38677829
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
The latest version of Mozilla's Firefox browser has been taken offline after a security vulnerability was discovered.
Users who had upgraded to version 16 were advised to downgrade to the previous safe release until Firefox developers released a fix.
The vulnerability allowed "a malicious site to potentially determine which websites users have visited", Mozilla said.
The non-profit company said that only a "limited number of users are affected".
The download had been taken off-line within a day of its initial release, the organization's UK spokesman said.
35884517
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
Microsoft’s crusade to lock Linux companies into patent protection deals has netted Redmond’s first service provider.
Amdocs Software Systems is paying Microsoft to license undisclosed Redmond patents in a deal that "provides mutual access to each company’s patent portfolio".
The deal extends to the Linux servers running in Amdoc’s data centres, with the unidentified boxes receiving a licence under Microsoft’s patent portfolio. Specific terms of the deal were not announced, including how much Amdocs will pay Microsoft.
Until now, Microsoft has focused its efforts on device makers whose systems run Android Linux – HTC, General Dynamics Itronix, Onkyo Corp and Velocity Micro – in addition to Acer, ViewSonic and Casio. To our knowledge, this is Microsoft’s first strike at the server market. Amdocs specialises in customer and network management and service delivery systems for operators such as cable TV companies.
34692359
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
Jonathan Mayer had a hunch.
A gifted computer scientist, Mayer suspected that online advertisers might be getting around browser settings that are designed to block tracking devices known as cookies. If his instinct was right, advertisers were following people as they moved from one website to another even though their browsers were configured to prevent this sort of digital shadowing. Working long hours at his office, Mayer ran a series of clever tests in which he purchased ads that acted as sniffers for the sort of unauthorized cookies he was looking for. He hit the jackpot, unearthing one of the biggest privacy scandals of the past year: Google was secretly planting cookies on a vast number of iPhone browsers. Mayer thinks millions of iPhones were targeted by Google.
34429329
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
Google Inc Chief Executive Larry Page has reassured employees about his health, but the company on Friday shed little additional light on an unspecified condition affecting his voice that will sideline him from two high-profile events in the coming weeks.
Page told employees in an email on Thursday that there was "nothing seriously wrong with me," according to a source who had seen an internal staff memo.
The 39-year-old Google co-founder sat out his company's annual shareholders' meeting on Thursday because he had "lost his voice," according to Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, who informed attendees of the news at the start of the event.
33974609
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
Britain's data regulator has reopened its investigation into Google's Street View, saying Tuesday that an inquiry by authorities in the United States raised new doubts about the disputed program.
Steve Eckersley, enforcement chief of the British Information Commissioner's Office, said Google Inc. had questions to answer about Street View, an attention-grabbing project which sent camera-toting vehicles across the globe to create three-dimensional maps of the world's highways and byways.
But the cars weren't just taking pictures: They were scooping up passwords, Web addresses, emails, and other sensitive data transmitted over unsecured wireless networks.
There was outrage on both sides of the Atlantic when the data-slurping was exposed in early 2010, and the Information Commissioner's Office was one of several European agencies which investigated Street View in the aftermath of the scandal. But in November of that year, the ICO gave Google a mere slap on the wrist, saying that while Google had violated British data protection laws it would escape any fines so long as it pledged not to do it again.
At the time, Google insisted that the breach was an accident.
"We did not want this data, have never used any of it on our products and services, and have sought to delete it as quickly as possible," the company claimed back then.
Evidence made public earlier this year by the Federal Communications Commission has since punctured Google's "oops-I-took-your-data" defense.
33722281
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
Microsoft’s decision to remove support for playing DVD movies in Windows 8 has caused some confusion. If the VLC media player can provide DVD support for free, why can’t Microsoft? For starters, Microsoft isn’t French.
Microsoft announced this week that Windows 8 will not support playback of DVD movies unless you explicitly add software that supports that feature.
The economic reasons for doing so are compelling (see Microsoft’s follow-up FAQ for details ), but it’s also a potentially disruptive move for some Windows enthusiasts. So it’s not surprising that some of the initial reactions have been heated and even angry.
I look at the big numbers and walk through the math in a follow-up post; How much do DVD and digital media playback features really cost?
30011253
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
NEW YORK — A U.S. senator has urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate reports that applications on the Apple and Google mobile systems steal private photos and contacts and post them online without consent.
Democrat Charles Schumer's request comes after iPhone maker Apple tweaked its privacy policies last month after prodding from other lawmakers.
The distribution of third-party applications on iPhones and phones running on Google's Android system has helped create a surge in the popularity of those devices in recent years.
Related story: Android apps can snoop photos, too
However, Schumer said on Sunday that he was concerned about a New York Times report that iPhone and Android applications can access a user's private photo collection.
He also referred to a discovery last month that applications on devices such as the iPhone and iPad were able to upload entire address books with names, telephone numbers and email addresses to their own servers.
"These uses go well beyond what a reasonable user understands himself to be consenting to when he allows an app to access data on the phone for purposes of the app's functionality," Schumer said in a letter to the FTC.
Advertise | AdChoices
The lawmaker said it was his understanding that many of these uses violate the terms of service of the Apple and Android platforms. He said "it is not clear whether or how those terms of service are being enforced and monitored."
Related story: iPhone flaw allows apps access to your contacts
As a result, he said, "smartphone makers should be required to put in place safety measures to ensure third party applications are not able to violate a user's personal privacy by stealing photographs or data that the user did not consciously decide to make public".
Schumer said phone makers have an obligation to protect the private content of their customers.
"When someone takes a private photo, on a private cellphone, it should remain just that: private," said Schumer.
29914393
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
Not bad for a day's work. A day after Microsoft posted its Consumer Preview of Windows 8, users have downloaded it 1 million times.
Microsoft broke the news in a tweet on Thursday: "One day later...one million downloads of the consumer preview," it said via its BuildingWindows8 account.
Microsoft unveiled the Windows 8 preview in Barcelona during the Mobile World Congress show, alongside the Windows Phone platform. Windows chief Steven Sinofsky took to the stage at a press event to talk up the "bold re-imagining of Windows."
"Our goal with Windows 8 is to deliver PCs without compromise," Sinofsky said, which means that the OS scales with you depending on how you want to use the OS and with what gadget — tablet, PC, or touch-based PC.
27879292
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
Eastman Kodak Co., the unprofitable 131-year-old camera maker, is weighing options including a bankruptcy filing because of concerns raised by possible buyers of its patent portfolio, said three people with direct knowledge of the process.
Some potential bidders for the patents are wary of proceeding because a purchase may amount to a so-called fraudulent transfer if Kodak is insolvent, said the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private. Kodak confirmed that it hired Jones Day to advise it on considering options and said it doesn’t plan to seek bankruptcy protection.
“As we sit here today, the company has no intention of filing, and there is no change in our strategy to monetize our intellectual property,” Gerard Meuchner, a spokesman for Kodak, said yesterday. “We’re not concerned about fraudulent conveyance in regards to the sale of our IP portfolio.”
The company will make a $14 million coupon payment due today, he said. Meuchner declined to comment on whether the company had discussed a potential filing with law firms, saying that Kodak is “focused on the fourth quarter and on delivering on our strategy to become a profitable, sustainable digital company.”
A number of suitors, such as Google Inc., have signed confidentiality agreements to examine the assets, said the people. If a sale was judged fraudulent, creditors may sue for more money, said one of the people. A bankruptcy filing may help clear the way for a patent sale, said the people. The sale could fetch about $3 billion, MDB Capital Group estimates.
26706092
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
Microsoft said Sunday night that it plans to launch its fall update for its Xbox 360 game console, complete with voice search via Xbox Kinect, this week.
Microsoft also announced a significant number of related content partnerships, bringing most major services to the Xbox platform this week or by early 2012. On Dec. 6, Starting Dec. 6, a free Xbox Companion app for Windows Phone will let also let users find, learn more about and control content from popular entertainment services on Xbox LIVE.
26703330
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
Microsoft will push out an update to Xbox consoles Tuesday, designed to get consumers to turn on the device every time they flip on their televisions, not just when they want to play games.
Though most gamers will notice a dramatically different interface, and some will take advantage of more advanced voice-recognition controls, the real significance of the update is how boldly the software giant is putting itself at the core of the TV entertainment experience. Microsoft is partnering with 40 content providers from around the globe to significantly increase the amount of live and on-demand content available on Xbox.
Over the next month, Microsoft will add content in the United States to the Xbox from Verizon's FiOS TV, ESPN, and the Syfy channel among others. Next year, HBO Go and Comcast's Xfinity on Demand will come to U.S. customers. Many of the apps from partners are only available to customers who purchase an Xbox Live Gold Membership.
Microsoft is also adding new programming to the Xbox experience abroad. Canadian customers will get content from Rogers Media, Maple Leaf Sports, and TMZ, among others. And new programming will roll out in Europe, Australia and Asia.
25696068
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
It no longer belongs to the wizarding world of Harry Potter: A scientist at the University of Texas at Dallas has created his own invisibility cloak.
"We really can hide objects. ... We can switch for a short moment and make it disappear," said Ali Aliev, a physicist at UTD.
His "cloak" right now is small several strands of what look like thread.
But sure enough, in a video of his experiment, you see the strands and then, a second later, they disappear.
The threadlike material is made of carbon nanotubes, Aliev said. He discovered that the material becomes so hot when heated up that it can bend light around an object, making it look as if it has disappeared. (The phenomenon is similar to the way desert heat can create a mirage.)
Right now, the technology is limited to Aliev's lab, but in time the material could easily hide large objects, such as military tankers, he said.
Scientists in the United Kingdom are working on similar technology.
There, inventors have created plates that can stick to an object such as a tank. The plates can heat up or cool down very quickly, matching the temperature outside. When the scene is viewed with a thermal infrared imaging system — for example, night vision goggles the object seems to disappear.
Experts said both technologies are years away from being on the market. Still, what once seemed like science fiction could now be science fact, Aliev said.
"So it's interesting for ordinary people, because usually [scientists] show something microsized under some microscope ... but here, in real time, real objects [were] disappearing," he said.
24469178
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
Microsoft's proposed $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype has earned the approval of the European Union, the Financial Times reported Thursday.
The European Commissioner for Competition, Joaquin Almunia, is expected to rule that the acquisition won't harm competition or turn Skype into a Microsoft-exclusive platform.
The decision ignores accusations that Microsoft is simply bundling services on Windows to drown out smaller competitors, as argued by Italian Skype rival Messagenet last week. Messagenet also urged the Commission to require Microsoft to unbundle Skype from its Windows Office Suite.
The FT reports that Microsoft "promised" the Commission it would keep Skype interoperable and supported on rival operating systems.
"We're committed to the Skype user base," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer back in May, addressing antitrust concerns at the time. "We want to continue to build and engage that base. Part of that commitment is continuing to support Skype on non-Microsoft platforms."
24162644
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
When Google rolled out the beta of their "magical and revolutionary" social network (oops, sorry — that's Apple's line), I dutifully signed up like everybody else in the tech industry. I played around with it and found some features I really liked — and some that made me scratch my head and think "Why in the world can't I do that? I can do it on Facebook." I circlified my friends and acquaintances, followed a few people I knew only by reputation, thoroughly enjoyed the "instant upload" feature for smart phones despite its scary aspects, got thoroughly annoyed while trying to navigate the interface a few times, and then ... headed back to Facebook. It seems as if most others are doing the same thing; I've noticed a drop-off in posts on G+ lately (when I bother to go there). I haven't given up on it, but it's an afterthought, whereas Facebook is a part of my life. It's not that Facebook is technically better — in many ways, it's not (although Facebook as been hard at work, making improvements to give people the functionality they've found and like on G+). Ultimately, social networking is about the people, and in general, the people I care about and enjoy "hanging out" with (to borrow a G+ term) are on Facebook. I'll log onto G+ if I want to get into a technical discussion or a political argument. Many of my colleagues are there. But my friends are on Facebook.
23235458
submission
Pigskin-Referee writes:
When it comes to blocking malware, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 seems to come out on top, by leaps and bounds, over other browsers.
Tests by NSS Labs to "examine the ability of five different web browsers to protect users from socially-engineered malware" showed that IE9 was able to block this kind of threat 99 percent of the time, beating out Apple Safari 5, Google Chrome 12, Mozilla Firefox 4 and Opera 11.
The closest another Web browser got to that blocking-the-bad stuff rate was Chrome, at a very distant 13.2 percent. At the low end of the blockers was Opera, with a 6.1 percent rate.
NSS also tested socially engineered malware targeted at users in Asia Pacific and in Europe and found IE9 again seemed to blow the others away, with a 95 percent mean block rate in Asia and 92 percent in Europe. Chrome was again second, with a 15.4 percent block rate in Asia being its highest score. Opera again finished last.