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Microsoft

Submission + - Windows Phone ecosystem too small for developers to make money (pastagapp.com)

Submitted by
pastagapp.com
pastagapp.com writes: "With 2 Million downloads on the Windows Phone Marketplace, we're a sizable developer in the ecosystem.
After reaching #35 on the Top Apps for several weeks (out of 80,000 apps, Angry Birds being #1) we believed it was not a small feat. Yet #35 amounted to less than 500 downloads per day. These 500 downloads include free trials, so not all of them are paid. With Microsoft advertising a 10% conversion rate to paid in its fanciest dreams, the 500 downloads become only 50 paid downloads per day. We find it extremely small for being in the top 35 overall.
Add to this some major security concerns we experienced first hand on the platform like piracy and source code freely available to download directly from Microsoft's own server (Rovio's Angry Birds source code linked in the article), along with major sales disappointments at the major milestones (the release of Mango, the new Nokia phones), we're starting to think we bet on the wrong horse... like Microsoft at the Kentucky Derby.
Is the market too small on Windows Phone for developers to be profitable? What download numbers are you guys reaching in the Top 50 on Android and iPhone?"
HP

Submission + - HP releases Power over Ethernet thin client (techworld.com.au) 1

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "HP has unveiled an all-in-one thin client capable of being powered by an Ethernet cable. The t410 AiO supports the Type 1 Power over Ethernet (PoE) standard, which means it is capable of drawing its power from a network connection, although it can be powered by standard AC power. It uses an ARM-based processor and has an integrated 18.5-inch monitor, and it is capable of being used for virtual desktops through Windows RDP, VMware View and Citrix ICA."
Businesses

Submission + - Mark Zuckerberg Annoys the Bankers

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Jim Kerstetter writes that as Mark Zuckerberg makes the rounds promoting Facebook's IPO, he shows up in a hoodie, takes private meetings instead of pimping himself on a stage, and does little to conceal the notion that he'd rather be back in his Silicon Valley office working with engineers and doing the things that he's good at. "Mark and his signature hoodie: He's actually showing investors he doesn't care that much; he's going to be him. I think that's a mark of immaturity," complains security analyst Michael Pachter to Bloomberg. "I think that he has to realize he's bringing investors in as a new constituency right now, and I think he's got to show them the respect that they deserve because he's asking them for their money." What cheek! It's not often you find yourself cheering for a guy who is going to become a billionaire before his 30th birthday, but let's face it: Zuckerberg is living the American dream; building a company from scratch, creating more than 3,500 good jobs so far, and getting rich because of it. Isn't that what entrepreneurs are supposed to do? "In the end, what do hoodies and non-worshipful tones mean to Facebook's IPO? Not a dang thing," writes Kerstetter. "Tomorrow, I'll go back to complaining about Facebook's frictionless sharing and its sneaky assault on user privacy... But for today, I have to applaud an executive who refuses to bow and scrape before the plutocrats.""

Submission + - Bre Pettis: The Man Who Brought Manufacturing Back To Brooklyn (businessweek.com)

Submitted by
pacopico
pacopico writes: "A few decades ago, Brooklyn was filled with manufacturing companies. Today? Er, not so much. It's mostly restaurants and condos. That is Except for MakerBot Industries, which is assembling 3D printers for consumers by hand at a real, live factory. Businessweek profiled the MakerBot founder Bre Pettis and his goal of revitalizing manufacturing in New York, describing him as a weird "throwback who lives in the future.""
Facebook

Submission + - The Insider Network - Facebook's IPO and the people getting rich off it Read mo (news.com.au)

Submitted by
TheGift73
TheGift73 writes: "NEXT week's much-anticipated Initial Public Offering (IPO) of social networking giant Facebook has caused all kinds of speculation about its value.
Predictions have put the company's value at anywhere from between $US75 to $100 billion.
Whatever end of that scale it is, Facebook's emergence on the US stock market will make some smart kids very rich, and some rich people much richer. Our look at the social network's big players reveals how the right connection at the right time can make you a billionaire."
Google

Submission + - Iconic Piracy Suit Against Google Dismissed, Despite $25,000 Bounty (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by
TheGift73
TheGift73 writes: "After 8 years the legal battle between Google and adult magazine publisher Perfect 10 has been put to rest. The latter accused the search giant of a variety of copyright infringement breaches which included Google’s use of cached images. In a final attempt to save the case, Perfect 10 offered a $25,000 bounty to anyone who could prove wrongdoing on Google’s part but the initiative failed. The case has now been dismissed without the option for further appeal."

Submission + - North Korea Jamming GPS Signals In South Korea (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
Fluffeh
Fluffeh writes: "North Korea has been looking for new and inventive ways to mess with South Korea. It seems that their missile launch fizzled a bit though, so those wacky folks from the North have bought a few GPS jamming trucks from Russia and are now blocking GPS signals around their city of Kaeson. While Kaeson is around 60 Km inside their borders, the jamming circle is around 100 Km, so it actually covers good parts of South Korea including the airports at Inchon and Gimpo. While no accidents have been caused as yet, it has caused quite some disruption and has made ocean going craft suffer as well due to their heavy reliance on GPS signals."
The Internet

Submission + - New York legalizes child pornography 1

Submitted by bs0d3
bs0d3 writes: According to a recent ruling in New York state, from Senior Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, "Merely viewing Web images of child pornography does not, absent other proof, constitute either possession or procurement within the meaning of our Penal Law. Rather, some affirmative act is required (printing, saving, downloading, etc.) to show that defendant in fact exercised dominion and control over the images that were on his screen". Which means under New York state law, creating, and possessing child pornography is illegal; the lawmakers never specifically said that merely viewing it is a crime. The prosecution mentioned that the images were saved on his hard drive via the browser cache. However the court ruled that this was not the same as having a saved image. This means that people from New York state who click the wrong link by accident will no longer face serious jail time and a lifetime of registering as a sex offender. People will be able to report what they've found to the police who can then go after the source of the child porn, instead of someone who was merely browsing the internet.
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook Announces The App Center

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Facebook today announced the App Center. Whether you’re a Facebook user or a third-party developer, think of it like the Apple App Store or the Google Play store, but for Facebook. That’s right: while in-app purchases have existed for a while, Facebook will now give developers the option to offer paid apps (users will pay a flat fee to use an app on facebook.com).
Ubuntu

Submission + - EA releases two games for linux (techspot.com) 1

Submitted by lister king of smeg
lister king of smeg writes: In a rather unexpected move, Electronic Arts has added two web-based game titles to the Ubuntu Software Center of the popular Linux distribution, and although they're far from the newest games, Linux users will likely welcome Command and Conquer Tiberium Alliances as well as the Lord of Ultima with open arms.

Before Linux fans get too excited, it isn't the full game installation, but rather a loading web-app. That said, the move does suggest that the game developer has potentially spotted the currently untapped opportunity of using Ubuntu Linux as a another channel for delivering its content.

Submission + - Why Immigrants Make Better Entrepreneurs - Forbes (forbes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Romanian emigre Christian Gheorghe is running a Silicon Valley software company now (Tidemark Systems) after getting started in the U.S. hauling plywood on a construction site. Forbes summarizes his path to the top and sees a wider story about immigrants' edge as entrepreneurs.
Social Networks

Submission + - 55,000 Twitter Accounts Hacked, Passwords Leaked (hothardware.com) 1

Submitted by
MojoKid
MojoKid writes: "Tens of thousands of Twitter accounts have been compromised in a recent hack attack in which more than 55,000 passwords were leaked and posted to Pastebin by anonymous hackers. Most of the accounts supposedly belonged to spammers, and there were many duplicate entries, Twitter officials pointed out. However, to play it safe, you should probably change your Twitter password ASAP."
Twitter

Submission + - Neurosurgeon Removed From Cruise Over Faked Tweet (sfgate.com) 1

Submitted by
Entropy98
Entropy98 writes: "Someone using the name "Shit Jack Kruse Says" on Twitter recently tweeted "security confiscated dynamite. talk won't be as explosive as one at PaleoFx. still have vial of Legionnaires for epic biohack."

Unfortunately for the real Dr Jack Kruse he was searched, detained, and not allowed to re-board the ship "to err on the side of caution"."
Facebook

Submission + - Password Protection Act: Ban Bosses Asking For Facebook Passwords 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A group of Democrats today introduced legislation in both the House and Senate to prevent employers from forcing employers and job applicants into sharing information from their personal social networking accounts. In other words, Maryland may soon not be the only state that has banned employers demanding access to Facebook accounts. The Password Protection Act of 2012 (PPA) would also prevent employers from accessing information on any computer that isn’t owned or controlled by an employee, including private e-mail accounts, photo sharing sites, and smartphones.
HP

Submission + - HP CEO to frustrated employees: "A sign of an unhappy company. You wish HP ill." (cnn.com)

Submitted by N!NJA
N!NJA writes: This is a recent article on Fortune that sheds new light on the troubles inside HP. The battles between members of the board of directors as well as the atmosphere between lower management and engineers.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A few months after she took over as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) last September, Meg Whitman held one in a series of get-to-know-you meetings with employees. To say the audience, a group of software engineers and managers, was sullen would be an understatement. As Whitman spoke, many of them glared at her. Others weren't making eye contact with their new boss. Their heads were down, and they were tapping furiously on handheld devices.

"Your comments are being live-blogged," one employee told her defiantly. Whitman challenged the man. "You all have taken leaking to a new art form," she said. "It's a sign of an unhappy company. You wish HP ill." The tapping suddenly stopped, and as the room fell silent, the mobile devices were lowered.

The employees' open contempt for the head of the company and Whitman's acknowledgment of their misery were signs of just how dire things had gotten inside the technology titan after a humiliating series of epic stumbles last year. [...]

The saga of HP's 11 months under Léo Apotheker begins in November 2010. To understand it, you need to appreciate what he found and how HP got to that point. The company seemed strong at that moment, its swagger restored during the five years Mark Hurd had been in charge. Earnings per share had quadrupled. The stock price had doubled. HP was No. 1 in PC shipments, No. 1 in printers, No. 1 in servers.

But just under the surface was a very different reality: HP was traumatized, its employees disengaged. Internal "voice of the company" surveys revealed that morale had cratered. One top executive told Apotheker she felt "maimed" by Hurd's hard-charging style. A company hailed for its vaunted "HP way" — which emphasized employee autonomy — had stifled creativity to the point where workers now had a rueful phrase to describe the way they tuned out and pretended to be clueless when executives asked them to do something: "flipping the bozo bit."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Congress: The TSA Is Wasting Hundreds Of Millions In Taxpayer Dollars (techdirt.com)

Submitted by
TheGift73
TheGift73 writes: "File this under, 'Things we knew'.

The House Oversight Committee has come out with a report slamming the TSA for tremendous amounts of waste, specifically in the "deployment and storage" of its scanning equipment. Basically, it sounds like the TSA likes to go on giant spending sprees, buying up security equipment and then never, ever using it. A few data points...."
Encryption

Submission + - South Korea Still Paying The Price For Embracing Internet Explorer A Decade Ago (techdirt.com)

Submitted by
TheGift73
TheGift73 writes: "The problems of monopolies arising through network effects, and the negative effects of the lock-in that results, are familiar enough. But it's rare to come across an entire nation suffering the consequences of both quite so clearly as South Korea, which finds itself in this situation thanks to a really unfortunate decision made by its government some years back:

"At the end of the 1990s, Korea developed its own encryption technology, SEED, with the aim of securing e-commerce. Users must supply a digital certificate, protected by a personal password, for any online transaction in order to prove their identity. For Web sites to be able to verify the certificates, the technology requires users to install a Microsoft ActiveX plug-in.""
Science

Submission + - Warmest 12-month Period Recorded in US (wunderground.com) 6

Submitted by seanzig
seanzig writes: Dr. Jeff Masters of Weather Underground provides a good overview of the State of the Climate Report from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). May 2011 through Apr. 2012 broke the previous record (Nov. 1999 — Oct. 2000). A number of other interesting records (e.g., warmest March on record) and stats emerged. It just presents the data and does not surmise anything about the causes or what should be done about it.

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