Microsoft is in hot water with authorities in China and it could be worse than your being told. Plus Mozilla has a new CEO & then we cover a series of tech stories from down under that you’ve just got to hear!
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China Investigates Microsoft – WSJ
Two people familiar with the inquiry said Chinese corporate regulatory officials made surprise visits to Microsoft’s offices in four Chinese cities.
According to Reuters and the South China Morning Post, the company is being investigated by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which raided Microsoft offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu on Monday.
China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce acts as the nation’s corporate registry and has some marketing and antitrust responsibilities. It couldn’t be reached for comment late Monday.
AIC officials sometimes pay visits to industries under official scrutiny that don’t result in formal probes.
Microsoft had been in the Chinese government’s cross hairs before this week. China’s powerful state-run television broadcaster ran a report in June that questioned the security of the company’s new Windows 8 computer operating system.
The broadcast quoted Chinese experts who argued that Microsoft cooperated with the U.S. government to carry out cyberspying.
Other U.S. companies have also been under scrutiny in the country. China’s state broadcaster also raised questions about the security of the iPhone in July, allegations that Apple Inc.
In late May, the Chinese authorities banned government institutions from using Windows 8
- Microsoft targeted in apparent Chinese antitrust probe | Reuters
- Microsoft’s Chinese burn riddle: Antitrust g-men swoop on offices • The Register
- Chinese regulators drop in on Microsoft | ZDNet
- Microsoft Faces Mysterious Inquiry by Chinese Government | Paul Thurrotts WinInfo content from Windows IT Pro
Chris Beard Named CEO of Mozilla
Chris Beard has been appointed CEO of Mozilla Corp. The Mozilla board has reviewed many internal and external candidates — and no one we met was a better fit.
Chris first joined Mozilla in 2004, just before we shipped Firefox 1.0 – and he’s been deeply involved in every aspect of Mozilla ever since. During his many years here, he at various times has had responsibility for almost every part of the business, including product, marketing, innovation, communications, community and user engagement.
Leaked discussion paper reveals Australian online piracy crackdown in full swing
The federal government is proposing that internet service providers (ISPs), such as Telstra, Optus and iiNet, take measures to discourage or reduce online copyright infringement, according to a leaked copy of its discussion paper.
According to the document, first obtained by news website Crikey, the government also wants to give itself the power to prescribe specific measures that would see internet providers discourage online copyright infringement. This is in the cases where the industry does not develop effective schemes or commercial arrangements.
It is also proposing that universities be “captured” by the safe harbour scheme that currently governs internet service providers. This stipulates financial damages can be levied against carriage service providers who breach four categories, including providing connections to copyright material and referring users to an online location where it exists via a link.
In the document, signed by Attorney-General George Brandis and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the government cited its unratified trade obligations with the US – known as the** “Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement”** – to pursue its reforms.
It essentially overrules a decision by the High Court in 2012, which found that internet service providers could not be found liable for authorising an act by a subscriber that infringes copyright.
Although the discussion paper hasn’t been released yet, a speedy response from industry and the public is expected, with submissions closing on August 25.
Aussie hackers get Doom working on an ATM- The Inquirer
HACKERS IN AUSTRALIA have succeeded in running classic first person shooter game Doom on a bank cash machine.
The ATM, which runs Windows XP Embedded, can be controlled using the device’s buttons, with the game appearing on the screen in place of the message telling you the size of your overdraft.
At the moment, weapons selection is done through the arrow buttons to the side of the screen, and the group already has plans to get the number keys up and running.
Close Encounters Of The Radio Kind? Mystery Bursts Baffle Astronomers : NPR
Back in 2007, astronomers detected an incredibly brief, incredibly strong radio wave burst in Australia. And now, on the opposite side of the world, astronomers have detected a second blast of similar proportions. Meaning that A) the first one wasn’t a fluke, and B) we have absolutely no idea what’s causing them.
This second ultrafast flash of radio waves was discovered by the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, which had been putting out its feelers in hopes of discovering neutron stars. Instead, it got the second instance of so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs), which finally allowed astronomers to rule out cosmic noise and formally report them. Because unlike the radio signals we usually detect, these radio waves “show every sign of having come from far outside our galaxy.”
- Arecibo captures its first ‘fast radio burst’ | Cornell Chronicle
- No One Knows What’s Causing These Mysterious Radio Bursts From Space
Emails:
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IBM Typerwriter
Yes, I remember that IBM typewriter. That typewriter was so popular that they were often stolen from offices. Some police forces had special teams to investigate thefts.
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USB flux capacitor
Hey Chris I saw this on twitter and it just lit a light in my soul, remembering the good old day 🙂
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