Jul 15
Microsoft has apparently decided to remove the ability to set Google as a default search engine on new Lumia Windows Phone handsets.
Jul 15
Yes, we’re all excited to get our hands on the consumer version of Oculus’ VR gear, but that doesn’t mean that the company doesn’t take too kindly to scalpers offering dev kits ahead of time. After banning any orders from China after resellers tried…
Jul 15
Even though it has roughly a year until Ofcom’s new rule comes into effect, Three has decided it will no longer charge SIM-only customers for making calls to 0800 numbers. The company today unveiled new plans that mirror its pay-monthly handset…
Jul 15
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the thing that everyone seems to want to talk about. But before it becomes a real thing, it seems that it will be thing that creates groups and consortia and all sorts of seen and unseen alliances. Just a week after the Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) was born, a new fellowship called the Thread … Continue reading
Jul 15
Unlocking your bootloader can be a complicated and long-winded process, especially if you’re not particularly tech savvy and you’re unsure as to what you might be doing. However some OEMs, such as Sony, have provided its users with tools to unlock their bootloader, but even then the instructions can be long and convoluted.
The good news is that if you own a Sony Xperia handset and you were thinking of unlocking your bootloader, you will be pleased to learn that Sony has since updated its bootloader unlocking tool. While the process is pretty much the same, Sony has whittled away at the instructions and provided the user with the main set of instructions, thus making it less intimidating to use.
According to Sony, “If you’re an open source developer working with custom ROMs and kernels, or if you’re part of the custom ROMs community, we have some great news for you. As yet another step in our strive for openness, our Unlock boot loader service is now re-launched with improved usability. It will now be easier to go through the steps it takes to unlock a device.”
However there are some things that haven’t changed, which is that Sony will still require users to provide them with the IMEI number of their device and their email address to which the unlock code and instructions will be sent to. Sony has also updated their bootloader unlocking tool to include newer devices like the Sony Xperia Z2 and the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet.
Sony Updates Xperia Bootloader Unlocking Tool, Makes It Easier To Use
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Jul 15
Passwords are used to protect our bank accounts, our gaming accounts, our social network accounts, email accounts, and so on. Previously most websites would require users to enter a username and password to access their account, but lately security has been stepping up where there are now two-factor authentication methods.
This means that not only do you have to enter your password, but you will have to enter an additional code that can be generated and sent to your mobile device or via a dongle that generates a security code for you, but is two-factor authentication enough these days? Well a report for The Wall Street Journal, Christopher Mims, decided to put it to the test by releasing his Twitter password in his article.
So far his Twitter account appears to be safe and not hacked, despite many users attempting to log into his account. However as noted by Forbes, his phone was soon spammed with authentication codes till the point where he had to change the number associated with his account. In fact when Forbes tried to get in touch with him, they got a message saying that his line was out of service.
On one hand it did a good job at proving that the two-factor authentication does work, but at the same time the spam of authentication codes could be thought of as a form of DDoS, unless Mims decided to turn it off voluntarily, but what do you guys think? Was it a smart move just to prove a point?
Journalist Willingly Gives Out His Twitter Password To Prove A Point
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jul 15
Devices like the Oculus Rift and Sony’s Project Morpheus have been designed to take the gaming experience to the next level, but if you’d rather feel than see, then perhaps the KOR-FX haptic vest might be of interest to you. Haptic feedback gaming is definitely not new and we’ve seen it in the likes of steering controls and gaming seats.
However what makes KOR-FX different is that it is a vest that gamers can wear, allowing them to feel the vibrations from the game on their body. The device was actually announced earlier this year but has since become a Kickstarter project where the device has managed to raise more than $140,000, which is almost double that of its original goal.
The project is expected to end in the next week or so, so if you’d like to get your pre-orders in and pledge your support, you will be able to do so via its Kickstarter page. Now for those who aren’t sure what we’re talking about, the KOR-FX is a haptic vest like we mentioned above. Thanks to the built in vibrations, gamers will be able to sense all sorts of events in the game, like when vehicles are approaching, the direction from which a sniper is shooting from, and so on.
This is thanks to acousto-haptic technology and transducers that allow for more directed and precise haptic output. The vest itself will be compatible with PCs, Macs, consoles, and even mobile devices like tablets, connecting to them via the 3.5mm audio jack. It’s definitely an interesting project and if you’d like to learn more, check out the video above or pop on over to their Kickstarter page for the details.
KOR-FX Haptic Feedback Vest Launches On Kickstarter
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Jul 15
Earlier this year, Google unveiled a smart contact lens that had the ability to measure glucose levels. Why is this important? Well it allows wearers with diabetes to constantly measure their glucose levels throughout the day, with the results being sent to their mobile phones, thus allowing patients with diabetes to better manage their ailment more easily.
This is opposed to current methods which involves pricking the finger to draw blood to test sugar levels which can be painful and not very convenient if you’re constantly on the move all day. That being said, Google has since licensed out the technology to Novartis who will be making the device a reality. Novartis will be assigning their eye care subsidiary, Alcon, to develop the contact lens into a commercial product.
According to a statement by Google’s co-founder, Sergey Brin, “Our dream is to use the latest technology in the miniaturization of electronics to help improve the quality of life for millions of people. We are very excited to work with Novartis to make this dream come true.”
Novartis expects that this technology will help those with diabetes better manage their disease better, and for those living with presbyopia who can no longer read with glasses, which is an area in which the smart lens will supposedly help with. There is no word on when Novartis/Alcon will be able to make the device a commercial reality, but we guess it’s good to know that they are on the right path.
Google’s Glucose Monitoring Contact Lens Will Be Made A Reality
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jul 15
Mideast Conflict: Palestinian Rocket Fire Persists After Israel Agrees To Gaza Ceasefire Proposal
Posted in: Today's ChiliGAZA/JERUSALEM, July 15 (Reuters) – Palestinian militants fired rockets at Israel on Tuesday after it agreed to an Egyptian proposal to end the week-old Gaza conflict, and a Hamas leader said the Islamist group was still undecided on whether to accept the ceasefire.
Under the terms of the blueprint announced by Egypt – whose military-backed government has been at odds with Hamas – a mutual “de-escalation” of fighting was to begin at 9 a.m. (0600 GMT), with hostilities ceasing within 12 hours.
Rocket salvoes were fired at Israel after 9 a.m. and live television showed the Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepting several projectiles over the port city of Ashdod, where a factory was hit. Emergency services said no one was hurt.
Sirens sounded in other parts of southern Israel after what Channel Two television reported had been volleys of at least 10 rockets.
Israel said it had halted its attacks in the Gaza Strip but would respond strongly if Palestinian strikes persisted.
At Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved the Egyptian offer, an official statement said. Political sources said the vote in the forum was 6-2.
Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, rejected the reported text of the deal announced by Egypt, Gaza’s neighbor, saying: “Our battle with the enemy continues and will increase in ferocity and intensity.”
But Moussa Abu Marzouk, a top Hamas official who was in Cairo, said the movement had made no final decision.
“We are still in consultation and there has been no official position made by the (Hamas) movement regarding the Egyptian proposal,” Moussa Abu Marzouk, who was in Cairo, said in a Facebook posting.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said earlier on Tuesday that the Islamist group had not received an official ceasefire proposal, and he repeated its position that demands it has made must be met before it lays down its weapons.
Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli defense official and envoy to Cairo, said Hamas had been weakened by the air and sea bombardment of Gaza that medical officials in the densely populated enclave said has killed at least 184 people, many of them civilians.
“Look at the balance, and you see that Hamas tried every possible means of striking at Israel,” Gilad told Israel’s Army Radio.
Hundreds of rocket attacks on Israel have caused no fatalities, largely due to Iron Dome. But the strikes have disrupted life across the country and sent people rushing into shelters.
Israel had mobilized tens of thousands of troops for a threatened Gaza invasion if the rocket salvoes persisted in the worst flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian hostilities in two years.
“We still have the possibility of going in, under cabinet authority, and putting an end to them (the rockets),” Gilad said.
In overnight attacks, Israel said it had bombed 25 sites in Gaza. Palestinian medical officials said a 63-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman were killed.
CEASEFIRE TERMS
Under the ceasefire proposal announced by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry, high-level delegations from Israel and the Palestinian factions would hold separate talks in Cairo within 48 hours to consolidate the ceasefire with “confidence-building measures”.
The surge in hostilities over the past week was prompted by the murder last month of three Jewish seminary students in the occupied West Bank and the revenge killing on July 2 of a Palestinian youth in Jerusalem. Israel said on Monday three Jews in police custody had confessed to killing the Palestinian.
Hamas leaders have said a ceasefire must include an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza and a recommitment to a truce reached in an eight-day war there in 2012. Hamas also wants Egypt to ease restrictions at its Rafah crossing with Gaza imposed after the military toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi last July.
The Egyptian proposal made no mention of Rafah or when restrictions might be eased. It said only that “crossings shall be opened and the movement of persons and goods through (them) shall be facilitated once the security situation becomes stable on the ground”.
Hamas has faced a cash crisis and Gaza’s economic hardship has deepened as a result of Egypt’s destruction of cross-border smuggling tunnels. Cairo accuses Hamas of aiding anti-government Islamist militants in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, an allegation the Palestinian group denies.
Hamas has said it also wants the release of hundreds of its activists arrested in the West Bank while Israel searched for the three missing teens. The detainees include more than 50 Hamas men freed from Israeli jails in a 2011 prisoner exchange.
The proposed truce made no mention of the detainees in stipulating that “other issues, including security issues, shall be discussed with the sides”.
The Arab League said in a statement it welcomed the Egyptian initiative “to protect the lives of the innocent”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who reached an agreement with Hamas in April that led to the formation of a unity government last month, urged acceptance of the proposal, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said.
(Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Noah Browning in Gaza and Michael Georgy and Yasmine Saleh in Cairo; Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Dan Williams, editing by John Stonestreet)
Jul 15
Sandra Bullock Faced Stalker In Home Invasion, Search Warrant Reportedly Reveals
Posted in: Today's ChiliThis is horrifying: Sandra Bullock came face-to-face with the man who broke into her home last month, TMZ is reporting.
The site claims to have obtained a copy of the search warrant for Joshua Corbett’s property, which reveals the chilling details of that night.
The alleged break-in occurred June 8. Initial reports said the cops got the call around 6:30 a.m., but TMZ’s latest findings show Bullock faced Corbett as early as 1 a.m.
Per TMZ —
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At 1 AM she hears a loud banging inside the house. Bullock goes to her bedroom door to close and lock it and she sees Corbett right there in the hallway wearing dark clothing.
Bullock slams the door shut, locks it and calls 911. She told cops she had showered before going to bed, so he may have been there the whole time.
Bullock and her son, Louis, were not harmed in the incident.
Initially, Corbett was charged with stalking Bullock, burglarizing her home and possessing one illegal gun. After discovering he allegedly owns “an arsenal of weapons,” CNN reported in June, 19 felony counts were added — among them seven counts of possession of a machine gun.
Those charges carry a potential maximum of 12 years in prison if convicted, per CNN.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time the Oscar winning actress has had to deal with deranged fans.
In 2010, Bullock was granted a three-year restraining order against a man who had a history of stalking her and allegedly traveled cross-country to try to meet her after being released from a mental hospital. She had previously taken out a restraining order against the man, Thomas James Weldon, in 2003.
For more details about the frightening Corbett encounter, head over to TMZ.
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