The address book in smartphones — where some of the user’s most personal data is carried — is free for app developers to take at will, often without the phone owner’s knowledge.
Companies that make many of the most popular smartphone apps for Apple and Android devices — Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram among them — routinely gather the information in personal address books on the phone and in some cases store it on their own computers. The practice came under scrutiny Wednesday by members of Congress who saw news reports that taking such data was an “industry best practice.”
Google’s Cookie Trick in Safari Stirs Debate
Researchers have discovered that Google deliberately bypassed the privacy settings in Safari, the Web browser on the iPhone and other Apple devices, so it could customize Web ads. The crux of the story, as reported by The Wall Street Journal in an article that is stirring much discussion online: By exploiting a loophole in the Safari browser, Google was able to install "cookies" that could let it track browsing activity.
Cookies are small files that Web sites can place on a hard drive or mobile device to do things like identify returning visitors. By default, Apple's Safari browser blocks cookies from sites that a user has not actually visited — typically advertising networks that want to be able to follow people across multiple sites. Other browsers are not typically set up that way.
Apple CEO Cook Says iPad, Tablets Will Outsell PCs
Apple CEO Tim Cook believes that tablets such as the iPad will outsell PCs in the coming years thanks to the explosive popularity of one-panel slates as well as innovation from tablet makers and app developers. "From the first day [the iPad] shipped, we thought that the tablet market would become larger than the PC market," Cook said Tuesday during the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco. "I feel that stronger today than I did then."
Following its 2010 launch, the iPad quickly became one of Apple's most popular products, outselling the Mac in nearly every quarter, and, since mid-2010, even the iPod. More than 55 million Apple tablets have been sold to date. "This 55 million is something no one would have guessed, including us," Cook said, noting that it took the iPhone three years to sell 55 million, while the iPad did it in less than two. "It's on a trajectory that's off the charts."
Following its 2010 launch, the iPad quickly became one of Apple's most popular products, outselling the Mac in nearly every quarter, and, since mid-2010, even the iPod. More than 55 million Apple tablets have been sold to date. "This 55 million is something no one would have guessed, including us," Cook said, noting that it took the iPhone three years to sell 55 million, while the iPad did it in less than two. "It's on a trajectory that's off the charts."
Alibaba's Taobao at center of failed Yahoo deal: sources
(Reuters) - Yahoo Inc's efforts to craft a complex $17 billion asset swap with its Asian partners stumbled over how to value Taobao, the fast-growing online retail business owned by China's Alibaba Group, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Negotiations between Yahoo, Alibaba and Japan's Softbank broke down on Tuesday, about two months after the parties agreed to a basic outline for a deal that would have returned Yahoo's stakes in those companies to their owners in return for a clutch of unspecified assets.
Negotiations between Yahoo, Alibaba and Japan's Softbank broke down on Tuesday, about two months after the parties agreed to a basic outline for a deal that would have returned Yahoo's stakes in those companies to their owners in return for a clutch of unspecified assets.
Mobile Apps Take Data Without Permission
The address book in smartphones — where some of the user’s most personal data is carried — is free for app developers to take at will, often without the phone owner’s knowledge.
Companies that make many of the most popular smartphone apps for Apple and Android devices — Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram among them — routinely gather the information in personal address books on the phone and in some cases store it on their own computers. The practice came under scrutiny Wednesday by members of Congress who saw news reports that taking such data was an “industry best practice.”
Companies that make many of the most popular smartphone apps for Apple and Android devices — Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram among them — routinely gather the information in personal address books on the phone and in some cases store it on their own computers. The practice came under scrutiny Wednesday by members of Congress who saw news reports that taking such data was an “industry best practice.”
Flaw Found in an Online Encryption Encryption
SAN FRANCISCO — A team of European and American mathematicians and cryptographers have discovered an unexpected weakness in the encryption system widely used worldwide for online shopping, banking, e-mail and other Internet services intended to remain private and secure.
The flaw — which involves a small but measurable number of cases — has to do with the way the system generates random numbers, which are used to make it practically impossible for an attacker to unscramble digital messages. While it can affect the transactions of individual Internet users, there is nothing an individual can do about it. The operators of large Web sites will need to make changes to ensure the security of their systems, the researchers said.
The flaw — which involves a small but measurable number of cases — has to do with the way the system generates random numbers, which are used to make it practically impossible for an attacker to unscramble digital messages. While it can affect the transactions of individual Internet users, there is nothing an individual can do about it. The operators of large Web sites will need to make changes to ensure the security of their systems, the researchers said.
H.P.’s Servers Are a Play Against the Cloud
Hewlett-Packard just announced a new line of business computers. They include sensors in the racks and wires, and smart software. Perhaps it should also include a small prayer that its customers do not change too much or too fast.
The new machines, the ProLiant Generation 8 servers, are the product of two years of development costing $300 million. The company claims the machines have over 160 different upgrades and new features compared with H.P.'s previous generation of servers, including things like automated updating of security patches that can cut server re-provisioning times to 10 minutes from 5 hours. Sensors in the server racks can tell where machines are located and how they are performing. Performance tweaks yield 70 percent more computing power per watt, H.P. says. Fewer humans and more software, the company claims, can cut server downtime by up to 93 percent.
The new machines, the ProLiant Generation 8 servers, are the product of two years of development costing $300 million. The company claims the machines have over 160 different upgrades and new features compared with H.P.'s previous generation of servers, including things like automated updating of security patches that can cut server re-provisioning times to 10 minutes from 5 hours. Sensors in the server racks can tell where machines are located and how they are performing. Performance tweaks yield 70 percent more computing power per watt, H.P. says. Fewer humans and more software, the company claims, can cut server downtime by up to 93 percent.
Hacking Cases Focus on Memo to a Murdoch
LONDON — As dozens of investigators and high-powered lawyers converge on Rupert Murdoch’s News International in the phone hacking scandal, attention has focused on the printout of an e-mail excavated three months ago from a sealed carton left behind in an empty company office.
The Age of Big Data
Mo Zhou was snapped up by I.B.M. last summer, as a freshly minted Yale M.B.A., to join the technology company’s fast-growing ranks of data consultants. They help businesses make sense of an explosion of data — Web traffic and social network comments, as well as software and sensors that monitor shipments, suppliers and customers — to guide decisions, trim costs and lift sales. “I’ve always had a love of numbers,” says Ms. Zhou, whose job as a data analyst suits her skills.
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