Samsung, Dell getting Microsoft apps
Uses of Samsung’s Android devices are getting more choice in software: the South Korean device maker is giving its customers access to Microsoft services and apps on its flagship phones and tablets, while also letting them delete bloatware they don’t want, Computerworld reports. Samsung has been criticized for shipping its phones with too much pre-installed stuff. Meanwhile, Microsoft also announced a deal to get its apps onto Dell’s Android tablets.
Top EU court to hear case that could overturn EU-US data exchange deal
An Austrian student’s complaint about Facebook’s privacy policy has found its way up to the European Union’s highest court. It is being asked to rule on the validity of the Safe Harbor agreement, which allows U.S. companies to process the personal information of European Union citizens in the U.S., as long as they agree to respect strict E.U. data protection rules.
Facebook plans to host content from news sites
Facebook is in talks with news sites to host their content directly on the social network. That would keep users on Facebook longer, and while it would give media groups access to a large audience—and the advertising that goes with it—it would also remove some measure of control from them. Facebook plans to test the new format in the next few months, with The New York Times, BuzzFeed and National Geographic among the first content providers, according to The New York Times.
New malware targets point-of-sale systems
Researchers have found a new Trojan program that targets point-of-sale (PoS) terminals to steal payment card data. It’s been named PoSeidon by researchers from Cisco’s Security Solutions (CSS) team and, like most point-of-sale Trojans, it scans the RAM of infected terminals for unencrypted strings that match credit card information—a technique known as memory scraping, that was also used against Target in its massive data breach. End-to-end encryption technology would protect payment card data from the card reader all the way to the payment service provider, but there are still few systems with this capability.
Twitch hit by possible data breach, resets user passwords
Twitch warned Monday that account information from its popular live-streaming service for gamers may have been improperly accessed. The Amazon-owned company has reset users’ passwords and stream keys and disconnected accounts from Twitter and YouTube. Twitch didn’t say how many accounts were affected, nor exactly what data was accessed.
US court tries to wipe DVDfab software off the Internet
A U.S. court has ordered the seizure of domain names owned by Chinese company Feng Tao, which makes the DVDfab DVD-ripping software, Torrent Freak reports. The AACS-LA, which licences encryption algorithms used for DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, filed suit against the company accusing it of breaching the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Supreme Court in India strikes down Internet censorship rule
India’s Supreme Court has struck down as unconstitutional an Internet law that provided for the arrest of people sending online messages considered offensive or menacing. The court said that section 66A of the Information Technology Act was vague and its provisions were not reasonable restrictions on free speech. The law had been used to target online remarks such as criticism of controversial politicians and comments considered to be religiously offensive.
After stint as AMD CEO, Rory Read lands at Dell
Rory Read was a big fish as AMD’s CEO, but now he’s taken a job in a bigger pond as president of Dell’s worldwide commercial sales and COO of its Enterprise Solutions Group. He’s not the first former CEO to join Dell in a different capacity: John Swainson, who runs the software group, was CEO at CA, while former Wipro co-CEO Suresh Vaswani runs the services group.
Foxconn moves forward with smart electric car for China
While Apple is rumored to be developing an electric car, its major manufacturing partner Foxconn Technology Group is moving forward with plans to bring an electric-powered vehicle to China. On Monday, Foxconn announced a partnership with Chinese Internet giant Tencent and luxury car dealership China Harmony Auto to develop smart electric cars.
Watch now
Check out Parrot’s new experimental drone: it can make 3D maps of objects and people as it flies.
One last thing
Thirty years ago, Richard Stallman wrote the “GNU Manifesto” and launched the Free Software movement. The New Yorker takes a look back.
