Google announced a big addition to Google Maps today. “Today we’ve added biking directions and extensive bike trail data to Google Maps for the U.S.,” reports Shannon Guymon, Product Manager for the biking directions team. In cooperation with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to building a nationwide network of trails for healthier living, Google has marked over 12,000 miles of trails for this maps venture.
The bicycling feature even goes above and beyond by taking in numerous factors to calculate the most efficient bike route possible. Google takes a look at roads with bike lanes, busy intersections and steep hills — then computes all that data to output the best route possible. Basically, Google is looking out for bicyclists… safest, quickest path possible while trying to avoid hill-peddling exhaustion. Similar to the road maps, bicyclists may also customize their trip by dragging their path to a desired route.
This feature is currently available for 150 cities across the United States. Since it’s in beta, it’s constantly being improved upon and feedback is encouraged. Roll on over to Google Maps Biking to try it out. Hey, just in time for spring too!
Reuters tells us that the FCC will be proposing a dedicated spectrum for free wireless Internet. Not much else has been said about the implementation of “free or very low cost wireless broadband service,” since the recommendation, under the National Broadband Plan does not release until next week.
If this happens, we won’t be the first to offer some sort of public Internet access. Apparently Finland has plans for 100mb broadband by 2015, as Harri Pursiainen, secretary at the transport and communications minister, believes “data connections are no longer entertainment but a necessity.” A slower 1mb broadband has been slated to start in July for the interim.
And the Finnish aren’t the only ones who believe Internet access is a right… BBC World Service recently conducted a study where “almost four in five people around the world believe that access to the Internet is a fundamental right.” The survey included the opinions of over 27,000 adults throughout 26 countries.
So, back home? Will it happen? I suppose only time will tell…
Effective June 30, 2010, Microsoft will be discontinuing their mid-market infrastructure solution, Windows Essential Business Server (EBS). The Windows EBS blog explains, “midsize businesses are rapidly turning to technologies such as management, virtualization and cloud computing as a means to cut costs, improve efficiency, and increase competitiveness. Those capabilities are already available through other offerings, including Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft System Center and the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).”
This announcement does not affect any other Windows Server products — Windows Small Business Server (SBS) remains unaffected. Current EBS 2008 customers may take advantage of a limited time offer from Microsoft. From June 30, 2010 to December 31, 2010, “currently EBS 2008 customers can get the individual component software from the EBS 2008 suite for free (local taxes, shipping and handling charges may apply).” Visit http://www.microsoft.com/ebs for more information on this offer.
I’m going to come right out and say it. The Oscars were boring last night! Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are two hilarious talents, but last night… I was not amused. Where did Neil Patrick Harris go the rest of the night? That made no sense at all. Just because Hugh Jackman did a successful number last year doesn’t mean you should repeat it — especially if the singer is not also going to be the host the rest of the night! What happened, Academy?!
Well, all is not lost I suppose. I’ve got a blog post out of it! While sort of paying attention to the Oscars last night, my friend Alex screamed out, “What?! They have a 3D TV now?!” Yep, it’s true. According to Gizmodo, Best Buy will be rolling out a couple Samsung LED 3D HDTVs on March 21st.
It’s not uncommon that airports have free wi-fi. It’s also not that uncommon that your flight has (possibly not free) wi-fi now. I’ve even frequented a commuter van pool that had wi-fi for us to continue working while traveling up and down the canyon — a way of encouraging more time to work or a nice gesture allowing you to escape work sooner (hmm… you be the judge). What’s next?
Well, according to the China Post, 1,000 taxis in Taipei will soon be offering Internet services. By March 9th, VMAX Telecom Co., one of six WiMAX licensed operators in Taiwan, will launch the service through taxis installed with WiMAX technology. “For the first time ever, taxis will be equipped with WiMAX technology to offer passengers wireless access to the Internet,” said a VMAX spokesperson. The service will be free for the initial trial period to assess whether the service will make any money long-term. As passengers use the Internet services provided during their ride, they will also be polled.
VMAX Telecom predicts the 1,000 equipped taxis will poll a minimum of 15,000 people a day. The capital city of Taipei is home to over 2.5 million people — that’s more than 10x the population of Salt Lake metro. It’s also home to a widely used bus system, train system (including the fairly new MRT) and subway system. I think it’s fair to say that Taipei is a metropolitan city where taxis are utilized fairly often. Actually, I think there was a day when I was in town and commuted in four separate taxis, all during lunch time! But, I wonder just how much the Internet can be utilized during a short car ride though…
Cyber criminals related to the Mariposa botnet were finally arrested last month. The Mariposa botnet, a network of 12 zombie computers assembled together to steal personal information, is believed to have infected approximately 13 million computers in more than 190 countries. The botnet spread over P2P networks, infected USB drives and through web links. After a user was infected, malware would begin to install and allow the hackers to access sensitive information.
The Register reports that “half the roster of Fortune 1000 companies harboured machines infected by Mariposa at one time or another.” In fact, Christopher Davis, chief exec at Defence Intelligence in Canada, says, “It would be easier for me to provide a list of the Fortune 1000 companies that weren’t compromised, rather than the long list of those who were.”
After Davis first discovered Mariposa in May 2009, he teamed up with Georgia Tech Information Security Center, PandaLabs and law enforcement personnel to form the Mariposa Working Group. After months of collaboration, Panda Security, other security experts and law enforcement were able to shut down Mariposa on December 23, 2009.
Are you using Internet Explorer 7 or 8? Beware, it’s possible that you are at risk for a recently discovered vulnerability revealed by iSEC Security Research.
“Microsoft is investigating new public claims of a vulnerability involving the use of VBScript and Windows Help files within Internet Explorer,” says Jerry Bryant, senior manager with the Microsoft Security Response Center. So far, “the current state of our investigations shows that Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2, are not affected.” In addition, Bryan also notes Microsoft hasn’t seen any attacks yet stemming from this vulnerability.
The Microsoft Security Response Center blog reminds us that “only Windows 2000 and Windows XP are impacted” and “Windows 2003 Server is also impacted, but the issue is mitigated in the default configuration due to the presence of the Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration.”
A security advisory issued by Microsoft earlier today tells us, “the main impact of the vulnerability is remote code execution.” Basically, the F1 key (which activates Windows Help) could be used to execute malicious code that may pass along sensitive information of the user. Microsoft is currently working on a security patch to fix this flaw, so in the meantime, don’t hit that F1 key! You could also protect yourself by locking down the Windows Help system. Further instructions can be found on the MSRC blog post.
If you’re ready to drop IE, like Google did yesterday, you could always entertain the idea of switching to FireFox or Chrome…
As a massive company that relies on foreign contractors, “Apple is committed to ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility wherever our products are made.” Apparently, those foreign contractors are not as keen on Apple’s outlook regarding social responsibility.
In Apple’s 2009 audit for 102 of their supplier facilities, 17 “core” (another word for “serious”) violations were discovered. This includes three cases of underage labor where, “Apple discovered three facilities that had previously hired 15-year-old workers in countries where the minimum age for employment is 16.” In addition, the auditors also “found records of 11 workers who had been hired prior to reaching the legal age, although the workers were no longer underage or no longer in active employment” at the time of audit.
There were also eight cases of workers paying “recruitment” fees over the limits of local law and workers at 24 factories that were earning less than local minimum wage — recruitment fees were collected for the benefit and privilege of being able to work.
Oh, and what else? Well, there were 48 factories cheated their workers of overtime and 57 factories that cheated workers out of rightful sick leave and other benefits.
A couple of eye-brow raising stats came out recently. The Society for New Communications Research released a study regarding journalists and their use of social media. It’s no shock that the study revealed the “use of social media tools by journalists is surging, growing in double-digit percentages in some cases.” But, as ZDNet points out… there’s interesting insight to how many of the 341 journalists surveyed are not taking advantage of social media sites.
Beck & Lee (Miami) and the Weston Firm (San Diego) filed a class action lawsuit against Yelp yesterday. Why? Well, according to the Yelp Class Action Website, “the lawsuit alleges that Yelp runs an extortion scheme in which the company’s employees call businesses demanding monthly payments, in the guise of ‘advertising contracts,’ in exchange for removing or modifying negative reviews appearing on the website.”
Last year, Kathleen Richards at East Bay Express wrote an article about how several businesses in the Bay Area were contacted by Yelp. John, a restaurant owner in the Bay, was contacted about negative reviews that were featured prominently on his Yelp site. “We can move them,” said the Yelp sales rep. Then came, “Well, for $299 a month.” Ha! What?! Although the article mentions this issue is addressed in the Yelp FAQ, there are a number a local business owners that challenge the statement. Yelp denies the statements addressed in Richards’ article though. The Wall Street Journal did an article on these events.
Cyber criminals related to the Mariposa botnet were finally arrested last month. The Mariposa botnet, a network of 12 zombie computers assembled together to steal personal information, is believed to have infected approximately 13 million computers in more than 190 countries. The botnet spread over P2P networks, infected USB drives and through web links. After a user was infected, malware would begin to install and allow the hackers to access sensitive information.
Are you using Internet Explorer 7 or 8? Beware, it’s possible that you are at risk for a recently discovered vulnerability revealed by 
As a massive company that relies on foreign contractors, “Apple is committed to ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility wherever our products are made.” Apparently, those foreign contractors are not as keen on Apple’s outlook regarding social responsibility.
