Google has patched most of its major services from the ‘Heartbleed’ security bug
Now that we know about the Heartbleed bug that allows access to sensitive internet data usually locked down by OpenSSL encryption, Google is of course one of the internet services hard at work applying fixes. The folks in Mountain View announced today that main services like Apps, App Engine, Gmail, Play, Search, Wallet and YouTube are already patched. There’s no need to worry about Chrome or Chrome OS, as those two bits of software aren’t affected by the vulnerability. Android is almost there, as all versions of the mobile operating system are immune to the security flaw save for 4.1.1. For that lone exception, Google says patching details are being sent to its partners for distribution. While the key bits have been secured, there’s on-going work to update other services like Cloud SQL, Google Compute Engine and others.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Google
Source: Google
Firefox OS’ new interface looks both very modern and very familiar
Mozilla promised that Firefox OS was getting a gigantic interface redesign later this year, and it’s now clear just how ambitious that remake will be. Ahmed Nefzaoui and Soren Hentzchel have provided an detailed look at Firefox OS 2.0 that shows off its thoroughly modern style. There are flat surfaces everywhere, and even more transparency than in current versions; both the lock screen notifications and task switcher have taken on a decidedly iOS 7-like (not to mention more useful) layout. The preview also gives a better glimpse at EverythingMe’s contextual search, which produces both app and web results. You’ll still have to wait a few months to see 2.0 reach shipping hardware, but this close-up suggests that your patience will pay off.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
Via: G 4 Games
Source: Soren Hentzschel (translated), Ahmed Nefzaoui (Twitter)
Live out your J.A.R.V.I.S. fantasies with a Raspberry Pi
Siri, Cortana and Google Now are all inspired by the computers that Dave Bowman, Captain Picard and Iron Man use on a daily basis. But what if you wanted to turn your home into a voice-activated haven without those sorts of resources? Well, thanks to a Princeton students Charles Mash and Shubhro Saha, you can. The pair developed Jasper, an open-source, always-on voice control system that works on a Raspberry Pi and can easily be customized for your needs. All you need is an internet connection, one of the tiny educational boards and a USB microphone and you can ask the system to do whatever your coding ability allows. All we need now is for someone to kidnap Stephen Fry or Paul Bettany so our computer has the right level of sniffy British snark in its voice.
Via: Hacker News, Wired
Source: Github
With R.B.I. Baseball 14, MLB takes a full swing at making its own games
Major League Baseball is bringing back a classic. But while resuscitating an old title could sometimes create a double-edged-sword effect of sorts, that’s not stopping MLB from taking the chance to reboot the R.B.I. Baseball series. Most importantly, R.B.I. Baseball 14 was developed in-house by MLB’s Advanced Media branch, also known as MLBAM, a team that’s behind applications like At Bat and whose tech powers the WWE Network streaming service. Up until now, sport games have been all about licensing, so this shift also lets us know how Major League Baseball views that industry. Sure, the experience in R.B.I. Baseball 14 might not be as full-fledged as with, say, Sony’s MLB 14 The Show, but it’s still interesting to see a professional league leveraging its work as a technology company too.
It’s about being able to deliver content for baseball fans.
One of the things MLB’s new action-based sim game has going for it is that it’s available on a number of platforms at launch, with support for more due in the near future. “It’s about being able to deliver content for baseball fans,” Jamie Leece, MLBAM’s VP, Games, said to us when asked what lead to the development of R.B.I. Baseball 14. “The game works perfectly for both mobile and console; we wanted the experience to go hand in glove with that.” As it stands, the revamped R.B.I. Baseball is available on iOS for $5, plus Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for $20 — we’re told Android, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions are coming “later this spring.”
Can we expect more of these types of games from MLB? The league says the focus right now is looking at how the title is received by fans, as well as getting it ready for current-gen platforms. But there’s a chance: “I certainly see us doing more in this space,” Leece stated.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Mobile
Source: App Store, Xbox Marketplace, MLB
Dropbox Announces ‘Carousel’ Photo and Video App, Mailbox for Desktop
Dropbox today announced several new products for its desktop and mobile consumers, including Mailbox for OS X and a new photo and video sharing app called Carousel.
Carousel is a standalone app that is designed to organize a user’s entire collection of photos stored via Dropbox, separating them into an event-based timeline that also highlights important moments and supports private messages. Photos automatically backup to Dropbox and sync across all platforms. They can also be shared in batches with and saved to other users’ timelines via email or phone number, regardless of whether or not the user has a Dropbox account.
According to Dropbox, the app, deemed “one place for all your memories” backs up photos to Dropbox, with storage being tied to the amount of space in a user’s Dropbox account.
We’d like you to meet Carousel: a gallery for all the photos and videos from your life. It combines the photos in your Dropbox with the photos on your phone, and automatically backs up new ones as you take them. Carousel sorts all these memories by event so you can easily travel back in time to any photo from any date. And unlike other mobile galleries, the size of your Carousel isn’t constrained by the space on your phone, which means you can finally have your entire life’s memories in one place.
While Dropbox already allows automatic camera uploads and image storage, photos are generally dumped into a single folder that doesn’t offer many organizational options. Carousel will bring a whole new photo viewing and sharing experience that will make it much easier for users to browse through their image collections. The app will be live later today.
Along with Carousel, Dropbox has also announced plans to bring its popular Mailbox app for iOS to the desktop. There are few details available on the OS X version of the app, but it will likely function similarly to the iOS app, allowing users to “snooze” messages and organize them into lists. There’s no prospective launch date on the horizon, but Dropbox is accepting beta signups.
Dropbox announces Mailbox for Android
For quite awhile now, Mailbox has been an iOS exclusive. If you aren’t familiar with the app, it’s a very nice email client that was acquired by Dropbox about a year ago. Android users, it’s finally your day! Mailbox is officially in the Google Play Store!
The reason why it is so popular is a mixture of great design and functionality. The design is mostly white with subtle light blue accents that offers a simple interface to its users. There are a host of different gesture shortcuts available, as well. It includes the popular “auto-swipe” feature, which allows the user to archive an email with a simple swipe, while automatically archiving like emails in the future.
Stay tuned for our walkthrough of Mailbox for Android!
Source: TechCrunch
The post Dropbox announces Mailbox for Android appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Dropbox Carousel organizes your lifelong memories in one app
It’s not every day that a company shows off literal vacation slides as part of a press event, but Dropbox did it today as a way to introduce Carousel. It’s an app for both iOS and Android that takes your photos from your Dropbox account and organizes them by time, date and event, and any new photos that you take will automatically backup to the cloud. You’ll also be able to not only share all of your precious memories with family and friends, those same people can return the favor and share some of their pics and vids so you can add it to your personal deck of digital slides. The new app is available on both OSes now for free.
Developing…
Filed under: Mobile
Ultra HD’s the word at NAB 2014
Whether you call it 4K or Ultra HD, next-gen television sets are on their way to your living room. Some experts expect sales in the US alone to approach one million this year, with early adopters opening their wallets at an even greater rate overseas. But while many of us still get by with 1080p, content producers are adopting Ultra HD as the norm on set, with manufacturers focusing almost exclusively on next-gen hardware here at the National Association of Broadcasters’ annual trade show in Las Vegas.
Ultra HD cameras take every shape and size, from Sony’s just-announced Alpha A7s mirrorless camera to Blackmagic’s giant URSA, with its fold-out 10-inch screen. Even drones are snapping 4K footage, including JVC’s new gimbal-mounted Super 35mm cam. Some models, such as Red’s $14,500 Dragon cam, can capture even higher-res video — in this case, that means 6K footage from a camera you can hold in your hand.
Tools for shooting video from above were another focus here in Vegas. One of our favorite drones of the show, DJI’s Phantom 2 Vision+, only captures at 1080p, but it does so with such grace (thanks to its integrated three-axis gimbal) that the $1,300 copter should not be overlooked. NAB’s not just about cameras, though. Thunderbolt 2 made its debut here in 2013, and this year, Intel returned to demo Thunderbolt Networking, enabling 10 Gbps connections (and super-fast 4K video transfers) between Macs and PCs.
Microsoft even made an appearance to show off Skype TX, the company’s hardware/software solution for seamlessly linking up remote television guests with hosts in the studio, while HP dropped by with its DreamColor displays, capable of showing a billion colors. Finally, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler rounded out the week with an address to broadcasters, a good part of which was spent motivating attendees to maintain their competitive edge when it comes to internet distributors, such as Netflix.
Ultimately, there was plenty to take away from these few days in the desert — filmmakers and distributors have more options at their disposal than ever before, and while Ultra HD may have yet to take off in the American living room, producers are well on their way to creating future-proofed content, guaranteeing that when you opt to update your own hardware, there will be plenty of movies, TV shows, ads and live broadcasts to enjoy at four times the resolution of 1080p.
Filed under: Cameras, Displays, Home Entertainment, HD
Join us for a Very Special Edition of the Engadget Podcast at 4PM ET on Friday
Nerds cannot live on tech news alone. That’s why, every so often, we’ll be hosting a Very Special Edition of the Engadget Podcast where we touch upon the cultural and social impacts of the technology that matters most to you. Sometimes, that means we’ll even be talking about booze. We are all onions, after all…
Hey, hey, hey! This Friday join your usual hosts, Ben, Joseph and Terrence as they sit down with Mikael Mossberg and Stephanie Moreno from Distiller, a whiskey recommendation engine. These five lovers of tech and booze will be talking about the Distiller app, the exploding craft whiskey scene and will be taste-testing three fine spirits. If you want to drink along at home, on the menu will be Springbank 10, a lightly peated single malt scotch from Campbeltown; Colonel E.H. Taylor Straight Rye, a spicy 100 proof whiskey from Kentucky; and Hudson Single Malt, an American twist on a Scottish classic.
So mark your calendars for 4PM ET this Friday, April 11th, and join us on Facebook and Google+.
Mikael Mossberg, co-founder of Distiller
Mikael Mossberg is co-founder of Distiller. Mikael comes from an entertainment background, having worked in the music industry running digital campaigns for some of the largest artists in the world. In early 2011 he left the major label system to work with Brent Stiefel at Votiv where the two discussed his idea for a whiskey discovery system that would appeal to newcomers and connoisseurs in the booming worldwide whiskey marketplace. This idea turned into what we now know as Distiller, the worlds first whiskey recommendation engine.
Twitter: @Mikaelgm
Stephanie Moreno, Tasting Table
As spirits buyer of one of the most regarded spirits shops in Manhattan, ergo the country, Stephanie was afforded an opportunity most only dream of: to be paid to taste alcohol. Tasting products from bottom shelf vodka to 50 year old Single Malt Scotch, she has tasted it all. There are, however, those spirits that speak a bit louder to her and they are often of the brown persuasion. Her love for Scotch in particular was etched permanently on her heart while visiting and touring distilleries throughout Scotland. These are the spirits that truly drive her to drink. Photo: Stephanie getting barrel samples at the Bowmore Distillery in May of 2009.
Twitter: @brooklynwino
Samsung opens its first ‘Experience’ stores across the UK
Samsung’s dabbled in creating dedicated spaces for UK shoppers a few times, but unlike arch-rival Apple, hasn’t built up any long-standing retail presence. That’s not the case in other regions, though, and earlier this year Samsung decided it was high time to set up a bunch of shops across Europe to call its own. Today sees the first of these “Samsung Experience” stores open their doors in the UK, though they’re actually operated by local partner Carphone Warehouse. The shops, which are located in London, Newcastle, Liverpool, Bradford, Bristol, Manchester, Bournemouth and Cardiff, play host to all things Samsung, from laptops to wearables, in the familiar try-before-you-buy type setting. We’re going to check out the Oxford Street store tomorrow, but if you’re close to one, head inside to get an early look at the new GS5 and Gear range before they launch on Friday.
[Note: the image above is from an Experience store in Spain]
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Wearables, Samsung
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