Wednesday 05/13/09

Apple, Dell, HP laptop owners sue Nvidia over faulty graphics
Computerworld - Owners of Apple, Dell and Hewlett-Packard laptops have combined their lawsuits against Nvidia in an attempt to force the graphics chip maker to replace allegedly flawed processors, according to court documents.

If granted class-action status, the case could involve millions of laptop computer owners, the plaintiffs said.

The five plaintiffs, including a Louisiana man who bought an Apple MacBook Pro a year ago, filed an amended complaint last week in a San Francisco federal court, accusing Nvidia of violating consumer-protection laws.

Nvidia admitted to the problem in July 2008, when it said some older chipsets that had shipped in "significant quantities" of notebooks were flawed. In a subsequent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company argued that its chip suppliers, the laptop makers and even consumers were to blame.
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Care to see what kind of legal cases are being worked on:
http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/ca/health919_1.pdf

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Apple delivers jumbo security update for Mac OS X
Patches 67 bugs, including two used to hack Macs at Pwn2Own contest.

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Groups rip secrecy over IP protection talks
The secrecy surrounding an anticounterfeiting trade agreement that's being negotiated by several countries, including the U.S., is heightening concerns about the intent of the pact.

Adding a sense of urgency to the concerns is that the trade agreement talks are expected to move on to new Internet provisions that could have broad implications for Internet users and service providers.

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Microsoft delivers mega PowerPoint patch
Fixes 14 flaws in Windows version, delays Mac update until June.

Vulnerabilities in Works 8.5 and 9.0
No fixes available for Office 2004, Office 2008, Works 8.5 nor Works 9.0

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Click fraud identification guidelines released
The Interactive Advertising Bureau has published guidelines for determining when fraudsters are taking advantage of pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements.

PPC ads, which most often appear as text boxes along with search results, are the most popular online ad format but are vulnerable to click fraud. The subject has long been controversial and advertisers have sometimes complained that the major search engine companies minimize the severity of the problem.

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Aruba unveils low-priced WLAN gear
Customers plug in the new remote access points, connect them to a gateway or other WAN link, and the devices automatically connect to a central Aruba controller and download the necessary WLAN security, usage and management configurations for the local site and its user, the company says. The access points and local controllers can be administered remotely. No VPN software needs to be loaded on to local clients.

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Teenager pleads guilty to Scientology Web attack
IDG News Service - A 19-year-old New Jersey man has pleaded guilty to knocking the Church of Scientology's Web site offline in a series of January 2008 online attacks.

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The Trouble with Craigslist's 'Erotic Services' Shutdown
After Craigslist's "erotic services" space is removed, folks will simply find alternate venues once again.

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The Hidden Secrets of Online Quizzes
You can have a ball taking online quizzes on Facebook and other sites, but here are some things you should know before you do.

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Check the Strength of Your Password
Microsoft's free password-checking site tells you instantly if your password is hacker-friendly or Pentagon-safe.

Don't worry: Microsoft isn't secretly collecting passwords for its own eeeeevil purposes.

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Adobe Acrobat (reader) patches released
CVE-2009-1492 and CVE-2009-1493 are fixed.
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-06.html

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Insider May Have Breached More Than 10,000 Patient Records At Johns Hopkins
May 13,2009 Employee had access to patient database as part of her job, report says

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IronKey Partners With Synnex To Expand Distribution Throughout North America

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Fed Bank IT Worker Charged With Insider Data Theft
IT employee allegedly used administrative access to collect co-workers' personal data and obtain bank loans in their names

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FCC will run nationwide DTV "soft test" on May 21

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WiFi goes gigabit... but it won't go through walls
May 13, 12:19 p.m. UTC - by Nate Anderson Posted in: Chipster
The Wireless Gigabit Alliance wants to bring gigabit data rates to the 60GHz band, and it wants to have the spec ready this year. But this won't replace WiFi; in fact, it won't even go through walls.
Read more

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Police can't track your car with GPS—or can they?
May 13, 1:07 a.m. UTC - by Jacqui Cheng Posted in: Law & Disorder
Police can't use a GPS on your car to track your whereabouts at all times—or can they? Appeals courts in Wisconsin and New York seem to disagree on whether such activities violate your Fourth Amendment rights, although they do agree that law enforcement shouldn't be allowed to do it willy nilly.
Read more