US congressmen seek explanation from Facebook

WASHINGTON (AFP) - – Two members of the US Congress have asked Facebook to explain how applications transmitted information about users to advertising and Web tracking companies in violation of the social network's rules.
Representative Joe Barton, a Republican from Texas, and Representative Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, asked Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to reply to 18 questions about what they called a "privacy breach."
Facebook on Monday acknowledged that some popular third-party applications had passed on user identification (UID) information but played down the privacy implications.
"Nevertheless, we are committed to ensuring that even the inadvertent passing of UIDs is prevented and all applications are in compliance with our policy," Facebook engineer Mike Vernal said in a blog post.
"Our policy is very clear about protecting user data, ensuring that no one can access private user information without explicit user consent," Vernal said. "We take strong measures to enforce this policy, including suspending and disabling applications that violate it."
In their letter, Burton and Markey, co-chairmen of the House BiPartisan Privacy Caucus, said: "Given the number of current users, the rate at which that number grows worldwide, and the age range of Facebook users, combined with the amount and the nature of information these users place in Facebook's trust, this series of breaches of consumer privacy is a cause for concern."
They asked how many users were impacted, what information was transmitted to other parties and how many third-party applications were involved.
They also asked whether Facebook will "seek the deletion of its users' personal information from data bases of the Internet or advertising companies who received it as a result of this series of privacy breaches?"
Andrew Noyes, a Facebook spokesman, said Facebook "is committed to safeguarding private data while letting people enjoy meaningful social experiences with their friends.
"As our privacy policy states, when a Facebook user connects with an application, the user ID is part of the information that the application receives," he said.
"The suggestion that the passing of a user ID to an application, as described in Facebook's privacy policy, constitutes a 'breach' is curious at best," Noyes said.
The Wall Street Journal said applications were providing access to Facebook members' names and, in some cases, their friends' names, to companies that build detailed databases on people in order to track them online.
All of the 10 most popular applications on Facebook were transmitting unique user ID numbers to outside companies, it said. They include Zynga's FarmVille, with 59 million users, Texas HoldEm Poker and FrontierVille.
Facebook is the world's most popular social network with around 500 million users, but it has been dogged by complaints about privacy protection.

World enters the Petabyte Age

WASHINGTON (AFP) - – In the next 40 years, an unprecedented number of women will be in positions of power, Muslim immigration to the West will rise, and office workers will be unchained from their cubicles, a report released last week says.
South America will see sustained economic growth and the Middle East will become "a tangle of religions, sects and ethnicities," says the report by Toffler Associates, a consultancy set up by the author of the 1970s blockbuster "Future Shock."
Toffler Associates released its predictions for the next 40 years to mark the 40th anniversary of "Future Shock," in which author Alvin Toffler studied the 1970s to see what would happen in the future.
His prognosis 40 years ago was that technology and science would develop at such an accelerated pace that many people would be unable to process the enormous amounts of new information available and would disconnect from life.
Some of "Future Shock's" prognoses have come true, including that news would travel around the world instantly, that same-sex couples would wed and raise families, and that violence and environmental disasters would increase and have broad consequences -- like the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
So it might be worth paying heed to what Toffler Associates foresees for the next 40 years, including container ships getting larger to meet increasing demand for faster, cheaper delivery of goods, and the Suez and Panama Canals being "improved."
They envision more and more people growing their own food to reduce their dependence on large manufacturers and distributors, and the proliferation of high-speed Internet and low-cost video-conferencing freeing office workers from their cubicles and working from anywhere in the world.
Only a very small number of states will continue to behave as "rogue" nations, Toffler Associates says, naming North Korea and Iran.
"A true test for political leaders will be in how they handle relationships with these nations and to what extent they allow them to control geo-political agendas," the consultancy says.
China will position itself as a global economic power, allying with Brazil and India to influence currency use and with Venezuela and African nations to ensure its energy needs are met.
The United States, meanwhile, will depend on China for 17 rare earth metals that are essential to produce everything from weapons components to radars to wind turbines and hybrid cars.
The development of alternative energy forms will create "losers in a post-petroleum world" including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, several Gulf states, Russia and Venezuela, the report says.
Christianity will rise rapidly in the global South, while Muslims will migrate in increasing numbers to the West, where their presence will reshape public attitudes and government policies.
Climate change will fuel conflict as melting sea ice exposes mineral wealth and oil fields in the Arctic and as rising sea levels force large populations from their homes.
An aging population will cause spending on long-term care services for the elderly to nearly quadruple by 2050, and social security and Medicare, the US health insurance for the elderly, will cease to "exist as we know them," Toffler managing partner Deborah Westphal told AFP.
"We don't know what will replace them; we just know that we will be in a different type of society with different types of people and different needs," she said.
As for women, they will take on leadership positions around the globe at a never-before-seen rate, as countries realize "you can't be successful with just 50 percent of the population participating in decision-making," Westphal said.
And in the next 40 years, information-gathering will speed up even more as the world enters the Petabyte Age, Toffler Associates predicts.
Petabytes -- which are 10-to-the-15th-power bytes, or measures of computer files, hard disk space, and memory -- are used today only to measure the storage space of multiple hard drives or collections of data.
Between now and 2050, measuring data in petabytes will become the norm, and so will data saturation, Toffler Associates predicts.

The High-End Webcam for the Average You

Logitech has recently unveiled a whole new range of HD webcams including their top of the line, HD Pro Webcam C910.


I find the C910 most appealing among all webcams out in the market today. Logitech has made a smart move with the evolution of their webcams from the traditional sphere shape to a more contemporary and stylish rectangular shape. The sophistication in C910’s form together with Logitech’s classic combination of matte and sleek black design makes it eye candy.

The C910 is equipped with high-precision autofocus Carl Zeiss Tessar optics glass lens which makes it stand out from the rest of Logitech’s latest HD lineup. Its auto-focus capability is quite slow, with barely 3-5 seconds of delay, as it adjusts to varying light settings. The camera automatically zooms in the subject and pans around as the subject moves within its viewing field.

Picture quality is okay. It somehow falls short in vibrancy and contrast under bright light. Nonetheless, the 10-MP camera can produce really clear and detailed snapshots. To best test this skill, I took a few snapshots of texts in documents. Surprisingly, each and every letter on the document was remarkably visible on the captured images. Quality remained the same regardless of which angle you’re shooting from.

Just like the C600, the device works well even with the lights completely turned off (and the monitor as the only source of light). Thanks to Logitech’s RightLight 2 Technology, the device can automatically balance out light sources, especially in places with poor lighting conditions.

With RightLight 2 and higher specs combined, the C910 is a lot more comfortable to use in the dark compared to C600 as your face can still be clearly projected on the screen even at 1 foot away from the camera. In the case of the latter, you cannot move farther than 6 inches away should you use it in the dark.

Webcams generally do not perform up to par with camcorders or even with digital cameras, not for this one though. In 1080p HD mode, I can say that this device produces best video quality among all webcams up to date. Artifacts are not evident when videos are played in the bundled video application as it automatically reduces the size of the video.

Compression artifacts become fairly noticeable when played in full screen using Windows Media Player. Nevertheless, recorded images appear sharp and smoothly animated. Uploading pictures and videos can be done in just a snap using the webcam’s software.

For live chats (as well as HD video recording), it is recommended to use 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo chip or faster, 2GB RAM, USB 2.0 port and 1MB/sec upload speeds. The device works well in 720p only when 1MB/sec connectivity requirements are met. I noticed that video quality was impressive both in Skype and Yahoo! Messenger and optimal in Logitech Vid. Nevertheless, the differences were only minimal.

I immediately had great expectations on the unit’s sound quality when I saw the two microphones margining the lens. High quality sound may not be the device’s core feature, but for me, it’s C910’s strongest feature. Powered with RightSound technology, the embedded microphones can greatly pick up voices and other sounds no matter how soft the sound is.

My friends were able to understand my words even when I just whispered. They also had no issues hearing me even when I moved farther away from the device.

One thing I found most appealing in C910 is its Face-recognition Login feature. Using Sensible Vision’s FastAccess facial recognition software, you can protect your PC or laptop without using codes which can be very confusing at times – especially for forgetful people like me. The program may be used together with other login tools (ex. Biometric login, etc). However, it is not recommended.

I was excited to give this feature a try. I downloaded Sensible Vision’s 60-day Free Trial three times using three different sources, but unfortunately, it did not work on my laptop. Including FastAccess “101” in the manual probably would’ve been very helpful.

Overall, I find this ideal in presentations and demonstrations, especially when it has to be done online. With all of its amazing features, expect it to be a bit pricey.

For as long as you come complete with all of the system requirements, it’ll all be worth it.

Look Ma, No Cables! It's the Wireless Home Digital Interface!

Connecting your desktop PC or notebook, PS3 or Xbox, BluRay disk player or other HD multimedia devices to any external display is actually pretty easy. What makes the whole process daunting and downright irritating is having to deal with lots and lots of cables and wirings and needless to say, with all those cables lying around, they don’t look good at all. These coiled nuisances, sad to say, could really test your patience.
To avoid all these, I guess the only answer and the most logical thing to do is to get rid of all these cables… go wireless; and that is what ASUS actually did as they bring to us their “WiCast”
ASUS WiCast boasts of Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) technology that lets you transmit or send off a 1080p video wirelessly from your notebook or PC or Bluray disk player to an HDTV or LCD monitor without delay in transmission. Video playback is seamless; not at all sluggish or delayed. You definitely won’t see Justin Bieber lip sync on his videos.
The WiCast Wireless HDMI Kit comes with 2 small black boxes; one is the receiver and the other one is the transmitter. The receiver is about 4.5 inches in height and the transmitter is a bit smaller at about 4 inches in length. I like the fact that these boxes are black, small and lightweight.
These features kind of make them easier to disappear in sight once you set them up with their respective partners. Furthermore, the only cables you have to deal with are the two short HDMI cables and the AC adapters which are totally manageable.

Setting them up with any of the above-mentioned devices are easy and the procedure are pretty much the same. With the use of the HDMI cable, connect the receiver to your HDTV or LCD projector. For power, connect the AC adapter to the receiver’s DC-In port. Lastly, with the shorter HDMI cable, connect the transmitter to your device, be it your PC or notebook, Ps3 or Xbox or other HD multimedia devices. Surprisingly, it is that simple.
One thing I like about the WiCast is its “Omni-Directional Broadcast”. As explained by ASUS, its “transmission is not limited by directionality or line of sight”. With this in mind I tested this feature by placing my laptop on the adjacent room. With a concrete wall between, the HDTV was totally out of sight from my laptop. The result; transmission was indeed successful! No glitches or delay; video and audio quality was not affected at all. Apparently, WHDI technology allows a range of up to 33 feet and let me just reiterate what ASUS has said about its transmission being “not limited by directionality or line of sight”.
With WiCast, going wireless is now easy, handy and convenient. All you need is that little black box that surely makes simple things a lot simpler.

HA! HA! HA!

S. Korea, Japan have world's fastest Internet links

TOKYO—East Asian countries led by South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan are the best wired in the world with the highest number of fast broadband connections to the Internet, a recent report has found.
South Korea boasts the world's highest average connection speed at 14.6 Megabytes per second (Mbps) and also has six of Asia's ten cities with the fastest link-ups, all with average speeds above 15 Mbps.
Japan had the second highest average connection speed of 7.9 Mbps, followed by the Chinese territory of Hong Kong with 7.6 Mbps, said the report by US-based network provider Akamai Technologies.
The other countries in the top ten are Romania, followed by Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark and the Czech Republic, with the United States at 18th place, with an average speed of 3.9 Mbps.
The survey classifies "broadband" connections as those of 2 Mbps or more, and "high broadband" as 5 Mbps or over, while link-ups at 20 Mbps and better were categorized as "extremely high speed connectivity."
In South Korea, 74 percent of connections were "high broadband," the world's top rate, while the figure was 60 percent in Japan, followed by Hong Kong with 46 percent, said the report.
The United States came twelfth, with just 24 percent of its connections at 5 Mbps or more. Worldwide, the high broadband percentage was 19 percent.
Growing demand for online high-definition video content is driving demand for faster connections, said Akamai's 'State of the Internet' report for the third quarter of 2009.
"As the quantity of HD-quality media increases over time and the consumption of that media increases, end users are likely to require ever-increasing amounts of bandwidth," the report said.

BigPond Movies now available on LG TVs

LG has announced it is partnering with Telstra to provide BigPond movies and TV shows on-demand through over 20 models in its new range. The downloads will be available through the company's new entertainment portal dubbed "Netcast" which will also provide access to services such as weather and YouTube videos.
Once selected, a rented movie may be played anytime within seven days and then after the first screening, it can be replayed many times as the customer likes within a 24 or 48 hour time frame (depending on the title).
The system is rental-only and LG representatives said that "download to own" wouldn't be available for the moment, as the TVs lack the onboard storage needed to store content.
LG says the BigPond TV service will evolve over time to provide a range of IPTV to LG TVs including "linear" or traditional channels and video-on-demand services including news, sport and movies, with music and games available soon.
At present, only BigPond internet customers will gain unmetered access to BigPond content and BigPond says improvements to its network in the coming weeks will enable these customers to receive optimised delivery speeds.
"The Australian market is a huge focus for LG Electronics so we wanted to ensure we partnered with a premier provider of content," said William Cho, Managing Director, LG Electronics Australia in a press release.
CNET Australia attended a live demo of the technology during a recent visit to Korea. The system is controllable via remote control and features a series of tiles detailing cover art and screenshots.
This is the first time LG has offered video-on-demand on one of its products in Australia, but it has made Netflix downloads available to US customers for several years.
Pricing and availability of this LG service is yet to be announced, but prices for PC downloads on the BigPond website average at AU$5.95 for new releases such as Up! and District 9.
LG is due to announce its Australian television lineup in the coming weeks.