By Michael Alan Hamlin
September 1, 2010

Young adults have embraced the Internet and social media, but they are much savvier when it comes to online trust and personal brand management than older adults, according to a recent Pew Internet study. Entitled, “Reputation Management and Social Media,” the survey reveals how people monitor—and manage—their personal brands and search for others online. Another survey shows why “SocMed” savvy is so important, especially in the Philippines.

comScore—which measures online activity—said last month that 93% of Internet users in the Philippines visit Facebook every month, making the Philippines the social network’s largest market globally by penetration. That’s about 22 million Filipinos, assuming about 24 million regular Internet users as estimated by AC Nielsen. The extrapolation is necessary because comScore only counts Internet penetration from homes, not Internet cafés, schools, and offices.

Forty percent of Internet users in the Philippines are teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 and 24, according to comScore, which apparently doesn’t measure use by younger users. At any rate, 60% of Internet users are supposedly older and wiser adults. However, if they follow the trends identified in the Pew study, when it comes to prudent use of the Internet and social media, that’s not the case.

First, some general trends. About 57% of US Internet users monitor their reputations online, up from about 47% four years ago. The default method for monitoring reputation is search alerts. The comScore survey shows that about 80% of Internet users in Asia Pacific use search, and in the Philippines usage increases to 86%. It’s a good bet that while search is useful for many reasons, monitoring personal brands is probably at or near the top of the list.

Users are also proactively managing their online brands. Forty-six percent of US Internet users have created profiles on social networking sites, up 10 points as well from 36% in 2006. We’ve already seen that the Philippines has very high social network reach, and users in the Philippines spend more of their online time using social networks than users anywhere else in the world. Oddly, only Indonesia comes close, 32.8% compared to 33.1% for Filipino users. It’s fair to say that Filipinos are very actively engaged in managing their online personal brands.

Incidentally, the comScore study shows that the use of the micro-blogging service Twitter is also growing rapidly, up from about nine percent in February to 15% in May. The Philippines is also the number three market for Twitter in Asia Pacific, after Indonesia and Japan.

Searching for information related to other personal brands is an emerging mainstream activity, perhaps in part to assess a user’s relative brand attractiveness compared to former classmates, colleagues, and rivals. Given the intense loyalty Filipinos exhibit towards province mates, classmates, and colleagues, assuming that Filipinos have little need to research individuals from their past seems a reasonable thing to do.

However, anecdotally, my wife recently announced to me that since she started using Facebook, she had connected with former classmates and colleagues she hadn’t heard from in years. Her experience and that of millions of other Filipinos and Internet users worldwide show that it’s not just search but social networking when it comes to leveraging powerful online tools for personal brand monitoring, whether friend or foe.

When it comes to guarding personal brands online, however, younger users appear to be the experts. According to the Pew survey, 44% of US users 18-29 take steps to limit the amount of personal information they make available online. That compares to 33% of Internet users aged 30-49,
25% of those 50-64, and 20% of users 65 years-old or older. Perhaps the reason is that as users age, they are less worried about stalkers. Of course, it could be that they are simply less social media savvy.

Younger users are more likely to proactively manage their personal brands in other ways, such as changing their privacy settings to limit who sees their information. That can be complicated, suggesting that younger users are more adept at managing social networks than older users. Younger users are also more inclined to remove negative comments others make on their profiles and to remove tags associating their names with photos taken by other users.

Online personal brands matter, and younger users seems to be better at managing them. But no study reveals whether that’s because they understand personal branding better than older users, or are just more adroit at manipulating the technology to protect their feelings.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Independence Day
• Memo to President Aquino
• Wi-Fi’s Public Enemy: RF Interference
• Information Literacy: A Call to Action
• Move to “The Cloud,” Save Costs on The Ground

By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld (US)
August 27, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Facebook on Wednesday said it will drop chat support for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 in three weeks, the latest effort to stamp out the nine-year-old browser.

In a message on its Web site that also said it was dealing with complaints about the reliability of its instant-messaging Chat feature, the popular social networking site announced that it would stop supporting IE6 on Sept. 15. It urged consumers to upgrade to a newer browser, and pointed them to Microsoft’s site for the newer IE8.

“We’ve decided to make rapid improvements and provide the best Chat experience possible, which means we will no longer support Internet Explorer 6 browsers,” said Facebook software engineer Rodrigo Schmidt on the company’s blog .

Facebook has been prompting users to ditch IE6 since February 2009, and other major Web sites and services, including YouTube, Gmail and Digg, have told people to switch or confirmed that they would no longer support the browser in key areas.

Last August, Microsoft added its voice to the chorus when Amy Bazdukas, general manager for IE, said, “Friends don’t let friends use IE6.”

Calls to drop IE6 intensified earlier this year, after attacks struck Google, Adobe and dozens of other Western companies. Those attacks exploited a then-unpatched vulnerability in Internet Explorer, and researchers said the exploit specifically targeted IE6. At the time, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security, known by its German initials of BSI, and France’s CERTA each urged citizens to ditch the browser.

According to Web metrics company Net Applications, IE6 was used by about 17% of all people on the Internet in July.

Earlier this month, Roger Capriotti, a product management lead on the IE team, argued that the battle to drive IE6 into extinction was “definitely winnable” as he cited data that showed impressive usage share increases for IE8.

Microsoft will support IE6 with security updates until April 2014.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld (US)
August 23, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - With its new location-based Places feature, Facebook may have just lit the match that will ignite another round of privacy controversy.

On Wednesday, Facebook took the wraps off of Places, a smartphone-based service that enables users to tell their friends where they are, and to track friends. The service, which is slowly being rolled out to users, enables people to share their friends’ locations.

After dealing with angry and frustrated users for months this year, Facebook is jumping back into already-tumultuous privacy waters with its new location-based service.

Any location-based service will instill some trepidation in users who see it as a stalker’s best friend. Want to know where someone is? Check Places. Want to know when someone is away from home so you can break in and steal their flat-screen TV? Check Places.

And while that’s always an issue, forcing users to opt out of using the service rather than allowing them to opt in has some privacy advocates up in arms. Facebook has set up Places so that it is on by default, and users must make their way through the system’s privacy controls in order to turn it off.

“I’ve watched how they’ve handled users’ privacy over the last year and a half or so, and they continually step on their dance partners’ feet every time they get a new dance partner,” said Brad Shimmin, an analyst at Current Analysis.

“The fact that it’s turned on by default really ticks me off as a user. Those missteps bother me and show that they really are running a little bit faster than they know how,” Shimmin continued. “They keep requiring users to jump over hoops to protect themselves.”

While there hasn’t been widespread outrage over the new feature, Shimmin wasn’t the only one who was angry about it.

Soon after Facebook announced Places, the ACLU of Northern California issued a statement saying the social network has failed to build in some important safeguards.

“In the world of Facebook Places, ‘no’ is unfortunately not an option,” the ACLU said in the statement. “Places allows your friends to tag you when they check in somewhere, and Facebook makes it very easy to say ‘yes’ to allowing your friends to check in for you. But when it comes to opting out of that feature, you are only given a ‘not now’ option. ‘No’ isn’t one of the easy options.”

Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt fired back today, saying he’s “disappointed” in the ACLU of Northern California.

“Facebook Places sets a new standard for user control and privacy protection for location information,” he wrote in a statement.

“No one can be checked in to a location without their explicit permission. Many third parties have applauded our controls, indicating that people have more protections using Facebook Places than other widely used location services available today,” Schnitt said.
Painful privacy settings

Shimmin, however, said Facebook didn’t make the privacy settings easy enough and noted that some users are confused by the process of trying to opt out.

“I’ve seen manuals for programming your DVR that are simpler,” he added. “Lessons learned in the past would indicate the way this should have been rolled out is with an opt-in. It should allow any users, whether smart or stupid, to say ‘Yes, I want to participate’ or ‘No, I don’t want to participate.’”

“For your average, very casual Facebook user, they’re going to get very frustrated with this,” Shimmin said.

Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group, said this actually could be a chance for Facebook to clean up its privacy image.

“I think that this will result in at least a temporary hubbub if not a full-scale brouhaha,” Olds said. “However, Facebook can immunize themselves against much of this, or at least ensure it stays small, if they address people’s privacy concerns and adjust the controls in a very clear and understandable manner.”

“It might even help their reputation a bit if they prove that they’ve given a lot of thought to privacy and install fail-safe controls to ensure that no one is located who doesn’t want to be located,” he said.

However, Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group, said that while Facebook does have a chance to clean up its reputation here, the company simply doesn’t seem to be heading in that direction right now.

“I’m not yet getting the sense that they are taking this as seriously as they probably should,” Enderle said. “There is a lot of opportunity for misuse with this.”

He added: “The concept is a good one, but it needs a lot of maturing to work safely in today’s unsafe world.”

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Jared Newman
PC World (US)
August 19, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Like many scams on Facebook, the “Dislike” button succeeded because people are gullible. Here’s how to not become one of those people.

Looking at Sophos’ report on the Facebook “Dislike” button, which has reportedly spread virally through the social network, I noticed a pattern consistent with several other scams. Recognize these red flags, and you won’t be fooled again.

First, it helps to have a pinch of skepticism when your friend posts an uncharacteristic status update. Did your old college drinking buddy just write “OMG Justin Bieber trying to flirt” on his Facebook wall? (Click on the image at left to see what to look for.) For that matter, is “OMG” out of character for your grown friends and family? A little bit of common sense always helps.

Now that you’re skeptical, take a look at the Facebook status update in question. At the bottom, you’ll see time elapsed since post was written and how it was delivered. So if a post comes from the web, it says “via Facebook.” and if it’s an update on someone’s Mafia Wars progress, it says “via Mafia Wars Game.”

With the “Dislike” button, the source is “The Official Dislike Button,” and with another recent scam about a student attacking his teacher, the source was “Student vs Teacher.” Do these messages really need their own apps for sending out messages? Facebook’s “Like” button doesn’t have its own app, so a genuine “Dislike” button shouldn’t be using one, either.

And a video of “Worst McDs Customer” certainly shouldn’t have its own delivery method for status updates, either. (Click the image at right for an example.) Questioning what comes after “via” is especially important if clicking on a link within someone’s status update takes you directly to an app installation page.

Finally, some apps will give themselves away by sending you away from Facebook to an external website. The “Dislike” scam, for instance, would send people to sites such as fbdislikeit.info. This is the biggest giveaway of them all. Any time you’re sent to an external website to install something on Facebook, use extreme caution and never install anything from a source you don’t trust — especially when the source claims to be “official.

The good news about this particular group of scams is that they aren’t that harmful, and you can undo the damage by removing the application from Facebook’s “Application Settings” page. But at that point, everyone will know you’ve been had.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Fix a Windows 7 System That Randomly Freezes
• Update Firmware On Your HDTV, Camera, Smartphone, PC
• Keep Your PC Awake, Install Apps Fast & More–Free
• Use Facebook Places
• My Keyboard isn’t Working

By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
August 19, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - You found something cool on the Web–say, a photo or incredibly helpful Hassle-Free PC tip. Now you want to share it with friends, and maybe add a few comments to what you’re sharing.

Check out Bounce. This slick little Web app takes a screenshot of any page, lets you add comments to one or more parts of that page, then share it via Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail.

To get started, copy the URL of the page you want to share. Then head to the Bounce site, paste in the URL, and click Grab Screenshot. In a few moments, you’ll see the page you captured, but with a simple Bounce toolbar across the top. Now click and drag a box around any area you want to spotlight, then add some comments in the area below it. Repeat this process as needed.

Finally, click the red Save button up in the Bounce toolbar. That’ll generate a custom URL you can copy and paste into an e-mail. Alternately, you can click the Facebook or Twitter icons to share this “feedback” (that’s what Bounce calls your comments) on either service.

Bounce is totally free, and it doesn’t require any kind of registration. Nice!

COPY KINDLE NOTES AND BOOKMARKS TO YOUR PC

If you’re a Kindle owner, you’ve probably discovered the device’s enviable ability to bookmark pages, highlight passages, and add notes (aka annotations).

What you may not know is how to do anything useful with that data. For example, students might want to include annotations in a school paper. And if you’re part of a book group, your might want to share those bookmarks and notes in, say, a Word document.

Either way, it’s possible–it’s just a small matter of copying that stuff to your PC. Here’s how.

Connect your Kindle to your PC. Open My Computer (or just Computer if you’re on Vista or Windows 7), then look for Kindle in your list of devices. Double-click the Kindle icon, then open the Documents folder. Look for a file called My Clippings.txt. Copy it to your desktop (or folder of choice), then open it in your favorite word processor.

You’ll see that the notes are sorted by book and by date–very handy.

MANAGE, SHARE, AND DISCOVER BOOKS WITH SHELFARI

I’m an avid reader. And the older I get, the harder it becomes for me to remember every book I’ve read. At the same time, I want to get recommendations from sources other than Amazon: friends, people who share my tastes, and so on.

Shelfari is a free service that lets you build a virtual bookshelf of stuff you’ve read, see what your friends are reading, discover popular titles in specific genres, and join discussion groups.

After signing up for Shelfari, you can browse or search its library to find books to add to your virtual shelf. For any book you choose, you have the option of rating, tagging, and/or reviewing it. You can also mark it as something you’ve read, are reading, or are planning to read. All this requires just a few easy clicks.

Shelfari is also heavy on community features, stuff like which books got the highest ratings and most comments for the day, members who added the same books as you, and group categories ranging from Authors & Writing to World Literature & Culture.

Of course, Shelfari is by no means the only bibliophile site of its kind. Another popular destination is Goodreads, though I find that site’s interface much less intuitive and attractive.

I do wish Shelfari offered some kind of integration with Facebook and/or Twitter. Even so, it’s a great destination for anyone who loves books. If you want to “friend” me on the service, look for user justrick.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Fix a Windows 7 System That Randomly Freezes
• Update Firmware On Your HDTV, Camera, Smartphone, PC
• Keep Your PC Awake, Install Apps Fast & More–Free
• Use Facebook Places
• My Keyboard isn’t Working

By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld (US)
August 18, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - As many as five million Web sites hosted by Network Solutions have been serving up malware, probably for several months, a security expert said today.

“This is one of the biggest infections for drive-by download attacks that I’ve seen,” said Wayne Huang, co-founder and CTO of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Armorize Technologies, a Web application security company.

Network Solutions disputed Huang’s estimate of between 500,000 and 5 million infected sites, but was unable to provide its own count.

Huang said his firm’s researchers initially tracked the infection to a widget installed by Network Solutions on its GrowSmartBusiness.com site, then later discovered that the same widget was installed by default on all “parked” domains hosted by the Herndon, Va. hosting giant.

Parked domains are those that have been registered, but lack any owner-provided content. Malware makers and scammers have used these under-construction sites in the past to spread attack code or artificially boost search site rankings to dupe consumers into visiting.

“The largest mass infection I can remember was 1.1 million pages,” said Huang. “This is a lot bigger.”

The widget turned every infected domain into a drive-by attack site that launched the multi-exploit “Nuke” toolkit against users running Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Opera. If the kit successfully hacked the browser, a Trojan downloader hit the Windows PC, searches were redirected and pop-up advertisements appeared.

Several of the antivirus programs that recognized the downloader identified it as a variant of “Koobface” , a malware-spreading worm best known for attacking users of social networks such as Facebook.

Huang said that the attackers were making money by serving up the ads to infected machines, and further spreading the malware by copying the attack code to any of several peer-to-peer networks already installed on the system.

Additional malicious script was dropped into the infected sites that only targeted users in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Using several search engines, Huang estimated that that infected widget appeared on between 500,000 and 5 million domains. Monday, he bet on the bigger of the two numbers. “Search engines are generally not keen on indexing parked domains,” he said, saying that Yahoo and other search sites provided may thus undercount infected domains.

Network Solutions contested Huang’s estimate. “The numbers reported over the weekend are not accurate,” said company spokeswoman Susan Wade. “We’re still investigating to determine the number affected.”

Although Network Solutions has disabled the widget on all parked domains and has taken the GrowSmartBusiness.com site offline, the widget remains on approximately 5,700 active sites that manually installed it, Huang said. Nor has Network Solutions scrubbed the malicious script targeting users with IP addresses located in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

“If you have downloaded the GrowSmartBusiness widget to your website, we recommend you delete that widget and scan your site for malware,” Network Solutions urged in a Monday security alert .

Huang traced the problem as far back as May, when Armorize blogged about a site hosted by Network Solutions that was serving malware to visitors. At the time, Armorize’s researchers didn’t realize the infection was widespread.

Wade said Network Solutions was still trying to determine an infection timeline.

It’s possible that the multiple infections Network Solutions has acknowledged this year are related. In April, the hosting company dealt with a large-scale infection of WordPress-powered blogs, while in January several hundred sites it hosts were defaced.

“If these events were associated, then sometime in early April the attacker group must have decided to leverage the control they had of Network Solutions, and massively injected malicious content not into the default parked domain page, but rather, into the hosted WordPress blogs and/or sites,” said Huang in a post to the Amorize blog on Saturday.

The attack on Network Solutions gave hackers a huge bang for their buck, said Huang, and may be a sign that they’re targeting hosting firms.

“In the past, [attackers] have compromised sites with mass SQL injections where they try to corral every single site they can,” Huang said. “But by attacking a hosting company, they can put backdoors with full control on millions of machines. There’s no need to inject each site individually.”

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Mikael Ricknäs
IDG News Service (Stockholm Bureau)
August 18, 2010

STOCKHOLM - Nokia has announced the X3 Touch and Type, which combines a 2.4-inch touchscreen with a traditional 12-button keypad, the company said on Tuesday.

Fast one-handed, one-thumb users want to maintain their speed when typing a text or instant message, but also enjoy the benefits of touch, according to Nokia. Besides the 12-button phone keypad, the Series 40-based phone comes with dedicated music and messaging keys, Nokia said.

The X3 comes with a 5-megapixel camera, an FM radio and a 3.5 millimeter audio jack and connects to the Internet using HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) or 802.11n, which still is mostly available only on high-end smartphones. It measures 106.2 x 48.4 x 9.6 millimeters, has an aluminium cover and weighs 78 grams.

On the software side, the X3 features integration with Facebook and Twitter, as well as e-mail and instant messaging using, for example, Gmail and Windows Live Messenger.

The phone is expected to start shipping in the third quarter and will retail for approximately €125 (US$160) excluding taxes and possible subsidies.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Google ‘phasing out’ Windows over security concerns
• Yahoo proposes ‘really ugly hack’ to DNS
• Pressmart targets small newspapers aiming to go online
• How satisfied are you with your current job?
• Biggest Career Motivators, Other Than Money

By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld (US)
August 16, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - After news hit this week that Facebook developers are furiously trying to fix a bug that lets spammers harvest users’ names and photos, the issue of online safety has reared its ugly head again.

Privacy and security problems have plagued Facebook and its more than 500 million users — a lot — over the past several months.

Much of the most recent turmoil was kicked up this past April when Facebook unveiled a list of new tools that allow user information to be easily shared with third-party Web sites.

That move caused an online uproar among users, and even prompted a handful of U.S. senators to write an open letter calling on Facebook to amend its privacy policies.

Facebook responded to the unrest with the release in May of a set of simpler privacy controls. However, despite the social network’s efforts, concern about privacy and security seems to always be boiling just under the surface among users.

Oddly enough, though, that doesn’t mean that most users have battened down their security hatches or have even rethought the kind of information they routinely post about themselves.

In light of the concern about privacy and security — and the fact that users don’t seem to doing what they should be doing to safeguard their information — Computerworld talked with analysts to come up with five suggestions to protect you and your personal information if you’re one of the half a billion Facebook users sharing pictures, videos and updates about your latest dates or upcoming vacations.

1. Understand Facebook’s security settings and use them

Most analysts called this step absolutely mandatory. Larry Hawes, an analyst at Gilbane Group, noted that users need to find out where the security settings are on Facebook and take the time to learn how to use them to control what information is shared with people, applications and Web sites.

Augie Ray, an analyst at Forrester Research, added that people should seriously consider only sharing their information with their online friends.

To do that, Ray noted that users can access their privacy settings by clicking on “Account” in the upper right-hand corner of their Facebook page, and then clicking “Privacy Settings.” People who want to set their privacy settings as tight as possible can select “Friends Only.” Also uncheck the box marked “Let friends of people tagged in my photos and posts see them,” and then click “Apply these Settings.”

2. Who’s your buddy?

Come on. This is not high school and Facebook isn’t a popularity contest. You don’t need to be “friends” with everyone.

Actually, a good reality check is if this person is actually a friend or family member in real life. If they’re not an actual friend, why would you want them to know when you’re stuck working late, getting ready to go on vacation or that you just bought a new computer or flat-screen TV?

“Remember that sharing with friends only is the strictest level of security that exists on Facebook,” Hawes said. “Be sure the people you friend are ones that you know and trust.”

3. Beware of those applications

Ray warns that using a Facebook application can give broad permission for whoever developed that application to access your data … and your friends’ data.

That means you may want to think twice before you take quizzes with titles like “Would you make a good FBI agent?” or “What’s the theme song to your high school years?”

Only use applications from sources you trust, Ray added. And periodically check the list of applications you’ve used and given permissions to. “You might be surprised how many you’ve approved,” he said. “Much like your PC, you probably want to regularly remove any applications you don’t use and trust.”

Ray advised users to go to the bottom of Facebook’s Privacy Settings page to find the “Applications and Websites” link. There, they can click on the “Remove unwanted or spammy applications” option.

4. Ummm, sorry Grandma! Think before you type

You have to protect yourself and think through every post that you put online. The golden rule, say several analysts, is to think about whether you want your mother, your boss (and any potential future bosses) and your significant other to read what you’re about to write. If you don’t want any of them to see it, don’t post it.

It’s a simple concept, but people still just don’t get it, said Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group.

“It’s so important for users to realize that when they post personal details on social networking sites, they have to assume that information could be exposed to everyone with a computer and a screen,” Olds added.

“One approach is to ask yourself if you’d wear a T-shirt with the details you’ve posted about yourself. If you would, then you’re probably OK. But if that thought makes you cringe, then you’d better re-evaluate what you’re putting on the Web,” he said.

5. Malicious eyes

Sit down and closely look at your Facebook page and consider what a malicious person could do with any of the information you’ve posted.

“Try to be objective and ask yourself, ‘If I really hated this person or wanted to take advantage of her, is there anything I could do with this information to mess with her?’” said Olds. “If the answer is yes, then consider what kinds of information you’re posting on your Facebook page and make the appropriate adjustments.”

Analysts also warned users to not post any information that could be used in an identity theft scheme. Avoid listing your birth date, home address, children’s names, phone numbers and social security numbers.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld (US)
August 12, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - It looks like Google may be looking for a new online fight.

While the search giant has been engaged in a drawn-out and heated battle with Microsoft , it seems to be prepping for war on yet another front: by taking on social networking behemoth Facebook .

“I think it’s obvious that Google wants to become the primary — if not only — stop on the Internet,” said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. “Which means they need to not only dominate search, but also to become the biggest player in social networking.”

The Internet has been abuzz with speculation that Google is getting ready to take another plunge into the burgeoning social networking world - this time with an online games focus. Much of the talk is based on the fact that Google recently shelled out $182 million to purchase Slide , which has developed applications for social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace.

And there’s online chatter that Google has secretly bought Jambool, a company that created a virtual currency payment product called Social Gold. Google did not reply to requests for confirmation.

However, Google’s silence hasn’t stopped industry watchers from piecing together bits of information.

“Google has said little, but their acquisitions and the rumors certainly seem to add up to the conclusion that Google is planning something big in the social networking space,” said Augie Ray, an analyst with Forrester Research. “Thus far, Google has made acquisitions and launched social applications that were largely unconnected from each other and from the core Google consumer experience. With their next and much-anticipated launch, my expectation is that we’ll see a cohesive offering that moves social into the center of the Google experience.”

The moves feed into speculation that erupted late in June when word started to circulate that Google was working to develop a social networking site executives hoped would be a Facebook-killer . Google has never confirmed the development of the site, rumored to be dubbed Google Me.

However, Ray said it would be natural for Google to work its way into social networking, and to use the popularity of online games to help it do so. Google’s decision to kill its failed Google Wave social networking and collaboration service, means the company has figured out that it needs to go after the booming social networking audience with a really big piece of bait.

And gaming could be that bait, especially for users who have their networks of family and friends already solidified on sites like Facebook.

“It is smart for Google and others to offer gaming elements as part of social strategy for a couple of reasons: First, some people — particularly younger people — enjoy social games, so these games are part of the entire picture for a social network,” say Ray, pointing to Forrester research showing one in seven adults online play social games.

“Secondly, social games offer revenue opportunities, including the sale of virtual goods, margins made on social currency purchases and in-game advertising,” he said.

But Ray doubts that Google will base an entire social network on gaming. Instead, games would likely be just part of the overall package.

Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, said Google’s less than stellar track record so far on social networking leaves him with serious misgivings about another splashy, and most likely expensive, offering.

“Google’s failure rate with these new attempts is rather impressive — and their inability to pull much revenue or profit from even the successful ones [makes that even] more so,” he added. “Given their track record, the odds are not in favor of this working out particularly well.”

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
August 11, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - In the old days, people drank their morning coffee while reading the newspaper. These days, they’re more likely to drink it while reading the Web.

Indeed, most of us have a batch of favorite sites we like to hit every morning (with or without a hot beverage). For example, I routinely head to PC World (you just knew that was going to be first on my list, didn’t you?), followed by Gizmodo, TV Squad, Facebook, WeatherBug, and Lifehacker.

Firefox add-on Morning Coffee instantly loads those and other designated favorites into their own tabs, effectively splaying them out across my browser like the sections of a newspaper.
After installing the add-on, you’ll see a new coffee-cup icon just to the left of the Firefox address bar. Head to a site you want to designate as a favorite, click the little down arrow next to the coffee cup, and then mouse over Add to My Morning Coffee.

In the subsequent menu you’ll see choices like Every Day, individual days of the week, and Weekends. Morning Coffee has the enviable capability of letting you designate different favorites for different days of the week.

For example, you might want to look at work- and business-related sites during the week and more leisure-oriented stuff on the weekend.

You can manage your picks–remove entries, change the display order, etc.–by clicking that same down-arrow and then choosing Configure Morning Coffee.

Savvy Firefox (and even IE) users will note that you can already configure the browser to automatically load multiple “home” pages on startup–but that’s not quite the same thing.

With Morning Coffee, loading your favorites is optional–and just a click away. I think after a few days of enjoying this convenience, you’ll wonder how you got along without it. Morning Coffee just brewed its way onto my list of must-have Firefox add-ons.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Fix a Windows 7 System That Randomly Freezes
• Update Firmware On Your HDTV, Camera, Smartphone, PC
• Keep Your PC Awake, Install Apps Fast & More–Free
• Use Facebook Places
• My Keyboard isn’t Working

By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
August 6, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - I know a handful of people who suffer from netbook-buyer’s remorse: they bought one of the inexpensive little machines, then stuck it in a closet when they discovered how sluggishly it ran Windows.

If you’re in the same boat, you might be able to give that system a new lease on life. Jolicloud is a free, Linux-powered operating system designed specifically for netbooks. It’s fast (way faster than Windows), easy to use, and better optimized for cloud computing.

The OS offers just the basics, without the clutter. It comes with about a dozen apps already installed (Facebook, Dropbox, Gmail, Google Docs, etc.), but you can browse a library of hundreds more–all of which are free to download. I think it’s safe to say that virtually everything you can do with Windows, you can do with Jolicloud.

The OS comes in two flavors. The first installs alongside Windows, creating a dual-boot configuration. That’s great because it leaves your existing Windows installation alone, allowing you to return to it as needed (and uninstall Jolicloud as easily as uninstalling any piece of software).

You can also load Jolicloud on a CD or flash drive, then boot from either one (keeping in mind that netbooks don’t have CD drives). Unless you’re a tech-savvy user, I recommend going with the Windows installer.

Either way, Jolicloud is currently available only via Bittorrent. That might prove a hassle if you’re not already familiar with it (in which case I recommend this beginner’s guide).
I installed it on an aging Acer Aspire One. After a few confusing moments with setting up a Jolicloud account and activating the computer, I found myself navigating a speedy, stylish, mostly intuitive interface that never once left me longing for Windows. Admittedly, there’s a learning curve, but I think most users will figure out the basics fast enough.

Speaking of fast, I can’t say Jolicloud booted significantly faster than Windows on my Aspire, but overall operation was definitely zippier.

I’m not 100% decided I’ll stick with Jolicloud, only because it still seems a bit buggy, but I like what I see so far. It’s a lovely, simple operating system, one that can breathe new life into old or unloved netbooks. If you own one, this is definitely worth a look.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Fix a Windows 7 System That Randomly Freezes
• Update Firmware On Your HDTV, Camera, Smartphone, PC
• Keep Your PC Awake, Install Apps Fast & More–Free
• Use Facebook Places
• My Keyboard isn’t Working

By Dan Tynan
InfoWorld (US)
August 3, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - IT pros who grew up in the Baby Boom are dinosaurs who just don’t get it. Generation Y is full of Facebook-happy slackers with an exaggerated sense of entitlement. But beyond these broad generalizations lie some real differences between the generations of geeks who do tech for a living, from Boomers to Generations X, Y, and the Millennials.

“Today’s generation was born into a world where technology is about interaction, whether it’s playing video games or using social media,” says Larry Johnson, age 62, co-author with daughter Meagan (age 40) of “Generations, Inc.: From Boomers to Linksters — Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work” (Amacom, 2010). “They spent hours at it, the way I spent hours watching ‘Rin Tin Tin.’ So their brains are structured to interact with technology in an entirely different way.”

[ Looking to get the most out of your IT investments, see InfoWorld's "20 more IT mistakes to avoid" and "16 ways IT can do less with less" | Find out which of InfoWorld's IT personality types best fits your tech temperament. ]

That, in turn, affects everything from how and where each group works to what motivates them to the way they approach and implement new technologies. Whether you cut your teeth on Cobol or were raised on a steady diet of open source software, there’s plenty you can learn about the folks on the other side of the age divide.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Michael Alan Hamlin
August 2, 2010

Internet use is increasingly a lifestyle fixture throughout the Philippines according to the latest Internet usage survey conducted annually by Yahoo! and AC Nielsen. Three other findings are especially noteworthy: 1) Search, entertainment, and social networking are becoming tightly engrained in the lifestyles of Internet users; 2) While the digital divide is a concern, users across the age demographic rely on the Internet, but for different reasons: and, 3) Mobile access is going mainstream, likely due in part to low rates of home access.

Conducted in February, the survey had 1,500 respondents aged 10 and above in all regions of the Philippines. Overall, it found that 30 percent of Filipinos— more than 28 million individuals—use the Internet regularly. That’s close to the entire population of Malaysia, about five times the population of Singapore, and roughly four times the population of Hong Kong. Although the Philippines’ per capital gross domestic product is dwarfed by each of these nations, that hasn’t stopped Filipinos from going digital in significant numbers.

While Metro Manila has the highest percentage of Internet users at 40% of the population or about six million users— about equal to the population of Singapore—other urban areas showed increased Internet uage. For example, 37% of individuals living in Tuguegarao in Luzon regularly access the Internet, as does 33% of the population in the Visayas university town of Dumaguete and 29% of sprawling Davao in Mindanao.

As a friend of mine is fond of saying, “Dr Google” is users’ principal resource online, although Yahoo! and AC Nielsen didn’t exactly put it that way. Any way it’s described, search is big, with 76% of respondents indicating they use the Internet to find information online, up from 58% in last year’s survey. Internet portals (73%), instant messaging (68%), chat rooms (67%), and e-Mail (65%) are mainstream activities. Social networking wasn’t measured last year, but this year 53% of respondents said they use the Internet to visit these services.

When it comes to search, students aged 15-19 have the highest incidence of use at 84%. However, other demographic groups also rely heavily on Internet search: 76% of 10-14 year olds, 75% of 20-29 year olds, and 77% of 30-39 year olds. In fact, 58% of 40-50+ year olds participating in the study also use the Internet regularly for search. Somewhat more men, 78%, than women (73%) search online.

While 44% of these users are searching for information and documents, most are entertaining themselves, especially younger users. Overall, 62% look for images and 52% for videos, hopefully respecting intellectual property rights in the process. Another 31% are on the look for music and audio clips. Interestingly, relatively few users searched for blogs (13%), jobs (11%), and news (11%) online.

Respondents (69%) overwhelmingly rely on Internet cafés for Internet access. Slightly more respondents than last year, however, access the Internet from home, 31% compared to 27%. Access from school decreased from 7% to 4% and at work from 7% to 5%. That may be in part because mobile access is increasing, from virtually nothing last year to 5%. That shift is prevalent among young adults who can afford smart phones and high access charges. Eight percent of 20-29 year olds and 9% of 30-39 respondents regular access the Internet via mobile devices.

Social networks are prospering, with 53% of respondents visiting social networks regularly, and 30% user generated content sites—such as video sites—regularly. Among social networks, Facebook has grown rapidly in the past year. Only 4% of respondents said they used Facebook in last year’s survey, compared to 83% this year. Friendster remains a popular social network with 84% of respondents visiting regularly, but that is down from 92%. Six percent of respondents use the micro-blogging service Twitter regularly.

These popular online networks are primarily useful say respondents for staying in touch (66%), but they also seem to be taking over other mainstream activities, such as e-Mail (64%) and chat (63%) which can be performed within these networks. About the same number use social networks to pass time (63%), but interestingly, 59% use them for personal brand visibility, or to learn more about the personal brands of their network.

The results suggest that the new government can level the online playing field by providing wider and less expensive access to the Internet. Only 20% of D and E users have access, compared to 93% of ABC and 61% of C2. That may mean reviving the idea of a government- subsidized nationwide Internet backbone. The private sector will fight that move, but the reality is that despite large numbers of Internet users in the Philippines, the country will only be a digital nation when access becomes more universal.

Possibly Related Posts:

• SocMed Savvy
• Independence Day
• Memo to President Aquino
• Wi-Fi’s Public Enemy: RF Interference
• Information Literacy: A Call to Action

By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld (US)
July 27, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Executives at telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent knew that the company needed to find a better means of internal communication following its formation via the 2006 merger of Alcatel SA and Lucent Technologies Inc.

“There was a problem in that we had no way to communicate across boundaries,” said Greg Lowe , social media strategist and global infrastructure architect at Alcatel-Lucent. “Our CEO had a key message that we needed to be much more collaborative , yet we didn’t have the tools. We were stuck with process-focused tools like Sharepoint. It wasn’t a way to communicate across the company.”

Lowe said the company’s initial moves into the Web 2.0 world in 2008 were facilitated by the fact that many of the company’s 77,000 employees already had personal experience with popular social networking services like Facebook and Twitter .

Alcatel-Lucent began slowly, launching an internal blogging tool based on the free Yammer platform in September 2008. Employees may not have fully understood the corporate benefits of microblogging, but they were intrigued.

The move wasn’t endorsed or promoted by management , and no one was told to use the system. But the number of Yammer users inside the company slowly started to grow — from about 250 people at the end of 2008 to 9,300 today.

“It was a groundswell activity — and it didn’t cost us anything,” Lowe said.

In March 2009, Lowe launched an effort to improve collaboration among workers housed in offices around the world. For 13 months, he gathered requirements, analyzed available technologies, garnered the support of IT executives and secured funding. “It was an exciting, entrepreneurial way of getting things done,” Lowe said.

The result of that effort: In April, Alcatel-Lucent started rolling out a Web 2.0 service from Jive Software Inc. that provides Facebook-like social networking tools, such as updates, people searches and communication channels, to the corporate world. The service also lets employees communicate with customers, partners and suppliers.

Lowe moved slowly again in implementing Jive, first inviting just 125 people to join. Usage spread quickly, though; the company now has about 20,000 Jive users, Lowe said.

His decision to deploy Web 2.0 technologies slowly may have been key to the initiative’s early success.

“If you roll out your platform and send out an e-mail saying, ‘As of Monday, I’ll expect everyone to start posting,’ the chances of that succeeding are minimal,” said Brad Shimmin, an analyst at Current Analysis. “If you put the tool in the room and let them pick it up and figure [it] out themselves, it’ll be put to good use.”

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Matt Hamblen
Computerworld (US)
July 27, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - The list of features missing in Windows Phone 7 — no multitasking of third-party applications, no copy-and-paste, no native Twitter client — has dominated forums and early reviews of reference hardware phones put in the hands of 1,000 developers last week.

Clearly, the pressure is on Microsoft to produce a stellar package for WP7, which will be on smartphones shipping this fall for the holiday shopping season. After what many in the industry saw as the collapse of Windows Mobile 6x — coupled with the death of Microsoft Kin phones — WP7 is seen as a do-over for Microsoft. And some believe WP7 should have more and better features than other smartphones, not fewer.
One exhaustive review of the Samsung Taylor by Engadget cited the lack of copy-and-paste or third-party multitasking as “two big omissions,” even though Engadget called WP7’s overall user interface “the most unique UI out there.” The site went on to praise the touch screen keyboard and the responsiveness and speed of the software’s touch capabilities.

The lack of multitasking means that the music player Pandora and similar applications will go into pause mode when in the background, meaning a user can’t browse the Web or type an e-mail with Pandora running. But music can be played in the background using Microsoft’s Zune music player.

Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of Windows Phone, said in an Engadget video interview that multitasking for third-party apps will come from Microsoft “at some point.” He said that WP7 is “like a new Version 1″ for the company. New and different features in the UI include the concept of “tiles” and “hubs” for organizing data according to “people” or “music and video.”

Some developers on Windows Phone 7 Web forums who have bashed the lack of multitasking since March picked up last week on the lack of copy-and-paste. Not having that capability “is a pretty big deal,” wrote “joethecoder” on July 20 . “[I am] not a big iPhone fan, but its copy and paste is really good and my Palm Pre works for text in e-mails and documents.”

A comment by “Trees” noted that copy-and-paste is “quite handy and well done on iPhone. I use it plenty and it’s going to matter, particularly if using Office apps is relevant.” Adding the feature should be a “simple problem to solve,” and while not having it isn’t a “show stopper,” having it would “win hearts,” Trees wrote.

That one issue is seen by some reviewers and developers as ironic, given that Microsoft developed Word for text processing and has incorporated the Office suite in WP7 as one of the hubs, with the ability to edit PowerPoint slides, launch and use Word and add data to an Excel spreadsheet, according to some early previews posted on Youtube.

As for multitasking, forum visitor “Binks821″ in May called for services that would allow Pandora and other apps to play in the background: “In this market, it’s all about apps, and from the user’s perspective, [WP7] will be a no-go because the other two main competitors ( Android and iPhone) will have better multi-tasking.”
The absence of a native Twitter client ( Facebook is well-supported) earned the consternation of many early reviewers, as did the lack of a single in-box for various e-mail accounts. Other forum visitors asked for developer access to a gyroscope and direct access to the camera software so they could build more apps to sell in Microsoft’s marketplace.

Despite the tendency to focus on what is missing in WP7, one industry analyst urged patience. “I doubt that this will be the only version they release and they are committed for the long term,” Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney said of Microsoft. “They just have to convince everyone to stop bashing them and to give them a chance.”

Dulaney said the public should be rooting for Microsoft as well as Research In Motion, Android, Symbian and even Meego as competition against Apple “lest we evolve to a market like the PC, where there was one dominant player and everyone complained there wasn’t enough competition.”

Dulaney said WP7 is a “huge reset” and that Microsoft will “need time to get to a competitive position. They may fail, but they need to be given a few chances to swing the bat.”

Dulaney said the lack of multitasking “probably won’t hurt,” depending on how the final version of the operating system works when compared with the iPhone.

Jack Gold, an analyst at J.Gold Associates, warned against judging the final WP7 based only on what’s known about it now. However, he agreed that the lack of copy-and-paste “will be painful to many users” who want it for Office functions.

More important than the features ultimately supported in WP7 — or even which device makers build it — is which carriers sign on to sell the phones. “Verizon took on the Kin, [and] with the Kin disaster, Verizon my be a little leery,” Gold said.

A Verizon official refused to comment on its plans for WP7, and other major U.S. carriers could not be reached for comment.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By John Mark V. Tuazon
Computerworld Philippines
July 26, 2010

In keeping with its strategy to provide a seamless communication and entertainment experience, Sony Ericsson on Friday released what could possibly be the smallest Android smartphone units yet, the Xperia X10 Mini and Xperia X10 Mini Pro.

Scaled-down versions of Sony Ericsson’s flagship Xperia X10 line, the Mini and Mini Pro units sport 2.55-inch TFT touchscreen displays and five-megapixel cameras. The Pro version, typically marketed for business users, comes with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard below the touchscreen display.

Both new releases will sport the Timescape and Mediascape UI popularized by the firm with its Xperia X10 line. Timescape pools all messages from various communication portals under one application, while Mediascape houses all multimedia files from both offline and online sources.

Dennis Manzano, general manager of Sony Ericsson Philippines, said during the Sony Ericsson Expo 2010 that the Android phones will also put social networking in center stage. “Communication has evolved into entertainment, and entertainment has taken a different step. [The popularity of] Facebook and Twitter is evidence of how social media affects our daily lives,” he emphasized.

Manzano said these two social networks, among others, are already embedded applications within the handsets, “so [users can] enjoy it on the go.”

During the three-day expo held at the Megatrade Hall 1 of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City, Sony Ericsson also unveiled their HD phone line, the Vivaz and Vivaz Pro; and the new addition to the Walkman series, the Spiro and Zylo Walkman phones.

The company is also set to release their entry-level Xperia offering, the Xperia X8, and the first full-touch Walkman phone, the Yendo, both of which are due out by the end of the third quarter this year.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld (US)
July 26, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Facebook is going one step further in its verbal battle against the man who says the company’s founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed away ownership of 84% of the social networking site seven years ago.

A spokesman for Facebook said in an email to Computerworld Friday morning that the company “strongly” believes any contract that would be produced for the courts would be a forgery.

Questions over who really owns Facebook cropped up after Paul D. Ceglia of Wellsville, N.Y. filed a lawsuit June 30, alleging that he signed a pact with Zuckerberg in 2003 that entitles him to 84% ownership of the company. According to court documents, Ceglia claims he had a written agreement with Zuckerberg to design and build a Web site that eventually turned into the wildly successful site .

He also alleges that he was paid $1,000 for the work and for a 50% stake in the site, along with an extra 1% for every day until the Web site was completed.

Facebook has called the lawsuit “frivolous” all along and has vowed to fight it in court.

Earlier this week, though, in an interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC News, Zuckerberg said he is “quite sure” he didn’t sign a contract giving a former Web designer ownership of the company. Zuckerberg, however, didn’t say he absolutely did not sign any contract, and stayed just this side of fully rebutting the allegation.

Today’s statement seems to have amped up the company’s assault on the claim.

“Mark [Zuckerberg] has made it clear that Ceglia’s claims are absurd and we strongly suspect the contract is forged,” said Andrew Noyes in an email. “However, we have not seen the original (no one has, including the court). Thus, we’re focusing on the things that are not open to interpretation and are indisputable. Mark could not have given interest in a company that didn’t exist or an idea he had not thought of yet. And, even if he could, the statute of limitations has expired.”

An 84% stake in Facebook would turn into a sizable fortune.

Just this week, the company, which has become the dominant social networking site in the world, announced that it has grabbed its 500 millionth user .

While the lawsuit winds its way through the legal system, Ceglia faces other legal challenges.

Late last year, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo obtained a temporary restraining order against a western New York wood-pellet fuel company, Allegany Pellets LLC, owned by Ceglia and his wife, Iasia. The company allegedly took more than $200,000 from consumers and then failed to deliver products or refunds.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld (US)
July 23, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg admits the company has made mistakes on privacy, and says he’s “quite sure” he didn’t sign a contract giving a former Web designer ownership of the company.

Zuckerberg, 26, talked about being at the helm of a burgeoning company, making mistakes, and issues facing the wildly popular social network in a far-reaching interview with TV news anchor Diane Sawyer on “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” on Wednesday night.

The interview came the same day that Facebook announced it had signed up its 500 millionth user .

“I started Facebook when I was 19. I didn’t know much about business,” said Zuckerberg, when Sawyer asked him what he would have done differently along the road to making Facebook a worldwide social networking powerhouse.

“I would have done a lot of things differently, but I hope instead of making the mistakes I made, I would have made different mistakes,” he said.

Zuckerberg also said the company will sell stock in an IPO “when it makes sense.”

In the interview, Sawyer focused on Facebook being at the heart of the social networking revolution that has changed the way people stay in touch with friends and family.

Facebook, Sawyer said, gets eight new users every second and each user generally has about 130 connected friends .

Zuckerberg said he sees Facebook as being a very democratic media, giving people “a voice and power”, but he also acknowledged that a lot of users have been angry and frustrated over the site’s privacy policies and controls.

“Yah, we’ve made mistakes. For sure,” he told Sawyer. And when she was asking him why they simply don’t automatically set people’s individual settings to make their information private from the get-go, he replied, “I think it’s set in a way to help people share.”

Facebook recently simplified its privacy controls after users complained that the settings were confusing and frustrating.

When unveiling the new simpler controls this past May, Zuckerberg said they had communicated badly with users about their privacy concerns.

In his conversation with Sawyer, Zuckerberg, who lives within walking distance of Facebook’s offices in Palo Alto, Calif., even addressed a lawsuit that is raising questions about who actually owns the wildly popular social network.

Paul D. Ceglia, of Wellsville, N.Y., who filed the suit at the end of June, alleges that he signed a contract with Zuckerberg in 2003 that entitles him to 84% ownership of the company .

According to court documents, Ceglia claims he had a signed contract with Zuckerberg to design and build a site that eventually turned into what is today Facebook.

He also alleges he was paid $1,000 for the work and for a 50% stake in the site, along with an extra 1% for every day until the Web site was completed.

Facebook has called the lawsuit “frivolous.”

In last night’s interview, however, Zuckerberg did not say he absolutely did not sign any contract, and steered clear of completely rebutting the claim. “We’re quite sure that we did not sign a contract that says they have any right to ownership over Facebook,” he said.

Earlier this week, a Facebook lawyer was widely quoted in online reports saying she was “unsure” if Zuckerberg had signed the contract.

However, in an e-mail to Computerworld on Wednesday, Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said the attorney, Lisa Simpson, was misquoted and had only been trying to say that they’ve never seen the original document.

“We have serious questions about the authenticity of the document and, assuming an original exists, we look forward to expressing our opinion about it once we see it,” Noyes added.

In the interview with Zuckerberg last night, Sawyer also brought up the upcoming movie about the evolution of Facebook, The Social Network. Due out this October, the film doesn’t paint Zuckerberg in the best light, focusing on issues of who actually was involved in creating the Web site.

Zuckerberg said he would not go see the movie.

Zuckerberg said in an excerpt from the interview posted at ABCNew.com, “I mean, we can’t be focused when people try to say things that aren’t true. I really believe that people get remembered for what they build.”

“…Right, people don’t care about what someone says about you in a movie — or even what you say, right? They care about what you build. And if you can make something that makes people’s life better, then that’s something that’s really good,” he said.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Kathleen Lau
ComputerWorld Canada
July 21, 2010

TORONTO - Recent incidents concerning the privacy of consumer data on the Web needn’t spark the heavy-handed approach that some governments want to take, according to research firm Ovum.

Given Web data privacy debacles involving Google Buzz and Facebook, regulators already have a “lock-on” to this topic, causing concern for a number of stakeholders in the industry, especially Internet companies like Google Inc., said Mark Little, principal analyst with Ovum, based in the U.K.

“The bandwagon has started. I don’t think it’s going to stop,” said Little.

The launch of Google Buzz, a social networking site, in February 2010, caused outrage among privacy experts who said the company turned a private e-mail service into a public social networking platform without adequate notification to users.

Shortly thereafter, 10 government privacy authorities, including Canada’s, accused the Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet company of failing to consider privacy in its applications and services. “This can’t go on the way it (has),” said Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said in a press conference last April. “New products are being launched in untested form and (Google) is doing tests on the live marketplace with real people.”

Facebook, too, had its share of criticism from privacy experts who said the social networking site did not allow users to decide with whom they wanted to share content. In response, Facebook introduced several user privacy settings last May.

Little said there are several routes that can be taken to address this issue. One the one hand, things can be left as they are so users can choose to opt out of choosing whether to share personal data.

Or, the other option is to take the very extreme approach by some governments to immediately enforce privacy regulations to “force a lot of Internet players to actually design their business models around consumers opting in rather than opting out of sharing their personal data,” said Little.

But Ovum believes that a more “subtle middle way” must be taken before regulators can really assess what to enforce. The approach must be a well-crafted, nuanced regulation that first starts with allowing users transparency as to what happens to their data on the Web.

Little suggest a real-time dashboard that provides visibility into where personal information is going as users surf the Web. “That would be a more sensible way forward,” he said.

Once users feel empowered that they can manage and protect their own personal data, heavy-handed regulation won’t even be necessary, said Little.

But Google’s handling of this situation isn’t without fault either. Little said that while Google is correct in fearing that heavy-handed regulation will result in a dysfunctional Internet, the company is using extreme examples to make its point.

Google contends that users will be bombarded by a swarm of cookies that they will need to set with every Web site they enter. “They are really using that kind of angle in order to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” said Little.

He now foresees a drawn-out process with public consultations in major political regions, particularly North America and Europe.

But Little warns that if there are more privacy debacles that occur in the meantime, heavy-handed regulation will come swiftly. “I’m afraid the government will take action much more quickly and it could a much more unsubtle approach,” said Little.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld (US)
July 21, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - While Facebook is expected to announce this week that it’s grabbed its 500 millionth user , a new study shows that not everyone is so happy with the social networking site.

Facebook scored a 64 on a user satisfaction scale of zero to 100, according to the 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). A rating of 64 might not sound so bad, until you consider that sites for filing tax forms electronically to the IRS scored better.

The ACSI report measured 30 online companies. Facebook and MySpace, which came in just below its rival with a rating of 63, were the two lowest-scoring sites out of all of them. The report noted that both sites showed “abysmal performance.”

The big winner in the social media Web site category was Wikipedia, which had a satisfaction rating of 77. YouTube came in second with a 73. This is the first year that ACSI rated social media sites.

“Facebook is a phenomenal success , so we were not expecting to see it score so poorly with consumers,” said Larry Freed, president and CEO of ForeSee Results, which partnered with ACSI, LLC. on the e-business survey.

“At the same time, our research shows that privacy concerns, frequent changes to the Web site, and commercialization and advertising adversely affect the consumer experience,” Freed said.

“Compare that to Wikipedia, which is a non-profit that has had the same user interface for years, and it’s clear that while innovation is critical, sometimes consumers prefer evolution to revolution,” he said.

When asked what they didn’t like about Facebook, users reported privacy concerns , advertising, interface changes, navigation problems and constant notifications about “annoying” applications.

“There is no shortage of complaints about Facebook,” the report noted.

Twitter , the highly popular microblogging site was not rated because so many users access the site through a third-party application and not directly through Twitter.com, the report noted.

Dan Olds, an analyst for The Gabriel Consulting Group, said this is tough news for Facebook, which has been dealing with users frustrated over the site’s privacy policies and controls.

However, the results also seem to fly in the face of the fact that Facebook is expecting to grab its 500 millionth user this week, making it the most popular social networking site in the world.

“Facebook is the dominant social network,” Olds said. “The site definitely has been hurt by the turmoil surrounding their privacy policies but there really isn’t a strong alternative right now. So even though their customer satisfaction scores suck, users are going to continue to flock there because Facebook is where their friends are.”

Also, with Google said to be to developing a social networking service, rumored to be called Google Me , which would take on Facebook and grab chunks of its disgruntled users — and a hefty piece of its revenue — signs of Facebook user dissatisfaction could be good news for it.

“Some will definitely see these ratings as an opportunity to come up with something better that could unseat Facebook,” Olds said. “But this wouldn’t be an easy task. It’s would take a lot of effort and a serious sum of money, plus some inspired marketing too.”

And in the portals and search engine category, the ACSI report noted that while Google remained strong with a rating of 80, the company has slipped 6 points from last year. This year’s rating is the lowest since 2002, when Google was first indexed, according to ACSI.

The good news for Google is that it still edged out its main search rival, Microsoft’s Bing , which had a rating of 77. Yahoo , which is in second place in the search market, had a rating of 76.

“Google may be suffering from trying to be too many things to too many people,” the report noted. “In fact, when asked what they like least about Google, survey respondents commonly mentioned issues like advertising, overwhelming search results, privacy concerns, and too many special features (like maps and shopping.)”

Olds said it’s interesting that Google barely edged out Bing in the satisfaction survey, even though it totally dominates Bing in the search market.

“It’s interesting that all of the search engines and portals have satisfaction scores that are fairly close together,” he added.

“It shows that customers either don’t see a lot of difference between them or they are firmly committed to whatever they use and don’t want to change,” Old said. “Google still has way more users, but it looks like the folks who are using other search engines are pretty happy with their choices.”

The ACSI report noted that Google has the most loyal following with 80% of its users citing it as their primary search engine.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index is a national indicator of customer satisfaction with products and services. About 70,000 people are surveyed every year to measure their satisfaction with 225 companies in 45 industries. The Index was founded at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By John P. Mello Jr.
PC World (US)
July 20, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Google takes a step today toward locking horns with Facebook over creating a smarter Web. The Sultan of Search announced it has acquired Metaweb, a fledgling outfit that’s been working on packaging information on the Internet so it can be searched and connected in more meaningful ways than nests of links.

“Over time we’ve improved search by deepening our understanding of queries and web pages,” Jack Menzel writes today in The Official Google Blog.

He went on to say, “The web isn’t merely words — it’s information about things in the real world, and understanding the relationships between real-world entities can help us deliver relevant information more quickly.”

“Today,” he adds, “we’ve acquired Metaweb, a company that maintains an open database of things in the world. Working together we want to improve search and make the web richer and more meaningful for everyone.”

Noble sentiments, indeed. But what exactly is Menzel getting at? He’s talking about being able to conduct searches that are closer to a scalpel than a jackhammer. he explains it this way:

“Type [barack obama birthday] in the search box and see the answer right at the top of the page. Or search for [events in San Jose] and see a list of specific events and dates. We can offer this kind of experience because we understand facts about real people and real events out in the world. But what about [colleges on the west coast with tuition under $30,000] or [actors over 40 who have won at least one oscar]? These are hard questions, and we’ve acquired Metaweb because we believe working together we’ll be able to provide better answers.”

Google, though, isn’t the only one looking for those answers. Facebook is looking for them, too. In the spring, its announced its Open Graph initiative. Open Graph is also trying to tie together the far corners of the Web into packages that can be more meaningful to its users. “Yelp is mapping out the part of the graph that relates to small businesses,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told an audience at the company’s F8 developer’s conference in April. “Pandora is mapping out the part of the graph that relates to music. If we can take these separate maps of the graph and pull them all together, then we can create a Web that’s smarter, more social, more personalized, and more semantically aware.”
In their quest for a more perfect Web, though, it appears the two giants could be heading for a collision course over metadata. The metadata for Facebook’s initiative could create a rival structure to what Metaweb has built, argues Kim-Mai Cutter at the Deals & More website
“And,” she adds, “because Facebook has the ‘like’ data recording the preferences of its 500 millions users, it would be in the best position to harness the metadata to create a compelling search product.”

Needless to say, the prospect of a compelling search product from anyone but Google isn’t going to make anyone at Google very happy.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld (US)
July 19, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - A majority of consumers want to interact with companies over social networks like Facebook and Twitter , but only 30% of businesses are prepared for it, according to a survey.

With 70% of consumers in a survey looking for information and communications on social networks, companies failing to get onboard with them are putting themselves at risk , according to Yankee Group, an industry analyst firm that worked on the survey with Siemens Enterprise Communications, a business software company.

The report, which surveyed 750 Americans in March and April this year, also noted that consumer satisfaction with their business interactions on social networks came in at 65%.

“Social media is changing the way businesses, customers and employees interact, and this creates significant opportunities for contact centers and the enterprise as a whole to leverage the integration of these tools into business processes,” said Zeus Kerravala, a senior vice president at Yankee Group, in a statement. “As integration of social media improves within the contact center and with unified communications and collaboration, businesses can improve customer interactions and positively impact employee productivity and collaboration.”

The study notes that businesses may not be using social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, or adopting enterprise 2.0 tools fast enough to satisfy many of their customers.

Yankee and Siemens Enterprise reported that nearly 60% of those surveyed said company outreach through social media would make them more loyal to that company. Most of those surveyed said they want companies to monitor social networks for customer comments and complaints.

The study also noted that 50% of those surveyed use social media once a day at a minimum.

Earlier this year, Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business in the MIT Sloan School of Management, told Computerworld that many companies have slowly started to use enterprise 2.0 tools , and that it’s only the beginning of changes that will come in the way people work and the way companies do business.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Darren Pauli
Computerworld Australia
July 15, 2010

SYDNEY - An audacious hacker has defaced 175 Australian websites in an attack that links viewers to his personal website, email and Facebook fan page.

The hacker, who is described as a 26 year old male from Tunisia, launched the attacks after a Brisbane hosting provider — which Computerworld Australia will not name — left a permission level too low on an Apache server.

A manager at the provider said the exploit was present in an obscure program on the provider’s servers, which the hacker used in the mass defacements that included the hosting provider’s websites.

The hacker provided links to his Facebook, Myspace and Blogger accounts, along with a phone number based in Romania.

Some websites appeared to still experience problems, while others were functioning normally.

Last month, 159 Australian websites were hijacked and vandalised after a hacker gained administrative access to the Direct Admin server management system used by a hosting provider.

In May, former strategic chief information officer for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Bob Maley, said defacements could be seen as examples of slack security derived from isolated security management. He acknowledged defacements are “low-hanging fruit” in terms of the risk of exposure to sensitive data, and said websites become vulnerable to similar attacks when security is tackled in isolation by agencies.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld (US)
July 15, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - A lawsuit filed against Facebook Inc. is raising the question of whether Mark Zuckerberg is the owner of the phenomenally popular social networking site.

Paul D. Ceglia of Wellsville, N.Y., filed the lawsuit in New York Superior Court on June 30. The web site designer alleges that he signed a contract with Zuckerberg, the site’s founder and CEO, in 2003 that entitles him to 84% ownership of the company.

According to court documents, Ceglia claims he had a written agreement with Zuckerberg to design and build the site that eventually turned into the wildly successful Facebook . He also alleges that he was paid $1,000 for the work and for a 50% stake in the site, along with an extra 1% for every day until the Web site was completed.

That, according to Ceglia’s suit, adds up to an 84% ownership of the social network, which has more than 500 million users.

Facebook, however, says that’s simply not the case.

“We believe this suit is completely frivolous and we will fight it vigorously,” said Andrew Noyes, a Facebook spokesman, in an e-mail to Computerworld.

After Ceglia filed the suit, a New York Supreme Court judge issued a restraining order prohibiting Facebook and Zuckerberg from transferring any assets. For its part, Facebook filed a motion to have the case dismissed.

The case has been moved to federal court, and Facebook has moved to have the restraining order removed, according to Noyes.

“These kinds of suits come with the territory whenever any business becomes wildly successful,” said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. “These suits are usually dismissed or settled as nuisance suits. But because the judge issued an order, it may mean that there could be something there.”

Olds added that he’s highly skeptical about the claim. “But if he does have a case, and if he ends up owning 84% of Facebook, then it will make a hell of a movie.”

This isn’t Ceglia’s first court dealings.

Late last year, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo obtained a temporary restraining order against a western New York wood-pellet fuel company, Allegany Pellets LLC. Ceglia and his wife, Iasia, own the company, which allegedly took more than $200,000 from consumers and then failed to deliver products or refunds.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld (US)
July 12, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Could it be that Americans are starting to grow a bit weary of Facebook, which has captivated our attention and much of our free time?

That just might be the case, according to numbers released by Inside Facebook, a site that tracks its usage.

The site reported this week that the Facebook ’s growth dropped dramatically between May and June. This follows news in March that Facebook replaced Google as the most visited Web site in the U.S. for a full week.

Facebook only picked up 320,800 new users in the U.S. in June, Inside Facebook reported. That might sound like a lot until you compare it with the number of new U.S. users the site grabbed in May: 7.8 million.

The tracking site also noted that fewer current users in Facebook’s prime age category of 18 to 44 were active on the site last month, though it didn’t offer any specific numbers.

“Yes, people could be getting burned out,” said Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group. “Social networking is here to stay but we are likely getting toward the end of the first big wave of it. New technology and practices tend to come in waves that have peaks and valleys.

“It feels like we are near [the end of] a peak at the moment. Social networking requires a substantial time commitment and the rewards are largely intangible, which means people can grow tired of the offerings and find other things they would rather do,” Enderle said.

The privacy hubbub that reared its ugly head again in a big way couldn’t have helped Facebook. The company has been hit with increasing criticism from privacy advocates over the past couple of years.

That criticism heated up in April after Facebook unveiled a bevy of tools that would allow the sharing of user information with other Web sites. That move caused an uproar among users and prompted a handful of U.S. senators to send an open letter calling on Facebook to amend its privacy policies.

Facebook responded in late May with the release of a set of simpler privacy controls. And many users were placated for a time. But the privacy issue flared back up when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stirred up the debate anew at a conference in early June.

And then later last month, 10 privacy groups wrote an open letter to Zuckerberg, asking for changes to the highly popular social networking site that will give users more control over their data.

Enderle said Facebook’s privacy woes must be adding to this new seeming hesitance to join Facebook, or for people who have already joined, to actively use it. But that’s not the whole story.

“That may be part of it but my sense is that it is largely fatigue and that the rewards from the service are not sufficient to sustain the effort to maintain it,” he added.

“Facebook is not in trouble yet,” Enderle said. “But if something else emerges to address the social need that Facebook has addressed — much like Facebook did with MySpace — this would indicate that large numbers of their base would be willing to move. And that does put them at risk.”

Speculation spread around the Web last month that Google is building a Facebook rival called Google Me . The rumor started to fly after Digg founder Kevin Rose posted a tweet saying , “Ok, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch facebook competitor very soon ‘Google Me,’ very credible source.”

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Rick Broida
PC World (US)
July 7, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - Yesterday’s post about the Boxee bookmarklet got me thinking about other bookmarklets I love. The first one that popped into my head: GrooveSelect.

Suppose a Facebook friend mentions a cool new song he just heard, but doesn’t provide a link to it. (Courtesy, people!) No problem: just highlight the name of the song, then click the GrooveSelect bookmarklet.

In a minute or two, the song will start playing right in your browser–no software, plug-ins, or sign-ups required. You can even continue browsing, though if you close or leave the current tab, the song will get interrupted.

As you may have guessed from the name, GrooveSelect pulls from the way-cool Grooveshark service. It’s the ultimate answer to those times when you see the name of a song and think, “I sure would like to listen to that.”
If that song appears as text in your browser (preferably with the artist’s name alongside it), just highlight and click. How awesome is that?

Once you’ve added the GrooveSelect bookmarklet to your favorites toolbar, give it a try with this tune, one of my favorites: Brendan Benson - My Old, Familiar Friend.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Fix a Windows 7 System That Randomly Freezes
• Update Firmware On Your HDTV, Camera, Smartphone, PC
• Keep Your PC Awake, Install Apps Fast & More–Free
• Use Facebook Places
• My Keyboard isn’t Working

By Juan Carlos Perez
IDG News Service (Miami Bureau)
July 6, 2010

MIAMI - The Independence Day fireworks started early on Sunday morning with a non-stop crackle of reports from individuals on social media sites that YouTube has been hacked to apparently target videos of singer and teen sensation Justin Bieber.

Thousands of people on sites like Twitter and Facebook have reported that Justin Bieber videos and pages on YouTube have been tampered with.

Speculation on how YouTube users might get harmed, if at all, ranges from being redirected to external sites of an adult nature to getting their PCs infected with malware.

On a separate stream of postings on social media sites, people are warning that Apple’s iTunes App Store may have been compromised by a rogue developer and that purchases may have been made without victims’ permission using their credit cards on file.

A common recommendation from people posting about these two topics is that visitors to YouTube exercise caution, especially if viewing content related to Bieber, and that App Store account holders check for any unusual activity.

Neither Apple nor Google immediately responded to requests for comment from IDG News Service.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Lincoln Spector
PC World (US)
June 29, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO - If Yahoo is your home page, your search engine, and your e-mail service of choice, you can install the Yahoo Toolbar (free) and pretty much get a new version of what you already have. The only advantage is that it’s always there, even when you’re not visiting a Yahoo Web page. Whether that’s worth sacrificing some browser real estate for one more toolbar is a question you’ll have to ask yourself.

On the other hand, if you don’t live in a Yahoo world, I can answer this question for you: It’s not worth it.

The Yahoo Toolbar gives you a button to take you to the Yahoo main page, and a pull-down menu for Mail, My Yahoo, Games, and other pages. There’s also a search field.

Most of the Toolbar is taken up by something called My Apps–a row of icons for various Yahoo and non-Yahoo web sites. Click an icon, and the Yahoo Toolbar will take you to the appropriate page. Click the down arrow next to the icon, and you’ll get a pop-up window of site-related information. For instance, click the Mail arrow, and up comes a glimpse of your inbox. Yahoo Toolbar defaults to displaying six such apps: Bookmarks, Mail, Weather, Facebook, Finance, eBay, and Travel. You can remove any of these, and add more from a selection of 186 others. Newsfeed apps are often RSS feeds, and these can be very convenient; click the down arrow, then pick a story.

One nice feature: When you install the Toolbar, you’ll be asked if you want to install the Yahoo Mail Plug-in. If you pick that option, it becomes your default mail application, not only for Internet Explorer but for any program that uses the default mail setting, such as Windows Explorer, Microsoft Word, and WinZip. This enormous convenience solves one of Web mail’s biggest problems. Just one word of advice: If you’re mailing a file from Windows Explorer, don’t select Send To, then Mail Recipient. Select Send To, then E-mail with Yahoo! You’ll get better results.

Another installation option allows you to install the Toolbar into Firefox as well as Internet Explorer.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Gregg Keizer
Computerworld (US)
June 29, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - Just three days after adding crash protection to Firefox, Mozilla rushed out another release on Friday because people playing Farmville complained that their browser was shutting down the Facebook game.

Mozilla added what it calls “out of process plug-ins” (OOPP) — a feature designed to keep the browser up and running when a plug-in crashes — to Firefox 3.6.4, which shipped June 22.

If Adobe’s Flash Player, Apple’s QuickTime or Microsoft’s Silverlight crashes or is unresponsive for more than 10 seconds, Firefox 3.6.4 displays a message telling the user that the browser has killed the plug-in.

But the 10-second pause was too short.

“Following the release of Firefox 3.6.4 we heard from some users, mainly those using older computers, that they sometimes expect longer periods of non-responsiveness from plug-ins, especially with games,” said Mike Beltzner, the director of Firefox, in a post to the Mozilla blog Friday. “For these users, the default timeout of 10 seconds was too short.”

Mozilla addressed the issue by bumping up the wait-to-terminate period to 45 seconds in Firefox 3.6.6, which launched June 25.

According to messages on Bugzilla, Mozilla’s bug-tracking database, the change was largely driven by gripes from users playing the popular Web-based Farmville game. Farmville is a Flash-based game by San Francisco-based developer Zynga.

“Now that (Firefox) 3.6.4 has shipped, we are seeing an increasing number of reports that some users are unable to play Farmville, because Farmville hangs the browser long enough for our timeout to trigger and kill it,” said Mozilla developer Justin Dolske in a Bugzilla entry Friday night. “Let’s hit this with a big hammer and make it 45 (seconds).”

Mike Shaver, Mozilla’s head of engineering, agreed. “There’s a massive regression in user experience for a meaningful number of users of an extremely popular property, and that a raised timeout remedies it,” said Shaver in a follow-up Bugzilla message. “For now we need to get out of a bad hole before it gets any worse.”

Although complaints about Firefox’s quick killing of hung plug-ins were not limited to Farmville, that game was the squeaky wheel that got the update grease.

“A lot of people play Farmville. To ignore those people for any length of time could have a significant effect on Firefox’s share of browser users,” said Firefox user Jeff Rivett on Bugzilla Sunday. “The problem already existed, but the perceived impact suddenly changed, giving it a much higher priority.”

Users can update to Firefox 3.6.6 by downloading the new edition or by selecting “Check for Updates” from the Help menu in the browser.

Another solution, suggested Mozilla, is to completely disable OOPP. A support document spells out the steps users must take to kill crash protection.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds

By Sharon Gaudin
Computerworld (US)
June 22, 2010

FRAMINGHAM - BP PLC has mostly failed to take advantage of an unprecedented opportunity to use social networks to at least partially blunt a public relations nightmare that started two months ago when an oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico , causing a massive spill.

“They’re playing by old rules,” said Patrick Kerley, a senior digital strategist at Washington-based PR and crisis communications firm Levick Strategic Communications. “Dealing with a crisis has totally changed because of social media. They didn’t get that.”

BP has been taking a public thrashing not only for the environmental and economic disasters caused by the oil spill, but also for what some critics call a lack of honest communication with the public.

The company apparently had no strategic plan in place for using social networks to defend its response to a crisis. “It’s too late for companies if they don’t use social media right away when a crisis strikes,” Kerley said.

BP’s minimal presence on Facebook and Twitter has proved to be mostly worthless because it lacked a crisis plan. In fact, the top social networks for the most part have done BP more harm than good in recent weeks, analysts said.

For instance, a search for BP on Facebook is far more likely to produce “Boycott BP” pages — one of which had more than 640,000 followers as of last week — than the oil company’s own pages. And a phony BP Twitter account that pokes fun at the company has more than 170,000 followers, whereas BP’s official Twitter account has about 15,000.

“Companies have to realize that they need to be proactive and generate a social media audience in peacetime and let people affiliate with the brand,” Kerley said.

Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group Inc., said social networks can be a double-edged sword for companies trying to get through a public crisis. If used well, they can help get important messages out to the public. If not used well, they can badly hurt a business’s reputation.

The BP affair could prove “very instructive for companies needing to handle problems like this in the future,” said Olds. “I can’t think of another company that has faced as big a crisis as BP since the advent of social media.”

Possibly Related Posts:

• Check Point clears the path to Web 2.0 application control
• Water cooling returns to IBM mainframe
• Microsoft still mum on programs prone to DLL hijacking attacks
• Mobile data traffic set to soar
• More IT managers plan to spend less, Oracle struggles with users, survey finds