Category: Business

Free long distance calls through Google?

» Free long distance calls through Google? | Googling Google | ZDNet.com
Google finished rolling out their click-to-call functionality on Google Maps today, but after reading an article on Valleywag about how to prank call other people with the service, I got thinking about how else the service could be abused. Although it’s almost certainly against the terms and conditions, the new feature could theoretically allow users to make free long distance phone calls to any North American number.

Since every business listing on Google Maps has the “click-to-call” feature enabled, the only thing you need to do is get listed. Now instead of dialing a long distance phone number on your phone, you “dial” it through your own business listing on Google Maps.

What can Google do to prevent this from happening? Honestly, I don’t think there is a solution unless Google starts charging businesses to have the “click-to-call” feature enabled. But with Microsoft Live Local providing the same feature at no cost, there isn’t much chance that will happen any time soon.

Giant Sucking Sound: Perot Systems Outsources to Mexico

Giant Sucking Sound: Perot Systems Outsources to Mexico – Management News by InformationWeek
When billionaire H. Ross Perot ran for president in 1992, he warned that the torrent of American jobs headed south of the border as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement would create “a giant sucking sound.” On Friday, the outsourcing company founded by Perot, where he serves as chairman emeritus, disclosed that it’s opening a new service center in Mexico.

Outsourcing critics will be quick to point out the irony in Perot outsourcing jobs to Mexico, while advocates of so-called global sourcing would surely argue that U.S. business investment in Mexico will help to relieve the strain of illegal cross-border immigration as more Mexicans are able to find work at home.

What’s with all this Spam?

networkworld.com/news/2006/110806-image-spam
This spike in spam levels is a result of a new generation of viruses and zombies that can infect PCs more quickly and are harder to get rid of. In its October report, messaging security vendor MessageLabs says the spike is largely due to two Trojan programs, Warezov and SpamThru.

Others say a new breed of spam messages called image spam — messages with text embedded in an image file that evade spam filters, which can’t recognize the words inside the image — is responsible.

At North Shore-LIJ Heath System, a network of hospitals based in Great Neck, N.Y., with about 12,000 e-mail users, there’s been an 80% increase in spam received in the last 45 days, says system architect Steve Young, and most of it is image spam.

“On a scale of one to 10, I would rate image spam as an 8” in terms of how troublesome it is, says Paul Judge, CTO of Secure Computing. “This is because spammers have leapfrogged from hiding text within other text to now moving it to a place that is unreachable by most antispam systems.”

The day that changed the climate

Independent Online Edition > Environment
Future generations may come to regard the apocalyptic report by Sir Nicholas Stern, a former chief economist at the World Bank, as the turning point in combating global warming, or as the missed opportunity.

As well as producing a catastrophic vision of hundreds of millions fleeing flooding and drought, Sir Nicholas suggests that the cost of inaction could be a permanent loss of 20 per cent of global output. Presenting the findings in London, Tony Blair said the 700-page document was the “most important report on the future” published by his Government – The Stern Review Report on the Economics on the Economics of Climate Change

Thanks to Adam Brown and the PRBO staff

Big labels are f*cked, and DRM is dead

Big labels are f*cked, and DRM is dead – Peter Jenner | The Register
Few people know the music industry better than Peter Jenner. Pink Floyd’s first manager, who subsequently managed Syd Barrett’s solo career, Jenner has also looked after T.Rex, The Clash, Ian Dury, Disposable Heroes and Billy Bragg – who he manages today. He’s also secretary general of the International Music Managers Forum.

The major four music labels today are “fucked”, he says. Digital music pricing has been a scam where the consumer pays for manufacturing, distribution, and does all the work – and still has to pay more. Labels should outsource everything except finance and licensing.But he’s also optimistic that for almost everyone else – indie labels, musicians, songwriters and budding entrepreneurs – as well as network providers – the future’s going to be pretty bright. The Big Four know that the DRM era is nearly over – and within two or three years, he predicts, “most countries” in the world will have a blanket licensing regime where we exchange music freely, for a couple of quid a month. Continue reading “Big labels are f*cked, and DRM is dead”

Cell Phone Carriers Target Hispanics

Cell Phone Carriers Target Hispanics – Forbes.com
cell phone companies and other technology providers that are increasingly targeting a young, tech-savvy Hispanic population – at 43 million, the fastest-growing minority group in the U.S. – that is expected to have $1 trillion in buying power by 2010.

Latinos, on average, used 979 voice minutes per month in the third quarter of 2005, trailing only blacks in that area, according to estimates by Telephia Inc., a consumer research firm. Asians or Pacific Islanders used 845 minutes and whites used 632 minutes.

Immigration | Don’t fence us in

Immigration | Don’t fence us in | Economist.com
But the fears can hardly be dismissed. In New Jersey, for example, the illegal population more than doubled during the 1990s to some 221,000, and has since grown to perhaps 425,000. In Georgia, the increase in the 1990s was some 571%, to 228,000, according to census figures (but could exceed 400,000 today). Atlanta is one of the so-called “new gateways” for immigration—sprawling cities, with abundant low-end jobs that are a magnet for immigrants. Much of America’s south-east (see map) has recently seen immigration levels surprising to anyone who thinks only in terms of the Mexican border.

One result is a swathe of local measures aimed at illegal immigrants. A law in Georgia, for example, imposes a 5% fee on non-citizens transferring money abroad; in Virginia, state workers are now required to verify the legal status of anyone applying for social benefits. In Arizona, voters in 2004 approved Proposition 200, which requires proof of citizenship before receiving state-provided public benefits or casting a vote. Thanks to Peggy Sadler for this post.

The sad state of computer security

The sad state of computer security | InfoWorld | Test Center | October 06, 2006 | By Roger A. Grimes
The world of computer security is so much worse than the average Internet user or politician believes. Bots own tens of millions of computers at any single point in time. The people who make a living at closing tens to hundreds of thousands of bot-infected computers a day readily admit that they are not making a dent in the bad guy’s ability to use bots for crime.

Most malware exists to steal your money. No need to guess why you’re infected anymore; it ain’t to send greetz to teenage hacker friends. The average criminal hacker is making thousands of dollars a day, if not more, and will never be caught. The only ones we ever catch and prosecute are the dumbest ones.

Just think about what it took to put mandatory data encryption of confidential data on the world’s radar screen. One-third of all adults had their financial information stolen this year. And outside of the government, encryption is still not mandated.

Most corporate networks can be owned in an hour. Just send a spam e-mail to corporate employees entitled “Pending 2006 Layoffs” pretending to be from the CEO, and have it contain one of the many MS-Office zero days with an unscannable remote access trojan. I do it for a living, and rarely do I have to wait more than a few minutes for complete network access.