Tag: open source

GM Performs Stealth Update To Fix Security Bug In OnStar

An anonymous reader writes: Back in 2010, long before the Jeep Cherokee thing, some university researchers demonstrated remote car takeover via cellular (old story here). A new Wired article reveals that this was actually a complete exploit of the OnStar system (and was the same one used in that 60 Minutes car hacking episode last year). Moreover, these cars stayed vulnerable for years — until 2014, when GM created a remote update capability and secretly started pushing updates to all the affected cars. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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GM Performs Stealth Update To Fix Security Bug In OnStar

Apple’s OS X El Capitan launches on September 30th

Apple’s latest desktop OS upgrade, dubbed ” El Capitan , ” is scheduled to launch on September 30th, Apple announced today. El Capitan is like an update within an update: It’s named after a landmark inside of Yosemite (the name of the previous OS version) and it features a series of minor, yet useful, tweaks. El Capitan offers a new split-screen view, changes to email and app management, drag-and-drop options for Notes, and updates to Safari and Maps, among other improvements. We got our hands on the developer build back in June and concluded it was a nice upgrade, if not revolutionary: “There simply is no killer feature this time around. But as minor as some of them may seem, they’re all at the very least nice to have, and in many cases genuinely useful.” Apple teased the El Capitan release date yesterday with a sneaky little screenshot during its iPad Pro event : Filed under: Misc , Software , Apple Comments Source: Apple Tags: apple, ElCapitan, iphone2015, OSX, osxelcapitan

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Apple’s OS X El Capitan launches on September 30th

Why AltaVista Lost Ground To Google Sooner Than Expected

techtsp writes: Marcia J. Bates, UCLA Professor Emerita of Information Studies recently explained why Google’s birth led to the downfall of AltaVista. According to Bates, early search engines including AltaVista adapted the classical IR methods. At the other hand, Google founders started off with a completely different approach in mind. Google successfully recognized the potential of URLs, which could be added to the algorithms for the sake of information indexing altogether. Google’s modern age techniques were a huge boost to those older techniques. Whatever other business and company management issues AltaVista faced, it was the last of the old style information retrieval engines. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Why AltaVista Lost Ground To Google Sooner Than Expected

Bugzilla Breached, Private Vulnerability Data Stolen

darthcamaro writes: Mozilla today publicly announced that secured areas of bugzilla, where non-public zero days are stored, were accessed by an attacker. The attacker got access to as many as 185 security bugs before they were made public. They say, “We believe they used that information to attack Firefox users.” The whole hack raises the issue of Mozilla’s own security, since it was a user password that was stolen and the bugzilla accounts weren’t using two-factor authentication. According to Mozilla’s FAQ about the breach (PDF), “The earliest confirmed instance of unauthorized access dates to September 2014. There are some indications that the attacker may have had access since September 2013.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Bugzilla Breached, Private Vulnerability Data Stolen

20+ Chinese Android Smartphones Models Come With Pre-Installed Malware

An anonymous reader writes: Security researchers from G DATA have published research (PDF) into Android phones produced in China, which found that a large number of devices ship with pre-installed malware and spyware. Affected models include the Xiaomi MI3, Huawei G510, Lenovo S860, Alps A24, Alps 809T, Alps H9001, Alps 2206, Alps PrimuxZeta, Alps N3, Alps ZP100, Alps 709, Alps GQ2002, Alps N9389, Android P8, ConCorde SmartPhone6500, DJC touchtalk, ITOUCH, NoName S806i, SESONN N9500, SESONN P8, Xido X1111, Star N9500, Star N8000 and IceFox Razor. The researchers do not believe the manufacturers are responsible for the malware; rather, they suspect middlemen within distribution channels. “According to G DATA, the contamination of these smartphones is done by hiding malware as add-on code in legitimate apps. Since users don’t usually interact with the malware and the add-on runs in the app’s background, unless using a mobile antivirus solution, these infections are rarely discovered.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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20+ Chinese Android Smartphones Models Come With Pre-Installed Malware

Solar Windows Could Help Power Buildings

Lucas123 writes: Several companies are now beginning to roll out translucent photovoltaic films or solar cells embedded in windows that can supplement a significant amount of energy in the buildings where they’re used. SolarWindow Technologies, for example, is preparing to launch a transparent product made with organic PVs, while another company, Solaria, is cutting solar cells into thin strips and embedding them in windows. Both companies admit their products can’t produce the 20% efficiency ratings of today’s best rooftop solar panels, but they say that’s not their objective. Instead, the companies are looking to take advantage of millions of skyscraper windows that today are simply unused real estate for renewable energy. One company is aiming at supplementing 20% to 30% of a skyscrapers power requirements. Meanwhile, universities are also jumping into the solar window arena. Oxford University has spun off a PV window company that produces semi-transparent solar cells made of semi-transparent perovskite oxide that has achieved a 20% solar energy efficiency. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Solar Windows Could Help Power Buildings

New Russian Laboratory To Study Mammoth Cloning

An anonymous reader writes: While plans to clone a woolly mammoth are not new, a lab used in a joint effort by Russia and South Korea is. The new facility is devoted to studying extinct animal DNA in the hope of creating clones from the remains of animals found in the permafrost. IBtimes reports: “The Sakha facility has the world’s largest collection of frozen ancient animal carcasses and remains, with more than 2, 000 samples in its possession, including some that are tens of thousands years old, such as a mammoth discovered on the island of Maly Lyakhovsky; experts believe it may be more than 28, 000 years old.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New Russian Laboratory To Study Mammoth Cloning

Chrome 45 Launches, Automatically Pauses Less Important Flash Content, Like Ads

An anonymous reader writes: Google today launched Chrome 45 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android with some expected changes and new developer tools. First and foremost, Chrome now automatically pauses less important Flash content (rolling out gradually, so be patient). This has been a longtime coming from both Google and Adobe, with the goal to make Flash content more power-efficient in Chrome: In March, a setting was introduced to play less Flash content on the page, but it wasn’t turned on by default, and in June, the option was enabled in the browser’s beta channel. Now it’s being turned on for everyone. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Chrome 45 Launches, Automatically Pauses Less Important Flash Content, Like Ads

Windows 10 Grabs 5.21% Market Share, Passing Windows Vista and Windows 8

An anonymous reader writes: The effects of a free upgrade to Windows 10 are starting to trickle in. Available for just over a month, Windows 10 has now captured more than 5 percent market share, according to the latest figures from Net Applications. In just four weeks, Windows 10 has already been installed on over 75 million PCs. Microsoft is aiming to have 1 billion devices running Windows 10 “in two to three years, ” though that includes not just PCs, but smartphones, consoles, and other devices as well. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Windows 10 Grabs 5.21% Market Share, Passing Windows Vista and Windows 8

LILO Bootloader Development To End

An anonymous reader writes: For any longtime Linux users, you probably remember the LILO bootloader from Linux distributions of many years ago. This bootloader has been in development since the 90’s but development is finally ending. A homepage message reads, “I plan to finish development of LILO at 12/2015 because of some limitations (e.g. with BTFS, GPT, RAID). If someone want to develop this nice software further, please let me know …” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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LILO Bootloader Development To End