The Rosetta Mission has landed, Groupon plays nice with Gnome, a catastrophic Windows bug gets patched, the medical tricorder of today, YouTube’s music service, a quick note on open source .Net, our Kickstarter of the week & more!
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Groupon decides to leave ‘Gnome’ trademark alone | PCWorld
Groupon has dropped trademark applications that sought to use the “Gnome” name for a point-of-sale tablet it released in May, clashing with the open-source software group of the same name.
The nonprofit Gnome Foundation, which is behind the Gnome desktop for GNU/Linux and BSD, has held a registered trademark for the name since 2006.
Potentially catastrophic bug bites all versions of Windows. Patch now | Ars Technica
Microsoft has disclosed a potentially catastrophic vulnerability in virtually all versions of Windows. People operating Windows systems, particularly those who run websites, should immediately install a patch Microsoft released Tuesday morning.
The vulnerability resides in the Microsoft secure channel (schannel) security component that implements the secure sockets layer and transport layer security (TLS) protocols, according to a Microsoft advisory. A failure to properly filter specially formed packets makes it possible for attackers to execute attack code of their choosing by sending malicious traffic to a Windows-based server.
While the advisory makes reference to vulnerabilities targeting Windows servers, the vulnerability is rated critical for client and server versions of Windows alike, an indication the remote-code bug may threaten Windows desktops and laptop users as well. Amol Sarwate, director of engineering at Qualys, told Ars the flaw leaves client machines open if users run software that monitors Internet ports and accepts encrypted connections.
“If they install software that listens on port, then that machine would be vulnerable,” he said. An example would be “if they run Windows 7 but install an FTP server on it that accepts connections from outside, or a Web server on a client.”
Tuesday’s disclosure means that every major TLS stack—including Apple SecureTransport, GNUTLS, OpenSSL, NSS, and now Microsoft SChannel—has had a severe vulnerability this year.
This Device Diagnoses Hundreds of Diseases Using a Single Drop of Blood | WIRED
Called the rHEALTH
One small drop of blood is dropped into a small receptacle, where nanostrips and reagents react to the blood’s contents. The whole cocktail then goes through a spiral micro-mixer and is streamed past lasers that use variations in light intensity and scattering to come up with a diagnosis, from flu to a more serious illness such as pneumonia—or even Ebola—within a few minutes. There’s also a vitals patch that users can wear to get continuous health readings—EKG, heart rate, body temperature—delivered to their smartphone or the rHEALTH device itself via a Bluetooth link. An app called CHAS (Comprehensive Health Assessment Unit) can walk the user through the process of self-diagnosis.
The real innovation of rHEALTH, according to Chan, is in getting all the diagnostics technologies packed together into one handheld device. By shrinking its components so much compared to traditional devices, Chan says, patients will need to give 1,500 times less blood than they would for regular tests. Since it was originally developed for NASA, the device has even been tested in simulated lunar and zero gravity. “It’s a symphony of innovations, but we’ve pushed all of them individually to create the device,” Chan says.
YouTube’s music service launches in ‘weeks’ following indie deal
After a long (and frequently contentious) negotiation process, YouTube’s long hinted-at music service appears to be close to launch. Sources for the Financial Times claim that YouTube has finally signed a deal with Merlin, the rights group that represents about 20,000 indie music labels. The move gives the ad-free streaming option a well-stocked catalog ahead of its launch, which is reportedly due within “weeks.” It’s not clear just what broke the deadlock, but a tipster says that the new terms are “substantially more favorable” than what YouTube offered in June