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Android

Submission + - Google Sued For Tracking Users' :Locations (ibtimes.com)

RedEaredSlider writes: Two Android phone users are suing Google for $50 million in the wake of revelations that their phones might be tracking their locations.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on April 27, is seeking class-action status.

The plaintiffs, Julie Brown and Kayla Molaski, are residents of Oakland County. The two say in the suit that Google's privacy policy did not say that the phones broadcast their location information. Further, they say Google knew that most users would not understand that the privacy policy wouldn't allow for Google to track users' locations.

IT

Submission + - The Features That Make Each Web Browser Unique (infoworld.com)

snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Peter Wayner offers a look at 13 promising features unique to one browser. From Chrome's support for SPDY, to IE9's emphasis on energy efficiency, to Firefox Sync, browser vendors are working hard to establish any edge that might attract more users to their stack of code. And while speed and HTML5 compatability remain key in the battle of the Web browsers, unique features often point the way forward. 'Given the pace of browser updates these days, don't be surprised to find the best of the bunch being copied by competitors soon,' Wayner writes. 'After all, yesterday's browser bells and whistles are today's must-have features.'"
Security

Submission + - China's Cyber Offense Hides Porous Defenses (threatpost.com)

Trailrunner7 writes: Contrary to the image of China as a nearly invincible cyber powerhouse, security researcher Dillon Beresford says in an interview with Threatpost, that the fast-growing nation suffers from woeful cyber security practices at home that leave, literally, thousands of networks and databases vulnerable to even trivial, remote attacks. Beresford, who publicized holes in domestic Chinese SCADA systems in September, 2010, said the country's aggressive cyber offense abroad, he said, is in stark contrast to an almost total lack of basic cyber defense at home that has left both classified and unclassified government networks vulnerable to attack and compromise. That should give the Chinese government pause as it ponders the consequences of a global campaign of cyber espionage, and create an opportunity for the U.S. and China to de-escalate what he sees as a growing cyber arms race. Beresford has publicized holes in recent weeks highlighting insecure mail servers and databases he has uncovered.
Sony

Submission + - Sony Online Entertainment Services Taken Down (gamepolitics.com)

nam37 writes: Sony Online Entertainment's various services seem to be down and a message on the official site does not give much information on the particulars. According to a short post on the site, the services were taken down after an investigation revealed a deeper "intrusion" than expected at first. This is the first we have heard that Sony's MMORPG arm had some sort of security breach. This could be part of Sony's plans to beef up security for the PlayStation Network, but this message seems to indicate that something more serious going on.
Firefox

Submission + - Inside Mozilla's new JavaScript JIT compiler (infoq.com)

An anonymous reader writes: IonMonkey is the name of Mozilla’s new JavaScript JIT compiler, which aims to enable many new optimizations in the SpiderMonkey JavaScript engine. InfoQ had a small Q&A with Lead Developer David Anderson, about this new development that could bring significant improvements in products that use the SpiderMonkey engine like Firefox, Thunderbird, Adobe Acrobat, MongoDB and more.

This new JIT infrastructure, will feature SSA compiler intermediate representations which will facilitate advanced optimizations such as type specialization, function inlining, linear-scan register allocation, dead-code elimination, and loop-invariant code motion.

Technology

Submission + - Supercharging touchscreen interaction, with Ringbo (elektor.in)

Elektor_India writes: "Without a doubt, touchscreen technology has brought a whole new level of interaction with our devices. Israel's Efrat Barit and Saar Shai, however, believe that the functionality of touch-enabled devices could be greatly enhanced with the development of their Ringbow concept. Worn on the index finger, the ring-like device can be programmed to add extra capabilities to existing actions, activate entirely new touch options, or liberate the user's hands from the surface of the display for Kinect-like, spatial control over touchscreen device operation."
News

Submission + - Bin Laden's Death Being Used to Spread Malware (securityweek.com)

wiredmikey writes: Today, we have another major news event for cybercriminals to take advantage of. Following the successful operation by U.S. forces to kill Osama bin Laden, Internet users are searching in the masses for any details about the incident they can find. Cybercriminals know this and have already been at work to "poison" common search results hoping to gain access to people's computers and infect them with malware.

Links are already beginning to spread across Facebook, similar to what happened following news of the recent earthquake in Japan. Users should be cautious of spam containing links to photos, videos and other information that sounds remarkably interesting on Bin Laden’s death. Users also need to be cautious of Tweets through Twitter, and Facebook posts, as cybercriminals gear up to attract unsuspecting users to spread malware. [More]

Comment Re:Search Warrant? (Score 1) 964

I tend to disagree. Police and Federal Enforcement should be investigating crime as vigorously as possible within their legal limitations. That's their job. The judicial system on the other hand, is supposed to be the checks and balances to the enforcers. The problem appears to be that the enforcement agencies are keeping up with technology, and using it to their advantage, but the judicial system is not keeping up with the times. As a result they are not placing the necessary checks on the enforcers.

Comment Re:Search Warrant? (Score 5, Insightful) 964

First Point: ICE raided the house not the police.

Second Point: ICE needs to have a federally issued warrant in order to raid a house.

Honestly it is the Judges that need the wake-up call. Too many just don't understand the intricacies of technology and internet crime. A Judge would have been shown how ICE had tracked the IP back to a specific person, and he should have known that that IP address doesn't necessarily identify that person as the perpetrator, and denied the warrant. Furthermore, he should realize that by authorizing a raid like that he reduced the chance of actually catching the real criminal. If the neighbor wasn't such a bone-head, he would have realized what was going on, and fled after he saw the raid on his neighbor's apartment. Instead he probably though he had successfully pinned the blame on someone else.

Comment This is the way cross platform should be... (Score 4, Interesting) 156

As a bonus, purchasers of the Playstation 3 version of Portal 2 will get a code to unlock the PC and Mac version, too.

Most important thing I found in the article. I'm wondering if it will work the other way around too. I would love if I could eventually play all my steam games on both the PS3 and PC if they are available for both!

Comment Re:Great, now implement 3 and 4 properly. (Score 1) 211

Hate to say it, but many companies and government agencies will force their users to use IE.Plus, IE is still leading in browser market share. Although the market share does vary based on the type of content you provide, it would be irresponsible to just say "IE users can just suck it." At least if you are trying to make your website available to the broadest available audience.

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