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Submission + - Google changes 'to fight piracy' by highlighting legal sites

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: Google has announced changes to its search engine in an attempt to curb online piracy. The company has long been criticised for enabling people to find sites to download entertainment illegally. The entertainment industry has argued that illegal sites should be "demoted" in search results. The new measures, mostly welcomed by music trade group the BPI, will instead point users towards legal alternatives such as Spotify and Google Play. Google will now list these legal services in a box at the top of the search results, as well as in a box on the right-hand side of the page. Crucially, however, these will be adverts — meaning if legal sites want to appear there, they will need to pay Google for the placement.

Submission + - The Subtle Developer Exodus From the Mac App Store (helftone.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Milen Dzhumerov, a software developer for OS X and iOS, has posted a concise breakdown of the problems with the Mac App Store. He says the lack of support for trial software and upgrades are driving developers away by preventing them from making a living. Forced sandboxing kills many applications before they get started, and the review system isn't helpful to anyone. Dzhumerov says all of these factors, and Apple's unwillingness to address them, are leading to the slow but steady erosion of quality software in the Mac App Store. "The relationship between consumers and developers is symbiotic, one cannot exist without the other. If the Mac App Store is a hostile environment for developers, we are going to end up in a situation where, either software will not be supported anymore or even worse, won't be made at all. And the result is the same the other way around – if there are no consumers, businesses would go bankrupt and no software will be made. The Mac App Store can be work in ways that's beneficial to both developers and consumers alike, it doesn't have to be one or the other. If the MAS is harmful to either developers or consumers, in the long term, it will be inevitably harmful to both."

Submission + - Only 100 cybercrime brains worldwide says Europol boss

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: There are only "around 100" cybercriminal kingpins behind global cybercrime, according to the head of Europol's Cybercrime Centre. Speaking to the BBC, Troels Oerting said that law enforcers needed to target the "rather limited group of good programmers". "We roughly know who they are. If we can take them out of the equation then the rest will fall down," he said. "This is not a static number, it will increase unfortunately," he said. "We can still cope but the criminals have more resources and they do not have obstacles. They are driven by greed and profit and they produce malware at a speed that we have difficulties catching up with." The biggest issue facing cybercrime fighters at the moment was the fact that it was borderless. "Criminals no longer come to our countries, they commit their crimes from a distance and because of this I cannot use the normal tools to catch them. "I have to work with countries I am not used to working with and that scares me a bit," he said The majority of the cybercrime "kingpins" were located in the Russian-speaking world, he said.

Submission + - Apple Sapphire Glass Supplier GT Advanced Files For Bankruptcy 2

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: GT Advanced Technologies is filing for bankruptcy. In an announcement on Monday, GT Advanced, which makes sapphire displays that many investors hoped would be in Apple's newest iPhone, said that it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In early September, shares of GT Advanced got crushed after the company's sapphire displays were not in the latest version of Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. GT Advanced, however, signed a multi-year agreement with Apple last November to supply the company with sapphire material. That agreement included a $578 million prepayment, which GT Advanced is set to repay Apple over a five-year period starting in 2015.

Submission + - HP Is Planning To Split Into Two Separate Businesses

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: Hewlett-Packard is planning to split itself into two separate businesses, The Wall Street Journal is reporting. Sources tell the WSJ that HP will split its personal-computer and printer segments from its corporate hardware and services business. The announcement could come as early as Monday, the sources said. The company reorganized itself in 2012 under CEO Meg Whitman. That move combined its computer and printer businesses. The PC and computer segment is massive for HP. For the first six months this year, it reported $27.8 billion in revenue. That's about three times the size of HP's next biggest unit, the Enterprise Group, which makes servers, storage, and network hardware. Under the new split, Whitman would be chairman of the computer and printer business, and CEO of a separate Enterprise Group, according to one of the sources. Patricia Russo, who sits on HP's board, would be chairman of the enterprise company. The printer and PC operation would be led by Dion Weisler, a current exec in that division.

Submission + - Apple faces large penalties in EU tax probe

Submitted by chasm22
chasm22 writes: EU Regulators are apparently set to accuse Apple and the Irish government of entering into several sweetheart deals that left Apple with lower taxes than what it legally owed. If the ruling is upheld, Apple could owe billions in back taxes. Interestingly, it seems that the Irish government would actually get the extra money and suffer little for its part in the scheme. http://wallstcheatsheet.com/te...

Submission + - bentgate, a new issue Phone 6 users?

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: First, there was 'Antennagate', as iPhone 4 users found a noticeable drop in signal strength when touching the lower-left corner of their handset, leading Apple to tell its customers that they were holding the device the wrong way. Then came 'Scuffgate', as iPhone 5 users complained that it was all too easy to scratch that device's aluminium bodywork. Now, with the launch of Apple's latest handsets, comes 'Bentgate'. A handful of users — so far, at least — have complained that their iPhone 6 Plus handsets are 'bending', without significant force being exerted upon them. Several of these reports have come from users on the MacRumors forums. One user, 'hanzoh', said that his handset had been in his front trouser pocket for much of the day, which involved sitting while on a long drive and at a wedding, where he also danced. By the end of the day, when he placed his 6 Plus on his coffee table, he noticed that the device had bent slightly towards the top.

Submission + - ORACLE CEO LARRY ELLISON STEPS DOWN

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: Oracle founder Larry Ellison is stepping down as CEO. He will be replaced by two executives. Former Oracle presidents Safra Catz and Mark Hurd will be co-CEOs. Ellison will be the Executive Chairman of Oracle's Board, and the company's CTO. Oracle's shares are off by 3% on the news. "Larry has made it very clear that he wants to keep working full time and focus his energy on product engineering, technology development and strategy," said the Oracle Board's Presiding Director, Dr. Michael Boskin.

Submission + - Apple and U2 work on secret new music format to get fans buying music again 1

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: Bono's already inserted himself into everyone's iPhones this week, but now he wants even more control over the way you enjoy music. The Irish singer says that he's been working with Apple on a new audio format that'll get people paying for music once again. In an interview with Time magazine, it's said that the band has been working on a secret project that's "so terribly exciting to music fans that it will tempt them again into buying music."

Submission + - eBay redirect attack puts buyers' credentials at risk

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: EBay has been compromised so that people who clicked on some of its links were automatically diverted to a site designed to steal their credentials. The spoof site had been set up to look like the online marketplace's welcome page. The firm was alerted to the hack on Wednesday night but removed the listings only after a follow-up call from the BBC more than 12 hours later. One security expert said he was surprised by the length of time taken. "EBay is a large company and it should have a 24/7 response team to deal with this — and this case is unambiguously bad," said Dr Steven Murdoch from University College London's Information Security Research Group. The security researcher was able to analyse the listing involved before eBay removed it. He said that the technique used was known as a cross-site scripting (XSS) attack.

Submission + - Microsoft is reportedly buying 'Minecraft' developer Mojang for $2 billion

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: Microsoft is in talks to buy Minecraft's developer, Mojang, according to a few different sources. The Wall Street Journal says that the ever loose-lipped "person familiar with the matter" has noted the deal is valued at over $2 billion, while reps for both Redmond and the Swedish developer remain mum on the subject. The New York Times reports that Microsoft approached Mojang as early as three months ago and the purchase should be finished by the end of this month. Perhaps most interesting though is that should the deal go through, Notch might not stay past six months after the ink has dried. Why? He likely wants to make sure his employees are being well taken care of.

Submission + - Stolen celebrity images prompt policy change at 4Chan

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: The website where leaked celebrity nudes first surfaced has moved to comply with US laws on stolen content. Many of the images were initially shared on the /b/ discussion board of 4Chan which has been notorious for ignoring copyright laws. 4Chan has now said it will enact a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) policy to let content owners get illegally shared material removed. It will now remove content after it gets a "bona fide infringement" notice. Before now, image-sharing site 4Chan has largely avoided having to actively police many of its discussions boards because of the frenetic nature of the site itself. An upper limit on the amount of material any board can support means that content often disappeared or "expired" before demands to take it down were filed. On the busiest 4Chan boards, content expires in a matter of hours. The furore over the large number of stolen videos and images of celebrities posted to the site have now prompted it to update its policies and comply with the DMCA. 4Chan has also appointed a member of staff to oversee DMCA takedown requests.

Submission + - Apple reveals the most common reasons that it rejects apps

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: One of the great mysteries of the App Store is why certain apps get rejected and why others don’t. Apple has let a surprising number of ripoffs and clones through the store’s iron gates, yet some developers face rejection for seemingly innocent apps. “Before you develop your app, it’s important to become familiar with the technical, content, and design criteria that we use to review all apps,” explains Apple on a new webpage called “Common App Rejections.” Rejections include: Apple and our customers place a high value on simple, refined, creative, well thought through interfaces. They take more work but are worth it. Apple sets a high bar. If your user interface is complex or less than very good, it may be rejected; Apps that contain false, fraudulent or misleading representations or use names or icons similar to other Apps will be rejected.

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Thus spake the master programmer: "Time for you to leave." -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"

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