Court papers show Silent Circle's privacy-boosting Blackphone was an unmitigated sales disaster
With so much focus now placed on privacy and security, you would have thought that the Blackphone from Silent Circle would have been a roaring success. But documents from a court case with former partner Geeksphone reveal that there have been just a handful of sales, and revenue is hundreds of millions of dollars lower than expected.
Silent Circle found itself in court after Geeksphone complained that it had not received a $5 million payment agreed as part of a buyout. Geeksphone had helped to build the original Blackphone, and Silent Circle went on to buy the Spanish company's share before launching the Blackphone 2. But sales were much, much lower than expected, leading the company to describe its hardware business to "be a significant financial drain".
Acer TravelMate X3 is an affordable and svelte 14-inch Windows 10 business laptop
Summertime is here, and for many business folks, this means working outdoors. Sure, some employees will prefer working indoors with air conditioning, but it can be quite refreshing to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air.
If you choose to work outdoors, you obviously need a laptop -- setting up a desktop and monitor under a tree or on a picnic table is not ideal. If you need an inexpensive and lightweight business-focused laptop, Acer has you covered. The TravelMate X3 is both affordable and svelte, making it a wise choice for sitting outdoors or traveling on an airplane.
Apple releases iOS 10, macOS Sierra public betas
Apple's latest operating systems are coming this fall, but for enthusiasts who are interested in trying out iOS 10 and macOS Sierra before the big launch the company today releases the first public betas.
The first iOS 10 and macOS Sierra public betas arrive after Apple already released two builds for members of its developer program, so they should be more stable as a result. Here is what you should know.
Government IT pros overconfident about detecting insider threats
Federal government IT professionals are overconfident in their ability to detect insider threats, endpoint security firm Tripwire has found. Analyzing the confidence of IT experts regarding their efficiency in seven key security controls, it polled 763 professionals from various industries.
Almost a third say they would not be able to detect every time a non-privileged user attempted to access files. Almost three quarters (73 percent) assume their system would generate an alert or email within hours if a user inappropriately accessed file shares.
New security tool addresses Android app collusion threat
As we reported last month app collusion, where apps work together to extract sensitive data, now represents a very real security risk to mobile devices.
To address this emerging threat, component technology firm Formaltech, today is releasing FUSE, a DARPA-funded tool that detects inter-application collusion and other vulnerabilities in Android apps.
UK ISP Sky is about to start censoring the web for all of its customers
The UK government is on a mission to protect the young of the country from the dark recesses of the web. And by the darker recesses, what is really meant is porn. The main ISPs have long been required to block access to known piracy sites, but porn is also a concern -- for politicians, at least.
As part of its bid to sanitize and censor the web, Sky -- from the Murdoch stables -- is, as of today, enabling adult content filtering by default for all new customers: Sky Broadband Shield. The company wants to "help families protect their children from inappropriate content", and in a previous experiment discovered -- unsurprisingly -- that content filtering was used by more people if it was automatically enabled.
Microsoft introduces free Skype Meetings
Microsoft has launched Skype Meetings, a new and free version of its popular video and audio conferencing software designed with small businesses in mind.
The company’s latest release will feel quite similar for users already familiar with its Skype for Business solution, albeit stripped down. Whereas Skype for Business allows for meetings with up to 250 people, Skype Meetings limits the maximum participants to 10 people. However after the initial two months of using the product, that number drops down to three people.
Samsung's super fast UFS cards are here to replace microSDs
While microSD cards have seen some notable developments in recent years, in both size and performance, there is no escaping the fact that the underlying technology cannot keep up with the times. They remain popular with both consumers and vendors though, but that's mostly because there has been nothing out there that could successfully replace the ubiquitous microSD.
But with the introduction of UFS cards that may soon change. Samsung today unveils the first in the world, promising a major boost in performance thanks to read and write speeds which can rival those of SSDs. The good old microSD should get ready to meet its maker.
Woman live-streams the police shooting of her boyfriend on Facebook
We've had quite a few shooting deaths lately, some of them caught on video. Just yesterday we saw the cell phone video that was captured of an incident in Baton Rouge. That incident resulted in widespread protests, though all peaceful so far.
Now, just a day later, yet another video surfaces from Minnesota depicting a man shot during a traffic stop. The gentleman died of his wounds.
Create and edit animated GIFs with SoftDigi Easy GIF
SoftDigi Easy GIF is a $20.95 suite of tools for creating and editing animated GIFs. The program doesn’t require any artistic or design ability. Open an existing animation and you can resize it, remove frames, change colors, set transparency and more, all in a few clicks.
A comprehensive editor allows drawing lines and shapes, adding text, spraying or filling areas with color, applying special effects, and more.
90 percent of security events are caused by bots
Bots account for 49 percent of all internet traffic, most of which is from malicious 'bad bots' according to website security company Incapsula.
Of course there are good bots too, such as the crawlers used by major search engines, but according to Incapsula’s figures 90 percent of all security events are caused by bots, and 66 percent of all bot activity is malicious.
Avast to acquire antivirus rival AVG for $1.3BN
Although Avast and AVG both offer paid security tools, they are best known for their free antivirus software.
Some people confuse the two firms because of the similarity of what they do, and the fact their names begin with the same letters, they were founded at around the same time, and originated in the Czech Republic, but that confusion soon won’t be an issue as today Avast announces it is set to acquire AVG.
Facebook malware infects 10,000 users in two days
A new malware was spotted by security researchers at Kaspersky Lab, targeting Facebook users. According to the researchers’ new report, there have been 10,000 victims in two days.
The malware has two stages: firstly, an unsuspecting victim gets a message from a Facebook friend, saying they had mentioned them in a comment. But when the victim clicks to see the comment, they instead download a bunch of malware, including a Chrome add-on which can take over the victim’s Facebook account, once they log back in.
How much storage does your laptop need?
The question nags as I prepare to review TarDisk Pear flash memory expansion. The doohickey is available in 128 or 256 gig capacities for either MacBook Air or Pro. It fits neatly and snuggly into the SDXC card slot, which is required; color and finish match, too. Windows users must look elsewhere, though, and many may be glad to. The tech lists for $149 and $399, respectively. But, hey, the Apple fan club is accustomed to paying more for everything.
I will test TarDisk Pear on my 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, 3.1GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM, and 256GB SSD. I recently, and unexpectedly, filled up the hard disk with photos and podcast raw recordings. (Hehe, using Chromebooks for so long spoiled me and my awareness of such things.) Doubling storage, particularly with San Diego Comic-Con coming in 14 days, could prove useful for editing audio, pics, and video on the laptop. But is it necessary or contrivance?
Facebook announces an open source wireless access platform called 'OpenCellular'
Here in the good ol' USA, we take a lot of our blessings for granted. Sure, we aren't perfect-- there is poverty in all places -- but a large part of this country has access to things like clean water and internet access. Sadly, there are plenty of people globally without access to either of those aforementioned things. While water is obviously essential for life, internet access is crucial for knowledge -- especially in regions where access to formal education is limited.
Today, Facebook announces an open source wireless access platform called 'OpenCellular'. The goal of this project is to connect more citizens of the globe to the internet. According to the social network, there are still 4 billion folks that don't have access -- shocking. OpenCellular could contribute to lowering that number.
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