New Snowden docs suggest Shadow Broker leak was real
On Monday, a group of hackers calling themselves the Shadow Broker put up a number of cyber-espionage tools reportedly stolen from NSA-associated hacking outfit, the Equation Group. Edward Snowden has already publicly speculated that the intrusion and theft was actually just another salvo in the ongoing Digital Cold War happening between the US and Russia. However, nobody was 100 percent certain that the tools for sale really were NSA property. Now, Snowden has released documentation to The Intercept that suggests the tools really are what the Shadow Brokers say they are.
Specifically, Snowden has released a classified Top Secret agency manual for implanting malware. That manual instructs agents to track their malware deployments using the character string “ace02468bdf13579”, which it so happens appears in 14 places throughout the code of SECONDDATE, a program that the Shadow Broker leaked. SECONDDATE is a tool used to infiltrate and monitor network activity using an exploit on vulnerable network routers, allowing the NSA to run “man in the middle attacks” against targeted computers. It reportedly even works against encrypted wireless signals.
The danger here isn’t just that the monitoring tool is publicly available, which puts any user with a vulnerable router at risk, there’s also the issue that Shadow Broker was successful in the first place. The fact that they were able to covertly breach a supposedly secure NSA staging server and abscond with dozens of the agency’s prized hacking tools — without being immediately caught — must mean that the group (and whoever is bankrolling them) possesses exploits that the US cannot currently defend against.
There are serious political and diplomatic implications as well. As Snowden argued earlier this week, the entire hack reeked of state-sponsorship. It could very well be interpreted as a warning shot from Russia. Should the US dig too deep or rattle its saber too loudly over the DNC leak, the Russians would be able to show that America is just as guilty of cyber-spying — perhaps even against its own allies. While nobody has been able to conclusively prove that Russia is behind the attack, both it’s timing and target, remain highly suspect.
Source: The Intercept
Mercedes-Maybach concept is a look at the future of luxury cars
Stop us if you’ve read this before: Mercedes-Benz has another ridiculous concept car. At CES 2015, we got a close look at the F015 Luxury in Motion self-driving concept and now the automaker is back with an all-electric coupe. Officially dubbed the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6, the new vehicle is a mix of “sensual purity” and “aerodynamic efficiency” according to Daimler AG design lead Gorden Wagener. Mercedes also notes that the Vision 6 is an equal mix of “hot” with emotional design and “cold” with so-called intelligent details.
You’re probably wondering why it’s so long. Well, Mercedes says the elongated design, low roof and rear positioning of the cabin are an homage to the classic coupes of a bygone era. In other words, this is the automaker’s reinterpretation of those vehicles. Around back, designers gave the 6 a “boat tail” that looks like something you would see on the backside of a yacht and gullwing doors. Inside, front-seat passengers get a wide-open view of their surroundings with driving data and other information projected on the windshield for an augmented reality road trip. The dashboard also wraps into the door panels and the seats for what Mercedes calls a 360 lounge. Overall, some of the materials, trim, wood floors and other accents are aesthetic touches we saw on the F015.
As far as the electric powertrain is concerned, the 6 is all-wheel drive thanks for four electric motors capable of 550kW of power and 738 horsepower. There’s an additional 80kWh batter in the floorboard that allows the car to Mercedes says that setup also enables true sports car performance with stats like 0-100 km/h (0-62 MPH, approximately) in under four seconds and a top speed of 250 km/h (around 155 MPH). All of that power doesn’t impact range either, as the luxury EV claims 500 km on a charge. That’s around 310 miles for those keeping track at home. What’s more, the 6 can charge enough to take you 62 miles (100 km) in five minutes. This vehicle can either be plugged in or charged via a wireless induction system when the time comes.
The Vision 6 made its official debut at this week’s Monterey Car Week festivities at Pebble Beach, but we’ll have to wait and see if Mercedes plans to make this concept a real thing in sometime in the future. The automaker did confirm earlier this month that it was working on a new EV with a range of 250-310 miles following reports that it would debut four EV models to compete with Tesla.
Source: Mercedes-Benz
Kickstarter introduces the Prototype Gallery for creators
Kickstarter will soon allow creators with projects seeking funding to add photos and videos of their creations in a Prototype Gallery on their project page.
The galleries will offer a way for creators to give more back story and context to their projects without having to post images directly to their project page. The pages can get clogged up as it is with updates and upfront information about the prospective product, and a self-contained gallery will group all of the images of the item in question from concept to completion.
The galleries are still being worked on at this time, but it’s being rolled out soon during an upcoming test period. After the test period ends, the Prototype Gallery will be available to any creators who launch projects within the Design, Technology and Gaming Hardware sections.
Additional information can be found within Kickstarter’s FAQ, but this is great news for anyone looking to launch a relevant Kickstarter soon, as prospective backers knowing more about what their money is going to fund can only be a good thing.
Source: Kickstarter
Volunteers needed to get infected with Zika for science
While the Zika virus spreads into the US and the CDC has advised pregnant women to avoid the area of another recent outbreak in Miami Beach, Florida, scientists continue to race toward prevention options. US researchers are now seeking volunteers to get infected with the Zika virus in order to test promising experimental vaccines that could be candidates for mass deployment.
The researchers still need to get the green light from government regulators, but if so, they’ll start testing in December. In order to control the conditions of the experiment and track the virus’ progress, the researchers want to infect volunteers in winter, a season when mosquitoes are dormant. In such a vacuum, they do what’s called a “human challenge study,” injecting healthy folks and tracking progress. By giving each different amounts, they can see what the threshold for infection is.
Two DNA vaccines have begun preliminary safety testing, one by the National Institute of Health and the other by a Pennsylvania company, Inovio Pharmaceuticals. Those DNA vaccines might be easier to make, explains the Associated Press: Unlike traditional vaccines that use dead or weakened virus pieces to train the body’s immune system, DNA vaccines carry genes that prompt the body to produce Zika proteins, which alerts the body’s immune system. Further tests will determine whether human immune systems are provoked enough to effectively fight the virus.
If the December test is effective, researchers will hold a larger test in January of 2,400 to 5,000 volunteers in Latin America and the Caribbean, the areas where Zika has hit hardest. But researchers still won’t test pregnant women, so as not to risk the unborn children. Instead, they’ll vaccinate candidates who are women of childbearing age and their sexual partners.
Source: The Associated Press
LimeLens: 2 Wide Angle Lenses For Your Android
The Low Down
- What it is: 2 Wide angle lenses
- Price: $49.99
- Where to buy: Directly From Lime Lens
The Get Down
For most of us, our phone is always with us, always within arm’s reach. We use it for everything from surfing the web, checking our email, looking at our bank accounts and even phone calls. It is also the easiest to get to and sometimes the best camera we have around too.
I have longed for a camera on my phone that could replace a standard bulky digital camera. And the Galaxy S7 Edge is as close to that as I have found. It takes beautiful photos in the right light and pretty good ones in low light too. But what it lacks is a wide angle shot that can catch those big family photos or wide open spaces in nature.
The pictures below were taken standing in the same position at the same height.
Taken with no Lens attached
Taken with The Thinker
Taken with The Captain
Enter Lime Lens. Maybe. The set includes both The Thinker – Dual Macro / Wide Lens and The Captain – Supreme Fisheye Lens. Both lenses dramatically change the standard photos you get with the built-in camera.
Let’s start at the beginning. After opening the package I found that the lenses were packed quite well. It seems professional and everything is protected well in the case. You will get both lenses, 3 “clips” (these are how you mount the lens to your phone) cleaning cloth, #LimeLife stickers, and an instruction manual, plus the faux leather zipper case is all comes in.
Lime Lens Case opened
Lime Lens Case Half opened
The first thing we have to do is determine which clip goes to our phone. There is a great guide in the manual so we won’t go into that here. Once you have the clip installed it’s time to put those lenses on and start shooting.
The Down Low
The lenses are small, as you would expect since they are for your phone. But I found it hard not to touch the glass parts of them and had fingerprints I had to wipe away. Luckily Lime Lens supplied the cleaning cloths.
There is a ridge in the clip and a piece that goes into that on half of each lens, so you put the lens in the clip and twist it half way around to lock it into place. I found this to be tricky and actually dropped the lenses a couple of times when I thought they were secure. It did not break and seemed to take each fall well.
Now let talk about that clip. This is my least favorite part of Lime Lens. The clip is a piece of plastic that sticks to your phone. Once removed from your phone it cannot be used again. It will not work if you have a case on your phone since the lens has to be right on top of the lens on the phone’s camera. There is a list of cases that will work with Lime Lens but most are not very perspective.
Center View
From the Top
At the Bottom
For a product that is not used all the time I am frustrated that I have to have a part of it stuck to my phone all the time, and it stops me from putting the case back on my phone since I can’t take it off when not in use. There are a few other products on the market (none of which I have used so I don’t know if the lenses work as well as the Lime Lens) that have solved this problem by actually being a clip that can be removed when the lens is not in use.
They definitely don’t look as good as Lime Lens when you are actually using the lenses, but for me I would prefer my phone to look funny when I need to use the lens and then take it off when it’s not in use, than to have a piece of plastic stuck to the back of my phone all the time.
The lenses themselves work well and really add something useful to your phone’s camera. You can see in the pictures above how much more you can get in the shot with the Wide angle lens.
So if you don’t use a case or are willing to buy a new one that works with the lime lens clip, and you need to take wide angle shots with your phone this might be the product for you.
Sony Xperia XA review – CNET
The Good With a super-skinny bezel, the Sony Xperia XA is a great-looking phone that’s comfortable to use in one hand.
The Bad Its low screen resolution, short-lived battery and meagre amount of built-in storage are major setbacks. Sony has loaded the phone with a horrible mess of bloatware.
The Bottom Line Unless slick style is your only concern, skip the Sony Xperia XA for a cheaper phone with better features.
Sony’s recent phones, such as the Xperia X, have been too blocky to be called truly stylish. Not so with the Xperia XA. This 5-inch phone has an edge-to-edge display with only the merest sliver of a bezel. It gives the XA a lusciously premium look that belies its affordable price tag.
The XA will set you back $280 in the US, £240 in the UK and AU$499 in Australia. Design this slick is not usually a high priority for phones of this price.
But that’s where my positive feelings for this phone end. The price is still too steep for its low-resolution display and unimpressive specs, especially when you compare it to the cheaper and more powerful Motorola Moto G4 Plus.
Yes, the XA has a cool design, but it comes at a too high a price.
Edgeless screen
- 143.6 by 66.8 by 7.9 mm
- 137 grams (4.83 ounces)
- Tiny bezel around the display
The almost total lack of edge around the sides of the screen strikes you immediately. It doesn’t curve at the side like the Galaxy S7 Edge. It gives it a classy look. It makes the XA feel smaller than you might expect from a 5-inch phone. I could comfortably stretch my thumb across the display to type with just one hand and it slid easily into my pocket.
The screen itself is a letdown, though. It has only a 720p resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 293 pixels per inch, which is low for a phone of this size and price. The Moto G4 Plus costs significantly less, but it packs a full HD panel with a much more impressive 401 ppi. While apps such as Twitter and Facebook look fine, small text is fuzzy and high resolution images lack clarity.
Colours don’t impress, either, and the display is not very bright. Though Sony was able to squash the screen into a small space, it picked the wrong screen to squash in.
View full gallery
Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The back panel is plastic, but my white model had a pearlescent finish that glints with a pinkish sheen when it catches the light. Hardly a killer feature, but it’s a welcome touch and a key element of the XA’s aesthetic appeal.
What you won’t find on the phone is a fingerprint scanner, which is disappointing given that most of Sony’s recent phones, like the Xperia X, have it. It’s yet another point where the cheaper Moto G4 Plus wins out. If Motorola can add a fingerprint scanner without ramping up the price, why can’t Sony? Without a scanner, you’ll have to type in your PIN at the terminal when using Android Pay, for example. That’s just not as fast and easy as using your finger.
Sony Xperia XA spec comparison chart
| Sony Xperia XA | Motorola Moto G4 | OnePlus 3 | Apple iPhone SE |
| 5-inch; 1,280×720 pixels | 5.5-inch; 1,920×1,080 pixels | 5.5-inch; 1,920×1,080 pixels | 4-inch; 1,136×640 pixels |
| 294ppi | 401ppi | 401ppi | 326ppi |
| 5.7×2.6×0.31 in | 6x3x0.39 in | 6.01×2.94×0.29 in | 4.87×2.31×0.3in |
| 144x67x7.9 mm | 153×76.6×9.8 mm | 152.7×74.7×7.35 mm | 123x58x7.6mm |
| 4.8 oz (137 g) | 5.47 oz (155 g) | 5.57 oz (158 g) | 3.99 oz (113 g) |
| Android 6.0 Marshmallow | Android 6.0 Marshmallow | Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow | iOS 9.3 |
| 13-megapixel | 16-megapixel | 16-megapixel | 12-megapixel |
| 8-megapixel | 5-megapixel | 8-megapixel | 1.2-megapixels |
| 1080p | 4K | 4K | 4K |
| 2GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio P10 | 1.5GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 | 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 | Apple A9 chip (64-bit) with M9 motion co-processor |
| 16GB | 32GB | 64GB | 16GB, 64GB |
| 2GB | 2GB | 6GB | 2GB |
| 200GB | Up to 128GB | None | None |
| 2,700mAh (nonremovable) | 3,000mAh (removable) | 3,000mAh (nonremovable) | 1,624mAh (nonremovable) |
| None | Below screen | Home button | Home button |
| Micro-USB | Micro-USB | USB-C | Lightning |
| None | Water-resistant | Notifications toggle, dual-SIM, Dash Charging | None |
| $280 | $249 | $399 | $399 (16GB); $499 (64GB) |
| £240 | 32GB: £229; 64GB: £264 | £329 | £359 (16GB) £439 (64GB) |
| Converts to AU$390 | 16GB: AU$399; 32GB: AU$449 | Converts to AU$540 | AU$679 (16GB); AU$829 (64GB) |
Clean software, with too much bloatware
- Android 6.0 Marshmallow
- Lots of preloaded bloatware
- 64-bit, octa-core processor
The XA runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow, largely untampered with — thank you, Sony, for not adding a special skin. That makes it easy to use for Android experts and novices alike.
What Sony has done, though, is load the phone up with a whole mess of software right out of the box. Beyond its own PlayStation app, there’s an Xperia Lounge app and something called What’s New (confusingly, all have different curated lists of games, music, movies and so on). There’s a handful of third-party apps too, including AVG antivirus, the Kobo ebooks app and Amazon’s shopping app.
The few widgets preinstalled on the home screen also make the phone feel somewhat cluttered from the first time you switch it on. Thankfully, you can uninstall some of them, but it’s a tedious process that you should be spared.
View full gallery
Andrew Hoyle/CNET
It’s particularly annoying that the XA comes with a very limited 16GB of internal storage, of which fully 6GB is taken up by the Android system files and preinstalled nonsense. You’ll absolutely want to use the microSD card slot to save your images, videos and music as you’ll eat up the on-board space very quickly.
The XA runs on a 64-bit octa-core processor, which delivers enough power to make swiping around the Android interface a smooth experience. Apps open quickly and photo editing in Snapseed, for example, is smooth. It copes with gaming reasonably well — both Asphalt 8 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas were playable, although frame rates noticeably dipped in more intense moments. Less demanding games such as Candy Crush will play fine.
The recent Windows 10 update is breaking webcams
If you’ve installed the recently-released Windows 10 Anniversary Update and noticed your USB webcam is acting screwy, you’re not alone. It seems the decision to prevent them from using the popular MJPEG and H.264 encoding processes in favor of the NV12 and YUY2 formats is affecting far more devices than Microsoft anticipated, causing millions of cameras to crash.
Why restrict them? As Thurrott first pointed out, the Anniversary Update permits possible new situations wherein multiple applications access the webcam and the banned processes would duplicate the encoding stream, slowing it down. Limiting compression formats would seemingly prevent multiple simultaneous processes.
Unfortunately, that’s left a huge number of users in the lurch who use devices dependent on these formats, which are freezing shortly after turning on. They’ve brought their grievances to a developer forum, where “Mike M” on the Windows Camera team has explained their reasons for removing the formatting, but it seems like they underestimated the volume of folks who would be affected. The developer noted that a fix for the MJPEG issue would likely come in a September update, but the H.264 will likely take more time to address. If using a device with either of these encoding formats is crucial, you can roll back the Anniversary Update within 10 days of loading it, as PC World notes, but otherwise you’ll just have to wait for the Camera team to solve the issues.
When reached for comment, a Microsoft spokesperson gave the following:
Windows 10 continues to have the highest customer satisfaction of any version of Windows. We have seen a small number of reports of unexpected behaviors following the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Engineering and customer support are investigating these on a case by case basis and offering trouble-shooting tips as necessary. If a customer has any issues, we offer customer support at http://www.microsoft.com/support.
Source: Thurrott
Everything you need to know about browser extensions in Edge – CNET
Thanks to the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft Edge finally has browser extensions (albeit only a handful so far). We’ve been waiting for Edge to support extensions for over a year — the browser debuted stripped-down and barely customizable because Microsoft wanted to keep it as secure as possible. So here’s everything you need to know about installing, managing and configuring these brand-new browser extensions.
Installing extensions
To install an extension, open Edge and click the menu (…) button to open the settings menu. Click Extensions to open the extensions menu, which will display a list of your installed extensions (if you have any). Click Get extensions from the Store to open the extensions page in the Windows Store.
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Edge browser extensions are downloaded directly from the Windows Store.
Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
Click the extension you want to download to open its Windows Store page and click the download button (extensions are free, so the button will say Free) to start the download. The extension will download and install itself automatically.
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You can choose to turn your new extension on immediately after installing, or you can keep it off for the time being.
Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
Go back to Edge. You will see a pop-up telling you that a new extension has been installed, and you can choose whether to start using it (Turn it on) or not (Keep it off).
Managing extensions
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Turning an extension off will stop it from running and appearing in the extension shortcuts menu, but will not uninstall it (or reset any options you’ve configured for it).
Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
To turn an extension on (or off), open Edge’s settings menu and click Extensions. Find the extension you want to turn on/off and click it. You will see the extension’s name above an on/off toggle; use this toggle to turn the extension on or off.
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This will completely uninstall the extension and reset any options you’ve configured for it.
Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
To uninstall an extension completely, open Edge’s settings menu and click Extensions. Click the extension you want to uninstall. At the bottom of the screen, click the Uninstall button to uninstall it from your browser.
Configuring extensions’ individual options
Some — but not all — extensions have individual options that you can customize to your liking. For example, the Mouse Gestures extension lets you change and set custom mouse gestures.
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Only some extensions will have the Options button in their settings menu.
Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
To configure an extension’s options, open Edge’s settings menu, click Extensions and click the extension you want to configure. If the extension has individual options, you will see a button that says Options above the Uninstall button. Click Options to open the extension’s individual options in a new tab.
Using extensions
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You will find your extensions’ shortcut buttons in the Edge settings menu.
Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
All of the browser extensions that are currently turned on will appear in a row at the top of Edge’s settings menu. These icons are buttons — clicking them will either perform the extension’s action (e.g., the Pinterest Pin It Button will let you pin something to a Pinterest board) or open the extension’s options menu. If you’ve used extensions in other browsers, you’re probably familiar with how these shortcut buttons work.
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Turn this toggle on to make an extension’s shortcut button appear in the toolbar next to the address bar.
Sarah Jacobsson Purewal/CNET
Because some extensions are on demand — they perform actions when their shortcut button is pressed — you may want to make these buttons more accessible by placing them on Edge’s toolbar (instead of hidden in its settings menu). To do this, open Edge’s settings menu, click Extensions and click the extension you want to configure. Under Show button next to the address bar, turn the toggle to On. The extension’s shortcut button will now appear in Edge’s toolbar, to the right of the address bar.
Twitter just added a feature that helps you ignore trolls – CNET
Twitter has an abuse problem, and after years of promises of a fix and that the company was “working on it,” the company has released a new tool designed to clean up your timeline.
The new Quality Filter is off by default, and only takes a few seconds to enable. You can go about it one of two ways, on the web or through Twitter’s mobile app.
Via the website
- Log in to your Twitter account on Twitter.com.
- Click on your Notifications tab, then Settings at the top of the column.
- Conversely, you can click on this link to go directly to your account’s notification settings page.
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
- You can enable the Quality Filter as well as limit your notifications to only those that you follow by checking either box.
- Click Save Changes.
Mobile app
- Open the mobile app, then select the Notifications tab.
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
- iOS users should tap on the gear icon in the top-left corner.
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Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
- Android users can tap on the menu icon in the bottom-right corner then Notification Settings.
- Slide the Quality Filter switch to the On position.
What exactly gets filtered?
To be honest, it’s not all that clear. A Twitter support page detailing the new filter offers a rather vague outline of what it does. Twitter states the filter will “improve the quality of Tweets you see by using a variety of signals, such as account origin and behavior.”
Perhaps a more apt description of what the Quality Filter does is listed in the mobile app, which states: “Quality filtering aims to remove all Tweets from your notifications timeline that contain threats, offensive or abusive language, duplicate content, or are sent from accounts that are suspicious or that you’ve muted.”
It’s also important to note, turning on the Quality Filter will not remove tweets from your notifications sent by people you follow or accounts you’ve recently interacted with. In other words, if someone starts spewing hateful nonsense toward you, it’s best to ignore it and let Twitter’s new tool take care of the rest.
AIVAnet 