News and other tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share
If you get an email from Apple talking about a $5 settlement, don’t dismiss it as spam—there’s a good chance it’s legitimate. The settlement is for people who made purchases within an app (say for game aids). See the linked articles for more information.
Link #1: http://www.komando.com/…
Link #2: http://www.businessweek.com/…
(via Kim Komando)
Researchers at Ohio State University have found a way to release the energy in coal without producing greenhouse gases or pollution. The process is called coal-direct chemical looping, and it looks very promising. This could be big, very big.
Link #1: http://www.osu.edu/…
Link #2: http://www.foxnews.com/…
(via Kim Komando)
Earth is doomed, and there’s nothing we can do about it. The Andromeda galaxy is about to smash into the Milky Way. (It’s currently heading towards us at 250,000 mph, and that speed will increase as it gets closer.) Earth will be torn from its galactic orbit and flung elsewhere. Fortunately this will happen in about 4 billion years, so I for one will be quite happy to see it in person.
Thanks to Josh for this link.
The United States recently replaced its old telephone-based Emergency Alert System with a web-based one. And of course this opened the system to hackers, who broke in and broadcast an alert about zombies rising from the grave (“Local authorities in your area have reported the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living.”). Various television and radio stations in California, Michigan, Montana, and New Mexico actually broadcast the alert. It appears the main problem was that those stations didn’t change the default password for the new system. Oops.
Link: http://www.thespec.com/…
(via Bureau 42)
Ever wondered about the difference between a virus, a trojan, and a worm? And just what is a drive-by download? And if my computer is a zombie, will it try to eat my brain? Kim Komando uses everyday language to explain these terms and more, in the linked article.
Link: http://www.komando.com/…
This year’s crop of Superbowl commercials was definitely lacking. But Hulu has all of them available online. Here are my favorites:
Note: if your Internet browser has an ad-blocking extension, you will need to disable it to view the videos.
Link: http://www.hulu.com/…
There are multiple security issues with Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) implementations, some of which have been known for years. (For those who aren’t familiar with UPnP, it’s a protocol that makes it easier to set up network devices. For example, it allows a PC to seamlessly connect with a new network printer.) Security researchers at Rapid7 performed tests to determine just how many Internet-connected systems were vulnerable, and the results were staggering—they found 81 million unique IP addresses that had at least one of the vulnerabilities, which comes out to about 40-50 million devices.
The vulnerabilities allow hackers to either crash the device or run arbitrary code. At first this may not seem like a big issue—I mean, who really cares if someone manages to hack your network scanner? But then if you think about it, what if they make copies of everything you scan and send them to a central server in Russia? Or what if your printer is hacked and they start printing spam? Or if they just decide to see how many devices they can bring down across the world?
You may be wondering, what does this mean for people like you and me? Most home users can safely ignore UPnP vulnerabilities on every network device except the Internet router/modem, provided the router’s firewall is enabled. But you will need to lock down the router. I was able to access my Actiontec router and quickly disable UPnP in the advanced settings. If you don’t know how to do this, I suggest contacting your ISP for help, or, if you purchased the router from a store, contact the manufacturer.
This web page will test your router and determine if it’s vulnerable. There’s also a free Windows program, ScanNow, that will check your local network to see which devices are affected. If you find one, the best thing to do is check the manufacturer’s website for firmware updates, although this may not fix the problem.
The linked white paper has technical details, as well as links to documents that list every vulnerable device. (These links are on the last page.)
Link #1: http://arstechnica.com/…
Link #2 (white paper): https://community.rapid7.com/…
The linked article is a firsthand account by Air Force pilot Brian Shul of what it’s like to fly an SR-71 in combat conditions—in his case, over Libya in 1986. For those who aren’t familiar with it, the SR-71 is the fastest plane ever built, reaching speeds well above Mach 3. Shul also provides some background information on the plane, which was retired in 1989 (then reactivated in a limited capacity and retired again in 1998).
Thanks to Mike Primm for this link.
Link: http://gizmodo.com/…
Last Saturday (1/26/2013), there was a huge space battle in EVE Online, a massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG). What started out as a minor raid became one of the largest battles in the history of the game, involving more than 2800 ships and 3200 players. All because one player clicked the wrong command.
Link: http://www.tor.com/…
The New Yorker gives an in-depth look at Apollo Robbins, a professional magician and lecturer whose act revolves around picking pockets. He’s so good at it that he can remove people’s glasses and engagement rings without them realizing it. This level of skill requires significant knowledge of human cognition, and he lectures about what he’s learned to law enforcement, the military, corporations, and neuroscientists. This knowledge of human nature is actually the most important part of being a master pickpocket, as opposed to manual dexterity (which is also a necessity, of course, but it’s not sufficient in and of itself). Also interesting is that he learned everything intuitively, and it was only after he studied the field of human cognition that he was able to put words to what he knew.
Link: http://www.newyorker.com/…
(via Neatorama)
Beginning today, US merchants in 40 states have the option of charging checkout fees for Visa and MasterCard credit card purchases, to cover the surcharges they pay. In the past this has been prohibited by the credit card companies, but that’s no longer the case due to a preliminary lawsuit settlement. The fee can vary from 1.5% to 4% of the purchase price and cannot be more than the amount paid by the merchant. Usage is voluntary, and initial adoption is expected to be slow and limited to smaller merchants. Only actual credit cards are affected—prepaid cards and debit cards are exempt, even if you select “credit” as the payment method. Ten states have passed laws prohibiting checkout fees: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas. Note that American Express and Discover are not part of the settlement, but their merchant agreements allow checkout fees provided they are consistently applied to all cards.
Link #1: http://abcnews.go.com/…
(via Slashdot)
Link #2 (Summary): http://knowyourcard.org/…
Link #3 (Summary): http://usa.visa.com/…
There are apps for most smartphones that allow you to find the phone’s location via GPS or cell tower triangulation. I’ve read stories about people using this to track down stolen phones, where they confront the thief, who then sheepishly returns the phone. (Side note: confronting thieves is not necessarily a wise idea, as you never know how they’ll react.)
But the system isn’t perfect. For some reason, certain Sprint phones are erroneously reported as being located at a man’s house in Las Vegas. For the last couple years, Wayne Dobson has been accosted by irate phone owners and police, at all times of the day and night. He’s even put up a sign saying “NO LOST CELL PHONES!!”. But recently the encounters are getting more serious, so Mr. Dobson has publicized the situation. Hopefully this will prompt Sprint to fix the problem.
Note that this isn’t the first time Sprint has had this issue.
Link: http://www.lvrj.com/…
(via Slashdot)
