Google Busted With Hand in Safari-Browser Cookie Jar. Google has been found to have intentionally circumvented the default privacy settings of Apple’s Safari browser, by using a backdoor to get the web browser to accept tracking cookies it normally wouldn’t take. Google’s rationale seems to be that Apple’s default settings don’t adhere to standard web practices, and as such, was forced to use the backdoor so that it could place +1 buttons on ads as part of the Adsense program. What Google did was to stick a hidden web form inside an online ad with a +1 button (similar to Facebook “likes”). If the user clicked the +1 button, the web form would inform Safari that the user filled out a ‘form’ (fictitiously), which would then allow Google to install the cookie.
Internet Ends on March 31st: Operation Global Blackout. In a very ambitious plan (and IF successful, hugely disruptive), Anonymous have now seemingly set their sights much higher, and plan to take down the 13 root DNS servers that effectively ‘keep the internet running’, in the manner that most users are accustomed to: typing in a web name rather than having to use a numerical IP address for each location visited. Anonymous have indicated that the attack will be accomplished with a new tool called Reflective DNS Amplification DdoS, which is based on AntiSec’s DHN.
Facebook Commerce Has Been a Big Flop. F-commerce was touted as the next big thing, speculating that Facebook, the most visited website in the world had potential to threaten Amazon and PayPal. There was a lot of anticipation that Facebook would turn into a new marketable destination, where persuading visitors to shop would be easy. Facebook planned to profit from retailers buying ads to drive traffic to their on-site stores. However, if the closing of large retailers (Gamestop, JC Penney, Nordstrom, and Gap) is used as a barometer, it would seem that Fcommerce uptake has been less fulfilling than anticipated. Retailers have found that shoppers prefer to visit their own online stores, rather than make purchases via Facebook.
Intel Capital Invests In Two Brazilian Start-ups. Intel’s investment arm, Intel Capital, has invested in two e-commerce start-ups in Brazil: Coquelux and Fashion.me. These two investments follow five investments in Brazil (in addition to doubling its team of professionals) by Intel during 2011. With more of Brazil coming online, there is benefit to Intel, to not only have a strong presence in the country, but also to be invested in the tech community. Since 1999, Intel Capital has invested $75 million in 25 Brazilian companies. The shift in investment is an indication of the growing focus on emerging markets of the world, where untapped audiences await.
Single-Atom Transistor Is End of Moore’s Law; May Be Beginning of Quantum Computing. The smallest transistor ever built has been created using a single phosphorus atom, which may have broken Moore’s Law, that holds that the number of transistors that can be placed on a processor will double approximately every 18 months. In this regard, the latest Intel chip, the “Sandy Bridge,” uses a manufacturing process to place 2.3 billion transistors 32 nanometers apart in comparison to a single phosphorus atom, which is just 0.1 nanometers across, which would significantly reduce the size of processors made using this technique. The single-atom transistor does have one serious limitation: it must be kept very cold… liquid nitrogen cold (or minus 196 Celsius).
Baidu Looks To Mobile Search For Growth. Chinese search engine, Baidu, is looking at mobile platforms to accelerate their growth in the future. The company is also looking to monetize their mobile and social platforms to increase their revenue. Other than mobile, Baidu is also pursuing a strategy to monetize its social media platforms and internationalize its business. With more than half a billion users, China is the world’s largest Internet market. Yet, Internet penetration is only at 38.3 percent and user sophistication outside the big cities remains low. Baidu has previously made efforts to expand into mobile, travel and online video sectors to boost growth, and is also in the midst of launching its own browser, Baidu Liuluanqi.
Google Releases “Dartium” Browser for Developers. Google has announced the release of an experimental Chromium build that includes an integrated Dart language runtime. The Dartium browser is being made available as a technical preview, for the benefit of developers who want to see how the Dart virtual machine works. The objective is to get developers interested in Dart. The plan is to ultimately include the Dart VM in Chrome itself, but no timeline has been given yet for that. Google has been pushing pretty hard to move Dart forward. The company released a Rosetta Stone for JavaScript programmers called Dart Synonym at the beginning of February. However, developers have had to compile Dartium from source or find unofficial builds to test the code.
Hi-tech cars: Driver distraction warning in US. US officials have proposed safety guidelines aimed at limiting a driver from the distraction of gadgets built into cars. The new proposals will look to reduce the amount of inputs required to operate a device: reducing the number of buttons to push and reducing unnecessary visual information. In particular they want to prevent manual texting, use of the internet/social media, entering addresses into sat navs and dialling long phone numbers.
