Yahoo is Trying to Become a Part of Social Web

Yahoo participated in the fray of integrating social networking with search results. Due to the alliance of Bing and Yahoo, Bing is responsible for all of the back-end work of actually crawling and indexing the Web, while Yahoo handles a unique front-end. The company does not plan to convolve the tent as well as be inferior online search to Google and Bing in the near future.

The company is going to overtake its competitors such as Google and Bing in the race for incorporating real-time search results brought from social networking.

One should say that Google search results as well as the integration of Twitter real-time updates showed the values of social networking for online search. Still the standard catalog of Web sites indexed for online search hold its position, although social networking supplements an immediacy element that is necessary for the society in order to make instant updates on breaking news.

Yahoo has made an approach concerning integration of Twitter in its search results. The company offers only two tweets and also adds two YouTube links that are taken from Twitter updates. It helps cut down on the information overload but unfortunately it cuts too far.

It should be mention that Yahoo is the party, but still the company is lucky because the party is in the process of development.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Google Books project face trouble in India

A group of Indian author and publishers have raised voice against Google and filed charges at the New York district court alleging copyright violation for scanning several books in Indian languages without notifying the authors.

Star Publications Pvt. Ltd., Abhinav Publications, Daya Publication House and Pustak Mahal also include in the group of publishers, who have moved court against the Google Book Settlement.

By reaching an agreement with several universities in the US, Google has been scanning millions of books under copyright protection since 2004 and thus the snippets of these books were made available online under the initiative, known as the Google Library Project.

Siddharth Arya, the legal counsel for IRRO (Indian Reprographic Rights Organisation) said, “Google’s unilateral conduct is a brazen attempt to turn copyright law on its head, by usurping the exclusive rights of the copyright holder”.

“The outcome of all of this was GBS 2.0 that incorporates minor cosmetic changes but continues to violate basic copyright laws. It retains several fundamental issues in the original settlement such as a mechanism known as ‘opt out’,” Arya said.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Gartner Predicts Modest Overall Growth in IT Spending

Gartner has revised its outlook for worldwide IT spending this year, predicting the industry as a whole will see 4.6 percent growth to $3.4 trillion, up from its previous prediction of 3.3 percent growth, according to its latest figures released Thursday.

That figure contrasts with 2009, when spending fell 4.6 percent. Gartner revised its forecast upward to account for an expected weakening of the U.S. dollar.

Spending is also expected to increase due to the increasing confidence of CEOs and CFOs as economic conditions gradually improve, said Richard Gordon, a research vice president with Gartner, in avideo.

Emerging markets will see the strongest gains. Gartner predicts that spending will increase 9.3 percent in Latin America, 7.7 percent in the Middle East and Africa and 7 percent in the Asia-Pacific region.

Due to the recession, the U.S. is expected to post only 2.5 percent growth, with Japan just 1.8 percent. In a bright spot outside of emerging markets, Gartner expects Western Europe to come in at 5.2 percent growth.

On the consumer side, confidence appears to be more fragile, Gordon said. “We think consumers are a bit nervous about job prospects,” Gordon said.

The recovery from the recession will take between 12 to 18 months. The availability of credit should increase, which will help increase spending, and companies may look to make more hardware investments during the second half of this year, Gordon said.

Popularity: 25% [?]

Bing to oust Google as default iPhone search?

Apple and Microsoft may be in talks to expel Google as the iPhone’s default search engine, in favor of Bing, according to BusinessWeek. The Apple-Google battle for the mobile throne is getting heated.

This is all coming from “two people familiar with the matter,” so, you know, eat a bowl of salt or whatever, but it sort of makes sense in a Machiavellian kind of way. Windows Mobile 7 notwithstanding, Apple’s competition in the mobile arena isn’t Microsoft, but Google, and so it’s not really that outlandish, especially considering that Bing isn’t necessarily a worse search engine than Google. Apple avoids throwing unnecessary support to Google (although the iPhone will still feature Google Maps, YouTube, and Gmail) while Microsoft gains a huge market for Bing. Everybody wins, except Google, which only mostly wins.

If Bing were the default search engine on your phone, would you go through the necessary steps to change it to Google? I have a feeling a lot of people just might not care. (Via BusinessWeek).

Popularity: 7% [?]

How to Protect Yourself When Using Internet Explorer

It won’t take more than a few minutes to close a security hole in Internet Explorer that allowed attacks against Google.

Worried about the security hole in Internet Explorer that was used to launch attacks by China against Google and others? There are ways to help close it and limit your exposure to similar threats — and it won’t take more than a few minutes. Here’s how to do it.

Microsoft has confirmed that an IE vulnerability was at fault for the Google attacks. In Microsoft Security Advisory (979352) it spells out details and in a company blog, Mike Reavey, director of Microsoft’s Security Response Center (MSRC) provides more information.

The security advisory notes that IE 5.01 running on Windows 2000 was not vulnerable to the attack, but that IE6, IE7 and IE8 on Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Server 2008, Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 are all at risk.

As of yet, you can’t completely close the security hole. However, there are ways to limit your exposure, notably using Protected Mode in IE on Windows Vista and Windows 7, and enabling Data Execution Protection (DEP). Changing your IE security zone to “High” will help as well. Here’s what Reavey has to say:

Protected Mode in IE 7 on Windows Vista and later significantly reduces the ability of an attacker to impact data on a user’s machine. Customers should also enable Data Execution Prevention (DEP) which helps mitigate online attacks. DEP is enabled by default in IE 8 but must be manually enabled in prior versions.

Customers can also set Internet and Local intranet security zone settings to “High” to prompt before running ActiveX Controls and Active Scripting in these zones or configure Internet Explorer to prompt before running Active Scripting or to disable Active Scripting in the Internet and Local intranet security zone. You can find details on implementing these settings in the advisory.

Unfortunately, though, he doesn’t detail how to do that. It’s all relatively straightforward to do, though. Here’s how.

Turning on Protected Mode

Turning on Protected Mode in IE 7 and IE 8 is exceedingly simple. Select Tools –> Internet Options, and click the Security Tab. Then check the box next to Enable Protected Mode, as you can see in the screenshot below. You’ll have to restart IE for it to take effect.

Changing your Security zone to high

It’s also quite simple to change your IE security zone to high. Select Tools –> Internet Options, and click the Security Tab. Then move the slider to High. You won’t need to restart IE for this setting to take effect.

Enabling DEP

DEP ie enabled by default in IE8. To turn it on in IE7, and to ensure that it’s on in IE8, select Tools –> Internet Options and click the Advanced tab. Scroll down until you come to the Security section. Check the box next to “Enable memory protection to mitigate online attacks” then click OK. You can see it, below. You’ll need to restart IE for the new setting to take effect.

As for IE6, I don’t have a copy, so can’t tell you how enable DEP from my own first-hand experience. However, according to About.com, right-click My Computer, select Properties, then choose the Advanced tab. Under Performance, select settings, then select the Data Execution Prevention tab. Next, select the option to “Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select.” Click Apply then click OK.

Microsoft has also released a tool that turns on DEP. To use it, go to this page and follow the instructions.

Will taking all these steps keep you safe from the Chinese Google-style attack? Not completely, but it will keep you safer than if you don’t do it. At some point, though, expect a patch from Microsoft to fix the problem.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Cyber Threats to Watch Out for in 2010

Security is a huge part of the job for most IT administrators. We’re always striving to protect our organizations from the latest barrage of viruses, worms, and other malware. With 2009 over, what types of threats could we face in the year ahead? The recent 2010 Threat Predictions report from McAfee (News – Alert) pegs a few different areas to watch out for in 2010.

Social networks will be one key breeding ground for cyber attacks, says McAfee. As sites like Twitter and Facebook (News – Alert) continue to grow in popularity, especially among the business crowd, cyber crooks will increasingly employ their usual bag of tricks to try to ensnare users.

A site like Facebook can be especially vulnerable as many people will implicitly and unthinkingly trust any “invitation” from their friends. But as McAfee points out, that next invite to play a cool game or run an interesting application from a Facebook friend could be a fake app created by a cybercriminal designed to infect your PC. We’ve already seen such malware attacking Facebook, such as the infamous Koobface worm that first reared its ugly head about a year ago.

Personally, I’ve just about stopped playing games, filling out quizzes, and running most applications in Facebook. I’ve never been comfortable with the way a Facebook app needs to gain access to your personal information in order to run. That’s always seemed like an open vulnerability that could easily allow the wrong people to learn too much about you. Now McAfee’s reminder that these apps are also a way to spread malware is something IT admins and Facebook users should keep in mind.

Another area to watch out for is the use of URL shorteners, popular on social networking and bookmarking sites. Services like bit.ly and tinyurl.com shorten URL strings so they can fit in smaller spaces, such as the 140-character limit imposed by Twitter. But you can’t preview a shortened URL, so you don’t know where it’s going to take you until the page pops up. This makes it easy for cyber crooks to point these URLs to pages that could deliver malware.

Microsoft (News – Alert) apps have traditionally been a popular target for malware writers. But that “honor” may switch over to Adobe this year. As Adobe Reader and Flash have become more prevalent, they’ve also become more of a target for cybercriminals. Adobe Reader in particular has been hit by security holes over the past year, forcing Adobe to take a more active role in keep its app properly patched.

Other threats that McAfee sees in its crystal ball for 2010:

Banking trojans designed to grab your financial account information may become more advanced. Already in 2009, they showed off the ability to sneak past some of the protections currently used by banks. McAfee warns that this year they may be able to silently interrupt transactions and even make withdrawals without being detected.

E-mail attachments will also continue to grow as a primary means of spreading malware. McAfee believes that these attachments could even target specific audiences, such as corporations, journalists – not good news on my end – and individuals.

Botnets, which are responsible for carrying out cyberattacks, will also increasingly use peer-to-peer networking to hop from one computer to another without a central base of operations. Such a strategy will make it more difficult for security professionals to track them down.

So how do you prepare yourself for the potential threats that lie ahead? Well, naturally since McAfee wrote the report, the company would like you to buy its own security software to protect your users. And McAfee does offer software with certain capabilities, such as the ability to scan shortened URLs. The company also recently struck a deal with Facebook to provide Facebook users with a free six-month subscription to its security software.

But any good security suite or application would be your first line of defense in protecting you and your users from the coming threats. It goes without saying that choosing and using the right software and keeping it updated is critical, no matter what security software you deploy. Also, make sure that you keep your organization’s PCs updated with the latest patches from Microsoft to protect the operating system, office suite, and browser.

But beyond the right software, user education is vital. Make sure your users are aware of the latest threats and realize that their actions can have consequences. They need to think twice before opening a file attachment or downloading an application that could expose them and your business to malware. Though 2010 may bring its own share of cyber threats like any other year, protecting your organization and your users is the best role you can play.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Microsoft: Customers should upgrade from IE6 & IE7

Microsoft has urged its customers to upgrade to Internet Explorer 8, with the software giant’s engineers not finding a solution to the now infamous exploit that was publicised by Google.

Part of Google’s crisis of conscience on China arrived because of a sophisticated attack on some Chinese citizens using an exploit in IE.

Microsoft insisted at the time that the attacks were made on people using the execrable IE6 browser, and, as of Sunday, Microsoft was issuing urgent releases to its customers urging them to upgrade to IE8.

IE8 untouched

“Customers using Internet Explorer 8 are not affected by currently known attacks and exploits due to the improved security protections in IE8,” said Microsoft.

“To help protect our customers, we recommend that all customers immediately upgrade to Internet Explorer 8.

“Customers should also consider applying the workarounds and mitigations provided in our Security Advisory such as putting Internet zone security settings to High.”

IE6 dead

Microsoft has always insisted that it will support those still on IE6, including businesses that it suggests have tools that rely on using the ageing and much criticised browser.

However, it is clear that IE6 is not coping with the modern internet, and, once again, a major scare has prompted the need for a call to update.

“Microsoft teams are continuing to work around the clock on an update and we will take appropriate action to protect customers when the update has met the quality bar for broad distribution,” concludes Microsoft’s release.

“Obviously, it is unfortunate that our product is being used in the pursuit of criminal activity.

“We will continue to work with Google, industry leaders and the appropriate authorities to investigate this situation.”

So, if you have IE6 or IE7 then look for a modern browser – which include ones not made by Microsoft of course.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Facebook and McAfee Join Hands to Offer Free Security Trial

Facebook and McAfee Join Hands to Offer Free Security Trial Giant social networking website Facebook, on Tuesday announced that it will be providing its user base with a free of cost 6 month trial of McAfee security software suite which has been released as Internet Security Suite. With the effort, the website is looking to offer better protection to its users.

The major player of the computer security world, McAfee is offering an independent online tool that would look to scan and remove any cyber attacks from a Facebook user’s computer.

As confirmed by the social networking site, the scanner would be offered free of charge to users, and if the users purchase the software after 6 months of trial, Facebook would not be taking any share in the revenue.

As of now, only the English version of the scanner is available, but soon users of other languages will be able to make use of it as well.

“Facebook is very serious about security and has made significant efforts to protect its users and service by investing in dedicated teams and sophisticated systems, and this partnership with McAfee furthers that mission. We believe our partnership will make a real difference in the battle to secure the Internet”, said McAfee Consumer, Mobile and Small Business executive VP, GM Todd Gebhart.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Microsoft, HP Together on Cloud

In a recent development, HP and Microsoft have tied up for a three-year engagement to help companies move to cloud computing. The two companies aim to simplify technology environments for businesses of all sizes and plan to invest $250 million.

The tie-up aims to build joint solutions based on industry standards and utilise existing data center investments, all managed through a common framework. This approach will enable customers to integrate private or public cloud computing models as their business requires. The two companies will collaborate on the Windows Azure platform, with HP and Microsoft offering services, and Microsoft continuing to invest in HP hardware for Windows Azure infrastructure.

With this strategic partnership, HP and Microsoft will collaborate on an engineering road map for data management machines; converged, pre-packaged application solutions; comprehensive virtualisation offerings; and integrated management tools.

Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft, said, “This agreement, which spans hardware, software and services, will enable business customers to optimise performance with push-button simplicity at the lowest possible total cost of ownership. Our extended partnership will transform the way large enterprises deliver services to their customers, and help smaller organisations adopt IT to grow their businesses. Microsoft and HP are betting on each other so our customers don’t have to gamble on IT.”

HP and Microsoft will deliver the new infrastructure-to-application model as integrated offerings for large, heterogeneous data center environments as well as through solutions designed for small and mid-size businesses. According to the companies, these new solutions are available immediately, with new offerings being introduced throughout the next three years.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Google India Doodle Celebrates Makar Sankranti

Today’s Google India homepage sports a new Google Doodle which celebrates Makar Sankranti, the festival of kites in India. The new Doodle is brilliantly done and features kites in it.

We take this opportunity to wish all our Indian readers a Happy Makar Sankranti. To view the new doodle, you will have to visit http://www.google.co.in. Enjoy.

Popularity: 5% [?]