Tag: doctorow

Chinese real estate bubble is "biggest in history"

Wang Jianlin made billions speculating on Chinese real-estate; now that he’s diversified into buying Hollywood movie studios and chains of movie theaters, the richest man in China is prepared to say what many have known: the Chinese property market is a huge, deadly bubble that’s ripe to burst. (more…)

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Chinese real estate bubble is "biggest in history"

There’s no pumpkin in “100% canned pumpkin”

Pumpkin is too watery and stringy to can, and the USDA has an exceptionally loosey-goosey definition of “pumpkin,” which allows manufacturers to can various winter squash varieties (including one that Libby’s specially bred to substitute for pumpkin) and call it “100% pumpkin.” (more…)

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There’s no pumpkin in “100% canned pumpkin”

Xiaomi phones are pre-backdoored; your apps can be silently overwritten

Thijs Broenink audited the AnalyticsCore.apk app that ships pre-installed on all Xiaomi phones (Xiaomi has their own Android fork with a different set of preinstalled apps) and discovered that the app, which seemingly serves no useful purpose, allows the manufacturer to silently install other code on your phone, with unlimited privileges and access. (more…)

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Xiaomi phones are pre-backdoored; your apps can be silently overwritten

Machine learning system can descramble pixelated/blurred redactions 83% of the time

A joint UT Austin/Cornell team has taught a machine learning system based on the free/open Torch library to correctly guess the content of pixellated or blurred redactions with high accuracy: for masked faces that humans correctly guess 0.19% of the time, the system can make a correct guess 83% of the time, when given five tries. (more…)

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Machine learning system can descramble pixelated/blurred redactions 83% of the time

Why the Pirate Party could end up running Iceland

With the Icelandic Pirates crushing it in the polls and set to form the next government of a sovereign, carbon-neutral, strategically located nation, it’s worth asking how a party whose two issues — internet freedom and copyright reform — are wonky, minority interests rose to prominence. (more…)

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Why the Pirate Party could end up running Iceland

How the New York Public Library made ebooks open, and thus one trillion times better

Leonard Richardson isn’t just the author of Constellation Games , one of the best debut novels I ever read and certainly one of the best books I read in 2013; he’s also an extremely talented free/open source server-software developer who has been working for the New York Public Library on a software project that liberates every part of the electronic book lending system from any kind of proprietary lock-in, and, in the process, made reading library ebooks one trillion times better. (more…)

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How the New York Public Library made ebooks open, and thus one trillion times better

Return of Dieselgate: 3 more hidden programs found in VW Audi/Porsche firmware

The German newspaper Bild am Sonntag says that US investigators have discovered three more hidden cheat apps in a Volkswagen product line: these ones were discovered in 3-liter Audi diesels. (more…)

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Return of Dieselgate: 3 more hidden programs found in VW Audi/Porsche firmware

Proof-of-concept ransomware for smart thermostats demoed at Defcon

Last week, Andrew Tierney and Ken Munro from Pen Test Partners demoed their proof-of-concept ransomware for smart thermostats, which relies on users being tricked into downloading malware that then roots the device and locks the user out while displaying a demand for one bitcoin. (more…)

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Proof-of-concept ransomware for smart thermostats demoed at Defcon

1 billion computer monitors vulnerable to undetectable firmware attacks

A team led by Ang Cui ( previously ) — the guy who showed how he could take over your LAN by sending a print-job to your printer — have presented research at Defcon, showing that malware on your computer can poison your monitor’s firmware, creating nearly undetectable malware implants that can trick users by displaying fake information, and spy on the information being sent to the screen. (more…)

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1 billion computer monitors vulnerable to undetectable firmware attacks