BlackBerry CEO won’t say whether he gave up encryption keys

Here’s what we know, thanks to an investigation by Motherboard and Vice: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have a key that unlocks encrypted messages on every single non-corporate BlackBerry. Here’s what we don’t know: whether BlackBerry gave that key to the RCMP. BlackBerry CEO John Chen today penned a blog post in response to last week’s revelation that the RCMP unlocked more than 1 million encrypted messages as part of an operation called Project Clemenza, which led to seven men confessing their involvement in a murder conspiracy.

In the post, Chen doesn’t definitively say whether BlackBerry gave its encryption key to Canadian authorities, but he mentions the benefits of cooperating with law enforcement.

“We have long been clear in our stance that tech companies as good corporate citizens should comply with reasonable lawful access requests,” he writes. “I have stated before that we are indeed in a dark place when companies put their reputations above the greater good.”

BlackBerry utilizes two separate layers of encryption — its corporate BlackBerry devices are connected to enterprise servers that generate their own encryption keys. All personal BlackBerrys, however, use an identical peer-to-peer encryption key. That’s the key the RCMP used in Project Clemenza.

“At no point was BlackBerry’s [Business Enterprise Server] involved,” Chen writes. “Our BES continues to be impenetrable — also without the ability for backdoor access — and is the most secure mobile platform for managing all mobile devices.”

Chen avoids naming any companies directly, but part of its message seems to be aimed at Apple. The company has been embroiled in high-profile legal battles against the Department of Justice over the limits of encryption and privacy. Apple CEO Tim Cook has called the FBI’s request to create a backdoor for its iPhones “unconstitutional” and “bad for America,” while the DoJ asserts Apple is standing in the way of justice.

The encryption debate is heating up in the US. The Senate last week released a final version of the Compliance with Court Orders Act, which would require companies to work with authorities to provide data in a readable format when asked. The White House has affirmed its opposition to the bill and it’s unlikely to become law.

Via: Motherboard

Source: BlackBerry

Siri reveals Apple’s WWDC event will begin June 13th

When it comes to announcing plans for an event, the folks in Cupertino typically send out invites and info via email. That’s not the case this year, though, as Apple is relying on its virtual assistant to inform the masses about its annual WWDC soirée. Thanks to Siri, we know the developer conference is scheduled for June 13th through the 17th in San Francisco, the event where we’ll hear details on new versions of OS X, iOS and WatchOS.

During last year’s proceedings, the typically software-heavy keynote detailed updates for mobile, desktop and the smart watch alongside the latest on HomeKit, CarPlay and the launch of Apple Music. Stay tuned to find out what Tim Cook & Co. have on tap for this year’s WWDC, and you can bet we’ll be there cover all the news as it happens.

Via: 9to5Mac

YouTube now streams 360-degree live video

You no longer have to watch canned footage if you want to enjoy YouTube’s support for 360-degree video. YouTube is rolling out live 360-degree streaming, giving you a chance to watch that concert, surgery or special event as if you were there. It’ll get its first big use with “select” performances at Coachella this coming weekend, but we’d expect it to take off anywhere that VR-like video works.

You should start hearing a difference in pre-recorded clips, too. YouTube is introducing spatial audio to on-demand clips, so you’ll know exactly where that guitar is coming from. There’s no mention of spatial sound for live feeds, unfortunately, but this and the as-it-happens support both help bring 360-degree video (and by extension, virtual reality) further into the mainstream. You no longer need to go out of your way to get some of the most immersive video experiences, even if you don’t happen to have even a basic VR viewer on hand.

Source: YouTube Official Blog

Virtual Desktop for VR is a glimpse at a future without monitors

I can trace my computing history along a path of display milestones. The 10-inch VGA monitor that came with my Packard Bell desktop in the ’90s was a huge leap forward from the low-res Apple II displays I used in school. Then there was the 20-inch Sony Trinitron flat CRT that I brought to college with my first custom-built desktop, which served as my dorm entertainment center for years. These days, I rock two 24-inch 1080p LCDs at home, and I’m eyeing an ultra-wide screen upgrade at some point. After spending several hours with Virtual Desktop, a $15 app developed by Guy Godin for the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive that brings the full Windows experience to VR, it seems like we’re close to yet another display revolution.

Imagine having your entire Windows desktop projected on a movie theater screen while sitting in the best seat in the house, and you’ll have some idea of what Virtual Desktop offers. Instead of a darkened theater, though, the display floats atop your choice of backgrounds (I really enjoy the detailed space environments). It brings to mind fantastical interfaces from science fiction — in particular, the trippy augmented reality setup from the game Heavy Rain.

There’s a definite “wow” factor to Virtual Desktop. After installing and running the app, I just slipped on my Rift headset and was presented with an impressive recreation of my Windows setup. Once you’re in virtual view, you can resize the size and distance of the desktop, from the equivalent of sitting six feet away from a 60-inch display, to having it tower before you as if it were on a enormous IMAX screen. I found it most comfortable to have the virtual screen completely fill up my field of vision, even though that also involved occasionally moving my head around to focus on specific things.

SteamVR’s “desktop theater mode” on the HTC Vive also lets you use Windows in VR, but in my testing it was hard to actually read text and use Windows as you normally would. It’s mainly meant for playing non-VR games and movies in your headset. In comparison, I had no trouble going through my email, browsing the web and reading long articles with Virtual Desktop. It was so comfortable, in fact, that I was able to use it for hours on end.

Virtual Desktop is particularly impressive when it comes to watching videos, since you can freely make the screen larger for a more cinematic experience. Of course, you won’t get the full resolution of 1080p HD videos, since both the Rift and Vive are limited by their displays, which only offer a resolution of 1280 x 1080 pixels per eye. Videos still looked sharp and clear in full-screen mode though. And after being underwhelmed by the virtual theater apps on both the Rift and Vive, which seem more focused on reminding you that you’re in a VR environment than actually making videos look good, I was surprised to find I actually enjoyed watching things with Virtual Desktop.

There’s also support for viewing 360-degree videos and photos with the app, which is useful for quickly jumping into an immersive clip from YouTube. This is one area that the app needs to improve on, though. To plug in a video, you need to copy a URL to your clipboard and insert that into Virtual Desktop’s settings app. It’ll then proceed to download the video and play it instantly. You can also open up 360-degree videos already on your computer, but it’s far more likely you’ll be grabbing content from YouTube and other sites.

The big problem with the app? You still have to rely on your keyboard and mouse to navigate Windows, which will definitely be an issue if you don’t touch-type well. Remember, you can’t easily see what’s going on in front of you. Virtual Desktop shows why something like the Vive’s webcam, which lets you quickly view the outside world, is essential for all VR headsets. I did most of my testing with the Oculus Rift, so I was forced to either type very carefully, or remove the headset if I needed to hit a specific key. (Function keys, in particular, are hard to touch-type.)

I was able to write several lengthy emails while wearing the Rift, but it always took a few seconds for my fingers to readjust to the key positions after taking my hands away. That ended up being a bigger issue for entering web addresses or numbers of any kind, since those involve hitting keys that aren’t in my normal touch-typing range. (My slim wireless keyboard doesn’t have a number pad, though that probably would make my life easier.) Mousing around Windows in Virtual Desktop was fine, and the app also made something mundane like photo editing feel like a revelatory experience. Cropping and recoloring a giant image felt akin to working on a giant Jackson Pollock-esque canvas.

I won’t be giving up my dual monitor setup anytime soon, but I was surprised by how well my workflow transferred to Virtual Desktop. I could see creative types preferring it to a restrictive monitor setup, especially for things like video and audio editing, where you normally have dozens of tracks to juggle at one. Just like the first batch of VR hardware, the app feels like a sign of things to come. It won’t be too long until we can just slip on a pair of glasses to have a full desktop environment emerge from our smartphones.

Nintendo teases ‘Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins’ animated film

This week, Star Fox Zero will finally make its debut on the Wii U, after being delayed last year. In celebration of that, Nintendo created an animated short called Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins. The film was produced in collaboration with none other than Shigeru Miyamoto, as well as Production IG and WIT Studios. Its world premiere is streaming live on Wednesday, April 20th, just a couple days before the game hits Nintendo’s latest console. In the meantime, enjoy the trailer, which features cameos from all your favorite members of the Star Fox squad.

Source: Nintendo (YouTube)

Someone turned ‘Fallout: New Vegas’ into an interactive video

If you have a soft spot for Choose Your Own Adventure stories but wish they were set in your favorite video game universes… well, you’d better clear your schedule. Many A True Nerd has turned Bethesda’s Fallout: New Vegas into an interactive video (a Choose Your Own Apocalypse, as it’s called) that you play solely through YouTube. As you might imagine, it boils down the action role-playing game’s experience into simple this-or-that choices — the route you take and the people you befriend determine whether or not you’ll make it to New Vegas in one piece.

The catch? Since this depends on YouTube’s web link overlays, you’ll likely need to play on your PC instead of your mobile devices. So long as that isn’t an obstacle, though, this is one heck of a way to relive New Vegas without worrying about stats or SPECIAL perks.

Via: Kotaku

Source: Many A True Nerd (YouTube)

Tesla gives owners free trial of its self-driving future

Tesla’s semi-autonomous Autopilot mode is a great way to get a tiny glimpse into the self-driving-car future. Currently if you’re a Model X or S owner and you didn’t add the option when you bought your vehicle, but you’re curious to try it out, the automaker is offering a 30-day trial.

If the Tesla has the necessary hardware, the owner can get an over-the-air update that adds Autopilot for 30 days. The offer was first noticed by Reddit user kushari. A Tesla spokesperson confirmed that the trial is available for all owners of supported vehicles.

It’s actually a smart move by Tesla. If an owner wants to add the feature after taking delivery of a car, the cost is $3,000. Not exactly spare change. This gives those drivers the ability to try before they buy and see if automatic steering, lane changing and speed control is worth all that money.

Via: CNET

Source: Reddit

Netflix is putting five percent of its cash budget into films

Now that Amazon is offering a monthly video subscription and Netflix’s delayed price hike is kicking in, how are things going for the video streaming king? According to its just-released Q1 2016 earnings report (PDF): Pretty well. Netflix beat its own estimates by growing to 81.5 million customers worldwide (with nearly 47 million of them in the US), while releasing a new original series or film every week. Expect more of those films too, as Reed Hastings confirmed Netflix will release Bright in 2017 starring Will Smith, after debuts this year that include Brad Pitt’s War Machine and Mascots with Christopher Guest. The company “will invest 5 percent of our cash budget in original films,” and is also getting ready to launch its 3-nights-per-week talk show with Chelsea Handler.

As far as its “un-grandfathering” process that will see over half of its US customers greeted with a price hike, Hastings said the old pricing will be phased out gradually. Interestingly, longtime customers will apparently hang onto their current $8 or $9 plans for the longest, before eventually seeing a dialogue box presenting the new price (and, presumably, a crying MJ meme) and asking them to opt-in, just like everyone else.

Developing…

Source: Netflix Q1 2016 (PDF)

WWDC to Be Held June 13 to June 17 in San Francisco

As we reported in January, Apple plans to hold its annual Worldwide Developers Conference on June 13 to June 17 in San Francisco, at the Moscone West convention center where the conference has been held for the past several years.

The official WWDC dates have leaked courtesy of Siri (via 9to5Mac), who, when asked when WWDC will be held responds: “The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will be held June 13 to June 17 in San Francisco. I’m so excited!”

While today’s information counts as official confirmation that the conference will be held from June 13 to June 17, the dates in question were already known based on scheduling information at Moscone West. Since January, the Moscone Center has been booked for the first, second, fourth, and fifth weeks of June, leaving only the third week open for Apple.

Given that Siri is providing information about the Worldwide Developers Conference, the ticket lottery for the event is imminent and could go live as soon as tomorrow. Due to the popularity of the event, Apple offers each $1,599 ticket to developers based on a lottery system.

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is of interest to developers because it gives them a chance to interface with Apple engineers and attend a wide variety of instructional websites to learn methods for improving their apps. For non-developers, the Worldwide Developers Conference provides a first look at new versions of iOS and OS X and is also often used as a venue for introducing new products and services.

Related Roundup: WWDC 2016
Tag: Siri
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LaCie Announces Thunderbolt 3-Equipped 12big Desktop RAID Storage Solution

At today’s National Association of Broadcasters Convention (or NAB), LaCie announced the new 12big Thunderbolt 3 professional 12-bay desktop RAID storage solution.

The 12big combines a storage capacity of up to 96TB with the performance speeds of Thunderbolt 3 and RAID 5/6, aimed at helping video professionals and other creatives manage data from high-end cameras that record 4/5/and 6K footage. With enterprise-class 7200RPM drives with 256MB cache and a RAID controller, the 12big can reach speeds of up to 2600MB/s or 2400MB/s in RAID 5.

According to LaCie, the transfer speeds can “slash time off nearly every post-production workflow task,” and with Thunderbolt 3, users can daisy chain dual 4K displays or a single 5K display to the 12big.

“LaCie is committed to helping video professionals master ever-increasing data demands by ensuring their irreplaceable data is secure, available on demand and always driving value,” said Tim Bucher, Senior Vice President of Seagate and LaCie Branded Solutions, “The combination of higher spatial resolution and 3D imagery, as well as higher dynamic range and frame rates, is driving the need for high-capacity and high-speed digital storage systems. We purpose-built the LaCie 12big to have the speed, capacity and reliability to efficiently download and edit even the most demanding content–so our customers can focus on making their creative vision a reality.”

The 12big includes a new LaCie RAID manager with a more intuitive interface for managing the 12big, with access to diagnostics and settings plus built-in tools for easily creating and managing volumes based on individual needs. The aluminum enclosure of the 12big is designed to efficiently dissipate heat, and for thermoregulated fans keep drives cool. Drive health and RAID build status can be tracked using exterior drive status LEDs located on the front of the 12big.

LaCie plans to begin selling the 12big this summer in 48, 72, and 96TB capacities both through the LaCie website and LaCie resellers.
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