entertainment – Page 186 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

HTC 10 With 5.2-inch QHD Display, Snapdragon 820 SoC, 12MP Camera Launched at $699

Dan Seifert, writing for The Verge: HTC is today formally announcing the 10, its flagship smartphone for 2016. The HTC 10 follows last year’s M9 and blends the design of the M series with the A9 that came last fall. HTC says it spent 12 months designing this phone and integrated feedback from its customers throughout the development process. The 10 has everything you might expect from a flagship Android phone in 2016. There’s a 5.2-inch, quad HD Super LCD 5 display that HTC says displays 30 percent more color than last year’s phone. The screen is covered in Gorilla Glass with curved edges that blend into the phone’s metal frame. You’ll be able to find out if that’s enough for HTC to compete when the phone ships next month for $699. One interesting feature, which separates HTC 10 from many other Android flagship smartphones, is support for AirPlay. The feature enables the smartphone to stream media content to an Apple TV. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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HTC 10 With 5.2-inch QHD Display, Snapdragon 820 SoC, 12MP Camera Launched at $699

Surveillance Cameras Sold On Amazon Found Infected With Malware

An anonymous reader shares a report on ZDNet: Security researcher Mike Olsen has warned that some products sold through the Amazon marketplace are harboring a dark secret — malware. Olsen said in a blog post that while scouring Amazon for a decent set of outdoor surveillance cameras for a friend, he came across a deal for 6 PoE cameras and recording equipment. The seller, Urban Security Group, had generally good reviews and was offering a particular Sony setup on sale. After purchasing the kit, Olsen started setting up the surveillance system, logging into the administrator panel to configure it. Upon investigation, Olsen found that the device was talking to a server with hostname Brenz.pl, which is linked to malware distribution. If the device’s firmware links to this domain, malware can be downloaded and installed, potentially leading to unlawful surveillance and data theft.Perhaps the company which made the device didn’t realize its source code was compromised. While the aforementioned incident should serve as a reminder to people on why they need to be wary of the product they are purchasing, this isolated occurrence doesn’t prove in any way that “plenty” of cameras on Amazon are also infected, as the article and the original blog post are subtly trying to imply. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Surveillance Cameras Sold On Amazon Found Infected With Malware

Ticketmaster will start selling tickets on Facebook this month

You can already buy things on Facebook, and later this month, you’ll be able to snag concert tickets without leaving the site, too. Ticketmaster VP Dan Armstrong told BuzzFeed in an interview that the ticket retailer would begin selling admission to live music and other events through the social network’s site and mobile app before April’s end. While Ticketmaster isn’t the first to coordinate purchases from Facebook, making tickets to events available on the social channel seems like a good move for both companies. Facebook users already RSVP to events on the regular, so there’s certainly a convenience in having the tickets easily accessible there. You know, so you can catch up when one of your pals RSVPs to a show you either didn’t know about or forgot was coming to town. It also keeps you on Facebook longer rather than having to head elsewhere to complete the transaction. As you might expect, Ticketmaster is hoping the integration will lead to more ticket sales. Details are scarce on exactly how the process will work, but BuzzFeed does mention that Facebook stands to collect “a standard affiliate fee” from each purchase. We’ll have to wait and see if that will affect those pesky service charges, but you will still have to claim any tickets you buy from the Ticketmaster site after the initial transaction. To start, the option will be limited to a select few general admission events, so it could be a while before you can use the feature to grab all of your concert tickets. And when it’s time to head home afterwards, just fire up Facebook Messenger to hail a ride . Source: BuzzFeed

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Ticketmaster will start selling tickets on Facebook this month

Hacked Swedish Military Servers Used In Attacks On US Banks

Reader wiredmikey writes: Swedish military computers were hacked and used in an attack targeting major U.S. banks in 2013, the armed forces said on Monday. The attack knocked out the web sites of as many as 20 major U.S. banks and financial institutions, sometimes for several days. According to Swedish military spokesman Mikael Abramsson, a server in the Swedish defense system had a vulnerability which was exploited by hackers to carry out the attacks. At the time, the attack, which began in 2012 and continued for months, was one of the biggest ever reported. U.S. officials blamed Iran, suggesting it was in retaliation for political sanctions and several earlier cyberattacks on its own systems. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Hacked Swedish Military Servers Used In Attacks On US Banks

From MUD to MMOG: The making of RuneScape

When he was a boy, growing up in Nottingham, England, Andrew Gower couldn’t afford to buy all of the video games he wanted to play. Rather than mope, he rallied. A wunderkind programmer, Gower created his own versions of the most popular games, pieced together from clues printed in text and image in the pages of video game magazines. Gower’s take on Lemmings— the 1991 Amiga game that was developed by DMA Design six years before the studio made Grand Theft Auto— was his masterwork. “I was proud of that game,” he says. “It was the first [computer game] I’d made that didn’t look like it had been put together by a kid.” Gower would grow up to become, along with his brothers Paul and Ian, the co-founders of Jagex Games Studio and creators of its flagship title RuneScape. It’s one of the longest-running massively-multiplayer online games (MMOG), in which players quest together across the Internet in a fantasy world that, like Facebook, continues to rumble and function even when an individual logs off. Launched in 2001, the earliest version of the game looked rather like a fantasy-themed version of The Sims . Characters were viewed from a divine camera, looking down on the action from an isometric perspective. RuneScape takes place in the world of Gielinor, where gods roam among men. The game eschews a linear storyline, allowing players to set their own goals and objectives. Now in its third iteration (the basic game was superseded by a new version in both 2004 and 2013, each of which upgraded its graphics and overhauled the underlying code base), RuneScape has reached an enviable milestone in the fickle world of MMOs: 15 years old. Read 15 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Sophisticated Bribe Scheme Gets Malware Onto Chinese Antivirus Whitelist

An anonymous reader writes “Malware operators have bribed employees of a gaming company to bundle malware with their mobile apps.” Because the app-maker reportedly had a good-faith agreement with China’s biggest antivirus company, the apps were apparently whitelisted without a thorough check, according to Softpedia. They cite a report from Check Point which describes how attackers would later pretend to be shoppers on a popular Chinese site where pictures of the desired items are sent to sellers. “The seller would open the picture on a PC and become infected, ” writes Check Point, “because the Trojan would not be detected, ” and a subsequent request for a refund would deliver the login credentials for the seller’s payment account. “This example illustrates how important it is to avoid third-party stores and to instead at least rely on stores with more reliable security, ” argues Check Point. “But even still, stores like the App Store and Google Play aren’t immune to threats.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Sophisticated Bribe Scheme Gets Malware Onto Chinese Antivirus Whitelist

New Metal Foam Armor Obliterates Bullets To Dust On Impact

HughPickens.com writes: Discovery Magazine reports that researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a super strong armor material that literally turns bullets to dust upon impact. The armor plating is made in part from composite metal foams, or CMFs, which are both lighter and stronger than traditional metal plating used in body and vehicle armor. The armor — only an inch thick — features a ceramic strike face, Kevlar backing, and CMFs in the energy-absorbing middle layer. “We could stop the bullet at a total thickness of less than an inch, while the indentation on the back was less than 8 millimeters, ” says Afsaneh Rabiei. “To put that in context, the NIJ standard allows up to 44 millimeters indentation in the back of an armor.” CMFs are very effective at shielding X-rays, gamma rays and neutron radiation. Other applications include space exploration and shipping nuclear waste which both require a material to be not only light and strong, but also capable of withstanding extremely high temperatures and blocking radiation. A video shows a 7.62 x 63 millimeter M2 armor-piercing projectile that was fired using standard testing procedures established by the Department of Justice for evaluating armor types. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New Metal Foam Armor Obliterates Bullets To Dust On Impact

Facebook Messenger Hits 900M Monthly Active Users; To Get Snapchat-Like Features

Facebook, on Thursday, announced that Messenger now has 900 million monthly active users. On the sidelines, the company also announced a couple of Snapchat-like features it is bringing to its messaging client. Alex Health, reporting for Tech Insider: Facebook executive David Marcus said that Messenger will soon let you create profile usernames and web links. The links will look like “m.me/yourusername” and let anyone quickly add you in Messenger without looking up your Facebook account. The usernames and profile links will also be available to businesses, which are starting to use Messenger as a way to deliver customer support and let you buy things through chatting. Every Messenger account will also have a scannable QR code within the app, which is exactly how Snapchat lets people share their profiles with others. Snapchat also recently added the ability to share profiles on the web with public URLs. It is worth noting that earlier this year, Facebook-owned WhatsApp app reached 1 billion monthly active users. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

FBI Director Says Unlocking Method Won’t Work On Newer iPhones

Even though the FBI was able to gain access to the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone without Apple’s help, the Apple-FBI saga continues. It was reported yesterday the FBI is telling members of Congress of the methods used to break into the iPhone 5c. The most recent tidbit comes from FBI Director James Comey in regard to how many iPhones are at risk from the unlock tool. An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday that the government had purchased “a tool” from a private party in order to unlock the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. “Litigation between the government and Apple over the San Bernardino phone has ended, because the government has purchased, from a private party, a way to get into that phone, 5c, running iOS 9, ” Comey said. The FBI director also said the purchased tool worked only on a “narrow slice of phones” that does not include the newest Apple models, or the 5s. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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FBI Director Says Unlocking Method Won’t Work On Newer iPhones

Facebook Rolls Out Major Live Video Update

An anonymous reader writes: Facebook Live was launched last year, allowing public figures and celebrities to live stream to their timeline. Today, Facebook has released a host of new features to its live broadcasting tool, which lets anyone post live streams of themselves to their timeline. Not only can users add filters to their videos, but they can also draw and add doodles as well. “Live Reactions” lets people react in a similar way to live videos as they do to posts, and it will also allow people to replay the comments they receive during their stream. The site has also added new ways of finding videos, either by location or by inviting friends. It also features a new button for people to ask their friends to watch a live video alongside them, for example. The live streaming features are limited to people in the U.S. right now, with new features rolling out to iOS and Android devices “in the coming weeks, ” the company said. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Facebook Rolls Out Major Live Video Update