Tag: california

Breach exposes at least 58 million accounts, includes names, jobs, and more

(credit: Hefin Richards ) There has been yet another major data breach, this time exposing names, IP addresses, birth dates, e-mail addresses, vehicle data, and occupations of at least 58 million subscribers, researchers said. The trove was mined from a poorly secured database and then published and later removed at least three times over the past week, according to this analysis from security firm Risk Based Security. Based on conversations with a Twitter user who first published links to the leaked data , the researchers believe the data was stored on servers belonging to Modern Business Solutions , a company that provides data storage and database hosting services. Shortly after researchers contacted Modern Business Solutions, the leaky database was secured, but the researchers said they never received a response from anyone at the firm, which claims to be located in Austin, Texas. Officials with Modern Business Solutions didn’t respond to several messages Ars left seeking comment and additional details. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Breach exposes at least 58 million accounts, includes names, jobs, and more

Comcast fined $2.3 million by FCC for “negative option billing” practices

The FCC announced a $2.3 million fine against Comcast on Tuesday after confirming that the company had been billing customers for products and services they had never ordered. After calling the fine “the largest civil penalty  assessed from a cable operator by the FCC,” the federal agency’s announcement detailed exactly how Comcast bilked customers—and new company practices that must be put into place as a result. According to the FCC’s Office of Media Relations, the agency had received “numerous complaints from consumers” about the issue of “negative option billing”—meaning, receiving charges for items that the customers had never affirmatively requested. (The FCC reminds readers that in the telecom world, this practice is known as “cramming.”) The listed complaints revolve specifically around items related to cable TV service, including “premium channels, set-top boxes, and DVRs.” “Despite specifically declining service or equipment upgrades” Though the FCC’s statement didn’t quote particular complaints or state how many the agency received, it described a range of unsavory reports from customers, including “being billed despite specifically declining service or equipment upgrades offered by Comcast,” “having no knowledge of unauthorized charges until they received unordered equipment in the mail,” and “expending significant time and energy to attempt to remove unauthorized charges from their bills and obtain refunds.” (Ars has reached out to the FCC with questions about specific complaints and the number received; we will update this report if we receive a response.) Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Comcast fined $2.3 million by FCC for “negative option billing” practices

Don’t buy a Galaxy Note 7—and return yours if you already have

Enlarge / The Note 7 has too many safety issues for us to recommend. (credit: Ron Amadeo) When we review phones, we do our best to tell you everything you need to make a smart purchase. We talk about the underlying tech, too, but in the end, people usually read a review because they either want to know which thing to buy or they want to know more about the thing they already intend to buy. Usually, we give you all of that information and make a general recommendation but leave the ultimate purchasing decision up to you. But for Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, we need to go a step further: don’t buy this phone. And if you have bought it, you should return the Galaxy Note 7 immediately and purchase something else. Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Don’t buy a Galaxy Note 7—and return yours if you already have

Researchers push Moore’s Law with a 1-nanometer transistor gate

Ready for some hardcore science about transistor elements that are a fraction of the width of a human hair? Good, because that’s what this post is all about. “The semiconductor industry has long assumed that any gate below 5 nanometers wouldn’t work, so anything below that was not even considered, ” University of California at Berkeley researcher Sujai Desay says. In recent years, though, that assertion has looked shaky, and now it’s been thoroughly disproved thanks to the discoveries made by scientists at UC Berkeley and the magic of carbon nanotubes . Or, as they’re more commonly known, graphene. Ali Javey, Jeff Bokor, Chenming Hu, Moon Kim and H.S. Philip Wong crafted a transistor with a 1-nanometer gate. In theory this could shrink the weight and size of our already-thin electronics even more. For context, current silicon transistors have 20-nanometer gates. However, it’s worth noting that graphene isn’t the only material in use here. The UCB researchers also used molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) to achieve this result. A problem with using anything but silicon for these ultra-small transistors is that with anything under 5nm in size, it gets harder to control the flow of electrons through the material, and the transistors can’t be powered off. But since electrons are “heavier” when they’re pushed through MoS2, smaller gate lengths can be used. Hence shrinking down to 1nm. Now, it’s important to note that while this is a huge discovery, it isn’t precisely the first time for achievement the way that UCB says it is. Back in 2008 , researchers from the University of Manchester used graphene to create a transistor 1nm across containing only a few carbon rings. And in 2006, Korean scientists used FinFET to make a transistor with a 3nm channel length. So maybe relax, because it looks the reports of Moore’s Law’s demise have been slightly exaggerated or at least delayed. Via: Reddit Source: University of California Berkeley , Science

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Researchers push Moore’s Law with a 1-nanometer transistor gate

New California Law Allows Test of Autonomous Shuttle With No Driver

If you live in California, you may soon start to see self-driving cars on the road with no operators to be seen. California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law on Thursday a bill that allows a self-driving vehicle with no operator inside to test on a public road. Currently, companies are legally able to test self-driving cars in California as long as the operators are located inside the vehicles when they are being tested. Fortune reports: The bill introduced by Democratic Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla allows testing in Contra Costa County northeast of San Francisco of the first full-autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel, brakes, accelerator or operator. New legislation was necessary because although driverless vehicles can be tested on private land like the office park, the shuttle will cross a public road on its loop through the campus. The new law means that two cube-like Easymile shuttles that travel no faster than 25 mph (40 kph) will be tested for a period of up to six months before being deployed and used by people. In an interview with Reuters in March, Bonilla said the “natural tension” between regulators concerned about safety and lawmakers trying to encourage innovation in their state necessitated a new bill. “They’re risk averse and we’re saying we need to open the door here and take steps (to innovate), ” Bonilla said, calling the driverless shuttle project “a very wise first out-of-the-gate opportunity” to show how the technology could work safely. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New California Law Allows Test of Autonomous Shuttle With No Driver

HP to issue “optional firmware update” allowing 3rd-party ink

An HP Officejet ink cartridge, just $26.99. (credit: HP ) HP Inc. today said it will restore the ability of certain OfficeJet printers to use third-party ink cartridges, after being criticized for issuing a firmware update that rejects non-HP ink. But HP is still defending its practice of preventing the use of non-HP ink and is making no promises about refraining from future software updates that force customers to use only official ink cartridges. HP made its announcement in a blog post titled ” Dedicated to the best printing experience .” Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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HP to issue “optional firmware update” allowing 3rd-party ink

Verizon technician sold calling, location data for thousands of dollars

Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images) An Alabama man who worked as a Verizon Wireless technician has agreed to plead guilty to a federal hacking charge in connection to his illegal use of the company’s computers to acquire customer calling and location data. The man, Daniel Eugene Traeger, faces a maximum five years in prison next month. He admitted Thursday that he sold customer data—from 2009 to 2014—to a private investigator whom the authorities have not named. According to the man’s signed plea deal  (PDF): At some point in 2009, the Defendant met a private investigator (“the PI”) who wanted to buy Verizon customer information from the Defendant. The Defendant accepted the PI’s offer. The defendant used Verizon computer systems and facilities to access customer call records and customer location data that he knew he was not authorized to access, and provided that information to the PI even though the Defendant knew that he was not authorized to provide it to a third party. The Defendant accessed customer call records by logging into Verizon’s MARS system. The Defendant then compiled the data in spreadsheets, which the Defendant provided to the PI, including by e-mail. The Defendant accessed customer location data using a Verizon system called Real Time Tool. Using RTT, the Defendant “pinged” cellular telephones on Verizon’s network and provided location data for those telephones to the PI. The plea agreement said that Traeger began making $50 monthly in 2009, when he sold two records a month. By mid-2013, he was earning $750 each month by selling 10 to 15 records. In all, the plea deal says he made more than $10,000 over a five-year period. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Verizon technician sold calling, location data for thousands of dollars

Hubble finds additional evidence of water vapor plumes on Europa

Enlarge / Scenario for getting water to Europa’s surface. Artist’s conception of ridges and fractures on Europa. (credit: Caltech/NASA) In the seminal science fiction series Space Odyssey , novelist Arthur C. Clarke called attention to the Jovian moon Europa’s special place in the Solar System. At the end of the series’ second novel, 2010: Odyssey Two , a spaceship sent to the Jupiter system receives a message from aliens: “All these worlds are yours except Europa. Attempt no landing there.” In data released publicly Monday NASA didn’t get quite such a declarative message from the intriguing moon, but the new information is nonetheless thrilling. Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have imaged what are likely water vapor plumes erupting off the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. If the plumes do, in fact, emerge and rain down on the surface, it will be significantly easier for scientists to study the moon’s interior ocean. “E uropa is a world of great interest,”  Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said during a news conference Monday. Monday’s news is significant because it comes as NASA is taking formative steps toward launching a pair missions to Europa in the 2020s—an orbiter to scout the moon, and a lander that will follow a couple of years later. The same engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California who masterminded Curiosity’s landing on Mars have turned their attention toward how best to land a probe on Europa’s icy surface. And it is no easy feat. The moon creaks as Jupiter’s gravitation bulk rends its frozen surface in deep crevasses, pushing and pulling the ice upward and downward by tens of meters every few days. And with only a very tenuous atmosphere, it is cold: -210 degrees Celsius. The radiation from nearby Jupiter would kill a human in a matter of hours or days. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Hubble finds additional evidence of water vapor plumes on Europa

NASA changed all the astrological signs and I’m a crab now

Enlarge / The new sign, “Ophiuchus,” means “Snake Bearer.” And who’s got two thumbs and loves snakes? THIS GUY RIGHT HERE. (credit: Wikimedia Commons ) According to a post on NASASpacePlace , everything we thought we knew about the influence the heavens have over our Earthly lives has been thrown into chaos. NASA has announced that the celestial sphere above us contains not twelve canonical zodiacal constellations, but 13. The heretofore overlooked constellation, Ophiuchus, is purported to guide and command events surrounding humans born between November 29 and December 17—so, if you used to be a Sagittarius, then congratulations: you’ve got a new sign, baby! The addition of Ophiuchus—the snake bearer , in case you were wondering—has obvious and far-reaching implications for the entire western Babylonian-derived zodiac calendar. For one thing, squeezing it in means changing the effective dates of all the other signs. According to Yahoo News , the new 13-sign calendar plays out like this: Capricorn:  January 20-February 16 Aquarius:  February 16-March 11 Pisces:  March 11-April 18 Aries:  April 18-May 13 Taurus:  May 13-June 21 Gemini:  June 21-July 20 Cancer:  July 20-August 10 Leo:  August 10-September 16 Virgo:  September 16-October 30 Libra:  October 30-November 23 Scorpio:  November 23-November 29 Ophiuchus:  November 29-December 17 Sagittarius:  December 17-January 20 The changes are as sweeping as they are staggering. For example, I woke up this morning firmly believing that I was an outgoing, courageous, independent, generous Leo. However, now I have to come to grips with the fact that I am in fact a stupid, sulky, inconsiderate, pessimistic Cancer. I have gone from lion to crab, and it weighs heavily upon me. Read 20 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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NASA changed all the astrological signs and I’m a crab now

Street Fighter V will roll back request for kernel access on Windows [Updated]

Enlarge / No, not really, Capcom. (credit: Aurich Lawson) On Thursday, Street Fighter V ‘s first “season” concluded with a downloadable update that included the game’s 22nd fighting character. (If you’re curious: the new guy is Urien, a tall fellow who first appeared in Street Fighter III wearing only a thong.) But the download updated more than just the game’s roster. It also brought apparent sweeping changes to the PC version—which now demands kernel access from players before every single boot of the game. Windows’ User Account Control (UAC) system warns computer users when an application wants to write or delete sensitive files, and, in the case of PC games, you typically only see these warnings during installations. SFV’s Thursday patch, however, apparently includes “an updated anti-crack solution” that Capcom insists is “not DRM” but rather an anti-cheating protocol. The anti-crack solution is causing a UAC prompt to pop up for the PC version’s users. (Our own Aurich Lawson confirmed the news by booting the latest patched version; his Windows prompt appears above.) Unfortunately, Capcom’s public-facing messages about PC version “hacks” have not been about cheats but about players finding workarounds to unlocking in-game content. In July, Capcom issued a stern warning to any PC player who found alternate ways to unlock  Street Fighter ‘s alternate costumes, which normally require grinding through the game’s lengthy “survival” modes. Capcom producers also condemned PC players who used characters hidden in that game’s version before they were officially released. Thursday’s patch notes mentioned that the new anti-crack solution is particularly targeted at “illicitly obtaining in-game currency and other entitlements” (so it’s, you know, DRM). Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Street Fighter V will roll back request for kernel access on Windows [Updated]