Infamous hacking group Anonymous has hacked into and defaced the cached version of the Greek Ministry of Justice’s website apparently in protest against the signing of the controversial ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trademark Agreement) treaty by the Greek Government.

The website with both a written and video message warns authorities that it will take down over 300 media and ministry websites if it doesn’t reverse its course. The treaty has come under criticism due to the secretive way in which it was drafted and the effect it could have for users online.

Following the attack, the sight indicated that it was “Under Construction” but then was changed to display the warning message stating that its next target would be “all the media in Greece” which it would easily access with the correct usernames and passwords it has obtained.

The Greek police have since confirmed the incident and updated their Twitter account to say that its cybercrimes division’s investigation into the incident is already in progress.

In October 2011, Anonymous who is known mostly for their attacks on corporate and big business sites, targeted a web host that knowingly hosted child pornography.

Watch Anonymous’s video message after the jump.

Source: The Next Web

Pocketnow.com has learned new details about the new Windows Phone 8 that include a number of features and themes that were accidentally revealed by senior vice president and Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore in a video intended only for partners at Nokia. The Windows Phone 8 codenamed “Apollo”, is the next version of Microsoft’s mobile operating system that is scheduled for launch after the upcoming Tango update.

According to Belfiore, the overall theme of the Windows Phone 8 hardware ecosystem will be scale and choice in order to address one of the platform’s shortcomings in competing with Android and iPhone based devices’ specifications. More specifically, Windows Phone 8 will have support for multi-core processors and microSD card support will also be added.

NFC (Near Field Communication) will also be supported, with emphasis placed on the phone’s push into contactless payments. The “wallet experience,” as he calls it, will have the capability to be carrier-branded and controlled, either by a secure element on the SIM card or utilizing hardware. In addition, NFC will  allow desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones to share content.

Rather than just share a UI with the next generation desktop and tablet OS, Windows Phone 8 will use many of the same components as Windows 8, allowing developers to re-use most of the code when porting an app from a desktop to the phone. Belfiore specifically mentions that areas of heavy overlap include the kernel, networking stacks, security and multimedia support.

The Xbox Companion app, currently found on Windows Phones, will see a partner client on Windows 8 with Skydrive support promising seamless sharing of data between devices.

At the launch of the new Windows Phone, rumoured to take place sometime in the 4th quarter of this year, Microsoft expects to offer 100 000 apps in the Marketplace. There is also likely to be support for app-to-app communication . A revamped Skype client that hooks directly into the OS, enables Skype calls to behave almost identically to regular calls with a camera app that Microsoft will allow OEM’s to customize.

The biggest news on the app front is likely the addition of native code support, which will enable more powerful applications as well as ease the porting of code from programs initially developed for iOS or Android

In terms of data management a highlighted feature by Belfiore is called DataSmart, a new data management system that will keep track of your downloaded data usage. This is achieved by the phone automatically connecting to Wi-Fi when in range.

Overall, it seems that the above changes are designed either to make the Windows Phone 8 run parallel with other platforms or make it more similar to Windows 8 for desktop. Either way, Microsoft is catching up.

With the launch of the Vodacom App Store in September 2011, the first multiple platform mobile operator application store in Africa, Vodacom is now giving local developers the opportunity to create applications of their very own and benefit from the Vodacom apps eco-system with the Vodacom Developer Programme.

Vodacom’s objective in creating its Developer Programme is to partner and collaborate with the South African developer community and give them the opportunity to actively participate in the service provider’s applications development and gain maximum access to consumers enabling the link between the two.

Once registered, the programme will provide the developer community with technical and commercial support, including training, workshops and innovation incentives. The local developers will have access to distribute their apps to South Africa’s largest mobile network customer base as well as their partners’ international presence . The exposure to international markets aims to increase the revenue potential for the developers through advertising and in the future, app sales revenue shares. It encourages local developers to develop new apps that are relevant to the South African market as well as the global environment.

Developers will receive commercial support with the placement of the app in the ‘featured’ section of the app store, a competitive revenue model, marketing support and app monetisation support. Further technical support will include training workshops, device lab support, onsite coaching, tools for app creation and mentoring for local startups.

Following the implementation of its Developer Programme, Vodacom Digital Media has also launched a competition in which developers are challenged to create the Coolest New App of the Month whereby one developer will be rewarded every month for achieving the Most Downloaded App.

For more info on the Vodacom Developer Programme and the competition click here. 

Unilever’s offices in Switzerland are an example of what is known as ‘agile working.’ Agile working, based on the concept of ‘hot desking’, is a more expansive version of the office organization system where multiple employees share working stations in shifts. Agile working allows staff to work where and when ever they want as long as they get the job done. As you can imagine, in order to ensure that staff remain diligent, the space in which they work needs to be motivating, inspiring, varying and with ample room for productivity.

The brilliant work of award winning architectural and design firm Camenzind Evolution achieved just that. The large expansive space accomodates meeting rooms of different sizes and themes. Every area is adorned with a variety of seating styles in the working and recreational spaces including, tables and chairs, cubicles, large couches, benches and bar stools. Every space is completely different showcasing a sense of fun, innovation and creativity.

Some of the conference spaces are adorned with company brands like Ragu, Omo, or Heartbrand, while other spaces are given company mottos for inspiration.

All in the attention to detail, bright colours and boundless creativity, the Unilever offices are something to be admired and envied.

Source: Stephen Searer for Office Snapshots

As part of its ongoing commitment to cutting-edge software development for the MXit platform, Maxxor recently conducted an indepth survey of its core users. The research exercise was funded by Microsoft South Africa and the results provided some valuable insight into the preferences of MXit users and what apps they want to see available on the social network.

Kethan Parbhoo, Equivalent Programme Lead at Microsoft South Africa said, “We funded the research to help Maxxor understand its customers even better. The results will help Maxxor prepare a roadmap for future product development.”

Maxxor, a software development company, has been developing games for the MXit platform for more than two years and they’ve entertained well in excess of one-million MXit users with at least one of their apps to date. As Adrian Frielinghaus, Head of Online Games at Maxxor, explains, “One of the things we’re asking ourselves is, ‘What apps, besides games, do MXit users want?’ We ran a survey amongst our players and received an overwhelming response – almost 30,000 people completed a 30-question survey. That must be some kind of world record for mobile research, and the results offered us some unique insights.”

As it turns out, MXit users don’t care too much for news headlines.What they do care about is hooking up, having fun, and finding out what their favourite celebrity got up to last night. Therefore in order to appeal to this unique market, MXit app developers need to continually create content that amuses, entertains and connects its users.

Perhaps the best news for mobile software developers is that MXit users don’t mind paying for apps as long as you give them exactly what they want. As Frielinghaus says, “This is precisely because MXit has spent years carefully grooming its users to buy virtual goods with virtual currency. This is made even easier by allowing them to easily convert their airtime into virtual MXit currency.”

In terms of user devices, as might be expected, MXit users mostly use Nokia and Samsung handsets but it is interesting to note that 11% of Maxxor’s MXit users own BlackBerries. This challenges some speculation that rapid BBM growth in the teen and youth market has been detrimental to the MXit platform. This is encouraging news for developers considering the iPhone and BlackBerry platforms, because MXit provides an ideal way to get an app to the front of the mass market queue. The Maxxor research explains exactly what sort of apps will prove successful.

Almost 75% of Maxxor’s surveyed users are accessing the web at least once a day on their mobile phones. In other words, the traditional MXit user is no longer trapped in a “walled garden”. Software developers need to realise that MXit is now part of a greater Internet experience for mobile phone users.

Watch the BandwidthBlog interview with MXit CEO Alan Knott-Craig.

We non-US Apple fans have a bad of a hard deal – all of the best media and many of the top apps just do not show up in the SA iTunes store. So if you are really desperate to get Angry Birds, the only way to get hold of an iTunes voucher is to make Apple believe you live in the US. Luckily that is not too hard, and I will explain to you how to do that here.

Before you get started, you have to know that in order to buy content from the US iTunes store, you will need to buy iTunes vouchers. Your non-US credit card will not work with the US store, but luckily it is easy enough to buy vouchers through sites like WildTwig. But first you need a US iTunes store account:

How to Open Your US iTunes Account:

1) First off, you obviously need iTunes, and an internet connection.

2) Open iTunes, then go to iTunes Store on the left.

3) Make sure you are signed out of any iTunes account. Make sure the top right of the iTunes store states “Sign In”. If it is signed into another account, click on the account name, and click Sign Out.

4) Scroll to the bottom of the iTunes Store page, and click on the country icon. This can be any country’s flag.

5) Choose United States to see the US iTunes Store.

6) Right now you have a better idea of what content is on the US iTunes store. It is very important to do the following exactly – go to AppStore, and select any FREE app. I will repeat. Any FREE app.

7) You will then be asked to enter your iTunes Account details. Remember, even if you have an existing iTunes account, you have  to recreate one with a different email address. If you do not have multiple email addresses, it might be best to go create one in gmail, or hotmail or whatever free email service you want.

Click on Create New Account.

9) You need to fill in some details. Type in your name, surname, date of birth, etc.

10) On the next screen you need to provide payment details. But in order to have a US account, you need to work with vouchers, because your credit card from another country will probably not work. So under payment type, select “None”. If “None” does not appear, it means you did something wrong, but most probably did not click a free app.

Do not fill in any redeem code (we will get to that later).

Under Billing Address you have to use an actual US address. Our best bet is to use a prominent US Hotel as your address. So maybe according to Apple you might be living in the Ritz New York, or the Beverly Hills Hotel. Just copy the address and phone number. Verbatim.

11) Once you click next, Apple will send you a verification email. (If you set up a new email address, you will of course have to check that new email account.)

12) Check your inbox, and open the email from Apple. From there, click on Verify Now.

13) Once you click that link, you will be taken to a Apple webpage, where you need to reenter your new iTunes username and password. You will then be verified.

14) Once the webpage tells you that you are verified, head on back to iTunes, and open the iTunes store again. If you are signed into your new iTunes account, you can start downloading US iTunes apps.

If you are not signed in, it is simple. Click on the top right on Sign In, and use your new iTunes account details.

15) Remember, this account works with vouchers, with which you need to credit your account in order to buy apps. Before you do that, you can only “buy” free apps. If you want to download movies, series or music, you will also need to purchase vouchers. But don’t worry. we will show you how.

Buying iTunes US Vouchers:

So there you have it, now you can access the US iTunes store without any problems. Next up – how to load credit on your iTunes account.

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<a href=”http://treelined.zferral.com/l/3/20924″ title=””><img src=”http://treelined.zferral.com/m/3″ alt=”” title=”” style=”border: none” /></a>We here at Bandwidth Blog don’t like to beat around the bush, so we get our iTunes vouchers from WildTwig. Simply buy it right through their site, and give them an email address to send the Redeem Code to. Once you have the Redeem Code in your inbox, you have to go Redeem it either from your computer or your iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch:

Computer:

1) In iTunes, make sure you are signed into your US account. If you are not, sign out and sign in with the right account.

2) Click On “Redeem”

3) Go and type the Redeem code exactly into iTunes. Click on Redeem.

4) Your Account should now be credited with the amount you purchased.

On your iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch:

1) Open the AppStore

2) Click on Featured, and then scroll all the way to the bottom. Under Account, make sure you are logged into your iTunes account. If not, click on the account, and sign out. Then sign in with your US account.

3) Click on Redeem.

4) Enter your Redeem account exactly form the email your received. Alternatively, copy and paste the code.

5) You should get a notification that your account has been credited.

Now go ahead, and buy whatever content you want – apps, movies, TV shows, and music!

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo recently took the stage at the AllThingsD media conference held California on Monday to defend the company’s new censorship policies.

Last week, the social networking site announced that it would begin to censor tweets and/or users in specific countries to comply with local laws.  In addition to extensive media coverage, the decision sparked outrage among many Twitter users, who gathered under the hashtag #TwitterBlackout and pledged to boycott the service on 28 January.

However, as Costolo stood by the new policy, he argued that the policy would allow for greater freedom of speech among users on the platform rather than inhibit it. Previously, when a government demanded that Twitter remove a tweet or block a user for an offensive or illegal comment, access to that content would be blocked from the entire world. Now, Twitter can simply hide the tweet or user from that specific country only while allowing it to be available for all other users.

“There’s been no change in our stance or attitude or policy with respect to content on Twitter,” Costolo said. “What we announced is a greater capability we now have. Now, when we are issued a valid legal order in a country in which we operate, such as a DMCA takedown notice, we are able to leave the content up for as many people around the world as possible, while still operating within the local law. You can’t operate in these countries and choose the laws you want to abide by.”

Twitter has been very clear about this policy only being about different locations’ interpretation of freedom of expression and not a way to arrest the freedom of information flow. “We want to run Twitter as transparently as possible,” Costolo added. “This is the actual thoughtful and honest approach to doing this.”

Source: Mashable

Facebook has slowly started rolling out the new Timeline profile view for all users, in fact I reckon most readers of this site have probably switched to the new view (if not, you will be forced to use it pretty soon). Today Facebook launched a pretty great new tool to hype up the new Timeline view, simply called Timeline Movie Maker. They built the app with Definition6, and could not be easier to use:

Simply head over to http://www.timelinemoviemaker.com/, and if you are logged into Facebook, a simple green button is displayed to generate your own movie based on your Timeline. The App will request your permission to get some of your details and naturally the photos from your timeline. Using the events and locations in your life, a one minute movie is built that is actually pretty exciting to watch.

Right now it is not yet possible to export this video or share it to sites other than Facebook. This is a pretty great way for Facebook to force users to expand their Timeline events and photos. In fact, if you do not have enough details in your timeline. the Movie Maker will not work.

“We think there will be lots of companies that come up with fun, innovative ways for people to extend the Timeline experience,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.

So have you tried out Timeline Movie Maker? Let us know in the comments.

Source: ZDNet

AndroidandMe has reported a rumour that Samsung will announce the next generation of the Galaxy Tab at the upcoming Mobile World Congress from the 27th February in Barcelona.  The new Tab will feature a dual-core 2 GHz Exynos 5250 processor and feature a display larger than 10 inches with a WXQGA (2560×1600) resolution. The device will run the latest Android 4.0.x.

The website revealed that there is more to its report than rumour, stating it actually saw the device at this year’s CES 2012 expo in Las Vegas when its eyes caught sight of a prototype tablet:  ”I saw one of their prototype tablets which was powered by Exynos 5250 and already running Android 4.0. I actually took pictures of the device (not really knowing what it was), but I was politely asked to delete them from my camera after the briefing was over.”

It was last November already that Samsung announced their dual-core 2 GHz Exynos 5250 processor which is their first mobile processor to feature ARM’s latest Cortex-A15 CPU core. The chip is built on Samsung’s new 32nm High-K Metal Gate (HK/MG) low-power process and it also includes ARM’s next GPU, the Mali-T604.

At the Mobile World Congress last year, Samsung showcased the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 10.1. and so this year many are focussing on the Galaxy S III for this year’s show, but Samsung is still weighing its options and it is unlikely to be announced. However, this does leave the possibility open that Samsung plans to show the new Galaxy Tab instead.

Design Guru is a design & development agency based in Somerset West, Cape Town. It was founded by Creative Director/CEO Jorge Brunner in 2007, and has grown from a single employee to a fully functioning team of 12. This group of talented individuals consists of a creative team of designers, a development team as well as a managerial team. Each of their creative staff offer an array of dynamic solutions and are prepared to work side by side with their clients to ensure that their visions are met. The team creates digital designs that engage their client base and evolve their brand communication. Some clients that have been acquired thus far include; PlayboySA, Riaan Manser, Triggerfish, Andrew Neethling, Hidden Pixel and GraySwan just to name a few.

In order to carry out these tasks, Design Guru finds itself comfortably situated within the CBD of Somerset West. The agency located within the Fairview Centre, has an eclectic mix of industrial rawness and clean modern surfaces. The exposed industrial sections create linear perspectives that compliment the clean white and black walls with a quirky juxtaposition. Wall art pieces, hints of vibrant colour and a closed off brainstorming and relaxation area ensure that the  environment has an inspiring and creative feel.

The open-plan office consists of three main sections: the entrance to reception where clients are welcomed and introduced, the main meeting room that doubles as a photographic area, and the team’s designated work area complete with a recreational section with couches, a foosball table and design inspiration magazines and books. The work area ensures that the Design Guru  team has an efficient environment to tackle the selection of tasks delegated and also a comfortable space to unwind and recharge the creative mind.

BandwidthBlog loves the iconic Banksy image on the door and splashes of bright colour.

Thanks to Design Guru for providing the photographs.