29842735
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
ARS is reporting that the "inventor" of the concept of "providing individual online presences for each of a plurality of members of a group of members." claims that 4 million Facebook business account holders, including at least three major presidential candidates, are guilty of infringing his patent. He's suing Facebook for infringing on his patent as well as the three candidates. A Patent Office examiner rejected the patents claims, but the rejections have been appealed.
21854460
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Daniel Spitler, a member of Goatse Security, pleaded guilty today to writing the code used to steal email addresses and personal information belonging to 120,000 Apple iPad subscribers from AT&T computer servers. Spitler, who surrendered to the authorities in January, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to computers connected to the Internet and one count of identity theft. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
"Computer hackers are exacting an increasing toll on our society, damaging individuals and organizations to gain notoriety for themselves," US attorney Paul Fishman said. "In the wake of other recent hacking attacks by loose-knit organizations like Anonymous and LulzSec, Daniel Spitler's guilty plea is a timely reminder of the consequences of treating criminal activity as a competitive sport," he said.
21087136
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
A New Approach To Reducing Spam?
A team of computer scientists at two University of California campuses has been looking deeply into the nature of spam, and they think found a 'oechoke point' [PDF] that could greatly reduce the flow of spam. It turned out that 95 percent of the credit card transactions for the spam-advertised drugs and herbal remedies they bought were handled by just three financial companies — one based in Azerbaijan, one in Denmark and one in Nevis, in the West Indies. If a handful of companies like these refused to authorize online credit card payments to the merchants, “you’d cut off the money that supports the entire spam enterprise,” said one of the scientists.
20642518
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
The LA Times is reporting that Sony has revealed that 10 million credit card accounts may have been exposed two weeks ago when a hacker broke into the company's computers in San Diego and stole data from 77 million PlayStation Network accounts. Sony said it will provide credit card protection services for the 10 million customers whose data were compromised. Sony last week said it had encrypted credit card data, but not other account information, including names, addresses, email addresses and birth dates.
20319378
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
PCWorld has an article on Kohler's new hi-tech toilet. The Numi comes complete with a detachable touch screen remote; motion-activated lid and seat; integrated air dryer; a heated seat; feet warmers; ambient lighting; built-in speakers with FM radio and an MP3 player input jack. If you have $6,300 to flush down the drain on a toilet this is for you.
20143408
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Computer World, Information Week, The Register are all reporting on the story of a former Gucci IT employee who is accused of a November 2010 assault on Gucci's network deleting files and virtual servers, taking a storage area network offline, and deleting mailboxes from the corporate email server. The lost productivity is estimated at $200,000. Sam Chihlung Yin, 34, of Jersey City, NJ, allegedly created a fake VPN token in the name of a non-existent employee which he tricked Gucci IT staff into activating in June 2010, a month after his employment contract was terminated by Gucci for unrelated reasons.
19996494
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
InformationWeek is reporting that Windows Phone 7 will overtake Apple's iPhone by 2015 according to IDC. IDC predicts 2015 will bring: Android 45.4%, WP7 & WinMobile 20.9%, iOS 15.3%, RIM 13.7%, Symbian 0.2% and 'Others' 4.6%. These numbers would move WP7 into 2nd place and leave iOS in 3rd place with a slightly smaller piece of the smart phone pie than they current hold (15.7%).
The author of the story isn't buying IDC's forecast due to WP7's anemic sales to date and Microsoft's recent stumbles with its first two updates. I have to wonder if WP7 will still be Microsoft's smartphone OS in 2015 or if they'll have moved to WP8.
19082286
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
The price of Motorola's XOOM Tablet has been leaked in a Best Buy ad. The $799 Android 3 enabled tablet will be available starting Feb 24th. Though the price may seem a bit high, the most surprising detail is that activating the Xoom's WiFi will require signing up for at least one month of Verizon's 3G service. Let's hope the fine print in the Best Buy ad turns out to be a typo.
15489814
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Exploit code for the DLL loading issue that reportedly affects hundreds of Windows applications made its appearance on Monday. HD Moore, the creator of the Metasploit open-source hacking toolkit, released the exploit code along with an auditing tool that records which applications are vulnerable. "Once it makes it into Metasploit, it doesn't take much more to execute an attack," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations for nCircle Security. "The hard part has already been done for [hackers]."
14736762
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Apple Insider is reporting on a browser-based 'jailbreak' for iPhone 4. Hackers on Sunday released the first "jailbreak" for the iPhone 4, a browser-based exploit that allows users to run unauthorized code. Unlike previous jailbreaks, which required users to run software on their Mac or PC and tether their iPhone to their computer, the latest hack is done entirely within the Safari browser. Users simply visit the URL to begin the process, which modifies the iOS mobile operating system found on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Some users have reported that the modification results in broken MMS and FaceTime functionality. This jailbreak does not work on iPads running iOS 3.2.1.
The ability to modify iOS simply by visiting a website leaves these iDevices vulnerable to all sorts of malicious possibilities. I'd bet the ranch that Apple isn't the only one analyzing the website in order to diagnose this major security hole ... so are those with more nefarious intentions.
14727860
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Bloomberg is reporting RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger, e-mail and Web browsing services will be suspended in the United Arab Emirates, the Middle East’s business hub, starting October 11th due to security concerns. RIM faces similar restrictions in India. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement on state-run Emirates News Agency. “In their current form, certain BlackBerry services allow users to act without any legal accountability, causing judicial, social and national security concerns for the U.A.E.,” it said. A senior Indian government official said, "Though RIM has been fully cooperating ever since the matter was taken up with it in 2008, reports of the company's move to set up a server in China forced us to look at it in a different way."
13637902
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
CNet is reporting that a fifth of Android apps expose private data. The Android market threat report details the security issues uncovered. Dozens of apps were found to have the same type of access to sensitive information as known spyware does, including access to the content of e-mails and text messages, phone call information, and device location. 5% of the apps were found to have the ability to make calls, and 2% can send text messages, without the mobile user doing anything.
13373320
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
PC World is reporting on the latest version of Apple's Mac Mini. At only 1.4-inches tall the unibody aluminium enclosure includes an HDMI port, an SD card reader, and more graphics and processing power. Even the power supply is inside now. The base model comes with 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard disk — for $699. Graphics power comes from an NVIDIA GeForce 320M GPU (as found in lower-end MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops). Apple appears to be aiming for living rooms by including the HDMI port and eliminating the external power brick. Does the addition of these new features blur the line between Mac Mini and Apple TV?
13272196
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
MacRumors has a story on a report by Apple Outsider's Matt Drance that Apple is easing their restrictions on interpreted code used in iPhone development, a change which allows game developers in particular to continue to use interpreted languages such as Lua in their App Store applications. The change comes alongside Apple's further modifications of its iOS developer terms that again allow for limited analytics data collection to aid advertisers and developers, but appear to shut out non-independent companies such as Google's AdMob from receiving the data.
It's not enough of an 'about face' to let Adobe or Google back in the picture but they've backpedaled enough to let the little guys squeeze through.
12892892
submission
WrongSizeGlass writes:
Reuters is reporting Netbook PC pioneer Asustek Computer has become the latest technology company to jump on the tablet PC bandwagon. The tablet PC, to be called the Eee Pad, will run on Intel or ARM chips, and use Microsoft's Windows operating system. "The Eee Pad can display Adobe flash for the full web experience, has a USB port and a camera," Asustek Chairman Jonney Shih said. "We looked at how we could best address the needs of users from all walks of life, and I believe this is the product." Asustek did not release pricing details or a potential release date, and did not provide further details on the format or a launch date for the new app store.
