The massive release of secret Pentagon documents by WikiLeaks highlights the security challenges of the digital age, when gigabytes of sensitive data can be exposed with a single click, analysts said.

“I think about this in relationship to the Pentagon Papers,” said James Lewis, a cyber security expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), of the 1971 leak of Pentagon files about the Vietnam War.

“The difference with the Pentagon Papers is that Daniel Ellsberg took a huge bunch of paper and gave it to a reporter,” said Lewis. “Now you can take even more documents and give them to the whole world.”

WikiLeaks has not identified the source of the documents it obtained, but suspicion has fallen on Bradley Manning, a US Army intelligence analyst who is currently being held in a military jail in Kuwait.

Manning was arrested in May following the release by WikiLeaks of video footage of a US Apache helicopter strike in Iraq in which civilians died and has been charged with delivering defence information to an unauthorised source.

The Pentagon in June said it was probing allegations that Manning supplied classified video and 260 000 secret diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks.

Lewis said the Pentagon, like any organisation, is going to have “bad actors” - insiders who turn against their employer - “but now it’s a lot easier for them to do things like this”.

“Everything’s digital now, everything’s on the network,” said Tom Conway, director of federal business development at computer security firm McAfee.

WikiLeaks appeared to be a “classic insider threat case”, he said, noting that safeguarding computerised information posed particular challenges to an institution with the “sheer size and complexity” of the US military.

“Ultimately, where there’s a will there’s a way,” Conway said. “What you have to do is make it difficult.”

That includes such measures as blocking access to the internet, disabling DVD drives on personal computers, compartmentalising sensitive information and flagging or blocking behaviour that is “outside the norm”, he said.

“If all of a sudden someone goes from downloading 50MB a day to 9 000 a day that should set off a red flag,” he said. “Maybe there’s nothing wrong, a perfectly reasonable explanation for it, but maybe there isn’t.”

A former Pentagon official who requested anonymity said the “proliferation of digital media and social software is certainly going to increase the risks of things like this happening”.

“Security is always going to be a balance between convenience and security,” said the former official. “It’s always a trade-off between functionality and security and the pendulum has swung way to the functionality side.”

He cited a notorious Pentagon ban in 2009 on the use of thumb drives by military personnel. “They’ve now re-allowed them but with special thumb drives that are encrypted and tamper proof,” he said.

“You’ve got to rethink how you secure information,” said Lewis, who heads the technology and public policy programme at the Washington-based CSIS think tank.

“In the paper world, I got a document that had top secret stamped on it and the government trusted that I wouldn’t take that piece of paper and share it. Maybe in the paper world that was okay but it’s not for the digital,” he said.

“The way we control that access is based on an older model, it’s pretty much personal trust,” Lewis said. “The Pentagon trusts its employees, which is good, but it’s not enough.”

Don Jackson of SecureWorks said military security clearances, access and “need-to-know” requirements are “based on the analogue world, where the worst you had to worry about was information like this being published in a newspaper.

“Something like WikiLeaks is not something you had to worry about before the internet,” said Jackson, a security researcher with the counter-threat unit at the information security firm.

“The newspaper can’t publish 90 000 documents but WikiLeaks can do it in a matter of seconds.”

The largest online book retailer Amazon.com sold more digital books than hardbacks between January and March, it said.

From April to June, the company sold 43% more digital books for its Kindle handheld device than hardback books, nearly three years after the electronic format became available, according to a press release on Monday, 19 July.

In June alone, digital books outsold hardbacks by 80%. The company did not provide total sales data for either format.

Sales of e-books, as they are also called, have been boosted by a drop in the price of the Kindle hardware, according to Amazon founder and chief executive officer Jeff Bezos.

“The growth rate of Kindle device unit sales has tripled since we lowered the price from $259 (R1,956.43) to $189 (R1,427.74),” he was quoted as saying in a company press release, without indicating how many were sold.

Kindle books can also be read on competing hardware devices such as Apple Inc’s iPhone or iPad, or laptop computers.

Of the 630 000 e-book titles available for purchase on the Amazon website, over 510 000 cost under $10 (R75.54), the company said. No information was provided on the price of Amazon’s hardbacks.

Amazon did not include downloads of its nearly 1.8 million electronic titles available free of charge.

The figures released did not include paperback sales, which represent over two-thirds of the market by revenue according to the Association of American Publishers.

Which media companies will become the next Facebook and Twitter to become the next household name?

It is incredible to imagine how we ever managed without text messages, but simple services have the power to permanently change how you – and millions of other consumers – incorporate media into your daily life. “Why didn’t I think of that?” you wonder, as yet another social media or mobile start-up hits the headlines after a multi-million-pound acquisition.

Size isn’t everything; what matters more is the newsworthiness or “buzz” surrounding a company.

One thing is for sure: the companies listed below are offering unique services or technologies that are shaping the future of the media industry - and if you haven’t already heard of them, you soon will.

Vente Privee

Mission statement: “As innovator and industry leader of exclusive online flash sales… Vente-privee.com aims to continue building strong relationships with like-minded brands who want a perfectly tailored solution to protect their product and present it to a captivated customer base.”

Key people: Founder and chief executive Jacques-Antoine Granjon, founder and chief executive

Financial performance: Predicted turnover of £763m this year, up from £610m in 2009. UK turnover is forecast to grow from £2.7m in 2009 to £7.2m this year.

Employees: 1,250 (25 in UK)

Founded: 2001

The buzz: Most online retailers let shoppers come and go anonymously, but Vente-privee.com started out by insisting users must be members of its exclusive club in order to get discounts on designer fashion brands.

Members are given previews of sales with an invitation email and sales last between two to four days, with discounts of 50% to 70%. The site has 11 million members in Europe (350,000 in the UK) and has sparked a number of imitators. Persistent rumours of acquisition by Amazon remain unconfirmed.

Perform Group

Mission statement: “To reach and engage mass audiences through progressive sports media.”

Key people: Group chief executive Oliver Slipper

Financial performance: Turnover grew from £31m in 2008 to £64m in 2009.

Employees: 350

Founded: 2007

The buzz: Formed from the merger of Premium TV and Inform Group, Perform has cornered the market in digital sports media, specialising in video on-demand.

As well as working with the Premier League and Chelsea FC to provide live streaming of matches, Perform has a thriving ad sales business.

The group is expanding internationally and 60% of turnover now comes from outside the U.K. A U.S. launch is planned for later this year.

TweetDeck

Mission statement: To make social media more powerful

Key people: Iain Dodsworth, chief executive~

Financial performance: Revenues undisclosed, but the firm recently received a reported US$2m in funding and expects to become profitable this year.

Employees: 15

Founded: January 2009

The buzz: Social media users have taken this British start-up to their hearts just 18 months after it launched as a client for Twitter. TweetDeck allows users to browse social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare and MySpace on the same “dashboard”, with apps for devices such as the iPhone. TweetDeck also taps into the social media psyche – for example, allowing users to see who has mentioned them on Twitter.

Mind Candy

Mission statement: “To build the largest and most respected kids’ entertainment property in the world.”

Key people: Founder Michael Smith

Financial performance: Profitable since May 09. Smith says revenue for 2010 will be five times that of 2009, running into “tens of millions of dollars”.

Employees: 30

Founded: 2003

The buzz:  The new Facebook for kids, Mind Candy’s phenomenally successful property Moshi Monsters is one of the biggest sites for children in the world.

Players log on to adopt and care for a virtual monster, which can interact with other creatures in their own virtual world. Future plans include expanding the brand to new platforms including the iPhone, and branching out into trading cards, books, video games, music albums and live shows.

Mind Candy also recently signed a multi-book publishing deal with Penguin.

Streaming Tank

Mission statement: “The creative live video streaming logistics agency that specialises in the consultancy, creation, training and digital delivery of brand-specific live events, including the contingent on-demand products and services.”

Key people: Co-founders James Wilkinson and Chris Dabbs

Financial performance: Profitable, with revenues forecast to increase by more than 40% this year. The firm expects to achieve revenues of more than £5m within three years.

Employees: 15 (plus freelancers)

Founded: 2003

The buzz: Video streaming is their business. As the go-to agency for live streaming and branded online events, the company achievements include live streaming of every concert on a world tour for The Who, and the much-awarded Love project for Starbucks and charity Red, which involved people from 156 countries singing All You Need is Love live to raise awareness of Aids.

In February 2010, the firm organised live streaming of every show from London Fashion Week.

Velti

Mission statement: “To be the leading global provider of mobile marketing and advertising solutions across multiple media.”

Key people: Chief executive Alex Moukas and chief operating officer Chris Kaskavelis

Financial performance: Revenues increased 82% between 2008 and 2009, up from US$49.5m to $90m.

Employees: 459

Founded: 2000

The buzz:  Velti has been around for a while as a mobile marketing specialist, but brands looking to do more with mobile are particularly excited by its mGage portal, which launched in January.

The portal is designed to act as a one-stop-shop where advertisers can plan marketing and advertising campaigns across mobile and traditional media, but mGage can also be used for managing media buys, tracking performance and creating mobile applications. It will also provide case studies to help clients make the most of mobile.

Mesh Planning

Mission statement: “To create, develop and lead the experience tracking market globally.”

Key people: Chief experience officer Fiona Blades and founding partner Stephen Phillips

Financial performance: Sales for the first six months of 2010 are almost double those for the 12 months of 2009. Mesh is part of the 38th Floor Group of three research agencies, whose turnover increased from £1.9m in 2008 to £2.3m in 2009.

Employees: 20

Founded: 2006

The buzz:  Described by industry observers as “fascinatingly different” and “Millward-Brown orthodoxy busting”, boutique research agency Mesh specialises in experience tracking, using a tool called Troi (Touchpoints Return on Investment).

The tool is designed to evaluate marketing activity using a multimedia approach centred on mobile.

Mesh has several awards under its belt and has attracted high-calibre clients including Unilever, Vodafone and Coca-Cola, as well as media agencies OMD and Havas.

Playfish

Mission statement: “Changing the way people play games by creating more social and connected experiences.”

Key people: Co-founders Sebastien de Halleux and Kristian Segerstrale

Financial performance: Acquired for $275m last November by Electronic Arts. Revenues undisclosed but were estimated at $75m at the time of the deal.

Employees: 200

Founded: 2007

The buzz: Just two years after it was founded, London-based social gaming company Playfish was snapped up by Electronic Arts last year after creating popular online gaming properties such as Pet Society, Restaurant City and Who Has the Biggest Brain?, which was one of the first major games to take off on Facebook.

EA hopes the company will prove a strong rival to the likes of Farmville-maker Zynga, and claimed recently that Playfish’s user base is continuing to grow thanks to games such as FIFA Superstars, while other games are losing players on Facebook.

ChannelFlip

Mission statement: “Connecting advertisers with audiences through fantastic online video content.”

Key people: Co-founder and managing director Wil Harris

Financial performance: On course to achieve “six-figure profit and seven-figure turnover” for 2009-10, according to Harris.

Employees: 14

Founded: May 2008

The buzz: ChannelFlip claims to answer the question of how independent TV producers can use online video outside repurposed broadcast content.

One recent project created the online video show David Mitchell’s SoapBox as a branded content partnership with men’s grooming brand Bulldog, starring the comedian.

It was the most successful show of 2009 on Apple iTunes and has racked up more than six million views on YouTube. Other clients include Volvo, Pepsi and Oil of Olay.

Flirtomatic (operated by Handmade Mobile Entertainment)

Mission statement: “To operate the most successful mobile social network.”

Key people: Chief executive Mark Curtis

Financial performance: The company’s turnover of £2m in 2009 is forecast to double to £4m this year, with a profit expected next year.

Employees: 37

Founded: 2005

The buzz: One of the first brands to successfully crack the market for social media on mobiles, Flirtomatic not only allows users to “flirt” (anonymously) with each other, they can also use its own currency FlirtPoints to buy virtual goods online.

The service’s two million members flirt with new people based on their preferences, interests, location or other profile information – making it distinct from Facebook, which connects people who already know each other.

Flirtomatic is already the biggest mobile social network in Europe and is rapidly taking off in the US, attracting more than 500,000 users just six months since launch.

Jeweler/gadget-monger Stuart Hughes is selling diamond-encrusted iPhone 4 devices for $20,000 — but order quickly, as only 50 of these items will be made.

These flashy gadgets come unlocked “for worldwide use” and absolutely sparkling with 6.5 carats of VVS quality, F-color diamonds and a flattering carrying case made of ostrich foot. The back of the device features a solid platinum and diamond version of the Apple logo.

This latest raid into luxury goods of unquestionable lavishness and uncertain taste calls to mind a similarly bedecked iPad which surfaced in March. This device features 11.43 carats of hand-set, micro-pave diamonds and retails for a sheer $19,999.

If diamonds alone aren’t your thing, you could also go for a gold-covered iPad, found back in May or  you could spring for the $3 million jewel-sprinkled, solid gold 3GS Stuart Hughes introduced.

Stuart Hughes version of the iPhone 4 is just outside the realm of most budgets; we can, however, recommend an excellent gadget for those who would have bling on a budget. It’s called a Bedazzler, and it’s iPhone and Android compatible.

There is a heated competition that has been getting some press.

The contest is between President Obama and Lady Gaga who are competing to be the first living person to garner more than 10 million fans on the popular social networking site Facebook.

The two are currently neck-in-neck in the race to 10 million, and that as of early this morning, Mr. Obama had the lead by about a 30,000 fans.

Lady Gaga has surged past the president now claiming 9,142,866 fans to his 9,111,970.

It should be noted that Mr. Obama’s page is run by the group Organizing for America, which is part of the Democratic National Committee.

Actor Vin Diesel comes in third place among living individuals with 9,058,684 fans. But all three trail top vote getter Michael Jackson (over 13 million fans), who passed away a year ago today.

Other notable politicians with Facebook pages are former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin (1,689,132 fans), First Lady Michelle Obama (1,317,085 fans) and Arizona Sen. John McCain (580,520 fans).

In July Skype is offering free or cheap calls to landline telephones in all countries participating in the World Cup soccer tournament. 120 free minutes are available for calls to landline numbers in South Africa.

To be eligible, one must first register with Skype on the internet and, among other things, provide your credit card details or work through PayPal (www.paypal.com).

Skype is a telephony service working through the internet. Many people with family and friends overseas are very familiar with it.

But it has not yet attracted great attention for local calls in South Africa because South Africa has so far been deficient in unlimited Internet access.

Such internet access is however becoming more available on the local front and so therefore Skype can become more popular in South Africa.

With Skype, conversations are carried out via computers. Two computers that are both connected to the internet can in this way be linked by the click of a mouse and from that point conversations are unlimited and free – if one discounts the cost of internet connectivity.

These types of conversations can also become a video call with a web camera.

The Skype connectivity application is also available on some cell phones like the Apple Iphone.

This means that an international call takes place via the cellphones’ data connections instead of cell phone provider rates (on both sides) instead of being a more expensive international cell phone call. On a wireless phone, one can connect to an internet router and make a call through that connection without having a computer and a microphone.

Skype can also be used to connect to landlines or cell phones from a computer.

To use the facility, you pay an amount into your Skype account and the costs are recovered from that. But Skype’s soccer offering will be free or cheaper during July.

Be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that send you emails out of the blue.  “Dear Mr. Smith, I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines and directories  …” Reserve the same skepticism for unsolicited email as for “burn fat at night diet pills” or requests to help transfer funds from deposed dictators. No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

Some new iPhone 4 owners are having poor reception issues and Apple has responded to their concerns, the idea is essentially either “stop holding the phone that way” or “buy a case.”

Engadget reports that not only have company spokespeople issued a statement advising users to “avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases,” but head honcho Steve Jobs himself responded similarly in one of his increasingly spontaneous e-mail answers: “Just avoid holding it in that way.”

The remainder of Apple’s statement stresses that antenna placement can potentially pose a reception issue in any cell phone, not just the iPhone 4: “Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas.” The specific positioning of the new iPhone’s antennas in the lower left-hand corner of the device is of particular annoyance for left-handed users, who naturally cup the phone in that area.

Apple sells a $29 rubber bumper that creates a obstruction between the hand and the phone’s antennas, which many users say solves the reception problem. The existence of said bumper essentially asks the question, though — does it mean that Apple already knew about the potential reception issues with the phone? If so, should users really have to fork out $29 to repair the reception that’s knocked out by holding the phone in an arguably natural way?

So is Apple’s solution to iPhone 4 reception problems acceptable?

When Philip Mould began as a professional art dealer 22 years ago, the buying and selling of top quality artwork was confined to a small group of well-versed art historians who toured the globe in search of masterpieces.

The timeless world of art has changed in the age of the internet and technology. Once limited to examining 15 to 20 works per day, Mould and his staff can now judge the worth of between 50 and 100 works of art per day.

“There are more possibilities, more discoveries. But there is also more competition. There is a new generation that likes the adrenaline rush, and buys indiscriminately,” Mould said.

Mould’s new book, The Art Detective, explores the once-shadowy but now widely accessible world of art dealing and restoration. “Knowledge is more democratised now,” he said.

Mould once had to use low-quality photographs to judge a work of art being offered by a seller. Now he is able to closely examine every inch of a painting by using contemporary digital imagery.

“Photography has transformed the art world,” he said.

His book is subtitled Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures.

Among the best of his stories: The discovery of a Rembrandt self-portrait.

Originally attributed to a follower of Rembrandt, the painting once was valued at between $2 000 and $4 000. Later, having been authenticated as a lost self-portrait, it sold at auction for $5.2m. It is now valued at an estimated $40m.

Mould now 50 years old, is an expert on British portraiture and a presenter for the television series Antiques Roadshow in the United Kingdom, in which evaluators judge the value of antiques purchased across Britain. The show has been reproduced in several countries, including the US, Canada, Australia and Germany.

Mould says he is drawn to the art itself and to the excitement of the chase.

“The most exciting moment is when the painting is taken out to be improved and restored,” he said. “It’s the artistic equivalent of open-heart surgery. Sometimes I can’t even watch. Emotions are extreme, especially when you’ve paid for it yourself.”

Mould uses his know-how to expose fraud. British police have estimated that 50% of the art sold on eBay, for example, is fraudulent.

“There are more fakes now. A lot of fakes come from China, for example. But one can never recreate the effects of time. Even the smell is important,” Mould said.

“It’s very exciting. Old-fashioned connoisseurship is greatly assisted by modern science,” he said.

Sophisticated fingerprint technology allows buyers to confirm art by finding the sometimes centuries-old fingerprint of the artist.

“A fingerprint is better than a signature in establishing whether something is authentic or not. Unlike a signature, a fingerprint cannot be faked.”

Move over James Cameron: a sea turtle found a waterproof camera in the Caribbean, somehow activated the device, filmed itself and is now a YouTube sensation.

Back in May US Coast Guard agent Paul Schultz found a digital camera in a waterproof case on a beach in Key West, Florida, and posted images he found on its memory chip on the internet in an attempt to find its owner.

In a video clip dated January 2010 “a turtle came across the camera, and it’s really hard to tell how, but it turns the camera on and recorded itself swimming with the camera,” said Schultz

“When I saw the video, I thought first that someone was getting attack by a sea creature,” Schultz said.

“The last thing the camera owner did was shoot a video underwater, and then it goes right into the next video with the camera turning around in the water,” Schultz said.

The video can be seen on Youtube.

Schultz eventually found the owner, a Dutch navy sailor who lost the camera when he was diving off the island of Aruba in November.

As the crow flies, Aruba, off the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, is some 1 800km from Key West.

But the camera likely took a roundabout journey on the Loop Current, which would have taken it from Aruba to the coast of central America, past Belize and the Yucatan peninsula, around the western coast of Cuba, into the Gulf Stream and on to the Florida Keys.

“I’m totally amazed about this,” Schultz said.