The Technology Thread

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Berkeley Lab's 2D Transistor Could Supercharge Tomorrow's Electronics

Graphene is regularly touted as a "super material" in electronics manufacturing—one able to do everything that silicon does, except better. But that isn't good enough for one team at Berkeley Labs. They've combined graphene with two other cutting-edge materials to create the world's first 2D field effects transistor. Your gadgets are about to get much, much faster.

A field effect transistor is a unipolar transistor and ubiquitous among modern personal electronic devices. It leverages an electrical field to control how charge carriers (electrons and holes) operate. This is opposed to conventional transistors that rely on tiny metal conduits laid down in the silicon wafer. An FET has three primary components: the source (where the electrons are coming from), a drain (where the electrons are going) and a gate (which acts like an on-off switch for the transistor, its position depending on the voltage applied). The problem with current generation of FETs is that flaws in the crystalline structures of these three components cause interference in the movement of electrons, which increases as voltages climb.

The Berkeley Lab's new device is only six atomic layers thick—hence the 2D nomenclature—and leverages graphene as the gate, source, and drain; as well as hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) as an insulator and molybdenite (molybdenum disulfide) as the channel. Each single-atom-thick layer was first mechanically exfoliated (shaved off a larger block of material) then laid carefully on a flexible silicon wafer. Van der Waal forces hold the six layers together rather than, say, chemical covalent bonds. Since each layer is individually generated and then placed on the substructure, researchers are able to minimize structural flaws at the molecular level.

"In constructing our 2D FETs so that each component is made from layered materials with van der Waals interfaces, we provide a unique device structure in which the thickness of each component is well-defined without any surface roughness, not even at the atomic level," Ali Javey, the project's lead researcher said in a press statement. "The results demonstrate the promise of using an all-layered material system for future electronic applications."

The 2D FET has already shown promise as a superfast transistor given it's ability to rapidly cycle its gate (switch on and off) and unchanging electron mobility (how well electrons move from the source to the drain) at high voltages. This could lead to a new generation of ludicrously-fast CMOS chips that could boost the processing speed of mobile electronics by orders of magnitude. Of course, the technology will have to make the jump from lab to fab first.

http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2014/06/03/2d-transistors-promise-a-faster-electronics-future/

Hopefully they can get this to consumers ASAP, this will revolutionize personal electronics

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

You Can Use the Xbox One Controller on PC Now

For all its flaws, I'm a pretty big fan of the Xbox One . But while the voice control can occasionally miss the mark and sometimes the Kinect won't recognize you, there's one thing that's flawless: that controller. And now Microsoft has released the drivers for download so you can use it on PC. I've been dreaming of this day for months.

http://news.xbox.com/2014/06/xbox-one-pc-drivers-for-xbox-one-controller

Good news for Xbone owners

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Control VR Mitts Are Like the Powerglove You Always Wanted

So let's say you've got your Oculus Rift headset on and it's pretty awesome, but what could make it more immersive? How about looking down and seeing your hands. There are already some (sorta janky) solutions to that problem, but Control VR's new glove controllers look like the best so far.

Essentially the Powerglove you wished you had when you were a kid, Control VR's gloves have sensors for each finger, as well as the ability to see where the rest of your forearms are as well. It'd be perfect for, I don't know, an Iron Man game? Yep.

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Technical details are sparse because, like everything these days, it's not really quite yet. Yes, this is going to be a Kickstarter. The page isn't up quite yet, but the gloves will go for a (pricey) $350 early access pre-order. Expensive? Yes. Cheaper than an actual Iron Man suit? You betcha.

http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2014/... Publisher&awesm=tnw.to_h4req&utm_source=t.co

This looks awesome! In a few years VR is really going to be a household thing and I can't wait to game out with it!

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

NASA Can't Afford Manned Missions to Mars

A large-scale review of NASA's human spaceflight program has revealed that it doesn't have the budget to successfully undertake manned missions to Mars.

The report—a 286-page monster by the National Research Council—took 18 months and, ironically, $3.2 million to perform. The main conclusion: the space agency currently has an unsustainable strategy for landing human feet on the surface of the red planet.

The review explains that NASA's budgets currently don't keep pace with inflation. Continuing on that course, say the authors, "is to invite failure, disillusionment, and the loss of the longstanding international perception that human spaceflight is something the United States does best."

Instead, its current financial situation aligns better with lunar and low Earth orbit missions. But that doesn't mean we should give up hope: the report suggests that the US government should up NASA's budget instead. In fact, it reckons that a budget growth of 5 percent per year could be enough to get humans on Mars with minimal risk. As the report points out, though, that requires a clear and long-standing commitment on the part of the U.S. government:

"Our committee concluded that any human exploration program will only succeed if it is appropriately funded and receives a sustained commitment on the part of those who govern our nation. That commitment cannot change direction election after election. Our elected leaders are the critical enablers of the nation's investment in human spaceflight, and only they can assure that the leadership, personnel, governance, and resources are in place in our human exploration program."

There's a lot to be said for setting foot on Mars. It's not just another frontier to explore; the process can provide economic, technological and social benefits. So let's hope the government listens.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...e6060c-ebd6-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html

Well that sucks, I hope they can get it together and get us there in the next 20 years

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Monoprice Just Gave the 3D Printer a Crazy Price Cut

With many machines well over the $2,000 mark, 3D printers are still mostly sequestered to use by professionals. Monoprice, the cut-rate technology powerhouse, is slicing more than a few hundreds off the price point with a 3D printer that costs $1,200.

According to TechCrunch, this dual extruder model printer is based on MakerBot's original Replicator, the current model of which goes for $2,899 right now. It can do multi-color print jobs and runs at a rate of 24cc per hour—and it comes with two spools of PLA filament, too, which will help offset the price of materials. It's definitely a few centimeters smaller than the Replicator, though.

Is it the most precise printer out there? It's hard to say, and we'll have to wait until actual reviews come in. But a cheaper desktop 3D printer is long overdue—at least for consumers who aren't interested in building their own. If you're already convinced, buy it here.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/04/low-cost-hardware-merchant-monoprice-now-offers-a-1199-3d-printer/

How long before every home has a 3D printer of their very own?

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Michigan Is Getting a Fake City for Testing Automated Cars

The center of U.S. car innovation may have shifted toward California lately (*ahem* Google, Tesla), but Michigan carmakers aren't giving up. The University of Michigan is building a test city and highway just for automated cars—a 30-acre facility complete with traffic lights, construction zones, and a "mechanical pedestrian."

The Mobility Transformation Facility will open this fall in Southeast Michigan, right in the heart of the auto industry. It'll simulate both a four-lane highway and a city intersection—two very different environments with very different dangers. Just recently, Google announced that after driving its autonomous cars for thousands of miles through suburban Mountain View, it's shifted to focus on teaching its autonomous car to drive in cities.

This particular facility will feature all things that make driving in the city suck: wonky traffic lights, construction barrels, bikes, and more. "We will actually be writing code for the test facility," Edwin Olson, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering, said in a statement. "We'll be able to trigger tricky traffic signal timings, or a pedestrian stepping into the intersection at just the wrong time, for example." Presumably, Michigan's icy winters could also teach automated cars a thing or too about driving in awful weather uncommon in California.

The first test cars at this facility will be Ford Fusions. General Motors and Toyota are also on board. Crucially, as Motherboard points out, the cars will be automated but not autonomous, which means they'll still have a human behind the wheel but many parts of driving will be automated. That might sidestep some of the weirder scenarios that come out of autonomous cars, like whether your robot car should kill you to save two people.

But it's the city, not the cars, that will be at the center of this. Its creators envision a networked system, where cars and buildings and traffic lights can all talk to one another to keep out of gridlocks. This is more than a simulated city—it's a vision of a future city.

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/mi...l-city-to-test-a-network-of-self-driving-cars

Anything that brings me self driving cars faster is cool in my book

 

[KevanG]

So much for the USA being king **** of space. We need to be funding more and more into space.

 

[Teelie]

Michigan Is Getting a Fake City for Testing Automated Cars

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/mi...l-city-to-test-a-network-of-self-driving-cars

Anything that brings me self driving cars faster is cool in my book

They could just use Detroit instead of building another empty city.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Bazinga! Seriously that is a good idea. They could pay all the broke people to wander around and see if the cars hit them

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Vodafone Admits It's Been Wiretapped Across the Whole of Europe

Will we ever discover the full extent of state snooping into our private lives? A year on from the NSA / Snowden revelations, Vodafone has today admitted that government agencies use wire taps to monitor its customer calls across Europe.

Though not revealing exactly which of the 29 European territories it operates in have been tapped (it is unlawful to do so in the Albanian, Egyptian, Hungarian, Indian, Maltese, Qatari, Romanian, South African and Turkish regions that make up some of Vodafone's operations), the network is hoping to combat the increasing use of secret surveillance on citizen's communications by disclosing the extent of such practices.

The company has published a 40,000 "Law Enforcement Disclosure Report" today, detailing how surveillance wires have been connected directly to its network, allowing calls to be monitored and customers' whereabouts to be tracked. While nine governments already disclose the number and nature of their lawful intercept requests and communications data requests, the report marks the first time the number of requests made by Spanish and Tanzanian agencies has been made public.

Vodafone hopes that making this information transparent will lead to "regular scrutiny by an independent authority" on such practices, as it and other network operators' role in surveillance activities is increasingly called into question.

http://www.theguardian.com/business...eals-secret-wires-allowing-state-surveillance

Ya good luck with that independent group to monitor it and make sure nobody abuses it

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

The SEC Is Finally Cracking Down on High-Speed Trading

Today, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairperson Mary Jo White announced a whole slew of initiatives designed to tighten the leash on computerized high speed trading in the stock market. If you're playing the stock market and you're not a supercomputer, that's very good news.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, the new rules would bring big changes to the world of high-frequency traders, a group that currently accounts for more than half of the volume of stock market trades. Under the proposals, formerly unregulated private trading outfits would be roped into a more tightly controlled category of traders; the tech they use would be more closely scrutinized; and new rules would safeguard against the extremely swift short-term trading moves that heighten market volatility.

It's the most direct response yet to concerns over high-speed trading, which uses military-grade tech to transfer data at ludicrous speeds, creating an advantage that can't be accessed by regular human-powered trading.

WSJ says the SEC will work with stock exchanges to minimize speed differences between the public data feed and the high-speed direct feeds used by high-frequency firms. Market watchers fear that these private feeds let high-speed firms react to market moves well before investors watching the public feed catch wind.

Earlier this month, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a state-level crackdown on high-frequency trading tech. Now that the SEC is involved, it seems the overseers are finally ready to reign in unruly high-speed traders. For the next step, the SEC will launch a committee to examine the proposals, with potential approval coming after a thorough review—and, assumedly, a lot of push-back from the trading groups that profit enormously from this tech-driven uber-trading.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/sec-chairman-unveils-sweeping-proposals-to-improve-markets-1401986097

Bout time they did something regarding this. These super-computers have way too much power over the market

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Aereo's Bringing Live Streaming TV To Chromecasts and Android Devices

Aereo, the brilliant (if beleaguered) system that lets you watch or record broadcast TV from any screen, anywhere, just added support for Google Chromecast and a handy Android app. Now, basically any Google-powered device you own can be a TV.

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With the Android app installed on your device, you can set up your Chromecast wonder-dongle to receive streaming broadcast TV from your smartphone or tablet. The Android app is currently in beta, but it fills out the service's support which includes iOS, Roku, Chrome browser, and more. The $8/month subscription service ($12 if you want 60 hours of DVR) is available in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Baltimore, Cincinnati, San Antonio, and Austin, with more cities promised this year.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aereo.android

Sweet, now hopefully they win their case against the TV companies and can cover the whole US in the next few years

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

DARPA's Gecko-Inspired Gloves Let Anyone Climb Up Flat Walls

Who among us hasn't wished to be licked by a radioactive tropical lizard, only to be granted the incredible ability to harness Van der Waal forces and scale even glassy vertical walls? Finally, we can stop microwaving all those geckos because DARPA has just unveiled a new climbing system that works exactly the same way as their super-sticky feet!

Dubbed the Z-Man project, the new, specialized climbing paddles were developed for DARPA by Cambridge Massachusetts' Draper Laboratory. The paddles are coated with a specialized cloth called "Geckskin," a stiff fabric impregnated with a reversible adhesive elastomer that clings to surfaces the same way that the microscopic setae and spatulae on a gecko's feet do—through Van der Waals intermolecular forces. And like the gecko's feet, this material strikes a delicate balance between holding firm to the surface and being pulled off of it as the user climbs.

"The gecko is one of the champion climbers in the Animal Kingdom, so it was natural for DARPA to look to it for inspiration in overcoming some of the maneuver challenges that U.S. forces face in urban environments," said Dr. Matt Goodman, the DARPA program manager for Z-Man. "Like many of the capabilities that the Department of Defense pursues, we saw with vertical climbing that nature had long since evolved the means to efficiently achieve it. The challenge to our performer team was to understand the biology and physics in play when geckos climb and then reverse-engineer those dynamics into an artificial system for use by humans."

Recently, DARPA demonstrated the latest iteration of its Geckskin by having a 218-pound researcher (saddled with 50 pounds of recording gear) scale a 25-foot tall glass wall using naught but two climbing paddles. Tests are ongoing but DARPA hopes to one day incorporate the technology into the modern warfighter, giving him Spider Man-like abilities in urban combat scenarios. We can only hope that someday we can get a consumer model too.

http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/DSO/Programs/Z_Man.aspx

This is cool and shall revolutionize the world of Spider-Man cosplay

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Apple's First Wearable Will Arrive in October

The ever-reliable John Paczkowski is reporting that Apple's first ever wearable is slated to launch in October. There's supposed to be a special event just for the device, and the newly announced HealthKit platform and Health app will be prominently featured. And you can be sure people will be upset if this thing does not tell time.

Obviously, people expect an iWatch. We're now sitting on years worth of rumors about what the device will do, how it will look, and how it will change our lives in incredible ways. Then, last week's announcement of HealthKit—notably how the corresponding app is just begging to be filled with data from a wearable device—is just begging for a follow up. At this point, it feels like we've definitely hit a critical mass of iWatch reports. And if Apple needs to release an iWatch soon, if it's going to do it at all.

http://recode.net/2014/06/06/codered-yes-apples-first-wearable-device-is-slated-for-october/

Not really a fan of Apple but I do love how they are always changing the game and pushing tech forward

 

[KevanG]

DARPA's Gecko-Inspired Gloves Let Anyone Climb Up Flat Walls

http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/DSO/Programs/Z_Man.aspx

This is cool and shall revolutionize the world of Spider-Man cosplay

Of course if they can manage to make it able to scale buildings and walls fast enough then the cops will be having a hell of a time catching some people.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Scientists Made an Unbreakable Smartphone Screen From Clear Electrodes

The truly shatterproof screen is a little bit like the flying car: It's been promised for years, but never arrives. Scientists at University of Akron claim they've cracked the code, so to speak, by creating a super-tough screen out of transparent electrodes.

Right now, your smartphone screen is coated with a clear, conductive substance called indium tin oxide, or ITO. It's used on just about everything—from LCD displays to plasma TVs to cockpit windows on planes. The problem is that it's very expensive, there's a limited supply of it, and it's also pretty fragile. Researchers have been trying to find an alternative for a long time—and a team of polymer engineers in Akron think they've done it.

In a study published in American Chemical Society's journal ACS Nano, an assistant professor of polymer science named Yu Zhu describes a novel method of creating a super-tough conductive screen. Instead of ITO, the team created a mesh of metal electrodes and sandwiched it to a layer of polymer. The result was a super-tough screen that stood up to brutal testing. And most importantly, it's cheap to produce—and not limited to a small supply like ITO.

According to Zhu, his invention could replace a huge portion of the screens on the market. "We expect this film to emerge on the market as a true ITO competitor," he commented in a press release. "The annoying problem of cracked smartphone screens may be solved once and for all with this flexible touchscreen." Let's hope iCracked has a backup plan—though, as always, we'll believe this when we see it.

http://www.uakron.edu/im/online-new...t?newsId=118f583a-986c-497c-b45d-c3ea152cd362

This can't make it to the consumer market fast enough

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Scientists Are Making Condoms Out of the Same Material As Your Contacts

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently awarded a grant to an Australian research team trying to build a better condom. They're hardly the first to win such an award, but they have a novel approach. These polymer scientists are making condoms out of hydrogels, the same materials used in contact lenses.

It's actually a brilliant idea. Not only are hydrogels biodegradable and self-lubricating, they're also impossibly strong (see below) and engineered to feel just like human skin. Hydrogels are so lifelike that they're actually being developed for use in artificial muscle and implantable bionics. The Australian team, in fact, is also working on that type of research.

For the specific purpose of the Gates Foundation's goals, hydrogels make great sense. In contrast with some of the other interesting but perhaps not exactly viable materials being studied for use in condoms—looking at you Team Cow Tendon—hydrogels are already widely used in everything from medicine to food production. Hydrogels have also been on the forefront of HIV-prevention efforts for about a decade. This gives the scientists hope that they'll not only be able to build a better condom, but also get it in the hands of those who need it most.

Of course, no one will really know if this condom is good enough to get non-condom-wearers to use it—until they get a, erm, hands-on demo. The idea sounds great, and the condom looks like a condom. But how does it really feel?

http://media.uow.edu.au/releases/UOW172712.html

These people are doing important things

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Tesla Might Just Open Up Its Electric Car Patents

This is kind of unprecedented, but Tesla might just open up its electric car patents to other manufacturers.

On June 3, at Tesla's annual shareholder meeting at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, Elon Musk, the company's CEO, said that to drive the adoption of electric cars, Tesla was "playing with doing something fairly significant on this front which would be kind of controversial with respect to Tesla's patents."

Three days later, he told the BBC's Theo Leggett that he was on the right track when asked if he was planning to give technology away.

"We're trying to figure out how to accelerate the advent of electric cars and to the degree that we create technological barriers for them, it's not going to happen," said Musk. "We don't want to cut a path through the jungle and then lay a bunch of landmines behind us."

Giving away patents would be a refreshing change, especially in the technology industry where patent wars resemble Godzilla-M.U.T.O. clashes. We'd probably be in the future already if other companies followed suit.

http://www.teslamotors.com/2014shareholdermeeting

That is pretty awesome

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Teen Invents Footwear That Will Charge Your Phone As You Walk

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Angelo Casimiro is only 15, but he just invented electricity-generating footwear—as you walk or run about, your shoes will generate power that can be used to charge your phone or any small battery-powered device.

The footwear was Casimiro's entry to Google's Science Fair this year.

"Electricity is generated using a an insole generator that is made out of two pairs of piezoe-electric discs, which produce energy when the crystal bend inward,"explains Casimiro in his entry video. The generator is soldered to the battery of a power bank, which can then be used to plug in any device through a USB connection.

Don't expect to charge up your iPhone on your morning jog. In initial tests, Casimiro's device was able to charge a phone for about 10 minutes of use after playing 2 hours of basketball. But hey, it's a start.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/...nerating-footwear-to-google-science-fair-2014

This could be big stuff 10-20 years from now

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

A New Vulnerability Could Leave Smart TVs Exposed

A new hack that requires little more than a $250 1-watt amplifier could leave your smart TV vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack. It's called the "Red Button" attack, after the red button on your remote that allows you to control the interactive features of your smart TV, and was discovered by two researchers at the Columbia University Network Security Lab.

Forbes has a great explanation about how it works:

Red Button can best be thought of as a classic "man-in-the-middle" attack, or a particularly insidious descendant of the signal injections of the early days of cable TV.

[...] What also makes Red Button insidious is that the malware would run automatically when a viewer tunes into a compromised channel and runs completely in the background without the knowledge or consent of the TV set owner. And the attack is untraceable, because the hacker never presents himself on the Internet with a source IP address or DNS server. The only way for law enforcement to find a rogue broadcast is to send out multiple vehicle-mounted antennas to triangulate the signal. A hacker could be long gone before those trucks ever hit the streets.

Between this and the fact that that most smart TVs are kings of the clunky interface, we've never wanted a dumb TV more.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceup...major-vulnerability-in-millions-of-smart-tvs/

Well that sucks, I have a smartTV but rarely use the features

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

A Computer Program Has Passed the Turing Test For the First Time

This is big. A computer program has successfully managed to fool a bunch of researchers into thinking that it was a 13-year-old boy named Eugene Goostman. In doing so, it has become the first in the world to have successfully passed the Turing Test.

The test is named after computer pioneer Alan Turing. To pass it, a computer program needs to dupe 30 percent of human judges in five-minute, text-based chats, a feat that until now had never been accomplished.

"Eugene" was created by a team based in Russia, and passed the test organized by the University of Reading just barely, by duping one in three judges. It should also be noted that a chatbot successfully pretending to be a 13-year-old boy for whom English is a second language ain't exactly Hal 9000. There's no artificial intelligence at work here; it's more clever gamesmanship by Eugene's creators.

It's still an obviously exciting breakthrough, though, one that has critics already raising red flags about its implications. "Having a computer that can trick a human into thinking that someone, or even something, is a person we trust is a wake-up call to cyber crime," said Kevin Warwick, a visiting professor at the University of Reading and deputy vice-chancellor for research at Coventry University told the Independent.

Are there serious concerns about what this means for online security in the future? Sure. But today they'll have to take a back seat to the understanding that we've entered a new era of computing. One that's alive with possibilities, or at least convincingly enough so.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...ademics-warn-of-dangerous-future-9508370.html

This could be a game changer

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

New Android Feature Wakes You Up For Your Bus or Subway Stop

Android Police just discovered a cool new Google Now feature: when you're taking public transportation, you can set an alarm to make sure you don't sleep through your stop. No more waking up stranded at the end of the line!

Apparently, you just open Google Now while you're on the train or bus, and it'll offer to activate an alarm when you get near a saved location, like your home or work. Sounds handy—at least if Google Now includes transit info for your town.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/0...m-missing-your-stop-on-public-transportation/

Well that is super cool, I know a ton of people that could use this

 

[Teelie]

A New Vulnerability Could Leave Smart TVs Exposed


http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceup...major-vulnerability-in-millions-of-smart-tvs/

Well that sucks, I have a smartTV but rarely use the features

It's only one more vulnerability in a series of them to be exposed. They are most concerned with selling these televisions than they are at securing them.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

There's a New Chinese Hacker Army Attacking the U.S.

A report by security company CrowdStrike claims that a new Shanghai-based cyberattack unit, with links to the People's Liberation Army in China, has been hacking the U.S..

The group—codenamed "Putter Panda" because it often preys on golf-playing conference attendees—is believed to have been in existence since 2007. Over the past seven years, it's claimed the group has attacked American, European, and Japanese companies involved with the aerospace, satellite and communication industries. The hackers have also apparently gathered information on government sectors in the US, too, according to the report.

Formally known as Unit 61486, the 12th Bureau of the PLA's 3rd General Staff Department, it's the second group to linked to cyber espionage. The first, 61398, contains five military officers listed as Wanted by the FBI. But CrowdStrike reckons that is "the tip of a very large iceberg":

Those reading the indictment should not conclude that the People's Republic of China (PRC) hacking campaign is limited to five soldiers in one military unit, or that they solely target the United States government and corporations. Rather, China's decade-long economic espionage campaign is massive and unrelenting. Through widespread espionage campaigns, Chinese threat actors are targeting companies and governments in every part of the globe.

Putter Panda apparently operates by sending innocent-seeming emails with job postings, PDF invitations to conferences, and, weirdly, a yoga studio brochures to encourage users to download malware. CrowdStrike claims it may have cooperated or shared resources with the Unit 61398 to do so. There's also evidence that a 35-year old male named Chen Ping is involved with the newly named unit.

Tensions still run high between the two countries: China can't stop hacking the U.S., the U.S. insists on fighting back, and there seems to be no signs of the situation changing any time soon. Doubtless this new report by CrowdStrike will do little to soothe matters.

http://recode.net/2014/06/10/private-u-s-report-accuses-another-chinese-military-unit-of-hacking/

Blows my mind people still get hacked by opening shady emails and such

 

[Teelie]

The emails aren't shady though. This isn't fly-by-night phishing attempts. They are often specially crafted and engineered to look legitimate and valid to whoever they are targeting.