Corzak Internet News

Video! I keep telling clients . . .

2011-02-16T21:18:00.000-08:00

I keep saying . . . to people trying to get more traffic to their website . . . they need video!

Google loves video. Even this relatively simple 'before-and-after'

Egypt: A Revolution Amplified by Social Media

2011-02-11T20:54:00.000-08:00

By Caroline Mccarthy CNET Writer

(Credit: Reuters TV)

There were two critical masses that led to the resignation of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on Friday: One was the horde of protesters who flooded Tahrir Square in the country's capital of Cairo for two weeks. The second was the fusion of millions of observers, pundits, and supporters around the world into a sort of leaderless digital watchdog, an unwavering force that ensured the international eye would not stray from Egypt.

It's the latter where we can credit social media.

We shouldn't go so far as to call this a social media revolution, but it nevertheless is arguably the first time in history that we've seen Facebook and Twitter, a crucial part of the way we now communicate, speedily and successfully conveying the ideas and beliefs that do lead to a revolution . . .

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Rediscovered Ancient Text Tells a Different Three Wise Men Tale

2010-12-24T13:43:00.000-08:00

In the 'Revelation of the Magi,' Christ Appears as a 'Star-Child'

An ancient text called the "Revelation of the Magi," has been rediscovered and tells a very different version of the Three Wise Men's journey to Bethlehem.

"It ends up being the most complex, richest, most strange, the strangest story of the Wise Men to come out of Christian antiquity," said Brent Landau, an expert in ancient Biblical languages and literature. "Until now, it had never been translated into English."

Landau, who teaches in the Religious Studies program at the University of Oklahoma, translated the text from Syriac and published it in his book, "The Revelations of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men's Journey to Bethlehem."

The ancient text's original author is still unknown, although it is written from the point of view of the Magi themselves. Landau tracked it down in the Vatican archives and believes it is about 1,700 years old.

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Google "Places" replaces "Maps"

2010-11-29T20:37:00.000-08:00

Google has changed its local search algorithm (again!). Your company's listing - which may have been on the first page of an organic search a month ago, may now be on the 8th!

We're still pondering the implications of the new rules. But, generally, the old standards still apply: optimized pages, keywords, external backlinks, and original content.

Happy Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

Hope your holidays were great.

If you have nice Thanksgiving photos for your website, send 'em over!

Google TV Growing Pains: Networks Block Web TV Shows

2010-10-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

Google’s throwing a party, but network TV is snubbing the invitation.

Three major broadcast networks are blocking Google TV’s access to their online programs. That’s not a good first sign for a product whose main purpose is to make internet content as easy to watch as your local station, whether you’re looking at a TV screen or your computer.

To be clear, ABC, NBC and CBS are not stopping their over-the-air programming from being viewed through Google TV, which is only now just going on sale. Watching programs that come from your cable or satellite feed are unaffected. But online versions of network programming — on the sites of the broadcasters, which are ordinarily accessible from any computer — are not available from Google TV, the Wall Street Journal first reported Friday.

And the reason is clearly to further postpone the time when you can cut the cord.

Convergence has been a hot topic for more than a decade but Google TV is the first serious attempt to combine the internet and broadcast television in sort of simple “one-click” way. It’s not about web surfing or e-mailing from your couch, but rather getting easy access to programs off the web as easily as you’d change channels. And, thanks to the broadcasters themselves, a lot of professional content already lives online.

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Facebook VS Google: Who Will be Number One?

2010-09-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

Users spend more time on Facebook than Google says the analyst firm ComScore. According to the American Institute, the time spent by Internet users on the social network is more important than that spent on Google. And this concerns not only the search engine, but also other services from Mountain View: YouTube, Gmail, or Google News.

Facebook, Social Network shown a great growth in recent years, Facebook has become very important in the online activities of many users. With 500 million members, the social network founded by Mark Zuckerberg has become one of the busiest websites on the net. So much so that now it is giving threat to Google, and eventually persuade advertisers to invest more in Facebook than in the firm in Mountain View.

A new study by analyst firm comScore U.S. goes in this direction. According to the Associated Press, which reports the findings of the investigation, the U.S. Internet have spent more time on Facebook than Google in August last. ComScore said that they spent 41.1 million minutes on the social network, 39.8 million cons on all sites of the Google brand.

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Unemployment Rate Unchanged - but No Double Dip Recession

2010-08-08T05:07:00.000-07:00

Employers cut a more-than-expected 131,000 jobs in July as modest private sector job gains were outpaced by the loss of 143,000 temporary Census workers and steep layoffs by state and local governments, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

The total 131,000 job cuts also exceeded the 65,000 projected by economists.

"There's some loss of momentum here," says Jim O'Sullivan, chief economist of MF Global. "It's still a very weak labor market recovery."

Another troubling development: Total job cuts in June were revised upward to 221,000 from 125,000 as the private sector gained just 31,000 jobs, fewer than the 83,000 initially estimated.

Nevertheless, Friday's report provided no signals that the nation is at risk of slipping back into a recession that most economists believe ended last summer. Rather, the news simply underscored recent evidence of a weakening recovery, including sluggish consumer spending, a stalled housing market and a slowdown in factory output.

"Slower growth looks certain, but it's not a double dip," says Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner.

Paul the Octopus: Spain to Beat Germany in World Cup Semifinal

2010-07-06T05:23:00.000-07:00

German football fans should brace themselves for disappointment in Wednesday's World Cup semifinal against Spain, according to the latest prediction of an octopus with a knack for picking winners.

Paul the octopus, a psychic cephalopod at Sea Life in Oberhausen, western Germany, has become a World Cup phenomenon after correctly predicting the victors in all five of Germany's matches so far and Tuesday's ceremony was carried live on German television.

Sea Life staff help Paul make his prediction by lowering two boxes of food into his tank, one carrying a German flag and the other bearing that of their opponents. The case he opens first is adjudged to be his predicted winner.

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Summer Solstice -- Happy Midsummer Day!

2010-06-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

Solstice celebrations center around the day of the astronomical summer solstice. Some choose to hold the rite on the 21st of June, even when this is not the longest day of the year, and some celebrate June 24th, the day of the solstice in Roman times.

The solstice itself has remained a special moment of the annual solar cycle of the year since Neolithic times.

Although Midsummer is originally a pagan holiday, in Christianity it is associated with the nativity of John the Baptist, which is observed on the same day, June 24, in the Catholic, Orthodox and some Protestant churches. It is six months before Christmas because Luke 1:26 and Luke 1.36 imply that John the Baptist was born six months earlier than Jesus, although the Bible does not say at which time of the year this happened.

In East Asia, the summer solstice is Xiàzhì (pīnyīn) or Geshi (rōmaji) (Chinese and Japanese: 夏至; Korean: 하지(Haji); Vietnamese: Hạ chí; literally: "summer's extreme") and is the 10th solar term.

Jupiter "Takes One for the Team" - Again!

2010-06-08T04:37:00.000-07:00

A huge fireball has been spotted on Jupiter in yet another collision from space caught on camera and video by amateur astronomers.

The events on Thursday night serve as a strong reminder about how Jupiter is a critical component for life in our solar system. The gas giant acts as a gravitational 'vacuum cleaner' swallowing any outer-solar system debris that stray too close, preventing a huge number of potentially hazardous asteroids and comets from taking a nosedive into Earth.

Studying the gas giant and understanding how many times it gets struck by comets and asteroids will help scientists understand how many chunks of rock and ice are floating around in the outer solar system. As Wesley and Christopher Go have proven, amateur astronomers from all over the world perform an increasingly important role in this endeavor.

See Video

For a Minute on May 6th, Corzak Interactive Stock Nearly Worthless

2010-05-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

You think the action in Procter & Gamble was weird, check out the nosedive on Corzak Interactive, which plummeted from above $2 at 2:47 p.m. to $0.01 at 2:48 p.m. Had demand for website design services declined so sharply in that one minute?

Obviously there was some sort of technical snafu out there. Still, it seems that the worries about Greece were seriously worsening Thursday. But Corzak currently has no Greek clients (although he is talking to a gyro shop).

So what's going on? How much of that scare was robots gone wild and how much was sensible worry from flesh and blood investors? We’ll have to wait and see, though the company did close down more than 3% on the Dow.

Eyjafjallajökull Volcano: Top Ten Best (Worst) Jokes on the Internet

2010-04-21T05:43:00.000-07:00

It’s a bit early for Iceland volcano jokes. We should wait awhile for the dust to settle.

I see that America has declared war on Iceland. Apparently they are accusing them of harbouring a “weapon of ash eruption”.

It was the last wish of the Icelandic economy that its ashes be spread over Europe.

Iceland goes bankrupt, then it manages to set itself on fire. This has insurance scam written all over it.

Iceland, we wanted your cash, not your ash.

Waiter, there's volcanic ash in my soup. II know, it's a no-fly zone.

Richard Curtis is working on a new rom-com about people stuck in an airport who fall in love. The working title is "Lava Actually".

I came out my house yesterday and was hit on the head by a bag of frozen sausages, a chocolate gateau and some fish fingers. I realised it must be the fallout from Iceland.

Volcano in Iceland. What next Earthquake in Asda?

Woke this morning to find every surface in the house covered in a layer of dust and a foul stench of sulphur in the air. No change, I’ve been married to that bone-idle slob for 20 years.

Corzak Interactive Files On Time

2010-04-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

AP - Although some financial analysts expressed concern that internet conglomerate Corzak Interactive was considering applying for a tax filing extension this year, their fears proved groundless. The company's taxes were filed before the deadline, midnight April 15.

Markets reacted apathetically to the news.

FCC Chairman's Broadband Goals, in His Own Words

2010-04-04T06:45:00.000-07:00

Since Julius Genachowski became chairman of the Federal Communications Commission last year, his main priority has been overhauling the government's strategy for expanding high-speed Internet access.

Genachowski, who has been an executive and investor in technology companies, argues that people who lack fast Internet connectivity have fewer economic opportunities. He also says the entire nation needs faster access in order to remain competitive with other countries for digital-age jobs and investment.

As the FCC's broadband plan was being finished before its delivery to Congress, Genachowski, 47, discussed his goals in an interview with The Associated Press in his eighth-floor office overlooking Washington.

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Google Deals in Doubt Amid Spat with Beijing

2010-03-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

China issued a blistering public attack against Google on Wednesday and appeared to quietly begin getting businesses to abandon the U.S. Internet giant after it moved its controversial Chinese search engine offshore.

The critical remarks in a high-profile Communist Party newspaper coupled with souring business deals underscored Beijing's determination to settle scores with Google Inc. after a public two-month dispute over stringent Chinese censorship policies. By challenging the often tetchy government, Google appears to have violated an unspoken rule of doing business in China, especially in the Internet industry whose control Beijing sees as crucial to maintaining its authoritarian rule.

"Everybody in the Internet space operates under the good graces of the government, and if the government's not happy with your partner, you probably are going to have to change," said T.R. Harrington, founder and CEO of Shanghai-based Darwin Marketing, which specializes in advertising for China's search engine market.
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Chinese Media Say Google to Leave China Next Month

2010-03-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

Chinese media reports say U.S. Internet giant Google will close its business in China after complaints of censorship and cyber-attacks. The reports say the announcement could come as early as next week, although Google is refusing all comment.

In January, Google unexpectedly said that it is prepared to pull out of China because of cyber-attacks and concerns over government censorship.

On Friday, the China Business News, one of the country's top economic papers, quoted an unnamed official with a Google-affiliated agency as saying he has learned that Google will leave China next month.

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Google Honours Iranian Women Bloggers

2010-03-12T04:45:00.000-08:00

Internet giant Google on Thursday joined a top journalists' rights group in rewarding a collective of Iranian women bloggers for their reporting on last year's post-election unrest.

The online journalists of women's rights blog we-change.org were given the "Net Citizen" award, a new prize by Google and French media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to defend freedom of expression online.

Dozens of the Iranian site's contributors have been detained for reporting online on huge anti-government demonstrations that broke out amid claims of fraud in Iran's election, RSF said.

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Internet Explorer 6 Finally Laid to Rest!

2010-03-06T06:18:00.000-08:00

A design group in Denver thought it was finally time to put Internet Explorer 6 to rest, holding a mock funeral for the outdated Microsoft browser last night. It was 8 years old.

Apparently, IE6 died from “a workplace injury sustained at the headquarters of Google, Inc.” (Sounds like a hit job…) Event organizers suggested “funeral” attire, but added that there would also be a tapas bar. That seems more like it for a tech event.

Microsoft showed they have a sense of humor too, as they sent some flowers in remembrance for the deceased.

The news of this funeral means that any of you still using IE 6 must upgrade IMMEDIATELY!

Google Gives $2 Million to Wikipedia

2010-02-18T07:16:00.000-08:00

Google Inc., the Internet's most profitable company, is giving $2 million to support Wikipedia, a volunteer-driven reference tool that has emerged as one of the Web's most-read sites.

Wikimedia Foundation, owner of Wikipedia, said Wednesday that Google has donated $2 million to further develop the popular encyclopedia and other projects.

Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's founder, broke the news on Twitter on Tuesday, followed by a formal announcement from the nonprofit organization.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, in a statement, called Wikipedia "one of the greatest triumphs of the Internet…this vast repository of community-generated content is an invaluable resource to anyone who is online."

The search giant's funds will be used on technology projects to help Wikipedia handle its increasing bandwidth and multimedia needs.

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Google To Build Ultra-Fast, Consumer Broadband Networks in U.S.

2010-02-12T06:17:00.000-08:00

Search and advertising giant Google plans to build and test super fast fiber-optic broadband networks in a few communities around the U.S., promising up to a one gigabit per second service — a hundred-fold increase over what most Americans currently can subscribe to.

A 1 Gbps could let a user download a HD movie in minutes and is more than 1000 times faster than AT&T’s basic DSL offering.

The company, whose experience running a ISP is limited to a small, free wireless service in its hometown of MountainView, California, called the intiative an “experiment” in keeping with what it urged the FCC to do with its upcoming national broadband plan. The company is asking municipalities to apply to be candidates and said it will offer a competitively priced service to 50,000 to a half a million people.

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China Tries to Limit Google Dispute Fallout

2010-01-15T04:11:00.000-08:00

China tried Friday to keep its censorship row with Google from damaging business confidence or ties with Washington, promising good conditions for foreign investors but giving no sign it might relax Internet controls.

U.S.-China trade and economic ties will not be affected by any Google Inc. decision to withdraw from China, said Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian at a regular briefing. However, he insisted foreign companies must obey Chinese law.

"China will still strictly adopt a policy of openness and offer a good investment environment," Yao said. "We emphasize that foreign companies including Google should all follow international standards and respect local law and regulations and local culture and customs to shoulder social responsibility."

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Google Threat a Rare Show of Defiance in China

2010-01-13T05:25:00.000-08:00

Google's threat to pull out of China over censorship is a rare display of defiance in a system where foreign companies have long accepted intrusive controls to gain access to a huge and growing market.

Dismayed by the prospect of a China without Google, visitors left flowers at its Beijing headquarters Wednesday as Web sites buzzed with words of support and appeals to stay.

"I felt it's a pity and hope it will not withdraw from the Chinese market," said a man who left flowers at the building in the high-tech Haidian district and would give only his surname, Chang. "Google played a key role in the growth of our generation. The control (of the Internet) is excessive."

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Facebook CEO Causes Stir Over Privacy

2010-01-12T06:34:00.000-08:00

One privacy advocate contends Facebook is pushing users to expect less privacy

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's contention last week that privacy is becoming less important to online users caused a stir across the Internet and among privacy advocates.

Zuckerberg told an audience at the 2009 Crunchies Awards ceremonies in San Francisco on Friday that social norms are changing and people don't expect or want nearly as much privacy as they have in the past.

"When we got started, the question people asked was, 'Why would I want to put any information on the Internet?'," he said during the presentation of awards to top online startups and makers of innovative technology.

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Google Poised to Take Wraps Off New Mobile Phone

2010-01-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

Google expected to raise stakes in mobile market with new phone designed by its own engineers

Google Inc. is again trying to shake up the mobile market.

In holding an event Tuesday in which it was expected to outline its vision for how a mobile phone should be made and sold, the Internet search leader will likely raise the stakes in its bid to gain more control over how people surf the Web while they're on the go.

The catalyst in Google's latest attempt to redefine the mobile market apparently will be the Nexus One, the first smart phone designed by the company's own engineers.

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AT&T Tells FCC It's Time to "Cut the Cord" on Landlines

2010-01-01T13:03:00.000-08:00

In response to a Notice of Inquiry released by the FCC to explore how to transition to a purely IP-based communications network, AT&T has declared that it's time to cut the cord. AT&T told the FCC that the death of landlines is a matter of when , not if, and asked that a firm deadline be set for pulling the plug.

AT&T said in its response to the FCC that "with each passing day, more and more communications services migrate to broadband and IP-based services, leaving the public switched telephone network ("PSTN") and plain-old telephone service ("POTS") as relics of a by-gone era."

It also stated "It makes no sense to require service providers to operate and maintain two distinct networks when technology and consumer preferences have made one of them increasingly obsolete."

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Hackers Steal South Korean-US Military Secrets

2009-12-18T05:26:00.000-08:00

South Korea's military said Friday it was investigating a hacking attack that netted secret defense plans with the United States and may have been carried out by North Korea.

The suspected hacking occurred late last month when a South Korean officer failed to remove a USB device when he switched a military computer from a restricted-access intranet to the Internet, Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said.

The USB device contained a summary of plans for military operations by South Korean and U.S. troops in case of war on the Korean peninsula. Won said the stolen document was not a full text of the operational plans, but an 11-page file used to brief military officials. He said it did not contain critical information.

Won said authorities have not ruled out the possibility that Pyongyang may have been involved in the hacking attack by using a Chinese IP address — the Web equivalent of a street address or phone number.

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A Decade of the Internet

2009-12-10T18:57:00.000-08:00

The decade did not begin auspiciously for the Internet; it opened not with a bang, but a bust. However, the 2000 dot.com bust, far from signaling the end of the Web, served as a much-needed “reset” for an industry run amok. Gone were websites with great ideas, fistfuls of cash, and no long-term business plan. (Webvan, Pets.com, Kozmo.com, anyone?) The new crop of sites to emerge from the ashes were sleeker, more nimble versions of their predecessors.

Over the past 10 years, the phenomenal growth of the Web has fundamentally changed the way we live, work and communicate. In November, a Pew Research Center study showed some startling changes in how we use the Internet:

- 2000: 46% of adults used the Internet
- 2009: 77-79% of adults use the Internet

- 2000: 5% of households had broadband
- 2009: 63% of households have broadband

- 2000: 0% connected to Internet wirelessly
- 2009: 54-56% connect to the Internet wirelessly

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Internet Set for Change with Non-English Addresses

2009-10-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

The Internet is set to undergo one of the biggest changes in its four-decade history with the expected approval this week of international domain names — or addresses — that can be written in languages other than English, an official said Monday.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN — the non-profit group that oversees domain names — is holding a meeting this week in Seoul. Domain names are the monikers behind every Web site, e-mail address and Twitter post, such as ".com" and other suffixes.

One of the key issues to be taken up by ICANN's board at this week's gathering is whether to allow for the first time entire Internet addresses to be in scripts that are not based on Latin letters. That could potentially open up the Web to more people around the world as addresses could be in characters as diverse as Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Greek, Hindi and Cyrillic — in which Russian is written.

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Web Surf to Save Your Aging Brain

2009-10-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

Surfing the Internet just might be a way to preserve your mental skills as you age.

Researchers found that older adults who started browsing the Web experienced improved brain function after only a few days.

"You can teach an old brain new technology tricks," said Dr. Gary Small, a psychiatry professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of iBrain. With people who had little Internet experience, "we found that after just a week of practice, there was a much greater extent of activity particularly in the areas of the brain that make decisions, the thinking brain -- which makes sense because, when you're searching online, you're making a lot of decisions," he said. "It's interactive."

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Fake Security Software in Millions of Computers: Symantec

2009-10-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

Tens of millions of U.S. computers are loaded with scam security software that their owners may have paid for but which only makes the machines more vulnerable, according to a new Symantec report on cybercrime.

Cyberthieves are increasingly planting fake security alerts that pop up when computer users access a legitimate website. The "alert" warns them of a virus and offers security software, sometimes for free and sometimes for a fee.

"Lots of times, in fact they're a conduit for attackers to take over your machine," said Vincent Weafer, Symantec's vice president for security response.

"They'll take your credit card information, any personal information you've entered there and they've got your machine," he said, referring to some rogue software's ability to rope a users' machine into a botnet, a network of machines taken over to send spam or worse.

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High-Speed 'Other' Internet Goes Global

2009-10-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

A super high-speed global Internet devoted solely to science and education has just expanded to include half the countries of the world, and yes, you at home can be jealous.

The Taj network, funded by the National Science Foundation, now connects India, Singapore, Vietnam and Egypt to the larger Global Ring Network for Advanced Application Development (GLORIAD) global infrastructure, and "dramatically improves existing U.S. network links with China and the Nordic region," according to an NSF statement.

The combined GLORIAD-Taj fiber-optic network is aimed at helping scientists collaborate, and to improve education in schools and universities. The network offers large-bandwidth connections for scientists and educators who seek to avoid the often bogged-down Internet the rest of us are stuck with.

Your child may have used the setup at school, but there are no plans to make it available for home use.

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Where's the Next Boom? Maybe in `Cleantech'

2009-10-07T05:18:00.000-07:00

Energy breakthroughs could be the next big thing, but how many jobs can they generate?

Our economy sure could use the Next Big Thing. Something on the scale of railroads, automobiles or the Internet -- the kind of breakthrough that emerges every so often and builds industries, generates jobs and mints fortunes.

Silicon Valley investors are pointing to something called cleantech -- alternative energy, more efficient power distribution and new ways to store electricity, all with minimal impact to the environment -- as a candidate for the next boom.

And while no two booms are exactly alike, some hallmarks are already showing up.

Despite last fall's financial meltdown, public and private investments are pouring in, fueling startups and reinvigorating established companies. The political and social climates are favorable. If it takes off, cleantech could seep into every part of the economy and our lives.

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Cybersecurity Starts at Home and in the Office

2009-10-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

As US faces growing cyberthreats, everyday users must learn to block the digital doorways.

When swine flu broke out, the government revved up a massive information campaign centered on three words: Wash your hands. The Obama administration now wants to convey similarly clear and concise guidance about one of the biggest national security threats in your home and office -- the computer.

Think before you click. Know who's on the other side of that instant message. What you say or do in cyberspace stays in cyberspace -- for many to see, steal and use against you or your government.

The Internet, said former national intelligence director Michael McConnell, "is the soft underbelly" of the U.S. today. Speaking at a new cybersecurity exhibit at the International Spy Museum in Washington, McConnell said the Internet has "introduced a level of vulnerability that is unprecedented."

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What's Government's Role in Making the Web Secure?

2009-09-27T04:19:00.000-07:00

In cybercrisis, what's government's role in protecting the Internet? Congress is sorting it out.

There is no kill switch for the Internet, no secret on-off button in an Oval Office drawer. Yet when a Senate committee was exploring ways to secure computer networks, a provision to give the president the power to shut down Internet traffic to compromised Web sites in an emergency set off alarms. Corporate leaders and privacy advocates quickly objected, saying the government must not seize control of the Internet. Lawmakers dropped it, but the debate rages on. How much control should federal authorities have over the Web in a crisis? How much should be left to the private sector? It does own and operate at least 80 percent of the Internet and argues it can do a better job. Read More >

Report: FCC to Propose 'Net Neutrality' Rules

2009-09-19T04:53:00.000-07:00

The head of the FCC plans to propose new rules that would prohibit Internet service providers from interfering with the free flow of information and certain applications over their networks, according to reports published Saturday.

The Washington Post and New York Times said the Federal Communications Commission chairman, Julius Genachowski, will announced the proposed rules in a speech Monday at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

The proposals would uphold a pledge Barack Obama made during the presidential campaign to support Internet neutrality and would bar companies like Verizon, Comcast or ATT&T, from slowing or blocking certain services or content flowing through their vast networks.

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Google Fast Flip is Geared to Generate More Ad Dollars

2009-09-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

Google Fast Flip aims to accelerate the pace at which readers devour online news. Google is sharing ad revenue generated from Fast Flip clicks with participating publishing partners, including TechCrunch, the New York Times, Fast Company and Business Week. Fast Flip also works on Google Android and Apple iPhone smartphones.

Google Labs Sept. 14 unleashed Google Fast Flip, which the company hopes will speed up the way readers read online news while yielding more advertising dollars for the publishers that participate in the experiment.

As the name suggests, Fast Flip is designed to make the news Web browsing more like the way readers turn the pages of print newspapers and magazines: Fast. Web pages with publishers' articles are rendered on the Fast Flip page, where users can click on them to begin reading. Users may also scroll through scores of articles simply by clicking the mouse on up, down or side-to-side arrows.

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The $100 Million Question: Where's Broadband in the US?

2009-09-13T04:17:00.000-07:00

The national stimulus package passed by Congress in February may have been too enthusiastic about spending money on one particular project: figuring out where broadband Internet access is available and how fast it is.

The $787 billion stimulus bill championed by the Obama administration set aside up to $350 million to create a national broadband map that could guide policies aimed at expanding high-speed Internet access. That $350 million tag struck some people in the telecommunications industry as excessive, compared with existing, smaller efforts. The map won't even be done in time to help decide where to spend much of the $7.2 billion in stimulus money earmarked for broadband programs.

Now it appears the final cost won't be as high as $350 million -- though just how much it will be is unclear.

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Internet Turns 40 years Old … Or Does It?

2009-09-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

Though it might try to hide its graying hairs, it was 40 years ago today that computer scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, established a network connection between two computers, creating the very first node of what we now know as the Internet.

At the time, Leonard Kleinrock and his colleagues were charged with developing the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (or ARPANET), a government-funded research project in global computer communications that eventually grew into the Internet.

On Sept. 2, 1969, Kleinrock and his team succeeded in getting two computers to exchange data over a network for the first time.

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As Internet Turns 40, Barriers Threaten its Growth

2009-08-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

As Internet turns 40, barriers threaten the openness that spawned e-mail, YouTube and Twitter.

Goofy videos weren't on the minds of Len Kleinrock and his team at UCLA when they began tests 40 years ago on what would become the Internet. Neither was social networking, for that matter, nor were most of the other easy-to-use applications that have drawn more than a billion people online.

Instead the researchers sought to create an open network for freely exchanging information, an openness that ultimately spurred the innovation that would later spawn the likes of YouTube, Facebook and the World Wide Web.

There's still plenty of room for innovation today, yet the openness fostering it may be eroding. While the Internet is more widely available and faster than ever, artificial barriers threaten to constrict its growth.

Call it a mid-life crisis.

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Evidence Mounts Recession's Grip on Economy Easing

2009-08-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

Consumer spending, income data may be latest hints that long recession losing its grip

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Evidence is mounting that the longest recession since World War II is losing its grip on the U.S. economy.

The latest hint is due Friday when the government releases data on consumer spending and income for July.

Personal spending is expected to have posted a modest gain last month, driven higher by the popular Cash for Clunkers program. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect personal spending rose 0.2 percent in July after a 0.4 percent gain in June.

Economists believe that personal incomes, the fuel for future spending increases, probably rose 0.2 percent as well, following a 1.3 percent decline in June.

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US Ranks 28th in Internet Connection Speed: Report

2009-08-26T03:59:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States ranks 28th in the world in average Internet connection speed and is not making significant progress in building a faster network, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The report by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said the average download speed in South Korea is 20.4 megabits per second (mbps) -- four times faster than the US average of 5.1 mbps.

Japan trails South Korea with an average of 15.8 mbps followed by Sweden at 12.8 mbps and the Netherlands at 11.0 mbps, the report said.

It said tests conducted by speedmatters.org found the average US download speed had improved by only nine-tenths of a megabit per second between 2008 and 2009 -- from 4.2 mbps to 5.1 mbps.

"The US has not made significant improvement in the speeds at which residents connect to the Internet," the report said. "Our nation continues to fall far behind other countries."

"People in Japan can upload a high-definition video in 12 minutes, compared to a grueling 2.5 hours at the US average upload speed," the report said.

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Google Lawsuit Dispels the Web’s Oldest Tradition: Anonymity

2009-08-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

When fashion model Liskula Cohen sued Google, she took aim at one of the key online tenets: On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.

Disguised in comforting anonymity, bloggers and online commenters can type some pretty nasty things – accusations and language that they’d never say to people face-to-face. However, the masquerade ball may have just ended.

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Lending to Small Business: Banks Are Still Shy

2009-08-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

The $787 billion stimulus package has funneled unprecedented amounts of money into the nation's financial system, but business owners say the impact on entrepreneurs has been minimal. A June survey by the National Federation of Independent Business found that the percentage of business owners who found loans harder to get was near historic highs.

Despite programs designed specifically for them by the Small Business Administration, many small business owners say banks just won't lend. And many bankers themselves concede they are seeking only the best credit risks.

"Banks are fighting over the most creditworthy (small businesses)," Martha Seidenwand, SBA program operations manager for KeyBank in Cleveland, said in May.

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World Markets Up Amid Recovery Hopes

2009-08-14T05:23:00.000-07:00

LONDON (AP) -- World stock markets mostly rose Friday, with Japan's main index hitting a ten-month high, amid mounting investor optimism that the global economy is emerging from recession sooner than expected.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 10.60 points, or 0.2 percent, at 4,766.06 while Germany's DAX rose 11.83 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,412.94. The CAC-40 in France was 20.95 points, or 0.6 percent, higher at 3,545.34.

Earlier in Asia, stocks advanced after U.S. investors brushed off weaker than expected retail sales data and sent the Dow Jones industrial average up to a nine-month closing high.

Hopes of a swift rebound in global economic growth had emerged earlier with the news that France and Germany, Europe's two biggest economies, surprisingly grew in the second quarter of the year as well as a fairly upbeat assessment of the state of the U.S. economy from the Federal Reserve.

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Internet Explorer 6: Dead Browser Walking. Time to Upgrade.

2009-08-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

Internet Explorer 6 must be feeling a bit unwanted these days. Microsoft just issued a patch that clearly offers users the option to set a different browser as their default. Also, Google's social network Orkut is phasing out support for IE6, one more nail in the coffin of the 8-year-old version of the browser that developers pretty much hate.

Google's social network Orkut reportedly plans to phase out support for Internet Explorer 6, igniting a long-simmering debate over continued use of the 8-year-old version of the browser. The current version is IE8.

Microsoft intends to maintain support for IE6 in conjunction with its support for Windows XP -- the OS that originally delivered it. Extended support for XP is scheduled to end in 2014.

"As engineers, we want people to upgrade to the latest version," wrote Microsoft IE8 product manager Dean Hachamovitch in a recent IE blog post. "We make it as easy as possible for them to upgrade. Ultimately, the choice to upgrade belongs to the person responsible for the PC."

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Google Has Little to Fear from Microsoft-Yahoo Deal

2009-08-10T06:07:00.000-07:00

Analysts say that Google should easily fend off the combined effort of its rivals.

Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. hope that the consummation of their long-anticipated online search agreement late last month will give them a boost in their frustrating battles with common rival Google Inc. Analysts, though, say the search giant probably has little to fear from the combined effort -- at least in the short term.

The 10-year agreement calls for Microsoft's new Bing search engine to power Yahoo's search sites, and for Yahoo to sell premium search advertising services for both companies. The companies said they expect the deal, which must be reviewed by U.S. and European regulators, to close early next year.

Analysts do say that the Microsoft-Yahoo partnership should provide each company with some much-needed leverage in their ongoing -- and, until now, separate -- battles to loosen Google's longtime stranglehold on the search market, though none expect it to lead to any dramatic changes in that arena.

In terms of search market share, both Yahoo and Microsoft have long lagged far behind Google, which held nearly 80% of the market in June.

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DDoS Attackers Continue Hitting Twitter, Facebook, Google

2009-08-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

The distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks that knocked out Twitter for hours and affected other sites like Facebook, Google's Blogger, and LiveJournal on Thursday continued all day Friday and may persist throughout the weekend.

In its latest update, posted to a discussion forum of its third-party developers at 11 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Friday, Twitter reports it's still fighting the attacks.

"The DDoS attack is still ongoing, and the intensity has not decreased at all," wrote Chad Etzel, from Twitter's application development platform support team.

This means that Twitter will maintain a set of defensive measures that have allowed it to keep the site up but that also have affected the interaction of third-party applications with the site via its API (application programming interface). "At this point, removing any of those defenses is not an option," Etzel wrote.

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Google Deal Would Boost YouTube

2009-08-07T08:13:00.001-07:00

Google Inc. has agreed to buy On2 Technologies Inc. for $106.5 million, bolstering its YouTube site with software that compresses video clips so they are easier to download.

On2 investors will get 60 cents in Google stock for each share they own, Google said yesterday. That’s 57 percent more than On2’s closing price Tuesday.

“YouTube’s bandwidth costs are high, and compression technologies help you reduce the bandwidth any video uses,’’ said Sameet Sinha, an analyst at JMP Securities Inc.

On2 might let Google incorporate video-compression software into mobile phones that use its Android software, he said.

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Microsoft Beefs Up in Battle with Google Over Search Engine Market

2009-07-31T06:25:00.000-07:00

The software giant's blockbuster pact with Yahoo would give it almost a third of the market. But the proposed alliance faces antitrust hurdles.

After a decade of skirmishes among dozens of Internet search services, only two major players may be left standing on the battlefield: the world's largest search engine, Google Inc., and its newly powerful rival, Microsoft Corp.

Instead of using its own search engine, Yahoo's massive network of Web pages would feature Microsoft's Bing, more than tripling Microsoft's reach. That would instantly give the Redmond, Wash., company almost a third of the search engine market, an expansion that could send shock waves through the industry. Two-thirds of Internet search queries in the U.S. are made through Google's dominant engine, according to Web ratings firm ComScore.

"Tectonic would be a good word," said Tim Cadogan, chief executive of OpenX, an online advertising company in Pasadena and former senior Yahoo executive who oversaw the company's search efforts. "It creates a viable competitive force in the search landscape to be able to compete with Google."

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69% Of Adults Don't Know What Twitter Is

2009-07-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

69% of adults surveyed have little knowledge of what Twitter is, the LA Times reports, citing a LinkedIn Research Network/Harris Poll.

Of 2,025 adults surveyed, 69% said they didn't know enough about Twitter to comment on it.

More stats:

Of 1,015 advertisers surveyed, 17% didn't know much about the microblogging service.

50% of advertisers surveyed said they expected Twitter to experience a huge growth in the next few years.

20% felt Twitter was only for young people.

Only 12% of consumers surveyed said Twitter use would grow in the coming years, and an equal percent felt only young people used Twitter.

The conversation about this story »

US hopes China talks spur economic recovery, jobs

2009-07-26T05:49:00.000-07:00

With the global economy mired in recession, the United States and China begin talks Monday to seek a solution together despite tensions over currencies, the U.S. budget deficit and the huge U.S. trade gap with China.

Ultimately, how well the U.S. efforts succeed could help determine how fast the economy recovers and how many U.S. jobs might be created once it does.

Other issues, such as climate control and North Korean nuclear ambitions, also will command attention. Few expect the talks to bridge the sharp differences between Beijing and Washington. But both governments want to use the occasion to help build a less confrontational relationship.

Three years ago, Henry Paulson, then Treasury secretary, used the talks to press Beijing to let its currency, the yuan, rise in value against the dollar, to make it cheaper for Chinese to buy U.S. goods. U.S. manufacturers blame an undervalued yuan for record U.S. trade deficits with China — and, in part, for a decline in U.S. jobs. Read More >

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer.

Firefox 3.5.1 Fixes Critical Security Flaw

2009-07-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

The Mozilla Corp. has released Firefox 3.5.1, a new version of their Web browser. The new release corrects a security problem the company acknowledged earlier this week as "critical." Firefox is available for free download from the Web site.

Firefox 3.5.1 corrects the security flaw identified in Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2009-41: a problem with the software's "Just-In-Time" (JIT) compiler used for JavaScript. A crash could result in an exploitable memory corruption problem that could, under certain cases, be exploited by an attacker to run arbitrary code, like malware.

Several stability improvements have also been made. Mozilla first outlined plans to release Firefox 3.5.1 earlier this month.

Is "Cloud Computing" the Future?

2009-07-11T06:20:00.000-07:00

Internet users heavily into cloud computing, most unknowingly

Those who put photos on Facebook, send messages via Gmail or play Club Penguin are accessing programs and software files stored far away in cavernous rooms containing thousands of computers.

Google Inc. made waves in the tech world this week when it announced plans to release an operating system called Google Chrome OS that would encourage wider use of something called cloud computing.

Although most have never heard of cloud computing, many do it every day. By uploading photos to Facebook, sending messages via Gmail or playing Club Penguin online, users are accessing programs and software files that are kept far away in cavernous, climate-controlled rooms containing thousands of computers.

By Alex Pham - July 10, 2009 - Read More >

10 Things That Could Still Go Wrong with the Economy

2009-07-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

The recent buoyancy of the financial markets has created a sense of calm about the economy. The overall sense of panic has gone.

But there's still a wariness in the air, a feeling that the fragile "green shoots" of the recovery might be stomped out by some new crisis. People are waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Here we suggest 10 things that might stymie our recovery. Some are purely financial events. Others are geopolitical. And one involves these little piggies.

Did your favorite nightmare scenario make the cut?

1. Swine Flu Second Wave: Typically, influenza outbreaks come in waves, getting worse with each one. The very ease with which we seem to have survived the first wave of swine flu may make us vulnerable to a horrific second wave.

2. Commercial Real Estate Collapse: Various commercial real estate deals face trillions in refinancing obligations over the coming years. But the market is practically closed, ensuring massive bankruptcies and restructuring.

Why are lenders so freaked out? Because existing loans are going sour at a pace unlike anything we've seen in history. Because of that, even commercial real estate properties with strong cash flows are finding financing extremely difficult to come by.

3. The Option Adjustable Rate Mortgage Explosion: Anyone referring to the "subprime crisis" has got to get with the program. The subprime wave of defaults is basically over. Now the question is, what about all the other types of mortgages? You know, Option ARM, Alt-As and of course, good old fashioned prime mortgage.

The big wave of Option ARM resets has yet to come, and given the drop in home prices, refinancing won't be realistic. Let's hope the homeowners can afford their new monthly payments.

4. Global Food Crisis: As we saw last year, the global food supply teeters on the edge of adequacy. Any serious shock--floods in the Midwest, a war in Asia, social unrest in China, political upheaval in Thailand or Egypt--could result in shortages in countries that import large amounts of their food.

5. Israel Bombs Iran: The Obama administration's openness to the Iranian regime may have the perverse effect of emboldening its nuclear ambitions. Very likely, the fears of the nuclear Iran are over-stated. It would probably behave like most members of the global nuke club, cowed by its own destructive power into behaving responsibly.

But Iran isn't the only country to worry about in the region. Israel may not be willing to tolerate a nuclear armed Iran, and may choose to strike out to destroy Iran's nascent nuclear capabilities. This would obvious raise tensions throughout the Middle East. At the very least, oil prices will likely spike and remain elevated following any military action against Iran. This, in turn, will slow the global economy.

6. A Wave of Municipal Defaults: Historically, cities and states don't default on their loans very much. But as Warren Buffett pointed out, historical results don't mean jack because muni insurance wasn't around. Unless it gets a bailout, California may go bankrupt, causing the muni market to seize up, bringing public works and spending to a halt, kneecapping GDP.

At that point, with no ability to borrow, the other states will rush to default themselves, sparing their taxpayers any more pain.

7. Another Bank Run: It seems unlikely, given the government's implicit guarantee of the banking sector, but it's always possible that investors or lenders could lose confidence in one of the banks again, prompting a financing run a la Bear Stearns.

If this happened, we'd be back to square one with all the confidence and bailouts since Lehman's collapse -- only, the government would have fewer bullets left in the gun.

8. Runaway Inflation: The Federal Reserve seems confident that it can "land the recovery." Is it right?

There's good reason to be skeptical that the Fed will be able to reduce the monetary base before it floods out into the economy, driving up prices and destroying savings. For one thing, the Fed has never really been very good at doing this. By the time the Fed realizes that inflation is taking off, it may be too late.

9. North Korean Missile Launch: Wee dictator Kim Jong II has lulled the world to sleep, performing missile tests on a seemingly daily basis. What was once a cause for alarm now barely merits a bulletin on CNBC. In fact, the dollar has rallied on the nervousness.

But his neighbors in China, South Korea and Japan are freaked out and an actual war, or genuine provocation, could wreak havoc on far eastern trade. This might cause investors to flee towards the dollar, but it would be terrible for markets and economic activity.

10. Chinese Financial Crisis: Most economic discussion of China these days is about how dependent the US government has become on China buying Treasury bonds. But China has lately learned that its own economy is dangerously leveraged on foreign demand for Chinese manufactured goods. The global downturn has helped expose the fragility of the Chinese economic miracle, and worse might be coming.

A collapse of profits in China could very well spark a banking crisis, much like the collapse of real estate prices did to US financial institutions. Very little attention has been paid to the fragility of the Chinese financial system, which is dominated by large, slow, non-transparent, often corrupt state-run banks and centralized decision making. Slowing exports could be the tide that goes out and reveals which Chinese banks have been swimming naked. And the Chinese financial system, which has almost no effective securitization and therefore high concentrations of financial risk, is much less prepared to deal bank failures than the US was.

Of course, this will be bad news for the US. Any financial crisis in China will hurt the demand for our debt, both public and private, driving up interest rates and slowing down the US economy. This, in turn, would reduce demand for Chinese exports, exposing shaky banks to risk of collapse all over again.

By John Carney and Joe Weisenthal
The Business Insider, June 11, 2009