With several companies developing technologies that can turn any surface into a touchscreen, it should be widely available soon. Those who want to try it out before it's cool, however, should look towards Ubi Interactive's software that combines the talents of Microsoft's Kinect for Windows sensor and a projector. So long as the software's installed on a Windows 8 computer, the sensor tracks and detects movements users make on the projected image. Interactions are the same as any tablet or smartphone, including launching icons by tapping on them and expanding areas with pinch-to-zoom. Merely a concept in 2012, the software is now available on Ubi's website with prices ranging from $149 to $1,499, depending on the display size and the type of customer support. Sounds like even an Average Joe can nab one, assuming they already have a projector and one of Microsoft's $250 motion / voice detectors.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Fraud is on a whole new level with these "geniuses"...
Here's the plan. We'll take some ice cubes. We'll stuff them into parcels. Next, we'll take the parcels to our local post office.
Now here's the clever part. We'll say they're iPads, send them as special delivery and insure them for 2,500 British pounds (almost $4,000). Then we'll say the iPads never got there and claim compensation.
What can possibly go wrong?
You might think I have lost the passcode to my faculties. However, the plan I am describing was precisely that followed by two gentlemen who wanted to make a little money.
Their names are Nathan Meunch and Nigel Bennett. As the Mirror reports, these two cunning Brits executed this plan to near-perfection.
They did, it's fair to say, strike an early obstacle.
Elaine Sloane, the lady at the post office in Telford, U.K., explained: "I just happened to say to the gentleman: 'Is it raining outside?' and he said yes. But it seemed strange to me because I could see from where I was sitting it didn't look like it was raining."
Meunch, you see, had areas of damp adorning his jacket.
Still, Sloane took the parcel. However, a short while later there was dampness among the parcels marked for special delivery.
This was caused by the melting iCubes.
Sloane revealed to the Shropshire Star: "We had a little look and you could see all ice in there. He had sent it as iPads and I couldn't believe it was all this water and the box was disintegrating."
Still, the parcel was secured and actually sent. Sticking to their plan, a claim for compensation was duly filed by Meunch.
Oh, but staff at the post office had already noted the parcel's dubious nature. So when the claim came in, the authorities were ready.
Bennett's lawyer said that his client was short of money. However, in a less than spirited defense, he also described the plan as "rather pathetic."
The two men were found guilty of fraud Monday. Their punishment was to go and work at Foxconn for a year. I am sorry, I don't have that quite right.
In fact, they were given a 12-month community order -- they must spend time working in the community. They must also spend 150 hours working in court.
This whole plan almost makes the people who sold wooden iPads for $180 seem like savvy entrepreneurs.
Source: CNET
Now here's the clever part. We'll say they're iPads, send them as special delivery and insure them for 2,500 British pounds (almost $4,000). Then we'll say the iPads never got there and claim compensation.
What can possibly go wrong?
You might think I have lost the passcode to my faculties. However, the plan I am describing was precisely that followed by two gentlemen who wanted to make a little money.
Their names are Nathan Meunch and Nigel Bennett. As the Mirror reports, these two cunning Brits executed this plan to near-perfection.
They did, it's fair to say, strike an early obstacle.
Elaine Sloane, the lady at the post office in Telford, U.K., explained: "I just happened to say to the gentleman: 'Is it raining outside?' and he said yes. But it seemed strange to me because I could see from where I was sitting it didn't look like it was raining."
Meunch, you see, had areas of damp adorning his jacket.
Still, Sloane took the parcel. However, a short while later there was dampness among the parcels marked for special delivery.
This was caused by the melting iCubes.
Sloane revealed to the Shropshire Star: "We had a little look and you could see all ice in there. He had sent it as iPads and I couldn't believe it was all this water and the box was disintegrating."
Still, the parcel was secured and actually sent. Sticking to their plan, a claim for compensation was duly filed by Meunch.
Oh, but staff at the post office had already noted the parcel's dubious nature. So when the claim came in, the authorities were ready.
Bennett's lawyer said that his client was short of money. However, in a less than spirited defense, he also described the plan as "rather pathetic."
The two men were found guilty of fraud Monday. Their punishment was to go and work at Foxconn for a year. I am sorry, I don't have that quite right.
In fact, they were given a 12-month community order -- they must spend time working in the community. They must also spend 150 hours working in court.
This whole plan almost makes the people who sold wooden iPads for $180 seem like savvy entrepreneurs.
Source: CNET
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Ever wanted to hunt ghosts? It's simple! Just grab your iPhone and this 99 cent app...
Ghost hunters Roger Pingleton and Jill Beitz, founders of StreamSide Software, have developed an iPhone app they say gives the dead a voice.
In developing the Spirit Story Box app (99 cents to download at the Apple app store; there is no Android version), Pingleton said his goal was to improve on other paranormal apps for the iPhone.
"Bottom line is we wanted people to have fun with it," Pingleton said.
Beitz, Pingleton and about a dozen others recently used Spirit Story Box to search for ghosts at the Wayne County Historical Museum in Richmond.
"They had a blast with it," Pingleton said. "They had numerous words spoken that related directly to the areas where they were hunting."
The Spirit Story Box app picks up changes in random electrical noise to select words from a preprogrammed vocabulary.
When the app hits on something, it comes out of the iPhone as a spoken word.
Some paranormal investigators think the spirits can manipulate random streams of data. Scientists, of course, denounce the idea.
The app, like myriad other devices that claim to detect or communicate with spirits, cannot be proved to work.
Wanda Lou Willis, 75, a folklore historian and author from Indianapolis, has researched the supernatural and haunted locations for several books. She said many people believe that electronic devices can be tuned to communicate with spirits.
"Electricity seems to attract the spirits," Willis said. "Human beings have a lot of electricity in our bodies. It is believed that when we pass over, our spirit becomes something in the universe, sort of an electrical current."
Skeptics, and there are many, say devices and programs like the Spirit Story Box iPhone app are neatly packaged random word generators. Any connection the selected words or phrases bring forth, critics say, is found solely in the minds of gullible users.
For every critic there's a believer. A 2003 Harris Poll found 51percent of the public believes in ghosts.
"There is nothing in this world that doesn't exist for someone, somewhere, at some time, including being able to connect with and contact a spirit," Willis said. "You have to have your mind open to it to have it really happen."
Source: USA Today
In developing the Spirit Story Box app (99 cents to download at the Apple app store; there is no Android version), Pingleton said his goal was to improve on other paranormal apps for the iPhone.
"Bottom line is we wanted people to have fun with it," Pingleton said.
Beitz, Pingleton and about a dozen others recently used Spirit Story Box to search for ghosts at the Wayne County Historical Museum in Richmond.
"They had a blast with it," Pingleton said. "They had numerous words spoken that related directly to the areas where they were hunting."
The Spirit Story Box app picks up changes in random electrical noise to select words from a preprogrammed vocabulary.
When the app hits on something, it comes out of the iPhone as a spoken word.
Some paranormal investigators think the spirits can manipulate random streams of data. Scientists, of course, denounce the idea.
The app, like myriad other devices that claim to detect or communicate with spirits, cannot be proved to work.
Wanda Lou Willis, 75, a folklore historian and author from Indianapolis, has researched the supernatural and haunted locations for several books. She said many people believe that electronic devices can be tuned to communicate with spirits.
"Electricity seems to attract the spirits," Willis said. "Human beings have a lot of electricity in our bodies. It is believed that when we pass over, our spirit becomes something in the universe, sort of an electrical current."
Skeptics, and there are many, say devices and programs like the Spirit Story Box iPhone app are neatly packaged random word generators. Any connection the selected words or phrases bring forth, critics say, is found solely in the minds of gullible users.
For every critic there's a believer. A 2003 Harris Poll found 51percent of the public believes in ghosts.
"There is nothing in this world that doesn't exist for someone, somewhere, at some time, including being able to connect with and contact a spirit," Willis said. "You have to have your mind open to it to have it really happen."
Source: USA Today
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Do you save passwords in Google Chrome? Maybe you should reconsider...
You might want to think twice before you let someone borrow your computer.
The most obvious risk of allowing someone else access to your desktop is that they can impersonate you, using any app where you’re already signed in. They could send prank messages using your default email client, or profess your undying love for Justin Bieber using your logged-in Twitter account.
That’s annoying, but far from fatal.
But the situation becomes considerably worse if you use Google Chrome to save and sync passwords for easy logins at your favorite websites. An intruder who has unrestricted access to your computer for even a minute can view and copy all of your saved passwords just by visiting an easy-to-remember settings page: chrome://settings/passwords.
That link opens the local copy of your saved password cache, which is synchronized to every machine where you sign in with your Google account.
And the funny thing is, anyone who visits that page can see the plaintext version of every saved password just by clicking a button.
The saved password list shows the web address, username, and password for each saved set of credentials. Initially, the saved password is displayed as a row of asterisks. But if you click the masked password, you see a “Show” button that you can click to immediately display the saved password.
A malicious or spiteful intruder who can lure you away from your computer briefly can see your saved passwords, then close the settings page. And you have no idea that your credentials have been compromised.
Source: ZD Net
The most obvious risk of allowing someone else access to your desktop is that they can impersonate you, using any app where you’re already signed in. They could send prank messages using your default email client, or profess your undying love for Justin Bieber using your logged-in Twitter account.
That’s annoying, but far from fatal.
But the situation becomes considerably worse if you use Google Chrome to save and sync passwords for easy logins at your favorite websites. An intruder who has unrestricted access to your computer for even a minute can view and copy all of your saved passwords just by visiting an easy-to-remember settings page: chrome://settings/passwords.
That link opens the local copy of your saved password cache, which is synchronized to every machine where you sign in with your Google account.
And the funny thing is, anyone who visits that page can see the plaintext version of every saved password just by clicking a button.
The saved password list shows the web address, username, and password for each saved set of credentials. Initially, the saved password is displayed as a row of asterisks. But if you click the masked password, you see a “Show” button that you can click to immediately display the saved password.
A malicious or spiteful intruder who can lure you away from your computer briefly can see your saved passwords, then close the settings page. And you have no idea that your credentials have been compromised.
Source: ZD Net
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
New mobile phone plan to offer no minutes.
Don’t let the name fool you. TextNow aims to be a lot more than just another over-the-top texting app, and on Tuesday it demonstrated its ambitions by becoming first in the U.S. to offer an IP-only voice service over a smartphone, beating its virtual operator rival, FreedomPop, to market.
TextNow began selling refurbished versions of the Samsung Galaxy S II ($120) and Nexus S ($90), both with their standard phone features disabled. In their place is TextNow’s voice and text app, which lets you make VoIP-based calls and send IP SMS, just as you would on a normal mobile phone.
TextNow is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) on Sprint, but instead of buying bulk minutes and messages from its carrier partner, it’s sending all traffic over Sprint’s 3G data network.
The advantage of this approach is much lower costs. For its baseline service, TextNow is charging $19 a month, which includes 500 MB, unlimited texting, unlimited inbound calls, and 750 minutes of outbound calls. TextNow assigns you a standard telephone number, making the service look like any ordinary phone to outsiders—think Vonage on a smartphone. Sticking to its OTT roots, however, all calls to other TextNow users are free.
Essentially, the service is TextNow’s standard OTT app featured on a dedicated smartphone, with an access plan included. When Derek Ting, co-founder and chief executive officer of TextNow’s parent company Enflick, gave GigaOM a preview of the smartphone strategy in June, he explained that TextNow has always targeted younger consumers who couldn’t afford—or simply didn’t want—to pay for a monthly mobile service plan. Consequently, the typical TextNow customer uses its app to connect such devices as the iPod Touch or tablets with no mobile connection.
TextNow felt that those customers didn’t just need an app they could use on Wi-Fi but a full-bore mobile service that took advantage of IP communications to offer cheap voice plans. It started out selling a 3G Wi-Fi hotspot that could connect customers to the wider mobile network, but its ultimate goal was to offer phones following the same principle. That’s why TextNow is targeting older Android smartphones and refurbished handsets, Ting said: Not only can it offer a cheap service, but cheap devices as well.
TextNow isn’t the only company with an all-IP mobile strategy. Mobile broadband MVNO FreedomPop has promised to deliver its own VoIP service this summer, using Android phones and its unique freemium business model. MetroPCS has been supporting VoIP on its LTE systems since August, augmenting its traditional 2G network (though that service will quickly disappear as customers migrate over to T-Mobile’s (GSM network). And all the major carriers plan to offer voice over-LTE (VoLTE) in the next few years.
The difference is that the major carriers aren’t necessarily using VoIP to make their services cheaper. They’re tapping VoIP to make more efficient use of their networks and to build new IP communications features around their core voice services.
Source: Business Week
TextNow began selling refurbished versions of the Samsung Galaxy S II ($120) and Nexus S ($90), both with their standard phone features disabled. In their place is TextNow’s voice and text app, which lets you make VoIP-based calls and send IP SMS, just as you would on a normal mobile phone.
TextNow is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) on Sprint, but instead of buying bulk minutes and messages from its carrier partner, it’s sending all traffic over Sprint’s 3G data network.
The advantage of this approach is much lower costs. For its baseline service, TextNow is charging $19 a month, which includes 500 MB, unlimited texting, unlimited inbound calls, and 750 minutes of outbound calls. TextNow assigns you a standard telephone number, making the service look like any ordinary phone to outsiders—think Vonage on a smartphone. Sticking to its OTT roots, however, all calls to other TextNow users are free.
Essentially, the service is TextNow’s standard OTT app featured on a dedicated smartphone, with an access plan included. When Derek Ting, co-founder and chief executive officer of TextNow’s parent company Enflick, gave GigaOM a preview of the smartphone strategy in June, he explained that TextNow has always targeted younger consumers who couldn’t afford—or simply didn’t want—to pay for a monthly mobile service plan. Consequently, the typical TextNow customer uses its app to connect such devices as the iPod Touch or tablets with no mobile connection.
TextNow felt that those customers didn’t just need an app they could use on Wi-Fi but a full-bore mobile service that took advantage of IP communications to offer cheap voice plans. It started out selling a 3G Wi-Fi hotspot that could connect customers to the wider mobile network, but its ultimate goal was to offer phones following the same principle. That’s why TextNow is targeting older Android smartphones and refurbished handsets, Ting said: Not only can it offer a cheap service, but cheap devices as well.
TextNow isn’t the only company with an all-IP mobile strategy. Mobile broadband MVNO FreedomPop has promised to deliver its own VoIP service this summer, using Android phones and its unique freemium business model. MetroPCS has been supporting VoIP on its LTE systems since August, augmenting its traditional 2G network (though that service will quickly disappear as customers migrate over to T-Mobile’s (GSM network). And all the major carriers plan to offer voice over-LTE (VoLTE) in the next few years.
The difference is that the major carriers aren’t necessarily using VoIP to make their services cheaper. They’re tapping VoIP to make more efficient use of their networks and to build new IP communications features around their core voice services.
Source: Business Week
Monday, August 5, 2013
Your TV might be watching you...
The flaws in Samsung Smart TVs, which have now been patched, enabled hackers to remotely turn on the TVs' built-in cameras without leaving any trace of it on the screen. While you're watching TV, a hacker anywhere around the world could have been watching you. Hackers also could have easily rerouted an unsuspecting user to a malicious website to steal bank account information.
Samsung quickly fixed the problem after security researchers at iSEC Partners informed the company about the bugs. Samsung sent a software update to all affected TVs.
But the glitches speak to a larger problem of gadgets that connect to the Internet but have virtually no security to speak of.
Security cameras, lights, heating control systems and even door locks and windows are now increasingly coming with features that allow users to control them remotely. Without proper security controls, there's little to stop hackers from invading users' privacy, stealing personal information or spying on people.
In the case of Samsung Smart TVs, iSEC researchers found that they could tap into the TV's Web browser with ease, according to iSEC security analyst Josh Yavor. That gave hackers access to all the functions controlled by the browser, including the TV's built-in camera.
"If there's a vulnerability in any application, there's a vulnerability in the entire TV," said Aaron Grattafiori, also an analyst at iSEC.
Yavor and Grattafiori were also able to hack the browser in such a way that users would be sent to any website of the hacker's choosing. While the hack would have been obvious if the website on the screen didn't match the desired address, Yavor says there could be serious implications if a bad actor sent a user to a lookalike banking page and retrieved a user's credentials.
The research was conducted on different models of 2012 Samsung Smart TVs and was presented this week at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas.
In a statement to CNNMoney, Samsung said it takes user safety very seriously. Addressing the camera flaw, a company spokesperson said, "The camera can be turned into a bezel of the TV so that the lens is covered, or disabled by pushing the camera inside the bezel. The TV owner can also unplug the TV from the home network when the Smart TV features are not in use."
Samsung also recommends that customers use encrypted wireless access points.
The iSEC crew said they remain skeptical that the technology is perfectly secure, even after Samsung patched the bugs.
"We know that the way we were able to do this has been fixed; it doesn't mean that there aren't other ways that could be discovered in the future, " Yavor said.
Companies like Samsung pay hackers when they report security vulnerabilities like the ones iSEC found. The researchers are iSEC confident that there are more undetected flaws in these devices that they are running a fund-raiser off of finding bugs in Smart TVs at technology conference Def Con later this week.
Yavor and Grattafiori say users should run regular updates from vendors like they would for anti-virus definitions or system updates on the smartphone.
And when all else fails, users can always put tape over their cameras.
Source: CNN Money
Samsung quickly fixed the problem after security researchers at iSEC Partners informed the company about the bugs. Samsung sent a software update to all affected TVs.
But the glitches speak to a larger problem of gadgets that connect to the Internet but have virtually no security to speak of.
Security cameras, lights, heating control systems and even door locks and windows are now increasingly coming with features that allow users to control them remotely. Without proper security controls, there's little to stop hackers from invading users' privacy, stealing personal information or spying on people.
In the case of Samsung Smart TVs, iSEC researchers found that they could tap into the TV's Web browser with ease, according to iSEC security analyst Josh Yavor. That gave hackers access to all the functions controlled by the browser, including the TV's built-in camera.
"If there's a vulnerability in any application, there's a vulnerability in the entire TV," said Aaron Grattafiori, also an analyst at iSEC.
Yavor and Grattafiori were also able to hack the browser in such a way that users would be sent to any website of the hacker's choosing. While the hack would have been obvious if the website on the screen didn't match the desired address, Yavor says there could be serious implications if a bad actor sent a user to a lookalike banking page and retrieved a user's credentials.
The research was conducted on different models of 2012 Samsung Smart TVs and was presented this week at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas.
In a statement to CNNMoney, Samsung said it takes user safety very seriously. Addressing the camera flaw, a company spokesperson said, "The camera can be turned into a bezel of the TV so that the lens is covered, or disabled by pushing the camera inside the bezel. The TV owner can also unplug the TV from the home network when the Smart TV features are not in use."
Samsung also recommends that customers use encrypted wireless access points.
The iSEC crew said they remain skeptical that the technology is perfectly secure, even after Samsung patched the bugs.
"We know that the way we were able to do this has been fixed; it doesn't mean that there aren't other ways that could be discovered in the future, " Yavor said.
Companies like Samsung pay hackers when they report security vulnerabilities like the ones iSEC found. The researchers are iSEC confident that there are more undetected flaws in these devices that they are running a fund-raiser off of finding bugs in Smart TVs at technology conference Def Con later this week.
Yavor and Grattafiori say users should run regular updates from vendors like they would for anti-virus definitions or system updates on the smartphone.
And when all else fails, users can always put tape over their cameras.
Source: CNN Money
Thursday, August 1, 2013
So your teenager wants to open a Facebook account...here's how to handle it.
There are plenty of reasons Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks have a minimum age limit. Here's just one: Children aren't born with internal privacy settings.
Moms and Dads can't assume teens know what they should and shouldn't share online. And just because children meet the minimum age requirement (for Facebook, it's age 13), that doesn't mean they should rush to create an account. Colby Zintl of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit family and children's advocacy group, said kids are probably better equipped to deal with the not-always-kid-friendly content and situations found on social networks when they're 14 or 15.
Once everyone's in agreement about when to get online, parents should show kids how to go about it. Walk them through the privacy settings. Show them how to unfriend people and delete posts. Make sure that only their friends can view their profile.
Zintl suggested that parents activate the setting that allows kids to approve all posts before they're added to their timeline. "Talk to your child about the importance of that," Zintl said. "It relates to the concept of a digital footprint -- everything is permanent. If a child is going to post on your child's wall, there should be some barrier to entry there."
The current generation of kids are growing up as digital natives, so they're often comfortable with social media, but they still need to be careful. And thanks to proud parents and grandparents, their lives are probably well-documented. Said Zintl: "Parents posting pictures of their babies starts a kid's digital footprint for their entire life. They're creating a lifetime of photos and history online."
Common Sense Media urges parents to emphasize to kids that the Internet is written with a permanent Sharpie, not pencil. "Once a photo, or a comment, is out in cyberspace, there is no getting it back. Even if you take it down from Facebook, another kid could have forwarded it," Zintl said. "There is no such thing as a real eraser button in social media, and that is an important reminder to share with kids over and over again."
Source: CNET
Moms and Dads can't assume teens know what they should and shouldn't share online. And just because children meet the minimum age requirement (for Facebook, it's age 13), that doesn't mean they should rush to create an account. Colby Zintl of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit family and children's advocacy group, said kids are probably better equipped to deal with the not-always-kid-friendly content and situations found on social networks when they're 14 or 15.
Once everyone's in agreement about when to get online, parents should show kids how to go about it. Walk them through the privacy settings. Show them how to unfriend people and delete posts. Make sure that only their friends can view their profile.
Zintl suggested that parents activate the setting that allows kids to approve all posts before they're added to their timeline. "Talk to your child about the importance of that," Zintl said. "It relates to the concept of a digital footprint -- everything is permanent. If a child is going to post on your child's wall, there should be some barrier to entry there."
The current generation of kids are growing up as digital natives, so they're often comfortable with social media, but they still need to be careful. And thanks to proud parents and grandparents, their lives are probably well-documented. Said Zintl: "Parents posting pictures of their babies starts a kid's digital footprint for their entire life. They're creating a lifetime of photos and history online."
Common Sense Media urges parents to emphasize to kids that the Internet is written with a permanent Sharpie, not pencil. "Once a photo, or a comment, is out in cyberspace, there is no getting it back. Even if you take it down from Facebook, another kid could have forwarded it," Zintl said. "There is no such thing as a real eraser button in social media, and that is an important reminder to share with kids over and over again."
Source: CNET
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