In 2009, malware called “Skimer” surfaced and security firms took notice. Skimer is essentially malware that gives hackers full access to an ATM without needing to install any physical hardware, like a card skimmer . According to a new investigation by Kaspersky Lab , the malware is not only seems in use, but it’s also become more powerful. Read more…
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ATM Skimming Malware Is Getting Scarier
When you really need to keep your files safe and secure, you need encryption. We’ve covered the basics before , and even rounded up your favorite encryption tools , but today we’re putting two of the most popular options for Windows head to head to see which one is the best at keeping your sensitive data safe. Read more…
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Windows Encryption Showdown: VeraCrypt vs Bitlocker
“Police nationwide are secretly exploiting intrusive technologies with the feds’ complicity, ” argues a new article on Alternet — calling out Stingray, which mimics a cellphone tower to identify every cellphone nearby. “It gathers information not only about a specific suspect, but any bystanders in the area as well… Some Stingrays are capable of collecting not only cell phone ID numbers but also numbers those phones have dialed and even phone conversations.” The ACLU says requests for more information have been meeting heavy resistance from police departments since 2011, with many departments citing nondisclosure agreements with Stingray’s manufacturer and with the FBI, and “often, the police get a judge’s sign-off for surveillance without even bothering to mention that they will be using a Stingray…claiming that they simply can’t violate those FBI nondisclosure agreements. “More often than not, police use Stingrays without bothering to get a warrant, instead seeking a court order on a more permissive legal standard. This is part of the charm of a new technology for the authorities: nothing is settled on how to use it.” Stingray is more than a 1960s TV series with puppets. Several state judges estimate there have been hundreds of instances where police have used the Stingray tool without a warrant or telling a judge. Slashdot reader Presto Vivace writes: This is why it matters who wins the mayor and city council races. Localities do not have to accept this technology. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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How Militarized Cops Are Zapping Rights With Stingray
Lawyers from Paramount/CBS have been pursuing the makers of a crowdfunded Star Trek fan film , Axanar , for months , but according to JJ Abrams, they’re finally going to back off. Abrams made the announcement at an event last night on the studio’s movie lot where the studio dedicated a street to the memory of Leonard Nimoy, premiered the second trailer (which you can watch below) for Star Trek: Beyond, showed about 15 minutes of footage from the movie, and announced plans to screen the flick on an outdoor IMAX screen at Comic-Con. At the Star Trek Beyond fan event JJ Abrahms announced that because of Justin Lin, Paramount was dropping the lawsuit against Axanar. — Axanar Productions (@StarTrekAxanar) May 21, 2016 According to Abrams, the movie’s director Justin Lin heard about the lawsuit, was personally troubled as a fan and pushed for a resolution. As you can see in the Periscope stream embedded below from Trek.fm , he said that in the next few weeks it will be announced that the lawsuit is going away. Now, in a statement to Buzzfeed reporter Adam Vary , CBS/Paramount lawyers have said that they are in settlement talks and plan to set up guidelines for future fan films. All in all, it’s probably a good call to stop antagonizing the fanbase before releasing a new movie, so it’s not too surprising that all of this news came at once. Breaking News: Star Trek Axanar lawsuit is going away… pic.twitter.com/Sgc8K983BO — Trek.fm (@trekfm) May 21, 2016 Via: Deadline Source: Axanar Productions (Twitter) , Axanar (Kickstarter) , Trek.fm (Twitter)
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Paramount will end its lawsuit against ‘Star Trek’ fan film
A small fire temporarily shut down the generator at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System near the California-Nevada border Thursday. According to the Associated Press , some wires at the power plant melted and caught fire after a misaligned mirror zapped them with concentrated sunbeams. When it is operating correctly, the array of over 173, 500 heliostats reflect and focus sunlight onto boiler towers that create supercritical steam to drive turbines and create electricity — enough to power some 140, 000 homes in California. It’s an efficient system that also has the unfortunate side effect of incinerating birds in mid-flight, but now we can also add “solar meltdown” to the list of potential power plant disasters. According to San Bernardino County fire Captain Mike McClintock, those misaligned mirrors were reflecting the sun’s rays onto electrical wires about 300 feet up one of the boiler towers. While images from the blaze show some damage to steam ducts and water pipes, no one was injured and workers at the plant reportedly had things under control in less than 20 minutes. One of the boilers was shut down for repairs, but the plant itself remained online.
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World’s largest solar power plant experiences minor meltdown
An anonymous reader writes: IMAX is getting into the virtual reality business. Tthe company has announced that it is teaming up with Google to build cinema-quality virtual reality video cameras. It is also planning to launch virtual reality “locations.” The cinemas will be opened in shopping malls, much like traditional movie theatres. There are six reportedly planned for this year, including in Los Angeles and China. From the Verge report: IMAX chief executive Richard Gelfond told The WSJ that he imagined that the VR content would be tied to existing movie franchises, that they would last around 10 minutes and cost between $7 and $10. The idea, suggests Gelfond, is to create a VR experience that’s better than what you can get at home — the same way that a movie theater is better than your living room TV. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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IMAX Embraces Virtual Reality, To Open Six VR Theaters This Year
This internal Sega video for testers is a wonderful snapshot of the ’90s. If you’ve ever wondered what Sega was like at the height of its game-making powers, wonder no more. A staff video from the Sega vaults—made in 1996, the same year that the Sony PlayStation would begin to take over the world—has been released by the production company behind it, Green Mill Filmworks . Not only is the video a fascinating behind-the scenes look at game development and game testing, it is also, without doubt, the most ’90s thing I’ve ever seen. Even excluding the baggy clothes, questionable hair cuts, and horrifying denim, the desks of game testers interviewed—many of whom said they worked up to 90 hours a week squashing bugs—are littered with ’90s paraphernalia. My personal favourite, aside from the multiple appearances of the obligatory (for the ’90s at least) Jurassic Park merchandise, is the spinning holographic disk that appears 13 minutes in. I had one of those as a kid, and while I still don’t quite understand what the appeal was, they were all the rage at school, even over here in the UK. Of course, there’s lots of Sega tech on show too, with testers having access to the Mega Drive (Genesis to our US friends), 32X, Sega CD, Game Gear, Saturn, and even the short-lived Sega Pico, a laptop-like educational system for kids that was powered by Genesis hardware. Each tester was also issued with development cartridges—which you can see being loaded up with memory chips by hand around 18 minutes in—before having to sit and play the game relentlessly, using a VHS recorder (yes really) to record gameplay and identify when and how bugs appeared. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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This 1996 Sega training video is the most ‘90s thing you’ll see this week
The Chinese government’s comment army generates nearly half a billion comments a year on apps and social networks, doing all it can to sway opinion in favor of the party. The vast message-managing operation spans the globe, reports Paul Mozur. The common belief that they are paid 50 cents per post leads people in China to call them the Fifty Cent Party. A new study says those people are closer to the government than previously thought. The study, from researchers at Harvard University, says the legions of online commenters are not all freelancers paid by the post. In fact, it says that most are government employees, preaching the principles of the Chinese Communist Party on social media while carrying out their jobs in the local tax bureau or at a county government office. The key technique is distraction — don’t rebut, change the subject — all driven by a growing belief among authorities that direct censorship is too crude and obvious.
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China’s comment army posted 488m things last year
This Halo 5 combatant looks like he’s praying. If he’s praying for some actual Halo 5 on PC, then he’s in for some good news. Microsoft’s play to bridge the gap between Xbox One consoles and Windows 10 PCs got a lot more interesting on Thursday thanks to a pretty major Halo 5 announcement. Microsoft and its Halo development house, 343 Industries, have taken the wraps off the awkwardly named Forge–Halo 5: Guardians Edition , which they say will launch for free across Windows 10 “later this year.” This limited free version of Halo 5 won’t include the game’s single-player campaign, nor will it include multiplayer matchmaking with random opponents. However, Microsoft representatives have confirmed to Ars that the free Windows 10 game will support unfettered online play with anyone on a player’s friends list. That means players can create or download a Forge map and invite anyone else playing the Windows 10 version to join in and play to whatever “kill count,” time limit, or other win condition they’ve set. Even better, Microsoft says that this friends-only multiplayer mode in Windows 10 will fully support mouse-and-keyboard game controls. As series fans know, Halo ‘s Forge mode allows players to build content-filled maps and lay down a litany of custom rules and modifiers for the game. This Windows 10 version, as its lengthy title suggests, will allow people to do the same thing on their PCs, complete with mouse and keyboard support that 343 Industries says will be “easier/faster” to use than an Xbox controller (though we have yet to see how keyboard shortcuts and other features will work on a PC version). Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Halo 5’s Windows 10 debut to include 4K support, free online multiplayer
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Yahoo: A two-hour flight from Sydney to London is a step closer to reality after the latest successful test Wednesday of hypersonic technology in the Australian desert. A joint US-Australian military research team is running a series of 10 trials at the world’s largest land testing range, Woomera in South Australia, and at Norway’s Andoya Rocket Range. Hypersonic flight involves traveling at more than five times the speed of sound (Mach 5). Scientists involved in the program — called Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) — are developing an engine that can fly at Mach 7, Michael Smart of the University of Queensland told AFP. He added that the scramjet was a supersonic combustion engine that uses oxygen from the atmosphere for fuel, making it lighter and faster than fuel-carrying rockets. The experimental rocket in the trial on Wednesday reached an altitude of 278 kilometers and a target speed of Mach 7.5, Australia’s defense department said. The first test of the rocket was conducted in 2009. The next test is scheduled for 2017 with the project expected to be completed in 2018. It’s only a matter of time before such high-speed transportation technology is implemented into our infrastructure. Last week, Hyperloop One conducted a successful test of its high speed transportation technology in the desert outside Las Vegas. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Superjet Technology Nears Reality After Successful Australia Test