A Russian national accused of hacking LinkedIn, Dropbox, and Formspring, and possibly compromising the personal information of more than 100 million users, has been extradited to the United States, The New York Times reported on Friday.
Source: Gizmodo – Russian Accused of Hacking LinkedIn Extradited to US After 15-Month Detention in Prague
ZD Net is reporting that a company called ERM Advanced Telematics is looking to provide Buy Here Pay Here dealerships with the tools to help repossess vehicles. Using their new “Parking Habits” service, sensors and software are embedded into StarLink tracking units can show where, and how long a car has been parked, as well as frequency of locations a vehicle has stopped at.
This allows the dealership to use the data to predict where the vehicle is likely to be at any particular time of the day in order to repossess it. In addition it can predict potential payment problems. If it sees your parking habits change, like not parking at your workplace every morning, it may suggest that you have lost your job.
I don’t know how to feel about this. I can understand the dealerships point of view for sure, but this seems like an excessive amount of data. Have you ever been to a buy here pay here dealership? If yes the quote below should scare the crap out of you.
When asked how data is stored and protected, the spokesperson said:
“These issues are taken care of by the service provider, the data is stored on his servers under his policy, he is in charge on the data and on the legality of the service.”
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Vehicle Embedded Data Collection Helping The Repo Man
The Czech Republic has extradited Russian national Yevgeniy Nikulin to the United States, where he’s accused of several hacking attempts dating back to 2012. A US federal grand jury had indicted him in 2016 for breaking into DropBox, Formspring and L…
Source: Engadget – Czech Republic extradites suspected Russian hacker to the US
Being a good storyteller can improve your presentations at work, boost your social skills, and make you more likable in general. But it’s not an ability that comes naturally to everyone. If you’re not sure how to go about telling stories that captivate an audience, these simple dos and don’ts will give you a good…
Source: LifeHacker – Never Start a Story With the Weather, and Other Rules for Better Storytelling
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Democratic senators yesterday asked Ajit Pai to abandon a proposal that the senators say would take subsidized broadband plans away from “millions of Americans.” The Federal Communications Commission chairman’s plan for the Lifeline subsidy program would force most users of the program to find new providers. But such users could have trouble finding replacement plans or similar prices because Pai’s proposal would prevent all telecom resellers from offering Lifeline-subsidized service. “Your proposal impacts over 70 percent of current Lifeline-recipient households by eliminating their wireless providers from the program, leaving less affordable and fewer Lifeline options, while making it more difficult for the companies trying to serve Lifeline customers,” Senate Democrats wrote in the letter to Pai yesterday. “Instead of cutting the program, we should ensure Lifeline reaches more Americans in need of access to communication services.” The letter was written by Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Cory Booker (D-NJ).
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Ajit Pai Faces Heat Over Proposal To Take Away Poor People’s Broadband Plans
The future is here, and it’s cool as shit if you love heist movies.
Source: Gizmodo – This Could Be the Greatest Drone-Powered iPhone Heist Ever
The US Patent and Trademark Office has published an Apple patent application that details a pretty neat VR system. Spotted by Patently Apple, it’s meant to be used in vehicles — including self-driving vehicles — and Apple pitches it as a way to mit…
Source: Engadget – Apple patent taps VR to ease motion sickness in self-driving cars
This is a promo video for the Furrion Prothesis exoskeleton, a giant 8,000 pound mech that was designed for mech racing and not for punching through the wall of an enemy’s house and stomping them like I would have expected. That’s a shame. The exoskeleton’s battery lasts about an hour and the unit can allegedly do 20MPH and jump 10 feet high, although there’s no evidence of either one of those claims in the video. I feel like if your mech can really do 20MPH and jump 10 feet high, you’d want to show video of that. Now I’m no expert (yes I am too and you know it), but that thing looks like it would be lucky to do 5MPH, and ever have all its limbs off the ground at once. Tell me I’m wrong. “You’re not.” What? “You’re not wrong.” Mark the calendar!
Keep going for the video.
Source: Geekologie – A 15-Foot Tall, 8,000 Pound Exoskeletal Suit Made For Racing
Some parts are beautiful AND delicious. Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?
Source: TreeHugger – 18 beautiful edible landscaping plants
Bloomberg is reporting that AR startup Magic Leap has been quietly sending its units to software developers with an unusual condition. The units must be kept in locked safes. According to the article At least one company decided it wasn’t worth the hassle and declined a test device. The florida startup has raised more than $2.3 billion, hoping to take down it’s top competitor, the Hololens from Microsoft.
Personally, I’m skeptical. Most companies like this do everything in their power to show off what they are working on, and keep the masses hyped and the product on our minds. Hopefully this won’t turn into another Infinium Labs. Especially since we covered them using fake videos 2 years ago.
A Magic Leap spokesman confirmed the company has given out a limited number of devices to partners and has not started distributing them widely. Up to this point, the startup has only allowed people to use the product in tightly controlled environments. Investors, potential business partners and journalists who have used prototypes typically have only been able to do so after signing nondisclosure agreements. The persistent secrecy has led to growing skepticism about the company’s ability to execute.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Magic Leap Ships First Set of Devices Under Tight Security Constraints
This month brings a deluge of new books, including the latest from genre titan John Scalzi, as well as tales involving dark magic in post-apocalyptic America, a very high-stakes intergalactic talent competition, and ex-con construction workers trying to avoid getting murdered on Mars. Read on!
Source: Gizmodo – Feast Your Eyes on All the New Scifi and Fantasy Books Coming Out in April
Coral Davenport and Hiroko Tabuchi, reporting for The New York Times: The Trump administration is expected to launch an effort in coming days to weaken greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy standards for automobiles, handing a victory to car manufacturers and giving them ammunition to potentially roll back industry standards worldwide. The move — which undercuts one of President Barack Obama’s signature efforts to fight climate change — would also propel the Trump administration toward a courtroom clash with California, which has vowed to stick with the stricter rules even if Washington rolls back federal standards. That fight could end up creating one set of rules for cars sold in California and the 12 states that follow its lead, and weaker rules for the rest of the states, in effect splitting the nation into two markets. Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is expected to frame the initiative as eliminating a regulatory burden on automakers that will result in more affordable trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles for buyers, according to people familiar with the plan. An E.P.A. spokeswoman confirmed that Mr. Pruitt had sent a draft of the 16-page plan to the White House for approval. Further reading: EPA to its employees: Ignore science when talking about climate change (ArsTechnica)
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – EPA Prepares To Roll Back Rules Requiring Cars To Be Cleaner and More Efficient
Ascape Audio’s home page proudly proclaims “Designed in Detroit,” but at this point it’s not helping business.
“It hasn’t made any goddamn impact,” marketing director Dean Clancy said. “I want to put that in as many places as possible, because regar…
Source: Engadget – Ascape Audio and the economics of making headphones in America
Our parents are our first and, for better or or worse, most influential teachers. They instill in us our values, expose us to their ideas and politics, and shape who we become.
Source: LifeHacker – How Do You Unlearn Your Parents’ Fucked Up Money Habits?
Hello, my friends, and welcome back to Will It Sous Vide?, the column where I usually make whatever you want me to with my immersion circulator. This week we’re using our precisely controlled water bath to transform something somewhat pedestrian into something quite special.
Source: LifeHacker – How to Make Chuck Roast Taste Like Prime Rib
Enlarge (credit: Lee Woodgate)
A Russian man accused of hacking LinkedIn, Dropbox, and Formspring made his first appearance in federal court on Friday.
In a brief hearing before a federal magistrate judge in San Francisco, Yevgeniy Nikulin pleaded not guilty to illegally accessing computers belonging to those companies in 2012.
Nikulin was arrested on October 5, 2016, but he was only very recently extradited from the Czech Republic to the United States. In the Czech Republic, Nikulin’s attorneys and the Russian government attempted to get him sent back home to face significantly lesser criminal charges dating back to 2009.
Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Finally extradited from Europe, suspected LinkedIn hacker faces US charges
ZTE
ZTE put its new Tempo Go smartphone up for sale on Thursday, making it the first phone with Google’s Android Go configuration to be available for purchase in the US.
The phone is now available for $79.99 on ZTE’s website. The listing was first spotted by Android Police.
Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – You can officially buy an Android Go phone in the US
An encrypted email service widely used among journalists and political dissidents just got several new sick features, including, let’s be honest, the only thing we really care about: a shorter domain name.
Source: Gizmodo – ProtonMail Launches a Shorter Email Domain and Other New Features for Encryption Lovers
Lincoln announced this week that it’s expanding the pilot of its subscription service. The company said late last year that it planned to launch such a service and while a small selection of 2015 models have since been available through Ford’s Canvas…
Source: Engadget – Lincoln adds more pre-owned vehicles to its subscription service pilot
