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

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

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

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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Pablo Lucena

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

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

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

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

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

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

SanDisk pushes MicroSD to 200GB

SanDisk has managed to cram 200GB of memory into a MicroSD card.The new card is a 56 percent jump on the current highest capacity MicroSD, a 128GB card.SanDisk said it managed the higher capacity by using a proprietary design and production process that allows for more bits of memory per chip.It didn’t disclose details of the process, but the capacity of the card gives a clue as to how close it has come to the current limits of manufacturing technology.Memory chips are typically sized in powers of 2, with steps such as 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. Keeping that patten would result in a 256GB chip, but it appears SanDisk wasn’t able to do that. Instead, it settled for 200MB.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Show 226 – What Is A Load Balancer, Anyway?

Eric Flores joins Greg Ferro and Ethan Banks for a discussion about the fundamentals of load balancers, aka "Application Delivery Controllers." What is a load balancer (ADC)? What's it good for? How does it work?

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Ethan Banks

Co-host at Packet Pushers

Ethan Banks, CCIE #20655, has been managing networks for higher ed, government, financials and high tech since 1995. Ethan co-hosts the Packet Pushers Podcast, which has seen over 3M downloads and reaches over 10K listeners. With whatever time is left, Ethan writes for fun & profit, studies for certifications, and enjoys science fiction. @ecbanks

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The post Show 226 – What Is A Load Balancer, Anyway? appeared first on Packet Pushers Podcast and was written by Ethan Banks.

MediaTek wants to put its chips in Chromebooks

Most Chromebooks today are running Intel processors, but chipmaker Mediatek wants to change that as it sees an opportunity to expand its market beyond Android tablets and smartphones.MediaTek’s new high-performance mobile chip, the Helio X10, already supports Chrome OS, said Kevin Jou, vice president and chief technology officer at MediaTek, in an interview on Sunday ahead of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Besides powering Chromebooks, the chip is also a fit for other thin-and-light laptops and hybrid laptop-tablets, he said.Chromebooks are growing in popularity as a low-cost alternative to Windows PCs for users who do most of their computing while online. Most Chromebook applications require Internet connectivity, though more applications are moving to offline functionality as well.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Samsung hopes better looks, more power will make the Galaxy S6 a winner

Using a mixture of metal and glass, Samsung Electronics has found its smartphone mojo again with the launch of the Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge, but the new, more premium design has a few drawbacks. After many teasers and leaks, Samsung finally launched its two new flagship smartphones on Sunday evening at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It’s no surprise that the vendor worked hard to drum up advance publicity, because it badly needs a hit. The biggest change with the Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge is Samsung’s choice of materials. The regular S6 trades the plastic of previous models for a metal frame and glass on the back. The edge model doesn’t have exactly the same frame, since the screen curves around both edges of the device.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Samsung to launch mobile payments in challenge to Google, Apple

The world’s biggest maker of Android phones launched a major challenge to Google Wallet on Sunday, saying it will soon launch a rival phone-based payment system.Samsung Pay will appear first in the summer in the U.S.—later in other markets—and will allow consumers to make tap-and-go payments with a smartphone. It is being introduced as Google is moving to strengthen its position in the mobile payments market to better compete with Apple Pay.The system will first be available on the Galaxy S6, Samsung’s flagship smartphone that was launched on Sunday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It will rely on the contactless NFC payment infrastructure already used by competitors including Google Wallet and Apple Pay.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Samsung to launch mobile payments in challenge to Google, Apple

The world’s biggest maker of Android phones launched a major challenge to Google Wallet on Sunday, saying it will soon launch a rival phone-based payment system. Samsung Pay will appear first in the summer in the U.S.—later in other markets—and will allow consumers to make tap-and-go payments with a smartphone. It is being introduced as Google is moving to strengthen its position in the mobile payments market to better compete with Apple Pay. The system will first be available on the Galaxy S6, Samsung’s flagship smartphone that was launched on Sunday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It will rely on the contactless NFC payment infrastructure already used by competitors including Google Wallet and Apple Pay.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

MIPS Creator CI20: Sort of a challenge to the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B

Single Board Computers are all the rage these days and for a good reason: The supporting technologies have become so sophisticated and powerful and the prices so low that off-the-shelf SBCs are great for everything from embedded systems in commercial products through supporting hobby projects to being educational tools. Perhaps the most famous of SBC is the Raspberry PI (I covered the latest version of this board, the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, in a recent article) but that’s not the only contender in the SBC market as new ones are appearing all the time.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

YO! This messaging app has a lot more to say for itself, even offline

Mobile World Congress is not the best place to launch a new messaging app: With thousands of tech-savvy visitors in Barcelona, many of them toting multiple connected devices, public wireless and Wi-Fi networks quickly become so saturated that it’s difficult to send a message via Internet, even a brief “Yo,” to a nearby colleague.But that Yo is so last year. The app that could only send one word still sent every message to a central server before bouncing it over to its destination.This year showgoers will be able to try out a new Android app, called YO!, that can send text messages, photos and videos over Wi-Fi to other users nearby without any Internet connection whatsoever, making it a true peer-to-peer messaging app. And as long as they’re prepared to disable certain security settings on their phone, they won’t even need to log on to the Play store to get it: Anyone with YO! installed on their phone can share it with other would-be users over Bluetooth.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

YO! This messaging app has a lot more to say for itself, even offline

Mobile World Congress is not the best place to launch a new messaging app: With thousands of tech-savvy visitors in Barcelona, many of them toting multiple connected devices, public wireless and Wi-Fi networks quickly become so saturated that it’s difficult to send a message via Internet, even a brief “Yo,” to a nearby colleague.But that Yo is so last year. The app that could only send one word still sent every message to a central server before bouncing it over to its destination.This year showgoers will be able to try out a new Android app, called YO!, that can send text messages, photos and videos over Wi-Fi to other users nearby without any Internet connection whatsoever, making it a true peer-to-peer messaging app. And as long as they’re prepared to disable certain security settings on their phone, they won’t even need to log on to the Play store to get it: Anyone with YO! installed on their phone can share it with other would-be users over Bluetooth.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

YO! This messaging app has a lot more to say for itself, even offline

Mobile World Congress is not the best place to launch a new messaging app: With thousands of tech-savvy visitors in Barcelona, many of them toting multiple connected devices, public wireless and Wi-Fi networks quickly become so saturated that it’s difficult to send a message via Internet, even a brief “Yo,” to a nearby colleague. But that Yo is so last year. The app that could only send one word still sent every message to a central server before bouncing it over to its destination.+ See our full coverage of MWC 2015 + This year showgoers will be able to try out a new Android app, called YO!, that can send text messages, photos and videos over Wi-Fi to other users nearby without any Internet connection whatsoever, making it a true peer-to-peer messaging app. And as long as they’re prepared to disable certain security settings on their phone, they won’t even need to log on to the Play store to get it: Anyone with YO! installed on their phone can share it with other would-be users over Bluetooth.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

YO! This messaging app has a lot more to say for itself, even offline

Mobile World Congress is not the best place to launch a new messaging app: With thousands of tech-savvy visitors in Barcelona, many of them toting multiple connected devices, public wireless and Wi-Fi networks quickly become so saturated that it’s difficult to send a message via Internet, even a brief “Yo,” to a nearby colleague. But that Yo is so last year. The app that could only send one word still sent every message to a central server before bouncing it over to its destination.+ See our full coverage of MWC 2015 + This year showgoers will be able to try out a new Android app, called YO!, that can send text messages, photos and videos over Wi-Fi to other users nearby without any Internet connection whatsoever, making it a true peer-to-peer messaging app. And as long as they’re prepared to disable certain security settings on their phone, they won’t even need to log on to the Play store to get it: Anyone with YO! installed on their phone can share it with other would-be users over Bluetooth.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here