At just 4.85mm, Oppo R5 is the world's slimmest smartphone

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/29/oppo-r5/

Step aside, Gionee, as your record for the world's slimmest smartphone has just been beaten by a fellow Chinese manufacturer. Oppo's R5, the successor to the Asia-only R3, comes in at just 4.85mm thick, thus beating the 5.15mm-thick Elife S5.1 from Gionee. Despite the crazy thin metallic body, the R5 still packs a handful of goodies: a 5.2-inch full HD AMOLED screen, an octa-core (quad 2.1GHz and quad 1.5GHz), 64-bit Snapdragon 615 SoC, 2GB of RAM, 5MP/13MP cameras (both with f/2.0 aperture), LTE radio and a 2,000 mAh battery. All of this comes in at just 155g heavy. Of course, there's bound to be a trade-off: You only get 16GB of internal storage, no microSD expansion and, unlike the Elife S5.1, no 3.5mm headphone connector here -- you'll need to use the bundled micro-USB adapter or Bluetooth (there's an optional O-Music Bluetooth clip for your headphones and for triggering the camera).

Build quality and body strength aren't an issue on the pre-production unit we played with in Shenzhen. The metallic frame is nicely chamfered and manually polished to give a comfortable grip. What's more, while most slim phones are known to expose more heat to the surface, the R5 uses a phase-shifting material -- as featured on modern PC motherboards -- to help cool the internal components; but we'll need to probably test the phone to see if this works as well as it claims. If we must pick a fault at this stage, it'd be the main camera module that sticks out a little on the back, which can be forgiven for the sake of maintaining image quality.

Much like the N3 announced alongside it, the R5 comes with Color OS 2.0 (based on Android 4.4) which packs some handy features plus a few new ones. For one, the old gesture panel can now be toggled by dragging up from the Home button, thus letting you draw customized gestures to launch apps or open contacts. By default, you can draw a "V" to turn on the flashlight, draw a circle to launch the camera, or draw a "W" to launch WeChat.

As for the new camera app, you get a greater freedom of customization by installing your desired features as plug-ins: "HD Picture" (to make super detailed 64-megapixel images), "Slow Shutter," "Beautify," "Professional," "Super Macro," "GIF mode" and more. These are also featured on the N3, naturally.

Another common feature shared between the R5 and the N3 is the VOOC rapid charging. Using the bundled charger, the 2,000 mAh cell can go from zero to well above 75 percent in just half an hour, though the exact charging time is yet to be determined. We should know soon, anyway, as the R5 is slated for the global market this December, and it'll come in silver, gold and grey with an off-contract price of $499.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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âSecurity researcher uses radio frequencies to smuggle data out of isolated network

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/29/fm-data-leaking/

Think your completely isolated, internet-disconnected "air gap" computer network is secure from wireless infiltration? Think again -- security researchers at Ben-Gurion University in Israel have found a way to lift data from closed networks using little more than a standard computer monitor and FM radio waves. It's a pretty clever trick: researchers have created a keylogging app called AirHopper that can transmit radio frequencies by exploiting the PC's display. A companion app on an FM-equipped smartphone can decode those transmissions and record the host machine's keystrokes in real-time.

It's not the first time FM radio waves have been used to smuggle data out of an air gap network, but this method can be done without PC connected speakers and without either device being connected to an outside network. Like previous methods, it doesn't it has a fairly short range (about 7 meters) and can't transmit more than a few bytes a second, but that's more than enough to nab passwords or other sensitive text data. The group has already released a short video of the exploit in action, and intends to publish a more detailed paper on the subject at Malcon 2014 later this week.

[Image credit: Dimitri Otis]

Filed under: Desktops, Misc

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Source: Ben Gurion University

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LG Electronics reports Q3 profit jumps 87%

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-lg-electronics-reports-q3-profit-jumps-87-2014-10

Seoul (AFP) - LG Electronics reported Wednesday an 87 percent jump in third-quarter net profit from a year ago after profits from its mobile unit surged to a five-year high.

Net profit for the South Korean electronics giant in the July-September period amounted to 202.6 billion won ($193 million), up 87 percent from a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Operating profit also jumped 112 percent to reach 461.3 billion, while sales rose seven percent to 14.9 trillion won. 

The firm's handset unit led the growth with a 39-percent rise in sales and an operating profit of 167.4 billion won -- the highest for five years and a turnaround from a 79.7 billion won loss a year ago. 

The handset unit sold 16.8 million smartphones in the third quarter, breaking the quarterly sales record set in the second quarter.

The world's sixth-largest smartphone maker struggled for years with sluggish sales after making a late entry into the market following competitors like Samsung and Apple.

But LG recently showed signs of revival with its flagship G3 smartphones, while its bigger South Korean rival Samsung saw profits sag. 

Samsung -- the world's top maker of smartphones and TVs -- is set to post a nearly 60 percent plunge in its third quarter operating profit to be announced on Thursday, although the figure of 4.1 trillion won is still nearly 10 times bigger than LG's. 

LG's TV unit saw operating profit inch up five percent to 130.5 billion won on growing sales of high-end sets.

LG shares rose 4.31 percent to close at 67,800 won on the Seoul stock market.

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Hackers breach White House computer system, Russia suspected

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-hackers-breach-white-house-computer-system-russia-suspected-2014-10

Washington (AFP) - The White House's unclassified computer network was recently breached by intruders, a US official said Tuesday, with The Washington Post newspaper reporting that the Russian government was thought to be behind the act.

"In the course of assessing recent threats, we identified activity of concern on the unclassified EOP network," said the White House official, speaking on condition of not being named. 

"Any such activity is something we take very seriously. In this case, we took immediate measures to evaluate and mitigate the activity."

The Washington Post quoted sources as saying hackers believed to be working for the Russian government were believed to be responsible.

The hackers entered the US presidential mansion's unclassified computer network in recent weeks, the Post quotes the sources as saying.

In a statement, the White House official said the Executive Office of the President receives daily alerts concerning numerous possible cyber threats.

In the course of addressing the breach, some White House users were temporarily disconnected from the network. 

"Our computers and systems have not been damaged, though some elements of the unclassified network have been affected. The temporary outages and loss of connectivity for our users is solely the result of measures we have taken to defend our networks," the official said. 

No additional information was immediately available.

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The Underground World Of Plant Theft Is More Massive Than You Think

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/plant-crime-in-the-uk-2014-10

Some of London's rarest flowers have to be locked up and monitored by security cameras due to an upswing in plant theft. 

The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Hampshire has become a "crime hotspot," the BBC reports, as an increasing number of people are swiping buds to sell on the black market for hundreds of dollars. 

Certain rare species of plants, including new species of orchid, are worth up to £300 ($500) each, according to the BBC.

Barry Clarke, who works at the Hillier botanical gardens, said that up to 20 plants are stolen from the site each year. He suspects that "anyone from the little old lady down the street to a young person out of agricultural college," could be behind the plant heists. 

Plant crimes are widespread in Britain. Earlier this year, a rare, endangered water lily was stolen out of the glasshouse at Kew Gardens, one of the largest botanical gardens in the world.

The import and export of endangered species requires a permit issued by CITES, the organization that regulates the protection of wild fauna and flora. However, horticulturists believe that loads of endangered plants are being sold online without the CITES permit. 

As a preventative measure, many botanical gardens have started "anchoring plants underground, growing them under cages, and installing CCTV cameras," the BCC writes. Some universities are also working on an alarm system. 

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