ITmatters Articles

Are Computer Hackers Targeting Your Car?

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:27:00 GMT

Your vehicle is being made smarter and more connected with internet technology – and with increasing car computerization comes the increasing risk of hackers gaining control of that vehicle, The Register is reporting.

Communication services such as General Motor’s On-Call, on-board diagnostic features, GPS mapping remote starting, unlocking and soon, car-to-car communications that monitor traffic and road conditions are treading closer to hacker territory, according to a report by US computer security giant McAfee.

The first-of-its-kind report, entitled “Caution: Malware Ahead”, released Tuesday, warned that security is lagging as vehicles are enhanced with embedded chips and sensors for a growing array of purposes. “As more and more functions get embedded in the digital technology of automobiles, the threat of attack and malicious manipulation increases,” said McAfee senior vice president and general manager Stuart McClure.

“It’s one thing to have your email or laptop compromised, but having your car hacked could translate to dire risks to your personal safety,” he added.

McAfee is strongly warning drivers that the potential for car-based hacker mischief is all too real. “As more and more functions get embedded in the digital technology of automobiles, the threat of attack and malicious manipulation increases,” McClure warns.

“Many examples of research-based hacks show the potential threats and depth of compromise that expose the consumer. It’s one thing to have your email or laptop compromised but having your car hacked could translate to dire risks to your personal safety.”

The report continues by claiming, “The automobile industry is continually adding features and technologies that deliver new conveniences such as Internet access and the ability to further personalize the driving experience. However, in the rush to add features, security has often been an afterthought.”

According to McAfee there were no indications that hackers have yet taken advantage of computer vulnerabilities in cars, AFP reports, examples of such attacks actually happening in real life are absent.

A interesting exercise by F-Secure a few years back failed to hack into a car via Bluetooth and McAfee says they have not seen anything since to suggest that this has changed, even with advances in the sophistication of technology that might make such a scenario more feasible.

“As the trend for ubiquitous connectivity grows, so does the potential for security vulnerabilities,” said Wind River senior director for automotive solutions Georg Doll. “The report highlights very real security concerns, and many in the auto industry are already actively designing solutions to address them,” Doll added.

Cyber hijackers pose threat to planes, vehicles

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:27:00 GMT

The horrific Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks involved weaponized airliners that were hijacked using brutal, low-tech tactics. But the rapid advances in technology of the last 10 years may mean that tomorrow's threats to planes and automobiles could come not from armed terrorists, but from stealthy hackers.

The connection between terrorist organizations and cybercriminals exists, say experts, not only in online underground marketplaces where hacking tools are sold, but also in areas of recruitment and training.

Some unfriendly countries are working on so-called cyber warfare programs, and there are also "al-Qaida cells that are acting as training centers for hackers," said Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, an information-security training firm based in Bethesda, Md.

Those attackers will have more targets than ever, security firm McAfee noted in a report. The report cited the mobile-phone maker Ericsson's estimate that by 2020, there will be roughly 50 billion devices connected to the Internet, including airport kiosks, industrial control systems and remote network-monitoring devices.

The perceived threat to these and other systems is rising.

Mounting evidence
Last week, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a security bulletin from the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center warning the security community about new tools and new recruitment techniques being used by various hacker groups.

The report refers to such organizations as soliciting help from disaffected employees, as well as using more nefarious methods, including forcing people to cooperate with hackers using "unwilling coercion through embarrassment or blackmail."

While the possibility of actually incapacitating an individual plane and causing it to crash via computer remains remote, say experts, hackers can disrupt flights and create potentially life-threatening situations.

In 2004, malware known as the Sasser worm disrupted flights when it infected systems that Delta Air Lines relied upon. Since then, the tools for creating such havoc have become more sophisticated — and more accessible.

The DHS warning included references to new tools being used by politically motivated "hacktivist" groups such as Anonymous. Powerful administrative tools, such as the " Low Orbit Ion Cannon," have been repurposed to bring down systems using distributed denial-of-service attacks. While such attacks are rudimentary, they could cause serious problems if directed at critical transportation systems.

Gaping vulnerabilities
Such networks remain frighteningly vulnerable, say law enforcement watchers. As one example, a congressional report on cyber terrorism cited the 2002 case in which a major weakness in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) was discovered that could have been exploited to bring down "major portions of the Internet."

The vulnerability was kept a secret while security firms worked to protect telecommunications equipment around the world. According to FBI reports at the time, if the systems had not been patched, they could have been used to interrupt control information exchanged between ground and aircraft flight control systems.

Similar outages in telecommunications systems and embedded systems could be used to disrupt train and track switching information.

"For example, some rail systems are based on SCADA [supervisory control and data acquisition] control systems," said Tim Armstrong, a malware researcher at Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab. "These are similar to the types of control systems that were compromised in the Stuxnet attacks in 2010."

But the newest and most unpredictable weaknesses today appear to be in the connected systems embedded in late-model cars.

Several vulnerabilities in remote start, locking, tracking and other car systems have already been demonstrated. Computer security researchers at iSec Partners, for example, have shown how they can unlock a car and turn on its engine using a laptop computer.

The researchers managed this hack with a few hours' work tapping into the car's wireless connections. Another security expert has demonstrated how to tap into a police car's camera and video recorder.

Such attacks already have a name: war texting. Mobile car apps that use a driver's smartphone are potential targets in many of these cases as well, according to McAfee's report, "Caution: Malware Ahead."

Analysts at the firm stress that while no such cases have yet occurred, critical car systems could be vulnerable. One example: remote vehicle immobilization and slow-down systems, such as those used in GM's OnStar, could be hacked. Though they were intended as theft deterrents, if control of these systems fell into the wrong hands, it could lead to disastrous results.

Mobile internet use nearing 50%

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:27:00 GMT

Almost half of UK internet users are going online via mobile phone data connections, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Some 45% of people surveyed said they made use of the net while out and about, compared with 31% in 2010.

The most rapid growth was among younger people, where 71% of internet-connected 16 to 24-year-olds used mobiles.

Domestic internet use also rose. According to the ONS, 77% of households now have access to a net connection.

That figure was up 4% from the previous year, representing the slowest rate of growth since the ONS survey began in 2006.

Among the 23% of the population who remain offline, half said they "didn't need the internet".

Mobile internet use rose fastest among 16 to 24-year-olds

Household internet access

Year	Households (millions)	Percentage
2006	14.3	57
2007	15.2	61
2008	16.5	65
2009	18.3	70
2010	19.2	73
2011	19	77

Northern Ireland excluded from 2011 survey.

Source: Office for National Statistics

The ONS report is the first since dot-com entrepreneur Martha Lane-Fox was appointed as the government's UK Digital Champion, with a brief to increase internet uptake.

In a statement, Ms Lane-Fox said: "That so many offline households don't see any reason to get online reinforces the importance of the digital champions network that the Raceonline2012 partners are creating."

Mobile revolution

The figure for domestic connections contrasted sharply with the rapid growth in uptake of mobile services.

However, the popularity of 3G broadband did not necessarily mean that more people were going online overall.

Many of those using mobile phones are likely to already have home broadband connections.

Older users, who the government is particularly keen to get connected, appeared to have been relatively untouched by the phenomenon.

While 71% of 16 to 24-year-old who went online said they used mobile broadband, just 8% of internet users aged over 65 made use of the newer technology.

The ONS survey also found a dramatic rise in the use of wifi hotspots - a seven-fold increase since 2011 - suggesting that the rise of 3G has done little to slow demand for free and paid-for wireless access.

All findings were based on a monthly survey of 1,800 randomly selected adults from across the UK.

Razer gets into the laptop business with Blade

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 07:10:00 GMT

Razer's hyped Pax Prime announcement is of a new laptop with Mac-killing looks and a pricetag to match.

My hat is off to you Razer. I’d been wondering just how you were going to commercialise the Switchblade concept, a tiny PC gaming prototype that looked and sounded awesome. Except it used an Atom processor, with graphics that will struggle with Randomville on Facebook let alone a big persons game.

Don’t think the fact that every switchblade press release focused on China passed us by. As is sadly the case in the PC world, this was a wonderful idea hobbled by the very source of funding that created it. All I could think when I heard about the Switchblade was that it would kick serious butt with a Fusion APU from AMD, which would be able to handle the graphics a lot better.

I honestly didnt expect the switchblade to do anything other than fuel chinese mmo addiction. So good on you for taking the technology and building the Blade, a gaming laptop. Or as Razer claims ‘The world’s first true gaming laptop’. I’m calling bollocks on that btw, if anything Alienware has been there since Razer were first trying to convince people that wide buttoned rodents named after snakes were cool.

The Blade packs a Core i7-2640M CPU, which is a lot more capable than the Core i7 2620QM processors that normally appear in mobiles. It also has Nvidia’s current top-end GeForce GT555M, which already appears in more serious gaming laptops like those from Alienware. It has 8GB of DDR, which sounds impressive until you look around and realise that RAM is currently cheap and a lot of the laptops on the market in Australia already have 6GB or 8GB as standard. 320GB of hard drive is bearable in a normal laptop, where you can expect to use external drives to handle the storage, but in a gaming laptop it means you need to keep the size of your installs in check.

Much like Razer’s Hydra motion controller this all sounds wonderful, and then comes the price. The anti-macbook looks of the Blade come at a monstrous pricetag of $US 2799. That’s getting up to Vaio Z with its Lights-Peak based external GPU level of extravagance, and you can get laptops of similar spec for much, much less.

Plus I can’t help but wonder if this would be so much better (and cheaper) with an APU and Radeon dual graphics setup.

I do not doubt that a massive amount of engineering has gone into the design, and that the customisable Switchblade UI costs a bit of cash, but if you want to stand up for PC gamers don’t launch a product that is priced the same as ten consoles currently are. where we suspect the cost comes in is in the chassis. I recently chatted with ASUS about its upcoming macbook air competitor, the UX31, and was stunned to find out that chassis yields for unibody designs were actually quite low.

While the blade is certainly a luxury product, it is one of the few laptops we have seen that can seriously compete on looks. Sony tends to get it, Samsung and ASUS are creeping towards getting it right, but Razer has come straight out of the blocks with a design that just works.

Apple has proven that people will pay for design, but can Razer manage to do the same?

Yet again Razer insists on using renders for its press 'photos'

Lenovo joins tablet PC stampede

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:29:00 GMT

Lenovo has announced its first commercial and consumer tablet PCs for Asean markets.

The first three devices will be launched in Thailand tomorrow, setting the giant Chinese computer maker on a quest for a 10-per-cent share of the global tablet PC market within three years.

The director of Lenovo Asean's relationship segment Ronnie Lee said the first three devices in its tablet family included the ThinkPad Tablet, aimed at commercial and business users, and the sleek and stylish IdeaPad Tablet K1, with different Wi-Fi and 3G versions, designed for the consumer market. They are the company's first mobile Internet devices featuring the Android 3.1 honeycomb platform.

Lee said the ThinkPad Tablet was built to deliver a combination of mobile entertainment, security and productivity for commercial and business users. Its main features include security, reliability and manageability. It features an optional digitizer pen, a full-sized USB port, a full-sized SD-card slot, and a mini-HDMI for connecting to external projectors and displays as well as an optional ThinkPad Keyboard Folio Case with optical TrackPoint.

It also features scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass for business professionals who need an ultra-mobile device to keep up with a work-hard, play-hard lifestyle.

"This is the first time we have launched tablets for both the commercial and consumer markets. I am confident that these devices will meet our customers' requirements, because we want to gain leadership of the market. This time we have the best situation and this is the right time to launch these new tablets," Lee said.

He said that for the ThinkPad Tablets, the company would work with system integrators and service providers to customize the devices and develop applications to support commercial users, such as retail, telecom, airline and banking solutions.

"Thailand is a big and interesting market for us. Every country is important, but there are two countries on which we will focus sharply. We call them hyper-growth countries, and Thailand is one of these hyper-growth markets in this region and the other one is Indonesia. They have double-digit market growth, so we make sure we give them a bit more attention. We see a boom coming from this," Lee said.

Meanwhile, Lenovo Asean's director of consumer business Feng Jianjian said the IdeaPad Tablet K1 came with HD display, dual cameras and integrated Bluetooth and 802.11 Wi-Fi connectivity. It weighs less than 740 grams and is designed for consumers seeking a mobile-entertainment device for staying connected to family and friends, accessing social-media networks and enjoying music, movies, Android apps and surfing the Web on the go.

The new tablet is also preloaded with more than 30 applications and users can access thousands more in the Android market as well as applications tested exclusively for the IdeaPad Tablet K1 in Lenovo's App Shop.

The Wi-Fi version of the IdeaPad is priced at 699 Singapore dollars (Bt17,417), and the 3G version, S$799.

"I think that tablet PCs will replace the netbook market because netbook users are switching to use tablets. We aim to gain a 10-per-cent share of the global tablet market in three years, with double-digit market growth," Jianjian said.

Lenovo also plans to announce a new tablet with a Windows environment in the near future.

Recent reports by global market-research firm IDC have illustrated the startling size of the market for tablet computers and its explosive growth.

IDC says tablets will experience a five-year compound annual growth rate of 54 per cent in the Asia-Pacific excluding Japan region, multiplying nearly ten times from 2 million units shipped in 2010 to 21 million units. It expects more consumers to adopt media tablets to meet their mobile gaming, Web-browsing and social networking needs.

Moreover, IDC believes that some of this demand may be driven by the education sector, and mentions the Thai government's plan to distribute 800,000 Android tablets to primary-school students. Although Thailand's free-tablets-for-schoolchildren project has not yet been factored into IDC's forecasts, the firm points out that it is just one of many opportunities driving media-tablet growth.

It says mature countries like Korea, Australia and Taiwan are showing high interest in mobile devices like media tablets, while China continues to demonstrate high purchasing power for new-tech products. By contrast, emerging countries in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, like Indonesia and Malaysia, have more conservative attitudes toward media tablets, and still prefer mini notebooks with better keyboard input and a familiar user experience.

EReaders, on the other hand, will carry a lower compound annual growth rate of 18 per cent as these devices are limited to a single function, one that media tablets cover anyway. In fact, IDC says, media tablets offer a better reading experience with colour display for magazine content.

"Lack of localised content is an issue for eReaders in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan. In China, for example, some consumers are still relying on pirated Internet downloads. Online bookstores haven't been earning wide margins on content for device vendors, and they face aggressive iPad pricing, squeezing them further," says IDC Asia-Pacific's senior market analyst for client devices research, Dickie Chang.

Steve Jobs the Patron Saint of Perfectionists

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:27:00 GMT

The most amazing thing about Steve Jobs and the revival of Apple he engineered over the last 15 years is so improbable it is. Most of the digital innovations that have transformed our lives have been logical outgrowth of increasing power and decreasing cost of semiconductors. Someone was going to invent personal computers, cell phones, the Internet, even search engines.

But there was nothing the slightest bit inevitable about a company whose digital products are perceived as so distinctive they attract dominant market shares despite premium prices. As recently as 2002, personal computers were seen as such a commodity business—dominated by high volume and low costs—that Hewlett Packard paid $25 billion to buy Compaq and vault past Dell to be the No. 1 in the market. Last week, HP, still the leader, said it is considering abandoning PCs altogether, at least partially a concession that Apple was taking an increasing share of the market and most of the profits.

I haven’t been a Mac user since I sold my first generation model—with 128K of memory and one floppy drive. But I recently walked into an Apple store and fondled the latest MacBook Air. I was blown away by how the use of multi-touch gestures and a few other innovations transformed the experience of this very mature category of products. Again.

The succession of new products from the iPod to the iPhone to the iPad has become the business lore of our age. A keynote by Steve Jobs is anticipated, at least by many, more eagerly than the State of the Union address. Even aspects of the computer business that most rivals see as—product sourcing, manufacturing process, and even retail store operations—have become areas of disruptive innovation at Apple.

Jobs created a growing snowball of innovation, hype, customer loyalty, and scale that could be seen with astounding force in the iPad. Here was a product category that was entirely new (except for some regrettable Microsoft missteps). But instantly it was a hit—not just among gadget geeks—but with tens of millions of people who saw something that immediately appeared useful and alluring. They trusted that Apple could deliver something that would just work without the glitches and disappointments that dependably accompany the first generation of products from lesser companies.

Behind this success was not an engineer, like the troika that until recently led Google, nor a professional manager, like the succession of leaders at HP, nor even an entrepreneur like Michael Dell. Steve Jobs was an impresario, in the tradition, more than anything, of a classic Hollywood studio boss (which he also was in his spare time). It’s fitting that Jobs is now the largest individual shareholder of the company founded by one of the 20th Century’s all time great perfectionists: Walt Disney.

This approach didn’t make apple a pleasant company to deal with or to work at. Everyone at Apple worked with the anxiety that they must meet the impossible demands of Jobs or endure his anger. To the public and even to Apple’s biggest partners the company was about as responsive as Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory; no one ever went in and no one ever came out. And yes to work at Apple was to accept the lot of an Oompa Loompa. The company took secrecy to such an extreme that employees were divided into small groups and ordered not to talk to each other, let alone anyone outside of the company.

My one encounter with Jobs was true to form. In 2004, I had just started covering consumer electronics, and I was writing about the battle between iTunes and Microsoft’s initiative at the time “Plays for Sure,” an effort to create an open standard for music formats. This was before Apple’s reputation—and the arrogance it enabled– blew past all previous records. Still, when I asked Jobs at the end of a press conference to discuss Apple’s strategy in the music market, he blew me off saying “We don’t like to talk about that.”

We all know lots of people who are nice. We know many people who are smart. We’ve seen a bunch of corporate leaders who have the rare combination of skills to surf the waves spawned by Moore’s Law. But it’s hard to think of anyone besides Steve Jobs who through the sheer force of will, self-confidence, vision and perfectionism could upend the powerful forces of technology to make so many products that delighted so many people precisely because they were improbable.

Tech Insider: Steve Jobs Is an Inspiration

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:27:00 GMT

Oliver Bussmann, SAP

Steve Jobs embodies the Apple brand—and over the past 20 years has made it into a benchmark of design and simplicity that companies around the world aspire to. In recent years, I was particularly impressed how he understood—better than any other leader—how to shape the consumer world through mobile technology and at the end driving the consumerization of the Enterprise IT. He remains an inspiration to us all.

Juan Luis Cebrián Grupo Prisa

My Apple-mania is relatively new and, in fact, it started with my addiction to the iPad. I have never shared the fanaticism of those who use its computers, and the iPhone always seemed to me considerably weak to be used in the business world, yet I acknowledge its improvements in version 4 and admire its potential for entertainment.

Only after the advent of the tablet did I join with all the consequences the ranks of those who admire Steve Jobs. I met him briefly at an international meeting and this was the only time that I had the opportunity to meet him. I found him to be an introverted man, convinced of what he did, and extremely careful of his external look. I think this is related to his visionary skills, since I believe that his success is rather a triumph of design—and therefore of his understanding of the needs, tastes and habits of users─ than of the technology itself. But the Internet is constructed precisely through—and thanks to—the experience of consumers; and the stories of Google, Facebook, and Twitter speak eloquently of this. I think Mr. Jobs grasped it better than anyone else from the beginning. And the iPad’s brilliant success is based precisely on his understanding of people’s demands in their relationship with IT.

Leaders are essential to the development of any human activity, whether a band of music or the governance of a country. And that’s why Mr. Jobs’ leadership will be missed at Apple, but it doesn’t mean that the company has to suffer for it after the first shock is over. One of the features of knowledge in the present era is that it develops on a collective, networked way, so new developments will not necessarily be affected. We might as well ask ourselves to what extent Apple’s business strategy—largely a consequence of Mr. Jobs’ intuitive, creative genius—will continue to be as effective and spectacular as it was before. As the new, relatively recent Apple-maniac that I am, I do hope so.

Sureyya Ciliv Turkcell

Mr Jobs’ genius in user experience accelerated the mobile Internet adoption around the globe. Five billion people will have access to the Internet in five years. Mr Jobs’ Apple achieved this user interface excellence through a “closed” tightly integrated system. You can’t even change the battery. It will be interesting to see if the history will repeat itself? Will the “open” systems prevail at the end or will Apple continue its dominance.

Marketing is about “smart moves”. I am sure Apple will miss Mr Jobs’ genius and his magic touch.

Mike Lynch Autonomy

I fear if you asked one of these management expertise evaluators to analyze him on a no name basis the phrases that would come back would include obsessive, abrasive, micro manager, unable to delegate, unable to adapt from start up culture…but the right answer is simply “genius”.

So the lesson he taught us is CEOs should be obsessive about and micro manage at least one thing—the product.

Ralf Schneider Allianz

With Steve Jobs moving out of daily operations at Apple there is both a huge chance but also a huge challenge.

The chance is to mature Apple towards the next cultural level, characterized by collaborative team intelligence built on an extraordinary brand power and corporate value. People buy Apple products because they are highly innovative cult products with incredible user convenience. Apple needs to maintain that image and continuously over-deliver against customers’ expectations and competitors’ abilities. Another iPhone every year is not good enough! Also logisitics and less visible success factors need to be kept on the highest performance levels.

The implied risks are that without its “soul” Apple might struggle in continuing the culture of perfectionism and innovation as preached by Mr. Jobs. Having revolutionized the music industry and demonstrated the ability to make lots of money out of hardware production despite market predictions in smartphones and tablets the key question is if Apple will be the one finding the next product and service area they can dominate, such as the cloud.

Can Apple thrive without Mr. Jobs? For years, the company has been tailored to and focused on his person. Apple’s enormous success proved his “no-decision-without-my-approval” approach to be right. This leadership style—Apple’s strength for years—might now easily turn into a vulnerable spot. Jobs leaves a hole, but even if Apple could find a second Mr. Jobs to mend it, would this leadership style be sustainable in the future? In the future, collective intelligence, networks and a high performance platform will be major assets for success. The strength of the organization is crucial, not single hierarchies.

If and how Apple will use it’s challenges and opportunities will depend on Tim Cook’s ability to shape the after Mr. Jobs corporate culture and his lucky hand in finding the next sweet spot of products and services before the competition does.

Kristian Segerstrale Playfish

He has been an inspiration for a whole generation of young entrepreneurs, influencing not just product design, but the standards to which we hold ourselves responsible in designing user experiences. The amount of companies I’ve met who say they want to be “the Apple of X” where X is a service with a poor, fragmented user experience—be it payments, banking, etc.

He single-handedly unlocked the mobile applications market in a way no network operator or handset manufacturer was able to before Apple. His legacy, not just in terms of iOS but also Android (the competitive response) and future OS’s, will have been to create the critical mass of standardized platforms on top of which the mobile application ecosystem has been created—delivering everything from games to sports performance monitors and paperless flight deck software (Garmin).

Without him and his vertically integrated view of the world, the commercial opportunity would not have been sufficient for companies and individuals to pursue the application opportunity. The fragmentation would have meant these things would simply not have existed—the fact that they may migrate to other OS’s in the future is beside the point—he created the critical mass of devices and developers that brought us the mobile applications revolution and this will be his biggest legacy in my opinion.

Joanna Shields Facebook

Definitely the end of an era. I first met Steve Jobs in the late ’80s while working at a company called Electronics for Imaging in Silicon Valley. We were probably one of the few companies at the time using NeXT computers. NeXT ran on an object-oriented operating system (the first of its kind) which was the early precursor of the MacOS. Steve would regularly breeze in to meet our CEO, and our chief product designers. To me, an impressionable young product manager, he seemed infinitely cool. Later a number of our executives left to join him at Pixar and the rest as they say is history.

Yossi Vardi

Irwin Chargaff who played an important role in the discoveries which led to the discovery of the double helix, wrote in his review of the book, “The Double Helix“, about the profound difference between scientists and artists, between discovery and creativity, between unsurfacing what is there, but yet uncovered, and bringing to life whole new things:

Timon of Athens could not have been written, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon could not have been painted, had Shakespeare and Picasso not existed. But of how many scientific achievements can this be claimed?

One could almost say that, with very few exceptions, it is not the men that make science, it is science that makes the men. What A does today, B and C and D could surely do tomorrow.

Steve Jobs is one of civilization’s greatest artists of all times. His genius eventually, if not today, will be judged in the scale of Leonardo da Vinci or Shakespeare. His creations will define how people do things for generations to come. Technology is just the substrate for his creative genius.

On top of other artists he was able to turn the practical into a form of art.

He defined time and again whole new paradigms in harnessing technology to the service of man, by coming time and again with products which provided superior user experience. He redefined how we make phone calls, watch videos, listen to music, use computers and much more. It is not engineering, it is not technology, it is the genius of an artist.

The world after Mr. Jobs, is like the renaissance after Leonardo da Vinci. Who knows how many more new great products ,or to be more precise, great experiences are still uncovered, un-mined , unsurfaced, undefined, un-brewed in his mind?

Google tries to reassure TV industry it's no ogre

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:27:00 GMT

Edinburgh, Scotland (CNN) -- Google has moved to reassure a global television industry quaking at the prospect that the Internet search giant is about to move onto TV sets and into living rooms around the globe.

In a keynote speech to Europe's leading broadcasting industry conference, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt acknowledged the company's immense scale built on search advertising -- a scale which almost everyone in the media industry fears as a threat to their existing businesses -- but said the nature of technology and the internet also made Google vulnerable.

"Online, competition is only ever a click away ... it's common for once-leading services to become out-innovated and overtaken," Schmidt said in the annual MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival.

Many of the broadcasting executives, producers and advertising industry leaders in the audience fear Google's entry into their territory with its Google TV internet-connected device, threatening the kind of dislocation it has triggered in online and print media with search advertising and the mobile phone business with its now leading Android operating system.

Schmidt, whose company has been seen as arrogant and no respecter of copyright, struck a conciliatory tone, saying Google had moved to be more speedy in taking down content which breached copyright and would be more active in supporting the business models of content owners that wanted to charge for their content online.

It had no intention to move into content creation, believing its core skills remained in technology and in focusing on three trends: Mobile, local and social.

Google TV would be launched in Europe early in 2012, he said.

CNN's Talk Asia show interviews Eric Schmidt

"We provide platforms for people to engage with content and, through automated software we show ads next to content that owners have chosen to put up. But we have neither the ambition nor the know-how to actually produce content on a large scale," he said.

Google's success in search, he said, had allowed it to invest billions of dollars in infrastructure which benefited broadcasters and the media industry, while its advertising platform "shared" more than $6 billion with broadcasters, publishers and newspapers.

Schmidt departed from his prepared speech to note Steve Jobs' retirement as chief executive of Apple. Jobs, he said, was the only business leader he had seen move easily between media and engineering.

Schmidt said Jobs had "an artist's eye as well as a definition of what great engineering is."

In delivering the Edinburgh lecture, Schmidt followed two memorable speakers in the annual address, named after Scottish-born television pioneer James MacTaggart.

Two years ago James Murdoch, then chairman and chief executive of News Corporation in Europe, and speaking before the company was plunged into scandals over telephone hacking and illegal payments to police, used the same speech to condemn the publicly funded BBC as a "chilling" influence on media competition.

We have neither the ambition nor the know-how to actually produce content on a large scale.
--Eric Schmidt

A year later BBC Director General Mark Thompson used the same platform to defend an institution he portrayed as more trusted by the British public than either politicians or the empire of Rupert Murdoch.

Schmidt portrayed Google as more vulnerable and bashful than critics recognize.

"I didn't get social networking as fast as I should have done," he said, referring to what many see as the belated launch of the company's Google+ social network, still in prototype, having been caught napping by the explosive growth of Facebook. at the same time, Schmidt claimed some personal success in changing Google's course on mobile.

Did Google just turn Motorola into the new super-Tivo?

He didn't dwell on the issue of privacy; he has been criticized in the past for glib comments about consumers worrying less about privacy than questioning what they wanted to keep private.

Personalization required personal data which drove the accuracy of online services like search. But he added: "It will be vital to strike the right balance, so people feel comfortable and in control, not disconcerted by the eerie accuracy of suggestions."

Mobile, local and social were the key three trends to watch and all would transform television. He predicted a golden age of internet-connected television creating new forms of entertainment, advertising and connections between audiences and content.

"The internet is fundamental to the future of television for one simple reason: Because it's what people want," he said. "It makes TV more personal, more participative, more pertinent. People are clamoring for it."

Why Google TV isn't dead yet

In comments directed at a British audience where the BBC has led the way in many areas of TV content and technology, and in Scotland where television was invented, Schmidt said Britain needed to do more to promote careers in technology or squander its intellectual potential.

He also made a plea for low regulation, suggesting politicians not interfere in an internet era where "innovation and speed" are paramount.

Australian Businesses Focus Data Protection Strategies on Cloud Computing

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:27:00 GMT

Research from CA Technologies highlights high frequency of data loss incidents as companies admit inadequate data protection

Core News Facts:

96% have experienced application and data loss incidents in the last year
Over four in ten (41%) of companies do not have a comprehensive DR plan
37% of organizations say cloud computing will be a key component of their data protection plans in the next year
More than half of companies (57%) plan to invest in hybrid cloud

SYDNEY, 16 August, 2011 - CA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA) today announced the results of an independent survey that shows Australian businesses are increasingly using cloud computing as a key component of their data protection plans. 37% say that within the next year, cloud will play an important part of their disaster recovery and data protection strategies. The results show that as the adoption of cloud becomes more widespread, companies are beginning to appreciate that cloud resources offer a solution for business continuity.

The report: ‘Insights: Data Protection and the Cloud’ highlights that data protection investment in continues on an upward trajectory. Of the 200 organisations surveyed across Australia, nearly all (91%) have seen their data protection budgets remain flat or increase from 2010 to 2011, with 42% enjoying increased investment. The research explored where these budgets will be directed over the coming year, and the findings again underscored the importance of cloud computing.

More than half of companies (57%) will focus investment on managing a hybrid cloud environment, where private clouds are supplemented with access to resources in public clouds. One in five (20%) will focus on better protection of their private cloud.

“The research we’ve released today is really encouraging – increasing numbers of companies plan to use cloud as part of their business continuity strategy,” said Scott Caulfield, Director, Data Management, CA Technologies, Australia and New Zealand. “We’re seeing lots of businesses use the cloud for offsite back-up and disaster recovery purposes and the survey indicates that many are now looking to a more sophisticated hybrid cloud model too. This highlights the need for a solution that allows them to evolve their data protection strategy at their own pace – whether it be new on-premise technology, using cloud as backup medium or moving to a more complex hybrid cloud model.”

Frequent data loss incidents, yet inadequate data protection

Despite the integration of cloud and the positive trend in data protection spending, companies are still vulnerable - nearly all (96%) of the surveyed companies admitted they have experienced application and data loss incidents in the last year. The most common cause was IT systems failures – such as network, storage, hardware or software failures – which affected over nine tenths (91%) of the surveyed organisations.

This high level of data loss is reflected by the companies’ apparent lack of readiness for these types of incidents. Over four companies in ten (41%) are not confident enough to say they have a full and comprehensive disaster recovery plan. Furthermore, while a high 95% run full testing of their disaster recovery plans at least once a year, a significant 23% don’t achieve their recovery time and recovery point objectives in these tests.

When asked about the barriers to improving their data protection and disaster recovery operations, 65% pointed to inadequate buy-in from senior management and 48% to lack of budget.

“Today, businesses of all sizes understand the repercussions of not having essential data always available - customers go unserved, SLAs are breached, suppliers cannot supply and staff morale and productivity degrades. However, the survey highlights that data protection strategies are still failing, leaving companies vulnerable - smarter investments are clearly needed,” explained Caulfield. “A previous CA Technologies study has shown the cost of outages to a company over a year is in the region is of $350,000. Senior management need to consider this cost, against the much smaller investment required to keep data and applications adequately protected on an ongoing basis.”

Research Methodology

Some 1,086 of CA Technologies partners across Asia Pacific completed the online questionnaire in May 2011. Partners in the following countries took part: Australia, China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan.

About CA TechnologiesCA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA) is an IT management software and solutions company with expertise across all IT environments – from mainframe and distributed, to virtual and cloud. CA Technologies manages and secures IT environments and enables customers to deliver more flexible IT services. CA Technologies innovative products and services provide the insight and control essential for IT organizations to power business agility. The majority of the Global Fortune 500 relies on CA Technologies to manage evolving IT ecosystems. For additional information, visit CA Technologies at www.ca.com.

Google buys SageTV in move likely meant to beef up Google TV

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 03:15:00 GMT

Google has acquired SageTV, an Inglewood-based company that makes both DVR technology and streaming-video software for PCs running Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple Mac OS X.

The tech giant hasn't yet said exactly what it plans to do with SageTV or how much it paid for the company. But, a Google spokeswoman said the company was looking forward to taking SageTV's media management software and technology "to the next level."

The deal is seen as a move to improve Google TV, the Mountain View, Calif., firm's software that allows users to search and find video in their TV listings, DVRs and from the Internet, including sites such as Google-owned YouTube.

So far Google TV has failed to catch on with consumers, and it hasn't been met with much excitement from developers, TV makers or networks either.

One item SageTV offers that Google TV doesn't yet have is the company's Placeshifter software, which lets users watch TV (live or recorded to a DVR) over a high-speed Internet connection on another screen (such as a laptop or a second TV set).

Placeshifter is a similar product to the more-popular Slingbox and SlingPlayer software from Sling Media, which streams video to TVs, computers and even the Apple iPad.

Sling Media is building a version of SlingPlayer for Google TV and other Internet-connected TVs, but Placeshifter could allow Google to build in such functionality without having to rely on outside companies.

Google may also be looking to beef up its cloud services related to video and TV in an ongoing cloud computing arms race against rivals Apple, Amazon and (on the business end) Microsoft.

All three companies now offer cloud services for music libraries, but video and TV services aren't as fleshed out yet.

Rakesh Agrawal, who founded and runs SnapStream, which at one-time competed with SageTV and is now a TV-search challenger to Google TV, said in a blog post that he thought the purchase could be a step toward adding native DVR features. The technology blog GigaOm dismissed that notion on Monday, arguing that "this will be Google TV's take on TV Everywhere -- and it will add features to the device that will make Apple and others look weak in comparison."

SageTV announced the Google takeover on Saturday in a message on its website.

"Since 2002, we've worked to change the TV viewing experience by building cutting-edge software and technology that allows you to create and control your media center from multiple devices," SageTV said in its statement. "And as the media landscape continues to evolve, we think it's time our vision of entertainment management grows as well. By teaming up with Google, we believe our ideas will reach an even larger audience of users worldwide on many different products, platforms and services."

Internet boom may have local spillover

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 03:13:00 GMT

The surge of money into internet stocks in the US has raised questions of whether another technology bust is on the way or whether the euphoria behind the successful listing of LinkedIn and other internet businesses could spill over into Australia's small but quickly growing internet sector.

May 2011 was the busiest month in the US for technology initial public offerings (IPOs) since 2000. Several internet businesses listed at mind-blowing valuations, including business social networking company LinkedIn, which scored the largest valuation for a US internet company since Google went public in 2004.

The IPO of these companies is seen as a curtain-raiser for the expected listing in the next 12 months of Facebook. Zynga, which supplies online games to Facebook, is also expected to list, as are Twitter and group-buying site Groupon.

Australia's listed internet stocks, including Seek and REA Group, majority owned by News Limited, publisher of The Weekend Australian, command high price-earnings (PE) ratios, reflecting investors' strong growth expectations. The high margins they enjoy and their ability to lift revenue without significantly raising costs is attracting investment dollars.

LinkedIn listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on May 19, with its shares surging from an IPO price of $US45, valuing the company at $US4.3 billion, to as high as $US122 on the first day of trade.

That's not bad for a company with profit of just $US15.4 million in 2010 and a net loss of $US3.97m in 2009. Its PE ratio is mind blowing, somewhere over 1000, depending on the day. LinkedIn is one of several internet companies that have recently listed in the US at staggering price premiums.

All eyes are now on Facebook, with an IPO expected before April 2012. The company is valued somewhere between $US50bn and $US100bn, which is staggering because Facebook has only recently become profitable.

Belinda Cooney, division director at Macquarie Capital Advisers and a survivor of the 2001 dotcom crash, expects strong listings for the US internet companies, irrespective of recent stockmarket volatility.

Not only that, she says the expected high valuations are justified, to a degree, unlike the last technology boom.

"I would expect a high valuation on these companies, which reflects the expectation of investors of strong growth and earnings and it also reflects, in the case of Facebook, a very strong brand.

"So I can see it being an exceptional IPO.

"Groupon, Zynga, Twitter all have well-articulated business models and they are making revenue and growing strongly."

Cooney, who worked for Macquarie Capital in San Francisco from 1999 to 2001 advising, investing in and raising funds for technology companies, says the current boom is different. "There's some degree of exuberance. There's a lot of money on the sidelines chasing too few deals.

"However, there's a big difference between LinkedIn, for example, and the technology companies who listed in the last boom, in that it is making cashflow, growing strongly, and many of the companies which are listing today, or planning to list, have clear revenue models.

"Back in 1999-2000, many technology companies didn't have that."

But many observers are not convinced by the numbers or the flow of money.

Alvin Chan, a portfolio manager with AMP Capital Investors and an analyst of domestic stocks, including the technology sector, says a bubble is in the making.

"The current values garnered by LinkedIn, Facebook -- mooted to be as much as $US100bn -- and Groupon certainly seem like bubbles, in our view," he says.

"To date, most of those companies have not clearly articulated how their earnings are derived and, as such, investors are being asked to 'trust me' yet again."

While the US has been a buzz of activity, the Australian markets are quiet. But with so many high-profile floats in the US, the mood could change.

"If there is a bunch of listings this year in the US, I would expect there would be a positive effect in Australia and it will get people thinking about an IPO to raise capital," says Tony Glenning, investment director with venture capital firm Starfish Ventures.

"There's increased interest in the group buying sector; we're seeing more acquisitions and interest, such as Yahoo7 buying Spreets and Consolidated Press buying an interest in the Catchoftheday site," adds John Dyson, who co-founded Starfish Ventures and has listed technology companies on the Nasdaq and the ASX.

Yahoo7's January purchase of daily deal website Spreets for $40 million follows Ninemsn's launch of deals site Cudo in 2010. Recently, a consortium including Seek chief Andrew Bassat and James Packer's Consolidated Press Holdings invested $40m in online retailer Catchoftheday, which owns Scoopon.com.au.

Macquarie's Cooney identifies group buying businesses as a possible source of future IPO activity in Australia. "These deals sites are similar in model to the US sites. They are not of a substantial size right now, but they are growing rapidly."

But with six sites leading the Australian market -- Cudo, Spreets, Jump On It, Living Social, Scoopon and Our Deal -- "there would likely be consolidation before any one business goes public, so as to be a reasonable enough size for a successful IPO", she says.

Rob Hopkins, co-founder of Smallco Investment Manager, says Australia's successful internet companies are commanding price premiums well above those of other industrial stocks in expectation of their strong earnings.

That includes Seek, with a PE of 29 for the 2010-11 financial year (though that has been marked down from 40 due to disappointing earnings from its education division) and REA Group, operator of realestate.com.au, which has a PE ratio of 23 and "is doing very well despite a downturn in the property market", Hopkins says.

"The market still likes internet stocks a lot. I think that's because we are still getting a big shift out of print advertising to online and that still has a long way to go as there are still quite a lot of advertisers who have yet to move ads online.

"But that's changing. These internet companies will be the beneficiaries, at the expense of traditional media companies like Fairfax. They have a high return from funds employed, so their marginal costs are low but their marginal profits are very high, which is reflected in their relatively high valuations."

"REA group, for example, are changing their business model from billing agents to getting home owners to pay premium rates for advertising online, so they are getting a lot more money out of individuals."

AMP Capital Investors' Chan says local internet companies have different business models from those listing in the US now -- and they are bound for growth irrespective of what happens there.

"Many of our listed internet and technology stocks like Seek, Carsales.com, Melbourne IT and iiNET are companies with a positive track record of earnings.

"They all use the internet as part of their business model to connect consumers to consumers or businesses to consumers, and more of their revenue is transaction based.

"That's unlike the social media companies, such as Twitter and Facebook, which rely heavily on advertising for revenue."

Not only that, they have achieved critical mass in their sectors, says Macquarie's Cooney. "These are very well-established companies. Seek has been a fantastic success. Carsales.com, Realestate.com, Wotif.com, they are market leaders in their category."

For investors seeking to cash in on the technology boom, here or in the US, there's still hope.

"Most of the international share funds available to Australian investors already have some varying exposure to technology stocks (as well as to other sectors). This currently averages 11.5 per cent," says Phillip Gray, communications manager at Morningstar Australasia.

"The giant $9bn Platinum International Fund, for instance, had 16 per cent of its assets in technology and related companies at May 31, 2011.

"So if investors want to get access to Facebook and other similar upcoming floats, these companies are likely to be considered by their existing fund manager."

If you want greater exposure, there are just five Australian-offered technology-specific investment trusts available. They are BT Technology (Retail), CFS MIF-Global Tech & Communications, CFS Wholesale Global Tech & Communications, Fiducian Technology and Platinum International Technology.

Only time will tell how they will perform.

Advertising On Social Media Networking Giants Set To Overshadow Online Search Advertising in 2012

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 03:11:00 GMT

The sudden boom in social media networking has left advertising giants with new challenges, as they prepare for major changes in 2012. Sydney-based online business expert, James Schramko says he is hardly surprised.

Sydney, Australia (PRWEB) June 23, 2011

With Facebook close to hitting 700 million users worldwide, major advertising companies are preparing for a radical change in their ad campaigns. According to a news report on USA Today, advertisers will be spending their efforts on Facebook, targeting the vast population of users through sponsorships, banners, videos and animated ads. Aussie internet marketer, James Schramko, and author of the highly acclaimed FastWebFormula Live Event series discusses the current trend.

“Global access to the internet is rapidly climbing, and we, business owners around the globe, should adapt quickly to these trends” explained online business expert James Schramko, “back in 2004 nobody imagined that Facebook would topple existing social media channels like MySpace, and yet here we are, just like I told my students in last year’s FastWebFormula 2 event.”

A study on TNW (The Next Web) predicts that the number of Facebook users swelling up to a billion by the end of 2011 is a likely and foreseeable possibility. As of now, roughly 10% of the world’s population has already signed up with the largest social networking giant and will continue to rise in the near future, as developing countries are rapidly gaining access to the World Wide Web.

The only real barrier between Facebook and millions of other potential consumers is the availability of high speed internet (or rather the lack thereof) and restrictions in their regions.

The number of users in China, for example, despite government efforts to block access to Facebook, has risen to around 520 thousand – an estimated 334.70% growth over the last six months. With a population of roughly around 1.4 billion people (according to 2010 China Census), the Chinese Republic represents a staggering 19.34% of the world’s population, followed closely by India at 17.47% in the 2011 census, which is slowly growing as well.

“These “yet-untapped” countries, as they develop and gain access to the internet, will provide enormous opportunities for business growth” says Mr. Schramko, “as their floodgates slowly open to social media networks, the best way to communicate with our new prospects will be through websites like Facebook, available in 70 or more languages, and will probably increase as the need arises.”

James Schramko has been hosting live 3-day seminar events called FastWebFormula for the past two years where he, and several other online business experts from all over the world, discuss and share modern internet marketing strategies based on popular trends – just like the rise of today’s social media networks.

“We’ve predicted this would happen. My associates and I have covered various strategies on this in FWF2, back in October last year, and if you are looking to learn more about it, join us at the FastWebFormula 3 Live Event which will be held in Queensland, Australia. See you there!” –James Schramko

Smartphones poised to take over the world

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 01:10:00 GMT

AUSTRALIA is one of 20 or so countries that has more mobile phones than people - about 24 million phones for a population of 22 million.

And the mad phone disease has reached epidemic proportions in Thailand, with figures showing eight phones per person. A lot, but the stats come from Wikipedia and it has got most things right recently.

About 20 years ago, the mobile phone was called "the brick", but Charlie's first phone that didn't have to be plugged into a wall was an even earlier contraption. It was more like a field telephone and he carried it around in a bag. But this year, 70 per cent of new mobile phones are smartphones and that's a big increase from 57 per cent in 2010, and probably rising to 80 per cent within three years.
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The leading smartphone in Australia is the Apple iPhone, although it has plenty of competitors. Louise says that there is a need to define what a smartphone is. Her thinking is that a smartphone is a phone that is smarter than its owner. That's a bit unkind, but she did have real trouble this week trying to work her way through the 333,214 free and paid apps on offer.

For those of us who still just use a phone to make phone calls, I should point out that an "app" is slang for application software that allows a "phone" to become this newspaper or a global position locator, even a speech translator. It's a new period of telecommunications.

And it's not an age thing. Louise, who is a woman of a certain age, says smartphones aren't just for Generation Y. One in five smartphone owners is aged over 50, and 40 per cent are over 40. It's also a bit of a male thing, with 43 per cent of owners male and 31 per cent female.

Charlie tells me that these smartphones are so clever that the US Army is now thinking that "coms" in the wilds of Afghanistan could be enhanced if every soldier had an iPhone. So much for the hundreds of millions that the Western defence forces have spent on satellite communications over the decades, only to be bettered by some clever people on America's west coast.

Last week, I wrote about the growth of Asian economies, particularly China and India. While we might think that America is the home market for the mobile phone, with about 300 million of the 5 billion devices worldwide, the figures for April show a staggering take-up in Asia. China has just on 900 million, nearly three times the number in the US, and India's mobiles number more than 800 million.

Many Australians are accessing the internet from their smartphones daily, and more frequently than they do via their computers. So, if you're in the advertising business, it makes sense to be connected to a mobile phone company and learn to use the devices to the limit. It's no more difficult than learning Mandarin - something we all should do as well. The amount of money advertisers spend on mobiles at the minute is minuscule, but research firm Frost and Sullivan estimates that the mobile advertising medium will grow from about $10 million a year to nearly $46 million by 2015.

We used to think that television was the big thing in marketing. And then it was the internet. But stand back for the coming age of the clever little thing in your pocket. It almost seems silly to call it a telephone.

Harold Mitchell is executive chairman of Mitchell Communication Group.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/smartphones-poised-to-take-over-the-world-20110616-1g5x6.html#ixzz1PrwjVw4Q

China leads the world towards 4G future

Wed, 25 May 2011 05:43:00 GMT

China is set to lead the implementation of fourth-generation (4G) mobile telephone networks in the Asia-Pacific region, and boast almost half of the total 4G subscribers in the region by 2015, officials from the GSM Association said.

There will be 126 million subscribers for 4G in the Asia-Pacific region by 2015 and China is expected to be home to about 58 million of them, China Daily cited Jaikishan Rajaraman, senior director of the GSM Association's Asia-Pacific branch on Thursday (May19).

The 4G industry will rocket this year as 24 countries are announce they will have operational 4G networks by the end of this year. It is estimated that there will be around four million 4G subscribers globally by then. The 4G network will really take off in 2012 and the number of users is expected to reach 300 million across 55 countries by 2015, said Rajaraman.

China Mobile Communication Corp, the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers and the parent of the Hong Kong-listed China Mobile Ltd, has made efforts to prepare for 4G commercial services in China by adopting the homegrown TD-LTE (Time Division-Long Term Evolution) technology. It has been conducting trials of the TD-LTE network in seven Chinese cities since January, China Daily reported.

For the time being, China Mobile is large enough to lead the market and champion the TD-LTE system while its size and purchasing power will undoubtedly ensure its devices and services will be cost-effective. Other countries are likely to benefit from the development of the network and follow in China Mobile's footsteps.

A China Mobile internal document revealed that the company hopes TD-LTE technology will be used commercially on a global-scale by 2014, following China Mobile's chairman Wang Jianzhou's previous saying that TD-LTE technology will pave the way into the global market for the company.

China Mobile plans to converge TD-LTE technology with the other mainstream 4G technology - LTE FDD as its next important step and create a much bigger platform for TD-LTE technology, said Zhou Jianming, general manager of China Mobile's technology department.

Zhou indicated on Thursday at the 4G World China Conference in Beijing, that the company hopes consumers will be able to access both the TD-LTE network and the LTE FDD network with the same handset.

The China Mobile document also revealed that the company plans to have 40 TD-LTE trial networks and 10 commercial networks in place by the end of this year. 60 trial networks and 20 commercial networks will go online in 2012.

The company has invested more than 140 billion yuan (US$22 billion) in deploying the TD-SCDMA (3G) network and the TD-LTE trial network.

Baidu CEO buys into 360buy.com

Wed, 25 May 2011 05:42:00 GMT

Robin Li, CEO of Chinese search engine giant Baidu Inc, has invested in 360buy.com, a company that started selling computers, communications and electronics over the Internet, said a report from China Daily on Wednesday (May 18).

The report said Li is the latest in a series of famous investors who have wanted to own part of 360buy.com, a company valued at about US$10 billion at the end of last month.

"Robin Li invested in us last year, taking a stake of less than 1%," Richard Liu, chairman and chief executive officer of 360buy.com said at a news briefing in Beijing on Tuesday. The announcement surprised many, especially since Liu has complained about Baidu Inc's decision to sell to competitors the brand name "Jingdong", the Chinese name for 360buy.com.

Liu even hinted in his micro blog in April that 360buy.com might cease advertising on Baidu because of what he deemed to be the company's unethical behavior.

"We have worked with Baidu for years and hoped the search engine giant would bring traffic to 360buy.com," the report quoted Liu as saying. He said Robin Li called him in protest. "Although Robin is my investor, I will still criticize wrong practices," Liu laughed.

Since 1998 when 360buy.com was founded, the company has seen its annual revenues increase by more than 200% in the past six years. It brought in annual revenues of 10.2 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) in 2010 and that figure is expected to climb to between 24 billion and 26 billion yuan this year, according to the report.

Last year, 360buy.com took 32.5% of the Chinese market for goods sold directly to customers over the Internet, making it the biggest website among its competitors in the country.