Category: Computers, Science & Technology

The new release of Ubuntu is almost here, and it looks like there are some significant improvements in memory usage and boot time!

Ubuntu 13.04 release: Laying the groundwork for OS’ phone and tablet future

“Ubuntu 13.04 goes on general release tomorrow – bringing with it improvements to support the open source OS’ transformation into a platform that runs across phones, tablets, PCs and TVs.

The release demonstrates consistently faster boot speeds than earlier versions — down to about 40 seconds on Intel and AMD-based Acer Veriton desktop machines — shrinks memory usage by as much as 50MB, reduces image size and cuts power consumption, according to Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu.

‘We’ve been driving Ubuntu to be a coverged OS across different client form factors – tablet, phone, desktop. A lot of underlying work to make that happen has been happening in this development cycle,’ said Canonical CEO Jane Silber.

‘From the user perspective I think what people will notice is a real increase in speed and the visual smoothness of the experience. It’s a polishing of the user experience.’

Canonical is working on bringing the OS to two reference phones and two tablets, including the Nexus 7. The Ubunutu community already has the OS in some sort of working order on about 40 devices, said Silber.

At present there are code differences between the Ubuntu 13.04 release and Ubuntu Touch stack targeted at phones and tablets, but Silber says the two will converge with a future release, probably with the 13.10 Ubuntu release due out in October. 13.10 will see the X windows system used in 13.04 replaced with the MIR display server, which Silber said will make for a streamlined code base that can be more easily updated to support a range of devices. MIR is available as an option for developer testing of Ubuntu.

While producing a unified OS for multiple devices and form factors is’a big challenge’, according to Silber, she said the work is simplified by relying on a common core platform.

‘In some ways it’s increasing the work, but probably less than you would imagine. We’ve been working on Unity as an environment for several years now. From the outset we’ve designed it as an environment that appears differently in different form factors,’ she said.

Mark Baker, product manager for server at Canonical, said: ‘We’re a relatively small company in comparison to the people operating in the spaces we’re looking to push into: the tablet, phone and thin client space. We have to find a model that allows us to scale that development.

‘That means having the core Ubuntu platform – the kernel, libraries, APIs and other bits and pieces – that’s common across the whole Ubuntu product set. What varies is the presentation layer. Therefore while it’s more work than previously it’s a lot less work compared to say Apple that has completely different platforms based on the form factor or device they have. We’re at least compiling Ubuntu from that common platform.'”

So now they never have to leave their consoles? Will I ever see my son again?! (Fortunately, he prefers Mario’s Pizza to Pizza Hut, or I might have a REAL problem!)

Gamers can order Pizza Hut straight from the Xbox — with hand gestures!

“Long slave to the physical demands of picking up a phone, computer, smartphone, or tablet to place an order for food delivery, gamers can now create their own custom Pizza Hut pizzas — and order them — from their Xbox 360 console thanks to a unique partnership between Microsoft and the international chain.

The ‘Pizza Hut for Xbox’ app, now available, is even compatible with Kinect’s voice and motion-controlled input. Yes, users can simply speak to their console or wave their hands to create a custom pizza with personalized toppings.

Hungry gamers must first sync their Xbox Live account with a Pizza Hut account and select a nearby restaurant from which to place an order. The app also offers integration with Facebook, allowing users to post details about their order or just brag to their friends about how they just told an inanimate object to bring them dinner.

‘We’re always looking at ways to give our audience more of what they’re interested in,’ Microsoft’s director of programming for Xbox Live Larry ‘Major Nelson’ Hryb told the gaming site Polygon.

‘If you look at our audience, they love pizza. I mean, who doesn’t? It has international appeal, and Pizza Hut is a recognized brand that matches up well with the Xbox brand.’

The Pizza Hut app launched today in the U.S., and Pizza Hut is offering customers a 15 percent discount on their first purchase, provided they place the order before May 6.

Neither Microsoft nor Pizza Hut has given any details about a possible international launch of the Pizza Hut app in the future. Representatives from both companies were not immediately available for comment on this story, though the official Pizza Hut Twitter account did share the news.”

I NEED this! But, I don’t want to have to move to Japan! Come on, America! You have to catch up!

Japan introduces world’s fastest internet speeds with Sony Nuro Fiber service

It appears as though the competition for highest internet speed is on the move as the use of optic fiber connections begins to make lasting strides. Broadband, a term once upon a time used to describe wider band frequency usage to provide faster data throughput rates, has now become a mere marketing gimmick by ISPs advertising their high-speed services. Now, it seems as though the key word to look out for is “fiber.” With that, just a few days ago, a Japanese ISP launched its new fiber connection service that boasts the world’s fastest data rate at 2 Gbps.

Fiber optic communication currently reigns supreme in wired networking thanks to its simple principle of carrying data through fast moving pulses of light. Google Fiber has recently pioneered the efforts of providing its blazing speed connections to a limited number of cities in the United States – Kansas City (MO and KS), Austin, and a handful of others will soon have 1 Gbps connections available. The reason for such slow implementation is simply due to the complexity involved in implementing an optic fiber network – lots of time, effort, and money goes into taking down and putting up new connection lines. Thus, densely packed communities are most likely to benefit more immediate implementation as is seen by the United Arab Emirates’ 70% fiber availability, and Japan’s recent move raising its availability to 25% of households.

Japan’s So-net Entertainment ISP is being backed by Sony during the launch of its ‘Nuro’ fiber-based service. To be available for the upgrade, residents must be located within the Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, Tochigi, or Tokyo regions of the country. The service will cost customers ¥4,980 ($51 USD) for a two-year contract on top of a one-time ¥52,500 ($537 USD) installation fee. Their monthly bill will also cover the rental of an Optical Network Unite (ONU) – a device necessary for converting high-speed fiber connections for in home, broadband use.

Due to the lack of computer network support for fiber connections, it is unlikely that Nuro fiber internet subscribers will actually see speeds close to the advertised 2Gbps down/1Gbps up anytime soon. As these fast internet connections become more abundant with time, network adapters capable of handling such speeds will too begin making their way into more homes. Let’s hope the technology roll-out begins making its way to our respective communities soon.”

The Verge says that the Start Button will be back in Windows 8.1. Well, I would hope so! Unless Microsoft wants to keep turning a deaf ear to it’s users! Yeesh!

Windows 8.1 set to bring back the Start button

“Microsoft is preparing to revive the traditional Start button it killed with Windows 8. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans have revealed to The Verge that Windows 8.1 will include the return of the Start button. We understand that the button will act as a method to simply access the Start Screen, and will not include the traditional Start Menu. The button is said to look near-identical to the existing Windows flag used in the Charm bar.

Microsoft’s change of heart follows another recent planned change for Windows 8.1: a boot to desktop option. We understand Microsoft will add an option to allow users to boot directly to the traditional desktop environment in future builds of the upcoming Windows 8 upgrade. Most internal builds of Windows 8.1 do not include the Start button or boot to desktop options, but Microsoft is said to be planning how to add these into the operating system. ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley previously reported on Microsoft’s plans to bring back the Start button and a boot to desktop option.

The death of the traditional Start button in Windows 8 was one of a number of controversial changes introduced with Microsoft’s latest operating system. In our review of Windows 8 we called the new navigation changes ‘a steep learning curve,’ and feedback on the Start button removal has been mixed. 1.5 million downloads of Pokki, a Start Menu replacement, and other similar tools suggest that Windows 8 users still want the Start button and Start Menu. Microsoft explained away its removal using data it gathered from the company’s Customer Experience Improvement Program, but we understand the return in Windows 8.1 is due to customer feedback. We may see the Start button return in the upcoming Windows 8.1 Public Preview, if not expect to see it in the final version due later this year.”

Here’s what they say:

“VideoLAN and the VLC development team present VLC 2.0.6 ‘Twoflower’.

VLC media player 2.0.6 is an update for security and bug fixing. It notably improves support for MKV, Ogg, ASF and srt support, fixes GPU decoding on Windows on Intel GPU, fixes ALAC and FLAC decoding, and introduces a new compiler for Windows.”

VLC Player for Windows

I was surfing and checking on security issues, and ran across this. It looks very cool! It can scan from a virtual appliance and check your network for security vulnerabilities. Very neat! Here’s what they say about features:

Open Vulnerability Assessment System (OpenVAS)

“The Open Vulnerability Assessment System (OpenVAS) is a framework of several services and tools offering a comprehensive and powerful vulnerability scanning and vulnerability management solution.

The actual security scanner is accompanied with a daily updated feed of Network Vulnerability Tests (NVTs), over 30,000 in total (as of April 2013).

All OpenVAS products are Free Software. Most components are licensed under the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL).”

An update on Google Affiliate Network (from the Google Blog)

Our goal with Google Affiliate Network has been to help advertisers and publishers improve their performance across the affiliate ecosystem. Cost-per-action (CPA) marketing has rapidly evolved in the last few years, and we’ve invested significantly in CPA tools like Product Listing Ads, remarketing and Conversion Optimizer. We’re constantly evaluating our products to ensure that we’re focused on the services that will have the biggest impact for our advertisers and publishers.

To that end, we’ve made the difficult decision to retire Google Affiliate Network and focus on other products that are driving great results for clients.

We’ll continue to support our customers as we wind down the product over the next few months. And there are other products that can help you achieve your goals. Affiliate publishers can continue to earn AdSense revenue through the AdSense network. And marketers can take advantage of other CPA-oriented Google tools like Product Listing Ads, remarketing and Conversion Optimizer to drive valuable online sales and conversions. These areas are growing rapidly and we’re continuing to invest heavily in them.

Thanks for your support of our affiliate product, and we look forward to helping you grow your business in the future.

Posted by: J.J. Hirschle, Head of Google Affiliate Network

Check your usernames and passwords and harden them if you have a WordPress blog. You have been warned!

WordPress under Heavy Attack

“Attackers are aiming at blogs running poorly-secured WordPress configurations in an attempt to create a powerful botnet that, according to independent security researcher Brian Krebs, already counts some 90,000 IPs.

The attack appears to use ‘brute force’ password–guessing, as revealed by security and networking companies in separate investigations and incident forensics.

It appears campaigners focus on websites running the popular WordPress content management system. They meticulously scan the Internet for WordPress and try to get into the admin panel via repeated login attempts, trying the 1,000 most common username and password combinations on a custom list, according to website security company Incapsula.

All vulnerable sites are planted a backdoor to allow attackers to access these sites from afar. In the meantime, the compromised sites are incorporated into the attack botnet to go after other websites running WordPress.

‘It’s hurting the service providers the most, not just with incoming traffic,’ Marc Gaffan of Incapsula told KrebsOnSecurity. ‘But as soon as those servers get hacked, they are now bombarding other servers with attack traffic. We’re talking about Web servers, not home PCs. PCs maybe connected to the Internet with a 10 megabit or 20 megabit line, but the best hosting providers have essentially unlimited Internet bandwidth. We think they’re building an army of zombies, big servers to bombard other targets for a bigger cause down the road.’

‘These larger machines can cause much more damage in DDoS attacks because the servers have large network connections and are capable of generating significant amounts of traffic,’ wrote CloudFlare CEO Matthew Prince in a blog post expressing concerns of a possible link between this outbreak and the 2012 Brobot botnet attacks against some American banks.

All readers with WordPress blogs need to enforce the security of their servers immediately: keep just the admin users that you trust. Change old passwords with secure log-in credentials for all admin accounts. Make sure the WordPress version you run is safe, and update the secret WordPress key.”

Man! Microsoft is having problems evening getting their “fixes” right!

Microsoft pulls Patch Tuesday security fix

“Tech giant Microsoft has recommended that an update released in the latest Patch Tuesday be removed, after users reported incidents of the ‘blue screen of death’ after installation.

Microsoft released two critical security updates and others rated as ‘important’ for Windows and Internet Explorer as part of its latest round of Patch Tuesday updates.

However, a number of Windows 7 users have reported issues with security update 2823324, which is part of security bulletin MS13-036.

MS13-036 was meant to fix three privately disclosed flaws and one publicly disclosed flaw in an NTFS kernel-mode driver related to the elevation of privileges when a user is logged in. However, once installed, security update 2823324 — part of the bulletin — may produce a ‘STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}’ problem for users. The error occurs early in the startup process, and no Memory.dmp file is created.

As a result, Microsoft has temporarily pulled the patch from its security bulletin while the issue is being investigated.”

Even Microsoft’s search engine is evil! Go figure! Internet Explorer is the most insecure web browser, and apparently Bing is the most insecure web search engine. In keeping with their lack of security capabilities, I would say, “Google on!”

Bing Delivers Five Times as Many Malicious Websites as Google

“Searches on Bing returned five times more links to malicious websites than Google searches, according to an 18-month study from German independent testing lab AV-Test. Though search engines have worked to suppress malicious results, the study concluded that malware infested websites still appear in their top results.

The study looked at nearly 40 million websites provided by seven different search engines. About 10 million results came from Bing and another 10 million from Google. 13 million sites were provided by the Russian service Yandex, with the rest coming from Blekko, Faroo, Teoma and Baidu respectively. Of these 40 million sites, AV-Test found 5,000 pieces of malware—and admittedly small percentage of websites.

Google the Safest
The study concluded that while all the search engines the lab evaluated delivered malware, Google delivered the least. It was followed by Bing, which returned a disconcerting five times as much malware as Google. Yandex, the Russian website, delivered 10 times as many malicious sites.

Thankfully, the 5,000 pieces of malware the study found are concentrated in Yandex results—which had 3,330 malicious links out of the 13 million the AV-Test looked at. Bing had a little under half that, with 1,285 malicious results out of 10 million pages. Google returned a mere 272 malicious results in 10 million while Bleko had even fewer: 203 out of around three million.

SEO Optimized Malware
To move their malware-ridden spawn to the top of Google’s search results, the bad guys are using tried and true search engine optimization tactics—the very same used by corporations and bloggers. According to AV-Test, the attackers use a very simple trick, ‘they first create a multitude of small websites and blogs before selecting the most frequently used search terms from top news stories and using backlinks to optimise these terms for search engines.’

The study went on to say that users ‘are the least suspicious’ when they see a search result attached to a hot news story. More troublingly, AV-Test reports that sites with Trojans or other malware are returned as ‘top’ results.

How Safe Are You?
If you’re a Google user or even a Bing user, the chances that you would encounter a malicious website in your search are low. Doing some quick arithmetic, it looks like the chance of a Googler hitting malware is about one in 40,118.

Of course, those odds are repeated billions of times a day. ‘[It] is important to remember that Google alone deals with a phenomenal total of 2 to 3 billion search requests worldwide every day,’ reads the study. ‘If this total is factored into the calculations, the total number of websites containing malware found by the search engine is enough to make your head spin!’

In 2009, Google reported it handled around 320 million searches a day for America alone and around 2 billion worldwide. That’s potentially about 50,000 malicious sites a day.

Usually, I tell people they can stay safe by being smart, but in this case it’s a bit more complicated. Google is a service people trust, and most users don’t consider that malicious sites are playing a numbers game. Instead, users assume that they’re safe because they’re not important or targeted. The fact that attackers are going out of their way to make their websites attractive for clicking doesn’t help.

Security software can go part of the way, as many will screen your web browsing for potentially dangerous websites. Most modern browsers, like Google Chrome, have anti-malware baked right in.

It is, however, heartening to see that the number of malicious results from Google is so low. I certainly hope that Bing can follow suit and get their numbers down as well.”