Gregarius » BetaNews.Com » juillet 31, 2013

BetaNews.Com (15 non lus)

Amazon Prime fires starting gun for five new kids shows

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 8:55pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

Amazon Prime has been slowly growing, from shipping to video and even a lending library, but the company has also been busy adding original content these days and that continues today. Previously the retail giant even crowd-sourced new shows, asking those who viewed the pilots to choose which would make it to production.

Now the company wishes to launch five new kids shows -- in pilot form, once again. "Following the positive response to its first set of TV pilots, Amazon Studios today announced it will produce five more original pilots for kids, including the first pilots for ages six to eleven. The new pilots come from Emmy Award-winning creators as well as a Hollywood newcomer discovered though Amazon Studios’ open-door submission process. The pilots will stream on Amazon Instant Video and LOVEFiLM in the U.K. for customers to watch, provide feedback, and help determine which shows should be produced as a series", the company announces today.

Amazon gives only a vague indication of when its next "pilot season" will begin, but does let us know the titles of the five new shows that will debut during that period. The pilots include Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, Grid Smasher, Hard-Boiled Eggheads, The Jo B. & G. Raff Show and Wishenpoof.

"We're very excited to be able to introduce these five original ideas and their talented creators to Amazon customers. After the success of our first pilots, we look forward to getting lots more fantastic feedback from kids and parents," said Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios.

Look for the episodes on Prime Instant Video later this year and in early 2014. Hopefully all will have a more promising start than ZombieLand did earlier this year.
You should believe Steve Ballmer

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 7:55pm CEST par Joe Wilcox

Microsoft's CEO is serious about reinventing the tech giant as a "devices and services" company -- the recent reorganization is for real. Today's launch of Office for Android can mean nothing else; okay, he wants to preserve revenues for the most profitable division, but the two objectives are intertwined.

Office for Android is a gutsy, risky move. Bets are on the table, and Ballmer puts his biggest stakes on one number. Google chief exec Larry Page sits opposite. Who wins the gamble? Is it winner takes all? Or will both take home booty? The answers are likely a fiscal year of earnings -- perhaps half-a-gin more -- away.

Just two months ago, I asserted: "Microsoft shouldn't do Office for Android", yet here it is -- Mobile Office for Office 365. But much has changed in a short time up in Redmond, Wash. I reasoned then:

Android is a risky bet. While Google's platform seemingly makes sense by the numbers of devices shipped versus iOS, the temptation to go there is fool's play. The transition from the personal computing to cloud-connected device eras is unmistakable. Google shifts computing and informational relevance to the cloud and drives it back to the device. Microsoft drives it the other way, leveraging off the huge Office customer base. The software giant seeks to provide customers seamless experience whether using applications on a PC, other devices or over the Internet, preserving the relevance of major products like Office. Google seeks to undermine them...Microsoft shouldn't help Android adoption by supporting its crown jewel there.

Lost Cause

My reasoning stands if the old Microsoft prioritizes protecting Windows as a major operating system for the contextual cloud computing era -- what many people wrongly call post-PC. According to Gartner, Android device shipments will be more than three times Windows next year -- (1.06 billion and 378 million, respectively). Android arrives on most of the tech people actually buy, smartphones and tablets.

So far, Microsoft's efforts in both categories are dead on arrival. Today, colleague Wayne Williams reveals that Surface, for example, generated just $853 million in fiscal 2013, or less than this month's $900 million write-off that contributed to a Microsoft stock sell-off.

Neither Microsoft nor its partners have a competitive Windows tablet in the fastest growing category: tablets 7-7.9 inches. During second quarter, Android tablet market share surged to 67 percent from 51.4 percent a year earlier, while iOS fell to 28.3 percent from 47.2, according to Strategy Analytics. Windows share: 2.3 percent.

On smartphones, during the same time period, Microsoft's global market share is less than 5 percent in most markets, the United States among them, according to Kantar WorldPanel. The point: Microsoft already has lost the next-gen device platform war. Windows is a lost cause.

Worth Fighting For

Office remains, as does the recent push to cloud services around the suite and other existing software products. During fiscal 2013, Office division accounted for a stunning 60.5 percent of Microsoft profits. That's a revenue stream Ballmer should want to preserve at all costs, particularly if he is serious about devices -- on all platforms -- and services. In view of the recent reorganization, I reverse my position and assert that Microsoft should release Mobile Office for Android, as long as the focus is devices and services, which it is.

The product name "for Office 365" is the point, and the service is required. Like iOS, Android users get something, but not as much as those on Windows Phone. Microsoft's message here is subtle but direct: If you want Office on a mobile platform other than Windows Phone, you need the productivity suite subscription service. If you already have Office 365 and Android, Microsoft offers an extra benefit at no extra charge.

As I explained a year ago, Office 365 is the productivity suite's future. During fiscal 2013, the Business division generated $27.4 billion in revenue -- $1.5 billion from Office 365, a service less than 12 months released. That figure doesn't include ancillary software or services revenue connected to the subscription suite. If Microsoft doesn't find a place on those billion Android devices, Google will with Apps, and Business division declines.

Question for Android users: Will you now subscribe to Office 365?
Good news for gamers, Freemake Video Converter adds Fraps support

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 6:34pm CEST par Nick Peers

Ellora Assets Corporation has announced the official release of Freemake Video Converter 4.0.3, its ad-supported video conversion tool for Windows. The new build adds full support for Fraps files, which are popular among gamers who wish to record their gaming exploits to video.

Version 4.0.3 also widens Freemake Video Converter’s support to allow the conversion of a number of additional formats including MP3 and WAV audio formats.

Fraps support makes it possible for users to convert their recorded Fraps videos into AVI, MKV, WMV, MP4, and 3GP formats, plus use the included iPhone, iPad, Android and cellphone presets. The format can also be freely edited using Freemake’s video tools, which include cutting, joining and rotating features.

Users can also upload Frap videos to YouTube quickly and easily with the application, something not natively supported by YouTube itself.

Version 4.03 also adds support for converting 10-bit video, DV AVI and AMR video files, plus MP3 files containing the MPEG audio codec and WAV files sporting the DTS codec.

A number of fixes are also implemented in this release, including those with incorrect audio or aspect ratio detection, M2V and TRP file conversion, opening DVDs containing CPPM protection and auto-crop.

Other fixes improve support for converting to PSP and iPad 3 as well as downloading videos from YouTube, YouTube Vevo and Dailymotion.

Freemake Video Converter 4.0.3 is available now as a free download for Windows PCs. Note that users will be offered additional software during the installation process -- to avoid installing this, make sure Custom installation is selected in order to bypass these potentially unwanted programs.
Samsung explains why some Galaxy S4 benchmarks appear 'optimized'

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 6:28pm CEST par Mark Wilson

On Tuesday AnandTech published a report that suggested some sort of "trickery" was being used by Samsung to boost device performance when benchmarks are run. The Korean electronics manufacturer responded to the claims today, and while it does not deny that performance is adjusted when benchmarking tools are running, it refutes the suggestion that changes to the frequency of the Galaxy S4's GPU during benchmarking are "intended to improve [these] results".

Investigations started after a post on the Beyond3D forum claimed that the GPU speed was usually limited to 480MHz but increased to 532MHz when certain whitelisted apps were running. Benchmarks using older testing apps gave worse performance results than newer ones for user frogblast.

AnandTech carried out various tests and found that GPU frequency was indeed capped at 480MHz when running a variety of games -- but when running GLBenchmark 2.5.1 this increased to 532MHz. So what could account for this 10 percent difference? Digging deeper, AnandTeh unearthed an intriguingly named string (BenchmarkBooster) in the benchmark APK. Alarm bells did ring.

Samsung's response is interesting. The company does not deny that there is a change in the GPU frequency, explaining that it does indeed have a maximum operating frequency of 533MHz (yes, 533, not 532MHz). The statement goes on to say that GPU frequency is "lowered to 480MHz for certain gaming apps that may cause an overload, when they are used for a prolonged period of time in full-screen mode".

It concludes by saying that "maximum GPU frequency of 533MHz is applicable for running apps that are usually used in full-screen mode, such as the S Browser, Gallery, Camera, Video Player, and certain benchmarking apps, which also demand substantial performance.

"The maximum GPU frequencies for the Galaxy S4 have been varied to provide optimal user experience for our customers, and were not intended to improve certain benchmark results".
Microsoft embraces Google -- releases Office for Android

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 6:13pm CEST par Brian Fagioli
Two months ago, Microsoft released a version of Office for iPhone. While it was eagerly anticipated by many wishful Apple users, Office Mobile for Office 365 Subscribers was met with some dissatisfaction due to apparent limitations. Despite these shortcomings, many Android users were still saddened to be left out of the party. Today they can finally try it for themselves as Microsoft announces Office Mobile for Android phones.

While this is great news, the app has inevitable limitations. According to Microsoft, "...you will not be able to download and install Office Mobile for Android phones on an Android tablet from the Google Play store. If you have an Android tablet, we recommend using the Office Web Apps which provide the best Office experience on a tablet". In other words, Office for Android will not run on larger screen devices -- just like Office for iPhone is not available for iPad. However, unlike iOS, Android can side-load applications. If someone was to leak the .apk file, there is a good chance it could be made to run on a tablet.

Unfortunately, the same major complaint about Office for iPhone applies here -- an Office 365 subscription is required. While I personally like this business model to combat piracy, subscription-based software is not a popular subject in the technology community. This excludes many paying non-365 Office users from using the app that they so desperately desire.

Negatives aside, the app should be a good experience for Android users. According to Microsoft, "...this app shows that we're committed to keep providing additional value for Office 365 subscribers. Office 365 subscribers will now be able to access, view, and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents with Windows Phone, iPhone and Android phones". While Android already has a plethora of third party office suites, having the ability to use an official Office app is a huge win for BYOD corporate users.

My colleague Joe Wilcox recently declared that Microsoft shouldn't do Office for Android. In his article, Joe says "combined iOS and Windows Phone will be mobile platform second to Android in coming years. Microsoft should foster a united front against a common enemy". Many would agree with Joe and say that Office for Android is Microsoft waiving the white flag and signaling Windows Phone's defeat. However, Microsoft is quick to point out that Office on Windows Phone 8 is superior to the Android version in the following ways:
- Office Mobile comes preinstalled
- Office Mobile is pre-activated, so it will function without an Office 365 subscription
- Office 365 setup combines the setup of email, Office Mobile and Lync, with a single entry of credentials
- Office documents received as attachments in email will open directly with the Office Mobile app, not with viewers that may not render the documents correctly
- Office Mobile has support for saving documents locally on the phone
- Office Mobile includes searching and filtering for documents
- Office Mobile supports opening IRM-protected email and documents
Do you have an Office 365 subscription and Android phone? Tell me how you are liking the new app in the comments.

Office Mobile for Android is available to download from Google Play now.
Most Windows Phone 8 users should say good-bye to Gmail calendar and contacts sync

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 5:00pm CEST par Mihaita Bamburic

Starting tomorrow, most Windows Phone 8 devices will be unable to sync Gmail calendar and contacts entries though new connections, as Google officially drops support for Exchange ActiveSync in its consumer-oriented email service. The search giant initially revealed that EAS would be ditched after January 30, but decided to give Microsoft a six-month reprieve, which ends today, to give the company time to implement CalDAV and CardDAV (the two protocols required for calendar and contacts sync, respectively) support in its tiled smartphone operating system, before finally pulling the plug.

New handsets, like the Nokia Lumia 925 and Lumia 1020, already ship with the Windows Phone 8 version (known as GDR2) which adds CalDAV and CardDAV support. However, the necessary update has yet to be rolled-out to the majority of older smartphones, like my Lumia 920 for instance (according to user reports, it is available on the unbranded HTC Windows Phone 8X), a delay which potentially affects most Windows Phone 8 users, if device market share is of any indication.

The problem is Microsoft promised, in late-January, that users will not face this issue after Google drops EAS support in Gmail. At the time, the software giant's Michael Stroh said "the Windows Phone team is building support into our software for the new sync protocols Google is using for calendar and contacts -- CalDAV and CardDAV. These new protocols, combined with our existing support for the IMAP protocol for email, will enable Windows Phone users to continue to connect to Google services after July 31, 2013". That is not the case for me, as well as other affected users.

Which company is to blame here? It's difficult to say, really. CalDAV and CardDAV support has been built-into Windows Phone 8 since May, at least (the month when Nokia unveiled the Lumia 925), therefore Microsoft cannot be blamed for failing to add the two protocols to its tiled smartphone OS. But the software giant can at least be blamed for failing to keep its word when it comes to the seamless transition (for the majority of its users).

Based on my findings, Nokia has also yet to release updated firmware images for its pre-Lumia 925 Windows Phone 8 lineup. The Finnish maker previously announced that an update, called Lumia Amber, will be rolled-out this summer, which is set to introduce CalDAV and CardDAV support among other new features (like enabling FM Radio functionality, the ability to change the default camera app, etc.), but it has not hit any devices at the time of writing this article.

The biggest problem (aside from the obvious Gmail calendar and contacts sync issue) is that Windows Phone 8 is losing credibility as a platform designed for the long run. Microsoft may have extended the support lifecycle for its tiled smartphone OS, but what good does that do when users cannot even receive an update that was promised just six months ago? As a Windows Phone 8 user I have to consider the possibility of this being a recurring event -- and the odds of this happening again do not favor the platform.

Photo Credit: Markus Gann/Shutterstock
Spybot promises better performance, smoother installation

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 4:07pm CEST par Nick Peers

Safer Networking has announced the release of Spybot -- Search & Destroy 2.1 SR2, a minor update to its popular malware-cleaning tool. Spybot S&D comes into two flavors -- a free-for-personal use edition that concentrates on anti-spyware protection, or various paid-for versions that come with extra anti-virus protection plus additional tools.

Version 2.1 SR2 comes with few visible changes and no new features, but it does respond to user feedback in tweaking the default Internet Protection settings to provide better performance, although what security compromises have been made to achieve this aren’t made clear.

Service Release 2 also comes with the promise of better targeted information about the status of various options, delivered via the program’s Start Center screen and Notification area icon.

The update also promises further performance enhancements via unspecified "background improvements", and also updates language files for better translation. There’s also the promise of a smoother installation experience.

The update is the second maintenance release since Spybot 2.1 debuted back in May. This added a built-in anti-virus engine and multi-core support to paid versions for faster scanning, while giving all users the opportunity to selectively remove malware from their system.

It also shipped with a new MRU scan that targets only recently changed files as well as an improved Rootkit scanning tool.

Spybot -- Search & Destroy 2.1 SR2 is available now as a free-for-personal use download for PCs running Windows XP or later. Users can then upgrade to the Home edition for $13.99 or the Professional edition for $25.99 to gain additional functionality.
Newspapers in a digital age: moving with the times and charging for it

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 4:00pm CEST par Mark Wilson

For most of us the digital revolution started some time ago. Working in journalism for nearly 15 years means that I have seen things change enormously, but even back in the late 1990s it was clear that the web was where it was at -- or where it was going to be. Newspapers and magazines have had to adapt to fight for ever-decreasing audiences in a changing market. But not everyone has been moving at the same pace, or has quite the same idea about how things should work.

The ease of self-publishing and the low overheads associated with running a website, in conjunction with the always-on, instant updateability of the internet has seen the sales of newspapers and magazines dropping off. Most titles have gone with the flow and have developed an online presence, but the need for publishers to make money is at odds with the widely held belief that everything online should be free.

A newspaper really does need to have a website. It is expected of it. But when you're trying to sell real, physical newspapers for actual money, the prospect of making the same content available online free of charge seems counter-intuitive. But this is exactly what many British newspapers did for many years.

Obviously money needs to be made, and advertising plays an important role here. To help bring in additional revenue some newspaper sites started to charge for access to major stories -- taking out a subscription provides access to additional content. But when something has been available free of charge for so long, a switch to a subscription model can be hard for readers to swallow.

Of course, the erection of paywalls is far from restricted to the UK. In the US, the Wall Street Journal makes some of its content available to all, while a good portion is left so it can only be read by subscribers. There is a very similar setup at the New York Times.

Subscription models are nothing new and they have proved to be flexible. When Hurricane Sandy hit, both sites dropped their paywalls to provide free access to information.

One of the biggest supporters of paywalls is the Murdoch group. The Times -- one of the most respected newspapers in the world -- now just gives a taster of articles for free, with full access being limited to paid-up subscribers.

It should come as no surprise that other titles from the same stable chose to go down the same route, and the Sun -- still the UK's most popular newspaper -- is the next in line to disappear behind a paywall.

In an astounding piece of editorial, the Sun sets out its manifesto and explains its view of the state of the nation.

There is nothing remotely unusual about a newspaper nailing its colours to the mast, but here there is a slightly different approach. The article starts by focusing on changing technology, the prevalence of tablets and smartphones and the widespread availability of broadband. For the rest of the publishing world, this is not news, but the Sun sees these wonders as being 'just around the corner'.

So why the sudden interest in technology? Why so keen to be seen to embrace the change that it brings? Perhaps unsurprisingly it is because of other changes. Sun+ is the Sun's subscription-based online portal. It is a massive change for a big website that has been free for many years. Whether audience figures fall, rise or remain constant is something only time will tell, but I see the paper's lauding of technology rather more cynically.

The declaration that "we love gadgets, we love the freedom and the fun they bring, we love apps" doesn’t sound sincere -- it sounds out of touch, old fashioned, and several years too late. It sounds like your great-grandmother pretending to be interested in your computer.

The Sun's rebranding has a feel of a Trojan attack (in the historical sense, not a virus attack). The editorial spouts purple prose about the paper's support for Britain and everything it believes to be great about it. It purports to be on the cutting edge of what's happening (despite apparently referring to "lightning fast broadband" as a "giant leap" that is "just around the corner". It tells the readers what they want to hear… and then sneaks in the fact that access to its content will no longer be free.

So excuse me if I look at this with a slightly jaded eye. Yes, technology is marvellous, exciting, liberating, democratizing and so much more. But to feign interest in it just to rake in the money seems wrong.

Do you, or are you willing to pay for access to news online? You know that there will always be at least some free news available, but how would you feel if your preferred source starting charging? Would you cough up, or move on?

Photo Credit: fuyu liu/Shutterstock
Cost, complexity and security concerns hold back mobile enterprise apps

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 3:12pm CEST par Ian Barker

Enterprise application and data security company Mobile Helix has announced the results of an independent survey of CIOs. It shows a large percentage of businesses delaying the roll out of enterprise apps on mobile devices thanks to concerns over security, costs and complexity.

Highlights of the survey, conducted among 300 CIOs in the US and UK, are that companies on average had over 400 applications within their organization but that only 22 percent of them could be accessed from mobile devices despite clear demand from employees for mobile access. Major barriers to adoption are development and support costs along with security.

Matt Bancroft, Co-Founder and COO for Mobile Helix says, "Users expect critical data and applications to be available on any device and in any context, both in mobile and fixed environments, in the way that is most familiar and convenient to them. CIOs understand the obvious benefits of empowering employees and making them more productive, yet only a small proportion of enterprise apps and critical data are currently mobilized".

A high proportion, 81 percent, of respondents to the survey say they believe the cost of developing apps for mobile use is too high because of the fragmented nature of the mobile market. Only a third of respondents felt they had the necessary skills to develop native mobile apps. Of companies that had developed a native app, 47 percent said they would have reservations about doing so again because of the cost and complexity involved.

"The current approach to mobility is limiting the market -- enterprises are now looking for solutions which will allow them to develop and deliver apps to their employees simply and cost effectively," Bancroft adds. "Every device platform on the market today has a high performance, HTLM5-compliant engine. By taking this HTML5 browser-based approach, corporate IT can build a unified applications platform that extends across devices of all shapes and sizes, without compromise in functionality, performance, or security".

Photo credit:Steve Heap/Shutterstock
Surface's failure casts yet more doubt on Microsoft's Windows 8 vision

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 2:17pm CEST par Wayne Williams

Yesterday a striking fact regarding Surface was revealed in a SEC filing from Microsoft. The software giant's tablet lineup brought in revenue of $853 million in the company's fiscal year 2013 -- just under the embarrassing $900 million Surface-related write off Microsoft declared two weeks ago.

$853 million might sound like quite a lot of money, but what it actually means is the tablet line is a flop, with Microsoft selling just slightly more Surface PCs in a year than Apple shifts iPads in a week.

Let's look closer at that $853 million that Surface brought into Microsoft. We don't know how much of that comes from Surface RT and how much from Surface Pro (Microsoft simply lumps everything together as "Surface revenue" in the SEC filing), but if we divide the figure by $500, which is how much the base Surface RT model cost before the recent price cut, that shows the maximum number of Surface tablets sold prior to June is around 1.7 million, except of course it will be a lot lower than that.

Microsoft makes $x revenue (say $500 for the base 32 GB Surface RT -- pre-price reduction) from each tablet it sells directly, but ones sold by other retailers will bring in less revenue for the tech giant (the retailers have to take their cut after all), so it could have sold more devices. However, factor in the more expensive variants of Surface -- the 64 GB RT model retailed for $599, and the Surface Pro models are priced from $899 -- and the number of actual tablets sold could well drop significantly.

A fair estimate, pre-price cut, might be 1.5 million units sold since launch. Apple, in comparison, sells around 1.2 million iPads a week.

So, Surface has clearly got off to the worst possible start. There's no other way to look at it, but there are reasons for this. Before the tablet even launched, I said "Microsoft's Surface pricing dilemma is two opportunities waiting to be missed" -- the tablet could have been priced high, to show the quality, or priced low, to compete with rival products (well, the iPad). I said Microsoft would likely price both flavors of Surface somewhere middling, which it did, and which was a mistake. To make an impact low was the way to go.

Microsoft's initial marketing of the tablet was awful -- dancers and clicking keyboards is not how you sell a tablet that is much more advanced (and more expensive) than the competition.

The retail spread at launch was dreadful too -- patchy distribution in the US, pretty much non-existent online and retail availability in the rest of the world.

The launch of the Surface range was, in a word, botched.

That the reviews weren't universally glowing, and consumers were confused by Windows RT, didn't help Surface's start either.

Going back to the article I wrote a year ago, I said this:

Microsoft really needs Surface to succeed. I mean, really, really, needs it to succeed. Because Surface runs Windows 8, properly. Surface runs Windows how it's been designed to run. Windows 8 has, after all, been built with touchscreen devices in mind.

People talk about Windows 8 as being an operating system, but it's more than that. It's a strategy. Microsoft wants you to use its OS on every device you own. It wants you to see its logo when you fire up your desktop PC or laptop, when you turn on your Windows Phone 8, and when you use a tablet.

On the PC, controlled using a keyboard and mouse, Windows 8 is clumsy and awkward. Joe Wilcox sums up the experience perfectly here, and for that reason, the new OS could well flop. Windows XP die-hards are unlikely to want to switch to it and Windows 7 users will be similarly reluctant.

Which leaves Windows 8-powered tablets to save the day. And by tablets, I mean Surface.

The PC is dying and Windows 8 adoption in the enterprise is reportedly awful. Surface is the Windows 8 Pro flagship tablet (and pretty much the only place to find Windows RT these days) so if that's not selling either, it does beg an important question -- what does this all mean for Microsoft's divisive operating system?

Windows 8.1 will be with us soon, and there's no question that's a big improvement over Windows 8. Microsoft is actively targeting the enterprise with the OS refresh, and Surface RT has seen a price cut, and enjoyed a surge in sales as a result, but will that be enough, or is more drastic action required?

I'd love to know what you think, so please leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Google Drive makes setup easier for new users, adds new shortcuts

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 2:14pm CEST par Nick Peers

Google has released Google Drive 1.11 for Windows and Mac, a minor update to its desktop tool for accessing and synchronizing data with the online Google Drive service. The new build adds shortcuts for conveniently creating new documents, plus allows new users to choose an arbitrary name for their sync directory.

The update also comes with a number of bug fixes, including two particular issues that have plagued Mac users.

The two new features are of most use to first-time Google Drive users -- existing users will need to uninstall the software, then reinstall it to make full use of them.

New users gain three desktop and Start menu shortcuts to Docs, Sheets and Slides respectively -- the Start menu shortcuts are supposed to be made available to existing users too, but nothing was created when we updated our copy. These basically launch the appropriate web app with a new document created ready for populating.

The other new feature adds an extra option to the setup process, which allows users to choose their own name for the sync directory. Google claims this prevents confusion that can lead to accidentally creating a Google Drive folder inside another Google Drive folder.

The update also comes with the usual promise of speed and performance enhancements, although no details are supplied as to what these actually entail.

In addition two particular bugs affecting Mac users are fixed, one that led to crashes on startup on Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.8) machines, and another that caused an issue with the Finder context menu that appears when right-clicking in Column view. Other bug fixes and enhancements are also promised, again unspecified.

Google Drive 1.11 is available now as a freeware download for Windows and Mac. Users require a Google account to access their Google Drive space, of which up to 15GB is available free, shared with other Google services including Google Mail. Also available are Google Drive for Android 1.2 and Google Drive for iOS 1.5.
Google puts us in a spin with 360-degree Views

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 12:51pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Google is touting its new Views community as the latest way to add Photo Spheres to Google Maps. These 360-degree photos can be captured with Android 4.2 devices and help to give an immersive online experience of a location -- think Street View but with a personal twist.

Views gives users a new way to share their photos so they are not just left forgotten on an SD card. The site can be used to work with any panoramic shots you've taken, or you can import them from your Google+ account.

The community is a simple affair, but it's an interesting central repository for managing your Views -- it also makes it easier to browse through the panoramas that have been uploaded by other users.

Google Maps & Photo Sphere product manager Evan Rapoport waxes lyrical on the new launch in a blog post here.
NSS Labs unveils new threat modeling and forecasting services

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 10:55am CEST par Ian Barker

Information security research specialist NSS Labs uses a workshop at the BlackHat USA conference today to announce new threat modeling and forecasting services to help clients better understand how they're at risk.

These new services use data from NSS's research and from its BaitNET real-time monitoring technology to deliver information about exploit and malware trends.

NSS Threat Modeling allows companies to see which vulnerabilities pose the greatest threats to their networks. It can model individual security layers and show which exploits can bypass them.

Threat Forecasting meanwhile monitors malware and exploits around the world in order to predict which threats are likely to present the greatest risk based on an enterprise's specific systems. Using BaitNET technology, which captures and verifies information in real time, it can help organizations respond quickly to the immediate risks.

Vikram Phatak, CEO at NSS Labs says, "Every security organization runs into limitations where more manpower, budget, and technology (or all three) are no longer available for solving security problems. What matters then is having real, actionable information that you can use to make informed security decisions about how to deploy the resources that you do have. With these new services, we go beyond simply telling clients what threats are out there to actually 'forecasting' whether or not a threat is likely to impact their organization".

You can find out more about the workshop on the BlackHat USA website.

Photo credit: lolloj/Shutterstock
The origins of DefCon

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 9:22am CEST par Robert X. Cringely

This week we have the DefCon 20 and Black Hat computer security conferences in Las Vegas -- reasons enough for me to do 2-3 columns about computer security. These columns will be heading in a direction I don’t think you expect, but first please indulge my look back at the origin of these two conferences, which were started by the same guy, Jeff Moss, known 20 years ago as The Dark Tangent. Computer criminals and vigilantes today topple companies and governments, but 20 years ago it was just kids, or seemed to be. I should know, because I was there -- the only reporter to attend Def Con 1.

In those days there were no independent computer security research organizations. There were hackers, or more appropriately crackers, as they were known.

Def Con (notice the different spelling) was a computer criminal’s rave where -- for reasons I could never quite understand -- the cops were invited to attend. The Dark Tangent can now legally drink at his own show (he couldn’t 20 years ago), he picked up a real name along the way and even an MBA, so of course the show is now supposed to make money. They still play Spot the Fed, with the person who spots the Fed getting a t-shirt that says, "I spotted the Fed", and the Fed who has been outed receiving a shirt that says, "I am a Fed". It’s cute, but no longer clever.

Def Con 1 attracted around 150 hackers and crackers to the old Sands Hotel back before ConAir Flight 1 smashed the hotel to bits for a movie. The year was 1993 and InfoWorld, where I worked in those days, wouldn’t pay my way, so I went on my own.

It was surreal. I knew I wasn’t in Kansas anymore when my cellphone rang in a session, setting-off four illegal scanners in the same room. As I left to take my call in the hallway I wondered why I bothered?

There were two high points for me at Def Con 1. First was the appearance of Dan Farmer, then head of data security for Sun Microsystems. Dressed all in black leather with flaming shoulder-length red hair and a groupie on each arm, Dan sat literally making-out in the back row until it was time for his presentation. But that presentation was far more entertaining than the smooching. In a series of rapid-fire slides Farmer showed dozens of ways in which crackers had attacked Sun’s network. He explained techniques that had failed at Sun but would probably have succeeded at most other companies. It was a master class in computer crime and his point, other than to prove that Dan was the smartest guy in the room, was to urge the crackers to at least be more original in their attacks!

But the best part of Def Con 1 was the battle between the kids and hotel security. Contrary to popular belief, breaking into Pentagon computer systems was not very lucrative back then, so many of the participants in that early Def Con did not have money for hotel rooms. The Dark Tangent handled this by renting the single large meeting room 24 hours per day so it could be used after hours for sleeping. Alas, someone forgot to explain this to the 6AM security shift at the Sands. Just as the hardy group of adventurers returned from a late-night break-in at the local telephone company substation, fresh security goons closed the meeting room and threw the kids out.

It is not a good idea to annoy a computer cracker, but it is a very bad idea to annoy a group of computer crackers bent on impressing each other.

The meeting reconvened at 9 or 10 with the topic suddenly changed to Revenge on the Sands. Gail Thackeray, then a US Attorney from Arizona who at that moment had approximately half the room under indictment, rose to offer her services representing the kids against the hotel management.

Thackeray had been invited to speak by the very people she wanted to put in jail. I told you this was surreal.

Adult assistance might be nice, but a potentially more satisfying alternative was offered by a group that had breached the hotel phone system, gained access to the computer network, obtained root level access to the VAX minicomputer that ran the Sands casino, and were ready at any moment to shut the sucker down. It came to a vote: accept Thackeray’s offer of assistance or shut down the casino.

There was no real contest: they voted to nuke the casino. Not one to be a party pooper, I voted with the majority.

Gail Thackeray, feeling her lawyer’s oats, was perfectly willing to be a party pooper, though. She explained with remarkable patience that opting en masse to commit a felony was a move that we might just want to reconsider, especially given the three strikes implications for some of the older participants.

We could accept her help or accept a date with the FBI that afternoon. The Sands (now the Venetian), which was ironically owned by the same folks who used to run Comdex, never knew how close it came to being dark.

It was a thrilling moment like you’d never see today. Everyone who was in that room shares a pirates’ bond. And though I can’t defend what we almost did, I don’t regret it.

And like the others, I wish Gail Thackeray had stayed in Arizona and we’d shut the sucker down.

Reprinted with permission

Photo credit: Adchariyaphoto/Shutterstock
CHM Decoder quickly converts CHM help files to HTML

Publié: juillet 31, 2013, 9:12am CEST par Mike Williams

It’s been around since 1997, but Microsoft’s Compiled HTML Help (CHM) format is still often used for application help files, e-books and more. If you’re working on a PC then that’s no problem -- the files are easy to read -- but if you need to browse them on other platforms, then you might like to try CHM Decoder.

Point this small, free and portable tool at a CHM file, and it will quickly convert this into the original HTML. Open the root page and you’ll be able to browse it just like the original file. Only now it’s in a format which you can access almost anywhere.

There are other ways to do something similar, of course. If you’ve installed 7-Zip, for instance, then you can right-click a CHM file, select 7-Zip > Extract… and it’ll also decompile the file for you.

Where CHMDecoder wins out, though, is that by default it’ll also create a root menu. That is, you’ll see a tree on the left hand side, much as in the regular Windows Help viewer, where you can see and expand chapters, view page names, and click on any individual page to view it.

This approach can introduce minor problems on its own. Open the page in Internet Explorer, say, and its scripting might result in the browser complaining that it’s "restricted this page from running active content" (depending on your security settings).

If that does happen, though, just click "Allow Blocked Content" and you’ll see the Help file menu appear, top left.

CHM Decoder is strictly a single function tool, then. But it does at least perform that function very well. And if you need to make CHM content more accessible then the program should be able to help.