IDG Contributor Network: Smartwatches not secure, give away PIN numbers

Sensors, such as accelerometers, found in wearable devices can be used to reverse engineer a human hand’s movements and trajectories while at an ATM, thus giving away the PIN code, researchers say.The findings bring into question the fundamental security of smartwatches.Malware installs on devices might be one way the newly discovered hack could work, the scientists say. The software would wait for a mark to use a secure system, such as a keypad-controlled enterprise server, for example, and then collect data from the gyroscope, magnometer, accelerometer and other sensors. (Devices use those sensors to measure fitness and so on.)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: We touch our phones 2,617 times a day, says study

We’re obsessed with our phones, a new study has found. The heaviest smartphone users click, tap or swipe on their phone 5,427 times a day, according to researcher Dscout.That’s the top 10 percent of phone users, so one would expect it to be excessive. However, the rest of us still touch the addictive things 2,617 times a day on average. No small number.+ Also on Network World: Time for digital detox? Searching for Wi-Fi becomes normal vacation behavior +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Smartphone upgrade cycle dramatically slowing, study finds

Despite a barrage of new handsets launched by phone manufacturers on an annual or half-yearly basis, consumers are drastically curtailing their phone upgrades, new research has found.And many are now waiting for “phones to die before replacing them,” speculates eMarketer, which has been writing about digital advertising company Fluent’s replacement cycle study.The reason for the slowdown is said to be a combination of the demise of the two-year phone contract from mobile network operators (MNOs) and a lack of ground-breaking technology exciting consumers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Computers will soon analogize—like humans

Analogies help people understand things. Examples include such clarity as: hard drives are like closets, and defragmenting a hard drive is like cleaning a closet.They’re popular, and work for humans, but scientists are now asking whether the comparisons could also work for computers as the machines take on new roles that involve learning. Scientists at Northwestern University think so. Computers, too, will learn through analogies, they believe.Indeed, future computers are going to learn just like humans do, and that will include spontaneously using analogies to solve problems, including moral dilemmas, they say.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Videoconferencing leaks get plugged

Trade secret leaks through videoconference camera angles are about to become a thing of the past, according to scientists at Duke University.The researchers there say they’ve developed a system that will block camera shots that include confidential information, such as whiteboard presentations. The blocking advantage being that one will no longer have to carefully sweep an office backdrop for secrets, or disable the camera even, before placing or receiving videoconference calls—the call can simply be placed.Duke’s under-development system also works for smartphone camera shots of receipts, say, for expense accounting.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: How computer chips can be hacked

Mass implementation of Trojan viruses, introduced in the chip manufacturing process, will be responsible for allowing attackers and others to obtain leaky data and to control processes from IoT devices and beyond, a German security expert says.Christof Parr, who is head of embedded security at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany, has obtained special grant funding to explore the controversial subject, the university says in a release.Hardware Trojans, or backdoors, could be “integrated into the devices by the manufacturers from the outset, or included during chip manufacturing,” the university says.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Fully cashless society by 2036, study projects

Londoners are counting the years until cashless technologies take over. A significant three-quarters of the urban dwellers there think bank notes and coins are on the way out.The people there reckon those traditional instruments will be completely gone in 20 years, according to a survey conducted by London & Partners, a mayor-funded publicity company.The study of 2,000 U.K. consumers ties in with a London mayoral push for the city to become a financial technology (fintech) hub.“Financial technology companies will change the nature of money, shake the foundations of central banking and deliver nothing less than a democratic revolution for all who use financial services,” Mark Carney, The Governor of the Bank of England said, in the London & Partners press release for the survey.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Phones will capture video continuously to help us remember

In the future, personal assistant-like smartphones will capture images of what users see, all day and every day, researchers say. And if devices can see what their owners can see, they’ll remember it and help organize their owners' lives. Add artificial intelligence (AI) to the users' camera, and the days of forgetting things are over.But there’s a problem and that’s battery life. It’s one of the reasons devices aren’t attempting this organizational feat now, the scientists from Rice University say.+ Also on Network World: 5 business uses for wearable technology +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: New fiber light patterns will shatter a ‘bandwidth ceiling’

Traditional fiber-optic communication sends data using just one light pattern. That’s fine, but it means the amount of bandwidth that a fiber strand can deliver is limited. If you could add more light patterns alongside the initial one, you could increase the bit rate, some scientists say.By bundling more information-containing light arrangements into a fiber, you could theoretically increase bandwidth.And scientists think they might have figured out how to do it. They say they are ready to crack what they call a “bandwidth ceiling.”+ Also on Network World: First light-based chip could signal revolution for fiber networks +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: New fiber light patterns will shatter a ‘bandwidth ceiling’

Traditional fiber-optic communication sends data using just one light pattern. That’s fine, but it means the amount of bandwidth that a fiber strand can deliver is limited. If you could add more light patterns alongside the initial one, you could increase the bit rate, some scientists say.By bundling more information-containing light arrangements into a fiber, you could theoretically increase bandwidth.And scientists think they might have figured out how to do it. They say they are ready to crack what they call a “bandwidth ceiling.”+ Also on Network World: First light-based chip could signal revolution for fiber networks +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: New fiber light patterns will shatter a ‘bandwidth ceiling’

Traditional fiber-optic communication sends data using just one light pattern. That’s fine, but it means the amount of bandwidth that a fiber strand can deliver is limited. If you could add more light patterns alongside the initial one, you could increase the bit rate, some scientists say.By bundling more information-containing light arrangements into a fiber, you could theoretically increase bandwidth.And scientists think they might have figured out how to do it. They say they are ready to crack what they call a “bandwidth ceiling.”+ Also on Network World: First light-based chip could signal revolution for fiber networks +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Ad blocking rapidly escalating, says researcher

Large parts of the internet may need to quickly adopt alternative revenue methods to thwart a massive surge in ad blocking.Ad blocking is not going away, says eMarketer, a research firm that has just published startling projections. In fact, the digital marketing expert says more than a quarter of U.S. internet users will use ad blockers to perform ad-free web browsing in 2016. A double digit (34 percent) increase will lead to 69 million ad blocker users this year, eMarketer predicts.And it’s going to get worse. The researcher says that number will be closer to 86 million ad blocking internet users in 2017. That’s growth of another 24 percent and will mean that almost a third (32 percent) of all internet users will use the barriers next year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Ad blocking rapidly escalating, says researcher

IDG Contributor Network: Mobile network operators must offer unlimited data, says vendor

Reinforcing a suspicion that wireless subscribers aren’t offering unlimited data because of monetization reasons, not technical limitations or limited bandwidth available, the head of a bandwidth-optimization firm says mobile network operators should stop quibbling and open the pipes—wide.The worry about revenue loss when offering unlimited data is unfounded, says John Giere, president and CEO of Openwave Mobility.Generous data allowance offerings are doable with Quality of Experience (QoE)-based video optimization “to reduce video stalling, matched with innovative data plans to attract subscribers,” he says in a press release on his website.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Mobile broadband satellite breakthrough: Vehicles stay connected while on the move

Despite a slew of new broadband satellite projects up and running and in the pipeline, there’s a still a drawback to mobile satellite Internet compared to traditional wireless mobile networks. One big problem with satellite has always been that it’s hard to stay locked onto the transmission beam when you’re moving.Airlines get away with it for their cabins because the aircraft moves in a relatively stable manner, making it easier to point the antenna and grab the signal. But automobiles don’t move like that, explains the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits in a press release.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: How behavior online will identify you

Just half an hour of web browsing is enough time for machine learning mechanisms to uncover a person’s personality and produce identifying digital signatures, researchers say.Those traits can include conscientiousness and neuroticism, among other characteristics, the scientists from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia say in their media release published by AAAS, the science society.And it might identify the individual, too."Our research suggests a person's personality traits can be deduced by their general internet usage,” says Dr. Ikusan R. Adeyemi, a research scholar at the university.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: How behavior online will identify you

Just half an hour of web browsing is enough time for machine learning mechanisms to uncover a person’s personality and produce identifying digital signatures, researchers say.Those traits can include conscientiousness and neuroticism, among other characteristics, the scientists from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia say in their media release published by AAAS, the science society.And it might identify the individual, too."Our research suggests a person's personality traits can be deduced by their general internet usage,” says Dr. Ikusan R. Adeyemi, a research scholar at the university.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Smartphones not productive, managers say

Despite the hype of business chat messaging and a perception of smartphones introducing a connected work-everywhere lifestyle, a surprisingly large number of bosses are not at all happy with the proliferation of the devices.The honchos say mobile devices are killing productivity, according to employment firm CareerBuilder research. The problem appears to stem from the fact that employees are indeed using smartphones at work—just not for work.That the majority of workers with smartphones (65 percent) don’t have work email setup on the devices is one issue, the CareerBuilder study found.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Spy boss warns of IoT hacks crippling whole cities

Large cities could crash to a halt “with the click of a button,” the Telegraph newspaper has reported. The head of spying for the United Kingdom has apparently warned that Internet of Things (IoT) adoptation increases the risk of hackers bringing “major cities to a standstill.”Robert Hannighan, the director of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the British equivalent of the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States, made the warning at a science festival in the U.K. recently, the Telegraph writes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Spy boss warns of IoT hacks crippling whole cities

Large cities could crash to a halt “with the click of a button,” the Telegraph newspaper has reported. The head of spying for the United Kingdom has apparently warned that Internet of Things (IoT) adoptation increases the risk of hackers bringing “major cities to a standstill.”Robert Hannighan, the director of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the British equivalent of the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States, made the warning at a science festival in the U.K. recently, the Telegraph writes.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here