Month: August 2016

Way back in 2010, a Chinese company unveiled a render of the Transit Elevated Bus: a tram-like, catamaran-style vehicle that rises up above a lane of traffic, straddling the cars beneath it. In May this year the company showed off a scale model of the bus; everyone started to get very excited. And on Tuesday, a full-size TEB prototype took its first ride in the northeastern Chinese city of Qinhuangdao, near Beijing.

The premise of the TEB is simple. It's a guided bus (i.e. it sticks to a predefined route) that is 4.8 metres high, 22 metres long, and 7.8 metres wide, with ground clearance of about 2.2 metres (7.2ft). Any vehicle that is short enough to pass under the TEB is free to do so, in theory significantly reducing congestion.

The TEB itself carries about 300 people and is powered by electricity at speeds of up to 60km/h (37mph). Larger, articulated models that can carry up to 1,200 passengers have been mooted. In China, where congestion is a major issue in large cities, the TEB is being pitched as a cheaper alternative to building subways (the initial 2010 report said that a 25-mile TEB track would cost a tenth of the equivalent subway).

(credit: Blue Coat)

Large UK companies are amongst the hardest hit by ransomware in western countries according to a new report that found that more than half had been affected by it—and that nine percent had been left "entirely unable to operate."

Ransomware is clearly a growth industry in Britain; 58 percent of IT directors in this country have paid ransoms in the past, and the UK experiences more attacks than the Canada, Germany, and the US, where bosses are 21 times less likely to give in to hackers' demands.

Ransomware is malicious software which locks users out of key files or their entire system using tough encryption until the owner pays up. It's a relatively simple scam, and according to Malwarebytes, who commissioned the report, gaining rapidly in popularity. The vast majority of attacks are coming through an endpoint, with 46 percent originating from an e-mail.

(credit: Basis)

The Intel-owned company Basis announced yesterday that it would recall all of its Peak smart watches after a portion of customers complained of the device overheating. The issue first came about back in June of this year, when Basis halted the production and sales of its Peak devices due to the risk of burns or blistering because of the device becoming too hot during use. The company did issue a software update that it hoped would fix the issue, but it failed to eliminate the problem. Now Basis is recalling all Peak devices and issuing refunds to customers.

Initially, Basis claimed the problem only affected 0.2 percent of all watches sold. That estimate hasn't changed; however the issue is serious enough for Basis to recall every Peak it has ever sold. The company is asking all users to stop using their Basis Peaks immediately, and warns that the Basis Peak service where data is stored will be shut down next year. Users will have access to all their activity information until December 31, 2016, but after that, you won't be able to log on, access your data, or sync the device to Peak online services.

A recall is bad, but could be survivable. Fitbit voluntarily recalled its Force fitness band in 2014 due to complaints from some customers that they had developed skin irritation and rashes from wearing the device. Even now, Fitbit urges customers to wear its bands properly to avoid irritated skin, which means not wearing a band too tightly around your wrist and avoiding device contact with soap and water.