Tag: digest

Amazon Video now lets you download content to Android SD cards

Android users now have another, more convenient option to make use of their Amazon Prime Video subscriptions. Amazon pushed out an update that lets Android users download movies, videos, and other content from its Prime Video service to the SD cards in their handsets. Previously, Amazon only allowed content to be saved to the internal storage on those smartphones. With this update, not only will users be able to save their internal storage for other content, but they could potentially download content to multiple SD cards, switch those cards in and out of their handsets, and watch all of that content offline. In addition to Amazon Prime videos, users can download any videos they’ve purchased to their SD cards. This feature is something only Android users can take advantage of, since iPhones lack the requisite SD card slot. The feature is rolling out on Android tablets and smartphones starting today in the US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Japan. Read on Ars Technica | Comments

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Amazon Video now lets you download content to Android SD cards

20-year-old Windows bug lets printers install malware—patch now

Enlarge (credit: Vectra Networks) For more than two decades, Microsoft Windows has provided the means for clever attackers to surreptitiously install malware of their choice on computers that connect to booby-trapped printers, or other devices masquerading as printers, on a local area network. Microsoft finally addressed the bug on Tuesday during its monthly patch cycle. The vulnerability resides in the Windows Print Spooler, which manages the process of connecting to available printers and printing documents. A protocol known as Point-and-Print allows people who are connecting to a network-hosted printer for the first time to automatically download the necessary driver immediately before using it. It works by storing a shared driver on the printer or print server and eliminates the hassle of the user having to manually download and install it. Researchers with security firm Vectra Networks discovered that the Windows Print Spooler doesn’t properly authenticate print drivers when installing them from remote locations. The failure makes it possible for attackers to use several different techniques that deliver maliciously modified drivers instead of the legitimate one provided by the printer maker. The exploit effectively turns printers, printer servers, or potentially any network-connected device masquerading as a printer into an internal drive-by exploit kit that infects machines whenever they connect. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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20-year-old Windows bug lets printers install malware—patch now

Posing as ransomware, Windows malware just deletes victim’s files

Scammers, via Cisco Talos Ranscam’s “ransom note”: Pay us and then we’ll make everything better. 2 more images in gallery There has been a lot of ingenuity poured into creating crypto-ransomware, the money-making malware that has become the scourge of hospitals, businesses, and home users over the past year. But none of that ingenuity applies to Ranscam, a new ransom malware reported by Cisco’s Talos Security Intelligence and Research Group. Ranscam is a purely amateur attempt to cash in on the cryptoransomware trend that demands payment for “encrypted” files that were actually just plain deleted by a batch command. “Once it executes, it, it pops up a ransom message looking like any other ransomware,” Earl Carter, security research engineer at Cisco Talos, told Ars. “But then what happens is it forces a reboot, and it just deletes all the files. It doesn’t try to encrypt anything—it just deletes them all.” Talos discovered the file on the systems of a small number of customers. In every case, the malware presented exactly the same message, including the same Bitcoin wallet address. The victim is instructed: Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Posing as ransomware, Windows malware just deletes victim’s files

In time warping study, people unconsciously controlled blood sugar levels

(credit: Dennis van Zuijlekom ) Ideas can be powerful drugs. If a person is simply convinced that a pill or treatment is going to yield real results, it can—even if that pill or treatment is completely bogus. Those results can be pretty substantial, too. Mental maneuvering, or placebo effect, can improve pilots’ vision , help people lose weight , and even up their IQ by a few points . And, according to a new study, it may also be able to help patients manage a chronic illness. In an experiment in which researchers duped participants about how much time had passed, the researchers found that participants’ blood sugar levels tracked with perceived time rather than actual time. That is, blood sugar dropped faster when the participants thought more time had passed. The results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, support the idea that mindsets and psychological processes, like the abstract internal representation of time, can have profound influence over what our bodies do, the authors conclude. Moreover, it raises the idea of using the mind to help manage certain chronic conditions, particularly type 2 diabetes, which causes periodic and dangerous rises in blood sugar levels. “Official standards for care and treatment of diabetes make no explicit mention of the influence of subjective cognition on diabetic metabolism, but our results indicate otherwise,” the authors argue. They suggest that mindfulness, coping strategies, and trained cognitive styles may prove useful in controlling blood sugar levels in further studies. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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In time warping study, people unconsciously controlled blood sugar levels

Windows 10 Anniversary Update nears RTM with bugfixes galore

With its August 2 release date growing closer, the Windows 10 Anniversary Update is nearing completion. A steady stream of new builds for Windows Insiders on the fast track has been released over the past few weeks. The latest build, 14383, came out today and includes a wide range of fixes. As with many of its predecessors, this build has been made available simultaneously for Windows 10 on the desktop and Windows 10 Mobile; Microsoft is intending to ship the Anniversary Update simultaneously for PC, phone, and Xbox One when that release date arrives. Windows Central is reporting that according to its sources, the build one newer than today’s release, 14384, is the first candidate for what would formerly be known as Release To Manufacturing (RTM). With Windows now being delivered “as a service,” the old RTM terminology isn’t favored by Redmond any more—not least because many people will download the update rather than have it preinstalled by a PC manufacturer—but the concept that RTM represents endures. The “RTM” build will be the one released on August 2 to people in the stable channel, and then after several months of regular Patch Tuesday updates, it will be released as the Current Branch for Business. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Windows 10 Anniversary Update nears RTM with bugfixes galore

Fossil fuel use in US is at its lowest percentage in over a century

(credit: US EIA ) With the 4th of July weekend about to begin, the US Energy Information Administration decided to look back to our nation’s founding. So it plotted the country’s energy use starting from 1776 . Most of the result isn’t a surprise: biomass had a long run before fossil fuels took over and stayed on top. But recent years have seen the biggest change since nuclear was added to the mix. Biomass spent nearly a century on top of the US energy mix before being displaced by coal, although it never went above providing four quadrillion Btus (each Btu is a bit over 1,000 Joules). But biomass never entirely went away, and its resurgence this century puts it at its highest level ever. With nuclear holding steady and renewables surging to nearly the same level as hydropower, fossil fuels are on the verge of dropping below 80 percent of the US’ energy mix. Fossil fuels haven’t been that low a percentage for over a century. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Fossil fuel use in US is at its lowest percentage in over a century

Porn studio that sued thousands for piracy now fighting its own lawyer

(credit: Getty Images) For years now, a porn studio called Malibu Media has filed more copyright lawsuits than any other company. Each month, Malibu, which produces adult content under the brand name X-Art, sues hundreds of “John Doe” Internet users, accusing particular IP addresses of illegally downloading their movies using BitTorrent networks. Malibu’s owners, Brigham Field and Collette Pelissier Field, have said the flood of lawsuits is necessary to deter piracy. Now, though, they’re targeting the very lawyer who headed up their giant copyright enforcement campaign, Florida-based Keith Lipscomb. Earlier today, Malibu filed suit against Lipscomb and his firm, Lipscomb, Eisenberg & Baker, in federal court. The lawsuit claims Lipscomb didn’t provide them the proper paperwork for their cases and related finances, and that he was negligent in his representation. The  complaint (PDF) discloses that Lipscomb sued Malibu in Florida state court on June 10 and alleges that confidential information was revealed in the lawsuit. Read 17 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Porn studio that sued thousands for piracy now fighting its own lawyer

A ZFS developer’s analysis of the good and bad in Apple’s new APFS file system

Two hours or so of WWDC keynoting and Tim Cook didn’t mention a new file system once? (credit: Andrew Cunningham) This article was originally published on Adam Leventhal’s blog in multiple parts . Apple announced a new file system that will make its way into all of its OS variants ( macOS , tvOS , iOS , watchOS ) in the coming years. Media coverage to this point has been mostly breathless elongations of Apple’s developer documentation . With a dearth of detail I decided to attend the presentation and Q&A with the APFS team at WWDC. Dominic Giampaolo and Eric Tamura, two members of the APFS team, gave an overview to a packed room ; along with other members of the team, they patiently answered questions later in the day. With those data points and some first-hand usage I wanted to provide an overview and analysis both as a user of Apple-ecosystem products and as a long-time operating system and file system developer. The overview is divided into several sections. I’d encourage you to jump around to topics of interest or skip right to the conclusion (or to the tweet summary ). Highest praise goes to encryption; ire to data integrity. Read 48 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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A ZFS developer’s analysis of the good and bad in Apple’s new APFS file system

15 years later, new Ecco the Dolphin game leaks onto Dreamcast

The Dreamcast Ecco sequel you never expected is now available as a prototype download. (credit: Hidden Palace ) You probably thought that Sega’s official abandonment of the Dreamcast back in 2001 meant we wouldn’t see any new, Sega-produced Ecco the Dolphin games for that system. If so, you thought wrong. That’s because a newly unearthed prototype of the Dreamcast’s cancelled Ecco II: Sentinels of the Universe has hit the Internet, more than 15 years after it was made. The prototype build, uploaded by the game preservationists at Hidden Palace , is dated February 19, 2001, less than a month after Sega announced it would stop supporting the Dreamcast and step away from the hardware business for good. It comes to the Internet via a large lot of Ecco Dreamcast assets acquired by Hidden Palace , and the site promises “more exciting (and long overdue) [ Ecco ] stuff in the weeks to follow.” In addition to the ripped GD-ROM version, which is fully playable on PC Dreamcast emulators, Hidden Palace also released a self-boot CDI image that can be burned to disc and played on actual Dreamcast hardware (and hopefully on a real CRT television, for that authentic 2001 console gaming experience). We can thank the Dreamcast’s extremely broken copy protection technology for that little wrinkle and for the widespread piracy that  helped doom and/or popularize the system back in its day. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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15 years later, new Ecco the Dolphin game leaks onto Dreamcast

Microsoft will use Steam to sell Windows games, not just its own store

Quantum Break : not available on Steam. While some of Microsoft’s older game titles, such as Age of Empires II HD (a 2013 update of a 1999 game) are found on Valve’s Steam platform, its latest high-profile titles, such as Forza 6 Apex and Quantum Break, are exclusive to the Windows Store. But this is going to change, with Microsoft planning to release more titles on the popular store. Phil Spencer, head of the Xbox team at Microsoft, was talking on Giant Bomb’s E3 stream , via GameSpot . When it comes to PC gaming, the Windows Store is very much an also-ran, with Steam the dominant force. As Spencer noted, “I don’t think Valve’s hurt by not having [Microsoft’s] first-party games in their store right now. They’re doing incredibly well.” Accordingly, Spencer said that Microsoft “will ship games on Steam again.” Meanwhile, Microsoft’s own experience had been more inconsistent. While some games have done well in the Windows Store, with Spencer naming both Forza 6 Apex and Killer Instinct as successful titles, he said that ” Quantum Break wasn’t our best PC release” and that Gears of War Ultimate Edition was merely “OK.” Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Microsoft will use Steam to sell Windows games, not just its own store