56042525
submission
judgecorp writes:
A brief listing of the rumoured Nokia Normandy Android phone appeared to show an Android KitKat device, given a makeover with tiles similar to Microsoft Windows Phone. It seems possible that the phone maker — in the process of becoming part of Microsoft — may be using Google's operating system to furnish a platform to promote Microsoft's cloud services in competition with Google's own
56041089
submission
judgecorp writes:
Microsoft has renamed its cloud service OneDrive, after a British court found that "SkyDrive" infringed on a European trademark held by broadcaster BSkyB, known as "Sky". Sky does not have a product called SkyDrive, but it has dabbled in cloud storage
55874241
submission
judgecorp writes:
China's Lenovo has bought IBM's x86 server business to add to the ThinkPad business it bought in 2005. IBM keeps hold of Power RISC and mainframe buionesses. Around 7500 staff are apparently moving to Lenovo.
55837769
submission
judgecorp writes:
Filling in mobile coverage is a tricky issue round the world, and a British startup reckons that an open source software defined radio (SDR) implementation could do the trick. The company, Lime Microsystems provides open source baseband technology, which can adapt to any frequency partner FairWaves. It's been tried in Mexico where villagers have built their own local mobile network for a few thousand dollars.
55827797
submission
judgecorp writes:
The University of Cumbria is the first public university to allow students to pay their course fees in bitcoins. The digital currency is only accepted for a series of courses in "complementary currencies", and is clearly to some extent a promotional ploy. Lecturers at a rival university point out that in fact the coins are exchanged for pounds at the point of payment, so they could just as easily have offered to accept dogecoin.
55827473
submission
judgecorp writes:
A Russian programmer has admitted creating the modified Kaptoxa (or "Potato") malware, which was used to steal 110 million credit card details from Target customers. Rinat Shabayev said he himself did not carry out the attack or profit from it, but he did modify and sell the software which was eventually used. He wanted the money — and now has job offers appearing in the comments on the Russian site lifenews.ru.
55827139
submission
judgecorp writes:
A campaign to get the Jamaican Olympic bobsled team to the Sochi Winter Olympics In Russia succeeded — and also doubled the value of Dogecoin. The "Cool Runnings 2" crowdfunding campaign was inspired by Disney's Cool Runnings movie which dramatised the team's first Olympic effort in 1988. It accepted Dogecoin through the actions of Dogecoin Foundation member Liam Butler, and the additional trading volume doubled the value of the tongue-in-cheek digital currency
55784287
submission
judgecorp writes:
The only way to keep up with the demand for mobile data is to build smaller and smaller cells, according to Bell Labs. The head of autonomous networks there says that ultimately we will need one femto cell per user, and multiple cells within a single room to make efficient use of limited radio spectrum
55727549
submission
judgecorp writes:
The group of security experts who urged people to boycot the RSA conference (over allegations that the security firm RSA has taken a $10 million bribe from the NSA to weaken ithe security of its products) have put together a rival conference called TrustyCon just down the road from Sand Francisco's Moscone Center, where the EMC-owned firm will have its conference at the end of February
55726699
submission
judgecorp writes:
Entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, still wanted in the US for allegedly enabling copyright infringement, has previewed a music service called Baboom to compete with the likes of Spotify, and also launched his own debut album, which will be available on iTunes and Google Play as well as Baboom, of course. Now, nobody pirate the album, ok?
55572199
submission
judgecorp writes:
The Chinese Academy of Sciences has launched China OS, a Linux-based operating system for smartphones, PCs and other devices intended to combat the dominance of Google Android, Apple's iOS and Microsoft Windows. Although Linux based, the OS will not be open source — and CAS claims everything above the kernel was developed independently. The OS follows unsuccessful efforts such as Red Flag and Ophone, but has interesting backing from Taiwan's HTC.
55570105
submission
judgecorp writes:
The US CERT has warned that the Network Time Protocol (NTP) is being used to amplify Denial of Service attacks. The attack uses a monitoring service, part of NTP, which allows a site to query the NTP server about who else is using the service. One NTP request with a spoofed return address can generate a much larger return (a list of the last 600 sites to ask the time) and NTP packets look innocuous, says the warning.
55537169
submission
judgecorp writes:
Yahoo COO has sacked Henrique de Castro the Google executive she brought across to Yahoo only three months after she made the move from Google last summer. de Castro was one of the high-prodile (and high-salary) appointments with which she hoped to turn Yahoo around — but fifteen months later, he is out of the door. No reasons have been given for his departure. but it's definitely a sacking: Mayer said "During my reflection, I made the difficult decision that our COO, Henrique de Castro, should leave the company."
55535687
submission
judgecorp writes:
Syed Hussain, already serving time for helping to plot attacks against UK targets, got another four months for refusing to divulge the password of a USB stick the police and GCHQ wanted to examine. The USB was believed to contain data about a suspected fraud unconnected with national security, and Husein claimed to have forgotten it under stress, He later remembered it and it turned out to be a password he had used on other systems investigated by the police.
55477403
submission
judgecorp writes:
Famed cryptography activist Phil Zimmerman is set to launch Blackphone, a privacy-oriented phone which allows secure calls and messages. The phone is a joint venture between Zimmerman's Silent Circle communications provider and Geeksphone, the creator of the first Firefox phone, and will run PrivatOS, a secure version of Android. Zimmerman says the venture will be taking orders for the devices from February 24, after it is unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
