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Office Depot caught claiming out-of-box PCs showed “symptoms of malware”

Enlarge (credit: Nicholas Eckhart ) Office Depot and its sister retailer OfficeMax have stopped using a technically dubious piece of malware-scanning software after two news services caught the stores recommending costly fixes for PC infections that didn’t exist. According to an investigation conducted by KIRO TV News , four out of six stores in Seattle and Portland, Oregon claimed that out-of-the-box PCs showed “symptoms of malware” that required as much as $180 for repairs and protection. The computers, according to the report, had never been connected to the Internet and were diagnosed as free of malware by security firm IOActive. A separate TV News team from WFXT in Boston reported on Friday that the same free scanning service OfficeMax offers similarly misdiagnosed two of three brand-new PCs as potentially infected. Officials at Office Depot, the parent company that operates both chains, said they are suspending use of software known as PC Health Check for scanning customers’ computers for malware. The officials went on to say they didn’t condone the conduct reported by the TV news organizations and have undertaken a review of the assertions. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Office Depot caught claiming out-of-box PCs showed “symptoms of malware”

4K Netflix is finally available on Windows 10 PCs

Netflix has been pushing out 4K content to its apps on streaming boxes and Smart TVs for awhile, but the entertainment industry’s anti-piracy crusade and some DRM limitations have meant PC users looking to stream ultra HD episodes of Bloodline have been out of luck until now. Starting today, Netflix’s 4K content is available to stream on Windows 10 PCs — but only if your machine is a fairly recent one. The catch: you’ll need a new or new-ish Windows 10 PC with a seventh-gen Intel Kaby Lake processor and 4K display to take advantage. So, your options are basically limited to the Lenovo Yoga 910 and a handful of gaming laptops and desktop machines at the moment. Assuming your hardware is good to go, you’ll also need to upgrade to the $12 monthly Premium subscription with Ultra HD streaming. Users with older Home Theater PCs are still out of luck, unfortunately. On the bright side, the new partnership with Netflix — which includes getting Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life in 4K a few days before everyone else — gives Redmond the opportunity to tout battery life improvements they’ve made to their very own Edge browser . According to Microsoft, you’ll be able to squeeze in one more episode before your battery dies if you’re streaming on Edge instead of Chrome. Of course, a Chromecast Ultra would also do the trick. Source: Windows Blog

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4K Netflix is finally available on Windows 10 PCs

The MacBook Pro Touch Bar plays ‘Doom’ because of course it does

Doom is the rice of the video game world. It’s a staple of the industry and it works with everything , running flawlessly on ATMs , printers , pianos , calculators , e-readers , chainsaws and even on a terminal within Doom itself . This week, Facebook iOS engineer Adam Bell got Doom running on one more unlikely appliance: the Touch Bar of the latest MacBook Pro. Playing the original Doom on a MacBook Pro isn’t impressive in and of itself, but squeezing those monstrous pixels onto the 2170 x 60 resolution Touch Bar is a notable accomplishment (even if the bar is basically a thin, elongated Apple Watch). Bell showed off his handiwork in a YouTube video published on Sunday, complete with classic sound effects, music and all. Bell also configured the Touch Bar to display the Doom HUD, featuring health, ammo, weapons and other in-game stats at the top of the MacBook Pro keyboard, ostensibly while the game itself runs on the main screen. Side note, as ridiculous (ly amazing) as Doom is running on the Touch Bar is… the HUD is equally great pic.twitter.com/RFwq7nJ7ae — Adam Bell (@b3ll) November 20, 2016 Bethesda and developer id Software released a big Doom reboot this year and it’s just as gloriously gory as the series’ pixelated roots. It features multiple nods to the original game, including a level editor with classic assets . It’s nominated in multiple Game Awards categories , including Game of the Year. Via: The Verge Source: @b3ll

Here’s what you’ll need to run Windows 10 VR headsets next year

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 Abandons Development of Wireless Routers, To Focus On Products That Return More Profit

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

Guy restores a century-old letterpress to perfect condition

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

Second Chinese Firm In a Week Found Hiding a Backdoor In Android Firmware

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.

Ben Heck’s reverse-engineered Game Boy Printer

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

New York’s District Attorney: Roll Back Apple’s iPhone Encryption

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

Feeding Seaweed To Cows Eliminates Methane Emissions

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.

Ken May

Author: kenmay