Year: 2013

Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are secret backers behind European Privacy Association

The privacy organization has hidden its ties to corporate backers After being accused of a lack of transparency by an independent watchdog, the European Privacy Association (EPA) has confirmed that Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are backers. The Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), which works to expose privileged access in E.U. policy making, said in a complaint […]

Report: Yahoo board approves deal to buy Tumblr for $1.1B

Rumors that Yahoo might be in talks to acquire the blogging site emerged last week Yahoo’s board of directors has approved spending $1.1 billion in cash to buy popular blogging site Tumblr, according to The Wall Street Journal. The plan is for Tumblr to operate as an independent business, the Journal reported on Sunday, quoting […]

Windows 8 isn’t New Coke, says top Microsoft exec; it’s Diet Coke

Frank X. Shaw defends Windows disclosure strategy, denies aping Apple Microsoft’s head of corporate communications defended his company’s Windows information disclosure strategy Tuesday, denying that Microsoft has adopted Apple’s “cone of silence” approach to imparting news. “We know we’re not Apple,” Frank X. Shaw, Microsoft’s top communications executive, said in an interview yesterday. “We would […]

Microsoft commits to secure coding standard

Company proclaims it’s compliant with ISO 27034-1 Microsoft says its coding practices and its corporate management structure both comply with an international application security standard to encourage secure software development. Today at its Security Development Conference the company has issued a declaration of conformity with ISO 27034-1, an international standard that addresses secure coding practices […]

Microsoft Patch Tuesday targets multitude of Internet Explorer faults

Untreated, Internet Explorer vulnerabilities could lead to remote code execution exploits Microsoft is issuing critical security bulletins this Patch Tuesday that affect all versions of Internet Explorer and deal with an exploit that attackers are actively working. Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are the recipients of a patch that can prevent an […]

Windows 8 Update: Gates: Windows 8 is about the iPad

Also, a Windows 8 tablet for less than $400 is a natural for BYOD Windows 8 is Microsoft’s best effort to catch up with Apple and grab tablet sales away from the iPad by including things iPads just don’t have, according to Microsoft founder Bill Gates. These things include keyboards and Microsoft Office, Gates says […]

Why you should take hacked sites’ password assurances with a grain of salt

Beware of e-mails that play down the ease of cracking your leaked passcode. Reputation.com, a service that helps people and companies manage negative search results, has suffered a security breach that has exposed user names, e-mail and physical addresses, and in some cases, password data. In an e-mail sent to users on Tuesday, officials with […]

Microsoft links Skype voice, video calling to Outlook.com

The Microsoft service is available in the U.K. this week, the rest of the world this summer Microsoft is rolling Skype in with its free Outlook.com email service, giving customers the ability to fire up VoIP calls directly from their mail inbox. Within weeks the Skype for Outlook.com will be available in the U.S. and […]

Microsoft to developers: We’ve built it, they will come

At Microsoft’s developer conference, Steve Ballmer talked ecosystem, not tech. It’s day one of Microsoft BUILD, the company’s major developer conference. Traditionally at these things (this is only the second BUILD, but before it there were almost 20 years of PC conferences that served a similar purpose) the keynote presentations are developer-heavy. The speakers tend […]

NASA launches smartphone satellites — downloading images may be an issue

However, NASA is not the first group to launch Nexus Ones into space. NASA on Monday launched three 2010-vintage Nexus One smartphones into orbit via an Antares rocket, saying that the Android devices would be among the cheapest satellites ever devised. The devices are part of the administration’s PhoneSat program, which is designed to ascertain […]

Scroll to top