Smart consumers will be Android Wear wary
I find the whole smartwatch craze rather amusing, even more so now that Google has officially announced Android Wear, with two models, made by LG and Samsung, shipping next month. One-day battery life? Bwaaahaha. Do they never learn? Microsoft-powered smartwatches got better than that a decade ago, and short battery life still turned out to be one of the main reasons the timepieces failed.
In product design you can never ignore existing behavior. A watch is a set-it, and forget-it device. I suppose some gadget geeks accustomed to daily smartphone charges (or less) will be dumb enough to buy. But smart consumers will be Android Wear wary. Just ask Microsoft about the road to ruin, which is paved with the best intentions, the right manufacturing partners, and concept seemingly smart that isn't.
27 percent of websites aren't configured for smartphone searches
A new report from SEO and content marketing specialist BrightEdge reveals that although almost 60 percent of American adults own smartphones and 40 percent own tablets, more than a quarter of websites aren’t mobile friendly.
This leads to a massive loss of potential traffic and if marketers rectify this misconfiguration, the report discovered they stand to boost smartphone traffic by 200 percent.
ID stealing cloned banking app found on Play Store
A cloned banking app which steals user login credentials has been discovered on the Play Store this week. Mobile security company Lookout discovered the app and informed Google which immediately removed it.
The malware, called BankMirage, targets the customers of an Israeli bank called Mizrahi Bank -- the fourth largest in the country. The authors of the app placed a wrapper around the bank's legitimate app and redistributed it on the Google Play store, pretending to be the financial institution.
Survey highlights need for wireless security to keep pace with today's mobile technology
Inhance Technology commissioned iReach Insights to conduct a comparative survey of 2,000 mobile users in the US and UK; the surprise was not so much the differences but similarities in attitudes.
The headline story is that US users (27 percent) are more worried than 12 months ago than their UK counterparts (21 percent) about being mugged for their device. However, from a mobile security perspective, the more interesting data is contained in the body of the research.
Google announces better Glass, new Glassware
Following feedback received from early adopters (known as Explorers), Google has announced a significantly revised Glass wearable. But, unlike prior iterations, it looks like this one will not be available as a free-of-charge upgrade for current users, who will now have to pay full price to get the latest and greatest.
The improved Google Glass is touted to offer better performance courtesy of a RAM capacity increase to 2 GB, which is 1 GB more than before (prior versions only allowed 682 MB of RAM to be effectively used, making the difference quite substantial). There are also more Google Now cards available, which will display extra information like shipping delivery estimates and car location.
Mobile threats can prove overwhelming for organizations
Mobile device usage and BYOD offers many advantages for business, but it also results in more entry points for cybercriminals looking to attack corporate networks.
A new report by research specialist GigaOm and incident resolution company AccessData highlights the need for organizations to be prepared and incorporate mobile devices into their overall security planning.
Kaspersky Lab uncovers new Android and iOS spying tools
Security company Kaspersky Lab has published a new report uncovering previously undiscovered Remote Control System (RCS) Trojans that work on both Android and iOS. It's also mapped their massive international command and control network.
The Trojans are part of the allegedly 'legal' spyware tool, RCS, also known as Galileo, developed by the Italian company, HackingTeam. Kaspersky's researchers were able to map the presence of more than 320 RCS command and control servers in over 40 countries. The majority of the servers being found in the United States, Kazakhstan, Ecuador, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Digital payments set to reach $4.7 trillion by 2019
A new report from research specialists Juniper shows that the annual transaction value of online, mobile and contactless payments is just over $2.5 trillion this year and is set to reach $4.7 trillion by 2019.
The largest increase in spend will occur through remote physical goods purchases, buying things online in other words. This is partly due to increased activity in emerging markets such as China, with the online retailer Alibaba accounting for 20 percent of global B2C (business to consumer) and C2C (consumer to consumer) online retailing worldwide in 2013.
Microsoft is cooler than Apple
Third in a series. In business perception is everything. Many companies succeed or fail not because their products are great but their brands are perceived to be that way. Apple is a remarkable perception manager. Consider iPhone 5s, which features and benefits fall far behind many competing devices. Rather than innovate, the fruit-logo launches an evocative marketing campaign -- "You're more powerful than you think" -- that makes the smartphone look better. Improved. The ads are compelling because they communicate: Your life will be better, you shall achieve your dreams, by buying iPhone 5s.
Meanwhile, competitors like Microsoft truly innovate and take the kind of risks that once defined Apple. Last year I asked: "Will 2013 be another year of Apple iteration masquerading as innovation?" Yes, and halfway into another year, little is changed. The answer is the same. Last month I explained "Why Apple no longer innovates". OS X Yosemite and iOS X 8 are prettier, but so what? Meanwhile, Windows 8/8.1 is a radical rethinking of the platform -- as is Surface, which delivers refreshing change to computing. What's that long-forgotten Yellow Pages tagline? Let your fingers do the walking. They do on Surface.
Parallels Access 2.0 lets you control your PC or Mac remotely using iPad, iPhone or Android device
Looking for a way to access programs on your desktop or laptop from your mobile? You could go down the route of installing something like TeamViewer, but with the best will in the world, trying to control your entire Windows or Mac desktop from your mobile is a fiddly experience at best.
A more practical solution can be found by going down the Parallels Access route, and it’s one that’s just been made even better with the release of version 2.0.
How the mobile threat landscape is challenging companies’ ability to respond
As with cyber security generally, the mobile threat landscape is constantly evolving. So although businesses may have invested heavily in solutions like antivirus and mobile device and application management they can’t afford to relax.
Mobile security specialist Zimperium, the company that uncovered the recent LinkedIn flaw has released a whitepaper looking at the attack vectors that specifically target mobile devices.
The future face of mobile marketing and why companies must adapt
Companies spend a lot of time looking for the best marketing tools to reach their customers and convert communication into sales. Part of this involves collecting information about people's preferences.
Online form specialist Formstack recently published its Form Conversion Report on what makes people fill in online forms. Based on the data from this it's now released some predictions on the future of digital marketing.
ChargeKey changes its name and offers 25 percent discount for BetaNews readers
You might recall that we recently reviewed the ChargeKey and ChargeCard USB charging gadgets. These are now being relaunched with an updated design using more durable materials and have had a name change to NomadKey and NomadCard -- though we’re guessing they won't recharge your camel.
There's also an extra product, the carabiner-style NomadClip that you can fit on your key chain, belt or anywhere else to ensure you’re never without a charger. It’s non-load bearing but with a steel frame and polycarbonate outer shell it should be tough enough to survive life's day-to-day knocks.
Don’t get too used to 4G, 5G is on the way
By 2020 it's estimated that there will be around 30 times as much mobile internet traffic as there was in 2010. However, the nature of that traffic will be different thanks to the internet of things bringing a whole host of new devices online.
This of course will create demand for faster networks and the European Commission and South Korea have signed an agreement to pave the way for 5G technology.
BlackBerry brings protected messaging to the enterprise
One of the major concerns of mobile use in the enterprise is keeping company data secure. BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) already offers a reliable messaging service with millions of users worldwide, but now with the launch of a new service it lets employees benefit from speedy, reliable and private business communication.
The new BBM Protected service offers enhanced security for messages sent between BlackBerry devices by adding an extra layer of encryption to the standard BBM which encrypts messages in transit.
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