Author Archives: Will Conley

A new examination of the seemingly bottomless well of Snowden documents describes an internal NSA catalog of dead ringers for consumer hardware that the NSA can deploy on unsuspecting targets' systems. For example, when a target orders a new hard drive, router, monitor cable, or USB plug online, the NSA can intercept the order and send a bugged clone, which the target would then install by his own volition. The catalog includes hardware by Seagate, Samsung, Cisco, Huawei, Dell and many others.

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The Russian hacker known to cyber security firms and hackers as "HASH" and alternately "Rev0lver" gained access to a BBC server sometime prior to or on Dec. 25, Hold Security LLC has told Reuters. The hacker placed access to the server up for sale that day. It is not known whether a sale was made.

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Minecraft creator Markus Persson this weekend indicated that the game will not be available on Wii U anytime soon. He cited a heavy workload on existing projects as the reason for the lack of a forthcoming Wii U incarnation. He did not dismiss the idea altogether for the long term, however.

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ASUS has released the second of two (or more) teaser videos ahead of its CES 2014 product launch. This one hints at 4-, 5-, and 6-inch handset offerings. In keeping with this year's teaser theme of eschewing actual product shots in favor of urban symbolism, this latest ASUS video asks, "What's your number?"

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The Taiwan-based company BungBungame has developed a prototype high-end Android smartphone with a target price point of $299, a low price for the specs. The phone is called "Project S" for now. Johannes Knapp of NewGadgets.de tipped us to a hands-on he recorded recently when he visited the company's headquarters.

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France is preparing to extend its "culture tax" to Facebook, YouTube, DailyMotion and other Internet giants. The culture tax is currently levied on French cinemas, TV broadcasters, Internet service providers and other entities that deliver entertainment in any way. The funds support the production of French film and TV.

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You might think the U.S. is nearing a saturation point with cameras, but you'd be wrong. We've got a long ways to go before we can safely consider ourselves to be stuffed to the gills with cameras like Sentinels breaching Zion.

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Yesterday's spacewalk outside the International Space Station resulted in a record-breaking amount of time spent moving around in the vacuum of space by a Russian. Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy spent 8 hours and 7 minutes on the mission, breaking the previous Russian record of 7 hours and 29 minutes set by Flight Engineers Fyodor Yurchikhin and Alexander Misurkin Aug. 16, 2013. The achievement was a little softened, however, as the mission didn't go entirely as planned.

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A confederation of mobile communications and technology companies has put together a website called Know My App. The site helps users figure out which mobile apps are responsible for eating up the lion's share of monthly megabytes on their data plans. The site was published by CTIA – The Wireless Association this week.

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Bitcoin miner Milly Bitcoin has done a little citizen letter-writing, and the results should make virtual currency miners breathe a sigh of relief. Milly Bitcoin's mining company Atlantic City Bitcoin last June wrote to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) requesting an official administrative ruling on whether ACB must register as a money transfer service. FinCEN has now replied, and the answer is no.

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Chromebook sales have made a stratospheric climb in 2013. Last year, U.S. sales for notebooks running the Chrome OS made up just 0.2% of the computer and tablet market. This year through November, that share is now 10%.

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The 2013 Mac Pro has a removable CPU, Other World Computing has discovered in a teardown. By "removable", we mean the CPU can be pulled out of its socket by anyone. It can be easily replaced with a new one at some later point.

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