WikiLeaks: NSA also targeted Japan, spied on climate change policy

Add Japan to the list of countries that the National Security Agency purportedly spied on. New documents published by WikiLeaks alleges that the NSA kept tabs on Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, his cabinet and companies like Mitsubishi since 2006. In particular, the US paid close attention to Japan’s policies around climate change. That includes details about Abe’s plan to reduce the country’s carbon emissions by half by 2050, which Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) was considering not telling the US about, as well as its confidential G8 summit proposals on climate change. Additionally, the US knew ahead of time that Japan intended to double down on a “sectoral approach” for managing carbon emissions, which focuses on specific carbon goals for sectors like “industry,” “residential” and “transportation.”

None of this is exactly smoking gun material, but just like the NSA’s reported spying efforts on Germany and France, it shows the extent of the US’s surveillance on its allies. Even worse, the documents show that the US shared information it acquired from Japan with the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Needless to say, we bet the next meeting between Japan and these allied countries is going to be a bit awkward.

“The lesson for Japan is this: do not expect a global surveillance superpower to act with honour or respect,” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a statement. “There is only one rule: there are no rules.”

Comments

Source: WikiLeaks

The best Wi-Fi extender (for most people)

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a list of the best technology to buy. Read the full article here.

We spent a total of 110 hours researching 25 different Wi-Fi extenders (and testing 10 of them), and the $100 Netgear EX6200 is the one we recommend for most people right now. It costs as much as a great router-but it has the best combination of range, speed, flexibility, and physical connections of any extender we tested.

In our tests, the EX6200 could stream 1080p YouTube videos to three laptops at the same time (one up to 63 feet away), and it was the only extender we tested that could stream a 4K YouTube video to a single laptop at the same distance. The Netgear EX6200 also had the best long-range performance, even through exterior walls. It was the easiest to configure and it can give your devices the fastest connection they’re likely to support.

Do I need one?

Our main pick, the Netgear EX6200, has a configuration page that shows you its three modes and their tradeoffs in a clearer way than you’ll find on competing extenders.

If there are parts of your home or apartment that don’t get a good Wi-Fi signal, a wireless extender can give you a boost. The extender connects to your Wi-Fi somewhere with good signal and re-broadcasts its own networks, extending your Wi-Fi bubble beyond the range of your router.

If your Wi-Fi isn’t good enough, though, a wireless extender shouldn’t be the first thing you try. A good wireless-ac router can vastly increase the speed and range of your Wi-Fi signal. If you already have a good router, try moving it to the center of your living space first.

How we picked

Our four finalist AC1200 extenders (from the top left, clockwise) were Netgear’s EX6200, D-Link’s DAP-1650, Amped Wireless’s REA20, and Linksys’s RE6500.

A good extender should support the older, more crowded 2.4GHz band and the newer, faster 5GHz band. Single-band extenders aren’t ideal, because they connect to the router and your devices using the same band, making the connection slow. A dual-band extender can avoid that by using one band to talk to the router, and the other to talk to your devices.

Almost all new laptops, tablets, and smartphones support 802.11ac (the latest Wi-Fi standard). AC1200 routers and extenders, which use two spatial streams on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz, can handle the fastest speeds of the one- and two-stream wireless-ac devices that are most common today.

We came up with our initial list of 25 extenders after researching top reviews from SmallNetBuilder, CNET, and PCMag.com. We also considered any of the 20 bestselling extenders on Amazon that were dual-band, as well as any dual-band extender currently featured on the major manufacturers’ sites.

Our pick

The EX6200 doesn’t come with an audio jack for streaming music to speakers, but it has every other connection you would want. (Its USB 3.0 port is on the front.)

The Netgear EX6200 is the best wireless extender for most people. It’s a dual-band, two-stream wireless-ac extender, and its great speed and range, multiple operating modes, and Gigabit Ethernet ports make it the best choice for people who need a good signal for all of their faraway Wi-Fi (and wired) devices.

Every extender we tested was fine at close range, even through interior walls and furniture. However, the Netgear EX6200 was the only extender we tested that hit speeds above 30 Mbps-faster than most home Internet plans in the US-from 63 feet away, and delivered a flawless 4K YouTube stream at that distance.

The EX6200 is easy to set up and, unlike competing extenders, it comes with three different connection modes to help you get the best performance for your particular situation. Our pick is also a five-port Gigabit Ethernet switch. Many extenders only come with one Gigabit Ethernet port or, worse, only support 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet.

The Runner Up (which works great as a wired access point)

The D-Link DAP-1650 doesn’t come with any external antennas, unlike most extenders. It’s a lot more compact than our main pick, which gives you more options for placing it around your home.

If you don’t mind stringing Ethernet cable from your router to your extender, or if the Netgear is out of stock or too expensive, you should get D-Link’s DAP-1650 ($85). As a wireless extender, it’s not as fast or as flexible as our pick. However, as an access point connected to your router over Ethernet, the DAP-1650’s wireless-ac speeds are much better than the EX6200 (which doesn’t support this mode). D-Link’s extender comes with four Gigabit Ethernet ports. Its USB port is only 2.0, but that’s enough for media streaming and printer sharing.

Our major criticism of the DAP-1650 is that it broadcasts on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands at all times, but only connects back to your router on one of them. If you connect to the same band that the router is connected to, your speed will suffer.

In closing

If you already have a good wireless-ac router and it’s not enough, the EX6200 is a great extender because it offers the best combination of speed and range for a reasonable price.

This guide may have been updated by The Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.

Filed under: Networking

Comments

Japan’s Suntory to conduct important space whisky research

We have a strong whisky bias, so when Suntory revealed that it would be sending products into orbit, we had to know more. The company will fire six samples of its beverages to the International Space Station (ISS), including its Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013, aka the best whiskey in the world. It costs about $10,000 to get a pound of cargo up there, so launching booze may seem a tad frivolous. However, the company hopes to aid humanity by learning how a zero-G environment affects the mellowness of whiskey as it ages, according to the WSJ.

In theory, environments with a constant temperature and as little movement as possible are best for reducing harsh tastes in distilled beverages. The ISS does have that, so the samples will arrive there on August 16th, with the first batch returning in a year, and the second batch after at least two years. It’ll then be lab tasted and tasted by master blenders, but there are no plans to sell what will no doubt be the world’s rarest whiskey.

Filed under: Science

Comments

Via: The Verge

Source: WSJ

US Cellular posts positive Q2 with growth in revenue

US Cellular has posted their 2015 Q2 earnings, and things are looking pretty positive for the company. They didn’t experience tremendous growth, but operating revenue grew to $975 million, up from $957 million a year ago. Their postpaid subscriber count grew, and churn stayed relatively low, helping the company stay profitable.

The plan for US Cellular moving forward is to continue growing their customer base, which should keep them on track towards hitting their 2015 goal of $4 billion to $4.2 billion in operating revenue for the year.

source: US Cellular

Come comment on this article: US Cellular posts positive Q2 with growth in revenue

Cricket announces unlimited talk & text to Canada and Mexico on certain plans

Cricket has announced a new feature for their Smart and Pro monthly plans that will be extremely useful if you call out or text numbers internationally. These plans now include unlimited talk & text (although that’s limited to just SMS, no MMS) to Canada and Mexico. Mexico will be included in plans on August 2nd while Canada should be included later in the month.

This new feature does include calls and texts to and from Canada and Mexico, so this feature will also be useful for anyone that travels out of the US. You won’t have to worry about excessive roaming charges or hunting down a local SIM card and plan.

This feature won’t be included in the Basic $40 plan, so if you’re interested, you’ll need to jump up to the Smart $50 or Pro $60 plan. Fortunately, Cricket still gives a $5 discount per month for doing autopay, so that keeps things a little more manageable.

source: Cricket

Come comment on this article: Cricket announces unlimited talk & text to Canada and Mexico on certain plans