Always Tech News: April 2015

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Microsoft Offers Devs an Edge

Microsoft on Wednesday made its new Edge browser available to participants in the Windows Insider Program. Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president, operating systems group, made the announcement at the company's Build developers' conference, being held in San Francisco through Friday. Edge is available through the Windows 10 Preview, accessible to Windows Insiders. It incorporates Cortana, Microsoft's personal assistant. That lets it "learn what you care about and helps you get things done," Belfiore said.

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Apple Watch Could Be a Password Alternative

With password tolerance levels at all time low, alternatives to the pesky and insecure authenticators are beginning to abound. One of those alternatives could be the Apple Watch. Even before Apple's latest gadget began shipping last week, MicroStrategy announced it was extending its Usher enterprise security solution to the Apple Watch. Usher, launched earlier this year, lets an enterprise use smartphones to authenticate its users and eschew user names, passwords and tokens.

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Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Vivid Vervet Doesn't Have Much Meat on Its Bones

You will not see much new in Ubuntu 15.04, aka "Vivid Vervet" -- as in East African monkey -- unless you peer under the hood. The release of Ubuntu 15.04 for the desktop includes mostly maintenance and bug fixes, along with new integrated menus and dashboard usability improvements. Perhaps the most significant technical change in this desktop release is the adoption of Systemd to replace the default init manager system. A significant number of continuing Linux distros are joining the SystemD party line.

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Can LG's Hot G4 Smoke the Competition?

LG on Tuesday unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the G4. The official launch followed weeks of leaks about the device's design and features. The G4 has an f1.8 aperture lens; a new IPS Quantum display, which is generally seen in the latest TVs; a body curved in LG's "Slim Arc" design; and six genuine leather color options. Its rear 16-MP camera has a manual mode and comes with a color spectrum sensor -- a smartphone technology first, said LG. It has an 8-MP front camera. The G4 has a new, human-centric user interface, UX 4.0.

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IoT: Why Security Pros Need to Prepare Now

Have you ever heard of the Cullinan diamond? If you haven't, it was the largest diamond ever discovered: a 3106 carat diamond found in 1905 in South Africa. What's interesting about the Cullinan diamond isn't so much the discovery of the stone itself but what happened afterward: specifically, the cutting of the diamond. The Cullinan diamond was split into a number of smaller pieces -- nine large pieces and dozens of smaller ones -- by Joseph Asscher, a noted diamond cutter of the time.

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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Other Shoe Drops in White House Security Breach

Last year's breach of unclassified White House computer systems reportedly was far more intrusive than initially thought and included the theft of some presidential correspondence. No classified systems were compromised, including the servers that control the message traffic from President Obama's BlackBerry mobile device. However, much of the information the unclassified servers handle -- such as schedules, email exchanges with State Department officials, and discussions of personnel moves, legislation and policy -- is considered sensitive.

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Gadget Ogling: Pretty 3D Printing, an Eye-Catching Engagement Ring Box and a Sturdy Smartphone

3D printing is fascinating. It still seems wild to me that you can download schematics for anything and have a plastic version of a physical object in your home a short while later. However, not many printers can switch up the color or the types of filaments you use in your creation. The Pallette could change that, with a peripheral to pump in more vibrant hues and brighten up that mono-colored trinket you're ready to print. What's especially interesting is the possibility of adding different elements to the object, like carbon fiber or wood.

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Monday, April 27, 2015

Treyarch: Black Ops III More Ambitious Than World at War

Activision on Monday announced the launch date for Call of Duty: Black Ops III -- Friday, Nov. 6. The company is departing from its tradition of Tuesday releases. Instead of conflicting with school and work schedules, the Friday release will give players the weekend to dive into the sci-fi shooter and get a feel for the new gameplay mechanics. Some may groan at Black Ops III's futuristic story arriving just a year after Advanced Warfare. However, Treyarch's Black Ops III works a slightly different angle.

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Can Microsoft Take Back Momentum From Google and Apple?

Microsoft is holding its Build event this week, marking the beginning of its major push to launch Windows 10. Build is in San Francisco this year, which effectively puts it right in the back yard of both Apple and Google -- a nice "in your face" move. I was the featured launch analyst for Windows 95 two decades ago and there, even though the post launch was hardly flawless, Microsoft ripped Apple a new rear orifice, wounding the company so badly that one of the founders eventually had to return to save it.

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Friday, April 24, 2015

Dev Aims to Light the Way for Apple Watch Gaming

Coinciding with the official Apple Watch launch on Friday, a slew of apps and games are making their debuts. One of the early hopefuls is WayForward, which last week unveiled its Watch Quest, hoping to get a jump on the competition. Some developers have been awaiting the opening of the WatchKit APIs in full before they put the might of their software engineering ability into the Apple Watch. The WatchKit API limits developers to creating widget-like glances, Watch notifications, and side-loaded apps powered by the might of a paired iPhone.

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Thursday, April 23, 2015

Take Your Apple Watch Face and Love It!

Apple is known for fantastic product design, but it's not known for customization. The first iPhone hit the world nearly eight years ago, and yet our "customizable" home screen options are limited to the organization of app icons and some wallpaper choices that can produce color tints through translucent layers. So all of us future Apple Watch owners likely will have to settle for a handful of Apple-developed watch faces. I've been hoping for months that Apple would let third-party designers rethink how to show time through watch faces.

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YouTube Marks 10 Years of Nondisruptive Revolution

YouTube on Thursday celebrated its first full decade. It was 10 years ago to the day that cofounder Jawed Karim uploaded the site's first video. It was a humble beginning: a 19-second clip of elephants, with Karim declaring that the pachyderms have "really, really long trunks." In fairness, it may have been in keeping with other notable firsts. In speaking for the first time on a telephone, Alexander Graham Bell said, "Mr. Watson -- come here -- I want to see you." Thomas Edison's first phonographic recording was "Mary had a little lamb."

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Google's Low-Fee Fi: Ho-Hum

Google on Wednesday announced Fi, a program that combines the wireless networks of carrier partners Sprint and T-Mobile with more than 1 million free, open WiFi hotspots Google has verified as fast and reliable. Users' devices will move automatically to the fastest connection -- 4G LTE being the standard in the United States, accessing 3G or 2G if only those speeds are available. The program will work in more than 120 countries. The $20-a-month Fi Basics plan gives users unlimited domestic talk and text in the U.S. Data is another $10 per GB.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Breach Outbreaks Fuel Encryption Adoption

As data breaches make headlines around the world, more companies are turning to encryption to protect their information jewels. That is one of the findings in a study released Monday, conducted by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by Thales E-Security. "Mega breaches and cyber attacks have increased companies' urgency to improve their security posture," says the report, which is based on a survey of more than 4,000 IT and security professionals in 10 countries.

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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Ubuntu's Vivid Vervet Makes Snappy Entrance

Canonical on Tuesday announced the release of Ubuntu 15.04, aka "Vivid Vervet," as in East African monkey. It will be available for download on Thursday. The new OS offers tools for cloud, device, client and Internet of Things development. The Ubuntu desktop release includes mostly maintenance and bug fixes, along with new integrated menus and dashboard usability improvements. Ubuntu 15.04 for cloud and servers comes at a critical time to attract companies adopting cloud technologies.

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Government Surveillance: What to Do, What to Do?

The CIA has been trying to hack into iOS for years. British and American agencies reportedly have collaborated to create a map of the Internet and Web users. The United States National Security Agency has, together with the UK's GCHQ, reportedly stolen SIM card encryption keys from Gemalto. The FBI is frothing at the mouth over Google's and Apple's encryption of their mobile OSes. Vulnerabilities in Signaling System 7 telephony protocols let third parties eavesdrop on cellphone calls and intercept text messages, despite encryption.

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