Microsoft will offer a peek at new Office apps next weekA Microsoft event on April 16 promises an advance look at how the next version of Office will work with Windows 10, PC World reports. Demonstrations are expected to include applications that run across all platforms from mobile to desktop, and some new features in Office 2016, optimized for a touch interface.Intel shrinking RealSense 3D cameraIntel has shrunk its RealSense 3D camera and is in China pitching it to smartphone makers. In Shenzhen on Wednesday, CEO Brian Krzanich showed off a 6-inch prototype phone built with the new camera, which will be available in devices later this year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Camera chip could turn phones into 3D scannersCaltech researchers have developed a camera chip that could let you use your smartphone to take 3D scans of an object, then send the results to a 3D printer to duplicate the thing. The device works by shining perfectly aligned beams of light on a targeted object. It detects subtle differences in the light that is reflected back from that object and uses those differences to build a digital 3D image.U.S.—and IBM—are surging in mobile patents raceThe days are gone when the U.S. was the notable laggard behind Europe in mobile technology: a new report on mobile patents won last year show a sizable increase in the U.S. but a decrease in Europe. And while Samsung still has the biggest mobile patent portfolio, IBM is gaining on it with the most new mobile patentTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Uber poaches Facebook’s Joe Sullivan for security chiefIn an indication that the ride-hailing app company is aware that it had better get security right, Uber Technologies has hired away Facebook’s head of security, Joe Sullivan, to be its first CSO. Sullivan has been fairly high profile as Facebook’s CSO for the last five years, and besides time spent at PayPal and eBay, he has a background prosecuting cyber crime, re/code reports. Sullivan has his work cut out for him, with Uber facing challenges ranging from data privacy to its riders’ physical security.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Uber poaches Facebook’s Joe Sullivan for security chiefIn an indication that the ride-hailing app company is aware that it had better get security right, Uber Technologies has hired away Facebook’s head of security, Joe Sullivan, to be its first CSO. Sullivan has been fairly high profile as Facebook’s CSO for the last five years, and besides time spent at PayPal and eBay, he has a background prosecuting cyber crime, re/code reports. Sullivan has his work cut out for him, with Uber facing challenges ranging from data privacy to its riders’ physical security.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Uber poaches Facebook’s Joe Sullivan for security chiefIn an indication that the ride-hailing app company is aware that it had better get security right, Uber Technologies has hired away Facebook’s head of security, Joe Sullivan, to be its first CSO. Sullivan has been fairly high profile as Facebook’s CSO for the last five years, and besides time spent at PayPal and eBay, he has a background prosecuting cyber crime, re/code reports. Sullivan has his work cut out for him, with Uber facing challenges ranging from data privacy to its riders’ physical security.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Obama authorizes sanctions against hackersThe White House has added another weapon to the U.S. government’s arsenal in its fight against hackers, with an executive order signed by President Obama authorizing sanctions against hackers who harm critical infrastructure, or expose personal information and trade secrets. The order allows the government to block a person or organization’s access to U.S. financial institutions and any property they have in the country.Facebook Riffs on Snapchat with video appTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Obama authorizes sanctions against hackersThe White House has added another weapon to the U.S. government’s arsenal in its fight against hackers, with an executive order signed by President Obama authorizing sanctions against hackers who harm critical infrastructure, or expose personal information and trade secrets. The order allows the government to block a person or organization’s access to U.S. financial institutions and any property they have in the country.Facebook Riffs on Snapchat with video appTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Amazon wants to try putting physical “buy now” buttons all over your houseBecause Jeff Bezos hasn’t yet figured how to wire your brain directly to Amazon’s warehouses, the company is experimenting with cluttering your home with special-purpose buttons in the name of e-commerce. Its new Dash Buttons can be put up anywhere—kitchen, bathroom drawer, broom closet—and programmed to put in a buy order for, say, laundry detergent, by syncing to the Amazon mobile app over the user’s home Wi-Fi network. The devices will go out to Prime customers by invitation only.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Silk Road investigators charged with stealing bitcoinVirtual evidence is no less tempting to a corrupt agent than cash or drugs found in a raid: Two former US federal agents face charges related to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin in the course of investigating the Silk Road marketplace. A former DEA special agent, who worked undercover to cultivate a relationship with recently convicted Ross Ulbricht, allegedly used online personas to engage in complex bitcoin transactions to steal both from the government and the targets of the investigation. And a former Secret Service agent who served as a computer forensics expert allegedly took more than $800,000 in digital currency that he gained control of during the Silk Road investigation—and put it in his account at now-defunct bitcoin exchange Mt Gox.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Pebble Time breaks Kickstarter record with over $20 million raisedPebble won record support from the Kickstarter crowdfunding community in its second trip to the well, for its next-generation Pebble Time smartwatch, CNN Money reports. It raised $20.3 million from 78,463 people in a campaign ended Friday, making it the most-funded Kickstarter campaign ever by a $7 million margin. When it ships in May, the device will go up against the Apple Watch but offer a week between battery charges (rather than a day) and a lower price of $199.Tim Cook speaks out against “religious freedom” lawsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Pebble Time breaks Kickstarter record with over $20 million raisedPebble won record support from the Kickstarter crowdfunding community in its second trip to the well, for its next-generation Pebble Time smartwatch, CNN Money reports. It raised $20.3 million from 78,463 people in a campaign ended Friday, making it the most-funded Kickstarter campaign ever by a $7 million margin. When it ships in May, the device will go up against the Apple Watch but offer a week between battery charges (rather than a day) and a lower price of $199.Tim Cook speaks out against “religious freedom” lawsTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Twitter answers Meerkat with its own video streaming appTwo weeks after confirming it had acquired Periscope, Twitter has launched the live video streaming app to compete with buzzed-about Meerkat. Both apps post live-streamed video to your Twitter feed, but Twitter has now blocked the competitor from accessing follower/followed lists.UN to appoint privacy watchdogThe United Nations’ Human Rights Council has voted to appoint a watchdog—“special rapporteur” in UN-speak—to monitor privacy in the digital world. The post comes with mostly advisory powers, but the move, backed by Germany and Brazil, is seen as important amid concerns about surveillance by the U.S. and other countries.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Twitter answers Meerkat with its own video streaming appTwo weeks after confirming it had acquired Periscope, Twitter has launched the live video streaming app to compete with buzzed-about Meerkat. Both apps post live-streamed video to your Twitter feed, but Twitter has now blocked the competitor from accessing follower/followed lists.UN to appoint privacy watchdogThe United Nations’ Human Rights Council has voted to appoint a watchdog—“special rapporteur” in UN-speak—to monitor privacy in the digital world. The post comes with mostly advisory powers, but the move, backed by Germany and Brazil, is seen as important amid concerns about surveillance by the U.S. and other countries.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Facebook lawsuit says it stole data center designFacebook is being sued by a British engineering company that claims the social network stole its technique for building data centers and is encouraging others to do the same through the Open Compute Project. BladeRoom Group says it contacted Facebook in 2011 about using its method for constructing data centers in a modular fashion from pre-fabricated parts. It claims Facebook stole its ideas and used them to build part of a data center in Sweden, and is also sharing them via its OCP initiative.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google wants to let you pay bills inside GmailGoogle has a project in the works to let Gmail users not only receive bills but pay them from within the mail service, re/code reports. The news site viewed details of the project, called Pony Express, and said it is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter.Microsoft packages Azure for Web and mobile developersMicrosoft brought out an integrated set of Azure-based services on Tuesday that are meant to ease the process of developing applications that run in the cloud. The new Azure App Service could help organizations build Web applications or mobile applications that connect to a variety of data sources that reside in the cloud or in internal IT systems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google wants to let you pay bills inside GmailGoogle has a project in the works to let Gmail users not only receive bills but pay them from within the mail service, re/code reports. The news site viewed details of the project, called Pony Express, and said it is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter.Microsoft packages Azure for Web and mobile developersMicrosoft brought out an integrated set of Azure-based services on Tuesday that are meant to ease the process of developing applications that run in the cloud. The new Azure App Service could help organizations build Web applications or mobile applications that connect to a variety of data sources that reside in the cloud or in internal IT systems.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Samsung, Dell getting Microsoft appsUses of Samsung’s Android devices are getting more choice in software: the South Korean device maker is giving its customers access to Microsoft services and apps on its flagship phones and tablets, while also letting them delete bloatware they don’t want, Computerworld reports. Samsung has been criticized for shipping its phones with too much pre-installed stuff. Meanwhile, Microsoft also announced a deal to get its apps onto Dell’s Android tablets.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Samsung, Dell getting Microsoft appsUses of Samsung’s Android devices are getting more choice in software: the South Korean device maker is giving its customers access to Microsoft services and apps on its flagship phones and tablets, while also letting them delete bloatware they don’t want, Computerworld reports. Samsung has been criticized for shipping its phones with too much pre-installed stuff. Meanwhile, Microsoft also announced a deal to get its apps onto Dell’s Android tablets.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
EMC pools enterprise smarts to create data lakesEMC is pulling assets from its conglomeration of businesses to help customers build data lakes using EMC storage, VMware virtualization and Pivotal big-data smarts. The Federation Business Data Lake debuting Monday will ingest and analyze data from diverse sources—and may also show how EMC can make the diverse businesses it owns add up to more than the sum of their parts.New US bill aims to limit use of student dataA new bill to be introduced in Congress on Monday aims to place checks on the collection and possible misuse of student data by tech companies that supply services to schools. The Student Digital Privacy and Parental Rights Act prohibits companies such as online homework portals or email services from using or disclosing students’ personal information for advertisement purposes, according to The New York Times.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
EMC pools enterprise smarts to create data lakesEMC is pulling assets from its conglomeration of businesses to help customers build data lakes using EMC storage, VMware virtualization and Pivotal big-data smarts. The Federation Business Data Lake debuting Monday will ingest and analyze data from diverse sources—and may also show how EMC can make the diverse businesses it owns add up to more than the sum of their parts.New US bill aims to limit use of student dataA new bill to be introduced in Congress on Monday aims to place checks on the collection and possible misuse of student data by tech companies that supply services to schools. The Student Digital Privacy and Parental Rights Act prohibits companies such as online homework portals or email services from using or disclosing students’ personal information for advertisement purposes, according to The New York Times.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
IDG News Service staff