Toyota is partnering with Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to research artificial intelligence and robotics in order to bring greater autonomy to Toyota cars.The car maker will contribute US$50 million over five years to two research centers that are being set up at Stanford and MIT.However, don't expect a computer to completely drive your Camry any time soon.Toyota will always assume a person will be at the wheel, said Gill Pratt, who oversaw the DARPA Robotics Challenge and is now joining Toyota as an executive technical adviser.Toyota will focus on creating "human-centric systems" that are supplemented by technology, Pratt said Friday at a press conference in Palo Alto, California.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Blackberry has moved further into the mobile device management space by purchasing Good Technology for US$425 million [m].
Good Technology sells enterprise mobile security products and was Blackberry's competitor. In a January blog post, Blackberry called out Good for claiming it was the first company to add a special billing feature to its products.
A separate blog post on Friday discussing the merger made note of this history, saying the companies have taken "aggressive positions" through the years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Fidelity National Information Services is buying financial software vendor SunGard for US$9.1 billion to broaden its range of enterprise banking and capital market offerings.The deal, announced Wednesday, ends SunGard’s bid to go public. The Wayne, Pennsylvania, company filed for an initial public offering in June, about 10 years after being acquired by a group of private equity firms. The firms that purchased SunGard for approximately $11 billion in 2005 include Bain Capital, Silver Lake Management and Blackstone Group.Some of the firms involved with the 2005 buyout were also SunGard customers. The vendor’s software covers a range of financial services functions including tax and compliance, insurance, retail banking and retirement administration. SunGard’s annual revenue totals $2.8 billion.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Tesla has issued a security update to its Model S car after security researchers discovered six flaws that allowed them to control its entertainment software and hijack the vehicle.With access to the entertainment software, Kevin Mahaffey, CTO of security startup Lookout, and Marc Rogers, a security researcher at CloudFlare, turned off the engine while a person was driving, changed the speed and map information displayed on the touchscreen, opened and closed the trunk and controlled the radio.The pair, who will discuss their findings Friday at the DEF CON hacking conference in Las Vegas, also uploaded a remote access application that allowed them to lock and unlock the car using an iPhone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Tesla has issued a security update to its Model S car after security researchers discovered six flaws that allowed them to control its entertainment software and hijack the vehicle.With access to the entertainment software, Kevin Mahaffey, CTO of security startup Lookout, and Marc Rogers, a security researcher at CloudFlare, turned off the engine while a person was driving, changed the speed and map information displayed on the touchscreen, opened and closed the trunk and controlled the radio.The pair, who will discuss their findings Friday at the DEF CON hacking conference in Las Vegas, also uploaded a remote access application that allowed them to lock and unlock the car using an iPhone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google won’t comply with an order from France’s privacy watchdog group to apply the right to be forgotten to all its search results around the world.In June, CNIL, France’s data protection authority, ordered Google to remove search results meeting “right to be forgotten” criteria from any regional version of Google’s search engine. However, granting CNIL’s request could have a “serious chilling effect on the web,” Google said Thursday in a blog post.The request stems from May 2014 decision issued by the European Court of Justice that allows Europeans to ask search engines in the region to scrub results that contain information about them that’s found to be inadequate, irrelevant or not in the public interest. This has been dubbed the right to be forgotten.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google won’t comply with an order from France’s privacy watchdog group to apply the right to be forgotten to all its search results around the world.In June, CNIL, France’s data protection authority, ordered Google to remove search results meeting “right to be forgotten” criteria from any regional version of Google’s search engine. However, granting CNIL’s request could have a “serious chilling effect on the web,” Google said Thursday in a blog post.The request stems from May 2014 decision issued by the European Court of Justice that allows Europeans to ask search engines in the region to scrub results that contain information about them that’s found to be inadequate, irrelevant or not in the public interest. This has been dubbed the right to be forgotten.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A group has been singled out as the attacker behind the recently disclosed hack against Anthem, believed to be the largest waged against a health care company.It was Black Vine that broke into the health insurer's systems and stole more than 80 million patients records, Symantec said Tuesday in a report.For Black Vine, it was the latest in a long line of hacks that began in 2012. Black Vine has gone after other businesses that deal with sensitive and critical data, including organizations in the aerospace, technology and finance industries, according to Symantec. The majority of the attacks (82 percent) were waged against U.S. businesses.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Amazon is opening a specialized storefront on its website that will sell products from startups in an effort to help the fledging companies build their businesses.Called Launchpad, the site lists approximately 200 items with an emphasis on tech gadgets, like a US$649 drone or a $150 floating Bluetooth speaker. There are also startups selling food, like gluten-free pancake mix, and wellness products, including vitamins. Each startup will get a product page for its merchandise and will get Amazon’s help with marketing and distributing. The products will ship to buyers from Amazon’s warehouses and will be eligible for Prime, the company’s expedited shipping program. Joining Launchpad is free, Amazon said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Health care providers are increasingly using smartphones and tablets for tasks such as accessing and transferring medical records, and submitting prescriptions, but these devices may not be secure enough to protect sensitive medical information from hackers.That’s the conclusion of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, whose cybersecurity center released a draft guide Thursday to help health IT professionals shore up the mobile devices.“Mobile devices are being used by many providers for health care delivery before they have implemented safeguards for privacy and security,” the agency said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Smartwatches are failing people at keeping their data safe and protecting them from hackers.Those are the findings of a study from Hewlett-Packard, whose Fortify on Demand security division tested 10 popular smartwatches. The company is in the process of alerting vendors about the flaws and can’t disclose the watches it tested, said Daniel Miessler, practice principal at HP.HP also examined the security around the Web interfaces and mobile apps that accompany smartwatches and allow a person to access the device as well as how data gathered by watch apps is protected and used.The study found vulnerabilities with each of the watches and raised concerns over user authentication methods, data encryption and data privacy, among other issues.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Apple has hired an automotive industry veteran, increasing speculation that the company is working on an electric car.Earlier this month, former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles executive Doug Betts took an operations role at Apple, according to his LinkedIn profile, which didn’t offer additional information on his new job. The Wall Street Journal first reported the story Monday.Betts has spent nearly 20 years in the car industry and held management roles at three major vehicle makers. As a senior vice president at Chrysler, he focused on product service and quality. Prior to joining Chrysler, he was the head of total customer satisfaction for the Americas at Nissan where his responsibilities included engineering quality and proving-ground operations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A hack targeting UCLA Health’s computer network may have exposed personal and medical data on 4.5 million people.The attack tapped into parts of the system where sensitive details like names, birth dates and health plan identification numbers are kept, though there’s no evidence yet that the information was “actually accessed or acquired,” UCLA Health said Friday.UCLA Health, which operates four hospitals in the Los Angeles area, noticed strange activity on its network in October. UCLA Health and the FBI looked into the incident and initially believed attackers had not accessed network servers that stored personal data.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Facebook-owned Oculus VR has purchased Pebbles Interfaces, an Israeli company that develops gesture-control and motion-sensor technology.Pebbles’ technology is designed to create real-world objects in virtual reality environments. The company focuses on rendering virtual images of a person’s actual body, especially the hands and fingers. However, Pebbles noted its technology can display any body part and show details like wrinkles and contours or items held in a user’s hand.This would allow people who are using the Oculus Rift to see an image of their own hands in the display of the virtual reality headset. Other headsets use generic images of person’s body or don’t allow users to view themselves.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google and seven other ISPs have joined a new U.S. government pilot program to connect 275,000 low-income households to the Internet for free or at reduced rates.U.S. President Barack Obama will discuss the initiative, called ConnectHome, Wednesday in Durant, Oklahoma. Durant serves as the capital of the Choctaw Tribal Nation, one of the communities taking part in the program.In Durant, like in many parts of rural Oklahoma, the library is a town’s only location with a high-speed Web connection, the state’s director of libraries said in a statement.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
United Airlines passengers were facing major travel delays on Wednesday after the carrier suspended all U.S. flights due to computer problems.In an emailed statement, United said it had a “network connectivity issue” and is working to resolve the situation. The airline didn’t elaborate on the exact nature of the connectivity issue nor did it provide a timeline for when the problem would be fixed.Separately, the Federal Aviation Administration said United flights were grounded because of ”automation issues.” The FAA didn’t immediately reply to a request for more information on the problem.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google has picked Austin, Texas, as the second location to test its self-driving vehicles, expanding the trials beyond Mountain View, California.One of Google’s self-driving Lexus sport utility vehicles is already on Austin’s streets, the company said Tuesday. The vehicle, which has a driver onboard, is driving around a few square miles north and northeast of downtown Austin.Google didn’t mention if the self-driving car prototype it developed will also be tested in Austin or how many Lexus vehicles will appear on the city’s roads.Until now, public road tests of Google’s self-driving technology took place only around Mountain View, where the search company has its headquarters. Expanding the trial area will allow Google to test its software in a location with different road conditions, traffic patterns and driving situations, the company said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Instagram is increasing the size of pictures users of its mobile app are allowed to post, finally opening the door of the photo sharing service to much more detailed images.The iOS and Android apps are gradually being updated to store and display photos that are 1080 pixels by 1080 pixels in size, an Instagram spokeswoman said Monday, adding that most users should already have this update. She declined to comment on when Instagram began rolling out the update and when it expects to finish.The spokeswoman also declined to comment if the resolution improvement will also be available in the version of the service accessed via desktop browsers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google’s self-driving cars were involved in two accidents on the roads of Mountain View, California, during June, but humans driving the other vehicles were at fault in both cases.No injuries were reported in either incident, Google said in its monthly report that lists accidents involving its fleet of autonomous cars. Both collisions involved Google’s Lexus sport utility vehicles that are equipped with autonomous driving technology. Last month, Google also began testing on the streets of Mountain View another one of the self-driving prototype cars it has built.In one accident, a car travelling around 5 miles per hour hit the rear bumper of a Google Lexus that had stopped at a red light. Both cars ended up with small scrapes on their bumpers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hackers who breached a database containing highly personal information on government employees with security clearances had access to the system for about a year before being discovered, The Washington Post reported on Friday.The breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management dates back to June or July last year and was only discovered earlier this month.The database in question contains applications for security clearances, which ask for information on all aspects of a person’s life including social security numbers, passport numbers, names of former neighbors, and information on family members. It also asks about, over the past seven years, any contact with foreign nationals and problems with drug or alcohol abuse, debts or bankruptcy, imprisonment and run-ins with law enforcement.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Fred O'Connor