Top 5 iOS App For 2011

Hosted By Richard Thomson



Were going talk about our top 5 app pick of 2011 and some of the greet app we have download this year.



Happy New Year To All



Download

Download (Mobile)

Relaxing in bed

Trying some filter on new app

Do We Have Carry IQ Here

Host By Richard Thomson 

 On this show we talk about carry IQ and weather or not the carry are using carry IQ here in canada.


Download
Download (Moblie)

Getting all setup in the studio for the show coming up at http://callin.technewscanada.ca please join us

Cool filter on this photo

Photo take with new camera app that I just got

My Google Plus page

Watch TWiT and play with my iPad

Taken with picplz in Halton, CA.

I have been drinking a lot of water

Got a brand new computer today

New Website

We Launch A New Website Over At http://technewscanada.com or http://technewscanada.ca. So please come on by and check us new page out from there. hope have some issue get the feed running right now

This photo has great lighting

Taken with picplz in Halton, CA.

This are speaker in my 5.1 system

Taken with picplz at Premier Court in Halton, CA.

Playing some good old #playstation games today

Taken at Premier Court

New office space

Brand new office setup

Taken with picplz in Halton, CA.

We Just Got Our Own Reddit Page

We are so happy to tell you that we now have our own reddit page where you the readding can tell us what story you find more intersting by submiting them to so on our reddit page and voting them up and down over thing .  You can do it all by going to http://www.reddit.com/r/emailforhelp or by click the link at the top of the page that say reddit.  So please help us to find the best tech story of the week.

Look at this picture!

Untitled

Tv set

Taken with picplz in Halton, CA.

Just Launch A Brand New Website And Blog

We Just Launch A Brand New Website And Blog Over At technewsblog.co.cc or other url is http://geekytech.site40.net/ i hope see alot of the reader of this blog reading over there as well as it will be the website i update more often. and right now were looking to get your feedback on what you think of the website so please fill out that forum to let us know what you think. the URL For The Feedback is http://geekytech.site40.net/website-feedback/

                                         Here A Screen Grab Of What The New Site Looks Like

Apple Store Down

The apple store is down most likely everywhere so what dose mean. It could be just maintain or it could be new MacBook Pro



As of right now the store is back but I do not see any changes

New music beta site for iPad

There is now a new site for iPad user that make it easter to listen to you music on iOS user html5 app

Now blogger is on the iPhone

Now blogger has an iPhone app for the blogger to post too. I'm hopeful that they will come out the an iPad app too

New blogger site

Now launching from google is a new blogger refresh and you can Check it out at http:draft.blogger.com there a great new design of blogger there as well more html5 design to it.

New Social Network For Geek's

Now That My Social Network For Geeks is now up and running on the site over at
http://richardthomson.net63.net

So if you like to join our beta of the service you can go to http://richardthomson.net63.net/register/ And Please Use Invite Code: Blog

Then your ready to get start on the network

Here A Screenshot of the new Site

Letter to developer of IPad apps

If you have an iPad app you'd like us to review to review on our blog please send me quick e-mail to our new e-mail address at iPad@thomsonville.co.cc with a redeem code if you can and the name of your app and a use for your app and I be glad to review a review on my tech blog over over http://geekytech.co.cc for all my read to see. A link will be tweet out the review is ready on my twitter account @emailforhelp please follow me there too.

Also looking for app developers to work with and chat with about some app ideas I have please contact me if you like to work me.

New Video Of The Week

We would like to start a new video of the week post every week to highlight some of our read work online so once were done give out google+ invite will put up new form for our readding to submit there video for video pick of the week. please try and keep them about tech and make sure that you are the owner of the owner of the contect before submiting it to us.

Help Get Domain Name

Were Hope that you the read of my blog can help me get a .com for this blog so Google will once again be able to index our website. just click the Paypal link to the side to help get the blog back into Google with a .com domain name and make it easier for people to find the blog

From The Team Of E-Mail For Help Team We Glad For Any Support That You Can Give.
Please Feel Free E-Mail Me at richard@thomsonville.co.cc

Google now ban on co.cc domain

Google banns co.cc domains from google search. 


So this mean my website will lose all the hit from google. 


Some people do not have the money for top level domain like a .com or .ca domain name so we use second
level domain to save money. 
So feel that we do not have the traffic for top level domain name.

Initial Views On Google+ (Video)

Pinboard Update

June 24, 1:04 AM PST

I understand that Instapaper (who was also affected by the raid on our data center) stores Pinboard passwords for users who connect the two services, and that the encryption key to these passwords was stored on one of the machines that was briefly taken in the raid.

If you ever connected your Instapaper and Pinboard accounts in the past (in other words, if you ever typed your Pinboard password into Instapaper), you should change that password now, not just on Pinboard but anywhere else you use it. I personally believe the risk is minimal, but given how little we know it's the only prudent option.

We got word from DigitalOne today that the FBI has physically returned our server to the datacenter. It's up and reachable, and I hope to have it back online soon.

The site is holding up well on the backup server, but search, global tag pages, RSS feeds and import from outside services (including twitter) are still turned off in order to prevent things becoming unusably slow.

Bookmarking by email is now working again.

Read More At http://status.pinboard.in/

Google Music Review

Google Music is really cool new way to listen to music on all your device with upload to the cloud and the limt is 2300 song i believe for upload.

Right now while Google Music is in beta its free but after the beta no one know if Google will charge for this service. but im Brett sure it will be free like most all other Google service.  Google also give you some free music when you get your invite. But Please Remember This Not A Backup Service and You Can Not Redownload The Music To Your Computer Or Any Device's. Google Music also work on iPad browser too.

This Serivce Right Is US Only 
Check Out http://music.google.com

Find Out If Your Hacked

if you want to know if you have benn hack on a password is out there in the world by going to this website and tell them your e-mail address https://shouldichangemypassword.com/


please tell me if you thing this site works in the comments



But If you Think You Been Hack At nytime you should change all password for anything you use the same password quick as you can.


or do as i do and use a service like lastpass like i do and change your password ever few moths

How-To Make Money

Find Something That Your Good At And Like To Do And More Then Likely To Be Success. If You Want To Build A Company Out Of Nothing Start With The Online Social Media Twitter and Facebook Are Good Place To Start And See What People Thing.




And Once You Find Some Thing You Love All You Need To Is Think Of A Way To Make Money Weather That Get A Job In That Field Or Start You Company To Do That.

Gran Turismo 5 Review

This is for  all you gamers out there. gran turismo 5 is one of the greatest game out there for Playstation owner and i think that every should buy this game hours of fun with lots of cars class and newer car too but it all about speed.


   

Netflix Instant Queue For Canada

My Netflix Instant Queue

Today At Some Point Netflix Start Rolling Out To Canada Instant Queue For Stream Content Now There No Need To Search Over And Over For Something You Been Want To Watch On Netflix

iOS Mobile Instant Queue

iTunes in the Cloud Versus Other Music Services (PCWorld)

Comparison Chart: iCloud vs. the CompetitionThe introduction of Apple's iCloud service, plus iTunes integration--announced during Steve Jobs's keynote address at this morning'sWorldwide Developers Conference--was arguably the most significant announcement of the day. The big question about Apple's iTunes in the Cloud offering is, How does it compare to Google Music Beta and Amazon Cloud Drive?

The short answer: Not all that well. The difference comes down to one major feature that iCloud lacks: online streaming. Initially there was some confusion over whether the service would support streaming of your music over Wi-Fi or 3G. But Apple has confirmed to us that it does not. Unlike Amazon Cloud Drive, Google Music Beta, and mSpot Music, your music from iCloud is downloaded to your device, where it takes up local storage (see the chart at left for a comparison of each service's features).

Read Full Story At PCWorld http://www.pcworld.com/article/229543/itunes_in_the_cloud_versus_other_music_services.html#tk.nl_iwx_h_crawl

CSI: Crime City Review

This is brand new game to facebook and it say it still in beta so the full review is coming to this post ever soon but you can check it out for you self at
Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/CSIcrimecity?v=app_6261817190

And Please Comment Your Reviews and tell us what you think in the comments
Play The Game http://apps.facebook.com/csicrimecity/

If Your A Fan Of The Hit TV show CSI then this is the Facebook game for you with level up and all thing skill of real Crime Scene Investigatory

WWDC Predictions

                With Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference less than 24 hours away, I thought this was a good time to make some predictions about what will be announced.  We know the basics (OS X Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud), but nothing in the way of specifics yet.  I am going to make some predictions based on what I’ve read in the media and on prior Apple announcements relating to OS X Lion.

OS X Lion (10.7)

                This appears to be a more substantial upgrade then Snow Leopard (10.6) was.  Given the release of the Mac App Store and the pending iCloud announcement, I believe that Lion will have more of a focus on the online space.  This is likely the next iteration of the “Time Machine” concept that Apple introduced several years ago.   The specific manner in which Apple addresses online and the cloud is one of the biggest question marks this keynote will have.  Because I think this will be a bigger update to OS X, I would wager that the price of the OS will be closer to the $129 of Leopard than the $29 being charged for Snow Leopard.

Another area I feel needs to be addressed is in the area of security and malware protection.  As the ongoing issues with Mac Defender indicate, OS X is now being actively targeted by malware and viruses.  An interesting stat I heard today (courtesy of Leo Laporte on his “This Week in Tech” podcast) is that the number of people running OS X is roughly equal to the number of people running Windows without any sort of firewall, antivirus, or anti-spyware software on their machines.  For years, I have suggested that once the user base expands to a certain level, you would start seeing more and more exploits of OS X.  The current update system (where Apple Software Update only checks for updates once every 24 hours) needs to be changed, as the Mac Defender bypassed the most recent update within 8 hours of its release.

iOS 5

                Given Apple’s focus on all things iOS over the last year, this is going to be a very eagerly anticipated announcement for the Apple Developers in attendance.  Some people still believe that there will be an iPhone 5 announcement at WWDC, even though all indications have placed an announcement closer to the fall timeframe where Apple has normally announced new iPod products in the past.  I assume that the “Locationgate” issue will be addressed in a much more straightforward manner at WWDC, and there will probably be stronger measures across the board to protect user privacy in iOS 5.

                For me it’s hard to make any specific predictions on what iOS 5 will contain when we haven’t seen any new hardware yet.  Assuming that the next iPhone uses the same A5 chip that the iPad 2 uses, we’ll likely see a move towards graphic improvements.  There have been rumors of a higher resolution screen making its way into the next iPhone, which would make sense assuming that the A5 chip is included in the next generation iPhone.  However, the ongoing legal battles between Apple and Samsung could delay any such improvements from taking place.

iCloud

                This is probably the worst kept secret in recent history for Apple.  Ever since news first broke regarding the construction of a huge data center in North Carolina, speculation has been rampant that Apple would introduce a cloud based service.  Ironically, immediately after the Apple press release formally announcing “iCloud”, the data center became available on Google Maps/Google Earth for the first time.

                There seems to be a lot of different theories on what iCloud may offer customers.  To me, the most logical option is to allow customers to have their iTunes music purchases backed up in the cloud.  Whether you would be able to redownload our purchases or simply have streaming access is up for debate.  Apple has leveraged Akamai’s technology for years for stream media via its Apple and Quick Time websites, so the infrastructure for streaming media is there.  Apple has also signed agreements with the four major record labels regarding cloud content, which is something Amazon will not do and Google doesn’t have to do (since you can only upload your music to the site, not purchase or stream anything from Google itself).

                Several rumors have centered around Apple offering the iCloud service for $25 or so a year after an initial trial period.  This could mean that Apple will offer iCloud customers the chance to listen to any track on their computer via the cloud, regardless of where they obtained the music from.  Before people start screaming about software piracy though, consider this:  this would not be uploading your music as you do with Google Music, but simply making a stream of Earth Wind and Fire’s “September” available in your account because iTunes sees the track on your computer.  Because you’d be paying this annual fee, the record companies would be collecting some royalties for allowing you to stream the song.  And that’s what the record industry is about – getting its money. 

                What’s not clear at this point is whether iCloud would also allow you to back up and/or store copies of purchased TV shows, movies, and iOS apps.  If the answer is yes, then Apple has probably just changed the rules on Google and Amazon once again.  Regardless of the specifics, the iCloud announcement will likely be the most anticipated part of Steve Jobs’ keynote by the public at large.

“One more thing…”

                A Steve Jobs keynote is not complete without his famous “one more thing…” at the end of each keynote.  This year, it could be anything under the sun.  My guess is that it will be something that people have either overlooked completely or have forgotten about in the Lion/iOS 5/iCloud buzz.  Perhaps more information on the future of OS X Server now that Apple has discontinued the XServe platform.  Or (more likely in my opinion) a massive update for Time Capsule/Time Machine to take advantage of the new cloud service.  The good news is that we only have to wait for about 16 hours to find out for sure.

Why I'm dumping Sony

Even though I have used Sony products for years,  I have been wary of the company ever since the rootkit fiasco from their music division.  However, the spate of security breaches over the last two months has demonstrated that Sony has absolutely no clue and/or no desire to protect the privacy of its customers.  First there was the PSN and SOE attack.  At the time, it was revealed that Sony was using outdated Apache servers without any firewalls in place.  What's worse is that security experts had warned Sony about this several months before the intrusion took place.  When Sony finally got its system back online, they had to take down the site login because nobody though to fix the password change system (all it required was the user's email and date of birth - part of the info the hackers got from the PSN/SOE servers).

     Today, it was revealed that a group called LulxSec has breached Sony sites again, this time through a flaw in an ad on a Sony page.  These individuals were able to obtain over 1 million emails, dates of birth, and password because the site stored the information in plaintext.  What makes this one worse is that several people have been able to use the data gathered from Sony's servers to hack Gmail and Yahoo accounts because people were using the same password on multiple sites.  This group has also posted the information on their website for anyone to access.





At some point, Sony needs to accept responsibility for their complete and utter failure to provide even a basic sense of security when it comes to protecting customer data.  But as we've seen time and time again, Sony seems to be wholly incompetent at this task.  Given that this is the same company that paid absolutely no attention to consumer rights when they secretly and illegally installed rootkits on users' machines without any notification whatsoever, it seems to me that Sony just can't be bothered to protect its customers.

As a consumer who is concerned about the privacy and security of my data, I cannot support a company that fails so miserably at protecting its customer data.  That is why I am getting rid of my Sony products immediately.  I don't care if certain games are only made for the PS3 or that some features are only available on a Sony Blu-Ray player with internet connectivity.  I'd rather take my business elsewhere to companies that truly value their customers and actively work to protect their personal and private data.  So goodbye Sony - your security breaches will not be missed.

Apple WWDC Keynote and iCloud And iOS 5

    Press Release

Apple to Unveil Next Generation Software at Keynote Address on Monday, June 6

CUPERTINO, California-May 31, 2011-Apple® CEO Steve Jobs and a team of Apple executives will kick off the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 6 at 10:00 a.m. At the keynote, Apple will unveil its next generation software - Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS® X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple's advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch®; and iCloud®, Apple's upcoming cloud services offering.

WWDC will feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers. Mac® developers will see and learn how to develop world-class Mac OS X Lion applications using its latest technologies and capabilities. Mobile developers will be able to explore the latest innovations and capabilities of iOS and learn how to greatly enhance the functionality, performance and design of their apps. All developers can bring their code to the labs and work with Apple engineers.

For more details, visit the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2011 website at developer.apple.com/wwdc.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

Link's To More Apple Story About WWDC
http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/31/apple-to-unveil-icloud-monday-june-6/
https://pinboard.in/u:emailforhelp/t:WWDC/
https://pinboard.in/u:emailforhelp/t:apple/
https://pinboard.in/u:emailforhelp/t:Rumor/
https://pinboard.in/u:emailforhelp/t:iCloud/
https://pinboard.in/u:emailforhelp/t:iOS/
https://pinboard.in/u:emailforhelp/t:MacDefender/
https://pinboard.in/u:emailforhelp/t:iPad/
https://pinboard.in/u:emailforhelp/t:iPhone/
https://pinboard.in/u:emailforhelp/t:iTunes/

This Week MacBreak Weekly On TWiT
http://twit.tv/mbw249

Google I/O 2011: Keynote Day 2

Today i think you will learn the most from just watch the video yourself

EMFH9- Update And News

On This Podcast Show We Talk About Apple And Lodsys. Also We Talk About Some Change To The Podcast As Well The New GDGT Layout and Look and Feel 
To Find Link To The Storys We Talk About In This Podcast Check Out This Link

Podcast Update 22/05/2011

I Have Anther Update for you.

This one has to change that have to happen to my podcast because of my show have to close to anther radio show 

So what were ask from you is to send in you idea for new name of the podcast. send you idea to podcast@thomsonville.co.cc and well pick the top once and then will put up a poll for you to vote on. 

if you would like to join us and talk tech on the podcast also please e-mail podcast@thomsonville.co.cc  and well work on getting you on the show and were going to start use talkshoe to take live calls too.

WE ALSO NEED GEEKS AND TECH PEOPLE TO HELP WITH SHOW AND NEED FOR TONIGHT SHOW.

Blog Update 20/05/2011

I'd Like To Take This Time To Say Sorry For The Last Week And Not Update The Blog But We Were Have Some Internet Issue Here And I Could Not Get Online So No Way To Update It.

TGW7- Empire Avenue

You Can Help Me Out By Buy Share at http://empireavenue.com/emailforhelp

TGW8- Google, Microsoft And Skype!

Google I/O 2011 Keynote Day 1

Android device can now be use as a USB host like plug in a camera into the table and import you photo.
Google TV will be getting android market and the new version of the android OS moving in 2011 to ice cream sandwich.

Starting to Day there are now Android movie rent in android market it. Background download of movie that you have rent though the android market  so you can watch them on an airplane with no connect. but there is one bad thing about this is you only get 24hr after you started watching it.

There new music service from Google at Google Music but once again this is only in the US not outside the US.
Android At Home this make it so you Android Phone be able to talk to things around you home in the demo they turn on and off the light in the hall.



The Google Chrome Keynote tomorrow so please check back tomorrow for that

Memolane Allows Users To Review Their Social Media History

I’ve always been bugged that I couldn’t look back in time. After all, last week I celebrated my 10th year blogging (I first blogged December 15, 2000) but looking back isn’t all that easy.

It’s even worse today because we’re spreading our behavior over so many different sites. Heck, I tweet. I Flickr. I YouTube. I WordPress. I Tumble. I Google. I TripIt.

Today two services added new history features: Memolane and Foursquare (Foursquare mostly added new photo and comment features, but they also now let you look back in time, I don’t remember being able to do that before).

Memolane, though, takes the cake. Here, look back at my timeline on Memolane. You’ll see photos, checkins, tweets, status messages. All in a unique timeline and you can look back pretty far.

Unfortunately only the last 3,000 tweets or so are on the timeline. Also, only the last 50 blog posts, or so, are there (RSS only lets you put a few into the system). Flickr, though, goes all the way back to when I started using that service.

Over on Foursquare I can look back at my history (unfortunately, unlike with Memolane, I can’t make this public, friends can only see the last few checkins. I do add everyone who asks if you want to check those out). From now on it’ll show photos from Instagram, Foodspotting, and PicPlz. Great stuff and brings that service up to par with Whrrl and Gowalla, which had that capability for most of the year.

By: Jordan

StaySocialMarketing.com

Twitter: @StaySocialMrk

Facebook: StaySocialMarketing

Social Media Management

Google I/O Predictions (quick version)

Just thought I'd throw out some quick predictions for Google I/O. I'm sure there will be more in-depth coverage once the event kicks off.

1. Honeycomb SDK is finally released.

2. GoogleTV is completely forgotten, as is Google Wave.

3. Google unveils their new attempt at cornering the social media market.

Empire Avenue: The Newest Thing in Social Media

Is it a game, a social media exchange, a social media measurement tool or a rating system? Empire Avenue has been the eye candy of the social media world since the last month or so. Being an avid admirer of innovation in social media, I couldn’t resist the temptation to jump aboard the Empire Avenue bandwagon.

What is Empire Avenue?

To be honest, I think it’s difficult to design Empire Avenue in one word. It’s a social media exchange – part game, part ratings that simulates a virtual stock market based on social interactions and the concept of online influence. It provides a stock exchange platform where you can literally buy and sell shares in your ever-expanding network and be rewarded for your strategic thinking and tactful maneuvers. There’s an Empire Avenue website and an associated Facebook app which doubles up the fun.

How do you play Empire Avenue?

It’s a virtual stock market game that thrives on social media. Every new user who signs up becomes a “stock” that can be bought and sold using play money. Whether anyone buys your stock depends on your perceived value which in turn is determined by 1) how many people have bought shares in you and 2) how active you are on leading social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.

In my opinion, the underlying concept behind Empire Avenue is simple yet brilliant – it leverages a person’s social media activity graph/ popularity to determine their net worth. The more active you are on social networks, the higher your stock price goes.

Why Empire Avenue?

Empire Avenue provides a fun way of tracking your ability to leverage social media effectively. It serves as an invaluable social media exchange and connects you to some of the best minds (me included) in the social media world. In business terms, Empire Avenue can be used to connect with individuals for recruitment, advertising or reaching out to like minded individuals.

Moreover, since your perceived value is at stake, it gives you another reason to be serious about your social media endeavors.

Business Perspective

It would be foolish to write off Empire Avenue as just another social media game/ pass time. A number of heavyweights including Audi, FORD and Intel have joined the Empire Avenue bandwagon and I’d expect other leading B2B brands to be on board sooner than later.

Buy me out!

I’d encourage my readers/ followers to join Empire Avenue and purchase my shares. Here’s a link to my profile – I am still pretty inexpensive but it’s a matter of time before my shares skyrocket
And Richard`s Profile

By: Jordan

Stay Social Marketing.com

Twitter: @StaySocialMrk

Facebook: /StaySocialMarketing

Social Media Manager

Apple and Sony: A Tale of Two Companies

For my first post on the blog, I thought I'd post about something that's gotten a lot of coverage in the press over the last week or two. In this case, the perceived security issues affecting both Apple and Sony. What's interesting is that the two incidents started opposite ends of the spectrum, then wound up at opposite ends again (although reversed) as more information became available.

The first issue relates to Apple and what has become known in tech circles as “Locationgate”. Basically, researchers discovered that iPhones running iOS 4.x had a file that stored location information. When this information was backed up to a computer, it was left unprotected. Some other enthusiasts then created a program that allows you to decode the location information and display it over a Google Maps layout. (They did intentionally skew the accuracy a bit). Upon the initial report, a lot of people were up in arms, but as more information was put forth, the anger began to subside.

First of all, when you turn on your iOS device for the first time, you are explicitly asked if you want to share location data with Apple. If you click yes, then you had consented to this practice. There is also language in the EULA outlining this, but most people never read more than the first and last paragraphs. Also, the data in the location file was based off the Assisted GPS (utilizing cell towers and wifi hotspot info), not the regular GPS service. This means that at best, it would provide an approximation of your location. To give you an idea of the vague nature of this data as I’m writing this post, the location data could show me at my house, the hospital, the university, or even the police station depending on which direction the data skews due to using aGPS instead of regular GPS. Finally, a lot of people have signed up for the “Find My iPhone” service through Apple’s Mobile.me website. So there should at least be some vague understanding that this data is being traced.

To Apple’s credit, they addressed these concerns in a FAQ they posted on their website last week. They admitted that they should have provided more clear and concise information about the location caching, and that the file was actually caching more data than intended. They promised to address this in a future update of the iOS software, which was released last night. I strongly urge anyone using iOS devices to upgrade to iOS 4.3.3 as soon as possible. So at this point, the issue has largely been resolved, and the majority of users have returned to their normal day-to-day affairs.

On the other hand, Sony’s issues relating to the Playstation Network (PSN) started out as simple downtime, but have grown progressively worse and worse. At first, users were just miffed because they couldn’t play Modern Warfare 2 or some other multiplayer game on their Playstation 3s. As time went on, Sony then notified its user base that the service was being rebuilt from scratch, and that there had been some sort of intrusion into the system. Then it started getting worse. Sony sent out an email to all PSN users notifying them that their usernames, email addresses, password and (possibly) credit card information may have been obtained by these hackers. But it gets worse from there.

This past Sunday (May 1), Sony officials had a big press conference in Japan to address these issues, complete with the deep bowing that is a customary sign of apology in the Japanese culture. The officials stated that they were working to restore services as quickly as possible, and that they would work to compensate its users in some fashion. Fast forward to Monday, when it was revealed that not only had the Playstation Network and Qriocity been hacked, but Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) as well. This means that anyone playing its online games (including Everquest and Everquest 2) on the PC side of things were affected as well. At this point, stories began to circulate that some of these hackers tried to sell back a list of 2.5 million credit card numbers they lifted from Sony’s servers. Sony executives were called before the US House of Representatives on May 4 to answer some serious questions pertaining to this breach. Sony did not personally attend the hearing, instead submitting a written response to the questions. In the press release Sony put out about this issue, they summarized what they told the Congressional committee about the intrusion.

Just today (May 5), it was revealed that the servers that Sony was using to run PAN/Qriocity/SOE were not only running outdated server software, but lacked even a basic firewall to prevent intrusion on their systems. Dr. Gene Spafford of Purdue testified before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade that independent security experts had been monitoring Sony’s systems and reporting security threats to Sony in an open forum available to all Sony employees. These expert reported these major security issues to Sony about three months BEFORE their systems were hacked. This means that Sony knew full and well that they had a security concern on their hands, but did nothing about it until it was too late. It’s literally as if Sony’s engineers decided that the system worked fine, so there was no need to make changes.

There’s a difference between making an oversight that leads to a security vulnerability (such as we’ve often seen with Windows and to a lesser extent OS X) over the years, and just choosing to ignore a known issue. The former could be considered careless, the latter outright ignorant, even dangerous. For a company that was under hot water once before for installing rootkits on customer’s computers with any notification if they inserted music CDs into their machines, this is just another example of Sony placing an emphasis on profit over security.

Links to more information are below:

Apple FAQ on the Location caching issue: http://bit.ly/fvsEiM

Sony response to US House: http://bit.ly/iYdrY7

Sony using insecure servers for PSN: http://bit.ly/mBaXJr