Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – August 23, 2012

Can You Trust Your Browser With Your Passwords? – Having your Web browser remember your passwords and/or credit card details can be convenient, but it poses some security risks. How much of a risk depends on which browser you’re using, whether you sync with other devices, and whether you’re using any of the browser’s extra security features. Here are the main vulnerabilities in some of the most popular browsers—Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox—and ways you can protect against those weak spots.

9 Apps to Transform Your Android Phone Into a High-End Camera – We scoured multiple Android app stores to find the ultimate photography apps for shooting, editing, and sharing pictures. Here are the nine apps we tested that every photographer should have.

Are Your Facebook Friends Ratting You Out? – Don’t look now, but the coppers may be leaning on your friends to reveal your Facebook info to them — with the court’s approval.

The iPad Mini will destroy any hope of Android tablet success – The iPad Mini will have one purpose: To stem the loss of tablet sales caused by the rebellious 7-inch Amazon Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7 — and through better looks, better content, and priced at $200, the iPad Mini will do just that.

Privacy dispute emerges involving personal data, kids and marketing – Nearly two dozen children advocacy groups are reportedly teaming up this week to file complaints over personal data and marketing with the FTC against large corporations such as McDonald’s and Nickelodeon.

How DriveSavers Got My Data Back – After getting epically hacked and having my computer wiped remotely, I was left with the world’s saddest MacBook Air. My useless machine came back to me from the Apple Store with a new OS installed on a 6GB partition, and what appeared to be a locked 250GB big blank slate on the other. But in the nothingness of that blank slate, I hoped, were the pictures, movies, and documents that I foolishly and lazily had failed to back up. (recommended by Michael F.)

Google+ Update Adds More Notification Controls – Have an annoying friend or family member in one of your Circles who is always sharing every last detail of their day? Now you can click “mute” from notifications or their profile, and you won’t be notified every time they post. On the other hand, you may have certain Circles whose content you never want to miss. Now you can move that Circle’s slider all the way to the right, and you’ll get notified via email whenever they share something new.

YouTube debuts ‘Elections Hub,’ a one-stop campaign channel – Google’s video service rolls out its election-specific channel to broadcast this season’s conventions, debates, speeches, and commentary from a varied mix of news outlets.

McAfee Mobile Security gets additional privacy features – McAfee announced enhancements to its McAfee Mobile Security software, providing Android smartphone and tablet owners with additional privacy features that help them ensure apps are not accessing their personal information without their knowledge.

Security:

Firefox 17 Will Boost Add-On Security – Upcoming release will add an extra level of protection between add-ons and Mozilla’s popular browser.

Fake Android Flash Player contains malware and adware – Malware peddlers are taking advantage of the fact that Adobe has pulled its Flash Player app from Google Play and have begun offering Android malware disguised as the aforementioned legitimate software. Banking on the likelihood that not many users have hears about that decision and are searching for Flash Player on official and unofficial online Android markets, Russian scammers have decided to set up a number of websites offering the bogus app.

Blackberry ID malware campaign – Websense ThreatSeeker Network intercepted a malware campaign targeting Blackberry customers. These fake emails state that the recipient has successfully created a Blackberry ID. The messages then continue, “To enjoy the full benefits of your BlackBerry ID, please follow the instructions in the attached file.” That, of course, is an attempt to lure victims into running the attached malware.

Crisis Trojan Makes Its Way onto Virtual Machines – The Windows version of the Crisis Trojan is able to sneak onto VMware implementations, making it possibly the first malware to target such virtual machines. It also has found a way to spread to Windows Mobile devices.

Company News:

Facebook cleared to acquire Instagram – Facebook gets the go-ahead to buy the popular mobile photo sharing app when the FTC ends its investigation of the deal.

Amazon Glacier: 99.999999999% durability long-term storage, for a penny a gig – Amazon has unveiled the latest addition to AWS: Glacier, a long-term, cloud-based storage solution that costs just $0.01 per gigabyte per month. This is significantly cheaper than on-site storage, and at least ten times cheaper than other cloud storage services.

Nikon to Release Android-Powered Coolpix Camera – The 16-megapixel Nikon Coolpix S800c runs Android Gingerbread and has a suggested retail price of $350.

ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus Launches Project Management Beta – ManageEngine, the real-time IT management company, today announced the beta version of its Project Management module for the company’s ITIL-ready help desk software, ServiceDesk Plus. Available immediately, the Project Management beta module is designed for different teams and experts to collaborate in managing help desk projects of any size. With the ability to split a project into different milestones — and milestones into numerous tasks — ITSM team members can manage and track tasks from start to finish.

AT&T Denies FaceTime Over Cellular Plans Violate Net Neutrality – AT&T on Wednesday denied that its plan to only offer FaceTime over cellular for those on shared data plans violates the FCC’s net neutrality rules.

Google instituting internal Privacy Red Team – Google is looking for a Data Privacy Engineer to be part of an internal team whose goal will be to find – and remove – privacy risks in the company’s many products.

Google to Merge Postini Email Security Services Into Google Apps – Google is ending its stand-alone Postini email security offering and merging it into its Google Apps products as part of a consolidation move to simplify its services. The move comes almost five years after Google purchased Postini in September 2007 for about $625 million. Since the acquisition, Google has been integrating Postini’s products, personnel and processes into Google’s Enterprise Division.

Webopedia Daily:

Physical Topology – The physical layout of devices on a network. Every LAN has a topology, or the way that the devices on a network are arranged and how they communicate with each other. The way that the workstations are connected to the network through the actual cables that transmit data — the physical structure of the network — is called the physical topology. The logical topology, in contrast, is the way that the signals act on the network media, or the way that the data passes through the network from one device to the next without regard to the physical interconnection of the devices.

Off Topic (Sort of):

PC obsolescence is obsolete – The idea of the computer as an appliance you need to replace every 2-3 years in order to keep current is dead for desktops and rapidly expiring on laptops. Joel Hruska examines the trend — and why it’s a good thing.

How to save a wet phone — and what not to do – Dropped your handset in the bath? Fumbled your phone and plopped it in the loo? Don’t panic — just follow these steps and you’ll have a good chance of breathing life back into your drowned smartphone. Just be sure to check out our list below of what not to do for some useful mythbusting.

How Police Tracked Down Steve Jobs’ Stolen iPads – The digital breadcrumbs left behind when people use Internet-connected gadgets are what led California investigators to recover iMacs, iPads and other items stolen from the home of the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Based on the police report, obtained by the IDG News Service, here’s how they did it.

The End of the computer as we know it – Wonder why HP, Dell and other leading computer manufacturers believe the end of the computer as we know it is near? It’s not the iPad that has them concerned about the future, it is developments like the ones Corning is working on.

Keep Your Credit Cards Safe From Skimmers – Credit card skimming is a major threat to credit and debit card users. Here’s what you need to know about this increasingly common form of financial fraud.

License plates scanned at border, data shared with car insurance group – As public scrutiny continues to mount against the use of license plate readers (LPRs) across the country, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has now released government documents showing that such data, which includes precise GPS location, date, and timestamps, in addition to the plate in question, are shared with an auto insurance umbrella organization. (recommended by Michael F.)

Today’s Quote:

“The secret of all success is to know how to deny yourself. Prove that you can control yourself, and you are an educated man; and without this all other education is good for nothing.”

–       R. D. Hitchcock

Today’s Free Downloads:

StickK – If you’re looking for powerful motivation and accountability, you may want to look into StickK. This unique, free Web service lets you set a long-term goal with weekly check-ins.

VMware Player – Get more out of your existing computer hardware. Use the free VMware Player application to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single PC.