Sunday 30 March 2014

TECH NEWS South Korea suffers Credit Card hacking with twenty million card details stolen

As the headline suggests, 20 million South Koreans have had their credit card details stolen this month. This shocking discovery means that sensitive data regarding almost half of all South Koreans has now been accessed without their consent.

It is believed that a thus-far unnamed computer contractor, who was working for a company called The Korea Credit Bureau, copied the names, social security numbers and credit card details of around 20 million Korean citizens. The stolen data was then stored on a flash key before being sold to a number of marketing firms.

The culprit was later arrested, as were marketing professionals who allegedly bought the data from him. The true extent of the damage, however, is not yet known.

The Korea Credit Bureau has access to the databases of three major South Korean credit card firms, KB Kookmin Card, Lotte Card and NH Nonghyup Card and a special task force has been implemented in order to investigate the damage caused by this security breach.

The data was apparently left unencrypted by the companies, in a stunning display of haphazard security measures.

Sadly, data theft on this scale is nothing new in South Korea. In 2012, two computer hackers stole details of 8.7 million KT mobile customers and, the year before, 35 million social network accounts (owned by the site ‘Cyworld’) were also exposed.

The bosses of the affected firms issued a public apology, each bowing his head in a gesture of shame. The companies are expected to cover any financial loses experienced as a result of the breach.

SOURCES:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25808189


Saturday 29 March 2014

What ps3 games are free roam

In which our hero (namely me) compares and contrasts three big-selling adventure games and reports to you, the consumer, which one he likes the best.

1)     Assassin’s Creed – Released by Ubisoft in 2007, Creed’s major selling points are twofold; firstly, it has a long and absorbing storyline for players to engage with. A young man is captured by mysterious forces, and placed in a machine that forces him to re-live the past adventures of his ancient ancestor, who belonged to an ancient cult of (you guessed it) Assassins. The second thing is the gameplay; Creed is tremendously playable, evoking memories of such classic games as ‘Metal Gear Solid’ and ‘Prince of Persia.’ What’s more, the story ends on a cliffhanger that leaves you wanting more. Fortunately there is now a whole series for you to play, together with at least one more ancestor to inhabit as our young hero struggles for his freedom. It is, in short, excellent.

2)     Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune – SCE (Sony Computer Entertainment) released this game in 2007 and our second game choice is another story-based romp. In this story, Nate Drake (apparently related to Sir Francis Drake) goes looking for the lost treasure of El-Dorado, accompanied by a journalist and plagued by a series of not-quite-sexy ‘will-they-won’t-they?’ scenarios. The blatant tip of the Stetson to Indiana Jones and out and out rip off of the ‘Tomb Raider’ series notwithstanding, the story is interesting and the graphics are incredible. At times, it’s like watching a movie. Unfortunately, Drake is less fortunate than the aforementioned Dr. Jones, as whoever directed his story is no Spielberg. Far more interested in cinematic camera angles than actual gameplay, Uncharted is frequently mired by the player’s inability to see what is going on right in front of them. It’s fine at first, but gets tedious after the 200th death on a simple jump just because you can’t bloody see where you’re jumping to!

3)     Batman: Arkham Asylum – (I’m cheating a little bit here, as this game is two year’s younger than the others, being released by Eidos in 2009). Batman is a mighty game with a style and panache all on its own. While not as engrossing or interesting as Creed, (Comics writer Paul Dini ensures that most of the script is true to the comics but offers little in the way of actual plot) it is still immensely enjoyable. The asylum itself (now an island for creative license purposes) is rendered with such attention to detail that it becomes almost a character in its own right and Mark Hamill’s incendiary turn as The Joker will put chills up your spine. The gameplay is as swift and graceful as Batman himself. Is it any wonder the Batman comics team recently re-designed the Batsuit to resemble the look of this game?

Summing up: Drake loses out on the grounds of poorer camera angles and gameplay. Now to choose between Assassin’s and Batman…hmm…It’s a draw.


Friday 28 March 2014

Some Funny pictures from the Internet 03

For our next round of pictures we have, some funnies that have recently come up…..



















thanks for looking!


Look what I discovered on the World-wide-web 05

A lot of animal Pictures this week, sorry but some of them are funny!!!!




















Friday 21 March 2014

Out of Africa: Earliest Human Footprints Found in UK

The earliest evidence of Human footprints (outside of Africa, where most experts believe modern Humans first appeared) has been discovered in the United Kingdom.

The prints, believed to be some 800,000 years old, were identified on the shores of Happisburgh, a small village situated on the Norfolk coastline. The footprints represent a major prehistoric find, as they are direct evidence of the earliest known Humans in Northern Europe.

Dr. Nick Ashton, of The British Museum, said of the footprints that “(They are) one of the most important discoveries, if not the most important discovery that has been made on [Britain"s] shores,”

The hollow, foot-shaped markings were discovered during a low tide last year, when unusually rough seas exposed an area of sandy beach.

Sadly, the footprints were washed away fairly quickly, but they were visible long enough to be properly recorded, photographed and studied. Dr. Aston and his team worked hard to document the monumental discovery, even as heavy rainfall filled the tracks, “The rain was filling the hollows as quickly as we could empty them,” he told a BBC reporter.

Fortunately, the team was able to obtain a 3D scan of the prints. This scan revealed that the footprints likely belonged to a group consisting of an adult male and a few children. This has led some experts to speculate that the prints are those left by a prehistoric family group. The scan was so accurate, that the adult’s shoe size was determined to have been a comfortable 8.

Dr. Isabelle De Groote of Liverpool John Moore’s University was the first to confirm that the hollows were Human footprints. She told BBC that, “They appear to have been made by one adult male who was about 5ft 9in (175cm) tall and the shortest was about 3ft. The other larger footprints could come from young adult males or have been left by females. The glimpse of the past that we are seeing is that we have a family group moving together across the landscape.”

The family, however, were not modern Humans. Experts believe that they would have likely belonged to a group called Homo Antecessor. Remains of this extinct Human species (or possibly subspecies) have been found throughout Europe, most notably in Spain. They are thought to be among the continent’s earliest Human inhabitants.

It is generally accepted that Homo Antecessor was either a relative of Homo Heidelbergensis (an early Human considered most likely to be the direct ancestor of both modern Humans and Neanderthals), or else the same species. In either instance, h. Heidelbergensis is known to have lived in Britain about 500,000 years ago, which is about 300,000 years after changing temperatures are thought to have wiped out Britain’s Homo Antecessor population.

Homo Heidelbergensis is said to have evolved into Homo Neanderthalensis (Neanderthal Man), who lived, alongside our own Homo Sapien ancestors, until about 40,000 years ago, when the receding ice (and possibly competition for food) signaled the end for our last surviving sister species.

Interestingly, in 2010, Dr. Aston and his team discovered stone tools of a kind known to have been used by h. Antecessor in Happisburgh. It is a discovery that neatly compliments that of the footprints. This find, and other supporting material, effectively confirms the presence of early Humans in Britain about one million years ago.

According to Dr. Aston, the find will rewrite our understanding of British and European prehistory. To put that into perspective a little, the Happisburgh footprints are the only such find of this age to have ever been seen outside of Africa. Even then, there are only three specimens that are considered to be older across the African continent.

800, 000 years ago the earliest Britons left a lasting mark on the landscape. In so doing, they inadvertently sent us a message from the past about who they were and how they might have lived.

SOURCES:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26025763

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_antecessor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_heidelbergensis


Wednesday 19 March 2014

How the bluray format profited from the Credit Crunch

The Blu Ray format should have been much bigger by now; after all it was designed to overtake DVD and take its place. I hardly know anybody who uses one. The quality of Blu Ray discs is undeniably better, picture is vastly improved, and sound and everything else you want from the home movie experience is much better with Blu Ray.

The problem isn’t with the players, they are smaller and more efficient than DVD players, and it isn’t with the technology. The Blu Ray boxes are smaller and easier to store, plus they look smarter on your shelf than the DVDs. So why isn’t Blu Ray the last word in consumer electronics? Market data insists people are buying it, but not in droves, as was perhaps hoped-for. The advertising is doing the same ‘hard sell’ routine it did with DVD over the VHS ‘tape’ format, and that worked before…So why has it not squashed the DVD format once and for all?

The answer is actually simple: ‘The timing.’ Blu Ray was launched against two tough-to-beat opponents: 1) The recession that hit worldwide and crippled the Western world in a manner not seen since the great depression of the 1930’s and 2) The DVD up-grade was only a few years old for most people. Many had only just finished re-buying their collection on DVD in the first place. Selling off (or simply chucking out) their VHS tapes was a long, gruelling experience (especially those of us who have a collection of experimental films or rare classics to replace) so, without the money to fund such an exercise, and with a weary cynicism creeping in (What will replace Blu Ray and when?) the public at large was hardly primed for the arrival of Blu Ray.

The thing is, people clearly want to buy it. Its selling beyond tech geeks and the Anime crowd, its gaining popularity, but I don’t think we’ll see a Blu Ray explosion on the level of the DVD one until they come down in price and do so considerably. DVD took years to reduce in price, and is now affordable and therefore the dominant form. Blu Ray cannot do what it was designed for until it gets cheaper or people get more money.  Whichever happens soonest.

An experiment, The Aston Martin DB9 is one of the best cars ever designed, it’s faster, sleeker and generally functions better than your car. Why don’t you own the Aston? If you could you would, but until you can, you won’t. Blu Ray gives you better quality pictures and sound than the DVD, and the HD standard that everyone needs to compliments their HDtv.

Monday 17 March 2014

Prosthesis-Controlling App Comes in Handy

A new bionic hand has been unveiled that can be remote controlled via a smartphone app.

The app’s developer, Touch Bionics, unveiled the groundbreaking application, along with their latest prosthetic hand, in April of this year.

The hand’s artificial thumb is controlled by signals from the users arm muscles, which are interpreted by the hand’s internal systems. However, in a world first, it can also be controlled, very simply, via the use of the new app.

The app features an array of preset positions that can be selected by the user tapping the screen with her/his thumb. When a position is selected, the prosthesis can react instantly, changing to ‘thumbs up’, ‘just a little bit’ or ‘OK’ positions easily. The app is not limited to simple positions, however, and more complicated functions, such as holding objects, handling documents and even typing, are featured as preset options.

In addition to the app, the bionic hand also features improved dexterity due to the presence of new extra-sensitive fingertip electrodes. In addition, the thumb can now move into 24 separate positions, made possible either by the user or the app.

The Bionic Touch app configures the hand positions into playlist-like folders such as ‘work’, which feature all hand positions regularly used at work (typing, using a mouse etc), so that the positions are within easy reach of the user.

The app itself also features training modes designed to help people learn to use it quickly and easily as well as diagnostic features that can interact with the hand itself and troubleshoot any possible problems.

The app has already received a measure of positive feedback from users, Bertolt Meyer, who uses the new hand, was quoted by ‘New Scientist’ as saying, “Powered thumb rotation, combined with the mobile app and quick access to all these new grips, gives me natural hand function that I never imagined would be possible,”

Learning to use a prosthetic limb is an extremely painful and frustrating process, but this app may just make the process a tiny bit easier for those who use it.

SOURCE:

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2013/04/bionic-hand.html#more


Tuesday 11 March 2014

Facebook Acquires WhatsApp for $19bn (£11bn)

Social media giants Facebook have purchased smartphone messaging app WhatsApp in a deal worth $19bn.

According to official statistics, WhatsApp has around 450 million monthly users. The makers of the app claim that it registers 1 million new users every day.

For those not in the know, WhatsApp is an Internet-based messaging service that allows people to get around text message charges. It works in much the same way that SMS (or ‘text messaging’) works, but crucially, it is free. For a small fee of $1 a year, it is possible to upgrade the service.

This is by far Facebook’s largest acquisition to date and has been met with some scepticism, but Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t seem daunted by the huge price tag; he described WhatsApp as “incredibly valuable” in a statement announcing the deal.

Prior to this deal, Facebook’s biggest purchase had been photography app Instagram, for which they paid $1bn.

Richard Taylor, North America Technology Correspondent with the BBC, said, “Some are seeing the $19bn price tag as further evidence of swollen valuations of companies as the sector experiences what may yet prove to be another dotcom bubble. WhatsApp does give Mark Zuckerberg inroads into international markets and, as importantly, to a younger demographic. But what is less clear is whether the finances will add up in the long term”.

The acquisition includes $4bn in cash, about $12bn in Facebook shares and about $3bn in stock options for WhatsApp founders and employees (of which there are around 50).

WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum has also become a member of Facebook’s board of directors. “We’re excited and honoured to partner with Mark and Facebook as we continue to bring our product to more people around the world,” said Mr. Koum. Koum has also stated that he does not intend to allow advertising on the app.

Zuckerberg stated that he believed that WhatsApp was well on its way to having a Billion users.

In an interview with BBC News, senior research analyst with eMarketer Cathy Boyle said, “WhatsApp actually has greater penetration in a lot of international markets than Facebook,” It is possible that by linking the two services, Facebook will be able to increase its customer base. She then went on to say, “WhatsApp is trying to siphon the billions that the telecom industry would make from [traditional SMS text messaging]” if that is Facebook’s intention (and we have to consider it as one of them), then it actually makes good business sense.

SOURCES:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26266689


Sunday 9 March 2014

Rediscovery of Knee Ligament Validates 19th Century Paper

Doctors have discovered that an important knee ligament, first described in an 1879 paper, before being subsequently ignored for well over a century, is actually a very real and important body part.

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are a common problem for many athletes. They are notoriously difficult to repair and the recovery is a tough and painful process that can take up to a year. Following treatment, however, many patients still complain of aches and pains and it is not at all uncommon for the joints to fail the necessary pivot-shift tests (performed so the doctors can check the success of their surgeries). Repeat injuries are also inexplicably common.

Last month, it was announced that a team of Flemish doctors appears to have finally solved this persistently vexing riddle and, in so doing, they validated a discovery made over a century ago.

Paul Segond, a 19th century French surgeon who is known for greatly aiding the development of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (as well as describing the Segond fracture), wrote of the ligament as a “pearly, fibrous band” in 1879. Segond posited that it was an additional ligament, but anatomists did not consider the initial discovery to be accurate.

After reading Segond’s paper and deciding that there may be something to it after all, the team of knee surgeons and an anatomist began investigating the possibility that Segond’s mystery ligament was, in fact, a very real part of the Human body.

The team examined the knees of 41 cadavers, finding that 40 of them actually contained Segond’s ligament, just as he’d described it a hundred years earlier.

With this (re)discovery now published and proven, the ligament has been named as the anterolateral ligament (ALL).

The anterolateral ligament joins the other joint structures in the knee considered most important by doctors and anatomists, such as the lateral femoral epicondyle (LFE), lateral collateral ligament (LCL), Gerdy’s tubercle (GT), popliteus tendon (PT), popliteofibular ligament (PFL), and, of course, the aforementioned anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Surgeons are already considering ways in which to repair ALL tears and damage, with the hopes of improving the quality of life for anyone who suffers any ligament damage to the knees. This rediscovery is likely to become a very significant one in the field of sports and athletics, across both amateur and professional playing fields.

SOURCES

http://www.scientificamerican.com/gallery_directory.cfm?photo_id=7737D2E0-994F-A7AD-8721A14249EB4E02

Saturday 1 March 2014

Look what I found on the Internet 02

So having found some more Images that amused me, i thought i would post a couple