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Microsoft has confirmed a zero-day vulnerability that has put a large portion of the world's computer users at risk.

The exploit affects Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.

Microsoft explains that "the vulnerability is a remote code execution vulnerability. The vulnerability exists in the way that Internet Explorer accesses an object in memory that has been deleted or has not been properly allocated. The vulnerability may corrupt memory in a way that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user within Internet Explorer. An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit this vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website."

The software giant is preparing a patch and it is so critical that it could be provided out-of-cycle.

Internet Explorer is used by about 55 percent of the world as their preferred browser, leavings hundreds of millions vulnerable.

Read more here: Vulnerability in Internet Explorer Could Allow Remote Code Execution

Streaming music giant Spotify has announced it is adding users in the UK at a very brisk pace.

In the UK alone, the company added 1 million active users since the beginning of the year, and executives believe they can surpass iTunes as the largest digital music service in Europe before the year is out.

"Some of our partners are saying Spotify is now generating more revenue each month across Continental Europe than iTunes," Spotify's head of label relations in Europe, Kevin Brown, said. "Given that download sales are declining and Spotify is growing rapidly, particularly in the UK, it is only a matter of time before Spotify is bigger than iTunes across Europe as a whole."

As far as revenue is concerned, Brown says a "significant" portion of the 1 million users in the UK are paying subscribers, either to the unlimited ad-free premium Web service or the full premier account that offers mobile access, as well. A lot of the growth came via a marketing partnerships with Vodafone and the Sunday Times.

PayPal president David Marcus posted a great chart today via his Twitter feed that we feel deserved a little more attention.

Via comScore MobiLens, the chart shows off the market share for the top mobile operating systems in the U.S. beginning in 2005 and ending at the end of last year. The chart effectively shows how a fragmented and diverse market slowly but surely became a duopoly entirely populated by Apple and Google.

Additionally, the chart shows the rise and fall of BlackBerry, the once immensely popular Canadian smartphone maker that has now all but left the consumer handset market. The now defunct Palm is also prominently displayed, as is Nokia's one-time hit Symbian operating system. Nokia killed off the OS a few years ago and their hardware fate is now in the hands of new owner Microsoft.

By the end 2005, Palm was the proud owner of 30 percent market share of the fledgling smartphone market, followed by BlackBerry and Symbian each at 25 percent and Microsoft's original mobile OS Windows Mobile controlling the remaining 20 percent.

Sony's latest flagship still does not have any carrier support.

The Xperia Z2, Sony's new and powerful smartphone, is headed to the U.S., but you will have to get it unlocked and directly through the company. In fact, there isn't expected to be carrier support "in the near future," confirms the company.

Compared to their Z1, the display of the flagship has been increased to 5.2 inches, with the same 1080p resolution. The new IPS Triluminos X-Reality display has Sony's new Live Color LEDs, which the company says offers the widest color gamut on the market.

Internals have been improved significantly, as well, to a quad-core 2.3GHz Snapdragon processor, 3GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, a microSD slot, Android 4.4.2, IPX5 and IPX8 waterproof/dustproof certification and new stereo speakers.

Google has updated its search engine for Android, better integrating the company's hotel and restaurant search features.

For example, typing or using voice to ask questions like "show me restaurants in New York City" should lead to a list of restaurants near you.

The move follows Google's integration of flight search into its voice search for PCs and Android.

So far, the search features work reasonably well, and will place higher rated hotels and restaurants up near the top of results.

After lying buried for 30 years, a documentary film crew has dug up copies of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial for Atari 2600 from an Alamogordo, New Mexico landfill.

The 1982 E.T. title was developed for the Atari 2600 games console and is considered to be one of the biggest commercial failures ever in the video games industry, and one of the worst video games of all time. The game itself was developed in only a matter of weeks after the rights were secured in order to be available for sale during the busy holiday season.

Atari suffered massive financial losses during the next two years and E.T. The Extra Terrestrial has been cited as a major source of those losses, and for contributing to an industry slump throughout 1983.

For the past 30 years, it was understood throughout the industry that millions of copies of the failed game were buried in a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and later covered over with concrete. In 2013, plans were revealed to dig up this piece of video games history.

Today, those copies of that terrible video game have finally seen light again. Fuel Entertainment (the documentary crew), Xbox Entertainment Studios and LightBox Entertainment were given permission to excavate the site several weeks ago, and that digging is currently underway.

Microsoft and AOL have announced a new pact in which the software giant will distribute many of AOL's videos via some of their Web properties.

All videos in AOL's library are included, including home grown clips from Huffington Post and TechCrunch, as well as videos being distributed through other content makers, such as clips from TMZ and ESPN.

Among the properties making the videos available are the MSN Web portal, and the Bing apps on Windows Phone devices. Microsoft gets to keep 50 percent of ad revenue, and will sell the ads for the videos.

The MSN portal has a large reach, with over 450 million users accessing it. Microsoft continues to reach for premium content to engage its audience better, and the deal for AOL is a no-brainer following their similar deal with YouTube.

Source:
re/code

Netflix has announced that its streaming service will be available via the cable boxes of Atlantic Broadband, Grande Communications and RCN subscribers.

If you have a TiVo DVR from one of those companies, starting on Monday you will be able to access the streaming service through your TV without the need for an extra device or downloaded app. Of course, you will need a Netflix subscription, as well, which is $7.99 per month currently and eventually will increase to $8.99.

The cable companies are small, but the deals mirror similar pacts Netflix has in Europe.

"Now, watching Netflix is as easy as changing the channel," said David Isenberg, chief marketing and strategy officer, Atlantic Broadband. "The ever-expanding selection of titles on Netflix is a tremendous complement to Atlantic Broadband's existing portfolio of Live TV, HD channels and On Demand programming. Integrating the world's leading Internet TV network with the world's best DVR platform underscores our commitment to delivering customers what they want – instantly."

Sony has confirmed that mandatory PlayStation 4 firmware update 1.70 will be released on April 30th.

1.70 will add the ShareFactory video editing app and also will give gamers the ability to disable HDCP video signal copyright protection, a highly anticipated move.

ShareFactory allows gamers to add audio, filters and more to their gaming and other videos.

In addition, the update will let users save screenshots, photos and videos to USB drives.

According to sources, Microsoft will unveil at least two new original programs that will be exclusive to the Xbox.

Besides the previously announced Halo series, the company is working on a reality series about soccer players and a documentary about the alleged landfill that holds millions of discarded E.T. games for the Atari 2600.

Microsoft needs original programming if it hopes to differentiate its streaming services from major rivals. Netflix has spent hundreds of millions on hit original shows like 'Orange is the New Black' and 'House of Cards' and Amazon recently launched their first original program 'Alpha House' along with an exclusive deal for older HBO content. Hulu Plus has a number of exclusive original shows, as well, although of a less splashier variety.

The software giant first announced its own content 19 months ago, but so far has nothing to show for it. There is not even a true business model or strategy in place, say the sources, and it is unclear whether the content will be packaged as part of the Xbox Live subscription or if it will be separate.

Foxconn has confirmed the sale of numerous communications technology patents to Google, although figures were not disclosed.

The major Taiwanese manufacturer is well known for building the most popular devices in the world, including the iPhone, iPad and Sony PlayStation consoles. Less known about Hon Hai (the parent of Foxconn), is its significant patent portfolio, which is now above 64,000.

Google, another one of the world's largest patent holders, is always in the market to bolster their portfolio, especially from ongoing legislation from other giants like Microsoft and Apple. The search giant purchased head-mounted display patents from Foxconn last year, and has a good business relationship.

As part of their press release, Foxconn says it will continue to invest in R&D and "transforming such investments into valuable intellectual property assets."

The FCC has come under fire this past week with the emergence of proposals to allow Internet Service Providers to charge fees for access to 'fast lanes' on their networks.

It was as recent as December 2010 when the FCC put forth its proposals to preserve the free and open Internet by way of regulation that would, undoubtedly, nip any such two-speed system in the bud. U.S. service providers would like to be able to charge bandwidth-hungry services like Netflix to provide them with prioritized access to their network's users, and it seems that until now the FCC has been completely opposed to such access fees.

The FCC's Open Internet Order, dated December 23, 2010, spells out three basic rules which were Transparency, No blocking, and No unreasonable discrimination.

"Fixed broadband providers may not unreasonably discriminate in transmitting lawful network traffic," it reads.

The key word may be "unreasonably", but later on in the same document, the FCC makes clear its disagreement with the main arguments in favor of paid prioritization (e.g. that third party paid prioritization would aid network investment, while regulating against it would hurt investment) and states that, "it is unlikely that pay for priority would satisfy the 'no unreasonable discrimination' standard."

Netflix appears to be hiring an engineer to help the company at least begin testing using a massive scale peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture for streaming video.

The senior software engineer would be working on Netflix's Open Connect content delivery network and helping to explore the P2P route.

Reads the job posting: "Netflix seeks a seasoned Senior Software Engineer with a special focus in peer-to-peer networks. Duties include: Research and architecture of large-scale peer-to-peer network technology as applicable to Netflix streaming. Liaise with internal client and toolkit teams to integrate P2P as an additional delivery mechanism. Design and develop tools for the operation of peer-to-peer enabled clients in a production environment. The successful applicant is required to have 'At least five years of relevant experience with development and testing of large-scale peer-to-peer systems.' Preferred qualifications include 'Knowledge of and proven experience with P2P, CDN/HTTP cache/proxy technology.'

The streaming video service Hulu has begun blocking users accessing the site through VPNs in an effort to block international users from seeing videos available only in the U.S.

As of this weekend, VPN users, including Americans trying to access the Web legitimately, will receive an error message.

The message reads: "Based on your IP-address, we noticed that you are trying to access Hulu through an anonymous proxy tool. Hulu is not currently available outside the U.S. If you're in the U.S. you'll need to disable your anonymizer to access videos on Hulu,"

Hulu's updated blocklist covers a huge range IPs from of all major VPN providers.

While such a move makes sense for Hulu and other streaming companies that do not want give unlicensed access to domestic shows, American users have rightful complaints as many are using the VPN to browse more securely, and not to see unauthorized content.

Apple has launched a new replacement program for users that have an iPhone 5 with a faulty sleep/wake button.

Says the company: "Apple today launched a program to replace the sleep/wake button on a small percentage of iPhone 5 models where the button may stop working or work intermittently. Apple will offer the service free of charge to iPhone 5 customers with models that exhibit this issue and have a qualifying serial number."

In addition, Apple revealed a new Web site with details on how to get your device fixed, if you are one of the few unlucky ones.

Apple noted that this is free even if the phone is out of warranty.

Source:
The Loop