Techno-News Blog

By eWEEK

For years, business intelligence has provided valuable information to help executives and managers make decisions to increase sales, improve operations, and seize new business opportunities. With the quickening pace of business today and the need to make faster decisions based on more timely data, companies are complementing this data using information mined from social networks, mobile sensors, and even location-based information from smartphones. To get the best value from this wealth of new data sources, the data analysis must be done in real time. This allows decisions to be made based on the true conditions at that particular time.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/The-Growing-Need-for-Real-Time-Analytics/?kc=rss

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Consumers are ready for a low-cost tablet alternative to Apple’s iPad and would seriously welcome such a slate from Amazon.com, according to Retrevo. The consumer electronics shopping site said that 55 percent of 1,000 consumers surveyed said they would choose an Amazon tablet, which is expected to be based in Google’s Android “Honeycomb” platform.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Amazon-Android-Tablet-Would-Be-Welcomed-By-Consumers-Retrevo-379475/?kc=rss

by the BBC

Broadband speeds in the UK now average 6.8Mbps (megabits per second) but there is still a huge gap between advertised and actual speeds, according to Ofcom. Almost half of broadband users are now on packages with advertised speeds above 10Mbps but few achieve this. Ofcom’s biannual report into the state of the broadband market urged changes to advertising. Virgin Media, which fared well in the study, accused its rivals of misleading the public. The report found that the average broadband speed had increased by 10% in the past six months, mainly because people were trying out faster services.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14295046

by eWeek

Google+ is causing quite a stir among the digerati and social-network elite, offering users a legitimate alternative to Facebook and drawing reviews from even the likes of The New York Times gadget head David Pogue. (He likes it). The social network includes Circles (think Facebook Groups), which let users manually place friends, family, colleagues or just people they want to follow in separate social buckets. There are Sparks, little news feeds (think Facebook News Feed) and Hangouts for group video chats with up to 10 users at once (think project-management meetings). The mobile Google+ application is solid, offering a Huddle group-messaging capability. Now that the product is out there and users, from social media guru Robert Scoble to actress Alyssa Milano, are populating it like crazy, greedy users want to know where Google is going to take Google+ next.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/Google-Integration-Top-10-Web-Apps-We-Want-to-Add-to-the-Social-Network-613264/

by the BBC

The Mozilla project will build on the core technology in Google’s Android. The creators of the Firefox web browser have started developing an operating system for mobiles and tablets. Although the project will draw on some parts of Google’s Android mobile operating system much of the code will be freshly written. Once finished the operating system will compete with Android as it will run on the same devices. The project team said all code development would be done in the open and shared as soon as it was written. Called Boot To Gecko the code creation is being overseen by the Mozilla Project which created the Firefox browser.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14289981

by the BBC

The Communications Consumer Panel estimates 1,400 base stations need to be built in rural areas. The upcoming 4G mobile auction should be used as an opportunity to upgrade the UK’s mobile infrastructure, says an advisory group.The Communications Consumer Panel said regulator Ofcom should oblige operators to extend services to rural areas.It also suggested the money made by selling off the airwaves could be used to upgrade rural coverage. It estimates that three million people live in mobile “not-spots”. The panel said it did not believe that new 4G services would extend beyond existing coverage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14291335

by Fahmida Y. Rashid, eWeek

The average large business sees 27 attacks per minute hitting its Website. Attackers can use automation technologies to generate up to seven attacks per second, or 25,000 attacks per hour. Security firm Imperva uncovered these figures after analyzing more than 10 million Web application attacks that targeted Websites belonging to 30 large businesses and government agencies between January 2011 and May 2011, according to the report released July 25. The Web Application Attack Report (WAR) also analyzed anonymized traffic.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Security/CyberCriminals-Use-Botnets-Automation-to-Launch-Multiple-Blended-Attacks-656032/?kc=rss

by Alex Hudson, the BBC

More than eight million adults in the UK – around 16% of the adult population – have downloaded a podcast, with almost half listening to one at least once a week. This figure is echoed in the US. As a comparison, this is still a greater percentage of people than use Twitter.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9545533.stm

by Bill Thompson, BBC

I believe that if we want an open society based around principles of equality of opportunity, social justice and free expression, we need to build it on technologies which are themselves ‘open’, and that this is the only way to encourage a diverse online culture that allows all voices to be heard. But even if you agree with me, deciding what we mean by ‘open’ is far from straightforward: Does it mean an internet built around the end-to-end principle, where any connected computer can exchange data with any other computer and the network itself is unaware of the ‘meaning’ of the bits exchanged? Open source software such as Audacity allows users to contribute to improving code Does it mean computers that will run any program written for them, rather than requiring them to be vetted and approved by gateway companies? Does it mean free software that can be used, changed and redistributed by anyone without payment or permission?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14217363

by the BBC

Hackers have started to release gigabytes of secret documents stolen from an Italian cybercrime unit. The 8GB of files has allegedly been taken from the network of the Italian CNAIPIC which oversees the country’s critical IT infrastructure. In a message announcing the release, the Anonymous hacker group said it received the files from a “source”. The attack on CNAIPIC is thought to be in retaliation for arrests of Italian members of Anonymous. Links to the first few confidential files purportedly stolen from CNAIPIC were placed on the Pastebin website. Anonymous claims the files were taken from the evidence servers of CNAIPIC (National Computer Crime Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection). The documents include information about government offices such as Australia’s Ministry of Defence and the US Department of Agriculture as well as data about private firms Gazprom, Exxon Mobil and many others.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14277723

by the BBC

An official investigation has uncovered five fake Apple stores in Kunming. China has moved to shut down several fake Apple stores found in Kunming city. Three of the elaborate fake stores, which mimicked the look of the real thing, came to the world’s attention after being exposed on a blog. Following the publicity, trade officials investigated and found five stores in Kunming posing as official Apple retail outlets. Two of the five have now been closed as their owners lacked a business licence. The BirdAbroad blog, written by an American woman living in Kunming, wrote about a visit to one fake Apple store which superficially resembled the official outlets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14273444

By Lena Groeger, Wired.com

USC has recently teamed up with New York based TouchAppMedia and 2tor,Inc. to introduce the first mobile app for higher education. It rolls an assortment of technologies resembling Skype, Facebook, and Twitter into a virtual school experience. Video chat with a classmate on the bus, receive push notifications when a professor posts a new grade, share notes on the course “wall.” It’s the most portable development coming out of USC’s successful online masters degree program in teaching, dubbed MAT@USC.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/07/ipad-university-college-try/

by Darryl K. Taft, eWeek

IBM has announced new cloud-based collaboration services to help U.S. federal government organizations adopt social computing. The new set of social collaboration services, delivered on IBM’s Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)-compliant Federal Community Cloud, addresses the administration’s drive to adopt a “cloud-first” policy which is designed to help the government improve its overall IT efficiency and delivery of services to citizens, IBM said in a press release. IBM’s new cloud services include social software such as wikis, microblogs, communities, staff profiles, instant messaging, web conferencing and email. IBM’s services also support popular mobile devices including Android phones and tablets, Apple iPhone 4 and iPad, BlackBerry, and Nokia Symbian platform. Industry analyst firm IDC ranked IBM first in the social platforms market share for 2009 and 2010.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/IBM-Takes-Cloud-Collaboration-to-Government-Agencies-622096/?kc=rss

by Clint Bouton, eWeek

ComScore said Google+ has racked up more than 20 million users, including 5 million in the U.S., in the first three weeks since the search engine launched the social network as an alternative to Facebook. The researcher culled estimates from unique visitors who arrived at Google+ from June 29 through July 19, said Andrew Lipsman, vice president of industry analysis at comScore. “As of July 19, comScore showed Google+ at just about 20 million visitors worldwide, an extraordinary number in just its first three weeks,” Lipsman said, adding that the figure represents an increase of 82 percent from the previous week and 561 percent vs. two weeks prior.”

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Google-Breaks-20M-User-Mark-ComScore-153589/?kc=rss

by Nicholas Kolakowski, eWeek

Microsoft’s July 21 earnings call revealed one little tidbit that could have executives in Redmond reaching for the anti-anxiety medication: revenue for the company’s Windows and Windows Live Division declined 1 percent during the most recent quarter, even as other divisions reported significant growth. It’s hard to understate the importance of Windows revenue to Microsoft’s overall fortunes. Windows 7 has sold some 400 million licenses since its October 2009 release. A galaxy of manufacturing partners and third-party vendors depend on the operating system to help sell their own products and services. And Microsoft needs those truckloads of Windows revenue to help finance less profitable initiatives, such as its “all in” cloud strategy.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Microsofts-Windows-Faces-Erosion-Competition-373703/?kc=rss

by the BBC

Google has begun issuing warnings to millions of people that their PC has been infected with a virus. The malicious code pipes browser traffic through sites that promote the scammers’ wares which include fake security programs. Those hit by the virus will be warned with a message that will appear at the top of searches carried out via Google. The search firm estimates that more than two million people have been hit by the infection

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14232577

by the BBC

Sales of the company’s Xbox 360 videogame console and its Office software helped fuel the growth. Net income at the world’s biggest software maker jumped 23% to 23.15bn for the year. The figures, which beat forecasts, showed final quarter revenues reached a record high of $17.37bn, leading to profits of $5.87bn.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14243831

by eMarketer Daily

Purchases of ereader and tablet devices continue to climb. eMarketer estimates a 60% surge in the number of ereaders and a 178% jump in the number of tablets bought this year. Looking in depth at ereader and tablet buyer demographics shows a gender division has taken shape in terms of tablet vs. ereader ownership. Since the early days of tablets and ereaders, adopters have tended to be young, high-income adult males. As the market has matured, an older consumer base has also demonstrated an appetite for the devices. Young adults continue to hold their ground, though, and men remain ahead of women.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008507

by Kristina Bjoran, Technology Review

As rumors circulate that Amazon is getting ready to release a tablet computer later this year, it’s tempting to wonder: why bother? The rest of the tablet market is largely made up of devices running Google’s Android operating system. As Amazon is widely thought to be working on a device that also uses Android, this could make it tricky to distinguish its product from these other iPad wannabes. Besides, Amazon already offers a successful Kindle app for the iPad, and for Android. So why risk so much effort by entering the highly competitive tablet market at all? According to some experts, a full tablet computer could prove vital as the material Amazon sells becomes increasingly digitized and delivered online

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/38082/?mod=chfeatured

by David Talbot, Technology Review

A sudden surge in smart-phone adoption in Kenya has been joined by a huge wave of application development efforts, with goals ranging from connecting citizens with health information to delivering organic-farming advice. Smart phones surged in popularity in February after Safaricom, Kenya’s dominant telecom, began offering the cheapest smart phone yet on the market—an Android model called Ideos from the Chinese maker Huawei, which has been making inroads in the developing world. In Kenya, the price, approximately $80, was low enough to win more than 350,000 buyers to date.

http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/37877/?mod=chfeatured

by Kenrick Vezina, Technology Review

The flood of information available online with just a few clicks and finger-taps may be subtly changing the way we retain information, according to a new study. But this doesn’t mean we’re becoming less mentally agile or thoughtful, say the researchers involved. Instead, the change can be seen as a natural extension of the way we already rely upon social memory aids—like a friend who knows a particular subject inside out. Researchers and writers have debated over how our growing reliance on Internet-connected computers may be changing our mental faculties. The constant assault of tweets and YouTube videos, the argument goes, might be making us more distracted and less thoughtful—in short, dumber. However, there is little empirical evidence of the Internet’s effects, particularly on memory.

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/38032/?mod=chfeatured