The US wants to check visa applicants’ social media posts
Getting a US visa might soon become even harder for some individuals. In addition to the 5939582 requirements applicants need to enter the country, the United States government wants to start inspecting their social media posts. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Department of Homeland Security is currently devising a plan to make that stage a part of visa applications “before certain people are allowed entry into the nation.”
Homeland Security has already begun looking at select applicants’ posts earlier this year as part of a pilot program, but the agency has become more serious after authorities found that they missed one of the San Bernardino shooter’s pro-jihad social media posts. She passed three background checks during her visa application process when she moved from Pakistan to the US.
At the moment, details about Homeland Security’s new program are scarce, as the government doesn’t want to reveal how it finds and identifies posts considered as threats. As the WSJ said, though, it’s not entirely clear how quickly the agency can insert social media checks into the visa application process, so we can’t say for sure which (and when) applicants will have to go through the process.
[Image credit: MARK RALSTON/AFP/GettyImages]
Source: The Wall Street Journal
OnePlus mystery device shows up on GFXBench
OnePlus appears to have two new smartphones in the pipeline. We already saw a leaked render surface for a device alleged to be the OnePlus 3. Now an unnamed OnePlus device has shown up on GFXBench.
The information for this latest devices revealed by the GFXBench entry appears to put this smartphone along the bottom tier of top end devices. This new device comes equipped with a Snapdragon 810 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 12MP camera and 5MP front-facing camera. By contrast, most flagship devices for 2016, including the OnePlus 3, are thought to be shipping with a Snapdragon 820 or similar competing chipset.
The device has a full HD resolution screen, but only measures 4.6-inches in size, which is smaller than many new devices that seem to have settled at a 5-inch screen on the low end. One possibility is that this device is a “mini” version of the OnePlus 2.
source: GFXBench
via: G for Games
Come comment on this article: OnePlus mystery device shows up on GFXBench
Samsung appeals to Supreme Court regarding Apple design patents
Earlier this month it was revealed Samsung agreed to pay Apple over half a billion dollar settlement from their historic patent battle of a few years ago. Samsung said they reserved the right to claw back some of the payment if a planned appeal to the Supreme Court was successful, indicating the case would continue despite the payment. Today Samsung filed an appeal with the Supreme Court concerning how the court handled design patent violations in the Apple case.
Although Samsung is appealing specific findings in their case with Apple, their arguments are based on a wider front in which they claim courts are mishandling design patents at contention in lawsuits. Samsung says judges are only providing limited guidance to juries about how to interpret design patents and what they may apply to. This is contrasted with utility patents in which very specific instructions are provided.
Samsung also claims the way damages are calculated could result in companies paying damages that are several times larger than the profits made on a product found to infringe on a design patent if multiple patents are violated. The end result is a situation in which design patent trolls are encouraged to engage in litigation. This will also result in stifled innovation and fewer choices for consumers, a point Samsung has tried to make in the past.
source: Re/code
Come comment on this article: Samsung appeals to Supreme Court regarding Apple design patents
What’s on your HDTV: ‘Fargo’, ‘The Expanse’ and ‘Luther’
It’s hard for me to think of a better show than Fargo, and tonight its season finale airs on FX. While there’s a collection of other season and mid-season wrap-ups on TV, the one to watch is Syfy’s The Expanse. Based on a popular book series, it premieres over tonight and tomorrow night, however you can watch the first episode right now. Netflix also has a palate cleanser for last week’s Adam Sandler movie, as it presents Bill Burr’s new series F is for Family. Finally, fans of Luther can expect a one-night only return from Idris Elba on BBC America Thursday night and Minecraft is premiering on the Wii U. Look after the break to check out each day’s highlights, including trailers and let us know what you think (or what we missed).
Blu-ray & Games & Streaming
- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
- Ted 2
- Fantastic Four
- Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
- The Car
- Triumph of the Will
- Roger Waters: The Wall
- Marco Polo (S1)
- Ark: Survival Evolved, (Xbox One)
- Minecraft (Wii U)
- Assassin’s Creed Syndicate – Jack the Ripper DLC (PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Monday
- Childhood’s End (Part 1 of 3), Syfy, 8PM
- The Great Christmas Light Fight, ABC, 8PM
- Supergirl (fall finale), CBS, 8PM
- The Voice, NBC, 8PM
- WWE Raw, USA, 8PM
- Monday Night Football: Giants/Dolphins, ESPN, 8:15PM
- Very Semi-serious: A Partially Thorough Portrait of New Yorker Cartoonists, HBO, 9PM
- Jane the Virgin (fall finale), CW, 9PM
- Major Crimes, TNT, 9PM
- Scorpion (fall finale), CBS, 9PM
- Minority Report, Fox, 9PM
- The Expanse (series premiere), Syfy, 10PM
- Adele Live in NYC, NBC, 10PM
- Telenovela, NBC, 10PM
- NCIS: LA (fall finale), CBS, 10PM
- Legends, TNT, 10PM
- Fargo (season finale), FX, 10PM
Tuesday
- Childhood’s End (Part 2 of 3), Syfy, 8PM
- The Voice (season finale), NBC, 9PM
- NCIS (fall finale), CBS, 8PM
- NCIS: NO (fall finale), CBS, 9PM
- Inside the NFL, Showtime, 9PM
- Manhattan (season finale), WGN, 9PM
- The Expanse, Syfy, 10PM
- Limitless (fall finale), CBS, 10PM
- Finding Carter (season finale), MTV, 10PM
- Being Mary Jane (season finale), BET, 10PM
- The Profit, CNBC, 10PM
Wednesday
- Rocketjump: The Show, Hulu, 3AM
- Childhood’s End (Part 3 of 3), Syfy, 8PM
- Survivor (season finale), CBS, 8PM
- Kingdom (season finale), DirecTV, 9PM
- The Real World/Road Rules Challenge, MTV, 10PM
- The Ultimate Fighter, Fox Sports 1, 10PM
- American Horror Story, FX, 10PM
- The Illusionists, NBC, 10PM
- The Magicians, Syfy, 10PM
- NFL Turning Point, NBC Sports Network, 11PM
- True Life: I’m Living Anime, MTV, 11:30PM
Thursday
- WWE Smackdown, Syfy, 8PM
- The Big Bang Theory /(fall finale), CBS, 8PM
- The iHeartRadio Jingle Ball, CW, 8PM
- Buccaneers/Rams football, NFL Network, 8:25PM
- Life in Pieces (fall finale), CBS, 8:30PM
- Luther (special presentation), BBC America, 9PM
- Mom (fall finale), CBS, 9PM
- 2 Broke Girls (fall finale), CBS, 9:30PM
- Running Wild with Bear Grylls, NBC, 10PM
- Elementary (fall finale), CBS, 10PM
- Haven (series finale), Syfy, 10PM
- Nightwatch, A&E, 10PM
Friday
- F is for Family (S1), Netflix, 3AM
- Making a Murderer (S1), Netflix, 3AM
- Care Bears and Cousins (S2), Netflix, 3AM
- Glitter Force (S1), Netflix, 3AM
- Mike Epps: After Dark, Netflix, 3AM
- Home for the Holidays, CBS, 9PM
- Dr. Ken, ABC, 8:30PM
- World’s Funniest (season finale), Fox, 9PM
- The Knick (season finale), Cinemax, 10PM
- Z Nation (season finale), Syfy, 10PM
- Satisfaction (season finale), USA, 10PM
Saturday
- New Hampshire Democrats Debate, ABC, 8PM
- UFC Fight Night 17, Fox, 8PM
- The Spirit of Christmas, Lifetime, 8PM
- Da Vinci’s Demons, Starz, 8PM
- A Countdown to Christmas, Hallmark, 8PM
- Ash vs. Evil Dead, Starz, 9PM
- Imagine: John Lennon 75th Birthday Concert, AMC, 9PM
- Returned (season finale), Sundance, 10PM
- Saturday Night Live: Tina Fey & Amy Poehler / Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, NBC, 11:30PM
Sunday
- Sunday Night Football: Cardinals/Eagles, NBC, 7PM
- The 64th Annual Miss Universe Pageant, Fox, 7PM
- Flesh and Bone, Starz, 8PM
- The Librarians, TNT, 8PM
- Agent X, TNT, 9PM
- Homeland (season finale), Showtime, 9PM
- Into the Badlands (season finale), AMC, 10PM
- CSI: Cyber (fall finale), CBS, 10:30PM
- The Affair (season finale), Showtime, 10PM
- StarTalk, National Geographic, 11PM
CarPlay Helping Some GM Dealers Close Deals on New Vehicles
CarPlay made its wider debut in a range of 2016 vehicles from over a dozen U.S. carmakers this month, including General Motors, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and others, and Apple’s in-dash software appears to be paying early dividends for at least one of those major auto manufacturers.
General Motors said it has “anecdotal evidence” that CarPlay, available in over two dozen 2016 Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC models, is helping sell new vehicles to customers, according to The Wall Street Journal. A pair of GM dealers confirmed CarPlay is “helping to close the deal” on purchases.
GM officials say they have anecdotal evidence of an impact, and agree the offering has been well-received. Phil Abram, executive director of connectivity an infotainment at GM, said customers have been asking for the feature for years and the company plans to expand it to as many more models as soon as possible. […]
“We’ve had people coming in because they’ve heard about it, and once they see it, they really do like it because it mirrors the look and feel of the devices they use,” said Chris Hemmersmeier, chief executive of a chain of Jerry Seiner Dealerships in Salt Lake City, Utah. “It’s helping to close the deal once they see it.”
GM experienced sales growth during October and November, but the spurt cannot decisively be attributed to CarPlay. At the very least, GM’s early adoption of CarPlay is helping draw some customers away from automakers that have yet to commit to the software platform, including the world’s best-selling automaker Toyota.
Gavin McGrath, the general manager of Pat McGrath Chevyland in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been advertising CarPlay availability and it has drawn in customers.
“It certainly has helped us,” he said. “The biggest thing that it has brought to the retail front is…navigation is going to cost $900 [to] $1,000 [as an option]. Here you have Apple CarPlay, and boom your nav is there. That has already helped us close deals.”
Chevrolet supports CarPlay on all vehicles with 7-inch or 8-inch MyLink screens, including the 2016 Camaro, Colorado, Corvette Z06, Corvette Stingray, Cruze, Impala, Malibu, Silverado 1500, Silverado 2500HD, Silverado 3500HD, Suburban, Tahoe and Volt. Our list of 2016 U.S. CarPlay vehicles covers Buick, Cadillac and GMC models.
Discuss this article in our forums
UK police try to scare teen hackers by visiting them at home
As you might have noticed, many teen hackers aren’t easily deterred. Why would they be when they have a lot to prove, loads of peer pressure and little sense of the damage they’re doing? British police think they have a way to scare those hackers straight, though. They’ve been visiting teens in person when the kids are near committing a crime that involves jail time, such as when they get access to a tool for denial of service attacks. Naturally, the hope is that they’ll realize the police (and soon afterward, their parents) are watching and back off before they face charges.
It’s not certain how effective the strategy (which includes ads, like the one below) really is. Hackers can’t get house calls if they’re good at covering their tracks, and there will always be some teens who are convinced they’ll never get caught. However, there is reason to believe that it should work. Former teen hackers (like LulzSec’s Jake Davis) describe being blind to the real-world consequences of their actions — they felt like they were attacking computers, not people. Police visits could remind them that there’s a potential victim on the other end.
[Image credit: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images]
Source: Bloomberg
Hulu’s reworked iPhone app helps you find favorite shows
Hulu knows that you sometimes want to plow through a TV series on your smartphone instead of a bigger screen, and it’s making that easier through a freshly redesigned iOS app. The new version gives you an “all-new” iPhone interface that helps you find your favorite shows considerably faster. If you can’t help but watch South Park, it’ll be near the top. This is also a big upgrade for parents, as Kid’s Lock is finally available on the iPhone — you won’t have to worry about Junior leaving the children’s hub to watch Wolf of Wall Street. These updates are arguably overdue, but they’ll certainly be welcome in those moments when you can’t catch up at home.
Via: iMore
Source: App Store
Nanoparticle-based windows could switch colors on demand
One day, you might not need special bulbs to give your room’s lighting a different hue — you’d just tell the windows themselves to change. Rice University researchers have discovered that you can change the colors transmitted through glass by sending a voltage through pairs of gold and silver nanoparticles, which you frequently find in stained glass windows. Jolt a window one way and you’d get a bright red; reverse the voltage and you’d get blue. All you’re really doing is forming or removing chemical bridges between the particles.
The technology is still far from production, so don’t expect to renovate your home just yet. However, you only need tiny amounts of the precious metals to achieve dramatic effects. As such, you might well find yourself upgrading to color-shifting smart windows around the whole home, not just in one or two prime locations.
[Image credit: Craig Warga/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Via: Gizmodo
Source: Rice University, Science Advances
Apple Gifts Retail Employees With Apple Music Subscription
Apple last week provided all of its employees with urBeats earphones from the Beats by Dr. Dre product lineup as part of an annual holiday gift, and today iTunes chief Eddy Cue told Apple employees they would also receive a free nine-month subscription to Apple Music.
Cue shared the news in a video message that went out to employees this morning. Employees will receive an Apple Music promo code later this month, which will allow them to activate their free subscriptions.
Valued at $90, the Apple Music subscription paired with the urBeats headphones makes Apple’s 2015 gift to its employees one of the most generous the company has offered in recent years. Apple’s holiday gifts go out to all of its employees around the world, encompassing Cupertino, satellite offices, and each of its retail locations.
In addition to being a nice perk for employees, offering an Apple Music subscription to all of its employees will have benefits for Apple, as it will allow retail workers to familiarize themselves with the service so they can better explain and recommend it to customers.
Discuss this article in our forums
MacKeeper Exposes Data on 13 Million Customers
Anti-virus company MacKeeper is making headlines today for its lax security on a customer database that contained 13 million customer records complete with names, email addresses, usernames, password hashes, phone numbers, IP address, and system information.
As shared in a reddit post, Chris Vickery (via Forbes) was able to download the records simply by entering an IP address, with no username or password required to access the data, a major security oversight on MacKeeper’s part.
MacKeeper was also using MD5 hashes for passwords, a weak algorithm that’s easily bypassed using an MD5 cracking tool. As Vickery says, MacKeeper (and parent company Kromtech) “appears to have no respect for the privacy of its users’ data or the integrity of their information.”
Vickery did not share details on the exploit and immediately contacted Kromtech about the oversight. Using Vickery’s information, Kromtech secured the database after several hours, and nobody with malicious intent was reportedly able to get ahold of customer details. With the exploit fixed, Vickery explained how he accessed the data.
Here are some details (now that it’s secured): The search engine at Shodan.io had indexed their IPs as running publicly accessible MongoDB instances (as some have already guessed). I had never even heard of MacKeeper or Kromtech until last night. I just happened upon it after being bored and doing a random “port:27017” search on Shodan.
For those unfamiliar with MacKeeper, it is Mac software that purports to optimize a Mac and keep it secure from viruses and malware, tricking people into a purchase with unrealistic claims. Earlier this month, a class action lawsuit led to a $2 million settlement that will see MacKeeper providing refunds to customers who purchased the software and would like their money back.
Though MacKeeper says Vickery was the only person to access the information, MacKeeper customers should still change their passwords and passwords on sites that used the same password as the MacKeeper password.
Discuss this article in our forums
AIVAnet 