Royal Navy launches iPhone app

The Royal Navy has become the latest venerable institution to enter the brave new world of Web 2.0 in an attempt to haul itself into the 21st century and attract new members.

The oldest of the Armed Forces demonstrated a variety of interactive technologies at careers fair Jobserve Live held in London this week, including a new iPhone and Facebook application designed to attract and challenge potential recruits.

The application sets a series of challenges which simulate real life situations encountered by Royal Navy Engineer Officers.

Various training exercises and tasks are bundled into five interactive ‘missions’ requiring quick thinking and decision making. Tasks include engine maintenance, preparing for a simulated missile attack or re-wiring radar systems, according to the Royal Navy.

Mike Davis-Marks, Captain Naval Recruiting, said the Royal Navy and Royal Marines are looking for potential recruits who feel that they need a new challenge.

“Launching the iPhone is very exciting for both serving officers and prospective recruits as it is an interactive challenge which is a cut above other recruiting methods,”

he added.

“The app contains the career and benefits campaign messages as well as a link back to the Royal Navy careers website, providing a clear call to action for those interested in joining.”

The Royal Navy is the first of the Armed Forces to exploit the potential of the iPhone, although the US army has an iPhone app.




Source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2259871/royal-navy-launches-iphone-app

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Google Street View under fire again

Google’s controversial Street View service has been in trouble once again, following the nationwide roll out of the technology a fortnight ago.

The system lets users of Google Maps switch from the traditional birds-eye view to a 360-degree street level view of towns and cities photographed by Google's car-top cameras, with approximately 210,000 miles added to the service with the latest update.

However, according to widespread reports the web giant has been hit by yet more complaints, after its cameras were found to have captured the image of murdered teenager Ashleigh Hall standing outside her home just weeks before she died.

The incident raises yet more questions about the service because even though Hall’s face was blurred out as per Google’s usual privacy policy, she was still identifiable and the image therefore branded “an invasion of our privacy” by the family.

The web giant took down the image when notified but the incident will still be yet another piece of unwanted bad publicity. It has also been criticised this week for identifying the entrance to the secret headquarters of the SAS, which has never appeared before on maps for security reasons, according to reports.

Paul Keetch, MP for the area in which the base is located, is reported as branding Google ‘irresponsible’ and possibly aiding terrorists. However, the web giant has said it will not take the images down in this case.

''Google only takes images from public roads and this is no different to what anyone could see travelling down the road themselves, therefore there is no appreciable security risk,”

read a Google statement.




Source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2259870/google-street-view-under-fire

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Google unveils Skipfish security tool

Google has released a new development tool aimed at uncovering security holes in web applications.

The company said that the new tool, dubbed Skipfish, will allow developers to scan web applications for possible security vulnerabilities. Currently in beta mode, the tool is designed to support multiple application frameworks and will run on Windows, Linux, MacOSX and BSD operating systems.

Google said that speed and compatibility were the main priorities when designing the tool. Skipfish was written in C and engineered to run quickly while putting minimal strain on processors.

"The safety of the Internet is of paramount importance to Google, and helping web developers build secure, reliable web applications is an important part of the equation," wrote Google developer Michal Zalewsk in a blog posting.

We feel that Skipfish will be a valuable contribution to the information security community, making security assessments significantly more accessible and easier to execute

Protecting web applications and cloud computing services has arguably become the biggest issue in the security world as of late. Analysts and developers alike have noted a distinct lack of trust from users in many web applications, particularly enterprise IT services.

As a result, security vendors have stepped up efforts to offer tools and services to web application and cloud computing developers.




Source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2259865/google-unveils-skipfish

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Google reportedly planning April shutdown in China

Google is reportedly preparing to shut down its operations in China over the next few weeks.

Chinese news service China Business News cited companies partnering with Google in reporting that the search giant would be closing its operations within the country on 10 April.

The latest report fits in with a similar report from Monday which said that Google was prepared to walk away from discussions with the Chinese government.

The two sides have been at odds over the year on the issue of censorship. Google has vowed that it will not limit user access within China, while authorities in Beijing have declared that the company will not be able to operate within the country unless it agrees to censor its search results.

Further fanning the flames between Google and China was the 2009 targeted attack on the company's systems. Google believes that individuals working with the government's blessing attempted to infect the systems of Google employees with malware in an effort to steal corporate data.

The company was one of more than 20 firms to report such an incident in a campaign which has come to be known as Operation Aurora. In addition to security concerns, the incident caused other companies working within China to re-examine their own operations.




Source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2259866/google-reportedly-planning

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Microsoft denies IIS flaw claims

Security response team says there is no vulnerability in IIS 6.0

Microsoft has dismissed claims made last week of a critical flaw in the firm’s popular Internet Information Services (IIS) web server product, saying customers using IIS 6.0 in the default configuration or following best practices will have no problems.

Security researcher Soroush Dalili released a research note last week claiming that the flaw could enable hackers to bypass existing security measures and upload malicious code to any affected machine.

“IIS can execute any extension as an Active Server Page or any other executable extension. For instance “malicious.asp;.jpg” is executed as an ASP file on the server,” he explained.

"Many file uploaders protect the system by checking only the last section of the filename as its extension. And by using this vulnerability, an attacker can bypass this protection and upload a dangerous executable file on the server.”

However, in an update on its official blog, the Microsoft Security Response Center maintained that there is no vulnerability in IIS.

“What we have seen is that there is an inconsistency in IIS 6 only in how it handles semicolons in URLs. It’s this inconsistency that the claims have focused on, saying this enables an attacker to bypass content filtering software to upload and execute code on an IIS server,” the blog posting noted.

“The key in this is the last point: for the scenario to work, the IIS server must already be configured to allow both ‘write’ and ‘execute’ privileges on the same directory. This is not the default configuration for IIS and is contrary to all of our published best practices. Quite simply, an IIS server configured in this manner is inherently vulnerable to attack.”

The team said that as long as IIS 6.0 customers used default configurations or follow Microsoft recommended best practices they “don’t need to worry about this issue”.

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255488/microsoft-denies-iis-flaw

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Phishing attacks soar in December

Network Box stats show over half of all web-based threats this month were phishing attacks

Phishing attacks soared in December as cyber criminals looked to capitalise on the higher number of online shoppers in the run up to Christmas, according to new research from managed security firm Network Box released today.

The firm’s analysis of web-based threats in December 2009 shows that just over 57 per cent of all threats were phishing attacks, compared to 28.3 per cent in November.

“The run up to Christmas is traditionally a time for hackers to strike the vulnerable. A higher proportion of shopping is done online, with more money spent than at any other time of year,” warned Network Box internet security analyst Simon Heron.

“Christmas offers rich pickings for phishers. This is likely to continue through the sales in January, and we urge online bargain hunters to be vigilant.”

The firm also found that the greatest source of viruses and spam during the same time period was Brazil, which accounted for 20.9 per cent of all viruses and 9.1 per cent of all spam originated in December. This is up from 14 per cent and eight per cent respectively in November.

Network Box also warned that India is playing an increasingly significant role in the world’s threat landscape, with 6.8 per cent of all spam coming from the sub-continent, up from 4.2 per cent in November; and 4.1 per cent of viruses – the same as in November.

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255490/phishing-soared-december

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Consumer groups urge FTC to block Google/AdMob deal

Consumer groups in the US have stepped up pressure on regulator the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prevent Google from acquiring mobile advertising firm AdMob, arguing that the deal would lessen competition and negatively affect consumers, advertisers and application developers.

In a letter to the FTC yesterday, the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) and Consumer Watchdog also argued that a combined Google/AdMob would raise “substantial privacy concerns that must be addressed by the Commission”.

“US consumers currently do not have meaningful safeguards protecting their privacy online, including with behavioural targeting. This is particularly true of the mobile web where there are no meaningful federal policies to effectively protect privacy,” the letter noted.

“Permitting the expansion of mobile advertising through the combination of these two market leaders without requiring privacy guarantees poses a serious threat to consumers.”

The letter continues by arguing that with Google planning to sell its own smartphone next year, data about competing smartphone users and apps collected through the Google/AdMob network could give it an unfair advantage in the market.

“Consumer Watchdog and CDD believe that instead of acquiring dominance in this
increasingly important market through legitimate competition and innovation, Google is buying its way to a preeminent position in the mobile advertising sector, diminishing competition to the detriment of consumers,” read the letter.

With Google rising to pre-eminence in the mobile advertising market and a concomitant fall in competition, not only would consumer privacy suffer but advertisers could be forced to pay higher prices and “applications developers’ earnings will depend completely on Google’s whim”, the groups argued.

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255478/consumer-groups-urge-ftc-block

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O2 boss apologises over London network performance

Dunne says proliferation of data-hungry smartphones in the capital is to blame

O2 supremo Ronan Dunne has apologised to customers over the poor performance of its London network since summer, blaming an “explosion” in demand for data services from smartphones such as the iPhone, according to an FT report today.

The head of Telefonica O2 UK told the paper that he was disappointed with the performance of his firm’s network, which has been unable to cope with the large numbers of smartphones using data, leading to many users being unable to make or receive calls at times.

However he added that the firm had made progress with network performance in London in December, and was adding an extra 200 mobile base stations in London to help matters.

"Where we haven't met our own high standards then there's no question, we apologise to customers for that fact," Dunne is reported as saying. "But it would be wrong to say O2 has failed its customers en masse."

The comments follow a couple of high profile outage incidents affecting customers, most recently just before Christmas. At the time, O2 announced via its official Twitter feed that the problem, which lasted for more than a day and a half, was caused by “a fault with the allocation of IP addresses”.

Users of the network were left without internet or MMS access after a similar problem surfaced in July.

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255477/o2-boss-apologises-network

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Adobe to become top hacker target for 2010

New McAfee report predicts next year will see Adobe software surplant Microsoft products for the dubious honour

Security giant McAfee is warning end users and information security professionals to expect an increase in threats to social networks and the emergence of Adobe products as the number one software target for cyber criminals next year.

McAfee’s new 2010 Threat Predictions report warns that Adobe will supplant Microsoft for the first time next year in terms of the number of desktop PCs being attacked.

“In 2009 McAfee Labs saw an increase in attacks targeting client software. The favourite vector among attackers is Adobe products, primarily Flash and Acrobat Reader,” the report noted.

“Using reliable ‘heap spray–like’ and other exploitation techniques, malware writers have turned Adobe apps into a hot target. Further, Flash and Reader are among the most widely deployed applications in the world, which provides a higher return on investment to cyber criminals.”

The report also warns that as user numbers of social networks continue to grow, these sites are likely to experience ever-more sophisticated attacks, with cyber criminals exploiting the inherent trust that users have in their friends on the sites which makes them more likely to click on malicious links.

“As Google and other providers crack down on search engine poisoning, we expect that Twitter and similar services will increase in appeal for such purposes,” the report added.

But it was not all doom and gloom for 2010, with McAfee maintaining that the tide may finally turn in favour of the law enforcers next year.

“The worlds of law enforcement and justice have had about a decade to deal with highly organised and financially motivated cyber criminals. We finally have nearly universal recognition among global governments of the severity of this problem, and we can see significant progress from these years of relationship building, education, and training among international law enforcement organisations,” the report said.

“This progress has been slow in coming but we now see clearly demonstrated to criminals that engaging in cybercrime has become an activity with a rapidly increasing risk of incarceration, regardless of their country of residence.”

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255480/adob-become-top-hacker-target

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Web sites in their thousands selling on customer data

SentryBay warns that legitimate sites are conning subscribers to their services with smallprint conditions

Over 4,000 so-called legitimate sites worldwide could be selling on subscriber or user data without the knowledge of their users, according to identity theft prevention firm SentryBay.

In an exclusive conversation with V3.co.uk, chief operating officer at the vendor, Marcus Whittington, explained that the figures come from a comprehensive database run by partner organisation, Lucid Intelligence.

The Lucid database offers a unique snapshot into the activity of identity fraudsters by comprising a list of user data which is being bought and sold on the black market.

The firm states on its web site that it contains the details of over forty million people worldwide "who have had their personal information compromised by criminals in this way".

Whittington argued that on numerous occasions data which has ended up in the Lucid database can be traced exclusively back to a legitimate site, for example, it may have been entered by a user into a big name subscription news site.

"We're finding that in the small print they have the rights to sell on the data – it may not be sold on directly but it eventually gets to the criminals," said Whittington. "There are 4,111 sites worldwide where data entered on them has ended up in the public domain."

Whittington explained that the Lucid database highlights another new trend among identity fraudsters, brought about because many anti-fraud tools now used by banks are so sophisticated they are negating traditional methods of attack.

"A lot of the major criminals have moved to committing 'card not necessary' fraud," he argued. "This is when they collect the information gathered from keyloggers, phishing attacks and other means and then create new identities. The focus is on stealing complete identities and using them for gain."

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255476/web-sites-thousands-selling

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Twitter buys into geolocation

Micro-blogging phenomenon Twitter has expanded its capabilities in the geolocation space with the acquisition of location services provider Mixer Labs.

In a blog posting, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone explained that Mixer Labs has been “working on harnessing the power of local information for a couple years” and recently launched GeoAPI - a new service designed to help developers build geolocation-aware applications.

“When current location is added to tweets, new and valuable services emerge—everything from breaking news to finding friends or local businesses can be dramatically enhanced,” wrote Stone.

“Our efforts in this area have just begun. Today, we're excited to announce a major new step into the location-aware future.”

Stone explained that the newly acquired technology would help the firm continue to combine the “textual relevance of location to tweets”, giving the example that twittering “Earthquake!” would not be as effective as twittering the same message plus current location.

“We will be looking at how to integrate the work Mixer Labs has done with the Twitter API in useful ways that give developers behind geo-enabled apps like Birdfeed, Seesmic Web, Foursquare, Gowalla, Twidroid, Twittelator Pro and others powerful new possibilities,” said Stone.

"We look forward to building features together that will make Twitter even more interesting and relevant to your daily life, no matter where you are.”

The acquisition follows the launch of a new Twitter Geotagging API last month, and the expansion of location support for developers working with the Twitter platform in August, Stone added.

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255458/twitter-buys-geolocation

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New critical IIS flaw discovered

Vulnerability affects IIS 6 and earlier versions

Security experts are warning of a highly critical new zero day vulnerability in Microsoft’s popular Internet Information Services (IIS) web server product which could allow hackers to bypass existing security measures and upload malicious code to any affected machine.

Security researcher Soroush Dalili warned in a research note that the vulnerability affects IIS 6 and earlier versions, although IIS 7 has yet to be tested and version 7.5 is safe.

“IIS can execute any extension as an Active Server Page or any other executable extension. For instance “malicious.asp;.jpg” is executed as an ASP file on the server,” he explained.

"Many file uploaders protect the system by checking only the last section of the filename as its extension. And by using this vulnerability, an attacker can bypass this protection and upload a dangerous executable file on the server.”

Vulnerability database firm Secunia ratedthe flaw as “less critical” – only the second out of a potential five-grade security rating system – but Dalili maintained the impact of the bug is highly critical.

“Impact of this vulnerability is absolutely high as an attacker can bypass file extension protections by using a semi‐colon after an executable extension such as “.asp”, “.cer”, “.asa”, and so on,” he wrote.

“Many web applications are vulnerable against file uploading attacks because of this weakness of IIS.”

According to reports Microsoft researchers are investigating the vulnerability.

This is not the first time that IIS has been hit by security problems. Back in September Microsoft issued a security advisory warning of a vulnerability in the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service in IIS 5.0, 5.1 and 6.0 which could allow remote code execution.

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255455/critical-iis-flaw-discovered

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Top 10 most read news articles of 2009

The Conficker worm rampage, and strange lines on the ocean floor

The biggest news story of 2009 with V3.co.uk readers concerned the Conficker worm, which managed to infect a whopping nine million Windows PCs in just seven days in January. This was despite the fact that Microsoft had patched the vulnerability four months previously. It's a perfect example of why we should all keep our systems up to date with the latest fixes.

The second most popular story was about Google pouring cold water on a theory that lines on the ocean floor revealed by its mapping technology were the remains of the lost city of Atlantis, which sank in "a single day and night of misfortune" in 9000 BC, according to Plato.

Microsoft featured again in the third and fourth biggest hits of the year, this time about the Release Candidate for Windows 7, and Lenovo's plans to offer free Windows updates.

The rest of the top 10 was largely devoted to Apple and its hugely successful iPhone and iPod devices. The much anticipated iPhone 3.0 update arrived in March, but had already been cracked by hackers. Later in the year, Tesco raised the possibility of a price war by announcing that it would be selling the iPhone in its stores.

Apple, meanwhile, came something of a cropper when it appeared that it had tried to gag the owner of an exploding iPod.

Windows worm hits 8.9m PCs in a week
'Downadup' on the rampage

Google rejects Atlantis discovery claims
Search giant says ocean floor lines were caused by data collection process

Windows 7 release candidate date confirmed
Latest software will become available on 30 April

Lenovo to offer free Windows updates
More PC vendors sign on to Windows 7 update plan

Tesco to sell iPhone in possible price war
Reports suggest handset will be in UK Tesco Mobile stores before Christmas

Apple iPhone 3.0 cracked before release
Russian hacker claims first jail-break

Apple to unveil iPhone 3.0 software upgrade
Major rewrite on the cards

Pirate Bay trial comes to an end
Verdict expected next month

Apple tries to gag owner of exploding iPod
Company threatens to sue British family

T-Mobile unveils Cupcake update to G1 phone
Android device gets touch-screen keyboard and video boost

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/analysis/2255285/top-read-news-articles-2009

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Nortel lines up Genband for VoIP sale

Ailing Nortel Networks has announced it is to sell its carrier VoIP and application solutions (CVAS) business to IP gateway solution provider Genband for $292 million.

As with other parts of its business Nortel has entered into a stalking horse sale agreement with Genband, which means other companies can enter the bidding process at a later stage.

The proposed agreement will see Nortel’s softswitching, gateways and SIP applications, including all patents and intellectual property, said the firm.

In order to finance the deal, Genband has teamed with one of its existing shareholders, One Equity Partners III. Nortel said it expects to seek US. and Canadian court approvals for bidding procedures, including a bid deadline and tentative auction date, in early January.

"The proposed transaction represents a clear and positive step forward for Nortel's CVAS customers, employees, and business. Today's announcement is a strong endorsement of our continued leadership in the Carrier VoIP market where we have held the #1 position since 2002," said Samih Elhage, president of Nortel's CVAS business.

“Today's news is also a testament to our employees, whose commitment to innovation and customer support has ensured our growth in market share in 2009 despite a challenging economy."

Nortel is fast running out of parts of its business to sell. Since filing for bankruptcy nearly a year ago it has sold off its wireless, metro Ethernet and enterprise businesses.

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255446/nortel-lines-genband-voip-sale

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SEO poisoners exploiting Windows Live Spaces

Security firm eSoft warns blogging platform is being used to help promote fake pharmaceutical sites

Security experts are warning that hackers are now using Microsoft’s Live Spaces blogging platform in order to push up the popularity of fraudulent online pharmaceutical sites in a strategy known as search engine poisoning.

In a posting on the Threat Center Live blog, security firm eSoft explained that cyber criminals are making use of Windows Live Spaces as well as Yahoo and Google Blogger platforms – registering accounts and then using those accounts to link to the fraudulent sites, thus pushing up the search engine ranking of those sites.

“Additionally, the spam emails now link to these fake blogs rather than directly to the pharma-fraud site in an effort to better evade spam filters that might otherwise detect the link to the fraudulent website,” the posting noted.

“Whatever the distribution method, it's clear these cybercriminals will stop at nothing and continue to evolve new ways of advertising their bogus sites.”

Search engine poisoning or blackhat SEO is becoming an increasingly popular method for cyber criminals to boost click throughs onto their fake and malicious sites and increase infection rates.

Many piggy-back on popular news stories of the time, such as the death of major celebrities like Michael Jackson, or tragic news events, in order to encourage users to click on their malicious links, which have been artificially promoted to high places in the search engine rankings by techniques such as the one outlined above.

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255427/seo-poisoners-exploiting

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O2 users suffer data service outage

Problem traced back to IP address allocation

O2 users in the UK have suffered a major service outage over the past couple of days that may have left thousands of iPhone and other smartphone users without access to data services.

At the time of writing the mobile network giant still had not released an official statement or status update on its web site or official blog, but it has been giving regular updates via its Twitter feed.

A quick glance at this over the past two days indicates that the problems seem to have begun on Sunday, when the firm said: "We're sorry that some mobile customers have had problems with data today - these services will be back up tonight."

However, O2 was unable to do so and later wrote: "We apologise to customers who cannot use data at the moment. We have a fault with the allocation of IP addresses which we are fixing."

Finally, late yesterday evening, O2 announced via its Twitter feed: "Quick data services update: the system fault has been fixed and internet connections are gradually being restored."

However, the firm added that MMS and Visual Voicemail remain affected. " We're working on these as a priority," the tweet read.

This is not the first time O2 users have suffered from service outages. In July, users encountered an almost identical problem of not being able to gain internet access or MMS capabilities after a fault with the allocation of IP addresses.

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255400/o2-users-suffer-service-outage

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WCM vendors to focus on intranets

New CMS Watch predictions also believe ECM and document management will diverge

Enterprises content management and document management will diverge in 2010, as vendors go back to basics by paying more attention to internal content technologies, according to the latest predictions from analyst firm CMS Watch.

The firm said in its latest blog posting that ECM only works for firms which have “unified and services-oriented architectural approach to IT” and that most instead focus on specific business processes and therefore need specific software solutions.
“Therefore, in 2010 we will see more vendors returning to core document management and workflow requirements, and becoming bolder about their lack of interest in embracing broader ECM functionality (DAM, WCM, Collaboration, and so forth) -- at least not in an integrated platform,” the posting noted.

CMS Watch also argued that in order to differentiate next year, web content management vendors will “give more love to intranets”.

“Intranet managers have had to take on greater responsibilities in the past year, especially for internal collaboration and community services,” the posting explained.

“But they frequently tell us that their Web CMS vendors have turned their attentions slavishly to the needs of public website marketers. Amid a crowded market for e-marketing-oriented WCM solutions, in 2010 some opportunistic WCM vendors will renew their focus on the specific needs of intranet scenarios.”

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255407/ecm-vendors-focus-intranets

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'FML' tops Facebook's most popular word list

Social networking site releases top words and phrases used in status updates for 2009

Facebook users' most popular word during 2009 was the digital slang term 'FML', according to new data released by the company.

The data shows that the site remains primarily used by students, even though Facebook is increasingly trying to be represented as an ideal business tool.

Copying Twitter, Facebook has released the top words and phrases in users' status updates for 2009.

While Twitter regularly maintains the trending topics and makes them always accessible to users through their homepage, Facebook is releasing a year-end list, which it has called Facebook Memology.

Facebook Applications topped the list, but this is because Facebook groups together words and phrases related to each other. For example, just one Facebook game application called Farmville has 72 million monthly active users who constantly update their statuses.

The slang word FML came second. Data scientist Lars Backstrom gave an explanation of the term in a company blog post.

"People now use it simply to express some frustration with an aspect of their lives," he said. "We'll leave the 'F' open to your interpretation, but the 'M' and 'L' stand for 'My Life'," he said.

"The beginning of May appeared to be a seriously frustrating time for people, when students were busy with finals and the weather was rainy just before summer.

"We saw a lull in 'FML' in the summer months and, as expected, there was strong weekly periodicity to this term with it appearing most often on Mondays and Tuesdays."

The second most popular term used on Facebook was 'Swine Flu'.

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255404/slang-word-tops-facebook

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Twitter search deals generate big profits

Twitter has made $25m (£15.5m) from deals signed with Microsoft and Google to display its micro-blogging content in search results.

The company received $15m (£9.3m) from Google and another $10m (£6.2m) from Microsoft, according to a report in BusinessWeek citing two people familiar with Twitter's finances.

"The deals were huge," said one of the sources. "A lot of revenue came in."

Twitter announced the deals with Google and Microsoft's Bing in October.

"We have a team focused on delivering value from a search and discovery perspective at Twitter, and they're just getting started," said Twitter co-founder Biz Stone in a blog post at the time.

"Twitter is earning a reputation for delivering real-time results to queries about things that are happening right now."

Twitter is a private company, so its financial information is not publically listed and the reports are unlikely to be officially confirmed. Twitter, Google and Microsoft could not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The large profit Twitter has made from the deals is significant because the firm has always had trouble making money, so much so that Stone said last month that he may approach the stock market for funding if the site fails to generate sufficient revenue next year.

However, all recent news considered, Twitter's potential for revenue growth next year looks positive.

The firm has started to announce revenue-generating products, such as Account Verification, as well as venture capital deals and a new advertising strategy that will be rolled out next year.

Evaluations in September valued the firm at $1bn (£620m) after a $50m (£31m) cash injection from Insight Venture Partners.

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255356/twitter-makes-15m-microsoft

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Illegal file sharing still rife

Illegal file sharing levels are still not declining, despite a recent crackdown by the government, according to new research from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

The trade body interviewed over 3,000 UK respondents aged 16 to 54, and found that 1,012 were downloading or filesharing music on peer-to-peer networks or from other web sources.

While levels of illegal file sharing remained pretty much the same throughout 2009, the BPI warned of an increase in the use of web-based or "non-P2P" methods during the past six months.

The biggest increases in use came from overseas unlicensed MP3 pay sites (47 per cent), newsgroups (42 per cent), MP3 search engines (28 per cent) and forum, blog and board links to cyberlockers (18 per cent).

"There are now more than 35 legal digital music services in the UK, offering music fans a great choice of ways to get music legally," said BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor.

"It's disappointing that levels of illegal P2P use remain high despite this and the publicity surrounding imminent measures to address the problem. It's vital that those measures come into force as quickly as possible.

"The growth in other, non-P2P methods of downloading music illegally is a concern, and highlights the importance of including a mechanism in the Digital Economy Bill to deal with threats other than P2P."

When questioned on their future plans, current users of unauthorised services reported that they intended to increase their illegal activities in the coming six months.

source:http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2255317/illegal-file-sharing-rife

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