FCC hires a privacy guru to help lead its telecom investigations
If you want proof that the Federal Communications Commission is getting serious about privacy, you only need to look at its latest recruit. The agency has hired Jonathan Mayer, one of the masterminds behind Do Not Track browsing, as the chief technologist for its Enforcement Bureau. He’ll help lead investigations into any shady behavior from telecoms and TV providers, particularly if they run afoul of your privacy or security.
Source: Washington Post
DARPA wants to protect critical infrastructures from cyber attacks
Hackers have been breaking through a lot of government agency’s defenses these past years, and DARPA thinks it’s high time to do something about it. Pentagon’s mad science division has launched a new program called Rapid Attack Detection, Isolation and Characterization (RADICS), which aims to develop innovative technologies that can quickly detect and respond to cyber attacks. Not just any cyber attacks, though: RADICS was specifically created to deflect security threats on critical infrastructures in the US, especially those that are vital to the Department of Defense’s missions. The agency likely wants to make sure the government can quickly detect and fight off terrorists and/or hackers trying to switch off the country’s electricity or transportation systems.
Deal: buy a Nexus 5 for as low as $130!
The Nexus 5 continues to be a great device for many of our readers, and some of you have even managed to get one for a very good price lately, but no deal has compared to this one so far. If you don’t mind getting yourself a refurbished device, Expansys has a deal that is very hard to say no to. The online retailer is selling the older-generation handset for only $129.99!
And this does include the black, white or red 16 GB iterations. If that’s not enough storage space for you, the 32 GB iterations are also available for $149.99, in the same colors.
Also read:
- Google’s Nexus 5: revisited
- Nexus 6 vs Nexus 5
- Nexus 5X vs Nexus 5
- Should Google keep selling the Nexus 5?
Talk about finding the right deal! This could be great for casual users who wouldn’t mind going with an older device that still outperforms many of the current smartphones at that price point. The Nexus 5 carries a 5-inch 1080p screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2 GB of RAM, an 8 MP rear camera, a 1.3 MP front-facing shooter and a modest 2300 mAh battery.
It has been hard to find a Nexus 5 since Google stopped offering it in the Play Store, which is likely the reason why it’s going for such a low price. Retailers are probably trying to phase it out of their inventories.
It’s a win-win, so go ahead and sign up for your Nexus 5 if you are looking to get a good phone on the cheap. It might also make a great holiday gift!
Buy the 16 GB Nexus 5:
Buy the 32 GB Nexus 5:
Alphabet is cracking down on the spending of subsidiaries
Google once had many smaller projects it was working on, but all of those are now their own company under the Alphabet umbrella. However, unlike before, Alphabet will be keeping a close eye on their spending habits, and making sure they are held accountable for their spending.
Some of the “smaller” companies owned by Alphabet are Google, Google X, Fiber, Nest, Calico, Life Sciences, and more. However, all of these companies now have to pay full price to use each others resources. For example, Nest may want to use Google Cloud Platform, and will have to pay full price just like everyone else.
The main point Alphabet is trying to make is that everyone needs to be fully aware of their spending habits. Also, subsidiaries do not have to use Google and its products, but can if they are the cost effective choice. If not, use someone else.
The only problem would be will this prevent “moonshot” projects? It’s hard to say right now, but we would imagine Alphabet will allow companies like Google X project to take a little extra time before they are held accountable, while a much larger company like Google will have to pay sooner.
The move to do this was made to please Wall Street investors who were worried Alphabet was spending too much money on all these smaller, possibly not profitable, projects. However, any new changes will not be seen until a couple of months from now as Alphabet won’t share any numbers about moonshot projects until next quarter.
Source: WSJ
Come comment on this article: Alphabet is cracking down on the spending of subsidiaries
Confirmed: Apple Acquired Real-Time Motion Capture Firm Faceshift
Earlier this year, MacRumors uncovered some evidence suggesting Zurich-based real-time motion capture firm Faceshift was acquired by Apple, and as of today, that acquisition has been confirmed by Apple in a statement given to TechCrunch.
“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
Prior to being acquired by Apple, Faceshift worked with game and animation studios on technology designed to quickly and accurately capture facial expressions using 3D sensors, including Faceshift Studio software with plugins for Maya and Unity. The company was also working toward consumer-facing software like a Skype plugin that would support real-time avatars for video chat.
Based on Swiss company registry filings discovered by MacRumors, Faceshift was acquired by Apple in mid-August. Several Faceshift employees have now joined Apple and are working out of the company’s European offices. Apple is also hiring additional employees to work on related technology in Switzerland, including a senior software engineer that would focus on “cutting-edge imaging algorithms for both mobile and desktop photographic applications.”
Faceshift launched in 2011 out of the Computer Graphics and Geometry Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, and in mid-2013, the company expanded and brought on industry veteran Doug Griffin, formerly of Industrial Light & Magic and Electronic Arts, to head up a San Francisco office. Faceshift has demonstrated its motion capture technology multiple times in the past few years, most recently demoing it at GDC 2015.
It is not clear what Apple will use Faceshift’s Technology for, but there are a wide range of possible use cases. Faceshift’s real-time motion capture work in the gaming and chat arena could be used for things like real-time avatars for FaceTime video chats, but there are also more serious applications such as biometrics for unlocking devices or authorizing payments through facial recognition techniques.
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That star’s ‘alien megastructure’ is likely just a swarm of comets
Occam’s Razor apparently holds true everywhere, even in the farthest reaches of space. While researchers speculated that star KIC 8462852’s mysterious dimming might be the result of alien megastructures, NASA is about to publish evidence supporting the theory that it’s really just a swarm of comets. Based on the strange dimming and the moderate infrared light levels, you may be looking at a pack of cold comets on a “very long, eccentric” orbit. If so, the strange signatures over the years reflect different-size comets passing around the star.
Source: NASA
Volkswagen is issuing AR glasses as standard factory equipment
Following a successful 3-month pilot program at its Wolfsburg plant, Volkswagen announced on Tuesday that it will begin issuing 3D smart glasses to its plant logistics personnel. These glasses, which display information like bin locations and part numbers directly in the user’s line of sight, should help speed up order picking. That is, they’ll tell plant employees if the parts they’re holding are the parts they actually need. And to keep the process as hands-free as possible, a camera embedded in the specs will double as a barcode scanner.
Via: CNet
Source: Volkswagen
Add some style to your wearables with the Helena Necklace and Helena Bracelet for Misfit Flash
Let’s face it, most wearables don’t look that great. Even the ones that do look nice are mainly aimed at males, and you can still tell it’s a tech product. That’s where the Helena Necklace and Helena Bracelet come in.
Misfit, who was recently purchased by Fossil, has teamed up with BaubleBar to make the stlyish necklace and bracelet to hold a Misfit Flash fitness and sleep monitor. Both items will be available on November 29.
Both the Helena Necklace and Helena Bracelet look like regular pieces of jewelry, but their locket’s open up to store the Misfit Flash inside. This will allow you continue to look stylish, but still able to monitor your activity levels such as calories burned, distance traveled, steps taken, and sleep quality.
Of course, if you are doing some serious exercising you probably won’t want to wear this type of bracelet or necklace. However, it’s very easy to pop the Misfit Flash out of them and put it back into the activity clasp or sport bracelet it came with. Perfect for when you are at the gym, or out of it.
Source: Misfit
Come comment on this article: Add some style to your wearables with the Helena Necklace and Helena Bracelet for Misfit Flash
A week with my first phablet
Once upon a time, we lived in a society that viewed any smartphone with a screen more than five inches a “titan” or “behemoth”, and eventually used the word “phablet”. The normative process of using a cell phone was with one hand, as we enjoyed the accessibility this provided. However, as phone technology advanced, and what we were able to accomplish on our phones exponentially grew, our increased desire for more screen space was inevitable.
When we upgrade to a new piece of technology, we have a common mindset that we want faster, better… bigger. With a bigger screen, we truly feel like we are holding a more advanced version of the smartphone we had before. Bigger screens also allow manufacturers to push more pixels to us and allow resolutions to climb as high as 4K on a smartphone, and we all love our screens looking sharp as can be.
Ever since owning my first smartphone, I’ve been very hesitant to jumping on the phablet train, as I’m very comfortable with a phone screen size between 4.7 and 5.2 inches. When I first saw the original Galaxy Note, I couldn’t believe people were going to buy one, as I laughed at the image of a person holding one to their ear. The first Galaxy Note had a 5.3 inch screen size. Nowadays, this size can almost be considered relatively small for a high-end phone.
Whether I liked it or not, smartphone makers are “going big or going home” with their flagship offerings, leaving very little choice in terms of buying a smaller device. I’ve had the Moto X 2nd gen. for about half a year now, and I believe the size is just right. I can use it with one hand, and it provides just enough screen space for some quality media consumption. I do like to upgrade phones faster than the usual consumer though, and once the new Nexus devices were announced, I had to get my hands on the Nexus 6P. This phone was something I’ve dreamed of since the early ages of Google devices. A Nexus phone that didn’t cut corners.
This is the best phone I’ve ever owned.
The size of the phone scared me. I was outraged when Google only offered a six inch phone last year, and I was afraid the 6P wouldn’t be much smaller. Well, I’ve given it a shot, and I love it. This is the best phone I’ve ever owned. Compared to last year’s Nexus 6, this phone isn’t very wide, making it much more comfortable to hold. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t immediately on board with this in the first few days I had it, but it really grew on me. The screen is absolutely gorgeous, second only to the Galaxy Note 5 in my opinion. Eventually, I started to forget how big the phone was once I got use to how I held it. The fingerprint scanner is also a huge bonus on a phablet phone, as I loved being able to pull it out of my pocket while simultaneously holding my index finger on the back scanner, waking up the phone immediately after leaving my pocket.
During my time with the phablet sized Nexus 6P, I came to one big conclusion. I didn’t love the phone because it was big. I loved the phone because Huawei was able to take full advantage of a big device. Because of the size, Huawei was able to pack in two of the best front-facing speakers I’ve heard on a smartphone, a gorgeous Quad-HD display, a large battery that lasted me all day, and a fingerprint scanner all wrapped-up in a beautiful metal body. Now I know these features can be brought into any sized device, but because they were all present, I ignored how big this phablet was, and simply enjoyed the device.
So if you’re on the fence about buying any large phone, I suggest you give it a test run before you commit. Most suppliers provide an amount of time before you can get a full refund, so you’re not out of luck if a phablet is not for you. Let me tell you though, I have relatively small hands for a guy. But giving the Nexus 6P was well worth the shot, and I came around to preferring phablets in the end.
The post A week with my first phablet appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Google is trying to make Black Friday shopping smarter for consumers and advertisers
Never before has so much information been so readily at our fingertips. Data runs the advertising industry, and who has more of that than Google? This year, Google is giving advertisers unprecedented access to their mountain of location data. This will let advertisers reach buyers more effectively and with moment-to-moment agility, but it will also let buyers shop more intelligently.
In the days of yore, businesses would run aggressive television campaigns, prominently advertising their Black Friday prices. Then they would cross their fingers and hope that these messages reached interested people who would show up to take advantage of the sales.
While it’s true that this form of broadcasting is still in full swing, a much more nuanced and personalized approach to advertising has been on the rise since the dawn of the internet. Now, with the ubiquity of smartphones, we’re connected to all this information in a heartbeat. We can stand in a brick and mortar store and find a better price in an online store, place an order, and have the item arrive at home the very next day. Advertising is now narrowcasted, targeting very specific individuals based on their browsing and spending habits. This Friday, Google is looking to take this dynamic to the next level.
See also: Black Friday 2015 – best deals
Need to know if your next stop still has that item you were looking for in stock? Want to see if this location is still the best place to buy the item currently in your hand? Want to evade the crowds and still take advantage of Black Friday deals? Google wants to be there to help. In this spirit, they’ve launched a blog dedicated to helping Black Friday shoppers and sellers get the most out of their day.
Google’s stake in this is mobile advertising. By offering this degree of control and utility to sellers and shoppers, Google is hoping to draw in new mobile ad buyers.
Google is helping out people around the world this holiday season in more ways than one. The company has just announced that it will donate up to a million dollars towards special education projects in partnership with the nonprofit DonorsChoose.org. Beginning today and running until December 31st, Google will donate $1 for every purchase made with Android Pay this holiday season. What’s more, the company will double the amount of donations for every purchase made with Android Pay on Black Friday, as well. For more information on this initiative, follow the Official Android Blog source link attached below.
AIVAnet 