IBM Unveils Dynamic Pricing To Help Retailers Adjust Prices Intelligently

IBM, the 114-year-old American multinational technology company, has introduced a new cloud service called ‘Dynamic Pricing,’ aimed at ensuring retailers are selling their products at the most competitive rate going.

The idea of Dynamic Pricing is a deceptively simple concept.  IBM’s new cloud service is designed to give retailers and other commercial entities up to date with competitors’ price changes. It will also provide information to the seller about when and why potential customers are abandoning their shopping carts before checkout.

Dynamic Pricing goes further than that however, using IBM’s substantial cloud base to analyse, react and automatically add discounts or decrease the price of products as competitors do.

The Dynamic Pricing model that IBM utilises is based upon different combinations and analysis of pre-configured performance data, such as browsing history, price stability within independent markets, inventory management, competitive pricing, and sales statistics.

The example used by IBM to demonstrate the potential of Dynamic Pricing to end users is that if a competitor were to suddenly roll out a promotion discounting a particular range or individual product, by say 15%, the cloud based Dynamic pricing will be able to react almost instantly.

“At any given moment, a retailer is no more than one click away from losing a customer online. IBM Dynamic Pricing executes real-time pricing recommendations at the scale and speed needed to ensure competitiveness in a volatile shopping environment,” said Stephen Mello, Vice President, IBM eCommerce & Merchandising. “This intuitive and dynamic pricing system improves visibility into what’s happening in the market, allowing retailers to make decisions that are best for their businesses and customers alike.”

Dynamic Pricing will most likely be used by commercial enterprises that also have an online presence. This will allow them to keep their virtual pricing and physical merchandising at the same rates. It will also allow online operators to leverage Dynamic Pricing’s ‘predictive intelligence’ to adjust their prices up, as well as down to both boost customer demand, and increase their revenue.

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Why Can’t We Get Education Software Right?

It never fails. A government agency–like a department or ministry of education, whether at the local, state, or federal level–introduces a new software system that is supposed to streamline the workload, make instant access to information possible, and increase efficiency. Just like all the other titles that have come across the desktop computers of frustrated employees for years. And typically, the new software has the same results: endless training sessions to learn the new system, frustration at constant glitches, and a general inability to make the new system work any better than any of the dozen previous versions.

That is certainly the case for many school districts in British Columbia, who introduced a new software system for all schools in its districts. The complaints began within days of the software’s unveiling, and the problems haven’t let up. In fact, one school district has written a formal letter to the Minister to demand something be done about the software. The chairman of the Powell River School Board has been understanding to date of the problems that could be expected in any new system, but the same problems that plagued the launch of the school year are still impeding functional use of the government-mandated system. Moreover, the education minister has stated from the beginning that the government will not be seeking any refunds from the software’s developer, Fujitsu, who has already issued a formal apology for the problems in its title, despite the fact that a provision for the payment of penalties was written into the original contract.

This is just one example out of a possible hundreds, or even thousands. Whether it’s in schools, driver’s licednse authorities, police stations, or any other government office, it seems that we just can’t get it right the first time when it comes to new software. The first culprit may be in the very method with which we choose operating systems and technology. Contracts are typically doled out to the lowest bidder, except in cases where corruption leads to the contract being awarded to the entity who paid the most in campaign contributions, or to the politician’s nephew who writes code and owns a startup. Without a better system of selection in place–one that includes submitting proven track records of satisfied customer-users–this cycle of replacing bad software with even worse software is just going to continue.

Another issue at hand is the fact that contracts aren’t just awarded to tech companies who have the best product, but to the companies that have enough insurance. When putting students’ data into the hands of a software developer, there has to be liability insurance to cover glitches that lead to children being put in danger. Whether the product works well or not isn’t the only issue at hand, but how capable the company is at funding the cleanup from an incident. This is why small startups and even open-source titles are facing obstacles when it comes to supplying affordable software for some of the most cash-strapped agencies in government.

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A Higher Calling For Open-Source Software

Open-source software–or at least the concept that drives it, a world where coding expertise and technology are furthered for the good of the public instead of corporate profit–is gaining traction in a big way. Some top names in tech have even announced their support for open-source, and whole crowdfunding campaigns have been dedicated to creating products and launching startups whose titles are available to everyone.

 

But an article that appeared today in TechRepublic highlighted the blood-curdling circumstance of a heart patient whose software-enabled pacemaker could have easily killed her. The software that drove the device–and ultimately made the decision on when to administer a shock to the woman’s heart for a very rare condition–wasn’t able to take into account the fact that she was pregnant, and therefore adjust for it. Her drive to launch open-source software that patients could use instead of the manufacturer’s limited software may very well have saved lives.

So what’s the holdup when it comes to broader adoption of publicly created software to power our devices? After all, they’re ours. Shouldn’t we have some measure of control over how they operate, and shouldn’t we have the option to share that knowledge with others without teams of lawyers getting up in arms?

That’s the growing sentiment thanks to a number of recent events. One of the headline-grabbing arguments for open-source software has been the recent Volkswagen emissions scandal. Since the “proprietary” software automakers use in their vehicles is a closely guarded industry secret (that even the cars’ owners and drivers legally cannot know), the auto giant felt secure in selling millions of cars that were intentionally designed to violate pollution standards. Fortunately, that single incident has already opened the doors to legal action that intends to increase transparency and strip away much of the hush-hush nature of software.

One of the long-held arguments against open-source software, though, is the inherent risk of intentional malicious coding in titles that gain popularity and widespread use. Unfortunately, it’s an outdated argument, despite the fact that those with money to earn in software still throw it around.

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Filehippo.com Now Hosting Web App Software

We thought we might try something a bit different this year and kick off 2016 with a new addition to our site, and we have.

As of right now, we are trialing our new Web Apps section to see what our users make of it. So far, the response and the number of our visitors using the new section has been really positive.

There’s a chance some of you have already found our new Web Apps section and are already using it. If this is you, then great and thanks, a lot! But don’t worry if you haven’t though, that’s what I’m here to tell you about today. 

Everyone is doing more stuff online

It’s a fact of life. As a result, the web app market has really taken off in the last few years. There’s new web based services being launched across the world every day, and a lot of them, like the ones you’ll find here on Filehippo.com are completely FREE.

Web app advantages

There are a lot of advantages to using web apps, and the benefits outweigh the downsides in the main.  Perhaps the best reason to start using a web based app however is the fact that you can access them anywhere, and anytime, as long as you have access to the internet. There’s also no downloading or updating required, because web apps live in the ‘cloud.’  And finally, and the one I’m happiest about, is the fact you can use web apps on a $100 second hand laptop and have them work just as well as a PC that cost a $1000.

Business web apps

At the moment because we’re still trialing the new web apps section, we’ve restricted the apps available to business, but we’ll have more soon, as we’ll be updating and adding new apps all the time. But until then, here are some of the web apps I’ve enjoyed using myself.

My top 5 web apps on Filehippo.com

Zoho CRM

Working on both mobile or desktop, Zoho is a robust CRM package that is free for up to 10 users that can help manage sales, marketing, and inventory management all in one place. It can be used to turn web hits into sales, and is a useful tool for helping get your priorities right.  Best of all though is the fact that Zoho lets write your own rules and will let you customize the way it works to suit you.

Workflow Max

I like this one, no really I do. I trialed it last week to see what it was all about, and I’m still using it. Workflow Max is a project management tool, that has been designed with looking after all your business management needs, and includes project tracking, timesheets, invoicing and job monitoring.

Workable

An all in one web based app that can take the stress out of recruitment? Yep, and it works. Workable’s main advantage is that it is incredibly intuitive to use with literally no learning curve to speak of, and can help you post your jobs to all the free boards and then help you manage the candidates that apply, making sure you hire the right person.

Zendesk

I really like Zendesk, and not just because of the name.  Zendesk is a helpdesk solution, and one of the most popular ones available today. Take a brief visit and you’ll understand why. As well as being effective, it’s easy to use and flexible. The best thing though is the scalability it offers. It can grow with you, and your company, no matter how small or how big your enterprise gets.

Jira

This was actually the first web app I looked at when we opened this new section at Filehippo. If my old company had used something like this I’d have probably gotten a lot more sleep, instead of spending my nights worrying. Jira is a bug tracking solution that actually works. And when several different Open Source projects pick Jira as their bug reporter, you know you’re onto a good value piece of software. The best thing about Jira is just the sheer ease with which bugs and issues can be tracked and found.

Open for business

Well that’s my top 5 web apps here on Filehippo.com, but if any one of them didn’t do it for you, there’s a whole lot more in there just waiting to be looked at and used. Remember, there’s nothing to download or install, so you can look and play around with any one of them in just a few seconds, and you can find them all here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Nest Software Glitch Deactivated Users’ Thermostats

With the recent winter heat wave in much of the US safely behind us, now’s the time for all the social media posts complaining about the bitter cold. But the reality of winter set in accidentally for Nest users, many of whom awoke to find the heat shut off in their homes.

Glass Nest users will be able to control the Nest thermostat by voice commands, even remotely.

A software glitch in a recent update didn’t make an appearance until this week. The glitch, which drained the batteries of Nest thermostat devices, left users without any temperature control. While it’s an easy fix–plug in the USB cable, folks–it’s actually a serious matter to any users who weren’t home to correct the issue when it occurred. Users who may have been traveling, who work night shifts, or other scenarios that take them from home at off-hours could return to frozen (and even dead) pets, burst water pipes, or worse.

In rarer cases, the opposite occurred, as users took to the forum to complain that the battery drain left the residences’ thermostats adjusting to the highest heat setting, meaning they paid a lot of money to overheat their homes to uncomfortable levels.

“We are aware of a software bug impacting some Nest Thermostat owners. In some cases, this may cause the device to respond slowly or become unresponsive. We are working on a solution that we expect to roll out in the coming weeks,” the Google-owned company said in a statement.

While charging the Nest device will correct the problem right now, it does mean resetting your device. But without correcting the software bug, the issue will simply repeat itself and your device’s battery will die again. Instructions for correcting the problem are HERE, although Nest now says more than 99% of the devices are back in typical operation.

Security and tech experts have warned that this particular issue is only likely to increase across IoT-enabled devices. Software bugs are just a reality, and the more removed a device is from human input, the more likely it is to experience issues with lack of real-time adjustment from human input.

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Microsoft Ends Support For Windows 8

There was a plethora of news released by Microsoft on Tuesday.

As well as Tuesday January 12 being the first patch Tuesday of 2016, it was also the last day that the company announced it would be supporting the Windows 8 operating system.

In the same announcement, Microsoft also officially ended their support to several older versions of Internet Explorer. This leaves the only official browsers still supported by Microsoft are the new Edge browser, and Internet Explorer 11.

But back to Windows.

As of the 13^th January, Microsoft will no longer be releasing security patches for the Windows 8 operating system.  Any exploits, vulnerabilities or security holes that hackers manage to find from this point on, will not be fixed by Microsoft, making the OS now insecure at a fundamental level forever more.

Confused Windows 8 users

The announcement has left many users of Windows 8 surprised and confused, and it’s hardly surprising. Despite Microsoft having warned users since last August that this would be happening, Microsoft’s terminology hasn’t been all that clear.  But either way, Windows 8.0 is gone, and users should upgrade to Windows 8.1.

Actually, no they shouldn’t.

Users should actually upgrade to Windows 8.1 Update.  Windows 8.1 Update is the current iteration of Windows 8, which was a large and significant upgrade Windows 8.1 received, not so long ago. So when MS say that support for Windows 8 has ended, what they really mean, is that support has ended for Windows 8.0, and also Windows 8.1, but has not ended for Windows 8.1 Update. (Windows 8.1 support actually ended in August 2015.)

I’m still confused, what’s the solution?

Keep your computer up to date, and run Windows updates when you can.

Problem solved, I’m happy

Maybe. MS also recently announced that the free upgrade to Windows 10 will change its status to ‘Recommended,’ in Windows Update. This means that Windows 10 will install itself automatically on both Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers that use the default update settings. The majority of Windows users just go with the default settings.

It looks like Microsoft’s big push for anyone using its systems in 2016 is going to be forcing its customers to stay updated, whether they want to or not.

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Forbes Asks Online Readers To Disable Ad Blockers Then Hands Out Malware

Ad blocking software usage in the US grew by 48% last year alone.

Advertising is an everyday fact of life on the internet, but more and more users are using ad blocking software to evade seeing them at all.

From the perspective of a web publisher, you can probably understand the concern over this growth of ad-blocking. Websites reliant on advertising revenue are increasingly starting to lock out users who choose to use ad blockers, such as the Washington Post, and more recently, Forbes.

A free internet?

The vast majority of websites are free, and rely on revenue from advertising to survive. Just asking users to disable ad-blockers has proven to be rarely successful, and profitable subscription only services are few and far between.

Forbes recently deployed this ‘please disable your ad blocker to proceed’ tactic for anyone wishing to read articles on its site. In an unfortunate twist for Forbes, however users who did this were then almost immediately stung with dangerous advertising malware ‘pop-unders.’

Merry Christmas

A few weeks before Christmas, Forbes visitors with with Ad block or uBlock enabled were suddenly greeted with a message telling them to disable their ad blocking programs if they wished to see any content.

The malware infected ads were posted in order to infect computers, and then either steal personal information such as passwords and bank details, or to encrypt people’s hardware using ransomware.

Is it Forbes fault, or problem?

The malware ads themselves were not necessarily the fault of Forbes, although responsibility should ultimately lie with them, even if it ultimately, doesn’t. Like most websites, Forbes uses third-party advertising networks to show ads on its site, as the costs involved for companies to setup their own dedicated advertising solution are known to be prohibitive.

Forbes is just the latest large website to be discovered opening the back door for cyber criminals to gain access to users’ computers.

It was only yesterday that we covered the fact that Trend Micro’s antivirus password manager could allow hackers to steal users password information.

It was only the week before that that we also covered the same type of issue being discovered in AVG’s Web TuneUp extension for Google Chrome.

Video site Dailymotion put over 128 million of its users at risk at the end of last year that came from rogue ad malware from their  the 3^rd party advertiser

The problem for internet users everywhere, is that when ad networks let malware slip through like this on authority web sites the argument for convincing  people to not use ad blockers will inevitably be listened to by fewer and fewer ears.

 

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PotPlayer Media Player Does It All

In an effort to provide the best multimedia experience possible for tech users of every need, a lot of developers have put out media player software. And while they can all claim to be the best, the fact of the matter remains that so many of these players are just nicely branded repeats of the same old functionality. That’s why it’s newsworthy when a title comes out that actually does provide a host of features that can’t be found everywhere else.

If you wanted to find fault with PotPlayer, the truth of the matter is it’s so advanced that everyday users who just want an application to watch emailed videos of their niece’s dance recital may struggle a little bit. The media player is really geared towards the higher-end user who needs more features and more customizable advanced settings than you get with the standard pre-loaded media player.

One of the first eye-catching features is the ability to seamlessly import files from just about anywhere without having to worry about compatibility across file types. Whether it’s an upload, a URL, an attachment from a friend, whatever, PotPlayer can work with it while keeping its user interface nice and neat without a ton of eye-buzzing clutter.

Within the player itself is a handily smart screen capture capability, letting users grab only the footage they need to work with. This is especially handy for editing purposes or for pulling out only the content you need from a much longer file.

There are a tone of video and audio rendering features, more than the average user will ever have a need for. It’s nice to know those features are there (and tucked out of the way) if you ever do need them, though, and advanced users will find more options than they’ll typically use in a single project. One of the coolest features is the ability to have PotPlayer power down or sleep mode your computer when the rendering is done, meaning you can head off to bed while the file finishes its processes and not wake up to a surprise to find that the video production stopped when the sleep mode kicked in from lack of user interaction.

One of the most intelligent features–and one that will quickly become mandated in certain markets due to pending legislation–is the subtitle feature. With support for both SUP and DIVX subtitles, users of a variety of language and hearing abilities will have even broader access to video and audio content. This has long been one of the chief obstacles that has prevented MOOCs and open-source video instruction from taking off in education, especially at the public school level. The requirement for subtitle access is being written into law in many places, but is already in place for education budgets.

Best of all, PotPlayer is light on disk space in spite of the abundance of features. It’s now available for download from FileHippo by clicking HERE.

 

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Trend Micro Vulnerability Could Have Allowed Hackers To Easily Steal Passwords

The now infamous Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy has taken a second antivirus developer to task over genuine security risks that could have allowed hackers to infiltrate users web browsers and steal all their passwords.

We covered the story last week of how Ormandy discovered that AVG’s free Web TuneUp Chrome browser extension was a potential security threat, that might have allowed hackers access to over 9 million users personal data and browsing history to be exposed to the entire internet.

Now, Ormandy has found that AVG were not the only anti-malware developer with security issues.

Ormandy found significant bugs in Trend Micro’s own antivirus product that could allow hackers to run ‘remote code execution,’ by virtually any website and steal all of a user’s passwords.

Details of the security flaws by Trend Micro became public late last week after Ormandy disclosed a copy of the back-and-forth email conversations that took place between him and Trend Micro.

After initially having to deal with what appeared to be a first level tech support representative at the antivirus company, Trend Micro had to up their game quickly when the scale of the security vulnerability became apparent. A clearly frustrated Ormandy suggested that Trend Micro should be paging their staff members to resolve the issue as soon as they could.

The issue with Trend Micro’s code centred around a password manager that users can opt to store their passwords in. Ormandy found that within 30 seconds of accessing the underlying code he found an API extension that allowed him to access the passwords stored within.

While Trend Micro have now fixed the security flaw in their anti-virus, Ormandy criticised the company’s response time, and for failing to move faster to resolve the threat.

“In my opinion, you should temporarily disable this feature for users and apologise for the temporary disruption, then hire an external consultancy to audit the code.”

Ormandy also criticised Trend Micro for not fixing a major issue when they claimed they had. His response was scathing:

“This thing is ridiculous, wtf is this…You were just hiding the global objects and invoking a browser shell…[this]… adds insult to injury…I don’t even know what to say – how could you enable this thing *by default* on all your customer machines without getting an audit from a competent security consultant? You need to come up with a plan for fixing this right now. Frankly, it also looks like you’re exposing all the stored passwords to the internet, but let’s worry about that screw up after you get the remote code execution under control.”  

Ormandy also advised Trend Micro that in his opinion Trend Micro should “…apologise for the temporary disruption, then hire an external consultancy to audit the code.” Ouch.

AVG and Trend Micro are unfortunately just the latest security companies to have been the architects of their own security flaws. Products from developers such as ESET, AVAST, and Malwarebytes were all discovered to security issues in 2015.

For Trend Micro however, what will most likely hurt them the most, is the embarrassment and irony that the very security their product is supposed to protect against was part of the problem.

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Update Your iPhone And Get Some Zzzzzzs

In the race to put out the latest and greatest in technological innovation, there are a handful of times when developers release a product then have to sit back and think, “Maybe we should have thought that through.” Sometimes it’s platforms like MySpace. Other times it’s updated operating systems that basically hijack your computer. In either case, a lot of the time and money spent in development goes towards tweaking problems that arise after the tech is out there.

Apple has recently released a second round update to its iOS 9 for iPhone, but the third iteration is already in beta works. One of the hot-topic features that will come out with iOS 9.3 will address a well-known complication with any kind of mobile screen: the blue LED.

After touchscreens, LED screens, and pretty much any kind of exciting light up screen hit the market, people started to theorize that having your device in the room with you while you slept wasn’t a good idea. There were a fair number of theories that bordered on alien conspiracy, but scientists finally rooted out the issue. The blue glow associated with the screen can actually block the production of melatonin, something your brain produces in the process of sleep regulation. Now, there are even stronger theories that the screen can affect melatonin production before you ever try to sleep, meaning your late evening phone use can make it harder to sleep even after you put down your device.

Apple’s latest update will follow in line with other manufacturers who are working to address the problem. In the new iOS update, a feature called Night Shift will start to ease the glow of the screen based on your time zone and location in order to produce optimal sleep results. There are two new updates to Notes and the News app that will also streamline both of those tools.

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Tesla Update Is One Step Closer To Fully Autonomous Cars

The original vision for self-driving cars–and we mean Disney’s EPCOT center or the World’s Fair, not Google’s vision of the reality of autonomous cars–was that would all recline our seats on a long drive and sleep away the trip to Grandma’s, or that blind individuals would now have their own transportation, or that shoppers would wait under a store awning while their cars zipped across the parking lot unaided and came to pick them up in a heavy downpour.

Of course, the reality of autonomous vehicles is a little different, but a new update from Tesla Motors (sent to their customers’ vehicles automatically) is bringing the concept a little closer. With some of their models now able to self-park, customers’ original ideas for these vehicles are becoming a reality.

It’s interesting to even think of cars having a software update in the first place, and even more exciting to think of your car receiving an update without your input. There are surely safeguards in place there, but most drivers on the road still have to take their vehicles to a dealership or garage in order to be upgraded, especially in the event of a manufacturer’s recall.

But the new self-parking feature isn’t quite the same as our dreamy-eyed jet pack visions yet. According to an article by ABC News, “Owners must line up their Model S sedan or Model X SUV within 33 feet of the space they want it to drive or back into. They must then stand within 10 feet and direct the car to park itself using the key fob or Tesla’s smartphone app. The car can also exit the spot when the driver summons it. If it’s going into a home garage, it can also open and close the garage door…Tesla says the system is helpful for tight parking spots, but cautions that it should only be used on private property since it can’t detect every potential obstacle. The car could hit bikes hanging from a garage ceiling, for example.”

The new update also includes a less flashy feature, and that’s the ability to limit the speed of the vehicle. While the driver will still have the option to turn off the Autopilot mode and drive as stupidly fast as he pleases, the self-driving engagement will only go at or slightly higher than the posted speed limit for that zone. This is truly the vision that some consumers have when they imagine the day we’re all driving autonomous cars: every vehicle on the road driving within the posted regulations, making it safer for us all.

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Game Piracy Has Just 2 Years Left

The founder of the infamous Chinese based cracking forum 3DM has said that the days of people playing pirated games are drawing to a close, because it’s just becoming too difficult.

A game pirate attempts to gain access to Denuvo’s development facility, yesterday

The issue for game pirates is that the encryption software being used by game developers is becoming harder and harder to break. 

“…according to current trends in the development of encryption technology, in two years’ time I’m afraid there will be no free games to play in the world,” said 3DM forum founder Bird Sister.

The cause of this apparent doomsday scenario for game pirates has come after it was revealed that the attempt to crack Just Cause 3 had all but defeated 3DM’s resident cracking expert. The issue stems from the inherent robustness of the game protection technology increasingly being used in the release of triple AAA games.

The anti-tamper technology causing the headache for 3DM is designed by Austrian based Denuvo Solutions. The problem for pirates is that Denuvo’s product strength lies in the fact that it a secondary encryption system that encrypts the already in place DRM products in the game.

DRM or Digital Rights Management are embedded aspects in most games that are there to stop people from just copying games and distributing them for free.

While Birdsong still believes that Just Cause 3’s encryption will eventually fall to their continued efforts, the ramifications are sure to be felt not just within gamers, but within the software community in general.

The problem for game pirates, isn’t that Denuvo is impossible to crack, it’s the length of time, it takes to crack the new games.  The time was that new releases were often cracked and available on torrent sites before they were even released, but that hasn’t been the case now for several years.

Gamers are, in general, an impatient bunch, and want to play the latest games as soon as possible. Being forced to wait two, three, or even six months while waiting for games to be cracked, means that many of them will have moved on by the time the job is done. By that time, most people will have moved on and be eager to play the next big release.

If Birdsong’s End Days prediction comes to fruition, then software developers and vendors from other sectors will probably be quick to jump on the bandwagon.

 

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Who Needs Privacy Anymore? Apparently, No One.

The Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, is underway in Las Vegas, and it’s already had its fair share of attention. With all eyes in the tech industry turned to the desert for the latest news, innovations, tech announcements, and just plain cool stuff, there’s bound to be some buzz.

One unexpected event was the police-style raid by federal marshals over patent violation as a Chinese hoverboard booth was stormed. Apparently, you can’t display a stolen concept and expect to get away with it, a fact that you’d think the infringer would know before buying booth space.

But that’s not the most unsettling thing to come out of CES this year, not by a long shot. Jane Wakefield, for the BBC, wrote a chilling piece about a private demo she had of an Israeli company’s newest product, and it is the stuff of nightmares for privacy advocates and security experts. The software, developed by a company called Neura, basically soaks up every single aspect of your digital day like a sponge and stores it in your smartphone, presumably to give you a nanosecond-by-nanosecond accounting of your activities, your whereabouts, even your recorded thoughts and communications.

What could possibly go wrong?

For now, the software gathers all of the information from the apps, devices, and even wearables that the user owns, and then uses that data to notify the user of things he may not even know he needs to do. For example, if the user stopped by the dry cleaners on Thursday but no money came out of his mobile wallet, in theory the app could figure out that the user had dropped off clothes to be laundered but has yet to pick them up, based on the location settings and access to the mobile wallet. Therefore, an alert could pop up on Tuesday when the user gets close to that location, reminding him that he might need to pick up his clothes.

That’s the kind of harmless-but-hypothetical scenario that this kind of technology could do, and instead of asking why we need our smartphone to seamlessly remind us of things that we didn’t tell it to remind us of (by setting an alert or calendar entry), we should be instead asking ourselves what privacy really means anymore. This is especially true in light of Neura’s plans to integrate this technology into other apps and allow other developers to use it, letting them have this same access to all things you. There is a strong market for this kind of technology, largely because a growing number of consumers have changed the way they view personal privacy. If the internet wants to know where you get your suits dry cleaned, so be it.

At the same time, the argument Neura makes for this technology is that right now, IoT and smart devices are controlled by tech giants like Google and Amazon, not by the consumers themselves. By gathering genuine data on what you do and when, the goal is for your phone to be smarter than those guys.

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Microsoft Ends Support For Internet Explorer 8,9 And 10

Redmond tech giant, Microsoft has finally decided to kill off its older versions of Internet Explorer. Support for IE 8,9, and 10 will officially end on January 12^th.

“Customers have until January 12, 2016, to upgrade their browser, after which time the previous versions of Internet Explorer will reach end of support. End of support means there will be no more security updates, non-security updates, free or paid assisted support options, or online technical content updates.”

Decline in usership

Use of these older versions of Internet Explorer has been in decline for years, and now it seems their life support machine will be finally switched off.  These older versions of IE will of course still be useable, but after January 12, they will receive no support from Microsoft.

Continuing to use these older versions of Internet Explorer means that users will become more at risk from hackers and cyber criminals.

Not that sad, not really

Unlike when support ended for Windows XP however, there has not been the same level of protest levelled at Microsoft. This can be attributed to the rise and dominance of Google’s browser, and to a lesser extent, Mozilla’s Firefox as well.

Upgrade now before you become vulnerable

Microsoft has advised Internet Explorer users to upgrade to either Internet Explorer 11, or to the still relatively new Edge browser, Microsoft’s latest attempt to claw back its once dominant browser market share.  IE 11 will continue to receive updates and security patches for the duration of both Windows 7 and 8.  Microsoft announced that this day would come back in March of 2015.

The statement on the Microsoft website said:

“Internet Explorer is a component of the Windows operating system and the most current version will continue to follow the specific support lifecycle policy for the operating system on which it is installed. Internet Explorer 11 will be supported for the life of Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10. To find the support lifecycle dates for all operating systems,”

Negative vibes

For most of its 20 years of prominence, IE in general came in for its fair share of criticism and negative press. Both Google and Firefox were considered much more user friendly and efficient than Microsoft’s lumbering behemoth of a browser.

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Ian Murdock, Debian Linux Founder Dies Aged 42

Debian GNU/Linux founder Ian Murdock has died. He was just 42.

The world at large became aware of his passing via a blog post on the Docker website, where Murdock had only recently started as a member of their technical staff.

Murdock was best known for launching the open-source Debian distribution of Linux back in 1999. Murdock created the Debian project while still a student at university. He had been involved with computers from an early age.

Debian is widely regarded as being one of the most successful open source operating system ever created, and is notable as well for being one of the first ever Linux distros to be released. It went on to become known as the ‘world’s Universal Operating System,’ and was utilized in embedded devices the world over, as well as key components on the International Space Station.

The open source community have been stunned by the death of Murdock.  Docker CEO, Ben Golub cited some of his many achievements in his blog post:

“In the past decade, Ian’s contributions to the tech community continued, as CTO of the Linux Foundation, as a senior leader at Sun Microsystems (including serving as Chief architect of Project Indiana); and most recently as Vice President of Platforms at Indianapolis-based ExactTarget, which became part of Salesforce in 2012.”

The Debian project website  also praised Murdock saying:

“Ian’s dream has lived on, the Debian community remains incredibly active, with thousands of developers working untold hours to bring the world a reliable and secure operating system…“Ian’s sharp focus was on creating a Distribution and community culture that did the right thing, be it ethically, or technically. Releases went out when they were ready, and the project’s staunch stance on Software Freedom are the gold standards in the Free and Open Source world…Ian’s devotion to the right thing guided his work, both in Debian and in the subsequent years, always working towards the best possible future.”

The Ian in Debian belonged to Murdock, while the Deb belonged to his first wife, Debra, with whom he had three children.

The cause of Murdock’s death is still unclear, but tweets from his now deleted Twitter account stated his intention to take his own life. Reports have since surfaced that Ian Murdock had been involved in a police investigation, and that he had also been charged with assaulting an officer.

Tributes to the Debian founder have been extensive. Condolences can be emailed to in-memoriam-ian@debian.org where they will be archived and kept by the open source community.

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BlackBerry Builds Software To Power SelfDriving Cars

While their phones may no longer be the go-to device of connected individuals everywhere, BlackBerry is far from done with technology and innovation. The same people who arguably launched the smartphone market back in the day are making a bold appearance at CES this year with software that could very well become the backbone of the self-driving car industry.

 

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, “BlackBerry, which has been staking its future on higher-margin mobile-management software after big stumbles in its hardware business, aims to generate revenue of $500 million from software and related services in its current fiscal year, which ends Feb. 29. The company said it plans to launch its autonomous-driving technology in the second quarter of calendar 2016. However, sales related to these new offerings are unlikely to make an impact on the company’s top line in the near future, given that the sector is in its infancy.”

While self-driving cars are already in the testing phase from several different manufacturers, BlackBerry is bringing something to the table that other autonomous software hasn’t yet offered in this space. While automakers have focused on cars being able to assess road obstacles and obey traffic laws, BlackBerry’s product is working on letting these cars recognize and communicate with each other. If there’s a possibility that two cars could “see,” acknowledge, and respond accordingly to the presence of another car–something that human drivers aren’t always able to do–this could be one of the first genuine arguments for the safety of driverless cars.

Interestingly, BlackBerry’s innovation builds off one of its existing products, the QNX software that powers its in-car entertainment systems. It’s ironic that a concept that critics have pointed to as a source of distracted driving could be reprogrammed into one of the most important vehicle safety innovations to come out in a long time.

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Ed Tech: Screen Readers For Visually Impaired Students

Technology was supposed to be one of the great equalizers in education, specifically in the realm of providing digital textbooks, distance learning opportunities, and other initiatives to outlying and impoverished schools. Distance and funding obstacles were supposed to be stripped away by the ability to connect to a classroom in another part of the country, and instant downloads were supposed to provide high-quality instructional materials at a fraction of the cost of print, all thanks to a handful of computers or tablets.

 

For the most part, that vision is coming true for a lot of countries. Unfortunately, in regions all around the world–regardless of financial standing–there are whole sectors of the education population who still don’t have access to the benefits of ed tech due to physical barriers. One such demographic is visually impaired students, given that screen reading software has been cumbersome to say the least, and hardly intuitive. Factor in the typical class disruption of using read-aloud software (even through headphones, as the student cannot take part in class discussions or instruction while having the screen read to him), and read-aloud software becomes an even bigger obstacle to learning than before.

But what about students who can’t access any type of learning materials, whether print, audio, or digital? That’s the reality for an alarming number of global students who are considered fortunate to even live within accessible distance of any form of school. Without access to any form of instructional materials, education simply isn’t an option; too often, that equates to finding a viable, well-deserved place in the workforce not being an option, either.

That’s why a number of schools and libraries are turning to titles such as JAWS, Thunder, and Jose for meeting the needs of visually impaired tech users. Sir Apollo Kagwa school, located in Nakisunga Sub County in the Mukono District of Uganda, for example, recently installed Jose in its computer lab, along with an enabled printer. The goal is to equalize access to education for its visually impaired students through the use of the technology.

This is only the first stage though, as mobile platforms are already adding smartphone tech and apps for visually impaired users. A screen reader is a great tool if the users plans to position himself in front of a computer all day, but for taking the education to the career field, users must have portability. App developers are making great strides in producing these tools for on-the-go use in order to transition students out of the computer lab and into the real world.

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Windows 10 Installed on 200 Million Devices Globally

Windows 10, Microsoft’s flagship OS is now active on more than 200,000,000 devices monthly. This is big news for the Redmond based company that only launched the new version of Windows back in August.

According to the official Windows Experience blog, Windows 10 is now on the fastest ever growth trajectory of any previous version of Windows. That makes it growth 400% faster than Windows 8, and outpaces the adoption of Windows 7 by just under 140%.

The new figures mean that Microsoft are starting 2016 with some really positive news. Microsoft’s stats are impressive, and this also means that the tech company are well on their way to their long term goal of seeing Windows 10 being active on 1 billion devices. 40% of the latest Windows 10 activations came after Black Friday.

The high adoption rate of Windows 10 is seen as being largely due to the positive and enthusiastic response from both consumers and critics.

“We continue to be excited – and humbled – by the incredible response to Windows 10,” said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President for the Windows and Devices Group. “Overall, we are seeing significantly higher customer satisfaction with Windows 10 than any prior version of Windows.”

Mehdi also revealed in his blog that people spent “11 billion hours on Windows 10 in December alone.” But it’s not just the high adoption rate of Windows 10 that has given Microsoft reason to be excited about the future.

Mehdi also pointed to other figures that seem to show that Microsoft is riding a wave of resurgence generally:

• People spent more than 44.5 billion minutes in the Microsoft Edge browser across Windows 10 devices last month. It wasn’t revealed how many searches were made for ‘Google,’ however.

• In December, Windows 10 generated more than a 4.5x increase in revenue per device, as compared to Windows 8

• Cortana, Microsoft’s personal assistant has been asked more than 2.5 billion questions since launch. It was however unclear how many bad jokes she had told in that time.
• There have also been around 30% more Bing search queries per Windows 10 device compared to prior versions of Windows.

• In December alone, 60% of paying customer were new to the Windows Store.

2015 was also the year that Microsoft released their first Windows 10 smartphones as well. The Lumia 950 series of phones sold out within a month, with demand apparently outstripping supply.

As Mehdi says in the end of his blog post, 2015 was a great year for Microsoft. 2016 looks set to continue this trend.

 

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Geofencing No-Fly Zones For Drones

Drones are pretty cool, when you think about it. Despite their current pop status as a hobbyist tool and source of entertainment, the military has already employed drones in mission critical situations and law enforcement agencies are already working with the possibilities for disarming tense scenarios with less risk to human life.

 

But that doesn’t stop random drone operators from wreaking havoc with their expensive quadcopter toys. The Federal Aviation Administration has had to issue some pretty restrictive regulations regarding these buzzing mini-planes due to some idiotic drone use, such as the drone that dropped drugs inside the fence of a maximum-security penitentiary (causing a violent riot to erupt). A reward is still offered for information on the drone owners who wanted some pretty rad pictures of raging California wildfires and ended up grounding the helicopters that were supposed to be putting out the blaze. There have even been numerous reports of commercial airline flights that were disrupted during takeoff and landing due to the stupid antics of drone users, as well as a current investigation of a teenager who crafted his own homemade drone complete with a real working handgun that fires while flying.

One drone developer, though, has a solution: geofencing software that establishes automatic no-fly zones around key locations. The company, DJI, has enabled software that will disable their product around crucial targets like airports, sports venues, schools, or government facilities. The technology was implemented on a relatively small-scale last spring after a private drone user accidentally crashed his drone on the White House lawn. In the absence of better regulations that identify the operator’s name and location for the authorities following a violation, blocking drone use is the next best thing.

What remains to be seen will be whether private citizens can setup these no-fly zones around their property. In the 2015 case of a Kentucky property owner who shot down a drone that repeatedly flew too close to his house while his daughter was playing outside, the armed citizen claims the drone had already flown beneath the canopy of a neighbor’s house and spied in the windows before coming to his house and flying very low. Witnesses at the shooter’s trial stated that the drone was below the treeline surrounding the property, although the drone’s owner claims it was at least 200 feet in the air. A judge sided with the defendant by dismissing all criminal charges against the man, but a civil case brought by the drone operator is still undecided.

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AVG Chrome Extension “Web TuneUp” Put 9 Million users at risk

The free Chrome browser extension, ‘Web TuneUp’ made and installed by Netherlands based AVG Antivirus has been unveiled as potentially security threat. The recently discovered vulnerability may have allowed the personal data and browsing history of its users to be exposed to the entire internet. Over 9 million AVG users were exposed to the bug.

 

While the issue has now been fixed, according to this conversation in the Google-Security-Research forum, it took more than one attempt.

The exploit was discovered by Google Security researcher, Tavis Ormandy, who repeatedly then had to take AVG to task when their initial ‘fixes,’ literally seemed to only paper over the cracks of the issue without resolving the problem, which they eventually managed to accomplish.

Ormandy wrote:

“Apologies for my harsh tone, but I’m really not thrilled about this trash being installed for Chrome users…My concern is that your security software is disabling web security for nine million Chrome users, apparently so that you can hijack search settings and the new tab page…I hope the severity of this issue is clear to you, fixing it should be your highest priority.”

Details of how many of the 9 million AVG users who were using the Chrome extension may have had their information stolen are still unclear.

AVG Web TuneUp, is a plugin that is supposed to help protect users from online threats. Finding such a major security flaw highlighted by an outside source, especially by Google itself would have been embarrassing enough in itself; but for a company like AVG it can only have caused major embarrassment.

What has compounded AVG’s error is the fact the extension was force installed by AVG, meaning it overwrote Chrome’s built in security, effectively bypassing Google’s own defences.

AVG has said that the issue was addressed and fixed before Christmas and that any ‘Web TuneUp’ users should have automatically received a fixed updated version.

“We thank the Google Security Research Team for making us aware of the vulnerability with the Web TuneUp optional Chrome extension…The vulnerability has been fixed; the fixed version has been published and automatically updated to users,” AVG said in a statement.

As part of the fall-out resulting from the AVG security issue, AVG will in future be prevented from being allowed to automatically install the extension for users.

 

 

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