IT Buoy

Michael Chertoff, who ran the Department of Homeland Security from 2005 to 2009, says there’s a reason that computer security isn’t up to the threat posed by cyber criminals: Doing it right is too complicated for most people. A large part of the problem “is that the solution is inaccessible to the average consumer,” Mr. Chertoff said in an interview at the RSA conference in San Francisco. While it’s generally possible to secure a computer and protect one’s personal information. often those measures require technical expertise beyond the grasp of the typical computer owner, he said. Not only that, the problem itself is hard to understand: There isn’t much dialogue about cyber issues that shine a light on the nature of the threat, and attempts to describe it often get bogged down in tech jargon. The result is a natural inclination by most people to ignore cyber threats. The solution isn’t just to educate people, Mr.

Today, BoomTown gassed up the Mini Cooper and motored down to the Sunnyvale HQ of Yahoo, this time with a tiny bit of trepidation. Ok, not that much, but some! Why? Because Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz had invited me to be the first in a new speaker series for employees at the Internet giant, called “Yahoo from the ‘Outside In,’” due to my intense–some might say obsessive–interest in the company. The twist: Bartz herself conducted the interview with me in front of about 600 Yahoos gathered in its URL’s Cafe, the main cafeteria at the company. As it turned out, she was pretty good at playing the journalist, asking about a range of things, including how I got the sources I did (I never kiss and tell), what I would do if I ran Yahoo (run it right into another wall, I am sure) and what Yahoo should focus on (content, content and more content). The Yahoos had some good and also tough questions for me too, including about my sometimes snarky tone in posts, my personal relationship with a Google exec (see my copious disclosure here ) and my thoughts on the future of content (bright for Yahoo, not so much for newspapers). We also talked about a variety of tech companies, such as Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN). And, as Yahoos have tweeted, I did say I had a “man-crush” on Bartz (but only after she claimed I had a regular one) and described myself has a “sparkly vampire,” when asked about my late-night blogging habits

Video games, YouTube, Internet shopping and computer touch screens are just a few of technologies that telecom companies are hoping to insert into cars of the future. Driver and front passenger experience A group of 30 high-tech companies led by Alcatel-Lucent and QNX Software Systems – The ng Connect Program – have created a prototype car to show how 4G networks could open the automobile to a variety of mobile technologies. The term 4G refers to the fourth-generation of wireless service that is now under development for deployment in the U.S. Under the 4G approach, the car could access wireless services allowing the interior to act as Wi-Fi hot spot of sorts. Passengers can access a variety of services all at once and tailor them to their personal needs. For example, a backseat passenger could watch a movie while the front seat passenger shops online. The cars would be equipped with devices that would block drivers from accessing some of the entertainment features, such as watching YouTube, while the vehicle is in motion.

SocialToo, a startup that lets you manage your personal connections on Twitter and Facebook, has launched an affiliate program to allow users to reap a profit from referring other users to the service. For each type of service you refer people to join on SocialToo, the startup will pay you 20 percent of the cost of that service via PayPal-powered TwitPay, right through Twitter. SocialToo, which launched a universal Facebook to Twitter posting feature earlier this year, provides tools for managing your Twitter and Facebook accounts such as auto-following, auto-unfollowing, auto-messaging, along with daily stats surrounding new follows and unfollow and the ability to conduct surveys from followers. Its plethora of features are ideal for marketers and brands who want to learn the most they can from those they follow. SocialToo’s features range anywhere from $5 for following back everyone who follows you to $25 to unfollow everyone who you’ve ever followed before. Using Twitter-based payment system, TwitPay, users can Tweet and share links with friends on Twitter, Facebook, blogs or websites. Here’s what the message and link will looks like: Catch up following those that follow you on Twitter: click here When someone clicks the link, they’ll be taken to SocialToo, but a special, customized overlay will pop over the main page welcoming them to SocialToo with the referring user’s Twitter profile image next to the welcome message. The will tell the visitor about the type of service the referrer has recommended and will invite them to provide their screen name and enter the purchase process.

Thanks to a gossipy blog post on “what really happened” to Tiger Woods the night of his car accident , retired sportswriter Furman Bisher is a great deal more famous than he’d like to be. On his blog “Bisher Unleashed,” Furman writes that he intended the post to be read only by “friends who indulge in my personal blog,” but that “the darned thing developed legs of its own.” Furman’s daughter, who manages the blog for him, told him the post was eventually read by over 43,000 “people with all kinds of attitudes.” Read the rest of this story