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Submission + - The History of Android

Submitted by benfrog
benfrog writes: Ars Technica has pieced together an extensive History of Android, an attempt to preserve older versions of the OS before they die from "cloud rot". The article includes nearly every old and new version, starting from a rather curious Blackberry-like prototype and ending with today's KitKat.

Comment Re:Changes incoming (Score 2) 148

by benfrog (#41835799) Attached to: Court Rules Website Terms of Service Agreement Completely Invalid

You can bet the farm that because of this all major online retailers have already started work to change their registration and ordering systems to implement a clickthrough rather than ticking a checkbox that says 'I agree'.

From reading the article linked to in tfa, a checkbox would work. Zappos's problem is that they just buried a link to the tos at the bottom left-hand corner of the page where no sane user would click.
Your Rights Online

Submission + - IDL Introduces "Cat Signal" to Proctect the Web from Censorship (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
benfrog
benfrog writes: "The Internet Defense League, a loosely-organized group of diverse organizations that hopes to save the internet from acts like SOPA, has come put with a novel way to do it: the "Cat Signal." The embedded code (which can be plunked into almost any web site) can be centrally activated (subject to the override of the site's owner) whenever the IDL feels there is a threat to internet freedom on the horizon. It was also activated today, on the founding of the initiative. And yes, it's inspired by all of those pictures of fuzzy kitty cats on the 'net."
Android

Submission + - Android 4.1 Jelly Bean SDK Released (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Google has released the full SDK for its latest edition of Android, Jelly Bean, which was unveiled during Google I/O. Google has already released the source code of Jelly Bean earlier. Google announced through a blog post that developers can develop application against the API level 16 using the new Jelly Bean APIs. Developers would be able to develop apps that will run on Nexus 7 tablets. Jelly Bean is touted as one of the best from Google and it promises a smoother and more responsive UI across the system.
Earth

Submission + - Political Idealogy Shapes How People Perceive Temperature (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
benfrog
benfrog writes: "In what likely isn't that much of a surprise, a study has shown that political ideology shapes how we perceive temperature changes (but not drought/flooding conditions). (An abstract of the study is here. 8,000 individuals were asked about temperatures and drought/flood events in recent years, then their political leanings. Answers regarding drought/flood events tended to follow the actual changes in conditions, while answers regarding temperature tended to follow people's political beliefs."
Crime

Submission + - Guy Steals $80K of Nike Items Via Website Hole (net-security.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A former college baseball player from Virginia managed to get his hands on Nike merchandise worth over $80,000 for free after having found and exploited a loophole in one of the company's websites. He compromised 12 accounts, and via them ordered a total of $81,419.58 in merchandise was ordered and shipped to a number of addresses in Virginia, Florida, Arizona and North Carolina. He was charged with computer fraud, but it's impossible to tell what his sentence will be, as he has struck a plea deal with Nike and will help them patch the hole that allowed him to do all this.
Idle

Submission + - Man sues to have 'Google' declared a generic word (paidcontent.org)

Submitted by
vu1986
vu1986 writes: ""Arizona man David Elliott wants a court to declare that “google” is a word that means “search on the internet” and to cancel Google’s trademarks for the term.

Elliott filed the complaint after Google won a ruling this month that forced him to hand over more than 750 website names such as “googlegaycruises.com” and “googledonaldtrump.com.” He claims he needs the names to start a business based on “commerce.. charity, and more.”""
Games

Submission + - Teen dies after 40hr Diablo 3 session without food (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An 18-year-old man was found unconscious and later died on Sunday after spending 40 hours playing Diablo III in a rented room of an Internet cafe in Taiwan. The man is known as Chuang, and apparently booked the room with the intent of having a marathon session of Blizzard’s latest game.

Chuang started playing on July 13 and was found slumped over the desk by an employee on the morning of July 15. He did repond and awoke, but only managed to walk a short distance before collapsing. He was taken to hospital, but died not long afterwards.

The cause of death has yet to be determined, but the authorities are guessing it has something to do with him remaining sat in front of the game for such a long period of time. The report states he didn’t eat, but it would be interesting to know what he drank for 2 days as well. If it was nothing but sugar-filled energy drinks that’s surely going to have a major impact on the way your body functions.
Youtube

Submission + - YouTube adds facial blurring to protect the innocent (or the guilty) (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
kaizendojo
kaizendojo writes: "YouTube has added another feature to its enhancements tool, allowing you to automate the process of blurring out people's faces in your photos. Its makers are quick to add that it's still an emerging technology, and that it may still miss out on faces depending on lighting obstructions and video quality. YouTube cites footage from human rights issues for bringing the idea forward, where identification of those involved could prove dangerous. You'll be able to preview how it looks, and if you choose to include the blurred option, a new copy is made to avoid losing the unedited original."
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook Loses Users, Users Happier With Google+ (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
benfrog
benfrog writes: "Facebook has lost what (by the standards of their userbase) is a modest number of users over the last six months, perhaps being one of the causes of a fall in their stock price. In the meantime, a study shows that (both) Google+ users are more satisfied with the site than Facebook users, who are (understandability) upset about the number of recent UI changes, the amount of advertising, and other elements, according to a statement accompanying the study. Figures also show dramatic growth in Google+ usage."
Microsoft

Submission + - Office 2013: A Cloudy Future (arstechnica.com) 1

Submitted by
benfrog
benfrog writes: "Ars Technica has published an in-depth review of Office 2013, the largely cloud-based (plans don't include physical copies, rely on cloud-based storage, and the like) next version of Microsoft's venerable Swiss-army knife. Many changes are included in this version that largely caters to touch-screen interfaces. Ars also includes first looks at Excel 2013, Word 2013, and Outlook 2013."
Security

Submission + - Angry Hacker Threatens ISP.. With An Ax (sophos.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An Australian man has admitted hacking into an Adelaide ISP's servers, and deleting data belonging to the business, after he had threatened to burn their offices down... and menaced a company director with an ax.

29-year-old Bryce Kingsley Quilley, of Tailem Bend, South Australia, pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawful modification of computer data at the Adelaide firm that he used to work for, one aggravated count of threatening to cause harm and one aggravated count of threatening to damage property.

Sentencing is scheduled for later this year.
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook Ignorance Won't Help You Keep Your Job (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
benfrog
benfrog writes: "A judge in a Texas appeals court has ruled that an EMT's firing was validfor a post on a colleague's Facebook Wall that he argued he intended only to be seen by his close friends but that was visible to his employer (ruling here, PDF). The EMT essentially argued in a last-ditch legal effort to save his job that his lack of knowledge of Facebook's privacy settings (or lack thereof) should have made his firing over the post invalid. Legal analysis in a blog post here."

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