Hasta La Gadget!

Online account security breaches are seemingly commonplace these days — just ask LinkedIn or Sony — and now we can add Yahoo’s name to the list of hacking victims. The company’s confirmed that it had the usernames and passwords of over 400,000 accounts stolen from its servers earlier this week and the data was briefly posted online. The credentials have since been pulled from the web, but it turns out they weren’t just for Yahoo accounts, as Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, Comcast, MSN, SBC Global, Verizon, BellSouth and Live.com login info was also pilfered and placed on display. The good news? Those responsible for the breach said that the deed was done to simply show Yahoo the weaknesses in its software security. To wit:

We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call, and not as a threat. There have been many security holes exploited in Web servers belonging to Yahoo Inc. that have caused far greater damage than our disclosure. Please do not take them lightly. The subdomain and vulnerable parameters have not been posted to avoid further damage.

In response, Yahoo’s saying that a fix for the vulnerability is in the works, but the investigation is ongoing and its system has yet to be fully secured. In the meantime, the company apologized for the breach and is advising users to change their passwords accordingly. You can read the official party line below.

At Yahoo! we take security very seriously and invest heavily in protective measures to ensure the security of our users and their data across all our products. We confirm that an older file from Yahoo! Contributor Network (previously Associated Content) containing approximately 400,000 Yahoo! and other company users names and passwords was stolen yesterday, July 11. Of these, less than 5% of the Yahoo! accounts had valid passwords. We are fixing the vulnerability that led to the disclosure of this data, changing the passwords of the affected Yahoo! users and notifying the companies whose users accounts may have been compromised. We apologize to affected users. We encourage users to change their passwords on a regular basis and also familiarize themselves with our online safety tips at security.yahoo.com.

Filed under: Internet

Yahoo confirms server breach, over 400k accounts compromised originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 14:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whether it’s on two wheels, under cover or across the cruel watery mistress, Google Maps wants to get you there. But what about the long, arduous pedestrian plod? Well, from today, 44 African nations will never need to put a foot wrong, thanks to the introduction of walking directions to their web and mobile versions of the mapping service. The search giant is keen to remind you that the new feature is still in beta, so if you end up somewhere else, you might need to rely on other methods to find out where you are.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Internet

Google Maps adds walking directions for 44 African countries on web and mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 07:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It may not be that well known over here, but the Telefonica-owned Tuenti social network is big in Spain, where it has 13 million users and rakes in over 40 billion page views per month. Now it’s hoping to make itself better known elsewhere, today kicking off a major expansion that will see it made available around the world in nine different languages. What’s more, it’s also announced some new mobile apps for the occasion, including integrated messaging and dedicated Tuenti apps for Android and BlackBerry, with iOS and Windows Phone versions promised in the “coming weeks.” As TechCrunch notes, the social network is similar to Twitter in many respects, with status updates (or what Tuenti calls “moments”) limited to 140 characters, but it also veers a bit into Facebook territory as well, focused more on the notion of friends than followers. You can sign up and give it a go yourself at the source link below.

Filed under: Internet

Telefonica’s Tuenti social network kicks off global expansion, rolls out mobile apps originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 20:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today a battle is going on between Viacom and DirecTV in which the latter has threatened to pull 17 channels from their network unless they and Viacom can reach a licensing deal for the near future. As a result of that battle, many things have come to pass in the last 12 hours – with two messages sent via Twitter being the closest the two have come to an agreement thus far, that being an assurance that they’re working to make the whole situation end as quickly as possible for their rabid users.

For those of you out there in internet-only land, you’re not free from the terror that’s coming down on the world this week either. Just this morning on the web-based versions of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report showed a massive image noting how terrible it was that DirecTV was dropping 17 channels from Viacom’s collection was blasted forth with a call to action. This beast of a screen-covering image demanded that viewers head to their telephones to complain as fast as possible.

That blast has since been replaced by action from DirecTV: no more Daily Show or Colbert Report on the web so long as they weren’t in agreement over Viacom’s cuts.

Those of you out there with actual televisions still showing DirecTV content, you’ll notice a couple of scrolling text pieces – shown here via Reddit user rocier that tell users to take action once again. This particular example shows how both groups are able to insert messages on your screen without the other’s approval – interesting, no?

Stay tuned as we continue to cover this content war, and let us know if you’re experiencing anything similar through any of your Viacom and/or DirecTV media sources. Also check the timeline below for the events leading up to this moment!

Viacom and DirectTV fein friendship as content war rages on is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Microsoft and NBC have had what you might call a complicated relationship. They’ve been separated in the TV space ever since MSNBC became a solely NBC-owned entity in 2005, but the online fling has carried on to this day. If Daily Beast‘s tipsters are right, however, NBC may get a little less ambiguous with its relationship status and kick Microsoft to the curb. The now Comcast-owned NBCUniversal is supposedly irked at having to share equal control over the MSNBC website and wants to send Microsoft packing, buying out Redmond’s 50 percent stake. While the existing management would stay, MSNBC’s online staff would quit Microsoft’s campus and hop over to an NBCNews.com domain to reflect their newfound independence. An NBC representative wouldn’t confirm that an agreement had been signed, but did say talks had taken place — certainly much more of a response than most rumors get. With a signed deal rumored in a matter of “days,” there won’t be long to wait before we learn whether or not Microsoft gets dumped once and for all.

Filed under: Internet

Microsoft and NBC rumored calling it splitsville on the web, MSNBC.com to get friend-zoned originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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