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Comment Re: Rule of thumb (Score 1) 122

by LeadSongDog (#47784229) Attached to: No, a Stolen iPod Didn't Brick Ben Eberle's Prosthetic Hand

(cut a slot; now it's a flat head screw).

Exactly what I did when my (name and shame) Shopvac stopped. Once I got past the "security" barrier, as usual, the last facade of quality fell away and the crap that it truly was stood exposed. I was astounded that this thing hadn't spontaneously burst into flames: the motor windings were exposed to sawdust! I replaced it with a different brand, but of course I'd be deluding myself to think it's really any better.

Submission + - Is the next supermaterial hiding in your refrigerator? (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: That gooey substance that clings to an eggshell after it’s been cracked—called an eggshell membrane—may be too valuable to just toss in the trash. Instead, it can be used for a variety of industrial and medical applications, according to a new study. Under the lens of a scanning electron microscope, the membrane contains a network of more than 62 types of proteins, which can be used to precipitate gold from a solution, craft aluminum nanowires to form semiconductors, or soak up dyes or heavy metals from contaminated water, according to researchers. By attaching compounds to the eggshell membrane, researchers have created biosensors that can detect glucose, dopamine, or urea concentrations in human blood. The membranes can also be ground into a powder that a Missouri company markets to treat joint disorders.

Submission + - Google Lowers Search Ranking of Websites That Don't Use Encryption (itworld.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Google is taking Internet security into its own hands, punishing sites that don't use encryption by giving them lower search rankings. The use of https is now one of the signals, like whether a Web page has unique content, that Google uses to determine where a site will appear in search rankings, although it will be a 'lightweight' signal and applies to about 1 percent of search queries now, wrote Zineb Ait Bahajji and Gary Illyes, both Google webmaster trends analysts, in a blog post.

Comment Clunky? (Score 1) 1

That rather depends on the two factors chosen. Biometrics can be pretty slick, especially for devices with user-facing cameras. Plus, if you do it right, they can protect against coerced logins (elevated pulse/respiration can be a sign of stress). Of course, if you do it wrong it will seem big-brotherish, spooky and invasive. You have to be able to trust your users with an open implementation.

Submission + - HARKEN System Monitors Drivers' Fatigue Levels Via Their Seat (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: It was just last week that we heard about how researchers from Nottingham Trent University are looking at embedding heart rate sensors in car seats, to detect when drivers are nodding off. Well, it turns out that they're not the only ones. A consortium of European companies and institutes is developing a similar system known as HARKEN, which uses seat-located sensors to monitor both the driver's heart rate and their rate of respiration.

Submission + - Brits ignore government's parental-control broadband filters (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by nk497
nk497 writes: Broadband customers are overwhelmingly choosing not to use parental-control systems foisted on ISPs by the government — with takeup in the single-digits for three of the four major broadband providers. Last year, the government pushed ISPs to roll out network-level filters, forcing new customers to make an "active" decision about whether they want to use them or not. Only 5% of new BT customers signed up, 8% opted in for Sky and 4% for Virgin Media. TalkTalk rolled out a parental-control system two years before the government required it and has a much better takeup, with 36% of customers signing up for it. The report, from regulator Ofcom, didn't bother to judge if the filters actually work, however.

Submission + - Why My LG Optimus Cellphone Is Worse Than It's Supposed To be

Submitted by samzenpus
samzenpus writes: Bennett Haselton writes My LG Optimus F3Q was the lowest-end phone in the T-Mobile store, but a cheap phone is supposed to suck in specific ways that make you want to upgrade to a better model. This one is plagued with software bugs that have nothing to do with the cheap hardware, and thus lower one's confidence in the whole product line. Similar to the suckiness of the Stratosphere and Stratosphere 2 that I was subjected to before this one, the phone's shortcomings actually raise more interesting questions — about why the free-market system rewards companies for pulling off miracles at the hardware level, but not for fixing software bugs that should be easy to catch. Read below to see what Bennett has to say.

Submission + - Chinese Hackers Infiltrate Firms Using Malware-Laden Handheld Scanners (securityweek.com) 1

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: China-based threat actors are using sophisticated malware installed on handheld scanners to target shipping and logistics organizations from all over the world. According to security firm TrapX, the attack begins at a Chinese company that provides hardware and software for handheld scanners used by shipping and logistics firms worldwide to inventory the items they're handling. The Chinese manufacturer installs the malware on the Windows XP operating systems embedded in the devices.

Experts determined that the threat group targets servers storing corporate financial data, customer data and other sensitive information. A second payload downloaded by the malware then establishes a sophisticated C&C on the company's finance servers, enabling the attackers to exfiltrate the information they're after. The malware used by the Zombie Zero attackers is highly sophisticated and polymorphic, the researchers said. In one attack they observed, 16 of the 48 scanners used by the victim were infected, and the malware managed to penetrate the targeted organization's defenses and gain access to servers on the corporate network.

Interestingly, the C&C is located at the Lanxiang Vocational School, an educational institution said to be involved in the Operation Aurora attacks against Google, and which is physically located only one block away from the scanner manufacturer, TrapX said.

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