72322785
submission
itwbennett writes:
The tools available to developers who need to build an application once and deploy everywhere have exploded. Frameworks like famo.us, Ionic, PhoneGap, Sencha Touch, Appcelerator, Xamarin, and others are reducing the grunt work and improving the overall quality of web based mobile applications dramatically. The benefits of a build once, deploy everywhere platform are pretty obvious, but are they enough to make up for the hits to user experience?
72322585
submission
itwbennett writes:
E-commerce giant Alibaba Group hasn’t given up on its YunOS mobile operating system, and is taking the software to China’s rural markets through a series of low-cost phones, which will be built by lesser-known Chinese brands and will range from 299 yuan ($49) to 699 yuan. Slashdot readers may remember that in 2012, Google claimed it was a variant of its Android OS, sparking a clash that threatened to derail Alibaba’s effort to popularize the mobile OS.
72322297
submission
itwbennett writes:
Attackers can potentially snoop on the encrypted traffic of over 25,000 iOS applications due to a vulnerability in a popular open-source networking library. The vulnerability stems from a failure to validate the domain names of digital certificates in AFNetworking, a library used by a large number of iOS and Mac OS X app developers to implement Web communications — including those over HTTPS (HTTP with SSL/TLS encryption).
72184745
submission
jfruh writes:
A few years ago, Facebook seemed on the verge of missing the transition to mobile altogether. But the company has made the transition with flying colors: now three-quarters of the company's income comes from mobile ads.
72107881
submission
jfruh writes:
Google has announced that it will be adding mobile-friendliness to the list of factors that will get a site bumped up in search rankings. Sites that have no mobile versions — which includes sites owned by Wikipedia, the BBC and the European Union — will find themselves with lower Google search placement, starting today.
72107725
submission
jfruh writes:
While IBM's new Z13 mainframe is seeing strong sales, the company as a whole saw a dip in revenue in this quarter just past. Sales numbers were down 12 percent compared to the same quarter last year, marking three straight years of declining sales.
71990765
submission
jfruh writes:
Google has figured out how to produce an Internet-broadcast balloon in a few hours, and is on the verge of unleashing Project Loon onto the world. The project, which will work with ISPs to beam LTE cellular signals to remote regions that don't have Internet access, will be working with local ISPs rather than selling broadband directly to customers.
71990671
submission
jfruh writes:
In the early days of brands on Facebook, it was crucial for companies to garner as many "likes" as possible to boost their image, and that led to some unethical businesses selling likes that came from fake accounts. Now Facebook is informing brands that they're working to root out fake likes, leaving like counts lower but realer.
71939707
submission
itwbennett writes:
Wikileaks has published a searchable database of thousands of emails and documents from Sony Pictures Entertainment that were leaked in late 2014 after the studio was attacked by hackers. Some of the 173,132 emails and 30,287 documents contain highly personal information about Sony employees including home addresses, personal phone numbers and social security numbers, a fact which is likely to raise new concerns about the use of stolen information online.
71899855
submission
itwbennett writes:
The list of products designed to be security enhanced that turned out to be anything but seems to get longer by the day. In just the latest instance, reported by Wired last week, the crowd-funded privacy-enhancing home router Anonabox had to be recalled after an independent researcher discovered serious security flaws in the product. But security experts caution that the real problem may be bigger than vulnerabilities hidden in application code: 'Designed for security products don't just have to be good. They have to be beyond reproach,' explains John Dickson, a Principal at the Denim Group. 'All it takes is one guy with a grudge to undo you.'
71896891
submission
itwbennett writes:
One of the main arguments for the trade groups and ISPs that have filed six — yes, six — lawsuits against the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules is that the agency violated a 69-year-old administrative procedure law in crafting the new regulations. A second argument: the agency violated ISPs’ Fifth Amendment rights by taking their private property for public use without paying 'just compensation.'
71868463
submission
jfruh writes:
The bankrupt Radio Shack chain is still planning to auction off personal data in its attempt to get as much money as it can for its creditors. But the Attorney General of Texas is leading the fight to prevent that from happening, demanding that the Delaware bankruptcy court in charge of the case hear his motion before OKing the sale.
71868409
submission
jfruh writes:
Machine vision — the ability of a computer to process and analyze video input — is one of those problems that researchers at the dawn of the computer age assumed would be easy enough to solve but turned out to be devilishly complex. Now MIT researchers may have helped crack the puzzle with a new language called Picture. Based on probabilistic programming, Picture can do in 50 lines of code what traditional languages took thousands of lines to achieve.
71868361
submission
jfruh writes:
The Chinese government is about to roll out tough new rules on data storage for companies doing business in China, which could require that companies keep data stored in data centers within China and share encryption keys with authorities. The American Chamber of Commerce In China is protesting, saying that China will hamper its own economy in doing this; the Chinese government says that it's not imposing any rules that the United States doesn't also impose.
71836505
submission
itwbennett writes:
Sprint is now offering to deliver and set up phones, tablets and other connected devices for free at homes, offices and other locations chosen by the customer. The offer is currently limited to eligible upgrade customers, but starting September, new customers in selected markets will be able to choose the new Direct 2 You option, when buying online or through call centers.
