The scoop: Mio Alpha 2 heart rate training watch, by MIO, about $200 What is it? It’s not a smartwatch! It doesn’t measure your sleep! You can't draw doodles on its display! But if you want a better way to track your heart rate while working out, this watch will do this and more. A sensor on the back of the watch that touches your skin measures your continuous heart rate on your arm, giving you the information via its display or via a Bluetooth-connected device (works with iOS and Android devices) through its Mio Go app. Why it’s cool: The killer function of this is the continuous heart-rate measurement while the Alpha 2 is on your wrist, as opposed to having to wear an uncomfortable chest strap or, if you’re on a treadmill, using the handgrips. When working with the app, the watch becomes valuable in terms of letting you know whether you are working too hard or not working hard enough in order for you to get into the proper maximum training zone (for your age/gender, which is calculated through the app). To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Prototype of HP’s Machine due next yearHewlett-Packard will have a prototype of its futuristic Machine computer ready for partners to develop software on by next year, though the finished product is still half a decade away. The single-rack prototype will have 2,500 CPU cores and an impressive 320TB of main memory. It will use current DRAM memory chips, not the advanced memristor technology that HP is still developing—one of the big reasons The Machine remains several years away.Samsung Pay coming to U.S., South Korea, then China and EuropeTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Satellite TV service provider Dish Network and wireless carrier T-Mobile US are reportedly in talks for a merger, which could be the latest in a wave of consolidation in the media and communications industry.The two sides are said to have agreed that Dish CEO Charlie Ergen, will become the chairman of the merged entity, while T-Mobile CEO John Legere will be appointed as the CEO of the combined companies, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.The talks were described to the newspaper as in “the formative stage,” with no guarantee that a deal will be finally done. Key issues such as the purchase price and the mix of cash and stock that would be used to pay for the deal are still unresolved, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
HP has entered into an arrangement with Arista Networks to market Arista’s data center switches along with HP converged IT infrastructure products.In accounts where Arista is the preferred networking supplier, HP will offer the switches along with its Converged Architecture portfolio, which includes HP servers and storage, including HP 3PAR StoreServ flash storage and the HP OneView management system.Speculation has it that HP will also offer Arista’s EOS operating system on its merchant silicon-based switching hardware as part of a disaggregated offering similar to HP’s arrangement with Cumulus Networks. HP is offering Cumulus Linux as an operating system option on some new Accton-based branded white box switches, which through support of the Open Network Install Environment (ONIE) can run various third-party operating systems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Who wants to buy a used car through eBay or Craigslist, when you need a mechanic to inspect it? Buying through a dealer can also be intimidating and expensive, with sales reps often having unclear agendas.Shift, an online startup, thinks it can solve those problems, and provide an easier way for people to sell their cars.The company provides a listing service for used car shoppers to browse other people’s cars, and let owners list their cars for sale. But more than a listing service, the company employs mechanics to perform inspections on cars for sale, and hires workers to gather sellers’ service records and vehicle history reports. Shift’s workers will also deliver used cars to prospective buyers for test rides, within an hour.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The annual American Customer Satisfaction Index for 2015 placed Comcast and Time-Warner Cable near the very bottom of all telecom and technology companies in the rankings, the researchers involved announced Tuesday.The ACSI’s ratings – on a 100-point scale – gave Comcast a score of 54 as a TV service provider and 56 as an ISP, well below the industry average of 63 in both categories. TWC received a 51 in the former category and a 58 in the latter. The ratings were based on the ACSI’s in-house analysis of survey responses from 14,000 Americans, which were collected during the first quarter of 2015.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Ransomware creator apologizes for 'sleeper' attack, releases decryption keys + Intel to buy Altera for $16.7B, eyes IoT market +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The U.S. Senate has passed legislation intended to rein in the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of domestic telephone records, sending the bill to President Barack Obama for his signature.The Senate’s 67-32 vote Tuesday on the USA Freedom Act restores a limited telephone records program at the NSA to resume after the old bulk collection program expired Sunday night. After Obama’s signature, the NSA will have six months to transition its phone records database to U.S. telecom carriers.The USA Freedom Act, aimed at ending bulk collection of telephone records, was needed after revelations about the program by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in mid-2013, supporters said. Some digital rights groups have blasted the bill as “fake reform,” but the bill’s limits on the NSA will help restore the U.S. public’s trust in government surveillance efforts, said Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and sponsor of the bill.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Pinterest, whose site is used by many to bookmark desired retail items, will now let its users buy those items directly from its site.Content on Pinterest’s site is organized into visual bookmarks or “pins,” which users can save to their own profiles. Starting later this month, a new type of pin called “Buyable Pins” will arrive in users’ feeds, to let them purchase a variety of items without leaving Pinterest’s site.More than 2 million different products will be sold on Pinterest, through partnerships with major retailers like Macy’s, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, as well as smaller boutique brands like Cole Haan, Kate Spade and Poler Stuff.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
WikiLeaks wants to raise US$100,000 to offer as a reward for whoever leaks the full text of the controversial free trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).The news leaks website launched a fund-raising campaign Tuesday to come up with the bounty money. The free trade agreement, involving the U.S., Japan, Canada, Australia and eight other countries, has been negotiated in secret, and just three of its 29 chapters have been leaked.“The transparency clock has run out on the TPP,” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a statement. “No more secrecy. No more excuses. Let’s open the TPP once and for all.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
New Apple music streaming service expected at WWDCLook for Apple to finally come out with a rival to the Spotify streaming music service at its Worldwide Developers Conference next week, the Wall Street Journal says. Apple will likely offer unlimited on-demand streaming for $10 a month. And in an acknowledgement that the algorithm isn’t always king of finding you what you didn’t know you wanted, it’s expected to add Internet radio channels that are programmed by human DJs.Intel shows first Skylake tablet at ComputexTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
When you search for a recipe on Pinterest, the results soon might include a way to have the ingredients delivered to your door within 45 minutes.That’s not a function built into Pinterest yet, but it could arrive in the future as the company grows its new platform for third-party developers. That platform, announced last month, is designed to let outside developers incorporate their own apps and services into Pinterest’s site to expand how the site can be used.Content on Pinterest is organized into visual bookmarks, or “pins.” Outside partners, such as advertisers, already work with Pinterest to incorporate content like images and product information into their pins. The new developer platform would allow select third parties to integrate services and do it on their own, without Pinterest’s help.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Often, when we hear about Internet of Things (IoT), we think of it in terms of consumer-oriented scenarios—home security, switching lights on, fitness bands, and so on.But in fact, the IoT has room to completely transform business too. Telematics isn't just consumer-oriented.Gartner analyst Daryl Plummer presented a webinar on digital innovation recently, and in it he provided a synopsis on where he thinks IoT and business is headed.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BlackBerry has reached a settlement with Typo Innovations, which made an accessory keyboard for iPhones that the handset maker said infringed its patents.Under the settlement announced Monday, Typo, which was co-founded by “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest, is barred from selling keyboards for devices with screen sizes smaller than 7.9 inches.BlackBerry sued Typo in 2014 after the company released a keyboard that fit the iPhone 5 or 5S like a protective case; BlackBerry claimed the keyboard copied those found on its own handsets. The keyboard is one of the differentiating features that has made BlackBerry loyalists cling to their old-school smartphones.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Nokia wants to help mobile network operators launch new services and cut their costs with a new range of servers, switches and storage they can use to virtualize their networks.Enterprises have already adopted virtualization and cloud-based IT infrastructures, and now telecommunications operators are looking at doing the same thing. Meanwhile equipment vendors like Nokia are increasingly offering operators the hardware and software to provide telephony, messaging and mobile broadband as virtualized services.Telecommunications operators instigated the move away from dedicated, proprietary equipment to virtualized hardware. A group including AT&T, Verizon, China Mobile, Orange and Deutsche Telekom proposed a concept called NFV (Network Functions Virtualization), which is now being standardized by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
About a decade or so ago, it was almost impossible to find a tech analyst who wasn't predicting that radio-frequency identification (RFID) would soon change the world. While RFID eventually became a useful tool in retail, logistics, healthcare and a handful of other enterprise sectors, the technology largely lurked in the shadows while other truly transformative concepts, such as social media and streaming entertainment, grabbed the spotlight.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
Don’t expect online games to stream to your TV or PC at 4K resolution anytime soon.While it is possible to stream 4K movies from online services like Netflix to PCs, TVs and set-top boxes, streaming games from the cloud requires many infrastructure changes, said Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of Nvidia, during a media briefing at Computex.Nvidia can currently stream 1080p games at 60 frames per second from its Grid online gaming service, but the technology needs to be developed for 4K streaming and a lot of fine-tuning is needed at the server level, Huang said.“It’s going to be a while,” Huang said.Many 4K TVs and monitors are already available, and display images at the 3840 x 2160-pixel resolution. Games typically require two-way communications, and servers process bits related to games differently than video streams.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A controversial program allowing the U.S. National Security Agency to collect millions of domestic telephone records expired Sunday night after the Senate failed to vote on a bill to extend the authority for the surveillance.The Senate, meeting on Sunday as provisions of the counterterrorism Patriot Act were hours from expiring, voted on a so-called cloture to limit debate and move toward a vote on the USA Freedom Act, a bill that would rein in the NSA’s bulk collection of U.S. telephone records while allowing the agency to collect records in a more targeted manner.The 77-17 vote for cloture on the USA Freedom Act sets up a final vote on the bill, but the Senate isn’t likely to take action before Tuesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Gone are the days of skydivers landing on the tops of buildings wearing Google Glass, or new Chromebooks, tablets and smartwatches. This year, the focus of much of Google’s big I/O conference was to propel the Android operating system into new areas others have pioneered, like peer-to-peer payments and smart home appliances.There were no new hardware platforms, like Google Glass, Android TV or Android Auto. No new smartwatches like the LG G and Samsung Gear Live that debuted last year, marking Google’s entrance into the watch market.Instead, Google confirmed rumors this week by giving us Brillo, a stripped-down version of Android to power things like smart light bulbs and Internet-connected toasters and let them be controlled by Android devices. It might be radical were it not for Samsung, Apple and Microsoft developing similar systems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here