Security blog Defense in Depth has found a glaring security flaw in OS X Lion that enables hackers to change the password of any user on a machine running Lion. “[While] non-root users are unable to access the shadow files directly, Lion actually provides non-root users the ability to still view password hash data,” Patrick Dunstan from Defense in Depth explained in a recent blog post. The result is that anyone could use a simple Python script, created by Dunstan himself, to discover a user’...

First Apple, Google and Microsoft were accused of tracking user locations and now it appears HTC’s Sensation and EVO 3D smartphones are spying on their owners. According to user TrevE from InfectedROM, a recent Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread update from HTC added a little something special to the source code of Carrier IQ (CIQ), an Android component. CIQ is not new; it is part of Android and used on most devices to send data back to carriers about your smartphone. However, the source code on the EVO 3D and S...

The Motorola DROID X2 is definitely taking a page from the DROID Incredible 2′s playbook. That is: we know almost everything about this phone although Verizon Wireless has yet to officially announce it. Bearing that in mind, it should come as no surprise that the DROID X2′s user guide has hit Motorola’s official website. The guide confirms that the X2 will be a dual-core, 1GHz device with a 4.3-inch display and qHD resolution. It also confirms that the handset’s form will be nearly id...

At the Le Web conference in Paris France, Facebook’s platform chief, Ethan Beard, told technology blog TechCrunch that his company’s Facebook Connect service now has 250 million users making monthly connections via third-party sites. Mr. Beard went on to note that 100 million of those users began using the Connect service within the past year and that Facebook is adding nearly 10,000 sites per day.Do any of you utilize Facebook connect to authenticate to sites other than FB? Login with your Faceb...

It looks like Sprint will be releasing another full-QWERTY Android handset from Samsung. Courtesy of a leaked user guide, we see the Samsung Transform, a mid-range Android 2.2 device with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, micro-SD card slot, 3 megapixel camera, and — perhaps most notably – stock Android. The handset gets its name from a dedicated “Sprint ID” softkey which allows users to customize their device. Sprint ID-packs contain “features and functions ranging from icons, wallpapers, men...

If you’re thinking about picking up an Epic 4G from Sprint on the 31st, and want to know exactly what you’re getting into, Samsung has got you covered. The company was kind enough to post the user guide for the unreleased handset on its website late yesterday. There aren’t really any surprises in the document, but it does go over — ad nauseum — how the devices software will behave. The read link takes you right to the 264 page PDF if you’re interested. Enjoy! (more…)...

It seems that Big Red has finally opened up the user handset review feature we scooped about a month ago. This new feature gives users the ability to rate handsets on a five star scale based on ease of use, display, design, features and battery life. In addition, there is space to list some pros, cons and general comments. The only caveat is that in order to review a handset you must be an existing Verizon customer and logged into your Verizon account — that and actual Verizon employees vet each and eve...

Apple’s recent patent application covering biometric and other embedded authentication systems has caused quite a stir as one of the included images is a mock-up of a jailbroken phone. Considering that Apple is trying to use copyright infringement and the DMCA to hinder jailbreaking, it is unusual to see such an image in an official Apple document.  The image of the jailbroken iPhone appears in a section of the patent that describes how authentication can be used to display different options and applic...