Oracle databases easy to hack, says researcher

A researcher showed today that Oracle's databases could be hacked with brute-force attacks using only the database's name and a username, according to Kaspersky Lab Security News.
Esteban Martinez Fayo, who works for AppSec Inc., was demonstrating his discovery at a security conference in Argentina and said that within just five hours on a regular PC using a special tool he could hack through easy passwords and access users' data.

Internet Explorer Blocks More Malware Than Firefox, Chrome, Safari

NSS Labs browser tests show Google SafeBrowsing API weak link in catching click fraud malware

It hasn't been the best month for Internet Explorer given the recent zero-day attack, but the Microsoft browser got some good news today with a new test that shows it's by far better at stopping malware than Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari. NSS Labs today released the results of tests it conducted on the major browsers to determine how they defend against malware associated with bank fraud, password-stealing, phony antivirus, and click fraud. IE fared best, blocking 95 percent of all malware-related activity, followed by Chrome, which blocked 33 percent, and Firefox and Safari, which blocked less than 6 percent.

HP releases Open webOS 1.0

HP may have ceased production on webOS smartphones and tablets - for now, at least - but the company hasn't stopped working on the operating system that powered devices like the Palm Pre and HP Touchpad. After several months of development and multiple stages of testing,

Intel CEO tells staff Windows 8 isn’t ready for release

Intel CEO Paul Otellini may be getting an angry phone call from Steve Ballmer today after it was revealed he told staff in Taiwan Windows 8 isn’t ready for release.
Otellini’s comments were made at an internal meeting in Taipai, and he must have naively thought they would never become public knowledge. We don’t know if he went into detail about what exactly is unfinished about Windows 8, but others have commented about a lack of reliable driver support and supporting applications. For many who have picked up previous versions of the Windows desktop OS early, this probably isn’t coming as a surprise.

Google planning a $99 Nexus tablet?

Over the last few months, we’ve seen a truly impressive race to the bottom with Android-based tablets. By the time the holiday shopping season is in full swing, we will have $199 7″ tablets from Google, Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and several off brand competitors as well. These devices are barely indistinguishable by looking at them head on, and the price for all of them is identical, so the only things that will drive a user to pick one over the other would be to either touch them or choose by brand preference.

RIM Reports $235 Million Net Loss, Ships 7.4 Million BlackBerry Smartphones

 

Research in Motion reported a net loss of $235 million, or $0.45 a share, and generated $2.9 billion in revenue in the third quarter, handily beating Wall Street’s low expectations.
Factoring out the company’s pre-tax restructuring costs, RIM actually ended up with a net loss of $142 million for the quarter, or $0.27 a share. The consensus estimates were that RIM would report an adjusted net loss of $0.47 a share. RIM’s revenue also beat Wall Street estimates of $2.49 billion for the quarter.......

Facebook, Gates Foundation Team Up to Create Apps For Future College Students

Facebook hosted a hackathon in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Thursday, kicking off the foundation’s College Knowledge Challenge. That’s a $2.5 million investment fund to encourage developers to make apps that meliorate the college process.
Thursday’s Hackathon, “HackEd,” aimed to mesh the digital Facebook crowd with the Gates’ altruistic mission in hopes of creating apps that are useful to students (and their parents) nearing college years. At the end of the hack, a panel of judges will announce winners and give out prizes.