A proposed law designed to fight child pornography has rankled privacy advocates because it would require Internet service providers to keep 12-month logs of customers' names, credit card information, and other identifying information that are tied to temporarily assigned network addresses.
Anyone Can Access Microsoft's Massive Location Database and See Where Your Laptop and Smartphone Have Been
According to a report from Cnet's Declan McCullagh, Microsoft is gathering data from Windows 7 handsets that connect to wi-fi networks, along with cars that go around sniffing out hotspots, and logging it all here. But because they're being lax in protecting that database, anyone can get access to the data. Cnet entered in various MAC addresses into the database themselves and had very specific location data returned to them.
Exclusive: Victim in Airbnb-related ransacking speaks outs : The Technology Chronicles
Trust and safety are Airbnb's highest priorities and as such the improved safety processes are being implemented immediately and will roll out of the coming days, weeks and months. Furthermore, these procedures will continually evolve as we strive to make the service we provide as safe as possible. Whilst we are truly shocked and saddened by this incident we are relieved we had the systems in place to be able to assist with the investigation and the authorities now have a suspect in custody. We are now focusing our attentions on how to prevent an issue like this happening again. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_id=94288#ixzz1TeUsUUnq
The New Yorker Will Make More Than $1.2 Million From Its iPad App This Year
Twenty thousand people have paid $59.99 for a year-long subscription to The New Yorker's iPad app, according to a story in The New York Times. Another 75,000-plus print subscribers are also downloading the issue for free. That comes out to $1.2 million per year in added revenue before factoring in the "several thousand" people who buy single issues each week for $4.99.
Apple's Safari Grows Faster Than Chrome in July | PCWorld
Apple's Safari last month posted its biggest increase ever in usage share, beating perennial champion Chrome in the gain game, Web metrics vendor Net Applications said today. The browser bundled with Apple's revenue troika of Mac, iPhone and iPad boosted its share by six-tenths of a point, its largest one-month increase, enough to put it at 8.1% for July, a record.
Microsoft and Nokia to hold special Windows Phone event on August 17 | WinRumors
The party will be held at the GamesCom trade fair in Cologne, Germany. Both companies sent an invite to a joint party on Monday that will be held on August 17. The Unwired reports that Nokia may show one of their highly anticipated Windows Phone devices. Both companies are raffling off three Xbox consoles with Kinect and three Nokia Windows Phones (as soon as available). The invite (shown below) promises “an evening to remember” alongside “exciting actions and surprises.” The party could be the first time that Nokia officially unveils its Windows Phone devices.
A U.S. District Judge in Texas has ruled that patent holding firm Personal Audio cannot seek additional damages from Apple relating to a patent that the Cupertino-based company was recently found to be infringing. Personal Audio was awarded $8 million last month when Texas judge Ron Clark ruled that Apple’s iPod was infringing one of its patents covering playlist implementation. Following the win, the holding firm filed a second lawsuit alleging that additional Apple devices such as the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 also made illegal use of this patent
Android conquers almost 50 percent of smartphone market | Reuters
Google's Android platform has taken almost 50 percent of the global smartphone market, dominating in the Asia-Pacific region, research firm Canalys said on Monday
Google Researcher Exposes Flaws In Sophos Software, Slams Antivirus Industry - Andy Greenberg - The Firewall - Forbes
But Ormandy’s presentation also went beyond Sophos to jab the entire antivirus industry. He argued that companies obscure their products’ code and claim that making it available to researchers would allow cybercriminals to more easily circumvent it, when in fact they should simply expose and fix their bugs. “If you examine a system’s security and it’s weakened, that system is flawed,” says Ormandy. “Antivirus vendors won’t explain what they do,” he says. “To make a good decision about whether whether antivirus is a good idea, we need to know how effective antivirus is.”
danah boyd | apophenia » “Real Names” Policies Are an Abuse of Power
What’s at stake is people’s right to protect themselves, their right to actually maintain a form of control that gives them safety. If companies like Facebook and Google are actually committed to the safety of its users, they need to take these complaints seriously. Not everyone is safer by giving out their real name. Quite the opposite; many people are far LESS safe when they are identifiable. And those who are least safe are often those who are most vulnerable.
Google's Prius struck another Prius, which then struck her Honda Accord that her brother was driving. That Accord then struck another Honda Accord, and the second Accord hit a separate, non-Google-owned Prius.
