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carpet posts

Filed under: Internet, Security

Safari 'carpet bombing' exploit could be serious

A zero-day vulnerability in Safari that could litter a user's desktop (or downloads folder) with arbitrary files is a serious security flaw, argues ZDNet, and not a mere "annoyance" as Apple claims.

In theory, a user must click a link to visit a malicious website that can begin downloading arbitrary files (including applications) to the user's computer without their permission. The problem affects both the Windows and Mac versions of Safari.

Researcher Nitesh Dhanjani reported the flaw to Apple, which promised to patch it in a future release of Safari. ZDNet and StopBadware.org contend, however, that a patch should be released immediately.

It's old advice, but it bears repeating: be careful of the links you click, and know where they go before you click them.

Filed under: Hardware, iBook

iBook battery catches fire

We hear about the occasional battery recall, and there are always the complaints that computers are getting too hot, but things went to a whole new level for a family in Minnesota. As WCCO in the Twin Cities reports, an 11 year-old boy set a running iBook down on the carpet and left the room. His mother states that they heard a popping noise, saw that the iBook had started melting the carpet and the room was filling with smoke. They quickly carried the iBook outside and remembered to bring their camera along for the show as the iBook, you can see, literally caught fire (WCCO has a video and more images).

Of course, the news outlet is making sure to pull out all the sensationalizing tricks with such quotes from the mother like "It doesn't seem real that you would have a fire in a computer. We all could have died, and the house could have burned down".

The moral of the story? Apple burns houses down. Buy a typewriter from your local office supply store.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

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