| Apple patent shows designs for more accurate water damage sensors Feb 20th 2012, 21:41 | Without a doubt, the purveyance of personal electronics has changed our lives -- not only have they put oodles of information at our fingertips, but they've also made pushing fully-clothed friends into the pool a warranty-voiding social faux pas. If you do get dunked, however, Apple wants to make sure you aren't going to blame your phone's apparent water damage on one of the ( potentially faulty) detection stickers in use today, rather than your own perilous plunge. A new patent application uncovered by AppleInsider imagines an iDevice that detects water damage using a sensor covered in water soluble conductive glue that, when dissolved, allows the sensor to detect its absence and log damage. The patent outlines several different setups using one or more sensors, and hopes to provide a more reliable indicator of water damage than today's methods. Of course, you wouldn't have to worry about that if you were insured, would you? Apple patent shows designs for more accurate water damage sensors originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  AppleInsider |  Free Patents Online | Email this | Comments | | Microsoft finds Google bypassed Internet Explorer's privacy settings too, but it's not alone Feb 20th 2012, 20:59 |  There was quite a stir sparked last week when it was revealed that Google was exploiting a loophole in a Apple's Safari browser to track users through web ads, and that has now prompted a response from Microsoft's Internet Explorer team, who unsurprisingly turned their attention to their own browser. In an official blog post today, they revealed that Google is indeed bypassing privacy settings in IE as well, although that's only part of the story (more on that later). As Microsoft explains at some length, Google took advantage of what it describes as a "nuance" in the P3P specification, which effectively allowed it to bypass a user's privacy settings and track them using cookies -- a different method than that used in the case of Safari, but one that ultimately has the same goal. Microsoft says it's contacted Google about the matter, but it's offering a solution of its own in the meantime. It'll require you to first upgrade to Internet Explorer 9 if you haven't already, then install a Tracking Protection List that will completely block any such attempts by Google -- details on it can be found at the source link below.
As ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley notes, however, Google isn't the only company that was discovered to be taking advantage of the P3P loophole. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab say they alerted Microsoft to the vulnerability in 2010, and just two days ago the director of the lab, Lorrie Faith Cranor, wrote about about the issue again on the TAP blog (sponsored by Microsoft, incidentally), detailing how Facebook and others also skirt IE's ability to block cookies. Indeed, Facebook readily admits on its site that it does not have a P3P policy, explaining that the standard is "out of date and does not reflect technologies that are currently in use on the web," and that "most websites" also don't currently have P3P policies. On that matter, Microsoft said in a statement to Foley that the "IE team is looking into the reports about Facebook," but that it has "no additional information to share at this time."
Microsoft finds Google bypassed Internet Explorer's privacy settings too, but it's not alone originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink ZDNet | IE Blog | Email this | Comments | | Lenovo IdeaPad U300e Ultrabook available now, pricier than we thought Feb 20th 2012, 20:16 | Back when we first quietly met the IdeaPad U300e at CES, we were told it'd be carrying a $799 price tag; but contrary to that statement, Lenovo's put the 13.3-inch Ultrabook up for grabs starting at $959 on its site. That near-grand amount will get you Intel's Core i5-2476m CPU and HD3000 graphics, 4GB of RAM, a hybrid drive (32GB SSD mixed with 500GB HDD), as well as a Premium copy of Windows 7. More importantly, the machine wouldn't gracefully fall under the "Ultra" category if it wasn't flaunting a relatively slim form factor, in which it tightly squeezes through the standards at 0.7-inches in thickness. It's also about half a pound heavier than its pricier, better specced sibling. Need some additional visuals to decide if it's worth adding to your cart? Be sure to check out our photo gallery here. Lenovo IdeaPad U300e Ultrabook available now, pricier than we thought originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Laptop Reviews | Lenovo | Email this | Comments | |
