As we approach this first weekend of October we take a peek back at a week that had a lot of Windows 8.1, 2nd generation Surface news and several OEM’s announcing their upcoming Windows 8/8.1 hardware. As I said on Observed Tech yesterday, this new wave of Windows 8/8.1 devices are showing some huge improvements and that is a great thing to see.
Advance Notification Service for October 2013 Security Bulletin Release (MSRC) – This month’s Patch Tuesday updates include 8 bulletins which are split evenly between Critical and Important updates which effect all supported versions of Windows, Windows Server, Office, SharePoint and Silverlight. Included in this batch of updates is the fix for the critical IE flaw that was given a work around in Microsoft Security Advisory (2887505). If you want to know more about the patches that are being released then Microsoft will host a webcast to address customer questions on the security bulletins on October 9, 2013, at 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada). You can already register for the October Security Bulletin Webcast.
Smartphone Makers Caught In Benchmarking Scandal Have The Wrong Priorities (ReadWrite) – I do not highlight this story because I am interested in the phone benchmarking scandal but because of the blatant pot shots taking at two Windows devices. The story has to do with some phone manufacturers making their devices perform better when benchmarking software is run on them. At no time has Windows Phone or Nokia Lumia devices been a part of this discussion and they are not in this story either. However, the author decides that the lead photo in the story should prominently feature a Nokia Lumia 1020 laying next to a Samsung Galaxy S4 and Motorola Moto X. Now I am sure there are pictures of the phones that are involved in this scandal on their own but this picture would seem to indicate that the Nokia Lumia 1020 is involved in the falsified benchmarking and it is not. Then for whatever reason, in the final paragraph of a mobile phone benchmarking story, the author decides to take a shot at Microsoft’s upcoming second generation Surface devices for talking about their increased performance, specs, etc. Of course this final segment of the story leads off with the statement that “Apple understands this better than most companies. When it sells iPhones, it doesn’t say that it is faster than the competitor.”
As they say on ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown – Come on Man!
Adobe hack steals 2.9M accounts, plus source code (GeekWire) – You know Adobe takes a lot of heat for its Adobe Flash Player but I imagine this will make that seem like a walk in the park. Adobe has revealed that hackers have taken encrypted info on 2.9 million user accounts and the source code to several of their products. Adobe has posted a customer security alert at their website to have users reset passwords to protect their accounts. That page also contains a FAQ about the event and Adobe’s recommendations for taking steps to protect customers personal data that may have been stolen.
You know hacks and compromised data is a norm these days in our world of being connected to services online and sometimes the loss of that data is simply out of our own control. When things like this happen we need to be vigilant and change the passwords on the accounts impacted and then keep an eye on our financial accounts to make sure no improper activity occurs.
Like I always say on the podcast – stay safe out there.
Have a great weekend everyone.