Announcements - IT Certification Forum

Reduce Security Risk of Web Applications

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:16:17 +0000

    By ISACA — Nov. 14, 2011
Rolling Meadows, Ill. — Nov. 14

The use of Web applications has soared recently due to the significant value they can add to enterprises by providing innovative ways to interact with customers. However, along with the benefits of these capabilities come security vulnerabilities that create dangerous risk and exposure.

ISACA — a global association of 95,000 IT security, assurance and governance professionals — has issued a white paper titled “Web Application Security: Business and Risk Considerations,” which outlines the causes of Web application vulnerabilities, examines the associated risk and impacts and provides advice to mitigate risk. The guidance applies to all types of software development activities.

New Web applications are client-server based and platform independent, require less computing power and can be seamlessly integrated with online resources and services. Their use can result in time and cost reduction of processes, increased customer satisfaction and increased revenue. However, Web application vulnerabilities open the door to the exploitation of sensitive corporate information, disruption of service and theft of intellectual property.

Some common vulnerabilities identified in the white paper include:
•    SQL injection.
•    Cross-site scripting.
•    Insecure direct object reference.
•    Information leakage.
•    Insufficient anti-automation.

“Even though we are seeing more and more Web-based breaches reported, there is a large number that are never reported or even detected, and many enterprises do not yet take steps to address vulnerabilities,” said Salomon Rico of Deloitte Mexico, chairman of ISACA’s project development team. “Web applications must have security integrated every step of the way.”

Included in the white paper are the following strategies for addressing Web application risk:
•    Security measures must be mandatory components that are included early in the process.
•    Programmers must be trained in secure coding techniques.
•    There must be a robust quality assurance process in place to enforce continuous, controlled quality testing.
•    Deployed applications must be continuously monitored for newly discovered vulnerabilities.
•    Decisive action must take place to address any vulnerabilities found.

“Enterprises can take advantage of the many benefits of Web applications if they have a systematic approach,” Rico said. “These new technologies can be successfully integrated with caution, which can result in improved value and reputation, and increased support from the overall enterprise and stakeholders.”

US: Russia and China stealing online from US co...

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 10:54:03 +0000

China and Russia are the most active perpetrators of economic cyber-espionage against US companies, a US intelligence report says.

The report specifically cited Chinese "actors" and Russian intelligence as the top culprits.
Robert Bryant, US national counter-intelligence executive, told reporters that online spying was "a quiet menace to our economy".
Both China and Russia's embassies have denied the allegations.
The report, titled Foreign Spies Stealing US Economic Secrets in Cyberspace, says both private firms and cybersecurity expertshave reported an "onslaught" of computer network intrusions that they say originated from China.
However, they have not been able to track the ultimate culprit of the intrusions.
Google said in 2010 that it had lost data to Chinese hackers.
'Unwarranted allegations'
According to the report, attacks from Russia are a "distant second" to those from China, but were "extensive" and "sophisticated".
The proliferation of methods used to hack into the computer systems of both research organisations and private companies also means that it is harder to identify and track who is stealing information.
The FBI alerted more than 100 US companies in the past year that their online security had been compromised.
The report is notable for its unusual candour on naming countries suspected of "collecting" material online, including trade secrets, intellectual property and technology.
Officials said while several countries were suspected of cyber-spying, the report singled out Russia and China because of the severity of the threat.
According to the report, US counterintelligence is also worried about "small-scale" actors becoming involved in espionage, effectively providing cover and expertise for foreign intelligence services.
Both Russian and Chinese officials in the US denied the report.
"We are opposed to willfully making unwarranted allegations against China as firmly as our opposition to any forms of unlawful cyberspace activities," embassy spokesman Wang Baodong told the Washington Post....bbc

Zynga brings Facebook's Most popular game C...

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:25:50 +0000

By Mike Dunn | Digital Trends

Are you unhappy about all the recent Facebook changes, but can’t live without playing CityVille every day? Well game maker Zynga has the solution for you; you can now play CityVille on Google+. CityVille is the most popular game on Facebook, so it is pretty safe to assume that it will be very popular on Google+, and might even lure some Facebook users over to Google+.
Last week Google+ moved into public beta testing which means that people no longer required an invite to join the service. So CityVille joined Google+ at just the right time, as the site has become very popular in the last week. CityVille currently has 72 million users, and is the most popular game on Facebook and has been since it first launched. Zynga has three of the five most popular games, and we imagine it won’t be long until they are all on Google+.
At this time there is no official word if the city you build in Facebook will transfer over to your Google+ account. In our short amount of testing it appears that when you start playing on Google+ you start with a fresh city, which we are sure some hardcore users will not be happy about.
CityVille isn’t Zynga’s first game on Google+, Zynga Poker took that honor when Games on Google+ first launched in August. Seeing how Google is an investor in Zynga it seems like it is only a matter of time before the whole Zynga library is available on Google+.

Amazon's tablet serious challenge to Apple...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:31:35 +0000

By Dhanya Skariachan, Phil Wahba and Alistair Barr in New York | Reuters –

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc, which revolutionized reading with its Kindle e-reader, is expected to unveil a tablet computer this week that analysts say will seriously challenge Apple's market dominating iPad.
Amazon on Friday invited media to a press conference to be held in New York on Wednesday, declining to provide further details.
But analysts were confident that the world's largest Internet retailer will introduce its long-awaited tablet computer this year to expand in mobile commerce and sell more digital goods and services.
"Wednesday is tablet day," BGC partners analyst Colin Gillis told Reuters.
The tablet has been awaited as a strong competitor to Apple Inc's iPad. Apple has sold about 29 million of the devices since its launch in April 2010.
"The real issue here is that, you know, it is likely going to be good for consumers; is this going to be good for shareholders?," Gillis said. He wondered whether Amazon would price the tablet below those of rivals -- and thereby do little to boost margins.
"Knowing Amazon, it is likely to be a very aggressive price," Gillis said.
In much the same way Amazon's Kindle e-reader was priced low to quickly get traction among readers the company is likely to keep the price of its tablet low to attract users and sell other content and services, one analyst said.
"It's a marketing tool to build a relationship with customers and sell them cloud (computing) services," said James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research.
While Amazon has remained tight lipped even about the device's existence, the TechCrunch blog earlier this month said the Amazon tablet also will be called Kindle.
It will be a 7 inch device with a full color, touch screen, run on Google's Android software and cost $250, the blog said, well below the price of the least expensive iPad.
Robert Baird & Co analyst Colin Sebastian said in a note last month than an Amazon tablet would be a "game-changer." Sebastian forecast the device could sell 3 million units in its first year.
The tablet could pose a major threat to Apple because of the Kindle's popularity and the movie and music services Amazon sells.
Forrester's McQuivey said the device also takes aim at Barnes & Noble Inc's NookColor device, which hit the market last year and features tablet functionalities.
Several technology companies like Research In Motion and Samsung have introduced tablets that sold poorly. Hewlett Packard Co announced recently it would abandon its tablet.
Amazon shares finished the day up 0.2 percent at $223.61 on Friday on Nasdaq. The stock had traded as low as $219.06, but rallied as invitations to the media event began arriving.
(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan, Phil Wahba and Alistair Barr in New York; Editing by Derek Caney, Gerald E. McCormick and Carol Bishopric)

Apple to unveil iPhone 5 on October 4: report

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 10:01:27 +0000

Relaxnews –
Apple plans to unveil its next generation iPhone next month, technology blog AllThingsD said Wednesday.
AllThingsD cautioned that Apple could "change its plans anytime," but said the present plan calls for Apple's new chief executive Tim Cook to preside over the launch of the iPhone 5 on October 4.
Cook, 50, replaced Apple's ailing co-founder Steve Jobs as chief executive of the Cupertino, California-based gadget-maker last month.
Citing "sources close to the situation," the Dow Jones-owned AllThingsD said the iPhone 5 would go on sale within a few weeks after the announcement.
Jobs, 56, the Silicon Valley visionary behind the Macintosh computer, the iPod, iPhone and iPad, stepped down as Apple's CEO on August 24.
Jobs has presided over Apple's splashy product launches in the past and AllThingsD said "the pressure will be on Cook to turn in a good performance."
"What will be interesting to see, of course, is if Jobs himself will also make an appearance, which is something that is likely to be determined by his health, in a decision that will be made very close to the event," it said.
Jobs underwent an operation for pancreatic cancer in 2004 and a liver transplant in 2009.
Apple released the iPhone 4 in June 2010 and sold 20.34 million of the devices last quarter.
Apple shares have been trading at record highs this week and the stock was up 1.37 percent at $419.13 on Wall Street on Wednesday.

Russian hacker sells home and cars to pay RBS

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:37:14 +0000

By Katia Moskvitch Technology reporter, BBC News

A Russian hacker who breached the security of RBS' WorldPay service and stole $9m (£6m) has had his property sold to compensate the bank.

Viktor Pleshchuk's two flats and two cars, a BMW and a Lada, were auctioned off in Saint Petersburg on Monday.

According to a Russian news portal RIA Novosti, the sale raised 10m roubles (£200,000).

It reported that the money had been transferred to RBS, something the bank was unable to confirm.

Mr Pleshchuk and seven other Eastern European hackers managed to get their hands on the personal data of thousands of RBS customers in 2008.

They used the information to create fake debit cards and withdraw huge amounts of cash from ATMs in as many as 280 cities around the world.

The money was taken from 2,100 bank cash machines within 12 hours in the US, Russia, Estonia, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan and Canada.

Sophisticated plan
Kaspersky Labs chief security expert Alex Gostev said that the actual hacking was not the most complicated task the criminals had to deal with.

“Start Quote

The technology used to commit such crimes is increasingly available and the penalties are extremely light”

Joseph MennFinancial Times reporter

"The most interesting part was the final stage of the attack - the organisation of mass withdrawals all over the world," he said.

"They had to find more than 150 people in [numerous] cities, give each one of them the instructions and the fake cards, organise synchronised withdrawal - all of this shows that it was a group of highly skilled professionals".

Once arrested, Mr Pleshchuk pleaded guilty.

In 2009, he and the rest of the hackers were also pursued by authorities in the US.

The eight were charged in the state of Georgia, where the Atlanta-based card-processing company, RBS WorldPay, was targeted.

In September 2010, Mr Pleshcuk received a six-year suspended sentence and an order to pay $8.9m (£6m) in restitution.

He managed to avoid jail by pledging to sell his property and compensate the bank for the damage caused.

Online bank fraud
Brian Krebs, an American journalist specialising in cybercrime and computer security, recently tracked an ATM heist that was eerily similar to the RBS attack.

He explained that the attackers managed to get into the US-based FIS - Fidelity National Information Services - one of the world's largest processors of prepaid debit cards. They then planted a remote access trojan virus and used the data that they obtained to top up the reloadable prepaid debit cards they had compromised.

After that, they cloned the stolen debit cards, sent copies of them to co-conspirators in more than six countries, and raided the bank's accounts.

Mr Krebs said the FIS incident was very much like the RBS case, "clearly organised and professional".

"When the funds on the cards reached close to zero, the hackers used their remote access to top up the cards again," he told BBC News.

"They did this over and over and stole [millions] in less than 24 hours. These guys had access, they had a plan, and they had the means, and they executed it brilliantly."

Joseph Menn, a Financial Times reporter who covers technology-related privacy and security issues, said that similar attacks are still netting criminals millions.

"The FBI said last week it is investigating online bank fraud crimes with losses totalling $85 million," said Mr Menn.

"The problem is that the technology used to commit such crimes is increasingly available and the penalties, as we have seen with the Pleshchuk case, are extremely light even in the rare event of an arrest, due largely to corruption.

"From a cost-benefit perspective, there is no reason for criminal enterprises not to double their bets on international bank crimes, so the problem will continue to get worse.

Microsoft CEO sees Windows as key to growth plan

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:20:30 +0000

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE - AP Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer assured analysts on Wednesday that Windows remains the software maker's financial foundation, even though slowing personal computer sales are raising worries about the operating system's ability to adapt to the new ways people and business are using technology.
"Windows is at the center of our 'go-forward' strategy," Ballmer said during a presentation held in Anaheim, near Disneyland. "We feel very comfortable that this is a smart thing to do for our customers and the smart thing to do for our shareholders."
The Associated Press monitored Microsoft's analyst meeting via webcast.
Ballmer's upbeat tone reflected a positive buzz surrounding Windows 8, a version due out next year that Microsoft is touting as the most radical makeover of its lucrative operating system since 1995. Windows 8 is being designed to run on devices that boot up faster and work on touch-screen computer tablets, as well as on PCs that depend on keyboards and mice.
The overhaul is Microsoft's most aggressive response to the tablet craze that Apple Inc. set off with its release of the iPad in 2009.
Since then, Apple has sold more than 28 million iPads and analysts expect tens of millions more to be sold by the time Windows 8 is ready to be shipped. Microsoft isn't saying when Windows 8 will go on sale, but analysts expect it to hit the market at some point between July and the 2012 holiday shopping season.
In the meantime, Microsoft is still promoting Windows 7, which has sold nearly 450 million copies since its 2009 release. It just recently surpassed Windows XP — a decade-old operating system — as the most widely used version of Microsoft's operating systems, according to company estimates.
To build the excitement for what's coming next, Microsoft provided its most extensive demonstration of Windows 8 so far Tuesday during a packed meeting with applications developers. It gave away 5,000 Samsung tablets running on a preliminary version of Windows 8 and also is allowing anyone to take the software for a test spin if they want to install it on their own machines. By Wednesday morning, Ballmer said more than 500,000 copies of Windows 8 had been downloaded.
"The initial reaction has been all we have been hoping for," Ballmer told analysts.
That may be so, but Microsoft still appears to have work to do to win back investors who have become increasingly convinced that the company has lost its competitive edge as Google Inc. emerged as the Internet's most powerful player and Apple Inc. shaped mobile computing trends with the iPhone and iPad tablet.
The Internet and mobile devices are now seen as more compelling franchises with greater future potential than the PC business that Microsoft has milked since the 1980s with Windows and its Office suite of software.
Since Google went public in August 2004, its stock has increased by more than six fold while Microsoft's shares have dipped 2 percent. And since Apple released the first iPhone in June 2007, its stock has more than tripled while Microsoft's shares have backtracked 11 percent. That shift enabled Apple to surpass Microsoft as the world's most valuable technology company.
Microsoft shares closed Wednesday at $26.50, up 46 cents.
The lackluster performance of Microsoft's stock has intensified the pressure on Ballmer, an exuberant leader who succeeded company co-founder Bill Gates as CEO in 2000. With Microsoft's revenue growth slowing, Ballmer has curbed spending and even laid off workers to save money. The penny-pinching helped Microsoft boost its revenue to $774,000 per employee in its last fiscal year ending in June compared with $622,000 per worker in fiscal 2006, Microsoft boasted Wednesday.
Ballmer, 55, is betting Windows 8 will help Microsoft catch up in tablets and renew demand for PCs that can be operated with a touch of the finger as well as with the traditional navigation tools.
Microsoft is also scrambling to build a mobile version of Windows that will be more widely embraced in the smartphone market, where it has fallen behind Google's Android operating system as well as Apple's iPhone system. "I don't love where we are now, but I am very optimistic of where we can be," Ballmer said.
The company's proposed $8.5 billion acquisition of Internet phone and video service Skype is expected to become a key part of Microsoft's mobile strategy. Microsoft is hoping to gain regulatory approval to close the Skype deal before January.
After losing billions of dollars investing in Internet search technology during the past five years, Microsoft believes it's in a better position to gain ground on Google — a name synonymous with looking things up online. Microsoft's Bing search engine has been steadily picking up market share since its 2009 introduction but the gains have mostly come at the expense of Yahoo Inc.
Deciding to rather save money than fight Google, Yahoo last year began relying on Microsoft's technology for most of its search results. That alliance has enabled Microsoft to process about 30 percent of the search requests made in the U.S. compared to about 65 percent at Google.
Yahoo has been struggling far more than Microsoft in recent years. The ongoing problems prompted Yahoo's board to fire Carol Bartz, the CEO who negotiated the Internet search partnership with Microsoft.
Since Bartz's unceremonious departure last week, there has been mounting speculation that Yahoo might put itself up for sale rather than hire a permanent CEO. Either way, Ballmer said Microsoft's 10-year contract with Yahoo won't be affected.

WellPoint, IBM tie up for medical-data technology

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:47:02 +0000

By Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore | Reuters

(Reuters) - U.S. health insurer WellPoint Inc and computer giant IBM agreed to commercially use IBM's Watson technology that could help physicians identify best treatment options.
The new system being developed will have the ability to look at massive amounts of medical literature and arrive at best treatment solutions, the companies said in a statement.
WellPoint expects to employ Watson technology, named after IBM founder Thomas Watson, early next year and would work with select physician groups in clinical pilots.
(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Vinu Pilakkott)

HP abandons webOS; is Apple too tough to beat?

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:28:56 +0000

Posted August 19, 2011 1:46pm by Phil Hornshaw
It’s been only a few weeks since Hewlett-Packard released its first entry into the tablet market, built with its own operating system, webOS. But on an earnings call Thursday, HP announced that not only is it looking to spin off its PC business, the largest of its kind in the world, but it’s also discontinuing making webOS devices and its short-lived tablet experiment.

HP spent $1.2 billion to purchase Palm on the hopes of webOS. The company wanted to take the Apple approach, controlling both the hardware and software ecosystem of the device to create a well-designed user experience. And it seemed like a great idea from HP’s perspective, and one the company was investing a lot of money in.

According to a story from Mashable, though, HP’s webOS-running TouchPad hasn’t been selling well. Apparently, Best Buy stores have moved just 10 percent of their TouchPad inventory since the device’s launch. Here’s a quote from Mashable’s story:

In the press release detailing its preliminary Q3 2011 financial results, the company had this to say:

‘HP reported that it plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.’

The webOS-based TouchPad was seen by many (including Mashable) as a real competitor to Apple’s iPad. Our initial review of the device was lukewarm, but the device (and webOS itself) seemed full of potential.

It’s the dead sales, despite even price cuts, that has HP looking in other directions, and in a way, ceding the territory to the iPad. During the earnings call, the “tablet effect” on PC sales was even mentioned, which is to say, tablets (or more specifically, the iPad) are cutting into PC sales, and HP is looking for new ways to compete. Apparently, entering the tablet space isn’t one of them.

Can anyone stand-up to Apple’s iPad?
It would seem that the iPad has defeated HP, and that begs the question: Can any Android device really compete against Apple’s juggernaut?

Analysts seem to think so. They maintain that while Apple will remain a dominant force with the iPad for years to come, it can’t control the market forever the way it does now. Eventually, Android tabs will crack the code, be it by offering bargain devices at lower prices, or by refining the Android ecosystem until it can compete with iOS. But HP seemed to have the right idea and is abandoning ship incredibly early in the process, and it seemed to have the operating system problem more or less in-hand, perhaps more than Android.

But calling the game in Apple’s favor seems a little premature. Yes, right now, iOS is the superior experience to Android if for no other reason than by sheer volume of apps and the lack of compatibility issues with which devices like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 have to deal.

But Apple’s share of the market is steadily ebbing, even if by small increments, simply because the volume of devices is increasing. And the Galaxy Tab 10.1, by way of example, is a comparable device that really can stand against the iPad. It just needs more apps and more compatibility, and that takes time.

HP throwing in the towel doesn’t necessarily spell doom for the Android market. Just because it couldn’t find a good way to compete with the iPad doesn’t mean no one can. Apple is successful in the tablet market because it’s leading the pack in innovation, and rather than trying to catch up to Apple, Android developers would be better served to try to come up with the things that tablet users might want out of those devices: innovate, rather than replicate. With lots of Android devices and the openness of the software, this is certainly possible. Someone just needs to find the right idea.

Apple doesn’t own a patent on innovation, after all.

Messaging apps face competition with Facebook M...

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:59:48 +0000

Posted August 10, 2011 4:30pm by Marty Gabel
Facebook this week launched a standalone Android (and iOS) app called Facebook Messenger, and it’s already seeing massive downloads on both platforms. The app combines your Facebook chats and instant messages into a single app, and you can also send messages to your mobile contacts via SMS even if they’re not using the app or Facebook itself.

It sounds like the app has plenty of potential to become hugely popular, especially with the Facebook brand behind it, as well as the site’s overwhelming popularity in the social networking sphere. Here’s a nice introduction to its features from Dan Seifert of MobileBurn.com:

How does it run?
A few months ago, Facebook acquired group messaging company Beluga, and its influences are clearly felt within the new app. It’s easy to group-message a selection of contacts and you can even see their location on a map if they’ve chosen to reveal that information.

Overall, the app works well. It offers notifications for messages and runs separately from the somewhat sluggish Facebook for Android app. The ability to add photos to messages, not just from your gallery or camera but from the web at large, is a nice touch too. However, it is missing a few important features. It doesn’t show which of your Facebook friends are online, surely an essential need for instant chats, and a big part of me is still wondering why the chat and messaging features weren’t simply included as a major update to the original Facebook for Android app instead?

Alternatives
But there are, already, plenty of other alternatives out there to the Facebook Messenger app. Android users should be aware of this before the social networking company corners the market. GroupMehas been around for a while and has established a keen following. It’s free too, works on all kinds of devices, and supports SMS in case your connection is poor or you have buddies not using the app. It also adds location features, allows private messages, and... well, it pretty much does what Facebook Messenger does, but perhaps without the social networking giant’s huge reach.

Appolicious Advisor, Kristen Nicole, featured textPlus Messenger+Group Text in her Android Apps of the Week recently because it received a big update. It lets you send messages and pictures to people all over the world for free, plus group messaging between Android phones and tablets anywhere. The app’s international scope has seen it grow quite rapidly in recent months, and according to the developer’s blog, there are 54 million messages sent per dayusing it.

And there’s plenty more out there. WhatsApp Messenger could easily become an SMS messaging replacement with its availability on all kinds of devices, group chat features, and it’s free for a year ($1.99 per year after that). Add video calling to the mix and an app like Fring really begins to shine because it offers group chat, group text, and even four-way video calls.

The future
Facebook recently announced video-calling integration via Skype in its chat capabilities. It probably won’t be too long until we see these features introduced into the Facebook Messaging app. Although plenty of other developers have released apps offering exciting group messaging and chat options in the past, it’s clear that the power of Facebook’s user base, huge financial resources, and technological backbone will certainly make it a force to be reckoned with in the coming months.

Android users should, however, always bear in mind that there’s plenty of viable alternatives out there in case Facebook Messenger doesn’t really appeal.

Tablets using Microsoft software top RIM's...

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 10:25:29 +0000

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tablets using Microsoft Corp software saw stronger sales than the high-profile Playbook from BlackBerry maker Research In Motion in the second quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.

Even though Microsoft has yet to launch a version of its Windows software designed specifically for tablet computers it still picked up a 4.6 percent share of the market in the second quarter compared with a 3.3 percent share for Playbook, which is based on RIM's QNX software.

RIM launched Playbook, its first tablet computer, in April to lackluster reviews. Microsoft, which provides the same software for tablets as it sells to desktop computer makers, is not expected to launch dedicated tablet software until the late next year.

Meanwhile market leader Apple Inc fought off an increasingly strong challenge from Google Inc, whose Android software is used in tablets from many hardware vendors including Samsung Electronics Co and Motorola Mobility.

Apple's iPad tablet dominated the market with a 61.3 percent share. But Android increased its market share to 30 percent from 2.9 percent in the same quarter a year ago, when Apple had 94.3 percent of the market, the technology research firm, Strategy Analytics said.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Carol Bishopric)

iPad 2 Glitches Emerge

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:12:07 +0000

Paul Suarez – By now you've probably heard of the alleged Facetime freezing andbacklight bleeding issues facing iPad 2 owners.

PC World can't verify them, and there's no indication these glitches are causing serious problems for consumers. We can only acknowledge that people are discussing the issues online -- and promise to keep tabs on them.

Here is a quick rundown of a few possible iPad 2 issues that are drawing chatter on support forums and elsewhere:

Finicky FaceTime

As reported earlier by PC World's Jared Newman, Apple's support forums are seeing a growing number of complaints saying FaceTime video chat freezes after being used for the first time.

The problem is solved by restarting the iPad.

Backlight Bleeding

More problematic than glitchy FaceTime software are the reports of iPad 2 backlight leakage. Some iPad owners, perhaps most famously Cult of Mac's David Martin, hav e noticed uneven patches of light showing up around the edges of the tablet's display.

Martin took his original model in to be replaced and an Apple Genius noted that the replacement also suffered from the same problem. Sounds like a manufacturing problem that will need to be resolved in the future.

Camera Issues

Cult of Mac heard reports of wonky colors popping up in a few frames of video. Writer Brian Sweet said he noticed the problem in his iPad 2 since launch day. He isn't sure if the problem is hardware or software-related.

Sweet took a two and a half minute video driving through a car wash and noticed the issue popped up three times.

iPad camera records a car wash

Digital trends compiled a roundup of other noteworthy issues that people are reporting online, includingwireless woes, U.K. web order glitches, yellow patches due to wet bonding glue, dead pixels, and speakers getting stuck in headphone mode.

So, iPad 2 users, what are you encountering? Let us know if you're experiencing glitches or idiosyncrasies, and what you (and Apple) are doing about them.

LibreOffice 3.3 launched as rival to OpenOffice

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:09:04 +0000

LibreOffice 3.3 launched as rival to OpenOffice

Jenny Williams

The Document Foundation has launched the free office productivity suite LibreOffice 3.3, now available for download.

The LibreOffice initiative rivals Oracle's OpenOffice.org and Microsoft's Office suite in a bid to provide an independent open source package.

A group of open source enthusiasts founded the Document Foundation last year and claimed independence for the free office software Openoffice.org, from Oracle's recently acquired subsidiary Sun Microsystems after 10 years.

Open source enterprise supplier Red Hat's Caolán McNamara, also a Document Foundation community leader, said, "We are excited: this is our very first stable release, and therefore we are eager to get user feedback, which will be integrated as soon as possible into the code with the first enhancements being released in February.

"Starting from March, we will be moving to a real-time-based, predictable, transparent and public release schedule, in accordance with the Engineering Steering Committee's goals and users' requests."

The LibreOffice suite is available in 30 languages and supports all major operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva and Suse Linux).

As well as including the new features of OpenOffice.org 3.3, other features of the first stable release of LibreOffice include:

Ability to import and work with SVG files

Easy way to format pages and numbering in Writer

Improved navigator tool for Writer

Improved ergonomics in Calc for sheet and cell management

Microsoft Works and Lotus Word Pro document import filters

PDF import

Click here to download LibreOffice 3.3. : http://www.libreoffice.org/download/

Upload feature now available

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 04:05:15 +0000

CertCollection is proud to announce:

All users are now able to upload VCE files. Please keep in mind that only VCEs may be uploaded.
To upload a file, simply go to "Downloads"

then scroll down to the bottom to "Uploads"

Now hit the "Upload file" button. Please keep in mind that your files need to be approved by staff team so give them names that
show which exam they are for. A file called "My new P4S" will be deleted without having a look at it.
Also make sure, you have entered a name for the file. Otherwise upload will fail.

So all of you are invited to upload and fill our collections of VCEs

CertCollection is introducing SSL to its forum

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 04:03:43 +0000

CertCollection is rapidly growing and one important aspect of our mission is security of our members.

We are certainly proud and excited to announce that we will be the first IT forum to introduce SSL to its members.

SSL is one of the most powerful encryption algorithms in the industry today that includes automatic browser key generation without third-party plug-ins.

This is a brief explanation on how SSL works:

The CertCollection Team

Happy Birthday To Our Forum

Sat, 15 Jan 2011 04:02:01 +0000

well congratulations folks for the tremendous work we did to make this forum alive

today we cover 1 year of our birth with the following stats :

Our members have made a total of 75,022 posts in 11,839 threads.

We currently have 28,037 members registered.

Please welcome our newest member, albadri

The most users online at one time was 212 on 08-20-2009 at 05:50 PM

i wish for all the continous success in their careers that reflect for sure on our forum

Cheers !!