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When top designer Jason Wu isn’t busy dressing Natalie Portman, Drew Barrymore or Michelle Obama, he’s busy designing cameras. Working with General Imaging and sold under the General Electric (GE) brand, Wu’s products will be called “Created by Jason Wu.” Someone needs to extreme makeover that product name.
The simple point-and-shoot digital cameras will be available with either 4GB ($180) or 8GB ($230) of internal memory. Both models are 12 megapixels with retractable USB connections for transferring data and charging. The Jason Wu touch includes elegant wrist straps and other fashion-forward accesories. The metal cameras are available in white, black, gold, red, yellow, blue and green. The leather colors are white, black or grey.
Both models will be for sale initially on HSN. Two questions, though. Would you buy a camera based on its external appearance, and would you buy that camera from the Home Shopping Network?
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Microsoft was aware months ago of a critical security vulnerability well before hackers exploited it to breach Google, Adobe and other large U.S. companies but did not patch the hole until Thursday.
The software giant had intended to release a patch for the flaw in February — more than four months after learning about it — but had to speed up that plan and roll it out this week in the wake of news that Google and others had been hacked through the flaw, the world’s largest software maker acknowledged Thursday.
Meron Sellen, a security researcher at BugSec, an Israeli firm, quietly reported the vulnerability to Microsoft in September, according tosecurity firm Kaspersky.
Microsoft confirmed it learned of the so-called “zero-day” flaw months ago.
According to Microsoft, “An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user. If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.”
The flaw, which primarily affected IE6, allowed hackers to download malware to employee computers to gain access to intellectual property at Google, as well as information connected to Gmail users. It’s unknown what the hackers obtained from some 33 other companies — hi-tech, financial and defense — that were also targeted in the attack.
Although Microsoft recognized the severity of the flaw at the time Sellen reported it, the company held off releasing a patch so it could be included in a cumulative update for IE planned next month, the company said.
A zero-day flaw is a vulnerability for which there is currently no patch. It’s also a flaw that is generally unknown to the software vendor, which gives hackers who may be aware of the flaw a jump on developing malware to exploit it.
It’s unknown if other companies were breached through the flaw prior to the high-profile hacks disclosed last week. Most companies are unwilling to acknowledge a breach, let alone provide public details about how they were hacked.
Google disclosed last week it discovered in mid-December that it had been hacked in an attack originating from China, about three months after Microsoft learned of the vulnerability. Adobe followed Google, announcing it, too, was hacked. Security firm iDefense said it had information that at least 34 companies were breached in the coordinated attack.
On Thursday, meanwhile, Microsoft released a cumulative security update for Internet Explorer that fixes the flaw, as well as seven other security vulnerabilities that would allow an attacker to remotely execute code on a victim’s computer.
“Our investigation into this responsibly reported vulnerability began early September,” Jerry Bryant, senior security program manager for Microsoft, said in a statement. “As part of this investigation we began working on an update to help protect customers. We became aware of the recent attacks in mid-January and as part of our investigation determined the vulnerability being used in these attacks was similar to the one investigated in September.”
Photo: FastJack/Flickr
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NVIDIA’s feud with Intel may be at an all-time high these days, but it looks like the company isn’t about to go as far as to produce its own Intel-compatible x86 chip, despite persistent rumors to the contrary. That word comes straight from NVIDIA’s always talkative CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, who flatly said “no” when asked if there was any truth to the rumors. He further went on to add NVIDIA’s focus is on visual and parallel computing, and on “getting our GPUs into the lowest power platforms we can imagine and driving mobile computing with it” — as it’s now attempting to do with Tegra. In a separate discussion after a talk in Dubai, Huang also interestingly revealed that the computers in his household are “all Apple,” but he naturally didn’t just leave it there — head on past the break for the complete, must-read quote (as reported by Shufflegazine).
Read – CNET News, “Nvidia CEO says ‘no’ to Intel-compatible chip”
Read – Shufflegazine, “NVIDIA CEO, visiting Dubai, says “I’m all Apple”
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Google, concerned by the recent departures of several top executives, has developed an algorithm to try to identify which employees are likely to quit, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Journal said the internet search and advertising giant had turned to mathematical formulas because it was “concerned a brain drain could hurt its long-term ability to compete.”
The newspaper said Google examined data from employee reviews and promotion and pay histories to try to identify which of its 20,000 employees were most likely to leave the Mountain View, California-based company.
Laszlo Bock, who runs human resources for Google, told the Journal the algorithm helps the company “get inside people’s heads even before they know they might leave.”
The newspaper said Google officials were reluctant to share details of the formula, which is still being tested, but it had already identified employees “who felt underused, a key complaint among those who contemplate leaving.”
Edward Lawler, director of the Centre for Effective Organisations at the University of Southern California, told the Journal Google was “clearly ahead of the curve” in taking a more quantitative approach to personnel decisions.
The Journal quoted current and former Google employees as saying the company is losing talent because some employees feel they can’t make the same impact as the company matures.
Recent departures from Google include Tim Armstrong, a senior vice president, who left in March to head AOL, display-advertising chief David Rosenblatt, and Asia-Pacific and Latin America president Sukhinder Singh Cassidy.
Others who have left recently for start-ups such as Facebook and Twitter include lead designer Doug Bowman, engineering director Steve Horowitz and search-quality chief Santosh Jayaram, the Journal said.
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These days we hear the following terms thrown around like they’re going out of style. The real question, what do they “really” mean?
CEO –Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO– Corporate Fraud Officer.
BULL MARKET — A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET — A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.
VALUE INVESTING — The art of buying low and selling lower.
P/E RATIO — The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market keeps crashing.
BROKER — What my broker has made me.
STANDARD & POOR — Your life in a nutshell.
STOCK ANALYST — Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
STOCK SPLIT — When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets equally between themselves.
FINANCIAL PLANNER — A guy whose phone has been disconnected.
MARKET CORRECTION — The day after you buy stocks.
CASH FLOW — The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.
YAHOO — What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.
WINDOWS — What you jump out of when you’re the sucker who bought Yahoo @ $240 per share.
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR — Past year investor who’s now locked up in a nuthouse.
PROFIT — An archaic word no longer in use.
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This new home appliance is aptly named the “Bacon Alarm Clock.” It cooks bacon before it wakes you. What you do is place pieces of frozen bacon into it and 10-minutes before the alarm rings it starts cooking the bacon.
Mmmm…waking to the smell of Maple bacon. Canadians rejoice as we now have the alarm clock that we’ve always wanted. Fat Americans can also rejoice about having multiple bypass surgeries before the age of 16.
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Thinking about taking your laptop across the border for your next trip up north or down south? News hitting the wires today indicates that you might want to re-think that plan, unless you feel like being separated from your precious gadgets. Apparently, border agents have given themselves the right to seize any piece of electronics equipment they feel like, even if they don’t think you’ve done anything wrong, and they can keep your toys for as long as they like.
This rule extends to your cell phone, Kindle, MP3 player, or any other information storing device you’ve taken along for the trip (even paper!). Agents can also make copies of any (or all) of your data to share with any other Federal agency — though they promise to delete it when they’re through. It was just over a month ago that everyone was up in arms about laptop searching at borders, and now this? We certainly hope that this particular infringement of our digital liberties won’t last long for long.
[Via: Switched]
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