Google, Yahoo hijacked in Ireland, users rerouted to fraud sites- Tech News

LONDON: Ireland's internet domain authority said that Irish pages belonging to Yahoo and Google were hijacked on Tuesday following an unauthorised change to their registrar's account.

The IE Domain Registry, which administers Ireland's .ie internet code, said in a statement that visitors to two high-profile Irish sites were redirected to "allegedly fraudulent addresses" on Tuesday. The registry didn't identify the sites by name, but Irish internet users flooded the web with complaints about www.google.ie and www.yahoo.ie .

Google said in a statement that some users might be having trouble accessing its Irish site and said it was working to fix the problem. Yahoo did not immediately return several messages seeking comment.

San Francisco-based MarkMonitor, the registrar responsible for both addresses, blamed lax standards at the Irish registry level for the incident. That was a sentiment backed by Michele Neylon, the chief executive of Ireland's Blacknight web hosting company.

"It wouldn't be that hard to hijack a high-profile .ie domain name," he said in a telephone interview. "What happened today could've been a lot worse and could happen to any number of big names."

Resource:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/internet/Google-Yahoo-hijacked-in-Ireland-users-rerouted-to-fraud-sites/articleshow/16749178.cms?

HR checking candidates' background on FB, Twitter, Google- Tech News

SYDNEY: A majority of employers and recruiters are now using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, search engines and criminal records to learn the truth about job seekers. 

A survey conducted by Australia-based software firm Nuage Software showed over half of human resource managers surveyed ran a Google search on candidates, 74 per cent checked LinkedIn, 23 per cent Facebook and three per cent Twitter. 

According to tech firm Nuage's managing director David Wilson, some employers are asking to view Facebook and Twitter profiles at interviews in order to avoid privacy concerns, Perth Now reports. 

"The internet has a very long memory. An ill-advised or impulsive post can be rapidly replicated across many sites and be impossible to take back," the report quoted Wilson, as saying 

"People really do enjoy the freedom of expression on social media, but it is worth considering the cumulative effect of their postings," he added. 

According to the report, Australia's National Crime Check managing director Martin Lazarevic said the variety of employers getting police checks on applicants had grown rapidly in the past six months, and as many as one in ten checks were catching people out. (ANI).

Resource:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/social-media/HR-checking-candidates-background-on-FB-Twitter-Google/articleshow/16512427.cms

Facebook, Google eye Skype deal

 

Facebook and Google are separately considering a tie-up with Skype after the web video conferencing service delayed its initial public offering , two sources with direct knowledge of the discussions told Reuters. 

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has taken part in internal discussions about buying Skype, according to one of the sources. Another source said Facebook had reached out to the Luxembourg-based company about forming a joint venture . Google has also held early talks for a joint venture with Skype, the second source said. A Skype deal could be valued at $3 billion to $4 billion, the first source said. Skype's IPO is expected to raise about $1 billion, several other sources said.

The discussions are in early stages, and it is not clear which option the companies favour, the first two sources said. Although an IPO is still in the cards for the second half of 2011, Skype remains in discussions with other companies , two of the sources said. If it goes through, a Skype IPO would be one of the most hotly anticipated debuts by a US technology company this year.

Securing Skype as a partner would expand Facebook's user base, help it grow in international markets where Skype is popular, and give its halfbillion users another reason to remain active and connected to its online community . Analysts say a tie-up between Facebook and Skype would make more sense than one with Google, which already has a similar service-—Google Voice.

Skype and Google declined to comment. Facebook was not immediately available to comment. The information is not public and the sources declined to be named. With a partnership , Facebook can tack another service onto its everexpanding menu—a crucial feature given that many mobile devices, including tablets , now come equipped with front-facing cameras.

"This is very synergistic ," said Trip Chowdhry, an analyst with Global Equities Research. "It puts Facebook two steps ahead of Google because of the number of Skype users."

"In your social network, you will now have another very compelling service—Skype ," he added. Last year, Skype had about 124 million connected users every month by the end of June. But 8.1 million were paying customers, using Skype to make calls to traditional phones at discounted rates. Analysts have said that while Skype's growth has been impressive, investors would be cautious about its prospects for revenue growth due to the size of its base of nonpaying customers. The company was founded in 2003. eBay Inc bought it in 2005 for $3.1 billion. In 2009, eBay sold a majority stake in Skype to an investor group that included Silver Lake, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Andreessen Horowitz for $1.9 billion in cash and a $125 million note. EBay retained about a third of the company.

Last August, Skype filed a registration statement to go public. The October appointment of a new chief executive , Tony Bates, a former senior vice president of Cisco Systems, put the eagerly anticipated initial public offer on hold until the second half of 2011. 

 

Resource: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/international-business/Facebook-Google-eye-Skype-deal/articleshow/8174644.cms

Google Applications to Get Paid in India

Amidst a lot of changes seen around in internet community, it has now been revealed that Google applications for the use of business purposes are soon going to get paid. This shall start on the 10th of May, 2010, in India.

This shall affect those businesses which have more than 10 users in the country. The web-based tools that are available for the aid of the people are soon going to cost money. There are many options available on the Google services such as document editing, calendar management, Google Calendar, email and so on.

There are more than three million people which avail this every single day. For this reason, they have decided to be able to earn a little profit out of it. The business users of Google shall now be asked to pay for more than 10 email-accounts they have on Google.

The website has not yet announced the change, but an e-mail message sent by the Google Apps Team reads: “We recently announced upcoming changes to the maximum number of users for Google Apps. As of May 10, any organization that signs up for a new account will be required to use the paid Google Apps for Business product in order to create more than 10 users”.

Resource: http://newstonight.net/content/google-applications-get-paid-india

Is Google TV a failure?

Seems Google's TV venture is paying little dividends. World's top computer mouse maker Logitech's recent rough fourth also mirrored Google TV's dismal sales. Logitech's Revue Google TV set-top box and periphery devices, such as Revue-optimized webcam, managed to generate a measly $5 million in sales in the last quarter.

The number is far below expectations. For, in the previous quarter, Logitech reported Google TV product sales of $22 million, and forecasted to sell another $18 million in the just-announced quarter. The company missed the estimates by more than 70 percent. The plunging Google TV sales are also reflected by a 28 percent rise in inventory as reportedly revealed by Logitech.

Logitech has been a partner of the search giant since it unveiled Google TV in May 2010. The Revue set-top box went on sale in October 2010.

Despite the poor sales, Logitech remains optimist on Google TV. It's CEO Gerald P Quindlen reportedly told investors that he remains "enthusiastic about Google TV." The company also said that it plans to scale back marketing for the Revue set-top box.

According to some, Google has still not delivered on the software that promises to make Google TV interesting, which is its Android SDK for Google TV. The SDK is expected to be launched at the company's forthcoming developer conference in May. However, many believe that it should have accompanied Google TV's launch in October 2010.

Logitech, which also makes speakers, webcams and keyboards, issued a profit warning last month, citing weakness in its retail division in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Quindlen said that he expects sales to rise about 10 percent to $2.6 billion for the year ending in March 2012, less than some analysts were expecting.

The company, based in Switzerland and Fremont, California, called the fourth quarter that ended on March 31 a "disappointing conclusion" to 2010.

Logitech is shifting away from its traditional mouse and keyboard business for PCs to equipment for tablets. 

Resource: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/hardware/Is-Google-TV-a-failure/articleshow/8117997.cms

Google sued over Android data location collection

Two Michigan women are suing Google over location data collected by Android devices, a week after Apple was named in a lawsuit citing privacy violations with the iPhone logging similar data.

The $50 million lawsuit against Google seeks to stop Google from selling phones with software that can track a user's location, the Detroit News reported today.

The lawsuit was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Detroit on behalf of plaintiffs Julie Brown and Kayla Molaski, who are seeking class action status for the suit. Their lawyer, Steven Budaj, argues in the complaint that the tracking of Android owners' location "puts users at serious risk of privacy invasions, including stalking."

Google acknowledged last week that it collects location information--including GPS current location, timestamps, nearby Wi-Fi network addresses, and device IDs--from Android devices but said it was not traceable to a specific individual. Users can disable the GPS feature, but then they won't get as much function out of maps and other location-based services.

Google representatives did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the lawsuit this afternoon.

The lawsuit against Apple filed in Florida last week also seeks class action status and accuses Apple of violating privacy laws, as well as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by keeping a log of user locations without offering users a way to disable that.

The matter first came to light last week when two researchers said they had discovered that the iPhone collects and logs current and historical location information without user permission or warning, and stores it unencrypted on the device.

In addition to the lawsuits, the controversy has prompted lawmakers to seek an FTC probe of the issue and questions from attorneys general in Connecticut and Illinois.

After a week of silence, Apple finally spoke up about the matter, explaining in an FAQ that it was collecting the data to get more accurate location data for eventual use in a traffic database and blamed a software bug for storing an excess amount of it on the devices.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20058493-245.html#ixzz1KsKTCZLJ