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Today, Fortune is out with its 32nd annual list of the World’s Most Admired Companies. Apple tops the list for the eighth consecutive year and is followed by Google, Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon.com and Starbucks. Of this year’s list, Fortune Senior Editor Christopher Tkaczyk writes: “What becomes a reputation most? Healthy financials and stock performance, for starters. This year four companies have landed on the 50 All-Stars for the first time — Chipotle, CVS Health, Salesforce.com, and the financial services giant USAA, which at No. 28 is this year’s strongest ­debut. But not all companies fared as well. Consumer criticism and...

I started a thread on this years ago, been too busy and forgot about it.TERRAGEN generates landscapes. Depending on your effort they can be amazing.

Forget HoloLens, forget smart glasses and forget augmented reality -- scientists have proposed a "cortical modem" that plugs into your DNA and your visual cortex to cure sight loss and show a heads-up display in front of your very eyes. The cortical modem concept is the brainchild of DARPA, the US Defense Research Projects Agency. Originally founded in 1958 in response to the launch of Sputnik, DARPA is the US military's research and development agency. It's perhaps best known outside of military circles for the development of ARPANET, an early packet switching network that formed a precursor to the Internet....

GoDaddy is working with me to solve an access problem that appeared yesterday. The configuration of multiple clients are MS Windows XP with IE8. Browsing to www.godaddy.com began to result in an error message saying there was a problem with the security certificate, and the IE8 browser then crashes. Godaddy says they have no other reports about this problem. We have at least 6 or more such clients showing the same issue. Does anyone else have a similar configuration, and do they experience the same problem? Note: Firefox seems to function normally on this same client.

The Operation Arid Viper campaign has successfully stolen more than 1 million files with current malware campaigns underway, though it's not the usual suspects, according to Kaspersky Lab and Trend Micro. The Arab-speaking group, with ties to Gaza, have targeted foreign government offices, critical infrastructure, military, universities, and other high-profile targets. The attacks likely occurred starting in mid-2013 and a full investigation into their actions is underway.   "Whoever the real culprits are, it is clear that they are part of the Arab world, evidence of a budding generation of Arab hackers and malware creators intent on taking down their...

The Internet Ain't Broke, So Don't Try To Fix It

The malware reprograms the hard drive’s firmware, creating hidden sectors on the drive that can only be accessed through a secret API (application programming interface). Once installed, the malware is impossible to remove: disk formatting and reinstalling the OS doesn’t affect it, and the hidden storage sector remains. “Theoretically, we were aware of this possibility, but as far as I know this is the only case ever that we have seen of an attacker having such an incredibly advanced capability,” said Costin Raiu, director of Kaspersky Lab’s global research and analysis team, in a phone interview Monday.

I don't currently have an antivirus program on my computer due to very tight finances. I've been holding my breath hoping that I wouldn't have an incident before I can afford to download or update an antivirus program. I used to have Kaspersky, and lately it has been popping up with an alert that I have a Trojan horse. The local computer geek people recommended Kaspersky when they worked on my computer a few years ago, so that's why I was using it. Since then, they have worked on my friend's computer and told her that she didn't really need...

It's not really an endorsement, and it doesn't really change payments. Apple CEO Tim Cook just announced that Apple Pay, the company's mobile-payment system, will work with payment cards issued by the federal government, and some federal agencies will start taking Apple Pay payments in the fall. Bloomberg is calling it a "big win" for Apple Pay. Well, hold on there. Yes, the government does $26.4 billion in transactions a year on GSA SmartPay cards. But what are these cards? They're not some strange, alien form of payment. They're just plastic Visa and MasterCard cards issued by Citibank, JPMorgan Chase,...

Apple is the second most innovative company in the world, according Fast Company's 2015 rankings. Apple was #14 in the Fast Company's 2014 rankings, while Google placed first. Fast Company attributes Apple's success in 2014 to its different software refinements that make its existing hardware more powerful. Both iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite brought many features to both developers and consumers. It’s too early to judge the long-term impact of all these features, given that they depend on what other companies do with them. Still, they’re evidence that Tim Cook’s Apple is developing its own character—one deeply influenced by...

Everyone knows that Apple had a great fourth quarter and that its most successful product line, the iPhone, is doing better than ever, too. But it's difficult to grasp what a mind-blowingly successful company Apple is until you take the time to gather and digest news about the company that has emerged in the past week or two. I've done it. And it has become obvious to me that Apple is not only successful, not only the most successful company in technology, not only the most successful company in the world but the most successful company in the history of...

Summary:The Apple boss said people have entrusted the company with their most personal bits of information. "We owe them nothing less than the best protections we can possibly provide." Apple chief executive Tim Cook said that there should not have to be a trade-off between national security and personal privacy. In a speech as part of a cybersecurity summit hosted by The White House at Stanford University, the Apple boss said history has shown that sacrificing rights to privacy can have "dire consequences" on society. "We risk something far more valuable than money. We risk our way of life," he...

He fears that future generations will have little or no record of the 21st Century as we enter what he describes as a "digital Dark Age". Mr Cerf made his comments at a large science conference in San Jose. ... His focus now is to resolve a new problem that threatens to eradicate our history. Our life, our memories, our most cherished family photographs increasingly exist as bits of information - on our hard drives or in "the cloud". But as technology moves on, they risk being lost in the wake of an accelerating digital revolution.

The typical design for an Apple Mini-Store. Wave goodbye! Photo: Apple While many of us will be celebrating Valentine’s Day this Saturday, for Apple it represents the end of an era. At 10pm today, Apple will close its existing Oakridge retail store in San Jose, California — with a new, larger one set to open Saturday morning at 10am. In the process, Apple will have marked the end of its mini-store experiment, with the Oakridge venue being the last of its kind. First launched in 2004, Apple’s mini-stores were an effort to quickly roll out new Apple Stores to keep...

I just got a couple of job inquiries, where having an H1-B visa is a must. Is there a way to report these jokers to the appropriate agency?

Per FR Policy, Link only: Russian woman dies after dropping charging iPhone into bathtub

Almost five years ago, Intego security researchers warned about the OSX/OpinionSpy spyware infecting Mac computers, downloaded during the installation of innocent-sounding applications and screensavers distributed via well-known sites such as MacUpdate and VersionTracker. Once compromised, infected Macs could leak data and open a backdoor for further abuse. Now, sadly, a variant of OpinionSpy seems to be making something of a comeback. Mac security researcher Thomas Reed raised the alarm on his blog earlier this week, describing how he believed he had spotted a new variant of OpinionSpy in an installer for an app on CNET's Download.com. Intego researchers have confirmed...

I follow Hoover on twitter. I guess they are part of a federal task force or symposium on cyber security....good enough.... But lately their tweets seem awfully infatuated with the fact that they are getting some face time with Hussein. As if Valerie's ward REALLY CARES about protecting Americans..... The same team that has the NSA monitoring every American suddenly wants to be sure we are secure? Don't make me laugh.

Apple continues to deliver small, but important updates for the iPhone 6 Plus and after spending two weeks with the iOS 8.1.3 update it is time to share how it handles on the iPhone 6 Plus. We are still waiting for other updates from Apple that will add important features and hearing rumors of an improved music service as Apple sets sights on bigger feature-filled updates. Apple continues work on iOS 8.2 that will bring support for the Apple Watch and the company just announced an iOS 8.3 beta that delivers other key improvements for Apple Car Play and for...

don-o here. For those who do not know, Mrs Don-o has been very ill. (Prayer thread @ keyword mrsdono) Very thankful to God that she is recovering. Currently in rehab for getting her strength back. Borrowed a laptop and trying to get her set up. Cannot find the preference to allow a brief of the text to appear on both the articles and comments. I am sure it is obvious but cannot find it. Thanks