Late last October, millions of people punched in the URLs of their favorite sites only to be greeted with errors stating the sites were down. In the minutes and hours that followed, it became clear that we were in the midst of one of the largest DDoS attacks in history , affecting some of the most popular sites on the web. As the dust settled, Dyn revealed that they were attacked using a Mirai Botnet , a web of millions of connected IoT devices.
This event shone a bright light on an inherent issue with the many “smart” IoT devices that are becoming so commonplace: they often aren’t very secure, and typically because users don’t change the default administrator credentials. In fact, Mirai spreads by looking for this very weakness in connected devices.
In an effort to prevent future attacks of this nature and to push the industry to close these holes, the United States Federal Trade Commission has jumped into the fray, and it wants your help.
The FTC has just launched a contest looking for clever and innovative ways to sufficiently secure and protect the growing cadre of IoT devices, with the winner landing up to a cool $25,000. Specifically, it’s looking for methods to identify potentially at-risk devices still using default passwords or running outdated software. Also, according to the contest rules , there is provision for three ‘honorable mentions’ each winning $3,000.
Submissions will be accepted between March 1 st and May 22 nd , 2017, with winners announced around July 27 th .
Head to the source link below for more details on how to enter.
Source: Federal Trade Commission | FTC Building image via Politico

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Nvidia already announced a partnership at CES to bring a AI self-driving car to production, and now Mercedes-Benz is also teaming up with the GPU-maker on a vehicle with AI on board. Nvidia and Mercedes-Benz are also setting an ambitious timeline for their goal; the two will field this new vehicle within the next 12 months, Nvidia confirmed to TechCrunch.
The news came out on stage at a talk between Mercedes-Benz VP of Digital Vehicle and Mobility Sajjad Khan, and Nvidia CEO and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang on Friday at CES. It’s the result of a project the two began together three years ago, which helps explain why the car will be ready to get to customers by 2018.
Mercedes and Nvidia have been working together with a specific focus on deep learning and AI. Nvidia announced additional AI features powered by its in-car computing at its keynote earlier in the week at CES. These include Co-Pilot , which is a system that combines facial recognition, gaze tracking and more to help assist human drivers as a way to increase safety ahead of the advent of true autonomous driving on the roads.
Co-Pilot also uses voice recognition, and a vehicle’s external sensors to track objects outside the car including other vehicles and pedestrians, and can give the driver a head’s up if it also detects they might not be aware of potential road danger.
It’s not yet clear how the AI integration will work in the Mercedes-Benz vehicle, and whether it will be a version of Co-Pilot or something else, but Nvidia tells TechCrunch it will provide more details leading up to the launch.

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The adult entertainment industry has long been a silent driver of new technologies, from ISPs to graphics cards. With virtual reality, many see porn as one of the more obvious use cases that could lead to heavy headset adoption early on.
Today, Pornhub , which is the 50th most visited website on the internet, released some data that shows some of the early success the site has had since introducing a VR porn section in April of 2016.
The company claims there were more than 38 million searches for virtual reality videos on Pornhub last year. The site has about 1,800 VR-optimized videos in its library now.
Interestingly, the report highlights that VR porn content largely hasn’t taken hold of the United States compared to other markets. Here are the top 10 countries searching for VR porn on Pornhub:
For the time being, Pornhub is mainly focusing on Cardboard-based experiences, which have a large audience but don’t really offer that premium of an experience. It is a really easy way to get VR in the hands of the masses; the company gave away about 10,000 pairs of VR goggles as a promotion.
WebVR, which allows your web browser to power virtual reality experiences, will be a major boon to the immersiveness of VR porn, especially on mobile. Stock mobile browsers currently can’t access the head orientation data needed to let you shift your view in a headset. As a result, VR porn is largely confined to either stereoscopic fixed perspective or downloadable videos that you have to load into native apps.
As WebVR is further adopted as a standard, it’s going to be a lot simpler to find high-quality virtual cyber smut.
Pornhub is one of many legacy adult entertainment sites tackling virtual reality content. VR porn seems to be one of the few sure bets in terms of use cases, and, furthermore, it’s one of the few verticals that will likely remain untouched by the tech titans, like Google and Facebook.
2016 was, in many ways, VR’s inaugural year. There’s a lot to expect in 2017 on the VR front; more popular VR adult entertainment is definitely anticipated.

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Meet Blitab , an Android tablet combined with a smart Braille surface. It’s one of the most affordable Braille devices out there and could change the way visually impaired people use computing devices. The company is participating in TechCrunch’s Hardware Battlefield at CES.
The devices for this niche market are really disappointing. There are specialized devices called Braille notetakers that are clunky, not that powerful and cost up to $5,000. They even run an outdated version of Windows CE. These might be fine, as some health insurance companies will help you pay for these devices. But what if you live in a country without proper health insurance to pay for such a device? That’s where Blitab shines; it’s only going to cost $500.
In addition to being a cheaper version of an existing product, it’s a much more useful device. At heart, it’s an Android tablet, so it has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and can run all sorts of Android apps. It also supports all the cool accessibility features in Android, such as voice over.
The magic happens when you press the button on the side of the device. The top half of the device turns into a Braille reader. You can load a document, a web page — anything really — and then read the content using Braille.
“We’re not excluding voice over; we combine both of these things,” co-founder and CEO Kristina Tsvetanova told me. “We offer both the tactile experience and the voice over experience.”
Behind the scenes, the Blitab tablet uses small bubbles to change the state of these bubbles in very little time. The company is thinking about more powerful features. For instance, you could think about drawing a Google Maps view on the top half of the device so that you can feel the map.
The company started working on the Blitab device in 2014, and the team of 10 plans to ship the tablet in six months with pre-orders starting later this month.
So far, 3,000 visually impaired people have played with the Blitab and the feedback has been great, the company says. Even the most skeptical users changed their mind after trying the tablet for a while.
Many tech entrepreneurs start a company because they find a business opportunity. A consumer app will have a huge potential market and could make you rich in no time. And yet, it has never been easier to build a cheap gadget that can have a significant impact for a small group of people. For this reason alone, there should be more startups like Blitab.

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At CES, there are always a massive amount of odd little devices that are unveiled and the Orla is no exception. But the story of Orla doesn’t start this year but instead begins with the company’s first product, the unusual but inventive alarm clock that offered a selection of pleasant aromas, such as peppermint or espresso, to wake up snoozers. Utilizing a similar technology, the folks at Sensorwake are back at it again, creating a device that will offer you a better night’s sleep.
The Orla utilizes the “the power of scents” to hopefully get people a better night’s rest. Using special “sleep enhancing fragrances” produced by fragrance and flavors crafter Givaudan, the Orla is able to emit fragrances into the air while you sleep that help you relax and fall asleep faster and also maintain a deep sleep cycle for a better quality of rest.
The Orla requires two scent capsules that have to be replaced every two months, but pricing on these capsules has not yet been disclosed. The Oria is expected to be available sometime during the summer of 2017 and will be priced at $149. If you are interested, you can currently sign-up to become a beta tester for the product, where if chosen, you will be gifted a free unit.
Neowin is at CES to bring you all the coverage from the show floor, click here for other articles.
Source: Sensorwake

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