Most of the government’s anonymous tiplines aren’t secure

When it comes to whistleblowing, privacy is paramount — just ask Edward Snowden. It’s also why news from an American Civil Liberties Association report (PDF) about anonymous government tiplines not using HTTPS encryption is all the more alarming. In a letter to Tony Scott — not the late filmmaker, the United States chief information officer — the ACLU’s Michael W. Macleod-Ball and Christopher Soghoian implore the government to fast-track efforts to swap the some 29 websites that are required by law to protect the anonymity of tipsters over to HTTPS. If that can’t happen immediately (Scott has a two-year plan to encrypt all government websites) then the ACLU suggests allowing people to use the Tor browser for alerting the authorities about fraud or waste in the interim. Currently, the anonymity-minded browser is blocked by certain federal agency websites.

As The Washington Post reports, the “Rewards for Justice” website that offers up to $10 million in rewards for terrorism tips is wide-open and practically anyone (state-sponsored spies, internet cafe owners, et cetera) could peep in and compromise a source’s invisibility. As another example, the Department of Homeland Security’s hotline doesn’t use HTTPS and neither does that of the Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

One of the Post‘s sources says that it seems more like an oversight rather than anything nefarious. He equates the lack of encryption on the tipline for the General Services Administration’s website, which handles criminal investigations and grand jury info, to leaving a witness file on a receptionist’s desk. The rest of the website? It’s encrypted. The idea here is to make sure that anonymous informants stay anonymous, no matter what. Until that happens, it looks like anyone reporting something fishy to the government could be at risk of compromising their safety.

[Image credit: Marilyn Nieves/Getty]

Filed under: Internet

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Via: The Washington Post

Source: ACLU (PDF)(1), (2)

Why data limits and overage charges should go away

Now, if you’ve read the latest news, T-Mobile’s John Legere has been on YouTube again, talking about other mobile carriers and overage charges. Unless you’re living under a rock, most of us probably agree with him. However, if you have either been in hibernation or you were living somewhere without a link to the outside world, let’s start from the beginning.

If you go back to the way the mobile phone industry used to be, there was no worries about going over any data cap. There simply wasn’t a reason to use data. Text messaging was the only extra charges you could incur, mainly because most people carried feature phones. They were dumb phones, and the only major smartphones at the time in existence were made by BlackBerry, Palm, or Samsung. These relatively expensive devices were some of the only phones that carried integrated QWERTY keyboards, or even crudely surfed the Internet. No one we knew really used the devices, aside from the businessmen or the technologically savvy super geek.

Then the announcement of the iPhone happened. People who were interested in buying the phone stood in lines for hours, and waited patiently, for a phone that could surf the Internet at a speed of a little more than a megabyte a second. The only negatives were that AT&T was the only carrier to get the handset, and for the first time the customer would really be charged for data usage. Then, a short time later Android was created, and not only did the age of the smartphone arrive, but so did the concepts of pooled data and the now reviled data cap.

Mostly everyone knows about the pooled data limit, but here’s an explanation. I’ll use myself as the example. If I use two lines with 50 gigabytes of pooled data and only use 48 gigabytes I still pay for all 50 gigabytes, but I didn’t exceed the data cap, so I don’t get charged for overage. However, if I used 60 gigabytes I get charged $15 for every gigabyte I used over the data cap.

Still, not a single person had to worry much about data back in 2007 because the carriers that had Android phones on shelves mostly just had an unlimited data plan. For example, when I bought my first T-Mobile G1 in 2008,(some people know that as the HTC Dream) I had one rate for unlimited talk, text and data. I used that plan for all the YouTube videos that I could stream on the edge network.

As the time wore on, increases in smartphone sales meant that carriers like Verizon and Sprint had less data capacity as before, and the concept of unlimited data began to sour. It would be a while before carriers could upgrade network signal and speeds.

However, Verizon ended the practice of unlimited data for new contracts and joined AT&T with using pooled data limits. Sprint is dabbling with pooled data limits, still offering unlimited data in most markets. Despite complaints about coverage.

So why all the fuss over the concept of data caps, or overage charges? Why can’t people like me or John Legere or everyone who uses a smartphone just sit back and shut up? There several reasons for this, and if you ask different people the same question you can get several answers depending on who you ask.. Here’s mine.

The first reason is that as time goes on, applications are using more and more data. Nowadays, YouTube can stream video at 2K resolution. That’s roughly between 1-2 gigabytes being used per hour of streaming. I know that seems like a lot of time, but it adds up fast. Watch 3 MKBHD videos, our review of the OnePlus One, and then watch the new Star Wars teaser a couple of times, and you’re already at 30 minutes. Not enough for you to worry about? Try using Spotify or Tidal, at high quality. A single song streaming on those applications just ate up ten megabytes on Spotify, and about three to six times that if you use Tidal.

My next point is that application size isn’t what it used to be either. Several years ago, apps were an average of 5 to 10 megabytes. Today the average is twenty, and the maximum size that Google and Apple allow is four gigabytes. Download a few of these and your data limit is gone.

My final reason is that the current rate of data delivery has also increased. Verizon has launched VOLTE (voice over data) with rates of about thirty megabytes a second. Sprint was working on the SPARK network. The project was planning to deliver speeds of up to 200 megabytes per second. Nokia is planning a 5G network in Europe. Speeds on that system have been tested at a mind numbing two gigabytes per second.

The reason that anyone should argue for the end of the data cap as we know it is that the concept doesn’t make sense any longer. The world of smartphones and data usage has changed. The mobile wireless carriers need to change with it.

The post Why data limits and overage charges should go away appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Boost Mobile goes after Cuban-Americans with new prepaid plan

Now that the political relations between the US and Cuba have taken a turn for the better, American companies are pushing out marketing schemes to fit the bill. Today, Boost Mobile, Sprint’s prepaid branch, announced a monthly plan that’s geared toward customers who have loved ones in Cuba. The caveat, unfortunately, is that it’s only available in Miami right now — but the strategy makes sense, since it’s a city with a dense population of Cuban-Americans. If you’re there, $50 a month gets you unlimited text and 15 talk minutes to Cuba at 33 cents per minute — which the company claims to be the lowest rate among prepaid carriers. Boost’s Cuba Monthly Connection deal also includes 5GB of data and all-you-can-have texting and calling within the US, while $10 more monthly doubles your data.

We expect to see more of this type of initiatives in the near future, as both countries continue to thaw their frisky affairs. When asked if it planned to make the plan available outside Miami, something that would benefit people who live elsewhere across the States, Boost Mobile said it had no comment at this time.

[Image credit: Getty Images]

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Mobile, Sprint

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Swimmo hits Kickstarter as both a smartwatch and swimming coach

Smartwatches and fitness trackers are full of sensors and features that allow them to pinpoint exactly what a user is doing. Swimming, though, has been a tricky task to be tracked. A new smartwatch called Swimmo aims to give swimmers full attention by doing everything a smartwatch should do while acting as a swimming coach. Swimmo is capable of distance tracking, recognizing which calories were burned, speed tracking, monitoring heart rate, and timing swimmers in the water. This smartwatch does not require a constant connection to an Android phone; therefore, use it freely in the water and the data will sync later on when devices are nearby.

The two highlighted features that Swimmo wants swimmers to take advantage of are PaceKeeper and IntensityCoach. The former utilizes vibration to indicate to swimmers that they are above or below the recommended pace. IntensityCoach monitors heart rate for an optimal level during activity. With the companion app, swimmers have organized data with a list of goals, personal bests, and challenges. All of this data also works with a few fitness and social apps.

The Kickstarter campaign has fulfilled $34,024 of its $39,000 goal at the time of this post being published. The first wave of backers should receive their units by October or November. The retail price upon launch will be $230, but Kickstarter has that reduced a bit.

Swimmo: Smartwatch Designed to Improve Swimmer’s Strength

High tech smartwatch that improves swimmers strength, performance and pace launches on Kickstarter

Dover, Delaware, April 15, 2015: Swimmo, a smartwatch and personal swimming coach, launches on Kickstarter today. Swimmo breaks down the barriers of current monitoring devices available to swimmers by offering personalized training and real time progress. Swimmo helps swimmer’s train smarter by tracking distance, pace, heart rate and calories burned all from one simple, waterproof device. Swimmo’s innovative technology makes sure that users stay within their ideal training zones by alerting them with vibrations when it is time to speed up or slow down. Swimmo is the ideal tool for professional athletes, tri-athletes or anyone who is trying to improve their strength get in shape through swimming.

‘There are many apps and devices that support training for runners and cyclists, but very few are created specifically for swimmers” says Swimmo CEO, Mateusz Heleniak. ‘We decided to change that with Swimmo, a smartwatch that overcomes all the challenges of using a wearable device underwater. Swimmo focuses on developing the strength and power of muscles through customized training. We have outfitted the device with a number of proprietary technologies such as Rotate&Tap™ gesture control, a waterproof hear rate sensor, IntensityCoach™ and PaceKeeper™. All of these features help keep your swimming pace in line with your current training plan”.

Swimmo features a built in sensor that accurately measures heart rate directly from the users wrist. The smart watch is than able to communicate messages such as slow down, keep the pace, or speed up (IntensityCoach™ and PaceKeeper™ technologies) throughout the training session by sending vibrations of variable frequency.

Swimmo measures distance, pace, amount of calories burned as well as total time spent in water or even on an individual lap. The smartwatch syncs its results to the free Swimmo app (available for iOS and Android) so users can monitor their progress over time. With the Swimmo app users can share their results on social media and on popular fitness forums such as RunKeeper.

Swimmo’s sleek, elegant design can be utilized outside the pool as well. The device can serve as a designer sports watch that digitally displays date and time.

Swimmo’s features are accessed by intuitive Rotate&Tap™ technology that utilizes two simple hand gestures: rotating the wrist (select menu options) and tapping the display (confirm). The smart watch uses energy saving Bluetooth 4.0 to communicate with the Swimmo app for Android and iOS devices. The device’s interface is displayed on an OLED, full-color screen adapted to work under water.

Swimmo is made of high-grade materials. The watchband made of a modern polymer material is smooth to the touch, anti-allergic, and prevents discomfort or chafing. The bezel has been designed to eliminate itching or scratching.

Swimmo is currently being offered on Kickstarter at the discounted rate of $169 (estimated MSRP $230). The first 29 backers will be able to pre-order the smartwatch for a special early bird pledge rate of $149. Backers will begin to receiving their smartwatches in October 2015.

About Swimmo

Swimmo is a team of professionals established by Mateusz Heleniak, an entrepreneur and a visionary passionate about swimming. He has gained his rich business experience as a Lead User Experience Designer in Polish ecommerce companies, including Allegro Group. Apart from Mateusz, the Swimmo’s team consists of Tomasz Wątorowski, Michal Bonikowski and Rafal Piłat, the creators of a very innovative product: DICE+, the winner of the prestigious IF GOLD Product Design Award 2014. The project has seed financing and is supported by experts in launching products, including the co-creator of such projects as Sherlybox and Woolet. Both of them have already succeeded on Kickstarter. Swimmo is incorporated in US with R&D center in Poland.

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Verizon’s new ‘Custom’ FiOS TV plans are a little more flexible

Every time we talk about a new TV service, from Sling TV to PlayStation Vue to whatever Apple might be working on, there’s inevitably disappointment when it’s lacking a la carte channel selection. That’s still the case for the new FiOS Custom TV packages Verizon tells us it will start offering on Sunday, but they do give customers a little more choice on what channels to pay for, or leave out. The way it works, is there’s a 35-channel base package (CNN, AMC, HGTV, locals networks, etc.) combined with internet service. For $65, customers get that, plus any two add-on channel packages. The add-on packs are bundled by genre in a manner similar to Sling TV, with Sports (where ESPN lives), News & Info, Pop Culture, Entertainment, Kids, Lifestyle, and Sports Plus (regional sports networks, NFL Network and so on).

[Image credit: Associated Press]

Additional channel packages cost $10 each, and subscribers can switch around every 30 days, or even add phone service for a $75 total. We don’t have the full lists of which channels are in which package, but we should find out soon. New or existing customers can sign up via Verizon’s website on the 19th, so let us know — is this close enough or are you still holding out for channel-by-channel choice?

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD

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Source: Reuters

Chrome OS update incoming: Files app with Material Design, improved launcher, and more

Owners of devices running Chrome OS can expect an update to arrive over the next few weeks. The latest update, version 42.0.2311.87, brings various changes ranging from the Files app influenced by Material Design, an improved launcher with Google services, and support for zip files with passwords. Behind the scenes, Google has removed bugs and implemented fixes.

Here is the full changelog:

• Files app has been refreshed to follow the suit with Material Design
• New Chrome OS Launcher including better search experience, voice search, and Google Now integration
• Updated calculator app
• Support for password-protected zip files
• Default typeface on all Chromebooks has been updated to Roboto for Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts, to be more consistent with Material Design

Source: Google

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