Senior Correspondent Arnold Woodworth's Roundup of the Best of the Web

It's all to easy to be an armchair quarterback writer and cry out for more innovation from Apple.  The odd thing is, none of those articles get into any serious discussion of what customers really need and what kinds of innovation would meet those needs.

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/demanding-that-apple-be-more-innovative-requires-more-innovation




DoJ accuses Apple of 'character assassination' as Judge Cote denies Apple's request for new anti-trust monitor

http://www.tuaw.com/2014/01/15/justice-department-accuses-apple-of-character-assassination-as/




Analyst shunned after knocking Apple, Amazon for ethics

It's never a good idea to go on CNBC and point out even just a few tiny flaws in our wonderful capitalist system.

Equity research analyst Ronnie Moas tried this last week, and here's happened: The show's host insinuated he was having a nervous breakdown; He received anonymous death threats; He lost tens of thousands of dollars in business as some clients became outraged and dropped his service; He got pasted with labels and trash-talked in the media.

Moas is not one of these analysts who constantly glues his eyes to a battery of screens, drooling over tiny bits of data about money. He travels the world and sees how others live. He looks at causes and effects, globally, and wishes others could see the world as he sees it.

There should always be a gap between rich and poor, he concedes. It just shouldn't be so wide it destroys people.

Many good people will continue to look the other way because that's what good people so often do.

Maybe one day they will open their eyes. Or maybe they won't. Meantime, Moas is taking a beating for saying things people should have learned in kindergarten.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/analyst-shunned-after-knocking-apple-amazon-for-ethics-2014-01-15




How To Access The Invisible Internet You're Not Supposed To Find

http://www.businessinsider.com/invisible-internet-infographic-2014-1




Court Ends 'Net Neutrality' On A Technicality

For years, the FCC has required that broadband Web service providers treat all traffic equally, and not restrict or promote certain websites or services or discriminate in favor of sites they own over competing companies.

That appears to have come to an end today based on a technicality

http://www.businessinsider.com/a-federal-appeals-court-has-struck-down-2014-1




For The First Time, Hackers Have Used A Refrigerator To Attack Businesses

http://www.businessinsider.com/hackers-use-a-refridgerator-to-attack-businesses-2014-1




Cisco Admits To Embarrassing Security Hole That Gave A 'Backdoor' Into Four Routers

the hole wasn't found in Cisco's big enterprise or service provider routers -- it hole was found in Cisco routers used by small businesses and homes.

http://www.businessinsider.com/cisco-warns-about-security-hole-2014-1

If you want a deep dive into what the problem is and how it wasn't found, Sean Gallagher at Ars Technica has written a great post describing the technical details.

The backdoor requires that the attacker be on the local network, so this isn’t something that could be used to remotely attack DSL users.

confirmations that the backdoor worked with other models of Linksys and Netgear wireless DSL modems

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/01/backdoor-in-wireless-dsl-routers-lets-attacker-reset-router-get-admin/




I Was Blackmailed By Chinese Hackers, And It Was More Terrifying Than You Can Imagine

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-get-hacked-by-china-2014-1




Hackers Were Inside Neiman Marcus Computers For Months Before The Retailer Had Any Idea

http://www.businessinsider.com/neiman-marcus-hacked-2014-1




Gee, it wasn't just Target?  
It's not just Neiman Marcus either.  It's a bunch of other retailers as well.

Oh, they want your email -- and surface address eh?  Uh, why?  Target often asks to scan your driver license.  Why?  Why do you allow companies to have this data?  Nothing you ever give a company is discarded; it is always kept and your base assumption should be that it is never secure.

I walked out of Target the last time they asked to scan my driver license.  I don't give a damn why they think they want it, the answer is no.

That's the lesson folks.  You give this away and you will get reamed by it.  Maybe it's sold and maybe it's stolen, but the bottom line is that the more you give them the more value it has to them -- and to anyone who wants to steal it.

For that you get...... what, exactly?  Nothing.

http://www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=227549




Don't give Target your Social Security number

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dont-give-target-your-social-security-number-2014-01-17




Target Got Hacked Hard in 2005. Here's Why They Let It Happen Again

The security measures that Target and other companies implement to protect consumer data have long been known to be inadequate.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2014/01/target-hack/




The Malware That Duped Target Has Been Found

The malware is a memory-scraping tool that grabs card data directly from point-of-sale terminals and stores it on the victim's own system for later retrieval.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2014/01/target-malware-identified/