Tag: microsoft

Apple Says It Was Targeted By The Same Hackers That Hit Facebook, Will Release Protection Software Tuesday

Apple has revealed that it was attacked by the same group that went after Facebook in a recent attempt to break that network’s security. The company says a “small number” of its employees’ Macs were affected, but there is “no evidence that any data left Apple,” according to a report by Reuters . The company will be issuing software to prevent customers from being attacked in the same manner, Apple said. Apple’s report follows the news from Facebook on Friday that it was targeted by hackers apparently operating out of China. Facebook also reported that none of its users’ data was compromised through the attack. Apple is said to be workign with law enforcement on trying to find the source of the hacking attempt, and will be releasing a software tool aimed at its customers to help them protect their own Macs against the malware used by the unidentified assailant. The goal for both Apple and Facebook, in being the source of these reports about attacks on their own companies is to be proactive and get out ahead of the news, in order to reassure customers that they’re doing everything possible to ensure the security of any data they hold. The object lesson of Sony’s PlayStation network breach, and the ensuing  criticism and lawsuits that resulted from it being perceived as “slow” to notify outsiders of the attack is probably one cause of heightened transparency on the part of companies facing cyber-security threats. For Apple, admitting to a security breach is a rare occurrence. The company acknowledged some 400 iTunes accounts were hacked back in 2010 in response to customer complaints, but this kind of pre-emptive move indicates that we’re likely dealing with a different level of security threat altogether. On the plus side, account data seems not to have been leaked, and this means authorities will have the help of two technology giants and their considerable resources in tracking the perpetrators down.

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Apple Says It Was Targeted By The Same Hackers That Hit Facebook, Will Release Protection Software Tuesday

Oxford Temporarily Blocks Google Docs To Fight Phishing

netbuzz writes “Fed up with phishers using Google Forms to commandeer campus email accounts as spam engines, Oxford University recently blocked access to Google Docs for two-and-a-half hours in what it called an ‘extreme action’ designed to get the attention of both its users and Google. ‘Seeing multiple such incidents the other afternoon tipped things over the edge,’ Oxford explains in a blog post. ‘We considered these to be exceptional circumstances and felt that the impact on legitimate University business by temporarily suspending access to Google Docs was outweighed by the risks to University business by not taking such action.’ The move generated widespread complaints from those affected, as well as criticism from outside network professionals.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Oxford Temporarily Blocks Google Docs To Fight Phishing

Outlook.com exits preview with 60 million active users, Hotmail UI to be retired this summer

It’s been so long since Microsoft launched Outlook.com that we forgot it was technically in preview mode. Well, that ended today, at 12:01AM ET on the dot. The company just announced that the email service is no longer in beta, and that the site has racked up 60 million active users — over a third of them Gmail converts. If you decide to join today, you’ll be getting the same feature set announced last summer, just with a smoother, less glitchy experience (not that it was ever that buggy to begin with, if you ask us). To lure in even more users, Microsoft is planning on launching a massive advertising campaign, one that will include TV and radio spots (see one of them after the break), online ads and even posters in subway stations. Basically, the sort of heavy promotion Microsoft is already doing for Surface. Regardless of how much success Microsoft has in converting Gmail loyalists, though, a lot more people are about to become acquainted with Outlook’s clean UI: the company has said it plans to switch Hotmail users over to the Outlook interface by summertime. To be clear, Microsoft says it has no plans to shut down the hotmail.com domain, so your existing Hotmail email address is safe, and you don’t even have to register for an Outlook.com addy if you don’t want to. Additionally, all of your folders and settings will be preserved. It’s just that you’re soon going to have to say goodbye to the old Hotmail. Onward, we say. Filed under: Software , Microsoft Comments Source: Microsoft

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Outlook.com exits preview with 60 million active users, Hotmail UI to be retired this summer

Microsoft Is Finally Merging Skype and Windows Live Messenger This Spring

Ever since Microsoft acquired Skype and confirmed the end of Windows Live Messenger , a merger has been a tiny dot off on the horizon. Now Microsoft has pinned down when the two will become one : this April. More »

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Microsoft Is Finally Merging Skype and Windows Live Messenger This Spring

MediaPortal 2 Alpha 1 – Winter release!

Time for another Alpha release of the next generation in HTPC software:  Med iaPortal 2 ! A lot has been done since the autumn release, so the path to Alpha 2 is nearly gone. Please be aware that this is still an Alpha release , meaning that it isn’t either feature complete nor bug free, and therefor is not meant to be used on a productive system. Make sure that you read the instructions at the end of this news regarding installation, upgrade and extension compatibility. Summary of changes Here is a list of major changes since the autumn release: The internal player handling of MediaPortal 2 got extended to control an unlimited number of players, which allows us nice things like Video Backgrounds Better input handling including support for key shortcuts (see Keyboard shortcuts ) Copy and paste support for Text Controls / Virtual Keyboard Added UPnP compression support, which improves network performance Reworked the Fanart handling both on server (extensible provider structure) and client (faster loading) Multiple monitors are now supported correctly, MP2-Client can also run fullscreen on secondary screen Integrated news plugin, using news ticker in home screen Support for more power options. This will be used later for an advanced shutdown menu (WiP) Support for reading metadata from video MP4-tags Support for picture geo location (lookup country, state, city from GPS coordinates inside EXIF) Several tweaks done to further improve performance And last but not least:    The new skin for MediaPortal 2  –   Titanium!  Additionally there are new plugins available, ready to be used with the current Winter Release: Now it’s possible to use MySQL instead of Microsoft SQLCE, resulting in much better performance and no size limit for database. The required plugin can be downloaded separately from: ( MySQL database plugin ) Online Videos MP2 has been updated for Winter Release ( OnlineVideos MP2 ) ( coming soon : Integrated TVE3.5 test build:  Test builds for Native MP2 TV ) Screenshots To get a first impression of the new Titanium skin take a look at those screenshots:                     Installation Before installing MediaPortal 2, you need to make sure all requirements are installed. Then simply run the .msi installer file. For screenshots refer to our installation wiki .  Upgrade notes If you have an earlier version of MP2 installed, you need to recreate your shares for pictures . Due to the new location lookup feature the database has been extended. Remove your existing share, then add a new one for the same location. Feedback & Support Discuss this release in the official thread MediaPortal 2 Alpha 1 Winter Release! If you are looking for further information please check out MediaPortal 2 wiki first. We are heavily working to improve it. If you don’t find an answer there create a new thread in MediaPortal 2 forums . If you found a bug, please check Mantis & bug report forums first. If it has not been reported already, create a new thread. Download     If you would like to support MediaPortal, we would be happy to receive  a small donation ! The Team wishes you a lot of fun with this new release! .::. Download – MediaPortal 2.0 Alpha 1 Winter Release .::.   :: Post a Comment ::  

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MediaPortal 2 Alpha 1 – Winter release!

SkyDrive now hosting over a billion Office files, adds editing without Microsoft login

Microsoft’s cloud storage service SkyDrive has hit a significant numerical landmark: over a billion Office documents are now hosted on it . To celebrate, Redmond has made is a little easier to edit files using Office Web Apps — you no longer need to sign in using a Microsoft account (unless the sharing party wants you to), so if you’ve got the right link, you can start tweaking with minimal fuss. A billion Office files sounds like a big number, but we’d really like the details of how many users that’s spread over. As many as DropBox ? Who knows. Filed under: Internet , Software , Microsoft Comments Source: Microsoft

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SkyDrive now hosting over a billion Office files, adds editing without Microsoft login