LG’s Knock Code unlock method bumps into G2 and G Flex next month
LG’s staying true to its word and updating the basic KnockON feature found on the G2 and the G Flex with its newer, more sophisticated Knock Code technology. The South Korean company launched the feature on the G Pro 2 in February, with a promise that it’ll eventually be available on older models. While the older knock technology only switches a screen on or off when you tap it, Knock Code lets you bypass the lock screen altogether. You merely need to configure a phone’s security setting to recognize a combination of up to eight taps made on four sections of the screen beforehand. The security feature’s slated to arrive on the handsets sometime in April through a firmware update — the bad news is, there’s no clear word on which countries will get it. Obviously, users in LG’s home turf will be some of the first to enjoy the feature, but everyone else will just have to cross their fingers.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
Source: LG
Bipartisan bill will stop NSA’s bulk phone call data collection, but it might not go far enough
Following Edward Snowden’s leaks about the NSA collecting massive amounts of data about phone calls flowing through several companies, President Obama announced limitations on the use of that data in January and said more reforms would follow. Now, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post report a bipartisan bill is about to be unveiled that makes several large changes to the NSA’s controversial bulk collection of phone call metadata. A bill that will be unveiled tomorrow in the House of Representatives by Mike Rogers (R-MI) and “Dutch” Ruppersberger (D-MD) will instead see phone companies store the data only as long as they normally would (18 months or so, under other federal regulations). If the NSA suspects a terrorism link, it can make requests for information from specific phone numbers, and related records up to two hops away.
What’s likely to disappoint privacy advocates however, is that the NSA is only required to send a copy of the directive to a court for review after record collection has already started. On the other hand, according to the Post, it would have the make a determination if a number is linked to terrorism “promptly” and if it does not decide that it’s linked “agent of a foreign power,” it will be expunged. We should find out exactly what’s in the bill when it’s introduced tomorrow but there’s one other note to remember — 90-day approval for the NSA’s current bulk collection program ends Friday, and is likely to be renewed at least one more time while this and other bills are sorted out.
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet
Source: Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian
PS Vita gets more apps on its home screen and a memory card manager
With the amount of rad digitally distributed games in the PlayStation Vita’s library, your system’s home screen could be getting a little crowded. Well, after downloading the handheld’s latest firmware update, you’ll have a lot more room for all of those high-res bubbles. Another 400 of them to be exact, as software version 3.10 allows a total of 500 apps and games on the touch-based UI. What’s more, Joystiq noticed the patch adds a memory card management feature that separates saved data based on what type of content created it. Bizarrely enough, the portable PlayStation didn’t have an auto setting for daylight savings time before this either. Sony has also included a calendar app that syncs with your Google account, as well as a voice messaging system for sending quick soundbites to your Vita or PS4 owning-pals. Just try keep ‘em PG-rated, okay?
Via: Joystiq
BatteryBox portable charger promises to keep the juice flowing even after five years
A new portable battery promises to carry enough juice to charge eight iPhones and keep your MacBook Air going for 12 hours, five years after you buy it. Unlike others that lose their capacity over time, BatteryBox uses a new energy management system called BatteryOS that monitors what’s going on inside your Lithium-Ion battery and optimizes power in such a way that prevents degradation. It’s an operation that ensures the battery can handle 96% of its original capacity after 3,000 charges and discharges, almost twice as long as without the system says BatteryBox. And it does it all for $139, about what you’d pay for a competitor. BatteryBox’s 12,000mAh battery is the first implementation of the technology, but the company hopes to work with third-parties to get its system into things like electric vehicles. For now, we’re just excited to see a portable charger that can keep us churning out posts from the outlet-free wasteland of CES through 2020.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: BatteryBox
Video Depicting Demolition Progress at Apple Campus 2 Site Surfaces [Mac Blog]
A supposed internal Apple video depicting the demolition of Hewlett Packard’s former offices in preparation for Apple’s Campus 2 project has surfaced on YouTube (via 9to5Mac).
The video itself, which appears to be consistent with Apple’s production quality, shows excavators tearing through multiple buildings set to Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces”. The footage was likely shot from late last year through earlier this year, as demolition on the site began in November after Apple received unanimous approval for the project from the Cupertino City Council.
Substantial progress of the demolition was also depicted through an aerial photograph that surfaced late last month, with most of the existing buildings demolished and parking lot pavement removed. During the demolition, several sidewalks were closed, while bulldozers and other heavy equipment started clearing debris from the 176-acre parcel.
With the demolition likely complete, Apple will begin the first phase of the Apple Campus 2 construction, which will involve a 2.8 million square foot ring-shaped main building with an underground parking facility capable of holding approximately 2,400 cars. Apple will also build a 100,000 square foot fitness center and a 120,000 square foot auditorium, with some of the barren landscape being occupied by over 4,500 trees.
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Apple’s App Store Usage Numbers Suggest 85% Adoption Rate for iOS 7 [iOS Blog]
iOS 7 is now on 85% of devices connected to the App Store, according to new numbers posted on Apple’s App Store developer support page. The numbers come five months after the operating system’s original release, and just two weeks after the release iOS 7.1, which was the first major update to iOS 7 with added visual tweaks, CarPlay support, and Touch ID enhancements.
The increasing adoption rate of iOS 7 has also led to a drop in iOS 6 usage, with the older operating system now installed on just 12 percent of devices. Three percent of devices also continue to use even older versions of iOS. In early December, iOS 7 usage was at 74 percent, jumping to 78 percent later in December and then to 80 percent in late January.
Apple’s data, which comes directly from the App Store, represents the most definite iOS 7 adoption information for developers.
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Must See HDTV for the week of March 24th: The Walking Dead, Fez, Louis CK on SNL
March Madness rolls on this weekend with the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games, but with our billion dollar brackets already destroyed, what else is there to watch? The Academy Awards Best Picture nominee march continues this week with the release of The Wolf of Wall Street on Blu-ray (how can Leo not have an Oscar?) and Continuum S2, while on TV The Walking Dead wraps up its fourth season, Helix reaches its first season finale and Louis CK brings his talents to Saturday Night Live. We’ll have to put our DVRs to work on Saturday though, since Hannibal Burress’ special is airing on Comedy Central around the same time. For games there’s no next-gen exclusive blockbusters this week, but PlayStation owners can cross buy a port of Fez across Vita, PS3 and PS4. Check after the break for trailers plus our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and gaming.
Blu-ray, Streaming movies & Games
- The Wolf of Wall Street
- Continuum (S2)
- Delivery Man
- The King of Comedy (30th Anniversary Edition)
- Persona (Criterion)
- Walking with Dinosaurs: the Movie
- The Freshman (Criterion)
- Fez (PS3, PS4)
- Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360)
Monday
- Dancing with the Stars, ABC, 8PM
- Bones, Fox, 8PM
- Bitten, Syfy, 8PM
- How I Met Your Mother, CBS, 8PM
- Star-Crossed, CW, 8PM
- Switched at Birth (spring finale), ABC Family, 8PM
- The Voice, NBC, 8PM
- WWE Raw, USA, 8PM
- Top Gear (season finale), BBC America, 8:30PM
- 2 Broke Girls, CBS, 8:30PM
- The Following, Fox, 9PM
- The Tomorrow People, The CW, 9PM
- The Fosters (season finale), Fox, ABC Family, 9PM
- Single Ladies (series finale), VH1, 9PM
- Dallas, TNT, 9PM
- Being Human, Syfy, 9PM
- Mike & Molly, CBS, 9PM
- Mom, CBS, 9:30PM
- Bates Motel, A&E, 10PM
- Believe, NBC, 10PM
- Archer, FX, 10PM
- Intelligence, CBS, 10PM
- Lost Girl, Syfy, 10PM
- Teen Wolf (season finale), MTV, 10PM
- Chozen, FX, 10:30PM
- Inside Comedy, Showtime, 11PM
Tuesday
- Glee, Fox, 8PM
- The Voice, NBC, 8PM
- Thunder/Mavericks, TNT, 8PM
- NCIS, CBS, 8PM
- The Story of the Jews with Simon Schama, PBC, 8PM
- From Dusk Till Dawn, El Rey Network, 9PM
- About a Boy, NBC, 9PM
- Face Off, Syfy, 9PM
- NCIS: LA, CBS, 9PM
- New Girl, Fox, 9PM
- Twisted, ABC Family, 9PM
- Supernatural, CW, 9PM
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine (season finale), Fox, 9:30PM
- Growing Up Fisher, NBC, 9:30PM
- Jim Henson’s Creature Shop Challenge (series premiere), Syfy, 10PM
- Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan (season premiere), BBC america, 10PM
- Clash of the Ozarks, Discovery, 10PM
- Game of Arms, AMC, 10PM
- Mind Games, ABC, 10PM
- The Profit, CNBC, 10PM
- Person of Interest, CBS, 10PM
- Justified, FX, 10PM
- Tosh.0, Comedy Central, 10PM
- Cougar Town, TBS, 10PM
- Kroll Show (season finale), Comedy Central, 10:30PM
- Knicks/Lakers, TNT, 10:30PM
- Are You The One?, MTV, 11PM
Wednesday
- Arrow, CW, 8PM
- Survivor, CBS, 8PM
- Melissa & Joey, ABC Family, 8PM
- American Idol, Fox, 8PM
- The Middle, ABC, 8PM
- WWE Main Event, ION, 8PM
- Suburgatory, ABC, 8:30PM
- Baby Daddy, ABC Family, 8:30PM
- The 100, CW, 9PM
- Modern Family, ABC, 9PM
- Psych (series finale), USA, 9PM
- Mixology, ABC, 9:30PM
- Psych After Show, USA, 10PM
- Doll & Em, HBO, 10PM
- The Americans, FX, 10PM
- Legit, FXX, 10PM
- Workaholics, Comedy Central, 10PM
- Nashville, ABC, 10PM
- The Real World, MTV, 10PM
- Chicago PD, NBC, 10PM
- CSI, CBS, 10PM
- Deal With It, TBS, 10:30PM
- Ali G: Rezurection, FXX, 10:30PM
- Broad City (season finale), Comedy Central, 10:30PM
Thursday
- NCAA Basketball Tournament Sweet 16: Dayton vs. Stanford, CBS, 7:15PM
- NCAA Basketball Tournament Sweet 16: Baylor vs. Wisconsin, TBS, 7:47PM
- NCAA Basketball Tournament Sweet 16: UCLA vs. Florida, CBS, 9:45PM
- NCAA Basketball Tournament Sweet 16:San Diego State vs. Arizona, 10:17PM
- Once Upon A Time in Wonderland, ABC, 8PM
- The Vampire Diaries, CW, 8PM
- American Idol, Fox, 9PM
- Saint George, FX, 9PM
- Suits, USA, 9PM
- Grey’s Anatomy, ABC, 9PM
- Reign, CW, 9PM
- Surviving Jack (series premiere), Fox, 9:30PM
- Anger Management, FX, 9:30PM
- The Crazy Ones, CBS, 9:30PM
- Review with Forrest Macneil, Comedy Central, 10PM
- Portlandia, IFC, 10PM
- Scandal, ABC, 10PM
- Vikings, History, 10PM
- Parenthood, NBC, 10PM
- Sirens, USA, 10PM
Friday
- NCAA Basketball Tournament Sweet 16: Tennessee vs. Michigan, CBS, 7:15PM
- NCAA Basketball Tournament Sweet 16: UCONN vs. Iowa St, TBS, 7:27PM
- NCAA Basketball Tournament Sweet 16: Kentucky vs. Louisville, CBS, 9:45PM
- NCAA Basketball Tournament Sweet 16: Michigan State vs. Virgina, TBS, 9:57PM
- WWE SmackDown, Syfy, 8PM
- Cold Justice (season finale), TNT, 8PM
- Last Man Standing, ABC, 8PM
- Whose Line Is It Anyway?, CW, 8PM
- Rake, Fox, 8PM
- The Neighbors, ABC, 8:30PM
- Hart of Dixie, CW, 9PM
- Enlisted, Fox, 9PM
- Bellator MMA Live, Spike TV, 9PM
- Raising Hope, Fox, 9:30PM
- Game of Stones, Discovery, 10PM
- Helix (season finale), Syfy, 10PM
- Save Our Business, TNT, 10PM
- Hannibal, NBC, 10PM
- Vice, HBO, 11PM
Saturday
- NCAA Basketball Tournament Elite 8, TBS, 4PM
- NCAA Basketball Tournament Elite 8, TBS, 7:05PM
- Zoe Gone, Lifetime, 8PM
- Ripper Street, BBC America, 9PM
- Da Vinci’s Demons, Starz, 9PM
- Saturday Night Live: Louis CK / Sam Smith, NBC, 11:30PM
- Hannibal Burress Live from Chicago, Comedy Central, 11:59PM
Sunday
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Series @ Martinsville, Fox, 12:30PM
- NCAA Basketball Tournament Elite 8, CBS, 2:20PM
- NCAA Basketball Tournament Elite 8, CBS, 5:05PM
- Bob’s Burgers, Fox, 7PM
- American Dad, Fox, 7:30PM
- Dodgets/Padres, ESPN, 8PM
- The Simpsons, Fox, 8PM
- Once Upon a Time, ABC, 8PM
- The Amazing Race, CBS, 8PM
- Family Guy, Fox, 8:30PM
- Mr. Selfridge (season premiere), PBS, 9PM
- Overhaulin , Velocity, 9PM
- Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Fox, 9PM
- Naked & Afraid, Discovery, 9PM
- Believe, NBC, 9PM
- Resurrection, ABC, 9PM
- The Good Wife, CBS, 9PM
- The Walking Dead (season finale), AMC, 9PM
- Shameless, Showtime, 9PM
- Crisis, NBC, 10PM
- House of Lies, Showtime, 10PM
- The Mentalist, CBS, 10PM
- Revenge, ABC, 10PM
- Talking Dead (season finale), AMC, 10PM
- Looking, HBO, 10:30PM
- Comic Book Men (season finale), AMC, 11:59PM
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Disney buys YouTube powerhouse Maker Studios for $500 million
Even with the Marvel and Star Wars properties under Disney’s roof, there’s apparently still plenty of room within the House of Mouse’s walls. The entertainment juggernaut has just bought YouTube hit-factory Maker Studios (the outfit responsible for Epic Rap Battles of History, The Getup and PewDiePie) for a cool $500 million according to Reuters. What’s more, the final bill of sale could go as high as $950 million should Maker hit an unannounced set of performance milestones after the acquisition. While that’s still an awful lot of dough, it’s only a fraction of what the company paid for the likes of Captain America and that galaxy far, far away. Exactly what Disney will do with Maker’s reported 5.5 billion monthly views and 55,000+ channels isn’t clear yet, but the purchase should give Mickey a solid foot in another streaming-video-giant’s door.
[Image credit: Scott R. Smith/Flickr]
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Source: Reuters, Recode, MarketWatch
The All New HTC One and Original HTC One Compared in New VIdeo
HTC’s worse kept secret stars in a new video today, but this time we get a comparison to the original HTC One. It is a very well done video, and goes over every nook and cranny of the All New HTC One, and you get a good idea just how much different the new flagship is compared to its predecessor. Not that it is drastically different, but I didn’t realize how much taller the New One is. Guess that took a page out of Apple’s book when they made the iPhone 5s long instead of wider. So check out the video, and let us know how excited you are about tomorrow’s event.
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Apple Hires Privacy Counsel to Oversee Protection of Customer Data [Mac Blog]
Apple has filled a position of privacy counsel with a lawyer experienced in customer privacy, data protection, electronic surveillance, information security and more. Sabrina Ross, a former associate at both Ropes & Gray and Sidley Austin, joined Apple this month according to her LinkedIn page (via AppleInsider).
Ross is a certified privacy professional, professing expertise in Internet and information law matters including privacy and data protection. As it moves more and more into online services including iCloud, Apple is increasingly concerned with privacy matters, including national surveillance by the NSA. Apple CEO Tim Cook told ABC News that Apple executives would need to be carted out “in a box” for the company to allow governments unfettered access to its servers.
A certified privacy professional, CIPP/US, I have experience with a wide-range of Internet and information law matters involving privacy and data protection, online brand protection, electronic surveillance, defamation, information security, cloud computing, social media, locational privacy, e-commerce, and national security. I am passionate about addressing these issues with both business acumen and an eye towards litigation strategy.
My practice includes developing privacy compliance systems, creating privacy/data security training and policies, conducting risk analysis in the merger/acquisition context, and providing compliance counseling regarding the state/federal/international privacy law landscape.
Ross’ CIPP/US certification is the first professional certification to be offered in the field of information privacy, covering the U.S. legal system including federal laws for protection of personal data, privacy marketing practices, state laws covering data breach notification and other privacy implications, as well as privacy in the workplace.
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