Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Defense Department developing portable hacking device for soldiers

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/26/defense-department-developing-portable-hacking-device-for-soldie/


It's not exactly news that the Department of Defense is looking at ways to make hacking a more practical weapon, but it looks to really be stepping up its game with its latest project, which promises to make complicated attacks as simple as a few button presses. That would apparently be possible thanks to a slightly mysterious device that'd be small enough to carry around in a backpack, but powerful enough to do everything from breaking into a wireless network to hacking into SCADA (or Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems (used at power plants, nuclear facilities, and the like). While complete details are obviously a bit light, the system would apparently be able to, for instance, map out the nodes in a wireless network, cause them to disconnect, and watch them come back online to identify weak spots. It would then present the "hacker" with various attack attributes that could simply be adjusted using sliders on a touchscreen. No word if the soldiers will also be rewarded with Achievements.

[Via Softpedia]

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Defense Department developing portable hacking device for soldiers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 14:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canonical giving Ubuntu the gift of Android apps

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/26/canonical-giving-ubuntu-the-gift-of-android-apps/


Well, here's a wild new spin on the Android for netbooks debate: Canonical, commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, is creating an Android execution environment that would allow Android apps to run on Ubuntu and other desktop-style Linux distros, which seems like the best of both worlds for netbooks in most cases. Canonical already has a working prototype of the execution environment, and plans on making the necessary changes to the kernel in its next version of Ubuntu to give Android all the juice it needs at the core level and will open source the project soon. Things are still early, and there's a lot of work to do before this is going to really make the highly specialized Java-based Android apps actually usable on regular Linux -- they're currently working on granting Android access to the Ubuntu file system, for instance -- but we love where this is headed.

[Thanks, Michael Y.; Image courtesy of Scott James Remnant]

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Canonical giving Ubuntu the gift of Android apps originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 15:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp slings out industry's thinnest solar modules for cellphones

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/26/sharp-slings-out-industrys-thinnest-solar-modules-for-cellphone/


Timely, no? Just a month after Sharp aided in producing the planet's first waterproof solar cellphone, the aforementioned outfit has just announced the industry's thinnest solar module for handsets. Checking in at just 0.8 millimeters thick, the LR0GC02 shouldn't take up too much space on your daughter's great-granddaughter's smartphone, and while Sharp isn't handing over too many details just yet, we figure it'll pretty much do what it says. You know -- charge the handset it's integrated into whenever sunlight is available. As for when we'll see these in cellphones everywhere? Take a wild guess, tree-hugger.

[Via Akihabara News]

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Sharp slings out industry's thinnest solar modules for cellphones originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 May 2009 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia next-gen "Rover" tablet unveiled?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/25/nokia-next-gen-rover-tablet-unveiled/


After the spec rundown this morning of the long-rumored Maemo 5 tablet from Nokia, we've now got ourselves a potential name and image to pair with the wonderful promise of 3G and OMAP3. According to this shot obtained by Cellpassion, the next-generation Internet Tablet device is taking quite a bit of an N-series turn, with that 3.5-inch WVGA screen (instead of the 4-inch display on the N810), three-row QWERTY keyboard and other refinements making this look to be much more a smartphone than a tablet -- which is presumably exactly what Nokia is going for. Naturally, we can't vouch for the source, and there are enough oddities to the image -- which seems to be gleaned from a presentation slide of some sort -- to voice caution, but if this is truly the marriage of Maemo with handset we've always dreamed of, it's going to be a little difficult to rein in our enthusiasm.

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Nokia next-gen "Rover" tablet unveiled? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 May 2009 18:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Aspire Timeline found in the wild, chilling in Canada and up for pre-order in UK

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/25/acer-aspire-timeline-found-in-the-wild-chilling-in-canada/

Acer's been largely mum about its new Aspire Timeline laptop since its initial unveiling back in early April, but now it looks like the company's getting ready to roll out the portable to the customer base at large, if these spy shots from a from a Canadian-based Future Shop store are any indication. The list of specs is a bit hard to read, but from what we gather, the 14-inch Aspire 4810TZ-4129 is packing a 1.3GHz Intel Pentium SU2700, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD, a DVD drive, WiFi, WAN, a touted 8 hour battery life, and Windows Vista Home Premium. No indication on the price or official street date, however, but if they're being sent to retail, we can't imagine we'll be waiting too much longer. Feast your own eyes on the specs sheet in the image after the break.

Update: Reader Oleg has written in to let us know it's also up for pre-order at UK retail site PC World -- 14-inch for £550 and 15.6-inch for £600.

[Thanks, waterboy99troop]

Continue reading Acer Aspire Timeline found in the wild, chilling in Canada and up for pre-order in UK

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Acer Aspire Timeline found in the wild, chilling in Canada and up for pre-order in UK originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 May 2009 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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