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Apple Watch Reviews: Complete Roundup

Like clockwork, the embargo on Apple Watch reviews ended on Wednesday morning, just two days ahead of when pre-orders of the device are scheduled to open up. Per usual, Apple sent review units to a few outlets who have now lifted the veil of secrecy from Apple's highly anticipated wearable. Below are a few of the more notable excerpts from the initial grouping of Apple Watch reviews.Nilay Patel of The Verge: Let’s just get this out of the way: the Apple Watch, as I reviewed it for the past week and a half, is kind of slow. There’s no getting around it, no way to talk about all of its interface ideas and obvious potential and hints of genius without noting that sometimes it stutters loading notifications. Sometimes pulling location information and data from your iPhone over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi takes a long time. Sometimes apps take forever to load, and sometimes third-party apps never really load at all. Sometimes it’s just unresponsive for a few seconds while it thinks and then it comes back.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google ordered by German authority to change privacy practices

A German data protection authority has ordered Google to change how it handles users’ private data in the country by the end of the year.The administrative order was issued on Wednesday by the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Johannes Caspar, in order to force Google to comply with German data protection law and give users more control over their data.Google started combining existing policies for various services when it changed its privacy policy in 2012, despite the concerns of European Union data protection authorities. At least six authorities then started formal investigations into the new policy; Hamburg was one of those six.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Encryption startup Vera locks down transferred documents

In Silicon Valley, the recruiting game is extremely competitive, according to Ron Harrison, founder of Jivaro Professional Headhunters, a specialist in placing technology candidates.In some cases, Harrison said the difference between getting nothing and a US$30,000 fee has come down to the few slim minutes between when one recruiter sent a resume to a company and a competing recruiter did.“It’s a dirty business,” Harrison said in a phone interview.Recruiting is complicated by the fact that companies may share resumes, even if the receiving company isn’t a client of the recruiter. Essentially, it means a recruiter loses its intellectual property through a gaping hole: an unencrypted document can be sent to anyone.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

How the Apple Watch is like Google Glass

The Verge has a terrific “day in the life” review of the Apple watch today, written by editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, that puts the device through its paces morning, noon and night.It’s a lengthy read and I thought one of its most telling points, near the end, was worth noting here: After the gym, I head to Betony for drinks with Eater managing editor Sonia Chopra so we can talk about a future of food series for later in the year. So far I’ve mostly used the Watch either alone or in an office environment, but it’s really different to have a smartwatch in a bar: here, even small distractions make you seem like a jerk. Sonia’s trying to describe the project to me and find ways to work together, but I keep glancing at my wrist to see extremely unimportant emails fly by.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Oyster breaks out of its subscription shell, targets Amazon with e-book store

E-book subscription service Oyster has opened an online book store, a move that pits the young company against heavyweight Amazon.Oyster’s ebook store has the support of the top five publishers in the U.S. While Amazon also offers books from these publishers—Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster—it got into a nasty battle with them over pricing. Amazon wanted to offer their books at steep discounts, ignoring the publishers’ suggested prices.The fight between Amazon and Hachette was especially toxic, with Amazon preventing customers from pre-ordering upcoming books from the publisher and threatening to stop stocking its titles. The two parties resolved their dispute last November, but didn’t disclose the deal’s terms. None of the publishers immediately replied to questions regarding their negotiations and pricing arrangements with Oyster.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Up against laws of physics, Bell Labs pushes network performance

By using more spectrum and developing new ways to send multiple channels of data at the same time, researchers at Bell Labs are working to increase bandwidths over fiber, copper and the air.Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs celebrated its Nobel Laureates and gave a sneak peek at some of the projects that are part of its vision for networks in 2020 at an event on Wednesday.Because most network technologies have hit or are very close to the limit of what can be transferred over one channel, increasing speeds is getting more complicated. But Bell Labs President Marcus Weldon is convinced there is still room for major improvements.Part of Bell Labs’ plan for 5G is a pint-sized base station, or small cell, that can generate its own power by using solar energy or energy harvesting. The power consumption of current equipment has to come down for this to work, according to Weldon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Retirement or Die

Large-scale Google malvertising campaign hits users with exploits

A large number of ads distributed by a Google advertising partner redirected users to Web-based exploits that attempted to install malware on users’ computers.Security researchers from Dutch security firm Fox-IT observed the malvertising campaign Tuesday, when ads coming through a Google partner in Bulgaria called Engage Lab started redirecting users to the Nuclear Exploit Kit.Exploit kits are Web-based attack platforms that try to exploit vulnerabilities in browsers and browser plug-ins in order to infect users’ computers with malware. The Nuclear Exploit Kit specifically targets vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash Player, Oracle Java and Microsoft Silverlight.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Saisei Tries to Stuff ‘Net Neutrality’ into a Virtual Box

Saisei's latest FlowCommand offering aims for the FCC's favorite buzzword.

The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Wednesday, April 8

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

NAS shoot-out: QNAP vs. Synology

The past few years have seen a meteoric rise in the breadth and scope of small-business NAS, and while the top names in this space may have brought the core disciplines of NAS and even SAN to maturity, they continue to add features to their hardware. The latest from QNAP and Synology -- two longtime leaders in this market -- showcase this trend.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)

LG wants your help to hype its G4 smartphone

LG Electronics is recruiting an army of social media users to test and talk up the company’s new G4 smartphone ahead of its official launch on April 28.By offering 4,000 people a G4 for 30 days, the company hopes to create some buzz around its new device as flagship devices from its rivals Samsung Electronics and HTC go on sale.The Consumer Experience Campaign kicks off in South Korea on Wednesday, and will then expand to Turkey, Indonesia, Singapore, U.S., China, India, Brazil, Canada, U.K., France, Germany, Mexico, Japan and Hong Kong, LG said.Exactly how the company will choose the testers is unclear, but interested users are encouraged to check local LG webpages and social media sites in the coming days for more details on how to participate. The chosen will be given a G4 for up to 30 days, it said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Automate All The Things? Maybe Not

I’m fundamentally lazy. That’s why automation appeals: less work for me. Get the machine to do it instead. But automating everything isn’t always the right answer. Sometimes you need to ask yourself: Does this task need to be done at all? Or can I get someone else to do it for me?

Automating tasks carries some overhead. If you’re really unlucky, you’ll end up spending more time on the automation than doing it manually:

So if you can eliminate tasks, you’re in a much better position. Here’s a few contrived examples, based around a fictitious email provider:

Eliminating Tasks: Maximum Email Size for ‘Special’ Users

15-20 years ago we had limited bandwidth, and limited storage. It seemed reasonable to limit the maximum email message size. Otherwise people would send monstrous 2MB attachments. Of course, there were always ’special’ cases that needed to be able to send enormous 5MB AVI files. So we had special groups of users defined that could send large emails.

Users could put in a request to the Help Desk to get access to send large emails. That would go via some manager, who would of course approve it. Someone would then need to manually update that Continue reading

New Webinar: vSphere 6 Networking Deep Dive

The VMware Networking Deep Dive webinar was getting pretty old and outdated, but I always managed to get an excuse to postpone its refresh – first it was lack of new features in vSphere releases, then bad timing (doesn’t make sense to do a refresh in June with new release coming out in August), then lack of documentation (vSphere 6 was announced in August 2014; the documentation appeared in March 2015).

Intel shrinks RealSense camera, targets smartphones

Intel plans to cut the fat from its RealSense 3D camera so that it can fit the device on a smartphone.The company’s CEO Brian Krzanich showed off Wednesday in Shenzhen, China a 6-inch prototype phone built with the new camera, which is about half the size of the older version. The company plans to start deploying the technology this year.The U.S. chipmaker has been wanting to bring RealSense to PCs and tablets, but with the smaller size it can also deliver it to smartphones, Krzanich said. Devices built with the 3D camera could offer gesture control like Microsoft’s Kinect device.“So you can imagine the efficiencies and the opportunities and the options for innovation we have moving together,” he added.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Intel shrinks RealSense camera, targets smartphones

US drug enforcement amassed bulk phone records for decades

The U.S. started keeping from 1992 records of international phone calls made by Americans, under a joint program of the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to a newspaper report.The secret program, which aimed to counter drug trafficking, collected logs of ”virtually all telephone calls” from the U.S. to as many as 116 countries linked to drug trafficking, according to USA Today, which quoted current and former officials associated with the operation. But the content of the calls was not recorded as part of the collection.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

FBI says supposed ISIS sympathizers exploiting WordPress plugins

The Federal Bureau of Investigation warned Tuesday that attackers claiming to be sympathetic to the extremist group ISIS are targeting websites that have vulnerable WordPress plugins.The content management system has a thriving community of third-party developers who have created some 37,000 plugins, but occasionally security vulnerabilities in one can put a large number of websites at risk.The vulnerabilities can allow the hackers to gain unauthorized access, inject scripts or install malware on the affected sites, according to an advisory published by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. The attackers have hit news organizations, religious institutions, commercial and government websites.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

No, 75% are not vulnerable to Heartbleed

A little-known company "Venafi" is suddenly in the news implying 75% of major systems are still vulnerable to Heartbleed. This deserves a rating of "liar liar pants on fire".

The issue isn't patches but certificates. Systems are patched, but while they were still vulnerable to Heartbleed, hackers may have stole the certificates. Therefore, the certificates need to be replaced. Not everyone has replaced their certificates, and those that have may have done so incorrectly (using the same keys, not revoking previous).

Thus, what the report is saying is that 75% haven't properly updated their certificates correctly. Naturally, they sell a solution for that problem.

However, even this claim isn't accurate. Only a small percentage of systems were vulnerable to Heartbleed in the first place, and it's hard to say which certificates actually needed to be replaced.

That's why you have the weasely marketing language above. It's not saying 3 out of 4 of all systems, but only those that were vulnerable to begin with (a minority). They aren't saying they are still vulnerable to Heartbleed itself, but only that they are vulnerable to breach -- due to the certificates having been stolen.

The entire report is so full of this Continue reading

SingTel acquires TrustWave for managed security services

SingTel will acquire TrustWave Holdings, the largest U.S. independent provider of managed security services, for $810 million, the companies said on Tuesday.SingTel, a large operator based in Singapore, owns stakes in mobile companies in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and countries in Africa. In Australia, SingTel runs Optus, one of the country’s major operators.Chicago-based TrustWave specializes in managed security services, an increasingly popular option for businesses. They allow customers turn over to a third party their network security, vulnerability management and data breach responsibilities, so they don’t have to develop those capabilities in house. As computer security has become increasingly complicated, managed security services are often are cheaper, and can allow companies to respond to security breaches faster.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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