Pentagon: 24000 military files stolen in cyberattack

The Pentagon has disclosed that it suffered one of its largest ever losses of sensitive data in March when 24,000 files were stolen in a cyber-attack by a foreign government. 

William Lynn, the US deputy secretary of defence, said the data was taken from the computers of a corporate defence contractor. 

He said the US government had a "pretty good idea" who was responsible but did not elaborate.

Many cyber-attacks in the past have been blamed on China or Russia, and one of the Pentagon's fears is that eventually a terrorist group will acquire the ability to steal data. 

Mr Lynn disclosed the March attack in a speech outlining a new cyber-strategy, which formally declares cyberspace a new warfare domain, much like air, land and sea. 

It calls for developing more resilient computer networks so the military can continue to operate if critical systems are breached or taken down.

Now Google Docs support ZIP and RAR file types

From  Now, if someone sends you a ZIP or RAR file in Gmail, you’ll be able to view its contents from within your browser by clicking on View.

The Google Docs team says that with the addition of ZIP and RAR, the platform now supports over 15 different file types. The mobile versions of Google Docs also support the changes, and all versions allow you to pick and choose the files you want to download from the archive without having to pull down the entire archive to get to them.

If you do want to download an emailed ZIP or RAR archive, but don’t want to store it on your computer, you can download the archive to Google Docs and open it from there anytime you want. The feature is available now to Google Docs users, and will roll out to Google Apps users in the near future.

Go check out this feature

[Via:googledocs blog]

World's Lightest Laptop :Sony VAIO Z :first look

New Sony VAIO Z is Thinner, Lighter than MacBook Air ...

Sony’s VAIO Z Series is one of the finest ultraportables to ever travel the Earth, but now, several years after its 2009 debut, Sony has ripped up the rulebook and started afresh. At a launch event in London, we caught our first up-close look at the all-new Z Series.

The new Vaio Z catches the eye immediately thanks to its sleek, sharp-edged black carbon fibre body and incredibly slender design – at its thickest point it’s just 17mm. It’s also incredibly light too at just 1.2kg which is around the same weight as many netbooks.

Originally announced at the end of June, the VAIO Z series features a cool Power Media Dock: a "monolithic" expansion module that links to the laptop via a Thunderbolt connection. This external device boosts the laptop's graphical prowess with an integrated AMD Radeon HD 6650M card combined with 1 GB of dedicated DDR3 VRAM. The dock also provides a Blu-ray or DVD SuperMulti optical drive (depending on the model), three USB ports, and support for up to four HD displays (including the notebook screen) via HDMI and/or VGA output ports.

The hardware

             Click to enlarge

 

 

Larry Page:550,000 Android devices activated every day

with the 4.4 percent weekly growth

 Yesterday Google CEO,Larry Page said 550,000 devices running Google’s mobile operating system Android are activated daily during the company’s Q2 earnings call today.

 

The number of daily activations is steadily increasing. Just over two weeks ago, Senior Vice President of Android Andy Rubin revealed via Twitter that there were 500,000 Android devices activated each day. He also said that the rate of growth was increasing by 4.4 percent each week, which matches up with the device activation number stated in the earnings call.

If Google can maintain that growth rate, it will reach over a million daily Android device activations by October. Yet, with the growing number of Android-enabled tablets entering the market and lower costs to consumers on both smartphones and tablets, daily activations could increase much faster.

To give some perspective of how big the current activation numbers are, Google was activating about 200,000 Android devices per day in August 2010 — meaning daily Android device activations have more than doubled in less than a year.

Tinychat’s Group Video Chat App For Facebook:TechCRUNCH:

ROBIN WAUTERS of TECH CRUNCH posted a article saying 

Tinychat will submit a group video chat application that will work on both iOS devices and desktop browsers, and support video chat sessions of up to 12 people at the same time,Next week

This will be differnt from all other group chat apps like fring and google+ Hangout  as it is available on all iOS devices

"Tinychat web service is handling over 25 million visits a month, with close to 100,000 new users signing up on a daily basis." Tinychat co-founder CEO Dan Blake to ROBIN WAUTERS

Spotify has landed in the U.S.

Spotify’s long-awaited US debut is finally here. After nearly two years of broken promises from Daniel Ek, the music service’s co-founder and chief, the popular site is going live stateside later today. 

However, the greater significance is that finally another European digital service is going to try to break America. It’s like watching one of our favourite bands trying to crack the US music market – we will them to succeed but are not surprised when they regularly don’t.

Despite frequent protestations from European venture capitalists and technology entrepreneurs, that this side of the pond is just as fertile for amazing start-ups, the truth is that the vast majority of global digital players are still American. 

Apart from a few notable exceptions, Skype and Last.fm (which is now declining in popularity in Europe as Spotify’s star continues to rise), very few European digital companies really gain global popularity as stand-alone consumer services. 

Spotify’s launch has been eagerly awaited by early technology adopters in the US. However, it is entering a crowded and well-established marketplace with services like Rhapsody, Mog and Pandora, already occupying lots of mindshare and music lovers’ time. 

Spotify Premium Usage Limit Question

RaphaelSamad Says

I am thinking about signing up for Spotify Premium. However, I am struggling to find out what the usage limits are.
Can I, for example use Spotify Premium on my Iphone , my Android and one of my Daughters on her Mobile (Spotify do support it) - and can we then also use it on all our computers (though probably only a maximum of 2 simultaneously). Also, for offline listening on our mobiles, can it instead link in with Itunes or is it really better to use the Spotify mobile application.
If we can, then sharing it with the family would definitely help to justify the price.
Also, are there any offers or anything for Premium Sign Up going around or it is just the normal £ 9.99 per month.

gre
You can use it on as many devices as you want, but I think you'll find you can only use one at a time...

That's right, it detects if there are more than one app online at once 

iPhone 5 may launch in August : CNET UK

Apple's much-awaited and more speculated next-generation iPhone, iPhone 5, may launch in the second half of August, reports CNET.UK.

According to CNET, new job postings for a number of iPhone sales staff in the UK suggest a mid-August launch for Apple's next-generation iPhone.

The post seeks an "Apple iPhone sales specialist" to work for two and a half months in Apple retail stores beginning in mid-August for what recruiter Gekko calls "an exciting project". Gekko is reportedly the recruiter who posted the listings.

"Our client, Apple, one of the largest consumer electronic hardware and software companies in the world are seeking full-time iPhone Sales Staff for an exciting project to work 5 days a week (Tuesday-Saturday) for the period 16th August - 29th October within key retail stores," goes the job posting.

Though listing per se is no concrete evidence of iPhone 5 launch, it definitely shows that preparation for a new device are underway.

According to Apple Insider, Apple has also aligned three key suppliers of gallium arsenide for iPhone 5, as the company prepares to begin mass production of the handset for launch later this year.

According to a recent DigiTimes report too, the new iPhone will launch in the third quarter of calender year 2011. This means that the device could be unveiled anytime between now and the end of September. Earlier this month, it was said that Apple placed orders for 15 million iPhones from manufacturer Pegatron.

Google unveils Photovine : Go request an invite

Google has started rolling out a new photo service, dubbed Photovine. The service -- currently available on an invite-only basis -- allows users to share photos online.

Though few details are available about the new service, an FAQ and brief demonstration video suggests that the service will allow users to share photos based on specific themes.

Google reportedly said in a statement that Photovine is a photo-sharing service built by a few folks at Slide. The company acquired Slide in 2010.

PhotoVine comes close on the heeels of Google launching its social network Google +. It remains to be seen if and when the company integrates the two services.