Sony Data Breach gets worse and worse

The data dump, which was reviewed extensively by BuzzFeed News, includes employee criminal background checks, salary negotiations, and doctors’ letters explaining the medical rationale for leaves of absence. There are spreadsheets containing the salaries of 6,800 global employees, along with Social Security numbers for 3,500 U.S. staff. And there is extensive documentation of the company’s operations, ranging from the script for an unreleased pilot written by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan to the results of sales meetings with local TV executives.

The documents made public this weekend, covering the company’s human resources, sales, and marketing teams, among others, are just a fraction of approximately 100TB of data the hackers claim to have taken from Sony. They say it will all be made freely available online, once they figure out how to distribute such an enormous amount of information.

via A Look Through The Sony Pictures Data Hack: This Is As Bad As It Gets – BuzzFeed News.

GlassWire Network Security Monitor & Firewall Tool

GlassWire displays your network activity on an easy to understand graph while searching for unusual Internet behavior that could indicate malware or violations of your privacy. Once unusual network activity is discovered you’re instantly alerted with detailed information so you can protect your computer, privacy, and data.

via GlassWire Network Security Monitor & Firewall Tool.

The Newest Sony Data Breach Exposes Thousands Of Passwords

Excel and Word documents plainly expose thousands of computer log-in, financial, and web services passwords, including the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace passwords for hundreds of major motion picture accounts.

via It Gets Worse: The Newest Sony Data Breach Exposes Thousands Of Passwords – BuzzFeed News.

Oh dear, Sony is really hammering themselves on this one

Apple Deleted Rivals’ Songs from Users’ iPods

When a user who had downloaded music from a rival service tried to sync an iPod to the user’s iTunes library, Apple would display an error message and instruct the user to restore the factory settings, Coughlin said. When the user restored the settings, the music from rival services would disappear, he said.

via Apple Deleted Rivals’ Songs from Users’ iPods – Digits – WSJ.

Touch 3D shapes in mid-air using ultrasound

We present a method for creating three-dimensional haptic shapes in mid-air using focused ultrasound. This approach applies the principles of acoustic radiation force, whereby the non-linear effects of sound produce forces on the skin which are strong enough to generate tactile sensations. This mid-air haptic feedback eliminates the need for any attachment of actuators or contact with physical devices

via Rendering volumetric haptic shapes in mid-air using ultrasound – University of Bristol.

Why More Solar Panels Should Be Facing West, Not South

That captures the most solar energy over the course of the day, which benefits the homeowner, but does so at hours that are not so helpful for the utility and the grid as a whole.

Mount them to catch the sunlight from the west in the afternoon, and the panels’ production over all would fall, but it would come at hours when the electricity was more valuable.

via Why More Solar Panels Should Be Facing West, Not South – NYTimes.com.