Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 24th Sep 2012 22:34 UTC
It's going to be a rough month for what was once one of the most successful smartphone companies in the world. Between all the Android and iOS violence, it's easy to forget there's this Canadian company which was still growing its userbase every month. However, it's expected the company will lose subscribers for the very first time.
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Member since:2011-05-12
I reacted to:
Despite the desire to hop on the Apple bandwagon, iPhones are not allowed for usage.
That security?
So it was not I that brought up the iPhone.
All smart phones are tracked in some or multiple ways. The goverment wants to track it their way, so they modified a Dell Venue. This motivates someone, somehow, that iPhones are not secure.
Member since:2012-08-26
Yes, I brought up iPhones because currently they are the 'cool' phones that every one from corporate to academia to government agencies want to use in place of more secure and frankly better & cheaper products.
Funny that a single negative mention of anything Apple set you off on a tirade to defend them as if it was a personal attack on yourself. Psychologically, this is akin to religious beliefs and fundamentalism.
http://www.psfk.com/2011/05/secrets-of-the-superbrands-how-apple-pr...
As I pointed out before, I neither 'love' nor 'hate' any brand - Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, Google, etc. I recognize the good and the bad. I will level criticism when deserved at all, and if there is praise, I will give that as well. I personally have not found much reason to give praise for Apple's corporate behavior in the last decade. Again, deal with it.
RE[7]: Comment by NuxRo
by Laurence on Tue 25th Sep 2012 21:02
in reply to "RE[6]: Comment by NuxRo"
Member since:2007-03-26
I reacted to:
Despite the desire to hop on the Apple bandwagon, iPhones are not allowed for usage.
That security?
So it was not I that brought up the iPhone.
Despite the desire to hop on the Apple bandwagon, iPhones are not allowed for usage.
That security?
So it was not I that brought up the iPhone.
Ahh sorry yes. My mistake.
To be honest I didn't think his post was arguing that iPhones were less secure and Android. Just that the government haven't reacted to employees pressure to support iOS just yet.
Having worked for the government in the past, I've seen first hand how glacial things move. Often with superior technology inexplicitly passed over.
All smart phones are tracked in some or multiple ways. The goverment wants to track it their way, so they modified a Dell Venue. This motivates someone, somehow, that iPhones are not secure.
I think you're drawing several false conclusions there. Mainly the assumption that the Dell phones are modified to make it easier for the government to snoop. That's just plain silly as there's a whole plethora of strict checks that applicants have to pass before they're employed in positions like the DOJ. The security on the Dell phones would almost certainly be preventing data getting lost.
Plus the government doesn't need to hack Android to snoop anyway: employees e-mails would be sent via their mail servers anyway and any phone conversation can easily be tapped.
I can understand a healthy distrust when it comes to matter of security, but I think you're boarding on tin-hats with your Dell allegations. As I said before, having worked in IT for the government in the past (albeit the British gov) and have actively worked on projects regarding securing confidential data and it's distribution. So the official reports on the DOJ Dell's seem reasonable to me based on the experience and i've had projects I've worked on.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 22:23 UTC
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 13:38 UTC
"The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 13:30 UTC, submitted by JRepin
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 22:06 UTC
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:45 UTC
"There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 15:53 UTC
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 22:43 UTC
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 21:50 UTC
PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:15 UTC
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:11 UTC, submitted by Drumhellar
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."More News »
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Member since:
2007-03-26
That's because nobody was discussing iPhone security until you jumped in
They took an Android phone because it's easy to modify and add their own backdoors to it.
That's likely part of the reason. But the article did list a number of other specific reasons why iPhones weren't used.
So if you're fond of privacy and security never ever use a phone given to you by a government agency.
If you were that paranoid that the government are watching you, then you wouldn't be applying for jobs in the DOJ to begin with :p
The fact is, everyone is watching and logging your activities. Google, Apple, your ISP, the web servers you connect to, your telecoms company every time you make a call, your bank every time you make a transaction....everyone. We only enjoy relative anonymity due to the scale of the data collected (aka security through obscurity), but don't think governments nor private entities (if just via civil lawsuits) couldn't access a wealth of data against you should they decide to single you out.