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Java

Submission + - Sun Java is the most vulnerable plug-in (net-security.org) 1

Submitted by dinscott
dinscott writes: Wondering how secure your browser is? Research show that browsers and plug-ins are frequently outdated and easily attackable. To make things worse, malware authors adapt quickly and most of their new attacks are against browser plug-ins.

The problem is that people might remember to update the browser, but forget to do the same with the plug-ins — and they are not typically updated by the browser itself. And while everybody knows about the hackers' predilection for targeting Adobe Flash, data shows that Sun Java is by far the most vulnerable plug-in installed in browsers.
Android

Submission + - Google Announces One Pass Payment System (blogspot.com)

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: Riding the tail of Apple's 30% announcement, Google's Eric Schmidt has announced One Pass, a new method for users to pay for content. The BBC is reporting that Google is taking a 10% cut. One Pass will work on Google sites and on phones and tablets as the announcement notes: 'Readers who purchase from a One Pass publisher can access their content on tablets, smartphones and websites using a single sign-on with an email and password. Importantly, the service helps publishers authenticate existing subscribers so that readers don't have to re-subscribe in order to access their content on new devices.' This is to be handled through Google Checkout.
IOS

Submission + - Android Market Outpacing Apple AppStore by 3x (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: The App Genome Report, based on an analysis of over 500,000 mobile apps across different device platforms and app markets showed that the Android Market is growing at a rate nearly three times faster than the Apple App Store.

The study found that the number of apps available in the Android Market increased approximately 127% since August 2010, while the Apple App Store grew at a rate of 44% during the same period.

Also, while these markets increase users’ access to apps, some also have a higher number of apps that could be repackaged with malware or illegitimate ad code.
Science

Submission + - World's Fastest Carnivorous Plant (Video) (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Researchers have discovered that an underwater plant known as the bladderwort engulfs prey in less than a millisecond, making this the fastest trapping mechanism of any carnivorous plant, including the Venus Flytrap. Close analysis of the high-speed video reveals that as prey trigger hairs on a bladder, a semicircular trapdoor swings in rapidly and the walls of the bladder expand, creating pressure that sucks in water and the prey . The door then snaps back into place, ensnaring the small morsel, which the plant then surrounds in digestive juices.
Open Source

Submission + - Compared and Contrasted: OpenOffice v. LibreOffice (infoworld.com)

Submitted by GMGruman
GMGruman writes: Oracle's imposition of fees for some OpenOffice capabilities caused some of the venerable open source office suite's creators to head out on their own and create LibreOffice as a truly free OSS tool. InfoWorld's Neil McAllister reviews the two OSS productivity tools side by side to figure out where they differ, and whether you can jettison Oracle's OpenOffice safely for the fully free LibreOffice.
IBM

Submission + - IBM's Watson Puts Game Face On, Wins Jeopardy (hothardware.com) 1

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Sorry humans, but it's time to welcome your new robot overlords. After last night's airing of Jeopardy, it's only a matter of time before our gadgets turn against us, perhaps led by Watson. Watson is the name given to IBM's supercomputer, which proved both faster and smarter than the two most decorated Jeopardy champions of all time. Too large to fit behind a podium, IBM's machine was represented by an avatar and fed the questions via text. This occurred at the same time Jeopardy host Alex Trebek read the questions out loud to Ken Jennings, who hold's Jeopardy's longest win streak ever at 74 games, and Brad Rutter, whose more than $3.2 million in winnings is also a record. But they were no match for Watson, who rang in faster and answered more questions correctly, including a pair of Daily Double questions, one of which Watson was only about 32 percent sure of his answer yet still got it correct.
Microsoft

Submission + - Virgin Blue .NET fiasco (itwire.com)

Submitted by doperative
doperative writes: "Virgin Blue has suffered its second computer systems meltdown in just four months, causing widespread delays and long queues of frustrated passengers. There is now a question of whether Virgin's Navitaire system has serious inherent flaws"

"This latest computer crash, which looks to be as serious as the 2010 fiasco, will place more question marks around the integrity and robustness of the .NET based Navitaire New Skies system which claims to be able to handle load spikes and scale easily as passenger volumes increase link
HP

PC Gamers Too Good For Consoles Gamers? 324

Posted by Soulskill from the commence-flame-war-now dept.
thsoundman sends in a blog post from Rahul Sood, CTO of HP's gaming business, who claims there was once a project in development at Microsoft to let Xbox users compete against PC users playing the same game. According to Sood, the project was killed because the console players kept getting destroyed by their PC counterparts. He wrote, "Those of us who have been in the gaming business for over a decade know the real deal. You simply don't get the same level of detail or control as you do with a PC over a console. It's a real shame that Microsoft killed this — because had they kept it alive it might have actually increased the desire of game developers and gamers alike to continue developing and playing rich experiences on the PC, which would trickle down to the console as it has in the past."

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