September 2009 - Posts
Social website Facebook yanked a poll this week about assassinating President Barack Obama after being contacted by the U.S. Secret Service.
On Monday, Facebook dropped a question that asked voters whether the U.S. president "should be killed."
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/09/29/obama-poll-secret-service-facebook.html
Microsoft's free antivirus program, Security Essentials, became available for download from the company's website Tuesday.
Microsoft bills the software as providing "high-quality protection" against viruses, Trojan horses, worms, spyware and other malicious software. It updates and upgrades automatically.
Microsoft said its free program is not meant to cut into the business of commercial antivirus programs, by companies such as McAfee and Symantec, but will appeal to people who don't already have security software on their computers.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/09/29/tech-computer-windows-antivirus.html
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/
A federal judge fundamentally misinterpreted a patent asserted against Microsoft Word, an error that should require a $290m infringement penalty to be overturned, attorneys for the software giant argued Wednesday.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/23/microsoft_i4i_patent_hearing/
Facebook says it will shut down its controversial marketing feature Beacon, an application that broadcasts users' activities, including purchases, on other websites to their Facebook friends.
The feature was adopted in November 2007 and immediately drew complaints from Facebook users who said it invaded their privacy.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/09/21/tech-internet-facebook-beacon.html
Google has acquired a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff that seeks to cut down on spam and fraud at websites while digitizing books.
ReCAPTCHA offers simple word puzzles that users must solve when registering at a website or completing an online purchase. Computers can't decipher the twisted letters and numbers, ensuring that real people and not automated programs are using the site.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/09/17/tech-google-recaptcha-017.html
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the social networking site has more than 300 million users, and earned more money than it spent last quarter.
In a blog post on Facebook, Zuckerberg wrote that the company was "cash flow positive" in the last quarter. He had previously projected that Facebook would meet that goal in 2010.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/09/16/tech-facebook-300-million-users.html