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Android

Submission + - Apple Reveals iOS Safari Is Crippled For Devs (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Apple has hit back over claims that the browser shipped with its iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad devices is significantly slower than Android's equivalent, calling the independent testing 'flawed'. "They didn't actually test the Safari browser on the iPhone," Apple's Kerris argues. "Instead they only tested their own proprietary app, which uses an embedded Web viewer that doesn't actually take advantage of Safari's Web performance optimisations." This, claims testing firm Blaze.io, is news to the world. "Embedded browsers are expected to behave, for the most part, the same as the regular browser," the company stated, defending its methodology. "However, Apple is now stating that their embedded browser, called UIWebView, does not share the same optimisations MobileSafari does.
Censorship

Submission + - US Dept. of Justice, ICE Still Seizing Domains (torrentfreak.com) 1

Submitted by Chaonici
Chaonici writes: Operation In Our Sites, a US initiative to crack down on websites related to online copyright infringement, appears to be ongoing. Rojadirecta is a site that links to (but does not host) broadcasts of major sporting events, including soccer matches. It is highly popular in Spain, where it has prevailed twice in court after its legal status was challenged. However, US authorities have now seized the .org domain of the website without notifying the site's owner or its web host, GoDaddy. Rojadirecta can still be accessed through .com, .es, .me, and .in domains, which are not controlled by the US, but rojadirecta.org currently redirects to this well-known image.
Open Source

Submission + - DreamPlug ARM Box Brings Power To Plug Computing (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Blacklaw
Blacklaw writes: UK GlobalScale distribution partner New IT has announced its latest ARM-based plug-top computer, the DreamPlug — and it's a major improvement over its predecessors, packing some serious hardware into a tiny case. The DreamPlug packs some serious power in its tiny case. The Marvell Sheeva ARM-based processor at its heart runs at 1.2GHz — a significant boost over the 800MHz version found in the SheevaPlug — and while 512MB of DDR2 memory might not sound very generous, if you need more then your project probably isn't suited to the plug computing model. Unlike the SheevaPlug, the DreamPlug goes all-out to impress, packing integral Bluetooth, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, a 3Gb/s eSATA port, two USB 2.0 ports, a pair of gigabit Ethernet ports, and even analogue and SP/DIF digital audio ouputs. ARM developers will be pleased to hear that the JTAG-over-USB feature of the SheevaPlug has been replaced with full hardware JTAG and UART connectivity — although the breakout board is an optional extra.
Idle

Submission + - Want your own bunker like WikiLeaks or Pirate Bay? (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by talljamesnixon
talljamesnixon writes: Fancy starting up your own secure ISP? A bomb-proof Cold War nuclear bunker like the ones that hosted The Pirate Bay and WikiLeaks has come on the market for just £400,000 ($635,000). Situated several metres under the rolling hills of Scotland, the Cultybraggan bunker cost £30 million to build, has space for 150 staff and includes its own BBC studio, canteen, telephone exchange and dormitories.

Submission + - 100 P2P users do 75 percent of all downloads (thinq.co.uk) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Thinq.co.uk highlights some recent research that among other things says that about 100 people (called pirates in the article) are responsible for 75 percent of all downloading on BitTorrent (and the same group does 66 percent of all uploading), and says that the way to shut down the p2p network is simply to disincentive that relatively small number of people. The other large group identified in the study were people (such as from copyright enforcement agencies) who uploaded fake content to frustrate other users. No suggestions were made about how to prevent people from uploading fake content — but it was suggested that the first group could have their ad revenue cut or could be heavily fined. Maybe we should start watching the fake content instead?
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Sony Plans Serial Keys for PlayStation3 Games (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Stoobalou
Stoobalou writes: Rumour has it that Sony is looking to the PC games market to help solve its growing piracy problem on the PlayStation 3 — with the introduction of serial keys to its games.

According to 'a very reliable source' quoted by PS3-Sense, Sony is attempting to address the recent revelation that it failed to properly secure the private signing key for its flagship console — leading to clever tinkerers producing third-party firmware that allows unofficial software and illegitimately downloaded games to run on unmodified hardware — by looking to the PC retail market for solutions.

Unlike the PS3, the PC doesn't have a hardware DRM system built in to it — despite attempts by groups like the Trusted Computing Group, formerly the Trusted Computer Platform Alliance, to introduce such a thing — relying instead on software-based DRM and a surprisingly old-fashioned guarantee of a game's uniqueness: a serial key.
Open Source

Submission + - Soundminder Android Trojan Hears Credit Cards (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Blacklaw
Blacklaw writes: A team of security researchers has created a proof-of-concept Trojan for Android handsets that is capable of listening out for credit card numbers — typed or spoken — and relaying them back to the application's creator.
Once installed, Soundminder sits in the background and waits for a call to be placed — hence the access to the 'Phone calls' category. When triggered by a call, the application listens out for the user entering credit card information or a PIN and silently records the information, performing the necessary analysis to turn it from a sound recording into a number.
Image

Florida Man Sues WikiLeaks For Scaring Him 340

Posted by samzenpus from the don't-watch-the-news dept.
Stoobalou writes "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been accused of 'treason' by a Florida man seeking damages for distress caused by the site's revelations about the US government. From the article: 'David Pitchford, a Florida trailer park resident, names Assange and WikiLeaks as defendants in a personal injury suit filed with the Florida Southern District Court in Miami. In the complaint filed on 6th January, Pitchford alleges that Assange's negligence has caused "hypertension," "depression" and "living in fear of being stricken by another heart attack and/or stroke" as a result of living "in fear of being on the brink of another nuclear [sic] WAR."' Just for good measure, it also alleges that Assange and WikiLeaks are guilty of 'terorism [sic], espionage and treason.'"

Submission + - WikiLeaks Twitter Spying May Break EU Privacy Law (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Stoobalou
Stoobalou writes: A group of European MPs will today push EU bosses to say if the US government breached European privacy laws by snooping on Twitter users with links to whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks.

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) will today pose an oral question to the European Commission, seeking clarification from the US on a subpoena demanding the micro-blogging site hand over users' account details.
Idle

Submission + - Wikileaks' Assange Charged With Treason (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Stoobalou
Stoobalou writes: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been accused of "treason" by a Florida man seeking damages for distress caused by the site's revelations about the US Government.

David Pitchford, a Florida trailer park resident, names Assange and WikiLeaks as defendants in a personal injury suit filed with the Florida Southern District Court in Miami.

In the complaint filed on 6th January, Pitchford alleges that Assange's negligence has caused "hypertension", "depression" and "living in fear of being stricken by another heart attack and/or stroke" as a result of living "in fear of being on the brink of another nuclear [sic] WAR".

Just for good measure, it also alleges that Assange and WikiLeaks are guilty of "terorism [sic], espionage and treason".
Facebook

Submission + - Facebook's 'Like This' button is tracking you (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Stoobalou
Stoobalou writes: A researcher from a Dutch university is warning that Facebook's 'Like This' button is watching your every move.

Arnold Roosendaal, who is a doctoral candidate at the Tilburg University for Law, Technology and Society, warns that Facebook is tracking and tracing everyone, whether they use the social networking site or not.

Roosendaal says that Facebook's tentacles reach way beyond the confines of its own web sites and subscriber base because more and more third party sites are using the 'Like This' button and Facebook Connect.
Google

Submission + - Apple, Microsoft, Google attacked for evil plugins (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by nk497
nk497 writes: A Mozilla exec has attacked Apple, Microsoft and Google for installing plugins without users' permission. "Why do Microsoft, Google, Apple, and others think that it is an OK practice to add plug-ins to Firefox when I'm installing their software packages?" Asa Dotzler asks "That is precisely how a Trojan horse operates... These additional pieces of software installed without my consent may not be malicious but the means by which they were installed was sneaky, underhanded, and wrong." He called on them to "stop being evil."

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