[BBC] A luxury toilet controlled by a smartphone app is vulnerable to attack, according to security experts.
ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOILETS!!!!!1!
Retailing for up to $5,686 (£3,821), the Satis toilet includes automatic flushing, bidet spray, music and fragrance release.
The toilet, manufactured by Japanese firm Lixil, is controlled via an Android app called My Satis.
God help the toilet's owner, not to mention all those nearby, should the NSA choose to hack the thing, because nothing less than the intervention of God himself would save them. SWAT teams charging in from outside are nothing on a truly vindictive, externally controlled toilet run amuck.
But a hardware flaw means any phone with the app could activate any of the toilets, researchers say. Well, aint that the... ummm... cheese. The toilet uses bluetooth to receive instructions via the app, but the Pin code for every model is hardwired to be four zeros (0000), meaning that it cannot be reset and can be activated by any phone with the My Satis app, a report by Trustwave's Spiderlabs information security experts reveals. Or even by all the phones with the My Satis app.
"An attacker could simply download the My Satis application and use it to cause the toilet to repeatedly flush, raising the water usage and therefore utility cost to its owner," it says in its report. Waydaminnit. If it flushes "automatically" why would you need an app? Wipe. Stand. Leave. Toidy flush. They got that sort of electrical eyeball thingy on lots of less than luxury commercial toilets now.
"Attackers could [also] cause the unit to unexpectedly open/close the lid, activate bidet or air-dry functions, causing discomfort or distress to [the] user." Gotta have a pretty hefty motor on that sucker to lift the lid and/or the seat with no one sitting on it. I suppose the surprise bidet function could be kind of harrowing, but it wouldn't be deadly.
The limited range of bluetooth means that anyone wishing to carry out such an attack would need to be fairly close to the toilet itself, said security expert Graham Cluley. So that lets out sixty million simultaneous signals to flush. This is looking less and less dangerous, except for an occasional surprise backside drying.
"It's easy to see how a practical joker might be able to trick his neighbours into thinking his toilet is possessed as it squirts water and blows warm air unexpectedly on their intended victim, but it's hard to imagine how serious hardened cybercriminals would be interested in this security hole," he told the BBC. Things were simpler in the old bombsight crapper days. Smellier, but simpler.
"Although this vulnerability seems largely harmless, what's clear is that companies building household appliances need to have security in mind just as much as computer manufacturers."
#3
LOL, TW! But you are missing the real danger of a vindictive externally controlled toilet run amuck. Some models are available with TV & iPod. Could be a super secret weapon...remember Noriega! I even bet Kimmie Jr has one--very popular in Korea...
I do my best, Anging Hatfield6648. I am but a simple soul, not nearly twisty enough for the world as it is, so I must rely on the kindness of others. Dr. Steve added that horrid overflowing toilet, Mr. Pruitt the comments in Post-It Note yellow, and you-all the icing on the cake that is this thread.
[An Nahar] An Abidjan court on Monday released on bail 14 aides of former president Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... , including his son Michel, who had been incarcerated were tossed into the calaboose in the aftermath of Ivory Coast's deadly 2011 crisis.
"They are only being freed on bail, the proceedings leading up to the verdicts are in progress and will most likely be concluded by year's end," said a justice ministry statement read out on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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Japan on Tuesday unveiled its biggest warship since World War II, a huge flat-top destroyer that has raised eyebrows in China and elsewhere because it bears a strong resemblance to a conventional aircraft carrier.
The ship, which has a flight deck that is nearly 820 feet long, is designed to carry up to 14 helicopters. Japanese officials say it will be used in national defense -- particularly in anti-submarine warfare and border-area surveillance missions -- and to bolster the nation's ability to transport personnel and supplies in response to large-scale natural disasters, like the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
Though the ship -- dubbed "Izumo" -- has been in the works since 2009, its unveiling comes as Japan and China are locked in a dispute over several small islands located between southern Japan and Taiwan. For months, ships from both countries have been conducting patrols around the isles, called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyutai in China.
#6
The ship, which has a flight deck that is nearly 820 feet long, is designed to carry up to 14 helicopters.
Lots of real estate for helos; quite handy for amphib assault. My SWAG: they are going to stuff her (are Japanese ships 'she'?) to the gills with drones for numerical advantage in the coming troubles.
#7
Soryu is a new class of Japanese diesel-electric AIP submarine. Sister boats will be named after other mythological creatures (Soryu is 'blue dragon'), and so I don't know if the other names such as Akagi, etc are reserved for these new boats as they are built.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2013 11:53 Comments ||
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#8
Isumo can't fly the Harrier -- no ski jump ramp. F-35B might work.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2013 11:53 Comments ||
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#9
What with the aging of the Japanese population and all, will they be able to properly man her?
"Two Izumo class cruisers were purchased from Armstrong Whitworth of the United Kingdom. Both were scrapped after the end of World War II.
Izumo
Ordered in 1897, launched on 19 September 1898, and completed 25 September 1900, Izumo participated in the Russo-Japanese War, World War I and World War II. Between both World Wars, it served as a training ship for long distance oceanic navigation and officer cadet training for the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy. She is generally credited with sinking HMS Peterel (1927) at Shanghai, the first Royal Navy vessel sunk in the Pacific War. She was sunk at dock in an American air attack on Kure 24 July 1945."
FYI China has repor deployed new MBM units to target agz Japan.
Iff CHINA remains committed to breaking out of the "First Island Chain" + be at the "Second Island Chain" ["taking over" e.g. Guam-CNMI-WESTPAC] by 2020, then pragmatically it behooves China to do so while POTUS OBAMA = "WEAKEST US PRESIDENT IN HISTORY/SINCE POTUS CARTER" occupies the White House.
Come 2018, unless China trusts Obama's successor in the White House to be another anti-US Marxist-anarchist-Globalist, all bets are off on whether China can still achieve its "post-US" Manifest Destiny or Globalist anti-US "Co-Superpower" using OOTW andor LIMITED CONVENTIONAL-NUCLEAR WAR, as opposed to full-scale TOTAL NUCLEAR WAR.
#15
IIRC TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > JAPAN'S NEW WARSHIP "IZUMO" IS NOT AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER, BUT A "FLAT-TOP/DECKED DESTROYER".
Well, there ya go, I'm certainly convinced its not a CV!
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > JAPAN'S NEW WARSHIP ["Izumo"] DRAWS FIRE, as it is illegal under Japan's postwar Constitution for it to build or possess CV's.
* RELATED WORLD MILITARY FORUM > POST-WAR JAPAN SOUGHT TO CONSTRUCT UP TO FOUR LIGHT OR ESCORT AIRCRAFT CARRIERS UNDER ITS "JAPAN NAVY RENEWAL" PROGRAM OF THE EARLY 1950'S.
Failed to Nippon's continuing recovery from WW2, i.e. budget $$$ twas better spent elsewhere.
* WAFF > [Janes Defense Weekly] IMAGES SUGGEST CHINA'S FIRST [indigenous] CARRIER UNDER CONTRUCTION.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [National Interest]CHINA'S CARRIER MODULE [Hull construction] HIGHLIGHTS SURGING NAVY.
Artic reminds me once again of personal childhood dreams/visions of Chinese "white ships" off Guam.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [AFP] PHILIPPINES VOWS INTENSIFIED SEA PATROLS. TALKS UNDERWAY FOR THIRD "HAMILTON-CLASS" [US hand-me-down]| FOX NEWS.
* Also from DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PHILIPPINES SAYS US SPY PLANES {help] MONITORING CHINA AT SEA, i.e. in South China Sea.
-------------
* TOPIX > CHINA CONDEMNS US SENATE RESOLUTION ON DISPUTED ISLANDS.
* Also from TOPIX > [ABS-CBN News] CHINA LAUNCHES NEW NAVAL ROUTE IN DISPUTED WATERS [South China Sea = PHIL=claimed Spratlys].
New patrol route is inclusive of any + all China-claimed islands + areas in the South China Sea, most of which per se is also claimed by China.
IOW, mainland China = Beijing calls for peaceful negotiations + resolution as per disputed SCS issues while steadily engaging in aggressive
"SOFT/SUBTLE ESCALATIONS".
* SAME > [SCMP] XI VOWS CHINA WILL BECOME A MARITIME POWER.
* WORLD NEWS > [Stuff] CHINESE SHOOTER GAME ["Defend/Recover the Diaoyus" ]BEARS TERRIBLE MESSAGE, for Regional [Sino-Japan, East Asia] + possibly World Peace.
* SAME > NO ONE CAN CONTAIN [or will try to] CONTAIN CHINA, SCHOLAR SAYS AMID TERRITORY ROWS.
Chinese CIIS Senior Fellow Ruan Zongze.
Anyone whom trys will make a serious [dangerous?] "misjudgement".
Paliwood goes east. A pity French television didn't have a chance to report it before the revelation -- they're really good at blood libels.
Wuhan Evening News reported that a street protest against chengguan, Chinese 'urban management officers', on Saturday, was revealed as a hoax when an alleged corpse, a supposed victim of a beating by chengguan, came back to life and ran away.
A unnamed man's "dead" body was carried on a plank and dropped in front of a chengguan office building near Jiali Square by a group of 10 topless men, who claimed that the vendor had been beaten to death by chengguan. But hours later, the man "rose from the dead"- unable to bear the hot weather a moment longer - and ran away.
During the episode, the men who carried the "body" were in deep mourning, carrying wreathes and playing dirges, passersby who didn't realize the show was a hoax responded with sympathy and anger, posting photos of them online and denouncing the "horrible behavior" of chengguan.
Local police detained four of the men involved in the staged protest. But police have yet to locate the man who played dead in their investigation.
[An Nahar] Spanish police on Monday arrested a convicted pedophile who had his pardon revoked by Morocco's King Mohamed VI after it sparked angry protests in the north African country.
Daniel Galvan Vina, a Spaniard found guilty of raping 11 children aged between four and 15 in Morocco and sentenced in September 2011 to 30 years in prison there, was detained in Murcia in southeastern Spain, a Spanish interior ministry spokesman said.
Galvan, who once worked at the University of Murcia, will be taken to Madrid to appear before Spain's top criminal court, the National Audience, which will decide his fate, the spokesman added.
The 63-year-old was among 48 Spanish prisoners who were pardoned by King Mohammed VI and freed last week from jail following a visit in mid-July to Morocco by Spain's King Juan Carlos.
A royal palace statement said the king had been unaware of the nature of Galvan's crimes and had ordered a probe into his release.
Earlier on Monday the Moroccan monarch dismissed the director of prisons after an inquiry blamed his department for Galvan's release under royal pardon.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Galvan, who once worked at the University of Murcia, will be taken to Madrid to appear before Spain's top criminal court, the National Audience, which will decide his fate, the spokesman added
"Take your hands off me! I'm an Academician!"
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/06/2013 14:23 Comments ||
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Azerbaijan and Turkey have begun forming a unified army, member of the Azerbaijani parliamentary committee on security and defense, MP Zahid Oruj told Trend today.
Why not? They have a common enemy...
"The creation of joint Azerbaijani-Turkish military units proves that the two countries share a unified view of regional problems and security issues," he added. "Along with the economic, political and diplomatic foundations of the relations, their most important component - a military is being created."
The old formula for cooperation, "One nation, one army" must be restored and replace the slogan "One nation, two states".
One hopes that made more sense in the original Turkish...
There are opportunities to improve the army and to use NATO standards. After Azerbaijan's power increases, its influence will also increase in the region.
"In this sphere, Azerbaijan and Turkey undertake joint strategic actions," he said. "Now on, while expanding the opportunities, one can create military units, performing the same certain mission. There is a political will and adequate resources for this."
"The courses will contribute to joint fulfilling of common tactical plans, using of joint weapons, transferring of experience in the field of pointing heavy weapons at the target and other areas," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/06/2013 00:00 ||
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#2
Not aimed at Iran. This is aimed at Armenia. Look at the geography and history of the Turks there, who still haven't admitted the genocide attempts of last century.
#9
IIRC, the Azeris had their butts handed to them in the last 2 or 3 fights with Armenians. So now they are going to try to get some competent mercenariesJanissarys er, advisers to help them ethnically cleanse pacify the region.
[Hurriyet] Former Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ released a short statement following the Ergenekon verdict sentencing him to life in prison, stating that his conscience was clear and that the "final say is the people's say."
"For those who have been tried under these circumstances, the final say is the people's say. And the people are never wrong and are never deceived," Başbuğ said.
"Those who have always stood beside the righteous people, beside justice, have a clear conscience. I am one of those people," the former army chief added.
Never wrong and never deceived? That is certainly an odd understanding of history.
Suspects' daughters Tuncay Özkan and Dursun Çiçek staged a protest outside the courthouse minutes after the verdict was announced. Özkan attempted to walk out of the courtroom following the announcement, but was prevented from doing so. Arif Doğan, who was sentenced to 47 years, yelled, "Hang me!" after the judge read the verdict, according to daily Hürriyet.
The verdict prompted responses from suspects and outsiders alike as Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Sinan Aygün, who was sentenced to 13 years and six months, said he respected the decision,
Why?
adding that CHP head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu "did not expect so many life sentences."
Kılıçdaroğlu was surprised for high number of life imprisonments, Aygün told news hounds after the meeting.
Aygün referred the next stage to the high court, and said he would continue working for a new charter.
Nationalist Movement party (MHP) deputy Oktay Vural told members of the press that one should take a look at the verdict before making statements, however, he added that the ongoing process had been used by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) as "a marketing tool and a way of oppressing the opposition," according to Anadolu Agency.
"Imposing punishment for crimes against the government only is becoming obsolete," Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy Adil Zozani told the Hürriyet Daily News.
"These people committed crime not only against the government. They were also involved in some crimes that can be considered as crimes against humanity. These crimes are included in additional case files," he said.
[FOXNEWS] A court on Monday convicted Turkey's former military chief of trying to overthrow the government and sentenced him to life in prison.
Retired Gen. Ilker Basbug was the most prominent defendant among some 250 people facing verdicts in a landmark trial regarding a coup plot that allegedly was hatched soon after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government came to power in 2002.
At least 16 other defendants were sentenced on Monday to life in prison, including 10 retired military officers, while 60 other defendants received sentences ranging from a year to 47 years, according to state-run TRT television news. At least 21 people were acquitted.
The verdicts were capping a five-year trial that has generated tension between the country's secular elite and Erdogan's Islamic-oriented Justice and Development Party.
The trial has sparked some protests. On Monday police blocked hundreds of demonstrators from reaching the courthouse in Silivri, 25 miles west of Istanbul, in a show of solidarity with the defendants. There were some reports of festivities. But the verdicts were not expected to set off weeks of violent anti-government demonstrations such as the ones recently sparked by a government plan to build a replica Ottoman-era barracks at a park near Istanbul's central Taksim Square.
The defendants were accused of plotting high-profile attacks that prosecutors said were aimed at sowing chaos in Turkey to prepare the way for a military coup. The prosecutions already have helped Erdogan's government reshape Turkey's military and assert civilian control in a country that had seen three military coups since 1960.
The defendants were accused of being part of an alleged ultranationalist and pro-secular gang called Ergenekon, which takes its name from a legendary valley in Central Asia believed to be the ancestral homeland of Turks.
MALERKOTLA: Tension gripped Punjab's Malerkotla town, which has a sizeable Muslim population, after some miscreants threw acid on cows a few days ago, and BJP and some Hindu groups issued a bandh call on Monday and staged a protest march.
With Muslim community observing Ramzan fast and Hindu organizations deciding to stage a protest march against attack on cows, heavy police force was deployed to prevent any untoward incidents. Police rounded up over 100 activists of Hindu organizations.
The town had not witnessed communal violence even during Partition. Acid was thrown on three cows around 20 days ago and police had registered a case against unknown persons. Hindu groups wanted to stage a march in the town on Monday to protest against the police failure to arrest the culprits. Many units of Gau Rakshak Dal had confirmed participation in the protest. Security was increased in the town following the bandh call and All India Gau Rakshak Dal president Satish Kumar was taken in custody. Sangrur SSP Mandeep Singh Sidhu, however, said the situation was under control.
Three major media buyouts in three days. The Daily Beast, the real moneyloser continues as a separate entity. As Pappy once quipped, they couldn't find a way to lash the two (The Daily Beast and Newsweek) together.
Newsweek, the iconic newsmagazine brand, was acquired Saturday by IBT Media, which publishes the news website International Business Times.
Newsweek has long been financially troubled and the venerable magazine published its last print edition in December. It was sold to IAC/InterActive in 2010, which had added it to the Daily Beast news website.
It's not polite to snicker. Pointing and laughing, however, seem required in a situation like this.
Bezos told editorial employees the WaPo will pursue the truth whereever it leads them, as it always has. Brother. Same bullsh*t different boss.
Someone over at Ace's pointed out that cumulatively, Bezos has never made a dime of profit on Amazon.
The Washington Post and some of its affiliated publications are being sold to Amazon.com founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos for $250 million.
Amazon itself will have no role in the purchase; Bezos will be the company's sole owner, taking over from 80 years of ownership by the Graham family.
The paper, like many others, has had difficulty staying profitable in the digital age, with operating revenue declining 44 percent over the last six years. Though Donald Graham, the Post Co.'s chief executive, said that the paper could have remained profitable for the foreseeable future, the ownership "wanted to do more than survive."
Bezos called the Washington Post "an important institution," and said he doesn't "have a worked-out plan."
But he bought it anyway. Brilliant businessman, that Bezos guy...
"This will be uncharted terrain and it will require experimentation," Bezos said in an interview. Nevertheless, Bezos said the "key thing" that people should take away from the paper's acquisition is that "the values of the Post do not need changing. The duty of the paper is to the readers, not the owners."
As demonstrated by the paper losing 44% of the owners' money in the last go-round. How shall they demonstrate that duty to the planless Mr. Bezos, d'you suppose? And why on earth did he buy the thing, anyway?
To keep it in business long enough to influence the 2016 election...
But the Washington Post's readers already vote Democrat. Republicans read the Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal.
You always have the "low-information voters" who need to be swayed...
#6
Of note, from the Washington Times, supporting badanov's point elsewhere that Mr. Bezos is a liberal:
According to the New York Post, Amazon Web Services also helped build the high-tech data storage and retrieval system for the Obama campaigns get-out-the-vote operation.
During the campaign, the AWS solution helped facilitate the fund-raising of hundreds of millions of dollars, prioritized millions of phone calls and coordinated thousands of volunteers, Amazon said on its Web site.
#8
"you know how to build a small fortune owning liberal newspapers......?"
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/06/2013 14:26 Comments ||
Top||
#9
a blogger on The New Republic (leftist mag owned by a facebook billionaire) is criticizing this sale.
as far as I can tell, the guy doesn't see the irony
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/06/2013 18:44 Comments ||
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#10
Hopefully this purchase won't begin to alienate fifty percent of Amazon's potential customer base as well.
If the Kindle single (and it's free!) they did of an interview with President Obama is any indication, it most definitely will. Link Note the double hump on the comments, with the majority of comments evenly divided between one star and five stars, and almost 900 comments since the 31.July publication date.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[BBC] A luxury toilet controlled by a smartphone app is vulnerable to attack, according to security experts.
The toilet uses bluetooth to receive instructions via the app, but the Pin code for every model is hardwired to be four zeros (0000), meaning that it cannot be reset and can be activated by any phone with the My Satis app, a report by Trustwave's Spiderlabs information security experts reveals.
Japan on Tuesday unveiled its biggest warship since World War II, a huge flat-top destroyer that has raised eyebrows in China and elsewhere because it bears a strong resemblance to a conventional aircraft carrier.
[An Nahar] Spanish police on Monday arrested a convicted pedophile who had his pardon revoked by Morocco's King Mohamed VI after it sparked angry protests in the north African country.
[Hurriyet] Former Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ released a short statement following the Ergenekon verdict sentencing him to life in prison, stating that his conscience was clear and that the "final say is the people's say." 
[FOXNEWS] A court on Monday convicted Turkey's former military chief of trying to overthrow the government and sentenced him to life in prison.
MALERKOTLA: Tension gripped Punjab's Malerkotla town, which has a sizeable Muslim population, after some miscreants threw acid on cows a few days ago, and BJP and some Hindu groups issued a bandh call on Monday and staged a protest march.
