Hasta La Gadget!

If you own a select Samsung smartphone, be forewarned – a security researcher is concerned after claiming to have exposed a vulnerability in some Samsung handsets, potentially leaving them open to a remote wipe attack. According to Ravi Borgaonkar, he demonstrated the attack at the Ekoparty security conference, where he showed just how a hacker is able to direct the user to a webpage that contains malicious code, where a remote wipe assault might eventually cause untold factory reset nightmares for the smartphone’s owner.

Borgaonkar’s talk titled “Dirty use of USSD Codes in Cellular Network” did demonstrate just how the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) protocol is able to be exploited by hackers for nefarious purposes. QR codes could be deadly as well, sending people to webpages with malicious code in them. Hackers who have gained access can “kill” a SIM card as well as wipe off data in the smartphone in a matter of minutes. The Samsung smartphones which run on TouchWiz seem to be the only ones affected, and Samsung has not commented on the situation just yet. Has anyone confirmed the existence of such a vulnerability?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Samsung Epic 4G Keyboard Turned Into A Gamepad, Samsung Galaxy S rooted,

The Avengers was certainly one of the summer blockbusters to beat, and while it will not win any Oscars for its story, the entire movie made the comic book characters come alive. If you want to relive the magic of The Avengers in the comfort of your own home, you might want to be part of history in the making by placing a pre-order on Amazon. In fact, The Avengers is now Amazon’s biggest pre-ordered movie to date, when you combine both physical and digital formats, pushing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 down by a notch. The Avengers is available on Amazon Instant Video for all Amazon customers who can instantly stream the movie on their Kindle Fire devices, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, iPad and compatible connected Blu-ray players.

If there is a chance for this particular record to be broken, then it would take a lone ranger to do so instead of it being a team effort. I am referring to Bruce Wayne, another billionaire philanthropist genius who is not quite on the same level of Tony Stark in terms of his ladies’ collection, but when night falls and his beloved Gotham City is at peril, he will don his cape to terrorize enemies as Batman. Will The Dark Knight Rises’ Blu-ray and DVD release be able to knock the Avengers off their lofty pedestal? Only time will tell.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Kaleidescape M700 Disc Vault helps you store your movie collection, Addonics DigiCopier lets you copy Blu-ray discs, DVDs or CDs without using a computer,

There’s been a significant mystery lingering around the A6 processor found in the iPhone 5, even as it became clearer that Apple was veering further than usual from the basic ARM formula. A microscope-level inspection by Chipworks and iFixit is at last identifying the key elements of the 32nm, Samsung-assembled chip and revealing just how far it strays from the beaten path. The examination confirms earlier suspicions of a dual-core design with triple-core graphics — it’s how that design is shaped that makes the difference. Apple chose to lay out the two processor cores by hand rather than let a computer do the work, as most ARM partners do. The procedure is expensive and slow, but also gives the A6 a better-optimized design; it explains why the chip is noticeably faster than much of its competition without needing the brute force approaches of higher clock speeds or extra cores. Some mysteries remain, such as the exact PowerVR graphics that are at work, but it’s evident Apple now has the design talent and resources to speed up mobile devices on its own terms rather than wait for off-the-shelf layouts like the Cortex-A15.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Apple A6 investigation shows highly customized dual-core, triple-GPU layout originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LaCie’s no stranger to kicking out portable HDDs that are a-okay with getting kicked around, and the Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt Series is no exception. As the extended title implies, this one is equipped to transfer files via USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt, and it’ll play nice with Mac and Windows platforms. The LaCie Rugged SSD offers up transfer rates as high as 380MB/sec — a feat we came darn close to hitting ourselves in testing — and the HDD variants claim up to 110MB/sec. The bantam drive is entirely bus-powered, and it’s engineered to shake off drops of up to four feet. Interesting? Both models should be shipping shortly, with the 1TB HDD edition going for $249.99 and the 120GB SSDer for $199.99.

Continue reading LaCie’s Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt: fast portable storage that can take a beating

Filed under: Storage

LaCie’s Rugged USB 3.0 Thunderbolt: fast portable storage that can take a beating originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tesla has admitted it has fallen short of production goals for the Model S, blaming new equipment and supplier delays for pumping out fewer than expected electric sedans. The company – which announced ambitious solar-powered charging station plans this week – says it has so far produced 255 of the Model S, of which 132 have been delivered to buyers, and leaving Tesla 4-5 weeks behind schedule. At fault, Tesla says in a shareholder filing [pdf link], is the complexity of the new equipment involved on the Model S production line.

“The Model S is an all new vehicle which we are producing with new employees using new equipment. As our main focus is on quality, we have methodically increased our Model S production at a rate slower than we had earlier anticipated” Tesla says. “To produce a vehicle that meets our quality standards requires us to carefully analyze each step of our production ramp, improve the efficiency of our manufacturing processes and continue to train our employees.”

Responsibility isn’t solely Tesla’s, however. The company is also holding its suppliers to high standards, and that has caused some hiccups with components, it claims. “Certain suppliers have experienced delays in meeting our demand” Tesla says, “and we continue to focus on supplier capabilities and constraints.”

Model S shipments to customers had previously been estimated to reach 5,000 cars by the end of 2012, with Tesla setting a production goal of 20,000 for 2013. While the company still believes that 2013 target is workable, it now suggests it will deliver at most 3,225 cars before the year is through.

Overall, though, Tesla has cut its financial outlook, from the previous $560m-600m to $400m-$440m. R&D spending is expected to diminish by 20-percent in Q3 versus Q2, and Tesla saw a significant number of cancelations from those on its reservations list. That’s predicted to become less of an issue as the delay between placing an order and receiving a car decreases in line with production climbing, however.

[via GigaOm]

Tesla slashes forecast over Model S production hiccups is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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