By Cynthia Herbert :: 1:41 PM
Just like yesterday’s hack on Burger King’s Twitter account, it looks like Jeep is today’s victim.
The account appears to have been breached, and the Jeep logo replaced by that of Cadillac’s. The account’s bio reads very similar to the hacked Burger King one from yesterday: “The official Twitter handle for the Jeep® — Just Empty Every Pocket, Sold To Cadillac =[ #OpMadCow #OpWhopper,” and claims the company has been sold to Cadillac – just as Burger King’s had claimed the chain was sold to rival McDonald’s.
At this time, neither Jeep nor Twitter have responded. It took nearly an hour for Twitter to rein in the rogue Burger King account yesterday.
Update:Â As of 1:55 PM, it appears that the Jeep account has been brought under control. The background image that the hackers added has been removed, and no Tweets have been sent in the past 15 minutes.
Image below: Profile info on Jeep Twitter account while under hacker control.
By Paul Thomson :: 1:19 PM
Reuters is reporting that Apple Computer has said the company has been a victim of a hacker attack, and that a small number of its Mac computers have been infected.
The attack was apparently similar to what recently happened to Twitter and Facebook, and the breach occurred on Apple employee-issued computers which were connected to its network.
Apple told the news service that at this time, there is no evidence that shows that any data left Apple. The company is currently working with law enforcement to identify the hackers. It is believed that the hackers are located in China, or connected with China in some fashion.
A statement was released by Apple, saying that the company is working on a software tool that will protect customers against the malicious software used in the attacks, and identify and remove it from their systems. It is expected that the software will be released later today.
Last week during his State of the Union speech, President Obama had announced that he was signing an Executive Order around cybersecurity initiatives. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, was in attendance at Obama’s speech.
This story is continuing to break, and we will update it as we learn more.
By Gilbert Falso :: 12:54 PM
The communications link between NASA’s ground control center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the International Space Station (ISS) in orbit around the Earth was taken down for an extended period of time this morning.
Flight controllers on the ground in Houston had been updating software to the station’s flight computers around 8:45 this morning when one of the data relay systems onboard the ISS failed, according to an alert from NASA. Although a backup system was able to assume critical station functions from the primary computer, the ISS lost communication capabilities with NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites.
Houston was able to communicate with the crew when the space station flew over Russia’s ground station just before 10 a.m. The crew then was able to connect to a backup computer and begin restoring communications with U.S. ground control teams.
There are six crew members on board the station at this time — Americans Kevin Ford (mission commander) and Tom Marshburn, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitiskiy, Evgeny Tarelkin and Roman Romanenko, and Canadian Chris Hadfield.
NASA says that as of 12:45 pm, communications have been restored between the ISS and NASA’s satellite relay system.
By Gilbert Falso :: 9:14 AM
Microsoft has moved its next-generation webmail product, Outlook.com, out of beta and has opened it to the public. In doing so, it will also soon be retiring its old Hotmail webmail portal, and moving users onto the new Outlook.com. Hotmail users will still be allowed to use their old e-mail address on the new service.
“It’s not a light brand decision,” Dharmesh Mehta, director of product management for Outlook.com told the Los Angeles Times. “I don’t know of any other company that has hundreds of thousands of users and has changed the brand name. But this is something new, an opportunity to set us up for the future.”
In terms of webmail clients, Hotmail has a long legacy. It was launched in 1996 by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith, and quickly became wrapped up in the dot-com boom when Microsoft acquired it in 1998 for $400 million.
Hotmail was eventually surpassed by Gmail in terms of number of users, but still remains a major player in the online email game. Currently Microsoft estimates Hotmail has 300 million users – Google pegs Gmail’s numbers at 425 million users.
The move to close Hotmail synchs with what Microsoft is trying to do with its entire product portfolio – move everything onto the cloud. The new Outlook is better poised to take advantage of all of the other hooks Microsoft is building into cloud computing, especially SkyDrive, its online virtual storage application.
Users who move over from Hotmail will keep their old email address and login information, but the interface will be changed from their current experience. The name Hotmail will not appear anywhere on their screens.
The new design of Outlook.com is very closely aligned with the user experience of Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system that launched back in the Fall.
Closing down Hotmail and putting much effort behind Outlook.com may help Microsoft target Gmail users. The company plans on providing tips for Gmail users on how to easily switch to Outlook.com from Gmail. It will attempt to lure them over by offering unlimited storage and not controlling the size of files that can be sent via e-mail attachment.
By: Katherine McClosky :: 12:41 AM
Ever want to dash out of the house on an errand, and just grab your phone and go? Hate being bogged down with a wallet, purse, or other bag? A new case for the iPhone 5 doubles as a helpful pocket to help store a credit card and driver’s license.
The case, made by Marware and called the “Stash” is a low-profile iPhone 5 case that securely stores up to two credit cards or IDs. The Stash also serves as a stand for your iPhone that offers hands-free viewing by propping it up in both landscape or portrait orientation.
Inside the case is a built-in rubber strip that firmly secures cards inside the case, keeping them from falling out. Fashioned from durable hard plastic, it provides both button protection as well as raised edges to protect the iPhone’s display when laying flat while still allowing full access to all ports, speakers and cameras on the iPhone.
The Stash case for iPhone 5