Data security

DC Goes despite a Universal City ID Document

The District of Columbia has announced an ambitious plan to link multi-use documents to a centralized tracking system that would span a wide range of city services including summer jobs programs, public schools, attendance at public meetings, metro be treated cards, and city health service offices. The citywide ID plan is proposed in a climate where a national ID contest by arms is advanced under the scheme called REAL ID.

New ID Card Serves Students, Rec Centers, Libraries in D.C., Washington Post, June 27, 2008

Canadian wireless customers learned for what cause much it will cost to use the upcoming iPhone 3G as Rogers Wireless unveiled a variety of voice and data pricing plans.

The plans range from $60 to $115, will require a three-year contract, and Rogers did not say how much the handset will cost when it arrives July 11.

The cheapest monthly plan costs $60, and it comes with 150 minutes of voice calling, with unlimited evenings and weekends, 400 MB of data, 75 sent text messages, and unlimited incoming texts and visual voicemail messages.

The $75 plan will net consumers 300 weekday minutes, 750 MB of facts, and 100 sent texts. The $100 plan is good for 600 minutes, 1 GB of data, and 200 sent text messages.

The most expensive plan runs $115, and subscribers get 800 minutes of daytime calling, 2 GB of data, and 300 sent text messages.

Rogers calculated that the plan with 400 MB of data represents up to 200,000 text e-mails or 3,100 Web pages. The 2-GB draught is the equivalent of 1,048,000 text e-mails or 16,000 Web pages.

Users of the Apple's handset typically use more data than other smartphone users. Because the latest-generation iPhone will get 3G capabilities, Canadian customers may quickly hit their data limit. But each of the utility plans comes with unlimited access to all Rogers and Fido Wi-Fi hotspots.

By comparison, AT&T will be the exclusive U.S. carrier of the iPhone 3G. Subscribers have to sign up for a $30 unlimited data plan in joining to a voice plan that starts at $39.99. It is unclear how much text messages will cost at the impulsive power. AT&T requires a two-year get.

The original iPhone has already sold about 6 million units while only being available in six countries. The iPhone 3G will debut in 22 countries, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs said it eventually will be sold in 70 countries.

The long-awaited move to the use of movable phones from different service providers on a single network got a boost Thursday with the announcement from MetroPCS Communications that it will permit customers from Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and Alltel to use MetroPCS' network.

The company said the service, called MetroFlash, will be available to customers who bring their phones to its dealers for reprogramming. The company, which offers unlimited, flat-rate wireless service, said for a $40 a-month feud, customers will receive unlimited limited and long distance calling along with voice mail features and text messaging. The company said customers also will be asked to pay a $30 absolute title, presumably to turn on their service.

The announcement represents the primitive major break in providing open service for CDMA users; subscribers who have GSM service -- primarily AT&T and T-Mobile -- can use each other's service as well as profit from other international GSM providers once their phones are unlocked. GSM users simply swap SIM cards from different employment providers. Users through CDMA phones faculty of volition have to have them programmed for MetroFlash usage.

Not since number portability have consumers been offered such a serviceable option in switching service providers, said Tom Keys, chief operating officer of MetroPCS.

The company has some 4.4 million subscribers nationwide. While most cell phone service providers have hailed the coming of so-called open networks in which handsets from competing services can be universally used, the actual implementation has been virtually nonexistent to date. Most providers still lock in subscribers in two-year contracts when they get a new phone and a new service.

With MetroFlash, users will be able to use the phones they typically obtained when they signed up for, say, Verizon Wireless or Sprint.

Google is testing social-networking features for the iGoogle personalized home page.

In preparing a new version of the personal portal, Google is adding the ability for subscribers to chat with friends without having to download any extra software. Friends signed into Google's Web mail, instant messaging, or iGoogle services will see each other's screen names on the left-side navigation bar, that furthermore is new.

In addition, people in each other's contact lists will be able to share stories from the Web in Google Reader and photos uploaded to Google's Picasa photo-sharing site, according to the Google Operating System blog, which follows the unfolding of Google applications.

Google plans to add support for the OpenSocial API later this summer. Developed by Google and released in November 2007, the OpenSocial set of application programming interfaces makes it possible to integrate services amid social networks and Web sites.

Support of OpenSocial API will make it possible for developers building gadgets to connect to iGoogle and other sites. Gadgets are small programs that provide services by running in an environment that manages multiple gadgets. In this case, that would be the iGoogle platform. The novel features embody the ability for iGoogle users to share gadgets with people on their junction lists.

The next version of iGoogle will have a left-side bar that contains a list of all of the user's gadgets, as well as tabs to other pages on the portal. In addition, a person can click the title of a gadget or the "maximize" button in the gadget title bar to get a full-page view. Such a feature, for example, would be useful in reading news feeds.

The iGoogle features are in the experimental scaffold and are make use of only to a pre-selected group of developers.

A former administrator at EliteTorrents.org has been convicted of conspiracy and felony copyright infringement in a Virginia court, the first time in the U.S. that a peer-to-peer user has been convicted by a jury of copyright infringement, the U.S. Department of Justice revealed Friday.

Daniel Dove, 26, formerly of Clintwood, Virginia, faces a maximum sentence in prison for his participation in EliteTorrents.org, a Web place that specialized in releasing copyright works without authorization, the DOJ said. EliteTorrents, which ceased operating in May 2005, used BitTorrent peer-to-peer technology to distribute pirated copies of movies, software, music and video games, the DOJ said.

A jury in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia was presented with evidence that Dove was an administrator of a small group of EliteTorrents members known as "Uploaders," who were responsible for supplying pirated content to the group.

Dove recruited members who had high-speed Internet connections, usually at least 50 times faster than a typical high-speed residential Internet connection, to become Uploaders, the DOJ said. Dove operated a high-speed server, which he used to distribute pirated content to the Uploaders, the agency said in a press release.

Dove's conviction is the eighth plea or conviction resulting from Operation D-Elite, a nationwide federal crackdown against the illegal distribution of copyrighted movies, software, games and music over P2P networks using BitTorrent, the DOJ said.

Operation D-Elite targeted leading members of EliteTorrents. At its height, EliteTorrents attracted more than 125,000 members and distributed about 700 movies, what one. were downloaded a total of 1.1 million times, the DOJ said. In many cases, digital works were available attached EliteTorrents before they were released to the public, the DOJ said.

NEW YORK - The online hangout MySpace has launched its program on the side of letting users quickly share personal profile data on outside sites operated by Yahoo Inc., eBay Inc. and others.

MySpace, the social-networking site owned by News Corp., began making the technical tools and other information available to Web developers this week.

The program, announced in May, lets any Web site incorporate MySpace profile data, friends palaestra and other social functions. That could free users from having to retype basic biographical information everywhere.

MySpace's main rival, Facebook, is working on a resembling program.

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On the Net:

http://developer.myspace.com

Google has released an application that enables a Windows PC to show videos and photos and play music on a digital television.

The Google Media Server can connect a PC to any device that supports Universal Plug and Play, or UPnP, a set of computer network protocols that enable devices to share data across a home network.

The Media Server, which only works on Windows machines, requires the user inaugurate Google Desktop applications on the PC. The server uses the technology for its administration tool and leverages Desktop Search to locate media files upon the PC and on the Web, where the most popular video site is Google-owned YouTube.

"Google Media Server is a Windows application that aims to bridge the gap between Google and your TV," the search engine said in a Thursday posting on the company blog.

Examples of UPnP devices that could communicate with the Google software include the video-game consoles PlayStation 3 from Sony and Xbox 360 from Microsoft, as well as Hewlett-Packard's MediaSmart high-definition televisions.

In releasing the software, Google moves closer to an area of the home entertainment market coveted by Microsoft and Apple. Both companies have software within their respective operating systems for connecting a Windows Vista PC and Mac, respectively, to a TV.

Microsoft for quite a while has offered Windows software that turns a PC into a set-top box for delivering cable programming and recording video. Apple is connecting the Mac or PC with the home TV through its Apple TV hardware. Analysts expect home networking, which is the ability for multiple devices in the home to share content, to be a lucrative market in the future.

Virgin Mobile USA will buy mobile virtual operator Helio for $39 million in stock, the company said Friday.

The company said the acquisition will allow it to enter the more lucrative field of monthly contracts, cut operation costs, and reduce the amount it pays to purchase wireless capacity from Sprint Nextel.

As part of the deal, Virgin Group, which owns Virgin Mobile USA, and SK Telecom, the greater number stakeholder in Helio, will each invest $25 million in the combined company.

"We believe that the acquisition of Helio and the related strategic investments by SK Telecom and Virgin Group are of enormous benefits to our walk of life, both financially and strategically," said Dan Schulman, CEO of Virgin Mobile USA, in a description. "It provides us with a firm foundation to create a truly holistic, leading-edge product train to service all of our existing and prospective customers."

Helio has approximately 170,000 subscribers on one-year or two-year contracts who will be absorbed into Virgin Mobile's existing 5.1 million prepaid customer base. It should be a smooth transition, like both companies use Sprint's network to deliver service.

Both companies target a younger demographic, but the companies go for a different ends of the spectrum. With its prepaid services, Virgin Mobile targets customers who have little or no credit, or customers who don't want a contract. Most phones from Virgin Mobile can be purchased for $30 or less.

By contrast, Helio targets users who want data-heavy services like YouTube and Google Maps on sophisticated handsets like the Ocean. Its customers spent $80 a month on average for services, one of the highest averages in the industry.

Additionally, Virgin Mobile said it can cut costs by combining the companies. These saving will come mainly from reducing head count and streamlining operations.

The move also gives Virgin Mobile extra negotiating power with Sprint. The company said it even now has renegotiated its contract with Sprint and expects to receive a minimum of an 8% reduction in the cost per minute in 2009.

Word of the deal leaked earlier this week, and the acquisition is expected to close in the third share of 2008. Helio is the latest mobile virtual network operator that's failed in the U.S. market, joining the likes of ESPN Mobile, Amp'd, Voce, and Disney Mobile.

The bitter fight betwixt a group of former Harvard University students and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is superior after a federal judge in California ruled that a settlement reached through the warring parties is enforceable.

The parties -- including the Winklevoss gemini, Cameron and Tyler, and their partner Divya Narendra -- are scheduled to meet July 2 to determine the minor circumstances of the settlement.

The dispute dates back to early 2004 when the Winklevoss team enlisted Harvard sophomore Zuckerberg to work on their ConnectU Web site. A few weeks later, Zuckerberg launched the now-legendary Facebook and ever since the Winklevoss team has been arguing that Zuckerberg ripped them off.

After protracted litigation that started at Harvard's disciplinary board before it reached the federal courts, Facebook racked up a valuation of $15 billion, according to some estimates.

The two sides reached a settlement, and Judge James Ware of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Wednesday rejected a recent challenge by the Winklevosses. The judge said the settlement is enforceable and set the July 2 date for the parties to work out the final details.

The terms of the settlement, which involved an award of cash and Facebook stock to the Winklevoss group, was ordered sealed by Judge Ware.

The dispute was complicated for there was litigation in two venues -- in California and Massachusetts -- and there have been suggestions that attorneys have been jockeying for principle in the case.

Facebook said it considers the case closed. In a statement, the popular social networking firm said: "The ConnectU founders understood the deal they made, and we are gratified that the Court rejected their false allegations of fraud. Their challenge was simply a case of 'buyers remorse,' as described by the Boston Court earlier this month."

Inside the documentation for a pre-release version of iTunes 7.7, Apple has reportedly tucked a hint of an upcoming application that would enable the latest iPhone and the iPod Touch to remotely control playback upon the body the music and video software.

The application is mentioned in the Read Me document of the iTunes installer, according to the Apple enthusiast site MacRumors. The application would exist available at no charge on the App Store, which Apple is launching along with the 3G iPhone on July 11. The App Store, which will be accessible from one side iTunes, is for third-party developers to offer iPhone applications.

"Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later," the Read Me file said, according to MacRumors. "Also, use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod Touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home -- a free download from the App Store."

The unconnected unrelated control appliance would presumably work via a Wi-Fi connection, since the iPhone and iPod Touch support the wireless technology.

An Apple patent application filed in 2005 indicated that the Mac and consumer electronics maker was working on a remote control application for the iPhone or iPod.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs introduced the 3G iPhone June 9 at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. Unlike the original iPhone, the new model supports faster 3G, or third generation, premises networks offered by wireless service providers. The 3G iPhone will be available in 22 countries, versus six for the original, when it ships. Apple plans to make the smartphone available in 70 countries by the end of the year.