Goolge's Photovine : May be a photo sharing service

Another service from google to impress

As we reported last month google got the trademark on the word Photovine and registered the domain through MarkMonitor.


This is the site : Photovine.com

There's also a support page with a FAQ about the app.

The privacy policy page on the site mentions that it's a project by Slide, Max Levchin's social sharing company that Google acquired last year. Slide has been releasing other apps largely independently from other Google social efforts like Google+. Just last week, Slide began issuing invites for a photo-sharing app called Pool Party.

As of 11 pm PT there's no PhotoVine app in Apple's App Store.

We've contacted Google to find out more and will update this when we hear back.

10 Security Checklist to keep your Online Accounts safe

A Security Checklist for Online Accounts

1.  “Always use HTTPS” setting for Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Google and all the other online services that support secure HTTP. This is especially important when accessing Internet over a Wi-Fi network because without HTTPS, anyone (and not just skilled hackers) can capture your login details using Firesheep, a simple Firefox extension.

2. I have a few Google Accounts and they all use 2-step verification now. That means if someone tries to log into my Google account from a different computer, they’ll have to type an additional code that is sent directly to my mobile phone as an SMS text message or over a voice call.

3. The 2-step verification can also alert you to potential hacking activity. If I ever get an SMS (or a voice call) from Google with the verification code but without requesting one, it is an immediate hint that someone knows my password though they won’t be able to get in without entering the verification code.

4. I have connected my mobile number with my Facebook account. This is extremely important because I get an instant SMS and an email alert whenever my Facebook account is accessed from a different computer or another mobile phone.

5. I carefully reviewed third-party sites that have access to my online accounts and revoked access to all the unwanted apps that I no longer use. In case you wish to do the same for your accounts, here are the direct links for Facebook, Google and Twitter.

6. I maintain two email addresses – one is public that is displayed on the blog while the other email address is known to a select few. Why?

6a. The public email address is associated with services like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Flickr, Tumblr, Posterous, Skype and a couple of other social sites where I want people to find me if they have my email address in their address book.

6b. I use the other “secret” email address with services like Dropbox, Amazon, Google Apps, my bank, my hosting service, Apple iTunes, PayPal and few other places where account security is even more critical and where I am not looking to get social.

7. If I am testing a new online service, I almost always use a disposable email address to create a test account with that service. Some online services reject disposable addresses to prevent fake registrations but the one I use goes through as it is only an alias (or nickname) of my main email address.

8. I prefer using a virtual credit card with shopping sites that I am either using for the first time or where the fine print is too long and there’s a risk that I could be billed again if I don’t cancel the account. This also helps keep my credit card safe from relatively unknown sites.

9. Once in a while, I do mock drill with my most important online accounts to test the various recovery options I would have in case I forget my password or if I lose access to my secondary email address or misplace my mobile phone.

10. The last point - how do I remember and manage so many different passwords?

Some people prefer to use password managers which are very convenient but at this time, all I use is a simple 1-page document (see sample) to store information of all my online accounts and the corresponding passwords. This file is password-protected and I put it on Dropbox so the information is available on all my computers.

This may surprise some but I also have a hard copy of this file that family members can refer to in case I am travelling and they need urgent access to any of my online accounts. Also, since they would need my mobile phone to access my Gmail or Google account, I have included backup verification codes in the printed document itself – thus the Google account can be used without requiring the phone.

One more thing. If you have two email accounts, never ever set one emails as the secondary (or recovery) email address of the other. That’s because if one of your email accounts gets compromised, the hacker can easily take over the other account as well.

Stay tuned for changes : Google+

"Stay tuned for changes this week."

Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of engineering at Google, On his Google+ page wrote asking his followers to look for changes this week.
He Posted --  “Lots of criticism for Google+. We are listening and working to address. Stay tuned for changes this week,”


Before that post, Gundotra made an apology for Google, which spammed its users on Saturday - an accident caused due to a disk space shortage problem. Fans at large reacted forgivingly to his sincere apology, but some pointed out the flaws in the current system.

Military Meltdown Monday : 90,000 military emails Hacked.

Anonymous hackers group released 90,000 email logins stolen from the military contractor Booz Allen Hamilton in a leak it's branded "Military Meltdown Monday." Anonymous has also released exchanges between the contractor's executives--and claims it "found maps and keys for various other treasure chests buried on the islands of government agencies, federal contractors and shady whitehat companies. This material surely will keep our blackhat friends busy for a while." Some of the logins belong to American military personnel, including people working at U.S. Centcom.

The group, a spin-off of Anonymous that includes members of the now defunct hacking group Lulz Sec, claims it broke into the servers of technology contractor Booz Allen Hamilton and stole the login details. They have been published on BitTorrent file sharing sites for anyone to download.

"We infiltrated a server on their network that basically had no security measures in place," Anonymous said in an online statement.

[Via:govtinfosec]

Mac OSX 10.7 codenamed 'LION' to be launched next week: Features

We know On June 6, at WWDC 2011, it was announced that the official release for Lion would be in July 2011 and that, unlike previous versions, which were released on a set of CD-ROMs or a DVD-ROM, Lion would only be available as a download from the Mac App Store for US$29.99. The only prior version of OS X that supports the Mac App Store is Snow Leopard, implying that any machines that support Lion currently running Tiger or Leopard will first have to be upgraded to Snow Leopard, as opposed to allowing a direct upgrade to Lion. The Server portion of Lion will be available as a separate download from the Mac App Store for US$49.99.

Features that we can expect :

Multi-touch gestures:

An input system already existed in iPhone and iPad.

Inverted scrolling. As you'd imagine, slightly tricky to get used to, but makes a lot of sense 15 minutes in. The mental switch has already happened and Snow Leopard now feels wrong.

Full screen applications

Expand any application so that it fills the screen - meaning no distraction from others.

Mission control

This brings together full-screen apps, Dashboard, Exposé, and Spaces in a new feature that gives you a bird's-eye view of everything on your system.

New Mac app store

Already available but it is Now more closely integrated into the system, and becoming a major source of apps for download. You can still get apps by downloading from the web, though.

Launchpad

Launchpad is a new, full-screen home for all the apps on your machine, brought up by clicking an icon in the Dock: open windows fade away, to be replaced by a full-screen display of all your apps.

Resume

A feature that start the machine back at exactly the same place that you turned it off - preserving the state of the documents.

Autosave and Versions

Using this feature documents created by certain apps will be saved automatically at set periods. You can revert to an earlier version or compare it.

Airdrop

Airdrop is a on-the-fly peer-to-peer wireless networking between any two Macs.

Developer viewpoint: "Have been unable to test this yet."

Mail

Mail has been redesigned with a three-pane interface borrowed from the iPad. Also has enhanced search and conversation threading. 

Bye bye scroll bars

Bye bye scroll bars is a radical change to the interface. (You can also resize windows from any part of the side, as Windows has offered for years.)

Gmail introducing new email sorting feature

Google has added a new feature to Gmail that makes managing email easier.

The new feature, being rolled out today (I’ve got it already) adds a “move to” menu item, allowing users to both add a label to emails, and archive them at the same time.

While Gmail still doesn’t have folders, or drag and drop, the new option moves the service one step closer; you can now move emails into labels like they were folders in one easy step, where as before the process involved labeling and then separately archiving.

The menu itself has had a refresh, with items easier to read, access, and complimented with shiny new buttons.

A welcome step forward, although in Google recognizing the confusion its labeling system can cause, I still can’t help but think that introducing folders and drag and drop would be a whole lot easier, and logical step forward. One day maybe

Security flaw in Apple's iOS operating system Exposed

This wednesday hakers have explited a flaw in the iOS operating system which is being used on all apple products.

www.jailbreakme.com released code that Apple customers can use to modify the iOS operating system through a process known as "jail breaking."

Some Apple customers choose to jail break their devices so they can download and run applications that are not approved by Apple or use iPhone phones on networks of carriers that are not approved by Apple.

Security experts warned that criminal hackers could download that code, reverse engineer it to identify a hole in iOS security and build a piece of malicious software within a few days.

"If you are a malicious attacker, it is fairly doable," said Patrik Runald, a senior researcher with the Internet security firm Websense.

Apple has yet to release an update to iOS that protects customers against malicious software that exploits the flaw.

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said the company was aware of the problem.

"We are developing a fix that will be available to customers in an upcoming software update," Muller said.

Apple has long been vocal against jail breaking, which if done voids the warranty on its devices.

Any security flaw in iOS software -- which runs Apple's iPhone, iPad tablet andiPod Touch -- has the potential to affect millions of devices that are at the core of Apple's business.

Apple has sold 25 million iPads since it launched last year. The company sold over 18 million of its popular iPhones in just the first three months of the year.

Hackers can exploit the iOS vulnerability by creating a malicious PDF document file. It would infect Apple devices when users attempt to open that document, according to Runald.

Once the device is infected, hackers could "do anything they want," Runald said. That includes stealing passwords, documents and emails.

Comex, a 19-year-old hacker from New York State who developed the jail-breaking tool, said that Apple might be able to patch the software before criminal hackers develop software that exploits the bug.

Last time he put out a version of his jailbreaking software, Apple was able to issue a patch before anybody exploited the bug for malicious purposes.

He said that Apple might not be able to move quickly enough this time.

"It's not that hard to reverse engineer," he said via telephone.

Enhance your Google+ in 10 ways

"Now you can enjoy Google+ in more better way"

Here are the 10 most exiciting features that makes your G+ account more enjoyable !

Surplus

Surplus is a Chrome extension that once installed is a small icon that will sit next to your address bar and tell you how many notifications you have waiting.

But it’s not just an “unread count”, pressing on the icon lets you see your latest notifications and lets you share with your Google+ circles straight from the drop down box. You can manage which circles you share to, add images, video, and links, and basically do everything that you would do from the share box within Google+. Very clever.

The only thing it’s missing is a Google+ this page button, that would let you share the page you were on without having to cut and paste the link, and the ability to Twitter or Facebook at the same time. We’ve put in those requests to the developers already.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pfphgaimeghgekhncbkfblhdhfaiaipf

+Photo Zoom

+Photo Zoom is a simple extension providing fast and simple zooming for photos within your Google+ Stream and ideal if you’re struggling without your glasses.

 Once installed all you have to do is hover over an image in your stream, and hey presto it’s considerably larger allowing you to see it without having to click on it. It’s really clever and a must have if the people you follow are always posting images. Especially small images.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/njoglkofocgopmdfjnbifnicbickbola#

Extended Share for Google Plus

One of the biggest wants from those that are already using Google Plus is that they’ve already got Twitter and Facebook accounts, and therefore the chore of now keeping all three running at the same time is a burden. It’s a tough life we know, but Extended Share for Google Plus goes someway to trying to solve that problem.

We’ve personally had mixed results with this Chrome extension, but the idea is that it will let you share your Google+ updates with Twitter and Facebook at the press of a button.

Until Google opens up Google+ to developers properly, this is the best you are going to get for the time being.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/oenpjldbckebacipkfbcoppmiflglnib

Tweets +1

This is reverse Google+ enhancing. Install this extension and when you go to Twitter.com you’ll be able to +1 tweets you see thanks to a new icon that appears on the page next to tweets.

It’s quick, simple, and easy to use, as long as you use Twitter.com. This doesn't obviously help you if you use a dedicated Twitter client like Twitter for Mac or Twitter for PC.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/iajlbgpookhcamopbfofhlamllbpmfep?hl=en#

Notification Count for Google Plus

If you aren’t fussed about sharing content from an extension like Surplus, then Notification Count for Google Plus is more for you. It’s a simple icon that lets you know how many notifications you’ve got in Google+ waiting for you.

Nothing more, nothing less, but a bit redundant when compared to Surplus.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ehcjeejpbinpibjicmpcdeenfmehlpjk#

+1 Button

If you’re using Google+, chances are you’re also using Google +1 and this is an extension that allows you to quickly +1 any page on the web. 

Once installed a new +1 icon will appear at the end of your address bar allowing you to plus one the page in question without having to try and find a plus one button on the page itself.

Those plus ones will appear in your Google+ account for all to see.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/kmonhedbcpagbphilnoajiencllnpoii

Google Plus bar colour changer extension

Not an official Chrome extension, but nonetheless handy if it’s your thing. What does the Google Plus bar colour changer extension do exactly? Well it lets you change the colour of the black bar in Google+ to a different colour like blue, green, or pink.

Yep, completely pointless you might say, but still if you find yourself having a massive aversion to the black bar this will be the one for you.

http://www.rioleo.org/google-plus-bar-color-changer-extension.php

Google + Facebook

If you’re feeling remorse for leaving Facebook and going Google+ there is a way to deal with your bad feelings and that’s to make Google+ look like Facebook.

Some, of course, will say that it already does, but that’s nothing compared to what they will say to this custom makeover that you can install with a bit of Chrome jiggery-pokery.

The finished result is a Google+ interface that looks like it’s actually Facebook. We wonder if Google+ user Mark Zuckerberg is running it so people in the office can’t tell he’s using the new competing service?

http://userstyles.org/styles/50051/google-facebook

SyncPad For Google+

If you’re a fan of SyncPad, an app described by the company as a "Facetime for drawings” then you’ll be pleased to know that you can get it as an extension for both Chrome and Safari, allowing you to add it to Hangouts which will enable you to share your drawing skills with others in your circles.

http://blog.mysyncpad.com/post/7263433230/introducing-syncpad-extensions-for-google

Liquid G+

If the thought of having to scroll down the page to see what your friends are saying is too much, Liquid G+ will take that single column style and give you three columns instead.

Why? We aren’t sure. But like the Google to Facebook hack this changes the appearance of your Google+ page as long as you are happy to do some tweaking with code. Not one for the quick press of a button and we can’t personally see why you would want it, but someone must have because someone built it in the first place.

http://userstyles.org/styles/50187/liquid-g