AdBlock and AdBlock Plus are available for Microsoft Edge

Back in March, Microsoft started testing a version of its new Edge browser on Windows 10 with support for extensions. Now, one of the most-requested features is covered with the introduction of AdBlock and AdBlock Plus extensions for Edge. The feature list appears to be mostly intact from its Chrome and Firefox iterations, with the ability to block varying levels of ads or whitelist certain sites (like… Engadget.com for example). AdBlock for Edge https://t.co/9VC1sGE3bk Adblock Plus for Edge https://t.co/MRSvQZoxlW — WalkingCat (@h0x0d) May 6, 2016 Not everyone uses extensions for their browsing experience, but for those of us who rely on them every day, it’s impossible to consider switching to a browser without a healthy library of optional add-ons. You’ll need to be in the preview program to test out the extension-enabled browser, and if you are, just check the video below to find out how to install them. Via: Walking Cat (Twitter) Source: AdBlock (Windows Store) , AdBlock Plus (Windows Store)

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AdBlock and AdBlock Plus are available for Microsoft Edge

Charter acquisition of Time Warner Cable approved by the FCC

It feels like forever since Time Warner Cable agreed to merge with Charter Communications , for an estimated $55 billion . But today, nearly a year after the two companies struck a deal, the Federal Communications Commission has finally granted its approval . The announcement follows FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and the US Justice Department green-lighting the merger in April, which confirmed that it was only a matter of time before it became official. It’s worth noting that Charter is also acquiring Bright House Networks , a regional TV and internet provider, as part of the agreement between it and the government. Additionally, last month Wheeler revealed there would be some caveats for Charter , including not being be able to impede access to streaming content. Namely, Charter can’t set data caps for subscribers or charge for service based on usage — and there might be more compromises. A detailed release of the conditions for the merger will be released over the coming days, according to a statement from the FCC . Nevertheless, this positions Charter as the second largest cable and internet service in the US with 24 million subscribers total, right behind Comcast’s 28 million . Persistence pays off , folks. Source: Federal Communications Commission

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Charter acquisition of Time Warner Cable approved by the FCC

Samsung Smart Home Flaws Let Hackers Pick Connected Doors From Anywhere In the World

Researchers have discovered flaws in Samsung’s Smart Home automation system, which if exploited, allows them to carry a range of remote attacks. These attacks include digitally picking connected door locks from anywhere in the world. The flaws have been documented by researchers from the University of Michigan ahead of the 2016 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy. “All of the above attacks expose a household to significant harm — break-ins, theft, misinformation, and vandalism, ” the researchers wrote in a paper. “The attack vectors are not specific to a particular device and are broadly applicable.” Dan Goodin, reports for Ars Technica: Other attacks included a malicious app that was able to obtain the PIN code to a smart lock and send it in a text message to attackers, disable a preprogrammed vacation mode setting, and issue a fake fire alarm. The one posing the biggest threat was the remote lock-picking attack, which the researchers referred to as a “backdoor pin code injection attack.” It exploited vulnerabilities in an existing app in the SmartThings app store that gives an attacker sustained and largely surreptitious access to users’ homes. The attack worked by obtaining the OAuth token that the app and SmartThings platform relied on to authenticate legitimate users. The only interaction it required was for targeted users to click on an attacker-supplied HTTPS link that looked much like this one that led to the authentic SmartThings login page. The user would then enter the username and password. A flaw in the app allowed the link to redirect the credentials away from the SmartThings page to an attacker-controlled address. From then on, the attackers had the same remote access over the lock that users had. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Samsung Smart Home Flaws Let Hackers Pick Connected Doors From Anywhere In the World

Flow is Microsoft’s take on IFTTT automation (Updated)

Microsoft is about to release its take on the automation service IFTTT called Flow, according to a blog post published and removed by the company. Update : the service is now live ! Flow connects to over 35 services, with more integrations planned. These include Microsoft products like Office 365 and OneDrive; third-party platforms such as Twitter, Dropbox, MailChimp, Google Drive, Slack and Trello; and developer-focused options like Github and SQL. Just like IFTTT, you’ll be able to create workflows across multiple services. Examples include adding a card in Trello if your boss emails you with “to do” in the subject line, sending a text alert if a Dropbox file is modified, or saving all of a user’s tweets to OneDrive. Some of this functionality has been available as part of a private preview for Microsoft’s Azure business customers, but Flow appears to be a more user-friendly take on the concept. It’s aimed squarely at businesses, schools and other large institutions, but there’s no reason that it couldn’t be useful to individuals, especially if you’re the sort of person that organizes your life through Trello. It’s not clear exactly when Flow will be ready. Twitter user @h0x0d first discovered the service (as spotted by The Verge ) along with the blog post, but it was swiftly removed. The article itself had a typo and didn’t appear finished, so it seems that it was posted before it was ready. Ironically, one of the workflows mentioned in the post intended to ensure “that all of the posts [about Flow] were reviewed and approved.” It appears that particular Flow failed. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for more information on Flow, and will update you once we have more details. Update : As noted above, Microsoft’s Flow service went live on Friday morning. Via: The Verge Source: Microsoft Flow (Google cache)

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Flow is Microsoft’s take on IFTTT automation (Updated)

Dropbox will soon show all your cloud-based files right in the desktop

If you’re one of the 500 million people who’ve used Dropbox at some point over the last few years, you know what you’re getting in to. It’s a reliable way to back up all the files on your computer, sync them across multiple devices and share them with friends, family or coworkers. It’s fast, it works and Dropbox has added a decent set of collaboration features over the years (like its strong Microsoft Office integration) — but by and large, its core “sync and share” features have remained largely the same. But today at the Dropbox Open event in London, the company is previewing an intriguing new feature called Project Infinite. In a nutshell, it looks to close the divide between our ever-increasing cloud storage vaults like Dropbox and the corresponding decrease in hard drive sizes. Back when Dropbox first launched, plenty of computers came with 500GB (or larger) hard drives, while paid Dropbox accounts only offered 50GB of space. However, since then, things have flip-flopped a bit — $10 a month gets you 1TB of Dropbox space, while the rise of SSD means that most computers have much smaller hard drives than that. And Dropbox for Business offers essentially limitless storage space, which means you’ll have to jump back and forth between files stored on your computer and Dropbox’s web interface to see everything you might want to access. Put simply, Project Infinite lets you see everything you have access to in Dropbox via your computer’s native interface (the Mac Finder or Windows Explorer). As before, files locally stored on your computer that are synced to Dropbox will have a green checkmark next to them, but everything else you might have access to will be visible as well. Those cloud-stored files will have a cloud icon next to them, but they’ll otherwise appear in your filesystem as if they’re stored on your hard drive. And if you want to open up those cloud files, you can just double-click. Dropbox will then download and open the file as if it was on your local storage, and any changes will be synced back to the cloud. It certainly sounds like it’ll be useful, as users will be able to store most of their digital materials in Dropbox and see it all on their computer without having to jump into Dropbox’s web interface. But there are some questions we have that are yet to be answered. It’s not clear if Project Infinite will be available to those paying $10 a month for Dropbox Pro or if it’ll only be available for business users. The Dropbox press release made it sound fairly focused on businesses, but hopefully consumers will also have access to the feature when it’s ready. There’s also no word on when the feature will be available. Dropbox says it’s testing Project Infinite with “a select number of sponsor customers” and says it’ll have more updates throughout the year, but there’s no word yet on when it’ll be widely available.

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Dropbox will soon show all your cloud-based files right in the desktop

Australian researchers developed a blood test for Parkinson’s

By the time Parkinson’s disease makes itself known in humans, it’s already too late for treatment. But La Trobe University in Australia has developed a test that detects a biomarker present in blood cells in folks with the disease. The school describes the test as a means of detecting problems within cell mitochondria that cause an energy-and-stress-sensing protein, dubbed AMPK, to permanently activate and start damaging cells. The research is being bankrolled in part by Parkinson’s perhaps highest-profile patient, Michael J. Fox. Well, his foundation dedicated to further research on the debilitating malady , that is. The downside is that even with Fox’s Foundation for Parkinson’s Research and the Shake It Up Australia Foundation’s $640, 000 grant to La Trobe, more money is still needed for the test to be ready for the public. And beyond that, it’d still take five years to hit the market with additional funding. For now, the school is increasing the amount of testing it’s doing, going from a group of 38 people to 70. According to The Guardian , the ultimate goal is to do a longitudinal study with “thousands” of people in their 40s prior to them being at risk for the disease and before they start showing physical symptoms. From there, the researchers could test beyond Parkinson’s and see if the same method could be used to diagnose other neurological disorders, like Alzheimer’s, as well. Via: Popular Science Source: La Trobe University

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Australian researchers developed a blood test for Parkinson’s

Microsoft Sues US Justice Department, Asks Court To Declare Secrecy Orders Unconstitutional

Todd Bishop, reporting for GeekWire: Microsoft is suing the U.S. Justice Department, asking a federal judge to declare unconstitutional a provision of U.S. law that lets the government keep Microsoft and other tech companies from informing their customers when investigators seek access to emails and other cloud data. The suit, filed moments ago in U.S. District Court in Seattle, targets Section 2705(b) of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which allows the government to seek and obtain secrecy orders preventing companies from letting their customers know when their data is the target of a federal warrant, subpoena or court order. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer, recently criticized the 30-year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act as outdated during his testimony in February before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee — bringing along IBM’s first laptop, released the same year, to help illustrate his point.Microsoft argues that these “indefinite gag orders” violate the First Amendment rights to inform customers. Furthermore, the company adds that the law also “flouts” the Fourth Amendment, which requires the government to give a notice to the concerned person when his or her property is being searched or seized. “This is a First Amendment fight that needed to get picked and I’m glad Microsoft picked it. Just as in the real world with physical seizures, secrecy in digital seizures should be the exception and not the rule. Yet as the Microsoft complaint shows, it’s receiving thousands of law enforcement gag orders every year and more than two-thirds of them are eternal gags with no end data, ” said Kevin Bankston, internet freedom advocate and digital rights lawyer. “This is clearly unconstitutional, yet with so many orders per year, it makes sense to strike at the root with a facial challenge to the law rather than try and challenge them all individually. And based on previous similar cases around gag orders in national security cases, I think they’ll succeed in striking this overbroad law down.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Microsoft Sues US Justice Department, Asks Court To Declare Secrecy Orders Unconstitutional

AMC Theaters is considering letting people text during movies

Just as AMC Theaters was starting to win customers back by replacing every old seat in its auditoriums with recliners , the company wants to destroy that good will among moviegoers. That’s because CEO Adam Aron thinks letting people use their phones during a movie would be a good idea. “When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off their phone, don’t ruin the movie, they hear ‘please cut off your left arm above the elbow, ‘” Aron tells Variety . “You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life.” Yes, he actually said that. This could be seen as an extension of recreating a home-like experience at a theater, vis a vis said recliner seats. But the difference here is that if you’re using your phone while watching a flick at home, you’re only affecting yourself and maybe your significant other — not the 100 or more people who paid to get into the theater. Movie theaters and places of worship are a few of the remaining places where using a cellphone is verboten, and by pandering to this demographic’s horrible habit AMC is stripping away common courtesy and setting a gross precedent in the name of profits. Aron says that certain sections where texting would be allowed is one possibility for this, while the more likely situation would be having specific auditoriums set up to be “more texting friendly.” If the chain is willing to kick out someone wearing Google Glass for fear of piracy, though, how is it going to differentiate someone texting from a person recording what’s on the screen with their phone? Contrast this with The Alamo Drafthouse which will happily eject you from a showing if you’re talking or texting, or won’t even let you into the auditorium if you’re late. As you can imagine, Twitter is lighting up with people decrying this , and for good reason: It’s an absolutely stupid move that could drive away already loyal customers in an effort to chase those it isn’t reaching anyway. “22-year-olds like to shoplift! What can we do??” — if the AMC CEO ran Macy’s — Scott Weinberg (@scottEweinberg) April 13, 2016 And that’s one way to keep me out of AMC theaters. Really hope they reconsider. https://t.co/DNthAggJIs — Chris Pugh (@ChrisLikesDinos) April 13, 2016 No @CEOAdam , I don’t want to go to a theater where people can text. We already have that, it’s a living room. #amctheaters — Rachel Stuhler (@RachelStuhler) April 13, 2016 Source: Variety

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AMC Theaters is considering letting people text during movies

Jigsaw Ransomware Deletes Your Files If You Don’t Pay Or When You Reboot Your PC

An anonymous reader writes: Researchers found a new ransomware yesterday called Jigsaw which will first lock your files and ask for a 0.4 Bitcoin ($150 USD) payment. If users don’t pay, every hour the ransomware deletes your files. If the user restarts their PC, the ransomware also deletes 1, 000 more files. The good news is there’s a free Decrypter available to unlock the ransomware. The Decrypter was built by Michael Gillespie, who announced yesterday on Softpedia the ID Ransomware service, which tells infected victims what kind of ransomware infection they have by allowing them to upload an encrypted file and the ransom note. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Jigsaw Ransomware Deletes Your Files If You Don’t Pay Or When You Reboot Your PC

Google.org pledges $20 million to support disability technologies

The World Health Organization estimates 1 billion people across the world live with disabilities, and Google’s philanthropy division, Google.org, just pledged $20 million to help improve their situations. The money is spread across 29 programs working on disability technologies — the average amount they’ll each receive is $750, 000, with six of the grant winners getting more than $1 million, Wired reports. The programs fall into five categories of disabilities — hearing, mobility, cognitive, vision and communication — and the winning programs tackle a variety of issues. Here are a few examples: My Human Kit connects people who need prosthetics with low-cost 3D-printed solutions. The Center for Discovery is building an open-source add-on that turns any manual wheelchair into a power chair. Perkins School for the Blind wants to roll out more detailed GPS instructions to ensure the visually impaired don’t get left behind when independently navigating the real world. The Dan Marino Foundation is developing a digital, interactive system to help young people on the autism spectrum train for job interviews. The Leprosy Mission Trust India is making low-cost custom footwear that enables people with leprosy to maintain their ability to walk. In related accessibility news, Google recently rolled out the beta for its Voice Access system , which allows users to navigate their phones via voice commands. Via: Wired Source: Google.org

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Google.org pledges $20 million to support disability technologies