The most awaited feature from Google Maps, enabling routing for Indian Cities has arrived silently without any major announcement!
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From the monthly archives:
April 2009
The latest edition of the Ubuntu operating system, is out today. Aside from various stability and performance tweaks, it’s main new feature is a cloud computing technology designed to match that offered by Amazon.
The new edition is version 9.04, dubbed in characteristically alliterative style as Jaunty Jackelope. Among the claimed changes are:
- a new default disc burning application, brasero;
- better handling of multiple monitor set-ups;
- a new system for visual notifications which uses larger and more visible icons;
- improved boot performance (which, in direct comparisons, reportedly cut boot times from 45 to 25 seconds);
- the option to use the new ext4 file system which offers better performance (ext3 remains the default option); and
- increased support for WiFi and 3G networks and switching between the two.
The new version also includes the EUCALYPTUS technology. Taking its name from the somewhat tortuous phrase “Elastic Utility Computing Architecture for Linking Your Programs To Useful Systems”, it’s designed for cloud computing on computer clusters. It’s primarily aimed at local networks rather than the internet as a whole. The system is compatible with the EC2 service offered by Amazon.
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The rumor mill has been put into high gear this morning by a discover of some code in the latest iPhone OS 3.0 beta release indicating that voice recognition may be a part of the new operating system.
Even though the newest beta developer code for for Apple’s iPhone 3.0 operating system has been out for about a week, people are still finding new things in it. There appears to be hooks in the new API for both voice recognition and voice synthesis, in the form of an OS component named Jabbler, already in the new operating system, according to a PC World story.
This new OS component will apparently be used to build an enhanced Springboard application, which is the software in the iPhone which controls the home screen and launches applications. This part of the OS will also be the basis of the new Spotlight search feature. It is possible that we have already seen part of the new Apple voice functionality built into the latest iPod shuffle, which is able to read items like playlists, song selections, and other text items in a synthesized voice.
Apparently this rumor started this morning when sources close to the iPhone OS 3.0 project told ars technica about the existence of the voice recognition part of the package. It seems surprising that it had not been noticed before, since the current beta developers code has been out for a week and has been pretty thoroughly investigated. Apple has not confirmed this rumor.
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A security breach shows failings in security rules.
Tens of millions of credit cards could be at risk of fraudulent use thanks to a serious computer-security breach at financial-transactions company Heartland Payment Systems. Earlier this week, Heartland revealed that a piece of malicious software, apparently installed inside the company’s transaction-processing system last year, had compromised credit-card data as it crossed the network.
The breach was announced on Tuesday–the day of the U.S. presidential inauguration–and, according to some experts, it shows that attackers are successfully defeating the financial industry’s tough computer-security rules. “The potential is certainly there for this to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest breach we’ve seen,” says Rich Mogull, founder of computer-security consulting company Securosis. “Something huge had to have gone wrong here.”
It’s not clear precisely what kind of malicious software was used, or how many credit-card accounts were compromised. But company president Robert Baldwin has said that Heartland handles as many as 100 million transactions per month.
From a consumer perspective, the level of danger stemming from the Heartland breach is uncertain but significant. Heartland has declined to say which merchants were involved in the fraudulent transactions, or how long the malicious software was operating. But the company serves more than 250,000 locations, with a particular focus on small businesses such as restaurants and hotels.
Heartland has created a website to answer customers’ questions regarding the break-in. Some credit-card companies are already notifying subscribers, and others may simply issue new cards. But consumers have been warned to keep a close eye on their statements. Most credit-card companies will cover the cost of unauthorized activity completely, as long as the fraud is reported within several months.
Heartland executives say that their first danger sign came in the form of warnings from MasterCard and Visa regarding suspicious transaction activity related to the company’s business. Heartland hired forensic computer specialists to investigate, and last week discovered the malware on its system, according to statements issued by the company.
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