MacBook successfully hacked in $10,000 contest

A MacBook has been successfully hacked, using an vulnerability in Safari, as part of a Hack a Mac contest. The vulnerability was exploited at the CanSecWest conference in Vancouver, Canada, by software engineer Shane Macaulay, who won a laptop for his hacking efforts, and security researcher Dino Dai Zovi, who has been credited by Apple in the past for discovering vulnerabilities in its software. Dai Zovi, who developed the exploit away from the conference and sent it to Macauly who then applied it, will now be submitting his work in an effort to claim the $10,000 bounty on offer for successfully hacking an element of Apple's operating system. ...more

UPDATED: SCO's investors grab the helm off legals

SCO has announced a new agreement which gives its investors effective control of the company's legal efforts. The agreement, issued today in an SEC filing, also means that SCO must seek prior approval from the investors before embarking on any action that would result in SCO's legal firms receiving its 20 per cent contingency fee. This agreement will remain for as long as BayStar Capital and RBC remain with two thirds of outstanding Series A Convertible common stock and that that stock continues to be vaued at five per cent or more of common stock (on conversion). ...more

UPDATED: FileMaker 7 takes many guises

FileMaker has announced the release of FileMaker Pro 7, describing it as the most significant new version of FileMaker Pro ever, with breakthroughs in ease-of-use, customisability and developer productivity. The company also unveiled the new FileMaker Pro 7 product line: FileMaker Developer 7, availbale now and the following to ship in the summer, FileMaker Server 7, FileMaker Server 7 Advanced and FileMaker Mobile 7. FileMaker Pro 7 lets users import, store and export any file or document PDFs, Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint files, digital images, video, music and more within new, flexible Container fields. ...more

Ask Jeeves asks Google

Ask Jeeves has picked the Google AdWords system on its UK site to supply sponsored links. The deal is said to be 'exclusive' which presumably means that Ask Jeeves UK will be dropping Espotting from its listings. The Google AdWords will be in addition to Ask Jeeves UK's advertising and pay per inclusion programmes. ...more

Sub-?20 broadband without the cap

NDO is the latest ISP to announce a 512Kbit/sec broadband service for less than ?20, but unlike most of the others it is doing so without imposing any limit on usage or bandwidth. It is targetting other ISPs' existing broadband customers with two migration offers. Home500 Migration is the 512Kbit, ?19. ...more