Comment Selection of themes (Score 1) 2219
Why not have both and let the users select what they want to use .
Geeks On a Plane Proposed To Solve Global Tech Skills Crisis 303
judgecorp writes "British Airways' Ungrounded project proposes to shut 100 Silicon Valley 'gamechangers' in a trans-Atlantic plane and ask them to solve the world's tech skills crisis during a 12-hour flight to London. On arrival, the passengers will head into a conference where they will present their ideas to, among others, the UN. From the article: 'Ungrounded, as the project is called, will bring 100 “innovators” (Silicon Valley CEOs, thinkers and venture capitalists) on a private BA flight from San Francisco to London. During the flight, they will take part in a “global hack” run by Ideo, a design firm which has made mice for Microsoft and Apple.'"
Comment Surviving (Score 1) 339
I'd better start playing the Fallout series again !!!
Submission + - FBI compromises another remailer (google.com)
betterunixthanunix writes: "Another remailer has been compromised by the FBI, who made a forensic image of the hard disc of a remailer located in Austria. The remailer operator has reissued the remailer keys, but warns that messages previously sent through the remailer could be decrypted. The operator also warns that law enforcement agents had an opportunity to install a back door, and that a complete rebuild of the system will take some time."
Submission + - Asus working on Kinect Windows 8 laptop (winbeta.org)
An anonymous reader writes: New reports are appearing on the web today suggesting that Asus are working on a new laptop that will include Kinect gestures and will be compatible with Windows 8. What does this mean for the consumer? Portable gestures in Windows 8!
DARPA Funding a $50 Drone-Droppable Spy Computer 86
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "At the Shmoocon security conference, researcher Brendan O'Connor plans to present the F-BOMB, or Falling or Ballistically-launched Object that Makes Backdoors. Built from just the disassembled hardware in a commercially-available PogoPlug mini-computer, a few tiny antennae, eight gigabytes of flash memory and some 3D-printed plastic casing, the F-BOMB serves as 3.5"-by-4"-by-1" spy computer. With a contract from DARPA, O'Connor has designed the cheap gadgets to be spy nodes, ready to be dropped from a drone, plugged inconspicuously into a wall socket, (one model impersonates a carbon monoxide detector) thrown over a barrier, or otherwise put into irretrievable positions to quietly collect data and send it back to the owner over any available Wi-Fi network. O'Connor built his prototypes with gear that added up to just $46 each, so sacrificing one for a single use is affordable."
Submission + - Does Android Violate The GPL? Not So Fast (itworld.com)
jfruhlinger writes: "Patent gadfly Florian Mueller's latest post has made a fairly bold claim: that virtually all Android licensees are violating the GPL because of their failure to redistribute the code, and have thus lost their rights to redistribute Android. Mueller here is mostly promoting ideas put across by patent lawyer Edward J. Naughton. But others in the community are skeptical of the claims. Software Freedom Conservancy head Bradley Kuhn says he's never heard from Naughton. "Don't you think if he was really worried about getting a GPL or LGPL violation resolved, he'd contact the guy in the world most known for doing GPL enforcement and see if I could help?""
Submission + - False evidence in EU Apple vs Samsung case (webwereld.nl)
An anonymous reader writes: The Dutch webwereld.nl has found incorrect evidence submitted by Apple in the EU design-right case against Samsung. In the ex-parte case, a German judge has issued a temporary injunction against the sale of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the whole EU except the Netherlands.
The faulty evidence is a side-by-side picture of an iPad2 and the Galaxy Tab. The Tab is scaled to fit the iPad2, and the aspect ratio is changed from 1.46 to 1.36, closer matching the iPad2 aspect ratio of 1.3, according to webwereld.nl
On a side note: in the article, Florian Mueller is brought up to explain that this is probably an honest mistake by Apple.
The faulty evidence is a side-by-side picture of an iPad2 and the Galaxy Tab. The Tab is scaled to fit the iPad2, and the aspect ratio is changed from 1.46 to 1.36, closer matching the iPad2 aspect ratio of 1.3, according to webwereld.nl
On a side note: in the article, Florian Mueller is brought up to explain that this is probably an honest mistake by Apple.
Submission + - Music Copyright War Looming (nytimes.com)
quarterbuck writes: When copyright law was revised in the mid-1970s, musicians, like creators of other works of art, were granted “termination rights,” which allow them to regain control of their work after 35 years, so long as they apply at least two years in advance. Recordings from 1978 are the first to fall under the purview of the law, but in a matter of months, hits from 1979, like “The Long Run” by the Eagles and “Bad Girls” by Donna Summer, will be in the same situation
Submission + - France Outlaws Hashed Passwords (bbc.co.uk) 3
An anonymous reader writes: Storing passwords as hashes instead of plain text is now illegal in France, according to a draconian new data retention law. According to the BBC, "[t]he law obliges a range of e-commerce sites, video and music services and webmail providers to keep a host of data on customers. This includes users' full names, postal addresses, telephone numbers and passwords. The data must be handed over to the authorities if demanded." If the law survives a pending legal challenge by Google, Ebay and others, it may well keep some major services out of the country entirely.
Submission + - Android holes allow secret installation of apps
CheerfulMacFanboy writes: According to The H Security researchers have demonstrated two vulnerabilities that allow attackers to install apps on Android and its vendor-specific implementations without a user's permission. During normal installation, users are at least asked to confirm whether an application is to have certain access rights. Bypassing this confirmation request reportedly allows spyware or even diallers to be installed on a smartphone.
One vulnerability was identified when a security specialist analysed HTC devices and found that the integrated web browser has the right to install further packages (used to automatically update its Flash Lite plug-in). Attackers can exploit this if they have found another browser hole.
Android specialist Jon Oberheide demonstrated another hole which involved misusing the Account Manager to generate an authentication token for the Android Market and obtaining permission to install further apps from there. However, this initially requires a specially crafted app to be installed on the smartphone. Nothing could be easier: Oberheide released the allegedly harmless "Angry Birds Bonus Levels" app intothe Android Market and, upon installation, this app downloaded and installed three further apps ("Fake Toll Fraud", "Fake Contact Stealer" and "Fake Location Tracker") without requesting the user's permission.
One vulnerability was identified when a security specialist analysed HTC devices and found that the integrated web browser has the right to install further packages (used to automatically update its Flash Lite plug-in). Attackers can exploit this if they have found another browser hole.
Android specialist Jon Oberheide demonstrated another hole which involved misusing the Account Manager to generate an authentication token for the Android Market and obtaining permission to install further apps from there. However, this initially requires a specially crafted app to be installed on the smartphone. Nothing could be easier: Oberheide released the allegedly harmless "Angry Birds Bonus Levels" app intothe Android Market and, upon installation, this app downloaded and installed three further apps ("Fake Toll Fraud", "Fake Contact Stealer" and "Fake Location Tracker") without requesting the user's permission.
In Case of Emergency, Please Remove Your Bra 123
An anonymous reader writes "Caught in a disaster with harmful airborne particles? You'd better hope you're wearing the Emergency Bra. Simply unsnap the bright red bra, separate the cups, and slip it over your head — one cup for you, and one for your friend. Dr. Elena Bodnar won an Ig Nobel Award for the invention last year, an annual tribute to scientific research that on the surface seems goofy but is often surprisingly practical. And now Bodnar has brought the eBra to the public; purchase one online for just $29.95."
Submission + - NVIDIA Announces New Line Fermi-Based Mobile Chips (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: NVIDIA has announced an entire line-up of Fermi-based GeForce GT and GTX 400M mobile GPUs, seven in total and revealed a number of notebook design wins from major OEMs. Like their desktop-targeted counterparts, the mobile GeForce GT and GTX 400M series GPUs leverage technology from NVIDIA's desktop architecture, which debuted in the GF100 GPU at the heart of the company’s flagship GeForce GTX 480. GeForce GT and GTX 400M series GPUs are DirectX 11 compatible and support all of NVIDIA’s “Graphics Plus” features, including PhysX, 3D Vision, CUDA, Verde drivers, 3DTV Play and Optimus dynamic switching technology. The GeForce GTX 470M and GTX 460M are the most powerful of the group and target enthusiasts and gamers, while the GeForce GT 445M, GT 435M, GT 425M, GT 420M and GT 415M target performance conscious, but more mainstream consumers.
Submission + - Windows Vulnerable to 'Token Kidnapping' Attacks
cuppa+tea writes: More than a year after Microsoft issue a patch to cover privilege escalation issues that could lead to complete system takeover, a security researcher plans to use the Black Hat conference spotlight to expose new design mistakes and security issues that can be exploited to elevate privileges on all Windows versions including the brand new Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7.
Comment Re:My thoughts (Score 1) 1051
I stand corrected.
But I have to wonder, how does that method generate any money? It doesn't really matter if I see the ad or not, I will still not buy the product, click the ad or ever talk about it. I block ads because they are irrelevant and annoying. Same as I don't watch ads on TV and focus on other things while those annoying, (muted) internet video ads play.
Why would you ask your users to intentionally worsen their viewing experience of your website, to put it bluntly they don't care about you, if the ads aren't gaining enough suckers and you think your content is an unrivalled, top quality jewel of the internet then make it subscription based.
But I have to wonder, how does that method generate any money? It doesn't really matter if I see the ad or not, I will still not buy the product, click the ad or ever talk about it. I block ads because they are irrelevant and annoying. Same as I don't watch ads on TV and focus on other things while those annoying, (muted) internet video ads play.
Why would you ask your users to intentionally worsen their viewing experience of your website, to put it bluntly they don't care about you, if the ads aren't gaining enough suckers and you think your content is an unrivalled, top quality jewel of the internet then make it subscription based.
