71990765
submission
jfruh writes:
Google has figured out how to produce an Internet-broadcast balloon in a few hours, and is on the verge of unleashing Project Loon onto the world. The project, which will work with ISPs to beam LTE cellular signals to remote regions that don't have Internet access, will be working with local ISPs rather than selling broadband directly to customers.
71990671
submission
jfruh writes:
In the early days of brands on Facebook, it was crucial for companies to garner as many "likes" as possible to boost their image, and that led to some unethical businesses selling likes that came from fake accounts. Now Facebook is informing brands that they're working to root out fake likes, leaving like counts lower but realer.
71939707
submission
itwbennett writes:
Wikileaks has published a searchable database of thousands of emails and documents from Sony Pictures Entertainment that were leaked in late 2014 after the studio was attacked by hackers. Some of the 173,132 emails and 30,287 documents contain highly personal information about Sony employees including home addresses, personal phone numbers and social security numbers, a fact which is likely to raise new concerns about the use of stolen information online.
71899855
submission
itwbennett writes:
The list of products designed to be security enhanced that turned out to be anything but seems to get longer by the day. In just the latest instance, reported by Wired last week, the crowd-funded privacy-enhancing home router Anonabox had to be recalled after an independent researcher discovered serious security flaws in the product. But security experts caution that the real problem may be bigger than vulnerabilities hidden in application code: 'Designed for security products don't just have to be good. They have to be beyond reproach,' explains John Dickson, a Principal at the Denim Group. 'All it takes is one guy with a grudge to undo you.'
71896891
submission
itwbennett writes:
One of the main arguments for the trade groups and ISPs that have filed six — yes, six — lawsuits against the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules is that the agency violated a 69-year-old administrative procedure law in crafting the new regulations. A second argument: the agency violated ISPs’ Fifth Amendment rights by taking their private property for public use without paying 'just compensation.'
71868463
submission
jfruh writes:
The bankrupt Radio Shack chain is still planning to auction off personal data in its attempt to get as much money as it can for its creditors. But the Attorney General of Texas is leading the fight to prevent that from happening, demanding that the Delaware bankruptcy court in charge of the case hear his motion before OKing the sale.
71868409
submission
jfruh writes:
Machine vision — the ability of a computer to process and analyze video input — is one of those problems that researchers at the dawn of the computer age assumed would be easy enough to solve but turned out to be devilishly complex. Now MIT researchers may have helped crack the puzzle with a new language called Picture. Based on probabilistic programming, Picture can do in 50 lines of code what traditional languages took thousands of lines to achieve.
71868361
submission
jfruh writes:
The Chinese government is about to roll out tough new rules on data storage for companies doing business in China, which could require that companies keep data stored in data centers within China and share encryption keys with authorities. The American Chamber of Commerce In China is protesting, saying that China will hamper its own economy in doing this; the Chinese government says that it's not imposing any rules that the United States doesn't also impose.
71836505
submission
itwbennett writes:
Sprint is now offering to deliver and set up phones, tablets and other connected devices for free at homes, offices and other locations chosen by the customer. The offer is currently limited to eligible upgrade customers, but starting September, new customers in selected markets will be able to choose the new Direct 2 You option, when buying online or through call centers.
71836413
submission
itwbennett writes:
The Dutch police, as part of an investigation, recently obtained a database from a CoinVault command-and-control server containing decryption keys. The information obtained from that database allowed Kaspersky to build a decryption tool that you can now get for free.
71828825
submission
itwbennett writes:
On Friday, Tokyo Electric Power sent a robot into the primary containment vessel (PCV) of reactor No. 1 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. The pipe-crawling, snake-like robot, which can transform itself into several configurations depending on the terrain, was deployed to determine the state and location of melted-down fuel in the reactor. Unfortunately, the ability to change shape didn't wasn't enough to keep it from getting stuck.
71828605
submission
itwbennett writes:
An otherwise unremarkable hacking group likely aligned with China appears to be one of the first to have targeted so-called air-gapped networks that are not directly connected to the Internet, according to FireEye, which released a 69-page technical report on Sunday on the group. FireEye picked up on it after some of the malware used by the group was found to have infected defense-related clients in the U.S., said Jen Weedon, manager of strategic analysis with FireEye.
71753347
submission
itwbennett writes:
U.S. government agencies have stopped Intel from selling microprocessors for China’s supercomputers, apparently reflecting concern about their use in nuclear tests. In February, four supercomputing institutions in China were placed on a U.S. government list that effectively bans them from receiving certain U.S. exports. The institutions were involved in building Tianhe-2 and Tianhe-1A, both of which have allegedly been used for 'nuclear explosive activities,' according to a notice (PDF) posted by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Intel has been selling its Xeon chips to Chinese supercomputers for years, so the ban represents a blow to its business.
71751559
submission
itwbennett writes:
Doing a Google Image search for 'CEO' reveals just one female face in the top results: CEO Barbie. The doll (which may not even be a real Barbie product) appears way down in the results, under a sea of male, mostly white faces, a stark reminder of how under-represented woman are at the top of the corporate ladder. Nor is Google alone in its results, noticed earlier by The Verge. Search for 'CEO' on Bing and the service offers to refine your search to 'women CEO'—using the same picture of Barbie.
71726963
submission
itwbennett writes:
Last year, Intel convinced small, little-known Chinese tablet makers to use its chips instead of only ARM’s. Now it wants those companies to churn out PCs, potentially upsetting a market that has been dominated by Taiwanese manufacturers. Over time, Intel is hopeful that this army of Chinese vendors can join their big brother Lenovo in developing convertible PCs. These companies will want to make a change, given that PCs are generally higher-end products with better profit margins over low-end tablets, said Kirk Skaugen, Intel senior vice president on Thursday. 'It’s no fun selling $59 and $99 solutions to the market,' he added.
