Latest news

Internet security researcher Jaime Sanchez has discovered and posted a vulnerability found in the Snapchat mobile app that could allow attackers to launch a DDoS attack and disable your iPhone.

If exploited, attackers can send thousands of messages to individual users in less than three seconds, overwhelming and disabling an iPhone and eventually causing it to freeze up entirely and crash.

Snapchat, which allows users to send messages (pictures and video) to others that self-delete after a few seconds, uses a token system (letters and numbers) which verifies the sender's identity. The flaw lets hackers reuse old tokens to send new messages. Depending on the system you have, you can send thousands of messages using the flaw.

The startup company has been arrogant in the past and it has led to a personal data leak for 4.2 million users. Snapchat responded to Sanchez by blocking his accounts and his IP address.

My two accounts and IPs involved in the research of the Snapchat DoS has been banned. That's their countermeasure... pic.twitter.com/W5XOkkkQNc

-- Jaime Sanchez (@segofensiva) February 8, 2014

Business social networking site LinkedIn has announced that it will be shutting down its email-based 'Intro' service, just 100 days after launching it.

LinkedIn integrated into the iOS Mail app, moving your LinkedIn contacts over. In their announcement, the company says it will discontinue the service to better "focus on the most relevant offerings for our members."

The service struggled to get members since one of the requirements of Intro was that it must scan all inbox emails. When it launched, security researchers panned the service, with one going as far as to call it "a dream for attackers."

LinkedIn quickly responded that Intro had "the most secure implementation we believed possible," the damage was already done and adoption was almost non-existent.

If you are using it, the service will work through until March 7th and then you will need to go through a few step process to disable and delete Intro otherwise the company warns your email accounts may work erratically.

In a new interview for the WSJ, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave his thoughts on Google's latest decision to sell Motorola's handset business to Lenovo for $2.9 billion.

Cook, like nearly everyone else, called the deal "a logical transaction" but did add that the search giant was never really "committed to" Motorola.

"I think it's really hard to do hardware, software and services and to link all those things together," said Cook during the interview. "That's what makes Apple so special. It's really hard, so I'm not surprised that they are not going to do that."

Cook managed to take a shot at Google, claiming that "the experience on Android tablets is so crappy because the app is nothing more than a stretched out smartphone app."

Finally, Cook was asked about Google's recent $3.2 billion acquisition of home hub Nest, and Apple's reluctance to make large purchases. Apple often purchases tech companies to fit its needs, but purchase prices rarely exceed $300 million. "We have no problem spending 10 figures for the right company that's the right and that's in the best interest of Apple in the long-term," he said. "None. Zero."

In January, a DVD Screener copy of the critically acclaimed 'Dallas Buyers Club' hit the Web, and it was promptly downloaded millions of times.

Voltage Pictures has quickly filed a lawsuit looking to receive damages from individuals who downloaded the film, putting a select few on notice. Voltage previously made the news after suing over twenty thousand downloaders of Academy Award winning 'The Hurt Locker.'

In their lawsuit, filed in Texas, Voltage says (via TorrentFreak), the "Plaintiff brings this action to stop Defendants from copying and distributing to others over the Internet unauthorized copies of Plaintiff's copyrighted movie.

"Each time a Defendant unlawfully distributes a free copy of Plaintiff's copyrighted movie to others over the Internet, each person who copies the movie then distributes the unlawful copy to others without any significant degradation in sound and picture quality. Thus, a Defendant's distribution of even one unlawful copy of a motion picture can result in the nearly instantaneous worldwide distribution of that single copy to a limitless number of people."

Nokia has used their U.S. YouTube account to post a mysterious teaser announcement.

In the quick 15-second video, Nokia asks "Have you heard what's coming?" "See and hear what you've been missing," before revealing Nokia's logo and also Windows Phone.

While it is unclear what Nokia will announce, many believe it could be the Lumia Icon for Verizon that has been leaked almost in its entirety in the last month. The Lumia Icon has a 5-inch 1080p display, 20-megapixel camera, and a 2.2GHz quad-core processor, making it one of the more powerful and high-end Windows Phone devices on the market.

Additionally, it could be the Treasure Tag Bluetooth accessory that has been in in the works for months. The proximity-sensor-based accessory uses NFC and Bluetooth to track items like keys while staying paired to your Lumia.

While you were probably distracted by the start of the Sochi Winter Olympics in the nation, the Russian Prosecutor General's office has quietly released a statement banning the Bitcoin digital currency in the nation.

Reads the statement: "Bitcoin is a money substitute and cannot be used by citizens and legal entities."

In their statement, the office cited a 2002 law by Russian President Vladimir Putin that "the official currency of the Russian Federation is the ruble. Introduction of other monetary units and money substitutes is prohibited."

Russia has moved away from virtual/cryptocurrencies despite growing popularity, mainly because "its price is determined solely by speculative actions that entails a high risk of loss," and because its relative anonymity has led to more criminal use.

Dong Nguyen, the developer behind the frustrating blockbuster game Flappy Bird, has said he will remove the game tomorrow despite its massive success.

The game, which took him just a few days to code and is now the top game on Android and iOS, lets gamers tap the screen to get their bird to fly through pipes. That's it. Making it a viral hit is the fact that the game is hard, extremely hard, with many struggling to even get 5 points.

Nguyen, who is said to be bringing in over $50,000 in ad revenue per day from the tens of millions of downloads the game has received in its time on the market, has often said he does not want all the attention brought by the game, and that he wants peace.

The developer will continue to make other games, but will supposedly remove Flappy Bird tomorrow. All social sharing ability has already been removed. Nguyen has also tweeted that he is not looking to sell the game.

I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore.

-- Dong Nguyen (@dongatory) February 8, 2014

Pebble, the Kickstarter record holding company for top funding took to CES earlier this year to announce they were coming back for round two of their popular smartwatch, with the new device aptly named Pebble Steel due to its metal watch band.

The company released their first watch to great fanfare and curiosity in 2013, and eventually sold 300,000 units. There was a few major issues with the watch, however. First, it was ugly. There is no nicer way to put it. Aesthetically unpleasing and build quality was also lacking. Second, following a delayed launch as the startup company worked out the kinks, the final product shipped out was still very buggy and Pebble forums were inundated with complaints and cries for help. Finally, apps and partnerships were nearly non-existent.

For what the smartwatch was built for: reading texts, controlling music, seeing emails and of course, telling time, the original Pebble worked admirably. Finally, it also cost $150, which was well within the "impulse buy" range of many early adopter techies.

For its Pebble Steel, the startup has raised the price (to $250) but for the most part fixed the issues that plagued the original's launch. Overall, we easily have the best multi-platform smartwatch built, to date.

The Wikimedia Foundation has received correspondence from Finland's Police Ministry seeking information on its 'donation drive' activities in the country.

The donation page on Wikipedia in Finnish is essentially the same as it is for everyone else; visitors can use a variety of payment methods to make a once-off donation, or monthly donations.

In Finland, organizations seeking to carry out donation drives (charities etc.) must seek permission from Finnish police. The measure is intended to make it more difficult to carry out fraudulent donation drives in the country.

Since Wikipedia's fundraising activities on its Finnish site technically qualify as a donation drive - at least according to letter signatory Jouni Laiho - the Wikimedia Foundation should have sought approval from the Finnish Police Ministry in advance.

As a result, Wikipedia has been asked to clarify the situation, and explain why its fundraising efforts shouldn't be considered an organized donation drive. This information must be delivered by February 21, 2014.

Letter from Finnish Police: wikimedia.org (PDF, Finnish)

California lawmakers will propose mandating that all smartphones and tablets sold in the state from next year come equipped with a 'Kill Switch' that can render them useless if stolen.

State Sen. Mark Leno and other lawmakers said they will introduce legislation proposing the requirement on all such mobile devices sold in the state, with the vocal support of Los Angeles City Mayor Eric Garcetti and Police Chief Charlie Beck.

The proposed requirement, intended to tackle a growing problem of smartphone robberies, would go into effect from January 1, 2015 onwards.

Apple's iOS 7 operating system introduced some anti-theft with Activation Lock, if enabled by the user. Coupled with Find my iPhone, Apple has taken steps against the problem largely in response to calls from lawmakers and law enforcement officials across the U.S. and elsewhere. Apps are also available for Android devices.

By making a stolen device an inoperable useless brick, you clearly remove its resale value, and the long-term hope is that it will remove the incentive to steal mobile devices altogether.

A growing problem

According to a report from the LA Times, almost a third of all robberies in the United States are now related to mobile devices. In San Francisco, more than half of all robberies involve mobile devices.

Sony has released their latest mandatory firmware update for the PlayStation 3.

The update does not appear to include much more than "software stability" fixes, but as with all firmware updates it is required for online gaming and using apps like Netflix and Hulu.

Sony has not released a change log for the update.

Earlier in the week, Sony released another firmware update, adding headset support and the ability to mute microphone of the PlayStation Eye Camera along with the usual stability patches.

Following another year of losses, electronics giant Sony has confirmed it will be slashing jobs this year and separating its struggling PC and TV divisions.

Sony will use the restructuring to help it focus on mobile, imaging and games, which are now the company's core properties. Sony says it will need to spend $200 million to restructure this year, and $650 million next year. The moves will help Sony reduce annual fixed cost by $1 billion starting in September 2015.

First, Sony will sell its VAIO PC brand to Japan Industrial Partners, a move that the company calls "the optimal solution" given "drastic changes in the global PC industry." No purchase price was disclosed but the sale will close by the end of the quarter.

Sony will continue customer support for its existing products but will no longer develop or sell PC products.

The company's TV division, which has been hemorrhaging money for the last five years, will be spun-off and operate as its own wholly-owned subsidiary starting July. The division has lost over $1 billion in the last two fiscal years, alone.

Amazon has gone a bit out of their niche and acquired gaming studio Double Helix Games.

The deal was for both talent and for the company's IP, and all 75 employees of Double Helix will stay with the company.

Amazon did not disclose financial terms, but confirmed the deal to Crunch: "Amazon has acquired Double Helix as part of our ongoing commitment to build innovative games for customers."

There have been rumors that Amazon is looking to launch its own gaming console that runs on Android and will be a media and gaming device priced at under $300. Amazon has never confirmed or denied the existence of a console.

Double Helix was built through the merger of two longtime studios, Shiny and The Collective. Shiny was the creator of the "Earthworm Jim," and the companies have also put out many games based on movies and shows including "Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb," "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," "Green Latern: Rise of the Manhunters," "Silent Hill: Homecoming," and "Front Mission Evolved."

The NYPD's intelligence and analytics unit has begun testing Google's Glass eyewear, seeing whether the devices will help police officers investigate terrorists and otherwise stop criminals.

According to reports, the department has received a few pairs to beta test.

"We signed up, got a few pairs of the Google glasses, and we're trying them out, seeing if they have any value in investigations, mostly for patrol purposes," say the sources. "We're looking at them, you know, seeing how they work."

Currently, the glasses can only be purchased through the Glass Explorer Program, which requires an application or invite, an acceptance from Google and then a $1500 fee.

When asked if Google was helping with authorities, the company said they were not and that the NYPD's glasses were likely acquired through the Explorer program. "The Google Glass Explorer program includes people from all walks of life, including doctors, firefighters and parents. Anyone can sign up to become a Glass Explorer, provided he or she is a U.S. resident and over the age of 18," they added.

Google has confirmed that one of its first employees, Susan Wojcicki, will be named CEO of YouTube.

Wojcicki will replace Salar Kamanger, who will leave YouTube but remain within Google.

Google CEO Larry Page praised the exiting CEO, thanking him "and the whole YouTube team (for having) built something amazing." Additionally, "like Salar, Susan has a healthy disregard for the impossible and is excited about improving YouTube in ways that people will love."

Wojcicki is Google's 16th employee and the company was even headquartered out of her garage for some time before hitting the big time. Her current position was SVP of advertising, one of the top positions in the company.

There have been reports that Wojcicki had been offered CEO positions at other tech companies and startups, but Larry Page was terrified to lose her so named her CEO of one of Google's largest subsidiaries. This may cause some internal strife, however, as YouTube VP of product Shishir Mehrotra has been essentially running the team while Kamanger winds down.