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Washington Post says job seeker data was breached

About 1.27 million user IDs and e-mail addresses belonging to people looking for employment on The Washington Post Jobs Web site were affected by a data breach last week, the newspaper says.

"We discovered that an unauthorized third party attacked our Jobs website and was able to obtain access to certain user IDs and e-mail addresses. No passwords or other personal information was affected," the company said in a notice on its site. "We are taking this incident very seriously. We quickly identified the vulnerability and shut it down, and are pursuing the matter with law … Read more

Looking for a smartphone bargain? Check out prepaid

As unlimited data plans from traditional wireless carriers go the way of the flip phone, savvy bargain hunters have another option: prepaid services that offer cool new smartphones with cheap unlimited data plans.

After months of anticipation, Verizon Wireless is expected to introduce a new pricing scheme July 7, which will eliminate its unlimited data plan. AT&T did something similar a year ago. While Sprint and T-Mobile USA, the smaller of the four national carriers, still offer unlimited data, there are signs that pricing will increase. Sprint already charges customers $10 more a month for phones that can … Read more

The 404 845: Where we're allergic to oxymorons (podcast)

Today's "Not cool, man" segment once again goes to The Huffington Post, this time for rehashing the "Wet Hot American Summer" prequel/sequel rumors that first appeared on the Internet years ago. In other recurring segment news, we enjoyed testing Wilson's music knowledge so much yesterday that we're making it a daily thing, and a listener created a legit name for it too, so stick around for the second half to see if Wilson gets full credit.

We're also chatting today about Microsoft's new Decide.com tech forecasting site, how to DJ using just a Microsoft Kinect and a couple software programs, and an Apple patent that might spell the end of multitouch smartphones in the United States.

The 404 Digest for Episode 845

HuffPo teases 'Wet Hot' sequel/preview. Decide.com forecasts price drops and tells you when to buy technology. What's cooler than an iPad DJ? A Kinect DJ. Apple patent might mean the end of multitouch smartphones in the U.S.

Episode 845 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1493: We're all screwed. Drink. (Podcast)

It's both a fun game and a sad commentary on the state of our existence! On today's show, the average user is caught in the crossfire of the hacker wars, but dammit, even LulzSec agrees that Sega is off limits. Speaking of which, Donald might have been right about Bitcorn, rather than Bitcoin. Ouch. And how to restore the memories of really, really stoned rats. Poor little rats. --Molly

Subscribe:  iTunes (MP3) |  iTunes (320x180) |  iTunes (640x360) |  RSS (MP3) |  RSS (320x180) |  RSS (640x360)… Read more

NY Post blocks Web site for iPad users

The New York Post is now blocking iPad owners from accessing its Web site through mobile Safari, trying to instead force them to download and use the paper's own iPad app.

iPad-owning New Yorkers looking for their daily Post fix online will see nothing but a message directing them to download the paper's $1.99 iPad app where after 30 days of free access they must pay for a monthly or annual subscription to read the content--$6.99 for one month, $39.99 for six months, or $74.99 for a year.

But the block seems limited … Read more

Eternal sunshine of the drug-free mind

The notion of erasing memories associated with painful or harmful pasts is not a new one. But it has remained just that: a notion.

Now scientists in Israel say they have devised a method to erase memories that trigger cravings in rats addicted to cocaine--a method that works so well it actually results in rats ignoring the place where they had been scoring the drug.

"Memories can trigger a desire for the drug, including memories of the drug itself, the needle, or the environment in which the drug was consumed," says Hebrew University researcher Rami Yaka. "This research indicates the possibility of erasing these memories in a way that will allow addicts to cancel the associations they have in their minds regarding the drug."

The team worked with a small protein called ZIP, which has been found in other studies in recent years to erase memories and even, as a result, inhibit learning processes.

After giving the rats cocaine in a designated spot in their pens for a few weeks, the team injected ZIP into the nucleus accumbens, a brain region known to control pleasure, reward, fear, and more, and then returned the rats to their pens. The rats proceeded to ignore the location they had only recently sought out, suggesting they no longer remembered either the place, the effect of the drug, or perhaps both.

Yaka, who will present his team's findings at the Facing Tomorrow 2011 conference in Jerusalem next week, sees possibilities not just for drug addicts but also those suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder and other psychological conditions.

Of course, it remains unclear whether the protein erases selective memories associated with drugs, or if other pleasure-and-reward memories are also affected. Will one also forget the sweetness of chocolate? The ecstasies of copulation? The kiss of a gentle summer's breeze?

If so, will it be worth it?… Read more

Apple amps up 'Post-PC' chatter, actions

Steve Jobs and other Apple executives had a lot more to say about the "Post-PC" era, as the iCloud replaces the Mac and PC as the "digital hub."

At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference today, Apple executives picked up the gait--you might even call it the start of a sprint--toward the "Post-PC" era. And some of the biggest strides toward this future are happening in iOS 5 and iCloud.

Over the years, "Post-PC" has meant different things to different people. But here's the way Apple seems to describe it: increasingly, you will be using devices like the iPhone and iPad as your personal computer, giving them at least equal weight with the traditional personal computer. And the gravitation to those high-mobility products will be facilitated by technologies like the iCloud which, in effect, serves as a common hard drive, accessible by--and automatically syncing--all of your devices.

That's the idea, at least, of an iCloud utopia. Google's version of this can be seen in the Android operating environment on smartphones and tablets and the Chrome OS on upcoming Chromebooks. Not to mention apps like Google Docs on the PC.

Below is a quick rundown of Post-PC-related statements made today by Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iPhone Software… Read more

What is a Windows 8 PC?

Though the iPad got the ball rolling, Windows 8 may be the catalyst that finally brings about the "post-PC" era, as Apple likes to call it (and others prefer not to).

While many digirati were attending a conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., I was further down the coast in San Diego attending a less glamorous but hardly less important Qualcomm conference. Qualcomm is, after all, the enormously profitable company (with a market cap just shy of $100 billion, rivaling Intel, which is at about $115 billion) that supplies the guts of many of the world's feature … Read more

Rumor: Apple to bring iPhone to Sprint

A recent job posting from Apple hints at a possible budding relationship with Sprint that could bring the iPhone to one of the leaders in 4G technology. Stop it, AT&T, a blog focused on "activism against bandwidth caps and monopolistic behavior," has uncovered a job posting that may strengthen earlier rumors that Sprint is closer to having an iPhone running on its network.

The posting is for a new member for Apple's Carrier Engineering team, responsible for:

"day-to-day technical interactions with the one or more carriers to track down issues reported by the carrier, … Read more