Hacks turn Square's reader into a card-stealing machine

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/03/square-reader-card-skimming-hack//

As helpful as a Square Reader may be for purchases at trendy stores, you'll want to watch out -- in the right circumstances, they can also be used to steal your credit card info. Security researchers have discovered that you can physically disable the encryption the device uses to protect your financial info, turning the Reader into a tiny, portable card skimmer. There's also a way to record the signal created by your card when you swipe its magnetic stripe on an unmodified Reader, which theoretically lets evildoers charge your card without approval.

Square is quick to note that an altered Reader won't work with the official app, and that it's not possible to handle a stored swipe "more than once." However, this assumes that you're paying attention to the apps in use when you're buying goods. An enterprising criminal could develop unofficial software that looks legit, but hides skimming code underneath. While it's not very likely that you'll run into one of these tweaked scanners in the wild, it's worth keeping an eye on your credit card statement if that sketchy shop clerk breaks out a Reader to complete a sale.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Tablets, Mobile

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Via: Motherboard

Source: Black Hat, HackerOne

Tags: cardskimmer, mobilepostcross, peripherals, reader, retail, security, shopping, skimmer, skimming, square, squarereader

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Acer Aspire One Cloudbook gives you a full Windows laptop for $169

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/04/acer-aspire-one-cloudbook//

Hey, HP: you're far from the only one who can play the ridiculously low-cost Windows laptop game. Acer has unveiled the Aspire One Cloudbook 11 and 14, a pair of thin-and-light Windows 10 portables that promise a 'real' PC experience even if you're on a shoestring budget. They respectively cost a mere $169 and $199 in the US (a good $30 less than HP's Stream 11 and 13), but still manage to pack 1.6GHz Celeron processors, 2GB of RAM, full-size keyboards and expansion that includes USB, HDMI and SD card slots. Neither is going to be a screamer, then, but they may do the job if you're looking for a back to school system that's just good enough to handle your class notes and reports. Slideshow-308844

So how did Acer manage to undermine its biggest rival? By cutting a few corners, apparently. The company tells us that the $169 11-inch model has a very modest 16GB of built-in storage (you need to jump to higher-end versions to get 32GB or 64GB). The two Cloudbooks also have shorter battery life than the Stream series (between 6 to 7 hours), and there's a 480p webcam instead of HP's "HD" unit -- these are not the ideal machines for video calls with your parents. You do get free year-long subscriptions to both Office 365 Personal and 1TB of OneDrive space, though, so you won't have to pay a lot up front to be productive. If you want to give Acer's minimalist PC concept a shot, you can get the Cloudbook 11 in August and the Cloudbook 14 in September.

Filed under: Laptops, Acer

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Source: Acer

Tags: acer, aspireonecloudbook, celeron, cloudbook, computer, laptop, pc, windows, windows10

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Fujifilm's X-T1 flagship camera gets an infrared edition

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/03/fujifilm-x-t1-ir//

No, this isn't the next flagship camera you've been waiting on from Fujifilm -- but this doesn't mean some of you won't be interested in it. The company today announced the X-T1 IR, a new edition of its high-end shooter featuring infrared technology, which captures details that aren't normally visible to the human eye. On the outside, Fujifilm's new camera looks identical to the original X-T1, with the two main changes being internal. While the X-T1 IR also features a 16.3-megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS II unit, its sensor's Standard IR cut filter was removed and an anti-reflective coating has been applied to it. Other than that, the remaing specs are the same: there's an EXR Processor II, a max ISO range of 25,600 and a weather-resistant shell, to mention a few.

Fujifilm says this would be a useful tool for people who investigate crime scenes, provide healthcare diagnostics or are involved in other similar scientific and technical fields. If that's you, the X-T1 IR can be yours in October for $1,700 (body-only).

Filed under: Cameras, Misc

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Tags: Fujifilm, Fujifilm X-T1, Fujifilm X-T1 IR, Fujifilm X-T1IR, FujifilmX-T1, FujifilmX-T1IR, IR, X-T1 IR

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Qualcomm's wireless charging tech now works on metal phones

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/07/28/qualcomms-wireless-charging-tech-now-works-on-metal-phones/

Until now, you've had a choice: a smartphone with a sleek metal chassis, or one that played nice with wireless charging standards. Those days may be over. Qualcomm just announced that its WiPower charging technology can now power smartphones, tablets and other devices with metal cases. The updated standard is already available to device manufactures and licensees, the company says. Everything else about WiPower seems to be the same: it still charges at the same rate and still meets Rezence standards -- it's just doing the same job better now. Good enough.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Qualcomm

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Nanowires help produce hydrogen fuel using sunlight

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2015/07/20/nanowires-help-produce-hydrogen-fuel-using-sunlight/

You ideally want to produce clean hydrogen fuel using clean sources, and Dutch researchers have taken a big step toward making that a practical reality. They've built a solar cell that uses a grid of gallium phosphide nanowires to make hydrogen gas from water. The approach gets a useful yield of about 2.9 percent in lab tests. That may not sound like much, but it's about 10 times more effective than previous techniques and uses 10,000 times less exotic material.

It's still going to take more refinements before this kind of technology is practical. Even hooking up silicon cells to a battery nets a 15 percent yield, for example. If scientists improve their methods, though, you could be driving hydrogen cars whose fuel is eco-friendly at every step, not just when it's in your vehicle.

[Image credit: AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi]

Filed under: Transportation, Science

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Source: TUE, Nature

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