razwiss - Slashdot User

Submission + - 9th Circuit: Gov't can track you in secret w/ GPS (time.com)

Submitted by

EmagGeek

on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @01:39PM

EmagGeek writes: "Even Time Magazine Online thinks that it's scary that "Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn't violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway — and no reasonable expectation that the government isn't tracking your movements."

"The court went on to make a second terrible decision about privacy: that once a GPS device has been planted, the government is free to use it to track people without getting a warrant."

I guess if you can't afford to put gates and access control around your property, then you have fewer rights than those who can."

Submission + - Apple Plugs PDF Hole With OSX Security Update (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Stoobalou on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @01:37PM

Stoobalou writes: Apple has posted a security update to its OSX operating system which patches a well-publicised flaw in Adobe's PDF software.

OSX Security Update 2010-005 — which is available via Software Update or direct from Apple plugs a hole which allowed maliciously-crafted PDF files, fonts and PNG images to execute arbitrary code due to a stack buffer overflow.

Submission + - Google Joins List of Most Flawed Software (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7 on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @01:35PM

Trailrunner7 writes: With Web based software vulnerabilities on the rise, Google displaces HP on the list of vendors with the most reported software holes in the first half of 2010. The number of reported software vulnerabilities spiked in the first half of 2010, dashing hopes that growth in the number of discovered holes had plateaued, according to a new report from IBM's Internet Security Systems X-Force, with Google joining the ranks of the ten software vendors with the most reported software vulnerabilities.

Apple Corp., which just issued a major security patch for its OS X operating system, maintained its poisition as the vendor accounting for most of the vulnerability disclosures. Four percent of all disclosures in the first half were for Apple products, compared with 3.4% for #2 vendor Microsoft reported holes in 2010, with 3.4%.

Submission + - Boy spends 15-hours a day playing Xbox 360 (examiner.com)

Submitted by AndrewGOO9 on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @12:15PM

AndrewGOO9 writes: Teenager Zach Richardson, a 17-year-old UK native has a slight addiction to video games that rings to the tune of fifteen hours per day. Unemployed, he sits in front of his television for a little over half a day, everyday, playing Call of Duty or FIFA to his hearts content. While he acknowledges he has a problem, he doesn't seem all that compelled to resolve it. Either way, I'm a bit jealous of anyone who has that kind of time to throw away sitting in front of a television, but at the same time gracefully thankful to have a life that requires me to go outside on a daily basis.

Submission + - Facebook hit list leads to 3 murders. (npr.org)

Submitted by kj_kabaje on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @11:42AM

kj_kabaje writes: "Violence in Colombia has apparently taken a new, disturbing social media turn: hit lists have appeared on Facebook and some of the teens named have been killed." If you didn't have reason enough to quit Facebook, think again. Or maybe I've missed the point of the article.

Comment And Steve Jobs told him (Score 0) 345

by razwiss on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @11:40AM (#33369598) Attached to: Apple Exec Stashed $150,000 In Shoe Boxes

And Steve Jobs told him "Just don't hide the stolen money that way"

Submission + - Damn! Apple Wins Major Touch Technology Patent (patentlyapple.com)

Submitted by siliconbits on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @11:31AM

siliconbits writes: From PatentlyApple : The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of nine newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The notables within this group include design wins for both the original iPod and the iPod touch along with other patents covering Apple's now defunct Shake application, the technology behind multi-conic graphic gradients and most importantly, a major touch related patent that may have played a role in Apple's latest Magic Trackpad desktop device.

Submission + - Apple Patent Points To Crossover iMac-iPad Tech (crn.com)

Submitted by cgriffin21 on Wednesday August 25, 2010 @11:30AM

cgriffin21 writes: An international patent filed by Apple points to the possibility of Apple developing a touch-screen iMac that could combine the features of the original iMac with the touch capabilities that has made the company's iPod Touch and iPad famous.

Patently Apple, a Website specializing in finding and analyzing Apple patents on Monday said that Apple applied for a patent that would allow the iMac to switch between a hi-resolution mouse input mode and a low-resolution touch-screen mode.

Submission + - Apple Fixes Big Security Bugs in Mac OS X (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett on Tuesday August 24, 2010 @09:07PM

itwbennett writes: Apple on Tuesday released a security update that fixes 13 bugs in various Mac OS X components, including core components such as Apple Type Services and CFNetwork. It's Apple's fifth OS X security update this year. Many open-source OS X components are also patched, including Samba, PHP and ClamAV software.

Submission + - ATM Makers Release Fixes for 'Jackpotting' Flaw (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7 on Monday August 23, 2010 @11:56AM

Trailrunner7 writes: Two ATM manufacturers have released software updates to address the remotely exploitable vulnerabilities in their machines' firmware that IOActive researcher Barnaby Jack demonstrated line on stage at the Black Hat conference last month. In response to the demonstration, in which Jack was able to bypass the authentication mechanism on the ATMs and then load a small rootkit that he wrote, ATM manufacturers Hantle and Triton have released new versions of their firmware that fix the vulnerability. Both manufacturers are recommending that ATM owners install the updates immediately.

Submission + - Dell violates GPL (osnews.pl)

Submitted by smoku on Monday August 23, 2010 @11:48AM

smoku writes: With the release of a new device of Dell's Mini series, the company debuted on the market of devices running the Android operating system. This is not surprising — the system created by Google is one of the most interesting proposals for mobile devices.

As far as Android itself is released under the terms of the Apache license, which gives wide discretion to use and modify software, it uses Linux kernel to handle the hardware on low level. The license under the Linux kernel is distributed is GNU General Public License — GPL. GPL also gives great freedom to use and modify software, but under actually one condition — along with the application binary you need to provide the source, allowing rebuilding the same binary file by oneself.

Dell is not giving a damn about this requirement. Dell Streak (formerly Dell Mini 5) premiere took place on June 4, 2010. Since then, Dell is absolutely deaf to the requests of users who have purchased Streak devices for access to sources of the Linux kernel they use.

There are scenarios here: If the client can be ignored, for example by not to replying to e-mail or message, one is ignored. If the client calls the customer support, and cannot be ignored, one receives a request to leave contact information on a premise the support calling back. Now they just do not call back.

Many companies violated GPL already and has benefited from the work of hundreds of volunteers, without giving anything in return. But perhaps none has done this before so blatantly as Dell, laughing at its own motto.

Submission + - Goodby OpenSolaris, Hello Closed Solaris. (sdtimes.com)

Submitted by sir lox elroy on Monday August 23, 2010 @11:22AM

sir lox elroy writes: A leaked memo attributed to Chris Armes, Bill Nesheim and Mike Shapiro is being reported that OpenSolaris is dead, however they want to make a free closed-source Solaris available to Developers. Of course Oracle will still keep Solaris and continue to develop on it, but the Open Source version is going by the wayside. It does mention that Oracle will continue to contribute code to projects needed by Solaris.

Submission + - Online Gaming Surpasses Music and Films As Most Po (ddgameworld.com)

Submitted by Weemz on Monday August 23, 2010 @11:17AM

Weemz writes: TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, recently said that the news that online gaming is now more popular than downloading music and films demonstrated not just that rising popularity of games but also the trend towards digital distribution. Their comments were made following the publication of a report by Ofcom (Communications Market Report 2010) which showed that 39 per cent of those surveyed played online games, compared to 38 per cent who download music and film.

Submission + - Hacking Your Web Browser in 7 Easy Steps (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Monday August 23, 2010 @10:24AM

snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Peter Wayner provides a deeper look at browser plug-ins — mechanisms by which users can customize their Web experience and tweak the performance of their browser of choice. 'All the major browsers make such customizations easy, though each employs a different mechanism,' Wayner writes. 'What's great about these additional blocks of code and images is that they're usually packaged for easy installation. In most cases, one click starts the process. And there's little reason to worry about the mechanism itself. The process works smoothly — most of the time.' From face-lifts, to tailoring to the browser to suit your surfing habits, to bringing the outside world in, customizing your browser to the perfect balance of features and speed has never been easier."

Submission + - Web 2.0 - Should Businesses Block or Embrace? (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey on Monday August 23, 2010 @10:00AM

wiredmikey writes: There was at time when “wireless” was taboo, and for fear of the unknown, strict workplace policies banned the use of wireless technologies. “Thou shalt not” became the mantra of most IT departments, and has remained the mantra when dealing with applications like Facebook and Twitter.

Unfortunately for employers, people still found ways to partake in these activities – unmanaged and unsecured. If companies had initially recognized the potential of these outlets and found ways to embrace them in the first place, they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble in the long run.

Instead of forbidding social applications, it makes more sense for companies to simply put reasonable restrictions on them. Employees these days, especially younger employees, expect to be able to access their network, to use their personal devices to access corporate networks. This generation is not willing to accept limitations, and companies need to recognize that. Doing so makes good business sense, and companies need to not only find ways to embrace these technologies, but to go a step further and actually have a face on these platforms.

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