Software : Silicon Valley experts reportedly aid National Security Agency

Silicon Valley experts reportedly aid National Security Agency
Google, Office 365 and Dropbox lead in SMB cloud growth
Updated: Vdio, Rdio's movie and TV service, is now available for everyone in the US and UK
The Word is out: Office Mobile for iPhone lands in UK App Store
Oracle plugs 40 security holes in latest Java fix

Silicon Valley experts reportedly aid National Security Agency

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The U.S. government's no-longer secret Prism program has everyone on edge, but a new report reveals Silicon Valley security experts may actually be helping the spy agency gather data.

The New York Times revealed Wednesday that the United States government's National Security Agency (NSA) has been actively enlisting security experts from Silicon Valley to assist in its data mining efforts.

One such expert is Max Kelly, a former chief security officer for Facebook, although the report doesn't clarify on exactly what position he now holds with the NSA.

The key difference between the two parties is that Silicon Valley mines personal data for profit, while the NSA seeks intelligence information, often with the assistance of the former.

Skype's Project Chess

While internet giants like Facebook, Google and Yahoo! deny direct government access to their servers, industry officials claim companies "sometimes secretly put together teams of in-house experts" in an effort to have more control over NSA requests.

One such program outed in the report is "Project Chess," a Skype initiative started prior to the Microsoft acquisition in 2011 and made up of fewer than a dozen employees.

Despite previous claims that Skype calls could not be wiretapped, the VoIP outfit is said to now be an active participant in the government's Prism program, according to documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward J. Snowden.

Independent analysts predict the NSA spends as much as $10 billion each year investing in technology to collect and store such data, although the actual number remains classified.

Find out if you should be concerned about Prism

Google, Office 365 and Dropbox lead in SMB cloud growth

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Small and midsized businesses (SMBs) are using an increasing number of cloud services, especially for hosted email and file sharing, according to a newly published report from vertical IT network Spiceworks.

The survey, sponsored by cloud connectivity services provider LogMeIn, took in 500 IT professionals from SMBs predominantly in Europe and North America, and shows that the desire to access applications and data on the go has prompted increased use of cloud services.

Hosted email is on the verge of surpassing on-premise, with deployments edging up from 42% to 46% over the past year, and another 5% planning to migrate in the next six months.

Google is the leading provider with 32% of the business, but its share is down from 34% a year ago and it is facing increasing competition from Office 365, for which the share has grown from 16% to 30%.

File sharing

File sharing is also becoming more widely used, with 24% of respondents having an approved vendor, up from 19% last year, and another 6% planning to have one in place within six months. 50% acknowledge that employees use the services off their own backs, up from 33%.

Dropbox is the stand out supplier, accounting for 40% of the company approved activity and being used by 93% of employees. Google Apps is the closest competition with respective figures of 24% and 14%.

When it comes to productivity suites, 35% of respondents are using cloud-based systems and 13% plan to adopt them in the next six months. Office 365 and Google Apps are competing closely for their attention, figuring in the plans of 60% and 59% of the respondents.

Cloud-based web conferencing is also growing in popularity, with 42% currently using the technology and another 9% planning to do so soon.

Kathryn Pribish, Voice of IT Programme Manager at Spiceworks, said: "The survey results show that cloud-based services continue to be an integral way employees access information, communicate and collaborate during their work day."

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Updated: Vdio, Rdio's movie and TV service, is now available for everyone in the US and UK

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Update: "This summer" availability apparently meant June 19, as now everyone, Rdio Unlimited subscribers or not, can use Vdio.

"[S]tarting today, you don't have to be an Rdio listener to buy, rent, and share your favorite moves and shows with friends," wrote the Rdio team in a blog.

Vdio is still only available in the U.S. and U.K., and expectant users can hurry to the service's website or download the iPad app.

Original story from April 3...

The Rdio streaming music service that launched in 2010 has been joined by a related pay-per-video video service known appropriately as Vdio.

Unlike Rdio, though, Vdio has more in common with iTunes' video on demand model than it does with Netflix; Vdio is pay-as-you-watch, allowing users to "rent" movies and TV shows from major studios.

Rdio, on the other hand, is a subscription-based service (like Spotify).

The new VOD service is currently available in the U.S. and U.K., but there's a catch: only paying Rdio Unlimited subscribers can access it.

Say what?

Currently Vdio is only available to customers who are already paying for Rdio subscriptions. Those subscribers get $25 of Vdio credit to promote the launch of the new service.

Anyone else is currently out of luck, though Rdio Vice President of Product Malthe Sigurdsson told GigaOM that that will change this summer.

Sigurdsson also reportedly revealed plans to expand to Canada "in the coming months."

What sets Vdio apart?

Vdio has a few unique features to differentiate itself from competing streaming video services.

Chief among those are Vdio's social features, which are closely tied to Rdio and allow users to follow their friends and see recommendations based on their tastes.

Sigurdsson stressed to GigaOM that basing the service on users' personal networks "rather than a marketing department" is a major plus.

Content from major studios and networks including Disney, Fox, Warner Bros., Universal, NBC, CBS, ABC, Comedy Central, Showtime and the BBC can be streamed over the web and an iPad app (though unfortunately you can't purchase anything through the app itself).

Rdio is already available on a number of platforms, though, and Vdio could hypothetically expand outward to Android, Roku and other connected devices too.

Sigurdsson also teased that Vdio subscriptions could be added in the future, according to the report.

Amazon is venturing into the set-top VOD biz too, while Apple has announced iTunes Radio.

The Word is out: Office Mobile for iPhone lands in UK App Store

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Less than a week after Microsoft finally launched an iteration of its Office productivity suite for iPhone users in the US, the software giant has made the app available in the UK.

The Office Mobile app allows Office 365 subscribers to and view and edit Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents, with any changes synced back to the cloud.

However, Microsoft's offering is of no use to users without an Office 365 membership (£7.99 a month or £79.99 a year), as it requires a log-in or purchase to get past the first screen.

Also, as Microsoft revealed on Friday, the app is not compatible with the iPad and there's no sign of the tablet-friendly version on the way. The iPhone version also fails to accomodate Outlook or OneNote.

No more speculation

The Office app arrived on Friday in the US following months, nay, years of speculation over its future on mobile devices.

Microsoft has continually held off on launching the suite as it attempted to push Office as a Windows Phone-exclusive feature, while also looking to establish Windows-based tablets as iPad alternatives.

Now it has caved slightly having realised iPhone access may drive sales of its Office 365 subscriptions, which also give users access to the software on multiple PCs, Macs and mobile devices.

Now it's finally here, the need for a subscription will limit how well the app is received and it's somewhat somewhat disappointing that the app doesn't offer any free functionality through SkyDrive.

However it's tough to blame Microsoft for refusing to give away anything to those who've chosen Apple rather than its own products.

Oracle plugs 40 security holes in latest Java fix

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Oracle keeps on releasing patches to bung up the veritable leaky bucket that is Java, with the latest fix addressing some 40 security holes.

Of those, 34 major security fixes bundled in the newly released Java 7 Update 25 (Java 7u25) affect client deployments of Java. 11 of those received the maximum score on Oracle's Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). Four vulnerabilities affect both client and server deployments, the most severe receiving a CVSS score of 7.5.

While some of the updates only patch particular versions of Java, most affect versions 7, 6 and 5. JavaFX 2.2.21 and earlier versions of JavaFX are also affected.

The patch has been released to fix some particularly gaping security holes, with all but three of them exploitable over the network without authentication. This means attackers can take control of users' computers that visit web pages with malicous embedded Java Web applications hosted on remote servers.

Severe vulnerabilities

In a company blogpost, Eric Maurice, Oracle's Director of Software Assurance, said: "Oracle recommends that this Critical Patch Update be applied as soon as possible because it includes fixes for a number of severe vulnerabilities.

"Note that the vulnerabilities fixed in this Critical Patch Update affect various components and, as a result, may not affect the security posture of all Java users in the same way."

Back in October, Oracle announced that it would be releasing Java updates on a quarterly basis. A number of companies have fallen foul to Java exploits this year, including Microsoft, Apple and Facebook.

Yahuui Blog

Thursday, June 20, 2013