Microsoft plugs absurd Skype security hole

Microsoft has closed off a major security hole in Skype that allowed anyone to gain access to your account with only your email address. The entirely avoidable problem highlights the opposing goals of "user experience" and "safety."

Microsoft has blocked a major Skye security hole that allowed anyone to access your account with only your email address. The only problem now is that it shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

First posted on a Russian forum some months ago – but apparently ignored by Microsoft until today – the security flaw worked like this: Someone creates a new Skype account with your email address, the one associated with your Skype account. In doing so, this person now has the ability to reset the password of both the new account and your actual account, thus gaining access while also blocking you out.

The security flaw percolated to the surface earlier today on Reddit, and was later recreated by writers at The Next Web, who successfully gained access to the Skype accounts of two other TNW employees. Microsoft responded quickly by shutting down the password reset page entirely.

“We have had reports of a new security vulnerability issue,” wrote engineer Leonas Sendrauskas on the Skype security blog. “As a precautionary step we have temporarily disabled password reset as we continue to investigate the issue further. We apologize for the inconvenience but user experience and safety is our first priority.”

The problem here is that “user experience” and “safety” are diametrically opposed goals. Skype made the user experience of resetting a password less of a hassle by allowing a person to do so with only an email address. But clearly this was not a safe way to do things.

As avoidable as this whole debacle is, we feel for Skype, and every other online system that requires a login: Achieving a balance between user experience and safety is extremely difficult. Imposing meaningful online security means putting roadblocks in the way of people who are trying to use your service. Creating an easy user experience often means ditching security precautions. No matter which way you go, something has to give.

Regardless, it may still be a good idea to beef up your Skype security while Microsoft investigates a fix. The only way to do this is change the email address associated with your Skype account to something nobody else knows (which probably means creating an entirely new email account). Once you’ve done that, simply login (assuming you still can), go to Profile > Edit > add new email address. Click Save. Then go to Edit again, and set the new email address as your primary email, then save again. Then enter your password and click the Enter button. Then go back and delete the previous email.

How’s that for user experience?

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Dropbox lets you win 100GB for sharing your story

Dropbox, the current top dog in cloud storage solutions, is celebrating its 100 millionth account by offering free cloud storage to people who share their Dropbox story.

If yours is one of the top ten favorite stories, you will get 100 GB of cloud storage for life. If it makes it in the top one hundred favorites, then you get a consolation prize of 10 GB for life.

So what is a Dropbox story? A high school football team in Utah uses it for studying game films and scouting reports. An elementary school music class uses it to share their music with students in other countries.

We mostly use it for cat pictures and stuff.

Head over here to check out other peoples’ submitted stories, and maybe you’ll get enough inspiration to put up one of your own.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

How You Can Host your Website on Google For Free

Google offer users a simple way to host their site by using Google Sites. To do this, you will require a Google account to sign in. This can be done by creating a Gmail account. You have the option to use many pre-built templates or create a site from scratch. This is a very simple process

Navigate to the Google Sites page and enter your sign in information. Click the Sign in button and you will see the Sites page. If this is your first time on the page, click the Create button to continue. Click a template option that you want to use for your site. If you do not want to use a template, click the option for Blank template. Enter a name for your site and then type the security code at the bottom of the page.

Click the Create Site button at the top of the page to continue. Google will then take a moment to set up your site. When this process is complete, you will be taken to your new Google Sites Page. Click on the Edit Page button in the menu bar at the top of the screen. The page editor is similar to a text editor. This means that you can type text on the screen or add new elements. You should see a toolbar appear on the screen.

Click the Insert button to add elements to your new page. You have the option to add many elements to your page such as an image, a link, and other common elements. Gadgets are also available that include an option for Recent posts. Options from Google can also be placed on your page. This includes the use of a calendar, a chart, a document, a Picasa photo and even Adsense.

If you want to change the appearance of your page, click the Layout option. Once you have added your selections, click on the Edit sidebar link. This will take you to the Manage Site page. You can add many options and change features from this area. Click the Change site layout to make any changes that you require.

Click the Preview button to see your changes before they go live. When you ate satisfied with all of the changes, click the Save button at the top of the page. If you so not want to save your changes, you need to click on the Cancel button. Click the Home button to go back to the main Sites page.

Tags: Google App Engine, Google Sites, Google Webhosting, Webhosting

Source : techtalkafrica[dot]com

Google adds movie trailers to search results

Definitely a helpful addition to a search results page, Google is making it easier to find trailers for movies currently in theaters.

Detailed on Google’s official Google+ account this week, the search company has added links to movie trailers when a user searches for information regarding showtimes at local theaters. In order to bring up these listings, the user uses a search term like “showtimes zip code” or “showtimes city name” and Google displays all the current movies playing at nearby theaters. As of this week, a new gray button that says “Trailer” appears to the right of each movie listing. When the button is clicked, a pop-up window is launched overlaying the search results page. The trailers are being streamed from a “Googlemovietrailers” YouTube account, but Google doesn’t allow users to browse videos on the account. Users need a direct link to play the trailer on the YouTube page.

Depending on the screen size, the overlay window will size itself accordingly and automatically choose the highest quality version of the video. Google also overlays a dark gray color on the remaining white portion of the screen to improve viewing quality.

At the top of the overlay window, the user will see the name of the movie trailer on the left and a Google+ Recommend button on the right. However, there’s no rating system included on the overlay for negative feedback. Underneath the embedded YouTube video, Google has included the name of the director, several names of the top actors and actresses in the film and a detailed description of the plot.

It’s likely that the inclusion of movie trailers on search result pages will reduce the amount of people that visit sites like Apple, Yahoo, IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes to view a movie trailer. As of right now, the addition of the movie trailers button has been rolled out in the United States as well as other English-speaking countries including the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. However, Google plans to roll out the new movie trailers button globally as well.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Camera shootout: iPhone 5 vs iPhone 4S

Apple’s latest iPhone boasts an updated 8MP camera over its predecessor, but the question is how much better is it really? You have to take into account that the iPhone 5 is thinner, which always complicates matters on the camera front.

We’ve shot several photos with both the iPhone 5 and the 4S and we’ve picked the ones that have the same shutter speed and ISO to give each phone an equal chance.

One of the first things we noticed when we compared photos from the two phones is that the new iPhone 5 camera is slightly wider than the one in the 4S – 4.13mm vs. 4.28mm (or about 34mm vs. 35mm in 35mm terms). It’s a minor difference and shouldn’t affect your shooting habits.

The first pair of photos is of a building with a fine texture on its walls, which usually makes spotting the difference in resolved detail pretty easy. When it comes to the two iPhones, however, it is not.

The roughness of the wall is slightly more apparent in the iPhone 5 photo and the yellow and orange colors are slightly more accurate, but you really need to be looking at 100% to spot the difference

iPhone 4S • iPhone 5 • 100% crop

Then we picked a photo of a building in the sun and focused on the part of it that’s in the shade. Here the iPhone 5 demonstrates better contrast and a slightly lower amount of noise, plus slightly better sharpness.

iPhone 4S • iPhone 5 • 100% crop

The next image is of a petrol station’s banner in the sun. Here the images are almost too close to call, but the iPhone 5 shows slightly better color rendering and a bit less noise in the shadow area.

iPhone 4S • iPhone 5 • 100% crop

Finally, a photo that is mostly blue sky and blue windows (blue parts of images typically have more noise in the photos than the other two primary colors). Once again we see better contrast and lower noise in the iPhone 5 photo over the 4S one, though differences are pretty minor.

iPhone 4S • iPhone 5 • 100% crop

The iPhone 5 camera module had to be 18% smaller than the one in the 4S to fit into the thinner phone, so just not losing image quality would have been quite acceptable. Apple has actually managed to squeeze out slightly better photos, which is commendable.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Samsung Galaxy Camera and Galaxy Note 2 will come with free 50GB Dropbox

Dropbox announces that the new Samsung Galaxy lineup will come with a complimentary two-year account loaded with 50GB of storage.

Dropbox has confirmed that the new Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Galaxy Camera will both be synced to a free cloud account, complete with 50GB of storage to start. The service will provide users with up to two years of cloud before they’re asked to fork over the monthly dues.

The Dropbox app will come pre-installed in both devices, but a special feature in the Galaxy Note 2 will automatically send every photo and video the user has in their Gallery to the connected Dropbox account. This could prove to be helpful to some, but possibly annoying to others who do not realize how much space they’re running up with every photo they take. The 50GB-added space directly available on the Galaxy Camera could be extremely resourceful, however, because that’s a ton more space than most camera owners have in their SD card anyway.

“The most important thing to us is to provide our users with the ability to have a seamless experience across the many mobile devices they use,” said Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen, Head of Mobile Business Development at Dropbox. “These integrations with Samsung’s latest Wi-Fi and 4G enabled camera and Galaxy Note II means Dropbox users can rest assured their photos and videos will be with them anytime, anywhere.”

No confirmations, however, if this feature will be available to United States-based users. In June, Galaxy S3 owners were disappointed to learn that a free 48GB Dropbox was also available for the new Android, but AT&T and Verizon users were ineligible. Hopefully, the carriers can work out a deal with Dropbox by the time these new products launch so owners can take full advantage of the upcoming devices.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

‘Invisible Obama’ turns up on Twitter following Clint Eastwood’s bizarre RNC speech

It didn't take long for someone to sign up on Twitter as 'Invisible Obama' following Clint Eastwood's bizarre speech at the RNC on Thursday night. The account has already gathered over 30,000 followers – that's pretty good going considering it only went live a couple of hours ago.

It was all a bit bizarre, a bit confusing, a bit, well, odd. At the Republican National Convention on Thursday night, movie legend Clint Eastwood was brought out to entertain the audience prior to Mitt Romney’s big speech.

The 82-year-old actor proceeded to have a conversation – kind of – with an empty chair that he said seated President Obama. Over the next ten minutes or so, the movie actor asked the Invisible Obama a range of questions, but his rambling manner made the routine something of an awkward watch.

Of course, it didn’t take long for one wit to sign up to Twitter as Invisible Obama. The account – with the bio ‘Stage left of Clint Eastwood’ – has already gathered over 30,000 followers in the space of just a couple of hours.

Invisible Obama has been posting tweets steadily throughout the evening. Here’s a few of them:

– “When Mitt Romney says “Mr. Chairman”, do you think he’s referring to me?”

– “I’m behind Mitt. No seriously. I’m right behind him.”

– “Clint Eastwood’s performance opposite an invisible man was the best since Daryl Hannah’s. I should know. I had a front seat”

As you might expect, the Twitter hashtags #clinteastwood and #invisibleobama are also on fire just now. And tonight’s speech has given birth to a new meme: Eastwooding – take a look here to see pictures of people talking to empty chairs.

Obama’s campaign team has even made a reference to Eastwood’s speech, posting a picture of Obama in a chair on its Twitter account with the comment, “This seat’s taken.”

A spokesman for the Romney presidential campaign team told The Wrap that Eastwood was making it up as he went along, which certainly appeared to be the case. “His ad-libbing was a break from the political speech-making, and the crowd enjoyed it,” the spokesman said.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Samsung Canada sends a customized Galaxy S III to a long time fan as a gesture of gratitude

Few months ago, a Canadian Samsung fan Shane Bennett contacted Samsung Canada on their Facebook account and asking for a free Galaxy S III because he has been a loyal customer of the brand for the past few years. In return for the phone, he attached a drawing of a fire breathing dragon that he drew.

Of course, you can’t get free things in return for drawings, which is why Samsung Canada politely declined but returned the gesture with a drawing of their own, a kangaroo on a unicycle. This led to a lot of positive publicity for Samsung after the image was posted on reddit and so eventually, they decided to not just invite Bennett to an exclusive Galaxy S III launch party but eventually send him a customized version of the phone, too.

It’s a bit crazy just how customized this phone is. For starters, it comes with a cover for the box with the picture of the drawing that Bennett drew and sent to Samsung. Inside, you will find the phone that has the same dragon printed on the front and back cover. The drawing on the front looks confusing until you switch the phone on and find a custom wallpaper that completes the drawing. There is also a thank you note from Samsung for all the positive media coverage they received due to Bennett’s picture being posted online.

It’s a one-of-a-kind device, so there’s no chance anyone else can get their hands on one of these. The rest of us will just have to choose from the four new and two old colors that are available to us.

You can find more pictures of the phone in the link below.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

People, not passwords: The real lesson from Mat Honan’s iCloud hack nightmare

No computer system is ever safe due to one simple fact: Humans are imperfect.

Late Monday, Wired editor Mat Honan posted a detailed account about how lapses in Amazon and Apple technical support security enabled a “hacker” to flush his entire digital life down the toilet.

Amazon, you see, revealed the last four digits of one of Honan’s credit cards to the hacker, who pretended to be Honan on the phone. This allow the hacker to then call AppleCare with the information needed to change his iCloud password, and thus gain access to a dizzying array of accounts and devices. Honan’s iPhone, iPad, and MacBook Air were all remotely wiped. Gmail access gave the hacker access to his Twitter account, and that of Gizmodo, Honan’s former employer. As you would expect, havok ensued. And now much of the technology journalism world — yours truly included — is using Honan’s experience as a warning to beef up your passwords.

Honan’s story is well worth the read. But if you come out of it having learned anything, it should be this: Your password is not the biggest problem with computer security. People are.

Yes, weak passwords are a massive trouble spot. More than 20 years after the invention of the World Wide Web, people are still using phrases like “password” or “123456″ as the key to their online lives. In fact, it’s laughably easy-to-guess passwords like these that are used most often. And anyone who employs such foolishness has nothing and no one but themselves to blame when their accounts get hijacked.

But when you talk to computer security experts, foolish passwords are not considered the weakest door in the vault.

“The weakest point in any computer system is between the seat and the keyboard.” This phrase or its equivalent is something I have heard repeatedly while speaking with cybersecurity experts over the years, and Honan’s experience proves its truth. As our lives become increasingly digitized and more information about ourselves gets stored on computer systems operated by either businesses or the government, it becomes a point we all need to take seriously.

So remember this: No matter how good your password or how secure a system, there is always a weak point in every system due to the sad fact that humans are so often imperfect, malicious, and dumb.

Comic via Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (SMBC)

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com