Google to block all NPAPI plugins by default in January 2015

Google has outlined further details of its plans to completely remove plugins that make Netscape Plugin API (NPAPI) from the Chrome ecosystem by September 2015.

As it currently stands, all NPAPI plugins are blocked from running by default, with the exception of five plugins that are whitelisted to be allowed to run: Silverlight, Unity, Google Earth, Google Talk, and Facebook Video. That situation will change in January next year, as Google will remove the whitelist and require user interaction to run any NPAPI plugin.

Over the past year, the whitelisted plugins have seen decreases in the percentage of times that they are launched, the company said in a blog post, with Silverlight by far the most often launched plugin.

The large number of Silverlight users is likely due to its usage by Netflix, with the streaming service saying in a letter to investors last month that it was halfway through switching away from Silverlight in favour of HTML5.

Google said that in April next year, it will disable NPAPI support by default and unpublish extensions requiring NPAPI from the Chrome Web Store. For users that still require NPAPI plugins, an override flag will be added to Chrome, and system administrators will be able to reactivate NPAPI plugins with an enterprise policy.

By September, though, Google intends to remove the override and remove NPAPI support.

"Installed extensions that require NPAPI plugins will no longer be able to load those plugins," Justin Schuh, Google software engineer and plugin retirement planner said.

"With each step in this transition, we get closer to a safer, more mobile-friendly web."

View the original article here

EU parliament to debate Google breakup

European Parliament members assembled in Strasbourg, France, are set to debate a resolution calling on the EU to order search engines to separate commercial services from their businesses to ensure a level playing field.

While Google is not directly mentioned in the proposal, the California-based search engine is clearly the target.

A vote on the resolution is to take place on Thursday.

In a statement, the US mission to the European Union said it has "noted with concern" the parliament resolution.

"It is important that the process of identifying competitive harms and potential remedies be based on objective and impartial findings and not be politicised," a spokesman for the US mission said.

The European Parliament has no power to launch the breakup of Google, but the move by two senior politicians is further indication that opinion of the company in Europe has soured.

Google has become an increasing source of worry for European officials on many issues ranging from privacy to the protection of national publishers.

While EU law cannot directly affect US law, it can, however, affect Google's business in Europe, where it is even more widely used than in the United States.

Since 2010, Google has been under investigation by the European Commission in response to complaints that its search engine, the world's biggest, was squeezing out competitors in Europe.

Google and Brussels have also clashed over the so-called "right to be forgotten", in which the EU's top court ruled last year that people have a right to ask search engines to delete results involving them after a period of time.

View the original article here

European Parliament backs call to break up Google

The European Parliament has voted in favour of a resolution effectively asking the EC to look at breaking up Google.

The resolution passed on Thursday by 384 votes to 174, with 56 abstentions. It supports the idea of a digital single market throughout Europe and says that tech companies should decouple their search engine business from their other operations.

It asks the European Commission "to consider proposals with the aim of unbundling search engines from other commercial services" over the long term.

While the resolution itself is not binding and does not mention Google by name, it's nonetheless sending a strong signal to the search company.

It calls on the European Commission — the European executive with wider reaching powers — to "to prevent any abuse in the marketing of interlinked services by operators of search engines", the resolution says, adding: "Indexation, evaluation, presentation and ranking by search engines must be unbiased and transparent."

The resolution comes in light of an ongoing antitrust investigation into Google by the EC, centering on allegations that its vertical search practices are anticompetitive, and it discriminates against rivals' specialised search services, such as shopping.

The process has been fractious, with Google and the Commission repeatedly trading barbs and being unable to reach a satisfactory settlement .

"The resolution underlines that "the online search market is of particular importance in ensuring competitive conditions within the digital single market" and welcomes the Commission’s pledges to investigate further the search engines' practices," the European Parliament said.

Today's resolution is likely to unpopular in the US: according to the Financial Times, earlier this week senior US political figures raised their concerns about the resolution, with House judiciary committee chairman Bob Goodlatte writing to the parliament's main political grouping that he was "troubled" that MEPs were "encouraging antitrust enforcement efforts that appear to be motivated by politics, rather than grounded in factual and legal principles".

Google declined to comment.

View the original article here

New Google Glass to run on Intel chips?

With consumers' interest in Google's Glass reportedly on the wane , a new version of the networked headset with an Intel chip and longer battery life is aiming to revive its appeal.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the next iteration of Glass, due out next year, will be powered by Intel chips instead of the processors supplied by Texas Instruments it currently uses.

Besides its high-end price tag, one of Glass's other failings has been its battery life, which typically lasted at most for a day. Earlier hardware updates for Glass boosted the RAM and delivered a larger battery, but only achieved modest improvements in battery life.

It's not known which Intel chip will come with the new version of Glass, but the WSJ report notes two possible candidates: the ARM-based processor also used in Intel's own MICA wearable unveiled earlier this year, which promises a battery life of two days; and Intel's x86 based system on chip, Quark, for wearables and low-power Internet of Things devices. Whichever chip ends up in Google's headset, the next Glass edition will have an emphasis on power conservation to compensate for the limits to battery size that come with wearables.

Intel, though, will be go beyond just supplying chips for Glass: according to the publication, the chip maker will pick up the slack in pushing Glass to the enterprise — where many have noted Google's headset may have potential even if it fails to catch on among consumers — should Google ever release Glass to general availability.

Intel's promotion of the device could augment Google's own program for the enterprise called Glass at Work , which has a number of partners developing vertical applications for the healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, and sports industries.

While Intel dominated the PC and server markets over the past two decades, that lead didn't carry over to smartphones and tablets.  The company is now making a concerted effort to ensure it isn't sidelined in the Internet of Things, where its capabilities have been spiced up by Wind River.

Intel said: "Intel and Google have a strong relationship and work closely together across a number of different areas but we aren't going to comment on speculation." ZDNet has asked Google for comment and will update the story if any is forthcoming.

View the original article here

Google Chrome drops support for early Intel Macs

Summary:Google is transitioning its Chrome browser to 64-bit, which means that Mac owners running older Intel hardware will need to find a new browser or risk running an unpatched browser.

Google is rolling out Chrome browser version 39 to OS X users. This brings a big change – a shift from 32-bit to full and exclusive 64-bit support.

12 essential Microsoft business apps for the iPhone

As part of Microsoft's "mobile first, cloud first" mission, it has built up a large portfolio of consumer and business apps on every platform. In this roundup, I look at a dozen iOS apps that help IT pros and power users stay productive with an iPhone and Microsoft services.

By switching Chrome to 64-bit, Google hopes that it will be faster and use less memory. The update also patches over 40 vulnerabilities. But there is a drawback – older Macs are stuck on version 38, the last 32-bit version.

Apple announced the switch from PowerPC to Intel COUs in early 2005, with the first hardware making an appearance in early 2006. However, these early Intel Macs were based on 32-bit architecture, and Apple didn't completely adopt 64-bit until August 2007.

Here's when Apple computer models transitioned from 32-bit to 64-bit hardware:

MacBook Pro:  October 2006MacBook: November 2006iMacs: September 2006Mac Mini: August 2007

The MacBook Air was launched with 64-bit processors.

OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, released in August 2009, was the last OS X release to support 32-bit Intel Macs. Users that are still on that OS release – or earlier – will either have to stick with Chrome 38 and make do with not receiving security patches, or switch to Firefox or Opera, both of which continue to support 32-bit OS X.

Alternatively, it's time to buy a new Mac.

How many people are affected? According to metrics available, some 10 to 15 percent of Macs run Snow Leopard or earlier. It's probably a safe bet to assume that most of these Macs are Intel 32-bit or PowerPC hardware.

See also:

Topics: Security, Apple, Browser, Google, Operating Systems

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.Adrian has authored/co-authored technic... Full Bio

zdnet_core.socialButton.googleLabel Follow @@the_pc_doc Contact Disclosure All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog. Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

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Google updates Docs with merge cells

Google has fixed a limitation in Google Docs that meant there was no simple way of merging cells within a document.

Until now, users could insert a table into a Google Docs document, but after doing so, there was no way to natively merge cells.

As some have discovered, the workaround involved merging cells in Drawing and pasting the result into a document. The catch, as one teacher noted recently, was that after pasting the Drawing, the cell wasn't editable — which wasn't useful for collaboration with students, or other users. Regardless of this, the workaround meant unnecessary extra work for a feature that has been available in Sheets for some time.

As Google announced today on its Google+ Drive account: "In Docs, you can already customise tables with different colors and line thicknesses, and now you can also merge cells together to get your table just right."

To lighten up the message a little, Google created a merged cell gif, inspired by the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, showcasing all the new features updated today.

Image: Google

To merge cells, the user simply highlights the cells they want to merge and then, under the Table tab, selects Merge cells. Alternatively, a right click on Windows will bring up the option.

The other feature update for Docs includes the ability to customise images inside the document, for example by recolouring them, or changing the transparency and brightness.

The update rounds out a number of new features and appearance changes Google has introduced to its Drive apps this year, including the recent Material Design update, which introduced the new Plus icon to create a new document and editing Office files with a new Chrome extension. The other tool it's recently released to bridge the gap between Drive documents and desktop software such as Adobe is a new Chrome extension enabling the user to open files from Drive directly into the compatible desktop software package.

View the original article here

Google simplifies reCAPTCHA challenges

Summary:The ubiquitous CAPTCHA service now relies more on behavioral factors below the surface of the site. Normally, users shouldn't have to parse fuzzy text anymore.

Long on the cutting edge of CAPTCHA development, Google's reCAPTCHA project has released a new and ironic version of the service which will make life easier for users.

Most of the time, users should no longer have to parse and retype fuzzy numbers or letters. All they have to do is check a box, agreeing that "I'm not a robot." See an example using early adopter SnapChat nearby.

Google says that they can get away with this for two main reasons: bots have gotten very good at parsing even very difficult characters. Second, Google has developed the ability to look at behavioral characteristics of the connection to determine, with a high degree of accuracy, whether the user is a human or a bot.

In cases where the risk analysis engine thinks the user may be a bot, it presents a conventional CAPTCHA, at least for now.

The same internal changes to the engine allow Google to include new, more mobile-friendly CAPTCHAs. See examples below: 

The API using the new methods is available for use now.

Images courtesy Google

Larry Seltzer has long been a recognized expert in technology, with a focus on mobile technology and security in recent years. He was most recently Editorial Director of BYTE, Dark Reading and Network Computing at UBM Tech. Prior to that he spent over a decade consulting and writing on technology subjects, primarily in the area of sec... Full Bio

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Google Nexus 6 review: A larger Moto X with fewer Motorola enhancements

Summary: The new Nexus 6 is a six-inch Moto X running a pure Google experience. Matthew is convinced the Motorola enhancements make the Moto X a better choice.

Previous  |  Next Image 1 of 19

Just like the Apple iPhone, Google rolls out Nexus smartphones once a year. The new Nexus 6 is priced $300 more than previous Nexus models and has a massive 6-inch display. Unlike previous models that seemed to be missing one or two things, the Nexus 6 has it all.

ZDNet's Larry Dignan took a look at the Nexus 6 when it launched and wrote that it could be an enterprise workhorse compared to the larger Google Nexus 9 . I agree it is a much better device than the Nexus 9, but also think the 2014 Moto X offers more while also being a device the masses can handle.

Operating system: Android 5.0 LollipopProcessors: Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 2.7 GHz quad-core CPUDisplay: 5.96-inch quad HD AMOLED screen with 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution (493 pixels per inch)RAM: 3GBStorage capacity: 32GB and 64GB internal storage optionsCameras: 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization (OIS), and 2-megapixel front-facing cameraRadios: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2x2 MIMO)Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, near-field communications (NFC), GPSAudio: Dual front-facing stereo speakersBattery capacity: 3,220 mAh with support for Turbo charger and Qi wireless chargingDimensions: 159.3 x 83 x 10 mm, and 184 grams

In the past, Nexus devices had good specifications but there were always a few specs that were less than the latest and greatest. As you can see above, the Nexus 6 has the high-end specifications seen on only a few other Android devices, such as the Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge.

Motorola made the Nexus 6 so comparisons to the smaller 2014 Moto X are expected. After using the Nexus 6 alongside a new Moto X, I personally find the Moto X more compelling. Much of that has to do with software — I will discuss this in the next section below — but the form factor is also a major consideration. My MoTR podcast co-host Kevin Tofel just purchased a Moto X instead of a Nexus 6 and echoes many of my thoughts.

The Google Nexus 6 feels very much like a larger Moto X with the same metal frame, textured power button, rear Motorola logo and dimple, and ring flash surrounding a 13-megapixel camera. The Nexus 6 is so much larger though and rivals the Apple iPhone 6 Plus in size. Thankfully, the back is curved on the Nexus 6 so it does still feel comfortable in your hand.

The Nexus 6 has front-facing stereo speakers that sound great. The Moto X has a front-facing mono speaker that I am satisfied with, but the stereo speakers definitely beat this mono speaker and come close to matching the HTC One M8 speakers.

The Nexus 6 has Qi wireless charging, along with the ability to charge up quickly with the Motorola Turbo Charger. Thankfully, the Turbo Charger is included in the Nexus 6 retail package while Motorola charges $34.99 for Moto X owners.

The 2560 x 1440 AMOLED display looks fantastic and it really was a joy to use. The camera has performed well for me and meets my phone camera needs. The Nexus 6 has all the wireless radios I need, a cool form, long battery life, and more. I like big phones and have seriously considered the Nexus 6 a few times, but lack of availability has killed my spur-of-the moment decision to pick one up.

Android 5.0 Lollipop operating systemLarge phone with no special enhancements or optimized applicationsRock solid design, tapered at the edges to fit well in the handNo support for microSD expansion cardsQi wireless charging and Turbo Charger supportTurbo Charger support with accessory included in the package

The Nexus 6 launches with Android 5.0 Lollipop and it looks great. I appreciate the Material Design elements of Lollipop and enjoy the new calendar, Messenger app, quick controls, and notification area.

The Nexus 6 is very responsive and easy to use. The homescreen widgets and Google Now panel are useful. The app launcher is a bit too stale for me with no ability to create folders for apps or organize them in any manner. It is a pure Google Android experience, but I am no longer convinced that is always the best approach on Android.

Motorola has done a lot to enhance the Android experience with their Moto X and G devices. The Moto X is a nearly pure device, but has subtle enhancements we don't see fully employed on the Nexus 6. For example, Moto Assist, contained in the new Moto app, is not available on the Nexus 6. The intelligence of your smartphone working for you is just not as complete on the Nexus 6 as on the Moto X.

You can now enable OK Google on many Android smartphones, while the Moto X remains the exclusive device to customize this initiation phrase. Trusted Bluetooth support is also available on other devices. Overall, the Nexus experience is good, but other smartphone customizations may actually offer more to most owners.

Samsung, LG, Sony, HTC, and others offer owners enhancements that no longer consume unreasonable resources. Many of these enhancements are useful and some of us prefer those experiences over the Nexus experience. I think the low cost of the last few Nexus devices helped justify the simple Google experience, but I'm not convinced it is the better experience at the same price as flagship phones.

The Nexus 6 is priced well beyond what we have seen with the last couple of Nexus models. The 32GB model is priced at $649 with the 64GB at $699. This is still $150 lower than iPhone 6 Plus pricing and $50 less than an iPhone 6. However, the Nexus 5 was priced at $349 and $399 so the $300 increase is a bit of a shocker.

While you still can't purchase a Nexus 6 directly from Google, carriers look to finally have some availability after earlier delays .

Large screen smartphones are popular today with even Apple joining the party. The Nexus 6 is similar to the iPhone 6 Plus, but even Apple has provided some apps with enhanced landscape orientation experiences and lets you rotate the home screen. Google hasn't done anything to justify the 6-inch display as it really just provides larger icons and more viewable screen real estate.

Samsung's Note 4 and Note Edge excel at stylus support and multi-window view while LG and Sony have support for additional small screen apps to take advantage of the larger displays.

The Nexus 6 is the best Nexus ever and for once a Nexus device is not lacking in any specification. The price reflects the high-end nature of the Nexus 6, but the competition in the Android marketplace is also much stiffer than it was in the past. I still need to use the Nexus 6 a bit more with my T-Mobile SIM to convince myself it isn't the device for me. I enjoy large screen smartphones, but find other offerings to be more compelling.

The new Moto X itself is a fantastic choice, especially given the Motorola experience enhancements and more pocketable form factor. The new Moto X actually feels small compared to the Nexus 6 and I think most people will appreciate that device more than the Nexus 6.

Just like the Apple iPhone, Google rolls out Nexus smartphones once a year. The new Nexus 6 is priced $300 more than previous Nexus models and has a massive 6-inch display. Unlike previous models that seemed to be missing one or two things, the Nexus 6 has it all.

ZDNet's Larry Dignan took a look at the Nexus 6 when it launched and wrote that it could be an enterprise workhorse compared to the larger Google Nexus 9 . I agree it is a much better device than the Nexus 9, but also think the 2014 Moto X offers more while also being a device the masses can handle.

Operating system: Android 5.0 LollipopProcessors: Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 2.7 GHz quad-core CPUDisplay: 5.96-inch quad HD AMOLED screen with 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution (493 pixels per inch)RAM: 3GBStorage capacity: 32GB and 64GB internal storage optionsCameras: 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization (OIS), and 2-megapixel front-facing cameraRadios: 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2x2 MIMO)Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, near-field communications (NFC), GPSAudio: Dual front-facing stereo speakersBattery capacity: 3,220 mAh with support for Turbo charger and Qi wireless chargingDimensions: 159.3 x 83 x 10 mm, and 184 grams

In the past, Nexus devices had good specifications but there were always a few specs that were less than the latest and greatest. As you can see above, the Nexus 6 has the high-end specifications seen on only a few other Android devices, such as the Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge.

Motorola made the Nexus 6 so comparisons to the smaller 2014 Moto X are expected. After using the Nexus 6 alongside a new Moto X, I personally find the Moto X more compelling. Much of that has to do with software — I will discuss this in the next section below — but the form factor is also a major consideration. My MoTR podcast co-host Kevin Tofel just purchased a Moto X instead of a Nexus 6 and echoes many of my thoughts.

The Google Nexus 6 feels very much like a larger Moto X with the same metal frame, textured power button, rear Motorola logo and dimple, and ring flash surrounding a 13-megapixel camera. The Nexus 6 is so much larger though and rivals the Apple iPhone 6 Plus in size. Thankfully, the back is curved on the Nexus 6 so it does still feel comfortable in your hand.

The Nexus 6 has front-facing stereo speakers that sound great. The Moto X has a front-facing mono speaker that I am satisfied with, but the stereo speakers definitely beat this mono speaker and come close to matching the HTC One M8 speakers.

The Nexus 6 has Qi wireless charging, along with the ability to charge up quickly with the Motorola Turbo Charger. Thankfully, the Turbo Charger is included in the Nexus 6 retail package while Motorola charges $34.99 for Moto X owners.

The 2560 x 1440 AMOLED display looks fantastic and it really was a joy to use. The camera has performed well for me and meets my phone camera needs. The Nexus 6 has all the wireless radios I need, a cool form, long battery life, and more. I like big phones and have seriously considered the Nexus 6 a few times, but lack of availability has killed my spur-of-the moment decision to pick one up.

Android 5.0 Lollipop operating systemLarge phone with no special enhancements or optimized applicationsRock solid design, tapered at the edges to fit well in the handNo support for microSD expansion cardsQi wireless charging and Turbo Charger supportTurbo Charger support with accessory included in the package

The Nexus 6 launches with Android 5.0 Lollipop and it looks great. I appreciate the Material Design elements of Lollipop and enjoy the new calendar, Messenger app, quick controls, and notification area.

The Nexus 6 is very responsive and easy to use. The homescreen widgets and Google Now panel are useful. The app launcher is a bit too stale for me with no ability to create folders for apps or organize them in any manner. It is a pure Google Android experience, but I am no longer convinced that is always the best approach on Android.

Motorola has done a lot to enhance the Android experience with their Moto X and G devices. The Moto X is a nearly pure device, but has subtle enhancements we don't see fully employed on the Nexus 6. For example, Moto Assist, contained in the new Moto app, is not available on the Nexus 6. The intelligence of your smartphone working for you is just not as complete on the Nexus 6 as on the Moto X.

You can now enable OK Google on many Android smartphones, while the Moto X remains the exclusive device to customize this initiation phrase. Trusted Bluetooth support is also available on other devices. Overall, the Nexus experience is good, but other smartphone customizations may actually offer more to most owners.

Samsung, LG, Sony, HTC, and others offer owners enhancements that no longer consume unreasonable resources. Many of these enhancements are useful and some of us prefer those experiences over the Nexus experience. I think the low cost of the last few Nexus devices helped justify the simple Google experience, but I'm not convinced it is the better experience at the same price as flagship phones.

The Nexus 6 is priced well beyond what we have seen with the last couple of Nexus models. The 32GB model is priced at $649 with the 64GB at $699. This is still $150 lower than iPhone 6 Plus pricing and $50 less than an iPhone 6. However, the Nexus 5 was priced at $349 and $399 so the $300 increase is a bit of a shocker.

While you still can't purchase a Nexus 6 directly from Google, carriers look to finally have some availability after earlier delays .

Large screen smartphones are popular today with even Apple joining the party. The Nexus 6 is similar to the iPhone 6 Plus, but even Apple has provided some apps with enhanced landscape orientation experiences and lets you rotate the home screen. Google hasn't done anything to justify the 6-inch display as it really just provides larger icons and more viewable screen real estate.

Samsung's Note 4 and Note Edge excel at stylus support and multi-window view while LG and Sony have support for additional small screen apps to take advantage of the larger displays.

The Nexus 6 is the best Nexus ever and for once a Nexus device is not lacking in any specification. The price reflects the high-end nature of the Nexus 6, but the competition in the Android marketplace is also much stiffer than it was in the past. I still need to use the Nexus 6 a bit more with my T-Mobile SIM to convince myself it isn't the device for me. I enjoy large screen smartphones, but find other offerings to be more compelling.

The new Moto X itself is a fantastic choice, especially given the Motorola experience enhancements and more pocketable form factor. The new Moto X actually feels small compared to the Nexus 6 and I think most people will appreciate that device more than the Nexus 6.

Matthew Miller started using a mobile devices in 1997 and has been writing news, reviews, and opinion pieces ever since. He is a co-host with GigaOM's Kevin Tofel on the MobileTechRoundup podcast and an author of three Wiley Companion series books. Matthew started using mobile devices with a US Robotics Pilot 1000 and has owned over 200 d... Full Bio

zdnet_core.socialButton.googleLabel Follow @@palmsolo Contact Disclosure Matthew is a professional naval architect by day and a mobile gadgeteer at all other times. He purchases his own devices and then sells them on eBay or Swappa to buy more. Many other devices are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the carrier or manufacturer. If any are provided as “long term loaner units” this will be clearly disclosed in his reviews.

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Time's up: Google releases attack code for serious Adobe Reader bug

Windows users who haven't updated to the latest version of Acrobat and Adobe Reader probably should do so right now, after a Google security researcher revealed details of a vulnerability affecting the pair, and how to exploit it.

As Adobe noted in its September security update for Acrobat and Reader on Windows, version 11.0.8 of the two programmes was vulnerable to a sandbox bypass that could allow an attacker to run native code with escalated privileges on Windows. US-CERT gave it a severity rating of 10.

The bug was discovered by James Forshaw, a security researcher in Google's Project Zero initiative. Forshaw has now released further details of the flaw, making it more important for Windows users to update to version 11.0.9 of Acrobat and Reader, since attackers can use the information to devise an attack for the vulnerability. Details released this week include a proof of concept exploit, source code, and pre-compiled binaries.

Project Zero is part of Google's effort to clean up widely-used third-party software with the aim of reducing the number of people potentially harmed by zero-day attacks. The program is separate to its own bug bounty program for researchers who report flaws in Google software.

Flaws discovered by the Project Zero team are housed in an external database and are kept under wraps until the vendor of the affected product issues a patch for it, or 90 days after it was reported to the vendor. In this case, Adobe has released a fix and the 90 days were up on November 26.

According to Forshaw, the sandbox escape in version 11.0.8 was possible due to a "race condition in the handling of the MoveFileEx call hook". 

"While the function resolves the location of the source and destination and ensures they are within the policy, there is a timing race once the function calls into the MoveFileEx function in the broker. This race can be won by the sandboxed process by using an OPLOCK to wait for the point where the MoveFileEx function opens the original file for the move. This allows code in the sandbox to write an arbitrary file to the file system," Forshaw wrote.

He noted that technically version 11.0.9 doesn't fix the race condition, however the update did make it "difficult if not impossible to exploit" due to additional defences Adobe made available in the update.

According to Forshaw, the update made it "no longer possible to use the broker file system hooks to create directory junctions".

View the original article here

Google streamlines seller programs for Work, Education cloud apps

Nearing the end of a year that saw Google greatly strenghen its cloud and enterprise portfolios, Google Apps partners are getting some extra attention as well.

The Internet giant introduced a new partner scheme converging the Work and Education arms of the Google Apps platform.

Now dubbed as simply the Google for Work and Education Partner Program, the integrated suite combines programs for selling and supporting Apps, Chrome, Cloud Platform, Maps and Search into one offering.

But within that one offering are a few distinct track options based on partner and customer needs.

These start with basic marketing and selling Google for Work and Education, building upon that with training and other support services, and finally the development of additional software products designed to work on top of Google for Work and Education apps.

If that's not enough, Google is also flaunting a "premier" track tier for partners that have "demonstrated higher levels of excellence within their track."

Murali Sitaram, director of global partnerships and strategic alliances on the Google for Work team, explained some of the benefits to the premier track in a blog post on Thursday, highlighting exclusive events and "other financial incentives."

"Partners help customers move, live and grow in the cloud by taking full advantage of the Google for Work and Education suite of products," Sitaram wrote. "They onboard and train new customers, manage change, create specialized software to integrate with Google Apps and develop unique solutions using Google Maps and Google Cloud Platform."

Google for Work, the business-focused unit formerly known as Google Enterprise, was previously upgraded back in October with the intention of providing better customer support to its corporate user base with a focus on chat and in-product assistance.

Last week, while most Internet users were likely more concerned about the security of retail and other consumer-related sites, Google for Work was also given a security booster shot with a new Devices and Activity dashboard.

The application window for the Google for Work and Education Partner Program is scheduled to open in early 2015.

View the original article here

Google Inbox team working on 'undo send' functionality

Members of Google's Inbox development team have revealed that the company is working on an "undo send" feature for the invite-only app that provides a new front end to Gmail and other inboxes.

In a Reddit Q&A on Wednesday, three members of the Inbox team offered Redditors an update on the development of the platform.

Asked whether the platform would receive an undo send feature, a Google Inbox software engineer identified on Reddit as Taylor K said: "Yes, we're working on it right now."

In fact, an undo send capability, along with cross-browser support, were two features that the software engineer said he wished were ready to include in time for Inbox's launch on October 22.

"Both are being worked on, but just weren't ready in time for launch," said Taylor K.

It is unclear at this stage whether the proposed undo send feature would work in the same way as the Google Mail Labs' 10-second undo send setting in Gmail.

However, Taylor K confirmed that the Inbox team is working on cross-browser support as well as the undo send feature, along with tablet support for the app and Google Drive integration.

"We're working as fast as we can on enabling other browsers as soon as possible," he said. "We're already doing Google-wide testing for cross-browser support, but we want to make sure that everything works perfectly before enabling it for all of our users."

Additionally, a Google Inbox team designer identified on Reddit as Jason C said that the company is looking into the possibility of a unified inbox, which would allow for multiple addresses in a single view.

"That is something we've received many requests for. We're actively looking into it. One of our design principles is that features should work the same way across all platforms, so if we were to build this, it would need to work seamlessly across the web, smartphones, tablets, etc," said Jason C.

Jason C also said that there is a "long list" of Gmail features that will eventually come to Inbox, including signatures and Google Calendar integration.

"We really want to balance building those features with building out new features that continue to improve the Inbox product concept. You'll see lots of these smaller additions (along with big new things) arrive over the coming months. This is all about prioritization," he said.

Asked why Google chose to establish an entirely new email platform rather than simply integrate Inbox functionality with Gmail itself, Jason C suggested that Google wanted to "start from scratch" in order to tackle changes in the way people use email.

"The way people use email has changed a huge amount since we launched Gmail," said Jason C. "With Inbox, we took a step back and did a lot of research into how most people are using email today. What we found was that email works as a to-do list for many people, that phone usage is starting to eclipse desktop usage, and that many people have negative feelings towards email because it feels like so much work.

"We built Inbox as a separate product because we didn't feel like we could solve those problems by just adding more features on to Gmail. We needed to start from scratch to build a tool that really helps you stay on top of your life," he said.

The Inbox team's Reddit session comes as Google announces new functionality allowing Gmail web users to easily open and edit Microsoft Office attachments with a single click.

The company said in a Google Drive blog post that with just one click on its new edit icon in Gmail attachments, users can automatically convert any Office documents sent as attachments to Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides.

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Google quietly pushes out Android Lollipop 5.0.1 images

Summary:An update to Lollipop should fix the issues that Nexus 7 users have had with video playback.

After a less-than-smooth rollout three weeks after it began to roll out Android Lollipop to users, Google has begun the process of getting Lollipop 5.0.1 out the door.

The Android maker quietly updated its factory images page to reveal a 5.0.1 build for the Nexus 9, Nexus 7, and Nexus 10. Installing images from this page does require the flashing of devices in order to update them, and does not carry user data across in the process, unless backed up and restored by the user.

Among the changes in this version is an increase to the amount of memory allocated for video playback on Nexus 7 users, which often manifested itself on YouTube as the now-infamous "There was a problem while playing the video. Touch to retry" error.

Users on the bug have reported that the update has fixed the issue.

Another issue fixed in this release is avoiding accidentally factory resetting a device configured to wipe itself after a number of failed access attempts. Lollipop now does not count password or patterns with less than four elements as attempts to access the device.

"If we do, we risk resetting the device due to stray input," the relevant commit message said.

A Google spokesperson told CNET News that the factory reset bug was not widespread.

Lollipop is yet to be provided to Android users en masse. In the latest statistics provided by Google on which versions of Android users are running when accessing its Play Store, Lollipop fails to rate a mention.

According to Google, 34 percent of Android users now run Android 4.4 KitKat, 49 percent run a version of Jelly Bean, while 9 percent are stuck on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Chris started his journalistic adventure in 2006 as the Editor of Builder AU after originally joining CBS as a programmer. After a Canadian sojourn, he returned in 2011 as the Editor of TechRepublic Australia, and is now the Australian Editor of ZDNet.

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Google Cloud Platform certified for payment card data amid deal with WePay

Summary: Rolling out amid what is still the busiest shopping season of the year, Google is expanding its cloud once again with two significant e-commerce developments.By Rachel King for Between the Lines | December 2, 2014 -- 17:52 GMT
Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2014 -- as lackluster as they might have actually been -- are now behind us, but the need to protect consumer data only continues.
Rolling out amid what is still the busiest shopping season of the year, Google is expanding its cloud once again with two significant e-commerce developments.
The first piece of the puzzle is that Google Cloud Platform is now certified for satisfying Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS).
This means retailers and other businesses can store, process, or exchange cardholder information from any branded credit card on Google Cloud Platform -- a major coup for Google against online retail titan and cloud foe Amazon and its Web Services department.
"PCI DSS provides a comprehensive and robust security framework for securing credit card information and transactions," wrote Matthew O’Connor, a product manager on the Google Cloud Platform team, in a blog post on Tuesday. "Google is using these third-party audited standards to deliver a platform on which application developers can create and operate their own secure and compliant solutions."
Thanks to PCI validation, the Google Cloud Platform has been tapped by online payment service provider WePay as its official public cloud provider.
WePay primarily serves digital marketplaces, crowdfunding sites, and small businesses through a payments API but also provides loss and fraud protection.
David Nye, director of DevOps at WePay, explained further in a separate statement on Tuesday that WePay is counting on Google Cloud Platform to provide a scalable, highly available, and -- most importantly -- secure environment for processing partner transactions.
"Moving our hosting entirely into the cloud is something we’ve wanted to do for a long time," Nye posited. "It will enable us to add more servers in seconds to deal with spikes in demand and give us more flexibility to do systems maintenance without impacting our customers."
Topics: Data Management, Cloud, E-Commerce, Privacy, Security
Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.
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