Responses to the superhero “campaign” were swift and unforgiving, accusing it of entirely misinterpreting the RIM target audience and of being contrary to freshly elected CEO Thorsten Heins’ intentions for the company. Heins had said he wanted to continue to push the BlackBerry proposition as a package of services, hardware and features - “an integrated solution: network, services, enterprise service and fantastic devices and a fantastic ecosystem” - rather than split it up and risk diluting its appeal.

Ironically, RIM already has a foot in the door with the youth market. The company recorded solid sales in the UK pre-holiday market, for instance, after strong carrier promotions there pushed bundled BBM access as part of low-cost contracts to the under 18 age group. However, while that’s good for a couple of quarters, it doesn’t exactly promote growth in RIM’s core business: teenagers aren’t generally bothered by BlackBerry Exchange Server, for instance.

“This infographic is just intended to be a bit of fun” RIM protested in an update. “On New Year’s Eve, we asked BlackBerry Twitter followers and their friends to submit their resolutions on how they plan to Be Bold in 2012 … As we looked at the resolutions and the data, majority patterns and categories emerged. We decided to organize the data and share it in a fun way, and the result is the infographic.”

The short message is that you needn’t worry – RIM isn’t planning to send its spandex-clad superheroes out into the real world. “This is not a new ad campaign” the company says.

The treated seeds themselves aren’t what causes the problem, it’s suggested: instead, it’s how the seeds are planted. Farm machinery used to sew the fields release high concentrations of the insecticides in the waste talc that is exhausted; the clouds are “quite light” and “quite mobile” Christian Krupke, associate professor of entomology and co-author of the Purdue report says, and contain around 700,000 times the dose required to kill a bee.

“This material is so concentrated that even small amounts landing on flowering plants around a field can kill foragers or be transported to the hive in contaminated pollen” Krupke continues. “The fact that these compounds can persist for months or years means that plants growing in these soils can take up these compounds in leaf tissue or pollen.”

Although crops are obviously important, the honeybees do vital work in cross-pollination. In fact, the US Department of Agriculture says they’re worth up to $20bn annually to commercial farming processes. Even reduced amounts of neonicotinoid insecticide dust could still present a problem, with the researchers suggesting the bees exposed, although not killed outright, could be more susceptible to disease and lose their hive honing abilities.

[via ReaderSupportedNews]

ACTA was signed by the US and Canada last year, with Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Greece all joining Poland in agreeing to the act this year. However, despite the governmental support, internet users and privacy activists have been outspoken in their opposition.

The Act, they say, removes safeguards that currently protect an ISP from the activity of its subscribers, something that is expected to increase the likelihood of internet providers reducing user privacy so as to avoid incriminating themselves. The Free Software Foundation has alleged that ACTA would also prevent sites from distributing apps that could be used to acquire content illegally, such as BitTorrent and other P2P software.

Local internet activist factions claiming to be part of Anonymous subsequently attacked various Polish government sites, resulting in sporadic downtime, while sites of groups supporting ACTA were also targeted. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski argued that the internet was at risk of becoming a place of “legal anarchy” and that “theft on a massive scale of intellectual property is not a good thing.”

[via TechDirt]

According to Gingrich, the lunar base will be ideal for “science, tourism and manufacturing” – the Republican has gone on record on several occasions, suggesting the moon would be an ideal opportunity for mining - with a “robust industry” that would be modeled on 20th century airline development.

The ambitious plans may be at odds with NASA’s own budget for space exploration, never mind colonization. However, Gingrich has a few ideas for what, exactly, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration should spend its money on: 10-percent in prize money for private companies willing to undertake interplanetary exploration.

“Americans are instinctively grandiose” Gingrich said of his proposals, apparently believing that would be sufficient explanation. No word on what the lunar base might be called, nor whether it might be built in the shape of the candidate’s own face.

[via Guardian]

The Trafalgar Sun is 30,000 times bigger than a soccer ball and has a surface area of 200 meters-square. Consisting of orange material surrounding a multi-lamp array, it produces the equivalent of 60,000 regular lightbulbs and sucks up 210,000W in the process.

In this second video, exactly how the Trafalgar Sun was made is shown. If you’re looking for a more affordable way to battle SAD, check out the Philips goLITE BLUE which we reviewed last month; a whole lot smaller and dimmer, but a fair bit cheaper too.

Whether that was worth it depends on how appealing a robot with a huge speaker for its pelvis and a low-storage PMP tucked inside is to you, and whether those feelings changed having seen the ‘bot dancing with the Canadian jig wastrel. Folding, Transformer-style, to an 8-inch high speaker block, or opening up to cycle between a number of preset dance moves controlled by remote, the mRobo is expected to ship in the fall.

Meanwhile, a Bieber-branded edition of the Tosy robot is apparently being considered, high praise indeed. Britney Spears will no doubt be livid; sources claim she was also under consideration, but Tosy eventually bagged the Biebs.

Unfortunately, while the plans are detailed, explanations of what exactly most of the kit does is in short order. The “oiliness table” for instance is part of a room-filling installation consisting of a “friction table”, “heat station”, “cold station”, “pressure station” and “pain station”, the latter outfitted with an array of spiked plates.

A huge dome on the sixth floor of the building will cover a massive, echoing running room, centered on a glowing pillar, while other facilities will include machines for testing heartbeat and other lifesigns.

As for that all-important Super Power, according to other leaks it’s a way for Scientology practitioners to center themselves and feel that they’re in “present time.” We’re passing no judgements on how legitimate all that is; all we know is that we quite fancy a play with the oiliness table.

Nissan says the average scratch should be “healed” in around an hour, but more serious grazes could take anything up to a week to be fixed. Still, compared to smashing the glass back panel of your iPhone 4S or iPhone 4 – either of which generally aren’t fixed until you throw money or insurance at them – it’s a lot more preferable.

The magic is Nissan’s polyrotaxane-based paint, which is layered over an ABS plastic shell. A side-benefit is that it feels more tactile and grippy than a regular paint finish, which should hopefully help you avoid dropping it in the first place. Nissan has already licensed the paint to NTT DoCoMo, which uses it in some of its Japan-only handsets, while polyrotaxane is also being considered as a potential anti-cancer drug delivery system.

Nissan will be test-driving some prototype Scratch Shield iPhone cases this year, and is considering a commercial launch later in 2012. No word on how pricing might compare to a regular iPhone shell.

Tickle the Woogie 2, and the characters laugh; shake it and they get dizzy. It can also repeat words and phrases – with the option to turn that feature off, if you’re getting sick of the parroting – and if you leave it alone the characters fall asleep.

As before, the soft-stuffed furry legs make the iPhone easy to prop up for a child to tap at, and a clear plastic window gives the touchscreen some protection while still including headphone socket access. You can download the Woogie app free here [iTunes link].

The original Woogie was a fond favorite of Avi Greengart, appearing in two successive last-minute holiday gift guides. The new Woogie 2 is available for order now, in blue or pink, priced at $19.99.

In a way, you can see will.i.am’s point – or at least the point he’s perhaps trying to make. The ghetto blaster used to be a communal point for music lovers, with home-crafted mixtapes used to share new tracks and new forms of musical style. With the transition of music creation to computers – “now you make it on the computer and listen to it on the computer” the Black Eyed Peas artist said – now people can not only get together to listen but to create tracks in the first place.

will.i.am’s segment on stage ended with a brief clip of his next track – something he says was created, at least in part, on an Intel-powered ultrabook – and some perhaps confused applause from the attendant geeks.

On more solid ground, perhaps, check out our hands-on with Dell’s first entrant to the ultrabook market, the XPS 13, as well as HP’s ENVY 14 Spectre, Samsung’s second-gen Series 9, LG’s “Super” Ultrabook Z330 and more in our ultrabook hub. The slimline ultraportables certainly seem to be one of the key trends of CES 2012 so far.

Your money gets you a desk-bound friend that can read out your emails and other messages, tell you the news and weather, track tweets and RSS feeds, and more. There’s also Facebook integration, freshly added, which allows Karotz to read out text messages or play received audio files, and allows your friends to twiddle the rabbit’s ears and flash its multi-colored lights. You can also use the webcam in the rabbit’s nose to post images to Facebook, its microphone to share an audio clip, or dictate a text wall update.

A free Android and iOS remote control app is available, and there’s also matching Flatnanoz key ring tags, with embedded RFID chips to trigger apps or macros, such as automatically alerting you when your kids have made it home from school. The Karotz is available now, priced at $129.99.

“Project Sk8″ uses an unreleased Samsung Windows 8 prototype tablet mounted to the top of the motorized skateboard. From it, riders can control the speed settings (with a choice of slow, medium and fast) and visually keep track of their gestures. Those are spotted by the Kinect, and when you push your hands forward the skateboard moves forward too.

Pulling your hands back slows things down; alternatively you can just fall off. Exactly how useful in the real world all this is, we’re not sure, but it sure beats the bus.

It’s the first tournament in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), sponsored by NASA among others, a program intended to get young people interested in science and technology. The Rebound Rumble game – which you can see played out render form in the video below – takes a pre-defined set of components from which the robots can be built, and then puts them on a basketball court together.

Initially, the robots must work autonomously – though one of the three can be directed using a Kinect sensor bar – before drivers can take full control and work together. Winning is thus a matter of teamwork as well as scoring through the different hoops – higher hoops garner more points, as does scoring during the initial autonomous “hybrid” period – while players can gain bonus points by balancing their ‘bots on teeter-totter bridges.

A match lasts 135 seconds, though so far no teams have actually played: they currently have six weeks – and a video of will.i.am explaining the rules, below – to get their robots built, programmed and tested before the first games take place. As the great Black Eyed Peas philosopher says “let the games begin and keep on rockin’.”

Hawking has a motor neurone disease that has progressively left him almost entirely paralyzed, with the computer integrated into his wheelchair also providing his well-known synthesized voice since a tracheotomy took his own. Part of the challenge for the new “technical assistant” will be maintaining a hodgepodge of systems that have been accrued over the years: for instance, Hawking’s original DECtalk DTC01 voice synthesizer has since been replaced with a NeoSpeech app running on one of the regularly-upgraded laptops.

Elsewhere there’s a mass of cables, batteries and motors, together with the infrared remote system that Hawking uses to control his home and lab automation. They’ll need to be kept online too, as well as helping keep press attention under control and answering questions to avoid the laborious text-to-speech system the professor must use.

The initial job post listing – pasted below – has since been taken down, with the advice that interested parties should keep an eye on this page at the DAMTP. The role is expected to become available in late February.

Graduate Assistant to Stephen Hawking

The above post is expected to become available shortly, with a starting date around 20th-27th February 2012. The salary is expected to be in the region of £25k; the exact value will be confirmed in the near future.

Disclaimer: This is not an official job applications page, however similar it may look! The official applications process will be started when the post has been properly advertised, probably in mid-January. We will not be able to offer the post to anyone on the strength of this unofficial submission alone; we can only direct people to apply through the official channel. However, if you fit our requirements, we would like to hear from you.

The post is more accurately described by the title “Technical Assistant to Stephen Hawking.” It is not a PhD or Post-Doc position for academics looking to study physics, but a purely technical post to allow Prof. Hawking to function within the physics community and as a public speaker.

The original purpose of this position was “to aid Professor Hawking in those areas which he has difficulty due to his disability.” The job has since expanded and now includes:

Managing national and international travel for Prof. Hawking and his care team. Expect to spend around 3 months per year abroad!
Development and maintenance of Professor Hawking’s communication and speech systems
Procurement and maintenance of his wheelchairs and accessible van
Preparation of lecture graphics and public speaking
Dealing with the media and press
Answering inquiries from the public and maintaining the website

The post requires a wide range of skills, most importantly:
Ability to work under pressure
Maintenance of “black box” systems with no instruction manual or technical support
Computer literacy
Electronics knowledge
Ability to speak to a large audience
Ability to show others how to use complex systems

The role of ‘Graduate Assistant to Professor Hawking’ is funded as a research post at the University of Cambridge. Normally it has been under a 12 month contract, although recent graduate assistants have stayed on for several years.

[via The Register; Image credit: NASA]

It’s apparently the culmination of a year’s work, and though you may not see the value in using a ‘bot costing several thousand dollars to keep a cat’s fur silky-smooth, it’s a big step forward in domestic telepresence. The Kinect and Wii remotes are used to control Nao’s arms, while the sensor bar and the treadmill track movement; meanwhile the head-mounted display shows Veltrop what the ‘bot can see, as well as moving its head according to his own movements.

Next up is two-way audio using the integrated microphone and speakers, and perhaps some practice so that the cat doesn’t end up clawing Nao to pieces. This video is apparently the second attempt at a remote grooming, and it still includes such painful gems as ”Oh, did I just punch him in the head? Sorry kitty.”

[via Kotaku]

In Apple’s promo, the youngster is shown cavorting for the iPhone 4S’ camera, the smartphone’s onboard editing tools used to tweak it before sending it out to Twitter. Samsung, meanwhile, also has some mugging for the camera, showing the girl excited by the flexibility of the 4G slate.

It’s unclear if the casting – and the camera theme similarities, which are admittedly brief – was inadvertent or intentional on Samsung’s part. Although the company has been keen to point out that it sees its products as competing not copying with Apple’s, it also hasn’t been shy about taking pot-shots at iPhone lovers in its ads.

Exactly what it could hope to gain by using the same actress is unclear, however, and this might be a case of an advertising agency goofing rather than Samsung itself.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE advert:

Apple iPhone 4S advert:

[via The Next Web]

“Unfortunately, none of our efforts have resulted in any communication from the company to the customers. Given all of this, we don’t have any other choice but to cease working with FG effective tomorrow.” Fusion Garage PR company

In the Fusion Garage forums, meanwhile, pre-order customers and the few to have already received their Grid10 tablet have turned up news that the company’s lawyers have resigned over lack of payment. It appears the company is unlikely to deliver either the price-slashed Grid10 or the replacement tablet to existing JooJoo owners, as promised.

Fusion Garage came to notoriety after the CrunchPad debacle, with the company initially intending to work with TechCrunch on a low-cost web tablet and then striking off alone instead. The fruit of that decision, the JooJoo, was roundly panned by reviewers and reportedly only a handful of units were sold.

The company returned earlier this year, running a teaser campaign ahead of the eventual launch of the Grid10 tablet and Grid4 smartphone, each Android-based with a heavily customized UI. The Grid10 was meant to begin shipping in earnest at the beginning of October, while the Grid4 was expected sometime in Q4; neither of those milestones were achieved.

[via Engadget]

The daring PlayBook getaway took place at the Pilot Travel Center off State Road 67, west of Interstate 69, in Chesterfield, Indiana. The driver had been away for an hour, returning to the lot to discover that the semi was gone, complete with RIM’s tablets and his own belongings.

Our guess is that the thieves didn’t know it was a QNX tablet they were getting  - as far as we know, RIM doesn’t brand its haulage with “BlackBerry On Board” – and the theft was relatively blind. Considering muggers are now refusing to steal anything but Apple hardware in some areas, we can only imagine the disappointment when the PlayBook rustlers opened up their ill-gotten load and discovered RIM’s finest inside.

The $1.7m loss of tablets is a drop in the ocean compared to the $485m hit RIM took over unsold PlayBook tablets earlier this month. Only 150,000 of the tablets were shipped in Q4, with RIM reporting falling profits and depressing its share price even further with the admission that the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones now won’t arrive until the tail-end of 2012.

[via CrackBerry]

The six-legged robot usually uses all of its limbs to walk, but it can also repurpose two of them as grabbing arms to grab things. The researchers have several different versions, including models with wheel-tipped legs for faster movement, some which can climb up mesh walls and even let out a web-like rope for abseiling down to the ground, and, still in the labs, a cartwheeling model just in case there are fast-running children to be rounded up for processing.

As for the envisaged use, for search and rescue missions, the ‘bot can lower its body and still move so as to scuttle through small spaces, and be outfitted with pressure sensors on the leg-tips to more precisely control what’s picked up. The quad-jointed limbs mean it can work just as easily either way up, so forget about flipping it onto its back before dashing off to join the nearest resistance cell.

No word on when we might expect to see these Asterisk robots escape the lab, but frankly we’re okay if the Osaka University team takes a little while longer before unleashing them in the wild.

According to Pool creative director Erwin Kleinjan, Google contacted the agency to inform it that Google Shoot View violated the Google Maps terms of service. The game had been using the Street View API to pull the immersive photography into its FPS engine, a method other developers use to take advantage of Google’s comprehensive imagery and mapping data in their own apps. It’s unclear which exact clause of the TOS Pool fell foul of.

Currently, the Google Shoot View page shows nothing but the message “Ctrl + alt + delete”, in reference to the well-known Windows restart key combination. Google has not commented on the game beyond its TOS communications with Pool, though Kleinjan says that at its peak the agency was seeing 3,000 visitors per minute on its game servers.

Timing for the gimmicky title arguably couldn’t have been worse, with the events at Virginia Tech earlier this week likely to return public attention to what role video games play in real-world violence.

[via Business Insider]

The Mario Karts we’ve seen before, back in mid-November when Nintendo commissioned West Coast Customs to come up with two electric buggies – one for Mario and one for Luigi – from the hit racing game. There doesn’t appear to be any particular reason why Nintendo has put Miyamoto behind the wheel of Mario’s kart at this particular time, beyond making sure the exec looks sufficiently enthused to bypass any retirement rumors.

You can’t blame Nintendo for trying: the company’s current primary hardware line-up, the Wii and the 3DS, face strong competition from dedicated gaming rivals as well as from smartphones and tablets, with the glasses-free 3D gaming handheld only really beginning to gain traction when its price was slashed. As for the Wii, that will be superseded by the Wii U in 2012, complete with a new touchscreen tablet controller.

According to the court documents, and reports from other passengers on the same flight from Toronto to Beijing, the two execs appeared to be heavily intoxicated from the very start of the flight. Campbell threatened his fellow passengers, described as “rowdy and abusive” and warning them that he would “off people when they left the plane”; he also lay on his stomach in the aisle and began kicking the floor.

While cabin crew eventually managed to secure both Campbell and Wilson with plastic handcuffs and tape, the two men gnawed through the restraints and continued their alcohol-fueled rampage. “Several flight attendants and a couple of passengers” held the pair in place for almost an hour and a half, as the plane was diverted to Vancouver where they were arrested.

“The repercussions for the company as well as every single person on the plane, both financially and perhaps even emotionally, are going to be huge” the prosecutor in the case concluded, while Air Canada has claimed that diverting the flight cost it close to $200,000. One flight attendant was assaulted and another was threatened with violence.

[via The Register]

If H211′s scheme goes ahead, the outer panels of Hangar One – which have been partially removed, after it was discovered they contained lead paint, asbestos and PCB – would be replaced and some of the internal structure refurbished. NASA would remain the owner of the building, and be at liberty to rent out the areas not used by the H211 scheme. As for Google’s execs, they’d be allowed to use a up to two-thirds of the hangar floor space to park up to eight private jets currently shared by the trio.

NASA’s reluctance to approve the deal – which became necessary after the House of Representatives axed $32m from the organization’s budget that had been earmarked to re-skin the structure – has led to frustrations among H211 as well as the US government subcommittee looking into the possibilities of restoration. The remaining concern for the committee had been the possibility of Google branding being installed, something H211 has said is not intended.

H211 insists that Hangar One would still be left with huge amounts of unused space, both refurbished as part of the donation, and left in a relatively raw state for future development. NASA says the proposal “has not yet been completely vetted” and that it is “giving all options thoughtful consideration as we prepare our funding proposal for the Fiscal Year 2013 budget.” However in the meantime, the hangar remains partially open to the elements, and faces higher reconstruction costs as existing work would have to be re-performed.

Hangar One was built in the 1930s, and remains one of the largest free-standing structures in the world today. With a footprint covering eight acres and a height of 198 feet, the building – intended to house military airships – is in fact so tall that cloud-like fog has been known to form in its upper levels. More details here.

Meanwhile the two seats are like bright yellow hammocks, split in the middle for extra comfort, and the dashboard is suitably swoopy for a concept, with a combination of mother-of-pearl white and brushed aluminum. The tailgate is electrically operated, and when all the motorized parts have finished shuffling out of the way, reveals a 90cm-long load area.

That’s not going to compete with a dual-cab pick-up truck, but it’s not bad for a vehicle that measures 3.547 x 1.506 x 1.701 meters; smart expects it to be put to use with a pair of the company’s existing electric bikes. In fact, there are two charging points for the bikes in the loadbay itself, allowing you to keep them topped up while you transport them.

This isn’t the first unusual, cutaway version of a traditional smart from the company. Back in 2002 smart launched the limited edition crossblade, a pared back modification of the regular fortwo that lacked a windscreen, doors or roof. Right now, though, smart is only saying that the electric powerplant of the for-us will make it to production, at the heart of the smart fortwo electric drive set to go on sale in spring 2012.

The innovative system is the handiwork of Serious Sam 3 BFE‘s developers, Croatian company Croteam, and is already being praised for delivering DRM security without the usual headaches. Legitimate gamers – who have paid for the game – will never see the scorpion, only those who are playing pirated versions of it.

Our only disappointment is that the pink scorpion itself isn’t as ridiculous as it could’ve been. Nothing flags up to your friends the fact that you’re too cheap to buy a game like being attacked by a fluffy pink stuffed scorpion with a beaming face and killer claws that just won’t die.

[via EDGE]

Behringer is better known for its pro-audio equipment, including a range of mixer desks, studio monitors, preamps, microphones and MIDI kit. However the company is also looking to wade into the consumer electronics market with its new EUROSOUND, hence the eye-catching (and potentially ear-blowing) iNuke Boom.

Takers for this particular speaker dock are not particularly likely, but Behringer is hoping its 49 other new products will find more favor. Of course, it’s not the first ridiculous way of getting music out of your iPhone we’ve seen: Jean-Michel Jarre invited ridicule with his AeroDream One, a system so tall that it has an integrated ladder for you to actually climb up and put your phone in place. Its €399,000 price tag makes the iNuke Boom look practically reasonable.

That remote access – complete with a Russian IP address – was interpreted as a potential cause of a water pump overheating and burning out, not part of general investigations, and details passed on to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “out of an abundance of caution” according to water district trustee Don Craven. It then made its way to the state terrorism and intelligence team, none of which thought to contact the contractor – whose system username was connected with the IP address – before an initial “Public Water District Cyber Intrusion” report was published. That report blamed Russian hackers for the fault.

However, the Illinois Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center has denied responsibility for creating the flawed report in the first place, with a spokesperson claiming that the organization merely distributed rather than authored it. Those actually behind the piece were local representatives from the FBI, DHS and other agencies, it suggests.

Unsurprisingly, the DHS isn’t willing to shoulder the blame so readily, firing back that, had it been responsible for authoring the report, it would have had to been approved by six different agencies. “Because this was an Illinois product, it did not undergo such a review” the organization claims.

It subsequently reviewed the case, and quickly concluded that there was no evidence of Russian hacking. “All of the logs showed that the pump failed for some electrical-mechanical reason” contractor Jim Mimlitz explains, “But it did not have anything to do with the SCADA system.” As for the quoted “glitches” that were also used as evidence of tampering, they were the product of some incorrect network modifications, he believes.

An investigation is now underway to clear up how a leaked copy of the report reached an external cyber-security specialist, though the Illinois Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center says it is the job of the DHS, FBI and other agencies to look into how the initial report leapt so quickly to the wrong conclusion.

Update: HP has issued us with a statement; you can find it after the cut.

That, in the demo, built enough heat to cause paper to brown and begin to smoke, before a thermal switch came to the rescue. Whether that would always be the case is unclear. [HP says the thermal breaker would automatically kick in, and could not be overcome by malicious firmware.] However, it’s arguably less destructive implementations that could be more worrying, for instance reprograming the printers to send copies of any print jobs they receive to a third-party via their network connection.

In that way, corporate spying could be facilitated, with a business’ own printer hardware sharing their confidential documents. The hacked firmware can be installed by printing a document with the tweak embedded – such as by sending a file attached to an email for someone to print – but some printers can also be used via the internet and so might be open to remote modification.

Once tampered with, no outward indication of the changed status is given, leaving owners unaware of the security implications. The reprograming itself takes just 30 seconds, and PC anti-virus and malware software isn’t set up to scan printer hardware.

HP was made aware of the flaw prior to the researchers going public, though disagrees with some of the conclusions – and the extent of the issue – that the Columbia team have identified. For instance, it claims that digital firmware signing and limits around what can trigger updates mean the chances of a printer being compromised are considerably lower. Still, the nature of embedded systems like those at the heart of a printer and other internet-connected devices mean they’re expected to be increasingly the weak spot of network security.

Update: HP has given us the following statement, which is claims addresses wide-spread “inaccuracies in coverage related to printer security.” Understandably the firm is particularly keen to put any overheating issues into context, though there’s also the promise of a firmware upgrade that will address the loophole the Columbia University researchers have identified.

We’re following up with HP for a list of the impacted printers, as well as a timescale for the firmware update.

HP Statement:

Today there has been sensational and inaccurate reporting regarding a potential security vulnerability with some HP LaserJet printers. No customer has reported unauthorized access. Speculation regarding potential for devices to catch fire due to a firmware change is false.

HP LaserJet printers have a hardware element called a “thermal breaker” that is designed to prevent the fuser from overheating or causing a fire. It cannot be overcome by a firmware change or this proposed vulnerability.

While HP has identified a potential security vulnerability with some HP LaserJet printers, no customer has reported unauthorized access. The specific vulnerability exists for some HP LaserJet devices if placed on a public internet without a firewall. In a private network, some printers may be vulnerable if a malicious effort is made to modify the firmware of the device by a trusted party on the network. In some Linux or Mac environments, it may be possible for a specially formatted corrupt print job to trigger a firmware upgrade.

HP is building a firmware upgrade to mitigate this issue and will be communicating this proactively to customers and partners who may be impacted. In the meantime, HP reiterates its recommendation to follow best practices for securing devices by placing printers behind a firewall and, where possible, disabling remote firmware upload on exposed printers.

HP will continue to educate customers about security risks and the features available to address them, and take proactive steps to maintain the security of devices in the field. HP Imaging and Printing Security Solutions work directly at the device and on the network to protect information at rest and in motion, and to prevent unauthorized access.

Additional information is available at www.hp.com/go/secureprinting.

Using projections to bring buildings alive isn’t new, but it’s quite the departure for Nokia whose previous launches have been somewhat more low-key. The Finnish firm can’t afford to play it safe with the new Lumia range, however; Nokia has turned to Windows Phone to restore its fortunes, but Microsoft’s platform is running catch-up in comparison to iPhone and Android.

High-profile events like the impromptu deadmau5 concert are obviously one way of raising attention, though Nokia has also been investing cash – its own and Microsoft’s, part of the two company’s deal around Windows Phone – to promote the Lumia 800 and future devices in retail stores. The smartphone went on sale in the UK midway through this month, though while carriers have been positive in their reports of consumer interest, we’re still yet to see any solid figures be released.

More photos from the Nokia deadmau5 event here, and you can find our full Lumia 800 review here.

Meanwhile there’s augmented reality navigation information, together with what Toyota describes as a “navigation concierge” with speech-controlled directions. Live OTA updates keep the in-car computers constantly up to date, and networking systems allow it to communicate with other road users “allowing it to detect other potentially hazardous vehicles – such as vehicles in blind spots – in advance, or to connect with friends who are driving nearby.”

In addition to being able to control the Fun-Vii from onboard, Toyota has developed a companion smartphone app for remote access. Of course, this is all a concept rather than something Toyota expects to end up on roads any time soon – probably a good thing, as we can’t help but see customized door panels changing as you drive along the road being something of a distraction for fellow drivers.

Six concentric ranks of 24 squares are arrayed around an empty “no man’s land” and pieces move as normal, though there are “moats” between the rooks to prevent them from taking each other on the very first turn. The full set of slightly modified rules can be found here.

The curved lines overlaid onto the board are, in fact, trajectory lines to help you figure out how pieces move diagonally; because of the shape of the board, pieces like bishops can in fact circle all the way around and back to their origin point, assuming the path is clear. You can buy 3 Man Chess for $39.95 plus shipping.

Of course, what it doesn’t have is the catapults, gorillas, time machines and popes – among other things – of the Big Bang Theory’s own esoteric take on what chess for a trio might look like.

[via Joseph Lee]

Universal Control is being positioned as a way to replace the existing, button-encrusted remote, using internet-enabled devices like tablets and smartphones to not only function as universal remotes but interact with what’s being broadcast. However, it could also have more advanced implications, such as “dual screen” setups as part of the burgeoning “internet of things” concept.

To demonstrate that, an industrial trainee placement graduate with the R&D team for six months took on the challenge of demonstrating how Universal Control could be integrated with an embedded device, in a creative way that would illustrate the “internet of things” potential. The end result was the screen-synchronized Dalek.

Unfortunately, since no commercial hardware actually supports Universal Control, the WiFi Daleks are going to remain concepts only for the time being.

[via Twitter; video via RegHardware; image via Rory Cellan-Jones]

An unnamed source inside the DHS later claimed that “there are many reasons for a motor or pump to burn out” and suggested that the organization had searched through access logs to ascertain foreign involvement in the hardware fault. “My understanding is that the company had some pretty good logs [of traffic in its system] and our people got access to those logs” the security specialist revealed, though refused to go on record as they were unauthorized to comment publicly.

Meanwhile, the FBI has confirmed it is looking into another possible case of hacking, with a Texas water system tipped to have been compromised. Schematics of the facility had been leaked online last week by an unknown hacker.

The DHS and FBI’s adamance about the Illinois fault is in contrast to a leaked report from the state’s own investigators. “Over a period of two to three months, minor glitches had been observed in remote access to the water district’s SCADA [Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition] system” the report claimed, with the login credentials said to have been stolen by an industrial software developer. The Illinois Terrorism and Intelligence Center is yet to comment on the discrepancy in findings.

Apple’s legal team filed a WIPO complaint in early November, demanding the eight URLs be handed over. Details on the negotiations are scant, but the original registrant apparently agreed to turn over the domains – which are now being managed by MarkMonitor, an “enterprise brand protection” specialist – if Apple would dismiss its complaint.

Interestingly, the iPhone4S.com domain was originally registered back in August 2008, with the owner obviously – and correctly – predicting Apple’s nomenclature patterns. Note, some or all of these domains still resolve to NSFW content at time of writing:

• iphonecamforce.com
• iphonecam4s.com
• iphoneporn4s.com
• iphonesex4s.com
• iphonexxxforce.com
• iphone4s.com
• porn4iphones.com
• sex4iphones.com

[via DomainNameWire]

West Coast Customs produced two of the better-known models for Nintendo’s promotion: the classic Mario Standard kart, with its glider attachment, and the Luigi Bumble V kart, with a rear propeller for underwater navigation. Unfortunately they won’t actually fly or allow you to explore submarine depths.

“When I saw the Karts, I put out a big ‘woo-hoo’” says Nintendo CEO Reggie Fils-Aime, a quote which the exec may come to regret almost as much as “my body is ready.” An episode of Inside West Coast Customs will show how the Karts were put together, and is expected to air in early 2012, while Mario Kart 7 will drop in early December.

“We wish real-life tanukis could fly or swat enemies away with their tails and escape from those who profit from their skins” PETA’s Shakira Croce continued, referring to the raccoon dogs that closely resemble that Tanooki suit and which are skinned alive to harvest their fur. “You can help them by never buying real fur.”

Although over 250,000 people apparently played the mini-game in the first 36hrs it was available, PETA spokesperson Ashley Palmer said, the organization was still taken aback by the extreme reactions it prompted amongst gamers. ”We were a little surprised that the game was taken so literally by some, but we’re thrilled that we’re able to bring so much attention to raccoon dogs whose suffering is very real” she told the site.

Whether PETA’s apparent back-track on its more aggressive claims will pacify gamers – or, indeed, those animal rights supporters who accused the organization of spending donations on gimmicks and PR hyperbole – remains to be seen.

We stopped by the Oxford Street, London, Phones 4U store which has been exclusively selling the Galaxy Nexus since 8am UK time to find out about availability and sales. While Phones 4U PR – and indeed the sales staff we spoke to on the phone ahead of time – told us the unlocked Galaxy Nexus was priced at £549.99 ($868), in-store we were quoted £529.99 ($837). However, other stores had told us that unlocked sales would not be allowed at all, leading to frustration among Android developers wanting the official Googlephone to test their apps on Ice Cream Sandwich.

As for sales themselves, staff in store informed us that, by 1pm UK time, around 70 unlocked Galaxy Nexus handsets had been sold, along with around 20 devices sold with carrier agreements. It’s important to note that these aren’t official figures from the retailer, of course.

First buyer Alex Ioannou, shown with his initial Galaxy Nexus device above, now has a replacement phone. The original lacked options for normal Android features like adding Gmail accounts, and included various developer/tester features such as fault reporting.

Basically, the tennis ball – or any other ball, object or lump you may have lying around – is studded with lasers, each individually controlled by the specially programmed Teensy microcontroller (though you could use our old friend the Arduino too). That responds to a remote control, cycling through various patterns of laser light show.

Altogether, the components come to $78 or thereabouts, which makes the Laser Ball cheaper than many laser pointers you could buy in stores (albeit likely to cause somewhat more confusing during PowerPoint presentations). For something you can build in an afternoon, that’s pretty impressive.

The only road leading to the pile is an unnamed dirt road. The investigation into the environmental concerns of having that many tires in one place was turned over to the state. The investigation resulted in an indictment for one man from Easley, SC.

The local and state authorities fear that other than the concerns to the environment the tires could also be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. I can only imagine that there are hoards of snakes and other things that I don’t want to deal with living in the massive pile. A Florida company called Lee Tire has been contacted to remove the tires and they expect to have the place cleared by the end of the year. I searched for the location on Google Maps but couldn’t find it; if you find the coordinates let us know.

[via WLTX]

“Tanooki may be just a “suit” in Mario games, but in real life, tanuki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur” PETA argues. “By wearing Tanooki, Mario is sending the message that it’s OK to wear fur.” The organization’s mini game involves a retro 2D chase by a skinned tanuki after a floating Tanooki-clad Mario.

Nintendo is yet to comment publicly on the allegations, though we imagine the company probably won’t point out that Mario has been bouncing on Koopa for many years without a peep from PETA. We’ve reached out to the company for official word, and will update when we hear back.

[via Blast Magazine]