Exclusive: News Corp, popular tech blog contemplate split - sources

AllThingsD, the widely read technology blog run by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, has begun discussions with owner News Corp about extending or ending their partnership, sources familiar with the situation.

According to these sources, AllThingsD's contract with News Corp expires at the end of the year. One of the sources said Swisher and Mossberg have to deliver a business plan by next week to Robert Thomson, the former Wall Street Journal managing editor who will helm News Corp's publishing unit as CEO after it is spun off.

The fact that AllThingsD's contract is up this year is well known, and sources said the website is receiving a lot of "inbound interest" from potential buyers parallel to its talks with News Corp.
Among the names mentioned as having reached out to AllThingsD were Conde Nast, where Swisher recently signed to work as a contributing writer for Vanity Fair, and Hearst.
Sources also speculated that former Yahoo and News Corp executive Ross Levinsohn might be looking at the website given his new role as Chief Executive of Guggenheim Digital Media, which comes complete with "significant capital to acquire and invest in new media companies." The private equity shop already owns Billboard, Hollywood Reporter, and Adweek.
AllThingsD has reported that AOL expressed interest in acquiring it in the past, but said those talks "were preliminary at best."
Calls to AllThingsD were referred to a News Corp representative who declined comment. A Conde Nast representative declined comment. Calls to Hearst were not immediately returned. Calls and emails to Ross Levinsohn were not returned.
While AllThingsD is recognized as the brainchild of Swisher and Mossberg, News Corp actually owns the website and its name. However, according to provisions in their contract, Swisher and Mossberg have approval authority over any sale, the first source said.
Technically, News Corp could retain the AllThingsD name in the event of a sale, forcing Swisher and Mossberg to start a new venture under a different brand name. But historically in these types of situations a deal is usually worked out to allow the founders to take the company name with them as part of a settlement.
Sources described the website and conference business combined as profitable. It has grown into a technology industry must-read, and features a popular conference division known for snagging A-list corporate executives for intimate interview sessions. Apple's Steve Jobs, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and virtually every other major technology executive has spoken at the D Conference, as it is known.
Earlier this week, AllThingsD's well-regarded media writer, Peter Kafka, led a media-centric conference for the website that included panels with Intel's Erik Huggers, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, and Netflix's programming boss Ted Sarandos, among others.
The website has two more conferences on the docket for this year: a mobile one that was postponed until April due to Hurricane Sandy, and the main D Conference in May.
Sources described the relationship between News Corp and AllThingsD as amicable but stressed.
"Like all partnership, there could be more cooperation between the two," said one source. "There is tension between AllThingsD and the Wall Street Journal, for example."
As a result of management changes, over the last few years the website has reported to numerous News Corp executives, among them Gordon Crovitz, Les Hinton, and now Lex Fenwick and Robert Thomson.
Should the two sides reach a deal on a new contract, AllThingsD would be included as part of the publishing unit in the News Corp split.

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Hacker says security flaw let him access any Facebook profile

The social network recently fixed a bug discovered by a developer who demonstrated how the loophole let him take over other people's accounts.

A security hacker recently found a flaw in a Facebook system that allowed developers to access anyone's Facebook account through app permissions.

Though Facebook has fixed this issue, Nir Goldshlager, a Web application security specialist who looks for these types of flaws professionally, found more app authorization bugs that need fixing, according to his blog. App permissions are what developers use to access the user data needed to run their apps. Users give them access permission when they install the apps.

"I found a couple more OAuth flaws in Facebook, just waiting for a fix to post about it," Goldshlager wrote in his blog, where he detailed his findings.

Facebook wouldn't comment on what other flaws Goldshlager may have found but did say the original bug he detected had not been taken advantage of by actual Facebook developers. The company didn't say when Goldshlager reported the flaw.

"We applaud the security researcher who brought this issue to our attention and for responsibly reporting the bug to our White Hat Program. We worked with the team to make sure we understood the full scope of the vulnerability, which allowed us to fix it without any evidence that this bug was exploited in the wild," a Facebook representative wrote in an e-mail to CNET. "Due to the responsible reporting of this issue to Facebook, we have no evidence that users were impacted by this bug. We have provided a bounty to the researcher to thank them for their contribution to Facebook Security." 

The bug Goldschlager found allowed him to steal access tokens and gain full access to a profile as a developer. This included messages, pages management, ad management, private photos, and videos. This applied to profiles that didn't install extra apps because he could go through Facebook's built-in apps, like messenger, as well. The tokens for third-party apps didn't expire unless the victim changed his or her password, but the messenger app tokens for Facebook messenger never expired, he wrote. 

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North Korea to offer mobile internet access

North Korean mobile phone provider Koryolink is planning to launch a 3G data service for foreign visitors and residents from abroad.

Egyptian telecoms firm Orascom, which is a partner in Koryolink, estimates that more than 1 million North Koreans use mobile phones.

They will not be able to use the new service, according to reports.

Orascom launched a 3G phone network inside North Korea in 2008, but users can only use it to make phone calls.

International calls, including calls to South Korea, are banned.

In January 2013 the government began allowing foreign visitors to bring their own mobile devices into the country with them for the first time.

Following a recent visit to the notoriously closed country, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt wrote in a blog post that North Korea's decision to isolate itself "is very much going to affect their physical world and their economic growth."

He added that it would be "very easy" for 3G internet access to be enabled on the existing service.

Current internet access is extremely limited for locals, with most people only having access to a small number of state-run pages.

North Korea expert Scott Thomas Bruce previously told the BBC this comprises mainly "message boards, chat functions, and state sponsored media".

"The system they've set up is one that they can control and tear down if necessary," he said.

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PlayStation 4: Sony to unveil next generation gaming console

Electronics giant Sony is unveiling details of its latest gaming console, the PlayStation 4, at an event in New York. Follow live updates as the event unfolds ...

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China says U.S. hacking accusations lack technical proof

Accusations by a U.S. computer security company that a secretive Chinese military unit is likely behind a series of hacking attacks are scientifically flawed and hence unreliable, China's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

The statement came after the White House said overnight that the Obama administration has repeatedly taken up its concerns about cyber-theft at the highest levels of the Chinese government, including with Chinese military officials.
The security company, Mandiant, identified the People's Liberation Army's Shanghai-based Unit 61398 as the most likely driving force behind the hacking. Mandiant said it believed the unit had carried out "sustained" attacks on a wide range of industries.
The Chinese Defence Ministry, which has already denied the charges, went further in a new statement, slamming Mandiant for relying on spurious data.
"The report, in only relying on linking IP address to reach a conclusion the hacking attacks originated from China, lacks technical proof," the ministry said in a statement on its website (www.mod.gov.cn).
"Everyone knows that the use of usurped IP addresses to carry out hacking attacks happens on an almost daily basis," it added.
"Second, there is still no internationally clear, unified definition of what consists of a 'hacking attack'. There is no legal evidence behind the report subjectively inducing that the everyday gathering of online (information) is online spying."
As hacking is a cross-border, anonymous and deceptive phenomenon, by its very nature it is hard to work out exactly where hacks originated, the statement said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, asked about the U.S. taking up its concerns about hacking with Beijing, said: "China and the U.S. have maintained communication over the relevant issue".
Unit 61398 is located in Shanghai's Pudong district, China's financial and banking hub, and is staffed by perhaps thousands of people proficient in English as well as computer programming and network operations, Mandiant said in its report.
The unit had stolen "hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations across a diverse set of industries beginning as early as 2006", it said.
Most of the victims were located in the United States, with smaller numbers in Canada and Britain. The information stolen ranged from details on mergers and acquisitions to the emails of senior employees, the company said.
But the Chinese Defence Ministry said China's own figures show that a "considerable" number of hacking attacks it is subjected to come from the United States.
"But we don't use this as a reason to criticize the United States," the ministry said.
However, the Global Times, a widely read tabloid published by Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, said China should be more active in publicly airing its complaints about hacking attacks, especially as the United States does so.
"Some officials have been punished for internally reporting that government websites have been hacked and secrets leaked, but almost no details have come out," it wrote.
"The Americans really know how to talk this (issue) up. All China can do is concede defeat."

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How Google is preparing the world for Glass

analysis Amid skepticism and name-calling ("Glassholes!"), Google makes a strategic effort to bring wearable computing to the mainstream.

Early this morning, while most of the West Coast slept, Google took the next steps in introducing Google Glass to the world.

A sleek website, highlighted by a crisp, new video, started to answer basic questions about the device for the broader world. How does it look? What does it do? Can I use it while dancing with a ballerina? (You can.)

Along with the new glimpses of Glass came a contest designed to lure early adopting enthusiasts in the United States. The simple request: "Using Google+ or Twitter, tell us what you would do if you had Glass, starting with the hashtag #ifihadglass." Contestants have until February 27 to make their pitch, and if successful, they still have to pay $1,500 to get the Explorer edition. Twitter quickly lit up with ideas, from recording fencing bouts to secretly checking Wikipedia while talking with friends. (Then there was Andre Torrez, who said he "could record your face and location and give it to a massive advertising company.")

A move to the mainstream
What's noteworthy here are the many steps Google is taking to position Glass as a mainstream product, useful in all manner of situations. The typical Google product rollout is to hold an hourlong event with the press, put up a Web page, and start selling. In contrast, Glass is a product that Google is introducing over a period of years -- announced in 2012, it won't be available to consumers until next year at the earliest. Why the slow rollout? In part, the reasons are practical: Both the hardware and the software are still in development. And as a product with no competition, Glass can afford to take some extra time coming to market.

But it may turn out that Glass' biggest challenge in the marketplace isn't the technology itself but perception. Already, Googlers spotted wearing the devices are being derided on Twitter and TechCrunch as "Glassholes." When a Glass-wearing Googler walked into Shotwell's, a bar in the Mission, owner Tom Madonna was aghast: "They (were) wearing Google Glasses! In public! In A BAR!"

"When you buy a new phone, it's in your pocket, but this, you're wearing something on your face," Madonna told Alexis Madrigal in The Atlantic. "Anyone that cares what they look like is not gonna wear Google glasses. That's my opinion," Madonna said. "If you are super nerdy and you like to show off that you're in tech and smart and all those things, I can see you probably wearing Google Glasses, but you are probably in a bubble or...new."

It's a widely held view, and one that may prove definitive, particularly if Glass can't deliver the experiences promised in that video Google released today. And yet many of the same criticisms of Glass -- it's a weirdo nerd contraption for your head -- could also be said of Bluetooth headsets, which sold 40 million units in their first four years on the market. Sales slowed as the devices came to be perceived as eyesores. But the headsets serve a single purpose -- making phone calls -- that itself is on the decline. Google Glass promises to deliver a dynamic heads-up display for the world around you. It just has to convince you to try it. 

Google's Project Glass electronic eyewear is "strong and light,"

 

 

So how does Google do that? The strategy looks like this.

1. Arm the developers.

2. Court evangelists.

3. Win the mainstream.

The developers
The arming of developers began last year, at Google I/O, when Glass-wearing parachutists jumped out of blimps and streamed the entire thing to an audience of slack-jawed programmers inside San Francisco's Moscone Center. It continued last month at Google Glass Foundry, when developers in New York and San Francisco got to start building applications for the device. Google coyly teased the event with a series of photos that said nothing about software development but still managed to show a diverse group of developers looking handsome and futuristic. The photos were reposted to nearly every tech news outlet on the Web.

The result of these efforts will be to ensure that a range of applications are available for Glass the day it launches, likely including some that you already use today on your smartphone. Evernote CEO Phil Libin told me that he began dreaming about all the ways his service could work with Glass the moment he saw it; when I asked the PR team whether the company had attended Glass Foundry last month, I got the kind of swift "no comment" that can only be the result of a nondisclosure agreement. But apps like Evernote will be essential to Glass' prospects -- familiar apps will make a strange, new device seem less so.

The evangelists
Google's next step is to build an army of people who can promote Glass by word of mouth. In the year since the device was announced, Google has regularly shown off Glass to visitors in Mountain View and guests at its parties. It gave demonstrations to tech reporters, this one included. In a triumph of aspirational marketing, Google put Glass on runway models at a Diane von Furstenburg show for Fashion Week. And Googlers are increasingly spotted wearing Glass in the wild -- Sergey Brin, who runs the Google X division where Glass is being built, is rarely spotted in public these days without it.

All these moves start to build buzz for Glass, as people given early access brag to friends about their experience wearing the device. To date Google has managed the neat trick of showing Glass off enough times to build awareness while still having a sighting feel like a genuine event, something you talk about with friends for days after.

Today's move will only create more evangelists. The #ifihadglass hashtag is already taking off on Twitter and Google+. The contestants will undoubtedly come up with creative uses for Glass that only serve to make the product look cooler. And it will all get outsized attention, as we collectively wonder whether wearable computing is on the verge of breaking through to the mainstream and whether Google is the company that makes it happen.

The mainstream
All of which will lead to step three. To win the mainstream Google will have to persuade those skeptics that wearable computers offer significant and unique benefits, enough to offset the risk of being branded a Glasshole by passersby. The surest way to do that is ubiquity -- but how does Google sell Glass in the first place?

Here's where those rumored retail stores come into play. As with other breakthrough devices, including the iPhone and the iPad, Glass benefits from first-hand experience. Snap a few photos, take some video, Google a few things with your voice, and suddenly that skepticism begins to soften.

None of these strategies will matter if Glass itself falls short -- if the user interface proves too difficult to muster, if the battery life falls short, if the price doesn't come down from $1,500 fast enough. Perceptions can be hard to change, and the critics will only get louder when the device comes to market. But Google, methodical and relentless, is taking the long view. If Google Glass is a success in 2014, it will be because of steps the company starts taking years before it ever went on sale.

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1-2 Celestial Punch Raises Questions About Space Object Defenses

Two big space rocks, two close calls, within 24 hours: The large meteor that burned up over northern Russia Thursday surprised everyone, while Friday's close fly-by of a 150-foot-long asteroid was discovered less than a year ago. Suddenly, a scenario for a Michael Bay movie is that much closer to reality and is sparking discussions about tracking and defending threats from space.

A blazing meteor streaked across the skies of Russia on Thursday, leaving a large smoke trail in its wake before blowing up over the remote town of Chelyabinsk in the Ural mountains. More than 1,000 people reported injuries, and windows across the region were shattered by a deafening sonic boom.

A meteor seen flying over Russia on Feb. 15 at 3:20:26 UTC impacted Chelyabinsk. Preliminary information is that this object was unrelated to asteroid 2012 DA14, which made a safe pass by Earth today. (Image credit: Google Earth, NASA/JPL-Caltech)

 

 

On Friday, a 150-foot-wide asteroid named 2012 DA14 whizzed by the Earth with just over 17,000 miles of separation to spare. That makes it the closest approach ever to the planet for a space rock of that size.

The two celestial events were not connected, NASA said; they approached the Earth from different trajectories. Yet they are just two of several meteors and asteroids that have come close to the Earth in the past few years.

There are between 3,200 and 4,700 potentially hazardous asteroids in our solar system, NASA estimated. This week's sky shows, while fascinating to watch, have spurred discussions about whether the system for detecting potentially dangerous meteors and asteroids is adequate -- and if not, what is being done about it. 

More on the Chelyabinsk Meteor

The meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk was the largest reported since 1908, when one hit Tunguska in Siberia. It entered the atmosphere at about 40,000 mph, or 18 km per second, NASA said, and released several hundred kilotons of energy.

The meteor measured about 49 feet and had a mass of about 7,000 tons. It was brighter than the sun, and its trail was visible for about 30 seconds. It had a very shallow angle of entry.

The meteor might have exploded because it was either big or dense enough that it didn't burn up entirely in the atmosphere, but still experienced "immense aerodynamic pressures [that were] enough to structurally deform it," said Ben Corbin, a Ph.D. candidate in aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It's simply a matter of how much energy is getting displaced at once."

If the meteor had hit a densely populated area, it could have taken out an entire city, William Newman, professor of earth and space sciences at the University of California at Los Angeles, told TechNewsWorld.

Blind Man's Bluff

The other big space rock to make the news, 2012 DA14, was discovered on February 23, 2012, and has been tracked closely since then. That raises the question of why the Chelyabinsk meteor seemed to have come out of nowhere.

One reason: The Chelyabinsk meteor was too small, being about 1.5 meters on a side, whereas 2012 DA14 "is about half the size of a football field," Newman said. "It's possible to see a railroad car heading towards us at a distance, but it's impossible to see a baseball or bullet heading our way."

 Asteroids that cross the Earth's orbit are only visible in daytime, so they're harder to observe than those outside Earth's orbit, Corbin told TechNewsWorld. They can be detected with radar, but that technology can only be used to find objects when they're very close, because radar waves have to be bounced off the subject.

NASA maintains a database of asteroids that could impact the planet as part of its Near Earth Object program.

The program "is able to detect about 90 percent" of the larger asteroids that could impact Earth, and "we're getting to the point where we'll be able to detect almost all of those," Newman said.

A Future Early Warning System?

The Chelyabinsk meteor shows the need to set up spacecraft circling the Earth to intercept and evaluate incoming threats, argued Rick Tumlinson, chairman of Deep Space Industries, which plans to mine asteroids for their precious metals.

The company is working on the FireFly spacecraft that would begin prospecting for potential target asteroids in 2015, and the larger Dragonfly spacecraft that would do the actual mining work.

Placing a circle of 10 Fireflies around the planet would cost about US$100 million and take about four years, Tumlinson estimated.

"We're talking about space budgets," Tumlinson told TechNewsWorld. "The idea is to send out the Fireflies to take close-up shots, then for the Dragonflies to come back with samples so they can be analyzed. By 2021, we can make contact with the asteroids and figure out which ones can be mined safely, and which will need to have their orbits shifted so they don't threaten Earth."

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Best tablet keyboards: Bluetooth extras for iPad, Android or Windows

Buying Guide Find the best keyboard for you and your table.

 

A tablet might be irresistible, but bashing away at a virtual keyboard on a touchscreen certainly is not. OK, so tapping out the odd message or email is fine, but anyone after serious productivity on an iPad or Android tablet needs a good add-on keyboard.

Capable of creating a mobile and compact office that cuts down on clutter and weight, wireless Bluetooth keyboards come both separately and in cases custom-made to suit specific tablets - most often the iPad, although iPad mini products are beginning to emerge, too.

Or you could buck the trend and buy a netbook. No? Oh well, we tried. On with our roundup of the best keyboards for tablet PCs then...

1. Logitech K810 Bluetooth Illuminated Keyboard - £90/US$100 (around AU$135)

 

Logitech makes a play for the best and most versatile Bluetooth keyboard around for any kind of use - mobile or desktop - with its slick illuminated K810. The headline feature is a thing of wonder; as your finger approaches the keys they subtly light up from behind, only to fade out a second or so after your pinkies have left the letters. LED-powered so using negligible power despite this trickery (its mini USB-fed battery is slated to last for over a week), the K810 nevertheless peaks not with flashy features but solid usability.

The keys are soft to touch and nicely spaced to avoid mistakes and mis-types, with Windows 8 keys included, too, though it's the trio of Bluetooth connections that are as much of a standout feature; up to three LED indicators are lit as your pair up to three devices with the Logitech K810, which makes switching between a tablet, phone and desktop PC a cinch.

Fashioned from brushed aluminium and weighing around 335g (11.82oz), the K810 is reference quality in performance as well as price.

Read our Logitech K810 Bluetooth Illuminated Keyboard review

2. Belkin Portable Keyboard Case for iPad mini - £70/US$80 (around AU$107)

 

Designed specifically for Apple's micro-pad, this 276g (9.74oz) rubberised plastic case wraps around an iPad mini and instantly creates a thoroughly portable office.

Gripping its guest at the corners though being careful to leave a gap for the iPad mini's headphones slot and a cut-out for the 5 megapixel camera, a magnet ensures the whole thing stays securely closed.

It pairs over Bluetooth very easily, and the accurate, comfortable keyboard also operates basic iOS functions. The slight downside - apart from the high price - is that the keyboard isn't quite as sturdy as it could be, and if hammered at it does arch inwards. It's said to last 155 hours on a single charge.

3. Cygnett KeyPad Wireless Bluetooth keyboard - £40/US$80 (around AU$60)

 

One of the smallest and best value keyboards around, this decidedly plasticky effort from Cygnett measures just 218 x 91mm (8.58 x 3.58 inches( and weighs 220g (7.76oz). In the box is a retractable mini USB cable for recharging.

Sitting fairly high off a surface at about 17mm (0.67 inches), the Cygnett is about the same size as the Belkin though isn't particularly aimed at the iPad mini. Suited to use with any Bluetooth device, this solidly made product nevertheless doesn't put quite enough space between individual buttons.

Mistakes do creep in, it's true, though if you use it for five minutes it gets much easier, though it's a touch fiddly to use elsewhere, too. Pairing with a Bluetooth gadget involves tampering with what looks like a 'reset' button on the back of the keyboard, which necessitates finding a pen.

4. Archos Ultrathin Bluetooth Keyboard Cover for iPad - £50 (around US$77/AU$75)

 

At just 5mm (0.20 inches) deep, this is as thin as it gets in the small world of Bluetooth keyboard covers for iPads. Weighing a paltry 240g (8.47 inches), this QWERTY keyboard clips onto an iPad 2, 3 or 4 in an almost identical magnetic fashion to the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover, though Archos claims that it's almost as slim as the ubiquitous SmartCover.

It's different to the Logitech in other ways, too, using a fold-down kickstand to prop up an iPad instead of a canal - a process perfected by using the iPad's magnets once again - and though it has an aluminium outer to match an iPad, the keyboard is white. It's destined to last for over two months between charges.

5. MobileFun Flexible Bluetooth Mini Keyboard - £30/US$48/AU$40

Though not exactly executive-grade, this roll-up keyboard is something of a traveller's gem. Best thought of as an occasional weapon for backpackers - perhaps for emailing sessions or keeping a travel journal - this is super-lightweight gear at a mere 95g (3.35oz), and it rolls up to the size of a Coke can.

Working only with Apple products despite being purely Bluetooth-fuelled, this roll-up is a fully featured keyboard with everything from caps lock and F numbers to fast forward and print screen (a little hopeful, that one). The buttons are a millimetre or so too small, but mistypes - while common - are acceptable, primarily since typing fast is possible, and there are cursor keys and a backspace key to make editing easy. It comes with a retractable mini USB cable for charging, though it lasts for weeks.

6. Logitech Solar Keyboard Folio for iPad - £120/US$130/AU$150

 

A solar-powered wraparound keyboard case for the iPad 2, 3 & 4, this Logitech is made to move. With a solar panel on its front capable of providing enough keyboard power for a stunning two years, the Logitech Solar Keyboard Folio aims to provide protection as well as a convenient keyboard.

It uses a magnet to instantly switch an iPad on and off when the folio is opened, and can act as an iPad stand in two different positions; the first uses a groove above the keyboard for work, and the second, more laid-back position uses grooves either side of the space bar for movies.

It's expensive, and there are better keyboards available, but if you're after an occasional keyboard and a clean experience, this could be ideal; the solar power makes this the only Bluetooth keyboard around that doesn't need to travel with a micro USB cable in tow for occasional recharging.

 

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