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The theft of online security certificates by hackers thought to be from Iran may be even more serious than first thought. The stolen certificates include those for security agencies from the United States, United Kingdom and Israel. The security ... breach originates with DigiNotar, a Netherlands organization that produces Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates which are used by webites. An SSL, for example, is used when home users connect to their banking web sites. Using the SSL certificate, information to and from the home PC to a bank website is encrypted and cannot be intercepted by a third ... (view more)

Last week Google was fined $500 million for carrying illegal advertising for Canadian pharmaceutical exporters. Now, the lawyer who led the probe has made the shocking claim that Google chief Larry Page explicitly knew about and ignored the ... advertisements. Google's $500 million fine not only covered the profits it made from running the ads, but also the money the advertisers are estimated to have made from selling the drugs to US customers. Those sales are illegal because of Food ... (view more)

Google has agreed to pay a penalty of $500 million for carrying advertising from Canadian pharmacies that illegally offer drugs to US customers. The fine will allow the company to avoid criminal charges over the issue. It is illegal to ship drugs ... into the US from outside the country as such medicines -- even when they are prescription drugs -- are not verified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the case of Canadian distributors, drugs shipped overseas also evade local regulation. In some cases such drugs may have been made outside of North America and have had no quality controls. ... (view more)

Mass popularity has made Facebook a target of hackers for years now. In an effort to combat this problem, those behind the social network have issued a "bug bounty" program that offers monetary compensation to those who find vulnerabilities on the ... social networking website. Many report problems with Facebook on personal blogs and other public forums anyways, in an effort to gain some semblance of prestige within the hacking community. But discussing these issues in public (and before the company has had a chance to address these concerns) puts even more users at risk. Facebook Recruits White- ... (view more)

Google is set to launch a new positive reinforcement strategy: those who frequent the Google News website will be rewarded with a designated rank, turning average people into well-read "masters" according to Google's standards. Rewards take on the ... form of a virtual badge based on the search and reading histories of Google News supporters. If an individual is an avid reader of baseball reports, for example, Google would issue them a baseball badge. Other popular topics range from general news items (like politics, the stock market) to pop culture (like Harry Potter). Google says that over 500 ... (view more)

Microsoft might be experimenting with its own take on social networking after an image resembling a new platform was accidentally leaked to the public. Called "Tulalip" after the name of a group of Native American tribes in Washington state, the ... social networking service is designed to enable users to "find what you need and share what you know easier than ever." These images were first found on the Microsoft-owned domain socl.com. Microsoft did not reveal whether the images of the platform suggested a social network or a social search site, which would mean some kind of association with the ... (view more)

Google plans to make their search platform even faster by running new voice and image recognition programs designed to shave precious seconds off the entire search process. Although it has been rumored for some time, it now appears as if people will ... be able to conduct their searches with a verbal command or by dragging an image into their search box. Dubbed 'Instant Pages,' the feature will also predict and pre-load web pages that users are most likely to click on for faster results. Voice Command Results "Fairly Accurate" While Google has offered voice search on mobile phones for a little ... (view more)

In an effort to stay ahead of the competition, a few airlines have started lending out tech hardware to those who opt to fly with them. One of the first airlines to offer such a service was American Airlines, who continue to provide free in-flight ... Android tablets to patrons aboard a select number of their domestic flights. Now, Virgin America will soon allow their passengers to use a Samsung Chromebook, free of charge. Apps the Focus of Chromebook Service The Chromebook compliments the free WiFi service already offered by the airline, and since the Chrome OS uses the Internet as its interface ... (view more)

Microsoft has signed a deal to provide English-language results to China's dominant search engine, Baidu. It's sure to re-ignite a debate about the country's attitude to online censorship. According to Baidu, around 10 million English-language ... searches are carried out on its site every day, and it admits it doesn't do a good job of handling them. Under the new deal, results for such searches will be powered by Microsoft's Bing engine. (Source: com.cn ) The precise details of the arrangement are being kept confidential, though at least one report states no money is changing hands. The most ... (view more)

With huge annual revenues, Google has the spare cash to try out all sort of different (often high-cost) experimental ventures. That's been demonstrated by the company's decision to dabble in health records and home energy. In both cases Google says ... the problem was a failure to scale: in other words, not getting enough users to make the fixed running costs sustainable. In Google's case, scale isn't just a financial issue though: as its search success has shown, more users means more data and thus more lessons that can be learned. (Source: blogspot.com ) Medical Records Tracked Interactions ... (view more)