Monthly Archives: August 2016

US unveils charges against KickassTorrents, names two more defendants

Posted on by

Enlarge (credit: portal_gda)

US prosecutors have now named a total of three men said to be operators of the defunct file-sharing site KickassTorrents (KAT). The new allegations are in a formal indictment filed Tuesday, which contains the most detailed charges against the site yet.

Last month, alleged site operator 30-year-old Artem Vaulin of Ukraine was arrested in Poland. The new indictment (PDF) also names Ievgen (Eugene) Kutsenko aka “chill” and Oleksander (Alex) Radostin aka “pioneer,” also of Ukraine. Bench warrants have been issued for the arrest of all three men, although authorities have confirmed the arrest of only Vaulin. The indictment was reported earlier today by TorrentFreak.

Prosecutors say the three men developed and maintained the site together and used it to “generate millions of dollars from the unlawful distribution of copyright-protected media, including movies… television shows, music, video games, computer software, and electronic books.” They gave out “Reputation” and “User Achievement” awards to users who uploaded the most popular files, including a special award for users who had uploaded more than 1,000 torrents.

Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments



Source: Ars Technica – US unveils charges against KickassTorrents, names two more defendants

Intel Unveils New 3D NAND Solid State Drives

Posted on by

Intel introduced six new 3D NAND solid state drives (SSDs) to meet the needs of consumer, business, Internet of Things and data center applications. The new Intel® 3D NAND SSDs offer a cost-effective replacement for traditional hard disk drives to help customers accelerate user experiences, improve the performance of apps and services across segments, and also reduce IT costs.

These new SSDs reflect Intel’s 30-year commitment to memory technologies and our long-term plan to transform the economics of storage with trusted, breakthrough 3D NAND technology from Intel,” Bill Leszinske, Intel Vice President and Director of Strategic Planning, Marketing and Business Development for NSG said. “Intel is uniquely positioned to address multiple market segments simultaneously from consumer to business, Internet of Things and data center. This broad array of new 3D NAND SSDs expands the reach of PCIe solutions and offers a cost effective replacement for traditional Hard Disk Drives, helping customers accelerate user experiences, improve the performance of apps and services and reduce IT costs.

Comments

Source: [H]ardOCP – Intel Unveils New 3D NAND Solid State Drives

The 14 Weirdest Quantum Leap Episodes of All Time

Posted on by

Time-traveling problem-solver Dr. Sam Beckett experienced plenty of bizarre situations over five seasons of Quantum Leap, but certain episodes stand out as pushing the boundaries of weirdness to the extreme. They are, of course, our very favorite QL episodes, and with a little help from Ziggy, we’ve gathered them here.

Read more…



Source: io9 – The 14 Weirdest Quantum Leap Episodes of All Time

Malware Sold To Governments Helped Them Spy on iPhones

Posted on by

One of the world’s most evasive digital arms dealers is believed to have been taking advantage of three security vulnerabilities in popular Apple products in its efforts to spy on dissidents and journalists, reports The New York Times. (Editor’s note: the link could be paywalled, here’s an alternate source). From the report: Investigators discovered that a company called the NSO Group, an Israeli outfit that sells software that invisibly tracks a target’s mobile phone, was responsible for the intrusions. The NSO Group’s software can read text messages and emails and track calls and contacts. It can even record sounds, collect passwords and trace the whereabouts of the phone user. In response, Apple on Thursday released a patched version of its mobile software, iOS 9.3.5. Users can get the patch through a normal software update.The Washington Post reports that these “zero-day” flaws were previously used by the governments to take over victims’ phones by tricking them into clicking on a link to a text message. Motherboard says that this is the first time anyone has uncovered such an attack in the wild. “Until this month, no one had seen an attempted spyware infection leveraging three unknown bugs, or zero-days, in the iPhone. The tools and technology needed for such an attack, which is essentially a remote jailbreak of the iPhone, can be worth as much as one million dollars.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Malware Sold To Governments Helped Them Spy on iPhones

Ward off Wrist Pain With Anker's $10 Vertical Mouse

Posted on by

Whether your current mouse is giving you chronic wrist pain, or you just want to try something different, this 4.6 star rated ergonomic vertical mouse from Anker is only $10 today. In addition to the clever design, it even comes with two adjustable DPI settings and forward/back buttons, which are pretty rare at this price level.

Read more…



Source: Gizmodo – Ward off Wrist Pain With Anker’s Vertical Mouse

Israeli Cyber Weapon Dealers Figured Out How to Hack Every iPhone

Posted on by

NSO Group, a company that sells hacking services to governments so they can spy on journalists and dissidents, exploited gaping security holes in iPhone software, according to a report byLookout Security and Citizen Lab. But don’t worry: Apple just pushed a fix.

Read more…



Source: Gizmodo – Israeli Cyber Weapon Dealers Figured Out How to Hack Every iPhone

Mylan CEO “frustrated” by own price gouging but doesn’t lower EpiPen price

Posted on by

Enlarge (credit: CNBC)

With rage surging over claims of price gouging, EpiPen manufacturer Mylan took a page from Turing’s playbook today. CEO Heather Bresch told CNBC that the company is taking “immediate action” to make the life-saving auto-injectors available to any patients that need one. The company will expand discounts and eligibility of its customer assistance program.

However, Mylan gave no sign that it will lower the EpiPen’s list price, which the company has hiked up more than 400 percent in recent years. Though an EpiPen only costs a few dollars to make and can reverse deadly allergic reactions, they now can cost more than $600.

Bresch, seen as the mastermind of the price hike and currently one of the highest paid executives in the industry, tried instead to shift the conversation to problems in the American healthcare system.

Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments



Source: Ars Technica – Mylan CEO “frustrated” by own price gouging but doesn’t lower EpiPen price

You Can Now Play Solitaire and Tic-Tac-Toe in Google's Search Results

Posted on by

Paul Sawers, writing for VentureBeat: Google announced a couple of fun little nuggets today: you can now play Solitaire and Tic-Tac-Toe directly in Google’s search results. Available through the desktop and Google mobile apps, anyone searching for the keywords “solitaire” or “tic-tac-toe” will see the usual search results, but featured prominently alongside them you’ll also now see a “tap to play” option which whisks you off to play the game. Google is no stranger to hiding so-called “easter eggs” in its products, including Search — for example, last year it had a surprise in store to mark the anniversary of Super Mario. Moreover, Google already lets you play some games within Search, including Pacman.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – You Can Now Play Solitaire and Tic-Tac-Toe in Google’s Search Results

How To: Protect Your Tesla With Pool Noodles

Posted on by

tesla-door-protection.jpg

This is a picture captured by a friend of a friend here in Los Angeles of a Tesla owner who created their own anti-dent and ding protection out of a couple pool noodles and some string. It looks so appropriate on a $80,000+ car, right? I can’t believe Elon Musk didn’t think to make this standard equipment. I have so many questions. I see the car is parked in a reserved space, do you think the two cars park in the same spots every day? Is this their passive-aggressive way of telling the white minivan owner they suck at parking? And, if the two cars do park in the same spots everyday, then you really only need a single noodle in the front. Because if you somehow manage to get your car hit by the back sliding door of a minivan, I’m starting to think you might be the problem. Do you think the keep the noodles in the backseat or the trunk? How do their kids feel when they drive them and a couple of their friends to the mall and start hanging up their door noodles after they park? STOP — you’re embarrassing me!

Thanks to Brandy, who agrees inflatable water-wings are the real solution to shitty parkers.

Source: Geekologie – How To: Protect Your Tesla With Pool Noodles

Inflightfeed Tells You What to Expect From In-Flight Food, Depending on the Airline

Posted on by

Airline food is, for the most part, an afterthought. No one boards a flight expecting a culinary experience, but some airlines serve better food than others. In fact, sometimes that food is downright delicious. Inflightfeed is a blog dedicated to reviewing all the different meals offered on 150 different airlines around the world.

Read more…



Source: LifeHacker – Inflightfeed Tells You What to Expect From In-Flight Food, Depending on the Airline

ShitpostBot 5000 Is a Viking Funeral For Memes

Posted on by

In our post-meme culture, context is the enemy of humor, and so, the enemy of the meme. Sometimes, it’s up to the shitposters to preserve the meme’s endangered absurdism. People have been juxtaposing meme tropes for ages (not just in the wake of Harambe, as some people think), but the great boon to internet nonsense has been the rise of bots. Its shining star is ShitpostBot 5000.

Read more…



Source: Gizmodo – ShitpostBot 5000 Is a Viking Funeral For Memes

Apple releases iOS 9.3.5 with “an important security update”

Posted on by

Enlarge (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

Just a few weeks after posting iOS 9.3.4 to fix a jailbreaking-related bug, Apple has released iOS 9.3.5 to all supported iPhones and iPads. The update provides an “important security update” and comes just a few weeks before the expected release of iOS 10, which is currently pretty far along in the developer/public beta process.

Apple’s security update page hasn’t yet been updated with details about the fix or who discovered it, but we’ll update the article when we know. The official release notes, pictured above, don’t provide further details.

The update is available now for everything that runs iOS 9: the iPhone 4S and newer; iPad 2 and newer; all iPad Minis and iPad Pros; and the fifth- and sixth-generation iPod Touches.

Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments



Source: Ars Technica – Apple releases iOS 9.3.5 with “an important security update”