Wendi Deng spoof account throws doubt on Twitter’s verification system
With a slow start to the new year, much has been made of Rupert Murdoch’s arrival on Twitter. Within hours, his wife Wendi also appeared on the site, chatting away with Rupert and various celebrities, such as Ricky Gervais. Both accounts came with the little blue “tick” logo that Twitter uses to indicate it has independently verified the account is who they say they are.
Except Wendi was a spoof. She de-cloaked this afternoon with the following tweets: Read more
In 2006, during the traditional speech that follows the Last Night of the Proms, the conductor Mark Elder bemoaned the effect that new aircraft baggage restrictions were having on instrument-carrying musicians. Noting that the rules still allowed laptops, he joked: “It seems to me that next year we should all look forward to Concerto for Laptop and Orchestra.”
Many a true word is spoken in jest – and a quick search online would probably have led Elder to Princeton University, where a group of tech-savvy musicians had already gone one better. Co-founded in 2005 by Professors Dan Trueman and Perry Cook, the Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk) was the first serious attempt to put together a computer-only musical ensemble.
Cyberthieves have cost US companies and their banks more than $15bn in the past five years, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation found in a recent study.
Yet regulators say banks could have prevented most of the crime if available security software had been put in place. New US guidelines directing all banks to increase security came into effect this week, designed especially to help protect commercial accounts. But as 2011 drew to a close they had not yet fully sunk in or convinced banks to raise the bar against criminals as needed, regulators warn.
Soundcloud raises $50m from Kleiner Perkins
Tech news from around the web:
Soundcloud, the Berlin-based “YouTube for audio”, has raised $50m at a $200m valuation, Mike Butcher of TechCrunch Europe reports. Silicon Valley venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led the round, giving an early boost to the European tech scene’s prospects for 2012, with Berlin in particular tipped for great things this year. Read more
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Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
