Microsoft will soon add fingerprint scanner support to Windows 10 Mobile
Microsoft only sold 2.3 million Lumias last quarter, so it’s cooking up ways to make Windows 10 Mobile better, such as including support for biometrics.
While it sounds like Microsoft has moved plenty of Lumia devices lately, keep it mind that sales figure from last quarter was a whopping 73 per cent drop from the same period last year. Also, for comparison, Apple sold 13 million iPhone 6S handsets its opening weekend. Microsoft should therefore rethink its smartphone strategy, and according to a presentation it gave during the WinHEC conference this week, it’s doing just that.
The Redmond-based company is planning to support fingerprint scanners for the first time in Windows 10 Mobile starting this summer. We’ve already seen Microsoft usher in support for facial recognition via Windows Hello. However, fingerprint scanning really is the go-to standard among flagship smartphones these days, so in order to compete with Apple, Samsung, HTC, and others, it’ll finally add support fingerprint scanners soon.Support for the biometric check will arrive through the Anniversary Update for Windows 10 Mobile. Phone makers will still need to launch Windows phones with fingerprint readers, of course, and apparently, HP’s Elite x3 will be among the first Windows 10 phones to offer one.
As for when you can expect the Anniversary Update to hit, Microsoft is expected to release it for both desktop and mobile in late July.
Windows phones will finally let you log-in with a fingerprint
We’ve know for a while now that Windows 10 would support for alternative log-in options like fingerprint, facial and iris recognition. Thanks to Windows Hello, unlocking a phone with facial recognition is possible, but using a finger to access your device hasn’t been an option. Well, that’s about to change. At the WinHEC conference this week, Microsoft announced that support for fingerprint scanners will be part of a Windows 10 Mobile update this summer.
Of course, that software feature will need hardware to support it. HP’s Elite X3, a phone that doubles as a laptop, has a fingerprint scanner but we’ll have to wait and see if other device makers adopt the Windows Hello tool. Microsoft says while some OEMs have experience with fingerprint components from FPC and Synaptics, using scanners from other companies may take a bit more effort to work alongside Windows 10. The Anniversary Update that will deliver the feature is in testing now, and it should arrive in July for both desktop and mobile.
Via: MSPoweruser, The Verge
Source: WinHEC Presentation (PDF)
Program Amazon’s new Dash button for tasks, not products
I have a trio of Amazon Dash buttons scattered around my house to lend a hand when I run low on flushable wipes, whey protein powder and dish soap. There’s really no downside to trying them out, since the online retailer reimburses you for the device after your first purchase. Amazon’s latest Dash button isn’t for re-ordering products though, it’s a programmable option that lends a hand with tasks and controlling your IoT devices.
The AWS IoT button connects to WiFi and leverages Amazon’s AWS cloud just like the regular Dash tools for buying everyday items. Amazon says the buttons can be easily programmed to count items, call/message someone, stop/start a task, order from a service and more. You can use it as a control to fire up Netflix, switch on a Philips Hue bulb or hail an Uber. It also works with APIs from Slack, Twitter, Facebook and more, so presumably you can set it to send an “I’m on my way” message to your colleagues when you’re running late. Of course, the regular buying buttons have already been hacked to do things like count baby poops.
Amazon explains that assigning a task to the button is easy enough that novices should be able to figure it out, yet there’s enough flexibility built in for more advanced projects as well. The company’s CTO Werner Vogels said on Twitter that if there’s a chore you can do with Alexa, you can assign it to one of these buttons. Right now, the new button is listed as out of stock with no indication as to when it will be back. When you are able to place an order, SlashGear reports that the IoT Dash option will cost $20 and is set to ship on May 15th.
Via: SlashGear
Source: Amazon
Brave browser now blocks scripts and ads on the desktop
Former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich’s privacy-focused, ad-blocking browser has been quietly rolling out new features for desktop. What sets Brave apart from other browsers and ad blockers, was Eich’s promise that the browser would actually pay you back if you agreed to be shown ads from its own network.
The browser’s scheme rattled newspaper giants like the New York Times and Down Jones, which sent Brave a letter alleging the plan was copyright infringement. Brave responded by asserting they were not tampering with the publisher’s content and promised the in-house ad network would actually pay out a more favorable revenue share.
But that payment system and ad network hasn’t materialized yet, so what the desktop version does offer for now is a private, Chromium-based browser in a relatively clean-looking package (albeit with some gaps on the page). Script and ad-blocking is baked in by default in the latest version, which also catches up with the browser giants by adding spellcheck. And with a completely ad-free experience at the moment, it looks like nobody is getting paid just yet.
Where the candidates stand on cyber issues
It’s a little difficult to nail down the US presidential candidates on cybersecurity. That’s probably because none of the candidates actually has a cybersecurity plan.
What little the presidential candidates have said about cybersecurity is as bizarre as the entire reality-TV election process spectacle itself. They each think cybersecurity means one, or possibly two things. Bernie Sanders is obsessed with the NSA. Donald Trump said that Edward Snowden should be executed and wants to hack-attack China. Hillary Clinton just seems unsure about what exactly she should say.
With so much ado over her email server, its security, and the concerns over her email handling of classified information, it would certainly be in her benefit to do the opposite — get deeply engaged, and steer conversations on all things cybersecurity. And her opponents could benefit even more from beating Clinton to it.
But as you’re about to see, they’re all guilty of this one offense: Clinton, Sanders, and Trump all believe the word “cybersecurity” only means narrow federal threats. Worryingly, each one has their own idea of what that threat translates to, or means. None of those things reflect the truly urgent cybersecurity issues we’re facing.
The US is being gutted by all-time-high incidences of breaches, identity theft, and ransomware in hospitals, homes and businesses. Between the OPM and the IRS, the government can’t seem to secure itself. Data dealers and too-powerful social networks are playing fast and loose with private information and rhetoric, before our privacy laws catch up with them. State-sponsored hacking has emerged as a potential act of war on the global stage — a WW III size issue, which should overshadow the apparently simple joys of blaming China for everything.
With all this, you’d think that cyber would be a very popular subject with any wanna-be leader-of-the-free-world types.
How will our new leader react when cybersecurity issues take them by surprise during the next four years? We’ve put together a cheat sheet (in alphabetical order, below).
Hillary Clinton
Overall, Ms. Clinton’s position on cyber issues are unclear, and she appears to be the candidate least engaged with cybersecurity. Unlike the other candidates, she has no tweets or social commentary on cybersecurity, the FBI or Apple, the NSA, computers, encryption, the OPM, data breaches, or any other cybersec related topics. It’s odd.
But when asked, she does answer… in the way that politicians do, of course. In response to a debate question on encryption (incorrectly framed as a “new terrorist tool”), Clinton didn’t take a direct stand of any kind. But she didn’t advocate government access to encryption keys, either. “Maybe the back door is the wrong door,” she said.
When asked about the FBI-Apple-iPhone debate at an MSNBC-Telemundo town hall she said, “I see both sides. And I think most citizens see both sides. We don’t want privacy and encryption, you know, destroyed and we want to catch and make sure there is nobody else out there whose information is on the cell phone of the killer,” Clinton said. “This is why you need people in office who can try to bring folks together to find some common ground.”
Common ground is something you hear a lot in her responses: Clinton’s mantra when it comes to cybersecurity problems and solutions is “better coordination between the public and the private sector.” To that effect, she thought CISA didn’t go far enough (the widely opposed, slipped in at the last minute Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act). Most felt that CISA didn’t go far enough in protecting citizens; Clinton felt the Act didn’t go far enough in facilitating the sharing of data between companies and the government.
Congress should move ahead now with the USA Freedom Act—a good step forward in ongoing efforts to protect our security & civil liberties. -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) May 7, 2015
One cybersecurity issue she’s strong on is blaming China. With this, she’s following a popular trend: the breach-PR cycle, where the breached use blame as a sort of get-out-of-jail-free card. Attribution is seldom fast, neat, easy or reliably accurate.
Naming who is behind a hack or breach can be near to impossible, even though that seems to be what PR departments, media outlets, shady cybersecurity firms, and government pundits crave. But as anyone in hacking and security will tell you (while rolling their eyes in exasperation), those people just love to blame China.
Bernie Sanders
Considering how low the bar is, it doesn’t mean much to say Sanders is the candidate most engaged on cyber issues. He actually has a whole page on cybersecurity. Still, it’s vague, and OVERALL his main interest is reigning in the NSA data collection program, with emphasis on privacy and civil liberties.
Sanders opposed CISA on the basis of protecting civil liberties, and he voted against the USA Freedom Act because he said it didn’t go far enough to protect citizens from government overreach.
Today’s News: Sanders votes against cybersecurity bill, leads fight to stop skyrocketing drug prices. https://t.co/j06B03wGBw
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 28, 2015
He took the leaking of NSA files by Edward Snowden to heart. Sanders put the NSA in his sights from that point on and has proposed limits to the metadata collection programs. Sanders is the only candidate who says he believes Mr. Snowden’s actions benefitted the public.
His website states, “We must rein in the National Security Agency and end the bulk collection of phone records, internet history, and email data of virtually all Americans. Our intelligence and law enforcement agencies must have the tools they need to protect the American people, but there must be legal oversight and they must go about their work in a way that does not sacrifice our basic freedoms.”
The recklessness and illegal behavior of the #NSA… pic.twitter.com/bO02v8YJ07
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 25, 2013
Frustratingly, Sanders answered the same glib questions about encryption that Hilary endured and said he’s on both sides, and that it’s a complicated issue. “I am very fearful in America about ‘big brother,’” he said. “I worry about that very, very much. On the other hand, what I also worry about is the possibility of a terrorist attack against our country. And frankly I think there is a middle ground that can be reached.”
Unlike other candidates, Sanders has a few words (very few!) about cybersecurity and domestic infrastructure. In his Rebuilding America section, he states that his Rebuild America Act will “position our [power] grid to accept new sources of locally generated renewable energy, and it will address critical vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks.”
I hope he means protecting us from the cyber-squirrels — which are still our nation’s top infrastructure threat, and not hackers.
Donald Trump
No one has united America quite like Trump, but just not in the way he thinks. His positions on cybersecurity are as scant as the other candidates. But I think even the most jaded observer of this walking advertisement for antipsychotic medication will have at least one whiplash-inducing double-take at Trump’s statements.
I am starting to think that TOP SECRET information should be done with pen to paper and locked in a safe. Too many can break into computers.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2014
For Trump, to understand cybersecurity is to understand the internet. He explained this in a Breitbart interview saying, “The Internet is a tool. Sometimes it is a scalpel. Sometimes it is a chainsaw.”
He also said, “I have always been concerned about the social breakdown of our culture caused by technology. I think the increased dependence and addiction to electronic devices is unhealthy.”
Indeed. But if the tech is in the right hands, then let ‘er rip: Trump is an outspoken supporter of government surveillance, and possibly confused about what other people mean when they say the word “oversight.” In his words, the NSA “should be given as much leeway as possible.”
He told The Daily Signal, “I support legislation which allows the NSA to hold the bulk metadata. For oversight, I propose that a court, which is available any time on any day, is created to issue individual rulings on when this metadata can be accessed.”
In regard to the NSA Files and Snowden, Trump has been clear about his belief that the former government contractor should be executed.
Snowden is a spy who has caused great damage to the U.S. A spy in the old days, when our country was respected and strong, would be executed
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 19, 2014
He isn’t completely against hackers. Trump wouldn’t murder, er, I mean execute hackers who would illegally breach databases and expose records for his benefit.
ObamaCare is a disaster and Snowden is a spy who should be executed-but if it and he could reveal Obama’s records,I might become a major fan
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2013
Attention all hackers: You are hacking everything else so please hack Obama’s college records (destroyed?) and check “place of birth”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2014
When the FBI-Apple-iPhone encryption issue was brought to his attention, Trump said the company should be forced to comply with the FBI, or be punished with a boycott. “I think it’s disgraceful that Apple is not helping on that. I think security first and I feel — I always felt security first. Apple should absolutely — we should force them to do it,” he said.
For Trump, “cybersecurity” refers only to state-sponsored attacks on America by China — whom he blamed for the OPM hack. He told Breitbart, “…we continue to have persistent, intentional and deliberate attacks on American cyberspace by agents from, or acting on behalf of, China. These actions border on being acts of war. America should counter attack and make public every action taken by China to steal or disrupt our operations, whether they be private or governmental.”
It’s Tuesday, how much has China stolen from us today through cyber espionage?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 9, 2013
China controls North Korea. So now besides cyber hacking us all day, they are using the Norks to taunt us. China is a major threat.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2013
Mr. Trump openly advocates hacking back, a controversial and ill-advised strategy. He said, “… we continue to have persistent, intentional and deliberate attacks on American cyberspace by agents from, or acting on behalf of, China. These actions border on being acts of war. America should counter attack …”
… And start a war? No thanks.
No thanks to all of it. With two candidates, when you try to find out if they’d break encryption for government use — a yes or no question — well, you’d have better luck trying to lift a fingerprint from an ice sculpture. With the other, we’re likely to find out how hacking can lead to world war three. And none of them get that things like hospital ransomware or the plague of “security last” startups are part of the cybersecurity problem.
Kind of makes me long for the simpler days of candidates like Limberbutt McCubbins.
ISIS releases learning app to teach kids about tanks and rockets
A new Android app from the tech-savvy extremist group ISIS hopes to help out busy ISIS parents by teaching their kids to read and militarizing them at the same time. The app, called Huroof, was released via the Islamic State’s Telegram channel and includes games for learning the letters of the Islamic alphabet with militaristic vocabulary words like “tank” and “rocket.”
In addition to the alphabet flash cards, the app also includes learning songs reportedly loaded with jihadist terms and appealing, cartoonish animations. While the learning app isn’t the first from the Islamic State, Threat Matrix reports, but it is the first to be aimed at children. While the United States Military Cyber Command might be taking the Islamic State’s online threats more seriously these days, apparently no one predicted the group would go after the world’s youngest Android users.
The encrypted messaging app Telegram, for their part, has started cracking down on ISIS-related activity. Back in November of last year, the app claimed it had banned 78 channels in 12 languages allegedly tied to the group.
MacRumors Giveaway: Win a Larimer Rolltop Backpack from Case Logic
For this week’s giveaway, we’ve teamed up with Case Logic to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win one of the company’s new Larimer Rolltop Backpacks. The backpack is available in “Hudson,” a mix of blue, mint, yellow, and green, or “Petrol Green,” a mix of green, tan, blue, and red. It’s described by Case Logic as a utilitarian daypack that’s able to hold a ton of stuff thanks to a multitude of pockets and an expandable rolltop feature.
Like many Case Logic products, the Larimer Rolltop Backpack is made from a durable 600D polyester with a water-repellent coating, which is designed to stand up to damage. Padded, adjustable straps ensure it’s comfortable to wear for long periods of time even when packed with gear.
The backpack, which has a matching multi-color diamond-patterned interior lining, can hold a MacBook up to 15 inches in its padded laptop compartment, and there’s also a slip pocket for a tablet up to 10.1 inches, which will accommodate the iPad Air 2, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, or a smaller tablet.
Accessories can be put inside a zippered front pocket or an internal zippered pocket, and with the rolltop expanded, there’s additional space for any essentials. A nylon web is attached at the bottom for securing a hat or shoes.
The Larimer Rolltop Backpack can be purchased from Amazon for $49.99, but four MacRumors readers will be able to get one for free through our giveaway. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner and send the prize.
You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page. Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to enter.
a Rafflecopter giveawayThe contest will run from today (May 13) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on May 20. The winners will be chosen randomly on May 20 and will be contacted by email. The winners have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.
Tags: giveaway, Case Logic
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UK Developing Digital Driving License Stored in Apple Wallet App
In the future, drivers in the United Kingdom may be able to store their driver’s licenses digitally in Apple’s Wallet app, bringing Apple one step closer to fully replacing the traditional physical wallet.
Oliver Morley, CEO of the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, showed off a prototype version of a digital driving license on Twitter this morning (via The Independent). In the image, the Wallet app on the iPhone was shown with a virtual copy of a UK driving license, stored right next to other Wallet cards.
So here’s a little prototype of something we’re working on #drivinglicence pic.twitter.com/a5eItrdiNI
— Oliver Morley (@omorley1) May 13, 2016
According to Morley, the feature is still a prototype and will not serve as a full replacement for a driving license, but an add-on, with its implementation possible following the discontinuation of a paper driving license counterpart in June of 2015. Security is one of the main priorities for the introduction of the digital driving license in the UK.
Should the digital driving license feature be introduced in the United Kingdom, it’s not a stretch to imagine it also being introduced in additional countries like the United States as the digital wallet concept grows in popularity. In fact, at least one state in the United States is already testing the idea – in 2014, Iowa said it was working on a digital app that would allow customers to use digital ID cards instead of physical cards.
Tags: DVLA, Wallet
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MeshBean: Download apps, earn coins (Review)
Overview
In Android, there are just some apps that are utterly useless but people still install them anyway. One large category of these apps are ones that reward you for doing stupid stuff or give you some kind of reward at one point, such as Lucktastic. This app is called MeshBean, and it rewards you for installing apps that I consider questionable.
Impressions
Setup
After installing MeshBean, it asks you to sign-in using either Google or Facebook. When choosing Google, it makes you go into your browser, sign into Google, and grant it numerous permissions that an app like this shouldn’t really need, including access to your friend’s list. This makes the whole setup slow and seemingly unnecessary.
User Interface
MeshBean is an app that tries to look good with a nice sharp menu and status bar, but fails on one fatal front: its icons and buttons. In the app, they’re easy to read, but all of them seem weirdly fuzzy for no clear reason. The whole app seems like a well-designed web page with bad plugins. In addition to the look, MeshBean is very slow. Scrolling through a list of 10 apps takes 20 seconds, with a bunch of weird pauses for no reason. Opening and closing the menu takes about two tries either way. All of these factors make the UI not very enjoyable for users.
Trustworthiness
MeshBean is mostly just a large ad for a bunch of different apps. However, some of these apps seem very questionable. The first one I downloaded, Avocado Guy’s World, popped up a warning at first boot saying that the app was going to use device identifiers. This raised multiple red flags. What would a game need with my device information? I quickly uninstalled it.
Conclusion
MeshBean is an app with a great premise, but a very flawed execution. The UI is slow, sometimes to the point of being unresponsive. Along with that, some of the apps and games it advertises are very questionable. I would not recommend this app to any safety-conscious user. Please download only after weighing all of the risks.
Download and install MeshBean from the Google Play Store.
Zeus Quest Remastered: A point-and-click adventure from 2008 – and it shows (Review)
Zeus Quest: Anagennisis of Gaia originally launched for PalmOS and Windows Mobile in November of 2008. The cartoony, point-and-click style adventure game in the style of the late-90s adventure games that made the genre popular. In typical point-and-click style, the goal of the game is to wander around the world map, utilizing a hot-bar of objects on various people, items, and scenery within the world to progress the story.
Impressions
The very first thing Zeus Quest asks of you is to create an account using a third-party service to manage game saves and achievements. Now, I’m not a fan of creating a login for the singular purpose of playing one game. Straight away, this game should have used Google’s Play Games API for account creation, game saves, and achievements.
Zeus Quest opens with a short cutscene, fully narrated and animated. The graphics aren’t anything to write home about in this animation, but it’s a nice change from games that throw you into the fire. The music creates a nice atmosphere – playful, unobtrusive, and smooth. It doesn’t get in the way of the experience, but you’re definitely aware of it.
Zeus Quest’s World Map
After the cutscene, you’re walked through the opening scenes of the game by (extremely helpful) tooltips that show you how to inspect, talk to, and use the various people, items, and scenery in the world of ancient Greece. This was a welcome (and optional) addition, for I’d have sat there tap-tapping away without any clue what I was doing without it.
One of the main departures from the original Zeus Quest is the fact that Zeus himself is on each and every screen. He walks, talks, picks up objects (and hilariously, folds them, origami-style, to put in his toga-pocket). Props to the developers – they really made an effort to ensure that Zeus felt like a person in the world, rather than just a sprite.
Unfortunately, the original game was a static venture – scenes are not animated and the art style is distinctly abstract, to the say the least. In the Remaster, the original backgrounds are kept but Zeus totally new – and his art style can be more described as “early 2000s flash game” – joints between body parts are visible, shading is minimal, and the overall animation makes him look like a robot, not a god.
Unfortunately, the original game was a static venture – scenes are not animated and the art style is distinctly abstract, to the say the least. In the Remaster, the original backgrounds are kept but Zeus totally new – and his art style can be more described as “early 2000s flash game” – joints between body parts are visible, shading is minimal, and the overall animation makes him look like a robot, not a god.
The sound effects and general quality of the background animations are excellent; they’re a pretty stark change from the original Zeus Quest, and it definitely adds to the experience. The game features a strong narrative voice – not a literary voice, a literal one – and it’s spread liberally throughout.
Writing is, unfortunately the primary problem with this game, as it was with the original. In the eight years since the original launch of Zeus Quest, the world has changed as far as what passes for tasteful comedy. In the first half hour of the game, I ran into blatant sexism, sexual objectification, casual references to suicide…it really isn’t a good look. The jokes feel as though they were carefully crafted by a teenage boy, and while I’m typically not one to take political correctness overly seriously, the jokes in this game feel forced, tone-deaf, and juvenile.
Mechanically, the game is both functional and problematic; items are not labeled and you can’t examine them, so the items you begin with – a small pyramid, a coiled spring, a bowl of some sort, and some strange brown, abstract-looking item I can’t begin to describe – really don’t seem to serve a purpose, with no clue what they’re even supposed to be. It’s a frustrating experience, to say the least.
Summary
While the game clearly has it’s problems as a modern mobile game, fans of the original Zeus Quest will certainly find this to be a faithful remaster of the original. To me, this game deserves two different ratings – one for fans of the original, and one for those that never played it. If you haven’t played it before, I’d say it’s a pass. If you have, and enjoyed it, pick it up. The enhancements and changes are welcome.
Pick up Zeus Quest Remastered for $4.99 in the Google Play Store
AIVAnet 