Source: http://gizmodo.com/withdrawing-cash-with-a-smartphone-could-beat-the-card-1691620307
The U.S. loses more money to card fraud than the rest of the world combined — something that's mostly down to the magnetic stripes that make our cards incredibly hackable. Although more secure technologies are coming
Thinking of posting that sweet drone footage online? You might want to be careful about it. The Federal Aviation Administration is telling at least one hobbyist, Jayson Hanes, that his aerial robotic videos run afoul of regulation because they're on YouTube. Hanes is allegedly flying "commercially" (and thus faces more stringent rules) due to his choice of site, strongly implying that YouTube's ads are at fault. If so, it's a sketchy argument. Hanes hasn't made any money from his clips, and there's no obligation to collect revenue on Google's video service.
The FAA tells Motherboard that it didn't explicitly mention ads in its notice to Hanes, and that it's investigating what prompted the warning. However, there isn't a lot of room for alternative explanations -- the issue was with YouTube, not the content. Even if the alert was just a mistake, though, it emphasizes just how fuzzy the line is between personal and professional drone use. The FAA may need to refine its proposed drone rules if it wants to avoid punishing fliers who merely want to share their adventures with others.
"Asteroid hunters". It sounds like Hollywood blockbuster / straight-to-DVD 'classic' that probably already exists, but now you, yes you, can be one... albeit from your PC. NASA has launched a desktop app that recruits civilians to help identify asteroids from telescope photography, helped by a special asteroid algorithm. Scientists announced the desktop app at SXSW during in a panel discussion where they elaborated on how muggles citizen scientists were helping their efforts to identify and tag asteroids. The app is another collaboration between NASA and Planetary Resources. (It's apparently all under a Space Act agreement, which is the coolest act we've heard of in a while.)
The app is able to detect asteroids thanks to an algorithm that specifically sniffs out asteroids from images taken by Earth-based telescopes. Apparently the sheer volume of images being captured these days makes it impossible for astronomers to verify all detections by hand. Here, computers are doing the heavy lifting, filtering down to the images that warrant further investigation. "The beauty of such archives is that the data doesn't grow stale, and with novel approaches, techniques and algorithms, they can be harvested for new information. The participants of the Asteroid Data Hunter challenge did just that, probing observations of the night sky for new asteroids that might have slipped through the software cracks the first time the images were analyzed," said Jose Luis Galache of the Minor Planet Center.
Amateurs can even take their from their telescopes and analyze them with the application. The application can tell them whether a matching asteroid record already exists and can report new findings to the Minor Planet Center, which confirms and archives any new discoveries. You can start the hunt by downloading the program here.
Filed under: Science
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/14/blackberry-secutablet/
BlackBerry's first experience with tablets was more than a little traumatic, but it hasn't completely given up on the idea. The company's SecuSmart wing has teamed up with IBM to launch the SecuTablet, an extra-secure version of Samsung's Galaxy Tab S 10.5. Reportedly, the slate's included security bundle prevents sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands while allowing personal apps. Yes, you can watch YouTube on the same device that carries your classified documents. You aren't likely to find this in stores (certainly not at its $2,380 price) as a result, but ongoing German government tests hint that you may well see it in the field -- and there's a real chance that it will outlive its ill-fated predecessor.
Filed under: Tablets, Samsung, Blackberry
Via: Wall Street Journal
Source: BlackBerry
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/15/windows-10-peer-to-peer-updates/
Not fond of having to wait (and wait, and wait) while you download Windows updates from Microsoft's servers? You might not have to when Windows 10 arrives. The Verge has noticed that a leaked version of the operating system lets you grab updates from other computers, whether they're on your local network or online -- yes, it's a peer-to-peer network for patches. Besides accelerating the upgrade process, the option could save precious bandwidth (important on capped data plans) if you have a multi-PC household. There's no telling when this feature will show up in a Windows 10 build you can try, assuming Microsoft doesn't get cold feet. A new public test release is reportedly coming soon, though, so you probably won't have to wait very long.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft
Source: The Verge
Posts
