Credit card 'info for sale' websites closed in global raids

Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) says raids in Australia, Europe, the UK and US are the culmination of two years of work.

Credit card numbers or bank account details of millions of unsuspecting victims were sold for as little as £2.

Two Britons and a man from Macedonia were arrested, with 36 sites shut down.

Some of the websites have been under observation for two years.

During that period the details of about two-and-a-half million credit cards were recovered - preventing fraud, according to industry calculations, of at least £0.5bn.

Lee Miles, the head of Soca's cyber crime unit, told the BBC that criminals were now selling personal data on an "industrial" scale.He said: "Criminals are turning over vast volumes of these cards. We must match the criminals - it's an arms race.

"They are industrialising their processes and likewise we have to industrialise our processes to match them."

Mr Miles said traditional "bedroom" hackers were being recruited by criminal gangs to write the malware or "phishing" software that steals personal information.

Other IT experts are used to write the computer code that enables the websites to cope, automatically, with selling the huge amounts of data.

"I'd rather arrest 10 code writers than 1,000 front-end fraudsters," he said.

Joint operations on Thursday in Australia, the US, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Romania and Macedonia led to the websites being closed down.

A 23-year-old man in Stechford, Birmingham, and a 27-year-old man in Tottenham, north London, have been arrested, along with the man in Macedonia.

More arrests are expected.

Soca is also calling on internet service providers to stop individuals registering websites anonymously.

Automated computer programs can register thousands of similar, but different domain names, and it can be difficult to trace them back to their owner.

"Where individuals register domain names for criminal purposes there is a very loose 'know your customer' regime among the website providers," Mr Miles said.

"What we are trying to do is influence the industry to introduce more secure systems so they do know who is registering these sites and they have a more comprehensive customer database, and do more aimed at preventing criminals buying websites and using them for criminal ends," he added.

The BBC's Ben Ando said that, privately, officers admitted that it could be frustrating dealing with internet companies who were not used to being policed and were reluctant to agree to anything that they perceived to be an infringement of their freedoms.

By: thecodewhiz On 1:05 PM

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Tumblr to feature ads

 Tumblr, a microblogging platform and social networking website owned and operated by Tumblr, Inc, will feature ads directed at users as early as May 2.
Two years ago, Tumblr founder and CEO David Karp said the thought of advertising “really turns our stomachs.” Oops.
The blogging platform announced yesterday it will begin featuring paid advertising in May, according to Ad Age. At Ad Age’s Digital Conference, Karp said Tumblr will offer space on a user’s dashboard—and admitted he was probably an “idiot” to have made his earlier comment.
Though Tumblr has partnered with companies before on various marketing projects (think Warby Barker and the Hunger Games spinoff Capitol Couture), this will mark the first time brands pay for advertising space on the platform itself.
To date the company has made money by taking a cut from custom blog theme sales. The social media company raised about $85 million in September, bringing its total funding to approximately $125 million, Ad Age reports.

By: thecodewhiz On 12:56 PM

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The battle between Google and Oracle still fresh.

A landmark court battle between Google and Oracle has begun -- and its result will shape the future of the Android ecosystem fueling most of the world's smartphones.
Silicon Valley's power players are always in the throes of nasty patent fights against each other, but this one is especially potent. Oracle claims that Google's Android violates two patents plus several copyrights that Oracle holds on its Java software, a ubiquitous programming language powering everything from phones to websites.
Although both Java and Android are open-source platforms -- neither Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) nor Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500) generally charge for their use -- their licensing terms are complex and precise. When Java creator Sun Microsystems (acquired by Oracle in 2010) set Java loose as open-source software, it left significant limits in place around the mobile version.
Companies building on top of Java's mobile platform typically pay to license it. Google used an elaborate workaround and essentially built its own version of a key system to avoid those licensing fees and restrictions.
Oracle cried foul and hauled Google off to court -- a move some expected from the moment it agreed to buy Sun.
"During the integration meetings between Sun and Oracle where we were being grilled about the patent situation between Sun and Google, we could see the Oracle lawyer's eyes sparkle," James Gosling, one of Java's original architects, wrote on his blog the day the lawsuit was announced.
After 20 months of prep work and a blizzard of court documents, the trial between the two tech titans kicked off Monday in San Francisco.
Google insists its approach to building Android -- now the most popular smartphone platform in the world -- did not infringe either Java's rules or Oracle's patents, and it thinks Oracle's copyright claims are a sham. It called Oracle's arguments "a classic attempt to improperly assert copyright over an idea rather than expression."
But Oracle thinks it's got a smoking gun: An e-mail sent from Google engineer Tim Lindholm to Android chief Andy Rubin just days before Oracle filed its suit. Warned in advance by Oracle that it believed Google was infringing its patents, Google asked Lindholm to investigate its options.
He didn't like any of them.
"What we've actually been asked to do [by CEO Larry Page and co-founder Sergey Brin] is to investigate what technical alternatives exist to Java for Android and Chrome," Lindholm wrote. "We've been over a bunch of these, and think they all suck. We conclude that we need to negotiate a license for Java under the terms we need."
Google fought to keep that e-mail out of bounds, but lost.
If its lawsuit is successful, Oracle could force Google to pay it tens of millions of dollars in retroactive licensing fees and potentially hundreds of millions more in the future.
But this isn't simply a damages case. Oracle already makes plenty of money. Adding to its stash would be a nice perk, but it's not the main motive for its legal crusade.
Oracle is picking a fight with Google because it feels that Android is threatening the Java platform it got as part of its blockbuster $7.4 billion Sun purchase. Android may be an off-shoot of Java, but its interface and functionality is unique. Code written for Java is not inherently compatible with Android -- and as Android grows, its version of Java threatens to become the dominant one.
Oracle doesn't want to kill Android, but it wants to force Google to play by its rules and make Android compatible with the rest of Java.
That would be extremely difficult for Google and the Android community. Each of the nearly 500,000 Android apps out there would have to be rewritten or tweaked.
But for Oracle, it would be a coup. Developers would be able to write apps around Java's programming interfaces that would also run seamlessly on Android devices.
"That would transcend whatever Google ultimately could pay Oracle," says Florian Mueller, a private intellectual property analyst and consultant.
New technologies like HTML5 are already making Java less important on the Web. Oracle wants to make sure it doesn't lose the rapidly growing mobile market as well.
Whatever the outcome, don't expect a big decision any time soon.
With so much at stake, experts like Mueller think that this case will get stuck in the courts for years. The two sides -- neither known for backing away from a fight -- will most likely battle and appeal their way straight up to the Supreme Court

By: thecodewhiz On 11:37 AM

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Microsoft's strategies to beat Google and Apple

Microsoft is picking itself up again -- and, unlikely as this sounds, it's one Apple and Google should be worried about.
Microsoft's recipe relies on three key ingredients: Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox. The secret sauce, which features a dash of Bing and SkyDrive, is still simmering. But Microsoft is nothing if not patient, and it thinks its trio of core consumer products will blend together in the next few years to form a major new ecosystem.
Here's the big vision: Whether you're using your TV, PC, tablet, phone, or almost any other device that comes along, you'll be able to accomplish all the same tasks through all the same platform. The form factor will change, but the core experience won't.
"People are starting to see the same look-and-feel across the three screens and the cloud," says Craig Beilinson, director of Microsoft's consumer marketing. "This is all going to get pretty blurry."
It's a vision shared by Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), but their implementations are fundamentally different.
The linchpin of Microsoft's plan is Windows 8, which is set to launch this fall. The new operating system features touchscreen integration and the interactive tile-based "Metro" user interface, which debuted in late 2010 for Windows Phone 7 and made its way to Xbox last summer.
That lets Windows run -- quite well, according to early reviews -- on a host of new devices, including tablets, table tops, large touchscreen displays and convertible notebooks.
Microsoft is also baking cloud-based services like Windows Live, SkyDrive and Bing into all of its consumer products. Sign in on any device and you'll have access to all of your content, apps, preferences and search history.
Apple and Google's device ecosystems are more fragmented.
Apple says we're in a "post-PC" world. Its solution puts mobile devices like the iPad and iPhone at the forefront, envisioning the PC as a wholly separate device and platform. Macs integrate with iOS devices, but there's a clear schism in Apple's world view: Mobile devices are for content consumption, Macs are for creation.
For example, it's hard to build iPad apps on an actual iPad. To run Apple's Xcode developer software, you need a Mac.
Google's model focuses on the Web as the single platform of the future. It's a device-agnostic approach, but it requires constant connectivity. Once you go offline, your connection to Google's computing platform vanishes.
Right now, both are thrashing Microsoft in key markets. Microsoft has watched Apple race past it in media and tablets. Google captured search and the cloud, and both companies overtook Microsoft in smartphones. Meanwhile, sales of the PC -- Microsoft's bread and butter -- have stalled.
That puts Microsoft in an unusual position. It's the underdog.
Microsoft-turned-Google-turned-Microsoft engineer James Whittaker explained that phenomenon in a recent blog post about why he left his job as a head engineer on social network Google+ to return to Redmond.
Facing an existential crisis, Microsoft is making radical changes. Windows and Office "have clearly undergone some sort of genetic re-engineering," he says.
In a lightly veiled swipe at Google, he added: "Most big competitors don't want the disruption. When you make your money on the status quo, you are incented to move slow or not at all."
Microsoft can't afford to move slow. It knows that in five years, the PC won't be what it is today.
Your office desktop will probably still have a monitor, a mouse and a keyboard, but those are just accessories. As mobile devices get better and faster, they're taking over more of our computing tasks. Soon, a smartphone -- or a tablet -- could be your central device. Plug it into your desktop dock in the morning, then take it with you at night, and you'll have have an extremely portable, all-in-one computer.
That's the world for which Microsoft is building Windows 8. It can run everything from a touchscreen app like Angry Birds to resource-intensive software such as 3-D games and video editing tools. That sounds simple, but it's an all-in-one approach Microsoft's rivals have chosen not to pursue.

Microsoft's long game

Windows 8 probably won't be an instant hit. It's a dramatic change, and corporate IT departments -- Windows' biggest customer base -- are slow to shift directions.
That's OK with Microsoft. It's prepared to play the long game, devoting years -- and, often, billions of dollars -- to cracking the markets it considers critical.
That's why it was willing to lose money for so long on Xbox, which recently became the world's leading game system. That's also why it is willing to plow billions each year into Bing, which remains a financial black hole.
"We're a company that has extraordinary patience," says Microsoft's Beilinson.
Patience is great, but execution is critical. Microsoft's mobile track record is littered with some spectacular failures -- like Windows CE, the mobile operating system designed to look and function like Windows on the desktop. Sound familiar?
There's signs Microsoft has finally learned from its previous catastrophes. Its "consumer preview" version of Windows 8 is drawing cautiously optimistic reviews.
Cnet reviewer Seth Rosenblatt calls it "the most ambitious operating system ever," with a "speed and responsiveness" that Windows has never had before. Gizmodo deemed it a "daring" and "brilliant," while The Telegraph says it's Microsoft's "most radical release in a generation."
All the reviewers point out a key question mark hanging over Windows 8: Developer support. The platform will only take off if software makers embrace it as a legitimate third player in the Apple-and-Google field.
That's why Microsoft is throwing everything it has into creating a new ecosystem. It can't afford to be wrong.  

By: thecodewhiz On 11:24 AM

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Oracle sues Google over Android

It is one of the biggest such tech lawsuits to date. Oracle is claiming about $1bn (£630m) in compensation.

The Java developer claims Google's Android system infringes intellectual property rights relating to the programming language.

Software engineers warn the case could set a worrying precedent.

'Write once, run anywhere'

Java was first released in 1995 and allows software to be run across computer platforms, rather than just being limited to one type of operating system.

Oracle - a business hardware and software provider - inherited the intellectual properties when it took over Java's original developer, Sun Microsystems, in 2009.

The language is used by many business applications as well as other software, such as the video game Minecraft, on PCs.

Oracle argues that by using its intellectual property, and then giving Android away for free, Google undermined the possibility of it licensing Java to mobile phone makers.

It adds: "Because Android exploits Java but is not fully compatible with it, Android represents Sun's, and now Oracle's, nightmare: an incompatible forking of the Java platform, which undermines the fundamental 'write once, run anywhere' premise of Java that is so critical to its value and appeal."

Interfaces

Much of the case does not centre on Google's use of Java itself - which is free for anyone to use without licence - but rather the Android-maker's use of 37 APIs (application programming interfaces) which allow developers to write Java-compatible code.

APIs allow different parts of a programme to communicate together as well as letting one application share content with another.

"APIs are the glue that allows computer programs to talk to each other - in this case Android apps use them to access the phone's features like its screen and memory," said Dan Crow, chief technology officer at Songkick and a former Google tech team leader.

He too adds that if Oracle wins the case and APIs are held to be copyrighted, then in theory, virtually every application - on Android, Mac OS, Windows, iPhone or any other platform - has to be at least re-released under new licence terms,

"This could result  in many applications being withdrawn until their legality is resolved."

By: thecodewhiz On 5:25 AM

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The Chocolate Printer almost out for sale

The UK scientists who developed a prototype chocolate printer last year say they have now perfected it.

They hope to have the machine on sale at the end of April - just missing the Easter egg rush.
It would allow chocolate lovers to print their own custom-made sweets, layer by layer.
Lead scientist Dr Liang Hao, from the University of Exeter, founded the Choc Edge company to commercialise the device after interest from retailers.
3D printing using plastic, wood and metal is already widely used by industry to create objects ranging from jewellery and footwear to human bones.
Dr Hao told the BBC that chocolate printing, just like any other 3D printing technique, starts with a flat cross-section image - similar to that produced by ordinary printers turning out images, and then prints out chocolate layer by layer to create a 3D shape, without any moulding tools.
"We've improved and simplified the machine, so now it is really easy to use," said Dr Hao.
"You just need to melt some chocolate, fill a syringe that is stored in the printer, and get creative printing your chocolate."
Food printing A number of retailers and e-commerce websites around the world have expressed interest in buying the printer once it becomes available, added the researcher.
For instance, Thorntons - the UK's largest specialist retailer and manufacturer of chocolate and confectionery goods - approached the scientist after the prototype came out.
The company was unavailable for comment.
Other researchers around the world have also been busy trying to develop "food printers" - in 2011, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a prototype of a similar device, dubbed Digital Chocolatier.

By: thecodewhiz On 3:08 PM

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Pinterest: the third most popular social site.

Pinterest, launched on March 2010, is a pinboard-style social photo sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, hobbies and more. Users can browse other pinboards for inspiration, 're-pin' images to their own collections and or 'like' photos.
Now it's the third most-visited social-networking site in the United States, according to a report released Thursday by Experian Marketing Services, a digital marketing firm.
Pinterest, which lets its users "pin" photos and info from the Internet onto virtual boards, ranks behind only Facebook and Twitter in terms of total visitors, according to the analysis, titled "The 2012 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report."
The ranking is based on the total number of U.S. visitors during March and does not include mobile traffic, according to Experian spokeswoman Jennifer Marshall.
Last month, Facebook had more than 7 billion total visitors; Twitter had 182 million; and Pinterest had 104 million total visits from people in the United States, according to data sent to CNN by Experian.
That ranking puts the newbie site ahead of heavyweights such as LinkedIn, Google+, MySpace and Tumblr.
"The site has really just rocketed," said Matt Tatham, another spokesman from Experian. "It's just been tremendous since (Pinterest) took off around October and then in the last few months. With Pinterest, it's kind of a new take on an old thing. Social networking is great. Pinterest is great. The way people are sharing on Pinterest is new."
One caveat: Since the data doesn't include mobile traffic, sites such as Twitter, which sees much of its traffic from smartphones and tablets, may take a hit in this ranking, Tatham said.
Pinterest's traffic jumped 50% between January and February. The report calls the site "the hottest social media start-up since Facebook and YouTube."
Those stats add momentum to a site that already had become one of the hottest topics of conversation on tech blogs and was known to be one of the fastest-growing networks.
In February, Pinterest was the third-fastest-growing site on the Internet in the United States, with 17.8 million unique visitors that month, compared with 11.7 million in January, according to a report from another Internet tracking company, comScore.
Plus, it can't hurt when the U.S. president joins your website.
Pinterest launched in March 2010, but it has grown rapidly only in the past six months. Unlike many social-media darlings, tech bloggers in Silicon Valley largely ignored the site until they noticed that it was growing like mad.
The site's co-founder, Ben Silbermann, sounds somewhat surprised by the growth.
"It's a really humbling feeling that all these people are using something that you helped make," Silbermann said in an on-stage Q&A at last month's South by Southwest Interactive conference.
At that conference, he announced that an iPad app and new pinboards were coming soon.
Those boards -- where people pin photos of products they'd like to buy and other interesting bits of info they find while trolling the Internet -- are key to Pinterest's success, he said.
"To me, boards are a very human way of seeing the world," he said at SXSW. "The site is about helping people to discover things they didn't know they wanted -- things that feel like they've been handpicked just for you."
Some other Pinterest-y stats for you to chew on:
The site skews female -- about 60% of users are women -- and to the middle of the country, according to the report from Experian. Pinterest is most popular relative to other social networks in Missouri, Utah, Alabama, Oklahoma and Kansas, the report said.

By: thecodewhiz On 3:00 PM

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