Tag: events

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

Outdated and Vulnerable WordPress, Drupal Versions Contributed To Panama Papers Breach

An anonymous reader quotes a report from WordPress Tavern: Authorities have not yet identified the hacker behind the Panama Papers breach, nor have they isolated the exact attack vector. It is clear that Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm that protected the assets of the rich and powerful by setting up shell companies, had employed a dangerously loose policy towards web security and communications. The firm ran its unencrypted emails through an outdated (2009) version of Microsoft’s Outlook Web Access. Outdated open source software running the frontend of the firm’s websites is also now suspected to have provided a vector for the compromise. Forbes has identified outdated WordPress and Drupal installations as security holes that may have led to the data leak. [WordPress Tavern Editor Sarah Gooding] found that the firm’s WordPress-powered site is currently running on version 4.1 (released in December 2014), based on its version of autosave.js, which is identical to the autosave.js file shipped in 4.1. The main site is also loading a number of outdated scripts and plugins. Its active theme is a three-year-old version of Twenty Eleven (1.5), which oddly resides in a directory labeled for /twentyten/. The Mossack Fonseca client portal changelog.txt file is public, showing that its Drupal installation hasn’t been updated for three years. Since the release of version 7.23, the software has received 25 security updates, which means that the version it is running includes highly critical known vulnerabilities that could have given the hacker access to the server. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Outdated and Vulnerable WordPress, Drupal Versions Contributed To Panama Papers Breach

Facebook Live gets a discovery section and instant reactions

Facebook Live is set to make a splashy launch of new sharing- and discovery-centric features with appearances by Mark Zuckerberg and product chief Chris Cox. The social network is looking to tap its billion-plus user advantage and built-in social and group features to gain an edge on rivals like Periscope . As such, it has revealed new features like live streaming within groups and events, real-time reactions, invitations to watch video with friends and a live map showing video in 60 countries. The biggest and most logical feature is the ability to broadcast live within groups and events . If you’re putting on a concert, race or charitable event, for example, it makes infinite sense to be able to stream key moments to members. You’ve already got a captive audience, so friends and family who are subscribed but can’t make it in person can still experience the fun at a distance. If you feel the need to express yourself without commenting, Facebook also revealed live reactions for videos. As shown above, you can drop in one of the new emoticons (love, haha, wow, sad or angry) with each popping up on the screen in real time. In addition, if you’re only able to catch a Facebook Live replay, you’ll see comments and reactions pop up during the video as if it were live. On the discovery side, Facebook unveiled “Live Video Destinations” on mobile. That’s a dedicated section where you can find popular streams and live video from friends or folks and topics you’re interested in. It lets you search live and recorded videos and stream your own instantly with a “go live” button. Desktop users, meanwhile, get “Facebook Live Map, ” a button that helps you find live video in 60 countries around the world. If you want watch with a friend, every stream now gets an “invite” button, as well. Facebook may have jumped late into live video well after rivals like YouTube, Periscope and Meerkat, but it’s certainly a high priority now. The company pushes live video to the top of your feeds and notifies you about new streams, though you can now turn those off , thankfully. With product head Chris Cox and Zuck himself involved in the latest Facebook Live feature push, expect live streams to become an even larger part of your feeds. The features will roll out over the next few weeks.

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Facebook Live gets a discovery section and instant reactions

TSA Paid $1.4 Million For Randomizer App That Chooses Left Or Right

An anonymous reader writes: For those of you who have traveled through U.S. airports in recent years, you may have noticed the Transport Security Administration (TSA) use a Randomizer app to randomly search travelers in the Pre-Check lane. The app randomly chooses whether travelers go left or right in the Pre-Check lane so they can’t predict which lane each person is assigned to and can’t figure out how to avoid the random checks. Developer Kevin Burke submitted a Freedom of Information Act request asking for details about the app. The documents he received reveals the TSA purchased the Randomizer iPad app for $336, 413.59. That’s $336, 413.59 for an app, which is incredibly simple to make as most programming languages of choice have a randomizing function available to use. What may be even more intriguing is that the contract for the TSA Randomizer app was won by IBM. The total amount paid for the project is actually $1.4 million, but the cost is not broken down in Burke’s documents. It’s possible IBM supplied all the iPads and training in addition to the app itself. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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TSA Paid $1.4 Million For Randomizer App That Chooses Left Or Right

Tesla’s Model 3 Preorder Numbers Are Way Bigger Than Anyone Expected

Given that people camped out in line for a chance to pay a deposit on the Model 3, a car they won’t see for at least a year, it’s no surprise that the pre-order numbers are big. But 276, 000 pre-orders in 72 hours is still a shockingly high number. Read more…

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Tesla’s Model 3 Preorder Numbers Are Way Bigger Than Anyone Expected

$40 Hardware Is Enough To Hack $28,000 Police Drones From 2km Away

mask.of.sanity writes: Thieves can hijack $28, 000 professional drones used widely across the law enforcement, emergency, and private sectors using $40 worth of hardware. The quadcopters can be hijacked from up to two kilometers away thanks to a lack of encryption, which is not present due to latency overheads. Attackers can commandeer radio links to the drones from up to two kilometers away, and block operators from reconnecting to the craft. With the targeted Xbee chip being very common in drones, IBM security guy Nils Rodday says it is likely many more aircraft are open to compromise. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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$40 Hardware Is Enough To Hack $28,000 Police Drones From 2km Away

Free Wi-Fi Program in Los Angeles Fails to Provide Free Wi-Fi

The Los Angeles Time found no internet connectivity in 24 public locations, despite a three-year, $500, 000 grant to provide them with free Wi-Fi service. Investigations both last year and again in March found that none of the 18+ locations checked were able to successfully connect to the internet, prompting a PUC investigation that confirmed only two of the hotspots were working. The grant was part of a $315 million state-wide program using surcharges on utility bills to promote high-quality communication services, though in Los Angeles most of the money for “underserved” areas was being directed to outreach and education. The Wi-Fi company’s executive director said maintaining their networks had proved to be difficult, though one economist argued it would’ve been more productive to give net-access subsidies directly to the poor, a program the FCC recently voted to expand. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Free Wi-Fi Program in Los Angeles Fails to Provide Free Wi-Fi

Newly Discovered Star Has an Almost Pure Oxygen Atmosphere

William Herkewitz, reports for Popular Mechanics: A newly discovered star is unlike any ever found. With an outermost layer of 99.9 percent pure oxygen, its atmosphere is the most oxygen-rich in the known universe. Heck, it makes Earth’s meager 21 percent look downright suffocating. The strange stellar oddity is a radically new type of white dwarf star, and was discovered by a team of Brazilian astronomers led by Kepler de Souza Oliveira at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. The star is unique in the known pool of 32, 000 white dwarf stars, and is the only known star of any kind with an almost pure oxygen atmosphere. The new white dwarf has a mouthful of a name — SDSSJ124043.01+671034.68 — but has been nicknamed ‘Dox’ (pronounced Dee-Awks) by Kepler’s team. The discovery was reported today in a paper in the journal Science. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Newly Discovered Star Has an Almost Pure Oxygen Atmosphere