One Million Raspberry Pi Boards Have Been Sold Since Launch

Rpi500k

With all the hoopla around CES, we sadly missed this amazing milestone for one of the greatest little projects I’ve seen in a long time, Raspberry Pi. An estimated one million of these tiny computers have been sold so far, an amazing feat for a tiny $35 circuit board that can boot directly into a streamlined version of Linux.

The folks at element 14/Premier Farnell announced today that they alone have now made and sold more than half a million Raspberry Pis. They’re only one of two official distributors; we don’t have completely up-to-date figures from RS Components yet, but Farnell’s news suggests that we’re well on the way to having sold our millionth Raspberry Pi.

To celebrate the company released this cute info graphic, informing us that, if stacked end to end, a million Pis would be higher than 111 Empire State Buildings.

We detailed the unique manufacturing challenges associate with the Pi with 4,000 Raspberry Pis leaving a U.K. factory every day – or one every 7.5 seconds.

Raspberry Pis have ended up as the brains for a mini arcade cabinet and a DIY GSM base station. It also runs RISC OS and, more important, is a great way for kids to learn how to use computers without spending a fortune on hardware.

via TechCrunch http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/12/one-million-raspberry-pi-have-been-sold-since-launch/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

Last Message Texts Your Important Contacts When Your Phone’s About to Die

Android: Last Message is a simple app that texts, emails, Facebooks, or even tweets to the friends you specify when your phone’s about to die—so they know that you’ll be out of contact. More »

via Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/5975287/last-message-texts-your-important-contacts-when-your-phones-about-to-die

How do I disable Java in my web browser?

How do I disable Java in my web browser?


This article applies to:

  • Platform(s): Solaris SPARC, Solaris x86, Red Hat Linux, SUSE Linux, Oracle Enterprise Linux, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, Windows 2008 Server, Macintosh OS X
  • Browser(s): Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari
  • Java version(s): 7.0, 7u10+

Starting with Java Version 7 Update 10, a new security feature has been added to Java. Some web pages may include content or apps that use the Java plug-in, and these can now be disabled using a single option in the Java Control Panel.

alert iconDisabling Java through the Java Control Panel will disable Java in all browsers.

Find the Java Control Panel

Windows XP

  • Click on the Start button and then click on the Control Panel option.
  • Double click on the Java icon to open the Java Control Panel.

Windows 7, Vista

  • Click on the Start button and then click on the Control Panel option.
  • In the Control Panel Search enter Java Control Panel.
  • Click on the Java icon to open the Java Control Panel.

Windows 8
Use search to find the Control Panel

  • Press Windows logo key + W to open the Search charm to search settings
    OR
    Drag the Mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner of the screen, then click on the Searchicon.
  • In the search box enter Java Control Panel
  • Click on Java icon to open the Java Control Panel.

    Java Control Panel

Disable Java through the Java Control Panel

Enable Java

  1. In the Java Control Panel, click on the Security tab.
  2. Deselect the check box for Enable Java content in the browser. This will disable the Java plug-in in the browser.
  3. Click Apply. When the Windows User Account Control (UAC) dialog appears, allow permissions to make the changes.
  4. Click OK in the Java Plug-in confirmation window.
  5. Restart the browser for changes to take effect.

RELATED INFORMATION

Disable the Java content in the particular browser
Internet Explorer

The only way to completely disable Java in Internet Explorer (IE) is to disable Java through the Java Control Panel as noted above.

Chrome
  1. Click on the Chrome menu, and then select Settings.
  2. At the bottom of Settings window, click Show advanced settings
  3. Scroll down to the Privacy section and click on Content Settings.
  4. In the Content Settings panel, scroll down to the Plug-ins section.
  5. Under the Plug-ins section, click Disable individual plug-ins.
  6. In the Plugins panel, scroll to the Java section. Click Disable to disable the Java Plug-in.
  7. Close and restart the browser to enable the changes.

Note: Alternatively, you can access the Plug-ins settings by typing about:plugins in the browser address bar.

Firefox
  1. Click on the Firefox tab and then select Add-ons
  2. In the Add-ons Manager window, select Plugins
  3. Click Java (TM) Platform plugin to select it
  4. Click Disable (if the button displays Enable then Java is already disabled)
Safari
  1. Choose Safari Preferences
  2. Choose the Security option
  3. Deselect Enable Java
  4. Close Safari Preferences window

 

http://www.java.com/en/download/help/disable_browser.xml

New Java vulnerability is being exploited in the wild, disabling Java is currently your only option

A new Java 0-day vulnerability has been discovered, and is already being exploited in the wild. Currently, disabling the plugin is the only way to protect your computer.

Update on December 11Oracle’s Java vulnerability left open since October 2012 ‘fix’, now being used to push ransomware

The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), which falls under the National Cyber Security Division of the Department of Homeland Security, has issued the following vulnerability note:

Overview – Java 7 Update 10 and earlier contain an unspecified vulnerability that can allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.
Description – Java 7 Update 10 and earlier contain an unspecified remote-code-execution vulnerability. This vulnerability is being attacked in the wild, and is reported to be incorporated into exploit kits.
Impact – By convincing a user to visit a specially crafted HTML document, a remote attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable system.

It appears this flaw was first stumbled upon by a French researcher who goes by the name Kafeine. In a post on his Malware Don’t Need Coffee website, the researcher claimed that the latest version, Java 7 Update 10, was being exploited on a site that receives “hundreds of thousands of hits daily” and concluded that “this could be mayhem.”

More importantly, Kafeine noted the two most popular Web threat tools used by hackers to distribute malware, the BlackHole Exploit Kit and the Cool Exploit Kit, already have this latest Java exploit. BitDefenderconfirmed the alleged addition of the exploit into Cool while security expert Brian Krebs confirmed the BlackHole part, as well as noted its addition into Nuclear Pack:

The curator of Blackhole, a miscreant who uses the nickname “Paunch,” announced yesterday on several Underweb forums that the Java zero-day was a “New Year’s Gift,” to customers who use his exploit kit. Paunch bragged that his was the first to include the powerful offensive weapon, but shortly afterwards the same announcement was made by the maker and seller of Nuclear Pack.

This actual vulnerability was later confirmed by security firm AlienVault Labs. With Kafeine’s help, the company reproduced the exploit on a new, fully-patched installation of Java, and used a malicious Java applet to remotely execute the Calculator application on Windows XP:

java calc 730x565 New Java vulnerability is being exploited in the wild, disabling Java is currently your only option

We recommend that regardless of what browser and operating system you’re using, you should uninstall Java if you don’t need it. If you do need it, use a separate browser when Java is required, and make sure to disable Java in your default browser.

We have contacted Oracle about this issue. We will update you if we hear back.

Update on December 11Oracle’s Java vulnerability left open since October 2012 ‘fix’, now being used to push ransomware

See also – Security companies are recommending you disable Java, or just uninstall it and Mozilla joins the chorus, tells Firefox users to disable Java due to security hole

Windows Phone loses access to Google Maps

On Friday, some WIndows Phone 8 users discovered that you can no longer access the Google Maps website via devices running Windows Phone 7 or 8. While on the surface it seems like Google is deliberately crippling its own services on a competing mobile operating system, there’s much more to the story than meets the eye.

The mobile version of Google Maps never officially supported Windows Phone, because the version of IE that comes with it doesn’t have the WebKit support that Maps needs to work properly. That doesn’t mean that Google isn’t intentionally blocking Maps on phones that run Microsoft’s OS, but it’s more likely that the company fixed a bug that allowed these unsupported devices access in the first place.

Since Google doesn’t seem too keen on developing apps for Windows Phone—the company has a search app that hasn’t been updated in over a year—and with the search giant reportedly preventing Microsoft from building a proper YouTube app, it’s unlikely that this development will make Google more popular with either Microsoft or the Windows Phone users out there who use its services.

Google may be pushing for people to buy into using devices that run Android, but if the company can make its offerings work on iOS then it can definitely do the same for Windows Phone.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

via PCWorld http://www.pcworld.com/article/2023757/windows-phone-loses-access-to-google-maps.html

Apple Loses ‘App Store’ Claim Against Amazon

Amazon today won its attempt to toss a claim made by Apple over its use of the name “App Store.” Apple has been fighting Amazon’s Android App Store, believing it to be confusing with its own iPhone App Store. It hit Amazon with lawsuits regarding trademark infringement and false advertising. Today’s victory saw a U.S. judge vacate Apple’s claim that Amazon’s use of App Store is false advertising. The lawsuit over Apple’s trademark claim will move forward.

via Phone Scoop – Latest News http://www.phonescoop.com/articles/article.php?a=11714

New law makes it illegal for employers in California and Illinois to demand Facebook passwords

New laws that took effect on January 1st, 2013 make it illegal for employers to demand access to their workers’ password-protected Facebook (FB) accounts. After some high-profile instances of companies requiring access to employees’ accounts, Congress was asked to consider a law making such demands illegal on the grounds that they constitute an invasion of privacy. Congress blocked the law, however its decision had no bearing on laws being considered at the state level. Now, California and Illinois have become the first two states to make it expressly illegal for employers to make such demands, Reuters reports. The new laws also apply to other similar social networks and are not limited to just Facebook.

via Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/law-makes-illegal-employers-california-illinois-demand-facebook-190557440.html

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