Month: January 2016

2015 was our ninth straight year asking readers to donate to some worthy charities for a chance to win the swag we collected during the year. It was also our most successful charity fundraising year by a good margin.

All told, Ars Technica readers donated a combined $38,861.06 to Child's Play and the EFF as part of the 2015 drive. That absolutely shatters last year's charity take of $25,094.31 and beats the annual record of $28,713.52 set in 2012.

That record wasn't just set by a few extremely rich and generous readers, either. While 2012 saw a couple of $5,000 donations, the top donation this year was $2,500. Instead, we set the new record donation mark by getting 615 people to give whatever they could. That includes over 100 people who were able to give at least $100 each.

(credit: Lumosity)

Lumos Labs, the company behind the popular Lumosity "Brain Training" program, is agreeing to pay $2 million to settle deceptive advertising claims brought by the Federal Trade Commission.

“Lumosity preyed on consumers’ fears about age-related cognitive decline, suggesting their games could stave off memory loss, dementia, and even Alzheimer’s disease," Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. “But Lumosity simply did not have the science to back up its ads.”

The FTC charged in its complaint (PDF) that Lumosity offered dozens of online or mobile games designed to train specific areas of the brain. The company claimed in its massive advertising campaign that the training would help customers reach their "full potential in every aspect of life," such as in school, at work, and in sports, and that it would protect against dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Among other things, the company also claimed that the training could help customers reduce the side effects of chemotherapy. Subscription prices ranged from $14.95 a month to $299.95 for a lifetime membership, the FTC said.

(credit: dotSucks)

Have something to complain about but haven’t found a top-level domain (TLD) with adequate panache? Fear not.

Nearly six months ago, .sucks became available, and, sure enough, people have been using it in spades to gripe about stuff. But in a new Monday blog post, Vox Populi Registry, the company that owns the venerable TLD, says that it doesn’t just want to be the place for complaining. No, it has a far more noble purpose in mind.

"We view it as a platform for innovation, a magnet for conversation, and a hub for discussion of those things that stir passion," the firm wrote. "By these measures so far, we have exceeded our modest expectations for the company."

(credit: Comcast)

A security vendor says it discovered a flaw in Comcast's home security system that could let criminals break into houses undetected by using radio jamming equipment. The vendor, Rapid7, says it alerted Comcast to the problem two months ago but never received a response from the company. However, Comcast told Ars that Rapid7 e-mailed the wrong address.

Though primarily known for its cable TV and broadband Internet services, Comcast also sells Xfinity-branded home security systems. Rapid7 found the flaw in Comcast's implementation of the ZigBee wireless protocol. Attackers armed with commodity radio-jamming equipment can "cause interference or deauthentication of the underlying ZigBee-based communications protocol," Rapid7 said. When this happens, sensors that detect motion or open doors and windows are unable to communicate with a base station hub in the home that controls the alarm system.

Rapid7 published details of the flaw in an advisory today, in accordance with its policy of giving companies at least 60 days to respond before making a security problem public. That's a pretty standard timeline used by other companies and security research organizations—though it seems Rapid7's attempt to contact Comcast went awry.

(credit: opensource.com)

Statistics released today show that 2015 saw more patent lawsuits filed than any other year save one. Buried beneath heaps of high-tech lawsuits—led as usual by "patent trolls," shell companies with no real assets other than patents—are strong trends pushing power away from patent-holders and toward the defendant companies they sue.

If one adds together district court cases with patent disputes that are resolved through the process of "inter partes review," or IPR, a proceeding involving the Patent Trademark and Appeals Board (PTAB) at the US Patent Office, then 2015 saw the most patent disputes in history. If only district court cases are measured, 2013 was the year with the most filings.

"This would indicate that activity has not decreased since the America Invents Act became law," said Kevin Jakel, CEO of United Patents.