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Submission + - iPhone Hacked in Under 60 Seconds Using Malicious Charger (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: Apple's iOs has been known as a bastion of security for many years, but three researchers have now shown iPhones and iPads can be hacked in just under 60 seconds using nothing more than a charger. OK so it's not just a charger but the Mactans charger does delete an official app (say Facebook) replacing it with an official-looking one which is actually malware which could access your contacts, messages, emails, phone calls and even capture your passwords. Apple says it will fix the flaw, but not until the release of iOS 7, the date of which hasn't been confirmed yet. So watch out for chargers left lying around.....
Space

Submission + - Rogue Brown Dwarf Lurks in Our Cosmic Neighborhood (discovery.com)

Submitted by
astroengine
astroengine writes: "The UK Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) in Hawaii has discovered a lone, cool brown dwarf called UGPSJ0722-05. As far as sub-stellar objects go, this is a strange one. For starters, it's the coolest brown dwarf ever discovered (and astronomers using the UKIRT should know, they are making a habit of finding cool brown dwarfs). Secondly, it's close. In fact, it's the closest brown dwarf to Earth, at a distance of only 10 light years. And thirdly, it has an odd spectroscopic signature, leading astronomers to think that this might be the discovery of a whole new class of brown dwarf."
Science

Submission + - Scientists Develop Financial Turing Test (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by KentuckyFC
KentuckyFC writes: Various economists argue that the efficiency of a market ought to be clearly evident in the returns it produces. They say that the more efficient it is, the more random its returns will be and a perfect market should be completely random. That would appear to give the lie to the widespread belief that humans are unable to tell the difference between financial market returns and, say, a sequence of coin tosses. However, there is good evidence that financial markets are not random (although they do not appear to be predictable either). Now a group of scientists have developed a financial Turing test to find out whether humans can distinguish real financial data from the same data randomly rearranged. Anybody can take the test and the results indicate that humans are actually rather good at this kind of pattern recognition.

Submission + - Europe to block ACTA disconnection provisions (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by superglaze
superglaze writes: The European Commission is "not supporting and will not accept" any attempt to have Acta (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) force countries to disconnect people for downloading copyrighted material, a spokesman for the new EU trade commissioner has said.

All the signs are that the new commission, which took office earlier this month, intends to take a hardline stance against US proposals for a filesharing-related disconnection system. 'Three strikes' is allowed in EU countries, but not mandated by the European government itself, and it looks like the new administration wants to keep it that way. From trade commssion spokesman John Clancy, quoted in ZDNet UK's article:

"[Acta] has never been about pursuing infringements by an individual who has a couple of pirated songs on their music player. For several years, the debate has been about what is 'commercial scale' [piracy]. EU legislation has left it to each country to define what a commercial scale is and this flexibility should be kept in Acta."

Comment Re:Should PDFs be dangerous? (Score 1) 189

by toleraen (#31176838) Attached to: Rogue PDFs Behind 80% of Exploits In Q4 '09
Err, hence I said "That and disabling browser integration" in response to the OP's question.

There's no risk in disabling it. If you download a form that requires it Reader will prompt you and ask if you want to enable JavaScript for that particular PDF. If it's from a trusted source, go ahead and allow it. I've seen plenty of PDFs prompt for Javascript access and when denied seem to have no negative impact. Forms are about the only type I've seen that are impacted.

Comment Re:Open Office is there (Score 3, Interesting) 179

by couchslug (#30589918) Attached to: MS Issues Word Patch To Comply With Court Order

Semi-OT, but a handy way to use different versions of Office on the same PC, and portably on a USB key, is to modify their installation via VMWare ThinApp:

http://www.vmware.com/products/thinapp/

I found out about Thinstals/Thinapps/"portable" versions when I accidentally browsed a torrent site where they are popular for various reasons, but the concept works well and it's easier to copy/paste a folder than do a conventional install.
Graphics

Submission + - NVIDIA to exit chipset business (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: Once the darling of the enthusiast chipset market, NVIDIA has apparently decided to quit development of future chipsets for all platforms. This "state of NVIDIA" editorial at PC Perspective first highlighted the fact that the company was backing away from its plans to develop a DMI-based chipset for Intel's Lynnfield processors due to legal pressure from Intel and debates over licensing restrictions. That effectively left NVIDIA out in the cold in terms of high-end chipsets, but even more interesting is the later revelation that NVIDIA has only one remaining chipset product to release, what we know as ION 2, and that it was mainly built for Apple's upcoming products. NVIDIA still plans to sell its current offerings, like MCP61 for AMD platforms and current generation ION for netbooks and nettops, but will focus solely on discrete graphics options after this final release.
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - How mod team Splash Damage went from zero to hero (developmag.com)

Submitted by
Paul Williams
Paul Williams writes: "Develop has a very interesting profile up looking at UK studio Splash Damage, charting its humble beginnings as a Quake 3 mod team through to its status as one of Britain's leading studios — it's currently developing a new IP for Bethesda.

Most interesting is the assertion by studio founder Paul Wedgwood that UK studios should shake off their low-rent reputation and start modelling their reputation on the likes of Valve, id, and the other envied American independents: "We'd been to the US and seen companies like Ritual, Gearbox and id, and to us it seemed like the game development industry was seen as better in the US. People sat in cool chairs in cool offices surrounded by action figures — it was nothing like the UK's approach, which was more like a workhouse.""
Movies

Submission + - WB Took Pains to "Delay" Pirating of Dark (latimes.com)

Submitted by
Jay
Jay writes: "The LA Times is reporting on a new studio tactic- not to prevent piracy, but to delay it, as was the case with special tactics used with Dark Knight. "Warner Bros. executives said the extra vigilance paid off, helping to prevent camcorded copies of the reported $180-million film from reaching Internet file-sharing sites for about 38 hours. Although that doesn't sound like much progress, it was enough time to keep bootleg DVDs off the streets as the film racked up a record-breaking $158.4 million on opening weekend. The movie has now taken in more than $300 million. The success of an anti-piracy campaign is measured in the number of hours it buys before the digital dam breaks.""
Space

Submission + - First images of Russian-European manned spacecraft (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by oliderid
oliderid writes: The first official image of a Russian-European manned spacecraft has been unveiled. It is designed to replace the Soyuz vehicle currently in use by Russia and will allow Europe to participate directly in crew transportation.The reusable ship was conceived to carry four people towards the Moon, rivalling the US Ares/Orion system. This project is the Plan A for the European Space agency. The plan B is an evolution of the ATV proposed by a consortium of European companies led by Astrium.

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