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Thursday, 16 February 2012

Apple's iPhone 4S could hit 4 million sold over weekend, analysts say

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Lt24ndp7

Apple's iPhone 4S went on sale in brick-and-mortar stores on Friday after AT&T, Sprint and Verizon each sold out of their preorder allotments. More than 1 million iPhone 4S handsets were purchased in the first 24 hours the phone was made available for preorder.

The iPhone 4S, so far, is a success. But could the iPhone 4S have a blockbuster weekend? Analysts are now estimating that yes, the iPhone 4S could be a big hit, telling Bloomberg Businessweek that the iPhone 4S could hit 4 million devices sold across the nation's three largest carriers by the end of the weekend.

The previous generation iPhone 4, which has sold more units than the previous three versions of iPhones combined, sold more than 1.7 million units in its launch weekend almost a year and a half ago, Businessweek noted.

Most analysts surveyed by the publication are projecting about 2 million to 3 million iPhones will be sold this weekend, but Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe told Businessweek that he thinks sales could hit 4 million -- more than double the iPhone 4 debut weekend sales.

The iPhone 4S, which was criticized by many analysts when it was unveiled by Apple on Oct. 4, launched Friday in the U.S., Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan and the U.K., spawning lines outside of Apple stores, carrier stores and consumer electronics retailers around the globe, Businessweek reported.

Even Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple with the late Steve Jobs, lined up outside of a Los Gatos, Calilf., Apple store on Friday to buy his wife a new iPhone 4S. Wozniak, often known by the nickname of "the Woz," was first in line.

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A future without Steve Jobs: What's next for Apple, the tech industry? [Video]

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

twitter.com/nateog

Photo: Apple customers queue to enter the Apple store in Munich, Germany, Friday for the launch of the iPhone 4S. Credit: Frank Leonhardt / AFP/Getty Images

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Microsoft closes $8.5-billion purchase of Skype

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Skype

Skyperosoft is a reality -- Microsoft has completed its $8.5-billion purchase of Skype, officially making the deal Microsoft's largest takeover to date.

The tech giant's biggest prior acquisition was its $6-billion deal for aQuantive, an online advertising firm, in 2007.

The boards of directors of Microsoft and Skype previously approved the all-cash acquisition. So did the Federal Trade Commission as well as other international antitrust agencies.

"Skype is a phenomenal product and brand that is loved by hundreds of millions of people around the world," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in a statement. "We look forward to working with the Skype team to create new ways for people to stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues -- anytime, anywhere."

Skype CEO Tony Bates will become president of a new Skype division at Microsoft, reporting directly to Ballmer. Skype was founded in 2003, bought by eBay in September 2005, then taken over by an investment group led by Silver Lake in November 2009 for about $2 billion.

"The Skype division will continue to offer its current products to millions of users globally," Microsoft said. "Longer term, Skype will also be integrated across an array of Microsoft products to broaden Skype's reach and accelerate its growth as a fundamental way people communicate online. Skype employees will continue to be located around the world in offices including Estonia, the Czech Republic, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United States."

Bates said the combination of Microsoft and Skype "will be able to accelerate Skype's goal to reach 1 billion users daily."

Skype's software is used by about 170 million people each month on PCs, tablets, smartphones and even home TVs, enabling users to talk by either voice or video over the Web for free, though for a fee calls can be placed to land lines and cellphones.

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Twitter.com/nateog

Photo: Makeup artist Chris Scott video chats with a friend on Skype last year. Credit: Al Seib/Los Angeles Times

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Sony: 93,000 PlayStation, Online Entertainment accounts hacked

Sony PlayStation

Sony's hacking problems aren't over yet.

On Wednesday morning, Philip Reitinger, Sony's newly hired chief information security officer, said that about 93,000 PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment user accounts have been breached in a Web attack.

The attack is merely the latest for Sony, which has been dealing with online assaults on its user accounts most of the year. So far, more than 90 million Sony user accounts across the company's online services have been breached, which led to online video gaming services being suspended for more than a month.

The security breaches haven't been limited to Sony's gaming business either. Sony's cloud-based Qriocity music service, Sony music websites and Sony Pictures websites have been hacked this year too.

Reitinger, whom Sony hired in September, is a veteran of the online security world and formerly was a top security official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Microsoft Corp.'s chief trustworthy infrastructure strategist. He's also worked for the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice and holds a law degree from Yale.

Sony created an entirely new position for Reitinger in hiring him in a bid to show it was serious about changing what is becoming an image of having a weak security system for users of its online services.

In a statement on Sony's PlayStation blog, Reitinger said it is unsure how successful or widespread the most recent attacks have been, but it has "detected attempts" to crack into Sony's Entertainment Network, PlayStation Network and the Sony Online Entertainment services "to test a massive set of sign-in IDs and passwords against our network database."

"These attempts appear to include a large amount of data obtained from one or more compromised lists from other companies, sites or other sources," he said. "In this case, given that the data tested against our network consisted of sign-in ID-password pairs, and that the overwhelming majority of the pairs resulted in failed matching attempts, it is likely the data came from another source and not from our Networks."

Reitinger said that Sony has made moves to fend off the attacks.

"Less than one tenth of one percent (0.1%) of our PSN, SEN and SOE audience may have been affected," he said. "There were approximately 93,000 accounts globally (PSN/SEN: approximately 60,000 accounts; SOE: approximately 33,000) where the attempts succeeded in verifying those accounts' valid sign-in IDs and passwords, and we have temporarily locked these accounts. Only a small fraction of these 93,000 accounts showed additional activity prior to being locked."

The nearly 93,000 accounts that were hacked and then locked down are currently under review by Sony so the company can figure out if an outside party really did access those accounts or not, Reitinger said.

Despite what Sony believes is the likely hacking of the large number of accounts, credit card numbers were not at risk in the security breach, he said. However, Sony "will work with any users whom we confirm have had unauthorized purchases made to restore amounts in the PSN/SEN or SOE wallet," Reitinger said.

"As a preventative measure, we are requiring secure password resets for those PSN/SEN accounts that had both a sign-in ID and password match through this attempt," he said. "If you are in the small group of PSN/SEN users who may have been affected, you will receive an email from us at the address associated with your account that will prompt you to reset your password."

"Similarly, the SOE accounts that were matched have been temporarily turned off. If you are among the small group of affected SOE customers, you will receive an email from us at the address associated with your account that will advise you on next steps in order to validate your account credentials and have your account turned back on."

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Sony partially blames hacktivist group Anonymous for PlayStation Network data breach

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Twitter.com/nateog

Photo: A customer watches a video of a Sony PlayStation 3 video game console at a Tokyo electronics retailer on April 27. Credit: Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP/Reuters

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Monday, 13 February 2012

Verizon now tracks and shares Web surfing, location, app usage

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Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless has made a change in its privacy policy that clears the nation's largest wireless carrier to track its subscribers' Web browsing, location and app usage habits.

The change in Verizon's privacy policy covers all customers of the company by default, automatically opting-in subscribers, though they can opt out of this if they want.

So why would Verizon want to track its customers' Web surfing, location, app usage and other data-consuming behaviors? Verizon said in a statement announcing the privacy change on their website that the data will help them make "mobile ads you see more relevant."

The policy change also clears Verizon to share the Web browsing data to produce "certain business and marketing reports" and then share that information with "other companies to create business and marketing reports."

Verizon also said that all the data shared with outside companies will be anonymized and that Verizon "will not share outside of Verizon any information that identifies you personally."

The specific types of information Verizon will now track and share with outside companies, as listed by Verizon on its website is made up of:

Mobile Usage Information:
Addresses of websites you visit when using our wireless service. These data strings (or URLs) may include search terms you have used Location of your device ("Location Information") App and device feature usage Consumer Information: Information about your use of Verizon products and services (such as data and calling features, device type, and amount of use) Demographic and interest categories provided to us by other companies, such as gender, age range, sports fan, frequent diner, or pet owner ("Demographics")

For those who want to opt out of Verizon's new information sharing practices, the carrier said its subscribers can do by filling out a form available at www.vzw.com/myprivacy or by calling 1-866-211-0874.

While the policy changes from Verizon might make some of its users feel uneasy or maybe even a bit creeped out, it's worth nothing that every carrier stores these types of data, though they all have different approaches to how they do or don't use them.

ALSO:

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-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Twitter.com/nateog

Photo: The Verizon logo is seen at a Verizon Wireless in San Francisco. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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Air Force says drone computer virus poses 'no threat'

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Drone

Concerns last week that combat drone aircraft were compromised by a computer virus were dismissed by the U.S. Air Force.

In a rare disclosure, the Air Force revealed that computer systems involved in its ongoing drone program were infected with a virus, but it did not hinder flight operations in any way.

"It's standard policy not to discuss the operational status of our forces," Col. Kathleen Cook, spokesperson for Air Force Space Command, said in a statement. "However, we felt it important to declassify portions of the information associated with this event to ensure the public understands that the detected and quarantined virus posed no threat to our operational mission and that control of our remotely piloted aircraft was never in question."

The disclosure aims to clarify numerous media reports that appeared last week, which stated that computers at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada -- where pilots remotely fly Predator and Reaper drones above the war zone -- were stricken with a virus that was logging pilots' every keystroke as they carried out their missions.

The Air Force shot down those claims, saying the virus “in question is a credential stealer, not a keylogger, found routinely on computer networks and is considered more of a nuisance than an operational threat. It is not designed to transmit data or video, nor is it designed to corrupt data, files or programs on the infected computer.”

The Air Force discovered last month that the virus infected a ground system that runs backup power supplies, environmental controls and work stations. Those systems are separate from the flight control system that pilots use to fly the aircraft remotely, the Air Force said.

But military officials did not address another aspect of last week’s reports, which said that the virus has remained on Creech's computer system despite multiple efforts to remove it.

Instead, Cook said the Air Force continues to strengthen cyber defenses, "using the latest anti-virus software and other methods to protect Air Force resources and assure our ability to execute Air Force missions. Continued education and training of all users will also help reduce the threat of malware to Department of Defense systems."

RELATED:

Combat drones' computer systems reportedly infected with virus

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Military's first cargo-carrying drone aircraft is going to war

-- W.J. Hennigan

twitter.com/wjhenn

Photo: A Predator drone flies a training mission over Victorville last year. The robotic plane was controlled by a pilot on the ground at the U.S. Air Force 163d Reconnaissance Wing of the California National Guard at Southern California Logistics Airport. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

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Thursday, 16 February 2012

Apple's iPhone 4S could hit 4 million sold over weekend, analysts say

Microsoft closes $8.5-billion purchase of Skype

Sony: 93,000 PlayStation, Online Entertainment accounts hacked

Monday, 13 February 2012

Verizon now tracks and shares Web surfing, location, app usage

Air Force says drone computer virus poses 'no threat'

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