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Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Cautioned Over Misleading Windows 7 Ad (crn.com.au)

Submitted by bennyboy64
bennyboy64 writes: CRN reports that the Australian competition watchdog has slapped Microsoft on the wrist with a letter saying it should be more careful when advertising the security capabilities of Windows 7. In a TV advertising campaign, Microsoft said consumers didn't 'have to worry about bad stuff getting through'. iTnews has an audio clip from Jeff Putt, who heads up the Windows consumer team, who said consumers should get 'more sincere guidance' from a third party if they wanted to know how secure Windows 7 was.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Denies Windows 7 Modelled On Mac OS (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by bennyboy64
bennyboy64 writes: iTnews reports that Microsoft has moved quickly to dismiss comments made by one of its managers earlier this week that the Windows 7 user interface was based on that of the Mac operating system. In an interview, Microsoft partner group manager Simon Aldous admitted that many people think the Mac OS is 'fantasticvery graphical and easy to use'. 'What we’ve tried to do with Windows 7 – whether it’s traditional format or in a touch format – is to create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics,' he was reported as saying. Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc, who runs the firm's official Windows 7 blog, repudiated Aldous, labelling his comments 'inaccurate and uninformed'.
The Internet

Submission + - Piracy Demo Fails In Federal Court (itnews.com.au) 3

Submitted by bennyboy64
bennyboy64 writes: The court battle between the film industry and Australian internet service provider iiNet today saw the film industry attempt to demonstrate how piracy could occur by accessing the Pirate Bay website. iTnews reports that website blocking software installed within Sydney's Federal Court brought proceedings to a halt. Upon the film industry proposing the demonstration before the Court, Justice Cowdroy said he expected such a demonstration would work. The judge said he would have the Pirate Bay website unblocked. Wait untill they find out that certain ports will be blocked too!
Microsoft

Submission + - Apple Floods Google With Anti-Microsoft Ads (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by bennyboy64
bennyboy64 writes: iTnews reports that Apple has launched a cheeky advertising campaign in which it mocks its rival, Microsoft, using search engine advertising on Google, Yahoo and Bing. The campaign, which pokes fun at Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 7, promotes the fact that its products would enable users to 'avoid Windows 7 headaches' by making 'the switch to Mac'.
The Internet

Submission + - AU internet fails pigeon test (crn.com.au) 3

Submitted by bennyboy64
bennyboy64 writes: A pigeon has transferred a 700 megabyte file faster than a car or a broadband internet connection in rural Australia. The bizarre experiment, conducted in rural New South Wales, was prompted by a comment made by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that 'Australians would be left using carrier pigeons for the future rather than accessing an internationally competitive broadband network' if the opposition party had their way. A similar test had been done in South Africa where an IT company tested their own internet speeds by replacing it with a carrier pigeon. That pigeon also won.
Google

Submission + - Google Announces Navigation for Android (blogspot.com)

Submitted by riffzifnab
riffzifnab writes: Google announced the new version of Google Maps for Mobile with built in turn-by-turn voice direction and automatic rerouting. Unlike most other navigation system Maps relies upon the built in data connection rather then pre-cashed map data. This means that the information will be more up to date but could also fail if connectivity is lost.

Submission + - VMware Shows-Off PC-Over-IP (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by bennyboy64
bennyboy64 writes: VMware recently showed-off its new protocol PC-over-IP (PCoIP) at a conference in Sydney. iTnews reports the protocol, which is better than Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol, intelligently compresses and prioritises data over slower connections to reduce any lag experienced by the user. A video is included in the article and shows-off the awesome capability of the service. The PCoIP protocol is software-based and CTO of VMware Steve Herrod claimed that without any dedicated hardware acceleration, it could 'scale from taskworkers — who are working in a call centre — all the way to the high-end designers working with interesting CAD designs'.

Submission + - "Three strikes" to go ahead in Britain (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by
David Gerard
David Gerard writes: "Lord Peter Mandelson has carefully ignored the Gowers Report and the Carter Report, instead taking the advice of his good friend David Geffen and three strikes and you're out will become law in Britain. The Open Rights Group has, of course, hit the roof. Oh, and never mind MI5 and the police pointing out that widespread encryption will become normal, hampering their efforts to keep up with little things like impending terrorist atrocities. Still, worth it to stop a few Lily Allen tracks being shared, what?"

Submission + - Music Rights Holders Sue Youtube Again (newteevee.com)

Submitted by bennyboy64
bennyboy64 writes: NewTeeVee reports on a criminal investigation that has been launched against senior executives of YouTube and parent company Google in Hamburg, Germany, over allegations of copyright infringement. The case started after a complaint by German music rights holders. Hamburg's prosecutor has formally requested assistance from U.S. colleagues to compel YouTube to produce log files identifying who uploaded as well as who viewed 500 specific videos.
Security

Submission + - The Scientist Who Mistook Himself for a Spy

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "The NY Times reports that Stewart Nozette, who helped to discover water on the Moon and spent six years at a top-secret defense technology agency was arrested earlier this week on espionage charges, after telling an FBI agent that he was willing to sell some of America’s “most guarded secrets” to a man he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer. Nozette worked at the Department of Energy in the 1990s, where he held a special security clearance described in the criminal complaint against him as “equivalent to the Defense Department’s Top Secret and Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information clearances (PDF).” For most of the past decade Nozette “acted as a technical consultant for an aerospace company that was wholly owned by the Government of the State of Israel” and when he took on this consulting work Nozette apparently concluded that he had already effectively become a spy. "I thought I was working for you already," said Nozette to the undercover officer posing as a Mossad recruiter according to an FBI transcript. "I mean that’s what I always thought, [the foreign company] was just a front." Marc Ambinder writes in the Atlantic that Nozette's "Q" clearance from the Department of Energy, giving him access to data about nuclear weapons, might have been of interest to the Israelis. "Since Israel has nuclear weapons, its espionage efforts are probably more directed towards figuring out what the US knows about them, how the US monitors, say, Israeli launch preparation sites, and who the US shares this data with," writes Ambinder. "No doubt that Nozette would be in a good position to know how easily it is for US technologies to pierce the veil of Israel's secret nuke program.""
Data Storage

Submission + - SPAM: Zurich loses data of 641,000 customers on tape 1

Submitted by ChiefMonkeyGrinder
ChiefMonkeyGrinder writes: Insurance firm Zurich has lost the sensitive personal account details of 641,000 customers held on backup tape, including the details of 51,000 UK customers. The firm admitted the tape had been missing for over a year in South Africa, after it was lost en route to a secure storage unit in August 2008. But it has only just noticed the loss, and launched an investigation. Its entire South African customer base of 550,000 clients was also lost, alongside the details of 40,000 customers in Botswana.
Link to Original Source
Microsoft

Submission + - Windows 7 Security Ad Not "Sincere" Says Microsoft (itnews.com.au) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: iTnews reports that Microsoft has launched a television campaign promoting the security of Windows 7 that even its own executives admitted was less than sincere. The advert — available to view online — features what looks to be a grandfather and his grandson playing with a very grand toy castle and talking about IT security. The grandfather compares Windows 7 security to that of a '50-foot castle' and says 'it keeps all my personal info safer and I don't have to worry about bad stuff getting through'. During the world's first Windows 7 launch event in Australia (a day ahead of the US) tech journos were shown the advertisement. Journalist Nick Ross from The Overclocker took Jeff Putt, who heads up the Windows consumer team, to task over whether the advert was misleading. Putt responded stating 'Windows 7 is the most secure operating system we've produced, we now have Windows Live Security Essentials (which I'm sure he meant Microsoft Security Essentials) for people to download as antivirus software,' he explained. 'People have to make their own security choices. I think if they're taking their security advice from the TV ad, hopefully they can get better guidance at retail or on the web... with more sincere guidance around what they should get'. Uhh...did he just admit that the advertisement misleads consumers?

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