Five apps to hit the ground running with your new Android tablet – If you’re trying to figure out which apps to load on your brand new Android tablet, here are some great choices to get you started.
How to Sideload Android Apps – If your carrier locks the front door on your Android device, here’s how to sneak in.
Five tips for faster Web browsing – If you’re wasting too much time waiting (and waiting and waiting) for Web pages to load, give these tips a try. You should see an immediate, noticeable boost in speed, making your browsing experience faster and more efficient.
KDE 4.8 Released – Looking for some hot new O.S. action but skeptical of the volcabularific new HUD interface being introduced to Ubuntu? That’s the open-sourced beauty of Linux — there are plenty of flavors available for the picky types out there. And now there’s a new one, or rather, a new update of an old hand. KDE 4.8 has hit the Web, complete with a host of fresh features and abilities.
User error is the biggest threat on the Internet – Sophos unveiled a detailed assessment of the threat landscape – from hacktivism and online threats to mobile malware, cloud computing and social network security, as well as IT security trends for this coming year.
O2 fixes phone number leak, explains blunder – British wireless carrier admits that between January 10 and 2 p.m. today, customers’ phone numbers could have been accessed by sites that don’t belong to the network’s roster of “trusted partners.”
Malicious MIDI files lead to rootkit malware – A Windows Media remote code execution flaw that has been patched in the last Patch Tuesday is being exploited by attackers in the wild to deliver malware to the targets’ computer, warns Trend Micro.
Politicians aim some pointed privacy questions at Google – Rep. Jackie Speier, a Democrat whose district includes YouTube’s headquarters, co-authored a letter asking Google a series of sternly worded questions.
Protecting Mac OS X from privacy threats – PrivacyScan offers support for a wide range of items, including popular web browsers such as Camino, Chrome, Firefox, Flock, iCab, OmniWeb, Opera, Safari, SeaMonkey, and Shiira, privacy threats presented by Flash Cookies, as well as standard apps such as Finder, Preview, and QuickTime.
Multiple Bugs Haunt WordPress Setup – Researchers have found a string of weaknesses in the WordPress default installation page, including PHP code execution and a persistent cross-site scripting flaw, affecting versions 3.3.1 and later. WordPress officials say that they’re not planning to fix the vulnerabilities as there’s only a small possibility of exploitation by attackers.
Company News:
HP’s open-sourcing of webOS begins today – The last time we heard about webOS, HP had opted to open-source the mobile platform, letting developers take a stab at breathing some life into it. It was an unconventional move, but not necessarily a bad one: it puts the platform largely in the hands of the development community, and it doesn’t require a large investment. Today we found out more about HP’s plans for the second coming of webOS.
Apache OpenOffice – The IBM Edition? – In a blog posting announcing the end of Lotus Symphony, IBM explained that Open Office is the future (as it was the past too for them since Symphony was an openoffice fork) “Our energy from here is going into the Apache OpenOffice project, and we expect to distribute an “IBM edition” of Apache OpenOffice in the future,” Ed Brill, Director, Lotus Software, IBM Software Group blogged.
Dell Embraces SUSE Linux for OEM Solutions – Dell OEM Solutions is partnering with SUSE to deliver Linux for embedded and customized solutions. The partnership is the first by Dell that will bring a certified Linux solution to its OEM customers.
Google Experimenting With TCP for a Faster Web – Google is testing ways to whittle down the latency inherent in TCP connections Web browsers make to request and retrieve data. The company’s work is available via open source.
Off Topic (Sort of):
ICSI Netalyzr – Researchers at the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) in Berkeley, California, have built a website that studies internet connections and they need New Scientist readers to help them collect data. Visit the ICSI Netalyzr website and click “start analysis”. The site will take a few minutes to probe your internet connection. When it’s done you will see whether certain types of traffic are being interfered with. You will also learn about the steps your ISP is – or is not – taking to ensure that your connection is fast and is not being abused by spammers. The results will be displayed on the institute’s website. (recommended by Christopher A.)
Google is FUBAR – Google announced perhaps the biggest change it has ever made to its massive network of web services — a change that will bring it within a whisker of defeating Facebook, but will ultimately result in its death.
11 Flu-Fighting Gadgets for Germaphobes (And the Rest of Us) – I’m not going to lie to you: This is a pretty gross story. You may not be a germaphobe (yet), but this story will make you look at your keyboard, your phone, and pretty much the whole world differently. Fortunately, we recommend some products that can help keep these invisible threats at bay, taking antivirus protection to a whole new level.
Apple Still Ignoring Labor Abuses in Favor of Profits – A day after Apple recorded its best quarter ever, a report from The New York Times has questioned – again – whether Apple’s products are manufactured under safe and humane conditions.
Apple: made in China, untaxed profits kept offshore – About two-thirds of Apple’s $97.6 billion cash pile is off shore. That’s a lot of money for an American company to keep outside of America.
How Sitting All Day Is Damaging Your Body and How You Can Counteract It – Do you sit in an office chair or on your couch for more than six hours a day? Then here are some disturbing facts: Your risk of heart disease has increased by up to 64 percent. You’re shaving off seven years of quality life. You’re also more at risk for certain types of cancer. Simply put, sitting is killing you. That’s the bad news. The good news: It’s easy to counteract no matter how lazy you are.
Today’s Quote:
“My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.”
- Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.
Today’s Free Downloads:
SUPERAntiSpyware 5.0.1144 – Detect and Remove Spyware, Adware and Remove Malware, Trojans, Dialers, Worms, KeyLoggers, HiJackers, Parasites, Rootkits, Rogue Security Products and many other types of threats.
Songbird 1.10.2.2199 – Songbird is a desktop media player mashed-up with the Web. Songbird is committed to playing the music you want, from the sites you want, on the devices you want, challenging the conventions of discovery, purchase, consumption and organization of music on the Internet.
