china – Page 2 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

HTC gives Vive developers all app revenue for the rest of 2017

Now that HTC is all-in on Vive headsets and letting Google deal with its Pixel smartphone business, it has to deal with another reality: The public still isn’t exactly sold on VR. To keep sales momentum going, it has announced a promotion aimed at attracting Vive app developers and keeping existing ones happy. Rather than taking its usual 30 percent cut, HTC will give 100 percent of app revenue to developers for the entire fourth quarter of 2017, starting in October. The developer promotion will end on December 31st, HTC says. It’s hard to say how much revenue apps could generate during that time, as HTC keeps such info under wraps. It’s no doubt hoping that developers will lower their prices a bit, in turn driving hardware sales. “The holiday is the most important time for developers, and we want to show our appreciation for them, ” HTC Viveport VR’s Rikard Steiber told Venture Beat . The Vive VR headset was one of HTC’s lone financial bright spots last year, and the company recently said sales are still going just fine. Nevertheless, it’s reportedly being outsold by the PlayStation VR, probably because Sony’s PS4 brand is much better known by the gaming public. As such, Sony has arguably the best VR games for its platforms as developers go where the money is. HTC is banking on the social experience of VR Arcades (credit: ©HLenie) HTC will also share more hourly revenue with VR arcade operators , giving them 70 percent instead of 50 percent as before. The company’s Viveport Arcade system, its licensing platform enabling titles to be played in public spaces, is in trial with 700 titles and 50 operators around the globe. The Taiwanese firm also unveiled the Viveport Scene SDK that lets developers create new effects to entice potential buyers to try out apps or games. Developers can also build “VR Previews, ” or movies that run on Vive headsets to show customers what a game is like to play. HTC recently launched a monthly $6.99 subscription service, and unveiled a new standalone headset that works via the cloud rather than a PC (in China only for now). Now that it has an extra billion in the bank, it’s trying a lot of things to push the Vive platform out to more consumers, and the next year or two will crucial for the Vive and VR in general. Source: Venture Beat

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HTC gives Vive developers all app revenue for the rest of 2017

Chinese Scientists Are Developing A Vaccine Against Cavities

A vaccine against tooth decay “is urgently needed” writes Nature — and a team of Chinese scientists is getting close. hackingbear writes: Scientists at Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences developed low side effects and high protective efficiency using flagellin-rPAc fusion protein KFD2-rPAc, a promising vaccine candidate. In rat challenge models, KFD2-rPAc induces a robust rPAc-specific IgA response, and confers efficient prophylactic and therapeutic efficiency as does KF-rPAc, while the flagellin-specific inflammatory antibody responses are highly reduced. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Chinese Scientists Are Developing A Vaccine Against Cavities

These Ingenious 2,500-Year-Old Chinese Wood Joints Make Buildings Earthquake-Proof

Over thousands of years, the building science of timber framing developed independently in both Northern Europe and China. But one big difference between the regions is that China, by virtue of its size and geological traits, is prone to devastating earthquakes. Ancient Chinese builders thus needed a way to create wooden structures that could not be shaken apart, and that were not so stiff that its support members would shatter. They designed and engineered the solution at least as early as roughly 500 B.C. The builders created a series of brackets known as dougong . When interlocked together, these could transfer the incredibly heavy weight of a temple roof to the supporting columns, and they contained so many redundancies that they could not be shaken apart. They also, by spreading their tolerances over multiple joints, contained a measure of flexibility that prevented them from cracking and splitting. Check out the ingenious way that they fit together in the computer animation below: The craziest part of that system is that the columns are not sunken into the foundation nor moored, but are freestanding, and yet they stayed in place during the shake test. The video below, which is of a modern-day architect demonstrating dougong with a scale model, is a bit slower but really gives you a good look at the components and how they fit together: It’s crazy to see how wobbly it all looks, but how it all gets locked into place by the immense weight of the roof; and that wobbliness of course affords the flexibility required for the structure to withstand an earthquake without shattering. Also, this architect must look at people playing Jenga and think “Idiots.”

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These Ingenious 2,500-Year-Old Chinese Wood Joints Make Buildings Earthquake-Proof

Chinese Court Seizes Millions in Assets of LeEco Founder as Conglomerate’s Troubles Grow

Chinese Internet tycoon and LeEco founder Jia Yueting’s ambition to challenge the likes of Apple and Tesla looks even more in doubt after $182 million of his assets were frozen by a Shanghai court following unpaid loans. From a report: Jia and LeEco came in for stinging criticism from Chinese media Wednesday, which warned that the Internet streaming company and hardware manufacturer was set to fall into further trouble, with the asset freeze as only the beginning. LeEco’s development “is too big, too quick and too reckless, ” Beijing Business Today wrote. “Developing TV [programs and TV sets], mobile phones, [electric] cars and sports programs all consume too much cash at the same time. Not only can the capital not sustain these developments; fractures are inevitable in areas ranging from human resources, technology and management.” According to the official Xinhua news agency, the Shanghai High People’s Court last week ruled in favor of China Merchants Bank’s application to freeze $182 million in assets belonging to Jia, his wife and three LeEco affiliates. Further reading: LeEco Said To Lay Off Over 80 Percent of US Workforce, LeEco’s CEO Jia Yueting Says Company Overstretched, Now Running Out of Cash, and China’s LeEco Calls Off Its $2 Billion Purchase of TV Maker Vizio. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Chinese Court Seizes Millions in Assets of LeEco Founder as Conglomerate’s Troubles Grow

Just 14 People Make 500,000 Tons of Steel a Year in Austria

An anonymous reader shares a Bloomberg Businessweek feature: The Austrian village of Donawitz has been an iron-smelting center since the 1400s, when ore was dug from mines carved out of the snow-capped peaks nearby. Over the centuries, Donawitz developed into the Hapsburg Empire’s steel-production hub, and by the early 1900s it was home to Europe’s largest mill. With the opening of Voestalpine AG’s new rolling mill this year, the industry appears secure. What’s less certain are the jobs. The plant, a two-hour drive southwest of Vienna, will need just 14 employees to make 500, 000 tons of robust steel wire a year — vs. as many as 1, 000 in a mill with similar capacity built in the 1960s. Inside the facility, red-hot metal snakes its way along a 700-meter (2, 297-foot) production line. Yet the floors are spotless, the only noise is a gentle hum that wouldn’t overwhelm a quiet conversation, and most of the time the place is deserted except for three technicians who sit high above the line, monitoring output on a bank of flatscreens. “We have to forget steel as a core employer, ” says Wolfgang Eder, Voestalpine’s chief executive officer for the past 13 years. “In the long run we will lose most of the classic blue-collar workers, people doing the hot and dirty jobs in coking plants or around the blast furnaces. This will all be automated.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Just 14 People Make 500,000 Tons of Steel a Year in Austria

Chinese ‘Fireball’ Malware Infects Nearly 250 Million Computers Worldwide

Check Point researchers have discovered a massive malware campaign, dubbed Fireball, that has already infected more than 250 million computers across the world, including Windows and Mac OS. The Fireball malware “is an adware package that takes complete control of victim’s web browsers and turns them into zombies, potentially allowing attackers to spy on victim’s web traffic and potentially steal their data, ” reports The Hacker News. From the report: Check Point researchers, who discovered this massive malware campaign, linked the operation to Rafotech, a Chinese company which claims to offer digital marketing and game apps to 300 million customers. While the company is currently using Fireball for generating revenue by injecting advertisements onto the browsers, the malware can be quickly turned into a massive destroyer to cause a significant cyber security incident worldwide. Fireball comes bundled with other free software programs that you download off of the Internet. Once installed, the malware installs browser plugins to manipulate the victim’s web browser configurations to replace their default search engines and home pages with fake search engines (trotux.com). “It’s important to remember that when a user installs freeware, additional malware isn’t necessarily dropped at the same time, ” researchers said. “Furthermore, it is likely that Rafotech is using additional distribution methods, such as spreading freeware under fake names, spam, or even buying installs from threat actors.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Chinese ‘Fireball’ Malware Infects Nearly 250 Million Computers Worldwide

Bitcoin Surges 10% To All-Time High Above $2,700, Has Now Doubled in May

An anonymous reader writes: In another intraday jump of more than $200, bitcoin surged to a record Thursday on strong Asian demand overnight. Bitcoin jumped more than 10 percent to an all-time high of $2, 752.07, more than twice its April 30 price of $1, 347.96 according to CoinDesk. The digital currency last traded near $2, 726. At Thursday’s record, Bitcoin has now gained more than 45 percent since last Thursday and more than 180 percent for the year so far. “There is no question that we are in the middle of a price frenzy, ” said Brian Kelly of BKCM, in a note to clients Thursday. “There will be a correction and it could be severe, but it’s unclear if that correction will start from current prices of $2700 or from some place much higher.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Bitcoin Surges 10% To All-Time High Above $2,700, Has Now Doubled in May

Yahoo misused millions meant for humanitarian aid, lawsuit claims

Yahoo executives allowed the head of the company’s Human Rights Trust to use $13 million — the bulk of the organization’s funding — for personal gain, according to a federal lawsuit filed today in DC. These allegations aren’t new and the trust itself was dissolved in 2015 after years of suspicious activity, but today’s lawsuit puts Yahoo on the hook for $17.3 million, at least. The Yahoo Human Rights Trust entered and exited this world under unfortunate circumstances. Yahoo established it in 2007 as part of a settlement with Chinese dissidents who were imprisoned in part because Yahoo cooperated with the Chinese government. The company had revealed the identities of Yahoo email users who were sharing messages Chinese authorities objected to, leading to their arrest and years of detainment, in some cases. In the fall of 2007, Yahoo paid each affected family $3.2 million, CEO Jerry Yang was reprimanded by Congress live on television, and the company established the Yahoo Human Rights Trust , a $17.3 million fund meant to aid victims of Chinese rights abuses. It elected Harry Wu, a former political activist who spent 19 years in Chinese labor camps, to lead the effort. Today’s lawsuit was brought by eight plaintiffs who had been imprisoned in China for using the internet to express dissident opinions or share information the government found objectionable, making them “past and future potential beneficiaries” of the Yahoo Human Rights Trust. They claimed Wu misused $13 million of the fund’s $17.3 million, while Yahoo executives turned a blind eye to his actions. The lawsuit said Wu, who died in 2016, used the Human Rights Trust as a piggy bank, directly paying himself and his wife more than $1 million between 2007 to 2015. It also claimed he spent $4 million on a museum about Chinese prison camps and other real estate for his own non-profit, the Laogai Research Foundation. Plus, the plaintiffs alleged Wu used trust money for a series of personal lawsuits, some of which accused him of mismanaging federal grants and sexual harassment. Just $700, 000 of the fund’s $17.3 million was used to directly aid imprisoned dissidents, according to the suit. Plaintiffs claimed Yahoo executives were aware of Wu’s mismanagement and did nothing, even after they received letters from Laogai Research Foundation employees and others concerned that the trust was being misused. “He will harm the organization and damage the image of Yahoo, ” Wu’s assistant wrote to executives in 2010. “Scandals will be exposed and it would be a heavy blow to the human rights issue in China.” Meanwhile, Yahoo continued to point to the trust as an example of its commitment to supporting freedom of expression and human rights, according to the suit. As suspicions about the trust’s finances grew, Yahoo dissolved it in 2015. The plaintiffs in today’s case want Yahoo to replenish the full $17.3 million trust and change its wording so it can benefit only Chinese dissidents, and they’re asking for all money unlawfully spent by Wu to be returned. Yahoo — which was recently bought by Verizon , endured a handful of scandals and was absorbed into Oath — declined to comment on this story, citing pending litigation.

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Yahoo misused millions meant for humanitarian aid, lawsuit claims

Amazing Chinese Robotic Mail-Sorting Facility

Global shipping company Shentong Express (a/k/a STO) is China’s answer to UPS. To increase efficiency—and cut human staff—they’ve designed this rather amazing facility consisting of a huge open floor punctuated by a grid of square holes that open onto chutes. Human beings pull parcels off of a conveyor belt and place them on the robots, which then do most of the work. Check out the traffic: China’s People’s Daily states that “The company estimates its robotic sorting system is saving around 70-percent of the costs a human-based sorting line would require, ” while the South China Morning Post reports that “An STO Express spokesman [says] that the robots had helped the company save half the costs it typically required to use human workers.” The savings is massive no matter which figure is correct, and this will certainly lead to less human employment for STO. “We use these robots in two of our centres in Hangzhou right now, ” said the STO spokesman. “We want to start using these across the country, especially in our bigger centres.”

Hidden Backdoor Discovered In Chinese IoT Devices

“A backdoor has been found in devices made by a Chinese tech firm specializing in VoIP products, ” reports TechRadar. An anonymous reader quotes their article: Security outfit Trustwave made the discovery of a hidden backdoor in DblTek’s devices which was apparently put there to allow the manufacturer access to said hardware — but of course, it’s also open to being exploited by other malicious parties. The backdoor is in the Telnet admin interface of DblTek-branded devices, and potentially allows an attacker to remotely open a shell with root privileges on the target device. What’s perhaps even more worrying is that when Trustwave contacted DblTek regarding the backdoor last autumn — multiple times — patched firmware was eventually released at the end of December. However, rather than removing the flaw, the vendor simply made it more difficult to access and exploit. And further correspondence with the Chinese company has apparently fallen on deaf ears. The firmware with the hole “is present on almost every GSM-to-VoIP device which DblTek makes, ” and Trustwave “found hundreds of these devices on the net, and many other brands which use the same firmware, so are equally open to exploit.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Hidden Backdoor Discovered In Chinese IoT Devices