Morning Tech Wrap: HP, Facebook, Sony
August 31, 2011 by admin
Filed under Choosing Lingerie
HP TouchPad; Image by coolinsights via Flickr
Hewlett Packard is reviving production of its TouchPad tablet for one final batch. After the company announced it would be closing development and production on WebOS devices, its TouchPad tablet was reduced to just $100, sparking a buying frenzy. In the wake of this newfound interest, HP has decided to have one more production run.
“A limited supply are coming, and it will be a few weeks before they are available. As we know more about how, when, and where TouchPads will be available, we will communicate that here and through e-mail to those requested notification,” Mark Budgell, public relations manager at HP, told CNET.
Bob O’Donnell, an analyst at IDC, added there was more to this than just opportunism: “They want to maintain some value in the WebOS so if they actually sell it they can squeeze as much value out of it as possible,” he said.
HP told CNET it would be releasing an update to boost functionality for the TouchPad, amidst concerns that these last-minute purchases would be rendered useless soon after HP closes production.
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Facebook has paid out more than $40,000 in the last three weeks to cyber security “bounty hunters” who have found bugs in its software, The Daily Telegraph reports. The three-week old project that Facebook is calling its “Bug Bounty Program” has already seen $40,000 dollars worth of payouts, including one individual who has earned $7,000 for finding six different vulnerabilities.
The program employs “Whitehat” hackers, who notify service providers rather than exploiting vulnerabilities, to find bugs across Facebook. According to a blog post from Joe Sullivan, Facebook’s chief security officer, the minimum payout is $500. One payout stood at $5,000, for “a really good report.”
“We received really positive feedback when we launched our responsible disclosure policy last year, in which we told researchers we would not take adverse actions against them when they followed the policy in reporting bugs,” said Sullivan. “We are one of the first companies to clearly lay out our policy in order to make those who discover vulnerabilities more comfortable in reporting, and we are happy to see that other organizations are adopting a similar stance.”
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Sony has shown off a wearable 3D personal theater, targeting people who prefer solitary entertainment, The Associated Press reports. From Nov. 11 the company will begin selling a head-mounted display for music, movies and games for $800 (60,000 yen) in Japan. The device is set for release in Europe and the U.S. too, but a date has not been announced.
