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Microsoft has been planning to redesign its SkyDrive web interface this summer, and now the company has officially taken the wraps off a refined SkyDrive.com. Additionally, Microsoft also announced more efficient Windows and OS X SkyDrive integration as well as a new Android app that'll be available within the next few weeks.
As we saw late last month, SkyDrive.com now supports a new tile-based interface that visually matches the visual style Microsoft has been pushing since Windows Phone 7. There are also new "instant search" features that appear to function more like desktop-bases searches with results dynamically updating; other features include a contextual toolbar that holds the most commonly used actions, multiple select and drag and drop, and improved sorting options.
As for syncing with the Windows Desktop and OS X, efficiency has been improved in a few key areas based on user feedback: photo upload speeds have been improved, and the "looking for changes" state (when SkyDrive analyzes your files to see what needs to be synced) is also quite a bit faster than before. Microsoft says that users milage may vary, so unfortunately you can't assume you'll see any major improvements. The new apps should be rolling out this week.
Lastly, Microsoft announced that an Android SkyDrive app would be launching sometime in the next few weeks. There weren't a ton of details on the app itself, though Microsoft noted that it'll be "similar" to the existing Windows Phone and iOS options. Specifically, users will be able to browse, upload and share files, open SkyDrive files from other apps, and upload and save files from other apps to SkyDrive. Microsoft's service certainly has a lot of competition, but these new updates sound like they'll make it a more competitive offering.
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Facebook's app programme has been accused by the FTC of being 'deceptive'
Facebook has been accused of deceiving developers after it emerged that the social networking site did nothing to verify the security of applications it was paid tens of thousands of dollars to review, and which it assured users had been checked.
It is believed Facebook was paid up to $95,000 (£60,600) by developers whose applications were entered into its verified apps scheme.
The system gave a green tick of approval to apps that passed what Facebook described as its "test for trustworthy user experiences".
An investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revealed that Facebook took no steps to review the applications in its now-closed scheme. Facebook awarded the verified badge to 254 applications, according to the FTC.
Developers paid Facebook $375, or $175 for a student or non-profit organisation, to be given the green tick. Verified apps were given other benefits including prominence in its search results and a higher ranking on the directory of apps.
Facebook had said it would subject the apps to a "detailed review process", and then give the verified badge to apps that the social network decided were "secure, respectful and transparent".
However, the FTC described the programme as "deceptive" in a 19-page list of wider privacy charges against Facebook.
"Contrary to the statements set forth in paragraph 46, before it awarded the Verified Apps badge, Facebook took no steps to verify either the security of a verified application's website or the security the application provided for the user information it collected, beyond such steps as it may have taken regarding any other Platform Application," the FTC said.
Consumers could also have been deceived by the "verified" tickmarks, the FTC suggested, as the site said that the programme "is designed to offer extra assurances to help users identify applications they can trust… that are secure, respectful and transparent, and have demonstrated commitment to compliance with platform policies".
But instead, Facebook "took no steps to verify either the security of a verified application's website or the security the application provided for the user information it collected, beyond such steps as it may have taken regarding any other platform application," the FTC said.
Facebook accepted a settlement with the FTC on Friday. Under its terms Facebook must allow an independent watchdog to make regular privacy inspections for the next 20 years. It came just a day after Google was fined a record $22.5m (£14.4m) by the FTC for circumventing privacy protections on Apple's Safari web browser.
Facebook closed the verified apps program after just six months in December 2009, saying that it would extend "the idea of verification to apply to all of the applications on the Facebook platform". Facebook agreed to undergo privacy vetting for 20 years.
Scam: Cheap iPads advertised and used to lure buyers who are then robbed., sometimes at gun point. The latest scam comes from Uniontown, Fayette County and WTAE has the full story.
Police said two people who tried to buy iPads listed for sale on Craigslist were robbed in Uniontown, Fayette County. In each case, an iPad was being offered at a low price, and the interested buyers were lured for an in-person meeting. "However, when they arrived in Uniontown, they were instead met by armed men who, at that point, robbed them," Police Chief Jason Cox said. The incidents happened on Dunlap and Hickle streets.
Police told Channel 4 Action News investigator Paul Van Osdol that each victim was robbed of several hundred dollars. One was forced at gunpoint to withdraw money from an ATM. "The victims were pretty shaken up, and it was very clear they were totally unaware of what they were walking into," Cox said.
These types of scams appear to be happening all over the U.S. and all over the world too; we have heard reports of similar types of scams, not that long ago in the UK. That particular scam involved iPhone and iPads in sealed boxes which when opened were filled with water bottles or potatoes.
Deals like these are always a tempting way to grab yourself an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch at a knock down price but you must use a bit of common sense; if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is too good to be true so stay well away. If you can’t pass up on a deal, make sure you at least arrange to meet any potential sellers in a very public place, not in a car lot, late at night.
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Google launched a new feature to help users who have multiple Google accounts called "Account chooser." First noticed by The Next Web on the Gmail login interface, the new feature displays a list of multiple accounts instead of just one — which significantly reduces the number of clicks required to switch accounts. To manage the new feature, you can go to https://accounts.google.com/AccountChooser to add new accounts to your list or remove them. Oddly, you must be signed out of at least one of your Google accounts to surface the "Edit" button that allows you to remove accounts from your list. Google has previously done some work this year to make managing multiple accounts easierand this solution makes it better still. However, even with the new Account chooser you'll still be presented with a password request on some pages but not on others — so there's still work to be done.
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Google’s latest version of the Chrome web browser offers an even more secure, tightly sandboxed version of the browser’s Flash Player plugin.
If you haven’t already updated you can download Chrome 21 from Google. Existing users may need to restart their browser for any updates to apply.
At the moment the Flash Player improvements are only available to Windows users, but the change does apply to the entire Windows spectrum, covering everything from Windows XP (where Chrome is the only option if you want to keep Flash sandboxed) to the coming Windows 8.
As Chrome Software Engineer Justin Schuh writes on the Chromium blog, “Windows Flash is now inside a sandbox that’s as strong as Chrome’s native sandbox, and dramatically more robust than anything else available.”
The Flash update sees Chrome dropping the older Netscape Plugin API — which browsers have long relied on for plugin security — in favor of Google’s own Pepper Plugin API (PPAPI). Since PPAPI has a tighter sandbox it makes it harder to exploit Flash, but Schuh says the new architecture will make Flash more stable as well. “By eliminating the complexity and legacy code associated with NPAPI, we’ve reduced Flash crashes by about 20%.”
There are also performance gains since the PPAPI offloads some of the display work to your PC’s GPU, which makes for faster rendering and smooth scrolling. The new Pepper API also means Flash will work in Windows 8′s don’t-call-it-Metro mode.
Google says that it’s working on bring the same Pepper-based sandboxing to Chrome for Mac OS X and hopes to “ship it soon” (Linux users have enjoyed PPAPI-based Flash Player since Chrome 20).
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Microsoft may have nixed its "Metro" branding for the new tile-based design in Windows 8 and Windows Phone, but the company appears to be split over its replacement naming. Earlier this week it was reported that references to "Metro-style applications" would become "Windows 8 applications," and that the "Metro user interface" would be switched to "Windows 8 user interface."
However, Microsoft employees have started using "Modern UI Style" to refer to the new Windows 8 Start Screen and "Modern UI" design in reference to Windows 8 apps. The software giant has used modern, immersive, fast, and fluid to describe its Windows 8 operating system previously — in the early stages of its development — but the common name was always Metro style. In a step that's bound to confuse developers and consumers, several listings for upcoming events about Windows Azure, Bing Maps, and Windows 8, reference a Modern UI design language and principles, Modern UI Style apps, and even a Modern UI-Style UI. An MSDN blog post, made available this week, also references "Modern UI design." An internal memo revealed that the company was planning to select its Metro branding replacement last week, but the company has not yet officially named the replacement.
We have reached out to Microsoft officials to comment on the new Metro replacement naming and we'll update you accordingly.
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U.S. tablet sales last quarter: Apple sold 5.2 million iPads where as Samsung, Apples main Tablet competitor, only sold 37,000 actual units.
Both Apple and Samsung filed documents in a California federal court on Thursday that specified the companies’ U.S. tablet unit sales.
“According to Samsung’s court filing, it sold a total of 37,000 tablets in the U.S. last quarter,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune. “Apple sold 5.7 million tablets in the U.S. last quarter, court documents show.”
Read more at http://macdailynews.com/2012/08/10/u-s-tablet-sales-last-quarter-apple-sold-5-2-million-samsung-sold-37000/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wordpress%2FxhfA+%28MacDailyNews%29#G80wDghKuwwu0ey8.99
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Facebook wants to fight back against phishing attacks targeting its users, so it is asking users to begin forwarding any suspicious emails they receive.
Facebook has set up an email account to collect info on phishing attacks. If you receive a suspicious email message, Facebook asks you to forward it to phish@fb.com.
“This new reporting channel will complement internal systems we have in place to detect phishing sites attempting to steal Facebook user login information,” Facebook wrote in a post describing the effort. “The internal systems notify our team, so we can gather information on the attack, take the phishing sites offline, and notify users.”
Security has become a big deal for Facebook in recent months. In July, the site was updated to automatically alert users whose computers were infected with malware, and to lock their Facebook accounts until the infected computers were properly cleaned.
Back in April, Facebook partnered with security and antivirus companies to offer free six-month trial downloads of antivirus software.
Facebook wants to protect its users as well as itself. Attackers spread malware via social networking sites, and there is evidence that the number of attacks targeting Facebook and other social networking sites is increasing.
A recent study by the Anti-Phishing Working Group found that six percent of all phishing attacks in the first quarter of this year targeted social networking sites. Adding to this, Facebook itself has admitted that 83 million of its nearly one billion accounts are fake, some of which may be used for suspicious activity.
“Together we can help keep these sites off the web and hold the bad guys responsible,” Facebook says
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A new "cyber-espionage toolkit called Gauss has surfaced recently in the Middle East and is capable of stealing sensitive data such as browser passwords, online banking accounts, cookies and system configurations, according to Kaspersky Lab. Gauss appears to have come from the same nation-state factories that produced Stuxnet.
According to Kaspersky, Gauss has unique characteristics relative to other malware. Kaspersky said it found Gauss following the discovery of Flame. The International Telecommunications Union has started an effort to identify emerging cyberthreats and mitigate them before they spread.
In a nutshell, Gauss launched around September 2011 and was discovered in June. Gauss, which resembles Flame, had its command and control infrastructure shut down in July, but the malware is dormant waiting for servers to become active. Kaspersky noted in an FAQ:
There is enough evidence that this is closely related to Flame and Stuxnet, which are nation-state sponsored attacks. We have evidence that Gauss was created by the same "factory" (or factories) that produced Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame.
Among Gauss' key features:
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The Surface tablets that Microsoft will start selling on 26 October at Microsoft Stores (and in temporary 'holiday stores' in twelve US cities including New York) are only the first of a planned family of Windows devices and Surface 2.0 is already under development.
Although Microsoft corporate communications chief Frank Shaw said recently that calling Surface "our new family of PCs built to be the ultimate stage for Windows" was no more than "literary licence" and that there was nothing more than the two tablets already announced, the Surface team is "currently building the next generation" of "devices that fully express the Windows vision" - according to more than a dozen job adverts posted on the Microsoft Careers site between June and August.
The ads are all dated after the name of the original table-size Surface changed to PixelSense, so they're not left over from that and all the ads begin like this:
"The Surface Team focuses on lighting up Microsoft experiences with touch first computing. A fundamental part of our strategy is having desirable and powerful devices that enable the experiences people want, and elicit their excitement. Creating these devices involves a close partnership between hardware and software engineers, designers, and manufacturing. We are currently building the next generation and Surface needs you!"
New Surface?
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As part of its case against Samsung, Apple has shown snippets of an internal Samsung document comparing the original Galaxy S phone with the iPhone.
On Tuesday, Apple managed to get the whole 132-page document admitted into evidence. And it’s a doozy.
The 2010 report, translated from Korean, goes feature by feature, evaluating how Samsung’s phone stacks up against the iPhone.
Authored by Samsung’s product engineering team, the document evaluates everything from the home screen to the browser to the built in apps on both devices. In each case, it comes up with a recommendation on what Samsung should do going forward and in most cases its answer is simple: Make it work more like the iPhone.
In short, the evaluation report makes the case that the Galaxy (identified here as the “S1″) would be better if it behaved more like the iPhone and featured a similar user interface. And it appears to play directly into Apple’s charge that Samsung “slavishly copied” the iPhone.
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If you can't wait to subject Google Now to an epic interrogation of your own but don't have access to Android's Jelly Bean-flavored OS, then you may want to check out what's cooking over at the XDA Developers forums. If you've got a rooted ARMv7 device with Ice Cream Sandwich and ClockWorkMod Recovery, it's actually possible to start enjoying Google's take on the virtual personal assistant on your smartphone right now. As usual, you'll need to download the requisite file and partake in some good, old flashing action. Folks who appreciate having options can also take their pick between a fuller Google Now experience or a more stripped down version by hitting the source link below.
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A Chinese company that assembles devices for Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) hired children at its production facilities and forced employees to work excessive hours, violating labor laws, China Labor Watch said in a report.
Seven children younger than 16 were working in the factory of HEG Electronics (Huizhou) Co. that makes phones and DVD players for Samsung, according to the report issued today. Child workers faced the “same harsh conditions” as adults and were paid only 70 percent of the wages of other workers, according to the New York-based group, which said it conducted investigations in June and July.
China Labor Watch previously published reports on explosions at factories and in 2010 accused Foxconn Technology Group, the assembler of Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhones and iPads, of running a sweatshop in the country after a spate of suicides, a charge the Taiwanese company denied. The latest report said working conditions at HEG are “well below” those at Apple suppliers.
“Samsung Electronics has conducted two separate on-site inspections on HEG’s working conditions this year but found no irregularities on those occasions,” Nam Ki Yung, a spokesman for Samsung, said in an e-mailed statement. “Given the report, we will conduct another field survey at the earliest possible time to ensure our previous inspections have been based on full information and to take appropriate measures to correct any problems that may surface.”
Undercover Investigation
Li Qiang, a director at China Labor Watch in New York, said a group member took a job at the factory to conduct the investigation and interviewed the seven children. The group used aliases when referring to the children in the report to protect them, he said.
China Labor Watch did not report the cases to public security bureaus or other government agencies, Li said.
“What we want, most of all, is for the children to go back to school,” Li said by phone today.
Four calls to two telephone numbers in Huizhou, southern China, listed on HEG’s website were unanswered, and an e-mail sent to the company’s designated address bounced back. HEG is a unit of Harbin Electronic Group Corp., according to its website.
“The company has clearly violated Chinese labor laws,” China Labor Watch said about HEG Electronics. “A serious light needs to be shined on these issues.”
Overtime of between three to five hours a day in addition to the routine eight-hour work day is compulsory for HEG employees, China Labor Watch said in the report. Workers on HEG’s 11-hour night shift are given only a 40-minute break for meals, the labor rights group said.
“Child labor is a common practice in the factory,” the report said. Student workers amount to 80 percent of the factory workforce, it said.
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Today Microsoft's Office Store has come online. This portal enables Office and SharePoint users to install apps. Users will need a Microsoft account and the preview version of Office, SharePoint or Exchange in order to start diving in. Naturally, Microsoft has built a pretty stout control system for administrators, and it has also crafted an internal distribution mechanism in SharePoint called the App Catalog -- a tool that "allows enterprises to build in-house apps or source them from partners and distribute them to employees within the organization." Looking to see what it's all around? Head over to the Store and click entirely too many of those "Try It" buttons.
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Googles Android OS is the mobile operating system most plagued by malware. It might not come as a surprise then that cyber criminals are taking advantage of the 2012 Summer Olympics as an opportunity and a cover-up for more malware.
Anti-malware and anti-virus solutions provider Webroot has issued a warning that because there are so many events happening at one time during the Olympics, it might be all the more tempting when viewers find an app available that focuses on one or just a few.
This goes hand-in-hand with some other cyber threats attached to the Olympic Games that can really affect even just the casual viewer. RSA recently published some tips on dealing with Olympic-themed phishing emails as well as social media alerts that are disguised in order to steal personal information.
Webroot researchers cited an app app called "London Olympics Widget," which is described as an app that displays aggregated Olympic news coverage.
In fact, it's really just harvesting the user's contact list and device ID while reading up on SMS messages too.
Webroot goes into the nitty gritty details about permissions hidden in the underlying code as well as the digital certificate, but the bigger lesson here is to be extremely careful when it comes to downloading apps.
Despite some disputes about this, Android is still an open source platform at heart, which is what makes the mobile OS quite vulnerable in the first place.
Furthermore, Google Play and the Amazon Appstore don't screen every app available in these digital app stores for malicious code until they are reported. You don't really want to become the test case.
Webroot advises that consumers should take a close look at the author of the app and then search the name to see if it is in fact a reputable company and/or developer, as seen in the photo above.
During a session at Google I/O in June, Android security engineers also stressed several tips for the developer side of things that could instore more confidence for consumers as well, including offering a transparent privacy policy.
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Valve's distaste for Windows 8 has led the company to take on an increasing interest in Linux, and the new Valve Linux blog shows that, with some work, the Source Engine actually runs faster on it than it does on Windows. The company used a testbed with an Intel i7 3930k, Nvidia GeForce GTX 680, and 32GB of RAM to pit Left 4 Dead 2 on Windows 7 against Ubuntu 12, and the results are rather interesting.
At first, Valve's Linux port of Left 4 Dead 2 ran at only 6 FPS on the i7 machine, but after tweaking the game to make effective use of the efficient characteristics of the Linux kernel and OpenGL, the Valve Linux team was able to eke out a much higher 315 FPS. Using the same machine running Windows 7 and Direct3D, the same game ran at 270.6 FPS, or roughly 14 percent slower.
After optimizing the Source Engine for the Linux platform, Valve wondered why OpenGL was outperforming Direct3D at a technical level. Their research found that, on the same hardware, there are "a few additional microseconds [of] overhead per batch in Direct3D which does not affect OpenGL," indicating that Direct3D may not be as efficient as Microsoft would like developers to believe. There are still challenges ahead for the Valve Linux team, however, as the state of Linux graphics card drivers is still a tumultuous affair. The team has yet to work with AMD and Nvidia, but collaboration with Intel's engineers took place just last month.
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Microsoft has announced that Windows 8 development is now complete. The final Release to Manufacturing (RTM) code will now be delivered to the company's hardware partners within the next few days to ready PCs and tablets with the new operating system in time for general availability on October 26th. Microsoft's final milestone concludes almost two years of development for its new Metro inspired Windows 8 software and marks the beginning of the release phase.
The final build is 9200.16384.win8_rtm.120725-1247 and Microsoft says MSDN and TechNet customers will be able to download it from August 15th. Microsoft Software Assurance customers will get the RTM bits on August 16th, and Volume License customers without Software Assurance will be able to purchase Windows 8 through Microsoft Volume License Resellers on September 1st. Steven Sinofsky, Microsoft's head of Windows, says the company "will continue to monitor and act on your real world experiences with Windows 8," despite the RTM milestone.
The finalization of WIndows 8 also means that the Windows Store will go live on August 15th. Developers will be able to access the final tools and submission process for Metro style apps at the Windows Dev Center later this month. PCs and tablets, including Microsoft's own Surface, will ship with Windows 8 on October 26th.
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Apple's relentless drive to shave millimetres off its laptops has come at a cost — your new MacBook Air or MacBook Pro with Retina display might not have quite as many ports as you're used to. The company's own FireWire 800 port has fallen out of favour in recent years, for example, with Apple electing to push Intel's newer Thunderbolt standard in its place, but now there's a solution for those still relying on the older connector for audio devices and similar applications. Announced along with the new laptop lineup at WWDC in June, the Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter is capable of providing up to 7W of power and is finally on sale now at the Apple Store for $29. It's not the most elegant solution, no, but it just might be the final excuse you need to pick up that Retina MacBook Pro.
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Posted on 31 July 2012 by G
The MOTU iTrack16, a 16 x 14 desktop studio interface with mixing and effects is finally being shipped which is great news. . Track16 connects via FireWire or hi-speed USB 2.0 to your Mac and features elegant design, compact size, simple one-touch operation, and studio-grade sound quality. Together, the Track16 base unit and included breakout cable provide a total of sixteen inputs and fourteen outputs, hybrid FireWire/USB connectivity, optical digital I/O, MIDI I/O, and SMPTE time code sync. Advanced features include a 16-bus digital mixer (with reverb, EQ, and compression), audio analysis tools such as an FFT with spectrogram “waterfall”, and an instrument tuner.
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It's looking good … finally!
Say goodbye to Hotmail. Now it's Outlook.
The New Hotmail looks fantastic, , it might be the handsomest webmail in the land. Really. Simple, clear, clean.
Outlook is as pretty as you want email to be—appealing short of cloying. It perfectly matches the superflat rainbow modernism of Windows 8. Colors are stark and few, complementing the rest of the Metro palette. Inbox items are spaced just about perfectly, packing in a manageably dense list of messages—unlike Gmail's recent fatso formatting. Microsoft is beaming at how many extra pixels it gives you to gawk at your mail compared to Google, and it's absolutely true: with Outlook, the top of the screen is appreciably slimmer than Gmail.
