Apple DNS Security Patch Flawed, Leaves Users At Risk

Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) finally rolled out a software update to fix the much-heralded Domain Name System (DNS) security flaw, but it seems the celebration may have been premature.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based vendor rolled out Security Update 2008-005,
a fix that Apple said plugs several security holes, including its
implementation of the BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) server,
which left users of its Mac OS X operating system susceptible to the DNS flaw disclosed earlier this month.

However, several security researchers Friday said Apple's DNS patch doesn't actually fix the problem and that Mac users are still at risk.

"Did Apple forget to patch something? By the look of things, the DNS
client on the OSX 10.4.11 distribution still has not been patched,"
said security researcher Andrew Storms, director of security operations
at Ncircle Network Security, in a blog post.

Apple's update was supposed to introduce port randomization to help block cache
poisoning attacks, a threat exposed by the DNS flaw. But even after
installing the patch, Storms said his system still was not randomizing
the source port.

"The bottom line is that despite this update, it appears that the client libraries still aren't patched," Storms said.

Another security researcher, Swa Frantzen of the SANS Institute found the same problem with Apple's software patch.

"So Apple might have fixed some of the more important parts for
servers, but is far from done yet as all the clients linked against a
DNS client library still need to get the workaround for the protocol weakness," Frantzen said in a blog post.

The DNS problem was discovered by security researcher Dan Kaminsky, who
planned to disclose the threat at next week's Black Hat USA 2008 in Las
Vegas. But two researchers last week leaked details of the flaw and how
to exploit it, leaving equipment from several vendors open to attack.

Several vendors moved immediately to issue patches that addressed the
flaw, but Apple held back, drawing criticism for its slow response.

From : http://www.crn.com/

Back Off the Internet -- FCC to Comcast

Comcast, the largest cable company in the
U.S., had claimed that BitTorrent traffic consumed a disproportionate
amount of its network's bandwidth, degrading the Internet access of
other customers. To 'fix' this, Comcast had installed equipment that
slowed down, not block -- file transfers using BitTorrent. This move
led public advocacy groups Free Press and Public Knowledge to file a
complaint against the network provider, a complaint that the Federal
Communications Commission upheld against Comcast.



"We are preserving the open character of the Internet," Kevin J.
Martin, the F.C.C chairman told New York Times. He added the motion was
a message to all communication companies that they "can't block people
from getting access to any content and any applications."

This issue highlights a broader topic of
network neutrality -- a principle that posits that all content, sites,
and platforms be treated equally, such that access to publically
available infomation is not hindered in any way. Net neutrality is thus
about equal access to the Internet, regardless of where you are
connecting from or what equipment you are using, or indeed, which
applications. On the other side of the fence are network operators
toying with the idea of favouring one application over another: a P2P
packet stream, over say, a UDP packet carrying a video conference. So
is data created equal?



The debate rages on, as Wall Street Journal through its editorial page states:
"There's no evidence that Comcast was trying to suppress a political
view or favor one of its own services. By all appearances, the
company's policies were motivated by nothing more than making sure a
tiny percentage of bandwidth hogs didn't slow down Internet traffic for
everyone else on the network. Giving the government more say in network
management, by contrast, introduces all kinds of potential for
political mischief. Net neutrality is a slippery slope toward
interventions of all kinds -- not merely over access but ultimately
over content."



Andy Kessler of the Wall Street Journal earlier labelled
net neutrality a bad idea -- "[...]because the only thing [net
neutrality] will preserve is mediocrity via the lack of competition...
With net neutrality, there will be no new competition and no incentives
for build outs. Bandwidth speeds will stagnate, and new services will
wither from bandwidth starvation."


In an interview with Ars Technica, Jay Monahan, an attorney argued
that -- "If net neutrality means anything, it means not that each of us
is made equal in the marketplace, but that at least we have an equal
set of rules that are transparent to all of us in order to compete."

















From : http://www.techtree.com/

Nokia 6210 Navigator Handset Comes to India

Earlier presented at Mobile World Congress 2008, the Nokia 6210 Navigator mobile phone is all set enter the Indian market.

This handset had recently incorporated a Google search engine for quick and easy access to internet. With this, users can explore World Wide Web with just one touch.

Besides, the slider 6210 Navigator phone employs GPS capabilities, a

2.4-inch TFT display, digital compass, Nokia Maps and a 3.15 megapixel

camera with auto focus as well as flash and video recording.

Moreover, it is compatible with quad-band GSM connectivity (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz).

Nokia plans to release the 6210 Navigator phone in India for the price of Rs. 17000. It will come in two colors, black and red.

From : http://www.itvoir.com/

AMD: EVGA wanted to sell ATI cards

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and it seems that one of Nvidia's key partners went and asked AMD if it needed help shifting a few more Radeon cards. It seems Nvidia's squeeze on its 20+ partners has been just too much for EVGA and it went to see what other options were available.

AMD's top brass casually told us yesterday that "[it] only needs eight partners" and that it doesn't want to damage the loyalty between them and itself after they've stuck by AMD through rough (HD 2900 XT) and the smooth (HD 4000-series).

Recently AMD has taken on Gainward Palit... no, wait, Gainward, as another partner but this was a strategic move for specific regions only.

AMD considers its world-wide coverage already sufficient and further saturating the market with yet another "sticker on generic product" doesn't do anyone any favours - with this sentiment we completely agree.

(Very) Unofficially, AMD said the only Nvidia partner it would want to work with was BFG in the States, but it couldn't see that happening either. Well, it all depends on how much profit margin Nvidia lets its board makers have in the future, otherwise they might see AMD or Intel's Larrabee become an attractive (or inevitable for survival) option.

Would you like to see EVGA ATI Radeon cards? Do you like the current AMD partner range - are there too many or too few? Let us know your thoughts, in the forums.

From : http://www.bit-tech.net/

PES 2009 officially announced for Nintendo Wii

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 for the Nintendo Wii
was an overwhelming success for Konami, and proof that it was onto a
winner with its brave, new Wii Remote control scheme. It did have its
niggles, however, and that’s what the firm is looking to put right in
PES 2009, officially announced toay.

Central to PES’ second outing on the Nintendo Wii is a number of
tweaks to the control system. User complaints about inadequate
defensive maneuverability and a week shooting mechanism, Konami
promises, have been fixed, and a new AI system has also been developed
to result in more intuitive movement from teammates.

That, as well as the inclusion of new control schemes to help make
the title as accessible as possible, is all the information there is on
PES 2009 on the Nintendo Wii so far. We’ll bring you all the latest as
we get it.

From : http://www.nintendic.com/

Carmack: iPhone more powerful than Nintendo DS, PSP combined

Speaking at QuakeCon 2008 in Dallas this week, id Software
co-founder Carmack praised Apple's iPhone as an emerging force in
mobile gaming industry and revealed his firm to be working on two
titles for the handset.



Unlike most mobile platforms where gaming is largely brand-driven due
to smaller screens, storage constrains and limited marketing
flexibility, the iPhone offers a rare opportunity for game publishers to deliver graphics rich titles supported by detailed textual descriptions on the App Store, he said during a press conference.



The gaming icon admitted that he's disappointed id has yet to ship a
game for the iPhone, but said two tentative titles are now well in the
works. One was described as a 'conventional mobile game,' while the
second was said to be more ambitious in that it will test the limits of
the iPhone's graphics capabilities.



While Carmack sees graphics memory as a potential limiting factor on
the iPhone, he's stoked about the intuitiveness of the iPhone SDK. He
also described the handset's hardware as equivalent to that of the Sega
Dreamcast living room console, and almost on par with Sony's
PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's original Xbox.



When it comes to portable gaming systems, the iPhone is 'more powerful
than a Nintendo DS and PSP combined,' he added. Apple's revenue sharing
deal that offers developers 70 percent of the sale price was also cited
as a plus.



That said, Carmack doesn't believe the iPhone is the definitive answer
to mobile gaming. While sales of the device will be significant and may
lead to more people playing games on their phones than ever before, he
doesn't foresee billions of the devices being sold in a bid for world
domination.



The verdict is also out on whether Apple has a concrete grasp of gaming,
the id co-founder said. The company's reception to criticism has also
been counterintuitive, which has led its relationship with id being
something akin to a roller-coaster ride.



Apple essentially kisses his ass when they need him to show up for one of Steve Jobs' keynotes, but then throws him the cold shoulder the second he passes judgement, Carmack said.



That said, he acknowledge that there are indeed some folks over in
Cupertino who "are trying" to right the course for Mac and iPhone
gaming.

From : http://www.appleinsider.com/

Nintendo Wii Outsells PS3 3-to-1 in Japan

The Japanese gaming magazine Enterbrain
reports that the Nintendo Wii outsold Sony's PS3 by a ratio of three to
one in Japan during July.

Sony might be seeing sales of its PlayStation 3 console increasing—but
more than a year and a half after its launch, the Nintendo Wii is still
hard to find and still the reigning king of console sales…especially in
Japan. Japanese gaming magazine Enterbrain
reports that the Wii outsold the PS3 by a factor of more than
three-to-one during July 2008, with Sony managing to sell 54,823 PS3s
compared to 171,851 Nintendo Wii's sold in the same period.

In the handheld arena, Sony is going better against Nintendo, with
the PlayStation Portable moving 256,765 unit compared to 217,639 units
of the Nintendo DS.

The Nintendo Wii has dominated the game console market in Japan
essentially since the day it launched, although the ratio of Wii-to-PS3
sales has been as high as five-to-oneback in mid-2007.

From : http://news.digitaltrends.com/

Acer revises down Aspire one netbook shipment target

Component supply problems and software development delays caused Acer to delay the launch of its Aspire one netbook by a month, leading it to revise down its shipment target for this year.

The world's third-largest PC vendor now expects to ship 5 million to
6 million Aspire ones in 2008, down from a previous estimate of 5
million to 7 million, said Gianfranco Lanci, CEO of Acer, during a
conference call.

"Originally, the plan was to ship by the end of May," Lanci said. "We lost about one month for different reasons."

Despite the product delay, Lanci remains bullish on prospects for the Aspire one. He said that demand appears to be strong
for the product and that Acer is talking to 3G (third generation) mobile network operators to supply them with Aspire one
laptops built to access the Internet via their networks.

Aspire one is among a new breed of mini-laptops that weigh less than 1 kilogram (2.2 lbs), sport 7-inch to 10-inch LCD screens,
carry long-lasting batteries and connect wirelessly to the Internet. They generally cost far less than the average notebook
PC as well, between US$199 and $599.

The market for netbooks was jump started by the Eee PC
from Asustek Computer of Taiwan. Asustek has only forecast sales of
five million Eee PCs this year, even though the company has had a
six-month head start over Acer. Analysts say Acer's size is its
advantage over Asustek. Acer is active in all major markets and can
launch products in multiple markets at the same time. Asustek isn't as
adept at such large-scale product launches yet.

Acer's Lanci also allayed fears of a component shortage for netbooks
or laptops. He said there are no visible component shortages right now,
but that if Acer ships more than 6 million Aspire ones, there could be
a problem. He declined to say what components might be in shortage.

Last year, a serious shortage of laptop batteries threatened shipments, and supplies have remained tight due to brisk growth
in the overall laptop PC market.

PC vendors have also voiced concerns that Intel might not be able to supply enough Atom
microprocessors for their netbooks, a fear Intel has answered by saying
it is prepared to "hose" the chips out of its factories, if necessary.
PC makers like the chips because they conserve battery life by running
at low power levels, take up little space inside devices and give off
little heat.

Continues : http://www.networkworld.com/