Dec 29
The ever proliferating Uber “black car” service and other mobile-app-dispatched driver services will have to wait 15 minutes before picking up any customer starting Jan. 2014, a French bill has … Continue reading
Dec 29
A downside to the Windows Phone platform is that there aren’t as many apps compared to iOS and Android. Sure, one could argue that we would never be able to finish using all 200,000 apps available in the Windows Phone Store, but that’s not the point. The point is in variety and in options, but either way Windows Phone is slowly getting there with the release of big named apps such as Instagram, and if you’re into fitness, you might be interested to learn that it looks like a Fitbit app will be officially making its way onto the Windows Phone platform in the near future.
This is according to a job listing the company has posted onto LinkedIn in which they are looking for someone to manage the development and launch of a Fitbit app for Windows Phone. As it stands Fitbit has an app for iOS and Android that allows it to sync with mobile devices, but the only solution they have for the Windows platform is in the form of a Windows 8 app which isn’t as portable as a Windows Phone one, unless you’re the type that brings your tablet or laptop with you on your runs. There’s no telling when this app will be launched, but we suppose it’s still good news to know that it is in development and hopefully Fitbit users won’t have to wait too long before they are able to get their hands on it.
Fitbit App For Windows Phone Could Be Coming Soon original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Dec 29
When it comes to hacking our phones, Android and iOS are quite popular either by rooting or jailbreaking, and while there are options out there for Windows Phone users, it is not as commonplace, but who knows, perhaps down the line Windows Phone could get popular enough where hearing about an upcoming jailbreak could be worth looking forward to! In any case if you’re the proud owner of a Nokia Lumia 920 and you were looking for a way to jailbreak your device, you’re sort of in luck as a group of Chinese hackers have recently posted a video in which they claim to have jailbroken the handset.
As it stands the aim of this jailbreak is to create a Cydia-like store, except for Windows Phone, in which apps that might not necessarily be approved by Microsoft will be able to be downloaded and purchased. This does not necessarily encourage piracy but as we have seen in the past for iOS and Android, piracy of apps is inevitable so we guess it’s up to the curators to help keep it in check. The hackers have not posted a guide yet on how to jailbreak the Lumia 920, but the video above certainly shows some evidence that a jailbreak has been achieved. We might see a guide released later but for now, you can check out the video above for more details.
Nokia Lumia 920 Reportedly Jailbroken By Chinese Hackers original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Dec 29
Need This New Innovation? Flood Rum
Posted in: Today's Chili
In September of 2013 a devastating flood hit the Front Range of Colorado (the area on the eastern side of the mountains) was hit by severe flooding. It was worse than any in known history. The town of Lyons was cut off from civilization as the roads in all directions were washed out. Much of the town was washed away or heavily damaged. Spirit Hound Distillers was no exception. Now they are turning the tables on the flood to help the town move forward again.
Dec 29
The year of 2013 wasn’t exactly the year of the smartwatch, although we did see some valiant efforts from Samsung in the Galaxy Gear, but come 2014 that might be an entirely different story. According to the IDC and their strategy analysts, they believe that 2014 could be the year of the smartwatch in which we can expect that smartwatch sales to grow by a whopping 500%! The report states, “According to our Wearable Device Ecosystems (WDE) service, global smartwatch sales will grow almost +500% in 2014. We expect technology heavyweights — such as Samsung, Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Google — to expand the market significantly in coming years. The United States, Western Europe, China and developed Asia will be the leading territories to target for volume and value.”
As it stands there are numerous companies who have been rumored to be getting into the smartwatch business themselves. These companies includes Nokia, LG, Sony (again), and how could we forget the tech giants such as Apple and Google as well. So far the smartwatches we’ve seen are somewhat clunky and all pretty much offer the same features as the next, such as alerting the wearer of incoming calls and text messages, displaying time, using it as a fitness accessory, and etc., so it it will be interesting to see what companies such as Apple and Google have to offer in the wearable tech department that will set themselves apart from the competition.
Analysts Expect Smartwatch Sales To Grow To 500% In 2014 original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Dec 29
Defense bill makes US-based Russian satellite monitoring stations ‘next to impossible’ due to spying fears
Posted in: Today's Chili
The State Department hoped the building of satellite monitoring stations might soften tempers between the US and Russia, which have flared in the wake of asylum for Edward Snowden and arguments over Syrian politcs. Congressional Republicans, the …
Dec 29
LG is expanding the “Knock” feature to its entire ecosystem of smartphones and tablets, the company announced today. The feature lets users tap the screen twice as an alternative way … Continue reading
Dec 29
There isn’t one central BitTorrent search engine to release top searches queries of the year, but Kickass Torrents is pretty close. It’s definitely a go-to for standard stuff. And the most searched terms in 2013 were all over the place. Let’s dig in.
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Dec 29
This article was written on December 28, 2007 by CyberNet.
Welcome to Daily Downloads brought to you by CyberNet! Each weekday we bring you the Windows software updates for widely used programs, and it’s safe to assume that all the software we list is freeware (we’ll try to note the paid-only programs).
As you browse the Internet during the day, feel free to post the software updates you come across in the comments below so that we can include them the following day!
–Stable Releases–
The software listed here have all been officially released by the developers.
–Pre-Releases (Alpha, Beta, etc…)–
The software listed here are pre-releases that may not be ready for everyday usage.
- Songbird 0.4 [Homepage] [Release Notes] [Review]
Release: Beta
Type of Application: Media player
Changes: Fixed memory leaks, faster window resizing, latest generation iPods are supported, and more - Paint.NET 3.22 [Homepage] [Release Notes] [Review]
Release: Beta
Type of Application: Image editor
Changes: New “Reduce Noise” effect, and bug fixes
–Release Calendar–
- Early 2008 – Vista SP1 [Review]
- Early 2008 – XP SP3 [Review]
- January, 2008 – PhraseExpress 5 [Review]
- January 10 – Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 3
- January 15, 2008 – Mac Office 2008 [Review]
- January 24, 2008 – WordPress 2.4
- February, 2008 – iPhone SDK [Review]
- February, 2008 – Deskscapes 2.0 [Review]
- February 27, 2008 – Windows Server 2008 [Review]
- March 4, 2008 – OpenOffice.org 2.4
- April 24, 2008 – Ubuntu 8.04
- September 2, 2008 – OpenOffice.org 3.0 [Review]
- 2009 – Paint.NET 4.00 [Review]
- 2010 – Windows 7 [Review]
Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com
Dec 29
The hardware hacker Bunnie Huang gave a talk at the Chaos Compute Club Congress where he offered some good news and some bad news. The good news? SD cards contain powerful, handy micro controllers that are useful to hackers and hobbyists. The bad news? SD cards are woefully insecure.
In a detailed and readable post, Huang describes the exact problems with Flash memory. In order to reduce the price and increase the storage space, engineers have to fight a never-ending form of internal entropy that slowly but surely scrambles the data on every Flash drive.
Huang writes:
Flash memory is really cheap. So cheap, in fact, that it’s too good to be true. In reality, all flash memory is riddled with defects — without exception. The illusion of a contiguous, reliable storage media is crafted through sophisticated error correction and bad block management functions. This is the result of a constant arms race between the engineers and mother nature; with every fabrication process shrink, memory becomes cheaper but more unreliable. Likewise, with every generation, the engineers come up with more sophisticated and complicated algorithms to compensate for mother nature’s propensity for entropy and randomness at the atomic scale.
To take up arms against these errors, SD cards are essentially over-engineered to ensure an acceptable level of data retention. They also contain firmware that can, for example, change the visible available space on the card without changing the actual available space. This means you could sell a 2GB card as a 4GB card – your computer wouldn’t notice a difference until it started filling up that fake space. You can, incidentally, check your cards with this tool.
Here’s the worse news: because these cards contain firmware, this firmware can be updated. Huang reports that most manufacturers leave this update feature unsecured. In other words, don’t ever assume a Flash device is empty after you wipe its contents. For example, the card could make a copy of the contents in a hidden memory area or it could run malicious software while idle.
And the good news: Huang also notes that these cards could be reprogrammed to become Arduino-esque open source microcontroller and memory systems. “An Arduino, with its 8-bit 16 MHz microcontroller, will set you back around $20. A microSD card with several gigabytes of memory and a microcontroller with several times the performance could be purchased for a fraction of the price,” he writes.
So, in short, destroy your SD cards if you have any dirty info on them and keep your eyes peeled for ultra-small, ultra-fast Arduino hacks.
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