Hacker Declairs he can exploit Windows Update

The hacker who calls himself "Comodohacker" said this week that he could have used digital certificates stolen from a Dutch firm to issue fake updates to Windows PCs. If Comodohacker's assertion is accurate, he would have been able to push malware to Windows machines via the operating system's Windows Update service. Microsoft said that was impossible.

Comodohacker, who claims to be a 21-year-old Iranian, has taken credit for several attacks against certificate authorities, or CAs, the organizations and companies authorized to issue SSL (secure socket layer) certificates. In two of those attacks -- of Comodo in March and more recently of DigiNotar -- certificates were fraudulently generated. Among the 531 certificates stolen in the hack of Dutch-based DigiNotar were several that could be used to impersonate Microsoft's update services.

Comodohacker said he could exploit those certificates. "I'm able to issue Windows update[s]," Comodohacker claimed in one of several statements he has posted this week on Pastebin. "Microsoft's statement about Windows Update and that I can't issue such update is totally false!" Last weekend, Microsoft said that the certificates stolen from DigiNotar weren't enough to deliver actual updates.

Amazon launches e-book subscription service soon

Amazon is considering the launch of a subscription service for e-books and is currently in talks with book publishers, a Wall Street Journal report said on Sunday.According to the report, “people familiar with the matter” describe Amazon’s plan as “a Netflix Inc.-like service for digital books, in which customers would pay an annual fee to access a library of content.” Users would be able to download content to their computer, smartphone device and tablet.

It’s not certain how much progress has been made with the talks, the source said. Also, it seems that not everyone is behind the proposed service, with some publishing executives worried it might “lower the value of books and because it could strain their relationships with other retailers that sell their books.” The WSJ report says that the online retail giant would begin with a digital library of older books. The service would be rolled out to Amazon Prime customers, who currently fork out $79 a year for fast shipping, as well as access to a digital library of thousands of movies and TV shows, which can be streamed to a computer or mobile device. The plan is to offer a limited number of free e-book downloads per month.

Facebook Introduced ‘Smart Lists’ to Beat Google+ Circles

Facebook has been busy revamping its security and privacy measures this summer, to varying degrees of success. And as much as the site likes to protest that the launch of Google+ has nothing to do with these overhauls, more than a few of the changes seem to echo the purpose of its new competitors Circles tool.

But none more than the soon-launching Smart Lists. Mashable has obtained images (check them out after the break) showing that Facebook has begun testing this new application, which filters your News Feed to better target the information you share. Smart Lists automatically group your contacts into three groups: Work colleagues, old classmates, and those who live within 50 miles of you. The idea is that, much like over at Google+, you can post updates for certain groups of people instead of blasting your entire network with information that only applies to small segment of your friends.

And before users complain about Facebook pre-determining these lists, manual Friend Lists aren’t going anywhere. Users are still able to create their own contact groups, labeling them things like “Family,” or “Soccer Team” and choosing what information is or isn’t sent their way. There will also be a renewed focus on Friend Lists, with more explanation from Facebook on how best to construct your own lists (with wording very similar to how Google+ describes Circles). 

Facebook has been tweaking how its Friend Lists tool has worked, but it’s remained a seldom-used feature of the site. When Google+ launched, critics praised its Circles application for doing something Facebook hadn’t – when in reality, it was really just doing it better. An auto-list might encourage users to create their own friend groups, or at least use the pre-determined lists to limit the audience to their News Feed posts.

Smart Lists hasn’t officially launched yet and is only rolling out to a handful of users, but already there’s been some backlash. Facebook has been flooded with copy-pasted posts announcing the site is not limiting your News Feed on its own, showing you posts from friends you interact with most. We assume this could be related to a mass launch of Smart Lists. Regardless, if you’d like to change it, here’s how:

• Scroll to the bottom of your News Feed.
• Click “edit options.”
• Select “All of your friends and pages.”
• Here you can also see whose posts you’re hiding. 

   

See How Windows 8 boot up in 8 secs :Video

We’ve talked quite abit about Windows 8 recently simply because – Vista was horrible, Windows 7 much better but still not quite there, we’re hoping Windows 8 will live up to our expectations and this video below does show us one feature we want to see improved, check out Windows 8 officially boot up in this demo video in under ten seconds.

Microsoft achieves this quick boot by writing the kernel sessions to disk, essentially putting the computer in hibernation mode rather than shutting it down completely. This improves boot time by 30-70% since the computer doesn’t have to load all the drivers and services every time.

Apple Issues Security Update to Block Fraudulent Web certificates

Apple on Friday released Security Update 2011-005, which addresses fraudulent Web security certificates issued by are cently-hacked Dutch certificate authority DigiNotar.

The update, available for both Snow Leopard and Lion, offers Mac users protection from sites that could falsely claim to be trustworthy. The breach allowed hackers to issue bogus digital certificates, files that your Web browser uses when you make secure (HTTPS) connections.

The Security Update addresses the issue by removing DigiNotar from your Mac’s list of trusted root certificates and the list of Extended Validation certificate authorities. The update also configures default system trust settings so that DigiNotar’s certificates—including those it issues through other authorities—aren’t trusted.

You can install the Security Update through Software Update, or download the Lion or Snow Leopard updates directly from Apple’s website.

Google Launched an iPhone App For Blogger

Google has finally launched an iOS app for Blogger, giving the blog network’s millions of users a simple way to write, manage and publish posts from their iPhones.The app, available for iOS users 3.2 and up, is rather straightforward. It allows users to compose and publish blog posts complete with photos and geotagging. It also lets users view and edit their published and draft blog posts. It mimics the simplicity of the Blogger for Android interface, though. Users can also manage multiple blogs from the interface.

While the app works for the iPad, it only works in compatibility mode. Hopefully an iPad app is in the near future.This is the first official Blogger app for the iPhone. BlogPress created an unofficial app that Blogger endorsed, but an official app has been long overdue. The blogging service, once the world’s largest blogging service, has been overshadowed by WordPress, Tumblr and more lightweight competition. Google recently started investing in an overhaul of the service in an attempt to make Blogger relevant once again.

What do you think of Blogger and its new iOS app? Let us know in the comments.

First Windows 8 tablet May be Revealed next week: Rumor

According to rumors, Microsoft and Samsung are teaming up on a Windows 8 quad-core tablet and it may be unveiled at Microsoft's BUILD conference next week.Windows 8 may not be so far out after all. According to the AFP, which cites the Korea Economic Daily, Microsoft is working on a Windows 8 tablet with Samsung. More interesting, it may be unveiled at Mirosoft’s BUILD conference in California, which runs Sept. 13-16. ThisIsMyNext claims that the tablet may be given away to attendees at the conference and run on Nvidia‘s upcoming Kal-El quad-core processor. 

   

The move makes sense for Samsung, which is facing stiff tablet and smartphone pressure from other Android manufacturers as well as a myriad of lawsuits from Apple, which claims that many Samsung products steal its technology and design. Google’s pending purchase of Motorola is also cause for concern for the manufacturer. Motorola products could have an edge in the market, going forward.

What doesn’t make sense is how early this device is coming. Microsoft executives, and most analysts, have pegged the release of Windows 8 around June – Nov. of 2012. Many expected Microsoft to release a beta of the OS at BUILD next week, but not a full-fledged device. Will this device simply be a beta product?

In recent days, we’ve expressed doubts about the direction of Windows 8, which is looking more and more like two disparate operating systems glued together rather than one seamless experience. We hope to be proven wrong and look forward to learning more about Windows 8 at the BUILD conference next week.