Author: kenmay

FBI Offers $25K Reward For Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup Painting Heist

coondoggie quotes a report from Networkworld: The FBI today said it was offering a reward of up to $25, 000 for information leading to the recovery of seven Andy Warhol paintings stolen from the Springfield Art Museum in Springfield, Missouri. The collection, which has been owned by the Springfield Art Museum since 1985, is set number 31 of the Campbell’s Soup I collection and is valued at approximately $500, 000. Each painting in the screen print collection measures 37 inches high by 24.5 inches wide and framed in white frames, the FBI stated. The FBI says that seven of 10 Andy Warhol paintings Campbell’s Soup I collection, made in 1968, were taken. Since its inception, the FBI’s Art Crime Team has recovered more than 2, 650 items valued at over $150 million. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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FBI Offers $25K Reward For Andy Warhol Campbell’s Soup Painting Heist

Google.org pledges $20 million to support disability technologies

The World Health Organization estimates 1 billion people across the world live with disabilities, and Google’s philanthropy division, Google.org, just pledged $20 million to help improve their situations. The money is spread across 29 programs working on disability technologies — the average amount they’ll each receive is $750, 000, with six of the grant winners getting more than $1 million, Wired reports. The programs fall into five categories of disabilities — hearing, mobility, cognitive, vision and communication — and the winning programs tackle a variety of issues. Here are a few examples: My Human Kit connects people who need prosthetics with low-cost 3D-printed solutions. The Center for Discovery is building an open-source add-on that turns any manual wheelchair into a power chair. Perkins School for the Blind wants to roll out more detailed GPS instructions to ensure the visually impaired don’t get left behind when independently navigating the real world. The Dan Marino Foundation is developing a digital, interactive system to help young people on the autism spectrum train for job interviews. The Leprosy Mission Trust India is making low-cost custom footwear that enables people with leprosy to maintain their ability to walk. In related accessibility news, Google recently rolled out the beta for its Voice Access system , which allows users to navigate their phones via voice commands. Via: Wired Source: Google.org

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Google.org pledges $20 million to support disability technologies

Ikea to Begin Selling a Chain-less Bicycle

Ikea has announced they’ll be selling an item whose name you can not only pronounce, but that you can ride. The furniture giant is releasing a unisex bicycle “designed to fit an urban lifestyle” called the Sladda. Gokiso wheels, Shimano shifters? Not exactly. Ikea seems to have recognized that bike-lovers already have bikes, and the Sladda—created by by Oskar Juhlin, Jan Puranen and Kristian Eke of global design consultancy Veryday —appears to be aimed at those who don’t. Thus the emphasis is on low maintenance, and it seems Sladda owners will never have to touch a bottle of Tri-Flow: The gears are tucked away in a sealed hub in the rear wheel, and in place of a chain is a corrosion-resistant, maintenance-free cogged drive belt that Ikea reckons is good for 15, 000 kilometers (9, 320 miles). The image below is clearly a rendering, but we’ve zoomed in on it anyway to see what the belt might look like: The frame is made from aluminum, with the aim being to keep the bike light enough to easily carry up and down stairs. It’s coated in two layers of lacquer to protect against mud, salt and scratches. The handlebars are height-adjustable, and by offering a choice of either 26- or 28-inch wheels, the company says the bike is good for everyone from 12-year-olds on up. For accessories, the Sladda features an otherwise undescribed “click system” whereby the rider can easily attach accessories. Thus far they only describe a basket, a rack for panniers and a cart, but designer Juhlin hints that third parties might create more: “Sladda is like tablet apps: you can add endless accessories to enhance ease of use.” “This bike, ” he continues, “is an environmentally friendly replacement for your car and can help you live more sustainable, more active lives.” The Sladda has already scooped up a Red Dot Design Award and is slated to go on sale, in Europe at least, this August. The projected price is €699 (USD $797) for the general public, and €499 (USD $569) for members of the Ikea Family loyalty program.

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Ikea to Begin Selling a Chain-less Bicycle

HTC 10 With 5.2-inch QHD Display, Snapdragon 820 SoC, 12MP Camera Launched at $699

Dan Seifert, writing for The Verge: HTC is today formally announcing the 10, its flagship smartphone for 2016. The HTC 10 follows last year’s M9 and blends the design of the M series with the A9 that came last fall. HTC says it spent 12 months designing this phone and integrated feedback from its customers throughout the development process. The 10 has everything you might expect from a flagship Android phone in 2016. There’s a 5.2-inch, quad HD Super LCD 5 display that HTC says displays 30 percent more color than last year’s phone. The screen is covered in Gorilla Glass with curved edges that blend into the phone’s metal frame. You’ll be able to find out if that’s enough for HTC to compete when the phone ships next month for $699. One interesting feature, which separates HTC 10 from many other Android flagship smartphones, is support for AirPlay. The feature enables the smartphone to stream media content to an Apple TV. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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HTC 10 With 5.2-inch QHD Display, Snapdragon 820 SoC, 12MP Camera Launched at $699

Windows 10 roadmap: Control everything remotely

As Microsoft continues to court businesses and encourage them to upgrade to Windows 10, the company has taken the novel step of publishing a roadmap of Windows 10 features . This roadmap describes business-oriented features that are coming to Windows 10. Some, such as biometric authentication in the Edge browser, have already been announced as part of the forthcoming Anniversary Update and are currently available in the Insider Preview . But others are not. While some are so vague as to tell us nothing—the Passport API used for biometric authentication is being “enhanced” to improve enterprise functionality—other features are rather more concrete. Microsoft plans to add device-based PC unlocking, wherein Windows and Android phones can be used to store authentication credentials, and the feature can be used to both unlock the PC and authenticate apps and services that use Windows Hello and the Passport API. The same is also being enabled for what Microsoft calls “Companion devices” that integrate with a new API called the “Companion Device Framework.” The Microsoft Band 2 fitness device will plug into this framework, and third-party devices will also be able to join in. Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Windows 10 roadmap: Control everything remotely

Surveillance Cameras Sold On Amazon Found Infected With Malware

An anonymous reader shares a report on ZDNet: Security researcher Mike Olsen has warned that some products sold through the Amazon marketplace are harboring a dark secret — malware. Olsen said in a blog post that while scouring Amazon for a decent set of outdoor surveillance cameras for a friend, he came across a deal for 6 PoE cameras and recording equipment. The seller, Urban Security Group, had generally good reviews and was offering a particular Sony setup on sale. After purchasing the kit, Olsen started setting up the surveillance system, logging into the administrator panel to configure it. Upon investigation, Olsen found that the device was talking to a server with hostname Brenz.pl, which is linked to malware distribution. If the device’s firmware links to this domain, malware can be downloaded and installed, potentially leading to unlawful surveillance and data theft.Perhaps the company which made the device didn’t realize its source code was compromised. While the aforementioned incident should serve as a reminder to people on why they need to be wary of the product they are purchasing, this isolated occurrence doesn’t prove in any way that “plenty” of cameras on Amazon are also infected, as the article and the original blog post are subtly trying to imply. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Surveillance Cameras Sold On Amazon Found Infected With Malware

Ticketmaster will start selling tickets on Facebook this month

You can already buy things on Facebook, and later this month, you’ll be able to snag concert tickets without leaving the site, too. Ticketmaster VP Dan Armstrong told BuzzFeed in an interview that the ticket retailer would begin selling admission to live music and other events through the social network’s site and mobile app before April’s end. While Ticketmaster isn’t the first to coordinate purchases from Facebook, making tickets to events available on the social channel seems like a good move for both companies. Facebook users already RSVP to events on the regular, so there’s certainly a convenience in having the tickets easily accessible there. You know, so you can catch up when one of your pals RSVPs to a show you either didn’t know about or forgot was coming to town. It also keeps you on Facebook longer rather than having to head elsewhere to complete the transaction. As you might expect, Ticketmaster is hoping the integration will lead to more ticket sales. Details are scarce on exactly how the process will work, but BuzzFeed does mention that Facebook stands to collect “a standard affiliate fee” from each purchase. We’ll have to wait and see if that will affect those pesky service charges, but you will still have to claim any tickets you buy from the Ticketmaster site after the initial transaction. To start, the option will be limited to a select few general admission events, so it could be a while before you can use the feature to grab all of your concert tickets. And when it’s time to head home afterwards, just fire up Facebook Messenger to hail a ride . Source: BuzzFeed

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Ticketmaster will start selling tickets on Facebook this month

Experts Crack Petya Ransomware, Enable Hard Drive Decryption For Free

Reader itwbennett writes: Petya appeared on researchers’ radar last month when criminals distributed it to companies through spam emails that masqueraded as job applications. It stood out from other file-encrypting ransomware programs because it overwrites a hard drive’s master boot record (MBR), leaving infected computers unable to boot into the operating system. Now, security experts have devised a method that, while not exactly straightforward, allows users to recover data from computers infected with the ransomware without paying money to cyber criminals. Folks over at BleepingComputer have confirmed that the aforementioned technique works. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Experts Crack Petya Ransomware, Enable Hard Drive Decryption For Free

Radiooooo: Pick a country, pick a decade, and listen to the popular music of the era

Radiooooo lets you pick a decade and a country, and will dispense popular music created then and there. (Note the “weird” option, disabled by default.) Thanks to this, I rediscovered Blue Boy’s Remember Me (UK, 1990s, fast, weird), which remixes Marlena Shaw’s Woman of the Ghetto into something very different. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKKNPLowteY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMOGy3MXQSA

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Radiooooo: Pick a country, pick a decade, and listen to the popular music of the era