ZDNet Blogs

Mozilla, Google plug high-risk browser holes

Ryan Naraine — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:38:35 PDT

Just 48 hours after the release of exploit code targeting a zero-day vulnerability in Firefox 3.5, Mozilla's security response team has rushed out a patch to protect users from code execution attacks. With Firefox 3.5.1, rated a "critical" update, the open-source group corrects a browser crash that could result in an exploitable memory corruption problem. [ SEE: Attack code posted for unpatched Firefox 3.5 flaw ] Mozilla explains: In certain cases after a return from a native function, such as escape(), the Just-in-Time (JIT) compiler could get into a corrupt state. This could be exploited by an attacker to run arbitrary code such as installing malware. We would like to thank community members Lucas Kruijswijk and Nochum Sossonko for isolating...

Experts convene to analyze SOA's vital signs

Joe McKendrick — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:58:18 PDT

Ron Schmelzer passed this on to me: he and the ZapThink crew are hosting an SOA confab next week in Boston that plays off the "SOA is Dead" theme we've been hearing so much about, titled "SOA: The Night of the Living Dead." And appropriately, Anne Thomas Manes, who stirred this whole thing up, will be there. She will be joined by industry luminaries Dana Gardner, Brenda Michelson, Sandy Rogers, Thomas Burns, and David Chappell of Oracle. ZapThinkers Ron and Jason Bloomberg will also be there -- on Thursday evening, July 23rd. Can this impressive assemblage of experts revive the spirit of SOA?

Chrome for Mac starts to get real

Jason D. O'Grady — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:37:36 PDT

I'm in Florida visiting some family and had a flashback to the last time I was down here banging away on my brand-spankin' new Dell mini 9 netbook -- which was all the rage at the time (post 1 and 2). I purchased it with every intention to lobotomize it and install OS X as soon as humanly possible, but my travel plans dictated that I wouldn't have enough time to hackintosh it until I got back. One positive side effect of having a Windows netbook to play with for a couple of days was that I got to put Google's Chrome Web browser through its paces. Because Chrome for Mac is still in development you're forced to go over...

Corning: Cables count in data center energy-efficiency equations

Heather Clancy — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:37:34 PDT

Every single piece of equipment or technology or cabling counts when you are trying to eek better efficiency out of your data center, which is one reason you will start hearing more from some of the cabling suppliers about how their products affect your green data center profile. This is especially relevant, as more businesses look to upgrade their cabling to handle 100G Ethernet. One example is a recent introduction from Corning Cable Systems for a product called Pretium Evolved-Density Growth-Enabled (EDGE) Solutions. (Note to self: Never, never claim responsibility for an acronym like this one.) The Pretium product line is made from a Corning innovation called ClearCurve multimode fibre, which was launched back in January 2009. Bob Pollock, director...

Apple drops to fifth in unit shipments, barely

Jason D. O'Grady — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:10:52 PDT

Preliminary estimates from research firm IDC indicate that Apple will drop from fourth place in unit shipments in Q2'09 at fifth place in Q2'08 -- dropping 12.4 percent to 1.21 million Macs. Apple's market share will reportedly stay steady at 7.6 percent. Leapfrogging Apple into fourth position is Toshiba which stands to climb 2.1 percent to 7.7 percent of PCs shipped in the United States - just squeaking past Apple by 12,000 machines or one-tenth of one percent. If confirmed, that would make the pecking order as follows: Manufacturer - Units (millions) - Market Share - Change Dell - 4.174 - 26.3% - (18.9%) HP - 4.134 - 26.0% - 2.3% Acer - 2.009 - 12.6% - 51.0% Toshiba -...

Next electric car coming from...Nissan

Harry Fuller — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:12:09 PDT

In less than a month Nissan will show off its electric cars. They'll be available in the U.S. next year. Nissan, Ford and Tesla have all gotten federal loans to help support their electric car preps in the U.S. The first electric Nissan car will be a compact. Meanwhile Japan's #3 automaker, Nissan, is looking to introduce a hybrid minivan there in two years. Japan has heavy tax breaks for car buyers there who buy electric or hybrid vehicles.

"Cooling trend" gets hot reactions

Harry Fuller — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:31:18 PDT

I blog about global warming and the reactions are hot. One commenter thinks I want everybody to believe in global warming so green tech will get more investment. My selfish reason for liking green tech: it is more likely more birds and trees will survive and I find those pleasing in almost all aspects. If green tech could be done for free that would be fine with me. Upset a lot of VCs and engineers, however. THE "LIE BACKAND ENJOY IT" FALLACY One commenter goes to great lengths to describe historical cooling and warming trends, many long before man's ancestors stopped dragging their knuckles. Agreed, not all hot and cool earth conditions are man-made or even capable of human engineering...

Twitter Security Crunch

Oliver Marks — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:53:20 PDT

There's an awful symmetry about the strategic plans of the Twitter team being published on TechCrunch today: using password discovery techniques 'Hacker Croll' was able to access Google and other accounts. I literally just saw on Twitter as I write this the 'ethical line' TechCrunch have invented for themselves questioned by Twitter founder @ev: @TechCrunch @arrington "we have been given the green light by Twitter to post this information" What?! By whom? That's not our understanding The ethics of the choices TechCrunch have made in exposing these sensitive documents are highly questionable but the reality is the valuable content would have shown up online somewhere given they were being offered by the hacker. I've been prepping a post about...

$20/gallon gasoline: heaven or hell?

Harry Fuller — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:51:59 PDT

Gasoline prices rank with beer prices and taxes as economic issues nearly every American reacts to. Now one writer has engineered a book designed to play to everybody's gasoline paranoia. Nobody we know controls the price of gasoline, but we are sure somebody can or does or should. The new book: $20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better. It's authored by Forbes writer Christopher Steiner. Steiner looks into the near future at $6/gallon gas and then the changes he foresees for "inevitable" $20 per gallon gas. Here's a Newsweek interview with Steiner. Here you can find an interview of Steiner that was on NPR today. This is a...

Google: Nice quarter, but...

Sam Diaz — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:18:55 PDT

Google's expense management enabled the company to handily top its earnings targets, but there were Wall Street worries about the company's lack of revenue growth. Revenue per click was also a worry. The company today reported second quarter revenue of $4.07 billion, beating Wall Street's estimates of $4.05 billion, and income of $1.71 billion, or $5.36 per share, well above the estimates of $5.08 EPS that analysts had expected. Despite that, shares were dipping in after-hours trading. (Statement, Slides) Investors have been watching the company closely as much of its revenue is tied to online advertising, which has been sluggish in the depressed global economy. Likewise, investors also have been watching as the company faces new competition in the search...