17569354
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Rev. Cedric Miller is ordering about 50 married church officials to delete their Facebook accounts or resign from their leadership positions. Miller said 20 couples from his Living Word Christian Fellowship Church have recently run into marital trouble after a spouse connected with an ex-flame via the social networking site. On Sunday, he plans to "strongly suggest" that all married people to stop using Facebook, lest they endanger their marriage.
Is Facebook now one of the Deadly Sins? Is it the latest excuse for infidelity or just the latest scapegoat?
16328912
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
PCMag is reporting that Windows Phone 7 will initially only be available for GSM/HSPA networks — not CMDA — counting out five of the seven largest U.S. wireless carriers. According to Microsoft, the company is targeting GSM/HSPA because that technology is used by the vast majority of wireless operators globally. A CDMA version will follow, just not right away.
16199366
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
ARS is reporting on Intel's walled garden plan to put A/V vendors out of business. In a nutshell, Intel wants to run only trusted code to run on x86 systems. Intel's Paul Otellini framed the purchase of McAfee as an effort to move the way the company approaches security "from a known-bad model to a known-good model." Depending how enamored you are of Apple's App Store model, where only Apple-approved code gets to run on your iPhone, you may or may not be happy in Intel's planned utopia.
15489814
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Exploit code for the DLL loading issue that reportedly affects hundreds of Windows applications made its appearance on Monday. HD Moore, the creator of the Metasploit open-source hacking toolkit, released the exploit code along with an auditing tool that records which applications are vulnerable. "Once it makes it into Metasploit, it doesn't take much more to execute an attack," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle Security. "The hard part has already been done for [hackers]."
14736762
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Apple Insider is reporting on a browser-based 'jailbreak' for iPhone 4. Hackers on Sunday released the first "jailbreak" for the iPhone 4, a browser-based exploit that allows users to run unauthorized code. Unlike previous jailbreaks, which required users to run software on their Mac or PC and tether their iPhone to their computer, the latest hack is done entirely within the Safari browser. Users simply visit the URL to begin the process, which modifies the iOS mobile operating system found on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Some users have reported that the modification results in broken MMS and FaceTime functionality. This jailbreak does not work on iPads running iOS 3.2.1.
The ability to modify iOS simply by visiting a website leaves these iDevices vulnerable to all sorts of malicious possibilities. I'd bet the ranch that Apple isn't the only one analyzing the website in order to diagnose this major security hole ... so are those with more nefarious intentions.
14727860
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Bloomberg is reporting RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger, e-mail and Web browsing services will be suspended in the United Arab Emirates, the Middle East’s business hub, starting October 11th due to security concerns. RIM faces similar restrictions in India. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement on state-run Emirates News Agency. “In their current form, certain BlackBerry services allow users to act without any legal accountability, causing judicial, social and national security concerns for the U.A.E.,” it said. A senior Indian government official said, "Though RIM has been fully cooperating ever since the matter was taken up with it in 2008, reports of the company's move to set up a server in China forced us to look at it in a different way."
13867680
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Droid-Life is speculating about the end of Verizon's Droid Incredible. They base their speculation on what they claim is a Verizon closeout list and that the Droid Eris has been removed from Verizon's site. Droid-Life even states "Now, this is a pretty nasty rumor to get started".
I disagree with this wild speculation (disclaimer: iPhone user) and what passes for news these days. Why would Verizon discontinue one of the top-tier Droids? Is this just another effort to attract readers by a site that I've personally never heard of? (I hope they can handle the /. effect) And why is Google News listing this in their Sci/Tech section as news?
13846050
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
The BBC is reporting that US authorities have instructed Sony to recall 500,000 Vaio laptops due to overheating. The American Consumer Product Safety Commission said that "the computers can overheat, posing a burn hazard." Sony said that this is "not a recall" and that the problem can be rectified with a software patch. Sony says 260,000 laptops in the US, 103,000 in Europe, 120,000 in South East Asia and 52,000 in Japan need to be fixed. The laptops feature nVidia chipsets, though it is not known if they are the cause of this issue they have been in the past for HP & Dell laptops.
13759222
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Yahoo has a story about the White House's plan to make online transactions safer. In a draft plan released Friday titled National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, [39 pg PDF] the White House laid out an argument for a yet-undeveloped, voluntary identification system and set up a website to gather input from experts and everyday Internet users on how it should be structured. The website was already getting votes, snipes and suggestions Friday afternoon — underscoring the incendiary nature of any discussion of Internet regulation or formal structure.
There's an assortment of reading related to this including Federal Computing Week's overview, the White House Blog and the administration's Cyberspace Policy Review. [76 pg PDF]
There's a lot to digest here, ranging from transaction security to big brother. How comfortable are we with the US government (this administration and beyond) with their fingers in this pool of online identities and all the transaction history that will be built along with it?
13637902
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
CNet is reporting that a fifth of Android apps expose private data. The Android market threat report details the security issues uncovered. Dozens of apps were found to have the same type of access to sensitive information as known spyware does, including access to the content of e-mails and text messages, phone call information, and device location. 5% of the apps were found to have the ability to make calls, and 2% can send text messages, without the mobile user doing anything.
13461970
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Ars is reporting on the Armageddon version of net neutrality analysis released by New York Law School's Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute. The assessment, titled Net Neutrality, Investment & Jobs [PDF], damns the FCC's proposed net neutrality rules. It claims the consequence of the FCC's rules could rob the US of 502,000 jobs with a $62 billion impact on its GDP. The question, of course, is how the study's authors came up with those half-a-million job-loss estimates.
13373320
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
PC World is reporting on the latest version of Apple's Mac Mini. At only 1.4-inches tall the unibody aluminium enclosure includes an HDMI port, an SD card reader, and more graphics and processing power. Even the power supply is inside now. The base model comes with 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard disk — for $699. Graphics power comes from an NVIDIA GeForce 320M GPU (as found in lower-end MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops). Apple appears to be aiming for living rooms by including the HDMI port and eliminating the external power brick. Does the addition of these new features blur the line between Mac Mini and Apple TV?
13272196
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
MacRumors has a story on a report by Apple Outsider's Matt Drance that Apple is easing their restrictions on interpreted code used in iPhone development, a change which allows game developers in particular to continue to use interpreted languages such as Lua in their App Store applications. The change comes alongside Apple's further modifications of its iOS developer terms that again allow for limited analytics data collection to aid advertisers and developers, but appear to shut out non-independent companies such as Google's AdMob from receiving the data.
It's not enough of an 'about face' to let Adobe or Google back in the picture but they've backpedaled enough to let the little guys squeeze through.
12974680
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
ZDNet is reporting that two researchers are scheduled to demonstrate a rootkit running on an Android-based smartphone at the Defcon security conference in July. They're claiming the rootkit could give an intruder full access to all the functions of the device. The malware is activated by an incoming call from a 'trigger number', upon which it sends a shell to the attacker, allowing them administrative access via a 3G or Wi-Fi connection. The rootkit runs as a loadable kernel module, giving it full access to all of the handset's functions. 'Android forms a perfect platform for further investigation due to its use of the Linux kernel and the existence of a very established body of knowledge regarding kernel-level rootkits in Linux,' the researchers wrote.
12892892
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Reuters is reporting Netbook PC pioneer Asustek Computer has become the latest technology company to jump on the tablet PC bandwagon. The tablet PC, to be called the Eee Pad, will run on Intel or ARM chips, and use Microsoft's Windows operating system. "The Eee Pad can display Adobe flash for the full web experience, has a USB port and a camera," Asustek Chairman Jonney Shih said. "We looked at how we could best address the needs of users from all walks of life, and I believe this is the product." Asustek did not release pricing details or a potential release date, and did not provide further details on the format or a launch date for the new app store.
