SnapPower Charger: A USB charger in a coverplate – no wiring

SnapPower Charger Overview

Powerful 1-amp USB charger built into an outlet cover plate.

Charges any USB device (phones, phablets, tablets, hotspots, etc.) and eliminates the need for bulky wall warts.

Installs in seconds over any standard outlet in your home.

There’s no wiring to mess with, and no batteries to sort out. Just bring a screwdriver and a good attitude.

For renters, this solution provides convenient wall charging that can be taken with you when you move. If you move out, just pop the old cover back on.

They’ve made 1/2 a million on their Kickstarter from the 35K they wanted

via SnapPower Charger: A USB charger in a coverplate – no wiring by Jeremy Smith — Kickstarter.

Large numbers of British Airways Executive Club accounts being Locked/Zeroed Out/in Audit (‘Ex-gratia’) due to data breach

Starting on 27 March 2015, a very large number of people have found that their Avios balance has been reset to zero. Their list of transactions shows an "Ex-Gratia" deduction of their entire previous balance. Other people are also reporting they are unable to access their accounts at all, with their BAEC number not being recognised.

BAEC call centre staff do not seem to have received a thorough briefing and are giving at times contradictory information. However, an email has gone out to some, not all, BAEC members affected by this issue, with the subject "Executive Club Password Change", details here in post 181. At present there is no definitive information about the exact cause, but it’s clear that BA believes there has been a serious security breach (or that there was a serious risk of such a breach).

via 27 Mar: Large numbers of BAEC accounts being Locked/Zeroed Out/in Audit ('Ex-gratia') – FlyerTalk Forums.

A Review on Night Enhancement Eyedrops Using Chlorin e6

it seems fair to say that this technique is successful in it claims for low light amplification in the human eye. These findings are subjective experiences. Subject experienced no adverse effects following administration. Preliminary testing seems to indicate this increase in dim light vision to be occurring

via A Review on Night Enhancement Eyedrops Using Chlorin e6 | Science for the Masses.

Hotel routers very insecure

ANTLabs InnGate devices are a popular Internet gateway for visitor-based networks. They’re commonly installed in hotels, convention centers and other places that provide temporary guests access to a WiFi connection. If you’ve ever used WiFi in a hotel, you’re familiar with these types of devices as they are typically tied to a specific room number for billing purposes.

[…]

CVE-2015-0932 gives an attacker full read and write access to the file system of an ANTLabs’ InnGate device. Remote access is obtained through an unauthenticated rsync daemon running on TCP 873. Once the attacker has connected to the rsync daemon, they are then able to read and write to the file system of the Linux based operating system without restriction.

[…]

An attacker exploiting the vulnerability in CVE-2015-0932 would have the access to launch DarkHotel-esque attacks against guests on the affected hotel’s WiFi. Targets could be infected with malware using any method from modifying files being downloaded by the victim or by directly launching attacks against the now accessible systems.

via Vulnerability: CVE-2015-0932.

Uber: Selling your data

This year, we are going to see the transformation of Uber into a big data company cut from the same cloth as Google, Facebook and Visa – using the wealth of information they know about me and you to deliver new services and generate revenue by selling this data to others.Starwood is Just the beginningRecently, Uber launched a service that lets its customers connect their Uber account to their Starwood Prefered Guest account. The benefit to customers: get points when you take Uber. The quid pro quo? Customers give Uber the right to share all Uber ride information with Starwood.

via Uber: The Big Data Company.

France decrees new rooftops must be covered in plants or solar panels

Rooftops on new buildings built in commercial zones in France must either be partially covered in plants or solar panels, under a law approved on Thursday.Green roofs have an isolating effect, helping reduce the amount of energy needed to heat a building in winter and cool it in summer.The argument for divesting from fossil fuels is becoming overwhelmingRead moreThey also retain rainwater, thus helping reduce problems with runoff, while favouring biodiversity and giving birds a place to nest in the urban jungle, ecologists say.The law approved by parliament was more limited in scope than initial calls by French environmental activists to make green roofs that cover the entire surface mandatory on all new buildings.The Socialist government convinced activists to limit the scope of the law to commercial buildings.

via France decrees new rooftops must be covered in plants or solar panels | World news | The Guardian.

Carbon3D Unveils Breakthrough CLIP 3D Printing Technology, 25-100X Faster

The Continuous Liquid Interface Productiongo technology (CLIP) process relies on a special transparent and permeable window which allows both light and oxygen to get through. Think of it as a large contact lens. The machine then is able to control the exact amount of oxygen and when that oxygen is permitted into the resin pool. The oxygen thus acts to inhibit the resin from curing in certain areas as the light cures those areas not exposed to the oxygen. Thus the oxygen is able to create a ‘dead zone’ aa4within the resin which is as small as tens of microns thick (about the diameter of 2-3 red blood cells). In this subsection of the resin, it is literally impossible for photopolymerization to take place. The machine will then produce a series of cross sectional images using UV light in a fashion similar to playing a movie.

via Carbon3D Unveils Breakthrough CLIP 3D Printing Technology, 25-100X Faster – 3DPrint.com.

Homeopathy not effective for any medical condition

After a years-long review of hundreds of studies, Australia’s top medical research agency has concluded that homeopathy is essentially useless for treating any medical condition.

Researchers with the National Health and Medical Research Council conducted a review of published studies on homeopathy and report that they could not find any good quality evidence to support the claim that homeopathy works any better than a placebo or sugar pill.

Homeopathy is a centuries-old form of alternative medicine that has been dismissed as pseudoscience by many skeptics. It’s based on a premise that "like cures like." Practitioners believe that herbs and extracts that cause symptoms such as headaches in healthy people will also cure headaches if they are given in highly diluted forms.

via Homeopathy not effective for any medical condition: review | CTV News.

Star Wars-style ‘bionic hand’ fitted to first patients

The technique required the men to have their lower arms amputated and fitted with a robotic replacement which responds to electrical impulses when the muscles contract in the same way as a real hand.

“In effect, brachial plexus avulsion injuries represent an inner amputation, irreversibly separating the hand from neural control,” said Professor Oskar Aszmann, Director of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Restoration of Extremity Function at the Medical University of Vienna, who pioneered the technique.

via Watch: Star Wars-style ‘bionic hand’ fitted to first patients – Telegraph.

America’s most powerful men explain why they’re scared of email

Graham told a confused Bloomberg News: "I’ve tried not to have a system where I can just say the first dumb thing that comes to my mind. I’ve always been concerned. I can get texts, and I call you back, if I want."

McCain meanwhile said this: "I’m afraid that if I was emailing, given my solid, always calm temperament that I might email something that I might regret. You could send out an email that you would regret later on and would be maybe taken out of context."

via We have no self-control: America's most powerful men explain why they're scared of email • The Register.

This makes perfect sense to me – people are people, not reasoning machines. People make mistakes and they don’t want their mistakes to be replayable through never deletable digital media. The article slams them for this, but basically the writers are saying there should be no expectation of people in power actually being humans. Because people can be called out for any infestimally stupid thing they ever do over email, far after the fact and without any context attached these people have been pushed out of using modern communications because the risks far outweigh the usefulness.

Rowhammer allows root access to non-ECC DRAM3 memory machines (laptops)

"rowhammer", rapidly writes and rewrites memory to force capacitor errors in DRAM, which can be exploited to gain control of the system. By repeatedly recharging one line of RAM cells, bits in an adjacent line can be altered, thus corrupting the data stored.

This corruption can lead to the wrong instructions being executed, or control structures that govern how memory is assigned to programs being altered – the latter case can be used by a normal program to gain kernel-level privileges.

via Ouch! Google crocks capacitors and deviates DRAM to root Linux • The Register.

Freedom respected by NL courts – no more total tracking of internet and calling data

Dutch courts have decided that the ubiquitous tracking of every person in the nation is at variance with the right to having a private life and has to be stopped immediately.

Hopefully the NL Gov (of which the Justice department is very disappointed with the verdict, the house of commons less so) will not appeal this decision but instead make a different law that mandates the collection of this kind of data only after a judge has deemed it necessary on a case by case basis.

ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2015:2498, Rechtbank Den Haag, C/09/480009 / KG ZA 14/1575.

This Map Shows Where the Happiest and Unhappiest People Live in the US

All other things being equal, the south, parts of the west, and upper midwest are the happiest places in the United States according to a recent study.

Researchers from Harvard University and the University of British Columbia took data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which asked 300,000 individuals to report on their life satisfaction each year between 2005 and 2009. The analysts took this data and other demographic variables to compare differences in happiness across regions, while controlling for things like employment status and income.

via This Map Shows Where the Happiest and Unhappiest People Live in the US.