NewsFactor Network

Another Porn App Gets Booted From Apple's App Store

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:40:38 -0500

Week after week, Apple sees controversy swirl around its App Store like no other smartphone maker. Yet again, the controversy has focused on pornographic content.

The latest application to attempt to make its way into the App Store is called BeautyMeter. The app lets iPhone and iPod touch users view user-submitted images of men and women, then rate them based on anatomy and clothing. One image up for rating was of a topless 15-year-old girl. Apple booted the application on Thursday.

But that wasn't the first time a pornographic application made its way through Apple's approval process. The App Store has a policy that prohibits pornography or explicit content of any kind.

Last week, Apple removed an application called Hottest Girl because it published photos of topless women. In both cases, the applications got by the approval process because the developers slipped in the nude pictures after the program was vetted.

Controversial Apps

The list of applications Apple has rejected continues to grow. In some cases, Apple initially approved an application, only to ban it later. In others, Apple originally banned the application and then accepted it after a firestorm of negative publicity. Still others were rejected for good.

In May, Apple rejected the Me So Holy App for having "objectionable" content. The application let iPhone users choose their religion, take a picture of themselves, and insert their face in a messianic image, among other religious scenes. Users could also add a message and e-mail their personalized Jesus to friends or upload it to Facebook. Hindu figures, priests and nuns were also available.

Apple initially approved and later removed the controversial Baby Shaker application in April. Sikalosoft developed Baby Shaker, which featured a drawing of a crying baby, and the object of the game was to get the baby to stop crying. This was accomplished by...

Hybrid Cellular Satellite Will Boost Rural Coverage

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:07:11 -0500

European space transportation provider Arianespace launched its largest satellite ever on Wednesday on behalf of TerreStar Networks -- a Virginia-based company that intends to inaugurate a hybrid satellite/cellular service in the United States and Canada later this year.

TerreStar Networks has already developed a Windows Mobile smartphone with QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen capabilities for its new hybrid service. The handset will automatically switch from AT&T's terrestrial cellular network to a satellite link at any location within the 50 U.S. states where AT&T's local coverage is unavailable.

"We believe there are tremendous opportunities ahead -- in both the commercial and government sectors," said TerreStar President Jeff Epstein. "And we remain focused on our promise to help solve the critical communications and business-continuity challenges faced by government, emergency responders, enterprises and rural communities."

Creating a New Paradigm

The new TerreStar-1 satellite is equipped with an 18-meter reflector capable of sending and receiving signals via about 500 spot beams, each of which will function as a cellular tower in the sky for a specific localized area. Moreover, each individual spot beam can be custom controlled to increase the available capacity for emergency personnel responding to a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, which decimated a large part of southern Louisiana's communications infrastructure.

"TerreStar-1 has the capability to increase both power and capacity dynamically across spot beams with advanced ground-based beam-forming technology," a company spokesperson said. "This feature will be especially important to emergency responders and other critical users."

TerreStar's $300 million satellite also has the potential to fulfill one of the priority objectives of the national broadband plan currently under development at the FCC. Later this year, the fledgling network operator intends to begin providing core voice, data and video services to rural businesses and consumers in areas where cellular coverage is spotty or even nonexistent.

"We are creating...

Facebook Will Simplify Confusing Privacy Controls

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:10:33 -0500

Facebook will again tweak its privacy controls to give its 200 million users simplified control over what they want the public and their friends to see. In the past months, Firefox has added multiple privacy controls that confused and angered its members.

Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly said Wednesday that Facebook will begin a series of tests to simplify choices. "With the test we're announcing today, we'll move toward simplifying these settings and putting them all on the same page," Kelly said.

Facebook users will soon begin to see the move to new settings. During the process, Facebook will ask offer a Transition Tool so users can select their level of sharing.

The settings will be tested by 40,000 U.S. Facebook users in week one, using one of the six versions of the Transition Tool. Tests in week two will include 80,000 users worldwide.

In week three, Facebook will slowly begin rolling out the final product to all users.

Easing Confusion

"I think that Facebook very much needed to revamp its user interface, the many mechanisms that deal with privacy controls," said Ray Valdes, a Gartner analyst. "This had become complex due to a steady accumulation of features over the years that needed to be put back in order toward a more cohesive user experience."

The slew of updates and changes to the social-networking site included the "everyone" option in March, which allowed users to share all information, including photos and posts. Last week, Facebook launched a beta version of the Publisher Privacy Control, which allows users to decide who can see their published content on a per-post basis.

Combined, those features enable users to allow some posts to be seen by everyone and other posts to be seen only by select friends.

"You will have the choice of being as open...

'BugDay' Planned To Fix Bugs in New Firefox 3.5

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:40:00 -0500

Mozilla is scrambling to fix bugs in its just-released Firefox 3.5 browser. Users are posting complaints about problems across the Web.

Those problems include longer load times and crashes linked to the TraceMonkey JavaScript engine. The browser also reportedly has problems with Windows XP. Mozilla has set a community "BugDay" for July 7 to address the bugs in open-source Firefox 3.5.

Firefox 3.5.1 is expected to be released later this month to correct some of the 55 published bugs. Firefox 3.5 was released to the public on June 30, although a beta version was released in April.

Among the new features of Firefox 3.5 touted by Mozilla was speed, with the new release said to be twice as fast as Firefox 3.0 and 10 times faster than Firefox 2. Mozilla also pointed to better JavaScript performance, a new Private Browsing mode, and location-based browsing.

Firefox is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux and has more than 300 million active users.

The Private Browsing allows Firefox 3.5 users to protect their privacy online. In this mode, nothing viewed on the Web is stored on the user's computer.

Firefox 3.5 also has a Forget this Site feature, which allows users to remove all traces of a site from the browser. A Clear Recent History feature lets users decide what data or activity should be removed.

The Location Aware feature is optional. When turned on, it allows Web sites to provide information based on the user's location.

Firefox 3.5 also includes support for HTML 5 video and audio.

Sentencing Scheduled for Mom in MySpace Hoax

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:23:36 -0500

A Missouri mother faces up to three years in prison at her sentencing Thursday in Los Angeles for her role in a MySpace hoax directed at a 13-year-old neighbor girl who later killed herself.

Lori Drew was convicted in November on three misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization. A defense motion to dismiss the convictions has received a lengthy review from U.S. District Judge George Wu, who delayed Drew's sentencing in May to review the testimony of two prosecution witnesses.

Much attention has been paid to Drew's case, primarily because it was the nation's first cyberbullying trial.

Prosecutors say Drew sought to humiliate Megan Meier by helping create a fictitious teen boy on the social networking site and sending flirtatious messages to the girl in his name. The fake boy then dumped Megan in a message saying the world would be better without her. She hanged herself a short time later in October 2006 in the St. Louis suburb of Dardenne Prairie, Mo.

Drew was not directly charged with causing Megan's death. Instead, prosecutors indicted her under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which in the past has been used in hacking and trademark theft cases.

Drew's attorney, Dean Steward, said charges should have never been brought against his client and prosecution's decision to seek a three-year prison sentence for misdemeanor convictions was "shocking."

"The government's case is all about making Lori Drew a public symbol of cyberbullying," Steward said in a previous court filing. "The government has created a fiction that Lori Drew somehow caused (Megan's) death, and it wants a long prison sentence to make its fiction seem real."

Judge Wu acknowledged in May he was concerned that sending Drew to prison for violating a Web site's service terms might set a dangerous precedent. Wu noted that millions of people either don't read...

Bing Searches Up-To-the-Minute Tweets on Twitter

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:13:46 -0500

Bing is now doing Twitter. The recently launched Microsoft search engine is now allowing users to search for various kinds of real-time data, including tweets from Twitter.

Sean Suchter, general manager of Microsoft's Search Technology Center, wrote on the Bing blog Wednesday that the search engine is "unveiling an initial foray into integrating more real-time data into our search results, starting with some of the more prominent and prolific Twitters from a variety of spheres."

Gore, Seacrest, More

These initial Twitterers, he wrote, include former Vice President Al Gore, American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, and notables in search technology and business. Microsoft will update Twitter results every 60 seconds, using the Twitter API. Initially, Bing will only be indexing a few thousand Twitterers, based on follower count and number of tweets.

As an example, Suchter said a user could type "Kara Swisher Twitter," "Kara Swisher Tweets," or even "@karaswisher" as a search query and the results would show the latest tweets for Swisher, as well as a link to "see more tweets." Swisher is a Wall Street Journal tech columnist.

Brad Shimmin, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said Bing is joining the parade of search engines that allow users to query real-time information, with some engines specifically designed for that function. Twitter profiles and older tweet streams are searchable on many engines, but Bing is reportedly the first to allow Twitter to be searched in this way.

"This isn't revolutionary," he said, but is part of a search-industry trend as it recognizes that the Web isn't static, but includes many forms of real-time or near-real-time communications. The realization, he said, began with search engines including blogs, and has now moved to include Facebook postings and other very frequently updated, Web-based communications.

He added that this new feature is also Microsoft trying to offer more...

Celebrity Deaths Drive Spam, with Jackson Pervasive

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:11:24 -0500

With recent celebrity deaths, spammers are shifting strategies in hopes of cashing in on the misfortunes of others. Although several celebrities have passed away in the last few weeks, pop star Michael Jackson's death is driving the greatest spam volume.

Less than eight hours after Jackson's untimely death, Sophos began to intercept spam campaigns using the singer's name. Sophos also discovered cybercriminals taking advantage of 1970s TV icon Farrah Fawcett's death to spread fake antivirus software.

Mass Mailing Worms

Since then, Sophos reports large volumes of more spam, malware and other scams. For example, Sophos reports a mass-mailing worm that spams out messages with subject lines such as "Remembering Michael Jackson" with an attached file called "Michael songs and pictures.zip."

The e-mail, which claims to come from sarah@michaeljackson.com, says the attached ZIP file contains secret songs and photos of Michael Jackson. However, the reality is that opening the attachment exposes recipients to infection -- and if a computer is victimized, it spreads the worm to other Internet users.

Attackers have also set up a bogus Italian YouTube site link in an e-mail. When users click on the e-mail they get an error message indicating a Flash player upgrade is required in order to view the video. The download link ushers the victim to a fake codec that downloads a Trojan.

Exploiting Human Misery

How does the rash of celebrity deaths compare with other major world events? It's not at all unusual for the bad guys to try and take advantage of big international news stories in their attempts to infect computers and steal money, according to Graham Cluley, a senior security consultant at Sophos.

Cluley points to hackers in the past taking advantage of the death of the pope, the incarceration of Saddam Hussein, the death of kung-fu actor David Carradine, a Concorde crash in Paris,...

Conservative Approach Helps Tech Stocks Shine

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:13:33 -0500

Tech stocks are finally working to redeem themselves from the 2000 tech-stock bubble.

While the broad market stumbles out of its credit-induced stupor that started in 2007, tech stocks ironically are one of the areas of strength by being fiscally sound. "Tech companies took a conservative posture," says Ryan Jacob of Jacob Internet fund. "Tech has been a place you could see some growth without as much risk."

As a result, tech stocks are:

*Beating the other benchmarks by a mile. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite is up 16.4 percent this year, trouncing the 3.8 percent drop by the Dow Jones industrials and 1.8 percent gain of the Standard & Poor's 500. The Nasdaq's 45 percent rise from the March 9 bottom and 20 percent gain during the second quarter also outshine the S&P and Dow during the same period.

*Topping the sectors. The tech sector is up 28.8 percent over the past six months through Monday's close, says Capital IQ. Tech's rise this year tops the runner-up, materials, and its 18.6 percent gain.

*Finding a varied supporting cast. It's not just one barnburner tech stock lifting the tech indexes. Of the 50 best S&P 500 stocks this year, 14 hail from the information technology sector, says Capital IQ. Only one other sector comes close, consumer discretionary, also with 14. But one of those top consumer stocks is online retailer Amazon.com, considered a tech by some.

*Finding leadership within leadership. Internet stocks are doing even better than tech at large. The USA TODAY Internet 50 is up 27.2 percent this year and the e-Consumer 25 subindex 34.2 percent.

Investors have been keen on tech stocks, especially during the worst of the credit crunch, largely because the companies have been reluctant to use debt. "These businesses produce so much free cash flow, there's no reason to go out and...

The Latest App: Smartphone Interpreters

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:27:33 -0500

Uncle Sam may soon get a little diplomatic help from the iPhone and BlackBerry. On June 30, an Egyptian company specializing in translation software released a tool designed to translate quickly between English and Arabic by way of a wireless device.

Cairo-based Sakhr Software introduced an application -- downloadable to Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry -- that in seconds transmits an audio translation of a spoken phrase.

At the outset, Sakhr is pitching the software toward the U.S. intelligence community and the Defense Dept., which have lacked adequate Arabic language capabilities, particularly since the September 11 terrorist attacks. "What we are solving is a real-world problem," says Sakhr spokeswoman Tuyen Ho. "This product will help men and women in the armed forces and intelligence community bridge the communications gap. It will help keep them safer." The company declined to name customers but said it is talking with the Defense and Justice departments and various intelligence agencies.

Aiming at Businesses, Too

In recent months, U.S. government agencies have stepped up their reliance on cutting-edge tech tools for diplomatic means. The State Dept. in April arranged a delegation of executives from Google, AT&T, Twitter, and other tech startups to journey to Iraq to meet with government officials, business leaders, and students to discuss ways to use tech across that country.

The software Sakhr released June 30 is also designed for use by businesses. Its debut coincides with Sakhr's acquisition of software maker Dial Directions for an undisclosed amount. The two companies collaborated on the app for a year, with Sakhr developing the language software and Dial Directions designing the mobile architecture. Sakhr plans to release a version for consumers in August.

Sakhr designed its software so that users concerned about the security of their transmissions can host conversations on their own servers and monitor and mine...

China Web Controversy Highlights Public Role

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:33:28 -0500

Beijing's retreat on its latest Internet-censorship effort highlights the rise of China's increasingly tech-savvy, vocal public as a factor in the authoritarian government's decisions.

China gave in late Tuesday to complaints by Web users, manufacturers and foreign governments and postponed a plan to require producers to supply a government-endorsed filtering software known as Green Dam with every personal computer sold in China.

"We think this is a result of the efforts of all the parties, but we think public opinion played an even more important role than the others," said Edward Yu, president of Analysys International, an Internet research company in Beijing.

The retreat marks another significant shift for a Communist Party that is used to being the final voice in official decisions but is learning to accommodate a public that is growing more assertive as living standards rise.

One of the more vocal campaigners against the filtering software, avant-garde artist Ai Weiwei, threw a party at a Beijing restaurant Wednesday to celebrate. Guests wore T-shirts with slogans cursing Green Dam and the "GFW," or Great Firewall, the nickname of the government's extensive system to monitor and filter Internet traffic.

Ai said he wanted July 1 declared Internet Day as "a reminder that no one should violate the right to free access to the Internet."

Though the Chinese leadership remains as determined as ever to crush challenges to its authority, it also knows that staying in power means keeping in touch with public attitudes and key interest groups.

The government polls relentlessly if quietly. It monitors comments on the Internet from China's nearly 300 million Web users. Sometimes the government alters decisions -- like it did with Green Dam.

"This is a milestone in the growing role the broader public has in forming policy decisions," said David Wolf, president of Wolf Group Asia, a technology marketing consultant in...

Alice.com Grasps the Woes of Buying Toilet Paper

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:33:55 -0500

If shopping for household essentials like toilet paper and soap isn't your favorite activity, a new Web site might eliminate the task -- while saving you cash.

The recently launched Alice.com lets people buy all manner of necessities from different manufacturers. There are about 6,000 items to choose from so far. The site keeps an eye on the products you use, and reminds you when it's time to replenish your stock.

Because Alice is run as a platform for manufacturers to connect directly to consumers, rather than as a traditional online retailer, founders Brian Wiegand and Mark McGuire say they can keep prices low and ship all items for free.

Of course, Alice benefits, too. Manufacturers pay the company for prime placement on Alice.com or to have samples, coupons and other marketing pitches offered to customers.

Wiegand and McGuire's last startup, comparison shopping site Jellyfish.com, was bought by Microsoft Corp. in 2007 and has since been incorporated into its new search engine, Bing.

Their idea for Alice sprung from what Wiegand and McGuire saw as the lack of easy ways to buy household necessities online. As McGuire jokingly tells it, "we really wanted to sell toilet paper on the Internet."

Alice, which is based in Madison, Wis., isn't the first to offer these types of products over the Web. Drugstore.com Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. are competitors, and Amazon offers a "subscribe and save" service.

But Alice is streamlining things by letting manufacturers sell straight to shoppers. Product makers decide what to sell, set prices and collect all the proceeds from sales. Alice stocks products in a centralized warehouse, where workers pack the stuff up and ship it to buyers.

"We're really allowing manufacturers to be retailers and they don't have any of the hassles of that," Wiegand said.

A U.S. Outsourcing Deal May Add American Jobs

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:34:45 -0500

Even Snapple, an American iced tea maker with a homespun image, is outsourcing work to an Indian company. But in unusual twist, the deal may increase jobs in the United States.

The brand's parent company, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, said Tuesday it had signed a new, five-year contract with HCL Technologies, a major information technology and outsourcing company based in Noida, India. HCL will manage Snapple's computer networks -- but may be hiring in the United States to do it.

HCL said Tuesday that Dr Pepper Snapple would be its "anchor service desk customer" in a facility in Raleigh, North Carolina, that would eventually employ 500 people. With the new deal, HCL is continuing to "bring on new staff at our new facility in North Carolina," Shami Khorana, president of HCL America, said in a statement.

Indian IT and outsourcing companies have been increasing their use of "onshoring," or putting jobs in a client's home market, as political pressures build to grow jobs in countries hard hit by the economic slowdown.

Onshoring is being directly promoted in some markets. The Australia Computer Society, a trade group, said this month it was trying to help its members win back work that had gone overseas.

HCL said in August of last year that it would invest $3.2 million to open a North Carolina facility. At that time the company employed 3,000 workers in the United States and also had operations in China, Ireland and Poland. HCL employs over 60,000 people worldwide, the bulk of them in India.

Other information technology companies, like Tata Consultancy Services, have set up huge overseas operations. T.C.S., as it is known, now employs about 12,000 people outside India, according to the company's latest annual report.

Terms of the HCL and Dr Pepper Snapple deal were not announced. HCL beat out I.B.M. for the contract.

Jobs Is Back, But Apple Is Tight-Lipped

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:35:42 -0500

Steven P. Jobs, Apple's co-founder and chief executive, has officially returned to work after a five-month medical leave. But for some investors the issues raised by Apple's secrecy about Mr. Jobs's health problems and liver transplant are likely to linger.

"Steve is back to work," Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, said Monday. "He is currently at Apple a few days a week and working from home the remaining days."

As was the case with Mr. Jobs's leave, his return to work was accompanied by only minimal disclosures.

Mr. Dowling declined to say whether Mr. Jobs's role had changed or to discuss the chief executive's health. He also would not say when Mr. Jobs had first returned to work at Apple. Mr. Jobs was at work on the corporate campus a week ago, according to a person who saw him there.

The Apple chief's official return comes just before the self- imposed deadline for his medical leave. When Apple announced his leave in January, the company said he would be back at work by the end of June.

Mr. Jobs underwent a liver transplant about two months ago, but word of the operation did not surface until this month. Last week, a hospital in Tennessee confirmed that he had had surgery and said his prognosis was excellent.

News of the operation rekindled a controversy among shareholders and corporate governance experts about Apple's scant disclosures about the health of Mr. Jobs, a survivor of pancreatic cancer. His return to work is not likely to quell the debate.

"We don't know much," said Charles M. Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. "We know he is back at work and that he had a transplant. Given how important he seems to be to the value of this business, we ought to...