Adobe Security Issues Threaten Almost Every OS…. This Is Really Bad

If you have a computer and you have Flash, Acrobat, Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, then you have a major problem. This note from Adobe states that if you run specific versions of the aforementioned apps, you could have a very serious problem:

A critical vulnerability exists in Adobe Flash Player 10.1.85.3 and earlier versions for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris operating systems; Adobe Flash Player 10.1.95.2 and earlier versions for Android; and the authplay.dll component that ships with Adobe Reader 9.4 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows, Macintosh and UNIX operating systems, and Adobe Acrobat 9.4 and earlier 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

This vulnerability (CVE-2010-3654) could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild against Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.x. Adobe is not currently aware of attacks targeting Adobe Flash Player.

What is up with Adobe? Are they capable of writing software that is actually secure? It really doesn’t seem that way as every time I turn around, there’s a new threat that exploits some piece of their software. What’s even more troubling is the fact that their issues hit Solaris, OS X, Windows, and LINUX, which means nobody is safe.

Perhaps it’s time to say no to Adobe. Just like Steve-O said you should.

India Claims RIM Is Letting It Snoop On Blackberry Traffic

A new development in the RIM vs. India fight comes in the form of India claiming that RIM has an interim arrangement to let it spy on it’s citizens who use Blackberry devices:

In a statement on Friday, India’s interior ministry said RIM had assured the government that they would provide the final solution for lawful interception of BlackBerry Messenger services by Jan. 31.

“Accordingly, the BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) services will continue to be available,” the statement said.

The statement did not mention anything about access to corporate e-mail services, but an interior ministry source said RIM had made two presentations.

“I will not say there is no movement,” the source said.

RIM predictably has very little to say:

“RIM can confirm that its discussions with the Indian government continue to be constructive and RIM remains optimistic about reaching a positive and final resolution,” the Canadian firm said in a separate statement on Friday.

So I guess this means that RIM has decided that the almighty dollar is more important than saying “up yours” to a government that wants to spy on their citizens. Too bad. There’s really little reason to use a Blackberry now that the security card is gone.

No wonder the iPbone is outselling the Blackberry.

Tit For Tat: Apple Sues Motorola For Patent Infringement

You knew this was coming after Motorola sued Apple for patent infringement earlier this month. Apple has hit back with a lawsuit of their own claiming that Motorola has infringed on six of their patents and they relate to Motorola’s use of a multi-touch interface. Products named in the lawsuit include the wildly popular Droid series of phones which have allowed Motorola to start making money again.

Next step? Years of litigation or a quick settlement. Which will it be?

CRTC Allows Bell To Screw Canadian Internet Users

Remember when Bell started to throttle wholesale ISPs without telling them, and then went to the CRTC to get the right to implement usage based billing even if they didn’t get what they want. Well, in 88 days, Canadian DSL users will get usage based billing:

The federal regulator on Thursday gave Bell Canada the approval to implement so-called usage-based billing to wholesale customers — usually smaller internet service providers that rent portions of its network — within 90 days. Under the plan, Bell will charge wholesale service providers a flat monthly fee to connect to its network, and for a set monthly usage limit per each ISP customer the ISP has.

Beyond that set limit, users will be charged per gigabyte, depending on the speed of their connections. Customers using the fastest connections of five megabits per second, for example, will have a monthly allotment of 60 GB, beyond which Bell will charge $1.12 per GB to a maximum of $22.50.

If a customer uses more than 300 GB a month, Bell will also be able to implement an additional charge of 75 cents per gigabyte.

So it’s official. Canada not only has the highest cell phone rates, but they have the highest prices for Internet Access too. The big losers are the Canadian consumer as usual. So much for the CRTC protecting consumers. I guess that’s why Canadians want the CRTC abolished. Can’t say I don’t disagree. If you have Canadian telcos like Bell who screw consumers, and the CRTC protects them, what good are they. It makes you wish that there was real competition for telco services in Canada rather than the oligopoly that exists at the moment.

In the meantime, a petition has cropped up to try and stop this. Canadian Internet users should give it a look and sign it to show the telcos and the CRTC that this is an idea that is beyond stupid.

Watch Out Apple, Samsung Is Gunning For You

Tonight I attended a launch party for several new Samsung products. I got a chance to see the Galaxy Tab which is their 7″ Android OS based tablet. I have to admit that it is an impressive device. Samsung seems to have built apps that specifically to take advantage of the screen size and resolution. The calendar app for example is very attractive and the email app goes in to this dual pane view when you rotate the device into landscape mode (which I’m pretty sure that is something the iPad does as well). The key thing in my mind is the screen which is in a word, stunning. It’s uses AMOLED technology and looks to my middle aged eyes to be better than the screen that the iPad has.

Now let me move on to the Galaxy S Captivate. Like the Tab, it runs the Android OS but it’s a smartphone rather than a tablet and it has a similar AMOLED screen that simply makes the screen “pop” out at you. But the thing you notice about this phone is that it is thin and light. It is also fast. I don’t have benchmarks or anything to back up my “seat of the pants” testing, but it honestly felt faster than the iPhone 4 that I borrowed specifically for comparison purposes. Not to mention it was thinner than the iPhone as well.

The phone that really got my attention is the Focus [Warning: Silverlight Is Required]. This phone runs Windows Phone 7 which seems to run well on the phone. Now it has been years since I have used a Windows phone of any sort, but Microsoft has put together a really nice smartphone OS here. It was easy to navigate and I was comfortable using the phone in under a minute. The longer term questions about Windows Phone 7 revolve around support from developers and the like. But that is best covered at another time. The phone hardware itself much like the Galaxy S Captivate is light, thin, and has a stunning AMOLED screen.

So you’re likely wondering, why does Samsung have phones from the Android camp and the Microsoft camp and how does that strategy help them fight the juggernaut known as Apple? David Racicot of Samsung Canada (pictured below) expressed to me that phones are not a one size fits all thing. Not only that, they noted that when Apple launched the iPhone 4 in Canada and Apple restricted the phone to their Apple Stores (which I’ve noted previously), they were able to pick up sales because dealers were able to direct customers to the Samsung product that fits them. Plus, he related to me that a lot of iPhone 4 customers were wanting to buy an iPhone because of Apple’s marketing as opposed to them actually choosing the best phone for their needs. If all of that is true, then if I would be very scared if I were Apple. These devices are simply impressive, and I think that they can really make an impact in the smartphone market. I’d say take a serious look at them if you’re in the market for a smartphone.

Limewire Is Dead… Though They Don’t Think So

Remember Limewire? It was is a very popular way to illegally acquire and share music and movies. I say “was” because it is apparently very dead based on this statement on their website:

As of today, we are required to stop distribution and support of LimeWire’s P2P file-sharing service as a result of a court-ordered injunction.

Naturally, we’re disappointed with this turn of events. We are extremely proud of our pioneering history and have, for years, worked hard to bridge the gap between technology and content rights holders. However, at this time, we have no option but to cease further distribution and support of our software.

The injunction [Warning: PDF] was handed down by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. It permanently enjoins and restrains LimeWire from distributing its client software. But somehow the future is bright for Limewire as far as they are concerned:

We remain deeply committed to working with the music industry and making the act of loving music more fulfilling for everyone – including artists, songwriters, publishers, labels, and of course music fans.

Our team of technologists and music enthusiasts is creating a completely new music service that puts you back at the center of your digital music experience.

We’ll be sharing more details about our new service and look forward to bringing it to you in the future.

I seem to recall that Napster tried this route to go legit and failed miserably. Perhaps Limewire will do better. I doubt it, but perhaps they have some brilliant plan that I don’t know about that will save them.

All I have to say is good luck with that.

White iPhone Delayed Until 2011

If you’re waiting on buying a white iPhone, your wait is going to get longer according to Reuters:

The latest version of the popular handset, the iPhone 4, was released in June, but the white model was delayed first to July, then to the end of the year and now to early next year.

“We’re sorry to disappoint customers waiting for the white iPhone again,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller. She declined to explain the delay.

Apple has never said exactly why the white iPhone has been so troublesome to produce. The company has only said the white model was “more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected.”

You have to wonder what the deal is with these delays (as this is the second delay of the white iPhone). Oh well. I guess black is the new white until white arrives.

Canadian Group Plans To Track Blackberry Traffic

A Canadian group is planning to track traffic on RIM’s Blackberry network:

The project, called RIM Check, is being conducted by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab and Ottawa-based think tank SevDev Group.

It “is inspired by a broad need to monitor the activities of private sector actors that own and operate cyberspace,” Citizen Lab said on its website. “Particularly as they come under increasing pressure to co-operate with governments on national surveillance and censorship laws, policies, and requests.”

If I were RIM, I would be very afraid of this as it will shed light on RIM’s dealings with countries like the UAE and India. I’m guessing that that’s info that RIM doesn’t want you to know.

If you want to keep an eye on the project, check out their website from your Blackberry.

Samsung Galaxy S Captivate Now Available At Rogers

I just got a note from my “best friends at Rogers” with this news:

Just wanted to give you a heads up that we’ve published an update on RedBoard on the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate launch. After several manufacturer delays, we have received our first shipment of the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate smartphone. This morning, we began shipping these units to retail locations and a limited supply of inventory will be in stores over the next few days.

There are additional details on RedBoard, including a statement from Samsung and a demo video.

I’ve been looking forward to seeing one of these phones as this phone has an Super AMOLED screen which claims to be the most advanced on the market. Of course there’s a certain guy named Steve that may argue that point. In any case, the phone is $149.99 with select three-year term voice and data plans until November 2. After that it’s $179.99 if you sign your wallet away to Rogers for 3 years.

Apple Releases A Ton Of New Product…. Oh Joy…

Today Apple had a media event called “Back To The Mac” where they released a number of new products. For starters, they released iLife ’11 which has iMovie ’11, iPhoto ’11, and GarageBand ’11. If you buy a new Mac, you’ll get it for free. If you have an older version of iLife, you’ll have to drop $49 USD to upgrade. I’d list all the changes in all of the products, but let’s just say the changes are extensive.

Next Apple announced Face Time for the Mac in beta form. So if you’ve got an iPhone 4 or a newer iPod Touch, you’ll be able to chat with your fanbois friends on your Mac. Here’s what Apple God CEO Steve Jobs had to say:

“FaceTime makes video calling to or from mobile devices easy for the first time,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve sold more than 19 million FaceTime-ready iPhone 4 and iPod touch devices in the past four months, and now those users can make FaceTime calls with tens of millions of Mac users.”

I guess that this is the way that Apple will control the user experience from end to end. Next on the list is the announcement that the next version of OS X is due to hit the streets next summer. OS X 10.7 “Lion” takes it’s cues from their iPhone and iPod Touch products with multi-touch gestures, an App Store, app home screens, full-screen apps, and auto-saving capabilities. Sounds interesting. I guess we’ll see when it actually ships. On a side note, the App Store is going to be available in 90 days.

Finally, Apple released two new MacBook Air models. These new MacBook Air models have no real hard drives. Instead they have flash storage in 64GB and 256GB sizes. Both models have Core 2 Duo processors, 2 GB of RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics cards. Expect battery life to be 5 to 7 hours depending on the model. Two screen sizes are available with the 13.3 inch-model offering 1440 x 900 pixels and the 11.6-inch model carrying 1366 x 768 pixels.. Oh yeah, they have high-resolution LED-backlit displays too. One neat feature is that the OS is available on a flash drive. Seeing as these computers don’t have optical drives, that’s kind of important. Available today, they start at $999 USD.

I guess the fanbois will be happy. I know that their stockholders were mildly happy with Apple stock being slightly up today. What do you think?