Comment: Re:Very Specific Question (Score 1) 134
Peoria, Ill or Peoria, AZ?
Comment: Re:Very Specific Question (Score 1) 134
VZW uses SIM cards for 4G connectivity. Take it out and your phone stays on 3G.
Comment: Re:Welcome to our world (Score 1) 1205
Being in Phoenix, the worst part of the mass transit system here (or lack thereof) is the fact that most buses run late and I'm not talking about 5-10 minutes. Most riders I know (and I know a lot) say the average bus is running 25-45 minutes behind schedule, some days it's longer, some days it's actually on time. In any case, when I have to be to work at 7 AM, I'm not going to risk my tardiness and my job on a faulty mass transit system that takes me two hours to get 26 miles (one way) when I can drive the same distance in 20-25 minutes and know I'll be on time (except for the occasional accident on the freeway of course).
Don't get me started on the budget issues that are causing them to further layoff drivers and closing numerous routes.....
Comment: Re:SharkLaser again (Score 1) 644
Agreed. Just because it runs in the "cloud" doesn't mean it's not a software application. Personally, I'd put my money on more people using the Google "search" application than any other Google application. Their search is most certainly software running on their multitude of servers.
Comment: Re:SharkLaser again (Score 1) 644
Small problem: Chrome is the browser inside of Android. So each Android user also uses Chrome*. Then add the Chrome version that runs on Mac, Windows and Linux, you've got more Chrome users than Android users.
Therefore, it's a safe bet that there are more Chrome users than Android users.
*Except the small percentage that take the time (because they know you can get a different browser) to download and use a different mobile browser. However, 99% of the Android users I know use the default browser.
Comment: Re:Not relevant here (Score 1) 374
Well said!
Comment: Re:"Post Tech or GTFO!" (Score 1) 374
Of course it does! It included every QANTAS employee. I feel bad for the customers, but the airline grounded for bureaucratic BS and union bickering reasons. Not because of a technology or engineering related issues. The former will always be a CNN, BBC and WSJ story, the latter means it's a /. story. Otherwise, GTFO.
Comment: Re:Lessons for others? (Score 1) 94
An article on Ars Technia stated that:
"The intrusion was reported to kernel.org users earlier this week by site administrator John Hawley. The attack is believed to have occurred on August 12 but wasn't detected until August 28. The attack vector isn't known for certain, but it is thought that the attacker somehow obtained a legitimate user's login credentials and then exploited an unknown privilege escalation vulnerability. The attack was discovered when an Xnest error message was found in the system logs on a server that did not have Xnest installed."
+ - Welcome Back Kernel.org->
Submitted
by
Hummdis
Hummdis writes "After more than a month of being offline due to a security breach at Kernel.org, they're back!
While they were down, they took the time to "rearchitect" the site for developers and users.
"As noted previously, kernel.org suffered a security breach. Because of this, we have taken the time to rearchitect the site in order to improve our systems for developers and users of kernel.org. To this end, we would like all developers who previously had access to kernel.org who wish to continue to use it to host their git and static content, to follow the instructions here.
Right now, www.kernel.org and git.kernel.org have been brought back online. All developer git trees have been removed from git.kernel.org and will be added back as the relevant developers regain access to the system.
Thanks to all for your patience and understanding during our outage and please bear with us as we bring up the different kernel.org systems over the next few weeks. We will be writing up a report on the incident in the future.""
Link to Original Source
While they were down, they took the time to "rearchitect" the site for developers and users.
"As noted previously, kernel.org suffered a security breach. Because of this, we have taken the time to rearchitect the site in order to improve our systems for developers and users of kernel.org. To this end, we would like all developers who previously had access to kernel.org who wish to continue to use it to host their git and static content, to follow the instructions here.
Right now, www.kernel.org and git.kernel.org have been brought back online. All developer git trees have been removed from git.kernel.org and will be added back as the relevant developers regain access to the system.
Thanks to all for your patience and understanding during our outage and please bear with us as we bring up the different kernel.org systems over the next few weeks. We will be writing up a report on the incident in the future.""
Link to Original Source
+ - Is Steve Ballmer Underpaid?->
Submitted
by
jfruhlinger
jfruhlinger writes "An odd tidbit from Microsoft's recent SEC filing: the company believes that CEO Steve Ballmer is "underpaid," at his own request. Which offers an interesting question of what "underpaid" might mean. Ballmer made $1.38 million in salaries and bonuses. That's more than the overwhelming majority of Americans. It's less than other tech executives, including some of Microsoft's own staff. It's tiny compared to his accumulated wealth, much of which is in Microsoft stock and therefore tied to his company's performance. But if his salary is meant to reflect the value he's adding to the company, well, maybe it's still too much."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
+ - Get Your Hacked PayPal Accounts Here->
Submitted
by
Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "PayPal accounts get hacked all the time, either through phishing scams or via banking trojans. Usually, these are sold on underground crime forums, or crook-to-crook via private messages. But increasingly the crooks are taking their wares straight to the public. Krebsonsecurity.com writes today about iProfit.su, a Web site that sells compromised PayPal accounts for a fraction of their available balance. From the story: "according to the proprietor of this shop these are all “verified.” PayPal “verifies” an account when a customer agrees to attach a bank account to it; PayPal then sends a micropayment the bank account, and asks the user the value of that mini deposit. A bonus feature: all the hacked PayPal profiles currently for sale at iProfit.su are advertised as having a credit card attached to them, which is another way PayPal accounts can be verified."
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
+ - Android cuts into Apple's margins->
Submitted
by
dave562
dave562 writes "Reggie Middleton at BoomBustBlog offers some insightful analysis about how Android is impacting Apple's market share.
The maddening pace of Android technology development is simply too much for Apple to keep pace, or at least keep pace with while maintaining those fat margins. So what do they do? they release a marginally improved product that has yet to match the 6 month old Android flagship tech that is about to be refreshed/replaced/updated in exactly ONE WEEK!
He goes on to point out how Google has backed Apple into a corner, and they will have no choice but to cut into their fat profit margins in order to stay competitive.
Lower prices and/or higher technological bars will lead to lower margins. For those that are paying attention, it is evident that it is already happening. The disappointment felt throughout the web at the release of the iPhone 4GS was not due to Apple releasing a subpar product. It was due to Android raising the bar so high that Apple simply could not match it without busting its extremely fat (72%) margins.
What does this mean for Apple's share prices? I think the answer is obvious."
Link to Original Source
The maddening pace of Android technology development is simply too much for Apple to keep pace, or at least keep pace with while maintaining those fat margins. So what do they do? they release a marginally improved product that has yet to match the 6 month old Android flagship tech that is about to be refreshed/replaced/updated in exactly ONE WEEK!
He goes on to point out how Google has backed Apple into a corner, and they will have no choice but to cut into their fat profit margins in order to stay competitive.
Lower prices and/or higher technological bars will lead to lower margins. For those that are paying attention, it is evident that it is already happening. The disappointment felt throughout the web at the release of the iPhone 4GS was not due to Apple releasing a subpar product. It was due to Android raising the bar so high that Apple simply could not match it without busting its extremely fat (72%) margins.
What does this mean for Apple's share prices? I think the answer is obvious."
Link to Original Source
+ - Facebook Confirms New Cookie Tracking Issue
Submitted
by
Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "Facebook is once again setting its datr cookie via the Like button and other social plugins on third-party websites. The datr cookie can be used for tracking users" whether you are logged in or logged out of the service. Facebook has confirmed this is indeed a bug, but says that it is limited in scope and that it will be fixed today. Talk about damage control."
+ - Big Brother Calls "Shotgun"->
Submitted
by
kackle
kackle writes "I received a from letter from the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority saying that my first-generation "IPASS" transponder needs to be replaced because the battery is old. I called them for clarification since the first-generation transponders obviously have user-replaceable batteries, and I wanted to keep this version because it beeps when a toll is paid. (This notifies drivers that their battery is still good, unlike the silent second-generation version which has informed them of a dead battery by sending a ticket in the mail.) The woman on the phone explained that they were replacing them just because the electronics are old. This uninformed answer made me research the device. I found that the manufacturer has recently filed a patent application for a new transponder that a has a camera in it-a camera pointed inward at the occupants. How long before they make it illegal to cover that camera with tape?"
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Comment: Re:DirecTV does not own Blockbuster (Score 1) 214
You'd think that jfruhlinger would have picked up on that given that it's in the first sentence in TFA.
Blockbuster, the former DVD rental powerhouse that went bankrupt and was purchased by Dish Network in April,....