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News Update

You Should Update Your Apple Devices Immediately to Fix a Major Security Flaw

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Apple Fans Await iPhone 7

Apple has released a new software update for iOS and MacOS. For users of iPhones, iPads and Mac computers, downloading the patch is critical to avoiding a potential hacking.

The update fixes a key vulnerability referred to as Broadpwn, which allows hackers to “execute arbitrary code” — or take over your device — via WiFi chips embedded in the device’s main processor. A hacker can target these devices so long as they are in range, according to Nitay Artenstein, a security researcher at Exodus Intelligence who first exposed the flaw.

Fortunately, there’s an easy fix with the arrival of the new patch. For iPhone or iPad users, head to the Settings menu and select General. From there, you’ll see an option called Software Update. Clicking on it should prompt the installation of iOS 10.3.3.

If you’re on a Mac, head to the App Store and select the Updates tab. A prompt for macOS Sierra 10.12.6 should load from there.

The same issue was detected in Android devices as well. Google patched the bug for the platform earlier this month.

 [Source:-fortune]
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Tech Update

Microsoft Researchers in India, US Embedding AI Into Tiny Devices

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Microsoft Researchers in India, US Embedding AI Into Tiny Devices

A team of 30 researchers at Microsoft labs in Redmond and Benguluru are busy developing a new class of machine-learning software and tools to embed artificial intelligence (AI) onto bread-crumb size computer processors.

The project is part of a paradigm shift within the technology industry that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadelladescribed recently, by saying that “We’re moving from what is today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world to a new world that is going to be made up of an intelligent cloud and intelligent edge”.

“Creating the intelligent edge is a step toward realising the promise of a world populated with tiny intelligent devices at every turn – embedded in our clothes, scattered around our homes and offices,” said John Roach, a world-renowned expert in AI and machine learning, in a Microsoft blog post.

The researchers imagine all sorts of intelligent devices that could be created, from smart soil-moisture sensors deployed for precision irrigation on remote farms to brain implants that warn users of impending seizures so that they can get to a safe place and call a caregiver.

The computer scientists and software engineers are taking top-down and bottom-up approaches to the challenge of deploying machine-learning models onto resource-constrained devices.

The top-down approach involves developing algorithms that compress machine-learning models trained for the cloud to run efficiently on devices such as the Raspberry Pi 3 and Raspberry Pi Zero.

The intelligent devices are part of the so-called Internet of Things, or IoT, except that these things are intended to be smart, or intelligent, even without an Internet connection.

“The dominant paradigm is that these devices are dumb. They sense their environment and transmit their sensor readings to the cloud where all of the machine learning happens. Unfortunately, this paradigm does not address a number of critical scenarios that we think can transform the world,” said Manik Varma, Senior Researcher with Microsoft Research India and a co-leader of the project.

The researchers are working on systems that can run machine learning algorithms on microcontrollers.

“The intelligent devices are part of the so-called Internet of Things, or IoT, except that these things are intended to be smart, or intelligent, even without an Internet connection,” the blog post added.

The drive to embed AI on tiny devices is part of a broader initiative within Microsoft’s research organisation to envision technologies that could be pervasive a decade from now.

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

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Tech Update

Samsung Flow App Will Get Support for Windows 10 and More Galaxy Devices, Company Confirms

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Samsung Flow App Will Get Support for Windows 10 and More Galaxy Devices, Company Confirms

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Samsung Flow app support is coming to more Galaxy smartphones
  • Enables unlocking Windows 10 devices using phone’s fingerprint scanner
  • Samsung Flow allows users to transfer files between devices as well

Just last week, Samsung revealed in response to a user query that the company is planning to bring Samsung Flow app to all Windows 10 PCs with next major update. Now, the South Korean company has officially announced that the Samsung Flow’s upcoming update, slated for April, will expand its compatibility to more Galaxy smartphones and Windows 10 devices.

Notably, as of now, the Samsung Flow app is only compatible with Galaxy S6 smartphone and newer devices, featuring fingerprint scanners.

With Samsung Flow app, users will be able to unlock their Windows 10 devices with the fingerprint scanner on their phones. Apart from the unlocking feature, the app will also allow users to act upon their notifications right from their Windows 10 PC or tablet. Samsung Flow, which works on similar lines as Apple’s Continuity feature, further lets users resume their browsing sessions from one device on another and allows for easy transfer of files between the devices.

“Users can share photos, videos and hefty documents cord and hassle free, and pause and continue browsing sessions on whichever device is more convenient. Additionally, when Wi-Fi is spotty, the app allows you to seamlessly connect your tablet to your phone’s mobile hotspot, so you’ll never be out of the loop,” the company said in its blog post.

This feature will be available for devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and later and Windows 10 devices with Creators Update, which is expected to be rolled out in April. The Samsung Flow app comes preloaded on Samsung’s newly unveiled Galaxy Book and Galaxy Tab S3 tablets.

Tags: Samsung Flow, Windows 10, Apps, Android, Samsung, PC, Laptops, Microsoft, Mobiles, Tablets
[“Source-Gadgets”]
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Internet

WD My Cloud Devices Reportedly Vulnerable to Remote Attacks

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

WD My Cloud Devices Reportedly Vulnerable to Remote Attacks

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Western Digital has already fixed one severe bug with update
  • Exploitee.rs says it released bugs early due to WD’s industry reputation
  • Hackers can potentially upload files without user permission

If you are a proud owner of a WD My Cloud NAS device, it’s time to pay attention. The company’s My Cloud NAS devices have been found vulnerable to remote hacking via the Internet and can potentially allow hackers to get access to your account and even upload files without permission.

As per Exploitee.rs, due to poorly implemented scripts on the WD My Cloud drives, hackers could bypass the login as its function makes use of cookies that could be provided by the hacker in order to gain access, as pointed out in a report by Engadget. “It is important to note that all commands executed through the web interface are done so as the user the web-server is running as, which, in this case is root,” Exploitee.rs said in its post.

Although the login bypass bug has been fixed by the company with a software update, Exploitee.rs claims the fix introduced another bug. This, along with other security flaws have been published by the Exploitee.rs team even before they have been patched supposedly to force Western Digital into taking action.

The devices in question regarding the security flaws include WD My Cloud Gen 2, My Cloud Mirror, My Cloud PR2100, My Cloud PR4100, My Cloud EX2 Ultra, My Cloud EX2, My Cloud EX4, My Cloud EX2100, My Cloud EX4100, My Cloud DL2100, and My Cloud DL4100.

Exploitee.rs says that usually the team works with the vendors to ensure that the fixes are released properly for the flaws, however, Western Digital’s “reputation within the community” made the team publish the flaws to public right away. The team says that as WD has developed a reputation for ignoring the severity of the bugs reported to it, they are trying to “alert the community of the flaws” so that users can limit access of their WD My Cloud devices to the Internet as much as possible.

Tags: WD My Cloud NAS Device Vulnerability, Western Digital, WD, Cloud Storage Vulnerability, Internet, PCs, Laptops
[“Source-Gadgets”]
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Internet

Mozilla Lays Off Employees Working on Firefox-Powered Connected Devices: Report

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Mozilla Lays Off Employees Working on Firefox-Powered Connected Devices: Report

Mozilla, the non-profit company popular for its Firefox browser, has given up on its dream of expanding into connected devices. The company has confirmed that it is dissolving its connected devices initiative after failing to make an impact after all.

Separately, CNET reports that the company is eliminating the team working on Firefox-enabled connected devices initiative. It adds that this affects roughly 50 employees citing people familiar with the situation. The report claims that Ari Jaaksi, Senior Vice President, Connected Devices at Mozilla, is also leaving the company alongside Bertrand Neveux, Director, Connected Devices at Mozilla. Mozilla reportedly had about 1,000 employees at the end of 2016.

In a statement to CNET, Mozilla confirmed it’s dissolving the team tasked to work connected devices initiative. It said, “We have shifted our internal approach to the internet-of-things opportunity to step back from a focus on launching and scaling commercial products to one focused on research and advanced development, dissolving our connected devices initiative and incorporating our internet-of-things explorations into an increased focus on emerging technologies.”

Notably, this is not the first time Mozilla has failed trying to do something more than its browser success. In 2015, Mozilla killed its smartphone operating system citing it was not “able to offer the best user experience possible” in its Firefox OS on smartphones. Some smartphones with Firefox OS did make it to the market in 2013 and 2014 though were able to gain any positive response from the Indian market. Over time Mozilla collaborated with OEMs to launch several low-budget smartphones including Spice Fire One, and Intex Cloud FX in India.

Early last year, Mozilla revealed that it was ending development on Firefox OS for smartphones. The operating system created by Mozilla developer community as an open-source system failed to gain traction in mobile devices.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

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Internet

Google AMP Lite Brings More Optimisations for Low-RAM Devices on Slow Internet Connections

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Google AMP Lite Brings More Optimisations for Low-RAM Devices on Slow Internet Connections

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technique has been beneficial to mobile users since its introduction as it helps devices with weak Internet connection to access webpages using minimum amount of data. Now, the search giant has tried to further improve upon its existing technology as it has announced AMP Lite, a stripped down version of its earlier technique.

AMP Lite, which Google claims causes a combined 45 percent reduction in data across all optimisations, essentially allows the pages to load faster even on devices with low-RAM or that have weak Internet connections, as pointed out in a report by 9to5Google. In order to achieve these results, the search giant has made several optimisations to AMP, Google said in its blog post.

Google points out that on an average, images form around 64 percent of the data of a webpage. This is why the company decided to remove that part of the image data which is not visible to the users, including thumbnail and geolocation data. The search giant has further reduced the size of JPEG images as well as quality to a point where the difference does not become noticeable.

The image data is then compressed “exhaustively” and as per the company, these optimisations reduce data by around 40 percent while the differences are not noticeable. The company says that it further converts JPEG images to WebP format for supported browsers, which leads to further 25 percent data reduction to JPEG images.

With AMP Lite technique, Google uses the “amp-font” tag which enables fonts to be displayed instantaneously even if the search giant did not cache them earlier.

Google says that AMP Lite is rolling out for bandwidth-constrained users in countries like Vietnam and Malaysia as well as for users with low-RAM devices around the world.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

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Gadgets News

Nokia to announce up to 5 new devices in 2017

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Mobile World Congress in February is the place-to-be for all major players in the mobile industry (except for Apple, that is) and that’s exactly the stage HMD Global will use to try and start the Nokia fightback.

Sources report that at least four new devices will be revealed next year along with the already leaked Nokia D1C that we told you about last month.

The devices will feature between 5″ and 5.7″ displays with WQHD or FHD resolutions. Sadly there’s info only regarding D1C and it says that the device will come in two different options – one priced at about $200 with 3 GB RAM and 5.5” display and a cheaper $150 version with 2GB RAM and 5” FullHD display.

Such specs clearly aren’t near flagship-worthy, so HMD Global either has another ace up its sleeve or it plans on testing the water with some mid-range offerings before going for the premium tiers.

[Source:- gsmarena]

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Gadgets News

Philips Launches Range of Connected Health Devices, Including a Health Watch

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

Philips Launches Range of Connected Health Devices, Including a Health Watch

In a move that is unlikely to come as a surprise to anyone, healthcare industry’s tech giant Philips has announced a range of smart products aimed at tracking your various health parameters. The range of products is designed to work in sync with the Philips’ HealthSuite app, which is currently available for both Android and iOS.

The range of devices announced by Philips is meant for home-use and includes a watch, a blood pressure monitor, a weighing scale that calculates body mass index as well as estimates fat level of user’s body, apart from an ear thermometer. The watch features an always on display with Gorilla Glass protection, and Philips is touting a 4-day battery life, with the watch gaining up to 70 percent charge in 30 minutes. It is water resistant up to 1 atmosphere of pressure.

The health watch launched by the company tracks the user’s activity, heart rate, and sleep patterns but doesn’t have a touchscreen that can show your phone’s notifications. The watch seems to lack some of the features that smartwatches usually offer and is meant solely for health-tracking purposes.

The blood pressure monitor is capable of measuring your diastolic and systolic blood pressure, as well as heart rate. There are two versions available, i.e. for wrist and arm, retailing for $89.99(roughly Rs. 6,000) and $99.99 (roughly Rs. 6,700) respectively.

The in-ear thermometer starts from $59.99 (roughly Rs. 4,000) while the weighing scale costs $99.99 (roughly Rs. 6,700).

Although the product lineup does not have any killer new features or extremely attractive prices, the reputation that Philips has in the health industry due to years of experience might very well help it overcome its competition and acquire a decent market share.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

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Tech Update

U.S. investigates security of mobile devices

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

A woman uses her mobile phone before a concert in Los Angeles, California March 17, 2016. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have asked mobile phone carriers and manufacturers to explain how they release security updates amid mounting concerns over security vulnerabilities, the U.S. agencies said on Monday.

The agencies have written to Apple Inc, AT&T Inc and Alphabet Inc, among others, in order “to better understand, and ultimately to improve, the security of mobile devices,” the FCC said.

The FCC sent letters to six mobile phone carriers on security issues, while the FTC ordered eight mobile device manufacturers including BlackBerry Ltd, Microsoft Corp, LG Electronics USA Inc and Samsung Electronics America Inc [SMELA.UL] to disclose “the factors that they consider in deciding whether to patch a vulnerability on a particular mobile device.”

The FTC also seeks “detailed data on the specific mobile devices they have offered for sale to consumers since August 2013” and “the vulnerabilities that have affected those devices; and whether and when the company patched such vulnerabilities.”

The agencies are opening the inquiry about how mobile carriers and manufacturers handle security updates for mobile devices because consumers and businesses are conducting a growing amount of daily activities on mobile devices and new questions have been raised about how the security of mobile communications.

The “safety of their communications and other personal information is directly related to the security of the devices they use,” the FCC said. “There have recently been a growing number of vulnerabilities associated with mobile operating systems that threaten the security and integrity of a user’s device.”

The FCC said it sent letters to mobile carriers including AT&T, Verizon Communications Inc, Sprint Corp, U.S. Cellular Corp, Tracfone Wireless, which is owned by America Movil SAB, and T-Mobile US, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom, “asking questions about their processes for reviewing and releasing security updates for mobile devices.”

The companies must respond to the FCC and FTC questions within 45 days.

There were more than 355 million U.S. mobile wireless devices in use in 2014, the FCC said in a December report. The agency said that number had risen to 382 million by mid-2015, citing company disclosures.

The FCC noted that a vulnerability called “Stagefright” in the Android operating system could affect almost 1 billion Android devices globally. Reuters reported in August that Google and Samsung planned to release monthly security fixes for Android phones.

The change came after security researcher Joshua Drake found a vulnerability that could allow attackers to send a special multimedia message to an Android phone and access sensitive content even if the message is unopened.

Google did not immediately comment on Monday. Apple declined to comment.

Consumers may be left unprotected, potentially indefinitely, by any delays in patching vulnerabilities, the FCC said.

John Marinho, vice president for cybersecurity at CTIA, a wireless trade group, said in a statement that “customers’ security remains a top priority for wireless companies, and there is a very strong partnership among carriers.”

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Tech Update

Vanguard says app glitch led to inflated balances shown on Apple devices

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

An Apple store is seen in Los Angeles, California, United States, April 22, 2016. Apple Inc (AAPL) will report its second quarter results April 26. Picture taken April 22, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

An “application glitch” led some Vanguard Group clients to see an inflated account balance displayed on their Apple mobile devices, a spokeswoman said – a hiccup that left at least one user cheering the apparent extra funds.

The issue did not affect clients’ actual balances or transactions, the spokeswoman for the index fund manager, Katie Henderson Hirt, said on Monday.

She added it was seen by people using Vanguard software applications on their iPhones, iPads or iWatches. Vanguard expected to have the issue fixed on Monday evening, she said.

Asked how many devices were affected, Hirt said the impact was a “modest number overall.” On average just 16 percent of logons to vanguard.com come from an Apple device, she said, and of those about 11 percent visit the personal performance page where they would have seen the inflated balance.

The problem related to the fact that Friday was the last trading day of April, she said. While the issue was not seen before, she said it was not caused by hacking.

One user of the app, Peter Lanphear of Bergen, New York, flagged the problem on Twitter on Monday and said in a followup conversation that he first noticed on Sunday that the app displayed a balance roughly $21,000 higher than it should have been, double the correct number.

Told it was too bad he could not keep the extra money, Lanphear replied “That’s what I said to them lol.”

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