SIM card maker Gemalto investigates spy agencies’ hack attack
When word of a savvy hack conducted by agents of two intelligence agencies against SIM maker Gemalto broke yesterday, company representatives seemed to be caught completely off-guard. Now, with egg on its face and a security backlash in the offing, Gemalto’s publicly pledging to look into The Intercept’s scary allegations.
“We cannot at this early stage verify the findings of the publication and had no prior knowledge that these agencies were conducting this operation,” the company’s statement reads. “We take this publication very seriously and will devote all resources necessary to fully investigate and understand the scope of such sophisticated techniques.”
It was only a matter of time before Gemalto decided to get to the bottom of the things, but plenty of damage has already been done. Starting in 2010, a group of agents from the NSA and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters kicked off a subtle cyberattack against Gemalto (and some of its biggest SIM-making rivals) in a bid to find the encryption keys that keep our mobile communications secure. Normally, those keys are only stored in two places: right on your phone’s SIM card and in a data center controlled by your wireless carrier, which means they’re out of reach to intelligence agencies unless they go through the hassle of getting strong legal justification to get them.
What the so-called Mobile Handset Exploitation Team managed to do was honestly pretty insane — it allegedly infiltrated Gemalto’s network, spied on key company employees and engineers, and figured out how those keys changed hands between Gemalto and the wireless carriers it partnered up with. Once all that was taken care of, the team intercepted keys for millions of SIM cards, meaning it could decrypt the phone calls and text messages moving from phones to carriers at its leisure. Neither the NSA or the GCHQ has commented on The Intercept’s report, but really, did anyone expect them to?
Filed under: Mobile
Source: New York Times
Google Docs, Sheets and Slides updated with UI improvements
Google has released an update for its full suite of Google Drive companion apps by way of the Play Store. This upgrade brings a few minor additions, which are purely designed to enhance the overall user experience, to the Docs, Sheets and Slides applications.
Docs now has support for selecting, cutting, copying and pasting text along with images, tables, and charts in Office Compatibility Mode, as well as the ability to insert links in Google documents.
The action bar has now switched places with the toggle between list/grid view button for Docs, Sheets and Slides, and an “Open Saved Document” button has been added in place of the standard switch.
All pretty trivial stuff, but very welcomed changes. Hit the links below to download and install the update.
Download: Docs
Download: Sheets
Download: Slides
Come comment on this article: Google Docs, Sheets and Slides updated with UI improvements
Google Search “carousel” highlights the most recent news
Today, Google is pushing out a new update to its mobile search platform, designed to group a publication’s most recent content on your topic of choice together into a single, easy to peruse list.
If you query a particular topic, news item, or even a sports team, Google Search for mobile will now display a “carousel” of recent articles and videos on the subject, exactly like in the GIF at the top of this page. However, Google only appears to pick from a single source for each search result, so you won’t necessarily find all of the content that you’re after located in the carousel.
The feature doesn’t apply to all websites either, so you might not see a full selection of results appear for all your usual sites. Google plans to bring the new search feature to additional websites in the near future.
Google has already brought a couple of other features to its mobile search platform this year, including information regarding health conditions and a new mortgage payment calculator.
Have you spotted the new carousel news feature, what do you think about it?
Japan Display Looks to Partner With Apple on New $1.7 Billion iPhone Display Plant [iOS Blog]
Foreign display manufacturer Japan Display Inc. (JPI) is seeking to be Apple’s next go-to source for iPhone screens in the future, according to someone “familiar with the matter” (via The Wall Street Journal).
With the increase in profit overseas, especially following Apple’s attempt at a bigger presence in places like China over the past few months, the source reported that JPI is hoping Apple takes much of the cost for the proposed plant’s investment. As pointed out by Reuters, JPI is aiming for the plant to be operable by next year, and hopes Apple itself would pay much of the predicted 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion) cost of the project.
“We are reviewing various considerations to strengthen our business competitiveness, including new factories, but we haven’t made any decision yet,” Japan Display said in a statement Friday. Apple declined to comment.
The unnamed source continued to describe the plant’s possible location, stating that Ishikawa, in central Japan, is “most likely” the site for the manufacturing plant. JPI runs a plant southeast of Tokyo, in Mobara, “which makes 50,000 of the 1.5 by 1.85 metre sheets a month for iPhone 6 screens and other uses.” According to the source, the new plant would have a “greater capacity” than even JPI’s Mobara facility.
JPI, formed from the troubled display portions of Sony Corp, Toshiba Corp, and Hitachi Ltd, has already seen a resurgence of profit after two consecutive quarter losses thanks to increasing demand from Apple-related devices. Now it wants a bigger contract with the Cupertino-based company – and its record-breaking profits – to boost its own earnings even higher.
GoPro Windows Phone app updated with pairing process improvements and more
The official GoPro app for Windows Phone has received an update today, offering users a few new improvements and changes, including some related to the pairing process for the app.
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Apple reportedly prepping iOS public beta program
It appears that Apple will be turning to the public to improve iOS stability. The company will reportedly be offering a public beta test of new iOS releases in the near future, much like their public betas of OS X, which began in 2014 ahead of the launch of OS X Yosemite. The iOS public betas will reportedly utilize Apple’s current AppleSeed public testing program, and begin in March with iOS 8.3, followed this summer by iOS 9.
From 9to5Mac:
Following the successful launch of the OS X Public Beta program with OS X Yosemite last year, Apple intends to release the upcoming iOS 8.3 as a public beta via the company’s existing AppleSeed program in mid-March, according to the sources. This release will match the third iOS 8.3 beta for developers, which is planned for release the same week. Apple then expects to debut iOS 9 at its June Worldwide Developer Conference, with a public beta release during the summer, and final release in the fall…
It would seem that Apple wants to use the iOS public beta program to help make their mobile operating system more stable in the final release. There is no information at this time as to how large or small these public betas may be.
Source: 9to5Mac
Google Play Store update brings back the search bar
In Android 5.0, Google introduced some smooth and gorgeous animations and as such we here at TalkAndroid like to see it all over. Well one app that will be getting the search animations, and the search bar itself, is the Google Play Store.
Kirill Grouchnikov teased on his Google+ yesterday afternoon that the search bar and its animations are rolling out to the Play Store. After the update, Android users should be treated to the wonderful animations and search bar, you see below.
In his post, he mentions with a hashtag that the roll out will happen soon. So as soon as it does let us know in the comments section below.
source: Kirill Grouchnikov
via: PocketNow
Come comment on this article: Google Play Store update brings back the search bar
Apple Watch might target the fashion crowd in high-end Paris stores
How do you make a smartwatch appeal to the fashion set? By bringing it into their natural habitat: Ridiculously expensive retailers in fashion hubs. French news sites are reporting (via 9to5Mac) that Apple is setting up booths for the Apple Watch within high-end Paris stores like Galeries Lafayette (above) on the Champs Elysses. Don’t forget that Apple isn’t just targeting tech geeks with its smartwatch, it’s also aiming at the same deep-pocketed consumers that keep the Swiss watch industry alive. To compete with the likes of Rolex and Richemont (whose watch brands include Cartier and Piaget), it needs to be in the same stores. And while the Apple Watch will start at $350, its fancier steel and gold versions will push its price into territory that the company’s traditional devotees might have a tough time stomaching. Judging from the reports we’ve heard, the steel watch could go for more than $500, while the gold Apple Watch Edition could go for several thousand dollars.
9to5Mac is also hearing that Apple is considering plenty of other retail strategies: It could bring more Apple Watch kiosks into existing retailers, or it may even launch standalone stores for its smartwatch. That may seem a tad much at the moment, but if the Apple Watch takes off there may be a need for smaller stores that focus on it entirely, similar to Swatch’s retail approach.
[Photo credit: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Apple
Via: 9to5Mac
Source: Mac4Ever
BlackBerry 10.3.1 update includes the Amazon Appstore
BlackBerry has just starting rolling out version 10.3.1 of its OS to a range of devices, including the BlackBerry Passport, Z30, Z3, Z10, Q10, and Q5. What is particularly interesting about this update is that it also includes the Amazon AppStore, granting Blackberry users access to a wide range of Android apps.
This update has been a long time in the making, Blackberry initially announced Amazon store integration back in June of 2014. Although not quite as extensive as the Google Play Store, Amazon’s AppStore contains a good portion of the most popular Android games and applications, which will really help bulk up the range of apps available to BlackBerry customers.
Following a huge decline in its market share, Blackberry has gradually been opening up to competing platforms, including porting its messenger service to other operating systems and promising support for Google’s Android Wear. While clearly a positive move for consumers, this will likely come at the cost of support for its own store, as developers no longer need to cater exclusively to Blackberry’s smaller platform.
BlackBerry 10.3.1 is rolling out to devices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East starting today, subject to carrier approval, while a North American release is scheduled for the future.
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