DOJ expands review of planned Microsoft-Yahoo agreement

The U.S. Department of Justice has asked Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. to hand over more information regarding their proposed search partnership. Nina Blackwell, a spokeswoman for Yahoo, said both companies are cooperating with federal regulators. "[We] firmly believe that the information [we] will be providing will confirm that this deal is not only good for both companies, but it is also good for advertisers, good for publishers, and good for consumers," she added. A Microsoft spokesman confirmed in an e-mail to Computerworld today that the DOJ requested additional information, but added that it came as no surprise. "As expected, we received additional request for information about the agreement earlier this week," wrote the spokesman, Jack Evans. "When the deal was announced, we said we anticipated a close review of the agreement given its scope, and we continue to be hopeful that it will close early next year." Evans declined to disclose exactly what information the DOJ is looking for.

Microsoft and Yahoo announced late in July that they had finalized negotiations on a deal that will have Microsoft's Bing search engine powering Yahoo's sites, while Yahoo sells premium search advertising services for both companies. Microsoft officials contend that the deal with Yahoo will improve competition in the search market. The partnership, which was a year-and-a-half in the making , is aimed at enabling the companies to take on search behemoth Google as a united force. Matthew Cantor, a partner at Constantine Cannon LLP in New York and an experienced antitrust litigator, disagrees. He argues that since Yahoo will cease being a competitor in the search market, the DOJ is likely to say the Microsoft/Yahoo partnership is anticompetitive . In an interview today, Cantor applauded the DOJ's request for more information. "Most deals clear without a request for additional information. Cantor said last month that when Yahoo's own search tool disappears, only two major search engines will remain - Google and Microsoft's Bing.

This is not run-of-the-mill," said Cantor. "The government believes there are potential antitrust concerns raised here. Nonetheless, Blackwell told Computerworld that Yahoo is still hopeful the deal will close early next year. They would only request additional information if there was some kind of presumption that the deal will cause antitrust effects." Cantor added that he thinks it could take months for Microsoft and Yahoo to pull this new information together, perhaps until the end of this year.

FCC and DOT team-up, want high-tech cure for distracted driving

The Federal Communications Commission and the US Department of Transportation are teaming up to develop what they called high-tech solutions to the growing problem of distracted or inattentive drivers. NetworkWorld Extra: Seven advanced car technologies the government wants now The DOT recently showed research findings by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that show nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, and more than half a million were injured. The DOT and FCC said they will set up a working group to evaluate technology-based answers to the distracted driving problem and will improve outreach efforts to educate the public about the dangers of texting while driving, talking on cell phones while driving, and other distracting behavior that can lead to deadly accidents, the agencies stated. On any given day in 2008, more than 800,000 vehicles were driven by someone using a hand-held cell phone. "Across the board, federal researchers who have directly observed drivers of all ages found that more and more people are using a variety of hand-held devices while driving – not just cell phones, but also iPods, video games, Blackberrys and GPS systems.

Cell phones and texting are now the primary means of communication for many people, especially young adults. In particular, cell phone use for talking and texting is now more prevalent on our nation's roads, rail systems and waterways, carrying a dangerous potential for accidents," the NHTSA stated. NHTSA's research shows that the worst offenders are the youngest drivers: men and women under 20 years of age, the NHTSA stated. "We now know that the worst offenders are the youngest, least experienced drivers," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a speech recently. "Unfortunately though, the problem doesn't end there. We must work together to find solutions that will prevent crashes caused by driver distraction." In a recent speech, LaHood noted a number of actions the DOT is undertaking in the areas it can most change quickly: Make permanent restrictions on the use of cell phones and other electronic devices in rail operations; Ban text messaging altogether, and restrict the use of cell phones by truck and interstate bus operators; Disqualify school bus drivers convicted of texting while driving, from maintaining their commercial driver's licenses. Distracted driving occurs across all age groups and all modes of transportation, from cars to buses and trucks to trains. He also called on state and local governments to work with to reduce fatalities and crashes by making distracted driving part of their state highway plans, and by passing state and local laws against distracted driving in all types of vehicles—especially school buses.

The House recently approved the Advanced Vehicle Technology Act of 2009 with a goal of developing a wide range of scientific advances for cars including technology that could help with the problem if it can get out of the labs fast enough. On a technology level what can these agencies do? For example, an onboard computer system to monitor driving characteristics such as unsafe driving behavior. Such a system would monitor speed; following behavior; attention/inattention; fatigue symptoms; and general safety. According to a DOT report, feedback from such a system can be supplied to drivers in real-time or in the case of a commercial driver, provide carrier management a view into its driver's behavior. Crash avoidance technologies could mitigate negative effects of drivers using cell phones or other distracting devices but drivers using a portable touch-screen phone and examining a dashboard screen image at the same time could be further distracted, the Government Accountability Office noted in a report last year.

Representatives of the automobile industry have said that consumer training in the use of new technologies could be key to maximizing safety benefits, the GAO stated. Such systems could also create complacency that could exacerbate dangers.

How Wi-Fi attackers are poisoning Web browsers

Public Wi-Fi networks such as those in coffee shops and airports present a bigger security threat than ever to computer users because attackers can intercede over wireless to "poison" users' browser caches in order to present fake Web pages or even steal data at a later time. Black Hat's most notorious incidents: A quiz  He said it's simple for an attacker over an 802.11 wireless network to take control of a Web browser cache by hijacking a common JavaScript file, for example. "Once you've left Starbucks, you're owned. That's  according to security researcher Mike Kershaw, developer of the Kismet wireless network detector and intrusion-detection system, who spoke at the Black Hat conference.

I own your cache-control header," he said. "You're still loading the cache JavaScript when you go back to work. "Open networks have no client protection," said Kershaw, who also uses the handle Dragorn. "Nothing stops us from spoofing the [wireless access point] and talking directly to the client," the user's Wi-Fi-enabled device. This means that an attacker can intercede to "poison the URL" of the victim so that he will see a fake Web page when they try to visit a specific Web site or try to insert a "shim" that could "ship your internal pages off to a remote server once you're in a VPN." The few defenses Kershaw suggested were continuously manually clearing the cache, or using private-browser mode. "Who knows how to clear the browser cache in an iPhone?" he asked. Knowledge gained from researchers over the past year, he said, is showing that browser-cache poisoning over Wi-Fi can be kept in a persistent state unless the user knows how to effectively empty the cache. "Once the cache is poisoned, it's going to stay there," Kershaw said. Kershaw acknowledged he doesn't know how widely attacks based on poisoning the browser cache via 802.11 actually are. This story, "How Wi-Fi attackers are poisoning Web browsers," was originally published at NetworkWorld.com.

But the potential for trouble is so evident he said he'd advise corporate security professionals to try to "forbid users from taking laptops onto open networks," though he admitted, "Your users may lynch you." He said some vendors, including Verizon, are looking at solving this problem with a custom client that is tied to specific operating systems. Follow the latest developments in security at Network World.

NASA: 2 rocket companies win $1.65M moon lander prize

NASA said it will this week award $1.65 million in prize money to a pair of aerospace companies that successfully simulated landing a spacecraft on the moon and lifting off again. NetworkWorld Extra: 10 NASA space technologies that may never see the cosmos To win the prize, teams had to demonstrate a rocket-propelled vehicle and payload that could take off vertically, climb to a defined altitude, fly for a pre-determined amount of time, and then land vertically on a target that is a fixed distance from the launch pad. NASA's Centennial Challenges program, which was managed by the X Prize Foundation will give a $1 million first prize to Masten Space Systems and a $500,000 second prize to Armadillo Aerospace for successfully completing the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.

After landing, the vehicle then needed to take off again within a predetermined time, fly for a certain amount of time and then land back on its original launch pad. Level 1 required a vehicle to take off vertically from a designated launch area, climb to an altitude of at least 150 feet, remain aloft for at least 90 seconds while traveling horizontally to a landing pad 300 feet away, then land vertically. The Challenge involved two levels of difficulty, with awards for first and second place at each level. The much more difficult Level 2 required a vehicle to take off from a designated launch area, ascend to an altitude of 150 feet, hover for 180 seconds, then land precisely on a simulated, rocky, lunar surface 300 feet away. The challenge required exacting control and navigation, as well as precise control of engine thrust, all done automatically, NASA stated.

For both Levels 1 and 2, competing teams had the option to refuel their vehicle before conducting the required return level to the original starting point, all within a two-hour-and-15-minute time period. The rocket's engine needed to be started twice in a short time with no ground servicing other than refueling. Masten Space Systems met the Level 2 requirements by achieving accurate landings and captured the first place prize during flights of their "Xoie" (pronounced "Zoey") vehicle Oct. 30 at the Mojave Air and Space Port. This represented the technical challenges involved in operating a reusable vehicle that could land on the moon. Masten also claimed a $150,000 prize as part of the Level 1 competition.

Armadillo placed second in the Level 2 competition, earning a $500,000 prize. Armadillo Aerospace was the first team to qualify for the Level 2 prize with successful flights of its Scorpius rocket Sept. 12 in Caddo Mills, Tex. An awards ceremony for the winning teams will be held at noon on Nov. 5 in Washington, DC.

Intel CTO: Machines could ultimately match human intelligence

Will machines ever be as smart as humans? The notion of a technological "singularity," a time when machines match and surpass human intellect, has been popularized by thinkers such as inventor and author Raymond Kurzweil, who commonly cites Moore's Law in his arguments about the exponential growth of technology. Intel CTO Justin Rattner thinks that someday, they might.

Rattner's views on the singularity are sought after, given that he is CTO of the world's biggest chipmaker and the head of Intel Labs, the company's primary research arm. So yeah, at some point, assuming all kinds of advances and breakthroughs, it's not inconceivable we'll reach a point that machines do match human intelligence." Already, scientists are working on placing neural sensors and chips into the brain, allowing people to control prosthetic limbs with their own thoughts. In a recent interview with Network World, Rattner said he has "tried to sidestep the question of when [the singularity] might occur," but says machine intelligence is constantly increasing due to laws of accelerating returns, "of which Moore's Law is perhaps the best example." "There will be a surprising amount of machines that do exhibit human-like capabilities," Rattner said. "Not to the extent of what humans can do today, but in an increasing number of areas these machines will show more and more human-like intelligence, particularly in the perceptual tasks. This is likely to become a "relatively routine procedure" in a few years, Rattner said. Rattner's views are also held in high regard in the world of supercomputing, of course, and he will deliver the opening address at the SC supercomputing conference in Portland, Ore. in November.

Rattner said that while many commentators are preoccupied with the far-off singularity, he concerns himself more on how laws of accelerating returns "are real" and could lead to amazing advances in technology, including augmentation of the human body. "Assuming that interface technology progresses in an accelerating way, the possibilities of augmenting human intelligence with machine intelligence become increasingly real and more diverse," Rattner said. Nearly 80% of the world's 500 fastest supercomputers use Intel processors. But Rattner says the supercomputing industry is already looking forward to the era of the exaflop - 1,000 times faster than a petaflop. The world's first petaflop machines, capable of performing one thousand trillion calculations per second, came online just last year. Rattner says the fundamental technologies behind a future exaflop machine could be demonstrated by the middle of next decade, and - depending on government investment - the first exaflop machines could become operational in the second half of the decade.

You'd need a 500-megawatt nuclear power station to run the thing." The industry will have to move that number down to something practical, perhaps tens of megawatts, Rattner said. But this still depends on overcoming limitations in today's computing architectures. "Now that we've achieved petascale computing, there's all this interest in getting the next factor of 1,000," Rattner said. "But we can't get there with today's technology, largely because of power considerations. But the work is just getting started. "We've got a lot of really big engineering challenges," Rattner said. "Today, we just don't know how to get there."

iStockphoto guarantees its collection

Starting today, iStockphoto, the micropayment royalty-free image, video, and audio provider, will legally guarantee its entire collection from copyright, moral right, trademark, intellectual property, and rights of privacy disputes for up to $10,000. The new iStock Legal Guarantee, delivered at no cost to customers, covers the company's entire 5 million-plus collection. Recently however, Vivozoom, another microstock company, took a similar action to guarantee its collection. Additional coverage for an Extended Legal Guarantee totaling $250,000 is available for the purchase of 100 iStock credits. "Our first line of defense has always been-and continues to be-our rigorous inspection process," said Kelly Thompson, chief operating officer of iStockphoto. "The Legal Guarantee is simply an added layer of protection for our customers, many of whom are using microstock more than ever before." Although common for traditional stock houses, such legal guarantees have not been standard in microstock because of the low prices. iStock says that files purchased and used in accordance with its license will not breach any trademark, copyright, or other intellectual property rights or rights of privacy.

And, if a customer does get a claim, iStock will cover the customer's legal costs and direct damages up to a combined total of $10,000. iStock customers can increase their coverage for legal fees and direct damages up to a combined total of $250,000 by purchasing the Extended Legal Guarantee via the iStock credits (which costs between $95 and $138). iStock expects that this program will be popular with a very small percentage of sophisticated media buyers with very specific needs, and considers it to be a value-added service to customers rather than a major source of revenue.

Intel: Don't look for one device to do it all

Business people and consumers looking for one electronic device that can take care of all their needs have false hopes, according to researchers at Intel Corp. Genevieve Bell , an Intel Fellow and director of user experience, explained that an all-in-one device - that includes a phone, an Internet connection, a pager, a camera, a calendar, a GPS system and other capabilities - probably couldn't do anything exceptionally well. But scientists at Intel's research facility in Pittsburgh say they do expect that personal devices will one day become ... well, much more lovable.

And, she added, if a person lost the device that did all those tasks, he or she would have a really bad day. "I'm not sure any device can carry all that weight," Bell told Computerworld in an interview at the Pittsburgh lab. "I would love to get to a world where I only have one device. But it would just never work. Your handbag would weigh less. I think we'll actually have more devices." Bell said that replacing laptops, smartphones, pagers and other everyday systems with a single device simply is too much convergence. "Thinking we'll have one device that does everything is like our fetish with having paperless offices," she added. "It's jut not going to happen. As human beings, we are never just one thing.

The problem with convergence is we converge around the object and not the experience. We are employees. We are children. We are partners. We are members of churches and social groups. My phone doesn't know any more about me today than it did the day I got it.

We'll need different devices for different things." Intel CTO Justin Rattner added that while there likely won't be an all-in-one device, new more personalized systems should be emerging from development labs soon. "It's going to be about getting devices that know me," said Rattner. "That's something we think is really important. Think of the calendar in your phone as a soft sensor. He also expects that next-generation phone will recognize traffic jams on his work route and then send an alert that he needs to leave early and provide alternate routes. " Devices need to become more like personal assistants," he added. "They need to become more assertive. The device should understand [from items posted in its calendar] what my day is like and whether I need vehicle navigation or I need to read something before an important meeting. [The cell phone] has all this information and it still doesn't do all that much for me." Rattner said he looks forward to a time when an embedded camera in cell phones can recognize the owner, and whether someone else tries to use it. That's one way these devices will become more lovable." Andrew Chien, vice president of research at Intel and director of future technologies research at Intel Labs, said he wants to one pick out the devices he'll need for the day much like he picks out his clothes. "One of the reasons why we have mixed feelings about our devices is that they should be more like my wardrobe," he explained. "I go to the closet and pick out my clothes. I should have the best devices and know they're going to work together." The more seamlessly devices can work together, the more specialized they can become, Chien said.

We're going to get to a world where people can pick the best device for whatever function without worrying about them working together. Instead of needed data being stored in a single device, that information should be easily shared between devices so they can each offer strong functionality. But people are less in love with many of the devices that deliver the Internet to them. And that connectivity and shared data would make Rattner's vision of smart digital assistants come to life. "Will your phone directory information be in your earpiece or your handset or in your laptop or your shoe heel?" asked Chien. "It shouldn't matter where it is." Bell said the goal is to develop devices that can fend off viruses, hold a long charge, fit our bodies better and can take the punishment doled out when rolling around in the bottom of a handbag. "People love, love, love the Internet," Bell said. "It's an integral part of our lives. We need to develop devices that people can love too."

Juniper’s enterprise business hums in Q3

Juniper Networks (JNPR) can thank its enterprise business for third-quarter results that exceeded expectations. Profits came in at $122.5 million, or 23 cents per diluted share, an increase of 21% quarter-over-quarter but a decrease of 28% from the third quarter of 2008. Still, the results were better than the $800 million in revenue and 21 cents per share earnings Wall Street was expecting. For the period ended Sept. 30, Juniper recorded revenue of $823.9 million, an increase of 5% sequentially but a decrease of 13% from the same period a year ago. And that's due to a 10% sequential growth in Juniper's enterprise business, which was "better than expected," according to Juniper CFO Robyn Denholm.

Johnson added that the IBM-branded Juniper products offered under a recent OEM arrangement are now available. Juniper's answer to Cisco in the data center: Stratus Project CEO Kevin Johnson said those results for the enterprise business represent "a starting point for a level of momentum" Juniper believes it can achieve in that market. "Our vision of the data center architecture of the future is resonating," Johnson said in a conference call with analysts. Juniper's EX LAN switching line, which debuted in the first half of last year, accounted for $50 million in sales in the quarter and is on a $200 million annual run rate. The MX debuted in 2006. The SRX firewall, which was unveiled a year ago, is on a $100 million annual run rate. The MX series Ethernet router, deployed mostly in carrier networks but also in some enterprise data centers, is on a $400 million annual run rate. Together, the EX, MX and SRX product lines accounted for $180 million of Juniper's $634 million in product revenue in the quarter. "We are executing better, and that's coming mainly from the US," Johnson said of the enterprise results in the quarter.

We're share takers in the enterprise market, we've got a lot of upside. Sales were particularly strong in the US federal government marketplace. "We will continue to throttle up execution globally. As the economy improves, enterprise investments will improve, but at a slower rate than service providers. "The level of buzz with customers in the enterprise continues to grow," Johnson added. "It's indicative of our opportunity. SLT revenue was a record for the quarter at $229 million, Denholm said, an increase of $11 million from 2008's Q3. In general, Juniper sees the economy and its business improving. "Our visibility has improved in key areas of our business," Johnson said. "We're in an economic recovery. But we've got to execute and engage with customers." Juniper experienced increased sales of its Service Layer Technology products – traditionally enterprise security and WAN acceleration gear – to service providers in Q3 as well. The pace varies across geographies" with improvements domestically, stabilization in Asia and a slower uptick in Europe.

For the fourth quarter, Juniper expects revenue of $860 million to $895 million, and earnings per share in the 23 cents to 26 cents range.

Startups trying to change the SAP consulting game

A pair of startups, including one led by a former top SAP executive, are betting that SAP customers want more flexible ways to purchase consulting services and find answers to problems. The main difference between Vivido and traditional consulting contracts is that customers can purchase help a la carte, and can get it faster, he said. Greg Tomb, who was CEO of SAP North America before leaving the vendor early this year, recently formed Vivido Labs, which offers remote help-desk service provided by a roster of experienced SAP professionals, Tomb said. A large systems integrator may demand a minimum length of engagement or be unable to immediately put qualified help on the job, he said.

The system works well for the experts, many of which are veterans and "tired of traveling," Tomb said. "It gives them the ability to make extra money and get in front of new customers. ... These people love working through the hard problems," he added. About 1,000 SAP consultants have expressed an interest in working with Vivido, but the company has selected an initial group of about 400 for now, according to Tomb. Following feedback from initial customers, Vivido is now tweaking its platform to ensure customers can name a preferred consultant if desired, rather than be assigned one randomly from a group specializing in a particular area, Tomb said. However, a customer that is just about to hit the switch on an implementation might want to call in Vivido's experts to serve as a last-minute extra set of eyes, he added. Vivido is focusing on customers whose SAP implementations are already up and running and need help with configuration issues or other "post-go-live" problems, Tomb said.

In addition to remote help, Vivido is attempting to build up a large repository of white papers, how-to guides and other information relating to specific areas of SAP software. Meanwhile, startup CumulusIQ, based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is taking a somewhat different approach to remote support. The materials undergo a thorough vetting process by a team of SAP "scholars," according to Tomb. Customers submit questions to the company's "SAP Help Desk in the Cloud," after which an answer is "crowdsourced" by a virtual team of consultants. "You could potentially have 20 experts looking at an SAP issue anytime day or night, whereas with a traditional dedicated help desk, you might only have one person helping you at a time," cumulusIQ CEO Monty Kalsi said in a blog post. We're going to recover into a different world," he said. "Part of what's changing is stuff around systems integrators and consulting in the enterprise space. Vivido and CumulusIQ are creatures of the recession and its pending aftermath, according to Jon Reed, an independent analyst who tracks the SAP jobs market. "Basically, when you look at the impact of this economy, business models are never going to return to the way [they] were.

Companies want more innovation."

NASA spacecraft crash into the moon

NASA' Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellites (LCROSS) took dead aim and crashed into the moon around 7:31 am ESD. Watching the results on NASA TV, scientists were pleased with the impact of the two satellites. LCROSS is made up of two spacecraft. The impact of the $80 million LCROSS satellites into the moon was to create what the space agency hopes is an ice-filled a debris plume that can be analyzed for water content.

The first, known as the heavy impactor Centaur separated from the main LCROSS satellite at 9:50 EDS and rocketed toward the moon's surface, burrowing at least 90ft into the moon's surface and throwing up an estimated 250 metric tons of lunar dust. NetworkWorld Extra:10 NASA space technologies that may never see the cosmosTop 10 cool satellite projects According to NASA, as the debris field should rise above the target area, known as the Cabeus crater, and is exposed to sunlight, any water-ice, hydrocarbons or organics will vaporize and break down into their basic components. Following four minutes behind, the remaining LCROSS spacecraft flew through the debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before it too crashed into the lunar surface, burrowing in about 60ft, NASA stated. These components primarily will be monitored by the visible and infrared spectrometers. The spacecraft's visible camera will track the impact location and the behavior of the debris plume while the visible radiometer will measure the flash created by the Centaur impact, NASA stated. The near-infrared and mid-infrared cameras will determine the total amount and distribution of water in the debris plume.

The LCROSS science payload consists of two near-infrared spectrometers, a visible light spectrometer, two mid-infrared cameras, two near-infrared cameras, a visible camera and a visible radiometer. While previous space missions have found some water in the moon's dirt, LCROSS is expected to definitively answer how much water might be there. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched with LCROSS June 18, will observe the plumes, as will the Hubble Space Telescope and observatories on Earth. In the end the idea is that should the US or others ever try to establish a human outpost on the moon, the might be able to use the water present on the moon rather than having to transport it up there. Click here to view a photo of the microchip containing the names as engineers prepare to install it on the spacecraft.

NASA also notes that through the agency's "Send Your Name to the Moon" initiative, the spacecraft carries a microchip with nearly 1.6 million names submitted by the public. If all goes well, the LCROSS mission would be a huge boost for NASA which has been under the gun of late. NASA is still struggling to develop a solid business case-including firm requirements, mature technologies, a knowledge-based acquisition strategy, a realistic cost estimate, and sufficient funding and time-needed to justify moving the Constellation program, witch includes the two main spaceflight components, the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle and the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, forward into the implementation phase, the GAO stated. In September, the Government Accountability Office slammed the future of the manned space flight program. In addition, the recent Review of United States Human Space Flight Plan Committee said in its preliminary report on the future of NASA said: '[NASA] is perpetuating the perilous practice of pursuing goals that do not match allocated resources.

It really is rocket science. Space operations are among the most complex and unforgiving pursuits ever undertaken by humans. Space operations become all the more difficult when means do not match aspirations." Want to compare network applications products? The committee's report was bleak too but ultimately how its results are interpreted will determine the future of any manned space flights. Visit the IT Product Guides now.