Logging The Cyber World

Tags: applidium, crack apps, iphone 4s, Siri, siri protocol

It’s been a trying month for Apple’s security team: First, a researcher pokes a hole in the company’s tight control of its App Store. And now another group of hackers claim they’ve cracked its newest crown jewel and Google killer, the voice command and search tool Siri, to run on any device–potentially even Google’s.

“Today, we managed to crack open Siri’s protocol,” reads a blog post by a group of French security researchers and consultants at the Paris-based firm Applidium. “As a result, we are able to use Siri’s recognition engine from any device. Yes, that means anyone could now write an Android app that uses the real Siri! Or use Siri on an iPad! And we’re going to share this know-how with you.”

More on Forbes

Tags: apple OS, iOS 5.0.1, iphone, iPhone Battery issue, smartphone

iOS 5.0.1 has landed, and the iPhone 4S experience is better as a result. Thanks to the update, the battery life bug which had been causing a large amount of pain to a small percentage of iPhone 4S users, is gone. The laundry list of other official improvements in 5.01 is brief: additional multitasking gestures for the iPad 1. Something about smoothing out the iCloud experience. That’s all well and good. But it’s what’s not on the list that’s of intrigue at this point. Other companies do it as well, but Apple in particular is known for slipping additional, under-the-radar improvements into their .x.x software updates. Why not announce it? Maybe it’s something the company want to advertise as having been a previous deficiency, but wants to improve upon nonetheless. That means iPhone 4S users now get to spend the next few days looking for other subtle signs of improvement in their iOS 5 experience. Did Apple, for instance, add refinements to the way in which Siri works? Perhaps some of the built-in apps launch just a bit faster on the 4S now than they did before. The search begins for what else iOS 5.0.1 has brought to the table.

More Here

Tags: arcsight, hewlett-packard, huge technology company, security, software maker

Hewlett-Packard Co. agreed to buy security-software maker ArcSight Inc. for about $1.5 billion, continuing the company’s spending spree that began after Chief Executive Mark Hurd resigned last month.

The deal also represents the latest purchase of a smaller security firm by a huge technology company, a trend some see continuing as big tech considers the importance of adding security to their product portfolio. ArcSight makes software that monitors corporate networks for unusual activity, such as a hacker’s attempt to break into a system.

ArcSight shares ended Monday trading up 25.1% at $43.91 on the Nasdaq, above H-P’s offer price of $43.50 a share, suggesting some traders may be expecting or hoping for a higher bid, similar to what happened with storage maker 3PAR Inc. last month. ArcSight, of Cupertino, Calif., had been quietly shopping itself to a handful of big technology companies, and the agreed-upon deal provides a 24% premium to ArcSight’s closing price Friday and a 70% premium to where it was trading a month ago.

On a conference call with investors, H-P executives declined to comment about the bidding process for ArcSight. They also wouldn’t speculate about what would have happened if Mr. Hurd remained CEO.

More on Wall Street Journal

Tags: 3PAR, antivirus, chip-maker, intel, mcaffe, software deal

Intel Corp will acquire security software company McAfee Inc. in an all-cash deal worth USD 7.68 billion that will bolster the world’s largest chip-maker’s computing portfolio, especially in wireless mobility offerings.

The chip-maker will purchase all the common shares of McAfee at a price of USD 48 per piece, valuing the deal at USD 7.68 billion, Intel said in a statement today.

Both the companies have a good presence in India.

In the backdrop of improving economic conditions, there have been a slew of deals worldwide in recent months. Earlier this week, computer-maker Dell on Monday had announced that it would acquire data storage company 3PAR Inc. for USD 1.15 billion.

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Tags: microsoft critical updates, microsoft patch, microsoft updates, ms office updates, security holes, tuesday patch

Microsoft plugs 34 security holes in a Patch Tuesday update with 14 security bulletins. Of the eight critical bulletins, Microsoft rates four as the highest priority for enterprises.

Microsoft released 14 new security bulletins in Aug. 10′s Patch Tuesday update to cover nearly three dozen vulnerabilities.

Fourteen is the largest number of security bulletins ever released by Microsoft on Patch Tuesday. Eight of the bulletins are rated critical. Of the eight, four are considered by Microsoft to be high priority: MS10-052, which resolves a vulnerability in Microsoft’s MPEG Layer-3 audio codecs; MS10-055, which addresses a vulnerability in the Cinepak Codec used by Windows Media Player to support the AVI audiovisual format; MS10-056, which deals with four vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office; and MS10-060, which resolves two vulnerabilities in Microsoft .NET Framework and Microsoft Silverlight.

Another bulletin that may require particular attention is MS10-054.

“The SMB [protocol] pool overflow vulnerability [covered in MS10-054] should be a real concern for enterprises,” said Joshua Talbot, security intelligence manager of Symantec Security Response. “Not only does it give an attacker system-level access to a compromised SMB server, but the vulnerability occurs before authentication is required from computers contacting the server. This means any system allowing remote access and not protected by a firewall is at risk.

Read more at eweek.com

Tags: beta release, cs 5, new photoshop version, photo editing, photoshop

Whenever a new version of an important program comes out, the need for it, depending on the changes, can run the spectrum–from it’s-revolutionary, got-to-have-it-now to ho-hum, I-can-wait-for-the-next-revision. Adobe Photoshop CS5, the latest version that’s sold both individually and as part of Adobe Creative Suite 5, falls between those two extremes ($699 for Standard stand-alone, $1299 for Creative Suite 5 Design Standard; upgrade pricing available).We reviewed a beta.

Photoshop is a mature program that is already an indispensable component of everyday business for photographers and graphics professionals. What sets Photoshop CS5 apart isn’t any one killer app but dozens of refinements that will make users’ lives easier, more efficient, and, potentially, more creative.

Read More at BusinessWeek

Tags: beta software, download, Microsoft, os, torrent, windows, windows 7

Downloads of a new build of Microsoft Corp.’s upcoming Windows 7 operating system have soared in the past two days, with thousands of systems now pulling pirated copies from BitTorrent sites.

Searches today on the Pirate Bay BitTorrent site, for example, returned multiple listings of Windows 7 Build 7000, which Microsoft identifies as a beta candidate in the file name. The torrent is a disk image of the 32-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate; a 64-bit version is not yet available.

The most heavily trafficked Windows 7 BitTorrent on Pirate Bay showed more than 4,300 “seeders” — the term for a computer that has a complete copy of the torrent file — and about 7,500 “leechers,” or computers that have downloaded only part of the complete torrent. Less popular BitTorrents of the file on Pirate Bay claimed an additional 1,000 seeders and more than 3,000 leechers.

On Saturday, a day after the first copies of Build 7000 appeared on BitTorrent, Pirate Bay’s prime listing showed less than half as many seeders as it did today.

Read more at ComputerWorld

Tags: alien language, computer software, human language, Science, scientists

A computer programme which could help identify and even translate messages from aliens in outer space has been developed by a British scientist.

Even if there are extra terrestrials are one day discovered, scientists fear their alien tongue may make it impossible to understand them.

But John Elliott of Leeds Metropolitan University believes he has come up with software which at least will decipher the structure of their language – and be the first step in understanding what they are saying.

Dr Elliott’s programme would compare an alien language to a database of 60 different languages in the world to search see if it has a similar structure.

He believes that even an alien language far removed from any on Earth is likely to have recognisable patterns that could help reveal how intelligent the life forms are.

Full Article @ telegraph.co.uk

Tags: browser, download, firefox, guinness world of records, mozilla, Open Source

“Join us in our mission to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours!

Have you attempted to set a World Record with no luck? Well, now is your chance to change that! Help set a Guinness World Record by pledging to download Firefox 3 today. And, help spread the word!”

Download Here

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Tags: browser, firefox, guinness world of record, mozilla, participation

Firefox community to set the Guinness World Record for Most Software Downloaded in 24 Hours.
Wanna participate? Make your pledge here.