actors – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Lebanese hackers stole a ton of data then left it on an open server

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and mobile security company Lookout released a report today detailing a major hacking campaign — dubbed Dark Caracal — that’s believed to have originated from Lebanon’s General Directorate of General Security (GDGS), one of the country’s intelligence agencies. The companies found information gathered from thousands of victims from over 20 countries through espionage efforts extending back to 2012. Targets included military personnel, journalists, activists, financial institutions and manufacturing companies and some of the stolen data included documents, call records, texts, contact information and photos. Michael Flossman, a Lookout security researcher, told the Associated Press , “It was everything. Literally everything.” The hackers used malicious apps that resembled legitimate communication platforms like Signal and WhatsApp to steal the trove of data, loading up the fake versions with malware that allowed them to tap into users’ conversations. “One of the interesting things about this ongoing attack is that it doesn’t require a sophisticated or expensive exploit, ” EFF Staff Technologist Cooper Quintin said in a statement . “Instead, all Dark Caracal needed was application permissions that users themselves granted when they downloaded the apps, not realizing that they contained malware.” However, the hackers’ storage of the stolen info also wasn’t terribly sophisticated, as it was all left exposed online on an unprotected server. “It’s almost like thieves robbed the bank and forgot to lock the door where they stashed the money, ” Mike Murray, Lookout’s head of intelligence, told the AP . The EFF and Lookout were able to link the data to a WiFi network coinciding with the location of Lebanon’s GDGS. “Based on the available evidence, it is likely that the GDGS is associated with or directly supporting the actors behind Dark Caracal, ” noted the report. EFF Director of Cybersecurity Eva Galperin said that pinpointing the campaign to such a precise location was remarkable, telling the AP , “We were able to take advantage of extraordinarily poor operational security.” Via: Associated Press Source: Lookout

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Lebanese hackers stole a ton of data then left it on an open server

An action-packed new Star Wars animated series is on YouTube now

(video link) The latest Star Wars story is already here, and it’s free on YouTube. It’s a series of shorts called Forces of Destiny , and each one delivers action, humor, and a genuinely heartfelt moment of heroism. The best part about the series, authored by Marvel alum Jennifer Muro, is that it fills in backstory on characters that you always wondered about. (So yeah, it’s canon.) Forces of Destiny is a 16-episode series, and the first eight were released this month. Eight more will come in October. The series is episodic, jumping around in time from Episodes 1 through 7 of the films. We see a lot of Rey (Daisy Ridley) and BB-8, though we also stop in to see Ahsoka (Ashley Eckstein) kicking butt, Leia doing spycraft, and Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) being her usual chaotic good rogue. All the actors from the movies and TV series voice their characters, except Leia (RIP Carrie Fisher), who is voiced by Shelby Young. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Théoriz recreates the Holodeck with AR tech and projectors

If you had to list the most mind-blowing tech demos in recent memory, Microsoft’s Hololens AR headset would need to be included, as would its projector-enhanced Illumiroom . A company called Théoriz from Lyon, France has married both of those things to create a “mixed reality room” that uses projector tech, motion tracking and augmented reality together. Its latest technology demo video made it seem like we’re closer to Star Trek ‘s Holodeck than ever before, so we went to take a closer look. Théoriz is located at the ” Pole Pixel , ” a sprawling collection of studios east of Lyon used by Panavision and other cinema companies. The company’s mission is as much artistic as tech-oriented, so the engineers are both bohemian and code-savvy. “We are a team mostly composed of creative engineers, ” says Th éoriz co-founder David-Alexandre Chanel. “Engineers who have an artistic sensibility and also do good code.” To wit, the company has created some very technical and very whimsical projects, including an art installation called ” Doors ” featuring portals that open up to an infinite space and change perspective as the viewer moves, and ” Are You my Friend , ” an industrial robot that communicates with the exhibit-goers via a keyboard. Art aside, the mixed reality room tech is impressive. The team tracks the camera (typically a RED model that can record and output in real time) with an HTC Vive Tracker , and feeds the data to a computer running the Unity game engine . That generates digital environments like flying space skulls, a Minecraft-like room with holes that open up on the floor and geometric shapes that interact with actors to form stairs, wells or small hills. The computer syncs everything together, so that when the camera operator pans or tilts, the Unity scenes tilt or pan to match. Those are then beamed into the room via six projectors — four for the floors, and two on the walls. At the same time, three Kinect-style 3D cameras, combined with Théoriz’s in-house “Augmenta” system, detect the position of the actors so they can interact with the environment. Everything must be processed and played back in real-time by the Unity based system, something that required some clever coding and computing horsepower. In the resulting videos, live actors interact seamlessly with virtual environments, creating a hallucinogenic effect. “It’s called mixed reality because we use and merge things from the virtual world with reality, ” says Chanel. For instance, dancers can make the walls “move” with their movements and bat away flying asteroids. In the latest demo video (above), actors interact with bizarre geometric environments, opening up holes in the floor where they move and walking up fake stairs. Though most of the tech is off the shelf, none of it is intended for consumers — at least, not yet. For now, the company wants to just sell its services for things like music videos, dance performances, art installations and other live events. At the same time, they’re improving the tech to make it more realistic and immersive. “We think that by changing the content creation process, we can open new creative possibilities and achieve unprecedented kind[s] of visuals, ” says Chanel. The next project will test everything Th éoriz has learned so far, both artistically and technically. “We’re trying for the first time to show an artistic video with two dancers, ” Chanel says. “And they’re going to dance and interact in the virtual world, moving through different kinds of totally surreal scenes.” Eventually, Théoriz might make its software available to other companies, but for now it’s just trying to make its services more compelling for artists and audiences. “It’s a new field, ” says Chanel. “We still have to evangelize it and create demand so it can eventually find its place.” And the best way to do that? “Seduce the audience with something new, poetic and unexpected, ” he says. Source: Théoriz

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Théoriz recreates the Holodeck with AR tech and projectors

John McAfee: NSA’s Back Door Has Given Every US Secret To Enemies

John McAfee, American computer programmer and contributing editor of Business Insider, explains how the NSA’s back door has given every U.S. secret to its enemies. He begins by mentioning the importance of software, specifically meta- software, which contains a high level set of principles designed to help a nation survive in a cyberwar. Such software must not contain any back doors under any circumstances, otherwise it can and may very likely allow perceived enemies of the U.S. to have access to top-secret information. For example, the Chinese used the NSA’s back door to hack the Defense Department last year and steal 5.6 million fingerprints of critical personnel. “Whatever gains the NSA has made through the use of their back door, it cannot possibly counterbalance the harm done to our nation by everyone else’s use of that same back door.” McAfee believes the U.S. has failed to grasp the subtle implications of technology and, as a result, is 20 years behind the Chinese, and by association, the Russians as well. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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John McAfee: NSA’s Back Door Has Given Every US Secret To Enemies

The gorgeous faces and stunning cinematography of ‘Until Dawn’

The PlayStation 4’s latest exclusive Until Dawn is absolutely stunning visually. In particular? Its faces. By using 3D performance capture techniques that include strapping an HD camera rig attached to their heads to grab practically every minute detail and expression, the actors (including Hayden Panettiere and Peter Stormare) bring life to the characters in a pretty realistic fashion. What’s really cool is that oftentimes once you let the DualShock 4 sit idle for a moment, the camera will zoom in on the face of whichever of the randy teens you’re controlling. If motion controls are enabled, you can tilt the gamepad this way and that and the possibly-doomed cabeza will follow suit accordingly. It’s pretty neat! Slideshow-314565 Sadly, Until Dawn is severely lacking a proper photo mode though. I never thought I’d praise a game’s cinematography, but I was consistently wowed by how every scene was composed and framed during my playthrough. Those sometimes-annoying camera angles, combined with just how good the game looks, scream for the ability to futz with exposure, saturation and depth of field adjustments for even more stunning, shareable shots. Seriously. Take a gander at the gallery below and try telling me that something like The Last of Us: Remastered ‘s or Infamous: Second Son ‘s digital dark-rooms couldn’t make the screenshots look even cooler and more desktop-image worthy. Slideshow-314571 Filed under: Gaming , Home Entertainment , HD , Sony Comments Tags: 3dMotionCapture, cinematography, faces, gallery, gaming, HaydenPanettiere, hd, hdpostcross, PerformanceCapture, PeterStormare, photogrpahy, PlayStation, playstation4, ps4, sony, supermassivegames, untildawn

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The gorgeous faces and stunning cinematography of ‘Until Dawn’

Secret Origins Of The Japanese Superhero Show That Became Power Rangers

If you look at the picture above, you probably think of the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, costumed heroes who have been kicking their way across TV in different incarnations for nearly 20 years—but you’d be wrong. These are actually the Zyurangers, the stars of a Japanese TV series that inadvertently spawned a global sensation. Read more…

A Startling Portrait of African Cities—And How China is Building Them

If a continent’s infrastructure is its’ bones, then Africa is growing up quickly. From 2000 to 2010, six of the ten fastest growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa, and the region had to accrue new housing, highways, skyscrapers, factories—much of it financed or constructed by China. Who better to build Africa’s new economy? Continent-sized China just had its own growth spurt, one that began thirty five years ago in a few special economic zones (SEZs) and now promises to make Beijing a new megacity five times the size of New York City— a home to 130 million people boasting industries from technology to textiles. China’s economy-building industries—construction, real estate financing, urban planning—have found a new home in the African continent. But is Africa filling a Chinese mold? Or is it growing into something entirely different? Portrait of Chinese construction site manager for a new light-rail line system in Addis Ababa. [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen] [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen] That question sits at the core of Facing East: Chinese Urbanism in Africa , an exhibition currently on display at New York City’s Storefront for Art and Architecture . The exhibit was curated by journalist Michiel Hulshof and architect Daan Roggeveen , both Dutch, who have extensively explored Chinese urbanism in their ongoing Go West Project . For Facing East , the pair travelled to six major African cities—Nairobi, Kigali, Lagos, Addis Ababa, Accra, Dar Es Salaam—over the past three years to photograph, interview and investigate. The exhibition’s walls of photographs, along with captions and a short essay, provide a condensed portrait of their experiences. So, what’s the verdict? Is Africa, in the words of one Kenyan small-business owner, truly “facing East to our new friends, the Chinese?” Installation view. [Facing East: Chinese Urbanism in Africa, 2015. Curated by Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggevan. Storefront for Art and Architecture. Photo by Qi Lin.] Africans now have a choice between Western and Eastern-driven development and aid. [Facing East: Chinese Urbanism in Africa, 2015. Curated by Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggevan. Storefront for Art and Architecture. Photo by Qi Lin.] The show catalogs the broad conditions and consequences of Africa’s developing cities. [Facing East: Chinese Urbanism in Africa, 2015. Curated by Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggevan. Storefront for Art and Architecture. Photo by Qi Lin.] Facing East does not explore any projects in detail but articulates the broad tensions that are shaping the design and construction of Africa’s new infrastructure and cities. While development aid from the West aimed to reduce poverty and improve quality-of-life, China’s efforts are purely for-profit ventures. There’s no guarantee that rising waters of growth will lift all boats equally. This may be best exemplified by the massive slums that grow around Africa’s cities, a product of economic growth—jobs are the in cities—combined with a lack of government planning or services. Hulshof and Roggeveen cite a figure that three quarters of urban Africans live in such slums. This points to the second tension underscored by Facing East : unlike China, Africa is a diverse collection of cultures, governments, religions, and economies. Aerial view of Kilamba New City. [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen] Kilamba New City, a housing development for 500, 000 located outside the Angolan capital of Luanda, could have easily been lifted straight from Shanghai or Chongqing. [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen] View of the Kenya Commercial Bank Headquarters construction site in Nairobi. [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen] View of Thika Superhighway, built by Chinese contractors in Nairobi. [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen] Chinese managers oversee Ethiopian workers in this shoe factory in the Eastern Industry Zone—a a Special Economic Zone modeled after Shenzhen. [Photo courtesy of Michiel Hulshof and Daan Roggeveen] For example, Kilamba New City, a housing development for 500, 000 located outside the Angolan capital of Luanda, could’ve been lifted from Shanghai or Chongqing. But will its inhabitants finds the same industrial jobs that drive China’s growth? Will global economics and a host of supporting infrastructure—governmental, physical, and human—make it prosperous? These are difficult questions that only time will answer. Nevertheless, Facing East presents two very different portraits that help give visual substance to that question. The first is physical: sprawling grids of roads, fields of cruciform housing towers, sinuous curves of highways and hardtop, and thick webs of scaffolding. These scenes could’ve been captured anywhere in China, today or ten years ago, but the second portrait records Africans caught in that growth. It’s a Chinese stage but the actors are all-new. Facing East: Chinese Urbanism in Africa is on view at Storefront for Art and Architecture through August 1st.

Intense Scifi Film Shot Entirely in Moonlight Looks Completely Alien

23.2 lightyears from Earth sits the Scorpius Constellation, where scientists are working on an artificial biosphere that can harbor human life. And perhaps some other forms of life, too. Read more…

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Intense Scifi Film Shot Entirely in Moonlight Looks Completely Alien

LucasFilm Combines Video Games and Movies To Eliminate Post-Production

llebeel writes “Lucasfilm is currently prototyping the combining of video game engines with film-making to eliminate the post-production process in movies. ‘Speaking at the Technology Strategy Board event at BAFTA in London this week, the company’s chief technology strategy officer, Kim Libreri, announced that the developments in computer graphics have meant Lucasfilm has been able to transfer its techniques to film-making, shifting video game assets into movie production. Real-time motion capture and the graphics of video game engines, Libreri claimed, will increasingly be used in movie creation, allowing post-production effects to be overlayed in real time. “We think that computer graphics are going to be so realistic in real time computer graphics that, over the next decade, we’ll start to be able to take the post out of post-production; where you’ll leave a movie set and the shot is pretty much complete, ” Libreri said.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.