Sites around the web are getting splashed with a mysterious dialog Tuesday, thanks to a change in the way Twitter handles user authentication.

Some Wired.com website visitors see the dialog box shown here when visiting any of this site’s blogs. It states that a username and password are being requested by Twitter, with the unhelpful message, “Twitter API.” The same dialog has been spotted on ReadWriteWeb and even on Twitter’s own website.

In addition, users of some Twitter apps, including Twitter’s own Tweetie and BlackBerry apps, Tweetdeck and Twitterrific, have complained of Twitter login problems.

In the case of the website dialog, entering your username and password doesn’t do anything useful, and won’t make the dialog box go away. Indeed, it will often reappear several times during a session.

The cause of the trouble appears is a change in the way Twitter handles user authentication for remote sites and programs. As Wired reported yesterday, instead of giving a Facebook app your Twitter username and password, for instance, Twitter now requires the app use a protocol known as OAuth to hand you off to Twitter’s website. Once you’ve authorized Twitter to share your information with the other site or app, it hands a token back to that app, and the two can share information with each other.

The new, OAuth-based method is more secure and ultimately more reliable (for instance, you don’t have to update every Twitter app you use whenever you change your Twitter password).

However, now that Twitter has switched, programs and sites using the old authentication method are not working properly.

That includes websites using Twitter widgets with older code. These widgets, which embed the latest tweets from specific Twitter users, appear to rely on the old authentication method.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you. It’s not called the “OAuthcalypse” for nothing.

The solution, in almost every case, is simply to upgrade. If you have old widget code on your website, go to Twitter.com and get a new widget embed code. Similarly, if you’re using a Twitter app that’s having login problems, the solution is almost certainly to upgrade to the latest version. Twitterrific’s developers, for instance, have spent the day urging the app’s many users to upgrade. Developers have known about the authentication switch for months now, and most have been able to release updated versions of their software that works properly with the new OAuth system.

See Also:

• Twitter Moves to OAuth: The OAuthcalypse Is Nigh
• Phishing Scams Prey on Twitter’s Weaknesses
• Plaxo Shows Us How Painless OpenID Can Be
• Pennsylvania AG Dropping Twitter Subpoena
• With Tweetie Acquisition, Twitter Locks On Mobile

Follow us for real-time tech news: Dylan Tweney and Epicenter on Twitter

Apple is likely introducing a family of new iPods (and maybe a revamped Apple TV) today at its annual music event in San Francisco.

The press conference kicks off 10 a.m. PT at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where CEO Steve Jobs traditionally takes the stage to unveil his company’s latest creations.

In a surprise move that may offer a hint of what’s to come, Apple said it will be live streaming its event using “Apple’s industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards.” But you’ll have to be an Apple customer to view the broadcast: Viewing requires a Mac running Snow Leopard, or an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad running iOS 3.0 or higher. (Mac and Windows users with the VLC media player may be able to view the live stream, with some limitations, MacRumors reports.)

Live streaming a press conference, while routine for most companies, is a first for Apple and Steve Jobs, whose mastery of the stage has transformed a dull staple of PR — product announcements — into an event of rock star proportions. It may also hint at streaming-media products to be announced at the event.

This time around, multiple independent rumor reports and a few pieces of evidence hint at major upgrades for the iPod Touch, iPod Nano and Apple TV. We also expect some major software updates for iTunes and the iPad (iOS 4), which may include cloud-based media storage and the ability to stream videos on demand. For a full summary on what to expect, read Wired.com’s list of predictions.

Yours truly will be live blogging today’s event with photography by Wired.com’s Jon Snyder and live tweet updates by Mark McClusky (@markmcc). Refresh this post for live updates as the event unravels. If you prefer video, catch Apple’s live video stream of the keynote.

See Also:

• Prediction Roundup: New iPods, Apple TV Expected This Week …
• A Tale of Two iPods: Why the Touch Has No Camera
• Leaked Cases Reveal New iPod Designs

CEO Steve Jobs At Apple's annual music event in San Francisco. Photo by Jon Snyder/Wired

Apple audaciously seems to think the world actually needs another social network — one that you even need special software to be part of, to boot. With the introduction Wednesday of ‘Ping,” a music-centered community that exists only within iTunes, they are probably right — and then some.

At Apple’s annual music event in San Francisco CEO Steve Jobs described “Ping,” part of the iTunes 10 upgrade coming soon, as “sort of like Facebook and Twitter meet iTunes.”

Even the occasionally hyperbolic Jobs may be selling it short. Sight unseen, we’d say Ping — a computer term for making contact — will be more like “Twitter meets Facebook at Last.fm’s and Rdio’s shared apartment to plan MySpace’s funeral.”

Jobs is correct to compare Ping to Facebook and Twitter, because its settings for deciding who can follow you borrow from both of those well-established networks. You can choose to approve followers and post listening habits to a limited “circle of friends,” the way Facebook lets you, or you can permit anyone at all to follow you, as in Twitter.

But unlike the wide-open spaces of Facebook and Twitter, Ping’s single-minded purpose is to create conversations (and commerce) around music. It watches what you play within iTunes or on your iPhone/iPod Touch, the better to create a profile of your tastes — precisely as Last.fm has done for years with its audioscrobbler plug-in. And in addition to offering customized social music charts that show each user what their friends are listening to (and buying the most) Ping presents that activity to others in a news stream — exactly as Rdio does for music.

If Ping tells you that all your friends are buying and listening to the new Ceelo single (NSFW audio, text), you might be more likely to snap it up yourself. And when you do, you’ll probably use iTunes’ 1-click purchasing feature, because you already have the program open — and it likely already has your credit card billing information, due to a previous purchase.

As for the MySpace part of our equation? That site is still quite useful for listening to obscure bands but has been largely been replaced by Twitter as a tool for artists to communicate with their fans — something Jobs hopes they will start doing with Ping. They will, if they know what’s good for their pocketbooks: Anywhere a track is mentioned, there is a way to buy it from iTunes. If the main conversation between artist and fan takes place within the iTunes store, a lot more music will probably be discovered and sold in what amounts to a gigantic point-of-sale emporium.

MySpace has been on life support for years, and Ping could finally deliver the coup de grace.

As the outset, Ping will lack a location component — currently the hot topic in social networking because it lets friends track each other in real space and helps advertisers target them more specifically. But location could be coming to Ping, which also runs on the location-aware iPhone. In addition, iTunes 10 alerts you when the artists you listen to the most are set to play a concert in your area. And as NYU’s Dave Winer pointed out, it’s likely that Apple Stores will have Ping profiles, so that you can follow them the way you would Lady Gaga, forming another cornerstone of  an eventual Ping location feature.

Ping has significant advantages against other music-oriented social networks, such as Rdio and Blip.fm, which must fight desperately to make an impression on users who already have Facebook and Twitter accounts. And because iTunes is already built around commerce, Ping launches with access to the 160 million-plus credit card numbers already stored there from people who have already bought something — something that Twitter and Facebook lack.

Ping could easily be the opening gambit in a bid to create a wider network around the other premium creative content available through iTunes — movies, TV shows, books and other print media. After all, the iPod started out music-only as well, and now its high-end model does almost everything an iPhone does.

What is the potential upside? Apple recently counted over 150 million active customers of its iTunes store, which Jobs said Wednesday has sold 11.7 billion songs, 450 million television shows, 100 million movies, and 35 million books. So far.

Follow us for disruptive tech news: Eliot Van Buskirk and Epicenter on Twitter.

See Also:

• Live Blog: Apple’s iPod, Music Event
• Apple Takes Aim at Cable With Tiny New Apple TV
• Apple to Livestream Press Conference — to Apple Customers Only

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Apple on Wednesday refreshed its family of iPod products. The iPod Nano, iPod Touch and iPod Shuffle all received some compelling makeovers that should help Apple stay in the lead in the portable media player market.

The iPod Nano was the most interesting upgrade. It does away with the click wheel seen in previous models and is now more like a belt buckle with a multi touchscreen displaying four mini icons on the main screen — basically, a quarter of the size of an iPhone or iPod Touch.

The Nano is now 1.6 inches wide, 1.4 inches tall and just 0.3 inches thick including the belt clip.

One screen on the Nano shows Artists, Playlists, Genius Mixes and Now Playing. Swipe your finger and you get a few more apps: radio, photo, podcasts and settings. There’s no home button, so you have to hold your finger down on the screen to exit an app, which is simple enough. You can also rearrange the icons by holding your finger on an app until it jiggles, then move it to wherever you’d like — just like on the iPhone.

The question remains as to whether or not the iPod Nano is running iOS and if we’ll be able to jailbreak it to run different apps. Apple hasn’t disclosed whether the operating system was iOS, but it sure looks like it. Update: An Apple engineer told Wired magazine editor Mark McClusky that the Nano does not run iOS.

Also noteworthy is that the Nano does not include a camera, even though last year’s model just introduced one. I guess nobody cared about shooting video with the tiny device, which isn’t surprising.

What’s nifty on the Nano is the small integrated clip to snap the device on to your pocket or belt buckle. The entire body including the clip is made of aluminum so it feels nice and sturdy.

Moving on to the iPod Touch, this was a predictable but monster update. It’s about a millimeter thinner than the iPhone 4, even though it’s got most of the same guts. There are the front and rear cameras — the rear for shooting high-definition videos and photos, the front for FaceTime video conferencing.

The Nano now has an Apple A4 processor and the high-resolution “retina display.” Grip it in your hand and it feels really smooth and light.

I had a chance to test FaceTime and it felt even faster than FaceTime on the iPhone 4, though this time around Apple might have just had a better Wi-Fi connection.

Overall, the new iPod Touch is the same as the iPhone 4 but now we can’t really say, “It’s an iPhone without a phone,” because the Touch includes a video-conferencing webphone! That’s a major difference and should have an impact on video conferencing in general.

Last, and least important, was an upgrade for the iPod Shuffle. To put it simply, it’s another belt-clip iPod similar to the Nano, only with the traditional click wheel. On the top is an integrated button for VoiceOver, which enables you to dictate the playlist or artist you want to listen to. Example, if you say “Play songs by The Shins,” the Shuffle will obey your commands.

The Shuffle is puny — 1.2 inches wide, 1.1 inches tall and 0.3 inches thick. And it is so lightweight I could barely even feel it in my pocket, which should be ideal for athletes.

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Update: Corrected an error where I said the previous iPod Nano snapped photos, when actually it only shot video.

See Also:

• Hands-on With the New $100 Apple TV
• Apple Takes Aim at Cable With Tiny New Apple TV
• Live Blog: Apple’s iPod, Music Event
• Apple to Live Stream Press Conference — to Apple Customers Only

Federal regulators are putting off efforts to regain authority over the nation’s internet providers while they seek renewed public input on net neutrality.

The delay shows the intractability of the debate over wireless and wireline openness rules, and the ongoing shock waves of last month’s joint policy proposal from Google and Verizon to create a framework for Congress to enact new competitive rules for ISPs. That proposal in turn seeks to fill a vacuum left by a federal appeals court, which effectively stripped the FCC of its authority to oversee broadband earlier this year.

The delicacy of the negotiations to reassert federal control of the internet were made clear on Wednesday when the FCC announced that, due to unnamed recent events — a clear reference to its failed talks and Google and Verizon’s recent policy “compromise” statement — it needs even more comments on “what framework will guarantee Internet freedom and openness, and maximize private investment and innovation.”

Specifically, the FCC wants feedback on whether ISPs should be allowed to build special web services for their own customers (.pdf), or if they should be prevented from competing directly with companies that create services for the general internet and thus depend on unbiased service from network providers.

At stake is an arcane administrative ruling issued during the Bush administration that reclassified internet providers as “information services” rather than “telecommunications services.” The FCC is specifically authorized to regulate only the latter. Now anti-regulatory factions, which naturally include the giant telecom monopolies that control the fixed and wireless broadband markets in the U.S., are fighting tooth and nail to keep the distinction intact, and the FCC off their turf.

Until the FCC finds a way through the thicket, there is still no federal authority that can prevent your ISP from dictating what browser you use, what brand of mobile phone computer or router you plug into the network or blocking your favorite website or protocol.

Your ISP and mobile phone company can make their services go faster than their competitors without fear of federal regulators fining them, and they can throttle your connection at any time, for any reason, without having to explain to anyone why they did it.

Free market groups argue that’s fine, since the market is competitive enough that ISPs will have to play fair with their customers. Others argue that the very basis of the internet is a transport layer that simply works, tries its best and doesn’t play favorites, and letting large telecoms muck with that puts all the innovation of the last two decades and those of the decades to come at risk.

Google and Verizon had long been at opposite ends of the net neutrality debate. Google, which makes its money on the web, wants the government to ensure that people have the right to use whatever services, devices and applications they want, and that wireless and traditional wired ISPs should be required to act as disinterested conduits — simply ferrying packets back and forth. Innovation, according to Google and many net neutrality supporters, happens in the development of applications and services, not in the network itself, regardless of whether that network is cable or 3G.

But telecoms including Verizon, the nation’s largest wireless company and one of its biggest fixed broadband companies, protest that such rules would be heavy-handed, reduce innovation and throttle investment in new infrastructure, especially in the wireless world.

Making good on an Obama campaign promise, the FCC announced last fall that it was going to formally adopt six broad principles of so-called net neutrality. The first four had been established informally in 2005 for cable and DSL customers: People would have the right to use whatever legal online services, devices and applications they wanted, and Americans would have the right to choose service providers from among various competing ISPs.

FCC head Julius Genachowski, a law school classmate of President Obama, wanted to add two more rules: One, broadband providers cannot discriminate against services or applications by slowing them down, and two, broadband providers must tell customers how its engineers manage the network congestion.

The FCC also wanted apply some of the rules to the growing mobile broadband industry, something that Skype and Google had been fighting for. That fight included a $4.6 billion bet by Google that forced Verizon to buy wireless spectrum with open access rules applied to it. (The FCC has never ruled one way or the other if the original rules applied to wireless.)

CEO Steve Jobs At Apple's annual music event in San Francisco. Photo by Jon Snyder/Wired

We know — the new Apple TV is really small, and it finally focuses on renting rather than purchasing television shows, integrates iOS devices as remote controls, has an optical audio output for surround sound, and costs just a hundred bones.

That’s all good, but Apple TV has yet to knock our socks off despite being the ripest area for expansion by a company that has already firmly established itself on the computer, phone, portable media player and tablet.

Let’s just get right down to it. Here are five reasons Apple TV is still boring — even after today’s improvements:

The biggest promise of devices such as Apple TV, from the consumer’s point of view, is that they might — at long last — allow them to “cut the cord,” replacing their cable or satellite connections with an internet-connected set-top box, the same way many have replaced their landlines with cellphones.

But with only two networks — ABC and Fox — included in Apple’s new television rental program, the only way a television viewer with normal viewing habits would be able to cut the cord using the new Apple TV would be to wait a day and download unsupported new shows from BitTorrent (more on that below), while relying on Netflix for older shows.

“To get the 88 percent of the U.S. market that doesn’t know what Apple TV is “to pay attention, Apple has to offer more of what people want in the living room: more TV shows,” said Forrester analyst James McQuivey after Wednesday’s announcement. “Yet only ABC and Fox have agreed to let Apple rent their TV shows. Meanwhile the Apple TV becomes merely one of dozens of devices — some even cheaper than $99 — that can stream Netflix videos to the living room.”

He’s right. This relative lack of television content appears to weaken the “TV” part of the “Apple TV” proposition more than any other factor. And the fact that one of only two launch partners Apple could secure is ABC — owned by Disney, of which Jobs is the largest shareholder — is not exactly a hopeful sign that the networks will be climbing aboard anytime soon.

Apple’s iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) relies on a touchscreen, and a television — by its nature of being 10 or more feet away — does not. But Apple allows developers to simulate iOS devices on a computer that lacks such a touchscreen, so it’s possible to represent touch with a pointer. Similar technology — perhaps utilizing a Wii-style control wand, a gyroscopic mouse or even another iOS device — could solve that problem.

As Brian X. Chen wrote back in July — after both Engadget and The New York Times reported that Apple would include iOS in the next Apple TV overhaul — an iOS-based Apple TV would have led to the connected living room, an expanded iOS user base, TV apps, motion-based gaming, and a stronger alternative to cable or satellite.

Instead, Apple TV is more “Airport Express for television” than “iPhone for television.” Apple created (or helped create) custom Apple TV apps for Flickr, MobileMe, Netflix and YouTube in advance of this announcement. Why reinvent the wheel like that when Apple already has a thriving iOS app store?

Hopefully, for Apple’s sake and that of its customers, the next Apple TV will run iOS. If so, competing television networks would have less reason to balk, because they could create their own apps (see Hulu), which would go a long way towards solving our No. 1 objection, above.

As things stand now, the door is wide open for Google Android to take over the set-top boxes with a device that truly runs apps, essentially scaling the Boxee model out to hordes of Android users — and maybe even former iOS users.

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By Annalee Newitz, io9

Want to start reading some science fiction, but aren't sure where to begin? We've put together an introductory sci-fi lit syllabus just for you.

SF 101: Introduction to Literature Syllabus

What This List Is and Isn't

There are a few things to keep in mind about this syllabus for SF 101: Introduction to Literature.

It is not comprehensive. It is intended to introduce the novice student of SF literature to the major themes in the genre, as well as books and authors who are representative of different eras in SF lit (including the present day). So you'll find a mix of old and new here, as well as fan favorites tucked in among more literary authors.

Back in the mists of time, I used to teach literature and American Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, so I have some experience putting together course materials for university classes very much like one. (In fact, there are a few books on here that I used to teach.) What educators aim to do in overview courses is expose students to the broadest possible set of examples of a genre, not just the "canon." It is in this spirit that I chose the books on this list.

How to Use This List

The course is divided up into six sections, each with a collection of books that range from canonical classics to works off the beaten path. Ideally, you will read all the books on the list. But if you don't have the time to read them all, I suggest you sample one book of your choice from each section.

Where possible, I have linked to free versions of these books online. Where that isn't possible, I have linked to sites where you can read part of the book, and buy the book if you choose.

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See Also:

• Cerebral Sci-Fi Films That Wipe Our Minds
• NSFW: 'Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury' Is a Sexed-Up Sci-Fi Anthem
• Brain-Blasting Cerebral Sci-Fi Cinema, Chosen by You

1969: Six weeks after landing men on the moon, Americans take another giant leap for mankind with the nation’s first cash-spewing, automated teller machine.

The machine, called the Docuteller, was installed in a wall of the Chemical Bank in Rockville Center, New York. It marked the first time reusable, magnetically coded cards were used to withdraw cash.

A bank advertisement announcing the event touted, “On Sept. 2, our bank will open at 9:00 and never close again!”

Don Wetzel, an executive at Docutel, a Dallas company that developed automated baggage-handling equipment, is generally credited as coming up with the idea for the modern ATM while standing in a bank line. Previous automated bank machines had allowed customers to make deposits, pay bills or obtain automated cash — after purchasing a one-time voucher or card from a teller. The new device was the first in the United States to dispense cash using a mag-stripe card that didn’t require teller intervention.

For the time being, tellers had no need to fear for their jobs. At about $30,000 each ($178,000 in today’s buying power), the machines cost more than a teller’s annual salary.

And they could only dispense cash, not receive deposits or transfer money between accounts. Those features came with the 1971 version, called the Total Teller.

The ATM freed customers from the tyranny of banker’s hours, giving them access to dough 24/7 and even, much later, performing the function of currency converters  — allowing Americans traveling abroad to obtain cash in local currencies.

Of course, the machines were good for banks, too, eventually letting them cut costs, reduce teller lines and, of course, charge outrageous user fees.

There were issues, though. Because the machines were offline there was no way to check a customer’s balance to see if there was enough money to cover a withdrawal.

“Not only was it a technical problem to overcome, it was a problem in the minds of the banker to issue a card to somebody and not know whether he had the money in his account or not,” Wetzel said in a 1995 interview,

To overcome that barrier, there was a $150 daily limit for ATM withdrawals. Other obstacles included finding a manufacturer to put mag stripes on the back of the bank cards, and printing receipts that could be read by machine.

Then there were problems with resistance from banks, who worried that customers would reject the machines, or that reducing face-to-face interaction with customers would lose opportunities to sell customers other bank services.

Customers embraced the new machines, however, which opened the way for other manufacturers to get in the game.

Diebold was one of the first companies to see the gold in the emerging ATM market. A maker of safes and vaults until then, the company decided to branch out in 1974 with the first installation of its TABS 500 ATM. By 1995, Diebold was producing more than half of all ATMs in the United States.

Today there are ATMs everywhere, including one at the McMurdo research station on Antarctica –- but no sign of one, just yet, on the moon. And today’s ATMs go far beyond teller duty. Some even sell lottery tickets and postage stamps.

But along with the ubiquity of the machines came security issues.

The first ATMs were offline mechanical machines. Within a decade, with the rise of PCs, they became electronic devices. By the 1990s, ATMs were being connected to backend networks by modem, and their dominant operating system was Microsoft Windows. This, of course, opened a whole new wave of vulnerabilities.

Since then, hackers and scammers have kept banks on their toes devising ever-more-sophisticated ways to steal cash through or ATMs. Skimmers, until recently, were the dominant mode. The devices consist of components slipped over legitimate card readers that surreptitiously record data from the mag strip of cards as customers insert them. A tiny camera captures the customer’s PIN as it’s entered on the keypad.

There have also been a spate of attacks using a default passcode that the maker of one ATM brand printed inexplicably printed in an operator’s manual easily found online.

Recently, however, hackers have found new ways to strip ATMs of their cash by installing malware on the machines. Last year, malicious software was discovered on 20 bank ATMs in Russia and Ukraine. The program was designed to attack ATMs made by Diebold and NCR that run Microsoft Windows XP software.

The attack requires someone to physically load the malware on to the machine — with a USB stick or cable, for example. Once this is done, attackers can insert a control card into the machine’s card reader to trigger the malware and give them control of the machine through a custom interface and the ATM’s keypad.

A thief could also instruct the machine to eject whatever cash was inside the machine. A fully loaded bank ATM can hold up to $600,000. The malware also captures account numbers and PINs from the machine’s transaction application and then delivers them to the thief on a receipt printed from the machine in an encrypted format, or to a storage device inserted in the card reader.

This year at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, researcher Barnaby Jack took the hack one step further by discovering a way to “jackpot” ATMs by remotely installing malware on one brand.

Source: Various

Photo: An unidentified girl puts her computer punch card into the slot of an ATM money machine, outside a bank in central London in 1968.
Associated Press

See Also:

• The Future of Money: It's Flexible, Frictionless and (Almost) Free
• Threat Level: ATMs
• Jan. 9, 1969: Concorde Takes to the Skies; Turbulence Ahead
• Jan. 15, 1969: White-Knuckle Ride
• Jan. 16, 1969: A Rendezvous, and a Rough Ride Home
• Feb. 9, 1969: Behemoth Aloft
• April 7, 1969: Birth of That Thing We Call the Internet
• June 22, 1969: Umm, the Cuyahoga River's on Fire … Again
• July 20, 1969: One Small Step … One Giant Leap …
• Sept. 2, 1985: Hey, Everyone, We Found the Titanic
• Sept. 2, 1993: U.S., Russia Ink Space Pact