Category Archives: Technology

Want to be Unsene on the Internet?

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SAN FRANCISCO—With recent revelations about the NSA spying and knowledge that Microsoft has left “backdoors” open for the government to enter and tamper with your computers, some may have decided to switch to the more secure Linux operating system.

Linux has advantages. Better security is the main feature. Depending on the version—called “distros” in Linux lingo; short for distribution—you can set up more effective firewalls. You can get programs that alert you when certain unwanted activities are going on in your computer. Linux has less problems with viruses. This is probably due to the fact that hackers are not so much interested in Linux as they are Microsoft. Because Microsoft equals Bill Gates.

One disadvantage of Linux is that it is a bit unwieldy for most computer users. They have neither the time nor the inclination to explore yet another operating system. Some cities have Linux Users Groups that may help, but that still takes time out of their schedule. Some distros are helping, such as Ubuntu, by making more user-friendly graphic interfaces.

Another is that much hardware is only Microsoft or MAC friendly unless the company has developed an alternative driver. That you may have to find and download.

There is a new open-source start-up which is seeking funding through Indiegogo. This group, associated with Chris Kitze of Beforeitsnews, has a web email and Skype alternative called Unsene. It is currently in the Beta web version and free. It will eventually ship as a program and Android and iPhone versions are planned.

The premium service is intended to allow for more features depending on the amount donated. Eventually it will be $47 per year, but people donating now will get a lifetime version for $37.

The full security features only work with Google Chrome. Beforeitsnews explains, “The text messaging and chat work with all browsers, but the audio and video calling and the encrypted file sharing require WebRTC, a new technology that is only available on Chrome. Support for Safari, IE and Firefox is expected soon. The Chrome browser is available for free download from Google.”

This program claims military-style encryption. “The service offers a basic level of encryption (AES256) and advanced encryption (xAES up to 4096 bits) and we’ve got some additional tricks up our sleeve for extremely secure encryption.”

See Also: Stop the Spying in Your Inbox

Solar Impulse lands in Arizona

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The Solar Impulse, the first solar powered aircraft, took off from Moffett Field in Mountain View, California yesterday around 9 am and landed in Phoenix at midnight this morning. Swiss pilot Bertrand Piccard flew the first leg of a proposed four-leg flight to eventually end up in New York. He is joined on the adventure by pilot André Borschberg.

Solar Impulse over San Francisco

Solar Impulse over San Francisco


Solar impulse has already been test flown in Europe. In May 2012, the Solar Impulse achieved the first solar-powered intercontinental flight by flying from Spain to Morocco in just over 19 hours.

The aircraft contains 12,000 silicon solar cells and the plane is designed to fly to levels of commercial airliners to charge the batteries to keep it in flight for hours after the sun goes down. The 880 pounds of batteries account for more than 25% of the weight of the plane.

The month-long journey will be flown at the planes top speed of forty-miles per hour.

The plane was built at a cost of about $140-million funded through the contributions of various companies.

You can find videos and pictures and follow the journey with live streaming at the Solar Impulse website.

Representative Engel wants to make you Facebook safe.

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WASHINGTON—Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY-16) has submitted the Social Networking Online Protection Act to make your social network and e-mail accounts safe from prying eyes. At least, the eyes of your employer, potential employer or your school.

H.R. 537 would make it illegal for “employers and certain other entities” to demand that you provide passwords for them to access your private social network and email accounts. It would make it unlawful for employers or potential employers to discriminate against you, dismiss you or in anyway harass you for refusing to give this personal information.

The bill would add a section to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 which essentially provides the same limitations on educational facilities as to employers above.

The Department of Homeland Security and other alphabet agencies, of course, will still be able to employ face recognition software and spy techniques in their on-going effort to make us safe from persons who support the Constitution, veterans and those rabid Ron Paul fans.

The house is also considering H.R. 624—the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act—for just that purpose.

House legislation may unlock cell phones once again

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Unlocking-cell-phones-how-to-do-300x224WASHINGTON—Before January of this year, people could unlock cell phones in order to utilize whatever phone service they chose. After January 1st, that option was locked-out. That is to say that you could no longer unlock your cell phone and had to buy a new cell phone to switch services. Although unlocked cell phone are still sold through several stores and Internet sources.

That could change if legislation submitted by Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA6) passes.

The Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, H.R. 1123, would repeal Paragraph (3) of section 201.40(b) of title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations, amended by the Library of Congress in October of 2012, to allow consumers to unlock cell phones. Cell phones were locked based on Copyright infringement.

This would, of course, allow consumers to switch services without having to purchase new phones. The Bill, with 8 cosponsors, was referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, And The Internet on the 15th.

It is expected that cell phone industry lobbyists will be out in force.

Unlocking cell phones is now illegal in the U.S., making it harder to switch carriers

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Law took effect Jan. 26

The law’s been around for 15 years. Last year, the Library of Congress ruled unlocking a phone without the carriers permission violates copyright law.The ruling took effect Saturday.—FOX News Charlotte

Unlocked cell phones offer consumers more options, especially when it comes to mobile devices and service providers, but a new federal law criminalizes the fairly-common cell phone trick.

In October, The Library of Congress reached a ruling that made unlocking cell phones illegal. The new law kicked in on Jan. 26.

According to CNN, the new law applies only to phones purchased after January 26.

Read more and see video at RTV6

Some men get mad. Some men show tenderness.

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Apparently a man in England found out his wife listed herself on an Internet dating site. While some men might get mad, this “crazy” “idiot” of a husband decided to show tenderness. He combined his wife’s love of her horses with her love of her Peugeot. Happy Valentines day.

The US opposes demonopolization of the Internet

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This week’s conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Dubai failed to produce an agreement on country-level Internet governance. After heated debates, the conference passed a vague-worded resolution calling on the ITU to play a more active role in the development of the Internet.

Russia and China suggested giving partial control over the allocation of web addresses either to ITU member states or to a specialized agency under the aegis of the United Nations. At present, this is the exclusive monopoly of the United States it exercises through the U.S.-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names (ICANN) controlled by the U.S. Commerce Department.

The United States is visibly unprepared to share this monopoly with anybody else. All main IT resources, servers and transfer protocols are located in the United States, notes Russian IT expert Anton Korobkov-Zemlyansky.

Read more at The Voice of Russia.

SEE ALSO: US rejects UN telecom treaty over Internet rift

Ransomware Pays: FBI Updates Reveton Malware Warning

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Latest malware, trying to trick users into paying a fine, claims the FBI is using audio, video, and other devices to record computer’s “illegal” activity.

Can people pay a fine online, avoid the threat of prosecution by the FBI, and unlock their locked PC all in one go?

That’s the offer made by a “Threat of Prosecution Reminder” that’s been flashing on numerous PC screens, which says that the FBI has locked the PC after finding evidence that the computer has been used to access child pornography or other illegal content. The latest version of this notice says that “all activity on this computer is being recorded using audio, video, and other devices.” But users are offered a way to pay the related fine being levied, immediately unlock their PC, and see the whole matter immediately dismissed.

The warning, however, is just a setup. “This is not a legitimate communication from the IC3, but rather is an attempt to extort money from the victim,” according to an advisory released last week by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which is a joint effort between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. “If you have received this or something similar do not follow payment instruction.”

The extortion part of the scam — now also featured on the FBI’s list of e-scams — is facilitated by a malicious application known as Reveton, which according to antivirus vendor F-Secure “fraudulently claims to be from a legitimate law enforcement authority and prevents users from accessing their infected machine, demanding that a ‘fine’ must be paid to restore normal access.” Machines are typically infected with Reveton via malicious websites — using drive-by download attacks launched by Citadel crimeware — rather than being introduced via phishing attacks or malicious email attachments.

Read more at Information Weekly