Tag: program1

Amazon Video now lets you download content to Android SD cards

Android users now have another, more convenient option to make use of their Amazon Prime Video subscriptions. Amazon pushed out an update that lets Android users download movies, videos, and other content from its Prime Video service to the SD cards in their handsets. Previously, Amazon only allowed content to be saved to the internal storage on those smartphones. With this update, not only will users be able to save their internal storage for other content, but they could potentially download content to multiple SD cards, switch those cards in and out of their handsets, and watch all of that content offline. In addition to Amazon Prime videos, users can download any videos they’ve purchased to their SD cards. This feature is something only Android users can take advantage of, since iPhones lack the requisite SD card slot. The feature is rolling out on Android tablets and smartphones starting today in the US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Japan. Read on Ars Technica | Comments

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Amazon Video now lets you download content to Android SD cards

20-year-old Windows bug lets printers install malware—patch now

Enlarge (credit: Vectra Networks) For more than two decades, Microsoft Windows has provided the means for clever attackers to surreptitiously install malware of their choice on computers that connect to booby-trapped printers, or other devices masquerading as printers, on a local area network. Microsoft finally addressed the bug on Tuesday during its monthly patch cycle. The vulnerability resides in the Windows Print Spooler, which manages the process of connecting to available printers and printing documents. A protocol known as Point-and-Print allows people who are connecting to a network-hosted printer for the first time to automatically download the necessary driver immediately before using it. It works by storing a shared driver on the printer or print server and eliminates the hassle of the user having to manually download and install it. Researchers with security firm Vectra Networks discovered that the Windows Print Spooler doesn’t properly authenticate print drivers when installing them from remote locations. The failure makes it possible for attackers to use several different techniques that deliver maliciously modified drivers instead of the legitimate one provided by the printer maker. The exploit effectively turns printers, printer servers, or potentially any network-connected device masquerading as a printer into an internal drive-by exploit kit that infects machines whenever they connect. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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20-year-old Windows bug lets printers install malware—patch now

In time warping study, people unconsciously controlled blood sugar levels

(credit: Dennis van Zuijlekom ) Ideas can be powerful drugs. If a person is simply convinced that a pill or treatment is going to yield real results, it can—even if that pill or treatment is completely bogus. Those results can be pretty substantial, too. Mental maneuvering, or placebo effect, can improve pilots’ vision , help people lose weight , and even up their IQ by a few points . And, according to a new study, it may also be able to help patients manage a chronic illness. In an experiment in which researchers duped participants about how much time had passed, the researchers found that participants’ blood sugar levels tracked with perceived time rather than actual time. That is, blood sugar dropped faster when the participants thought more time had passed. The results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, support the idea that mindsets and psychological processes, like the abstract internal representation of time, can have profound influence over what our bodies do, the authors conclude. Moreover, it raises the idea of using the mind to help manage certain chronic conditions, particularly type 2 diabetes, which causes periodic and dangerous rises in blood sugar levels. “Official standards for care and treatment of diabetes make no explicit mention of the influence of subjective cognition on diabetic metabolism, but our results indicate otherwise,” the authors argue. They suggest that mindfulness, coping strategies, and trained cognitive styles may prove useful in controlling blood sugar levels in further studies. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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In time warping study, people unconsciously controlled blood sugar levels

Virulent auto-rooting malware takes control of 10 million Android devices

Security experts have documented a disturbing spike in a particularly virulent family of Android malware, with more than 10 million handsets infected and more than 286,000 of them in the US. Researchers from security firm Check Point Software said the malware installs more than 50,000 fraudulent apps each day, displays 20 million malicious advertisements, and generates more than $300 million per month in revenue. The success is largely the result of the malware’s ability to silently root a large percentage of the phones it infects by exploiting vulnerabilities that remain unfixed in older versions of Android. The Check Point researchers have dubbed the malware family “HummingBad,” but researchers from mobile security company Lookout say HummingBad is in fact Shedun, a family of auto-rooting malware that came to light last November  and had already infected a large number of devices. For the past five months, Check Point researchers have quietly observed the China-based advertising company behind HummingBad in several ways, including by infiltrating the command and control servers it uses. The researchers say the malware uses the unusually tight control it gains over infected devices to create windfall profits and steadily increase its numbers. HummingBad does this by silently installing promoted apps on infected phones, defrauding legitimate mobile advertisers, and creating fraudulent statistics inside the official Google Play Store. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Virulent auto-rooting malware takes control of 10 million Android devices

Windows 10 Anniversary Update nears RTM with bugfixes galore

With its August 2 release date growing closer, the Windows 10 Anniversary Update is nearing completion. A steady stream of new builds for Windows Insiders on the fast track has been released over the past few weeks. The latest build, 14383, came out today and includes a wide range of fixes. As with many of its predecessors, this build has been made available simultaneously for Windows 10 on the desktop and Windows 10 Mobile; Microsoft is intending to ship the Anniversary Update simultaneously for PC, phone, and Xbox One when that release date arrives. Windows Central is reporting that according to its sources, the build one newer than today’s release, 14384, is the first candidate for what would formerly be known as Release To Manufacturing (RTM). With Windows now being delivered “as a service,” the old RTM terminology isn’t favored by Redmond any more—not least because many people will download the update rather than have it preinstalled by a PC manufacturer—but the concept that RTM represents endures. The “RTM” build will be the one released on August 2 to people in the stable channel, and then after several months of regular Patch Tuesday updates, it will be released as the Current Branch for Business. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Windows 10 Anniversary Update nears RTM with bugfixes galore

15 years later, new Ecco the Dolphin game leaks onto Dreamcast

The Dreamcast Ecco sequel you never expected is now available as a prototype download. (credit: Hidden Palace ) You probably thought that Sega’s official abandonment of the Dreamcast back in 2001 meant we wouldn’t see any new, Sega-produced Ecco the Dolphin games for that system. If so, you thought wrong. That’s because a newly unearthed prototype of the Dreamcast’s cancelled Ecco II: Sentinels of the Universe has hit the Internet, more than 15 years after it was made. The prototype build, uploaded by the game preservationists at Hidden Palace , is dated February 19, 2001, less than a month after Sega announced it would stop supporting the Dreamcast and step away from the hardware business for good. It comes to the Internet via a large lot of Ecco Dreamcast assets acquired by Hidden Palace , and the site promises “more exciting (and long overdue) [ Ecco ] stuff in the weeks to follow.” In addition to the ripped GD-ROM version, which is fully playable on PC Dreamcast emulators, Hidden Palace also released a self-boot CDI image that can be burned to disc and played on actual Dreamcast hardware (and hopefully on a real CRT television, for that authentic 2001 console gaming experience). We can thank the Dreamcast’s extremely broken copy protection technology for that little wrinkle and for the widespread piracy that  helped doom and/or popularize the system back in its day. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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15 years later, new Ecco the Dolphin game leaks onto Dreamcast

Apple announced iOS 10 for iPhones and iPads at WWDC today

(credit: Apple) Apple today announced iOS 10, a new major version of its operating system for iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches. There is a redesigned control center with interactive notifications, and improvements to widgets (such as those that show calendar and weather information). 3D Touch can now do more: For example, you can press your screen to clear all notifications at once. Siri is getting improvements, with the ability to book rides on services like Uber and Lyft, the ability to start and pause workouts, and make payments to send money to friends with SquareCash and other services. Siri’s will be more intelligent in messaging. For example, if a friend asks for the contact information of another friend, Siri can automatically provide the contact. Siri can also pull up calendar availability in message threads, and let you do multilingual typing without switching the keyboard language. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Apple announced iOS 10 for iPhones and iPads at WWDC today

Gawker declares bankruptcy, will auction itself off in wake of Hulk Hogan lawsuit

(credit: Miguel Discart ) UPDATE 3:00pm ET : The Verge located and published Gawker’s federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing, which we have mirrored here . In that document, owner Nick Denton estimates the company’s assets at $50 million to $100 million, and liabilities at $100 million to $500 million. Ryan Mac, a reporter at Forbes , provided Ars with a three-page statement from Gawker, that we have published in full , here. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Gawker declares bankruptcy, will auction itself off in wake of Hulk Hogan lawsuit

US coal production drops to levels not seen since a 1980s miners’ strike

(credit: US EIA ) The first three months of 2016 saw a plunge in the US’ coal production that may be without precedent. The US Energy Information Administration, which has figures going back to the 1970s, shows only a single quarterly drop of similar magnitude—and that one came during a workers’ strike back in the early 1980s. Excepting periods of labor problems, US coal production has not been this low since the EIA started tracking it. Part of the problem is temporary. The winter was unusually mild, which lowers energy use in general. As a result, many of the coal-burning electrical plants had large stockpiles of coal on hand; they burned through these reserves rather than ordering new coal. But most of the issues are systemic. Coal is now being undercut by renewables and natural gas, which are displacing some of the demand. Utilities are responding to those low prices by adding new renewable and gas capacity. That additional capacity comes at a time when the US’ electricity demand has been growing at an unexpectedly slow pace. Combined, these factors have resulted in less use of existing coal plants. New environmental regulations are also forcing the oldest and least efficient plants to shut down early. Most of these are also coal. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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US coal production drops to levels not seen since a 1980s miners’ strike

“Bluetooth 5” spec coming next week with 2x more range and 4x better speed

Bluetooth 5.0, the latest version of the ubiquitous wireless standard, is set to be announced on June 16, according to an e-mail sent by Bluetooth SIG Executive Director Mark Powell. The update will apparently be called “Bluetooth 5” without a point number in an effort to “[simplify] marketing.” It’s primarily of interest because the update promises to double the range and quadruple the speed of Bluetooth 4.2. It also adds “significantly more capacity to advertising transmissions,” which is more exciting than it sounds because it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with what you normally think of when you think of “advertising.” In the Bluetooth spec, an “advertising packet” allows Bluetooth devices to send small snippets of information to other Bluetooth devices even if the two aren’t actually paired or connected to one another. For instance, when you go to pair a Bluetooth keyboard or speaker with one of your devices, advertising packets can let you see the name of the device before you’ve paired it so you can distinguish it from all the other Bluetooth devices that are within range. The same technology is used by wireless beacons to transmit information about the location you’re in and by Apple’s AirDrop and Handoff features to let your Macs and iDevices know what your other Macs and iDevices are up to. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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“Bluetooth 5” spec coming next week with 2x more range and 4x better speed