Playstation 4 Gets Hacked & Run Linux & Pokemon

It was only a matter of time before Sony’s next generation console PlayStation 4 was hacked.Fail0verflow was the team responsible for carrying out the feat, by getting Gentoo Linux on the console too.

The team demonstrated Linux on the PlayStation 4 at the 32nd Chaos Communication Congress (which is an event widely known as 32c3) on December 30, 2015.

How Dis Fail0verFlow Manage to Accomplish the Feat?

The hacking group managed to find a vulnerability in the PlayStation 4 gaming console by bringing up the Settings option, as this is the place where the Linux kernel-based operating system is launched.

Afterwards, the group managed to navigate to the User’s Guide section, where they were able to locate the vulnerability and successfully hack the console. Another reason why the team was successfully able to hack the machine was because there was a broken NOP command on the integrated AMD Radeon GPU. NOP, or No Operation, is used for timing purposes, and present to prevent further delay when launching the gaming application and the team were able to notice this, albeit with a small amount of effort.

Here is the group running a modified Pokémon ROM dubbed ‘PlayStation version’ on the PS4 via Linux.

What Works, and What Doesn't?

After the hack, the following components and instructions present on the motherboard remained functional:

• Timers
• IRQs (interrupt request)
• PCI
• Serial port
• Framebuffer
• Kernel mode setting
• HDMI encoder
• Ethernet
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• S/PDIF audio

3D hardware acceleration, USB ports, and the HDMI audio port did not respond after completing the hacking process, but the group has stated that they have figured out a way to make these three things work as well. As for the Blu-Ray disk read, Fail0verflow are still making an effort in order to make it work.

Does it seem like the PS4 will get hacked to run pirated games and backups? This development has certainly got everyone thinking about such a possibility in the near future.

ODO, a self cleaning denim startup from Pakistan

ODO, a self cleaning denim startup from Pakistan, is aiming to produce jeans and shirts that will auto clean and will never be require a wash. It has crossed $100,000 mark on Kickstarter for its campaign already.

The startup is founded by LUMS alumni Salman Chaudry, who credits the inspiration for ODO to Levi boss Chip Bergh. Bergh had famously stated that he hadn’t washed his jeans in over a year.

Unlike other people who simply shook their heads in disgust and moved on to finding out which ‘Friends’ character they most resembled, Chaudry started thinking hard. A background in textile that’s lasted half a decade meant he was well aware of the amount of water consumed in manufacturing jeans. So how do you avoid sending your jeans to the cleaners and save water? By making them stink and stain proof, of course.

What seems like magic is actually – surprise surprise – science. ODO makes their denim stink proof by interweaving their fabric with pure metallic silver fibers, which counteract the bacteria that feed on sweat and cause an odor. The anti stain feature is a result of how ODO manufacture their products. Instead of a flat surface, their fabric has billions of microscopic peaks, which reduces the contact between the denim and anything touching it. With no adhesion, everything just rolls right off. Here’s the anti-stain denim in action:

Right now, the project is making waves on Kickstarter. The $10,000 goal has been left far behind as 829 backers have pledged more than $108,000 – that too with 28 days left to go. This means ODO is officially the most successful Pakistani project till date. Farhan Masood, one of the brightest minds from Pakistan and the founder of SoloInsight (a ProPakistani favorite), had this to say about ODO:

"I am so Proud to announce that the Kickstarter campaign ODO - Self-Cleaning Denim (made in Pakistan) a startup by a LUMS Alumni Salman Choudhry from Lahore (now in SF) has achieved the rank of highest funded Kickstarter campaign by a Pakistani. They have already crossed $108,045 in their raise and have 29 more days to go.."

They are supported by Founder's Institute's Adeo Ressi and Tesla's Elon Musk (insider info). I have the honor to personally mentor this startup.

Now there’s an endorsement!

If you want to snag some clothes you won’t ever have to wash or clean, head over to the ODO Kickstarter page here. You have the option to purchase a scarve, T-shirt or jeans – all made from the odor free and stain free fabric. Shipping is expected to start in June 2016.

We wish the ODO team best of luck in their Kickstart campaign and subsequent journey. 2016 is already off to a great start and we can’t wait to see what Pakistani startups bring us over the next 12 months!

Microsoft Will inform If you have been spying/hacked by Government

Following in the footsteps of Twitter, Facebook and Google, Microsoft promises to notify users of its e-mail (Outlook) and cloud storage (OneDrive) services if government hackers may have targeted their accounts.

The company already notifies users if an unauthorized person tries to access their Outlook or OneDrive accounts. But from now on, the company will also inform if it suspects government-sponsored hackers.

Ex-Employee: Microsoft Didn't Notify When China Spied Tibetans Leaders

The move could be taken in the wake of the claims made by Microsoft's former employees that several years ago Chinese government hacked into more than a thousand Hotmail email accounts of international leaders of Tibetan and Uighur minorities, but the company decided not to tell the victims, allowing the hackers to continue their campaign.

Instead of alerting those leaders of the hacking attempts, Microsoft simply recommended them to change their passwords without disclosing the reason, after an internal debate in 2011, Reutersreported.

However, Microsoft announced Wednesday that if the company strongly suspects that your account is being hijacked or targeted by hackers working in the interest of a nation-state, it will notify you via an email.

Here's what Microsoft Vice President Scott Charney writes:

"We're taking this additional step of specifically letting you know if we have evidence that the attacker may be 'state-sponsored' because it is likely that the attack could be more sophisticated or more sustained than attacks from cybercriminals and others. These notifications do not mean that Microsoft's own systems have in any way been compromised."

Just last week, Yahoo promised to alert its users whom it suspected were being spied on by state-sponsored hackers. Other big tech companies including Twitter, Facebook and Google, had previously assured their users that they would notify them of any potential government spying.

And now Microsoft is the latest company to join the list.

Government: We'll Sue You if You Do That!

This is a good news for Microsoft users, but it seems that the United Kingdom is not happy with this decision by all the major tech firms, because the country seeks access to personal communications in order to fight terrorism and protect national security.

The UK government is pushing a new Investigatory Powers Bill that will take the bosses of any company that warns its users that security organizations, such as GCHQ (the Government Communications Headquarters), MI5 and MI6, are spying on them.

Specifically, UK ministers want to make it a criminal offence for Twitter, Google and other tech firms under which they could face up to two years in prison.

R.I.P. "Ian Murdock" Creator of Debian Linux Dead at 42

Ian Murdock, the founder the Debian Linux operating system and the creator of apt-get, has passed away.

Yes, it is very sad to announce that Ian Murdock is not between us. His death has touched the entire software community. He was just 42.

The announcement of Murdock death came out via a blog post on Docker website, where Murdock was working as a member of the technical staff.

The cause of death is unclear at present, but Murdock tweeted the same day that he would commit suicide that night. His Twitter account had since been deleted.

However, at that time, some people speculated that Murdock’s account had been hacked and that the tweets were not by him.

Murdock posted some Tweets on Monday suggesting he had been involved in a police case and has been beaten by the police and charged with battery.

However, neither Docker, nor the San Francisco Police Department immediately commented on Murdock’s actual cause of death.

Murdock developed Debian in August 1993 — and yes the “ian” in the project’s name is from Ian Murdock.

In the past, He also worked at Sun Microsystems and served as the CTO of the Linux Foundation.

It is with deep regret that we say goodbye to our great friend, the most significant contributor to Linux community, our beloved Ian Murdock.

Google's "Android N" won't use Oracle's Java API

Google appears to be no longer using Java application programming interfaces (APIs) from Oracle in future versions of its Android mobile operating system, and switching to an open source alternative instead.

Google will be making use of OpenJDK – an open source version of Oracle’s Java Development Kit (JDK) – for future Android builds.

This was first highlighted by a "mysterious Android codebase commit" submitted to Hacker News. However, Google confirmed to VentureBeat that the upcoming Android N will use OpenJDK, rather its own implementation of the Java APIs.

Google and Oracle have been fighting it out for years in a lawsuit, and it is hard to imagine that such a massive change is not related to the search engine giant's ongoing legal dispute with Oracle, however.

What Google and Oracle are Fighting About

The dispute started when Oracle sued Google for copyright in 2010, claiming that Google improperly used a part of its programming language called Java APIs and baked them into its Android mobile OS.

However, Google argued that the Java APIs in question were necessary for software innovation, allowing different applications to talk to each other, and, therefore, could not be copyrighted.

Google almost won the initial lawsuit in 2012, but a Federal court mostly reversed the decision in 2014 in Oracle's favor. Google reached out to the US Supreme Court to take the case, but Supreme Court declined to hear Google's appeal.

The final decision is yet to be made, but one possibility could be that the company will be prohibited from using the copyrighted APIs.

However, OpenJDK, the alternative to Java APIs, is still controlled by Oracle, but at least, Google is legally cleared to implement it.

As for how this new change in Android affects you and me, the new code should make it somewhat easier for Android N developers, perhaps resulting in better apps and quicker updates.