Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Submission + - Micromax Remotely Installing Unwanted Apps and Showing Ads

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: Reports are coming in that users of certain devices by Indian phone manufacturer Micromax noticed apps being silently installed without their consent or permission. Uninstalling these apps won't help, as they will be automatically reinstalled. Alternatively, instead of downloading apps, the phone might litter the UI with stack of notifications which are advertisements for online stores and other apps. It turns out that the "System Update" application is responsible for all of this. When starting to tear down the application (which is actually called FWUpgrade.apk on the filesystem), the first thing you notice is that it’s a third-party application. A Chinese company named Adups developed it as a replacement for the stock Google OTA service. The article shows the potential abilities of this app and how Micromax customers can work around the disruptive behavior.

Submission + - Hackers penetrate top medical device makers .. (sfgate.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Hackers have penetrated the computer networks of the country's top medical device makers, The Chronicle has learned.

The attacks struck Medtronic, the world's largest medical device maker, Boston Scientific and St. Jude Medical sometime during the first half of 2013 and might have lasted as long as several months, according to a source close to the companies.
Biotech

Gamers Beat Algorithms At Finding Protein Structures 80

Posted by samzenpus from the tetris-trained dept.
jamie writes "Researchers have turned the biochemical challenge of figuring out protein folding structures into a computer game. The best players can beat a computerized algorithm by rapidly recognizing problems that the computer can't fix. From the article: 'By tracing the actions of the best players, the authors were able to figure out how the humans' excellent pattern recognition abilities gave them an edge over the computer. For example, people were very good about detecting a hydrophobic amino acid when it stuck out from the protein's surface, instead of being buried internally, and they were willing to rearrange the structure's internals in order to tuck the offending amino acid back inside. Those sorts of extensive rearrangements were beyond Rosetta's abilities, since the energy changes involved in the transitions are so large.'"
Security

Two Unpatched Flaws Show Up In Apple iOS 171

Posted by samzenpus from the rotten-apple dept.
Trailrunner7 writes "The technique that the Jailbreakme.com Web site is using to bypass the iPhone's security mechanisms and enable users to run unapproved apps on their phones involves exploiting two separate vulnerabilities. One of the vulnerabilities is a memory-corruption flaw that affects the way that Apple's mobile devices, including the iPad and iPod Touch, display PDFs. The second weakness is a problem in the Apple iOS kernel that gives an attacker higher privileges once his code is on a targeted device, enabling him to break out of the iOS sandbox. The combination of the two vulnerabilities — both of which are unpatched at the moment — gives an attacker the ability to run remote code on the device and evade the security protections on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The technique became public earlier this week when the Jailbreakme.com site began hosting a set of specially crafted PDF files designed to help users jailbreak their Apple devices and load apps other than the ones approved by Apple and offered in its official App Store."
Music

Music Streaming to Overtake Downloads 254

Posted by samzenpus from the how-do-you-steal-a-stream dept.
Barence writes "Streaming will overtake download services to become the dominant force in the online music industry, according to industry insiders. The claim comes in the wake of the PRS cutting the amount of royalties streaming services have to pay songwriters to about a third. Sites will now pay the PRS 0.085p per track, compared to the 0.22p they paid previously. On-demand streaming services still have to pay the record labels about 1p for every track streamed, however. Steve Purdham, CEO of music service We7, says the move will accelerate the growing trend towards online streaming which has seen newcomers such as his site and Spotify attract millions of users in less than a year. 'Over the next 12-24 months you'll see a move towards listening [online],' Purdham told PC Pro. 'Why do you actually need to have something downloaded on your PC? The streaming idea is really the future.'"

Comment Re:No surprise here (Score 1) 491

by SmokeBogey (#12952458) Attached to: PlayStation 3 to Sell For $399, Going Underground
I think the problem lies in getting that code to: a)Run on the hardware without Sony's SDK/blessing. b)get distributed after going gold so that people could buy it and run it on said hardware. Without Sony, you can't even put a PS logo (or any of their copyrights/trademarks/servicemarks/blahblahblah) on your software. If you can't advertise/sell it, it kind of defeats the purpose of writing it. Sony is smart enough to make sure all roads to their gigantic installed base runs squarely through them.

Slashdot Top Deals

Money is truthful. If a man speaks of his honor, make him pay cash. -- Lazarus Long

Close