Thursday, August 26, 2010

Stealth Mode = Miss The Boat Mode

by Derek Kerton from the that-train-has-already-sailed dept

"Stealth Mode" is the name of a start-up strategy where the founding team develops their product and business in secret. The tactic is based on the fear that, if their idea were to get out, other companies would copy it, and the originators would face competitors. The use of Stealth Mode has swung in and out of fashion in Silicon Valley over the past decade, but was hottest during the tech bubble at the end of the last century. Back then, .com startups were so hot that investors would salivate over the latest stealthy startup, eager to throw some easy money at it. But whatever the fashion, with few exceptions, I think that running a startup in Stealth mode is short-sighted, arrogant, and counter-productive. Here's why:
  • Founders who want to operate in stealth are usually of the opinion that their idea is soooo very unique, that to share it would be to divulge the crown jewels. There are two reasons that is naive:
    1. Your idea is almost certainly not unique. Someone else has had the same idea, and if it's any good, someone else is working on developing it.
    2. You are going to have to share your idea at some point in order to sell it, so your secrecy is short-lived at best.

uTorrent Quickly Patches Windows DLL Vulnerability

Written by Ernesto 
A critical Windows DLL vulnerability that makes several widely used programs targets for remote hijacks surfaced in the news this week. Among the affected applications are Firefox, Adobe Photoshop and uTorrent. Since the news broke dozens of exploits have already surfaced. Luckily uTorrent was one of the first to fix the vulnerability and now all users are encouraged to update their client.
utorrentDue to a DLL load hijacking vulnerability in the Windows operating system, dozens of applications have become a target for remote hijack exploits. Since Microsoft refuses to patch Windows, the developers of the affected applications have to take measures on their own.


Google gives real-time search its own page


Google has changed the way it presents real-time search updates, giving those search results their own section and a "conversation" view designed to cluster like-minded updates.
Back in December, Google first introduced into its search results the concept of "real-time" search results from sources like Twitter and news organizations, placing a dedicated window among regular search results that automatically scrolled through links to stories or tweets related to that topic. It still plans to highlight these types of results among regular search results, but it has created a separate page at google.com/realtime, where those types of updates can be discovered.
The page got off to a rocky start, going down about half an hour after it launched for some users, but Google said it was rolling out gradually to searchers. It can also be accessed from the left-hand side of Google's main search results page under "updates," or directly through a longer URL that Google included in its blog post until the main one reaches everyone.










Facebook to kill IE6 support for Chat on IE9 beta day

Facebook has announced that it will soon end Internet Explorer 6 support for Facebook Chat. The kill date is September 15—the same day Microsoft plans to release the first IE9 beta. Today's announcement comes just a week after Microsoft launched a beta version of Windows Live Messenger that integrates with Facebook Chat.
Facebook explains its decision by saying that many users have complained about unstable chat sessions, or ones that stop completely. In order to improve the way connections are established and messages are sent, however, the social networking giant must make changes that aren't supported by older browsers.
Microsoft plans to support IE6 along with Windows XP until April 2014; the software giant insists that "dropping support for IE6 is not an option." Instead, the company has resorted to marketing and promoting IE8 whilecriticizing IE6.

The Government Can Use GPS to Track Your Moves

Is Silverlight Unofficially Dead Now?

by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
ONCE in a couple of weeks we count the occurrences of the term “Silverlight” in the news. It’s getting hard to find anything andMoonlight too is virtually gone by now. Silverlight was mentioned in justone news headline (comparison to Adobe Trash 10.1) in the past two weeks, so it slid into obscurity despite massive PR campaigns, sometimes from Novell. A few days ago someone called Alex told us in IRC: “hey, was reading minimsft’s latest blog’s comments, and stumbled onto this: ‘Anonymous said… Anyone know what the story is with silverlight? My team got a direct message not to use the technology. Received the same message in Windows Live. HTML 5 is P1.’”

Revolt! Angry Digg Users Want Their Baby Back


Yesterday we reported on the launch of Digg's latest iteration of it's social news platform. Due to server problems that hampered much of Digg's functionality (including commenting), many users chose to voice their opinions here on ReadWriteWeb. Yesterday we asked you to let us know how you felt about the new Digg, and boy did you ever. The vast majority of comments - both here and on other sites including Digg - are those of disgust and anger over the new Digg, as many believe the site's core functionality has been inexplicably stripped away.


Mother of all Patent Trolls, Acacia Research, Gets More Funding


Acacia Research Corporation (Nasdaq: ACTG), which in some circles is known as the mother of all patent trolls, announced today that a wholly-owned subsidiary has become the General Partner of the newly formed Acacia Intellectual Property Fund, L.P. An institutional investment group is the lead limited partner of the Fund, who together with the subsidiary, have provided a total of $27 million as an initial funding commitment.
According to the press release, Acacia Intellectual Property Fund, L.P. will acquire, license and enforce intellectual property consisting primarily of patents, patent rights, and patented technologies. The Fund is authorized to raise up to $250 million, which should strike fear in the hearts of all of the likely targets of patent infringement lawsuits, namely those that make high tech products.


Will sun storms destroy civilization?

The "solar tsunami" that caused a dazzling aurora in the night sky earlier this month may be a harbinger of a global disaster, warn experts

This ultraviolet image of the sun shows two flares.
This ultraviolet image of the sun shows two flares. Photo: Corbis
large explosion on the surface of the sun earlier this month sent a tidal wave of electrically charged particles toward Earth. While the discharge created aurora borealis–like effects visible as far south as Michigan, many worry that a more serious storm could cause catastrophic damage to life on earth. "Without aggressive preparation," wrote disaster expert Lawrence E. Joseph in last weekend's New York Times, "we run the risk of a disaster magnitudes greater than Hurricane Katrina." (Watch a History Channel segment on what causes sun storms.) How would it be so serious, and what can we do to prepare? Here's a quick guide: 



TABASCO® Homemade Jalapeno Ice Cream Mix


When fire and ice are carefully combined, something cool like Tabasco Homemade Jalapeno Ice Cream Mix emerges. I thought I've tasted just about every strange flavor ice cream, but I never imagined that a jalapeno pepper flavor could possibly be achieved. This unusual ice cream tastes cool and creamy with a tangy touch of mild, spicy Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce flavor. This is definitely one ice cream you'll scream for before and after every spoonful. Sounds tasty! (via Michael Kiely)


http://countrystore.tabasco.com/prodinfo.asp?number=03473

Fix on the way for glitchy Samsung Blu-ray firmware

from Yahoo News
Got a Samsung Blu-ray deck that suddenly won’t play Universal and Warner Brothers movies such as "The Hangover," "The Book of Eli," "The Incredible Hulk" or "Clash of the Titans"? Well, you’re not alone. Samsung says a fix is in the works, but it won’t arrive until next month.
Owners of Samsung’s line of BD-Px600 Blu-ray players (such as the BD-P1600 and the BD-P3600) have been complaining for weeks about various discs that simply refuse to play in their (relatively new) decks, including "Observe and Report," "Invictus" and the third season of "Battlestar Galactica," according to Engadget HD.

The popular video subscription service just updated its Apple app to support the iPhone and iPod Touch, which now join the iPad in offering streaming videos. Netflix members can download the free 1.1.0 version to watch their favorite TV shows and movies.
The Netflix app lets you access your Instant Queue to view videos you've already saved. You can browse by genre or search for specific titles from the service's growing library of streaming content. You can also stop a video and then resume where you left off, whether you're watching on your iPhone, your computer, or your game console.


Sony's Hirai: we're over 10 years away from disc-less PlayStation

How close are we to an all-digital gaming future? According to Sony's Kaz Hirai, a long way off. "To think everything will be downloaded in two years, three years or even ten years from now is taking it a little bit to the extreme," he told MCV.
"We do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure isn’t as robust as one would hope," he said. "There's always going to be requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical medium."

Facebook frivolously sues start-up Teachbook.com

by MARK RABY
Apparently Facebook thinks it is now so powerful that anyone who uses the word "book" must obviously be infringing on its copyright.
The social networking giant has filed a lawsuit against Teachbook.com, a new online startup aimed at teachers, even though the site hasn't officially launched.
In its filing for the ridiculous lawsuit, Facebook claims that using the word "book" in a website domain name is "highly distinctive in the context of online communities and networking websites."

Boffins build lie detector for crooked CEOs

Beware of bosses who say f**k a lot
Researchers have developed a method of rooting out fraudulent financial statements based on the statements CEOs and CFOs make during quarterly earnings calls.
The system was developed by researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business by analyzing the conference-call transcripts of companies that went on to report a significant restatement to financial earnings that involved a change in net income, the disclosure of a material weakness, a change of auditor, or a late filing.
They found that CEOs and CFOs from these companies spoke in ways that often differed from executives from companies that were on the up and up.

Joel Tenenbaum To Appeal 90% Reduced File-Sharing Penalty

Written by enigmax 
Last month the judge in the case of Boston University student Joel Tenenbaum versus four of the world’s most powerful music labels decided that his original $675,000 penalty was unconstitutional. Even though the jury-awarded damages were subsequently reduced by 90%, Tenenbaum is clear – he has no means to pay the amount. As expected the case will go to appeal, as neither he nor the RIAA are happy.
In common with the earlier major file-sharing case in the United States involving Jammie Thomas, last month a judge decided that the damages awarded against Boston University student Joel Tenenbaum were excessive and unconstitutional.

MPEG LA counters Google WebM with permanent royalty moratorium

The MPEG Licensing Association—the group responsible for handling the necessary patent licensing for use of MPEG video codec standards—has announced that it will not charge royalties for AVC/H.264 encoded video that is made available to view via the Internet for free. The group earlier this year had extended its limited moratorium on licensing fees for free Internet video until the end of 2015.

Microsoft leaks IE9 look, reveals 'Chromifying'

Company's Russian site posts screenshot, details of UI three weeks before beta launch

By Gregg Keizer

Microsoft's Russian Web site today revealed details about the new Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) user interface, touting new features such as quick-release tabs and a Chrome-like address-cum-search bar.
Although the company has issued several developer previews of IE9 since March, those builds have lacked any user interface (UI), and instead have presented the rendering and JavaScript engines in a wrapper that lacks even the most basic navigational aids, such as a Back button.


Acer LumiRead to make IFA debut: €250 pricetag rumored

By Chris Davies

acer lumiread 1 540x337
Acer’s LumiRead ereader will make its official debut at IFA 2010 next week, according to Lesen‘s sources at the company, with a commercial launch – in Germany at least – following on in September.  As with the Amazon Kindle, a second source suggests, the LumiRead will come with free 3G access to download new ebooks, and a sticker price of around €250 ($318).