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SpaceX Dragon's secret payload revealed: Le Brouere cheese (video)
It looks like the Air Force isn't the only organization with its secrets. While we still don't know the exact nature of the testing the X-37B space plane underwent during its seven months in orbit, we have learned what, exactly, the SpaceX Dragon was carrying during its time spent in low-earth orbit. That's right: a wheel of Le Brouere, a French variant of the Swiss Gruyere, a hard yellow cheese made from cow's milk. It's also a reference to a Monty Python sketch -- but you probably knew that already. You've seen the launch, so how about checking out the sketch that so amused Elon Musk? Well, you're in luck -- it's after the break.
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft successfully launches, returns from orbit (video)
It may have hit a few snags earlier this week, but SpaceX's slightly-delayed launch of its Dragon spacecraft looks to have gone off as well as anyone could have possibly hoped for. The craft blasted off from Cape Canaveral atop a Falcon 9 rocket earlier today, entered a "100 percent successful" low-earth orbit, and returned to Earth to make an on-target soft landing in the Pacific Ocean just a short while ago. Head on past the break for the launch video, and look for NASA to hold a complete post-flight press conference at 3:30pm EST at the link below (and on NASA TV).
HTC promises fix for Droid Incredible's ne'er-to-forget browser
In case you missed the recent excitement, a "feature" of HTC's Droid Incredible was found whereby the Sense UI bookmarking widget would take random screenshots of your web browsing experience and put them in a folder that's nigh impossible to delete, even after resetting to factory settings. Looks like the company knows about the issue, acknowledging it in a statement and promising a fix "in the near future." It also suggests a different reset to fix the mess, which apparently is to select "Format Phone Storage" from the "SD Card and Phone Storage" settings menu. Let us know if you have any luck with this and please, be careful about your browsing habits if you're worried what might be hanging around.
Droid Incredible saves browser screenshots to internal memory, turns into a privacy nightmare?
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/Droid_Incredible_saves_browser_screenshots_to_internal_memor'; June must be the month when privacy issues leave their hibernation and return to trouble our fragile minds. First we had Flash going loco, then AT&T's airwaves exploded with iPad users' email addresses, iPhone 4 pre-orders started sending people to the wrong account, and now this. Boy Genius Report has come across a rather worrying "feature" of the HTC Sense bookmarking widget on the Incredible, which takes sporadic screenshots of your browsing sessions. That wouldn't be so bothersome in itself, but try to remove said pictures, and you find where the problem lies. Ending the browsing session, deleting your history, and even a full reset to factory settings failed to eviscerate the indiscreet imagery. You have to manually discover their location and delete them by hand. Considering the high likelihood of Incredibles being sold and resold for years to come, this could turn the phone into a little cache of treasure for the proactive identity thief. And since it's a Sense issue, it might be affecting other HTC handsets as well. Wunderbar.
Google to disclose WiFi snooping data to regulators amid allegations it was collected intentionally
And the mess gets messier. A class action lawsuit filed against Google in Oregon has now been enriched with the allegation that Google willfully collected personal data with its Street View cars, rather than doing so accidentally, as it claims. It's a bold accusation, whose primary basis is a patent application, filed by Google in November 2008, for a "computer-implemented method of estimating the location of a wireless device." A subsidiary claim references the "obtaining [of] one or more packets of data transmitted" from one wireless device to another to help estimate accuracy of location results. That's the supposedly damning verbiage that shows Google intentionally created WiFi-snooping software, and it's also what's being relied on to show that Mountain View couldn't have been ignorant of the data collection going on. Yes, it's quite a stretch, but that's what lawyers are for: mental gymnastics. Over in Europe, Google is doing its best to placate local regulators, some of whom are contemplating criminal charges against the multinational company, by agreeing to hand over all data that was collected by its vehicles. France, Germany and Spain will be first to peruse the info, though presumably there'll be an open door to other nosy governments as well. Doesn't that strike you as weird -- having your private data protected by letting a bunch more people look at it?
UK T-Mobile customer data sold to cold callers, responsible staff to be prosecuted
Let's be honest, who here is actually surprised that underpaid and overworked data workers would sell on our details for a few extra quid? Given the number of uninvited calls to our unlisted phone numbers, we know for a fact that somebody has been dishing our personal contacts to those Nigerian princes and caring loan consolidators, so it's no shock to learn that T-Mobile employees have been fingered for committing the deed and are now facing prosecution. We're told that inappropriately leaked information made its way into the hands of brokers, who then "cold-called the customers as their contracts were due to expire" without T-Mob's knowledge. Disappointed by the failure of current fines to discourage such illegal information trade, British Justice Minister Michael Wills has even called for "custodial sentences" to be levied against the poor slobs responsible. So, if you're scoring at home, that's now two black eyes for T-Mobile when it comes to keeping our data safe. For shame.
Roman Abramovich's Eclipse has anti-photo 'laser shield'
If you ask a young boy to spec out his ideal boat, you might hear of helipads, swimming pools, missile-proof hulls, mini-submarines and laser shields. Well, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is one of those people with the time and money to listen to his inner child, and he's gone and put all of the above together inside a $1.2 billion 557-foot vessel of luxury and excess. The Eclipse will attempt to repel paparazzi with a laser system that is said to "detect CCDs" (we suspect they mean it detects the autofocus light), and responds with an intense beam of light that precludes unwanted photography. We don't know how well the automatic system will work, but it must be fun to manually point the lasers at the paps and go "pew pew!" [Via Fark]
SOE says no private info was included in EQ2 research logs
Sony Online Entertainment released a statement today concerning the buzz surrounding their database research for EverQuest 2. Apparently this information is not entirely true, according to SOE, as the personal information in these logs was not included. What does this mean for those concerned players out there? It means you have nothing to worry about.According to the official statement, which can be found after the jump below, none of the information in these logs was connected to any real names or what's known as Personally Identifiable Information (PII). In addition, no player chat logs were shared with the researchers. Even in the situation where players voluntarily participated in a blind survey, the private information of those volunteers was kept confidential as well. Follow along below for the complete official statement from SOE.
Mac 101: 7 tips for Data Privacy Day 2009
Today is Data Privacy Day, a global initiative to highlight information security rights and practices, especially among teens, professionals, corporations, and the government. As part of the celebration, TUAW (along with our sister blog Download Squad) has seven good ideas for you about how to keep your data safe and away from prying eyes with Mac OS X Leopard. Also, be sure to browse TUAW articles filed under Security for other tips and alerts about keeping your data safe. 1: Turn on your firewall Leopard, as we all know, comes with a built in firewall to prevent other computers from connecting to internet-facing ports on your computer. But: Did you know it's turned off by default? To turn on your firewall, open System Preferences, and click the Security icon. Then, click the Firewall tab. Make sure either "Allow only essential services" is selected, or you can choose to "set access for specific services and applications" yourself. You can also use "Stealth Mode": when enabled, computers that send data to blocked ports won't even get acknowledgement that the data was received. To enable Stealth Mode, click the Advanced button on the Firewall tab of the Security preference pane, and click the check box next to "Enable Stealth Mode." 2: Set a screen saver password A feature popular with Windows users, Mac OS X can also lock your screen when your computer sleeps or when the screen saver comes on. Simply open System Preferences, select Security, and choose the General tab. Click the check box next to "require password to wake this computer from sleep or screen saver," and you're all set. If you have automatic login enabled and click the "require password" check box, Mac OS X will recommend that you disable automatic login. This means you'll have to enter your password to turn your computer on, too; nefarious nogoodniks won't be able to restart your Mac while the screen saver is on to circumvent the need for a password. Good thinking.
Breakfast Topic: Are private servers really that bad?
Blizzard has a very clear line on private servers: they are against the rules. If you have one or play on one you're going to get in trouble. Your account will get shut down and you'll likely face some legal issues if you don't capitulate to their demands.However is their stance right? Are private servers really that big of a deal?There are two ways that I look at the issue. One way is to view the issue through the lens of morality and legalese. In this respect Blizzard is on solid ground. They own Warcraft and all the associated games, and they own the servers we play on. When we buy the game we're not buying the property. We're buying the right to use the property as long as we keep paying a monthly fee, and as long as we operate within their guidelines (the terms of service).Some might contend that there is an innate right to privacy in the fact that after we've purchased the game (and its associated data), Blizzard has no right to tell us what to do with it or to find out how we're using it. I'm not a lawyer, but some are, and there's an interesting debate to be had here.
Verizon Wireless brings Static IP to paranoid businesses
If your company-issued handset / USB modem / WWAN-enabled laptop just happens to have a big red swoosh on it, you might want to think twice before dabbling in any digital debauchery. Verizon Wireless has just started offering Static Internet Protocol to its private network for businesses, which gives managers the ability to carefully monitor activity from each device that taps into the pipes. Of note, the whole idea here takes a big hit when you learn that BlackBerry devices are incompatible, but it should play nice with pretty much any other mobile unit. Oh, and did we mention prohibitive costs? Try a one-time setup fee of $500, and you'll also get dinged with a $60 monthly data plan per device as well as being required to have an AAA server -- which runs between $30,000 and $40,000 -- to implement the technology. Suddenly, knowing that your employees are on MySpace all day doesn't seem that bad, does it?[Via phonescoop]
Living without General chat
I have a confession to make: all the whining, questions, and confusion that's been in General chat for the last few days? I haven't heard any of it. As soon as I logged in after the expansion, I typed "/leave general" and strangely enough, haven't looked back. I usually enjoy General -- it reminds me that I'm not playing a singleplayer game, and most of the comments there, while not really the smartest, are at least pretty entertaining. I figured if you're going to play a game with other people, you might as well give them the opportunity to talk with you.But Northrend has been different -- I didn't want the inane chatter, the constant stream of questions (sometimes answered, usually not), and the occasional desperate requests. I wanted to be in Northrend by myself, more or less, and explore the world as if I wasn't on the same server as thousands of people. And it's been worthwhile, for the most part -- while I've dived back in there once or twice just to check and see if certain quests are bugged for anyone else, I've mostly stayed out of there, and I think it's made the game better.Some of you will probably think I'm late to the game -- you may have removed the General channel on day one, and the Trade and World Defense channels along with it (I'm keeping the Trade channel, though -- when I am in cities, I kind of appreciate the bustling back and forth, and I've found a few deals in there). For the moment, though, I appreciate a quieter Northrend. No General for me, thanks.
How-to guide repurposes phone jack as hidden storage portal
First things first: this guide is absurdly complicated for what you get, but if you're the kind who thinks the journey is half the fun, you'll likely be in nerd heaven. In an attempt to make an easily accessible hidden storage disk, one Doppelgangergang hacked up an unused phone jack, a 4GB flash drive and a USB / phone cable. After a good bit of splicing, cutting and soldering, a custom phone line-to-USB cable emerged, enabling him to discreetly access the data with mum and dad assuming he was simply doing research over that trusty 56k connection. Really, MacGyver would give mad props here -- tap the read link to see if you're up for the challenge.
Vodafone recommends "more discreet" communication methods in public
Although it should be painfully obvious, we can't deny that chatting about sensitive information in public takes place practically everywhere. To that end, a new study commissioned by Vodafone UK found that over 70-percent of all workers "talk business on their mobile phones in public, with one-in-five talking about business-critical subjects such as sales leads." Worse still, 15-percent admitted to "openly discussing confidential new products or services whilst traveling," while 26-percent admitted that they have actually followed up on a lead in which they received via listening in to another's public call. Not surprisingly, the company recommends that individuals utilize more discreet methods of communicating in public, suggesting texting and emailing in particular. Of course, it's a good bit more difficult to tell a story through those two methods, but it's a lot better than having your most promising client snatched out from under you, yeah?[Via textually, image courtesy of Miloh]
How would a Starcraft MMO work?
Speculation over Blizzard's upcoming MMO continues unabated, even with the lack of anything new to feed upon. The biggest hope, I dare to say, is that it's going to be Starcraft that gets the treatment, even if it's still a long way away from release. Starcraft holds fast in many gamers' hearts, including mine, so it's only natural to want more. But when actually considering the possibility, how would it play out?Our Krystalle has already given this a glance over on WoW Insider, and our recent Ask Massively asked a similar question, but I'd like to take it deeper. Let's take World of Warcraft as a point of comparison and see if we can run down this mythical beast.
A public no-go at Leipzig
The upcoming Leipzig Games Convention (Nintendo's keynote is scheduled for August 23rd) is the current hotbed of upcoming Wii information, with rumors flying left and right that the final launch details and pricing will be unveiled at the German trade show. We've known that Nintendo will be showing off some new Wii games there, and being open to the public, certainly some of our European readers were gearing up to make the trek to Germany. Oh, but wait, in the distance...yep. It's the black cloud of despair. Yes, it turns out that the Wii will not be playable to the general public during the show. Despite Nintendo's attitude of wanting as many people to get their hands on it as possible, it appears that not enough proper game journalists and members of the media were able to brave the 6+ hour lines at E3; the console will only be playable in private rooms that require an invitation from Nintendo. Oh well. Remember, stalwart fans, though we don't know the specific date of release, each second that passes brings us closer still...
Safari AppleScript to enable Private Browsing, mount temporary download disk image
Now that we know how to enable the AppleScript menubar item, it's time to give Safari some AppleScript-enabled privacy features.For all those times when you need to enable Private Browsing and 'private downloading' in Safari, a macosxhints reader has posted an AppleScript with setup instructions that can enable Private Browsing and mount a disk image and temporarily changing Safari's download folder to said disk image for the ultimate in browsing privacy (macosxhints uses 'online banking' as a usage scenario; I guess that works).The script requires a little bit of setup and customization however, so check out the post for instructions. When you're finished you'll have a simple, handy AppleScript that prompts you to enable or disable Private Browsing in Safari, and then it will mount your encrypted (password-prompted) disk image for safe, secure and private downloading as well. Enjoy.
