Fake Pokémon Go app on Google Play infects phones with screenlocker

“Pokemon Go Ultimate” requires battery removal or Device Manager to be uninstalled.

Badware purveyors trying to capitalize on the ongoing Pokémon Go frenzy have achieved an important milestone by sneaking their fake wares into the official Google Play marketplace, security researchers said Friday.

Researchers from antivirus provider Eset report finding at least three such apps in the Google-hosted marketplace. Of the three, the one titled "Pokemon Go Ultimate" posed the biggest threat because it deliberately locks the screen of devices immediately after being installed. In many cases, restarting an infected phone isn't enough to unlock the screen. Infected phones can ultimately be unlocked either by removing the battery or by using the Android Device Manager.

Once the screen has been unlocked and the device has restarted, the app—which by now has the title PI Network—is removed from the device's app menu. Still, it continues to run in the background and surreptitiously clicks on ads in an attempt to generate revenue for its creators.

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HP Elite x3 price at $799 (Windows phone for enterprise)

HP Elite x3 price at $799 (Windows phone for enterprise)

The HP Elite x3 is the Windows smartphone I think some people were hoping the Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950 XL would be. It has top-tier specs, support for Microsoft Continuum software so you can connect a keyboard, mouse, and external display to run Universal Windows apps in desktop mode… and it uses virtualization to let enterprise users interact with legacy Windows apps as well.

But those features don’t come cheap.

Continue reading HP Elite x3 price at $799 (Windows phone for enterprise) at Liliputing.

HP Elite x3 price at $799 (Windows phone for enterprise)

The HP Elite x3 is the Windows smartphone I think some people were hoping the Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950 XL would be. It has top-tier specs, support for Microsoft Continuum software so you can connect a keyboard, mouse, and external display to run Universal Windows apps in desktop mode… and it uses virtualization to let enterprise users interact with legacy Windows apps as well.

But those features don’t come cheap.

Continue reading HP Elite x3 price at $799 (Windows phone for enterprise) at Liliputing.

Killer Instinct’s original ‘90s soundtrack to get sexy vinyl release

Also comes in EVO-related limited edition; locked groove has “COMBO BREAKER!” shout.

Killer C-C-C-Cuts! (credit: iam8bit)

You'd be forgiven for scoffing at limited-edition vinyl album releases, whether because you mock them as the stuff of snooty hipsters or because you take issue with their supposed sound-reproduction superiority. But I will defend to the death anybody who lovingly manufactures gatefold-sleeve albums—or, at least, the ones that are dedicated to retro video game soundtracks.

This new niche genre of gaming product actually didn't kick off until late last year, when British company Data Discs began publishing remastered vinyl soundtracks of classic Sega games. Gaming-merch company iam8bit has also gotten in on the fun with its own line of albums. Ars doesn't typically write about album launches, but we're making an exception for Killer Cuts: the Killer Instinct soundtrack.

Why? Because the soundtrack for the original 1995 arcade game was a veritable soup of genres and sound samples, which makes it one of the most interesting candidates for iam8bit's remastering process. The soundtrack won't start shipping in its vinyl edition until October, but preorders kicked off Friday as a promotion linked to this weekend's hugely popular EVO fighting game tournament. The vinyl will come in one of three covers, each with the record colored to match the character on its front. This weekend only, interested fighting-music fans can score KI's green-vinyl Fulgore edition with metallic paper. Also, pre-order customers are automatically entered to win a pretty cool-looking Fulgore figurine.

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Wiped out phone market means that Windows 10 will miss one billion user mark

Windows 10 is growing fast, but without 50 million phones a year it’s not fast enough.

Windows 10 runs on many different kinds of hardware, from the giant Surface Hubs down to itty bitty IoT things.

As part of its pitch to developers, Microsoft said that it was aiming to have 1 billion devices—PCs, tablets, phones, Xboxes, HoloLenses, and whatever else can run the operating system—within the first two to three years of its availability. That target is now off the table, reports Mary Jo Foley.

In a statement, the company said:

Windows 10 is off to the hottest start in history with over 350M monthly active devices, with record customer satisfaction and engagement. We're pleased with our progress to date, but due to the focusing of our phone hardware business, it will take longer than FY18 for us to reach our goal of 1 billion monthly active devices. In the year ahead, we are excited about usage growth coming from commercial deployments and new devices—and increasing customer delight with Windows.

The issue is mobile. At the time of the prediction, Microsoft was counting on selling 50 million Windows phones a year. These were an important part of the 1 billion devices, because one of the key selling points of Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform is the way it enables developers to easily adapt their software for the many different form factors that Windows supports. Phones were expected to be the largest of the non-PC form factors, but a series of missteps has seen Microsoft's phone sales collapse.

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SpaceX in 2016: Launching more with a better rocket that it can land [Updated]

Streaming tonight, next launch would be the company’s seventh in 2016.

Stream tonight's launch as it happens.

Update, 7/17 (10:45p ET): SpaceX will livestream its launch attempt (above) this evening at 12:45a ET. Our original story from 7/15 appears below.

One of the most persistent criticisms of SpaceX has been the rocket company's inability to meet its launch commitments. Talk to any of Elon Musk's competitors in the rocket and spacecraft business, and they will all say the same thing—SpaceX isn't meeting the demands of its customers. Too much pizzazz, too little substance, and so on.

To some extent, this jealousy-tinged criticism is valid. In 2014, the company had about a dozen missions on its books, and it launched six times. Last year the company had as many as 17 launches planned, but an accident on June 28, 2015 forced it to stand down for nearly the entire second half of the year. SpaceX ended up making six successful launches in 2015. However, this year the company is off to a good start with six successful missions completed so far and a seventh launch planned for 12:45am ET Monday (5:45am BST) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

This flight of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket seeks to deliver the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station with its payload of 1.7 tons of supplies as well as an International Docking Adapter. This adapter will allow crewed versions of the Dragon Spacecraft and Boeing's Starliner to perform automated rendezvous and docking maneuvers with the station beginning in late 2017 or early 2018.

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Dubious PGS handheld gaming PC concept raises over $300 thousand on Kickstarter

Dubious PGS handheld gaming PC concept raises over $300 thousand on Kickstarter

A group called Portable Solutions is running a Kickstarter campaign for a handheld gaming PC called the PGS that looks amazing on paper… and which doesn’t actually exist in real life.

That’s not a huge surprise: the point of crowdfunding campaigns is often to raise the money needed to transform an idea into a real product. But Portable Solutions makes some pretty lofty claims and provides little evidence to back them up.

That hasn’t stopped the campaign from raising over $300,000 in pledges… although over the past few days the figure has actually shrunk a bit as some backers have withdrawn their pledges.

Continue reading Dubious PGS handheld gaming PC concept raises over $300 thousand on Kickstarter at Liliputing.

Dubious PGS handheld gaming PC concept raises over $300 thousand on Kickstarter

A group called Portable Solutions is running a Kickstarter campaign for a handheld gaming PC called the PGS that looks amazing on paper… and which doesn’t actually exist in real life.

That’s not a huge surprise: the point of crowdfunding campaigns is often to raise the money needed to transform an idea into a real product. But Portable Solutions makes some pretty lofty claims and provides little evidence to back them up.

That hasn’t stopped the campaign from raising over $300,000 in pledges… although over the past few days the figure has actually shrunk a bit as some backers have withdrawn their pledges.

Continue reading Dubious PGS handheld gaming PC concept raises over $300 thousand on Kickstarter at Liliputing.

‘Tor and Bitcoin Hinder Anti-Piracy Efforts’

A new report published by the European Union Intellectual Property Office identifies a wide range of ‘business models’ that are used by pirate sites. The organization, which announced a new collaboration with Europol this week, signals Bitcoin and the Tor network as two key threats to ongoing anti-piracy efforts.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

euipoTo avoid enforcement efforts, pirate sites often go to extremes to hide themselves from rightsholders and authorities.

Increasingly, this also means that they use various encryption technologies to increase their resilience and anonymity.

Several of these techniques are highlighted in a new report published by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

The report gives a broad overview of the business models that are used to illegally exploit intellectual property. This includes websites dedicated to counterfeit goods, but also online piracy hubs such as torrent sites and file-hosting platforms.

EUIPO hopes that mapping out these business models will help to counter the ongoing threat they face.

“The study will provide enhanced understanding to policymakers, civil society and private businesses. At the same time, it will help to identify and better understand the range of responses necessary to tackle the challenge of large scale online IPR infringements,” EUIPO notes.

According to the research, several infringing business models rely on encryption-based technologies. The Tor network and Bitcoin, for example, are repeatedly mentioned as part of this “shadow landscape”.

“It more and more relies on new encrypted technologies like the TOR browser and the Bitcoin virtual currency, which are employed by infringers of IPR to generate income and hide the proceeds of crime from the authorities,” the report reads.

According to the report, Bitcoin’s threat is that the transactions can’t be easily traced to a person or company. This is problematic, since copyright enforcement efforts are often based on a follow-the-money approach.

“There are no public records connecting Bitcoin wallet IDs with personal information of individuals. Because of these Bitcoin transactions are considered semi-anonymous,” EUIPO writes.

Similarly, sites and services that operate on the darknet, such as the Tor network, are harder to take down. Their domain names can’t be seized, for example, and darknet sites are not subject to ISP blockades.

“Through the use of TOR, a user’s Internet traffic is encrypted and routed in specific ways to achieve security and anonymity,” the report notes.

While the report doesn’t list any names, it describes various popular torrent, streaming and file-hosting sites. In one specific case, it mentions an e-book portal that operates exclusively on the darknet, generating revenue from Bitcoin donations.

Most traditional pirate sites still operate on the ‘open’ Internet. However, several sites now allow users to donate Bitcoin and both The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents both have a dedicated darknet address as well.

EUIPO is clearly worried about these developments, but the group doesn’t advocate a ban of encryption-based services as they also have legitimate purposes.

However, it signals that these and other trends should be followed with interest, as they make it harder to tackle various forms of counterfeiting and piracy online.

As part of the efforts to cut back various forms of copyright infringement, EUIPO also announced a new partnership with Europol this week. The organizations launched the Intellectual Property Crime Coordinated Coalition which aims to strengthen the fight against counterfeiting and piracy.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Play a homebrew game designed for the mythical SNES CD-ROM drive

Super Boss Gaiden makes use of an emulated, prototype “Nintendo PlayStation” BIOS

In an alternate universe, 30-somethings have nostalgic memories of playing this game on the SNES-CD

The fabled SNES-CD peripheral may have never actually made it to market in the mid-'90s as planned. But that hasn't stopped homebrew developers from utilizing the magic of emulation to make software designed to run on the near-mythical "Nintendo PlayStation."

It's been a long and weird road to get to this surprising point in emulation history. After a seemingly one-of-a-kind "SFX-100" prototype of the SNES-CD was found and disassembled last year, an apparent working version of the system's BIOS found its way to the Internet in March.

Armed with that BIOS file (and some additional sleuthing on components, memory, and IO mapping for the CD-ROM add-on), the latest version of low-level SNES emulator no$sns is actually able to simulate how games would have run on the SNES-CD prototype.

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Frequenz-Kompass: Bundesnetzagentur bereitet Ende der UMTS-Lizenzen vor

Die Bundesnetzagentur will die im Jahr 2020 auslaufenden Frequenzen für UMTS neu vergeben und bittet dazu um Stellungnahmen. Bei der Neuvergabe soll es besonders um Mobilfunk der 5. Generation und einen neuen Netzbetreiber in Deutschland gehen. (5G, Bundesnetzagentur)

Die Bundesnetzagentur will die im Jahr 2020 auslaufenden Frequenzen für UMTS neu vergeben und bittet dazu um Stellungnahmen. Bei der Neuvergabe soll es besonders um Mobilfunk der 5. Generation und einen neuen Netzbetreiber in Deutschland gehen. (5G, Bundesnetzagentur)

Comcast expands $10 low-income Internet plan

Low-income adults without kids can now buy $10, 10Mbps broadband from Comcast.

(credit: Comcast)

Comcast's Internet Essentials program that provides $10-per-month Internet service to low-income families has been expanded to make about 1.3 million additional households eligible.

Comcast created Internet Essentials in order to secure approval of its acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011 and has decided to continue it indefinitely even though the requirement expired in 2014. Comcast says the 10Mbps plan has connected more than 600,000 low-income families since 2011, for a total of 2.4 million adults and children, and provided 47,000 subsidized computers for less than $150 each.

Advocates for the poor have complained that the Internet Essentials service is too hard to sign up for, in part because of problems with the application process but also because it's usually only available to families with kids in school. That latter issue is what Comcast addressed today, announcing that "adults without a child eligible for the National School Lunch Program will be eligible to apply for Internet Essentials." Previously, pilot programs gave access to some low-income seniors and low-income community college students, but this is the first time that Internet Essentials will be available to adults without children nationwide.

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