Color vulnerable to simple GPS hack, lets you spy on anyone, anywhere

Color, the $41-million-in-funding location-oriented photo sharing startup, is susceptible to simple GPS spoofing. With nothing more than a jailbroken iPad or iPhone, you can use FakeLocation to trick Color into thinking you're somewhere else. Within seconds you can be browsing photos that were snapped thousands of miles away. With a little digging, you can pore through photos not intended for your eyes.

Of course, such a hack isn't illegal as such -- every photo you take with Color is public. With FakeLocation you are simply circumventing Color's very limited location-oriented security mechanism. It does undermine Color's usefulness (and uniqueness), though -- if nefarious types can sit in their bedroom or basement and eavesdrop on classy dinner parties and wild night club soirees, people might be less inclined to share personal photos with those around them.

Fortunately, both for Color and its users, this is an easy security hole to plug -- at least in the short term. The app (or server-side) code simply checks to see if the user has 'teleported' an impossibly large distance, without any intermediate steps in between. In the long term, though, Color's users must be aware that its social graph is completely public. Color's users must realize that every photo they upload is visible by anyone, from any place.

After the break, just to elucidate a little on Color's actual business model and ultimate intention, we have two amazing quotes from Bill Nguyen, Color's founder.

Continue reading Color vulnerable to simple GPS hack, lets you spy on anyone, anywhere

Color vulnerable to simple GPS hack, lets you spy on anyone, anywhere originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 05:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/29/color-vulnerable-to-simple-gps-hack-lets-you-spy-on-anyone-any/

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Maurice Sendak: "F*ck Ebooks" [Video]

Many gathered around the tube for Stephen Colbert's feisty interview with everyone's favorite reclusive children's book author, Maurice Sendak. It's always a delight when old people weight in on new technology, and the highlight of the interview was Sendak's eloquent and nuanced condemnation of the ebook revolution. I guess we won't be seeing any cool interactive ipad versions of Where the Wild Things Are any time soon. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ldvif1gxcpo/maurice-sendak-fck-ebooks

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How Does a Plane Crash Into a Light Pole? [Wtf]

Everyone who drives a car eventually comes into close encounter with a light pole. Backing up, trying to parallel park, hey, it happens to all of us. And that's totally okay. What's NOT okay is if you're a pilot and you crash your freaking plane into a light pole. How does that even happen? More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/kRZXBAxWB-c/how-does-a-plane-crash-into-a-light-pole

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Amazon Appstore for Android Test Drive hands on: surprisingly cool, but still US-only

When Amazon Appstore for Android launched last week, one of its primary features -- Test Drive -- was disabled just a few minutes after it opened. With no try-before-you-buy, no refund process, and 1-Click purchasing ready to strike at any moment, this caused some problems. Anyway, don't despair: Test Drive is now enabled.

Before you get your hopes up, Test Drive doesn't work with every app. The IMDb app works fine -- you can even watch movie trailers on it! -- but the Angry Birds games are sadly not enabled. Some games work surprisingly well, though, like Bubble Buster. There's very little latency, and the framerate is really rather good. The Test Drive experience is so true to life that you even get ads; how cool is that?

Gallery: Amazon Appstore for Android Test Drive

Continue reading Amazon Appstore for Android Test Drive hands on: surprisingly cool, but still US-only

Amazon Appstore for Android Test Drive hands on: surprisingly cool, but still US-only originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/28/amazon-appstore-for-android-test-drive-hands-on-surprisingly-co/

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Windows 8, Bill Gates Killed Courier Tablet: Report

Microsoft's innovative "Courier" tablet prototype--which, if produced, would have offered two touch-screens bonded together in a book-style format--now has a cause of death: crushed with extreme prejudice by Windows 8.

According to CNET's Jay Greene, who interviewed a number of unnamed executives with knowledge of the company's tablet deliberations, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had a choice to make: either support Courier, which executive J Allard (famous for helping conceive and push the Xbox) touted as a complementary device to PCs and smartphones, or wait until Windows and Windows Live division President Steven Sinofsky could build a version of Windows capable of running on tablets. The latter would take substantial time.

Ballmer went to former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, who in turn focused his laser intellect on the dilemma. And Gates had one big issue with Courier: namely, it wasn't intended to run Exchange or Outlook, instead pulling down email via the browser. "The device wasn't intended to be a computer replacement," Greene wrote. "The key to Courier, Allard's team argued, was its focus on content creation."

Gates, according to an unnamed Courier worker quoted in the article, had an "allergic reaction" to the concept. After all, Microsoft has grown on the concept of supplying an integrated ecosystem of software products, portable across a wide variety of form factors. Something that operates outside that matrix, well, is an outlier.

Within weeks, according to Greene's sources, "Courier was cancelled because the product didn't clearly align with the company's Windows and Office franchises."

Microsoft has now placed all its tablet chips on Windows 8. The operating system, due for arrival sometime in 2012, offers a Start screen loaded with colorful tiles linked to applications, and meant to operate equally well with traditional PCs and touch-centric devices. It also allows users to switch to a "regular" desktop interface.

Tablet interoperability will place Windows 8 in a head-on vector with Apple's iPad, which currently dominates the tablet space. Other touch-screen competitors, including a variety of Google Android tablets and Hewlett-Packard's TouchPad, have crashed and burned in their attempts to seize their own portion of the tablet market. That's either a portent or an opening for Microsoft, depending on how you look at it; certainly, the company intends Windows 8 to offer a robust "no compromises" experience on tablets, which could boost its appeal with the same business users who already constitute a significant portion of Microsoft's core audience.

All that being said, I can't help but feel a little twinge of sadness over Courier's premature death. It was a cool concept, even if it never saw the light of day.

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Source: http://feeds.ziffdavisenterprise.com/~r/RSS/MicrosoftWatch/~3/OwJxulhIc6Q/windows_8_bill_gates_killed_courier_tablet_report.html

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Google’s new privacy policy and “don’t be don’t be evil”

Probably like many of you, I received my new Google Privacy Policy via email this week, and while couched in language about creating a more "beautiful" experience for us, the users -- read: products -- it's also clearly about Google leveraging their popular services like Search and Gmail to help their new services, like Google+, become competitive with Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/LtqTRH3-QMg/story01.htm

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PocketCPR app by the British Heart Foundation hits the App Store

The British Heart Foundation has released an app that provides detailed instruction on how to give CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) should the need ever arise. Performing CPR could save the life of a friend or relative and is a practice everyone should know how to perform.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/bbVUzj0DwJA/story01.htm

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British royal family announces iOS and Android wedding app

To celebrate the imminent marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Royal Collection will release an Android an iOS app that chronicles the last seven royal marriages, including Queen Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert in 1840.

Ironically, the app won't actually feature anything to do with William and Kate's marriage -- rather, it will focus on the "tradition, splendor and romance" that are intrinsic to British royal marriages. "[The app] will share the stories of past royal weddings and offer a wealth of historical context for the ceremony on April 29."

Unfortunately, the app, which has been lumbered with the fantastically creative name of 'Royal App,' won't be available until April 18 -- just 11 days before Kate's big day. It won't be free, either: it'll cost the rather princely sum of £1.79, or three of your Tea Party-loving dollars. The money will go to the Royal Collection, though, which is a good cause!

British royal family announces iOS and Android wedding app originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/british-royal-family-announces-ios-and-android-wedding-app/

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Surprise Asteroid Passing Really Close to Earth Right Now (Update: So Long Surprise Asteroid) [Space]

Astronomers are saying that we shouldn't be concerned about 2012 BX34, the asteroid they were surprised to detect on Wednesday. After all, it's only passing by at less than a fifth of the distance to the moon, "one of the closest approaches ever recorded." More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/izG0epGcLEA/surprise-asteroid-to-pass-really-close-to-earth-about-now

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