Links for Oct 16, 2009

Google CEO Schmidt: "Android adoption is about to explode"

Hyperbole aside, Android is clearly strategic enough for Google to aim for at least the #2 spot in the smartphone platform wars. But that's not the company's only target for the OS.

• http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=26108
• http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2009/10/16/googles-android-attempting-a-takeover-of-the-mobile-world/

WeFollow acquired

Albeit "acquired" by another company run by the founder, Kevin Rose. WeFollow is a Twitter user directory.

• http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/15/confirmed-digg-acquires-kevin-rose-side-project-wefollow/
• http://www.businessinsider.com/digg-takes-on-kevin-roses-twitter-phone-book-2009-10

Twitter opens beta test of "Lists" -- allows users to categorize the people they follow

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/oct/16/twitter-lists-reputation
• http://lifehacker.com/5383134/twitter-lists-makes-following-easier-and-organized

Links for Oct 15, 2009

Microsoft/Danger confirms it will recover "all or most" Sidekick user data

T-Mobile breathes huge sigh of relief

• http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/oct09/10-15sidekick.mspx
• http://blogs.computerworld.com/14917/breaking_microsoft_recovers_data_for_t_mobile_sidekick_danger_hiptop_users

Tandberg rejects Cisco takeover offer

The shareholders are revolting

• http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/Tandberg-Shareholders-Reject-Cisco-3B-Offer-637046/
• http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cd9106de-b977-11de-abac-00144feab49a.html

Anatomy of a Facebook app exploit

AVG researcher spills the beans on Russian iFrame injection attacks

• http://thompson.blog.avg.com/2009/10/hacked-facebook-applications-reach-out-to-exploit-sites-in-russia.html
• http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/101409-facebook-applications-attack.html

Weird news dept.: Twitter launches its own wine label

Cheers! It's all for charity.

• http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2009/10/twitter_launches_its_own_fledg.php
• http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/15/twitter-would-like-some-cheese-with-its-wine/

Links for Oct 14, 2009

Latest iPhone 3GS defeats jailbreakers, for now

• http://blogs.computerworld.com/14909/iphone_3gs_jailbreak_jeopardy_apple_pwns_dev_team_24kpwn_exploit
• http://www.pcworld.com/article/173629/

Facebook growing faster than Twitter, which is plateauing

Facebook gets 96 million unique visitors in September, vs. Twitter's 21 million.

• http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/13/as-facebook-nears-100m-u-s-visitors-twitter-falls-further-behind-in-the-rear-view-mirror/
• http://news.softpedia.com/news/Facebook-Closes-in-on-100-Million-Users-in-the-US-124227.shtml

Digg.com has found a successful new way to make money from advertising

Asking users to vote for/against ads seems to be working.

• http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/diggs-vote-for-ads-experiment-is-raising-revenue/
• http://www.marketingvox.com/diggs-voting-process-for-ads-bears-fruit-045233/

Links for Oct 13, 2009

Microsoft/Danger may be able to recover lost Sidekick data

Despite saying yesterday that the data are probably lost forever, Microsoft's Danger subsidiary seems to be changing its tune. T-Mobile will be hopeful that the feat can be pulled off.

• http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9139279/Sidekick_users_may_regain_lost_data_Microsoft_says_
• http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10373647-56.html

ViVu raises $3 million for interactive video conferencing

Competes with WebEx and GoToMeeting.

• http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/13/vivu-raises-3-million-for-online-video-conferencing-platform/
• http://digital.venturebeat.com/2009/10/13/vivu-raises-3m-for-interactive-video-suite/

Gist now offers free iPhone application

Gist merges data from email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and more.

• http://blog.gist.com/2009/10/13/gist-iphone-application-now-available/
• http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2009/10/gist_unveils_iphone_app_managing_contacts_on_the_go.html

Google Docs now has shared folders

Most request new feature.

• http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2009/10/shared-folders-and-more-in-google-docs.html
• http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/13/google_folder_sharing_rentokil/

Links for Oct 12, 2009

Death of email predicted (yet again)

This time it's the Wall Street Journal that's not thinking straight. Email is still good for what it's good at; what we're seeing is other applications that are better at doing things that email is unsuited for, but previously was the least-worse way of doing. Email was the hammer, so those tasks looked like nails.

• http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203803904574431151489408372.html
• http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/12/google-wave-and-the-dawn-of-passive-aggressive-communication/

Searchtastic: yet another 'real-time' Twitter search startup

• http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/11/searchtastic-throws-its-hat-into-the-twitter-search-engine-ring/
• http://blog.louisgray.com/2009/10/searchtastic-aims-to-extend-twitter.html

Twitter denies rumors that it's adding video functionality

• http://mashable.com/2009/10/11/twitter-video-tweets-2/
• http://twittercism.com/twitter-rich-media-fail/

Death of Sidekick/Hiptop platform predicted, as Microsoft loses users' data

Microsoft has lost all users' personal information for the T-Mobile Sidekick service (aka Danger Hiptop). Little hope of recovery. Looks like there was a disk failure in its Danger subsidiary, and no working backups.

• http://forums.t-mobile.com/tmbl/?category.id=Sidekick
• http://blogs.computerworld.com/14894/danger_microsoft_loses_t_mobile_sidekick_hiptop_users_data

Links for Oct 8, 2009

FBI finger 100 phishers in Operation Phish Phry

Phishers arrested and charged in Southern California, Las Vegas, Charlotte, N.C., and Egypt. First such joint investigation between Egyptian law enforcement and U.S. agencies, including FBI, USAO, and the Los Angeles Electronic Crimes Task Force.

• http://losangeles.fbi.gov/pressrel/2009/la100709.htm
• http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9139093/Operation_Phish_Phry_hooks_100_in_U.S._and_Egypt

Ray Ozzie says Google is biting off more than it can chew with Wave

Trying to replace email, IM, with a new paradigm is too hard, says Ozzie, based on his experience with Notes and Groove. It's even more of a challenge because people don't understand what Google Wave is, he opines.

• http://www.techcrunchit.com/2009/10/07/ozzie-on-the-realtime-wave/
• http://www.theequitykicker.com/2009/10/08/the-power-of-clarity/

Links for Oct 7, 2009

Google testing ''Cloudboard'', a server-side clipboard

Allows users to copy/paste data between Google services, such as Docs and Gmail.

• http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/10/google-cloudboard.html
• http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/07/google_cloudboard/

Links for Oct 6, 2009

Windows Mobile 6.5 gets poor reviews

Increasingly, it seems the race for smartphone platform is between iPhone, Android, Palm, and BlackBerry.

• http://www.pcworld.com/article/173186/
• http://blogs.zdnet.com/cell-phones/?p=2213

SlideShare Business announced

SlideShare experimenting with new revenue models

• http://blog.slideshare.net/2009/10/06/slideshare-business-a-new-way-to-connect-with-customers/
• http://ross.typepad.com/blog/2009/10/slideshare-for-business.html

Links for Oct 5, 2009

Amazon EC2/EBS DDoS drills hole in Bitbucket

Amazon's EC2/EBS cloud infrastructure isn't invincible against distributed denial of service attacks, it seems. Code hosting service Bitbucket blames its recent 19+ hours of downtime on an Amazon DDoS. Offers harsh feedback to Amazon's support organization.

• http://blog.bitbucket.org/2009/10/04/on-our-extended-downtime-amazon-and-whats-coming/
• http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/45891

AVG fights back against Microsoft's free AV with version 9

AVG's free product is an important route to market for the company. Microsoft's Security Essentials is a threat. Version 9's enhanced link scanner and claimed performance improvements should help counter it.

• http://venturebeat.com/2009/10/05/avg-launches-newest-free-antivirus-suite-as-microsoft-crashes-its-party/
• http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/avg_9_faster_smarter_linkscanner_identify_theft_protection.php

Vonage app. for iPhone and BlackBerry

Important VoIP provider enables access from important smartphone platforms. Perhaps surprising that Apple allowed this, but FCC investigation into Google Voice refusal motivates Apple to be seen to play fair.

• http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/vonage-releases-calling-apps-for-iphone-and-blackberry/
• http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9138954/Vonage_offers_iPhone_BlackBerry_app_for_making_Internet_calls

All major smartphone platforms to get full-featured Adobe Flash, except iPhone

Flash isn't just for video and silly games. It's also a serious cross-platform development tool. Apple would probably wait until hell froze over to allow it on its platform, as the App Store is a strategic control point.

• http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/200910/100509AFPforMobileDevicesandPCs.html
• http://blogs.computerworld.com/14857/everyone_3_adobe_except_apple_no_flash_on_iphone

Links for Oct 2, 2009

Google makes FriendConnect easier to install on your Web server

The war for consumer-focused federated identity rages on. The latest battleground is ease of use for webmasters. Google and Facebook are playing leapfrog.

• http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/10/google-friend-connect-no-more-ftp-just.html
• http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/02/easy-does-it-google-friend-connect-one-ups-facebook-connects-install-wizard/

IBM/Lotus challenges Gmail/Google Apps with LotusLive iNotes

IBM/Lotus wants you to reconsider "Going Google". It's now offering a SaaS/cloud hosted email service, with similar functionality to Google Apps' Gmail -- but undercutting Google's price.

• http://lotusliveblog.com/blog/lotuslive.nsf/dx/lotuslive-inotes-now-available-lotus-email-takes-to-the-cloud
• http://blogs.computerworld.com/14844/ibm_lotus_challenges_gmail_google_apps_with_lotuslive_inotes

Links for Oct 1, 2009

Six Apart announces TypePad API and Pownce relaunch

API opened up and branded TypePad Cloud Platform; Pownce relaunched as TypePad Motion.

• http://www.sixapart.com/blog/2009/10/typepad-platform-and-typepad-motion.html
• http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/01/six-apart-opens-up-typepad-apis-relaunches-pownce-as-typepad-motion/

Cisco to acquire Tandberg

$3 billion buys respected Norwegian vendor of videoconferencing products.

• http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/technology/companies/02cisco.html
• http://blogs.computerworld.com/14836/ciscos_amazing_3_bn_purchase_of_tandberg

Links for Sept 30, 2009

All is well with bank email privacy problem, luckily

Bank sends sensitive info to wrong person by email; asks Google to delete it; asks court to force Google to delete it; Google says message was never opened; Google deletes message; further legal wrangling averted.

• http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10363663-245.html
• http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/30/rocky_mountain_google_case_fini/

Yammer gets significant new blood

Sean Parker was instrumental at Plaxo and Facebook. Now he joins Yammer, the "Twitter for intranets".

• http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/29/sean-parker-joins-yammers-board-of-directors/

Criminals being very clever: editing online bank statements on-the-fly

If your PC is infected with this malware, not only will criminals extract money from your bank account, but it won't show up on your statements. That's because the malware is silently hiding the fraudulent transactions, and patching the balance. Horribly clever.

• http://www.finjan.com/GetObject.aspx?ObjId=679
• http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/09/rogue-bank-statements/

Yahoo releases YUI 3

YUI is a rich, lightweight framework for writing slick, interactive user interfaces for Web applications. It's widely respected; and version 3 looks like it will add to its reputation.

• http://www.yuiblog.com/blog/2009/09/29/yui-3-0-0/
• http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10363887-264.html

Google Wave invites being sent to 100,000 preview users

Google's collaboration tool is definitely one to watch, if the demo reel is any guide.

• http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/surfs-up-wednesday-google-wave-update.html
• http://blogs.computerworld.com/14826/got_google_wave_invite_preview_opens_today_dont_call_it_beta

Microsoft releases Security Essentials (née ''Morro'')

This free anti-malware product for PCs replaces OneCare and threatens the established vendors: both free and paid.

• http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=3202792
• http://blogs.computerworld.com/14817/microsoft_security_essentials_is_here_rsn
• http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/09/first-look-microsoft-security-essentials-impresses.ars

Links for Sept 27, 2009

Some Russian spammers earn a surprising amount

Sophos publishes research into Russian spamhausen SpamIt and friends.

• http://www.sophos.com/sophos/docs/eng/marketing_material/samosseiko-vb2009-paper.pdf
• http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/09/viagra-spam-brings-bulging-returns-of-more-than-4000day.ars

Links for Sept 25, 2009

Microsoft's Ballmer apologises for poor Windows Mobile execution

Steve Ballmer speaks at his annual VC summit. Attendees leak his mea culpa via Twitter, reporting that he said Microsoft has revamped the WinMo7 team with new blood.

• http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=8170
• http://gizmodo.com/5367358/ballmer-says-they-screwed-up-with-windows-mobile-wishes-they-had-already-launched-wm7

Links for Sept 24,2009

Microsoft's Looking Glass approaches launch

Allows marketers to aggregate and monitor social media. Private beta in October.

• http://community.microsoftadvertising.com/blogs/analytics/archive/2009/09/23/microsoft-lookingglass-helps-businesses-catch-the-social-media-wave-at-advertising-week-2009.aspx
• http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=139199

Finally, BlackBerry has software for MacOS

MacOS users will soon be able to sync their BlackBerrys without using Windows.

• http://blogs.blackberry.com/2009/09/blackberry-desktop-software-a-closer-look-at-the-mac-os-version.html
• http://tech.yahoo.com/news/zd/244358

More Gmail Outages

Significant issues today for users of Gmail and Google Apps. Centered around users' Contacts. Initial reports said it was for just some users, but it appears most or all were affected.

• http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE58L6JA20090924
• http://googlewatch.eweek.com/content/google_apps/gmail_down_not_for_me_for_how_many_i_want_answers.html

Links for Sept 23, 2009

Google Wave in IE, via Chrome Frame

If you want to use the new Google Wave in Internet Exporer, you'll have to install the Google Chrome Frame addon first. This ingenious plugin replaces the entire rendering area of the browser with code plucked from Google's Chrome browser.

• http://googlewavedev.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-wave-in-internet-explorer.html
• http://googlewatch.eweek.com/content/google_chrome/google_picasa_35_adds_name_tags_from_picasa_web_albums.html

Google Sidewiki

Sidewiki is a universal commenting system for the Web. A new component of the Google Toolbar. Watch out: Digg, Stumbeupon, Reddit, et al.

• http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/help-and-learn-from-others-as-you.html
• http://paidcontent.org/article/419-googles-latest-ambition-a-universal-commenting-system-for-the-web/

Skype for SIP to Integrate with Industry-Standard VoIP Kit

Skype currently uses a proprietary voice-over-IP protocol. Integrating with the standard Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) should make it more attractive to businesses.

• http://gigaom.com/2009/09/22/how-skype-plans-to-dominate-business-telephony/
• http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=24767

DateCheck Launched at DEMOfall09

DateCheck is an iPhone app that allows consumers perform background checks on prospective suitors. Its launch has prompted some comment as to privacy implications.

• http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2009/09/11766/
• http://blogs.computerworld.com/14792/the_weirdest_iphone_dating_app_or_the_most_useful

Links for Sept 22, 2009

Gelato Comes Out of Stealth at DEMOfall09

Gelato is "stream dating" -- online dating for the Facebook generation. To help users decide if they have things in common, it integrates with your lifestreams from Facebook, last.fm, Twitter, Hulu, Netflix, Flickr, etc.

• http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10358126-52.html
• http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/09/22/demofall09-gelato-is-online-dating-meets-social-search/
• http://onlinedatingpost.com/archives/2009/09/gelato-demo-launch-marries-social-stream-with-dating/

Foursquare Has Plans to Make Money; Raises Anonymity Concerns

Foursquare is a location-based social network. Allows people with similar tastes to meet up. Allows local business owners to build relationships with repeat customers.

• http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/21/foursquare-hasnt-started-playing-the-monetization-game-just-yet/
• http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2009/09/there_goes_the_neighborhood_ho.php

Google's Gmail now Supports ActiveSync Push for iPhone and Windows Mobile

Also works for Google Apps email. It previously only supported ActiveSync for contacts and calendars: users had to use IMAP for email.

• http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-sync-now-with-push-gmail-support.html
• http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2009/09/push-mail-for-iphone-and-windows-mobile.html
• http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/09/22/googlesync-brings-push-gmail-iphone/