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The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Monday, March 2

Samsung challenges Google, Apple on paymentsThe world’s biggest maker of Android phones launched a major challenge to Google Wallet on Sunday: it’s going to start a rival phone-based payment system beginning in the U.S. in the coming months. Samsung Pay will work first on the new Galaxy S6 and relies on the contactless NFC payment infrastructure also used by competitors—but with the added advantage that it will also be able to communicate with traditional magnetic card payment terminals.NXP buys Freescale to build a bigger chip companyTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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DoCoMo app shares SIM credentials with offline devices

Japanese mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo has developed an app that can wirelessly send authentication credentials to devices that are not connected to the Internet, allowing more hardware to get online or query the cloud.Potential applications of the technology include the ability to share mobile SIM user credentials such as phone numbers among multiple devices without the need to physically transfer a SIM card. It could also be used for giving online access to IoT (Internet of Things) hardware.Based on prototype hardware announced last year, the Portable SIM App for Android can transfer data with a wave of a hand. The carrier is exhibiting the app at Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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DoCoMo app shares SIM credentials with offline devices

Japanese mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo has developed an app that can wirelessly send authentication credentials to devices that are not connected to the Internet, allowing more hardware to get online or query the cloud. Potential applications of the technology include the ability to share mobile SIM user credentials such as phone numbers among multiple devices without the need to physically transfer a SIM card. It could also be used for giving online access to IoT (Internet of Things) hardware. Based on prototype hardware announced last year, the Portable SIM App for Android can transfer data with a wave of a hand. The carrier is exhibiting the app at Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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DoCoMo app shares SIM credentials with offline devices

Japanese mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo has developed an app that can wirelessly send authentication credentials to devices that are not connected to the Internet, allowing more hardware to get online or query the cloud. Potential applications of the technology include the ability to share mobile SIM user credentials such as phone numbers among multiple devices without the need to physically transfer a SIM card. It could also be used for giving online access to IoT (Internet of Things) hardware. Based on prototype hardware announced last year, the Portable SIM App for Android can transfer data with a wave of a hand. The carrier is exhibiting the app at Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Chip makers NXP and Freescale plan merger, focusing on car chips and wearables

Chip makers NXP Semiconductors Freescale Semiconductor are to merge, creating a US$40 billion company that, they say, leads the market in automotive chips and general-purpose microcontrollers.The combined entity will have revenue of over $10 billion, much of it from microcontrollers and chips for cars, the companies said. As mobile phone and automobile manufacturers join forces to bring more intelligence to vehicles, and as the market for wearables and other small connected devices takes off, these markets are likely to see strong growth.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Qualcomm puts silicon brain in flagship Snapdragon 820 chip

Qualcomm wants to help future mobile devices learn about their users, by putting cognitive computing capabilities into its next mobile microprocessor, the Snapdragon 820. The chip will provide mobile devices with some brain-like learning capabilities by incorporating features from Qualcomm’s Zeroth platform. Mobile devices built with the Snapdragon 820 will be able to learn about users over time, picking up human activity patterns and anticipating actions. Putting the machine learning features on the chip, rather than in the cloud, will make mobile devices more personal and more useful than they are today, said Derek Aberle, president of Qualcomm, in a news conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Qualcomm puts silicon brain in flagship Snapdragon 820 chip

Qualcomm wants to help future mobile devices learn about their users, by putting cognitive computing capabilities into its next mobile microprocessor, the Snapdragon 820. The chip will provide mobile devices with some brain-like learning capabilities by incorporating features from Qualcomm’s Zeroth platform. Mobile devices built with the Snapdragon 820 will be able to learn about users over time, picking up human activity patterns and anticipating actions. Putting the machine learning features on the chip, rather than in the cloud, will make mobile devices more personal and more useful than they are today, said Derek Aberle, president of Qualcomm, in a news conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Will network disaggregation play in the enterprise?

Disaggregation seems to be all the rage in networking these days.HP is the latest to decouple merchant silicon-based hardware from operating system software, following Dell and Juniper. The strategy is to attract web-scale companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon who need the flexibility, choice, rapid deployment/decommissioning and cost efficiency of commodity “white box” switches capable of running a variety of software packages.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Will network disaggregation play in the enterprise?

Disaggregation seems to be all the rage in networking these days.HP is the latest to decouple merchant silicon-based hardware from operating system software, following Dell and Juniper. The strategy is to attract web-scale companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon who need the flexibility, choice, rapid deployment/decommissioning and cost efficiency of commodity “white box” switches capable of running a variety of software packages.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Sony’s Xperia Z4 Tablet is light and has two good cameras

By putting its flagship tablet on a diet, improving cameras and battery life, Sony wants to bring back some luster to the tablet market. Unlike HTC and Samsung Electronics, Sony isn’t launching a high-end smartphone at Mobile World Congress, but is hoping to make up for that with a new flagship tablet, the Xperia Z4 Tablet. It has a 10.1-inch, 1600 x 2560 pixel screen and is powered by Qualcomm’s octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor. The Wi-Fi version weighs 389 grams while the LTE version is slightly heavier at 393 grams, and both are 6.1 millimeters thick.+ See our full coverage of MWC 2015 +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Vendor-Independent European Network Conferences?

One of my readers was trying to find interesting vendor-independent network conferences in Europe. Here are a few I could recommend, please leave your feedback and additional suggestions in the comments!

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For a speed boost, Alcatel-Lucent says use both cell and Wi-Fi

If you have both cellular and Wi-Fi, why not use both? At Mobile World Congress, Alcatel-Lucent is demonstrating a way to do that as part of the same network. Cellular and Wi-Fi are rubbing shoulders more than ever, even if that can cause friction in some cases. It’s all part of the quest for more mobile capacity for applications like video streaming. Several ways of using them together are on show at MWC. Like other vendors, Alcatel is pursuing LTE-U, which lets an LTE network use the unlicensed spectrum that powers Wi-Fi. But the French-American company is also demonstrating a technique it calls Wi-Fi boost, where users can upload data to the Internet over cellular and download it using Wi-Fi. The company plans trials of Wi-Fi boost in the second quarter of this year and will start selling it in the second half.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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AWS ECS(EC2 Container service)

I recently tried out AWS ECS(EC2 Container service). In this blog, I will provide overview of EC2 container service, some hands-on stuff I tried and my experiences with ECS. AWS ECS is available as a preview currently with only CLI interface. I assume general availability with web interface will be available soon. Amazon does not … Continue reading AWS ECS(EC2 Container service) →

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Sony’s Xperia M4 Aqua is full-featured, waterproof and affordable

The mid-range of the smartphone market is getting hyper-competitive, but Sony is betting the waterproof Xperia M4 Aqua will help it make a mark.Well-equipped smartphones that cost US$300 or less is one of the big trends at this year’s Mobile World Congress, and Sony wants in on the action.Last week it launched the Xperia E4g and on Monday it announced the Xperia M4 Aqua.The smartphone will cost about €300 (US$335) when it goes on sale during the second quarter in 80 countries. It has a 5-inch, 720 x 1280 pixel screen and is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 615, an octa-core processor with integrated support for LTE. The processor is a step below the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 family, which is used to power high-end smartphones.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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NSA authorization to collect bulk phone data extended to June 1

A U.S. secret court has extended until June 1 the controversial bulk collection of private phone records of Americans by the National Security Agency.The government said it had asked for reauthorization of the program as reform legislation, called the USA Freedom Act, was stalled in Congress. The bill would require telecommunications companies rather than the NSA to hold the bulk data, besides placing restrictions on the search terms used to retrieve the records.An added urgency for Congress to act comes from the upcoming expiry on June 1 of the relevant part of the Patriot Act that provides the legal framework for the bulk data collections. Under a so-called “sunset” clause, the provision will lapse unless it is reauthorized in some form or the other by legislation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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How a Blu-ray disc could install malware on your computer

A pair of vulnerabilities found in hardware and software for playing Blu-ray discs might come in handy for secret snooping by the U.S. National Security Agency.Stephen Tomkinson of NCC Group, a U.K.-based security consultancy, engineered a Blu-ray disc which detects the type of player the disc is running on and then picks one of two exploits to land malware on a computer. He presented the research at the Securi-Tay conference at Abertay University in Scotland on Friday.One of the problems is in PowerDVD, an application made by Taiwanese company CyberLink for playing DVDs on Windows computers. The company’s applications are often preinstalled on computers from manufacturers including HP, Dell, Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba and ASUS, according to its website.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Using Python Context Managers for SSH connections

In this post, I will cover basic usage of Python’s context managers to connect to a network device using SSH. I will use them to abstract the connection establishment and teardown logic that is needed when making an SSH connection. Note: This post will not cover context manager details, as great explanations can already be found online. Instead, this article […]

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The post Using Python Context Managers for SSH connections appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Pablo Lucena.

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Samsung Galaxy S6 gets 3 things right and 3 things wrong

The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are two great smartphones, with more power and better screens. But when users get their hands on them starting April 10, they’ll find that the vendor got some things right, and some things wrong.What works:DesignSamsung has been under pressure to improve the design quality of its products after years of using plastic. And the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge models have a much more premium look, with metal frames and glass backs. They aren’t quite beautiful, but they are definitely a step up from previous models.SizeTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Net neutrality could hamper new mobile services, Nokia CEO says

New net neutrality rules just established in the U.S. may face a cool reception here at Mobile World Congress, where carriers are prime customers. Nokia’s CEO took an early shot on Sunday night.“There are some services that simply require a different level of connectivity and a different level of service,” Rajeev Suri said at a press conference on the eve of MWC. Those include self-driving cars and remote home health care, which are too important to rely on “best-effort” networks, Suri said.He’s also worried about premium services to consumers: “You just need to be able to differentiate the quality of service for higher-paying consumers,” Suri said. Otherwise, those customers may feel discriminated against, he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Net neutrality could hamper new mobile services, Nokia CEO says

New net neutrality rules just established in the U.S. may face a cool reception here at Mobile World Congress, where carriers are prime customers. Nokia’s CEO took an early shot on Sunday night.“There are some services that simply require a different level of connectivity and a different level of service,” Rajeev Suri said at a press conference on the eve of MWC. Those include self-driving cars and remote home health care, which are too important to rely on “best-effort” networks, Suri said.He’s also worried about premium services to consumers: “You just need to be able to differentiate the quality of service for higher-paying consumers,” Suri said. Otherwise, those customers may feel discriminated against, he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here