dvlhrns - Slashdot User

Submission + - Huge security risks in PDF standard (h-online.com)

Submitted by crabel on Saturday January 01, 2011 @08:25AM

crabel writes: At the 27. Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin security researcher Julia Wolf pointed out numerous, previously hardly known, security problems in connection with Adobe's PDF standard. For instance, a PDF can reportedly contain a database scanner that becomes active and scans a network when the document is printed on a network printer.

Submission + - Windows Phone 7 Marketplace possibly hacked (neowin.net)

Submitted by

broggyr

on Thursday December 30, 2010 @10:37PM

broggyr writes: "Seems it didn't take long to hack the Windows Phone 7 marketplace..."

Submission + - Most Android tablets fail at GPL compliance (networkworld.com)

Submitted by polar_bear` on Thursday December 30, 2010 @09:10PM

polar_bear` writes: Red Hat's Matthew Garrett has been checking to see who's naughty and nice. Most Android tablet vendors? Naughty, naughty, naughty, when it comes to GPL compliance. The current crop of Android tablets fails miserably when it comes to GPL compliance, with most of the vendors flouting the GPL and failing to ship source.

Submission + - Skype Crash caused by bug in Windows version (bbc.co.uk) 2

Submitted by AndGodSed on Thursday December 30, 2010 @07:20AM

AndGodSed writes: The recent two day outage suffered by the Skype network was caused by a bug in the Windows version of the popular messaging software. Version 5.0.0.152, used by about 50% of Skype users, crashed when there was a delay in receiving information from relay servers. Because of these crashes rerouting took place across the Skype network, causing other nodes to overload and in turn go offline. Skype is offering compensation to registered and pre-paid users in the form of vouchers and a week of free service for those affected.

Submission + - France Plans Tablet Tax Except If They Run Windows (techdirt.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 28, 2010 @03:27PM

An anonymous reader writes: Lots of countries around the world have private copying "levies," which are effectively taxes on products that store data, which is put into a pool to be handed out to copyright holders, as a sort of payment for the "copying" that individuals do. This was quite popular with blank CDRs for example, but has been expanded in certain countries to cover hard drives, iPods and other such devices. Over in France, they're looking to expand the levy to tablet computers, but apparently if that tablet computer is running Microsoft Windows, it will be exempted from the tax. iPads and Android-powered tablets will have the tax. Why? Well, the argument is that if a tablet is running Windows, it's really a "computer." But if it's running one of those "mobile" operating systems, suddenly it's a brand new category. Not surprisingly, makers of Android tablets — including the French company Archos — are not at all happy about this.

Submission + - Putin Orders Russian Move to GNU/Linux (blogspot.com) 2

Submitted by Glyn Moody on Monday December 27, 2010 @02:09PM

Glyn Moody writes: Vladimir Putin has signed an order calling for Russian federal authorities to move to GNU/Linux, and for the creation of "a single repository of free software used in the federal bodies of executive power". There have been a number of Russian projects to roll out free software, notably in the educational sector, but none so far has really taken off. With the backing of Putin, could this be the breakthrough free software has been waiting for?

Submission + - Why Indie Games Need GNU+Linux (tildehash.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 25, 2010 @12:38AM

An anonymous reader writes: GNU+Linux users seem to have a very different attitude towards games. With a scarcity of games, GNU+Linux users have become desperate. We're willing to take whatever we can get! As evidence, the average price GNU+Linux users are paying for the recent "Humble Indie Bundle" is $13.77. On average that is $4.73 more per purchase than the average Mac user pays, $6.01 more per purchase than the overall average, and $7.14 more per purchase than the average Windows user pays.

Submission + - Microsoft dealing with second 0-Day vulnerability (thetechherald.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 23, 2010 @01:48AM

An anonymous reader writes: Just hours after confirming a vulnerability in Internet Explorer, Microsoft has another problem on their hands. Late Wednesday, Microsoft confirmed that they are investigating a Denial-of-Service (DoS) vulnerability that resides in the FTP component of IIS.

Submission + - No Sex Please, We're Microsoft 2

Submitted by theodp on Sunday December 19, 2010 @12:03PM

theodp writes: Microsoft's Kinect has been out for less than two months and already there's an adult company looking to produce a 3-D sex game for the Xbox 360 console (PG-13ish YouTube demo). But Microsoft immediately shot down any speculation that the game will pass the certification process. 'This isn't the first example of a technology being used in ways not intended by its manufacturer, and it won't be the last," a Microsoft spokesman said in a statement. 'Microsoft did not authorize or license its technology for this use. Xbox is a family friendly games and entertainment console and does not allow Adults Only (AO) content to be certified for use on its platform, and would not condone this type of game for Kinect.'

Republicans Create Rider To Stop Net Neutrality 528

Posted by Soulskill on Friday December 17, 2010 @06:05PM from the congress-shall-make-no-law-respecting-the-tubes dept.

99BottlesOfBeerInMyF writes "Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) submitted a rider yesterday to a bill on military and veterans' construction projects. The rider would, 'prohibit the FCC from using any appropriated funds to adopt, implement or otherwise litigate any network neutrality based rules, protocols or standards.' It is co-signed by six other Republican senators. We all knew this was coming after the last election removed most of the vocal supporters of net neutrality and supplanted them with pro-corporate Republicans."

Submission + - Why Time Got It Wrong (internetevolution.com)

Submitted by rsmiller510 on Thursday December 16, 2010 @12:00PM

rsmiller510 writes: Time Magazine whiffed big time with its choice of Mark Zuckerberg for its 2010 Person of the Year. Zuckerberg shouldn't have even been on the list as far as I'm concerned. As for who was the clear Person of the Year. No contest. It was WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Submission + - Google Will Kill Chrome OS Next Year (businessinsider.com)

Submitted by Pigskin-Referee on Thursday December 16, 2010 @10:15AM

Pigskin-Referee writes: Gmail creator Paul Buchheit is putting Google's new Chrome OS on a deathwatch.

He writes on FriendFeed: "Prediction: ChromeOS will be killed next year (or "merged" with Android)." His reasoning for why Chrome is toast: "Because ChromeOS has no purpose that isn't better served by Android (perhaps with a few mods to support a non-touch display)"

While it sounds like a bold statement, he also adds, "I was thinking, 'is this too obvious to even state?', but then I see people taking ChromeOS seriously, and Google is even shipping devices for some reason."

He's 100% correct about Chrome. We've been thinking about this too. What problem does Chrome solve? We're stumped.

Buchheit left Google years ago to start FriendFeed, which was a Twitter rival. Twitter won out and Facebook bought FriendFeed. He spent a few years at Facebook and is now with Y Combinator.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/gmail-creator-paul-buchheit-predicts-google-kills-chrome-os-next-year-2010-12#ixzz18HeZrKlb

Gmail Creator Says Chrome OS Is As Good As Dead 349

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday December 16, 2010 @08:57AM from the way-of-the-dodo dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Former Google employee, Gmail creator, and FriendFeed founder Paul Buchheit has come right out and said what many people are thinking (or hoping for). On his FriendFeed page, Buchheit made a post titled 'Prediction: ChromeOS will be killed next year (or "merged" with Android).' In it, he bluntly says that Google's netbook-centric Chrome OS is as good as dead. 'Yeah, I was thinking, "is this too obvious to even state?", but then I see people taking ChromeOS seriously, and Google is even shipping devices for some reason,' Buchheit writes. 'Because ChromeOS has no purpose that isn't better served by Android (perhaps with a few mods to support a non-touch display).'"

Netflix Touts Open Source, Ignores Linux 481

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday December 15, 2010 @07:29PM from the practice-watch-you-preach dept.

Julie188 writes "If Netflix loves open source, where's the Linux client? Last week's post from Netflix on its use of open source has gotten a lot of coverage from the tech press. Too bad nobody's called the video giant out on its hypocrisy: They benefit greatly from open source, but really don't care to let their customers do the same."

Submission + - Gmail creator: Chrome OS is as good as dead

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 15, 2010 @03:24PM

An anonymous reader writes: Former Google employee, Gmail creator, and FriendFeed founder Paul Buchheit has come right out and said what many people are thinking (or hoping for). On his FriendFeed page, Buchheit made a post titled "Prediction: ChromeOS will be killed next year (or "merged" with Android)." In it, he bluntly says that Google's netbook-centric Chrome OS is as good as dead. "Yeah, I was thinking, 'is this too obvious to even state?', but then I see people taking ChromeOS seriously, and Google is even shipping devices for some reason," Buchheit writes. "Because ChromeOS has no purpose that isn't better served by Android (perhaps with a few mods to support a non-touch display)."

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