Price cut for Surface RT

Microsoft might not be seeing the sales numbers it hoped to for its Surface RT, because according to The Verge, it's readying substantial price cuts across its debut tablet. In short, the cheapest option (a 32GB Surface RT) could reach $350, while adding a Touch Cover will land at $100 more to $450. Doubling storage to 64GB will cost $450, while another hundred bucks will add a Touch Cover there. We've been in touch with Microsoft, who told us that it "doesn't comment on rumor and speculation," so it's certainly not set in stone. We'll let you know when we see an official confirmation.

NSA wiretaps Skype video calls

In 2008, Skype told that the service could not be wiretapped. Microsoft no longer stands by that claim, and a National Security Agency document shows analysts can eavesdrop on video calls.

Skype now has a backdoor that permits government surveillance of users' video and audio calls, according to a new report in the Guardian.

The report, based on leaked slides from the National Security Agency, appears to confirm growing suspicions about the popular video chat service -- and indicates calls may be able to be monitored as easily as an old-fashioned phone call.

One document quoted by the newspaper says intelligence analysts began to be able to monitor Skype video calls in July 2012: "The audio portions of these sessions have been processed correctly all along, but without the accompanying video. Now, analysts will have the complete 'picture.'"

This is a dramatic change from Skype's previous apparent resistance to eavesdropping.

In 2008, when the company was owned by eBay instead of Microsoft, a Skype spokeswoman told CNET that: "We have not received any subpoenas or court orders asking us to perform a live interception or wiretap of Skype-to-Skype communications. In any event, because of Skype's peer-to-peer architecture and encryption techniques, Skype would not be able to comply with such a request."

CNET asked Microsoft yesterday morning whether that statement was still correct. Microsoft did not respond.

It's possible for companies to create communications systems using strong end-to-end encryption believed to be proof against government snoops. Silent Circle, Off-the-Record Messaging for instant messages, and e-mail messages encrypted with PGP do precisely that.

But few companies take that step, which can be a significant engineering expense and complicated for customers to use. Another classified document, citing collaboration between NSA and FBI, said: "Feedback indicated that a collected Skype call was very clear and the metadata looked complete. Collaborative teamwork was the key to the successful addition of another provider to the PRISM system."

After buying Skype, Microsoft dramatically overhauled its architecture, replacing peer-to-peer "super nodes" with thousands of servers run by Microsoft -- a more centralized approach that may have made it easier for government eavesdroppers. Around the same time, Microsoft would no longer stand by Skype's earlier claim to be wiretap-unfriendly.

Matthew Kaufman, Skype's principal architect, said in a message on an e-mail list last month that the server change was due to the increasing use of mobile apps, which interact with Skype differently than desktop machines and often run in the background or get evicted from memory:

 How do we solve that for our users? Servers. Lots of them, and more and more often in the Windows Azure cloud infrastructure. In the case of instant messaging, we have merged the Skype and Windows Messenger message delivery backend services, and this now gets you delivery of messages even when the recipient is offline, and other nice features like spam filtering and malicious URL removal. For calling, we have the dedicated supernodes already, and additional services to help calls succeed when the receiving client is asleep and needs a push notification to wake up. And over time you will see more and more services move to the Skype cloud, offloading memory and CPU requirements from the mobile devices everyone wants to enjoy to their fullest and with maximum battery life.

There is no evidence that encrypted Skype calls can be passively monitored by the NSA or FBI without the assistance of Microsoft. In other words, the intelligence agency's vast eavesdropping apparatus can't vacuum up and use Skype calls in the same way it reportedly can intercept unencrypted e-mail or Web traffic by using fiber taps.

Instead, the federal government would serve an order on Microsoft, using a Title III wiretap order or a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act order, requiring it to divulge the contents of a Skype call.

Microsoft's most recent transparency report says the company did not divulge any Skype audio or video content to police in 2012. But the report refers only to "law enforcement requests," and does not appear to include requests made under FISA's separate procedures.

Can Yahoo recycle your username -- and protect your data

Yahoo will begin recycling usernames on accounts that have been inactive for more than a year. But with log-ins and password recovery linked to e-mail addresses, it's raising some security concerns.

If you haven't signed into Yahoo in the past 12 months, the tech giant wants you back and it's using some tough love to get you.

Yahoo has set 11:59 p.m. PT on July 14, 2013 as the deadline for users to sign into the site or their Yahoo mail. Those who don't will lose their Yahoo IDs, and the usernames will be put for grabs so others can try to claim them.

How many Yahoo IDs are we talking about? Dylan Casey, Yahoo's senior director of Consumer Platforms, wouldn't specify other than to say "a lot."

"You can imagine how many accounts are created every day, and some percentage of those just become dormant after awhile, and we're actually pretty excited about the names we're going to make available to people, " Casey explained.

(Credit: Courtesy: Yahoo)

While the use-it-or-lose-it policy may be great for someone who's had to endure a clunky e-mail address like Mary4316594756139@yahoo and wants Mary@yahoo.com instead, it's raising some serious privacy and security concerns since e-mail addresses are linked to log-ins and password recovery on other sites.

Casey said Yahoo is implementing a process to safeguard users' information and data that he described as "very, very foolproof."

"We'll go through and do some cleanup work to ensure that data doesn't end up in the wrong place and unsubscribe that particular ID from any newsletters." He added, "We're working with partners and peers in the space collaboratively on a program that will help them understand if an account has been recycled and potentially has a new owner. For example, if this is a user on Amazon who's trying to recover their password, we'll help them understand if the account has been recycled so the password information won't get sent to the new user of that account."

Yahoo's new policy differs from Google, which does not recycle usernames for security reasons. Even when users delete their Gmail account, Google policy states: "You'll also be unable to reuse your Gmail username."

Yahoo is encouraging people who want new usernames to put in their request as soon as it opens up the process. Yahoo will inform people in August if they can claim the usernames they requested.

Casey said the username recycling will be an ongoing process, not just a one-time house cleaning. If you don't log into your Yahoo account at least once a year, your username could be recycled. So now you've been warned.

Yahoo says anyone having problems with their e-mail or the username transition should go tohelp.yahoo.com.

Your PS4 digital library will be playable from any system

Speaking at the Develop conference in the UK, Sony's R&D senior team leader Neil Brown has outlined some of the PSN library features of the PlayStation 4.

(Credit: Sony)

As reported by PlayStation Magazine UK, Brown said that gamers will be able to log in to their PSN account and access their full digital library of games from any PS4 console.

This access will make use of the PS4's Play While You Download feature. Rather than waiting for a game to fully download before playing, gamers will be able to play early levels while the rest of the title downloads in the background.

According to Brown, "this makes a digital library a practical option in the real world".

The Play as You Download feature was touted at the PS4's initial launch event. At the time, Sony said it would enable you to begin playing a game shortly after purchasing it via Sony's digital store, without the game needing to finish downloading.

Sony's digital library is very similar to the library function that Microsoft had planned for the Xbox One. Microsoft's system would have allowed gamers to access all games they owned — even physical discs purchased from bricks-and-mortar retailers — as these would have been linked to individual accounts.

After backlash over the daily internet check-in requirements of the Xbox One, Microsoft reversed some of its DRM-related policies for the console, and the library function was removed. Overnight, an online petition was started to reinstate the features.

Microsoft extends Windows Phone’s support lifecycle from 18 to 36 months

Microsoft today made two major announcements regarding its business strategy for Windows Phone. The first is an expansion of its support lifecycle from 18 months to 36 months and the second is an enterprise feature pack, to be released in the first half of 2014.

The doubled support lifecycle, which affects Windows Phone 8 and up, means Microsoft will offer updates, including security updates, for at least three years. The releases will be incremental, meaning you will only need the last one to get the latest features and improvements.

Unfortunately, these updates will still have the same limitations as Google’s Android sees. “The mobile operator or phone manufacturer may control the distribution of these incremental updates and update availability may also vary by country, region, and device hardware capabilities,” Microsoft admitted.

As for the enterprise feature pack, Microsoft classifies it as more than just an update to Windows Phone 8. The company says the pack will provide IT departments with “more control over Windows Phones” and give employees a “fuller productivity experience.”

PR jargon aside, here’s what Microsoft is actually promising:

• S/MIME to sign and encrypt email.
• Access to corporate resources behind the firewall with app aware, auto-triggered VPN.
• Enterprise Wi-Fi support with EAP-TLS.
• Enhanced MDM policies to lock down functionality on the phone for more enterprise control, in addition to richer application management such as allowing or denying installation of certain apps.
• Certificate management to enroll, update, and revoke certificates for user authentication.

In short, Microsoft is trying to win over business customers by giving the platform longer support and enterprise-specific features. “This gives business customers the confidence to invest in Windows Phone today, with the knowledge that their investments are secure, and the platform is evolving to be an even better choice for business,” the company insists.

The fact the enterprise feature pack is coming more than a year after Windows Phone 8′s release, however, isn't very reassuring. That may have been okay in the day and age of Windows Mobile, but Microsoft is going to need a lot more than these two announcements to win over employees that are perfectly happy with their Android and iOS devices.