Apple credits security researcher Balic with reporting Developer Center vulnerability

Apple has updated its Apple Web Server notifications page to credit security researcher Ibrahim Balic, amongst others, for reporting security issues with the company’s servers. Balic is the researcher who claimed that he was possibly the “intruder” thanks to whom Apple’s Developer Center underwent a month-long derailment.

The post was discovered by 9to5Mac and credits several others for reporting potential security issues in Apple’s web servers. This means Balic was not the intruder who forced Apple to shut its website for a while.

Credits where they're due

Balic, a White Hat, had claimed that he was possibly the reason behind the outage since he managed to demonstrate how the flaw allowed him to gather full names and Apple IDs of developers from the website. Apple had coincidentally announced that it had deliberately shut down its Developer Center to fix the flaw around the same time. The Cupertino-based company admitted that it had been attacked by an intruder in July and while sensitive personal information was encrypted and safe, it was possible that some names, mailing addresses and email addresses of a few developers could have been compromised.

The company launched a system status page to inform developers of the progress of restoring services after the hack and the Developer Center went completely online earlier in August. While this pretty much proves that it could not have been him behind the attack, Balic has claimed that other bugs pointed out by him are still waiting to be listed on the Web Service page. Now if only Khalil, the Palestinian researcher who broke into Mark Zuckerberg’s account to report a bug to Facebook, could get this recognition too.

(Cover image credit: Reuters)

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Supreme Court hasn't really 'gotten to' email, says Justice Kagan

The members of the Supreme Court continue to communicate with one another through memos printed on ivory paper even as they face the prospect of hearing cases related to emerging technology and electronic snooping in the years to come, Justice Elena Kagan said Tuesday.

The justices have a ways to go to understand technology such as Facebook, Twitter and even email, Kagan said in a conversation with Ted Widmer, a historian and librarian at Providence's Brown University who has been an adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton. "The justices are not necessarily the most technologically sophisticated people," she said, adding that while clerks email one another, "The court hasn't really `gotten to' email."

Kagan, at age 53 the youngest and most recently appointed justice, said communication among the justices is the same as when she clerked for the late Thurgood Marshall in 1987. Justice write memos printed out on paper that looks like it came from the 19th century, she said. The memos are then walked around the building by someone called a "chambers aide."

Justice Kegan believes that the Supreme Court has a lot of technology to catch up on (Image credit: AP)

Kagan was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama. She previously served as solicitor general of the United States and dean of Harvard Law School, among other accomplishments. Widmer brought up the National Security Agency and Edward Snowden, who leaked classified documents exposing NSA programs that monitor Internet and phone data, suggesting the high court would likely hear more cases related to electronic surveillance.

Kagan said it was hard to predict what cases the court would address in the years to come, but she said she expects there will be new issues related to privacy, technology and surveillance. "I think we're going to have to be doing a lot of thinking about that," she said. Kagan said the justices often turn to their clerks, who are much younger, to help them understand new technology.

But they also try to learn on their own. In one case involving violent video games the first year she was on the court, justices who had never played the games before dove in and gave them a try, Kagan said. "It was kind of hilarious," she said - not divulging which games they played. The event was part of a celebration of the 350th anniversary of Rhode Island's colonial charter and was hosted by Governor Lincoln Chafee and sponsored by Roger Williams University School of Law.

Associated Press

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Google+ Photos now available for Chromebooks in 52 languages

Months after introducing the Google+ Photos app for its Chromebook Pixel users, Google has introduced the for all Chromebooks, according to a post.

The Google+ Photos app in action on a Chromebook

The Google+ Photos app is available for grabs now on the Chrome Web Store in 52 languages. The application allows users to store, organise and eventually share their collection of photos.

Once the Google+ Photos app is installed, users can insert your SD card into their Chromebook to get a back up of their new photos on Google+. These photos are viewable by the user only, and the most recent photos will still be visible to them when they’re offline. The app will highlight the top shots as it stores the images. Users can then share individual photos, sets of photos, or an entire album from the app. To go ahead with it, select the images and click ‘Share’. The Auto Enhance feature in the app adds improvements to each photo a user adds, and Auto Awesome creates fun new versions of photos. Click here to install the Google+ Photos app.

A screenshot of the app

The app was recently updated with a bunch of features, based on the feedback it received from users. A new “Move” option now allows users to move photos between albums. All that users have to do is pick a few photos in an album or click the new “Select” link to pick all photos and then decide where they want to put them. They can also download these images and save them to their computer by clicking the “Download” option after selecting the photos. Those looking to upload large albums to Google+ Photos can rejoice as Google claims to have made the entire deal faster thanks to a few changes.

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PlayStation 3-exclusive Gran Turismo 6 to hit stores on December 6

Sony’s upcoming realistic racing simulator, Gran Turismo 6, finally has a release date. The game is set to hit stores worldwide on December 6 and, in typical Gran Turismo fashion, will be exclusive to the PlayStation 3. The company made the announcement at the ongoing Gamescom.

Gran Turismo 6 will feature both pre-existing cars as well as new concept cars designed and conceived by major car makers. This includes the likes of Audi, Volkswagen and Peugeot. Other companies that typically don't make cars are also getting in on the action, such as Nike.

Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer

The Gran Turismo series has been massively successful for Sony, and some would even go as far as calling it a console-seller, since many people got their hands on the PlayStation 3 just to play Gran Turismo 5. The series has always had great attention to detail with its large line-up of licensed cars and race tracks. It has also been a hardcore simulation game, punishing players for even the tiniest mistakes.

The company has also announced that it is working on a movie based on the Gran Turismo franchise, with developer Polyphony's Kazunori Yamauchi consulting on the film's development. According to an earlier report, the movie adaptation of the game will be helmed by Producers Mike De Luca and Dana Brunetti of Fifty Shades of Grey fame.

How Sony plans to adapt Gran Turismo into a movie is the confusing part. The games have never had any focus on the narrative, instead simply opting to throw players into races.

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Ottawa watching BlackBerry carefully, wishes firm well

The Canadian government is watching smartphone maker BlackBerry Ltd carefully as it explores options including sale of the company but will not comment on its affairs, Industry Minister James Moore said on Wednesday.

Loss-making BlackBerry, which has bled market share to Apple's iPhone and phones using Google's Android operating system, said last week it was weighing options that could include an outright sale.

Being watched by Ottawa! (Image credit: Reuters)

The company's new phones, introduced earlier this year, have sold less quickly than expected and BlackBerry expects more red ink for the current quarter at least.

Speaking in an interview with Reuters, Moore said it was "unfortunate" that BlackBerry's new Q10 and the Z10 smartphones had not taken off with consumers.

"I know that they're facing their challenges and they're adjusting their firm internally in the way that best suits their interests," he said. "And all I can say is, we wish them well, and we're keeping a close eye on the situation."

Moore declined to speculate about whether a foreign bid for BlackBerry could run afoul of national security regulations. Asked if the government wanted BlackBerry to stay Canadian, he replied: "We want them to do well, keep employing Canadians, keeping putting out innovative technologies and platforms, and we're paying close attention."

BlackBerry, formerly known as Research In Motion, made on-your-hip email possible with its first pagers and smartphones, coupled with strong security features.

But the company was slow to embrace the important consumer market and rivals are rapidly pushing into the corporate and government market that BlackBerry used to own.

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Facebook and tech giants partner to bring web connectivity to the world

Facebook has announced the launch of Internet.org, a group of technology leaders partnering in order to make the Internet available to the entire world. Along with the social networking giant, companies like Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Opera and Samsung will be coming together to spearhead initiatives that bring the Internet to countries who do not have easy access to it.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who has been actively pushing to make his own social network accessible to everyone in the world, is taking keen interest in the activities of Internet.org. "Everything Facebook has done has been about giving all people around the world the power to connect," he said in a blog post. "There are huge barriers in developing countries to connecting and joining the knowledge economy. Internet.org brings together a global partnership that will work to overcome these challenges, including making internet access available to those who cannot currently afford it."

Imagine...

The companies will partner with mobile operators initially, followed by NGOs, academicians and experts to help bring the two-thirds of the world – which does not have access to the Internet – online. The project is said to be influenced by the success of Open Compute Project, an initiative across the industry that has been striving to make cloud computing cheaper by making hardware designs more efficient and innovative.

The Internet.org initiative will be having a three-pronged approach towards bringing the world online. The main agenda of the group is to make access affordable to those who wish to be online. The group will help develop and adopt technologies that make access cheaper and data more accessible. Developing new phones that are low on cost and high on quality is on the agenda too. The group expects mobile operators to lend a hand here.

Internet.org will invest in tools that will aim to reduce the amount of data required to access apps. The group will be collaborating on data compression tools, enenhancing network capabilities to more efficiently handle data, building systems to cache data efficiently and creating frameworks for apps to reduce data usage.Lastly, the group will support development of sustainable new business models that make accessing the Internet easier for people.

Facebook is already working with mobile operators around the world – and in India, especially – in order to make accessing Facebook cheaper. The initiative called Facebook for Every Phone aims to make the service accessible even on feature phones. Recently, the company announced that the service has hit 100 million monthly active users the world over. This will serve as an excellent stepping stone for Internet.org to take off from. Harnessed correctly, Facebook’s potential to reach the masses and their rapport with mobile operators might just be the push Internet.org needs.

(Cover image credit: Getty Images)

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Samsung revisits flip phone era, launches Galaxy Golden dual-screen smartphone

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