New Technology Reviews!.: Hacks

Facebook announces 'Trusted Friends' scheme

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
 
<img alt="Facebook announces 'Trusted Friends' scheme" class="aligncenter" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/5dcc3f74b0470-75.jpg.jpg" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/5dcc3f74b0470-75.jpg.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /> 
Facebook has announced plans to launch a 'Trusted Friends' scheme which can let pals assist if you find yourself shut out of your account. 
The scheme requires users to nominate three-to-five of their most reliable amigos, who are then required to input a special code in order to prove your identity. 
Trusted Friends will come in handy for users whose email has also been compromised by hacks, meaning they can't use the regular password recovery mechanism. 
<h4 style="font-size: 1em;">

The spare key</h4>
In a post on the Facebook security page the social network said the new feature was akin to giving your friends a spare house key. 
The post read: "Similar to other features that help you prove your identity through your friends, you can now select three to five trusted friends who can help you if you ever have issues accessing your account. 
"It's sort of similar to giving a house key to your friends when you go on vacation–pick the friends you most trust in case you need their help. 
"If you forgot your password and need to login but can't access your email account, you can rely on your friends to help you get back in. 
"We will send codes to the friends you have selected and they can pass along that information to you." 
It sounds like a good idea. Just make sure those "Trusted Friends" aren't the type who will use those special codes to break into your account and ruin your world while you're off on a relaxing weekend in the country.</div>

Facebook announces 'Trusted Friends' scheme

Facebook has announced plans to launch a 'Trusted Friends' scheme which can let pals assist if you find yourself shut out of your...

Man steers R/C car with his hands, not to mention an HTML5-based web app (video)

<div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="242" hspace="4" src="http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/193/4211rchtml5kinect.jpg" style="margin: 4px;" vspace="4" width="336" /></div> With the right Arduino board, an R/C race car, a couple paperclips and the MacGyver spirit, we imagine most anyone can hack together a creative remote control these days... but how many can open-source an HTML5 web app that'll do the deed from any tablet, phone or PC? Gaurav Manek crafted just such a thing, and he'll demonstrate it for you on an Apple iPad in the video immediately above. What's more, he's also got a Kinect hack that uses Microsoft depth camera (with Code Laboratories' NUI SDK) to control the very same with the wave of a well-placed hand -- we're already envisioning fisticuffs should he and a lab partner try for some head-to-head racing action. That said, you don't need to wait for an illustrious creator to have all the fun. Why not download his source code at our links below and give it a go yourself?

Man steers R/C car with his hands, not to mention an HTML5-based web app (video)

With the right Arduino board, an R/C race car, a couple paperclips and the MacGyver spirit, we imagine most anyone can hack together a creat...

iPhone Hacks and Threats to Personal Privacy

We’ve been amazed by it since its introduction. Who can’t remember the address given by Steve Jobs of Apple when he introduced the revolutionary iPhone? Who wasn’t amazed at the device that was capable of surfing the web, taking pictures, listening to music and of course receiving and placing calls?Nothing new, right?Just as the iPhone was released, hackers around North America started to dig into what makes this tick. The primary reason was to unlock the phone so that you didn’t have to sign-up with AT&T but with any carrier that supported the technology. But could there me more nefarious reasons to hack the iPhone?Skilled hackers could now take their phone onto any carrier, but more importantly they could create and enable custom ring tones (without having to pay for buying ring tones), enable custom wallpapers and more.In process of hacking into the iPhone, several tidbits were gleaned - such as the fact that the software on the iPhone runs as "root" - in the Unix world this basically gives you full and complete access to the machine. You could bring down entire servers and even chains of servers if you have ROOT access to a Unix machine.So how does this impact you, the average user of the Apple iPhone that isn’t planning on hacking into their phone? Well someone may want to hack into your phone and they now have the blueprint to do it.While Apple is working hard to try and prevent hacking by playing cat and mouse game, it will always be a cat and mouse game. If you happen to surf into a questionable website that happens to download software to your iPhone you could end up in a whole heap of trouble.In an article in the New York Times Technology section from July 23, 2007, an iPhone flaw was found to let hackers take over the iPhone. Remember that most people store entire lives on their digital assistants (whether this is a Smart Phone, the iPhone or even a PDA). They keep names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses on them. Not to mention passwords, banking information (such as bank account numbers) and even digital images taken by the built-in camera.Now imagine if a hacker has access to all this data.The security firm, Independent Security Advisors found that through common flaws (and without even hacking into the phone) they were able to gain unauthorized access to the contents of the phone through a WiFi connection or by tricking users into visiting websites that insert malicious code onto the phone.The hack enabled the firm to gain a wealth of personal information that the phone contained.Dr. Miller, who was a former employee of the National Security Agency also demonstrated the hack by visiting a website of his own design, inserting some malicious code onto the phone and then proceeding to have the phone transmit data to the attacking computer. He went on to say that the attack could be used to program the phone to make calls thereby running up the phone bill of the user not to mention the phone could be used to spy on the individual by turning it into a portable bugging device - remember, it does have a built-in camera.How can you protect yourself? As with any device, common sense should prevail. Don’t open e-mails from people you don’t know - if you open them, and there are attachments avoid opening the attachments or visiting the websites in question.Since the Apple iPhone has automatic updates, always ensure your iPhone has the latest updates by visiting the manufacturer’s site.If you are very concerned about threats to your iPhone you may also want to visit the website [http://www.exploitingphone.com/], which is run by Independent Security Evaluators to stay on top of hacks and threats to your personal data on the iPhone.Even doing simple searches in Yahoo, Google, or MSN with 'iPhone hacking threats' will give you a wealth of information.	 	 		 			 				 					 						Copyright © Mohammed BhimjiGet more information about adware, spyware, malware and viruses plus information on wireless wifi theft and securing your wireless connection [http://www.free-adware-spyware-virus-removal.com] at [http://www.free-adware-spyware-virus-removal.com]

iPhone Hacks and Threats to Personal Privacy

We’ve been amazed by it since its introduction. Who can’t remember the address given by Steve Jobs of Apple when he introduced the revolu...

Tutorial: 10 Windows 7 Registry hacks and tweaks

<img src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/PC%20Plus/PCP%20300/PCP300.feat1registry.registry1-200-200.jpg"> Windows 7 needs far less of the sleeves-up shuffling about that its predecessors demanded for smooth operation. It works, and it works well. But that doesn't mean you can't use the Registry to add nifty features or change the settings to your liking. Here are ten things you can do with the Windows 7 Registry. Just type regedit in the usual search box and hit [Enter], then follow our tips. 1. Personalise IE8 Bought your PC from an overzealous manufacturer that's gratuitously branded Internet Explorer with its own name? Just want to add your own custom touch in place of the default 'Windows Internet Explorer'? It's easy. In the registry editor, navigate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_ USER\Software\Microsoft\ Internet Explorer\Main' and create a new string value. Name it 'Window Title', with the space. Then just double-click it and enter your desired window title in the field. 2. Stop Snap Aero Snap is arguably a very useful feature – we say arguably because, as we're sure you've noticed, it often decides to kick in and glue your windows to screen edges when you don't want it to. If you're not finding the Snap feature useful, then you might as well turn it off . First, navigate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_ USER\Control Panel\Desktop'. There are a number of settings you could customise here, but the one that you're looking for in this case is called 'WindowArrangementActive'. The value should be 1 – change it to 0 to make this feature inactive. Alternatively, just make sure you never venture too close to the edge. 3. Change stacking behaviour This particular tweak is perhaps of questionable usefulness, but we thought you'd like the option to try it anyway. If you don't like the thumbnail display when clicking on taskbar buttons, then you can change the action and force Windows to open the last opened window of the stack instead. To do this, open 'HKEY_ CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\Advanced' and create a new DWORD value. Rename it LastActiveClick and set its value to 1 to switch this mode on. Should you change your mind, you can always go back and delete the key or set it to 0 to revert back later on. 4. Quicker taskbar previews Are you bored of waiting the couple of seconds it takes for the graphical previews to pop up when you hover over icons on the taskbar? Or would you rather they took longer to appear? <img alt="taskbar previews" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Plus/PCP%20300/PCP300.feat1registry.registry2-420-90.jpg" width="420"></IMG> The choice is yours. Go to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced' and create a DWORD named 'ExtendedUIHoverTime'. Now double-click to open it, click the 'Decimal' radio button, and then change its value to the number of milliseconds you'd like the process to take. The default is 400ms. 5. Change other delays Stay in the same key (Explorer\Advanced) and you can tweak a couple of other timings. Add a 32-bit DWORD into the mix named 'DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime'. Switch this to decimal in the same manner as before, then change the value data field to alter the number of milliseconds it takes for the Aero Peek function (minimise all windows) to kick in when you hover over the icon on the right of the taskbar. Alternatively, do the same with a DWORD called 'ThumbnailLivePreview HoverTime' to alter how long it takes for the windows that are associated with taskbar thumbnails to come to the front. 6. Speed up menus Make menu items automatically drop down a lot faster with this tweak. Go to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Control Panel\Desktop', right-click 'MenuShowDelay' and click 'Modify'. Now change the current string value to something like 100 – hey presto, near-instant menu appearance. 7. Stop space checking Free up a tiny shred of system resources. Go to 'HKEY_ CURRENT_USER\Software\ Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer', create a new DWORD called 'NoLowDisk SpaceChecks' and set its value to 1 to switch off disk space checking. 8. Move the kernel If the Windows Kernel is in memory, it will run slightly faster than it would if it were on your hard drive. Hunt out 'DisablePagingExecutive' within 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management'. Change its value to 1. 9. Change the name Bought a second-hand machine? Then you might want to alter the name of the registered owner. Go to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\', double-click on the 'RegisteredOwner' key and then change it. 10. Boost speed There's one tweak that will make every hover action much faster, from tooltips to the Start menu. Navigate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Control Panel\Mouse' and tweak the 'MouseHoverTime' value. A word of warning, though: never choose 0 – it's completely unworkable.

Tutorial: 10 Windows 7 Registry hacks and tweaks

Windows 7 needs far less of the sleeves-up shuffling about that its predecessors demanded for smooth operation. It works, and it works well....