House approves NSA reform
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed the USA Freedom Act on Wednesday in a sweeping 338-88 vote, moving forward legislation that would curtail the NSA’s bulk collection of data. The bill now moves to the Senate, which must approve it or find a compromise by June 1 — this is when the provision of the Patriot Act that allows the NSA to collect metadata expires. The Senate is expected to vote by May 22. The White House supports the USA Freedom Act, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) opposes it and wishes to extend Section 215 of the Patriot Act, allowing the NSA to continue collecting bulk data. Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and other major tech companies have been campaigning in support of the USA Freedom Act as part of the Reform Government Surveillance coalition since late 2014. Early in May, a federal court ruled that the NSA’s collection of metadata was illegal. Read all about Section 215 here.
[Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under: Misc
Source: The Hill
How to unlock your Samsung Galaxy S5 for free
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is widely considered one of the best Android devices to ever hit the market.While initial sales weren’t quite up to Samsung’s expectations, they still moved over 12 million units within the first three months of launch and that’s nothing to sneeze at. Glowing reviews come, in part, thanks to the gorgeous display, powerful specs, and dust/water-proofing.
In fact, Consumer Reports recently recommended the S5 over Samsung’s latest offering, the Galaxy S6, citing the latter of these features as the impetus for giving the edge to an older generation model. With this positive praise, expect to see many folks picking up an S5 used or at a bargain price upgrade.
With the upgrades, or even new contracts, you’re going to run in to the dreaded SIM lock dilemma. Any device purchased from one of the major carriers is going to come restricted to their network. That means you’re not going to be able to take that AT&T device and run to T-Mobile for a discounted rate plan.
While this may be a more frequent problem for the jet-setters among us, that also means you’re going to run into major headaches trying to use a prepaid SIM card when travelling internationally.
So, your choices are to stay with Carrier X and pay whatever rate plans they wish to offer, regardless of competition, or be stuck with a $600 brick. Don’t care for that option? Yeah, we didn’t think so.
Luckily, you can SIM unlock your Samsung Galaxy S5 for free through your service provider – as long as you meet their criteria (the phone paid in full and isn’t tied to a contract). Everyone else will need to use a service like Android SIM Unlock to buy an unlock code for their phone.
Carrier Unlock
You’ll need:
- Your IMEI number. This can be found by navigating to Settings -> More -> About device -> Status or by dialing #06#
- Your carrier’s Customer Service number. If your carrier isn’t listed below, Customer Service is usually preloaded in your phone’s contacts as 611, *611 or similar variation.
- T-Mobile: 1-877-453-1304
- AT&T: 1-800-331-0500
- Sprint: 1-866-866-7509
- Verizon: 1-800-922-0204
The simplest, and least expensive, course of action is to simply call your carrier and request the unlock code. Bear in mind that it could be a little tough; Carrier X doesn’t want to lose out on your business. If your service provider grants your request it will usually e-mail your unlock code within a few days. Have this code ready as you’ll be prompted when entering another carrier’s SIM card.
SIM Unlocking your Samsung Galaxy S5 is a rather painless process. Here’s a 5-step process to help you out.
A great alternative
If your service provider wasn’t able to supply you with a free SIM unlock code for your Galaxy S5, buying one from Android SIM Unlock is the next best option. The site offers incredible customer service along with a money-back guarantee if the SIM unlock code they provide does not work.
The post How to unlock your Samsung Galaxy S5 for free appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Apple Makes New App Analytics Beta Available to All Developers [iOS Blog]
At the beginning of the month, Apple debuted a new app analytics platform that gives developers a detailed look at app usage statistics. The feature was initially limited to those who requested access to the beta testing program, but as of today, Apple is giving all developers access to the App Analytics beta.
Developers are now receiving emails letting them now about the availability of the new feature, which is free with an iOS Developer Program membership and requires no additional coding or app updates.
App Analytics gives developers access to a number of different usage stats, letting them determine the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and promotions. The feature lets developers see which websites and blogs drive the most traffic to an app, and it determines how many app downloads a developer’s App Store product page earns.
By creating unique links for each marketing campaign, a developer can determine what’s effective and what’s not, and detailed user engagement metrics let developers see how people are using apps. There’s information active devices, number of sessions, and retention, so a developer can tell how long someone’s using an app and how often.
Apple’s App Analytics information is currently available to all iTunes Connect users who have an Admin, Finance, or Sales role. On the consumer end, customers need not worry about developers having access to personal info — Apple only displays aggregated data, not personally identifiable information from customers. Users also need to opt-in to share their app usage data to Apple, which can be done via Settings –> Privacy.
Huawei will show us what its “unlocking” next at a press event in NYC on June 2nd
Huawei has just sent out press invites for an event that will be held in New York City on June 2nd. Not many details are given in the invitation, aside from the quote “See what we’re unlocking next”.
Huawei just launched its high-end P8 smartphone a few weeks ago, and its budget-friendly SnapTo handset was announced not too long before that. Perhaps this will just be the US launch of the P8, or maybe we’ll get another new smartphone from the company. Although there are some rumors floating around that Huawei might be making the next Nexus phone, we’ll probably have to wait until the end of the year for more details on that. Either way, we need to wait until June to find out any more information on Huawei’s big announcement.
What do you think Huawei will show off at the event?
AT&T Galaxy S6 and Sprint Galaxy S6 Edge receiving minor updates today
If you own a new Galaxy S6 on AT&T’s network or a Galaxy S6 Edge on Sprint’s network, a small update should be rolling out to your devices today. The update from Sprint comes in at just 130MB and will bring the software version up to G925PVPU1AOE2, while AT&T’s update weighs slightly more at 237MB. Both updates will leave the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge on Android 5.0.2.
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Even though both devices will stay on Android 5.0.2, the update to 5.1 shouldn’t be too far off. According to Canadian mobile carrier Rodgers, both Samsung devices will get the update to Android 5.1 Lollipop sometime in June.
Have you received either of these updates yet? If so, be sure to let us know in the comment section below!
Gmail for Android to get will get a couple new improvements
Google is going to be improving Gmail for Android over the next few days with a couple new features, based on user feedback.
Google will be adding a new feature where Gmail users can tap on people’s avatars to pull up useful data, such as recent conversations, contact info, and etc. Not only is this handy because it removes a lot of steps to access that information, but it also makes it easier to sort through a lot of contacts.
The other feature mentioned on Gmail’s Google Plus page is better support for non-Gmail addresses. Google says its much more reliable and an overall “smoother experience” now.
Gmail for Android users should begin seeing this update over the next few days. If you got it, be sure to let us know in the comments!
source: Google Plus
Come comment on this article: Gmail for Android to get will get a couple new improvements
RadioShack Sold to Hedge Fund Savior for $26.2 Million
Remember RadioShack? Sure you do. Back in the day it was the place to buy random cables, connectors, radio-controlled cars, and the like. But then Monoprice and Amazon kinda ruined that for ol’ RS. RadioShack then tried to sell more consumer devices and act as an authorized vendor for cell phone companies, but no one cared. Because why do I want to go to RadioShack for any of that? The erstwhile DIY electronics leader filed for bankruptcy this past February, trying to pay off more than $1 billion in debt and shut down our convert most of its stores.
Hedge fund Standard General snatched up 1,740 shares of RadioShack stock in March. Standard General attempted to convert RadioShack into a “premier community destination for consumer electronics,” as The Washington Post said, shedding its inventory of brand-name gadgets and focusing solely on things like batteries, cell phone chargers, and headphones. Oh, and Sprint phones. Lots of Sprint phones.
That plan hasn’t panned out entirely, and today, Standard General purchased RadioShack’s name and intellectual property for a cool $26.2 million, up from the starting bid of $15 million. That little bit of IP includes invaluable customer data. General Wireless, Standard General’s wireless affiliate, says it will streamline the RadioShack brand even further, focusing on “necessities” and Sprint products. If a Sprint contract isn’t a necessity, I don’t know what is. My whole world is crashing down, people.
Will RadioShack 2.0 rise like a Lazarusian beast, undeterred and unable to be vanquished again? Only time will tell. Standard General clearly sees some value in the brand even if everyday consumers don’t. We’re not in Woolworth’s territory yet.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Come comment on this article: RadioShack Sold to Hedge Fund Savior for $26.2 Million
Huawei sets June 2 for big reveal in New York City
Huawei is inviting the media to attend an event in New York City on June 2, and it seems to be about a new Huawei smartphone.
In the invitation, Huawei wants the media to “see what’s unlocking next.” While it’s probably only an official US announcement for the Huawei P8 smartphone, there’s possibilities for more, such as an official rundown on the new Huawei smartwatch, which wouldn’t be too far-fetched. We’ll just have to wait until June 2 and see what Huawei has in store.
All we know for certain is that Huawei plans take on the U.S. market. Hopefully they’ll offer a competitive edge in whatever they’re bringing to the US.
What are you expecting Huawei unleash upon us in the United States? The P8? A Chinese government spying device? Let us know in the comments!
Come comment on this article: Huawei sets June 2 for big reveal in New York City
AT&T To Offer Hulu Subscription Streaming Service To AT&T Customers
AT&T and Hulu have come to an agreement on a deal that will bring Hulu’s subscription streaming service to the network’s customers through its websites and mobile apps. It will be available sometime later this year.
Andrew Goodman, associate vice president, stated of the partnership:
“We know that our customers want to be able to access video on multiple devices, [s]o we’re excited to be able to expand our relationship with Hulu and make its innovative and vast video selections available to AT&T customers on multiple screens.”
This follows AT&T’s expansion into over-the-top initiatives, which include Otter Media, a partnership between the company and The Cherin Group, and its purchase of a majority stake in Fullscreen, a global online media company.
The post AT&T To Offer Hulu Subscription Streaming Service To AT&T Customers appeared first on AndroidGuys.
A virtual server bug is said to be worse than Heartbleed
In case you were napping, Heartbleed struck web servers’ OpenSSL security last year, opening up the servers’ memory to intruders. There’s a new so-called zero-day vulnerability, only this time the researchers who discovered it say it’s much worse, impacting millions of datacenter machines. The flaw is called Venom, which stands for Virtualized Environment Neglected Operations Manipulation. What does that mean? With the common practice of putting multiple customers into virtual servers, datacenters are setup to share some key tools, but sensitive information remains separated. Thanks to Venom, though, a hacker can gain access to a datacenters’ entire storage network, leaving all of the customers on it vulnerable. As you might expect, the issue resides in an often ignored virtual floppy disk controller, but when it’s exploited, it’s like opening up a vault of stored info. As ZDNet reports, many modern virtual systems contain the bug — platforms like Oracle’s VirtualBox, KVM and Xen. The good news is Oracle says it already remedied the issue, and will nix it completely in forthcoming update.
[Image credit: Marvel via Getty images]
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: ZDNet
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