Running Doom on the MacBook Pro Touch Bar isn’t ideal — but it’s pretty damn cool

I contend that Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro is a gimmicky feature. I’m also a little giddy about the prospect of playing Doom on it. Come at me.

In the hacking community, the de facto initiation centers around the ability to run software on hardware it isn’t intended to run on. Doom on Apple’s Touch Bar certainly fits the standard, although playing the classic PC shooter with 2170 x 60 resolution isn’t exactly ideal.

No matter, iOS developer Adam Bell did it anyway.

                                          

As you can see from the video, it’s a bit short on screen real estate. Still, it’s playable — but only barely.In a second video, Bell made better use of the Touch Bar by turning it into the game’s heads-up display. Granted, it’s got to be a little awkward to look down for key information about health and ammunition, but it exists, and that’s all that matters.

Microsoft says sorry for almost saying the N-word in Xbox newsletter

Microsoft had a minor mishap when it inadvertently sent out an Xbox promotional email headed with the racially dubious subject line “NNNNGGGHHHAAAA.”While the email, advertising the upcoming fourth instalment of open-world zombie apocalypse game Dead Rising, was obviously intended to be read and pronounced as a stereotypical zombie growl, it looks dangerously close to the ‘N-word.’

This has prompted  Microsoft to issue an apology before the message has insulted someone.

In the contrite, the Windows-maker clarified the email wasn’t intended to be offensive, but also took a chance to acknowledge it could’ve phrased the subject line differently to avoid the issue altogether.

Israeli researchers prove headphones can be used as covert listening device by BRYAN CLARK — 2 days ago in SECURITY Israeli researchers prove headphones can be used as covert listening device Credit: Andrey Kucheruk/Shutterstock 15 596 SHARES https://tnw.to/2foaQ1y Millions of us don headphones each day. Few, if any, have ever given much thought to the possibility of someone listening on the other end. Researchers at Ben Gurion University in Israel have created a piece of code designed to prove it’s possible to hijack a user’s headphones and turn them into a covert listening device. Dubbed ‘Speake(a)r,’ the malicious code utilizes our existing earbuds (or headphones) to capture vibrations in the air and convert them to electromagnetic signals able to capture audio. Mordechai Guir, lead researcher at Ben Gurion’s Cyber Security Research Labs told Wired: People don’t think about this privacy vulnerability. Even if you remove your computer’s microphone, if you use headphones you can be recorded. This isn’t new. Many a YouTube hack has demonstrated the ability to use headphones as a microphone in a pinch. What’s clever is in how the malware manages to switch an output jack on your laptop — running either Windows or MacOS — to an input and capture the audio without a dedicated microphone channel. Using a little-known feature of RealTek’s audio codec chip, the malware secretly “retasks” outputs on a laptop and turns them into inputs capable of recording audio behind the scenes. In this case, it really is a feature, not a bug. Speake(a)r, at this point, is a proof of concept. It’s a scary thought that someone could be monitoring a room without your knowledge, but it’s probably not worth getting worried about just yet. We’ve yet to encounter any proof of this being used in the wild, and the simple truth is: most of us just aren’t interesting enough to warrant covert listening. Still, it’s worth noting what’s possible, and as this concept video proves: even your headphones aren’t entirely safe from hackers. Great. Now Even Your Headphones Can Spy on You on Wired Read next: New battery concept could charge in seconds, last for days TECH SHARE ON FACEBOOK (207) SHARE ON TWITTER (263) TNW's West Coast reporter covering all the comings and goings in the SoCal tech scene and elsewhere. Connect via Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. CONTACT Mail Tweet LOCATION San Diego, CA POSTS 1081 POSTS / MO. 58.23 All posts by Bryan > More from The Next Web This baby stealing its parents' phone is absolutely terrifying Juan Buis1 day ago 5 ways to deal with expenses and reimbursements TNW with Expenditure Twitter suspended CEO Jack Dorsey's account by mistake Abhimanyu Ghoshal2 days ago These omnidirectional conveyor belts are a total trip Juan Buis2 days ago You can now learn the basics of coding with Disney's Moana Matthew Hughes2 days ago I can't stop mashing up Twitter accounts with this hilarious website Juan Buis2 days ago Comments SHOW 15 COMMENTS

Millions of us don headphones each day. Few, if any, have ever given much thought to the possibility of someone listening on the other end.

Researchers at Ben Gurion University in Israel have created a piece of code designed to prove it’s possible to hijack a user’s headphones and turn them into a covert listening device. Dubbed ‘Speake(a)r,’ the malicious code utilizes our existing earbuds (or headphones) to capture vibrations in the air and convert them to electromagnetic signals able to capture audio.This isn’t new. Many a YouTube hack has demonstrated the ability to use headphones as a microphone in a pinch. What’s clever is in how the malware manages to switch an output jack on your laptop — running either Windows or MacOS — to an input and capture the audio without a dedicated microphone channel.

Using a little-known feature of RealTek’s audio codec chip, the malware secretly “retasks” outputs on a laptop and turns them into inputs capable of recording audio behind the scenes. In this case, it really is a feature, not a bug.

Speake(a)r, at this point, is a proof of concept. It’s a scary thought that someone could be monitoring a room without your knowledge, but it’s probably not worth getting worried about just yet. We’ve yet to encounter any proof of this being used in the wild, and the simple truth is: most of us just aren’t interesting enough to warrant covert listening.

Still, it’s worth noting what’s possible, and as this concept video proves: even your headphones aren’t entirely safe from hackers.

New battery concept could charge in seconds, last for days

Scientists at University of Central Florida (UCF) have developed a supercapacitor battery prototype that lasts 20 times longer than a conventional lithium-ion cell. It charges in seconds.“If they were to replace the batteries with these supercapacitors, you could charge your mobile phone in a few seconds and you wouldn’t need to charge it again for over a week,” said Nitin Choudhary

Better still, the battery doesn’t degrade. After around 18 months, the typical lithium-ion battery cell starts a slow process of degradation where each charge cycle leads to fractionally smaller amounts of overall capacity. The prototype doesn’t experience the same levels of degradation and still works like new after being recharged 30,000 times.

Supercapacitors charge quickly due to the way they store energy: statically, on the surface of a material. Batteries, on the other hand, rely on chemical reactions to store and discharge energy. Using graphene, researchers created a large surface area to hold more electrons and increase a battery’s life span.It’s early, but the research is promising.If successful, supercapacitor research could lead to weeks-long battery life for mobile devices, an increase in range for electric vehicles, and better storage capacity for power derived from alternative energy sources.

Google isn't happy about how some Android phones do fast charging

In the race for the fastest-charging battery in the Android world, Google just declared its own role in the competition: It will be the one to set the rules and control the playing field.The latest version of Google's Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD), which outlines the requirements hardware makers must follow to keep devices compatible with Android OS, included some interesting new language . David Ruddock of Android Police was the first to note the final bullet point of the section regarding USB peripheral mode, which is buried on page 70 of the 85 page report:  While the first all-capped suggestion that sticking to the default levels of voltage are "STRONGLY RECOMMENDED" really jumps off the page, the real news comes with the insinuation made by the second one and what exactly it means to "REQUIRE."

Essentially, this means that Google is declaring the definitive voltage level and manner of delivery for the charging of Android devices. If a manufacturer dares to go beyond that threshold in pursuit of speedier charge times, like those promised by proprietary tech like Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0, they'd better think twice — or they might be locked out of the OS entirely. If that's the case, the fast-acting chips and chargers would go from an added perk to the handset to a death sentence. 

The defaults and methods Google references are set by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) in order to better standardize "all of the functional benefits of USB that form the basis for this most popular of computing device interconnects." Importantly, this move is made for greater uniformity, not over any concerns of unstable batteries and over-powering. This is not what caused Samsung Galaxy Note7 battery woes. Instead, look at this as Google tightening its grip on Android and telling manufacturers that they're free to innovate with their hardware... just as long as they do it in the Google way.

Google Allo now predicts which emoji you want to use

Google is making it even easier to share emoji and stickers on its messaging app Allo.

The app is now applying its AI-powered text prediction skills to emoji and stickers to make chatting even smoother. Called "Smart Smiley," the feature works just like Allo's Smart Replies, which suggest words and phrases based on your conversations. As you type, the app will now suggest emoji and stickers based on what you're saying.

"So if you’re planning dinner with a friend, you may see 🍔, 🍕, or 🍤. Or if you type “see you later” we’ll offer to complete that thought with 🐊.," Google explains in a blog post.

While other apps — like iMessage — include keyword-based emoji suggestions, Google says its version of the feature is a little smarter than most. Google takes into account both keywords and the sentiment of what you're saying when predicting emoji. In other words, the app should be able to differentiate between when it should suggest happy or sad emoji based on the tone of your conversation, even if you aren't using words like "sad" or "upset."

The company also notes that their early testing of the feature helped people share a wider variety of stickers and emoji so if you feel like you've been in an emoji rut lately, Smart Smiley may be able to help out.

How to improve your Facebook feed, so we see the next Trump coming

What would've happened if America had seen this coming?

For a large mass of the world, the election of Donald Trump was unfathomable mere hours before it happened. Helping that along were a slew of polls along with nonstop commentary—from experts, entertainers and laymen—indicating Hillary Clinton as a superior candidate, on course for a cake-walk of a win.They were wrong, to an almost universal degree. And the fact that so few could anticipate Trump's victory calls into question how America gets our information—what were we missing, and why? 

It's a question that inevitably leads us to Facebook.

Facebook certainly isn't our only source of news, but no single platform reaches as many people: roughly 170 million daily active users in the U.S.—tens of millions more than who voted. It's been argued, convincingly, that Facebook isn't doing enough to combat blatantly untrue news articles that appear in the news feed, and that it hasn't lived up to (or even worse, has actively shirked) its responsibilities as a distributor of content to do so.

But do Facebook's users bear some of that responsibility, too? The site's algorithm is complex, and inherently adaptive; it serves up content based on your behavior—after all, its only mission is keeping you on Facebook. If you like and engage inflammatory articles from the alt-right, you'll probably end up seeing commentary from National Review. Likewise, if you share John Oliver's latest diatribe, you'll probably be more likely to see Samantha Bee's next monologue in your feed.

This is how "filter bubbles" are made. The term entered the lexicon after a 2011 TED Talk from Eli Pariser, who warned against immersing ourselves in content that's only—or at least predominantly—agreeable. Filter bubbles are fueled by confirmation bias (or: our inherent tendency to engage with ideas we already agree with, and dismiss the ones we don't).

We're now seeing the large-scale effect of a nationwide filter bubble, and it's not healthy. Whether or not Facebook actually had a role in the outcome of the election is debatable, but there's no question it was a primary mover in the conversation. Only now it looks like there were actually two conversations going one, with little discourse between them.

It doesn't have to be that way, though. Facebook's algorithm isn't inherently biased, and you can even make it work against your confirmation bias, if you try. Here are a few straightforward ways you can get a news feed with a more diverse point of view, and pop that filter bubble.