The Independent Newspaper And CNBC Have Been Hacked | ||
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The Independent newspaper and the CNBC website have been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA). The messages appeared on Thursday at around midday. The SEA is a well-known hacking group set up in 2011 in response to coverage of terrorism by western media. The SEA, a pro-Assad Regime organisation, uses phishing, spamming, and malware to disrupt the internet. The hacks today are the latest attacks in a long line — in the past the SEA has hit the likes of Microsoft, Skype, and even, according to the activists, the Twitter and Facebook accounts of US President Barack Obama.
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Microsoft Accidentally Announced That It's Acquiring A Company (MSFT) | ||
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Someone at Microsoft made a big mistake. TechCrunch reports that people who had subscribed to the official Microsoft blog via its RSS feed had a surprise yesterday when a new post appeared titled "blank post please delete." There weren't any clues to its meaning in the body of the post itself, either, which also simply read "blank post, please delete." But it was the URL of the post that was really interesting: http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2014/11/25/microsoft-acquires-acompli/
No post with that URL exists on the Microsoft blog, so the "blank post" was taken down as soon as it was published. But the URL reads as if Microsoft is planning an announcement of a company called Acompli. Accompli is an email app for iOS and Android that includes an integrated calendar and helps people find the most important messages from their inbox. It's certainly a good fit for Microsoft, with The Verge already calling it the "Outlook for iPhone." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The European Parliament Just Voted To Break Up Google (GOOG) | ||
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The European Parliament has passed a historic vote to break up US tech giant Google. The EU doesn't actually have the power to break up the company, but it does send a message to Google that the EU is unhappy with its business practises. Legislators in Strasbourg voted 458 to 173 in favour of the proposal. The European Parliament has never voted to break up a company before, making this a historic decision. The antitrust commission is concentrating on four areas of investigation:
There's no specific mention of Google in the vote, but the decision makes it clear that the EU is unhappy with its search engine's dominance. Google has been the subject of a four-year anti-trust investigation in Europe, which still hasn't reached a conclusion. It's unlikely that Europe will try and separate Google's search business from its other products, but the strong message could lead to a resolution in the anti-trust dispute. Google has suggested a series of concessions, but all have been rejected. If the dispute continues, Google could face a fine of up to $5 billion. In a statement released to the media, the draft bill's authors explained the reasoning behind their decision: In case the proceedings against Google carry on without any satisfying decisions and the current anti-competitive behaviour continues to exist, a regulation of the dominant online web search should be envisaged. Google dominates the European search engine market, with 90% of web searches passing through Google Search. That's a far bigger share of the market than the US, where Google accounts for 68% of searches.
In October, Google removed thumbnail images and snippets of text from news results belonging to a group of German newspapers. The publisher, Axel Springer, was angry that Google was reposting its content to enhance search results. But the German publishing group later scrapped its plan to reduce its Google results to headlines after traffic plummeted. A letter published by Axel Springer chief executive Mathias Döpfner claimed that German publishers are "afraid of Google" because of its dominance. This is a developing story, refresh the page for more details. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The US company has already tried to work with European companies to try and ease their worries about its service. The Independent Newspaper And CNBC Have Been Hacked | ||
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The Independent newspaper and the CNBC website have been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA). The messages appeared on Thursday at around midday. The SEA is a well-known hacking group set up in 2011 in response to coverage of terrorism by western media. The SEA, a pro-Assad Regime organisation, uses phishing, spamming, and malware to disrupt the internet. The hacks today are the latest attacks in a long line of them. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Sheep flock to Eiffel Tower as French farmers cry wolf | ||
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Paris (AFP) - French farmers flocked to the Eiffel Tower on Thursday, sheep in tow, to express their frustration over increasing attacks by wolves which some say have been "overprotected" by the government. Sheep lazily grazed at the foot of the French capital's most famous monument as the farmers gathered under grey skies to demand an effective plan to stop the wolf attacks. "Today farmers, tomorrow unemployed," read one banner, while one of the protesters dressed as a wolf carried around a lamb. The farmers were not alone: animal rights activists calling for the protection of wolves also made an appearance under the Eiffel Tower. The protesters are due to meet Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll later in the day, and the sheep are expected to accompany them to the ministry. "There is nothing natural about being eaten by wolves. We are against wolves from the moment they attack our farms," Claude Font, head of a sheep farmers' organisation from the central region of Auvergne, said ahead of the protest. French farmers have grown increasingly angry over the rise in wolf populations. The animals were hunted almost to extinction in France in the 1930s, but crossed back into the country from Italy in the 1990s. They are now protected and number around 300. Plans to introduce a group of wild bears into mountains on the edge of the French Pyrenees also raised ire earlier this year. The last official figures in August showed 4,800 wolf attacks, mostly on sheep, so far this year -- about 1,000 more than the same time in 2013. France's Environment Minister Segolene Royal stepped into the row in June, saying that attacks by wolves had become too frequent. "The damage to herders has become too great," she said in a statement. The distress of the farmers and their families should be better taken into account," she said. Claire, a sheep farmer from Drome in the southeast, said the constant threat of wolf attacks was "an enormous daily stress... it is omnipresent and oppressive, farmers around me feel helpless." "Those who wanted to overprotect them are going to kick themselves. The wolf reproduces and moves around very fast, she added. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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'Distasteful' World War I Christmas Ad Won't Be Banned Despite Hundreds Of Complaints | ||
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The UK's advertising regulator has not found grounds to investigate this year's Christmas ad from supermarket Sainsbury's, despite the commercial sparking 727 complaints claiming it was "offensive" because it uses a World War I tale to promote the brand, and separate allegations that it was "misleading" because it was not clear from the outset that the spot was an ad. The ad, created by agency AMV BBDO, depicts the remarkable true story of real events that took place on Christmas day 1914, when troops on both sides of the conflict downed their weapons, emerged form their trenches and exchanged seasonal songs and gifts. The two armies also played friendly games of football to mark the festive occasion, an image also featured in the ad. The Advertising Standards Authority assessed the complaints received, but has decided there are not grounds for investigation and is closing the case. In a statement the UK ad watchdog adds: "While we recognize that some have found the use of the First World War for advertising purposes to be distasteful, the ad is not likely to break the rules surrounding harm or offense. We also considered that the ad is obviously distinguishable from editorial content and is therefore not likely to mislead." Alongside the TV campaign, Sainsbury's has partnered with the Royal British Legion to sell the vintage-looking chocolate bar that appears in the ad in stores for £1, with 50p of each purchase going to the charity. Sainsbury's told Marketing Week earlier this month that it was selling 5,000 of the chocolate bars every hour. The ad has been viewed more than 12 million times on YouTube, although many of the comments below the video are critical of the choice of storyline. One user, Beckie02, writes: "I wish this wasn't an advert... :/. The motivation behind it’s [SIC] creation sullies it. It feels a bit tasteless/wrong...As a video on it's own, it's good." However, there are also swathes of users praising the ad in the YouTube comments. You can watch it yourself here: SEE ALSO: Sainsbury’s Christmas Commercial Has Blown John Lewis' Penguin Out Of The Water Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Microsoft Accidentally Announced That It's Acquiring A Company (MSFT) | ||
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Someone at Microsoft made a big mistake. TechCrunch reports that people who had subscribed to the official Microsoft blog via its RSS feed had a surprise yesterday when a new post appeared titled "blank post please delete." There weren't any clues to its meaning in the body of the post itself, either, which also simply read "blank post, please delete." But it was the URL of the post that was really interesting: http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2014/11/25/microsoft-acquires-acompli/
No post with that URL exists on the Microsoft blog, so the "blank post" was taken down as soon as it was published. But the URL reads as if Microsoft is planning an announcement of a company called Acompli. Accompli is an email app for iOS and Android that includes an integrated calendar and helps people find the most important messages from their inbox. It's certainly a good fit for Microsoft, with The Verge already calling it the "Outlook for iPhone." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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France's Stock Market Just Broke For Three And A Half Hours | ||
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France's major stock index, the CAC 40, just came back online after three and a half hours out of action due to a technical issue. Trading went on as normal, according to Euronext, which runs the index. They say that the "investigation regarding the calculation and dissemination of all Euronext indices and INAVs (indicative net asset values) is ongoing". This isn't quite like the NASDAQ glitch last year, which halted activity entirely. Everything seems to be going on correctly behind the scenes, but the index didn't display anything for hours, putting some investors a little one edge. These glitches used to be more common, due to issues like squirrels chewing through the wrong wires. Whatever the fault is, it also stopped indices in the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal opening too, according to Bloomberg. The CAC 40 just opened up +0.09% after three and a half hours down. There's one good thing to come out of this: we now know that a technical glitch is "un bug technique" in French. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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The European Parliament Just Voted To Break Up Google (GOOG) | ||
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The European Parliament has passed a historic vote to break up US tech giant Google. The EU doesn't actually have the power to break up the company, but it does send a message to Google that the EU is unhappy with its business practises. Legislators in Strasbourg voted 458 to 173 in favour of the proposal. The European Parliament has never voted to break up a company before, making this a historic decision. The antitrust commission is concentrating on four areas of investigation:
There's no specific mention of Google in the vote, but the decision makes it clear that the EU is unhappy with its search engine's dominance. Google has been the subject of a four-year anti-trust investigation in Europe, which still hasn't reached a conclusion. It's unlikely that Europe will try and separate Google's search business from its other products, but the strong message could lead to a resolution in the anti-trust dispute. Google has suggested a series of concessions, but all have been rejected. If the dispute continues, Google could face a fine of up to $5 billion. In a statement released to the media, the draft bill's authors explained the reasoning behind their decision: In case the proceedings against Google carry on without any satisfying decisions and the current anti-competitive behaviour continues to exist, a regulation of the dominant online web search should be envisaged. Google dominates the European search engine market, with 90% of web searches passing through Google Search. That's a far bigger share of the market than the US, where Google accounts for 68% of searches.
In October, Google removed thumbnail images and snippets of text from news results belonging to a group of German newspapers. The publisher, Axel Springer, was angry that Google was reposting its content to enhance search results. But the German publishing group later scrapped its plan to reduce its Google results to headlines after traffic plummeted. A letter published by Axel Springer chief executive Mathias Döpfner claimed that German publishers are "afraid of Google" because of its dominance. This is a developing story, refresh the page for more details. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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EU Parliament votes to break up Google | ||
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Strasbourg (France) (AFP) - The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly for the break-up of Google Thursday in a largely symbolic vote that still cast another blow in the four-year standoff between Brussels and the US Internet giant. In a direct challenge to Google, MEPs assembled in Strasbourg approved a resolution calling on the EU to consider ordering search engines to separate their commercial services from their businesses. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Visa Becomes Latest World Cup Sponsor To Castigate FIFA Over Corruption Allegations | ||
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Visa has become the latest World Cup sponsor to publicly criticize football's governing body FIFA for its handling of the investigation into alleged corruption over the bidding process that will see Russia holding the 2018 tournament and the 2022 competition being held in Qatar. Marketing Week reports that Visa — which has a contract with FIFA to sponsor the World Cup until 2022, at an estimated value of £120 million over a four-year tournament-long period, according to sponsorship agency BrandRapport — is calling for more "forthright communications" from FIFA. Visa released this statement on its corporate Tumblr page: "We are troubled by the recent events surrounding FIFA. In our discussions we have clearly stated that greater transparency and more open, forthright communications is not only paramount, but the only way in which public trust in FIFA, and all that it represents, will be restored. It is our expectation that FIFA will act accordingly and take swift action to resolve these issues in a manner that is meaningful and visible to all." FIFA has an ever-growing crisis on its hands: it needs to hold on to the support of its sponsors as they account for 40% its commercial revenue, according to its latest financial filings. But that support is waning, at least as far as corporate communications are concerned. Visa's statement comes in the same week Coca-Cola said the handling of FIFA's botched investigation into the bidding process has been "disappointing." It adds to the growing negative tenor between sponsors and FIFA — other sponsors including Adidas, Hyundai, Sony and Budweiser have all previously released statements criticizing FIFA and the media storm it has created surrounding the World Cup bidding process — and brands are looking to distance themselves from the scandals. A report in the Wall Street Journal this week suggested that Sony is close to terminating its contract with FIFA altogether, partly due to the controversy surrounding FIFA's investigation. The contract is up for renewal this year. Earlier this month Emirates announced it was ending its sponsorship of the World Cup after an eight-year partnership with FIFA, "following an evaluation of FIFA's contract proposal which did not meet Emirates' expectations." Most people took that to read that Emirates was uneasy about the corruption claims surrounding the bid process for the World Cup, particularly the 2022 tournament held in Qatar. However, the decision may also have been made because the brand is in a far more prominent place than it was back in 2006, and the brand awareness opportunity a World Cup can offer is no longer necessary. Emirates' contract also came to an end in 2014 anyway. Sponsors have become increasingly perturbed with FIFA after the governing body released a summary of report on its investigation into the World Cup bidding process, cleaning the winning Qatar and Russia bids of any corruption. Shortly after its publication, the summary was disowned by FIFA's own ethics chief Michael Garcia, who said the report had been "misrepresented." FIFA announced last week it was lodging a criminal complaint with the Swiss attorney general regarding "possible misconduct of individual persons in connection with the awarding of the hosting rights of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups." The Mail on Sunday reports that five officials with connections to FIFA are at the center of the investigation. But FIFA's ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert said there was not enough evidence to question the entire bidding process. Awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar has been controversial decision. Qatar said earlier this month it will not be able to keep its promise to hold the 2022 World Cup in the summer — completely disrupting European football seasons and potentially clashing with the Winter Olympics — its original $200 billion construction proposal has already seen 12 stadiums cut to eight, and the country's football body is continually fending off accusations of poor workers' conditions and a mounting death toll, which at the last report stood at around 900. But despite the growing furore FIFA is facing at the moment, most sponsorship experts that Business Insider has spoken to don't think a widespread boycott is likely. The World Cup is an unrivaled marketing opportunity in terms of scale and, if a sponsor were to pull out, one of their rivals would be all-too-glad to step in. Statement's like Visa's appear to be an attempt at brand damage limitation. SEE ALSO: World Cup Sponsors Are Coming Out And Criticizing FIFA's Disastrous Corruption Investigation Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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