FBI improved a Dark Web child pornography site, lawyer argues
The FBI operated Playpen, a child pornography site on the Dark Web, for nearly two weeks in February 2015, distributing malware to users so the bureau could track suspected pedophiles across the globe. It was a major bust, with the FBI hacking 4,000 computers and leading to charges against 186 people so far, Motherboard reports. This week, a lawyer for one man accused of running Playpen argued that the site operated even better while under the FBI’s control, leading to an increase in users and distribution numbers.
Under the FBI’s stewardship, Playpen membership rose by 30 percent and the number of visitors to the site increased from roughly 11,000 to 50,000 per week, assistant federal defender Peter Adolf argued in a motion to dismiss his client’s indictment. Playpen distributed 200 videos, 9,000 images and 13,000 links to child pornography while the FBI ran the site from February 20th to March 4th, Adolf said. He supported his claims with archived messages from Playpen users commenting on how well the site was running during this same timeframe.
Adolf argued that his client’s charges should be thrown out because the FBI’s actions in the investigation were shocking and equated “outrageous conduct.”
“Government agents worked hard to upgrade the website’s capability to distribute large amounts of child pornography quickly and efficiently, resulting in more users receiving more child pornography faster than they ever did when the website was running ‘illegally,’” Adolf wrote.
Other lawyers have argued that the FBI effectively distributed child pornography during the Playpen sting, though a judge ruled in January that the bureau did not engage in “outrageous conduct.” Additional motions filed on Monday from related cases claim the FBI distributed as many as 1 million pictures and videos of child pornography to more than 100,000 users while running Playpen.
The FBI has moved to classify the hacking tool it used to infiltrate Playpen users’ computers via the Dark Web, arguing that it is a matter of national security.
Source: Motherboard
Prisma’s arty photo filters now work offline
There’s a lot going on behind the curtain with Prisma, the app that turns your banal photos into Lichtenstein- or Van Gogh-esque artworks. The app actually sends your cat photo to its servers where a neural network does the complex transformation. Starting soon, that will no longer be necessary, though. “We have managed to implement neural networks to smartphones, which means users will no longer need an internet connection to turn their photos into art pieces,” the company says. Only half of Prisma’s styles will be available offline at first (16 total), but others will be added in the “near future.”
Running the algorithms locally will speed things up (depending on your smartphone), help folks with poor internet service and free up valuable CPU cycles on its servers. The latter benefit will allow its tech to work with video, in a later release, Prisma adds. “Now that we’ve implemented neural networks right to the smartphones, we have enough servers capacity to run full videos on them in the near future.”
Now that we’ve implemented neural networks right to the smartphones, we have enough servers capacity to run full videos on them in the near future.
Prisma claims it’s the first to implement neural network tech on a smartphone, and that “no team or company has ever done anything close.” That, it says, opens up AI to developers without access to server farms, meaning “we will see [a lot more] new products based on neural networks.” Companies like Google and Apple may beg to differ, as they have already implemented smartphone AI for translation, voice recognition and more.
52 million folks have installed Prisma and 4 million use it daily, according to the company. Much as Snapchat has done, it plans to monetize the app via brand filters, while keeping it free for users. The offline processing speed depends on which smartphone you have — Prisma says it takes six seconds for the iPhone 6s to repaint a photo and a bit more for the iPhone 6s. The new features will arrive to iOS shortly and hit Android after that.
Update: Prisma originally said that it takes 2.5 seconds for an iPhone 6s to process a photo and three seconds for an iPhone 6. However, it now says the transformation takes six seconds on the iPhone 6s and a bit longer with the iPhone 6. The post has been updated with this information.
Samsung launches first 4G, Tizen-powered smartphone in India
Samsung’s experiment with the Tizen operating system hasn’t shown up in more than a couple of handsets and some Gear smartwatches so far, but the smartphone behemoth still believes the open-source platform has value for low-cost phones in emerging markets. Case in point: the first 4G Tizen offering, the Samsung Z2 arrives in India next week, with a price tag of around $68 USD (or 4,590 INR) and a range of region-specific features.
First, the basics: the Z2 sports a 4-inch 480×800 AMOLED display driven by a quad-core 1.5GHz processor with 1GB RAM and 8GB of internal memory, expandable via a microSD slot. The Z2 also offers dual-SIM support, a 1,500 mAh battery, a 5-megapixel camera and a front-facing VGA selfie cam. While it’s not exactly a flagship phone with those specs, Samsung has included a range of “Make for India” features like Ultra Data Saving Mode, Ultra Power Saving Mode, S Bike mode and the My Money Transfer app to make it doubly appealing to the Indian market.
When the phone officially goes on sale August 29th, it will be available in Black, Gold or “Wine Red” at retail stores or online at Paytm, and comes pre-loaded with a trial version of Samsung’s Jio mobile streaming apps. The phone is expected to hit other countries after its initial release in India, although the price could vary slightly depending on the region.
Source: Samsung
PlayStation Now will soon let you play anywhere you have a PC
Analysts have been predicted the death of game consoles for years — and while they’re usually wrong, PlayStation Now is the strongest living argument for a gaming industry without iterative hardware. Sony’s internet-streaming games service puts PlayStation games on micro-consoles, full-sized PlayStation 4 machines and even standalone televisions. Today, Sony announced that the service is coming to an even wider platform: Windows.
Sony says PlayStation Now for Windows will launch in Europe soon, and will be followed by a timely North American rollout — but the exact details are still in the air. Sony has announced that it will sell a $25 DualShock 4 controller adapter for use with the service, for instance, but neglected to say if PlayStation Now for Windows will play nice with other PC gamepads. It might not: PS4 Remote Play on PC and Mac requires Sony’s own controller. It wouldn’t be too shocking if PlayStation Now kept tradition.
Even so, controller compatibility isn’t the only barrier to entry. PlayStation Now is pretty neat, but it requires a hearty internet connection to function properly — at least 5Mbps and a reasonable proximity to PlayStation Now server. The service also requires a PC running Windows 7 or higher, a 3.5Ghz Intel Core i3 or better CPU and 2GB of RAM. If you meet all those requirements, though, you can do something mildly historic: Play PlayStation 3 games on your PC for the first time ever. Neat.
Source: PlayStation
MIT’s smarter routers promise to fight crowded networks
MIT hates overcrowded networks just as much as you do, and its CSAIL division has made two breakthroughs that could clear up the data pipes. To begin with, it’s developing programmable routers that can still keep up with bandwidth-heavy services like streaming video. Instead of trying to create an elaborate rule system for deciding which data packets get through (which could bog a router down or consume a lot of chip space), researchers broke things down into simple computing elements that could handle a wide range of tasks. You’d only have to combine different elements to achieve the intended effect, which could help networks adapt to new conditions — that hot new mobile game might not cause chaos.
The other discovery would tackle the all-too-common problem of congested or range-limited networks. Scientists have created a “MegaMIMO 2.0” (multiple input, multiple output) system that coordinates multiple access points at once, syncing their phases so that multiple transmitters can use the same frequency slice without interference. The result? In a crowded room, transfer speeds jump about 360 percent compared to conventional WiFi — better for both raw speed and better performance at the fringe of a network. The technology could keep things humming in particularly dense network conditions, such as a major urban area or a concert, and it’d be useful for both cellular and WiFi service — you might not see your connection tank quite so quickly.
The challenge in both cases is getting companies to adopt the technology. It could be a while before there’s something router makers could easily use. The wireless solution in particular might depend on vendors learning to cooperate with each other, since there will likely be moments when competing network tech sits close by. Nonetheless, there could be a time where network bottlenecks are relatively rare.
Source: MIT News, ACM
Tesla unveils 100 kWh battery for Model X and S
Tesla’s latest innovation is a 100 kWh battery pack for the Model X and Model S that can travel up to 315 miles non-stop, an improvement over its existing 90 kWh model. With the upgraded battery, the Model S P100D is the first and only electric car on the market able to exceed 300 miles of range on a single charge.
The new battery module is roughly the same shape and size as the 90 kWh version, though it’s more densely packed and features improved cooling mechanisms. The standard charging rate for the 100 kWh battery remains the same as its predecessor, while supercharging should hold a higher rate for a longer period of time.
The Model S P100D with Ludicrous mode is the third-fastest accelerating production car in existence, going from 0-60 mph in 2.5 seconds in max power mode. Meanwhile, the Model X P100D (Tesla’s electric SUV) with Ludicrous mode hits 60 mph in 2.9 seconds and travels up to 289 miles on a single charge.
“These are really profound milestones and I think will help convince people around the world that electric is the future and it’s time to move to sustainable transport,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during a conference call today.
Existing owners of Tesla’s electric vehicles are able to swap out their 90 kWh modules for the new-and-improved battery. At the onset, Tesla plans to produce about 200 packs per week and they’re available to order today. Existing P90D Ludicrous owners can upgrade to the 100 kWh pack for $20,000, while those who have ordered a P90D but not seen a delivery yet can snag the new pack for $10,000. A new Model S costs up to $134,500 and a Model X tops out at $135,500.
“While the P100D Ludicrous is obviously an expensive vehicle, we want to emphasize that every sale helps pay for the smaller and much more affordable Tesla Model 3 that is in development,” Tesla’s blog post reads.
Rumors of a 100 kWh battery rumbled across the internet earlier this month, when Dutch regulators approved 100D and P100D versions of the Model X and Model S.
Source: Tesla
Google will downplay mobile websites with intrusive pop-ups
It’s bad enough when you deal with third-party pop-up ads, but it’s that much worse when the site itself shows pop-ups. Do you really want to subscribe to that newsletter before you’ve even read a single word on the page? Google wants to put a stop to this. As of January 10th, 2017, its mobile search results will downplay sites with “intrusive” interstitials and pop-ups. It’ll accept content that asks for necessary info or takes up a “reasonable” amount of space (such as the app install banners in Android or iOS), but “click to continue” pop-ups and first-party sales pitches won’t curry Google’s favor.
Google is quick to note that a high-quality site might still rank well even with those irksome pop-ups, so this isn’t a death knell for the format. However, it might persuade some sites to tone down their in-your-face marketing and focus on the content you came to see. Don’t be surprised if a page that drives you bonkers now is much less annoying in the months ahead.
Via: The Verge
Source: Google Webmaster Central Blog
Vizio’s SmartCast app will integrate Google Play streaming
Vizio’s Chromecast-enabled TV vision is being expanded even further with the integration of Google Play Movies & TV.
The updates, coming to the Vizio SmartCast app, will allow users to control Vizio SmartCast devices from any room as well as stream content from phones or tablets straight to the TV. Considering the glut of streaming content out there that people are routinely consuming these days, this will be a boon for cord-cutters and those looking to simplify the amount of services they use to access their favorite movies and shows.
Interestingly enough, there’s also a special Android widget being added with the update that allows you to control the power, play, pause and volume control even when your remote or Android device is locked, meaning you can be as lazy as you want to be when sitting and browsing through what you want to watch.
Quick Start mode was just added as well, which lets you display automatically over Wi-Fi when you begin a casting session. You can then choose which service you want (Hulu, Netflix, etc.) and the Vizio TV will turn on for streaming.
Looks like these new firmware updates will improve things pretty significantly, so it’s great news for Vizio TV owners.
Source: Vizio
Google’s using neural networks to make image files smaller
Somewhere at Google, researchers are blurring the line between reality and fiction. Tell me if you’ve heard this one, Silicon Valley fans — a small team builds a neural network for the sole purpose of making media files teeny-tiny. Google’s latest experiment isn’t exactly the HBO hit’s Pied Piper come to life, but it’s a step in that direction: using trained computer intelligence to make images smaller than current JPEG compression allows.
Google’s approach relies on forcing its network to learn compression the hard way. Researchers sampled six million compressed photos from the internet and broke them each 32 x 32 pixel pieces. The neural network was then fed 100 bits from each image that represented the poorest elements of its compression — the idea being that if the network could do a better job compressing the worst of the competition, it should do a better job compressing everything.
The group’s paper breaks the process down further, using math (that admittedly is beyond this writer’s comprehension) to demonstrate how the network broke down images into binary code and reconstructed them piece by piece, outperforming JPEG compression at most bitrates. At least by the numbers — human perception is a bit flighty. Even Google admits that the “human visual system is more sensitive to certain types of distortions than others,” and there isn’t a universally recognized metric for measuring human perception of a compressed image.
Still, the project is a big step forward in making our ever-growing libraries of media just a little smaller. And that’s always a good thing.
Source: Arxiv, Quartz
Pinterest Acquires Read-It-Later App Instapaper
Popular app Instapaper, designed to allow users to save notable news articles to read at a later time, has been acquired by Pinterest. Created by Marco Arment in 2008, Instapaper was one of the first apps that implemented read-it-later functionality, and it was certainly one of the most widely used and well-known apps in the genre.
Instapaper, available on iOS, Android, Kindle, and the web, was first sold to Betaworks in 2013 and now it belongs to Pinterest. Pinterest plans to use Instapaper to encourage Pinterest users to save more articles to the site, a feature that’s existed for several years but isn’t often used, and some of Instapaper’s search functionality will be integrated into Pinterest. In a blog post, Instapaper said the acquisition would also give it the resources to grow its core mission — “allowing our users to discover, save, and experience interesting web content.”
Instapaper provides a compelling source for news-based content, and we’re excited to take those learnings to Pinterest’s discovery products. We’ll also be experimenting with using our parsing technology for certain Rich Pin types.
Instapaper will continue to operate as a standalone app and service, and no changes are expected for end users. The company will, however, be ending development on Instaparser on November 1, 2016.
Tags: Instapaper, Pinterest
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