apple

Black Hat talk on Apple encryption canceled

Just days before the annual Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, a talk on Apple's FileVault encryption system has been abruptly canceled by its presenter.

Researcher Charles Edge told the Washington Post that he had signed confidentiality agreements with Apple. The agreements prevent him from discussing further any vulnerabilities he may have found within Apple's FileVault encryption system. Edge, director of technology of 318 Inc., has spoken at previous Black Hat and DefCon conferences.

This is not the first time a vendor has asked a security researcher not to give a talk at Black Hat.

In 2005, … Read more

Apple releases patch for critical DNS flaw

Apple released a security update Thursday to users of its Tiger and Leopard operating systems to address a critical and well-publicized Domain Name System flaw, along with a dozen other updates.

The DNS flaw, which was first reported by Dan Kaminsky of IOActive on July 8, could allow attackers to redirect Web site visitors to any site they choose and present forged information. The DNS translates the common name of a Web site into its numerical IP address, and is therefore a fundamental component to the Internet.

During the second pre-Black Hat security conference Webinar on July 24, Kaminsky provided … Read more

NetShare briefly offers iPhone tether at App Store

One of the most requested features for the iPhone is the ability to tether the phone to feed 3G or EDGE network data to your computer. That feature was briefly a reality Thursday, thanks to Nullriver's NetShare application. MacRumors reports that, priced at $9.99, the application seems to have, somehow, slipped below Apple's radar, but was pulled down after about 20 minutes of availability in the App Store.

The application basically turns your iPhone into a portable Wi-Fi hotspot, giving all of your Wi-Fi-enabled devices internet, wherever you have a cell signal. There are similar solutions available … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 778: Google, get off my lawn!

According to Google, there's no such thing as complete privacy. And while we tend to agree, we don't necessarily think that should mean Google can drive up into the driveway, take pictures of the inside of our houses, and put them on the Internet. Maybe we're just not all on the same page. Also, new Mac notebooks and iPods are likely coming soon, along with, but not related to, a new Internet.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 778

Apple Warns of iPod, Mac drought http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Apple_Warns_of_iPod_Mac_Drought/551-91696-615.html

GENI To … Read more

What to do when the executive has no clothes

Technology executives are notorious for their out-of-proportion egos and hot-headed tempers. Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs-- even Andy Grove--are all members of a long list of distinguished high-tech executives who are famous for not suffering fools lightly, among other things.

But what happens when they're the fools? What happens when a high-powered executive has his head up his you-know-what and has lost all sense of objectivity? What happens when a gutsy employee speaks up? Well, in many cases he gets his head chopped off for his trouble. In shrink speak this is called transference, which in this case means unconsciously taking one's own feelings of inferiority and guilt out on another.

Given a choice, the vast majority of people would rather forgo the whole decapitation thing rather than declare that "the emperor (or should I say executive) has no clothes." Not surprisingly, this phenomenon is rampant in the technology industry.… Read more

EIC Squared: Microsoft's Mojave, Broadband wars and Dell's music ambitions

On this week's EIC Squared podcast ZDNet's Larry Dignan and I discuss Dell's ambitions to get into the crowded music player industry, Microsoft's interesting focus group with Vista and how the broadband wars are shaking out.

Dell might make another attempt at bringing a music player to market. With DRM unraveling, Dell doesn't need to beat iTunes, just offer a relatively cool and cost effective listening device that accesses multiple music services via Wi-Fi. Microsoft has a perception problem with it comes to Vista. That is well known, but it may not be because the … Read more

Rant: Can we fix iTunes now, please?

You know how sometimes you get a huge mound of dishes piled up in the kitchen sink, and then something starts to stink, and it takes a long time to realize where the stink is coming from, but eventually you wash every dish and scrub the whole thing out and it takes maybe a day or two, but you're finally fresh and happy again? OK, well, iTunes is a kitchen sink full of crud, and it stinks. Apple? You need to clean that bad boy out. Trust me. We'll all feel better.

Listeners of Buzz Out Loud will … Read more

New iPod Nano to bring back slim design?

The next generation of the iPod Nano might be getting a slimmed-down makeover, according to a report.

iLounge believes it has hit on the design for the fourth-generation iPod Nano, reporting that Apple plans to bring back the thinner iPod Nano design of years past but in a taller package that's a nod to the screen size of today's "fat" iPod Nano. Video would play in landscape mode, borrowing from the landscape viewing mode of the iPhone and iPod Touch and delivering a 1.5-to-1 aspect ratio.

The fat iPod Nano was a bit controversial when … Read more

Apple seen as likely new ARM licensee

A new architectural licensee revealed by mobile-chip designer ARM might just be an old friend.

ARM Chief Executive Warren East revealed on an earnings conference call on Wednesday that "a leading handset OEM," or original equipment manufacturer, has signed an architectural license with the company, forming ARM's most far-reaching license for its processor cores.

East declined to elaborate on ARM's new partner, but EETimes' Peter Clarke could think of only one smartphone maker who would be that interested in shaping and controlling the direction of the silicon inside its phones: Apple.

And at first blush, the … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 777: Eight-letter word for fail: Scrabble

On today's show, we discover that it's hard to stand out in an orgy, only about a quarter of things Molly says are words, and EA poops all over you. That's just the kind of show we have when Rafe Needleman fills in for Tom.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 777/b>

Happy birthday, NASA! http://science.slashdot.org/science/08/07/29/2120225.shtml

EA: Hack took Facebook Scrabble down http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10002363-36.html

Garmin delays Nuvifone http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121742654018296961.html

Dell tests player to renew iPod battle … Read more