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As increasing numbers of devices connect to the internet and to one another, the so-called internet of things promises consumers increased convenience – the remotely operated thermostat from Google-owned Nest is a leading example. But as home computing migrates away from the laptop, the tablet and the smartphone, experts warn that the security features on the coming wave of automobiles, dishwashers and alarm systems lag far behind. ... James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, was more direct in testimony submitted to the Senate on Tuesday as part of an assessment of threats facing the United States. "In the...

“Camtasia, uTorrent, and a large number of other Mac apps are susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks that install malicious code, thanks to a vulnerability in Sparkle, the third-party software framework the apps use to receive updates,” Dan Goodin reports for Ars Technica. “The vulnerability is the result of apps that use a vulnerable version of Sparkle along with an unencrypted HTTP channel to receive data from update servers. It involves the way Sparkle interacts with functions built into the WebKit rendering engine to allow JavaScript execution.” “As a result, attackers with the ability to manipulate the traffic passing between the end...

On Twitter, every voice has the power to shape the world. We see this power every day, from activists who use Twitter to mobilize citizens to content creators who use Twitter to shape opinion. To ensure people can continue to express themselves freely and safely on Twitter, we must provide more tools and policies. With hundreds of millions of Tweets sent per day, the volume of content on Twitter is massive, which makes it extraordinarily complex to strike the right balance between fighting abuse and speaking truth to power. It requires a multi-layered approach where each of our 320 million...

Oracle has released new Java installers to fix a well-known security issue (CVE-2016-0603) that also affects a plethora of other applications, from Web browsers to antivirus products, and from file compressors to home cinema software. The problem is called DLL hijacking (or DLL side-loading) and refers to the fact that malware authors can place DLLs of the same name in specific locations on the target's filesystem and have it inadvertently load the malicious DLL instead of the safe one. DLL hijacking is a very well-known issue This type of attack is very old and has been known to many software...

The Internet Archive has opened a new collection dubbed the Malware Museum that lets you run old DOS-era viruses in your web browser. There are 78 samples to play with, all uploaded earlier today and collated by Mikko Hypponen and Jason Scott. The cheesy old code is executed in your browser using a JavaScript version of emulator DOSbox. Much to our delight, there some classics in the museum, particularly Casino. Running these cyber-fossils will take you back to the bad old days when code could do anything it liked on machines -- security wasn't a consideration at all. As such,...

The Pentagon is funding research to develop a microchip that not only promises brain-like artificial intelligence, it is small enough to fit inside a wide range of mobile devices. Known as 'Eyeriss', the palm-sized processor has a staggering 168 cores and is based on 'neural networks' that are modelled on the human brain. By comparison, processing chips used in a wide variety of smartphones typically have quad cores. This technology could make its way onto the battlefield in the form of drones or robots that could conduct their own learning in real-time, without the need for human analysis. ... Researchers...

And rather better than a US$35 tablet, if you need a Windows 10 machine lurking around Among the many bizarre and stupid mistakes Microsoft made with Windows 8.x was the decision to require screens to have resolution of at least 1024 x 768. That decision meant that hordes of Netbooks, the very small laptops popular in the late noughties, had no obvious upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 8.x. Back in November 2013 I therefore tried to figure out how to extend the life of my own Netbook. Along the way I confirmed that Windows 8 was indeed a...

Former NFL player Bill Romanowski still hasn't learned to keep his mouth shut. After Panthers quarterback Cam Newton aburptly walked out on his postgame press conference, Romanowski tweeted: "You will never last in the NFL with that attitude. The world doesn't revolve around you, boy!" Romanowski's use of the word "boy" — a racially inflammatory term — was met with heavy criticism, including from some African-American athletes. Chad "Ocho Cinco" Johnson tweeted at Romanowksi, "Boy? You never watched Good Times Bill?" Boy? You never watched Good Times Bill? https://t.co/YV2wrjvZP5 -- Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) February 8, 2016 Former Bengals cornerback Rico...

We are at the threshold of a society deeply impacted by industrialized robots and AI systems. In a few years, driverless cars may become quite common in America, cutting into the business of human drivers, as with Uber or any Check Cab. Long distance Truck Drivers may be replaced by driverless trucks that never get tired and rarely become confused. Many wealthy people are already obtaining financial planning advice from robotized systems. Our children may be taught by instructional robots that memorize the child's name, face and study habits. My question is where will all these people find work? Will...

A unique scareware campaign targeting Mac OS X machines has been discovered, and it's likely the developer behind the malware has been at it a while since the installer that drops the scareware is signed with a legitimate Apple developer certificate. "Sadly, this particular developer certificate (assigned to a Maksim Noskov) has been used for probably two years in similar attacks," said Johannes Ullrich, dean of research of the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center, which on Thursday publicly disclosed the campaign. "So far, it apparently hasn't been revoked by Apple." Ullrich said he happened upon the scam while investigating some...

It may have taken awhile, but the market is finally showing Windows 10 some love. Six months after its debut, the latest Microsoft operating system has climbed its way up to the number two spot among desktop environments, according to data from Net Market Share. With 11.85 percent of the market, Windows 10 has finally surpassed third place Windows XP, which still holds 11.42 percent of the desktop market. Neither Windows 10 nor XP comes close to the most popular operating system in the world, which remains Windows 7 with a whopping 52.47 percent of the desktop market. Microsoft ended...

"Like many of you, I am concerned about the telemetry, spying and other surveillance features, known or unknown, of Windows 10. It has concerned me enough to push me to Linux Mint as my main operating system. Even so, I wanted to better understand Windows 10, but internet search results for a decent windows 10 traffic analysis leave a lot to be desired. As such, I decided to do my own investigating on what, exactly, Windows 10 is doing traffic-wise, and post the results. For this analysis, I wanted to simply analyse the network traffic of Windows 10 on a...

While traveling in the Dallas / Ft Worth area of Texas yesterday afternoon, we experienced a complete LOS on GPS. We had traveled to Irving to get a new bulb for our projection TV, and right afterward had the LOS that lasted well after 9 PM yesterday evening. We eventually were able to find 635 W and then find 80 and I20 E, which placed us back home around 12:30 AM. Needless to say, I was glad I never leave home without my oxygen concentrator--even on good days, but I still ended up getting sick in a gas station restroom...

Canalys: Apple shipped over 12 million Apple Watches in 2015: Two-thirds of all smart watches sold in 2015 Apple dominated the smart watch market in 2015, accounting for over 12 million units and two-thirds of all shipments according to Canalys estimates. Samsung placed a distant second in Q4. Pebble trailed in third and Huawei came fourth. Basic bands exceeded 37 million shipments for the year. Fitbit set a quarterly shipments record as it comfortably led the category. Xiaomi held second place, shipping 12 million Mi Bands during 2015. “Cashing in on holiday sales, Apple managed to rack up over five...

In a breakthrough in quantum physics, scientists were able to create the phenomenon of quantum entanglement macroscopically using large magnets at room temperature. ... scientists working at the University of Chicago and the Argonne National Laboratory revealed that they were able to create quantum entanglement at a macroscopic level at room temperature on a semiconductor chip, using atomic nuclei and the application of relatively small magnetic fields. Their breakthrough, which is published in Science Advances, is not only significant in what they accomplished but also how they accomplished it. In quantum physics, the creation of entanglement in particles larger and...

Samsung launched an Ad Blocker for its phones on the Google Play store called Adblock Fast earlier this week. Google has since pulled the app, claiming that it's in breach of the developer agreement. Specifically section 4.4, which prevents apps from messing with third-party services. It reads: You agree that you will not engage in any activity with the Store, including the development or distribution of Products, that interferes with, disrupts, damages or accesses in an unauthorised manner the devices, servers, networks or other properties or services of any third party including, but not limited to, Android users, Google or...

Bill Gates is one of Americas greatest business geniuses. But when he turned to education, his magic touch vanished. He is now known as the man who squandered several billion dollars trying to foist Common Core on a combattive public. Indeed, Common Core is so unpopular that its very mention quickly doomed Jeb Bushs presidential campaign. Today, Donald Trump casually promises that he will get rid of it forever; and audiences cheer. Why Bill Gates felt he should promote this thing is a major mystery. Here is a possible theory. When a tycoon decides he wants to help public schools,...

In the still-developing container world, it seems like new functionality is being released every time you turn around. Engineers are trying to solve the questions of how to make containers run faster, smarter, and take up fewer resources.This week's hack comes from Iron.io, a Platform as a Service (PaaS) company. In a word: Microcontainers.Last week, Iron.io co-founder Travis Reeder explained how to reduce the size of Docker Images by using what they have dubbed Microcontainers, following up on a post in December on how to build your own Docker Image."A Microcontainer contains only the OS libraries and language dependencies required to run...

I tried my first E-file using Turbotax a few days ago. It gave me an error right away over my wife's 2 measly pension payouts from England which total about $1400. The problem is that there is no Employer Identification Number (EIN) for the 2 funds. When we mailed in our returns this was never a problem, we always got our refunds and have never been questioned over it. I couldn't find an answer on the Turbotax website so I did a generic workaround by putting 11-111111 as the EIN. That let me efile but a day later they both...

Currently, the market value of Apple Inc. is $534.22 billion. The market value of Alphabet Inc. (Google) is $499.67. That's a gap of $34.55 billion or, in other words, right around $8 billion more than the current value of Sony Corp. Let's pause here to let that fact really sink in. Okay, now after being momentarily eclipsed due to the vagaries of the market, which generated a veritable avalanche of news articles, Apple quickly reassumed the throne as the world's most valuable company. You'd think this would be big news. Or at least equally as big. Close to as big?...