Think you’re safe on the internet? Think again: Map reveals millions of cyber-attacks happening around the world in real time
A fascinating interactive map from security firm Norse serves as a stark reminder to just how dangerous the web can be. The live graphic plots every attack taking place on the internet, in real-time and reveals the number of attacks, where the attacks originate, and which locations they are aimed at. Norse’s interactive live map, allows viewers to watch as live attacks unfold around the world. The most popular target seems to be the U.S., with many attacks originating in China.
Read moreTwo examples of commercial censorship: the first is American hotel fines guests $500 for bad reviews and the second one is French judge orders food blogger to pay €2500 for writing negative review.
A New York hotel has a rather bizarre booking policy - it charges wedding couples $500 for every bad review left online by their guests. The Union Street Guest House said that it levies the fines because visitors "may not understand" its vintage interior and period furniture. "If your guests are looking for a Marriott type hotel they may not like it here," the inn added. According to the hotel's wide-ranging terms and conditions, a couple making a wedding booking will have the fine deducted from their deposit "for every negative review of USGH placed on any internet site by anyone in your party".
Read moreResearchers and scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have figured out a way to reproduce sound using the most fantastic and weirdest of "microphones."
These boffins have captured speech reflected off everyday objects such as a glass of water, a potted plant and a bag of chips. In effect, these objects become "microphones" that can record vibrations with the aid of a high speed camera. In collaboration with Microsoft and Adobe, MIT scientists developed a method that uses vibrations on reflective surfaces to eavesdrop on conversations. Instead of using expensive, professional equipment such as lasers, this ingenious method uses everyday objects to extract sound vibrations turned into audio from high speed video.
Read moreGoogle is developing smart contact lens that can identify a person faster and easier. In the bowels of Google X actively pursuing smart contact lenses that can help diabetics control glucose levels in the blood.
However, the ideas of science fiction in respect of contact lenses does not end there - Google has released a couple of new patents relating to this topic. If Google is able to translate his ideas into practice in the future we can have contact lenses that transform the human eye in a simple and rapid means of identification. As is known, the iris of the human eye is unique and can act as one of the biometric identifiers of the individual. Process Google patent consists of three stages. First - the delivery of light to the iris.
Read moreA new kind of tracking tool, canvas fingerprinting, is being used to follow visitors to thousands of top websites.
A new, extremely persistent type of online tracking is shadowing visitors to thousands of top websites, from WhiteHouse.gov to YouPorn.com. First documented in a forthcoming paper by researchers at Princeton University and KU Leuven University in Belgium, this type of tracking, called canvas fingerprinting, works by instructing the visitor’s Web browser to draw a hidden image. Because each computer draws the image slightly differently, the images can be used to assign each user’s device a number that uniquely identifies it.
Read moreGoogle Glass can take photos and tweet them with the power of thought. The app inventors claim that this is the first step to any device management with a thought.
Such application, called MindRDR allows to manage device without clicking and it can take photos with the power of thought. In certain version an additional analyzer, which can measure brainwaves is used. The device by itself transforms brainwaves into orders for electronic apparatus while the user is to concentrate on actions that he wants to do. The app creators believe that this program will allow Google Glass users to give commands in places where utter voice commands or clicking is uncomfortable.
Read moreIn Newcastle the 22-year-old computer science student Christopher Wilson was sentenced to 6 months coercive detention for not revealing the password that is required to decrypt the data on his computer.
He was urged to do this in “the interests of national security”. Wilson is accused of fooling police with cyber attack warnings as well as encouraging people to post deliberately inflammatory messages on a Facebook condolence page that was set up for two killed police officers. Wilson was already suspected to have sent rampage warning mails to the University of Newcastle. Two of these mails could be tracked back to Northumbria University where he was studying at that time.
Read moreA computer program made in Russia became the first in the history that managed to pass Turing test which was developed in 1950 in order to determine how machine‘s intelligence can imitate the human‘s one.
The program was created by Russian engineer Vladimir Veselov and Ukrainian Eugene Demchenko. A computer program has managed to convince judges it was a 13-year-old boy Eugene Goostman from Odessa. The Turing Test is based on 20th century mathematician and code-breaker Alan Turing's question and answer game set out in his 1950 paper ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’. During the tests the machine has to convince the person by means of correspondence that it is a person, instead of artificial intelligence.
Read moreApple announced that DuckDuckGo will be included as a built-in search option in future versions of Safari on iOS and OS X at WWDC conference. We are thrilled to be included in Safari and it's great that Apple is making it easy for people to access our anonymous search option.
This makes DuckDuckGo the first privacy-focused search engine to be added to one of the top four browsers and is a huge milestone for both us and privacy supporters. For Mac users, this goes alongside an all-new private browsing option that functions like incognito mode on Chrome. The web browser on iPhone, iPad and Mac now includes the private search engine DuckDuckGo that users can set as default.
Read moreUSA representative to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Susan Levine became the first ambassador, who took her oath on electronic reader Kindle, which had USA Constitution copy.
The relevant photo and tweets were lined in Twitter- account of the USA Embassy in London: “The characteristic of the XXI century oath; @ AmbSuzi becomes the first USA ambassador, who sworn on electronic handheld device.” The USA Senate approved Susan Levine as Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and found that oath was legal. According to journalists, similar innovation is not surprising for Levine: more recently, in 2009-2012 she worked for Microsoft.
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