Apple discreetly updates AirPort Extreme base station

As expected, Apple has released a refreshed AirPort Extreme base station. However, it’s barely an upgrade, unless Apple’s just playing coy about revealing any major tweaks.

Like the previous version, the updated AirPort Extreme allows up to 50 simultaneous users to access dual-band Wi-Fi networking. Apple didn’t change any notable specifications and still labels the AirPort Extreme as “new.” It’s possible the device has been changed under the hood and tweaked to offer better performance, … Continue Reading

Box.net starts move to new Palo Alto office (exclusive)

Enterprise cloud-storage provider Box.net is preparing to move into new quarters, a larger office space located between Palo Alto and Los Altos Hills, VentureBeat has learned. Box.net chief executive Aaron Levie confirmed the move in a phone call Tuesday afternoon.

The move, which will happen in the next four to eight weeks, follows the quick growth the company has seen since it launched in 2005. Box.net raised $48 million in its most recent round of … Continue Reading

Ping Identity grabs $21M for cloud identity security

Ping Identity, a cloud-security company, said Tuesday it secured a second round of funding of $21 million. The funding will be used for product development and increased sales efforts.

Ping offers several tools to secure a company’s identity in the cloud, including PingFederate, software that allows employees and customers to access a number of online applications with a single, secure username and password. It also offers PingConnect, an online version that can integrate with popular … Continue Reading

“Snitches get stitches.” LulzSec seeks payback after UK arrest

Hacker group LulzSec has identified and released private information about the names of two individuals that might have led to the arrest of a 19-year-old U.K. man suspected of being a member of the group.

The new release recalls tactics employed by hacker group Anonymous, a group known for digging for personal information and posting it on the web in retaliation for attacks on its members. LulzSec actually began working with Anonymous recently when they … Continue Reading

Google adding Skype-like abilities to Chrome

Google plans to add real-time communications abilities into the Chrome browser, according to an announcement on Google’s Chromium-dev group. Using its own WebRTC project at its base, the company will attempt to enable real-time communications through Chrome and then, potentially, other browsers like Firefox and Opera.

Having voice and video calling through a web browser would eliminate the need for a stand-alone program like Skype, the current leader in worldwide video calling. Users would instead … Continue Reading

Entrepreneur of the Year finalist: “Never run away from a fight”

This sponsored post is part of a series of profiles on Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” finalists. Click here to keep up with the rest of the series.

I met with Vlad Shmunis recently, founder and CEO of RingCentral and finalist for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year competition. Vlad and I discussed the type of personality it takes to start a successful company, and he shared some advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.… Continue Reading

Hulu for sale? Company mulls offer from undisclosed bidder.

Is Hulu up for sale? CNBC and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that the streaming-video service is mulling an unsolicited bid from a company whose identity is not being disclosed. Hulu, which scrapped plans for an IPO last December, may find more interest among buyers looking to strengthen their hand in the burgeoning market for online video.

Unnamed sources quoted in the Journal story said Hulu’s board is weighing its options, which include “soliciting … Continue Reading

Wii U priced near $600 on Australian game retailer site

How much will the Wii U cost? A hint might be found on EB Games Australia, which is pricing Nintendo’s next home console at $598 Australian dollars, or roughly $634 in US dollars.

Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto said Tuesday that the Wii U would not feature graphics significantly more powerful than current console generations. That’s because the Wii U was intended to strike a balance somewhere between bringing in high-definition graphics and remaining cheap and accessible … Continue Reading

Microsoft: NUads “will change television as we know it—forever”

Today Microsoft promised to transform TV advertising into an interactive experience, unveiling the highly anticipated ad platform for the Kinect called NUads. The platform uses the voice and gesture controls of Kinect for the Xbox 360, and will allow people to interact with television commercials as early as Spring 2012.

“I try to avoid hyperbole,” said Microsoft’s Mark Kroese, who oversees advertising for entertainment and devices. “But in this case of NUads and Kinect, I’m … Continue Reading

Adobe’s subscription-based editing software pays off in Q2

Adobe posted steady earnings and revenue growth Tuesday that exceeded the expectations of Wall Street analysts thanks to the introduction of a new subscription-based model for its popular photo-editing and design software.

Adobe’s revenue rose 9 percent to $1.023 billion in the second quarter of 2011, up from $943 million in the same quarter a year earlier. That’s also higher than the $996 million in revenue Wall Street analysts were expecting. Net profit of 55 … Continue Reading

Security firm releases seven handles of suspected LulzSec members

Security firm Imperva said Tuesday it has assembled a profile of the activities of hacker group LulzSec and may have identified some members of the group, according to The Guardian.

Imperva claims that there are 10 or fewer hackers within LulzSec, a group that seems to have spun off from Anonymous, another high-profile hacker group. The group uses web vulnerabilities to attack sites with SQL injection attacks and distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS), the … Continue Reading

Dropbox bug drops passwords, underscoring the cloud’s risks

Cloud storage service Dropbox disclosed Monday that all of its users’ files were publicly accessible for nearly four hours on Sunday due a bug in the company’s authentication mechanism. From 1:54 p.m. to 5:41 p.m., anyone could access a Dropbox account without using the correct password.

“This should never have happened,” Dropbox co-founder and CTO Arash Ferdowsi wrote on the company blog. “We are scrutinizing our controls and we will be implementing additional safeguards to … Continue Reading

See month-long iTunes live music festival for free on your mobile device

No need to fight the crowds, dig up your passport, or book a flight: Apple announced today that performances during July’s iTunes Festival in London can be streamed live in HD from Live Nation Studios to your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch for free with the iTunes Festival London 2011 App.

Starting July 1st and ending July 31st, concerts from more than 60 artists including Coldplay, Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, Adele, Paul Simon, My Chemical … Continue Reading

Postano helps brands clean-up their social media act

A brand’s social media is often left hanging lifelessly in cyberspace. All of those Twitter tweets, Facebook status updates, YouTube videos, press releases, etc. are disconnected and unorganized, not to mention hard to find for future use.

A new postcasting platform is changing that, and men’s fashion Magazine GQ  will soon take it live.

That platform is called Postano and it is being released today by TigerLogic, the Irvine, California-based data manager and application developer … Continue Reading

Apple’s Final Cut Pro X now available, Express and Server editions discontinued

Apple’s Final Cut Pro X, the latest update to its popular professional video editing software, is available for download today from the Mac App Store after first being announced in April. The software retails for $299.99.

The newest release of Final Cut promises to be the most powerful version ever because it includes 64-bit support for the first time ever. That means it will be able to use more than 4 gigabytes of RAM for … Continue Reading

iPhone 5 rumors: Major hardware update, coming in August?

Despite plenty of earlier rumors to the contrary, Apple’s iPhone 5 may end up looking much different from the current iPhone 4, and it may launch sometime in August, according to the mobile site Boy Genius Report.

A “reliable source” tells the site that Apple is working on a “radical case design” for the new phone — perhaps similar to the ultrathin and tapered design we saw in April. Other rumors have pointed to the … Continue Reading

U.S. DOE commits $136M loan guarantee to New Hampshire wind farm

The U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday it has granted a $136 million conditional loan guarantee to Granite Reliable Power for a 99-megawatt wind farm project in New Hampshire.

The wind farm will be located in northern New Hampshire, a rural area around 110 miles north of Concord. The project could generate enough electricity to power 20,000 homes, but it could also draw resistance from local residents.

Other wind power projects have been slowed or … Continue Reading