time

After a lengthy newspaper investigation on China's prime minister, The New York Times claims, the newspaper's computer systems were infiltrated and attacked by Chinese hackers.

The attacks began four months ago and culminated with hackers stealing the corporate password for every Times employee, according to the paper. The personal computers of 53 of these employees were also broken into and spied on.

The Times discovered the attacks after observing "unusual activity" in its computer system. Security investigators were then able to get into the system and track the hackers' movements, see what the infiltrators were after, … Read more

To improve security and cut crashes, Firefox will block plug-ins including Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Reader, Apple's QuickTime and Oracle's Java, Mozilla said.

Only the newest version of Adobe Systems' Flash Player will be run by default, said Michael Coates, Mozilla's director of security assurance, in a blog post yesterday.

Plug-ins extend a browser's ability to run software or handle different media and file formats, but that extra ability opens new avenues for attack. They've been a staple of Web development for years, but browser makers are working hard to reproduce their abilities directly with Web … Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C.--At this week's State of the Net conference, an annual event of the bipartisan Congressional Internet Caucus, members of Congress, staffers, and technology policy junkies gathered once again to explore the government's Internet-related priorities for the new year.

A few themes emerged, including possible legislation over cybersecurity, a rewrite of the 1996 Communications Act, reforming federal electronic-surveillance laws, and the continuing threat of both national governments and the United Nations trying to wrest control of Internet governance from engineering-driven groups.

The general consensus, however, was that for at least the next several months, the fiscal … Read more

Welcome to today's show, where we're finally analyzing the food photography trend for what it is, with the help of this article in the New York Times that profiles restaurateur David Bouley and the creative tactics he's come up with to stop the dining room distractions.

The way we see it, the problem with food photography is that we've collectively lost our shame and sense of subtlety when it comes time to dine. Instead of snapping a quick 3-second iPhone pic, we've seen folks stand on chairs, use tripods with a giant dSLR, and even ask the restaurant to adjust the ceiling lights to suit the mood of the picture.

The fact is that there's really no better way to prove you're eating above your budget than to take a picture of it. Argue all you want, it's just a tacky move and plenty of restaurants agree. Check out today's show to hear some places are doing to avoid the awkwardness.… Read more

Time Warner Cable and Netflix are reportedly talking to each other about partnering on the streaming provider's content delivery network (CDN), but the cable provider isn't too pleased about the service.

Speaking to Multichannel in an interview published yesterday, a Time Warner Cable spokesperson criticized Netflix for only delivering its higher-quality high-definition service, Super HD, and 3D videos to customers whose cable providers have signed up with Netflix's Open Connect.

"While they call it Open Connect, Netflix is actually closing off access to some of its content while seeking unprecedented preferential treatment from ISPs," the … Read more

AT&T said today that it will allow any wireless customer with a tiered-data plan to use Apple's FaceTime videoconferencing app over AT&T's cellular network.

This is yet another change to AT&T's policy for this app, which when it was first introduced on the iPhone 4 was restricted to Wi-Fi networks only. In Apple's iOS 6 release of software, all FaceTime enabled iPhones were then capable of operating the app over a cellular network. Initially, AT&T still restricted usage to Wi-Fi.

In August, AT&T started to open … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer Mac-related questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week, readers wrote in with questions about a problem installing software updates from Apple's Software Update service, how to restore a deleted Notes application in OS X, and options for recording movies and video to your Mac. I welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: Unable to install software updates MacFixIt reader Arthur asks:

Got plans for the weekend -- or, for that matter, the month? Cancel 'em, because you're about to score a boatload of PC games on the cheap.

For a limited time, GameStop has Command & Conquer: The Ultimate Collection for $16.99. Let's just round that up to $17, which means you're paying a buck apiece for 17 C&C games. Nice!

The collection includes everything from the original Command & Conquer to C&C Generals (my personal favorite) to the most recent entry, Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, with all the various expansion … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The fight to build the thinnest watch has finally been won, folks. At least for now. Central Standard Timing has partnered with E Ink to create the CST-01; purportedly the world's thinnest watch.

At 0.80mm the watch is thinner than a credit card. I briefly got a chance to hold the extremely light watch and it is indeed the thinnest I've ever seen.

According to Central Standard Timing, the patent-pending CST-01 is assembled by laminating thin, flexible components into a 0.5mm pocket etched into a single piece of flexible stainless steel. This is different from … Read more