Author: kenmay

Read thousands of comic books with a Scribd subscription

Scribd’s monthly subscription includes unlimited access to its library of audio and e-books , and as of today, you can add comics to that list. The service announced that it added over 10, 000 comic books for leisurely reading, and the more visually striking reading material will be included in the regular $9/month plan. Comics from publishers like Marvel, Archie, Valiant, Dynamite and more are available, meaning titles like Captain America, The Avengers, Harbinger and others can be read both on the web and that trusty mobile device . Not sure if you’re ready to commit? You can try Scribd for a month free of charge before opening your wallet. Filed under: Internet , Software Comments Via: The Verge Source: Scribd

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Read thousands of comic books with a Scribd subscription

VLC Acquiring Lots of New Features

jones_supa writes: Two weekends ago an update for VLC media player was shared during a presentation in Brussels at FOSDEM. Lead developer Jean-Baptiste Kempf covered VLC’s continued vibrant development, as well as features that are coming for VLC 2.2 and VLC 3.0. VLC 2.2.0 will feature automatic, GPU-accelerated video rotation support, extension improvements, resume handling, support for new codecs/formats and rewrites to some of the existing formats, VDPAU GPU zero-copy support, x265 encoder support, etc. Further out is VLC 3.0.0, which is planned to have Wayland support, GPU zero-copy support for OpenMAX IL, ARIB subtitle support, HEVC / VP9 hardware decoding on Android, a rework of the MP4 and TS demuxers, and browsing improvements. The VLC FOSDEM 2015 presentation is available in PDF form. The VLC Git shortlog can be used to follow the development of the project. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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VLC Acquiring Lots of New Features

Samsung Smart TVs Injected Ads Into Streamed Video

mpicpp sends this news from CNET: Reports are emerging that Samsung smart TVs have begun inserting short advertisements directly into video streaming apps, with no influence from the third-party app providers. The news comes just days after Samsung made headlines for another incursion into users’ lounge rooms, when it was revealed that its TV voice recognition software is capable of capturing personal information and transmitting it to third parties. … The issue has been reported on the Plex streaming service — a brand of media player that allows users to stream their own video from a personal library or hard drive and push it to a smart TV. Samsung says this was not intentional, and that they’ve fixed it so the ads should no longer show up. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Samsung Smart TVs Injected Ads Into Streamed Video

15-year-old bug allows malicious code execution in all versions of Windows

Microsoft just patched a 15-year-old bug that in some cases allows attackers to take complete control of PCs running all supported versions of Windows. The critical vulnerability will remain unpatched in Windows 2003, leaving that version wide open for the remaining five months Microsoft pledged to continue supporting it. The flaw, which took Microsoft more than 12 months to fix, affects all users who connect to business, corporate, or government networks using the Active Directory service. The database is built into Windows and acts as a combination traffic cop and security guard, granting specific privileges to authorized users and mapping where on a local network various resources are available. The bug—which Microsoft classifies as MS15-011 and the researcher who first reported it calls Jasbug—allows attackers who are in a position to monitor traffic passing between the user and the Active Directory network to launch a man-in-the-middle exploit that executes malicious code on vulnerable machines. “All computers and devices that are members of a corporate Active Directory may be at risk,” warned a blog post published Tuesday by JAS Global Advisors, the firm that reported the bug to Microsoft in January 2014. “The vulnerability is remotely exploitable and may grant the attacker administrator-level privileges on the target machine/device. Roaming machines—Active Directory member devices that connect to corporate networks via the public Internet (possibly over a Virtual Private Network (VPN))—are at heightened risk.” Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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15-year-old bug allows malicious code execution in all versions of Windows

Neil Armstrong kept the original Moon landing camera in his closet

If you were the first to set foot on a celestial body, wouldn’t you keep a few mementos from the trip? The late, great Neil Armstrong certainly did — including one of the most important gadgets in recent history. The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum has revealed that the astronaut stored numerous items from the Apollo 11 Moon landing in a closet at home, the highlight of which is undoubtedly the 16mm Data Acquisition Camera used to record the iconic moment he reached the Lunar surface. Armstrong apparently held on to the camera and other “odds and ends” (as he told Mission Control) on the way back to Earth, and never mentioned them when he returned. Thankfully, you won’t have much trouble seeing some of these artifacts in the near future. They’re part of an exhibit at the museum, so you only have to book a trip to Washington, DC by June 8th to see some of the technology that defined early space travel. [Image credit: Dane Penland, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution] Filed under: Cameras , Science Comments Via: Washington Post Source: Airspace Blog

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Neil Armstrong kept the original Moon landing camera in his closet

BioWare cancels ‘Shadow Realms,’ its first original game in six years

Well, that was quick. Six months after its debut, BioWare’s announced it’s canceled its online action-RPG, Shadow Realms . The Austin-based studio isn’t moving forward with the four-versus-one PC game because, as the studio’s general manager Jeff Hickman tells it, it’s working on other things at the moment –including the next Mass Effect , add-on content for last year’s Dragon Age: Inquisition and the team’s Star Wars online RPG, The Old Republic . As GamesIndustry notes , that last title might attract new players given this December’s release of The Force Awakens . Don’t fret if you signed up for Shadow Realms ‘ closed alpha, though, as BioWare says it’s working on a reward for your trouble. In addition to all the above sequels and additional content it’s working on, the Texas team apparently has its hands in something new, as well. Could it be what the outfit teased last E3? Perhaps. We might not have long to wait until we see it, though — the Game Developer’s Conference is in early March immediately followed by PAX East and then E3 in June. Filed under: Gaming , Home Entertainment , HD Comments Via: GamesIndustry Source: BioWare

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BioWare cancels ‘Shadow Realms,’ its first original game in six years