Tag: deals

German Police Allowed To Use Its Own "Federal Trojan"

An anonymous reader writes: The German Interior Ministry has approved for investigative use a spying Trojan developed by the German Federal Criminal Police (a so-called “federal Trojan”). In fact, it could end up being used as early as this week. The police will have to get a court order to use the spyware, and prove that the suspect is involved in a crime threatening citizens’ “life, limb or liberty”. The malware has been developed in-house, and has been available since autumn 2015. It is supposed to be used only for so-called telecommunication surveillance at the source, i.e. to read emails, chats and wiretap phone calls made by the target via his or her computer or smartphone, and not to access files, steal passwords, or set up video or audio surveillance via the device. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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German Police Allowed To Use Its Own "Federal Trojan"

Telstra To Roll Out 1000Mbps 4G

An anonymous reader writes: After beginning support for LTE Category 9 last year on their 4Gx network (with it’s theoretical max download speed of 450Mbps), Telstra has now announced that they will upgrade their network to support LTE category 16. In theory, this means that if a customer has the correct equipment in the correct location, they will be able to have a maximum theoretical download speed of 1000Mbps, and a maximum theoretical upload speed of 150Mbps. Of course, it’s unlikely that customers will be able to sustain these speeds, but Telstra lists on their website that 4GX devices currently have a typical download speed of 2 to 75Mbps on 4GX. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Telstra To Roll Out 1000Mbps 4G

Linux 4.3 Reached End of Life; Users Need To Move To Linux 4.4

prisoninmate writes: As some of you may know, Linux 4.3 was not an LTS (Long Term Support) release, so the last maintenance build is now Linux kernel 4.3.6, as announced earlier by Greg Kroah-Hartman, a renowned kernel developer and maintainer. While he’s telling users of the Linux 4.3 series to update to the 4.3.6 point release, he also urges them, especially OS vendors, to move to the most advanced stable series, in this case, Linux kernel 4.4 LTS, which just received its second point release the other day. However, it appears that Linux kernel 4.3.6 is quite an update, as it changes a total of 197 files, with 2310 insertions and 963 deletions, bringing some much-needed improvements. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Linux 4.3 Reached End of Life; Users Need To Move To Linux 4.4

Wearable Third Arm Gives Drummers Extra Robotic Rhythm

Zothecula writes: Thumping out as many drum beats in 60 seconds may get you a podium spot at the annual World’s Fastest Drummer competition, but we’ll take the full kit virtuoso playing of Cozy Powell, Philthy Animal Taylor or Mitch Mitchell any day of the week. When trying to emulate the fastest or the greatest on your bedroom bin-bashers, though, you’d be forgiven for wishing you had a third arm. Georgia Tech Professor Gil Weinberg and his research team may have the answer to your prayers. They’ve developed a drumstick-wielding wearable robotic limb that’s able to respond to both the music being played and the movements of the player. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Wearable Third Arm Gives Drummers Extra Robotic Rhythm

Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS Officially Released

prisoninmate writes: Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS (Long-Term Support) builds are available for download in the form of Live and Installable ISO images for Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products, on both 64-bit and 32-bit platforms, and that existing Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS users can now update their systems. But not only Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) users can update, as all the official flavors have been updated as well, so users of Kubuntu 14.04 LTS, Edubuntu 14.04 LTS, Xubuntu 14.04 LTS, Lubuntu 14.04 LTS, Ubuntu Studio 14.04 LTS, Mythbuntu 14.04 LTS, Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 LTS, and Ubuntu Kylin 14.04 LTS can also update their systems today or grab the new ISOs. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ubuntu 14.04.4 LTS Officially Released

Apple Says Sorry For iPhone Error 53 and Issues IOS 9.2.1 Update To Fix It

Mark Wilson writes: Apple has a lot of support at the moment for its stance on encryption and refusing the FBI access to an iPhone’s contents, but it’s only a couple of weeks since the company was seen in a less favorable light. There was quite a backlash when users found that installing an update to iOS resulted in Error 53 and a bricked iPhone. Apple initially said that Error 53 was caused ‘for security reasons’ following speculation that it was a bid to stop people from using third party repair shops. iFixit suggested that the problem was a result of a failure of parts to correctly sync, and Apple has been rounding criticized for failing to come up with a fix. Today the company has issued an apology, along with an update that ensures Error 53 won’t happen again. But there’s more good news … If you were talked into paying for an out of warranty replacement as a result of Error 53, you could be in line to get your money back. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Apple Says Sorry For iPhone Error 53 and Issues IOS 9.2.1 Update To Fix It

Mattel Unveils $300 3D Printer

Lucas123 writes: Perhaps in an attempt to get out ahead of the consumer 3D printing market, which has allowed popular toys such as Legos to be replicated, Mattel today announced it would begin shipping its $300 fused filament fabricator machine in October. Mattel’s ThingMaker at-home toy-making device, reinvents the company’s iconic 1960s toy by the same name. The new ThingMaker allows users to upload design files via Mattel’s proprietary Design App, which works on Android or iOS devices. The 3D printer can then print single-part toys or print hundreds of different parts to be assembled into toys using ball-and-socket joints. Mattel’s ThingMaker Design App is based on Autodesk’s Spark, an open 3D printing platform that provides extensible APIs for each stage of the 3D printing workflow. Because it’s based on an open architecture, the ThingMaker Design App also works with other 3D printers; it is available now and free to download for iOS and Android devices. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Mattel Unveils $300 3D Printer

Iranian App Helps Users Avoid Morality Police

An anonymous reader writes: Young people in Iran are using a new app called Gershad (a contraction of ‘Gashte Ershad’, or ‘guidance patrol’), to avoid the ‘morality police’ by sharing the location of checkpoints with other users. At checkpoints strict Islamic dress and behavior codes are enforced, and their ad hoc nature can make them difficult to avoid. Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said of Gershad, “This is an innovative idea and I believe it will lead to many other creative apps which will address the gap between society and government in Iran.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Iranian App Helps Users Avoid Morality Police

New Shape-Shifting Polymer Holds 1,000 Times Its Own Mass – Watch Out Plastic Man!

University of Rochester researchers have announced the development of a new polymer, capable of supporting 1, 000 times its own mass. Polymers that can change shape when heated have been developed in the past, yet this new polymer exhibits the rare quality of becoming flexible when exposed to body heat. This property, which can be used to change the shape of a device, could make the substance useful in medical applications. When the new polymer is removed from the heat source (such as human body), the material immediately returns to its original configuration. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New Shape-Shifting Polymer Holds 1,000 Times Its Own Mass – Watch Out Plastic Man!

Reluctant Wikipedia Lifts Lid On $2.5M Internet Search Engine Project

The Wikimedia Foundation has finally disclosed details of its controversial Knowledge Engine grant — and it confirms that Wikipedia is getting seriously into search, despite Jimmy Wales’ categorical denial that WMF is “doing a Google.” After a Wikipedia signpost article, and coverage at El Reg this week, the WMF caved and posted the Knight Foundation’s approval of the $250, 000 grant. The grant provides seed money for stage one of the Knowledge Engine, described as “a system for discovering reliable and trustworthy information on the Internet.” The discovery stage includes an exploration of prototypes of future versions of Wikipedia.org which are “open channels” rather than an encyclopedia, analyzing the query-to-content path, and embedding the Wikipedia Knowledge Engine “via carriers and Original Equipment Manufacturers.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Reluctant Wikipedia Lifts Lid On $2.5M Internet Search Engine Project