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Submission + - You thought BYOD was a thorny problem? BYO-PC will be even harder (citeworld.com)

Submitted by mattydread23
mattydread23 writes: As BYOD ("bring your own device") becomes ubiquitous, it's natural to consider the possibilities of extending it to PCs, Macs, and other types of notebook computers. The problem is that legacy technology and approaches may make BYO-PC much more challenging than BYOD. In particular, companies already own a ton of PCs and Macs, so adding personal computers on top of that existing infrastructure can create all kinds of thorny political and technical issues. BYO-Mac, however, may not be quite so hard for many organizations.

Submission + - Feds Charge Wall Street Traders with Code Theft (informationweek.com)

Submitted by CowboyRobot
CowboyRobot writes: Three men have been charged with stealing proprietary high-frequency trading algorithms from Amsterdam-based trading house Flow Traders. The accusations include that two of the three, while employees of Flow Traders, emailed strategies, algorithms, and source code to themselves before quitting the company. Theft of proprietary code and algorithms from financial firms is increasingly common, with at least six related U.S. prosecutions since November 2010. But while plaintiffs argue that the code is essential intellectual property, the defense can argue that such information is intrinsically linked to the environment in which it's being run, requires teams of programmers to maintain, and thus is of little use to another organization.

Comment Re:Removing bins will not fix underlying problem (Score 1) 179

by bandy (#44543999) Attached to: London Bans Recycling Bins That Track Phones

The issue here isn't that MAC addresses are unique, it's that users aren't bright enough or are too lazy to turn off wi-fi detection when they're not using it.

Exactly. As to the "large" address space - it's large if the random-number generator is actually random and has been seeded with a unique value. We've seen lots of bugs and exploits show up because those two conditions were not met.

Submission + - US to standardize car app/communication device components (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: The US Department of Transportation has high hopes of standardizing the way autos talk to each other and with other intelligent roadway systems of the future. The department recently issued a call for public and private researchers and experts to help it build what the DOT called "a hypothetical four layer approach to connected vehicle devices and applications certification."

Submission + - Unlocked Firefox OS ZTE Open is Now Available on eBay for for $80

Submitted by SmartAboutThings
SmartAboutThings writes: We’ve been hearing quite a lot lately about the Firefox OS, but there are actually only a few Firefox OS phones launched on the market. ZTE Open is one of them and is actually the first Firefox OS phone for consumers. Even if Firefox OS has support from carriers all over the world, it’s pretty hard to sell devices in more locations across the world. To remedy that, ZTE is going to sell the Firefox OS Open phone on eBay for eighty dollars, which is actually ten dollars less than the launch price. A real great thing is that the handset will be off-contract and unlocked which means you will be able to use it on all mobile networks. ZTE didn’t mention when exactly the device will go on sale on eBay, the company just mentioning “soon”.

Submission + - Royal Navy Deployed Laser Weapons During the Falklands War (gizmag.com) 1

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: Despite recent demonstrations by the US Navy, we still think of laser weapons as being things of the future. However, previously-classified British documents prove that not only were the major powers working on laser weapons in the 1970s and 80s, but that they were already being deployed with combat units in war zones. A letter from the Ministry of Defence released under the 30-year rule reveals that laser weapons were deployed on Royal Navy ships during the Falklands War in 1982, and that the British government was concerned about similar weapons being developed behind the Iron Curtain.

Submission + - BlackBerry Officially Open to Sale (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: BlackBerry is considering whether to sell itself off to the highest bidder. The company’s Board of Directors has announced the founding of a Special Committee to explore so-called “strategic alternatives to enhance value and increase scale,” which apparently includes “possible joint ventures, strategic partnerships or alliances, a sale of the Company or other possible transactions.” BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins added that, while the committee did its work, the company would continue to its recent overhead-reduction strategy. Prem Watsa, chairman and CEO of Fairfax Financial—BlackBerry’s largest shareholder—announced that he would resign from the company’s board in order to avoid a potential conflict of interest. News that BlackBerry is considering a potential sale should surprise nobody. Faced with fierce competition from Google and Apple, the company’s market-share has tumbled over the past several quarters. In a desperate bid to regain its former prominence in the mobile-device industry, BlackBerry developed and released BlackBerry 10, a next-generation operating system meant to compete toe-to-toe against Google Android and Apple iOS—despite a massive ad campaign, however, early sales of BlackBerry 10 devices have proven somewhat underwhelming.

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