Google is set to rival Wikipedia with it’s new “web 3.0″ like application known as “Knol”. See the official Google Blog below.
Direct from the Google Blog page:
The web contains an enormous amount of information, and Google has helped to make that information more easily accessible by providing pretty good search facilities. But not everything is written nor is everything well organized to make it easily discoverable. There are millions of people who possess useful knowledge that they would love to share, and there are billions of people who can benefit from it. We believe that many do not share that knowledge today simply because it is not easy enough to do that. The challenge posed to us by Larry, Sergey and Eric was to find a way to help people share their knowledge. This is our main goal.
Earlier this week, we started inviting a selected group of people to try a new, free tool that we are calling “knol”, which stands for a unit of knowledge. Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it. The tool is still in development and this is just the first phase of testing. For now, using it is by invitation only. But we wanted to share with everyone the basic premises and goals behind this project.
Analysts with F-Secure and Websense predict an explosive growth of malware, bot attacks, QuickTime exploits, and viruses that target the iPhone..
At the start of 2007, computer security firm F-Secure had about 250,000 malware signatures in its database, the result of almost 20 years of antivirus research. Now, near the end of 2007, the company has about 500,000 malware signatures.
“We added as many detections this year as for the previous 20 years combined,” said Patrik Runald, security response manager at F-Secure.
F-Secure’s report on 2007 threats isn’t a pretty picture. Beyond the explosive growth of malware, the year also saw the emergence of the Storm worm, a catch-all term for a series of related backdoor Trojans and e-mail worms that have been distributed to create a massive peer-to-peer botnet.
Shortly, F-secure expects the gang behind the Storm worm to open its botnet for business, renting access to other cyber criminals.
The F-Secure report also notes that Trojans that steal online bank login information and Trojans that steal passwords from online games became more popular in 2007 and will likely continue to do so in 2008. Runald notes that F-Secure is detecting 10 to 40 new variants of banking Trojans every day.
While there are many things on Labor’s Policy agenda, implementing a national broadband network to deliver minimum speeds of 12 Mbps to 98 percent of Australians and improving broadband services for all Australians is top of its list.
Senator Stephen Conroy, the newly appointed Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and a member of cabinet in the new Rudd Labor Government said the newly elected government will also “be focusing on the roll out of digital television and radio and restoring media diversity within Australia.”
In a statement to the press on his new position Conroy said his previous position as ‘Shadow Minister for Communications and Information Technology’ has helped prepare him for the role as the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.
Senator Conroy has worked closely with the industry to develop policies which he hopes will take “Australia’s communications sector into a new era of digital convergence”.
The Australian Computer Society has also thrown its weight behind Senator Conroy.
ACS President Philip Argy welcomed the new Federal Government’s continued commitment to the ICT portfolio and applauded the creation of Australia’s first ministry focused on innovation.
Please note: We do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download the Firefox 3 Beta 1 milestone release. It is intended for testing purposes only.
Firefox 3 Beta 1 is now available for download. This is the ninth developer milestone focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 3. Ongoing planning for Firefox 3 can be followed at the Firefox 3 Planning Center, as well as in mozilla.dev.planning and on irc.mozilla.org in #granparadiso.
New features and changes in this milestone that require feedback include:
Mozilla has officially released the first public alpha build of Firefox 3.0. Codenamed Gran Paradiso, Firefox 3 includes the new Gecko 1.9 rendering engine which leverages the open source Cairo rendering framework and features heavily refactored reflow algorithms that improve Firefox layout functionality and resolve some long-standing CSS bugs.
The reflow improvements in Gecko 1.9 (included in the latest Gran Paradiso nightly build, but not the alpha release) finally enable Firefox to pass the Acid 2 test, a CSS test case developed by the Web Standards Project to illuminate flaws in HTML/CSS rendering engines. To pass the Acid 2 test, browsers must comply with W3C standards and provide support for a wide variety of features that are considered relevant by web designers. The Acid 2 test has been passed by several other browsers, including Safari, Konqueror, and Opera, but not Internet Explorer. Passing Acid 2 is considered to be a significant milestone in Firefox development.
The cybercrime market is poised to be even ‘hotter’ in 2008 as spammers increase targeted attacks and create new social engineering techniques to claim their stake in cybercrime’s US$105 billion market.
According to the MessageLabs 2008 security predictions released today, 2008 is predicted to be another year of significant growth as e-crime tools become more accessible and the market becomes more mature and open.
“2007 was the year of prolific cyber-crime with certain gangs becoming famous within the security industry. Notoriety within a hot market always encourages an influx of new players wanting their slice of success and thus, the threat market is set to be even hotter in 2008,” said Mark Sunner, chief security analyst at MessageLabs.
Targeted attacks will increase in sophistication and malicious video file attachments will replace the unsuccussful use of MP3 file attachments.
Threats to Web 2.0 sites, Windows Vista, and online games are expected to increase in 2008, along with attacks on IM, virtualization, and VoIP software, according to security firm McAfee.
In a conference call for the media, McAfee previewed its list of the top ten threats for 2008, which the company plans to release on Friday.
Dave Marcus, security research and communications manager at McAfee Avert Labs, and Craig Schmugar, threat research manager, had only one bit of good news: adware is in decline.
Citing successful regulatory action by the FTC, specifically its case against adware distributor Direct Revenue, Schmugar noted that adware peaked earlier this year and has been in decline since then.
“We expect that trend to continue,” said Schmugar. “Advertisers don’t like the association with adware. It leaves a bad taste in people’s mouth.”
Independent Australian telecommunications researcher BuddeComm has released a new study which finds solid new business models, backed by spectacular growth in online advertising, are quickly laying the foundations of the new internet economy.
Coined Web 2.0, reflecting the expanded capabilities of the internet, the new digital technologies are altering and enhancing the online experience – allowing people across the globe to interact and collaborate as if they were next door.
According to the two-volume study, ‘2007 Global Internet’ business is booming on the web.
Paul Budde managing director at BuddeComm said, there’s been an explosion of online content and services, largely driven by the internet media giants like Google, News Corp and Yahoo, and they’re making good money from them, too – which is paving the way for our digital future.”
The Federal Government has unveiled part of its long-awaited broadband package, including almost $1 billion of new funding for Telstra’s biggest rival, Optus, to improve access and speeds in regional areas.
The Government will also set up a panel of 10 experts to assess rival bids for a high-speed broadband network in the major cities and big regional centres. While Telstra has missed out on the regional broadband funding, it is expected to be in the box seat to build a $4 billion fibre-optic network in the cities. However, the company may have to wait longer than the six weeks it has set down for a decision.
Telstra will also have to deal with the involvement of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, despite its hostile relations with the regulator. It is understood an ACCC official will be included on the panel. There will also be officials from Treasury, the Department of Communications, Information, Technology and the Arts and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
It is understood that Optus and its consortium partner Elders will get $600 million in funding under the Broadband Connect program. Optus will also be given $358 million to extend its 3G mobile network.
