Hasta La Gadget!

The Contagio security blog posted evidence back in February of targeted attacks against government and military officials on Gmail. Today, nearly four months later, Google has finally admitted this is true: hundreds of personal accounts have been compromised by hackers it believes to be working out of Jinan, the capital of China’s Shandong province. The accounts include those of “senior U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, officials in several Asian countries (predominantly South Korea), military personnel and journalists.” The hijackers’ aim appears to have been to spy on their targets using Google’s automatic forwarding function. But unlike the PSN fiasco, Google insists its internal systems “have not been affected.” Instead it seems the hackers used a phishing scam, possibly directing users to a spoof Gmail website before requesting their credentials. Google says its own “abuse detection systems” disrupted the campaign — but in a footnote right down at the bottom of their official blog page they also credit Contagio and user reports.

Update: And in comes China’s response, courtesy of Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei. “Allegations that the Chinese government supports hacking activities are completely unfounded and made with ulterior motives.” Ok then, that settles that.

Update 2: And the saga continues… According to an AP story published earlier today, the Obama administration has stated that the FBI is looking into allegations that hackers broke into Google’s email system, but denied that any official government accounts were compromised. A White House spokesman went on to say that government employees are free to use Gmail for personal purposes, and can not be sure who in the administration might have been affected by the attack. Let’s just hope they know how to leave the sensitive stuff at the office.

Google admits sensitive email accounts have been hacked, some users knew months ago (update: US says no government accounts compromised) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Jun 2011 18:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When you think of North Korea, you probably picture images of extreme poverty and a country still in a technological Dark Age. But now North Korea is making three models of state-controlled PCs for its citizens, according to a report from the country’s state-run TV channel. That’s the office model, above. More »

Been searching for an MP3 player that can do it all, including whisper sweet nothings in your ear? Behold the iRiver T9, a slim, Barbie pink number with screen savers that say, “I love you” and “enjoy your life.” For such a gimmicky device, it actually offers a healthy feature set, including an FM radio, voice recorder, step and calorie counters, a built-in USB connector, and the ability to shake to skip. Too bad the storage taps out at a puny 4GB. No word on pricing, but for now you can peep a less patronizing color palette in the gallery below and head past the break to play a game sweeping the Engadget staff: “spot the MP3 player in the video of dancing schoolgirls.”

Continue reading iRiver’s T9 is the affectionate, all-purpose MP3 player your inner schoolgirl always wanted (video)

iRiver’s T9 is the affectionate, all-purpose MP3 player your inner schoolgirl always wanted (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 May 2011 14:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a few years but iriver just released an updated version of its NV GPS navigator with SPINN UI. Wa… wait a second, that’s a Samsung logo. Sorry, this is the Samsung SENS-240, a hybrid car navigation system / tablet that plays nice with your Android-powered Samsung smartphone or, uh, tablet. According to Akihabara News, the SENS-240 uses Bluetooth to take over your voice, data, voice search, and even “video features” from your smartphone when driving. You can then control the SENS-240 using your smarpthone or tablet as an “advanced” remote when idle. The details behind how this works, or why you’d want to do it, is a mystery. We do know that the SENS-240 comes packing 256MB of RAM, USB-host mode, and an SD slot in addition to a 1.43GHz processor (of unknown origins) said to be powerful enough to handle 3D maps, video, or DMB TV on that 7-inch, 800 x 480 pixel display. Oh, and it’s Korea-only for now.

Samsung SENS-240 Navigation Tablet is strange and familiar originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 03:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell has already put 3D to good effect in its high-end Alienware models, but Samsung claims the screen on its new RF712 gaming laptop will have industry-leading brightness, helping it to overcome the dimming effect of wearing 3D glasses. The 17.3-inch screen will employ the same Super Bright Plus technology that stunned us in its Series 9 laptop, but this time at a higher Full HD resolution. The stated brightness is 400-nits — as much as double what you might to expect to find in an average LCD and perhaps even enough for a LAN party outdoors in the sunshine (ok, maybe not). Other specs include a second generation quad-core Intel CPU, 2GB-worth of AMD HD6650M graphics, 750GB hard drive and USB 3.0. The RF712 will start selling in South Korea on May 2nd for ₩2.6million (about $2,400), but it could be a while before it hits international shores. Until then, we will be standing here wearing our active Bluetooth 3D glasses and looking out for a 400-nit speck on the horizon.

You, on the other hand, can check out the RF712 on video after the break courtesy of Johnmichaels01.

Continue reading Samsung RF712 gaming laptop promises ultra-bright 3D, an end to dimness (video)

Samsung RF712 gaming laptop promises ultra-bright 3D, an end to dimness (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 10:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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