Tech Today w/ Ken May

chicksdaddy writes “A web site used to distribute software updates for a wide range medical equipment, including ventilators has been blocked by Google after it was found to be riddled with malware and serving up attacks. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is looking into the compromise. The site belongs to San Diego-based CareFusion Inc., a hospital equipment supplier. The infected Web sites, which use a number of different domains, distribute firmware updates for a range of ventilators and respiratory products. Scans by Google’s Safe Browsing program in May and June found the sites were rife with malware. For example, about six percent of the 347 Web pages hosted at Viasyshealthcare.com, a CareFusion Web site that is used to distribute software updates for the company’s AVEA brand ventilators, were found to be infected and pushing malicious software to visitors’ systems.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense has created the world’s first spherical flying machine. The drone can hover like a helicopter and take off and land vertically while maintaining an ability to propel itself forward with wings flying at speeds up to 40 mph. There are three gyro-sensors embedded into the drone to maintain altitude and autopilot even if it’s flight path is disrupted. And probably most frightening, it can hit the ground and roll in any direction, then immediately pop back up into mid-air. The cost of parts for the machine is approximately US$1400, and the lead engineer Fumiyuki Sato explained that the parts were purchased off the shelf. The researchers developed the drone to record video in remote or dangerous locations…or perhaps to train young Jedis. Check the jump for more footage of the spherical drone! (more…)

Amazon is prepping a 7-inch $199 tablet for a third quarter release, reports Max Wang for Digitimes . Reportedly, this tablet will have better specs than the Fire with a higher quality screen and more than likely a more competent computing platform. The original Fire will then get cut to $150. Then, later in the year or maybe in early 2013, Amazon will release a 10.1-inch model. This comes by way of an “upstream supply chain” source. Digitimes is as sketchy as trade publications get, but logic dictates that there is some truth here. Amazon will release a new Fire model this year. That’s a given as Amazon will likely try to replicate last year’s stellar holiday season lead by the first Fire. A larger model is likely in the cards, too, although I wouldn’t say it’s a lock for this year. Amazon has long found success by releasing new Kindle hardware at a lower price point. The original Kindle started out at $399. A Kindle is nothing more than a hardware portal to Amazon’s massive marketplace. Unlike competitors in the tablet space, Amazon can afford to sell hardware at a loss as long as the loss revenue is compensated by Amazon purchases. Amazon’s end game doesn’t involve besting Apple, Samsung or Motorola in the tablet game, but rather selling more wares.

Dropbox can be a nifty service to have in your digital arsenal, but a new change to the service may make sharing files a little less straightforward. According to an email sent to developers who use the Dropbox API, the cloud storage company will no longer be creating Public folders for new users starting on July 31. Fret not, you current Dropbox users — a Dropbox representative left a note on the company’s support forums stating that the functionality won’t disappear for current users, but those who create new accounts after the cutoff date won’t be able to their dump files in a public folder to simplify sharing. The Dropbox team has been busy though, and last month they added a new feature to the mix that in most cases mitigates the need for a Public folder in the first place. Back in April, the company launched the ability to quickly create links to any file stored in a Dropbox account, something that my colleagues were rather enamored with because of its simplicity. As straightforward as the new feature is, it’s arguably less useful at times. Instead of being able to link directly to a file stored in a Public folder, a link created with the Get Link feature routes people to a download page where they can snag the file. It’s painless enough when you want to keep the file in question, but more than a few people on the Dropbox forums express concerns over sharing certain kinds of files, and photos in particular. After all, it’s far better to just view an image rather than go through the additional step of clicking through a splash page to download it. But the question remains — why did Dropbox feel the need to do this in the first place? The official reason is a decidedly pragmatic one. According to their email, the new link-oriented sharing model is a more scalable way to handle the sorts of use-cases that people use the Public folder for, which is sure to help as the service continues to grow (they tiptoed over the 50 million registered user mark a few months back). There could still be more behind the change in policy, and I’ve reached out to Dropbox for some further insight. The change is certainly a bummer (and I’m looking forward to seeing more of how the community reacts to it), but in the end it seems like a small price to pay to keep the service as cheap and responsive as it is.