And deals on portable chargers, smart TVs, dash cams, and more.
Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our partners at TechBargains, we're back with a bunch of deals to share before Memorial Day weekend kicks off. Now you can get a Dell Inspiron 3650 desktop, complete with a Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, 2TB HDD, and Win7 Pro for just $599. You're getting hundreds off its regular $949 price tag, so now's the time to upgrade your old tower desktop to something more modern and more powerful.
Hyundai’s upmarket brand is starting to find its feet.
Genesis
There are really two key things you need to know about the Genesis G80 Sport. First, it's a sport-oriented midsize luxury sedan from the new Korean brand, Genesis. Second, while it wears a new nameplate, it remains what it was—a Hyundai.
When Hyundai decided to launch a new premium brand along the lines of Toyota's Lexus and Nissan's Infiniti in 2015, it made a couple crucial decisions. Unlike Lexus and Infiniti, it would launch with existing product. And, it would take the name of Hyundai's existing mid-size sedan, the Genesis, as its own.
Motorola’s 2017 smartphone lineup includes the recently announced entry-level Moto C as well as updates to the Moto E, G, X, and Z family… but we only really know that because of a series of recent leaks, which have given us a peek at the full lineup, a better look at the new Moto Z, and […]
Motorola’s 2017 smartphone lineup includes the recently announced entry-level Moto C as well as updates to the Moto E, G, X, and Z family… but we only really know that because of a series of recent leaks, which have given us a peek at the full lineup, a better look at the new Moto Z, and […]
In a study published in Nature Chemical Biology, MIT researchers wired Escherichia coli with a synthetic network of 18 genes that allows them to sense and respond to red, green, and blue. Once excited by the colors, the genetic circuitry activates and inspires the bacteria to produce corresponding pigments or fluorescent proteins. Mats of microbes then turn their petri dishes into canvases, creating vivid replicas of patterns and artwork.
Right now, the bright bacteria simply demonstrate how far synthetic biologists have come in genetic tinkering. But, in the future, the researchers, led by MIT’s Christopher Voigt, hope that the RGB microbes could find a variety of applications. “Colored light offers many channels to pattern cells to build tissues or materials, control cells at a distance, or serve as a means of communication between electronic and biological systems,” Voigt and his colleagues write.
There’s finally a version of Windows 10 that doesn’t feature tight integration with Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage service. But it’s designed for use by Chinese government agencies and state-owned entities. Microsoft introduced Windows 10 China Government Edition at an event in Shanghai today, where the company also introduced the new Surface Pro tablet and the […]
There’s finally a version of Windows 10 that doesn’t feature tight integration with Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage service. But it’s designed for use by Chinese government agencies and state-owned entities. Microsoft introduced Windows 10 China Government Edition at an event in Shanghai today, where the company also introduced the new Surface Pro tablet and the […]
The Sony Xperia XZ Premium is a high-end smartphone with a camera that can shoot at up to 960 frames per second, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, and a 5.5 inch, 3840 x 2160 pixel HDR IPS display. But we learned all that in February. What we didn’t know at the time was that Sony […]
The Sony Xperia XZ Premium is a high-end smartphone with a camera that can shoot at up to 960 frames per second, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, and a 5.5 inch, 3840 x 2160 pixel HDR IPS display. But we learned all that in February. What we didn’t know at the time was that Sony […]
LeEco, often called the "Netflix of China," is in the news again, and again it is because another disaster has befallen the company. After announcing a $2 billion merger with TV-maker Vizio and then canceling it, as well as purchasing a Silicon Valley property from Yahoo and then selling it, LeEco's rapid expansion to the US is now rapidly unwinding. Massive layoffs are coming, and the CEO is ceding some control over the company.
CNBC reports that more than 85 percent of LeEco's US staff is being laid off. It cites one source as saying "only 60 employees will be left" after cuts to the 500-strong US workforce are made. CNBC obtained an e-mail calling for an ominous all-hands meeting for this afternoon, where the move will no doubt be explained to employees. The report says the remaining 60 people will be tasked with "encouraging Chinese-American consumers to watch LeEco's Chinese content library." It seems as though LeEco's US consumer electronics plans are dead.
But that's not all! Reutersreports that Ji Yueting, the founder, CEO, and chairman of LeEco is ceding some control over the company. He has stepped down as the CEO of the LeShi division, which is the only part of LeEco that is listed on the Chinese stock market. He will be replaced by Liang Jun, a former Lenovo executive, while Ji Yueting will still be "CEO of LeEco." The CFO also quit, citing "personal reasons."
Nach vermehrten Betrugsfällen sperrt Amazon nun Marketplace-Konten grundlos. Wer die Bankverbindung oder den Rechner wechselt, ist bereits verdächtig. (Amazon, Onlineshop)
Nach vermehrten Betrugsfällen sperrt Amazon nun Marketplace-Konten grundlos. Wer die Bankverbindung oder den Rechner wechselt, ist bereits verdächtig. (Amazon, Onlineshop)
We’re going to call it Battle.net as long as Blizzard calls it Battle.net
Enlarge/ Seriously, Blizzard, what are we supposed to call this thing?
It has been over eight months now since Blizzard made the low-key announcement that it would be "transitioning away" from the longstanding Battle.net branding in favor of a more generalized "Blizzard Tech" label. And it has been two months since the Battle.net Launcher was replaced with the identical "Blizzard Launcher" app (aka, the "Blizzard Desktop app") that now powers everything from World of Warcraft to Heroes of the Storm.
So it was a bit confusing last week when Activision used the Battle.net name repeatedly in announcing that Destiny 2 was coming to Blizzard's online platform on the PC. Blizzard seemed to ignore its own branding standards too: an official news post headlined "Destiny 2 Coming to Battle.net!" uses the Battle.net branding four times in the body text but doesn't mention the "Blizzard Launcher" or "Blizzard app" or anything similar even once.
Polygon noticed this discrepancy too and got a Blizzard representative to give a short, vague statement as to the confusion. "It's still Blizzard Launcher," the rep told Polygon. "We made an exception for this announcement."
Millions of people risk having their devices and systems compromised by malicious subtitles, Check Point researchers revealed today. The threat comes from a previously undocumented vulnerability which affects users of popular streaming software, including Kodi, Popcorn-Time, and VLC. Developers of the applications have already applied fixes or will do so soon.
Online streaming is booming, and applications such as Kodi, Popcorn Time and VLC have millions of daily users.
Some of these use pirated videos, often in combination with subtitles provided by third-party repositories.
While most subtitle makers do no harm, it appears that those with malicious intent can exploit these popular streaming applications to penetrate the devices and systems of these users.
Researchers from Check Point, who uncovered the problem, describe the subtitle ‘attack vector’ as the most widespread, easily accessed and zero-resistance vulnerability that has been reported in recent years.
“By conducting attacks through subtitles, hackers can take complete control over any device running them. From this point on, the attacker can do whatever he wants with the victim’s machine, whether it is a PC, a smart TV, or a mobile device,” they write.
“The potential damage the attacker can inflict is endless, ranging anywhere from stealing sensitive information, installing ransomware, mass Denial of Service attacks, and much more.”
In a demonstration video, using Popcorn Time, the researchers show how easy it is to compromise the system of a potential victim.
A demo of the subtitles vulnerability
XBMC Foundation’s Project lead Martijn Kaijser informs TorrentFreak that the Kodi team is aware of the situation, which they will address soon. “We will release 17.2 which will have the fix this week,” he told us.
VLC’s VideoLAN addressed the issue as well, and doesn’t expect that it is still exploitable.
“The VLC bug is not exploitable. The first big issue was fixed in 2.2.5. There are 2 other small issues, that will be fixed in 2.2.6,” VideoLAN informed us.
The team behind PopcornTime.sh applied a fix several months ago after the researchers approached them, TorrentFreak is informed. The Popcorn Time team trusts their subtitle provider OpenSubtitles but says that it now sanitizes malicious subtitle files, also those that are added by users.
The same applies to the Butter project, which is closely related to Popcorn Time. Butter was not contacted by Check Point but their fix is visible in a GitHub commit from February.
“None of the Butter Project developers were contacted by the research group. We’d love to have them talk to us if our code is still vulnerable. To the extent of our research it is not, but we’d like the ‘responsible disclosure’ terms to actually mean something,” The Butter project informs TorrentFreak.
Finally, another fork Popcorn-Time.to, also informed us that they are not affected by the reported vulnerability.
The Check Point researchers expect that other applications may also be affected. They do not disclose any technical details at this point, nor do they state which of the applications successfully addressed the vulnerability.
“Some of the issues were already fixed, while others are still under investigation. To allow the developers more time to address the vulnerabilities, we’ve decided not to publish any further technical details at this point,” the researchers state.
More updates will be added if more information becomes available. For now, however, people who regularly use subtitle files should remain vigilant.
Nach vermehrten Betrugsfällen sperrt Amazon nun Marketplace-Konten grundlos. Wer die Bankverbindung oder den Rechner wechselt, ist bereits verdächtig. (
Online streaming is booming, and applications such as Kodi, Popcorn Time and VLC have millions of daily users. 
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