Windows 8 ARM bootloader games

Windows 8 limits owners from booting non-Windows operating systems on ARM tablets.
Goodbye, BIOS (Basic Input Output System), an outmoded tool (can't boot from disks larger than 2 terabytes for one example). Hello, UEFI (United Extensible Firmware Interface), that works like BIOS but with much more security built in. And that security, by demanding digital signatures of operating systems, will allow Microsoft to block non-Windows OSs from booting, particularly on tablets running the ARM processor.
Some freedom for "modders" and Linux fans remain, since x86 systems running Windows 8 must allow the user to turn off the digital certificate requirement. But since tablets are the new hot platform, locking up Windows 8 tablets from operating system modifications really aggravates some people.

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How to tackle the risks of cyber attacks

It's impossible to be completely secure online, especially as more and more devices are connected. Lee Howell of the World Economic Forum suggests four ways to minimise the risks. 

Viruses such as Stuxnet hint at what may become possible

 

Any device with software-defined behaviour can be tricked into doing things its creators did not intend. Any device connected to a network of any sort, in any way, might be compromised by an external party – there are no provably secure systems, only systems whose faults have not yet been discovered.

These two axioms for the cyber age are proposed in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks 2012 report, published today. Experts who were asked to nominate the risks the world’s leaders should be addressing over the next decade focused heavily on the possibility that the dark side of connectivity could become increasingly apparent, just as over the last decade the Internet’s power for good has been amply demonstrated in realms from business and personal relationships to popular protest.

Viruses such as Stuxnet hint at what may become possible given a 10-year time horizon. Stuxnet is a malicious code, which in 2010 attacked a specific piece of IT equipment — the Siemens controllers used in nuclear facilities in Iran. Its impacts are disputed, but it shows how a virus could conceivably trigger a meltdown in a functioning nuclear power plant, turn off oil and gas pipelines or change the chemical composition of tapwater.

As more and more of our daily lives come to depend on interconnected systems, the axioms for the cyber age become ever more relevant. Consider the growing trend for “smart” electricity meters to be installed in homes, allowing energy use to be managed more efficiently at the network level. The benefits are obvious. But, might a hacker be able to gain access to the electricity network via a domestic meter?
Such things are impossible to rule out with certainty, but it is also easy to be alarmist. Experts point out that viruses as sophisticated as Stuxnet require a team of software developers and intimate knowledge of the target’s security measures. For skilled individuals bearing a grudge, the havoc that can be wreaked online is currently limited to the embarrassing rather than the life-threatening. Nonetheless, the barriers to entry in cybercrime and cyberterrorism are falling all the time.

How do we minimize the risks from the dark side of connectivity? There are four main challenges.
First, online security is a public good: costs are borne privately, but benefits are shared. When an individual weighs the cost of investing in antivirus software, he or she does not account for the benefits of protecting other users from spam and APT attacks if his or her computer is infected with malware. Firms have an incentive to invest in cybersecurity measures that protect their own interests, rather than contributing to the health of the critical information infrastructure that constitutes the systemic whole. In addressing this challenge, we need to find new ways to support collaboration.
Second, we do not yet fully understand how social norms are shaped in the virtual world. Why is it that many people who would be ashamed to admit stealing a DVD from a shop will happily discuss illegally downloading a movie? What are the rules of acceptable engagement for corporate and industrial espionage, especially where the line between private and public enterprise is blurred? To what extent can “hacktivist” movements be accommodated as a virtual expression of legitimate civil disobedience?
Only by understanding and working with human motives can challenges be defined and solutions explored. The key to meeting this second challenge is more research and a greater willingness to engage in frank discussions.
Third, the information we have is sometimes skewed. Vendors of online security products have an interest in talking up the threats of cybercrime, while victims of cybercrime often have an interest in remaining silent. It is therefore very difficult for firms and organizations to get a clear picture of the true levels of the risk and needs for investment. We need better access to information to form policies which will improve global cybersecurity and create efficient markets.
Finally, incentives are misaligned. Lacking legitimate outlets for their talents that are comparably lucrative, hackers are drawn to the thriving black market in “zero-day exploits”, where pieces of code that take advantage of vulnerabilities in software applications can sell for hundreds of thousands of US dollars.
The axioms for the cyber age remind us that there will always be holes in new software. We need to develop better mechanisms to incentivize the well-intentioned to find them first.

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Google relegates Chrome home page after spam criticism

Google has relegated the home page for its own Chrome browser in search results, after it was criticised for using paid links in spam pages to promote the software.

 

The sponsored blog posts, which had identical content, linked to the Google Chrome home page, boosting its position in Google search results.

Paying for such links is in breach of Google’s guidelines because they artificially boost a website's rank. The firm's search algorithm is designed to find high quality, original content that has been linked to without money changing hands and Google manually relegates websites that are found to have used paid links to improve their position.

Google said its anti-spam staff had therefore cut the Google Chrome home page’s PageRank, the score given to every website that helps determine how high up it appears in search results.

"We’ve investigated and are taking manual action to demote www.google.com/chrome and lower the site’s PageRank for a period of at least 60 days,” a spokesman said.

"While Google did not authorize this campaign, and we can find no remaining violations of our webmaster guidelines, we believe Google should be held to a higher standard, so we have taken stricter action than we would against a typical site."

The sponsored blog postings were commissioned by Essence Digital, a London-based digital marketing agency. Google said it had never approved the campaign and that only one of the sponsored blog postings improved the Chrome home page’s PageRank.
“Google have consistently avoided paid postings to promote their products, because in their view these kind of promotions are not transparent or in the best interests of users,” Essence Digital said, apologising for the sponsored postings.
According to Search Engine Land, a leading blog about the web search industry, Google’s self-punishment has had a dramatic effect. The Chrome home page is now ranked as low as 73rd in a search for “browser”, for example. It was previously ranked second in searches for the term.
The strict action comes as Google is under regulatory scrutiny by the European Commission for allegedly using its dominance of web search to promote secondary products.

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Facebook ordered to tighten privacy by regulators

Facebook has agreed to tighten its privacy practices and delete unneeded data sooner following an investigation by Irish regulators.

Facebook agreed to a series of privacy changes

 

The social network, which has more than 800 million users, houses user data and all operations outside the United States and Canada in Ireland.

Following a full audit of Facebook’s systems, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, Billy Hawkes, said the firm had agreed to more than a dozen privacy improvements, to be completed within six months.

The investigation was launched in October after a series of controversies the way Facebook treats personal data, including claims that Facebook was creating “shadow profiles” of people who are not members.

Irish regulators however found that while it does collect data about non-users for security purposes, Facebook does not otherwise use it and does not create shadow profiles.

“While certain data which could be used to build what we have seen termed as a ‘shadow profile’ of a non-user was received by Facebook, no actual use of this nature was made of such data,” their report said.
Lord Richard Allan, Facebook’s director of public policy in Europe, welcomed the finding.
“They’ve found that the way we’re using data is consistent with how we say we’ll use data… the issues raised were not based on substance," he said.
The data collected from non-Facebook users when they visit websites that have social elements such as the "Like" button is used to prevent fraudulent logins, the investigation found.
“For people who are not users of Facebook or who are not currently logged in the browser cookie we collect, which is an important security cookie, will be deleted after 10 days," Lord Allan said.
Regulators also investigated Facebook’s use of facial recognition technology, which encourages users to identify, or "tag", friends in photographs. They found fault in theway it was introduced but said it did not breach data protection law. The feature was switched on without notice in June, prompting criticism from privacy advocates.
"[Facebook] should have handled the implementation of this feature in a more appropriate manner and we recommended that it take additional steps from a best practice perspective to ensure the consent collected from users for this feature can be relied upon,” the Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s report said.
Facebook agreed to provide users with more notifications about facial recognition to give them the opportunity to opt out, as part of changes that will mean more privacy alerts across the website.

It will also make it easier for users to find out what data Facebook holds about them, introduce clearer terms and conditions and a better mechanism for users to give consent for their personal data to be used by third-party apps, and give users more control over whether they are added to groups by friends.
“It will be an intense period in the next six months for us to get over some of the areas they’ve suggested for improvement,” said Lord Allan.
Last month Facebook was forced apologise and to agree to audits of its systems by American regulators, who said its privacy claims had been "unfair and deceptive, and violated federal law".

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Apple iPhone 'outselling rivals as Christmas approaches'

Apple's iPhone 4S was Britain's biggest selling mobile phone in the month before December 9, according to analysts.

The iPhone 4S outsold rivals in November and December, according to analysts.

 

The iPhone 4S, which was released in October, made up a quarter of all handset sales in the four weeks before December 9, according to market research firm GfK.

Samsung's Galaxy SII was the second-best selling phone in the week up to December 9, the Financial Times reported.

However, Nokia's new Lumia handset was off to an underwhelming start, failing to make the top 10 handsets in the four weeks of the survey period. The Lumia, which runs Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system, was released in Britain on November 16.

GfK, which monitors sales through mobile network operators, said that Apple iPhone models made up five of the top 15 handsets sold in the first week of December.

The iPhone 4S is a more powerful version of its predecessor, with an improved camera and a new voice control system called Siri. Last week, there was speculation that Google was working on its own voice control software to be released as part of its Android mobile operating system.
RIM, the Canadian company that makes BlackBerry handsets, has had a bad year but there was at least some comfort in the GfK data. Sales of BlackBerry handsets increased during the period of the survey, with three variants of the BlackBerry Curve in the top 10. 

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Will BlackBerry survive 2012?

Troubled BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion has announced further delays to its new phones - now analysts and commentators are making their complaints ever more loudly 

BLackBerry's new generation of mobiles will not appear until late 2012

 

It seems that every month BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion has more bad news to announce. In November it paid a $365million charge for unsold PlayBook tablets; yesterday it announced that crucial new phones would now be delayed to the latter half of 2012, rather than being out by March.

Co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis charitably cut their pay to just a $1 each, but analysts and critics argued they’re still overpaid. One writer on the respected blog PaidContent blog said the pair should have been “fired months, if not years ago”.

At the heart of BlackBerry’s problems lie its troubled transition to a new operating system: in order to compete with the iPhone and with Google’s Android phones, the Canadian company has had to rebuild its software from the ground up. So far, the only product using a new version is the underwhelming PlayBook.

Yesterday, announcing RIM’s results, Lazridis delivered the bad news almost casually. The new OS will power a new generation of phone, but in order to compete RIM had earlier changed its mind on which chips to use. Now he said RIM could not get enough of them and that delays were unavoidable.

Lazaridis compounded the disappointment for investors by cutting the firm’s prediction of sales to between 11 and 12 million smartphones in the current Christmas quarter, down from 14.8 million over the same time last year. Others companies’ sales are rising at his expense.

Last month, analyst Ian Fogg said that “if you look at RIM’s track record they have a history of missing launch dates; that doesn’t bode well.” He warned ominously that “If they fail to ship quality products we’ll see a slow decline,” and it would appear that Fogg’s predictions are already coming true.
With rather dry understatement, however, Lazaridis said in a statement that "It may take some time to realise the benefits of the platform transition that we are undertaking, but we continue to believe that RIM has the right set of strengths and capabilities to maintain a leading role in the mobile communications industry”. When he claimed that people tell him “every day” that BlackBerry is the best communications device around, commentators immediately said he was listening to the wrong people.
RIM's share of the smartphone market in the US fell to 9.2 per cent in the third quarter from 24 per cent in the same period last year, according to research group Canalys. Increasing numbers of analysts across the board now find one conclusion inescapable: RIM doesn’t just need customers – it needs a buyer.

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Google teams up with Science Museum for new exhibitions

Google is supporting two exhibitions exploring the history of computing at the Science Museum in London. 

Google has put $12m into its international museum project, which it hopes will galvanise interest in computing

 

The exhibitions, funded by Google, will open to the public over the next three years with a view to stimulating interest in computer technologies among youngsters.

The partnership, which is part of Google’s multi-million dollar initiative announced in April this year, hopes to inspire the next generation of scientists. So far Google has put forward $12 million into seven museums, six in the US and one in the UK.

However Michael Jones, Google Earth’s chief technology advocate, said the international initiative “won’t end by signing a cheque,” and the company aims to work closely with museums to educate children and adults alike. "Besides, how else can we all touch the moon?" he said.

The first exhibition, opening in June next year, will celebrate the centenary of the birth of Alan Turing, the well-respected English mathematician who is largely considered the “father” of computer science. His most famous creation, the Turing machine, formed the first basic model of the modern computer.

Peter Barron, director of external relations at Google, said he hopes the exhibitions will be “inspiring” for young visitors. “We are delighted to be able to support these new exhibitions which will help explain both the birth of modern computing and how that revolution touches our lives today.”

The second exhibition, named Making Modern Communications, will not open until Summer 2014 but will remain thereafter at as a permanent addition to the museum. The show will give visitors an in-depth look at the last 200 years of information and communications technology, showcasing “never seen before objects,” according to Google.
Earlier this week Google donated £550,000 to the Bletchley Park Trust, where Alan Turing famously shortened the Second World War through his code-breaking expertise, in a bid to transform the site into a national heritage.

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2011: the year of Google Android

More than 10bn apps have now been downloaded by Google’s smartphone users, writes Matt Warman , but Android is set to get even bigger 

ANDROID

When Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in 1998, the pair were already plotting big things: not for nothing was the logo designed with the help of a professor of design at Stanford.

Even Brin and Page, however, would probably not have bet that in 2011 nearly 8bn mobile apps would be downloaded for a mobile phone the like of which hadn’t even been thought of.

But 2011 has indeed been the year of the Android. Google’s free, open-source operating system has been so widely adopted by manufacturers the world over that it now accounts for the majority of smartphones sold and has been used for applications in appliances from fridges to televisions.

Top London tailor Spencer Hart is even using an Android-based “notebook”, the Samsung Galaxy Note, to annotate drawings for bespoke suits. Its uses are apparently endless.

The total number of applications downloaded now stands at slightly over 10bn. At an equivalent stage in its development cycle, Apple’s App Store was at just half that. As it’s compatible purely with Apple products, it could be argued that in fact the original App Store was more eagerly adopted, but the sheer volume of Android apps downloaded is a force to be reckoned with.

All the same, with 190 countries downloading apps – led by the South Koreans, Hong Kong and Taiwan and closely followed by America, Singapore, Northern Europe and Israel – sceptics would be right to ask why Apple’s remains the more profitable platform.
A quarter of all Android downloads are casual games, which are typically low-margin for software developers. Analysts believe Apple users download twice as many apps per device and that Apple has, thanks to the iTunes store, the payment details of 200m people. With the two app stores now growing at the same rate, those are the figures Google really needs to match.
Still, Google claims that while the first 1bn app installs from Android Market took nearly 20 months and the second billion took five months, the third billion took only two months. More than half a million new Android phones are now activated globally every day and the growth is continuing to accelerate.
The company has placed increasing emphasis on app sales and downloads, launching movie rentals and redesigning the Android Market to better rival Apple’s App Store. In due course,
it is very likely to start to offer the kind of performance that in particular makes the best iOS games so much better: that will be down to the puff of a vast customer base and better hardware.
To mark the 10bn downloads landmark, Google is also making a number of apps available for 10p for 10 days. Titles such as driving games Asphalt 6 HD, Sketchbook Mobile and keyboard improver Swiftkey X are intended as much to encourage users to download even more software and to show them what the platform is capable of as they are to mark the occasion.
It’s a peculiar situation, but in some ways Google’s marking this massive number not because it’s significant in itself – the real story, in fact, is how much bigger this Android is likely to get.

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Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook founder admits 'bunch of mistakes' amid privacy u-turn

Mark Zuckerberg has admitted Facebook has made "a bunch of mistakes" on privacy and agreed to overhaul its policy to make all major changes opt-in, following regulatory criticism from the American Federal Trade Commission.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder, is to implement a new privacy regime Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Writing in a rare blog post, the social network site's founder and chief executive said he “founded Facebook on the idea that people want to share and connect with people in their lives, but to do this everyone needs complete control over who they share with at all times”.

But he added that while overall the site had a good history of being open about privacy, "I am the first to admit that we have made a bunch of mistakes".

He also admitted that the site's executives "can always do better" on the controversial issue.

His comments came after the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused Facebook of systematically invading user privacy on seven specific counts, including when the social network had changed settings to make more of its users' information publicly visible.

The new plan to settle the compaints marks a major step on the social network’s road to its initial public offering, which had been widely expected to value the company at $100 billion.

Facebook will now be “required to obtain consumers’ affirmative express consent before enacting changes that override their privacy preferences”.
This will effectively make all major future privacy control changes opt in. Facebook must also submit to privacy audits every 2 years for the next 20 years, stop any access to content on deactivated accounts, and present its policies on privacy or security of user data more clearly.
Although new settings can apparently be added without requiring users to opt in, new services will now require users to explicitly give their consent if they are to take part. Facebook Places, for example, which allows users to check-in online to physical locations, was cited as an example of a service that Facebook would not now be able to turn on for all users without their consent.
Zuckerberg conceded that the site had made major mistakes with users’ privacy, citing the launch of the ‘Beacon’ system which showed users’ friends their shopping habits, and the company’s previous changes to privacy policies.
He claimed, however, that “When I built the first version of Facebook, almost nobody I knew wanted a public page on the internet. That seemed scary. But as long as they could make their page private, they felt safe sharing with their friends online. Control was key”.
Zuckerberg put the social network’s success down to making it “easy for people to feel comfortable sharing things about their real lives”.
“Overall, I think we have a good history of providing transparency and control over who can see your information,” he wrote.
"That said, I'm the first to admit that we've made a bunch of mistakes. In particular, I think that a small number of high profile mistakes, like Beacon four years ago and poor execution as we transitioned our privacy model two years ago, have often overshadowed much of the good work we've done.
"I also understand that many people are just naturally skeptical of what it means for hundreds of millions of people to share so much personal information online, especially using any one service."
He added: "Even if our record on privacy were perfect, I think many people would still rightfully question how their information was protected. It's important for people to think about this, and not one day goes by when I don't think about what it means for us to be the stewards of this community and their trust.
Facebook has always been committed to being transparent about the information you have stored with us – and we have led the internet in building tools to give people the ability to see and control what they share.
"But we can also always do better. I'm committed to making Facebook the leader in transparency and control around privacy."
The new agreement with the FTC “means we're making a clear and formal long-term commitment to do the things we've always tried to do and planned to keep doing - giving you tools to control who can see your information and then making sure only those people you intend can see it”, Zuckerberg said.
The social network will now also have two Chief Privacy Officers; former lawyer Erin Egan will be responsible for Policy, while Michael Richter will become Chief Privacy Officer, Products. Richter is currently Facebook's Chief Privacy Counsel.
Overall, the changes are set to alter Facebook’s development of new products, as well as its attitude to users. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said ”Facebook’s innovation does not have to come at the expense of consumer privacy. The FTC action will ensure it will not.”
The proposals will now be put to a 30-day consultation period. They are likely to meet the majority of the concerns raised be European privacy regulators, although those issues remain unresolved.

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Microsoft defends against espionage virus

Microsoft has released a temporary software patch to defend against the threat from Duqu, an espionage virus thought to be closely related to Stuxnet, the cyber attack that disrupted the Iranian nuclear programme. 

Cyber espionage is a growing threat, according to the Government

 

Duqu was first detected last month and, according to security analysts, is designed to steal sensitive information from industry.

Microsoft said it exploited a vulnerability in the Windows TrueType font parsing engine to gain control of infected computers. The temporary patch will be replaced by permanent update at an undisclosed later date.

Whoever was behind Duqu was able to “install programs; view, change or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights", Microsoft said.

It has also shared technical details with anti-virus firms.

"This means that within hours, anti-malware firms will roll out new signatures that detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability,” Microsoft said. “Therefore, we encourage customers to ensure their antivirus software is up-to-date.”

The Laboratory of Cryptography and Systems Security at Budapest University, which first detected Duqu, has said it is spread by a bogus Word document.
Only a handful of targets have been identified, according to anti-virus firms, leading them to suspect the virus is being used as part of a highly-targeted espionage operation, potentially as a prelude to further Stuxnet-style attacks.
“Duqu's purpose is to gather intelligence data and assets from entities, such as industrial control system manufacturers, in order to more easily conduct a future attack against another third party,” Symantec said.
Similarities between Duqu and Stuxnet have led to claims they must have been created by the same state-sponsored entity. Israeli and American intelligence agencies are widely belive to be behind the attack on the Iranian nuclear programme.

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