Academic banned from publishing car-hacking paper

A computer scientist at a UK university has been banned from publishing an academic paper that reveals the codes used to start luxury cars. Flavio Garcia from the University of Birmingham received an injunction from the UK high court after he managed to identify the unique algorithm that cars use to verify the identity of the ignition key, The Guardian reported. German car manufacturer Volkswagen appealed for the injunction when...

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AlienVault offers free IP address alerts as it expands crowdsourced security

AlienVault hatabase. Described as a sort of ‘neighbourhood watch’ for participating organisations, the Open Threat Exchange Reputation Monitor Alert Service (to give it its full name) is a publically-accessible equivalent of the Open launched in 2012 to share the same data among its own customers. Threat Exchange (OTX) AlienVault As an aside, the Open Threat Exchange had now been renamed OTX Reputation Monitor and will be broadened to tie...

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Bogus Chrome, Firefox extensions pilfer social media accounts The extensions carry what could be a stolen digital signature, according to Trend Micro

Trend Micro has found two malicious browser extensions that hijack Twitter, Facebook and Google+ accounts. The attackers plant links on social media sites that, if clicked, implore users to install a video player update. It is a common method hackers use to bait people into downloading malicious software. The bogus video player update lures people in a macabre manner: it says it leads to a video of a young woman committing suicide, according to Trend's description. The video player update carries a cryptographic signature that is used to...

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Make videos compatible with any device with Wondershare

We're bringing a little something this week for the Home Movie Directors and Amateur Video Jockeys. With the ever-increasing diversity of devices out there, it's often hard to share various types of videos unless you want to go online. But if you're a a bit worried about Uncle Sam watching your home movies, Wondershare has got you covered with its Video Converter Ultimate. A DVD burner, converter, editor, and downloader, VCU is a hit with our editors...

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Microsoft Surface Pro review: Smart almost-laptop nearly gets it right

On February 9, the Surface gets another lease on life. This version, known as the Surface Pro, tackles head-on many of the complaints about the original Surface RT -- especially that model's compromised Windows RT operating system. The Surface Pro offers a full Windows 8 experience that works with older Windows software titles, packs a real Intel Core i5 processor, and boldly stuffs the entire PC experience into a sleek and appealing tablet...

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Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13: A full-time laptop meets a part-time tablet

The biggest hardware trend marking the launch of Windows 8 is the proliferation of touch-screen laptop/tablet hybrids. Some have screens that pull apart to become separate tablets, while others have screens that flip, twist, or rotate to give you a tabletlike shape to hold. We call those latter models convertible laptops, and one of the best examples to date is the new Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13. The name Yoga is suggestive of the system's big...

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Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station review: Speedy and elegant home Wi-Fi router

Apple's new sixth-generation AirPort Extreme Base Station is essentially the new AirPort Time Capsule minus the internal storage. In fact without the storage, the two devices -- for the first time since the debut of Apple's AirPort base stations -- are identical. The new true dual-band Wi-Fi router is now more compact, and prettier than the previous generation. It also supports the much anticipated -- and much faster -- 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard....

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Sony Vaio Pro 13 Touch review: So light. So small. So good.

Not everyone wants to buy an Apple laptop, but serious Windows 8 competitors to the MacBook Air have been few and far between. When Windows 8 systems started rolling out last year, it seemed like PC manufacturers spent all their efforts trying to make some sort of hybrid or convertible laptop. For their regular clamshell notebooks, the most they did was install Windows 8 and put in a touch screen. But, based on the Sony Vaio Pro 13 Touch...

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Sprint Vital review: Though ZTE's best, not quite good enough

Sprint announced today that it will be offering a 4G LTE, Android Jelly Bean handset called the Vital, starting June 14 for $99.99. Packing a 13-megapixel camera, a dual-core processor, and an expansive 5-inch HD screen, the Vital joins the ranks of the Warp Sequent and Sprint Flash as high-end phones from Chinese manufacturer ZTE. With its release, the Vital is unquestionably the best handset that ZTE has put out in the U.S. market. Compared...

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LG Optimus F7 (U.S. Cellular) review: Excellent Android 4.1 handset for under $100

The fact that the LG Optimus F7 is available on more than one carrier is no surprise. It's an excellent midlevel phone that's packed with quality specs, such as a vivid 4.7-inch touch screen, an 8-megapixel camera, and a dual-core CPU. Boost Mobile announced today that the F7 will be coming to the carrier on June 27 for $299.99 off contract, and U.S. Cellular customers can already get the device for $99.99 with a two-year agreement. All...

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Samsung Galaxy S4 Active review: Sporty, splashy fun, but not truly rugged

Quite a few smartphones these days can claim to be waterproof, but you have to hand it to Samsung's Galaxy S4 Active for turning that characteristic into a camera feature. Specs-wise, that waterproof camera is the only element that justifies the creation of this brand-new S4 phone. The 8-megapixel shooter's underwater aqua mode absolutely works -- so long as the seal holds -- but it's a mistake to think of the S4 Active, which is also dustproof,...

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HTC Butterfly S review: Swift processor, fat battery offset by cheap plastic

The HTC Butterfly S packs better specifications compared with the HTC One, but it doesn't have the great industrial build. If you're the type who prefers the fastest hardware, then the Butterfly S is the one for you. Otherwise, stick to the better-looking flagship One. Announced in Taipei and targeted at the Asian market, the updated 5-inch smartphone features a faster 1.9GHz quad-core processor, the Ultrapixel camera found on the HTC One,...

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Opera 16 Next is out

Opera Software, just like Google or Mozilla, decided to make available three different Opera release channels to provide developers and enthusiasts with options to test new features before they reach the stable build, and get some data and bug reports from the community in return. We are currently still waiting for Opera Dev to be released, while both stable and next builds of the browser are already available. Opera Dev will be what Chrome Dev...

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