holdenkarau - Slashdot User

Submission + - Google's 2nd Android Developer Contest kicksoff 1

Submitted by coffeeisclassy on Tuesday August 04, 2009 @08:44PM

coffeeisclassy writes: Google's second Android Developer Contest (ADC2) has started, despite some confusion around how to submit applications. The prizes are different from the first ADC, with each category having prizes of 100k, 50k, and 25k and an overall best of 150k,50k and 25k, meaning the best Android application from ADC2 is eligible for ~250k. The rules seem to allow any application never published before August 1st to compete and is open through the end of August (so break out your keyboards!). The top prizes are certainly less than that of first ADC, but with the prizes broken down by category Google may be hoping to inspire some love for less popular categories. While some other developers are waiting to find out to submit, one developer has moved ahead and released one of there entires Pigs Can Fly Site Monitor (also on Google Market for those with Androids). So if you've been waiting for an excuse to start a new side-project, here you have it :)

Submission + - Your browser history is showing

Submitted by tiffanydanica on Wednesday July 01, 2009 @11:22PM

tiffanydanica writes: For a lot of us our browser history is something we consider private, or at least not something we want to expose to every website we visit.Web2.0collage is showing just how easy it is (with code!)for sites to determine what sites you visit. When you visit the site it sniffs your browser history, and creates a collage of the (safe for work) sites that you visit. It is an interesting application of potentially scary technology (imagine a job application site using this to screen candidates). You can jump right into having your history sniffed if you so desire. While the collages are cool on their own merit, they also serve as an illustration of the privacy implications of browser history sniffing.

Submission + - UK Compulsory ID Plan "Shelved"

Submitted by e9th on Tuesday June 30, 2009 @09:01PM

e9th writes: Despite a bump or two along the way, it seemed that compulsory ID cards were a done deal in the UK. Now the Financial Times is reporting that the scheme has been shelved.

Unfortunately, it seems that this was more a matter of convenience than of concern for citizens' privacy.

Submission + - Iranian protestors using TOR, revitalize project (washingtontimes.com) 1

Submitted by

Death Metal

on Sunday June 28, 2009 @08:49PM

Death Metal writes: "Iranians seeking to share videos and other eyewitness accounts of the demonstrations that have roiled their country since disputed elections two weeks ago are using an Internet encryption program originally developed by and for the U.S. Navy.

Designed a decade ago to secure Internet communications between U.S. ships at sea, The Onion Router, or TOR, has become one of the most important proxies in Iran for gaining access to Web sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook."

Comment Re:Not significant? (Score 2, Insightful) 66

by holdenkarau on Saturday September 27, 2008 @05:23PM (#25177717) Attached to: Security Flaw In Yahoo Mail Exposes Plaintext Authentication Info

I haven't looked carefully at the rest of the platforms that Yahoo provides, but I believe that at least Yahoo Messenger (when connecting with Pidgin anyway) also sends the same auth credentials in plain text. Not that the overall problem is insignificant (*any* time auth credentials are sent, in any context, they should be encrypted), but worrying only about IMAP is naive in this case. (What about POP? What about all the Y! web platforms?)

Yahoo! POP is SSL encrypted (and only available to pro acount users in any case). Part of the worry for me is Yahoo! doesn't disclose that the connection is unencrypted in the default program, and there is no way to get it to use encryption (the server doesn't even support encryption). As far as other Yahoo! properties I have no idea.

Submission + - Security flaw in Yahoo mail exposes plaintext auth

Submitted by

holdenkarau

on Saturday September 27, 2008 @01:04AM

holdenkarau writes: "Yahoo!'s acquisition of opensource mail client Zimbra has apparently brought some baggage to the mail team. The new Yahoo! desktop program transmits the authentication information in plain text. Ironically enough, the flaw was discovered during a Yahoo "hacku" day at the University of Waterloo (the only Canadian school part of the trip). Compared to the recent hoopla about gmail exposing the names associated with accounts, this seems down right scary. So if you have friends or relatives who might have installed Yahoo! desktop and value their e-mail accounts, now would be a good time to get them to change the password and switch back to the oh so retro web interface."

Submission + - Designing software with Privacy in mind 6

Submitted by dalektcalum on Saturday October 06, 2007 @07:06PM

dalektcalum writes: Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Canada's Information and Privacy Commissioner, recently gave a talk entitled Privacy by Design. The talk starts of by covering the basics of privacy, and privacy law, and then moves onto the important component, how to design software that properly protects users privacy. The majourity of the time is spent on design principles, but also examines specific technologies (such as Elliptical Curve Cryptography).

Submission + - The future of C++ as seen by its creator

Submitted by

holden

on Monday August 13, 2007 @03:45AM

holden writes: "In a rare public talk, C++ creator Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup discusses his ideal in programming languages, as well how he sees the next version (and beyond) of C++ developing. He explains the general selection criteria used for adding new features, some of the legacy of C++, and many other interesting topics. Especially interesting is during the Q&A he explains his views of the embrace and extend mentality some implementations, such as VC++, have taken. The talk is available as an xvid avi, mpg, and other formats."

Submission + - Using AI to filter RSS feeds

Submitted by

holden

on Tuesday July 24, 2007 @04:12PM

holden writes: "According to a blog post AideRSS has moved from closed to open beta. I've been using AideRSS over the past few weeks to filter my RSS feeds (including slashdot & reddit) and I've been quite impressed. They talk a bit about how the filtering system works, which apparently tracks a mixture of things, from pick up in other blogs, to some clustering technology."

Submission + - Richard Stallman talks on Copyright V. The People 5

Submitted by

holden

on Thursday July 19, 2007 @07:41PM

holden writes: "Richard M. Stallman recently gave a talk entitled Copyright vs Community in the Age of Computer Networks to the University of Waterloo Computer Science Club. The talk looks at the origin of copyright, and how it has evolved overtime from something that originally served the benefit of the people to a tool used against them. In keeping with his wishes to use open formats, the talk and qa are available in ogg theora only."

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