Not even the worst earthquake in its recorded history can keep Japan's file-swapping community down. Last month, a team at Northwestern University near Chicago used its own BitTorrent monitoring tools to watch the number of BitTorrent peers exchanging data during the week before the earthquake and the week of the earthquake. They were largely identical, with one exception."The exception can be seen in the 24-hour period immediately following the earthquake, which occurred at 2:46pm local time on Friday, March 11th. As the graph shows, the number of BitTorrent peers found online differed by as much as 25 percent in this period compared to the previous week at the same time. Surprisingly, we still see a large number of peers online and activity returns to normal on Saturday morning."
Recently, grad students Zachary Bischof and John Otto mapped data collected from these programs to current events, as with the Japan earthquake. A week earlier, they published their own graphs showing the BitTorrent situation in Egypt and Libya earlier this year when regimes in both countries tried to shut down Internet connectivity.
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Apple wins appeal in Cover Flow, Time Machine patent disputes
Apple won't have to shell out $625.5 million to a company called Mirror Worlds after all thanks to a new ruling in a Cover Flow patent dispute. A federal judge said on Monday that while Mirror Worlds' patents were still valid, Apple didn't infringe on them when developing Cover Flow, Time Machine, and Spotlight on the Mac.Mirror Worlds brought the lawsuit against Apple in 2008, accusing the company of infringing on four patents, three of which covered a "document stream operating system." The fourth patent extended the other three, describing an information management system based on the document streams.
Apple lost the first round in late 2010—a jury in the Eastern Texas US District Court agreed that Apple had infringed on three of Mirror Worlds' four patents (the fourth had been tossed out earlier in the year), resulting in $208.5 million in damages per patent violation. Apple appealed the decision, resulting the judge's decision to reverse the ruling.
(Fun fact: longtime Ars readers may remember that an Ars forum member named Catfish originally developed Cover Flow back in 2005 as a free add-on to iTunes in Mac OS X. Apple bought the technology in 2006 and integrated it into iTunes 7.0, released in September of that year.)
Apple had argued in its appeal that Mirror Worlds' failed to acknowledge prior art in its own filings with the US Patent Office, and that the patents themselves weren't filed properly. US District Judge Leonard Davis didn't buy this argument and upheld Mirror Worlds' patents. He did say, however, that Mirror Worlds didn't present sufficient evidence that Apple had used all the same methods in its own technologies, therefore releasing Apple from liability.
"No matter how attractive a party paints the facade of its case, it is worthless without the requisite foundational support," reads the ruling. "In this case, Mirror Worlds may have painted an appealing picture for the jury, but it failed to lay a solid foundation sufficient to support important elements it was required to establish under the law. Accordingly, the Court rejects Mirror Worlds’ case as to infringement and damages, while affirming it as to validity and inequitable conduct."
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Condأ© Nast got hooked by $8 million spear-phishing scam
A spear-phisher managed to reel in a prize catch last year with a single hook when media giant Condأ© Nast took the bait and wired $8 million to his bank account after he posed as a legitimate business, according to a news account.The alleged swindler failed to withdraw any funds before federal authorities intervened and froze the money, but the case highlights how little effort a scammer needs to invest in order to get a big payday.
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Thunderbird returns to nest as Mozilla Messaging rejoins Mozilla
Mozilla decided to spin off Thunderbird in 2007 to form an independent organization that came to be known as Mozilla Messaging. In an unexpected reversal, Mozilla announced on Monday that it will reabsorb Mozilla Messaging and integrate it into Mozilla Labs, a team within Mozilla that incubates experimental projects.The move to bring Mozilla Messaging back into Mozilla proper was motivated by a desire to work more closely on communication technologies. Mozilla wants to offer some contact management and social networking capabilities in future versions of Firefox—an agenda that suggests an obvious opportunity for collaboration with Mozilla Messaging.
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Toshiba's mobile LCD monitor: a second screen for road warriors
Screen real estate is always at a premium when you're dealing with a significant amount of information. The smaller screen of a laptop can be a hindrance when you're traveling, especially if you're used to a multi-head setup in your office; the ability to stretch multiple windows across multiple screens can greatly aid productivity. Toshiba thinks you should never have to be locked to a single screen, and with the company's $200 Mobile LCD Monitor, you'll never have to suffer from the claustrophobia of your laptop's screen again.I've had one of the 1366x768 mobile screens in my office for the past few days, and I've used it extensively. While videophiles will find a number of easily picked nits, this is a wonderful product for travel and convenience.
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2010 was a bumper year for cybersquatting cases
In 2010, trademark holders filed 2,696 cybersquatting cases with the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) arbitration unit. That's a jump of 28 percent over 2009 and 16 percent more than 2008, which was itself a record year. "You'll ask me no doubt what the explanation for that is," commented Francis Gurry, WIPO Director General, at a press conference (video) held to announce the figures. "And I can't give it to you."
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Feature: The Drobo FS in-depth, Part 2: day-to-day use
The previous installment of this review looked behind the curtain at the magic that Drobo does in order to let you have lots of disks without lots of management. That's all well and good, but I'm sure you're dying to know exactly what it's like to use it.Read the comments on this post
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Movie studios sue DVD streaming site Zediva
The movie studios have seen the online movie rental service Zediva and filed their thumbs-down review of the site in federal court Monday, asking for monetary damages and an immediate shutdown.Zediva.com, which officially launched in mid-March, rents new release movies without permission from the studios by letting its customers rent a DVD player and disc from afar. Only one person can rent a given disc at a time. That, the company argues, puts it in the same legal bucket as a traditional video rental store.
Clearly the movie studios think differently.
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Windows Phone 7 update tool frees users from carrier tyranny
Windows Phone 7 "NoDo" is a must-have update. It has the much talked-about (and occasionally useful) copy-and-paste feature and perhaps more importantly, boasts some significant improvements in load times and Marketplace performance. Which makes it all rather annoying that it's still not available to everyone. Though most mobile operators have authorized its distribution, there are still some laggards. The staged rollout means that, even if your operator has signed off on its testing, you may still be waiting weeks for Microsoft to actually give it to you.There have been various hacks to enable users to get the patch immediately, however. Some rely on getting standalone firmware installers from handset companies; others rely on tricking the phone into thinking you live in a country where the update is available to all. These worked, kind of, but were far from perfect. The firmware installers aren't available for every handset, and the foreign country trick relied on luck and timing.
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TI gains analog fab capacity with National Semiconductor buy
Texas Instruments has announced that it intends to acquire National Semiconductor for $25 per share, or about an 80 percent premium over the $14 and change at which NYSE:NSM was trading at earlier in the day. The combined entity will be a major force in the analog semiconductor market, as TI will add NatSemi's analog business to its own, which was already considerable. "Our two companies complement each other very well," said Don Macleod, National's chief executive officer, in a statement. "TI has much greater scale in the marketplace, with its larger portfolio of products and its large global sales force. This provides a platform to enhance National's strong and highly profitable analog capability, power management in particular, leading to meaningful growth."
TI will no doubt combine National Semi's power management ICs with its own digital signal processors and application processors to offer more end-to-end solutions for mobiles and other embedded devices.
TI is going to some lengths to assure NatSemi's customers that the company's goal is "a seamless, hassle-free merger for the customer."
"We want you to know you will be able to find the parts from National that you have come to rely on and you will not have to go to a lot of extra work requalifying products from different manufacturing plants," TI said in a blog post. "We will continue to use National’s fabs so no requalification will be required."
Speaking of NatSemi's fabs, the expansion of analog production capacity that TI is getting with this purchase is a major part of the deal. TI has been on an analog fab buying kick, and this NatSemi purchase is the latest move in that direction.
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FCC Commissioner slams N. Carolina attack on city-owned broadband
Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn had choice words today for cable industry backed legislation in North Carolina that would slow new municipal broadband projects down to a crawl in that state. The bill in question is named the "Level Playing Field/Local Gov't Competition" act. "This piece of legislation certainly sounds goal-worthy, an innocuous proposition, but do not let the title fool you," Clyburn warned.
This measure, if enacted, will not only fail to level the playing field; it will discourage municipal governments from addressing deployment in communities where the private sector has failed to meet broadband service needs. In other words, it will be a significant barrier to broadband deployment and may impede local efforts to promote economic development.The proposed law passed North Carolina's House of Representatives last week, and is now being considered by the Senate. The bill bars new municipal ISP projects from pricing their services too low or selling broadband to residents in neighboring municipalities.
Democrat Clyburn comes from South Carolina, where she served on that state's Public Service Commission. Her commentary noted that South Carolina is considering similar legislation, as is Arkansas (numerous other states have already imposed restrictions). The FCC's National Broadband Plan urges Congress to make clear that "state, regional and local governments can build broadband networks."
"I remain concerned that when cities and local governments are prohibited from investing directly in their own broadband networks, citizens may be denied the opportunity to connect with their nation and improve their lives," Clyburn's protest concludes. "Local economies will suffer as a result, and the communities' ability to effectively address education, health, public safety, and other social issues will be severely hampered."
The North Carolina bill is now in the Senate's Judiciary Committee.
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Pandora, other app makers subpoenaed over user data collection
A federal grand jury has opened an investigation into mobile apps and what kind of personal data they might transmit about users, Pandora has revealed. The streaming music company recently amended its S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to note that it had been subpoenaed to produce documents about its user data collection on Android and iOS devices, which the company believes is related to an industry-wide probe into how mobile apps capitalize on user information."[I]n early 2011, we were served with a subpoena to produce documents in connection with a federal grand jury, which we believe was convened to investigate the information sharing processes of certain popular applications that run on the Apple and Android mobile platforms," Pandora wrote in its filing. "While we were informed that we are not a specific target of the investigation, and we believe that similar subpoenas were issued on an industry-wide basis to the publishers of numerous other smartphone applications, we will likely incur legal costs related to compliance with the subpoena, management’s attention could be diverted and there is no guarantee that we will avoid costly litigation."
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Spearphishing + zero-day: RSA hack not "extremely sophisticated"
Security firm RSA announced in March that it had been the victim of a hack that it described as "extremely sophisticated." The company has now shared some details of the attack. "Extremely sophisticated"? More like "run-of-the-mill."A spear-phishing e-mail was sent to two small groups within the company. Though the e-mail was automatically marked as Junk, the subject of the message ("2011 Recruitment Plan") tricked one employee into opening it anyway. Attached to the mail was an Excel spreadsheet, "2011 Recruitment plan.xls". Embedded within the spreadsheet was a Flash movie that exploited a Flash vulnerability. Adobe has since released an emergency patch for the flaw.
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Ammo for Oracle fight? Google to bid $900M on Nortel patents
Bankrupt Canadian telecom Nortel is putting its valuable patents on the auction block. Google has lined up a $900 million bid in a "Stalking Horse" agreement with Nortel. The search giant is looking to bolster its defensive patent portfolio in order to increase the amount of leverage it has in patent litigation disputes and cross-licensing agreements.The sale will include roughly 6,000 patents spanning a range of technologies. In an official statement, Nortel chief strategy officer George Riedel described it as "one of the most extensive and compelling patent portfolios to ever come on the market." The actual auction will take place in June, but Google's offer will set the starting price. It's unclear if any other major industry players will aim to outbid Google for the patents.
Google explained the motivation behind its bid in an entry on the company's official blog. The search giant says that abusive patent litigation is stifling innovation in the technology industry, and, as a result, it must expand its defensive patent portfolio in order to protect its ability to develop new products. Google general counsel Kent Walker says that the company's move to acquire the Nortel patents could discourage competitors from filing patent infringement lawsuits against Google.
"We hope this portfolio will not only create a disincentive for others to sue Google, but also help us, our partners and the open source community—which is integrally involved in projects like Android and Chrome—continue to innovate." wrote Walker. "In the absence of meaningful reform, we believe it's the best long-term solution for Google, our users and our partners."
Intellectual property conflicts are practically unavoidable in the mobile technology industry. Like virtually every other mobile platform, Google's Android operating system is the target of numerous patent lawsuits. Oracle—which obtained the rights to Java in its acquisition of Sun—is waging a high-profile litigation campaign against Google, claiming that Android's independently developed Java stack infringes on its patents. Google may be able to win itself a bit more room to maneuver if it could put Nortel's patents into play as a retaliatory measure.
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Modified cannabinoid THC offers pain relief without the buzz
Marijuana contains a complex mix of chemicals, some with medicinal effects, others with an effect that, well, have led it to be classified as a controlled substance. The cannabinoid THC, the primary active ingredient, seems to do both. It's responsible for many of the psychoactive qualities of marijuana, but is also a potent analgesic, blocking a variety of pain. A study that was released over the weekend, however, indicates that some of its painkilling effects are mediated via a receptor that wasn't previously known to interact with the cannabinoids. In the process of characterizing this new receptor, the authors find a chemical that blocks pain, but has no apparent psychoactive effects.The study was prompted by a rather odd finding. THC, as a prototypical cannabinoid, binds the (wait for it...) cannabinoid receptor in order to trigger most of its effects. But it's possible to breed mice that lack genes for one of the cannabinoid receptors, and these mice still respond to THC doses with a reduction in pain, at least based on one assay. (The "tail flick response" test, in which the tails of the mice are hit with some focused heat, and the time it takes them to respond by moving their tails.)
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Verizon's anti-net neutrality lawsuit tossed on technicality
The US Court of Appeals for the Washington, DC circuit has just thrown out the first net neutrality lawsuits filed against the FCC. Those cases, brought by Verizon and small wireless carrier MetroPCS, argued that the FCC's December 2010 net neutrality rules went "well beyond any authority provided by Congress, and creates uncertainty for the communications industry, innovators, investors and consumers."Today's dismissal says nothing about the substantive issues here—this is the very definition of a "procedural" dismissal. The judges pointed out that such lawsuits challenging federal regulations can only be filed in the 30 days after those regulations have been officially published in the Federal Register. That had not happened when the cases were filed (and it still has not happened), but Verizon and MetroPCS tried to skirt the issue by claiming that the case was really about a modification to their spectrum licenses, not about the rulemaking as such.
The judges didn't buy it, and they sided with FCC lawyers. "The challenged order is a rulemaking document subject to publication in the Federal Register, and is not a licensing decision 'with respect to specific parties,'" they wrote.
The cases are almost guaranteed to be refiled once the rules are officially published.
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"Anonymous" attacks Sony to protest PS3 hacker lawsuit
The hacker hordes of Anonymous have transferred their fickle attention to Sony. They are currently attacking the company's online Playstation store in retribution for Sony's lawsuit against PS3 hacker George Hotz (aka "GeoHot"). A denial of service attack has temporarily taken down playstation.com.
In a manifesto announcing the new operation, Anonymous railed against Sony for going after coders who seek to modify hardware that they own. The lawsuits are an "unforgivable offense against free speech and internet freedom, primary sources of free lulz (and you know how we feel about lulz)."
"Your corrupt business practices are indicative of a corporate philosophy that would deny consumers the right to use products they have paid for and rightfully own, in the manner of their choosing," continues the pronouncement. "Perhaps you should alert your customers to the fact that they are apparently only renting your products? In light of this assault on both rights and free expression, Anonymous, the notoriously handsome rulers of the internet, would like to inform you that you have only been 'renting' your web domains. Having trodden upon Anonymous' rights, you must now be trodden on."
Anonymous is rallying participants to voluntarily contribute to the denial of service attack on Sony. That attack is continuing, and it appears to be far more successful than recent hits on Angel Soft toilet paper. In Anonymous chat rooms, participants bash Sony but worry about how their actions will be perceived. "Guys, you need to talk to the gamers and explain to them that this does not affect their gameplay," wrote one.
Some even hope to take credit for a small drop in Sony's stock price: "We're already causing sony stock to drop!!!"
While most Anonymous attacks remain online-only hacks or protests, Operation Sony will feature a real world component. On April 16, Anonymous wants people to gather at their local Sony stores to complain in person—no doubt leading participants to rummage through their closets in order to dig out the old Guy Fawkes mask.
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Judge administers another beatdown to P2P lawyer, severs cases
Multiple federal judges in Chicago have absolutely ripped the tactics of the state's only attorney filing mass P2P file-sharing lawsuits in recent weeks. Now, two new rulings directly contradict a ruling from Judge Beryl Howell, an RIAA lobbyist-turned-federal-judge in Washington, DC, who said that mass subpoenas against alleged file-swappers were proper.Last week, Judge Blanche Manning of the Northern District of Illinois "severed" two of the P2P suits filed by local attorney John Steele, cutting them down from 1,800 combined defendants to just two. The judge, acting sua sponte (of her own accord, without ruling on a motion), told Steele that he must file a separate lawsuit against every anonymous target of his litigation, not try to combine hundreds of people into a single case.
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Marketer's security blunder means headaches for TiVo, Chase users
Those of you who carefully craft a new e-mail alias for every e-commerce site you use will likely have to start all over again thanks to a new data breach. E-mail marketing vendor Epsilon—used by numerous banks, retailers, and other online services—reported Friday that an unauthorized party had accessed its system on March 30. The breach exposed customer names and e-mail addresses from "a subset of Epsilon clients' customer data," exposing those users to increased spam and phishing attacks.According to a very brief statement issued by Epsilon, no other customer data was exposed besides names and e-mail addresses. "A rigorous assessment determined that no other personal identifiable information associated with those names was at risk. A full investigation is currently underway," the company wrote.
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