Google to shut down social networking service Orkut in September

Google said it will shut down Orkut, which is widely used in Brazil and India but hasn't caught on more broadly, on Sept. 30, to focus on its other social networking initiatives.The company declined to say how many users Orkut has.

"Over the past decade, YouTube, Blogger and Google+ have taken off, with communities springing up in every corner of the world. Because the growth of these communities has outpaced Orkut's growth, we've decided to bid Orkut farewell," Google said in a post on the Orkut blog on Monday.

Orkut was launched early in 2004, the same year that Facebook Inc, now the world's No.1 social network with 1.28 billion users, was founded. The service's shutdown comes as Google's social networking plans remain in question. In April, Vic Gundotra, the head of Google's social networking services, left the company. Gundotra oversaw the 2011 launch of Google+, a social networking service similar to Facebook. Gundotra said in October that 300 million users visit the Google+ web page every month.

Google has increasingly sought to position Google+ less as a social networking "stream" that competes with Facebook, and more as a means of establishing a unified "user identity" system to improve Google's various Web properties. Last year, for example, Google began requiring users of its YouTube site to sign in with their Google+ identity before posting comments about videos.

The company said it would preserve an archive of all Orkut "communities" that will be available from Sept. 30. "If you don't want your posts or name to be included in the community archive, you can remove Orkut permanently from your Google account," Google said.

Microsoft Gives Instructions On How To Deal With IE Vulnerability

Nope, sorry. There’s still no patch out to get rid of the most recent IE vulnerability, but Microsoft does not want it to look like they are not doing anything about the situation. We know that things have gotten real bad – even governments have been telling their citizens to get rid of Internet Explorer and use another browser (which makes so much sense, really!).

But, what if you absolutely have to use Internet Explorer for one reason or another?

Microsoft has released instructions on how to deal with the latest IE vulnerability, which can allow remote code execution if taken advantage of. As initially mentioned when the news came out, the IE vulnerability is present in all versions of the browser, although Microsoft says that the actual attacks have been very targeted and limited and that only IE version 9, 10, and 11 have been affected. So far.

Anyhow, the main thing that Microsoft says to do about the IE vulnerability is to go on Enhanced Protection Mode, which does what it says on the tin: add more security measures so that you can be protected from malware attacks. This mode was a new feature in IE 10.

CNET outlines the steps that you have to take to turn on Enhanced Protection Mode:

    To enable EPM in IE 10 or 11, click the Tools menu and then click Internet options.

    In the Internet Options window, click the Advanced tab.

    Scroll down the list of options until you see the Security section.

    Look for the option to Enable Enhanced Protected Mode and click its checkbox to turn it on.

    If you’re running IE 11 in a 64-bit version of Windows, you also need to click the checkbox to Enable       64-bit processes for Enhanced Protected Mode.

    Restart IE to force the new setting to take effect.

    If you’re using IE 10 and 11, you might be all right, but what if you’re using versions which do not have this mode? You’ll have to do a little bit of tweaking and unregister an associated IE DLL file: VGX.DLL. Here’s a screenshot of the instructions.

It’s so much easier to use Chrome, yes?

As always, if you would like to leave a sensible comment, then please do so in the comments section below.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says US government threat to internet

In a strongly-worded post, Mark Zuckerberg on Friday hit out at the US government over the alleged surveillance and monitoring of web users by the National Security Agency (NSA).

"I've been so confused and frustrated by the repeated reports of the behaviour of the US government. When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we're protecting you (Facebook users) against criminals, not our own government," Zuckerberg wrote. "I've called President Obama to express my frustration over the damage the government is creating for all of our future. Unfortunately, it seems like it will take a very long time for true full reform."

Zuckerberg vented frustration at the US government a day after documents leaked by Edward Snowden, a security contractor who worked with NSA, showed that US spies used servers with fake Facebook credentials to fool web users and infect millions of computers with malware and viruses.

"The US government should be the champion for the internet, not a threat. They need to be much more transparent about what they're doing, or otherwise people will believe the worst," Zuckerberg wrote.

The documents leaked by Snowden have showed how NSA has systematically attacked and subverted portions of the internet and related infrastructure to spy on millions of web users across the world. The initial documents that showed an NSA operation called PRISM alleged that companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft and several other US-based companies allowed US spies an easy access to their servers. All companies named in the leaked documents denied allegations.

Zuckerberg wrote that people need to start building a secure web. "So it's up to us — all of us — to build the internet we want. Together, we can build a space that is greater and a more important part of the world than anything we have today, but is also safe and secure. I'm committed to seeing this happen, and you can count on Facebook to do our part," he wrote.

Zuckerberg's post also comes two days after Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of WWW, said that the web requires a Magna Carta in the face of growing surveillance and control from the governments. "Our rights are being infringed more and more on every side, and the danger is that we get used to it. So I want to use the 25th anniversary (of the web) for us all to do that, to take the web back into our own hands and define the web we want for the next 25 year," Lee told the Guardian newspaper in the UK.

He also called Snowden a hero.

The documents leaked by Snowden and the alleged close ties of the technology companies with the US government have sparked a fierce debate among senior executives within technology companies, privacy activists, cryptographers and security researchers. While many consider Snowden to be a hero, some believe him to be misguided geek who has harmed American security through his disclosure of NSA programmes.

On Friday, Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, told Rolling Stones magazine that he doesn't consider Snowden a hero. "I think he broke the law, so I certainly wouldn't characterize him as a hero... You won't find much admiration from me," he told the magazine.

His comments drew a sharp response from several people, most notably Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia. Citing the example of Calvin Fairbank, who aided escape of slaves in 19th century America, Wales tweeted, "Dear @BillGates (Calvin Fairbank) also broke the law — and is a hero forever."

Facebook buys WhatsApp in $16bn deal to target teens and boost messaging service

Facebook is buying mobile messaging service WhatsApp for up to $19 billion in cash and stock in the firms biggest ever acquisition.The world's biggest social networking company said that it is paying $12 billion in Facebook stock and $4 billion in cash for WhatsApp. In addition, the app's founders and employees will be granted $3 billion in restricted stock that will vest over four years after the deal closes.

 WHATSAPP IN NUMBERS

Over 450 million people using the service each monthFirm has 50 employees70% of those people active on a given day;Messaging volume approaching the entire global telecom SMS volumeService adds more than 1 million new registered users per day600m photos uploaded each day200m voice messages sent each dayFacebook says it is keeping WhatsApp as a separate service, just as it did with Instagram, which it bought for about $715.3 million.'The acquisition supports Facebook and WhatsApp's shared mission to bring more connectivity and utility to the world by delivering core internet services efficiently and affordably,' the social network said.WhatsApp has more than 450 million monthly active users. In comparison, Twitter had 241 million users at the end of 2014.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says WhatsApp is on path to reach a billion users.'The combination of WhatsApp and Facebook will allow us to connect many more people round the world,' Zuckerberg said.'We want to develop more mobile experiences like Instagram and Messenger.'WhatApp fits this vision perfectly, it has incredibly strong engagement and growth.''It's the only app we've ever seen that has grown more quickly than Facebook itself.'

'Their product roadmap is very exciting and won't change.

'Overall, I'm very excited about this deal. 'WhatsApp had every option in the world, so I'm thrilled they chose us.'As part of the deal, WhatsApp co-founder and Chief Executive Jan Koum will join Facebook's board, and the social network will grant an additional $3 billion worth of restricted stock units to WhatsApp's founders, including Koum.

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Boost: WhatsApp is still growing and is predicted to have a billion users soon

'This is an incredible moment for me,' Mr Koum said.'Every day over 19bn messages are sent, with over 1m new users every day.'We wanted it to be simple, and a better service than SMS.''We're excited and honoured to partner with Mark and Facebook as we continue to bring our product to more people around the world,''WhatsApp's extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide.'The deal instantly makes WhatsApp cofounders Jan Koum and Brian Acton billionaires.Forbes estimates that Koum held about a 45% stake in the company, while Acton’s stake was over 20%.

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Proud moment: Jan Koum, pictured at a digital conference in January, described the deal as 'incredible'

Facebook promised to keep the WhatsApp brand and service, and pledged a $1 billion cash break-up fee were the deal to fall through.WhatsApp will remain based in Mountain View, Calif., and Facebook said its own messenger app and WhatsApp's core messaging product will continue to operate as separate applicationsShares in Facebook slid 5 percent to $64.70 after hours, from a close of $68.06 on the Nasdaq.Facebook was advised by Allen & Co, while WhatApp has enlisted Morgan Stanley for the deal.The deal is the latest aquisition for Facebook, which last year bought Instagram.It also reportedly offered to pay close to $3 billion or more to acquire messaging service Snapchat, though that offer was spurned by the site's founders.

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                                                              WhatsApp in numbers

Zuckerberg said WhatsApp would operate in the same way as Instagram, as a separate firm.'It would be pretty stupid of us to interfere,' he said.He also said he was not planning to put ads on the service.'Our strategy is to grow and connect people. 'Once we get to 2-3 billion people there are ways we can monetise.'Now we want to focus on growing users. I don't think ads are the right way here.'Koum also pledged not to add ads to WhatsApp, which makes money from a subscription model.'We think advertising is not the way to go - we create a direct relationship with customers,' said Koum.'We want to make the product better, faster and more efficient.'Experts say the deal could help Facebook attract teens.Professor Will Stewart from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) said: 'Obviously WhatsApp adds instant messaging to Facebook which must strengthen their position for the moment.'Equally, all app types rise and fade, so established social media formats like Facebook will be overtaken by something new, and picking up candidates that might have ultimately replaced them may be a good survival strategy for a while.'This does show the growing significance of mobile, though of course Facebook is on mobile anyway.'But, Facebook has been around a while now so the real question is what comes next?'

Mark Zuckerberg earned over $2 bn at Facebook in 2012

Facebook co-founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg earned more than USD 2 billion worth of stock and USD 503,000 in base pay last year for running the world's leading social network.

Zuckerberg was also given bonuses that added up to slightly more than USD 266,000, according to a Facebook filing on Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

He received USD 1.22 million in "other compensation," more than half of which was said in the filing to involve the use of chartered aircraft for travel by Zuckerberg and guests as part of a "comprehensive security program."

Facebook provided US regulators a breakdown of executive compensation and other matters that will be topics at an annual meeting of shareholders set to take place on June 11.

"In the first quarter of 2012, the compensation committee decided to increase the base salaries of our executive officers, other than our CEO," Facebook said in the document.

"Accordingly, our compensation committee increased the base salary of each executive officer, other than our CEO, by USD 35,000 or USD 40,000."

Zuckerberg has served as chairman of the board at Facebook since the beginning of last year.

His base pay will remain the same this year, while chief operations officer Sheryl Sandberg's was raised to USD 340,000, according to the filing. Her bonus last year added up to USD 276,730, the paperwork indicated.


Sandberg was paid USD 321,000 last year, along with a bonus of USD 276,730 and about USD 25.6 million worth of stock awards, Facebook told the FTC.

Sandberg's bonus "reflected her leadership in growing our revenue year over year and her strategic guidance in various business matters," the filing said.

Zuckerberg exercised options to acquire 60 million shares of Facebook stock, which were valued at just shy of USD 2.28 billion, according to the SEC filing.

He holds 607,599,549 shares of Class B stock in Facebook and another 1,939,987 in Class A shares, the company said in the paperwork.

The SEC in March endorsed a Nasdaq exchange plan to create a USD 62 million pool of cash to cover trading losses due to computer glitches that disrupted the launch of Facebook shares onto the market.

The huge electronic market's foul-up marred the USD 16 billion Facebook share issue in May, the most hotly awaited initial public offering on the US markets in years.

The stock hit a high of USD 45 on the first day, but slid below USD 18 in the following weeks. Facebook shares were trading at USD 26.85 at the Nasdaq close on Friday.

Google Pays Oz Man $200,000 for ‘Defaming Him n Search Results'

Source-ANI: Google has paid 200,000 dollars in damages to a Melbourne man after he won a defamation case against the Internet search engine giant.

Milorad Trkulja, also known as Michael, sued the multinational over images of him alongside a well-known underworld figure that appeared in its search results.

The Supreme Court jury found last month that Trkulja had been defamed by the images, which he first contacted Google about removing in 2009.

Google search results also linked to a page on a now defunct website, Melbourne Crime, which had published photos labelled with his name, the report said.

The paper quoted Trkulja, as saying that he had never initially intended to sue Google, but had been galvanised into action after his request for the content to be removed from its searches in 2009 was not granted.

21-year-old girl arrested for Facebook post slamming Bal Thackeray: Whats your take?

 

Police on Sunday arrested a 21-year-old girl for questioning the total shutdown in the city for Bal Thackeray's funeral on her Facebook account.

Another girl who 'liked' the comment was also arrested.

The duo were booked under Section 295 (a) of the IPC (for hurting religious sentiments ) and Section 64 (a) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Though the girl withdrew her comment and apologised, a mob of some 2,000Shiv Sena workers attacked and ransacked her uncle's orthopaedic clinic at Palghar.

"Her comment said people like Thackeray are born and die daily and one should not observe a bandh for that," said PI Uttam Sonawane.