Technologies Area

Security researcher Samy Kamkar, well known for his prolific and creative work in exposing vulnerabilities on the Web and in various electronic products, has released details of a keylogger that can sniff keystrokes transmitted from several models of Microsoft wireless keyboards. The device is so tiny that it can be hidden inside common products. Kamkar has shown off a working device hidden inside a USB charger and, thus completely disguising it. As noted by Ars Technica, the device, called KeySweeper, sounds like something right out of a spy movie. It works because Microsoft uses weak security to encrypt the proprietary connection between the wireless keyboards and their receivers. Making matters worse, each keyboard's wireless MAC address, which can easily be skipped, is used as the encryption key. The hardware required is a tiny Arduino or Teensy board with a Nordic Semiconductor nRF24L01+ radio frequency transceiver. The design is customisable enough to allow for a ba...

Chromebook users who have been itching to install another operating system on their machines can now do so. Users have been given the ability to boot from USB so that they can install an OS image from a USB drive. The Chrome OS team explains however, the feature is only for advanced users. The new feature is part of the 'Debugging Features' available when a Chromebook is booted in the Developer Mode. To install an OS image via USB, users will be required to enable 'Debugging Features' by switching to the Dev Channel, powerwash their device, and click follow these instructions. The other new Debugging Features include the ability to modify the OS files by removing rootfs verification, enable SSH access to the device using the standard test keys so that tools like cros flash can be used, and set both the dev and the system root login password to a custom value so users can manually SSH into the device. "Since Debugging features lower system security, you ...

New Delhi:   Launching its first handset in India after a nearly two-year hiatus, Motorola today announced that the much-awaited Moto G is priced at Rs 12,499 for 8 GB version and Rs 13,999 for the 16 GB variant.   In the US, Moto G -- with no contract, no SIM lock and an 'unlockable bootloader' -- is priced at around USD 179 (about Rs 11,200) with 8 GB of storage and USD 199 (about Rs 12,400) for the 16 GB version. After being acquired by Google in May 2012, Motorola Mobility stopped introducing new products in India. However, the firm continued with its operation in the Indian market. The smartphone, which the firm claims will give the users a premium smartphone experience for a third of the price of the current high-end phones, will be available exclusively through e-commerce marketplace player Flipkart from tomorrow. Elaborating on the strategy behind launching affordable smartphones, Motorola Mobility General Manager EMEA and Asia-Pacific Magnus ...

Google India's much-awaited Great Online Shopping Festival (GOSF) began with a bang and took out the website on which it was being hosted.  The festival began today and will go on till December 13. Through the 72-hour online shopping event, Google had planned to bring the country's leading e-commerce players under a common platform and target nearly 20 million Indian online shoppers. The GOSF site on Wednesday morning. As many as 200 partners were expected to offer the best deal to customers across across India over the next 72 hours. However, less than an hour after the festival began, the host site has been down. Upon logging on to the site, a white screen appears with the text "Hello World". Beyond that, there's nothing on the site. In a tweet, Google India wrote: We're so sorry for the delay in the #GOSF launch.The site will be up soon and you can shop through the deals being offered until 13th Dec Google India (@googleindia) December 10, 20...

After weeks of speculation, Google and LG have officially announced the Google LG Nexus 5. The Nexus 5 comes with a 4.95-inch full-HD IPS display and is powered by a 2.26GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor alongside 2GB of RAM. It comes with an 8.0-megapixel rear camera and a 1.3-megapixel front camera. It comes in 16GB and 32GB storage options, with Black and White colours to choose from. Google Nexus 5 is the first to run Android 4.4, which brings a new dialer that automatically suggests people the most likely call while Caller ID by Google matches an incoming phone number to a business even if that number isn't stored in the contact list. Users can send and receive text messages directly from Hangouts, and Hangouts for Android now supports location sharing.  "LG is proud to partner with Google again to develop the fastest, most powerful Nexus phone ever," said Dr. Jong-seok Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications C...

Apple has announced the launch of the updated MacBook Pro with Retina display range with fourth generation Intel quad-core (Haswell) processors, new graphics, next-generation Wi-Fi and faster PCIe flash storage options.    The entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display now features fourth generation dual-core Intel Core i5 processors up to 2.6GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1GHz. The updated laptop comes with integrated Intel Iris graphics delivering up to 90 percent faster performance than the previous generation MacBook Pro with Retina display, as claimed by Apple. The 13-inch model can be configured with faster dual-core Intel Core i7 processors up to 2.8GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.3GHz. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display delivers up to nine hours of battery life, two hours more than the previous generation, and up to nine hours of iTunes movie playback.   The 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display features fourth generation quad...

It sounds like something out of a futuristic film: the TomTato. Developed by horticulturists in the U.K., the plant is a gardening oddity that produces cherry tomatoes on its vines and potatoes underground. Two vegetables on one plant at the same time! It's the Frankenstein of plants. The Frankenplant? The two plants are grafted together, and are offered in the U.K. by the Thompson & Morgan company. The less catchy-sounding Potato Tom is also available in New Zealand. An infomercial-style video shows a successful example bursting with juicy tomatoes and spuds. According to the BBC, this is not the first time a plant of this type has been developed, but “taste had previously been a problem.” “In the past we've never had any faith in the plants - they've not been very good ― but grafting has come on leaps and bounds in recent years,” Guy Barter of the Royal Horticultural Society told the BBC. The proof may be in the tomato ― and potato...

Following the announcement of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c launch in India, Apple has now officially announced the pricing of the two phones, in addition to revising the pricing of the iPhone 4S, the only other model of the iPhone that will sell apart from the two new ones. The iPhone 4S now costs Rs. 31,500 including taxes, for the 8GB version of the phone. It's worth pointing out that the iPhone 4S was initially launched in India at a price point of Rs. 44,500 for the 16GB version. The prices did go down by Rs. 3,000 when Apple launched the iPhone 5. Online retailers like Flipkart have been selling the 16GB model at Rs. 38,500.  It's worth pointing out that Apple had also included the iPhone 4S under a buyback offer that it introduced, earlier in the year. When it unveiled the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, Apple announced that it would stop selling the iPhone 5, which was introduced last year, replacing it with the iPhone 5c. However, it mentioned...

Microsoft has finally announced the much-anticipated third update for Windows Phone 8. The company also mentions that the new update will be rolled out in the coming weeks and will be continuing for some months depending on the carrier and phone models. However, the company has not detailed anything about region-specific rollouts of the latest third Windows Phone update. The new update, previously thought to be called the Windows Phone GDR3 update, brings some of the most awaited features to the Windows Phone platform that includes support for bigger display (5-inch and 6-inch displays) that will now house six Live Tiles instead of four, as found in previous version; support for higher resolution (full-HD or 1080p) displays, which paves the way for yet to be released Windows Phone devices (like the rumoured Nokia Lumia 1520); support for more powerful processors, like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, and improvements in Internet sharing, which now adds a pairi...

The first scoop of soil analysed by the Curiosity rover reveals that fine materials on the Martian surface may contain "abundant" water, Xinhua reported Thursday citing US researchers. Curiosity touched down Mars last August and began its 100-day mission of collecting and analysing samples of all kinds in Gale crater, which is near the Martian equator, with its high-tech lasers and scoops. In this study, researchers from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute used the rover's scoop to collect dust, dirt and finely grained soil from a sandy patch known as "Rocknest". The researchers then fed portions of the fifth scoop into an instrument onboard Curiosity called the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) to heat them to 835 degrees Celsius. "One of the most exciting results from this very first solid sample ingested by Curiosity is the high percentage of water in the soil," said lead author Laurie Leshin, dean of science at the institute. "About...

After signing a pact to sell its handset business to Microsoft, Finnish phone giant Nokia can neither license the 'Nokia' brand for use in connection with mobile device sales nor use the brand on its own mobile devices for a specific period. "Microsoft has also agreed to a 10-year license arrangement with Nokia to use the Nokia brand on current and subsequently developed Mobile Phones based on the Series 30 and Series 40 operating systems," Nokia said in a recent US filing. Nokia, which will be left with only its telecom equipment, location and patent development businesses, would have the right to continue and maintain the Nokia brand, except for certain period as per the agreement. After the closing of the deal "Nokia would be restricted from licensing the Nokia brand for use in connection with mobile device sales for 30 months and from using the Nokia brand on Nokia's own mobile devices until December 31, 2015," it said. The transacti...

It looks like Google is getting rid of the black navigation bar it places on its sites and introducing a new menu which looks like the Chrome app launcher placed upside down. According to Google Plus Daily, the drop down launcher will offer nine popular Google services, namely Google+, Search, YouTube, Maps, Play, News, Gmail, Drive and Calendar in a 3x3 grid each represented by the icon and name of the service. The launcher also has a More button at the bottom clicking on which will make eight other Google services -Translate, Books, Offers, Wallet, Shopping, Blogger, Finance and Photos - appear. Update : Google has officially confirmed the changes coming to the navigation bar via a blog post and also given a glimpse at its new logo. The company also confirmed that both the changes will be rolling out worldwide gradually. Earlier, a screenshot of the new navigation bar was  posted  by Google+ Help community member, Gerson Castaneda, following which Goo...

Following the release of iOS 7, a new security hole has been discovered that lets users bypass the passcode on any iOS device and gain access to the Photos app and subsequently to the user's email and social networking accounts. A user named Jose Rodriguez has posted a video on YouTube demonstrating the security hack. Control center, the new settings and utility app shortcuts drawer that's included in iOS 7 can be used to bypass the passcode lock that allows users to protect their iPhones using a 4 digit code. All that someone needs to do is to fire up the control center by swiping up from the bottom of the iPhone's lock screen and open the Camera app. Since the phone is locked the intruders would not be able to see anything when they open the Photos app through it. However, they can then launch the Clock app from the control center and hold the iPhone's power/ screen lock button till they see Slide to power off button at the top and Cancel button at the bo...

I had such a fun weekend. After seeing a movie, I went down to the beach to ride the roller coaster on the pier and go jet skiing in the ocean. Afterward, I got a haircut and bought a new suit, and then I returned home to unwind with some fresh juice and a yoga session in my backyard. Later, I met up with one of my friends for drinks at a downtown watering hole. I live in Los Angeles, but I didn't do any of that stuff there. Nah, it all happened over the past 48 hours while visiting Los Santos, the virtual seaside metropolis cunningly depicted in "Grand Theft Auto V" (Rockstar Games, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, $59.99). Oh, did I mention I also committed dozens of felonies? For the most part, it's illegal business as usual in the latest edition of "Grand Theft Auto." There are vehicles to swipe, schemes to plan and banks to rob. Unlike previous installments in the wildly successful - and violent - M-rated series, "GTA V" center...

Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has made an impassioned plea to investors to support his vision of the world's largest software company as a unified devices and services powerhouse in his swan song before Wall Street. Ballmer, who in August said he planned to step down within 12 months, told investors and analysts in an annual meeting on Thursday that Microsoft had a bright future, despite missteps under his 13-year tenure. "We have the tools. There's economic upside here. In the long run, we are almost uniquely poised to seize the opportunity," he said, in a typically high-volume presentation. "Today I'm speaking as an investor. You all own Microsoft stock, cheer for it, for God's sake." Ballmer, who took over from co-founder Bill Gates as CEO in 2000, did acknowledge that under his leadership the company was too focused on Windows to realize that Apple Inc's iPhone was revolutionizing computing. "If there's...

It looks like Android's latest iteration will see the light of day in October, as Nestle has revealed the first news about the launch of Android 4.4 KitKat on Facebook. While replying to a user who asked "When Android 4.4 KitKat will be available", Nestle's German KitKat Facebook handle replied "Android 4.4 KitKat is available from October" (Google translation). While this might not be an official confirmation about Android 4.4 KitKat's release, at least the German Nestle Facebook handle was kind enough to confirm that it is coming next month. Earlier this month, the search engine giant which has been known for nicknaming its Android mobile operating systems for smartphones and tablets after desserts, had for the first time announced a candy brand name for the version 4.4. However, Google made no mention of when the Android 4.4 update would rollout. The search giant has been in news ever since it announced the next iteration of its mobile...

Apple's first gold-colour iPhone sold out immediately in Hong Kong and mainland China, according to reports and online buyers desperate to snap up the new status symbol. State-run news website sh.eastday.com reported Wednesday that the Gold iPhone 5s models were quickly bought up after online pre-orders began Tuesday morning. "The Apple reservation page went down once. In forums, many people talked about how they were begging to buy the gold model," it said, adding that by 1:00 pm (0500 GMT) on Tuesday all three 5s colours in every store had been reserved. Favoured by emperors and representing wealth and luxury in Chinese culture, gold has become a badge of the country's newly wealthy. Pre-orders for the iPhone 5s -- also available in silver and "space grey" -- launched at 6:00 am Tuesday in both Hong Kong and mainland China. "Right after it started, the champagne gold model was sold out," Phoenix TV -- a Hong Kong-based broadcast...

Sony has the launched SmartWatch 2, the successor to its SmartWatch, at a price of Rs. 14,990 in the Indian market. The wearable device would be available in October. The SmartWatch 2 was initially announced in June and Sony had promised that it would be available 'worldwide' in September. The Sony SmartWatch 2 comes with a bigger 1.6-inch screen with higher resolution 220x176 pixels resolution, compared to the 1.3-inch screen 128x128 display on its predecessor. Sony is positioning the watch as a second-screen for your Android smartphones, letting you receive notifications from the phone as well as control its functionality. SmartWatch 2 makes it possible to access notifications from your wrist such as messages, calls, email, Facebook or Twitter, Calendar, or use it as a remote for your Walkman or other digital media player. The SmartWatch 2 comes with a bunch of pre-installed apps, with an option to load other apps as well. Other things you can do with the SmartWatch...

Sony has launched its latest flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z1, in India. The phone was unveiled at IFA, Berlin earlier this month. Sony Xperia Z1 comes with 5-inch full-HD display and the power of a 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, recently seen inside the blazing fast Sony Xperia Z Ultra  alongside 2GB of RAM. The Xperia Z1 comes with 16GB of internal storage, that can be expanded by up to 64GB via a microSD card. The phone runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with a 3,000mAh battery underneath. One of the highlights of the Sony Xperia Z1 is its camera, with Sony's own G Lens with 27mm wide angle and f/2.0 aperture. The camera comes with a large 1/2.3-type CMOS 20-megapixel image sensor Exmor RS with BIONZ mobile image processing engine. The camera comes with software enhancements like Social live, which lets you broadcast live to Facebook and get your friends' comments right on your screen. Info-eye is a visual search function that ...

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It’s a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. A team at Google Creative Lab recently turned to the $35 Raspberry Pi, the little machine that helps to teach kids how computers work. Talking about it led to what people at the Lab do best, and that is hatch. Raspberry Pi, they said, is not only great to teach young learners how computers work but it would also be great to teach them how the Web works. "So we built something for Raspberry Pi called Coder. Download it, put it on an SD card, plug it in and it turns your Raspberry Pi into a simple place to write code and a mini server to run it on, everything you need to get started making real web things, using real languages of the web." That is the message from Google Creative, telling the story of how ...