Archive for the 'Technology News' Category
China Says Google and Baidu Push Vulgar Content
China is moving to rein in Web sites it deems inappropriate. The Communist nation has targeted Google and Baidu, the two dominant search engines there. The charge is spreading pornography and vulgarity.
China’s Ministry of Public protection and six other government agencies launched the campaign on Monday.
The government “decided to launch a nationwide campaign to clean up a vulgar current on the World Wide Web and named and exposed a large number of violating public morality and harming the physical and mental health of youth and young humans,” said a report on state television.
Low-Class, Crude and Damaging
China’s government identified 19 Web operators and Web sites that had not made moves to remove “vulgar” subject matter. These operators and Web sites plus allegedly losed out to heed warnings from censors, according to the television report.
“Some Web sites have exploited loopholes in laws and regulations,” said Cai Mingzhao, a deputy chief of the State Council knowledge Office. “They have used all kinds of ways to distribute substance that is low-class, crude and even vulgar, gravely damaging mores on the Web.”
Repeat violators, as well as those that have a “malign influence,” might be exposed, punished or even shut down, according to China.com.cn, one of the nation’s official news Web sites. On Monday, the Financial Times reported that the Chinese government is arming censors with more advanced filtering software to catch the banned composition.
Same Old Threats
According to Leslie Harris, CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, China is trying to flex its muscles. However, she said, whether China is seriously concerned about vulgar composition — and whether it is illegal — thereupon the government ought to take its complaint to Web service providers.
“This is just a threat, and I think it’s the same old-same old dressed up in rhetoric that is more internationally acceptable,” Harris said….
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Targeted: Twitter Hit with Phishing Attack
Twitter, the popular microblogging site, has become the latest target of phishers. The company is warning its members to be careful of messages that redirect them to spoofed Twitter sites in an attempt to steal their user names and passwords.
“This specific scam sent out e-mails resembling those you might receive from Twitter whether you get e-mail notifications of your Direct Messages. The e-mail says something like, ‘hey! check out that funny blog about you …’ and provides a link,” the company said.
Twitter went on to explain that the link redirects users to a site masquerading as the Twitter front page. Twitter advised its members to look closely at the URL field to see whether it has another domain besides Twitter, but looks precisely like the microblogging home page. That, the company said, indicates a swindle.
whether You Get Twicked
E-mail, cell phones, Facebook and now Twitter all have something in common: They are being used by fraudsters for phishing attacks, observed Marian Merritt, Symantec’s Net safety advocate.
“The scam messages, just like the phishing e-mails and Facebook phishing attacks, seem to come from someone you know and seem to be personal,” Merritt wrote in the Norton blog.
For members who have clicked the link and given up their Twitter password to the phishers, the company said it is possible for the phisher to send out direct messages on your behalf that could trick your followers. In those cases, Twitter said users should proactively reset the passwords of their accounts.
“If you find yourself unable to log in to your detail with your user name and password, please use the reset password link to regain access. that will send an e-mail to the address associated with your history, and you’ll be able to create a new password,” the company advised.
Will the Real Twitter Please Stand…
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Freescale Engineers Low-Cost Netbook Processor
Freescale Semiconductor is entering the fast-growing netbook market with a solution that promises to build possible portable devices that feature 8.9-inch displays, eight hours of battery life, and prices under $200.
Freescale’s solution is based on its new i.MX515 processor featuring ARM Cortex-A8 technology. The solution includes software, components and resources that aim to help OEMs rapidly develop and deploy netbooks.
“We see a huge opportunity in the netbook market as consumers demand more cost-effective and higher-performing solutions,” said Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager of Freescale’s networking and multimedia group. “Our solution for netbooks will enable OEMs to develop compelling products that feature cell-phone-like battery life at extremely aggressive price points.”
Explosive Market
Freescale is offering a netbook reference design based on the i.MX515 processor created in collaboration with Pegatron. The reference design incorporates the processor, Canonical’s Ubuntu operating system, a new capability management integrated circuit from Freescale, the SGTL5000 ultra low-power audio codec, and Adobe Flash Lite for mobile devices.
According to ABI Research, consumers are expected to purchase 140 million netbooks in 2013, compared with only 15 million in 2008. Often priced within $300 and $400, netbooks supply more than abundant performance for a host of Web activities such as social networking, Web surfing and using e-mail.
“As was evident in the 2008 holiday season, the netbook market has exploded due to consumer demand for affordable and compact devices that allow users to conduct routine tasks like social networking or shopping on the Web,” said Philip Solis, principal analyst at ABI. “The netbook market is still in its infancy, and it represents a huge market opportunity for companies like Freescale. As advanced platforms for netbooks become increasingly available, price points will drop and the market will expand.”
Keeping Costs Low
The Freescale solution is engineered to keep costs low by incorporating highly integrated…
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Palm To Launch Nova OS, and perhaps a Smartphone
Palm’s next-generation Nova operating system has been in the works for more than a year and is expected to be released that week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. additionally rumored is one more surprise — a new smartphone using Nova.
Although the rumor of a new phone has been swirling since last month, it’s expected to debut at CES on Thursday.
Jon Rubinstein, Palm’s executive chairman, told Business Week that the company will launch a product that bridges Research In Motion’s BlackBerry devices and Apple’s iPhone. Rubinstein worked for Apple for nearly a decade.
Perfect Timing
Although analysts are seeing a downturn in mobile-phone sales, converged mobile devices such as smartphones are racking up success. Smartphones have most of the features of mobile phones, including personal info management, games, office applications, and multimedia, but a major differing factor is the operating system.
High-level operating systems — including Android, BlackBerry, Linux, Mac OS X, Palm and Symbian — are helping the smartphone market stand out, according to IDC.
Smartphones are expected to grow 8.9 percent worldwide that year, according to IDC. Beyond 2009, growth is expected to return to double digits faster than the overall mobile-phone market.
But will Palm have a piece of that market? Some observers are already counting Palm out, while others insist that’s premature.
Palm’s Future
Palm’s move to release a new OS and phone could not come at a better date for the struggling company. A successful operating system will save Palm from a lot of speculation about what it has been working on in the past year.
“This will be a way for them to say you have all that money from U2’s Bono and Elevation Partners — what do you have to show for it?” said Ramon Llamas, senior analyst of mobile devices, technology and trends…
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LG Announces Broadband HDTV with Netflix Built In
As more movies and TV shows become available via the Net, making the “last connection” within online and high-definition TVs is the key remaining obstacle to transforming the Net into a full entertainment medium. On Monday, LG Electronics moved to bridge that connection with the announcement of HDTV sets that are broadband-enabled and contain Netflix streaming software.
The new models, including both LCD and plasma, have an Ethernet connection, do not require an external device, and allow Netflix members to watch streaming movies. The new sets will be demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which opens that week.
A Growing Alliance with Netflix
The announcement extends LG’s growing alliance with Netflix, which offers more than 100,000 movies via mailed DVDs and a smaller but growing collection of more than 12,000 titles available for instant streaming. LG’s BD300 Network Blu-ray Disc Player was the first such player to offer streaming movies from Netflix. Recently, LG said its players would additionally be able to deliver CinemaNow movies on demand and YouTube videos.
The broadband TVs, expected to be available in the spring, will let any Netflix member with an $8.99 per month membership or higher to watch an unlimited number of films.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said LG Electronics “was first to embrace Netflix as a streaming partner a year ago” with the Blu-ray player, so it is “fitting” that LG is the first to introduce Netflix streaming to HDTVs.
Netflix members who get the new LG set will use the movie service’s online user interface to choose movies and TV episodes. The selections will be available instantly and start playing in as little as half a minute. The TV’s remote control will allow users to browse and choose selections, read summaries, rate movies, rewind or fast-forward.
‘Forget the Bridge’
Bobby Tulsiani, an analyst with Forrester Research,…
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Apple CEO Steve Jobs Reveals Hormonal Imbalance
As the much-anticipated Macworld Conference & Expo begins, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is putting rumors of his health to rest. In a letter addressed to the Apple community, Jobs said he is still in charge and will be the first to inform Apple’s board whether his health should get in the way of running the Cupertino, Calif.-based company.
Jobs posted the letter after speculation about his health ran rampant following a December announcement that he would not keynote Apple’s last appearance at Macworld. Vice President Philip Schiller will deliver that year’s keynote on Tuesday.
The CEO said his weight loss all through last year was not considering of his rare design of pancreatic cancer.
A Simple Remedy
“The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors,” Jobs said. “A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of that and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority. Fortunately, after further evaluating, my doctors think they have found the cause — a hormone imbalance that has been robbing me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy.”
Doctors expect it will take some moment before Jobs will regain weight and bring his body mass back to normal, according to Jobs. “The remedy for that nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment,” he said.
Jobs, who said he is happy to be spending instance with his family during the holidays instead of preparing a speech for Macworld, said he wanted to put rumors about his health to rest so that everyone can just relax and enjoy the show.
“I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery,” he said. “I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our…
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A Move Toward More Privacy Online
Yahoo has announced that it will no longer hold some personally identifiable search knowledge for more than 90 days. The company is hoping that the new policy will give it a competitive advantage with users who care about privacy. It plus is an encouraging development for the cause of World Wide Web privacy.
Many users do not realize that search engines hold onto the words that they type, and the addresses of Web sites that they visit — often in ways that can be traced back to specific users. whether you use Google, Yahoo or Microsoft search engines to find out more about cancer drugs, drug addiction or radical politics, the company may keep that knowledge. And it may turn the notes by to the government whether presented with a valid subpoena.
Privacy advocates have lengthy objected to these policies. In many cases, they argue, users have no view that the info is being kept. Some of these advocates have been pushing, in the U.S. Congress, for Net privacy laws that would limit notes retention.
Yahoo has decided to move in a pro-privacy direction on its own. Until now, its policy was to hold onto search goods in personally identifiable ways for 13 months. The 90-day limit that it is adopting is considerably better than Google’s, which holds onto personally identifiable search documents for nine months, or Microsoft’s, which holds info for even longer.
Some privacy advocates object to the way in which Yahoo intends to produce the documents anonymous. The company says that it will remove the last eight bits of a user’s Net Protocol, or IP, address — a number that can often be traced to a specific computer — and take other steps to scrub identifiable notes. Critics argue that even so, it may still be possible to trace the input back to…
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