25/09/2007 by swordfish.

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said on Monday his office has subpoenaed Facebook, accusing the social networking site of not keeping young users safe from sexual predators and not responding to user complaints.

In a letter accompanying a subpoena for documents, Cuomo said a preliminary review revealed defects in Facebook’s safety controls and in its response to complaints. He said the shortcomings contrasted with assurances made by the company.

In recent weeks, N.Y. state investigators have went undercover to test Facebook’s safety controls and procedures, posing as underage users. The investigators were solicited by adult sexual predators and could access pornographic images and videos, Cuomo said.

A spokeswoman for Facebook, based in Palo Alto, California, said the company was aware of the subpoena and was preparing a statement.

Source: Yahoo News

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25/09/2007 by swordfish.

Apple has warned users that upcoming iPhone updates could ruin the device for users of third-party unlocking software.

The company said in a statement on Monday that it has found “irreparable damage” caused to the phone’s software by many of the unlocking tools currently available.

When new updates are installed, the iPhone could be rendered “permanently inoperable”. The iPhone will also be unfixable, as the company pointed out that unlocking the iPhone is a violation of the licensing agreement and voids the warranty.

Previous updates have told users with modified iPhones that the device was damaged and needed to be reformatted. An Apple spokesperson told vnunet.com that this update will render even that option unusable.

Apple executives have said that the company does not purposely design updates to disable or damage hacked iPhones, but warned that it would not accept any responsibility if its updates damaged phones with third-party software.

Currently, the Safari browser engine is the only supported method for developers to code for the iPhone.

Source: Yahoo News

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25/09/2007 by swordfish.

Bosses are not planning to make the iPhone available to employees as a corporate mobile option because of the high price tag and network-operator restriction.

Apple has just revealed details of the UK version of the iPhone, which will be available from 9 November. At an event in London, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs named O2 as the exclusive mobile operator for the iPhone, which will cost £269 in addition to a monthly contract ranging from £35 to £55.

Despite the cost, a poll of more than 700 readers by ZDNet.co.uk’s sister site silicon.com found a third would switch mobile operator just to get their hands on an iPhone. The US version has already sold more than one million handsets in the first 74 days since it launched.

However, when silicon.com asked a 12-strong CIO Jury IT director panel whether they have plans to make the iPhone available to staff in the range of corporate phones they offer, only one said that they would.

Source: ZDNET

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25/09/2007 by swordfish.

Microsoft released the beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to a private group of testers, taking one step closer to the anticipated official launch in the first quarter of next year.

Nick White, a program manager on the Vista team, announced the beta drop in a posting to a company blog. “Today we release the Beta of windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) to a private group of Beta testers via connect.microsoft.com,” White said, referring to Microsoft’s beta test site.

Late last month, when Microsoft finally confirmed the beta and partially outlined its schedule, an executive promised that SP1’s first preview would be out before the end of September.

Microsoft has invited approximately 12,000 people to test SP1, Mike Nash, the head of Windows client operating system product management, said in a videotaped interview posted on Microsoft’s Channel 9 site. A later build during the release candidate period will be available to a larger group. Microsoft has said that MSDN and TechNet subscribers will be able to participate in that round of testing.

In his interview, Nash stressed that Vista SP1 would be very different from 2004’s Windows XP SP2, the last service pack Microsoft delivered. “The philosophy is very different,” Nash said, referring to Vista SP1 and repeating the message other executives delivered in August when the service pack was revealed. In XP SP2, we were creating a lot of new functionality. [Vista] SP1 is just focused on addressing the issues we’ve heard about,” and it will not add new features or capability to the operating system, he said.

Source: computerworld.com

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