Michael's Insight

FCC moving forward with white space database

FCC Seeks Database Manager To Identify Unused TV Spectrum [Multichannel News]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has taken another step toward the possibility of broadband, wireless Internet using current broadcast television spectrum. Last week the Commission issued a request for potential managers for a database that will identify which parts of the broadcast spectrum are used in specific geographic areas. Because so-called white space technology uses portions of the TV spectrum that are currently in use for broadcasts, wireless microphones and cable television, white space Internet devices will need a mechanism to avoid interfering with those activities. The FCC and white space advocates believe that the devices can use a database of frequencies used by the other activities to avoid interference. 

For example, the database would contain the locations of television transmitters, the frequency they transmit on and the range of their transmissions. White space boxes in that range would access the FCC's database, which would tell the boxes to avoid transmissions on that frequency. Questions arise over how detailed the FCC's database will be in order for these white space devices to avoid all harmful interference. Right now, the FCC is seeking proposals from entities that want to create and maintain this database.

Those seeking to propose to handle the white space database have until January 4th to make their pitch to the FCC. The public will then have a comment period that will last until February 18th.

Cyber Monday is today

Online Shoppers Spend Over the Weekend, But Will It Last? [NYT Bits Blog]

Here's hoping that each of you had a great Thanksgiving holiday. With the December holidays approaching, many of you are already on the hunt for gifts for family, friends and maybe yourself. While last Friday marked the official start to the holiday shopping season, today has the distinction of being the first day that many online retailers offer the big markdowns. As a result, it's come to be known as "Cyber Monday." If you're in the market for a new HDTV, computer or other electronic devices, chances are good that you can find some deals online today.

To get info on all the deals available today, surf over to CyberMonday.com or head to the Twitter feed of @ShopCyberMonday. As this article points out, Cyber Monday started back in the day before many online consumers had their own high speed Internet connection at home - meaning they either ordered online via their work broadband connection or dial-up connections from home. Now, with high speed broadband at home, Americans spent $913 million online during last Thursday and Friday. Nonetheless, retailers still observe Cyber Monday, with the big deals hitting online sites today.

Google blocks some set-top access to YouTube

Google Blocking Set Top Boxes From Showing YouTube Unless They Pay Up? [Techdirt]

It's becoming quite popular for makers of set-top boxes that bridge a connection between broadband and television to incorporate the ability to viewers to watch YouTube videos on television. But, at least one set-top box manufacturer has run into static from Google, owner of YouTube, which has blocked it's users YouTube access. Syabas, makers of the Popcorn Hour line of set-top boxes, has found its boxes' YouTube access blocked by Google after the company declined to sign an agreement with Google for use of the video content from the site. Syabas' COO claims that Google attempted to extract a multimillion dollar advertising commitment from the manufacturer for the rights to show YouTube content.

For Google's part, it claims that Syabas is in violation of the terms of service for the YouTube API, which requires a signed agreement with Google. According to Google's blog post on the issue, there are apparently other set-top manufacturers that have not signed an agreement and may find themselves in the same boat as Syabas.

Techdirt notes that Google's position on the issue is un-Googlelike -- the company is restricting YouTube user-created content which is normally freely available through an API until the set-top manufacturers pay Google for the right to access the API.

Hmmm.

Insight offering a free preview of CBS College Sports

Thanks to UK men's basketball coach John Calipari for the shout-out on Twitter about Insight's free preview of the CBS College Sports channel. Insight customers in Lexington, Louisville, Northern Kentucky, Bowling Green and Evansville will now be able to watch the Kentucky men's basketball games in the Cancun Challenge for free from the comfort of their couch.

CBS College Sports and Insight are offering a free preview of CBS College Sports on Channel 531 to Insight Digital Customers in these select areas on November 24th and 25th during the Cancun Challenge tournament.

CBS College Sports channel 531 is a part of our Digital Choice package. However, during the two day free preview, all Insight customers with a Digital Box in Lexington, Louisville, Northern Kentucky, Bowling Green and Evansville will be able to see the games.

UK's next two men's basketball games - Tuesday vs. Cleveland State and Wednesday vs. either Stanford or Virginia - are being aired on the CBS College Sports channel.

Tomorrow's game against Cleveland State will air at 4:30pm Eastern on channel 531, and Wednesday's game will air at 7:00pm or 9:00pm Eastern. Check www.SportsOnInsight.com for details about that game following the Cleveland State game.

Enjoy the next two nights of basketball action in Cancun, and Go Cats!

A Time to Give Thanks...

...for this great nation in which we live. I'm taking the rest of the week off to spend time with my family. Have a great Thanksgiving holiday and let's remember to take a moment to give special thanks to the men and women in uniform who are spending their holiday far away from home, helping to protect our freedom. See you next week!

Twitter plans to adopt an ad-supported business model

Twitter: “Really Cool” Ads and Commercial Accounts Coming Soon [GigaOM]

With economic reality setting in, looks like Twitter has finally decided on a revenue model. In order to support their millions of users that post millions and millions tweets daily, the model is one that many observers expected Twitter to ultimately embrace. COO Dick Costolo announced at an event in San Francisco yesterday that the site plans to incorporate advertising into the site, saying that the ads will be, "fascinating, non-traditional, and people will love it." Sounds fascinating.

It's unclear whether the ads will be baked into a user's Twitter stream or show up somewhere else within the web site. Either way, I must admit, it's good news for Twitter's long term viability, with its constant need for additional server capacity to accommodate its growing, tweeting user base. Costolo also indicated that Twitter will charge partners for access to its API, which allows them to tightly integrate Twitter's data streams into their own web services.

If you're a Twitter user, keep your eyes open for additional changes to the site in the coming months.

UK Games NOT in Real HD

I've gotten a lot of nasty-grams from disappointed UK fans about Fox Sport South's HD coverage of our beloved Wildcats (or should I say the lack of HD coverage). 

First, let me say that I'm sorry.  I completely agree with you all who have called me out about the imitation HD signal being provided by Fox Sports.

The UK games are not being shot in native HD so they simply are converting the signal from SD and airing the games on their HD channel. As it turns out, my (and most of your) definition of HD is very, very different than Fox Sports' definition. They call it "up-converting" to HD.  I call it SD with annoying bars on the side of the screen. 

Believe me, they made no mention of this little fact when we worked diligently with Fox Sports South to quickly bring you the UK games in HD.  And, since the promised games are not being shot with HD cameras, there is no way for us (or anyone else, for that matter) to deliver the games in true HD.

I plan to communicate my extreme displeasure to some very senior folks at Fox. Once they hear from me, they're going to understand how important UK basketball is to so many Kentuckians.  I don't know if it will work, but I'm going to try to get a commitment from Fox to bring in the real HD equipment for a few games later on.  

I figure they owe us that.

Facebook jumps to third most popular online video site

Nielsen: Facebook Now the No. 3 Video Site [NewTeeVee]

Facebook has taken a huge jump from the 10th largest video site in September of this year to the third largest in October, according to Nielsen's latest VideoCensus. The social networking site increased its video streams served from 110 million to 217 million over the month, with viewers moving from 23 million to 31.5 million. Facebook dethroned several aggregated Microsoft video sites from the third place position, a spot they have held for several successive months.

YouTube continued its dominance of the top position, with the Internet's most popular video portal serving up 6.6 billion video streams to nearly 106 million viewers. Hulu took the second spot, with 632 million streams served to over 13 million viewers. Overall, in the U.S. 138.6 million unique viewers watched 11.2 billion video streams on the Internet in October. That comes out to over 80 streams per viewer for the month, with each viewer averaging 212.5 minutes of online video viewing for the month.

Facebook's jump indicates the growing use of video in social networking. As NewTeeVee indicates, there is potential for Facebook to use their newly gained third-place position - and 300 million strong user base - to get into the long-form video business to compete with second-place Hulu.

TVs may become greener thanks to California mandate

California approves efficiency mandate for TVs [CNET News]

While it might not have an immediate impact on televisions across the nation, California's recent approval of new energy usage standards for large-screen TVs may ultimately change the televisions that consumer electronics manufacturers sell to the rest of us. California's new rules require TVs 58 inches wide and less consume 33 percent less electricity than current models by 2011 and 49 percent less electricity by 2013. Because of the size of California's market, consumer electronics manufacturers may opt to change all their sets to the new "California standard." 

A few months ago, I wrote about the energy usage of HDTVs and that CNET offered ideas for reducing television energy usage. Size of the television's screen is the number one determining factor in its energy usage. Screen brightness also affects how much electricity a TV consumes. California's Energy Commission's new requirements are a response to concerns that as more and more consumers upgrade to large-screen HDTVs, total energy usage across that state will go up. One interest group is estimating that these new regulations will cut California's electricity usage by nearly one percent.

Though consumer electronics manufacturers opposed the energy reduction rules, they've now been adopted, and they have two years to come up with models that meet the new requirements.

Google plans to preview Chrome OS

Google’s Chrome OS Will Be Shown This Week [GigaOM]

Does the future of computer operating systems lie within the window pane of a web browser? We may be getting a peek at what that future could look like later this week, with Google planning a progress update on its Chrome operating system. The search giant has been working on an effort to redesign the web browser for over a year now, with that product called Chrome. A few months ago, Google let it slip that they were also going beyond just the browser to offer a completely redesigned operating system that centered around the online experience.

According to GigaOM, Chrome OS will be targeted at netbook computers, and we can probably expect a launch date of sometime next year. This post questions whether Google might be releasing a beta of Chrome OS soon to allow computer enthusiasts to debug the expected problems any new operating system is likely to encounter.

Google is in the process of challenging the iPhone in the mobile operating system department with its open-source Android operating system starting to gobble up smartphone market share. It will be interesting to see how Google positions Chrome OS to take on Microsoft's Windows and Apple's OS X.

Television executives talk about the future of online distribution

TV Execs Agree On Urgent Need For Online Model [Multichannel News]

Multichannel News and Broadcasting and Cable sponsored a panel discussion among television executives yesterday in Los Angeles. The panel's subject: the next steps for online distribution for television programming, and articipating in the panel were Marc Graboff, chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, Bruce Rosenblum, president of Warner Bros. Television Group, Nancy Tellem, president of CBS Network Television Entertainment Group, and John Wells, president of the Writers Guild of America. 

According to Multichannel, the panel members discussed the proposition of putting television content online with a business model that adequately compensates content creators while avoiding the potential to undercut the substantial revenue source that cable distribution provides for the content creators. It appears that panel members were in general agreement that the issue is a difficult needle to threat.

Authenticated online content - with cable operators providing their cable and broadband customers access to television content online - was mentioned as a "potentially successful" model for online distribution. Comcast and Time Warner Cable are both currently testing authentication systems, and Comcast is set to debut their On-Demand Online system for their customers in early December. It's clear that these panel members, as well as the rest of the television content industry, are focused on how Comcast's product is received by customers and whether it can generate an additional revenue stream for online content. 

This is a real-life discussion, indirectly highlighting the squeeze local broadcasters are facing.   Cable, wireless and online viewing make them less and less relevant in the future of television.  With most of their viewership coming to them tuned into network programming, it's liable to get pretty interesting to see how much the big media companies that own the networks try to extract from local broadcasters' pockets.  Already, a fight is brewing over the fees broadcasters are charging cable and satellite companies with Fox saying they want a cut. 

Unfortunately, adding insult to injury, the advertising model is in a complete funk.  All said, consumers will probably be forced to pay more to broadcasters and networks in the coming years. 

So, when you hear about cable and satellite companies fighting against "retransmission consent" fees, keep in mind it's about them trying to save consumers money.

Hulu's future debated by content partners

Hulu's backers bicker as Web video soars [CNET News]

CNET reports on a story from Mediaweek about controversy among the stakeholders of Hulu, the popular online, long-form video site. According to Mediaweek, the controversy is emanating from a fundamental disagreement between the site's content partners at Fox, Disney and NBC Universal about Hulu's future revenue model. Several executives at News Corp., owners of Fox, including Chairman Rupert Murdoch, have sent not-so-subtle hints recently about their desire to turn Hulu into a subscription-based service for users.

Currently, the online venture is ad-supported, but the Mediaweek report indicates that Hulu's ad sales aren't keeping pace with its tremendous growth in viewership over the past year. Mediaweek's story also indicates that the site's revenue-sharing structure for its content partners and Hulu's ad sales staff has created friction between Hulu and its content partners. CNET's recounts how Hulu trumpeted the selling-out of available advertising time in 2008, but didn't issue a similar announcement this year, lending credence to the concerns about ad sales not living up to expectations.

Further complicating the picture is the impending sale of NBC Universal from GE to Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, which is planning to launch its own online video portal for cable and broadband customers next month. There's obviously some debate about whether NBC Universal content continues to be available freely on Hulu after that deal is finalized.

Hulu was the first on the scene in this new media landscape of online viewing of television and movie content. While it's unclear what the future holds for the site, it appears likely that changes are afoot for Hulu in the next year.

Windstream DSL speeds still slower than cable broadband

Windstream Bumps Upstream DSL Speeds [Broadband Reports]

In an announcement that's so 2004, Windstream recently announced that it is upgrading the upstream speed of its DSL service from 384 kbps to 768 kbps. That means their customers will still be uploading slower than any of Insight's cable broadband customers, with speeds of 1 Mbps and 1.5 Mbps for Broadband 10.0 and 20.0 respectively. Broadband Reports indicates that the upgrade is not yet complete, so some number of unfortunate Windstream DSL users are still surfing at a speed below what the FCC designates as "Basic Broadband."

Windstream's downstream speeds still will plod along at 3 Mbps and 6 Mbps.

As I've written here before, DSL is a technology that consumers are fleeing en masse to cable broadband because it's very difficult for the phone company to upgrade DSL speeds beyond a certain threshold. One of the limiting factors of DSL speeds is the distance a customer's home is located from the phone company. The further a DSL connection is away from the network hub, the slower the connection speed will be due to line noise.

Looking at the comments in the Broadband Reports post, it appears that Windstream's customers agree that 768 kbps upstream is still the Internet's slow lane.

Insight is your home for UK basketball in high definition

For University of Kentucky basketball fans, tonight marks the first game available in high definition on Fox Sports South. As I mentioned last week, Insight is bringing Fox Sports South HD to our customers in Kentucky in markets where we already carry Fox Sports South full time as of today. Fox Sports South HD will appear in most Insight markets on channel 929. However, in Henderson, UK games on Fox Sports South will air on channel 12. If you have questions about a particular UK game that is airing on a different network, check our web site at www.SportsOnInsight.com for the most up-to-date program listings for all sports events in your area.

UK tips off tonight against the University of Miami (Ohio) at 7:00 PM Eastern. As I said last week, we know better than any of our national competitors what’s important to our customers because so many of us live and work in the communities we serve. There should be no question that Insight is your best choice for home-team sports.

MoCA plans new, higher bandwidth standard

MoCA Shoots For 800 Megs Over Coax [Bit Rate - Multichannel News]

Looking for a home networking solution that will accommodate your bandwidth needs well into the future? The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) is planning an update to its standard for data transmission over a home's coax wiring. The new MoCA 2.0 standard would provide for up to 800 Mbps transmission rates, allowing for plenty of data - including high definition video. The Alliance expects the new standard to be approved by the first quarter of next year.

The current MoCA standard offers up to 275 Mbps, with actual speeds topping out at around 175 Mbps. While that's plenty for most bandwidth needs, with increasing broadband speeds and need to move multimedia content around the home, the MoCA 2.0 standard will look to meet those needs. Cable Digital News expects that devices supporting MoCA 2.0 will become available about a year after the standard is ratified, based on manufacturers' track record with the current MoCA standard.

It may not be as portable as wi-fi in a home network application, but MoCA definitely shows more promise when it comes to homes with high-bandwidth needs in data and video.

Comcast to launch On-Demand Online early next month

NewTeeVee Live: Comcast’s On-demand Online to Be Ready “by Hanukkah” [NewTeeVee]

Another piece of news dropped at this week's NewTeeVee Live event, when Comcast Interactive's  President Amy Banse told the audience that Comcast expected to launch their On-Demand Online product in early December. On-Demand Online is a product that allows Comcast cable TV and broadband customers to watch cable programming on their computer via their broadband connection.

Banse revealed that accessing On-Demand Online will require Comcast customers to download an application, log in to Comcast's Fancast site and authenticate their Comcast customer status. Once that process is completed, that computer can access the On-Demand Online content from any broadband connection. So, if installed on a mobile computer, Comcast customers can take their cable television with them anywhere they have broadband access.

As I mentioned last month, CableLabs, the cable industry's research and development consortium, is at work developing a set of standards for cable television programming via an online portal. Once that standard is developed and approved, other cable providers can begin offering this same type of service.

You can watch the entire NewTeeVee Live interview with Banse here:

Watch live streaming video from gigaomtv at livestream.com

YouTube makes the jump to full 1080p high definition

YouTube going 1080p, already? [EngadgetHD]

Full high definition video is coming to the world's most popular online video site, YouTube. At the NewTeeVee Live event, Hunter Walk, YouTube's director of project management, revealed that YouTube will be unveiling 1080p resolution videos in the coming days. Current videos that were recorded at 1080p will be re-encoded at the higher resolution, and new uploads at 1080p will be able to be viewed at full 1080p. YouTube's current maximum resolution for viewing is 720p.

Walk disclosed that the Google-owned site is about halfway through the re-encoding process for current videos on the site. About 10 percent of all videos now uploaded on YouTube are high definition, up from just 1 percent a year ago.

The move, which will have an impact on YouTube's video storage and bandwidth requirements, was designed to improve the quality of the videos available from premium content partners - for content like television shows and feature-length movies. But, even amateur-produced content, if recorded in 1080p, will be able to be uploaded and viewed in the new maximum resolution.

Fox Sports South HD to launch full-time on Insight

For regular readers of this blog, you all are well aware that I’m an avid sports fan. And here at Insight, I’m certainly not the only one!

That’s why for many years now we’ve been committed to providing the best, most comprehensive sports programming you can find anywhere.

Last month, we announced that Insight would carry all of the UK football and basketball games airing on Fox Sports South in HD in our Louisville, Lexington and Northern Kentucky markets. We worked out this arrangement with FSN South to make the games available as a special event programming option to serve as a temporary measure until we were technically and contractually able to launch the channel full-time.

I’m happy to report today that we’ve been successful in getting that done very quickly and we will be launching Fox Sports South HD on channel 929 on Monday, November 16 – the same day UK plays Miami (Ohio).

Now, not only will our digital customers in Louisville, Lexington, Northern Kentucky and Henderson be able to see the UK games in HD, they will be able to enjoy all of FSN South’s sports programming, including other SEC football and basketball games.

I've received a number of comments and emails from customers in Henderson, KY asking about the UK games too.  That market presents us with a whole host of other issues which we are continuing to deal with as I write this.  I'll keep you posted.

As I’ve said before, we know better than any of our national competitors what’s important to our customers because so many of us live and work in the communities we serve. There should be no question that Insight is your best choice for home-team sports.

Blockbuster looks to distribute movies on SD memory cards

Blockbuster Still Not Getting This Whole Broadband Thing [Broadband Reports]

With Sony's announcement earlier this week that it planned to distribute a feature-length movie via broadband before the DVD release, Broadband Reports has posted an article about how Blockbuster is failing to adapt to the Internet age. Apparently, the movie rental company has announced plans to provide a new movie rental option for computers and mobile devices. But instead of opting for online distribution, Blockbuster plans to rent the digital movies on an SD card from their stores and rental kiosks.

Karl Bode's analysis of Blockbuster's new product is correct - most consumers are going to bypass an option that uses a proprietary, physical format in favor of a standardized physical format or an easier digital download - either via an Internet-connected television or via cable video on-demand. An SD card might be a useful format for some computers, but not all have built-in SD card slots. So it's hard to see how the format would be widely accepted by viewers over DVDs.

On the other hand, just last month, I turned on my Samsung Blu-Ray DVD player and found a Blockbuster app sitting right next to Netflix for streaming movies.  I'm not sure how deep into their library the online availability goes, but they definitely are testing the waters.  I guess they're hedging their bets.

Changes in store for federal broadband stimulus

One More Broadband Funding Round [Broadband Reports]

Yesterday, the federal agencies responsible for the government's broadband stimulus dollars announced a change in the previously announced process for awarding those dollars to build broadband infrastructure in areas of the country that currently don't have access to broadband. Earlier this year, after Congress passed the economic stimulus bill, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utilities Service planned three different award periods. Both agencies are currently reviewing applications from providers for the first set of awards. Yesterday, the agencies put out a press release that indicates they are merging the second and third award periods into a final, single award period.

This move is not completely unexpected, as both agencies had hinted that it was in the works and had already announced that the first round's awards would be bumped from this month to late next month. Hopefully, having one additional funding round will allow the government time to carefully assess the rules and awards for the first round and make some thoughtful adjustments for the final round. Many companies that are well poised to assist the government in its goal of providing broadband for every American decided to pass on the first round of funding due to rules for the current round, and changing those rules could encourage more participation in this important program.

Sony plans release of film online

Sony to Offer Film on Internet TV, Then DVD [New York Times]

Could the days of movie distribution on physical media be numbered? Sony has revealed plans to release the hit animated feature "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" via the Internet to viewers with a Sony Internet-connected television or Blu-ray player. The online release will take place a full month before the DVD and Blu-ray disc are are available on retailers' shelves. The release is an experiment to determine the viability of releasing movies online and, at the same time, not harming the profitability of DVD and Blu-ray sales.

Even though the movie will be released online a month prior to DVD sales, it's priced at $24.95, well above the average cost of a DVD. The results of this experiment will likely guide future Sony releases, and may offer guidance to other studios looking at the potential for online releases. Sony has indicated that in the future, the PlayStation 3, Sony's game console, may become a platform for online movies.

"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" will be available for viewing online to customers with Sony televisions and Blu-ray players starting on December 8th.

Security firm takes down major spam botnet

Security firm chokes sprawling spam botnet [The Register]

Spam is taking a hit - albeit temporary - after security researchers have effectively shut down a botnet responsible for a third of the spam landing in users' email inboxes. Known as Mega-D or Ozdok, the botnet controlled in excess of 250,000 individual computers connected to the Internet, pumping out spam emails to users worldwide. Security experts at a firm named FireEye decided last week to target Mega-D's control channels - the channels used by the scammers that control the botnet in an attempt to disable their control of the zombie computers sending spam.

Apparently the coordinated FireEye attack worked. Those in control of the Mega-D botnet didn't have time to react in an attempt to counteract the FireEye attack, resulting in the dismantling of the botnet. FireEye successfully identified the various "fallback mechanisms" that the botnet operators had placed in the command and control structure to prevent an attack. By simultaneously disabling those mechanisms, FireEye was able to successfully take down Mega-D.

As with other spam botnet takedowns, it's very likely that another botnet will rise up to take Mega-D's place. But for now, email users and ISPs will have the benefit of a reduced level of spam filling up their mailboxes.

Can newspapers survive online without Google?

News Corp Sites 'To Be Removed From Google' [Sky News]

Could Wall Street Journal and Fox News articles be pulled from Google's search results? If recent comments from News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch are any indication, all articles from News Corp. web sites may be disappearing from the search results of the Internet's most popular search engine. Murdoch, who has championed the use of paid, subscription-based content on all of the sites that News Corp. owns, believes that advertising can't support the production of content for the Internet. According to Murdoch, search engines like Google, "simply pick up everything and run with it - steal our stories ... without payment."

Murdoch's solution - simply eliminate the files on the News Corp. web servers that allow Google to index their content, effectively removing them from the search engine's results. Sky News Australia's political editor David Speers asked Murdoch recently why News Corp. has not removed the files already, Murdoch responded, "I think we will."

Many of those in the newspaper business have gritted their teeth at the fact that Google sells advertising on search results that direct users to the newspapers' content, while the advertising revenue that newspapers earn via their web sites is miniscule in comparison to Google's. The question has been asked whether newspapers need Google to help users find their content. Now it appears that at least one company plans to answer that question.

Some iPhones now vulnerable to malware

New iPhone Worm: How Worried Should We Be? [ReadWriteWeb]

If you're an Apple iPhone user that's broken free from Apple's walled garden, your phone may be vulnerable to a worm called iKee. Users that have "jailbroken" their iPhones - removing them from Apple's control over the applications that can be installed on the phone - are now at risk of contracting iKee. iKee is a worm that propagates itself to these unprotected iPhones. iKee changes the iPhone's background image to one of Rick Astley - a kind of rickrolling for the infected iPhone.

iKee is the creation of a 21 year-old Australian hacker that developed the worm in an effort to highlight the poor security features of the iPhone. And while iKee doesn't currently have a malicious intent toward individual iPhones, it may give malicious hackers a blueprint for infecting iPhones with more problematic malware. For now, there are instructions available for iPhone users to avoid iKee.

Facebook going on the offense against scam advertising

Facebook: We're going after scammy ads, too[CNET News]

Facebook's 300 million users have become a tempting audience for advertisers, and on the Internet that means lots of scammers have come along for the ride. Recently, Facebook has decided to take a harder line against scam offers showing up in Facebook advertisements and applications. Earlier this year, many Facebook users were deluged with advertisements that promoted easy money from the federal government's economic stimulus. After a period of time, Facebook decided enough was enough and went to work removing those ads from their system.

According top a recent announcement from the social networking giant, two ad networks have also been banned from their advertising system. Those networks were running deceptive ads, in Facebook's judgment. Facebook has also revised advertising policies regarding applications and has banned or brought into compliance around 100 applications with respect to scam advertisements.

Here's to a more scam-free social networking experience.