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Submission + - Google Glass backlash escalates to violence (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: A lot of people really don't like Google Glass when they come across it. This week, it turned to violence.

Sarah Slocum, whose LinkedIn profile lists her as a contributing editor at Newsdab, said in a Facebook post that she was assaulted by two women at a San Francisco bar after initially showing other patrons how the device works. The women were reportedly part of a group of bar patrons who were concerned with being recorded by the Glass.

Shortly after Slocum was attacked, a male patron reportedly stole her Google Glass device off her face, and when she chased after him, someone else stole her wallet and cellphone, Slocum explained in a Facebook post.

Submission + - If Apple's making an iWatch, it won't measure glucose levels (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: The purported iWatch project — a smart wrist-worn device that rumors suggest Apple has been working on — may come to fruition at some point this year. Tim Cook has hinted at the company entering new product categories in 2014, and Apple has been hiring experts in wearable technologies and medical sensors like crazy lately.

This has spawned some extreme rumors, to the extent that some expect a device that can do things like automatically and continuously monitor glucose levels, or even detect heart attacks before they occur.

Some digging around the wearable medical device community shows just how impossible this is.

Submission + - WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton was once rejected by both Facebook and Twitter (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: WhatsApp was originally founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, both former Yahoo engineers. What's particularly interesting, if not downright inspirational, is that Acton — himself a former Apple engineer — applied for jobs at both Twitter and Facebook way before WhatsApp became a wildly popular mobile app. Both times he was rejected. In May 2009 he tweeted, "Got denied by Twitter HQ. That's ok. Would have been a long commute." And then in August 2009, he tweeted, "Facebook turned me down. It was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to life's next adventure."

His co-founder, Jan Koum, was also reportedly denied for a job at Facebook as well.

Submission + - With 'virgin' developers, Microsoft could fork Android (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Amid all the talk about Microsoft forking Android for a smartphone OS, one suggestion involves a look back to Microsoft's DOS days. Microsoft DOS was designed per IBM’s specification to run exclusively on IBM’s PC hardware platforms. Phoenix Technologies employed software developers it nicknamed “virgins,” who hadn’t been exposed to IBM’s systems to create a software layer between Microsoft’s DOS system and PCs built by IBM’s competitors. This helped Microsoft avoid infringing on IBM’s patents or copyrights, and subsequently helped fuel the explosive growth of PC clones.

Microsoft could use the same approach to “clone” the proprietary Android components in its own Android fork. This would prevent copyright infringement while giving Microsoft access to Google Play apps, as well as Android's massive base of developers.

Submission + - Criminals Tailoring Mobile Malware Depending on Where Victims Live (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: Just as marketeers and advertisers will tailor ad campaigns depending on what audience they are talking to, the criminals behind mobile malware campaigns are now evolving to create malicious apps which target a specific region or country depending on regulation, smartphone usage and which app stores they use.

Submission + - Apple appears to be stockpiling biosensor experts (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Some digging around on LinkedIn found a lot of relatively recent hires at Apple involving people with experience in wearable devices, medical sensor technology, and other areas that may relate to Apple's long-rumored iWatch initiative.

Submission + - Linksys Routers Exploited by "TheMoon" (sans.edu)

Submitted by UnderAttack
UnderAttack writes: A vulnerability in many Linksys routers, allowing for unauthenticated code execution, is used to mass-exploit various Linksys routers right now. Infected routers will start scanning for vulnerable systems themselves, leading to a very fast spread of this "worm".

Submission + - Apple's hiring spree of biosensor experts continues as iWatch team grows (networkworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As the rumors surrounding Apple's mythical iWatch continue to swell, Apple has continued to hire folks with deep biomedical and sensor technology expertise.

A previously unreported addition to Apple's growing cadre of medical device experts is Marcelo Malini Lamego, who began working at Apple this January.

Before joining Apple this past January, Lamego spent 8 years as the CTO of Cercacor, a medical devices company with a focus on developing noninvasive monitoring technologies.

As CTO, Lamego spearheaded the company's engineering and R&D efforts, where he helped develop the Pronto-7, an award-winning and noninvasive medical device capable of measuring a patient's oxygen saturation and hemoglobin levels, along with a patient's pulse rate. The Pronto-7 is currently being sold by Masimo, a company specializing in noninvasive patient monitoring technologies.

Submission + - French journalist "hacks" govt by inputting correct URL, later fined $4,000+ (arstechnica.com) 1

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: In 2012, French blogger, activist, and businessman Olivier Laurelli sat down at his computer. It automatically connected to his VPN on boot (he owns a small security services company, called Toonux, which was providing a connection via a Panamanian IP address) and began surfing the Web.

Laurelli, who goes by the alias “Bluetouff” in most circles (including on Ars Technica), is something of a presence among the French tech-savvy community. Besides managing Toonux, he also co-founded the French-language activist news site Reflets.info, which describes itself as a “community project to connect journalists and computer networking specialists.” As such, Laurelli initiated a Google search on other subjects, but what he stumbled on was perhaps more interesting: a link that led to 7.7 Gb of internal documents from the French National Agency for Food Safety, Environment, and Labor (the acronym is ANSES in French).

Although the documents were openly indexed by Google, Laurelli would soon be in the French government’s crosshairs for publishing them. He eventually faced criminal charges, though he was later acquitted of those. However, a separate government agency pursued a civil appeal. And last Tuesday, a French appeals court fined Laurelli 3,000 Euros (or a little over $4,000), meaning he likely made one of the more expensive Google searches to date.

Submission + - Elon Musk, Tesla CTO Talk Model X Details, Model S Upgrades (greencarreports.com)

Submitted by joe5
joe5 writes: Tesla Motors tries to keep product details quiet for the most part, but in a recent Q & A session in Norway (Teslas sell extremely well there) Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the company's CTO JB Straubel discussed some interesting nuggets about the Model S, the upcoming Model X SUV, and the company's planned Model E sedan. One hint: the production Model X will definitely have the crazy "falcon doors." (video and transcript in the article)

Submission + - What are the weirdest places you've spotted Linux?

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Bryan Lunduke recently pulled together a collection of the weirdest places he's found Linux, from installations in North Korea and the International Space Station to a super-computer made out of Legos and computer engineer Barbie.

But I figured the Slashdot crowd would have some suggestions to expand the list. See any weird places for Linux not mentioned in this list?

Submission + - How Apple's iBeacon technology is turning location sensing inside out (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Apple's iBeacon location sensing technology, based on the Bluetooth radio in your iPhone, promises to personalize the world around you. For users, this increasingly popular technology changes the question of "Where am I?" into the announcement "Here I am!" An iBeacon is a Bluetooth Low Energy radio that broadcasts a signal in a given area, say the doorway to a clothing or grocery store. Your iPhone – if it has Bluetooth 4.0, and the radio is turned on, and iOS notifications and location services are active – can detect that signal and query the beacon. The beacon uses radio signal strength to figure out the phone’s location and can share that with iOS. Your phone shows an invitation from the beacon to enable something like “in-store notifications,” which involves sharing your Bluetooth-determined location. Now organizations from the NFL to major league baseball are embracing it.

Submission + - Price of Amazon Prime may jump to $99 or $119 a year (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Perhaps investors have had enough, because when Amazon released earnings yesterday that weren't quite up to part with analysts' expectations, shares of the world's largest e-retailer sank by nearly 10%. Money-wise, Amazon raked in a profit of $239 million on revenue of $25.59 billion with EPS coming in at $0.51. The folks on Wall Street, though, were anticipating EPS of $0.66 on revenue of $26.06 billion.

Amazon CFO Tom Szkutak hinted during the company's earnings conference call yesterday that we might see an increase to the company's popular Amazon Prime service. As it stands now, Amazon Prime costs $79 per year and offers users free shipping on millions of items, free book borrowing for select Kindle titles, and last but not least, free streaming to the company's video on-demand service. Going forward, Amazon may increase that pricepoint to either $99 or $119.

That's a rather significant price increase, but it's important to keep in mind that the price of Amazon Prime has remained the same ever since Amazon first started the program nine years ago.

Submission + - What exactly is Facebook's Paper app? (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: Perhaps what’s most interesting about Paper is that it seems like a subtle admission of what Facebook users who are interested in following trustworthy sources and content have alleged in recent years – Facebook has basically become a watered-down version of Instagram. Facebook Paper incorporates enough new features for Facebook to call it a unique app, but it’s still pretty close to a straight-up re-design

Facebook Paper is a new Facebook newsfeed without the stigmas of the old one. It puts content first and foremost, and lets users brush the messy, social aspects aside. Whether people actually treat it like that or fall back into their old ways will dictate how successful it is.

Submission + - It's getting easier to steal your neighbors' unused Wi-Fi bandwidth (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: A new project from Telefonica called BeWifi enables internet users to snag unused bandwidth from Wi-Fi networks running nearby. So, if you have a family of five trying to stream five different movies at the same time, and your neighbors happen to be out for the night, you and your family could borrow their unused bandwidth until the neighbors come home and log on again.

The technology has been in development since about 2008, and required Telefonica to build and install routers adorned with software that pools available bandwidth to make it available for all Telefonica customers in the area, through what Telefonica director of product innovation and research Pablo Rodriguez described as "a mesh to aggregate the capabilities [of the routers]." The pilot program attracted more than 1,000 users to sign up in the first week it was available, according to Wired UK. Rodriguez said the company was "able to double the speed that customers were getting," in some places where users previously couldn't stream Skype and YouTube in the same household at the same time.

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