unPlugged-2.0 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Google's $10 local search play

Submitted by thefickler on Monday August 13, 2007 @04:22PM

thefickler writes: The ever enterprising Google has come come up with a novel way of boosting the information it has about local businesses. As part of the Business Referral Representative program, Google is offering individuals up to $10 to visit local businesses and tell them about Google Maps and Google AdWords, collect information (such as hours of operation and types of payment accepted), and take digital photos of the business.

Submission + - iPhone OS X hacked in three days

Submitted by

unPlugged-2.0

on Tuesday July 03, 2007 @12:08PM

unPlugged-2.0 writes: "An australian developer blog writes of a short story on how the Iphone root password was cracked for the new operation system on the IPhone. The story outlines the procedure but doesn't give the actual password. According to the story:

"The information came from an an official Apple iPhone restore image . The archive contains two .dmg disk images: a password encrypted system image and an unencrypted user image. By delving into the unencrypted image inquisitive hackers were able to discover that all iPhones ship with predefined passwords to the accounts 'mobile' and 'root', the last of which being the name of the privileged administration account on UNIX based systems."

However the article does say that now that hackers have the root password they are not sure what can exactly be done with it if anything at all. I am sure at some point though they should be able to get to the firmware and be able to perhaps put their own firmware. Could this be the start of putting linux on the iphone? Then all we would need are drivers for the touch interface and accelerometers."

Submission + - RIAA wrongly accuses Mother and 10yr old daughter (oregonlive.com)

Submitted by

unPlugged-2.0

on Wednesday June 27, 2007 @04:44PM

unPlugged-2.0 writes: "It looks like the RIAA is at it again and this time could be in trouble over its extremely aggressive and unlawful tactics.

As an Oregon newspaper reports:
"A disabled single mother from Oregon has filed a federal lawsuit against the Recording Industry Association of America, claiming that she is the victim of abusive legal tactics, threats and illegal spying as part of an overzealous campaign to crack down on music pirating.

Now most of this sounds pretty standard but it seems that this women went out of her way to prove her innocence and was still harassed to the point that the RIAA threatened to interrogate her 10yr old daughter and even called her school impersonating her grandmother.

Of course the kicker is that even a RIAA employee admitted that she was probably wrongly accused. I don't condone illegal music downloading either and I can understand music labels wanting to protect their investment but the manner they conduct their business is downright disgusting. I hope that more stories and lawsuits like these come out to the public and give people the courage to stand up to the RIAA and their unethical tactics."

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