite that dangerous, but unlike buying an off-the-shelf system, you have to be your own tech support staff. Sure, you can try to get support from individual component suppliers, but that can be frustrating--your motherboard maker points at your memory suppliers, who blames your graphics card manufacturer, and so on. Before you know it, the money you saved from building your PC has been outweighed by the time you spent getting it to work.
- Legal wiretap mechanisms may be open to abuse within ISPs
- The built-in mechanism that lets many Internet providers tap communications for law enforcement agencies is susceptible to abuse by insiders who work for the ISPs, Black Hat 2010 was told.
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- Facebook, nannying, and objectives
- Gibbs ponders the problems with employees and social networking and suggests that nannying won't cut it.
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- Citrix tops VMware in desktop virtualization, again
- Citrix is the first desktop virtualization company to meet every enterprise requirement, the Burton Group says.
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- RIM leads way as Q2 mobile phone shipments surge 14%
- RIM mobile phone shipments grew by 40% in the second quarter, tops in an overall market that grew by more than 14% during the period, according to IDC.
- Happy SysAdmin Day (despite the pay)
- Today is System Administrator Appreciation Day, but the IT workers who keep corporate desktops, servers and networks running don't have much to celebrate.
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- Foxconn resumes production at Indian factory
- Foxconn International Holdings has resumed production at a factory in Tamil Nadu state in India, less than a week after the facility was shut down because a large number of workers fell ill there.
- FBI rings organizers over Defcon contest
- A Defcon contest that invites contestants to trick employees at U.S. corporations into revealing not-so-sensitive data has rattled some nerves.
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- Alcatel-Lucent's revenue drops, but operating loss shrinks
- Alcatel-Lucent's second-quarter revenue fell 2.4 percent year on year, dragged down by slow sales in fixed-line network equipment and terrestrial optical networks, but the company reduced costs, cutting its operating loss by two-thirds compared to a year earlier.
- Black Hat gets its video feed hacked
- A security expert found a way to catch the talks at Black Hat for free, thanks to bugs in the video streaming service used by the security conference.
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- Qualcomm finalizes Indian partners for LTE joint venture
- Qualcomm has finalized initial shareholders for its LTE (Long Term Evolution) services venture in India, it said on Friday.
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- Samsung scores record Q2 profit on chips, LCDs
- Samsung Electronics on Friday reported a record high operating profit for the second quarter, driven by strong sales of memory chips and LCDs, but it warned that stiff competition in consumer electronics means it may not be able to maintain profitability at current levels.
- Google reports brief search outage in China
- Google's search engine in China appeared to have been partially blocked overnight Thursday, but a Google spokeswoman said the service was up and running again by Friday morning local time.
- Smartphones, tablets seen boosting mobile health
- Smartphones, tablet PCs and other wireless devices are poised to play a greater role in health care as doctors and patients embrace the mobile Internet, panelists at a mobile health technology conference in Boston said Thursday.
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- U.S. should seek world cooperation on cyber conflict, says ex-CIA director
- The U.S. needs to consider working with other leading nations to develop rules of engagement in cyberspace, retired general and former director of the CIA Michael Hayden said during a keynote address at the Black Hat conference here on Thursday.
- Samsung Sneaks Out Wi-Fi Camera, Swivel-Lens Pocket Camcorder
- It's been a grand total of seven days since Samsung announced new additions to its point-and-shoot camera lineup, but the company has finally broken its excruciating week-long silence.
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- Intel wins key ruling in class-action suit
- A court-appointed special master has rejected class-action status in an antitrust lawsuit against Intel, determining that the plaintiffs failed to show that PC buyers were harmed by discounts Intel offered to manufacturers.
- Wall Street Beat: Dell case serves as cautionary tale
- Sometime in the second quarter of 2004, Dell Chief Financial Officer James Schneider was told by the company's EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Asia) financial director that the unit was having difficulty meeting its US$159 million operating income target.
- Keep Your Keyboard Clean and Germ-Free
- Happy Clean-Your-Keyboard Day! Okay, I made that up, but think about it: when was the last time you did anything with your keyboard besides drop cookie crumbs on it?
- On Strengths of Linux, Android Will Win Mobile Contest
- Mirror, mirror, on the wall, which mobile operating system is fairest of all? That's a common question, given the many contenders in the mobile arena--and the well-publicized glitches that have recently come up.
- Ballmer pushes slates but reveals few details
- Microsoft's chief executive on Thursday sought to address some common questions raised by analysts, but his answers may not have been exactly what they were looking for.
- iPad at Work on Dirty Jobs: 5 Lessons Learned
- Nearly a dozen iPads have been put to work on rooftops and in basements at dirty construction sites, from San Francisco to Las Vegas. Joseph Daniels, president of D7 Consulting, a quality-assurance consulting firm, deployed them only a couple of weeks ago--and has already learned a lot.
- Kindle First Impressions: It’s All Good
- Well, now we know why Amazon's stock of Kindle 2 e-readers evaporated so quickly. Just hours after I wrote about the devices being out of stock, Amazon announced a new model of its popular e-reader. The device, called simply the Kindle, is available for pre-order now and will ship August 27. While most of us will have to wait a month to get our hands on the new gadget, a few lucky bloggers and technology reporters already got a chance to check it out. So far, they seem to like it...a lot. In fact, in reading many of the reports about the new Kindle, I found it difficult to find anything they didn't like about it.
- Apple's iOS4 Issues Take Center Stage
- Now that Apple has pacified iPhone 4 customers with free bumper cases to alleviate antenna issues, the company is looking into problems with iOS 4 and the iPhone 3G.
- Skeptical Shopper: Hulu and Pandora--Worth the Upgrade?
- I've been a fan of Pandora Radio since it launched in 2000, but the growing number of ads interrupting my stations is annoying. One such ad told me that I could avoid the ads if I upgraded to Pandora One--by buying a year's subscription. Does spending the money make more sense than ignoring or muting the ads?
- AMD overtakes Nvidia as top discrete graphics vendor
- Advanced Micro Devices overtook Nvidia during the second quarter to become the top discrete graphics card vendor, according to market research firm Mercury Research.
- Magic Trackpad Gets Magic Teardown
- Earlier this week Apple revealed the long-rumored desktop trackpad, known as the Magic Trackpad. Just days later, and as expected, the folks over at iFixit has ripped the new multitouch device apart.
- How to migrate to Energy Efficient Ethernet
- The IEEE's 802.3az standard for Energy Efficient Ethernet is expected to be finalized by next year, but it's not too soon to think about how your IT organization can migrate to EEE.
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- On Your Side: Download Refund Woes
- I purchased the RegWork Windows Registry cleaner online but lost my Internet connection before I could download it. The only way to get the download was to pay another $30. I registered a complaint with PayPal and was told that I would get a refund, but the PayPal withdrawal from my checking account showed up on my bank statement, and the refund never did. When I e-mailed RegWork, the company said that it had issued a refund more than two months prior. Can you help?
- Microsoft slates IE9 beta for September
- MIcrosoft will ship a beta of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) in September, a company executive said today.
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- Microsoft's 2010 software 'most complicated lock-in decision in years'
- Microsoft is pushing its weight around in 2010 by offering numerous tools that used to be provided only by third-party vendors, and embracing the virtualization and software-as-a-service delivery models, analysts sa
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- Former student files second lawsuit over school Webcam spying
- Another student this week sued the suburban Philadelphia school district embroiled in allegations of spying on high schoolers using their school-issued laptops.
- SAP adding iGoogle-like layer to its portal
- SAP is sprucing up its NetWeaver portal with an upcoming add-on, Enterprise Workspaces, which will provide an iGoogle-like way for users to work with content.
- Blu-ray disc capacities jump to 100GB
- The storage capacity of Blu-ray discs is doubling, with companies including Sharp, TDK and Verbatim preparing to launch new discs that can store up to 100GB of data.
- Secrets to Maximizing Your 15 Minutes on YouTube
- YouTube has extended the maximum video length from 10 minutes to 15 minutes to compete against Hulu and keep users engaged on the site longer. While the vast majority of the video clips on YouTube are silly, YouTube also provides a number of benefits for businesses if you know how to use it right.
- Nintendo To Reveal 3DS Launch, Price Details in Sept.
- Nintendo has a price and launch date in mind for its upcoming 3DS video game handheld, but you'll have to wait until September 29 to get it.
- Security firm Sourcefire gaining financial strength
- Sourcefire, a 10-year-old firm specializing in intrusion detection and prevention, Thursday announced increased year-over-year second quarter revenue and earnings and predicted an even better third quarter.
The company reported Q2 revenue of $30.6 million, up 38% from Q2 a year ago and up nearly 19% from Q1. Adjusted net income was $3.3 million, more than double that from Q2 last year. The third quarter looks still brighter with at least $34.3 million in revenues expected by the company.
Sourcefire was founded in 2001 by CTO Martin Roesch, http://www.networkworld.com/news/2002/130412_02-25-2002.html who created the Snort open-source IDS/IPS technology. The company struggled in its earlier years to gain financial momentum with its commercial Snort-based offerings, but finally hit profitability during the second half of last year.
“We made $500,000,” says Greg Fitzgerald, senior vice president of marketing. “It was a banner year.”
FAKE SIDE: For all the latest open source news, visit our Open Source Subnet http://www.networkworld.com/subnets/opensource/
- NetJets orders Aircell Wi-Fi equipment for 250 aircraft
- NetJets is betting that its business customers want Wi-Fi access in the air and has has selected Aircell technology to outfit more than 250 of its private planes.
- Zend offers PHP software packages
- The new subscription-based model can help users who need more flexible application infrastructures
- Mundie: Microsoft's research depth enabled Kinect
- Few companies have the research depth to build something like Kinect, Microsoft's forthcoming Xbox add-on that allows a user to control a game through body movements -- in fact, Microsoft itself initially thought it would be impossible, its top research executive said Thursday.
- iPad in the Enterprise: Will CIOs Use It To Innovate?
- Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that Apple's iPad has been available for the past couple of months--available for consumers to buy, but also available for companies to find innovative uses for it. Behind its pretty face, the iPad holds a wealth of interactive design potential, and innovative CIOs will ultimately determine how that potential translates to the enterprise.
- Important Lessons from the Black Hat ATM Hack
- A security researcher named Barnaby Jack amazed attendees at the Black Hat security conference by hacking ATM machines in a session titled "Jackpotting Automated Teller Machines Redux". There are some important lessons to be learned from the hacks Jack demonstrated, and they apply to more than just ATM machines.
- Internet Gambling Bill Clears Committee
- A bill to regulate Internet gambling cleared its first hurdle yesterday on the way to becoming a law. The measure--which would require anyone running Net gambling operations to be licensed by the U.S. government if they want to take bets from U.S. citizens--cleared the House Financial Services committee by a vote of 41-22 and now goes before the full House of Representatives.
- Wireless Charging for Electric Vehicles: Coming Soon
- Similar in principle to induction-charging devices for phones (for example, the "Touchstone" accessory for the Palm Pre), Evatran is developing a solution to charge your electric car without the need to plug it in. The Evatran "Plugless Power" system works by fitting an adapter to the car, and mounting an induction-charging plate in the garage.
- Warning: Five Things to Know Before Switching to Linux
- A happy customer might tell someone. An unhappy customer tells everyone. Converting to Linux before taking a dose of reality might make you a very unhappy customer. Let's be perfectly honest. Linux isn't for everyone-yet. However, Ubuntu, Mandriva, and a few other distributions come close but for now, Linux is a little more difficult to use than Windows.
- Nintendo DS Sales Sink by Half, Intensify Quarterly Loss
- It was inevitable: Nintendo's reporting a substantial loss as sales of its DS gaming handheld fell last quarter, leading the company to a quarterly net loss for the first time in two years.
- T-Mobile tops AT&T, Verizon and Sprint in customer care rankings
- A J.D. Power and Associates report lists T-Mobile USA the top customer services provider among the largest wireless carriers in the U.S.
- The Facebook Data Torrent Debacle: Q&A
- Security concerns over Facebook have been raised yet again after a security consultant collected the names and profile URLs for 171 million Facebook accounts from publicly available information. The consultant, Ron Bowes, then uploaded the data as a torrent file allowing anyone with a computer connection to download the data.
The Connected Enterprise
