Hasta La Gadget!

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

There is a lot of incorrect information going around the Internet right now about how Microsoft is helping out law enforcement with some forensic tools they are providing on USB drives. The tool is called COFEE (Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor), and over 2,000 of these handy little things have been given out to 350 different agencies. Their goal: to help collect data from PC’s that are part of an investigation.

Many sites out there are classifying this as the secret backdoor that we’ve all assumed has been in Windows since its conception. Some are claiming that in seconds the tool will hand over all of your passwords and decrypt any information on your hard drive. That’s an interesting concept, but not exactly how it works.

Ed Bott thankfully jumped all over the ridiculous assumptions people were making about how these tools worked. The original article from the Seattle Times even includes an update straight from a Microsoft spokeswoman saying that the tool “does not circumvent Windows Vista BitLocker encryption or undermine any protections in Windows through secret ‘backdoors’ or other undocumented means.“

Tools like this are not anything new, and merely automate the process of grabbing specific data from hard drives. There’s even a tool called USB Switchblade that can stealthily get system information, the local password database, Microsoft product keys, wireless network passwords, browser/email passwords, browsing history, and more. It can do all of that by plugging in a USB device and giving it about 45 seconds to run.

There really hasn’t been any details as to what the 150 tools on the device actually do, but you can bet it’s nothing that a forensics team can’t already do given a little more time. It’s said to do 4 hours worth of work in 20 minutes thanks to a lot of automation, but it’s not using any super-cool backdoors that only Microsoft knows about. Sorry, but I guess that secret backdoor is still resting safely in the Microsoft vault. I mean really, if I created an awesome backdoor in an operating system being used by hundreds of millions of people I wouldn’t go blatantly handing it out. I’d do something cool like start a website that only provides leaked info about products and services using information retrieved from top-secret PC’s.

[part of the image via Future Lawyer]

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Continue reading NEC builds a better bioplastic from plant stems and cashew nut shells

NEC builds a better bioplastic from plant stems and cashew nut shells originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple makes it official: the much-talked about music, iPod, iTunes, and possible Apple TV event takes place in San Francisco next Wednesday. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20014692-260.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Circuit Breaker/a/p

Apple’s iPhone users may be buying more apps but when it comes to mobile ads, it is Android customers who are click happy, says an online advertising network.

Android users click on ads 81 percent more often than those who have an iPhone. That makes Android users much more valuable to advertisers, says online ad network Chitika. But here’s another interesting data point. Apple’s iPad did better than the iPhone when it comes to ad click-through rates. The data is based on a sample of 1.3 million impressions across Chitika’s network.

“iPad users are much more likely to click ads than their iPhone-using contemporaries.  This may be chalked up to the difference in display size,” says Chitika on its blog.

The numbers from Chitika are similar to those from another mobile ad company called Smaato in June. Android devices are more friendly to mobile ads compared to the iPhone, says Smaato.

The data about how smartphone users react on different platforms comes as Apple has started rolling out its iAds mobile advertising platform. So far, only five of the 17 iAd launch partners have managed to roll out their advertising campaigns since Apple introduced iAds in April.

Though early advertisers have said they are happy with the results they have seen so far, data from companies like Chitika and Smaato is not an encouraging sign for Apple.

It is not clear why Android devices are ahead of the iPhone when it comes to getting consumer attention for ads, says Chitika. Android users show a click-through rate of 1.187 percent compared to 0.654 percent click-through rates on the iPhone. The lack of iPhone-like elegance in the Android’s interface could result in more user clicks–including those on mobile ads, says Gigaom.

But that alone can’t explain why the Android platform is ahead of the iPhone in getting consumer attention for mobile ads. It’s something that Apple may also be trying to find the answer to.

Chart: Chitika

C’mon, you saw this one coming, right? Just like they always do come fall time, Apple will be holding a “special event” on September 1st out in San Francisco, and we’ll be on the ground reporting live. Think we’ll see that new Apple TV we’ve been hearing about? Some iPods? A ‘one more thing’? Yes, probably. Tune in here at 10AM PT / 1PM ET on the 1st to catch the best liveblog in the business!

In case you haven’t heard the rumors lately:

Apple to hold ‘special event’ September 1st… we’ll be there live! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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