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It seems as if April 1st has come a little early to the users of Twitter, the micro-blogging social networking site.  A recent blog post announced that Twitter was going to offer premium services on a monthly basis.

The website BBSpot “reported” in a post that Twitter’s CEO announced premium accounts for fees ranging from $5 to $250 a month.  There would also be a “black list” account range for major celebrities.  There would be 4 teirs all with bird names like Dove, Sparrow, Owl, and Eagle.

Many users of Twitter started “twitting” about the news, some calling it a hoax from the start, some upset at the move, and others getting their wallets out.

The hoax seemed plausable and could be a way for Twitter to test the waters of a business model.  Many users have started using the website to “Twit” or micro-blog what they are doign or feeling at the moment.  Some media groups have also come to the site to help market their product.  All of this growth has come to Twitter without any business model in mind.  Without a true business model Twitter can’t capitalize on the, dare I say, millions of users to the site.

written by tom

Just because your computer is a Mac doesn’t make you safe from attacks that can get into your system.  That was proven at the CanSecWest convention’s PWN2OWN contest in which a Mac running Safari was cracked in under 10 seconds.

Charlie Miller, who is a security researcher, could not discuss many details due to the nature of the contest rules simply stated that the Mac was fully patched and was running the Safari web browser, which was also fully patched.
Miller works as a principal analyst at Independent Security Evaluators LLC.  He is now a proud owner of the MacBook he used to show the exploit and a $5,000 cash prize.

In the same contest a researcher cracked a Sony laptop using the beta version of Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8.  The Windows version of Safari was also used on the same laptop.

Although not disclosed, it is highly likely that bother instances of these exploits could be executed by using a phishing attack, in which a user would click on a link that they think is for a legitimate use.  This link really points to a website that hosts the exploit.

written by tom

In recent months the Apple App Store has been said to hold back listing of applications for the iPod Touch and iPhone for many reasons.  Somehow the logo for the app iCount slipped by.

As you can tell, there is a reason why Apple pulled the iCount application from the App Store  once it realized what the logo could say.
The App Store allows iPod Touch and iPhone users download applications for their devices either on the device itself or through iTunes.  This is a similar to the iTunes Store for music.  Each application needs to go through a somewhat secret vetting process before it gets released to the public, this includes the icon.

Since the iCount application was pulled from the store Hydrix, the developer of the application was forced to create a new logo for their application. Not only did the drop the letter “O” from this one, the dropped all the letters.  Honestly the new logo looks better to me, but does my vote really…(i)Count?

iCount website

Hydrix website

App Store link (with new logo)

written by tom

written by tom