There have been speculations that the fast rise to Internet stardom of Twitter may be actually bad for Twitter itself—that all those millions of subscriptions would go as they came.  The reason?  As with most things that popular culture has bestowed its favor upon, it rarely lasts for long.  Though Twitter may be dominating cyberspace today, its popularity may not be there tomorrow.  As with most fads, there’s a large possibility that people will get tired of Twitter and its novelty, leaving its visitor traffic to a few loyal followers.

 

All about Twitter

Twitter is one of the recent success stories on the web today, mostly because of its innovative approach to social networking through the concept of a micro-blog.  Through Twitter, one can communicate with all of your friends, family, business associates, and the world in general, instantly and in real-time.  Add to that a simple interface and a brief messaging format, you can get quick updates from a host of contacts.

 

Why people tweet

As to whether Twitter is just a fad, only time can decide the matter exhaustively.  But looking at the services that Twitter offers, it doesn’t seem like it will be disappearing anytime soon.  It still offers users great value in terms of quick and easy communication between friends and associates.  Aside from that, Twitter presents a good platform to access a global audience, as shown by the Twitter accounts of celebrities, like Oprah and NBA star Dwight Howard.  Twitter can also serve as a platform to get the latest news and updates, for example, the Twitter updates that CNN and BBC provides.  For Internet marketers and business owners, Twitter presents a good advertising venue to promote their services and keep in touch with customers.  Aside from being a simple social network, Twitter can serve as a medium for marketing and advertising. But of course, the staying power of Twitter depends on the number of people still using its services.  As long as people still see value in Twitter, it will be highly unlikely that the site will just fade away into the region of has-beens.  Unless a newcomer brings in a service that’s better and more appealing than what Twitter currently offers, then Twitter is here to stay, though it can’t be said for how long.  As you can see new services offered in the web in rapid succession, it’s hard to discount the possibility of a much better version of Twitter.

It’s official -- Oracle has bought Sun Microsystems for approximately $7.4 billion dollars, or $9.50 per share in cash.  The net value of the acquisition, discounting Sun’s cash and debt, is $5.6 billion.  Oracle expects that the merger will bring in profits of $1.5 billion in the first year and about $2 billion in the second year.  As such, Oracle is excited with its new acquisition.

One can say that the two companies have the right fit for each other, as both companies are involved in enterprise systems, though Oracle focuses mostly on the software side, whereas Sun has been a leading name in server systems solutions.  It’s also worth noting that Oracle and Sun have a long-standing partnership, where Oracle’s database has been using Sun’s Solaris as a vessel for its database software for more than 20 years.  Oracle claims that with the acquisition of Sun, they would be able to further research, development, and innovation in these areas from which the customers are the main beneficiaries.

 

What Oracle will be acquiring

The main acquisitions of Oracle with the merger are Sun’s Java and Solaris products.  Java is a platform used worldwide, while Solaris is a major name in enterprise systems.  Oracle also now owns the open-source database platform mysql.  According to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, the main advantage with this deal is that this will bring forth an integration of technology, such as “application on disk” and other integrated technology products that can bring everything the customers need in one package.  This makes the setup of their products simpler and their application sure and exact.  Oracle also foresees lessened costs in terms of system integration and installation, and more system security and stability.  This merge in technology allows Oracle to fully expand its current software applications to regions where Sun has dominance over.  Though still to be left to the future, Oracle also claims that it will preserve the open-source services of Sun, and utilizing it to create more innovations in solutions and services.  Though some may doubt as to the reality of this, only the future will tell what the actual conditions might be.  

Be that as it may, there is much celebration from both Sun and Oracle, and some excitement in the tech world regarding the innovations that this merger will produce.  Based from the statements and the initiatives set out by both companies, one can divine a “sunny” future from the acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle.

The mania on the soon-to-be launched Windows 7 is taken advantage of by cyber criminals.  A pirated version of Windows 7 Release Candidate is currently circulating.  But the issue is not only piracy -- the pirated Windows 7 RC is actually infected with a Trojan horse that establishes a botnet.

What the botnet in the pirated software does

With the coming of Microsoft's Windows 7, it seems that cyber criminals and hackers found their new tool in spreading malicious sofware.  This pirated Windows 7 RC has created a botnet that controls several thousands of bots, according to the security firm Damballa.  The software has made its way to thousands of servers through online forums and piracy sites.  Currently, there seems to be no stopping the spread of this botnet.

The malicious software initially appeared on April 24 and quickly created hundreds of bots in the span of an hour.  According to Damballa, the malware spread fast that when the said security firm took over the network command and control server, which was on May 10, the malware already controlled more or less 27,000 bots.  The infections are mostly in the US, Netherlands, and Italy.  

Damballa said that the pirated software was especially designed to download and install malware.  The payments for the botmasters are given depending on the number of malware installed.  Damballa further said that installations are ongoing.  Damballa assures net users by saying that, since they took over the control of the server, botmasters can't access and control the newly installed pirated software.  However, for the existing installations, Damballa can't do anything about it.  

According to the vice president of engineering at Damballa, Tripp Cox, the installation rate is increasing rapidly. According to him, the botmaster-controlled Microsoft Windows 7 RC used a domain name “codecs.styles.net" for command and control.  

Cox further said that there is a conspiracy between cyber criminals and software pirates.  He added that the pirated Windows 7 RC is just one of the various other pirated versions that carry different types of malware.  

According to Damballa, the traditional anti-malware detection is not effective in detecting the malware on the pirated Windows 7 RC.  The malware is immune to anti-virus tools because there are only a few solutions that support the new OS.   

Bot nets are usually created to commit phishing schemes and denial-of-service attacks.  Security experts urge the IT industry to create more effective law-enforcement measures, for botnets are one of the most dangerous threats for online users.

As more and more companies are now facing the blow of global recession, drastic measures are implemented to ensure survival and even growth in this time of economic crisis. One of the leading companies in the hard drive and storage solutions industry, Seagate announced a few weeks that it is initiating its restructuring plan. As part of this plan, Seagate has to lay off 2.5 percent of its total workforce. This is actually the second time this year that Seagate has taken such measures. The first one was announced in January.

For this Goliath of a company, 2.5 percent means a lot of employees. To be exact, 2.5 percent represents 1,100 of its employees. This is more than the first lay off, which only involved 800 employees. Seagate targets to complete the lay off by the end of July.

 

 

The reason for the layoffs

According to Seagate, this step is part of the company's goal to reduce its operating cost and get a positive result at the end of its fiscal year, which is set on 2010. The company stated that the laying off of quite a great number of employees is needed for reaching its targeted marketing, product development, and administrative cost cut off of $300 million every quarter. The hard drive manufacturing company expects a pretax restructuring charges of more or less $72 million. These charges would be coming from employee termination costs. The company further elaborated that the workforce reduction would generate more or less $125 million in the company's annual savings.

 

Aside from the 800 employees from the first lay off and the 1,100 for the current one, Seagate also closed down its Pittsburgh facility and two recording media facilities as well. On top of this, reduction of salary is also among the operation cost-saving initiatives that the company is planning to impose.

 

Seagate is not the only one that resorted to cutting off its workforce as a measure to fight off recession. There are a lot of giant companies that have made the same step. This includes Seagate's major competitor, Western Digital. This company has laid off 2,500 employees before the end of 2008.

 

Some experts are expecting that Seagate would take steps to prepare itself in order to be able to compete with the emerging market. But the company seems to give no details for an upcoming Flash-based SSD line which, according to experts, would be giving Seagate the chance to be able to compete with the resurfacing market.

With a deep sense of anticipation and excitement, the public welcomes Windows 7 Release Candidate on their computers. This OS release candidate was introduced just few weeks ago. Windows 7 RC is actually not far flung from Windows 7 Beta. Well, one can say that the former is an improved version of the latter. Although for some, the overall experience that this new OS can give is not so different from that provided by the older beta. Still, there are a lot of users who believe that the tidbits of changes in the newly launched OS release candidate would alter the users' experience a great deal.

 

 

What's novel in this newly launched OS?

Technically, Windows 7 RC has no major difference from the older OS. It's as if the Windows 7 RC is a better version of the others. For one, it has an improved device management and search term highlighting. It also provides support for a virtual XP mode to run older programs. More than anything else, it is a nicer-looking version of Vista, with colorful and artsy wallpaper and backgrounds of cute, psychedelic landscapes, and candy-colored figures. Streaming media files from one Windows 7 computer to another in a very simple way is also one of the things that this OS can offer.

 

Windows 7 RC is also very helpful in preventing computers from getting infected by malware, because it no longer relies on AutoRun external hard drives and USB drives. In this new version, it is also easy to search results that are relevant and useful. This OS is really friendly-user because it facilitates the easy opening, closing, and arranging of files.

 

Another feature that users are really excited about is the taskbar jumplists. With this feature, one will find it easy to locate favorite sites and also access files that have been opened a day ago.

 

How long can one use the RC version?

The Windows Release Candidate is just like a trial version for Windows 7. Anyone can install it in his or her PC, as long as the computer meets the specifications required by this OS. This version would expire on June 1, 2010. On May 1, 2010, the computer served by this release candidate would shut down every two hours. But two weeks before this, users can expect a notification for the bi-hourly shut down.

 

Microsoft is still tight-lipped regarding the exact date that it would be releasing the final version of Windows 7, but it would just surely be around the expiry date of the release version.

Days ago, some users have been affected by outages in several of Google's services.  According to McAfee, the problem was caused by an upgrade inside Google.  Google claimed, however, that it was Asia's fault.  But the real reason why the system failed has not been disclosed.

The impact of the Google outage

The widespread outages include several of Google's services such as Google Docs, Search, and Gmail.  According to McAfee's data, the outage started at 8:13 a.m. (Pacific Daylight Time) and ended at 9:14 a.m. (Pacific Daylight Time).  Not everyone was affected by the outages.  According to Google, only 14% of the total users was affected by what happened.  Although this may not be much if one compared it to the overall users, 14% is still millions of people.  And it also means substantial money was lost by just an hour of network disruption.  Among those who have been directly affected were those using larger providers such as AT&T or Verizon.  This was so because these large ISPs interconnect their networks with Google's to reduce bandwith cost and improve speed.  The smaller ISP that didn't interconnect their network were not affected at all.  But there are sources claiming that the effect of the outage was not limited to Google services and sites.  It was said that there were quite number of sites that performed poorly during the outage.  

The cause of the Google outage

The vice president of McAfee's threat research, Dmitri Alperovitch, said that the system disruption was caused by Google's attempt to alter the autonomous system numbers.  This is actually part of the transition that Google undergoes from using an old standard of networking to a new one, which is called IPv6.  Further, Alperovitch said that an unknown bug in Google's network caused the hardware failure.  According to McAfee, this information was obtained from a private mail list of networking professionals, in which Google is a member.  

Google stated that the error was actually caused by their routing of the Web traffic through Asia, which resulted in traffic jam.  However, Google did not disclose the reason why it has to direct its web traffic to Asia.  It denies McAfee's claim that the system failure has anything to do with Google's transition to IPv6 though.  Google asserts that it is only 14% of its users who were affected.  On its Google Blog, the company says that it has been working hard to provide faster and better services, "so it's especially embarrassing when a glitch like this one happens."

McAfee recently announced this May that they have acquired whitelisting software company Solidcore for $33 million.  There is an additional $14 million in the deal should Solidcore achieve set performance goals.

For the past years, McAfee has been aggressively building up its security software portfolio through the acquisition of different software security firms.  To be exact, McAfee has in its list of past acquisitions Citadel Security, Preventsys, and Foundstone.  And now the company adds Solidcore to the list.

What this acquisition does to McAfee's products and services

Through this acquisition, McAfee further widened it security offerings to customers by including the whitelisting technology of Solidcore.  Whitelisting works by filtering unsigned sites and web application as a way to combat worms, viruses and other forms of malware.  With this approach, any software that is not within the whitelist will not be allowed to run in the system.  This adds more security as sites and applications are already pre-scanned before being allowed access.  Now, there is an added level of protection from the server level as only allowed sites are given access to a system.  And to manage issues about blocking access to legitimate software, Solidcore also has a host of tools and applications to manage the security levels and exemptions to the filtering.  McAfee considers this addition of this pre-approved software security protection as a great complement to McAfee’s current suite of security software products and applications.

Solidcore’s reach, aside from providing web security, also involves information security services for ATM, cash registers, and other retail market systems.  As proof of the reliability of the company, Solidcore’s technology is used in more than 100 financial institutions and 15,000 retail stores, according to McAfee estimates.

McAfee is getting Solidcore at its prime; doubling its profits from 2008 and posting solid earnings for the first quarter of 2009.  As the need for security in data and security system is always present, the future looks bright for the acquisition, both for McAfee and Solidcore.

And with the acquisition of Solidcore’s existing market, McAfee has also spread its influence on cash registers, ATMs and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.  Aside from solidifying its own software suite, the acquisition also opened up other markets for McAfee’s services.

The buyout will reach its completion in the second quarter of 2009.  McAfee also expects to have lowered share values because of the acquisition, but expects things to pick up once the integration is complete and all the new service preparations are finished.

One of the world's leading companies in silicon innovation, Intel, was asked to pay a fine of more than 1 billion euros for going against anti-trust legislation.  The European Commission just recently came up with this decision after a few years of investigation.

Intel was fined 1.06 billion euros or an equivalent of $1.45 billion, because of its anti-competitive practices.  So far, this fine is the largest one given to a single company by the commission.  The investigation bore fruit just recently, four years after its rival in chip manufacturing, Advanced Micro Devices, filed its complaint.  

Background information regarding the case

Between October 2002 and December 2007, Intel dominated the market, holding more than 70% of X86 CPU market.  The result of the investigations pointed out that Intel gained dominance by engaging in anti-competitive activities.  One of these is by giving hidden rebates to computer manufacturing companies if they buy their X86 CPUs from this giant chip company.  Charges involving Intel also include selling chips below cost, and paying companies to delay or even cancel the launch of products with Advance Micro Devices processors.  

According to Neelie Kroes, the European Union's competition commissioner, the fine imposed on Intel is justified, because this Goliath chip manufacturer tamped down competition with what it did.  And also it stifled innovation by blocking smaller rivals which could have provided consumers with better and less costly options.  According to Kroes, the anti-trust legislation was created to protect the consumers.  And by violating it, the said company is harming the consumers.  Kroes further said that there is proof of Intel's illegal activities, in the forms of email messages and responses to inquiry, which have been gathered through a surprise raid.  

Intel's side on the issue

Paul Otellini, the CEO of Intel, denies the allegations and strongly disagrees with the decision of the commission.  He said that “there has been absolutely zero harm to consumers.”  The company denies that it sells its products below cost.  The issue on giving huge discounts to computer manufacturers is defended by Intel by saying that the discount is given volume-based, "more buy, less pay,” which is nothing but a legal incentive according to the charged company.  According to Otellini, Intel would definitely appeal to ruling.  He said that “We believe the decision is wrong and ignores the reality of a highly competitive microprocessor marketplace – characterized by constant innovation, improved product performance and lower prices.”

Contrary to what some people believe, an email spam is also a serious threat to your computer just like viruses and malware. The bulk of emails that you receive can cause confusion and disturbance. This can also distract you and make you lose a portion of your precious time in the process. However, these are not everything there is to email spams. Spams can actually cause you to lose some of money if you are not too careful. Email spams are used by scammers as bait to acquire personal information such as bank accounts, credit card numbers, and passwords. They also serve as tools for spreading virus and other harmful software online. Because of all these, you have to take email spam seriously, especially if you are running your own business online. Below are some of the ways through which you can prevent spams from infiltrating your primary email account.

 

 

Scrutinize emails from unfamiliar sender.

As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. This is why the basic step is to make sure that you prevent email spams from entering your system. You can actually do this by taking time to analyze an unfamiliar address in your email box before you open it, for some spam emails may contain hidden malicious software. It is helpful to read the subject line of the email in case you have forgotten that you sent a message to a new acquaintance and the unfamiliar email is the reply. You also have to avoid opening emails that have subject lines like "You order" or "You requested" unless you clearly remember ordering something online.

 

Never respond to suspected spammers.

The common mistake of some is sending a reply to an unfamiliar sender. Sending a reply would be interpreted as your consent to receive more emails from that specific sender. Moreover, you have to avoid following the links that the unfamiliar sender provides.

 

Activate your email blocker or download spam filter.

What's great in email blocker is that you can prevent getting more emails from the suspected spammers. Another good thing about your email blocker is that you can set the rules regarding the emails that you want to be blocked in the future. This can software can be downloaded for online for free with the trial version or a small fee. You can always use the Internet to gather information about the best programs that would put an end to email spams that continue to evade your personal email space.

 

Report email spams to your ISP.

Just like you, your ISP (Internet service provider) hates spams, too. This is because spams clog up the servers. Your ISP can help you filter the emails coming from suspected spammers. It is necessary, however, that you identify first the true origin of the spam message. There are various websites online that can give you a tutorial on how to identify the real source of the spam.

 

Create another email address for commercial purposes.

If you are wondering where spammers acquire email addresses, the answer is online. Spammers use sophisticated computer programs such as spambot to surf the web and harvest email addresses. If you are fond of joining forums or if you make your email address available to online stores, you can be a potential victim to email spamming. This is why you have to create another account that would be used when joining forums or posting your email address to order products online. This will also be helpful when subscribing to newsletters and online magazines. For this purpose, you can opt for free email account providers. For business or more private correspondence, it may be best to subscribe for a paid email account service.