Google Founders Have Grown Up, CEO Says

It's official: the guys who founded Google are grown up.

That was the pronouncement Thursday from Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, who was hired in 2001 to provide mature, traditional business savvy to the Internet search company founded by whiz kids Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

"The boys have grown up," Schmidt told a news conference ahead of the wildly successful company's annual meeting.

Now billionaires, the two who formed the company, which has the motto "Don't Be Evil," were seen as "brilliant young founders," Schmidt said.

"They now function in the company as the senior executives with the kind of skills and experience --"

"-- We wish he had five years ago," Page said, finishing Schmidt's thought.

Page, 35, and Brin, who was born in the Soviet Union 34 years ago, made history in their 20s when they set up the Google search engine.

"Now we don't have to have the same kind of arguments," said Schmidt, who at 53 qualifies as an old man by the standards of the youthful Google campus.

"In fact, they really are running the companies that they founded at the scale and with the insights that you would expect of people who are no longer young founders but are mature business leaders," he offered.

Brin and Page ranked as number 32 and 33 on Forbes' 2008 list of billionaires, with more than $18 billion each, but Thursday they downplayed the effects of overwhelming wealth.

"I don't think at a certain scale it matters, but I do have a pretty good toy budget now," Brin said when asked about how vast wealth had changed his life. "I just got a new monitor."

Page mentioned an even more modest benefit: "I don't have to do laundry."

To which Schmidt, who favors a more traditional coat and tie to the founders' more casual dress, replied: "I think the clothes are pretty much the same."

Brin wore a black pullover shirt. Page wore a black jacket over a gray pullover shirt.

"Those aspects of their personalities have not changed," Schmidt said. "They care a lot about the principles of the company. They don't care a lot about the other things."

NO MORE ALL-NIGHTERS

Both Page and Brin got married over the past year but closely guard their personal lives. At the news conference, both said their work lives had certainly changed.

"One thing is that we have 10 or 20,000 people to help us," Brin said. "Certainly I am not pulling all-nighters all the time like we were when we were in the garage, when we were only three or four people doing everything."

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DARPA Plans Cyberwar 'Matrix' -- Security -- InformationWeek

The agency's National Cyber Range for cyberwar simulation would be similar to Star Trek's holodeck or a Snow Crash-style Metaverse.

Police officers practice their firearm skills on a shooting range, so why shouldn't government computer security experts have the same kind of training ground?

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, on Monday issued a call for research proposals to develop the National Cyber Range, or NCR (NYSE: NCR), a virtual network environment for cyberwar simulation.

In other words, Darpa wants to build something along the lines of The Matrix, Star Trek's holodeck, or a Snow Crash-style Metaverse to test cyberwar strategies and drill cyberwarriors. That's not to say Darpa is aiming for a visually immersive world to entertain people; rather, it wants a place to pit hackers against simulated machines.

Darpa's interest in such matters reflects a growing U.S. government and military commitment to develop more sophisticated cyberwar capabilities. A major reason for this is that other countries, such as China, are pursuing similar goals.

"The NCR will become a National resource for testing unclassified and classified cyber programs," Darpa's announcement explains. "Government and Government-sponsored Test Organizations (TO) authorized to conduct cyber testing will coordinate with the NCR performer for range time and resources. ...The NCR will support multiple, simultaneous, segmented tests and testbeds. At the completion of the test the NCR will sanitize and de-allocate the testbed resources, thus absorbing them back into the range."

The NCR aims to provide the ability to replicate military, government, and commercial IT systems and infrastructure; to monitor and manage events; and to analyze, collect, and present test data.

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ID Theft Monitoring Services: What You Need To Know

Fee-based services say they'll protect your identity, privacy, credit, name, and more. Find out what they can and can not do -- and learn what you can do to defend yourself.

What is your identity worth? According to the Global Internet Security Threat Report from Symantec, credit card numbers go for as little as 40 cents on the black market. Complete access to a bank account? Just $10.

Not so long ago, one's identity didn't involve so many dollars and cents. Discussions of privacy seemed better suited to the realm of academic debates or conspiracy theories. Today, unfortunately, the context is too often one of ripped-off consumers, with tales of swiped credit card numbers, false mortgages, and employment fraud leading to many cumulative hours spent, perhaps over years, trying to clean up the mess.

Of course when someone comes gunning for granny's life savings, "good Samaritans" won't be far behind.

Take identity theft monitoring service providers. The pitch? Give us your Social Security number and notification of suspicious identity activity is only an e-mail alert or phone call away. These services, which typically cost $10 to $20 per month, offer to guard your identity by monitoring the three credit-reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion), cell phone applications, government databases, and public information. Some also provide insurance (subject to underwriting, and not valid in every state) to help defray costs associated with recovering from identity theft cases.

		Tips For Fighting ID Theft
		• 5 (Mostly) Free Alternatives To ID Theft Monitoring Services • What No Identity Theft Monitoring Can Catch

Others offer even more. For example, Intersections' Identity Guard ($17 per month for the "Total Protection" plan) says it uses "patented scanning technology" to maintain "daily surveillance of the Internet's 'back alley' chat rooms and news groups" and see if your identity is for sale. Secure Identity Systems ($7 per month) says it "tracks hundreds of databases that use Social Security numbers, including utilities, DMV records, financial institution records, and more."

MyPublicInfo ($80 for a six-month "Public Information Profile") watches criminal records and real estate reports. Debix ($99 per year) automatically calls you at home or on your cell phone the moment someone obtains new credit in your name. LifeLock ($10 per month) requests "that your name be removed from pre-approved credit card and junk mail lists, and we keep making the requests as they expire," so would-be attackers can't swipe credit card offers from your mailbox. According to LifeLock, "we've got your back." More Than 225 Million Records Breached Since 2005

A little identity theft prevention would be nice, especially since over 225 million records containing sensitive, personal information have been compromised since January 2005, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Furthermore, the quantity and scale of data breaches appears to be on the rise. For example, a March break-in at an Indiana debt-collection agency led to a missing server containing 700,000 people's personal information, including some Social Security numbers. (The server is still at large.)

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Windows Vista SP1 Survival Guide -- Windows Vista -- InformationWeek

Here's how to get ready for Windows Vista Service Pack 1, due from Microsoft in March, with its much needed performance enhancements, security upgrades, and compatibility revisions.

After a little more than a year in the wild, it's high time for Windows Vista to receive the service pack it deserves. While Service Pack 1 won't change the way Windows Vista looks or feels, for the most part, it will improve many things about the way it runs, based on both Microsoft's internal testing and the feedback of tens of thousands of users.

Keep an eye out in case the process stalls out or fails.
(click for image gallery)

SP1 has been both heavily anticipated and badly needed. While the gold release of Vista was for the most part solid enough to use as a production system, there were still many frustrating rough edges.

In the light of these problems, one of the most commonly repeated canards about using Vista was, "I'll just wait until SP1 comes out." Well, SP1 is now almost out. A release candidate, which is the version we tested, was made available towards the end of last year. More recently, Microsoft officially released SP1 to manufacturing in February to TechNet and MSDN customers. The actual, wide public release to users at large is expected sometime in March.

What's In The Box?
Vista Service Pack 1 is a cumulative collection of all the fixes -- performance enhancements, security updates, and compatibility revisions -- published or created for Vista since its release. As with an artist's greatest-hits collection, some of it is "previously released material" -- but that absolutely doesn't mean you shouldn't apply SP1. Otherwise you won't get the full benefit of all the changes made.

Keep in mind that SP1 will be large -- quite necessarily so. The standalone installer for SP1 will weigh in at anywhere from 450 Mbytes (for the five-language edition) to 550 Mbytes (the all-language edition), and you'll need at least 5 Gbytes of temporary space on your system to perform the install. Most PCs capable of running Vista right now should not have a problem sparing that much room, but if you do, then a cleanup -- or maybe even a new hard drive, if it's already time for one -- is in order. (Note that there are ways to ameliorate both the storage and download requirements; see "Express" on page 3 for details.)

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BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Thurman backlash in cosmetics row

Uma Thurman was nominated for an Oscar for her role in 1994's Pulp Fiction

US actress Uma Thurman is countersuing French cosmetics firm Lancome for $15m (£8m) over the use of her name and face in advertising campaigns.

Thurman, 38, claims the firm boosted its sales by allowing her image to be used on Canadian billboards and Asian web sites after her contract expired.

Thurman's legal action follows Lancome's on Wednesday in Manhattan.

The firm denied breach of contract and asked the judge to dismiss Thurman's original claim for $1m (£512,000).

Until then, lawyers on both sides had been trying to come to an out-of-court agreement.

The actress's legal case claims Lancome enhanced its "prestige, stature and bargaining power" by helping retailers and others use her in advertising after September 2004.

The company gave the "false impression" Thurman was still linked to Lancome, her case says.

It also failed to tell wholesalers and retailers to stop using the ads that feature Thurman, said her lawyer Bertram Fields.

"Celebrities will now be careful about doing deals with Lancome," he told Reuters.

"They continued to use her photographs long after the contract was over."

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BBC NEWS | UK | Food waste on 'staggering' scale

Food waste contributes to landfill, creating methane gas

People are needlessly throwing away 3.6m tonnes of food each year in England and Wales, research suggests.

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) found that salad, fruit and bread were most commonly wasted and 60% of all dumped food was untouched.

The study analysed the waste disposed of by 2,138 households.

Environment Minister Joan Ruddock said the findings were "staggering" at a time of global food shortages and WRAP added it was an environmental issue.

'Value of food'

The study found that £9bn of avoidable food waste was disposed of in England and Wales each year.

It is mostly food that could have been consumed if it had been better stored or managed, or had not been left uneaten on a plate.

Much of that food waste goes into landfill rather than into council food disposal and composting programmes, it said.

There are climate change costs to all of us of growing, processing, packaging, transporting, and refrigerating food that only ends up in the bin Joan Ruddock, Environment Minister

Based on the data for England and Wales, WRAP estimated that householders across the UK throw away £10.2bn of avoidable food waste every year.

Using the same extrapolation, they also estimated the average UK household needlessly throws away 18% of all food purchased. Families with children throw away 27%.

The study also suggested £1bn worth of food wasted in the UK was still "in date".

Nearly a quarter, in terms of cost, was disposed of because the "use by" or "best before" date had expired.

Liz Goodwin, chief executive of WRAP, said food waste had "a significant environmental impact.

READ THE REPORT The Food We Waste [1.44MB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

"What shocked me the most was the cost of our food waste at a time of rising food bills, and generally a tighter pull on our purse strings," Ms Goodwin said.

"It highlights that this is an economic and social issue, as well as about how much we understand the value of our food."

Yoghurts and chickens

The study also found that:

• Bakery goods made up 19%, by weight, of all avoidable food waste. Vegetables contributed 18%.
• Meat and fish also made up a large proportion - 18% - of the total money wasted on food. WRAP said 5,500 whole chickens were thrown away each day in the UK.
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  This amount of waste is truly disgusting

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• "Mixed foods" like ready meals made up 21% of the total cost of waste, with 440,000 thrown away each day.
• The two most significantly wasted foods that could have been eaten were potatoes and bread
• Yoghurt was a commonly abandoned product, with an estimated 1.3m unopened pots disposed of each day.

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Google faces human rights votes

It cannot be easy to be the company that set out with the motto: "don't be evil".

Especially not now.

See Google shares in the past year Proxy statements for Google AGM

Google - whose shares currently trade at almost $600 (£300), more than $100 above its level a year ago - is facing two shareholder motions at its annual general meeting on Thursday.

Both insist the company needs to do more to fight censorship and support human rights.

The top three executives at Google control about two-thirds of the voting shares, so neither motion will get a majority.

But that is not the point of the exercise, according to Amnesty International, which will be proposing the first motion at the meeting.

"A lot of shareholders vote and don't attend the meeting but they may pay attention to what happens," says Amy O'Meara, director of business and human rights at Amnesty International USA.

We see technology companies continue to have very vague policies around human rights and frequent violations of their own policies Jack Ucciferri, Harrington Investments

"We're really looking at it as an opportunity to have an audience to hear what we think about these issues right now and to impress on Google that they really need to move much faster on these issues."

The internet censorship motion originally came from the New York City Comptroller, which looks after the pensions of city employees.

It calls on Google to "use all legal means to resist censorship" and to make it clearer to users if it has "acceded to legally binding government requests to filter or otherwise censor content that the user is trying to access".

Google in China

Most of the criticism relates to Google's Chinese language service Google.cn, which was launched in April 2006.

The company argued that it was better to agree to the Chinese government's censorship rules than to refuse to service Chinese customers altogether.

Google believes the motion ignores what it has done for online freedom

Since then, companies such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! have got together with Amnesty and other organisations and experts to form a multi stakeholder initiative on internet and human rights.

But Amnesty says that much more needs to be done.

"There are often national laws or opportunities within the law in China to stand up against requests by officials to do this kind of censorship and the companies like Google have just complied very easily," Ms O'Meara says.

"They haven't even tried from what we can tell."

Google's defence

Google is opposing the motion, on the grounds that its operations in China are already improving transparency and helping Chinese people access information.

It argues that adopting the proposal would hurt its users and business because it would have to close down Google.cn.

In the past year, it has also been trying to persuade US trade officials to treat censorship like any other barrier to trade.

A similar resolution at last year's shareholders' meeting received 3.8% of shareholder votes.

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BBC NEWS | Technology | Google denies staff 'brain drain'

Elliot Schrage was a senior executive at Google

Google has denied there is a brain drain of talent at the firm following the departure of its communications boss to social network Facebook.

Elliot Schrage's departure as head of global communications and public affairs is the latest in a string of senior Google staff to have quit.

Google spokesman Matt Furman said: "Elliot was a valued member of the Google team and we wish him well."

He added: "We have a deep management pool at Google."

The Mountain View company says it gets 1,300 resumes every day. That adds up to nearly a half a million a year from people who want to come and work at the Googleplex HQ, famed for its free gourmet lunches and on site massages.

Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg clearly sees its latest recruit as something of a coup, telling staff in an email: "Hey everyone. I am writing to you from India to share the really good news that Elliot Schrage will be joining our management team."

"This is a really important role for us and one that we've been trying to find the right person for a while."

"Elliot's role will be critical to helping us scale based on our culture that values transparency, openness and honest internal communications."

Exodus

In the last few months those that have jumped ship to Facebook from Google include leading executives such as Sheryl Sandberg, who is now the network's chief operating officer, following time as vice president of global sales at Google.

Is the Google campus losing its allure?

Other hires from Google to Facebook include Ben Ling who is now director of platform product marketing and Ethan Beard, a former director of social media and now director of business development.

Gideon Yu was previously the chief financial officer (CFO) at YouTube who left shortly after Google acquired it in 2006 and has moved to Facebook to become its CFO.

Facebook has even managed to poach a Google executive chef, Josef Desimone.

A host of other senior engineers and managers have also left in recent months. Some have gone on to start up their own companies or join other early stage ventures such as Zillow, FriendFeed, Twitter and Xobni.

Such defections are being seen by some recruiters in a partially negative light.

John Pulsipher, president of Silicon Valley recruitment firm Wollborg/Michelson, told BBC News: "It does of course not look very good for Google."

He added: "But for a start up company it's great. They are always going to be attracted to the big names that helped take a start up like Google to the top.

"They are seen as stars given where they came from. They are like artists who have had a hit song and are also expected to have a hit song the next time out."

The Google of yesterday

So why has Google lost something of its cachet among the technorati workforce?

Facebook is hot just now but everybody knows that hot can get cold John Pulsipher, Silicon Valley recruiter

Some commentators have noted that it is no longer the firm it once was.

Far from being a search engine firm with idealistic goals to 'do no evil', it has morphed into a behemoth that rivals other large tech companies.

It now has 16,800 employees worldwide. And the opportunities to strike it rich have diminished. Google's stock option package is not as tempting as it once was now that shares are trading close to $600.

Perhaps more importantly for some, Google no longer has that "anything goes" approach that most start ups possess.

Source

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Burma: The aid effort

As the scale of the devastation in Burma becomes apparent, several organisations are working to bring relief to the survivors. Below are details of some of the efforts both inside and outside Burma.

How you can help

UN AGENCIES

The UN has promised to release $10m from its Central Emergency Relief Fund. A four-person disaster assessment team has received visas for Burma.

World Food Programme

WFP has four aircraft ready to fly into Burma. Two contain a total of 25 tons of high-energy biscuits. A third is stocked with more biscuits and portable storage tents. A fourth is carrying UN emergency response equipment. They are awaiting permission to land in Burma.

WFP's in-country staff have already distributed 90 tons of rice to victims of the cyclone. But WFP says many people do not have equipment needed to cook rice, which is why getting the nutrient-rich biscuits in is so important.

UNHCR

People are waiting across southern Burma for supplies to arrive

The UN refugee agency plans to deliver supplies via the crossing at Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border.

Plastic sheets and tents capable of housing 10,000 people will be sent via truck to cyclone-hit areas, once permission for the border crossing is received.

Unicef

Personnel on the ground have been distributing pre-positioned supplies such as water purifying solutions, rehydration salts, tarpaulins and family kits, which include cooking equipment.

CHARITIES

Red Cross

Twenty-seven thousand volunteers are already involved in the relief operation under the auspices of the Burmese Red Cross.

Many people have lost their homes and have no access to shelter

A regional disaster manager is in the country and two more experts are due in. The first consignment of supplies - shelter kits - is due to be flown from Kuala Lumpur to Rangoon today. Eight tons of additional relief supplies - tarpaulins and jerry cans - are also to be sent on a commercial flight tonight.

A number of visas for officials are pending in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

Save the Children

In-country staff have distributed basic necessities such as water, rice, salt and cooking oil to 50,000 people in Rangoon township, 9,000 of them children.

A convoy carrying food, water and plastic sheets is making its way on trucks and boats into the delta region - further decisions will be made on the basis of what that convoy finds.

The organisation is seeking permission to bring in supplies from Thailand and Indonesia. It also wants to increase its staffing capacity.

Medecins Sans Frontieres

In-country teams have distributed plastic sheeting, jerry cans and fuel for water pumps to some 5,000 people. Teams have also given food rations for one week to 1,000 people in the Twantey area west of Rangoon.

MSF is seeking visas for 20 international staff, and a cargo plane carrying 40 tons of first aid materials, plastic sheeting and other goods is ready to leave from Europe.

Merlin

The British medical aid agency is going to use a 180ft river cruiser to deliver medical supplies to areas of the delta.

The boat is due to dock in Laputta on Sunday and then function as a warehouse and a hospital, including emergency operation units. Supplies to stock the boat are being flown out.

DIRECT DELIVERIES

Several countries have flown supplies in to Burma

India has already sent in two aircraft loaded with food, tents, blankets and drinking water. Two ships carrying supplies have also reached Rangoon. The supplies will be handed over to Burmese authorities for delivery.

China has sent a plane carrying 60 tons of aid to Rangoon. Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Bangladesh, Laos and Indonesia have all flown in emergency supplies.

Several other nations, including the US and France, say they are ready to act if the government gives its approval.

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BBC NEWS | Technology | Alarm at Google Yahoo partnering

No firm deal with Google has actually been announced

Regulators in the US are being urged to investigate any potential online advertising and search partnership between Google and Yahoo.

The call by a coalition of 16 American civil rights and rural advocacy bodies comes despite the fact no firm deal has actually been announced.

"We all suffer in such mega mergers," Gary Flowers of the Black Leadership Forum told BBC News.

The justice department is examining a trial the companies did in April.

It has been widely reported that it is looking into the anti-trust implications of last month's two-week test.

However, the department says it has no comment on the coalition's demands because there is no definitive agreement between Yahoo and Google at the moment.

But reports say that the two companies are presently hammering out the intricacies of a future potential advertising and search agreement, and are sharing their plans with antitrust regulators.

At Google's shareholder meeting on Thursday, Chairman Eric Schmidt said: "If there were a deal [with Yahoo], we would anticipate structuring the deal to address the anti-trust concerns that have been widely discussed."

'Never positive'

This assurance is not good enough for the coalition which is made up of the League of Rural Voters, the National Black Chamber of Commerce and the American Agriculture Movement.

It also includes the Black Leadership Forum, an umbrella group of 36 civil rights organisations including the NAACP and the National Urban League.

In a letter to Assistant Attorney General Thoma Barnett, head of the Justice Department's anti-trust division, the coalition argues that such a deal would give Google almost 90% of the search advertising market and strengthen its influence over internet users' access to information.

"We face a possible future in which no content could be seamlessly accessed without Google's permission," the letter states.

The effect Mr Flowers says of such large partnerships is never positive and would for the black community, as for other communities, "condense competition, increase prices and limit new business opportunity on the internet".

'Do no evil'

League of Rural Voters' executive director Niel Ritchie claims that the do-no-evil mantra may no longer apply in today's marketplace in which Google's reach is apparently without bound, touching more and more aspects of our everyday lives.

"We believe the government should give this agreement very careful scrutiny," he says.

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BBC NEWS | Business | Microsoft contests $1.4bn EU fine

Monopoly allegations against Microsoft go back several years

Microsoft has appealed against a 899m euros ($1.4bn; £680.9m) fine given for defying sanctions imposed on it for anti-competitive behaviour.

The penalty - the largest ever from the European Commission - came after it failed to comply with a 2004 ruling that it abused its market position.

The ruling said that Microsoft was guilty of not providing key code to rival software makers.

Microsoft said it was appealing to seek "clarity from the court".

The Commission said that it was confident the fine was "legally sound".

Freezing out rivals

The challenge has been lodged with the EU Court of First Instance.

When they handed down the punishment in February, EU regulators said Microsoft was the first to break an EU anti-trust ruling.

DISPUTE TIMELINE March 2004: EU fines Microsoft 497m euros and orders it to release key Windows code to rival software developers September 2004: Microsoft tries to have the ruling temporarily suspended April 2006: Microsoft appeals against the ruling in the European Court of First Instance September 2007: Microsoft loses its appeal February 2008: EU imposes 899m euros fine on Microsoft for defying sanctions May 2008: Microsoft appeals the fine, "seeking clarity"

The fines came on top of earlier fines of 280m euros imposed in July 2006, and of 497m euros in March 2004.

An investigation concluded in 2004 that Microsoft was guilty of freezing out rivals in products such as media players, while unfairly linking its Explorer internet browser to its Windows operating system at the expense of rival servers.

The European Court of First Instance upheld this ruling last year, which ordered Microsoft to pay 497m euros for abusing its dominant market position.

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it would open up the technology of some of its leading software, including Windows, to make it easier to operate with rivals' products.

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A $500 Million Week for Grand Theft Auto - New York Times

Grand Theft Auto IV, the latest iteration of the hit video game franchise, racked up first-week sales of $500 million, Take-Two Interactive, the game’s publisher, plans to announce on Wednesday. The report exceeded the sales expectations of analysts.

The company is expected to report it sold six million copies of the graphically violent game, 3.6 million of them on the first day.

The sales exceed projections of industry analysts who were estimating that some five million consumers would purchase the game in the first two weeks.

The significance of the sales extends beyond buoying Take-Two, a company that has had its share of legal, financial and management struggles in the last few years. The company is the subject of a $2 billion hostile takeover effort by Electronic Arts, which is offering Take Two shareholders $25.74 a share for control of the company. If Take-Two can exceed sales expectations on Grand Theft Auto IV, it has the potential to drive up the share price and force Electronic Arts to raise its offer.

On Tuesday, Take Two’s shares closed at $26.35, up 29 cents.

Electronic Arts’ takeover bid turned hostile after Take-Two management said that it would not negotiate an acquisition agreement with Electronic Arts — or any suitor — until after the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Now that the game is out, Take-Two may well have entered discussions with Electronic Arts and possibly other suitors who covet the Grand Theft Auto franchise, but Take-Two has declined to comment on whether such discussions are taking place.

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Spam Moves to Cellphones and Gets More Invasive - New York Times

Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

Taber Lightfoot sought reimbursement for cellphone spam.

Cellphones have become consumers’ most personal technological devices. Some industry executives, along with consumer groups and security experts, are concerned that unwanted text messages on phones will be an even greater headache than unwanted computer messages.

Cellphone spam is particularly annoying to its recipients because it is more invasive — announcing itself with a beep — and can be costly.

Taber Lightfoot, an assistant director for new media at the Yale School of Management, is among those who have paid for the privilege of receiving cellphone spam.

“I was at work and I got so annoyed,” she said of the first burst of three messages she received. She got another burst two days later.

“That is when I called Verizon and demanded they reimburse me $1.60 for eight text messages,” Ms. Lightfoot said. “It wasn’t a lot of money, but it was my money.”

American consumers are expected to receive an estimated 1.5 billion unsolicited text messages in 2008, according to Ferris Research, based in San Francisco, which tracks mobile messaging trends. That is nearly double what they received in 2006.

Of course that is a small percentage of the overall number of messages: an industry survey showed that consumers in the United States sent and received about 48 billion text messages in December alone. But for many people who are charged as much as 20 cents for an incoming message or are interrupted in the middle of dinner, even one is too many.

“The reason this really burns people up is because they have to pay for messages they don’t want, and they shouldn’t have to,” said Chris Murray, senior counsel for Consumers Union, a nonprofit group.

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Can Facebook Build a Better Passport? - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

It didn’t take long for Facebook to react to the announcement by MySpace Thursday that it would enable other Web sites to tap into information about its users and their friends.

Facebook’s announcement, in a blog post Friday afternoon, is a bit sketchy on the details and has all the appearance of being rushed to match MySpace. Still, what the company calls Facebook Connect offers many of the same capabilities and a few more, too.

As I wrote yesterday, there is a big shift in how the social networks are thinking about how they relate to other sites and developers. In the first round, the social networks invited others to make their sites better — widgets on MySpace pages, applications on Facebook. Now the social networks are becoming even more extroverted: They are offering to use the information they have about users to make other sites better, too.

MySpace, and now Facebook, will let users who have created profiles on their sites — with photos, favorite bands and so on — use that information to fill out profiles on other sites. Since every site seems to encourage users to create a profile to describe themselves, this can help them avoid copying the same information over and over again.

Facebook Connect adds another feature (which I’m sure MySpace will copy): Web sites will be able to let users log in and create accounts with their Facebook names and passwords.

This is similar to what Microsoft tried and failed to build with its Passport system. AOL tried, too, and no one noticed enough to remember that it failed as well. More recently, there has been a movement towards a standard known as OpenID to allow people to log in to one site with an ID issued by another. But so far, it is too complex to use and hasn’t gotten much traction.

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Facebook to open the gates with 'Facebook Connect' | The Social - CNET News.com

This post was updated at 1:56 p.m. PDT.

Social network Facebook announced Friday the debut of Facebook Connect, a new technology for members to connect their profile data and authentication credentials to external Web sites. It makes the company the latest major Web site to embrace the concept of data portability.

The formal announcement was made through a post on Facebook's developer blog by senior platform manager Dave Morin, who has been one of the company's most visible evangelists in the developer community over the past year. Facebook Connect will launch within the next few weeks.

Through Facebook Connect, members will be able to use their Facebook identities across the Web--profile photos, names, photos, friends, groups, events, and other information. Facebook profile content, for example, could appear on other social sites, and Facebook event listings could theoretically connect with external event and invitation services.

Facebook will handle the authentication process, and while privacy controls have not been made clear, the company has stressed that user security will be a priority. And there's reason to believe Facebook will be particularly careful: The company already partners with outside services to share data in its Beacon advertising program, and the PR missteps surrounding Beacon's launch are something that Facebook likely does not want to repeat.

It's a big move for the site. Until this point, Facebook has had a reputation for keeping its cards close to its chest--even banning the account of popular blogger Robert Scoble when he used a script to export his Facebook contact list to Plaxo. But Facebook has a representative in the Data Portability Workgroup, and executives have said that Facebook has wanted to bring its information outside the site eventually.

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