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Comment This is news? (Score 1) 83

People have been warning anyone who would listen for several years about the issues with these things. Do a google search on hacking POS credit card terminals, it will turn up lots of results from several years back. Yay for B&N for coming clean, but why didn't they replace them, or use their purchasing power to get them fixed before this happened?
Android

Ask Slashdot: How Can I Protect My Android Devices From Hackers? 295

A reader writes "My Android phone (an unrooted OptimusV running 2.2.2) and my Android tablet (Arnova 7g3 running 4.1) have been subjected to hacking via either 'forced Bluetooth attack' or through the Wi-Fi signals in the home where I currently rent a room. I got an Android phone at the start of this year after my 'feature phone' was force Bluetooth hacked hoping for better security, yet I still have major security issues. For instance, my Optimus's Wi-Fi again shows an error, although I am sure that a hack is causing this since when I reset the device when it's out of range from this home's signal the Wi-Fi works fine. And now the tablet (as of recently) can't access this home's open Wi-Fi, though it works fine when at other outside hot-spots. So, my question is: Are there any good (free?) security apps out there that would actually prevent this from occurring? It's not like I'm doing nefarious things on the internet, I just want to keep it private."
Programming

Learning HTML Through a Board Game 34

An anonymous reader writes "cHTeMeLe is a board game about writing HTML5 code. In cHTeMeLe, players endorse their favorite web browser (Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, or IE) and then score points by correctly laying out HTML tags, while also trying to bug or crash their opponents' code. From the article: 'Despite cHTeMeLe's technical theme, its developers claim you don't need any web programming experience to play. The game takes web design standards and boils them down into game rules that even children can learn. To help less technical players keep everything straight, the tag cards use syntax highlighting that different parts of code have unique colors — just like an Integrated Developer Environment. No one is going to completely pick up HTML5 purely by playing cHTeMeLe, but it does have some educational value for understanding basic tags and how they fit together.'"
Security

Submission + - WhatsApp threatens legal action instead of fixing massive security flaws (h-online.com)

An anonymous reader writes: In an apparent reaction to the security vulnerabilities demonstrated by The H's associates at heise Security, the company behind WhatsApp Messenger is taking action against the developers of a library of functions for using the WhatsApp service via a PC. The developers have responded by removing the source code from the web.

However, the popular texting alternative WhatsApp still has a major security problem. Attackers can compromise other users' accounts with relative ease, and send and receive messages from another user's account.

Forked versions of the code are still available on Github.

Security

Submission + - Automatic Detection of OWASP Top 10 Vulnerabilities

compumike writes: "Tinfoil Security today released a browser-based website penetration testing tool as a service. "We've caught SQL injection, XSS, insecure cookies, and other vulnerabilities in 93% of websites scanned, even in frameworks like Django and Rails," said Ainsley Braun, the CEO. Earlier this year, they found a vulnerability in United Airlines that leaked flight passenger manifests. Expensive security consultants and in-house security teams can be replaced with an army of machines providing constant scanning for all websites."
GNOME

Submission + - GNOME 3.6 released (gnome.org)

kthreadd writes: Mostly bug fixes and improved translations. New applications include Clocks and Boxes. Clocks is a world time clock, which allows you to keep an eye on what the local time is around the world. Boxes allows you to connect to other machines, either virtual or remote. For developers there's the new GtkLevelBar widget in GTK+, and GtkEntry can now use Pango attributes.
Virtualization

Submission + - Review: VMware Workstation 9 vs. VirtualBox 4.2 (infoworld.com)

snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Serdar Yegalulp provides an in-depth comparison of VMware Workstation 9 and VirtualBox 4.2, finding that while VMware Workstation is richer in features and polish than ever, VirtualBox is still both capable and free. 'For those willing to put their money down, VMware Workstation is the easy winner. It isn't just the performance, but the polish and the cross-integration with other VMware products that make Workstation worth the money. That said, VirtualBox is no slouch, and it has a few useful items that aren't available in either Workstation or VMware Player.'"
Science

Submission + - Male Researchers Reveal the Real Reason Why Men Love Breasts (medicaldaily.com) 2

An anonymous reader writes: Two male researchers have attempted to answer the age-old question: why are men obsessed with women's breasts?
The authors say that one of the reasons why heterosexual men are so fascinated by women's breasts is because of a simple hormone released during breastfeeding that helps form the powerful bond between mother and baby. This hormone is also responsible for creating the evolutionary drive for strong nurturing bonds between lovers, according to the authors.
Dr. Young, who is one of the world's leading social neuroscientists, wrote that "biologically speaking" the human male's obsession with breasts is "pretty weird".

Submission + - Is Samsung aiming for a smartphone running Tizen (itworld.com)

abhi2012 writes: "Samsung might be aiming for a smartphone running Tizen, an opensource OS aimed at handhelds and car infotainment systems. Tizen recently went to Alpha, opening up its code (https://source.tizen.org/release) for developers to look at. A quick look at its 3-tier architecture (https://source.tizen.org/documentation/architecture-overview) suggests its somewhat akin to Android's architecture and will also consist of a bunch of API's making the life of app developers easier. According to the article in ITWorld, the WiFi has recently passed a Samsung Device running Tizen which could mean that we can expect a smartphone running Tizen in the probable near future. Fingers crossed :)"
Australia

Submission + - Woz says Australia/NBN story "faulty reporting" (fastnetnews.com)

Daveberstein writes: "One misleading story was picked up by 30 other reporters, none of whom bothered to check with Steve Wozniak. When I did, he emailed. “I am taking the first steps toward my goal of Australian citizenship, which is to apply for an extended visa so that I can reside here. I have desired to find the path to accomplish this for decades. It has nothing to do with NBN (faulty reporting) although I'm always a staunch advocate for technology and bandwidth and sharing and internet freedom. But the two things are not connected. NBN is good in my mind and is a side benefit but that's all.” http://fastnetnews.com/fiber-news/175-d/4856-woz-nbn-is-not-why-im-going-australian [fastnetnews.com]"
Beer

US Military Tested the Effects of a Nuclear Holocaust On Beer 215

pigrabbitbear writes "Is bottled beer nuclear bombproof? The United States government conducted a couple tests in the 1950s to find out—it exploded nuclear bombs with 'packaged commercial beverages' deposited at varying distances from the blast center to see if beer and soda would be safe to drink afterwards. The finding? Yep, surviving bottled and canned drinks can be consumed in the event of a nuclear holocaust, without major health risks."
Communications

Ask Slashdot: What Tech For a Sailing Ship? 340

Razgorov Prikazka writes "There is a lot of technology involved in sailing these days. EPIRB, FHV-DSC, GPS, NAVTEX, Inmarsat, fishfinders/depth sounders, different kinds of radar (with MARPA or ATA) — you name it and there are dozens of manufacturers out there willing to provide, all of them with a range of different products. Right now I am planning a 'round-the-world-trip,'' and my ship (an 18-meter Skerry Cruiser sailing yacht) is in its early construction phase, so I need to shop for some hi-tech gear and, basically, I got lost in all the possibilities. What kind of hardware would you recommend as necessary for a trip of this kind? What would you have installed in your ship in order to have a safe trip?"

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