Ok Ok Ok. Is it NOW Tim...

Monday of this week, news broke of Facebook buying Instagram for $1bn in cash and stock or 12x what Kodak was. Not bad for a company that is at most two years old including a pivot, and yes, no revenue. It wasn't until late 2010, though, that they released the product which is...

Ok Ok Ok. Is it NOW Tim...

Monday of this week, news broke of Facebook buying Instagram for $1bn in cash and stock or 12x what Kodak was. Not bad for a company that is at most two years old including a pivot, and yes, no revenue. It wasn't until late 2010, though, that they released the product which is...

Wipe It! Security Hole ...

There’s panic about a security hole in Facebook’s iOS and Android apps that surfaced this week , but the threat of identity theft is being blown out of proportion. You only need to worry if your phone is actually stolen, and even then a hacker would need it to be jailbroken, use tools like iExplore, or they’d have to take the device apart. Once a hacker has full physical access to your phone, you have a lot more than Facebook to worry about, as the thief could steal your contacts, cookies, and access all your apps if the phone was unlocked. Really, this security hole highlights the new dangers of having your phone stolen. Owners should make sure they have a remote wipe solution ready to nuke all their data or else things could get ugly quick. So here’s what happened. Developer Gareth Wright published a blog post this week stating that there’s some ways for hackers to read the .plist file of a user’s Facebook for iOS or Android app that contains the app’s access token, full oAuth key and secret. With that a hacker could log into your Facebook account and act as you, as well as log into third-party apps that rely on Facebook’s identity platform. However, experts tell me that details of the post were inaccurate or misleading, namely because Wright didn’t specify that he was using jailbroken devices. The .plist can only be accessed by the Facebook app itself, and not by someone else unless a phone is jailbroken or rooted, or if the flash memory is physically unsoldered from the device. Sure, jailbreaking gives you deep access to your mobile’s hardware as well as the ability to install blackmarket apps, but it also disables critical security measures. Also, if someone has full physical access to your phone, tools like iExplore and others can help them surmount most any security feature. Facebook has released the following statement on the issue: “Facebook’s iOS and Android applications are only intended for use with the manufacture provided operating system, and access tokens are only vulnerable if they have modified their mobile OS (i.e. jailbroken iOS or modded Android) or have granted  a malicious actor access to the physical device. We develop and test our application on an unmodified version of mobile operating systems and rely on the native protections as a foundation for development, deployment and security, all of which is compromised on a jailbroken device. As Apple states, “unauthorized modification of iOS could allow hackers to steal personal information … or introduce malware or viruses.” To protect themselves we recommend all users abstain from modifying their mobile OS to prevent any application instability or security issues.” This is one of those largely theoretical security flaws that makes headlines occasionally. Yes, watch out for plugging your jailbroken phone into a stranger’s stereo dock or USB cable, but really, don’t lose your phone and then not wipe it. Protect yourself by setting up remote wipe through Find My Phone for iOS or Exchange for Android. Then if you get off the train or stumble home from a drunken night to find your phone missing, wipe it first, and start crying/searching/buying a new one later.

New Google Drive Leak P...

Evidence of Google Drive’s existence has been sporadically surfacing for months now, and MG reported last September that Google employees have been using the reborn service in-house for a while now. Now, as the service’s supposed launch draws ever closer, we’re starting to get our first clear glimpses at what Google’s had under lock and key for so long. According to a leaked screenshot obtained by TalkAndroid , Google Drive could offer even more functionality than earlier reports suggested — if legitimate, then Google Drive users could have access to 5GB of free storage right out of the gate. Their mysterious source also confirmed to them that the service is on track for an official launch during the week of April 16. It seems like a smart move that would best Dropbox’s 2GB of free storage and put Google on even footing with Amazon’s Cloud Drive (Microsoft leads the pack with 25GB of free storage in SkyDrive .) Still, the leak raises a big question — who’s actually got the story right? TalkAndroid’s source sent them another screenshot earlier in the week depicting the Google Drive Windows client in action, and it specifically points out that users have access to 2GB of free storage (though they can “always buy more,” a phrase which reappears in this latest leak). What’s more, the logo depicted in that older screenshot appears to be the same one spotted by GeekWire in February, but this newest screenshot uses a slightly tweaked version that drops the red in favor of green. Is this the sign of a clever fake, or a last-minute rebranding effort on Google’s part? Meanwhile, Om Malik seemed awfully confident when he reported earlier this week that Google Drive is poised to launch at some point during the first week of April, with Google offering their users only 1GB of free storage. His sources seemed to confirm the notion that truly voracious users can purchase more cloud storage from Google, though Malik’s sources wouldn’t go details like pricing and storage tiers. It’s obvious that Google Drive is coming, and coming soon, but Google’s going to be playing their last few cards as close to their collective chests as they can. Still, with April fast approaching, I suspect the full story will be unearthed sooner rather than later. Update: TalkAndroid’s source says that the service will launch during the week of the 16th, not necessarily on that day. I’ve changed the headline to reflect this.

Zynga: We Bought OMGPOP...

Zynga has just released a new S-1 in connection with its secondary offering. Among the details: a confirmation of the $180 million sale price for OMGPOP that we’d heard earlier this week, and new details about how the company is planning to let employees sell shares bit by bit. First, about those shares. The company is looking to sell up to 43 million shares (42,969,153 shares to be exact). Zynga’s CEO Mark Pincus will sell 15 percent of his shares, which is worth around $227 million based on yesterday’s stock price. Pincus’ voting power post-sale will go from 36.5 percent to 35.9 percent, according to the filing. Investors IVP, SilverLake, Union Square Ventures, Google, Reid Hoffman are also selling in the offering, as is board member Jeffrey Katzenberg. Owen Van Natta, General Counsel Reggis Davis, COO John Schappert and CFO Dave Wehner are selling shares as well (see chart below). Other employees (larger shareholders) who hold an aggregate of approximately 114,000,000 shares will be released from lock-ups to allow them to sell shares, on closing of the offering. But these employees will still be subject to a blackout period and won’t be able to sell until after the company’s first quarter earnings release in the last week of April. As we reported a few weeks ago , Zynga is trying to manage the lock-up period for employees that could negatively affect the company’s share price. The company says it’s doing this to “facilitate an orderly distribution of shares and to increase the company’s public float,” basically trying to avoid a situation that has happened to other companies with recent initial public offerings. Employees would dump stock all at the same time, and share prices would plummet as a result. While Zynga’s plan gives investors and executives a way to liquidate relatively early, the fact that it locks them up for so long will also make it easier for employees to sell at higher prices. Another interesting tidbit from the filing: we know Zynga bought OMGPOP , the maker of massive Pictionary-like hit Draw Something, as the company announced this week. In the filing, Zynga states that it bought the game developer for a “purchase consideration of approximately $180 million in cash.” On Wednesday, we’d heard that OMGPOP was sold for $180 million plus $30 million in earnout. It’s possible that the $30 million may be just be retention for the startup’s employees, which is why it is not mentioned in the filing. The company also said that its top three games accounted for 83%, 78% and 57% of its online game revenue in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively. Zynga’s share price closed at $13.74 in yesterday’s trading.