Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny’s long-lost, long-eared ancestor has been discovered in the National archive of the British Film Institute. (more…)
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“Long-lost” 1928 Disney animation with ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’ found in BFI archives
iPhone/iPad: Ever wish you could just make a quick sketch or handwritten note in Evernote? Your wish has come true today, at least on iOS. Read more…
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Evernote on iOS Now Lets You Sketch or Hand Write in Notes
An anonymous reader writes: Today marks the release of Fedora 23 for all three main editions: Workstation, Cloud, and Server. This release brings GNOME 3.18, Libre Office 5.0, and Fedora Spins — alternate desktops that provide a different experience. Fedora 23 also includes a version optimized for running on ARM-based systems. You can read the full release notes on their website. “Fedora 23 also has important under-the-hood security improvements, with increased hardening for all compiled software and with insecure SSL3 and RC4 protocols disabled. We’ve also updated all of the software installed by default in Fedora Cloud Base Image and Fedora Workstation to use Python version 3, and the Mono .NET compatible framework is now at version 4. Perhaps most importantly, Unicode 8.0 support now enables the crucial U1F32D character.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Fedora 23 Released
Enlarge (credit: Coldzer0) Developers of the vBulletin software package for website forums released a security patch Monday night, just hours after reports surfaced that a hack on the developers’ site leaked password data and other sensitive information belonging to almost 480,000 subscribers. vBulletin officials have put in place a mandatory password reset for all users after discovering it was subjected to a hack attack. They went on to warn that the attacker “may have accessed customer IDs and encrypted passwords on our system.” A separate post on the vBulletin site makes reference to a security patch for versions 5.1.4 through 5.1.9 of the vBulletin Connect software package. Noticeably missing from either link is an explicit warning that there is a critical vulnerability in vBulletin that has already been actively exploited and puts thousands of sites at risk until they install the patch. Ars asked vBulletin officials to clarify the reports and to confirm or disconfirm the speculation they have generated, but so far the request has gone unanswered. This post contains inferences and information from alternative sources that has yet to be explicitly confirmed. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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vBulletin password hack fuels fears of serious Internet-wide 0-day attacks
An anonymous reader writes: Mozilla today launched Firefox 42 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. Notable additions to the browser include tracking protection, tab audio indicators, and background link opening on Android. The new private browsing mode goes further than just not saving your browsing history (read: porn sites) — the added tracking protection means Firefox also blocks website elements (ads, analytics trackers, and social share buttons) that could track you while you’re surfing the web, and it works on all four platforms. The feature is almost like a built-in ad blocker, though it’s really closer to browser add-ons like Ghostery and Privacy Badger because ads that don’t track you are allowed through. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Firefox 42 Arrives With Tracking Protection, Tab Audio Indicators
Long-trusted software site MacUpdate has apparently gone the way of its competitors: It has been tainted by adware . A Twitter user tried to download a Skype Installer package from the site and discovered that all was not as it appeared . The file looks normal at first and when opened you’re prompted with a user agreement that people generally just click past, but it’s here that gives the installer the right to change browser settings and add a “search-assist” browser extension . This type of software-trickery is identical to those used by InstallCore adware and as soon as the Skype agreement is confirmed, an InstallCore browser is added to Safari. It’s usually wise to download software from the developer’s site but the appeal of MacUpdate was that it acted like a one-stop-shop of sorts, carrying with it a strong reputation for reliable downloads. Now, with this news coming to light, maybe it will have to be added to the boycott list right under Download.com and Softonic . Source: Ciro Urdaneta (Twitter)
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Adware found in MacUpdate’s Skype Installer package
An anonymous reader writes: A team of researchers at NASA’s Eagleworks Laboratories recently completed yet another round of testing on Engineer Roger Shawyer’s controversial EM Drive. While no peer reviewed paper has been published yet, engineer Paul March posted to the NASA Spaceflight forum to explain the group’s findings. From the article: “In essence, by utilizing an improved experimental procedure, the team managed to mitigate some of the errors from prior tests — yet still found signals of unexplained thrust.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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NASA Eagleworks Has Tested an Upgraded EM Drive
Add / Remove Counterfeiting is believed to cost companies trillions in annual profit and is a source of public health concern. We’ve covered an edible barcode to combat counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical industry, and now researchers at the University of Bradford have developed an undetectable 3D barcode designed to mould into a variety of products. Developed with Sofmat and SME UK , the barcodes use a series of pins to create 3D patterns moulded onto a small plastic surface. By varying the heights and spaces between pins, millions of unique configurations can be produced. The barcodes are virtually invisible to human eyes and touch, ensuring that products can only be verified by a laser scanner and preventing copycatting. Barcodes can be built into or stamped on to products, making successful tampering very near impossible. Phil Harrison, Sofmat Director, explains: “For the first time the same technology and coding can be used on bulk packaging, individual packaging and on the actual product, making it much harder to create and ship fake products.” In industries such as pharmaceuticals and electronics where counterfeiting is a major safety concern, making hard-to-fake materials protects people as well as profits. Can the technology be used in other counterfeit prone consumer goods? Website: www.sofmat.com Contact: phil@sofmat.co.uk The post Invisible 3D barcodes prevent counterfeiting appeared first on Springwise .
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Invisible 3D barcodes prevent counterfeiting
Dave Knott writes: Nine names, 23 email addresses and 57 unlabelled phone numbers were published by hackers last weekend as part of an Anonymous-organized effort to “unhood” members of the Ku Klux Klan. There are doubts, however, about the Operation KKK data dump’s veracity — and about one file, in particular, that alleges four U.S. senators and five mayors have hate group associations. The questionable data was released on PasteBin by an individual called Amped Attacks, who has now distanced himself from Anonymous, stating “i am not apart of anonymous nor have i ever claimed to be. i am my own man that acts on my own accord. i do however respect #OpKKK.” To clarify the situation, Anonymous took to Twitter on Tuesday evening to state that “the twitter account that released the pastebin with the government officials that are clearly not KKK”. Meanwhile, the Anonymous members behind Operation KKK say that “the actual release for Operation KKK will be 5 Nov.” This is of course a date that has no small significance for Anonymous. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Anonymous Says US Senators Were ‘Incorrectly Outed’ As KKK Members
Solar panels in Chile’s Atacama desert. (credit: OPIC.gov ) Currently, the Earth’s inhabitants are consuming about 17.5TeraWatts of power each year. It’s estimated that an aggressive rollout of solar panels could generate at least 400TW, and possibly much, much more. But that would involve paving over a lot of the Earth’s surface with solar panels, in many cases covering relatively reflective sand with dark black hardware. Could this have its own effects on the climate? The answer turns out to be remarkably complex. That’s in part because the panels don’t simply absorb the energy of the light—a fraction of it gets converted to electricity and shipped elsewhere. A team of US and Chinese scientists decided to account for all of this and found out that massive solar installations would cause changes in the climate, but the changes would be minor compared to what we’d see from continued greenhouse gas emissions. The authors created a number of scenarios to tease out the influence of the panels, and they used climate models to examine the changes they drove. The first method involved covering most of the Earth’s deserts and urban areas with solar panels (this would, of course, lead to a ridiculous overproduction of electricity). In a second, the power harvested by these panels was then sent to urban areas and dissipated as heat. Finally, for a somewhat more realistic view, they simply covered most of the deserts of Egypt with panels. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Changing the Earth’s climate by covering the deserts with solar panels