Saran999

Wow!

....it's all about getting organized!

Very sad story that, I think, teach us a moral... never check noises without a gun...

...and then? Security it's not Police... I think that he may sue the Mall...

Saporine of, like or pertaining to the sense of taste

Off course, depends on what you are doing and how much you care about your privacy. VPN it's better for speed, and will encrypt your connection between you and your provider, providing you with a single exit point at a time, from different countries if you have paid a bonus. As it comes at a cost. More than one in fact. You must trust your VPN provider, as in any case he may be forced, or simply easily comply, with the ones that are interested in what you are doing out there. And you must pay him big bucks to get his service, leaving your credit card information and your identity. Perhaps bucks not so 'big', but some that you may spend elsewhere. From a 10.000 feet perspective you are right, TOR is a sort of Super-Proxy. But if you fly down a bit, you will start to see huge differences With a simple proxy, you will have one connection to a determined website, and you will leave fingerprint in your provider logs that will tell anyone who you are. Even using HTTPS to connect to your proxy, you will have disclosed your proxy IP address, and the game ends there. As then, there are the proxy provider logs. Remember that not even Swiss it's anymore a privacy island, and leave Sweden out of the table as even there things start to get 'smelly'... With TOR, your first request will be to a proxy (always a different one and you may choose how to handle your request) and will be obscured, so your provider doesn't know what you are doing. When you first touch TOR network, the most that your provider may get is that you are doing http requests, or something else, but not to whom, and not the content of them. Then, your packets will travel across hundred of proxies, (always different and you may choose to change them during an active connection, changing your identity on the fly), each of them with no kept logs, and will always exit from different places, zeroing the possibility to be tracked back by curious companies, and marketing hoarders. You care about session states? Ok, do a job at a time, or a cluster of jobs at a time, and then change the game and start another cluster of jobs. To me this sounds far superior to a simple proxy, as, in any case, all of your traffic will flow trough TOR, exactly as a VPN does. And, add to this superior technology the fact that it's completely free, giving to anyone the possibility to defend his privacy. It's not impossible to track you back, and I will not condone any kind of law breaking actions, but we may for sure affirm that the methods that must be used to track your connection back to you are not in the hands of simple 'privacy breakers' or identity thieves, and will cost so much money (read human effort and time) to perform, that will not be deemed worthwhile. If you seriously do damages, then IT WILL be deemed worthwhile, and you are game. All depends on you, as always, as if the Internet teach to us something is just this: responsibility. Responsibility that comes with knowledge that you MUST own if you want to freely follow your own interests. We all know about VPN's and its costs, but most don't know how it works and that there are free alternatives. The article says that TOR it's absolutely not usable for torrents and huge downloads. Use a VPN for that. But for all the other services and purposes, IMHO, TOR is far better than a VPN, and again, doesn't cost a dime and doesn't force your to disclose your identity, and credit card info or merchant account, to anyone. It cost only knowledge, that I'm trying to share.

...and that's exactly the spirit here. Thanks Mr Grumpy to having pointed out. The problem is that there many of us that use only one email address to do everything and then, they rapidly start to get troubles and problems. I think that the 'how's to' of the email use must start from the understanding of the purpose of each email address/domain used, and then create a communication strategy that will leverage that understanding. This is not the same as having multiple identities, that is a privacy topic per se, but is simply a way to avoid spamming and easy to perform identity thefts. So, let's grow together in the 'email safety' topic

Gmail, for many, has become the go-to email solution due its advanced options, including an integrated chat function and access to other Google features that help you keep up with your Google Plus buddies. Because the service is so feature-packed, some say it is the best out there for both personal and professional use. But Gmail is definitely not the end-all when it comes to email accounts. There are some others that can give it a run for its money. Don’t believe it? Here are 15 alternatives to Gmail you might want to consider. 1. FastMail https://www.fastmail.fm/ FastMail is a free business and personal email service that is growing in popularity. Similar to Gmail, it offers tons of email storage. Also, it gives the option to make instant photo galleries and offers a backup service. Plus, you can open a family account that allows you to manage everyone’s information in one control panel. 2. GMX http://www.gmx.com/ The GMX email service is a bit different because it allows you to round up all of your email accounts and build one account in its server. Through GMX, you can access your mail from either your phone or your web browser. Also, you can store up to 5GB in your personal email account with an amazing 50MB per message. 3. Hotmail www.hotmail.com/‎ Hotmail has been around for ages and is still a major player in the email world thanks to its ever-evolving interface, implemented calendar and backup options. The chatting function may not be as well integrated as the one found on Gmail, but it’s still quite a nice alternative. 4. Hushmail http://www.hushmail.com/ If you want to keep your emails on the “hush,” or you basically want to keep your emails safe from prying eyes, Hushmail may be a good alternative to Gmail. This service adds PGP encryption to every email that goes out, helping to keep your messages secure. Also, the application works well with Blackberry and iPhone, also offering optional Outlook Integration. 5. iCloud Mail https://www.icloud.com/‎ iCloud Mail is a nice email service from the ever-so-popular Apple that offers ample storage, IMAP and POP access, and a fantastic web application. One thing to note about iCloud, however, is that its interface at iCloud.com doesn’t offer labels or other advanced tools that allow for mail organization like some other services out there. 6. Inbox.com http://www.inbox.com/ Inbox.com is one of the better alternatives to Gmail because it offers a whopping 5GB of storage, along with a solid interface. What’s cool about this service is that you can access your Inbox.com account via the web or through POP in your email program. The downside? IMAP isn’t supported and some of the tools used for organizing mail could be a bit simpler. 7. Mail.com http://www.mail.com Mail.com is a relatively advanced email service, offering the basics along with unlimited storage space and spam protection. Also, it has integrated Facebook and Twitter, and provides access to national news stories. One complaint some have is that it isn’t fantastic when it comes to mail organization. 8. Shortmail https://shortmail.com/ If you have grown accustomed to leading a Twitter lifestyle then you might fall in love with this unique email option. Shortmail places emphasis on easy, fast and effective communication by limiting each email to 500 characters per message. Of course, the downside to this type of account is not being able to send longer messages when you’d like. However, longer emails can be forwarded. 9. Windows Live Mail mail.live.com/ Windows Live Mail is very much the equivalent of Hotmail. In fact, you can sign into your Hotmail or Windows Live accounts from the same login page. Like Hotmail, this email option gives you access to calendars and chatting options. Also, you can utilize the same SkyDrive online backup storage option. 10. Yahoo Mail mail.yahoo.com/‎ Yahoo Mail is a veteran email service that integrates Yahoo Messenger, a calendar, the latest Yahoo News, and even a function that allows you to send money through PayPal with your mail account. There’s no doubt that it’s a pretty good alternative to consider. 11. Yandex Mail https://mail.yandex.com/‎ Yandex Mail isn’t as well-known as some others on the list, but it may be worth a try if you are looking for an alternative. It offers unlimited free storage and an attractive, easy-to-use interface. Also, this service allows you to connect to your other e-mail services like Gmail and Yahoo. Another cool feature is SMS notification to recipients, as well as one that allows you to insert cards and videos. 12. Zoho Mail www.zoho.com/mail/‎ The free version of Zoho Mail offers personalized email and instant messaging options that come without advertisements. But what’s really nice about this service is its remote and offline functions, 2-way sync, and mobile sites that are perfectly optimized for both smartphones and tablets. 12bis . 10MinutesEmail And now, a really handy tool for the ones that don't want to subscribe to services with their real email, but simply wants to be able to use them anonymously... It's not hacking, it's more lifehacking http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/index.html

HTC might be working on a big new phone, but apparently it also had enough time to crank out two interesting new Bluetooth accessories. The HTC Fetch and the HTC Mini+ are niche products, for sure, but if you’re invested in HTC’s product ecosystem they might be worth a look. First up is the Fetch (pictured above), which is a small key ring accessory that uses NFC and Bluetooth to help you keep tabs on your HTC smartphone. It brings to mind Nokia’s Treasure Tags. Simply pair your phone to the Fetch, and if you lose track of it, press the button on the Fetch to make your phone ring from a distance of up to 50 feet. The Fetch itself can also be triggered to beep when your phone is no longer within reach. HTC claims battery life should last up to six months on a single charge, thanks to Bluetooth 4.0’s low energy draw. There’s no word on availability or pricing, but Clove is listing the Fetch for 29.99 EUR (about $40 USD). And so far HTC has not said whether the Fetch will work with other Android smartphones. The HTC Mini+ (pictured below) is a bit stranger. It’s a super lightweight device that looks like a miniature feature phone and pairs with your smartphone via Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. It’s the successor to last year’s HTC mini, which shipped with the HTC Butterfly. Basically, the Mini+ allows you to place or answer calls or read incoming text messages via your smartphone’s connection. It can also be used as a remote trigger for your connected phone’s camera. And an infrared transmitter allows you to use it as a remote control for your television by download a companion app to your smartphone. On yeah, it also has a laser pointer. The Mini+ is designed to work HTC One Mini, the Butterfly S and the Desire 200 and 500. It might be able to work with other Android phones as well, but HTC hasn’t confirmed this. Again, there is no pricing or availability, though the device is listed for 64.99 EURO (around $83 USD) at Clove. Read the original story @ http://gigaom.com/2013/08/30/htc-introduces-fetch-and-mini-bluetooth-accessories/

...I've been smashed by the smithy69er web searching skills and precision, and was a pleasure to have tried to help you! Cheers

Gesture control is a buzzword on the tips of everyone’s tongues these days, and after Samsung debuted a number of touch-free control features with the Galaxy S4, it’s natural that other OEMs are looking to integrated the same kind of tech into their devices. That tendency has played out well for Cube26, a Santa Clara-based startup we caught up with at CES back in January when they were shopping around their vision tech and gesture control. Cube26 co-founders Saurav Kumar and Aakash Jain have found some interested buyers, starting with six of India’s leading OEMs, including number two smartphone provider Micromax, Intex, Celkon, Zen, iBerry and Lemon Mobile. All told, Cube26 says this represents 25 percent of the Indian smartphone market, which according to recent data, is one of the fastest growing on the planet. Kumar explained in an email to TechCrunch that OEMs around the world are looking for new ways to stand out from the crowd, which is what motivated Samsung to come up with its own gesture features to begin with. Cube26 offers a way to do this via licensed software, rather than having to develop it in-house, giving any OEM access to tech perceived as at the cutting edge of mobile products. And unlike Samsung’s version, it doesn’t require specialized hardware; the Galaxy S4 contains two IR cameras to make Air Gesture features work, whereas Cube26′s tech is designed to be used with standard smartphone cameras, as well as other connected devices like smart TVs. Cube26 offers up a number of gesture features including “Look away to Pause,” “Auto-call” (call starts when phone moved to ear), and “Touch-less Swipe to answer,” which is demoed in the embedded video. All of these need only a front-facing camera to work, and if you’re curious about how the look away feature performs, you can download the startup’s dedicated video player for iOS, a tech demo which Cube26 says has received over 150,000 downloads since its launch in April. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uh_qh4MMaVo To reflect its increased efforts to sell to mobile companies, Cube26 has also brought on Kunal Ahooja, former CEO of Indian mobile OEM S Mobility as an advisor. Smartphones packing its tech have already rolled out from Micromax (the Canvas 4) and iBerry (the Auxus Nuclea N1), and devices from the remaining new partners will follow shortly, per Kumar. Others including Israeli startup Umoove and Leap Motion are attempting to capitalize on the newfound interest in gesture tech via partnerships with OEMs, so expect a lot of activity from this space as the land grab continues. Whether or not anyone will actually use hand-waving to control their smartphones long-term, instead of just as a product differentiation gimmick, remains far more uncertain, however. Read the original story @ http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/30/cube26-brings-galaxy-s4-style-gesture-control-to-indias-six-leading-smartphone-oems/

I know, this is not funny, or at least... not in the immediate (try to wait for your own garlic to grow, then eat some cloves and walk out in a pub or a public place... or even date with someone) but there was no other place to put it, so... Perhaps you may think that this is not related to CP, or IT Topics... but who's really sure about it? So it comes... Fresh Garlic just harvested from our garden Garlic is a staple in our household. Whether added to a pasta dish, salsa or stir fry – it seems like a clove or two finds its way into our meals almost daily. In addition, the consumption of garlic has many well known health benefits – including its antioxidant properties. It is also an easy crop to grow and store, making it a great addition to grow in your garden. There are two basic types of garlic – hardneck and softneck. Softneck garlic grows well in warmer and milder climates, and usually are grown in the same calendar season. They do not produce scapes, but do tend to store a little better than the hardneck. Softneck varieties are used to make the garlic braids you see in stores. Hardneck varieties grow best in the cooler climates of the Northern US – and are the most commonly planted form of garlic. It is also what we plant and will cover in today’s post. Hardneck garlic should be planted in the fall for an early to mid-summer harvest the following year. Hardneck varieties are also what produce garlic scapes - the delicate shoots coveted by many chefs and cooks each spring to add great flavor to salads and dishes of all types. THE BASICS OF HARDNECK GARLIC: When To Plant: A single clove of garlic ready to be planted. Separate your bulbs into single cloves and plant with the pointed side up a few inches down in the soil A single clove of garlic ready to be planted. Separate your bulbs into single cloves and plant with the pointed side up a few inches down in the soil Although you can plant garlic in the spring, the best time to plant it is in the fall, allowing for a nice mature crop to be harvested the following early summer. We have grown it both in the spring and fall, and quite frankly, the spring garlic just does not have enough time to develop much bulb growth. Fall planted garlic can produce larger yields – and the taste is far superior than spring planted bulbs. For us best time to plant here is in mid September to early October. The Soil: Garlic shooting up in early fall through the straw mulch Much like most vegetables, garlic will grow best in rich, fertile and loose soil – so it is best to work in a generous amount of compost to your soil prior to planting. If your soil tends to be on the hard-pan clay side, don’t be afraid to add a few shovel-fulls of sand in when you work your beds. Along with the compost, it will help to loosen up the soil structure and make it easier for the garlic to grow. Planting Garlic: Each single clove of a garlic bulb is an individual “seed” that will grow a full bulb. In general – the larger the clove – the larger the full garlic bulb will be that is grown. We like to select the largest of the bulbs each year to use as our seed cloves for the coming year. To prepare the cloves for planting – take your bulbs and separate each clove carefully – trying to keep as much of the papery skin in tact. The skin serves as a protectant for the garlic as it sits in the soil waiting to sprout. Make sure to plant with the pointy end of the garlic up. Some people like to soak their cloves a day or two before planting in a quart jar filled with water and a teaspoon of baking soda. It is said to help the garlic sprout and help prevent ground rot. We have never used the procedure and our garlic has always performed well without it. Garlic can be mass planted in raised beds or raised rows like ours – so we actually plant 3 rows in a single 18 to 24″ wide strip – leaving about 4 to 5″ inches between each planted row. It can also be grown in a single row if you wish. Once you have decided where to plant – dig a trench about 4 inches deep. We then like to fill in the trench without about an inch of compost, and then plant each bulb down into the compost layer. When planting – make sure to keep the pointy end of each garlic clove up – and the flat end down. Then simply cover up with the remaining soil, and add a few inches of straw or shredded leaves as a mulch for the cold winter months. You should see shoots coming through the ground within 2 to 4 weeks and the garlic will continue to form and grow before going dormant in the cold winter months. No worries – it will come back to life in the spring and continue growing. Keep your garlic weeded and mulched through the spring – the less it has to compete for nutrients – the larger your resulting cloves and harvest will be! Garlic Scapes: Garlic scapes snapped off from our plants a few weeks back in June In late spring / early summer – you will notice curly spikes starting to emerge from your hardneck garlic – these are known as garlic scapes. You will want to cut these off as they appear – which will force the garlic to grow larger bulbs underneath the soil and not spend it’s energy on the curvy and exotic looking scapes. Don’t just toss away those scapes however – they make a delicious addition to salads and dishes in the kitchen! See : What To Make With Garlic Scapes The Harvest: Here in our Central Ohio climate – garlic is usually ready to harvest around the first week of July. The tops of the garlic will begin to brown off, and as soon as to 3/4 of the top stalk begins to die off, it’s harvest time! Digging up the garlic Using a pitchfork or a shovel – carefully dig your garlic by digging down about 6 inches beside the stocks – and lifting them slowly from the earth. We then use our hands to gently knock off all of the soil from around the garlic bulb and roots – taking care not to damage any of the cloves or stems. The more careful you are in this stage – the better chance your garlic has to cure and then store later without losing any to rot. Once you have cleaned them off – it’s best to get them out of the direct sun, and begin the process of curing the garlic. Curing is different from long-term storage. To cure, we like to hang the garlic in a well ventilated space out of the direct sun. Garlic curing on our back porch For us – our back porch is a prime curing location. We hang the garlic up for a few weeks and allow it to air-dry. Once the bulbs are dry – you can then cut off the stalk about 1″ above the bulbs and the roots to about a half inch below the bulb. Store your garlic in a cool-dark place for use throughout the year. Garlic will keep longer if you allow for air circulation. We keep ours in a mesh bag in a dark corner area of the basement – and it usually will keep through the winter. Fresh Harvested Garlic So get ready to plant some garlic this fall and Happy Gardening! Read the original story @ http://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2013/07/02/how-to-grow-cure-and-store-your-own-garlic/

In case it wasn’t bad enough that fear of Google has kept people from linking to other sites, and got them requesting legitimate links be pulled down, Google is reportedly sending unnatural link warnings to sites based on links that are actually natural. Is Google ever wrong about links? Does Google ever really look at legitimate links as bad? It’s hard to say if this is happening often, or if with 100% certainty that it is happening, but Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable appears to have found at least one example in a Google help forum thread. The webmaster says he received a warning in February, noting that this was “understandable” because he’s worked with SEO agencies in the past that did advertorials, and was spammed with “really bad links” by unknown individuals. “So we spent the last months, contacting webmasters, getting links removed and no-followed and we disavowed around 500 Links,” the webmaster writes. “Next to that we stopped the redirection from our old domain to which there are quite some spammy links pointing.” “I think we have done everything within our ability, at considerable time and cost to our company, to comply with Googles guidelines,” he adds. “We have completely stopped working with agencies and we pursue a quality approach.” He says after his last reconsideration request was declined, Google gave the following URL as an example of one of the bad links: http://sustainablog.org/2013/07/furniture-recycling-endangered-animals/ “This is a completely legitimate post and it was not influenced by us in any way,” he says. “They are writing about a campaign we are running. I have the feeling this sometimes is completely random. I am even unsure if it makes sense to take the time to actually file another reconsideration request under these circumstances.” He later notes that there is no relationship between his company and the blog with the “bad link”. Another discussion participant suggests that the “money” keyword link “Guide To Recycling” in the article, which points to the webmaster’s page, could be the problem. “Well the so called ‘money keyword link’ was chosen by sustainablog itself, probably because they thought it would best describe what we do,” the webmaster responded. “We have no influence on this, and we certainly have no interest in ranking for ‘Guide To Recycling’”. So yes, this sounds like a natural link, at least from this side of the story. Interestingly, the person who suggested the “money keyword” issue said the same thing happened to one of their clients – also in the furniture space. Schwartz suggests the webmaster is “better off disavowing the link, and also finding links like it,” and doing the same for them. This might be good SEO advice, but it also highlights a possible issue in webmasters being forced to have Google ignore legitimate links. If this is really what’s going on, it’s pretty sad. It does, however, come at a time when independent reports are finding strong correlation between Google+ and authorship and search rankings. You have to wonder if links are simply starting to play less of a role in Google’s algorithm than in the past. Even if they are still playing a role, it’s possible that they’re not being given as much weight. Following a recent Moz (formerly SEOmoz) report about +1s and rankings, Matt Cutts set out to “debunk the idea that more Google +1s lead to higher Google web rankings.” But if you think about +1s like links, it’s not necessarily link quantity that really counts either. There’s also question about whether Google is going to continue to update Toolbar PageRank. It’s not the same as pure PageRank, but it’s still a de-emphasis, if they’ are in fact killing it. Either way, Google has been changing its wording related to link guidelines, putting out multiple new videos about “unnatural links” and suggesting webmasters use nofollow on more types of content. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UFHCw4Q_FQ Once again, it’s pretty basic stuff, as Google is including these videos in its documentation about webspam. “If you’ve gotten this message, it basically means that we have seen enough low-quality or spammy links to your site that it’s affected our opinion of your entire site” Google’s Matt Cutts says. “We don’t like to take action on sites. We prefer not to, but we have to protect users.” Google essentially wants you to contact the sites that are linking to you, and have them take care of them (whether that means removing them, nofollowin them, redirecting them or whatever), and submit reconsideration requests. If that doesn’t work, use the Disavow LInks tool. As we recently discussed, not everyone thinks this is working well enough. Google has put out a new group of videos about various webspam topics. Three of these are specifically about unnatural links. Here’s one on unnatural links from your site, and here’s one on unnatural links to your site. While both of these videos featured Matt Cutts with other Googlers, this one is just Cutts himself talking about unnatural links and their impact. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=7Y74Op_k6UY “Over time, we’ve gotten more granular, and our approaches have become more sophisticated, and so as a result, if you think perhaps that your site overall is good, but there might be some bad links (it’s not all bad links, but a portion bad links), then we might be taking targeted action on just those links. And that can be bad links or links that you might not think of as typically bad.” He goes on to talk about various examples. If you’ve got about ten minutes to spare, you’ll probably want to give it a watch. Follow the rest of the story @ http://www.webpronews.com/google-reportedly-giving-warnings-for-natural-links-2013-08

Programmers rely on their keyboard perhaps more than any other profession I can think of. When I heard Jeff Atwood, author of the blog Coding Horror and co-founder of coding Q&A website Stack Overflow, just launched a keyboard with the help of Weyman Kong from WASD Keyboards, I figured it was worth sharing. As outlined on Coding Horror, Atwood said he was indoctrinated into the keyboard cult when he bought his first computer but he didn’t appreciate it. He ultimately went on to own and use at least six different high-end mechanical keyboards but all of them were lacking in one way or another. Some didn’t have back-lighting or media keys while others were ugly and had a terrible design. With the Code Keyboard, Atwood set out to take the best elements from various keyboards and put them into one. His creation features “ultra-rare” Cherry MX Clear mechanical key-switches that offer solid actuation force without the clicky noise. Over USB, the board offers 6-key rollover but if you need more, the included PS/2 adapter delivers n-key rollover. Underneath is a steel backplate that offers a solid feel when typing which also results in the heft – 2.42 pounds, to be exact. It’s held in place on your desk by large rubber pads that are said to provide plenty of grip. There’s also white LED back-lighting with on-board memory to save your lighting preferences. The key indicators use a standard Helvetica font. On the bottom of the board is a bank of DIP switches that let you switch between QWERTY / Dvorak / Colemac layouts at the hardware level, disable the Windows key, swap CMD / ALT for use with Macs and turn the Caps Lock key into a secondary CTRL key. Media keys are built into the keys already on the board using the Fn key in a location that just seems logical (Page Up turns the volume up, etc.). Secondary functions are printed on the front side of the keys facing you should you forget their function. Transportation is a breeze as the board uses a detachable standard micro USB cable and a 5-way cable routing channel on the base helps to get just the right look. As you likely may have guessed, a keyboard of this caliber isn’t cheap. The Code Keyboard will set you back $149.99 for either the 104-key model or the 87-key version. That’s a hefty sum to swallow for a keyboard but if you’re pounding away on a board all day that you absolutely hate, it certainly might be worth checking out. Read the Orig Article @ http://www.techspot.com/news/53823-meet-the-code-keyboard-designed-and-built-by-a-programmer.html

In a couple weeks, Apple is going to come out with two new iPhones. There's going to be an "iPhone C" which will be cheaper and come in a few bright colors. Then there is going to be the "iPhone 5S." People rag on Apple for coming out with "S" models every other year because they don't seem like big upgrades over prior models. The iPhone 4S looked just like the iPhone 4, and from early leaks it looks like the iPhone 5S is going to look just like the iPhone 5 – except it will also come in gold. But the truth is Apple puts a lot more work into re-designing iPhones to become "S" models than you might think. The video we've embedded below reveals this in a really cool way. In it, the TLDtoday host takes all the parts from a current iPhone 5 and tries put them into an iPhone 5S case. In the end, he can't do it. Why? Because in the past year, Apple totally redesigned the iPhone 5's guts to be able to include a larger battery and a faster processor. The iPhone 5 parts won't fit inside the iPhone 5S shell. The funny thing is, everyone in the media hated the last "S" model from Apple – the iPhone 4S – but it ended up being a world-shattering blockbuster for the company. Maybe that's about to happen again? Certainly, if there is one thing consumers want, it's longer battery life. Maybe Apple is smart to stick with the same outer shell for a couple years, if it means it can take more time to optimize the internals. Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3rwLUhGqq4 Read the original article @ http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-5s-will-have-more-power-2013-8

Gear Manager app to change watch face, app settings on Galaxy Gear The Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch will pair with a smartphone over NFC, according to newly-leaked screenshots. Images said to be from the Samsung Gear Manager app show that the Galaxy Gear will initially pair quickly over NFC, with further connections between phone and watch to take place over its low-power Bluetooth 4.0 radio. The images from serial leaker @evleaks shows the app as offering a “Find my watch” feature, a choice of clock faces, and the ability to manage apps that are associated with the wrist-based device. The screenshot also seems to show the model of the Galaxy Gear as SM-V700, while a diagram appears to show that the watch unit itself can be detached from straps for simpler NFC pairing. Samsung has effectively confirmed that the Galaxy Gear will be launched at its Galaxy Note III event on September 4th, though the exact specifics of the device remain unknown. Rumors suggest the Galaxy Gear as having a multitouch 2.5-inch, 320x320-resolution OLED display, running on a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, with recent murmurings suggesting that it will have a battery that will last for just 10 hours. Read more @ http://www.electronista.com/articles/13/08/30/gear.manager.app.to.change.watch.face.app.settings.on.galaxy.gear/

Tor looks and acts like a browser from 1999 -- the ones where you could make a cup of tea in the time it took a GIF to load. But it's more than that (no one would put up with that level of inconvenience otherwise). Tor is a privacy protocol that can be used to browse the Internet while anonymous. The IP address linked to users by websites won't be their own; instead, Tor assigns them a random IP address that they can change at any time. Before PRISM, the United States National Security Agency's secret information-gathering program, Tor had about 600,000 daily users. Post-PRISM, Tor's become more popular. tor project But the spike from 600,000 daily users to 1.2 million didn't immediately follow PRISM, which came to light in early June. Instead, Tor usage started spiking in mid-August after several other services that provide anonymity to users were shaken by post-PRISM backlash. At the beginning of August, encrypted email service Tormail (not linked to Tor) vanished after its hosting provider was arrested by the FBI, accused of facilitating the distribution of child porn. Shortly afterwards, under pressure from the U.S. government, privacy-centric email services Lavabit and Silent Circle also shut down. Those who relied on such encryption services may have switched to Tor after the shutdowns. Another possible explanation for Tor's spike is the release of the Pirate Browser by the Pirate Bay team. The Pirate Browser circumvents censorship by moving its users to Tor when they encounter a website blocked in that user's country. A randomly generated IP from Tor lets the user avoid country-specific censorship. On Aug. 13, Gigaom reported that the 3-day-old Pirate Browser had been downloaded more than 100,000 times. That's not quite enough to bring Tor from 600,000 to 1.2 million daily users, but the business Pirate Bay gave Tor also must have helped. In addition, Pirate Bay mentioned Tor several times on the Pirate Browser's website. Whatever the cause, Tor's anonymous denizens aren't hurt by the usage spike. Its security increases when more people use the network. Read the original article @ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/29/tor-prism_n_3838629.html

Introduction The Internet age has given new meaning to the old saying, "Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't out to get you." Corporations large and small are eagerly sucking up data regarding browsing habits and purchasing preferences, the Internal Revenue Service is paying special attention to political groups, the Justice Department is logging journalists' phone calls and the National Security Agency is, according to some reports, reading citizens' emails. However, if privacy and security are more important to you than convenience, here are a few tips from the pros about how to keep the snoopers at bay. Best of all, none of these solutions requires you to wear a tinfoil hat. Turn off Java and Flash in your Web browsers Java and Adobe Flash Player plug-ins are common points of vulnerability for many browsers. The two software platforms are useful and power a lot of interactive content on the Internet, but Justin Cappos, a professor of computer science at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, says each platform is just too much of a risk. "Those are the main [plug-ins] to be concerned about," Cappos said, because hackers often build Java- or Flash-based exploits. Cover your computer's webcam and microphone Cappos noted that it's very easy to take control of a computer or its webcam. He uses the simple, low-tech expedient of a piece of black tape to cover the camera lens on his laptop. It's harder to do that with a microphone, Cappos said, though something to muffle sound wouldn't be a bad idea. (Cappos said the problem is that on Apple laptops, the case for the laptop is such that it is hard to install a switch.) Doing so will stop webcam Peeping Toms, blackmailers and other sleazeballs. Watch what websites do behind the scenes when you visit them Many websites silently send and receive a lot of information about you to and from other websites that you'd never directly visit. Fortunately, there are a number of software tools, such as the free browser add-on Collusion, that visualize this hidden two-way flow of information. "I used to use Dictionary.com a lot," Cappos said. "But then I saw it making requests to something like 30 websites for information." Kill your Facebook account Almost any piece of information you post on a social-networking site could later be used hurt you. Cappos avoids all social networks except for the professional-networking site LinkedIn, and even there, he doesn't post much information that an identity thief might use. If you have to have a social network account, use two-factor authentication, said David Kennedy, CEO of TrustedSec in Strongsville, Ohio, and founder of the annual Louisville, Ky., security conference DerbyCon. A password by itself, Kennedy said, is just not secure enough anymore. Cover one hand with the other while using automated teller machines The latest ATM-fraud devices use a tiny, almost invisible camera to record your keystrokes as you enter your PIN. At the same time, there's a "skimmer" in the card slot that reads the card information. Crooks combine the video feed with the skimmer data to match PINs to cards. Bingo! They've got access to your bank account — unless you covered one hand with the other while entering the PIN so the hidden camera couldn't see it. Get an iPhone Apple does have its security flaws, Cappos said, but ultimately, iOS is better than Android. The open nature of the Android platform, and the minimal vetting of apps in the Google Play app store, means it's much easier to end up with an infected Android phone than an infected iPhone. (Six years after its debut, the iOS platform remains malware-free.) Furthermore, the permissions that Google grants Android apps are greater than what Apple gives iOS apps. Android apps are more likely to read your personal data than iOS apps are, because Apple won't let its app developers access the guts of iOS. Run Internet services in a virtual machine A virtual machine is essentially a separate, software-based computer within your physical computer. Using a virtual machine to run Web browsers and email clients is sound practice. To an extent, it will protect your real machine from Internet-based malware, and will mitigate the damage if attacks do get through. Run all Internet connections through Tor The Tor network is a sophisticated proxy system that bounces your network traffic from one hidden server to another. You Internet traffic, or at the least the traffic that passes through Tor, will be untraceable. Websites and email recipients won't be able to see your true network location or network activity, which can be pretty important features for residents of some countries. When traveling abroad, leave the cellphone at home Western travelers have had cellphones confiscated by local authorities in repressive countries such as in Burma or China. More commonly, travelers to China have found spyware installed on their laptops and smartphones. Nathan Sportsman, CEO of Praetorian, an information-security provider in Austin, Texas, recommends that you simply leave your own phone behind when travelling overseas. The laws in many countries are very different, and being a foreigner doesn't protect you. If you must have a cellphone while abroad, Sportsman said, use a locally purchased pay-as-you-go phone. Isolate sensitive information It might be best to use an "isolated" computer, Sportsman said, when doing anything financially or personally sensitive, such as online banking. In other words, that computer shouldn't be used for anything other than online banking. That means no Web surfing, emailing or social networking. Such practices minimize the isolated machine's exposure to malware, such as banking Trojans, which are designed to break into online bank accounts and often install with a single click on a corrupted website. If you don’t have a computer you can set aside for a single purpose, then isolate your Web browsers instead. Chris Weber, co-founder of Casaba Security in Redmond, Wash., recommends using separate browsers for different purposes. For example, one browser can be for banking, another for social media (a prime target for identity thieves) and a third for general Web surfing. Isolating browsers may be inconvenient, but it limits the damage any single browser attack (such as from a keylogger) can do. Don't click on unsolicited links Much of the malware lurking on the Internet infects computers when users click on links emailed by people they don't know. Don't do it. You don’t know where the link really leads. Does it go to a regular website, or to one rigged to attack your Web browser? This counts doubly for Twitter, where the common practice of URL shortening only hides a link's true address. Use cash whenever possible Some establishments, such as bars or fast-food restaurants, carry out most of their transactions in cash. Make this a practice of your own. It's better to use the ATM more often and carry a lot of cash than to use credit cards for meals and casual purchases, Cappos said. Save the plastic for big-ticket items. Cappos recommends this because promiscuous use of credit cards only creates more opportunity for thieves. Remember, whenever your credit card is out of your sight — for example, when the smiling waiter takes it to the back room, or when the surly cashier dips it below the checkout counter for a brief moment — it is vulnerable to skimmers and other forms of information theft. Encrypt everything Weber said that whole-disk encryption of computers isn't a bad idea. If your laptop is lost or stolen, it's nearly impossible for anyone else to get into your data without your password. Encryption doesn't have to end with your computer. The latest versions of Apple's iOS automatically encrypt the entire smartphone or tablet if a passcode is enabled. On Android devices, it's an easy option in the Settings menu. But what if you've forgotten your password? "Have a key-recovery plan for all master keys (e.g. splitting keys up and sharing among trusted family members or friends)" Weber said in an email. You can also encrypt your communications. Pretty Good Privacy, or PGP, is an open encryption standard for email, with both free and paid applications. PGP's developers went on to create Silent Circle, a smartphone app for iOS and Android that encrypts all voice and video calls, text messages and, soon, emails. It's pricey at $20/month, but there are cheaper alternatives, such as the free Android apps RedPhone and TextSecure. Avoid "free" wireless networks That gratis Wi-Fi network in the local brewpub is probably a den of digital iniquity. Such networks usually aren't secured or encrypted, allowing strangers to track your online movements, record your passwords and make off with your credit-card information before you realize what's happened. Stay off them and use your own wireless subscription or service. Use secure Web connections. The "HTTPS" acronym at the beginning of many Web addresses denotes a site that is using encryption (the "S" stands for secure). Many websites have this option, but most of us don't know or don't bother to use it. You have to purposely set it in many Web-based email programs, for example. It can occasionally cause other programs to hiccup (Windows Live on HTTPS can conflict with Outlook Hotmail Connector, for example), but the inconvenience is worth it. To handle these settings automatically, try using the HTTPS Everywhere plug-in for Firefox. It will even connect you to more secure versions of Facebook and Twitter. https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere Don't be too social. Want to share your latest vacation pics on Facebook? Great just wait until you get back from your trip. I currently have three Facebook friends whom I know are away from home. That probably means other "friends" know, too, and not all of them may be nice. If you don't want thieves to know when you're away , use more caution about when and what you post. Shop safely online The convenience of letting a shopping site, especially one you visit frequently, save all your personal information and credit-card numbers is tempting but don't do it. There is no such thing as a website that's impervious to hackers. Assume your data will be stolen from a business at some point , so keep it to yourself. Change your passwords, a lot Since you cannot count on every site or business out there protecting your data or even telling you when it's been stolen one of the best protections is also the simplest. Changing your password frequently can keep you one step ahead of the thieves. If your bank password has been stolen and is up for sale online, changing it will take away the criminal's keys to your account. And while it might be OK to use the same password on sites that don't hold any of your personal or financial information, always use unique and strong passwords for online banking, social networking or webmail sites. Would you, could you on a train? Don't! Sitting in the commuter car or in any public place makes you vulnerable to "shoulder surfers," people who scan other people's laptop or smartphone screens looking for passwords or other personal information. Many of these crooked cruisers don't even turn their heads; they just take a picture with their cellphones as they go by. So consider where you're sitting and what you're doing. Can't you wait until you get home to pay that bill online? Avoid app attacks Don't be the first kid to jump into the pool. In other words, when you discover a new app for your smartphone, tablet or browser, check it out before you tap "install." Look carefully at the permissions it asks for. Better still, see how often it's been downloaded (the higher the number of times, the less likely it's malware) and read the reviews. Smartphones are becoming the target of choice for many cybercriminals, exploits have already been discovered for browser apps and tablets won't be far behind.

Our keyboards are killing us. Okay, not really. But if you sit and type at a desk for hours, you might very well feel aches and pains at the end of a long workday. A recent survey conducted by Microsoft showed that more than 85 percent of workers complain of discomfort at work. The top three reasons cited for this discomfort? Sitting at a desk all day, staring at a computer screen and typing. Over time, these unhealthy repetitive motions can lead to more serious issues. With this in mind, Microsoft has just released its newest ergonomic keyboard and mouse set, called the Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop. Microsoft has been making a line of ergonomic products for nearly 20 years; its “Natural” keyboard is considered by many to be the leading ergonomic keyboard. At $130, the Sculpt keyboard and mouse bundle is slightly pricier than the previous set, the Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000, but the Sculpt has a brand-new look that might make it worth the upgrade for ergonomics fans. Separately, the Sculpt keyboard will sell for $80, and the mouse will sell for $60. The keyboard uses two AAA batteries, while the mouse takes two AAs. They connect wirelessly to your computer or laptop via a tiny transceiver plugged into the USB port of your computer. The Sculpt's project code name was "manta ray," due to its likeness to the flattened fish The set is optimized for PCs running Windows, but also works with Mac computers. I’ve been using the plastic Sculpt keyboard and mouse for the past week and a half, connecting both devices to my 15-inch Mac laptop. It should be noted that my current desk area at home is, quite possibly, the least ergonomic setup ever. Most days I’m hunched over a laptop on a small desk while seated in a sagging, fold-up director’s chair. (“Oh no, not one of those!” an ergonomics expert said when I consulted him for this column.) Such is life in a small New York City apartment. In researching other ergonomic keyboards, I found surprisingly few keyboards that, like the Sculpt, can claim to be both ergonomic and stylish while not breaking the bank. Logitech has offered some popular ergonomic keyboards in the past, but hasn’t introduced a new one in a while. A company called Truly Ergonomic makes a keyboard of the same name — but it costs almost $250 dollars. The Kinesis Advantage keyboard costs $299. The Sculpt has flat, Chiclet-style keys. Kinesis does have a new ergonomic keyboard called the Freestyle2 that comes close to the same price point as the Sculpt — $109 for the basic model and $129 for a slightly different configuration — and comes in both Mac and PC models. Like the Sculpt, it has a split design (split keyboards like this are supposed to help keep your hands aligned with your shoulders and elbows, for a more natural typing position). The bulkier Kinesis keyboard actually has two separate “wings,” one for each hand, whereas the Sculpt has a split down the middle but it’s still all one piece. The split in the Sculpt comes down to the space bar. Below that, there’s a soft cushion that acts as a palm rest. It’s wider than most standard keyboards, but not as clunky or utilitarian-feeling as some other specialty keyboards. Instead, it’s thin and light, with chiclet-style keys and a nice, mellow curve to it, rising up toward the split in the middle and allowing for a more natural position of the hands. Microsoft’s pre-release, internal name for this new keyboard was manta ray, and in looking at it, you can easily see why. If the keyboard was code-named “manta ray,” the round, bulbous, right-handed Sculpt mouse might have very well been nicknamed “fat hamster,” because that’s what it looks like. A round mouse, Microsoft says, is more comfortable because your hand can rest gently on top of it, taking the strain off your wrist. (If your palm is resting behind the mouse, with your wrist bent back and your fingers curling over the top of the mouse, you’re doing it wrong, experts say.) As fat as the mouse seemed to me at first, I liked using it. My hands and wrists felt a heck of a lot better than they normally do fighting for space on my laptop keyboard and trackpad. The mouse also has a button that takes you to the Windows 8 Start menu with one tap, provided you’re using a machine that’s running that operating system. The Sculpt mouse has a designated Windows 8 button, for quick access to the OS's start menu. 
And the keyboard comes with a separate, unattached number pad to give the other keys the full real estate of the keyboard (there’s also a number row at the top of the keyboard, per usual). I barely used the pad, but having a separate num-pad leaves more space for the rest of the keys. It can also be a handy tool for business users, accountants and other people who regularly crunch numbers. My one gripe about the Sculpt is that there are no lights — anywhere. The keys aren’t backlit, and there are no indicator lights, such as a caps-lock light, a wireless-connectivity signal, or a battery gauge. In keeping with my trend of working in a less-than-comfortable environment, I often write late at night, in a dimly lit space, and have come to rather like backlit keys. (For what it’s worth, the new Kinesis model has indicator lights, as well as a couple additional USB ports thrown into the keyboard.) The Sculpt keyboard comes with a separate number pad. Still, by the end of the week I was wondering where the Microsoft Sculpt keyboard had been all my computing life. Not only did I feel slightly less strained in my wrist and shoulders, but the keyboard, frankly, wasn’t ugly. It’s not the kind of keyboard you’d be ashamed to pair up with your new Ultrabook, your sleek MacBook Air or your high-tech, multiscreen desktop computer system. So, if you’re in the market for a new ergonomic keyboard, I can recommend the Sculpt as a solid option. Now, I just need to address that back-destroying director’s chair. Read the full article @ http://allthingsd.com/20130826/microsofts-new-ergonomic-keyboard-sculpt-makes-ergonomic-desktops-look-cool/?mod=atd_reviewbox

On Tuesday afternoon (Aug. 27), the New York Times' website became inaccessible, and was spotty much of Wednesday (Aug. 28). How could one of the biggest media companies in the world go down for a day or more? Turns out the New York Times' website was hit with a domain name system (DNS) attack, in which hackers target the system that matches a website URL (like nytimes.com) to the servers where that website's content is stored. None of the New York Times' content was affected; people just couldn't find it. Simple security etiquette might have prevented the attack. The New York Times' DNS records are managed by an Australian-based company called Melbourne IT, a domain registrar similar to the American company GoDaddy. It appears that the hackers who hit the New York Times were able to penetrate Melbourne IT's security by acquiring an administrator's username and password. Marc Frons, the New York Times' chief information officer, said in the Times' own article on the hack that the culprit appears to be “the Syrian Electronic Army, or someone trying very hard to be them.” That doesn't tell us much. The Syrian Electronic Army, or SEA, is a group of hackers that appears to be loosely affiliated with or sympathetic to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The SEA has also been very active lately: in the last few months it's claimed responsibility for attacks on The Onion, NPR and the blog of British reporter Hon Snow (no relation to "Game of Thrones"). What is a DNS attack? DNS is an essential part of the Internet's information architecture. "DNS has been in place essentially since the Web started… [and] from its very origins it was not built to support the Web as it exists today," said Kevin O'Brien, an enterprise solutions architect from Cloudlock, a cloud-based data security company. According to O'Brien, DNS has a number of structural flaws, which the New York Times hackers exploited to bring the website down. Here's how DNS works: When you want to go to a website, you type in that website's domain name. In the New York Times' case, that's nytimes.com, the rights to which it purchased from a domain name registrar, in this case, Melbourne IT. When Melbourne IT registered that domain name, it created an entry in the DNS registry that connected "nytimes.com" to the internet protocol (IP) address of the New York Times' servers, 170.149.168.130. This registry is necessary because domain names were designed to be easily understood by humans, not by computers. Domain names do not point to Web content in a way that a computer can understand. Similarly, IP addresses are not user-friendly for humans. So when you type "nytimes.com," your Web browser connects you to one of the many DNS servers on which the registry is stored and matches that text to the corresponding registered IP address 170.149.168.130. The hackers zeroed in on the source. They acquired a Melbourne IT username and password, entered the registrar's system, and altered the DNS records that then went out to DNS servers across the Internet. O'Brien likened DNS servers to a phonebook: people can search the book by a person's name and find the entry that connects the person to a telephone number. What the hackers did is like changing the number next to the New York Times' name in the phonebook. That alteration probably took about 15 minutes to make, O'Brien said. Once the hackers made the change, it took a while for that change to propagate to the Internet's DNS servers. For a brief window, typing nytimes.com into your browser led you, not to the Times' servers, but to a SEA-themed website containing the message "Hacked by Syrian Electronic Army." Most of the time, though, browsers were simply unable to locate an IP address associated with the domain name www.nytimes.com, resulting in a browser error message. Technically, websites don't need domain names, and the Times site never really went down. But to access it, you would have had to know the IP address 170.149.168.130 and enter it into your browser. How to Prevent a DNS Attack Could the New York Times have prevented this attack? As is always the case with online security, there's no such thing as foolproof. That said, there are a few things that the Times, and Melbourne IT, could have done to make this attack more difficult and perhaps even impossible to pull off. For example, they could have done a registry lock. Often, DNS registrars give their customers this option, which when implemented makes it very difficult for anyone to alter the DNS records that govern the links between a domain name and an IP address. The disadvantage of a registry lock is that it lengthens the amount of time necessary to make any structural changes to the registry. However, O'Brien pointed out that the hackers didn't do any fundamental damage to either the New York Times' or Melbourne IT's website architecture. Rather, they acquired login credentials, either by theft or by tricking an employee into revealing them. It's the difference between bashing down a door and stealing a key. "The reason I would characterize this hack as relatively immature is [because] someone got a username and password and got into the [Melbourne IT] system. They didn't do anything super-technical or complicated. It wasn't that Melbourne IT fundamentally failed, it's that precautions weren't put into place." Precautions that could have been implemented include two-factor authentication, which requires people wishing to log into a system to know a password and then enter a second piece of information — usually a string of numbers texted to a cellphone. Without the correct cellphone — which is harder to steal than a password — hackers would be unable to penetrate the system. But what about the DNS architecture itself? If the backbone of the Internet is fundamentally flawed or outdated, is it time to replace DNS with a better system? "This crops up from time to time, and there are ideas for other kinds of record management," O'Brien said. For example, some experts have suggested some type of browser extensions that would help "share the load" of connecting domain names with IP addresses. However, implementing that kind of sweeping change would mean a massive overhaul to the way the Internet works. "You'd need someone with authority on a governmental level, and probably an intergovernmental level, to create an Internet that didn't rely on DNS," O'Brien said. Internet architecture hasn't changed in years, which means it’s not likely to change any time soon. "You can go back to the mid-'90s and see that at the time some pretty significant vulnerabilities [in DNS] were being exposed by prominent hackers," said O'Brien. "And here we are in 2013 and we're still vulnerable."

I totally agree with Mr Grumpy. Please, post more info on that weird drive...I'm curious

Case dating back to 2011 closes, but the cyberlocker site remains open for now. In a case that dates back to 2011, Hotfile, a Panama-based cyberlocker, has been found "liable on charges of copyright infringement," according to a Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) statement sent to Ars on Wednesday. The official written judgment from the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida remains under seal. Most likely, Hotfile was found liable on secondary infringement, as its direct copyright infringement allegations were tossed aside in July 2011 by the federal judge in the case. When asked to clarify, the MPAA’s spokesperson, Kate Bedingfield, told Ars that “the court won’t make the decision public for 14 days and we can’t say anything else until it does.” “This decision sends a clear signal that businesses like Hotfile that are built on a foundation of stolen works will be held accountable for the damage they do both to the hardworking people in the creative industries and to a secure, legitimate Internet,” said former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), chairman and CEO of the MPAA, in the MPAA's e-mailed statement. “We applaud the court for recognizing that Hotfile was not simply a storage locker but an entire business model built on mass distribution of stolen content. Today’s decision is a victory for all of the men and women who work hard to create our favorite movies and TV shows, and it’s a victory for audiences who deserve to feel confident that the content they’re watching online is high-quality, legitimate, and secure.” In previous court filings, Hotfile’s attorneys characterized (PDF) the site as an “online file-hosting service” and noted that simply because the company operates in various international jurisdictions does not make it “unscrupulous.” There is nothing illegal about being a Russian living in Bulgaria or incorporating in Panama. Plaintiffs‘ argument rings especially hollow given that Plaintiffs themselves operate a confusing Web of offshore entities and at least half a dozen holding companies (e.g., Walt Disney Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd). See Ex. B. There is nothing sinister let alone illegal with Hotfile‘s corporate structure. Neither Hotfile nor its attorneys responded immediately to Ars’ request for comment. Read the original article @ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/hotfile-loses-federal-copyright-case-mpaa-says/

Android might be targeted by hackers and malware far more often than Apple’s iOS platform, but that doesn’t mean devices like the iPhone and iPad are immune to threats. A post on Russian website Habrahabr.ru draws attention to a fairly serious vulnerability that allows nefarious users to remotely crash apps on iOS 6, or even render them unusable. The vulnerability is seemingly due to a bug in Apple’s CoreText font rendering framework, and OS X Mountain Lion is affected as well. According to the report, simply exposing various iOS or OS X apps to one of several possible strings of text is enough to trigger a crash. What’s more, sending one such string as an SMS or an iMessage to an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Mac computer can crash Apple’s Messages app repeatedly, rendering it unusable. Safari is also impacting by the bug, and naming a Wi-Fi network with one of the strings of text can cause an error while an Apple device is scanning for networks. The report claims that Apple has been aware of this vulnerability for six months and has yet to patch the exploit in any currently available operating system build. The author does note, however, that beta versions of iOS 7 and of OS X Mavericks are seemingly not affected by the bug.

Very nice site, cozy and friendly, at least this is my first impression reading some topic and surfing around. Thanks to Tech 425 for the invitation, happy to be an active member in this fresh started community. Cheers to everyone!

Welcome to another exciting episode of “You’ve Got to be Kidding.” Today’s star attraction is the BlueBulb, an ordinary-looking LED light bulb whose distinguishing feature is its Bluetooth connectivity. Screw the bulb into any standard lamp socket, turn it on, and an array of 6- and 9-watt LEDs will produce a soft white glow. Nothing special really. But pair the BlueBulb with any Bluetooth 4.0 Apple device (Android compatibility is coming soon) and download an app, and it transforms into an electric rainbow capable of spitting out a million colors. After $20,000 in quickly crowd-sourced funding at fundanything.com, the Bluetooth-controlled light bulb has the (possibly dubious) distinction of being the first of its kind. (There are, comparably, numerous more versatile LED bulbs out there that use Wi-Fi and Internet IP connectivity.) Of course, one of Bluetooth’s core strengths is its gentle battery demands. The trade-off is the 30-foot transmission distance. For cellphones and portable speakers, the wireless protocol is a perfect marriage. For a light bulb? Eh, there might be grounds for a divorce. Despite its limited utility, at least setting up the BlueBulb is simple. After screwing the bulb into your lamp socket and installing the iPhone app, Bluetooth pairing takes about 10 seconds. The app menus are straightforward enough. Sliding arrows on the rainbow-colored palette at top can be moved to the color of your choice. A separate white-light adjuster then lets you inject a given amount of white coloring to produce a brighter, more pastel mix. I found the BlueBulb’s most useful function was its Sleep/Wake setting. After creating just the right color blend, I switched to the Sleep/Wake menu and set the time I wanted the bulb to power on. I’m a light sleeper, and accordingly I have blackout curtains and a planetarium’s worth of appliance LEDs covered up. So when my custom green lantern pre-setting popped on, I knew it was time to get up. You can also adjust light’s duration, a nice option for slow risers. Heavy sleepers will obviously be better served by a traditional sound alarm. Still, there’s no getting past the BlueBulb’s inherent Bluetooth limitations. Move your phone more than 30 feet away from the actual bulb and you lose all control. Unlike many Wi-Fi-enabled LED bulbs, you can’t set schedules or switch on the lights from a remote location either. What you’re left with is basically a fun digital novelty with limited real-world purpose. Adjustable to over a million color combinations. Can be set to power on and off at preset times. Low power demands and long 25,000-hour life. Bluetooth’s short range limits you to 30 feet of light control. Weak illumination (even at its brightest setting) provides little more than mood lighting. $69 is too much for a novelty device.