Not all clouds are security threats. (flickr.com/kky)

Researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of Oregon have discovered a way to turn cloud computing into hacker heaven.

Disguising data transfers with URL-truncating services like TinyURL or Bit.ly, researchers found that cloud-based processing power intended to shift computing tasks from laptops, tablets and mobile devices could be converted to crack encoded passwords or used for a large scale denial-of-service attack.

WhiteHat Security's Jeremiah Grossman told Dark Reading that cloud browser providers need to "ensure adequate security controls are in place to prevent their end users from abusing the system."

N.C. State researcher William Enck said one key is awareness:

NC State's Enck says there are ways for cloud-based browsing providers to better monitor their traffic -- namely, by associating accounts with the users so they can detect possible abuse or rogue traffic. Just like blacklisting offending IP addresses in a DDoS attack, for example, he says, this would allow cloud browser providers to quash abuse. "It's similar: You can say, 'Here are the clients from where [the traffic] is coming from and the IP addresses.'"

Dark Reading notes that users of the Silk browser on Amazon's Kindle Fire have to register with the service, and each tablet has a unique key that identifies that user and device to the browsing service. The university researchers who discovered these vulnerabilities believe Amazon's strategy is a sound way to keep cloud users honest. They also recommend using CAPTCHAs so potentially malicious cloud users can't write scripts that will automatically create multiple accounts they could later use in large-scale hacks or cyber-attacks.

We're not really looking forward to the day we can say hackers have maliciously used the cloud to "make it rain."

Target Corp. ceased selling Amazon devices last Spring, after deciding Amazon's sales tactics were working against the retailer's best interests.

(Photo: Amazon)

When you think of Amazon, what comes to mind? Ebooks, next-day delivery and the Kindle probably float to the top, but what about maps? Not so much. But it turns out the online retailer wants to also nudge its way into the map game.

Today Amazon announced the release of the Amazon Maps API in beta, which allows select developers to integrate Amazon's mapping technology into their own apps on the Kindle Fire.

Amazon is hoping its new API will lure devs away from Google Maps by providing a "simple migration path" to switch from the native Google Maps API on Android. According to the post, Amazon's API will feature:

• Interactive Maps. You can embed a Map View in your app for customers to pan, zoom and fling around the world. You have the option to display a user’s current location, switch between standard maps and satellite view, and more.

• Custom Overlays. You can display the locations of businesses, landmarks and other points of interest with your own customized markers and pins.

Amazon's play for its own maps API seems to date back to at least a few months ago, when it acquired 3D mapping startup UpNext. Google Maps has never been built into the Kindle Fire--in order to access it, users have to open it in the browser or download a third-party Android app. By building its own API, Amazon can effectively skip Google altogether.

A few weeks ago, a rumors of a cooperation with Nokia also swirled, further pumping up the notion of Amazon's potential move into maps. "Cooperating with Nokia may help Amazon develop integrated, or 'native,' mapping functionality for the Kindle Fire without relying on Google Maps," the Chicago Tribune wrote.

From today's announcement, it's unclear if Nokia was involved in the release of the Maps API, but it seems like Amazon has finally gotten its own native map app. Sorry, GOOG.

"But I really like the wall scrolls feel in my hands." -- Cicero. Not you. (Photo: flickr.com/irishwelcometours)

Were you watching closely during Amazon's Kindle press conference? Because if you were, you just saw Jeff Bezos make one of those centuries-long bets his friends are always talking about. Behold, the literary equivalent of the Clock of the Long Now--a bet on a future where ereaders are about as out-of-the-ordinary as a tea kettle or a wristwatch.

There were several interesting details in the publishing portion of the announcements. The good, old-fashioned Kindle ereader got several updates, including a paperwhite background, more fonts, and a backlight that'll go eight weeks without a charge. All that'll now set you back a mere $69. The company's publishing arm also debuted a brand new form, between the single and the full-length book: Kindle Serials, at $1.99 a pop and seamlessly, automatically updated with each new installment.

Charles Dickens would be so proud. (He'd also probably write a great serialized novel about people who work in Amazon fulfillment centers.)

But it's worth taking a step back and looking at how, amid the @Horse_Ebooks-like babble, Mr. Bezos framed the whole concept of the Kindle (via The Verge's excellent liveblog):

“Kindle Fire is a service. Why? Because they're gadgets, and people don't want gadgets anymore. They want services that improve over time. They want services that improve every day, every week, and every month."

Of course, it's no great shocker that Amazon's betting on content, nor is the reasoning particularly mysterious. Even those of us who own and love a Kindle Fire can admit it's not the marvelous techno-futuristic, I-raided-this-from-an-alien-spacecraft experience that an iPad is. Amazon’s specialty is content. Between all the content from traditional publishers, the self-published works, and a new line-up of in-house productions, Amazon has quite an inventory up in the cloud. And after a decade-plus of doing what they do, the company has more data points than stars in the night sky, all the better to put optimal selections in front of your face.

But when Bezos clicked to that big "NOT A GADGET" slide, here's what we saw: The CEO of Amazon, taking one big, final swing at the idea that there's any distinction between "book" and "ebook." Pay no attention to the delivery device, other than to note that the Kindle provides you the best access to the most content.

Without straying too deeply into the thickets of literary history: When you hear the term "book," there's a good chance you still think of a physical book--paper pages between two pieces of rigid material. But for all the passionate defenses mounted of that specific technology, it's still just that--a technology that had to be invented. That technology is really something called a codex, from the Latin for "block of wood." Romans used scrolls, but sometime in the Middle Ages Western civilization made the transition to the form we now take for granted.

It honestly sounds like Jeff Bezos is betting on a future where the vestigial "e" drops off "ebook" and the Kindle is just another book platform, one you'll gravitate to because it's the best way to access a great, whopping library.

Normally we wouldn't ascribe this level of far-sighted ambition to anyone but a mad scientist or a megalomaniac. It's certainly not what one expects from the CEO of a publicly traded company, subject to quarterly earnings calls like any other mere mortal. But then again, this is a man who's devoting a substantial chunk of change to building a clock in the desert, meant to keep time on the scale of tens of thousands of years.

The question is whether all that geologic scale planning really makes sense in a business where the ground's about as stable as Yellowstone National Park.

Mr. Schmidt. (Photo: flickr.com/jolieodell)

Now that he's no longer CEO, how does Eric Schmidt spend his days? Well, he's become really interested in expanding Google to "wacky countries -- you know, countries that have problems." [Foreign Policy]

The FTC is patient: After a minuscule fine for noncooperation with that StreetView investigation, Google is close to coughing up $22.5 million for tracking Safari users. [Businessweek]

The Pentagon wants some cybersecurity legislation. [Washington Post]

The Atlantic is welcome once more on Reddit, the beehive's point having been made. [The Daily Dot]

Is poor, beleaguered Microsoft facing Surface manufacturing troubles? [ZDNet]

Meanwhile, the Kindle Fire is slimming down to face its newest foe. [PC World]

First, consider the tech savvy of people who look at valuations and stock prices and make enormous moves off of how they understand these companies. As evidenced by Groupon—a company some think is a massive Ponzi scheme, which (let's face it) Wall Street has had a hard time catching in recent years—analysts are not the last word.

Next, consider the reasons Amazon priced their Kindle Fire so low. At $200 cheaper than the iPad, even if Amazon's profits are marginal because of the sunken price, they're selling what essentially amounts to a license to buy more stuff from Amazon.com, in the same way buying an iPad or an iPhone—the reasons you don't even need a computer anymore to operate at full functionality—is a license to buy from the iTunes Store. They're betting on the lesser profits on the Fire to equal an uptick in purchasing from Amazon. Makes enough sense, no?

These $200 Fire units have yet to go on sale. The problem with iPad imitators is that they've thus far been too expensive and too associated with brands the general consumer isn't fully acquainted with (Motorola, HP). Unlike Amazon, who'll be running Google's Android on the Fire. Amazon + Google = Companies People Are Well-Acquainted With. But here's the really interesting piece of analysis on Amazon, buried all the way at the bottom of Bloomberg's report:

Amazon also is at risk from the drop in sales of traditional media, even as it benefits from the shift to digital, Gillis said. “Amazon is neither the fastest growing, or most profitable, company in our coverage and given the disruption occurring in physical books, music and movies, it is hard to justify the premium valuation,” he said.

Let's not forget, Amazon sells way more than simply media, "traditional" (i.e. analog?) or otherwise. They're becoming a publishing imprint that makes the transaction between author and reader a significantly more direct one, in a format people are used to working with. For example, are consumers more likely to trust book reviews on iTunes or on Amazon, based on appearances alone? Furthermore, who goes to Wal-Mart and walks out with only that which they came to shop for? Apple's limited in its ability to upsell merchandise once the customer is in the store to, well, computer stuff and media.

Question: What else can customers be upsold on at Amazon once you're already inside, purchasing digital content?

Answer: How many different brands of cat scratch boards do you think are out there?

As The Register put it a few weeks ago:

Amazon wants it both ways: use the Fire as a loss-leader as IHS suggests, and use it as a free razor-handle into which you can insert an endless stream – pun intended – of disposible-blade digital content. And, it should also be noted, use it to drive the public's perception of what a tablet should cost down into that magic sub-$200 range. Cupertino may continue to charge a premium for its iPad hardware – ever hear that said of Apple before? – but other fondleslab punters are now in a whole new world: one that starts at $199. And without Amazon's vast digital and real-world retail offerings surrounding competing tablets, it will be hard for them to continue that competition – as if they're doing all that well at present.

Amazon's planning for the future of future growth, which isn't going to show at the moment while their units are costing them a pretty penny. It's smart; it's sacrifice. It might've hurt them more than they expected, but so goes the delayed gratification of working ahead of a curve. It's a pretty simple case of spending money to make money, and their stock is dropping because simple thinking sees a low number and jumps ship. Don't mistake it for a sophisticated play. Amazon didn't get where they are by not planning for the future, or past that, making a ton of cash and putting their competition to bed in the process.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Get this guy a smartphone

Aaron Shapiro sees a lot of interesting data as the CEO of Huge, one of the Big Apple's top digital agencies. The jetsetting Mr. Shapiro just made the Crain's 2011 "40 Under 40" list of New York's young business leaders. His firm oversees campaigns and website redesigns for CNN, Reuters and Pepsi. And right now, Mr. Shapiro said, "The tablet market is the top of my mind."

This holiday season tectonic changes are expected in the tablet market, with Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet going on sale at $199. "We have a giant client with millions of unique monthly visitors. Right now the no. 2 browser is the iPad, which really portends the future of internet consumption. Right now, the biggest barrier is clearly price. Amazon can change all that," Mr. Shapiro told Betabeat by phone.

Mr. Shapiro is the author of the forthcoming book-- Users, Not Customers--being published next week by Penguin. "To be successful in this new world, companies have to find ways to engage their potential customers on the internet, which is where they are making their decisions about what to buy and even completing most of those purchases," he said.

The last decade is littered with giants who missed the boat on this. "Look at what happened to Blockbuster. Instead of figuring out the best way to reach their market through the internet, they hired Enron as their technology provider. True story."

J.P. Morgan just revised its sales estimates for the Kindle Fire to up to five million units in the fourth quarter of 2011. Amazon, which will be offering the Kindle Fire at $199, is expected to lose money on every unit, unlike Apple, which books a healthy profit on the iPad. But Amazon knows it can drive massive amounts of media consumption through these devices, dollars that will flow right through their bookstore, e-commerce and streaming video platforms.

"If you look at the pre-sale numbers for the Kindle Fire and the trends we're seeing in terms of traffic, it's easy to image that six months to a year from now, the majority of consumer web browsing will be done on a tablet," Mr Shaprio said. "That's a bigger shift than anything we have experienced with a mass audience since the dawn of the PC era. Companies need to be ready to reach those users."

NY is en fuego for the Fire

There was a reason Jeff Bezos came all the way to New York to unveil Amazon's new suite of Kindle e-readers and tablet devices. Like the iPad the Kindle is first and foremost a device for consuming media, with the new Kindles going beyond the book to offer music, television and movies as well. And the Big Apple's high end publishers are thrilled to have a second dance partner for the party beyond Apple.

As the NY Times reports, Amazon's new Kindle Fire tablet will come with a digital newsstand front-and-center where users can buy magazines and newspapers. To glossy publishers, this sounds like a haven from a digital world dominated by Angry Birds.

“When you’re lost in the middle of 100,000 apps, you only have people who find you when they’re looking for you,” Bob Sauerberg, president of Condé Nast, told the paper. “This helps with getting consumers in. They pick what they want, and we sell them more of what interests them. And everybody is happy.”

Apple has been hoping to introduce its own newsstand for some time, and is expected to announce one within the next month. But Cupertino has struggled to come to terms with magazine publishers over their cut of subscription revenue. And sales of subscriptions on non-iPad devices, like Barnes and Noble's Nook, have already surpassed iPad sales for publishers like Hearst.

This new line of devices are all priced below $200, meaning they are most likely a loss leader to help Amazon establish themselves in the tablet market. So far it seems to be working, with the Kindle Fire and various flavors of Kindle sitting claiming the entire top ten for best selling gadgets on Amazon. Come Christmas time, the tablet market is going to look very different than it does today.

The Kindle, The Kindle, The Kindle is Fire

A huge new player stepped into the tablet space this morning to challenge the completely dominant reign of Apple's iPad. Bloomberg had the scoop before the 200-some live bloggers in Hell's Kitchen could even get started. The device is smaller, seven inches versus ten, and costs just $199 versus the iPad's $499 price tag.

The Kindle Fire, as Amazon's tablet device is called, is missing a lot of things. It doesn't have a camera or microphone, so no Facetime communication is possible. It is WiFi only, which, having used the iPad with AT&T 3G for several months now, we believe is a huge drawback. 3G service makes the tablet a truly mobile device.

Under the hood the device is running a custom version of Android. It comes with a 30 free trial of Amazon's streaming service, Amazon Prime. We assume that the integration between the device and Amazon Prime was a particular focus.

Companies like RIM and HP that tried to challenge Apple in the tablet space have so far come up laughably short. Amazon's massive reach and consumer base could allow it to get the kind of distribution it needs to be the first serious contender, especially at such a low price point. Even if the iPad controls the top of the market, Amazon could grab up massive market share as tablet computers become as common as smartphones.

Oh, and let's not forget Amazon Prime gives folks free two day shipping on all Amazon purchases. While the technorati may scoff, the average consumer could probably find a lot to like about the Kindle Fire. That and it will be running Android, which will give the many, many Droid fans and Google Apps users out there a tablet that is easier to sync with their lives.

Wait, you didn't think Papa Bezos forgot about the upcoming holiday did you? Along with the Kindle Fire he also announced a $79 Kindle and a $99 Kindle touch. Something for everyone!