Google Chrome hacker (tech article)

Chrome’s $60,000 Security Flaw Fixed in Under a Day


Less than 24 hours after a Russian hacker earned himself $60,000 by exploiting Chrome, Google has released an update for the browser which fixes the security threat.

It's perhaps not surprising that Google has been quick to act, but the speed with which this update was rolled out highlights one of the big benefits of Chrome. The fact that Google's browser is open-source means that updates can be pushed out more quickly—a process which could involve weeks of quality assurance for a browser like Internet Explorer.

Technical details are being withheld for now until most users have updated, but the Google Chrome Release blog does mention that the fix relates to a "bad history navigation" issue.

Tech Article

Police Locked Down a School Because Autocorrect Is So Terrible


Autocorrect has been behind more than its share of misunderstandings, but today it stirred up a whole heap of trouble, even by its sketchy standards. Some poor college student's phone corrected "gonna" to "gunman" and got a school put into lockdown by the police.

At West Hall High and Middle schools in Gainesville, GA, the student in question—one who attends another school—texted "Gonna go to West Hall this afternoon" to a student attending West Hall. Thing is, autocorrect popped out "Gunman go to West Hall this afternoon." Much different. The student alerted the authorities, who reacted with a full lockdown for the schools—probably due to the recent Ohio school shootings.

Now, you can definitely make the case for some context to go into reading random text messages that appear to alert you to imminent violence. And it's probably the right case. And there's also the sad reality that violence is such a real concern that silly texts like this have to be taken seriously. But isn't it more fun to giggle about autocorrect's perpetual ineptitude throwing an entire school system into disarray? I say yes. Lol autocorrect. [Gainesville Times via Twitter]