NetFlipper.com

The ability to share Twitter feeds is among the latest batch of changes unveiled this week at YouTube, which Alexa, a Web traffic analyzer, ranks as the world’s third most popular Web property after Yahoo and Google.

Given that so many people are on Twitter these days, YouTube said it has added Twitter to the share options so users can easily send a video into their Twitter streams. Other YouTube video-sharing options include Facebook, MySpace, Digg and Hi5.

When users click to share with Twitter, a pop-up window opens that routes users to their twitter accounts and formulates a Tweet telling recipients to “check out this video,” with the title and URL added to the message.

“This was a big internal request, but we know many of you asked for it, too,” YouTube’s development team said. “We don’t currently shorten the video URL automatically, but hope to get to it down the road.”

A Wider Strategy

YouTube owner Google announced last December that it had integrated Twitter with its Google Friend Connect — an online service that gives users the ability to connect with friends on different Web sites. “This means that when you join a friend-connected site, you can choose to use your Twitter profile, discover people you follow on Twitter who are also members of the site, and quickly tweet that you have found a cool Web site,” said product manager Mussie Shore.

Google’s latest moves to include Twitter capabilities is just one part of the search giant’s wider strategy of making it easier for users to share content as well as make comments about video clips, articles and blogs in a way that is readily accessible to their friends. Earlier this month, Google unveiled a slew of new features, such as the ability to choose friends and share items with a…

DUBLIN, OH, Mar. 23, 2009 -– The Dot Net Factory today announced the availability of EmpowerID 2009, the newest version of the world’s first and only Identity Management platform built on Microsoft’s Windows Workflow Foundation.

EmpowerID 2009 dramatically accelerates Identity Management and compliance efforts by simplifying the process of automating complex business processes with visually designed and intuitive workflows that set a new standard for flexibility and ease of use.

A New Breed of Identity Management

EmpowerID 2009 features Role Enforcer modules with workflows and web-based interfaces that can be rapidly deployed, including: multi-directory user provisioning (including support for HR, ERP and custom applications); password self-service reset; group management; Active Directory reporting; corporate white pages; Exchange provisioning and security; and SharePoint provisioning and security.

For organizations that desire custom workflows developed to their specific business requirements, EmpowerID 2009 offers a complete workflow automation platform, featuring a modular “drag and drop” visual designer that turns complex tasks into role-based, event-driven workflows. Included “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) designers deliver code-free Silverlight and ASP.NET web user interfaces. EmpowerID 2009′s job function and location-based role hierarchy reflects changes in an organization immediately and automatically adapts to the changed security requirements. EmpowerID 2009 is a single and unified platform and code base that deploys quickly, cuts costs, and grows easily to accommodate future needs.

“The workflow engine in EmpowerID continues to be exceptional, unlike anything I’ve seen in other products within this category. It is intrinsically integrated with entitlement management at every step in the way,” said Felix Gaehtgens, senior analyst, Kuppinger Cole + Partner. “The Dot Net Factory is quick to point out that this simplifies deployment and rapid prototyping, and that is correct of course – but in our opinion the benefits are even greater after deployment, when business requirements…

April Fool’s Day is just around the corner. Will malware make a fool of millions of computer users, or is the release date of the next version of the menacing Conficker worm just a red herring? And if so, what is really in store for computer security this spring?

“It’s quite possible that Conficker will not do anything significant on April 1,” said Graham Cluley, a senior security consultant at Sophos. “The truth is that Conficker is not set to activate a specific payload on that date. Rather, on April 1 Conficker will begin to attempt to contact the 50,000-a-day potential call-home Web servers from which it may receive updates.”

Indeed, Cluley said it’s just as likely that Conficker will do something on March 28, or April 2, or April 14 as it will on April 1. He called the emphasis by some media outlets on April 1 “really unfortunate.”

A Y2K Repeat?

From reading the news coverage, one might think a Y2K-esque doomsday is coming shortly as the computer-security world awaits the Conficker release. The Sun newspaper in London said, “Millions of computers around the world could go into meltdown on April 1 because of a deadly virus. The Windows worm called Conficker could give a hacker unrestricted access to every infected machine on the planet.”

Meanwhile, Canada’s The Globe and Mail reported, “Deep within the World Wide Web, there is an undercurrent of potential chaos building — a malicious piece of code that has already prompted the French military to ground some fighter planes.”

Like Sophos, security firm F-Secure is also making it clear that it’s unlikely anything major will happen on April 1. F-Secure noted there is always widespread media hype when a worm has a date trigger.

“There is not going to be a ‘global virus attack,’” F-Secure said. “The machines that…

The invitations have been sent out (and posted to the Web), so it’s official: The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will be from June 8 to June 12 at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco.

Speculation about possible announcements is already running rampant on the Web, with predictions concentrated on three themes: The release of a new version of Mac OS X, dubbed Snow Leopard; an announcement of features and a release date for a new version of the iPhone; and the future role of CEO Steve Jobs.

Focus on Development

Longtime Apple watcher Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret, said that regardless of what Apple might have up its sleeve, the primary focus of the conference will be on software development.

“It’s a developers’ conference,” Gartenberg said, “so it’s going to likely be about things of primary interest to that audience. That means we’ll likely hear some more about the 3.0 iPhone release, and it would also be a good place for Apple to talk more about Snow Leopard and what it means for developers.”

That’s consistent with Apple’s own promotion for the conference. According to the splash page on the new WWDC site, the conference will “provide developers and IT professionals with in-depth technical information and hands-on learning about the powerful technologies in iPhone OS and Mac OS X from the Apple engineers who created them.”

Apple expects at least a thousand Mac OS developers to attend the conference and participate in “detailed technical sessions to teach you how to take full advantage of new foundation technologies to ensure your application is ready and completely optimized for Mac OS X Snow Leopard.”

Looking for Big Announcements

As enthusiastic as developers no doubt are about getting the inside scoop on OS features, attendees and the media will be eagerly watching to see if Apple…

In Wednesday’s highly anticipated keynote address at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata offered a list of positive developments for the company’s fans.

The big news was the continued popularity of the Wii platform. In the three years since the Wii was introduced, Nintendo has sold more than 50 million of the innovative consoles.

“Almost no one expected them to reach the current level of mainstream acceptance,” Iwata said. “It’s even beyond what we possibly hoped for.”

He said the Nintendo DS portable has done even better, selling more than 100 million units in 51 months, making it the most popular portable gaming device in history. One of the more interesting questions right now is how long the Nintendo DS will continue to hold that title, given the enormous popularity of Apple’s iPhone.

More SD Storage and Faster Launch

From a practical perspective, the most important announcement was that Nintendo has vastly improved the Wii’s storage capacity. At the same time Iwata was speaking, Nintendo announced the release of a Wii System Update with support for high-capacity SD cards (up to 32 gigabytes) in the console’s SD slot. Purchasers can now download games directly to SD cards, rather than the Wii’s surprisingly small two-gigabyte internal drive.

SD cards will make the Wii experience even more enjoyable for consumers. Nintendo estimates Wii users will be able to store as many as 240 games on a single 32GB SD card. Since games can be launched directly from the SD card, they will also load faster, which will improve the user experience.

New Titles Announced

In addition to the improved storage, Iwata announced several new titles for the Wii and the DS. The well-known franchise Zelda will appear for the DS later this year in a game entitled The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

Beginning in May,…

Apple is all over the news this week, for better or worse. Two lawsuits have been filed against the company, a hubbub is brewing over the App Store refund policy, and a new application rolled out in the midst of it all.

First the lawsuits. Affinity Labs has filed suit against Apple for allegedly infringing on the 772 patent entitled Audio System and Method by “selling digital audio through the iTunes software application on a personal computer and through the iTunes mobile software application on the iPhone and iPod touch line of products.”

Affinity also alleges Apple has infringed on its patents that cover the System and Method for Communicating Selected Information to an Electronic Device and Content Delivery System and Method. Affinity is seeking financial recompense and a court order to stop Apple from violating its intellectual property.

iPhone Under Legal Fire

In a double whammy, Accolade Systems is also suing Apple. Accolade alleges that Apple is violating its patent indirectly by using CMOS image sensors in the iPhone’s camera. Specifically, Accolade says Aptina Imaging and Micro are violating its CMOS sensor patent. Apple uses those technologies in its iPhone.

Apple wasn’t immediately available to comment on the lawsuits.

“The fact that there are lawsuits against Apple is no surprise. If you want to sue someone, you go after someone with deep pockets, and it appears that Apple is the target of a lawsuit almost on a regular basis,” said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. “At the end of the day the courts will decide which, if any, of these suits have any merit.”

The App Store Refund

The next controversy centers on the App Store. Reportedly, the developer agreement could drive developers into bankruptcy if Apple decides to enforce it. News reports indicate a clause in the developer agreement concerning refunds. It seems…