OverTheGeicoE - Slashdot User

Submission + - HP To Spin Off PC Business? (itworld.com)

Submitted by

jfruhlinger

on Thursday August 18, 2011 @02:05PM

jfruhlinger writes: "Bloomberg, quoting anonymous sources, thinks that HP is on the verge of spinning off its PC business, looking instead to remake itself like IBM into a service provider, with a focus on the cloud. Profits in the division have been slumping and shareholders have been pressuring the company to do something dramatic; an announcement would overshadow the anemic earnings report that we're probably going to get this afternoon."

Submission + - HP could sell off PC unit; buy Autonomy for $10B (networkworld.com) 3

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Thursday August 18, 2011 @01:22PM

coondoggie writes: "Hewlett-Packard could be close to spinning off its PC unit and spending $10 billion to buy software-maker Autonomy, according to a Bloomberg News report today. Reuters says Hewlett-Packard may announce the plans as early as today as the company is set to report quarterly earnings after markets close."

Submission + - DHS Tries to Hide Mobile Scanner Details (epic.org)

Submitted by OverTheGeicoE on Wednesday August 17, 2011 @04:40PM

OverTheGeicoE writes: The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year with the US Department of Homeland Security, whose Transportation Security Administration has been investigating the use of x-ray scanning technology for covert use in more public places, like train stations and even ordinary city streets. TSA has tested interesting devices like the Z Backscatter Vans both privately and on members of the general public. EPIC recently received new documents from DHS. Some of the documents are almost completely black from redactions.

Submission + - $80 Android Phone Sells Like Hotcakes in Kenya (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by

kkleiner

on Tuesday August 16, 2011 @03:48PM

kkleiner writes: "Earlier this year, the Chinese firm Huawei unveiled IDEOS through Kenya’s telecom titan, Safaricom. So far, this $80 smartphone has found its way into the hands of 350,000+ Kenyans, an impressive sales number in a country where 40% of the population lives on less than two dollars a day. The smartphone is the exemplar of a truly liberating device, and thanks to Android and Huawei, it has the potential to reach virtually untapped markets."

Submission + - Reactions To Google's Motorola Acquisition (parislemon.com)

Submitted by bonch on Tuesday August 16, 2011 @02:11PM

bonch writes: Pundits have been analyzing the Motorola acquisition since its announcement, and Dan Lyons, formerly known as Fake Steve Jobs, says Google never cared for the Nortel patents and that they drove the bidding price up intentionally while negotiating to buy Motorola, an idea questioned by MG Siegler who believes buying Motorola for $12.5 billion--almost two years' worth of Google's annual profits--is an act of desperation. John Gruber notes that Motorola was threatening to wage a patent war against other Android partners during the time they would have been negotiating with Google and that Motorola likely forced them into an expensive buyout rather than a patent license agreement. Google may have also been motivated by the fact that Microsoft was pursuing a Motorola buyout.

Submission + - Can we fix SSL Certification? (sophos.com)

Submitted by

Em Adespoton

on Tuesday August 16, 2011 @01:43PM

Em Adespoton writes: "At DEFCON this year, Moxie Marlinspike gave an excellent presentation entitled "SSL And The Future Of Authenticity." It shows how broken the current SSL certification model is, and proposes a replacement. Naked Security adds to the issue, pointing out that with Moxie's method, does it even matter if you can trust your certificate notaries?
What do you think?"

Submission + - Facebook steals every number from your smartphone (bgr.com) 1

Submitted by

destinyland

on Tuesday August 16, 2011 @12:26PM

destinyland writes: "Facebook users discovered this week that every contact number stored on their smartphone may now also be stored on Facebook's servers. One technology site notes "numerous reports from users who claim to have never synchronized their contacts with Facebook's mobile apps, yet still find all of their contact data stored on Facebook's servers." Even if your friends don't have Facebook accounts, Facebook may still have their names and phone numbers. There's a six-click path through each user's "Account settings" which ultimately leads to a page for re-claiming your friends' phone numbers, and "There is probably a clause buried deep within Facebook's terms and conditions that makes this invasion of your privacy OK on paper," this article notes. "But odds are still pretty good that it's not OK with you.""

Submission + - Airline pilots allowed to dodge security screening (wired.com)

Submitted by OverTheGeicoE on Friday August 12, 2011 @05:13PM

OverTheGeicoE writes: Wired has a story about TSA's known crewmember program, which allows airline pilots to bypass traditional airport security on their way to the cockpit. Pilots will be verified using a system known as CrewPASS that relies on uniforms, identity cards, fingerprints, and possibly other biometrics to authenticate flight deck crews. Once they are authenticated, they can enter secure areas in airports without any further screening. Participation at present is voluntary, and applies at Baltimore/Washington (BWI), Pittsburg (PIT), Columbia (CAE) and now Chicago O'Hare (ORD) airports. TSA is hoping to expand the program nationally.

Bruce Schneier thinks this program is "a really bad idea". Pilots are already avoiding scanners and patdowns at security checkpoints. Is this new program just a way for TSA to hide this fact from the flying public?

Submission + - Google Chrome 14 Beta Comes With Native Client (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Eponymous Hero on Friday August 12, 2011 @12:44PM

Eponymous Hero writes: Chrome's new version comes with Native Client built-in. Native Client uses an API called Pepper to bind your C/C++ code to HTML5 features. Don't miss the hidden nugget about the advanced audio support in the new Web Audio API, buried in every mention of this story.

Comment Re:Posting that link was irresponsible (Score 2) 84

by OverTheGeicoE on Wednesday August 10, 2011 @07:46PM (#37050776) Attached to: Feds' Radios Have Significant Security Flaws

The front page of the 'texting toy' website begins with 'It sounds 2good2btru - but it's 4real!' and ends with my stomach contents, evacuated onto the floor. Shame on TheGeicoE for subjecting us to that.

Sorry. I have kids. They've desensitized me. I just wasn't thinking how innocent Slashdotters might react.

The article and the study have a less objectionable picture with some hexadecimal numbers on the screen.

Submission + - Feds' radios have significant security flaws (wsj.com) 1

Submitted by OverTheGeicoE on Wednesday August 10, 2011 @01:56PM

OverTheGeicoE writes: The Wall Street Journal has a story describing how the portable radios used by many federal law enforcement agents have major security flaws that allow for easy eavesdropping and jamming. Details are in a new study being released today. The authors of the study were able to intercept hundreds of hours of sensitive traffic inadvertently sent without encryption over the past two years. They also describe how a texting toy targeted at teenage girls can be modified to jam transmissions from the affected radios, either encrypted or not.

Submission + - Amazon Releases Web-based Kindle Cloud Reader (engadget.com)

Submitted by jigamo on Wednesday August 10, 2011 @01:23PM

jigamo writes: Last week I submitted a request to Amazon asking if they planned to release a version of their Kindle software that would work on my Cr-48, and I was told that they appreciated my feedback and would pass it along. Today, Engadget posted a story that announced the release of Kindle Cloud Reader, a web-app that gives both online and offline access to your Kindle library. The app is currently only supported in Chrome, Safari, and Safari on the iPad, but Amazon says that support for additional browsers is coming soon.

Submission + - Six Python Web Frameworks Compared (infoworld.com)

Submitted by

snydeq

on Wednesday August 10, 2011 @01:00PM

snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Rick Grehan provides an in-depth comparison of six Python Web frameworks, including CubicWeb, Django, Pyramid, Web.py, Web2py, and Zope 2. 'No matter what your needs or leanings as a Python developer might be, one of these frameworks promises to be a good fit,' Grehan writes. 'As usual, the choice is highly subjective. You will find zealots for each product, and every zealot is able to present rational reasons why their chosen framework is superior.'"

Submission + - Apple briefly became largest US company (marketwatch.com) 1

Submitted by stevegee58 on Tuesday August 09, 2011 @02:40PM

stevegee58 writes: During trading today Apple briefly passed Exxon-Mobil as the largest S&P 500 company by market capitalization.

Kind of amazing when you think about it: a tech company actually larger than an oil company.

Submission + - Court Says Sending Too Many Emails Is Hacking (techdirt.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 09, 2011 @01:52PM

An anonymous reader writes: An appeals court has ruled that having people send a company a lot of emails (in this case, a union protesting a company's business practices) qualifies as hacking under the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act. We're not even talking about a true DDoS action here, but just a bunch of protest emails. Part of the problem is that the company apparently set up their email to only hold a small number of emails in their inbox, and the court seems to think the union should take the blame for stuffing those inboxes.

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