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Microsoft talks about Xbox One’s internals, while disclosing nothing

Here’s the money shot: the back of the console has a power connector, HDMI in and out (for the purposes of hooking your cable box up to the console), optical audio out, two USB ports, the Kinect port, an IR Out port, and an Ethernet jack. Kyle Orland The Xbox One is full of technology and after its big reveal, Microsoft talked a little about what’s going into the console, giving some tidbits of info about what makes it tick. Hardware Microsoft says that the Xbox One has five custom-designed pieces of silicon spread between the console and its Kinect sensor. It didn’t elaborate on what these are. There’s a system-on-chip combining the CPU and GPU, which we presume to be a single piece of silicon, and there’s at least one sensor chip in the Kinect, perhaps replacing the PrimeSense processor used in the Xbox 360 Kinect, but what the others might be isn’t immediately clear. Possibilities include audio processors, on-chip memory, and USB controllers. One of the key questions about the AMD-built, 64-bit, 8-core SoC is “how fast is it?” At the moment, that’s unknown. Microsoft claims that the new console has “eight times” the graphics power of the old one, though some aspects of the new system are even more improved; for example, it has 16 times the amount of RAM. Read 13 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Microsoft talks about Xbox One’s internals, while disclosing nothing

Printable A3-sized solar cells hit a new milestone in green energy

Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium Imagine a future where solar panels speed off the presses, like newspaper. Australian scientists have brought us one step closer to that reality. Researchers from the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC) have developed a printer that can print 10 meters of flexible solar cells a minute. Unlike traditional silicon solar cells, printed solar cells are made using organic semi-conducting polymers, which can be dissolved in a solvent and used like an ink, allowing solar cells to be printed. Not only can the VICOSC machine print flexible A3 solar cells, the machine can print directly on to steel, opening up the possibility for solar cells to be embedded directly into building materials. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Printable A3-sized solar cells hit a new milestone in green energy

Mac malware signed with Apple ID infects activist’s laptop

F-Secure Stealthy Mac OS X spyware that was digitally signed with a valid Apple Developer ID has been detected on the laptop of an Angolan activist attending a human rights conference, researchers said. The backdoor, which is programmed to take screenshots and send them to remote servers under the control of the attackers, was spread using a spear phishing e-mail , according to privacy activist Jacob Appelbaum. Spear phishing is a term for highly targeted e-mails that address the receiver by name and usually appear to come from someone the receiver knows. The e-mails typically discuss topics the two people have talked about before. According to AV provider F-Secure, the malware was discovered during a workshop showing freedom of speech activists how to secure their devices against government monitoring. The malware was signed with a valid Apple Developer ID allowing it to more easily bypass the Gatekeeper feature Apple introduced in the Mountain Lion version of OS X. If it’s not the first time Mac malware has carried such a digital assurance, it’s certainly among the first. Both F-Secure and Appelbaum said the backdoor, identified as OSX/KitM.A, is new and previously unknown. For its part, AV provider Intego said the malware is a variant of a previously seen trojan known as OSX/FileSteal. Intego continued: Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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“SpecialisRevelio!” Macs use Harry Potter spell to unlock secret “backdoor”

Aurich Lawson / Warner Bros. Entertainment The Mac on your desk or on the cafe table next to you has a chip with secret functions that can be unlocked only by inputting a spell from the Harry Potter series. The SMC, or system management controller, is a chip used to regulate a Mac’s current and voltage, manage its light sensor, and temporarily store FileVault keys. Turns out that the SMC contains undocumented code that is invoked by entering the word “SpecialisRevelio,” the same magic words used to reveal hidden charms, hexes, or properties used by wizards in the Harry Potter series written by author J. K. Rowling. That fun fact was presented Wednesday at the NoSuchCon security conference by veteran reverse engineer Alex Ionescu. While most details are far too technical for this article, the gist of the research is that the SMC is a chip that very few people can read but just about anyone with rudimentary technical skills can “flash” update. Besides displaying the Apple engineers’ affinity for Harry Potter, Ionescu’s tinkerings also open the door to new types of hacks. But don’t worry because they’re mostly the fodder for a hacking scene in a James Bond or Mission Impossible screenplay. “The attacks discussed in my presentation are attacks that likely only a nation-state adversary would have the sufficient technical knowledge to implement, and they require precise knowledge of the machine that is being targeted,” Ionescu, who is chief architect at security firm CrowdStrike, wrote in an e-mail to Ars. “They are perfect, for example, at a border crossing where a rogue country may need to ‘take a quick look at your laptop’ to ‘help prevent terrorism.’ I don’t suspect most Mac users (and certainly not those that read Ars or other similar publications) would be at a high-profile enough level to warrant such level of interest from another state.” Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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“SpecialisRevelio!” Macs use Harry Potter spell to unlock secret “backdoor”

Steam players can now earn coupons for new games by playing old ones

A profile decked out with the spoils of a trading card collection. Cool, but go back to the part about coupons? Steam Steam will release a new beta feature within its service called Steam Trading Cards according to an announcement from the company. The trading cards integrate with a handful of Valve titles at launch, and players that collect the cards will be able to use them to earn coupons as well as profile backgrounds and other items to augment their Steam experience. The launch titles that will generate trading cards to collect include Don’t Starve, Dota 2, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Team Fortress 2, Portal 2 and Half-Life 2 . When players get a particular set of cards they can craft them into a game badge to get “marketable items” like emoticons, profile backgrounds, and coupons for things like game discounts or DLC. The badges can then be upgraded, or “leveled up,” by collecting the same set again. The info page states that half of any card set is dropped during game play while the other half is “earned through collecting prowess.” Badges contribute to a player’s “Steam Level,” and as that number rises players get account-bound items including extra friend list slots. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Steam players can now earn coupons for new games by playing old ones

Critical Linux vulnerability imperils users, even after “silent” fix

Wikipedia For more than two years, the Linux operating system has contained a high-severity vulnerability that gives untrusted users with restricted accounts nearly unfettered “root” access over machines, including servers running in shared Web hosting facilities and other sensitive environments. Surprisingly, most users remain wide open even now, more than a month after maintainers of the open-source OS quietly released an update that patched the gaping hole. The severity of the bug, which resides in the Linux kernel’s “perf,” or performance counters subsystem, didn’t become clear until Tuesday, when attack code exploiting the vulnerability became publicly available (note: some content on this site is not considered appropriate in many work environments). The new script can be used to take control of servers operated by many shared Web hosting providers, where dozens or hundreds of people have unprivileged accounts on the same machine. Hackers who already have limited control over a Linux machine—for instance, by exploiting a vulnerability in a desktop browser or a Web application—can also use the bug to escalate their privileges to root. The flaw affects versions of the Linux kernel from 2.6.37 to 3.8.8 that have been compiled with the CONFIG_PERF_EVENTS kernel configuration option. “Because there’s a public exploit already available, an attacker would simply need to download and run this exploit on a target machine,” Dan Rosenberg, a senior security researcher at Azimuth Security , told Ars in an e-mail. “The exploit may not work out-of-the-box on every affected machine, in which case it would require some fairly straightforward tweaks (for someone with exploit development experience) to work properly.” Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Critical Linux vulnerability imperils users, even after “silent” fix

VMware’s dual-persona smartphones phones finally available to purchase

The first two phones to run VMware’s dual-persona software. VMware At long last, VMware’s dual-persona software for smartphones is available on actual devices. Today, VMware and Verizon Wireless announced that the Android-based LG Intuition and Motorola Razr M can now be purchased with VMware’s Horizon Mobile software, which separates the device into isolated partitions that keep a user’s work applications and data separate from personal stuff. VMware began promising virtualized smartphones in 2010 , claiming they would be available for sale in 2011. Samsung promised to support VMware’s virtualized phone vision in September 2011, and VMware started promising virtualization for iPhones and iPads in August 2012. We called it ” vaporware .” Samsung and Apple devices still aren’t running the dual-persona software, but it’s nice to see VMware phones finally materialize. VMware and Verizon said the Intuition and Razr M are immediately available for sale with Horizon Mobile software. Perpetual licenses to Horizon Mobile start at $125 per user and “can be purchased through local resellers of VMware and Verizon Wireless,” the companies said. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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VMware’s dual-persona smartphones phones finally available to purchase

Feds seize money from Dwolla account belonging to top Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox

jurvetson The Department of Homeland Security has apparently shut down a key mobile payments account associated with Mt. Gox, the largest Bitcoin exchange. Chris Coyne, the co-founder of online dating service OKCupid, tweeted out an e-mail he received from Dwolla this afternoon. The e-mail states that neither Coyne, nor presumably any other Dwolla user, will be able to transfer funds to Mt. Gox. Dwolla confirmed the change to the New York Observer , which first reported the story. Dwolla received a seizure warrant from a federal court. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Feds seize money from Dwolla account belonging to top Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox

German court convicts, sentences BitTorrent site operator to nearly 4 years

A German district court in the western city of Aachen has handed down one of the harshest sentences for abetting copyright infringement: three years and 10 months in prison. The 33-year-old alleged operator of the Russian-hosted torrent.to , who was named only as “Jens. R” in court documents, remains under investigation for fraudulent bankruptcy filings and embezzlement. Other than pleading not guilty, Jens R. did not offer a defense in the case and is expected to appeal. Like similar sites, such as the Pirate Bay, the defendant was accused of selling ads against links to torrent files. Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Original iPhone to go the way of the dodo on June 11, 2013

Oh original iPhone, we’ll miss you. Roughly six years after its public launch, the original iPhone is about to become obsolete—at least in Apple’s eyes. Apple reportedly sent out internal documentation to its support partners, which was then passed on to 9to5Mac , detailing which of its products would no longer be considered current or recent devices as of June 11, 2013. The list doesn’t just include the original iPhone, though: it also includes a number of older iMacs, MacBook Pros, Xserves, and PowerBooks. According to the document , products that are considered obsolete—or perhaps for a more tasteful term, “vintage”—cannot be repaired or receive replacement parts unless they’re in the state of California, “as required by statute.” Californians can continue to get service and parts for their obsolete items through Apple retail stores, but the rest of us are pretty much out of luck. Apple notes that obsolete or vintage products can’t be serviced as mail-in repairs to AppleCare, either. This is pretty standard procedure for Apple; the other products in the list are about as old as the original iPhone, and some of them are even older (there’s a Mac mini on the list from 2005, and don’t even get us started on PowerBooks). All we know is that if you’re still actively using an original iPhone, you must have an amazing tolerance for outdated software and slow hardware. Good on you, but perhaps it’s time to think about an upgrade. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Original iPhone to go the way of the dodo on June 11, 2013

Ken May

Tag: wired