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Safari

Safari Stores Previous Browsing Session Data Unencrypted 135

msm1267 writes "Users of Apple's Safari browser are at risk for information loss because of a feature common to most browsers that restores previous sessions. The problem with Safari is that it stores session information including authentication credentials used in previous HTTPS sessions in a plaintext XML file called a Property list, or plist, file. The plist files, a researcher with Kaspersky Lab's Global Research and Analysis Team said, are stored in a hidden folder, but hiding them in plain sight isn't much of a hurdle for a determined attacker. 'The complete authorized session on the site is saved in the plist file in full view despite the use of https,' said researcher Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky on the Securelist blog. 'The file itself is located in a hidden folder, but is available for anyone to read.'"

Comment Re:Dice Strikes Again... (Score 1) 184

I'm curious as to why it's more efficient to bring the shelf to the picker than take the picker to the shelf.
Those robots could just as easily be ferrying around the pickers.

They could but that would make the process into a serial process. Why waste the time bringing the picker back and forth from the shelves to the belt? If you have enough or fast enough robots, it is more efficient to have them timed so that another shelf arrives just in time for the previous shelf to be removed.

Comment Re:Paid app switching to adware are what I uninsta (Score 1) 243

It's not really the ads themselves, or even ad-based apps. ( Though I do prefer paying directly for my apps versus being the price for them. ) It's that once an app that was originally a paid app is redesigned to be ad-supported, the focus and quality of the app tends to change. If I really wanted to block ads that way I'd could just tweak my DNS server.

Comment Paid app switching to adware are what I uninstall (Score 2) 243

Biggest one for me is when a formerly paid app switches to being advertising base. What I've found is that even if they offer a way to remove the ads by paying again, or grandfather the original purchases into an ad free mode that the apps tend to suffer redesigns that are motivated to support advertisers and that many of these redesigns impact the use of the apps even for paid users. I've already uninstalled a bunch of apps for this reason, such as Quickoffice Pro, OneTap, etc. and have been considering uninstalling apps like The Weather Channel.

Comment Re:Can I piggyback that over VOIP? (Score 3, Interesting) 410

Yes. As someone that works in telephony industry the amazing thing to me is how many modems are still in use. And the fun of making sure that modems, faxes and the like continue to work even when the device plugged into a VoIP line ( SIP, H.248, or MGCP ) and/or going over IP trunking. There are actually protocols designed to recognize fax data and process it differently so that it still works, see T.38.

Comment Re:missing the point (Score 1) 196

Just click the big blue circled arrow to the right of the names in recent calls list to views the contact entry to send text, pick different numbers etc. Seems like Apple made the right choice here. 99% of the time I want to call the recent callers back, but if I need to send a text or call a different number it is easy.

Likewise, for messages there are the "Email", "Facetime" and "Contact>" buttons at the top of the window. You might need to scroll to the top to seem them if you have a long conversation.

Education

For Education, Why TI-83 > iPad 340

theodp writes "Writing in The Atlantic, Phil Nichols makes a convincing case for why educational technologies should be more like graphing calculators and less like iPads. Just messing around with TI-BASIC on a TI-83 Plus, Nichols recalls, 'helped me cultivate many of the overt and discrete habits of mind necessary for autonomous, self-directed learning.' So, with all those fancy iPads at their schools, today's kids must really be programming up a storm, right? Wrong. Nichols, who's currently pursuing a PhD in education, laments, 'The iPad is among the recent panaceas being peddled to schools, but like those that came before, its ostensibly subversive shell houses a fairly conventional approach to learning. Where Texas Instruments graphing calculators include a programming framework accessible even to amateurs, writing code for an iPad is restricted to those who purchase an Apple developer account, create programs that align with Apple standards, and submit their finished products for Apple's approval prior to distribution.'"
Privacy

Report: Britain Has a Secret Middle East Web Surveillance Base 237

wiredmikey writes "Britain is running a secret Internet surveillance station in the Middle East, according to a recent report citing the latest leaked documents obtained by fugitive US security contractor Edward Snowden. The Independent newspaper said it was not disclosing the country where the base is located, but said the facility can intercept emails, telephone calls and web traffic for the United States and other intelligence agencies and taps into underwater fibre-optic cables in the region, the newspaper said. The Independent did not disclose how it obtained the details from the Snowden files."

Comment Re:context consumption vs creation (Score 3, Informative) 393

Apple says that certain features require a complimentary Adobe Creative Cloud membership, but Adobe lists such membership at $49.99 per month.

There are two levels of creative cloud memberships, one includes subscriptions to a bunch of apps ( that's the $49.99 / month ), and the basic level which is sort of like an icloud / dropbox service for storing files ( which is free for 2 GB worth of storage ). The feature that requires creative cloud is that dropbox-like service.

Also the descriptions on appstores are written by the developers, so is what Adobe is saying, not what Apple is saying. I just checked on my Nexus 10 and the description is pretty much the same in the Google Play store.

Comment Re:No programmers from LA schools (Score 1) 393

Um there are tons of programming apps available in the iOS store, including apps designed to teach programming. For example Codea.

What Apple restricts is easily exporting/importing code written by others into those apps. They have required developers of such apps to disable iTunes file drag and drop input/export as well as other easy ways to move code about. Though stuff like iExplorer can be used to move files and works even if the tablets are not jailbroken.

Chrome

Amazon One-Click Chrome Extension Snoops On SSL Traffic 95

An anonymous reader writes "It turns out Amazon has its own sketchy method of snooping on all your browser traffic — even SSL traffic — through their one-click extension for Chrome. As designed, the extension reports every URL you visit, including HTTPS ones, to Amazon. It uses XSS to provide some of its functionality. It also reports contents of some website visits to Alexa. The Amazon extension has also been exploited to allow an attacker to gain access to SSL traffic on browsers that have it installed."

Comment Re:Randomized passwords are the best (Score 1) 193

I also store my passwords in an encrypted keychain, but sometimes it's nice to be able to get some passwords without having to look it up. For example both iTunes and Windows RT require me to enter passwords when buying new apps or add-ons. Switching to another app to cut & paste in the password will often cancel the sale. So I memorized those passwords because it's simpler. Likewise when administrating machines at work I don't want to have to dig up my keychain just to log into the server farm, especially if I'm logging in at someone else's desktop—which won't have my keychains—to fix a toolset problem.

Comment Re:Randomized passwords are the best (Score 1) 193

I tend to use random passwords myself. The trick I've learned to memorizing them is to take advantage of the fact that the human brain is good at seeing patterns even when there aren't any. So I just look at the password for a bit, let myself come up with a pattern or way to describe it and memorize that. I'll often think of a password as chunks of 3 or 4 letters and just remember the junks normally associated with a thought phrase. If I can't come up with something I'll just hit regen again til I get something that my brain clicks onto.

For example I just now used a generator to create the password: zyZtgQkAJH2)rw

My thought process would be something like:
Hmm there two Z's... I can use that to help me remember....Oh I can use the word zygote to remember... so the first two letters.... change things up so cap the Z and reuse the tg from zygote backs.... okay I have zyZtg memorized.... now I need to think of a quick way to get .... oh I can use Quick to remind me. AJH... that can be an acronym for "as just happens." Got a number 2) so I think "list" and twice to behind to just happens... rw that's obviously read/write... So I just have to remember "zygote Quick As Just Happens twice list read/write" ( I mentally imagine shouting the parts of the words for caps ) and I can turn it back into the password zyZtgQkAJH2)rw...
then I just force me self to log in a few times while thinking that phrase and I'm all set.

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