WebProNews IT Team Confirms Facebook "Leak" Not Much of a Story

Friday, July 30, 2010

Facebook has put a lot of people on edge about privacy in recent months, and while some of it may be legitimate concern, a lot of the discussion is simply getting blown out of proportion.

You've probably read about the infamous "leaked" list of user names this week, that a security researcher shared in a torrent. A bunch of companies have reportedly been downloading the info leading to some unnecessary paranoia. Our own IT department took a look at that torrent, and there's really nothing to get freaked out about. It just contains data that's already public (170,879,858 URLs by our count), as the "leaker" Ron Bowes told BBC News.

The biggest file is called facebook-urls.txt. The top of the file looks like this (with "xxxxx" representing the unique number associated with the accounts):

http://en-us.facebook.com/people/-/xxxxxxx
http://en-us.facebook.com/people/-/xxxxxxxx
http://en-us.facebook.com/people/-/xxxxxxx
http://en-us.facebook.com/people/-/xxxxxxxxx
http://en-us.facebook.com/people/-/xxxxxxxxxx

Eventually, once you get past the dashes, they start looking like this (where the "xxxx" represents people's names):

http://en-us.facebook.com/people/A-xxx-xxx-xxx/100001172054083
http://en-us.facebook.com/people/A-xxxxxx-xxxxxxxx/100000816806409
http://en-us.facebook.com/people/A-xxxxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx-xxx-xxxxxx/643427473

"So you could figure out somebody's name from the profile URL, but that's really about it,” our IT manager says. "Anything else, you'd have to actually go to the URL and crawl it."

And of course, these people are already in the Facebook Directory anyway, as Bowes noted. There's no other information.

From the README file included in the torrent, here are the list of all the files:

Filname                            Description
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
facebook.rb                     The script used to generate these files (v1)
facebook.nse                    The script that will be used for the second pass (v2)
facebook-urls                   The full URLs to every profile
facebook-names-original         All names, including duplicates
facebook-names-unique           All names, no duplicates
facebook-names-withcount        All names, no duplicates but with a count
facebook-firstnames-withcount   All first names (with count)
facebook-lastnames-withcount    All last names (with count)
facebook-f.last-withcount       All first initial last name (with count)
facebook-first.l-withcount      All first name last initial (with count)

Bowes said that collecting the data was in no way irresponsible and likened it to a telephone directory. On top of that, there's not any info to distinguish people with the same names apart from one another.

Facebook has also confirmed that the info in the list was already freely available online, and that "no private data is available or has been compromised."

This article from the Telegraph claims that the torrent contains info like profile pictures, lists of friends, etc. Our team says that's not true and that you'd have to re-crawl the profile URL in order to get that data.

The bottom line is that the info in the torrent is public info, just like any other personal info that is published publicly on the web that's out there for Google, Yahoo, Bing, or any other crawler to index. Essentially, all that's really in the torrent is big list of URLs. Whoa!

The companies downloading the torrent for whatever purposes they have in mind, would probably be better served to just look at the directory. Facebook has a lot more users than 170,879,858.

Microsoft Sales Outweigh Acquisitions 2:1

Friday, July 30, 2010

People who keep up with tech news have probably noticed that Google makes acquisitions on a regular basis.  Meanwhile, reports concerning Microsoft buys are rare.  But that isn't necessarily a sign of some media bias; Microsoft confirmed today that the companies it sold in the past year were worth more than the companies it acquired.

Microsoft filed its Form 10-K report with the SEC this morning, and about two-thirds of the way through, shared that interesting fact.  A big hat tip goes to Todd Bishop for spotting it.

Specifically, Microsoft stated, "During fiscal year 2010, we acquired five entities for total consideration of $267 million, substantially all of which was paid in cash."

Then the company finished, "During this period, we also sold three entities for total consideration of $600 million, including Razorfish in the second quarter of fiscal year 2010."

That speaks to a very different approach to doing business than the one that's helped make Google successful.  Although we should note this one is arguably working all right for Microsoft, considering the record quarter it reported earlier this month.

This could be a "to each his own" scenario, then.  Or not.  That's because, unfortunately for Microsoft, its stock has fallen 0.88 percent today (which is more than both the Dow and Nasdaq), while Google's stock has risen 0.27 percent.

OneRiot Makes Staff Changes to Prepare for the Future

Friday, July 30, 2010

OneRiot says it has made some changes that will "propel the company to the future faster." The changes they're referring to are that Kimbal Musk, formerly CEO, is now the Chairman of the company, while Tobias Peggs (formerly President in charge of Strategy, Sales, Distribution and Marketing) is now CEO.

Citing, a list of accomplishments that includes the launches of OneRiot itself, its APIs, its ad platform, its Trending Topics Engine, integration with Facebook's Open Graph, and the fact that its on pace to serve 1 billion ad impressions a month, OneRiot's Jennifer Hodges says, "As it’s clear to see, OneRiot emerged as the authority on realtime search and is now hurtling along a highway towards monetizing the wider realtime and social web. It’s time to crank that up another gear, and really go for it."

The changes, unfortunately, also include letting some workers go. "Now, being agile also necessitates making some tough decisions too, if they are the right thing for the company right now," says Hodges. "Unfortunately, today, we have had to let a handful of well respected colleagues go. This is a pragmatic decision based on a strategically focused go-forward plan for the company. It’s in no way a reflection of the talent of the people concerned. One of the folks moving on is Robert Reich, our co-founder. Robert has had immeasurable influence on the OneRiot vision and product - helping us get to where we are today. We’re sure that whatever he turns to next will be equally as visionary, and we wish him well."

OneRiot says Peggs will work closely with Ron Benson (VP Engineering) and Merle Waterman (CFO) to drive the day-to-day business operations. The plan includes the monetization of the realtime web.

Microsoft Doesn't Plan to Let Yahoo and Google Do Their Thing in Japan

Friday, July 30, 2010

Microsoft is pissed that Yahoo Japan is going with Google rather than Bing. In fact, the company is reportedly moving to block the deal from going through.

Jay Yarow at Silicon Alley Insider provides the following statement from a company rep: "We plan to present evidence to the Japanese FTC explaining why we believe that this deal is substantially more harmful to competition than Google’s deal with Yahoo in 2008 that the DOJ found to be illegal."

According to Yarow, Microsoft estimates that Google and Yahoo joining forces in Japan would give the companies 98% of the Japanese search market.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Yahoo Japan is turning to Google to power search engine listings. Naturally, with the highly publicized deal between Microsoft and Yahoo, this raised more than a few eyebrows, including Microsoft's.

The decision was ultimately not Yahoo's choice, however, as they actually do not control the majority of Yahoo Japan. SoftBankCorp, a Japanese ISP and cell phone provider controls 40% to Yahoo's 35%.

eWeek recently shared some words from both Microsoft and Google on the matter. Basically, Microsoft has called it anti-competitive, and Google has said it isn't. Google maintains that it will only license Yahoo Japan ad technology, rather than supplying ads.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's "Search Alliance" with Yahoo is already starting to take effect. Last week, Yahoo announced that it has begun testing organic and paid search listings from Microsoft, with up to 25% of its U.S. search traffic seeing Bing and adCenter results.

The company said it will be integrating Microsoft's mobile organic and paid listings in the U.S. and Canada in the coming months, and anticipates that U.S. and Canada organic listings in both the desktop and mobile versions of its search will be fully powered by Microsoft as early as August or September.

Is Quality Really in Jeopardy Because of Content Farms?

Friday, July 30, 2010

So-called content farms draw a lot of criticism for a supposed lack of quality and some consider them a threat to quality on the web in general. We're talking about entities like Demand Media, Associated Content, the new AOL, etc. (the definition of the term content farm itself is also debated).

I would argue that content quality is not in jeopardy. Hear me out. For one, while these sites may or may not produce a large amount of sub-par content, that's not to say that they don't have quality content too. There's no question that quantity is the driving force behind these sites, but quantity in content producers (AKA: the writers, video producers) also means a wider range of minds contributing. There is good among the bad. It's a mix.

Furthermore, as competition among these content farms heats up (and you can bet that will increase), quality is going go play more of a role in setting one apart from the next. Low-quality content will inspire higher quality competition. If a how-to article on roofing isn't adequate, someone will want to trump it with a better one. Users will flock to the higher quality pieces when the lower quality ones don't meet their requirements. If those pieces do meet their requirements, how low quality are they really? Quality is in the eye of the beholder. If the reader/viewer doesn't like what they see, they'll look elsewhere.

Richard MacManus spoke with Howcast Chief Product Officer Sanjay Raman. Here's an excerpt from that article:

Who is the top YouTube provider, measured by views? You guessed it, Demand Media. This is because it produces far more video content per month than Howcast (Demand competes directly with Howcast with its property eHow). While Sanjay Raman didn't have exact figures, he estimated that Demand Media produces about 10 times more videos every month than Howcast. However he implied that this resulted in lower quality videos.

"Demand Media takes tasks and makes them smaller than they need to be," said Raman.

He also claimed that Howcast's playbacks per video are higher than Demand Media's. Howcast averages 44-50,000 playbacks per video, he told me, whereas Demand is around 7,000 per video.

Case in point.

Now, that's also not to say that all of Demand Media's content is low quality, though many will be quick to tell you that it is. The company has already made moves this year aimed at increasing quality. See the following articles for a few examples:

- Demand Media Aims to Sort Out eHow Content Confusion

- Demand Media Adds New "Talent & Expert Network" to Content Mix

- MerchantCircle, Demand Media Provide New Local Search Opportunities

DM is still adjusting to a new model that it has become the poster child for. There may be a lot of work to do, and just how much it improves remains to be seen. That said, increased competition in this space is likely to fuel increased quality, and if not, the users will go elsewhere. Bounce rates will increase. Someone else will get the traffic.

Furthermore, search engines will continue to compete to deliver the best results, and people will be more inclined to share higher quality articles. That should provide further motivation.

What do you think? Comment here.

Museum Of Natural History Launches iPhone App

Friday, July 30, 2010

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City has launched a free app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad called Explorer.

The Explorer app uses Wi-Fi to act as an "indoor GPS" within the museum, pinpointing a user's location and offering turn-by-turn directions through more than 500,000 square feet that features 45 permanent exhibition halls, theaters, restrooms, cafs, and museum shops.

The Explorer is also an educational resource that provides visitors with additional information on more than 140 specimens and objects on display, including such iconic exhibits as the blue whale and the Tyrannosaurus rex. The Explorer features customized tours, a fossil treasure hunt, and social media links for posting to Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

The Explorer runs on the museum's free Wi-Fi network. Users will be able to download the app to their own iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or to borrow one of more than 350 devices the Museum is making available at no charge.

 "We wanted to put the latest mobile technology in visitors' hands and provide them with an app that works not only as a personal navigation system but also gives an exciting look at our collections from anywhere in the world, connecting to social networks through email, Twitter, and Facebook," said Linda Perry-Lube, senior vice president and chief digital officer at the Museum.

"The task of building a system capable of mapping visitors' locations inside of the Museum was monumental and has laid the groundwork for future development. Explorer sets the standard for a new type of Museum experience in the digital age."

 

 

How Facebook Handles Questions Could Play Key Role in Future Search Habits

Friday, July 30, 2010

Facebook's new Questions product, launched in beta earlier this week, has a great deal of potential for answering the questions of half a billion people (the most recent number of Facebook users reported by the company).

Will you use Facebook Questions to seek answers? Let us know.

As competition between Facebook and Google over Internet user time and attention continues to increase, this may be yet another area where Facebook has a bit of leverage over the search giant. Q&A is becoming a big area of focus throughout the industry with many smaller players fighting for a piece of the pie (not that all of the players are small).

Google has Aardvark, which it has yet to really do anything incredibly significant with (at least related to Google search). Yahoo, of course, has Yahoo Answers. Ask just reinvented itself with a focus on community and web-driven Q&A. That's just a few examples. Facebook has a major advantage, however, with that half a billion users, and the simple fact that many of those users spend a great deal of time using Facebook.

Facebook Questions data could be very useful to search engines and their users, if the product itself lives up to its own potential, but it remains to be seen if Facebook will be willing to share that information. The company is already notorious for being stingy with its data, from the open web perspective, despite its own "open" graph initiative.

Facebook told Search Engine Land that it doesn't have plans to give search engines access to its questions and answers, though they didn't rule out future consideration. The decision could be an important one strategically for the company in the future, particularly as Google continues to move toward trying to steal some of Facebook's thunder (the key word there being "trying"...I should mention this notion has been downplayed by the company).

Microsoft has to be pretty interested as well, as it is frequently looking for new ways to compete with Google and it already provides Facebook with its own web search results.

Q&A is becoming an increasingly interesting segment of the search industry, and one where there is distinct possibility of shaking up Google's share, thanks to an increasing number of players, the diversification of how people actually do their searching/information gathering, and blossoming mobile application ecosystems.

Facebook, Google, and increasingly Bing all have their places in these ecosystems, and Facebook Questions could conceivably play a powerful role in tipping x amount of searches in one direction or another.

Do you see Facebook Questions as a potential disruption to the search industry? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Playdom Enters Facebook Credits Deal

Friday, July 30, 2010

Facebook Credits are fast becoming the official currency of developers everywhere.  Following recent announcements involving LOLapps, CrowdStar, RockYou, and Wooga, Playdom has also entered a deal that will see it using nothing other than Facebook Credits for the next handful of years.

Playdom is an important developer, with millions of people enjoying its apps.  By establishing a deal with it, Facebook's ensured that a whole lot of folks will be exposed to Facebook Credits.  It's not hard to imagine that usage will increase as a result.

The ramifications of this partnership don't end there, either.  Since Disney acquired Playdom earlier this week, Facebook's now officially got the largest entertainment conglomerate in the world as its pal.  That could pay off in a big way when it comes to advertising.  Or simply PR.

Anyway, if you're curious about the terms of the deal, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed to Chris Morrison, "Facebook has entered into a five-year agreement with Playdom for the company to use Facebook Credits as the exclusive way to transact in its games on the Facebook Platform. . . .  As part of the relationship, Playdom will receive the same revenue share as other developers on Facebook."

No other details were disclosed.

Some of Playdom's top apps include Mobsters, Overdrive, and Poker Palace, if you're curious.

Google Getting Rid of Old Version of AdSense for Search

Friday, July 30, 2010

Google is retiring the old version of AdSense for Search and telling users to switch to the new version powered by Google Custom Search, which has been offered for a while.

If you see "powered by Google" on the logo on the search results page, then you're using the old one. In a post on Google's Inside AdSense blog, Katrina Kurnit writes:

AdSense for search with CSE gives you more control over your search results without changing how you earn money showing AdSense for search ads. For example, with the new version, you'll have access to advanced features like refinements and promotions. Our team has developed a number of updates and improvements during the past few months, and you can access more advanced features at www.google.com/cse.

Your existing AdSense for search box will continue to work normally for a few more months, and we'll be sure to update you when we retire this version. To take advantage of the benefits offered by the new version of AdSense for search and ensure you don't miss any revenue during the transition, we encourage you to update your code now.

To upgrade go to AdSense setup and "AdSense for Search" then select the sites you want your users to be able to search across, customize the look and feel and update the code for your site. Google offers more info here.

Barnes & Noble Uses its Brick & Mortar Advantage Against Amazon's Kindle

Friday, July 30, 2010

The e-book/e-reader wars are really heating up. Amazon has plenty of good news to share around its Kindle device. Now Barnes & Noble is talking about a major push to increase Nook sales.

Julie Bosman with the New York Times reports that in September, the company will start putting a great deal of emphasis on Nook in its brick and mortar stores, and that could go a long way in helping it compete with Amazon's increasingly successful Kindle.

According to Bosman, the Nook's physical in-store presence will include 1,000-square-foot boutiques in all B&N stores with sample Nook devices, demo tables, video screens, and employees giving Nook-related advice and instructions to customers.

"By devoting more floor space to promoting the Nook, Barnes & Noble is playing up what it calls a crucial advantage over Amazon in the e-reader war: its 720 bricks-and-mortar stores, where customers can test out the device before they commit to buying it," she writes.

Nook made a big impact in June when it dropped the price of its 3G version to $199 (along with the release of a new Wi-Fi version of the device). Not to be outdone, Amazon quickly dropped the price of its Kindle from $259 to $189.

This week, Amazon introduced a new generation of Kindles, including a cheaper Wi-Fi version. The price of the new smaller 3G + Wi-Fi Kindle is $189, while the Wi-Fi only version costs $139.

Amazon recently announced that it had sold more Kindle e-books than hardback books. Now the company is claiming that they'll outsell paperbacks as soon as next year.

I would not be surprising to see Amazon make a quick push to sell more Kindles before B&N can get its physical boutiques ready. After all, customers who already own a Kindle are less likely to be in the market for a Nook. We'll see what Amazon's next move is.

ApartmentGuide Adds Search Tab To Its Facebook Page

Friday, July 30, 2010

ApartmentGuide.com has introduced a search tab on its Facebook page.

To find an apartment, visitors to ApartmentGuide's Facebook page can click on the search tab and enter the city, state or zip code. Price range and number of bedrooms is also an option to narrow the search. Users are offered apartment listings that match search criteria on the Facebook page.

"A significant portion of ApartmentGuide.com users are between the ages of 18-35, aligning nicely with Facebook's demographics," said Arlene Mayfield, president, Apartment Guide. "Further, Facebook had over 150 million U.S. users in July 2010 with that number expected to grow considerably."

"With roughly 54% of all Internet users projected to be on Facebook as of February 2010, we wanted to make sure that consumers had the means to easily search for an apartment and communicate with their friends and family regarding their apartment search experience on this industry leading social site."

Other new features added to the Facebook page include:

*Share button: Users can share favorite properties with their Facebook friends.

*Like button: Users can like a specific property.

*Facepile: Users who have clicked the Like button on a property details page and are logged into Facebook will have their Facebook profile photo added to the Page's Facepile.
 

 

Rumors Slate Facebook IPO For 2012

Friday, July 30, 2010

Individuals who want to invest in Facebook probably won't have an opportunity to do so for well over a year.  A new, somewhat credible report indicates that the company won't go public until sometime in 2012.

"Three people familiar with the matter" spoke to Bloomberg, and said the delay will give Mark Zuckerberg "more time to gain users and boost sales."  The second part of that claim is believable; the first half, less so.

But Bloomberg presumably wasn't just interviewing random grocery shoppers in Palo Alto, and the article continued, "Facebook would benefit from another year of growth absent the added scrutiny that comes with a public listing, instead of holding an IPO in 2011 as investors speculated, said the people . . ."

Lots of evidence supports that idea, too.  Paul Ceglia's not-yet-disproven claims of ownership wouldn't do a public company any good, for example, and the release of The Social Network will hardly equate to positive PR.

Plus, Zuckerberg himself might not be ready to handle the challenge.  Consider that he said at the Cannes Liones International Advertising Festival that running a public company probably wouldn't be too different from running a private one.  Audience members laughed in response.

Another benefit of delaying the IPO will be that Facebook can give the market more time to recover.  It must be a rare company that would want to go public when there are good odds of the Dow crashing the same day.

Is Google to Blame for Its Own News Pollution?

Friday, July 30, 2010

Search Engine Land Editor-in-Chief Danny Sullivan points out how poorly Google handles those gaming Google News, using Google Trends as a starting point.

Do you find Google News to be too heavily polluted? Share your thoughts.

He found a blatant example when the term "chocomize" became listed as "volcanic" on Google Trends. When clicking for the results, he found several sites serving Google ads that presumably only created posts about the term because it was trending (as a way to get some easy traffic, and potentially ad clicks). In fact, some examples came from sites that were clearly aimed at entirely different niches, such as a horror movies site and a TV/Anime site. The biggest problem from the user's perspective is that there was nothing immediately indicating why the term was trending.

The real reason the term was trending was apparently because CNN ran a story earlier in the day about a company called Chocomize that makes custom candy bars (a pretty cool concept, I have to say), but when looking at the Google News results, Sullivan had to really dig to find that story.

"The pollution within Google News is ridiculous," Sullivan says. "This is Google, where we’re supposed to have the gold standard of search quality. Instead, we get 'news' sites that have been admitted — after meeting specific editorial criteria — just jumping on the Google Trends bandwagon, outranking the actual article causing the term 'chocomize' to be popular, polluting the news results and along the way, earning Google some cash."

Earning Google some cash indeed. There is no doubt that this goes on all the time, specifically with AdSense sites. Interestingly, in a story grouped with Sullivan's on TechMeme, the Wall Street Journal has some words from Eric Schmidt talking about Google's famous "one trick pony". Schmidt is quoted as saying, "But if you've got a one-trick pony, you want the one we have. We're in the ad business, and it's growing rapidly. We picked the right trick." The piece goes on to talk about how that trick is going to pay off greatly in the mobile space as well, as more and more people gravitate to the Android operating system.

Schmidt has said in the past, as Sullivan reminds us, that the Internet is a cesspool (referring to an excess of useless content). So, to be fair, Schmidt doesn't come across as being very enthusiastic about the sites that take advantage of Google Trends to game Google News. Still, there is money to be made, and if sites meet the criteria of what it takes to get into Google News, there's a fine line Google has to walk, regardless.

Can it all be so simple?

Sullivan says, “It shouldn’t be that hard for Google to police what shows up in response to what it publishes on Google Trends. Spam sites ought to be nabbed. AdSense sites ought to be shut down. News publishers abusing the very lucky position they have of being in Google News, by routinely tapping into Google Trends topics that aren’t relevant to their publications, should get the boot.”

While I greatly respect Sullivan, and value his analysis and opinions, I’m not sure it’s as simple as that. We've all seen how the mainstream media sites turn to blogs to get their stories (sometimes without giving credit or links), just as the sites in question appear to have done with CNN. We spoke with Sullivan about this not too long ago after he became a victim of such a scenario.

It's hard to say that just because you use Google ads, you should be penalized. That's not to say there isn't an issue, but while there may be plenty of “garbage sites” there are some pretty highly respected publications that serve ads by Google. The horror movie blog pointed to, does appear to generally offer horror movie related news (while crediting sources), based on a quick glance of its most recent content.  But if the Chocomize story on that blog doesn't credit its source, that is a problem. Maybe this is a “garbage” site, maybe it’s not. From Google's standpoint, determining that can’t be easy in all cases.

Looking beyond the credit issue for a moment, when it comes to topic-spam, who’s to say what a publication would find of interest to its audience? I’m not sure that I agree that a blog mainly focused on horror movies, for example, should not be able to blog about chocolate or another off-topic subject every now and then. That’s up to the publication and whether they want to risk alienating their own audience, if you ask me. Again, I’m not saying Sullivan is wrong about this particular site’s practices. I’m just looking at the bigger picture.

Maybe Google could do more to look at story sources, but that's got to be a difficult task across all publications, and there would no doubt be plenty of room for debate between publications about who broke a story first.

I'm not saying this is what happened either, but hypothetically, what if the horror movies blog actually talked to the Chocomize people first and had the story first, and CNN just happened to find it and find it newsworthy themselves, and do their own piece. Now, that's an unlikely scenario in this particular example, but it's not outside of the realm of possibility in other examples, such as the one Sullivan experienced recently himself.

Regardless of that even, it's hard to say "you can't have content about this topic because we posted it as a trending topic."

There is clearly a problem with Google Trends. Sullivan is right in that the result doesn't help explain why the topic was trending. He's also right in that the original source (CNN) should be more visible. However, cleaning up the "pollution" might not be such an easy problem to conquer. It’s hard to say if Google is allowing such pollution to go on so it can make more money or if the problem is just too difficult for the search giant. It could be a combination of the two.

What do you think? Comment here.

Report: Google Has Twice the Malware of Bing, Yahoo, and Twitter Put Together

Friday, July 30, 2010

According to a report released by Barracuda Labs, Google has twice as much malware than Bing, Yahoo, and Twitter put together. The study was conducted across these web properties over a two-month period.

Barracuda says it reviewed over 25,000 trending topics and nearly 5.5 million search results, analyzing them to identify the types of topics used by malware distributors. The firm will be presenting its findings at DefCON 18 this weekend, but the report is available here (pdf). Barracuda lists the following as highlights from its findings:

- Overall, Google takes the crown for malware distribution -- turning up more than twice the amount of malware as Bing, Twitter and Yahoo! combined when searches on popular trending topics were performed. Google presents at 69 percent; Yahoo! at 18 percent; Bing at 12 percent; and Twitter at one percent.

- The average amount of time for a trending topic to appear on one of the major search engines after appearing on Twitter varies tremendously: 1.2 days for Google, 4.3 days for Bing, and 4.8 days for Yahoo!

- Over half of the malware found was between the hours of 4:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. GMT.

- The top 10 terms used by malware distributors include the name of a NFL player, three actresses, a Playboy Playmate and a college student who faked his way into Harvard.

- In general, activity is increasing on Twitter: more users are coming online; True Twitter Users are tweeting more often, and even casual users are becoming more active. As users become more active, the malicious activity also increases.

- Only 28.87 percent of Twitter users are actual True Twitter Users.

- Half of Twitter users tweet less than once a day, yet one in 10 users tweet five or more times a day and 30 percent of Twitter accounts have never tweeted.

-  One in every eight Twitter users has at least 10 times more followers than they are following.

-  Only one in 10 users is following more than 100 users, and almost half are following less than five.

- The Twitter Crime Rate for the first half of 2010 was 1.67 percent.

"Our study shows that attackers have serious efforts devoted towards getting in front of the billions of eyeballs that are using search engines everyday and the millions of users that are connecting on social networks like Twitter," said Dr. Paul Judge, chief research officer and VP at Barracuda Networks. "Therefore, we continue to analyze their approaches and build new techniques to find them and protect users."

NetworkWorld points to some market share numbers, which seem to mirror the malware percentages presented by Barracuda.

Microsoft Will Have Answers to the iPad. Will They Be the Right Answers?

Friday, July 30, 2010

Microsoft feels threatened by the iPad. That was made clear by the words of CEO Steve Ballmer at Microsoft's financial analysts meeting. Microsoft intends to come out swinging with Windows-based iPad rivals. It's just a matter of when, and if customers will have anywhere near the same enthusiasm they have had for the ipad.

Of course, Microsoft isn't the only company that has to worry about winning that enthusiasm. Any other player in the tablet market has a lot to live up to after the iPad's phenomenal sales. However, whereas Google, for example, may be able to ride on some of the building enthusiasm for the Android operating system, Microsoft is hoping familiarity with Windows will be the ticket.

Here are some of the things that Ballmer said (based on a transcript provided by Fortune). "There is a category that we've had Windows on for actually a long time.  We've had Windows 7 on, tablets and slate machines now for a number of years, and Apple has done an interesting job of putting together a synthesis and putting a product out, and in which they've -- they sold certainly more than I'd like them to sell, let me just be clear about that.  We think about that.  We think about that in competitive sense."

"Just like we had to make things happen on netbooks, we've got to make things happen with Windows 7 on slates.  And we are in the process of doing that as we speak.  We're working with our hardware partners, we're tuning Windows 7 to new slate hardware designs that they're bringing them to market. And, yeah, you're going to get a lot of cacophony.  There will be people who do things with other operating systems.  But we've got the application base, we've got the user familiarity.  We've got everything on our side if we do things really right."

Microsoft also appears to be relying on Intel to help boost consumer enthusiasm for whatever products it launches. "We'll get a boost sometime after the new year when Intel brings its new Oak Trail processor to market," Ballmer said. "Oak Trail is designed to be lower power.  Lower power is good in a lot of ways.  It leads to longer battery life, no fan, lower kind of noise levels, a lot of less weight -- a lot of things that people like."

It will be interesting to see how Windows Phone 7 does, and if it is able to drum up further enthusiasm as well. Either way, look for Microsoft to bring Windows to a variety of new mobile computing devices.

Would You Pay for Twitter if You Had to?

Friday, July 30, 2010

The USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism has released a study (pdf) this week looking at the impact the web has on Americans, and among the nearly 200 issues explored is that of paying for online services and content.

Believe it or not, most don't want to pay. For example, the study found that 49% of respondents have used free micro-blogs like Twitter, but "zero percent" said they would be willing to pay to use them.

Would you pay to use Twitter if it charged a fee? Let us know.

"Such an extreme finding that produced a zero response underscores the difficulty of getting Internet users to pay for anything that they already receive for free," said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the school.

"Twitter has no plans to charge its users, but this result illustrates, beyond any doubt, the tremendous problem of transforming free users into paying users," added Cole. "Online providers face major challenges to get customers to pay for services they now receive for free."

Obviously this is an obstacle some newspaper publishers are hoping to overcome. Last week, reports surfaced that News Corp's The Times' site visits fell to a third of what they were when it began requiring users to pay.

"Internet users can obtain content in three ways: they can steal it, or pay for it, or accept advertising on the Web pages they view," said Cole. "Users express strong negative views about online advertising, but they still prefer seeing ads as an alternative to paying for content. Consumers really want free content without advertising, but ultimately they understand that content has to be paid for -- one way or another."

WikiLeaks has also shown how far the web can go when it comes to free, important content. By making over 90,000 Afghanistan war-related documents available to the public, readers are treated to an escalating plethora of free analysis to choose from (not to mention the raw source material).

What content is worth paying for? Tell us what you think.

Google Focusing On Check-In Services with Google Places API

Friday, July 30, 2010

Google is placing a great deal of emphasis on check-in services, with regards to Google Places. This could mean some interesting things for businesses.

"We have been delighted with the enthusiasm we have seen for the Places API, and the innovative ways in which developers would like to use it," says Google Maps API Product Manager Thor Mitchell. "We have seen applications that offer check-in to places and need to identify an individual place at which a user is currently located, applications looking to show a user Places around them, and applications looking to offer a search and browse experience for Places similar to that offered on Google Maps."

"We are going to focus initially on check-in applications," says Mitchell. "These are the applications that we feel the API currently caters to well, and we are excited to work with developers building these applications to understand their requirements, and ensure that we are offering them the best possible experience."

Google says it has been reaching out to developers who have expressed interest in building check-in apps using the Places API. This includes developers working on client apps for the Buzz API.

Check-in services are gaining a lot of attention, and are creating new and interesting opportunities for brick and mortar businesses that just weren't available before. Combine that with the power of Google Maps and Google's increasingly heavy push of Google Places, and this has the potential to be very powerful. With Google's APIs, the consumers are going to have many more access points, particularly from their mobile devices.

It would also not be surprising if this was heavily tied to that "Google Me" project that has been speculated on so heavily in recent weeks.

Earlier this week, Google updated its Maps for Mobile on Android devices, making a Places icon available. This essentially turns Places into its own app for all intents and purposes.
 

Worldwide Mobile Phone Demand Gains Significantly (Not Just Smartphones)

Friday, July 30, 2010

The International Data Corporation (IDC) has released its Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker study, which finds a 14.5% increase in mobile phone demand, as the market fragments.

Mobile phone vendors shipped 317.5 million units during the second quarter, an increase of 14.5% from the 277.2 million units shipped during the second quarter of 2009. For the first half of 2010, vendors shipped a total of 620.6 million units, up 18.5% from 523.5 million units for the same period last year.

"That worldwide growth was driven primarily by vendors outside the top vendors is particularly noteworthy," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. "Directly contributing to this is growth in the smartphone category. Companies with a strict focus on the smartphone market, like RIM, Apple, and HTC have clearly benefited from steadily increasing user interest. But it's not just smartphone vendors that have driven the market forward – it's also the companies with a presence among entry-level handsets and mid-range devices, which have long been the domain of the worldwide leaders.

"To dismiss the worldwide leaders would be a mistake," added Llamas. "Each currently enjoys broad distribution, a deep portfolio, and brand recognition. Moreover, each is in the midst of refreshing its respective product portfolio, with greater emphasis on smartphones during the second half of this year. Still, the upward pressure from vendors outside the current top five vendors, particularly Apple and Motorola, will provide tough competition in the quarters to come."

IDC analyst Kevin Restivo says some traditional mobile phone makers and brand owners have gained share due to higher volumes of lower-cost models, which are increasingly popular with wireless service providers.

Another recent study found an up-tick in cheap knockoff phones.
 

Redbox Now Offering $1.50 Blu-ray Rentals

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Coinstar's Redbox announced today that it is has started rolling out Blu-ray rentals. The company says titles will be available at 13,300 kiosks nationwide.

"Offering Blu-ray rentals is an exciting opportunity for redbox to expand our product offerings and build on the relationships that we've established with millions of consumers nationwide," said Mitch Lowe, president, redbox.  "Redbox is a convenient, affordable home entertainment provider and we're delighted to offer consumers their favorite movies on the increasingly popular Blu-ray Disc format." 



"According to a recent report by the Digital Entertainment Group, sales of Blu-ray players increased 103 percent in the first half of this year," the company noted in its announcement. "The sale of almost two million set-top players during this time has increased the total number of Blu-ray players sold to an estimated 19.4 million, resulting in more consumers entering the Blu-ray rental market."

Redbox Blu-ray rentals will cost $1.50. Regular DVDs are only $1.00.

Redbox recently made public intentions to use a web service to expand its library, which would make it a much bigger competitor to Netflix. That appeared to be mostly forward-looking, however. It's hard to say when that will happen, and what its offerings will be exactly.

Google Earth Starts To Depict Rain, Snow

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Google Earth is meant to give its users a realistic view of the world, and the program by and large accomplishes that.  A new upgrade will make it even more accurate, though, by showing users whether or not they'd be getting wet if they were to visit certain parts of the globe.

Yes, Google Earth 5.2 is now supposed to account for both rain and snow - everything "from light drizzle and snow to hurricanes and blizzards," in fact - at least in some regions of North America and Europe. 

As for how a person can take advantage of the new feature, it's not at all complicated.  Software engineer Quarup Barreirinhas explained on the LatLong Blog, "First enable the clouds layer, then zoom in to a particular location where it might be raining or snowing."  (You check out the radar layer to see what's covered if guesswork isn't your thing.)

Zoom in far enough, and you'll be able to see something like the image below, which was captured/generated around the time Hurricane Alex was passing into Texas.

Travelers and people who are weighing a move - along with folks who just enjoy interesting graphics - are sure to appreciate this information.

Maybe only weathermen will object to the development, since Google Earth is starting to represent a pretty decent alternative to watching the local forecast.