Techmeme: US retail PC sales grew 3% in Back-to-School period led by Macs and Chromebooks, after declining 2.5% last year (NPD Group)

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September 25, 2014, 1:35 PM

Top News

Stephen Hall / 9to5Google:

Motorola Shamu (Nexus 6/X): 5.92" screen, 2560 x 1440 QHD resolution, 498 PPI display, 3,200 mAh battery — Exclusive: This is ‘Shamu,’ Motorola's upcoming Nexus 6/X — Yes, it looks like a Moto X. But it has a 5.9-inch screen. And lowered volume/lock buttons.

Robert Graham / Errata Security:

Bash bug as big as Heartbleed — Today's bash bug is as big a deal as Heartbleed. That's for many reasons. — The first reason is that the bug interacts with other software in unexpected ways. We know that interacting with the shell is dangerous, but we write code that does it anyway.

Robert Graham / Errata Security:

Bash “shellshock” bug is wormable, a quick scan to uncover vulnerable servers has revealed — Bash ‘shellshock’ bug is wormable — Early results from my scan: there's about 3000 systems vulnerable just on port 80, just on the root “/” URL, without Host field.

More: FierceEnterpriseCommunications …, The Register and bit-tech.net

Liam Tung / ZDNet:

First attacks using Bash bug discovered in the wild, available patch only a partial fix — First attacks using ‘shellshock’ Bash bug discovered — Summary: Security researchers have found the first malware using the new Bash bug. — Liam Tung — Within a day of the Bash bug dubbed 'shellshock …

More: US-CERT, Bloomberg, Neowin, Errata Security, BBC, Guardian, Graham Cluley and Schneier on Security. Tweets: @yinettesys

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols / ZDNet:

Critical security hole uncovered in popular Unix/Linux shell Bash, affecting many web apps and servers

Dell Cameron / The Daily Dot:

Developer reported iCloud brute-force password hack to Apple in March 2014, months before Celebgate — Apple knew of iCloud security hole 6 months before Celebgate — Apple knew as early as March 2014 of a security hole that left the personal data of iCloud users vulnerable …

More: Ars Technica, Ubergizmo, PandoDaily, BGR, AppleInsider, TUAW, Geeky Gadgets, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, Business Insider, App Advice, iPhone in Canada Blog, Cult of Mac, Electronista, iLounge, Gizmodo, SlashGear, VentureBeat and Salon. Tweets: @ow

New York Times:

Lenders using tech to track cars of subprime borrowers, disable ignition if payments missed — Miss a Payment? Good Luck Moving That Car — Credit: John Gurzinski for The New York Times — The thermometer showed a 103.5-degree fever, and her 10-year-old's asthma was flaring up.

More: SiliconBeat, TechSpot, Boing Boing, Digital Trends and Wall Street Journal

Tweets: @katekellycnbc, @zittrain, @keithboykin, @nickbunkley, @nytimesbusiness and @digiphile

Kurt Wagner / Re/code:

Hootsuite raises $60M at a $1B valuation, acquires Zeetl to integrate voice calls in social media — Hootsuite Reaches $1 Billion Valuation in Latest Funding Round — Hootsuite, the Vancouver-based startup known for its social media management dashboards, has raised $60 million in new venture funding, CEO Ryan Holmes told Re/code.

More: AllFacebook, SiliconANGLE, ZDNet, Hootsuite Media, Techvibes Global News, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, GeekWire, Fortune, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, BetaKit, AllTwitter and PE Hub Blog

NPD Group:

US retail PC sales grew 3% in Back-to-School period led by Macs and Chromebooks, after declining 2.5% last year — Apple and Chrome Boost U.S. Retail PC Back-to-School Sales — U.S. consumer retail PC sales grew almost 3 percent during the 10 week Back-to-School period …

More: AppleInsider, PC World, BGR, 9to5Mac, eWeek, BetaNews, iMore, ZDNet, Electronista and TUAW. Tweets: @monkbent

Kara Swisher / Re/code:

FWD.us president Joe Green pushed out, Todd Schulte becomes acting president — Joe Green Pushed Out at FWD.us — Joe Green, the president of FWD.us, has resigned from the political organization that is backed by a coterie of tech luminaries, most prominently Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

More: FWD.us, BuzzFeed, Politico, BREITBART.COM, The Daily Caller and Business Insider

Tweets: @ryangrim and @buzzfeedben

Thorsten Von Eicken / RightScale Blog:

AWS to roll out urgent patch, will reboot the vast majority of EC2 instances beginning Sept 26 — AWS to Reboot a Substantial Number of EC2 Instances — Today Amazon Web Services (AWS) notified its customers that it will be rolling out an urgent patch to all hosts causing a maintenance reboot …

More: AWS Discussion Forums, iTnews.com.au, Data Center Knowledge, SiliconANGLE, ZDNet, CIO.com, The Register and Gigaom. Tweets: @mathewlodge

Rachel Whetstone / Google Europe Blog:

News Corp says Google makes a platform for piracy, stifles competition, more; Google responds — Dear Rupert — Last week, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp sent an open letter to the European Commission complaining about Google. We wanted to share our perspective so you can judge the arguments on their merits.

More: TorrentFreak, 9to5Google, Inquirer, Financial Times, CNBC, Guardian, Bloomberg, Hollywood Reporter, Talking New Media, Independent.ie, City A.M., Fortune, The Next Web and Channel EYE. Tweets: @dannysullivan. See also Mediagazer

Craig Hockenberry / furbo.org:

Developer warns that in-app browsers can keylog on iOS, recommends Safari for OAuth handshake — In-App Browsers Considered Harmful — How many apps on your iPhone or iPad have a built-in browser? — Would it surprise you to know that every one of those apps could eavesdrop on your typing?

More: TUAW, MacRumors, Cult of Mac, Six Colors, DISPLAYBLOG, Gizmodo, SlashGear, iPhone in Canada Blog, App Advice and 9to5Mac

Tweets: @drbarnard and @chockenberry

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:

Facebook to win EU approval for $19 billion WhatsApp bid: sources — (Reuters) - Facebook (FB.O), the world's leading social network, will win unconditional EU approval for its $19 billion offer for mobile messaging startup WhatsApp in a deal pitting it against telecoms operators, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

More: Globe and Mail, TheStreet.com, Electronista and WebProNews

Lisa Vaas / Naked Security:

Disgruntled employees are increasingly e-sabotaging businesses, FBI says — Employees with an axe to grind are increasingly sticking it to their current or former employers using e-tools such as cloud storage sites or remote access to a company's computer network, the US Federal Bureau …

More: Internet Crime Complaint …, Help Net Security, The Register, Inquirer, VentureBeat, SC Magazine and SecurityWeek

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