Hackers breach servers of Japan's Square Enix

Japanese game developer Square Enix said that servers containing data on 1.8 million customers had been hacked, but said the extent of the damage was not yet known.

The producer of hit titles such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest pulled down the Square Enix Members service shortly after discovering evidence of an intruder, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
The intruder breached an unknown number of servers that could hold data for the service's one million members in Japan and 800,000 members in North America, but left untouched the servers with its 300,000 European members, she said.
Earlier this year entertainment giant Sony came under a series of attacks, affecting more than 100 million customer accounts in one of the largest data breaches ever.
In May, Square Enix said the email addresses of 25,000 customers as well as resumes of 250 job applicants were leaked after a hacker attack on its European subsidiary.
This time, Square Enix found evidence of an intruder around noon (0300 GMT) Tuesday, and pulled down the service about an hour later, the spokeswoman said.
The company notified its clients about the incident Wednesday, although details and the extent of the actual damage were not yet clear, with a probe continuing, she said.
The affected servers stored the customers' names and email addresses.

Pure Lounge app tunes in on Android

 Internet radio on your 'droid


Pure's ever expanding radio wave has reached new shores, this time in the form of an Android app.
Building on the success of the iPhone app, Pure Lounge for Android gives you access to a wealth of internet radio content from around the world, on the go, with over 18,000 radio stations available to listen to live as well as listen again options, podcasts and, of course, the famous Pure Sounds.
The Lounge app taps into your existing account as well (should you have one) so there's no need to set up your favourite stations, or search for your podcasts, again as the app will let you access your menus from all of your web-connected Pure radios. If you're not all Lounged up already, it's free to set up an account.
Should you need to search for a new station then you can easily filter with station name, language, country, genre and sound quality.
As with any self-respecting app there's Facebook and Twitter integration, so you can share info with your buddies. Pure Music, the company's alternative to Spotify, will also hit the app once it goes live - giving you access to 15 million streamable tunes for ?4.99 a month.
The app itself is free and is available in the Android Market now.
DOWNLOAD

Small Apple iPad Rumoured For 2012 Arrival

                           

 A smaller version of the Apple iPad will make an appearance next year, if the latest news from the Apple rumour mill is to be believed.According to a report in Taiwanese tech site DigiTimes, fans of Apple's tablet device can look forward to a smaller screen size version - 7.85 inches, to be exact - in the fourth quarter of 2012, along with a new version of the popular tablet in the first quarter of the year.According to unnamed sources “in the supply chain,” Apple will buy panels for the iPad from AU Optronics (AUO), as well as 7.85-inch panels from LG Display, the online website reported.Spring Arrival The next iPad will launch in March or April 2012, DigiTimes reported. That 12 December article again cited unnamed sources in the supply chain for the information. The article said: “The next-generation iPads are expected to be available in the next 3-4 months as makers in the supply chain have started delivering parts and components for the new tablets to OEM contractors while reducing those prepared for iPad 2.”Apple continues to drive worldwide media-tablet shipments, according to a recent report from IT research firm IDC. The company shipped 11.1 million units in the third quarter, up from 9.3 million units in the second quarter, representing a 61.5 percent worldwide market share.

Pocket Cloud Explore makes it easy to search all your computers from your phone

Wyse introduced Pocket Cloud Explore today, which allows you to easily search all of your connected computers right from your phone. Not only is the application terribly simple to set up, the original pricing for Pocket Cloud Explore has been cut from $4.99 to only $.99 for a limited time.
From my little time I’ve ever tried to use virtual desktop applications, the set up has always been cumbersome, which ultimately made me stop. After seeing how easy it is to set up Pocket Cloud Explore, I actually care, finally. You need is the application itself and the companion program and after signing in to your Google account, you’re good to go. The fact that the application plugs into your Google account to log in is a pretty big deal, as the last thing I personally want is another username and password to remember.
Say I’m away from the office but need to send a picture over to Marin that’s on my computer. Better yet, I even forgot what computer the photo is on. A simple search within the app will search both computers and I can send it straight to Marin, no matter where I am. Once I find the picture, I can transfer the picture to my device and send it straight to Marin.
Checkout the app from Android Market: DOWNLOAD

EFF Demands Legal Protection For Jailbreaks

The Electronic Frontier Foundation believes jailbreaking and circumventing digital rights management on mobile devices and video game consoles should be legal.

The formal application to the US Copyright Office requests an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that would allow users to "jailbreak" smart phones, tablets and video game consoles, the EFF wrote on 2 December.

The exemptions would dispel "any legal clouds" that may prevent users from running applications and operating systems not approved by the manufacturer, according to the EFF.

Modification

Jailbreaking refers to the process of removing the stock firmware on a hardware device and replacing it with a different operating system. The team behind Jailbreak Me has released tools for the iPhone and iPad for users interested in running unauthorised applications.

Steve Kondik developed Cyanogen Mod, a home-brew Android that users can install on their rooted devices. George Hotz, also known as Geohot, released a tool on how to jailbreak the Playstation 3 to run Linux earlier this year.

There is a thriving jailbreak community around Microsoft's Xbox game system, and there is a service, ChevronWP7 Labs, which allows users to install homebrew and jailbreak applications on the Windows Phone OS. Microsoft even works with the Labs team to support the service.

"Rather than hurting companies like Apple, the jailbreaking community often ends up helping them, as Apple and other manufacturers later adopt many features they rejected at first," Trevor Timm, an activist at the EFF, wrote on the EFF blog.

The EFF won an exemption in 2009 to protect users who want to jailbreak iPhones and other smartphones. The "vibrant jailbreaking community" has "immeasurably improved innovation, security and privacy in these devices", Timm wrote.

The EFF wants devices such as the iPad, e-readers and video game consoles to have the "same benefits" those smartphone users have enjoyed for the past three years, he said.

Patches

Fixes developed by the jailbreaking community correct device and operating system security flaws before the manufacturer gets around to fixing them. The Jailbreak Me team identified a security flaw earlier this year in how the iPhone's web browser opened PDF files.

Until Apple got around to fixing the issue, the protected users were the ones who had jailbroken iPhones and were able to install the "unauthorised" patch released by the team.

The DigiNotar compromise was another example of the jailbroken devices being protected first, according to Timm. After reports emerged that DigiNotar certificate authority was compromised, major web browser vendors updated the desktop versions to revoke the root certificate.

It took a while for the vendors to revoke the certificates on mobile browsers, but users with jailbroken devices were able to update the web browsers manually to protect themselves, Timm wrote.

The jailbreaking community has "also been vital in securing users' privacy", Timm wrote. He gave examples such as an iPhone application that hid text messages from appearing on the front screen or a patch that prevented Apple from logging location data.

An unauthorised application called LBE Privacy Guard allows users to research and monitor sensitive data that may be accessible to third-party applications. These "protective applications" are only available to users who jailbreak their devices, according to Timm.

Security threats

"Going against the wishes of your vendor can turn out to be quite the double-edged sword," Chester Wisniewski, senior security advisor at Sophos, wrote on the Naked Security blog, noting that users with jailbroken devices would have an easier time removing the Carrier IQ monitoring tool from their phones.

However, the jailbreak could also expose users to malware and other security threats since the same security flaw that allowed the jailbreak could be maliciously used to compromise the device.

The Ikee worm for the iOS was one such example since the jailbreak exploit also enabled the Secure Shell (SSH) daemon on the phone to give potential attackers remote access, Wisniewski said.

"Hack the world! Just remember that you are on your own if you thumb your nose at the manufacturer of your device," Wisniewski wrote.

The Social Radio's new Android app lets you listen to your tweets

If you wish you could get away from your desk and still keep up with whatever your friends are saying online, The Social Radio  was made for you. The ambition of this Argentine startup is to let you listen to your social timeline as if it were a radio.
While its web version is still in Beta, The Social Radio officially launched its free Android app today, with iOS and Blackberry apps in the works. In other words, you’ll soon be able to play your tweets aloud on your phone thanks to speech synthesis. If you’re interested in the web version, you can send a tweet saying “I want to beta test @TheSocialRadio via @TheNextWeb” – the 50 first readers to tweet this will get an invite.
To start using the app, all you need to do is to sign in with your Twitter account. The Social Radio will start reading your tweets aloud, with a few seconds delay compared to your timeline. In between tweets, you can also listen to music from your own library. If you’re in the US, you can also stream tracks from Google Music – but not from Spotify. Here’s what the app looks like:

Both the app and the web version let you choose to listen to your full timeline or focus on a specific list/topic. We found the second option to give better results. If you follow many people, your timeline can sound like a litany of random thoughts, while selecting a topic or a hashtag may improve your experience.

Adobe sets Flash for "Ice Cream Sandwich"

Adobe may be winding down the clock on its mobile Flash multimedia software, but its still going to be available to support Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" smartphones and tablets.
Adobe will release one more version of the Flash Player for mobile browsing, which will provide support for Android 4.0 and one more release of the Flash Linux Porting Kit -  both expected to be released before the end of this year. After that time, Adobe will continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates.