A proof-of-concept ‘wiretap’ on the Amazon Echo is interesting, but not alarming

Versions of the original Echo made before 2017 left debugging contacts available to anyone who wants to get to them. But if that happens, you already have bigger issues.

There are a couple ways to think of security when it comes to our connected devices. One is binary. Either they’re safe and secure and not being actively exploited, or they’re not.

I take a different tack. I look at my connected devices and assume someone can see or hear me through them and work backward from there when it comes to publicly announced exploits and hacks. How is the hack achieved? Does it require physical access to the device? Do I have to do something to it first, like install an app from a specious source? Is it something a little scarier, like the recent Broadcom vulnerability? And what’s the history of the hardware manufacturer when it comes to updates?

Important things, all. And something to keep in mind when we look at the recent disclosure of a “hack” of the Amazon Echo, as detailed in Wired. Specifically, we’re talking about the 2015 and 2016 models. So if you’ve bought one this year, you should be OK.

Unless you’re an active target of a hacker, requiring physical access to a device generally means you’ll be OK.

The short version is this: Those earlier Echo models were manufactured in a way in which someone could physically attach a little extra hardware to the Echo (a bootable SD card, actually), hidden out of sight under the rubber footing. This would let them listen in on what was being said, record it, and fire it off anywhere the hacker pleased. (That’s in addition to other nastiness.)

There are a few things to keep in mind here, and it’s something that the write-up of the exploit rightly considers.

First, the hacker would need physical access to your Echo. And if you’re already an active target and someone’s able to get into your home, you’ve got much bigger issues than Alexa listening in. (Like, say, planting a real bug somewhere else. Or multiple somewheres else.)

Second: The hacker would need physical access to your Echo. This isn’t just a software thing. It’s worth mentioning twice.

That’s not to say there aren’t scenarios in which I might worry a little more, however. The original write-up also mentions that the larger (yet still theoretical, as this is all part of a proof-of-concept thing) issue could be in places like hotels, where more people have access.

The Wynn hotels in Vegas announced in December 2016 that they’d have an Echo in every room. While I don’t hate the idea of controlling the lights and window shades with my voice, a hotel room is exactly the sort of place I wouldn’t trust this sort of thing. But on the other hand, I also have no idea if a casino hotel — which already is wired up more than just about any other place you can visit without a security clearance — isn’t already listening in on everything I do.

Pick your poison, really.

A potentially hacked Echo in a hotel room? That’s another story.

So, yeah. This is an interesting potential exploit. But it’s one that requires me to have an older Amazon Echo. At home, that’s something I can rectify myself. (Get one that does not have model number 23-002518-01.) It also requires an attacker to have physical access to my Echo, which again is way worse for me for a host of other reasons.

And, finally (or, rather, first) it requires me to be a target. This isn’t something you can just stumble across walking down the street or logging onto someone’s Wifi network.

For now? I’m just a guy with an Amazon Echo who’s still going to sleep just fine at night.

Amazon Echo

• Amazon Echo review
• Echo Dot review
• Top Echo Tips & Tricks
• Tap, Echo or Dot: The ultimate Alexa question
• Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Get the latest Alexa news

Amazon

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This $50 Amazon Echo battery base from Mission Cables lets the original Alexa go mobile

The original Amazon Echo is still a great product. By making it mobile, though, it becomes even better.

Let’s say you’re one of those “normal” people who has only a single Amazon Echo. And the original one at that. It’s a good-enough speaker for music, but it’s shackled to the wall, because the thing still needs a power source.

Not exactly the sort of thing I’d want to drag outside onto the deck on a regular basis, especially with a cord running to the wall, right?

So that brings me to this — a “portable battery case” from Mission Cables. It’s more base than case, actually, and it’s simple enough in concept, and very well executed.

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Unplug your Echo.
Step 2: Plug your Echo into the rubber-bottomed base, taking care to tuck the cable underneath.
Step 3: Plug your Echo cable into the back of the battery base.

And that’s it. There’s a power button on the front, flanked by a low-battery light on the left and a charging indicator on the right. There’s a small battery tucked inside that promises up to 6 hours of playback.

That this base doesn’t make the Echo any taller — and has a strong rubber coating — is key.

The battery is key, of course, but so too is the design of this thing. The Echo already is a tall speaker, prone to getting knocked over if you’re not careful. This battery base (seriously, I’m not going to call it a “case”) adds very little overall height, and the bottom is smartly rubberized to keep the whole obelisk in place. The Echo fits snugly inside, and I’ve not worried about anything falling over or otherwise feeling hanky.

I haven’t actually taken out the Echo since I first put it in. There’s no real reason to. The base doesn’t really affect the overall design of the thing (not that it was a looker to begin with) and actually sort of makes me think of the business end of a rocket for some reason. I could do without the LEDs on the front — because if there’s anything I’d love to cut down on in my life it’s lights shining at me from all angles. But otherwise it’s simple and effective.

Not bad for $50.

See at Amazon

Amazon Echo

• Amazon Echo review
• Echo Dot review
• Top Echo Tips & Tricks
• Tap, Echo or Dot: The ultimate Alexa question
• Amazon Echo vs. Google Home
• Get the latest Alexa news

Amazon

Pentagon officials can view classified material on special tablets

The Department of Defense (DOD) is testing out the use of tablets for viewing classified documents and videos. In a statement, the Defense Information Systems Agency said that the year-long pilot program would provide senior DOD leaders with 8-inch tablets, the first of which was given to the DOD’s acting chief information officer, John Zangardi, in May.

As of now, 23 other officials have been issued tablets and they not only allow access to classified documents, they also support the Unified Video Dissemination System (UVDS). Through UVDS, DOD employees can view video feeds collected for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance purposes. In 2015, the Defense Information Systems Agency began providing smartphones approved for accessing classified materials, but the larger screens of a tablet make for a better user experience, especially when viewing videos.

Currently, the tablets are only approved for materials classified as secret, not top secret. In a statement, Leticia Parra, the DOD Mobility Classified Capability-Secret tablet pilot program manager, said, “While the year-long pilot is in its initial stages, it will be a game changer across the department. As we continue to enhance capabilities, modern information technology will continue to join forces with cybersecurity to provide situational awareness and create a manageable battlefield communications infrastructure.”

Via: Defense One

Source: DISA

Sony and IBM created 330TB data tapes for a massive analog archive

Storing data on magnetic tape is back, baby. Sony has announced that thanks to a partnership with IBM Research in Zurich, the pair have developed a magnetic tape cartridge capable of storing 201 gigabytes of data per square inch for a total of 330 terabytes per cartridge. Previously, IBM’s analog storage maxed out at 123 gigabytes per square inch.

The trick here is that IBM and Sony are using sputtered media made up of several layers of nano particles to extend tape length. IMB says this technique uses a process similar to printing integrated circuits. What’s more, 330TB of data storage isn’t the maximum storage limit.

In the video below, IBM Research’s Dr. Mark Lantz says that tape storage could reach even higher capacities in the future. The last time IBM announced it’d made advancements in the space was in 2015. At the time, cartridge capacity was 220 terabytes and 123 gigabytes per square inch. When the research started in 2006, density was a paltry 6.67GB per square inch with total cartridge capacity of 8TB.

What’s here is “an archival tier for cold data, which is not frequently accessed,” according to Lantz. Specifically, this would be a boon for cloud storage companies.

Lantz says we’ll be seeing these types of increases for awhile, and will double cartridge capacity every two years for at least ten years. That should be enough to keep your selfies backed up to your favorite non-local storage provider for awhile.

Source: Sony

The Smithsonian art museum dove into VR with Intel’s help

Virtual reality and museums are a perfect pair. We’ve seen plenty of institutions, like the British Museum, dabble in VR over the past few years. But for the most part, the offerings have been fairly basic. The Smithsonian American Art Museum is hoping to go one step further. It teamed up with Intel to develop an experience that takes advantage of room-scale VR’s immersiveness to let anyone visit its exhibits from anywhere. While it’s only a basic demo at the moment, with just a few rooms and three interactive showpieces, it’s an example of how museums can use virtual reality to transform their relationship with the public.

The Smithsonian and Intel worked with several VR studios, including V.A.L.I.S., Framestore, xRez and 8i, to recreate one wing of the renowned art museum. Using a combination of laser scanning and photogrammetry (creating 3D models from 2D photographs), they reconstructed the space for VR exploration. Framestore handled the interactivity side of things while Intel provided a powerful Xeon-equipped rig to construct the demo.

When I viewed the experience through an Oculus Rift, it wasn’t exactly photorealistic. It was more like what you’d expect from an indie video game, slightly unpolished and rough around the edges. Still, it managed to be fairly convincing; it felt like I was standing in a museum, which is ultimately the most pressing goal. I was surrounded by three exhibits: the painting Aurora Borealis by Frederic Edwin Church, the bronze Adams Memorial sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and a doorway that led to the three-screened video installation Face in the Crowd by Alex Prager. I could see the rest of the museum off in the distance, as well as a nearby room with even more exhibits.

The experience was impressive because it was more than just a quick tour. I was able to walk around the space, thanks to room-scale VR, and take a closer look at the pieces. As I approached them, descriptive text appeared, similar to what you’d read on the cards you’d typically find in an exhibit. I could imagine museums doing something similar in the future using augmented reality for actual visitors, so in a way this VR experience is preview of what’s to come.

The three main pieces featured portals that I jumped into for an even more immersive experience. When I leaped into the painting, I found myself viewing a 360-degree video of the aurora borealis in Iceland. Leaping into the bronze sculpture brought me to a digital recreation of the actual Adams Memorial in Washington, D.C., where I found myself surrounded by trees and birds.

AP images for Intel

Hopping into the Face in the Crowd exhibit placed me in a black room with three walls playing video, just like you’d see in an actual museum. The piece explores moments of quiet contemplation among strangers in large groups, and it was especially moving in VR, where their projected faces seem almost theatrical. When I turned around, I found myself face-to-face with director Alex Prager — or at least a volumetric 3D version of her — who offered up her own commentary on the piece. I was able to switch among her audio and the videos simply by looking in different directions.

While the Smithsonian’s VR experience is clearly just a first step for the museum, it’s incredibly promising. Intel reps say the Smithsonian currently doesn’t have plans to release this VR tour widely, and it’s unclear if the museum will continue to work on it. I hope this experience finds its way to the public somehow — it’s not only a solid VR demo but also a model for other museums to follow.

Microsoft powers a DJ’s live show with a Surface Book and Kinects

When it comes to live shows, the visuals are key to making a lasting impression. I’d even argue that what you see is just as important as the quality of the music. It is a performance, after all. Touring musicians employ all kinds of A/V gear in an attempt to offer a unique experience for concertgoers. For years, some acts have turned to Microsoft’s Kinect camera to capture movement live, translating that to graphics on a video display, among other things. To make the camera-based setup more portable, Microsoft teamed up with DJ Alison Wonderland to create a simplified Kinect-driven system that runs primarily on a Surface Book.

With help from creative studio SuperUber, Microsoft sought to create a more portable, plug-and-play-type setup for Wonderland that would allow her to carry her stage show to venues of all sizes as part of the company’s Music x Technology initiative. It also had to be something that was quick and easy to set up. When she performs at festivals like Lollapalooza where the changeover between acts is limited to just a few minutes, the system has to be up and running immediately. In addition to huge events like Lollapalooza, she also performs in much smaller and more intimate spaces, so the setup had to work equally well there.

“They really wanted something that wasn’t a huge extra set of cases, but something that’s small and could easily be added to their kit,” said Amy Sorokas, strategic partnerships director of Microsoft Brand Studios. “It’s quick to set up and portable but also flexible to work no matter where she’s playing.”

To achieve this, the project relies on a few key elements: a video camera, two Kinect cameras, a Surface Book, popular video DJ (VJ) software called Resolume and a custom-built controller app. The Kinects track motion and depth before sending that information to the Surface Book, which transforms those details into the performance visuals. And yes, Wonderland can use that motion tracking to manipulate those visual elements while onstage just like you would in a Kinect-enabled video game.

You could always film me dancing, but now you can film me dancing on fire. Which is pretty damn cool.

Alison Wonderland

“Some of the effects are enhanced when she’s moving around, so she can make some of the effects bigger or more dramatic depending on how she’s moving in front of the Kinects.” Sorokas said. “The Kinect is also using sound, and some of the effects are also responding to the sound in the music she’s creating.” In fact, one Kinect is tasked with capturing Wonderland’s body movements while the other is focused on her hands, allowing her to manipulate the visuals, as Sorokas explained.

Her VJ also has a simple interface on the Surface Book that allows for quick adjustments and selections on the device’s touch-enabled display. In fact, SuperUber’s founder and CEO Russ Rive explained to me that all the computing power driving the visuals is coming from the Surface Book.

“We were surprised in the development process. We assumed we would use the Surface Book as, like, a MIDI controller interface,” Rive said. “Once we had it in there … it’s running the entire thing. It’s doing all the visual processing.” Sure, the project is using the top-of-the-line Surface Book configuration, but it’s impressive that the device is powerful enough to drive both the controller interface and the Resolume software in real time without any noticeable lag.

There are other computers at work here — for example, two Windows 10 Brix PCs connected to the Kinect cameras to analyze the gathered data and create grayscale-depth videos complete with skeleton coordinates. However, in terms of transforming what’s being collected onstage from the Kinects into visual elements, that’s all being done on the Surface Book. Rive explained that if just one Kinect camera was being used here, that pair of Brix PCs wouldn’t be necessary. Because you can only connect a single Kinect to a computer, the system demands them. Rive said those two machines are mostly for fine adjustments and calibration purposes for the Kinect cameras.

Rive also noted how important it was for the interface of the custom-built controller app to be as simple as possible on the Surface Book display. The environment of a live show can be chaotic and stressful, so Wonderland’s VJ needs to be able to make selections and adjustments without having to hunt around for what he’s after.

“Imagine you’re in the middle of a totally chaotic mosh pit, but there’s no panic when you look at the display,” he said. “You can’t press anything that’s wrong. Everything is bright and super simple to use.”

The app, which was written in C++ using openFrameworks, pulls in video from the Kinects that can be used in 10 different scenes. That collection of options is on the left side of the UI, with effects sliders down the middle and Kinect camera previews on the right. It looks simple, but everything the VJ might need at a moment’s notice is a tap away. Of course, the whole thing can be piped into more-robust Resolume software for more-detailed tweaks and layering. The fact that it works with a professional-grade app that the crew was already using meant there wasn’t too much of a learning curve either.

Wonderland admitted that she wasn’t familiar with Kinect before this project, but she explained how the setup expands the possibilities for her live show. “You could always film me dancing, but now you can film me dancing on fire,” she said. “Which is pretty damn cool.”

As mentioned earlier, this isn’t the first time Kinect has been used onstage during a live show. Nine Inch Nails put the cameras to work during its 2013 tour to track Trent Reznor’s movements and translate them into artsy visuals at different points in the show, for example. Microsoft’s Music x Technology initiative is no stranger to using the cameras either, employing them in projects with the likes of Washed Out and Neon Indian. However, the toolkit for Wonderland is more of a complete package. It’s something that could potentially be used by other artists in the future who need the visual element of their show to be more portable and fit a range of venues.

“It’s very plug-and-play — it’s not very difficult to set up at all,” Rive said. “Someone could easily set this up with one Kinect, plug it in and start playing around with it. We designed this for two Kinect cameras, but the backend has already been designed to accommodate as many as you want to use. It’s just a matter of adjusting the interface.”

He went on to give the example of a ring of a dozen or so Kinect cameras that could be used to create Matrix-like effects or something similar to a 3D scan. “There’s some really cool stuff that’s going to be done once we really push it,” Rive continued.

Wonderland echoed that sentiment. “Even at rehearsal today we were coming up with new ideas,” she explained. “I can’t wait to get out on tour and keep trying new things with the new music. There’s loads of stuff we could do. This is just the beginning.”

While Rive and the rest of the team are working on making those ideas a reality, you won’t have to wait long to see the collaboration put through its paces. Well, that’s if you’re planning to take a trip to Chicago. During Wonderland’s set at Lollapalooza this weekend, the Kinect-and-Surface-Book-powered system will be on display. For the rest of us, there’s a chance to catch the tech during her North American tour, which runs through October.

[Image credits: Jeremie Brillant and Microsoft]

Karma’s new hotspot gives users a cloak of invisibility

Personal hotspot hardware provider Karma has announced a new security-focused product, Karma Black. A specialized version of the company’s KarmaGO hotspot device, Karma Black will provide anonymous browsing (Tor), an integrated Virtual Private Network (VPN), blacklisting and ad-blocking.

KarmaGO allows users to establish a WiFi connection through 4G via a small portable device, either on a pay-as-you-go basis or through a monthly data plan — it’s particularly popular with business travellers. Karma Black will operate in the same way, but will act as an invisibility cloak for users, encrypting web activity and hiding physical location. It’ll also provide beefier protection against intrusive advertising and viruses.

The product is a response to looser privacy laws which were approved earlier this year. In March, the US Senate voted to get rid of FCC regulations that stop internet providers from selling customer data to advertisers, so it won’t be long until your surfing habits are being sold to the highest bidder. Karma Black is tipped for release in September, although there’s no word yet on how much the device will cost. Existing KarmaGO customers will also be able to take advantage of its features, with information on hardware upgrades expected later this month.

Via: The Verge

Source: Karma

Google Earth iOS update saves it from App Store removal

One of iOS 11’s big changes (and there are many) is that it will no longer support 32-bit-only apps. This has left developers scrambling to make sure their apps will be able to launch on the software update arriving in September. It’s understandable that smaller developers might make it just under the wire, but it’s a little surprising that a company with the resources of Google would wait until the last minute. Today, the tech giant finally released a new version of Google Earth that has 64-bit support.

There had been hints for a long time that Apple was going to make this move; way back in 2014, we reported that the company wanted developers to include 64-bit support in their apps. And in June of this year, before the WWDC keynote, Apple stopped showing 32-bit only apps in search completely.

The standalone Google Earth app held the prestige of being one of the App Store’s most downloaded 32-bit apps, according to 9to5 Mac. However, it was unclear until now whether the app would continue to function on iOS 11, as Google hadn’t made any public announcements on adding 64-bit support on mobile (though its web and Android apps were updated in April). Those same updates can now be seen on iOS.

The company also added support for their feature called “Voyager” to the iOS app, which they hope you’ll use for travel inspiration. You can find suggested multi-day travel itineraries for popular worldwide destinations as well as visit iconic locales such as Machu Picchu and Katmai National Park. You can also use the new “I’m feeling lucky” feature to allow Google to choose a random spot for you to explore. The new version of Google Earth is available for download in the App Store today.

Via: 9to5 Mac

Source: Google

Facebook News Feed will direct you to faster-loading links

It’s not just bogus articles that can make your Facebook News Feed seem like a minefield — it’s also frustrating when a friend shares a web link that takes… forever… to… load. Thankfully, Facebook is as tired of twiddling its thumbs as you are. The social network is updating the News Feed over the months ahead to give higher priority to web links that load quickly on mobile devices. Facebook will gauge the speed on a handful of factors, including the quality of your own internet connection as well as the overall load times for a given page.

The company doesn’t expect this to play havoc with most professional Facebook pages, but it could hurt those pages that link to “particularly slow” websites. Of course, that’s likely the reason why Facebook is making this change in the first place: it doesn’t want users to grow frustrated with pokey links, and potentially with Facebook itself. The prioritization on speed could spur web developers to better-optimize their pages for mobile users, especially in countries where fast cellular data is rare or non-existent.

Source: Facebook Newsroom