kenmay

Comcast Offers To Shed 3.9 Million Subscribers To Ease Cable Deal

An anonymous reader writes “In a bid to win regulatory approval for its proposed $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable, Comcast has offered to sell 1.4 million pay TV subscribers to Charter Communications for $7.3 billion. From the article: ‘Comcast also said it would divest another 2.5 million subscribers into a new publicly traded company, dubbed SpinCo for now, to be one-third owned by Charter and two-thirds owned by Comcast shareholders. The deal will make Charter — whose own bid for Time Warner Cable was thwarted by Comcast’s higher offer — the second-biggest U.S. pay TV company with 5.7 million customers, overtaking Cox Communications Inc.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Bank robbers use KVM switch and 3G router to steal money

The networked KVM switch and 3G router used to rob a Barclays Bank branch remotely. Metropolitan Police, London Nine members of a London-based gang have been convicted and three others are scheduled for sentencing in June for a series of electronic bank robberies. Using social engineering to install a remote-controlled keyboard-video-mouse (KVM) switch on bank PCs, the gang managed to transfer millions to outside accounts in two separate jobs in April and July of 2013. They were caught attempting to rob a third bank in September. Dean Outram, 32, entered all three banks claiming to be from a tech support contractor and saying he was there to repair computers. At each bank branch robbed, Outram installed a KVM switch and a 3G wireless router . From a “control center” in central London, others then used the KVM switches to gain access to the PCs of bank employees, remotely logging keystrokes and monitoring screen activity to get the information necessary to transfer funds from customers’ accounts to accounts controlled by the group. In the first attempt, the group managed to make 128 fund transfers totaling £1.3 million (about $2 million) in one day from a branch of Barclays Bank. The bank detected the fraud the same day and recovered about £600,000 ($1 million) of the funds before the gang drained the accounts. In its second attempt at another Barclays branch, the group was able to make off with £90,000 (about $150,000). Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Bank robbers use KVM switch and 3G router to steal money

Review: Gigabyte’s AMD Brix gives Intel’s mini PC a run for its money

Gigabyte’s AMD Brix (top) is, if anything, even smaller than Intel’s latest NUC (bottom). Andrew Cunningham When AMD sent us the Brix Gaming for review, it wasn’t alone in its box. We were also sent another, smaller Brix with an AMD processor, and it’s the antithesis of its big loud cousin. It’s basically the AMD take on the NUC : a small, quiet, unobtrusive little box that still tries to deliver the features and performance of a full-size entry-level desktop. We originally planned to review both in one shot, but there was so much to say about the Brix Gaming that the GB-BXA8-5545 (say that three times fast) got edged out. Rather than bury it, we’ve decided to give it its own evaluation. It’s the only AMD-powered desktop in the same size category as the NUC that doesn’t use a wimpy netbook-class processor. And as much as Intel’s integrated GPUs have improved in recent years, the name “AMD” still means something when it comes to graphics performance. Surprise, it’s a tiny cube! Like most other mini PCs, the Brix is a tiny box with a small external power supply. Andrew Cunningham Specs at a glance: Gigabyte Brix GB-BXA8-5545 OS Windows 8.1 x64 CPU 1.7GHz AMD A8-5545M, Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz available with proper BIOS settings RAM 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 (supports up to 16GB) GPU AMD Radeon 8510G (integrated) HDD 128GB Crucial M500 mSATA SSD Networking 2.4GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, Gigabit Ethernet Ports 4x USB 3.0, 1x mini DisplayPort 1.2, 1x HDMI 1.4a, audio Size 4.24” x 4.5” x 1.18” (107.6 x 114.4 29.9 mm) Other perks Kensington lock, VESA mounting bracket Warranty 1 year Price $249.99 (barebones), $494.97 with listed components and software The other Brix boxes we’ve reviewed have been larger and more powerful machines, but the smaller Intel and AMD-based Brixes are a lot more like the original Intel NUC. This one’s a short, square little device that’s actually a little shorter than the NUC. It’s an understated all-black system with matte metal sides and a glossy plastic top, and while it has an external power brick it doesn’t add much to the total size of the package. With the adapters, it’s roughly the size you’d get with standard PC laptops and Ultrabooks, since the Brix uses low-voltage mobile parts rather than full-fledged desktop chips. Read 17 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Review: Gigabyte’s AMD Brix gives Intel’s mini PC a run for its money

Google Shows How Its Self-Driving Cars Are Getting Smarter With 700K Miles Driven

Google has a new blog post detailing some of the progress it’s been making over the last year with its self-driving car initiative. The driverless cars have been tackling the challenge of navigating city streets lately, using Google’s home town of Mountain View as the test bed for navigating the increased complications that come with dense urban zones vs. relatively uncomplicated… Read More

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Google Shows How Its Self-Driving Cars Are Getting Smarter With 700K Miles Driven

Skype just made group video calling available to all users for free instead of being locked under Pr

Skype just made group video calling available to all users for free instead of being locked under Premium. Looks like someone is catching up to Hangouts. Read more…

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Skype just made group video calling available to all users for free instead of being locked under Pr

Bill Gates & Twitter Founders Put “Meatless” Meat To the Test

assertation (1255714) writes “Bill Gates and the founders of Twitter are betting millions that meat lovers will embrace a new plant-based product that mimics the taste of chicken and beef. Meat substitutes have had a hard time making it to the dinner tables of Americans over the years, but the tech giants believe these newest products will pass the “tastes like chicken” test. Gates has met several times with Ethan Brown, whose product, Beyond Meat, is a mash-up of proteins from peas and plants.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Bill Gates & Twitter Founders Put “Meatless” Meat To the Test

HealthCare.gov Back-End Status: See You In September

theodp writes: “The consumer-facing parts of the Obamacare website may now work (most of the time) for people buying insurance, writes Politico, but beneath the surface, HealthCare.gov is still missing massive, critical pieces that are essential for key functions such as accurately paying insurers — and the deadline for finishing them keeps slipping. Without a fully built and operational system, federal officials can’t determine how many of the 8 million Obamacare sign-ups announced last week will have actually paid their premiums. The Obama administration earlier this month indicated that insurers will continue to be paid through an ‘interim’ accounting process — pretty much a spreadsheet and some informed estimates — until at least September, when what is being called ‘the mother of all reconciliations’ will be conducted, which some fear could reveal the need for a massive correction and rate adjustments. Still, Oregon decided Friday to switch to Healthcare.gov from its own nothing-wrong-that-$78-million-couldn’t-fix Cover Oregon online healthcare exchange.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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HealthCare.gov Back-End Status: See You In September

Man uses Raspberry Pi to build actual working cell phone for $158

David Hunt Raspberry Pi-using tinkerer David Hunt—who previously built a bark-activated door opener for dogs—is at it again with a real, working cell phone powered by the tiny computer and a few other items. “PiPhone” cost Hunt $158 to build with these components, all held together with cable ties: Raspberry Pi Model B – $40 PiTFT Touchscreen 320×240 – $35 2500mAh LiPo battery – $15 SIM900 GSM/GPRS module – $48 DC-DC boost converter 3.3V – 5V 1A – $10 Cables, connectors, switch, etc. – $10 “As you can see from the cost of the components, you’d be FAR better off going into your local phone store and picking up a normal smartphone, but hey, where’s the fun in that?” Hunt wrote on his blog today . “I got a great kick out of the first phone call I made with this thing. And it won’t stay in one piece for long, I’ll be using those parts for other projects very soon!” Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Man uses Raspberry Pi to build actual working cell phone for $158

3D Printer Lays Down Functioning Circuitry Alongside Thermoplastic

Lucas123 writes: “The Rabbit Proto is a new 3D printer attachment that can be added to a RepRap printer to create circuitry right alongside an existing thermoplastic extruder. While still in prototype, the printer head is expected to ship this summer. The creators of the Rabbit Proto, a group of Standford graduate students, have already printed working prototypes, such as a game controller. So far, the syringe-like printer head has used silver-filled silicon to create circuitry, but the engineers are now working with conductive inks made with graphite. The Rabbit Proto head unit can be pre-ordered for $350, or you can purchase a fully-assembled RepRap 3D printer with the Rabbit Proto head for $2, 499.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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3D Printer Lays Down Functioning Circuitry Alongside Thermoplastic

Verizon fought the NSA’s metadata collection program but lost anyway

It looks like Verizon’s concerns about government snooping go beyond publishing transparency reports — but also haven’t had much of a tangible effect. The Washington Post understands through both a declassified ruling and sources that Big Red quietly challenged the constitutionality of the NSA’s call metadata collection in January, only to be shot down by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in March. The company had been hinging its case on Judge Richard Leon’s non-final ruling that the NSA’s surveillance is unconstitutional . FISC Judge Rosemary Collyer, however, argued that Leon’s opinion was “unpersuasive.” She sided with earlier precedents claiming that people have “no legitimate expectation of privacy” when they hand data over to third parties, such as telecoms. Collyer also didn’t believe that the scale of any data collection determined whether or not a search is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, and rejected notions that metadata was likely to reveal private information. As you might imagine, civil liberty advocates disagree with this interpretation. TechDirt notes that there’s a big difference between targeting one person versus the entire US, that many do expect privacy, and that it’s entirely possible to track people using metadata. Verizon isn’t confirming that it filed the challenge, which redacts the source of the complaint. Provided that the Post ‘s sources are accurate, though, Verizon was the first carrier to dispute the constitutionality of the NSA’s activities; Judge Collyer noted that no other network had tried this before. We don’t know if other firms have attempted something since, but they may not be eager to follow in Verizon’s footsteps knowing the likely outcome. Filed under: Cellphones , Wireless , Internet , Verizon Comments Via: TechDirt Source: DocumentCloud , Washington Post

Ken May

Author: kenmay