Category: Technology

So Much for Apple Being the Most Secure

Apple zealots always tout the “inherit security” of Mac OS 10. These mindless drones claim Apple’s operating system is the most secure in the world because it’s built on UNIX (even though they don’t actually know what UNIX is, nor FreeBSD which OS X is built upon). Well Secunia has released a report of the top 10 most vulnerable software vendors [PDF]. Guess who’s on top… Apple!

Of course this is not in regards to their operating system but software they release for Windows. Yup their Safari browser and iTunes media player really raped their rating because frankly it’s got enough holes to fly a squadron of fighter jets through. This is why I don’t use Safari (and why I use extensions in Firefox like NoScript and Certificate Patrol) on either Windows or Mac OS (Safari is a popular favorite at the Pwn2Own contest when attacking the Mac platform).

I want to note I’m surprised Adobe wasn’t higher on the list with all the recent problems they’ve had with Flash and Reader.

Set the Way Back Machine For Way Back

OK this is kind of awesome in a nostalgic sort of way. Access who purchased PalmSource which was the spun off software side of Palm (seriously if you ever want to read a book on the most convoluted company history ever Piloting Palm is a good read) has release an Android input system that uses the old Graffiti system from original Palm PDAs.

I installed it and it’s kind of fun although still slower than the Evo 4G’s built in keyboard. Surprisingly I still remember most of the Graffiti strokes. Now that I think about it that shouldn’t be very surprising since I used it a lot throughout college (I wrote entire speeches for class on my PDAs because I didn’t often lug around a laptop).

When a Problem Isn’t a Problem

Google’s been getting some flak for recording MAC addresses and unencrypted data from unsecured wireless access points while cruising around in their little street view cars. Several European countries have blown this completely out of proportion as have 37 states in this country.

Google has been very forthcoming with information including the fact that they were running Kismet in their vehicles. Kismet was being used to record the MAC addresses of wireless access points which were than tagged with GPS coordinates. The idea behind this is pretty simple; each access point has a unique MAC address. If you know the location of these wireless access points you can determine your location through Wi-Fi instead of having to rely on aGPS. The main advantage is you can have location based services with devices that have Wi-Fi cards but no GPS (for instance most laptops). By default Kismet saves all unencrypted data so Google obtaining this information isn’t so much nefarious as just forgetting to change the default settings.

Truth be told very little information is going to be gleamed from this data because the speed at which they were driving around put them in and out of range of most access points pretty quickly. Of course there is another thing to note here.

If you have an unsecured wireless access point and somebody is grabbing your data it’s your fault. Wireless data is broadcast out for all to hear. Treat it like yelling, if you and your significant other get into a yelling argument you can’t blame your neighbors for hearing what you two were screaming at each other. Wireless data is the same way. If your wireless signal enters my property then I have every right to eavesdrop on it. If you don’t want me to be able to do this you need to encrypt the data or shield your house well enough where your wireless signal isn’t entering my property (or in Google’s case public property where there is no expectation of privacy).

Instead of wasting time with this case I’d love to see these State Attorney’s deal with some real issues.

About Time

Adobe has been receiving a ton of flack form the security community recently due to all the holes being exploited in their Reader and Flash applications. Well it appears Adobe is finally sandboxing Reader in the hopes of preventing malicious exploitation of the software.

I’m sure not many people think too much about receiving a PDF. I mean it’s a document that is read-only. Well except for the fact that PDF’s can include JavaScript which is executable by Reader because… it was bad idea gets included into the product day I guess. Hopefully Adobe gets their sandbox working correctly although I’m skeptical looking back at their previous security practices (quarterly update cycles anybody?).

Serves Them Right

You know what’s my favorite feature of my new Evo 4G? It’s the fact I can hold it in my left hand and still have a signal! If you’ve been watching any technology news lately you know Apple is having some problems with the newest version of their Jesus Phone. See if you hold the phone in a certain way which many people do when just normally talking on the device the Jesus Phone 4 loses signal and the call is dropped. Steve Job’s solution was to tell one upset customer to stop holding it that way. Yup it’s your fault for wanting to hold the phone in your left hand you stupid peasant.

The Jesus Phone 4 is also having problems with the proximity sensor which prevents random shit from being pressed when the phone’s screen is connected to your phone. This problem isn’t as big since in order to experience it you must be talking on the phone and that doesn’t seem to be a feature of the newest model.

Well Apple is now holding a special Jesus Phone 4 press conference tomorrow. There are two possibilities here; they are going to address the recent troubles with their new phone, or they’re going to unviel the new white version of their new phone. Hopefully it’s the latter.

As much as I like Apple’s computers I don’t really like anything else they produce (especially their fucking wireless access point, it can go die in a fire). In the case of the iPad I just don’t like Apple’s draconian control over it but in the case of their new phone I don’t like the idea of a phone that doesn’t work in my left hand. Either way all this karma serves them right.

Technical Specifications on the New Kindle’s Screen

Yesterday I posted about the new Amazon Kindle DX. One of the new features being boasted about is the 50% higher contrast ratio screen. Well E Ink, the company behind the displays, has released some technical specifications on the new screen.

It appears that the new screen not only brings better contrast ratio to the table but also less power consumption to boot. From the specs page it appears the resolution of the new Kindle DX is 1200 x 825 which is pretty respectable considering some netbooks with 10″ or larger screens barely exceed that.

Kindle for Android Released

There are two devices I love at the moment; my Amazon Kindle and my HTC Evo 4G. So what happens when you combine the two? Well I wasn’t terribly impressed but alas it’s not possible since Amazon finally released a version of their Kindle software for Android. It’s still reading on a phone which means you have a small screen with a back lit LCD instead of a good sized screen with an e-ink display. But it might be nice as a mechanism of having fast access to reference manuals you may have.

Evo 4G Fully Rooted

Good news for anybody who owns an Evo 4G phone, it’s been fully rooted. Previously we’ve had rooting abilities but you either couldn’t write to the /system directory or could but had to reboot the phone in recovery mode to do so.

This should lead the way to custom ROMs being produced (a working copy of Froyo on my Evo would be awesome).

Cellular Data Abuse

Most cellular phone companies have an “unlimited” data plan which really consists of “unlimited” data up to 5GB. Well when I purchased the Evo 4G Sprint required I pay another $10.00 a month for their premium data plan. Along with allowing me to use their 4G service which isn’t available in my area it supposedly also lifts the 5GB cap. The put the cap in place to ensure you don’t use what you paid for regulate those users who use “too much” data. I’m one of those people.

Today on my way to work I used a Motorola T505 to connect my phone to my radio. The T505 is a Bluetooth A2DP device that can broadcast the audio playing on your phone to an FM radio channel. I used it today to stream music from Last.fm over my 3G connection on my drive to work.

It worked pretty well I must say and certainly would qualify as a good way to abuse that data plan.