Hacking and Anonymous surfing

As the end of the decade nears, quite a few things have changed. Ten years ago, Bing, Chrome, Facebook and Twitter didn’t exist. Windows 7 didn’t exist. Not even the iPhone, the iPod Touch or the netbook were around. It was an exciting decade. But one thing that has remained relatively constant over that period is Microsoft’s position in the marketplace.

The software giant that entered the 2000s is still a software giant. But over the past decade, its grip on the industry has slipped somewhat. It’s no longer the invincible leader that some users expected it to be going into the 2010s. Today, Microsoft is less powerful than it once was.

That’s mainly due to the mistakes the company has made over the past 10 years. Unfortunately, Microsoft believed that it could coast, easily dominating any market that it competed in. The company also failed to see the future, forcing it to play “catch up.” Worst of all, Windows Vista severely affected brand loyalty. Suffice it to say that it has been a tough 10 years for Microsoft.

Apple is planning to make a major product announcement Jan. 26, and many analysts are betting it’s a touchscreen, handheld computer that looks something like an iPhone. Indeed, the speculation surrounding the Apple tablet is growing — and it’s sending Apple’s stock up.

Investment analysts are getting into the speculation. In a Wednesday research note, Macquarie analyst Phil Cusick put his thoughts about the rumored tablet on paper, estimating the device will sell for about $800 and drive another five percent increase in Apple’s profits in 2010. That would mean Apple selling between three million and five million tablets over the course of next year.

“As beautiful as an Apple tablet may be, the functionality will be driven or limited by the wireless connectivity,” Cusick wrote. Apple would need to ink deals with wireless carriers to make the tablet a market success with $559 million in profits in its debut year.

Belarus’ authoritarian leader is promising to toughen regulation of the Internet and its users in an apparent effort to exert control over the last fully free medium in the former Soviet state.

“We will identify any person who disseminates lies and dirt, and will make them answer strictly to the law,” President Alexander Lukashenko said Wednesday.

He told journalists that a new Internet bill, proposed Tuesday, would require the registration and identification of all online publications and of each Web user, including visitors to Internet cafes. Web service providers would have to report this information to police, courts and special services. Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994, weeding out opposition and dissidents. All television channels and most print media have become state-controlled, and many of the independent newspapers ordered closed have taken refuge in cyberspace.

Phishing attacks soared in December as cyber criminals looked to capitalise on the higher number of online shoppers in the run up to Christmas, according to new research from managed security firm Network Box released today.

The firm’s analysis of web-based threats in December 2009 shows that just over 57 per cent of all threats were phishing attacks, compared to 28.3 per cent in November.

“The run up to Christmas is traditionally a time for hackers to strike the vulnerable. A higher proportion of shopping is done online, with more money spent than at any other time of year,” warned Network Box internet security analyst Simon Heron. “Christmas offers rich pickings for phishers. This is likely to continue through the sales in January, and we urge online bargain hunters to be vigilant.”

THE International Trade Commission said it would investigate allegations by Prism Technologies that BlackBerry maker Research In Motion violated one of its patents. Prism Technologies, whose one-page website says it does “internet security technology management and licensing,” accused RIM of violating a patent having to do with authentication systems.

Edward Snyder, an analyst with Charter Equity Research, said RIM’s share price did not move on announcement of the Prism lawsuit because investors worry about patent suits only if the company is short on cash.

“The probability of (Prism) prevailing are relatively slim. And even if it does, the likely impact to the stock is minor,” he said. “I’ve not heard of them (Prism) before, they’re not going to be somebody who is pre-eminent in tech.”

Richard Lapthorne, who has been knighted, is an avid gardener who tends the grounds at his Buckinghamshire home with care. He is equally good at pruning companies and getting them to blossom again, and has built a reputation as a turnround specialist, most recently reviving the fortunes of Cable & Wireless, where he has been chairman since 2003.

When he first took the job, almost seven years ago, C&W was suffering huge losses after an ill-timed spending spree during the late 1990s, and its value had slumped to just £1bn, down from £30bn at the height of the dotcom boom. Today, the communications company is refinanced and set to split into two clean, standalone businesses in March – UK and international – both independently profitable and valued at £1.7bn and £1.8bn respectively.

In the process, Sir Richard, 66, has overseen two changes of chief executive, including the recruitment of the combative John Pluthero in 2006. He settled a long-running tax dispute with the UK government, helping to put the company’s finances on a stronger footing, fended off an opportunistic acquisition bid from Hong Kong’s PCCW and acquired UK competitors Thus and Energis.

Every industry has its holy grail. For the games industry, it’s the idea of a worldwide multi-format smash hit that will generate sequel after sequel. For football (or Soccer, to you lot on the other side of the Atlantic), it’s the idea of a manager who will finally get England to the finals of the World Cup and win.

For the last few years, my chosen field has been the AV industry, and I’ve even started running my own home cinema company. In that industry, the Holy Grail already exists, and it’s called Kaleidescape. This is, to put it bluntly, one of the sexiest pieces of equipment in an industry that’s inundated with gorgeous kit – it’s a full-blown multi-zone DVD server capable of streaming DVD or BluRay movies anywhere around the house, with full 1080p upscaling for DVDs and the ability to filter and browse your movie collection from the comfort of your armchair.

Now, this may sound like something that’s fairly obvious to the average reader here at bit-tech, but then you have to remember that the average bit-tech reader is light years ahead of the average bloke on the street when it comes to technical know-how. A Kaleidescape system is not only powerful; it’s easy to use too.

In the shimmering fantasy realm of the hit movie “Avatar,” a paraplegic Marine leaves his wheelchair behind and finds his feet in a new virtual world thanks to “the link,” a sophisticated chamber that connects his brain to a surrogate alien, via computer.

This type of interface is a classic tool in gee-whiz science fiction. But the hard science behind it is even more wow-inducing.

Researchers are already using brain-computer interfaces to aid the disabled, treat diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, and provide therapy for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Work is under way on devices that may eventually let you communicate with friends telepathically, give you superhuman hearing and vision or even let you download data directly into your brain, a la “The Matrix.”

Pent-up demand for new projects. Veteran employees leaving the company. Who could complain about such pressures in the waning months of 2009, when the year was spent under a cloud of economic misery?

Certainly not Shane Kilgore, IT director at Randall-Reilly Publishing Co. in Tuscaloosa, Ala. He was dismayed to see two talented software developers give notice recently. One had five years under his belt and the other had 10, but Kilgore took their departures as a sign that the economy is taking its first steps toward recovery. He plans to hire a few new developers this year, not only to replace the ones who left, but also to work on new products that will be in demand when — as many economists predict — the recovery gains headwind this year.

“Things have been frozen because of the economy,” Kilgore says. “But if we don’t get new products out there, we won’t have enough places for customers to put their money.”

A former employee of Seagate Technology claims that the company destroyed evidence that could have affected a long-standing patent infringement lawsuit filed against it by engineering company Convolve Inc. and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

In a court document obtained by the New York Times that was filed late last month, the former employee, Paul A. Galloway, claimed in an affidavit that Seagate deliberately destroyed the source code pertaining to a disk drive that used Convolve’s intellectual property and “failed to preserve” Galloway’s PC containing all of his work during development of the drive.

Galloway, who worked for Seagate until July as an engineer, also claimed that Seagate “withheld, if not destroyed, minutes of a server engineering group meetings used as a forum for disseminating Convolve’s technology.