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EU

Google Map App's Version of Anonymity Might Violate EU Privacy Laws 89

Posted by timothy from the of-course-we-don't-know-your-name-#449709761 dept.
Ars Technica reports that Google's map application for iOS, however popular it might be with users, raises red flags with European regulators, who maintain that it by default does not sufficiently safeguard user privacy as required by EU privacy rules. Ars quotes Marit Hansen of Germany's Independent Centre for Privacy Protection on why: "Hansen's main gripe is that Google's use of 'anonymous' is misleading. 'All available information points to having linkable identifiers per user," she told Computerworld. Hansen added this would allow Google to track several location entries, thus leading to her assumption that Google's 'anonymous location data' would be considered 'personal data' under the European law."
Chrome

Researcher Claims To Have Chrome Zero-Day, Google Says "Prove It" 106

Posted by samzenpus from the secret-security dept.
chicksdaddy writes "Google's been known to pay $60,000 for information on remotely exploitable vulnerabilities in its Chrome web browser. So, when a researcher says that he has one, but isn't interested in selling it, eyebrows get raised. And that's just what's happening this week, with Google saying it will wait and see what Georgian researcher Ucha Gobejishvili has up his sleeve in a presentation on Saturday at the Malcon conference in New Delhi. Gobejishvili has claimed that he will demonstrate a remotely exploitable hole in the Chrome web browser at Malcon. He described the security hole in Chrome as a 'critical vulnerability' in a Chrome DLL. 'It has silent and automatically (sp) download function and it works on all Windows systems,' he told Security Ledger. However, more than a few questions hang over Gobejishvili's talk. The researcher said he discovered the hole in July, but hasn't bothered to contact Google. He will demonstrate the exploit at MalCon, and have a 'general discussion' about it, but won't release source code for it. 'I know this is a very dangerous issue that's why I am not publishing more details about this vulnerability,' he wrote. Google said that, with no information on the hole, it can only wait to hear the researcher's Malcon presentation before it can assess the threat to Chrome users."
Patents

Apple Loses German Court Bid To Ban Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N, Nexus Phone 193

Posted by samzenpus from the and-the-hits-keep-coming dept.
chrb writes "Apple has failed to get a patent ban on Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1N and the Nexus phone in Germany. Presiding Judge Andreas Mueller stated, 'Samsung has shown that it is more likely than not that the patent will be revoked because of a technology that was already on the market before the intellectual property had been filed for protection.' The patent in question covered list scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display. This news follows the recent Appeals court ruling that upheld the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 ban."
Chrome

No Tab Relocation Coming For Chrome 574

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the trust-us-we're-designers dept.
shaitand writes about Google disagreeing with the desire of Chrome users to put tabs under (rather than above) the location bar: "This issue has had overwhelming feedback from users with no notable dissent. But Google revealed their view on the community, saying that feedback and comments aren't considered, and today moved to silence dissent and lock comments on the issue. [A Chromium developer] says, 'Commenting on this bug has absolutely no effect at all on the likelihood that we are going to reconsider. So that people don't get their hopes up falsely, I'm locking this bug to additional comments.'"
Businesses

Inside View of Epic, Preparing Gears of War 2 106

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the cool-kids-club dept.
Subm writes "Lamborghinis, motion-capture rooms, secret new weapons — these are a few things included in the profile of Epic Games and its Design Director, Cliff Bleszinski. 'A Microsoft employee who works closely with Epic described the company as having a "band dynamic." Staff turnover is low, and many of Epic's most senior employees have been friends for more than a decade. This does not seem a very long time until one sits in on an Epic meeting and realizes that anyone over the age of thirty-five achieves the temporal stature of Methuselah. Epic's recent growth is regarded with wary gratitude by many of its employees, though some miss the old days, when, as Sweeney put it, "we were just a bunch of kids who had some cool ideas and were doing neat things."'"

Feed Engadget: California Kohl's store turns on giant rooftop solar system (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

The Laguna Niguel Kohl's location certainly isn't the first notable venue in California to benefit from a large solar panel installation, but this particular setup is being dubbed the "largest planned US photovoltaic solar rollout to date." Reportedly, Kohl's Department Stores is planning on equipping 63 of its 80 California locations with solar electric systems, which should total "approximately 25 megawatts," and upon completion, the program would "represent approximately 15-percent of California's photovoltaic installations to date." Granted, the US Tesco building's solar roof may still hold the crown (at least for now) for "world's largest," but Kohl's is hoping to impress by "generating more than 35-million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of renewable energy annually" when its massive rollout is complete.

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Music

Sex Pistols Reunite For Guitar Hero III 47

Posted by Zonk from the god-save-the-queen dept.
1up is reporting that the Sex Pistols are getting the band back together for at least one recording session. They're laying down a master track for the upcoming Guitar Hero III, for the song 'Anarchy in the U.K.'. "Original members John Lydon (Johnny Rotten), Steve Jones, and Paul Cook hit the studio together for the first time in 30 years, hooking up with original producer Chris Thomas to maintain the feel of the recording. Additionally, the original analog sound desk, built in 1969 for producer George Martin at Air Studios in London, was utilized for aural authenticity."

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