Category: reader

Software brings your PC’s entire interface to VR

Virtual reality faces numerous challenges , but one of the biggest is having to take your headset off whenever you need to run a conventional app. What if you want to maintain that immersion, or just want to use a VR device as your only display? That’s where BigScreen thinks it can help. It’s developing software that places your entire Windows desktop in a VR environment. It’s partly for the sake of immersion (you can have a massive, wall-filling screen without spending a fortune ), but it’s a bigger deal for social experiences. You can see a friend’s shared screen as a separate virtual monitor, or play games and movies with friends who sit in using personalized avatars. You can sign up for a public beta test today, and the finished software should be available for both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift when they’re available in April. Samsung Gear VR support is due later in 2016. BigScreen is definitely going to be a niche app on launch (you’re going to need an expensive headset and a powerful PC just to use it), but it’s an important step toward turning VR from a once-in-a-blue-moon experience into something you use every day, whether you’re catching up on Netflix or creating worlds . Via: Upload Source: BigScreen

View article:
Software brings your PC’s entire interface to VR

Encrypted WhatsApp messages frustrate new court-ordered wiretap

(credit: Hernán Piñera ) The US Department of Justice has opened another legal front in the ongoing war over easy-to-use strong encryption. According to a Saturday report in  The New York Times , prosecutors have gone head-to-head with WhatsApp, the messaging app owned by Facebook. Citing anonymous sources, the  Times  reported that “as recently as this past week,” federal officials have been “discussing how to proceed in a continuing criminal investigation in which a federal judge had approved a wiretap, but investigators were stymied by WhatsApp’s encryption.” The case, which apparently does not involve terrorism, remains under seal. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

See the original post:
Encrypted WhatsApp messages frustrate new court-ordered wiretap

Intel’s Optane SSD Compatible With NVMe; Could Boost MacBook Storage Speeds By 1000x

More details have emerged about Intel’s Optane, a new kind of memory and SSD that utilizes 3D Xpoint. The upcoming 3D Xpoint technology, which is supposedly 10 times denser than DRAM and 1, 000 times faster than flash storage, will be compatible with NVMe, a storage protocol that allows an SSD to make effective use of a high-speed PCIe. Several MacBook Pro models already support NVMe technology. Apple is often among the first companies to adopt emerging standards and technologies, which has led many to believe that the Cupertino-based company might leverage Intel’s Optane solid state drives for super fast performance speeds in its next batch of laptops. Apple is expected to announce the refreshed MacBook lineup sporting Intel Skylake processor later this year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read More:
Intel’s Optane SSD Compatible With NVMe; Could Boost MacBook Storage Speeds By 1000x

Hertz Had Sheriffs On Hand the Day It Cut IT

dcblogs writes: About 300 Hertz IT employees, most located in Oklahoma City, are being impacted [by] a decision to expand its outsourcing to IBM. About 75 will be hired by IBM and those workers [are expected] to receive offers this week while others are facing layoffs. The news was a shock for IT employees. There was “anger, resentment, ” especially by employees who “sacrificed that work/life balance to keep things going here, ” said one employee. Hertz took precautions. On the day that IT employees learned that their work was shifting to IBM, employees noticed Oklahoma sheriff patrol vehicles in the building’s parking lot. They believed plainclothes officers were inside the building. “We consider the safety and security of our people whenever there are circumstances or events that could increase the risk of a disturbance or some form of workplace violence, ” said Bill Masterson, a Hertz spokesman. “Knowing that this was a difficult announcement, we had additional security on hand, ” said Masterson. “Going forward, Hertz IT resources will be focused on development of future products and services for customers, ” he said. The majority of services will be cloud-based. According to the Computerworld article, along with severance pay, benefits also include three months of outplacement assistance. IT employees can receive up to $4, 000 toward retraining or skill certification, said Masterson. IBM India Private Limited, a IBM subsidiary, has filed paper for H-1B visa workers for Hertz Technology offices. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More here:
Hertz Had Sheriffs On Hand the Day It Cut IT

Wi-Fi Hotspot Blocking Persists Despite FCC Crackdown

An anonymous reader writes: An examination of consumer complaints to the FCC over the past year and a half shows that the practice of Wi-Fi hotspot device blocking continues even though the agency has slapped organizations such as Marriott and Hilton more than $2 million in total for doing this. Venues argue they need to block hotspots for security reasons, but the FCC and consumers say the organizations are doing this to force people to pay for pricey Internet access. “Consumers who purchase cellular data plans should be able to use them without fear that their personal Internet connection will be blocked by their hotel or conference center, ” FCC Enforcement Bureau chief Travis LeBlanc said in a statement. “It is unacceptable for any hotel to intentionally disable personal hotspots while also charging consumers and small businesses high fees to use the hotel’s own Wi-Fi network. This practice puts consumers in the untenable position of either paying twice for the same service or forgoing Internet access altogether.” Consumers have filed many complaints about Wi-Fi hotspot blocking to the FCC. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read the original post:
Wi-Fi Hotspot Blocking Persists Despite FCC Crackdown

600,000 TFTP Servers Can Be Abused For Reflection DDoS Attacks

An anonymous reader writes: Researchers have discovered that improperly configured TFTP servers can be easily abused to carry out reflection DDoS attacks that can sometimes have an amplification factor of 60, one of the highest such values. There are currently around 600, 000 TFTP servers exposed online, presenting a huge attack surface for DDoS malware developers. Other protocols recently discovered as susceptible to reflection DDoS attacks include DNSSEC, NetBIOS, and some of the BitTorrent protocols. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read the article:
600,000 TFTP Servers Can Be Abused For Reflection DDoS Attacks

Hotel’s Android-based lightswitches are predictably, horribly insecure

Matthew Garrett checked into a London hotel and discovered that the proprietors had decided that “light switches are unfashionable and replaced them with a series of Android tablets.” (more…)

See more here:
Hotel’s Android-based lightswitches are predictably, horribly insecure

What Google’s Self-Driving Car Team Learned From Hitting That Bus

“We don’t like our car bumping into things, ” said Chris Urmson, head of Google’s self-driving project, addressing the February 14 incident where Google’s car struck a bus . “This was a tough day for us.” Read more…

Original post:
What Google’s Self-Driving Car Team Learned From Hitting That Bus

An Inside Look At How Netflix Builds Code

mmoorebz writes: Netflix is known as a place to binge watch television, but behind the scenes, there’s a lot that goes on before everyone’s favorite show can be streamed. The first step to deploying an application or service is building. Netflix created Nebula, a set of plugins for the Gradle build system, that “help with the heavy-lifting around building applications, ” said the engineers. Once the code has been built and tested locally using Nebula, the team pushes the updated source code to a Git repository. Every deployment at Neflix begins with the creation of an Amazon Machine Image, and to generate them from source, Netflix created what it calls “the Bakery.” It exposes an API that facilitates the creation of AMIs globally, according to the blog. When it comes time to deploy and after the “baking” is complete, teams will use Spinnaker to manage multi-region deployments, canary releases, and red/black deployments. Netflix is continuing to look at the developer experience and determine how it can improve. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read More:
An Inside Look At How Netflix Builds Code

FDA Approves Indego Exoskeleton For Clinical And Personal Use

Science_afficionado writes to note that the FDA “has approved a powered lower-limb exoskeleton created by a team of Vanderbilt engineers and commercialized by the Parker Hannifin Corporation for both clinical and personal use in the United States.” Indego, which allows people paralyzed below the waist to stand up and walk, is the result of an intensive, 10-year effort. The initial development was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The device acts like an external skeleton as it straps in tightly around the torso. Rigid supports are strapped to the legs and extend from the hip to the knee and from the knee to the foot. The hip and knee joints are driven by computer-controlled electric motors powered by advanced batteries. The device operates a lot like a Segway with legs and the minimalist design allows users to take it on and off while sitting in a wheelchair. Indego’s clearance came after completion of the largest exoskeleton clinical trial conducted in the United States. It has been available in Europe since November, when it received the CE Mark, the European Union’s equivalent of FDA approval. The initial price is $80, 000. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

See original article:
FDA Approves Indego Exoskeleton For Clinical And Personal Use