Computer users often make very basic mistakes that make more sensible people wonder just what they were thinking. Case in point: passwords. Splashdata recently published its fifth annual list of the most commonly-used passwords by computer users in North America and Western Europe; and many people will be hitting their heads against their desks when they learn that obvious choices like "password" and "12345678" still top the list.

While you can expect individuals to make basic mistakes like these, you would assume actual computer manufacturers would be smarter. But if the latest headlines are to be believed, it seems Lenovo's software developers could do with reading this list themselves. As revealed in an advisory posted by Core Security, Lenovo's ShareIT file-sharing software – built in to their computers – has a very serious password-related flaw.

How bad? The Wi-Fi Network created and used for transferring files between Windows computers "securely" uses a very predictable password: 12345678. Even worse, this password is "hardcoded" into the software, making it impossible for users to change it to something much more secure. The problem is even worse for Android users, where the ShareIT app has no password at all, leaving the network entirely open for anyone within radio range to connect to.

The implications for the security of transferred files is serious. Merely using a web browser to connect to a ShareIT network can reveal all the files currently stored on the platform by the affected user. While the files cannot be downloaded this way, the researchers also discovered that the files are transferred insecurely, without any kind of encryption, meaning the simple use of a traffic sniffer once connected could allow anyone to obtain a copy of any transferred file.

Luckily, the flaws may not exist much longer. Lenovo claim that since being made aware of the issues in October last year, the company has worked to bring the software up to snuff. Those running ShareIT on Windows or Android are now advised to download the latest version of the software from the ShareIT website, which was released this week and claims to resolve all the issues found by the Core Security researchers. Given that this is not the first time Lenovo have been found to engage in shady security practices, however, it may be time to think twice about that ThinkPad.

This article originally appeared on Technically Motivated

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD Launches with a Wolf Link amiibo

REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 21, 2016 – The Nintendo games launching in the first part of the year are going to include some fun amiibo functionality. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD for the Wii U console and Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games^™ for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, both launching in March, use a wide variety of different compatible amiibo figures. Some new amiibo figures will also launch in March, including the legendary Wolf Link amiibo that is included in every physical version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, as well as three new figures in the Animal Crossing amiibo series, featuring fan-favorite characters like Timmy & Tommy, Kapp’n and Rover. The previously announced Ryu, Roy and R.O.B. (Famicom Colors) amiibo figures will also launch in March.

“New amiibo figures and functionality will keep surprising fans in 2016,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing. “All the upcoming amiibo prove that the must-have figures are continuing to evolve in unexpected and fun ways.”

When the physical version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD launches on March 4 at a suggested retail price of $59.99, it will include a beautiful Wolf Link amiibo figure based on the same character from the classic game. Purchasing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD and Wolf Link amiibo bundle will currently be the only way to get this amiibo figure. When tapped to the Wii U GamePad controller, this legendary lupine opens the Cave of Shadows, a challenging new bonus dungeon in the game. After completing the Cave of Shadows, players can save their remaining hearts to the Wolf Link amiibo, and then use those hearts inside the Cave of Shadows to replenish life energy. After conquering the cave, players can save a record of their remaining hearts to the Wolf Link amiibo and attempt to beat their score at any time. Some of the data stored on the Wolf Link amiibo figure can also be used with The Legend of Zelda game for Wii U, which launches this year. More details about this functionality will be revealed in the future.

In addition to the Wolf Link amiibo, other amiibo figures in the Super Smash Bros. series like Link, Toon Link, Zelda, Sheik and Ganondorf will work with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. By tapping the Link or Toon Link amiibo, players can replenish their arrows. Tapping Zelda or Sheik will refill the player’s hearts, while, in a devious twist, tapping the Ganondorf figure will actually make Link take double the damage!

On March 18, new amiibo figures in the Animal Crossing series will launch in stores, including characters like Timmy & Tommy, Kapp’n and Rover. Digby will also be made available as a stand-alone amiibo. The next series of Animal Crossing amiibo cards also launches in March, bringing the grand total of available amiibo cards to be used in games like Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival for Wii U and Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer for Nintendo 3DS to a whopping 300. Let the collecting begin!

Fans who are ready to compete in Rio de Janeiro with Mario, Sonic and the gang in Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will also have to warm up their amiibo-tapping fingers. When the action-filled game launches for Nintendo 3DS on March 18 at a suggested retail price of $39.99, both Mario and Sonic amiibo figures will be compatible*. By tapping the Mario or Sonic amiibo figures to the New Nintendo 3DS system (or on a Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL or Nintendo 2DS system using the NFC Reader/Writer accessory), players can boost Mario and Sonic’s outfits with that character’s power for the day.

To celebrate the 20^th anniversary of Pokémon, some of the Pokémon amiibo will be made available again at select retailers. Fans should be on the lookout for Charizard, Jigglypuff, Greninja and Lucario to once again return to shelves right next to Pikachu.

Finally, Star Fox Zero delivers a new beginning for the classic shooter series. With a unique control scheme that uses both the TV screen and the screen on the GamePad, players pilot multiple vehicles through intergalactic levels with Fox and his classic crew. The game launches exclusively for Wii U on April 22 and will feature amiibo compatibility. More details will be revealed at a later time.

For more information about amiibo, visit http://www.nintendo.com/amiibo .
Remember that Wii U and Nintendo 3DS feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/wiiu or http://www.nintendo.com/3ds .

Time was that Solid State Drives were a bit of a compromise. What you gained in speed and safety due to the lack of moving parts and general snappiness of a fully chip-based approach, you lost in capacity – Solid State Drives simply couldn't hold Terabytes of data like classic Hard Drives. Well, thanks to the latest offering from Fixstars, that may soon no longer be the case.

Introducing the new Fixstars SSD-13000M, a new 2.5-inch Solid State Drive capable of holding a whopping 13TB of capacity, making it the biggest SSD in the world at the time of writing. To give some perspective of just how much data that is, you could fit 2,800 full-size DVDs on just one of these monsters (finally, a drive big enough to hold all my video editing content! – Digmbot), though the company also offers a less-expensive model released at the same time with a slightly lower 10TB capacity.

Both drives offer read speeds of up to 540MB/s and sequential writes of up to 520MB/s, which means theoretically you could fill just one of those Terrabytes in just 33 minutes and 37 seconds if you've got huge amounts of data to store at once.

Of course, writing huge amounts of data to a drive at once can severely reduce it's lifespan. However, Satoshi Miki, CEO of Fixstars, commented: "The Fixstars SSD series has been highly regarded for their distinct reliability on steady read/write performance that lasts over time." To this end the drives are temperature-controlled to reduce the amount of heat typically generated when a drive is put under heavy load, preventing heat damage; while the drives offer an optional high durability mode that allows users to cut the storage in half in return for a claimed three times the longevity (so you end up with just 6.5TB usable space, but it will live far longer).

Naturally, a drive like this is going to be expensive; and the target market for this high-capacity SSD is more tailored towards the enterprise; and for tasks such as heavy-duty video processing. The SSD-13000M's expected retail price in America, where it launches by the end of Febuary 2016, is an eye-watering $13,000 – that's a grand a Terrabyte! This equates to about £9,000 for us British folk, although everything Hardware tends to command a higher premium when it reaches these shores, so take that estimate with a pinch of salt – especially as prices and availability outside the US are yet to be confirmed.

Original Source: Technically Motivated

You know, I have to hand it to Acer. Once derided for being a manufacture of cheap computing goods that were also cheap in quality (I recall various horror stories of laptops whose screens would fall apart with very little force, among other tales), these days the company has made a niche for themselves in making electronics that are solidly built and offer something interesting while still remaining fairly priced. So it is with their latest product lines as announced by the company today: the R1 and the H7 series of monitors, and the next generation of its XR series.

Let’s be up front here. None of these monitors would qualify as “gaming” screens for those who take gaming seriously. However, all three models offer vibrant IPS panels with 178-degree wide viewing angles; and each has a different, unique touch for their price.

Take the new R1 series monitors, which seem very much geared towards the Apple creed that “thinner is always better”. Acer claims this range contains the “world’s thinnest” monitors with under 7mm thickness, and that its ZeroFrame design maximizes the view with an ultra-thin bezel. Monitors in this range will be available in a range of five sizes – 21.5, 23, 23.8, 25, and 27-inches wide – and will be capable of pixel resolutions up to 1920×1080 (making them 16:9 widescreens). Monitors in this series will first hit Europe this month (January) with prices starting at €139. North America will see them later in the first quarter of the year with prices starting at $130; other territories are to be confirmed.

For those who prefer function over form, the next set of monitors might be more interesting. Acer’s second new range of monitors, the H7 series, will include USB Type-C connectors allowing devices to be connected to the screen. While USB Type-C is still not hugely common, the standard is gaining traction and is already used to charge and for fast data transfer between smartphones, USB Hard Drives and other peripherals; and is likely to become more popular as time goes on. While still widescreen 16:9 format, screens in this range will not only have a higher screen resolution than the R1s – with a stated max of 2560×1440 – but will also be larger, with 25 and 27-inch models. They won’t be as thin, but will feature the same ZeroFrame design, to maximise the screen space. Europe can expect these monitors to reach their shores February, America later in Q1, with prices in both territories starting at 500 euros/dollars respectively. Acer claim USB 3.0 in a monitor is a “world first”, although Lenovo also announced similar monitors mere hours before.

Last but not least, Acer also revealed the next model in its range of XR series monitors. The snappily-named XR342CK feature a curved 34-inch 21:9 panel at a resolution of 3440×1440, and could reasonably pass as a good gaming screen as it uses Freesync technology for a super-fast refresh rate. Naturally it has a price to match – this model is only currently confirmed for Europe, and will retail at €1,100 in March, with other territories to be confirmed later.

Update 3: Valve has issued a statement regarding today’s issues.

“Steam is back up and running without any known issues,” a Valve spokesperson told GameSpot. “As a result of a configuration change earlier today, a caching issue allowed some users to randomly see pages generated for other users for a period of less than an hour. This issue has since been resolved. We believe no unauthorized actions were allowed on accounts beyond the viewing of cached page information and no additional action is required by users.”

Update 2: Steam appears to be back online, and the issues have seemingly been resolved. Valve has still yet to release any kind of official statement regarding today’s incident.

Update: It now looks as if the Steam store may be down; numerous users, myself included, are unable to access it and are receiving an error when attempting to do so.

Also, while it’s still unclear what’s going on, Steam tracking website Steam Database has suggested this is all due to a caching issue. That said, the site recommends not attempting to remove your credit card, PayPal account, or anything of the sort. Whether that is indeed the best course of action remains to be seen, as Valve has still yet to officially comment on the situation.

Original Story: Steam is running into something of a catastrophe right now, giving players across the world access to other people’s accounts. It’s not yet clear how this is happening, but it’s a doozy.

Various players across the world are logging into their Steam clients to find that their homepage has changed to Russian or another random language. When they check the “account info” section of Steam, they find that they have access to another user’s account, complete with e-mail addresses, buying history, and other private information.

Going to Steam’s website will also grant you access to a random user’s account.

Based on some rudimentary testing I’ve done on my own Steam client, it seems like trying to view purchase histories and licenses will bounce around other random accounts, too, which is fun…

The account that my client accessed is using Steam Guard, the tool Valve provides to help prevent unauthorized account access. So clearly that hasn’t helped.

We’ve reached out to Valve for more information and will keep updating you guys as we learn more.

Until then, join us laughing at this, cos we all know it’s about right…

Steam support right now pic.twitter.com/QZ8fozpPMD

— Lucas Moura (@DrTeflon) December 25, 2015

 
Teehee… Damn hackers…
Merry Christmas all!