Snapchat to Detect and Warn Users They're Utilising Third-Party Apps

Snapchat to Detect and Warn Users They're Utilising Third-Party Apps

Ephemeral messaging service Snapchat, following last month's leak of images via third-party apps, on Tuesday announced a change in the way it treats third-party apps.

The company says it will notify those Snapchat users who may be using third-party apps, and will prompt them to change their account passwords, apart from warning them to stop using third party apps. "Starting today, we will notify Snapchatters when we have detected that they may be using third-party apps and we'll ask those Snapchatters to change their password and stop using unauthorised apps," added the company blog post.

The announcement from Snapchat comes almost a month after the ephemeral messaging service was hacked and 500MB worth of images were leaked. The leak was identified to be due to third-party services, with the popular Snapsaved.com named, a website that allowed users to save images sent via Snapchat.

Snapsaved soon after came forward to admit its servers had been hacked, and said on its Facebook page that it had deleted its entire website and database as soon as it discovered the intrusion.

Snapchat however made a statement clearing that its servers were not breached, nor was it the source of the leaked images. The company blamed third-party apps for what was being referred to as "The Snappening". This did not lift the blame entirely from Snapchat however, as it proved that developers or criminals were able to access Snapchat's private API that it used to run the service, and experts pointed out the firm's cavalier approach to privacy was unbecoming of a disappearing chat service. The company should have been able to detect and stop third-party services, experts argued.

"Any application that isn't ours but claims to offer Snapchat services violates our Terms of Use and can't be trusted," Snapchat warned in a blog post on October following the leak. "We are grateful that the service provider acknowledged that Snapchat was never compromised, but we wanted to use this as an opportunity to reiterate the unfortunate threats these third-party applications can pose to our community." The post discouraged users from utilising third-party apps, and detailed that the firm was working on a public API platform that will make it safe for third-party apps to utilise what will then be a 'Snapchat platform'.

 NDTV

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NSA chief warns Chinese cyber attacks could shut U.S. infrastructure

NSA chief warns Chinese cyber attacks could shut U.S. infrastructure

China and "probably one or two" other countries have the ability to invade and possibly shut down computer systems of U.S. power utilities, aviation networks and financial companies, Admiral Mike Rogers, the director of the U.S. National Security Agency, said on Thursday.
Testifying to the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on cyber threats, Rogers said digital attackers have been able to penetrate such systems and perform "reconnaissance"missions to determine how the networks are put together.

"What concerns us is that access, that capability, can be used by nation-states, groups or individuals to take down that capability," he said.

Rogers said China was one of the countries with that capability, but that there were others.
"There's probably one or two others," he said, declining to elaborate in a public setting.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the Chinese government "forbids" cyber hacking and that it is often a victim of such attacks that originate from the United States.
"The Chinese government resolutely cracks down on these activities. This reality is irrefutable," Hong told reporters at a regular press briefing on Friday.

Rogers testified two days after a bill to overhaul the NSA's bulk collection of telephone records failed in the Senate.Privacy advocates will probably now have to start over to pass a law to reform U.S. surveillance rules.

He said at the hearing that telephone companies are still providing those records to the NSA, but under stricter rules than when the program was exposed in 2013 by former contractor Edward Snowden.

Rogers said the agency, anticipating passage of a new law,would wait before moving forward with technological changes. He said the agency, and telephone companies, would rather wait and see what might be included in any new law.

Reuters
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by David Gregorio)

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Louis Tomlinson Did the Sweetest Thing for Grieving Families in His Hometown

Louis Tomlinson Did the Sweetest Thing for Grieving Families in His Hometown

Louis Tomlinson may be busy with Four album promotion, but he still sent flowers to the families of teen car crash victims who passed away in his hometown of Doncaster, England.

The One Direction singer attached a personalized message reading, "Really saddened to hear some sad news from my home town. With love from Louis, One Direction and mum Johannah."

We know that he's a super thoughtful guy, even showing up at his girlfriend Eleanor Calder's graduation while he was on tour, but we think it's amazing that he still cares so deeply about his hometown. He may constantly travel around the world, but he's dedicated to the community that supported him when he got his start.

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Disney's Live Action "Cinderella" Movie Will Arrive In Theaters In March 2015

WALT DISNEY PICTURES

What a magical day! Disney has released the movie trailer for the upcoming live-action adaptation of the "Cinderella" fairytale! The movie seems like an exact replica of the animated movie, however it includes some fabulous actors who make this version totally unique!

Stars in the live-action "Cinderella" include:

• Cate Blanchett
• Lily James
• Richard Madden
• Helena Bonham Carter
• And More

Walt Disney Pictures' live-action "Cinderella" film will arrive in theaters on March 13, 2015.

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Nintendo Download: Super Smash Bros. Wii U!

Nintendo Download: Super Smash Bros. Wii U!

This is easily one of the biggest weeks of 2014 for Nintendo. Both systems have some heavy hitters, but the crown jewel is no doubt Super Smash Bros. on the Wii U, which is out tomorrow. The console is also getting Watch Dogs, DK: King of Swing (VC), The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Snake Den, Alphadia Genesis, and a ZaciSa's Last Stand demo.

The 3DS no slouch either, as Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are out tomorrow. Also on the 3DS is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Battleminer, and a Fishdom H20: Hidden Odyssey demo. Additionally, Natsume is having some sales that include Yumi's Odd Odyssey and Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns.

Destructoid

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Selena Gomez's Leaked Song "My Dilemma 2.0" Wasn't Inspired by Justin Bieber

Selena Gomez's Leaked Song "My Dilemma 2.0" Wasn't Inspired by Justin Bieber

Selena Gomez recently dropped the painfully autobiographical "The Heart Wants What It Wants, and after two songs leaked this morning, everyone is speculating that "My Dilemma 2.0" and "Do It" are about Justin Bieber. While the latter talks about a chaotic, addictive relationship — with lyrics like, "I wish I didn’t feel so hypnotized, when I look at you baby its justified" — we're not sure "My Dilemma" was written with him in mind!

The track is an updated version of her song "My Dilemma," from Selena Gomez and the Scene's 2011 album, When The Sun Goes Down. The lyrics are exactly the same, so the track must have just been revamped for her upcoming Greatest Hits album, For You.

While the lyrics, “Here’s my dilemma/One half of me wants ya/And the other half wants to forget you," seem like they're directed at the "Boyfriend" singer, that might not necessarily be true! Even if Selena may share some of the feelings expressed in the track, she didn't actually write the song.

Of course, the songwriters could have been inspired by events in the singer's life, but Jelena only started dating in 2011 and their relationship wasn't that dramatic back then! Maybe it just has new meaning in her life now.

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Gorilla Glass 4 shouldn't shatter when you drop your phone

Gorilla Glass 4 shouldn't shatter when you drop your phone

Plenty of mobile device screens can easily resist minor cracks and scratches, but let's be honest -- those aren't the biggest problems. No, the real crisis comes when you drop your phone and the display shatters into many pieces. Thankfully, Corning is tackling that accident-related damage in earnest with Gorilla Glass 4. The newly formulated cover material is designed to survive collisions with rough surfaces, like the sidewalk. It's reportedly very effective, if imperfect. While conventional soda-lime glass will always break if you drop it from a meter (3.3 feet) above the ground, Gorilla Glass 4 will remain intact 80 percent of the time. You shouldn't be careless, in other words, but the added resistance could mean the difference between a costly out-of-warranty repair and carrying on with your day.
Corning says it's already sending out test samples and shipments for the new glass, so you should expect to see it soon. It's not naming customers, but many of the largest phone, PC and tablet builders already use Gorilla Glass, even if they don't always mention it by name. There's a good chance your next mobile gadget will be considerably better at surviving a faceplant -- hopefully, you'll never have to learn this the hard way.Corning

By Jon Fingas

Engadget

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Google Says It Can Now Launch Up To 20 Project Loon Balloons Per Day

Google Says It Can Now Launch Up To 20 Project Loon Balloons Per Day

Google’s Project Loon, the company’s effort to deliver Internet access from balloons that travel around the world in the stratosphere, continues to make strides toward a commercial launch. A few days ago we heard that Google will launch a test with Australia’s largest telco provider Telstra next month and today, Google released a bit more info about the state of the project.
Its balloons, for example, can now stay in the air up to 10 times longer than when the project started last year. Many now last over 100 days — and some even up to 130 days. In total, the balloons have now flown over three million kilometers (though this one, which apparently crashed in Africa a few days ago, probably didn’t make it quite as far).


Google also says that it has gotten much better at steering its balloons. “ By constantly computing thousands of trajectory simulations it turns out we can get pretty close to our targets,” the Loon team writes on Google+ today. “For example, one flight came within 1.5km of our target destination over a flight of 9,000 kilometers, purely through predicting and sailing with the stratospheric winds.”
Google also says it has developed new equipment to inflate its balloons. It now only takes about five minutes to get a balloon ready for launch and the company says it can launch up to 20 balloons a day now.

As Google X’s Astro Teller told us earlier this year, Google plans to partner with telcos on this project. This means Google isn’t buying spectrum itself, but it will work with existing providers to give them access to its balloons and they get to use their licenses to transmit from the stratosphere. The project may have indeed looked a bit crazy in the early days, but Google is obviously dedicated to the project and it’s clearly making progress right now.

By Frederic Lardinois

TechCrunch

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Apple is already using one-fourth of the world’s sapphire supply

Apple is already using one-fourth of the world’s sapphire supply

The story of Apple’s now-bankrupt sapphire venture in Arizona is full of drama: The Wall Street Journal’s Daisuke Wakabayashi reports at length (paywall) on some of the challenges and disappointments that Apple and its partner, GT Advanced Technologies, have dealt each other.

But there’s one particularly interesting stat that explains why Apple and GTAT even bothered in the first place. Apple is already consuming “one-fourth of the world’s supply of sapphire to cover the iPhone’s camera lens and fingerprint reader,” Wakabayashi writes.

That is impressively high—and about to get a whole lot higher. Sure, Apple could sell 200 million fingerprint-reading iPhones and iPads next year, but such readers are relatively small. Imagine the volumes when the company starts making watches with sapphire displays, and iPhones with sapphire screens.

No wonder Apple wants more. As Wakabayashi notes, the Arizona venture was to “produce 30 times as much sapphire as any other plant in the world.”

By Dan Frommer

Quartz 

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Taylor Swift & Harry Styles Are Friends After Split in 2013

Taylor Swift & Harry Styles Are Friends After Split in 2013

Taylor Swift and Harry Styles are reportedly on good terms after their split last year!

“They have become pals,” a source shared to Us Weekly.

Another source added, “Taylor has been bragging to her trainer and celeb friends that she and Harry are talking again.”

In case you missed it, Harry recently chatted about how much he enjoyed Taylor‘s songs about him from her latest album 1989.

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Taylor Swift Hits New Milestones with '1989' Sales!

Taylor Swift Hits New Milestones with '1989' Sales!

The 24-year-old singer is breaking a whole new set of records this week with her album 1989 and her latest single “Blank Space.”

As previously reported, Taylor is the first woman to ever succeed herself at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100. Last week her song “Shake It Off” was at number one and now her new single is there!

Also, her album 1989 has broken the 2 million sales mark after just three weeks in stores and it is still the highest selling album released this year. We’ll have to wait and see if it surpasses the Frozen soundtrack’s sales by the end of the year to be crowned the top album!

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Nvidia's New GK210 GPU Powers Dual-GPU Tesla K80 For Accelerated Computing

Nvidia's New GK210 GPU Powers Dual-GPU Tesla K80 For Accelerated Computing

While the new Maxwell architecture leads the company's gaming portfolio, Nvidia has re-spinned the previous-generation Kepler GPU in order to produce the GK210 that powers the new Tesla K80 card for GPGPU accelerated computing applications. 

The new GK210 is a modified version of the GK110B found in the Tesla K40, but with doubled-up register file and shared memory cache. The goal is to give applications moreresources to enable more registers per thread without compromising the total number of threads that an SMX can process, reducing latencies and improving efficiency.

Note that the GK210 processors in the K80 have two of their 15 SMX blocks disabled, limiting the card to 4,992 CUDA cores (2,496 per GPU). This might not look as impressive as the Titan-Z, but keep in mind that the Tesla K80 is passively-cooled, with a tighter focus on performance-per-watt and limited at a 300 Watt TDP.

Of course, the Tesla K80 has other tricks up its sleeve, like an astonishing 24 GB of total graphics memory onboard, or 12 GB per GPU. At 5 GHz effective over a 384-bit memory interface, the GDDR5 RAM provides an aggregate 480 GB/s of bandwidth (240 GB/s per GPU). It's highly doubtful that we'll see a GeForce card ever carry the GK210, but when we asked, the company didn't rule out the possibility of a future Titan card poweredby this graphics processor.

With two GPUs, it's no surprise that performance is significantly higher than that of the single GPU-equipped Tesla K40 card released last year. The Tesla K80 is available now for "high-performance computing, computational science, supercomputing,enterprise, complex data analytics and machine learning applications", according to Nvidia. The card has no MSRP, as the company let us know that OEMs set the price, but we can expect it to be significantly more expensive than the Tesla K40 12GB card that currently ranges between $3800 and $6400 on Amazon.com.

By Don Woligroski

Tomshardware

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