Everyone... EVERYONE needs to read this... take notes if you must

5 Security Holes Almost Everyone's Vulnerable To
by:

 Thorin Klosowski

Original article is here.

Problems with security seem to pop up all the time—from an easy to hack router to apps that leak your data into the world. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to protect yourself. Here's how to do it.

Unless you keep up to date on all the security news, it's easy to miss a bit here and there about what has been exploited and what hasn't. We're all vulnerable at some point, and if you haven't touched the settings on your computer since you took it out of the box, it might be time to take another look.Already know about these security holes and have them patched up? Good for you! Send this along to your friends who don't to help keep them safe.

UPnP Allows Access to Your Gear from Outside Sources

UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), a component meant to make devices like routers, printers, and media players easy to discover on a network, has been accused of having security holes for a long time, but this week the US Government suggested you disable it yet again. The most recent study suggests 40 million to 80 million network-enabled devices responded to discovery requests from the internet and are vulnerable to an attack that gives hackers access to webcams, printers, passwords, and more. This means routers and devices with the bug can be accessed from the internet to remotely screw with your system even if you don't have malware installed.

The good news is that most of the affected hardware is old, and the problem likely isn't as widespread as it seems. That said, in the case of most devices, you can turn UPnP off in the settings (look in your manual for directions). The UPnP setting on your router doesn't have anything to do with the protocol that lets you stream media over a network, print from inside the network, or anything similar. Turning it off on the router level only blocks you from controlling these devices over the internet, which most people don't need to do.

To turn it off on a router level, you pop into the admin page and disable UPnP. If you want to check your hardware, security site Rapid7 has made a tool to scan devices on your network.

As far as security risks go, this one's easy to fix and it's not going to affect a lot of people these days. The rest of these are much worse.

WEP/WPA Passwords on Your Router Are Easy to Crack

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Chances are that your router is using either a WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) password or a WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) password. Unfortunetly, it's pretty simple to crack a Wi-Fi network's WPA password and a WEP password.

Both of these vulnerabilities exist for different reasons. In the case of WEP, it's as simple as cracking the password with an automated encyrption program (and a lot of time), while in WPA, it's more about a vulnerability in WPS (Wi-fi Protected Setup) on certain routers. This can be corrected by turning WPS off. If you can't turn WPS off, you can install DD-WRT orTomato so you can. DD-WRT should add a nice security layer to your home network.

Browsing Without HTTPS Leaves Your Vulnerable to Snoopers

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HTTP Secure is the protocol used to secure everything that you send online that's important. This includes your bank information, social networks, and just about everything else that needs security. For your home network, you can simply install the HTTPS browser extension that ensures you'll always use the secure version of a site so your data doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Without HTTPS, your personal data is far more likely to fall through a security hole and into the hands of some nefarious person.

While it's important to use HTTPS at home, it's far more important to always use it on public Wi-Fi. At places like hotels, airports, or libraries, someone is probably snooping out your passwords. Your best solution for public Wi-Fi is to use a VPN (virtual private network) to route your traffic safely and securely.

All the Apps, Software, and Websites You Use Might Accidentally Leak Data

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It happens time and time again. A hacker finds an exploit, and suddenly all your favorite software and web sites are vulnerable to people snagging your passwords. This might make your entire system insecure, it may give your passwords away, or they're leaking your personal data like name and address. This happens with Java constantly, but it has happened to pretty much everyone at some point, including: Mega, Google Wallet, Apple, Skype, Path, Zappos, LinkedIn, andFacebook.

First off, you need to keep your software up to date. This means both your operating system and your mobile software. Generally, when your data is leaked, someone notices, and the software is patched up right away.

It's not exactly the perfect solution, but since the security holes are on the service or software side, it's all you can do. That said, make sure you have: two-factor authentication enabled where you can, you use a different password for every site, and use a a password system like LastPass to ensure your leaked data doesn't reveal enough information to get your login information for another service.

Strong Passwords Aren't Enough to Protect Against Everything

When it boils down to it, a good password only gets you so far. Certain security holes, like social engineering hacks can happen when a skilled hacker bypasses technical protections (like a strong password) to get the information they want from talking to a person—no "real" hacking is required. It's exactly what happened last year when theApple and Amazon exploits were uncovered in Mat Honan's hack.

In short, people are one of the biggest security holes in the larger chain. Hackers can use psychological tricks to get your information, they might pose as someone important, as a Facebook friend, or even as you when talking with customer support. With a little information, they can then gain access to your account. If that account uses the same password as everywhere else, they essentially get access to everything you do. Thankfully, you can protect yourself with a few simple tips.

The main goal is to make sure you don't have all your eggs in one basket. That means if someone gets one password to one site, they can't get in elsewhere. So, never use the same password more than once, use two-factor authentication, get creative with your security questions, and monitor your accounts.

Plugging up these security holes isn't exactly a fun way to spend an afternoon, but it's certainly more entertaining than waking up one morning to find someone has stolen your identity. It's also a pretty easy process, and once you're set up you don't need to do much else.

Security fears over exposure of web-accessible printers

The page where you can upload a document to the printer on one of the exposed HP printers.

Google is exposing thousands of Hewlett-Packard printers that aren't password protected, allowing anyone to control and manage them remotely and print reams of documents.

Many of the printers are at universities, including a number in Australia.

All it takes is one malicious script written by a clever hacker and you'll be replacing the paper tray every five minutes. 

ZDNet's Zack Whittaker

British blogger Adam Howard first highlighted the exposure in a post titled “Google has indexed thousands of publicly accessible printers” on his Port3000 blog.

An exposed printer's usage page.

Mr Howard points out that a well-crafted Google search returns about 86,800 results for publicly accessible HP printers.

Surprisingly, many of the printers aren't protected by a password, meaning anyone can upload a document to them via a web interface and print it remotely.

When accessed remotely without a password, the printers display an array of information such as how much ink or toner they have left in them, how many pages they have printed in their lifetime and how many paper jams they have had. They also display the names of documents printed to them, which could potentially contain personally identifiable information.

The exposure mainly affects large organisations whose IT staff fail to enable a password on printers when telling their routers to allow inbound connections so that staff can print from one office to another.

Mr Howard wrote on Port3000: “There's something interesting about being able to print to a random location around the world, with no idea of the consequence.”

After revealing the exposed printers, he warned: “Lock down your printer :)."

Mr Howard added that there were other, more serious, security concerns with the printers being exposed, as many models “have known exploits which can be used as an entry point to a private network”.

A Fairfax Media Google search on Monday of exposed printers in Australia revealed that the University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, University of Wollongong, La Trobe University and the University of Sydney all had printers accessible remotely via the web that could be used by anyone.

The University of Melbourne appeared to have the most publicly accessible printers, with 26 able to be accessed without a password.

John DuBois, director of communications at the University of Melbourne, said the university was aware of access issues with some of its printers, which are locally and externally managed.

Mr DuBois said they were set-up incorrectly.

"We are already implementing substantial network improvements which should prevent any unauthorised external access," he said.

In total, about 44 HP printers in Australia (mostly at universities) were found using Google.

University of Wollongong's deputy director of Information Technology Services, Daniel Saffioti, thanked Fairfax for letting the university know about an unprotected printer it used.

"We have looked into the matter and are rectifying the issue as a matter of urgency," Mr Saffioti said.

Rob Moffatt, director Information Technology Services at the University of Queensland said an insecure printer on its network was located in an independently owned and operated child care centre within university grounds.

"While someone could possibly change settings remotely, causing the device to malfunction, only limited information can be extracted from the device," Mr Moffatt said.

"We will, however, recommend as an extra precaution that this device be password protected."

A University of New South Wales spokeswoman said three printers within its networks had been identified as being insecure.

"...Appropriate steps will be taken to ensure access is secure," the spokeswoman said.

"The university currently has a program in place to consolidate and secure UNSW printers."

Ged Doyle, chief information officer at La Trobe University, advised there were "several very old printers from years ago" on its network with no password. "These were rectified immediately," Mr Doyle said. "The standard process for network connected devices now deployed at La Trobe, which was not in place years ago when these old printers were installed, overcomes this type of issue."

Comment is being sought from the University of Sydney, as well as from Google.

Printers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Gothenburg in Sweden and University of Freiburg in Germany were also found to be exposed.

Even the United Nations Development Programme had a vulnerable printer.

“All it takes is one malicious script written by a clever hacker and you'll be replacing the paper tray every five minutes, and using up the toner supplies faster than you've ever known,” wrote Zack Whittaker for tech website ZDNet's Zero Day blog.

“Perhaps more worryingly, many of these printers do not have passwords enabled and can be directly accessed from outside their company's firewall.”

Tech website Gizmodo said the unprotected printers could be used to play pranks on the organisations that used them, and added that it had conducted two pranks itself.

“Send the University of Cambridge a hard copy of a Rihanna cover. (We actually did this, and it worked),” wrote Gizmodo writer Leslie Horn. “Congrats, random Chinese IP address, you just got bombed with 50 copies of a report I once did on War and Peace.”

In a statement, HP said it encouraged customers to protect their printers with safeguards by placing them within a firewall and providing network credentials only to trusted parties.

"By following the HP recommended security features, printers should not be accessible to the public via the internet."

James Turner, an analyst at IBRS in Australia who specialises in information security, said the exposure of printers without passwords on the internet was “just one facet of where someone decided that it was better for the printers to be easily accessible, than to be secure”.

“This is the ongoing challenge of the internet. Devices that are intended for easy access on smaller networks can take on new dimensions when plugged into the internet,” he said.

“This issue with printers is similar, though on a much smaller scale, to the challenge that industry has had with [industrial control systems] being connected to the internet.”

Mr Turner suggested pranksters would be the main people taking advantage of the issue, but said more malicious uses of the security gap were no doubt being thought of.

“Passwords are a nuisance to usability, but we don't have better options that are less intrusive while also providing equivalent confidentiality,” Mr Turner said.

Paul Ducklin, of security firm Sophos in Australia, said: “You'd think we would have learnt by now. It was over 10 years ago that we first got a wake-up call about printers accessible on networks where they shouldn't be.”

Mr Ducklin was referring to the “Bugbear" virus, which was widespread at the end of 2002.

One of the things the virus would do was copy itself anywhere on a network it could find, including to printers, which resulted in them printing a lot of gobbledegook.

He said IT people learned quickly back then that they should put passwords on printers.

“Printing other people's viral garbage wasn't just a security risk, it cost real money in wasted paper and toner,” Mr Duckin said. “Coming in on Monday morning to an empty paper feed and 2000 pages of hexadecimal drivel in the output tray focused the mind of many a bean-counter.”

He added that there was a security risk implicit in letting untrusted outsiders connect to internal devices.

"Printers these days have their own [operating system], network stack and often rather powerful firmware,” he said. “A lot could go wrong. Secondly, it's resource mismanagement, plain and simple. You don't let outsiders randomly and remotely turn on taps in the bathroom to waste water they can't even see, let alone wash with. So why let them send print jobs they will never read or even collect?”

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/security-fears-over-exposure-of-webaccessible-printers-20130129-2dhxo.html#ixzz2JOFRSeor

Internet founder claims governments can't be trusted with data

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 29/01/2013

Reporter: John Stewart

One of the founders of the internet, Tim Berners-Lee, has attacked a proposal to store all Australian's internet data use warning it could be misused and government's can't be trusted to keep the information secret

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: One of the founders of the internet, British computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has attacked a proposal to store all Australian's internet data use for two years. The proposal is being considered by a joint parliamentary committee and would require internet service providers to keep a log of individual internet data. Sir Tim Berners-Lee says the information could be leaked or misused and governments cannot be trusted to keep it secret. John Stewart reports.

JOHN STEWART, REPORTER: The first internet was developed by the US military during the Cold War to protect their communication systems from a nuclear strike.

20 years later, Sir Tim Berners-Lee took the next step, helping to develop the worldwide web. The British computer scientist wants governments around the world to resist the temptation to spy on people and says that a proposal being considered by the Australian Government to log individual internet data use for up to two years will have little impact on criminals.

TIM BERNERS-LEE, COMPUTER SCIENTIST: If you do snoop on people, if you record, for example, the websites that somebody visits then you're not gonna get the criminals because they are gonna go through - they're gonna use Tor or they're gonna go through some intermediate nodes. They're gonna go to some trouble in order to just obscure it.

JOHN STEWART: Sir Tim Berners-Lee argues that if internet users believe the Government is recording their web history, they'll stop using it and limit the flow of valuable information.

TIM BERNERS-LEE: You will produce a world in which a teenager who really needs to go to an online forum to compare - to get some professional advice or really needs to know whether or not they're suffering from a given disease or wants to understand something about sexuality, medicine, growing up and realises that if they click they will be branded for the next two years as having gone to that site.

JOHN STEWART: He also says storing individual data logs is tricky and governments cannot guarantee that systems won't be hacked.

TIM BERNERS-LEE: That information is so dangerous. You have to think about it as dynamite. You have to think about if it gets away, what you've done is you've prepared a dossier on every person in the country which will allow them, if that dossier's stolen, to be blackmailed. Maybe you have every member of the Australian military will have this little dossier which will allow a foreign power to exert a huge amount of pressure on them.

JOHN STEWART: A spokesperson for the Attorney-General's Department says the Government has not made any decision about whether or not Australia should have a data retention regime and "The parliamentary committee has been asked to consider the concept of data retention in relation to non-content telecommunications information, which plays critical roles in police investigations. ... Metadata does not include the content of communications, only features such as dates and I.P. addresses assigned to a user that can be helpful for police and national security investigations."

Sir Tim Berners-Lee was speaking at the launch of the CSIRO's $40 million strategy to make better use of the National Broadband Network and increase online services in health, education and business.

STEPHEN CONROY, COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER: With services making up more than 70 per cent of our GDP, this flagship will be pivotal in addressing productivity.

JOHN STEWART: Sir Tim Berners-Lee welcomed the new CSIRO funding and called for governments around the world to make more information public and improve internet access for all.

John Stewart, Lateline. 

Advanced HTML/CSS Skills for Free

Learn Beginner and Advanced HTML/CSS Skills for Free

Adam Dachis


When you want to make something awesome on the web, you have to start with HTML and CSS. With plenty of options, picking a good tutorial isn't always easy. Here are beginner and advanced lessons that'll teach you the basics and beyond.

Designer/developer Shay Howe put together a set of free lessons to help you learn the basics of HTML and CSS as well as more advanced techniques to improve your abilities. Each lesson walks you through various concepts, providing code-based and visual examples to help you understand. When you finish each, Shay offers additional resources so you can keep learning more about HTML and CSS beyond his guides. Whether you're looking to get started or improve your skills, check them out. His guides are very organized, detailed, and helpful.

Thanks for the tip, Arvin!

A Beginner's and an Advanced Guide to HTML & CSS | Shay Howe

Original article

The Truth about Aaron Swartz’s “Crime”

January 12, 2013 By Alex Stamos in Cybercrime, Rights and Legality, Security Tags: Aaron Swartz, Cybersecurity, Law 382 Comments

I did not know Aaron Swartz, unless you count having copies of a person’s entire digital life on your forensics server as knowing him. I did once meet his father, an intelligent and dedicated man who was clearly pouring his life into defending his son. My deepest condolences go out to him and the rest of Aaron’s family during what must be the hardest time of their lives.
If the good that men do is oft interred with their bones, so be it, but in the meantime I feel a responsibility to correct some of the erroneous information being posted as comments to otherwise informative discussions at Reddit, Hacker News and Boing Boing. Apparently some people feel the need to self-aggrandize by opining on the guilt of the recently departed, and I wanted to take this chance to speak on behalf of a man who can no longer defend himself. I had hoped to ask Aaron to discuss these issues on the Defcon stage once he was acquitted, but now that he has passed it is important that his memory not be besmirched by the ignorant and uninformed. I have confirmed with Aaron’s attorneys that I am free to discuss these issues now that the criminal case is moot.
I was the expert witness on Aaron’s side of US vs Swartz, engaged by his attorneys last year to help prepare a defense for his April trial. Until Keker Van Nest called iSEC Partners I had very little knowledge of Aaron’s plight, and although we have spoken at or attended many of the same events we had never once met.

Should you doubt my neutrality, let me establish my bona fides. I have led the investigation of dozens of computer crimes, from Latvian hackers blackmailing a stock brokerage to Chinese government-backed attacks against dozens of American enterprises. I have investigated small insider violations of corporate policy to the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and have responded to break-ins at social networks, e-tailers and large banks. While we are no stranger to pro bono work, having served as experts on EFF vs Sony BMG and Sony vs Hotz, our reports have also been used in the prosecution of at least a half dozen attackers.  In short, I am no long-haired-hippy-anarchist who believes that anything goes on the Internet. I am much closer to the stereotypical capitalist-white-hat sellout that the antisec people like to rant about (and steal mail spools from) in the weeks before BlackHat.
I know a criminal hack when I see it, and Aaron’s downloading of journal articles from an unlocked closet is not an offense worth 35 years in jail.
The facts:

• MIT operates an extraordinarily open network. Very few campus networks offer you a routable public IP address via unauthenticated DHCP and then lack even basic controls to prevent abuse. Very few captured portals on wired networks allow registration by any visitor, nor can they be easily bypassed by just assigning yourself an IP address. In fact, in my 12 years of professional security work I have never seen a network this open.
• In the spirit of the MIT ethos, the Institute runs this open, unmonitored and unrestricted network on purpose. Their head of network security admitted as much in an interview Aaron’s attorneys and I conducted in December. MIT is aware of the controls they could put in place to prevent what they consider abuse, such as downloading too many PDFs from one website or utilizing too much bandwidth, but they choose not to.  
• MIT also chooses not to prompt users of their wireless network with terms of use or a definition of abusive practices.
• At the time of Aaron’s actions, the JSTOR website allowed an unlimited number of downloads by anybody on MIT’s 18.x Class-A network. The JSTOR application lacked even the most basic controls to prevent what they might consider abusive behavior, such as CAPTCHAs triggered on multiple downloads, requiring accounts for bulk downloads, or even the ability to pop a box and warn a repeat downloader.
• Aaron did not “hack” the JSTOR website for all reasonable definitions of “hack”. Aaron wrote a handful of basic python scripts that first discovered the URLs of journal articles and then used curl to request them. Aaron did not use parameter tampering, break a CAPTCHA, or do anything more complicated than call a basic command line tool that downloads a file in the same manner as right-clicking and choosing “Save As” from your favorite browser.
• Aaron did nothing to cover his tracks or hide his activity, as evidenced by his very verbose .bash_history, his uncleared browser history and lack of any encryption of the laptop he used to download these files. Changing one’s MAC address (which the government inaccurately identified as equivalent to a car’s VIN number) or putting a mailinator email address into a captured portal are not crimes. If they were, you could arrest half of the people who have ever used airport wifi.
• The government provided no evidence that these downloads caused a negative effect on JSTOR or MIT, except due to silly overreactions such as turning off all of MIT’s JSTOR access due to downloads from a pretty easily identified user agent.
• I cannot speak as to the criminal implications of accessing an unlocked closet on an open campus, one which was also used to store personal effects by a homeless man. I would note that trespassing charges were dropped against Aaron and were not part of the Federal case.

In short, Aaron Swartz was not the super hacker breathlessly described in the Government’s indictment and forensic reports, and his actions did not pose a real danger to JSTOR, MIT or the public. He was an intelligent young man who found a loophole that would allow him to download a lot of documents quickly. This loophole was created intentionally by MIT and JSTOR, and was codified contractually in the piles of paperwork turned over during discovery.
If I had taken the stand as planned and had been asked by the prosecutor whether Aaron’s actions were “wrong”, I would probably have replied that what Aaron did would better be described as “inconsiderate”. In the same way it is inconsiderate to write a check at the supermarket while a dozen people queue up behind you or to check out every book at the library needed for a History 101 paper. It is inconsiderate to download lots of files on shared wifi or to spider Wikipedia too quickly, but none of these actions should lead to a young person being hounded for years and haunted by the possibility of a 35 year sentence.
Professor Lessig will always write more eloquently than I can on prosecutorial discretion and responsibility, but I certainly agree that Aaron’s death demands a great deal of soul searching by the US Attorney who decided to massively overcharge this young man and the MIT administrators who decided to involve Federal law enforcement.
I cannot speak as to all of the problems that contributed to Aaron’s death, but I do strongly believe that he did not deserve the treatment he received while he was alive. It is incumbent on all of us to figure out how to create some positive change out of this unnecessary tragedy. I’ll write more on that later. First I need to spend some time hugging my kids.
Edit 1: Fixed typo. Thank you @ramenlabs.
Posted from San Carlos, CA.

Original Article

Five Best Desktop Media Servers

Getting your music and movies from one computer to another computer across the house or across the world has never been easier. There are tons of apps designed to make the process simple and painless so you can watch movies on your smartphone when you're out, or just listen to the music on your desktop downstairs in your upstairs bedroom. This week we asked you to name some of those great apps, and here are five of the best based on those nominations.

Earlier in the week, you told us which apps you thought were the best desktop media servers. We tallied up your nominations and picked out the top five based on the number of votes. The vast majority of you centered on a select few, but there are more options than we could possibly highlight here. Here are your five favorites:

Plex (Windows/Mac/Linux)

We expected Plex to get some love in the nominations, but we didn't expect it to be as overwhelming as it was. It's true, Plex is a stellar media server and media center application, with mobile apps that let you take your music and movies with you on virtually any mobile device or operating system without worrying whether that system can play them. Plex transcodes on the fly, automatically adjusts its performance and quality for available bandwidth, and is a snap to set up. It works just as well locally on your home network as it does with your mobile device when you're out and about on 3G or 4G. If you have a supported set-top box, it's even easier. The des ktop app is free, the mobile apps are $5, and the MyPlex media center hub gives you control over your files on the go.

PS3 Media Server(Windows/Mac/Linux)

The PS3 Media Server started out as a project to just transcode and stream media from a computer to a PS3 somewhere on your home network, but it's grown to be much more than that. The app is DLNA compliant, so it supports just about any device on your home network that's DLNA or UPNP compatible, and it doesn't take a ton of configuration to do it. You'll need to do some heavy lifting with port forwarding and dynamic addressing to get access to your media outside of your home network with a DLNA-compatible device, but we've shown you how to do that before. While the app is PS3-centric, it also supports a number of Smart TVs natively, can pass media through VLC, so if you're playing internet radio or streaming TV on your computer, you can send it through to the PS3, and even supports browsing FLickr and Picasa photos, mounting ISOs as DVDs, and tons of file formats. It's completely free.

Subsonic (Windows/Mac/Linux)

Subsonic has been around for a long time, but it's still an excellent option. It's most often used for music, but it also supports video. As long as the video format you have supports streaming over HTTP, Subsonic can show it to you on almost any device. After you get it running on your home network, Subsonic can also be configured to allow remote access to your media, so you can enjoy it on your mobile device or sitting at a laptop far away from your media collection. Subsonic also supports a number of set-top boxes, and can manage podcasts. It even has a handy web UI to manage your server from abroad. All of those features are more setup-intensive than some of the other contenders, but it's free, open source, and even the mobile apps are free to download. Keep in mind though: If you want to use Subsonic's advanced features, and you want to use it in conjunction with the mobile apps for longer than the 14-day free trial, you'll need to cough up at least a $15 donation to the project.

Serviio (Windows/Mac/Linux)

Serviio is a contender we weren't terribly familiar with until those of you who nominated raved about it. Not only does Serviio stream across your home network to connected TVs from a variety of manufacturers, it also supports Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, and the PS3 and XBox 360. It's also DLNA compliant, so it works seamlessly with supported devices on the same network, but it doesn't stop there. Serviio transcodes video and audio on the fly in both standard and high definition, can stream from online sources, live TV streams, RSS feeds, and more, and can be configured to stream to the internet—assuming you're using the supported web-based media player or the Serviio Android app. There are community-contributed apps for Windows Phone and Android as well, but they're mobile consoles for the Serviio server application running back home. Serviio is free, but if you want to contiue using the web player or access your content when you're off of your home network, you'll need to pony up $25 for a Pro license.

PlayOn (Windows)

PlayOn is a simpler take on a media server that focuses on two things: the media you already own, and web-based television from streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Video On-Demand, ESPN, CNN, NBC, and many others. PlayOn supports streaming from the server app to any DLNA-compliant TV, set-top box, or game console. There are apps for iOS and Android that allow you to enjoy your media on the Wi-Fi or 3G/4G, once paired with your computer. PlayOn doesn't transcode or offer remote management features—as long as the app is running and your computer isn't sleeping, it works. It's biggest benefit is access to web-only programming. You can download and try PlayOn for free, but if you want access to all channels and features, you'll need to pay $90 (currently on sale for $40) for a Lifetime license. If you want PlayOn's new "PlayLater" DVR/recording service, you'll need to cough up $129 (currently $60). It's pricey, but minimal configuration and supported by a company, so you have someone to call if you need help.


Click here for the original article

Windows Phone 8 Has The Funniest Error Ever

A Windows Phone 8 error that asks you to put in your Windows installation disc and restart the computer. It sounds too funny to be true, right? Apparently it's not. According to some digging by WMPoweruser, it's rare, but real.

Initially, the humorous error made two appearances on Twitter, by Mikko Hypponen andJohnny Ruokokoski. And the pair of instances seemed to imply that this wasn't just a joke.

But if that's not enough for you, Windows Phone Support got involved, basically confirming (or at least not denying) this as a real error. It's just not one that normal users should ever see. Instead, it's a rather deep-seated error that can only be teased out if you start messing with flashing new firmware. If you were looking for proof that Windows Phone 8 is actually on the NT kernel, this stands as pretty good proof, WMPoweruser points out. That, and it's funny. 

[WMPoweruser via The Next Web]

10 Photoshop Alternatives That Are Totally Free

If a free copy of a 10-year-old Adobe Photoshop release wasn't for you—maybe your computer's too good for it, or perhaps you just wanna stick it to the man—don't worry. There are plenty of completely free alternatives; here are ten of the best.

My personal favourite is Gimp as it's available for Linux, Windows and Apple.

Read more... (complete article)

I'm seriously liking the Ubuntu Mobile interface

The world of mobile OSes is totally dominated by Android and iOS, but that hasn't kept Ubuntu from trying to sneak in. And finding a way into already dominated markets is kind of Ubuntu's strong suit.

I personally (Nick Phillips) think this could be a serious competitor to the current players in the smart phone field.

Read more... (Includes a short video of basic operations)

Faulty Phone Burns Through $30,000 of Mobile Data

Gary Cutlack - Gizmodo UK

A supposedly "faulty" iPhone landed a man in severe financial trouble, after the phone racked up an astonishing $30,000 data bill—and UK network Orange tried to take the money from the bloke's account.

Chris Bovis realised he'd been cut off, so phoned Orange for an explanation. That was when he discovered the network had tried to bill him $14,000 for exceeding his data allowance. His bank had rather unsurprisingly refused the transaction, so Orange blocked his number. Orange also told Chris his next bill would be around the $16,000 level.
The actual source of the problem is a little vague. Chris said the iPhone was even downloading data while switched off, with Apple employees agreeing it was broken in some way and replacing the phone. Orange eventually caved in and agreed to reduce his bill to $450, before completely giving up and writing off the entire amount.

Original article: http://gizmodo.com/5974069/faulty-iphone-burns-through-30000-of-mobile-data

The Truth about the Internet

The Truth about the Internet

In ancient Israel , it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dorothy. And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg… Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why dost thou travel so far from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?" And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said, "How, dear?"

And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price. The sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.

To prevent neighbouring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was known as Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew To The People (HTTP).

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land. Indeed he did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others." And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel , or eBay as it came to be known.

He said, "We need a name that reflects what we are."

And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."

"YAHOO," said Abraham.

And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com. Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside.

It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE). That is how it all began. And that's the truth...

Ever drop your iPhone from 100,000 feet?

G-Form drops an iPod touch in a case from 100,000 feet... These guys are crazy.

Watch this video

Original article: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/03/g-form-drops-a-case-protected-ipod-touch-from-100000-feet/

Tommy Edison is blind and uses Instagram

This story will warm the cockles of your heart... Tommy Edison has been blind since birth. Yet he uses Instagram. His tags are funny and his pictures are great. Just remember he can't focus his pictures.

Click here to visit his site: http://instagram.com/blindfilmcritic

Most Popular DVD Ripping Tool: Handbrake

Ripping digital copies of your DVDs so you can take them on the road, play them on any device you want, or drop them on your home theater PC has never been easier. There are a number of great free and paid applications that can make the process one-click, or give you all the tools you need to rip and encode beautiful video. Still, some of those apps stand above others, and last week we asked you to tell us which ones you thought were the best. Then, we took a look at the five best DVD ripping tools and put them to a vote. Now we're back to crown the winner.

Handbrake, the free, feature-packed, cross platform DVD ripper and encoder that we think is the best was also your choice as the best by a wide margin. It brought in close to 47% of the overall vote.

In second place with 15% of the votes cast wasDVDFab HD, which costs money but is frequently updated and cuts makes ripping even new DVDs and Blu-ray discs simple and easy. Right behind it in third was MakeMKVwith 14% of the vote, a completely free app that also supports Blu-rays and makes the ripping process as easy as possible. In fourth place with close to 13% of the overall vote wasSlysoft's AnyDVD and AnyDVD HD, and bringing up the rear is the old standard, DVD Shrink, with close to 12% of the votes cast.

It's available for Mac, Windows and Ubuntu Linux.

Link to article: http://lifehacker.com/5972430/most-popular-dvd-ripping-tool-handbrake