Author: kenmay

Android Stagefright Bug Required 115 Patches, Millions Still At Risk

eWeek reports that “hundreds of millions of users remain at risk” one year after Joshua Drake discovered the Stagefright Android flaw. Slashdot reader darthcamaro writes: A year ago, on July 27, 2015 news about the Android Stagefright flaw was first revealed with the initial reports claiming widespread impact with a billion users at risk. As it turns out, the impact of Stagefright has been more pervasive…over the last 12 months, Google has patched no less than 115 flaws in Stagefright and related Android media libraries. Joshua Drake, the researcher who first discovered the Stagefright flaw never expected it to go this far. “I expected shoring up the larger problem to take an extended and large effort, but I didn’t expect it to be ongoing a year later.” Drake believes targeted attacks use Stagefright vulnerabilities on unpatched systems, but adds that Android’s bug bounty program appears to be working, paying out $550, 000 in its first year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Android Stagefright Bug Required 115 Patches, Millions Still At Risk

You Can Still Get Windows 10 For Free If You Use Assistive Technologies

Microsoft’s free Windows 10 upgrade offer officially ended yesterday . However, the company has left a loophole. If you need to use assistive technologies, you can still upgrade for free. Microsoft also isn’t verifying if you do. Read more…

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You Can Still Get Windows 10 For Free If You Use Assistive Technologies

Open Source Gardening Robot ‘FarmBot’ Raises $560,000

Slashdot reader Paul Fernhout writes: FarmBot is an open-source gantry-crane-style outdoor robot for tending a garden bed. The project is crowdfunding a first production run and has raised US$561, 486 of their US$100, 000 goal — with one day left to go… The onboard control system is based around a Raspberry Pi 3 computer and an Arduino Mega 2560 Microcontroller. Many of the parts are 3D printable. Two years ago Slashdot covered the genesis of this project, describing its goal as simply “to increase food production by automating as much of it as possible.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Open Source Gardening Robot ‘FarmBot’ Raises $560,000

Google Maps for iOS Can Now Navigate to Multiple Destinations

iOS: As the saying goes, not all who wander are lost, and if you’re journey is more complicated than point A to point B, you can finally add more than one destination in Google Maps for iOS when you’re trying to get directions. Read more…

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Google Maps for iOS Can Now Navigate to Multiple Destinations

Malvertising Campaign Infected Thousands of Users Per Day For More Than a Year

An anonymous reader writes from a report via Softpedia: Since the summer of 2015, users that surfed 113 major, legitimate websites were subjected to one of the most advanced malvertising campaigns ever discovered, with signs that this might have actually been happening since 2013. Infecting a whopping 22 advertising platforms, the criminal gang behind this campaign used complicated traffic filtering systems to select users ripe for infection, usually with banking trojans. The campaign constantly pulled between 1 and 5 million users per day, infecting thousands, and netting the crooks millions each month. The malicious ads, according to this list, were shown on sites like The New York Times, Le Figaro, The Verge, PCMag, IBTimes, Ars Technica, Daily Mail, Telegraaf, La Gazetta dello Sport, CBS Sports, Top Gear, Urban Dictionary, Playboy, Answers.com, Sky.com, and more. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Malvertising Campaign Infected Thousands of Users Per Day For More Than a Year

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Becomes World’s Third Richest Person

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BBC: Strong earnings from Amazon and a boost to the company’s stock have made its founder, Jeff Bezos, the world’s third richest person, according to Forbes. Mr Bezos owns 18% of Amazon’s shares, which rose 2% in trading on Thursday. Forbes estimated his fortune to be $65.3 billion (49.5 billion British Pound). Amazon’s revenue beat analysts’ expectations, climbing 31% from last year to $30.4 billion in the second quarter. Profit for the e-commerce giant was $857 million, compared with $92 million in 2015. According to Forbes estimates, Mr Bezos’s fortune is only surpassed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, worth $78 billion (59 billion British Pound), and the $73.1 billion (55 billion British Pound) fortune of Zara founder Amancio Ortega. Amazon had developed a reputation for announcing little or no profit each quarter, but appeared to hit a turning point last year and has seen improving earnings since. Amazon shares have spiked 50% since February. BBC’s report includes some bullet points about Bezos. He was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1964. He studied at Princeton University and worked on Wall Street. In 1994, he launched Amazon as an online book retailer. A lifelong Star Trek fan, Bezos launched Blue Origin spaceflight and aerospace firm in 2000, and more than a decade later, he purchased The Washington Post newspaper in 2013. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Becomes World’s Third Richest Person

Guy Builds a Crazy Bellows Using Only Primitive Technology

The story of mankind is one of doing as little work as possible. And that plays out most excellently as Christian Bale lookalike Primitive Technology seeks to build the most efficient “forge blower” he can with the bounty of the forest. Read more…

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Guy Builds a Crazy Bellows Using Only Primitive Technology

Australia Has Moved 1.5 Metres, So It’s Updating Its Location For Self-Driving Cars

An anonymous reader shares a CNET report: Australia is changing from “down under” to “down under and across a bit”. The country is shifting its longitude and latitude to fix a discrepancy with global satellite navigation systems. Government body Geoscience Australia is updating the Geocentric Datum of Australia, the country’s national coordinate system, to bring it in line with international data. The reason Australia is slightly out of whack with global systems is that the country moves about 7 centimetres (2.75 inches) per year due to the shifting of tectonic plates. Since 1994, when the data was last recorded, that’s added up to a misalignment of about a metre and a half. While that might not seem like much, various new technology requires location data to be pinpoint accurate. Self-driving cars, for example, must have infinitesimally precise location data to avoid accidents. Drones used for package delivery and driverless farming vehicles also require spot-on information.ABC has more details. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Australia Has Moved 1.5 Metres, So It’s Updating Its Location For Self-Driving Cars

Use a Raspberry Pi to Power a Fancy Clock and Display Panel

Considering the Raspberry Pi’s a mini computer, it should come as no surprise one of the more common projects is a dashboard-style display . Over on GitHub, DIYer n0bel has a guide to turning the Pi into a smart clock. Read more…

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Use a Raspberry Pi to Power a Fancy Clock and Display Panel