Service Drains Competitors’ Online Ad Budget

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The service, which appears to have been in the offering since at least January 2012, provides customers both a la carte and subscription rates. The prices range from $100 to block between three to ten ad units for 24 hours to $80 for 15 to 30 ad units. For a flat fee of $1,000, small businesses can use GoodGoogle’s software and service to sideline a handful of competitors’s ads indefinitely. Fees are paid up-front and in virtual currencies (WebMoney, e.g.), and the seller offers support and a warranty for his work for the first three weeks.

via Service Drains Competitors’ Online Ad Budget — Krebs on Security.

The Problem with Apple and eBooks

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Apple would sell more music if they released an Android app, and the same can be said for movies and ebooks. But Apple hasn’t done so, and I think it’s time to acknowledge that the strategy is working for Apple.

That is especially true in the case of ebooks. By my estimate, Apple sells more ebooks than B&N.

via The Problem with Apple and eBooks, Redux | The Digital Reader.

Level 3’s Selective Amnesia on Peering

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Fortunately, Verizon and Netflix have found a way to avoid the congestion problems that Level 3 is creating by its refusal to find “alternative commercial terms.” We are working diligently on directly connecting Netflix content servers into Verizon’s network so that we both can keep the interests of our mutual customers paramount.

via Level 3’s Selective Amnesia on Peering | Verizon Public Policy.

Biggest “patent troll” slapped down hard by appeals court

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The patent also contains a method claim, but it “recites a process of taking two data sets and combining them into a single data set,” the judges noted. “Without additional limitations, a process that employs mathematical algorithms to manipulate existing information to generate additional information is not patent eligible,” wrote the judges.

The language used seems like a fairly broad application of the new Section 101 law. If the logic is used by other appeals and district court judges, it suggests that the results from Alice v. CLS Bank could invalidate a wide range of software-based patents.

via Biggest “patent troll” slapped down hard by appeals court | Ars Technica.

Verizon made an enemy tonight

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Watch the video to feel the full pain. What you’ll see is that on Fios it streams at 375 kbps at the fastest. The experience sucks. It takes an eternity to buffer.

Then I connect to a VPN (in this case VyprVPN) and I quickly get up to full speed at 3000 kbps (the max on Netflix), about 10x the speed I was getting connecting directly via Verizon.

via Verizon made an enemy tonight.

From: Verizon’s Accidental Mea Culpa

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Verizon has confirmed that everything between that router in their network and their subscribers is uncongested – in fact has plenty of capacity sitting there waiting to be used. Above, I confirmed exactly the same thing for the Level 3 network. So in fact, we could fix this congestion in about five minutes simply by connecting up more 10Gbps ports on those routers. Simple. Something we’ve been asking Verizon to do for many, many months, and something other providers regularly do in similar circumstances. But Verizon has refused. So Verizon, not Level 3 or Netflix, causes the congestion. Why is that? Maybe they can’t afford a new port card because they’ve run out – even though these cards are very cheap, just a few thousand dollars for each 10 Gbps card which could support 5,000 streams or more. If that’s the case, we’ll buy one for them. Maybe they can’t afford the small piece of cable between our two ports. If that’s the case, we’ll provide it. Heck, we’ll even install it.

Console Internet Applications

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Console based applications are light on system resources very useful on low specified machines, can be faster and more efficient than their graphical counterparts, they do not stop working when X Windows is restarted, and are great for scripting purposes. When designed well, console applications offer a surprisingly powerful way of using a computer effectively. The applications are leaner, faster, easier to maintain, and remove the need to have installed a whole gamut of libraries.

via Pick of the Bunch: Console Internet Applications – Linux Links – The Linux Portal Site.

Apple and IBM Team Up to Push iOS in the Enterprise

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Apple and IBM will collaborate on building a new class of applications specifically tailored for certain industries, including retail, health care, banking, travel and transportation. The first of those applications will be available in the fall and will be released into next year.

via Apple and IBM Team Up to Push iOS in the Enterprise | Re/code.

Critical vulnerabilities in web-based password managers found

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The five password managers they analyzed are LastPass, RoboForm, My1Login, PasswordBox and NeedMyPassword, and they did it to evaluate their security in practice, and to provide pointers to “guide the design of current and future password managers.”

“Widespread adoption of insecure password managers could make things worse: adding a new, untested single point of failure to the web authentication ecosystem. After all, a vulnerability in a password manager could allow an attacker to steal all passwords for a user in a single swoop,” they pointed out, and are advocating a defense-in-depth approach.

via Critical vulnerabilities in web-based password managers found.

Mathematicians Solve The Topological Mystery Behind The “Brazuca” World Cup Football

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The take-home message from Yuan-Jia and Bih-Yaw’ work is that the Brazuca ball does have a fullerene that is its molecular analogue, just like its predecessors at all the world cups dating back to 1970

via Mathematicians Solve The Topological Mystery Behind The “Brazuca” World Cup Football  — The Physics arXiv Blog — Medium.