Tag: entertainment

DoD Announces New Bug Bounty Program Called Hack the Pentagon

Quince alPillan writes: Announcing what it calls “the first cyber bug bounty program in the history of the federal government, ” the Department of Defense says it’s inviting vetted hackers to test the security of its web pages and networks. Vetted hackers will need to pass a background check and will be attacking a predetermined system that is not a part of critical operations. This program is being put together by the Digital Defense Service, launched last fall. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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DoD Announces New Bug Bounty Program Called Hack the Pentagon

New P2P Torrent Site ‘Play’ Has No Single Point of Failure

An anonymous reader writes: Play, a new peer-to-peer (P2P) site for downloading torrents, is practically impossible to shut down and promises to be the latest technology to revolutionise online downloads. The platform has appeared recently across ZeroNet, a Budapest-based open source site which is looking to offer a home to decentralised platforms which employ Bitcoin-crypto and BitTorrent technologies. As no central server exists, every additional user is a further point of connection inside the network, helping to avoid potential failures. As the first torrent site to appear on the network, Play can be accessed directly through a ZeroNet URL (only available with the tool installed). The site serves magnetic links sourced from RARBG, with which users can download films, series and other media files, in varying qualities. While ZeroNet itself is not an illegal platform, Play is identical to any other P2P download site in that it could face legal challenges over violating copyright. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New P2P Torrent Site ‘Play’ Has No Single Point of Failure

Business card with built-in ECG is perfect for cardiologists

Some people can make business cards that stand out and show off their skills. Take for example, that one engineer who created a card that lights up and that programmer who designed one that can play Tetris . But what if you’re a medical professional, specifically a cardiologist? A company called MobilECG has created a business card that’s directly connected to your field: it has a built-in ECG that actually works. According to its blog post , the device has sensors that measure “the real ECG signal between the users’ hands, ” so long as their thumbs are touching the finger pads. Of course, you’ll have to explain to patients that while it works, MobilECG created it as a toy. The Hungarian startup clearly states that it’s “not suitable for diagnostic purposes, ” so they can’t abstain from getting an actual ECG done. The company is gauging people’s interest in the card at the moment and is planning to sell it for a rather hefty price of $29 per if it ever decides to release it. If you have the skills to make small electronic devices from scratch, though, you can try to create your own version. The card is open source, and MobilECG posted all its codes and schematics (PDF) online. Via: Gizmodo , Damn Geeky Source: mobilecg

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Business card with built-in ECG is perfect for cardiologists

Pirates hacked a shipping firm to find boats to raid

Seaborne pirates just borrowed a page from their land-based counterparts . A Verizon security report has revealed that raiders hacked a shipping company’s content management system to determine which ships were worth boarding, and where the valuable cargo was located. They not only knew when to launch a raid, but the exact crates they had to pry open — they could get in, steal the cargo they want and leave without the risk of a days-long, Captain Philips -style hostage situation. In this case, the pirates still had a lot to learn about hacking. They didn’t encrypt their commands or use proxies, making it easy to trace their activities. They also weren’t skilled enough to compromise systems as much as they wanted. However, those tidbits aren’t about to comfort other shipping companies. If there’s a pirate outfit that’s both well-armed and technically savvy, it could create havoc by plundering ships with relatively little fear of getting caught. Via: Business Insider Source: Verizon

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Pirates hacked a shipping firm to find boats to raid

Vivo Xplay5 boasts 6GB RAM and a familiar curved screen

If you need an excuse to acquire a new exotic Chinese smartphone, then how about 6GB of RAM? Not only is Vivo’s new Xplay5 the first mobile device to announce this spec, but it’s also the second non-Samsung device — following the BlackBerry Priv — to pack a screen that’s curved on both sides. Judging by its familiar metallic design, you’d easily think that the Xplay5 is the bastard child of the Galaxy S6 Edge (front) and the iPhone (back) after a one night stand in Dongguan (the S7 Edge’s chamfer isn’t as shiny). Despite the unfortunate similarities, this is still a surprisingly decent product in terms of hardware and specs — much like how its predecessor, the Xplay3S , managed to wow us a little over two years ago. The dual-SIM Xplay5 comes in two flavors. The “Flagship Edition” features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 chipset, 6GB of speedy LPDDR4 RAM, 128GB of internal storage and a “HiFi 3.0” package consisting of two ES9028 SABRE Mobile DAC chips plus three OPA1612 amplifiers for improved audio quality overall. As for the regular model, you get the mid-range Snapdragon 652 , a “mere” 4GB of RAM, also 128GB of storage and a different combination of audio chips (CS4398 plus AD45257). Both versions sport a 5.43-inch Super AMOLED display with QHD resolution (2, 560 x 1, 440) along with a fingerprint reader on the back. For photography, a 16-megapixel f/2.0 Sony IMX298-powered main camera with phase detection auto-focus plus dual-tone LED flash, and a generous 8-megapixel f/2.4 front-facing camera for you selfie addicts. The built-in 3, 600mAh battery should be plentiful, and the rapid charging support comes in handy (we’ve yet to confirm whether it’s the Quick Charge 2.0 or 3.0 standard). What’s a bit disappointing is the lack of NFC and USB Type-C here, as well as the fact that the Xplay5 only comes with Android 5.1 (under Vivo’s skin, of course). While no date has been mentioned for the “Flagship Edition” just yet, the regular model is already up for pre-order. It’s no Xiaomi; you’ll need to pay up 3, 698 yuan or about $560, or you can wait for a while to save up 4, 288 yuan or about $650 for that beast of a phone. Both are available in gold and pink. Source: Vivo

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Vivo Xplay5 boasts 6GB RAM and a familiar curved screen

Scientists Achieve Perfect Efficiency For Water-Splitting Half-Reaction

Dthief writes: Splitting water is a two-step process, and in a new study, researchers have performed one of these steps (reduction) with 100% efficiency. The results shatter the previous record of 60% for hydrogen production with visible light, and emphasize that future research should focus on the other step (oxidation) in order to realize practical overall water splitting. The main application of splitting water into its components of oxygen and hydrogen is that the hydrogen can then be used to deliver energy to fuel cells for powering vehicles and electronic devices. The process involves exposing the water to a mass of platinum-tipped nanorods, with visible light driving the reaction. The 100% efficiency refers to the photon-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency, and it means that virtually all of the photons that reach the photocatalyst generate an electron, and every two electrons produce one H2 molecule. At 100% yield, the half-reaction produces about 100 H2 molecules per second (or one every 10 milliseconds) on each nanorod, and a typical sample contains about 600 trillion nanorods. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Scientists Achieve Perfect Efficiency For Water-Splitting Half-Reaction

‘Moth Eye’ Graphene Breakthrough Could Create Indoor Solar Cells

A scientific breakthrough with the “wonder material” graphene has opened up the possibility of indoor solar cells that capture energy from indirect sunlight, as well as ambient energy from household devices. Researchers from the University of Surrey in the U.K. studied the eyes of moths to create sheets of graphene that they claim is the most light-absorbent material ever created. “We realized that the moth’s eye works in a particular way that traps electromagnetic waves very efficiently, ” Professor Ravi Silva, head of the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey, tells Newsweek. “As a result of our studies, we’ve been able to mimic the surface of a moth’s eye and create an amazingly thin, efficient, light-absorbent material made of graphene.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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‘Moth Eye’ Graphene Breakthrough Could Create Indoor Solar Cells

Released: First PC Based On Russia’s Homegrown "Baikal" Processor

WheatGrass writes to note that the company T-Platforms has introduced the first mass production unit based upon the Russian Baikal-T1 processor, mentioned here last in 2014. The new Baikal-based workstation is called the “Meadowsweet terminal, ” according to T-Platform’s official website; the feature list says it’s running a Debian-based Linux distro. “Congratulations, Russia, ” Says WheatGrass. (According to Google’s translation of this Russian-language story at RG.RU Digital, “[Y]ou can install many conventional applications, such as the LibreOffice office suite, Firefox web browser, and so on, the developers say, ” but the main use seems to be as a thin client.) Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Released: First PC Based On Russia’s Homegrown "Baikal" Processor

Bloomberg Predicts EVs Cheaper than IC Engine Cars Within 10 Years

Lucas123 writes: With the price of lithium-ion batteries continuing to plummet, already dropping 65% since 2010, electric vehicles will become cheaper to own by the mid-2020s, according to a new report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The report also forecasts that sales of EVs will hit 41 million by 2040, up from 462, 000 in 2015. By 2040, EVs will make up 35% of new light-duty vehicle sales, even if the price of crude oil goes back up from $33 today to $70 in the future. The adoption of EVs will displace about 13 million barrels of oil per day by 2040, when the clean-energy cars represent about one-quarter of cars on the road. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Bloomberg Predicts EVs Cheaper than IC Engine Cars Within 10 Years

Slysoft (of AnyDVD Fame) Closes After Increased International Pressure By AACS

jlp2097 writes: It looks like the recent activities by Hollywood studios and the AACS LA finally led to the closing of Slysoft Inc, creator of the popular AnyDVD HD tool for creating personal backups of BluRay/DVD/etc. Slysoft Inc’s website confirms the closing due to “recent regulatory requirements”. The final nail in the coffin has also been confirmed with slightly more details in their forum: “this is final. Slysoft is gone.” Sad to see them go — it looks like legitimate buyers of BluRays will now have to find other sources for backing up their property to HTPCs and NASes. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Slysoft (of AnyDVD Fame) Closes After Increased International Pressure By AACS