Hot topics in the tech blogs for the week ending July 13 include Betaworks’ Digg acquisition for $500,000, a password breach at Yahoo!, the launch of Amazon’s GameCircle gaming experience, Twitter’s updated iPhone and Android mobile apps, and the golden master release of Mac OS X Mountain Lion.
Betaworks buys Digg for reported $500,000
The Wall Street Journal reported that social media news site Digg had been purchased by technology development firm Betaworks for “a pittance.” TechCrunch said the total price was higher than the rumored $500,000: “we’re hearing from multiple sources that the total price of the Digg acquisition was around $16 million.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304373804577523181002565776.html
More than 450,000 passwords stolen in Yahoo! breach
Hackers have posted approximately 450,000 usernames and passwords obtained from Yahoo! accounts on the web in yet another high-profile security breach. “We confirm that an older file from Yahoo! Contributor Network (previously Associated Content) containing approximately 400,000 Yahoo! and other company users names and passwords was stolen yesterday, July 11,” Yahoo! told TechCrunch. “We are fixing the vulnerability that led to the disclosure of this data, changing the passwords of the affected Yahoo! users and notifying the companies whose users accounts may have been compromised.” If you are concerned that your account was compromised you can visit labs.sucuri.net/?yahooleak to check.
http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/07/yahoo-service-hacked/
Amazon launches GameCircle gaming experience for Kindle Fire
Amazon upped its game against Apple and Google with the launch of its own gaming platform, GameCircle. Like Apple’s Game Center, GameCircle provides Android developers with an easy way to integrate game achievements and leaderboards into their apps. GameCircle’s cloud-based “sync” also ensures that players’ game progress is never lost, even if they swap devices or accidentally delete the game.
http://amazon.com/gamecircle
Twitter updates iPhone & Android mobile apps with expansive experiences
Twitter started rolling out the second phase of its “expanded tweets” feature, this time for mobile devices. Both Twitter’s iPhone and Android mobile apps were updated to include expanded tweets -- enabling microbloggers to see image and video content previews from Twitter’s selected partners when they click on a link contained within a tweet.
https://twitter.com/download
Mac OS X Mountain Lion GM released
Apple released the “golden master” copy of Mac OS X Mountain Lion, aka version 10.8, into the hands of developers, signaling that the operating system (OS) will soon be released to the public. Apple has yet to announce a firm date for the consumer release of Mac OS X Mountain Lion but judging by its previous GM-to-release schedules, the OS should be available to consumers before the end of July. Mac OS X Mountain Lion upgrade will be priced at $19.99 and available as a digital download from the Mac App Store.
http://www.apple.com/osx/
