Facebook Users Info for Sale at $5?

A Bulgarian tech consultant claimed he purchased personal data of some 1 million active Facebook users for $5 each, adding another reason to believe that issues of online privacy still haunts the most used social networking sites.

Bogomil Shopov, a Bulgarian IT consultant said in a recent blog that he purchased the personal data including full names, links to their pages on Facebook and even email addresses.
Alarmingly, the auctioned personal data came from FB users in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Europe.

Shopov is not the first person to purchase personal data on buy and sell site, Gigbucks. Apparently, other individuals have purchased Facebook data on the website as pronounced on the list of satisfied customers posted at the bottom of the page who testified to the validity of Gigbucks services.

The social networking giant was quick to react to Shopov’s posting of his purchase. According to the tech consultant he received a call from
Facebook’s “Platform Policy Team” who asked him to have a phone conversation. The team warned him that it would be recorded.

“The part where they usually say that it is for the purpose of ‘improving the service’ was spared,” recalls Shopov. The company representative on the other line asked the IT consultant to send the file he bought delete its copies and provide them the details of his transaction with the website.

Before their conversation ended FB’s representative warned him to keep silent on the matter. “You are not allowed to disclose any part of this conversation; it is a secret that we are even having this conversation,” said the other person on the line.

Advertisement

 

Must Have Contents for Web Design for Cleaning Savvies

Cleaning services are a profitable business, because it does not require too much resources and manpower. The challenging part, however, is how to recruit long-time customers who will avail the service. A competitive web design for cleaning savvies is just the right method of boosting its reach to customers wanting to get their homes and establishments be cleaned.

Cleaning for many is an undesirable task. Everything gets dirty again even if you clean them is one of the most used reasons to escape this necessary activity. Yet, there are people who find cleaning as an enjoyable activity who prefer to call themselves as “cleaning savvies.” Just to clear things up, they are not doing this because they have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

How to Create a Web Design for Cleaning Savvies

When people search for companies or persons to perform their cleaning for them, they usually want to know the history and performance of that cleaning service entity. Pictures of before and after and testimonials from previous customers could give them the idea on what they are going to get. For a web design for cleaning savvies this means an emphasis on the concept that of “what you see is what you get” from the website downright to their homes and establishments.

Getting Your Hands Dirty for Cleaning

Cleaning services can embark on many marketing strategies especially on what specific services they do. Do they clean totally around the house or building or only on specific parts of the establishment? Integrating these two concepts to your cleaning service program can optimize the number of people you can serve. However, the strategy of keeping your services limited to only parts of the house as “specialty” can become great leverage to your competitors.

Explain your Cleaning Procedures

People who hire cleaning services have a few ideas on how their rooms or buildings are being cleaned. One way to get their attention is to explain to them how you do your cleaning and what products you use. Do you simply wipe the floors? Or do you use specific cleaning products depending on what type of floor that is. Providing answers to what your customers might see about your work can give them the contention that you have done enough to ensure that all the dirt and grime is gone.

Inform Them Why They Need Your Service

On your web design for cleaning savvies provide your customer with information why they should regularly clean their establishments. Get the facts straight and truthful. Educate them about cleanliness and the benefits it can bring on the long run. Provide them with easy and quick cleaning tips and when is the right time for them to hire you.

Flaunt Your Equipments

If you happen to possess cleaning equipments that many consider as high-end and effective in cleaning why not mention it on your website. Cleaning equipments after all do half of the job and is integral on the outcome of your cleaning service.

In summary, a web design for cleaning savvies must have all the necessary content where customers could benefit from the information they could get from the site.

 

Dell Unveils XPS 12 Convertible Touch: a Laptop-Tablet?

Tablet computers are becoming more popular than desktop and laptop computers because of its portability and touch screen feature. Dell, currently the world’s third largest traditional computer manufacturer, might have an “if you can’t beat them join them” thinking when they recently revealed a hybrid computer for Windows 8- a laptop-tablet in one.

 

Dell’s XPS 12 Convertible Touch Ultrabook does what its name implies- interchanging from a laptop to a tablet slate. This new unit has a full HD display of 12.5 inch, has a 128 GB of memory, 4GB and 8GB of RAM and runs with either Intel Core’s i5-3317U Ivy Bridge or i7-3517U processor with double the SSD capacity.The 4GB version sells for $1,200 while the 8GB laptop-tablet is at $1,500. The full version sells at a heftier $1,700 price, but runs on Core i7, has 256 GB of SSD and 8GB of RAM.

 

The concept of integrating laptops and tablets is not a new idea. Several smaller electronics companies have earlier come out with the idea, but Dell is one of the first few tech bigwigs that offered such technology. And while the Windows 8 has yet to come out until October 26, numerous hardware developers are already on the race on marketing their newest products running on the new Windows OS.

 

Dell has also introduced an all-in-one desktop computer with the augmented touch screen capability for Windows 8 dubbed as XPS One 27. The touch screen desktop has a resolution of full blast 2,560 x 1, 440 (quad HD) resolution spread across a 27-inch screen, the size of most large TV screens. The giant screened desktop has 1 TB of memory, a DVD burner, wi-fi, 6GB of RAM and runs on Intel Core’s i5-3330s Ivy Bridge all for the price of $1,600. More than a desktop screen, the new unit may be more fit for running an advertisement or other public or pedestrian related computing activity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Tweets, More Followers- Study

Getting more followers is just as easy as tweeting more messages across the Twitterverse, a study by a social analytics research company revealed.

Beevolve concluded after analyzing some 36 million Twitter profiles that users who generally have more tweets correlates with how much followers they could get.The report entitled “An Exhasutive Study of Twitter Users Around the World” revealed that users with more than 10,000 tweets could be followed by 1,000 to 5,000 individuals, while a person with less than 1,000 tweets will net only an average of 51 to 100 followers.

Battle of the Sexes

The research also pointed out some interesting data such as the average tweet of male Twitter users is 567 while females tweet more with 610.Twitter is dominated by users aged 10-20 years old accounting for more than 40% of the population. Users aged 21-25 years old accounts for more than 25% of users. Meanwhile, the study also reflects the general trend on  social sites that as age group gets older, the population share becomes smaller.

Interestingly, countries like the US, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia have almost equal distribution of male and female Twitter users in their nation. While, countries such as India, France, and Brazil are dominated by male Twitter users. Almost half of the US population are Twitter users.

The research also revealed some of the most familiar categories tweeted by each gender. Females tweet most about Family, Arts, Entertainment, Education, Technology and Fashion, on that order.Tweets from males are mostly  about Technology, Entertainment, Arts, Family and Sports, on that order.

The iOS also dominates its Android counterparts when it comes to Smartphone share that users prefer to access Twitter.Smart phone  iOS accounts for 68.9% of user preferences, while Android has 31.1%.

Unsurprisngly, “Love” is the most used word on every Twitter user’s bio.

 

 

New App Lets Your See All Google Doodle

Google Doodles are one of the few things that makes Google searching much more fun than just well regular searching. A colorful caricature of the Google logo incorporating an event or person on a given date makes you wonder and actually click on the image to see what is all about. And if you miss one of the Google Doodles, like those interactive mini games during the Olympics, there is a new app that could help you stumble upon them one more.

The new Google Doodle iOS app stores more than 1,000 illustrations that were featured on the  search engine giant’s homepage since it was introduced more than a decade ago. Even if the app is not affiliated with Google, the apps search parameters are impressive. The app could help you search doodles based on country, year and can fill you out with the details about the app. You can even add it a doodle to your favorites list and even make it as your Google background the next time you search online.

The very first doodle was in 1998, when Google placed a stick figure behind the second “o” commemorating the Burning Man festival held yearly in Nevada. Back then company founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were expressing their thoughts on attending the festival. Two years later current webmaster and former intern Dennis Hwang was also asked to create a doodle for Bastille Day or the French National Day.

Hwang’s doodles received high remarks from Google users and was soon appointed as chief doodler and since then, doodles were regularly added to Google’s homepage whenever there are important events or celebrations. “In the beginning, the doodles mostly celebrated familiar holidays; nowadays, they highlight a wide array of events and anniversaries from the Birthday of John James Audubon to the Ice Cream Sundae,”  says Google on their website.

Perhaps one of the best Google doodle ever posted, was this playable version of Pacman with a “Google” labyrinth in celebration of the popular game’s 30th anniversary last May 21. 2010.

 

 

Real Time Global Cyberattacks Map by Honeynet

Cyberattacks are one of the by-products of today’s online dependent society. It occurs daily on a per minute (even seconds) basis all throughout the globe. And while hacking has the good and bad sides, cyberattacks are generally demeaning activity. Governments, such that of the US, has even called out against this kind of online attacks.

Perhaps, this was the idea behind Honey Project, a non profit group which introduced a real time cyberattack map that shows how often this activity is happening on a global scale. The map basically shows red and yellow dots to areas where cyberattacks are currently happening.One of the prevalent traits of the map is that countries which were known to have higher internet activity are the ones most hit by the attacks.

Mark Sclhloesser, a Honeynet engineer explained to Huffington Post the meaning of the dots. A yellow “honeypot” appears when their system have checked a vulnerable computer of bank of computers which were made open to track cyberattacks. The red ones are designated as the areas where malware-generated attacks have infiltrated a computer or bank of computers.

The map only gives viewers an idea or visualization of how cyberattacks occur and the areas where they are most frequent. Developers of the tracking system, however, admitted HoneyMap still needs a lot of work to improve and give more accurate data results.

“[Right now], dots actually can represent several systems and also several attacks. We probably should add some visual notion of this” says Schloesser. The map also can not tell where the malware came from, only where it has attacked.

“The attacks shown [on the map] are in no form associated with nations…The attacking systems are regular users who are infected with malware. The common purpose is to spread and infect more machines,” added Schloesser.

 

Sony Pulls Out Xperia Tablets After Defects

With just a month after its release, Xperia Tablet S are being pulled out on the electronic market after defects found on the units forced Sony for a product recall.

The Japanese-based company also stopped sales of Xperia Tablet S when gaps were discovered between the case and screen of the units, making them vulnerable to water damage.

According to Reuters, a Sony spokesman explained the hardware issue is associated with a “manufacturing flaw” of one of its Chinese plants where such tablets were made.

Sony has not yet announced when sales of their Xperia tablet will resume.

On its initial release the Xperia tablet was priced at around $400 and Sony shipped some 100,000 units. Sony’s tablet was known because of its sharp screen, storage expansion features, and universal remote function. Tech reviews, however, found some issues with the tablet’s wi-fi capabilities and a screen that tends to flicker.

Customers who have availed Sony’s tablet are entitled for free maintenance check-ups and repair of the said device.

Sony Xperia tablet S was launched on September 7 on the US with two other products from Sony: two new mobile phones.

 

Minecraft Creator Refuses Windows 8 Store Integration Offer

Markus “Notch” Persson, creator and developer of the popular sandbox building video game, is adamant on refusing the inclusion of his game on the upcoming Windows 8 gaming market. For Perrson, he wants the PC to still be an open platform, a belief which seems to contradict with Microsofts dominance on the PC industry.

“Got an e-mail from Microsoft wanting to help ‘certify’ Minecraft for Windows 8,” tweeted Person yesterday. The game’s creator reply was a blunt “I told them to stop trying to ruin the PC as an open platform.”

Persson is against Microsoft’s move of setting its own rules on gaming platforms that are going to be featured on the Windows 8 OS, where they will keep some 30 percent of sales of gaming titles sold on the Windows marketplace. By not certifying the game, Minecraft may not be offered on Window 8’s online store.

The game, however, would likely still be available on Microsoft powered devices and can still be accessed by Windows 8 gamers.  “I’d rather have Minecraft not run on Windows 8 at all than to play along. Maybe we can convince a few people not to switch to Windows 8 that way, ” explains Persson.

Windows 8 has its release date set on October 26.

Gaming hub Steam, which is powered by digital distribution company Valve, also have expressed their discontent with the provision of Microsoft to get a cut whenever a game is sold using their app store. CEO Gabe Newell called Microsoft’s movements as a treat to game makers in a July statement.

Minecraft has at least 10 million registered players which makes their user pool just a little bit off with World of Warcraft with 11. 4 million players.

 

Angry Birds’ “Bad Piggies” Takes Spotlight

 

This game is redefining the saying “when pigs fly.”

Three years after the worldwide hit release of Angry Birds games, the game’s developer Rovio came up with another great idea for a game make the baddies into the protagonists.

Bad Piggies, Rovio’s newest game, is a build and explore game featuring the green pigs, which we first came to know on the Angry Bird’s sling shot game as the egg stealer.And when these piggies are not constructing their fortification against their feathery foe they go to a trip on the wild side. This game is the “Bad Piggies,” first solo games which means the birds are not making any appearances.

The game is fairly simple- build your own mechanical vehicle and make your way to different terrains and obstcles with the least damage to your ride of course. Seems easy enough? However, the strategy involve is quite complex as you could choose on many solutions on conquering each challenge. The real question is which of this is the best solution.

Designing your own vehicles requires careful planning and analyzing all the obstacles you may encounter. As such no unnecessary part of your ride must be included. Oh, and you even get to choose which piggie goes shotgun and who takes the back seat.

The game is exhilirating and spontaneous, much like a roller coster ride. But, the best part about the game is when “pigs fly” literally, or at least using some mechanical contraption. The plot is fairly simple, the pigs found a piece of a map that could lead them to the eggs. You need to locate the other part of the map as ordered by the King Pig.

Creativity and logical thinking are both needed in the game where you have to create a vehicle made out of the most unlikely objects such as bottle rockets, wooden crates, balloons, umbrellas, wheels and steam engine. the game has at least an initial of 60 levels and will have free updates according to Robio.

 

 

PNC Newest Victim of Bank Cyberattack

Medium bank PNC is the newest financial institution to reportedly fall from a series of cyber attacks that is sweeping the United States. PNC’s website was hacked and became victim of an attack called Distributed Denial of Service which forced the website’s server to malfunction because of the immense amount of data fed to its database.

Recently banks and financial institutions such as JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo also incurred such cyber attacks  PNC was hit Thursday and it took almost a day before the website was brought online, according to social site Mashable.

During denial of service attacks, data is rarely stole and the main objective of the conspirators is to temporarily crash the target website. It usually takes a large number of people, in hundreds and even in thousands, to perform a large scale DDS operation.

Initial reports point to a Middle East group as the mastermind of the attacks. The group allegedly attacked the site by incurring large amount of traffic to the site (nearly 10 to 20 times its normal traffic) at one point in time. Traffic is expressed as the amount of data processed when accessing the website which is brought up by activities available on the site. When a server’s database could not process all of the information because of a spike in traffic, it normally shuts down to prevent data lose.

CNNMoney reported that experts are calling the series of attacks as one of the biggest cyber attack operation ever discovered. Banks are unusually the target of denial of services however, the volume of such incidents targeting banks and financial institutions have doubled the previous record.