Hacking Your Way into PC with an Android Smartphone & USB Cable
In what is sure to help give even more ulcers to company IT security admin's around the world, comes news of a new exploit that can compromise a computer (and by extension any network connected to that computer). The idea of rooting & hacking a computer via software or hardware exploits is about as old as computers themselves. This new exploit though, is certainly an interesting tweak on things as it has the potential to be not only devastating, but completely silent and unnoticed. Two bright researchers at George Mason University have discovered a way to surreptitiously modify Andrioid's USB drivers so that it does some pretty nasty things. In a nutshell what this modified driver can do is allow a nasty piece of malware on the phone to slurp up all important data on the computer as soon as it the phone's USB cable is plugged into the computer and then spit that data to whomever the author wants! Even worse is the fact that this exploit could easily be customized to work on other phones running different operating systems such as the iPhone; so it is not as simple as simply boycotting Android based phones.
Worse still, is you could easily not realize that your phone has been compromised - nor your computer - as it is very unlikely typical anti-virus software would consider this an unwanted activity and just consider it a legitimate data transfer request. Luckily, this exploit is not in the wild yet and still only been done in the lab. Of course now that malware authors know it is possible, it probably won't be too long before it becomes a reality. As with anything computer related, being careful in what you download and what you run on your phone is your best defence against nasty pieces of work like this.
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Verbatim Tries its Hand at a Magic Mouse-Type Touch Mouse
Let the Copyright and trademark war begin on yet another front. Verbatim has got a new mouse on the way similar to the Apple Magic Mouse, Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse and Microsoft's as yet unnamed Multi-touch mouse. The Verbatim Wireless Optical Touch Mouse looks sleek and futuristic with a piano black flat surface with no visible buttons. The mouse connects to a nano sized wireless USB receiver. The diminutive receiver can be stowed in a special compartment in the underside of the mouse. The smooth top surface of the mouse is touch sensitive and can recognize simple gestures. These simple gestures are compatible with most versions of Windows and Windows 7 adds some extra support in Internet Explorer and Windows Live Photo Gallery. Touch gestures are really easy to get used to but it seems that this mouse might not support multi-touch. Being able to quickly move your Touch Mouse around from machine to machine makes a lot of sense. Verbatim's track record for low prices may, however, make it reasonable to have one of these at each station you frequent. Price and release date aren't available yet but it should hit stores very soon.
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Sony 3D Bloggie Camcorder Ready to Ship in April for $249.99
These days, Sony is synonymous with 3D as the consumer electronic giant is trying to integrate the technology into all their product lines. So, it's not a surprise to find 3D on their Bloggie, Sony's budget camcorders. When the 3D Bloggie finally ships at the end of April, it will come with two lens as well as two Exmor 1/2.5-inch sensors to capture 1080p 3D recording and to take still photos in 3D. The $249.99 Bloggie will also sport a 2.4" glass-free LCD on the back for you to preview your 3D masterpiece without wearing that pair of dorky looking glasses. Other than the fact the Bloggie 3D can capture full HD 3D video and pictures, other specs are the same as the Duo announced in CES 2011. You will find LED light (for low-light conditions) and 8GB memory onboard. Once connected, the same port will also recharge the integrated battery while uploading video content to a PC. The two Bloggies also share face detection as well as auto-macro shooting mode. A minor difference is that the 3D Bloggie comes with a 3D mini-HDMI port for sending output to your 3D HDTV.
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Flipit and Forget it. USB Wall Charger that Needs No Wiring Skills
Recently we brought word to you on the what is easily one of the coolest USB charging devices available: the U-Socket. Unfortunately, as some of you pointed out, needing to mess around with wires and removing a plug can be a bit daunting. For anyone not up to the task of a simple electrical wiring job, comes news of another great alternative: the Flipit! USB Charger. The Flipit! USB Charger also allows you to charge darn near any of your USB devices without needing expensive or bulky wall adapters, but unlike the U-Socket this bad boy simply adapts an already in use plug to work as a converter. While this is certainly a heck of a lot easier (and most likely safer as the adapter looks to be insulated... but we do wonder) there are a couple major caveats worth pointing out on the Flipit! USB Charger. The biggest of this is you need to have a typical 120V device already plugged into the wall outlet for this to work as it leaches power off the plugs two prongs. This means you need a secondary device plugged in for this to work! This certainly is not a deal breaker, but what may just be one is the fact that the Flipit! USB Charger is only rated for a miserly 750mA (that is only 3.75W)! This is certainly not enough to charge high drain devices such as an iPad and really is kinda lame. If neither of these issues are deal breakers the Flipit! USB Charger is available for purchase now and goes for about $16.
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iodd USB Case Brings ISO Virtual Drives to the Masses
While external hard drives, external optical drives and even external enclosures are a dime a dozen the iodd 2501 Portable Virtual ROM is not just another external enclosure. The iodd 2501 Portable Virtual ROM is a 2.5-inch hard drive enclosure that emulates a CD/DVD drive! Yes, with this bad boy, there is no need to fire up Daemon Tools and mount a "virtual drive" as it does all the heavy lifting for you! This certainly will be great news for all you PC gamers who like to backup their disks to a drive and run the game via the hard drive for faster load times (as fast as ODDs are... hard drives are just simply faster) even if the draconian DRM makes you have the "disk" mounted all the time! To use the iodd 2501 Portable Virtual ROM, all you need do is install your own 2.5" hard drive into the enclosure, load the ISO files you want to use and then using the built in file section switch mount which every ISO you want. As far as your computer (and the DRM software) is concerned it's a "CD/DVD/Blu-Ray" drive that has the proper files on it! This really is brilliant and with an asking price of about only $65 it is sure to make a great gift for any hard core gamer that refuses to use STEAM or software solutions like Daemon Tools! Let’s just hope the company has plans to release a USB 3.0 version.
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LaCie Galet USB Silver Plated Drive is Chic for the Uptown Geek
We're often very pleased with LaCie's attempts to make technology into art. They have been known to go a little Andy Warhol from time to time but the Galet USB drive is sublime. Looking like a beach pebble and a fancy pocket watch gave birth, the Galet USB flash drive longs to be in your pockets. Plated in french silver and polished by hand, these special edition drives are the dream child of silver craftsmen Christofle. Gorgeous but not exactly practical, the flash memory that LaCie uses is above average but not super fast. Speed won't be much of a problem on the conspicuously small 4GB of storage. Granted that should be plenty of room for your apropos Silverchair or Tiffany MP3s but 4GB is pretty small by today's standards. The lack of size is most disturbing when looked at next to its $130 price tag, not exactly chump change. Finally, the shape of the drive may make it take up both USB slots on cramped computers. Nagging reality aside, this really is the most aesthetically please flash drive we've ever seen.
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