Tag Archives: Windows Vista
Chrome Still Standing at Pwn2Own
Posted on 25. Mar, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 
2 Comments
Yesterday’s first day for the Pwn2Own contest came and went literally for the Chrome browser. The competition, which pits security minded hackers against web browsers, operating systems and mobile phone platforms did however do a number on Apple products. Apple’s Safari browser was hacked on both Snow Leopard and the iPhone, while Charlie Miller, a previous winner, snagged ten grand by remotely taking control of Safari on a MacBook Pro. Miller is the one who was quoted a while ago saying that Chrome 4 without Flash on Windows 7 was the most secure computing environment out there today.
Also, IE8 on Windows 7 was successfully hacked on the first day of Pwn2Own, with researcher Peter Vreugdenhil getting past Windows 7′s data execution protection (DEP) and address space layout representation (ASLR) to exploit IE8. An hour after that, a freelancer named Nils was also able to use those same Windows vulnerabilities to also hack Firefox 3.6.
Yesterday was the day for Windows 7, and today the competition will face Vista, with tomorrow highlighting XP. Will Chrome fall on a less secure system? We shall see. Here is the complete three day schedule for Pwn2Own:
Day 1
The target pairings for day one are:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7
- Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows 7
- Google Chrome 4 on Windows 7
- Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard
Day 2
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista
- Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows Vista
- Google Chrome 4 on Windows Vista
- Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard
Day 3
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP
- Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows XP
- Google Chrome 4 on Windows XP
- Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard
Most top prizes are in the $10,000 range, plus the hardware that is hacked on is also awarded. There is also a focus on these mobile platforms (and as we said that the iPhone has already been hacked):
- Apple iPhone 3GS
- RIM Blackberry Bold 9700
- Nokia E72 device running Symbian
- HTC Nexus One running Android
We’ll keep you posted, especially on the Google-related products.
Chrome 5 Beta Released
Posted on 31. Jan, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 11 Comments
Now that Chrome version 4 has been officially released as a stable browser version, Google has now given users a chance to check out the Chrome 5 beta (Mac users must follow this link). Javascript performance has improved in this version, as I ran a SunSpider test for my previous Chrome 4.0.249.78 version and overall benchmark speed has increased when compared to this new 5.0.307.1 version. For those of you interested, I advise you to try this benchmarking test yourself to check out the speed with which this browser as well as any others you may use can render pages.
According to the developer changelog, there are a few new features (more sure to come):
- Use of the default downloads directories in Windows 7 and Vista
- Better plugin stability for Mac
- A fix for tab dragging in Mac that used to cause Chrome to crash
Also, in the Under the Hood tab for Chrome Options, there is a new Content section for fonts, language and Google Gears settings:
Both Windows and Mac is supported for this developmental build. For those of you interested in making some money finding flaws in Chrome browser, you probably want to have the latest and greatest version. Just keep in mind this is a beta, and therefore it is a version that Google deems unstable. If you experience issues you can report them here.
UPDATE: For Mac users, there’s a different download link – thanks to the commenter who pointed this out!
A Look at How Printing Will Be Done in Chrome OS
Posted on 16. Dec, 2009 by Daniel Cawrey. 3 Comments
One of the central themes of Chrome OS is that the array of software and drivers that clog up a traditional operating system will be done away with in order to increase speed and usability. But users are still going to want the traditional features of a computer – and that includes printing. In the PC world of today, a driver almost always needs to be installed for a printer, which could possibly mean several print drivers if a user has a reason to use more than one, and there are so many makes and models out there that this could be challenging to accomplish in Chrome OS.
It hasn’t been discussed how this is going to be addressed before a Chrome OS release date in mid to late 2010. Is Google going to be able to come up with a standard one size fits all solution for the myriad of printing devices? It’s hard to believe that if Microsoft has not yet been able to do it after they had printer issues with Vista, although that did lead some companies like HP to release universal Vista drivers.
One novel approach is being taken by a virtualization company called ThinPrint, which has announced that they will work with Google to take the printer driver system that PCs currently use and place it in a cloud computing environment using their specially developed technology. In this situation, a device would probably need spooling capability but little else, acting as a communication tool between itself, the cloud and the printer. Below is a video demonstration on how the system works using an iPhone app as an example:
“Naturally, we don’t have all the details on the Google Chrome OS yet, but we are certain that we will provide the best Google Chrome OS print solution based on our patented technology,” said Carsten Mickeleit, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ThinPrint.
Pretty cool technology, and it makes me wonder what else the cloud can replace for us that we haven’t even thought of. I take that back – someone probably already has.
