China could be behind Twitter password reset

Twitter sent notices of an attempted hacking to China-based foreign journalists and analysts just hours before apologizing for resetting the passwords of more users than necessary in a recent break-in of accounts. The Voice of America reported Thursday that the emailed warnings did not say who was behind the hacking attempts. Chinese Internet users have had difficulty in accessing foreign websites and using virtual...

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Shareholders kept in the dark on data breaches

It happened more than three and a half years ago. So it presumably would be old news that Chinese hackers broke into soft drink behemoth Coca-Cola's computer systems and stole confidential files relating to its effort to acquire the China Huiyuan Juice Group for $2.4 billion. But it is just coming to light now, through a report earlier this week in Bloomberg Businessweek. The story said the FBI contacted Coke executives...

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NYC corporate partnership seeks fresh financial tech

A partnership of New York City businesses has put out a call for innovative financial technologies. Sponsored by The Partnership for New York City Fund and Accenture, the FinTech Innovation Lab seeks novel technologies that would benefit the financial services sector. The six winners of the annual contest will have the opportunity to present their technologies to top executives at some of the city's most powerful financial...

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Manufacturer sues IBM over SAP project 'disaster'

IBM has been slapped with a multimillion dollar lawsuit by chemical products manufacturer Avantor Performance Materials, which alleges that IBM lied about the suitability of a SAP-based software package it sells in order to win Avantor's business. In 2010, Avantor decided to upgrade its ERP (enterprise resource planning) platform to SAP software, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for...

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Symantec broadens encryption options for Apple mobile devices, Dropbox file-sharing

Symantec this week announced two new data encryption options, one that is file-based encryption for use with Dropbox, and the second that works as an extension to the Apple iOS mail client to encrypt and decrypt documents. BACKGROUND: New NIST encryption guidelines may force feds to replace old websites Symantec Mobile Encryption for iOS works with Apple tablets and smartphones, and will be available in...

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The Week in iOS Apps: A better Facebook

This week's roundup of iOS apps offers new ways to shop, track your life, and make new websites. Already this week we brought you news of the Angry Birds Star Wars game, word of updates to theClear and FreshBooks apps, as well as the announcement that Microsoft Office may finally be available on iOS in 2013. Here are other new and updated apps that caught our eye this week. Apple Store: Siri:...

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Manufacturer sues IBM over SAP project 'disaster'

IBM has been slapped with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by chemical products manufacturer Avantor Performance Materials, which alleges that IBM lied about the suitability of an SAP-based software package it sells in order to win Avantor's business. In 2010, Avantor decided to upgrade its ERP (enterprise resource planning) platform to SAP software, according to the lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District...

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Space-station commander controls Lego robot on Earth with futuristic network

Late last month in Germany, a robot made its first moves on Earth under commands from an orbiting spacecraft. Though that may sound ominous, it doesn't represent an impending threat to humankind. The robot was made of Legos, and it only traversed a European Space Agency test facility. The commands were sent by Sunita Williams, commander of the 33rd expedition of the International Space Station. The ESA-led experiment may have...

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Google access returns to China after brief blocking

Access to Google services in China appeared to return Saturday morning after they were blocked briefly as the country prepares to appoint new leadership. The blocking appeared to last for about 12 hours, with Internet traffic resuming to the sites after 6 a.m. local time, according to Google's Transparency Report, which monitors company's services worldwide. In Beijing, Google was accessible, although loading the sites...

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Apple, HTC settle patent suits worldwide

Apple and Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC have settled all of their outstanding patent disputes, they said late Saturday. The settlement includes a 10-year agreement under which the companies will license current and future patents from each other, they said in a brief statement. The terms of the settlement are confidential and were not disclosed. The patent dispute between the companies, one of many being fought in the mobile...

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Most memorable tech industry apologies of 2012: From Apple to Google to Microsoft

Tech vendors have been as bombastic as ever promoting the magical and amazing things their latestsmartphones, cloud computing wares and network gear can do. When things go wrong, they're naturally a little less visible, but plenty of companies have sucked it up and done the right thing this year (perhaps with a little legal prodding here and there) and publicly apologized for minor and major customers inconveniences. Here's...

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