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Comment Re:SHA-3 (Score 1) 108

by another random user (#47859373) Attached to: Why Google Is Pushing For a Web Free of SHA-1

As certs will have to move to SHA-2 or above, that means the XP users won't be able to connect any more - not an issue as far as I am concerned

Some of us want to have a website to serve all paying customers, even if they use an old operating system.

Amazon is probably the best example - any browser can shop on Amazon, since long ago Amazon realized that annoying their customers with the latest buzzword ajax "responsive" junk doesn't sell their product.

Never mentioned anything about ajax or responsive etc, only about support for SNI. Also, but of selective quoting on the part about loosing XP customers, you forgot to include the bit where I said "would rather loose XP based people that those who use the latest Chrome builds etc and won't connect because of security alerts". - in other words if one of those two sets has to be lost for some reason, I would select to loose the older XP set. Obviously it would be best to loose neither, but given a enforced choice then the XP users are toast (and they count for less than 0.5% of our users, so really not going to loose any sleep over that)

Comment Re:SHA-3 (Score 2) 108

by another random user (#47858911) Attached to: Why Google Is Pushing For a Web Free of SHA-1

Interesting, didn't know that XP doesn't support SHA-2. As certs will have to move to SHA-2 or above, that means the XP users won't be able to connect any more - not an issue as far as I am concerned (would rather loose XP based people that those who use the latest Chrome builds etc and won't connect because of security alerts).

Given this, does this mean we are getting close to a point where we can start using SNI - if people with systems that don't support SNI can't connect anyway because they also don't support SHA-2, then just go all in and switch to SNI anyway.

Are there browsers that do support SHA-2, but don't support SNI? If there are, are they a set that are actually worth worrying about?

Submission + - Facebook lets beheading clips return to social network (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: Facebook is allowing videos showing people being decapitated to be posted and shared on its site once again.


The social network had placed a temporary ban on the material in May following complaints that the clips could cause long-term psychological damage.


The US firm now believes its users should be free to watch and condemn, but not celebrate, such videos. One suicide prevention charity criticised the move.


"It only takes seconds of exposure to such graphic material to leave a permanent trace — particularly in a young person's mind," said Dr Arthur Cassidy, a former psychologist who runs a branch of the Yellow Ribbon Program in Northern Ireland. "The more graphic and colourful the material is, the more psychologically destructive it becomes."


Decapitation videos are available elsewhere on the net — including on Google's YouTube — but critics have raised concern that Facebook's news feeds and other sharing functions mean it is particularly adept at spreading such material.

Submission + - Snowden shortlisted for Europe's top human rights award. (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: Edward Snowden, the fugitive American former intelligence worker, has made the shortlist of three for the Sakharov prize, Europe's top human rights award.


Mr Snowden was nominated by Green politicians in the European Parliament for leaking details of US surveillance. Nominees also include Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head for demanding education for girls.


Former recipients of the prize, awarded by the European Parliament, include Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi.


Mr Snowden's nomination recognised that his disclosure of US surveillance activities was an "enormous service" to human rights and European citizens, the parliament's Green group said.

Submission + - Visionary Nintendo President Yamauchi Dies (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by trickstyhobbit
trickstyhobbit writes: Former Nintendeo president and majority stockholder Hiroshi Yamauchi has died. He was president of the comapany for over 50 years and saw the development of the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, and GameCube among other devices

Submission + - Online law banning discussion of current affairs comes into force in Vietnam (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: A controversial law banning Vietnamese online users from discussing current affairs has come into effect.


The decree, known as Decree 72, says blogs and social websites should not be used to share news articles, but only personal information. The law also requires foreign internet companies to keep their local servers inside Vietnam.


The new law specifies that social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook should only be used "to provide and exchange personal information".


It also prohibits the online publication of material that "opposes" the Vietnamese government or "harms national security".


Last month the US embassy in Hanoi said it was "deeply concerned by the decree's provisions", arguing that "fundamental freedoms apply online just as they do offline".

Submission + - Computer scientists develop 'mathematical jigsaw puzzles' to encrypt software (ucla.edu)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: The claim here is that the encrypted software can be executed, but not reverse-engineered. To quote from the article:

UCLA computer science professor Amit Sahai and a team of researchers have designed a system to encrypt software so that it only allows someone to use a program as intended while preventing any deciphering of the code behind it.

According to Sahai, previously developed techniques for obfuscation presented only a "speed bump," forcing an attacker to spend some effort, perhaps a few days, trying to reverse-engineer the software. The new system, he said, puts up an "iron wall," making it impossible for an adversary to reverse-engineer the software without solving mathematical problems that take hundreds of years to work out on today's computers — a game-change in the field of cryptography.

Submission + - HBO Asks Google to Take Down "Infringing" VLC Media Player (torrentfreak.com) 1

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: It’s no secret that copyright holders are trying to take down as much pirated content as they can, but their targeting of open source software is something new. In an attempt to remove pirated copies of Game of Thrones from the Internet, HBO sent a DMCA takedown to Google, listing a copy of the popular media player VLC as a copyright infringement. An honest mistake, perhaps, but a worrying one.


Usually these notices ask Google to get rid of links to pirate sites, but for some reason the cable network also wants Google to


The same DMCA notice also lists various other links that don’t appear to link to HBO content, including a lot of porn related material, Ben Harper’s album Give Till It’s Gone, Naruto, free Java applets and Prince of Persia 5.

Submission + - Apple files patent for digital wallet and virtual currency (venturebeat.com)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: Apple has applied for a patent on a combined virtual currency and digital wallet technology that would allow you to store money in the cloud, make payments with your iPhone, and maybe communicate with point-of-sale terminals via NFC.


The patent application, published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Organization, details how iPhone users could walk into a store, pay for goods with their phone, and walk out with their merchandise.


Though Apple is late to the virtual wallet game, that doesn't seem to stop them trying to patent the process. There does not appear to be anything in the patent application which describes something that can't already be done.

Submission + - Saudi Arabia blocks Viber messaging service (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: The head of the messaging application Viber has said people in Saudi Arabia have had basic freedoms taken away, after his service was blocked there.


Talmon Marco told the BBC he did not know the reason for the move, but that Viber would be restored soon.


In March Saudi authorities warned Viber and other encrypted messaging services that they would be blocked unless they provided a means to to be monitored. Mr Marco said he had refused to provide data requested by Saudi officials.


The fact that Viber's free phone and text messaging service is no longer working in the country is not entirely unexpected. The Saudi telecoms regulator had warned the firm — along with Skype and Whatsapp — that they would be blocked if they did not agree to be monitored.

Comment Re:What is the point of this? (Score 1) 217

The polls are obviously crucial market research being conducted by Dice.com in order to formulate their next marketing campaign.

Guess they should read their own disclaimers at the bottom of the survey, like

This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane.

Submission + - Facebook to introduce video ads (techradar.com)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: Facebook is reportedly introducing video advertisements to News Feeds this summer.


Reports in the Financial Times (registration required) say that the clips will last for around 15 seconds, and the first one users see each day will play automatically.


The first video will apparently play without audio, and restart if the account holder chooses to activate sound. Facebook is yet to officially confirm the move, but the report claims that the social network will gradually introduce video advertising to minimise user disruption.


The company's most lucrative marketing partners, including American Express, Coca Cola, Ford, Diageo and Nestle, are expected to be the first brands to make use of the feature. Facebook is said to have implemented the strategy in a bid to take a slice out of TV ad revenue by undercutting the sector.

Submission + - Super-powered battery breakthrough claimed by US team (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: A new type of battery has been developed which its creators say could revolutionise the way we power consumer electronics and vehicles.

The University of Illinois team says its use of 3D-electrodes allows it to build "microbatteries" that are many times smaller than commercially available options, or the same size and many times more powerful.

It adds they can be recharged 1,000 times faster than competing tech.

The researchers said their innovation should help address the issue that while smartphones and other gadgets have benefited from miniaturised electronics, battery advances have failed to pace.

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