I’m the sort of skittish driver who will take three right turns in order to avoid an annoying left turn at a difficult intersection, so Waze’s new feature is just for me. If you live in LA, the navigation app can now reroute you around those pesky intersections with bad visibility and other problems. Read more…
Read this article:
Remains of the Day: Waze Can Now Reroute Around Difficult Intersections in LA
On May 9, Mercury made its first transit of the sun since 2006. (more…)
Continue Reading:
Watch Mercury transit the Sun in glorious 4K
John Leyden, writing for The Register: GitHub has reset the passwords of users targeted in an attack this week that relied on using stolen credentials from a breach at a third-party site. The software repository itself has not suffered a breach. Hackers behind the assault were trying to break into the accounts of users who had inadvisedly used the same login credentials on an unnamed site that had suffered a breach, as a statement by GitHub explains. GitHub said it had reset the passwords on all affected accounts before beginning the process of notifying those affected. “We encourage all users to practise good password hygiene and enable two-factor authentication to protect your account, ” GitHub sensibly advised. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Originally posted here:
GitHub Presses Big Red Password Reset Button After Third-Party Breach
An anonymous reader writes: Rolls-Royce has unveiled its first driverless vehicle dubbed The Vision Next 100. It is an autonomous vehicle aimed at “the most discerning and powerful patrons in the world.” There’s no steering wheel but there is a silk “throne” where passengers can sit and stare out the window. Rolls-Royce said the zero-emission model, codenamed 103EX, showed the company “rejects the notion of anonymous, utilitarian and bland future modes of mobility.” The owner will be “encircled by the most modern handcrafted fine-line Macassar wood panelling” as they gaze at a “generous” high-definition television display. In addition to the “finest one-off deep-pile ivory wool carpet, ” the vehicle features a virtual assistant named Eleanor, inspired after the actor Eleanor Thornton. It will be able to remind users about meetings; it will even bring the car around to the front of the owner’s house at the start of a journey. “As the Rolls-Royce Vision Next 100 gracefully comes to a halt, something magnificent occurs, ” the company said. The glass roof rises to allow the occupant to stand, while a step emerges from below the running board and a red light is projected, “carpet-like” to announce their arrival. Rolls-Royce did not say how the vehicle would be powered or how much it costs, but it did say it’s due to hit the streets in the 2040s. You can watch a 360-degree video of the 103EX the company posted on YouTube. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
View article:
Rolls-Royce Unveils First Driverless Car Complete With Silk ‘Throne’
Quantum Break : not available on Steam. While some of Microsoft’s older game titles, such as Age of Empires II HD (a 2013 update of a 1999 game) are found on Valve’s Steam platform, its latest high-profile titles, such as Forza 6 Apex and Quantum Break, are exclusive to the Windows Store. But this is going to change, with Microsoft planning to release more titles on the popular store. Phil Spencer, head of the Xbox team at Microsoft, was talking on Giant Bomb’s E3 stream , via GameSpot . When it comes to PC gaming, the Windows Store is very much an also-ran, with Steam the dominant force. As Spencer noted, “I don’t think Valve’s hurt by not having [Microsoft’s] first-party games in their store right now. They’re doing incredibly well.” Accordingly, Spencer said that Microsoft “will ship games on Steam again.” Meanwhile, Microsoft’s own experience had been more inconsistent. While some games have done well in the Windows Store, with Spencer naming both Forza 6 Apex and Killer Instinct as successful titles, he said that ” Quantum Break wasn’t our best PC release” and that Gears of War Ultimate Edition was merely “OK.” Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Read this article:
Microsoft will use Steam to sell Windows games, not just its own store
Didn’t you hear? Collectible card games are all the rage these days, what with Blizzard’s Hearthstone sporting over 20 million players, Magic: The Gathering going through some kind of renaissance, and publishers like Bethesda definitely not trying to cash in on the whole thing with games like The Elder Scrolls: Legends . And so at this year’s E3 we have yet another entry in the genre from developers CD Projekt Red, a Witcher 3 spin-off called Gwent . The difference is, Gwent is far more than just a collectible card game. This one has an honest-to-god proper storyline. There’s even an open-world map to explore. For the uninitiated, Gwent was originally a collectible card game embedded into the vast world of The Witcher 3 . Only, as player data began to trickle in, CD Projekt Red discovered that many players were spending hours roaming inns during quests just to play Gwent . Some even ignored the main game entirely. This was more than enough incentive for the developer to spin Gwent off into its own free-to-play game across PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. And in true CD Projekt Red fashion, it’s gone a little overboard in the process. Instead of just pitching players against each another in one-on-one card battles, Gwent features several single-player campaigns, each of of which has its own unique storyline and lead character, is fully voice acted, and is brought to life via some highly stylised 2D drawings that gently slide across the screen. There’s even an overworld map where, in the demo I was shown at least, you control a cute 2D Geralt to explore and find hidden snippets of story, or extra cards to add to your deck. Each campaign is said to last a whopping 10 hours or so too. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Original post:
Gwent: The collectible card game that’s more than just a Witcher spin-off
Bluetooth is so ubiquitous, it’s easy to forget it’s still an evolving technology. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) defines the standard, and late last year teased what’s coming in the next major version change since 2009 . Today, the body shared a bit more about what we can expect from the release of Bluetooth 5, expected in late 2016 or early 2017. For starters, the next version will quadruple the range of connections and double their speeds, too, with no increase in power consumption over the current, low-energy standard. The immediate benefits of these particular improvements are quite easy to grasp. Your next Bluetooth speaker shouldn’t stutter when you accidentally take your phone with you into the kitchen, for example, and your next smartwatch should receive those push notifications that bit quicker, thanks to more bandwidth for data transfer. This becomes a lot more important when internet of things devices and Bluetooth beacons enter the conversation, though. Bluetooth devices that broadcast information, as opposed to the kind you pair with, are becoming much more common, independent and easier to communicate with . Bluetooth 5 increases broadcasting capacity eight-fold, meaning much more data can be sent (and received) in a single interaction. Instead of a Bluetooth beacon pinging your phone with an URL that then gives you more info on a museum exhibit, for instance, it could do that and pinpoint your indoor location… and send you a discount voucher for the gift shop, all in the one blast. The Bluetooth SIG isn’t in the business of dreaming up specific applications for the technology, though. Instead, they are interested in improving the range and data capacity of Bluetooth connections, and letting everyone else dream up the new applications for it. Source: Bluetooth SIG
Meet Russel Hawkins. He loves to vape. He grows chilis, and has a freshly ground bag of Carolina Reapers. Do you see where this is going? Read more…
View post:
Watch This Guy Vape the World’s Hottest Chili Pepper
Sanford Wallace, the self-proclaimed ” Spam King ” who was responsible for a ton of spam messages on Facebook a few years ago, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. From 2008 to 2009, Wallace blasted people with a link to an external website that stole their log-in credentials and downloaded their friends’ lists. He then spammed those users steal their log-ins in order to spam their friends, and so on and so forth. Wallace accessed Facebook’s computer network several times during that period to execute his scheme. In all, he was responsible for 27 billion spam messages on the social network. If you received any shady PM within that timeframe, it was probably from him. Wallace pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and related activity in connection with electronic mail and one count of criminal contempt in August 2015. According to Ars Technica , prosecutors asked the court for a 36-month sentence. “The defendant’s history demonstrates that he has yet to suffer a consequence — other than a default judgment that cannot be collected — for his spamming activities, ” they wrote. “A sentence of 36 months’ imprisonment will impress upon the defendant the seriousness of his actions and deter him from engaging in similar conduct again.” By “default judgment, ” they meant the $1 billion worth of fines he was hit with back in 2009, which they couldn’t collect. This time, the court ordered him to pay $310, 629 in restitution. And by “history, ” they meant Wallace’s decades-long love affair with spam. He started by inundating people with junk faxes way back in 1991. Since then, he’s faced numerous lawsuits filed by Facebook and other entities, including MySpace and AOL*. *Disclosure: As you know, AOL is Engadget’s parent company. Via: Ars Technica Source: DOJ
Excerpt from:
‘Spam King’ is sentenced to 2.5 years in prison
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers have uncovered an underground market selling information of over 70, 000 compromised servers. Russia-based Kaspersky Lab revealed that the online forum, named xDedic, seems to be operated by a Russian-speaking organisation and allows hackers to pay for undetectable access to a wide range of servers, including those owned by government, corporate and academic groups in more than 170 countries. Access to a compromised server can be bought for as little as $6. This kit comes with relevant tools to instruct on launching denial-of-service attacks and spam campaigns on the targeted network, as well as allowing criminals to illegally produce bitcoin and breach online systems, such as retail payment platforms. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Original post:
Access To Thousands Of Compromised Government Servers Selling For $6 On Black Market