Toyota Accelerates

"'I’m afraid of killing somebody – or myself' — Hull senior fears car’s sudden acceleration;
Toyota of Braintree says downloading new software part of recall process.
'I have instructed my children that if I get killed driving this car, that they can sue Toyota,' Anna Brackett said while sitting on the sofa in her Hull home Friday afternoon.

- Cathleen Jeffrey, The Hull Sun

"Indeed there are two issues that lead to the same complaint. ... There is no electronic malfunction whatever. These are both mechanical issues. ... Toyota is also making a change in the software programming that leads to a brake override."

- Mike Jackson, Autonation CEO on CNBC
(Starting at ~5:56 in video below.)

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Sudden Acceleration: Automakers' "Fail-Safe" Systems Guard Against Electronic Interference
Jim Motavalli, BNET
The key points here are that the driver’s foot was nowhere near the accelerator pedal, and the floormats were not at issue. So what’s going on here?


Car electronics are great, but they have their risks
News & Observer
Dennis Virag, president of the Automotive Consulting Group, said Toyota has erred in not adopting a brake override system for all its cars that shuts off fuel if the brakes are engaged with the accelerator down. Most other manufacturers have such systems.


Toyota did not install brake override systems despite complaints
Washington Post
Toyota Motor began facing complaints of runaway cars years ago, but the company did not install "brake override" systems in those vehicles, even as several other automakers deployed the technology to address such malfunctions.

Upside Down

"The faxed submission was received upside down. 
We are unable to continue processing these images. 

Please resubmit your document."

- United States Patent and Trademark Office

"Our current software cannot read pages that are faxed in the wrong direction and consequently generates an automatic error message."
- Peter Pappas,
Chief Communications Officer,
United States Patent and Trademark Office

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USPTO Won't Accept Upside Down Faxes; Demands Resends
Erik Sherman, BNET
No, if your fax comes in upside down, they send you a message in return saying that they can't accept it and to re-fax.


More on the USPTO Upside Down Fax Mess -- IT Systems 20 Years Out of Date
Erik Sherman, BNET
When it comes to slow processes, technology can be a boon, but only when adequately and competently implemented. What we're apparently seeing at the USPTO is decades of neglect and poor management.

Password Amnesia

"I've checked the box a million times and it still asks me to type it."

- Kahnyl, on MacRumors Forums

"I think this might be a security update in the new version of iTunes."

- Dan F. on Apple Discussions

"Have you ever wished that iTunes wouldn't constantly forget your iTunes Store password?  

There's a patch for that."

- PCWorld

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iTunes 9.0.3

Apple

iTunes 9.0.3 provides a number of important bug fixes


Fix for iTunes 9.0.1 refusing to save your store password

CNET

After iTunes 9.0.1 was released, a number of users were annoyed that the check mark button for saving their password no longer worked.

Your car computer can kill you?

"It's in the software. It's not a bad accelerator pedal."

- Steve Wozniak, Co-founder of Apple Computer

Your car computer may kill you

John Dvorak

Commentary: Software has to be able to recognize a panic situation


The Perfect Storm May Rain 1's and 0's
Brian Cooley, CBS News
Now an already scary story has a spooky, virusy, cyber-something flavor added to it. Umm, did we forget to tell car buyers that they don't really control their cars any more – computers do?

Oracle can be hacked remotely

"Speaking at the BlackHat DC Conference, Litchfield unveiled a flaw in Oracle 11g that would allow a hacker to take over the database server. In an article in Forbes , Litchfield said that his latest bug find was one that would be obvious to any competent software developer."

- Computer Weekly

"It allows an attacker without a user ID and password to take complete control. 

All firewalls become irrelevant."

- David Litchfield, as reported by Reuters

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Oracle Hacker Gets The Last Word

Forbes

David Litchfield exposes one last Oracle security bug before walking away from his database battles.


Litchfield's Last Hurrah

Kelly Jackson Higgins, The Dark Dominion

"[I've] been bashing heads since Larry Ellison said [Oracle's database] was 'unbreakable.' It was like waving a red flag to a bull," Litchfield quipped during his presentation at Black Hat DC yesterday on his latest research.


Vulnerability in Oracle 11gR2 allows system privileges for all

The H

A second bug, however, allows users to adapt these privileges as required. The guilty procedure is DBMS_JAVA.SET_OUTPUT_TO_JAVA. This launches a new Java VM with the privileges of the SYS user and starts by executing any SQL code passed to it with said privileges.

Is Windows 7 killing your battery?

"Good job Microsoft, you just cost me (and almost all windows 7 laptop owners) their battery!! Now what are you going to do!!?"

- DanLee81, as reported by Geek.com

"Microsoft has begun an investigation into a possible problem with Windows 7 that might cause poor battery life, and even degradation of the battery itself, on certain notebooks."

- Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet

"The issue seems sporadic, but fairly widespread. It is unclear whether affected systems are simply misreporting the battery life, or if the battery capacity is actually being permanently affected."

- PCWorld

Is your computer a public file server?

"A successful compromise will result in an attacker being able
to blindly read every single file in the local drive"
- Jorge Luis Alvarez Medina, CORE Security Technologies


"Our investigation so far has shown that if a user is using a version of Internet Explorer that is not running in Protected Mode an attacker may be able to access files with an already known filename and location."

- Microsoft

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Microsoft Warns of Another IE Bug

ChannelWeb

An attacker could then break into a user's machine to access data stored on a remote hard drive, if they knew the exact file name and location.


Nasty new IE bug exposes your files (please panic now!)

Richi Jennings, ComputerWorld Blogs

Microsoft has confirmed a thoroughly revolting vulnerability in all versions of Internet Explorer. It means that bad guys can read your files remotely.


Microsoft responds to Black Hat talk with IE bug advisory

SC Magazine

The software giant admitted to the vulnerability after researchers at Core Security Technologies, provider of penetration testing software, revealed the issue during a presentation this week at the Black Hat conference in Washington, D.C.



Abusing Insecure Features of Internet Explorer

Jorge Luis Alvarez Medina, Core Labs

Design features of Internet Explorer that entail low security risk if considered individually but can lead to interesting attack vectors when combined together.

Stop & Go

"The computer can fail, send an inappropriate signal and boom, you go...
And if the computer sends an inappropriate signal and the throttle opens and the car runs away, that's a software glitch."

- Forrest Folck, 

motor vehicle forensic investigator

"So now, after decades invested in metrics-driven verification, formal verification, and methodology management, we find that our chips don't work as expected because the software is still being 'verified' by feeding it test cases  until the schedule expires.  And we find that our cars run into things for the same reason,  and the press of course will blame the problem on 'electronics.'"

- Ron Wilson,

EDN Executive Editor

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Is Toyota's Accelerator Problem Caused by Embedded Software Bugs?

Barr Code

So what's the story? Are embedded software bugs to blame for this massive recall?


Toyota Acknowledges Software Problem with 2010 Prius Brakes

Car and Driver

The software problem reportedly manifests itself as a feeling of slipping during the switch and is being noticed more now that drivers are using ABS as a result of winter road conditions.


Ford to Upgrade Brake Software On 18,000 Hybrids

Wall Street Journal

While the vehicles maintain full braking capability, customers may initially perceive the condition as loss of brakes.


US to Investigate Prius Brakes

Wall Street Journal

Ford Says Its Hybid Cars Also Have Problem


Toyota Recall – Is it the Computer, not the Gas Pedal?

Dvorak Uncensored

As someone who has been in software for over 30 years, I have to ask Toyota this question, “Have you ruled out the computer?”


Ford offers fix for Fusion hybrid brake glitch

Reuters

17,600 Fusion, Milan hybrids may have software glitch


Toyota Admits Software Problem With 2010 Hybrid Prius

ABC News

Toyota Admits Software Problem With Braking System, Deny Withholding Information From the Public

Rendered useless by a computer glitch

"Flaws in software that tracks written reports of comprehensive inspections of the more than 5,000 school buildings in [New York] made it impossible for authorities to determine whether any of the information contained in the reports was accurate."

- Poughkeepsie Journal

A Year 2.01k Bug

"German shoppers hit by a "Year 2010" computer bug that bit 30 million bank cards fell back this week on a popular and proven means of payment -- cash."

- Space Daily

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Some 30 million German bank cards hit by 2010 bug: banks

AFP

The problem that hit cardholders trying to use cash machines or make payments throughout Germany and abroad stems from computer chips unable to recognise the year 2010


Commerzbank To Provide Free Credit Cards To Clients Hit By Bug

Wall Street Journal

A total of 30 million German cash and credit cards, or about 30% of all cards issued, haven't been able to use ATMs or point-of-sale terminals in Germany or abroad since the New Year due to a software bug linked to problems processing the date 2010.


Gemalto Offers Fix for German Payment Card Date Bug

PCWorld

Smart card vendor Gemalto said Wednesday it is distributing a software fix to banks for a programming glitch that caused millions of German payment cards to stop working.