The SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY News Thread

[Mr Hat and Clogs]

Yeah it's stupid, its like they are just causing as much trouble as they can before they get caught now. I'm just kind of glad they seem to go to bed before raid time in WoW.

[SaintessHeart]

HardCoded Backdoor Found in China-made Netis, Netcore Routers

Routers manufactured and sold by Chinese security vendor have a hard-coded password that leaves users with a wide-open backdoor that could easily be exploited by attackers to monitor the Internet traffic.

The routers are sold under the brand name Netcore in China, and Netis in other parts of the world, including South Korea, Taiwan, Israel and United States.

According to Trend Micro, the backdoor — a semi-secret way to access the device — allows cybercriminals the possibility to bypass device security and to easily run malicious code on routers and change settings.

Netis routers are known for providing the best wireless transfer speed up to 300Mbps, offering a better performance on online gaming, video streaming, and VoIP phone calling.

The Netcore and Netis routers have an open UDP port listening at port 53413, which can be accessed from the Internet side of the router. The password needed to open up this backdoor is hardcoded into the router’s firmware.

All of the routers – sold under the Netcore brand in China and as Netis outside of the country – appear to have the same password, Tim Yeh, threat researcher at the security firm, says warning that the backdoor cannot be changed or disable, essentially offering a way in to any attacker who knows the “secret” string.

Using the backdoor, hackers could upload or download hostile code and even modify the settings on vulnerable routers in order to to monitor a person’s Internet traffic as part of a so-called man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack.

By attempting MitM attack, a potential attacker could intercept users’ internet communication, steal sensitive information and even hijack sessions.

The researchers scanned the Internet and had indicated that millions of devices worldwide are potentially vulnerable.

“Using ZMap to scan vulnerable routers, we found more than two million IP addresses with the open UDP port,” Yeh wrote in a blog post. “Almost all of these routers are in China, with much smaller numbers in other countries, including but not limited to South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, and the United States.”

Exploiting this flaw is not too difficult, as a simple port scan can reveal the open UDP ports to anyone using such an online tool.

In addition, Trend Micro also found that a configuration file containing a username and password for the web-based administration panel on the router is stored with no encryption protection, allowing an attacker to download it.

“Users have relatively few solutions available to remedy this issue. Support for Netcore routers by open source firmware like dd-wrt and Tomato is essentially limited; only one router appears to have support at all. Aside from that, the only adequate alternative would be to replace these devices,” advises Yeh.

Users can determine whether their router is impacted here.

[Se7enSword]

A real-life, Star Wars-style hover bike is going to happen

Intel unveils 3G modem the size of a penny

DARPA has announced it will be funding a new molecular manufacturing project called "Atoms to Product"

MIT grads develop real-time head injury alert sensor for parents, coaches

Chinese scientists are studying the applications of supercavitation to propel large bodies underwater at high speed. Scaled up into a full size 'supersonic submarine', such vessel could make the distance from Shanghai China to San Francisco, CA in less than two hours.

Area of brain responsible for exercise motivation discovered: Scientists have discovered an area of the brain that could control a person’s motivation to exercise and participate in other rewarding activities – potentially leading to improved treatments for depression

Do we live in a 2-D hologram? New Fermilab experiment will test the nature of the universe

Novel 'butterfly' molecule could build new sensors, photoenergy conversion devices: Work by a research team has led to a novel molecular system that can take your temperature, emit white light, and convert photon energy directly to mechanical motions

Schrödinger's cat caught on quantum film

[Se7enSword]

The National Security Agency is secretly providing data to nearly two dozen U.S. government agencies with a “Google-like” search engine

Futuristic fuel cells planned for Ramea wind project

Google Already Testing Delivery Robots In Australia

Cannabis, “Better than Graphene”: Your Mobile's “Green” Battery Will Be Charged in Just Seconds

Man 3-D Prints A Concrete Castle In His Backyard

Neuroscientists watch imagination happening in the brain - We can now know more about where and how imagination happens in our brains: Researchers devised experiments using MRI technology that would help them distinguish pure imagination from related processes like remembering

Magnetic Levitation Promises to Allow for Manufacturing Extremely Delicate Items

Breakthrough in light sources for new quantum technology: Electronic circuits are based on electrons, but one of the promising technologies for future quantum circuits are photonic circuits. Scientists succeeded in creating a steady stream of photons emitted one at a time, in a particular direction

[SaintessHeart]

DDoS group Lizard Squad apparently caught and exposed

These script kiddies didn't know who they are messing with. Trolling through the LOIC is fine, but there are limits and places you cannot touch or face the wrath of the scene - on an INTERNATIONAL level.

[Shyni]

Neandarthals engraved hashtags or something.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Shyni

Neandarthals engraved hashtags or something.

Great! We are devolving! #ReverseDarwin

[Se7enSword]

Colour Blind Man Uses Surgically Implanted Device To Hear Colours

Google to build quantum-computing processors

Scientists discover how to 'switch off' autoimmune diseases

World-first experiment achieves direct brain-to-brain communication in human subjects

Neurons in human skin perform advanced calculations, previously believed that only the brain could perform: Somewhat simplified, it means that our touch experiences are already processed by neurons in the skin before they reach the brain for further processing

Flexible solar cell woven into fabric: scientists in China have developed a solar cell ‘textile’ that could be woven into clothes. The textile retains a power-generation efficiency close to 1% even after been bent more than 200 times, and can be illuminated from both sides.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Se7enSword

World-first experiment achieves direct brain-to-brain communication in human subjects

Actually if we can genetically mutate every single person on earth into female, we wouldn't need this technology.

[Jinto]

Originally Posted by Se7enSword

A real-life, Star Wars-style hover bike is going to happen

Intel unveils 3G modem the size of a penny

DARPA has announced it will be funding a new molecular manufacturing project called "Atoms to Product"

MIT grads develop real-time head injury alert sensor for parents, coaches

Chinese scientists are studying the applications of supercavitation to propel large bodies underwater at high speed. Scaled up into a full size 'supersonic submarine', such vessel could make the distance from Shanghai China to San Francisco, CA in less than two hours.

Area of brain responsible for exercise motivation discovered: Scientists have discovered an area of the brain that could control a person’s motivation to exercise and participate in other rewarding activities – potentially leading to improved treatments for depression

Do we live in a 2-D hologram? New Fermilab experiment will test the nature of the universe

Novel 'butterfly' molecule could build new sensors, photoenergy conversion devices: Work by a research team has led to a novel molecular system that can take your temperature, emit white light, and convert photon energy directly to mechanical motions

Schrödinger's cat caught on quantum film

Originally Posted by Se7enSword

The National Security Agency is secretly providing data to nearly two dozen U.S. government agencies with a “Google-like” search engine

Futuristic fuel cells planned for Ramea wind project

Google Already Testing Delivery Robots In Australia

Cannabis, “Better than Graphene”: Your Mobile's “Green” Battery Will Be Charged in Just Seconds

Man 3-D Prints A Concrete Castle In His Backyard

Neuroscientists watch imagination happening in the brain - We can now know more about where and how imagination happens in our brains: Researchers devised experiments using MRI technology that would help them distinguish pure imagination from related processes like remembering

Magnetic Levitation Promises to Allow for Manufacturing Extremely Delicate Items

Breakthrough in light sources for new quantum technology: Electronic circuits are based on electrons, but one of the promising technologies for future quantum circuits are photonic circuits. Scientists succeeded in creating a steady stream of photons emitted one at a time, in a particular direction

We got so much information available, in so many deluded forms (chinese whispers principle) that it is hard to know whats real and what is not.

This becomes even more tricky when you consider that even the papers those articles/information are based on might have been written by programs like that one:

http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/

[Se7enSword]

Very true. Information manipulation is terrifying.

The First 3D Printed House Is Coming, And The Construction Industry Will Never Be The Same

New augmented reality wearable - DAQRI Smart Helmet

Nvidia sues Samsung and Qualcomm, seeks to block Galaxy S5, Note 4. Graphics company claims smartphone processors infringe fundamental GPU patents.

Mother of Higgs boson found in superconductors: A weird theoretical cousin of the Higgs boson, one that inspired the decades-long hunt for the elusive particle, has been properly observed for the first time. The discovery bookends one of the most exciting eras in modern physics.

A Yale University professor has created a thin, lightweight smartphone case that is harder than steel and as easy to shape as plastic. “This material is 50 times harder than plastic, nearly 10 times harder than aluminum and almost three times the hardness of steel,”

Barclays brings finger-vein biometrics to Internet banking

Nitrogen- transforming bacteria already use Hydrogen as Energy source!

[SaintessHeart]

Apple Unveils NFC Mobile Payments Platform Called Apple Pay

After years of reportedly tiptoeing around it, Apple finally confirmed plans to introduce a mobile payments platform using Near Field Communication (NFC).

The new service, called Apple Pay, was announced during Apple's big media event on Tuesday. It will let users make payments in stores simply by swiping their phones.

Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, introduced the product by noting that most consumers and businesses still rely on a "fairly antiquated payment process."

"We're totally reliant on the exposed numbers," Cook said in the presentation, "and the security codes that all of us know aren't secure. It's no wonder that people have dreamed of replacing these for years. But they've all failed."

Apple Pay works by letting users scan their credit cards, from MasterCard, Visa or American Express, and then upload that information into the Passbook app. When the user pays, it generates a one-time only code, thereby boosting security by limiting the customer's exposure. If the iPhone is lost or stolen, the user can suspend payments from the device.

The payment option will also work with Apple Watch, the new wearable device unveiled at the event and expected to go on sale in early 2015.

Apple Pay will work at more than 200,000 merchants, including at stores from big names like Disney. The system will integrate into apps from Target, Groupon and OpenTable.

"It's a revenue opportunity. It's a business model opportunity. It’s an integration point across multiple parts of their business and their partners' businesses," Van L. Baker, an analyst with Gartner, told Mashable in an earlier interview about why Apple may embrace payments. "There's just a lot of things that line up that says this is the right time to do this."

Despite the many rumors to the contrary, Apple opted to stay clear of full-fledged mobile payments solution in recent years. Instead, it laid the tracks little by little: In 2012, it introduced the Passbook application for storing coupons, tickets and loyalty cards. More recently, it introduced the Touch ID fingerprint scanner and an API for it paving the way for more secure applications.

As many have pointed out, Apple also has some 800 million iTunes accounts, many of which have credit card information linked to it.

Multiple researchers have projected that mobile payment volume will surge in the coming years, with Gartner estimating that total transactions will hit $720 billion in 2017 and IDC estimating mobile payments will top $1 trillion in 2017.

Apple is expected to take a cut of each payment transaction processed through the platform, perhaps providing another significant revenue stream that could also help its bottom line.

[DevilHighDxD]

Human finally gets lazy to the point that where we're tired of carrying a plastic card?

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by DevilHighDxD

Human finally gets lazy to the point that where we're tired of carrying a plastic card?

Sounds like a good way to get someone to pay for my bills.

[AnimeFan188]

Do Cyborgs Dream of Electric PowerPoint?:

"Ghost in the shell, one of the most famous cyberpunk films of all time and an
inspiration for everything from The Matrix films to the study of cyber conflict, will turn
20 next year. Are we living in the future world that the anime film envisioned? A
glance at what Ghost in the Shell got right and wrong (so far) is ultimately
instructive for defense futurists."

See:

http://warontherocks.com/2014/09/do-...ic-powerpoint/

[Irenicus]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

Do Cyborgs Dream of Electric PowerPoint?:

"Ghost in the shell, one of the most famous cyberpunk films of all time and an
inspiration for everything from The Matrix films to the study of cyber conflict, will turn
20 next year. Are we living in the future world that the anime film envisioned? A
glance at what Ghost in the Shell got right and wrong (so far) is ultimately
instructive for defense futurists."

See:

http://warontherocks.com/2014/09/do-...ic-powerpoint/

An exciting premise for an article turns out to be largely meandering and pointless. The author obsessively focuses on the bureaucratic details, anchored by some vague and undefined notions of statism and cultural differences (a political scientist he is not), and only at the very end does the author come around to discussing the slightly more interesting implications of cybernetic integration and cyberwarfare/terrorism, all too briefly and rather shallow in execution.

Perhaps this is because of the restriction inherent in limiting the perspective to a "defense" futurist (wtf is that anyway), as opposed to the more expansive thinking allowed by an (unspecified, general) futurist of the Buckminster Fuller or Isaac Asimov tradition. Meh.

C+ and only because I'm a generous grader.

Thanks for sharing, though.

[Se7enSword]

DARPA is funding the development of a soft, fabric-based exoskeleton

When someone says "exoskeleton," it's easy to imagine a clunky contraption made of metal, like the one we typically see in the news courtesy of various research groups, or in movies like Edge of Tomorrow. The exoskeleton that Harvard's Wyss Institute is developing, though, doesn't look like it was torn off a robot: it's called the Soft Exosuit, and as its name implies, it's lightweight and made of fabric. Wyss has actually been working on the Soft Exosuit for years, but now DARPA has granted it a $2.9 million funding under its Warrior Web program to further its development. Its current iteration is really more like smart clothing that can be worn like pants, designed to mimic how leg muscles and tendons move and to support the users' joints as they walk. That's made possible thanks to the strategically placed straps around the legs that contain flexible sensors -- all controlled by a low-power microprocessor.

More @ Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/12/d...=rss_truncated

[Shyni]

Scientists discover an ancient species of flying reptile, decide to name it after a creature from James Cameron's avatar.

[AnimeFan188]

Everything Is Broken:

"Once upon a time, a friend of mine accidentally took over thousands of
computers. He had found a vulnerability in a piece of software and started playing
with it. In the process, he figured out how to get total administration access over
a network. He put it in a script, and ran it to see what would happen, then went
to bed for about four hours. Next morning on the way to work he checked on it,
and discovered he was now lord and master of about 50,000 computers. After
nearly vomiting in fear he killed the whole thing and deleted all the files
associated with it. In the end he said he threw the hard drive into a bonfire. I
can’t tell you who he is because he doesn’t want to go to Federal prison, which is
what could have happened if he’d told anyone that could do anything about the
bug he’d found. Did that bug get fixed? Probably eventually, but not by my friend.
This story isn’t extraordinary at all. Spend much time in the hacker and security
scene, you’ll hear stories like this and worse.

It’s hard to explain to regular people how much technology barely works, how
much the infrastructure of our lives is held together by the IT equivalent of baling
wire.

Computers, and computing, are broken."

See:

https://medium.com/message/everythin...n-81e5f33a24e1


Is it really as bad as that?

Is going open-source the only way to fix it?

[SaintessHeart]

You got to be delusional if you think systems,under the field of IT or otherwise, are foolproof.

Hermits shouldn't be allowed to become journalists.