Apple has begun keeping some of its Chinese users’ personal data in China, Reuters revealed yesterday . That’s significant because it is the first tech company to store information in the notoriously snoop-happy country, thus raising concerns that the data might be looked at by authorities. Read more…
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Apple Admits It’s Storing Users’ Data on Servers Based in China
There are plenty of ways you can go about monitoring your network performance, but this setup using a BeagleBone Black is always running and visualizes your speed in a fun, colorful way. Read more…
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This DIY Internet Speedometer Visualizes Network Speed in Real Time
After a few stumbles toward the finish line, the first wave of the latest Oculus Rift prototype shipment has concluded is well under way. It’s no small number, either. Oculus’ vice president of product Nate Mitchell tells Road to VR that his company shipped over 20, 000 DK2 headsets in this initial push . Crazy, right? Consider this then: there are still over 40, 000 orders left to fulfill. If you happened to order later than the first on-sale day, though, you may not be one of those lucky enough to call the second development kit your own. Ro ad to VR has spotted a change to the prototype’s order page , however, that should give you a better idea of when to expect the second next shipment if you order today. Hopefully your Halloween costume isn’t planned out just yet because once your virtual reality goggles arrive in October, you might not want to take them off. If you need something to keep you busy until then, well, there’s always Google Cardboard . Filed under: Desktops , Gaming , Home Entertainment , HD Comments Source: Road to VR , Oculus VR
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The next wave of Oculus’ latest VR headsets start shipping in October
The new Star Wars hardware keeps trickling out. This is the new stormtrooper helmet, an updated model that looks way more modern but also less menacing than the original one. The left one is an actual unit in a warehouse. The right one is a render. They look nice but I have a question for all of you: Read more…
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Why did JJ Abrams make these new stormtrooper helmets for Star Wars?
AMD and Intel have been in a race to stuff their highest-end processors with as many cores as possible , and it appears that this that one-upmanship isn’t about to end any time soon — much to your advantage. As Macworld UK notes, Intel is close to releasing a new range of Xeon E5 processors where more cores (and thus more parallel computing power) is par for the course. According to ChipLoco ‘s leaked roadmap , even the lowest-spec chips start with six cores versus today’s four; the best model touts a whopping 18, which should help heavy-duty systems juggle a huge number of simultaneous workloads. You may get to see this new Xeon in action, too. The new E5 is expected to launch on September 9th in Dell Precision workstations, and it’s also a direct upgrade to the chips used in the Mac Pro . Sadly, you likely won’t find an 18-core desktop in an Apple Store any time soon — that processor will be too hot and power-hungry — but it’s entirely possible that a 14-core Mac will show up. Whichever platform you prefer, you shouldn’t have to wait for much longer for a dream 4K video editing rig. Filed under: Desktops , Apple , Intel , Dell Comments Via: Electronista Source: Macworld UK , ChipLoco
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Intel’s next Xeon chip stuffs up to 18 cores into very powerful PCs
New submitter onproton writes: Citizen Lab released new research today on a targeted exploitation technique used by state actors involving “network injection appliances” installed at ISPs. These devices can target and intercept unencrypted YouTube traffic and replace it with malicious code that gives the operator control over the system or installs a surveillance backdoor. One of the researchers writes, “many otherwise well-informed people think they have to do something wrong, or stupid, or insecure to get hacked—like clicking on the wrong attachments, or browsing malicious websites…many of these commonly held beliefs are not necessarily true.” This technique is largely designed for targeted attacks, so it’s likely most of us will be safe for now — but just one more reminder to use https. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Watch a Cat Video, Get Hacked: the Death of Clear-Text
Wearables have become popular among athletes for monitoring training progress , but on its recent Rise campaign stop in Shanghai, Nike took a different approach. Inside the so-call House of Mamba, NBA star Kobe Bryant hosted 30 young players from all over China who trained on a full-sized LED basketball court — complete with projected graphics and motion tracking. The playing surface displayed reactive visuals based on players’ movements for drills based on Bryant’s own regimen. A dozen athletes will compete this weekend in Beijing with three winners moving on to the Nike World Basketball Festival in Barcelona next month. Curious to see how it works? Well, there’s a pair of videos after the break that show just that. Filed under: Misc Comments Via: Gizmodo (Sploid) Source: Nike
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Nike’s LED basketball court boosts training with motion tracking
Aurich Lawson The shift from copper landlines to fiber-based voice networks is continuing apace, and no one wants it to happen faster than Verizon. Internet users nationwide are clamoring for fiber, as well, hoping it can free them from slower DSL service or the dreaded cable companies. But not everyone wants fiber, because, when it comes to voice calls, the newer technology doesn’t have all the benefits of the old copper phone network. In particular, fiber doesn’t conduct electricity, where copper does. That means when your power goes out, copper landlines might keep working for days or weeks by drawing electricity over the lines, while a phone that relies on fiber will only last as long as its battery. That’s up to eight hours for Verizon’s most widely available backup system. Thus, while many customers practically beg for fiber, others—particularly those who have suffered through long power outages—want Verizon to keep maintaining the old copper lines. But Verizon continues pressuring customers to switch, and it’s getting harder to say no. Read 89 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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How Verizon lets its copper network decay to force phone customers onto fiber
Most of our devices run (not for long enough) on lithium ion batteries. But there could be a new, old kid on the block—in the shape of a solid-state battery that can hold twice the charge as li-on. Read more…
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Cheap Solid-State Batteries That Last Twice as Long as Li-On Are Coming
Apps that use your smartphone’s microphone need to ask permission, but the motion sensors ? No say-so needed. That might not sound like a big deal, but security researchers from Stanford University and defense firm Rafael have discovered a way to turn Android phone gyroscopes into crude microphones. They call their app ” Gyrophone ” and here’s how it works: the tiny gyros in your phone that measure orientation do so using vibrating pressure plates. As it turns out, those can also pick up air vibrations from sounds, and those in many Android devices can do it in the 80 to 250 hertz range — exactly the frequency of a human voice. By contrast, the iPhone’s sensor only uses frequencies below 100Hz, and is therefore useless for tapping conversations. Though the system can only pick up the odd word or the speaker’s gender, the researchers said that voice recognition experts could no doubt make it work better. They’ll be delivering a paper next week at the Usenix Security conference, but luckily, Google is already up on the research. “This early, academic work should allow us to provide defenses before there is any likelihood of real exploitation.” Filed under: Cellphones , Mobile Comments Via: Wired.com Source: Stanford University
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Hackers transform a smartphone gyroscope into an always-on microphone