Color vulnerable to simple GPS hack, lets you spy on anyone, anywhere

Color, the $41-million-in-funding location-oriented photo sharing startup, is susceptible to simple GPS spoofing. With nothing more than a jailbroken iPad or iPhone, you can use FakeLocation to trick Color into thinking you're somewhere else. Within seconds you can be browsing photos that were snapped thousands of miles away. With a little digging, you can pore through photos not intended for your eyes.

Of course, such a hack isn't illegal as such -- every photo you take with Color is public. With FakeLocation you are simply circumventing Color's very limited location-oriented security mechanism. It does undermine Color's usefulness (and uniqueness), though -- if nefarious types can sit in their bedroom or basement and eavesdrop on classy dinner parties and wild night club soirees, people might be less inclined to share personal photos with those around them.

Fortunately, both for Color and its users, this is an easy security hole to plug -- at least in the short term. The app (or server-side) code simply checks to see if the user has 'teleported' an impossibly large distance, without any intermediate steps in between. In the long term, though, Color's users must be aware that its social graph is completely public. Color's users must realize that every photo they upload is visible by anyone, from any place.

After the break, just to elucidate a little on Color's actual business model and ultimate intention, we have two amazing quotes from Bill Nguyen, Color's founder.

Continue reading Color vulnerable to simple GPS hack, lets you spy on anyone, anywhere

Color vulnerable to simple GPS hack, lets you spy on anyone, anywhere originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 05:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/29/color-vulnerable-to-simple-gps-hack-lets-you-spy-on-anyone-any/

Michael Vollmar Robin Jones Ingeburg Otte Moritz Beller

Yale University's Digitizing of all its Museum-Worthy Artifacts, For Free and Open Access [Blip]

All sorts of rare and unusual artifacts in Yale's collection are being photographed/digitized for the web, so everyone around the world can check out a handwritten Mozart sonata or William Blake watercolor, even if they don't actually attend Yale. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/lMDBZfZqjO8/yale-universitys-digitizing-of-all-its-museum+worthy-artefacts-for-free-and-open-access

Antonio Fellberg Emma Knebel Jason Randow Benjamin Schötz

In-app payment support arrives on Android

Right on cue, Google has launched in-app payment support for Android applications. Developer testing began last week, and now many popular apps -- like the ones pictured above -- can begin charging users for add-on functionality, content, or whatever the heck else they feel is worthy of additional bits of your pocket change. If you were wondering, Google will take the same 30% cut that Apple takes from in-app purchases.

At last we can buy individual issues in Comics with minimal fuss!

In-app payment support arrives on Android originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/30/in-app-payment-support-arrives-on-android/

Wilhelm Klassen Nathalie Füllgraf Janine Harrer Emilia Münchow

Google Chrome and Chromium add protection against malicious downloads

google chrome malicious download
Google Chrome already sports a number of security-minded features, from Incognito mode to a software sandbox which makes exploiting the browser a Herculean task. Now, Google has announced additional protection for Chromium and Chrome users.

Built upon the Safe Browsing API, the new feature introduces protection against malicious downloads. If a download link appears in the Safe Browsing blacklist, Chrome and Chromium will warn users against downloading -- a save button is still presented, of course, in case you're convinced a file is perfectly safe to download.

We'd like to see something a bit more eye-catching than the red warning icon -- like perhaps painting the entire bar red. Many of the people a feature like this aims to protect probably won't notice the icon or change in wording as they'll be focused on clicking the save button.

Google is initially making download protection available to Chrome dev channel users, and you'll likely see it in Canary and Chromium snapshot builds as well. After thorough testing, beta and stable users will be next in line.

Google Chrome and Chromium add protection against malicious downloads originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/google-chrome-and-chromium-add-protection-against-malicious-down/

Alexander Berner Oliver Büdenbender Christa Eymann Ingrid Schur

Nanosys unveils Quantum Dot Enhancement Film for LCDs, promises all kinds of colors

Another day, another step closer to quantum dot reality. Today, Nanosys unveiled its new Quantum Dot Enhancement Film (QDEFTM), marking the first time that the nanotechnology is available for LCD manufacturers. According to the company, its optical film can deliver up to 60 percent of all colors visible to the human eye, compared with the 20 to 25 percent that most displays offer. To create QDEFTM, Nanosys' engineers suspended a blend of quantum dots within optical film and applied it to a blue LED, which helped get the nanocrystals excited. Once they started hopping around, the dots emitted high-quality white light and a rich, wide color gamut, without consuming as much power as white LED-based materials. No word yet on when we can expect to see QDEFTM in consumer displays, but Nanosys claims that the film is "process-ready" and easy for manufacturers to integrate. For now, you can amuse yourselves by comparing the two frogs pictured above and guessing which one is covered in quantum dots. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Nanosys unveils Quantum Dot Enhancement Film for LCDs, promises all kinds of colors

Nanosys unveils Quantum Dot Enhancement Film for LCDs, promises all kinds of colors originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 13:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/17/nanosys-unveils-quantum-dot-enhancement-film-for-lcds-promises/

Gabriela Schnee Rita Imhof Angelika Frey Mika Bernhardt

Why Android Honeycomb Tablets Aren?t Hot ? Yet

Nvidia’s head honcho knows that sluggish sales of Android tablets are a problem, but says it won’t be that way forever. “I think that the vast majority of tablet users are actually buying from retail, and Wi-Fi only,” said Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang on a quarterly earnings conference call with reporters, explaining why sales for Android-powered [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/05/android-tablets-nvidia/

Svenja Hoferichter Carola Auer Luca Liebe Finja Kerkhoff

Facebook Loses Much Face In Secret Smear On Google

Facebook secretly hired a PR firm to plant negative stories about Google, says Dan Lyons in a jaw dropping story at the Daily Beast.
For the past few days, a mystery has been unfolding in Silicon Valley. Somebody, it seems, hired Burson-Marsteller, a top public-relations firm, to pitch anti-Google stories to newspapers, urging them to investigate claims that Google was invading people?s privacy. Burson even offered to help an influential blogger write a Google-bashing op-ed, which it promised it could place in outlets like The Washington Post, Politico, and The Huffington Post. The plot backfired when the blogger turned down Burson?s offer and posted the emails that Burson had sent him. It got worse when USA Today broke a story accusing Burson of spreading a ?whisper campaign? about Google ?on behalf of an unnamed client.?
Not good.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/wXmkD1XDd8o/

Malin Hock Helmut Hölzer

WinPho7 Could Bear Fruit With Mango Update

Microsoft has announced that it would hold a VIP preview of the next major release of its Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system May 24 in New York City. This release is expected to be the one that's been discussed under the code name "Mango." The "Mango" update will contain several important updates, according to various leaks and rumors.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/72430.html

Antonia Koppe Gertrud Hölzl Ulrike Kellner Nicola Kohnen