Hasta La Gadget!

This article was written on July 30, 2008 by CyberNet.

One piece of information a lot of places are clamoring to get their hands on is what other websites their visitors are viewing. By having access to this information they would be able to determine what social networks you use, what search engine you prefer, and more. As it turns out any site can grab this information from your browser, but there’s one little catch.

SocialHistory is a simple JavaScript file that has developed a way for website developers to obtain this information, but they’re trying to use it for good. By default it will look to see which, if any, of the popular social sites a particular user visits so that relevant buttons/links can be displayed. For example, if a user has never visited the Del.icio.us bookmarking website it’s probably safe to not display the “add to Del.icio.us” button.

Eerie, huh? How can it get this information from your browser’s history? What it does is display a list of pre-defined links in an iframe which point to user-supplied sites. Using JavaScript it then analyzes the color of the link, and if it’s purple it will know that you’ve already visited that site. If it’s blue it knows you haven’t visited it.

This is making use of a standard web browser feature that makes it possible for the user to distinguish which links/sites they’ve visited, and so it really isn’t a vulnerability. Luckily this doesn’t spit out information like how many times a user has visited a particular site, but I’m sure that won’t provide too much comfort to you.

The catch? As you might have realized by now this will only work using a pre-defined list of sites, and it can’t actually crawl through your browser’s history. That’s not stopping people from implementing it though. Using SocialHistory this site has already put together a system that will guess whether you’re male or female based upon the sites you visit. It says that they’re not storing any of the data, but I’m sure other sites who are trying to sneakily gather the stats won’t be so forthcoming about their intentions.

[via Webware]

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The Verizon Wireless CDM8975 is one of a few Verizon Wireless phones that has push-to-talk capabilities, and we managed to test it out recently. It has quite a lackluster design, but we do like its roomy keypad, colorful screen, and external music player controls. We also like that it has …

Looks like Dell‘s going for the back-to-school crowd, if this leak is to be believed. According to Gizmodo, the Latitude 2100 “Welch” is a 10.1-inch netbook with a 1.6GHz Atom processor, up to 2GB RAM, and an optional SSD drive, all under three pounds. It’s also reportedly equipped with three USB ports, SD/MMC slot, 802.11 a/g/n, Bluetooth, an ethernet port, options for three and six cell batteries, and maybe touchscreen. The best part? Color options include School Bus Orange, Blue Ribbon, Red Apple, and what we can only assume is Chalkboard Black. If the report pans out, look for these around May 2009, just in time for summer vacation.

Filed under: Laptops

Dell targets school crowd with Latitude 2100 Welch laptop? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking to get a Nokia E71 off contract for just over a hundred bucks? Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. But you can get this new NCKLA E71-2 for a mere $119 from the always accommodating folks at Solomobi, which should be just the ticket for folks concerned with neither brands nor functionality. You will still get a 2.1-inch QVGA touchscreen (or perhaps just a bundled pen), along with dual SIM card support, built-in Bluetooth, a 0.3 megapixel camera, a “stereo loud speaker,” and an included 256MB T-Flash card, with support for up to 2GB. Hit up the link below for a closer look, and the order form if you’re feeling like you need a little more KIRF in your life.

[Thanks, James]

Filed under: Cellphones

Keepin’ it real fake, part CXCIII: NCKLA E71 ls tcc gccd tc b3 tru3 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 18:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re a fan of TealOS (you know, that fairly striking webOS-aping launcher for Palm devices), you’re in for some bad news. According to a post on the company’s TealTalk support forum, a rep tells users that Palm has issued a takedown of the lookalike. In their words:

I’m sorry to say that at Palm’s request, as of this upcoming Monday, March 30, we will no longer be selling or distributing TealOS.

While we can certainly understand the motivations on Palm’s part behind wanting to scuttle this copycat, we do find it a little odd. When we met with a Palm rep to retrieve the Pre earlier in the month, he actually had the software installed on his phone and seemed pretty excited about its existence. Our money here is actually on Palm’s legal department being a bit hair-trigger, though we hardly think TealOS is posing a threat to the company’s bottom line. Bottom line? Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

[Via PalmInfocenter; Thanks, Herman M.]

Filed under: Cellphones

Palm issues takedown for TealOS originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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