Martyn Williams, Author at NetworkingNexus.net

Martyn Williams

Author Archives: Martyn Williams

Apple is said to be extending iPhone refreshes to once every three years

Apple is looking to make evolutionary rather than revolutionary changes to its iPhone this year as it extends the major refresh cycle to once every three years, according to a report in Tuesday's Nikkei newspaper. The change, which the newspaper said Apple is "likely" to make, is due to there being little room left for major advances in smartphone hardware -- at least until an entirely new technology comes on the scene. As chips get faster and software gets better, the benefits seen by annual upgrades are getting smaller.MORE: 10 mobile startups to watch Nikkei said this year's model will look "almost identical" to the iPhone 6 and have minor changes such as improved camera quality, water resistance and a better battery. The headphone jack is also slated to be removed, it said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Overclockers have pushed Intel’s new Broadwell chip to 5.7GHz

Intel's new 10-core Broadwell-E gaming chip is only a few hours old, but already overclockers have pushed a 3GHz version of the chip to 5.7GHz and they say they're only just getting started.Overclocking is the process by which software commands and extreme cooling are used to push processors to run faster than they are typically designed to run -- the chip equivalent of putting your foot on the gas and flooring it while keeping your car under control.At an overclocking event at the Computex trade show in Taipei on Tuesday, large tanks of liquid nitrogen stood on the ready to help overclockers keep the processors cool.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Arduino targets the Internet of Things with Primo board

Arduino, the Italian company that has powered the "maker" movement with a series of small computing boards that can be programmed and configured for different tasks, is introducing a board targeted at the so-called Internet of Things.IoT encompasses the world of Internet-connected machinery and gadgets, many of which include sensors that remotely and autonomously send data.The Primo features WiFi, Bluetooth low energy, NFC (near-field communications), and infrared built into the board. Previously, users had to connect add-on boards to get wireless networking.The company first showed the board at the weekend's Maker Faire Bay Area. Increased interest among hobbyists in building gadgets and gizmos that could automatically communicate via the Internet led to its development, Arduino CEO Federico Musto said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

US sounds alarm after SAP bug found affecting multinationals

The U.S. government is warning major corporations to check the configuration of their SAP software systems after a computer security company discovered at least 36 global enterprises were still vulnerable to a significant bug patched more than five years ago.The bug allows hackers to remotely gain full administrative access to SAP systems and affects at least 18 of the company's software systems, according to security vendor Onapsis.Using it, attackers can gain "complete control of the business information and processes on these systems, as well as potential access to other systems," the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a bulletin. It's only the third time this year the department has issued such a notice.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

US sounds alarm after SAP bug found affecting multinationals

FCC, FTC launch inquiry into smartphone security updates

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have opened parallel inquiries into the way smartphone security updates are issued and handled by major mobile carriers and device makers.The two agencies say they are responding to the growing amount of personal information held in smartphones and a recent rise in the attacks on the security of that information.The FCC has sent letters to AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular asking for information on their processes for reviewing and releasing security updates for mobile devices. The FTC has asked for similar information from Apple, Blackberry, Google, HTC, LG, Microsoft, Motorola, and Samsung.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FCC, FTC launch inquiry into smartphone security updates

Zuckerberg sees ‘better than human’ AI in next 10 years

Mark Zuckerberg expects artificial intelligence will progress to make computers better than humans at basic sensory perception within the next 10 years, and that Facebook will end up knowing a lot more about you than it does now.The prediction is the latest from a top tech CEO to indicate the fast improvement being made in machine learning systems that just a few years ago would have struggled to recognize a dog from a cat.The Facebook CEO was speaking about core things that humans do, such as seeing, hearing and understanding language and was careful to clarify that computers will still have limited abilities elsewhere."That doesn't mean that the computers will be thinking or be generally better, but that is useful for a number of things," he told financial analysts on a conference call on Wednesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

EFF sues to uncover government demands to decrypt communications

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is suing the U.S. Department of Justice over its failure to disclose if Internet companies have been compelled to decrypt user data and communications.The EFF action targets applications to and decisions by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), a Washington, D.C., based court that meets in secret to consider cases related to government surveillance and national security.The court's decisions are classified, and Internet companies are prohibited from disclosing any details about warrants received as a result of arguments in front of the court.The result is that little is known about the extent of the court's activities. In October, the EFF filed a freedom-of-information request seeking more information but, according to its lawsuit, the DOJ said it couldn't find any documents relating to the issue.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

EFF sues to uncover government demands to decrypt communications

Sharp’s robot smartphone coming in May for $1,800

Japan's Sharp will launch in May a smartphone that's built into a humanoid robot. Or is it a humanoid robot with a built-in smartphone?The Robohon is said to be the world's first mobile robotic phone -- and judging from the price and slightly unwieldy form factor could also be the last.It's 19.5 centimeters (7.7 inches) tall and weighs 390 grams (13.8 ounces), making it several times the size and weight of a conventional smartphone, and it will cost 198,000 yen, which is just over US$1,800 and more than double the price of a high-end iPhone.But those shortcomings are more than made up in cuteness.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Something strange just happened with North Korea’s Internet

Ever since North Korea directly connected to the Internet in 2010, there's been a lot of interest in how the world's most closed country maintains and uses the link.It connects a handful of Web sites in Pyongyang serving propaganda to the world and allows foreigners in the country largely unfiltered access to the Internet. It also provides monitored access to an unknown number of senior officials, scientists, and university students.Yet for everything we've learned, there's still a lot we don't know and now there's a new mystery: Last week, the country's sole Internet link with the rest of the world went down for about three hours. It was the longest outage of the year and meant the entire country was disconnected from the Internet, according to monitoring by Dyn Research.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Zuckerberg teases Aries and Terragraph projects to expand data networks

Facebook plans to unveil two projects on Wednesday that promise to improve Internet connectivity for users in cities and urban areas. The two, called Aries and Terragraph, will be detailed at its F8 conference in San Francisco, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday. Together, they represent an extension of Facebook's connectivity efforts that so far have been most closely identified with Aquila, a high-flying drone designed by the company to beam down an Internet signal to remote areas. Getting people online and keeping them connected is key to Facebook's expansion plans. After all, it won't be able to persuade new users to come to its services if the Internet connection isn't reliable.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DOJ cracks San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone

The U.S. government has managed to access the iPhone used by San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizwan Farook, bypassing a passcode that had the FBI stymied for several weeks. "The government has now successfully accessed the data stored on Farook’s iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple," the Department of Justice said in a court filing on Monday. The filing didn’t detail the method used to access the phone, but U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker said in a statement that it had been accomplished with the help of a third party.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

US accuses 7 Iranians of hacking US banks, New York dam

The U.S. government says seven Iranians working for the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are responsible for 187 denial of service attacks aimed at banks across the U.S. between 2011 and 2013.It also says one of the individuals gained access to the control system for the Bowman Avenue Dam, a small dam north of New York City, and would have been able to control flow of water through the system had it not been disconnected for repairs.The accused worked for two Iranian computer companies, ITSecTeam and Mersad, and were contracted by the Iranian government to conduct the attacks, according to a Department of Justice indictment unsealed on Thursday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Take a 4K VR tour around Google’s Oregon data center

Data centers are typically high-security locations and operators don't like you snooping around, but Google is giving users a look at one of its latest and most advanced data centers using virtual reality.The tour of Google's data center in The Dalles, Oregon, was published to coincide with the company's Google Compute Summit which starts Wednesday in San Francisco.Google is trying to entice more customers to its cloud services, to compete better with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, and showing off its advanced facilities might help with that goal.The tour is best viewed in a virtual reality headset, like Google Cardboard, but you can also see it on a plan old smartphone or desktop. On a phone you can look around by moving the handset. On a desktop, you use the mouse.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Tim Cook: Apple won’t shrink in fight for data privacy

Apple won't shrink from its responsibility to safeguard the privacy of its users, CEO Tim Cook said Monday, a day before Apple lawyers are due to face off with the Department of Justice in a California courtroom.Cook's comments confirm the company's continued defiance against a request from the FBI to develop software that will allow it to make multiple guesses of an iPhone passcode without triggering the phone's self-destruct feature."I've been humbled and deeply grateful for the outpouring of support that we've received from Americans across the country from all walks of life," said Cook at an event in Cupertino held to announce new products. "We believe strongly that we have a responsibility to help you protect your data and your privacy."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Apple sees weakness in FBI hearing request

A last-minute request by the FBI to call witnesses to next week's court hearing in the San Bernardino iPhone case indicates the agency might feel some weakness in its legal arguments, Apple says.On Wednesday evening, the FBI asked for an evidentiary hearing, which means the court will hear live testimony from expert witnesses from both sides. Apple agreed to the FBI's request on Thursday.Speaking on Friday with reporters, lawyers for Apple said the FBI's request was a surprise, and they don't understand why the government wants to present witnesses to the court.If lawyers believe they have a strong legal case, they typically want to get up and argue it without bothering with witnesses in these types of hearings, so the request perhaps indicates the FBI isn't as comfortable as it was in relying solely on legal arguments, an Apple lawyer said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

US says cyber battle against ISIS will ‘black these guys out’

The U.S. is aggressively targeting ISIS in cyberspace, attempting to halt the group's ability to communicate electronically, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Thursday. His comments build on those from earlier this week when, for the first time, the Department of Defense admitted to an active offensive cyberspace mission. "There is no reason why these guys ought to be able to command and control their forces," Carter said Thursday morning at a Microsoft-sponsored event in Seattle. Drawing a parallel with the use of more conventional tools of warfare like missiles, Carter said the attacks are intended to hit the heart of ISIS operations.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

DOD to invite security experts to Hack the Pentagon

The U.S. Department of Defense plans to ask computer security experts to Hack the Pentagon as part of a push to improve its cyber defenses.The initiative is similar to the bug bounty programs run by commercial software companies seeking to reward hackers who report security vulnerabilities in code. The DOD says it's the first cyber bug bounty program in the history of the federal government.The DOD program, which will launch in April, will ask participants to examine its public Web pages, searching out vulnerabilities and attack launching points.But the program will only go that far. The DOD's classified networks will be off-limits to the participants, and they won't be free to launch actual attacks on any of the department's public-facing sites.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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