LastPass Password Manager Introduces New Mac App [Mac Blog]
Popular free password management service LastPass today is launching a new Mac app to make it easier for Mac users to access their passwords on their laptop and desktop computers. The new LastPass Mac app offers a full-featured vault for storing login information, passwords, credit cards, and more, and it comes equipped with several other useful tools such as Quick Search and Security Check.
Quick Search, one of the Mac app’s key features, lets users search for a website or keyword to quickly locate logins, notes, and passwords. Sites can be launched directly from their default browser using a keyboard shortcut, with LastPass filling in the username and password for super quick site logins.
Security Check is another built-in feature of the LastPass Mac app, letting users continually monitor the strength of their passwords to make sure each one is secure enough. LastPass for Mac offers both offline access and automatic syncing between the Mac app and the iOS app.
Before the introduction of the Mac app, LastPass was web-only when used with Mac and Windows computers, offering browser plug-ins for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and more to access password management features.
“We are living in a time when using the same password across every online account, or storing passwords for critical accounts in an insecure document on your computer, means you will inevitably get hacked. At the same time, memorizing dozens of unique passwords is virtually impossible,” said LastPass CEO and Co-Founder, Joe Siegrist. “The LastPass Mac App functions as a vault that safeguards sensitive information. It allows our customers to have convenient local access to their data, saving them the distraction of recalling passwords or manually typing in their login details.”
Last month, LastPass debuted Auto-Password Change, a useful feature designed to let users change their passwords for supported sites with just the click of a button.
The LastPass Mac app, much like the LastPass iOS app, will be a Direct Link]
The service is supported by ads, but ads can be removed with a $12 per year subscription fee, which also adds priority tech support and multi-factor authentication.
Update 9:52 AM: LastPass for Mac is now available in the Mac App Store. [Direct Link]
Starbucks locations in United Kingdom get wireless charging stations
In November, Starbucks made it known that its locations would feature wireless charging stations based on the Power Matters Alliance (PMA) standard. Devices with support for the PMA standard would benefit by Starbucks offering simple charging. Those without wireless charging (or of a different standard) would be able to purchase special adapters for Android and iOS devices. It started with two hundred Starbucks locations in San Francisco, but now the coffeehouse chain has expanded the wireless charging stations to the United Kingdom. The launch in the United Kingdom starts with ten locations in London and then it will spread throughout the country. No timetable has been provided for the expansion.
Via: Engadget
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Grab Mötley Crüe: The Greatest Hits for free on Google Play
Mötley Crüe is one of America’s most popular 80’s hair metal bands of all time, selling millions of albums to fans worldwide. The band has just recently announced their final tour, which will wrap up on December 31st, 2015. To say ‘thank you’ for all that their fans have provided over the years, the band is teaming up with Google Play to offer Mötley Crüe: The Greatest Hits album for free.
Whether you’re a fan of the band or not, this is quite a great deal considering how expensive this album normally runs. The record is normally sold for $12.99 on Google Play, or for $1.29 per song. There are a total of 23 tracks on the album, though the Google Play digital download version only comes with 19 of them.
We’re seeing a number of really popular tracks on here, including live versions of ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’, ‘Red Hot’, ‘All In The Name Of…’ and ‘Dr. Feelgood’. Other album-quality classics are present as well, like ‘Home Sweet Home’, ‘Kickstart My Heart’ and ‘Wild Side’. The band’s bassist Nikki Sixx even made a special announcement for the Google Play sale, which you can take a look at below. Head to the link below the video to grab your free download of Mötley Crüe: The Greatest Hits.
Download Mötley Crüe: The Greatest Hits from Google Play
Tha Phlash branches out with new STATION watchfaces for Android Wear devices
Tha Phlash is a name that many of you are probably very familiar with. Over the years he has constantly brought us more icon packs than I’d like to count or even think about. His attention to detail and creative mind is insane. While there are many icon designers out there that do some amazing work, […]
The post Tha Phlash branches out with new STATION watchfaces for Android Wear devices appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Things you don’t need to worry about: Edward Snowden’s lawyer says he doesn’t use an iPhone
There’s a story going around that quotes NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s lawyer as saying Snowden won’t use an iPhone because it has “special software that can activate itself without the owner, [sic] having to press a button and gather information about him”. Instead, the lawyer says, “he’s got a simple phone”. There’s no first-hand account from Snowden and no details about what the “special software” might be — a web cookie? who knows! — but that hasn’t stopped the quote from making its way across the sensationalism-over-security parts of the internet. So, what’s really going on here?
The story originated at Sputnik News but here’s the thing — if you’re Edward Snowden, the phone you’d most want to be using right now is the closest thing to a rock you can find.
Modern smartphones are smart — they’re computers. Computers run complex operating systems and apps. If you’re Edward Snowden, never mind exploits, you probably don’t want to have anything to do with things like web browsers and cookies. If you’re Edward Snowden, you probably want to use something as dumb and disposable as possible — probably many burner phones, burned with incredible frequency..
For most everyone else, including almost everyone reading this, there’s absolutely nothing to be concerned about here.
No new security exploits were disclosed by Snowden’s lawyer in that story, and Apple has been good about responding to previous exploits. UDID tracking, which some have, for some reason, decided to link to the story, was shut-down by Apple years ago. In fact, when it comes to privacy, Apple couldn’t have been more clear. (Their stance on end-to-end encryption has even led to FUD being spread by law-enforcement agencies.)
Absent any new exploits or disclosures, it’s a non-story. Worse, by once again contributing to the noise, by making everything sound scary, it makes legitimately scary stories harder to distinguish. And when it comes to things as important as security and privacy, we need to be able to tell the legitimate stories from the noise.
Apple Increasing Lobbying Presence in Washington, D.C. Under Tim Cook [Mac Blog]
On a trip to Washington, D.C. last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook met with various senators to discuss a variety of topics, and Bloomberg points to the trip as a sign of the company’s increased lobbying in recent years.
Though Apple was previously known to have a very small presence in Washington under Steve Jobs, Cook has quietly stepped up those efforts since taking the reins as CEO in 2011.
“They’ve learned what others before them have learned — that Washington can have a great effect on their business,” said Larry Noble, senior counsel at the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based non-profit that scrutinizes money in politics.
Even with its increased spending in Washington, Apple still trails a number of other companies in the area. According to OpenSecrets.org, a website which tracks spending, from January through September 2014, Apple’s $2.9 million in lobbying expenditures was well below that of Google ($13.7 million) and Microsoft ($6 million).
Bloomberg also mentions Apple’s increased hiring of staff in Washington, last year naming Amber Cottle – a Washington insider and former chief of staff for the Senate Finance Committee – as the head of its new lobbying office.
Perhaps explaining some of the increased lobbying, Cook knows the intense scrutiny the company will be under in the coming months with the upcoming launch of the Apple Watch and its various personal data-tracking applications, and government officials have no doubt been concerned over the possibility of new privacy-related issues.
Meetings in the past with the Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission to discuss health and security issues related to mobile medical applications and ultimately the Apple Watch have helped the company explain its commitment to privacy and security of individual users, while also hinting at possible user-based technology the company could be focusing on in the future. Finance has also been an area of concern for government officials, with Apple Pay putting the company into the spotlight and the company’s tax practices being called into question.
With the company also having faced a number of lawsuits concerning everything from e-book pricing to lackluster data storage the company is no doubt looking to increase its dialogue with government officials to address current concerns while also looking to the future.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Image of an LG flip phone with Android appears
Forget about the LG G4 because this device, if real, should have your attention. Earlier today on Twitter, @upleaks provided the image above. It shows a flip phone with Android running as the operating system. How do we know it is Android? The layout and icons are identical to what is found on any LG device. Here, it is just minimized. The name “Ice Cream Smart” is attached to the image; therefore, we could be looking at a possible name because the company already released an Ice Cream in 2008. While Ice Cream Smart would be very random, the name would be original for LG.
Would you be interested in a flip phone with Android, particularly for someone that needs a simplified handset? Let us know in the comments.
Source: @upleaks
Come comment on this article: Image of an LG flip phone with Android appears
WhatsApp cracks down on users of unofficial clients
It looks like WhatsApp has begun to crack down on users of third-party clients for the messaging service today. The company recently began instituting 24-hour bans for users of WhatsApp Plus, specifically. However, there have been various reports of WhatsAppMD users being affected as well.
Qualcomm’s 2015 roadmap reportedly outed, rumored to bring Snapdragon 820
In a new leak today, Chinese leaker @leaksfly outed Qualcomm‘s supposed late 2015 roadmap which includes a number of new processors we have yet to hear anything about. The leak details each new CPU and what it will bring to mobile devices. According to the document, there are no signs of a timeframe for any of these processors, though other reports have hinted at a late-2015 timeframe.
In the document, we see the upcoming processors listed as the Snapdragon 616, Snapdragon 620, Snapdragon 625 and 629, Snapdragon 815 and the Snapdragon 820. The Snapdragon 820 is an octa-core 64-bit chip with an Adreno 530 GPU, support for LPDDR4 RAM, and features support for MDM9X55 LTE-Advance Cat.10 connectivity.
One chip that we’d likely see sooner than the 820 is the Snapdragon 815, which is no slack either. The 815 is an octa-core SoC with an Adreno 450 GPU, support for the same LPDDR4 RAM, and also features MDM9X55 LTE-Advance Cat.10 connectivity. Aside from the other future processors, another distinction that stands out in the report is that the Snapdragon 625 and 629 both feature identical specifications.
We can’t vouch for the validity of this leak, so we advise you to take this document with a grain of salt. Take a look at the image below for more information.
What are your thoughts on the leak? Does anything stand out to you other than the Snapdragon 820? Let us know your thoughts.
Deal Alert: HTC One (M7) electric blue is now just $199, no contract
HTC has been on quite a roll over the last few years, introducing the revamped One series in 2013 with a full unibody design, a unique UltraPixel camera experience and wonderful front facing speakers. While the One M8 has been out for a while now and the M9 is just around the corner, that doesn’t mean that the original One M7 isn’t still worthy of our attention.
With an attractive design and still reasonably decent hardware powered by a Snapdragon 600 with 2GB of RAM, the HTC One M7 still packs specs that are more than capable of providing a solid Android experience. For those looking for a good deal, Best Buy is offering the electric blue model of the One M7 for $200, off contract. That’s a heck of a bargain, especially considering the nearly two-year old flagship has specs that easily beat out many similarly priced newer mid and low range handsets.
Keep in mind this isn’t an unlocked model, though you do have the choice between the Verizon, AT&T or Sprint models.
AIVAnet 