14556364
submission
E IS mC(Square) writes:
Secunia declares Apple having most vulnerable products out of 10 vendors they analyzed. The Half Year Report on software vulnerability and security threat reports that Apple has beaten others noting that "Oracle (including Sun Microsystems and BEA Logic) ranked #1 in four out of five years (is now) overtaken by Apple in the first half of 2010, with Apple consistently ranking higher than Microsoft." The report includes 10 vendors, including IBM, Adobe, Google and Mozilla.
So, the old cliche has come true — that Apple products perceived security was superior to Microsoft only because of less popularity?
12789504
submission
E IS mC(Square) writes:
Do you have a PIN code on your iPhone? Well, while that might protect you from someone making a call or fiddling with your apps, it doesn't prevent access to your data as long as the person doing the snooping around is using Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04.
Here is ZDnet story — http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/ubuntu-lucid-lynx-1004-can-read-your-iphones-secrets/8424
7687854
submission
E IS mC(Square) writes:
Thunderbird 3, unveiled by Mozilla this week, contains code from an unusual source — the French military. The military found Mozilla's open source design permitted France to build security extensions, while Microsoft's secret, proprietary software allowed no tinkering. The Gendarmerie Nationale police, which was part of the military at the time and did the design, released some of its work to the public under the name "TrustedBird," and co-branded it with Mozilla.
The French government is beginning to move to other open source software, including Linux instead of Windows and OpenOffice instead of Microsoft Office.
3445899
submission
E IS mC(Square) writes:
What do you think is more realistic? "That object is approaching the earth at 3 x107th m/sec." OR "there's a freaking rock heading towards the earth!"?
ars technica has an interesting article about it. "When science appears on the big screen, the results can sometimes be horrifying. Still, a handful of scientists are out to make sure that the scientific method, if not all its details, make it into films. Four of them share their stories."
1151093
submission
E IS mC(Square) writes:
Facebook will use a system developed by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office that helps teens and adults report unwanted advances and offensive material to authorities, officials said today.
Facebook, the world's largest social networking site with more than 100 million daily users, has agreed to test the "Report Abuse!" system for the next six months to determine whether it works better than what Facebook now uses, Attorney General Anne Milgram said. As part of its six-month trial, Facebook will randomly place the icon on 1.5 million pages that display video segments, Milgram said. The website will also follow guidelines created by the state on how to follow up on those complaints, including notifying authorities when appropriate.
691997
submission
E IS mC(Square) writes:
Here is an interesting Wired story: A California man has been indicted for an inventive scheme that allegedly siphoned $50,000 from online brokerage houses E-trade and Schwab.com in six months — a few pennies at a time.
Michael Largent allegedly exploited a loophole in a common procedure both companies follow when a customer links his brokerage account to a bank account for the first time. To verify that the account number and routing information is correct, the brokerages automatically send small "micro-deposits" of between two cents to one dollar to the account, and ask the customer to verify that they've received it.
A May 7 search warrant affidavit says he tried the same thing with Google's Checkout service, accumulating $8,225.29 in eight different bank accounts at Bancorp Bank.
568776
submission
E IS mC(Square) writes:
Bits blog at New York Times has an interesting article on your Digital Shadow.
"The digital universe — the pile of digital information that includes everything from e-mail to YouTube videos — is growing faster than previously thought, according to a new study from the research firm IDC.
But the intriguing finding was that all the ambient digital information about you — a person's "digital shadow," IDC calls it — now exceeds the digital information that you generate yourself by sending an e-mail, taking digital pictures, viewing a YouTube video, and so on.
The digital shadow information includes credit-card trails of purchasing behavior, names on mailing lists, Web surfing histories, even surveillance images captured at airports, urban centers, traffic crossings."
How long is your digital shadow?
11455
submission
E IS mC(Square) writes:
Lenovo and IBM Corporation announced today that they too are recalling batteries. From the announcement:"Lenovo and IBM Corporation, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies, have announced the voluntary recall of certain lithium-ion batteries manufactured by Sony Corporation. In the interest of public safety, Lenovo will offer customers free-of-charge replacement batteries for all recalled batteries."
This affects systems sold between February 2005 and September 2006 for Thinkpad R, T and X series.
There is also an FAQ.
1584
submission
E IS mC(Square) writes:
CNet News reports that `Apple Computer and Creative Technology have agreed to settle their legal dispute over music player patents for $100 million, the companies announced Wednesday.
The $100 million, to be paid by Apple, grants Apple a license to a Creative patent for the hierarchical user interface used in that company's Zen music players.
The patent covers an interface that lets users navigate through a tree of expanding options, such as selecting an artist, then a particular album by that artist, then a specific song from that album. Creative filed for the patent on Jan. 5, 2001.
Apple can get back some of the $100 million payment if Creative is able to secure licensing deals with other MP3 player manufacturers, said Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman. "Creative is very fortunate to have been granted this early patent," Apple's CEO Steve Jobs said in a press release.`
