When it comes to security, Apple is usually at the top of the pack when it comes to your personal data, minus a few embarrassing flaws here and there. However, a new iOS security concern has been discovered that protects your data less than it did before — and Apple designed i ...more
If you're a regular reader of Next Reality, you're more likely to spread the joy of augmented reality than most others. But it can be difficult to introduce newbies into the AR fold if you don't give them exactly the right starting point in terms ease-of-use and affordability. ...more
When a firm like Techstars believes that augmented reality is an attractive industry to invest in, there's a high probability that it's right. As an accelerator and investor, TechStars has raised nearly $4 billion dollars in funding for more than 1,000 companies, with nearly ...more
This is a tale about microbes, a man who became a hermit, and the parchment that carries both of their stories. Sometime around 1190 AD in Italy, a man named Laurentius Loricatus was born. Trained to be a soldier, Loricatus killed someone by accident and was stricken with rem ...more
If you've spent countless hours scrolling through Instagram feeds full of selfies, then I'm sure you know that some are, well ... better than others. There are so many different things you can do to start taking better selfies to post on social media. One really easy way is to ...more
Whether or not a microbe is successful at establishing an infection depends both on the microbe and the host. Scientists from Duke found that a single DNA change can allow Salmonella typhi, the bacteria that causes typhoid fever, to invade cells. That single genetic variation ...more
If you've received a spam message in Signal Private Messenger, you know that anyone can contact you as long as they have your linked phone number. But when it comes to the people you're actually trying to have a private conversation with, how do you know it's really them? Whe ...more
Zenge came to my attention as a free game on the Google Play store — it will remain free until midnight, so anyone catching this review on the 25th, download it ASAP — but I imagine it would be worth the typical $0.99. While it can be mentally-frustrating to purchase a game — ...more
A week into my internship, I experienced pretty serious back pain and slight difficulty breathing. I scheduled a doctor's appointment to make sure nothing was wrong, and I got a surprising diagnosis: bad posture. Yep, slouching at my desk had caused all of my maladies. In an ...more
Mobile augmented reality developer Blippar has updated its mobile app for iOS and Android with an augmented reality face profiles feature based on the company's real-time facial recognition engine. Dubbed Halos, Blippar users can open their own AR face profile and connect wit ...more
The herpes simplex virus (HSV) can cause devastating complications for infected newborns whose mothers have genital herpes. Understanding risk and research can help you, and your baby, when the time comes. In the US, about one out of six people aged 14 to 49 have genital herp ...more
Even though HIV rates declined 18% between 2008 and 2014, 1.1 million people in the US are living with the infection. Part of that is because HIV is treatable, but not curable. HIV attacks the very cells of the immune system that should kill off the infection, and our bodies ...more
Twitter's Moments feature stitches together multiple tweets into a slideshow-esque story. This is particularly cool for you to keep up with major things that are happening in the world without having to follow and search for a ton of people to figure out the scoop. There are ...more
More bad news for patients who have undergone heart surgery in the past five years. A new study suggests about one-third of heater-cooler units used in cardiac procedures remain contaminated with a slow-growing, potentially fatal bacteria. Heart failure is the leading cause o ...more
Last June, Meta began shipping their Meta 2 mixed reality headset, to the delight of many. In September, it was announced that shipping had been delayed until the end of the year. Then it appeared that Christmas would bring something magical when Meta sent out an email four da ...more
Most carmakers now agree with Waymo that piloting driverless cars is best left to the machine — with no meddling from the human. In Waymo's case, this assumption dates back years ago. More recently in 2014, Google's driverless arm (before it became Waymo) shocked Detroit when ...more
Maine reported their first measles case in 20 years yesterday, June 27, in a press release from the Maine CDC. Many other people may have been exposed and could show signs of infection soon, with the potential for outbreak brewing. The last measles case in Maine was in 1997. ...more
With iOS 11, Apple's very own Notes app will now come standard with a number of new features that aim to make it significantly more user-friendly and help it compete against more popular notepads like OneNote and Evernote. The Notes app in iOS 11 didn't receive a full redesig ...more
Apple gave the Messages app a massive makeover with iOS 10, with a slew of options that made iMessages on the iPhone a lot more fun. While not quite as comprehensive, iOS 11 builds upon that success and makes the app more user-friendly and all-inclusive. iOS 11 brings plenty ...more
We're all looking to meet someone, and in this day and age the easiest way to do that is through one of the various dating apps out there. But we can all admit it can get disheartening swiping through all of those people for the frustration of someone not answering your messag ...more
Intense exercise can cause problems with our digestive tract. It even has a name — "Exercise-induced Gastrointestinal Syndrome." Simply put, strenuous exercise can damage the gut and let the bacteria that reside there potentially pass into the bloodstream. A research group fr ...more
Fighting fire with fire, scientists are harnessing the adaptability of helpful microbes to challenge the adaptability of deadly microbes. What are we talking about? Hunting with phages — viruses that attack and kill bacteria. Bacteriophages are small, skeletal viruses that at ...more
The theme for 2017's World Malaria Day, which is today, April 25, is "End Malaria for Good." For many Americans, this might seem like an odd plea. Especially since Malaria is seemingly an obsolete problem here. However, on World Malaria Day, it's important to remember the dang ...more
Well, well, well. Uber, we knew you were investing a ton of money into creating self-driving taxis and flying cars, but what we didn't know is that you were already testing out your driverless vehicles on the streets of New York City. Just kidding! I mean, I know Uber isn't ...more
Viral infections have been the focus of attention in the development of autoimmune diseases—diseases where the body's immune system reacts to the body's own cells—because they trigger the immune system into action. In a study published in Science, led by senior author Dr. Ban ...more
There could be a fresh outbreak of the Zika virus in the Americas as the weather heats up and the mosquito population blooms. Last year in February, the disease was declared a "public health emergency of international concern" by the World Health Organization, and the United ...more
The photo-centric Instagram app is a great way to share "evergreen" pictures and videos when compared to Snapchat and Facebook's new Messenger Day feature. But like all social media, keeping the account secure is an essential aspect, as it restricts unwanted viewers from seein ...more
Arsenic occurs naturally in the environment, but it is also one of the most commonly found heavy metals in wastewater, deposited there by inappropriate disposal and arsenical pesticides, for example. Whether by nature or contamination, an estimated 200 million people worldwid ...more
Have the sniffles? Yes. Does your head hurt? Yes. Coughing? Yes. Could you have influenza? Yes. How do you know the difference? With these symptoms, you could also have a cold. In the US right now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that flu season is ...more
Despite the availability of a vaccine against it, almost 50% of men aged 18-59 in the US are infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV). Why? A new study published in JAMA Oncology by at a team of researchers at the Womack Army Medical Center (WAMC) in Fort Bragg discusses ...more
Ask anyone that works on the development of driverless vehicle technology and there is a very good chance that AutonomouStuff will have supplied something to their project. Ottomatika, Cruise Automation, and Otto are all companies that specialize in self-driving technology, a ...more
We live in a computer world full of file formats. Whether we are talking about images, videos, or text documents, there are dozens of file types for each, and there are new ones added every year to applications. Keeping in mind that many of these formats were created before th ...more
New weapons are needed to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Instead of drugs, scientists have discovered in an animal study that they may be able to harness vampire bacteria to vanquish pneumonia. Microbes, good and bad, predate and outnumber us. Humans will never "win" a ...more
GitHub is an extremely popular site that allows developers to store source code and interact with other users about their projects. Anyone can download public, open-source files on GitHub manually or with Git, and anyone can fork off someone's project to expand or improve it i ...more
When most people say, "Damn, look at that rock," regarding an engagement ring, they're usually not referencing an actual rock—let alone a space rock. One Reddit user, chadmanx, decided his future fiancée was so special that she deserved the moon and stars, or, at the very lea ...more
Seriously, what's with all of the candy corn hate? I don't care what anyone says, candy corn is and always has been the perfect Halloween snack for me. Only recently did I realize that not everyone gets as hype as I do about small, sugary vegetables. Don't Miss: Killer Cupcak ...more
Samsung and Apple are back in court, but this time it's not just money at stake. The Supreme Court's decision could have a far reaching effect on patent law and innovation in design. Smartphone design timeline. The so-called "Smartphone Patent Wars" began in 2011 when Apple su ...more
In the past, creative chefs and bakers have been rewarded for their daring in the kitchen with viral attention from the internet—like the rainbow bagel or cronut. These sensations weren't crafted for the sake of going viral, but ended up generating an insane amount of buzz any ...more
Gaining access to a system is always exciting, but where do you go from there? Root or bust. Sure, a compromised host is a great way to run a botnet, or do some other boring, nefarious thing—but as hackers, we want root. We also want to take the easiest path possible, search o ...more
Virtual reality holds the promise of electronically visiting distant places we'd otherwise struggle to reach, but that teleportation-esque ability isn't possible without the right content. YouVisit created a platform that makes it easy for almost anyone to create immersive 360 ...more
This is the very first article in my series on setting up a Mac for hacking. In this series, I will be operating under the assumption that you have a clean install of macOS (previously OS X). If you aren't starting with a clean installation, there may be a few differences, but ...more
While you can't turn art into a formula, the film industry has managed to come stupidly close. While many storytelling principles still stand across mediums, successfully crafting a compelling, immersive narrative in virtual reality requires a brand new rulebook. Through trial ...more
Harry Potter fans got a treat last week when Pottermore, a site created by Harry Potter author, J. K. Rowling, released a test that let users learn what form their Patronus protective charm would take. Does it need to be said? The internet almost exploded. Riding this new wa ...more
Most of us don't get the opportunity to see election coverage first hand, but with virtual reality, we're not as restricted. AltspaceVR has teamed up with NBC News to let you log in on your computer or VR headset and actually take part in the action—just not physically. Video: ...more
Let's say you're with friends at a sporting event, music festival, lounge, or some other fun venue, and you want to create a fun split-screen compilation from all the videos you took independently. It's not an easy task, because someone has to get all the video footage and the ...more
The biggest corporation we know today is called Google, I bet you've heard of it yeah? How Google Tracks You: Google are stacked with money for decades, and even with that at their disposal, that wasn't enough. They thought hey, even though we have products being sold world ...more
I know I'm in the majority when I say that grilled cheese sandwiches are one of life's simplest and best pleasures: gooey, rich, melted cheese, sandwiched between two perfectly-buttered pieces of toast... perfection. Don't Miss: How to Make Amazing Grilled Cheese Sandwiches ...more
I was on our new #nullbyte IRC channel when someone told me how tedious it is to install an OSX Virtual Machine on Virtual Box (I think it was wawa). We all know Linux rocks (gets acknowledgement from the crowd), but there are morons out there, multiplying at a never before se ...more
As Android's official app provider, the Google Play Store is packed with thousands of useful programs. But Google's terms of service is extremely restrictive, which means that countless apps simply don't qualify to be hosted on the Google Play Store. As a result, many great a ...more
There was lots of new tech to check out at CES 2016, but you could argue that the majority of the big-ticket items weren't the most unique things in the world. Thankfully, there were a few innovative, unconventional ideas on display, and here are some of our favorites. We Get ...more
Most of you probably heard about Rasberry Pi and if you haven't; what is wrong with you? But nothing less a Rasberry Pi is a computer a very small computer. Despite these size limitations, the Rasberry Pi is to not be underestimated. Not only can it do anything like a normal l ...more
Last month, it was revealed that Juniper Networks' routers/firewalls were hacked. It was reported that a backdoor was implanted in the operating system of their routers/firewalls and that attackers could listen in on all encrypted communication. There are now fears that all co ...more
You might be familiar with the use of zucchini blossoms in cooking and maybe even know how to make herbal simple syrups. But if you really want to show off as someone who knows how to use flowering plants in food, try adding some flower water to your cooking/baking repertoire. ...more
Students have been passing notes in class for decades, so what's the big deal about sending a quick text message? Everybody does it, even your teacher was surely guilty of covertly communicating with his or her peers back when they were in high school. Don't Miss: How to Bypa ...more
Sooner or later, you're going to come across a person at work that you don't like—or someone that doesn't like you. This can result in uncomfortable tension, insulting gossip, and a disrespectful attitude, to name just a few of the negatives. But it doesn't have to be that way ...more
If you ever need to make calls and/or send texts to the U.S. or Canada from abroad, or even just receive them from those locations, there's an easy way to do so without breaking the bank. In fact, it's free, and all you need is a smartphone, computer, and some free tools. A l ...more
Welcome back, my greenhorn hackers! Throughout this series on Metasploit, and in most of my hacking tutorials here on Null Byte that use Metasploit (there are many; type "metasploit" into the search bar and you will find dozens), I have focused primarily on just two types of ...more
Yes, there's already a way to jailbreak iOS 9 on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, but given the fact that it's only been out for about a week means that not all developers have had a chance to make their tweaks fully compatible yet. That doesn't mean they won't work, but that ...more
Reddit, the self-proclaimed "front page of the internet," continues to take a big bite of my free time each and every day, as well as millions of its other users'. The clicking and scrolling through page after page never gets old, but you could speed things up with a few brows ...more
Update My sincere apologies guys, but I just got a call from Rackspace to set up my "managed account". After a long discussion, there is no longer an "un-managed" option. This means that there is a minimum support fee of 50 dollars USD tacked on to every account. The instruct ...more