IT Consulting Firm – Percento Technologies

The world’s largest and most resilient BitTorrent site plans to redefine “cloud computing” with a plan to move at least some of its servers onto unmanned drones miles above Sweden.

In a Sunday blog post, The Pirate Bay announced new “Low Orbit Server Stations” that will house the site’s servers and files on unmanned, GPS-controlled, aircraft drones.

One of the sites administrators, MrSpock, said with the advent of miniature computers such as the Raspberry Pi, a $35 micro computer the size of a thumb drive that includes a WiFi and SD card slot for storage, the site can take its servers far from any law enforcement.

“We’re going to experiment with sending out some small drones that will float some kilometers up in the air,” MrSpock wrote. “This way our machines will have to be shut down with aeroplanes in order to shut down the system. A real act of war.”

The Swedish site has operated since 2003 by an “anti-copyright organization” and despite numerous raids, remains one of the most popular music and movie pirating sites on the web. The site hosts thousands of “torrent” files—tiny files that allow users to connect to and download files from other users. The system is one of the most popular ways to anonymously share large files and often comes under fire from copyright holders, who argue that the service allows people to easily share copyrighted movies, music, games and software.

The site has repeatedly mocked American copyright laws and has said that American laws “[do] not apply [in Sweden].” Earlier this year, four of its staffers were sentenced to Swedish prison. Last year, the site apparently moved some of its servers to a mountain cave complex in Sweden.

“Experiencing raids, espionage and death threats, we’re still here,” the site wrote in a blog post last month. “We’ve been through hell and back and it has made us tougher than ever.”

The move to hovering servers could make it nearly impossible for authorities to shut the site down, a fact not lost on the site’s administrators.

“We can’t limit ourselves to hosting things just on land anymore,” MrSpock wrote. “When time comes we will host in all parts of the galaxy, being true to our slogan of being the galaxy’s most resilient system.”

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A glimpse at the upcoming Office product on Paul Thurrott’s Supersite for Windows reveals a new suite that tries to mimic the feel of Metro but runs as a traditional desktop program.

Microsoft Office 15 will come built for the desktop but offer a huge touch of the Metro flair, according to a description posted by Supersite for Windows author Paul Thurrott, who obtained a copy of an early preview version.

Accord to Thurrott, the technical preview of Office 15 kicks off like the current version, letting you choose which applications to install.

But after a full installation, you’ll find your Metro start screen cluttered with a huge number of live tiles for each application. That’s an inherent flaw in the Metro UI, which doesn’t allow tiles to be organized into folders. Install enough apps, and your Metro screen can easily be inundated by dozens, if not hundreds, of individual tiles stretching across your screen.

Thurrott even asks the question: “Will Microsoft clean this up? I would bet so.” Microsoft clearly needs to offer users a better way to manage the vast number of apps destined to take up space on the start screen. So I also have to believe this must be on the company’s to-do list for Windows 8.

Looking at a specific Office application, namely Microsoft Word, it displays a split view with a list of recent documents on the left and a stack of Word templates to choose from on the right. From the screenshot provided by Thurrott, this resembles the split screen you see when you run two Metro apps side by side.

As part of the clean screen approach seen in other Windows 8 apps, such as Internet Explorer 10, Word keeps its infamous ribbon minimized by default, available only when you want it. A new full-screen view hides the ribbon and all other elements, letting you focus just on your document.

Office 15 also taps into the integration between Windows 8 and your Windows Live ID account. By signing into the new OS with your Live ID, you can access your online Photo Gallery, SkyDrive, and other Live services.

The SkyDrive access should prove convenient for people who store their documents online. I use SkyDrive to sync my local files so they’re available both in the cloud and across other PCs. Office 15 will let you work directly with your documents on SkyDrive just as if they were stored locally.

The other applications in the suite, such as Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, carry on with the same visual style and clean screen approach.

Since this is a technical preview, which Microsoft only made available to a select few customers, the company likely still has more changes in store for the new Office suite. But at first glance, Office 15 seems like a step in the right direction, offering some of the simplicity of the Metro style but keeping its roots firmly as a desktop program.

The technical preview of the new Office is expected to blossom into a full beta sometime this summer, available for everyone to try out.

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Apple may find itself in front of a Congressional committee trying to back up claims that it’s protecting the privacy of its users.

As concerns have mounted over the information collected by mobile apps, Apple has been forced to defend its policies to lawmakers. Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook last month asking for clarification on the company’s privacy policies concerning the data that apps can collect.

Apple replied with a five-page letter dated March 2 (PDF) in which it tried to explain the vetting process that apps go through before being allowed in the App Store. Apple also insisted a couple of times that it has an “unwavering commitment to giving our customers clear and transparent notice, choice, and control over their personal information.”

But Apple‘s response didn’t satisfy the lawmakers.

In a follow-up letter to Cook dated yesterday, Waxman and Butterfield said that “the March 2 reply we received from Apple does not answer a number of the questions we raised about the company’s efforts to protect the privacy and security of its mobile device users.” The congressmen were also concerned about recent revelations that certain apps could access a mobile user’s photographs, a “loophole” uncovered by the New York Times late last month.

Instead of trading more back-and-forth letters, Waxman and Butterfield now want an Apple representative to appear in person before the Energy and Commerce Committee to “help us understand these issues.”

Apple has already been forced to respond to one privacy issue.

An iPhone app named Path was recently found to be grabbing a user’s contact information without permission. Other mobile apps, including Foursquare and Twitter, were also discovered doing the same thing.

In response, Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr sent a statement to CNET at the time saying that “apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines.” The company has promised a future release to iOS that would “require user approval” before such information can be captured.

The recently-released iOS 5.1 included a number of bug fixes and security updates but didn’t seem to address the contact data flaw.

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AUSTIN, Texas–Darren Kitchen spent this weekend walking around the SXSW festival with an unobtrusive but relatively evil red box attached to his backpack: it impersonated Wi-Fi networks in hopes of convincing laptops, phones, and other wireless devices to connect to it.

Kitchen’s hot-spot honeypot worked. During just a few minutes in the lobby of the Omni Hotel here, he disrupted dozens of Wi-Fi connections and rerouted them to his own “network” that replaced all Internet pages with a video of the Nyan Cat kitten flying through space. Someone with malicious intent could have done far worse.

Kitchen, founder of Hak5, says the WiFi Pineapple Mark IV box highlights the security flaws of the way Wi-Fi has been implemented. There’s also a privacy flaw. Currently, Wi-Fi devices broadcast the list of open Wi-Fi networks to which they previously connected–meaning an astute observer may be able to tell where the owner works and socializes.

His five tips for how to prevent your Internet connection from being hijacked by someone with the WiFi Pineapple Mark IV (available for purchase for $89.99):

1. Turn off Wi-Fi

If Wi-Fi isn’t enabled, there’s no privacy or security risk. Use a 3G or 4G USB stick instead. Or, on a laptop with a wired Ethernet connection, use that.

2. Avoid open Wi-Fi networks

“For the most part I tell people: avoid open Wi-Fi altogether,” Kitchen says. If you do use Wi-Fi, stick to networks that are WPA-encrypted with a password. The WiFi Pineapple Mark IV can’t impersonate those.

3. Use a VPN

If you do decide to connect to an open network, use a VPN or SSH tunnel to give yourself additional security. But even then, an attacker can interfere with the Wi-Fi connection by sending a false deauthentication frame. “It looks like it came from the legit Wi-Fi network,” Kitchen says. “I could piss you off and maybe you’d go unencrypted” by disabling the VPN and making the connection vulnerable.

4. Change your Wi-Fi settings

If your Wi-Fi settings are changed so your computer (or phone) no longer remembers previous open networks it connected to, that will help. It will also protect your privacy because the names of stored networks will no longer be broadcast. On a Mac under OS X, for instance, go to network settings, and under advanced, turn off “Remember networks this computer has joined.” Also erase the list of “Preferred networks.”

5. Ask your manufacturer to fix the problem

Should your phone really trust that an airplane-based Wi-Fi network is legitimate when it shows up at a conference or hotel? Probably not. Adding security through geolocation or making sure the MAC addresses are the same are some options that manufacturers could choose. But there’s been little movement toward an industry wide fix.

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Apple’s retail and online stores will kick off sales of the new iPad early this Friday in the U.S., the U.K, Japan, and a host of other countries.

Tablet buyers around the world eager to buy the new iPad will get a chance at 8 a.m. on Friday.

Apple’s retail stores and its online store will both start selling the third-generation iPad at 8 a.m. local time this Friday across several countries, Apple announced today. The shift represents an early opening for Apple Stores, which normally unlock their doors at 9 a.m. or 10 a.m.

The new iPad will initially sell in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In the U.S., the new iPad will also be available at Best Buy, Radio Shack, Sam’s Club, Target, and Walmart, Apple added.

Buyers who snag a new iPad at an Apple retail outlet will be offered a free setup service from a store employee who can help them customize the tablet, set up e-mail, and load new apps. Such a service is a thoughtful option, especially for first-time buyers. I teach an iPad course, and many students arrive in class with no knowledge of how to initially set up their tablets.

A personal pickup service also lets customers purchase an iPad from anywhere and then pick up the item at their local store.

The new iPad will travel even further around the world on March 23, reaching Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

So even at 8 a.m., what are your chances of actually scoring an iPad on Friday?

An Apple representative told CNET last week that “beginning Friday, March 16, the new iPad will be available for purchase at Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers on a first come, first-served basis.”

The “first-come, first-served” part means that anyone eager to grab a new iPad on Day One will need to arrive at the store a lot earlier than 8 a.m. and be ready to while away the morning hours waiting in line.

Unveiling the new iPad a week ago, Apple sold out of its initial stock in online pre-orders within two days. Current estimates at Apple’s online store show a wait time of 2-3 weeks.

So, if you’re eyeing the new iPad, are you better off waiting in line or online? I second the motion from my CNET colleague Scott Stein in advising people to order online.

Last year my wife and I stood in line outside our local Apple Store early one morning waiting to pick up a couple of iPad 2 tablets. After several hours we finally reached the doors of the store only to discover that all available stock had been sold out. We went home that day, ordered a couple of the tablets online, and received them a few weeks later.

Of course, there are always those techies who want to be the first one on the block to own a new device. But for the average consumer, a few weeks wait isn’t going to be a hardship.

I’ll certainly drop by my Apple Store this weekend to check out the new iPad. But even if I decide to buy one and the store is sold out, I’ll just go home to my trusty browser, place my order, and wait for the tablet to reach my doorstep.

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Less than two weeks after Google launched Pwnium, a competition for hackers to find security exploits in Chrome, the search giant has announced its first winner.

Google‘s Sundar Pichai announced on his Google+ page yesterday that Chromium contributor Sergey Glazunov submitted the first successful entry to the Pwnium contest, revealing a “Full Chrome Exploit” that bypassed the browser’s sandboxing security. The exploit makes it possible for a malicious hacker to do just about anything they want on an infected machine.

In an interview published yesterday by CNET sister site ZDNet, Justin Schuh of the Chrome security team said that Glazunov was able to execute “code with full permission of the logged-on user.” Schuh called the feat “impressive,” and said that it deserved the $60,000 bounty.

Looking for free, reliable cloud storage? Dropbox offers 2GB, while SugarSync gives you 5GB. Microsoft’s SkyDrive raises the stakes even higher with 25GB, though for the moment it lacks any official companion apps.

Not enough? Check out Box, which is currently offering 50GB of free cloud storage to Android users who install the Box app on their smartphone or tablet. (The promotion also extends to owners of the HP TouchPad, RIM PlayBook, and other devices. See the FAQ page for details.)

Although Box positions itself primarily as a provider of business storage solutions, this deal is for personal use only. Just install the free Box app on your device, then register for a new account–or log in if you already have one. Either way, you’ll get upgraded from the usual 5GB of free space to a whopping 50GB.

And although the promotion ends (for Android users, anyway–others have until the end of the year) on March 23, you get to keep that space for life.

Box has also upgraded the upload cap to 100MB from the usual 25MB. That’s great if you’re looking to archive or share, say, a large presentation or video.

The Box service itself is pretty straightforward: you upload your files and folders, then access and/or share them as needed. You can do this from just about any device that runs apps or has a Web browser.

Now for the bad news: Box doesn’t do file-syncing the way Dropbox and SugarSync do. There is a desktop component called Box Sync, but it’s available only to Business and Enterprise account holders.

That definitely limits Box’s versatility. On the other hand, 50GB of free storage is 50GB of free storage, even if it’s not quite as convenient to use. You might as well score the space while you can, and figure out later how you’ll make the best use of it.

If you’ve had any hands-on experience with Box you want to share, hit the comments and speak your mind!

By now you’ve probably heard about OLED, or organic light-emitting diodes. LG and Samsung both revealed potential models at this year’s CES, with the LG winning CNET’s Best of CES Award.

Make no mistake, this is the most important advancement in TV technology in over a decade, and a vast improvement over both LCD and plasma. Here’s why.

The What

You only need red, green, and blue light to create a TV image. OLEDs work by putting electricity through certain materials that glow these specific colors. No other TV technology creates light directly like this. LCDs use color filters and light-blocking liquid crystals above a light-creating backlight. Plasmas use UV light created by igniting pockets of gas to excite red, green, and blue phosphors.

The Why

What does this mean? Well, OLED TVs will be thinner, lighter, more efficient, and better performing than any current television technology. Each pixel can be shut off, for an absolute black (no other tech can do this, save CRT), meaning an actual infinite contrast ratio, not just marketing hype.

For example, LG’s 55-inch OLED unveiled at CES weighs 16.5 pounds and is about as deep as a pencil (3/16 of an inch).

It’s hard not to be excited about OLED, as it ticks all the boxes of a dream television: incredible contrast, impossibly thin, extremely energy efficient.

LED vs. OLED

As we’ve discussed before, current televisions marketed as “LED TVs” aren’t actually LED TVs. They’re LCD TVs that use LEDs for the backlight. While LED LCDs are energy efficient compared with “regular” LCDs and plasmas, they’re still not as energy efficient as OLED. As far as the difference between LEDs and OLEDs, the latter uses materials that include carbon (“organic”) to create light when supplied a current. In an extremely oversimplified and generalized explanation, LEDs are like tiny light bulbs, while OLEDs are light-emitting areas or surfaces.

The only real “LED TV,” as in a TV that used LEDs for the image itself, was Sony’s Crystal LED prototype it showed at CES. If this technology moves past the prototype stage, we’ll report on it more fully.

RGB OLED vs “White” OLED

The current OLED TV technology can be split in two camps: RGB OLED and “White” OLED. RGB OLED is similar to how plasma TVs work, with separate red, green, and blue OLED subpixels.

White OLED is rather different, and a bit confusing at first. Red, green, and blue OLED materials are sandwiched together. When powered, these create a white light. This white light passes through a color filter, to create the red, green, and blue subpixels.

People who constantly reach into a pocket to check a  smartphone for bits of information will soon have another option: a pair of Google-made glasses that will be able to stream information to the wearer’s eyeballs in real time.

According to several Google employees familiar with the project who asked not to be named, the glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of the year. These people said they are expected “to cost around the price of current smartphones,” or $250 to $600.

The people familiar with the Google glasses said they would be Android-based, and will include a small screen that will sit a few inches from someone’s eye. They will also have a 3G or 4G data connection and a number of sensors including motion and GPS.

A Google spokesman declined to comment on the project.

Seth Weintraub, a blogger for 9 to 5 Google, who first wrote about the glasses project in December, and then discovered more information about them this month, also said the glasses would be Android-based and cited a source that described their look as that of a pair of Oakley Thumps.

They will also have a unique navigation system. “The navigation system currently used is a head tilting to scroll and click,” Mr. Weintraub wrote this month. “We are told it is very quick to learn and once the user is adept at navigation, it becomes second nature and almost indistinguishable to outside users.”

The glasses will have a low-resolution built-in camera that will be able to monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings and friends who might be nearby, according to the Google employees. The glasses are not designed to be worn constantly — although Google expects some of the nerdiest users will wear them a lot — but will be more like  smartphones, used when needed.

Internally, the Google X team has been actively discussing the privacy implications of the glasses and the company wants to ensure that people know if they are being recorded by someone wearing a pair of glasses with a built-in camera.

The project is currently being built in the Google X offices, a secretive laboratory near Google’s main campus that is charged with working on robots, space elevators and dozens of other futuristic projects.

One of the key people involved with the glasses is Steve Lee, a Google engineer and creator of the Google mapping software, Latitude. As a result of Mr. Lee’s involvement, location information will be paramount in the first version released to the public, several people who have seen the glasses said. The other key leader on the glasses project is Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, who is currently spending most of his time in the Google X labs.

One Google employee said the glasses would tap into a number of Google software products that are currently available and in use today, but will display the information in an augmented reality view, rather than as a Web browser page like those that people see on smartphones.

The glasses will send data to the cloud and then use things like Google Latitude to share location, Google Goggles to search images and figure out what is being looked at, and Google Maps to show other things nearby, the Google employee said. “You will be able to check in to locations with your friends through the glasses,” they added.

Everyone I spoke with who was familiar with the project repeatedly said that Google was not thinking about potential business models with the new glasses. Instead, they said, Google sees the project as an experiment that anyone will be able to join. If consumers take to the glasses when they are released later this year, then Google will explore possible revenue streams.

As I noted in a Disruptions column last year, Apple engineers are also exploring wearable computing, but the company is taking a different route, focusing on computers that strap around someone’s wrist.

Last week The San Jose Mercury News discovered plans by Google to build a $120 million electronics testing facility that will be involved in testing “precision optical technology.”

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