Google Voice integration with Sprint is coming to an end

Google Voice, the service that gives US users a free phone number they can use for calls, texts and messages on devices other than a smartphone, recently got a big overhaul. Left intact was Sprint’s unique arrangement with Google that allowed its customers to use their Sprint phone number for Google Voice. Google has informed Sprint customers that the arrangement is about to end, however, thanks to changes coming to Sprint’s network.

Google Voice let users make free calls to most places in the US and Canada, but as of June 1st, 2018, all outgoing calls, including international calls, will go through Sprint and be billed accordingly. Messages, calls and voicemails after that date will no longer be stored on Google Voice, and you won’t be able to use Voice-enabled features like call forwarding, voicemail transcription and spam detection.

Google recommends disabling integration before the cutoff date of June 1st, and re-blocking any phone numbers using the carrier’s MySprint application. You’ll have to re-install Google Voice on your phone if you want to keep using it. (Check here for Google’s complete article on the matter.)

Not all is lost. You can still use Voice by getting a dedicated number from Google, or even port your Sprint number to Google Voice, though you’d then have to get a new Sprint number. You’ll never regain the handy centralization of all your telephony and messages across multiple devices, though. It also marks the end of unprecedented cooperation between a US carrier and tech company, entities that are normally oil and water.

Via: 9 to 5 Google

Source: Google

Pros and cons: Our verdict on Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Yoga (2018)

We loved Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but if you want the added functionality of a convertible, the X1 Yoga might be for you. Just like Lenovo’s other Yoga machines, it has a hinge that lets you twist the screen a full 360 degrees, letting you use it as a giant tablet or in a tent formation. Because of that, we found it to be more useful than a traditional laptop, but you’ll have to deal with a slightly heavier weight than the X1 Carbon. And, unfortunately, you’ll have to pay extra for the HDR-equipped screen.

Cambridge Analytica may have used other quizzes to gather Facebook data

Brittany Kaiser, a former Cambridge Analytica employee, testified today in front of a UK committee that’s investigating the misuse of Facebook users’ personal data. Kaiser claimed in her spoken and written testimony that Cambridge Analytica used other quizzes, such as the “‘sex compass’ quiz,” to gather users’ data.

Kaiser did not have information on the specific quizzes that Cambridge Analytica used, but her statement makes clear that “This Is Your Digital Life” was not the only quiz that the company utilized to scrape Facebook data. Her written statement claims that Cambridge Analytica was not up front with Facebook in regard to the data it had. For example, she notes that Cambridge Analytica data scientists appeared to be using Facebook data two months after the company told Facebook that said data had been deleted.

According to TechCrunch, in her spoken testimony, Kaiser said, “In my pitches I used to give examples even to clients that if you go on Facebook and you see these viral personality quizzes — not all of them would have been designed by Cambridge Analytica/SCL Group or our affiliates but that these applications were designed specifically to harvest data from individuals, using Facebook as the tool.” Facebook has made it clear that the company is looking into any apps that have access to large amounts of information, and has already suspended other firms that have used quizzes to collect data.

“We are currently investigating all apps that had access to large amounts of information before we changed our platform to dramatically reduce data access in 2014,” a Facebook spokesperson told Engadget. “We will conduct a full audit of any app with suspicious activity. And if we find developers that misused personally identifiable information, we will ban them and tell everyone affected.”

“It’s widely known that like other marketing agencies we sometimes collect personality data using a research panel with an appropriate statement of consent,” Cambridge Analytica said in a statement to Engadget. “These surveys are entirely unconnected to the GSR/Kogan data for 30 million users that we lawfully licensed in 2014 and then deleted when Facebook asked us to do so.” The company then directed us to its press statements and Twitter feed.

This is very much getting into “he said, she said” territory, but what we can take away from this is that Cambridge Analytica may have not been telling the full truth. Facebook is taking steps to secure its platform, but at this point it’s likely that the majority of the social network’s users have been affected by one of these apps, whether deployed by Cambridge Analytica or not.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: UK Parliament

34 major tech companies are uniting to fight cyberattacks

Cyberattacks are a global issue that can cause havoc regardless of who’s involved, and key members of the tech industry are uniting in a bid to fight these attacks. A group of 34 companies has signed the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, an agreement promising to defend customers around the world from hacks regardless of where they take place or who the perpetrator might be. They’re promising to boost defenses for customers (including users’ capacity to defend themselves), establish more partnerships to share threats and vulnerabilities, and — importantly — refuse to assist governments in launching cyberattacks.

Cisco, Dell, Facebook, HP, Microsoft and Nokia are some of the bigger general technology companies in the initial group, while security firms like Avast, FireEye and Symantec have also pledged support. Telecom giants BT and Telefonica are also aboard. Membership is open to other companies, of course, but they have to be “trusted,” share “high cybersecurity standards” and “adhere unreservedly” to the Accord once they sign up.

The first meeting of Accord members takes place during the ongoing RSA Conference (the RSA is also a member), and they’re considering joint actions such as common guidelines and “broadly deployed” features.

In theory, this presents a united front where companies work together and assert that cyberattacks are harmful as a whole. “Everyone deserves protection,” according to the agreement. With that said, there are issues. To start, there’s a distinct lack of specific action at this stage — it’s easy to make general statements of principle, it’s another to back those up.

We’d add that there are notable omissions in the current roster, including Apple, Amazon and Twitter. We wouldn’t expect Chinese or Russian firms to sign, for that matter. No matter how much they endorse the ideas behind the Accord, there’s little they can do to stop local officials from ordering them to weaken security. The Accord is an important start to fending off cyberattacks, but it may need to expand significantly beyond its existing member list to be truly effective.

Source: Cybersecurity Tech Accord

Apple Expands Its Machine Learning Hub in Downtown Seattle

Apple has expanded its office space at Two Union Square, a 56-story office tower in Downtown Seattle, according to GeekWire.

The report claims Apple will soon occupy five floors inside the skyscraper, up from a floor-and-a-half of space it originally leased, based on permits filed with the city and the publication’s own visits to the building.

The expansion gives Apple more than 70,000 square feet of space, enough for potentially close to 500 people, the report adds.

Last year, Apple confirmed that its Seattle engineering hub is focused on artificial intelligence and machine learning, technologies that power the likes of Siri and advanced facial recognition on the iPhone X.

Apple’s jobs website lists 19 open positions in its Seattle office in a variety of fields, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, smart home automation, cloud computing, and natural language processing.

Apple’s senior director of artificial intelligence and machine learning Carlos Guestrin back in February 2017:

We’re trying to find the best people who are excited about AI and machine learning — excited about research and thinking long term but also bringing those ideas into products that impact and delight our customers. The bar is high, but we’re going to be hiring as quickly as we can find people that meet our high bar, which is exciting.

Seattle has become a hotbed for technology companies because of its talent pool and lower cost of living compared with the San Francisco area, with Amazon, Facebook, and Google among the tech giants with offices in the region.

Last year, Apple became a member of the Partnership on AI, a non-profit organization established “to study and formulate best practices, to advance the public’s understanding of AI, and to serve as an open platform for discussion and engagement about AI and its influences on people and society.”

Apple recently hired John Giannandrea, the former head of Google’s search and artificial intelligence division. Apple’s Machine Learning Journal documents the company’s efforts in the artificial intelligence area.

Tags: Seattle, artificial intelligence
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Former FCC broadband advisor arrested on $250 million fraud charges

A former broadband advisor picked by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to push high-speed internet access in rural areas has been arrested on multi-million dollar fraud charges. It is alleged that during her time with Alaska-based fiber optic cable provider Quintillion, former CEO Elizabeth Pierce raised more than $250 million from investment firms in New York using forged contracts from other companies. By using bogus documents, she convinced other investors that Quintillion had already secured backing from elsewhere, leading them to believe their investment was stronger than it actually was.

It appears that Pierce wanted to raise money to build a fiber optic system that would better connect Alaska with other states in the US. She has been vocal about Alaska’s need for high-speed internet, which is why she was recruited by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai for the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) in April last year. According to the charges, Pierce’s alleged crimes spanned from May 2015 to July 2017. She abruptly left Quintillion just one month later, and the BDAC a month after that.

Quintillion says it began cooperating with the Department of Justice immediately after the allegations surfaced, stating in a press release that it “self-reported” to authorities, and noting that the investigation has had no impact on the company’s operations. Pierce was formerly charged on Thursday and if found guilty could be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Via: The Verge

Source: Department of Justice

Scientists accidentally produce an enzyme that devours plastic

There are research teams around the world dedicated to finding a remedy for the growing plastic pollution crisis, but now it seems that one group of scientists have found a feasible answer — and they stumbled upon it by accident. Researchers studying a newly-discovered bacterium found that with a few tweaks, the bug can be turned into a mutant enzyme that starts eating plastic in a matter of days, compared to the centuries it takes for plastic to break down in the ocean.

The surprise discovery was made when scientists began investigating the structure of a bacterium found in a waste dump in Japan. The bug produced an enzyme, which the team studied using the Diamond Light Source, an intense beam of X-rays 10 billion times brighter than the sun. At first, the enzyme looked similar to one evolved by many kinds of bacteria to break down cutin, a natural polymer used by plants as a protective layer. But after some gentle manipulation, the team actually improved its ability to eat PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the type of plastic used in drinks bottles.

Speaking to The Guardian, Professor John McGeehan, who led the research from the University of Portsmouth, said the discovery was “a bit of a shock,” but that it could have a significant impact on the mounting global plastics problem. PET bottles that are currently recycled can only be turned into fibers for clothing and carpets. The mutant enzyme could be used to turn plastic back into its original components. “It means we won’t need to dig up any more oil and, fundamentally, it should reduce the amount of plastic in the environment,” said McGeehan.

Existing examples of industrial enzymes, such as those used in detergents and biofuels, have been manipulated to work up to 1,000 times faster in just a few years — McGeehan believes the same could be possible with the new enzyme: “It gives us scope to use all the technology used in other enzyme development for years and years and make a super-fast enzyme.” According to the team, potential future uses for the enzyme could include spraying it on the huge islands of floating plastic in oceans to break down the material.

Plastic pollution has seen renewed focus in recent times, thanks largely to attention drawn by David Attenborough’s Blue Planet II series, and through a number of legislative proposals. Science has examined a huge range of solutions, from plastic-plucking robots to infrared identification from space, but the discovery of this mutant enzyme could herald an entirely new way of dealing with the issue.

Via: The Guardian

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Intel reworks its malware scanner to speed up its processors

Since the full impact of Spectre and Meltdown became clear earlier this year, Intel has been making a big effort to reassure its customers that security is its top priority. To that end, the company has announced Intel Threat Detection Technology (TDT), which aims to fortify against malicious attacks without affecting CPU performance.

TDT includes an “Accelerated Memory Scanning” feature which uses GPU to scan through memory for malware, instead of the CPU. Intel claims this will reduce processor loads from 20 percent to as little as two percent. TDT also includes “Advanced Platform Telemetry”, which essentially leverages cloud-based machine learning and endpoint data collection to identify anomalous system behavior. Intel’s twist, however, is that it will go beyond operating system-level events to examine things like the processor’s integrated performance counters in identifying unusual processor activity. TDT will be available on 6th, 7th and 8th generation Intel processors.

In a further bid to beef up its approach to security, the company has also created some new branding for existing features. Disparate technologies, such as Platform Trust Technology, Platform Firmware Resilience and individual instructions for specific processors and chipsets, have been brought together under the umbrella term “Intel Security Essentials”. According to Intel’s platform security division vice president Rick Echevarria, this will “improve the security posture” of computing, and with Intel’s other security features, should provide a stronger foundation against future threats.

Source: Intel

Apple may add subscriptions to its News app

Apple is apparently putting its Texture purchase to use to build a subscription-based news service. Bloomberg reports that the electronics juggernaut is looking to make some changes to the way Apple News operates and that the new premium offering should launch sometime within the next year. A cut of subscription revenue will go to magazine publishers, of course. Texture’s quasi-Netflix approach to reading offered all-you-can-eat magazines for $10 a month.

It’d make sense for Apple to try another service on for size. Apple Music is steadily gaining new subscribers (40 million total as of last week), and the prospect of luring in additional regular revenue is probably extremely attractive for the company. However, success might prove difficult — Flipboard’s Premium service isn’t exactly setting the world on fire, nor is Scribd.

Source: Bloomberg

Walmart will roll out a cleaner, sleeker website in May

In a few weeks’ time, you might not even recognize Walmart’s website. The retail giant is giving it a total make-better — that’s a makeover in Queer Eye parlance — with what it says is “an entirely new look and feel.” Based on the image the company released with its announcement, we can expect a much cleaner interface with photos that look like they came from a lifestyle magazine. Walmart US e-commerce chief Marc Lore said, they’re featuring relatable photography to “bring a more human element to the site.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, Walmart execs decided that it was time for a sleeker look in order to appeal to higher-end brands, so it can expand the range of products it offers. The cleaner look was also meant to entice people to browser more products — indeed, it’s as if a hoarder has finally cleaned up and decluttered. You’ll also notice that the website isn’t so blue anymore.

In addition to a more polished look, Walmart’s new website will also offer a quick way to repurchase items you’ve bought before. It will highlight the top-selling items in your area, as well, so you’re not the last person in the neighborhood to find a good deal when it’s too late. Walmart’s execs believe that bringing in more expensive brands and making sure people are spending a lot of time on the website can make the company’s e-commerce business more profitable. Whether the higher-end feel can help Walmart pull customers away from Amazon’s more cluttered, pretty chaotic website, however, remains to be seen.

Source: Walmart