Latest News - Page 2889

Apple held its annual meeting yesterday, where CEO Tim Cook had some interesting things to say about the company, its products, and its competitors. Investors and Silicon Valley executives are wondering if Apple is able to transform the technology world with a new device, with rivals taking big pieces of its market share away.

Cook said during Apple's annual meeting: "We're working on some things that are extensions of things you can see and some that you can't see". Cook was referring to the 32% increase in research and development spending in 2013. Cook was hit with a question regarding Apple's innovation, but said that the company preferred to not talk about products that are in development, as it didn't want to tip off the competition.

Cook said: "you an see we're getting ripped off left, right and sideways". Cook took some jabs at Google, saying that most Android users are still using older versions of Google's mobile OS, which poses a security threat. Maybe Cook forgot about the hotpot of disaster iOS has been in recently with security. He did compare it to iOS, where the Apple CEO stated that 89% of users on iOS-based devices have the most recent version of the software.

Just 48 percent of those surveyed during the RSA Conference 2014 in San Francisco believe the NSA overstepped boundaries with its widespread spying activities, according to account management company Thycotic Software.

Most of the focus during the conference was on vendors showing off their software and hardware security solutions - but it was inevitable to hear former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's name - and constant conversations around the NSA booth in the Moscone South Expo hall.

"Regardless of where you stand on the issue, the attention around Edward Snowden's alleged disclosures last year has raised major concerns worldwide around the risk posed by insiders who have access to privileged account passwords," said Jonathan Cogley, Thycotic Software founder in CEO, in a press statement. "Regardless of intention, data breaches always have the potential to devastate a company's reputation and create a significant drain on resources."

Computer scientists in the University of Washington have made a prototype of a low-cost gesture control system that requires no battery to power it up. The control system even allows the users to control their devices that are out of sight using TV signals.

This research project is funded by a Google faculty research award and Washington Research Foundation. The prototype called 'AllSee' uses TV signals as a source of power and its way to detect any gesture command from the user. The assistant professor computer science and engineering at the University of Washington said,"This is the first gesture recognition system that can be implemented for less than a dollar and doesn't require a battery. You can leverage TV signals both as a source of power and as a source of gesture recognition."

The users will need to use a small sensor which can be placed on any electronic devices. The sensor has a receiver which can recognize gestures via wireless transmissions. These sensors consume 3-to-4 less power than existing wireless transmission which therefore allows you to keep this on and enabled on your mobile devices. AllSee consumes 10 microwatt of power. The sensors can also be used in household electronics as well, enabling the use to control any household appliances using gestures and maybe even connect them to the internet.

Freescale Semiconductor introduces the smallest ever ARM based microcontroller unit (MCU) for Internet of Things Market and embedding applications: Kinetsis KL03. The MCU is as smaller than a golf ball dimple, which allows many types of applications.

Rajeev Kumar, director of worldwide marketing and business development for Freescale's Microcontrollers business said,"When size is no longer a barrier to incorporating microcontrollers into edge node devices, we can start to redefine what's possible for the Internet of Things. We see the miniaturization of MCUs as a key driver of IoT evolution. With the groundbreaking form factors of the new Kinetis KL03, systems designers for edge node products now have the technology they need to develop entirely new product categories capable, quite literally, of changing the world."

Freescale SemiConductors will start giving samples to its partners in sometime along with FEDM-KL03Z development board with many developer tools. This units would be priced at $0.75 per unit with minimum order of 100,000. The production will start in June. The KL03 is a 32bit controller with ARM Cortex-M0+ measuring 1.6 x 2.0mm. The tiny MCU also uses 32KB flash memory, 2KB RAM, 8K ROM, 12-bit ADC and a high-speed analog comparator.

A computer virus reportedly took down a Formula 1 race car team was supposed to be on the track, helping mechanics and drivers lock things down. Instead, the Marussia team was downed for almost an entire day of driving due to an unexplained computer virus that will be investigated to prevent future issues.

"It started off with the first disaster, which was a computer Trojan-type virus in the racks, which cost us the best part of the day," Marussia team principal John Booth recently told AUTOSPORT. "So that set the tone for the week."

Modern Formula 1 cars have a large amount of electronics, with team managers able to carefully track vehicle performance during practice laps and throughout a race.

Tor Foundation is currently working on a concept called 'Tor Instant Messaging Bundle' (TIMB) where people can use instant messaging service in real-time while being anonymous to evade any surveillance. Tor's chat servers will be concealed in its hidden array of network.

This project was funded by an anonymous organization which was originally called as 'Attentive Otter'. TIMB will be a tool that will force IM traffic through Tor network irrespective whether its mean to go through TOR servers or not. Tor was trying to decide which open source based IM to use for this concept: Pidgin or InstantBird. Pidgin was ruled out because it required a lot effort to audit and maintain the library and certain security concerns.

TIMB will be using Instantbird as its foundation. for its anonymous chatroom service. Instantbird is an open source based IM tool which uses Mozilla XULrunner cross-platform runtime environment. Tor and Instantbird team have started working on this project and have removed libpurple. They're also working to provide a pure JavaScript platform.

Today Dice and EA unveiled screen captures from Naval Strike, the next DLC in the Battlefield 4 series. Naval strike is a water-based map pack that is set in the South China Sea and features new weapons, gadgets, and vehicles. A new game mode called Carrier Assault is also introduced as well as the return of a favorite mode from Battlefield 2142. News of the new expansion pack comes just a week after Battlefield 4 Second Assault was launched for Premium PC members.

Water-based combat is one of the most thrilling things to do in Battlefield 4, and my time spent in fast attack crafts are a testament to that statement. Battlefield 4 Naval Strike truly brings the fight to the seal, and guarantees more intense on-water combat than ever before. A new amphibious hovercraft vehicle is included in the pack, and allows users to dominate both the sea and land over some of the most dynamic maps ever seen in Battlefield.

Blow open a crashed passenger plane and capture fishing villages across the tropical Lost Islands. Drop a submarine on your foes as you infiltrate a naval base or rush between shipping docks and rocky islands on the massive Wave Breaker map. Wage war across stormy seas in the largest ocean stretch in a Battlefield map yet with Nansha Strike. Storm an abandoned cliff-side resort, or get lost in the breathtaking vistas in Operation Mortar," said DICE in a blog post.

Today Sapphire Technology announced the launch of its latest entry-level GPU. The all new R7 240 is a low-profile video card based on AMD's successful Graphics Core Next architecture, and features dual HDMI outputs as well as full 4k resolution. Both HDMI ports can be used at the same time, and the cards low-profile design makes it perfect for the home theater PC you have always wanted to build.

The new Sapphire R7 240 low-profile features 2GB of DDR3 memory which has been clocked to 900MHz, and boast 320 stream processors. A core clock of 730MHz can be boosted to 780MHz via dynamic boost. A single slot, fan assisted heat sink keeps the cards overall profile small and allows the device to be fitted in any low-profile or small form factor chassis. AMD Crossfire, Image Enhancement, and HD Media Accelerator technology is all onboard as well as full support for 4K video playback.

Either just bad luck or a cruel practical joke, it turns out the RSA Conference 2014 mobile app designed to help attendees get through the show mistakenly had a security hole potentially exposing user data.

IOActive found that there were two major vulnerabilities in the app, including a flaw that reveals name, surname, job title, employer, and nationality of the mobile app users. The second flaw opened up the door to man-in-the-middle attackers able to inject code into the app's login, so login credentials could be exposed.

"The RSA Conference 2014 application downloads a SQLite DB file that is used to populate the visual portions of the app (such as schedules and speaker information) but, for some bizarre reason, it also contains information of every registered user of the application - including their name, surname, title, employer, and nationality," said Gunter Ollmann, IOActive CTO, in a blog post.

Rumors are circling that Microsoft is working on a new version of Windows 8.1 that the company would release for free in an effort to introduce more people to the company's flagship operating system. The free version is reportedly called "Windows 8.1 with Bing," and will include several key apps from the Redmond software giant that have been limited in functionality in an effort to promote sales of the higher tier versions of the OS.

Microsoft could introduce the free version as an upgrade from current Windows 7 customers, which could significantly boost Windows 8.1's adoption numbers. The free version of Windows 8.1 would also most likely push Microsoft's subscription-based cloud services as a way of generating revenue from the free OS. Many see the free version of Windows 8.1 as a way for Microsoft to combat Google's Chrome OS as well as the growing popularity of Linux-based OS such as Ubuntu. Additional rumors suggest that Microsoft is also using this initiative as a way to push integration of Windows RT and Windows Phone into a single low-cost mobile OS, which could entice more OEMs into releasing Windows-based smartphones.

Action role-playing game Path of Exile was originally released towards the end of 2013, and garnered strong praise from game reviewers. The company's game is available to download for free and gamers don't have to worry about "paying-to-win," according to Grinding Gear Games, the studio behind Path of Exile. The studio is preparing to release its first major update, Sacrifice of the Vaal, next week to the delight of RPG gamers that have helped offer game input and criticism that is continually being improved.

Grinding Gear Games plans a major game upgrade every four months, with continued work to improve gameplay, add new items and features, and make sure gamers of all levels have new challenges and quests.

The levels are randomly generated so players have a unique environment with monsters in randomly spawned areas to fight. The Path of Exile Skill tree also has more than 1,400 nodes in the skill tree, so character customization also greatly alters each playing experience.

A few weeks back the internet was set ablaze with speculation and rumors after Elon Musk met with Apple's executives, and while everyone else was hung up on acquisition rumors, I reported that the talks were more than likely about investing in a new battery manufacturing facility. A little over a week later, my suspicions were confirmed when Elon Musk announced what is to be the world's largest battery factory.

Musk says that Tesla will build the largest battery manufacturing facility ever with the help of investments from others totaling $5 billion of which $2 billion Tesla will invest itself. Musk's goal for the new "Gigafactory" is to have the 10 million square foot facility producing more batteries annually by 2020 than the entire world's current annual production. This would allow Tesla to ramp up its production to the levels of that of Ford, GM and other major manufacturers today.

With Apple one of the largest consumers of Lithium-Ion based batteries in the US, and tons of reserve cash just sitting in banks, it made perfect sense for Tesla to approach the Cupertino-based company as a potential investing partner. With Tesla only looking for $1.6 to $2 billion in extra funds, Apple could easily front the money in exchange for deep discounts, or better battery technology that results from the deal. With battery manufacturing mostly an automated process due to the extreme hazards of the chemicals involved, labor cost would be very low, making the investment even more attractive for Apple.

Popular retailer Target is still dealing with continued fallout from a data breach in late 2013 that left more than 70 million customers affected. The malware targeting Target's point-of-sale solutions should have raised immediate alarm bells for other retailers trying to prevent similar attacks.

Target is now being sued by a handful of smaller banks that accuse the store of not doing a good job of protecting customer data.

"So far, seven financial institutions have filed class action suits against Target alleging the retailer didn't adequately protect customer data," according to the Wall Street Journal's Joel Schectman. Other banks could join the class action suit, accusing one of the largest U.S. brick and mortar retailers of not boosting its security defenses when warned of possible malware threats.

Third-party applications are responsible for 76 percent of vulnerabilities now plaguing the 50 most popular programs, according to IT security firm Secunia. The company's research looked at the top 50 programs used on private PCs - including solutions approved and maintained by IT experts - with vulnerabilities largely stemming from non-Microsoft applications.

Of the 1,208 total vulnerabilities found in 2013, 76 percent were sourced to third-party applications - even though they account for just 34 percent of the top 50 programs.

Despite continually improving security, many users still blame Microsoft for a wide variety of security loopholes - but Secunia's research indicates it's these downloaded and installed third-party apps that continue to cause problems.

Intel is apparently working on 750 Series PCI Express interface based solid state drives for performance enthusiasts and professions, according to a news report. Recently, Intel released 730 Series SATA III SSDs recently, but it seems that Intel plans to introduce a PCIe version for the next series of SSD lineups.

Intel plans to release its 750 Series SSDs code-named 'August Ridge' which will use current gen MLC flash NAND with PCIe x8 interface. It will also have a M.2 form factor. These SSDs will come with storage variants of 180, 240, 360, 480 and 600GB. The performance of the 750 Series is said to be up to 1500 MB/s read and up to 1100 MB/s with random 4K IOPS to be 180/24k reads and writes.

Intel is planning to use a different interface as SATA 6Gbps are stifling the performance of a solid state drive. Many companies in the past used PCIe interface and even different form factors. It should be interesting to see how Intel 750 Series PCIe will perform, but we'll have to wait by Q4 2014.

Alleged British hacker Lauri Love is accused of hacking into US Federal Reserve computers, and his lawyers will "vehemently oppose" all attempts to extradite him. If convicted in the United States, Love faces up to 12 years in federal prison, according to FBI officials anxious to have him land on U.S. soil.

The UK national Crime Agency also is looking into Love's alleged hacking behavior, though the UK court system wants to see the "sophisticated hacker" stay in the UK.

"If there is an extradition request from the United States it will be vehemently opposed," said Karn Todner, Love's legal advisor, in a statement to the BBC. "We believe that if Mr. Love is to face charges that they should be, and will be, in the UK."

RSA 2014 - The bitcoin currency is extremely popular, and has become a great target for cybercriminals trying to steal a quick payday. Targeting Apple's OS X applications, the CoinThief Trojan is designed to steal bitcoins when hidden in pirated versions of mobile apps.

The CoinThief malware was discovered earlier in the month, and works by installing a browser plugin that remotely steals login information used on bitcoin wallet and exchange sites.

There are currently more than 100 forms of bitcoin-stealing malware in the wild, available for purchase starting around $25, according to security experts. Underground forums provide an ideal location for cybercriminals to show their wares - and if you are able to gain access and become a trusted member of the community - it's possible to purchase customized malware for next to nothing.

We take a grilling seriously here in Texas. Some people prefer charcoal, some prefer gas, whatever you use you need to amok sure you have enough of it. It's easy enough to look in the bag and see if you have charcoal and shake the lighter fluid bottle. It's not so easy to tell if you have enough propane left in your tank.

That means that more than a few grillers end up running out of propane mid cookout and cursing the fact that most grills and tanks have no way to tell how much fuel is left. A new propane tank system called Refuel has turned up that will prevent you from ever running out again.

The tank system is app enabled and the app will tell you how much gas is left in the tank. The system has a waterproof scale that sits under the propane tank and sends data to the Wink mobile app. The app will tell you how full the tank is and how long you can keep cooking based on how much you used in the past.

The number of mobile gamers out there that use smartphones and tablets is booming. Many of these mobile gamers are kids that download freemium apps that are supported by in-app purchases. The problem is that many of these apps don't clearly let players know that things in the game cost real-world money.

This often leads to accidental purchases by kids and adults alike. Officials from the European Union have announced that they are meeting with Apple, Google, and others on how developers are representing in-app purchases to consumers in Europe. The officials want to set regulations that will force app developers to be more transparent.

The ultimate goal is to prevent children from making accidental purchases. The EU justice commission says that the new rules will help to make customers aware of exactly what they are buying when they make purchases in-app.

Mobile banking users looking to access bank accounts from smartphones and tablets are becoming increasingly sophisticated and demand intuitive banking services. Mobile banking adoption also continues to see strong growth, so banks now have the ability to embrace customers across a variety of platforms.

In Europe, customers are twice as likely to log into mobile banking apps while using a tablet over a smartphone, though financial institutions must cater to both market segments.

"Mobiles and tablets offer banks a variety of benefits but in different ways," a recent Forrester blog claims. "While widespread mobile and smartphone adoption presents banks with a large opportunity to engage consumers today, surging tablet ownership rates over the next few years will demand a robust tablet banking platform as well."