Like Facebook and Twitter, Microsoft was also hacked

Microsoft has revealed that, just like Facebook and Apple earlier this week, it too was victim to hacking.

Matt Thomlinson, general manager of?Trustworthy Computing Security at Microsoft, just wrote a blog post about this. Due to Microsoft protocol, the Redmond software giant didn?t make any public statements as they figured out exactly what was going on.

?During our investigation, we found a small number of computers, including some in our Mac business unit, that were infected by malicious software using techniques similar to those documented by other organizations,? Thomlinson writes.

Thomlinson noted the attacks on Facebook and Apple and the Microsoft?computers were infected with malware using techniques similar to the Facebook and Apple hacks. Luckily,?there is no evidence of customer data being affected.

?This type of cyberattack is no surprise to Microsoft and other companies that must grapple with determined and persistent adversaries (see our?prior analysis?of emerging threat trends),? he wrote. ?We continually re-evaluate our security posture and deploy additional people, processes, and technologies as necessary to help prevent future unauthorized access to our networks.?

Microsoft?s investigation is ongoing.

Previously on GeekWire: Microsoft got $195 million for selling its 50 percent stake in msnbc.com

Reach staff reporter Taylor Soper at?[email?protected]?or on Twitter?@Taylor_Soper

FEATURED POST

No lines. No security. No airport parking fees. And, yes, you can?? Read More...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/geekwire/~3/Q4ehaIrLVBo/

martin luther king jr quotes Inauguration 2013 Tony Gonzalez Richard Blanco The Following Anna Burns Welker Martin Luther King, Jr.

One Direction's Self-Shot 'One Way Or Another' Video: Watch It Now!

Clip for their Comic Relief single brings fans along around the globe, and in the shower!
By Jocelyn Vena

One Direction's Harry Styles in "One Way or Another"
Photo: Simco Limited

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702312/one-direction-one-way-or-another-video.jhtml

kurt cobain Las Vegas shooting Jerry Buss Chris Bosh wife josh duhamel josh smith presidents day

12 killed in twin bomb blasts in southern India

People gather on the scene after a bomb blast in Hyderabad, India,Thursday, Feb.21, 2013. Several people were killed and many injured Thursday in a pair of explosions in a crowded area of the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, officials said. (AP Photo)

People gather on the scene after a bomb blast in Hyderabad, India,Thursday, Feb.21, 2013. Several people were killed and many injured Thursday in a pair of explosions in a crowded area of the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, officials said. (AP Photo)

The scene of a blast at Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, Feb.21, 2013. At least five people were killed Thursday in a pair of explosions in crowded areas of the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, police said. More were feared dead and injured. (AP Photo) INDIA OUT

The scene of a blast at Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, Feb.21, 2013. At least five people were killed Thursday in a pair of explosions in crowded areas of the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, police said. More were feared dead and injured. (AP Photo) INDIA OUT

People gather on the scene after a bomb blast in Hyderabad, India,Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. At least 11 people were killed and 50 injured Thursday in a pair of explosions in a crowded area of the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, officials said. (AP Photo)

People walk past a damaged bus waiting shelter after a bomb blast in Hyderabad, India,Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. Several people were killed and many injured Thursday in a pair of explosions in a crowded area of the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, officials said. (AP Photo)

HYDERABAD, India (AP) ? A pair of bombs exploded Thursday evening in a crowded shopping area in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, killing at least 12 people and wounding scores of others in the worst bombing in the country in more than a year, officials said.

The blasts occurred about two minutes apart at around 7 p.m. outside a movie theater and a bus station, police said. Storefronts were shattered, motorcycles covered in debris, and food and plates from a roadside restaurant were scattered on the ground near a tangle of dead bodies. Passersby rushed the bleeding and wounded out of the area.

"This is a dastardly attack, the guilty will not go unpunished," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. He appealed to the public to remain calm.

The bombs were attached to two bicycles about 150 meters (500 feet) apart in Dilsukh Nagar district, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters in New Delhi. The district is a usually crowded shopping area near a residential neighborhood.

When asked if the government had any suspects, Shinde responded: "We have to investigate."

The blast killed 12 people, Home Secretary R.K. Singh said.

Mahesh Kumar, a 21-year-old student, was heading home from a tutoring class when a bomb went off.

"I heard a huge sound and something hit me, I fell down, and somebody brought me to the hospital," said Kumar, who suffered shrapnel wounds.

Hyderabad, a city of 10 million in the state of Andhra Pradesh, is a hub of India's information technology industry and has a mixed population of Muslims and Hindus.

"This (attack) is to disturb the peaceful living of all communities in Andhra Pradesh," said Kiran Kumar Reddy, the state's chief minister.

The explosions Thursday were the first major bomb attack to hit India since a September 2011 blast outside the High Court in New Delhi killed 13 people. The government has been heavily criticized for its failure to arrest the masterminds behind previous bombings.

Officials from the National Investigation Agency and commandos of the National Security Guards were sent from New Delhi to Hyderabad to help with the investigation.

Rana Banerji, a former security official, said India remains vulnerable to such attacks because there is poor coordination between the national government and the states. Police reforms are also moving very slowly and the quality of intelligence gathering is poor, he said.

"The concept of homeland security should be made effective, on a war footing," he said.

India has been in a state of alert since Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri, was hanged in a New Delhi jail nearly two weeks ago. Guru had been convicted of involvement in a 2001 attack on India's Parliament that killed 14 people, including five gunmen.

Many in Indian-ruled Kashmir believe Guru did not receive a fair trial, and the secrecy with which the execution was carried out fueled anger in a region where anti-India sentiment runs deep.

___

Associated Press writer Ashok Sharma in New Delhi contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-21-India-Explosions/id-fefb6456b4294a16a681cb55aa09266b

ufc 145 fight card ufc145 chimpanzee chimpanzee the lucky one pittsburgh pirates mariners

McCain defends immigration plan to angry residents

PHOENIX (AP) ? Arizona took center stage in the national immigration debate Tuesday as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano toured the state's border with Mexico and Sen. John McCain defended his proposed immigration overhaul to an angry crowd in suburban Phoenix.

The presence of the top officials is the latest sign that Arizona will play a prominent role in the immigration debate as President Barack Obama looks to make it a signature issue of his second term.

Napolitano toured the border near Nogales with the highest-ranking official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the incoming chairman of the Senate's homeland security committee and an Arizona congressman. Napolitano, Arizona's former governor, said afterward that comprehensive immigration reform will strengthen the nation's border against criminals and other threats.

Also Tuesday, McCain hosted two town hall meetings in Arizona, during which he defended his immigration plan to upset residents concerned about border security. A bipartisan group of senators ? including Arizona Republicans McCain and Jeff Flake ? want assurances on border security as Congress weighs what could be the biggest changes to immigration law in nearly 30 years. Arizona is the only state with both of its senators working on immigration reform in Congress, a sign of the state's widely debated border security issues.

Immigration activists and elected officials say it's only natural for Arizona to continue to take the forefront in the national conversation on immigration after years of internal debate on the topic.

"No state in this country has had more experience with enforcement-only immigration laws than Arizona," said Todd Landfried, executive director of Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform, which opposes the state's tough immigration laws.

During a heated town hall gathering in the Phoenix suburb of Sun Lakes, McCain said the border near Yuma is largely secure, but he said smugglers are using the border near Tucson to pump drugs into Phoenix. He said immigration reform should be contingent on better border security that must rely largely on technology able to detect border crossings.

McCain said a tamper-proof Social Security card would help combat identity fraud, and noted any path to citizenship must require immigrants to learn English, cover back taxes and pay fines for breaking immigration laws.

"There are 11 million people living here illegally," he said. "We are not going to get enough buses to deport them."

Some audience members shouted out their disapproval.

One man yelled that only guns would discourage illegal immigration. Another man complained that illegal immigrants should never be able to become citizens or vote. A third man said illegal immigrants were illiterate invaders who wanted free government benefits.

McCain urged compassion. "We are a Judeo-Christian nation," he said. McCain's other town hall meeting took place in Green Valley, south of Tucson.

Arizona gained international recognition as an epicenter of the U.S. immigration debate when it passed its tough anti-immigrant law in 2010. A handful of other states ? including Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah ? have since adopted variations of Arizona's law.

Arizona has the nation's eighth-highest population of illegal immigrants, according to the Pew Research Hispanic Center. In 2010, illegal immigrants represented roughly 6 percent of the state's population.

Activists said Arizona's anti-immigrant laws inspired many illegal immigrants to demand more rights. Last week, some college students rallied outside Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's office for driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

"They no longer are afraid to come and say, 'I am not able to vote, but I can make my voice heard, and they have to listen to me,'" said community organizer Abril Gallardo.

A report released in January showed the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson sector remains the busiest along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Tucson sector accounted for 38 percent of all drug seizures and 37 percent of all apprehensions along the border.

Brewer said last week the border cannot be declared safe until the people living near it feel secure from drug and human trafficking.

But Democratic Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona told Latino and black community leaders at a Phoenix luncheon Tuesday that Arizonans need to spread the word on how much more secure the border has become.

"There are lots of folks who don't live in Arizona who have no idea what the border is like," Sinema said.

Napolitano toured the border Tuesday afternoon with U.S. Customs and Border Protection Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar, Democratic Rep. Ron Barber of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware. Carper is the incoming chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

She said in a statement after the tour that border crossings are down 50 percent since 2008 and 78 percent since their peak in 2000.

___

Cristina Silva can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/cristymsilva.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mccain-defends-immigration-plan-angry-residents-004915369.html

jason smith jon corzine austin rivers austin rivers sweet home alabama etch a sketch the host

Tabloid slams novelist Mantel over Kate comments

LONDON (AP) ? A novelist, a duchess and a tabloid newspaper have made an explosive combination in Britain.

The Daily Mail on Tuesday ran a front-page broadside against two-time Booker Prize-winner Hilary Mantel for her "venomous attack" on the former Kate Middleton.

In a speech earlier this month, Mantel characterized the wife of Prince William as "a jointed doll on which certain rags were hung ... a shop-window mannequin."

Mantel said that as a royal consort, Kate "appeared to have been designed by committee and built by craftsmen, with a perfect plastic smile and the spindles of her limbs hand-turned and gloss-varnished."

Mantel's speech, reprinted this week in the London Review of Books, was about the British public's complex relationship with royalty over the centuries ? a relationship both symbiotic and voyeuristic.

The speech looked at the way the public and the press glorify and destroy royals, from Anne Boleyn to Princess Diana, casting them in roles and stories in which "adulation can swing to persecution, within hours."

But for the Daily Mail, this became "an astonishing and venomous attack on the Duchess of Cambridge."

The newspaper's front page juxtaposed pictures of the author and the duchess alongside the front-page headline "A plastic princess designed to breed."

It quoted Mantel's speech at length, though did not note that Mantel was describing what she saw as a view of Kate constructed by the press and public opinion.

Online reaction was divided, with some slamming Mantel but others defending her words as provocative and thoughtful.

Even Prime Minister David Cameron ? on a trip to India ? commented about the affair. The Press Association news agency reported that he called Mantel's comments "completely misguided and completely wrong."

Others argued that Mantel's real target was not Kate, but the press. On the Daily Telegraph website, journalist Catherine Scott said Mantel's speech was "an attack on how some parts of the media canonize royal women ... while also rendering them voiceless and purposeless."

The royal couple's office declined to comment.

Meanwhile, a large media presence was on hand to record the duchess as she visited a center for recovering addicts Tuesday in one of her first public appearances since announcing in December that she was pregnant. News reports commented on the 31-year-old duchess's baby bump and Max Mara dress.

Mantel, 60, won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2009 and 2012 for "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies," novels set at the court of King Henry VIII and centered on the king's search for a queen who will give him a male heir.

Her speech touched on royal figures from Henry's wife Anne Boleyn to Kate.

Mantel said Diana "passed through trials, through ordeals at the world's hands." Prince Harry "doesn't know which he is, a person or a prince" ? a confusion Harry himself recently remarked on.

And Kate, whose first child is due in July, finds herself cast by the press as someone whose "only point and purpose (is) to give birth."

Of the royal family, she said that "however airy the enclosure they inhabit, it's still a cage."

Mantel ended her speech ? ironically, given the media furor ? with a plea for us all "to back off and not be brutes."

____

Online:

London Review of Books: www.lrb.co.uk

____

Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tabloid-slams-novelist-mantel-over-kate-comments-122552877.html

Dancing With The Stars All Stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt space shuttle Torrey Smith Brother fiona apple awkward awkward

Robert Scoble Is Switching To Android

Social media maven Robert Scoble says he's migrating from Apple to Android. "I'm no longer an Apple fanboy," Scoble wrote in a post on Google+ yesterday. "I'm getting ready to leave the Apple platform and switch to Android."

That might not seem like a big deal. But the fact is, a lot of people follow Scoble on social media and consider him influential. They respect his opinion. And Scoble isn't just any fanboy. He's the kind who?camps outside Apple stores?and sleeps on the sidewalk when a new Apple product is coming out and cheers like a triumphant hero when he walks out of the store with the latest iToy in his hands. (See also here and here and here.)

Scoble isn't the first high-profile Apple defector. A few months ago we reported that legendary Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki had become a hardcore Android fan.?

Reasons For Switching

Kawasaki said he moved to Android because he simply believed that Android had leapfrogged past Apple and was delivering a better solution.

Scoble said he's bailing because "Apple lately HAS slipped in my eyes and there are lots of examples how (Google Now, Waze maps, and tons of apps that are here already and coming on the Android platform, like SwiftKey keyboards)."

Scoble still believes that "most apps are smoother and have fewer problems on iOS," but he's switching anyway.?

Partly Scoble seems excited about Google's Project Glass wearable computer. He's getting one soon, and says that "of course that will work better if you use Android."

Yet Another Switcher

The irony is that Scoble was writing this stuff about Android in a post where he was criticizing a reporter from GigaOm who Scoble felt had unfairly criticized Apple.

The GigaOm reporter, Mathew Ingram, had written an article describing his own switch from Apple to Android.

Ingram originally adopted Android because he got sick of Apple's walled garden, only to discover that he also likes the way Android handles notifications and finds it less intrusive than how Apple does it.

Scoble went on a rant saying you can just turn off Apple notifications if you don't like them.?But then Scoble confessed that he too is in the process of switching to Android.

What does it mean when high-profile "influencers" and devoted Apple lovers start moving to Android? They all have different reasons, and you may or may not agree with them or be persuaded by their arguments. But even the most hardcore Apple fans must recognize that these decisions are significant.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/readwriteweb/~3/hk1eQUg7OgE/robert-scoble-is-switching-to-android

the walking dead Jodi Arias Walking Dead Season 3 smash Richard III Superbowl Commercials 2013 irs

Jay-Z, Timberlake perform at first London Olympic park concert

LONDON (Reuters) - Rapper Jay-Z will return to the London Olympics site this summer where he performed at the 2012 Paralympics as the sporting complex takes on a new life as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z were named on Tuesday by live music promoter Live Nation Entertainment as headline acts for the Wireless Festival on July 12 and July 13.

Other acts will include Snoop Dogg, John Legend, Frank Ocean, Emeli Sande, Rita Ora, and DJ Calvin Harris.

Last month Live Nation said it had secured exclusive rights in 2013 to host concerts in the Olympic Park and Stadium complex in east London that was designed so it could be transformed into a space for entertainment, leisure and work after the Games.

The announcement was a boost for the British government which pumped public money into the London 2012 Games, adamant the Olympic site would not become an expensive white elephant.

"This is a stellar line up of stars that is set to bring the house down this summer at Queen Elizabeth Park London. It proves that our fantastic Olympic park is now a destination of choice for world class musical events," London Mayor Boris Johnson said in a statement.

Live Nation said this would be Jay-Z's only European show this year and Timberlake's sole British festival appearance.

Earlier this month the two U.S. singers appeared together at the Grammys to perform their collaboration "Suit & Tie" off Timberlake's first new album in seven years that is due out on March 18.

Live Nation plans to hold the Wireless Festival and Hard Rock Calling events at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and avoid a repeat of previous years when the concerts were staged in London parks and triggered complaints from nearby residents.

Concert-goers were surprised in July when microphones were suddenly switched off on Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen in mid-duet when a Hyde Park concert ran over time.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jay-z-timberlake-perform-first-london-olympic-park-170006355--finance.html

Microsoft Tropical Storm Isaac amber portwood Phyllis Diller Darla Moore newsweek Tony Scott