According to the firm, Internet Explorer 6 has finally sunk below a 1% market share in the United States. But why is this big news? The U.S. is not the first country to reach that number. In fact, six other countries have reached this milestone already.

The big deal is that the United States has over 200 million internet users, which accounts for almost 80% of the country’s population. So having that many people convert from IE6 to more modern browsers is quite the accomplishment, so much so that a website that counted down IE6′s demise was created and a mock funeral held for the browser.

So, did those internet users who uninstalled IE6 move to the latest version? Apparently not, according to recent reports from StatCounter and NetMarketshare, which reveal that IE’s popularity is actually decreasing about 8 percent every ten months.

Tivo’s share rose 14% to $18.18 per share in after-hours trade after the news was announced.

The agreement includes an initial payment of $51 million, plus quarterly recurring payments through June 2018, totaling $164 million.  Additionally, AT&T will pay incremental monthly subscriber license fees through that timeframe if the DVR subscriber base exceeds a certain predetermined level.

Tivo CEO Tom Rogers could not reveal specifics, but mentioned that Tivo could generate more revenue from the deal.  “No matter which projections you take, they all involve AT&T paying us significantly higher revenue than $215 million.”

The rulings with Dish, Echostar and AT&T set a precedent regarding Tivo’s lawsuit with Verizon.  Rogers indicated that the relevant parties would be meeting soon to decide on a timetable for the Verizon case now that the AT&T case is settled.

Cloud computing allows for the storage of data in remote, online location that is often less expensive than traditional data storage solutions. As such, this type of computing can provide businesses with increased performance, cost benefits and scalability. And it is felt that many businesses are missing out on these advantages by not using cloud computing.

Lack of staff expertise appears to be a key reason for many U.K. businesses who don’t choose to adopt cloud computing, along with a lack of understanding of the benefits of the solution. And indeed, one in four businesses cite these reasons as primary concerns.

But the core of the issue seems to be distrust about the security of cloud computing services, when ironically, cloud data storage can actually enhance the reliability and security of company data. The solution accomplishes this in many ways; data can be transferred, stored and backed up by employees when outside of the office. And transferred data resides in a data center location with no physical or electronic threats.

Some alarming trends are occurring in UK firms. Thirty-seven percent of one thousand office workers surveyed are handling their work data using methods which are considered to be risky. In addition, data is being lost due to IT issues such as disk failure by one in ten workers.

In contrast, web hosting seems to be a widely-accepted means of doing business, with fifty-seven percent of firms understanding and appreciating the benefits of hosting their web sites remotely. This could be because business owners can see the direct impact to their bottom line of having their web site data stored in this way. So perhaps a similar visible impact as a result of the use of cloud computing will serve to clarify the benefits of this data storage alternative.

On an ominous video, Anonymous said “Your support of the act is a signed death warrant to Sony Company and Associates.  Therefore, yet again, we have decided to destroy your network.  We will dismantle your phantom from the internet.  Prepare to be extinguished.  Justice will be swift, and it will be for the people, whether some like it or not.”

Sony took this threat very seriously, as Anonymous has taken action against the tech giant before.

Anonymous also uploaded a YouTube video aimed at Congress.  On the video uploaded on November 17, 2011, they stated that “The American Government supports the fight for democracy and freedom of information in other countries, but when it comes to their own land they attempted to demolish it with brute force and censorship . . . you can’t arrest an idea, you can’t kill an idea, and you can’t stop an idea . . .  For each of us that falls, ten more will take it’s place.”

The Anonymous hacker group made headlines this year with the significant damage it did, the last being a host of information obtained from popular global security company Stratfor. On December 30, the collective uploaded all of the information they obtained from the security company, including thousands of usernames and passwords.  As a result, the Stratfor web site is currently shut down until complete security can be assured.

Anonymous’s exploits have included denial of service (DDOS) attacks on government and online payment sites, and it is considered to be one of the three major successors to Wikileaks. The group relies on the actions of computer users around the world to achieve any common goal, such as attempts to crack the systems of supposedly secure web sites or unleash worldwide protests.

Research into the hacker group has revealed a wide array of worldwide arrests of and warrants for those suspected of being or claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous.

Another prominent hacker group, LulzSec, has also announced its many exploits online which have also included the pilfering of credit card information and attacks on major media companies Sony and Fox. The two groups have had their differences over the past couple of years, but recently agreed to work together to form Operation Anti-Security, a campaign to obtain and leak classified government information.

But the groups may have some obstacles to overcome this month, when the National Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Education Initiative is launched. The NCICE plans to work with public and private sectors to develop cybersecurity education programs, along with calling for infrastructure frameworks to be completed as soon as possible.

Tripwire’s chief technology officer Dwayne Melancon says a critical component of Federal government security is the incorporation of “secure configurations and system configuration baselining as a core part of any recommendations for improving security “. In addition, Melancon says that there are still many companies who aren’t following their own documented processes and standards, which can leave any organization wide open to hacking activity.

Some believe that there is no such thing as a web site that’s completely secure. But others argue that reducing the amount of information that is placed online can go a long way to reducing the impact of an attack. So for example, a company that keeps its clients’ personal information offline may find that it’s far less vulnerable to a hacker attack than a corporation that does not.

So where does this leave larger hacker groups like Anonymous and LulzSec? If past incidences are any indication, new ways to infiltrate secure systems may be created almost as soon as new security measures are implemented. But exploits from groups of this kind aren’t always meant to do harm; a major child pornography ring was busted and participant names posted by the Anonymous hacker collective just this past October.

Remember the game of Life? How about Monopoly? Or maybe you recall old television commercials for Risk and Scrabble. All of these classic family board games are now available for purchase, and most of them look just like the games you used to play when you were a kid.

And playing them on the iPad can be done just as you used to do it. For example, when Monopoly is loaded, players seat themselves around the iPad to play, just as with the traditional version. For games like Scrabble and Life, the iPad uses something called Pass N’ Play, which simply means that the device can be passed to the next player when it’s their turn.

Of course, the smaller iPad screen means that the actual play area has been reduced. But using the device to play games also means that score keeping and other tallies required for gameplay are done automatically.

And if there’s more than one iPad in your home, some of these classic games can be played on multiple devices using a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection. And you are no longer limited to one board look, at least with Monopoly, which offers a choice of five environments.

With Scrabble, users can play either with physical participants in the same room, or on Facebook. And the handy online dictionary can help you find the words that will amaze and astound your opponents. Just as with the traditional game, you can move your tiles around. But there’s a twist: you can recall tiles from the board any time you have a turn or are finished playing.

All games, including Game Table, which allows you to play games like chess, checkers, Go and Reversi are available at the iPad App Store for online purchase.

The Postsecret App allowed for the taking of photos and the ability to upload a 140 character secret to the site’s mobile community anonymously. And although complete anonymity has been the key to the success of both the blog and app, it also spelled the latter’s downfall, with some users using the app to post inappropriate content.

Warren remarked on his blog recently that “99 percent of the secrets created were in the spirit of PostSecret. Unfortunately, the scale of secrets was so large that even 1 percent of bad content was overwhelming for our dedicated team of volunteer moderators who worked 24 hours a day 7 days a week removing content that was not just pornographic but also gruesome and at times threatening.”

In addition to malicious posts being made toward other Postsecret mobile community members, Warren also received threats to his family and team of moderators. User complaints to Postsecret, Apple and the FBI caused Warren and his team to attempt to find new solutions to screening incoming secrets. But in the end, removing the app was the only solution.

The internet operates by transferring data in small packets, routed across networks.  Every host or computer has it’s own IP address.  So when a computer requests a packet of information from a host, the request is made to the correct address, and the packet is delivered to the correct IP address.  The tremendous growth of the internet has necessitated a new protocol for producing these IP addresses.

In June 2011 three was an event known as IPv6 day, that acted as a dress rehearsal of sorts to enable service providers to have dual runs while they tested the effects.  The event was successful in that there were no serious incidences.  However, home networking vendors such of items such as routers also need to ensure that these devices work under the new protocol.

It’s all about creating awareness . . . for service providers, vendors, and businesses, about having an IPv6 transition plan in place to ensure that seamless interaction among IP addresses continues after the depletion.

AT&T has been involved with sponsoring the Welcome Center ever since the airport opened in May 2010, including donating four Samsung Tablets for the vets to connect to the internet and contact loved ones.  “The Welcome Center is a very valuable asset to Bay County.  It’s a place for the military to take a break in a relaxing atmosphere while waiting for a ride home or a flight out,” said Dubuque.

NewsHerald.com of Panama City also noted in their December 31 article that the president of the Veterans Task Force of Northwest Florida, Dan Marvin, was especially grateful or the donation because money was desperately needed for postage at this time of year.

Entertainment companies, including the motion picture and music recording industries, are rightly concerned about the epidemic piracy that is going on internationally through peer-to-peer file sharing software like BitTorrent, as well as overseas websites dedicated to sharing illegal contraband.  Markham Erickson, who is the executive director of NetCoalition, a trade association for companies like Google, Yahoo and Twitter, said recently to FoxNews.com “A number of companies have had discussions about that.  Mozilla had a blackout day, and Wickipedia has talked about something similar.  This type of thing doesn’t happen because companies typically don’t want to put their users in that position.”

“When the home pages of Google.com, Amazon.com, Facebook.com and their internet allies simultaneously turn black with anti-censorship warnings that ask users to contact politicians about a vote in the U.S. Congress the next day on SOPA, you’ll know they’re finally serious,” said Declan McCullagh, a CBS writer.

While protecting an industry from theft of their content seems to be an admirable thing for lawmakers to accomplish, not to mention the money that is being funneled out of the U.S. economy every time piracy takes place, it’s important to understand that SOPA and bills like it fundamentally change the way the internet works.  So the argument goes, it will, in essence, kill the internet because of the fear of government tyranny.  Everyone will be terrified to download or stream anything, for fear of getting slapped with a lawsuit or worse.  It will, it is feared, stop job creation and innovation in it’s tracks.

Not everyone is against SOPA.  Sr. Research Fellow Richard Bennett of the Information Technolog & Innovation Foundation recently wrote in a New York post editorial that “SOPA targets foreign websites that sell counterfeit drugs and stolen copies of Hollywood movies – not such American websites as YouTube or your favorite blog.  Internet criminals selling bogus drugs or pirated movies simply set up shop in China or a distant island republic, knowing that they won’t be harassed by law enforcement regardless of how many U.S. lives or jobs they endanger.”  According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in a letter to the editor of the New York Times, t is estimated that these rogue websites attract more than 53 billion visits annually, and threaten more than 19 million American jobs.

However, several backers are bowing to pressure.  GoDaddy, which originally backed SOPA, has changed it’s position due to a threatened GoDaddy boycott.  A GoDaddy spokesperson confirmed to CNet.com just yesterday that “we oppose PIPA, as well (the Senate’s bill, also known as Protect IP).

Without a doubt, both sides have some strong arguments, and it stands to reason that something must be done to protect the interests of all parties.

Another thing that the FCC is concerned about is that with the sky being the limit on domain expansions, it will be all the more difficult to retrieve information about the owners of websites.  ICANN officials assert that they are working on improvements to provide law enforcement agencies with the information they need, and they also have tough rules in place regarding who can register extensions.

This fact was recently discovered by a Facebook user from Vienna when he contacted the company and requested a copy of his entire history of personal data from the social networking giant. And what he received was shocking.

On the CD delivered to his home were over a thousand PDF files which contained Facebook pages he’d liked, status updates, and login information, to name just a few. Among the collection was information the user had assumed was gone because he had deleted it.

Facebook users in the U.S. are not entitled to legally request Facebook to submit a record of their personal data like European users are. But this doesn’t mean that our online information isn’t being stored by any one of a number of online forums, social networking and even email sites.

The result of the above incident has caused the Austrian user to raise awareness about vague privacy policies and challenge a company’s contradictions in a project called “Europe v. Facebook”.

Most internet users are no strangers to data tracking; after all, pretty much each web site we visit will create a data file – called a ‘cookie’ – on our computers. This is done so that the next time we visit a site, we will be recognized. Cookies are used both to make it easier for users to fill in site information and for what some are saying are more sinister purposes.

While the creation of a cookie may offer many benefits to the user that increases convenience, they can also be used to track a user’s preferences when they surf online. Numerous conspiracy theories abound about information being shared between advertising companies, social media sites and the government to keep tabs on the general population.

With new laws being recently introduced that would force ISPs to relinquish user information to local authorities, it would seem that the only way to really protect our information from prying eyes is to avoid suspicious online activity altogether.

But there is software available for purchase online which can do some of the work by erasing the traces of activity that may be on our computers. And there are web sites which allow a user to surf anonymously using a disposable IP address which can’t be tracked by ISPs and authorities, among many other types of tools.  So it seems that ways to increase our invisibility on the web are being created as fast as the legislation which allows our information to be obtained.

The Surgeon General of the United States reports that each day, about 100 individuals in America die due to suicide. And it is estimated that suicide is the second leading cause of death for people aged between 14 and 25 in the U.S. Serious thoughts of suicide affected over eight million Americans over eighteen during the past year alone.

Facebook announced on December 14, 2011 that it would be launching a new suicide prevention tool which would allow troubled users to link directly to a counsellor via online chat. But the tool doesn’t only assist those contemplating suicide; it also provides their friends with the opportunity to help.

Previously, options were available on the social networking platform to choose certain options to report content, such as offensive or spam. But now, a new addition called “suicidal content” has been added to the range of options. This is accessible via clicking on the “harmful behaviour” option.

If the friend of a suicidal user reports a post or other content by that friend, the individual in need of help will receive an email containing a link to a private online chat with a crisis counsellor from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The email will also contain that organization’s phone number.

Friends who have reported harmful behaviour will also be notified by email to let them know that the issue is being addressed. In addition, they can also visit Facebook’s Help Center for more information about suicide, including links to external sites which provide additional resources.

In providing someone in need to connect with help on the internet, it is hoped that they will be more likely to seek assistance, as some may not be comfortable talking on the phone. Facebook spokesman Frederic Wolens says that the new tool is something that’s been in development for some time.

Facebook users both in the United States and Canada will have access to the suicide reporting tool. Any and all reporting of this nature is done anonymously so that the user in need will not know who has reported possible distress, which  can be a crucial element of suicide prevention strategy.

But those who use their phones to purchase items can be at significant risk of identity theft and are not completely protected, according to a Consumers Union study which was recently released.  Consumers Union is a policy and action component of Consumer Reports.  The study can be found at www.defendyourdollars.org.

Despite the convenience that pay-by-phone programs offer, most of these transactions will cause charges to be placed on a user’s mobile phone bill. And most carriers don’t carry appropriate purchase protection where the writing in their policies is concerned, even though many larger companies say the protection they offer is adequate.

The Consumers Union feels that users who pay with their cell phones should be receiving the same level of protection that they would when using their credit or debit cards to make purchases, something that is not the case with mobile carriers.

With the continuing exponential rise in mobile device purchases, estimated to exceed $31 billion by 2016, the Union says this lack of protection presents a very real cause for concern.

Another frightening facet of the situation lies in new ways in which hackers are employing to overtake mobile devices. Modern-day cyber thieves can hide viruses and malware in any number of apps that, when downloaded and executed, expose the mobile device owner’s information, chat history and other sensitive information. In addition to exposing information, malicious apps can also allow a hacker to use a user’s device to initiate cyber attacks on a wide range of targets.

Recent lobbies of the government by the Consumers Union included providing mobile pay consumers with fraud protection for situations such as when suspicious purchases are made on a stolen device that results in errant charges.

The Union stresses that because credit and debit cards have protection in place that’s legally required, they are the safest services to use when purchasing items or services. However, even these methods have their caveats, with technology available to scan any card from a distance using widely-available RFID readers which can collect numbers and personal information.

Those still wishing to purchase items with their phones are urged not to use public Wi-Fi networks when they shop, contains security passwords to prevent insider theft, and has been registered so that a ‘remote wipe’ of all information can be executed if needed.

The marketing contest is designed to help students sharpen not only their marketing and advertising skills, but also to develop skills in data analysis and consulting. The challenge covers a period of three weeks and requires the student teams to develop successful online advertising campaigns for real businesses or nonprofit organizations. The students must use Google AdWords in their campaigns.

The professors will serve as mentors to their students and guide them throughout the entire competition.

Students will be required to not only run their campaign, but then summarize their experiences in reports which they will submit online. Judging will be based upon both the performance of the individual campaigns and the quality of the reports. The job of selecting the winning teams
will be given to members the GOMC team and a panel of independent academics.

The grand prize is an all expense paid trip to Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. In addition, regional winners will be awarded trips to local Google offices. Of course, the professor for each team will be invited to make the trip.

Professors are encouraged to help their students sharpen their marketing skills while making a global impact! Student registration will be opened on January 31, 2012. Students, however, may enter only after their professors have signed up — and each student must sign up under his or her own professor.

Last year the Google Online Marketing Challenge attracted 50,000 participants from 100 different countries. This year Google is expecting an even larger turnout. More information is available at www.google.com/onlinechallenge.

King speculates that government regulators will allow the purchase of Dish for airwave spectrum, because “Dish and AT&T aren’t direct competitors, and at the end of the day, the government wants to see spectrum used.  It’s highly unlikely regulators would block two AT&T deals in a row.”

A quickly growing demand for airwaves, fueled by the number of mobile devices being purchased to stream video and browse the internet, that carry data and voice signals is pushing internet providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast to make deals with organizations that traditionally were viewed as the competition.  Of course, government regulations prohibit monopolies, many of these deals end up falling through, such as in the AT&T / T-Mobile situation.

Ultimately, the federal government wants to see the spectrum being used.  Bloomberg analyst Paul Sweeney says that a Dish acquisition by AT&T would also give AT&T more leverage when negotiating with cable networks, as Verizon has recently done in it’s agreements with Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox, who will all market and sell Verizon Wireless service so that cable customers have a wireless option.  The added spectrum will make AT&T a much more attractive partner.