Tag: vanity-fair

Mozilla strives to take Web gaming to the next level with Unreal Engine 4

Around this time last year Mozilla and Epic Games showed off the Unreal 3 game engine running in the browser, using a combination of the WebGL 3D graphics API and asm.js , the high performance subset of JavaScript. Commercial games built using this technology were launched late in the year. With this apparently successful foray into using the browser as a rich gaming platform, Mozilla and Epic today demonstrated a preview of Epic’s next engine, Unreal Engine 4, again boasting near-native speeds. The Web version of UE4 uses Emscripten to compile regular C and C++ code into asm.js. Unreal Engine 4 running within Firefox. Over the past year, Mozilla has improved asm.js’s performance, to go from around 40 percent of native performance, to something like 67 percent of native. Our own testing largely supported the organization’s claims, though we noted certain limitations at the time, such as JavaScript’s lack of multithreading. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Mozilla strives to take Web gaming to the next level with Unreal Engine 4

NSA’s automated hacking engine offers hands-free pwning of the world

Since 2010, the National Security Agency has kept a push-button hacking system called Turbine that allows the agency to scale up the number of networks it has access to from hundreds to potentially millions. The news comes from new Edward Snowden documents published by Ryan Gallagher and Glenn Greenwald in The Intercept today. The leaked information details how the NSA has used Turbine to ramp up its hacking capacity to “industrial scale,” plant malware that breaks the security on virtual private networks (VPNs) and digital voice communications, and collect data and subvert targeted networks on a once-unimaginable scale. Turbine is part of Turbulence, the collection of systems that also includes the Turmoil network surveillance system that feeds the NSA’s XKeyscore surveillance database. While it is controlled from NSA and GCHQ headquarters, it is a distributed set of attack systems equipped with packaged “exploits” that take advantage of the ability the NSA and GCHQ have to insert themselves as a “man in the middle” at Internet chokepoints. Using that position of power, Turbine can automate functions of Turbulence systems to corrupt data in transit between two Internet addresses, adding malware to webpages being viewed or otherwise attacking the communications stream. Since Turbine went online in 2010, it has allowed the NSA to scale up from managing hundreds of hacking operations each day to handling millions of them. It does so by taking people out of the loop of managing attacks, instead using software to identify, target, and attack Internet-connected devices by installing malware referred to as “implants.” According to the documents, NSA analysts can simply specify the type of information required and let the system figure out how to get to it without having to know the details of the application being attacked. Read 13 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Refinements, additions, and un-breaking stuff: iOS 7.1 reviewed

Time to update! iOS 7.1 is here, and it fixes a lot of iOS 7.0’s biggest problems. Aurich Lawson There were about six months between the ouster of Scott Forstall from Apple in late October of 2012 and the unveiling of iOS 7.0 in June of 2013. Jony Ive and his team redesigned the software from the ground up in that interval, a short amount of time given that pretty much everything in the operating system was overhauled and that it was being done under new management. The design was tweaked between that first beta in June and the final release in mid-September, but the biggest elements were locked in place in short order. iOS 7.1’s version number implies a much smaller update, but it has spent a considerable amount of time in development. Apple has issued five betas to developers since November of 2013, and almost every one of them has tweaked the user interface in small but significant ways. It feels like Apple has been taking its time with this one, weighing different options and attempting to address the harshest criticism of the new design without the deadline pressure that comes with a major release. We’ve spent a few months with iOS 7.1 as it has progressed, and as usual we’re here to pick through the minutiae so you don’t have to. iOS 7.1 isn’t a drastic change, but it brings enough new design elements, performance improvements, and additional stability to the platform that it might just win over the remaining iOS 6 holdouts. Read 42 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Refinements, additions, and un-breaking stuff: iOS 7.1 reviewed

Popcorn Time reinvents the seedy process of torrenting

We are used to illegal activities looking and feeling far more illegal than this. A new BitTorrent-powered video app has been released that beautifies the torrenting process to the point that TorrentFreak describes it as “Netflix for pirates.” The app, which is available for OS X, Windows, and Linux, shows a catalog of movies and loads them up on a computer in an interface as seamless as that of most legit streaming services, but using means that are generally less than legal. Typically, torrenting a movie (illegally, if it’s copyrighted property) involves seeking out a sketchy torrent website littered with porn ads to download a .torrent file that users hope will actually result in a movie and not, say, a virus. The process’s pitfalls and risks are many, not to mention the potential for getting called out by one’s ISP and, in rare instances, being fined or sued. Popcorn Time eliminates the seedier aspects of torrent location in a slick app that doesn’t involve dealing with files, download speeds, or seeding—at least on the front end. The app began as a Github project that now has over 50 contributors. It is free, open-source, and has no ads or other money-making schemes. The app works by using an API provided by torrent service YTS to stream the file, which is then shared from the user’s computer after the download is completed. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Popcorn Time reinvents the seedy process of torrenting

Intel’s 800Gbps cables headed to cloud data centers and supercomputers

Intel’s pitch for Silicon Photonics. Intel and several of its partners said they will make 800Gbps cables available in the second half of this year, bringing big speed increases to supercomputers and data centers. The new cables are based on Intel’s Silicon Photonics technology that pushes 25Gbps across each fiber. Last year, Intel demonstrated speeds of 100Gbps in each direction, using eight fibers. A new connector that goes by the name “MXC” holds up to 64 fibers (32 for transmitting and 32 for receiving), enabling a jump to 800Gbps in one direction and 800Gbps in the other, or an aggregate of “1.6Tbps” as Intel prefers to call it. (In case you’re wondering, MXC is not an acronym for anything.) That’s a huge increase over the 10Gbps cables commonly used to connect switches and other equipment in data centers today. The fiber technology also maintains its maximum speed over much greater distances than copper, sending 800Gbps at lengths up to 300 meters, Intel photonics technology lab director Mario Paniccia told Ars. Eventually, the industry could boost the per-line rate from 25Gbps to 50Gbps, doubling the overall throughput without adding fibers, he said. Read 13 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Intel’s 800Gbps cables headed to cloud data centers and supercomputers

Teens get banned from an app after vicious attacks and threats

simon_bramwell The developers of Yik Yak , an app that works as an anonymous message board for up to 500 people in close proximity to one another, have selectively disabled the app’s use in Chicago following vicious sniping and rumor mongering by children using it at school. WLS-TV in Chicago reports that people in the city won’t be able to use Yik Yak until the developers figure out a way to get youth usage under control. Apps for sharing information anonymously like Wut and Secret have seen a recent surge in popularity. In the case of Wut and Secret, users are connected to people they actually know—Secret uses the mobile device’s contact list, and Wut’s (anonymous) contacts are powered by Facebook. Yik Yak, by contrast, connects a large swath of people—friends, enemies, and strangers—based entirely on their location. Among middle and high schoolers, this becomes many lockers’- and bathroom walls’-worth of pain and drama. WLS-TV reports students in Chicago have used it to spread rumors about rape, and in other locales, schools have been evacuated because of bomb threats on the service. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Teens get banned from an app after vicious attacks and threats

First OS X 10.9.3 beta improves support for 4K displays

An OS X 10.9.3 beta running in Retina mode on what appears to be a 39-inch Seiki 4K display. 9to5Mac OS X 10.9.2  was just released last week, but Apple has already begun testing for version 10.9.3, and the update will apparently come with some goodies for users of 4K displays. According to a report by 9to5Mac , the new update enables HiDPI “Retina” scaling on 4K displays that didn’t offer the option in previous OS X versions. It’s possible to enable HiDPI display modes on any monitor in OS X with some tweaking, but Apple is apparently interested in supporting Retina-style output on high-resolution monitors by default. Apple made a big 4K push with its new Mac Pro, which can support up to three 4K displays at once thanks to its twin GPUs and six Thunderbolt 2.0 ports. However, the company doesn’t yet make its own 4K Thunderbolt Display—current Mac Pro buyers can add $3,600 32-inch Sharp 4K displays  to their orders, or they can bring their own monitors. 9to5Mac’s testing was conducted with what appears to be a 39-inch Seiki Digital display , which as of this writing can be had on Amazon for $500 (though it doesn’t support a 60Hz refresh rate at 4K). According to others who have installed the new beta , 10.9.3 also apparently enables 60Hz 4K output on the 2013 Retina MacBook Pros. The Intel and Nvidia GPUs that power these MacBooks were previously capable of 60Hz 4K output when running Windows, but were limited to lower refresh rates in OS X. Higher refresh rates make for a smoother, more pleasant viewing experience, and are especially useful when editing movies, playing games, or in any other activities where response time is important. Those with older Macs likely won’t see 60Hz 4K support even after installing the update—the 2013 Retina MacBook Pros and 2013 Mac Pro are the only systems that support the requisite DisplayPort 1.2 spec. iMacs, MacBook Airs, and the Mac Mini will need to wait for a Thunderbolt 2 upgrade before they can drive high-resolution displays at the higher refresh rate. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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First OS X 10.9.3 beta improves support for 4K displays

Comcast subscriber spinoff could create a new cable company

Comcast’s plan to divest itself of 3 million subscribers, which it hopes will help it win approval of a merger with Time Warner Cable, could result in the creation of a new cable company. Rather than selling off territories to existing cable companies, Comcast is considering an option to “[spin] them off in a new publicly traded company,” Bloomberg reported , citing anonymous sources.”Regulators may push for the spin-out because it would create a new competitor,” Bloomberg wrote. “A new company formed in such a way would be the fourth-largest US cable company by subscribers, trailing the merged Comcast-Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications Inc,. and Charter Communications Inc.” Creating a new company with those customers wouldn’t result in more choices for consumers in individual markets. Despite being the two largest cable companies in the US, Comcast and Time Warner Cable don’t compete against each other in any regional territory. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Comcast subscriber spinoff could create a new cable company

MtGox code posted by hackers as company files for bankruptcy protection

Cross Office Shibuya Medio, the office building in Tokyo that is home to MtGox and Mark Karpeles’ other companies. Tokyo Apartments As MtGox CEO Mark Karpeles and his lawyers officially filed for court-supervised restructuring of the Bitcoin exchange, someone posted a chunk of code to Pastebin that would appear to lend credence to Karpeles’ contention that his company was hacked. The block of PHP code appears to be part of the backend for MtGox’s Bitcoin exchange site, and it includes references to IP addresses registered to Karpeles’ Web hosting and consulting company, Tibanne . In an update to the MtGox website late Monday, the company reasserted its claim that it had been hacked through an exploit of a weakness in its exchange website code. “Although the complete extent is not yet known, we found that approximately 750,000 bitcoins deposited by users and approximately 100,000 bitcoins belonging to us had disappeared,” the company’s spokesperson said in the latest update at the MtGox website. “We believe that there is a high probability that these bitcoins were stolen as a result of an abuse of this bug and we have asked an expert to look at the possibility of a criminal complaint and undertake proper procedures.” That loss was discovered on February 24. On the same day, the company found “large discrepancies between the amount of cash held in financial institutions and the amount deposited from our users. The amounts are still under investigation and may vary, but they approximate JPY 2.8 billion [$27 million US].” Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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MtGox code posted by hackers as company files for bankruptcy protection

Snow Leopard updates are probably done—here are your OS X upgrade options

End of the line, Snowy. Apple Apple offers no end-of-life roadmaps for its operating systems, and it doesn’t officially comment on whether support has dried up for this or that version of OS X. The best you can do is look at historical data. Since switching to a yearly release cadence with Lion back in 2011, Apple seems to be willing to support whatever the latest version is plus the two preceding versions. When OS X 10.9.2 was released earlier this week, it was accompanied by security updates for OS X 10.8 and 10.7 but not for 2009’s OS X 10.6.  It’s the first major security update that Snow Leopard has missed—the OS is still getting iTunes updates, but its last major security patch happened back in September. This has prompted a flurry of posts from various outlets. All point out the same Net Applications data that says 10.6 still powers around 19 percent of Macs. Most compare the OS X support cycle to the much-longer Windows cycle. Some make  a bigger deal about it than others. None really tell anyone in that 19 percent what to do next. You’ll need to know the exact kind of Mac you’re using before proceeding—typing your serial number into this Service and Support page should give you the information you need if you’re not sure. Launching the System Profiler application from the Utilities folder will show you your serial number and your Mac’s specific model identifier (something like MacBook4,1 or iMac11,2), the latter of which can be used with this EveryMac lookup page to find what you’re looking for. Read 17 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Snow Leopard updates are probably done—here are your OS X upgrade options