54123097
submission
Nerdfest writes:
Gliph, a mobile messaging app for iOS, has been asked by Apple to remove its key bitcoin-related feature. The issue at hand is the app’s ability to attach bitcoin amounts to messages. Users on Android still have the ability to attach bitcoin to messages with Gliph. Google’s mobile platform has been much more lenient towards virtual currency-related applications that exists within its Google Play store.
In Gliph’s appeal letter to Apple, which has been publicly published, it points out that the company does not offer any sort of wallet services for bitcoin and only facilitates that process. It states:
51646029
submission
Nerdfest writes:
Federal funding cuts, and the insidious damage caused just since March by federal budget sequestration, have forced nearly one in five U.S. scientists to consider moving overseas to continue their research.
While that immediate threat of a brain drain is alarming enough, it’s the long-term effects of sagging federal research funding that pose the greatest threat to our very survival. The cause-and-effect is simple: If Congress continues to refuse to fund the future, the decline of America’s much-touted “innovation economy” will accelerate fatally.
51642907
submission
Nerdfest writes:
It is unclear which parties will bid, if any. But the potential technology buyers have been especially interested in BlackBerry's secure server network and patent portfolio, although doubts about the assets' value remain an issue, the sources said.
Google, Intel, Cisco, LG and SAP declined to comment. Samsung was not immediately available for comment.
50116329
submission
Nerdfest writes:
Before a dinner of pizza and fried chicken late Sunday in Hong Kong, Edward J. Snowden insisted that a group of lawyers advising him in the Chinese territory “hide their cellphones in the refrigerator of the home where he was staying, to block any eavesdropping,”
50083585
submission
Nerdfest writes:
We’re living in a post-Snowden era, which means you should assume that everybody, including the social networks you use every day, are always looking over your digital shoulder. So how do you take back your online communication from the prying eyes of the government? Enter Trsst, a new social network that promises to be a white knight of media, keeping all of your cat posts and private messages safe and secure forever. Trsst itself can’t crack into your content, they claim, because you keep your own encryption keys. That also means they can’t hand your stuff over to the government, even under court order.
50059953
submission
Nerdfest writes:
We’re living in a post-Snowden era, which means you should assume that everybody, including the social networks you use every day, are always looking over your digital shoulder. So how do you take back your online communication from the prying eyes of the government? Enter Trsst, a new social network that promises to be a white knight of media, keeping all of your cat posts and private messages safe and secure forever. Trsst itself can’t crack into your content, they claim, because you keep your own encryption keys. That also means they can’t hand your stuff over to the government, even under court order.
50013619
submission
Nerdfest writes:
New Zealand has finally passed a new Patents Bill that will effectively outlaw software patents after five years of debate, delay and intense lobbying from multinational software vendors. Aptly-named Commerce Minister Craig Foss welcomed the modernisation of patents law, saying it marked a "significant step towards driving innovation in New Zealand". An IITP poll of members at the time showed 94% of those with a view were in favour of banning software patents.
49460273
submission
Nerdfest writes:
Bruce Schenier writes: 'Bluntly: The government has commandeered the Internet. Most of the largest Internet companies provide information to the NSA, betraying their users. Some, as we've learned, fight and lose. Others cooperate, either out of patriotism or because they believe it's easier that way.
I have one message to the executives of those companies: fight."
49432491
submission
Nerdfest writes:
It appears that a Russia based cybercrime team has set its sights on offering a new banking Trojan targeting the Linux operating system. This appears to be a commercial operation, which includes support/sales agents and software developer(s). It has an anti-research tool box, which includes anti VM, anti-sandbox and anti-debugger features.
The Trojan’s developer claims it has been tested on 15 different Linux desktop distributions, including Ubuntu Fedora and Debian. As for desktop environments, the malware supports 8 different environments, including Gnome and Kde.
With recent recommendations to leave the supposedly insecure Windows OS for the safer Linux distributions, does Hand of Thief represent the early signs of Linux becoming less secure as cybercrime migrates to the platform?
41388215
submission
Nerdfest writes:
Venturebeat is reporting that:
Edison Junior, the technology and design lab behind the POP portable power station, is returning the full $139,170 in funding it received from Kickstarter backers to develop the device. Unfortunately, Apple has refused to give the project permission to license the Lightning charger in a device that includes multiple charging options.
“We are pissed,” Edison Junior CEO Jamie Siminoff told me on the phone today. “I think they are being a bunch of assholes, and I think they’re hurting their customers.”
35961725
submission
Nerdfest writes:
From Rob Pike's Google+ post: I'm pretty sure the concept of a hidden file was an unintended consequence. It was certainly a mistake.
How many bugs and wasted CPU cycles and instances of human frustration (not to mention bad design) have resulted from that one small shortcut about 40 years ago?
Keep that in mind next time you want to cut a corner in your code.
35761363
submission
Nerdfest writes:
"The lawyers behind the upcoming Apple v. Samsung trial have been hard at work filing docket after docket as their court battle looms closer, and many of those dockets have just been released to the public. We’re now seeing a lot of previously secret information about the early days of iPhone and iPad R&D, and what’s happened behind closed doors at both Apple and Samsung."
Surprises include the iPhone design being 'inspired' by Sony product ideas, and that Samsung was warned that it was copying Apple.
8296704
submission
Nerdfest writes:
The CBC reports that Irish rocker Bono is calling for better restrictions on the internet to protect artists and their work. "A decade's worth of music file-sharing and swiping has made clear that the people it hurts are the creators — in this case, the young, fledgling songwriters who can't live off ticket and T-shirt sales like the least sympathetic among us." And he alleges that "rich service providers" are reaping "the lost receipts of the music business."
The musician claims the technology is available to track and prevent illegal downloading, noting efforts in China which limit its populace from freely accessing the internet.
8294940
submission
Nerdfest writes:
In these budget conscious times, schools who want to integrate modern interactive technologies have a choice, buy a SmartBoard , or build your own for a fraction of the cost. Johnny Chung Lee has done some of the groundbreaking work with the Wii, the build instructions and downloads can be found on his site. In addition to the Wiimote, you'll need an infrared light emitting pen, which you can build yourself for short money.
5505227
submission
Nerdfest writes:
The Guardian is reporting that the major music labels are working on an 'album' format that contains music, lyrics, artwork, etc, called CMX. Apple had also been invited, but is working on it's own format called 'Cocktail'. No word here on whether or not the format supports DRM. Here's hoping an open standard is the result of this.
