Our latest edition of WIG is filled with news link coverage on topics such as how the FBI and CIA can read your e-mail, Blizzard admits to wrongfully banning a Diablo 3 Linux user and refunds his money, e-mailed malware disguised as group coupon offers are increasing, and more.
Chainlink clipart courtesy of For Web Designer.
Weekly News Links
- Microsoft’s SkyDrive accidently freezes out Opera users
The software giant is working quickly to fix a bug that rendered the cloud storage service useless on Opera’s Web browser. - Shumway: Mozilla’s open SWF runtime project
The Research team at Mozilla has announced the launch of a new open SWF runtime project called “Shumway”. Described as “an HTML5 technology experiment”, Shumway is intended to provide a web-native implementation of Adobe’s SWF Flash file format, used for vector graphics and multimedia. - Mozilla launches Popcorn Maker 1.0
Over the weekend, at its Mozilla Festival event in London, the company announced the launch of version 1.0 of Popcorn Maker, its free web application for authoring interactive videos. - Google sandboxes Flash in Chrome for Mac OS X
In a new blog post, the Chrome developers at Google have highlighted additional security improvements in the recent stable release of Chrome for Mac OS X users. The latest major update to Chrome for Mac OS X, version 23, is the first release of the browser for the platform to include a fully sandboxed Flash Player plugin. - IE10 on Windows 7 Breaks Down Aero
Internet Explorer 10 has arrived on Windows 7 platforms this week, but it appears that this particular version is pretty buggy and causes users more trouble than good. Several consumers have already posted messages on Microsoft’s support forums, asking for help as Internet Explorer 10 Release Preview broke down the Aero interface on Windows 7. - Microsoft smooths out some of SkyDrive’s rough edges
Microsoft’s answer to Google Drive continues to mature, as SkyDrive gains selective syncing powers, the ability to share from the Desktop, and mobile updates for Android and Windows Phone. - Skype for Linux 4.1 arrives with Microsoft account support
Microsoft’s Skype division has released version 4.1 of its popular closed source VoIP, video and text chat software for Linux. The latest release of the software, labelled 4.1.0.20, is a major update to the 4.x branch and brings with it enhancements to the application’s user interface and several new features, such as support for signing into Microsoft accounts. - Fedora 19 will be named “Schrödinger’s Cat”
Fedora Project Leader Robyn Bergeron has announced the results of the voting for the Fedora 19 release name and has confirmed that the successor to Spherical Cow will be called “Schrödinger’s Cat”. - Blizzard Admits to Wrongfully Banning Diablo 3 Linux User, Refunds His Money
Blizzard finally understands that there are a lot of Linux users out there playing their games in Linux distributions, through Wine, and that they are banning them wrongfully. - Gmail now searchable by size, more flexible date options
This latest tweak is the latest in a series of improvements to Gmail as Google waits to see what Yahoo has up its sleeve. - Hundreds of Microsoft Tablets Go Offline Due to Wi-Fi Connectivity Bugs
The keyboard breaks down, the Windows 8 logo on the back of the tablet rubs off, the sound is randomly turned to mute and now, the Surface fails to connect to Wi-Fi networks. - Windows 8 sales ‘well below’ projections, report claims
Windows 8 isn’t flying off the shelves in the numbers Microsoft was hoping for, according to a report. - Mozilla: The problem is mobile, not money
The organization generated $163.5 million in 2011, mostly from searches performed with Firefox. But it still lacks a strong foothold in the world of smartphones and tablets. - Cloud storage services have their benefits and flaws
A new report looks at the pluses and minuses of different cloud services, including Google Drive, Box, SugarSync, DropBox, and Apple’s iCloud. - WordPress begins accepting Bitcoin for service upgrades
The popular blogging platform will accept the controversial peer-to-peer currency without the traditional “confirmations” for establishing a trustworthy reputation.
Security News
- Skype fixes e-mail security flaw
The VoIP provider has resolved a vulnerability that let someone take over a member’s account simply by resetting the password. - Adobe suffers database leak, user forum taken offline
The hacker says he undertook the attack to shed light on how slow Adobe is to fix security issues after being alerted to them — and says Yahoo is next. - Opera’s web portal reportedly deployed online banking trojan
For a brief time, at least a “few hours”, users visiting Opera’s online portal at portal.opera.com were exposed to malware, according to a report from anti-virus specialist Bitdefender. - Active XSS flaw discovered on eBay
According to XSSed, Shubham Upadhyay has discovered an active XSS flaw affecting Ebay.com. - Hackers obtained access to FreeBSD servers
The team behind the FreeBSD operating system reported that an intrusion into two of its servers was detected on 11 November. The security team says that the two affected servers were taken offline immediately and that investigations show that the first unauthorised access probably took place on 19 September. - Security risk at the root of a rooted Samsung Galaxy S3
Thinking of rooting your Android phone? Read this cautionary tale first. - Hootsuite flub reveals users’ e-mail addresses to other users
Thousands of e-mails sent to users of the social media manager included the names and e-mail addresses of other users. - E-mailed malware disguised as group coupon offers on the rise
Spammers take advantage of the rising popularity of e-mailed advertisements by mimicking them and attaching viruses. - How tweets about your sick cat threaten our security health
You may think you know the risks of giving away too many personal details in social media. The trouble is others around you may not. - Ransomware a growing menace, says Symantec
This type of scamware has jumped over the past year, both in number and variety, according to the security vendor. - LTE networks vulnerable to inexpensive jamming technique
High-speed wireless networks being embraced as the future of wireless communication could be taken down with an inexpensive transmitter, researchers warn. - Lost+Found: Cosmic rays, TED and 15 men-in-the-middle
Too short for news, too good to lose; Lost+Found is a roundup of useful and interesting security news. In this edition: rays from space, an online classroom for pen testers, TED talks on computers and fish, the Stuxnet family, a VM trick, men-in-the-middle, and another alternative to Adobe Reader. - Yes, the FBI and CIA can read your email. Here’s how
“Petraeus-gate,” some U.S. pundits are calling it. How significant is it that even the head of the CIA can have his emails read by an albeit friendly domestic intelligence agency, which can lead to his resignation and global, and very public humiliation? Here’s how. - Kill the Password: Why a String of Characters Can’t Protect Us Anymore
You have a secret that can ruin your life. It’s not a well-kept secret, either. Just a simple string of characters—maybe six of them if you’re careless, 16 if you’re cautious—that can reveal everything about you. - Infamous Hacker Heading Chinese Antivirus Firm?
What does a young Chinese hacker do once he’s achieved legendary status for developing Microsoft Office zero-day exploits and using them to hoover up piles of sensitive data from U.S. Defense Department contractors? Would you believe: Start an antivirus firm?
TinyHacker Links
Image courtesy of Guiding Tech Blog.
- Using Gmail in Windows 8 Mail
Learn how to set up Gmail in the Windows 8 mail app. - How to Check the Weather in Windows 8
The Weather app is one of our favorites in Windows 8. It’s small, looks and works great and shares data from multiple sources. To learn more, check out this guide. - Setting Up Remote Desktop in Windows 8
The following two guides should help you in setting up remote desktop connections in Windows 8. - Using Your iPhone as a Remote
Well, not for TV, but you can certainly use it as remote for your Mac or PC and control it right from the iOS interface using the instructions given in the following guide. - Goodreads: Keep Track of Books You Read
Goodreads is the ultimate destination for bookworms, period. - Share and Discover Creative Work at Behance
Behance is one of the best sites for showcasing your online portfolio if you are a creative professional and finding great creative talent if you are someone who’s on the hunt. - The Best Captions Ever
People upload photos to this site with a caption… and that’s the best part. You’ll know when you see the captions.
How-To Geek Weekly Article Recap
- HTG Explains: Why Screen Savers Are No Longer Necessary
- Ask the Readers: How Do You Give an Old Laptop a New Life?
- How To Run Chrome OS From a USB Drive and Use It On Any Computer
- How To Delete, Move, or Rename Locked Files in Windows
- HTG Explains: Should You Shut Down, Sleep, or Hibernate Your Laptop?
- A Tour of the 20 Built-in Apps on Windows 8 and What They Can Do
- Screenshot Tour: 10 New Features in Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
- How To Enable Aero Glass-Style Transparency in Windows 8
- The Best Free RSS Readers for Keeping Up With Your Favorite Websites
- What You Said: Giving an Old Laptop a New Life
Geeky Goodness from the ETC Side
- The Problem with Owning a Tablet [Comic]
- Old Lock Retrofitted for Wireless and Key-free Entry
- One Does not Simply Log onto Boromir’s Computer [Humorous Image]
- Busted Computer Tower? All You Need is a Little Bit of Tape! [Humorous Image]
- Be Thankful When Your Browser Saves the Day [Humorous Image]
- Hey, Amuse Me [Comic]
- Scrollbars: A Retrospective
- When Your Anti-Virus has an Identity Crisis [Humorous Image]
- DIY Standing Desk Sports Super Sturdy Galvanized Pipe Legs
- Map of Middle-Earth and the Undying Lands [LOTR Wallpaper]
One Year Ago on How-To Geek
- HTG Explains: Understanding Routers, Switches, and Network Hardware
- How To Block Web Sites at the Router Level for Network Wide Filtering
- How to See What Web Sites Your Computer is Secretly Connecting To
- Beginner: How to Use LogMeIn Hamachi to Access Your Files Anywhere
- HTG Explains: How Hackers Take Over Web Sites with SQL Injection / DDoS
How-To Geek Comics Weekly Roundup
- What is Your ‘Gut Feeling’ about It?
- Fairy-Tale Resume
- A New Mobile Version of You
- The Website is Suffering a Code Blue
- So, Which One is It?
- Enhanced Digital Presence
- Different Measures of Potential
How-To Geek Weekly Trivia Roundup
- Which Country Was The First To Launch A Domestic Non-Military Satellite?
- Which Mission Was The First And Only Time “Astronaut Ice Cream” Flew In Space?
- Which Organization Uses Minecraft For Real World Urban Planning?
- Where Did The “Music” Astronauts Heard On The Dark Side Of The Moon Come From?
- Early Microchips Included What To Protect Chip Manufacturers?
- What Did William Shatner Require To Perform The Vulcan Salute?