One of the few communities in which cloud-based services have been slow to take root is that of business. Sure, the average Joe is fine trusting his e-mail and scheduling to Google or Yahoo!, but enterprises still rely heavily on expensive desktop and server-based programs that cooperate with products like Microsoft's Exchange. Last night, though, Google fired yet another shot in the battle for the hearts and minds of business users when it launched the Google Apps Marketplace.
The premise is simple enough. Google Apps users with their own domains can search the marketplace for cloud-based applications that will integrate directly with their Google services. For example, domain managers could add the Aviary design suite or Inuit's Online Payroll app to their Google apps dashboard. These apps can also directly communicate with apps like Google Calendar or Talk to pull in schedules or to allow in-app instant messaging.
Continue reading Google Apps Marketplace Launches for Business Users
Google Apps Marketplace Launches for Business Users originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Filed under: Hardware, iPod Family, Hacks, iPhone
Warning: If you are baffled by people who think dismantling technology is fun, and completely fail to understand the excitement of building robots to battle other robots, this post may not be for you. Just so you know.On the Make: magazine blog, they recently posted a piece about the evolution of a project. It was an iPod remote from last year that has gone from a "start and stop" only device to a full featured remote. It is a lovely piece of tech, powered by Arduino hardware. Arduinos are open-source circuit boards and software you can use to develop interfaces with all sorts of electronics.
I remember reading the first post about this remote last fall and being interested in where he would take this project, mostly because I love seeing what people do with Altoids tins. I have to admit hooking one up to a giant "Easy" button for my car never really occurred to me, though.
I really like the idea of building my own remote; partly so I can say I did it, but also because it would be a nicer way to get my iPod or iPhone (depending) working nicely with my car stereo.
Honestly I only understand about half of what he's talking about in this article, but I'm good at following instructions and I am reasonably handy with a soldering iron, so this doesn't look completely unreasonable. If I do end up building one I'll be sure to post all about it for you. In the meantime, have you built an unholy alliance between your Roomba and your iMac, or any other variety of Mac Tech Mashup? Tell me about it, I'd love to see what you all can do!
TUAWHack: The iPod serial library enables homebrew remote controls originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Microsoft has posted a security advisory about a new security vulnerability that is affecting older Internet Explorer , precisely Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7. Microsoft’s latest web browser Internet Explorer 8 is not affected by the vulnerability according to the security advisory.
The impact of the vulnerability is a remote code execution that can be triggered by an invalid pointer reference that can be the cause for the remote code execution.
Microsoft is aware of targeted attacks. It is therefor recommended to update Internet Explorer to the latest version or ensure that Protected Mode in Internet Explorer is enabled.
Possible attack vectors are manipulated websites that are used to exploit the security vulnerability either directly or by third party code that is being displayed on the website or by attacking the email clients Microsoft Outlook or Windows Mail with HTML emails that exploit the vulnerability.
Interested users can visit the security advisory issued by Microsoft to get additional information about the security vulnerability.
Another possibility to protect the computer from the vulnerability would be to switch at least temporary to another Internet browser although this might not always be possible.
A t-shirt-stuffed Linux store has opened for business, the proceeds from which support the Linux Foundation. But since Linux users are such penny-pinchers, $18 is probably more than they'll pay for a single garment of clothing. [LinuxStore via CrunchGear]
Credit Card Oultaw posts about an Expedia Las Vegas vacation ad for airfare and a stay at a 4-star hotel starting at $39, but clicked on it, went through the process and discovered the total cost of the cheapest trip was $2,000.
From the post:
They have quite the nerve shoving a Citi credit card offer in my face as they unveiljavascript:void(0); a price tag that is about 57 times greater than what the ad I clicked on promised.Get your sh_t together, Expedia. What you did to me and thousands of other Web surfers tonight was either a) intentionally devious b) rather incompetent or c) a bit of both.
If an offer is too good to be true, it probably is.
Which travel site do you find gives you the best results?
Is Expedia.com Full Of It? [Credit Card Outlaw]
(Thanks, Sara!)
Popular a/v cable site monoprice is back up but is not taking any new orders while it investigates the potential theft of banking information from its customers. Monoprice took its site offline this weekend after a few customers complained that credit cards they used at the site had fraudulent charges.
The company has been continuously updating customers on its Facebook page, where some customers are also sounding off that they've been victimized.
Ine writes:
I placed an order last Monday and two days later an unauthorized charge was made on my card. The strange things were:Lee writes:1. I used PayPal.
2. The unauthorized charge was NOT made on the card I used via PayPal, but was made to the DEFAULT card on my PayPal account.
3. The unauthorized charges was not made through PayPal. It was a regular credit card purchase.
Lee Schuenemeyer $170.80 bad charge at eCampus to my card after they got hacked. better to shut down fully, fix it and come back 100%. I like Monoprice just not "Like, Like".David writes
bought a cable 2 weeks ago, found two suspicious charges for the 'clicknship' shipping service from usps.com today...Monoprice released this statement and pasted it at the top of their site:
A few of our customers recently reported to us that information from credit cards they used on the Monoprice website had been misused. We promptly began an investigation with the help of expert computer forensic investigators to determine if any card data had been stolen from our computers.Check your statements and report any suspicious charges.To date, the investigators have found no evidence that card information has been stolen from Monoprice’s computer network. As a precaution to ensure that our customers’ information is not at risk, we have taken our website offline temporarily while we and our investigators complete the audit of our computer network.
We want to ensure that there is no security vulnerability in any part of our computer network system. We notified local and federal law enforcement agencies, our credit card processing business partners, and all credit card companies that some of our customers reported concerns regarding their card information to us.
We also advised these entities that we are working with outside security specialists to determine if there was breach of our computer system. We will post additional information when it is available. We regret any inconvenience that our investigation and the temporary suspension of the Monoprice website may have caused you. Thank you so much for your great support.
Monoprice.com Shuttered After Fraud Complaints [KrebsOnSecurity] (Thanks to Brian!)
It's important to keep in mind that these are only recommendations. The FCC will surely beef up the argument for providing free Internet, and will hopefully offer some sort of outline about how to go about implementing it. Ultimately, though, it'll be up to members of Congress to pick and choose what parts of the FCC's proposal it wants to put into action. Given the political gridlock that's recently taken hold of Capitol Hill (and the sadly realistic possibility that "socialist Wi-Fi" could ignite another powder keg of Tea Party hysteria), we wouldn't get our hopes up, even in a country where one-third of the population doesn't have high-speed access. Providing free or subsidized broadband makes absolutely perfect sense -- which is exactly why we're not optimistic about seeing it come to fruition. [From: Reuters, via: LifeHacker]
FCC Considering Free Wi-Fi as Part of National Plan originally appeared on Switched on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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