July 2010 - apple-list - University of Manitoba Mailing Lists

INTEREST: Bluetooth footpedal
by billing 27 Jul '10

27 Jul '10

...from: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/19/airturns-bt-105-footpedal-is-a-real-page… AirTurn's BT-105 footpedal is a real page turner (video) By Sean Hollister posted Jul 19th 2010 9:06AM If you carry your sheet music in a laptop, AirTurn's got a USB dongle for that, but if you've migrated your musical cues to an certain slate, never fear, Bluetooth is on the way. The AirTurn BT-105 will bring the company's page turning technology to iPad, using a transmitter that attaches to standard professional footswitches, allowing you to turn full pages and half pages of sheet music while keeping hands firmly affixed to your instrument. Though there's no word on price, we imagine it'll cost close to the existing 2.4GHz version, which runs from $40 for a dongle to $100 for a package with two Boss pedals, and when it surfaces in Q4 of this year, we're hoping it will extend bicycling input to all the other wild and crazy appsyou dream up. PR and video after the break. = - = - = - = Airturn's home site with demo: http://airturn.com/press-releases/ipad-bluetooth-page-turner-footswitch-pro…

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FYI: Apple responds to congressional inquiry...
by billing 27 Jul '10

27 Jul '10

...from: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/20/apple-responds-to-congressional-inquiry-… Apple responds to congressional inquiry, details location data collection in 13-page letter By Sean Hollister posted Jul 20th 2010 1:00AM When Apple's latest privacy policy revealed the company could track any iPhone's location in real time, it threw some for a loop... including a pair of gentlemen from the US House of Representatives, who asked what Cupertino was up to. In a thirteen page letter dated July 12, Apple's legal counsel explains the whole matter away, while giving us a fascinating look into how the company collects -- and justifies collecting -- all that GPS data. Legally the defense is simple, as Apple claims users grant express permission via pop-up messages for every single location-based service and app, and if you don't care to be tracked, you can simply shut down location services globally or (in iOS 4) on a per-app basis in the phone's settings panel. Where it gets more interesting is when Apple explains what it actually collects, and who they share it with -- namely, Google and Skyhook, who provided location services to earlier versions of the operating system. In iOS 3.2 and beyond, only Apple has the keys to the database, and what's inside are locations of cell towers, WiFi access points, and anonymous GPS coordinates. None of these are personally identifying, as the company doesn't collect SSIDs or any data, and in the case of device coordinates they're reportedly collected and sent in encrypted batches only once every 12 hours, using a random ID generated by the phone every 24 hours that apparently can't be linked back to the device. In the case of iAd, Apple says coordinates don't even make it to a database, as they're immediately converted (by remote server) to a advertising-friendly five-digit zip code. Concerning location data collection for services other than iAd, there's still the little question of why, but we'll just leave you with Apple legal's quote on that subject after the break, and let you hit up the full document yourself at Scribd if you want the deep dive. "To provide the high quality products and services that its customers demand, Apple must have access to comprehensive location-based information... these databases must be updated continuously to account for, among other things, the ever-changing physical landscape, more innovative uses of mobile technology, and the increasing number of Apple's customers."

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FYI: "autofill" exploit found in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari
by billing 27 Jul '10

27 Jul '10

More information may be forthcoming when Mr Jeremiah Grossman, CTO of White Hat Security, gives his presentation at next week's "Black Hat Security Conference" (http://www.blackhat.com/) but for now, you may wish to disable "autofill" on your browser until this has cleared up: Safari: Preferences: Autofill > deselect check boxes FireFox: Preferences: Security > deselect REMEMBER PASSWORDS FOR SITES ...from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/20/browser_info_disclosure_weaknesses/ IE and Safari lets attackers steal user names and addresses Ripe for the picking, researcher says By Dan Goodin in San Francisco • Get more from this author Posted in Security, 20th July 2010 21:15 GMT Free whitepaper – Robin Johnson: Questions and Answers The Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari browsers are susceptible to attacks that allow webmasters to glean highly sensitive information about the people visiting their sites, including their full names, email addresses, location, and even stored passwords, a security researcher says. In a talk scheduled for next week's Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, Jeremiah Grossman, CTO of White Hat Security, plans to detail critical weaknesses that are enabled by default in the browsers, which are the four biggest by market share. The vulnerabilities have yet to be purged by the respective browser makers despite months, and in some cases, years of notice. Among the most serious is a vulnerability in Apple's Safari and earlier versions of Microsoft's IE that exposes names, email addresses, and other sensitive information when a user visits a booby-trapped website. The attack exploits the browsers' autocomplete feature used to automatically enter commonly typed text into websites. It works by creating a webpage with fields carrying titles such as “First Name,” “Last Name,” “Email Address,” and “Credit Card Number” and then adding javascript that simulates the user entering various letters, numbers or keystrokes into each one. Users who in the past have used the autocomplete features to store that information in versions 6 and 7 of IE or versions 4 and 5 of Safari will find that the information will be automatically zapped to the rogue website. No interaction is necessary other than to visit the page. Webmasters can set the input fields to be invisible to better conceal the attack. In the case of Safari, Grossman's proof-of-concept attack simulates a user entering various letters or numbers into the fields. In a demonstration, when the script entered the letter J under a field titled “Name,” the browser automatically exposed “Jeremiah Grossman” to the web server. Grossman said he alerted Apple to the vulnerability on June 17, but received no reply other than an automatic response saying his message had been received. “I would never have talked about this publicly if Apple had taken this seriously,” he told The Register. “I figured somebody else must have found this before because it's so brain-dead simple.” When he sent a follow up query “I never heard anything back, human or robotic.” Tricking IE 6 and 7 into coughing up the autocomplete details works in a similar fashion, but instead of simulating the entering of numbers or letters into a field, Grossman enters a user's down arrow twice and then the enter key to extract the stored information. If more than one record is stored in that field, the script will repeat the process so they can be lifted as well. Grossman's research is the latest to shatter the widely held myth that web surfing is largely an anonymous act, at least when done from a public or widely used IP address. In May, researchers demonstrated how a decade-old browser history disclosure vulnerability made the vast majority of web users vulnerable to practical attacks that lifted their viewing habits, including news articles they've read and the Zip Codes they've entered into online forms. That same month, separate researchers showed how most browsers leave behind digital fingerprints that can be used to uniquely identify their users. Grossman's research take those findings to new highs. In addition to the weaknesses in IE and Safari, he has uncovered flaws in Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome that can expose passwords stored by the browsers. The feature is designed to automatically enter the user name and password when a user visits a site such as Gmail or Facebook. The researcher says it's possible for unscrupulous webmasters to steal that information by hiding malicious code on their pages. For the attack to work, an XSS, or cross-site scripting vulnerability must be present on the site on which the stored password is used. Grossman's Black Hat presentation will also demonstrate how a webmaster can silently delete all of a user's browser cookies. The mass cookie deleter works by setting thousands of cookies as soon as a user visits the site. When the number of cookies set exceeds a certain amount – it's about 3,000 for Firefox and just slightly higher for other browsers – all older cookies will automatically be erased. His proof-of-concept takes about 2.5 seconds.

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INTEREST: Google signs 20-year wind energy deal
by billing 20 Jul '10

20 Jul '10

...from: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/20/google-signs-20-year-deal-to-power-data-… Google signs 20-year deal to power data centers with wind energy By Donald Melanson posted Jul 20th 2010 3:45PM It's not the first investment Google has made in wind power, but anyone wondering about its commitment needn't look any further than the company's just-announced deal with NextEra Energy. It's agreed to buy wind power from NextEra's wind farm in Iowa for the next twenty years, which it says will provide enough power to supply "several" of its data centers. What's more, Google says that the size and length of the deal (taking 114 megawatts of energy off the market) will also lead to other indirect benefits for the wind power industry, and give NextEra the flexibility to invest in additional clean energy projects. Head on past the break for NextEra's press release on the deal.

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INTEREST: Google acquires airflight search software
by billing 16 Jul '10

16 Jul '10

...from: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/02/google-acquires-ita-for-700m-dives-headf… Google acquires ITA for $700m, dives headfirst into airline ticket search By Darren Murph posted Jul 2nd 2010 1:02PM Look out, Kayak / Bing Travel -- you both are about to have your respective worlds rocked. While Google has managed to stay on top (or close to the top) when it comes to almost everything search related, the company has curiously allowed smaller niche brands to handle the travel side. Even amongst the hardcore Googlers, avid flyers typically head to a place like Kayak to weigh their options, while vacation planners either do likewise or turn to Bing Travel. In a few months time, we suspect some of that traffic will be diverted back to El Goog. The company has just announced plans to acquire Cambridge-based ITA Software for a cool $700 million, which will put one of the world's most sophisticated QPX software tools for organizing flight information into the hands of the planet's most dangerous search ally. According to Google, the pickup will allow consumers to search and buy airline tickets with less hassle and frustration, though it's quick to point out that it has "no plans to sell airline tickets [directly] to consumers." For the travel junkies in attendance, there's a high probability that you won't find any better news coming your way today than this.

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INTEREST: Sony launches Road to Zero environmental plan
by billing 16 Jul '10

16 Jul '10

...from: http://oto-online.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1845&Itemid… Sony launches Road to Zero environmental plan Share Wednesday, 14 April 2010 Sony Corporation has announced its Road to Zero global environmental plan. The plan includes a long-term goal of achieving a zero environmental footprint by 2050. It uses backcasting methods to set specific mid-term environmental targets for the next five years in line with that goal. Sony's definition of zero environmental footprint is not only limited to the neutralisation of carbon emissions, but also extends to waste and use of finite materials such as oil-derived virgin plastics. Targets are based on four environmental perspectives - climate change, resource conservation, control of chemical substances and biodiversity - across all product lifecycle stages, from research and development to recycling. The mid-term targets will be implemented globally across the Sony Group beginning in April 2011, and will extend through the end of fiscal year 2015 (March 2016), at which time new targets for the following five years will be set. "We are fully committed to putting our innovative spirit and technological expertise to use to help solve environmental challenges," said Sir Howard Stringer, chairman, CEO and president of Sony Corporation. "From the development of new materials and energy-efficient technologies, to the introduction of better processes in manufacturing and production, we will work aggressively to meet the ambitious targets we are setting for ourselves and, at the same time, establish a model for others in our industries to follow."

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FYI: Time Capsule repair eligibility
by billing 12 Jul '10

12 Jul '10

...from: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3351 Last Modified: July 09, 2010 Article: TS3351 Symptoms Some Time Capsules sold between approximately February 2008 and June 2008 may not power on or may shut down unexpectedly after starting up. Products Affected Time Capsule Resolution Affected Time Capsule models Some Time Capsules with serial numbers in the following range may be affected: XX807XXXXXX - XX814XXXXXX How to find the serial number on your Time Capsule. If your Time Capsule falls within serial number range above and it does not power on or shuts down unexpectedly after starting up, it may be eligible for repair or replacement. Contact the Apple representative most convenient for you: Apple Authorized Service Provider. Find one here. Apple Retail Store. Set up an appointment with a Genius (available in some countries only). Apple Contact Center. Find the phone number for your region. If Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider confirms that your Time Capsule is affected, Apple will repair or replace it free of charge. Note: If you need to retain the data that is on your affected Time Capsule, Apple provides options depending upon where you live. If you live in the U.S. or Japan and want to retain the data on the affected Time Capsule, contact Apple to arrange for mail-in service. Turnaround time for mail-in service will be 3 to 5 days. In all other countries, an Apple Retail Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) can transfer your data from the affected Time Capsule to a replacement Time Capsule if desired. Your Retail or AASP representative can provide specific turnaround times for this service. If you believe that you paid for a repair or replacement Time Capsule due to this issue, contact Apple regarding a refund. As always, Apple recommends that you back up your data. Learn more about other back up options while you are without your Time Capsule. Apple is not responsible for data loss. This program covers affected Time Capsule models for 3 years from their original date of purchase. Apple will continue to evaluate the service data and will provide further updates to the program if needed. Wayne Billing Classroom Technology Support Audio Visual and Classroom Technology Support 130 Machray Hall Building 474-6649 474-7598 (fax) Wayne_Billing(a)umanitoba.ca

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