Takata pleads guilty to fraud in faulty airbag cover-up

Japanese auto parts maker Takata has formally pled guilty in federal court today to a criminal fraud charge stemming from its cover-up of millions of faulty airbags. As part of the guilty plea, Takata admitted it intentionally hid the fact that its airbag inflators could explode and throw hot metal shrapnel into drivers’ faces.

The scandal led to the largest US automotive recall ever and affected a staggering 42 million vehicles in the United States alone. Over 100 injuries have been reported and at least 16 people have been killed by the faulty airbags. As part of the $1 billion settlement, Takata has agreed to pay $850 million in restitution to the automakers, a $25 million fine and the company is setting up a separate $125 million fund to compensate the victims and their families.

The recall was so large, in fact, there were concerns that the settlement would sink the company and make it even harder for automakers to find replacements. While today’s guilty plea will bring some closure to the scandal, Takata is still facing multiple consumer and state-level lawsuits that could end up costing it millions more. The Justice Department is also still trying to extradite three former Takata executives from Japan so they can face criminal misconduct charges in the US.

Source: Associated Press

Connected teddy bears leaked kids’ voices online

When Germany banned a connected doll over security concerns, it wasn’t being overly cautious. As it turns out, there’s a textbook example of what happens when toy data privacy goes horribly wrong. Security researchers have discovered that Spiral Toys’ internet-savvy teddy bears, CloudPets, stored kids’ voice messages to their parents (not to mention names and birthdays) in an insecure, misconfigured database that anyone could access online. While the passwords for the toys’ accounts (over 821,000 of them) were stored in a cryptographic hash, there was no password strength limit — it was trivial to crack many accounts and download voice data at will. And it gets worse.

Info security expert Niall Merrigan found evidence that the databases were compromised. Intruders copied the databases, deleted the originals and demanded a payment in bitcoin to get the data back. Given that the databases appeared to be completely gone by January 13th, it doesn’t appear that Spiral gave into or acknowledged the demands.

As for Spiral’s response? There is none, and might never be. Microsoft’s Troy Hunt and others have tried reaching out to Spiral multiple times to no avail, and the company doesn’t appear to have notified customers despite obvious signs that something was amiss. From all indications, the company is on life support or dead: its social media accounts have been silent for months, and its stock price is near worthless.

We’ve asked security experts for added insight. However, between this and revelations for other products, it’s already clear that connected toy makers are walking on glass when they decide to put kids’ communications online. Even if a company doesn’t do anything shady, such as passing the info along to irresponsible third-parties, it can only take a slip-up to expose extremely sensitive messages to the world. And that’s assuming skilled hackers don’t find it first, or that the company doesn’t go belly-up without a firm plan to erase stored data. This doesn’t mean that companies should abandon internet-capable toys altogether, but they need both weigh the merits of storing any info online and take very, very through precautions to make sure that incidents like this can’t happen.

Source: Troy Hunt, Niall Merrigan (Twitter)

Sensor turns on a cop’s body camera when their gun is pulled

Years after high-profile police shootings pressured departments across the country to adopt body cameras, results have been mixed. The increased accountability expected from their rollout has been marred with technical malfunctions or absent footage when officers fail to turn on their devices. Stun gun maker TASER wants to change this with a simple sensor that automatically turns on body cameras when an officer’s gun leaves its holster.

The Signal Sidearm specifically works with cameras within TASER’s Axon brand, triggering any within a 30-foot radius to start recording once a gun is drawn from a sensor-equipped holster. On one hand, it’s a great way to get simultaneous synced coverage for overlapping footage from multiple angles. On the other, if recording starts only after officers pull their firearms, there’s no account of the escalation.

Therefore, it’s likely best as a redundant trigger when partnered with the rest of Axon’s Signal sensors, which activate cameras for events like flicking on a patrol car’s light bar or opening its door. But since departments still establish their own body camera systems, there’s room for the same unintentional (or even deliberate) faulty setups that have kept them from becoming foolproof evidence gatherers.

Source: PR Newswire

Fox tests auto-downloading movies onto your phone

Wouldn’t you like it if newish movies trickle-downloaded onto your phone when you weren’t looking so you could watch them later? That’s the concept behind an experiment being carried out by 20th Century Fox over the next month. The studio has partnered with Australian mobile network Telstra and Ericsson to test a mobile app that quietly pulls down flicks for watching, offline, later on. Assuming, at least, that you pay the requisite fee to unlock the film that’s quietly occupying space on your smartphone.

The theoretical system would work by gently downloading movies onto devices in the background, with users paying a fee to unlock them. It appears as if the content would be pushed over Telstra’s LTE-B network (for video broadcasting) at no charge to the consumer. After all, you’re going to be paying for the movie, packed within a very tight DRM wrapper, so it would seem churlish to make you pay for its delivery as well.

According to The Verge, the experiment won’t use the network at all; instead testers are being handed a Galaxy S7 with all the films pre-loaded. So far, only a handful of titles are being offered, including The Martian, Deadpool and The Revenant. But the idea is that eventually there will be a broad catalog of titles that will filter onto your device automatically, based on your movie-watching preferences. You know, like TiVo Suggestions, only with more buzzwords.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from MWC 2017.

Here’s what you missed from the MWC 2017 press events

All the big press conferences here at MWC 2017 are finally over, and that means it’s time to bring you all the news and reports of the quirkiest developments on the show floor. But in case you haven’t been closely following the announcements out of Barcelona (we understand, there was a huge mixup at the Oscars), here’s a quick recap of all the most important press events at the show.

BlackBerry made a well-received return with the new KEYone handset at an event that was, strangely enough, hosted by a member of the media. LG unveiled its new flagship smartphone, which ditches modularity in favor of improving the essentials. Huawei and Pantone spent a really, really long time describing exactly what the inspiration for the unique colors of the new P10 smartphones are, and we even heard that about half of the people who lined up for the event didn’t get to enter. Meanwhile, Samsung stole its own show, which ran smoothly despite a brief (and very polite) incident with a Greenpeace protester, by dropping an official date for the Galaxy S8 launch.

Still, the news that has been generating the most excitement at MWC so far is Nokia’s revival of the beloved 3310 phone. At its keynote event, Nokia called the 3310 the “most meme-ed phone in the world,” and had a real live choir vocalize the iconic startup tone before each executive took the stage. It’s been a wild MWC so far, but we’re not even nearly done with the news yet. Still, at least the big stuff is out of the way, and you can now catch up on all of it in one nifty supercut.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from MWC 2017.

Visit NASA’s newly discovered planets in ‘Elite: Dangerous’

Sadly, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever visit the Trappist-1 system’s newly-discovered Earth-sized planets in your lifetime… not unless someone develops near-light speed travel, anyway. However, you’ll at least have the option of a virtual tour. Frontier Developments is promising Ars Technica that the second Elite: Dangerous version 2.3 beta will let you visit Trappist-1 and its seven worlds. The developers are really just modifying an existing system in a similar location (Core Sys Sector XU-P a5-0), but that still means that you’ll get a rough sense of what it would be like. You’ll get to land on at least some of them, two of which will be Earth-like.

This second beta is due sometime within the next few weeks, but the first (which should be available now) is still a big deal. It adds multi-crew support, giving you the chance to man a turret or fighter aboard a friend’s ship. There’s also a dramatic overhaul to the camera system (including new tools and piloting from external camera views) that should lead to more cinematic fan videos, and an avatar creator gives you a virtual persona in the game. The only catch is that you’ll have to be on Windows to get an early peek — none of the betas will be available on Mac or Xbox One.

Source: Ars Technica

Was that ‘Moonlight’ Oscar mix-up caused by a tweet?

By now, you’ve probably seen the video from last night: Warren Beatty looking confused holding an envelope and card that didn’t match what he expected, Faye Dunaway announcing the wrong winner, and, eventually, the cast and crew of Moonlight correctly accepting their Academy Award for Best Picture. What you may not know, is that the entire thing could be the result of distraction by tweet.

WATCH: Moment where crew/cast of ‘La La Land’ realizes a mistake had been made and ‘Moonlight’ actually won Best Picture. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/WCCopwsJ66

— Good Morning America (@GMA) February 27, 2017

The Wall Street Journal posted this screengrab of a (now deleted) tweet by PricewaterhouseCoopers managing partner Brian Cullinan, showing Emma Stone backstage after accepting her award for Best Actress. The only problem? That picture was probably taken and posted around the time Cullinan should’ve been handing the Best Picture envelope to Beatty.

In case you didn’t know, there are two people at the Awards entrusted with both the envelopes and the knowledge of each winner. Cullinan is one, while his counterpart Martha Ruiz is the other, standing on the opposite side of the stage so they can each be ready to hand presenters the correct information and prevent any mix-ups.

The envelope announcing Stone’s award came from Ruiz, and somehow, Beatty was given its duplicate, instead of the one announcing the winner for Best Picture. PricewaterhouseCoopers tweeted last night that it’s “investigating” how this could happen, and confirmed to USA Today that Cullinan gave Beatty the wrong envelop. There’s no official judgment yet, but anyone who has been caught chasing likes and RTs on social media while they should’ve been paying attention to things like wedding vows, graduations or driving can figure this one out.

pic.twitter.com/oGJkXytnQ2

— PwC LLP (@PwC_LLP) February 27, 2017

Source: Wall Street Journal, CNN, Brian Cullinan (Twitter)

AT&T’s new data plans are cheaper than before, but not necessarily better

Why it matters to you

AT&T’s new Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Choice plan give new and existing subscribes more uncapped data options than before.

When AT&T announced that it would open its unlimited data plan to new and existing subscribers last week, it wasn’t quite on par with the competition’s offerings. Unlike T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint’s unlimited data options, AT&T’s uncapped tier didn’t support mobile hotspots and was by far the most expensive. Responding to a chorus of criticism, the carrier on Monday announced changes to its unlimited data plan that position it better among the major plans available.

Beginning Thursday, AT&T’s reworked unlimited plan, Unlimited Plus, will add streaming entertainment to the mix. Customers who opt for the option will receive a $25 monthly video credit if they subscribe to AT&T’s DirecTV, DirecTV Now, or U-verse TV streaming plan, and DirecTV customers who enroll in an unlimited plan will see $25 credited to their existing bill. That brings the price of DirecTV’s premium All-Included Package for new customers to $25, AT&T notes.

More: It’s finally back — Verizon again offers its unlimited data plan to eager customers

But there’s more to Unlimited Plus than a monthly discount. AT&T subscriber get unlimited data, talk, and text, up to 10GB (slowed to 128Kbps after it’s exhausted) of high-speed mobile hotspot data per smartphone, and the option to connect a tablet and other devices for $20 a month, and LTE-connected watches for $10 a month.

With a premium DirecTV package, discounts for automatic bill payments and paperless billing, and the aforementioned $25 monthly credit, the total for AT&T Unlimited Plus comes to $115 a month, AT&T said. Four lines cost $185 a month or $195 with DirecTV Now.

AT&T’s also introducing a cheaper unlimited tier: the AT&T Unlimited Choice plan. For $60 a month, subscribers get unlimited talk, text, and data up to a maximum speed of 3Mbps — videos stream at standard definition (480p) at a max speed of 1.5Mbps. After autopay and paperless discounts, monthly charges for four lines come to $155, and a single smartphone starts at $60 a month.

More: AT&T caves to the competition, suddenly serves up a new unlimited data plan

Both AT&T’s Unlimited Plus plan and Unlimited Choice plan include unlimited calls from the U.S. to Canada and Mexico and unlimited texting to over 120 countries. In addition, subscribers can talk, text, and use data in Mexico an Canada without incurring roaming charges.

As always, there’s some fine print worth noting. Subscribers who use more than 22GB in a month are subject to having their speeds throttled. Monthly bill credits for AT&T’s video subscription plans don’t kick in until the third month, and require a 24-month contract. Autopay discounts start in 1-2 bill cycles. And if voice, text, or data usage in Mexico and/or Canada exceeds 50 percent of a subscriber’s total voice, text, or data, for two months in a row, the feature may be removed.

Still, it’s an improvement over AT&T’s first attempt. And with unlimited plans back in vogue among the major four U.S. carriers, there’s bound to be more around the corner.

See AT&T plans here

Intel slash-and-burns processor prices ahead of AMD’s Ryzen CPU launch

Why it matters to you

With AMD’s Ryzen desktop processor launch just around the corner, prices are dropping for Intel’s chips to prevent customers from jumping ship.

AMD’s new Ryzen desktop processor family is about to arrive in an over-packed station wagon in a matter of days, threatening to put a dent in Intel’s current performance desktop processor market share. AMD has already baited customers with an option to pre-purchase its three top-of-the-line chips, with the most expensive model costing $500 and performing on a par with a similar Intel processor costing over $1,000. That has pushed Intel to lower its prices before the Ryzen family arrives with a bang.

The price cuts have already shown up on Microcenter, revealing reductions ranging from $15 to $300. For instance, the Intel Core i7-6950X chip originally sold for $1,900, but is now $300 less, representing the biggest price reduction so far. This is a ten-core processor launched in the second quarter of 2016 with a base clock speed of 3.0GHz and a boost clock speed of 4.0GHz.

Here are the price reductions seen on Microcenter so far:

Core i7

Core i7-6950X
Core i7-6900K
Core i7-6850K
Core i7-6800K
New Price:
$1,599
$999
$549
$359
Price reduction:
$300
$200
$150
$140
 

 
Core i7-5820K
Core i7-7700K
Core i7-6700K
Core i7-4790K
New Price:
$319
$299
$259
$279
Price reduction:
$100
$80
$140
$90
 

 
Core i7-7700
Core i7-6700

New price:
$289
$259

Price reduction:
$50
$90

Core i5

Core i5-7600K
Core i5-6600K
Core i5-4690K
Core i5-7500
New price:
$199
$179
$189
$189
Price reduction:
$70
$90
$70
$30
 

 
Core i5-6500
Core i5-4590

New price:
$179
$159

Price reduction:
$50
$60

Core i3

 
Core i3-7350K
Core i3-7100
Core i3-6100

New price:
$159
$114
$109

Price reduction:
$20
$15
$20

Pentium

 
Pentium G4400
Pentium G3258
 

New price:
$50
$50

Price reduction:
$20
$20

Microcenter isn’t the only online retailer slashing the prices of Intel desktop processors. Amazon is showing discounted prices, too, such as the $315 Core i7-6700 now priced at $305, and the Core i7-6850K reduced from $628 to $580.  Meanwhile, the Core i7-6700K currently costs $310 over on Newegg, down from $370. The Core i5-6600K now costs $230 instead of $250.

Currently, AMD’s $400 Ryzen 7 1700X desktop processor is the second-best-selling CPU on Amazon, slotting behind the $340 Intel Core i7-7700K and ahead of the $240 Intel Core i5-7600K. AMD’s $330 Ryzen 7 1700 chip resides in seventh place while the $500 Ryzen 7 1800X falls into thirteenth place. All three AMD processors are up for pre-purchase only, and won’t actually become available until March 2.

More: Upcoming AMD Ryzen 7 1800X CPU achieves new Cinebench world record

Just for kicks, let’s compare the two top-selling desktop processors that just happen to sport the same price tag:

Core i7-7700K
Ryzen 7 1700X
Cores:
4
8
Threads:
8
16
Base speed:
3.60GHz
3.6GHz
Boost speed:
4.20GHz
3.8GHz
Cache:
8MB
20MB
Maximum power draw:
65 watts
95 watts
Integrated graphics:
Intel HD Graphics 630
None
Graphics base speed:
350MHz
n/a
Graphics max speed:
1.1GHz
n/a
Price:
$400
$400

As shown above, AMD’s chip has twice the number of cores and threads, but consumes more power. In Intel’s defense, the i7-7700K includes integrated graphics, thus AMD customers still need to purchase an additional GPU solution. Moreover, Intel’s prices may drop even further later this year when the launch of its eighth-generation “Coffee Lake” processor family grows near.

SD cards will transfer data at more than 600MB per second, thanks to the UHS-III

Why it matters to you

The new bus interface will allow SD cards to meet the needs of future high-bandwidth applications like 8K video recording.

To meet the future demands of gigabit wireless communication, 360-degree cameras, and 8K video, the SD Association (SDA) announced a new UHS-III bus interface which will potentially double transfer rates over today’s fastest UHS-II cards. With a theoretical peak speed of 624 megabytes per second, UHS-III will bring the SD format to levels of performance previously only available in CFast 2.0 and XQD cards.

While there is little need for such performance today, UHS-III will ensure that the SD format remains relevant going forward. “SD memory card capabilities continue to expand, paving the way for new and highly anticipated imaging and video features, from virtual reality to 8K video,” SDA president Brian Kumagai said in a statement.

As SD card capacities continue to approach the theoretical maximum of two terabytes, a faster transfer speed will also speed up the process of offloading large amounts of data. Regardless of the demands of a camera or other host device, saving time on the post-production side of things is something any user can appreciate.

More: SanDisk announces development of the only SD card you’ll ever need

Physically, UHS-III cards will look identical to current UHS-II models, with the same second row of pins nestled below the primary row found on all SD cards. The new bus will be available in both SD and MicroSD form factors and a new “III” emblem will identify a card as UHS-III. This may further convolute the already confusing medley of labels that appear on SD cards, which can include up to three-speed class designations. For example, consumers could easily misinterpret the U3 label, found on high-end UHS-II cards, as signifying UHS-III.

As with the move from the UHS-I to UHS-II, devices will need to be designed specifically to take advantage of UHS-III’s new speed. Such devices will be backward compatible with the older standards, however. Given the physical similarities of UHS-II and UHS-III cards, manufacturers should have little trouble adopting the new format.

The news comes just days after Sony’s reveal of the world’s fastest UHS-II SD card, with a read speed of 300MBps and a write speed of 299MBps. UHS-II carries a theoretical limit of 312MBps, leaving little room for further improvements. The announcement of UHS-III, then, seems to be right on time.