Facebook Prepares to Launch Bug Bounty Program !

Facebook is working on setting up a bug bounty program that would encourage security researchers to discover vulnerabilities on its platform and report them responsibly.

Mr. Joe Sullivan, Facebook's chief security officer, told us today at the Hack in the Box Amsterdam 2011 security conference that the company is currently testing such a system and hopes to launch it soon.

Vulnerability reward programs are not new. In fact, they've been around since the Netscape era.

In 2004 Mozilla introduced a bug bounty system for vulnerabilities discovered in Firefox, then last year Google did the same for Chromium, the open source project behind Google Chrome.

However, it was Google that began rewarding vulnerabilities found in its web services first, a move that was mirrored by Mozilla a month later.

Facebook has a pretty good relationship with security researchers already and many of them are reporting vulnerabilities to the company responsibly.

In fact, Facebook is one of the few companies that explicitly state in their official policies that as long as the vulnerability reporter doesn't exploit it to damage the system or compromise the data, it will not take legal action against them or notify the authorities.

This might seem common sense to many and it is how most large vendors do act in practice, but Facebook is one of the very few that guarantee it in writing : https://www.facebook.com/security?v=app_6009294086

Bug bounty programs are not only about rewarding researchers, which is an honorable thing to do, but also about drawing security attention towards a particular product or service.

Since more people will be interested to poke around it and uncover flaws, the system will become more and more secure and there will be less flaws for cyber criminals to find.

No details about the program's possible payouts or rules have been released, but we're hoping the rewards will at least match those offered by Mozilla and Google.

Google Circle Social Networking site from Google

The big rumour out of the big SXSW shindig this weekend is the imminent launch of the new Google social media network, Google Circles. The question I have is, why? It's not like everyone is sitting around saying if only we had another social media network we could all join and jump on that bandwagon. I understand that Google is deeply concerned about the fact that the social media networks are going their own thing without it. But the question here is are they serious about creating a new social media network or is it a pressure tactic and leverage in their potential purchase of Twitter? When I read these articles and commentary about Google Circles, I always think back to Google Wave - wasn't that supposed to be Google's big entry into the social media space? So I'm looking at this with a degree of scepticism and wondering if it is true, and if it is, I don't see an enormous rush of people moving from Facebook and Twitter to Google Circles.

Review - Facebook and Google War , Who Will Win ?

In the latest salvo of an increasingly nasty war, Facebook hired public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller to try to covertly get journalists and bloggers to write negative articles about Google's privacy practices relating to its new social media feature.

A spokesman for Facebook admitted the dastardly caper to The Daily Beast.

The feature in question is called, Social Circle, allows Facebook user information to show up via a Google search.. While Facebook says Google is infringing on its users privacy, some say, Facebook railing on about the abuse of its Dell inspiron 1520 battery users privacy is like the pot calling the kettle black.

"There is a battle for the future of the Web," Ray Valdes, an analyst at Gartner, told ComputerWorld, "and it is not about search engines, but about the social Web."

"The competition is between the new and the old -- between Facebook as the early leader in the social Web, and Google as the dominant player in the content Web. Everyone else, such as Microsoft, Yahoo and Twitter, will play a secondary role," adds Valdes, "and will start lining up on one side or the other."

Fox News Latino assembled a group of social media experts and influencers to gauge their thoughts on the brewing Facebook vs. Google brouhaha.

Lance Rios, Founder of Being Latino: As stated in the movie 'The Social Network', "the internet isn't written in pencil, it's written in ink". As so, we can never expect for anything to be fully private in any capacity, ESPECIALLY when Dell vostro 1720 battery it comes to social networking sites. What Google is doing is wrong and intrusive and I see it to be a direct violation of our rights and believe that they will soon be reprimanded. While this specific incident will not be the last of companies trying to invade our personal lives, I do think that it will set off a red flag, leading many companies to be a little more conservative about how to approach people and their privacy.

Louis Pagan, Content Director for Hispanicize: This is not shocking to me. Google is making use of already public data...the big 'problem' with social media is just that - the media that you put out there is public. If that's a 'bug' in social media that needs to be fixed is another conversation. Unfortunately, the public is slow in learning this.

What I find disturbing about this story is the sneaky tactic that Facebook used to bring this to the public's attention. Back door deals, and back door conversations are suspicious in their very nature and should be taken with a grain of salt. It seems that Facebook wanted this story to go viral and wipe their hands clean from it.

It's like a cold war between the two companies, and the coveted prize is user data.

Julio Ricardo Varela, Founder of dell latitude d820 battery : As a prophet of social media, Facebook made a huge error by turning this over to a PR company. It surprised me, since they are all about transparency, but in this case, they acted just like any other technology corporation.

The Google tactics don't bother me at all. My profile is protected on Facebook but I also allow some of my information to go out into cyberspace. From a marketing perspective, being linked to Google creates a greater opportunity for someone new to click on your profile. Makes sense to me.

In the end, this is moot, since Facebook will buy out Google in three years.

How to convert word files into PDF?

You can convert your reports, spreadsheets and any word files into Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf). There are many free and paid software’s available to convert normal files into .pdf, for example you can download “Universal Converter Software” free trail. Using this converter you can convert your web pages, emails, books any others important documents into .pdf.

Benefits of .PDF

PDF files are platforms independent, for example if you are creating your resume in Microsoft windows, and you obviously wants that your resume look the same on all platforms, whether computer has Mac, Linux and Microsoft windows. PDF is the great way to send your important documents to others in same and secure ways.

PDF can not be modified in text or formatting in new style without your permission. Internet users prefer the .pdf format because they can download it easily in Adobe Reader.

Fellow the given steps to convert word file into PDF. 

• First download the “Universal Converter Software” and install onto your computer.
• Now open any word document and press the File and then click on Print option to open printer dialog box.

• Here select the “Universal Document Converter” from the printer list and press Properties button to select the “Document to PDF, Color, and Multipage” profile.
• 
• Now press the Ok button to start the converting process into PDF.

How to open office 2007 files into Office 2003?

Today tip will help you to resolve the compatibility issues between the Office 2003 and Office 2007. Because all programs in office 2003 used the old file extensions for its different programs.  For example Word 2003 saved files with extension .doc, Excel 2003 with .xls and PowerPoint with .ppt. but on the other office 2007 used the new file extensions for its different programs.  For example Word 2007 saved files with extension .docx, Excel 2007 with .xlsx and PowerPoint with .pptx. Now the problem is that when you will try to open office 2007 files into office 2003 and you will not open the file due to compatibility issues between both office versions.  Microsoft provides a free compatibility pack to convert office 2007 documents to the office 2003 format. There are many third party free converter are available but here we are using Microsoft office compatibility pack.

Follow the given steps to download free Microsoft compatibility pack and install it.

To use this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights.

Visit the following link to download the Microsoft compatibility pack:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en

When you have downloaded the file, double click on FileFormatConverter.exe file to start the installation.

Now here it’s simply a case of pretending you’ve read the license terms and clicking continue.

Now click on Ok button to complete the installation.

Once the process is done, you can enjoy opening .docx files on Word 2003.

How to make Word 2007 always save in 2003 format?

Not everyone has updated to the 2007 edition of Microsoft Office. So a problem arises as we send them a Word 2007 document without converting it into 2003 format. However, it is possible to make Word 2007 always save in 2003 format. By changing a few settings, we can make Word 2007 always save in 2003 format automatically. This can save our time as we won’t have to convert a document each time we have to send one. Follow these steps to make Word 2007 always save in 2003 format:

1.     Open Word 2007.

2.     Click on the Office button.

3.     Click on the Word Options button at the bottom.

4.     The Word Options dialog box will appear.

5.     Select the Save tab.

6.     Select “Word 97-2003 Document” from the menu of “Save files in this format”.  

7.     Click on the OK button.

After this you will never have to worry about mistakenly sending the incorrect format of Microsoft Word 2007 to anyone. The same procedure can be used to change the settings of Microsoft Excel 2007.

सबै जिल्लामा उच्च गतिको इन्टरनेट

काठमाडौ, वैशाख ३१ - तपाईको जिल्लामा इन्टरनेटको गति साह्रै सुस्त छ ? इन्टरनेट सेवा चलाउँदा धेरै शुल्क बुझाउनुपर्छ ? मुलुकका धेरै जिल्लामा भएका यस्ता समस्या सम्बोधनका लागि प्राधिकरणले सबै जिल्ला सदरमुकामलाई अप्टिकल फाइबरबाट जोड्ने आयोजनाको बोलपत्र आह्वान गर्ने तयारी अन्तिम चरणमा पुर्‍याएको छ ।प्राधिकरणले पहिलो चरणअन्तर्गत ४ अर्ब रुपैयाँमा हाल अप्टिकल फाइबर लाइन नजोडिएका जिल्लामा फाइबर बिछ्याउने ठेक्का दिन लागेको हो । ग्रामीण दूरसञ्चार कोषमा भएको रकमबाट सुरु गर्न लागिएको यो आयोजनाको टेन्डर आह्वान गर्न आवश्यक कागजात तयार भइसकेको प्राधिकरणका निर्देशक पुरुषोत्तम खनालले बताए । हाल करिब २६ जिल्लामा विभिन्न दूरसञ्चार सेवा प्रदायक कम्पनीहरूले इन्टरनेट सेवा पुर्‍याइसकेकाले त्यस क्षेत्रमा भने अप्टिकल फाइबर लाइन विस्तार गर्नुपर्दैन ।

'आयोजनाको लागत पछि जति ढिला भयो त्यत्ति नै घटिरहेको छ,' उनले भने । प्राधिकरणबाट लाइसेन्स पाएका कम्पनीले वाषिर्क रूपमा ग्रामीण दूरसञ्चार कोषमा जम्मा हुँदै आएको ३ अर्ब २५ करोड रुपैयाँ अप्टिकल फाइबरको विस्तारमा खर्च गर्न लागिएको उनले बताए । दुई चरणमा काम पूरा गर्न ८ देखि १० अर्ब रुपैयाँ खर्च लाग्ने अनुमान छ ।यसो त सार्वजनिक खरिद ऐनअन्तर्गत सस्तो मूल्यमा काम गर्नेलाई टेन्डर दिने प्रावधान भएकाले त्यसबाट राम्रो उपकरण भित्रन नसक्ने खतरा रहेको भन्दै प्राधिकरणले टेन्डर कागजात पहिले नै सार्वजनिक खरिद अनुगमन कार्यालयमा पठाउने भएको छ । यो योजना सन् २०१४ सम्मममा पूरा गर्ने योजना छ । तर दुई वर्षअघि देखि सुरु भएपछि अहिलेसम्म बोलपत्र आह्वान गर्न सकिएको छैन ।

'यस योजनाका खर्च प्राधिकरणसम्म भएको भन्दा बढी हुने देखिन्छ,' प्राधिकरणका अध्यक्ष भेषराज कँडेलले भने, 'पछि आउन समस्याबारे सल्लाह दिनका लागि पनि हामीले कार्यालयलाई टेन्डरबारे राय माग्न लागेका हौ ।' अहिले विज्ञलाई अध्ययनका लागि पठाएको टेन्डर कागजात त्यहाँबाट आएपछि कार्यालयलाई पठाइनेछ ।कम अनुदानमा ठेक्का दिइने यो आयोजनाको आयोजना पूर्वी र पश्चिमी भेगमा बाँडी दुई चरणमा गरिने योजना छ । तर यसको अन्तिम निर्णय भने प्राधिरकणको बोर्डबाट हुन बाँकी छ । कँडेलले मन्त्रिपरिषद्को बैठक वा सूचना तथा सञ्चार मन्त्रालयबाट यसबारे राय मागी त्यहाँबाट पनि प्रक्रिया अगाडि बढाउन भनेपछि टेन्डर आह्वान गरिने बताए ।

'कुनै पनि इन्टरनेट सेवा प्रदायक कम्पनी र दूरसञ्चार सेवा प्रदायकले ठेक्काका लागि आवेदन दिन सक्छन्,' निर्देशक खनालले भने, 'असरसम्ममा टेन्डर आह्वान गर्नेमा हामी आशावादी छौं ।' यस योजनाअन्तर्गत मध्य पहाडी राजमार्गमार्फत अप्टिकल फाइबर लाइन विस्तार गर्ने लक्ष्य राखिएको छ । पूर्व- पश्चिम राजमार्ग भने यसअघि नै अप्टिकल फाइबर लाइनबाट जोडिइसकेको छ । 'आयोजनाका उद्देश्य सबै दूरसञ्चार सेवा प्रदायकलाई पूर्वाधार बाँडफाँड गरी सेवाको मूल्य घटाउन र गुणस्तर बढाउने हो,' उनले भने ।

अहिले सेवा विस्तरका क्रममा कम्पनीहरूले आफ्नो भिन्दाभिन्दै पूर्वाधार बढाउने गरेका छन् । यसले सेवा विस्तार खर्चिलो भई उपभोक्ताले बढी शुल्क तिर्नु पर्नेछ । यसले उपकरण खरिदमा बिदेसिने पैसाको मात्रा समेत उच्च बनाएको छ ।