By Paul Thomson :: 3:24 PM
Cloud note taking and organizing application Evernote has been the victim of a hacker attack. The company issued an advisory earlier today that nearly 50 million users may have had their usernames, email addresses and encrypted passwords stolen.
Evernote first became aware of the security breach on February 28th. At this time, it does not appear that banking or payment details have been leaked, and the hackers did not gain access to user notes stored on the system.
The passwords that were stolen were encrypted, making it less likely that the hackers would be able to find out what the true plain text passwords are.
The company sent an e-mail to users today (a portion is in the screenshot below) informing them that their passwords have been reset, and they would need to log in and change it to a new string. Passwords will need to be re-entered in all applications where users have installed Evernote, such as on their mobile devices and tablets.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 1:53 PM
In the lower house of Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, legislation was passed that requires search engines, such as Google and Bing, to pay a fee to license and re-publish content longer than just a few words or short excerpts. The legislation passed by a vote of 293 to 243.
The law is currently unclear on the definition of a short excerpt. The law will not go into effect unless it is ratified by Germany’s upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat.
Google has voiced its opposition to this law in Germany, similar to how it opposed similar proposals in France.
The company released the following statement regarding the legislation: “As a result of today’s vote, ancillary copyright in its most damaging form has been stopped. However, the best outcome for Germany would be no new legislation because it threatens innovation, particularly for start-ups. It’s also not necessary because publishers and Internet companies can innovate together, just as Google has done in many other countries.â€
By Paul Thomson :: 1:19 PM
Yahoo! is continuing to make drastic changes under the leadership of new CEO Marissa Mayer as the company announced on Friday that it would be killing off some of its older, less popular products and services.
Products on the chopping block are listed below. Not shown, but also known to be on the list soon are large portions of Yahoo’s mobile applications, including its BlackBerry app.
Yahoo products and services to be discontinued:
- Yahoo! Message Boards
- Yahoo! Avatars
- Yahoo! Updates API
- Yahoo! Sports IQ
- Yahoo! App Search
- Yahoo! Clues
- Yahoo! Updates API
On the company’s blog, Jay Rossiter, executive VP for Platforms, explains the cuts while also trying to strike a balance with the positive changes that Yahoo has recently made, including improvements to Flickr and Yahoo Mail.  Rossiter says that the company will focus only on products where a “daily habit still resonates” going forward.
By Sara Miller :: 11:12 PM
Justin Bieber turned 19 today in London, and threw himself a circus-themed party to celebrate.
The teen star spent about $20,000 for the blowout celebration, which included clowns and even a ringmaster. Bieber invited about 20 friends to join him at the big top party.
After his London concert, he sent out a Tweet saying, “Great show!!! Now go celebrate 19!! Thanks.â€
His guest of honor at the party was his new love interest, British singer and model Ella-Paige Roberts Clarke.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 9:12 PM
When President Barack Obama held a sequester press conference earlier today, he made a major gaffe when answering a reporter’s question that set Twitter off in a flurry of incredulous reactions.
Obama fielded a question from CNN reporter Jessica Yellin about heading off automatic spending cuts that start to take effect today due to sequestration. Obama responded to Yellin’s question by trying to make a Star Wars reference, but instead mixed his Star Wars and Star Trek knowledge, and said, “I can’t do some kind of Jedi Mind Meld on congressional Republicans.”
A “mind meld” is a Star Trek term, it refers to the technique that allows the Vulcan race to share thoughts, experiences, and memories with each other. The phrase Obama was actually trying to say was “Jedi mind trick,” a Star Wars reference.
As soon as Obama made this mistake, Twitter was engulfed with commentary pointing out his error, and passing judgement for making light of a serious national issue.
However, the White House jumped into action quickly, and tried to make the best of the President’s misstep. A Tweet was sent out from the official White House account acknowledging that the sequestration cuts were not the solution to the budget issue America is currently facing, and also included some self-deprecating humor for Obama – see below.
