Emergency Broadcast System Upgrade

The Emergency Broadcast System is getting an upgrade to stay more with the times. Everyone has seen the alerts on television, but now the Emergency Broadcast System will create the Broadcast Message System which will send text messages to people in the event of a disaster. The text messages can be used in the event of a terrorist attack, inclement weather, Amber Alert, highway accident, or other crisis.

In a sense it will be a very similar system to the one LSU uses when it needs to contact all students quickly because of an emergency. The Broadcast Message System is currently working with all major carriers to do test trials. The Emergency Broadcast System says the system will be in operation by April 2012.

Google Street View Helps Police

Google's unique street view images helped police in capturing three drug dealers in Brooklyn, New York. Multiple images captured the three dealers in front of two bodegas as they sold heroin. Undercover officers bought heroin from the dealers multiple times, but the Google images only strengthen the police's case against the dealers. The images also helped police in providing the police with pictures of the drug dealers.

It makes one wonder what else has been captured on Google camera car. The car may have captured other crimes, may be able to solve people's problems, or you may even be able to find yourself on Google's street view.

Banks try to Fix Apps

Bank of America, Wells Fargo, USAA, and three other banks are trying to fix security flaws in their wireless banking applications. The flaw in their applications is that information is stored on the user's mobile phone. Thus, if a hacker gained physical access to the user's phone or if the hacker got the user to visit a malicious website. In order to get the user to visit a bad website the hacker would have to phish to users by sending either emails or text messages, saying that there is a problem with their account and they need to visit this website to fix the problem.

The information that is stored on the phone is user names, passwords, and financial information that hackers could use for their own personal advantage. The only bank that found no flaws in its mobile applications was the Vanguard Group. It makes you wonder how the banks could have over looked such a simple problem. I mean it is not uncommon for people to lose or sell their phones. And unless erased, the phones would still contain the user's personal banking information.

Microsoft Buys Canesta

Microsoft is currently trying to close a deal in which it will acquire chip maker Canesta. Canesta manufactures computer chips that allow natural user interaction with machines. This move will greatly help Microsoft's goal of creating more natural user interfaces. In the deal Microsoft would own rights to Canesta's products, technology, intellectual property, customer contracts and other resources. Two of Canesta's customers are Honda and Hitachi.

Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, recently said that natural user interfaces will be one of the next big revolutions in technology. He said that while a mouse use to feel natural, now we feel that talking and gesturing to machines seems more natural. Canesta's 44 patents should help Microsoft in pursing its goal of developing a new way to interact with machines. The deal will hopefully close by the end of the year, although the terms of the deal are not disclosed.

ABC, NBC, and CBS block their programs from Google TV

Google recently launched their new line of television and blue-ray players with the hope of merging television and internet. The idea was that owners would be able to search the web for shows and then streamline the shows on their televisions. The televisions can also run Android apps such as Pandora and Netflix.

However, ABC, NBC, and CBS have joined Hulu in not allowing content from their websites to be displayed on Google televisions. Viacom and News Corp. have not blocked their programs for Google televisions, but they may do so in the near future. It is not yet clear why ABC, CBS, and NBC decided to have their progamming blocked, but it is speculated that if successful Google television would disrupt the current business models for broadcast TV, including advertising and distribution deals. It is still unclear if the ban will be effective though. Many internet users know of sites that streamline pirated content, including content from ABC, CBS, and NBC.

Google is currently in talks with the televisions networks to have the ban released. However, it will be interesting to see if Google's televisions are as successsful as Google hopes. The numbers of hours of streamline content is constantly increasing with the average US internet user watching 9.8 hours of video content for the month of Septemeber.


http://www.cio.com/article/628632/ABC_NBC_CBS_Block_Google_TV_Declare_War?page=2&taxonomyId=3055

Microsoft Sues Motorola

Microsoft has filed a law suit saying that Motorola and it's Android phones have infringed on nine of Microsoft's patents. The patents are related to e-mail, battery life, signal strength, and calendar. Google licenses Microsoft's ActiveSync for use in Android Microsoft may plan to argue that handset makers that add their own technologies to Android also need a license for ActiveSync. However, there is also speculation that Microsoft is using the suit to put pressure on Motorola into building phones using Windows Phone 7. This would add hundreds of millions of dollars in sales to Microsoft.


The suit may also be a motive for slowing down Android. Android is projected to be the second largest smartphone platform by 2012. Microsoft is planning the launch of it's Windows Phone later this month and needs all the help it can get in catching up in the smartphone market.

Clouds

Lately there has been a lot of talk about cloud computing, but this technology may be delayed unless tech companies can get Congress to overhaul some electronic privacy laws. At its simplest, cloud computing is the storage of data on remote servers instead of on the pc’s hard drive. A 1986 law gives protection to individuals’ documents, emails, etc. and needs to be updated to cover data stored on cloud networks. Without this, individuals may not feel safe storing their information on remote servers.

There has been a big push from Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Intel, AT&T, and other tech companies to have cloud computing covered under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and with good reason. Microsoft believes that cloud computing will be able to double it’s sales within five years. I think that Congress will amend the laws soon and give cloud computing the privacy protection that it needs to be successful. The digital world is changing fast and as a result laws are going to have to be changed, along with new ones being enacted. I also agree with Microsoft in that cloud computing will be highly successful, but I don’t know if it will double their sales in five years.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-23/microsoft-seeks-privacy-law-to-aid-cloud-computing.html