Using Google Chrome – Think again!

March 18, 2013 By Pranav PANDEY Leave a Comment

As most of the internet users, I am a heavy Chrome user while surfing the world of internet. But while this surfing I came along an interesting news from MWR Labs which work in security research activities. They demonstrated a full sandbox bypass exploit against the latest stable version of the Google Chrome browser at the annual Pwn2Own competition at the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver. The researchers from MWR labs showed their hack which took a fully patched version of Google Chrome browser, hacked it, and then took control of Windows 7. They explained:

By visiting a malicious webpage, it was possible to exploit a vulnerability which allowed us to gain code execution in the context of the sandboxed renderer process. We also used a kernel vulnerability in the underlying operating system in order to gain elevated privileges and to execute arbitrary commands outside of the sandbox with system privileges.

According to MWR InfoSecurity managing director Ian Shaw:

The reason Chrome was chosen as the target for the demonstration is to encourage understanding, as a security breach of this nature could expose millions of users to serious risk.

MWR Labs decided to share the holes with the vendors so that they can be patched and didn’t provide specifics on the code it exploited to take control over Windows 7.

So, here is an opportunity for you to exploit Google Chrome browser vulnerability if you can, before they fix it in upcoming updates.

Source: http://labs.mwrinfosecurity.com/blog/2013/03/06/pwn2own-at-cansecwest-2013/

Facebook Working On #Hashtags!

March 15, 2013 By Abhishek Prakash Leave a Comment

There was a time when Facebook and Twitter were two separate entities in social media world. Facebook, the personal space to share with friend and family while Twitter was the domain for real-time ‘news’ and discussion along with the opportunity to follow celebrities. As the world rely more and more on mobile devices for internet access, the two social media giants starts rubbing shoulders with each other to get bigger piece of mobile advertisement pie.

The #rumour has it:

According to WSJ, Facebook is now working on a hashtag feature similar to Twitter. People who do not know, hashtag is sort of highlighter in tweets where you can put emphasis on a particular word by placing a ‘#’ before it. This also allows users to use it as a tag to search in real-time for all the tweets containing this hashtag. You can think of these hashtags as a ‘keyword search’.

Google Plus has also incorporated the hashtag feature even since its beginning. Facebook has been avoiding it for long. But the introduction of Graph Search has shown that Facebook has few arrows (even if borrowed from somewhere else) in its quiver. Facebook has announced that it will start including statuses and posts as well in the Graph Search. Keeping that in mind, it is quite viable that Facebook will start including hashtags for keyword specific Graph Search.

What’s the fuss?

It’s all about moolah. By means of hashtags, Twitter provides a real good way to see the tweets in real-time and thus gets advertisers more focused on advertising on current/real-time moments. Also, as hashtags emphasize on certain keywords, it will help in a more accurate targeting for advertising.

Facebook has been copying Twitter features for a long time

It;s not the first time that Facebook has copied something from Twitter. Facebook started copying Twitter’s feature around two years back when it introduced the feature of “subscribe” on the line of ‘follow’ of Twitter. Later Gradually it also introduced the feature of tagging anyone (person or page) in comments and status by using ‘@’ before the name. Twitter users know very well the use of ‘@’ to ‘mention’ (read, tag) anyone in a tweet.

I have felt the need of hashtags for a long time. The news of Facebook hashtags is a welcome sign. Though it won’t be coming any time soon, it still is a positive change. By the way that makes me thinking if hashtags were first used by Apple instead of Twitter, how many lawsuits would have we seen?

Facebook To Replace Your VoIP Provider? May Be In Near Future!

February 23, 2013 By Abhishek Prakash Leave a Comment

Facebook has been experimenting a lot lately. A multi-billions dollar company should not be content with what it has, should it? Last month Facebook started the voice messaging for its iOS Messenger app. Today it has brought voice calling option in its main iOS app. Now users in US and Canada have option to call their online Facebook friends in the main Facebook app.

What is this voice call?

You can see this option when you tap on a friend’s name. If he/she is online, you can do a voice chat from your phone by clicking on the “free call” button. Of course it will cost you more data charges. No, you cannot call a friend on his/her phone number if he/she is online. At least not now. When a user is not online, the “free call” option is greyed out.

Facebook Voice Calling — Pic courtesy: TechCrunch

Bah! Sounds more like Skype and Gtalk

Yes! This was my first reaction as well. What’s the big deal. Skype and Gtalk already has this option where you can voice as well as video chat with online users. With Skype, you can also call on a friend’s phone number (using Skype credits) if he/she is not online. So what’s the fuzz about Facebook providing voice calling option?

Tip of the Zucker…oops…iceberg!

Look at the bigger picture. It could be just the tip of the iceberg. Facebook may be (and it should be) planning to roll out complete voice and video chat option in its mobile app. VoIP is a growing industry and $8 Bn selling price of Skype is a confirmation. Facebook is a social network with over a 1 billion people worldwide. It is the de facto standard in social media industry.

With the rise of smartphones, a huge population has their contacts synced with Facebook. What do you see here? An immense opportunity to utilize them for a VoIP project. After all if you have calling options straight in Facebook, why would you go and search for the same friend in Skype or Gtalk?

With its messenger service for SMS it already has reduced the phone bills for many. And with the calling option, it surely is going to reduce it further. What is your opinion on it? Will it be a hit or a miss?

Give Birth To A Baby After 9 Months From Today, Get A Free Crib From Ikea

February 15, 2013 By Abhishek Prakash Leave a Comment

Join the First Lady in wishing the President a happy Father’s Day:

— Barack Obama

Australian mates! Try a bit harder while having sex this valentine and don’t use any protection for you could win a $99 worth crib for your baby born on 14th November 2013 (exactly after 9 months from today). No kidding! This is the Valentine’s gift from Ikea, world’s largest furniture retailer. Ikea Australia advertised this in newspapers:

It reads the following:

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, IKEA is offering parents-to-be a free cot if your baby is born on November 14, 2013. Limit of one cot per baby. Proof of birth must be provided. Voucher must be presented to redeem offer. Delivery not included.

Check the last line of the advertisement. Delivery (neither for product’s nor for the baby’s :P) charges are not included. Quite obvious. Many people may argue that there is no certainty that a baby will be born in exactly nine months. Right! But here is the thing, IKEA doesn’t care when you made out and when you conceived. If you are so much interested in it, just keep this cutting of newspaper if you are remotely hopeful of ‘achieving’ parenthood on 14th November.

And no, I don’t know any such offers on diapers.

Minecraft Available For Free On Raspberry Pi

February 13, 2013 By Abhishek Prakash Leave a Comment

The legendary $25 micro computer Raspberry Pi has another feather in its cap, . One of the most talked about geek games of recent times, Minecraft is now available for free to download in Raspberry Pi app store which is called Pi Store. Minecraft for Raspberry Pi was announced back in December when it was available for free in beta version but it was never mentioned that it will be free even in the final version.

Liz Upton of Raspberry Pi today announced the arrival of Minecraft on Raspberry Pi official blog and thanked Mojang, the creator of Minecraft, for their effort:

Thanks to all at Mojang for all the work you’ve done on this, and greetings to those of you who are coming to the Raspberry Pi platform to play this new edition – we’re really happy to be able to welcome all you Minecrafters to the Pi family!

Earlier, Owen wrote on the official Mojang blog:

You might remember us mentioning Minecraft: Pi Edition a few months ago. It’s a free version of Minecraft that will run on the Raspberry Pi – a credit card-sized computer that can help you learn to program in an accessible, fun way. They’re cheap and relatively easy to set up.

So if you for any reason thought that Raspberry Pi sucks, you have one more positive point to buy Raspberry Pi, especially when it has announced free RAM upgrade on all Raspberry Pi.

Google, France Settled Tax Law

February 9, 2013 By Guest Author Leave a Comment

Internet giant finally managed to free itself from the “link tax” imposed last year by France. The internet conglomerate agreed to create a €60 million “Digital Publishing Innovation Fund” as a financial aid to the French media, for them to fully adapt to the continuous development of the internet. The agreement, as announced in France by President Francois Hollande and Google’s Eric Schmidt, has already ended after several deliberations and discussions over France’s proposition to charge Google from linking to French news content. Hollande said in a written statement that the agreement was “a model for effective partnership and is a pointer to the future in the global digital economy.”

Online Gaming Sites Not Shaken

The said tax law almost put Google in a heavy position as the law attempted to impose a tax on Google’s advertising revenues. The internet giant, however, countered by forewarning to exclude French publishers from its search results. Both sides met in late October and had numerous deliberations regarding the “Google Law”. President Hollande said he wanted to see an agreement in place by the end of the year. However, several websites, online activities, and similar small search engines seem to be unaffected. Online communities as well as online gaming portals such as PartyPoker Francais are continuously expanding the online gaming trend in France despite the tax issue commotion. With over 50 million French internet users recorded, the popular card game of poker has notably acquired innumerable poker players. These players are recognized to be actively participating at land-based and online based poker hubs. The famous World Series of Poker Tournament is said to have amassed participants in France. Such poker tournaments and other gaming events made France one of the best poker hosting countries in Europe.

Moving Forward

The internet conglomerate assured last Friday’s settlement does not require paying for “snippets” of news content that come out on Google’s search results. France has selected an intermediary to lead the discussions with French publishers and they dubbed the agreement a “happy conclusion.” Google Executive Chairman alongside President Francois Hollande headed to the Elysee Palace to sign the agreement.

“Our search engine generates billions of clicks each month, and our advertising solutions – in which we have invested billions of dollars – help them make money from that traffic,” Schmidt said.

According to searchengineland.com, “The second part of today’s settlement, according to Google, is that the company will ‘deepen our partnership with French publishers to help increase their online revenues using our advertising technology.’”
Radio France International said that Google has also encountered such similar deal last month with Belgian newspaper publishers, and more deals were expected to come out this year with other European media companies.

PayPal Founder Plans ‘Vegeterian Only’ City On Mars

January 8, 2013 By Abhishek Prakash Leave a Comment

Elon Mask, the visionary co-founder of l, has planned a city on red planet Mars. One of the eligibility criteria: Vegetarian. 41 years old billionaire is also a private space entrepreneur and founded his third company SpaceX in 2002. His rocket Falcon 9 delivers NASA cargo to International Space Station. He is one of the most respected space entrepreneur in the world.

A city on Mars might seem a straight lift from a science fiction, but Elon seems to be determined on it. Speaking to the Royal Aeronautical Society, he said:

Then it seemed ridiculous because there were no rockets, no infrastructure and NASA was the only game in town — and it had no schedule for exploring Mars……

But with my work, and many others working in the private sector, the mission is coming closer to reality.

The Sun newspaper reported that the new civilization would run off sustainable technology. All the vegetarian people, need not to be too happy. The population limit of the planned city is 80,000 people. As in Elon’s words:

“Too few, and the gene and culture pool dries up, too many and you risk civil war.”

What do you think of this? Is it just a far-fetched idea like Hilton hotel on moon or will it see the light of the day?

Forecast: Technology trends to watch for in 2013

December 29, 2012 By Medha BN 1 Comment

The biggest tech trends that were in news in 2012 were mostly concentrated in cloud computing technologies, mobile technologies (of which tablets popped like mushrooms in every other company!), social technologies, including many other small and big technologies. But, the year 2013 might bring in a bright year to many more technologies apart from the ones that had a great year in 2012.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has come up with the five greatest trends to watch for in 2013 and their list has,

The future of 3D printing
Next-generation TVs and displays
The evolution of the audio market
The mobile revolution in Africa, and
Technology in education

Well, the list of trending technologies for the year 2013 given by CEA looks quite promising. Technology like 3d printing has evolved at a great pace with its mark in every other innovation by assisting in designing the products be it jewellery or mobile devices or even cars for that matter. Rather than creating physical models, virtual models created on computers offer great flexibility.

The quality of TV display has a great market indeed. People are getting tech savvy and are willing to replace older televisions with feature rich television. LED’s, LCD’s and OLED TV’s are all running in the completion trying to improve and meet the quality demands.

The wireless headphones and the premium headphones that promise to deliver studio sound quality are only providing the basis for the CEA’s predictions. Adding to their analysis is the huge craze of people who are looking for professional sound quality in home audio systems.

As against the common beliefs about the gain in technological market in the continent of Africa, CEA predicts the rise of mobile revolution in the region. The trend has already been set in the continent as banking, business, and social networking have made good internet access in 2012 through mobile phones.

Since the inception of computer classes in schools years ago, the education system has seen several changes in the way pupils are being educated. The smart education system has replaced black boards and the new age tablets have started replacing books!

What I see is CEA’s predictions of trends to watch in 2013 coming true!

Apart from CEA, many giants in the field of technology and news have come up with their own list of trending technologies. According to a source on Forbes, the five trends include:

Internet of things (IoT) which they believe to make a great hit in 2013.
The trend of Big Data is the second one on the list where they are talking about the visualization and analysis on data that can help businesses.
The cloud technology is here to stay in 2013 after leaving its prints in 2012.
The issue of internet censorship and the enforcement of laws on the usage of internet is said to continue.
The use and development in the field of multicore computing made the list too.

According to marketwatch, even the Verizon has identified hybrid clouds as one of the technologies that will continue to grow in 2013. Verizon is also talking about the mobile market and the security in IT sector as one of their identifications.

In various other sources the most talked about technologies that are predicted as trending in 2013 are social technologies, cloud computing, big data, technology in education and mobile technology. Though there is no much discussion on upcoming technologies in 2013, people are mostly involved in talking about the continuing trend which has already been set in 2012.

Which technologies do you think are going to stay in 2013? Do you believe if there is any chance of invention of yet another newer technology in 2013?

Analysts Say Apple Is Stronger Than Ever With China Sales

December 28, 2012 By Guest Author Leave a Comment

If there’s any doubt about the fact that Apple’s latest iPhone is something to watch out for then clearly we haven’t heard the analysts speak. Just a few months after the successful release of the iPhone 5 in the United States, Apple ventured into the world by releasing the iPhone 5 in about 50 countries including Albania, Malaysia, Taiwan, Turkey and Venezuela. But the most notable release the American tech giant has had abroad was in China and the numbers say there is no denying that.

Two Million iPhones and Counting

Just three days after the December 14 release of the iPhone 5 in China, the Cupertino-based tech company announced that they were able to sell 2 million units, a feat that CEO Tim Cook described as “incredible” and “the best first weekend sales ever in China.” Such was the iPhone 5 phenomenon in China that, weeks before the release, China Unicom, Apple’s partner carrier in China, reported 300,000 reservations for the said iPhone. And while reports say there were less stellar crowds at the Apple Store on opening day, analysts say the iPhone 5’s first few days on China’s shores still showed strong signs of growth.

The Expert’s Take

After selling 5 million units in three days in the United States, the tech giant suffered a shocking plunge in stocks which was credited to the slow shipping of iPhone 5 supplies, easily scratched back panels, Maps app failures and management shakeups. But a lot of analysts who looked into the China sales feat thought that this was exactly what Apple needed to climb back on top. Analysts from Atlantic Equities believe that the 2 million mark could help the American tech giant bring back investor trust. People at Barclay’s also agree that the China sales report was a good start to easing the worries investors may be having as of late.

ISI, meanwhile, reported that Apple’s iPhone 5 success in China was a “strong launch” especially since the 3G subscriber market in the said country is very limited. Some analysts like those from RBS thought that it was notable how the tech company managed to get a fair share of the Chinese smartphone market even without the help of China Mobile’s 700 million subscribers as well as their 75.6 million 3G customers. Piper Jaffray’s analysts also believe that the demand for the iPhone remains strong despite all the troubles the company went through in the past quarters.

Is Bigger and Tougher Going to Cut It for Apple?

It is not very surprising that the tech giant is beginning to toughen up their marketing strategies by going global. Just this month, the tech giant managed to launch the iPhone 5 in 50 countries. Reports say the company is on its way to launching the premiere smartphone in more than 100 countries by the end of this year. And while this bold attempt is pushing analysts to the edge of their seats, iPhone addicts are clearly becoming more excited about what’s in store for them, no matter where they are in the world.

Author Byline: Twila B. is a writer, a multimedia enthusiast, a blogger and an iPhone addict. She’s currently a news writer for Cashforiphones.com and has written hundreds of articles since 2010. Check out her writings at Cashforiphones.com/cfi/news!

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