PlayStation Network credit card details were encrypted

                               

The PlayStation network remains offline while Sony investigates the hack

Sony has revealed that credit card details held on its PlayStation Network were stored in securely encrypted files.

The news offers some hope to users worried about their personal data after the online system was hacked.
Sony had previously warned that card numbers and expiry dates may have been among the stolen data.
However, other information, including dates of birth and home addresses, did not have the same level of protection.

Acer Aspire Z5763 has gesture-controlled 3D display, forgettable name

A year ago, we thought controlling a computer by prodding a meat stylus at its touchscreen was the height of next-gen sophistication. Acer may just have reset our expectations, however, with the Aspire Z5763 -- an all-in-one computer you control by flailing your arms about.
This ridiculously named device has a 2-megapixel webcam that, according to Engadget, can monitor users' movements using a gesture-recognition system Acer has dubbed ZQ3318P10. Just kidding, it's seen sense and called it something people will actually remember -- Acer AirControl.

Viewdle lets Android smartphones recognize friends

SAN FRANCISCO — Northern California startup Viewdle on Wednesday released software that lets Android-powered smartphones recognize people's faces.
The free SocialCamera application available at the Android Market or online at viewdle.com/products/mobile was billed as the first of its kind for US smartphone users.
"Viewdle SocialCamera is the first mobile camera app to encourage socializing and communication," said Viewdle co-founder and chief executive Laurent Gil.

Korean Mobile Carriers To Release Apple's iPad 2 This Week

SEOUL, April 28 (Bernama) -- SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp., the two largest mobile carriers in South Korea, said Thursday that they will launch the iPad 2, Apple Inc.'s latest version of its tablet computer, this week in the local market, Yonhap news agency reported.

SK Telecom and KT said they will both start selling the iPad 2 tablet computer starting Friday.

The iPad 2, which features a lighter and thinner body than its predecessor, will be available at the starting price of 640,000 won (US$594), according to Apple's Korean Web site.

KT, which first introduced the iPhone in South Korea in 2009 and was the sole mobile carrier to retail the first version of the iPad, faces stiffer competition from its bigger rival SK Telecom, which began selling the iPhone last month.

SK Telecom added that it has started selling the white iPhone 4, after Apple pushed back its release date, citing unexpected manufacturing challenges.

Evidences sent to Islamabad for forensic examination

KARACHI: Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Investigation Iftikhar Tarrar said on Wednesday that available evidence about the attacks on the two Pakistan Navy (PN) buses in Karachi on Tuesday had been sent to a Islamabad laboratory for forensic examination, however, investigators of various agencies believed that the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was behind these attacks.

The DIG also pointed out that terrorist organisations had joined hands and started activities to sabotage peace in the city.

Sony says to launch first tablet PCs to take on Apple

Sony's first tablet PCs S1 (L) and S2 are displayed at their unveiling ceremony in Tokyo , April 26, 2011. Sony said on Tuesday it will launch its first tablet PCs, hoping to gain second place in the growing market dominated by Apple's iPad. — Reuters Photo

TOKYO: Sony Tuesday said it will launch its first tablet PCs, hoping to gain second place in the growing market dominated by Apple’s iPad.
The new gadgets will use an operating system based on Android 3.0, Kunimasa Suzuki, deputy president of the consumer products and services group, told reporters in Tokyo.
One of the models will have two screens, he added.
Suzuki raised eyebrows in January when he told reporters Sony was aiming for the No.2 position in the tablet market behind Apple within a year
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South Korea probes Apple about tracking feature

The Korea Communications Commission said it had sent a list of questions asking Apple Korea to clarify why location data was collected from mobile device users and how frequently such data was recorded. – AFP Photo

SEOUL: South Korea’s telecoms regulator said Monday it had launched an inquiry into Apple to see whether the US giant’s collection of location data from its iPhone and iPad users violates privacy rules.
The probe follows claims that Apple traced and stored geographical data from its mobile device users in countries such as France and Germany.
The Korea Communications Commission said it had sent a list of questions asking Apple Korea to clarify why location data was collected from mobile device users and how frequently such data was recorded.
Apple is also required to explain why such information is not encrypted, whether device users have a choice over data deletion or data storage, and whether such data is stored on its servers, it said.

Archaeologists find statue of Tut’s grandfather

Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass. -AP File Photo

CAIRO: Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed the biggest statue of Tutankhamun’s grandfather Amenhotep III and another of the goddess Sekhmet, the country’s antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said on Tuesday.
Both statues were discovered at the pharaoh’s temple on the western bank of the Nile at Luxor in southern Egypt.
The statue of Amenhotep III, who reigned around 3,350 years ago, is 13.65 metres (yards) high and carved out of quartzite.
The statue, found in seven chunks and missing a head, is one of twin statues erected in front of the temple’s northern entrance, said to have been destroyed in an earthquake in 27 B.C.

Sensor that changes color when it detects spoiled food

April 25, 2011
A sensor will help consumers to know whether meat products that they want to buy are spoiled or not.


Scientists have invented a sensor film that changes color when food is degraded.
This sensor will be placed on packages of meat and will serve to quality control the products. The indicator will react to the amines in the package and thus, following certain chemical reactions, it will change color from yellow to blue. The amines are molecules produced when food enters the state of decomposition; they are also responsible for the odor of meat products.

App lets iPhone, iPad owners wipe location

App lets iPhone, iPad owners wipe location data\

04/23/2011

01:19 PM
Following the surprise discovery that some iPhones and iPads keep track of their owners' whereabouts, an app is now being offered to wipe such data from the devices.
But the application, released by developer Ryan Petrich, will work only on Apple devices running jailbroken versions of iOS 4 and up.
"You will, of course, need to have a jailbroken iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to install it," said an article on Redmond Pie.
The Redmond Pie article also offered links to jailbreak an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch - or altering the OS to allow it to run apps not approved by Apple.
On the other hand, the iPhone Download Blog hailed the new app as an example of "reactive power" from the jailbreak community.
"This utility is another example of the reactive power that the jailbreak community offers. A big thanks to Ryan and the other devs for continuing to give us control over our own (devices)," it said.
Earlier this week, researchers disclosed that Apple mobile devices running iOS 4 and up collect and records owners' location data into a file "consolidated.db."
The file is not encrypted and can be synced to a computer running Apple's iTunes software.
A description of the app on BigBoss.org said that it "continuously clean(s) up location's history data in the background" by installing a daemon - a process that can run in the background - to clean the consolidated.db file.As of 1 p.m. Saturday, there were 9,359 downloads for the app.
A separate article on CNET quoted Petrich as saying the "Untrackerd" app deletes any data more than 30 minutes old from the consolidated.db file, checking every five minutes (except when the phone is in sleep mode) for changes to the file.
It quoted him as saying the most recent data is left intact so the device can still pinpoint the phone's location for purposes like driving directions.
CNET also quoted him as saying that the app does not zero out the deleted data multiple times, as is necessary to thwart forensic analysis.
"I created it because I wasn't 100 percent comfortable with the entire history of my location being stored on a device that is very easy to lose," he told CNET.
The CNET article also said that Petrich updated Untrackerd so that it will securely delete the data it wipes, writing over the disk space with zeros several times so deleted data cannot be forensically uncovered later. - TJD, GMA News

Harvard twins stuck with Facebook agreement

David White
SAN FRANCISCO—A federal appeals court ruled Monday that former Harvard University schoolmates of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg can’t undo their settlement over creation of the social networking site.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday that Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were savvy enough to understand what they were agreeing to when they signed the agreement in 2008. The deal called for a $20 million cash payment and a partial ownership of Facebook. A third classmate, Divya Narendra, was part of the settlement with the twins but did not pursue the second lawsuit seeking to undo the agreement. Monday’s ruling upholds a lower court decision enforcing the settlement during the six years of litigation that grew so contentious that the dispute was dramatized in the Oscar-nominated film, “The Social Network.”
The settlement is now worth more than $160 million because of Facebook’s increased valuation.
The twins had alleged they were misled about Facebook’s value when they agreed to settle their lawsuit that claimed Zuckerberg stole their idea to launch Facebook. “At some point, litigation must come to an end,” chief justice Alex Kozinksi wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel “That point has now been reached.”
The twins alleged they were misled into believing the company was worth $35.90 a share because of an investment by Microsoft Corp. But they argued that the company later valued the company at $8.88 for tax purposes. The twins argue they would have demanded more stock in the company based on the lower valuation. Kozinski said the twins were “sophisticated parties” when they agreed to the settlement during a mediation meeting.
“They brought half-a-dozen lawyers to the mediation,” Kozinksi wrote. Facebook said Monday it was pleased by the ruling. Lawyers for the Winklevoss twins said they are reviewing the decision and have not decided on their next step. The twins could ask the Supreme Court to consider the case.