TechEye |  |
- MEPs put universal charger pressure on Apple
- Kids bypass Apple security
- Soothsayer predicts lousy Q4 for Intel
- John McAfee resurfaces to promote anti-spying device
- Google to be fined in France
- Big tech to lose billions from US spying
- Federal report to OK gadgets for flight takeoff, landing
- Windows Phone continues steady growth
| MEPs put universal charger pressure on Apple Posted: 01 Oct 2013 05:21 AM PDT The European Parliament may force Apple's hand in adopting a universal charger standard. Many smartphones already use the same chargers, but Apple is infamously resistant to getting rid of proprietary technology that locks users in. Android and Windows Phone devices, on the other hand, ship using micro USB chargers. Cupertino has even adopted a model where the iPhone ships without a charger, insisting many users already own a compatible power source - Apple only, mind you. Apple has been given flak for tinkering with its own proprietary standard, having switched to the Lightning connector with the release of the iPhone 5 - replacing the typical 30 pin model that previously worked across most Apple devices. Although the Committee passed the motion, with 35 in favour, it may not become law. It will "decide later" whether it will begin informal negotiations with the Council. According to the MEPs, radio equipment devices and accessories such as chargers "should be interoperable". Doing so would cut both costs and energy wastage for users. |
| Posted: 01 Oct 2013 05:01 AM PDT An expensive programme to give iPads to school kids has run into trouble because of poor security on the tablets. Education officials in Los Angeles Unified School District thought that it would be a wizard idea to bolster Apple's bottom line by splashing out a fortune on the over-priced devices. According to the LA Times, Los Angeles Unified School District rushed to sign a $30 million deal with Apple to supply over 600,000 iPads. It seems that the officials were convinced that they could stop kids misusing the iPads because of a security system that promised to prevent them visiting dodgy sites. But less than a week after getting their iPads, kids laughed their way past security and were using the gadgets how they liked. It seems that Apple security protocols could be used to disable the district's. The district certainly seems to blame a fault with Apple. By deleting personal profile information, users could get to forbidden websites. Apple said a fix isn't expected until late December. Some enterprising kids even offered to hack the tablet for $2 a time. Specifically targeted is the software that lets school district officials spy on student movements by tracking where the iPads are, and what the students are doing with them. The software lets the district block Facebook, for example. Red-faced district chief information officer, Ronald Chandler, said he wasn't really surprised that students bypassed blocks so quickly. He asked the kids why they were doing it and was told bluntly that because too much was forbidden. Apparently there are some changes to liberalise the programme. Los Angeles Unified School District is fixing a security glitch in the iPad software and for now, the hackers won't be punished. But home use of the iPads has been halted indefinitely and the rollout of the tablets might have to be delayed as officials reassess access policies. Renee Hobbs, who runs the Media Education Lab at the University of Rhode Island said that programme was an expensive stuff-up from the start. Kids associate the iPad with entertainment, so when the iPad comes into the classroom it will still be seen as such.
This isn't the first time educators have tried to co-opt things that lots of people use for fun. The first attempt was to use radio in education, and that went nowhere, Hobbs said. |
| Soothsayer predicts lousy Q4 for Intel Posted: 01 Oct 2013 04:45 AM PDT Intel is looking at a miserable fourth quarter as the PC market still fails to pick up, according a leading analyst. Sterne Agee analyst Vijay Rakesh warned that Intel's fourth quarter won't look so hot compared to the same quarter a year ago. Pre-holiday sales which were seen as lucrative during the "back to school" season didn't get the sort of cash that Intel was expecting. In fact Rakesh thinks that school PC demand was virtually absent. With higher channel inventories and "lackluster demand" this seems to suggest a flat fourth-quarter, compared to a typical seasonal bump of between 5-7 percent quarter-over-quarter. According to ZDnet, Rekesh has been talking to suppliers and thinks that there will be a flat December holiday season for PC sales. Rakesh predicts that the end-of-year PC growth estimates will be down from a 9.6 percent loss to a 10.7 percent loss over last year. He does not think that Intel has made enough progress moving to mobile. Windows-powered tablets are on the most part the driving mobile force of the firm's mobile efforts, the chip maker has yet to make any meaningful share in the smartphone space. Rakesh added that the PC market continues to be challenging and the Intel handset-mobile segment will fall even lower after the Nokia-Microsoft merger. About the only good news for Intel was a bounce with enterprise business. This falls in line with Sterne Agee's 10-15 percent datacentre growth estimate. |
| John McAfee resurfaces to promote anti-spying device Posted: 01 Oct 2013 02:51 AM PDT John McAfee is back in the security business - peddling a device that he claims can block the government's ability to spy on PCs and mobile devices. Dubbed "Dcentral," the $100 gadget will fit into your pocket, which is handy when you are on the run trying to avoid a murder rap. According to PC World, in a speech at the San Jose McEnery Convention Centre, McAfee suggested that the hardware would create private device networks impenetrable to outsiders. The network's range would be roughly three blocks. McAfee believes that he can have a prototype up and running within six months. He said that he is looking for partners for development of the hardware. While it is true that criminals could also find a use for a decentralized, uncrackable network, all technology could do that. The telephone is used for nefarious purposes, McAfee pointed out. The hardware appears to be the return of McAfee to the technology industry after his time spent in Belize testing certain substances, for science. He has also set up "Future Tense Central" website with a countdown clock, a sleek logo, and a set of social media buttons. A launch of something or other is probably imminent. He can't call it McAfee, of course. His name, along with the company itself, was sold off to Intel. |
| Posted: 01 Oct 2013 02:26 AM PDT Google hoped that France would surrender and let it do what it likes with European data have been dashed this week. According to CMO, Google is about to be slapped with a fine after it failed to comply with an order to alter how it stores and shares user data to conform to the nation's privacy laws. This follows an investigation led by European data protection authorities of a new privacy policy that Google enacted in 2012. France's privacy watchdog, the Commission Nationale de L'Informatique et des Libertes, said Google was ordered in June to comply with French data protection laws within three months. Apparently Google, tearing a page from Charles de Gaulle's diplomacy book, simply shrugged and said "non". Google insists that France's data protection laws did not apply to users of certain Google services in France. Now the CNIL will designate a rapporteur for the purpose of initiating a formal procedure for imposing sanctions, according to the provisions laid down in French data protection law. Google could be fined a maximum of $202,562 which does not seem like much to us, and could in some circumstances be ordered to refrain from processing personal data in certain ways for three months. Google said that its privacy policy respects European law. It insisted that it had "engaged fully" with the CNIL throughout this process. We would have thought that there should be a time when you have to call the engagement off. The search engine is in trouble with European authorities in an antitrust case for allegedly breaking competition rules. The company recently submitted proposals to avoid fines in that case. In the UK, the outfit is finding itself on the back foot over its policy of refusing to pay tax which seems to have got officials a little hot under the collar. |
| Big tech to lose billions from US spying Posted: 01 Oct 2013 02:20 AM PDT US companies are losing billions as foreign companies look closer to home to avoid NSA snooping. According to the Wall Street Journal, companies and politicians are seeing an opportunity to take business from the US in the wake of Edward Snowden's allegations about NSA spying. Three of Germany's largest email providers, including partly state-owned Deutsche Telekom teamed up to offer a new service, Email Made in Germany. This promises that by encrypting email through German servers and using the country's strict privacy laws, U.S. authorities won't be able to snoop as easily. Now the service is reporting more than 100,000 Germans have signed up. The Journal said that foreign countries were seeking to use data-privacy laws as a competitive advantage to boost domestic companies against Google and Microsoft. Of course it would be more expensive for Germans to use such a service and requires maintaining ignorance about the way the interent works. What might happen is the development of something like a "Euro cloud," in which consumer data could be shared within Europe but not outside the region. Brazil is about to insist that data about Brazilians be stored on servers in the country and India is going to stop government employees from using email services from Google and Yahoo The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation estimates that fallout from revelations about NSA activities could cost Silicon Valley up to $35 billion in annual revenue. Most of this is going to come from lost overseas business. The Cloud Security Alliance found that 56 percent of non-US members said security concerns made it less likely that they would use US based cloud services and ten percent have already scrapped a contract. Microsoft has admitted that the NSA spying has the potential to erode the trust of customers around the world. It is impossible for the big technology companies to undo any damage, particularly when the extent of NSA activities is secret and other nations have been critical of the US. Smaller companies, which have been battling Google and Amazon for ages, see the NSA surveillance programme as a present from Santa. Oliver Dehning, chief executive of antispameuropeGmbH, which builds spam-protection software said that it was an opportunity to strike back and protect the home market. |
| Federal report to OK gadgets for flight takeoff, landing Posted: 30 Sep 2013 10:11 AM PDT A federal advisory committee is preparing to tell the American Federal Aviation Administration that flights can handle switched-on gadgets at all stages, including takeoff and landing. However, the suggestion will be limited to electronic kit that's not connected to the web. Passengers, if the move is given the go ahead, will be absolved of the burden of small talk or interaction with other passengers, as ebooks, music players and other devices will be allowed during takeoff and landings. The report, commissioned by the FAA, will recommend testing transmission tolerance on older aircraft. Newer aircraft types are to be considered safe for electronic transmissions. According to the Wall Street Journal, which has talked to industry officials, aircraft types which can tolerate electronic transmissions are already in use, including craft fitted out with picocells for in flight phone calls. "If an aircraft already has a picocell, it's already been evaluated to have electronic devices" for all phases of flight, one official told the WSJ. The Airbus 330 300s and Boeing 747 400s are examples of such vehicles. But the report will not recommend using mobile or wi-fi connections below 10,000 feet. Although it's expected tablets and e-readers will be allowed for use during takeoffs and landings, larger laptops should be stowed away. Amazon has one employee on the committee. In a statement, the company said the report is a "big win for customers". NB- It's just been announced Delta Airlines pilots will be given Windows Surface 2 tablets for their electronic flight bags, whether they want them or not. Pilots for Boeing 757 and 767 fleet will get the kit, with more to come in 2014. |
| Windows Phone continues steady growth Posted: 30 Sep 2013 07:07 AM PDT Market share of Microsoft's Windows Phone OS is steadily increasing across Europe, nearing the double digit mark at 9.2 percent for the three months to August 2013, according to a report. In Germany, Windows Phone is just one percentage point away from iOS, while in France and Great Britain it has 10.8 percent and 12 percent of the share, respectively - the first time it's reached double digits in two major markets, a Kantar worldpanel survey claims. This growth for Windows Phone has largely been driven by Nokia's entry into the low- and mid-range markets, with the Lumia 520 and 620, which are proving particularly popular in the 16-24 and 35-49 age brackets. The story's different in the US, with Apple still gaining traction and claiming 39.3 percent of all sales. Kantar believes this figure will spike as the iPhone 5S & 5C pick up in popularity. In Japan, Apple and Android adoption rates are almost equal. Android is by far the most widely adopted operating system, but this is hardly surprising given Google's tactic of showering the market with a quality OS to multiple manufacturers. |
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