As we noted last night, Twitter has significantly expanded the rollout of its new “Lists” feature over the past day or so.
The feature looks to accomplish a couple different goals: for one, it lets you organize the people you follow into groups – for example “co-workers,” “social media experts,” or “celebrities” – serving as a filter of sorts for tracking updates. This is similar to the functionality already available in clients like TweetDeck or Seesmic.
Additionally, and perhaps more exciting, it’s a way to discover new users by exploring the lists that others have created. However, the only way to find these currently is going profile-by-profile or looking at the lists you’re already on (assuming you have the feature enabled).
In the future, perhaps Twitter will build a “most followed lists” feature or something similar to help you find Lists, but for now, we figured we’d open up our comment section to let you share the lists you’ve created and discover those created by other Mashable readers.
So, drop some links to your lists along with a brief description in the comments! One thing to note – if you don’t yet have lists enabled, you won’t be able to see any of them (sorry), but we’ll continue to reference this post in the future.
Source:
http://mashable.com/2009/10/29/twitter-lists-share/
Professional Web Design
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Yahoo and Microsoft Extend The Deadline to Close Search Deal
The companies originally planned to finalize the deal by October 27; they now say the deal will be done by early 2010
Yahoo and Microsoft have missed a deadline for finalizing their search and advertising deal and have now extended the deadline for an unspecified period.
When the companies announced in July that Microsoft's Bing search engine would power Yahoo's search results, they said that they planned to finalize the deal by Oct. 27 or use an arbitration panel to hammer out their differences.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Yahoo said the companies have agreed to extend the period to negotiate and execute the deal.
"Given the complex nature of the transaction, there remain some details to be finalized," Yahoo said in the filing. "The parties are working diligently on finalizing the agreements, have made good progress to date, and have agreed to execute the agreements as expeditiously as possible."
The filing does not provide a new deadline for finalizing the agreement.
In a joint statement, Microsoft said it was committed to the agreement and that the companies had mutually agreed to extend the deadline.
"We plan to do this as expeditiously as possible. Both companies are optimistic that we will be able to close this deal by early 2010," Microsoft said.
Yahoo and Microsoft initially estimated it would take them two years to fully implement the deal, which also involves Yahoo providing premium Search Advertising Services for both companies.
Source:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/yahoo-and-microsoft-extend-deadline-close-search-deal-986
Professional Website Design Services
Yahoo and Microsoft have missed a deadline for finalizing their search and advertising deal and have now extended the deadline for an unspecified period.
When the companies announced in July that Microsoft's Bing search engine would power Yahoo's search results, they said that they planned to finalize the deal by Oct. 27 or use an arbitration panel to hammer out their differences.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Yahoo said the companies have agreed to extend the period to negotiate and execute the deal.
"Given the complex nature of the transaction, there remain some details to be finalized," Yahoo said in the filing. "The parties are working diligently on finalizing the agreements, have made good progress to date, and have agreed to execute the agreements as expeditiously as possible."
The filing does not provide a new deadline for finalizing the agreement.
In a joint statement, Microsoft said it was committed to the agreement and that the companies had mutually agreed to extend the deadline.
"We plan to do this as expeditiously as possible. Both companies are optimistic that we will be able to close this deal by early 2010," Microsoft said.
Yahoo and Microsoft initially estimated it would take them two years to fully implement the deal, which also involves Yahoo providing premium Search Advertising Services for both companies.
Source:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/yahoo-and-microsoft-extend-deadline-close-search-deal-986
Professional Website Design Services
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Google Launches Social Search
As promised at the Web 2.0 Summit last week, Google has introduced a new Google Labs experiement called Google Social Search, a way to find online content authored by friends and personal contacts using a Google Search.
To try it out, visit Google Labs and click the designated button to join the Social Search Experiment.
Google Social Search requires you to be signed in to your Google Account. It integrates blog posts and other online information authored by friends and associates into Google search results.
Google looks for people in your Gmail or Google Talk contacts lists, Google Reader articles, people linked to through your Google Profile -- from sites like Twitter and FriendFeed -- and people listed in Google Contacts. Then it includes posts and commentary written by these people, when appropriate and relevant, in your Google searches.
In a blog post explaining the new Social Search exeriment, Google technical lead Maureen Heymans and Google product manager Murali Viswanathan emphasize that this isn't some new form of privacy invasion. "All the information that appears as part of Google Social Search is published publicly on the Web -- you can find it without Social Search if you really want to," they said. "What we've done is surface that content together in one single place to make your results more relevant."
Google Social Search also provides a way to see only search results from one's social circle.
At the Web 2.0 Summit, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said, "There is a very fundamental shift going on from the information Web to the social Web." It's a shift that Google has been participating in for several years, though perhaps not as effectively as the company might wish.
Google's commitment to social computing became evident in 2007, as Facebook and other social sites became popular.
Google has acquired companies with a social focus, like micro-blogging company Jaiku, video company Omniso, and mobile company Dodgeball. It has dabbled in social advertising through a deal with Italy's Dada.net. It has integrated social sharing features into services like Google Docs, Google Reader, and Google Books. It released the OpenSocial API and Social Graph API for integrating Social Network Features with Web sites. It has released social gadgets for its iGoogle home page.
Google launched Orkut, its own social network, in 2004, but the site, despite being quite popular in Brazil, has been overshadowed by Facebook and MySpace in the U.S.
In a separate but related announcement last week, Google said that it had reached a deal with Twitter to index tweets and make them available in searches to improve the availability of real-time information.
Source:
http://www.techweb.com/article/showArticle?articleID=220900747§ion=news
Chicago Web Design
To try it out, visit Google Labs and click the designated button to join the Social Search Experiment.
Google Social Search requires you to be signed in to your Google Account. It integrates blog posts and other online information authored by friends and associates into Google search results.
Google looks for people in your Gmail or Google Talk contacts lists, Google Reader articles, people linked to through your Google Profile -- from sites like Twitter and FriendFeed -- and people listed in Google Contacts. Then it includes posts and commentary written by these people, when appropriate and relevant, in your Google searches.
In a blog post explaining the new Social Search exeriment, Google technical lead Maureen Heymans and Google product manager Murali Viswanathan emphasize that this isn't some new form of privacy invasion. "All the information that appears as part of Google Social Search is published publicly on the Web -- you can find it without Social Search if you really want to," they said. "What we've done is surface that content together in one single place to make your results more relevant."
Google Social Search also provides a way to see only search results from one's social circle.
At the Web 2.0 Summit, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said, "There is a very fundamental shift going on from the information Web to the social Web." It's a shift that Google has been participating in for several years, though perhaps not as effectively as the company might wish.
Google's commitment to social computing became evident in 2007, as Facebook and other social sites became popular.
Google has acquired companies with a social focus, like micro-blogging company Jaiku, video company Omniso, and mobile company Dodgeball. It has dabbled in social advertising through a deal with Italy's Dada.net. It has integrated social sharing features into services like Google Docs, Google Reader, and Google Books. It released the OpenSocial API and Social Graph API for integrating Social Network Features with Web sites. It has released social gadgets for its iGoogle home page.
Google launched Orkut, its own social network, in 2004, but the site, despite being quite popular in Brazil, has been overshadowed by Facebook and MySpace in the U.S.
In a separate but related announcement last week, Google said that it had reached a deal with Twitter to index tweets and make them available in searches to improve the availability of real-time information.
Source:
http://www.techweb.com/article/showArticle?articleID=220900747§ion=news
Chicago Web Design
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Twitter: You Say Transparency, I Say Vulnerability
We received a number of tips early this morning that the majority of web servers at Twitter was exposing server and load-balancer status information to the public. The status page which are an (often default) option in the open source Apache web server dump an output of all connections and state information for a particular server. The information is used by administrators to monitor servers, and the pages are often either removed entirely or locked down to prevent the information from being used for nefarious purposes.
At some point in the past 24 hours (I would more accurately guess 22 hours 28 minutes and 4 seconds ago, based on the status page itself), the Twitter Web Servers introduced a misconfiguration to expose this information to the public. The page includes overall server statistics along with every HTTP requests currently being handled by that server, with the full request URL. The server status page is usually accessed by requesting /server-status for a web server. In the case of Twitter, this exposure allows anybody to see requests that sometimes rely on being secret to remain secure, such as oAuth keys, which are used to authorize applications to access Twitter accounts.
News of the pages being open spread quickly through Twitter, with some calling it “great transparency” while others recognizing it for what it is – a little too much transparency, and unintentional. Twitter were very quick to respond and blocked all access to the page, and the vast majority of the information found is purely informational and can be deduced through other means. Your Twitter account is probably safe again, but that doesn’t mean we can’t geek out while we get a sneak peak at what Twitter looks like behind the curtain.
Screenshot of one such page below with some of the information cut out.
Source:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/21/twitter-you-say-transperancy-i-say-vulnerability/
Chicago Web Design
At some point in the past 24 hours (I would more accurately guess 22 hours 28 minutes and 4 seconds ago, based on the status page itself), the Twitter Web Servers introduced a misconfiguration to expose this information to the public. The page includes overall server statistics along with every HTTP requests currently being handled by that server, with the full request URL. The server status page is usually accessed by requesting /server-status for a web server. In the case of Twitter, this exposure allows anybody to see requests that sometimes rely on being secret to remain secure, such as oAuth keys, which are used to authorize applications to access Twitter accounts.
News of the pages being open spread quickly through Twitter, with some calling it “great transparency” while others recognizing it for what it is – a little too much transparency, and unintentional. Twitter were very quick to respond and blocked all access to the page, and the vast majority of the information found is purely informational and can be deduced through other means. Your Twitter account is probably safe again, but that doesn’t mean we can’t geek out while we get a sneak peak at what Twitter looks like behind the curtain.
Screenshot of one such page below with some of the information cut out.
Source:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/21/twitter-you-say-transperancy-i-say-vulnerability/
Chicago Web Design
Sunday, October 25, 2009
IE Boss Calls for More Honesty about Privacy
Firms profiting from consumers' lack of awareness.
Organisations need to stop profiting from the ignorance of their consumers, and be more clear and honest about the choices that need to be made to protect online privacy, according to Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) chief.
Amy Barzdukas, Microsoft's general manager of IE and consumer security, made the comments ahead of her keynote speech at the RSA Conference show in London tomorrow.
Barzdukas argued that many consumers do not necessarily understand what they give up in terms of privacy when they install a toolbar on their PC, for example.
"As an industry we need to hold to a higher bar and not ask people to make tradeoffs they don't understand," she added. "In some cases, the industry is taking advantage of people's lack of awareness to further their business goals."
Barzdukas went on to explain how the latest version of IE deliberately features a separate address bar and search box with "different underlying privacy models", whereas competitors may be forcing customers to make a privacy tradeoff by conflating the two, she said.
Unsurprisingly, Barzdukas was in a bullish mood when asked whether she thought IE had now caught up in security terms with its rivals in the Browser Market.
"I believe it compares extremely favourably. The most difficult competition is our own past versions of Internet Explorer," she said.
"It's really important to make people aware that, if they're using IE6, they shouldn't be, and that they need to be on the newest version in order to take advantage of the innovations and improvements we've made."
Source:
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/158653,ie-boss-calls-for-more-honesty-about-privacy.aspx
Organisations need to stop profiting from the ignorance of their consumers, and be more clear and honest about the choices that need to be made to protect online privacy, according to Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) chief.
Amy Barzdukas, Microsoft's general manager of IE and consumer security, made the comments ahead of her keynote speech at the RSA Conference show in London tomorrow.
Barzdukas argued that many consumers do not necessarily understand what they give up in terms of privacy when they install a toolbar on their PC, for example.
"As an industry we need to hold to a higher bar and not ask people to make tradeoffs they don't understand," she added. "In some cases, the industry is taking advantage of people's lack of awareness to further their business goals."
Barzdukas went on to explain how the latest version of IE deliberately features a separate address bar and search box with "different underlying privacy models", whereas competitors may be forcing customers to make a privacy tradeoff by conflating the two, she said.
Unsurprisingly, Barzdukas was in a bullish mood when asked whether she thought IE had now caught up in security terms with its rivals in the Browser Market.
"I believe it compares extremely favourably. The most difficult competition is our own past versions of Internet Explorer," she said.
"It's really important to make people aware that, if they're using IE6, they shouldn't be, and that they need to be on the newest version in order to take advantage of the innovations and improvements we've made."
Source:
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/158653,ie-boss-calls-for-more-honesty-about-privacy.aspx
Web Design in Chicago
Friday, October 23, 2009
Google Chrome Browser Snubs Windows 7
Google has pushed back plans to integrate its Chrome browser with Microsoft's new OS
Google has scrubbed plans to fully integrate its Chrome Web Browser with Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system.
The news follows an announcement by the Mozilla Foundation that Firefox 3.6, the next version of the open source browser, would integrate with Windows 7 features such as taskbar thumbnail previews and Jump Lists.
However, according to reports in The Register, Google's internal issue tracking system indicates that work on the features has been pushed back to version 5 of the browser. Chrome is currently on the 3.0 release, while version 4 is currently in development.
Despite the scaled back ambitions, work seems to be progressing on Google's Chrome OS. An early developer build of the operating system has been leaked onto Google's Web site. Stay tuned for more details.
Source:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/google-chrome-doesnt-integrate-windows-7-409
Professional Web Design
Google has scrubbed plans to fully integrate its Chrome Web Browser with Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system.
The news follows an announcement by the Mozilla Foundation that Firefox 3.6, the next version of the open source browser, would integrate with Windows 7 features such as taskbar thumbnail previews and Jump Lists.
However, according to reports in The Register, Google's internal issue tracking system indicates that work on the features has been pushed back to version 5 of the browser. Chrome is currently on the 3.0 release, while version 4 is currently in development.
Despite the scaled back ambitions, work seems to be progressing on Google's Chrome OS. An early developer build of the operating system has been leaked onto Google's Web site. Stay tuned for more details.
Source:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/google-chrome-doesnt-integrate-windows-7-409
Professional Web Design
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Windows 7 Compatible? Microsoft Provides Answers
Redmond is using online tools and Web sites to help consumers ensure computers can run new version of Windows OS.
Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has introduced an online service designed to let consumers know whether their PCs are capable of running the company's new Windows 7 operating system.
The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, as the service is called, will scan a user's hardware to determine if it meets Windows 7 system requirements.
It will also provide recommendations on which version of Windows 7 is the best fit for a particular system, and sniff out potential incompatibilities with third-party peripherals.
"If an issue can be resolved, it suggests the next steps for you to take before installing Windows 7," said Microsoft VP Mark Relph, in a blog post Tuesday.
Windows 7, which will be released to consumers Thursday, comes in several home and business editions. Some are engineered to run on higher-end 64-bit processors.
Microsoft is also hosting a Web site, called the Windows 7 Compatibility Center, that lists third-party hardware and software products that have been certified as compatible with the new operating system. "The site goes beyond just telling you what will or will not work.
It also provides links to drivers and software updates to help get your PC running with the latest software," said Relph.
That Microsoft is taking Windows 7 compatibility seriously is hardly a surprise. Conflicts with third-party peripherals and applications plagued Vista, Windows 7's predecessor, in the weeks following its release in January, 2007.
Partly as a result, Vista failed to win the hearts and minds of tech enthusiasts and was virtually shunned by the enterprise market, where only a handful of large enterprises upgraded to Vista from Windows XP.
Microsoft can ill-afford a repeat performance with Windows 7, as the company's software sales have slumped badly in recent quarters.
Windows 7 hits online shops like Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) and electronics retailers, including Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), beginning Thursday.
The full version of Windows 7 Professional is $299, with upgrades going for $199. Windows 7 Ultimate is priced at $319, with the upgrade version at $219. The full version of Windows 7 Home Premium is priced at $199, with an upgrade from Vista or XP costing $119.
Source:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220800075&subSection=News
Chicago Website Design
Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has introduced an online service designed to let consumers know whether their PCs are capable of running the company's new Windows 7 operating system.
The Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, as the service is called, will scan a user's hardware to determine if it meets Windows 7 system requirements.
It will also provide recommendations on which version of Windows 7 is the best fit for a particular system, and sniff out potential incompatibilities with third-party peripherals.
"If an issue can be resolved, it suggests the next steps for you to take before installing Windows 7," said Microsoft VP Mark Relph, in a blog post Tuesday.
Windows 7, which will be released to consumers Thursday, comes in several home and business editions. Some are engineered to run on higher-end 64-bit processors.
Microsoft is also hosting a Web site, called the Windows 7 Compatibility Center, that lists third-party hardware and software products that have been certified as compatible with the new operating system. "The site goes beyond just telling you what will or will not work.
It also provides links to drivers and software updates to help get your PC running with the latest software," said Relph.
That Microsoft is taking Windows 7 compatibility seriously is hardly a surprise. Conflicts with third-party peripherals and applications plagued Vista, Windows 7's predecessor, in the weeks following its release in January, 2007.
Partly as a result, Vista failed to win the hearts and minds of tech enthusiasts and was virtually shunned by the enterprise market, where only a handful of large enterprises upgraded to Vista from Windows XP.
Microsoft can ill-afford a repeat performance with Windows 7, as the company's software sales have slumped badly in recent quarters.
Windows 7 hits online shops like Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) and electronics retailers, including Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), beginning Thursday.
The full version of Windows 7 Professional is $299, with upgrades going for $199. Windows 7 Ultimate is priced at $319, with the upgrade version at $219. The full version of Windows 7 Home Premium is priced at $199, with an upgrade from Vista or XP costing $119.
Source:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220800075&subSection=News
Chicago Website Design
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Yahoo Revenue Down, But Income Up Sharply
The online company posts a 244 percent increase in net income from a year ago
Yahoo has reported revenue of $1.58 billion for the third quarter of 2009, down 12 percent from the same period a year earlier, although net income was up sharply, by 244 percent, the company said.
Yahoo's third-quarter income was $186 million, the company said Tuesday, up from $54 million for the third quarter of 2008. Earnings per share was $0.13, significantly ahead of analyst estimates of $0.07, according to those polled by Thomson Reuters.
"In the third quarter we saw strength in key areas of our business," Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse said in a statement. "Our efforts to reposition Yahoo are still in the early stages, but we're confident that our investments in the business will enable us to capitalize on growth opportunities as the economy recovers."
The increase in net income was due to a variety of factors, including a slower-than-anticipated growth in hiring and savings in broadband costs, Morse said during a conference call.
Display Advertising Revenue was down 8 percent for the quarter, but there were double-digit decreases in the first and second quarters of the year. "Things are starting to loosen up," Morse said. "The ad dollars are starting to flow a little better."
Revenue from Marketing Services, including Yahoo's online advertising business, was down 12 percent from a year ago. Fees revenue, including money paid for services such as music downloads, was down 11 percent.
Cash flow from operating activities was $355 million, a 2 percent increase compared to the third quarter of 2008. Free cash flow was $258 million, up 20 percent from $215 million in the same period of 2008.
Yahoo expects revenue of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion in the fourth quarter, Morse said.
Yahoo, after being courted by Google, signed a search advertising deal with Microsoft in July. The agreement will allow Yahoo to continue to receive search revenue and allow the company to innovate in search user experience, Morse said.
"We'll innovate on top of the search results that Microsoft delivers to us," he said.
Source:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/financial-results/yahoo-revenue-down-income-sharply-771
Web Design Firms
Yahoo has reported revenue of $1.58 billion for the third quarter of 2009, down 12 percent from the same period a year earlier, although net income was up sharply, by 244 percent, the company said.
Yahoo's third-quarter income was $186 million, the company said Tuesday, up from $54 million for the third quarter of 2008. Earnings per share was $0.13, significantly ahead of analyst estimates of $0.07, according to those polled by Thomson Reuters.
"In the third quarter we saw strength in key areas of our business," Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse said in a statement. "Our efforts to reposition Yahoo are still in the early stages, but we're confident that our investments in the business will enable us to capitalize on growth opportunities as the economy recovers."
The increase in net income was due to a variety of factors, including a slower-than-anticipated growth in hiring and savings in broadband costs, Morse said during a conference call.
Display Advertising Revenue was down 8 percent for the quarter, but there were double-digit decreases in the first and second quarters of the year. "Things are starting to loosen up," Morse said. "The ad dollars are starting to flow a little better."
Revenue from Marketing Services, including Yahoo's online advertising business, was down 12 percent from a year ago. Fees revenue, including money paid for services such as music downloads, was down 11 percent.
Cash flow from operating activities was $355 million, a 2 percent increase compared to the third quarter of 2008. Free cash flow was $258 million, up 20 percent from $215 million in the same period of 2008.
Yahoo expects revenue of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion in the fourth quarter, Morse said.
Yahoo, after being courted by Google, signed a search advertising deal with Microsoft in July. The agreement will allow Yahoo to continue to receive search revenue and allow the company to innovate in search user experience, Morse said.
"We'll innovate on top of the search results that Microsoft delivers to us," he said.
Source:
http://www.infoworld.com/t/financial-results/yahoo-revenue-down-income-sharply-771
Web Design Firms
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Twitter Warns Users Not to Change Log-In Data Until Further Notice
Twitter is investigating instances where users lost access to accounts after changes were made to their usernames, passwords, or e-mail addresses
Twitter users should refrain from changing their log-in data until further notice or else risk getting locked out of their accounts.
Twitter is investigating instances of users who have lost access to their accounts after modifying their usernames, passwords or e-mail addresses, the Microblogging Company said on Tuesday.
Until the problem is resolved, Twitter users shouldn't modify their log-in data, according to an official posting on Twitter's Status Web site.
"This seems to affect new users as well as long term users," the note reads.
Users first started reporting the problem late last week, according to messages posted on the site's Known Issues section.
Twitter has made the fixing of this problem a top priority, and at the moment believes the cause might be a caching bug somewhere in its systems, according to information on the Known Issues page.
This is the latest technical hiccup that has affected Twitter in recent days. On Monday, the company acknowledged that the site experienced increased system errors and that users had trouble authoring and posting messages. The latter issue apparently remains outstanding. Last week, a bug caused a delay of several hours in updates to users' message streams.
Twitter, a social network and microblogging site, has become tremendously popular among individuals and organizations since its launch in March 2006, but along the way has earned a reputation for having wobbly performance and uptime.
Twitter experienced lengthy and frequent system outages in 2007 and during the first half of 2008, but since then the situation has improved.
Twitter ended 2008 with 84 hours of downtime, which gave it an uptime frequency of 99.04 percent, the worst among 15 major social-networking services reviewed by Web monitoring company Pingdom.
At Twitter, individuals provide real-time updates about themselves, while organizations use it as a marketing tool. Twitter messages cant' be longer than 140 characters.
Source:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/twitter-warns-users-not-change-log-in-data-until-further-notice-815
Professional Website Design Services
Twitter users should refrain from changing their log-in data until further notice or else risk getting locked out of their accounts.
Twitter is investigating instances of users who have lost access to their accounts after modifying their usernames, passwords or e-mail addresses, the Microblogging Company said on Tuesday.
Until the problem is resolved, Twitter users shouldn't modify their log-in data, according to an official posting on Twitter's Status Web site.
"This seems to affect new users as well as long term users," the note reads.
Users first started reporting the problem late last week, according to messages posted on the site's Known Issues section.
Twitter has made the fixing of this problem a top priority, and at the moment believes the cause might be a caching bug somewhere in its systems, according to information on the Known Issues page.
This is the latest technical hiccup that has affected Twitter in recent days. On Monday, the company acknowledged that the site experienced increased system errors and that users had trouble authoring and posting messages. The latter issue apparently remains outstanding. Last week, a bug caused a delay of several hours in updates to users' message streams.
Twitter, a social network and microblogging site, has become tremendously popular among individuals and organizations since its launch in March 2006, but along the way has earned a reputation for having wobbly performance and uptime.
Twitter experienced lengthy and frequent system outages in 2007 and during the first half of 2008, but since then the situation has improved.
Twitter ended 2008 with 84 hours of downtime, which gave it an uptime frequency of 99.04 percent, the worst among 15 major social-networking services reviewed by Web monitoring company Pingdom.
At Twitter, individuals provide real-time updates about themselves, while organizations use it as a marketing tool. Twitter messages cant' be longer than 140 characters.
Source:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/twitter-warns-users-not-change-log-in-data-until-further-notice-815
Professional Website Design Services
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Meebo tries to raise $25M in return of only 10% equity valuing the company at the whopping $250M
Meebo is a popular and rapidly growing web based instant messaging start up that was backed up by Sequoia Capital and is said to have roughly 4.6M unique visitors per month according to comScore’s publicly available stats. That’s valuing each of their visitors at the $54 mark, which is significantly more than what AOL has just recently paid for each of Bebo’s 22M visitors - $39 according our simple math. Many industry experts, commentators and bloggers have expressed their negative feelings about the potential deal and more concrete about its pre-money valuation. Anyone remember Slide and their pre-money valuation of $500M? Yet it was said then they had over 150M or so users worldwide, which, if true, valued their users at the $3 range.
Some analysts have even compared the deal’s value to the Bear Stearns one, which has just sold out for “only” $236M.
There is however something most of the technology blogs seem to have overlooked. Joshua Beil from Level 3 Communications has commented on one of the tech blogs that Meebo’s per user valuation could change quite substantially if one takes into account their unique visitors of the MeeboMe rooms widget. I’ve seen, he says, numbers in the 10-14M range and counting for just this application. Factor this in to the 4.6M uniques to Meebo.com and it’s at a discount to Bebo. We have no idea where he does take his numbers and what his affiliation with the company is, but if we take those numbers for real the $250M valuation does not sound ridicules anymore. In addition to that Venturebeat reports that Meebo has attracted 29 million monthly unique users worldwide, but they also say that some investors remain quite skeptical about Meebo and their business model. We have no clear idea where Venturebeat has come to that number of visitors.
The rumor is that Meebo has hired Montgomery & Co. to represent them in a new fundraising round that may value the company at a $250M. An interesting competition is forming on the scene there between Montgomery & Co. and Allen & Co., which is lately the investment bank behind pretty much all hot start ups that sold (got funded) or about to for hefty amounts (hefty valuations) in the valley such as Digg, Bebo, Slide, Technorati, among others.
What is also being said is that the company is looking to raise $25-30M in venture funding and if the valuation numbers are taken for real it means the VCs will take no more than 10% from Meebo. This is a whole lot more than the $60-70M that it was reportedly worth after a funding round last year.
Some big names in the social-networking space like Facebook and News Corp.’s MySpace.com are rumored to may possibly be interested in the deal. MySpace operates its own instant-messaging service, and Facebook is rumored to have one in the pipeline.
Montgomery and Co. has requested that all offers be in by Wednesday, and has told investors it has several parties interested at a valuation of $200M. The rumor goes here that at least one of the strategic investors isn’t interested in sharing the investment, preferring instead to buy Meebo entirely.
More about Meebo
Meebo launched in September 2005 and received funding from Sequoia Capital in December 2005 and Draper Fisher Jurvetson in January 2007. Today, Meebo’s users exchange over 100 million instant messages daily.In early 2007, Meebo gets another $9 million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Sequoia Capital. Skype’s lead investor and YouTube’s lead investor are teaming up. Tim Draper, one of the early investors in Skype, did the deal for DFJ. Meebo’s total funding is now $12.5 million.
More about Montgomery & Co.
Montgomery and Co. was founded in 1986 with a vision of providing strategic capital-formation advisory services to leading aerospace, defense and related technology companies.
Montgomery & Co. took advantage of the technology downturn and consolidation in the banking industry in 2000 to establish its reputation as the “go to” bank for growth companies that wished to evaluate their strategic options and raise capital. In doing so, Montgomery & Co. fulfilled its initial vision of providing a range of advisory services that encompassed M&A, private placements, comprehensive business-development analyses, and other value-added services.
In 2002 the firm was strengthened by investments from the world’s biggest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ, and West River Capital, of Seattle, WA. In 2003 the firm opened offices in Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego. At that time, the firm also significantly expanded its banking expertise within the Health Care and media industries, especially in the M&A practice.
In 2005, the firm was further strengthened by an investment from Tudor Investments which is the venture capital and private equity arm of Tudor Investment Corporation, an internationally recognized diversified investment management firm with $11.7 billion in assets.
Source:
http://web2innovations.com/money/2008/03/18/meebo-tries-to-raise-25m-in-return-of-only-10-equity-valuing-the-company-at-the-whopping-250m/
Professional Web Design
Some analysts have even compared the deal’s value to the Bear Stearns one, which has just sold out for “only” $236M.
There is however something most of the technology blogs seem to have overlooked. Joshua Beil from Level 3 Communications has commented on one of the tech blogs that Meebo’s per user valuation could change quite substantially if one takes into account their unique visitors of the MeeboMe rooms widget. I’ve seen, he says, numbers in the 10-14M range and counting for just this application. Factor this in to the 4.6M uniques to Meebo.com and it’s at a discount to Bebo. We have no idea where he does take his numbers and what his affiliation with the company is, but if we take those numbers for real the $250M valuation does not sound ridicules anymore. In addition to that Venturebeat reports that Meebo has attracted 29 million monthly unique users worldwide, but they also say that some investors remain quite skeptical about Meebo and their business model. We have no clear idea where Venturebeat has come to that number of visitors.
The rumor is that Meebo has hired Montgomery & Co. to represent them in a new fundraising round that may value the company at a $250M. An interesting competition is forming on the scene there between Montgomery & Co. and Allen & Co., which is lately the investment bank behind pretty much all hot start ups that sold (got funded) or about to for hefty amounts (hefty valuations) in the valley such as Digg, Bebo, Slide, Technorati, among others.
What is also being said is that the company is looking to raise $25-30M in venture funding and if the valuation numbers are taken for real it means the VCs will take no more than 10% from Meebo. This is a whole lot more than the $60-70M that it was reportedly worth after a funding round last year.
Some big names in the social-networking space like Facebook and News Corp.’s MySpace.com are rumored to may possibly be interested in the deal. MySpace operates its own instant-messaging service, and Facebook is rumored to have one in the pipeline.
Montgomery and Co. has requested that all offers be in by Wednesday, and has told investors it has several parties interested at a valuation of $200M. The rumor goes here that at least one of the strategic investors isn’t interested in sharing the investment, preferring instead to buy Meebo entirely.
More about Meebo
Meebo launched in September 2005 and received funding from Sequoia Capital in December 2005 and Draper Fisher Jurvetson in January 2007. Today, Meebo’s users exchange over 100 million instant messages daily.In early 2007, Meebo gets another $9 million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Sequoia Capital. Skype’s lead investor and YouTube’s lead investor are teaming up. Tim Draper, one of the early investors in Skype, did the deal for DFJ. Meebo’s total funding is now $12.5 million.
More about Montgomery & Co.
Montgomery and Co. was founded in 1986 with a vision of providing strategic capital-formation advisory services to leading aerospace, defense and related technology companies.
Montgomery & Co. took advantage of the technology downturn and consolidation in the banking industry in 2000 to establish its reputation as the “go to” bank for growth companies that wished to evaluate their strategic options and raise capital. In doing so, Montgomery & Co. fulfilled its initial vision of providing a range of advisory services that encompassed M&A, private placements, comprehensive business-development analyses, and other value-added services.
In 2002 the firm was strengthened by investments from the world’s biggest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ, and West River Capital, of Seattle, WA. In 2003 the firm opened offices in Seattle, San Francisco and San Diego. At that time, the firm also significantly expanded its banking expertise within the Health Care and media industries, especially in the M&A practice.
In 2005, the firm was further strengthened by an investment from Tudor Investments which is the venture capital and private equity arm of Tudor Investment Corporation, an internationally recognized diversified investment management firm with $11.7 billion in assets.
Source:
http://web2innovations.com/money/2008/03/18/meebo-tries-to-raise-25m-in-return-of-only-10-equity-valuing-the-company-at-the-whopping-250m/
Professional Web Design
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Technorati Raises Another $2 Million In Venture Capital
Blog Search Engine (and more recently blog/social network advertising network) Technorati has raised a new round of financing – $2 million from existing investors, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Mobius Venture Capital
This is, the company says, an extension of their Series D round from June 2008, where they raised $7.5 million at a roughly $35 million valuation. The company has raise a total of just over $32 million to date (much of that at a much higher valuation).
The company is also in the process of raising additional capital via commercial debt, we’ve heard separately but haven’t confirmed.
This funding should get the company to profitability, says CEO Richard Jalichandra. He won’t say what revenues are, except that it has more than doubled each of the last two years. He also points out that Technorati’s Network, with 25 million monthly unique U.S. visitors, is now the 5th largest social media property on the Internet.
In addition to its flagship site, Technorati Supplies Advertising to 450 or so websites – about half blogs, half niche Social Networks.
Source:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/13/technorati-raises-another-2-million-in-venture-capital/
Chicago Web Site Design Company
This is, the company says, an extension of their Series D round from June 2008, where they raised $7.5 million at a roughly $35 million valuation. The company has raise a total of just over $32 million to date (much of that at a much higher valuation).
The company is also in the process of raising additional capital via commercial debt, we’ve heard separately but haven’t confirmed.
This funding should get the company to profitability, says CEO Richard Jalichandra. He won’t say what revenues are, except that it has more than doubled each of the last two years. He also points out that Technorati’s Network, with 25 million monthly unique U.S. visitors, is now the 5th largest social media property on the Internet.
In addition to its flagship site, Technorati Supplies Advertising to 450 or so websites – about half blogs, half niche Social Networks.
Source:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/13/technorati-raises-another-2-million-in-venture-capital/
Chicago Web Site Design Company
Six Rules For Social Networks
Words of wisdom from executives at Digg, Ning and other social media companies.
BURLINGAME, Calif. -- In recent days, I've spent time with a number of veterans of the social networking business. One of the surprising things I have learned is how much experience these people now have, and how much they agree with each other about some of the basics of the business.
Just a few years ago, when companies like Friendster were emerging and outfits like Twitter still did not exist, social networking was a little-understood phenomenon. Experience has taught us a lot, however, and practices are starting to standardize. That is not to say that something new will not pop up, or that no new business will be created; this is still capitalism, with plenty of room to surprise. Whatever does happen next, however, the emerging rules will likely play a role, either in system construction or creative destruction.
Here are six points everyone seems to agree on, presented for easy memorization and with apologies to Johnnie "If it does not fit, you must acquit" Cochran.
1. When you have scale, it's good to fail.
Google ( GOOG - news - people ) knows this: When you have millions of users, you can, and should, experiment with some small percentage of them all the time. The field is so new that there are no set rules, and failure is tolerable for the sake of a decent feedback loop. "Things change so fast, you are best off just doing things by trial and error," says Gina Bianchini, founder and chief executive of Ning, a service that provides a template of design tools for people to build their own social networks. About 5,000 networks are created every day on Ning, and 80% of them are short-lived or fail. That still gives Ning 250,000 networks on which it can place ads, watch behavior or charge for premium services.
2. Seek The Unique.
There are too many social networks, too many styles of discovery, commenting, sharing and all the other aspects of participation. People are fatigued by choice. All is made worthwhile by finding a group that is as passionate about some specific area of your life as you are. That may be work, a la LinkedIn, but don't expect most people to socialize there. That may be family, like with Facebook, but you tend not to see such a broad range of behaviors. The third aspect of most lives--hobbies and interests--is where you encounter the greatest variety. If there is room to grow a new social network, it will have to center on a passion, something people feel is particularly true of their own personalities.
3. The default position is rampant suspicion.
Trust is possibly the most valuable currency on a social network. At its best, people are giving up important parts of their identity. Doing so successfully, so that fans, friends, and like-minded strangers respect them, binds users closely to the network. That loyalty is perpetually at risk, however, and network designers say users' worries are manifest when they don't understand something about the social network.
"In the absence of information, there is an assumption of conspiracy," says Jay Adelson, one of the founders of Digg, a social news site. That may be simply because social networks are so new, or that the medium of computer networks lends itself to fears of anonymous control. The solution, from a provider's viewpoint, is to be as clear as possible about why you are doing something, even when it seems obvious to you.
4. Trust is at stake, so make things opaque.
Paradoxically, being open also involves refusing to disclose certain things, particularly things about how ranking and filtering systems work. "All algorithms get hacked by somebody," says Kevin Laws, a former executive with Epinions, a social rating site that was purchased by Shopping.com. "You have to remove the transparency around how your algorithms actually work." The audience can only trust the system if they know that the system cannot be gamed, and that means they can't know everything.
5. Esteem is how you gather value.
French playwright Moliere compared writing to prostitution: You start off doing it for love, then for a few friends and finally for money. The history of the social Web is basically the opposite. Sites like Epinions and Digg began by paying people money to comment on things, and found nothing but problems--some people gamed the system, while others did not trust the results. As in open source software, a lot of the positive motivation to participate comes from the recognition you receive from other participants for doing a good job. Money just confuses things.
6. Secret names were made for flames. To raise the bar, say who you are.
When Digg started, Adelson recalls, "anonymity was key; there was a sense people needed privacy. Now people are used to living in public." Part of that may be an effect of Facebook, a wildly successful site with very little anonymity. One-third of Digg's new users come from the Facebook Connect service, and these folks are used to being seen by others. They tend to behave more responsibly as a result, and may get better value in terms of how much others trust them. Down the road, they are also likely to be targeted with more personal ads--whether that is an intrusion or a value-add is a rule that has yet to be worked out.
Source:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/02/digg-ning-facebook-intelligent-technology-social-media.html?partner=diggchannel
Chicago Website Design
BURLINGAME, Calif. -- In recent days, I've spent time with a number of veterans of the social networking business. One of the surprising things I have learned is how much experience these people now have, and how much they agree with each other about some of the basics of the business.
Just a few years ago, when companies like Friendster were emerging and outfits like Twitter still did not exist, social networking was a little-understood phenomenon. Experience has taught us a lot, however, and practices are starting to standardize. That is not to say that something new will not pop up, or that no new business will be created; this is still capitalism, with plenty of room to surprise. Whatever does happen next, however, the emerging rules will likely play a role, either in system construction or creative destruction.
Here are six points everyone seems to agree on, presented for easy memorization and with apologies to Johnnie "If it does not fit, you must acquit" Cochran.
1. When you have scale, it's good to fail.
Google ( GOOG - news - people ) knows this: When you have millions of users, you can, and should, experiment with some small percentage of them all the time. The field is so new that there are no set rules, and failure is tolerable for the sake of a decent feedback loop. "Things change so fast, you are best off just doing things by trial and error," says Gina Bianchini, founder and chief executive of Ning, a service that provides a template of design tools for people to build their own social networks. About 5,000 networks are created every day on Ning, and 80% of them are short-lived or fail. That still gives Ning 250,000 networks on which it can place ads, watch behavior or charge for premium services.
2. Seek The Unique.
There are too many social networks, too many styles of discovery, commenting, sharing and all the other aspects of participation. People are fatigued by choice. All is made worthwhile by finding a group that is as passionate about some specific area of your life as you are. That may be work, a la LinkedIn, but don't expect most people to socialize there. That may be family, like with Facebook, but you tend not to see such a broad range of behaviors. The third aspect of most lives--hobbies and interests--is where you encounter the greatest variety. If there is room to grow a new social network, it will have to center on a passion, something people feel is particularly true of their own personalities.
3. The default position is rampant suspicion.
Trust is possibly the most valuable currency on a social network. At its best, people are giving up important parts of their identity. Doing so successfully, so that fans, friends, and like-minded strangers respect them, binds users closely to the network. That loyalty is perpetually at risk, however, and network designers say users' worries are manifest when they don't understand something about the social network.
"In the absence of information, there is an assumption of conspiracy," says Jay Adelson, one of the founders of Digg, a social news site. That may be simply because social networks are so new, or that the medium of computer networks lends itself to fears of anonymous control. The solution, from a provider's viewpoint, is to be as clear as possible about why you are doing something, even when it seems obvious to you.
4. Trust is at stake, so make things opaque.
Paradoxically, being open also involves refusing to disclose certain things, particularly things about how ranking and filtering systems work. "All algorithms get hacked by somebody," says Kevin Laws, a former executive with Epinions, a social rating site that was purchased by Shopping.com. "You have to remove the transparency around how your algorithms actually work." The audience can only trust the system if they know that the system cannot be gamed, and that means they can't know everything.
5. Esteem is how you gather value.
French playwright Moliere compared writing to prostitution: You start off doing it for love, then for a few friends and finally for money. The history of the social Web is basically the opposite. Sites like Epinions and Digg began by paying people money to comment on things, and found nothing but problems--some people gamed the system, while others did not trust the results. As in open source software, a lot of the positive motivation to participate comes from the recognition you receive from other participants for doing a good job. Money just confuses things.
6. Secret names were made for flames. To raise the bar, say who you are.
When Digg started, Adelson recalls, "anonymity was key; there was a sense people needed privacy. Now people are used to living in public." Part of that may be an effect of Facebook, a wildly successful site with very little anonymity. One-third of Digg's new users come from the Facebook Connect service, and these folks are used to being seen by others. They tend to behave more responsibly as a result, and may get better value in terms of how much others trust them. Down the road, they are also likely to be targeted with more personal ads--whether that is an intrusion or a value-add is a rule that has yet to be worked out.
Source:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/02/digg-ning-facebook-intelligent-technology-social-media.html?partner=diggchannel
Chicago Website Design
Sunday, October 11, 2009
How to Prepare for and Install Windows 7
InfoWorld's Windows 7 Boot Camp online class helps users deploy Windows 7 with the least pain possible
With Windows 7's launch just a few short weeks away, both individual users and businesses will soon be preparing to install and upgrade the new Microsoft OS on their PCs. But the process is not that easy.
To help both individual users and IT pros successfully deploy Windows 7 with minimal pain, InfoWorld.com is offering a free, 15-class course via e-mail on installing and fine-tuning Windows 7. Windows 7 Boot Camp starts on Monday, Oct. 26, and you must sign up on or before Sunday, Oct. 25.
In addition to the class, InfoWorld has put together a set of resources to help people prepare for the upcoming transition to Windows 7:
# For medium-size to large businesses, be sure to read "Ready for Windows 7? Here's how to deploy it right," a tutorial by InfoWorld's Enterprise Windows columnist J. Peter Bruzzese.
# For individuals planning to shift from Windows XP to Windows 7, be sure to read "XP users: How to upgrade to Windows 7."
# For even deeper insights into Windows 7, get InfoWorld's "Windows 7 Deep Dive," a 21-page hands-on look at the next version of Windows, including deployment tips on security, Windows Server 2008 integration, and Windows XP migration, all from InfoWorld's editors and contributors.
# For a tour of what's new in Windows 7, watch InfoWorld's "Hands-on video guide to Windows 7" and "The top 20 features of Windows 7" videos.
# See how Windows 7 actually performs compared to XP and Vista based on the InfoWorld Test Center's benchmarks in "Windows 7 RTM: The revenge of Windows Vista."
# Find out if your PC can run Windows 7 with InfoWorld's compatibility checker, part of the no-cost Windows Sentinel monitoring tool. Windows Sentinel users also can run InfoWorld's OfficeBench tool to benchmark their own system's Microsoft Office performance and compare it to the average performance of thousands of other users.
# Follow InfoWorld's ongoing coverage of Windows 7.
Readers can also monitor the current state of Windows PCs -- what users have installed, what apps they run, and so forth -- at InfoWorld's Windows Pulse page, which provides real-time snapshots of Windows usage based on contnuous readings of more than 10,000 PCs worldwide.
Source :
http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/how-prepare-and-install-windows-7-582?page=0,0
Professional Web Design
With Windows 7's launch just a few short weeks away, both individual users and businesses will soon be preparing to install and upgrade the new Microsoft OS on their PCs. But the process is not that easy.
To help both individual users and IT pros successfully deploy Windows 7 with minimal pain, InfoWorld.com is offering a free, 15-class course via e-mail on installing and fine-tuning Windows 7. Windows 7 Boot Camp starts on Monday, Oct. 26, and you must sign up on or before Sunday, Oct. 25.
In addition to the class, InfoWorld has put together a set of resources to help people prepare for the upcoming transition to Windows 7:
# For medium-size to large businesses, be sure to read "Ready for Windows 7? Here's how to deploy it right," a tutorial by InfoWorld's Enterprise Windows columnist J. Peter Bruzzese.
# For individuals planning to shift from Windows XP to Windows 7, be sure to read "XP users: How to upgrade to Windows 7."
# For even deeper insights into Windows 7, get InfoWorld's "Windows 7 Deep Dive," a 21-page hands-on look at the next version of Windows, including deployment tips on security, Windows Server 2008 integration, and Windows XP migration, all from InfoWorld's editors and contributors.
# For a tour of what's new in Windows 7, watch InfoWorld's "Hands-on video guide to Windows 7" and "The top 20 features of Windows 7" videos.
# See how Windows 7 actually performs compared to XP and Vista based on the InfoWorld Test Center's benchmarks in "Windows 7 RTM: The revenge of Windows Vista."
# Find out if your PC can run Windows 7 with InfoWorld's compatibility checker, part of the no-cost Windows Sentinel monitoring tool. Windows Sentinel users also can run InfoWorld's OfficeBench tool to benchmark their own system's Microsoft Office performance and compare it to the average performance of thousands of other users.
# Follow InfoWorld's ongoing coverage of Windows 7.
Readers can also monitor the current state of Windows PCs -- what users have installed, what apps they run, and so forth -- at InfoWorld's Windows Pulse page, which provides real-time snapshots of Windows usage based on contnuous readings of more than 10,000 PCs worldwide.
Source :
http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/how-prepare-and-install-windows-7-582?page=0,0
Professional Web Design
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Researcher Refutes Google's, Microsoft's Accounts of Hijacked Passwords
Could botnets that infected PCs with keylogging or data stealing Trojan horses really be to blame for the leak of Gmail and Hotmail passwords?
One researcher isn't buying Microsoft's and Google's explanation that Hijacked Hotmail and Gmail Passwords were obtained in a massive phishing attack.
Mary Landesman, a senior security researcher at San Francisco-based ScanSafe, said it's more likely that the massive lists -- which include approximately 30,000 credentials from Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and other sources -- were harvested by botnets that infected PCs with keylogging or data stealing Trojan horses.
Landesman based her speculation on an accidental find in August of a cache of usernames and passwords, including those from Windows Live ID, the umbrella log-on service that Microsoft offers users to access Hotmail, Messenger and a slew of other online services.
That cache contained about 5,000 Windows Live ID username/password combinations, said Landesman, who found the trove while researching a new piece of malware. "From the organization [of that cache] and what the data looked like in raw form, I think it's more likely that this latest was the result of keylogging or data theft, not phishing," Landesman said.
She dismissed the idea that the passwords had been collected in a large-scale, industrywide phishing attack , as Microsoft and Google both maintained.
"Another indicator is the sheer number of compromised accounts," Landesman said, referring to the two lists that have gone public. "Phishing is not generally a wildly successful scam, it doesn't have a big return. People are more savvy about phishing than we give them credit for."
Instead, it's more logical to assume that the passwords were acquired by botnet operators, who hijack PCs using security exploits, then later plant data-stealing malware on those machines. "That s a much more realistic source," said Landesman. "Regardless [of] what the final intent is of a botnet, one of the core capabilities of every botnet is the harvesting of e-mail credentials. If it looks like a horse, it's a horse, it's not a zebra."
Landesman's theory contradicts not only Microsoft and Google, but also the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), an industry association dedicated to fighting online identity theft. On Monday, the APWG's chairman, Dave Jevans said a phishing attack that garnered thousands of passwords was do-able. "It's not outside the realm of possibility," he said then.
Also against the phishing explanation, argued Landesman, is the fact that the second list -- approximately 20,000 passwords -- contained usernames from not just Hotmail, but also Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Comcast, EarthLink and others. "That makes [the purported phishing campaign] a much broader attack across multiple services."
Her first thought when she read about the compromised Hotmail accounts was of the cache of credentials she'd found two months before. "Those public lists reminded me of the lists I found," she said. "It was definitely not a complete list, but seemed to be an advertisement for what this [hacker] had to offer."
The hacker was either inexperienced, or none too bright: The data was not password-protected, which is the norm for credential caches.
Landesman's theory is not just an academic exercise, she maintained.
"Everyone who suspects that their account has been compromised should change their password," she said, repeating advice by Microsoft, Google and other security experts. "But if, after changing their password, they have another reoccurrence where they see their account being used to e-mail spam, or they again can't access their account, then they need to suspect that there's a local infection on their PC."
Source:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/researcher-refutes-googles-microsofts-accounts-hijacked-passwords-036?page=0,0
Professional Website Design Services
One researcher isn't buying Microsoft's and Google's explanation that Hijacked Hotmail and Gmail Passwords were obtained in a massive phishing attack.
Mary Landesman, a senior security researcher at San Francisco-based ScanSafe, said it's more likely that the massive lists -- which include approximately 30,000 credentials from Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and other sources -- were harvested by botnets that infected PCs with keylogging or data stealing Trojan horses.
Landesman based her speculation on an accidental find in August of a cache of usernames and passwords, including those from Windows Live ID, the umbrella log-on service that Microsoft offers users to access Hotmail, Messenger and a slew of other online services.
That cache contained about 5,000 Windows Live ID username/password combinations, said Landesman, who found the trove while researching a new piece of malware. "From the organization [of that cache] and what the data looked like in raw form, I think it's more likely that this latest was the result of keylogging or data theft, not phishing," Landesman said.
She dismissed the idea that the passwords had been collected in a large-scale, industrywide phishing attack , as Microsoft and Google both maintained.
"Another indicator is the sheer number of compromised accounts," Landesman said, referring to the two lists that have gone public. "Phishing is not generally a wildly successful scam, it doesn't have a big return. People are more savvy about phishing than we give them credit for."
Instead, it's more logical to assume that the passwords were acquired by botnet operators, who hijack PCs using security exploits, then later plant data-stealing malware on those machines. "That s a much more realistic source," said Landesman. "Regardless [of] what the final intent is of a botnet, one of the core capabilities of every botnet is the harvesting of e-mail credentials. If it looks like a horse, it's a horse, it's not a zebra."
Landesman's theory contradicts not only Microsoft and Google, but also the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), an industry association dedicated to fighting online identity theft. On Monday, the APWG's chairman, Dave Jevans said a phishing attack that garnered thousands of passwords was do-able. "It's not outside the realm of possibility," he said then.
Also against the phishing explanation, argued Landesman, is the fact that the second list -- approximately 20,000 passwords -- contained usernames from not just Hotmail, but also Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Comcast, EarthLink and others. "That makes [the purported phishing campaign] a much broader attack across multiple services."
Her first thought when she read about the compromised Hotmail accounts was of the cache of credentials she'd found two months before. "Those public lists reminded me of the lists I found," she said. "It was definitely not a complete list, but seemed to be an advertisement for what this [hacker] had to offer."
The hacker was either inexperienced, or none too bright: The data was not password-protected, which is the norm for credential caches.
Landesman's theory is not just an academic exercise, she maintained.
"Everyone who suspects that their account has been compromised should change their password," she said, repeating advice by Microsoft, Google and other security experts. "But if, after changing their password, they have another reoccurrence where they see their account being used to e-mail spam, or they again can't access their account, then they need to suspect that there's a local infection on their PC."
Source:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/researcher-refutes-googles-microsofts-accounts-hijacked-passwords-036?page=0,0
Professional Website Design Services
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Yahoo Hit With $1 Million Click Fraud Lawsuit
Bigreds.com accuses the search engine of participating in one of the multi-billion dollar Search Marketing Industry's dark secrets.
An Internet retailer that used a Pay Per click Advertising Service operated by Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) is suing the Internet giant for more than $1 million, claiming it was overcharged by thousands of dollars as a result of click fraud that Yahoo did little to prevent.
Bigreds.com, which sells collectibles online, said it paid Yahoo's Search Marketing unit, formerly known as Overture Services, more than $900,000 between 2002 and 2006. The fees were based on the number of clicks that Bigreds ads received on sites affiliated with Yahoo and Overture.
Bigreds claims that many of the clicks were not from legitimate buyers but from affiliate Web site operators who received commissions from Overture and Yahoo based on the number of clicks their sites generated for advertisers.
"These clicks were not actual traffic, but were fraudulent clicks," Bigreds claims in court papers filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in New York. "Affiliates of Overture used software programs, employed people, and/or directed people other than actual customers to click on plaintiffs links from keyword search results," the complaint states.
Yahoo acquired Overture, which launched in 1998 as GoTo.com, in 2003.
Bigreds claims Yahoo in 2006 acknowledged the bad-click problem, but offered a refund of only $17,000. Bigreds also alleges that Yahoo's Overture unit had technology and information at its disposal that it could have used to prevent click fraud but did not take steps to do so.
"Overture was able to tell what was bad, who conducted the bad click, where it came from, what keyword was involved and generally had superior technology and access to records in its dominion that enabled Overture to determine what persons or entities or affiliates were involved," the suit claims.
Bigreds is seeking more than $1 million in damages and penalties. Yahoo has yet to file a formal response to the allegations.
Click fraud is one of the multi-billion dollar Search Marketing Industry's Dark Secrets. Virtually all major players, including Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, have been forced to acknowledge the problem. Critics argue that search engines have little incentive to police the practice because much of their revenue is generated by ad clicks.
Yahoo in 2005 paid $4.5 million to settle a click fraud class action lawsuit. Google paid $90 million to settle a similar suit in 2006.
Source:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/search/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207300004&cid=tab_art_int_C
Chicago Web Design
An Internet retailer that used a Pay Per click Advertising Service operated by Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) is suing the Internet giant for more than $1 million, claiming it was overcharged by thousands of dollars as a result of click fraud that Yahoo did little to prevent.
Bigreds.com, which sells collectibles online, said it paid Yahoo's Search Marketing unit, formerly known as Overture Services, more than $900,000 between 2002 and 2006. The fees were based on the number of clicks that Bigreds ads received on sites affiliated with Yahoo and Overture.
Bigreds claims that many of the clicks were not from legitimate buyers but from affiliate Web site operators who received commissions from Overture and Yahoo based on the number of clicks their sites generated for advertisers.
"These clicks were not actual traffic, but were fraudulent clicks," Bigreds claims in court papers filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in New York. "Affiliates of Overture used software programs, employed people, and/or directed people other than actual customers to click on plaintiffs links from keyword search results," the complaint states.
Yahoo acquired Overture, which launched in 1998 as GoTo.com, in 2003.
Bigreds claims Yahoo in 2006 acknowledged the bad-click problem, but offered a refund of only $17,000. Bigreds also alleges that Yahoo's Overture unit had technology and information at its disposal that it could have used to prevent click fraud but did not take steps to do so.
"Overture was able to tell what was bad, who conducted the bad click, where it came from, what keyword was involved and generally had superior technology and access to records in its dominion that enabled Overture to determine what persons or entities or affiliates were involved," the suit claims.
Bigreds is seeking more than $1 million in damages and penalties. Yahoo has yet to file a formal response to the allegations.
Click fraud is one of the multi-billion dollar Search Marketing Industry's Dark Secrets. Virtually all major players, including Yahoo, Microsoft and Google, have been forced to acknowledge the problem. Critics argue that search engines have little incentive to police the practice because much of their revenue is generated by ad clicks.
Yahoo in 2005 paid $4.5 million to settle a click fraud class action lawsuit. Google paid $90 million to settle a similar suit in 2006.
Source:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/search/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207300004&cid=tab_art_int_C
Chicago Web Design
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Microsoft Internet Explorer SSL Security Hole Lingers
Microsoft still does not acknowledge a weakness in its Internet Explorer browser that was pointed out seven weeks ago and enables attackers to hijack what are supposed to be Secure Web Sessions.
The company says it is still evaluating whether the weakness exists, but Apple, which bases its Safari for Windows browser on Microsoft code, says Safari for Windows has the weakness and the Microsoft code is the reason. If Microsoft doesn't fix the problem, Apple can't fix it on its own, Apple says. Apple has fixed the problem for Safari for Macs.
"Microsoft is currently investigating a possible vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. Once our investigation is complete, we will take appropriate action to help protect customers," a Microsoft spokesperson said via e-mail. "We will not have any more to share at this time."
The weakness can be exploited by man-in-the-middle attackers who trick the browser into making SSL sessions with malicious servers rather than the legitimate servers users intend to connect to.
Current versions of Safari for Mac, Firefox, and Opera address the problem, which is linked to how browsers read the x.509 certificates that are used to authenticate machines involved in setting up SSL/TLS sessions.
In July two separate talks presented by researchers Dan Kaminski and Moxie Marlinspike at the Black Hat Conference warned about how the vulnerability could be exploited by using what they call null-prefix attacks. The attacks involve getting certificate authorities to sign certificates for domain names assigned to legitimate domain-name holders and making vulnerable browsers interpret the certificates as being authorized for different domain-name holders.
For instance, someone might register www.hacker.com. In many x.509 implementations the certificate authority will sign certificates for any request from the hacker.com root domain, regardless of any sub-domain prefixes that might be appended. In that case, the authority would sign a certificate for bestbank.hacker.com, ignoring the sub-domain bestbank and signing based on the root domain hacker.com, Marlinspike says.
At the same time, browsers with the flaw he describes read x.509 certificates until they reach a null character, such as 0. If such a browser reads bestbank.com\0hacker.com, it would stop reading at the 0 and interpret the certificate as authenticating the root domain bestbank.com, the researcher says. Browsers without the flaw correctly identify the root domain and sign or don't sign based on it.
Source:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/microsoft-internet-explorer-ssl-security-hole-lingers-243
Chicago Web Site Design Company
The company says it is still evaluating whether the weakness exists, but Apple, which bases its Safari for Windows browser on Microsoft code, says Safari for Windows has the weakness and the Microsoft code is the reason. If Microsoft doesn't fix the problem, Apple can't fix it on its own, Apple says. Apple has fixed the problem for Safari for Macs.
"Microsoft is currently investigating a possible vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. Once our investigation is complete, we will take appropriate action to help protect customers," a Microsoft spokesperson said via e-mail. "We will not have any more to share at this time."
The weakness can be exploited by man-in-the-middle attackers who trick the browser into making SSL sessions with malicious servers rather than the legitimate servers users intend to connect to.
Current versions of Safari for Mac, Firefox, and Opera address the problem, which is linked to how browsers read the x.509 certificates that are used to authenticate machines involved in setting up SSL/TLS sessions.
In July two separate talks presented by researchers Dan Kaminski and Moxie Marlinspike at the Black Hat Conference warned about how the vulnerability could be exploited by using what they call null-prefix attacks. The attacks involve getting certificate authorities to sign certificates for domain names assigned to legitimate domain-name holders and making vulnerable browsers interpret the certificates as being authorized for different domain-name holders.
For instance, someone might register www.hacker.com. In many x.509 implementations the certificate authority will sign certificates for any request from the hacker.com root domain, regardless of any sub-domain prefixes that might be appended. In that case, the authority would sign a certificate for bestbank.hacker.com, ignoring the sub-domain bestbank and signing based on the root domain hacker.com, Marlinspike says.
At the same time, browsers with the flaw he describes read x.509 certificates until they reach a null character, such as 0. If such a browser reads bestbank.com\0hacker.com, it would stop reading at the 0 and interpret the certificate as authenticating the root domain bestbank.com, the researcher says. Browsers without the flaw correctly identify the root domain and sign or don't sign based on it.
Source:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/microsoft-internet-explorer-ssl-security-hole-lingers-243
Chicago Web Site Design Company
Monday, October 5, 2009
FTC wants $11,000 for Blogger Payola Violations
The Federal Trade Commission today announced the penalty for bloggers, celebrities and lay people who fail to disclose receiving payment for endorsements. Starting December 1, anyone who endorses a product, virtually anywhere, without disclosing brand relationships will receive a fine for $11,000.
This is the first time the FTC has updated its guidelines since 1980. Clearly some updating was neccessary. But enforcement is another story.
$11,000 is a steep price to pay for endorsement violations. And the fees will likely come out of brands' pockets.
In the 1980 version of the guidelines, advertisers could promote unusually positive or outlier experiences with a disclaimer like “results not typical.” But now, anyone who gets paid by a marketer and blogs about their product is considered to be a prodcut endorser. And could face a $11,000 fine.
But more likely, these fees will come back to brands sending out products and payments to people. That's going to get increasingly difficult in a world where people want to spread good will about their products across platforms. Especially becase brands can't be accountable for everything that consumers say about their brand.
The FTC wasn't specific about how disclosures must be communicated but said its decisions would be made on a "case-by-case" basis.
The first two problem areas would appear to be social media and television. Disclosing a payment in 140 characters or less is difficult to say the least. And celebrity endorsements are covered under the new rules, meaning that any mentions on a talk show or other media would need to be prefaced with payment details.
And blogging will come under the most scrutiny though. The FTC wants to get ahead of the way product information is spread.
According to Richard Cleland, assistant director of advertising practices at the FTC:
"In 1980 most of all advertising was disseminated by the advertisers themselves; today a good part of that advertising is being disseminated by users."
Joe Chernov, VP-communications for word-of-mouth marketing firm BzzAgent, tells AdAge:
"If a consumer's speech has been materially influenced by a marketer, it must be disclosed. That speech, the consumer's speech, also must be restricted to their own personal experience."
And herein lies the rub. In today's market, the lines are continually being blurred between paid promoters and "brand evangelists." Trying to make things clearer for consumers may be a good intention, but enforcing it is another story.
Most brands consider getting people to talk them to be a good thing. But doing so requires ceding some control over what they say. And the FTC is looking for the opposite result.
Source:
http://econsultancy.com/blog/4744-ftc-wants-11-000-for-blogger-payola-violations
Professional Web Design
This is the first time the FTC has updated its guidelines since 1980. Clearly some updating was neccessary. But enforcement is another story.
$11,000 is a steep price to pay for endorsement violations. And the fees will likely come out of brands' pockets.
In the 1980 version of the guidelines, advertisers could promote unusually positive or outlier experiences with a disclaimer like “results not typical.” But now, anyone who gets paid by a marketer and blogs about their product is considered to be a prodcut endorser. And could face a $11,000 fine.
But more likely, these fees will come back to brands sending out products and payments to people. That's going to get increasingly difficult in a world where people want to spread good will about their products across platforms. Especially becase brands can't be accountable for everything that consumers say about their brand.
The FTC wasn't specific about how disclosures must be communicated but said its decisions would be made on a "case-by-case" basis.
The first two problem areas would appear to be social media and television. Disclosing a payment in 140 characters or less is difficult to say the least. And celebrity endorsements are covered under the new rules, meaning that any mentions on a talk show or other media would need to be prefaced with payment details.
And blogging will come under the most scrutiny though. The FTC wants to get ahead of the way product information is spread.
According to Richard Cleland, assistant director of advertising practices at the FTC:
"In 1980 most of all advertising was disseminated by the advertisers themselves; today a good part of that advertising is being disseminated by users."
Joe Chernov, VP-communications for word-of-mouth marketing firm BzzAgent, tells AdAge:
"If a consumer's speech has been materially influenced by a marketer, it must be disclosed. That speech, the consumer's speech, also must be restricted to their own personal experience."
And herein lies the rub. In today's market, the lines are continually being blurred between paid promoters and "brand evangelists." Trying to make things clearer for consumers may be a good intention, but enforcing it is another story.
Most brands consider getting people to talk them to be a good thing. But doing so requires ceding some control over what they say. And the FTC is looking for the opposite result.
Source:
http://econsultancy.com/blog/4744-ftc-wants-11-000-for-blogger-payola-violations
Professional Web Design
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Twitter Seeks to Build Value, Not Revenue
Despite its rapid growth, Twitter has yet to make any money. Or even earn any revenue.
And Evan Williams, co-founder and chief executive of the microblogging service, is totally fine with that.
Mr. Williams founded several companies before Twitter, including the Blogger service that he eventually sold to Google. One lesson he has taken from them all: “Create something that you want to see in the world,” not what some M.B.A. brandishing a business plan suggests.
“I am motivated by the world telling me I am going to fail,” Mr. Williams told hundreds of journalists gathered in San Francisco for the Online News Association’s annual conference. (You can follow all the tweets about the conference with this tool .)
Even after snagging $100 million in new funding from investors, Mr. Williams seems to feel no pressure to come up with a revenue model for his popular service.
He said the company is instead focusing on building value, such as through the new Twitter Lists, which will allow anyone to create a custom list of Twitter accounts that can be shared publicly or privately. For example, you could compile your 10 favorite Twitterers on the topic of chocolate into an All About Chocolate List that anyone could browse.
It’s a potentially powerful tool that could empower a new class of Twitter curators that will guide others to the best content on Twitter, and Mr. Williams encouraged journalists — already in the business of curating and editing content — to jump into the fray.
While lists are one step towards taming the chaos of Twitter, a robust search tool is even more important.
In an interview after his keynote presentation, he acknowledged that the current Twitter search engine is too basic and the company has a “significant search team” working on improving it.
The next goal, he said, is to eliminate the duplicates and other “noise” that come up in most search queries.
Mr. Williams said the company is also releasing a tool for developers Friday that will allow geographic locations to be embedded in tweets.
Source:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/twitter-seeks-to-build-value-not-revenue/?ref=technology
Chicago Website Designers
And Evan Williams, co-founder and chief executive of the microblogging service, is totally fine with that.
Mr. Williams founded several companies before Twitter, including the Blogger service that he eventually sold to Google. One lesson he has taken from them all: “Create something that you want to see in the world,” not what some M.B.A. brandishing a business plan suggests.
“I am motivated by the world telling me I am going to fail,” Mr. Williams told hundreds of journalists gathered in San Francisco for the Online News Association’s annual conference. (You can follow all the tweets about the conference with this tool .)
Even after snagging $100 million in new funding from investors, Mr. Williams seems to feel no pressure to come up with a revenue model for his popular service.
He said the company is instead focusing on building value, such as through the new Twitter Lists, which will allow anyone to create a custom list of Twitter accounts that can be shared publicly or privately. For example, you could compile your 10 favorite Twitterers on the topic of chocolate into an All About Chocolate List that anyone could browse.
It’s a potentially powerful tool that could empower a new class of Twitter curators that will guide others to the best content on Twitter, and Mr. Williams encouraged journalists — already in the business of curating and editing content — to jump into the fray.
While lists are one step towards taming the chaos of Twitter, a robust search tool is even more important.
In an interview after his keynote presentation, he acknowledged that the current Twitter search engine is too basic and the company has a “significant search team” working on improving it.
The next goal, he said, is to eliminate the duplicates and other “noise” that come up in most search queries.
Mr. Williams said the company is also releasing a tool for developers Friday that will allow geographic locations to be embedded in tweets.
Source:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/twitter-seeks-to-build-value-not-revenue/?ref=technology
Chicago Website Designers
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