Tag: Android

Friday Tech News Roundup #27

Below are 10 tech news that I found interesting and are related to topics I care about.

As Stripe backs away from crypto payments, Coinbase offers a new solution for e-commerce – Popular payment enabler Stripe announced plans to end support for bitcoin last month, but crypto exchange Coinbase is stepping into the gap after it released a new option for online merchants. Techcrunch

Apple and Android are destroying the Swiss Watch industry – In Q4 2017 – essentially during the last holiday season – market research firm Canalys found that more people bought Apple watches than Swiss watches. Two million more, to be exact. Brian Heater has more data but this news is quite problematic for the folks eating Coquilles St-Jacques on the slopes of the Jura mountains.Techcrunch

Microsoft’s next Windows 10 update will include high-performance mode – Microsoft is adding a new enhanced power mode to Windows 10 Pro for users who need to squeeze every ounce of performance out of their computer. Mashable

Facebook’s new slogan: ‘If you think we’re not good for your business, leave’ – Facebook is famous for the mantra “move fast and break things.” But these days, the tech giant is all about time well spent, and with that comes a new tagline for everyone to follow: If you don’t like us, leave. Mashable

Intel’s new graphics drivers automatically optimize game settings – Intel is introducing a new feature for its processors with integrated graphics, allowing games to be automatically optimized on systems. The Verge

Apple says new apps must support the iPhone X Super Retina display – Today, Apple informed developers that all new apps that are submitted to the App Store must support the iPhone X’s Super Retina display, starting this April, reports 9to5Mac. The Verge

Facebook using 2FA cell numbers for spam, replies get posted to the platform – Facebook is reportedly spamming some users by text, using a cell number they provided only for use in two-factor authentication. 9to5Mac

Receiving an Indian character crashes Messages and other apps in iOS 11 [U: Mac & Watch too] – There have been a number of cases where sending a particular message to an iOS device causes the Messages app to crash, leaving users unable to re-open it – and a new one has emerged in iOS 11. 9to5Mac

Researchers discover two new Spectre and Meltdown variants – Spectre and Meltdown are two serious, recently discovered security flaws tied to CPU hardware. Techspot

MIT’s new chip makes neural networks practical for battery-powered devices – Researchers at MIT have developed a chip capable of processing neural network computations three to seven times faster than earlier iterations. Techspot

Friday Tech News Roundup #22

Below are 10 tech news that I found interesting and are related to topics I care about.

Facebook feed change sacrifices time spent and news outlets for “well-being” – Facebook is making a huge change to its News Feed algorithm to prioritize friends and posts that spark comments between them at the expense of public content, news outlets, and importantly, the total time spent and ads you see on the social network. Techcrunch

Google claims its Spectre and Meltdown mitigation results in no performance degradation – It’s been a long week since we first learned about the now infamous Spectre and Meltdown chip vulnerabilities. One of the issues with mitigating the danger these vulnerabilities pose is that they could result in serious performance degradation. In a blog post today, Google claimed their solutions resulted in no performance degradation across the different mitigation techniques they have developed. Techcrunch

American drone companies aren’t built to compete – GoPro’s announcement this week that it would exit the drone business was greeted by many observers as a foregone conclusion. Karma, the company’s first foray into drones, had sold poorly after an embarrassing recall in 2016. Under pressure to cut costs amid slowing sales in its core action-camera business, GoPro’s hand was forced. Viewed in that light, Karma was just one more tech company side hustle that didn’t pay off. The Verge

New High Sierra bug lets you change App Store preferences with any password – A new bug has been discovered on devices running macOS High Sierra that allows anyone to access your App Store system preferences. The bug was spotted by MacWorld and the bug will be fixed in the next update as users running the 10.13.3 beta haven’t been able to reproduce it. It should be noted that the bug doesn’t allow access to sensitive user information on the Mac and doesn’t create exposure for users. User and other system preferences can’t be changed without the admin’s actual password. The admin also has to be logged in already for access. The Verge

How Meltdown and Spectre Patches Will Affect HPC Workloads – There have been claims that the fixes for the Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities, named the KPTI (aka KAISER) patches, are going to affect application performance by 10-30 percent. The patch makes any call from user space into the operating system much more expensive, so I/O intensive applications are likely to be the worst hit. What does this really mean for HPC workloads? HPCWire

The Living Heart Project Wins Three Prestigious Awards for HPC Simulation -Imagine creating a treatment plan for a patient on the other side of the world, or testing a drug without ever putting subjects at risk. 3D modeling and simulation tools have opened the door to a new age of healthcare. Operations like the Living Heart Project are uniting industry-leading researchers, doctors, educators, and technology manufacturers to reach a higher standard for personalized medicine. Leveraging advanced modeling and simulation capabilities, the Living Heart Project has developed highly accurate, validated models of the human heart which can be personalized by patients’ unique traits and conditions. The Living Heart Project is a growing ecosystem that is fueling the collaborative development of commercially available heart models and exploring novel digital therapies. HPCWire

Android TV box sellers charged with copyright infringement in unprecedented move against piracy – In the first prosecution of its kind here, two Android TV box sellers have been charged with “wilfully infringing” the copyright of four companies – telcos StarHub and Singtel, entertainment giant Fox Networks Group and football’s Premier League. Channel Newsasia

One senator is probing Apple for more information on iPhone throttling issues – When it was discovered that iOS developers had quietly added a feature to the operating system that throttled processors in older phones with degraded batteries, the public was irate. In fact, people seemed more angry about the slowing down than about the phones that were unexpectedly shutting down which is what prompted the software modification in the first place. Techspot

Mac shipments up 7.3% year-on-year, reports IDC, despite a tough U.S. market – Mac shipments in Q4 2014 were up 7.3% year-on-year, according to IDC data. Apple substantially outperformed the PC market as a whole, which grew by just 0.7%. 9to5Mac

Apple shares revised iOS Security Guide w/ details on Face ID, Apple Pay Cash, more – Apple today has shared a revised version of its iOS Security Guide, dated January 2018. The new document, which comes in at 78 pages long includes new details on Apple Pay Cash, Face ID, and more… 9to5Mac

Friday Tech News Roundup #19

Since tech news roundups are done every Friday, it is decided the heading becomes: Friday Tech News Roundup.

Below are 10 tech news that I found interesting and are related to topics I care about.

If your Android phone catches this malware, it could overload and warp – Cybersecurity researchers at the Kaspersky Lab intentionally infected an Android phone with a new species of nefarious malware. Two days later, the overtaxed phone battery had bulged and actually warped the phone. Mashable

Apple’s Design Delirium [Commentary] – I watch with increasing trepidation at the direction Apple is taking its products. The most recent concern came yesterday from Bloomberg that Apple intends to offer its software developers new libraries that will allow apps to serve both touchscreen interfaces like the iPhone as well as traditional mouse and keyboard setups on desktop computers using a single unified set of APIs. Techcrunch

The Apple Watch 4 could get a proven, life-saving feature – The Apple Watch 3, in its current form, is already a helpful tool for monitoring your heart rate. But it could soon be even more vital, as Apple is reportedly developing a new wearable that features EKG technology to detect heart abnormalities. Techradar

Intel to Take More Risks, Declares CEO in Memo – In a year-end call-to-arms memo sent to all Intel employees, CEO Brian Krzanich declared that “the new normal” at Intel will be change and risk-taking. According to a published story by CNBC, Krzanich said the company faces “an exciting challenge” in strategic, or “new growth,” markets (connected devices, AI, autonomous driving) where other companies have forged ahead of the chip giant. HPCWire

Apple now requires games with loot boxes to disclose odds – Apple is now requiring that any apps on the App Store that offer loot boxes must disclose the odds of the likelihood of players getting different types of items, according to a report from Polygon. The Verge

Apple revises its controversial guidelines on template-based apps – Apple today announced it’s amending the App Store guideline that banned apps created using templates and other app generation services. When the company revised its policies earlier this year, the move was meant to reduce the number of low-quality apps and spam. But the decision ended up impacting a much wider market — including small businesses, restaurants, nonprofits, organizations, clubs and others who don’t have the in-house expertise or funds to build custom apps from scratch. Techcrunch

Singapore start-up Hanalytics sets up AI research centre for neurology in China – Singapore artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Hanalytics on Friday (Dec 22) announced it has jointly established an AI research centre focused on neurology with Beijing Tiantan Hospital, which is affiliated to the Capital Medical University in China. Channel Newsasia

Twitter adds more verification options for two-factor authentication – Twitter today is beefing up perhaps its most important consumer-facing security measure, two-factor authentication (2FA), with an update to fully support third-party apps. Now, Twitter’s login verification feature (the name it gives its 2FA service) will let you rely on apps like Google Authenticator and Authy, whereas before you had to, by default, input a code sent via text message. The Verge

Apple confirms iPhones with older batteries will take hits in performance – Reddit users have noticed that Apple appears to be slowing down old iPhones that have low-capacity batteries. While many iPhone users have experienced perceived slowdowns due to iOS updates over the years, it appears that there’s now proof Apple is throttling processor speeds when a battery capacity deteriorates over time. The Verge

iPhone apps could soon work on Macs, report says – Apple could be looking to bring its desktop and mobile software much closer together. Mashable

10 Tech News Roundup #9

Here are 10 tech news that I found interesting.

Microsoft’s Windows 10 breaches privacy law, says Dutch DPA – The Dutch data protection authority has concluded that Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system breaches local privacy law on account of its collection of telemetry metadata. The OS has been available since the end of July 2015. Techcrunch

Amazon finally makes a waterproof Kindle, after 10 years of Kindles – Amazon has been selling Kindles for 10 years now, but “waterproof” hasn’t appear on its list of incremental technological advancements until now. The company just announced a new version of its popular e-reader that builds on last year’s Kindle design and now has an IPX8 waterproof rating. The Verge

Hyatt breach exposed customer payment data at 41 hotels – Hyatt announced today that its payment systems were breached, exposing credit card data from 41 hotels in 11 countries. The hack was discovered in July and the investigation only just recently concluded. Techcrunch

AWS and Microsoft double down on deep learning with Gluon, a simplified ML model builder – AWS and Microsoft may be arch rivals when it comes to competing for business in cloud storage and services, but when it comes to breaking ground in newer areas where volumes of data make a difference to how well the services work and creating systems that are easier to use, collaboration is key. Today, the two companies announced a new deep learning interface called Gluon, designed for developers of all abilities (not just AI specialists) to build and run machine learning models for their apps and other services. Techcrunch

Fake Adobe Flash malware locks your Android phone’s data unless you pay up – Consider this yet another PSA on why you should never ever download Adobe Flash Player, or anything resembling it if you’re using an Android phone. Security researchers at ESET have discovered a new kind of ransomware infecting Android phones on a level nobody’s ever seen before. Called DoubleLocker, the exploit encrypts the data on the infected device and then changes its PIN number so victims are locked out of their device unless they pay the ransom demanded by hackers. Mashable

Intel Delivers 17-Qubit Quantum Chip to European Research Partner – On Tuesday (Oct. 10), Intel delivered a 17-qubit superconducting test chip to research partner QuTech, the quantum research institute of Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands. The announcement marks a major milestone in the 10-year, $50-million collaborative relationship with TU Delft and TNO, the Dutch Organization for Applied Research, to accelerate advancements in quantum computing. HPCWire

Fujitsu Tapped to Build 37-Petaflops ABCI System for AIST – Fujitsu announced today it will build the long-planned AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure (ABCI) which is set to become the fastest supercomputer system in Japan and will begin operation in fiscal 2018 (starts in April). ABCI will use Intel’s Xeon Gold processors and Nvidia V100 GPUs and deliver 550 petaflops theoretical peak performance in half-precision floating point and 37 petaflops of double-precision peak floating point performance. The award is from Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). HPCWire

Qualcomm fires another shot at Apple with a new lawsuit in China – Qualcomm has filed a lawsuit against Apple in its continuing legal battle over patents, this time looking to block the manufacturing and sale of iPhones in China, according to a report by Bloomberg this morning. Techcrunch

WD shows off market-ready MAMR tech for monster hard drives – Western Digital showed off a a prototype hard drive with a potentially revolutionary new energy-assisted magnetic recording technology called microwave-assist magnetic recording (MAMR). The company says the new tech could potentially be ready for market by the end of 2019, and it could allow the manufacture of 40 TB hard drives by 2025. For context, WD is now currently offering 14 TB drives to datacenter customers and 12 TB drives are just entering the general market. The company performed the reveal at its “Innovating to Fuel the Next Decade of Big Data” event at its headquarters in Silicon Valley yesterday. Techreport

Chaos and hackers stalk investors on cryptocurrency exchanges – LONDON, SHANGHAI, NEW YORK: Dan Wasyluk discovered the hard way that trading cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin happens in an online Wild West where sheriffs are largely absent. Channel Newsasia

10 Tech News Roundup #8

Here are 10 tech news that I found interesting.

Facebook quietly launches Mac and PC Workplace Chat apps with screen share – TechCrunch has discovered that Facebook has stealthily launched official desktop PC and Mac chat apps with screen sharing — two features users have been begging for. Techcrunch

Apple is looking into reports of iPhone 8 batteries swelling – Reports from a few iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus buyers have suggested there could be an issue with the battery inside some of the devices swelling, causing the case of Apple’s new iPhone to split open and expose the smartphone’s internals. Techcrunch

Apple gave Uber the keys to your iPhone screen, and it was all super shady – Stop us if you’ve heard this one: Uber is a shady company. Mashable

The Pixel’s missing headphone jack proves Apple was right – When it launched the iPhone 7 a year ago, Apple confidently declared the headphone jack obsolete technology that we could learn to live without. The Verge

HP is ditching the last serious Windows phone – HP has canceled plans to build out a line of Windows phones due to Microsoft’s general disinterest in continuing to battle Google and Apple on mobile. The Verge

Analyst and execs say Microsoft might kill off the Surface line by 2019 – With its new Pixelbook 2-in-1, it appears as if Google is trying to take on Microsoft and its laptop-tablet hybrid, the Surface Pro. But several big names within the industry think the Windows maker will drop its Surface lineup by 2019, if not sooner. Techspot

Microsoft has an Edge on iOS and Android handsets – Do you use Microsoft Edge? While I haven’t spent a huge amount of time with Microsoft’s newest browser, I have to admit it’s fast and slick. Techreport

The rise of female e-gamers in Singapore – SINGAPORE: A marketing executive by day, female gamer Calyn Koh heads straight for her home computer after work. Channel Newsasia

Outside criticism forced YouTube to change its search results after Las Vegas shooting conspiracy theories spread – YouTube is revamping the way its search algorithm picks videos to display on the site, after a spate of clips promoting false conspiracy theories about Sunday’s Las Vegas shooting were prominently featured on its site. Business Insider

Google Compute Engine goes a little crazy with up to 96 CPU cores and 624 GB of memory – If you’ve got a resource-hungry app, Google Compute Engine’s latest offering has you covered. Techcrunch