Archive for January, 2011
Spam levels decline in January, but not for long
Jan 30th
After the dramatic decline in spam levels seen over the holidays, spam now accounts for 78.6 per cent of all email traffic, the lowest rate since March 2009. Results from our January 2011 MessageLabs Intelligence Report have found that spam volumes are 65.9 per cent lower than last year at this time.
Paul Wood, MessageLabs Intelligence Senior Analyst, Symantec Hosted Services
During December 25 to January 1, spam volumes decreased from 80.2 billion spam emails per day to 33.5 billion spam emails. We have found two reasons for this dramatic decline – the first being a halt in the spam-sending activities of three botnets, Rustock, Lethic and Xarvester and the second due to unrest among pharmaceutical spam-sending gangs.
In May 2010, pharmaceutical spam peaked with 85 per cent of spam being related to pharmaceutical products. However in January 2011, MessageLabs Intelligence found that pharmaceutical spam accounted for only 59.1 per cent of all spam. The closure of spam affiliate, Spamit, in October was partially responsible for this disruption. The Canadian Pharmacy brand, previously the most prolific pharmaceutical spam brands, disappeared when Spamit shut down. Read the rest of this entry »
Media tablets: More than ‘executive jewelry’
Jan 28th
At a recent industry event, I was asked if I agreed with the term “executive jewelry” to describe media tablets.
Krista Napier
I’d argue that most people who pre-ordered or stood in line to buy the first generation media tablets (iPad) when they hit the market back in May 2010, were probably…on some level… looking for at least a little bit of attention by sporting the latest tech fashion (aka jewelry), myself included.
But generally speaking, I wouldn’t agree that media tablets are synonymous with executive jewelry, for two key reasons. Read the rest of this entry »
Canada’s Atwood ahead of Lady Gaga, will.i.am in bringing sexy back to tech?
Jan 26th
It’s no longer just a matter of Avril Lavign vamping for Canon versus Ashton Kutcher’s antics for Nikon.
Tech companies seem bent on recruiting celebrities not just to pose for their products but actually “star” as designers of their gadgets.
Nestor Arellano
The latest recruit in this recent trend in Black Eyed Peas front man will.iam who was named Director if Creative Innovation for Intel. Will.i.am’s appointment came at the heels of Polaroid’s announcement at the CES 2011 that Lady Gaga was the new creative director for the company.
The practice of hiring celebrities to front for tech products is nothing new. But as far as marketing celebs as product designers, Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood probably had the jump on Will and Lady Gaga in helping tech get its sexy back. Read the rest of this entry »
Wind Mobile close to announcing Playbook support
Jan 26th
Wind Mobile’s product line may soon be a lot more appealing to businesses and consumers alike.
Wind is close to announcing support for Research In Motion’s Playbook tablet and several new Google Android devices, Wind chairman Anthony Lacavera says. I chatted with Lacavera at a Wind event in downtown Toronto, where the company was announcing its BestConversationEver.ca contest and charity donations. Read the rest of this entry »
Social game revenues still 30 times less than console games
Jan 25th
Nestor Arellano
Last week, Vancouver-based game studio Propaganda Games laid-off 70 workers after the firm was shut down by parent Disney Interactive Studios. Prior to this, Propaganda already had to let go of 100 people last October when Disney decided to abandon development of a new console game based on its Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
Increasingly, big studios have began focusing attention on social games which in the last two years have emerged as yet another segment of online gaming that threatens the reign of packaged and console based entertainment.
The two main factors that make social games attractive to investors, publishers and game developers is their relatively low cost of development and gigantic potential user base. Read the rest of this entry »
Goo.gl fake antivirus worm spreads across Twitter
Jan 24th
By Tony Bradley
Twitter and Twitter users are being targeted by a malicious worm. The worm sends out tweets with a goo.gl shortened URL link directed to a rogue antivirus application. The attack demonstrates once again how URL shortening can be a Pandora’s box as users click on links with no clue where they might lead.
A post on Naked Security by Sophos’ Graham Cluley describes the threat. “Thousands of Twitter users are finding that their accounts have been tweeting out malicious links without their permission, pointing to a fake anti-virus attack,” adding, “A quick search on the popular micro-blogging network finds many tweets from users containing no message other than a goo.gl shortened link (Google’s equivalent to bit.ly or tinyurl), which itself points to a URL ending with “m28sx.html”.
Quora could be the answer to bad Q&A sites
Jan 21st
By Katherine Noyes
Question-and-answer sites like Yahoo Answers may offer a quick way to ask questions and get answers, but they tend to be plagued by wisecracks, poor spelling, and generally low quality. On the other hand, a new site targeting this niche, Quora, is going to great lengths to keep quality high.
To sign up with Quora, users log in via their Facebook or Twitter ID, making anonymity–and the bad behavior it can engender–more or less impossible. And much like on Twitter, users can follow each others’ participation, as well as particular questions or topics.
Facebook suspends controversial data mining feature – for now
Jan 19th
Well at least this time they didn’t wait to get rapped on the knuckles by Canadian privacy and security officials.
Faced with strong criticism over a feature that allows application developers and third party Web sites to access mobile phone numbers and addresses of some of its users, Facebook announced on Monday that it was temporarily disabling the feature.
Nestor Arellano
Basically, the now suspended feature allowed developers to ask for your home address and mobile phone number if you’ve included this information in your profile.
In a blog post Facebook, says it has decided to suspend the feature after receiving “useful feedback.”
Temporarily disabling? Useful feedback? Maybe it’s more like user outrage. Don’t these people get it? Read the rest of this entry »
10 billion apps sold on Apple App Store
Jan 18th
By John P. Mello Jr., PC World (US)
Apple’s App Store is closing in on selling its 10 billionth app and when it does, someone is going to receive a $10,000 gift card to the iTunes Store.
“As of today, nearly 10 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store worldwide. Which is almost as amazing as the apps themselves,” Apple said on its website Friday. “So we want to say thanks. Download the 10 billionth app, and you could win a US $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. Just visit the App Store, and download what could be your best app yet.”
2011: The decade of Privacy by Design starts now
Jan 15th
The Future of Privacy Forum, a Washington-based think tank that promotes responsible data practices, recently posted its First Annual List of Privacy Ins and Outs. It’s a playful – but insightful – look at what’s hot and what’s not in the world of privacy for the year ahead.
Ann Cavoukian
I was delighted (and gratified) to see Privacy by Design (PbD) make the list of what’s “in.” 2010 was a great year for Privacy by Design – the made-in-Ontario framework for embedding privacy into the architecture of technologies and practices, right from the outset. Around the world, PbD continued to gather momentum and gain increasingly widespread support. We’re clearly at a tipping point.
So what can look forward to for PbD in 2011? I’m anticipating this year as the launch of the Privacy by Design decade – one that will assure the future of privacy. Here is my “Top 5” list: Read the rest of this entry »
