entertainment – Page 158 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Ransomware Infects a Hotel’s Key System

An anonymous reader writes: A luxury hotel “paid “thousands” in Bitcoin ransom to cybercriminals who hacked into their electronic key system. The “furious” hotel manager says it’s the third time their electronic system has been attacked, though one local news site reports that “on the fourth attempt the hackers had no chance because the computers had been replaced and the latest security standards integrated, and some networks had been decoupled.” The 111-year-old hotel is now planning to remove all their electronic locks, and return to old-fashioned door locks with real keys. But they’re going public to warn other hotels — some of which they say have also already been hit by ransomware. UPDATE: The hotel’s managing director has clarified today that despite press reports, “We were hacked, but nobody was locked in or out” of their rooms. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Scientist Investigate A Brand New Form of Matter: Time Crystals

The discovery of “non-equilibrium matter” could re-write the rules of physics. Long-time Slashdot reader jasonbrown quotes ScienceAlert: For months now, there’s been speculation that researchers might have finally created time crystals — strange crystals that have an atomic structure that repeats not just in space, but in time, putting them in perpetual motion without energy. Now it’s official — researchers have just reported in detail how to make and measure these bizarre crystals. And two independent teams of scientists claim they’ve actually created time crystals in the lab based off this blueprint, confirming the existence of an entirely new form of matter. Both teams — one at Harvard and the other at the University of Maryland — have submitted their findings to peer-reviewed publications, according to the article, and “the fact that two separate teams have used the same blueprint to make time crystals out of vastly different systems is promising.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Continue reading here:
Scientist Investigate A Brand New Form of Matter: Time Crystals

Google Translate Is About To Get a Lot Better, Thanks To Its Machine Learning Push

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is offering a big new update that should affect anyone who’s ever used Google’s translation services. From a report on CNBC: The new version will be rolling out in 2017 via Google Cloud, Pichai said. “We have improved our translation ability more in one single year than all our improvements over the last 10 years combined, ” Pichai told investors in a quarterly call, after parent company Alphabet reported mixed results. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple Seemingly Censors UltraFine 5K Monitor Reviews After Poor Feedback

It appears Apple is filtering and censoring bad reviews of the LG’s UltraFine 5K display. From a report on The Next Web: The deletion was first spotted by a Reddit user four days ago. Though it’s possible the reviews were removed for some other reason, at first glance, it looks like censorship. It’s not a good look for the company. Apple said it was getting out of the monitor business, and instead chose to work more closely with third-party partners, heavily featuring LG’s 5K and 4K UltraFine displays at its recent MacBook Pro unveiling. But then the monitor received multiple negative reviews from users who were experiencing issues such as the screen failing to wake up from sleep. The Reddit post also points out that: “In many cases, attempts to fix the problem through physical reconnection[sic] of the monitor, or manual restarts, have caused the attached Mac to crash, become otherwise unresponsive, or develop problems with the touch bar (where equipped).” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

See the original post:
Apple Seemingly Censors UltraFine 5K Monitor Reviews After Poor Feedback

Ransomware Infects All St Louis Public Library Computers

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Libraries in St Louis have been bought to a standstill after computers in all the city’s libraries were infected with ransomware, a particularly virulent form of computer virus used to extort money from victims. Hackers are demanding $35, 000 (£28, 000) to restore the system after the cyberattack, which affected 700 computers across the Missouri city’s 16 public libraries. The hackers demanded the money in electronic currency bitcoin, but, as CNN reports, the authority has refused to pay for a code that would unlock the machines. As a result, the library authority has said it will wipe its entire computer system and rebuild it from scratch, a solution that may take weeks. On Friday, St Louis public library announced it had managed to regain control of its servers, with tech staff continuing to work to restore borrowing services. The 16 libraries have all remained open, but computers continue to be off limits to the public. Spokeswoman Jen Hatton told CNN that the attack had hit the city’s schoolchildren and its poor worst, as many do not have access to the internet at home. “For many we’re their only access to the internet, ” she said. “Some of them have a smartphone, but they don’t have a data plan. They come in and use the wifi.” As well as causing the loans system to seize up, preventing borrowers from checking out or returning books, the attack froze all computers, leaving no one able to access the four million items that should be available through the service. The system is believed to have been infected through a centralized computer server, and staff emails have also been frozen by the virus. The FBI has been called in to investigate. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Continue reading here:
Ransomware Infects All St Louis Public Library Computers

Foxconn Considers $7 Billion Screen Factory In US, Which Could Create Up To 50,000 Jobs

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Foxconn, the Taiwanese contract manufacturing company best known for its partnership with Apple, has said that it is mulling a $7 billion investment in U.S. manufacturing that could create between 30, 000 and 50, 000 jobs. According to The Wall Street Journal, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou says the company is talking with the state of Pennsylvania among others about getting the land and electricity subsidies it would need to build a factory. “If U.S. state governments are willing to provide these terms, and we calculate and it is cheaper than shipping from China or Japan, then why wouldn’t Sharp build a factory in the U.S.?” said Gou. The factory would build flat-panel screens under the Sharp name — Foxconn bought Sharp around this time last year for $5.1 billion. Sharp President Tai Jeng-wu hinted in October of 2016 that U.S. manufacturing could be a possibility for Sharp, and he also indicated that Apple could begin using OLED display panels in future iPhones. Apple currently uses OLED in the Apple Watch and in the new MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar, but otherwise it hasn’t pushed to adopt the technology as some Android phone manufacturers have. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

View the original here:
Foxconn Considers $7 Billion Screen Factory In US, Which Could Create Up To 50,000 Jobs

Geek Avenges Stolen Laptop By Remotely Accessing Thief’s Facebook Account

An anonymous reader quotes Hot Hardware: Stu Gale, who just so happens to be a computer security expert, had the misfortune of having his laptop stolen from his car overnight. However, Gale did have remote software installed on the device which allowed him to track whenever it came online. So, he was quite delighted to see that a notification popped up on one of his other machines alerting him that his stolen laptop was active. Gale took the opportunity to remote into the laptop, only to find that the not-too-bright thief was using his laptop to login to her Facebook account. The thief eventually left her Facebook account open and left the room, after which Gale had the opportunity to snoop through her profile and obtain all of her private information. “I went through and got her phone numbers, friends list and pictures…” Given that Gale was able to see her phone numbers listed on Facebook, he sent text messages to all of those numbers saying that he was going to report her to the police. He also posted her info to a number of Facebook groups, which spooked the thief enough to not only delete her Facebook account, but also her listed phone numbers. In 2008 Slashdot ran a similar story, where it took several weeks of remote monitoring before a laptop thief revealed his identity. (The victim complained that “It was kind of frustrating because he was mostly using it to watch porn.”) But in this case, Gale just remotely left a note on the laptop — and called one of the thief’s friends — and eventually turned over all the information to the police, who believe an arrest will follow. Gale seems less confident, and tells one Calgary newspaper “I’m realistic. I’m not going to see that computer again. But at least I got some comic relief.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Excerpt from:
Geek Avenges Stolen Laptop By Remotely Accessing Thief’s Facebook Account

FTC Dismantles Two Huge Robocall Organizations

Billions of robocalls came from two groups selling extended auto warranties, SEO services, and home security systems over the last seven years — many to numbers on the “Do Not Call” list — but this week the Federal Trade Commission took action. Trailrunner7 shares this report from OnTheWire: Continuing its campaign against phone fraud operations, the FTC has dismantled two major robocall organizations… They and many of their co-defendants have agreed to court-ordered bans on robocall activities and financial settlements… The FTC and the FCC both have been cracking down on illegal robocall operations recently. The FCC has formed a robocall strike force with the help of carriers and also has signed an agreement to cooperate with Canadian authorities to address the problem. “The law is clear about robocalls, ” says one FTC executive. “If a telemarketer doesn’t have consumers’ written permission, it’s illegal to make these calls.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

More:
FTC Dismantles Two Huge Robocall Organizations

Thousands Of Cubans Now Have Internet Access

There’s been a dramatic change in one of the world’s least-connected countries. An anonymous reader quotes the AP: Since the summer of 2015, the Cuban government has opened 240 public Wi-Fi spots in parks and on street corners across the country… The government estimates that 100, 000 Cubans connect to the internet daily. A new feature of urban life in Cuba is the sight of people sitting at all hours on street corners or park benches, their faces illuminated by the screen of smartphones connected by applications such as Facebook Messenger to relatives in Miami, Ecuador or other outposts of the Cuban diaspora… Cuban ingenuity has spread internet far beyond those public places: thousands of people grab the public signals through commercially available repeaters, imported illegally into Cuba and often sold for about $100 — double the original price. Mounted on rooftops, the repeaters grab the public signals and create a form of home internet increasingly available in private rentals for tourists and cafes and restaurants for Cubans and visitors alike. The article also points out that last month, for the first time ever, 2, 000 Cubans began receiving home internet access. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

View original post here:
Thousands Of Cubans Now Have Internet Access

Someone Is Trying to Sell Those Stolen Three-Screen Razer Laptops in China

Just a few days ago, Razer’s awesome Project Valerie laptops — the one with three 4K displays — were stolen. Now it looks like whoever stole them is trying to sell them. From a report: It turns out that the thief (or thieves) didn’t just nab one Project Valerie prototype. They actually got ahold of a pair. Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan understandably wants them back, really, really badly. The company was willing to offer $25, 000 to anyone who could offer information that led to the prototypes’ return. So where did the laptops end up? Somewhere behind the Great Wall, apparently. Whoever has them isn’t trying to quietly fence them in some dark Beijing alleyway, either. They’ve actually been listed on the immensely popular Chinese e-commerce site Taobao — where they were spotted by writers at Engadget Chinese and Wccftech. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

See the original article here:
Someone Is Trying to Sell Those Stolen Three-Screen Razer Laptops in China