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Submission + - BlackBerry back in profit (net4tech.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Upon arrival at the controls of BlackBerry last November, CEO John Chen seemed determined to turn things around. In only four months, it has already achieved its objectives, namely reducing operational costs by 30%. To do this, he has had to continue to cut in the workforce, reduced by half in two years.

John Chen estimated that BlackBerry has 80% chance of escape, against 50% a year ago. First positive sign. Results for the first quarter of 2014 During this period, it reported net income of $ 23 million against a loss of 84 million a year ago. However, these results take into account the sale of a building complex sold 500 million. Thus excluding exceptional items, BlackBerry still recorded a loss of $ 60 million, which is still two times lower than analysts' forecasts.

Submission + - The Supreme Court doesn't understand software (vox.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: We had some good news yesterday when the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a software patent for failing to turn an idea into an invention. Unfortunately, the justices weren't willing to make any broader statements about the patentability of basic software tools, so the patent fights will continue. Timothy B. Lee at Vox argues that this is because the Supreme Court does not understand software, and says we won't see significant reform until they do. He says, "If a sequence of conventional mathematical operations isn't patentable, then no software should enjoy patent protection. For example, the "data compression" patents that Justice Kennedy wants to preserve simply claim formulas for converting information from one digital format to another. If that's not a mathematical algorithm, nothing is. This is the fundamental confusion at the heart of America's software patent jurisprudence: many judges seem to believe that mathematical algorithms shouldn't be patented but that certain kinds of software should be patentable. ... If a patent claims a mathematical formula simple enough for a judge to understand how it works, she is likely to recognize that the patent claims a mathematical formula and invalidate it. But if the formula is too complex for her to understand, then she concludes that it's something more than a mathematical algorithm and uphold it."

Submission + - Yo got hacked (cnn.com)

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: What did the hackers take advantage of? Pretty much everything the app has to offer: They can spam users with custom messages and even spoof other users.
Or they could. The app's developer, Or Arbel, said that particular vulnerability had been fixed since he learned about it at 1 a.m. He had it fixed by business hours.
But Arbel admitted there are other vulnerabilities on the app that he created in just eight hours.

Submission + - Overeager Compilers Can Open Security Holes In Your Code (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: Creators of compilers are in an arms race to improve performance. But according to a presentantation at this week's annual USENIX conference, those performance boosts can undermine your code's security. For instance, a compiler might find a subroutine that checks a huge bound of memory beyond what's allocated to the program, decide it's an error, and eliminate it from the compiled machine code — even though it's a necessary defense against buffer overflow attacks.

Submission + - Hacker Puts Hosting Provider Code Spaces Out of Business

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Code Spaces, a code-hosting and software collaboration platform, has been put out of business by an attacker who deleted the company’s data and backups.

Officials wrote a lengthy explanation and apology on the company’s website, promising to spend its current resources helping customers recover whatever data may be left.

“Code Spaces will not be able to operate beyond this point, the cost of resolving this issue to date and the expected cost of refunding customers who have been left without the service they paid for will put Code Spaces in an irreversible position both financially and in terms of ongoing credibility,” read the note. “As such at this point in time we have no alternative but to cease trading and concentrate on supporting our affected customers in exporting any remaining data they have left with us.”

The beginning of the end was a DDoS attack initiated yesterday that was accompanied by an intrusion into Code Spaces’ Amazon EC2 control panel. Extortion demands were left for Code Spaces officials, along with a Hotmail address they were supposed to use to contact the attackers.

Submission + - U.S. wants to build 'Internet of Postal Things' (computerworld.com)

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: The U.S. Postal Service plans to spend up to $100,000 to investigate how it can utilize low cost sensors and related wireless technologies to improve the efficiency of its operations. The postal service already scans letters and parcels up to 11 times during processing, representing 1.7 trillion scans a year. It uses supercomputers to process that data. In theory, the postal service believes that everything it uses — mailboxes, vehicles, machines, or a letter carrier — could be equipped with a sensor to create what it terms the Internet of Postal Things. The Internet has not been kind to the postal service. Electronic delivery has upended the postal services business model. In 2003, it processed 49 billion pieces of single-piece first-class mail, but by 2013, that figured dropped to 22.6 billion pieces.

Submission + - Wikipedia creates new rules, forcing editors to disclose if they're paid (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: The Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit which operates Wikipedia and related projects, explained yesterday that it will establish new rules covering paid editing.

The heart of the change is that anyone who is paid to edit the site must "add your affiliation to your edit summary, user page, or talk page, to fairly disclose your perspective," according to Wikimedia's explanation of the change. The organization has also published an FAQ on paid editing.

The changes come after some high-profile commotions over paid editing. In October, Wikipedia deleted more than 250 accounts believed to be connected to a PR firm that was writing articles on the site. In January, the Wikimedia Foundation fired an employee who was accused of taking paid editing gigs.

Submission + - Canadian Court Orders Google To Remove Websites From its Global Index (michaelgeist.ca)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In the aftermath of the European Court of Justice "right to be forgotten" decision, many asked whether a similar ruling could arise elsewhere. While a privacy-related ruling has yet to hit Canada, Michael Geist reports that last week a Canadian relied in part on the decision in issuing an unprecedented order requiring Google to remove websites from its global index. The ruling is unusual since its reach extends far beyond Canada. Rather than ordering the company to remove certain links from the search results available through Google.ca, the order intentionally targets the entire database, requiring the company to ensure that no one, anywhere in the world, can see the search results.

Submission + - Comcast Converting Home Routers into Public WiFi Hotspots

Submitted by green453
green453 writes: As a Houston resident with limited home broadband options, I found the following interesting: Dwight Silverman of the Houston Chronicle reports (warning: paywalled) that Comcast plans to turn 50,000 XFinity (Comcast's brand of home TV/Internet/Voice service) routers into public WiFi hotspots without their users providing consent. Comcast plans to eventually convert 150,000 home routers into a city-wide WiFi network. A similar post (no paywall) by the same author on the SeattlePI Tech Blog explains the change. From the post on SeattlePI:

"What’s interesting about this move is that, by default, the feature is being turned on without its subscribers’ prior consent. It’s an opt-out system – you have to take action to not participate. Comcast spokesman Michael Bybee said on Monday that notices about the hotspot feature were mailed to customers a few weeks ago, and email notifications will go out after it’s turned on. But it’s a good bet that this will take many Comcast customers by surprise."

Submission + - iOS 8 strikes an unexpected blow against location tracking (theverge.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: It wasn't touted onstage, but a new iOS 8 feature is set to cause havoc for location trackers, and score a major win for privacy.As spotted by Frederic Jacobs, the changes have to do with the MAC address used to identify devices within networks. When iOS 8 devices look for a connection, they randomize that address, effectively disguising any trace of the real device until it decides to connect to a network.

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