Misfit took on the Fitbits and Jawbones of the world with their Shine, and subsequent Shine 2 , activity monitors, a minimalistic, but super slick take on the popular segment that caught people’s attention. With the Vapor, the company is looking to shake up another relatively crowded market: smartwatches.
The Vapor sports a coveted round display with a 1.4 inch AMOLED touchscreen front and center, and a Snapdragon 2100 processor under hood providing the horsepower. A built-in GPS chipset, optical HR sensor, Bluetooth, and up to 50 meters of water resistance round out the basics.
In an effort to free you from your smartphone while working out, Misfit also included 4GB of onboard storage specifically with music playback in mind. A welcome feature for anyone who prefers to leave their expensive phones at home.
The Vapor runs its own custom OS, so they’ll have their work cut out for them when making a case against the more mature Android Wear devices when it comes to market later this year. However, with a price set at $199, they’ve got a pretty solid opening argument.
If you’re interested in being notified about pre-orders for the Vapor you can sign up for the mailing list on the Misfit website .
Source: Engadget | Image: Misfit via Digital Trends

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We’ve seen a high number of ransomware in the past year, each with their own nuances, but with a common purpose: encrypt files and demand money from the victim. While many opt to not pay, some still decide to risk it and pay the cybercriminals to have their files decrypted.
Today, a new variant of the infamous crypto-malware has been discovered. Discovered by security researcher Michael Gillespie , ‘Koolova’ is a new in-development ransomware. Once a victim’s system has been encrypted, it will display a ransom note claiming itself to be the nice version of the Jigsaw ransomware.
Why is it claiming to be that, you ask? Instead of demanding a large amount of money from victims, it will only ask the victim to read two articles regarding computer security and staying safe on the internet. One of these is Google’s  » Stay safe while browsing  » blog post, while the other is Bleeping Computer’s  » Jigsaw Ransomware Decrypted: Will delete your files until you pay the Ransom.  »
If they successfully read the provided material, only then they will be provided the decryption key. Don’t take Koolova too lightly, however; if it sees that you are « too lazy » to read the articles, and the provided timer goes down to 0, it will delete all the affected files.
Once the victim has finished the two articles within the provided time, the ransomware will provide the decryption key. This will successfully unlock encrypted files, ultimately freeing the computer from the ransomware attack.
Back in June 2016, another « friendly » ransomware was discovered, called « EduCrypt.  » While it encrypted a user’s files, it also provided the decryption key for free, telling victims to  » not download random s*** on the internet  » as a takeaway lesson from the experience.
While it is indeed interesting to see ransomware developers creating malware that « teach » victims a lesson, it always pays to be careful about what we do on the internet, and not have to learn things the hard way.
Source: The Hacker News

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Nearly three months after Dungeon Keeper was made free on Origin, its time has come to an end and has been replaced by the standard edition of Mass Effect 2 as part of the « On the House » promotion.
Mass Effect 2 was originally released in 2010 for Xbox 360 and PC followed by a version for PlayStation 3 a year later. BioWare’s action RPG was, on the whole, very well received with the PC version of Mass Effect 2 receiving a Metacritic score of 94/100.
By today’s standards, the game has fairly modest system requirements, specifically:
As always, being able to grab a game for free generally isn’t a bad thing so make sure you grab your copy of Mass Effect 2 as soon as possible as it could disappear sooner rather than later. However, with its two immediate predecessors, Nox and Dungeon Keeper having racked up over six months tenure between them as the promotional title, one could question EA’s enthusiasm for the « On the House » program.
Source: Origin

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Back in October, Microsoft announced that its partners would be introducing a range of virtual reality headsets , which would be powered by Windows Holographic. At the time, those partners included Acer, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, but at WinHEC, another head-mounted display (HMD) was announced by 3Glasses.
At Microsoft’s Partner Showcase at CES 2017 today, I got to take a look at each of these five headsets. All of them were under glass cases, with the exception of the HMD that was made by 3Glasses.
Here are some photos:
And here’s what it looks like when I try to take a selfie of myself while wearing a VR headset that keeps me from seeing the actual camera.
Of course, while one HMD was out in the open for anyone to try on, it wasn’t actually connected to anything, so I wasn’t able to try out the actual experience.
Also, none of these devices have names yet (or at least Microsoft wasn’t willing to tell me), so for now, we’ll just have to call them ‘Acer HMD’, ‘Dell HMD’, etc. Pricing isn’t available either, and all Microsoft would tell me is that they’ll start at $299, which is what we were told back in October.
Still, the company has promised that these will work with a $500 PC, which means that there’s an $800 entry point. This is pretty impressive, if you consider how much an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive costs, on top of the kind of PC it requires.
Lenovo showed off its HMD earlier at the event , saying that it will cost ‘less than $400’, so it might be safe to assume that it won’t be the most inexpensive of the group. Microsoft did say that devices at different price points will offer different experiences , so you’ll get what you pay for.
Looking in from the outside, the HMDs from Acer, Dell, HP, and Lenovo only seem to have cosmetic differences. The one by 3Glasses was the only one that had additional hardware showing, which is that it offers built-in headphones.
2017 should certainly be an interesting year for Microsoft, as we get to see more and more of its VR and AR ambitions.
Neowin is at CES to bring you all the coverage from the show floor, click here for other articles.

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Just over a week ago, Microsoft sold out of all of its unlocked Lumia handsets in its online store , leaving just the white AT&T Lumia 950. Just three days later, all of them were gone. Since there was no option to sign up to receive an email when they were back in stock, many (including Neowin) assumed that the phones were sold out for good.
Well, Microsoft is full of surprises, and four Lumias are back in stock, including the unlocked Lumia 640 XL, Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL, and the AT&T Lumia 950.
It was expected that all of these handsets would be gone before the end of 2016, which is why it was no surprise that they were all out of stock. All of them are well over a year old now, and the Lumia 640 XL will be two years old in March.
Still, if you want them, they’re there and they likely won’t be for too long. You can buy them from the following links:

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Back in October, Ockel announced the Sirius A , a full Windows 10 PC that’s designed to fit right in your pocket. The company was at CES 2017 today to show off its wares.
You can see from the image that the device offers a full range of ports, including a full size HDMI, DisplayPort, along with three USB 3.0 ports, two of which are Type-A and the other is USB Type-C. You also get a full-size Ethernet port for a wired internet connection.
The devices that were out in the open were not powered on, as it’s not even scheduled to ship until May (Ockel did confirm to Neowin that it’s on schedule). Playing with it was interesting though. It feels like it could be comfortable to carry, and with a 6-inch FHD display and its wedge-shaped design, you could easily stand it on a desk to watch a video. It’s definitely a device that I’ll be looking forward to reviewing.
There was one model that was turned on though; however, it was under a glass case and I wasn’t allowed to touch it.
Given the size of the device, it’s no surprise that it uses an Intel Atom x7-Z8750, but it does come in two models. The standard model will cost $699, and will come with 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, and Windows 10 Home. There’s also the Sirius A Pro though, which will have 8GB RAM, 128GB storage, and Windows 10 Pro.
But Ockel also announced a new model of its Sirius B at CES, the Sirius B Black Cherry. This one doesn’t have a display, as it’s meant to be a pocket PC that you can plug into any monitor.
Weighing just 153g, it’s easy to slip the Sirius B into your pocket; however, it’s worth keeping in mind that the same amount of pocket space is taken up by your phone already. With Microsoft planning to put full Windows 10 on ARM devices , it seems like an upcoming Windows phone might be a better option.
Of course, you do get a full PC out of this, which includes two USB Type-A ports – one 2.0 and one 3.0 – an HDMI 1.4a, and a headphone jack. The processor is an Intel Atom x5-Z8300, it has 4GB RAM and 64 GB storage, and it ships with Windows 10 Home.
If you want one, you can back it on Indiegogo for $349 .

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