This Netherlands bank lets use your voice as your password
Online banking is usually an exercise in remembering complicated pin numbers or passwords — but what if there was an easier way? In the Netherlands, there is: banking customers who use the ING Netherlands app can now long into their bank account, check balances and make transfers using just their voice.
The technology is called voice biometrics, and it’s actually powered by Nuance’s Nina. When it was shown off a few years back, it offered a pretty compelling alternative to remembering a pin-code — a video for the feature showed a host of people simply saying “my voice is my password” to check their bank balance and buy concert tickets. Not only is it more convenient, Nuance claims, but it’s actually more secure: voice recognition isn’t susceptible to brute force attacks and a failed attempt to fool the system can be recorded, stored and used to improve security.
ING Netherlands is rolling the feature out to iOS and Android users now, noting that compatible devices will also be able to use fingerprint recognition, instead.
[Image Credit: PhotoAlto / Alamy]
Source: Nuance
Microsoft Visual Studio Emulator now supports Android Studio and Eclipse with ADT
Microsoft’s Visual Studio Emulator for Android was launched only last November. It was the tech company’s attempt at getting developers working on Android apps from their own platform, but it proved to be less successful than expected. The service was great, with fast performance and unique features, but it required downloading Visual Studio just for the emulator to work.
Developers wanted to continue using other developer tools for building applications, yet were compelled by the idea of using what Microsoft calls the “best emulator on the planet”. The Redmond giant has good news for Android developers around the world, as the Visual Studio Emulator for Android can now be downloaded as a standalone app, allowing you to use it with either Android Studio or Eclipse with ADT.
Here’s the way it works. The emulator will connect via ADB (Android Debug Bridge). The system would then recognize the emulator as a USB-connected device. You do have to dig around some settings before Visual Emulator for Android can work with either of these developer programs, but the steps are simple. Microsoft has posted instructions in their blog post, so refer to it for all the details.
Interested? Why don’t you give it a try? You can go ahead and download it straight from the Visual Studio official page. It’s free, so there is really nothing to lose here. And now that it doesn’t carry a burdensome load, you may want to start making your apps with it.
Nokia’s virtual reality camera is designed for filmmakers
Nokia has just revealed a new camera for filmmakers called OZO that can capture virtual reality videos. But unlike similar devices from GoPro and Samsung unveiled in the past months, it’s not a flattened circle with cameras but a spherical ball-like device with shutters all over it. It has eight shutter sensors in all to capture 360-degree videos and eight integrated microphones. What users might find advantageous is its capability to show them what it’s shooting in real time through a VR headset. It can also churn out a low-resolution version of the footage it shot within just a few minutes if filmmakers want to see it again or to show it to someone else. Videos captured through similar cameras usually have to be stitched together during processing before you can see them, and that takes a lot of time.
Of course, directors can always publish high-res versions later on for VR viewing devices, including HUDs like the Oculus Rift. One studio, Jaunt Inc., has already pledged to use and support the OZO despite having a more traditional VR camera of its own. Nokia hasn’t revealed the device’s full specs and pricing yet, but it’s slated to be shipped out by the fourth quarter of 2015.
Source: Nokia
This Arduino Basic Kit has everything a newbie maker could ask for
It’s easy to think about tinkering around with Arduino, but take more than 30 seconds to look at the platform, and suddenly it becomes daunting: not only do you need an Arduino itself, but to get started you need resisters, wires, LEDs, screens and a host of other components that are almost always sold separately. Have no fear, newbies: there’s a new Arduino Basic Kit in town, and it has all the spare parts a beginner could want.
There’s quite a lot in the starter package — from a mess of colorful LEDs, a wide assortment of buttons, sensors and potentiometers to motors, battery connectors and a ton of capacitors, diodes and resisters. The package even concludes a simple wooden case for your Arduino and a breadboard to test your projects out before you solder them together. Not sure what to build? You’re covered there, too: the set comes with instructions for 15 projects, including mood testers, lamps, clocks and more. Not bad for $84.
Technically, the extras in the Arduino Basic Kit aren’t anything a savvy consumer couldn’t order piecemeal, but there’s something nice about having everything ready for you in one place. If you’ve been thinking about tinkering with Arduino and don’t know where to start, take a look — the kit is available for order on Autodesk’s 123D Circuits shop.
Filed under: Misc
Source: 123D Circuits
AT&T Urges FCC to Drop $100 Million Fine, Says Data Throttling Doesn’t Harm Customers
Last month the United States Federal Communications Commission announced that it would fine AT&T $100 million for misleading customers about its unlimited data plans and not adequately warning customers about throttling their data speeds. AT&T has since responded, arguing that data throttling doesn’t harm customers, the company is being prejudged and that its First Amendment rights are being violated in a response first found by The Hill (via Ars Technica).
The Commission’s findings that consumers and competition were harmed are devoid of factual support and wholly implausible. Its “moderate” forfeiture penalty of $100 million is plucked out of thin air, and the injunctive sanctions it proposes are beyond the Commission’s authority. Both, moreover, reflect an unseemly effort to coerce settlement. And the NAL and the related press campaign confirm that the agency has already prejudged AT&T’s liability, abandoning any pretext that the Commission remains an impartial arbiter of the case.
AT&T, who wants the FCC to drop the fine, claims that it has made all the required disclosures to customers, pointing out that its Unlimited Data Plan customers were more likely to renew their contracts than non-Unlimited Data Plan customers. Additionally, the telecommunications company argued the FCC would be outside of its authority in both imposing the fine and making other requests because the statute of limitations on the case has passed.
Lastly, AT&T argued that the FCC has no authority to order the company to inform its customers that it violated the Transparency Rule in not telling them about speed changes when throttling data because the statement would both be untrue and a violation of AT&T’s First Amendment rights.
AT&T ceased selling Unlimited Data Plans years ago but continues to have customers grandfathered to its Unlimited Data Plans. Previously, the company throttled its Unlimited Data Plan customers once they exceeded 5 GB of LTE data, but in May the company changed its policy to only throttle customers when connected to a cell tower experiencing network congestion.
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