Ramblings of an old Doc
DrJBHL's Articles » Page 40
May 31, 2014 by DrJBHL
  Because MS has ended support for XP (unless you’re the IRS), the devs of TrueCrypt has ended development of its software. When this notification came out, the wisely suspicious of hackers surfaced, but it’s true…TrueCrypt is dead. You can still get it, but it’s digitally signed with the warning (SourceForge). It will allow you to decrypt your encrypted files/disk, but you won’t be able to encrypt new files. The warning has instructions on how to move to MS’s BitLocker services. ...
May 29, 2014 by DrJBHL
  Koler is a piece of malware which threatens Android users with action by legal authorities if they don’t pay a steep fine, the owner’s data is not encrypted, but he/she is locked out of his/her device until the ‘fine’ or ‘ransom’ is paid. Honestly? It was just a matter of time until the criminals decided to go after Android devices: It only depended on the numbers sold. Android phones? Sales will approach 1 billion this year. The method of infection is the same as Windows:...
May 29, 2014 by DrJBHL
  It’s supposed to be protecting you, right? Well, it is, but it’s doing more as well. AV-Comparatives issued a report delineating what info your AV collects and transmits back to company.   Some aren’t listed here…BitDefender, for example. However, the principle is very disturbing. These companies are getting the full list of webpages and documents. They’re doing it for various reasons, BUT this information could be used by a potentially unscrupulous vendo...
May 28, 2014 by DrJBHL
  Because Google knows best. One size fits all. Also because Google is concerned with possibly malicious extensions. When you open Chrome, you might see this: As usual, an article in gHacks will explain to you what to do to remedy this. There are a few things you can do, however there might be cases where the solution might not work, unfortunately. Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2014/05/28/unsupported-extensions-disabled-re-enable-blocked-extensions-chrome...
May 28, 2014 by DrJBHL
  Here’s hoping you didn’t wake up this morning to a ransom notice from the hacker/hackers known as “Oleg Pliss”. This goes for iPhones, iPads, and Mac users whose devices are being held ransom until a $50-$150 ransom is paid. Apple blog threads detail how the hack was accomplished through Apple’s own Find My iPhone feature ( https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6270410?start=0&tstart=0 ). “Fortunately, those who had set passcodes were able to regain access, be...
May 26, 2014 by DrJBHL
  Everyone knows that since mid April, XP is no longer being supported by MS (unless you’re the IRS) and you’d become “officially vulnerable”. Not so fast. This just in from reporter Hankers: There’s a registry hack for XP which will allow you to receive security updates as if you were ‘Windows embedded POS ready 2009’. Per Neowin , the hack was first reported in betanews and ZDNet confirmed it. This will allow security updates until 2...
May 25, 2014 by DrJBHL
  It’s currently in the beta stage. It was even seen on Gray’s Anatomy. In fact, it’s even been tested successfully by surgeons at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikvah, Tel Aviv. For the Schneider trial concluded in October 2013, RealView Imaging used real-time data from 3D cardiac ultrasound and 3D interventional X-ray systems made by the Dutch-based Philips Healthcare. The trial successfully proved the real-time feasibility of using holographic vis...
May 24, 2014 by DrJBHL
  Engadget came up with an interesting article about one in the Atlantic about the germinal thinking about the internet which involved a Belgian genius by the name of Paul Otlet (whom no one remembers) who in 1934 described a plan for a global network of “ electronic telescopes ” that would enable people all over the world to access a huge library of books, articles, films, photos and audio recordings. Sound familiar?   Even better: He wrote about wireless net...
May 21, 2014 by DrJBHL
  There’s been an apparently successful cyberattack on eBay. Thanks for pm’ing me, Hank. eBay issued a statement in which they’re asking users to change their passwords because of an attack which compromised their database of encrypted passwords and non-financial data: “Cyberattackers compromised a small number of employee log-in credentials, allowing unauthorized access to eBay's corporate network, the company said. Working with law enforcement and leading securit...
May 20, 2014 by DrJBHL
  Kaspersky has notified that it’s found fake Kaspersky apps in these online stores. Kaspersky Mobile is fake, although it uses Kaspersky’s logo. It costs $4, and claims to protect your phone/tablet. It does nothing. Actually? Be grateful. It could have been ransomware in disguise. Kaspersky has NEVER made an app called Kaspersky Mobile nor any mobile app for the Windows Phone platform. Kaspersky Virus Shield and Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2014 are also bogus. ‘Virus Shield’ (anot...
May 18, 2014 by DrJBHL
  Comcast is a very big ISP. Comcast executive V.P. David Cohen is quoted as saying recently that caps are going to be reinstated sometime within the next five years. He insisted that this is a much fairer system as those who use less bandwidth will pay less. Wanna bet? I still remember when cable t.v. was sold as television without commercials. How’s that working for you? True, on one level apples and oranges. They maintain that this keeps the cost down. That’s code for ‘this ma...
May 17, 2014 by DrJBHL
  The ‘But it’s on the Internet, so it’s free’ questions always come up. The fact it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s free, or that you can use it any way you please. “There's a simple solution: search for images "licensed for reuse" -- images that you may legally use. Both Google and Bing may be set to show images with this license. The license exists thanks to Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization founded in 2001. The orga...
May 16, 2014 by DrJBHL
  Softwheel has done just that. They invented a wheel whose spokes are shock absorbers as well as a dynamic suspension system. What do I mean? I mean that the ‘spokes’ are shock absorbers which alter their length according to task: What this means, is that the wheel can go over any type of surface with each wheel on essentially, an independent suspension and absorb the shocks of going over rocks and up or down stairs. The way these shocks/spokes are connected? ...
May 15, 2014 by DrJBHL
  Mozilla recently tested the most popular extension Adblock Plus. It has approximately 19 million users. Turns out there’s a constant overhead of 60-70 MiB (on a 32 bit machine, it’s smaller, probably). This is due to additional JavaScript memory usage and some extra layout memory. “The difference is significant, especially under the right circumstances. Adblock Plus adds an overhead to Firefox's memory usage of about 60-70 Megabyte. While that may be a lot depending o...
May 15, 2014 by DrJBHL
  This might help some folks caring for elderly parents… You’d think that eating is a simple thing: Money + food store + cooking (optional) and there you are, right? Not for some. The developer is an engineer whose mom has a tremor. He was engaged by the DoD to create more stable rifles to increase marksmanship (I suppose), and a light went off in his head. He started working on a spoon to cancel tremors. After all, cameras have this, especially Hollywood movi...