Tag Archives: brad hill

The outrage and sadness of Google Reader’s demise

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DNP Editorial The many outrages of Google Reader's demise

Pope Who?

White smoke over the Vatican doesn't stand a chance as a trending topic next to the black cloud over one of Google's most beloved products. Google Reader has landed on the company's sunset list, and will wink out of existence on July 1. Problem is, Reader is not as widely beloved as its most fervid users assume. And speaking of trending topics, the extinction of Reader signifies the mainstream rejection of RSS as a hands-on tool for organizing a living library of real-time information flow. It has been eclipsed by social content discovery. As Brian Alvey, chief scientist of Ceros and creator of Blogsmith (Engadget's publishing platform) noted, "Dear RSS: @Twitter won."

More broadly speaking, Reader's ultimate fail is the latest major rebalancing of the internet's legacy symmetry of "push" and "pull."

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Editorial: Countering ID theft requires better awareness campaigns

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DNP Editorial Increasing identity theft requires better awareness campaigns

Evernote's massive password reset last week was the most recent demonstration of leaky security around consumer locks and keys. Dropbox, LinkedIn, Twitter and others preceded the Evernote action. These anxiety-producing consumer annoyances occur over a backdrop of increased cyber-attack news. Chinese hackers are spotlighted in many recent disruptions, substantiated by Akamai's report of originating-attack countries for Q3 2012, which shows China's percentage of worldwide cyber exploits doubling from the previous quarter.

Precautionary password resets, as in the Evernote case, are minor aggravations. But the larger danger of password insecurity and increased cyber-malice is the swift domino effect that can lead to identity theft of the Mat Honan variety. Absolute personal cyber-security is probably a mirage. But there is not enough public education from industry that might reduce millions of easy targets.

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