Tag: internet

Facebook Announces Sweeping Changes to Trending Section

Facebook is enacting a number of changes to its trending news module following a two-week internal investigation. The company’s announcement comes in response to a letter of inquiry from the US Senate Commerce Committee, issued one day after Gizmodo reported on the allegations of one former “news curator” for the trending section, who alleged coworkers regularly suppressed topics of interest to conservative readers. Read more…

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Facebook Announces Sweeping Changes to Trending Section

ATM Skimming Malware Is Getting Scarier

In 2009, malware called “Skimer” surfaced and security firms took notice. Skimer is essentially malware that gives hackers full access to an ATM without needing to install any physical hardware, like a card skimmer . According to a new investigation by Kaspersky Lab , the malware is not only seems in use, but it’s also become more powerful. Read more…

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ATM Skimming Malware Is Getting Scarier

Paramount will end its lawsuit against ‘Star Trek’ fan film

Lawyers from Paramount/CBS have been pursuing the makers of a crowdfunded Star Trek fan film , Axanar , for months , but according to JJ Abrams, they’re finally going to back off. Abrams made the announcement at an event last night on the studio’s movie lot where the studio dedicated a street to the memory of Leonard Nimoy, premiered the second trailer (which you can watch below) for Star Trek: Beyond, showed about 15 minutes of footage from the movie, and announced plans to screen the flick on an outdoor IMAX screen at Comic-Con. At the Star Trek Beyond fan event JJ Abrahms announced that because of Justin Lin, Paramount was dropping the lawsuit against Axanar. — Axanar Productions (@StarTrekAxanar) May 21, 2016 According to Abrams, the movie’s director Justin Lin heard about the lawsuit, was personally troubled as a fan and pushed for a resolution. As you can see in the Periscope stream embedded below from Trek.fm , he said that in the next few weeks it will be announced that the lawsuit is going away. Now, in a statement to Buzzfeed reporter Adam Vary , CBS/Paramount lawyers have said that they are in settlement talks and plan to set up guidelines for future fan films. All in all, it’s probably a good call to stop antagonizing the fanbase before releasing a new movie, so it’s not too surprising that all of this news came at once. Breaking News: Star Trek Axanar lawsuit is going away… pic.twitter.com/Sgc8K983BO — Trek.fm (@trekfm) May 21, 2016 Via: Deadline Source: Axanar Productions (Twitter) , Axanar (Kickstarter) , Trek.fm (Twitter)

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Paramount will end its lawsuit against ‘Star Trek’ fan film

Makers of uncrackable ransomware hand over the key

The creators of a virus that forces users to pay to recover their own files seem to have turned over a new leaf. Security researchers at ESET are reporting that TeslaCrypt’s developers posted the master encryption key, enabling ESET to develop a free fix. According to the firm, the creators of the virus were “wrapping up” their activities, and when a researcher asked for the master key, it was simply handed over. ESET has subsequently been able to produce a decryption tool (available here ) that’ll enable anyone affected to get their files back. ESET has gone to great pains to point out that ransomware is still one of the largest threats to people’s data online. It advises that everyone should keep their operating system updated and use a good anti-virus, as well as making regular backups of anything they wouldn’t want to lose. There’s also the question as to why TeslaCrypt’s developers were so willing to hand over the keys, but let’s hope that they decided to do the right thing. The alternative is just too horrible to contemplate. Via: Bleeping Computer Source: ESET

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Makers of uncrackable ransomware hand over the key

Chromebooks Outsell Macs For the First Time In the US

An anonymous reader shares a report on The Verge: Google’s low-cost Chromebooks outsold Apple’s range of Macs for the first time in the U.S. recently. IDC analyst Linn Huang confirmed the milestone to The Verge. “Chrome OS overtook Mac OS in the US in terms of shipments for the first time in 1Q16, ” says Huang. “Chromebooks are still largely a US K-12 story.” IDC estimates Apple’s U.S. Mac shipments to be around 1.76 million in the latest quarter, meaning Dell, HP, and Lenovo sold nearly 2 million Chromebooks in Q1 combined. Chromebooks have been extremely popular in US schools, and it’s clear from IDC’s comments the demand is driving US shipments. Outside of the US, it’s still unclear exactly how well Google’s low-cost laptops are doing. Most data from market research firms like IDC and Gartner focuses solely on Google’s wins in the US. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Chromebooks Outsell Macs For the First Time In the US

Stunning 7,000-Image Satellite Mosaic of African Doesn’t Have a Single Cloud

If you like jigsaws, you’d love to be on the team at the European Space Agency that created this image. Made up of 7, 000 separate files—totalling 32 TB of data—the picture provides a completely cloud-free view of the whole of Africa. Read more…

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Stunning 7,000-Image Satellite Mosaic of African Doesn’t Have a Single Cloud

Live-Action Tetris Movie Secures $80 Million Funding, Plans To Be Part Of A Trilogy

An anonymous reader writes: In 2014, Threshold Entertainment announced it would be producing a live-action film based on the Russian stacking game Tetris. Today, Threshold Entertainment announced it had secured $80 million in funding for the project. Threshold’s Larry Kasanoff has worked on the Mortal Kombat film in 1995, which grossed $70 million. Media mogul Bruno Wu, will serve as co-producer on the film ensuring that the movie will be able to sustain any unplanned budget overruns. According to Deadline, the film is planned for a 2017 release with Chinese locations and a Chinese case. However, Kasanoff notes “the goal is to make world movies for the world market.” What’s more is that the movie could be the basis of a trilogy, the producer says, with a plot that’s “not at all what you think; it will be a cool surprise.” Kasanoff told the Wall Street Journal that “this isn’t a movie with a bunch of lines running around the page. We’re not giving feet to the geometric shapes… What you [will] see in Tetris is the teeny tip of an iceberg that has intergalactic significance.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Live-Action Tetris Movie Secures $80 Million Funding, Plans To Be Part Of A Trilogy

Iraq Shuts Down Internet In Entire Country To Prevent Exam Cheating

An anonymous reader writes: The Iraqi government has ordered ISPs to shut down Internet access in the entire country to prevent exam cheating for Iraq’s official exams for secondary and high schools. This is the second year in a row when Iraq does this, after the same thing happened in 2015. Companies like Akamai and Dyn also noted the government’s poor decision on Twitter. It appears that Iraqi officials never heard of signal jammers and video cameras to combat exam cheating. The country’s Internet went dark May 14-16th, between 05:00 AM and 08:00 AM GMT. An Iraqi ISP leaked on Facebook the content of an email it received from state officials. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Iraq Shuts Down Internet In Entire Country To Prevent Exam Cheating

ShareTube Lets You and Your Friends Watch YouTube Videos In Sync Together

Watching YouTube videos together with your friends can be fun, but it’s a pain to make sure you’re all watching something at the same time. ShareTube does the work for you, syncing playback of videos for everyone in the room. Read more…

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ShareTube Lets You and Your Friends Watch YouTube Videos In Sync Together