There’s yet another Flashback variant making its way through unprotected Macs, though it still only takes advantage of the now-patched Java vulnerability that the previous few versions made use of.

Security firm Intego posted about the latest version of the malware, Flashback.S, which mimics the behaviors of previous variants of the malware. Flashback.S doesn’t require an admin password to install itself into the machine’s home folder, and it deletes all files located within ~/Library/Caches/Java/cache “in order to delete the applet from the infected Mac, and avoid detection or sample recovery.”

Those of us who have already updated our Macs with the latest version of Java won’t have to worry, as Flashback.S has yet to find a new vulnerability to exploit. But there are apparently still plenty of Mac users—-650,000, according to Russian antivirus firm Dr. Web last Friday—who are currently infected with some version of Flashback, meaning there are at least that many (and probably more) who have yet to update their machines.

Meanwhile, Sophos claims in a new report that one in five Macs is “harbouring some kind of malware,” though Sophos’ limited sample size (those who have downloaded Sophos’ antivirus software) indicates we should take the numbers with a grain of salt until more researchers can corroborate the claims.

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Update those Macs already! Yet another Flashback variant is out

If it happened any other way, it just wouldn’t be as satisfying, now would it? After years of leaks, murmurs, hubbub and other familiar synonyms, Google’s mythical cloud storage platform is now official… sort of. As Lady Fate would have it, the company apparently outed a memo of the features on its French blog earlier today, but before it could yank the ‘pull’ switch, an eagle-eyed reader managed to grab the text and run it through — surprise, surprise — Google Translate. What’s left is an official-as-you’ll-get-right-now transcript of Google Drive’s features, but contrary to the hype, it all feels way more enterprise-centric than consumers may have wanted. For starters, there’s no real mention of music (we guess Google Music is on its own, there), and there’s just 5GB of free storage for “documents, videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs, etc.” According to the brief, it’s designed to let users “live, work and play in the cloud,” with direct integration with Docs and Google+.

We’re also told that Drive can be installed on one’s Mac, PC or Android phone / tablet, while an iOS version will be “available in the coming weeks.” Of note, Google’s making this accessible to visually impaired consumers with the use of a screen reader. As for features? Naturally, Google’s flexing its search muscles in as many ways as possible; if you scan in a newspaper clipping, a simple Search All within Drive will allow results to appear directly from said clipping. If you upload a shot of the Eiffel Tower, it’ll show up whenever you search for the aforesaid icon. Moreover, Drive will allow folks to open over 30 types of documents directly from a web browser, including HD video, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and more — “even without the software installed on your computer.” For those concerned about access, the new platform will have the same infrastructure as any other Google Apps services, giving admins a familiar set of management tools on that end.

On the topic of storage, just 5GB are provided gratis, and while upgrade details are a bit murky on the consumer side, we’re told that administrators can pony up $4 per month for 20GB of storage, with a maximum of 16TB per user; thankfully, Google Docs will not be included in your usage total. Finally, the note played up the ability to “attach documents directly into your Drive Gmail,” and given that it’s intended to be an open platform, Goog’s promising to work with third party developers in order to enhance Drive’s functionality even further. The source link below is still dead as of right now, but it simply can’t be long before the lights are officially turned on. Oh, and if you’re not enamored at the moment, the outfit’s suggesting that “many more developments” will be arriving in the coming weeks.

Google Drive detailed: 5GB of free storage, business-focused approach originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gurwin Sturm (Google+), François Bacconnet (Google+) | TechCrunch, Google Drive (not active at the moment) | Email this | Comments

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Google Drive detailed: 5GB of free storage, business-focused approach

(YouTube Link)

To say that the Uncharted video game trilogy is the most cinematic gaming experience ever would be an understatement, and crafty editor morphinapg has spliced together the proof and put it on YouTube.

Each game in the series has been cut into an epic length movie, which speaks volumes about the major role storytelling plays in each game.

If you’re afraid of spoilers because you haven’t gotten around to playing the Uncharted trilogy yet, then don’t watch the entire two to three hours of each video and your game won’t be ruined.

Otherwise pop some corn, turn up your speakers and enjoy cinematic adventure game cutscenes at their very best.

–via Geekosystem

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Uncharted Video Game Trilogy Cut Into Feature Length Movies

This Tuesday, a group of billionaires and former NASA scientists will announce Planetary Resources Inc., the first asteroid mining company in history. They claim they will “add trillions of dollars to the global GDP” and “help ensure humanity’s prosperity.” More »

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New Asteroid Mining Company May Solve World’s Economic Problems [Space]

Norton’s Identity Safe is a free online service that aims to end the curse of forgotten passwords. If you’ve got a few social networking accounts, then keeping track of all your keys can be tough. This service remembers all of your log-in details and inputs them automatically when you next visit. It’ll warn you about malicious websites and even lock away sensitive data (credit card numbers, social security codes) so if your paperwork goes missing — you aren’t in too much trouble. The companion smartphone / tablet app offers the same integration across all of your devices and is available now for Windows, OS X, iOS and Android gear from today.

Continue reading Norton Identity Safe locks your passwords in the cloud, spares your failing memory

Norton Identity Safe locks your passwords in the cloud, spares your failing memory originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Norton Identity Safe locks your passwords in the cloud, spares your failing memory

Computer scientists have devised an attack that logs phone numbers, Social Security IDs, and personal identification numbers entered into smartphones by monitoring the devices’ integrated motion sensors.

TapLogger, as their proof-of-concept application for phones running Google’s Android operating system is called, masquerades as a benign game that challenges the end user to identify identical icons from a collection of similar-looking images. In the background, the trojan monitors readings returned by the phone’s built-in accelerometer, gyroscope, and orientation sensors to infer phone numbers and other digits entered into the device. This then surreptitiously uploads them to a computer under the control of the attackers.

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Android trojan steals keystrokes using phone movements (Updated)

If you’ve ever dealt with a computer crash due to virus, hard drive failure or otherwise, then you know this comic is 100% TRUE.

I mean, who has time to waste constantly backing up the hard drive, and technicians can make it all better, right? WRONG.

After you get your system back on track you should make this comic your desktop image and NEVER FORGET to back that data up.

And remember-no amount of key pressing will bring your precious data back, and those kittie pics on your hard drive could have made you A MILLION DOLLARS!

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Computer Maintenance In Six Steps

Interesting times to be shopping around for a processor, but what about a new cooler to go with it? This unassuming little work of art is the copper special edition of the NOFAN CR-95C, which is rated to cool CPUs of up to 100W TDP without the need for a fan. Judging from all the Intel and AMD leaks, that level efficiency ought to have you covered regardless of whether you opt for Ivy Bridge or Trinity — so long as you don’t mind hanging around until June, because FanlessTech reckons we won’t see it go on sale any sooner.

The NOFAN CR-95C: a fanless copper CPU cooler for your next-gen build originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The NOFAN CR-95C: a fanless copper CPU cooler for your next-gen build

MSI outs new GT60 / GT70 gaming laptops, we go hands-on (video)

Everything old is new again: NVIDIA rebrands Fermi-based GPUs into 600-series

Intel puts Ivy Bridge on the map: promises up to 20 percent faster CPU, doubled graphics, desktop quad-cores from $174

Now that Intel’s let the cat out of the bag (and into the Ivy), it’s high time we took a look at what manufacturers are going to do with those fancy new processors. Behold: The MSI GT70 gaming laptop, one of the first gaming beasts out of the door with Intel’s next generation architecture. Living up to its next-gen CES promises, this 17.3-inch behemoth falls squarely in the desktop replacement category, at 8.6 pounds, and packs a new 2.3GHz Core i7-3610QM processor, NVIDIA’s latest GeForce GTX 670M chip with 3GB of video memory, 16GB of DDR3 RAM and a fancy RAID 0 dual SSD setup — all wrapped in one hefty, formidable package. So how powerful a combination do Ivy Bridge and NVIDIA make? Let’s find out.

Continue reading MSI GT70 gaming laptop review

MSI GT70 gaming laptop review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSI GT70 gaming laptop review

DNSChanger is the name of an Internet Trojan estimated to have infected millions of computers around the world. In a nutshell, DNSChanger (incorrectly reported in some outlets as “DNSCharger”) redirects your Internet traffic to unsafe Web sites by modifying your computer’s or router’s DNS settings to point to malicious DNS servers. When the perpetrators behind the trojan were caught last year, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations oversaw replacing those DNS servers. Now the FBI is preparing to shut down the DNSChanger temporary DNS servers on March 8th (update: U.S. courts agreed to extend the deadline to July 9th, 2012).

If your network isn’t infected by that Trojan, this March 8th server shutdown has no impact on your Internet access. If your network is infected, however, the shutdown will cause your Web browsing to stop functioning.

You can remove it by running a Full Scan with your favorite antivirus tool, such as http://microsoft.com/securityessentials, and you can fix it with http://www.avira.com/files/support/FAQ_KB_Download_Files/EN/AviraDNSRepairEN.exe?x-origin=web if you’re having trouble with your Antivirus app updating.