Samsung Electronics says new smart TVs in 2015 to run Tizen platform

Visitors walk past the Samsung stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 24, 2014.

Credit: /Gustau Nacarino

- Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Thursday that all its new smart television products launched in 2015 will be powered by the Tizen operating system, marking a fresh effort by the company to increase the usage of the software platform.

Smart TVs offer additional software and connectivity functions, such as video streaming and web browsing capabilities. Samsung demonstrated TV sets powered by Tizen at developer conferences last year.

"We are focusing our efforts on Tizen right now," Kim Hyun-suk, Samsung's president of visual display business, told in an interview. "We hope that other TV makers will also use it and help build an ecosystem that will help the platform grow."

Televisions would be an addition to the modest stable of Tizen products, which consists of a few smartwatches and cameras despite years of development and support by the world's top maker of smartphones and TVs.

The platform represents the most visible effort on the software front by Samsung, which has sought to free itself from Google Inc's Android platform.

But Tizen has so far failed to take off, due in part to Samsung's failure to launch a smartphone powered by the system. Some analysts are skeptical about the platform's viability despite Samsung's standing as top smartphone maker, especially as Android and Apple Inc's iOS tighten their grip in the smartphone sector.

Developers say that until there is a meaningful user base for Tizen they will have little incentive to make innovative software applications for the system, deemed crucial if Samsung is to convince wary consumers to try it out.

While the launch of Tizen-based TVs will increase the platform's user base, it is unclear if that alone will be enough to pique developers' interest. Users of smart TVs tend to use fewer apps than they would on smartphones.

Still, the operating system is expected to play a key role in Samsung's smart-home business. Tizen can also run on devices with low computing power such as refrigerators and washing machines, offering a way for users to monitor and control such devices remotely.

Samsung did not give sales targets for Tizen-powered TVs.

China's Huawei 2014 smartphone revenue to rise 30 percent year-on-year: memo

Hostesses hold the the Huawei's new smartphone, the Ascend P7, launched by China's Huawei Technologies during a presentation in Paris, May 7, 2014.

Credit: /Philippe Wojazer

- The smartphone division of Chinese telecoms firm Huawei Technology Co Ltd [HWT.UL] recorded $11.8 billion in revenues in 2014, a 30 percent year-on-year increase, according to an internal memo seen by .

The memo also said the division shipped about 75 million smartphones in 2014, a 40 percent year-on-year increase, but which lagged its target of 80 million units.

Analytics-based U.S. tech firm Inovalon files for IPO

- Inovalon Holdings Inc, an analytics and data-based technology service provider to the healthcare sector, filed with U.S. regulators on Tuesday to raise up to $500 million in an initial public offering of Class A common stock.

Goldman, Sachs & Co, Morgan Stanley & Co LLC and Citigroup Global Markets Inc are the lead underwriters of the IPO, the company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus. (bit.ly/1xwquJT)

The filing did not reveal how many shares Inovalon planned to sell or their expected price.

The Bowie, Maryland-based company intends to list its common stock on the Nasdaq under the symbol "INOV".

The company, whose data drives health plans, hospitals, physicians, patients, pharmaceutical companies, and researchers, counts U.S. drugstore chain operator Walgreen as one of its clients. (bit.ly/14bl8de)

Inovalon, which combines advanced cloud-based data analytics and data-driven intervention platforms to provide insights to the healthcare industry, served nearly 100 clients representing approximately 200 patient populations in 2014.

A January 2013 McKinsey & Company report estimates that utilizing data analytics could drive improvements in healthcare resulting in a beneficial economic impact of $300 billion to $450 billion annually.

Inovalon reported net income of $51.9 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2014, up from $27 million a year earlier.

The company competes with IT solutions providers such as Oracle, IBM, IT consultants such as Accenture and Deloitte Consulting, healthcare-specific solutions providers such as McKesson, OptumHealth, Truven and point solution providers such as DST Health and Alere.

The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

Analytics-based tech firm Inovalon files for IPO

- Inovalon Holdings Inc, an analytics and data-based technology service provider to the healthcare sector, filed with U.S. regulators to raise up to $500 million in an initial public offering of Class A common stock.

Goldman, Sachs & Co, Morgan Stanley & Co LLC and Citigroup Global Markets Inc are the lead underwriters of the IPO, the company told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus.

The filing did not reveal how many shares Inovalon planned to sell or their expected price.

The company intends to list its common stock on the Nasdaq under the symbol "INOV".

Inovalon reported a net income of $51.9 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2014, up from $27 million a year earlier.

The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

Low-risk 'worm' removed at hacked South Korea nuclear operator

- South Korean authorities have found evidence that a low-risk computer "worm" had been removed from devices connected to some nuclear plant control systems, but no harmful virus was found in reactor controls threatened by a hacker.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co Ltd said it would beef up cyber security by hiring more IT security experts and forming an oversight committee, as it came in for fresh criticism from lawmakers following recent hacks against its headquarters.

The nuclear operator, part of state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp, said earlier this month that non-critical data had been stolen from its systems, while a hacker threatened in Twitter messages to close three reactors.

The control systems of the two complexes housing those reactors had not been exposed to any malignant virus, Seoul's energy ministry and nuclear watchdog said in a joint statement on Tuesday, adding the systems were inaccessible from external networks.

Energy Minister Yoon Sang-jick told a parliamentary session that evidence of the presence and removal of a "worm" - which the ministry said was probably inadvertently introduced by workers using unauthorized USB devices - was unrelated to the recent hacking incidents, drawing scepticism from some lawmakers.

"I doubt control systems are perfectly safe as said," Lee Jung-hyun, a lawmaker in the ruling Saenuri party, told the committee hearing.

Worries about nuclear safety in South Korea, which relies on nuclear reactors for a third of its power and is the world's fifth-largest nuclear power user, have mounted since the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan and a domestic scandal in 2012 over the supply of reactor parts with fake security certificates.

"We will prepare fundamental improvement measures by enhancing nuclear power's safe operation and hiking information security systems to the highest level following this cyber attack case," Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power said in a statement.

Seoul prosecutors have not ruled out possible involvement of North Korea in the cyber attack on the nuclear operator, which Pyongyang has denied.

Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power President and CEO Cho Seok told the hearing that all control systems of the country's 23 nuclear reactors were safe against malignant codes. On Sunday, he said that cyber attacks on non-critical operations at the company's headquarters were continuing, although he did not elaborate for security reasons.

The nuclear plant operator said on Tuesday it was increasing the number of staff devoted to cyber security from 53 to around 70, and would set up a committee of internal and external experts to oversee security.

Chun Soon-ok of the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy party said: "The government's nuclear power policies have lost people's trust and whatever broke out only makes people concerned more."

Taiwan says Xiaomi, other smartphone brands don't breach privacy rules

A security guard stands in front of a screen showing Xiaomi mobile phones ahead of the launching ceremony of Xiaomi Phone 4, in Beijing, July 22, 2014.

Credit: /Jason Lee

- Taiwan's communication regulator on Tuesday said 12 mobile phone brands sold locally, including Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc, do not violate personal data protection laws.

Handsets made by China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp, Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, LG Electronics Inc and Sony Corp also do not breach the laws, the National Communications Commission said.

Taiwanese mobile phone makers HTC Corp and Asustek Computer Inc, were also among the dozen brands tested and cleared by the NCC.

U.S. suspects North Korea had help attacking Sony Pictures: source

An entrance gate to Sony Pictures Studios is pictured in Culver City, California December 19, 2014.

Credit: /Mario Anzuoni

- U.S. investigators believe that North Korea likely hired hackers from outside the country to help with last month's massive cyberattack against Sony Pictures, an official close to the investigation said on Monday.

As North Korea lacks the capability to conduct some elements of the sophisticated campaign by itself, the official said, U.S. investigators are looking at the possibility that Pyongyang "contracted out" some of the cyber work. The official was not authorized to speak on the record about the investigation.

The attack on Sony Pictures is regarded to be the most destructive against a company on U.S. soil because the hackers not only stole huge quantities of data, but also wiped hard drives and brought down much of the studio's network for more than a week.

While U.S. officials investigate whether North Korea enlisted help from outside contractors, the FBI stood by its previous statement that Pyongyang was the prime author of the attack against the Sony Corp unit.

"The FBI has concluded the Government of North Korea is responsible for the theft and destruction of data on the network of Sony Pictures Entertainment," the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement to .

North Korea has denied that it was behind the Sony attack and has vowed to hit back against any U.S. retaliation.

The people who claimed responsibility for the hack have said on Internet postings that they were incensed by the Sony Pictures film "The Interview," a comedy about a fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Because of the hackers' threats, major U.S. cinema chains refused to show the film. Last week, Sony struck deals with some 320 independent theaters to distribute "The Interview" and also made the film available online.

BLAMING NORTH KOREA

Some private security experts have begun to question whether Pyongyang was behind the Sony cyberattack at all.

For instance, consulting firm Taia Global said the results of a linguistic analysis of communications from the suspected hackers suggest they were more likely from Russia than North Korea. Cybersecurity firm Norse said it suspects a Sony insider might have helped launch the attack.

"I think the government acted prematurely in announcing unequivocally that it was North Korea before the investigation was complete," said Mark Rasch, a former federal cybercrimes prosecutor. "There are many theories about who did it and how they did it. The government has to be pursuing all of them."

The FBI said its determination that North Korea was behind the hack was based on information from a variety of sources, including intelligence sources, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, foreign partners and the private sector.

"There is no credible information to indicate that any other individual is responsible for this cyber incident," the agency said.

Kevin Mandia, whose security firm was hired by Sony to investigate the attack, said the only way to know who the culprits are is to trace the network traffic from the infected machines back to the hackers' machines. Only the government and Internet service providers have that kind of visibility, he added.

"I don't have the data that they have to come up with that conclusion," Mandia, chief operating officer of FireEye Inc, said in a video interview with .

"Every attack loops through numerous machines," he said. "You have to peel that onion all the way back. It isn't an easy thing to do."

Mandia, who has supervised investigations into some of the world's biggest cyberattacks, said the Sony case was unprecedented.

"Nobody expected when somebody breaks in to absolutely destroy all your data, or try to anyway, and that's just something that no one else has seen," he said.

Yuri Milner's DST Global plans to invest more in U.S. start-ups

Russian entrepreneur and venture capitalist Yuri Milner arrives on the red carpet during the second annual Breakthrough Prize Awards at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California in this November 9, 2014 file photo.

Credit: /Stephen Lam/Files

- Yuri Milner, the billionaire Russian who holds the largest outside stake in Chinese handset maker Xiaomi, said he expects to invest more evenly between the United States and China in 2015.

“Going forward, we will see it more balanced,” said Milner in an interview, adding he saw a number of globally ambitious U.S.-based startups. In recent years, the investments by his DST Global funds have skewed toward China, including DST’s participation this month in a $1.1 billion funding round for Xiaomi.

He declined to specify which sectors in the United States he had identified as particularly promising, but said DST is looking for later-stage start-ups with potential in international markets rather than any one country. In particular he seeks start-ups he believes will one day fetch valuations of over $100 billion, which he said was the case with Xiaomi.

Opportunities in China over the past few years have interested him in part because China lacks dominant physical retailers, creating openings for online retail players such as Alibaba and Jingdong, other companies in the DST portfolio.

Similarly, DST invested in Indian online retailer Flipkart in a $700 million funding round announced earlier this month.

“India is a very interesting market which has the same possibility as the Chinese market in terms of leapfrogging offline infrastructure,” Milner said.

Russian-born Milner, who trained as a physicist and created a lucrative award for scientists and mathematicians known as the Breakthrough Prize, now makes his home in Silicon Valley. A series of early investments in social-media company Facebook helped make him a billionaire.

Milner's net worth totals roughly $2.7 billion, a source familiar with the situation said. Earlier this year, Forbes estimated Milner's worth at $1.8 billion.

At the time of Facebook’s 2012 IPO, DST was already focusing heavily on China, where it has made investments in web-services company Baidu, Internet company Tencent, and more recently, in startups like taxi hailing app Didi-Dache and shopping software company Koudai.

Earlier this year, DST closed its newest fund, DST Global IV, at just over $1 billion. Investors include pension funds, endowments, and wealthy individuals.

In 1999, Milner founded Russian email company Mail.Ru, now a broader Internet company in which Milner no longer holds equity.

He declined to comment on the current Russian economic crisis, saying he wasn’t following the situation closely as DST has no business ties to Russia.

U.S. suspects North Korea had help attacking Sony Pictures: source

An entrance gate to Sony Pictures Studios is pictured in Culver City, California December 19, 2014.

Credit: /Mario Anzuoni

- U.S. investigators believe that North Korea likely hired hackers from outside the country to help with last month's massive cyberattack against Sony Pictures, an official close to the investigation said on Monday.

As North Korea lacks the capability to conduct some elements of the sophisticated campaign by itself, U.S. investigators are looking at the possibility that Pyongyang "contracted out" some of the cyber work, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak on the record about the investigation.

The attack on Sony Pictures is regarded to be the most destructive ever against a company on U.S. soil because the hackers not only stole huge quantities of data, but also wiped hard drives and brought down much of the studio's network for more than a week.

While U.S. officials investigate whether North Korea enlisted help from outside contractors, the FBI stood by its previous statement that Pyongyang was the prime author of the attack against the Sony Corp unit.

"The FBI has concluded the Government of North Korea is responsible for the theft and destruction of data on the network of Sony Pictures Entertainment," the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement to .

"There is no credible information to indicate that any other individual is responsible for this cyber incident," the FBI said.

North Korea has denied that it was behind the Sony attack and has vowed to hit back against any U.S. retaliation.

The people who claimed responsibility for the hack have said on Internet postings that they were incensed by the film "The Interview," a Sony Pictures comedy about a fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Some security experts have begun to question the FBI's assertion that Pyongyang was behind the cyberattack. For instance, consulting firm Taia Global said the results of a linguistic analysis of communications from the suspected hackers suggest they were more likely from Russia than North Korea. Cybersecurity firm Norse said it suspects a Sony insider might have helped launch the attack.

"I think the government acted prematurely in announcing unequivocally that it was North Korea before the investigation was complete," said Mark Rasch, a former federal cybercrimes prosecutor. "There are many theories about who did it and how they did it. The government has to be pursuing all of them."

China's Xiaomi raises $1.1 billion from investors at $45 billion valuation

People stand near a logo of Xiaomi ahead of the launching ceremony of Xiaomi Phone 4, in Beijing, July 22, 2014.

Credit: /Jason Lee

- China's Xiaomi Inc [XTC.UL], one of the world's fastest-growing smartphone makers, has raised $1.1 billion in a round of funding that values the privately held company at $45 billion, Chief Executive Lei Jun said Monday on social media.

Investors include private equity funds All-Stars Investment, DST Global, Hopu Investment Management, and Yunfeng Capital, as well as Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, Lei said on Weibo.

Gmail blocked in China, Great Firewall suspected

People are silhouetted as they pose with laptops in front of a screen projected with a Google logo, in this picture illustration taken in Zenica October 29, 2014.

Credit: /Dado Ruvic

- Google Inc's Gmail was blocked in China after months of disruptions to the world's biggest email service, with an anti-censorship advocate suggesting the Great Firewall was to blame.

Large numbers of Gmail web addresses were cut off in China on Friday, said GreatFire.org, a China-based freedom of speech advocacy group. Users said the service was still down on Monday.

"I think the government is just trying to further eliminate Google's presence in China and even weaken its market overseas," said a member of GreatFire.org, who uses a pseudonym.

"Imagine if Gmail users might not get through to Chinese clients. Many people outside China might be forced to switch away from Gmail."

Google's own Transparency Report, which shows real-time traffic to Google services, displayed a sharp drop-off in traffic to Gmail from China on Friday.

"We've checked and there's nothing wrong on our end," a Singapore-based spokesman for Google said in an email.

Almost all of Google's services have been heavily disrupted in China since June this year, but until last week Gmail users could still access emails downloaded via protocols like IMAP, SMTP and POP3. These had let people communicate using Gmail on apps like the Apple iPhone's Mail and Microsoft Outlook.

China maintains tight control over the internet, nipping in the bud any signs of dissent or challenges to the ruling Communist Party's leadership.

The country is host to the world's most sophisticated internet censorship mechanism, known as the Great Firewall of China. Critics say China has stepped up its disruption of foreign online services like Google over the past year to create an internet cut off from the rest of the world.

The Google disruption began in the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the government's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

Gmail's setback could make email communication difficult for companies operating in China which use Google's Gmail for their corporate email system, said GreatFire.

One popular way for companies and people to get around China's internet censorship is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) which allows unhindered access to blocked sites and services.

"It's becoming harder and harder to connect and do work in China when services like Gmail are being blocked," said Zach Smith, a Beijing-based digital products manager at City Weekend magazine. "Using a VPN seems to be the only answer to doing anything these days online in China."

Sony says PlayStation still has problems, gradually coming back online

The logo of Sony Corp's PlayStation is seen next to a woman at its booth during the Tokyo Game Show 2014 in Makuhari, east of Tokyo September 18, 2014.

Credit: /Yuya Shino

- Sony Corp's (6758.T) PlayStation Network suffered connection problems for a fourth straight day since hackers attacked the video game network, and the company said on Sunday that service was gradually being restored.

The hacker activist group known as Lizard Squad has claimed responsibility for disrupting both the PlayStation Network and Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Xbox Live on Christmas Day. Service was restored to Xbox Live on Friday.

"We are currently experiencing widespread network issues that are being addressed," Sony said in a statement on PlayStation's maintenance website.

Hours earlier, Catherine Jensen, vice president of consumer experience at Sony Computer Entertainment America, said on the PlayStation blog that the network was "back online."

Some gamers said on Twitter that they were able to access the PlayStation Network on Sunday, but others took to the microblogging site to complain about the continuing outage. It was not clear how many of the 56 million video gamers who use PlayStation still suffered problems.

On Sony's Twitter customer support account, AskPlayStation, a representative wrote, "Network services are gradually coming back online."

Sony has been the victim of some of the most high-profile security breaches in history.

In late November, Sony Pictures' computer system was taken down by hackers protesting the film, "The Interview," which depicted the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. U.S. President Barack Obama has blamed the North Korean government for the attack.

Lizard Squad has claimed responsibility for attacks on the PlayStation Network in early December and August of this year. The August attack coincided with a bomb scare in which Lizard Squad tweeted to American Airlines that it heard explosives were on board a plane carrying an executive with Sony Online Entertainment.

In 2011, hackers stole data belonging to 77 million PlayStation Network users.

Apple makes 'The Interview' movie available on iTunes

- Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said its iTunes store is now carrying Sony Corp's (6758.T) "The Interview", the film that angered North Korea and triggered a cyberattack against the studio.

"We're pleased to offer 'The Interview' for rental or purchase on the iTunes Store," Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said in a statement.

The news comes after Sony Pictures released the movie online via Google Inc's (GOOGL.O) YouTube and Google Play, Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Xbox gaming console and a Sony dedicated website last week.

North Korea blames U.S. for Internet outages, calls Obama 'monkey'

A hand is silhouetted in front of a computer screen in this picture illustration taken in Berlin May 21, 2013.

Credit: /Pawel Kopczynski

- North Korea called U.S. President Barack Obama a "monkey" and blamed Washington on Saturday for Internet outages it has experienced during a confrontation with the United States over the hacking of the film studio Sony Pictures.

The National Defense Commission, the North's ruling body chaired by state leader Kim Jong Un, said Obama was responsible for Sony's belated decision to release the action comedy "The Interview", which depicts a plot to assassinate Kim.

"Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest," an unnamed spokesman for the commission said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency, using a term seemingly designed to cause racial offense that North Korea has resorted to previously.

In Hawaii, where Obama is vacationing, a White House official said the administration had no immediate comment on the latest North Korean statement blaming the United States for the Internet outages and insulting the president.

Sony canceled the release of the film when large cinema chains refused to screen it following threats of violence from hackers, but then put it out on limited release after Obama said Sony was caving in to North Korean pressure.

Obama promised retaliation against North Korea, but did not specify what form it would take.

North Korea's main Internet sites suffered intermittent disruptions this week, including a complete outage of nearly nine hours, before links were largely restored on Tuesday.

But its Internet and 3G mobile networks were paralyzed again on Saturday evening, China's official Xinhua news agency reported, and the North Korean government blamed the United States for systemic instability in the country's networks.

Dyn Research, a U.S. firm that monitors telecommunications infrastructure, said on Saturday that North Korea's Internet access had been restored after a national outage that lasted more than five hours.

Jim Cowie, Dyn's chief scientist, said it was a "sharp" outage that appeared to immediately sever access across the nation, and the restoration also appeared to be equally fast.

"It could have been something as routine as maintenance or it could have been a continuation of the things we saw in the past week, which looked more like attacks," Cowie said.

In its statement on Saturday, the North again rejected an accusation by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation that North Korea was behind the cyberattack on Sony Pictures, and demanded the United States produce evidence for its allegation.

The National Defense Commission also dismissed U.S. denials of involvement in North Korea's Internet outages.

"The United States, with its large physical size and oblivious to the shame of playing hide and seek as children with runny noses would, has begun disrupting the Internet operations of the main media outlets of our republic," it said.

In a separate commentary, the North denied any role in cyberattacks on South Korea's nuclear power plant operator, calling the suggestion that it had done so part of a "smear campaign" by unpopular South Korean leaders.

A South Korean official investigating the attacks this week, which led to leaks of internal data from Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, said Seoul was not ruling out North Korean involvement.

"The South Korean puppet authorities are working hard to link this case with (us), though the truth about it has not been probed," Minju Joson, the official publication of the North's cabinet, said in a commentary carried by KCNA.

South Korea nuclear operator says cyberattacks continue, reactors safe

- South Korea's nuclear power operator said on Sunday that cyberattacks on non-critical operations at the company's headquarters are continuing but the country's nuclear power plants are operating safely and are secure from attack.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co Ltd has been intensifying its cyber security, President and CEO Cho Seok said. He gave no details of the continued cyberattacks or the company's response, citing security reasons.

"We cannot let cyberattacks stop nuclear power operation," Cho told a news briefing. He added that a closed network used for reactor operations was inaccessible from external communication lines and impervious to cyberattacks.

"We will continue operating nuclear plants safely against any attempted foul play, including cyberattacks," Cho said.

"Cyberattacks on KHNP's (headquarters) operations and administration are still continuing now," he added.

KHNP, part of state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp, said last Monday that its computer systems had been hacked but only non-critical data had been stolen and reactor operations were not at risk.

Cho apologized for concerns that had been raised by the cyberattack and data leaks but said the nuclear plants themselves had not been affected. South Korea has 23 nuclear reactors which supply one-third of its electricity. Three are currently offline for routine maintenance or awaiting a license extension.

The operator and the government since last Wednesday have been running emergency teams on stand-by until the end of the year as a precaution in case of any attempted cyberattacks on nuclear plants, after a hacker demanded the shutdown of three reactors by last Thursday and in Twitter messages threatened "destruction" if the demand was not met.

South Korean prosecutors are also seeking the cooperation of Chinese authorities in an investigation into the cyberattack, after tracing multiple Internet addresses to a Chinese city near North Korea. They have not ruled out possible involvement of North Korea in the attack.

Pyongyang denied any role in the cyberattacks, calling such suggestions part of a "smear campaign" by unpopular South Korean leaders. North Korea remains technically at war with the South.

Sony works for third day to restore PlayStation after attack

Pedestrians are reflected in a logo of Sony Corp outside its showroom in Tokyo July 16, 2014.

Credit: /Yuya Shino

- Sony Corp worked for a third day on Saturday to restore services to its PlayStation network as the FBI said it was looking into the disruption, which began on Christmas Day.

"We are aware of the reports and are investigating the Sony PlayStation matter," Federal Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jenny Shearer said via email. She did not elaborate.

Meanwhile Sony said on Saturday that the attack had prevented some people who received consoles for Christmas from using their new machines on the PlayStation network, which lets gamers compete with people around the world via the Internet.

"If you received a PlayStation console over the holidays and have been unable to log onto the network, know that this problem is temporary and is not caused by your game console," Sony executive Catherine Jensen said on the company's U.S. PlayStation blog.

Some customers posted complaints about the outage on the blog. "Three days without PSN. That's absurd," said one of them.

"We understand your frustration," Jensen responded early Saturday afternoon. "Our engineers are working to restore service as quickly as possible!"

Later in the day she said the company had restored access for some users and would keep bringing more back online. Sony declined to say how many of PSN's 56 millions users had been affected by the attack.

The blog said the problems were the result of "high levels of traffic designed to disrupt connectivity and online game play," which is widely known as a distributed denial-of-service attack.

It was Sony's second recent high-profile encounter with hackers after an unprecedented attack on its Hollywood studio, which the U.S. government attributed to North Korea and linked to the release of the low-brow comedy "The Interview."

A hacker activist group known as Lizard Squad said it was responsible for the PSN outage as well as delays on Microsoft's Corp's Xbox network; Microsoft quickly fixed the problem.

The group has claimed responsibility for previous attacks, including ones on PSN in early December and August.

The August attack coincided with a bomb scare in which Lizard Squad tweeted to American Airlines that it heard explosives were on board a Dallas-to-San Diego flight carrying an executive with Sony Online Entertainment.

Sony has been the victim of some of the most notorious cyberattacks in history. Besides the breach at its Hollywood studio, hackers stole data belonging to 77 million PlayStation Network users in 2011.

Suspected state hacking campaign used commercial software

- A previously undisclosed hacking campaign against military targets in Israel and Europe is probably backed by a country that misused security-testing software to cover its tracks and enhance its capability, researchers said.

The attack program relied on software usually sold by Boston-based Core Security to companies and other customers that want to test their own defenses, said researchers coordinated by Israel's independent Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT.

The researchers from CrowdStrike and startup Cymmetria will present their unusual findings at the annual Chaos Communication Congress security conference in Hamburg on Saturday.

Criminal hackers have made use of penetration-testing tools such as Metasploit for years, other experts said, but most major government-sponsored hacks have specially written tools supplemented by free and widely available programs. That is in part because commercial programs could be traced back to specific customers.

Over time, however, the exposure of campaigns relying on the same tailor-made tools have made it easier for investigators to attribute those attacks to a specific government.

Using the Core Security program, which typically costs $10,000 or $20,000, could help muddy the waters, and CrowdStrike analyst Tillmann Werner said it could also help a second-tier cyber-power skip some of the work frequently undertaken by China, Russia and the United States.

"The most likely answer is they didn't have the capability to do it on their own," Werner said of the hackers, adding that "there is no risk of leaving tool-marks."

Werner and Cymmetria Chief Executive Gadi Evron, who also chairs the Israeli CERT, said they did not know who was behind the campaign.

But Evron said that one suspect would be Iran, judging by the victims and other evidence. The researchers dubbed the new campaign Rocket Kitten, following CrowdStrike's convention for naming all suspected Iranian hacking groups as Kittens.

Iran has beefed up its Internet operations in the years since its nuclear program was attacked by Stuxnet, an unusually destructive virus developed by the United States and Israel.

Evron said the team had uncovered seven connected attacks so far since April, including attempts to steal information from an Israeli company "adjacent to the defense and aerospace industry," an Israeli academic institution, a German-speaking defense agency, and an Eastern European defense ministry. At least the Israeli attempts failed, he said.

The attacks typically began with carefully targeted emails with Excel spreadsheet attachments sent to top executives. The recipients were prompted to allow a type of miniature program known as macros to run inside the Microsoft Corp spreadsheets, and if they agreed, malicious software would install. That software would download part of Core's Core Impact tool, the researchers said.

Core's licensing terms forbid use of its program against unsuspecting third parties, and Core Vice President of Engineering Flavio de Cristofaro said the company had not heard of such misuse in at least five years.

De Cristofaro said the company would assist the CERT if asked and in any case would try to track down how the software was pried away from the watermarks and other technical restrictions designed to limit its spread.

"We will follow that down," de Cristofaro said.

Sony works for third day to recover from PlayStation network attack

Pedestrians are reflected in a logo of Sony Corp outside its showroom in Tokyo July 16, 2014.

Credit: /Yuya Shino

- Sony Corp worked for a third day on Saturday to restore services to its PlayStation video gaming network after disruptions that a hacker group said it caused in a Christmas Day attack.

It was Sony's second high-profile encounter with hackers this holiday season following the unprecedented attack on its Hollywood studio, which Washington has attributed to the North Korean government and linked to the release of the low-brow comedy "The Interview".

The Japanese electronics giant updated a PSN support site on Saturday to show that the PlayStation Network remained offline.

"Our engineers are continuing to work hard to resolve the network issues users are experiencing," it tweeted shortly after noon New York time. It also tweeted that service was "gradually coming back online" but that it had no estimate as to when the system would be fully functional.

"Thank you for your patience," Sony representatives tweeted in response to inquiries from customers who could not log on to the network.

It was unclear how many of the more than 50 million PSN users around the globe were affected. Sony representatives could not be reached for comment and customer response was mixed to requests from its Twitter support account to be patient.

One person tweeted: "You keep repeating this same line like a parrot. WHAT exactly is the team doing?"

"That's okay. We know you're trying your best," another said via Twitter. "We all hate the hackers that did this."

A hacker activist group known as Lizard Squad said it was responsible for the PSN outage as disruptions on Microsoft's Xbox network were quickly fixed.

The group has claimed responsibility for previous cyber attacks, including ones on PSN in early December and August.

The attack in August coincided with a bomb scare on a commercial jet in which Lizard Squad tweeted to American Airlines that it heard explosives were on board a flight carrying an executive with Sony Online Entertainment from Dallas to San Diego.

Sony has been the victim of some of the most notorious cyber attacks in history. Besides the breach at its Hollywood studio, hackers stole data belonging to 77 million PlayStation Network users in 2011.

North Korea blames the U.S. for Internet outages

A hand is silhouetted in front of a computer screen in this picture illustration taken in Berlin May 21, 2013.

Credit: /Pawel Kopczynski

- North Korea accused the United States on Saturday of being responsible for Internet outages it experienced in recent days amid a confrontation between them over the hacking of the film studio Sony Pictures.

North Korea's main internet sites experienced intermittent disruptions early in the week for reasons that U.S. tech companies said could range from technological glitches to a hacking attack.

"The United States, with its large physical size and oblivious to the shame of playing hide and seek as children with runny noses would, has begun disrupting the Internet operations of the main media outlets of our republic," the North's National Defense Commission said in a statement.

"It is truly laughable," a spokesman for the commission said in comments carried by the North's official KCNA news agency.

The spokesman again rejected an accusation by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation that North Korea was behind the cyberattack on Sony Pictures and demanded the United States produce the evidence for its accusation.

North Korea's Internet problems began last weekend and it suffered a complete outage of nearly nine hours before links were largely restored on Tuesday.

U.S. officials said Washington was not involved.

Following the attack on Sony, it canceled the release of a comedy called "The Interview" about the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

After criticism from President Barack Obama that it was caving into North Korean pressure, Sony put the film out on limited release.

It took in more than $1 million on Christmas Day in 331 mostly independent theaters after large cinema chains refused to screen it following threats of violence from hackers.

In a separate commentary, the North denied any role in cyberattacks on South Korea's nuclear power plant operator, calling the suggestion that it had done so part of a "smear campaign" by unpopular South Korean leaders.

A South Korean official investigating the attacks this week that led to leaks of internal data from Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power said authorities were not ruling out North Korea's involvement.

"The South Korean puppet authorities are working hard to link this case with (us) though the truth about it has not been probed," Minju Joson, the official publication of the North's cabinet, said in a commentary carried by KCNA.

"This is the same conspiratorial farce as the Cheonan warship sinking case," it said, referring to the sinking of a South Korean ship with the loss of 46 sailors in 2010 that South Korea blamed on the North.

Amazon draws 10 million new Prime members over holidays

The Amazon.com, Inc. logo is seen on the side of a delivery truck in Brooklyn, New York October 23, 2014.

Credit: /Brendan McDermid

- Amazon.com Inc said on Friday it drew more than 10 million new members to its Prime shipping and digital content service over the holidays and intends to offer one-hour shipping to more cities in 2015.

Amazon considers its $99-a-year Prime membership, which confers free two-day shipping and streaming of select movies and songs, essential to driving its growth and margins. It was unclear, however, how many of the 10 million new members were just taking advantage of a standing 30-day free trial offer.

The Internet retailer has never disclosed the precise number of Prime subscribers, except to say it is in the tens of millions. Analysts estimate it is growing at a rapid clip, and the company continues to try and spice it up with new content.

The company's shares climbed 2.07 percent to $309.31 in midday Nasdaq trading.

Amazon said customers ordered more than 10 times as many items via same-day delivery this holiday season, compared with a year earlier. It did not reveal figures for Prime Now, the novel one-hour delivery option unveiled for parts of New York City's Manhattan borough just this month.

"We are working hard to make Prime even better and expanding the recently launched Prime Now to additional cities in 2015," CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement.

Amazon also said nearly 60 percent of its customers shopped via a mobile device this holiday, and total holiday sales through its smartphone app doubled this year. That may reflect "showrooming," when customers browse physical stores but make their purchases online.

"Mobile continues to accelerate the secular shift from offline to online purchases," said R.W. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian. "Consumer use-cases for last-minute shopping, in-store purchases and price comparison continue to expand."

Iran expands 'smart' Internet censorship

Technicians monitor data flow in the control room of an internet service provider in Tehran February 15, 2011. .

Credit: /Caren Firouz

- Iran is to expand what it calls "smart filtering" of the Internet, a policy of censoring undesirable content on websites without banning them completely, as it used to, the government said on Friday.

The Islamic Republic has some of the strictest controls on Internet access in the world, but its blocks on U.S.-based social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are routinely bypassed by tech-savvy Iranians using virtual private networks (VPNs).

Under the new scheme, Tehran could lift its blanket ban on those sites and, instead, filter their content.

The policy appears to follow President Hassan Rouhani's push to loosen some social restrictions, but it was not clear if it would mean more or less Internet freedom. Iranians on Twitter expressed concern that, as part of the new policy, the government would try to block VPN access to such sites.

"Presently, the smart filtering plan is implemented only on one social network in its pilot study phase and this process will continue gradually until the plan is implemented on all networks," Communications Minister Mahmoud Vaezi said, according to official news agency IRNA.

He appeared to be referring to Instagram, the photo-sharing site owned by Facebook, which is already being filtered, but not blocked.

Instagram was initially available uncensored in Iran but some user accounts were subsequently blocked, notably @RichkidsofTehran, a page full of photos of young, rich Iranians flaunting their wealth.

In a cat-and-mouse game, another account dedicated to the same pursuits quickly appeared under the name @RichkidsofTeh.

"Implementing the smart filtering plan, we are trying to block the criminal and unethical contents of the Internet sites, while the public will be able to use the general contents of those sites," Vaezi told a news conference.

The policy would be fully in place by June 2015, he said.

Iranian authorities are not only concerned about what might be considered morally dubious content, which in Iran could be anything from pornography to realtively innocuous images of women not wearing the mandatory Islamic dress, but also material that might be politically damaging.

Social media were widely used in the anti-government protests of 2009 to organize and spread news about a movement that was eventually crushed by security forces.

Under former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Tehran floated the idea of replacing the Internet with a national intranet that would not be connected to the worldwide web and would be controlled by Iranian authorities, a plan than appears to have fizzled out.

Toshiba CEO says will consider overseas locations for chip plant

The logo of Toshiba Corp is seen at an electronics store in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, June 25, 2013.

Credit: /Toru Hanai

- Toshiba Corp will decide during the next business year from April on where to build an additional memory chip plant and will consider overseas locations for the facility, Chief Executive Hisao Tanaka said on Friday.

Less than four months after opening a NAND flash memory chip fabrication plant in Yokkaichi, western Japan, Tanaka told in an interview that demand is outstripping capacity and the Japanese conglomerate must expand production.

Toshiba will aim to begin production around 2017, he added.

South Korea extends cyberattack emergency system for nuclear plants

- South Korea's nuclear operator and the energy ministry will keep emergency teams on stand-by to the end of this year in case of any cyberattacks on nuclear plants as threatened by a hacker.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, part of state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp, said on Monday that its computer systems had been hacked but only non-critical data had been stolen, and operations were not at risk.

The company and the ministry set up emergency teams on Wednesday after a hacker demanded the shutdown of three reactors by Thursday, threatening, in Twitter messages, "destruction" if not.

"Even though Christmas Day, that the one making the cyber threat had mentioned, has passed, we will make utmost efforts against cyber-threats by running the emergency system to the end of this year," the Energy Ministry said in a statement.

South Korea is seeking the cooperation of Chinese authorities in an investigation into the cyberattack on its nuclear power plant operator after tracing multiple Internet addresses involved to a Chinese city near North Korea, a prosecution official said on Wednesday.

The official close to the investigation said his team had not ruled out the involvement of North Korea in the attack but there was also no indication to believe it was involved. North Korea remains technically at war with the South.

The nuclear operator said in a statement it spent 10.7 billion won ($9.75 million) on cyber security in 2013, and it expected to spend 9.7 billion won this year, and more than that next year.

China's antitrust regulator says Qualcomm case to be settled soon

A Qualcomm sign is pictured in front of one of its many buildings in San Diego, California November 5, 2014.

Credit: /Mike Blake

- The Chinese government said on Friday that it will soon settle its antitrust investigation of U.S. mobile chipmaker Qualcomm Inc.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's anti-monopoly regulator that launched its probe of the San Diego-based company 13 months ago, said the case would be settled according to the law, according to an online statement.

The notice cited Xu Kunlin, director general of NDRC's anti-monopoly bureau.

The NDRC also said it had completed its seventh round of discussions with Qualcomm Chief Executive Officer Derek Aberle and his team earlier this month.

The regulator said in February that the U.S. chipmaker was suspected of overcharging and abusing its market position in wireless communication standards.

An imminent decision in the case is expected to force the company to pay fines potentially exceeding $1 billion and require concessions that would hurt its highly profitable business of charging licensing fees on phone chipsets that use its patents.

Sony's 'Interview' draws U.S. moviegoers who trumpet free speech

- "The Interview," the Sony Pictures film about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, opened in more than 300 movie theaters across the United States on Christmas Day, drawing many sell-out audiences and statements by patrons that they were championing freedom of expression.

Co-directors Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, who also co-stars in the low-brow comedy with James Franco, surprised moviegoers by appearing at the sold-out 12:30 a.m. PT (0330 ET) screening of the movie at a theater in Los Angeles, where they briefly thanked fans for their support.

Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox websites hit by delays

A man plays a video game on Sony Corp's PlayStation 4 console at its showroom in Tokyo in this July 16, 2014 file picture.

Credit: /Yuya Shino/Files

- 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. The problems may have been exacerbated by Sony's decision to let consumers download the controversial movie "The Interview" through Xbox Video as well as other online sources.

"Are you having a rough time signing in to Xbox Live?," a service alert on the Microsoft product's website asked. "We’re working to get this figured out right away. We appreciate your patience."

Two hours after the message was posted at 4:33 p.m. ET (1633 ET), the Xbox Live site said technicians were still "hard at work trying to reach a solution."

As of 6:45 p.m. ET (1845 ET), PlayStation Network was still offline, according to the device's status page.

"We are aware that some users are experiencing difficulty logging into the PSN," it said. "We will update this article with any changes that occur in regards to this issue. Thank you for your patience."

Three Xbox platforms were affected by the service problem: Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Xbox on other devices, Microsoft's status website said.

Spokespeople at Sony and Microsoft did not immediately respond for comment.

"I have the nation on strings," Lizard Squad wrote on its Twitter site. It also said it would put the sites back online if enough people retweeted its messages.

Earlier on Thursday, Microsoft Xbox spokesman Sean McCarthy declined to give details of how the company may have been preparing for security breaches, given the problems that Sony has experienced in releasing "The Interview."

"Of course, it’s safe to say Holiday season is always a very busy time of year for any consumer electronics company, so we work hard to ensure the stability of our infrastructure when so many consoles are activating for the first time."

Tizen TV no substitute for Samsung's long-awaited answer to Android

A sales assistant uses her mobile phone next to the company logos of Apple and Samsung at a store in Hefei, Anhui province in this September 10, 2014 file photo.

Credit: /Stringer/Files

- Global smartphone leader Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is planning a new product launch next year based on its own Tizen operating system, the South Korean giant's strategic push to free itself from Android and blaze its own software path.

But after years of development and a handful of Tizen-powered smartwatches and cameras, the only product confirmed for a 2015 launch so far is a TV set.

While that may impress designers of smart homes, Samsung's failure to release a handset based on its own operating system is fuelling scepticism about its ability to build a meaningful software alternative to Apple Inc's iOS and Google Inc's Android in the all-important mobile sector.

"To be honest the software that Samsung has made on its own so far have not been very good ... I have not yet seen anything to suggest that Samsung has become competitive in the software space," said Lee Min-hee, analyst at brokerage IM Investment and Securities.

Developers say that until there is a meaningful user base for Tizen they will have little incentive to make innovative software applications for the system, deemed crucial if Samsung is to convince wary consumers to try it out.

"I see it (Tizen) as very similar to Android but without the gigantic user base," said Brazil-based Eduardo Ribeiro, founder of app developer Kazoowa.com. "With that, it is hard to find benefits in developing for Tizen."

Samsung's communications on the new system have only raised doubts further.

The company announced and then scrapped plans for a Tizen phone launch in Russia during the third quarter, citing the need to "further enhance the Tizen ecosystem".

Meanwhile source-based media reports have suggested for some time that a Tizen phone launch is imminent in India. In the latest example, the Korea Economic Daily on Friday said a low-end Tizen smartphone would debut in India on Jan. 18, citing an unnamed company source. Samsung declined to comment on the report.

"We have supported the Tizen platform for a long time and believe Tizen to be a good alternative mobile platform for consumers," the company said.

SOFTWARE STRUGGLES

Analysts say Tizen will struggle to make a dent in the smartphone world. Android and iOS had a combined 95.8 percent market share in July-September, according to Gartner, with Microsoft Corp's Windows platform trailing as a distant third at 3 percent. Samsung smartphones currently operate on Android.

"It has been really tough for any other operating system to position itself against iOS or Android ... So for Tizen to succeed, it will need to bring a very compelling proposition to the market," said Kiranjeet Kaur, an analyst at research firm IDC.

Samsung has more than 40,000 software development employees globally but its apps and content services have failed to stand out from the crowd, and the firm is winding back some projects.

The company on Friday said its ChatON messaging app - one of Samsung's more recognizable services - will be shut down in February.

Earlier this month it disbanded its media solution center in South Korea that was responsible for developing and launching software and content-related services.

Samsung's ability to support Tizen in the smartphone world also may be diminishing, with the firm's global market share down annually for the third consecutive quarter in July-September, amid intensifying competition from Chinese rivals.

Still, the tech giant is expected to press on with Tizen, particularly in the growing smart-home sector where the operating system's ability to run on devices with low computing power could be a big advantage.

Plans for the launch of a Tizen-powered television next year, revealed by a senior Samsung executive last week, would be a welcome addition to the smart-home business. Samsung declined to elaborate on the launch.

Samsung told in a statement it remained "committed to developing the Tizen ecosystem with a wide range of Tizen-based product categories".

YouTube's release of 'The Interview' a chance to show off paid video chops

- Google Inc's decision to screen Sony Pictures' film "The Interview" may help legitimize its YouTube platform as a serious rival to paid video streaming services, Netflix and Amazon.com Inc.

Sony Pictures made the controversial film available online on Wednesday, expanding distribution of a comedy that triggered a destructive cyberattack against the company that has been blamed on North Korea. The studio reversed its decision to halt the movie's release after it was criticized for self-censorship.

"This is a huge opportunity for YouTube to show the world that it can be used to release professional content and content that is paid for as most people think YouTube is for free content," said James McQuivey, an analyst who covers the disruption of digital platforms at Forrester Research.

"The message from YouTube is really to other studios, that 'Look, we're in the big time now, we can do this, we're not afraid (of hacks) and we have a massive audience.'"

The release of "The Interview," one of the highest-profile films to be released digitally on demand so far, comes at a pivotal time for the Internet search company.

In recent years, YouTube has tried to leaven its image as an Internet repository of home-made videos and move toward more professionally produced content to expand its business. Last month, it launched YouTube Music Key, a paid ad-free service.

YouTube does not disclose its content sales, but despite being one of the most heavily visited destinations for video on the Internet with over 1 billion viewers each month, analysts say YouTube has lagged the likes of Amazon, Netflix and Apple in paid content offerings.

One risk for Google is that YouTube could become the target of Sony's hackers, though security analysts said the company is viewed to have strong cyber defenses. Google has an "enormous" infrastructure that is well-tested in fighting off denial of service attacks and other threats," said Barrett Lyon, principal strategist with F5 Networks and an expert in Internet network security.

"I wouldn't imagine seeing 'lights-out' out at YouTube."

The movie starring Seth Rogen and James Franco in a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un spurred the cyberattack against Sony Pictures.

In addition to YouTube Movies, Google Play, and Microsoft's Xbox Video, the comedy will be available on a dedicated website, http://bit.ly/1JQUh6C, to rent for $5.99 or buy for $14.99, Sony Pictures said on Wednesday, a day after agreeing to release it at some 200 independent theaters. No cable or satellite TV operator has yet agreed to make "The Interview" available through video on demand (VOD).

Apple's iTunes store was noticeably not on Sony's list.

"If I were at Apple, I would think twice about re-inviting hacking troubles, which is so embarrassing especially when you're about to get into personal health and Apple Pay. You really want to show people you can preserve their information," McQuivey said.

"In the case of Google, they have probably been attacked so many times that the threat of being attacked again is so modest or minor in their consideration that they didn't think twice about this."

Sony puts 'The Interview' on YouTube, other digital platforms

A man walks by the poster for the film ''The Interview'' outside the Alamo Drafthouse theater in Littleton, Colorado December 23, 2014.

Credit: /Rick Wilking

- "The Interview," the provocative comedy that triggered a devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures, went straight to U.S. consumers on Wednesday in an unprecedented online debut after hacker threats prevented its wide release on Christmas day.

The film was available for rental on Google Inc's YouTube site as of early Wednesday afternoon. Microsoft Corp and Sony itself are also showing the comedy, a day before the hastily scheduled premiere at some 320 independent theaters. Google Canada is also offering the movie.

It is not clear if the studio will earn back the $44 million it spent to make the comedy, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as TV personalities assigned to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The enormous publicity "The Interview" has received could augur well for the movie, but the absence of major U.S. movie chains as exhibitors could also severely cut into box office receipts. The chains refused to show the film owing to security concerns.

"We chose the path of digital distribution first so as to reach as many people as possible on opening day, and we continue to seek other partners and platforms to further expand the release," Sony Entertainment Chief Executive Michael Lynton said in a statement.

He added that Sony had first reached out to Google, Microsoft "and other partners" on Dec. 17, the day the studio said it had no future plans to release the film.

The movie prompted the most destructive-ever cyberattack on a company on U.S. soil one month ago and resulted in the release of embarrassing emails and confidential data.

U.S. President Barack Obama last week blamed the cyberattacks on North Korea and joined a chorus of politicians and top Hollywood figures accusing Sony of self-censorship and caving into the hackers' demands.

Consumers can access the film on YouTube Movies, Google Play, Microsoft's Xbox Video, and a dedicated website, seetheinterview.com, for $5.99 as a rental or $14.99 as a purchase. No cable or satellite TV operator has yet agreed to make "The Interview" available through video on demand (VOD).

It was unclear the degree to which the online release would reduce moviegoers' appetite to see the comedy in the independent theaters that announced on Tuesday they planned to show it.

Many Christmas Day screenings were sold out, including one that begins right after midnight at the 184-seat Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles.

"I need to say that a comedy is best viewed in a theater full of people, so if you can, I'd watch it like that," Rogen tweeted. "Or call some friends over."

Theater owners said they were taking some extra security precautions and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had been in contact with them.

"When a film attracts this kind of hype, there has to be concerns," said Greg Laemmle, co-owner and president of Laemmle, an art house chain with several theaters in the Los Angeles area.

"As long as we’re not being irresponsible in terms of addressing patron safety," he added, "we really need to support freedom of artistic expression."

THUMBS UP, THUMBS DOWN

As of 4:15 pm EST, or more than three hours after the movie was released online, 10,671 visitors to YouTube had given the film a "thumbs up" versus 822 with a "thumbs down." The 989 reviewers on Google Play gave the movie an average of 4.7 stars out of 5.

Critical reviews of "The Interview" have been more mixed. On the website Rotten Tomatoes, which aggregates reviews from film critics, 54 percent of 35 reviewers rated the movie positively.

The showing is a chance for Google and Microsoft, which have been bit players in a VOD market dominated by Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and cable and satellite operators, to raise their profile.

Google said it had weighed the security implications of screening the movie - described by reviewers as "profane" and "raunchy" - after Sony contacted the company about making it available online.

"But after discussing all the issues, Sony and Google agreed that we could not sit on the sidelines and allow a handful of people to determine the limits of free speech in another country (however silly the content might be)," Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, wrote in a blog post.

Google has an "enormous" infrastructure that is well tested in fighting off denial of service and other attacks, said Barrett Lyon, principal strategist with F5 Networks and an expert in Internet network security. "I wouldn't imagine seeing 'lights-out' at YouTube," he said, adding that Microsoft could be more vulnerable

Sony pulled the movie after major theater chains refused to show it. That followed threats of September 11, 2001 style attacks from Guardians of Peace, the group that claimed responsibility for the cyberattacks against Sony.

A national security official said on Tuesday that U.S. authorities did not take the hackers' threats against theatergoers seriously.

The White House on Wednesday praised the decision to release the film after Obama's rare public rebuke of a corporation last Friday that took the studio aback.

Obama has vowed respond to the cyberattack "in a place and timing and manner that we choose."

Japan, meanwhile, has begun working to ensure basic infrastructure is safe and to formulate its diplomatic response, officials said, fearing it could be a soft target for possible North Korean cyberattacks in the escalating row over the Sony Pictures hack.

Sears says online chief resigns, key member of management team

- The head of Sears Holdings Corp's online operations and a key member of Chief Executive Eddie Lampert's management team has resigned and will leave the company in February to pursue a new opportunity, the retailer said.

Imran Jooma, an executive vice president in charge of online, marketing, pricing and financial services, has been at the center of the loss-making retailer's efforts to use technology and innovative services to revive itself.

Jooma handed in his resignation on Dec. 17 and his last day with the company will be Feb. 6, according to a securities filing on Tuesday.

Spokesman Chris Brathwaite said Lampert told employees in a message on Tuesday that Jooma would assist in the transition to new leadership over the business segments he was overseeing. Sears has not named a replacement.

Jooma joined Sears in 2007 after senior e-commerce positions at electronics retailer Circuit City and OfficeMax, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The move comes as Sears is attempting to restore profitability by shrinking its network of stores and promoting the integration of its bricks-and-mortar and online capabilities and a membership program called ShopYourWay. Jooma has played a central role in pushing those strategies.

So far the efforts have not translated into profits. The company has lost more than $6 billion over the past four years, including $548 million in the most recent quarter. It has been selling off assets to generate cash.

U.S. Postal Service eyes e-commerce to offset declining mail

A mailbox for United States Postal Service (USPS) and other mail is seen outside a home in Malibu, California, December 10, 2014. U.S.

Credit: /Lucy Nicholson

- Facing a slump in the mail it had been delivering since the days of America's Revolutionary War, in 2012 the U.S. Postal Service began aggressively targeting e-commerce and lapsed customers as the way to salvage its declining business.

"Really it started almost at the level of cold-calling, talking to people who really hadn't spoken to us in a long time," said Nagisa Manabe, who joined the USPS in May 2012 as chief marketing and sales officer from Coca-Cola Co after a career in the private sector. "And really trying to persuade them to consider us as a very viable alternative in the shipping market."

With further drops in its traditional bread-and-butter products ahead, the USPS wants to capitalize on e-commerce, which consulting firm Detroit LLP has predicted should grow 14 percent this holiday season alone. But industry experts question whether the USPS has enough space in its delivery vans and whether its unionized work force can handle a greater proportion of the e-commerce market.

Over the past two years the USPS has rolled out real-time scanning for packages, a vital tool for online retailers and consumers alike to track their packages. It is also upgrading all of its delivery workers' handheld scanners.

The rise of the Internet has taken a heavy toll on first-class mail, the USPS's most profitable product. That falling business played a significant role in the USPS's fiscal 2014 loss of $5.5 billion, its eighth consecutive year in the red.

From 2009 to 2013, the volume of first-class mail deliveries dropped more than 20 percent. In the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, USPS deliveries declined to 155.4 billion pieces from 158.2 billion. First-class deliveries accounted for 2.2 billion pieces of that decline.

But package deliveries rose to more than 4 billion pieces from 3.7 billion, accounting for $1.1 billion of the USPS's revenue growth of $1.9 billion. In the run-up to Christmas, the USPS has been doing Sunday deliveries for Amazon.com Inc in a number of cities. Manabe adds that the agency will handle the online retailer's push into same-day and next-day deliveries "in many markets."

EBay Inc is another major customer and Manabe says "pretty much anyone who's in the e-commerce space at least does some volume with us."

FLEET OVERHAUL

Many in the delivery industry are waiting to see how the USPS has handled surging e-commerce volumes in the days before Christmas.

The USPS's competitive advantage lies in the fact that it already delivers to every house in America and analysts estimate it can do so for around a quarter of the cost charged by United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp, which are both competitors and customers of the USPS.

"The U.S. Postal Service has the ultimate last-mile delivery network, so it has a real opportunity here," said Vinnie DeAngelis, vice president of postal relations at Neopost USA, which provides tracking and other software for e-commerce retailers and delivery companies.

According to shipment-tracking software developer ShipMatrix Inc, in 2013 the USPS accounted for 59.2 percent of e-commerce deliveries, while UPS accounted for 31.9 percent and FedEx 8.9 percent. The USPS has predicted holiday package volume growth of around 12 percent this year from Nov. 17 to Christmas.

In the years ahead, the USPS expects 80 percent of U.S. ZIP codes will see "significantly more business," Manabe said. But many of the USPS's current delivery vehicles are more than 25 years old and built for mail instead of larger packages.

"They (the USPS) tend to operate smaller vehicles that really cube out (fill up) pretty quickly as opposed to the network we have in place," FedEx Executive Vice President Michael Glenn said during a Dec. 17 earnings conference call with analysts. Delivery companies measure their vehicles' three-dimensional space in cubes.

The USPS plans to spend more than $10 billion over the next four years on a new fleet of vehicles. Manabe said that could mean three or four different sizes of vehicles to handle different package volumes in urban and rural areas.

Some industry experts are concerned that the USPS, whose operations are dictated by Congress, may have trouble handling e-commerce growth due to its quasi-government unionized workers.

"When I think about the USPS business model, I don't believe they are ever going to get the productivity of FedEx or UPS," said Brian Hancock, a board member of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.

But Manabe insists the unionized work force is on board and recognizes the importance of e-commerce.

The last few delivery days before Christmas have been a test for the USPS. After struggling with a late surge in online orders last year that left an estimated 2 million packages stranded on Christmas Eve, UPS and FedEx both made it clear this year that they would reject a last-minute flood of packages if it threatened their systems.

Rick Jones, a former UPS executive and now CEO of regional delivery company Lone Star Overnight, says that for many retailers this holiday season, the USPS may have become the carrier of last resort.

"The question is whether their smaller vehicles, which are designed for mail rather than packages, could handle the extra volume," he said.

Facebook must face lawsuit over scanning of users' messages: judge

People are silhouetted as they pose with laptops in front of a screen projected with a Facebook logo, in this picture illustration taken in Zenica October 29, 2014.

Credit: /Dado Ruvic

- Facebook Inc must face a class action lawsuit accusing it of violating its users' privacy by scanning the content of messages they send to other users for advertising purposes, a U.S. judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland, California, on Tuesday dismissed some state-law claims against the social media company but largely denied Facebook's bid to dismiss the lawsuit.

Facebook had argued that the alleged scanning of its users' messages was covered by an exception under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act for interceptions by service providers occurring in the ordinary course of business.

But Hamilton said Facebook had "not offered a sufficient explanation of how the challenged practice falls within the ordinary course of its business."

Neither Facebook nor a lawyer for the plaintiffs responded to a request for comment Wednesday.

The lawsuit, filed in 2013, alleged that Facebook scanned the content of private messages sent between users for links to websites and would then count any links in a tally of "likes" of the pages.

Those "likes" were then used to compile user profiles, which were then used for delivering targeted advertising to its users, the lawsuit said.

The complaint alleged that the scanning of the private messages violated the federal and California state law.

According to Tuesday's ruling, Facebook ceased the practice at issue in October 2012. But the company said it still does some analysis of messages to protect against viruses and spam, the ruling said.

The lawsuit was filed by Facebook user Matthew Campbell and seeks class action status on behalf of U.S. users who sent or received private messages that included website addresses in their content.

The case is Campbell v. Facebook Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 13-5996.

Google's YouTube tentatively agrees to stream 'The Interview': CNN

- Google Inc's (GOOGL.O) YouTube unit has tentatively agreed to distribute the Sony Pictures film "The Interview," at the center of a destructive cyber attack, offering online rentals beginning on Thursday, CNN reported.

The Internet release of the film would coincide with the movie's showing at a small number of U.S. movie theaters, CNN reported, citing sources with direct knowledge of the talks. The deal could still fall apart, CNN said.

Representatives for YouTube, Google and Sony were not immediately available for comment.

Japan, wary of North Korea, works to secure infrastructure after Sony attack

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga speaks during an interview with in Tokyo February 15, 2014.

Credit: /Yuya Shino

- Japan, fearing it could be a soft target for possible North Korean cyberattacks in the escalating row over the Sony Pictures hack, has begun working to ensure basic infrastructure is safe and to formulate its diplomatic response, officials said.

The hacking of the U.S. unit of Tokyo-based Sony Corp has been seen in Japan largely as an American problem, but the officials said the government is now moving actively to confront the issue after President Barack Obama blamed North Korea and vowed to respond "in a place and time and manner that we choose."

Cyberdefense experts, diplomats and policymakers worked through the weekend at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's office to launch the effort, said one official involved in the process.

The government is working to ensure that in response to any threat, its basic functions could continue in the face of any cyberattack, while maintaining such essential services as the power grid, gas supplies and transport networks, he said. He declined to offer details.

The government's National Information Security Center, working through various ministries, is pressing companies to improve their security from cyberattacks, the officials said.

Japanese diplomacy has been complicated by the accusations made by its ally, the United States, that Pyongyang was behind the cyberattack that crippled Sony Pictures - amid controversy over the studio's new movie "The Interview," a comedy portraying a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Abe may be forced to choose between backing Washington and keeping talks on track with Pyongyang about Japanese citizens abducted decades ago.

"Japan is maintaining close contact with the United States and supporting their handling of this case," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Monday, adding that Tokyo is sharing information with Washington.

Suga said he saw no effect on Tokyo's talks with North Korea over the abductees. Pyongyang has denied any role in the Sony hack.

Japanese officials have acknowledged the government cannot keep up with the proliferating threat of attacks on computer networks from private or state-sponsored hackers.

Japan's companies are also vulnerable, with an overall security rating of just 58.5 out of 100, according to a survey this year by cybersecurity firm Trend Micro. Only IT firms and Internet providers got passing marks of 72 or better, while welfare services, medical facilities and transportation and infrastructure networks were notably weak.

"There is no way you can guarantee that hackers won't gain access," said Itsuro Nishimoto, chief technology officer at LAC Co, a cybersecurity firm that works with Japanese police and companies. "The only way you can do that would be to shut down the Internet."

South Korea indicts Uber CEO, local unit for transport law breach

Uber Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Travis Kalanick works with fourth graders during Cooking Matters, a nutrition class taught by 18 Reasons, a local partner of Share our Strength at Glen Park Elementary School in San Francisco, California, December 10, 2014.

Credit: /Beck Diefenbach

- South Korea has indicted the chief executive officer and local subsidiary of Uber Technologies Inc for violating a law governing public transport, becoming the latest jurisdiction to challenge the U.S. taxi service provider.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office issued the indictment against CEO Travis Kalanick and the firm's Korean unit for violating a law prohibiting individuals or firms without appropriate licenses from providing or facilitating transportation services, an Uber spokeswoman said.

The prosecutors' office declined to comment.

"Uber Technologies respects the Korean legal system and will provide its full cooperation," the company said in a statement without detailing the charges brought against it.

Uber, through its apps, charges fees to play matchmaker for passengers and drivers - some registered as taxi drivers. But a lack of regulation for the relatively new business model has brought Uber to the attention of authorities worldwide.

Taiwan and the Chinese mainland city of Chongqing on Monday separately said they were investigating Uber over concerns it and its drivers were not appropriately licensed.

SEOUL CHALLENGE

Last week, Seoul's city legislature passed a measure to fine Uber drivers not registered as taxi drivers, and offer financial reward for those reporting such individuals.

The decision came after the city government repeatedly said Uber was engaged in illegal business activities, an accusation the company denied.

"We firmly believe that our service, which connects drivers and riders via an application, is not only legal in Korea, but that it is being welcomed and supported by consumers," Uber said in its statement on Wednesday.

Prosecutors will not make any arrests under the indictment, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported earlier on Wednesday. The penalty for breaking the law in question is a prison sentence of up to two years or a maximum fine of 20 million won ($18,121).

Uber's spokeswoman said Uber services are functioning as normal.

($1 = 1,103.7000 won)

South Korea seeks China's cooperation in probe into cyberattack on nuclear operator

- South Korea is seeking the cooperation of Chinese authorities in a probe into a cyberattack on its nuclear power plant operator after tracing multiple Internet addresses to a northeastern Chinese city, a prosecution official said on Wednesday.

The location of the Internet addresses, which were used to connect to a network in South Korea for the attacks, did not prove the source of the hack was China, the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said.

South Korea prosecutors indict local Uber subsidiary: Yonhap

- South Korean prosecutors have indicted the local subsidiary of U.S. taxi-hailing service provider Uber Technologies Inc for violating a law governing public transport, Yonhap News Agency reported on Wednesday.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office issued an indictment - which also named Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick - for violating a law prohibiting individuals or firms without appropriate licences from providing or facilitating transportation services, Yonhap reported, citing an unnamed prosecution official.

Prosecutors will not make any arrests as part of the indictment, Yonhap said. The penalty for breaking the law in question is a maximum fine of 20 million won ($18,121) or a prison sentence of up to two years, the news agency reported.

Uber, through its apps, charges fees to play matchmaker for passengers and drivers - some registered as taxi drivers. But a lack of regulation for the relatively new business model has brought Uber to the attention of authorities worldwide.

Last week, Seoul's city legislature passed a measure to fine Uber drivers not registered as taxi drivers, and offer financial reward for those reporting such drivers.

The prosecutors' office declined to comment on the Yonhap report. An Uber spokeswoman was checking the veracity of the report and said Uber services were functioning as normal.

($1 = 1,103.7000 won)

GT Advanced to sell its sapphire furnaces

- GT Advanced Technologies Inc said it is pursuing the sale of its sapphire furnaces and will pay former partner, Apple Inc, a portion of the cash it gets from the sale.

The furnaces were installed to make sapphire glass for Apple, which loaned GT Advanced $439 million for the project.

GT Advanced, which invested heavily into increasing production of sapphire materials for Apple, blamed the supply agreement for forcing it into bankruptcy in October, a move that shocked investors and sent its stock plummeting more than 90 percent to under $1 before Nasdaq suspended the shares.

The company's attorney Luc Despins had earlier told the court that he anticipated each furnace would fetch at least $500,000.