linkedin – Page 271 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Twitter Will Track Your Browsing To Sell Ads

jfruh writes “Remember how social networks were going to transform the advertising industry because they’d tailor ads not to context or to your web browsing history, but to the innate preferences you express through interactions and relationships with friends? Well, that didn’t work with Facebook, and it turns out it’s not working with Twitter either. The microblogging site has announced that it’s getting into the ad retargeting game: you’ll soon start seeing promoted tweets that are chosen based on websites you’ve visited in the past. The innovation, if you can call it that, is that the retargeting will work across devices, so you can be looking at a website on your phone and see promoted tweets on your laptop’s browser, or vice versa.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

CyanogenMod Integrates Text Message Encryption

sfcrazy writes “People are now more concerned regarding their privacy after discovering about efforts made by governments to spy on their communications. The most practical solution to keep messages, emails and calls secure is to use a cryptographic encryption mechanism. However, just like the name of the method, the installation process is complex for most users. To solve this, CyanogenMod will come equipped with built in encryption system for text messages.” Whisper System has integrated their TextSecure protocol into the SMS/MMS provider, so even third party sms apps benefit. Better yet, it’s Free Software, licensed under the GPLv3+. Support will debut in Cyanogenmod 11, but you can grab a 10.2 nightly build to try it out now. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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CyanogenMod Integrates Text Message Encryption

The Quest To Build Xbox One and PS4 Emulators

Nerval’s Lobster writes “Will Xbox One and PS4 emulators hit your favorite download Websites within the next few years? Emulators have long been popular among gamers looking to relive the classic titles they enjoyed in their youth. Instead of playing Super Mario Bros. on a Nintendo console, one can go through the legally questionable yet widespread route of downloading a copy of the game and loading it with PC software that emulates the Nintendo Entertainment System. Emulation is typically limited to older games, as developing an emulator is hard work and must usually be run on hardware that’s more powerful than the original console. Consoles from the NES and Super NES era have working emulators, as do newer systems such as Nintendo 64, GameCube and Wii, and the first two PlayStations. While emulator development hit a dead end with the Xbox 360 and PS3, that may change with the Xbox One and PS4, which developers are already exploring as fertile ground for emulation. The Xbox 360 and PS4 feature x86 chips, for starters, and hardware-assisted virtualization can help solve some acceleration issues. But several significant obstacles stand in the way of developers already taking a crack at it, including console builders’ absolute refusal to see emulation as even remotely legal.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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The Quest To Build Xbox One and PS4 Emulators

In Three Years, Nearly 45% of All the Servers Will Ship To Cloud Providers

dcblogs writes “IDC expects that anywhere from 25% to 30% of all the servers shipped next year will be delivered to cloud services providers. In three years, 2017, nearly 45% of all the servers leaving manufacturers will be bought by cloud providers. The shift is slowing the purchase of server sales to enterprise IT. The increased use of SaaS is a major reason for the market shift, but so is virtualization to increase server capacity. Data center consolidations are eliminating servers as well, along with the purchase of denser servers capable of handling larger loads. The increased use of cloud-based providers is roiling the server market, and is expected to help send server revenue down 3.5% this year, according to IDC.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Meet Paunch: the Accused Author of the BlackHole Exploit Kit

tsu doh nimh writes “In early October, news leaked out of Russia that authorities there had arrested and charged the malware kingpin known as ‘Paunch, ‘ the alleged creator and distributor of the Blackhole exploit kit. Today, Russian police and computer security experts released additional details about this individual, revealing a much more vivid picture of the cybercrime underworld today. According to pictures of the guy published by Brian Krebs, if the Russian authorities are correct then his nickname is quite appropriate. Paunch allegedly made $50, 000 a month selling his exploit kit, and worked with another guy to buy zero-day browser exploits. As of October 2013, the pair had budgeted $450, 000 to purchase zero-days. From the story: ‘The MVD estimates that Paunch and his gang earned more than 70 million rubles, or roughly USD $2.3 million. But this estimate is misleading because Blackhole was used as a means to perpetrate a vast array of cybercrimes. I would argue that Blackhole was perhaps the most important driving force behind an explosion of cyber fraud over the past three years. A majority of Paunchâ(TM)s customers were using the kit to grow botnets powered by Zeus and Citadel, banking Trojans that are typically used in cyberheists targeting consumers and small businesses.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Meet Paunch: the Accused Author of the BlackHole Exploit Kit

How a Bitcoin Transaction Actually Works

An anonymous reader writes “Michael Nielsen has written a detailed article describing the nuts and bolts of a Bitcoin transaction. He builds the concepts from the ground up, starting with a basic, no-frills digital currency. He then examines it for flaws and tweaks the currency to patch up areas where we run into technical or security problems. Eventually, he ends up with Bitcoin, and explains how a transaction works. It’s an interesting, technical read; much more in-depth than any explanation I’ve heard. Here’s a brief snippet from a walkthrough of the transaction data: ‘One thing to note about the input is that there’s nothing explicitly specifying how many bitcoins from the previous transaction should be spent in this transaction. In fact, all the bitcoins from the n=0th output of the previous transaction are spent. So, for example, if the n=0th output of the earlier transaction was 2 bitcoins, then 2 bitcoins will be spent in this transaction. This seems like an inconvenient restriction – like trying to buy bread with a 20 dollar note, and not being able to break the note down. The solution, of course, is to have a mechanism for providing change. This can be done using transactions with multiple inputs and outputs…'” Bitcoin is going through another period of heavy fluctuation: it fell from a high of around $1, 200 per bitcoin to roughly half that, and as of this writing trade around $760 per bitcoin. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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How a Bitcoin Transaction Actually Works

About 25% of HealthCare.gov Applications Have Errors

itwbennett writes “An estimated one in four user applications sent from HealthCare.gov to insurance providers have errors introduced by the website, an official with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said during a press briefing Friday. The errors include missing forms, duplicate forms and incorrect information in the applications, such as wrong information about an applicant’s marital status, said Julie Bataille, communications director for HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). While the software bugs leading to the errors have largely been fixed, as many as 10 percent of insurance applications may still have errors and consumers who have used HealthCare.gov to buy insurance and have concerns that their applications haven’t been processed or have errors should contact their insurers, Bataille said.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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About 25% of HealthCare.gov Applications Have Errors

Tesla Model S Battery Drain Issue Fixed

cartechboy writes “Does the Tesla Model S suck down power even when the car is switched off? Recently, a tweet to Elon Musk with an article saying so sparked the Tesla CEO’s attention. He tweeted that it wasn’t right and that he’d look into the situation. Then a few hours later, he tweeted that the issue had to do with a bad 12-volt battery. Turns out Tesla had already called the owner of the affected car and sent a service tech to his house to replace that battery — and also install a newer build of the car’s software. Now it appears the ‘Vampire Draw’ has been slain. The car went from using 4.5 kWh per day while turned off to a mere 1.1 kWh. So, it seems to be solved, but Tesla may either need to fix some software, or start sending a few new 12-volt batteries out to the folks still experiencing the issue.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Tesla Model S Battery Drain Issue Fixed

World’s Largest Ship Floated For the First Time

Zothecula writes “A ship with a hull longer than the Empire State Building is tall has been floated out of dry dock in Geoje, South Korea. Measuring 488 m (1, 601 ft) long and 74 m (243 ft) wide, the hull belongs to Shell’s Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility, which upon completion will be the largest floating facility ever built.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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World’s Largest Ship Floated For the First Time

1.5 Million Pages of Ancient Manuscripts Online

New submitter LordWabbit2 sends this quote from an AP report: “The Vatican Library and Oxford University’s Bodleian Library have put the first of 1.5 million pages of ancient manuscripts online. The two libraries in 2012 announced a four-year project to digitize some of the most important works of their collections of Hebrew manuscripts, Greek manuscripts and early printed books. Among the first up on the site Tuesday, are the two-volume Gutenberg bibles from each of the libraries and a beautiful 15th-century German bible, hand-colored and illustrated by woodcuts. … The Vatican Library was founded in 1451 and is one of the most important research libraries in the world. The Bodleian is the largest university library in Britain.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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1.5 Million Pages of Ancient Manuscripts Online