Despite hack by NSA and GCHQ, Gemalto's SIM cards are safe, says the company
Gemalto, the world’s largest producer of SIM cards, which made headlines last week for reportedly gettings its encryption keys stolen by the mighty NSA and GCHQ spying agencies, says its SIM cards, as well as banking cards, passports and other products are secure, a conclusion it reached after conducting a round of initial investigations.
The Intercept published a detailed report last week based on confidential documents it gleaned from whistleblower Edward Snowden, in which it revealed that America’s NSA and UK’s GCHQ hacked the systems at Gemalto to steal the encryption keys. By getting access to the keys, the agencies were able to directly tap phone calls, and monitor messages, among other things, on millions of mobile phones.
Here's our best look yet at Samsung Galaxy S6
Samsung has not yet officially announced the successor to Galaxy S5, but we all know that the wait is almost over. The unveiling is scheduled for March 1, during the first Unpacked event of 2015. What we do not yet know is what the new device looks like.
So far, teasers have only given us vague details about its appearance, as Samsung has tried to keep as much as possible for the main event. However, T-Mobile has decided to expose more of Galaxy S6, releasing a teaser which shows the side of the upcoming smartphone quite clearly. And it looks awesome.
LG launches mid-range Magna, Spirit, Leon and Joy Android phones
Mobile World Congress (MWC) kicks off next week, but ahead of the big event LG announces a quartet of mid-range Android handsets. Each of the four phones runs Android 5.0 Lollipop and each is available in LTE and 3G variants -- the former has a metal rear cover, and the latter's is plastic.
The Magna, Spirit, Leon and Joy all share something of a similar look and LG describes the range as combining the "perfect balance of style and usability". At the top of the current batch is the LG Magna, which boasts a 5-inch screen, 1.2GHz or 1.3GHz quad core CPU (exact specs are region-dependent), 1GB RAM and 8GB of storage.
After losing the top spot in India's smartphone market, Samsung gets robbed in the tablet category too
It’s not only the smartphone market in which Samsung has lost the pole position, but tablets as well. The South Korean media conglomerate is no longer the largest tablet vendor in India, the emerging market for digital devices where the tablet share grew by 3.6 percent quarter-on-quarter, reports IDC.
As per the stats provided by the marketing research firm IDC, Indian OEM iBall captured the maximum market share (15.6 percent) in the country last quarter. Samsung managed 12.9 percent share, and was followed by Datawind with 9.6 percent share, Lenovo with 9.4 percent share, and HP with 8.7 percent market share.
Apple's new €1.7 billion European data centers will power cloud services
Colder regions make great places for building data centers. Operators can leverage the colder air outside to cool those hot servers, without relying much on costly tools like air conditioners and the like. When we're talking about thousands of servers all running in the same place, the savings are substantial. And so is the positive impact on the environment, thanks to a healthy decrease in energy requirements and emissions.
It should come as no surprise that Apple has announced Denmark and Ireland as the locations of choice for its two new European data centers. The two countries are also favored by other players in the tech industry, like Google and Microsoft. Apple's new data centers will power online services for European customers.
Windows 10 build 10022 screenshots leak along with 10014 release notes
It has been a few weeks since Microsoft released the Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 9926, and Windows Insiders are now champing at the bit for the next version. Mobile users have been kept happy with the release of Windows 10 Technical Preview for Phones, but desktop and laptop users now have some more snippets to whet their appetites.
Over the weekend, screenshots from a couple of new builds were leaked online by the renowned Wzor. First of all we were treated to a glimpse of build 10014, and shortly afterwards images of Windows 10 Professional Technical Preview Build 10022 appeared. Another revelation is a set of release note relating to build 10014. So what do we have to look forward to?
Lenovo's Superfish fiasco has badly damaged consumer trust
Stories about potentially malicious software emerge practically every day, but it’s not often that a high-profile PC manufacturer admits to deliberately installing harmful files on consumer devices. However, that’s exactly what happened last week, when Lenovo was found to be pre-installing adware on its devices without the owner’s permission.
Superfish, as the adware has been dubbed, is reported to affect Lenovo units purchased between the latter half of 2014 and January this year. While its ability to insert third-party advertisements into Internet Explorer and Google Chrome searches is annoying, the way that it installs its own security certificate is invasive and possibly harmful.
Quickly scan documents to PDF, TIFF, and more with NAPS2
Buy even the most basic consumer scanner and you’ll probably get some very capable scanning software with a pile of image processing features. But while that’s great if you’re looking to scan a photo, it might not be so useful if you just need to quickly scan a document and send it somewhere else.
NAPS2 (Not Another PDF Scanner 2) is a straightforward alternative, an open source tool which is designed to scan documents to PDF, TIFF and other file types "as simply as possible".
Lumia 535: Hands on with Microsoft's new budget smartphone [Review]
With Microsoft’s recent unveiling of the Hololens, Windows 10, and the new Spartan browser, many commentators are suggesting that the software giant is finally getting back to a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to the market. Some would even go as far as to suggest Microsoft are now attempting to be 'cool' akin to their trendy rivals. Microsoft’s entrance into the Smartphone arena, however, was anything but proactive or cool.
Lagging behind the innovations of rivals, it’s fair to say Microsoft’s attempts to establish themselves have previously been somewhat overshadowed by the likes of Apple and Android’s continued dominance. The Lumia 535 certainly isn’t as revolutionary as the Hololens, but neither is it necessarily a reactive creation by Microsoft. Rather, Microsoft’s attempts to develop an affordable smartphone is a proactive approach and there’s much to be admired about the Lumia 535; given its $132 price tag. It’s certainly progress on its predecessor, the 530, and its sleek design is pretty cool. Granted, the phone has its flaws and it isn’t ground-breaking in any way, but it is refreshing for the other thing it won’t break, namely, your bank account.
You talkin' to me? Apple goes 'Taxi Driver' in latest iPad ad narrated by Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese is a damn good director. He is behind such classic films as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Casino, and Goodfellas. As a New Yorker of Italian heritage, I pretty much have to like the guy. Not all of his work is gold though. Bringing Out the Dead is a personal favorite, though not a classic. I downright hated Gangs of New York and The Departed, but people seemed to enjoy those, so what do I know?
What I do know is that Apple has tapped the man for its latest iPad advertisement. Titled "Make a film with iPad". The one minute video is narrated by Scorsese, although he is never seen. This is probably for the best, as his signature unwieldy eyebrows might scare Apple's hip demographic.
What happens when Microsoft meets Minecraft?
Microsoft and Minecraft are two of the biggest entities in their respective fields -- software and gaming. While the former captures most desktop users, the latter has become an almost obsessive fascination for kids and even many adults. Logic dictated the two should team up, and that's exactly what happened when Microsoft bought Mojang and Minecraft last year.
As a testament to the partnership, two kids -- Alec Baron and Alessio Tosolini -- are using Minecraft in a cool and geeky way. The work, according to the boys, took more than 100 hours of collaboration. When they were finished, they had recreated the Microsoft Production Studios in Minecraft.
Patch your PC with Kaspersky Software Updater
Kaspersky Software Updater is a free stand-alone tool which regularly checks for updates to critical software, alerts you when any are discovered, then downloads and installs them with a click.
It’s not entirely clear which software is supported, but from our tests it seems to cover the main internet-facing applications and components: browsers, Java, Flash, Adobe Air and so on.
OS X, iOS and Linux have more vulnerabilities than Windows
It might come as something of a surprise, but Windows is more secure than not only Apple's iOS and OS X, but also Linux. I'll just let that sink in for a moment...
Windows, the operating system ridiculed for its vulnerabilities and susceptibility to viruses is actually more secure than the supposedly Fort Knox-like Linux and OS X. This startling fact comes from the National Vulnerability Database (described as the "US government repository of standards based vulnerability management data") which details security issues detected in different operating systems and software titles.
Tumblr now classifies all torrent talk as adult content
The idea of online censorship is nothing new, particularly when it comes to content of questionable legality. Just last week it transpired that Valve was blocking talk about Kickass Torrents in Steam chat and now Tumblr is engaged in similar activity.
Rather than blocking bloggers from posting about torrents, or stopping people from reading such posts, Tumblr now classifies torrent-related content as 'adult'. This means that many people will not be able to see posts that make reference to torrents unless they change their account settings.
Android Wear works with iPhones and iPads -- no jailbreak required!
Wearables are awesome, the next big thing. Smartwatches in particular are very functional extensions of the smartphones, which have become ubiquitous nowadays. True, many tech pundits were dubious of the smartwatch's utility; including myself. I came around after actually using a smartwatch -- the Android Wear-based Samsung Gear Live -- for an extended period and loving it. My colleague Joe Wilcox is a recently converted proponent.
As great as Android Wear is, there are problems. While the most glaring is the fairly short battery life of devices, its lack of cross-platform support is a bigger issue. In other words, it can be harmful to consumers to have a product that only works with a certain platform, as it limits their freedom. An Android user with Android Wear that wants to move to an iPhone for instance, will be left with a useless smartwatch. Thanks to a developer named Mohammad Abu-Garbeyyeh, this may no longer be an issue. This impressive dev has gotten Android Wear to work with iOS. The best part? No jailbreak needed!
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