Plus why time was up for Eric Schmidt, and read about the wrong end of the (USB) stick
A quick burst of seven links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team
The Music Bay: Pirate Bay Crew Instill More Fear Into The Music Industry >> TorrentFreak
"The music industry can't even imagine what we're planning to roll out in the coming months. For years they've complained bitterly about piracy, but if they ever had a reason to be scared it is now," TorrentFreak was told. "It will be a special surprise for IFPI's 78th birthday, and we're thinking of organizing a huge festival in Rome where IFPI was founded."
Google's Page brings change and questions >> Reuters
"One day after Google's surprise announcement that Larry Page would once again run the company, investors and industry insiders were wondering if he is up to a now very different job."
Robert X Cringley writes about the idea of Apple doing a tablet: "For Apple, doing a tablet really isn't much of a gamble. Macs still dominate the graphic design market despite Adobe's recent switching of allegiances to the Windows camp.... Give artists a big tablet screen to draw on, add wireless networking and good battery life, then throw this all on top of a powerful and easy-to-use OS, and Apple can be assured of at least breaking-even. They will become must-have gizmos in graphics departments everywhere. It's Apple's BMW strategy all over again, and virtually guarantees at least modest success. "But Steve Jobs would prefer something more than just modest success. He wants to define a new product niche or, in this case, finally give practical definition to a niche that already exists, kinda-sorta." Now see if you can guess the year it was written.
Researchers turn USB connection into attack vector >> CNET News
The headline on the story - and its first paragraph - are, simply, wrong: it's not the USB *cable* that contains the malware, but the device at either end. You can either connect a poisoned smartphone and take over a computer, or vice-versa. What's happened - in this theoretical exploit - is that the USB driver has been hacked to add keyboard and mouse capabilities to the connection. Not, emphatically, that someone has worked out how to store a program in a length of wire. Still, should make a good line in a film involving hacking. Next series of Spooks perhaps?
Google search and search engine spam >> Official Google Blog
Matt Cutts says that while "pure" spam in search results has fallen off, there are still problems: "As 'pure webspam' has decreased over time, attention has shifted instead to 'content farms', which are sites with shallow or low-quality content. In 2010, we launched two major algorithmic changes focused on low-quality sites. Nonetheless, we hear the feedback from the web loud and clear: people are asking for even stronger action on content farms and sites that consist primarily of spammy or low-quality content."
Councils minimise IT cuts to drive through savings >> Computer Weekly
"Cuts to IT budgets in local councils have been minimised in an attempt by local authorities to drive efficiency savings through technology, according to the latest report from Socitm. "Budgets made available for ICT functions declined by 2.6% in 2010 compare to the previous year, while borrowing to invest in ICT doubled. In 2009 budgets shrank by 11%. This year's figure was much less than expected, said the body for public sector IT professionals."
Why Eric Schmidt had to go: Google's innovation dilemma >> Asymco
"What I think is the most serious failure is that for the past five years Google has not addressed the possibility of search itself becoming commoditized. Social media and app economies are asymmetric to search. They make money in different ways and appear to be less efficient or effective means to reach users, but they are growing. Facebook has overtaken Google in terms of page views and apps are a new interaction model for cloud-based content that does away with the indexing model Google champions."
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2011/jan/23/technology-links-newsbucket
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