LindedIn Opens APIs,Clearing way for new APPs

LinkedIn announced today the release of its APIs and the launch of its "LinkedIn Platform," which will enable developers to integrate LinkedIn into their business applications and websites.

The announcement comes on the heels of partnerships with Microsoft, IBM and RIM's BlackBerry, via which LinkedIn will integrate with Outlook and Lotus Notes. A LinkedIn mobile application will soon be available for the BlackBerry.

With this move, LinkedIn joins the list of social media platforms, such as Google Wave, Facebook (which released its APIs in April) and Salesforce.com's just-announced Chatter Collaboration tool, all vying to be at the center of your everyday social media experience.

LinkedIn has tradionally been cast as the conservative choice among social networking apps, so it may develop a different kind of application ecosystem than Facebook's quizzes and games, for example.

LinkedIn has also announced that an interface redesign is pending, though mum's the word on timing.

Beginning today, developers can register at developer.linkedin.com to receive a unique key that allows access to discussion boards, sample code, provisioning code and more, says Adam Nash, VP of search and platform at LinkedIn.

Several developers helped test the platform, including developers from the poplular Twitter utility TweetDeck, which is announcing full support for the LinkedIn platform in its next version, according to Nash. These developers helped to provide feedback, which allowed the LinkedIn Platform to become "so easy to maneuver that developers will be able to get going in minutes," Nash says. Iain Dodsworth, founder and CIO of TweetDeck, says that his team was able to "request a key and actually write functioning code in less than 15 minutes."

Thousands of developer requests prompted LinkedIn to consider releasing its APIs, Nash says. Originally, requests to use LinkedIn APIs were evaluated on a case-by-case basis, where priority was given to "integrations that provide the most value to the greatest number of LinkedIn users," according to its former policy. The LinkedIn Platform now allows that access to everyone.

"I think what end users will be excited about is the idea that they'll be able to use LinkedIn everywhere," Nash says. "There will be that awareness, trust and value that is placed on LinkedIn when it's leveraged on all the apps people value."

Original story - www.cio.com/article/508549

Worm attack bites at Apple iPhone

The first worm to infect the Apple iPhone has been discovered spreading "in the wild" in Australia.

The self-propagating program changes the phone's wallpaper to a picture of 80s singer Rick Astley with the message "ikee is never going to give you up".

The worm, known as ikee, only affects "jail-broken" phones, where a user has removed Apple's protection mechanisms to allow the phone to run any software.

Experts say the worm is not harmful but more malicious variants could follow.

"The creator of the worm has released full source code of the four existing variants of this worm," wrote Mikko Hypponen of security firm F-secure.

"This means that there will quickly be more variants, and they might have nastier payload than just changing your wallpaper."

The picture of Rick Astley is believed to be a nod to the internet phenomenon known as Rickrolling, where web users are tricked into clicking on what they believe is a relevant link, only to find that it actually takes the user to a video of the pop star's song "Never gonna give you up".

'Stupid people'

The worm has so far only been found circulating in Australia, where the hacker - Ashley Towns - who wrote the program lives.

The 21-year-old told Australia's ABC News Online that he created the virus to raise the issue of security.

It only exploits jail-broken phones that have SSH installed, a program that allows people to make changes to the phone's file system.

My prediction is that we may see more attacks like this in the future

Graham Cluley
The worm is able to infect phones if their owners have not changed the default password after installing SSH.

"What's clear is that if you have jail-broken your iPhone or iPod Touch, and installed SSH, then you must always change your root user password to something different than the default, 'alpine'," wrote Graham Cluley of security firm Sophos.

"In fact, it would be a good idea if you didn't use a dictionary word at all."

After a phone becomes infected it disables the SSH service, preventing reinfection.

The code contains numerous comments from Mr Towns about his motivation.
One comment reads: "People are stupid and this is to prove it."

"It's not that hard guys. But hey who cares its only your bank details at stake."

The worm can be removed by changing the phone's password and deleting some files.

Some estimates suggest that up to 10% of all iPhones and iPod Touch are jail-broken.

The practice allows a phone user to install software and applications that have not been approved by Apple.

"Phone users may rush into jail-breaking their iPhones in order to add functionality that Apple may have denied to them, but if they do so carelessly they may also risk their iPhone becoming the target of a hacker," said Mr Cluley.

"My prediction is that we may see more attacks like this in the future."

Marin pioneering new 'smart' energy highway

Field-testing has begun in Marin County for one of the nation's first "smart grid" demonstration projects that ultimately could help modernize the nation's power grid.
It's the type of system touted by the Obama administration, which announced $3.4 billion in government grants last week designed to advance an overhaul of the country's power distribution network.

"We are deeply committed to this effort," Supervisor Charles McGlashan said Friday, when local and federal authorities gathered to celebrate the start of the test phase of the project.

Grids - the wires and other equipment that distribute electric power - can be made "smart" by adding various bits of information technology to them, such as sensors, digital meters and computers.

Smart grids can save consumers and suppliers of electricity money by managing the flow of power more efficiently. They are also considered an essential component for the use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. That is because wind and solar power sources ebb and flow - sometimes the sun shines, sometimes it doesn't. Smart grids are needed to manage the variability of such power sources.

After securing a three-year, $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2008, Infotility, a software company based in Boulder, Colo., began installing smart grid technology at the Marin County Civic Center and four other county facilities, three of which have large banks of solar panels on their roofs.

The data and information from this Marin County demonstration project will be stored in a smart grid information clearinghouse" and used by others across the country, said Dan Ton, who manages the smart grid research and development program for the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Marin Energy Authority, a joint powers authority formed in November to explore projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is seeking a $31.4 million grant from the Department of Energy for a much larger demonstration project that would involve more than 5,000 Marin households. The authority, which consists of the county of Marin and eight other municipalities, has offered to provide about $60 million in matching funds.

Dawn Weisz, interim director of the Marin Energy Authority, said most of the $60 million would be raised through a program that would allow homeowners in Marin Energy Authority cities and towns to finance energy-efficiency improvements and rooftop solar installations over time. Similar programs have been initiated in Berkeley, Sonoma County and Palm Desert. Homeowners use the money they save on energy to pay for the installations with slightly higher property taxes.

Weisz said the authority expects to hear back from the Department of Energy regarding the grant request within the next three weeks.

The technology installed in the county buildings make it possible to monitor precisely how much electricity the buildings are using and how much electricity the solar panels are producing. That is important to know for anyone interested in selling the electricity they produce back to the grid.

Software is also being developed that will make it possible to turn power on and off in the Marin County buildings automatically.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has a program that pays the owners of commercial buildings who temporarily scale back their energy usage when asked, said Rich Barone, Infotility's director of business development. Barone said Infotility's software has an ability "to interpret an e-mail from PG&E, parse it and then be able to calculate a bid."

Over the next year, Infotility plans to create a means of storing some of the power being generated by the Marin County buildings, as well as some charging stations for electric vehicles, Barone said.

Eventually, smart grid technology holds the promise of making it possible for household consumers to program some of their appliances, such as washing machines and clothes dryers, to switch on when electricity rates are cheapest.