On the plus side, your router’s mostly secure. Security researcher Stefan Viehbock has just discovered a major security hole which allowed him to use a brute force technique to access a WPS PIN-protected network in about two hours. According to Viehbock, a design flaw allows the WPS protocol’s 8-digit PIN security to fall dramatically as additional attempts are made. With each attempt, the router will send a message stating whether the first four digits are correct while the last digit of the key is used as a checksum and then given out by the router in negotiation. As a result, the 100,000,000 possibilities that the WPS should represent becomes roughly to 11,000.

The US-CERT has picked up on this and advised users to disable WPS on their routers. Viehbock, in turn, claims to have attempted to discuss the vulnerability with hardware vendors such as Buffalo, D-Link, Linksys, and Netgear, but says he has been roundly ignored and that no public acknowledgement of the issue has been released. As a possible final step, Viehbock has promised to release a brute force tool soon, thereby pushing the manufacturers to work to resolve the issue. In other news, that evil supercomputer from the movie War Games just got a few more digits of the nuclear launch codes — maybe one of Stefan’s pals can look into that one.

Researcher finds vulnerability in WPS protocol, looks for manufacturers to offer fix originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Researcher finds vulnerability in WPS protocol, looks for manufacturers to offer fix

I had the privilege of being interviewed by Bill Frank on his radio show “Brainstormin’ with Billy the Brain” available HERE. We spoke about whether we as a society are better off now with the changes caused by technology than we were five years ago. Enjoy!

nbauman writes “In June 1903, Gugliemo Marconi and his partner Ambrose Flemming were about to give the first demonstration of long-range wireless communication at the Royal Institution in London, which, Marconi said, could be sent in complete confidentiality with no fear of the messages being hijacked. Suddenly, the silence was broken by a huge mysterious wireless pulse strong enough to take over the carbon-arc projector and make it sputter messages in Morse Code. First, it repeated the word ‘Rats’ over and over again (abusive at that time). Then it tapped out, ‘There was a young fellow of Italy, who diddled the public quite prettily.’ Further rude epithets followed. It was Nevil Maskelyne, a stage musician and inventor who was annoyed because Marconi’s patents prevented him from using wireless. It was the first hacking, to demonstrate an insecure system.”

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Progressive Era Hacker Griefed Marconi Demonstration

2012 may be the year that Thunderbolt finally comes into its own, with a new report suggesting PC vendors will launch products with support for the new high-bandwidth connectivity standard as early as April next year. Apple was that first vendor to support the standard, having worked with Intel to develop the technology, but support among Windows-based computers has so far been nonexistent. Among the companies that could have products ready next spring are Asus, Acer, Sony, and Gigabyte.

Intel has reportedly informed its partners that it will “fully release” Thunderbolt in April 2012, according to DigiTimes, though the company declined to comment when we asked for confirmation. Still, Intel did indicate that its plans do seem to coincide with the cited timeframe.

“Our guidance remains that we expect to see Windows-based systems with Thunderbolt in the first half of 2012,” Intel spokesperson Dave Salvatore told Ars.

Gigabyte Technology reportedly plans to have Thunderbolt-equipped motherboards available around that time, while Sony is expected to incorporate the standard in its high-end laptops. Sony’s current Vaio Z ultraportable already uses Thunderbolt controllers mated with a modified, optical-equipped USB 3 port; the report suggests Sony may adopt the standard Thunderbolt port, based on the Apple-developed MiniDisplay Port, for future products.

Acer and Asus both announced plans to ship products with Thunderbolt ports beginning next year during the Intel Developers Forum in September. HP, currently the world’s largest PC maker, has so far decided to pass on Thunderbolt, despite initially claiming support for the standard in early 2011. Dell, still one on the largest PC vendors despite continually declining sales, hasn’t committed to Thunderbolt support, nor has Lenovo or Toshiba.

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Windows PCs with Thunderbolt ports on track for early 2012

Who, exactly, owns your Twitter account? It's a potentially complicated question when an account is used both professionally and personally. Now a case regarding whether a Twitter account belongs to a company or its former employee has raised questions about the use of the social media phenomenon.

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Who really owns your Twitter account?

You just bought the fastest (and most expensive) desktop platform on the planet. Which company’s memory will you use to populate Intel’s quad-channel controller? We tested four purportedly high-end kits in order to find out which set is the best. More »

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The Fastest RAM for Your Gaming PC [Memory]

We’ve already seen a few benchmarks and other hints that they’d soon be shipping, and Intel has now officially announced that its new Cedar Trail Atom processors are finally available, with the first systems using them set to roll out early next year. The two chips you’ll likely be seeing the most of are the Atom N2600 and N2800 — both dual-core, and both designed for use in netbooks, where they promise to allow for up to ten hours of battery life and “weeks of standby,” and offer support for 1080p video playback. Also rolling out today are the D2500 and D2700, which are designed for use in entry-level desktops and all-in-one computers, as well as more commercial systems. As for all those systems themselves, details remain a bit light, but Intel says you can expect to see some from Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, and Toshiba.

Continue reading Intel starts shipping Atom N2600, N2800 processors for netbooks, ten hours of battery life promised

Intel starts shipping Atom N2600, N2800 processors for netbooks, ten hours of battery life promised originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel starts shipping Atom N2600, N2800 processors for netbooks, ten hours of battery life promised

A leaked Windows Phone roadmap shows what we’ve got to look forward to in 2012. In the short term a batch of cheapy phones for the masses, but by the end of next year we could be looking at “superphones”. More »

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What Are The Windows "Superphones" Coming Late 2012? [Rumors]

GadgetTrak’s new CameraTrace service helped a professional photographer get back $9,000 worth of stolen gear. CameraTrace can also help you recover your lost or stolen camera, as well as find people using your photos without permission. More »

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CameraTrace Finds Your Stolen Camera by Monitoring Photos Shared Online [Security]

Existing grid-supplied electricity is becoming more expensive. Electricity from solar panels is getting cheaper. Here’s an animated map of North America that shows when the rising-grid-cost and falling-solar-cost curves will intersect for different metropolitan areas.

We used the following assumptions in the construction of this animated map:

The cost of solar in 2011 is $4.00 per Watt installed.

Grid electricity price is the average residential retail rate reported by PVWatts for the core city of the metropolitan area.

The cost of solar decreases by 7% per year.

The grid electricity price increases by 2% per year.

According to John Farrell who created the animated map, San Diego will be the first solar grid parity city, in 2013.

http://energyselfreliantstates.org/content/mapping-solar-grid-parity

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Map shows when solar will be cheaper than grid electricity in North American areas