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."