Windows 10 will ship with IE 11, but the default browser will be Spartan

A new, leaner, faster Microsoft browser will be the default for the next Windows.  It will still be based on Microsoft javascript and browsing engines.

Tablets Dead? Phablets the new Thing?

It seems that tablets are on the way out being replaced by large phones.

CCC says it can recreate fingerprints from pictures

Using VeriFinger commercial software.

Google cars on the road next month

No drivers or steering wheels...

South Korea nuclear plants under cyber attack

CEO says all is well.

Just Because: Quake on an oscilloscope

Not very high resolution.

Facebook has indexed 1 trillion posts

Combined with the data about those who generated the posts gives Facebook an unprecedented vault of data.

Who is the Lizard Squad

Brian Krebs has a concise set of facts about the hacker group.

Facebook "Year in Review" causes pain

The automated "Year in Review" had some people reliving terrible moments in their year.  Facebook says sorry.

Google, Apple, others adding "Do Not Track" exemption for themselves

Do Not Track is dying or at least being subverted by the Big Guys.

Anonymous vs. Lizard Squad

Anonymous warned Lizard Squad to not attack Tor, but they created many relays anyways in an attempt to take over the network.

Sony's PSN back online after extended DDOS

Sony says all is well now, I would change your password just in case.

ISC.org WordPress hacked, visitors may be infected

If you went to isc.org recently scan your PC for malware.

Anonymous posts data from hacked sites

Account info, credit card numbers, and more from Xbox Live and PSN networks.  13000 passwords.  You might want to change your passwords on those networks.

North Korea suffering DDoS, affecting country's Internet access

Someone is performing a denial of service attack vs. N Korea's DNS servers preventing timely resolution of names.

Apple forces ntp patch on OS X users

This is the first vulnerability that has caused Apple to install a fix without asking the user.  The vulnerability in ntp (network time) is thought to be critical and all users should make sure they're patched via the App Store.

Staples breach may affect 1.2m credit cards

The breach, whose investigation began in Oct, involved POS terminals in 35 states.

Google vs. "Goliath"

Google is opposing a MPAA backed plan to require ISPs to block "pirate sites."

The Instagram "Rapture"

Instagram has killed off thousands of fake accounts causing drastic drops in the number of followers of many celebrities.

Microsoft sues tech support scam artists

Some of the scum the prey upon the less technically minded of us is being sued by Microsoft for copyright infringement.

Innovative way to "p@wn" someone's computer via usb and $20 worth of hardware

Creative thinking, and some coding skill, and you too could have usb p@wning device.

12 million home routers "at risk" from http cookie exploit

Routers, mostly owned by ISP and rented by consumers, with the RomPager firmware may be at risk for arbitrary memory overwriting (aka code execution) by receiving a single packet containing malicious code wrapped in an http cookie.  No serious details available to help minimize exploitation.

Ars Technica hacked, users should change passwords

If you login to the news site, change your password.

Android phones with preinstalled malware CoolReaper

Chinese Coolpad phones came with the malware in the ROMs.

Google's End-To-End OpenPGP Chrome Extension

Allows Gmail users to send OpenPGP encrypted messages to each other.

ICANN hacked via targeted spear phishing, some top level zone files compromised

The bad guys accessed several zone files containing names, IPs, and name servers.

Google Drive now has primitive OpenDocument format support

The native file formats for openoffice and libreoffice can now be opened in Google Drive.

Dr. Dobbs is gone..

38 years of coding advice and articles...

Google Chrome tops the list with most vulnerabilities

This is a good thing as Google fixed all of them.

Google blacklists 11k Wordpress sites

Malware infections via vulnerable plugin.

Apple Wins iPod AntiTrust Case

Said DRM was from the Music Labels, other side is appealing.

Local govt access to servers trigger Microsoft,Google to leave Russia

A new law requiring companies keep local info geographically local, and accessible to govt officials, have caused M/G to bail on Russia.

Hackers have leaked Swedish login info due to Pirate Bay shutdown

So the Swedish Authorities seized the Pirate Bay servers and then the hackers leaked some login credentials of govt officials.

Would you trust a Google bank?

Would you let the search giant handle your money?

Quantum Physics and Credit Card Security

Reflected photons used to provide authentication.

Pirate Bay is offline, but piracy continues...

"On the TV front, over the Dec. 6-11 period, pirates swarmed over AMC’s “The Walking Dead” (717,190 average peers per day), followed by CW’s “The Flash” (576,093), CW’s “Arrow” (518,816), FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” (427,167), Showtime Network’s “Homeland” (413,620) and CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” (412,729)."  Yahoo

Because you needed it...Youtube now has an animated GIF maker

Will it do 1080p?

Google announces best Apps, Movies, Music from 2014

The full list.

Ford moves to QNX for in car OS

The car maker decided to move away from Windows.

Youtube may get autostart videos

Some people may start having their suggested videos to start playing automatically.

Sony using Amazon to DDOS servers holding stolen data?

Reportedly Sony is creating a denial of service attack against the servers distributing its stolen data.

New Ransomware, OphionLocker, uses Elliptical Curve Encryption

ECC is faster/smaller with the same strength....$358 to get your data back...

Microsoft releases MSN apps for iOS and Android

News, Money, Weather, and Sports...

Seagates new 8TB hard drive

"Seagate, using its new shingled magnetic recording (SMR) technology to cram more data into fewer platters, is preparing to launch an 8TB hard drive priced at just $260."

Vulnerability found in Keurig 2.0 KCups

So does anyone read these posts?  You can hack your Keurig....

Sony's stolen cert used to sign Destroyer malware

A new variant of the same malware used in the latest Sonly breech has been signed with the cert stolen during the breech.

FIDO alliance announces specifications for password free authentication

Paypal, Google, Samsung, and others agreeing to "patent" free methods of authentication.

LastPass can now automatically change your passwords...

So you want to rotate your passwords every 30 days?

Apple Releases iOS 8.1.2

If you plan on patching "over the air"  you will need up to 7G of free space on the device.  You should probably patch using iTunes via Windows or OSX.

Critical Adobe Flash Patch

Adobe has released a critical fix for all current versions of Flash.  Users should upgrade ASAP.

Microsoft Patch Tuesday, December 2014

Microsoft has released patches for this month.  All users should review the changes and then patch as needed.

Windows 10, Fall 2015

The next version of Windows won't be released to the public until the Fall of '15.

Some dangers of using "Login with Linkedin" and other 3rd party authentication

An article on how unverified email addresses were used to login to sites.  "could register a victim's email address with an identity provider and a chosen website, then click the social network sign-in button to gain access, all without ever clicking an email verification link."

Latest Dec 3rd Safari Patch Buggy

If you patched OS X Safari in the last few days, you might be experiencing difficulties using the browser.

Adobe Patch List for December 2014

Adobe plans on releasing patches on Dec 9th for Reader and Acrobat for critical vulnerabilities.

Microsoft Patch List for December 2014

Three critical updates for Windows, Office, and IE.

Sony hack included 47k SSNs

Mostly employees, including contractors, stored in unencrypted Excel format.