miller

SAN FRANCISCO--Politicians like to joke that Social Security reform is considered the "third rail" of politics. In Apple's world, that rail belongs to security.

It's been a while since we examined the "state of Mac security," and with this week's RSA Conference in San Francisco, and last month's CanSecWest conference fresh in everyone's mind, it seemed like a decent time.

The topic is always a heated one, and it tends to bring out the usual Mac vs. PC bashing. But according to people I talked to this week here at RSA, … Read more

WASHINGTON--Researchers Charlie Miller of Independent Security Evaluators, and Dino Dai Zovi, turned their attention to Second Life during a Saturday morning presentation at ShmooCon, an East Coast computer hacking conference. The researchers didn't exploit a flaw within Linden Labs' Second Life, but within QuickTime. They showed how an attacker could make money stealing from innocent Second Life victims.

Miller and Zovi are both experienced with flaws within Apple products. Miller published the first Apple iPhone flaw shortly after its release. At last year's CanSecWest security conference, Zovi exploited a QuickTime flaw to win a "PWN to Own&… Read more

Although Apple is selling its new Mac OS X Leopard operating system on its improved security, researchers at Heise Security have already found fault with its firewall. Unlike with Windows Vista, the Apple firewall is not enabled by default and must be enabled by the end user. Even if you had the firewall enabled in a previous version of the Mac OS X, after an upgrade to Leopard the firewall will again be set to "Allow all incoming connections." It will be disabled.

According to Jürgen Schmidt, editor in chief at Heise Security, if you enable … Read more

Based on the apparent premise that bigger is better, the company that makes the SWORDS gun-toting robot has introduced a plumper version called MAARS, or Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System.

Foster-Miller is pitching MAARS as its "Transformer model." Presto--watch it "literally 'transforming' from a remote weapons platform for force protection to Improvised Explosive Device (IED) identification and neutralization tool."

It takes some wrenching, but the modular design robotic platform can clear the souk with its turret-mounted M240B Medium Machine Gun, then quickly transform to bomb-disposal duty with an attachable arm and gripper.

And while it tips … Read more

If you've ever sat in an Aeron chair, you know what real office comfort can be like. Plus, they're just great-looking pieces of furniture.

That's true whether you're talking about a real-life Aeron or an Aeron in the virtual world Second Life, where there are plenty of copycat chairs available for sale at reasonable prices.

But now, according to Wagner James Au over at the blog New World Notes, Aeron manufacturer Herman Miller has launched a store in Second Life and is attempting to address the issue of illegitimate knockoffs through an interesting two-pronged approach.

For … Read more

It could be all the microclimates here on CNET's sixth floor, or it could just be my co-workers' widely divergent internal thermostats. Either way, a given day here in the office will see some of us shivering and reaching for thick sweaters, while others complain that the place is steaming hot. What's a newsroom comprised of such varying body temperatures to do?

Office furniture maker Herman Miller, it turns out, has come up with the C2, a $300 personal climate control device for just such a workplace dilemma. The company--which notes on its Web site that temperature control … Read more

How times have changed. At the height of the dot-com boom, one of the early symbols of egregious excess was Herman Miller's "Aeron" uber-chair, which often sold for more than $1,000 apiece. Although it still sells those chairs--which apparently haven't come down in price--the specialty furniture maker is now touting a very different kind of product that's far less visible. In fact, its effects are completely invisible.

The "C2," so far as we can tell from its product literature, is a fancy personal air conditioner and filter that goes for $280… Read more

In this corner, weighing in at about 25 pounds from Haifa, Israel, is yet another contender in the man portable category of life-saving/life-depriving robots. The VIPer climbs stairs, sniffs out IEDs, totes an Uzi and leads the way with built-in mapping all by remote control from the safety of your APC.

Moving up to the 60-pound weight class, sniffin' and shootin' out of Boston, Mass., with 30,000 EOD/IED missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the Foster Miller Talon. Used in HAZMAT as well as military applications, a version of this little guy was supposedly the first robot … Read more

If there's one thing everyone agrees on, it's that we all need a better way to charge the multiplying electronic devices that run our lives. One of the more anticipated technologies in this department, for example, has been the "WildCharger" wireless recharging pad. Herman Miller, the office furnishing designer extraordinaire that gave us the "Aeron" chair, has apparently a concept similar to the WildCharger's and plans to use it in future desks.

The company has licensed a system called "eCoupled," which uses a magnetic field that can theoretically charge cell phones, … Read more