Microsoft has won the right to disclose the FBI’s demand for information about Office 365 customer—a pretty significant victory for transparency and free speech. Read more…
Visit link:
Microsoft has won the right to disclose the FBI’s demand for information about Office 365 customer–
An anonymous reader writes “A biotech start-up from Massachusetts has an unusual product: a bottle full of bacteria you’re supposed to spray onto your face. The bacteria is Nitrosomonas eutropha, and it’s generally harmless. Its main use is that it oxidizes ammonia, and the start-up’s researchers suspect it used to commonly live on human skin before we began washing it away with soaps and other cleaners. Such bacteria are an area of heavy research in biology right now. Scientists know that the gut microbiome is important to proper digestion, and they’re trying to figure out if an external microbiome can be similarly beneficial to skin. A journalist for the NY Times volunteered to test the product, which involved four straight weeks of no showers, no soap, no shampoo, and no deodorant. The sprayed-on bacteria quickly colonized her skin, along with other known types of bacteria — and hundreds of unknown (but apparently harmless) strains. She reported improvements to her skin and complexion, and described how the bacteria worked to curtail (but not eliminate) the body odor caused by not washing. At the end of the experiment, all of the N. eutropha vanished within three showers.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Chat systems like BBM and iMessage are typically very secure, since they’re encrypted end-to-end. However, they still have a glaring flaw: if intruders do crack the code, they can see everything you’ve said. That’s where BlackBerry’s soon-to-launch BBM Protected comes in. As the company showed at its BlackBerry Experience Washington event ( CrackBerry ‘s video is below), the new service makes it extremely difficult to spy on an entire conversation. Each message has its own random encryption key; even a very clever data thief would only get one tidbit at a time, so it could take ages to piece together a full chat. BBM Protected will only be available for corporate-controlled BlackBerry devices when it launches as part of an enterprise suite in June, although that will include anything running the now-ancient BlackBerry OS 6 or higher. The chat client won’t be available for personal phones running BlackBerry Balance until early fall, while Android and iOS users will have to wait until late fall or early winter. All the same, it might be worth holding out if you’re really, truly worried that someone is watching your private discussions. Filed under: Cellphones , Internet , Mobile , Blackberry Comments Via: BGR Source: CrackBerry
See original article:
BlackBerry’s ultra-secure chat gives each message its own security key
Previously, when you first joined Facebook , all of your posts would be shared with the world by default. Anyone who stumbled upon your profile could read anything you previously shared, be it a short update or a personal photo, unless you deliberately clicked away from “Public.” Now, the social site’s switched things up for the better , making “Friends” the new default for status updates. You don’t have to do anything to take advantage, but now’s as good a time as any to pay very close attention to your Facebook privacy settings. And maybe be a bit more selective when it comes time to add a new friend. Filed under: Internet , Facebook Comments Source: Facebook
Read the original:
Facebook stops oversharing, defaults status updates to just friends
Yesterday, Steam released its In-Home Streaming feature to everyone. The feature allows you to install games on one PC and stream them via your home network to any other machine. Here’s how to get it set up (and fix some of the quirkier problems). Read more…
View post:
How to Set Up Steam In-Home Streaming and Fix Its Quirks
FreedomPop’s been signing up customers with the promise of free mobile phone service since last year, but once you’re hooked, you’ll need to shell out a bit of dough to keep things going. The basic plan, which does in fact come with a $0.00 monthly fee, gets you 200 minutes, 500 text messages and 500 megs of data. Once you reach those caps, you’ll pay one cent per minute or 2.5 cents per MB, or you can step up to the new “Unlimited Everything” plan, which will run you $20 monthly for all-you-can-eat voice, text messages and data, with a catch: You’ll only get 1GB of LTE, after which you’ll drop down to Sprint’s 3G network. Assuming you’ll consume that gig of data in far less than 30 days, FreedomPop’s four LTE smartphones, including three from Samsung and Apple’s iPhone 5 , may not be the best fit. Still, $20 is a relative steal for unlimited smartphone service, and if you can live with 3G speeds after that first gig is up, FreedomPop’s ready to start saving you cash. Filed under: Cellphones Comments Via: CNET Source: FreedomPop
Read More:
$20 FreedomPop ‘Unlimited Everything’ plan includes 1GB of Sprint LTE, limits
Andrew Cunningham iPhone users (and ex-iPhone users) attempting to sign out of Apple’s iMessage service recently began running into a nasty bug. Signing out of iMessage means that iPhones trying to text your number should seamlessly switch back to using SMS. However, this hasn’t been happening lately—instead, these iMessages continue to be sent as iMessages. They never actually make it to their destination, and neither the sender nor the receiver is given any indication that the message has failed. Apple acknowledged the bug in a statement to Re/code this morning , noting that it has “recently fixed a server-side iMessage bug which was causing an issue for some users,” and that an additional software update was being planned to fix more problems. Signing out of the iMessage service has always been more difficult than enabling it, and I say that as someone who recently disabled iMessage to make jumping between iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and other mobile operating systems easier. In my case, iMessages sent to my newly disconnected number would simply fail to send, and the problem only worked itself out after I changed my Apple ID password (thereby signing all of my devices out of the service), disassociating my phone number from my Apple ID, and then calling Apple support about the problem. This new bug sounds worse, since message senders don’t even know that the texts aren’t arriving at their destination. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments
More:
Apple will fix iMessage bug that makes it harder to leave the service
California’s legislators are taking self-driving cars seriously, having already instated regulations that forbid humans from falling asleep behind the wheel of autonomous vehicles. And the Golden State must think the future is pretty near; it will start granting licenses to driverless cars in September, allowing them to travel on public roads provided the DMV’s stringent requirements are met. The California DMV will issue licenses — at $150 apiece — to self-driving vehicles on the condition that the test drivers are employed by the manufacturer and have the appropriate permit. Oh, and they’ll need to have an insurance policy for $5 million. Manufacturers can apply for a license starting in July, but they won’t take effect until September 16th. The new legislation seems pretty much tailor-made for Google, which has its headquarters in the state, but Ford and several other companies will likely take advantage as well. Filed under: Transportation , Google Comments Via: IEEE Spectrum Source: California DMV , California DMV
Visit site:
California will soon issue licenses for driverless cars
Yelp is about to let you to catch the vibe of your favorite eateries with video as well as pictures, according to Business Insider . Provided that you’re an elite user, you’ll be able to upload 3-12 second clips as early as June, and all users will be able to see such videos next month on the iOS and Android apps too. Yelp said that’ll help reviewers convey the ambiance of or a hangout in a way that regular photos can’t (or emote about it, as in the video below). It’ll also give intrepid food shooters another creative outlet that won’t clog up their friends’ and family’s Instagram feeds. [Image credit: Business Insider] Comments Source: Business Insider
DARPA has long sought a heads-up display to give soldiers situational awareness without distracting them, and it looks like technology has finally caught up to that ambition. It recently unveiled a new ULTRA-Vis prototype at its DARPA Demo Days , saying the breakthrough was a “holographic wave guide” display. Similar to how the Oculus Rift headset works (but not in 3D), it’ll project color images locked to the terrain — even if you move your head — thanks to motion-sensing and GPS systems. For instance, targeting icons will stay fixed on enemy or friendly positions, even tracking targets behind GIs with a 360-degree ring-like display. It’ll also allow soldiers to communicate with each other, their base camp or air support, and play drone video in the display. Like similar projects , the prototype is far from battle-ready, but will function as a test-bed for all of DARPA’s wild ideas until the final design is complete. [Image credit: Breaking Defense] Filed under: Wearables Comments Via: Breaking Defense Source: DARPA
Visit site:
DARPA flaunts wearable display with Oculus-like head-tracking