InformationWeek Stories by Thomas Claburn

InformationWeek Stories by Thomas Claburnhttp://www.informationweek.comInformationWeeken-usCopyright 2012, UBM LLC.2013-06-19T16:20:00ZMicrosoft Dangles $100,000 Bug BountyOne hitch: The bugs might be worth more on the open market.http://www.informationweek.com/security/vulnerabilities/microsoft-dangles-100000-bug-bounty/240156953?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-apps-to-microsoft-office-365-10-l/240154989"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/993/GoogleApps_Office365_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google Apps To Microsoft Office 365: 10 Lessons" title="Google Apps To Microsoft Office 365: 10 Lessons" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google Apps To Microsoft Office 365: 10 Lessons</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>Microsoft on Wednesday said it will begin offering payments of up to $100,000 for "truly novel exploitation techniques" that defeat security protections in Windows 8.1 Preview, the latest version of the company's popular desktop operating system. As part of the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/security/msrc/report/bypass_bounty.aspx">Microsoft Mitigation Bypass Bounty program</a>, the company is also offering up to $50,000 for defensive strategies that mitigate accepted exploits. Microsoft isn't paying for any old bugs; it is specifically interested in exploits that defeat Windows security technologies such as Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR). In addition, during the beta period between June 26 and July 26, Microsoft will pay up to $11,000 for critical vulnerabilities that affect Internet Explorer 11 Preview. Windows has long been the dominant operating system on personal computers and, as a result, remains a major target for cybercriminals. Over a decade ago, Microsoft began trying to address the concerted assault on its operating system with its Trustworthy Computing initiative, the result of <a href="http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2002/01/49826">a directive from Bill Gates</a>, then CEO of the company. The company expanded its commitment to security with programs that followed such as Secure Development Lifecycle and the coordination of industry collaboration programs. [ Are your Dynamics apps on third-party hosts? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/enterprise-applications/microsoft-dynamics-apps-hit-azure-cloud/240156962?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Microsoft Dynamics Apps Hit Azure Cloud</a>. ] Although Microsoft clearly recognizes the risk and the value of vulnerabilities -- it provides information about flaws <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/u-s-agencies-said-to-swap-data-with-thousands-of-firms.html">to government agencies</a> before releasing that information to the public -- it has only just awoken to the value of recognizing those who find vulnerabilities. Mozilla has been offering rewards to security researchers who find bugs in its code since 2004. Google launched its Chrome bug bounty program in late 2010 and has since paid out $828,000 to over 250 researchers. Facebook introduced a bug bounty program in July 2011. <a href="http://bugcrowd.com/list-of-bug-bounty-programs/">Dozens of companies offer rewards</a> or acknowledgements of some sort to those who provide information about security vulnerabilities. But in the past few years, that recognition has not kept pace with the value of exploit information. <a href="http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/increased-rewards-for-googles-web.html">Google recently increased its rewards</a>, but a Forbes report last year suggests that quality <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/03/23/shopping-for-zero-days-an-price-list-for-hackers-secret-software-exploits/">zero-day vulnerabilities can be sold for $250,000</a> or more. "I am a little surprised that it took Microsoft <a href="http://www.veracode.com/blog/2013/06/microsoft-rolls-out-a-bug-bounty-program-with-a-new-twist/">this long to create a bug bounty program</a>," said Chris Wysopal, co-founder and CTO of Veracode, in a blog post. "They seem to be jumping in with a second-generation bug bounty program putting the emphasis on exploitation and valuable mitigation techniques. On the open market these techniques could be used to build many zero-day exploits and [could] possibly command more than the Microsoft bounty..." At the <a href="http://blackhat.com/us-13/">Black Hat USA 2013</a> conference, scheduled for July 27-Aug. 1, Microsoft plans to invite anyone who wants to participate in its Mitigation Bypass Bounty to do so live before its judging committee in the Black Hat Sponsor Hall. Black Hat is operated by UBM TechWeb, which also owns InformationWeek.2013-06-19T08:53:00ZGoogle Challenges Surveillance Gag OrderGoogle argues it has a First Amendment Right to report the number of demands for information it receives under national security laws.http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/google-challenges-surveillance-gag-order/240156888?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-key-developments/240155051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/995/Google_IO_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" title="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google I/O: 10 Key Developments</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  Seeking to undo the damage to its business and reputation as a result of "false or misleading reports in the media," Google has asked the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to affirm its right to publish limited statistical data about orders it receives from the court. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court oversees surveillance requests from the nation's intelligence agencies. The requests, made under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), typically come with a gag order. In April, as revealed two weeks ago by The Guardian, the court approved a request by the National Security Agency for ongoing daily access to the phone records of Verizon Business Services. In reports based on information provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden earlier this month about the extent of U.S. government surveillance operations, The Guardian and The Washington Post said that Google and other technology companies, including Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo, provided the NSA with direct access to company servers through as system called Prism, to sift through customer data in pursuit of national security. [ Google cooperates with the government in other ways. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/policy/google-defends-efforts-against-rogue-pha/240156900?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Defends Efforts Against Rogue Pharmacies</a>. ] Google CEO Larry Page and chief legal officer David Drummond promptly <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/what.html">rebutted the claim</a> that their company provides U.S. authorities with direct access to customer data. And a week ago, Drummond published <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/asking-us-government-to-allow-google-to.html">an open letter</a> to Attorney General Eric Holder and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller seeking permission to publish aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA orders in its Transparency Report. Despite this, Google says that the Department of Justice and the FBI maintain that publishing the number of FISA requests the company receives is unlawful. Thus it has asked the FISC for a summary judgment declaring that it has the right to publish two numbers. The company's legal motion states, "Google seeks a declaratory judgment that Google has the right under the First Amendment to publish, and that no applicable law or regulation prohibits Google from publishing, two aggregate unclassified numbers: (1) the total number of FISA requests it receives, if any; and (2) the total number of users or accounts encompassed within such requests." In an emailed statement, a Google spokeswoman said that Google has long pushed for transparency so that users can understand the extent of government demands for data, noting that the company was the first to release data on the number of National Security Letters it receives. "However, greater transparency is needed, so today we have petitioned the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to allow us to publish aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures, separately," Google's spokeswoman said. "Lumping national security requests together with criminal requests would be a backward step for Google and our users." <a href="http://www.apple.com/apples-commitment-to-customer-privacy/">Apple</a>, <a href="http://newsroom.fb.com/News/636/Facebook-Releases-Data-Including-All-National-Security-Requests">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2013/06/14/microsoft-s-u-s-law-enforcement-and-national-security-requests-for-last-half-of-2012.aspx">Microsoft</a> and <a href="http://yahoo.tumblr.com/post/53243441454/our-commitment-to-our-users-privacy">Yahoo</a> have all taken such a step, publishing statistics on government demands for user data that combine national security requests with requests related to criminal investigations. As if to underscore the difficulties that Google faces in dealing with supposedly inaccurate claims about its cooperation with U.S. authorities while under a gag order, Google's legal filing notes, "Nothing in this Motion is intended to confirm or deny that Google has received any order or orders issued by this Court."2013-06-18T16:26:00ZGoogle Defends Efforts Against Rogue PharmaciesUnder fire from law enforcement officials, Google insists it has been making progress in its effort to deny advertising to rogue pharmacies.http://www.informationweek.com/government/policy/google-defends-efforts-against-rogue-pha/240156900?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-key-developments/240155051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/995/Google_IO_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" title="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google I/O: 10 Key Developments</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>From 2003 through 2009, Google helped pharmacies in Canada place online ads through its AdWords system to sell pharmaceuticals to U.S. consumers. But upon becoming involved in an FDA-backed investigation into the unlawful sale of prescription drugs online, Google began tightening its AdWords oversight. It ultimately ended up agreeing <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-pays-500-million-over-illegal-dru/231600095">to pay $500 million</a> in 2011 to settle charges that it sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of online ads to Canadian pharmacies that were violating U.S. law. Since then, Google has worked with government agencies and business groups to limit the ability of rogue pharmacies to market to online consumers, just as it has also been doing to <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/our-continued-commitment-to-combating.html">combat child exploitation online</a>. But last month Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood sent <a href="http://www.agjimhood.com/images/uploads/forms/GoogleLetters.pdf">a letter</a> to Google CEO Larry Page inviting him to a June 18 meeting of attorneys general to address ongoing concerns about the presence of unlawful content in Google search results. The May 21 letter is one of several sent to Google by Hood and other state authorities expressing dissatisfaction with "Google's lack of meaningful action" in dealing with unlawful content in its search results and its other services. [ Read about Google's high-flying experiment to improve Internet access: <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/3g/google-balloon-project-crazy-like-a-loon/240156819?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Balloon Project: Crazy Like a Loon</a>. ] Hood in a statement noted that tests of Google search "gave us easy access to illegal goods," thereby endangering consumers and aiding wrongdoing while rewarding Google financially. One particular issue raised by Hood is the way Google's auto-complete search suggestions work. Although Google does not offer search suggestions for some searches of obviously unlawful intent, the company does present some questionable suggestions. One example pointed out by Hood's office is the search "buy oxycod," which can produce the auto-complete suggestion "buy oxycodone online no prescription cod" as a suggested search. Another issue is YouTube, which apparently has become a popular way to promote rogue pharmacies. On Tuesday, Google detailed some of the steps it has been taking to <a href="http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2013/06/combating-rogue-online-pharmacies.html">curtail the unlawful sale of pharmaceuticals online</a>. Google legal director Adam Barea said in a blog post that the company has been working with industry and government partners to hinder the ability of rogue pharmacies to operate online. "A variety of websites and Web services are refusing ads from suspected rogue pharmacies," said Barea. "Domain name registrars are removing suspect rogue pharmacies from their networks. Payment processors are blocking payments to these operators, and social networking sites are removing them from their systems too." Google has been working with LegitScript, a company that verifies pharmacy legitimacy, and since 2010, Barea reports, the number of ads for illegal drugs and rogue pharmacies has decreased by 99.9%. To achieve that reduction, Google has had to block or reject over 3 million ads from suspected rogue pharmacies in the past two years. The company is also working with <a href="http://www.safemedsonline.org/">Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies</a> (CSIP), a non-profit group focused on fighting rogue pharmacies. Through a Google Grant, Google has funded a CSIP ad campaign to promote the <a href="http://www.safemedsonline.org/protecting-consumers/check-your-pharmacy/">LegitScript pharmacy verification tool</a> through a sponsored link when Google users search for terms like "online pharmacy." Nonetheless, rogue online pharmacies continue to look for ways to entice customers and Google acknowledges that it has further work to do. Barea says that because auto-complete suggestions are the product of a computer algorithm, the system might sometimes inadvertently point people toward rogue pharmacies. He adds that Google is currently looking into ways to deal with the issue. He also says that YouTube was notified about the presence of videos that violated its policies earlier this month and took steps to remove them. YouTube will continue to do so, when it has been notified, he said. Presumably, law enforcement officials would like Google to be more proactive, to prevent unlawful content from appearing in search results at all. But Google is only willing to go so far. "Search results reflect the web and what's online -- the good and the bad," said Barea. "Filtering a website from search results won't remove it from the Web, or block other websites that link to that website. It's not Google's place to determine what content should be censored -- that responsibility belongs with the courts and the lawmakers."2013-06-18T09:27:00ZGoogle Triples Chromebook Retail PresenceAfter two years of slow sales, Chromebooks are beginning to catch on.http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/desktop/google-triples-chromebook-retail-presenc/240156806?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502 "><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/1002/Pick-a-tablet_01_tn.png" alt="Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips" title="Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips" class="img175" /></a> (click image for larger view and for slideshow) <div class="storyImageTitle">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</div> </div>  Google is expanding the availability of its Chromebooks by offering them at 6,600 retail stores, three times as many as had previously been selling the devices. The company has <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/chromebooks-coming-to-more-stores-near.html">added Wal-Mart and Staples</a> as retail partners, raising the likelihood that it will be able to create a meaningful market for Chrome OS hardware. Wal-Mart will be selling the latest Acer Chromebook, which includes a 16-GB SSD and lists for $199. The retail chain also offers the Samsung Chromebook for $249 through its website. Staples, meanwhile, will begin offering Chromebooks from Acer, HP and Samsung in 1,500 of its stores, starting this weekend. It also sells the devices through its website and, for businesses, through its Staples Advantage B2B program. In the months ahead, Google says that Fry's, Office Depot, OfficeMax and TigerDirect stores will begin selling Chromebooks. [ Want to know more about the Chromebook? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/desktop/google-launches-touchscreen-chromebook-c/240149025?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Launches Touchscreen Chromebook Called Pixel</a>. ] Outside the U.S., Chromebooks are sold in <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/chromebook-availability-expands-amid-sal/240151120">10 other markets</a>, and retail availability will also improve there. In the U.K., more than 100 Tesco stores will join Dixons as Chromebook retailers. Mediamarket and Saturn stores are selling them in the Netherlands. In France, the devices are available through FNAC. In Sweden, Elgiganten offers them. And in Australia, Chromebooks can be found at JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman stores. Google declined to provide Chromebook sales figures, consistent with its policy since June 2011, when the first Acer and Samsung Chromebooks were introduced. But there's reason to believe consumers are actually buying the devices. First, Amazon.com reports that Samsung's third-generation Chromebook has remained in the top 100 of its laptop best seller list for the past 235 days. It is presently the top-selling laptop at Amazon.com. Second, there's Acer's report earlier this year that its C7 Chromebook accounted for <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/desktop/chromebooks-actually-selling-acer-says/240147272">between 5% and 10%</a> of the company's U.S. computer sales during November and December 2012. Assuming the company's U.S. sales over two months represent two-thirds of its total U.S. PC shipments over the three-month quarter, estimates for U.S. unit shipments during the period come to between 538,010 (IDC) and 923,142 (Gartner). So 5% to 10% of that would be put Acer's Chromebook sales at somewhere between 26,900 and 92,314 Chromebooks, if we rather generously assume that every PC shipment represented a PC sale. Finally, Stephen Baker, an analyst with NPD Group, said in a phone interview that through consumer channels in the U.S., Chromebooks represent between 20% and 25% of the under-$300 notebook market, a segment that accounts for about 15% to 20% of the overall U.S. notebook market. During Q1 2013, the U.S. consumer portable market amounted to 5.2 million shipments, according to IDC analyst Jay Chou. That suggests somewhere between 156,000 and 260,000 Chromebooks are shipped every quarter, with actual unit sales somewhere below unit shipments. Baker said the under-$300 notebook segment "is growing pretty rapidly," which isn't true for the broader PC market. The global PC market during the first quarter of 2013 <a href="http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2420816">declined 11.2%</a> compared to the same period a year earlier, according to research firm Gartner. In Q1 2013, the U.S. consumer portable segment declined 14.19% compared to the same period a year earlier, according to IDC. As to why Chromebooks appear to be popular at a time when PC sales overall are declining, Baker said, "A big part of it is price." This may explain why Google's high-end <a href="https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=chromebook_pixel_wifi">Chromebook Pixel</a> ($1,299/$1,449) is not being offered in Wal-Mart stores or other retail outlets. A growing number of consumers, Baker said, appear to be choosing Chromebooks over low-cost Android tablets. "Since the last set of Chromebooks came out in October, we've seen a dramatic shift in the market," he said.2013-06-17T15:59:00ZGoogle Balloon Project: Crazy Like a LoonGoogle's latest experiment, Project Loon, uses high-altitude balloons to bring Internet access to undeveloped areas.http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/3g/google-balloon-project-crazy-like-a-loon/240156819?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-key-developments/240155051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/995/Google_IO_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" title="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google I/O: 10 Key Developments</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>In an effort to provide affordable Internet access in areas with little or no infrastructure, Google has begun lofting wireless Internet routing equipment into the air using balloons. Project lead Mike Cassidy acknowledges in a blog post that "<a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/introducing-project-loon.html">the idea may sound a bit crazy</a>," which in part is why Google chose the name "<a href="http://www.google.com/loon">Project Loon</a>." Unlike Project Glass, another experiment from Google X, the company's lab for "moonshots," Project Loon isn't likely to invite pejorative wordplay along the lines of "Glasshole." Its name immunizes it from ridicule and its goal has broader community value. "Balloon-powered Internet sounds positively mad," said Richard DeVaul, chief technical architect of Project Loon, in a video. "And in a way it is. But it's mad in a very practical way that could just work." [ Who's raking in the big bucks in mobile advertising? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/google-grabs-half-of-all-mobile-ad-reven/240156741?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Grabs Half Of All Mobile Ad Revenue</a>. ] Indeed, military contractors like Arizona-based <a href="http://www.spacedata.net/">Space Data</a> have already demonstrated that wireless communication links can be extended using balloons. Google has launched 30 balloons so far around Canterbury, New Zealand, as part of an effort to build a global ring of balloon-borne Internet relay points in the stratosphere. The balloons travel around the globe, carried by the winds at speeds of around 5 to 20 mph, at a height of about 18 to 27 kilometers (11 to 17 miles) or 60,000 to 90,000 feet, which is about twice the height that commercial airlines travel. Because wind can blow in different directions at different altitudes, Google's engineers believe they can maintain fleets of balloons in specific areas through sophisticated software that directs the balloons to ascend or descend into air currents that will carry them back and forth within a general region. The balloons provide the equivalent of 3G service using the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz <a href="http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/ISM_band.html">ISM bands</a> in an area that's roughly 40 kilometers in diameter. They also communicate with each other to maintain the positioning necessary to form a functioning network. While 3G connectivity (3 Mbps, more or less) is significantly less than the 1000 Mbps bandwidth available to <a href="https://fiber.google.com/about/">Google Fiber</a> subscribers, it's nonetheless a huge improvement over the absence of any Internet connectivity at all. Google's super-pressure balloons are more durable than conventional weather balloons and are expected to remain aloft for over 100 days, powered by solar energy. They are equipped with parachutes, in case of emergency, and are designed to execute controlled landings at specified collection points for recovery and reuse. Even at heights of 27 kilometers, national airspace rules still apply, which suggests the project will have little or no utility as a means of bypassing national Internet censorship regimes. Google says it will coordinate with local air traffic control authorities during balloon liftoff and descent. Google is looking to extend its experiments into countries on a similar latitude with New Zealand.2013-06-15T09:13:00ZGoogle Grabs Half Of All Mobile Ad RevenueDespite its dominance in the mobile market, Google soon could face serious competition from Facebook.http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/google-grabs-half-of-all-mobile-ad-reven/240156741?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-key-developments/240155051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/995/Google_IO_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" title="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google I/O: 10 Key Developments</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>Google collected $4.61 billion in mobile ad revenue worldwide in 2012, a figure that represents more than half of the $8.8 billion mobile ad market and almost a third of all digital ad spending that year, according to metrics firm <a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Google-Takes-Home-Half-of-Worldwide-Mobile-Internet-Ad-Revenues/1009966">eMarketer</a>. Google's share of worldwide mobile ad spending is expected to increase from 52% to 56% in 2013, reaching $8.84 billion, with spending on mobile ads worldwide almost doubling, reaching $15.82 billion by the end of the year. Such success fuels Google's critics like FairSearch.org, a group backed by Microsoft, Oracle and competing industry-specific search engines. In April, the group filed a complaint with the European Commission that claims Google "uses deceptive conduct to lock out competition in mobile." [ Do your Internet Explorer users depend on Chrome Frame? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/enterprise-applications/google-to-retire-chrome-frame/240156685?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google To Retire Chrome Frame</a>. ] This vocal airing of grievances appears to have had some effect. On Friday, Reuters <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/14/us-eu-google-microsoft-idUSBRE95D0PK20130614">reported</a> that European antitrust authorities have begun asking mobile carriers and handset makers whether their Android contracts limit their ability to do business with Google rivals. The inquiry could lead to a second anti-trust investigation, just as Google is trying to settle the European Commission investigation of its search business. FairSearch.org said it was ready to help the European Commission with its inquiry. In January, Google settled a Federal Trade Commission inquiry into its search business by agreeing to change some of its business practices. Among its findings, the FTC concluded that despite allegations of anti-competitive behavior in the desktop and mobile markets, there wasn't enough evidence to take action against Google. Google doesn't have the mobile ad business all to itself. Facebook took the second largest share of mobile ad dollars last year, an estimated $470 million. Although that represents only about a tenth of Google's global mobile ad revenue, Facebook is expected to close the gap significantly this year. The social network's mobile ad revenue in 2013 is expected to reach $2.04 billion, an increase of more than 334%. Krishna Subramanian, chief marketing officer of mobile ad technology company <a href="http://www.velti.com/">Velti</a>, said in a phone interview that Facebook has seen a lot of success over the past few quarters as the company has developed mobile ads that promote app installations. Twitter is also expected to see significant ad revenue growth, both in the mobile and digital ad arena. eMarketer anticipates that Twitter's share of worldwide mobile ad spending will reach about 2% this year. Subramanian believes Amazon.com, which already generates significant digital ad revenue, will become important in the mobile ad market because of the company's deep data assets. Amazon in March launched its Mobile Ads API, which allows Android app developers to display Amazon-supplied mobile ads. The winner, Subramanian argues, will be the company that can bring the big advertising brands into the mobile market. "It's not just about click-through rate or the number of eyeballs," he said. "The value that mobile will provide is data connected to consumers."2013-06-14T08:53:00ZGoogle To Retire Chrome FrameGoogle says Chrome Frame is no longer necessary now that most people are using modern browsers.http://www.informationweek.com/software/enterprise-applications/google-to-retire-chrome-frame/240156685?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-key-developments/240155051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/995/Google_IO_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" title="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google I/O: 10 Key Developments</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  Chrome Frame, Google's window into the modern Web for users of legacy Windows systems, will be retired in January, 2014, its mission ostensibly accomplished. Introduced in 2009 as a developer preview and <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/utility-ondemand/google-chrome-frame-officially-released/227500501">launched officially</a> in September, 2010, Chrome Frame is a free plugin for Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8 and 9 on Windows 7, Vista or XP SP2+. It provides a way for users of these older versions of IE to view Web pages coded with modern HTML5 elements like the canvas tag, as long as the website includes the appropriate meta tag. Chrome Frame has helped Google's ongoing effort to win the hearts and minds of enterprise Internet users who, for one reason or another, haven't been able to switch to Chrome or Firefox. It has also made Microsoft look bad, as if the company can't adapt to modern Web technology. [ Google is constantly killing off services and products while adding others. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/business/google-buys-waze/240156454?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Buys Waze</a>. ] Now that Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 is much more capable and Google Chrome <a href="http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201205-201305">dominates global browser usage</a>, Google no longer sees a need to maintain the technology. Google Chrome engineer Robert Shield argued that Chrome Frame's work is largely done. "Today, most people are using modern browsers that support the majority of the latest Web technologies," he said in <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2013/06/retiring-chrome-frame.html">a blog post</a>. "Better yet, the usage of legacy browsers is declining significantly and newer browsers stay up to date automatically, which means the leading edge has become mainstream." Nonetheless, the old ways die hard among enterprise organizations. In Google+ comment, IT consultant Austin Fatheree castigated Google for its plan to drop Chrome Frame. "You just undid YEARS of my work," <a href="https://plus.google.com/117076590130371605588/posts/Av7S5VX88M5">he wrote</a>, noting that some people and some companies, particularly government organizations will not or cannot upgrade. "Chrome Frame was the only way to roll out new [technology]." Another Web developer, E.M. Marston, observed in <a href="https://plus.google.com/101667909136924896677/posts/FhiXboohcnR">a Google+ comment</a> that in Canada, on her websites, one in four visitors still uses Internet Explorer 8 or earlier and that these people generally indicate that they'd upgrade if they could, but cannot because they're with a hospital, university or company that doesn't provide that option. As an alternative to Chrome Frame, Shield suggests that IT managers employ Chrome for Business in conjunction with <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-offers-life-support-for-old-inter/240153023">Legacy Browser Support</a>, a Chrome extension designed to launch an installed legacy version of IE when necessary. Google wants Chrome to be a fully realized Web client rather than a parasite awakened periodically when an ancient version of Internet Explorer comes across HTML5 code.2013-06-13T15:56:00ZSmartphone Makers Asked To Fight 'Apple-Picking'Mobile device theft is being called an epidemic. Apple tweaks iOS 7; device makers and law enforcement also team on anti-theft technology.http://www.informationweek.com/government/policy/smartphone-makers-asked-to-fight-apple-p/240156648?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/apple-ios-7s-dramatic-design-visual-tour/240156512"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/1005/one_tn.png" alt="Apple iOS 7's Dramatic Design: Visual Tour" title="Apple iOS 7's Dramatic Design: Visual Tour" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Apple iOS 7's Dramatic Design: Visual Tour</div> (click image for slideshow) </div>  In an effort to reduce cellphone theft, San Francisco district attorney George Gascón and New York State attorney general Eric Schneiderman on Thursday <a href="http://www.ag.ny.gov/press-release/ag-schneiderman-da-gasc%C3%B3n-launch-nationwide-%E2%80%9Csecure-our-smartphones%E2%80%9D-initiative">launched a nationwide initiative</a> called Secure Our Smartphones (SOS) to encourage phone makers to implement technology in their devices that hinders the ability of thieves to profit by reselling stolen smartphones. "The epidemic of violent street crime involving the theft and resale of mobile devices is a very real and growing threat in communities all across America," Schneiderman said in a statement. The crime-fighting initiative, which involves law enforcement officials from dozens of states and counties around the U.S., as well as industry players like Apple, Google and Microsoft, will focus on several areas: analyzing crime patterns; the viability of theft deterrence technology; the effect of the economics of device theft on the mobile phone industry; implementing theft deterrence technology in partnership with industry; and pressing for industry involvement and public awareness. Last year, roughly half of all robberies in San Francisco involved a mobile communication device, a figure exceeding the 30% to 40% range that Consumer Reports says represents the national average. [ Want to know more about Apple's upcoming operating system refresh? See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/personal-tech/mobile-operating-systems/apple-ios-7s-best-features/240156348?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Apple iOS 7's Best Features</a>. ] Mobile device robberies can have serious or fatal consequences. In April 2012, a 26-year-old chef on his way home to the Bronx, N.Y., was killed for his iPhone. Last month, two men stole an iPhone from a 27-year-old tourist in San Francisco, inflicting serious knife wounds to the victim's face and throat. And in February, three people suffered knife wounds in a fight over an iPhone on a subway platform in Queens, N.Y. "Unlike other types of crimes, smartphone theft can be eradicated with a simple technological solution," Gascón said in a statement. Law enforcement officials have dubbed the trend "Apple-Picking," a catchy coinage that downplays the theft of mobile devices running Android and Windows Phone operating systems. Perhaps sensitive to this borrowing of its brand, Apple is the first phone maker to answer the call for technological theft deterrence. At its annual developers conference earlier this week, Apple announced that its forthcoming iOS 7 mobile operating system will include a phone hobbling system called <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/8-apple-changes-that-matter/240156400">Activation Lock</a>. Activation Lock augments Apple's Find My iPhone service, which allows users to track the location of their iOS device on a map and remotely erase it, provided the device is powered on. Activation Lock won't prevent iOS devices from being turned off or from being disassembled and sold as components, but it will prevent Find My iPhone from being turned off without the owner's Apple ID and password (unless the device was previously jailbroken, presumably). As a result, the iPhone's owner should have an easier time erasing or locating his or her device. And whoever has the stolen device will be unable to reactivate it. Instead, the device will display a message indicating that it was lost and erased until the owner's Apple ID and password are entered. Attorney general Schneiderman and district attorney Gascón on Monday issued a joint statement expressing appreciation for Apple's effort, but they said they'd reserve judgment until they have a better understanding of how the technology works. One possible consequence of Apple's push to secure iOS device may be an increase in the value of jailbreak exploits. Google did not respond to a request to comment on whether it is developing anti-theft technology for a future Android release.2013-06-12T16:29:00ZNSA Prism: Google, Facebook Want More TransparencyFearing loss of customer trust, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter ask for permission to share more information about government data demands.http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/nsa-prism-google-facebook-want-more-tran/240156491?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/attacks/the-syrian-electronic-army-9-things-we-k/240155028"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/994/Syrian-Electronic-Army-Tank_01_tn.jpg" alt="The Syrian Electronic Army: 9 Things We Know" title="The Syrian Electronic Army: 9 Things We Know" class="img175" /></a> (click image for larger view) <div class="storyImageTitle">The Syrian Electronic Army: 9 Things We Know</div></div>Although there might be national security benefits to the <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/security/government/nsa-prism-creates-stir-but-appears-legal/240156233">NSA's collection of phone and Internet data</a>, there also might be national economic costs. U.S. Internet companies are now being viewed in a different light, one that could dim the prospects of business from abroad. Already, according to Russian media company <a href="http://rt.com/politics/gmail-facebook-treason-high-521/">RT</a>, Russian MP Ilya Kostunov has sent letters to the heads of the country's defense and communications ministries seeking support for punishing civil servants' use of U.S. social networks and Internet services under a <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/14/us-russia-treason-idUSBRE8AD0MN20121114">recently broadened treason law</a>. Viviane Reding, Commissioner of Justice for the European Union, meanwhile announced on Wednesday that she intends to raise the issue of U.S. data collection at a meeting with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday. In a statement, she expressed concern about the <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/reding/multimedia/news/2013/06/20130612_en.htm">business implications of mass surveillance</a>. In other words, loss of individual privacy is not the only thing at stake. [ Would knowing more about how the NSA combs data ease your privacy concerns? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/big-data-analytics/defending-nsa-prisms-big-data-tools/240156388?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Defending NSA Prism's Big Data Tools</a>. ] "Trust that the rule of law will be respected also is essential to the stability and growth of the digital economy, including transatlantic business," she said. "This is of paramount importance for individuals and companies alike." Time will tell whether this is political posturing or a sea change that limits the commercial opportunities of U.S. technology companies abroad in the same way that national security concerns last year limited the ability of Chinese telecom equipment maker <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/government/security/why-huawei-has-congress-worried/240008681">Huawei</a> to compete for U.S. government contracts. But the U.S. companies implicated in the NSA surveillance scandal are not waiting to find out whether they need to address a loss of customer confidence. Google on Tuesday asked Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller to allow the company to publish information about the full range of government demands for user data that it receives. Google already publishes partial information in its semi-annual transparency report, but it does not include data demands related to national security, apart from a count of National Security letters received.Google chief legal officer David Drummond explained in <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/asking-us-government-to-allow-google-to.html">an open letter</a> that the recent revelations about the U.S. government's information collection activities have been accompanied by claims that U.S. authorities have free access to Google's vast store of data. "Assertions in the press that our compliance with these requests gives the U.S. government unfettered access to our users' data are simply untrue," Drummond's letter says. "However, government nondisclosure obligations regarding the number of FISA national security requests that Google receives, as well as the number of accounts covered by those requests, fuel that speculation." <a href="http://newsroom.fb.com/Fact-Check">Facebook</a>, Microsoft and <a href="https://twitter.com/amac/status/344534042454130691">Twitter</a> also asked for the right to reveal government demands for information on national security grounds. Facebook general counsel Ted Ullyot in a statement said, "We urge the United States government to help make that possible by allowing companies to include information about the size and scope of national security requests we receive, and look forward to publishing a report that includes that information." Jack Lerner, associate professor of law at the USC Gould School of Law, specializing in Internet privacy and technology, said in a phone interview that although it was plausible that the NSA's surveillance activities would make it harder for U.S. cloud computing companies to attract foreign customers, it wasn't probable. "These services have such a large degree of penetration that I don't see a mass migration away," he said. "But on the margin, it could be an issue." At the same time, Lerner characterized efforts by Internet companies to report government information demands more fully as a double-edged sword. "If a company says it's getting lots of FISA requests, foreign customers could find that disturbing," he said. Lerner argues that greater awareness of the extent to which the U.S. government accesses information from Internet companies has the potential to prompt a reevaluation of free business models. "This may change the equation, the perception by consumers that free services are really free," he said. And in the business world, the need for due diligence has never been greater. "When you have a cloud service that says we're going to use third-party storage or third-party transmission for hosting, or unencrypted transmissions, anyone who deals with privileged material, trade secrets or foreign clients will have to think hard about who is going to be collecting and storing all that data and what they will do with it," he said.2013-06-12T11:52:00ZApple iOS 7's Dramatic Design: Visual TourWith iOS 7, Apple wants to shore up doubts about its ability to innovate in design. Take a closer look. http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/apple-ios-7s-dramatic-design-visual-tour/240156512?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_htmlApple has become the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Dangerfield" target="_blank">Rodney Dangerfield</a> of technology companies: It doesn't get any respect. During the keynote address at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference, Phil Schiller, SVP of worldwide marketing, sounded as if he had something to prove when he presented a preview of the forthcoming <a href="http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/" target="_blank">Mac Pro</a>, boldly reimagined as a cylinder. "Can't innovate anymore, my ass," he proclaimed. Apple has always been able to innovate. It couldn't have survived in the shadow of Microsoft for so long any other way. Nevertheless, doubts have been growing, fueled by the absence of visionary co-founder Steve Jobs and the lack of a new product line that looks like it could match the promise and profit of the iPod, iPhone and iPad. The decline of the company's stock price from its stratospheric high of over $700 per share in September 2012, to around $435 today, can be seen as one way to measure that doubt. Apple watchers have been hoping for an iWatch or an Apple television. Instead, they got change: A new look for iOS 7 and a radical revision of the Mac Pro, a product many feared would be a casualty of the mobile revolution. Perhaps unavoidably, such defiant difference has been punished with comparisons to <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3012741/where-are-they-now/12-things-that-the-new-mac-pro-inescapably-reminds-us-of#2" target="_blank">a trash can</a>, an <a href="http://f.cl.ly/items/0q320f2R0k0G3v0M2G2K/image.jpg" target="_blank">ash tray</a> and a roll of <a href="http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2013/06/the-new-mac-pro-more-than-just-a-black-toilet-roll.html" target="_blank">black toilet paper</a>. Similarly, iOS 7 has been criticized. The Verge calls it <a href="http://mobile.theverge.com/apple/2013/6/10/4416726/the-design-of-ios-7-simply-confusing" target="_blank">confusing</a>. Designer Andrew Munsell renders <a href="http://www.andrewmunsell.com/blog/ios7-design/" target="_blank">the same verdict</a>. That's unavoidable with major design changes. The new look has also, predictably, has been <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2013/06/ios_7_signature" target="_blank">praised</a>. Apple deserves some blame here for its hagiographic assessment of its design competency. Its opening video at WWDC presented a precious paean to Apple's design ethos. The words on the screen describe design with the adoration appropriate to a religion: "We simplify. We perfect. We start over. Until everything we touch enhances each life it touches. Only then do we sign our work. Designed by Apple in California." Were Apple's products truly perfect, perhaps such reverence for design would fit better. Hyperbole works when the product is truly revolutionary, like the iPhone was in 2007. Whether the new Mac Pro meets that bar remains to be seen: It hasn't been released yet. But when it comes to iOS 7, an operating system upgrade, Apple's invitation to be awed isn't quite enough. For developers, numbers make the case: iOS 7 introduces more than 1,500 new APIs. That means iOS 7 will support all sorts of new ideas. But for consumers, affinity will depend on exposure and experience. That will be possible in the fall, when iOS 7 is released. In the meantime, here's a look at what's to come.Control Center is undoubtedly a useful addition. Accessible by swiping up from any screen, it provides instant access to important device controls. It also includes a built-in flashlight app. Be glad you're not a developer of flashlight apps, or if you are, congratulate yourself on several years of easy money. RECOMMENDED READING <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/apple-ios7-whats-missing/240156418">Apple iOS7: What's Missing</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/social_networking_consumer/5-ways-ios-7-will-change-social/240156511">5 Ways iOS 7 Will Change Social</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/iwork-in-the-cloud-5-things-to-know/240156414">iWork In The Cloud: 5 Things To Know</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/8-apple-changes-that-matter/240156400">8 Apple Changes That Matter</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/windows-phone-8-rumors-sharpen/240156353">Windows Phone 8 Rumors Sharpen</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alternative-apps/240155490">7 Slick Siri Alternative Apps</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-big-developments/240155051">Google I/O: 10 Big Developments</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/5-apple-ipad-5-wishes/240153565">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</a> Like the old Notification Center, the iOS 7 version is available when swiping down from the top of the screen. But it looks a lot better without the faux fabric background in iOS 6. RECOMMENDED READING <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/apple-ios7-whats-missing/240156418">Apple iOS7: What's Missing</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/social_networking_consumer/5-ways-ios-7-will-change-social/240156511">5 Ways iOS 7 Will Change Social</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/iwork-in-the-cloud-5-things-to-know/240156414">iWork In The Cloud: 5 Things To Know</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/8-apple-changes-that-matter/240156400">8 Apple Changes That Matter</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/windows-phone-8-rumors-sharpen/240156353">Windows Phone 8 Rumors Sharpen</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alternative-apps/240155490">7 Slick Siri Alternative Apps</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-big-developments/240155051">Google I/O: 10 Big Developments</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/5-apple-ipad-5-wishes/240153565">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</a>Multitasking is much improved in iOS 7 and is sure to be much appreciated. It will be available to all third-party apps. It includes an app switching interface that resembles webOS's multitasking card view. RECOMMENDED READING <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/apple-ios7-whats-missing/240156418">Apple iOS7: What's Missing</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/social_networking_consumer/5-ways-ios-7-will-change-social/240156511">5 Ways iOS 7 Will Change Social</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/iwork-in-the-cloud-5-things-to-know/240156414">iWork In The Cloud: 5 Things To Know</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/8-apple-changes-that-matter/240156400">8 Apple Changes That Matter</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/windows-phone-8-rumors-sharpen/240156353">Windows Phone 8 Rumors Sharpen</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alternative-apps/240155490">7 Slick Siri Alternative Apps</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-big-developments/240155051">Google I/O: 10 Big Developments</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/5-apple-ipad-5-wishes/240153565">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</a> Apple's iTunes Radio allows subscribers to create a personalized radio station or listen to existing stations. It's a lot like Pandora. Both offer a free version, supported by ads. Paying to get rid of the ads costs less with iTunes Radio: $25 annually with an iTunes Match subscription, compared to $10 per month for Pandora. But Pandora has its own charms, too. RECOMMENDED READING <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/apple-ios7-whats-missing/240156418">Apple iOS7: What's Missing</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/social_networking_consumer/5-ways-ios-7-will-change-social/240156511">5 Ways iOS 7 Will Change Social</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/iwork-in-the-cloud-5-things-to-know/240156414">iWork In The Cloud: 5 Things To Know</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/8-apple-changes-that-matter/240156400">8 Apple Changes That Matter</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/windows-phone-8-rumors-sharpen/240156353">Windows Phone 8 Rumors Sharpen</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alternative-apps/240155490">7 Slick Siri Alternative Apps</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-big-developments/240155051">Google I/O: 10 Big Developments</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/5-apple-ipad-5-wishes/240153565">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</a>Recognizing that scrolling through images does not scale well, Apple revised its Photos app to simplify the process of navigating through hundreds or thousands of images. That's good design. RECOMMENDED READING <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/apple-ios7-whats-missing/240156418">Apple iOS7: What's Missing</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/social_networking_consumer/5-ways-ios-7-will-change-social/240156511">5 Ways iOS 7 Will Change Social</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/iwork-in-the-cloud-5-things-to-know/240156414">iWork In The Cloud: 5 Things To Know</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/8-apple-changes-that-matter/240156400">8 Apple Changes That Matter</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/windows-phone-8-rumors-sharpen/240156353">Windows Phone 8 Rumors Sharpen</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alternative-apps/240155490">7 Slick Siri Alternative Apps</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-big-developments/240155051">Google I/O: 10 Big Developments</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/5-apple-ipad-5-wishes/240153565">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</a>"AirDrop is absolutely the easiest way to share with people who are right around you," said Craig Federighi, SVP of software engineering, during the WWDC keynote. Well, perhaps not as easy as handing someone something. But Federighi sees AirDrop as an improvement over Android's approach: "No need to wander around the room, bumping your phone," he said. The whole human contact thing is overrated, eh? RECOMMENDED READING <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/apple-ios7-whats-missing/240156418">Apple iOS7: What's Missing</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/social_networking_consumer/5-ways-ios-7-will-change-social/240156511">5 Ways iOS 7 Will Change Social</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/iwork-in-the-cloud-5-things-to-know/240156414">iWork In The Cloud: 5 Things To Know</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/8-apple-changes-that-matter/240156400">8 Apple Changes That Matter</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/windows-phone-8-rumors-sharpen/240156353">Windows Phone 8 Rumors Sharpen</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alternative-apps/240155490">7 Slick Siri Alternative Apps</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-big-developments/240155051">Google I/O: 10 Big Developments</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/5-apple-ipad-5-wishes/240153565">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</a>Safari for iOS 7 has less browser chrome (border area, not to be confused with Google Chrome) and thus more screen space for content. It includes a new Tab View page that shows tabs as a vertical column of thumbnails and iCloud Keychain integration. Though it makes websites look better, it <a href="https://twitter.com/jasonmadigan/status/344401383233056768" target="_blank">still doesn't share its speed advantage</a> -- access to Safari's Nitro JIT -- with the UIWebView element, through which third-party apps must render Web pages. In other words, mobile Safari will continue to process JavaScript faster than third-party apps like Chrome for iOS by design. RECOMMENDED READING <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/apple-ios7-whats-missing/240156418">Apple iOS7: What's Missing</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/social_networking_consumer/5-ways-ios-7-will-change-social/240156511">5 Ways iOS 7 Will Change Social</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/iwork-in-the-cloud-5-things-to-know/240156414">iWork In The Cloud: 5 Things To Know</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/8-apple-changes-that-matter/240156400">8 Apple Changes That Matter</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/windows-phone-8-rumors-sharpen/240156353">Windows Phone 8 Rumors Sharpen</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alternative-apps/240155490">7 Slick Siri Alternative Apps</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-big-developments/240155051">Google I/O: 10 Big Developments</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/5-apple-ipad-5-wishes/240153565">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</a> Apple's modern design aesthetic is on full display in its revised Mail app. It allows you to swipe from the left edge of the screen to go back a level in the message hierarchy and to swipe across a message to call up a move/trash option. Some of this may seem familiar to users of the the <a href="http://www.mailboxapp.com/" target="_blank">Mailbox app</a>. RECOMMENDED READING <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/apple-ios7-whats-missing/240156418">Apple iOS7: What's Missing</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/social_networking_consumer/5-ways-ios-7-will-change-social/240156511">5 Ways iOS 7 Will Change Social</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/iwork-in-the-cloud-5-things-to-know/240156414">iWork In The Cloud: 5 Things To Know</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/8-apple-changes-that-matter/240156400">8 Apple Changes That Matter</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/windows-phone-8-rumors-sharpen/240156353">Windows Phone 8 Rumors Sharpen</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alternative-apps/240155490">7 Slick Siri Alternative Apps</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-big-developments/240155051">Google I/O: 10 Big Developments</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/5-apple-ipad-5-wishes/240153565">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</a>The iOS 7 Camera app has a new UI. It adds the option to take square photos, the format of Instagram. It also includes built-in live filters, which don't quite measure up to Instagram's filters. The shutter animation has been changed to a temporary blur and the speed at which images can be captured has been improved. RECOMMENDED READING <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/apple-ios7-whats-missing/240156418">Apple iOS7: What's Missing</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/social_networking_consumer/5-ways-ios-7-will-change-social/240156511">5 Ways iOS 7 Will Change Social</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/iwork-in-the-cloud-5-things-to-know/240156414">iWork In The Cloud: 5 Things To Know</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/8-apple-changes-that-matter/240156400">8 Apple Changes That Matter</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/windows-phone-8-rumors-sharpen/240156353">Windows Phone 8 Rumors Sharpen</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alternative-apps/240155490">7 Slick Siri Alternative Apps</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-big-developments/240155051">Google I/O: 10 Big Developments</a> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/5-apple-ipad-5-wishes/240153565">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</a> 2013-06-11T15:03:00ZGoogle Buys WazeAs a company built largely on the latent labor in Web links, Google sees value in contributed traffic reporting.http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/business/google-buys-waze/240156454?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_htmlIt's official: Google has acquired Waze, maker of the Waze social navigation app. Brian McClendon, Google VP of geographic products, said in <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/google-maps-and-waze-outsmarting.html">a blog post</a> that Google had concluded the acquisition. The company declined to disclose how much it is paying, but reports suggest a $1.3 billion price tag. The Waze app works by periodically transmitting data about the user's location back to the company's servers, allowing the company to compute and distribute real-time traffic data. It also encourages users to submit reports about road conditions for the benefit of the community (not to mention the company). That's the social aspect of the app: the savvy use of free labor, something Google harnessed profitably in its PageRank algorithm. [ Read about eight of the most interesting products and features from Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/8-apple-changes-that-matter/240156400?itc=edit_in_body_cross">8 Apple Changes That Matter</a>. ] By coincidence or design, Google's announcement comes amid Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference. Apple, having stumbled last year with the launch of a Google-free version of its iOS Map app, was reportedly interested in acquiring Waze as part of its effort to improve its map services. Facebook was said to have been interested as well. Tony Cripps, principal analyst at Ovum, in an emailed statement characterized the deal as both an offensive and defensive move. "Acquiring Waze is further evidence that the company feels the need to deepen its mapping and location services functionality still further, and Waze's functionality would certainly help it achieve that, as it would have Google's rivals," he said. Cripps also sees Google benefiting from Waze's popularity among iOS users. Google may be able to leverage this to enhance its Google+ social strategy, he suggests. In <a href="http://www.waze.com/blog/waze-joins-google/">a blog post</a> of his own, Waze CEO Noam Bardin offered reassurance that nothing will be changing for Waze, a constant concern among users of services that get absorbed into other companies. "We will maintain our community, brand, service and organization -- the community hierarchy, responsibilities and processes will remain the same," he said. "The same Waze people will continue to collaborate with you, and we will continue to innovate our product and services, making them more social, functional and helpful for everyday drivers." Yet Bardin clearly sees the need for a change of business structure to continue growing his company. An IPO, he says, tends to change a company's focus away from customers and toward bankers. So Waze has elected to go Google. "We evaluated many options and believe Google is the best partner for Waze, our map editors, area managers, champs and nearly 50 million Wazers globally," he said.2013-06-11T09:14:00Z8 Apple Changes That MatterAmid Apple's two operating system updates, new hardware and new services, these pieces of news from WWDC 2013 stand out.http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/8-apple-changes-that-matter/240156400?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alternatives/240155490"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/997/siri_alternatives_composite_image_01_tn.jpg" alt="7 Slick Siri Alternatives" title="7 Slick Siri Alternatives" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">7 Slick Siri Alternatives</div> (click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>Apple showed off upcoming revisions of <a href="http://www.apple.com/osx/preview/">OS X</a> and <a href="http://www.apple.com/ios/ios7/features/">iOS</a> at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) on Monday, along with new portable and desktop computers. Among the products and features discussed, these eight are the ones that matter most. 1. Mac Pro A year ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook promised to redouble the company's efforts to maintain secrecy, something that had slipped following the loss of phone prototypes in 2010 and 2011. At its 2013 developer conference, the company headed in the opposite direction by offering a preview of the forthcoming redesign of its Mac Pro desktop computer. There's a certain logic to the decision: Media professionals who use the Mac Pro have been pressing Apple to demonstrate its continued commitment to high-powered desktop workstations as the company's product line has become increasingly mobile-focused. Following a lackluster Mac Pro update last summer, Cook <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/apple-mac-pro-update-panned/240001800">reportedly wrote an email to one concerned customer</a>, reassuring him that a new Mac Pro was planned for 2013. That's about as close as Apple gets to disclosing an enterprise roadmap. The Mac Pro obviously matters to Apple, not just as a nod to the company's past, but as a proof of life: When Phil Schiller, SVP of worldwide marketing, said Apple was breaking with tradition to show off a future product, he did so in a way that was clearly intended to rebut criticism that dogged the company: "Can't innovate anymore, my ass!" Schiller declared as he showed off the forthcoming hardware. [ Learn more about Monday's WWDC keynote. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/apple-debuts-os-x-mavericks-ios-7-mac-pr/240156349?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Apple Debuts OS X Mavericks, iOS 7, Mac Pro Tube</a>. ] Apple changed its name from Apple Computer, Inc., to simply Apple, Inc., in 2007, following the introduction of the iPhone. More than six years later, the company has demonstrated that it's still committed to traditional computers, even as the market moves away from them. 2. MacBook Air It's hard to get excited about battery life. But battery life matters for mobile computer usage. If Apple's claims about the power efficiency of the latest MacBook revision prove accurate for real-world usage, the company could further distance itself from competing PC makers, which have had a hard time coming up with notebook designs as compelling as the MacBook Air. Apple is promising all-day battery life. The company says its new 11" MacBook Air will last nine hours on battery power and its 13" model will last for 12 hours, up from about five hours. For users who can recharge their MacBook Air at night, this effectively eliminates the possibility of being without power. Much of the credit goes to Intel's power-efficient Haswell chip set -- something competing computer makers will be using, too -- but Apple is also focusing on tuning its OS X software to use less power. The forthcoming version of OS X, known as OS X Mavericks, adds features like Timer Coalescing, App Nap and Compressed Memory to further prolong battery life on Mac notebooks. When it comes to power consumption, less is more. 3. iOS: AirDrop Sharing files will get a lot easier under iOS 7, at least between iOS devices. A feature previously available in OS X, AirDrop, will be available on mobile devices through iOS. Apps can use AirDrop to share photos, videos or other content with people in the user's Contacts list. Craig Federighi, SVP of software engineering, noted that AirDrop works, "no bumping required," in reference to Android's approach to local data transfers, bumping phones. Whether having to click "Accept" is any better than a physical gesture isn't immediately obvious. But AirDrop is a much needed feature in iOS. 4. iOS: Activation Lock Smartphone thefts <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/technology/cellphone-thefts-grow-but-the-industry-looks-the-other-way.html">have surged recently</a> and Apple has been under pressure to do something about securing lost mobile devices and data, as have competing smartphone makers. iOS 7 offers an answer: It includes a feature called Activation Lock that prevents the Find My iPhone feature from being disabled without the device owner's Apple ID and password. It also prevents a device from being reactivated after it has been remotely erased (which can be done via Find My iPhone). While this won't make a powered-down iPhone trackable or erasable, it should make stolen iPhones less valuable to thieves.5. iOS: Automatic App Updates Users of iOS devices with a significant number of apps soon discover that it takes a lot of effort to keep every app up-to-date. iOS 7 will dispense with this administrative chore by automating app updates. When this feature was mentioned at the WWDC keynote presentation, the cheering was noticeably louder than for almost any other announcement. 6. OS X/iOS: iTunes Radio Apple's answer to Pandora is iTunes Radio, a free music streaming service supported by ads. Users who pay $25 annually for Apple's iTunes Match service can listen to iTunes Radio without ads. iTunes Radio offers personalization, informed by past iTunes purchases and listening habits. And it can be controlled using Siri voice commands. The downside of iTunes Radio is that iTunes, an app many consider an unwieldy holdover from the desktop computer era, remains an integral part of Apple's strategy. 7. OS X: Maps Apple last year dumped Google as a map data provider in an attempt to regain control over what has become a critical platform service. But Apple's iOS 6 Maps app fared poorly in the market, resulting in an executive shuffle and an apology from Apple's CEO. Now Apple is bringing its mobile Maps technology to its desktop operating system. The company has been working feverishly to improve Maps since the app's underwhelming debut last year. By adding Maps to OS X and introducing a Maps SDK for OS X app developers, Apple is demonstrating that it isn't going to roll over and cede mapping services to Google. Apple can't afford to give up because Google isn't taking prisoners. Google is reportedly finalizing a deal to acquire Waze, a community mobile mapping service that both Apple and Facebook were said to have been pursuing, for $1.3 billion. Map technology remains a highly contested area. But Apple is using its home field advantage to encourage the use of its mapping services. OS X Mavericks will put Apple's maps into Calendar and other apps. 8. iOS: The New Look Design matters. Apple relies on design as the thing that sets it apart from the competition. It made that point with two separate videos during the WWDC keynote. Design matters because it's about function as well as form: It influences how people use software and hardware. It affects how people feel about their technology. And it appears to pay off: 73% of iOS users are "very satisfied," compared to just 43% of Android users, claimed CEO Tim Cook.2013-06-10T15:54:00ZApple Debuts OS X Mavericks, iOS 7, Mac Pro TubeAt WWDC, Apple shows off its design prowess with a radical makeover for iOS 7 and a forthcoming tube-shaped desktop Mac Pro.http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/apple-debuts-os-x-mavericks-ios-7-mac-pr/240156349?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/tablet-buying-demystified-10-tips/240155502"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/1002/Pick-a-tablet_01_tn.png" alt="Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips" title="Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips" class="img175" /></a> (click image for larger view and for slideshow) <div class="storyImageTitle">Tablet Buying Demystified: 10 Tips</div></div>  Apple on Monday introduced the next iterations of its mobile and desktop operating systems, redesigned power-efficient MacBook Air notebooks, a radio streaming service called iTunes Radio in iOS 7 and an iCloud-based version of iWork for Mac and Windows before an enthusiastic crowd of several thousand developers. Even more unusual, the company offered a preview of an unreleased product: a redesigned, cylindrical Mac Pro that will debut later this year and will be manufactured in the United States. CEO Tim Cook opened the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, Calif., by reviewing the company's accomplishments. He said that more than 50 billion apps have been downloaded in the past five years and that Apple has more than 900,000 apps in iTunes, with 375,000 apps for iPad. Perhaps more meaningfully, he noted that Apple has more than 575 million user accounts. [ What are the competitors up to? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/windows-phone-8-rumors-sharpen/240156353?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Windows Phone 8 Rumors Sharpen</a>. ] "We have more accounts with credit cards than any store on the Internet that we're aware of," said Cook. Cook also said that Apple has paid developers more than $10 billion to date, half of that in the past year. "That's more than three times more than all other platforms combined," he said. Craig Federighi, SVP of software engineering, arrived on stage to declare an end to Apple's cat-names for OS X. After a joke about the possibility of going from OS X Mountain Lion to OS X Sea Lion, he said Apple will now be using California-themed names, the first of which is OS X Mavericks, a nod to the well-known surfing competition held periodically in California. OS X Mavericks delivers a number of battery life and UI improvements. These include Tabs, Tagging, and improved support for multiple displays. The battery life changes "reduce CPU utilization up to 72%," said Federighi. The result should be a much better user experience for portable OS X devices. Apple's Safari browser also received some attention, with support for separate processes in each tab and an improved Nitro JIT. Safari power usage has also been improved, which should help Apple's laptops last longer. "Safari uses way less energy than Chrome and when you compare to Firefox, it's just kind of sad," said Federighi. Mavericks "makes your digital life follow you easily from device to device," said Federighi. Philip Schiller, SVP of worldwide marketing, challenged Apple's critics directly. "Can't innovate anymore, my ass!" he declared as he provided a preview of the forthcoming Mac Pro, which offers a fresh take on Apple's line of desktop computers. The redesign Mac Pro comes in the shape of a tube, and is one-eighth the volume of its 40-pound predecessor. It will feature dual Xeon processors, flash-based memory, two AMD FirePro graphics chips and Thunderbolt 2 ports. Cook hammered Google's Android for its fragmentation -- while Apple's update system has more than 90% of iOS users on the latest version. Android updates roll out more slowly thanks to disinterested telecom carrier partners. "More than a third of Android users using an operating system released in 2010," he said. And Apple aims to maintain that lead with the fall release of iOS 7, available to developers immediately. iOS 7 "is biggest change to iOS since the introduction of iPhone," said Cook. "It's packed with amazing new features and a stunning new interface." iOS 7 brings a fresh, colorful, flat look to Apple's iOS devices. Skeuomorphism, a design approach using simulated real-world substances like wood and felt, is dead. Among its many new features are: Control Center, a more accessible version of Setting that's available by swiping up from the bottom of a device screen; real Multitasking; a revised mobile Safari; improved photo organization and sharing in the Photos app; AirDrop, for file sharing; iOS in the car; Siri interface improvements, voice choices and integration with Bing; automatic app updates; a remade Music app that includes iTunes Radio; FaceTime audio; Notification Sync, and an anti-theft system called Activation Lock. A Cloud-based version of iWork, for Mac and Windows, was demonstrated and is available in beta today. Apple also launched redesigned AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule WiFi routers with 802.11ac networking.2013-06-10T12:51:00ZApple WWDC 2013: Live CoverageAs Apple WWDC 2013 kicks off, InformationWeek's Tom Claburn updates the key news from the event. Join us as the keynote begins at 1 p.m. EST.http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/apple-wwdc-2013-live-coverage/240156347?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html2:27 iOS 7. Skeuomorphism is dead. 2:00 Apple's Phil Schiller: Can't innovate anymore, my ass! New Mac Pro sneak peak... 1:42: iCloud Keychain, cloud-stored passwords, AES encrypted…no mention of Prism… 1:22: Apple ditches cat names: OS X Mavericks… 1:21: 35% of Apple Mac customers using Mountain Lion, 5% of Windows customers using Windows 8, says Tim Cook. 1:17: Anki demos iOS car race with AI coordinated by iPad. 1:11: "We have more accounts with credit cards than any store on the Internet that we're aware of." - Tim Cook 1:09: Video playing about opening of Apple Store in Berlin. Apple's videos show more expensive crane shots than Google's... 1:07: Random Apple stats: 24th WWDC, 6 million registered developers, 1.5 million added in past year, sold out in 71 seconds... 1:04: Apple plays video about perfection in design. Tim Cook has arrived. "Welcome to the Worldwide Developers Conference." 1:02: The call to switch mobile devices to silent mode has gone out. There's applause…the music stops... Thomas Claburn is now reporting on the scene at WWDC and confirms the annual running of the bulls, ahem, we mean running of the reporters, has commenced as of 12:18 EST: "When Apple opened the doors to the WWDC keynote auditorium, the waiting reporters literally broke into a run." All eyes are on Apple as WWWDC 2013, the company's annual developer confab, kicks off Monday in San Francisco. A streaming music service and iOS7 lead the list of <a href= "http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/apple-wwdc-2013-8-things-to-expect/240155960">expected WWDC 2013 announcements</a>. InformationWeek's Thomas Claburn is covering WWDC and will bring us blow-by-blow coverage as the keynote begins at 1 p.m. EST. As for iOS7, users and pundits are eager to put it under the microscope after months of rumors. Here's what InformationWeek's Jeff Bertolucci had to say of the much-anticipated OS: "The changes may be visually dramatic, if largely cosmetic. Jony Ive, Apple's chief of industrial design, will reportedly replace iOS's traditional 3-D appearance with a flatter look (think Windows Phone 8). In addition, skeuomorphic elements -- meaning digital features that resemble their real-world counterparts -- of the iOS interface may be history as well. If true, the gaming table on the Game Center screen (seen here) is a prime candidate for Ives' iOS makeover. Other iOS 7 upgrades may include improved Maps and Siri integration with cars, and better hooks into social networks, including Flickr and Vimeo." InformationWeek's Eric Zeman asked: <a href=http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/wwdc-5-questions-apple-must-answer/240156193>Will The Changes To iOS 7 Be Enough, Or Go Too Far?</a> Zeman wrote: "Change is good, but sometimes too much change can be problematic. The new operating system is expected to have more black-and-white elements, take on a flatter look, and lose the textures that have defined iOS's personality for six years. Apple needs to tread carefully. It needs to revitalize the operating system without making it unattractive or unintuitive. Ive can design attractive hardware, there's no denying that, but can his hardware prowess translate to success with software and the user interface of iOS? It's hard to predict. Beyond the general look and feel, though, it is important to know what Apple is going to do for developers. Will the changes to the appearance have any effect on how developers code applications? Further, what new tools will Apple give to developers for writing those apps? Apple is famous for maintaining strict control over its ecosystem. Will iOS 7 mark a change in that respect?" 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Join us June 17-19 for three days of 40+ conference sessions and workshops across eight tracks and discover the latest insights in enterprise social software, big data and analytics, mobility, cloud, SaaS and APIs, UI/UX and more. <a href="http://www.e2conf.com/boston/?_mc=MP_BTMEDIWKAXE">Register for E2 Conference Boston today</a> and save $200 off Full Event Passes, $100 off Conference, or get a FREE Keynote + Expo Pass! 2013-06-08T09:06:00ZObama Defends NSA Prism, Google Denies Back DoorYou can't have 100% security, 100% privacy and 0% inconvenience, insists President Obama.http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/obama-defends-nsa-prism-google-denies-ba/240156275?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/apple-wwdc-2013-8-things-to-expect/240155960"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/1004/wwdc-2013-WWDC-logo_tn.jpg" alt="Apple WWDC 2013: 8 Things To Expect" title="Apple WWDC 2013: 8 Things To Expect" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Apple WWDC 2013: 8 Things To Expect</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  In defense of classified government surveillance programs that were revealed in the past week, President Obama on Friday offered reassurance that U.S.intelligence efforts are lawful, echoing a statement published the day before by James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence. "When it comes to telephone calls, nobody is listening to your telephone calls," President Obama <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/07/statement-president">said</a> during a press conference at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, Calif. "As was indicated, what the intelligence community is doing is looking at phone numbers and durations of calls. They are not looking at people's names, and they're not looking at content. But by sifting through this so-called metadata, they may identify potential leads with respect to folks who might engage in terrorism." Clapper said as much in <a href="http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/191-press-releases-2013/868-dni-statement-on-recent-unauthorized-disclosures-of-classified-information">a statement</a> issued on Thursday. "The program does not allow the Government to listen in on anyone's phone calls. The information acquired does not include the content of any communications or the identity of any subscriber. The only type of information acquired under the Court's order is telephony metadata, such as telephone numbers dialed and length of calls." [ For an IT chief's take on NSA Prism's impact, see <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/nsa-dragnet-debacle-what-it-means-to-it/240156243">NSA Dragnet Debacle: What It Means To IT</a>. ] No eavesdropping allegation was made, however. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order">The Guardian</a> on Wednesday reported on the existence of a secret court order that requires Verizon to provide the NSA with all records of phone calls on its network on an ongoing basis. The records represent metadata: phone numbers involved in a call, the call time and duration, and location data, for example, but not the words that were said during the call. In any event, the scope of the U.S. government's surveillance activities go beyond metadata. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data">The Guardian</a> and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html">The Washington Post</a> on Thursday revealed the existence of a surveillance program called PRISM, which reportedly provides the NSA and FBI with the ability to siphon data directly from the servers of major Internet companies such as Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. According to <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324299104578528181094177900.html">The Wall Street Journal</a>, the NSA has been getting data from AT&T and Sprint, as well as credit card companies and Internet companies. PRISM, according to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data">The Guardian</a>, gathers data as well as metadata: search history, emails, file transfers and chats. President Obama acknowledged the collection of online content from Internet companies by noting, "Now, with respect to the Internet and emails — this does not apply to U.S. citizens and it does not apply to people living in the United States." Nonetheless, Internet communications involving U.S. citizens may be caught in the dragnet: Clapper said that PRISM included procedures that "minimize the acquisition, retention and dissemination of incidentally acquired information about U.S. persons." President Obama noted that the two surveillance programs have been "authorized by broad bipartisan majorities repeatedly since 2006." Documents posted on <a href="http://cryptome.org/2013/06/prism-spy-tools.htm">Cryptome.org</a> suggest that PRISM has been active since at least 2003. And The Wall Street Journal says that intelligence officials trace such broad intelligence gathering back to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In an emailed statement, Google insisted it doesn't provide the government with access to user data. "Google cares deeply about the security of our users' data," a company spokesman said in an email. "We disclose user data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such requests carefully. From time to time, people allege that we have created a government 'back door' into our systems, but Google does not have a 'back door' for the government to access private user data." Google reiterated and elaborated on this point in <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/what.html">a blog post</a> attributed to CEO Larry Page and chief legal officer David Drummond on Friday. "Press reports that suggest that Google is providing open-ended access to our users’ data are false, period," Page and Drummond state. "Until this week's reports, we had never heard of the broad type of order that Verizon received — an order that appears to have required them to hand over millions of users’ call records. We were very surprised to learn that such broad orders exist. Any suggestion that Google is disclosing information about our users' Internet activity on such a scale is completely false." Clapper claims that the surveillance program revealed by The Guardian and The Washington Post is lawful under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and that the government's activities conform with established oversight requirements. <a href="http://www.aclu.org/free-speech-national-security-technology-and-liberty/reform-patriot-act-section-215">Section 215 of the Patriot Act</a> also appears to be implicated in the government's ability to justify such surveillance. Taking Google's statement at face value and assuming the press characterization of PRISM is accurate — and late Friday there appeared to be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/washington-post-updates-spying-story-2013-6">reason to doubt some of the initial claims</a> — Google could be simply providing the NSA with access to data as required by law. A June 7 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/08/technology/tech-companies-bristling-concede-to-government-surveillance-efforts.html">New York Times story</a> indicates as much. There's also the possibility that the NSA could be obtaining Google customer data without Google's knowledge. Evidence of that, however, has yet to be demonstrated. Google's Transparency Report includes data on government information requests related to criminal investigations. But the company provides only limited disclosure about government information requests under national security laws, specifically the receipt of National Security Letters. In other words, Google's Transparency Report isn't entirely transparent. Google however clearly wants to reassure users that it isn't just rolling over. "I'm not sure what the details of this PRISM program are, but I can tell you that the only way in which Google reveals information about users are when we receive lawful, specific orders about individuals -- things like search warrants," said Google+ chief architect Yonatan Zunger in <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+YonatanZunger/posts/huwQsphBron">a post</a>.President Obama's assertion that "nobody is listening to your telephone calls" suggests that the U.S. government's mining of telephony metadata is nothing to worry about. But Susan Freiwald, professor of law at University of San Francisco School of Law, said in a phone interview that metadata has significant privacy implications. "It's really not true that the content of our communication holds more revealing information than the metadata," she said. In a phone interview, Jon Callas, CTO of secure communications service <a href="https://silentcircle.com/">Silent Circle</a>, agreed that metadata can be very revealing. "It's one of the reasons that privacy advocates have been concerned about seizure of phones and looking at call logs," he said. In a 1996 <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=44440">a paper</a> about metadata, or "communication attributes," Freiwald warned, "As it now stands, disclosure of communication attribute information presents an extremely intrusive view into people's private lives. Unfortunately, the law does little to prevent it." Today, in 2013, metadata tells even more about us, thanks to the addition of location information, supplied by mobile phones, to say nothing about records of our online activities. Simply put, metadata can lead to criminal charges. It is thus relevant in the context of legal protections guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Freiwald argues that the secrecy surrounding these surveillance programs runs contrary to what we expect from an accountable democracy. She points to the judges who oversee these programs, who are selected by the Chief Justice and who can't be contacted. They're not what we think of as a judiciary, she said. "The criticism I've always had of surveillance programs is when they operate with the insufficient involvement of other branches, we have to rely on executive branch restraint," she said. "..These programs give too much power the the executive branch to operate in secret. The answer keeps coming back, 'don't worry, trust us.' We don't know enough and we need to know more. We need to move as much as we can of this decision making into the light." Callas observed that when a similar program, Echelon, was revealed many years ago, there was a presumption that U.S. citizens were not the target of information gathering. He said if information about Americans is being gathered by current surveillance programs, he hopes to see some reconsideration of the laws. Callas believes that one result of the renewed awareness of government surveillance may be that some organizations and individuals will reconsider doing business with online companies that fail to support SSL connections and take steps to secure customer data. Callas also observes encrypted communication services have some advantages in the current environment, because they can't reveal data that has been properly encrypted. "If someone came to us with a National Security Letter, we'd hand over the zero records we have," he said.2013-06-07T09:28:00ZAmazon Launches Indie Games StoreBy helping emerging gaming studios find an audience, Amazon is buying itself goodwill in the developer community.http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/amazon-launches-indie-games-store/240156216?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/top-ipad-5-rumors/240153565"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/984/iPad5_NextGen_01_tn.jpg" alt="5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes" title="Top iPad 5 Rumors" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>Attempting to address one of the biggest obstacles facing independent game developers, Amazon.com on Thursday launched the Indie Games Store to help game buyers discover the work of emerging game makers. "Discoverability" has become a major issue for small game studios, which typically do not have the marketing resources to build public awareness that their games exist amid the hundreds of apps being released in app stores and on the Web every day. "Powerhouse game studios don't hold a monopoly on inventiveness or creativity, and some of the <a href="https://developer.amazon.com/post/TxCTD48Y4EP7S3/Amazon-Loves-Indie-Introducing-the-Indie-Games-Store-for-PC-Mac-and-browser-base.html">best games of all time were created on a shoestring</a> by two or three people with a shared vision," wrote Peter Heinrich, technical evangelist at Amazon.com, in a blog post. "It's hard to get noticed, though. If you're an indie game developer, it's usually a headache to get your game in front of people, both gamers and reviewers. Amazon recognizes this." [ Learn what one Gmail addict thinks about the new interface. See <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/gmail-inbox-update-hopes-and-fears/240155803?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Gmail Inbox Update: Hopes And Fears</a>. ] The Indie Games Store itself could be a bit more discoverable: It's visible from the Digital Games menu on the Amazon.com website, but not from the higher-level section, Video Games. It's accessible directly from a fairly obvious URL, however: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/indiegames">www.amazon.com/indiegames</a>. The Indie Games Store exists, as Heinrich puts it, "to specifically help indie game developers with promoting their PC, Mac and browser-based games while helping gamers discover a large and growing selection of innovative indie games." Mobile games need not apply, which is probably for the best because there are so many of them -- filtering and discoverability might just be two sides of the same coin. Valve's Steam already does a pretty good job of providing exposure to titles from smaller game companies. But perhaps there's room for competition. Some of the game companies represented in the Indie Games Store aren't exactly the sort of shoestring operations described by Heinrich. Double Fine, for example, was founded more than a decade ago and has about five dozen employees. It's a bit beyond the indie stereotype of a programmer or two working out of an apartment, fueled by credit card debt and caffeine. But there are also companies that hew closer to the traditional indie image: Gaijin Games and Subset Games, for example. An Amazon.com spokeswoman said the following factors are considered in determining whether a game studio qualifies for the Indie Game Store: 1) whether the studio refers to itself as an indie; 2) the size of the studio -- indies typically have fewer than 50 employees, and often fewer than 10; 3) the price of the game, typically under $20; 4) financial backing, which indies usually don't have; and 5) the publishing model -- indies usually self-publish. In conjunction with the launch of the Indie Game Store, Amazon is introducing several promotions to encourage customers to consider indie games. These include: -- Indie Spotlight, a Web page Q&A that promotes one indie developer every week; -- Indie Bundles, packaged sets of five, six or 10 games for $9.99, which are likely to do more for recognition than revenue; -- Gift with Purchase, through which buyers of indie games will receive codes to redeem for three pre-selected titles, for free; and -- Indie Gamer's Choice, a contest in which game players vote on which of two competing game makers should be featured in the store. Other app store operators, namely Apple and Google, also take steps to help game makers market their titles. Amazon's effort, though, appears to be the most promising for indies because it excludes the big companies that tend to claim the lion's share of attention.2013-06-06T09:10:00ZGoogle Glass Enhances Camera FeaturesSoftware update lets users take higher quality pictures and dictate photo and video captions.http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/google-glass-enhances-camera-features/240156127?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-key-developments/240155051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/995/Google_IO_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" title="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google I/O: 10 Key Developments</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>Google has begun distributing the second software update for Google Glass, the company's widely publicized but still-scarce Internet-connected eyeglasses. Following the XE5 revision issued in early May, which added some notifications, enhanced sharing and improved speed and battery life, June's update -- XE6 -- improves the camera. The Glass camera takes 5-megapixel pictures and is capable of recording video at 720p. Its updated software takes several pictures in rapid succession and combines the data. Google claims this results in better pictures taken in low light and high-dynamic range (HDR) photos in bright settings. [ Would you wear Internet-connected eye glasses? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/peripherals/google-glass-socially-awkward-americans/240154978?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Glass 'Socially Awkward,' Americans Say</a>. ] HDR pictures are created by combining multiple images taken with different exposure settings. The effect -- vibrant, saturated colors -- was trendy a few years ago, when it had to be done manually. Now that it's built into many smartphones, it's less impressive. Google associate product manager Sophia Yang has shared <a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/112784614887305790200/albums/5885761119405588081?sort=4">a series of images</a> captured with Glass using the new software. The photos demonstrate that at least in some cases, HDR represents an improvement. <a href="https://plus.google.com/+projectglass/posts/9CdE6ysitvP">The software update</a> also adds the ability to create photo and video captions using the speech-to-text technology available through Glass. When users share a photo or video, they're presented with the option to add a caption. By tapping the touchpad on the Glass frame, users can speak their caption and see it almost immediately transcribed. This could come in handy as a human-assisted form of facial recognition. More sophisticated forms of facial recognition appear to be possible using Glass. Lambda Labs, for example, has announced that it is beta testing <a href="http://glass.lambdal.com/">a facial recognition API</a> for Glass. However, Google last week said it wouldn't approve any Glassware -- third-party Glass apps -- that supports facial recognition. "As Google has said for several years, we won't add facial recognition features to our products without having strong privacy protections in place," the company said in <a href="https://plus.google.com/+projectglass/posts/fAe5vo4ZEcE">a Google+ post</a>. "With that in mind, we won't be approving any facial recognition Glassware at this time." Glass developers who are capable of implementing facial recognition on their own should be able to do so without Google's approval by rooting Glass and installing their own software. According to Yury Pinsky, a product manager at Google, the XE6 update also improves Glass's on-head detection system, which turns the device off when it's not being worn. In addition, it brings changes to the cards used in Google Now for sports and adds a new card for birthdays.2013-06-06T08:56:00ZGoogle Launches Maps Engine API For EnterprisesSupports app creation on a variety of platforms -- the Web, mobile or desktop -- for business purposes such as store location and product tracking.http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/google-launches-maps-engine-api-for-ente/240156124?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-key-developments/240155051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/995/Google_IO_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" title="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google I/O: 10 Key Developments</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>Google is expanding the reach of its enterprise-oriented Maps Engine service with the launch of the <a href="https://developers.google.com/maps-engine/">Maps Engine API</a>, which provides a mechanism for accessing and manipulating cloud-hosted geo-spatial data. Maps Engine was known as <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-launches-earth-builder-for-enterp/229401896">Google Earth Builder</a> until it was renamed last year, a change that showed Google favoring its browser-based Maps service over its desktop app Google Earth. The map service allows organizations to remake Google Maps with their own layers of data. The Maps Engine API supports app creation on a variety of platforms -- the Web, mobile or desktop operating system -- for assorted business purposes, such as store locators, product tracking or asset management. Previously, Google Earth Builder allowed enterprise customers to create and publish maps for use in Google Earth, in desktop GIS apps or in Google Maps using embedded JavaScript. The Maps Engine API offers much more power and flexibility. [ Is Apple Maps finally up to snuff? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/smart-phones/apple-maps-slowly-improving/240150724?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Apple Maps Slowly Improving</a>. ] FedEx has been using the API to send queries to over 50,000 retail stores, while <a href="http://irismaps.com">IRISmaps</a> has integrated the Maps Engine API into its infrastructure mapping platform. In a blog post, FedEx IT manager Pat Doyle says that Google Maps Engine has the <a href="http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2013/06/fedexcom-re-imagined-with-google-maps.html">advantage of global accuracy and consistency</a>. "Central to the cloud-based offering, we can rely on Google's core infrastructure to host our always-changing and growing database of store information," he said. "By hosting attributes, such as street addresses, opening hours, holiday schedules and local pick-up times on Maps Engine, we can update details for nearly 50,000 retail touchpoints in real-time and share this information [with] FedEx.com visitors within minutes." "If you think about how we deliver [our customer experience promise] on the Web, our Store Locator is really at the forefront of how we connect, and create access to, FedEx for our customers," said Anthony Norris, VP of IT at fedex.com in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEBuTyTZwcQ">a presentation at Google's Atmosphere conference</a> in March. Norris described what FedEx previously offered as an experience that was "extremely clunky." It was a jumble of text fields and checkboxes for search and worked only in the U.S. and Canada. FexEx made something better using Google Maps Engine. "You can basically describe what you want, using the Google APIs, and it returns, using our data, exactly the location information that you're looking for," said Norris. Norris said FedEx uses HTML5 and responsive design principles to deliver a map service that relies on a single codebase for multiple device form factors. Google Maps Engine has a 99.9% uptime service level agreement, but <a href="https://developers.google.com/maps-engine/documentation/before-you-begin">a number of API features</a> are not covered because they're still considered experimental.2013-06-05T10:03:00ZApple Must Look Beyond Its PlatformsApple's focus on its own software platforms will ultimately limit its ability to compete. It's time for the company to lower the walls surrounding iOS and OS X.http://www.informationweek.com/software/productivity-applications/apple-must-look-beyond-its-platforms/240156115?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/top-ipad-5-rumors/240153565"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/984/iPad5_NextGen_01_tn.jpg" alt="5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes" title="Top iPad 5 Rumors" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div> Not only does Apple occasionally reject apps submitted to its iOS and OS X App Stores, but it also apparently provides marketing guidance for app developers. The advice Apple gives remains consistent with the views expressed in 2010 by then CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs, but it may not serve the company as well as it once did: Apple's disdain for cross-platform software is hindering its ability to compete. Last week, Donald Leka, chairman and CEO of New York-based TransMedia, shared a copy of an email from Tyler Stone, a manager in Apple's developer relations group, with several journalists. Apple did not respond to a request to confirm the authenticity of the note and to clarify Stone's remarks. The message advised Leka to revise a press release he had provided to Apple in advance of publication. In the end, he took Apple's advice and issued a different statement. The press release announced the release of TransMedia's <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/glide-connect-your-devices/id634025393?mt=8">Glide for iOS</a>, an app that allows users to access files stored in a variety of cloud services, like Dropbox, Google Drive and Windows Skydrive, through a single interface. The mobile Glide app was released previously for Android and Windows 8. [ Android developers can now easily set up a backend server using Google App engine. Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/development/java/google-releases-mobile-backend-starter-c/240155986?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google Releases Mobile Backend Starter Code</a>. ] Stone took issue with a statement from Leka: "Consumers really don't care that much what platform they are on, where their files are stored, or what the file types and file formats are. They simply want to be able to easily access and share a family photo, a letter to a friend, a favorite song or show." Stone's response suggests that Leka's statement repudiated Apple's core values. "[T]he tone of your release and your product positioning is at odds with not just our primary marketing messaging, but the entire reason Apple exists," he said in his email to Leka. "… Our drive, our passion [and] our singular focus on creating the best products we can make [are] rooted in the fundamental belief that customers really do care about the products in which they invest their time, money and energy. We strive to make the best products we can because we believe the right product will change a customer's life. And customers do indeed care about things that change their lives." Both Leka and Stone appear to have it half-right: A <a href="http://aisel.aisnet.org/icmb2012/4/">2012 study</a> from researchers at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and Abo Akademi University in Finland addressed this question directly. The research paper, "Do Consumers Care About Mobile Service Platforms? A Conjoint Analysis On Consumer Preference For Mobile Platforms," stated that the cost of apps "is the most relevant criterion for the respondents to decide which platform to choose." That's not to say platform distinctions are irrelevant: "[W]hen [consumers] were asked about their willingness to pay more for mobile applications and to pay more for monthly subscription, they indicated that operating systems play an important role in their decision," the study said. According to the report, consumers do care about whether a device runs Android or iOS when cost is an issue, but they don't care about other mobile operating systems or about telecom operators. In short, price matters more than iOS or Android, and platform distinctions and preferences come into play for paid apps and services. Apple, of course, has not made price the primary selling point of its products. It has positioned itself as a provider of premium products and done quite well as a result. But Stone's resistance to Leka's message about the benefits of cross-platform harmony suggests that Apple is overestimating its own importance to consumers and overlooking the opportunity to serve its customers better by lowering the walls that protect its platforms. In 2010, Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, published <a href="http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/">a letter</a> explaining his decision not to allow Adobe's Flash apps on iOS devices. It was at once a fair assessment of the problems with Flash and a self-serving justification for Apple's ostensibly benevolent platform dictatorship. Particularly noteworthy is Jobs' insistence that "letting a third-party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps ..." and that third-party cross-platform development tools make the situation worse by giving developers access to platform features supported by the tool maker. While there's some truth in this, there's also some misdirection. One only has to look at <a href="http://unity3d.com/gallery/made-with-unity/game-list">the number of popular iOS games created in Unity 3D</a> -- a cross-platform development tool -- to realize that substandard apps are not the inevitable result of cross-platform software. Substandard apps can generally be attributed to substandard development practices. API access is also an issue, one that Apple could remedy if it chose to do so. Apple has made a fetish of its platforms, and for the past six years that was probably appropriate. OS X and iOS really shined during that time. One particular observation in Stone's email says it all: "We think the customers, bloggers and media who follow app launches are usually quite parochial -- quite focused on specific platforms -- so we counsel developers to craft press releases tailored to each individual platform." But suppose consumers care less about platforms than Stone asserts. I would argue that platform matters when the differences are truly significant. For example, back in 2007, there was no substitute for an iPhone, and in 2010, the iPad was the only tablet of consequence. Now that Apple's competitors, not only Google and Samsung but Amazon and Microsoft, are finally fielding competitive products, platforms matter less and cross-platform products matter more, to say nothing of price. The question that Apple must confront is whether it can afford to ignore other platforms when Google is not doing so. Google is busy making its software and services available everywhere. Apple could compete on Android. It has the engineering talent. It already offers iTunes and iCloud for Windows, but its commitment to cross-platform software appears to be halfhearted. The company has abandoned Safari for Windows. It needs to recognize that it can't make its walls high enough to keep Google out. Google's Gmail and Drive apps are number one and four on the iTunes App Store's top free apps list. Google Chrome is number five on the free Utilities list. Google Maps is the number one free Navigation app. Google Search and Google Translate are number two and three in the free Reference category. YouTube is number three on the free Photo & Video list. And Google has many more iOS apps. Apple's platform dominance matters a lot less when so many roads lead to Google applications. Apple should make iTunes a Web store rather than a native application. It should support Android and Windows 8 on iCloud and Siri. It should focus on providing the best software anywhere, instead of the best software on iOS and OS X devices. In an era when software can be compiled for different target platforms so easily, when operating systems meet on the Web and in the cloud, platforms are on their way to becoming just another distribution channel.2013-06-05T09:06:00ZWhite House Declares War On Patent TrollsObama administration issues executive orders and proposes legislative changes designed to protect companies from abusive patent claims.http://www.informationweek.com/government/policy/white-house-declares-war-on-patent-troll/240156078?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html<div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-key-developments/240155051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/995/Google_IO_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" title="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google I/O: 10 Key Developments</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>In conjunction with the publication of a report on the effect of patent lawsuits on U.S. innovation, the White House issued <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/04/fact-sheet-white-house-task-force-high-tech-patent-issues">five executive actions and seven proposed legislative changes</a> on Tuesday to curb excessive patent claims from patent assertion entities (PAEs), known pejoratively as patent trolls. President Obama considers PAEs to be a drain on the economy, a view shared by many Silicon Valley companies. In a Feb. 14 speech he characterized them thus: "They're just trying to essentially leverage and hijack somebody else's idea and see if they can extort some money out of them ..." The report, <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/patent_report.pdf">Patent Assertion and U.S. Innovation</a>, published by the National Economic Council and the Council of Economic Advisers, takes the same position. It states that PAEs have "a negative impact on innovation and economic growth." In support of that claim, the report cites a 2011 study that found PAEs gained $7.6 billion from 2000 through 2010 as a result of their activities, while defendant companies lost $87.6 billion in share value over the same period. "[T]he 90% of lost defendant share values that simply vanishes suggests considerable lost value to society from forgone technology transfer and commercialization of patented technology," the report says. [ For an example of what the White House hopes to stop, see <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/apple-again-faces-mirror-worlds-in-court/240155497?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Apple Again Faces Mirror Worlds In Court</a>. ] The present patent system also creates an incentive for companies to spend money on patents as a defense against litigation rather than on research and development. As the report notes, Google spent more on patent acquisition in 2012 than it did on research and development in 2011. And the same was true for Apple in 2011. Google, accused by many litigants of patent infringement, has been among the most vocal champions of patent reform. In April, the company filed <a href="http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2013/04/improving-software-patent-quality-to.html">comments with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office</a> (PTO) about how the quality of software patents can be improved. The 2011 Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which took effect in March, attempts to address patent quality issues. This week's White House initiative goes further. The five executive actions include a PTO rule change that will require patent applicants and owners to provide accurate identity information -- the use of shell companies can conceal the parties involved. A complementary legislative recommendation would allow the PTO and courts to impose fines for non-compliance. Other executive orders include a requirement that the PTO provide better training and resources with regard to software patents, resources for end users of technology hit with patent claims, more research and study of patent abuse, and better patent ruling enforcement coordination between the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Beyond the disclosure of interested parties, the legislative proposals call a variety of actions, including: more court discretion in awarding fees, making it easier to get patents reviewed, limiting the legal liability of end users of patented products when a product maker gets sued, making injunction requirements more consistent with established precedent, incentivizing the public filing of patent claim demands, and ensuring that the ITC can hire qualified administrative judges. Missing is any recognition that industries move at different speeds and that granting patent protection for 20 years might not be as appropriate for software as it is for pharmaceuticals, for example. In a post on the Patently-O blog, Dennis Crouch, associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Law, characterized the White House plan <a href="http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2013/06/patent-reform-2013.html">as a positive step</a>. "Despite the unknowing hyperbole of the report, the suggested actions are, for the most, welcome and will benefit the patent system as a whole," he wrote. "In fact, this move to finally address the problem of predictability of patent scope and patent validity hits the sweet spot of where problems emerge in the system. Of course, the devil will be in the details of these approaches." Eugene R. Quinn, Jr., a patent attorney with Zies, Widerman & Malek and founder of <a href="http://www.ipwatchdog.com/">IP Watchdog</a>, in an email dismissed the White House initiative as "much ado about nothing" and noted that the PTO began implementing a patent-owner identity requirement in November 2012. Quinn also expressed concern about the requirement in pending legislation that would require losing parties to pay the victor's legal fees. "Silicon Valley wants the rule to benefit them without any detriment to them," he said. "They would prefer the rule only apply to non-practicing entities who bring patent litigation. If the rule applies across the board to address the abusive practices of the tech giants in Silicon Valley as well, that would be a positive development." As for making the process of obtaining ITC injunctions conform with the criteria established in eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, Quinn warned that would be a huge mistake. "The Supreme Court's decision in eBay has lead to a significant erosion of patent rights. In fact, a victorious patentee who prevails in an infringement action may not get an injunction. The patent, however, is supposed to grant an exclusive right. Not being entitled to an injunction on a patent adjudicated valid where there is infringement is hardly in keeping with the exclusive nature of what a patent is supposed to be." Indeed, the exclusive right that a patent grants might be less exclusive in the future. As Crouch noted about the liability protection being called for by the White House, "We are on our way here toward a fair use of patents."2013-06-04T09:06:00ZGoogle Releases Mobile Backend Starter CodeAndroid developers now have an easy way to create a backend server using Google App Engine.http://www.informationweek.com/development/java/google-releases-mobile-backend-starter-c/240155986?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_htmlSolving one of the most vexing issues for makers of mobile apps -- and limiting the business prospects of more than a few mobile app service startups -- Google on Monday released code that allows Android developers to easily set up their own back-end servers on the company's App Engine. <a href="https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/solutions-mobile-backend-starter-java">Mobile Backend Starter</a> consists of Java code, offered under the Apache 2.0 open source license, for Google Apps engine. It provides a Google-hosted backend server that can be deployed with a single click (through the Google Cloud Console) and then customized and integrated with any Android app, for tasks like user data storage, messaging, push notifications and user authentication. "Mobile Backend Starter gives you everything you need to rapidly set up a backend for your app, without needing to write any backend code," said Google product manager Brad Abrams in a <a href="http://googlecloudplatform.blogspot.com/2013/06/get-your-mobile-application-in-the-cloud-with-mobile-backend-starter.html">blog post</a>. "It includes a server that stores your data with App Engine and a client library and sample app for Android that make it easy to access that data." [ Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/apple-music-deals-hint-at-streaming-serv/240155980?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Apple Music Deals Hint At Streaming Service</a>. ] Mobile developers are likely to welcome what Google is offering because backend servers can help developers retain customer data, build customer relationships and update content on mobile devices. The need for such services became apparent a few years ago, when backend app services like Parse, Stackmob, Kinvey and Roar Engine began to appear. More recently, mobile development tool makers like <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/platform/corona-labs-launches-corona-cloud/240151388">Corona Labs</a> have recognized the revenue potential of a backend service offering. And in perhaps the most obvious sign that the mobile <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backend_as_a_service">backend-as-a-service</a> (BaaS) market matters, Facebook in April acquired Parse. Google now is angling for portion of the revenue generated by hosting mobile services, which won't make life any easier for BaaS startups. The company should have an advantage over smaller BaaS providers because of its brand and size — one of the primary risks faced by any mobile developer integrating a backend service is service longevity, because it can be a challenge to rewire an app with a different backend on short notice. Worse still for BaaS providers, Google's Mobile Backend Starter is likely to appeal to smaller development studios, the very entities likely to choose a backend service provider over coding a custom server from scratch. While using App Engine to run a mobile app backend might seem like a more appealing option than betting on the continued existence and health of a BaaS startup, App Engine may not necessarily be the most affordable option. Since Google <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/platform/google-app-engine-price-hike-stuns-devel/231600672">changed its App Engine pricing model</a> several years ago, developers have cautioned that inefficient or poorly coded apps can lead to high App Engine fees. The handholding and deployment simplicity that App Engine provides as a platform-as-a-service offering is generally cited as the reason it tends to be more costly than lower level infrastructure-as-a-service offerings like Amazon Web Services or Google Compute Engine. Over the weekend, Google engineer Dean Harding more or less validated this distinction in a blog post that described the savings he realized by moving his free Android app War Worlds <a href="http://www.war-worlds.com/blog/2013/06/switched-away-from-app-engine-couldnt-be-happier">from App Engine to Compute Engine</a>. E2 is the only event of its kind, bringing together business and technology leaders across IT, marketing, and other lines of business looking for new ways to evolve their enterprise applications strategy and transform their organizations to achieve business value. Join us June 17-19 for three days of 40+ conference sessions and workshops across eight tracks and discover the latest insights in enterprise social software, big data and analytics, mobility, cloud, SaaS and APIs, UI/UX and more. <a href="http://www.e2conf.com/boston/?_mc=MP_BTMEDIWKAXE">Register for E2 Conference Boston today</a> and save $200 off Full Event Passes, $100 off Conference, or get a FREE Keynote + Expo Pass! 2013-06-03T15:12:00ZApple Music Deals Hint At Streaming ServiceReported licensing agreements with major music companies set the stage for Apple to challenge Google, Rdio and Spotify.http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/apple-music-deals-hint-at-streaming-serv/240155980?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"> <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alterna tives/240155490"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/997/siri_alterna tives_composite_image_01_tn.jpg" alt="7 Slick Siri Alternatives" title="7 Slick Siri Alternatives" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">7 Slick Siri Alternatives</div> (click image for larger view and for slideshow) </div>  Apple has reportedly reached licensing deals with Warner Music Group and Warner Chappell, making it more likely the technology company will launch a music streaming service, perhaps as soon as next week at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57587243-93/apple-reaches-iradio-deal-with-warner-music-suggesting-wwdc-launch/">CNET</a> and the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/technology/apple-is-said-to-be-pressing-to-complete-deals-for-internet-radio.html">New York Times</a> reported Sunday that Apple has reached an agreement with Warner Music Group and continues to negotiate with Sony. According to the New York Times, Apple has partially concluded a streaming-rights licensing deal with Universal Music Group, one that includes payment arrangements for recorded songs but not for song publishers. An Apple spokesman in an email declined to comment. Apple is believed to be working on a service called iRadio that will compete with the likes of Spotify, Rdio and Google Play Music All Access, launched at Google I/O 2013 in May. It remains to be seen how much Apple will focus on social features, given the company's past failure with its Ping music social network. [ What's on Google's playlist? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/internet/google/google-io-day-1-music-maps-search-social/240154984?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Google I/O Day 1: Music, Maps, Search, Social</a>. ] If Apple turns iRadio into a success, interest in streaming could cannibalize the company's iTunes Music download business. But data released last year by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems suggests that so far <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/03/nielsen-on-demand-streams-download-sales.html">streaming services aren't harming music download</a> revenues. Streaming music services allow users to listen to an "unlimited" amount of music that's limited by the amount of bandwidth available from the user's ISP. At an estimated <a href="http://www.bentley-walker.com/tooway/usage.php">72 MB per hour</a>, streaming songs all day, every day could use up about 52 GB of bandwidth per month. That's about a fifth of the 250 GB per month that Comcast defines as <a href="http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/common-questions-excessive-use/">excessive usage</a>, so constant music streaming shouldn't be a problem unless the user also engages in other high-bandwidth activities like streaming or downloading movies. In contrast to iCloud, which Apple makes available without ads at no cost (with extra storage offered for a fee), Apple's iRadio is expected to be ad supported and may also have a paid premium tier. Several years ago it appeared that Apple intended for online advertising to become a major revenue stream. But its iAd service has been slow to take off. This can be attributed to the strength of Google's mobile ad offerings, to Apple's decision to focus on campaigns worth over $1 million at rollout, and to the appeal of in-app purchasing as an alternative monetization scheme for mobile apps.2013-05-29T12:06:00ZGoogle Gmail Gets Tabbed InboxInformation overload got you down? Just divide your Gmail messages among different tabs and your inbox may seem more manageable.http://www.informationweek.com/software/enterprise-applications/google-gmail-gets-tabbed-inbox/240155521?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-key-developments/240155051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/995/Google_IO_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" title="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google I/O: 10 Key Developments</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  Three years ago, Google tried to tackle the problem of email overload by introducing <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/software/soa-webservices/google-fights-e-mail-overload-with-prior/227100712">Gmail's Priority Inbox</a>, a repository for messages deemed by Google's algorithms to be important. At the time, Google pitched email segregation as a way to make office workers more productive. By automatically filtering meaningful messages from the rest, Gmail has the potential to save an average of 46 minutes per week that would otherwise be spent dealing with email, it said. Perhaps businesses realized savings as a result or perhaps workers just frittered away recovered time on Facebook. Either way, email still seems to be productivity issue. <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/high_tech_telecoms_internet/the_social_economy">McKinsey Global Institute</a> in 2012 found that knowledge workers spend an average of 28% of their workweek reading and replying to email. So Google is ready to take another stab at dealing with information overload, a problem that it may be exacerbating by making Google Drive files and Calendar entries <a href="http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/search-emails-google-drive-calendar-and.html">accessible through Gmail's search box</a>. [ Why are your employees spending so much time dealing with email? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/interviews/email-overload-disease-or-symptom/240145180?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Email Overload: Disease Or Symptom?</a> ] On Wednesday, the company introduced <a href="http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/">a new Gmail inbox design</a> that segregates messages even more than its Priority Inbox. The revised Gmail now includes no less than five inboxes, accessible from a horizontal line of tabs atop the inbox message list. Think of it as an interface designed to divide-and-conquer. It won't actually reduce the volume of messages you receive, but it will make incoming messages easier to ignore by separating them into distinct categories and hiding them behind tabs. Out of sight, out of mind. The new tabs are: Primary, for the messages you care about; Social, for those annoying social notifications; Promotions, for messages of obviously commercial nature that don't quite qualify as spam; Updates, for the messages you get after taking advantage of a promotion or other notifications, receipts and the like; and Forums, for those discussions from which you can't be bothered to unsubscribe. The new Gmail can be seen not only in desktop browsers but also in Gmail for Android 4.0+ and Gmail for iPhone and iPad. Those who dislike such changes-- and there are always people who dislike design changes -- can rest assured the tab-oriented interface is optional. Gmail users can configure their inboxes with or without tabs, and can revert to the Classic view if they prefer. Much of what the new Gmail accomplishes could be done with Gmail filters. But Google's goal is to make email management easier for those who don't usually bother with the knobs and dials that customize applications. Filters also don't have an interface component, even though they can affect message presentation. Unlike filters, the new Gmail Inbox can learn, in a manner of speaking. It adapts the way Gmail's spam filter and Priority Inbox do. For example, if you drag a message to the Promotions tab because it was inappropriately routed to another tab, the Gmail system is designed to learn from your example. Gmail's new Inbox will be rolled out gradually. To see if it has been activated, check Gmail's Settings menu (the gear icon on the top right) for the "Configure inbox" option. Another sign of the new Inbox is the appearance of a Categories menu and disclosure triangle in the left-hand menu pane, just below the Trash menu item. The Categories menu will collapse the five tabs into a unified view, adding colored category labels to the vertical message list.2013-05-28T10:05:00ZGoogle Chrome Browser Blurs OS LinesGoogle talks about Chrome OS and the Chrome browser as though they're different products, but they're converging. Witness the new rich notifications feature.http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/google-chrome-browser-blurs-os-lines/240155549?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/cloud-computing/software/google-io-10-key-developments/240155051"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/995/Google_IO_01_tn.jpg" alt="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" title="Google I/O: 10 Key Developments" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">Google I/O: 10 Key Developments</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  Google's Chrome browser and its Chrome OS will soon be getting more elaborate notifications, capable of displaying images, interface variation and interactivity. Google calls these messages "rich notifications," which makes sense given the usage of the term "rich media," favored by Adobe as a way to differentiate Flash content from the Web content, back before Web content caught up. "Rich" isn't really a good adjective in this context because it's associated with monetary wealth at least as much as complexity. But presumably alternative nomenclature like "elaborate notifications" didn't quite roll off the tongue. And perhaps there's some truth in the terminology: "rich notifications" could conceivably cost more to create (in terms of developer time) than "poor notifications." [ Google, among others, is trying to take advantage of Apple's shortcomings. Check out <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/7-slick-siri-alternative-apps/240155490?itc=edit_in_body_cross">7 Slick Siri Alternative Apps</a>. ] In a blog post for developers, Google software engineer Justin DeWitt said <a href="http://blog.chromium.org/2013/05/rich-notifications-in-chrome.html">rich notifications are available</a> in the latest Chrome for Windows beta, dev channel builds on ChromeOS, and will soon be available in Chrome for OS X and Linux. "Rich notifications include full-bleed icons and space to convey a headline and short message," DeWitt said. "Additionally, they enable you to create action buttons and respond to clicks right within your app, empowering your users to do anything they could do within the app's UI itself." Notifications that contain images and interactive buttons appear to have value as a way to improve the user experience, but they also represent encroachment on the operating system as the software layer that handles interaction outside of apps. That's not really unexpected given that Chrome OS is an operating system, but it may be surprising for those who still think of Google's Chrome browser is just another Web browser. Google talks about Chrome OS and Chrome as though they're different products, but really they overlap significantly and they're continuing to converge. The major commercial operating system vendors, Apple and Microsoft, have long worried that Web technology has the potential to marginalize native operating systems and have taken steps to prevent that. But it may be too late, assuming neither Apple nor Microsoft wants to invite antitrust scrutiny. The emergence of rich notifications is a relatively minor trespass on operating system territory. <a href="http://developer.chrome.com/trunk/apps/about_apps.html">Chrome packaged apps</a> represent a more substantial tour of the lawns maintained by Apple and Microsoft: They are Web apps that run outside the browser. They don't threaten OS X and Windows directly because computer users not using Chrome OS still need to boot into an operating system. But they're capable of handling so much user interaction that the underlying operating system becomes irrelevant: All roads lead to the Web. The performance of Web apps, the clumsiness of Web app UI, offline functionality and network bandwidth have all limited the competitiveness of Web apps. But those issues are being resolved as Web technology <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/development/mobility/mozilla-samsung-team-on-android-browser/240152241">marches onward</a>. On mobile devices, native apps have thrived at the expense of Web apps, but even there, the competition is closer than it appears. Web apps can compete with native apps in most circumstances if properly coded. And the discovery and monetization advantages of native apps have diminished as the supply of native apps has exploded. With an efficient distribution mechanism in the form of Web app stores and packaged app installation from websites, the Web can regain lost ground. Chrome's rich notifications carry a message: The browser is the operating system.2013-05-23T15:43:00ZApple Again Faces Mirror Worlds In CourtDefunct software company expands patent infringement suit to include Best Buy, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft and Samsung.http://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/apple-again-faces-mirror-worlds-in-court/240155497?cid=nl_IW_daily_2010-09-30_html <div class="inlineStoryImage inlineStoryImageRight"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/handheld/top-ipad-5-rumors/240153565"><img src="http://twimgs.com/informationweek/galleries/automated/984/iPad5_NextGen_01_tn.jpg" alt="5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes" title="Top iPad 5 Rumors" class="img175" /></a> <div class="storyImageTitle">5 Apple iPad 5 Wishes</div>(click image for larger view and for slideshow)</div>  A defunct software company that failed to win a 2008 patent claim against Apple is back for a second bite at Apple and several other technology companies. Mirror Worlds Technologies, which sold software called Scopeware from 2001 until its demise in 2004, on Thursday filed a patent infringement claim against Apple, Best Buy, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft and Samsung. <a href="http://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuits/patent-lawsuits/texas-eastern-district-court/514011/mirror-worlds-technologies-llc-v-apple-inc-et-al/summary/">The lawsuit</a> was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, a popular venue among patent litigants. The patent at issue is one of the three patents cited in the 2008 case over <a href="http://www.google.com/patents/US6006227">U.S. Patent 6,006,227</a>, "Document stream operating system." <a href="https://ecf.txed.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/iqquerymenu.pl?144715">Mirror Worlds' complaint</a> objects to the defendants' use of "document stream software" -- software that presents files in a chronologically organized stack rather than the grid or list layout seen in OS X and Windows. [ Are fan fiction writers finally getting some respect? Read <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/news/blogging_microblogging/amazon-will-pay-writers-of-fan-fiction/240155418?itc=edit_in_body_cross">Amazon Will Pay Writers Of Fan Fiction</a>. ] This particular approach to file presentation, a distinguishing feature of Scopeware when it was available, can be seen in Apple's iTunes Cover Flow and its Time Machine backup system. Mirror World's 2008 complaint alleged that OS X features Cover Flow, Time Machine and Spotlight infringed its patents. The law firm representing Mirror Worlds, Dovel & Luner, LLP, did not respond to a request for comment. Yale computer science professor David Gelernter, co-founder of Mirror Worlds, also did not reply to a request for comment. "This is a very interesting turn of events and one that I didn't expect," said Eugene R. Quinn, Jr., a patent attorney with Zies, Widerman & Malek and founder of <a href="http://www.ipwatchdog.com">IP Watchdog</a>, in an email. "In the initial litigation Mirror Worlds accused all Apple computers and servers that run certain Mac OS X operating systems of infringement. The complaint just filed similarly charges infringement by 'Mac computers and certain versions of Mac OS X.'" Quinn said that while it's conceivable that Mirror Worlds may have an argument that Apple is engaged in infringement not addressed in the 2008 case, he wonders about the viability of the claim given its similarity to the previously adjudicated case. "This type of serial litigation is not supposed to be able to happen and I would expect that Apple's first move will be to file a motion to dismiss arguing that these claims have already been fully and fairly litigated and resolved against Mirror Worlds," he said. <a href="http://dockets.justia.com/docket/texas/txedce/6:2008cv00088/108627/">The claim Mirror Worlds brought against Apple</a> in 2008 involved three patents: <a href="http://www.google.com/patents/US6006227">U.S. Patent 6,006,227</a>; <a href="http://www.google.com/patents/US6638313">U.S. Patent 6,638,313</a>; and <a href="http://www.google.com/patents/US6725427">U.S. Patent 6,725,427</a>. In 2010, <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/apple-macintosh/apple-challenges-6255m-jury-award-in-pat/227700147">a jury awarded Mirror Worlds $625 million in damages</a> against Apple, but the judge overruled the verdict later that year, saying Mirror Worlds hadn't proven its claim. In 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-04/apple-didn-t-infringe-mirror-worlds-patent-court-rules-1-.html">upheld that decision</a>. Mirror Worlds' latest claim comes just as Congress is moving to reform patent law, something technology companies have been advocating for years. Recently, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced the Patent Abuse Reduction Act of 2013 while Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced the Patent Quality Improvement Act of 2013. In addition, the America Invents Act, signed into law in 2011, took effect in March, shifting U.S. patent awards from a "first to invent" system to a "first to file" system. Whether or not these changes make patent litigation less appealing remains to be seen. Patent litigation continues to be tremendously expensive and patent holding companies, referred to derisively as patent trolls, have taken advantage of the situation to threaten legal action, knowing that defendants are likely to settle, even if the infringement claim is weak, rather than risk financially ruinous litigation. Deterring cynical attempts to coerce settlements could also have the effect of making it easier for large companies to run roughshod over poorly capitalized innovators.