Razer, the billion-dollar startup that builds hardware and software for hardcore gaming enthusiasts, is today unveiling two of its latest products aimed at ramping up the immersive gaming experience. And — surprisingly, given how much else we’ve seen in this area this week already at CES — Razer is not launching yet another virtual reality tool. Project Ariana is a… Read More
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Razer goes immersive with new in-room gaming projection and 3-screen laptop
An anonymous reader writes: “An attacker going by the name of Harak1r1 is hijacking unprotected MongoDB databases, stealing and replacing their content, and asking for a 0.2 Bitcoin ($200) ransom to return the data, ” reports Bleeping Computer. According to John Matherly, Shodan founder, over 1, 800 MongoDB databases have had their content replaced with a table called WARNING that contains the ransom note. Spotted by security researcher Victor Gevers, these databases are MongoDB instances that feature no administrator password and are exposed to external connections from the internet. Database owners in China have been hit, while Bleeping Computer and MacKeeper have confirmed other infections, one which hit a prominent U.S. healthcare organization and blocked access to over 200, 000 user records. These attacks are somewhat similar to attacks on Redis servers in 2016, when an unknown attacker had hijacked and installed the Fairware ransomware on hundreds of Linux servers running Redis DB. The two series of attacks don’t appear to be related. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Over 1,800 MongoDB Databases Held For Ransom By Mysterious Attacker
There’s nothing quite like Psyche anywhere else in our solar system—a small asteroid belt object made entirely of iron-nickel metal. Which is why NASA has decided to send a probe to check out the bizarre beast up close. Read more…
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NASA Is Actually Going to Visit That Insane Metallic World
Following earlier production tests , Tesla’s Gigafactory is now pumping out Powerwall 2 and Powerpack 2 energy storage products at full speed, with Model 3 cell production set to follow next quarter. By 2018, it’ll produce 35 GWh of lithium-ion cells per year, “nearly as much as the rest of the entire world’s battery production combined, ” the company wrote. The Gigafactory, a joint venture between Tesla and Panasonic, is still less than 30 percent of its eventual 4.9 million square foot size. However, the company needs lots of batteries and needs them fast, considering that it received 400, 000 pre-orders for the $35, 000 Model 3. So, it’s using a phased approach by starting now and expanding later, which “also allows us to learn and continuously improve our construction and operational techniques, ” Tesla wrote. The company said battery cell costs will decline as much as 30 percent by 2020 as economies of scale and increased automation kicks in. At full tilt, it will produce enough for 1.5 million cars a year, about half of Ford’s annual production. Despite using robots throughout the factory, Tesla and Panasonic say they’ll hire several thousand local employees in 2017 alone. “At peak production, the Gigafactory will directly employ 6, 500 people and indirectly create between 20, 000 and 30, 000 additional jobs in the surrounding area.” Source: Tesla
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Tesla’s Gigafactory ramps up to full battery production
Whether it’s the Google Pixel or the Samsung Galaxy S7 —companies are betting that the future of virtual reality will be ushered in by your mobile device. Now, you can add Asus to that list. The company just announced a new smartphone at CES that takes an adventurous and somewhat experimental leap into the world of… Read more…
You’re about to feel better if you’ve been holding back on buying a new TV . The HDMI Forum has unveiled a new specification for its namesake video connector, HDMI 2.1, and there’s enough here to make enthusiasts happy. It now supports both very high resolutions and high frame rates. In particular, you can get 4K at a speedy 120Hz, and 8K at 60Hz (when 8K sets are ready ). You’ll even see 8K with high dynamic range, although you’ll need new 48Gbps cables to experience this and other high-bandwidth features in all their uncompressed glory. Thankfully, there are some upgrades that shouldn’t take years to reach your living room. For one, there’s a smarter take on HDR. New Dynamic HDR support optimizes colors per scene, and even per frame — you should get the best picture possible at any given moment, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Gamers will also like Game Mode VRR support, which introduces variable refresh rates to cut back on lag, screen tearing and other visual artifacts. Audio mavens, meanwhile, will appreciate support for object-based audio (that is, sound given a position in 3D space). HDMI 2.1 and the new cabling are both backward compatible. The gotcha: the spec won’t be released until the second quarter of 2017, and you likely won’t see displays that use it until sometime after that. It’s not clear that the TVs being announced at CES will support 2.1, although LG has mentioned a form of dynamic HDR in its 2017 sets . If you insist on having it, you might want to wait for detailed specs on this year’s TVs before deciding when to buy. Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017. Source: HDMI Forum
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HDMI’s new spec improves 8K, HDR and gaming
Enlarge / This is a call center in New Dehli, India, not the Phoenix 007 operation that was busted. (credit: ILO ) Last year’s unraveling of the massive India-based telephone scam ring may have been helped by a phone call to a Federal Trade Commission lawyer. According to a Tuesday report in The New York Times , the bust seemingly was aided by the efforts of two teenage employees from one of the companies. The pair blew the whistle on their former employer, the Phoenix 007 call center that’s based outside of Mumbai. The workers reached Betsy Broder of the FTC after being shuffled from the Internal Revenue Service’s main switchboard. Indian and American authorities believe that this call center, along with several others, was part of a massive ring to call Americans in the United States and trick them into ponying up thousands of dollars in fraudulent fees. This criminal operation is believed to have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Two India-based call center employees blew whistle on massive phone scam
m0nster0 posted this 3mm-thick slice of a Seymchan pallasite meteorite to Reddit. He says its “one of my favorite bits of space rock.” I can’t argue with that! He bought it on eBay from this guy , who sells some stunning specimens.
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Beautiful Seymchan pallasite meteorite
For centuries, the mesentery (which links the intestine to the abdomen) has been treated as a group of distinct structures in your digestive system. It wasn’t anything special. However, the medical world now has to rethink that belief. Scientists recently determined that the mesentery is really one, cohesive entity — that’s right, they confirmed the existence of a ‘new’ organ. Researchers first discovered the continuous nature of the mesentery through microscopic examinations in 2012, but the past few years have shown that it has enough function to be considered an organ. This doesn’t mean that the scientific community understands exactly what the mesentery does. With that in mind, the very act of classifying it as an organ should have a far-reaching impact. On a basic level, it’s shaking up education. The medical field had to update its definitive Gray’s Anatomy textbook to account for the new findings, and students are already learning about the mesentery as a matter of course. More importantly, it’s opening up a line of inquiry that hadn’t been available before — it’s a “whole new area of science, ” the discovery team’s J. Calvin Coffey says. If scientists can learn more about how the mesentery interacts with the digestive system, they could develop better treatments for diseases and identify conditions that are specific to this part of the body. Via: Science Alert Source: The Lancet , University of Limerick
Tofugu (where my wife Carla is exec editor) has a great article about the 20 best anime movies not made by Studio Ghibli ( Totoro, Spirited Away ). https://youtu.be/xGOneMdjpw4 19. REDLINE Often times, “anime” is defined by its lack of motion . Redline punches this “limited animation” concept in its motionless face. It’s easily the busiest, most overstimulating animated film we’ve ever seen. A daredevil speedster named JP enters the Redline, a high-stakes, weaponized space race that nearly took his life. But first, he’s gotta get back into racing shape to challenge the best in the universe with pure speed and guts. Along his comeback trail, JP meets Cherry-Boy Hunter, a young female competitor who unearths old memories. Can JP return to form in time for the Redline? Is Cherry-Boy Hunter friend or foe? Can JP survive the intergalactic conspiracy that saturates the race? Sure, Redline’s plot plays like a giant stone soup of anime tropes: space, vehicles, aliens, and giant pompadours. Check, check, and check. The film took seven years and 100,000 hand drawings to create, all that hard work paid off. Down to its pop-art presentation, Redline is anime pulp fiction at its best. What it lacks in depth, it makes up for with an adrenaline-fueled circus of speed and action.
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The 20 best anime movies not made by Studio Ghibli