27816816
submission
realized writes:
Over the past few months a bunch of my friends with an iPhone 4 and now 4s seemed to be misinformed that they in fact had a 4G phone. After explaining it to them I started to think – man, apple’s marketing team needs a promotion (or to be fired for misleading). A couple of weeks ago I noticed however that AT&T on their own website is advertising the IPhone 4S as a 4G phone – and as of today its still the same. Not only is the iPhone 4S advertised as a 4G phone (with the 4G logo on the picture in search results) but if you search for all AT&T 4G phones on their website, it’s the first one that comes up!
27816552
submission
wiedzmin writes:
Japanese Defense Ministry has awarded Fujitsu a contract to develop a vigilante computer virus, which will track down and eliminate other viruses, or rather — their sources of origin. Are "good" viruses a bad idea? Sophos seems to think so.
27816402
submission
chrisphotonic writes:
"President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) today, allowing indefinite detention to be codified into law." -ACLU's website
Jon Steward talks about how horrible this is. It didn't pass...at first."
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-december-7-2011/arrested-development
27813702
submission
the_newsbeagle writes:
This year, Ekso Bionics will roll out its most sophisticated exoskeleton ever. The company's robotic walking suit, called the Ekso, allows paraplegics to get back on their feet and walk on their own. The first commercial model will be sold to rehab hospitals for on-site physical therapy, but the company plans to have a model ready for at-home physical therapy by the end of 2012. In a few years, they plan to sell an Ekso that a paraplegic person can wear to the post office, to work, etc.
27046652
submission
realized writes:
Yesterday Carrier IQ released a report which tries to answer some questions about how the system operates. Also after reports of the FBI using Carrier IQ data – the company sidestepped the question their response by saying "Carrier IQ has never provided any data to the FBI. If approached by a law enforcement agency, we would refer them to the network operators" Additionally the EFF just released a report which says they believe keystroke data "oeis in fact being inadvertently transmitted to some third parties" but they would like to study carrier profiles to verify information.
27019010
submission
realized writes:
Carrier IQ has finally answered some of the questions everybody has been asking in 19 page report released earlier today. The report, while doesn’t answer all questions does cover some and specifically addresses some issues came up on the now famous youtube video released by android developer Trevor Eckhar. Carrier IQ specifically addresses some of the main issues that arose from his video, claiming in this document that they do not read or even have the ability to read text message data among other things.
26417342
submission
realized writes:
We have all heard of soft caps put on by cell phone carriers. AT&T, Verizon and others alike have all said that they will (and have already started to), “throttle” users in the top 5% of data usage. With LTE starting to be deployed to multiple markets now this seems to be more of a problem. AT&T and Verizon are selling LTE phones and once users realize they can watch movies, download games, etc without lag on the new technology, are overnight getting capped. At LTE Speeds of 30-50MB/sec it’s very easy to hit the “soft cap” in place. The cap, according to some XDA members, seems to be anywhere from 4gb to 8gb/month. What is the point of offering LTE if you aren’t able to handle the small percentage of users that have LTE devices in those areas? Is this a bandwidth problem or a licensing problem with the wireless spectrum? Is 4, 6, or even 10 gb/month really abuse?
26183098
submission
realized writes:
As earlier reported on Slashdot, CarrierIQ installs software on cellphones to track user activity. The company earlier denied that they had a “root kit” installed but won’t go into details as to what they track. CarrierIQ is now suing the man responsible for shedding light on CarrierIQ for “copyright infringement” for copying the company’s training manuals and posting it on his own website. Luckily, EFF has decided to help out the XDA Developer, TrevE. You can see the letter here (https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/eckhart_cease_desist_demand_redacted.pdf)