Sinofsky shows off Windows 8 on ARM and Office15 - Register

Windows boss Stephen Sinofsky has ended months of speculation with the first (fairly) detailed drilldown into Windows 8 on ARM (WOA) platform, and says it should be ready for a simultaneous launch with its x86/64 counterpart.

Devices running WOA will come with both a Metro touch-based interface and the more traditional desktop, and will run Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote applications with full document compatibility with x86/64 systems. Photo sharing, calendar, mail, storage and contact applications will also be the same as on ARM and x86/64. But that’s it for compatibility – all other apps on WOA have to be Metro-style WinRT and come via the Windows Store.

Office 15 Excel will be compatible with your desktop

Virtualized code on the platform is out too. The process of running emulators for x86/64 applications was far too battery and processor-heavy, and too unstable Sinofsky said, so they would have to be built in an entirely new style. That said, Microsoft said it is making life as easy as possible for developers to compile WinRT applications in Visual Studio.

“If we enabled the broad porting of existing code we would fail to deliver on our commitment to longer battery life, predictable performance, and especially a reliable experience over time,” he said. “The conventions used by today’s Windows apps do not necessarily provide this, whether it is background processes, polling loops, timers, system hooks, startup programs, registry changes, kernel mode code, admin rights, unsigned drivers, add-ins, or a host of other common techniques.”

Metro-only on most WOA apps

WOA will come with Internet Explorer 10, support for HTML5 , hardware accelerated graphics and also makes greater use of integrated hardware subsystems for more power efficiency. Sinofsky claimed this would make multitasking, such as playing a movie and reading a document, much more power efficient.

Power is the key the whole deal. WOA devices aren’t designed to be switched on and off, but left in standby, for weeks it is claimed. Sinofsky stressed how closely Redmond was working with Nvidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments to develop these devices – almost exclusively fondleslabs one would imagine - that can match what’s on the market today, with the iPad the obvious target.

The first devices should be in the hands of a few, pre-picked developers next month and Office 15 is already out to a similar group of Microsoft testers. The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is also due out next month, and Sinofsky pointed out the name change from “beta” was because, to some companies (no names mentioned,) the meaning of the term beta as "testing release available for free to try out," seemed to have changed.

Microsoft is stressing that the two different styles will be distinctly branded to avoid consumer confusion and would have standardized connections via USB 3.0 and Bluetooth. The clunky units in the blog video will be replaced with fondleslabs designed around “industrial design, long battery life, and integrated quality,” Sinofsky promised. ®

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WikiLeaks' resilience shows strength of Internet-age lifelines - Washington Post

Over the past several days, the anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks has been hit with a series of blows that have seemed to threaten its survival. Its primary Web address was deactivated, its PayPal account was frozen, and its Internet server gave it the boot.

The result: WikiLeaks is now stronger than ever, at least as measured by its ability to publish online.

Blocked from using one Internet host, WikiLeaks simply jumped to another. Meanwhile, the number of "mirror" Web sites - effectively clones of WikiLeaks' main contents pages - grew from a few dozen last week to 200 by Sunday. By early Wednesday, the number of such sites surpassed 1,000.

At the same time, WikiLeaks' supporters have apparently gone on the offensive, staging retaliatory attacks against Internet companies that have cut ties to the group amid fears they could be associated with it. On Wednesday, hackers briefly shut down access to the Web sites for MasterCard and Visa, both of which had announced they had stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks' long-term survival depends on a number of unknowns, including the fate of its principal founder, Julian Assange, who is being held in Britain while awaiting possible extradition to Sweden related to sexual-assault allegations. But the Web site's resilience in the face of repeated setbacks has underscored a lesson already absorbed by more repressive governments that have tried to control the Internet: It is nearly impossible to do.

Experts, including some of the modern online world's chief architects, say the very design of the Web makes it difficult for WikiLeaks' opponents to shut it down for more than a few hours.

"The Internet is an extremely open system with very low barriers to access and use," said Vint Cerf, Google's vice president and the co-author of the TCP/IP system, the basic language of computer-to-computer communication over the Internet. "The ease of moving digital information around makes it very difficult to suppress once it is accessible."

Thus, despite the global uproar over the release of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables, Assange's Web site remained defiantly intact Wednesday. Over the past week it has continued to publish a steady stream of leaked State Department documents with little visible evidence of injury from repeated, anonymous cyber-attacks or the multiple attempts to cut off its access to funding and Web resources.

By contrast, companies that have pulled the plug on WikiLeaks have suffered publicly, with cyber-attacks rendering their Web sites inaccessible or slow for hours at a time.

While a group of "hacktivists" targeted MasterCard and Visa - part of "Operation Payback," they called it - anonymous assailants have also in recent days attacked PayPal, which severed relations with WikiLeaks citing violations of its terms of service.

Web sites for Swedish prosecutors and a Swedish lawyer have also been hit, as has the banking arm of the Swiss postal service, which said it had frozen Assange's account, and even the Web site of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

WikiLeaks' seeming invulnerability is seen by experts as a demonstration of the power of new Web-based media to take on not only governments but also the traditional news media.

View the original article here

WikiLeaks' resilience shows strength of Internet-age lifelines - Washington Post

Over the past several days, the anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks has been hit with a series of blows that have seemed to threaten its survival. Its primary Web address was deactivated, its PayPal account was frozen, and its Internet server gave it the boot.

The result: WikiLeaks is now stronger than ever, at least as measured by its ability to publish online.

Blocked from using one Internet host, WikiLeaks simply jumped to another. Meanwhile, the number of "mirror" Web sites - effectively clones of WikiLeaks' main contents pages - grew from a few dozen last week to 200 by Sunday. By early Wednesday, the number of such sites surpassed 1,000.

At the same time, WikiLeaks' supporters have apparently gone on the offensive, staging retaliatory attacks against Internet companies that have cut ties to the group amid fears they could be associated with it. On Wednesday, hackers briefly shut down access to the Web sites for MasterCard and Visa, both of which had announced they had stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks' long-term survival depends on a number of unknowns, including the fate of its principal founder, Julian Assange, who is being held in Britain while awaiting possible extradition to Sweden related to sexual-assault allegations. But the Web site's resilience in the face of repeated setbacks has underscored a lesson already absorbed by more repressive governments that have tried to control the Internet: It is nearly impossible to do.

Experts, including some of the modern online world's chief architects, say the very design of the Web makes it difficult for WikiLeaks' opponents to shut it down for more than a few hours.

"The Internet is an extremely open system with very low barriers to access and use," said Vint Cerf, Google's vice president and the co-author of the TCP/IP system, the basic language of computer-to-computer communication over the Internet. "The ease of moving digital information around makes it very difficult to suppress once it is accessible."

Thus, despite the global uproar over the release of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables, Assange's Web site remained defiantly intact Wednesday. Over the past week it has continued to publish a steady stream of leaked State Department documents with little visible evidence of injury from repeated, anonymous cyber-attacks or the multiple attempts to cut off its access to funding and Web resources.

By contrast, companies that have pulled the plug on WikiLeaks have suffered publicly, with cyber-attacks rendering their Web sites inaccessible or slow for hours at a time.

While a group of "hacktivists" targeted MasterCard and Visa - part of "Operation Payback," they called it - anonymous assailants have also in recent days attacked PayPal, which severed relations with WikiLeaks citing violations of its terms of service.

Web sites for Swedish prosecutors and a Swedish lawyer have also been hit, as has the banking arm of the Swiss postal service, which said it had frozen Assange's account, and even the Web site of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

WikiLeaks' seeming invulnerability is seen by experts as a demonstration of the power of new Web-based media to take on not only governments but also the traditional news media.

View the original article here

The Rent Is Too Damn High Party: Jimmy McMillan Shows Dems How It's Done - Death and Taxes

Jimmy McMillan of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party stole the show at last night’s New York gubernatorial debate.

Yesterday we wrote a piece about how ineffective Democrats were this year at fighting back against the conservative Tea Party candidates. Maureen Dowd’s “Mean Girls” article about the Mama Grizzlies only reinforced their perceived strength by calling them mean. If you don’t like the things your opponent is saying, we argued, you have to change the conversation.

Reinforcing the meanness of your successfully mean opponent is not a conversation changer. “The rent is too damn high”—now that’s a conversation changer.

Last night Jimmy McCmillan, head of The Rent Is Too Damn High party, and that party’s candidate for Governor of New York, showed mainstream Democrats how you effectively change a conversation. Gawker has a great report on McMillan, but it suffices to say he’s an eccentric Brooklyn candidate who wears gloves on his because he was exposed to agent orange in Vietnam (but, he says, “it could be psychological”) and who focuses his campaign on a singular issue with brilliant clarity: the rent is too damn high.

Jimmy McMillan will not win the governor’s race. Not by a long shot. But he does stand for progressive Democratic values (“the Rent Is 2 Damn High Party feels if you want to marry a shoe, I’ll marry you”) and he holds a valuable lesson for more mainstream Democratic candidates who actually stand a chance of winning: Political winners set the conversation, and political losers respond to the conversation.

Like them or hate them, the Tea Party has been highly effective in the last two years at setting the conversation. Democrats would do well to take a look at Jimmy McCmillan and learn from what he’s doing. Though they may not want to start the exact conversation he’s choosing to, they should take note of how many people are talking about him this morning. It’s not because he called Carl Paladino “mean.” It’s the oldest trick in the book: if you don’t like the argument on the table, change the conversation.

Below check out a clip of McMillan from last night’s debate. Below that, check out four glorious minutes of McMillan sitting on a stoop, ranting.

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Facebook Groups Prank Shows Problem with Default Opt-In - PC World

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Practical IT insight from Tony Bradley » More Net Work » RSS » All Blogs Security October 08, 2010 12:53 PMFacebook Groups Prank Shows Problem with Default Opt-In More… Facebook Twitter Digg Print By Tony Bradley, PCWorld

Facebook held a major press event this week to introduce some significant changes to the site, including Facebook Groups. While the intent of Facebook Groups is to enhance privacy and provide users with more control over how information is shared, the implementation of the concept leaves a little to be desired.

People who read this also read:Facebook's New Groups: 5 Things You Need To KnowNew Facebook Groups: 5 Key FactsFacebook’s Promising, Infuriating New Groups FeatureFacebook Ads: Success Secrets From a Facebook InsiderHas Facebook Finally Figured Out Privacy?New Facebook Features: Prepare for More Cliques

Chet Wisniewski, a senior security advisor with Sophos, describes the problem in a blog post. "Facebook's newly announced groups feature may not be the boon for privacy some have predicted. Although only a small percentage of Facebook's users are upgraded to the new features it would appear people are exploring the possibilities in a rather aggressive way."

Wisniewski goes on to explain, "The problem of course is that you can create a group with any name you want, and add any friends you want without any confirmation that they wish to be a member of said group. It would seem obvious that this is a terrible idea because when you are added to a group it will post a status update saying you joined it... And it didn't take long before someone used it on Zuck."

What Wisniewski is referring to is that someone set up a Facebook Group for NAMBLA--the pro-pedophile North American Man Boy Love Association--and added TechCrunch's Michael Arrington to it. Arrington, appreciating the irony of the prank, then paid it forward by adding Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. If Zuckerberg and the Facebook team didn't understand the issue before, this prank should be a poignant example of the problem with default opt-in and no approval or confirmation process.

The Facebook Help Center answers the question "Can I Prevent People From Adding Me to a New Group?" with the following: "The functionality of approving a group membership is not available. Similar to being tagged in a photo, you can only be added to a group by one of your friends. When a friend adds you to a group, a story in the group (and in News Feed for Open or Closed groups) will indicate that your friend has added you to a group."

However, once you have been added to a group, you can remove yourself from that group, and once you remove yourself from a group you can't be added to that same group again by any of your Facebook friends.

Wisniewski laments, "There doesn't seem to be a way to opt-out of this feature, although you are notified if you are logged into Facebook. As usual it would appear the ability to connect trumps your ability to decide what should be done with your identity when it comes to Facebook."

And, as usual Facebook's good intentions are thwarted by default opt-in. The underlying concept of Facebook Groups is solid, and I think once the dust settles on this initial launch that it will be successful in meeting the objective Facebook designed it for. But, Facebook should always set up features with assumed privacy and put the ball in the user's court to consciously opt-in to share information.

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You can follow Tony on hisFacebook page, or contact him by email attony_bradley@pcworld.com. He also tweets as @Tony_BradleyPCW.

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Facebook Groups Prank Shows Problem with Default Opt-InI assume Mark Zuckerberg isn't really a member of NAMBLA, but the prank of adding him without his consent is a poignant example of what's wrong with Facebook Groups.

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