(Reuters) – Microsoft Corp's Xbox Live and Sony Corp's PlayStation Networks experienced user connection problems on Christmas Day, for which a hacker group claimed responsibility. The group, called Lizard Squad, could not be reached for comment, and the companies did not give a reason for the connectivity issues. Both companies expected heavy use as people who received Microsoft Xbox players or Sony PlayStations on Christmas tried to hook up. …
By Eric Kelsey and Mary Milliken LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Sony Pictures will make its controversial comedy, “The Interview,” available starting on Wednesday through online video platforms run by Google Inc , Microsoft Corp and Sony itself, the studio said. Sony, which just last week canceled the release of the comedy – about two TV talk show hosts who are sent to North Korea to assassinate its leader Kim Jong Un – is now looking for ways to widen its distribution beyond a small group of some 200 independent theaters. …
By Jack Kim and Lesley Wroughton SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korea, at the center of a confrontation with the United States over the hacking of Sony Pictures, experienced a complete Internet outage for hours before links were restored on Tuesday, a U.S. company that monitors Internet infrastructure said. New Hampshire-based Dyn said the reason for the outage was not known but could range from technological glitches to a hacking attack. Several U.S. officials close to the investigations of the attack on Sony Pictures said the U.S. …
By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama moved to prevent U.S. anger at North Korea from spiraling out of control on Sunday by saying the massive hacking of Sony Pictures was not an act of war but instead was cyber-vandalism. Washington's long-standing dispute with North Korea, which for years has centered on its nuclear weapons program, has entered new territory with the accusation that Pyongyang carried out an assault on a major Hollywood entertainment company. …
By Steve Holland and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama vowed on Friday to respond to a devastating cyber attack on Sony Pictures that he blamed on North Korea, and scolded the Hollywood studio for caving in to what he described as a foreign dictator imposing censorship in America. Obama said the cyber attack caused a lot of damage to Sony but that the company should not have let itself be intimidated into halting the public release of “The Interview,” a lampoon portraying the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. …
By Dan Levine SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) – Google will try to persuade a U.S. judge on Thursday to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit over its Android smartphone operating system, as the Internet search company faces increased regulatory pressure from European authorities. The hearing in San Jose, California, federal court is over the lawsuit filed by two smartphone consumers who say Google Inc requires Android handset manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to restrict competing apps like Microsoft Corp's Bing search, partly by making Google's own apps the default. …
By David Ingram (Reuters) – Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc has been sued in a class action by two people who described themselves as former employees and accused the company of failing to protect employee data. The lawsuit against Sony Corp's Hollywood movie studio, filed on Monday in federal court in Los Angeles, alleged that Sony failed to both secure its computer network and to stop hackers. The plaintiffs are asking for compensation for any damages as well as credit monitoring services, identity theft insurance and other assistance for themselves and any former or current U.S. …
By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Sony Pictures Entertainment told certain news organizations on Sunday to stop publishing information contained in documents stolen by hackers who attacked the movie studio's computer network last month, three media groups reported. The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety published stories reporting that they had each received a letter from David Boies, an attorney for Sony, demanding that the outlets stop reporting information contained in the documents and immediately destroy them. …
When was the last time you untagged yourself from a photo on Facebook? What about excluding yourself from a conversation thread that distracted you, or tried to delete a post […]
(Reuters) – Facebook Inc is secretly working on a new website called “Facebook at Work” that would allow users to keep their personal profile separate from their work profile, the Financial Times reported. The new website, that will look very much like Facebook, will compete with professional social network LinkedIn Corp, Google Inc, and Microsoft Corp, the newspaper said. (http://on.ft.com/1vgu64P) Facebook's new site will allow users to chat with colleagues, connect with professional contacts and collaborate over documents, the newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources. …