Amazon Echo now works with Vivint home security and automation
Of the countless product announcements that filled the Consumer Electronics Show it was easy to miss many things. One announcement came from Vivint, which produces home security and automation products. The company unveiled that it planned to work with Amazon Echo to allow customers to control its products by voice.
It hasn't taken long as the integration becomes available now. Products include smart door locks, an automated thermostat, cameras, smoke detectors, a tocuhscreen control panel and a doorbell camera. You'll need to get an estimate on installation, but that part is free when they put the system in. It also has 24/7 monitoring, just as any alarm system should have.
Businesses need to place higher priority on cyber security
Only 45 percent of worldwide organizations are confident in their ability to fend off today’s sophisticated cyber attacks. This is one of the key findings from Cisco’s 2016 Annual Security Report, which was released today.
With the rate of digital transformation continuing to increase, business leaders are increasing measures to secure their organizations’ future, with 92 percent agreeing that regulators and investors will expect them to manage cyber security risk.
Premium ultrabooks and hybrid devices will keep PC market relevant
Combined shipments of PCs, tablets and phones reached 2.39 billion units in 2015, according to a new report from Gartner, with an increase to 2.54 billion units expected for 2018. As you might expect, phone shipments account for the vast majority of units, 1.91 billion of them to be exact.
The report says that PC vendors shipped a combined 246 million desktops and non-premium laptops in 2015. Things aren't looking good in the long term, as shipments are expected to drop to 219 million units in 2018 for these two categories. However, the PC market as a whole, which includes desktops, non-premium laptops as well as premium ultramobiles will see a rise in shipments until the end of 2018 to 312 million units from 290 million units in 2015.
HP announces rugged Chromebook 11 G4 Education Edition
Chromebooks are great for home use, but they truly shine for education. Its easy to see why -- they are easy to use, cost effective and (unlike the iPad) offer multi-user support. These are all essential things for school districts on a tight budget.
Today, HP announces the Chromebook 11 G4 Education Edition. Starting at a paltry $199, it looks to offer incredible value. Thanks to military-grade build quality, it should be very durable. This is very important, of course, as children are often rough on computers.
Barclays introduces virtual credit card replacement
All those who have a habit of losing their credit cards, only to end up somewhere without a means to pay, rejoice!
Barclaycard has announced a new service, UK’s first, which allows for the instant replacement of a lost credit card -- first virtually, followed by a real card replacement.
Google wants to drive ISIS from the open internet to the dark web
You can say what you like about ISIS, but it certainly knows how to do propaganda. In fact, the group can pretty much sit back with its feet up -- when it's not busy, you know, killing people in increasingly horrific ways -- as web users the world over are only too happy to do the legwork and spread the shocking imagery on its behalf. But Google has had enough and wants to drive ISIS from the web to the dark web.
While many would question the value of pushing the terrorist group further underground and encouraged to use ever-more secretive tools, Google believes ISIS propaganda doesn't belong on the open web, but should only be accessible through the like of Tor. Jared Cohen, director of Google Ideas believes it makes sense to drive Islamic State to the dark web to try to blunt its propaganda.
Earbits music service had a data breach, but there should be no need for concern
Earbits, which came close to shutting down before being backed by You 42, is a popular platform for finding new artists. It's available, not only on the web, but also for Android, iOS and Chrome. The service was founded in 2010 by Joey Flores with the goal of promoting the artists and doing so without ads or premium plans.
The problem with any online service is security and there are many examples of those who got that part wrong. Often times these sites were poorly protected and user data has been stolen -- names, emails, even credit card numbers.
Managed service providers succeed by offering security products
A new survey from IT management specialist Kaseya reveals a continued surge in overall growth for managed service providers (MSPs), especially for those offering security services.
Kaseya's Global Pricing Survey gathers data from more than 400 MSPs across 30 countries and offers unique visibility into the IT services they offer their clients. It finds that the majority of MSPs have experienced more than 20 percent growth over the past three years.
Many UK SMEs aren't paying attention to physical security
There are many ways a data breach can occur, with via internet being just one of them. However, companies don’t really pay that much attention to their physical security, a new research suggests.
According to a research by access control and smart card specialists Digital ID, 59 percent of SMEs in the UK mostly go for locks and security lights and nothing more. Even then, nearly two thirds said the security was not operational during working hours.
Facebook's Android app gains privacy-enhancing Tor support
Back towards the end of 2014, Facebook unveiled a new .onion address that allowed Tor users to visit the social network securely. Following on from this, the company is now giving Android users the ability to browse the site using Tor and the Facebook app.
Security, privacy and anonymity may be words readily associated with Tor, but few people would use them in the same sentence as Facebook. The social network says that there is increased demand for secure connections to Facebook from Tor-enabled browsers, hence spreading to the largest mobile platform. The news will make some mobile users happy, but there are currently no plans to migrate the feature from Android to iOS.
How 'fake' video downloads can install malware
It’s been a common Windows malware trick for years: you download some dubious video, it claims it won’t play unless you install a "codec", but the file you’re offered is a Trojan or virus. Oops.
You might think you’d never be caught out by something so obvious, but it only takes a moment, you’re not paying attention, and -- too late.
Smart TVs pose huge security risks
Over the past few years we have seen everyday items such as refrigerators, lighting and heating systems and even kettles all of a sudden becoming "smart". In fact there are now more smart items on the planet than smart humans, or in fact any type of humans, with an estimated 13.4 billion devices currently connected to the Internet. This is not necessarily a problem -- until, of course, hackers start exploiting these devices to gain access to your home or work networks.
Most people would never even suspect that their television set could be hacked, yet this is happening, in research labs at least, with greater frequency. In one recent example, security company Avast demonstrated a hack of a Vizio Smart TV enabling root access to the TV’s underlying Linux operating system. Last year I also found that this flaw involving a maliciously crafted SSID value could be exploited with a USB device. After exploiting this flaw, the attacker has access to everything connected to the home network of their victim. Avast also demonstrated what a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacker (such as an intrusive government or ISP) could learn by monitoring network traffic from the TV set.
These are the worst passwords of 2015 -- are yours on the list? If so, change them now!
While it is easy to put someone down for engaging in poor security practices, remember -- not everyone grew up with computers. In other words, for some people, modern technology and security are foreign concepts. With that said, people of all ages -- old, young, and in-between -- are guilty of doing stupid things, such as using poor passwords.
Speaking of passwords, many sites mandate specific requirements, such as using a mix of capital and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters, arguably minimizing the possibility of very weak passwords, such as "password". Sadly, people are still using poor passwords, and today, SplashData shares its list of the worst passwords of 2015. If any of your passwords are on the list, you should change them immediately, and probably go to bed without supper -- shame on you!
Why Apple's future failure is certain
Idiots will flame this post "clickbait". It's how they draw attention to themselves, to inflate their egos; others mistakenly will assign motivation to my writing—e.g., for pageviews, when I couldn't care less about them. But I do care about Apple, as a longstanding customer (starting in December 1998). As a journalist, I developed a reputation for hating the company (I don't) so long loved because my stories aren't kiss-ass fanboyism. What's that saying about being hardest on the ones you love most? Kind I am not.
Today's theme isn't new from me and repeats my analysis that Apple has strayed far from the path that brought truly, disruptive innovative products to market. In 2016, the company banks on past successes that are not long-term sustainable. We will get a glimpse after calendar fourth quarter 2015 earnings are announced on January 26th. You will want to watch iPhone and international sales, particularly emerging markets. For analysis about that and more jump to the second subhead; the next one is for idiot clickbait accusers.
Linux vulnerability puts millions of people at risk -- Android users should panic
There are so many reasons to use a Linux-based operating system. Most often, people tell me that they switched because of a dissatisfaction with Microsoft's Windows. The second most common reason people tell me that they use Linux is for security -- a lack of malware. While operating systems such as Ubuntu, Fedora and Debian are rock solid, no operating system is impervious to viruses or trojans. The moment you feel 100 percent safe, you have effectively let your guard down.
While Linux-based operating systems are arguably more secure than Windows, every so often a vulnerability pops up to bring users down to Earth. Today, a rather nasty such vulnerability rocks the Linux community, as millions are at risk. And yes, this includes the oft-denounced Android.
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