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+ - A serious proposal to fix Windows 8->

Submitted by GMGruman
GMGruman writes "Windows 8 is simply not selling, and everyone but Microsoft knows it's a mess of an OS. And the Windows 8.1 "Blue" that Microsoft revealed some details of late last week doesn't address the fundamental flaws. So a team at InfoWorld worked up a serious proposal to rework Windows 8 for both PCs and tablets that fixes those flaws and lets Microsoft's true innovations break free of today's Windows 8, complete with mockups of the proposed Windows "Red.""
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+ - Mozilla: Unlike FB and Twitter single sign-in, Persona protects user privacy->

Submitted by tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "Mozilla today unveiled Persona Beta 2, the newest edition of the organization's open authentication system. The release includes Identity Bridging, which lets user sign in to Persona-supported sites using their existing webmail accounts, starting with Yahoo. Mozilla used the releases as an opportunity to bash social sign-in offerings from Facebook and Twitter, which "conflate the act of signing into a website with sharing access to your social network, and often granting the site permission to publish on your behalf," said Lloyd Hilaiel, technical lead for Mozilla Persona. He added that they are built in such a way that social providers have full visibility into a user's browsing behavior."
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+ - Cyber criminals tying up emergency phone lines through TDoS attacks, DHS warns->

Submitted by tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "Emergency-service providers and other organizations are being targeted with TDoS (telephony denial of service) attacks, according to a security alert [PDF] from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, obtained by security expert Brian Krebs. TDoS attacks use high volumes of automated calls to tie up target phone systems, halting incoming and outgoing calls. Perpetrators are using the attacks to extort cash from target organizations, who receive a call from a representative from a purported payday loan company, who demands payment of $5,000 for an outstanding debt — usually speaking in an unspecified "strong accent.""
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Cloud

+ - One in six Amazon S3 storage buckets are ripe for data-plundering->

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "Using a combination of relatively low-tech techniques and tools, security researchers have discovered that they can access the contents of one in six Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) buckets whose owners had them set to Public instead of Private. All told, researchers discovered and explored nearly 2,000 public buckets, according to Rapid 7 Senior Security Consultant Will Vandevanter, from which they gathered a list of more than 126 billion files, many of which contained sensitive information such as source code and personal employee information. Researchers noted that S3 URLs are all predictable and public facing, which make it that much easier to find the buckets in the first place with a scripting tool."
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Privacy

+ - Twitter-shaming can cost you your job - whether you're giving or receiving->

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "Hoping to strike a blow against sexism in the tech industry, developer and tech evangelist Adria Richards took to Twitter to complain about two male developers swapping purportedly offensive jokes at PyCon. The decision has set into motion a chain of events that illustrate the impact a tweet or two can make in this age of social networking: One the developers and Richards have since lost their jobs, and even the chair of PyCon has been harassed for his minor role in the incident."
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Android

+ - Deleted cloud files can be recovered from smartphones, researchers find->

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "Researchers from the University of Glasgow have discovered that they could fully recover images, audio files, PDFs, and Word documents deleted from Dropbox, Box, and SugarSync, using both an HTC Android smartphone and an iPhone. They created 20 different test files, including Words docs, PDFS, and JPGs, uploaded them via a PC to the various services, and synced the services with the mobile devices. They accessed and manipulated the files in varying ways (e,g accessing them online once, saving them offline), then used a forensics toolkit to attempt to reconstruct files with artifacts saved to the phone."
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IT

+ - Lawmakers Listen to Opponent of H-1B Visas->

Submitted by mk1004
mk1004 writes "Patrick Thibodeau at ComputerWorld writes that lawmakers are listening, behind closed doors, to business owners who are opposed to bringing in IT workers using H-1B visas. Reducing H-1B IT workers could make careers in IT desirable again, argues one CEO."
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The Internet

+ - Cyber squatters grab up more than 600 'Pope Francis' domain names ->

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "Although the newly appointed Pope Francis I has proven himself technologically savvy enough to use Twitter, the Vatican dropped the ball when it came to quickly registering a domain name for the pontiff after his appointment earlier this month: Within hours, cyber squatters grabbed up more than 600 domain names containing derivations of the pontiff's name, including popefrancisi.com, popefrancis.co.uk, popefrancis.org, and popefrancis.fr, according to domain-name company names.co.uk."
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China

+ - U.S. to China: Please stop hacking our companies, if you don't mind->

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "The U.S. government has at long last called out the Chinese government for tolerating, if not outright supporting, cyber attacks against American businesses. In a speech yesterday, President Barack Obama's National Security Advisor Tom Donilon called on China to acknowledge that cyber crime poses a threat to international trade; to investigate and put a stop to cyber crime emanating from China; and to work with the United States to "establish acceptable norms of behavior in cyberspace." Donilon's speech comes on the heels of a report released by security company Mandiant that laid out evidence of a cyber espionage outfit dubbed APT1 is actually a branch of the Chinese military called PLA (People's Liberation Army) Unit 61398."
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Android

+ - Gnome co-founder explains why he dumped Linux for Mac->

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "Miguel de Icaza, co-founder of the Gnome and Mono projects, has revealed that he dumped Linux months ago in favor of Mac OS, citing fragmentation and incompatibilities among the various Linux versions as the reasons for his switch. In a post to his personal blog, he wrote that he has long recommended Macs to new users and has gifted them to friends and family, adding that 'Linux just never managed to cross the desktop chasm.' The Linux Foundation's response: 'We agree with Miguel that Apple makes great products. As to the broader question, we see Linux diversity as its strength rather than a weakness.'"
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+ - Obama Administration declares 'It's time to legalize cell phone unlocking'->

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "The Obama Administration and the FCC today came out in favor of changing new legislation that makes it difficult for consumers to unlock their rightfully owned mobile devices — cell phones, smartphones, and tablets — without risk of fines, jail time, or other criminal penalties. The announcements come on the heels of a successful online petition campaign to change a recent Library of Congress ruling made the unlocking of smartphones purchased after Jan. 26 illegal. Notably, neither the White House nor the FCC came out with any definitive recommendations for rewording the Library of Congress's ruling. They said that the Obama administration, Congress, the FCC, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) need to hash that out."
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Data Storage

+ - Test your SSDs or risk massive data loss, researchers warn->

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "Companies adopting flash-based SSDs as a cornerstone to the data center storage systems are risking "massive data loss" due to power outages, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Ohio and HP Labs. In exposing 15 SSDs from five different vendors to power loss, researchers found that 13 suffered such failures as bit corruption, metadata corruption, and total device failure. The paper did not specify which vendors' drives were used."
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Microsoft

+ - Why a good green tablet computer is hard to find-> 1

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "Green laptops and computers were all the rage not long ago, with hardware makers such as Apple and HP crowing each time they rolled out a new machine that earned an EPEAT Gold rating. Now, though, if you peruse the EPEAT registry for a green "tablet notebook," you'll come up with one listing: the Xplore iX104C5 DMSR. No iPad, no Surface, no Kindle, no Galaxy. So what gives? For starters, the Energy Star spec briefly covered tablets, but not anymore, which means no tablet can be slapped with an Energy Star or EPEAT sticker. Energy Star is working on a new spec that will likely include tablets, while EPEAT is working on new criteria as well. But also potentially problematic is that some vendors — particularly Apple and Microsoft — aren't designing their tablets to be easily repairable, as evidenced by iFixit's Tablet Repairability scorecard. (Dell, by contrast, is doing an admirable job.)"
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Microsoft

+ - Microsoft stealthily pilots Mac Office and Office 365 accredidation program->

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "Microsoft has launched a pilot program to train and accredit Apple techs and consultants on Office for Mac and Office 365, but you wouldn't know it from perusing the Microsoft website or even reaching out to the company's public relations team. The Microsoft Office for Mac Accredited Support Professional accreditation is real, though it's currently being pushed only by MacTech, an Apple technology journal that's hosting the program at various events this year. It points to growing acceptance and usage of Mac products in the business world."
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Linux

+ - Linux-savvy IT pros are in high demand, low supply->

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes "IT professionals with Linux chops — particularly systems administrator — are in high demand and short supply, according to a new survey from Dice. Over 90 percent of hiring managers surveyed said they plan to hire at least one Linux professional in the next six months — though nine out of 10 respondents also said that it's "somewhat difficult" or "very difficult" to find experienced Linux pros. That demand — driven by trends such as open-cloud development, Big Data, and increasing migration to Linux — has helped push the average salary for Linux pros up 9 percent to this past year, to $90,853."
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