Facebook uncovers user data sales

Facebook has clamped down on the selling of user IDs 

Facebook has taken action against developers it caught selling user names and contact lists.


The sales were uncovered as Facebook investigated a web browser bug that let user IDs be shared inadvertently.
The user details were sold to data brokers who used the information to target adverts more precisely.
The developers have been banned for six months from connecting to Facebook and must be audited to check they comply with the social network's policies.
Facebook started investigating what was happening with user identifiers (UIDs) following media reports that the information and lists of contacts were being sold on to advertising firms.
In a blog post, Facebook said its investigation showed that the technical demands of some browsers meant that some user IDs were being leaked.
It also discovered that some developers that create applications for the social network were taking the user IDs of those who used their creations and selling them on.
Facebook said the investigation "determined that no private user data was sold and confirmed that transfer of these UIDs did not give access to any private data".
Despite this, it said, it took the breach "seriously" and had imposed a six-month ban on the developers it caught out.

Read More:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11665120

HP introduces new ProLiant servers

Hewllet Packard

Frontline computer maker, Hewllet Packard has introduced three HP ProLiant G7 server platforms that offer a significant performance boost and enhanced power savings over previous generations, the company said in a statement on Friday.

Delivering a 23:1 consolidation ratio, HP ProLiant G7 servers with AMD Opteron 6100 Series processors increase operational efficiencies.

The new line includes the HP ProLiant DL165 G7, HP ProLiant DL385 G7, with rack-optimised servers, and the HP ProLiant SL165z G7 scale-out ”skinless” server.

HP ProLiant servers are part of the HP Converged Infrastructure portfolio, which integrates servers, storage, network devices and facility resources into a common environment, allowing IT to rapidly respond to business demands. HP ProLiant servers provide modular, standards-based building blocks that advance clients toward a converged infrastructure.

MLS Property Information Network Incorporated is one of the largest multiple listing service companies in the United States, serving nearly 30,000 subscribers. The company turned to HP ProLiant servers on AMD processors to improve customer experience.

“We face seasonal demand that increases by more than 500 per cent during the spring and, until recently, this strain on our server infrastructure affected our ability to provide great service to our customers,” the Director, Technology, MLS PIN, Mr. Matt Lavallee, said.

“Now, we‘ve doubled the number of concurrent users we can support while delivering dramatically faster page load times. HP‘s integrated Thermal Logic technology will help us reduce our total power and cooling costs by 60 per cent over the long term,” he added.

HP ProLiant servers include HP Thermal Logic technologies to reduce power consumption by as much as 96 per cent. Power savings are achieved through the combination of the following energy-saving features.

Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20101101173737

 

Apple joins world top five handset makers

Apple Incorporated
  

Apple Incorporated has become one of the world‘s top five mobile phone vendors in the third quarter, while market leader Nokia Oyj‘s share fell, Reuters reported on Friday, quoting two industry research groups.

Apple vaulted past Blackberry maker, Research In Motion Limited, to fourth place, helped by the introduction of the iPhone in new markets, International Data Corporation and Strategy Analytics said on Friday in reports.

If Apple produces an iPhone for Verizon Communications Incorporated‘s CDMA network, that could boost it further, Strategy Analytics wrote.

An IDC analyst, Mr. Kevin Restivo, said in the report, ”The entrance of Apple to the top five underscores the increased importance of smartphones to the overall market. Vendors that are not developing a strong portfolio of smartphones will be challenged to grow and retain market share in the future.”

Nokia, the world‘s biggest mobile-phone maker since 1998, slipped to 32.4 per cent of the market from 36.5 per cent a year earlier as Chinese brands challenged the Finnish company in emerging markets, according to IDC figures.

Samsung Electronics Company, the second-largest, rose to 21 per cent while the other big Korean handset vendor, LG Electronics, slipped by more than two percentage points to 8.3 per cent, IDC said.

Global shipments rose by 14.6 million to 340.5 million units according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC.

Strategy Analytics pegged them lower, at 327 million units, noting that the rate of growth slowed from the first half as component shortages trimmed sales.

“Touchscreens, application processors and cameras are among the components experiencing volatile supply,” Mr. Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics wrote in his report. ”Many component manufacturers reduced production output during the recession of 2009 and they are struggling, or even unwilling, to restore the capacity in the upturn of 2010,” he added.

The analysts‘ totals and market share figures differed because IDC counted a larger number of handsets for the ”other” category, which included new vendors in Asia.

Source:http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201011011285715