Normally, I don’t re-post from my Firefox Blog, but these browsers plugin vulnerabilities affect other browsers (such as Chrome & Safari) besides Firefox. Dangerous vulnerability in latest Java version Version: Java 7 Update 10 Issue: Can be used for Cyber attacks (even on fully patched Windows machines) Recommend Action: Browser plugin should be disabled or sandboxed (see Work Around below)) Work Around: For those who MUST have Java, use Firefox 17 is or newer. The Java plugin will be installed but ‘sandboxed’. The plugin will not execute/run until the user gives permission ‘click to play‘ on a per site basis. The user will…
January 11, 2013
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*Developmental Build* Firefox 19 Beta (desktop only) was made available for testing on Thursday, January 10th. A new feature introduced with Firefox 19 is a native PDF viewer which eliminates the need for third-party plugins for a smoother and more secure browsing experience. The timing of this perfect with the news about vulnerabilities in the Foxit PDF Plugin earlier on Thursday. For more detailed information about Firefox 19 Beta, please see the release notes. Users can download and test Firefox 19 Beta from here. Firefox 19 will be released on Tuesday, February 19th. *Developmental Build*
I think we have come to the point that our smartphones and tablets are more powerful than our traditional desktop/laptop computer. At their keynote address on Thursday, January 10th at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Samsung’s Stephen Woo announced the world’s first eight-core processor for smartphones and tablets, the Exynos5 Octa. However, it is not a true 8-core (or octa-core) as it is really 2 quad-core processors. My HTC Sensation phone only as a dual-core processor and the new (for 2012) Samsung Galaxy Note II phone/tablet as a quad-processor. The Asus Nexus 7 and Microsoft Surface tablets also have a quad-core processor….
Java Release 7 Update 11 (released January 13, 2013) fixes this issue. More info here. In response to the recent news about the major vulnerability found in Java 7 Update 10, Mozilla has enabled click to play for recent versions of Java on all platforms (Java 7u9, 7u10, 6u37, 6u38). This is being done automatically for users who are using Firefox 17 or newer. The Click To Play feature ensures that the Java plugin will not load unless a user specifically clicks to enable the plugin. This protects users against drive-by exploitation, one of the most common exploit techniques used to compromise vulnerable users….
Starting with Firefox 20, the ‘Esc’ key will no longer stop a page from loading or stop animated GIFs from animating. This change goes back to November of 2010 with Bug 614304 (ESC key aborts XMLHttpRequest and WebSocket). Without getting into too much technical details, pressing the Esc key can cause major problems for sites that use Web Apps that are coded in Ajax or use jQuerry. With the growing popularity and number of web apps came a great number of users accidentally hitting the escape key. So effective with Firefox 20 the Esc key will no longer stop anything, it simply won’t…
Touch screens are becoming more and more common. From Smartphones and Tablets to touchscreen monitors that take advantage of Windows 8 Metro Interface. However, trying to put a touch screen in a car while can work for some of the ‘physical’ controls, should not be a replacement for all all of those said controls. Unfortunately, that is just what Cadillac’s CUE system has done, it has eliminated all the physical controls for climate control as well as the entertainment system. The 8-inch screen does support a really nice 800×480 resolution and runs off of Linux (hate to think if it…