Excited about forthcoming Windows 10 VR support? You should be, since it’s going to open up who gets access to virtual reality considerably, thanks to third-party headsets from established OEM partners starting at just $299. Minimum PC specs are now available, too – and The Verge points out they aren’t too demanding, which is great news. The into comes via a… Read More
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Here’s what you’ll need to run Windows 10 VR headsets next year
Apple has disbanded its division that develops wireless routers in a move that further sharpens the company’s focus on consumer products that generate the bulk of its revenue, Bloomberg reports. From the article:Apple began shutting down the wireless router team over the past year, dispersing engineers to other product development groups, including the one handling the Apple TV. Apple hasn’t refreshed its routers since 2013 following years of frequent updates to match new standards from the wireless industry. The decision to disband the team indicates the company isn’t currently pushing forward with new versions of its routers. Routers are access points that connect laptops, iPhones and other devices to the web without a cable. Apple currently sells three wireless routers, the AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time capsule. The Time capsule doubles as a backup storage hard drive for Mac computers. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Apple Abandons Development of Wireless Routers, To Focus On Products That Return More Profit
Jimmy DiResta kept passing by a 1911 Chandler & Price letterpress sitting out in the rain. After buying it from the neglectful owner, he spent several years lovingly restoring it , eventually learning how to print with it. (more…)
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Guy restores a century-old letterpress to perfect condition
An anonymous reader quotes Bleeping Computer: Security researchers have discovered that third-party firmware included with over 2.8 million low-end Android smartphones allows attackers to compromise Over-the-Air (OTA) update operations and execute commands on the target’s phone with root privileges. This is the second issue of its kind that came to light this week after researchers from Kryptowire discovered a similar secret backdoor in the firmware of Chinese firm Shanghai Adups Technology Co. Ltd.. This time around, the problem affected Android firmware created by another Chinese company named Ragentek Group. It apparently affects more than 55 low-end/burner phones from BLU, Infinix Mobility, DOOGEE, LEAGOO, IKU Mobile, Beeline, and XOLO. According to the article, the binary performing the insecure updates “also includes code to hide its presence from the Android OS, along with two other binaries and their processes… Without SSL protection, this OTA system is an open backdoor for anyone looking to take control of it.” Even worse, three domains were hard-coded into the binaries, two of which were unregistered, according to the researchers. “If an adversary had noticed this, and registered these two domains, they would’ve instantly had access to perform arbitrary attacks on almost 3, 000, 000 devices without the need to perform a Man-in-the-Middle attack.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Second Chinese Firm In a Week Found Hiding a Backdoor In Android Firmware
It’s a bit late for Ben to break the warranty on this particular piece of hardware: The Game Boy Printer was released ages ago, which means it’s ripe for being reverse-engineered! First we need to know what we’re dealing with, so Ben performs a teardown to reveal the microcontroller and RAM, at which point he determines what pin-outs are needed to connect to an Arduino. That’s not all, though — we also need to know how to talk to the printer, and the easiest way to do that is with an oscilloscope and an original Game Boy Camera to snoop on the data stream. Not everything is so straightforward, however: Ben hits a snag and the printer stops partway through printing. What could he be missing? What other hardware should Ben reverse-engineer? And what have you reverse-engineered? Let us know over on the element14 Community .
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Ben Heck’s reverse-engineered Game Boy Printer
An anonymous reader quotes Mashable: Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said Thursday that he wants Apple’s encryption to go back to how it was in early 2014. Back then, police could basically extract any information they wanted after getting a warrant. “Doing nothing about this problem will perpetuate an untenable arms race between private industry and law enforcement, ” Vance said on Thursday. “Federal legislation is our only chance to lay these arms aside.” Vance said he’s got 423 “lawfully-seized Apple devices” that his employees can’t do anything with. Forty-two of those devices “pertain to homicide or attempted murder cases” according to the district attorney’s office, and a similar number “relate to sex crimes.” The argument, of course, is that the district attorney’s office would have an easier time solving crimes if they had access to these phones… Apple believes being forced to hack into phones at the government’s will is an unreasonable burden. ZDNet adds that “the call for federal legislation could be given a popular boost by president elect Donald Trump, who previously called for a boycott on Apple products when it refused to help the FBI.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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New York’s District Attorney: Roll Back Apple’s iPhone Encryption
Dave Knott writes: A Canadian farmer has “helped lead to a researcher’s discovery of an unlikely weapon in the battle against global warming: a seaweed that nearly eliminates the destructive methane content of cow burps and farts, ” reports the CBC. “Joe Dorgan began feeding his cattle seaweed from nearby beaches more than a decade ago as a way to cut costs… Then researcher Rob Kinley of Dalhousie University caught wind of it.” He tested Dorgan’s seaweed mix, discovering that it reduced the methane in the cows’ burps and farts by about 20 per cent. “Kinley knew he was on to something, so he did further testing with 30 to 40 other seaweeds. That led him to a red seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis he says reduces methane in cows burps and farts to almost nothing.” “Ruminant animals are responsible for roughly 20% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, so it’s not a small number, ” said Kinley, an agricultural research scientist now working at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Queensland, Australia. “We’re talking numbers equivalent to hundreds of millions of cars.” The researcher predicts a seaweed-based cow feed could be on the market within three to five years, according to the article. “He says the biggest challenge will be growing enough seaweed.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Feeding Seaweed To Cows Eliminates Methane Emissions
Google suspended hundreds of accounts used by people trying to take advantage of a US sales tax loophole in order to make a profit on the resale of Pixel phones. Although the accounts were restored after a few days, this creates an unsettling precedent for Google users. Read more…
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Google Bans Hundreds of Accounts For Participating in Pixel Tax-Dodging Scheme
The Queen of Dragons is moving from Westeros to a galaxy far, far away. Emilia Clarke has been cast in the upcoming Star Wars Han Solo spinoff film, in an as-of-yet unannounced role. Read more…
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Inquisitr: The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced this week that a “remarkable” breakthrough has been made in the study of preventing and treating the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), according to a press release posted on the agency’s official website. The breakthrough centers around the discovery of a powerful antibody named N6 that is highly effective in both binding to the surface of the HIV virus and neutralizing it. The former has proved elusive in the past. “Identifying broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV has been difficult because the virus rapidly changes its surface proteins to evade recognition by the immune system, ” the press release explains. The antibody was initially discovered in an HIV-positive person and has since proven to potentially neutralize 98 percent of HIV isolates, “including 16 of 20 strains resistant to other antibodies of the same class, ” according to the press release. Researchers have had previous success with other antibodies, but N6 appears to be more effective. The new discovery has potential benefits far beyond preventing and treating HIV as well. Studying exactly how N6 works could potentially lead to breakthroughs in other anti-viral antibodies. “Findings from the current study showed that N6 evolved a unique mode of binding that depends less on a variable area of the HIV envelope known as the V5 region and focuses more on conserved regions, which change relatively little among HIV strains, ” NIAID explains. “This allows N6 to tolerate changes in the HIV envelope, including the attachment of sugars in the V5 region, a major mechanism by which HIV develops resistance to other VRC01-class antibodies. Due to its potency, N6 may offer stronger and more durable prevention and treatment benefits, and researchers may be able to administer it subcutaneously (into the fat under the skin) rather than intravenously. In addition, its ability to neutralize nearly all HIV strains would be advantageous for both prevention and treatment strategies.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Scientists Discover Antibody That Neutralizes 98% of HIV Strains