Internet Explorer vulnerabilities have increased more than 100 percent since 2013
Bromium Labs today issued its "Endpoint Exploitation Trends" report that shows Internet Explorer set a record high for reported vulnerabilities in the first half of 2014, and also leads in publicly reported exploits.
According to Bromium, "Internet Explorer took the cap for historic high number of security patches in over a decade, and that feat was accomplished in the first six months of 2014!" It's not all bad news for users of Internet Explorer though. While the browser was easily the most exploited tool, Microsoft has been reacting much quicker to plug vulnerabilities. The company took more than 90 days to release its first patch for IE9, yet IE11’s first critical patch emerged just five days after the new browser was generally available.
Hulu Plus brings a new user experience to Roku
Hulu is the big third player in the online video space, competing with Netflix and Amazon Prime. All of these services, and many more "channels" are part of the Roku ecosystem. It brings TV to the cord-cutter generation, which is a growing number of users.
Now, Roku is introducing an improved user experience to its tiny set-top boxes. "If you're a big Hulu streamer like me, you've likely noticed the new Hulu Plus experience on Roku. It’s quick to load, navigation within the channel is super snappy too -- 5x faster than the old channel! And the layout is slightly different to highlight stunning imagery from your favorite TV shows and movies", the manufacturer states.
SoftWatch helps enterprises evaluate and implement XP alternatives
When Microsoft discontinued support for XP it left a large number of businesses, around 25 percent, needing to make a transformation of their IT environment.
As well as switching to a new desktop OS many are also moving applications to the cloud, changing hardware and introducing BYOD. In order to help IT decision makers with these choices, Israel-based software analytics specialist SoftWatch has introduced a new SaaS product.
How to unlock the bootloader on your Sony Xperia
Unlocking the bootloader is not a task most Android users may want or need to undertake, as it comes with its fair share of risks, but it is paramount for those who want to install a different distribution, load a faster kernel, use a third-party recovery and so on. I personally prefer to turn off all the nannies on every Android device I own, as it makes way for quick modifications.
While not all manufacturers allow users to unlock the bootloader on their devices, there are a couple of vendors which believe this should be possible, and straightforward. Among them is Sony, known for its modder-friendly attitude, which has just improved its dedicated online tool for Xperia smartphones and tablets. And here is how easy it is to use.
Patch Tuesday: Microsoft issues critical fixes for all versions of Internet Explorer
It’s Patch Tuesday, and Microsoft has issued six security bulletins including two which are rated "critical" and allow for Remote Code Execution (RCE), and three which are labeled "important" and allow for elevation of privilege inside Windows. The final patch is rated "moderate" and fixes a Denial of Service vulnerability in the Service Bus for Windows.
The patches affect all versions of Internet Explorer, as well as most versions of Windows. XP users are at risk from these vulnerabilities, but are not covered by the updates.
Facebook faces official complaint over deceptive newsfeed experiment
The revelations about Facebook's emotional experiment with users' newsfeeds back in 2012 has seen the social network fighting off a torrent of criticism. Users were upset to learn that the content of their newsfeed may have been manipulated as researchers tried to determine the effects exposure to positive and negative newsfeed content had on users' subsequent output. Now an official complaint has been lodged against the social network by thee Electronic Privacy Information Center. Epic filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission, alleging that "the company purposefully messed with people’s minds".
There are several lines of attack in the complaint, but the main thrust is that Facebook neither obtained permission from the 700,000 affected users, nor informed them about what was happening. Epic also complains that Facebook failed to warn users that their data would be shared with researchers at Cornell University and the University of California. The complaint points out that "at the time of the experiment, Facebook was subject to a consent order with the Federal Trade Commission which required the company to obtain users' affirmative express consent prior to sharing user information with third parties".
SecurityXploded releases Browser Password Remover
Utilities developer SecurityXploded has released Browser Password Remover, a free tool for managing stored passwords across a range of browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer [v7.x -- v10.x], Google Chrome, Google Chrome Canary/SXS, CoolNovo, Opera, Comodo Dragon, SeaMonkey, SRWare Iron, Flock).
The program can be used as a simple password viewer. Launch it, click Show Passwords, and you’ll see all stored credentials for every supported browser.
Convert images directly from Explorer with SendTo-Convert
Image conversion tools are supposed to save you time, at least in theory, but after you’ve chosen your source files, specified exactly what you’re likely to do with them, and set up your destination options, it doesn't always feel that way.
Send-To Convert makes your life easier by allowing you to set up a conversion task, and run it directly from Explorer. At its simplest you might select a few images, right-click, select Send To > Send-To Convert, and that’s it: your images are converted right away.
Windows 8.x goes into reverse gear -- loses market share as both Windows 7 and XP show growth
I’ll be honest, although Windows 8.x losing market share is a shocking state of affairs -- and a new low for an operating system which has struggled since launch -- it’s something that’s been coming for a while. Windows 8 has been dropping share since Windows 8.1 arrived, and Windows 8.1 has been growing at such a glacial pace it was only a matter of time before the losses outweighed the gains, and that’s exactly what happened in June according to NetMarketShare.
In a month where Windows 7 and Windows XP -- the OS that refuses to die -- both gained market share, "new Windows" shifted into reverse gear and began shedding users.
Samsung expecting a drop in Q2 profits following weak Galaxy S5 sales
Windows Phone scores more premium apps -- Adobe Photoshop Express and Roku
Being number three can be good. In the Olympics, it is good enough for a bronze medal. However, there are different levels of third place, as it depends on how many competitors there are.
When it comes to smartphones, Windows Phone is a distant third in a race that only has three legitimate competitors, with iPhone and Android being the other two. Microsoft’s platform however, is making huge strides and today gets two premium apps -- Adobe Photoshop Express and Roku. Apple and Google should be worried.
Too many servers still vulnerable to Heartbleed exploit
Since it was brought to our attention three months ago, Heartbleed made countless headlines due to the severe dangers it poses. The vulnerability, which affects systems using the OpenSSL library, allows hackers to penetrate affected servers without leaving any trace of their actions behind. Its severity would lead us to assume the people responsible to prevent it from making any (more) damage have already taken all the necessary precautions in this direction.
And, indeed, popular service providers have been quick to address the problem, with the likes of Google, Facebook and Microsoft publicly stating whether the vulnerability could affect their products and users, and issuing patches where needed. This has given us a false sense of security, knowing that the worst has passed. Yet, even today, Heartbleed can still do quite a bit of damage.
Internet Explorer Developer Channel adds GamePad, WebDriver support
Microsoft has unveiled Internet Explorer Developer Channel, a special preview version of the browser which includes upcoming developer-oriented features and extended standards support.
One major highlight of this release is that it’s packaged as an App-V application, which means it runs in a virtualized environment and won’t affect your existing Windows or Internet Explorer setup at all. There are none of the usual dangers of installing an unfinished IE build. You can run Internet Explorer Developer Channel alongside IE11 without any conflicts, and uninstall it cleanly at any time.
One in five businesses are still using Windows XP despite the risks
Microsoft ended support for XP two months ago, yet consumers are still proving resistant to change, and many businesses are similarly reluctant to upgrade to a newer version of Windows.
According to security firm Bitdefender, which conducted a three-month global study into the operating system use of small and medium businesses, nearly 19 percent of firms, or almost one in five, are sticking with the aging XP despite security concerns.
Icaros enables Explorer thumbnails for almost any video type
Windows Explorer does a reasonable job of displaying thumbnails for standard image types, but it’s not so good with videos. You might get lucky with a few basic formats, but others -- FLV, MKV -- are usually ignored, leaving you with basic placeholder thumbnails which tell you nothing at all.
If that sounds familiar then Icaros may be able to help. It’s a collection of Windows shell extensions, powered by a custom version of FFmpeg which can extract thumbnails from just about any media format every created.
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