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Thursday, December 22, 2011

drag2share: Hackers Stealing $3 Million from Subway Means You Should Probably Pay with Cash [Security]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5870170/hackers-stealing-3-million-from-subway-means-you-should-probably-pay-with-cash

If you've eaten at a Subway recently, there's a slight chance that you might've got your credit card information stolen. Okay probably not! But a group of Romanian hackers have managed to hack into Subway cash registers and have been logging down all sorts of customer info since 2008.

According to the courts, the hackers have managed to tap into 150 different Subway locations and 50 other small retailers through each store's point-of-sale systems, gathered credit card information from 80,000 people and racked up THREE MILLION DOLLARS in fraudulent chargers. What's amazing is how terribly simple the hack was, they didn't even have to break a sweat.

The Subway owners weren't following Subway security standards and fell into the slippery slope of leaky software. According to Ars Technica:

The hackers then deployed a collection of hacking tools to the POS systems, including logging software that recorded all the input into the systems-including credit card scans. They also installed a trojan, xp.exe, onto the systems to provide a back door to reconnect to the systems to allow the installation of additional malware, and prevent any security software updates.

All the info was transferred to FTP dump sites registered to stolen credit cards and some even began printing their own credit cards (with other people's information). Next time I buy a $5 footlong, I'm paying cash. [Ars Technica]

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drag2share: AMD's Radeon 7970 Is Here: Your New Drool-Worthy Super GPU [Guts]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5870314/amds-radeon-7970-is-here-your-new-drool+worthy-super-gpu

AMD's Radeon 7970 Is Here: Your New Drool-Worthy Super GPU The Radeon 7970 is packing some serious firsts: a brand new core design, and the world's first GPU using cool, efficient 28 nm transistors. But it's also designed, of course, to be fast as hell. Gamers, you're gonna want one.

The 7970's numbers are heavy as hell on paper: 3 GB of RAM, up to 32 internal computing units, the first use of PCI-E Gen 3, Direct X 11.1 support, and a fat, CPU-style L2 cache. That adds up to a potential six monitors gaming at once. And that's just with one—you can sling together up to four of these things at once. AMD is promising enormous gains over Nvidia's top cards—billing it as the world's fastest—but we'll hold off on judgment until we have something firmer than internal, synthetic benchmarks. Still, there's no reason to think this thing will be anything less than incredibly powerful, with both games (of course) and the bevy of desktop software it's capable of accelerating.

AMD's Radeon 7970 Is Here: Your New Drool-Worthy Super GPU But it's not all about power! The 7970 is power with responsibility, or something. It's capable of ramping up its power consumption when needed—and scaling it down to practically zero when your desktop has been idling for a while. And it'll be quiet, unlike many GPU powerhouses—no leaf blower, if AMD is to be believed. They claim a new fan design and smarter ventilation angles will mean softer cooling. With all that horsepower, we hope so!

Again, we'll have to wait until the 7970 drops on January 9th (for $550) to see how the card stacks up IRL. If you want to punch Battlefield 3 down into submission, be excited. [AMD]

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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

drag2share: Stonehenge Experience: The School of Rock [App Of The Day]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/vip/~3/_Cd2XdnHgcs/stonehenge-experience-the-school-of-rock

Unravel the mysteries of Stonehenge. Did aliens build it? Was it built by Druids as a place to sacrifice virgins? Oh Stonehenge, how you taunt us with your gray boulders and alignment with the sun. Luckily I no longer have to fear what I don't understand. The new Stonehenge Experience app will answer all my questions about alien sacrifices and sun dials.

What's it do?

Like the name implies, Stonehenge Experience helps you explore the British remains in an interactive fashion. See how the stones lie in relation to the sun as it passes overhead during the summer solstice. Use your finger to excavate the remains from the surrounding landscape. If you want to feel like you're actually there, the app uses the iPhones accelerometer and gyroscope to let you walk amongst the stones.

Why do we like it?

These are the kind of apps that get me all giddy inside. Sure, fighting demons and building towers is fun. But when an app takes full advantage of the available technology to help you learn about a topic, I'm ecstatic. The app includes the making of Stonehenge which should put to bed my fears that aliens are using it to sacrifice druids.

Stonehenge Experience

Download this app for:

iPhone, $3

The Best

Edutainment

The Worst

No Aliens

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drag2share: How to Create Synthetic Symphonies on Your Android [Video]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/vip/~3/nPuAY1rNRZI/how-to-create-synthetic-symphonies-on-an-android

The number of noteworthy music apps in Google's Android ecosystem is on the rise, but it's still weak in certain sub-categories – in particular, music-making apps. Until recently, Android showed a real dearth of high-powered music-making apps.

This was a real buzzkill for musicians (myself included) who wanted to make music on our Androids in mobile settings. Latency problems at the core of the Android OS (originally very real, and later exaggerated) and performance inconsistencies due to variation of Android devices from various manufacturers drove away the developers of serious music creation apps. Maybe they were just tired of all those comments saying "It doesn't work on my ___."

Thankfully, Android's latency problem was resolved, and the upshot is surprisingly-capable mobile apps including Audiotool Sketch.

Basically a pared-down version of the Audiotool web app, Audiotool Sketch for Android offers one melodic synth and two drum machines that clone popular analog sounds. It also makes quick, simple work of creating and editing beats, in stark contrast to apps like ReBirth for iOS, which have potential, features-wise, but look like the dashboard of a space shuttle.

Most importantly, for those that want to take this past the realm of "fun toy" and into the "useful tool" category, the output audio doesn't sound like you made it on a cellphone, as is apparent even in the following video demonstration. (The app looks like it really shines on an Android tablet, but unfortunately our Kindle Fire, which ranks among the most affordable models, is not supported.)

After setting the length of your melodic segment, you pick the notes in the melodic sequencer. Then, you can set accents and slides to each note and apply filters and waveform editors to home in on exactly the sound you want, while octave controls let you program bass and melody lines from the same interface.

And it scales, so to speak: Once you've programed a pattern, you can copy/paste it to one of the banks where you can edit and add variations, or randomize the sequence for automatic inspiration.

Two included drum machines work similarly to each other, but with slightly different sounds and ways to edit parameters. Working in concert, they provide a variety of rhythmic options. As with the melodic sequencer, you can also set the duration of drum sequences to be longer or shorter, to fit the groove.

An overview window handles the mixing of all of these elements. There, you can adjust volume and left/right panning for each virtual device and add delay (with adjustable mix and feedback). Also helpful: Pattern switching can be done from the mixing window, which means you could use this thing in a live composition/performance scenario. BPM is adjustable from this window with a simple slider, or by tapping - another essential feature in my book.

That about covers it, but this thorough video tutorial covers the features more in-depth - but really, for its current discounted rate of $1, which developer Audiotool says will be only through the end of the year, Audiotool Sketch is definitely worth seeing for yourself.

Evolver.fm observes, tracks and analyzes the music apps scene, with the belief that it's crucial to how humans experience music, and how that experience is evolving.

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drag2share: Intel's First Android Smartphone Plays Blu-ray Quality Video Without Breaking a Sweat [Intel]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5869995/this-is-the-first-intel+powered-smartphone

Intel's First Android Smartphone Plays Blu-ray Quality Video Without Breaking a Sweat Intel is late to the smartphone game, sure, but its Medfield system-on-chip has been touted as the firm's make-or-break venture into the market. Now the first working Intel Android phone is in the wild—and it seems mighty promising.

The guys over at Technology Review were lucky enough to get a sneak-preview of Intel's reference designs—devices which have been sent out to inspire manufacturers interested in building products around Intel's latest technology. Intel hopes that its first all-in-one mobile processor design can strip away some of the luster from UK-based ARM, which currently dominates the Android market.

The Technology Review team actually got their hands on a pair of Medfield prototypes running Android: a phone similar in size to the iPhone, running Gingerbread, and a tablet close to the iPad 2 in thickness, running Ice Cream Sandwich. So, are they any good?

From what they say, the phone seems promising. They report that it could play Blu-Ray-quality video and stream it to TV, and that web browsing was smooth and fast. Apparently the Medfield chip is designed specifically to speed up Android apps and Web browsing, so that probably has something to do with it.

Elsewhere, the camera seems impressive. With a burst mode which captures 10 full-size, eight-megapixel images in 0.66 seconds — equivalent to a rate of 15 frames per second — it seems real effort has been put into the image-processing capabilities of the devices.

The Intel tablet, which uses the same Medfield chip as the phone, runs Ice Cream Sandwich. With a slightly larger screen than the iPad 2, it was about the same in thickness and weight, and their short trial suggests that it was much nicer to use than many current Android tablets. Which isn't that hard, but it sounds promising.

Of course, there's the ever-looming question of battery life that has dogged Intel's mobile efforts in the past. All that power could mean a whole lot of drain. Still, Intel's wanted a piece of this market so badly for so long, one hopes that they wouldn't be diving in unless they'd really cracked it.

Intel VP Stephen Smith told Technology Review that Intel "expect products based on these [chips] to be announced in the first half of 2012." But with these references designs already with the big manufacturers, might we see some early announcements at CES in January? Let's wait and see. [Technology Review via The Verge; Image: Intel]

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drag2share: Google Voice for iOS Opens the Party Line with Group Texts [IPhone Apps]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5870059/google-voice-for-ios-opens-the-party-line-with-group-texts

Group texts can be liberating and educational, as long as it's done with consenting, trustworthy partners. So rejoice, iOS Google Voice users. With today's update, you can finally be an SMS swinger.

Other app improvements include integration with Sprint iPhones, an expanded text entry field, and one-touch copy/paste in the dialpad. They're welcome upgrades to an already terrific service. Just remember that safe text is especially important in a large group. [http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-voice/id318698524?mt=8iTunes]

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drag2share: Apple buys flash storage maker Anobit for $500 million, aims to establish R&D lab in Israel

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/apple-buys-flash-storage-maker-anobit-for-500-million-aims-to/

The rumor mill has been churning on this one for the last few days, but it's now as official as it's ever apt to get: Apple has decided to splash out the $500 million to buy Israeli flash-chip outfit Anobit. The fabless designer of MLC NAND flash chips should be a good fit, given Cupertino's reliance on solid state storage technology for its iPad, iPod, iPhone and Macbook Air lines. With $84 billion in the bank, the purchase has cost the company just over half a percent of its war chest, and we're guessing it'll just barely feel the pinch when said funds are transferred over. The story was originally reported in the Calcalist financial daily newspaper, with the verified Twitter account of the Prime Minister of Israel chiming in with the following:

"Welcome to Israel, Apple Inc. on your [first] acquisition here. I'm certain that you'll benefit from the fruit of the Israeli knowledge."

Moreover, Apple's expected to open up a research and development center in the nation, marking its first outside of the USA. If history has anything to say about it, we highly doubt Apple will ever open its mouth one way or the other on this, but it'll be interesting to see what related nuggets are uncovered in the company's next quarterly filing with the SEC.

Apple buys flash storage maker Anobit for $500 million, aims to establish R&D lab in Israel originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Daring Fireball | source

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Reuters, Israeli Prime Minister (Twitter) | Email this | Comments

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drag2share: Google's Andy Rubin defines 'Android activation,' trumpets 700,000 per day clip

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/googles-andy-rubin-defines-android-activation-trumpets-700-0/

Looking for growth? You've found it. If you'll recall, Google's own Senior Vice President of Mobile Andy Rubin confirmed that over 500,000 Android devices were being activated back in June, and during last month's Galaxy Nexus reveal, we learned that said figure had increased to 550,000 per day. In just over a month, the tally has now climbed to 700,000 per 24 hour period. That's according to a post by Andy himself on Google+, which he followed with this:

"For those wondering, we count each device only once (i.e., we don't count re-sold devices), and "activations" means you go into a store, buy a device [and] put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service."

In other words, there are many, many more Android devices being ushered into use every single day that don't connect to any monitored wireless service, but naturally, keeping track of those is something even Google isn't about to attempt. Any guesses as to what this figure jumps to after the holiday season concludes?

Google's Andy Rubin defines 'Android activation,' trumpets 700,000 per day clip originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source

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Andy Rubin (Google+) | Email this | Comments

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drag2share: Nuance gobbles up Vlingo, yearns to transcribe its own announcement

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/21/nuance-gobbles-up-vlingo-yearns-to-transcribe-its-own-announcem/

Apparently, if you can't (legally) beat them, you buy them. Such is the thinking over at Nuance, who has decided to acquire its competitor and former courtroom dance partner, Vlingo. Should make for some nice additions to the former's voice recognition tubes -- technology which powers everything from Apple's Siri, Dragon dictation and even various autos. No indications as to how many greenbacks exchanged hands, but the newlyweds were happy to boast their "complementary research and development efforts" will result in a company "stronger together than alone." We'll have to see about that. PR after the break.

Continue reading Nuance gobbles up Vlingo, yearns to transcribe its own announcement

Nuance gobbles up Vlingo, yearns to transcribe its own announcement originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

9to5Google | AllThingsD | Email this | Comments

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drag2share: Procter & Gamble partners with Mobeam to deliver coupons to your phone

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/21/procter-and-gamble-partners-with-mobeam-to-deliver-coupons-to-your/

Ah, remember those good 'ol days when we actually used those things called scissors and clipped our coupons when we wanted to save 50 cents from a bottle of Tide? Those activities have already been teetering on the brink of obsolescence since early last year, when Target introduced a program featuring mobile scannable coupons. Google Wallet and Walgreen's have furthered along the concept by offering them as well, and now Procter & Gamble are jumping on board. The company's teamed up with mobeam, a startup which has found a way to make mobile coupons readable using normal laser scanners, still the weapon of choice for many retailers. Next up, the two partners are hoping to work with OEMs to integrate the tech into new phones, push out an app to take advantage of it and begin field testing the process with shoppers and retailers sometime in 2012.

Once it kicks off, any company should be able to issue digital coupons; those who choose to partner with mobeam, however, will have access to opted-in consumer information that tracks which couponing websites the consumer visits, the location and time each coupon is redeemed and other items purchased using the app. Physical coupons will still be around for a while -- P&G asserts that there will still be plenty of coupon-clippers that hunt through newspaper inserts or print them out -- so the old-fashioned method isn't completely dead yet. We'd sure love to see mobile couponing grow to a point where more and more trees are getting saved, though.

Continue reading Procter & Gamble partners with Mobeam to deliver coupons to your phone

Procter & Gamble partners with Mobeam to deliver coupons to your phone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Wall Street Journal | source

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mobeam | Email this | Comments

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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

drag2share: Super Bowl to be streamed online and to Verizon phones for the first time

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/super-bowl-to-be-streamed-online-and-to-verizon-phones-for-the-f/

It looks like you'll have a few more viewing options than usual at your next Super Bowl party. The NFL announced today that the Super Bowl, plus wild card Saturday and the Pro Bowl, will all be streamed online for the first time on both the NFL's and NBC's websites. Mobile users will also be able to get in on the act, albeit only if they have a Verizon smartphone with the NFL Mobile app. What's more, those broadcasts will also give viewers access to quite a bit more than old-fashioned TV watchers have access to, including multiple camera angles, in-game highlights, and live stats. No word if the streams will include ads.

Super Bowl to be streamed online and to Verizon phones for the first time originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Reuters | source

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NBC Sports | Email this | Comments

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drag2share: The Engadget Interview: ARM co-founder John Biggs

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/the-engadget-interview-arm-co-founder-john-biggs/

You've heard of ARM, right? The little chip design company that started out as twelve engineers in a barn in Cambridge, UK, but is now responsible for 25 billion of the microprocessors on this planet? Good, so now you need to meet John Biggs, who's been there since the very beginning -- since before the barn, in fact, when ARM was just a pesky little project within Acorn Computers. Read on for John's straight-up perspective on the company's frangible beginnings, its deep rivalry with Intel, and what those three letters actually stand for.

Continue reading The Engadget Interview: ARM co-founder John Biggs

The Engadget Interview: ARM co-founder John Biggs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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drag2share: AOC reveals iPhone-compatible e2343Fi monitor, boosts your Dock Connector peripheral count by one

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/aoc-reveals-iphone-compatible-e2343fi-monitor-boosts-your-dock/

We know you've faced a plethora of docking peripherals that aim to take your iPhone into transformer status. But, if the boombox or wired-phone looks just weren't cutting-edge enough for you, would a 23-inch display do the trick? AOC's e2343Fi is packed up and heading to CES 2012 ready to share its Full-HD and SRS Premium Sound qualities with your Apple device. If you were pondering whether the sole purpose of the monitor was to act as a multimedia station, fret not -- the screen can do what it's accustomed to without its docked friend. There's no word on how juicy (or dry) it is in the specs department, or how deep it'll dig into your wallet, but you can bet we'll be the hunt for further deets next month.

AOC reveals iPhone-compatible e2343Fi monitor, boosts your Dock Connector peripheral count by one originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

SlashGear | | Email this | Comments

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drag2share: Myriad Alien Vue brings Google TV apps to existing HDTVs, set-top boxes (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/myriad-alien-vue-brings-google-tv-apps-to-existing-hdtvs-set-to/

Couch potatoes may soon be able to get a more complete Android app experience without leaving the living room, or picking up a tablet or smartphone. Myriad's new Alien Vue is a customizable OEM platform that enables TV and set-top box manufacturers to bring Android to their existing products, adding support for apps designed for Google TV and HTML5. Myriad is the developer behind Alien Dalvik, which allows you to run Android apps on non-Android devices, including iOS and MeeGo. Alien Vue brings that concept to the living room, and includes a branded app store, web browser and portable device control, letting you control your TV and other home theater devices using a phone or tablet. But unlike Dalvik, it'll be up to manufacturers to add support for Vue -- you won't be hacking your TV and installing the software yourself. We'll be bringing you a full hands-on from CES, but jump past the break for a quick video demo.

Continue reading Myriad Alien Vue brings Google TV apps to existing HDTVs, set-top boxes (video)

Myriad Alien Vue brings Google TV apps to existing HDTVs, set-top boxes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

SlashGear | source

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Myriad | Email this | Comments

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drag2share: Firefox and Google renew revenue agreement, stick it out for at least three more years

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/firefox-and-google-renew-revenue-agreement-stick-it-out-for-at/

There was a moment there, where things were starting to look a bit shaky for Mozilla. With the Firefox creators facing increasing competition from Google, in the form of Chrome, rumor had it that the organization's revenue sharing deal with the search giant had expired and may not be renewed. Well, those rumblings can finally be cast aside as Mozilla announced today that it had signed an agreement with the Mountain View crew that is "significant and mutually beneficial." The three-year revenue sharing deal should help keep Mozilla a float just long enough to permanently put IE under water -- at least we assume that's what the two are hoping for.

Firefox and Google renew revenue agreement, stick it out for at least three more years originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

All Things D | source

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Mozilla Blog | Email this | Comments

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