Author Archives: Richard Adhikari
Groklaw Shutters Doors Over Email Privacy Concerns
- Aug
- 20
The continuing flood of news about the NSA’s surveillance of Americans’ communications, which has already forced secure email providers Lavabit and Silent Circle to shut down, has now claimed yet another victim. Specifically, award-winning tech legal news site Groklaw, which served the free and open source software community, on Tuesday announced that it is closing because of email security concerns.
Linux Burrows Deeper Into the Enterprise
- Aug
- 15
Server-side Linux has been pushing into the enterprise for some years now, and 42 percent of respondents to a survey conducted on behalf of Linux vendor SUSE said it was either their primary server OS or one of their top server platforms. Perhaps more importantly, Linux is extending its reach beyond its traditional areas of supercomputing, Web servers, Internet hosting and application development.
Elon Musk Blazes Hyperloop Trail
- Aug
- 13
Uber-industrialist Elon Musk on Monday released the alpha plans for his proposed Hyperloop high-speed travel system between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Hyperloop will consist of streamlined capsules riding like hovercraft on an air cushion in a steel tube with solar arrays on its roof to provide power to the system. The tube will be supported every 100 feet by pylons.
Mozilla, BlackBerry Team Up on Peach Fuzzing
- Aug
- 01
Politics may make for strange bedfellows, but there’s no comparison to the match-ups that occur in the business world. Consider this: Mozilla, which has been flexing its muscles of late and pushing into the smartphone business and foreign markets, has teamed up with the flailing and failing BlackBerry, which is hemorrhaging market share, to conduct research on bugs in browsers.
Android’s Crazy-Quilt Syndrome
- Aug
- 01
There’s no question that Android is fragmented. OpenSignal has counted nearly 11,900 distinct Android devices so far this year, compared with fewer than 4,000 last year. OpenSignal’s visual representations of the number of devices and the brands are a welter of shapes and colors. Think crazy quilts sewn by demented craftspeople inhaling non-tobacco substances.
BitTorrent Sync Could Keep Data Under Wraps
- Jul
- 18
BitTorrent, whose P2P software has been widely used by software pirates, hackers and IP thieves — as well as for legitimate purposes — on Wednesday released the beta version of BitTorrent Sync. BitTorrent has characterized Sync as a response to the limitations on speed, size and space associated with personal data movement, as well as the challenges to privacy and security.
Google Overhauls Maps App for Android
- Jul
- 11
Google on Wednesday launched a new Google Maps app for Android mobile devices, just one month after announcing its purchase of social mapping location data startup Waze. The new Google Maps app has many features offered by Waze, such as information on current traffic conditions, reports of problems on a route, and alerts if better routes become available.
Google Sticks a Thumb in Android Security Dike
- Jul
- 09
Lumbering like the old-school technology firms it sometimes derides, Google has finally issued a patch for a master key vulnerability in Android that Bluebox called to its attention back in February. “Is Google eating their own dog food?” asked Randy Abrams, a research director at NSS Labs. The vulnerability lets attackers modify Android apps into Trojan apps without breaking their APK signature.
Firefox 22: Look Ma, No Plug-ins!
- Jun
- 26
Firefox 22, launched by the Mozilla Foundation on Tuesday, supports voice calling, video chat and peer-to-peer file sharing through the browser without plug-ins, thanks to full support for the WebRTC application programming interface. Firefox and Google Chrome support WebRTC, but currently Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Apple’s Safari browser do not.
The Ghost of SCO Dogs IBM Again
- Jun
- 17
Like Carrie, whose hand emerged from the grave to grab Sue by the ankle in Sue’s nightmare, SCO has reemerged from its grave to revive its lawsuit against IBM, 10 years after the case was first filed. A court has granted SCO’s motion for reconsideration and reopening the case. SCO originally had sought $1 billion in damages from IBM, but it was soundly defeated in court.