TrueCrypt security audit presses on, despite developers jumping ship

ZEISS Microscopy TrueCrypt, the whole-disk encryption tool endorsed by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and used by millions of privacy and security enthusiasts around the world, will receive a second round of safety audits despite being declared unsafe and abruptly abandoned by its anonymous developers two days ago. Phase II of the security audit was already scheduled to commence when Wednesday’s bombshell advisory dropped on the TrueCrypt SourceForge page. After 24 hours to reflect on the unexpected move, an organizer with the Open Crypto Audit Project said he saw no reason to scrub those plans. Online fundraisers to bankroll the project have raised about $70,000, well past the $25,000 organizers had initially aimed for . “We have conferred and we are firmly going forward on schedule with the audit regardless of yesterday’s circumstances,” Kenn White, a North Carolina-based computer scientist and audit organizer told Ars Thursday. “We don’t want there to remain all sorts of questions or scenarios or what ifs in people’s minds. TrueCrypt has been around for 10 years and it’s never received a proper formal security analysis. People are going to continue to use it for better or worse, and we feel like we owe the community the proper analysis.” Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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TrueCrypt security audit presses on, despite developers jumping ship

4K Displays Ready For Prime Time

An anonymous reader writes “After the HD revolution, display manufacturers rolled out gimmick after gimmick to try to recapture that burst of purchasing (3-D, curved displays, ‘Smart’ features, form factor tweaks, etc). Now, we’re finally seeing an improvement that might actually be useful: 4K displays are starting to drop into a reasonable price range. Tech Report reviews a 28″ model from Asus that runs $650. They say, ‘Unlike almost every other 4K display on the market, the PB287Q is capable of treating that grid as a single, coherent surface. … Running games at 4K requires tons of GPU horsepower, yet dual-tile displays don’t support simple scaling. As a result, you can’t drop back to obvious subset resolutions like 2560×1440 or 1920×1080 in order to keep frame rendering times low. … And single-tile 4K at 30Hz stinks worse, especially for gaming. The PB287Q solves almost all of those problems.’ They add that the monitor’s firmware is not great, and while most options you want are available, they often require digging through menus to set up. The review ends up recommending the monitor, but notes that, more importantly, its capabilities signify ‘the promise of better things coming soon.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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4K Displays Ready For Prime Time

A New Wireless Router Lets You Trade Facebook Check-Ins For Free Wi-Fi

Offering free Wi-Fi to shoppers or diners is almost as essential to a business these days as having a public bathroom on site. But at the same time, you don’t want to give it away to just anyone walking by—at least without getting something in return. So D-Link’s new AC 1750 wireless router only doles out the Wi-Fi after someone has checked in to your business’ Facebook page. Read more…

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A New Wireless Router Lets You Trade Facebook Check-Ins For Free Wi-Fi

$10 million yacht tips over on its maiden voyage

Well, that’s not supposed to happen. Not when you spend 10 million dollars on a 90-foot yacht. Not when that $10 million 90-foot yacht is embarking on its maiden voyage. Not when a boat, let a lone a $10 million 90-foot yacht, is never supposed to tip over sideways. Read more…

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$10 million yacht tips over on its maiden voyage

Got PlayStation Plus? You’re now getting two games every month

Now that Microsoft is offering free games each month to Xbox One owners with Live Gold subscriptions, Sony is in a tough spot — how does it get you to buy a console and sign up for PlayStation Plus? By giving you more games, that’s what. As of June, Plus members get two games per month for every PlayStation platform they use, whether it’s a PS3 , PS4 or Vita . Availability will also be more consistent as of July. From then on, you’ll see the new Plus titles arrive (and old titles phase out) on the first Tuesday of a given month. The usual gotcha for Plus applies. Unlike Microsoft’s program, which lets you hold on to games even after your subscription lapses, Sony’s service requires that you keep shelling out to continue playing any giveaways. It’s not a perfect deal, then, but it’s hard to object to getting additional games at no extra charge. Filed under: Gaming , Sony Comments Source: PlayStation Blog

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Got PlayStation Plus? You’re now getting two games every month

An LED Wand Turns Your Wine Bottles Into Lamps Without Flame

Before you spend years turning an empty wine bottle into a decorative lamp by covering it in countless melted candles, consider these $28 LED alternatives instead. Not only do they glow brighter, they’re much less of a fire hazard—it’s a win-win. Read more…

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An LED Wand Turns Your Wine Bottles Into Lamps Without Flame

A 3D Printed Cast That Can Heal Your Bones 40-80% Faster

 It looks like something from the Borg (read, cool), but it’s actually a cast for healing bones. The Osteoid, created by Turkish student Deniz Karasahin, incorporates 3D printing and ultrasonic tech to make healing a broken bone more bearable. The idea of ultrasonic healing vibrations to heal bones (and other wounds) has been around for a while. But the problem was doctors couldn’t… Read More

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A 3D Printed Cast That Can Heal Your Bones 40-80% Faster

Next IE Version Will Feature Web Audio, Media Capture, ES6 Promises, and HTTP/2

An anonymous reader writes “Microsoft [Wednesday] announced it is developing at least four new features for the next release of Internet Explorer (IE): Web Audio API, Media Capture and Streams, ES6 Promises, and HTTP/2. The company says this is not an exhaustive list of what to expect in the next version, but merely what it is currently confident that it will be able to deliver. For those who don’t know, HTTP/2 is a faster protocol for transporting Web content. It is based on Google’s SPDY open networking protocol and is currently being standardized by the IETF. Web Audio is a JavaScript API for processing and synthesizing audio in Web applications while Media Capture provides access to the user’s local audio and video input/output devices. Promises is meant to help developers write cleaner asynchronous code.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Next IE Version Will Feature Web Audio, Media Capture, ES6 Promises, and HTTP/2

This is why Apple bought Beats

Ever since the rumors first broke that Apple wanted to buy Beats for $3 billion, the masses have uttered one universal word: Why? Apple Senior VP Eddy Cue and Beats CEO and co-founder Jimmy Iovine sat down with Recode’s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the Code Conference to discuss the confirmed news. Not wasting any time, the execs got right into it. According to Cue, there were three overall reasons why the company did it: Talent, great headphones (something many folks will debate) and Beats Music. “It was a no-brainer for us, ” said Cue, outlining the three reasons in more detail. First, Cue says the Beats team is sensational, and will be a perfect fit for Apple; additionally, Dr. Dre is an incredible artist with an incredible ear. Second, Cue notes that Beats has great headphones that do a great job at making music sound good. Finally, he also mentioned that this is the “first music subscription service done right.” To Cue, the magic is in the ability to curate songs and listen to playlists. Developing… Filed under: Cellphones , Wireless , Mobile , Apple Comments

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This is why Apple bought Beats